Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

What is it that you dislike about the writing?

 

Favorite thing I learned today:

Remember the Galaxy of Fear books? You know, silly Goosebumps in Space children's books about a pair of goofy kids bumbling from Imperial terror weapon to Imperial terror weapon with their gimmickily useful shapeshifting uncle and always running into major film and/or EU characters in the process? Written by John Whitman, who, in the tradition of minor nineties sci-fi tie-in work, you would expect to be a fat, middle-aged man with a beard. Perhaps a kindly older man, given his choice of children's fiction.

According to Wookieepedia, this is John Whitman:




"He is a 5th-degree black belt and defensive tactics instructor in Krav Maga, and has trained in protective services and defensive tactics in both the United States and in Israel. Whitman teaches civilian, military, and law enforcement personnel, and has served as an instructor for elite military units in the United States and abroad. He is the founder of the Krav Maga Alliance, an international organization of Krav Maga schools, and served as president of Krav Maga Worldwide for 7 years."

EXPECTATIONS DEFIED.

 

I wonder if he's ever had the occasion to meet Matt Stover...

 

...I never thought the day would come when I would have cause to wonder what else the author of Galaxy of Fear could write.

 

It's... uh, childish. It does not have the weight I demand from writing, the displacement. Also, I like the premise of an unknown catastrophe leaving only pockets of civilization in the Nordic countries intact, but I can't say the idea is well handled. I read the premise and was anxious to read a story about a return to the age of myth. Instead, I got a thoroughly modern story, with only undeveloped hints of a North Germanic-flavored return to Iron Age barbarism ("barbarism" is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you). I haven't gotten through more than 30 pages because of this, so this might be explored later in the story, but the mix of modern sensibilities and old myth is jarring in the pages I've read.

 

I recommend jumping directly into chapter 1, the prologue is a bit long

 

Final day, mostly per Jello's recommendations - Trajan's, Villa Borghese, the Spanish Steps, the Servian Wall, the Capitoline Museums, and more views of the Forum.

 

Maybe there's moments in the series where, on closer examination, it stands out that the author Knows What He's Talking About?

I've only got the first two, and can't remember anything especially standing out - but that may be the sign of a good author - not overdoing the infodumping.

 

According to Wookieepedia, books about Krav Maga and 24 tie-in novels. Plus all the 90s audio drama adaptations, actually, which i didn't know.

Also he was going to write a fairy-tale-themed series around the Solo kids but it was canceled.

 

A fairy-tale around the Solo kids?

So like The Crystal Star, just with more talking animals, and everyone living happily ever after after Waru brings peace to all.

 

Having now finished the story that came with the shipped game, I'd like to amend this to: "Shaky first season, but enough promise to come back for season 2".

Also, the game is addictive enough that it's halved the amount I smoke. So that's a massive point in its favour.

 

Hej Destiny players, have you see this http://conceptartworld.com/?p=36048 ?

 

I'm going to have to dock him fifty points for not using Ederlathh.

 

I've never got the point of The Sims, but... that article is hilarious, yes.

 

According to Wookieepedia once more:

Fairy Tales: Jaina and the Hanadak was a planned young readers book, to be written by John Whitman and illustrated by Kathy Mitchell. In it, Jaina Solo would try to visit the Old Forest Woman on Endor, but instead encountered the carnivorous Hanadak beast.

Fairy Tales: The Twins and the Taloden was a planned young readers book to be written by John Whitman and illustrated by Kathy Mitchell. In it, the Solo Twins would go to a museum on Tatooine, to discover the Taloden, a snake-like enchanter who turned the museum curator's son into a dewback.

That's all that seems to be known.

 

Hmm hmm hmmm I had hoped for Empire II :/

 

I will reserve judgment on that point until I see the final product.

 

Did you watch Ancient Impossible on H2 over the past few months, Jello? Its right up your alley, because it talks a lot about what Rome, and also the various Hellenic civilizations and Egypt among other civilizations, were capable of. The two things I found most intriguing was the evidence for Roman cataphracts and a carriage or cart-mounted ballista on a 360 degree mount and pulled by armored horses, called the ballista quadratus, used to defend the borders of the Empire at its height. (Don't quote me on the quadratus part, I can't seem to find the term or a similarly spelled term in other sources and I have only heard it spoken on the show.)