futuristic violence & fancy suits

David Wong is the pen name of Jason Pargin, who until somewhat recently was an editor of Cracked.com. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is his 2015 novel, and introduction to Zoey Ashe, which will appear--or has, by now appeared--in some future novels... Yep, a quick look tells me that Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick came out in October 2020. And can only assume that more are on the way. It looks like Wong writes under his own name now, but because David Wong is the author of the book I read, I'll just stick to that for the duration of this little ditty.

According to his website, David Wong has been surprised by the response to his novel writing, which began with his 2009 John Dies at the End, which was made into a movie in 2012. Not so surprised that he couldn't crack out a sequel or two for that one as well. I heard about the John Dies movie, but I didn't see it, and I didn't know that it was based on a book at the time; at least not that I can recall. I wouldn't have recognized Wong's name on the cover of this book, which I picked up at a library book sale, but the publisher helpfully included the John Dies credit on the cover for me. thanks, advertising The title was catchy, the artwork (on the softcover edition I read) reminded my of this cover, and that story was pretty good. 

And the cat flying through the air? That's some hijinx right there! So I bit, and it worked out pretty good. I think it was a dollar

I got about halfway through this thing, when I said to my oldest that this book looked like a movie script to me, and if it was done right, could be The Fifth Element of this time. Here's why I say that: Sci Fi/Action/Comedy, with dashes of mystery and romance, and a pinch of kitsch. All in the face of world-annihilating evil. Its a tricky recipe for story-telling, and there aren't a lot that can pull it off. Need another example: Kung Fu Hustle. Watch that immediately if you haven't seen it.* Its missing the world-annihilating-level evil, its more of a home-town-annihilating evil, but its got all of the other boxes checked.

This book checked the boxes for me, too. I was reading this outside my normal reading time. I was skipping other things, like chores and feeding myself, to read this one. It probably could have been 50 pages shorter, tho I'm not sure what exactly I would have cut. I can tell you that one word showed up a few too many times in the text for my taste, but maybe that's just me. Zoey Ashe is a great character, and Wong obviously had fun writing her. I can see why he'd want to reprise her in some other stories. I guess we'll see how that goes.

 

* This command assumes you've already seen The Fifth Element. If you haven't, put your hamster down, and go do that now. Then watch Kung Fu Hustle. Then Read This Book.

ready player two

I didn't read Ready Player One, I saw the movie. I know, bad reader. <rolled newspaper to the snout> * I have, however, now recently read Ready Player Two, and it was pretty good. It was fast moving, funny, adventurous (in a what-I-assume-a-gamer-D&D-mash-up-in-the-future-would-be way) romantic, sweet, and slightly sickening around the edges. Ernest Cline is a few years younger than I am, so he was exposed to a lot of the same pop culture stuff I was, but I'm a little older and so missed al\ lot of the video game wave that came just as I went off to college while kids of his age were discovering video games outside the arcade, which is where I was most likely to play them. My dad did bring home a Pong console, with woodgrain contact paper on it, that we attached to our TV for tennis and racketball games. that was it tho

Cline has created a group of characters, that between them, have encyclopedic knowledge of of their areas of interest that would make any geek proud. It has always amazed me how so much minutia can be absorbed by a serious fan of something, when every outward sign would seem to indicate that they geek in question would be incapable of that knowledge. But that is what I think Cline's genius is; getting us to understand that the enthusiasts** in his stories aren't unlike us, or incapable, or in any way inferior to any of us who don't happen to know Gandalf's real name, all of Inigo Montoya's lines in The Princess Bride, Prince's songwriting credits for other artists, or the name of the first female protagonist video game.***

And like any good video game there were plenty of Easter eggs. Most of which, I probably missed, but go geeks! I had fun reading this, there were plenty of things for me to geek out on given the time period these future protagonists are looking back to (the last 40 years or so.) It went fast, and I would definitely read another one based on this read, but it looks like it took about 10 years to get this one done since the last, so we shouldn't hold our collective breath. Next question: will Spielberg make a movie of this one two? Maybe, I think is the answer. The first movie did really well so, my money is on yes.

* I know, relax, no one does that to dogs anymore; where you gonna find a newspaper?

**  yes, enthusiast = geek hey, are you reading ahead?

*** that's just good trivia, you'll have to figure that one out yourself.

termination shock

I will read whatever Neal Stephenson writes, and I'm typically not disappointed. Termination Shock however, was a little slow. I borrowed this book from the library, and I had it for 4 weeks and a day. maybe two days? That's not because I didn't read it, I did. I read a little everyday, but I wasn't absorbed, it didn't take over my life, I didn't spend hours on the couch after weekend breakfasts gobbling this one up. It was good... it just wasn't great.

After an exciting start, this really book got rolling at about page 100. You know; characters developed, stage pieces set, a few teasers floating out there to keep us interested, and I'm ready for that baseline to drop...

Page 300, and the baseline hasn't dropped.

Inspired by Moby Dick, you say? Maybe, that's a good guess. MD is pretty slow, after all. Written in time when folks had nothing better to do, and perhaps appreciated a long tale to stave off boredom. And maybe this is Stephenson's answer to that in our times, with COVID and folks having no place to go. But I'm not buying that. Melville's Pequod perhaps could hold the attention of his audience, but Stephenson's audience has the interwebs, and Netflix. And Candy Crush, or whatever.

A timely glimpse into our possible future? Yep. A well thought out story arc, based on real world problems and science/reality based solutions, as well as believable and appropriate reactions to said problems, and their proposed solutions, helping us to better understand how these news stories we hear about today may actually play out in our futures? Yep, yes, and right on. All that is there, as you'd expect from Neal Stephenson, as well as that well plotted story arc. Just... you know... not enough juice.

For me anyway.

I'm not recommending this one,* but this experience alone doesn't change my stance on Stephenson, he hasn't always knocked it out of the park. Read some of the other stuff. I'd start with Seveneves, and Snow Crash, and then perhaps Diamond Age. You can see all of the Stephenson books I've read (since this blog started) by going to The Books tab. You'll find 10 of his books listed there along with links to my reviews/comments. And if you look to the right, you'll also see that Snow Crash is enshrined in my list of 'great' reads.

* If you love Neal Stephenson and who doesn't you should go ahead and read this. Its a good story, the characters are great, and he's just so smart, its a pleasure to read his prose. Its just a little slow-paced.