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Stirling and Lost Pages
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Reading: Conquistador by S.M. Stirling
Music: Air America
TV/Movie: thinking about watching Kill Bill again
Link o' the Day: Lost Pages
CONQUISTADOR by S.M. Stirling is proving to be an interesting book. I never thought that I’d be interested in alternate history novels, but following my enjoyment of Eric Flint’s 1632 and 1633, I’m revising my opinion some. (This doesn’t mean I enjoy all alt-hist, but I’m not as likely to dismiss it out of hand.)
So what would you do if you could recolonize the North American continent all over again? What mistakes would you try to avoid? It seems that Stirling’s characters aren’t so much repeating mistakes as they are coming up with whole new ones. The new colonizers definitely have a smack of facism and thuggery about them, but it’s too early in the book to see where it goes. The only real nitpick I have with the book is the prevalance of stereotypes I’m seeing--and they’re not even new stereotypes. Russian thugs. Italian mobsters. Southerners stuck dreaming in an antebellum past, and so on. Again--it’s too early to see how these are going to play out, but one scene in the beginning where the core group of colonizers get together reads like a ‘50s war comic book.
Still, it’s well-written. Cannae deny that.
* * *
Final Fantasy X continues. I’m taking a break from the storyline to power up my characters by having them run around in a field shouting, “La-la! La-la! Come and get me, monsters!” Then I put the hurt on them.
* * *
The writing is getting organized. We have a three-day weekend coming up and mayhaps, just mayhaps, I can get some more pages writ.
* * *
Busy day at the office, so finishing off early with a quick link for the day. Welcome to Claude Lalumière’s webzine, Lost Pages, a fun little page with some fiction, some articles, and some reviews.
Enjoy!
Music: Air America
TV/Movie: thinking about watching Kill Bill again
Link o' the Day: Lost Pages
CONQUISTADOR by S.M. Stirling is proving to be an interesting book. I never thought that I’d be interested in alternate history novels, but following my enjoyment of Eric Flint’s 1632 and 1633, I’m revising my opinion some. (This doesn’t mean I enjoy all alt-hist, but I’m not as likely to dismiss it out of hand.)
So what would you do if you could recolonize the North American continent all over again? What mistakes would you try to avoid? It seems that Stirling’s characters aren’t so much repeating mistakes as they are coming up with whole new ones. The new colonizers definitely have a smack of facism and thuggery about them, but it’s too early in the book to see where it goes. The only real nitpick I have with the book is the prevalance of stereotypes I’m seeing--and they’re not even new stereotypes. Russian thugs. Italian mobsters. Southerners stuck dreaming in an antebellum past, and so on. Again--it’s too early to see how these are going to play out, but one scene in the beginning where the core group of colonizers get together reads like a ‘50s war comic book.
Still, it’s well-written. Cannae deny that.
* * *
Final Fantasy X continues. I’m taking a break from the storyline to power up my characters by having them run around in a field shouting, “La-la! La-la! Come and get me, monsters!” Then I put the hurt on them.
* * *
The writing is getting organized. We have a three-day weekend coming up and mayhaps, just mayhaps, I can get some more pages writ.
* * *
Busy day at the office, so finishing off early with a quick link for the day. Welcome to Claude Lalumière’s webzine, Lost Pages, a fun little page with some fiction, some articles, and some reviews.
Enjoy!
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