A little Sumpin Sumpin and an Assassin

Lagunitas- A little Sumpin Sumpin Ale

Petaluma Ca

Lagunitas is a fun little brewery just down the road from me in Petaluma. They make a bunch of great beer but until today I had never had A Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale.

Here are my fantasy character inspired notes:

Blond appearance with a nice thick head that had a fair amount of lacing; reminded me of how Stansa clung to Joffery in A Game of Thrones . The nose had a heavy dose of hops and some good funk mixed with citrus, similar to Burrich from Assassin’s Apprentice. Viscosity and body were both medium; neither overwhelmed me, nor did they let me down. The finish came on strong like Regius after Wizards of the Cost launched 3^rd edition. All in all I would call it a magnificent brew!

So what to pair with this finely crafted Ale? I had just finished a fun book on vacation but I feel it will fold under the pressure of this hoppy delight. However, since I mentioned Burrich I will go with the Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Published in 1995, this book tells the tale of a royal bastard, bonded to a wolf. No, I’m not talking about John Snow, although sometimes I wonder if Fitz Chivary did not plant the seed for Snow. Fitz weaves through an impressive array of court intrigue, love, and a healthy dose of assassinations while trying to find his place in life.  Hobb does a beautiful job of character development and weaves a very satisfying tale. If you haven’t read this book crack a pint and have a look.

Buy the book here: Assassin's Apprentice

Check out Lagunitas web page: Lagunitas

The Color of Summer

The Color of Magic and Modello Especial!

Napa is cooking right now. I spent the day in the sun arguing with a contractor at my house, swimming with the kids and running at soccer practice. Let me sum it up: I was right, white men can't dive, and yes I can still out dribble five year olds.



Blah, blah, who cares? Talk about the beer and books! Well, since it was so hot I decided to go with a little Modelo Especial. Yes, it is that hot. No, I'm not joking. There is a time and place for everything, and today was the day for some Especial!



The head was weak and reminded me of Budwiser. Me staring at Modello analyzing the head like a fifteenth level wizard (out of 100 total levels!) making a first level shield spell (3.5). The wizard sits back, studies the intensity of color, wafts the aroma, swirls it while checking viscosity, and then goes back to making his flesh golem!



So the head lacked a certain robustness, and the smell seemed a little underwhelming. What the freak do you expect? They sell it in a can and call it especial! The taste, as I sat back in my recliner and made my kids do chores, was amazing. Thin, watery and refreshing. You think I'm mocking, but this beer is my go to mexican cheap beer. When I'm on my boat at the lake, or when I'm mowing the lawn this is a great beer. Time and place... time and place.



Okay now onto books and I think it best if we stick to the theme. Time and place. Terry Prachett. I'm a huge fan, but I've never had a heated argument about Rincewind's parentage and whether or not Carrot Ironfoundersson's mother was raped by the mad king! Pratchett writes a light hearted series that I love to pick up now and again. I'm not ashamed to say I haven't read the entire 38, soon to be 39 book series. I have however read a bunch and will continue to read a bunch on days where I have to explain to a contractor what an O-ring is. Pratchett has moments of pure brilliance in his writing and obviously I would do a white whale belly flop on youtube to have a career like his.



So where to start? How about The Color of Magic? 1983!! 1983 humor may not be what tickles your fancy, but I am down with the likes of National Lampoon's Vacation and Monte Python's The Meaning of Life, both comedy flicks produced the same year!



The Color of Magic follows Rincewind, a wizard who can't cast spells, around the world on an epic adventure to save the Disc World. The humor is two parts brilliant to one part thready and goes perfect on a warm day with a glass of Modelo! If you are ever in doubt play soccer with my kids for an hour in the august heat, crack a cold one and bend a binding... that's what life is all about.

Art Plug!!!!

Art Plug!!!


Wanted to give a shot out to some of the artist that we've been working with:

Julia Krase: @juliakrase has been rocking the Fall of Rienbect character portrates. Julia is also working on a graphic novel style short story that looks to be between five and six pages. Julia did the portrait of the Baron Von Creme, as well as Kymburli, Monkrat and Saefin.


As you can see she is very talented!

Also like to give a shot out to Rougemie for his work on the Larceny project. Rougmie has done Blake as well as Sean, and he is working on Spiro, Milikin, and Wiggly.

You can check out his work here: Rougemie

The last artist that we have is another local talent by John Patrick Evans. John did our first piece of Rienbect art with a picture of Rudolpho Dezerante Esq



Shadows Linger

Shadows Linger
By Glen Cook
(2nd novel in the Black Company series)



Plowed through this one in about two days. May indeed be one of my favorite books I read this summer. I love the notion that you can write a fantasy novel without having to have this epic quest be the center of the drama. The characters in this novel fight for their right to survive, while murdering each other and backstabbing anyone who gets in their way. Rarely do I champion crazy murderers but this book really crossed my wires. I found my self rooting for an evil criminal half the time and rooting against him half the time.

Love hearing more about Croacker and Raven too. Very, very good tale.


Buy it here: Amazon

Chronicles of the Black Company

Just finished Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook.

I’m sure many of you have already read this book, but I thought I’d throw this review out there for those who haven’t. The book had been on my books to read list for years, but I had just never gotten around to it. I’m baffled as to why it kept getting pushed back. The book delivered on every aspect.

If you are like me and hadn’t gotten around to this book do yourself a favor and buy a copy today. I’m serious… get this book. Amazing characters, great combat on a micro and macro level and a very singular perspective on high fantasy. I don’t think authors are brave enough to run with high fantasy and when you see an author like Cook do it you have to tip your hat to them.

Buy the book here: Amazon

Scifan: Cook

Wiki page: Wiki

Kymburli

Apprentice to the world's deadlist assasin, Kymbuli's story is told in The Fall of Rienbect.

The novel is a historical look at the factors that led to the fall of the Rein Empire presented through a series of missives. The setting is noir fantasy with high magic, intense political intrigue and a realistic portrayal of wartime violence. Keegan Volx, an imp archmage, has created this text for his class at the Arcane Academy in Rienbect. Keegan narrates between missives and uses magical rituals as well as demon summoning to give his readers a voyeuristic perspective of the empire’s fall. Love, sex, murder, and political corruption are central themes in a game of espionage that leaves a city in chaos and an empire in civil war. The novel has a dark side similar to Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself as well as an incredibly rich anthropology similar to Steven Erickson’s Gardens of The Moon.

Proof Art... received today!

Another teaser!

This is a proof sample sent to me. Pictures above is Blake from the novella Larceny. We are going to include the novella in our e-book which should come out in early 2013 or fingers crossed late 2012. Blake narrates the story and he has a very interesting take on life in Oceansend.

You will be able to read more about Oceansend in the Fall of Rienbect when it gets published (we are still editing and revising that novel) as well as in a couple of the e-book stories.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline

This book is AMAZING! To anyone who lived in the 80’s and is into role playing games, table-top games, video games, fantasy/sci-fi books or anything related to any one of these things then you must read this book. Ready Player One revolves around the story of Wade Watts. A teenage boy who escapes his miserable existence by losing himself in a virtual reality world, the OASIS. This game world is hands down the most popular game of all time. Its used for more than just gaming. Business and schooling take place in the OASIS. The OASIS is built by the greatest game designer of all time. This mysterious creator named Holliday, dies and leaves the keys to the OASIS and the keys to his vast business empire built around the game hidden within the OASIS as an easter egg. The greatest easter egg of all time. Wade Watts along with most of humanity desperately wants to find this easter egg. Wade competes with some hardcore people and a brutal corporation to get find it. Digging through all of Holliday’s passions (80’s centric stuff from games to music to TV shows) looking for clues to its location.

I don’t want to say too much cause even a little could spoil this wonderful story. The book is an homage to all things geek. Someone said its “nostalgia porn for 80’s geek culture” and I couldn’t agree more.

The Way of Shadows

The Way of Shadows
by Brent Weeks

The Way of Shadows is the first book in the Night Angel Trilogy. This is a dark story of assassins or I should say wet-boys (assassination is a term for thugs as far as wet-boys are concerned). The story starts out with young Azoth an orphan and street urchin in a large city. We follow  our hero Azoth as he navigates this difficult world., finding a precarious balance in order to keep himself and a small group of friends alive. Without spoiling the story for you though this balance is soon overthrown and the young boy finds himself apprenticed to Durzo Blint, by far the most accomplished wet-boy in the city.

I have to say I was thoroughly engrossed throughout this book. I found I couldn’t put it down, often staying up late into the night reading into the wee hours of the morning. If I read for one more hour I can still get 4 hours of sleep before work... was a common refrain in my head. Though 4 would become 3 and 3 would become 2 and so on. Till I would groggily climb out of bed, still not wanting to put down the book. I wouldn’t say the plotting or character development of his series is the best. Or the love story to be honest. But the whole series is fun. He blends fun adventure and tragedy well. Though none of the individual elements of this series are the greatest, his series overall combines to be very entertaining. With some wonderful set pieces of great action and side characters that you just can’t get enough of (Lantano Garuwashi is a badass!! Vi is hot and sexy and tragic).

The series is on my re-read list. I hope to get to it in the next couple months so I can experience the wonder of the Night Angel terrorizing people and reawaken my love for Durzo and his brutal-seeming ways. Its a great series to get yourself lost in for a few weeks (or days in my case) from a new author to the genre. I can’t wait for him to finish up his next series. I have already read the first book, The Black Prism and the second book will be published soon. I have to say Weeks has done a masterful job with the plotting of The Black Prism. His writing seems to get better and better. I especially like how he plays with typical fantasy tropes (fat hero, good guy/bad guy dichotomy). The magic system is very unique too.

Purchase the book here.

Visit the author's site here.

Night Angle Trilogy
The Way of Shadows
Shadow's Edge
Beyond the Shadows

Lightbringer Series
The Black Prism

Assassin's Apprentice

Assassin’s Apprentice
by Robin Hobb

This is the first book in the Farseer Trilogy. The series follows the adventures of Fitz a royal bastard who’s father chose to abdicate his claim to the throne when knowledge of Fitz existence comes to light. Tales of royal bastards abound in fantasy from King Arthur himself to Jon Snow (eerie similarities between Fitz and Jon! Especially given that George R.R. Martin is a Robin Hobb fan). Unlike most fantasy though which tend to be skim the surface of real emotion, Hobb delves deeply into the psyche of her characters. Her writing is such that you really feel what’s going on with Fitz. So much so that at times I have found I had to set the books down and sort through my own complicated emotions with the books and characters.

The world of the Farseer Trilogy is in its infant stages throughout the beginning of this series but it really expands and comes into focus in the second book. With later series taking characters all around the continent. I have yet to real Hobb’s latest trilogy which is just finishing up, but it is on my list of books to get to.

Besides the wonderful characters within this first trilogy (and I can’t stress enough how wonderfully flawed they are) the magic systems are great and mysterious, as magic should be. The Wit and the Skill are two different and yet eerily similar forms of magic. The Wit is a beast magic (again strangely similar to Martin’s wargs) while the Skill is the hereditary magic of the Farseer’s. The line of kings and their progeny who rule the kingdom.

The best part about Hobb’s work’s are how prolific she is. If you like her books check out her other works under the pen-name Megan Lindholm.

Visit her site here!

Purchase the first book in the series here!

The Farseer Trilogy
Assassin’s Apprentice
Royal Assassin
Assassin’s Quest


Review by Brendan

The Heroes
By Joe Abercrombie

The Heroes is set in the period after the First Law series and is unfreaking believable. After reading this book I grew a beard and set out to make a name for myself. It did not take me long to become a named man. Yet somehow I think “Barile Bubble Belly will” not strike fear in the Union troops or the named men of the north.

The Heroes does an amazing job of filling in the details of the north. The combat is great, the tactics are amazing, and the characters… oh the characters. Just thinking about this book makes me want to reread it. If the coffee shop were open right now I would ride down and crack the book open and start ingesting caffeine and carbs!

Even if you haven’t read the first three books you could sneak this book in and be satisfied, but why cheat yourself. You deserve it, go get The Blade Itself and take a holiday. When you plow through all of Abercrombie's books and get to the Heroes you’ll thank me.

Buy the book here!

Read the author's web page.


Review by Cordell

The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind
By Patrick Rothfuss

I’ve never seen an author take such a course and create such a masterpiece. Rothfuss gives Freytag the finger and ignores traditional narrative structure. Some may not like the lack of rising action, climax, and falling action, but I decided to stand and applaud Rothfuss for not conforming to the standard and still being able to spin an amazing tale. Of course, for me, this proved to be a bit awkward as I ended up standing and applauding in bed while my wife was sleeping. After forty hours of counseling, a trip to the state hospital and my new special sleeping blankie (it has straps) we decided I am now no longer allowed to read in bed.

Enough about plot and straitjackets. Rothfuss has a few signature aspects to his writing that make The Name of The Wind a brilliant novel. Every novel I am ever going to review is going to have amazing characters. If your characters are boring then there is no way your story will make my list. So needless to say his characters are amazing and you will fall in love with their personalities. That is a given but the character development is so good I feel I have to at least mention it.

Along that same vein, the world is great. Again, if you have an unimaginative world then you aren’t going to make this list, but I do feel it is worth mentioning. Primarily because I can’t stop thinking about it. We even played a D&D campaign set in the world for a few months after everyone in one of my gaming groups plowed through The Name of The Wind.

When @writerbrendan and I sat down to write a book after years of being apart one of the things we focused on was the magic system. Everyone has their own magic system and there are thousands of fantasy books out there that have cool systems with virtually no character development or plot to speak of. Rothfuss has an amazing magical structure. A good part of the book is set in a school of magic (not going to say more than that because I don’t want to tip the hand of the plot) and the system of magic alone would make this book a worthy read.

Finally, the thing I appreciate the most about Patrick Rothfuss is he is a gods damn word smith. Every word in this book is worked over and over until it shines. I can’t imagine how much… nevermind… I know exactly how much work he put into this book and it shows. The writing is beautiful. I love to just sit and reread sentences over and over. My wife has taken to putting a napkin down my collar to catch the drool.

I would recommend these books to anyone who is a hardcore fantasy geek, as well as those who know nothing about the genre.

The Kingkiller Chronicle
The Name of the Wind
A Wise Man's Fear 


Review by Cordell

Magician
by Raymond E. Feist
broken up into two books called:
Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master

These two books are the beginning of a very large series written by Feist. Four books (as noted below) make up the Riftwar Saga. With later series that flesh out his world. Magician is classic high fantasy, filled with elves, dwarves, wizards and warriors. I highly recommend these first two books to anyone who enjoys fantasy or genre fiction. The books chronicle the adventures of two major characters Pug, a young magician struggling to learn his craft and come to grips with magical power he doesn't understand and his adopted brother Thomas. Thomas begins to train as a warrior, serving his duke in the Dutchy of Crydee. Pug and Thomas are soon whisked off into the greater world, interacting with powerful world figures and heroes of all races.

The story has a quick pace throughout and never feels bogged down. The world while in many ways a typical fantasy world, has complexities that show themselves as the books and later series progress. The books are such an enjoyable read that I come back to them every couple of years with renewed enthusiasm and I can't wait to get to later chapters where Thomas is with the dwarves or Pug is studying powerful magics (I'm trying to be careful with spoilers!).

I love how Feist is able to take the old standards; elves and their fae magics, dwarves in their dark tunnels and even an ancient and powerful dragon, and make all of it feel new and fresh. The 'hero's journey' of both Pug and Thomas are wonderful and it’s always a challenge for me to say whose story I like more. The side characters are fleshed out and many of them show up in later books with their own storylines. The one drawback for the series as a whole is that some of the more recent books don't have the similar verve or excitement to them that this first book (or couple of books) had for me. If you really love the books though there are many and more to keep you reading for months. Many of the characters from the Rift War Saga make appearances or are main characters in later series.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Scott Lynch did something that I wish more fantasy authors would do, which is spin a tale that doesn’t involve the world coming to an end or an invading army. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good doomsday read and who doesn’t like the boy destined to become king? But I feel the evolution of the fantasy genre will be authors that are comfortable writing stories that parallel the themes of modern day fiction novels. That, in my opinion, will be what propels the genre to greater heights in the American marketplace.

Lynch writes about conn artist's in a fantasy setting. Just reading about how the cons are set in the fantasy setting is worth reading this novel alone. If Lynch didn’t throw in some amazing characters, a fun and detailed world, and some good old fashioned ass kicking I would still have loved The Lies of Lock Lamora. Since all the previously mentioned aspects are present, this book becomes a top shelf selection.

As you know from reading my other reviews I don’t like to get into plot or detailed character descriptions. I want the author to have a fresh crack at you. I will say when I started “Lies” I felt like I was reading The Sting meets Oliver Twist with just the right amount of blood and violence. This is another book I bought for a couple friends and obsessed about getting a hardcover for.


Reviewed by Cordell Barille

The Prince of Nothing

The Prince of Nothing series
by R. Scott Bakker

The Darkness that Comes Before is the first book in Bakkers fantasy series. Bakker has studied philosophy and its clearly evident in the thought provoking concepts this series deals with. Scarred by an apocalypse that happened centuries before, with another apocalypse dawning on the horizon this is a world that is relatively stable, until Kellhus a man with mysterious powers enters it. The world was years in the making as any reader can tell. The one thing I really like about Bakker, similar to Erikson, is that he doesn’t waste time explaining his world to readers. Various factions, philosophies, and histories are fleshed out and as a reader you wait hungrily for more details to flesh the world out in your mind. He jumps right into it and lets you figure the world out as the book progresses. The characters are realistic, full of flaws and contradictions just like real people. Bakker has definitely taken a page from the “Martinesque” book on fantasy writing, in that his world is not for the faint of heart. This is a dark and cerebral series.

The titular main character of the series, Kellhus is a wonderful realization of the remote monk who uses his unmatched intelligence to triumph over enemies. His power of the “Logos”, a system where in one tries to achieve mental perfection, is new and wonderful. My one major problem with the series is there isn’t enough of Kellhus. After reading three books I never felt that the character was fully fleshed out. He remains as remote to the readers as he does to the characters whose perspectives he is often viewed through.

The “wizard” character in the series is Drusas Achamian. He is both an example of what is wonderful and terrible about the series. The character Achamian is beautifully flawed. A man of unquestionable magical power who is hamstrung by his love for a prostitute and his own flawed sense of inadequacy. The character of Achamian is perfectly human and I love seeing a character this flawed endowed with such power. But damn! He is such a whiner sometimes! The internal dialog (of which Achamian is just an example) where he over analyzes every single thing is very annoying. I don’t mind the fact that Achamian does his over alanysis and second guessing, that what makes him great. I just don’t want to read 20k words about it in each book.

The love stories made me uncomfortable, I can’t say anything else without giving away spoilers (should be covering it in a podcast at some point).

Besides Kellhus’s badass powers the best part of the series are two characters.

Cnaiur: awesome barbarian/homicidal maniac. gotta love this dude. You also would never want to meet him in real life.

Ikurei Conphas: basically Alexander the Great. If Alexander had to contend with powerful wizards and insanely intelligent monk-priests like Kellhus.


If you would like to purchase the book head here.