Bookish Rumblings and Mumblings: The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt

I read a lot of fantasy. I write the stuff too. I've always been a huge fantasy reader. Hell, The Hobbit and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles are foundation stones in my geek sensibility. However, I also love sci-fi. The OG Star Wars is another foundation stone for me, as is The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by the late, great Douglas Adams.

The reason I say this is that not long ago, I realized that I'd been getting a bit burned out on fantasy, I needed a bit of a break. That, coupled with noticing that sci-fi's a bit under-represented in my personal library these days, I decided to remedy both of those things. So with gift card in hand, I headed off to a bookstore to both up the sci-fi section of my personal library and to pick up some palate cleansers to let my inner Orc recharge. Browsing the shelves, I happened to stumble across The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt, and I'm damn glad I did.

The Wrong Stars takes place about 500 years in the future. Humanity has spread out to 29 other star systems and received many technological advances thanks to a race of aliens that humans refer to as The Liars because, well, they lie a lot. Captain Callie Machedo and the crew of The White Raven, an awesome bunch of space-going rouge-ish types, come across a derelict "Goldilocks" ship, colonization vessels humanity sent out centuries ago when everyone figured Earth was for. The ship is floating in Neptunian space, light years from where it should have been, sporting strange alien-looking modifications. When Callie and the crew bring the sole survivor left on board out of cryosleep, Elena wakes up screaming about First Contact with aliens. The crew breaks it to her that humans have been in contact with aliens for quite some time, but it turns out that Elena isn't talking about The Liars. The race that Elena is talking about could spell doom for, well, pretty much everyone.

The Wrong Stars perfectly fit the bill for me. It had awesome space-going action, a good deal of it really. It was the type of story and genre I was craving. I wanted a snarky Space Opera with some great writing, and that's exactly what I got. Pratt's writing is great and makes it a breeze to get through the novel. But what really shines for me is the interaction between the characters. Their interactions are top notch, and yes, there's a great helping of snark to be had. I could easily see the crew of The White Raven going out drinking and having a damn fine time with the crews of Serenity and the Raza. I really don't want to get too in depth about the book for fear of spoilers.

So I'll close this out by saying that if you're in the market for a kick-ass, fast paced space opera novel, then The Wrong Stars is for you. Tim Pratt's writing is a delight. In fact, I've put him in my list of Authors Who Are So Good, It's Irritating. Heh. My only real beef with it was that I burned through it too quickly because I couldn't out the damn thing down. Thankfully, the sequel is already out and I'm trying really hard to take a more sedate pace through that one. But yeah, gonna need Book 3, Tim. Hope you're on that. Heh. Seriously, jump on out and get this book.

Mahalo, my friends.

Gamer Savings Time: Resident Evil 2 1-Shot Demo

Just got done messing about with the RE2 Remastered, Rebooted, Reanimated, whatever they might be calling it. And I have to say that it did exactly what a demo should do. It got me interested in the game over the 30 minutes I spent with it.

I really didn't have much interest in the new RE2 previious to this, as I hadn't really cared too much about a Resident Evil game since 4. I played 5 and 6 a bit and did the demo for 7, but none of them really grabbed me. Yes, pun intended. Heh.

The new version of RE2 looks like Capcom went back, took a look at RE4 and said, "OK, we'll make RE 2 more like that, but with sharper, gorier graphics." And I'm absolutely fine with that. RE4 was one of my favorite games of the last console generation to the point where I went and dropped some cash for the remastered XBox One version for this generation.

The  new RE2 will have that same third person, over the shoulder perspective and a very similar control scheme to what got used in RE4. Also, it looks a hell of a lot, well, prettier isn't exactly the right word, but you can see the new hardware strength of the current generation at work.

Also, just from the demo it looks like the RE series has gone back to more of a horror game than an action game. Even in the 30 minutes I played there were a couple of times I just about jumped out of my skin, and that's something I have been missing from a Resident Evil game since 4. Nothing creeped me out like the regenerators in 4, but I was only playing what I guess is a very early level, so we'll see what happens when the full game releases in a couple of weeks.

I will say that I am looking forward to it now, even though it more than likely won't make me abandon my usual policy to not buy games right at launch. I may get it out of a Redbox if that's an option and spend a few days with it though.

If you decide to take a run at the 1-shot demo, just be aware that once you start playing, you're only going to have 30 minutes to play. Basically set aside a little block of time and make sure no one bugs you. Hehe. Some people might complain about the relatively short time limit, but I think that the demo did exactly what a good demo should do. It hooked my attention, got me interested and was a great little appetizer for the full game.

If you're a fan of survival horror, and you've got a bit of time, give this one a look.

Mahalo, my friends.

Gamer Savings Time: The Fall(out) of Bethesda...

Yes, I'm extremely late to the party when it comes to talking about what is probably the biggest dumpster fire in gaming news that was the reception of Fallout 76 and the way that Bethesda reacted to it, and indeed continues to react to it. Hey, I told you guys in a previous post that I'm not going to be an Out in Front type when it comes to gaming stuff. But basically, I just felt like running off at the fingers about this for a bit. And it's my blog, so I will. NYAH!! hehe.

Anyway, I'll preface this whole thing that even though it may look like it, I'm not jumping on the Bethesda Hate Train. I don't hate Bethesda, I'm not even really angry at the company, what I am is disappointed. I'll also give the caveat that I haven't played Fallout 76 myself and honestly I don't intend to. Not right now anyway. I may check it out at some point in the future because I WANT it to become a good game because I love the Fallout series. Hell, I love more than one of the series of games that Bethesda puts out. I've lost countless hours to Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and my all time favorite Bethesda Era Fallout, New Vegas(quick aside, I will say that I'm hyped as HELL for The Outer Worlds coming out this year from Obsidian. But that's another story for another time).

Anyway by now, you've probably heard about all the ways Bethesda has bungled the response to more than one PR disaster after another surrounding F76 so I won't repeat them here. If you haven't well, you can just go and find TONS of stories, YouTube videos and blog posts around about BagGate, RumGate, the 500 Atoms, what have you.

Like I said, I'm disappointed in what Bethesda's been up to for the past couple of months, apart from seemingly making one of, if not the, most lambasted game of the last few years. I'm not going to pile on. And if you're one of the people that actually likes or even loves Fallout 76, that's great! Seriously, I'm glad that you like the game. I don't want people to be disappointed in the things that they buy, and like I said, I really hope that they'll do something to fix F76 and make it an actually good game. Time will tell.

And I'm not particularly worried that this whole thing will kill Bethesda as a company. Although it seems like with the regularity with which they keep shooting themselves in the foot, PR-wise, I can't help but occasionally wonder if this whole thing as been some kind of odd, The Producers-esque scheme to get out of the business. I doubt it, but the idea has occurred from time, mainly because my brain loves a good Mel Brooks reference. heh. Anyway, it's been bad for them for the last couple of months or so, but they can take some comfort in the fact that people on the internet have VERY short memories and attention spans.

Seriously, if Bethesda could just avoid shooting themselves in the foot for a month, Hell, even a couple of weeks, I think most people would largely forget about all the cattywampus around Bethesda and Fallout 76, the whole thing would blow over, and they could get back to doing what they're supposed to do, and folks won't be kicking them in the teeth on a daily basis.

That's not to say that there won't be any lasting consequences from this whole thing. There will. Bascially, I think that Bethesda has pretty much burned up their entire stock of Community Good Will with their fan base. Basically, Bethesda REALLY can't afford to mess up again. Both of their main upcoming games, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, and probably at least a couple more future titles have to be simply awesome. I mean, I think they need to make Game of The Year contenders for at least the next 4 games they put out as a studio. That's about the only thing that's going to replenish that stock of good will at this point.

And I WANT them to succeed in doing that. I mean, I'm huge fan of Sci-Fi games so I definitely want Starfield to completely knock my socks off. I'm a huge Elder Scrolls fan. Hell, I bought Skyrim for the 360, bought all the DLC, and then got it AGAIN when it got remastered for the XBox One. And Skyrim has spent a huge amount of time living in my various consoles. It's a very rare thing when Skyrim spends more than a couple of weeks not loaded into my console. So yeah, please give me an awesome EC 6.

Basically, I'm disappointed in Bethesda, but I want to see that they've learned a lesson from all of this and they'll actually take that lesson to heart. Basically, I hope they've learned to stay in their wheelhouse. And their wheelhouse has always been engaging, single-player, story-driven RPGs, not Online-Only Multiplayer games. Please Bethesda, go back into your wheelhouse, make Starfield, EC 6, and at least your next few titles just gobsmackingly awesome. Not only should it be your goal anyway, I think it'd do a huge amount towards getting you back a lot of the good will that you had. Just my many cents. Heh.

Mahalo, my friends.

Gamer Savings Time: The Slow and the Slothful

So, I'm the type of gamer that the current AAA game industry couldn't give a wet slap about. I don't much care for multiplayer, I prefer story-driven single player games. I almost never pre-order, I tend to not buy special editions and season passes until they've been deep discounted for a holiday sale or something like that. I also avoid loot boxes and microtransactions like the digital plague they are. I mean, if I see something really cool that I can get with the game currency that I actually earn I'm game, then I may snag it. But I'm certainly not going to spend real money on it. No thanks.

I also have limited time and cash to game with, as well as actual adult responsibilities, so my income and time aren't disposable in a way the AAA industry would like. So when I review a game, it could he weeks, maybe even months after the initial release. But that could be a good thing, since I'll be talking about games from the perspective of a dude with limited time and cash, so is this game worth it?

Also, the fact that I'll be way later than other sites can be another good thing. Given the fact that more and more AAA publishers seem to have the philosophy of Release Now, Finish/Fix it Later, or Get Our Mod Community to do it, me waiting a few months means there's a better chance I'll be reviewing an actual, finished game. Hehe.

So if that interests you, pop back once in a while and look for the Gamer Savings Time label. It'll be some gooood eatin'! Hehe.

Mahalo, my friends.

Writer Tip: By Grabthar's Hammer! What a Savings!

I will admit that I'm absolutely addicted to notebooks. I mean actual paper notebooks, especially Moleskines. I adore Moleskines, and I've found that the combination of a Moleskine with a Uni-Ball Signo med. gel pen makes handwriting just glide across the damn page like wordy butter. It's glorious. I'll frequently write things out in a Moleskine that way, then type them into my laptop later.

Now of course the problem with Moleskines is that they're a bit on the pricey side. I personally think it's worth it because I love the damn things, but I'm always on the lookout for savings. Each year, I tend to get one of their excellent Daily Planners for the year and use it for a daily writing notebook so that I'll be sure to do at least a little bit of writing every day. And this year was no exception, my family got me yet another daily planner to scribble in. It was as I was scribbling(my handwriting is terrible) that I had an idea.

I remembered that Barnes and Noble tend to sell the year's daily planner for 50% off once New Year's Day has come and gone. and even though I already had one, I decided to see if B&N was continuing the practice. They were. Then it hit me, the "Well, DUH!" moment. Why not just go and get a couple of them with the Gift Card cash my wonderfully enabling family always gives me on gift giving occasions, ignore the Daily Planner aspect and just use them like regular Moleskine notebooks. It was a forehead slapper. Something that should have been incredibly obvious that I'd just never thought of before.

So the upshot is that now, I'm the happy owner of 2 Moleskine 18-Month Daily Planner Journals probably a good 3 times thicker than the standard Moleskine ruled hard cover journal for only a few bucks more than the price of one of those bad boys(which I still love, but this opens up so many new avenues, heh).

So, writer friends who like to hand write and are in search of a deal, go check out your local B&N! You may find a couple of these puppies hanging out on the shelves and BOOM! You've got some nice, thick, high-quality notebooks!

Here endeth the lesson. Hehe.

Mahalo, my friends.

New Year, New Content...

So we're into a new year, and I've decided that I'm going to try and keep this thing updated more regularly and alter the focus a bit. I'm not doing away with the Indy Author Takeover/Interview posts, I love that stuff, plus I like doing what I can to help out my Indy Author buddies in my small way. So that staff's sticking around, no doubt.

What I want to do around here is add more types of content, focused on the nerdy side of life, which is where I live. Heh. So there will be more reviews on books, movies, T.V., comics, and video games. And especially the gaming stuff, I'll be talking about it from a perspective that normally isn't all that represented in your usual nerd media. That of the guy who's pretty much a perpetual late-comer, due to the type of gamer I am. Planning to talk about that more either later today, or in the next couple of days.

Also, I plan to do my damndest to get cooking a lot more diligently on my fiction writing this year, and I'm sure I'll chat about that here too. Probably with a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Heh.

Don't know how interesting any of this will be to people, but I used to blog pretty regularly and I've been missing it, so I figure the New Year is as good a time as any to dive on back in. If any of this interests you, awesome. Come along for the ride. If not, cool. Thanks for stopping by and I will say good day to you, sir or madam. I SAID GOOD DAY! Hehe.

Mahalo, friends.

Takeover Tuesday! World Building WIth Stacy Overby, Author of Tattoos...

Hello all and welcome once again to a Takeover Tuesday here on the Ol' Mountain Caller. Now with the great scent of pine for your additional enjoyment. Hehe. Today, our guest is Stacy Overby author of the Sci-Fi thriller Tattoos, coming to your hot little hands on December 15th. We've had Stacy here before, and I'm pleased to have her back(Guess I didn't annoy her enough to run her off last time. Heh) Let's check out the back cover blurb...

One hushed cry in the middle of the night, and Eli Thorson's life unravels. A highly trained Black Ops specialist, he is used to danger, but Eli's path forces him to confront the illusions he’s been taught his whole life -- ones that make him question all the good he thought he was doing.
Unable to work for a command that defiles the oaths he swore, he works to untangle the web of lies and deceit he finds woven throughout his worlds. The tattooed marks of his profession run more than skin deep. As a Specialist it is his duty to protect the people, the laws, and all the United Earth Government stands for, even if it means taking down the entire Black Ops division to do it.

Sounds pretty damn cool to me, gentle readers. Anyway, Stacy very kindly agreed to stop by the main offices of Mountain Caller Media, broadcasting to you from an undisclosed location, to give to you guys some tips for building worlds of your very own! So without futher guilding the lily, take it away, Stacy!

I had an interesting time with the world building aspects of my novel, Tattoos. Some things were great, others were a bit more challenging. Here’s are five things I wish someone would have told me when I created the Black Ops world.

1.      I don’t have to use a Judeo-Christian base to the world.

What does that mean? Hint, it’s not what you think. The most prominent piece of this actually comes from a rather entertaining aspect to the Black Ops world—the cursing. See, in the first draft, I used the curses I’m used to hearing. You know, standard American swear words. How many other military-esque novels and movies use standard American English curse words? But I had a dear friend and beta reader offer me a great piece of advice. Standard American English curse words are based in a Judeo-Christian worldview. Hell is derived from this religious structure, as is Christ, when used as a curse. That, my friends, is how much of the cursing in Tattoos is in Greek instead. There is some Standard American cursing because we are talking about multiple cultures and worlds, so it is conceivable these curses also survived, but they weren’t the only ones.

2.      Speaking of language, think about languages.

Even though the dialogue in Tattoos is in English, I did put some thought into the languages being spoken. There is a standard or universal language, which is essentially the English the characters use. But, through implication, and directly in later books, other languages show up. This is really about making sure readers are aware English is not the only language being used in a world where there are multiple planets and cultures. I would argue you don’t have to go so far as to invent new languages, like J.R.R. Tolkien did, but at least write as if those languages exist.

3.      Create new creatures.

This is something that should go without saying. After all, this is one of the things I love the most about writing in the speculative fiction genres. We get to create whatever we want, and it doesn’t have to be even close to real. But that being said, we do need to pay attention to ensure there is consistency and logic to what we create. That’s what makes these fantastical realms believable. If you create a massive creature, but then argue it’s as light as a feather, you’d better have a good explanation for it that carries through other parts of your world as well, or readers won’t be propelled into the story. Same thing goes for building creatures that are completely invincible. Everything has weaknesses, so make sure your creatures do to.

4.      Don’t get lost in the technology.

While Tattoos has some awesome technology in it, you’ll notice I did not make this a big part of the book. There are several reasons for this, but one of which is that it’s so easy to get lost creating all this cool technology that can do so many things. Think of the scene in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where Trillian is showing Arthur around the Heart of Gold spaceship. She’s so excited by all the different technological gadgets that didn’t exist on Earth. While they’re cool, they are not what’s going to keep readers hooked into the book and they are not generally going to be the pieces that propel the story forward. So, even if you’re writing a hard science fiction piece, the technology still needs to be balanced with things like characterization, plot, and settings.

5.      Write it all down as you invent it.

This is probably the biggest thing I wish someone would have taught me before I got as far as I did with the Black Ops world. I found myself in the unfortunate position of having to constantly go back through the book looking for references to planets, to different pieces of technology, and even the curse words I mentioned earlier. This is even more important if you’re going to write more than one book, which I am in the Black Ops universe. Taking good notes about all the world building will save you a lot of time with making sure things are consistent within the book and across books.

            Bonus Tip: Science Fiction world building is a lot of work.

Yep, it is. Even though it’s a cool way to world build because you don’t have to worry as much about making sure specific details to real life places are accurate, it’s got its own challenges. See, because you can literally make it all up, there’s a type of paralysis that happens with it. A feeling of being overwhelmed by choices can happen. This means you have basically two approaches you can use. There’s the careful planner who will spend quite a bit of time detailing out all the aspects I mentioned and more before ever starting the story. Then there’s people like me. We just start writing and pray to whatever higher power that we don’t make too much of a mess with it. While the first method may produce elaborately detailed worlds and may resolve some of the consistency issues, the second can help generate a much more organic feel to the story. It also can help authors get to the story faster, though it does mean doing some research on the fly. Just make sure you don’t go into the story thinking science fiction world building is easy simply because you can make it all up. It’s perhaps some of the most challenging world building for that very fact.

So, there you have it. Five things I wish I would have been told while creating the Black Ops universe. I even threw in a bonus tip for you. Science fiction world building is great fun, but also challenging. I hope what I offered here helps and, as always, let me know how it goes!

Awesome. Thanks, Stacy! *MAKES NOTES* So once again that's Tattoos by the Splediferous Stacy Overby, available for preorder now, releasing on Dec. 15th published by our good friends over at Our Write Side Ink.

You can get your hot little hands on a copy from Amazon Kindle HERE, from Smashwords HERE, and from Draft 2 Digital HERE.

Want to follow Stacy on the various Social Medias and let her know what a Hoopy Frood she is? Sure you do. You can do that...

                Website: www.thisisnothitchhikersguide.com

                On Facebook at: www.facebook.com/thisinothitchhikersguide

                On Twitter at: www.twitter.com/dontpanic2011

                On Google+ at: https://plus.google.com/+StacyOverby

                On Instagram at: www.instagram.com/mamawisper78

                and on Pinterest at: www.pinterest.com/dontpanic2011

That's going to do it for now. Hope you guys enjoyed this Takeover Tuesday. We'll see you next time here on the Mountain Caller when I find something else to ramble about. Hehe.

Carry On Smartly, My Friends.