Deja Fu

My friend Paul thinks going a month without posting because you’ve been busy writing professionally is a long time. Try an entire quarter because you stopped, then realized you had spent so long without posting, the three readers you had probably moved on.

At any rate, I wasn’t going to let the year end without something, so courtesy of the aforementioned friend, comes a remarkable animation short by Rodrigo Blass, an animator at Pixar, entitled Alma. Enjoy.

Life really likes throwing curve balls. It really does.

I didn’t disappear, but I have been very, very distracted lately. Almost a year after we lost my Mom, Dad had a stroke and was hospitalized. Since then, I’ve temporarily moved in with him to assist in his recovery, which is coming along amazingly well. To top everything off, my XBox 360, which is over three years old now, coughed up an E74 error and died.

The consequence though, is that it took me three weeks to read a Discworld book, which, by rights, should have been devoured in a day or so. However, things are looking up on all fronts, and we’ve moved on, so although I doubt I’ll hit fifty-two book this year, I should be able to put in a good showing.

-K

Author: David McCullough
Pages: 768
Year Published: 2001

In April 2008, I wrote a review of the HBO series presentation of John Adams, and as enjoyable as it was, the book is still better. Not only because it adds depth and coverage of events barely hinted in the mini-series, but because David McCullough knows how to write and write well.

The book covers Adams’ entire life, but really concentrates on his career in public service and his relationship with his wife, Abagail. Adams, of course, was our second president, but his career spanned over twenty-five years in some form of public service, including helping to draft the Declaration of Independence and serving as the first Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Along the way, McCullough attempts to bring to light a new interpretation of Adams, as an indispensable part of our revolution and growth as a new nation. However, he also doesn’t shy away from the fact Adams apparently irritated just about everyone with whom he ever worked, including many of the other Founding Fathers.

All this might seem a little dry, but this is where McCullough really shines. As a narrative historian, McCullough doesn’t just give a dry recitation of facts, but rather tells the Adams’ story and does it so well that it’s almost as if it were a historical novel, not a biography. It’s a compelling read and worthy of anyone’s study, even if they aren’t a history buff.

-K

This is how bad it’s gotten folks. Even Lex Luthor needs help.

-K

Author: Michael Moorcock
Pages: 192
Year Published: 1972

If you’ve read Tolkein and are disturbed by the amount of regurgitated clones flooding the fantasy market, what do you do? There are a lot of answers to that question, but if you’re a writer of Michael Moorcock’s caliber, you create one of the first anti-Tolkein fantasies – the Elric saga.

Elric of Melnibone, the eponymous protagonist, is king of an island nation which had ruled the world for ten thousand years, but recently finds itself in its twilight years. Elric is an albino, and a cultural outcast in his own kingdom, where his subjects view themselves as the cruel masters of all around. Elric, however, worries about the future of his kingdom and is known for his rejection of magic, cruelty and sadism – all core Melinbonean attributes. Also complicating matters, are the ambitions of his cousin, Yrkoon, whom many people see as the ideal of a Melnibonean ruler.

With Elric, Moorcock creates a world diametrically opposed to the classic Tolkein conflict of good vs. evil. Moorcock’s world is ruled by the continual fight between dieties that represent order, or chaos, and each in turn acts good, or evil depending on how the outcome will advance their side. It’s an existential fantasy world, and frankly, since I read Elric first, made reading Tolkein very difficult.

This was another book I had not read since high school, but I was pleased it still worked for me. Moorcock is a good writer and certainly understands the meaning of brevity, unlike, say, Robert Jordan. Indeed the only caveat I have in recommending Elric is that Moorcock is one of those artists who constantly tinkers with their work. There are multiple editions of the Elric saga, and the novel I’m reviewing, in its form, has been out of print for some time. However, it seems to be readily available from used book sellers, if you want to read this edition.

Whatever one you choose, it’s certainly a good afternoon’s read.

-K