Review of Elfslayer by Nathan Long

I had the guilty pleasure of reading a rare, autographed copy of Elfslayer by Nathan Long (Black Library Publications, 2008).  The book is currently out of print but may be found on ebay or in used bookstores for various prices (some quite high). 

Nathan Long took over the helm of writing the Felix and Gotrek novels from William King, the original creator of the grim dwarf Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson and his hapless human companion poet warrior Felix Jaeger, somewhere in the middle of the Third Omnibus edition containing Giantslayer, Orcslayer, and Manslayer.  I was skeptical that Long could be true to King’s legacy but must admit that the transition was all but seamless.

Another thing that worried me (needlessly as it turned out) is the whole idea of slaying elves.  Having grown up with Tolkien’s version of the elder race, the thought of slaying an elf was anathema.  However, in the world of Felix and Gotrek, there are two distinct kinds of elves--light and dark.  The dark elves of Long’s world are akin to the anti-paladins of Dungeons & Dragons--unspeakably beautiful and unspeakably cruel and decadent.  These elves could use a bit o’ slayin’!

The duo forays into the dark world of the dark elves in order to recover a stolen magic harp, which in the wrong hands could be used to destroy the world.  Dogging (or ratting) their every move is their secret nemesis, the rat man Grey Seer Thanquol of the skaven and his mutant companion Boneripper.

Elfslayer is formulaic, derivative, and melodramatic, but somehow original and just a plain old great read at the same time.  I wish I knew how King and now Long accomplished this, but their Felix and Gotrek stories have always sung to me, and Elfslayer was no exception.

Review of Writers & Their Reading by the Editors of Glimmer Train

I write mostly poetry but when I do compose a short story I send it to Glimmer Train if at all possible. I admire and respect the co-editors of Glimmer Train, Susan Burmeister-Brown and Linda Swanson-Davies.  As I do with all submissions to Songs of Eretz (regular and contest), these sisters read and personally respond to every submission to the many submissions that their magazine receives every year.  Glimmer Train pays seven hundred dollars for every story it accepts for publication; contest winners are awarded between two and three thousand dollars.  Glimmer Trains’ fee for a non-contest submission is only two dollars and its fee for contests is only eighteen dollars.  Find out more about the offerings of Glimmer Train here:  www.GlimmerTrain.com.

As a thank you bonus for entering a Glimmer Train contest, the entrant may choose from several scholarly works from its sister publication, Writers Ask.  After entering a contest myself, I chose to receive and had the pleasure to enjoy the forty-page educational collection of interviews Writers & Their Reading.  The collection compiles the responses of several dozen writers as to what books influenced their writing and how important reading is for them and for writers in general.  The universal answer was that not just reading but voracious reading of quality literature is essential if one is ever to succeed as a writer.  Every writer stressed this, even the few that curtailed their reading while they themselves were engaged in writing so as not to have another author’s voice influence their own voices.

Sadly, reading and the concentration and focus it requires to do properly may have become a lost art.  Interviewee Steve Almond laments that if people from our era were to be transported 150 years back in time they would all be considered to have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD or hyperactivity).  He postulates that members of our screen worshiping generation would certainly become restless and fidgety if forced to sit in the parlor to listen to the latest stories being read aloud or to read to themselves the recent works of some of the great authors of that time.  That is a wake up call if I have ever heard one!

Review of Neil Gaiman's 'Make Good Art' speech

I had the distinct pleasure of reading Neil Gaiman’s ‘Make Good Art’ speech illustrated by graphic artist Chip Kidd (William Morrow 2013, small hardcover, $12.99), a word-for-word copy of the speech keynote speaker Neil Gaiman gave to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia graduating class of 2012. 

The speech took

nineteen minutes

for Gaiman

to deliver

and took me

about ten minutes

to read. 

I would estimate that the speech contains about 2,500 words

--an essay more than a book--

s p r e a d  o u t  o v e r  a b o u t  f o r t y  p a p e r b a c k - s i z e d  p a g e s . 

Kidd uses his graphic design skills to make the spread out words look artsy, poetic, and colorful (literally and figuratively).

The advice imparted is nothing really new and may be summarized thus: 

Pursue Your Dreams! 

Gaiman states this advice in various different ways, such as:

believe in yourself,

think outside the box,

don’t be afraid to fail,

learn from your mistakes,

and other old chestnuts and clichés.  

I found myself at once inspired and annoyed that $12.99 was spent on this book.  

The real take home message is this: 

Once you make a name for yourself,

you can get away with cleverly packaging a bit of autobiography or trite wisdom,

and you will still make a mint just because

you have made a name for yourself.

Review of Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

My family and I are big fans of the television series Bones (although my daughter recently abandoned watching).  Accordingly, I jumped at the opportunity to meet the inspiration behind the show, authoress and real life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, at a lecture and book-signing event sponsored by Rainy Day Books in Kansas City.  I purchased an autographed copy of the 10^th Anniversary Edition of Deja Dead for fifteen dollar and immediately noted that in real life Reichs looks more like the mother of the sexy young lady pictured on the back of her 411-page book.  The irony of this observation will become apparent at the conclusion of this review.

If you watch Bones because you enjoy the interplay between the savant, Spock-like Temperance Brennan and the manly yet emotional Sealy Booth, as well as the side stories about the unique and interesting supporting characters, you may be disappointed with Deja Dead.  The story takes place in Montreal where forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, here a recovering alcoholic and single mother of an adult daughter, works alone out of a small, smelly post mortem laboratory room located in a large government building.  There are no vast, open spaces of a Jeffersonian Institute, nor are there any interesting major characters who assist Brennan in her scientific sleuthing, although there are two minor characters who assist a little bit.

The first one hundred pages or so are pretty boring--I almost stopped reading at that point.  After that, the plot slowly but relentlessly accelerates to a nail biting wow climax.  The plot centers around Brennan who is convinced that there are links between several gruesome murders and must resort to investigating on her own and out of her depth in the bad parts of Montreal in order to convince the skeptical all-male police that there is a serial killer on the loose in the city.

The book is as much about a woman trying to hold her own and to be recognized as competent in a world dominated by men as it is a murder mystery--and boy does the authoress of the book make sure the reader knows it!  The policemen are either depicted as macho stereotypes, sex objects, or both.  There are frequent scenes of Brennan having to assert herself among the men to the point of being melodramatically and annoyingly aggressive.  And in case that is not enough cliche feminist claptrap for you, at one point Brennan laments that she needs a certain thing “about as much as a yeast infection” as if we needed reminding that the lead character, and presumably the authoress, have vaginas.  Blech!

I will be so bold as to speak on behalf of the average red-blooded American male and say that the overt, in your face feminism in Deja Dead is enough to ruin an otherwise enjoyable reading experience for you; probably the same would be true of most female readers, who probably would not mind a little more femininity and a lot less feminism.  So, if you are an annoying feminist, you will enjoy Deja Dead.  If you can get through the first one hundred pages and hold your nose through the feminist parts, you may still enjoy Deja Dead.  However, for the general readership, I will recommend watching Bones and giving the book a miss.