english assassin

Gabriel Allon book two, The English Assassin, was a good installment in the series and a fun read. Given what our man Allon has had to go through its surprising he stays in the game. I guess that is maybe what makes the difference between a storybook hero and a real one; storybook heroes are what we expect heroes to be, real heroes aren't. They are just folks doing their job, doing what's right, doing what needs to be done. 

When folks call other folks heroes, it usually pisses them off. Being compared to something dreamed up, isn't always flattering I guess, when viewed from the receiving end. Calling someone a hero, is like saying "you aren't real, your accomplishments are imaginary, fanciful." I guess I may not like it either, but then, we all do these tiny thought experiments in our heads; ask others "what would you do if..." questions, but none of us really knows how to answer truthfully. Or maybe accurately is a better term. When we think about these hypothetical situations, how we would react is just how we hope we'd react. None of us really knows, I'm sure. We're just guessing. 

Thought experiments like this, strung together into a narrative, is what a story is. Silva has created a character in Allon that he uses to test these thought experiments, and create a dreamworld where Israel works secretly through their clandestine services to right the wrongs done to the Jews for centuries, and we we cheer yearning for justice as we follow along. Justice is what heroes do after all.

What does all that have to do with an English assassin, or Switzerland, or Venice? You'll have to catch up and read this thing! I'll give you some time, I have another few books I'll be reading in the meantime, and I'm sure I'll get back to Gabriel Allon at some point.

kill artist

Daniel Silva's first Gabriel Allon book is called The Kill Artist. As I mentioned in my last post, my wife has decided to go back and read all of Daniel Silva's works, and has collected them in paperback from a variety of sources. A quick look through 'The Books' page here on the blog tells me that the first one I read was in 2013, which I bought in a tiny English language section of a bookstore in Sulmona, Italy. there's my blog, doing its job as intended. thank me very much

After reading this one, I read a second, which I just finished. I'll write about that one in a little while, but I am going to hold off on the Silva books for a while as my library has re-opened--a little while ago actually, but has just recently returned to regular hours so I can go over there after work. Which I have now done, and I now have a few books lined up that don't have Silva's name on them.

Allon is a great character for a variety of reasons, including his reluctance to do what he knows needs to be done, his haunted past, his professionalism, his humanity (in spite of what he does) and his weaknesses and fallibility. When I spell it out like that, it sounds a lot like the advice the give writers on what makes up a good hero, so I guess Silva has been listening. I thought that going back to book one would be like an origin story, but it isn't. I hope that's not too much of a spoiler, but its seems to me that that story hasn't been told yet, except as background. But who knows, maybe it in one of the others I haven't read yet.

mark of the assassin

My wife decided that she needed to go back and read the rest of Daniel Silva's earlier books, so she did an online search and purchased them in paperback, used. Packages started to arrive from all over; there must be a dozen of them. So I took a quick look into the order of them and found the answer in the frequently asked questions section of Silva's website.

The Mark of the Assassin is the first of two books written about CIA agent Michael Osbourne. As far as I know, there are only two, but on the same FAQ page linked above, there is a question about whether Osbourne will be back or not, and the answer is left open. you know, like when you asked for ice cream, or to go bowling, when you were eight, and one of your parents said "we'll see" and your eight-year-old brain was like; that means no The second Osbourne book does not appear to be in the stack of books recently sourced by my wife.

This book was written in 1998, so its dated, and the technology is dated as well. But not so dated as to be old timey, like an Ian Fleming novel or something. There are cell phones in this book, for example, they are just fixed in vehicles--with handsets on them. Just reading about them weighs about 2 pounds. There are some glimmers of modernity, and the women aren't all helpless damsels, altho Osbourne's wife does seem a little clingy for a high-powered lawyer. They're all like: "I don't know what I'd do if somethin' happened to you Michael, I jus' love you so much! I'd trow myself in a wood chipper or sumfin!" -gush- "I know baby." -smolder-  those aren't quotes from the book, no spoilers. little syrupy tho, no?

This story is tightly written, and other than a few things that probably read fine in '98, it hands together pretty well and came to a fine, if expected, climax. Silva has a style, and this is a great example of the early formation of that style. Its fun to see him working things out, that seem to be a easy for him now. It will be interesting to read the follow up to this if and when I run into it. Next up is the first Gabriel Allon book in that series. For folks that are only interested in Allon, it appears to me that this Osbourne story seems to be written in the same universe that Allon has his adventures.

while justice sleeps

While Justice Sleeps is written by Stacey Abrams, who served for eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven of those years as Democratic Leader. Then in 2018, Abrams was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, which she might have won if not for alleged irregularities in the polling. Those irregularities became the impetus for Abrams to create her Fair Fight organization.

According to her Abrams for Governor website, which is still up, she has also authored eight romantic suspense novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery. In the front matter of Justice lists only two books by Abrams, and they don't sound like romance novels. Justice has a little boy-girl tension, but its not a romance novel. By contrast, take this line from the description of Secrets and Lies on the Harper Collins website: "She just witnessed her uncle’s murder, she’s running for her life, and now Dr. Katelyn Lyda is face-to-face with a breathtaking man who could be her salvation. It’s too bad [he] is one of the bad guys." cue heavy breathing

So you get the idea. nom de plume indeed.

This book had a nice pace, and the characters were nicely developed, and how they reacted to the things around them was mostly on point. Every now and again, and author needs to ask us to suspend disbelieve more than they normally would. Typically its with more outlandish stuff, fantasy and SciFi, but when it happens in a modern day set crime drama, it needs to be reasonable. A current day novel is essentially a 'what if?' scenario; if the the response to that what if, is a resounding 'never in a million years,' then the author has asked for too much. Abrams didn't go that far, but some things were a stretch. I also think there may be a plot hole. I'm not the most careful reader, but at one point our protagonist, Avery Keene contacted a mystery person who gave a false name. A chapter or so later, Avery knew who that mysterious person was, but how she figured that out, I don't think was covered in the text. if you've read this, and I missed it, let me know in the comments below

That said, While Justice Sleeps was a fun read, and an original plot line. I read this in just a few days, so that's always an indicator of a fun read. I'm under the impression we may not have seen the last of Ms. Keene either. Nice work Ms. Abrams, and go get 'em.

atlas of middle earth

When you create a reference book about a fictional place is your reference book fiction, or non-fiction?

Given that Middle Earth has almost no reliable  empirical data, I guess Karen Wynn Fonstad had to take some creative license in order to produce the maps and plans she did.  That said, I think she did consult with Christopher Tolkien; I’m pretty sure I read something he wrote indicating the he had worked with her on something. Not sure what that was, but it may have been a forward in one of the History of Middle Earth books. Speaking of which, I haven’t read all of those yet. Fonstad also consulted drawings and maps done by Tolkien, and his son, which were used in earlier published works, as well as unpublished drawings and sketches form the professor’s notes, the text of the books, and further information from the Histories, published by Christopher Tolkien which provided additional information and was the impetus for the revisions Fonstad made in the updated Atlas. 

By tying the maps and the landforms they represent to the distance data provided in the various texts, Fonstad has created maps that can be scaled and therefor, in many cases, actually differ from the maps published in versions of The Lord of the Rings. That takes some getting used to. btw, I’m not used to it, and I may not get there

Any serious fan of the world building accomplished by Tolkien will recognize the dedication and joy expressed by Fonstad in her work. The Atlas is clearly a labor of love undertaken by a cartographer who really just wanted a more complete picture of the lands she followed our mutual friends through on their adventures. Are there problems? Sure. Do I hate that all of her hills, mountains, and downs end in the same elephant toenail roundness? Sure. Am I grouchy that the publisher (or some other bean counter) decided that two colors was plenty to adequately express the level of detail included in all of the maps in the Atlas. You bet. And finally, is it—and has it been, over the years I’ve had this book—aggravating to consult the maps it contains while reading The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings and find that they are so different (for the sake of scale accuracy?) that they confuse more than clarify. Ya, you betcha. But that doesn’t mean I’m a hater. 

 

Karen Wynn Fonstad has done an admirable job of researching and providing insight many of us would never otherwise have access to. It’s the same issue diehard fans have when someone makes a movie of a book like The Lord of the Rings, it’s bound to contradict our individual visions of what happens in the stories we read. Our internal visions are a dialog with the author’s written word. Seeing someone else's vision of that material is always jarring, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. I went to see all of the movies, and they were great. They just weren’t how I would do it. 

And neither is The Atlas of Middle Earth. But I keep going back to it. And so should you.

 

 

Silmarillion

Sweet, sad, Silmarillion. 

The Wikipedia entry refers to The Silmarillion as a mythopoetic collection of stories. I had to look that one up; and I kind of like it. The tone the stories are told in is a little reserved. Some of the early ones, chronologically speaking, read like bible entries. But when you’re talking about the birth of the Earth—or Ea, Tolkien calls it—then I guess biblese seems appropriate. 

As I understand it, Tolkien felt the absence of a traditional English mythology beyond the tall tales of Arthur Pendragon and his ilk. Something of the scope and depth of the kind the Greeks, Romans, and Norse cultures have; stories that underlay their culture and belief systems, and tie them to their spiritual past. A careful look at what Tolkien has done shows that. From his proto-nursery rhymes, to the linguistic underpinnings of English, present in the early languages of the Quendi, the Elves. 

The Silmarillion is Tolkien’s unfinished backstory, the framework of his world building upon which he built the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. But it’s more than that; it’s his notes on dozens of other stories that he didn’t get the chance to finish. Christopher Tolkien did a great job, organizing, editing and releasing many of these work in the decades after his father’s death. Working, as he says he did when his father was alive, as a kind of amanuensis. One can only imagine what kind of works Tolkien may have produced had he had access to modern word processing or even speech-to-text technology. 

Tolkien described the creation of the world as the first collective music of the Ainur, made manifest by the one god Illuvatar, with all of the good, the bad, and the ugly of a first run, still in there. It’s like a proud papa pasting his kid’s first crayon drawing on the fridge... and then asking us all to live there for eons. augh, I don't wanna live in a first draft. Melkor is licking his finger and touching me! But don’t worry, says Eru, the big man, this is like a dry run. We’ll work out the bugs then bang out a fresh one all fixed up!*

What? Yeah, this ones probly gonna suck, for you guys and everyone else down there, but screw it, right? You guys made it, let’s see what happens!**

In here we find everything from the beginning of the world to the creation myths of the sun, the moon, and the stars; from the origins of elves, dwarves, and men, to the flat world theory; from the flood story to the making of dragons; and from the invention of war, to the making of rings. That last one was inspired, by the way, by the same fables and myths that inspired Wagner and his Der Ring des Nibelungen, "The Ring of the Nibelung," often referred to as the Ring Cycle. Tolkien was also inspired by the Edda, as was Wagner. 

 

This isn't the first time I've read this book, and it won't be the last. My last time through was nearly ten years ago. That review is maybe better than this one. If you want to know why you should read The Silmarillion, or even some pointers on how to read it, check out my earlier review.

Either way, read this book.

 

* I'm paraphrasing, nerds

** Yep, paraphrasing again

 

 

firing point

Take a look at this book cover. Do you know who DIDN'T write this book?

That's right Tom Clancy didn't write this book. He "slipped the surly bonds of Earth" nearly 10 years ago. it means he's dead

So is this a "Tom Clancy Brand" book or something? Has anyone Penguin Random House come out and said what this is about? My wife bought this book, thinking it was written by Tom Clancy. The publishers must know that is going to be the case, and I'm sure they feel confident that adding the real author's name on there covers them in the legal department, but is that the right way to do business? Lying to customers? I don't think so. its not the smallest font on the cover I guess

For a while, books like this said something like "Tom Clancy's: super bad-ass character," which claimed some ownership, either of the story, or the characters, or something. When you look at the Tom Clancy page at Penguin Random House the 's books way outnumber the books Clancy actually wrote. Penguin Random House has them listed as books Tom Clancy "contributed to." That sounds a lot like the co-authorship attributed to James Patterson on approximately 30% of the books published in America, based on my extensive sarcastic research project. After reviewing 3 or 4 Wikpedia articles on Clancy, it looks like he started to work with co-authors a few years before he died. He also appears to have collaborated with Steve Pieczenik on the creation of the Op-Center and Net Force novel series, of which he wrote nothing. So he an Steve came up with these ideas, and then some authors got assigned to it like cub reporters in a publishing newsroom or something. 

Its like the Agribusiness of writing.

So I finished it. Jack Ryan Jr. is in the same vein as Son of Frankenstein, as far as I can see. They'd like to keep writing Jack Ryan stories but the haven't figured out how to disengage him from a normal human life span like they've managed to do with James Bond. So Jack Jr. does the same kind of word saving things his dad did, just not as well written.

If you're into the whole Tom Clancy brand, and you assume that the publishers are only working with authors who have Clancy's raw talent, and would otherwise be writing bestsellers on their own, if they weren't so interested in keeping Clancy's characters going, then you'll probably enjoy this. Mike Maden asked me to suspend disbelieve a few times too far.

I wouldn't bother. In fact I'd say we skip the book mill fake authors like the Clancy brand and James Patterson and anyone like them. We don't need publishers and marketing executives clogging up the bookshelves with curated crap and formulaic plot points designed to drive sales and make money. We want quality authors, working hard at what they do, and we want room for them on the shelves. 

Organic, farm-to-table writing, please.

wonder woman - final final

My final design. click to see larger.

I know, I said final, but after it sits with you for a little bit, and you think about it, sometimes you need to go back in and do some tweaking. That's what happened, and here's where I'm at. As much as I don't like it, and I don't see the need for it, Wonder Woman iconography is pretty well tied to the tiara. If you didn't know the 'final' drawing I posted was a image of Wonder Woman, you may not immediately guess. So I've added a very understated head adornment. I was going for something small, like those eleven crowns from The Lord of the Rings movies.*

I also added a few highlights to the drawing, which made way more of a difference than I thought it would. If I haven't bragged enough about how good this drawing/painting application is, here I go. This was all done with Sketchbook which you can download for free from AutoDesk, the folks that make AutoCAD, among other things.

 

That's it! Let me know what you think.

* Bro, I don't remember crowns in the books. The only thing I recall that was similar is the Star of Eärendil which was given to him by his wife, Elwing, after being recovered from Morgoth's iron crown by Beren and Lúthien. Eärendil wore it on his brow, to light his way, and I assumed that it was set in something metal. Other than that, I don't recall crowns. Am I missing anything nerds?

last trial

Its been years since I read anything from Scott Turow. 

I think... I'll check the Books page here to see if hes on there at all.... Nope, nothing noted here since I began the blog in 2009. 12 years, oh crap! I recall reading Presumed Innocent, and then going to see the movie when it came out a few years later. Since then, I guess I may have if my wife bought something. I think Turow does courtroom stuff, right? Presumed Innocent had the crime thing, and that's not usually what I like to read. With the library closed for the VID, I've been a little lazy about picking something out and having it set out for me so I can run by there and pick it up. I'm not quite sure why tho, its pretty convenient, but not as convenient as reading stuff my wife has, or this most recent book, which is one of four books I got from my mom and dad. One of those books was good, and one was so crappy that I recycled it and the other one by the same author.

The Last Trial started out a little slow, but once I got into it the pace picked up and I enjoyed it. I could see some of the developments coming down the pike, but there was enough dodge and weave to keep me interested in how it was going to end up. 

This book, like a lot of others I've read in recent years has a 'Prologue' that is actually a peek at a further point in the story. I'm not sure where this ploy originated, but I get the feeling the idea comes from the publishers rather than from the author. I'm not sure why an author would encourage you to flip open to the last 20 percent of the story and read what's going to happen. Seems like a hook, or a coming attraction. Reminds me of the Mission Impossible opening credits which showed tiny clips of what was coming up in the episode. An idea picked up in the movies too. I'm not a fan of spoilers, so this type of 'Prologue' seems dumb to me.