TCR Update, et al

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Hello, reader(s)!

Lately, I’ve been working on “The Chimaera Regiment” again. I’m most of the way through the second chapter (out of fifteen) in my editing. Unfortunately, several later chapters will take much longer to edit than these early ones (which are mostly copy- and flow-editing). This will take time, especially since I have a day job and other things to attend to, but it will get done… eventually. I usually knock out a few pages every time I sit down to it. I don’t have a timeline for you, especially not for the finished product (i.e., audio recordings, cover images, finalized book), but I can tell you that it’s progressing.

In other news, I’ve taken Star Trek Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic about as far as I can take them without paying for them. I have a level 50 and a level 32 on STO, and I have two level 15’s (with six other characters ranging from level 6 to level 14) on TOR. Briefly: both games are reflective of the multiplayer mentality of modern gaming. Which means that they’re not perfect. But they’re not bad.

STO really caught my attention because of how much I could do alone, mostly because I often had an away team on ground missions and space missions were never overwhelmingly difficult. I also enjoyed the “crew missions” aspect of the game (so much so that I gained my last six levels by logging in once a day just to do that). But the overarching story isn’t quite enough to keep me reeled in at level 50 (“Oh, no, the Undine/Species 8472 have infiltrated every government! Quick, let’s save the galaxy!”), especially since getting a level-50 ship requires either real money or way, way, way, way more time than I have.

TOR, similarly. I enjoyed working on the main quest by myself. It has a larger number of in-your-face group quests than STO (which has plenty if you’re looking for them, but they’re easy to avoid), but the main quest is easily possible on your own. Gameplay cinematics in an MMO are innovative, but not revolutionary. They also take up huge chunks of HDD space that I could better use for other things. I would probably go back to TOR if they made it free-to-play, but I’m in no rush for them to do that (and they’re not either, judging by their server populations)… even if the gameplay does reek of World-of-Warcraft-in-space. STO, at least, took a hint from Tera (which, I gather, is wildly popular, although I didn’t see the appeal) and made combat more FPS-like. And I have to admit, after shooting things with my mouse, watching an avatar shoot them with my “1” key is pretty lame.

Besides editing and gaming, I’m still planning a science fiction novel (with some sparse ideas for sequels and prequels) which I have affectionately dubbed the “DCTSF Project.” “SF” stands for “science fiction,” in case you missed it, and DCT are the initials of D.C., whose inspiration and creativity helped create the universe in which this novel will be written. (How it happened: about six and a half years ago, just after Christmas 2005, D.C. and I were on a ferry from Indonesia back to Singapore, whereupon we devised the majority of the setting for this novel. I know it sounds like there’s a story there, but that’s pretty much it.) In this novel, we’re going to have humans, who have reached a few stars (so they’re beyond the limits of the solar system at this point), but they’re not traversing the galaxy with ease; they’ve met a few other species, but so far, humans are the only ones who developed on a planet (instead of a moon). But in this story of pirates, linguistics, lawmen, and intrigue, they’re going to encounter something they’ve never encountered before…

… And that’s enough to tease you for now. That book will be quite some time in coming. I probably won’t start putting pen to paper until TCR is completely finished. But I wanted folks to know a bit about it before it gets here. And I know I’ve mentioned it before. But it always bears mentioning again.

“20,000 Leagues” Is No Joke

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20 000 Leagues Under the Sea20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This truly was an excellent book. It was exciting, thrilling, engaging, entertaining, intellectual, informative, and daring. It is a testament to its time, its author, and its genre.

Its ending is most exquisite. The tying together of various wandering knots in the tale to form its resolute end kept me on the edge of my seat for the last four chapters, easily. The encounter with the cephalopods, the battle with the mysterious vessel, and the drive into the maelstrom form an exciting conclusion to this book.

The middle, however, is where the book suffers. It is, at times, too slow. While its science fiction is entertaining and intellectually invigorating, it strays too far from the story to engage therein. On the other hand, the discussions of species of fish, the questions of history and natural history, and the variegated adventures of the professor and his companions are all necessary and appropriate to that story. Even so, they tend to drag on from time to time (one of many reasons I was not able to finish this book more quickly).

All that said, the book is definitely worth the read, especially if you love science fiction. It’s one of the classics for a reason.

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Kickstarter, et al

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Kickstarter (xkcd)

This. This is my experience with Kickstarter.

I saw this and, considering my brief experience with Kickstarter, I found it hi-larious. It’s not that I think that the nature of Kickstarter ruined my project, or even that I did everything within my power to make my Kickstarter project a success. There were a lot of things I missed out on, a lot of opportunities I passed up, and a lot of money I never earned… and considering what has happened since the failure of the project, there was no way I would have maintained the project on time, so it’s all for the best in the end, anyway.

But all that said, I still think that Kickstarter has gotten… commercialized. Sure, there are still plenty of folks who have nothing to their names accomplishing their dreams because of a successful Kickstarter project… but there are also video game companies, famous webcomic artists, and other people who already have significant fanbases using it as a means of collecting donations. Instead of saying, “Hey, you, give me money and I’ll give you stuff,” they’re using the established Kickstarter mechanism for it. I can’t really blame them – why reinvent the wheel? On the other hand, it tends to monopolize the funds available. I don’t imagine there are very many eccentric millionaires browsing Kickstarter who will give equally to famous and obscure projects. Most people are going to go with what’s likely to succeed… and what’s most likely to succeed is that thing which has succeeded in the past.

Not to mention that people on the Internet tend to donate to things on the Internet. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to use the Internet to its maximum efficacy in an attempt to produce, create, and advertise something which reeks of old fashioned and handle with care.

In short, people will give millions of dollars to make a video game, but can’t scrape together a few thousand for a book.

But I try not to be bitter.

At any rate, I’ve been inspired by a recent blog post to make something of myself, because I know people who know people who have already made something of themselves. So while I’m selling my soul in the retail world, and dividing my free time between trying to pack & to move and enjoying the company of my beloved wife, I will also attempt to complete the editing process on The Chimaera Regiment. I have begun my stylized stick-figure approximations of what I want for a cover, which will – hopefully – lead me down a path of artistic growth and personal development, since I sure as heck can’t afford to pay somebody else for the darn thing. Now, all that remains is making sure the book is actually worth reading. At the moment, I am utterly convinced of its shallow characters, poor plot development, inconsistent perspectives, limited depth of prose, and ultimately flawed nature (although I’ve been told that I’m harsh on myself). I have a great deal of editing and rewriting to do before it’s even remotely ready to be released… but I do still intend to release it as an audiobook, once I scrounge up the greenbacks for a quality microphone and audio editing software.

In other news, I am most of the way through the planning stages of a new novel, as yet untitled. It’s based in a science fiction universe devised (about six or seven years ago as of this posting) by the brilliant minds of D. C. and of myself. We mused about a possible science fiction future in which humans are not the biological underdogs they always seem to be in the Sci-Fi world, and in which religion and religious distinctions have not collapsed in some form of UFP-esque utopian development, but in which those distinctions have actually become primary among the peoples of Earth (or Terra – I haven’t quite decided on that yet). At any rate, this new novel is a space opera about pirates, exploration, human nature, intrigue, and linguistics. I have enjoyed planning it, I expect to enjoy writing it, and someday, I hope you will enjoy reading it. It really is quite excellent.

I also have more tentative, less established plans for a retelling of the myth of Orpheus, a sequel and a prequel to The Chimaera Regiment, and a retelling of the story of St. Telemachus (not to be confused with Telemachus, son of Odysseus), of which the last is the least developed (although it is also the oldest). If you were to place a wager upon the ordered release of future novels written by me, I would go with: TCR, space opera, TCR sequel, Orpheus, TCR prequel, other things, Telemachus somewhere in there.

Or something to that effect.

 

The End of an Era

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[pb_vidembed title=”The Elder Scrolls Online – Announcement Trailer” caption=”” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6m9-Dret0U” type=”yt” w=”480″ h=”385″] And so passes the last refuge of quality single-player RPG series. First KotOR, and now Elder Scrolls.

I guess I just don’t get the point of MMORPG’s. I’ve played quite a few – Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, Champions Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Star Trek Online, Star Wars The Old Republic, and others, if you count open betas and the like. But every time, I acquire only an overwhelming sense of pointlessness.

I mean, in relation to my impact on the persistent world, I’m identical to everyone else in real life; why would I want the same experience among video games? Not everyone can be a hero, and if you’re not a hero, then there’s no great story. If there’s no great story, then what’s the point in escapist, interactive fantasies?

Is it talking with your friends? Possibly. But let me ask: have you ever heard of the telephone? Or a hang-out? And I don’t mean that thing on Google Plus where you all use your webcams at the same time.

Perhaps it’s spending time with friends doing fun stuff. I don’t imagine that’s possible in any other form, such as, you know, in person.

It’s like people have decided that real life isn’t good enough, so they made escapist video games – many of which are quite awesome in single-player forms. Then, when they realized that their lives were lacking in certain necessary components (because they did nothing but play video games), they converted their escapist video games into escapist multiplayer video games, which gradually – and sometimes, not so gradually – morph into “real life in X universe.”

I wish you luck, Bethesda Softworks. I really do. It’d be neat to see an MMORPG that’s not just Second Life in Space, or Second Life in Middle Earth, or Second Life in Tamriel. At least Second Life is honest. But if BioWare couldn’t do it – and trust me, they couldn’t – then I’m not sure you’ll be able to do it, either. Especially since Skyrim turned about half the quests in the game into “real life”-esque quests, which are more like a job than a story.

But good luck, all the same.

I Knew Learning Latin Would Pay Off Someday

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A Canticle for LeibowitzA Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

NOTE: Some spoilers follow.

Miller’s “A Canticle for Leibowitz” is indeed a marvelous work of modern science fiction. It wraps up the natural fear of nuclear weapons (which Miller no doubt experienced as he watched the bombs fall on Japan) and combines it with the innovative “what if” of a long and storied history.

“Canticle” does an excellent job of providing a deeply religious perspective on a dark and troubled future, with the full awareness of human nature and a Catholic understanding of original sin. The book ends with an intriguing twist on that doctrine, but – while it may be outside the normal realm of theological presumption – it is presented from a humble and simple eye, which presumes nothing of its own accord. Miller’s work here is delightful.

Enjoyable, too, are the echoes of the Mass and the cleverness of Miller’s classical education, which plays out in this work. There were a number of jokes and layers which I could not have understood without my knowledge of the Latin language or the Catholic Mass. Miller’s weave of these issues borders on the brilliant.

Now, downsides: first, Miller is a writer of short stories. This is evident in that each of the three parts of “Canticle” could be read and, more or less, understood apart from the others. There are elements that tie them together, but seeing those strings is more like gravy than substance. Of course, in a story that spans over a thousand years, this is to be expected to some degree. Even so, I would have appreciated more intricacies of plot between the sections.

I felt, too, that there were a few questions left unanswered. The nature and identity of the nomad, or Benjamin, or Lazarus, is unclear. Miller never resolves that question, at least not satisfactorily. There is some implication about the identity of the man, which plays (quite cleverly, if non-traditionally) on the lack of details about the (second) death of Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, in the Bible. But I would have liked more resolution there.

But all of that said, the book is excellent. The imagery and depth of the story is striking, and I am glad all the more for having read this delightful work of science fiction.

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