December 2022 Book Review: All Systems Red

All Systems Red

By Martha Wells

~Book Review~

*Warning! Minor Spoilers!*

MURDERBOT PROVES INSTANTLY RELATABLE when all it wants to do is watch tv shows. This novella by Martha Wells introduces us to a spacefaring future where the faceless Company is in charge, dispatching droid “SecUnits” like Murderbot to protect missions. Murderbot, who has hacked its governor module and is able to cover its newfound autonomy, immediately uses it to binge all the thousands of sitcoms it can intercept—all while making sure the silly humans mapping a new hostile terrain don’t kill themselves.

It's a quick read that serves as an introduction to a greater series that stays largely in the shadows for this installment. We are teased with greater mysteries lurking, such as why Murderbot dubbed itself such an ominous title, and the crew of humans it protects also stay largely faceless. Our narrator is an android so just the brisk, data-driven facts about the crew at large. There is the head of the exploratory mission, Mensah, who sees the humanity in Murderbot, comical relief like Ratthi, and an interesting augmented human called Gurathin who is less trusting. The team discovers someone is out to sabotage the exploratory missions on this terrain and teams up with Murderbot to save themselves, especially when it appears the Company may be in on it.

Part of the expository style and underwhelming names like “the Company” make All Systems Red feel generic; if this had been published even ten years back its AI storyline grappling with the meaning of humanity and second-class citizenry may have made more of a splash, but compounding with this being a novella, the result is an unremarkable, easy story. Not much is delved into about why Murderbot feels so drawn to the human-written series Sanctuary Moon, for example (387 episodes mentioned!), and its realization at the end is more of an abrupt action to usher in what will likely be deeper questions explored in further works.

Nevertheless, you can’t argue it doesn’t have a unique narrator who pokes fun at our humanity. A nice dive off point for The Murderbot Diaries.



Recommended for fans of: Arkady Martine; Tamsyn Muir; Dennis E. Taylor

Westworld (Season 1) - HBO Max - TV Series Review

*Warning! Spoilers!*

IT’S COME A LONG WAY from this - 

Remakes can neglect the old magic, but hat’s off to the creators of HBO Max’s stunning Westworld (Season 1), a masterpiece that tells the story of AI awakening to a horror story in the hands of indifferent human masters. It’s the Matrix except we’re the bad guys.

Set in the not-too-distant future, Delos Corporation runs virtual-reality-come-to-life theme parks, in which wealthy visitors can enact their wildest fantasies. The Wild, Wild West offers saloons, brothels, and adventure on the frontier, guided by biomechanical “Host” characters who aid the guest’s every beck and call even if it means death—until they start to remember every gruesome detail about their former “lives.”

The cast is fantastic. Evan Rachel Wood evokes sympathy as the “Farmer’s Daughter,” Dolores, who endures an awful invasion of her home at the hands of Ed Harris’s “Man in Black,” a guest of great importance with a mysterious history to the park who mows down the various Hosts on a single-minded mission to discover a deeper level to the “game.” Anthony Hopkins plays one of the park’s creators and evokes his Hannibal-esque machinations here in performances that are so devious you’re glued to the screen. Jeffrey Wright plays the Head of Programming, and the clashes between engineering and quality assurance will be very entertaining to anyone who has ever worked in product manufacturing.

The pacing takes its time. We get perspectives from Hosts such as Brothel Owner Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) who get touched by the “code” that incites her to remember all of her lives over the course of her time in Westworld (like the fact that she was once a frontierswoman raising a daughter), and then we also experience the theme park from human visitors like the idealistic “white hat” cowboy William (Jimmi Simpson) and his sadistic business partner Logan (Ben Barnes), treating it like a no-consequences video game where he does whatever he wants even to bystanders. It’s fun. It’s finding out who you really are when all the rules are lifted. The Hosts can’t do visitors any serious harm, so best of all, it’s safe.

Then someone starts messing with the Hosts’ coding.

I can’t recommend this show enough. The shots from the majestic desert plateaus of Santa Clarita, CA, Utah, and Arizona suck you in. The plot twists are top-notch, and one of them definitely made my jaw drop (one of them I did guess, but the reveal was still supremely satisfying). The juxtaposition between the living, breathing Hosts galloping across the plains with the cold, clinical reality of the lab where they are stitched back up after bullets, strangulation, or worse is masterful. The end of Season 1 gratifies in every way.

**SPOILER My one complaint:

I love that Maeve changes her “attributes” to have a chilling level of intelligence and influence, but I can’t buy that she successfully bullied two human technicians into doing it and didn’t get caught. Given how encompassing security infrastructure would be, especially at a company like Delos, it seems highly doubtful that the tampering wouldn’t get flagged. Supposedly Felix may be crushing hard, but if he had that much sympathy for the Hosts’ plight, there wasn’t much build up. Granted, QA seems to miss a lot!

Westworld has four seasons, and the fifth which would have concluded the series was cancelled. Rumor is the show loses the plot (which we American shows love to do), but we’ll see! On to Season 2.

Westworld is streaming on HBO Max.

Writing When You Have No Time

 

I WROTE THE MOST when I was a teen. On top of a school schedule. On top of friends and sports, and “zero” hour choir practice. I could find that otherworldly creative zone fondly known as “the Flow” with ease. Now writing with a fulltime job and family to take care of, I’m mourning that loss of freedom and energetic youth in general. Time to yourself is this incredible endangered thing that you have to fight fiercely to protect. It’s essential to writing. So how to you prioritize it without feeling like you’re shortchanging all those other new responsibilities in your life?

#1 Remember that you are a Writer and will always be a Writer. Nothing can take that from you. If you are a Writer, then it is your core identity. You will be drawn back to writing no matter what life throws at you. It’s how you find balance. It’s how you make sense of the world. So you will always still write…the question is how.

#2 Set Realistic Expectations. The struggle of finding time is real. Lord help you if you’re an epic fantasy novelist. You read about how J.K. Rowling wrote the  first scenes of Harry Potter on napkins while riding the train, or how George R.R. Martin locked himself in a cabin (and still no Winds of Winter…?).

My first child was a rude awakening. See, I had this fantasy that maternity leave meant so much “free time” to write. (I’ll give all parents a moment to spit out their tea.) Yes, I had no idea how much work raising a child is. Once the reality settled in, I realized that in no world would I be able to both feed a newborn and type. However, I could edit. So I repurposed that time to edit manuscripts instead. I researched. I experimented with voice command. I actually did write a short children’s story on my phone.

You eventually do get time back. However, there will always be something. If it’s not the refrigerator broke down, then it’s the car, or the newest bug from daycare. Or heck, what about just making the time to catch up with friends?

Navigating your Writer identity when you’re adulting is a challenge. There’s often no reliable schedule. However, identify the most consistent windows of time available. For myself, I made a commitment to write 15 minutes a day. Short enough that you could sneak it in before work or after you put the kiddo down to bed. Long enough that you can find “the Flow,” that beautiful feeling when the floodgates open and you’re just hammering away at that keyboard, deliriously lost in your own little world. Those 15 minutes will fly by, but they add up, day after day. Find what can honestly work for you, and commit.

#3 Stoke the Fire. Stay connected with what drives you to tell your stories. Read the latest review of a favorite author’s new book or watch a show closely related to your story’s theme. Spare a minute or two on what gets you fired up to write so you stay the course. Always be asking what action you can take today to help your story get one step closer to completion. Sometimes just reading a bit from the previous chapter is enough to get you back into the Flow.

#4 Shatter the Block. What’s your writing methodology? Are you linear in style where you like all chapters of Part I to be complete before you move on to the next one, or do you jump around in the storyline as inspiration strikes?

Once you get to those 15 minutes of precious writing time, you don’t want to waste them staring at the screen. Come with a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. If you’re stuck, I heartily recommend jumping ahead (or behind). Write a different scene in the book that’s calling to you. Tell a chapter from a different character’s perspective. Work on the outline. If you took 15 minutes to move the needle closer to the goal, then that’s progress.

#5 Make Mistakes. This is a first draft. Punctuation be damned. If you’re in the Flow, you need to keep up, not pause to look up a continuity question from the previous book (“Did I give the grizzled warrior deep emerald or hazelnut eyes?”). Highlight the passage for future review and move on.

#6: Prioritize for You. Lastly, we all choose what to prioritize. At different stages of your life, writing may not be the most important thing. That’s ok. Again, doesn’t mean you’re not a writer. Remember that nothing takes that from you, but sometimes we value things differently over time—especially once we realize how short it is! However, if you’re not prioritizing writing, then it won’t get done. It’s a simple fact. Make a realistic commitment to your writing and then guard it fiercely. Some people want to become the next New York Times Best Seller. Others just want to make sense of things. Know what your goal is as a Writer, and then make your peace with it.

Looking forward to your next work of sleep-deprived greatness!

August 2022 Book Review: The Last Story of Mina Lee

The Last Story of Mina Lee

By Nancy Jooyoun Kim

~Book Review~

LIFE CAN END abruptly and leave us with too many words left unspoken, too many questions we should have asked but never did. In present day, Margot Lee travels to Koreatown, Los Angeles and discovers that her mother has died under mysterious circumstances. After growing up constantly at loggerheads with her mother who was first generation Korean and never seemed to understand Margot’s American life, Margot sets off to pick up the pieces of who her mother really was. Lush and moving, this first novel of Nancy Jooyoun Kim bridges the divide between mother and daughter with alternating perspectives of their lives in America—one accepted, and the other caught between worlds.

The writing is easy and introspective, capturing the sense of regret and reflection in both Margot and her mother, Mina, as they ponder what could have been. Mina’s chapters are the most engaging as we watch her evolve from timid to taking a stand, and both perspectives capture how isolated and apart they are, no other family except for each other. Kim builds each chapter’s closing to great effect, such as revealing the tragedy Mina left behind, and she shows how the outcome of North and South Korea’s split impacted families for generations.

Margot is joined in her investigation into her mother’s death by an engaging friend Miguel, and Kim does a great job illustrating the mix of Chicano and Korean cultures interfusing on the LA scene. By and large, food plays a central part, and I’ve never finished a book so hungry—whether it is Mina, reminiscing about the past over a bowl of jjigae, or Margot, digging into the traditional cuisine and realizing how much it reminds her of her mother, the dominant role food plays in bringing people together is excellently portrayed:

“Once the meat had browned, Margot laid pieces on Miguel’s plate, like her mother would’ve done, before serving herself. A heaviness gathered in her chest. She wrapped a bite of warm white rice, soft pork belly, and ssamjang in a red lettuce leaf, still wet, and crammed it into her mouth.” –page 127

Overall, a reflective beach read that will certainly make us all reach out to our loved ones and let them know how much they mean to us. It captures the sentiment perfectly that as you grow, the more you understand the choices your parents made.

Recommended for fans of: Unknown! A genre outside my usual wheelhouse :) 

Backpacking Ozette Triangle: Sandpoint - Washington State, USA

BEACH DEER? SEA STACKS? Tidal pools & tire swings?

The Ozette Loop (9 miles round trip) on the peninsula of Washington State offers fantastic beginner backpacking trips or car camping at the Lake Ozette trailhead. Drive 81 miles west of Port Angeles, leave your car at overnight parking and embark on a short journey via boardwalk through coastal rainforest and skunk cabbage to a gorgeous coast full of finds for the curious explorer.

There are two trails that fork from the Lake Ozette campground trailhead. One goes north to Cape Alava/Wedding Bells area, where if you look closely enough, you can spot petroglyphs on rocky coastal crags. Walking along the coast south from Cape Alava can get dicey with slippery rocks, and since our party had an infant with us, we chose the other fork, the Sandpoint Trail. This is 3.0 miles one way to the beach, and then there are numerous campsites to choose from along the tree line or right on the beach. First come, first served, and if you time the weather right, you’ll get some of the best memories of beach camping.

I highly recommend camping near the water source: Wish Creek. After the Sandpoint trail, you break out onto the beach and walk south around the headland for about half a mile more to find it. The stream is tea-colored in appearance due to the leaves, and my husband swears it tastes like iced tea, too! You won’t want to add a lemon, though; make sure to bring your water filter, and the Park Service recommends boiling the filtered water, too.

We had an infant, and so we brought enough liquid Similac bottles and pouch baby food to last the trip. That way we didn’t have to worry about sanitizing bottles and burning through our fuel. The dirty diapers definitely added the most weight. One thing about backpacking at the Ozette Loop is you have to keep all of your food and smelly stuff like deodorant or delightfully pungent baby diapers in bear canisters. For a two night, three day trip, we got away with using two bear canisters. You can borrow them at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles or buy your own. Stopping at the Visitor Center on the way in is recommended either way to check the weather conditions, get tips, and buy a National Parks Pass if you haven’t already. Backpacking requires a permit, and you can now print it out ahead of time. It’s kind of confusing, but here’s how you reserve a Backpacking Permit for this area:

·         https://www.recreation.gov/permits/4098362

·         Click “Check Availability”

·         Select “North Coast”

·         You’ll see different North Coast peninsula beaches and can choose to camp at Cape Alava, Sandpoint, or South Sandpoint. Avid backpackers may plan a longer trip down to Yellow Banks/Norwegian Memorial, but you’ll want a tidal guide to safely cross the headland

 

It wasn't all butterflies and rainbows. We did get caught in the famous coastal rain one night. We'd made the mistake to put a large tarp under our tent, which was great for keeping the sand out of the tent, but not-so-great at fending off the pooling rainwater. It collected under our tent and started leaking! Thankfully we were blessed with sweet sunshine the next day and were able to dry everything out. We switched for a smaller tarp and barricaded the sides with branches as well to divert water flow. If you have a tent with a built in tarp, that's likely best- and less weight.

Overall, our campsite was a top-notch pick. All of them are very well maintained, some coming with makeshift benches, there are even pit toilets, and the bugs weren’t bad in late May, even in the forest. We were right on the beach and our little one loved exploring the rocks and driftwood fortresses. We took her exploring and spent hours in the sun zigzagging up and down the sandy shores, hiking up a dramatic bluff at the Sandpoint headland which is home to several “beach deer,” and poking around tidal pools. We traversed further south and crossed larger streams; there was a dead baby orca that had washed up toward South Sandpoint, which was sobering.

Some of the South Sandpoint campsites hide higher up in the cliffs, but one, to our delight, even had a tire swing over the river. You never know what you’ll find out here; there’s always little sea treasures or backwoods paths to explore, and whenever the sun comes out in the Pacific Northwest, it makes the entire sea glitter. Sunset at Sandpoint was gorgeous, with cathedral-soft sun rays dancing over the far shores and dramatic orange brilliance showering you from the north. Granted, with our infant, we were all snug in the tent before it finished setting, but from past trips, seeing the awesome breadth of the star-studded firmament over the ocean at night is stunning. If you can catch a comet or meteor shower out here, it will be downright magical!

We’re already looking forward to our next trip. This has always been a favorite area of mine from childhood, and I'm eager to see our little one make more memories of her own here.

The above is depicted as fiction, not fact.

 

 

Foundation (Season 1) – Apple TV – TV Series Review

**Warning, Spoilers!**

 

A WORLD CONSUMED BY RISING TIDES is now eerily at peace, giant manta rays swimming among submerged ruins; above, dramatic planetary rings arch through the sky like rainbows. This image is just one of the many sensory treasures that awaits you in Apple TV’s ambitious adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. It’s a slow-moving epic that spans centuries. Characters go to sleep in space pods and wake up light-years from where they began, space-jumping ghost ships can be harnessed as planet-destroying weapons, and a small collective toils on the Outer Reach, striving to protect the knowledge of civilization before the prophesized thirty-thousand years of darkness falls—foretold not be a priest, but by psychohistory professor Hari Seldon, who can, through the galaxy’s most complicated math problem, predict actions of the masses.  

I am a newcomer to Asimov, and from word ‘round the net, series creators David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman introduced many of their own elements, such as the Galactic Empire being ruled by the Genetic Dynasty, clones of the original Emperor Cleon, so that stability may always be preserved. There are three clones awake at any given time: the young boy “Dawn,” the middle-aged “Day,” and the elder “Dusk,” who rule with an iron fist. Early on, they punish perceived terrorists who destroy the Star Bridge by destroying half of their home worlds. “Must we choose this?” young Dawn Cleon asks Demerzel, the last intelligent robot in the galaxy sworn to protect Empire at all costs.

“No,” she replies, played with eerie icy brilliance by Finnish actress Laura Birn, “but you always do.”

Lee Pace gives a captivating performance as middle-aged Brother Day, the Cleon at the height of his power. We get to see him play various clone versions throughout the years, and despite being a stone-cold bastard, Pace wins sympathy through his journey in the hellish Spiral and his redeeming relationship with teenage Dawn, whom he comes to see as a son despite signs that Dawn’s genetic code has been tampered with.

The rebellion against the Genetic Dynasty is led by Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and his unknowing accomplices, genius mathematician Gaal Dornick (gender-swapped from the books, played by Lou Llobell) and Seldon’s adopted son Raych (Alfred Enoch). It’s really cool to see a character like Gaal have a math superpower, and there’s one neat scene where she wakes up on a strange ship that won’t tell her their destination and yet through a series of “twenty questions,” she’s able to use astronomy to figure out where she is.

Layered on top of Hari’s prophecy that the collapse of civilization is imminent is a futuristic plot where Hari’s followers, exiled to the Outer Reach world Terminus, try to preserve society’s knowledge. However, a mysterious vault hangs in the sky, spreading a “null” field that paralyzes anyone who comes too close. The only one who can withstand the null field is Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey), the warden of Terminus who possesses the uncanny ability to predict events. The vault’s true purpose, Hari’s secrets, and Salvor’s heritage all collide with the Galactic Empire’s past war crimes against the Outer Reach planets when vengeance-seeking Anacreons take Terminus by storm. Again, we get a riveting performance from Grand Huntress Phara (Kubbra Sait), furious at being framed for past terrorism that shattered her family and home world.

It's a television series that you really have to pay attention to, but those who do will be rewarded with the rich world-building, twists, and entangled plots. The series doesn’t answer some questions like who really destroyed the Star Bridge (my money is on Demerzel) and what Hari is up to on his home world with the second Foundation, but I loved the creativity and vivid scenery. You really feel like you’re on a space adventure, and although some efforts fall flat (hard to get invested in the romances), there’s so many cool snippets of worlds, creatures, and the details of traveling in space that it’s utterly immersive. Now that the groundwork has been laid out, I predict the ensuing seasons will be unstoppable!

Foundation is streaming on Apple TV. 

The Wheel of Time (Season 1) - Amazon Prime - TV Series Review

 

Warning! Spoiler Alert!

 

I remember being introduced to Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time book series by my mother. She wasn’t a diehard fantasy fan by any means but kept an ear to the ground. The Redwall Series, The Belgariad, The Chronicles of Prydain, The Death Gate Cycle—I had devoured all of these and wasn’t afraid of a new epic fantasy.

How little did I know!

What would happen was I, like countless other Wheel of Time fans, would get sucked into the lives of Rand, Egwene, Matt, Nynaeve, and Perrin, and then ten more characters, and then ten more, until it was impossible to keep track of all the braid tugging without a fully illustrated map and several books of genealogies. However, I still remembered the magic of the first few books in the series—Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, still had a soft spot for the main characters sans Egwene, and it’s impossible not to admire Jordan’s creativity and richly layered world-building in the Aes Sedai, the Forsaken, and the Aiel.

The Wheel of Time is a classic high fantasy in which The Dark One and his enemy, the Dragon, face off in a cataclysmic struggle that ends up destroying the world and the male half of the One Power is tainted with madness. The Dark One is sealed at the Eye of the World until the Last Battle, at which the Dragon will come again and either defeat or join him—thus dooming the world. As such, only women can channel the One Power without succumbing to madness, and a powerful order of mages arises, called the Aes Sedai, who advise kingdoms and “gentle” men who can channel before they go mad. Moraine Sedai, of the Blue Ajah order, finds five young folk in the quiet mountain village of the Twin Rivers, who are each important to the Pattern. One of which is the Dragon Reborn.

So how did Amazon Prime do with The Eye of the World, a whopping 782 pages?

The Wheel of Time isn’t Game of Thrones (it is pretty funny seeing Roose Bolton show up as Rand’s dad, though). I love that it’s little known actors, but they have a long way to go to be capable of commanding the screen with the charisma and star power of Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, and Lena Headey. This is more like Chronicles of Shannara, but where Wheel excels is the excellent world building foundation that Jordan has laid. The scenery is beautiful. Trollocs, the Fade, the Darkfriends—all well done. I love the actors playing the villainous Padan Fain, Logain, and  Eamon Valda—they all seem like they’re having a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the main cast. There isn’t enough time spent on building the core group’s bond to really care about them, and I can see how someone without the book background knowledge would fight through tedious episodes of walking and serious talks lacking chemistry. Nynaeve, for example, is one of my favorite characters in the book, but here she just is missing fire and presence. Perrin, too, is incredibly wooden. Ironically enough, Egwene, who irritated to me to know end in the books with her insufferableness—was fine in the television series. Rand, I’ll give it, is very Rand, but the actor has a ways to go to give the character depth. Mat didn’t have that roguish charm. They opted to give him a dark edge, but that missed the point that Mat was supposed to bring the levity, the fun. Rosamund Pike as Moraine was spot on perfect, though.

So there you have it—there is a lot of unevenness in the acting levels of the cast and the pacing of the series. There are moments that are really well done, like hiding from the Trollocs in the dark city of Shadar Logoth. This is a place with a fascinating history about a people who hid from the world so much that their isolation and hate finally ate them alive. I liked the White Tower and what we’ve seen of the Aes Sedai so far. However, it’s a tough sell when the supporting cast are more interesting. The season finale, especially, was disjoined and started trying to add too much with the arrival of the Seanchan.

You can tell there was a lot of attention paid to ensuring a diverse world, but the television series starts to make the same mistakes as the books by getting distracted with side characters. It doesn’t build up enough sympathy for Rand, who is the titular character and driving force in the series. An interesting direction to go, but honestly, as a fan of the book series, I identified with Rand as the hero thrust into this world of politics and raising an army the most. By trying to redo the angle and perspective of the story, the television series risks alienating the most sympathetic characters that kept readers coming back to the book series for even after it spanned well over ten books. I wanted to see what happened to the "wool-headed" Rand, Nynaeve, and Mat (and Demandred, because I am a big Forsaken fan).

The rest of the hundreds of characters who show up are just momentary weaves in the Pattern.

Season 2 of The Wheel of Time is in production.

Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters V) Book Description

HAPPY 2022! Wishing you peace and prosperity wherever you are. Kicking off the celebration of the new year, I'm excited to share the book description for Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters V). Familiar faces, new mythologies, and a murder mystery create the heart of this penultimate installment in the Changeling Sisters Series, coming early 2023:

XIBALBA IS RISING.

The Alvarez and Yong siblings have saved Seoul from a zombie apocalypse, but a murder close to home reveals the terrifying truth that the Death Gods are far from finished. Citlalli, Raina, and Miguel team up with Rafael and Khyber in a dark and convoluted investigation that will take them deep into the Central American peninsula, into the heart of the Maya underworld itself. Citlalli and Khyber’s newfound romance faces the ultimate test when Khyber is summoned to be King of the Vampyre Court, forcing him to choose once and for all his allegiance to the living or the dead.

Meanwhile, dragon shapeshifter princess Sun Bin is welcomed into the high-powered tech world of Saja Corp with promises of finding her missing brother and saving Nyssa from her divine captor. However, while the research into the viruses that created the Were Nation glitters brightly, underneath lurks a deadly secret, one that could spell ruin for life itself.

As Changeling Sisters across the globe unite to stop the catastrophic rise of Xibalba, the spirit world of Eve can no longer bury the sins of the past—and the world may well drown in them.