Susan Reads: Retribution Falls

August 8, 2013August 7, 2013 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

WoW! That’s all I can say.

Who doesn’t love the TV series Firefly? Who doesn’t want to see Firefly come back?

Retribution Falls is about as close to a Firefly clone as you can get. Better yet, Firefly crossed with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in a rough-and-ready blend of space faring steam punk. From almost the first chapter, the parallels, whether planned or endemic to the genre, are uncanny at times.

Have I got your attention yet?

Darian Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, a second-rate ship he won on a bet, but it’s the only home he’s got. Frey is a minor-stakes air space pirate, picking up small legal jobs here and other illegal ones there, hoping to make enough to keep his ship running and his crew fed, with a few coins of profit left over (sound familiar yet?). His crew is made up of a rag-tag group of misfits, each one on the run with secrets they’d prefer to keep hidden, from the secretive but aristocratic Crake (my mind cast Paul Bettany in the role) to the quirky navigator Jez, who can manage to fake death a little too easily (I can picture Angelina Jolie here), and more.

When Frey and his crew are framed for blowing up a ship during a petty robbery, he finds himself on the run for his life – but are the Century Knights after him, or one of his crew? Frey’s attempts to unravel the mysteries lead him down a trail of old flames and bad memories, while the secrets of his crew slowly come to light. The path of salvation appears to lie in a pirates’ haven called Retribution Falls, a place of myth no ship has ever returned from. Frey must make hard choices – entrust his beloved ship to someone else in case of emergency, or run the risk of execution if captured. In the end, Frey and crew find that being an oddball among a group of oddballs makes you nothing but normal, and that to get trust you also have to give a little.

I read one review of the book that nit-picked every line of dialogue and every motivation of every character until there was nothing left. That really irked me. Even as a writer, I don’t read a fiction book to beat the story to death. I want a good story that holds my attention, characters that I can relate to whether through abhorrence or camaraderie, and a thread of believability – I’ll believe your unicorns can fly, but don’t tell me they have dainty little shoulders. Beyond that – I don’t care that females or mermaids or talking parrots are underrepresented. I don’t care if air pirates are passé. I don’t care if you think mechanical golems are cliché. This is the way this story goes. The characters and situations read like the first of a series, and in a good series, it takes time to fully develop all the characters – otherwise, what’s the point of a series? If you put all the food out at a banquet at once, who cares about the next course?

If any book deserves to be made into a film – or better yet, TV series – this is the one.Read it. Enjoy it. It’s worth every page.

Susan Reads: The Immortal Game: A History of Chess

July 30, 2013July 15, 2013 / Susan O. / 1 Comment

People have been doing it for more than 1300 years. James Bond did it. So did Kirk and Spock. Ben Franklin was addicted to it. Harry Potter did it the wizard way, but never once did Doyle ever directly say Sherlock Holmes did. I picked up The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, expecting it to be the dorkiest book ever written, a checkered feather in my Nerd cap. I expected it to be boring and confusing, full of that chessy shorthand I can’t seem to follow despite its simplicity, and I never expected to actually finish it.

I was so wrong.

Author David Shenk presents a surprisingly fascinating history of the game, starting with its roots in India in the 600’s, played in similar fashion on a squared but monochrome board. The game spread to the Middle East just as Mohammad was gathering his followers, and the spread of Islam throughout the Mediterranean carried the game to Spain, where it spread upwards all the way to the Vikings. Chess underwent several incarnations as different kings and clerics tried to ban it, adding the familiar two-toned board to make it easier to follow. In the late 1400’s, the king’s minister became the all-powerful queen, in response to the presence of several very strong queens in Europe at the time, such as Isabella of Spain and Mary, Queen of Scots. It was during this renaissance that our current game was born.

Chess has been used throughout the ages as a teaching tool of the masses, from teaching peasants their place in society, to teaching the peasants that they are just as powerful as kings and helping to fuel revolutions (Ben Franklin allegedly told a player who check-mated him to go ahead and take his king; America had no need of kings and he would continue to play without it), to teaching battlefield strategies, to almost freeing the imprisoned Napoleon, but the man sent to tell him of the rescue plans stored in the game died en route.

Shenk alternates his chapters of history with play-by-play explanations of one historic game, explaining why each move was important. This breaks up the history with examples of strategy, without delving too deep into QH4/BH3 shorthand, and makes for an enjoyable and educational read. Shenk argues that chess masters are made, not born (reiterating M. Gladwell), and that any person can become a Grand Master at any age, if enough practice is given. I am no chess master, playing on an entertainment level in a very random and haphazard fashion and doing rather well at it. However, after reading the book, with very little thought effort on my part, I was able to beat my computer chess program – four times in a row.

A very painless and interesting book whether you actually play or just want to read about it. As Spock would say : Fascinating.

Susan’s Top 15 Summer Films

July 20, 2013July 15, 2013 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

Sure, there’s dozens of great huge summer blockbusters to watch, but chances are you’ve already seen quite a few of them. Here’s a list of great films that take place IN the summer. Some are great to watch with your kids and some are definitely for the older crowd. Which is your favorite?

1. What About Bob? (PG) A man follows his psychiatrist on vacation and drives him crazy. And you thought your job was rough!

2. The Sandlot (PG) Kids. Baseball. James Earl Jones. ‘Nuff said.

3. Jaws (PG, but I’d think twice about under 10) The original summer blockbuster, the one that started it all. Thirty years later, those special effects still hold up. You’re going to need a bigger TV.

4. Caddyshack (R) Yeah, it’s got the predictable plot, the bad language, the potty humor, and I hate the stupid puppet – but you’ll still laugh yourself silly.

5. Field of Dreams (PG) – The greatest baseball tribute movie. It’s not too late to cut a diamond in your lawn for playoffs. If you build it, they will come.

6. National Lampoon’s Vacation (R for language) – the mother of all summer vacation movies, who can’t relate to long trips with grumpy kids, relatives you can’t stomach, and things going bad every inch of the way? Don’t you wish reality ended as well it does here?

7. Stand By Me (R for language) – a fantastic coming-of-age movie for the 11 & up crowd – and it was written by Stephen King.

8. Deliverance (a very adult R) – classic dark 70’s story of friends taking an ill-fated rafting trip that will make you fear the sound of banjos.

9. The Parent Trap (G) – A Disney Classic of two separated twins who find each other at summer camp and decide to get their divorced parents back together. Watch the Haley Mills original; Lindsey Lohan’s not the role model people hoped she would be.

10.West Side Story – (Not rated, but I’d give it a PG if you object to guns and knives) Oh, to be in America, dancing on a New York roof in the heat of summer! A classic story and a film that can never be reproduced, with a soundtrack that’s among the best musical scores ever. Make your kids watch it now, so when they have to watch it in highschool, they’ll be ahead of the game.

11. Porky’s (R) The American Pie of its day, full of juvenile sexual banter and potty mouth as a group of Florida teens tries their best to sneak into a strip bar. You will laugh until you cry.

12.Addams Family Values (PG-13) Wednesday and Pugsley go to summer camp, with the inevitable twisted chaos that follows the ooky Addams family.

13. Super 8 (PG-13) A group of kids plan to spend their summer filming a movie, and get far, far more than they bargain for when they stumble upon a government secret.

14. Friday the 13th (R) The original slasher movie that sent everyone scuttling away from lakes and summer camps. It doesn’t matter where you watch it; Jason will find you.

15. Little Miss Sunshine (R) A quirky little film about a quirky family trying to hang together as they pin their hopes on their daughter winning the Little Miss Sunshine pageant – without any clue what it’s about.

New Music Highlight: These Wilder Things by Ruth Moody

July 7, 2013June 26, 2013 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

I cut my teeth listening to Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, and knew all the words to at least a half-dozen Woody Guthrie songs before I went to school, so when folk music comes across my desk and it’s not of old-school character, I tend to shy away. However, I found Ruth Moody’s new album, These Wilder Things, to be an interesting mix of old and newer pop styles, with quite a bit of character.

Moody, an award-winning folk singer from Winnipeg, has a lovely voice that changes with each type of song. She can sound remarkably like Loreena McKennitt, then switch to Edie Brickell, then switch up again to sound like Natalie Imbruglia. Her rendition of Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” is catchy, but at the same time strange in that it incorporates different rhythms, pauses, and instruments than the listener is used to – it turns out what I thought was a ukulele is actually a mandolin, and mandolin is not what I normally think of when I think of Springsteen.

While some of the tracks can have that old-school flair of guitar and banjo, the songs never lapse into the deep-country twanginess that scares many people away from folk music. Most of the music is quite mainstream, a blend of soft pop that would be totally at home on WRCH or any soft-music station.

My favorite track is perhaps the first one, “Trouble and Woe,” because I like the light touch of banjo that to me signifies folk music. Not enough to make you break out reruns of Hee Haw, but a gentle touch to give depth to the guitar work. “Trees for Skies” is pretty, and of course “Dancing in the Dark” will stick in your head, a new twist on an old favorite – and this time you can understand all the words!

Susan picks music: Chants! Chants! Some of Them From France!

June 27, 2013June 24, 2013 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

Most people are familiar with school yard chants, jump rope rhymes, and various sports chants, yet most people think of musical chants as only belonging to monks in the Middle Ages and quickly run away. Not true! Popular music is full of rhythmic chanting, from rock (think Blondie’s “Rapture”, or the opening to Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes”) to rap music to new age drum circles to American Indian dances to soundtrack music from such films as Lord of the Rings and Temple of Doom. The tune O Fortuna’s been used in hundreds of films and commercials – you might not know the title, but you’d know the music. Chants are all around us! And chants aren’t the same as a cappella music; chants can be accompanied by anything from nothing at all up through a full orchestra, every bit as musically complex as a Handel chorale. Here’s a variety of great chant music that is sure to please just about everyone:

Buddhist Chants and Peace Songs: This album knocked me off my feet! I expected that ho-hum Gregorian motif, and what I found was a light, bright, happy tune filled with undulating harmonies that sank into your head and had you singing along in phonetic Chinese. Composed of two long (40-minute) tracks, this is fabulous background music for artwork, writing, relaxing, or meditating. Absolutely delightful and unexpected.

Enigma: Love Sensuality Devotion – Enigma, my long-standing New-Age relaxation group. Enigma dances along the line of New Age-Rock, filled with chants, beats, echoes, and whispers. Wonderful for relaxation or background at a cocktail party. My favorite track? Principles of Lust.

Chant: Sure, it’s your traditional French Benedictine Nuns wailing in plainsong, but the rhythms get under your skin and the choral is magnificent. Even if you aren’t up to stroke on your Latin or care about the religious aspects, let yourself get carried away by the sheer beauty of the form.

Acoustic Africa: Not so much a direct chant, but a lovely album incorporating rhythms and music we aren’t used to in our pop-rock society. A great album to try if you’re bored with radio music but don’t particularly care for folk music.

Nendaa – Go Back by Jerry Alred and the Medicine Beat: New-Agey Native-American-style music with chants, wails, guitars, and drums. Perfect for a dark night and a campfire.