A Prayer Request for Gene Wolfe

It is with a heavy heart I post this. Two days ago, I found out via Twitter that SFF legend Gene Wolfe is in the hospital. He has had a bad case of the flu, and had trouble keeping food down for about two weeks. It has been stated he would appreciate get well cards from friends and fans.

Here's the address if you wish to send him a card:

OSF Healthcare
800 NE GlenOak Ave
 Peoria, IL 61603

I have read a number of his books, and like many great authors, I have more of his that I haven't read. The first science fiction convention I went to(only a couple years ago), he was a guest at, and made certain to take the time to sit at one of his panels which was part reading and part just him chatting.

He is a Catholic, and his faith came through in his discussion. Unfortunately, the religious ignorance of the audience was also apparent when he mentioned the only time he felt real fear was an encounter with a diabolist. He had to explain what that was, and then there were comments about all fundamentalism being wrong.

For those unfamiliar with the term, there are, broadly speaking, two types of Satanist. One is a hedonist that mostly doesn't want to be told what to do, might dabble in magic, but generally will leave others alone and be decent to people. The other is in full agreement with Christianity on the nature of good and evil, and actively seeks to do evil. There are stories of them in drug and human trafficking, sex slavery, and other sinister things.

At any rate, the experience of being among so called fans that were so uninformed about faith nearly made me swear off of sff conventions entirely. I still had good experiences with game cons, and it was my stumbling into independent authors and small publishers that got me to go to LibertyCon.

I wish I had taken a chance to talk with Gene at the convention. Even then, his health and strength were clearly on a downturn, though his mind was still quite active. Sadly, in many ways he and his work are being shoved aside. Here's a recent picture of books I rescued from library weeding:

The sheer cultural ignorance of librarians amazes me. But then, we know they're actively playing Social Justice. As we know:

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Injustice Anthology Review: HA!HA!HA!

Cower not, fierce reader! Today we stare villainy in the face. Sometimes it is familiar, sometimes understandable, sometimes incomprehensible. I will have to take a few stories to task, but let's take a look.

We open with a foreword by Nick Cole, drawing on his acting background and experience. He quite rightly mentions that villains are in many ways, better characters. Many comic book heroes are defined by, or rather, in contrast to, their villains.

Supervillainy 101 by Chris Pourteau- Whew. Take one part serial killer interview, one part sacrifice to a LONG term plan.

Tick Tock by Christopher J. Valin- The writing is very solid. I wish the set piece part of the story were more original: A good chunk of this is a reworking of Max Allan Collins' Batman story, "A Death in the Family".  I don't mind the copying of characters so much, but the fact that there's little to separate it, to make it unique.

Vying for Power by Greg Wilkey- The big supervillain in a city has died. Now, at the funeral, a play is made for control and power. But not everyone is what they seem to be.

Ghosts of the Flames by Hall and Beaulieu- We follow a team of scavengers in a world of heroes and villains at war. But hidden agendas and unsettled spirits have ways of unsettling things further.

Rejected by M,K, Gibson- A retired hero gives a chance to shamed heroes. The fallout of a supervilain's death has to be dealt with, and there are more layers to his organization than is readily known.

The Winter Witch by Susan Faw- Morpheus leaves the world, and one of his children has their own plans for the realm granted by their father.

Counterclockwise by Ed Gosney- A man whose power has failed him approaches his last moments due to a lack of control and judgement. Or perhaps we have a case of psychosis? Either way, the act was done, and actions have consequences.

The Gala by Morgon Newquist- Ooh, another Serenity City story. This takes place long after the one in Paragons. There's a really interesting take on the insane female sidekick here, more complex than many versions of Harley Quinn. A sinister lass indeed. Stay away from the crazy.

The Heart of a Clockwork Girl by Michael Ezell- Oh, man. A henchman goes on a mission for the evil genius that has created an artificial woman to hold him loyal. Revelations and weariness change the henchman's perspective.

Djinn 2.0 by Jessica West- An alien royal is exiled to Earth after scandal. Her redemption is to help humanity to peace.

Hacksaw's Formulation by A. J. McWain- I know nothing of the story, as it was absent from the ARC I received.

Prisoner of War by Steve Beaulieu- A war reporter under fire finds there are worse things than normal enemy soldiers to worry about. And lines can be easy to cross.


There are some standout stories in here, I particularly enjoyed Vying for Power, Rejected, and The Gala. And the volume is at least currently priced to be well worth it. 7 of 10 fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Gonna rant because Hollywood hates everything good

Oh, I know he's not as popular as The Shadow, or possibly The Phantom, and he's not the shining example of Prince Valiant. But I have to say I dig the Green Hornet. There's a great amount of history here, with multiple serials, radio shows, and a TV show. Not to mention some really cool visuals and music. Dynamite Entertainment even has done some really interesting comics, both on the traditional and on the reinvention side of things.

But what they all did right, Hollywood did wrong. Yeah, that terrible Seth Rogan film from a few years back. Even by the end of the movie, the character doesn't have a clear direction and is still a bit of a schmuck. Why? Because they think you have to tell origin stories all the time.

Amateur tip: Your hero needs to be a hero, in fact show me that fast. I can put the pieces together myself, and I don't need to see him fumbling around. Especially as a standalone film.

Guess what the old show and serials all did? Jump right in. Check it out:

The first serial(just a clip):

Here's the TV show:

Hey look, right into the story. No origin, just show us stuff moving. Instead we got mopy, directionless Rogan being unsure of himself or acting like a frat boy. Sure, the serials had an advantage of coming from the radio plays, but they went right into it as well.

And there's apparently someone wanting to bring it back again. Whether it ever sees the light of day, that's another matter. Oh, yeah, try to have a good theme song. In fact, just use the old one, it's great.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Injustice Book Review: Jack Del Rio by Richard Paolinelli

Cower not, fierce reader! This day we look at an action series from one of our friends. This review is for the entire trilogy, which was just finished, and is available as an ebook omnibus for the uninitiated, which I was one prior to this.

Now, I went and read the whole series in order, and  I think the last book might make sense without the prior books, though I wouldn't recommend it. There's a great amount of emotional journey that Del Rio goes through that just won't come across in the small mentions contained in the final volume.

I joked in my Amazon review that Richard had created Jack Del Rio simply to torture him. I say this due to the recurring loss that follows this character in each volume. I won't spoil any of the plot this way, but simply say that his parents being killed years earlier is just a start.

Each story features an investigation that spreads far further than what it initially looks like. The first is on an Indian Reservation, the second goes into DC, and the third spreads into the UK, DC and more.

There's conspiracy, action(but not too detailed), shadow governments and more. If you want non-sf action and adventure, this will scratch that itch and quite well.

8 of 10 fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Injustice Anthology Review: Paragons

Cower not, fierce reader! This day we have a collection of heroes, some tragic, some triumphant. Some are simply happily out of the game. Let's take a look at the woven words within.

Medusa by Steve Beaulieu- This is most definitely a tragic tale. A hero with no control of her power, forced into isolation, or risk the rest of a world she has already lost.

Nightsick by Kai Wai Chea- An ex-cop engages in a brutal fight with organized crime. His former partner still has her role with the law, but traps and snares make things more flexible.

Blackout: A Serenity City Story by Morgon Newquist- I get the feeling Serenity City might be a grand place to visit, with heroes taking the roles of Arthurian Knights, Greek Gods, and mysterious fae. 

Like Father by Jon Mollison- This is a generational story of a father and his son and the day the training wheels came off. The dread an tension of watching, being there JUST IN CASE something goes wrong. And the son surprising the father.

Blue by John Milan- A man who's been given an experimental technology is haunted by his mistakes from action. His despair has held him captive in a dead end life. A chance meeting, paired with a villain that wants the power push him to change.

Crisis Counseling by Jon Del Arroz- It figures he would write the story that might be unpowered in here. But this is about the power of the imagery of comics, the inspiration and hope it can give.

The Weight of One Girl by Richard Watts- A powered cop is searching for a missing girl. She gets sidelined when the investigation leads in the direction of a Senator she's had dealings with before. How is she to save someone when banned from the investigation?

Low Man by M. Earl Smith- A combat vet with PTSD who has chosen to stay homeless is nearing what he believes is his end. He takes his one friend where he hopes he'll be cared for, a place that may or may not remember what he's done.

A Soldier Out of the Desert by Paula Richey- An alien warrior is tasked with protecting and helping a human hero, after his people betrayed him. The hero is tasked with helping him learn to fit in human society, despite her own problems.

Someone is Aiming for You by J. D. Cowan- A hero that avoids the government limitations hunts a trail to the men that destroyed something precious. What attacks of conscience can do is remarkable.

Deadly Calm Returns by Dawn Witzke- A retired hero gets called in to handle a villain who really just wants a date with the young hot thing that normally protects the area. But action, adrenaline, and fame aren't everything.

Weather Witch by Declan Finn- A girl in Africa is part of a group rounded up for human trafficking in an attack by a powered being of force. In resisting him, she comes into power to protect herself.

Stalina by Sam Kepfield- After an accident in careless areas of t nuclear research in the Soviet Union, a patriot learns some inexplicable powers. She is tasked with protecting their projects in the space race.

There are some serious gems in this collection, and I would not say any are bad. Now I gotta wonder when I get to see some of these in proper panels. 9 of 10 fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Alt*Hero nears a quarter mil

It's less than 13k away. and sure, I could be precise and state it's got $238,712 as of this writing. But it's less fun than saying quarter million. Corporations see numbers like that and start thinking about money they missed, especially if it's something they already produce.

I'm sure Disney and Time Warner are starting to take notice. Sure, there's a lot of material involved. But, you look at these kind of numbers over time, especially with comments like, "I quit reading comics X years ago", and somebody might start crunching some numbers just on that one guy, and realize that if they could have had him for those years, we'll say 3 titles(small), and talking to friends, becomes a lot of money eventually. Especially as he's not unique in his experience. X can be 5, 10, 20, 30, or 1.

One is a dangerous guy to the SJW crowd. Not only is he more willing to be check out an alternative, he's more likely to be mad about what they did to the fictional world he loved. People that love Star Wars are getting dissatisfied, because the material is rehashed. Wait til real alternatives show up: STD is losing to The Orville. If the timing had been there, Galaxy Quest would have blown it out of the water already.

At any rate, while I have some book reviews to do this week, I'm going to try to go through a few Chuck Dixon comics I have as well. Besides, I want to revisit Winterworld a bit.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Well, somebody at DC animation still knows what they're doing

And I'm not talking about the animated films. Nope. Nor that horrid looking Teen Titans reboot. Nope. There's a newer show out featuring a version of the Justice League. There's no deconstruction here, and the animation well, it's not Justice League Unlimited, but it's pretty good.

Oh, here's a little clip because the show also has a sense of DC's animated history:

It remembers some things about the earlier cartoons that even Bruce Timm seems to have forgotten with his last venture. First, that heroes need to be good and heroic. Second, that the story needs to be fun. Third, that funny does not preclude treating the material seriously.

They also did a fun Halloween episode, with Cain and the House of Mystery. Here's a little clip from that:

Yes, we once again get kid versions of the Leaguers.

I have two small things I take issue with. One, that they went with the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship angle. I simply don't care for it, it feels like lazy writing. The Batman/Wonder Woman angle in JLU was interesting. Yes, I know New 52 went there. I gave up on DC for awhile with that.

Two, they dropped a character called Space Cabbie in the mix. It feels very Golden Age goofiness. I will say the writers make it work, but I just don't care for the idea.

There are a couple of semi-feminist bits, but I can excuse those just for the fact that they are dealing with Themiscyra. Of course, most rampant feminists don't look like Amazonians, either.

At any rate, it's fun. Not quite the genius of Bataman: The Brave and the Bold, or JLU, but it does know what it's doing.


When you play Social Justice, the world loses.