Fall 2011 Anticipation List!

So this weekend is Labor Day and we’ve reached the autumn of another year. The leaves are starting to turn, the temperature is getting cooler by the day. Trees are asking for you to sit beneath them on a wooden bench with the latest novel, or perhaps it's a tad too cold out and a roaring fire and a warm hot chocolate beckons you instead. At any rate, the Fall is the second biggest book release time after Spring and so I've compiled a smallish list for you all.

From my initial Anticipation list earlier this year a number of titles have dropped (and subsequently been devoured) and their receptions have spread across the board ratings-wise VIA Chris and myself.

So let’s look forward the Fall/Winter releases and see which titles we are still waiting for and which have been added freshly to the list that we didn’t previously know about.

 THE NIGHT CIRCUS – Erin Morgenstern (September 13^th, 2011)

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

This one has oodles of ridiculously positive buzz so I am super excited to read it.

 ALLOY OF LAW – Brandon Sanderson (November 8^th, 2011)

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds. Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice. One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.  After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

Sanderson. Mistborn. Nuff said.

THE DEATH OF KINGS – Bernard Cornwell (September 29^th, 2011)

As the ninth century wanes, England appears about to be plunged into chaos once more. For the Viking-raised but Saxon-born warrior, Uhtred, whose life seems to shadow the making of England, this presents him with difficult choices. King Alfred is dying and his passing threatens the island of Britain to renewed warfare. Alfred wants his son, Edward, to succeed him but there are other Saxon claimants to the throne as well as ambitious pagan Vikings to the north. Uhtred‘s loyalty – and his vows – were to Alfred, not to his son, and despite his long years of service to Alfred, he is still not committed to the Saxon cause. His own desire is to reclaim his long lost lands and castle to the north. But the challenge to him, as the king’s warrior, is that he knows that he will either be the means of making Alfred’s dream of a united and Christian England come to pass or be responsible for condemning it to oblivion.

The continuing story of Uhtred is a no-brainer purchase. I LOVE Cornwell’s work.

 SNUFF (Discworld #39) – Terry Pratchett (TBA-Fall 2011)

According to the writer of the best-selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.
And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.
He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, and occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.
They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.  But not quite all...

A New Watch novel starring Sam Vimes? Yep. So there.

 THE COLD COMMANDS – Richard Morgan (October 2011) 

Ringil Eskiath, scarred wielder of the kiriath-forged broadsword Ravensfriend, is a man on the run from his past and the family who have disowned him, from the slave trade magnates of Trelayne who want him dead, and apparently from the dark gods themselves, who are taking an interest but making no more sense than they ever have. Outlawed and exiled from his ancestral home in the north, Ringil has only one place left to turn Yhelteth, city heart of the southern Empire, where perhaps he can seek asylum with the kiriath half-breed Archeth Indamaninarmal, former war comrade and now high-up advisor to the Emperor Jhiral Khimran II. But Archeth Indamaninarmal has problems of her own to contend with, as does her house guest, bodyguard and one time steppe nomad Egar the Dragonbane. And far from gaining the respite he is seeks, Ringil will instead find himself implicated in fresh schemes and doubtful allegiances no safer than those he has left behind. Old enemies are stirring, the old order is rotted through and crumbling, and though no-one yet knows it, the city of Yhelteth is about to explode.

Currently, I am on the last 100 pages of the first book THE STEEL REMAINS and absolutely being blown away by it, so consider me stoked for the sequel.

So that’s a few of the ones I am really looking forward to coming up. What are some of yours?

TV Review: Doctor Who - Let's Kill Hitler

On Saturday night I was happy like you would not believe. My favourite show, DOCTOR WHO, (that had been flagging a bit this series so far, and was capped off with a mid-season finale that was less than stellar to say the least) had returned after its hiatus.

Last week I spoke about how I felt that the decision to split Series 6 into two halves was a silly one, and on the weekend I was proven utterly, undeniably correct.

The 8^th episode of the series (and technically a mid-series premier as well) LET’S KILL HITLER was not only good, but it was in fact fantastic. It is no secret that I disliked the 7^th episode, A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR, and to have been left hanging on that mid-series finale for so long was torturous as it gave me time to voice my grumbles aloud and generally be frustrated. That said, had LET’S KILL HITLER run the very next week instead of nearly 3 months later I would never have had a chance to be upset because episode 8 was so entirely splendid throughout. 

At any rate, had you been worried about the show this Series, rest assured that LET’S KILL HITLER is WHO back in fine form and taking names.

At length, Chris and I previously babbled about Moffat’s writing skill at the quieter episodes (and that he wasn’t great at the big spectacle episodes), referencing the lackluster A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR…but I am pleased to say that Moffat has upped his game and in this episode he has managed the spectacle of a big set-piece (also period piece) episode, while also creating an inherently quiet and dramatic one. The script had excellent energy in it and so much to enjoy. It had fan nods, timeline trickery and fun, big explosions, creepy killer jellyfish machines, Nazi’s, Hitler, the Doctor’s new long green coat, the Doctor’s tuxedo, robot spacecraft, great fun info dumps of stuff about River Song and The Doctor both, but you want to know what it had above all else? ANSWERS. Yes you find out who River Song killed, yes you find out more about who she is, and you actually find out an answer about something people have wondered about since the Series 4 ep THE FOREST OF THE DEAD, you get more info about Amy and Rory’s childhood and also answers to things from the premier two-parter. We get mention of the Silence and what exactly it is and how that ties into Melody Pond (River) being wanted for murder and having been trained since birth for that. Lastly, yes there is a nod to the old companions and while it was quick and simple, it was heartfelt and compelling to who the Doctor is now and his emotions. This episode had a number of absolutely brilliant one-liners, a lot of which are uttered by both Rory and the Doctor.  One of Moffat’s skills as a writer is making an episode as dramatic or emotional as he wants and yet still keeping a bit of the lightheartedness this show is known for. Characters sling one-liners around like nobody’s business and they are always great.

The acting in LET'S KILL HITLER, it should be noted, is top notch. I think Arthur Darvill’s Rory especially (who I’ve never really warmed to before) came to the fore in this episode and made me pay attention, for many reasons not the least of which was punching two different people in the jaw. He was genuine, funny and stalwart. Dare I say it…I think we may have finally put Rory into the soldier role that Mickey eventually inhabited after his stint on the Cybermen-infested Alt-Earth in Series 2. He became badass and I think we are seeing Rory take up that mantle not a moment too soon. Amy gets to play herself and also a version of herself as a robot and that second version really showcase’s Karen Gillan’s acting skills. Watching her as a robot with only really her mouth opening and closing over lines was impressive…she LOOKED like a robot and not Amy at all and it was one of the most believable bits in the whole episode. I was really knocked over by that. Alex Kingston’s River Song was River Song. She doesn’t change much as a character, though here we DO get to see one of the earliest incarnations of her and she is rather fun as usual. I think she’s best when she’s interacting with the Doctor as their conversations simply always shine. Matt Smith. Well after episodes like THE DOCTOR’S WIFE we KNOW that Smith can play the Doctor with a significant amount of emotions and I was hoping beyond hope that in the next few episodes we’d see more of him emoting like he did there. We know he is a revelation in the role of The Doctor. He’s funny, spindly, manic, sometimes even completely madcap, and in LET’S KILL HITLER you will get that in spades. However, you will also get to see more emotion from Smith and it’s actually SO well done that I think he gives Tennant a run for his money on the emotional scenes. It was lovely, heartfelt, and blindingly well-acted. I’d love to see more and I really like that it’s a balanced thing and it’s not all one or the other. He plays the whole range and it really shows us all why he was chosen for the role in the first place. There’s a number of side characters in the episode and while I don’t want to talk much about them so as not to spoil anything plot-wise they are all well acted and I never felt like anything was hackneyed, or that anyone overacted their parts. I should also mention, however, that Caitlin Blackwood is back as young Amelia Pond and once again she absolutely steals her scenes. She embodies grown-up Amy so well, and was absolutely splendid yet again.

So like I said above, in LET'S KILL HITLER you have a big, spectacle episode, with a layer of quiet tones over-top of it and Moffat makes me shut my gob and retract what I’d said previously.

I will definitely buy this series on BluRay now based on this episode alone. That’s a big thing as previously I’d wondered whether I would or not. I think this one coheres what they had been attempting before and I can see why the split caused so much of my ire.

It was everything that WHO should be, scary, funny, light, dark, action-packed, informative and dramatic. It gave me plenty of answers to questions I had about characters and even about events earlier in this Series. It also throws part of the entire story-arc for Series 6 into a loop that I wasn’t expecting and makes for a new level of WTF-ery, but not one I am at all annoyed by. Moffat answered most of my major questions (ones I’d been bothered at having been teased about for so long) or at least gave me enough on them to move forward again. Now I have a whole fresh set of questions that are picking at my brain and it is wonderfully delicious feeling to have.

I feel totally sheepish. I should have had more faith. In Moff we trust right?

So there you have it folks, in one episode Moffat has restored my faith in DOCTOR WHO and made me be excited to watch next week (Mark Gatiss’ NIGHT TERRORS episode which looks significantly creepy). I haven’t felt like this since Series 5, and it’s such a great feeling!

Sidenote: The special effects in this episode were EXCEPTIONALLY well done. I think they are always pretty good, but I think they went above and beyond here and smaller aspects of the show’s effects are so patiently attended to that I was really blown away by it.

Stay Tuned for next week’s review.

Book Review: THE REVISIONISTS - By Thomas Mullen

Terrorists, known as hags, are being sent back in time to prevent humanity’s greatest tragedies from occurring. But their misguided actions could ruin the perfect peaceful society that exists in the future. These disasters are key moments upon which this near Orwellian utopia will be built and they must be protected from interference.

Troy Jones is history’s beat cop.

Working for the Department of Historical Integrity, Troy’s beat covers Washington D.C. at the beginning of the 21st century. The town is a cross section of the world’s most influential people; foreign diplomats, ruthless businessmen, cagey intelligence agencies and private contractors all stalk the halls of power, a dangerous powder keg and an almost impossible temptation for anyone looking to change the course of history.

Tasha Wilson is a corporate lawyer having trouble with her conscience.

When Tasha’s brother dies in combat in Iraq she begins to question the work she does representing large faceless multinationals, who seem more concerned with protecting their bottom line than in protecting soldiers. Adrift and searching for meaning in her life she falls in with a group of radical activists who are seeking to bring the actions of these corporations under public scrutiny. Tempted by the thought of doing something positive with her life, Tasha leaks confidential information about a client to a newspaper reporter, putting her on a collision course with some dangerous Washington players.

Leo Hastings is a disgraced CIA agent making a living off of the government’s scraps.

Forced to ride a desk in the private sector Leo seems destined to spend the rest of his days researching internet cranks and low level threats. But when a chance encounter lands a prize asset in his lap he knows that this might finally be the leverage he needs to make him a player in the intelligence field again. .

I don’t think I’ve ever used the terms ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘searing’ in a review before. Be that as it may, THE REVISIONISTS is completely deserving of such praise, and more. It’s quite simply one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Sporting a slow burning set up, with a high stakes finish, the book lured me in with its promises of sci-fi derring-do but kept me hooked with its insightful and compelling character examinations.

And make no mistake, cover blurbs aside, this book lives and dies by the way author Thomas Mullen gets into the head of his characters. Set against the here and now backdrop of Washington D.C.’s hangover after nearly a decade of fighting wars in the Middle East, the book attempts to come to terms with the changing personality of a country who once purported to be the poster child for the free world. Mullen crafts personalities as mercurial as the times they purport to live in. There are no two dimensional straw men here. Instead Mullen dives into the contradictory nature of human beings, how our actions seldom live up to our ideals and how the people we become and seldom the people we set out to be.

Rich themes populate this story like wedding guests at an open bar, but none is more prevalent than the corrupting nature of knowledge. Eschewing easy answers for complex problems THE REVISIONISTS is a morality tale at its heart, a warning posted on the front of the mummy’s tomb that the endless search for information has a terrible price. Because, like Eve munching on an apple from the tree of knowledge, intelligence warps and corrupts the very people who acquire it. And once you obtain a new piece of information you are forever changed by it.

In the Orwellian future of Troy Jones this warning is made manifest. Knowledge is such a corrupting influence that access to historical records is forbidden, so that ancient grudges and conflicts might be forgotten. When family members pass away the government removes all trace of their existence, except for your memories, so that its citizens will not stay mired in the past that no longer exists.

When Troy travels to the early 21st century this overreaction seems quite reasonable. Here Troy observes nations and their peoples prepared to perpetuate the worst possible atrocities upon each other because they are unable to forget the transgressions of the past. To those that would misuse knowledge, ignorance would be more blessing than curse.

Throughout the book Mullen’s characters are forced into a state of near perpetual self examination as the information they come by begins to warp their very identity. Clarity and strength of purpose is lost until only confusion and chaos remains.

Mullen weaves together the seemingly disparate plotlines of these characters into a single cohesive narrative with style and grace. Sporting more than just a little William Gibson in his writerly DNA Mullen understands that the most interesting speculative fiction, which is what I guess we’re calling this stuff now, works best when the genre pageantry is left to lurk in the background and not dictating the plot beats of the story.

Crackpot Doctor Who: Series 6 Returns! Is The Best Yet To Come?

If you listened to our first Podcast over the past few days then you will know that Chris and I have talked, discussed, been annoyed by, thrilled by, frustrated by the first half of Series 6 of DOCTOR WHO.

Well, this weekend the Series will come back for the second half of its season, and it sounds like a few notable things will be happening and a few others merely hinted at. After having TORCHWOOD so entirely redeemed in my eyes by ONE episode (Episode 7), I find that my heart swells with the hope that DW will do the same. It’s not an “all is forgiven, give me back my WHO now please and I’ll be good” or anything, but I’d be lying if a few things I’ve heard about the forthcoming episodes, and some deep knowledge into the behind the scenes of the show’s previous seasons VIA Russell T. Davies & Ben Cook’s THE WRITER’S TALE (which I am currently reading) if I said I wasn’t a little hopeful.

So let’s start with the book. What I noticed first and foremost in the entirely readable book (chronicling Davies, Tennant and co.’s final full series and year of specials and what went into making them) is that the staggering amount of work involved in even getting a show like this to air. From week to week ideas are grandiose, but in the offing they get reduced by budget, scene editing, and script editing. It was strange to hear the amazing ideas that Davies had about each episode and what he wanted and then the reality of what could and couldn’t be done. Some complaints I might have had about certain episodes in Series 4 (for example) would be entirely washed away had they been filmed exactly how Davies and crew had envisioned them. The problem, a lot of the time, came down to budget. Sometimes episode budgets had to be cut by HALF. It kind of pisses me off in some respects because as awesome as Series 4 was, I am annoyed that the BBC didn’t give them more money to work with when the show was doing so well.

I go on and on, but the point of this is that the book really gives me major "how it's made" insight and that softens my stance somewhat on what Moffat is trying to do. Series 5 (as I stated in the podcast) was pretty damned fine throughout, but that Series 6 has real issues, and here is where I think we might be up for some hope, and the thing I’ve realized over the past few days:

Series 6 should NEVER have been split in two halves separated by the summer.

The wait is ridiculous and has basically alienated a number of fans who are not only feeling lackluster about stuff, but are left hanging on whether they are going to get paid off or not.

Perspective: Imagine if Series 4 had been split in two. You would have seen the amazing opener PARTNERS IN CRIME, the great but not mind blowing FIRES OF POMPEII, the interesting PLANET OF THE OOD and then the two-parter Sontaran THE POISON SKY & THE SONTARAN STRATAGEM which is lackluster to say the least (IMHO anyways). Then imagine there was a break for a few months, a totally pointless one. Would people would have tuned in come fall? Yeah but with probably a lot of the same problems I am having now with series 6. We would have had maybe 3 REALLY good episodes, and nothing of the overall story arc nods, with the exception of the quick Rose reveal at the end of 4.01. It would have pissed people off I think.

Now, let’s flip over to the second half of Series 4 shall we? When we come back it’s with the fantastic THE DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER, then the absolute blast that was THE UNICORN & THE WASP, followed by the incredible (Hugo Award nominated) two-parter THE SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY & THE FOREST OF THE DEAD, then the one two punch of MIDNIGHT (one of Davies BEST scripts, and Tennant’s BEST performances) and then TURN LEFT (which launched us into the ending episodes for the series and showed Catherine Tate’s incredible acting chops), and we cap off the season with the fan-nod-heavy, everything and the kitchen sink (but still totally excellent) THE STOLEN EARTH & JOURNEY’S END.

See anything there? Any trends? If you look at the first half of Series 4, it’s good, but not mind blowing (yet…) and the BEST of the series are in the second half where things are ramping up to the ending. This is not something that only happened in Series 4, you can apply it to both Series 3 and Series 2 with the same results.

So I think perhaps we’ve been unfair on Moffat so far in Series 6 and the culprit, and direction of our ire, ought to be whoever decided it was a bright idea (probably someone at the BBC) to split Series 6. If it hadn’t happened I still wouldn’t have enjoyed A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR much, but if LET’S KILL HITLER had aired the following week and so on and so forth continuing the rest of the series I would not have had the chance to formulate my opinion of a lackluster Series 6 (so far), as I would have gone running right into the rest of the episodes from week to week and perhaps the best episodes DO reside in the second half of Series 6.

So it is that I am hopeful, and of course will be chiming in early next week on what I think after WHO returns on Saturday night. The offshoot of this whole thing is it has given me not only insight into the work that goes into getting WHO on the air, but also other TV shows and so I’ve decided not to be as harsh. Especially on the Internet, as it can seem like piling on to those involved. This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop telling you what things I like and don’t, but I do think I’ll try to be as balanced in my TV reviews as I am in the book ones.

So let’s get to some of the forthcoming stuff. The long green coat the Doctor is wearing in promo material for the second half of Series 6 is apparently going to be new standard garb, which I am cool with cause all the coolest Doctor’s have had long coats. It always looks great when they are running flying out behind them. Good stuff.

The bigger rumor is that Rose, Martha and Donna all show up in some format (in LET'S KILL HITLER) and the notion is that they are there “to help” the Doctor. Whether that means short cameo’s by the actors, or as holograms or video's or some other cameo I don’t know and can’t speculate. That said apparently there were some Twitter’s by people who had seen early screenings of LET’S KILL HITLER and made cryptic statements like “I don’t want to spoil anything, but They’re Back!”…which could be anything from the Daleks or Cybermen to the aforementioned cameo’s by the previous companions. One thing should be noted: If Rose Tyler shows up I will cheer like some sort of insane madman and following that with Donna…what an amazing idea. What no Mickey?

The last episodes of the series will apparently be called THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG, and while I have attitude about the character (who I feel they spend too much time on), I am interested to see what happens and we’ve had confirmation that we will be told everything about the Doctor’s death on that Beach from 6.01 and that will be resolved as will everything about the Song mysteries (who she killed ect.), so at the very least it seems like we will have a clean slate going into Series 7 (or a mostly clean one). There’s rumors about who the new companion will be in Series 7 (as it sounds as if the Ponds will take a more earthbound helperly role) but I don’t want to get into that since previous early companion guesses have turned out to be silly.

Some good stuff on the horizon and yeah as I careen towards the weekend I find myself more forgiving of Moffat’s current WHO series and hope that our MIDNIGHT’S, SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY'S and JOURNEY’S END’S are yet to come.

Series 6 of DOCTOR WHO returns on Saturday August 27th, 2011 with LET'S KILL HITLER.

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode Seven (Immortal Sins)

Look, you’re just going to have to suspend your disbelief for a second and go with me.

TORCHWOOD has redeemed itself.

Now if you’ve sat through my bitching and moaning over the last couple weeks you’re probably well versed in my thoughts on why the show has failed to catch on in its hybrid-American incarnation.

Poor performances, weak scripts, endless exposition, excruciating pacing and a host of other problems have combined to kill the show with an abundance of little cuts.

But this week the show managed to put aside everything that wasn’t working and focus on some of the untapped strengths of TORCHWOOD that have been rarely explored this season, namely the acting strengths of its original cast members.

Immortal Sins alternates between the current storyline, set in the present, and one of Jack’s solo adventures in the late 1920s.

In the here and now Gwen kidnaps Jack in order to trade him to the mysterious organization behind the Miracle in exchange for her family. Although determined to deliver Jack she’s clearly torn between family and her loyalty to Torchwood.

The bulk of this episode takes place in the late 1920s. After a misunderstanding Jack falls in with Angelo, a recent Italian immigrant, and the two of them decide to find a rent a room together. Sexual tension builds between the two men before they finally give into their feelings.

Jack brings Angelo along with him to a local church as he makes a contact with a local priest who is supply him with sacramental wine to sell for a little extra money. The proto-bootlegging scandal earns them the attention of some local mafia type, with a mysterious job for Jack.

It turns out the mob boss is hiding a parasitic alien life form which he intends to use to use on Franklin Roosevelt. Jack kills the alien and disrupts the plan but not before getting himself killed (temporarily) and Angelo caught.

When Angelo is released from jail he’s wary about falling in with Jack again since he knows the man is no longer strictly human. Angelo becomes convinced Jack is the devil and kills him (temporarily). Before he can be resurrected Angelo ties Jack up and starts to show his Lazarus routine to other people in the neighbourhood. Soon Jack is reviled as a demon and he is killed over and over and over again by a frightened populace.

Angelo regrets his decision and frees Jack, begging him to run away together. Jack refuses and leaves by jumping off the side of a building, preferring to kill himself (temporarily) rather than stay with Angelo.

This episode has it all. It’s a complete stand alone story that still manages to further the overall seasonal plot arc. Which is a welcome change of pace, considering that MIRACLE DAY is big on set up and awfully thin on resolution.

The whole episode is really an actor’s wet dream. Jack’s relationship with Angelo is handled with delicacy and style. Portraying a homosexual romance is still a rarity on television of any stripe and to see a genre program like TORCHWOOD handle it with grace and composure is refreshing.

Barrowman gets to prove he’s more than just a strutting peacock, preening and joking around whenever possible. Instead, while exploring his relationship with Angelo and his unexpected betrayal, Barrowman gets to show a vast range of emotion, from tenderness and vulnerability to a man on the brink of madness.

Betrayal and heartbreak are two themes that are frequently intertwined in this episode. TORCHWOOD has always been the more adult offering in the Who-vian universe, but while the Doctor always seems to come away relatively unscathed from encounters with the deadliest of opponents, in TORCHWOOD similar encounters always seem to end in tragedy. What makes this contrast even more painful is that here Jack draws a direct comparison between him and the Doctor, striving to live up to his example, even going so far as to mark Angelo as his Companion, but failing to live up to the Timelord’s impossible standards.

If Jack gets all the big emotive pieces then Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper gets to paint her own masterpiece in an understated, but no less impressive, fashion. Gwen’s struggle to keep her emotions in check and to justify her own betrayal of Jack is writ large in the smallest of gestures. It might not be as showy but it is just as effective.

TORCHWOOD has done so many things right in this outing that you can’t help but wonder why all the previous entries have gone so far off track.

The greatest change is the construction of the show’s narrative framework. They’ve finally introduced drama and style into a show that all too often has a propensity to just play it straight and ramble on until the end credits show up. Now we get a three act story, with an escalating tension, a climax and even a resolution. I’m all for defining your own style, and decompressed storytelling has its place on TV. But when you understand and utilize certain basic principles of story and narrative you create a more interesting and enjoyable end product and this Immortal Sins certainly proves that theory.

With this episode TORCHWOOD has finally decided to use their characters properly. Each has been given their own set of easily defined goals and objectives, with high stakes at play for all involved. But more importantly, the outcome of many of the stakes were resolved by the end of the episode, instead of being put over to be dealt with on a future show. How novel! And the questions that are left unanswered only serve to build the suspense for further episodes.

With Immortal Sins TORCHWOOD’s creators have finally given us just enough to leave us wanting more.

What took them so long?

P.S. If I had to crab about one thing it would be the wildly inappropriate and jarring musical choices that continue to populate this show. Seriously, if I’m paying more attention to the music then I am to the story then there’s definitely a problem with one of them.

P.P.S. A surprise cameo by Nana Visitor? You had me at hello…

Bookcrossing.com - All sizzle, no steak

Bookcrossing.com is exactly the kind of website that would appeal to someone like me. I first stumbled across this site, or one very like it, about ten years ago. But it wasn’t until the last couple months that I’ve actually had the time or inclination to play around with it first hand. The website operates like a giant swap meet. Users register their old books online, with a personalized id number, and then release them into the wild, preferably in a public place, for the unsuspecting public to pick up and read.

The idea is that once the new owner has finished reading the book they’ll record their find at the website and then pass it along themselves, sort of like a giant chain letter without any of the suck attached.

The allure of something like this is the opportunity to pay it forward. If you’re like me you’ve got a huge collection of books that you constantly have to prune to a manageable size. And yes, while you could make periodic trips to a used book store to unload some of your material, I think it’s more satisfying to know that someone else might be enjoying a particular book as much you did.

Unfortunately the hype doesn’t really live up to the reality.

The site's first stumbling block is the way in which books are assigned a personal id number. You can either buy pre-printed bookplates (10 for 8 bucks, plus shipping) or generate your own id number by using store bought labels.

Truthfully, I found both options to be a hassle. The price for pre-printed plates was too high and the shipping time was ridiculous. (I think it took close to a month for the bookplates to actually reach me.) Using store bought labels that I have to print out myself might be a cheaper solution but it still seems like a lot of extra work for something that, in theory, should be much simpler.

What the website should have is a personalized book number generator. Users can copy the number and site’s address into the book by hand. It might not look as pretty or be as informative, but it would be cheaper, faster and lower unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to people actually releasing books.

Another problem for me is that out of all the books I’ve released none have been registered on the site. That’s not the fault of Bookcrossing, that’s just human beings finding the book, not being as enamoured with the concept as I am and failing to register their find. Fair enough.

(Perhaps as a response to the hit or miss nature of a wild release Bookcrossing does offer you the option of doing a controlled release to an existing member.)

Anyway, the whole process has been less than satisfying. I plan on using the remainder of my bookplates in the hope that someone will pick up and register one of my releases. If that doesn’t work I can simply just release books on my own, without any id, and hope for the best.

And if I’m looking for a couple bucks, there’s always the used book store again.

Any Icebergians who’ve used Bookcrossing? Have you had a better experience with it than me?

The New 52 commercial

As far as commericals go, I've seen a lot worse.

But the background music reminds me of a lost Audioslave riff for some reason.

Anime Wednesday: August!

It’s Wednesday again folks, and it’s a new month so here is a new ANIME WEDNESDAY for your eye-meat consumption.

I HAD intended to do up a full-fledged post this month about NEON GENESIS: EVANGELION focusing on the latest REBUILD films. I was also going to get into what it is that I find just so compelling about them. However, I haven’t had the chance to sit down with my Blu Ray copy of REBUILD 2.2 and I feel it would be better to save that post for next month, so look for an EVA-centric post coming in September’s edition.

For today I’ve decided to get to some things I have watched or been aware of recently and a few odds you may not have known about before as well.

First up. Makoto Shinkai’s brilliant 5 CENTIMETRE’S PER SECOND. First off I should be clear this is NOT your typical anime and the story is an odd beast, but Shinkai is definitely no stranger to odd structure in his films. The BEST way I can describe it is thus: You know those days when you are feeling nostalgic for something you love and you go hit up YouTube for a certain scene you love from a film or TV show that is either emotional, action packed awesome, or even just dramatic perfection? For example, I have watched the Not Penny’s Boat scene from Season 3 of LOST, or the Bad Wolf Bay scene of Series 2 of DOCTOR WHO episode DOOMSDAY, or Aragorn’s gooseflesh-inducing speech standing in front of the Black Gate of Mordor so many times! Well this anime is a story in 3 pieces and it’s as if Shinkai is aware of what is going to have the most impact on the audience so we get straight to the drama, the humour or the emotion and cut any excess fat so we are left with a sumptuous piece of meat to devour. Speaking of emotional impact, I was so drained after watching this film that it felt like I’d been punched in the gut. This is a film about love, first and foremost, and secondly it is a film about the connections people share regardless of their distances. Bottom line, do yourself a favour and if you haven’t yet seen it, find yourself a copy and enjoy. The other thing that I should note is that the animation is absolutely THE MOST GORGEOUS I have EVER seen. I can’t even explain how amazing this film looks throughout. The attention to detail is mind-blowing.

Secondly. An anime that was not even on my radar till very recently, but one I was pleasantly surprised by. K-ON! The story revolves around four Japanese high school girls who join Sakuragaoka Girl's High School's light music club to try to save it from being disbanded. However, they are the only members of the club. I’m no stranger to this type of day-to-day, living your average life style anime and I really feel that when the charm mixes with decent characters and the pacing is on, they can be some of the best stuff out there. Yeah this is a teenage comedy/drama and yeah it has the sensibility of something that is telling a story on that level, but it’s hard not to like the show. I think with this sort of show the danger (as a guy watching it) is that since it concerns 4 girls it might stray into romance territory, but like HARUHI SUZUMIYA before it K-ON! Manages to be slice-of-life instead and succeeds at being interesting enough to get lost in. I can only comment on Season 1 so far, but it was a blast to watch and I look forward to sitting down with Season 2. Anyone looking for something to replace the hole HARUHI left behind would be hard-pressed to find another school-based comedy/drama with as much deserving fan support as K-ON! seems to have behind it. Pleasant animation and fine attention to detail make it a blessing to watch and even the English Dub isn’t all that bad. Do yourself a favour and check it out if you haven’t yet.

Lastly today I’d like to talk about another recent find. Red over at The Little Redhead Reviewer actually turned me onto this one. STEINS; GATE, is a brain melty, funny, and time hopping anime. Look, all I need to do is quote the basic premise at you:

“Steins; Gate follows a self-proclaimed mad scientist named Rintarō Okabe who, along with his friends, manage to invent a microwave that can send text messages into the past, allowing him to travel between alternate worlds.”

I bet you are interested now aren’t’ ya? There’s not oodles I can say about plot without spoiling some things, but this is the first anime in a really long while to not only impress me, but cook by brain off with its crazy, but enthralling story. Episode one had me hooked, and by the time I was halfway through season 1 I was totally immersed in the world and …I’ll admit…between Rintaro, John Noble’s character Walter from FRINGE, and Professor Farnsworth from FUTURAMA…I kind of want to be a mad scientist too. Is that wrong? Ah who cares you will all bow down to my mad science! Mwwwahahaahahaha…..

Wait what?

Well, that’s it for this month. I hope I’ve given you anime fans some stuff to see if you haven’t yet, and if you already knew of these series and have already watched them I hope that I’ve pleased you with the knowledge that your viewing habits at least are in line with mine…and I mean truly what else could someone ask for?

Now where did I put that teleportation device…

TV Review: TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode Six (The Middle Men)

The problem with TORCHWOOD is that it manages to consistently fall flat on its face despite having so many good things going for it. I’m serious, its one of those shows I watch despite of itself, because it seems hell bent on sabotaging its own success.

Which is really asinine, because when you think about it, and let’s be honest I think about this kind of stuff far too much, as TORCHWOOD is broken down into its component parts its clear it’s got a lot going for it.

It’s sporting a dedicated showrunner with a proven track record, it’s carrying the banner of a proven nerd franchise with a ravenous fan base, a strong core cast in John Barrrowman and Eve Myles, a high concept story hook and Hollywood star wattage in Mekhi Phifer and Bill Pullman. With all these assets in their tool kit you’d think TORCHWOOD would have a better than average chance at making cult success. Instead the show has become shamefully unwatchable and made me into some sort of apologist in the process.

After every episode my wife turns to me and says “this is the show you’ve been waiting and raving about for so long?” And I’m left stammering and explaining with pitiful excuses like “its Captain Jack” and “but you should have seen CHILDREN OF EARTH?” We can all agree that CHILDREN OF EARTH was the show’s entertainment zenith, especially in comparison to the awkward fumbling that is MIRACLE DAY, but that doesn’t excuse the show’s meteoric fall from grace.

Because in spite of all the individual elements working it’s in its favour whenever the creators get together they apparently swirl these assets around to create a meal as unappealing as it is interesting.

TORCHWOOD first shot itself in the foot with its lacklustre pacing. After a passable premiere, which managed to set the stage for the season and introduce us to all the main characters, the show languished in a hellish swamp of needless exposition that must have killed any interest amongst casual or new fans. And when it finally got the point that TV is a visual medium where things actually happen it was too late. The narrative momentum was lost and it was impossible to muster the same enthusiasm for the show.

From a performance POV the American influence on TORCHWOOD is akin to hanging a millstone about its neck. For every Ernie Hudson or Marc Vann we have to take on Alexa Havins or a myriad of other performers more attractive than skilled.

(I mean seriously, if you were watching this week’s show did you catch the performance of the young woman playing the secretary? It may have been the smallest of day player roles but I was cringing when I had to watch her try to convince her boss that she’d been kidnapped by Torchwood. There’s wooden and then there’s petrified. I’ve heard tell that Hollywood is full of attractive people, surely there are some good actors as well?)

Budget seems to be a problem on the show as well. TORCHWOOD is a show rooted in big ideas and big sets and unfortunately the bulk of this season seems to be shot on repurposed industrial and commercial sets. Which means audiences are looking at lots of offices, sparsely decorated apartments and gloomily lit basements. TORCHWOOD needs strong visuals like human beings need oxygen, or some other overwrought analogy, and it’s hard to work up an interest in a show that too often looks like it was shot in the producers’ administrative offices.

Anyway, in this week’s episodes Torchwood fights back against the concentration camps, on both sides of the pond. Gwen manages to rescue her Dad, Rex gets revenge on the concentration camp director for killing his girlfriend and Jack does some digging into PhiCorp’s past. Jack’s conversation with the PhiCorp’s CEO seemed to play directly into my theory that the force behind Miracle Day is actually a sentient computer program (lotsa talk about ‘the system’ calling the shots) but the ‘scenes from next week’ segment at the end of the episode sort of poured cold water all over that.

As any FYI to any other viewers when I was at SDCC this year John Barrowman said that next week’s episode was the best TORCHWOOD material he had ever shot. He even guaranteed tears, so that’s something. Sadly, this season TORCHWOOD fans are all too familiar with tears and the gnashing of teeth.

Define Your Geekery!

Monday is behaving like a proper tool already today. I don’t have a review to post as I am currently mid-book (s), and I actually officially gave up on watching TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY after ep 5 (Chris will likely keep watching, so he hopefully will keep you updated on that front) as I was beyond unimpressed with the revamped show. So today being a bastard of a Monday I thought we’d have a little fun.

We don’t get as many comments as we’d like here and we love discussion, so why not do a post that would hopefully get people to chime in.

Thus I have invented:

Define Your Geekery

My geekery runs into various areas and categories. On a crappy Monday like today I like to remember all the stuff that makes me happy, thus effectively banishing Monday Blues. Some of this might be stuff you don’t know and some you might.

That said, it should be noted that yes, of course I like TV and Movies, but their definition would run into the “list” category and would be fairly boring to read about I assure you, so I won’t really touch on that.

Books. Well of course books! My book fetish is deeply rooted and has various branches. Most folk who know me are aware that I go to bookstores (be they Indigo/Chapters, or used book stores) on almost a daily basis. I most often don’t have anything specific I am looking for, but the act of being around books on that scale centers me. If I am having a bad day, going to a bookstore normally calms me down. I run my fingers along the spines, and I smell the paper everything is printed on.

The second branch of books and reading would be something that the world has taken to calling Book Porn. This is, in effect, photography of fantastic or unique or even classic libraries around the world. The Holy Grail of these would without a doubt be Jay Walker’s Library (above & Wired article @ link) on a quiet estate in New England, a stunning collection of books, but also of years of human imagination in the form of geek pop culture and historical knickknacks. Of note would be the fact that Walker wasn’t obsessed with collecting the First Edition’s of everything, and was more concerned with having the books on his shelf that he would want to read, collector monetary value seemingly mattered little to him. Thus is he a fellow after my own tastes. At any rate, there is a group of folk on the interwebz dedicated to photography of these amazing libraries, and on a daily basis there seems to be more and more. I literally salivate in a Pavlovian way whenever I see these photos.

Which brings me to a 3^rd branch of my Book Geekery. My own future Library. I have slowly (over probably the last 20 years or so) been building up my library content-wise. I am discerning when I choose what I keep and what is worthy of special note ect. One day these books will hopefully grace the shelves of a custom library. The ONLY thing I ever requested from my girlfriend about when we buy a house together is that one empty room will become the basis for my library, and that I would spend my money on it. Most guys have a Man Cave right? Well mine is simply going to be my library. Amongst books and mahogany shelves will dwell at least two big cushy chairs, hopefully one desk for writing, and numerous odds and ends for display (some of which I have already). Par example: I have two small suits of armour that were given to me, an old globe, a Wand replica from Harry Potter, and even a Dalek From DOCTOR WHO. I want old world classicism (like a wing in the Royal Geographic Society lounge circa 1920), mixed with some modern geekery and perhaps even a few modern comforts. That will be my Man Cave, and it will make me happy to not only work meticulously on making it superb, but also to one day pass the entirety of its contents along to my children. Is that a pipe dream? Probably. Will that stop me from dreaming about it and working towards it? Never.

Classical music. An aside: My father was raised by a difficult and stern disciplinarian (My Grandfather) who basically forced him to play the Violin as a child. This was an activity that he did not particularly enjoy simply because my Grandfather apparently approached it with a fervor that could only adequately be described as religious. He was persecuted by schoolyard bullies for playing an instrument instead of playing sports, and even had his knuckles dragged along a brick wall till they bled so he couldn’t play. So while he has painful memories about the ordeal, his enjoyment of the classical composers remained with him. So in 1984 he took me to see AMADEUS in the theatre. I was a fan on that day and every one after. Obsessed with not only Mozart, but Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky and their ilk as well. This is something that I didn’t allow to flourish as a teen since I’d have gotten ridiculed for liking bands like NIN and Smashing Pumpkins, but also composers who had been dead for centuries. It wasn’t until my twenties that I really allowed my enjoyment of them out to play. Later in my early 30’s, joined by my equally Classical-loving girlfriend, I started to get out to see the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and watch these classics I’ve loved for years performed live. The TSO is now, a few years later, a regular outing for us. We find ourselves getting to hear perhaps various light classics on a Saturday Afternoon, or longer events like Mozart’s REQUIEM, or Vivaldi’s THE FOUR SEASON’S in their entirety on a Saturday night, dressed to the nines and following a sumptuous dinner.  A quirky note: One of my favourite things (in symphonies, musicals, opera’s or otherwise) about an orchestra is that few seconds before they play when they all tune up and there is that cacophony of mingled brass, string, wind and percussion. It gives me gooseflesh every time.

Traveling. One thing about my family has always perplexed me. My mother, father, step-people, and even my sister and her family don’t travel. They don’t get excited about traveling. They don’t really talk about it even when they return from a trip. They don’t plan anything on a yearly basis. It’s basically deemed a “getaway” and that’s it. They usually cite money as a reason, but all these family members spend their hard-earned coin on things for their houses, gadgets, or what have you. I never understood why they wouldn’t save a chunk each year (that they spend on random H&G stuff for the house) for a trip the following year and expand their horizons by seeing what this planet has to offer. It melts my brain in fact, since once you start traveling you realize just how huge this planet is and the wonders it can show you are entirely stunning. Alas, they don’t get excited, they don’t plan trips and they certainly haven’t gotten the “travel bug” from the trips they have gone on.

I’m a different bean. Perhaps I was found on a doorstep. Probably stemming from a childhood spent reading (and collecting) National Geographic magazines (at least until I would have needed a shed to store them in) I have always been absolutely fascinated by the planet we live on. I had never gotten to travel until recently simply because I didn’t have anyone to go away with. My girlfriend, on the other hand, is a traveling machine and she showed me the way to get the travel bug. I did. In spades, and have been to more places in the last 3 years than I have in my whole life. I’ve seen a 6^th Century Monastery in the emerald green hills south of Dublin, Ireland, I’ve wandered on the cobbled streets of steamy, modern Havana, had fresh fish for dinner on a wharf in Annapolis, Maryland, climbed to the top of a mountain in St. Lucia and gazed upon 14^th century cannons, walked down the chaotic Las Vegas strip and played the slots at the Bellagio, and even sat in awe of the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond in the Highlands of Scotland. I wouldn’t trade ANY of those memories for the world. They may seem like only a smattering of places, but the way I see it we are only getting started. Traveling for me is one of the most refreshing thing a person can do. It recharges you physically obviously, but I also feel that it does so mentally on a level that I can’t properly explain. I’m totally geeky about it as well. I buy the coolest daypacks that Osprey and MEC sell, the most durable hiking boots/shoes that I can find and all the little knickknackery that goes along with traveling. I want to feel like an explorer, seeing these things for the first time can be breathtaking and I want to experience like long ago explorer’s did (as much as one can in the modern world at any rate). When we are home, we are usually saving for and planning the next trip (in fact we have more than one in the queue now, one for next year and one for the following year as well) as we don’t like to sit idle too long. Is this proper geekery? Sure it is. I think that getting to see certain things has helped change my worldwide perception and made me more aware of other cultures and lives, but it also fulfills a dream that a little kid who would gaze wide-eyed at those thick yellow magazines and dream of seeing those places.

That’s it for my geekery today. While this is not all the geekery I subscribe to (I am afraid there are oodles of layers), it is a few of the significant things that make me who I am and why I try to bring you all interesting posts here so that perhaps I can help with your geekery as well.

What I would to see is for our readers to share their geekery or stories of geekery in the comments! come on folks, let us hear your wild and crazy nerdiness.

DOCTOR WHO minisode - Let's Kill Hitler

Despite the ho-hum way in which the last season went out, I'm still looking forward to this.

Book Review: Canticle (Psalms Of Isaak Book 2) - Ken Scholes

Title: Canticle

Author: Ken Scholes

Page Count: 496 Pages

Publisher: TOR

Come back to the Named Lands in this compelling sequel to Ken Scholes amazing novel Lamentation.

It is nine months after the end of the previous book.  Many noble allies have come to the Ninefold Forest for a Feast in honor of General Rudolfo’s  first-born child.  Jin Li Tam, his wife and mother of his heir, lies in childbed.

As the feast begins, the doors of the hall fly open and invisible assassins begin attacking.   All of Rudolfo’s noble guests are slain, including Hanric, the Marsh Queen’s Shadow.  And on the Keeper’s Gate, which guards the Named Lands from the Churning Waste, a strange figure appears, with a message for Petronus, the Hidden Pope.

Thus begins the second movement of The Psalms of Isaak, Canticle.

CANTICLE sat in my TBR pile for a long time. I read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book in Ken Scholes “Psalms Of Isaak” series, LAMENTATION, about two years ago. CANTICLE sat only because I had so many books come out and with beginning this site and all, it’s been a busy year. Not an excuse, I know. At any rate, I finally made time for this one and I’m quite glad I did.

Of Metal Men and Gypsy Heroics

The characters come alive a little more in this volume in the series. In the first book I feel that only Jin Li Tam, Petronus and Neb really get fleshed out at any decent level for most of the book, but here in CANTICLE all the other characters including Rudolfo, Lysias, and especially (Marsh Queen) Winters get significant time to grow and deepen. We learn Rudolfo’s fears about his infant son not to mention his upset about the Tam family’s involvement in his destiny which has levels and flavors to it. Winters story in this one is probably one of the most rewarding, as she spends time with her love Neb, then with her own people in the North, and finally alongside Jin Li Tam and the Gypsy Scouts as the true revelations about who is causing upset in the Named Lands begins to come to the fore. One character without a POV who I nonetheless REALLY liked was Gypsy Scout Captain (son of previous Captain Gregoric) Aedric. He is actually shaping up to be one of my favourite characters in this series. He’s got enough of his father in him whilst being his own man that I can’t help but be impressed by him. If you were concerned about the lack of depth to the characters in the first volume, then rest assured CANTICLE goes a long way to shoring up those inadequacies, putting most characters on an even keel. Isaak also rocks in this one just like he did in that last one, I mean I think Wert said it best when he coined the phrase "It has robot monks"! You can't go wrong with that.

Why Ye Torturous Dogs!

One thing everyone seems to mention when reading this book is the fact that one main character spends an inordinate amount of time being tortured by unknown tormentors. It’s fairly gruesome (but not to me, I’ve read Bakker, Abercrombie, and Morgan) and probably not for the faint of heart, but it’s not over the top and is dealt with in a respectable way. What’s really thought provoking is that Scholes has done this to this character to change said characters' mind about how things should work in the world. It’s impressive because of just how believable that makes it. In the real world changing someone’s mind that has been so set in their ways for a long time would take more than a little prodding, and this brings a realism to that change that I found quite refreshing.

Do you have any sevens? No? Go Fish.

The overall plot of the Psalms of Isaak moves forward a large amount in this book, but there are still more mysteries and new plot threads added to the fray as well. That’s a touchy thing though, simply because if an author keeps the reader completely in the dark for books on end it can become VERY frustrating. I think Scholes rides the fine line between giving too much away and keeping his secrets. Whilst playing his cards quite close his chest he still gives us enough to keep us interested not allowing us to want to give up on his narrative. That’s really good, if sometimes still frustrating because we want to know what's going on. There are more decades old machinations revealed here and things seem to have been set into place years ago. There is a fair amount more action in this book than the first. The opening action sequence at the Firstborn Feast is amazingly realized and a blast to read. There are other actions sequences sprinkled throughout, but the novel never loses its “slow burn” mentality that seems to be Scholes’ bread and butter. I like that this series is like that as it allows me to enjoy something wholly different in the fantasy genre.

Final thoughts

CANTICLE is a great follow-up to LAMENTATION. It builds on relationships in the world and events in that 1^st book. It takes a life of its own as well, visiting previously unseen places like The Churning Wastes and the Islands off the western coast. New factions come into play and the new evils are addressed. Prophecies and portents abound and Scholes revels in creating a work that has religious, historical and mysterious overtones that left me enthralled. Ken Scholes writes books who's greatness actually sneaks up on you when you aren’t paying attention and nips you in the ass.  After you finish you sit there a little stunned. Now, I’ve got to get my hands on a copy of the 3^rd book ANTIPHON and continue my journey through the Named Lands and The Churning Wastes, mechoservitor puffing and steaming at my side.

TV Review: TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Episode 5 (The Categories of Life)

This will be a spoilery review, so if you haven’t yet seen the fifth episode of MIRACLE DAY either stop reading now or resign yourself to having a couple key plot points blown.

Only five episodes in and TORCHWOOD has finally ditched the excessive expositionary talkie-talkie and delivered the audience some much needed walkie-walkie. The show rips the fledgling team apart and decides to run ‘as it happens’ 24-style concurrent plot lines rather than subjecting the audience to yet another yawn inducing team gabfest.

The government, along with some generous help from the pharmaceutical giant PhiCorp, has developed new guidelines defining what constitutes life and death after Miracle Day. (Which, when you think about it is really tricky in a world where no dies.) Anyone marked Category 1 (brain dead) or 2 (severely injured) is shipped off to an overflow camp set up to relieve the strain from overcrowded hospitals. The Torchwood team decides to investigate the camps. Gwen flies back to Wales to investigate the camp her father has been shipped off to while Rex, Vera and Esther take a closer look at the Los Angeles incarnation.

(I think we’ve come far enough as a TV going audience that when we’re shown ‘camps’ where they gather a lot of people together against their will then something really bad is going to happen. Overflow camp is only a hop, skip and jump away from concentration camp and we all know what that means.)

With everyone poking around in their own little corner of the globe the team becomes fixated on discovering what the mysterious hidden Modules, set up in each camp, are all about. Meanwhile Jack sets about tracking down Oswald Dane (yes, again) to try and convince him to use his position as PhiCorp’s spokesperson to reveal the truth about the Miracle Day to the world. Oswald rejects Jack’s offer and instead delivers a speech during a PhiCorp rally claiming Miracle Day is simply the next step in man’s natural evolution.

As the team gets closer to discovering the truth behind the modules Vera makes a fatal mistake, provoking the head of the L.A. camp into shooting her after she discovers he has been keeping sick patients in deplorable conditions. Since he can’t kill her his solution is to put her in one of the secret modules, which turn out to be full of terminally ill category 1 patients. Of course the modules are actually giant ovens designed to turn the comatose into ashes and TORCHWOOD gets to carry on one of its longest running traditions, gruesomely disposing of a member of its main cast.

I’d argue it was the wrong cast member, but your mileage may vary.

I like my sci fi with strong undertones of social relevance and Russell Davies never fails to deliver. His shows are never just about the surface storyline. There’s always a deeper meaning at play and MIRACLE DAY is no exception. This season comments on American health policy, the danger of capitalism when left unchecked, the power of the media, the allure of celebrity and a host of other social issues, which are woven into its onscreen DNA. It’s a bold choice, especially in the face of the unrelenting puffery put out by most American broadcasters. Yes, TORCHWOOD is trying to break into the American market, but it’s doing so by holding up a mirror to American culture and asking the audience to look long and hard at some of its excesses. The show exaggerates for the sake of entertaining the audience, but it doesn’t take a genius to peel back the narrative and spy the inspiration for the story points quivering underneath.

There are a couple plot beats from this week’s show that strains my credulity somewhat. It boggles the mind to suggest that PhiCorp thought they’d be able to keep giant Nazi style concentration camp ovens a secret for any length of time. I highly double after, what, a week without death, that anyone would settle for a population control solution which has roots in such a black time in human history.

But really, that’s TORCHWOOD’s entire reason for being. Showrunner Russell. T Davies isn’t here to hold your hand. When TORCHWOOD first started airing I was put off by the show’s excessive bleakness and depravity. Spinning out of DOCTOR WHO as it did I wasn’t able to reconcile it’s inherent darkness with WHO’s more lighthearted approach.

It didn’t help that Jack was constantly appearing on both shows, further muddying the thematic waters.

But I’ve come to appreciate TORCHWOOD on its own merits and realize that the show is able to take a more honest and critical approach than WHO ever could. If DOCTOR WHO exists to explore the nature of the universe and discover the best of what humanity as to offer; then TORCHWOOD is all about shining flashlights into dark and grubby holes and making sure we acknowledge our more destructive tendencies.

It doesn’t have the best snappy banter or fill us with warm fuzzies, but TORCHWOOD is that rare televisual beast, a show that tries to personify huge, difficult to define and unwieldy social issues into a rallying call for change from the viewing audience.

It doesn’t always work. It isn’t always enjoyable. But it’s always very necessary.

Book Review: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Title: The Black Prism

Author: Brent Weeks

Page Count: 640 Pages

Publisher: Orbit

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Brent Weeks thumped onto the scene with a fully written trilogy back in late 2008 and showed fantasy fans and publishers alike that his Night Angel trilogy was not only bankable, but a world fans would clamor for. Comparison’s to the Wheel Of Time notwithstanding, I enjoyed every last page of Week’s first series.

The First Try

I therefore was over-the-moon excited by the prospect of his new Black Prism series. So last August when it came out I scuttled out the store (What? I can scuttle…if I’m hung over) and bought a copy. It’s a funny thing to be so entrenched in an author’s world (Weeks Night Angel world) and then try to move onto another one they created that is totally different. In my case it usually staggers me into putting the book down. I will freely admit that’s my fault and not a good way to do things, but I still do it. So I got about 300 pages into THE BLACK PRISM and found it to be complex in magic system (coloured light turning into solids of various quality) and drawn out in character development. The characters were mostly baseline interesting, but protagonist Kip was…wishy washy (best I could come up with) and little had really transpired aside from getting Kip to the school where he would learn drafting (think Green Lantern’s constructs but multiple colours each becoming something different). It felt like the first ten minutes of Harry Potter…in 300 pages. I put the book down, as I wasn't getting into it, and vowed to return and finish it later on.

Try numero deux

A few weeks ago I finally picked the book back up. I had sworn when I put it down that Weeks was worth giving a second go. So I started off, and right away a fairly large twist dropped in the narrative…one I had missed hitting the first time by only PAGES… and already I was more impressed. It should speak volumes of Weeks' skill that I was so entirely blown cleanly away by the Night Angel series that I had trouble getting into this at first. So having known what I was walking into this time and having been 10+ months further away from my read of the Night Angel books, I was able to settle into the world MUCH easier. I knew the magic system now, and the characters and their motivations. So, the second half of the book was REALLY good. Like good enough that I am now salivating for the next volume THE BLINDING KNIFE. I'd had my opinion on the book completely changed!

Drafting? Like The High School class? That's where I played cards.

Yes, drafting. No, not the kind you remember from highschool. I doubt that old fuddy-duddy who taught you drafting in HS could manage this magic at any rate. Basically the magic system here is quite unique. The only other author recently who has used colour as magic is Brandon Sanderson (in WARBREAKER), so at the very least Weeks is keeping great company. Drafting is one of those things that initially was hard to grasp, but once I started thinking of it like GL’s ring constructs I got a better handle on it. So after that the sections where drafting was described in intricate detail were much more interesting and a bit easier to follow. Is it perfect? No. Weeks still seemed to veer into this territory where things were just not easily describable, so he’d say tube, ball, plank and pipe and you’d have to picture those things fitting together whilst also remembering all the different properties of the colours of Lux (the colour contructs) being used. That said, I definitely think I will be much more at ease with the magic system and how it fits into the narrative in the second book, but in book one they DO tend to be a bit tough. My advice is to stick with it though as it is worth the wait in the end as a really unique part of the Seven Satrapies world.

Gavin was the kid in my class who ate paste.

As for characters, after finishing the book I think that all the characters that appear most in the narrative are compelling, but I STILL can’t really get on side with Kip. He’s totally wishy-washy still, whether that’s by design or not I don’t know. My point is that identifying with a kid who can’t make up his mind half the time and has little in the way of conviction urks me as this kid is meant to be our view in this world. Gavin, Liv, Coravan, and Karris are all well realized and characters worth rooting for. Hoping that Kip improves in the next book and grows a pair, he’s certainly going to need it.

Baseballs to the face!

One thing Weeks does well is his twists. He throws them at you full force like a baseball to the face that cracks your skull and you usually don’t see them coming. The first one at the midway point was like that, and after that a certain character became WAY more interesting to read about and cast another in a completely different light. But he chucks a few more at you near the end of the book, one of which is a total cliffhanger, but not one that makes me angry about being hung on that cliff, just one that made my eyes go wide. The story in THE BLACK PRISM is one that takes a bit to get going, but once it does it begins to fire on all cylinders and the pace skips up to ten. By the time I finished I was ready to get stuck into the sequel, only to discover it has only recently been handed in by Weeks to the publisher. So it’s looking like a 2012 release and I’ve got a long wait.

Final Thoughts

Weeks imagination is boundless and as long as you can get out of your Night Angel Fedora and into your Black Prism Cap then you’ll do just fine. The prose is as good as it ever was, and Weeks has a way with chapters and progression that is equal to very few. This is a real page-turner once things get cooking in the second half. Full of incredible scenery, compelling events and a completely realized magic system THE BLACK PRISM ought to please most fantasy fans. The one thing I come away with is that GONE are the comparisons to WOT, and here Weeks has created a completely new animal, one that looks like it has the chance to flourish and thrive in a genre with so many authors competing for us nerds. A shouldn’t be missed type of book, THE BLACK PRISM ended up totally being the book I had been excited for over a year ago…and it only took me that year to finally realize it.