The Royal Wedding

My alarm went off at 5:45am and I dragged myself downstairs.  I'm glad I did: the Royal wedding was a beautiful and historic event.  Despite predictions of rain, the weather in London was bright.  The live crowd was huge and the television viewership was estimated at over two billion.  I stretched out on the couch with my cat ("Crumpet", fittingly enough) to watch the pageantry.

Westminster Abby, overflowing with history – was surprisingly decorated with live trees, giving the regal stone interior a burst of green life.  The commentators were very interested in "the dress", and while I know nothing of fashion, I know what I like.   The bride's dress was actually quite beautiful – simply but elegant with a modest train and subtle Victorian details.  Form-fitting above and flowing below, it flattered her marvellously.  Her tiara – the same worn by an 18-year old Queen Elizabeth II was a thin band of brilliance.

The ceremony was traditional and stately yet modern – all references to the male superiority having been removed.  The sermon was practical, romantic, hopeful, and superbly delivered, stressing the partnership of marriage and such universal values as humility and understanding.  It felt more than a marriage between two people, it felt like a renewed commitment between the Monarchy and the British people.  The only real disappointment was the scripture reading: it was not from the King James version but from a modern translation, giving it a jarringly dull modern, almost business-like tone.  Prince Charles, a great lover of the King James Bible must have been sadden by the choice.

After a grand procession to Buckingham Palace in an open carriage dating from 1902, the newly wed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appeared on the balcony to greet the cheering crowd.    A Royal Air Force fly-over completed the morning’s public appearances.  There were four modern jets, but the big thrill was the WWII Lancaster Bomber, Hurricane fighter, and especially the Spitfire.  To see those planes fly over the crowd was fascinating, but the aerial close-ups of the Spitfire in flight were stunning.  


It was a beautiful event and it makes me proud to be British.  Except I'm not British, I'm two generations removed.  Someday I'd like to go back to that Sceptred Isle, that feels like my true home but for now I'll just watch and envy the British their Monarchy.

Failure: the RPG

We were wrapping up an epic campaign set in a low-magic fantasy world -- knights, evil priests, etc.  The PCs had reached the climatic battle with the nefarious sorcerer.  Sir Knight had his legendary sword at the ready; a rune-covered bladed handed down through the generations, the sword was a magic-bane conferring 10 dice of magic resistance (I was using a cinematically modified Storyteller system).  Because of the rarity of magic, Sir Knight had never used the swords anti-magic aura before.  The moment arrived; the evil sorcerer unleashed his hellish wizardry; Sir Knight raised his holy sword; the players tossed the dice.

Nothing.  The roll failed miserably.  The sword fizzled, the party bore the full blunt of the spell and nearly died.

They recovered nicely, defeated the bad guys, and saved the day, but not before I learned a valuable GM lesson: don't let the dice fall unless you are prepared for epic failure. Regardless of the odds, a non-zero chance is still a chance.  If you give a player a 99% chance of success, one day that 1% failure will turn up.  Now if you're prepared for that eventual failure it can be an exciting and dramatic gaming moment.  But if your PC has a legendary sword or is a world-class doctor or and elder vampire then 1% failures can ruin a game.  

One of a GM's most basic functions (and one I think gets too little attention) is interpreting the dice.  It's not enough to say that an attempt failed, a GM should be able to explain why it failed.  Yes, the players know the freak failure was due to the perfidious dice but how do the characters account for the failure of Sherlock Holmes to spot the bloody thumb print?  

Yes, it's technically realistic; nothing is 100% certain.  But it feels unrealistic.  When was the last time you read a book or saw a movie were the ninja fell off the wall, the vampire's mystic Mojo fizzled, or lieutenant Sulu backed into an astroid.    Sometimes players should just be able to do stuff, automatically, no dice required.  If the character sheet says Dr. Super can fly then I think Dr. Super should be able to fly not just attempt to fly, even if her chance of success is 99%.  What are you going to say to the player when her character -- who has flown 99 times before -- suddenly can't get of the ground?  "Gee, I'm sorry.  I guess you're not super anymore"?  Unless the story is about unreliable powers (trainee wizards, experimental tech, etc.), or their are opposing circumstances, PCs should have abilities not probabilities.

Some systems do this already.  When I started playing other games I gained a new appreciation for the way my AD&D wizard could unfailingly cast spells.  "You wanted to cast Magic Missile?  Ok.  It's cast. Roll damage."  Other systems -- like Storyteller -- almost never allow automatic success.  Even if your character is the legendary God of Basket-Weaving with unmatched levels of Basket-mancy, the most the system will give you is 99%.

PCs face plenty of challenges without having to worry about their basic abilities deserting them.

You're a good girl, Sarah Jane Smith

Elisabeth Claira Heath Sladen, famous for her role as Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who, died yesterday (19 April 2011).  To many Doctor Who fans like myself Sarah Jane Smith and the Fourth Doctor were the iconic TARDIS duo.   Sarah Jane was more than a simple companion; she and the Doctor were like family.  She was funny, intelligent, and pretty, an actual help to the Doctor, a partner, and not simply an echo chamber or someone to rescue every week.  First joining the show as a replacement for Jo Grant with the Third Doctor in 1973, she remained with till 1976 when her leaving made front page news in England (the first companion to be so honoured).  


After this goodbye Sladen reprised the role of Sarah Jane Smith on several occasions, including The Five Doctors, a Children in Need special, and more recently with the Tenth Doctor (watching her compare notes with Rose was laughable -- Rose was nobody next to Sarah Jane) and in her own spin-off TV show The Sarah Jane Adventures (with not enough K-9).  

Tom Baker was my first Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith was my first companion and while there were many great Doctors (Davison, Pertwee, , Hartnell, Tennant) and many great companions (Romana, K-9, Leela, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Adric, Donna) you never forget your first, do you?  For me, the Doctor and his companion will always be the bloke with the prodigious scarf and the scrappy brunette form Croyden.


Goodbye, Mrs. Sladen, and thank you for giving the world Sarah Jane Smith.  You will both be missed.

Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit"

Filming has begun on Peter Jackson's version of The Hobbit.


I believe the word "ambivalent" was coined to describe my feelings.

On the one hand, I hate what Jackson did to the Lord of the Rings.  Tolkien's epic is possibly my favourite novel, a book of true beauty and sorrow that I never tire of reading.  Tolkien's writing is beautiful -- he is a master of language, both real and imaginary. His story of Good vs. Evil is mythic but never trite.  The characters are Beowulfian, except for the hobbits which add the everyman perspective needed for the story to be truly approachable.  Jackson destroyed much of this.  There are many, but my biggest complaint is that he (like Hollywood in general) turned characters from a distant time and place -- in this case from a mythic-age Britain -- into 21st century Americans who think, talk, and act exactly like the audience, thus removing any need for viewers to think.  Mostly likely in an attempt to "relate" to his audience, Jackson's Aragon is a violent action-hero who no longer wishes to be king (Violence, yah!  Kings, boo!), Arwen is now a feisty action-heroine who weeps over a hobbit she's never seen before stealing one of his best line (other cultures have different ideal of femininity?  That's dumb!), Saruman is simply a puppet of Sauron (two villains are too confusing), Gimli is comic relief (short people with accents are funny!), and Faramir is . . um . . someone else (?).  A perfect example of this Americanisation of the story is a bit of dialogue at the end of the 1st film (2nd book).   The orcs have killed Boromir and run off with Merry and Pippin.   Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli are about to give chase.  In The Two Towers Aragon says "We will make such a chase as shall be a marvel among the Three Kindres: Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Forth the Three Hunters!"  Peter Jackson, however, decided that line should read, "Let's go hunt some orc!" like some bloody Bill & Ted's adventure!  I was waiting for the other characters to shout "kick-ass" and high-five each other!  Anyroad, I didn't like Jackson's Lord of the Rings and I don't expect to like his Hobbit.

On the other hand perhaps I'm overlooking a boon.  Back in 2009 I was shelving yet another stack of the Sherlock Holmes: the Complete Novel and Stories when I realised that this renewed interest in the Great Detective must be -- at least partly -- due to Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes film and that whatever I think of the movie, more people reading the original is a capital development! I still think most movies fall far short of the book, but the quality of the movie is beside the point. So, even if the Hobbit movie(s) are misinterpreted, over-simplified, cheapened, and commercialised, it's all so much free advertising.  It will increase the visibility of Tolkien's wonderful book, and that can't be a bad thing.  After all, I don't have to watch it.

(At least the live-action Neon Genesis Evangelion remains stillborn, thank gods!)

Never Set the Cat on Fire

My Wife and I were lying in the living room, she on the couch and I on the love seat.  Between us on the coffee table was a small soy candle, burning merrily.  Along comes one of our cats, the big one named The Squeaker (as a kitten he squeaked).  Now The Squeaker is a large cat -- 17 pounds -- with a prodigious tail.  It's thick to the very tip and so long he can wag it in two directions at once.  He's sniffing about the base of the coffee table when his monstrous tail lands right in the candle.  Suddenly it's alight!  Burning like a fat cigar.  With an exclamation, I leap off the love seat and grab the cat's tail, smothering the flame between my hands.  At this point The Squeaker looks up from his investigations and wants to know what I'm doing to his tail.  He's wearing his habitual puzzled look, having failed to notice that he was on fire.  Only after I let him go does he discover how funny his tail smells (for which he blames me) and begins an intense cleaning session.

The Morale: A Little Candle can be Dangerous  
                                          or  
            Even its author may not know a tail's end

(not intended to be a factual statement)

I'm sure "well over 90%" of the internet is talking about Sen Jon Kyl's asinine statement but I thought I'd throw in my two cents: if the corporate lawyers pick this up it will be the end of civilisation.  The commercial world is already awash is wiggle-words with no legal meaning like "best" and "natural"; imagine what it will be like if Sen. Jon Kyl's words were adopted.

100% Fat Free -- (not intended to be a factual statement)


Guaranteed Fresh --  (not intended to be a factual statement)


Made in America --  (not intended to be a factual statement)


No Payment Due Till 2013! --  (not intended to be a factual statement)


Protects Your Family From the Threat of Cancer --  (not intended to be a factual statement)


Distraught Man: An elephant ran through my house!  At least I'm covered.
Insurance Co.: Actually sir, if you look at your policy's small print you'll see that  it was  (not intended to be a factual statement). 






This is why I love Paranoia so much -- it makes more sense than the real world.

Ellen Kushner

A while ago I had the privilege of interviewing Ellen Kushner.

Q: Your Riverside novels have been called “fantasy of manners” – fantasies more concerned with social relationships then with heroic quests – how did you come to write these books? Who and what were your influences?

This is a huuuuge question - I'm afraid I'm going to punt you over to my website, where I've written an essay about just that:

http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherman/Kushner/world.html

Q: Your second novel, Thomas the Rhymer, is based on the 13^th century story of True Thomas, an historical figure and basis of many legends and songs.

Obviously you did quite a bit of research; how did you choose among the legends and how did you make them your own?

I was obsessed with ballads and folklore from the time I was about 14. I read books, I listened to music, from the "hardcore" folk recordings of folks like Ewan MacColl, to Brit Folk Rock bands like Pentangle and Steeleye Span . . . . It was really my passion for these things that made me want to write Thomas the Rhymer, rather than the other way 'round. And it was great, while I was writing the book, that every time I needed a plot twist or new character, simply to be able to dip into the rich cauldron of folklore and balladry for it.

Q: I’m a big fan of your radio program “Sound & Spirit”. What is the relationship between your writing and your work on “Sound & Spirit”?

I feel like "Sound & Spirit" is really a novelist's radio show! So much of public radio now is straight up journalism. But on the show, when I talk about other times, other cultures, I'm not just reporting hard facts -- though of course my staff & I go to great lengths to ensure accuracy -- but really, I try to enter an imaginative space as well, and to use evocative language. With fiction, I'm always telling writing students that writing should be musical; it should be cadenced, and rhythmic. So getting to use actual music woven into my words to craft an hour of radio every week is a dream gig!

Q: The Fall of the Kings was co-written with your wife, Delia Sherman. How did this process work? Do you think this collaboration distinguishes this novel from your others?

I think there's no question it's a novel neither of us could have written alone. We challenged each other, we encouraged each other, we rewrote each others' prose . . . The result is something quite unique, I think! Delia will tell you she was trying to imitate my writing style from Swordspoint, but I feel what we actually did was to develop a "house style" that's really a combination of our shared influences, from Anthony Trollope to Dorothy Dunnett (and beyond!).

Again, in the interests of time, I'm going to send you to the "Letter" we wrote for our publisher's website about the nuts & bolts of our collaboration:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553585940&view=auqa

Q: I read that your first books were Choose Your Own Adventure books. I loved those when I was a kid! How did your come to write those books, and how did you go from there to your other books? (And which titles did you write?)

Writing my first novel took a lot longer than I expected, and I needed some income! I was at a World Fantasy Convention where a Bantam editor was looking for young writers to write CYOA books, and I said I was interested and sent in a proposal, which became Outlaws of Sherwood Forest (about a kid at summer camp who has adventures with Robin Hood - always a dream of mine!). There's a complete list of my 5 CYOAs posted on my Bibliography:

http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherman/Kushner/biblio.html

I get a huge kick out of the fact that people who are all grown up now actually remember reading them when they were kids. Thanks for asking about them!

Q: What are you up to now? Any more novels on the horizon?

I've spent the last couple of years working on a ton of fun projects, none of them a novel . . . yet. I've written a number of short stories (again, check out that bibliography), including a few in the Swordspoint continuum. One of them, "The Man with the Knives," was just published this month as a gorgeous limited edition chapbook with art by Thomas Canty:

http://avramdavidson.org/themanwiththeknives.html

I turned my children's book, The Golden Dreydl, into a play that's been performed for the last two years at New York's Vital Theatre. I'm working on a "historical magic realist klezmer radio drama" with Yale Strom & Elizabeth Schwartz, which I hope will go into production this fall. I even got to act in a reading of the first draft of my friend Chris Claremont's screenplay! And Holly Black & I are currently editing a new collection of stories in Terri Windling's "Bordertown" world, due out in Summer 2011. So life in New York is not dull. But I do need to get going on that novel.....

1st posted at PorterSquareBooks.com