Michael P

“Would you believe that all the gods that people have ever imagined are still with us today?”… “And that there are new gods out there, gods of computers and telephones and whatever, and they all seem to think there isn’t room for them both in the world. And that some sort of war is likely.”–Shadow

American Gods kept me turning the pages and upset that real life kept rearing its ugly head to distract me from the story. This book is a keeper and I look forward to some more of Gaiman’s work.

A wise pastor once told me to never allow church issues to go to vote if you think they might be even remotely close. Voting in a church can be emotional charged and if the issue is important you can be left with a divided group that strongly believes in their agenda, and worse that God backs them up, not the other guys. Often times emotional charged issues can change a group of people in to a “us versus them” mob with clear cut winners and losers.

I got a feeling that today in the United States and especially California there is going to be a lot of losers, no matter what the outcome of the vote.

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but “Hood” had such an interesting cover that I had to pick it up. It’s a retelling of the Robin Hood Story, only without Sherwood forest and instead of being English Robin, or in this book’s case Bran (Robin) is from Wales. There is no Sherriff of Nottingham, instead the bad guys come in the form of conquering Normans but there is Friar Tuck, Little John, the fair maiden Merriam and of course the reluctant hero, and archer. There were some creative liberties taken but I felt that they added to the story rather than detracted from the age old tale. The author stayed true to the concept yet took it in a different direction and, I feel, wrote a fine novel and I eagerly await the next in the series.

Currently reading :
American Gods.
By Neil Gaiman

Time to check up on some book reviews I’ve finished more than 20 books since my last review so some of these will be short condensed or reviews of the series rather than individual books. These have all been good books and many will someday belong in my personal collection.

Let’s start with the singles:

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Neil Gaiman.

Modern comic fantasy. I read something else co-authored recently by Neil and I really enjoyed it so when I saw this book I took a chance. I really enjoyed this book the writing style reminded my of Terry Pratchett, whom I enjoy very much. If you like British humor, an acquired taste, I know, you would prolly enjoy this book very much.

The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly.

Fantasy set in WWII times. More English fantasy but less on the humor. I was an interesting take on a universe based on fairy tales and children’s interpretations on them. It deals a great deal with emotional loss and while very sad at times, very good and highly recommended.

Artemis Fowl. 6, The Time Paradox, by Eoin Colfer.

Sci-Fi, fantasy, young adult. I know that The Fowl series is intended for “young adults” but I really enjoy them. In fact, I enjoy several “young adult” authors because they tend to be more straight forward with their plot and I don’t have to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out subtle, between the lines, story elements that I prolly don’t care about in the long run anyway. Back to The Time Paradox, Eoin, I feel , takes some liberties with the story and time travel issues that make this more confusing than needs to be. When it’s all said and done I still feel like there are some continuity issues that got glossed over. It was still a good story and a fine addition to the over all series but I have not enjoyed the last two installments as much as the first four. I sincerely hope that Eoin gets back to the type of story telling that made the beginning of the series so great and doesn’t jump the shark with book 7.

Iron Angel, by Alan Campbell.

Steampunk, gothic horror. Book two of a series I didn’t read book one, which prolly would have helped with the overall story line and context of this one but I have no plans to go back and revisit this universe. It’s dark, demented, violent, bloody and twisted. I’m sure it is a fine book if you like horror novels but I’m just not a fan of that genre. It wasn’t poorly written and that attribute alone keep me going through the book. If you are into gothic, steampunk, or twisted Greek/Roman mythology you may like this story.

GreyWalker, by Kat Richardson.

Modern Mystery, light horror. Meh, ok story, well written, a little darker than I like but not too bad. The Characters were not as well defined as I would have liked but I think the real reasoner I’m so lukewarm about it is that this book exemplifies why I am hesitant to write my own fantasy/Sci Fi work. I felt as if the author was “borrowing” elements and rules from other authors, not enough to be plagiarism, but enough for me to be like, I now this universe and you are the author of it. If you are a big fan of Jim Butcher and follow the Dresden Files as closely as I do then chances are you’ll see what I’m talking about. On the plus side, If you are interested in seeing what Harry would have been like as a girl you might like this. Not a bad book, I would read the next one in the series if it was convenient but I prolly won’t go out of my way for it.

Making Money: a Novel of Discworld, by Terry Pratchett.

Comic Fantasy. They say if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. I say If you like one Pratchett novel, chances are you will like them all. This is no exception. Terry once again makes me laugh out loud at times with his witty writing style. Making Money does stand on its own but I would highly recommend at least reading Going Postal before to give you some back story on the main characters.

Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris.

Modern Light Horror, Romance, mystery.Total chick book. From the cover art to the basic premise of the plot, but with just enough balance to make it readable and even enjoyable by men; at least men who have at least heard of their feminine side. I nice fresh outlook on vampire mythology with some winks and nods to established lore. This is book one of a already established series that I will continue to read as long as the balance remains.

Dragons of Dwarven Depths & Dragons of the Highlord Skies, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

Sword and Magic Fantasy. One of my favorite books of all time are the Dragonlance Chronicles. Written over 20 years ago they still remain, in their weather beaten, taped binding and discolored paged, glory on my shelf. These two book sort of “filled in the blanks” of the original. Unfortunately, and this just could be because I loved the old one so much, they seemed to fall short in terms of character continuity and plot flow. While I still enjoyed these books I don’t think they added to the overall story as much as I would have liked.

13 Bullets: A Vampire Tale, &

99 Coffins: A Historical Vampire Tale, by David Wellington.

A Modern light horror. A new take on the vampire mythology. Set in modern times David describes a universe where vampires are a recognized part of the world but very rare and in 13 Bullets supposedly extinct. It is a fast paced, exciting story with well defined characters that are easy to relate with. Think cop story mixed with vampire light horror.

Emberverse I Trilogy, by S.M. Stirling.

A Medieval Story set in modern times. Imagine a world set in the early 90’s where there is an event that renders all electronics, gas power, and explosive useless. Basically the lights go off and the world is thrust into the middle ages. Great story, wonderful character development, I will most likely add this series to my permanent collection to be enjoyed again. I can’t really say enough good things about this story, but I wish that he would have taken a less critical view of traditional religion. Plus the author’s photo in the jacket was AWFUL. by the 5th book he looked much more dignified.

The First Law Trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie.

I’ve only read the first two so far, but I can’t wait for the next one. Sword and Magic style universe with very interesting and unique characters. Good story telling.

I wouldn’t call myself an obsessive compulsive person about most things. Although there are things in my life that just need to be done in a certain way. If I start something good I want to finish it. If there is a good movie on TV, even if it’s just mediocre and I’m just mildly enjoying it, I don’t want to see what else is on during the commercial. If I paid for it, or had to wait a long time to experience it I am even more loath to stop in the middle of it, even if it’s awful. (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jar-Jar Binks, and the Batman with nipples on his outfit come to mind) I have walked out of only one theater movie in my entire life and that was only because I was with a friend who demanded it. That experience plagued me until I was able to finally see the end of the movie, which still didn’t make it better. I HATE channel surfing. My dad is a champion channel surfer and it’s why I stopped watching TV as a child and don’t miss cable TV as an adult.

It’s even worse when it comes to books. I will read a bad book just to finish it and get rid of it. Luckily I am a borderline speed reader and usually can finish even a long novel in a day or two (I read the last Harry Potter book over a single weekend). If it is a great series (Harry Potter, The Dresden Files, Artemis Fowl, yes I know The Fowl series are for kids but I still like them) that is still in progress I will reread all the previous books before I read the newly released one. I have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 8+ times. If there was a trivial pursuit game based on the books I would pawn you every time. I really don’t mind re-reading great books; I do it all the time. I don’t mind getting involved with a novel series that spans thousands of pages and several books. But I have a problem with books that advertise themselves a part of a series when they are clearly not. If an author ends the book on a cliff hanger and hasn’t wrapped up any of the loose plot lines by the last page, then that isn’t a book, it is chapters 30-65 of something else. If I start on book two and I’m completely lost because it’s really not a standalone book, it annoys me. I think there should be some sort of warning sticker on the cover: Warning This Book isn’t the Whole Story If You Want to Start at the Beginning Please Put This Down and Get the Other Title. They should also clearly identify where that book fits into the overall story line, such as “This is Book 3 of the Whatever Story” I hate going to the library and getting a new interesting looking book that after I get it home and start reading, realize that somehow page one is not the beginning but somewhere in the middle of the story because this book is the second or third of a much larger story then having to research to find out what book started it all and then wait for that one to come in.

What got me started on this soapbox is the Eragon story by Christopher Paolini. Eragon wasn’t a great book and it was an awful movie but it was just good enough for me to want to know how it all turns out, not to mention that the story doesn’t stand on its own, nothing is really solved and you have no choice but to read the next on in the series in hopes that; one the writing will get better and two some of the plot lines will be resolved. The author makes no secret that he is writing a trilogy so I don’t feel bad about getting involved with a mediocre story knowing that in three books it will be over and I can move on. Book two was no better than book one, other than the main character got more annoying. I began to get the impression that this whole story was a form of therapy for the author. Based on what little I know about the author and what I do know about people his age and demographic, after many years of working with them closely as a youth pastor, many of the trials and tribulations match up. That’s fine, if you want to express your feelings and vent in a book to make yourself feel better go for it, but make it interesting for your more intelligent readers at least. After waiting a very long time the “last” in the “trilogy” finally came out. I was pleased that the author had found his grove in writing style and while it still wasn’t a great book it was a good book. It was also the longest in the series. After I got about 3/4 of the way through it I realized that the author continued to bring up new plot elements without solving many of the older ones, and I began to worry, is this going to be a Dean Koontz ending? Dean can’t write the end of a book to save his life. Wonderful beginnings; amazing, edge of your seat, page turning middles, then pile of crap endings… things like, “and then he woke up and realized it was all a dream.” bad. Saint Elsewhere and Sienfield final episode bad. So I reach the end of the book, read the final page and realize the Eragon story isn’t over, there is at least one more book to go. Doesn’t the author realize that a trilogy means 3? WTC? So then I read the author’s note and the end and while he doesn’t make any real apology for lying to us for the last several years about this story being a trilogy he talks about character development and how he couldn’t finish and say all that needed to be said and do all that needed to be done in one final book, a fourth book was needed so now Eragon is a cycle, not a trilogy. And now because of my problem of being compelled to finish what I have started I have to wait, probably years (there was 37 months between the publishing dates of book 2 and book 3), to finally put this story behind me.

As I have mentioned in my “Site Disclaimer” and legal mumbo-jumbo the things I say here do not reflect the views and opinions of my employer. In fact, if my employer even thought I talked about work issues here they would ask me nicely not to and when I told them I will talk about whatever I want to here, I don’t mention specifics and I am well within my rights to address the issues I do mention I would most likely get a letter from the legal department using phrases like, “cease and desist” and “termination of employment”. That being said, here is today’s rant about work. Yesterday my boss came into my work area, a place she usually avoids, and told me about how the previous person in my position also served as the safety coordinator and asked very nicely with a sweet sounding voice if I wouldn’t mind taking up the role, it wouldn’t be that much more work and I would really be helping out. I reluctantly agreed and was then briskly informed I had to attend a mandatory web meeting tomorrow at nine am and here is a list of things that need to be addressed ASAP. I just finished the web meeting, basically I watched and listened as someone else read aloud the slides on the screen that were printed out for me prior to the meeting. It took me about five minutes to read them myself, the presentation, that didn’t share any new information, took 45 minutes. Personally I think the whole project is just to make the legal department happy because it relies on reviews, forms and questionnaires that have no accountability built into them. If a location manager is asked to point out all the safety violations with no outside accountability do they really think they will? Granted, while going through the four page check list, changes will be made and the workplace may become safer for a few sites. But the reality is the manager is going to see an issue, tell someone to correct it and then mark on the form that there is no issue. This method of data gathering would render the analysis from all the sites useless. You can’t build a good data model on compromised information; no manager is going to admit to having a work place riddle with safety violations, not to mention much of the checklist is things covered by OSHA. To me, it feels like waste of resources and man-hours. I really don’t mind being in charge of safety at my work place I just wish that the company would use some common sense and not rely on the legal department to make policy. The first thoughts should be about employee safety not accounting and legal issues (the presenter actually addressed how much money the company would save as being the motivating factor of this effort).

cover art

Ragamuffin
Tobias S. Buckell.

I got this book based on the recommendation of a few other Sci-Fi reviewers. While I did enjoy this story, it wasn’t an easy read. This is the second book by this author and I didn’t read the first one, something I usually do. Apparently this isn’t a real sequel but it is a continuation of the story in a sense focusing on different characters in the same universe and unfortunately it felt like the author relied on the reader’s previous knowledge and didn’t explain some of the basic principles of the universe in which this story took place. It could just be my personal issue that I like to know stuff like, background and setting to know that if the author is going to drop a bunch of alien names and races I want to know who they are and how do they fit into the overall story. Even an index of common terms might have been useful. I was a bit uncomfortable with one of the main protagonists having spaceships and ranks that sounded very Asian in origin while they also exercised hive mind and brainwashing attributes. It felt like a not so subtle jab at communist China. I was also perplexed at the author’s abrupt transition from one story to a completely different story with new characters and subplot lines halfway through. I thought there must have been a misprint and I got another book mixed into it. The author was eventually able to tie them together but I didn’t care for the method used. I will most likely eventually pick up the first book and read it in hopes that it redeems this sophomore effort and explains the universe better and sets a the stage for future stories but it’s not top of my list right now.

It has been awhile since I’ve written anything, my new job keeps me pretty busy add that to my daily commute and other household duties I’m lucky if I get just a few minutes to sit down before I go to bed. So to make up for not having access to a computer I’m writing this on my Palm Pilot. Intellectually and physically my job is pretty easy. I receive a “case” in a large box. I process said case and repackage it in a much smaller box. Emotionally, this job is difficult. Being surrounded by death all day long can take it out of a person. Plus, I don’t know where they got this idea but many people in the company try to shove their problems onto me. Several times I have fielded a call of “where is so-in-so?” and I’ll be, “I have no idea what you are talking about, I have no paperwork on that case.” And the other line is upset and is sure they sent everything over and I must have misplaced it all. And I have to repeat myself, “no, I have not received any paperwork on this case, I don’t have the body in my custody, I haven’t cremated it, I don’t know what you are talking about.” Then they get angry and ask to speak to someone else and they eventually have to tell them I didn’t screw up and the problem is somewhere else. I have been here five weeks and I have had this conversation or something like it about ten different times with four or five different people in the company. More than once someone has dropped the ball and I have ended up getting hosed over it. I know that at least once I have received the wrong case, where what it said on the package was clearly not who was in it, and I suspect that they have lost or switched one or two others. It makes me a bit upset that I keep meticulous records and logs yet people still point their finger at me and when I back my work up with the State inspected logs and paperwork proving I’m right I don’t even get so much as an apology. The only good thing about my job is there is a lot of down time and just waiting, so I read a lot lately. I think I’ll start reviewing some of the books here from now on, it will give me a topic to discuss and maybe some publishing company will start sending me freebies (Subterranean Press, hint, hint) The biggest issue is getting books, I can’t afford to buy every book that strikes my fancy and I can only get to the library once a week. Now my habit is to swing by the book store and take pictures of interesting books and then request them at the library. It would have never worked in Taft since they charged a fee for every request but at the KRV branch it’s free.

A few weeks ago my dad’s German Shorthair had a litter of pups. We took the kids over to check them out and they got a chance to bottle feed a few of them.

Natalia and the puppies

Cameron and the puppies

A few weeks ago I wrote about my daughter’s dog, how it had earned a place in the house by its disgusting habit of eating my cat’s hairballs. Now I am proud and disgusted yet again to add the title “Rat Slayer” to him.
He is in the habit of getting into barking contests with the neighbor dogs at 5:30 in the morning which isn’t so bad since that’s when I wake up anyway, but Kellie doesn’t like barking dogs so she discourages it whenever she can. Yesterday he was barking frantically while I was getting ready for work and Kellie asked me to bring him inside. Normally all I have to do is call him and he comes running but this day was different, first off I noticed that the barking wasn’t with the usual tone and urgency and second he was already on the patio not the back fence (he barks so often that he has beaten a visible path in the grass from his dog door to the corner of the fence he likes to focus on). As it turns out he had cornered and already started in on a rat. I guess it could have been a gopher, he had already chewed it up a bit so I could really tell but it was still alive and trying to escape the vicious beast that had set on it.
I had equal parts disgust and pride in this tiny little yapping creature and once again he has earned his keep in our house.