Review: Wasteland 3 (PS4)

NB I completed my playthrough of this on the PS5, as my first (PS4) attempt was somewhat set back by the console breaking. 

Wasteland 3 is a post-apocalyptic RPG set in the USA (Colorado, specifically). It’s got a grim sense of humour throughout, a six-man party, and a very interesting setup for combat and non-combat skills, plus plenty of decisions to make. But is it a good game?

Gameplay

The combat of Wasteland 3 will be easily recognisable to anyone who’s enjoyed XCOM or XCOM 2, but does handle things differently enough to set it apart. For those unaware, this style involves a turn-based approach on a grid, with the entirety of one side progressing at once, which means getting the jump on enemies is worth a lot. Movement and actions, such as firing weapons or throwing grenades, consume AP (action points).

However, whereas XCOM 2 has two AP and that’s it, Wasteland 3 has a more nuanced system with characters capable of having more or less AP depending on stats, and different weapons consuming different amounts. Heavy weapons and sniper rifles consume almost a whole AP bar, whereas shotguns and pistols can be fired multiple times in a single round without difficulty. This increases flexibility and makes the choice of weaponry (a mix through the squad is a good idea) crucial. In addition to the player and enemy sides, you may have a friendly turn, which will be your non-controlled allies such as animal followers and extra chaps (or robots) you pick up along the way.

On standard difficulty I found the combat to be sharp enough I needed to stay awake but, for the most part, usually not too challenging. That said, I had several hours in my initial borked playthrough as experience so I wasn’t diving in fresh and that may’ve smoothed my path a bit. Nevertheless, combat is fun and if you take it for granted you can easily end up in trouble. This is a big Wasteland 3 review highlight.

Out of combat players have multiple significant decisions to make regarding who lives and dies, and who you help, or not. You can also unlock multiple new dialogue options by proficiency in various skills, most commonly the hard ass/kiss ass skills. The game does a good job of ensuring you can be as nice or dickish as you like.

 

Story

Post-apocalypse is a genre I can really take or leave, but I still liked Wasteland 3 a lot, which is a testament to how well it’s written. There are plenty of grisly moments and daft comedy, which both work well.

You play as the leaders (even if playing solo you make two characters at the get go) of Team November. And by leaders, I mean survivors, because the other four dozen get killed in the intro. Hailing from Arizona, you’re in Colorado at the invitation of the state’s ruler, the Patriarch. He’s got supplies which the Rangers desperately need, all you need to do is capture his kids and stop them causing problems. But things may not be so simple… The Patriarch’s children are Valor, Victory, and Liberty, or Nerd, Psycho, and Tyrant if you want to know their respective personalities.

Beyond this core of the game there are a good number of side quests, exploring the map will throw up some fun gems you can easily miss (I especially liked paying Santa a visit), and each major quest can go down various ways. It’s pretty good, with some interesting twists that I won’t spoil.

Companions could be better, though. I liked Lucia quite a lot, but the other (non-player made) companions stayed pretty much undeveloped through the story. They will leave if you act contrary to their interests, apparently.

 

Sound

In most areas good, this is sometimes excellent. One stand-out example was when I loaded up a game in the world map and the radio played some random nonsense. This happened and it was a psycho with a chainsaw and screaming in the background, which was very well done (although not great for those who are squeamish). Flamethrowers, explosions, gunfire, ambient effects, and voice acting are all either good or very good.

The music deserves a special mention as there are a small number of fights (including one in the intro area) that have their own excellent tracks, as does one (optional) fight that can lead to a new companion. The latter was a rare occasion when I deliberately paused mid-fight just to listen to the music a bit more.

 

Graphics

As an isometric RPG this is not the biggest deal in the world, but the graphics get the job done without being spectacular. Occasionally you see major characters (the Patriarch, for example) up close and they’ll look ok, but not amazing.

 

Bugs and Other Problems

There were some bugs. I had a small number of crashes, perhaps three or so in an entire playthrough (I’d guess perhaps 30 hours total, can’t be sure). In addition, I once got stuck in combat and the enemy turn just wouldn’t start. That’s not ideal.

 

Replayability

There are two ways this game offers good replayability: difficulty and choices. The difficulty has several basic levels making combat easier or harder, but with some degree of customization covering things like permanent character death and friendly fire (NB even when this is off, you’ll be affected by AoE stuff so don’t throw a Molotov on your animal follower or you’ll end up with a hotdog).

Choices are plentiful and missions can often have multiple outcomes. Sometimes failure to attend to a matter can lead to it being resolved in your absence (I have one confirmed case of this, unsure if other things can happen this way). And certain missions can only be completed if you ignore an alternative, which will have consequences.

 

Conclusion

Wasteland 3 is not flawless. It has the odd bug and could perhaps be a little longer (playtime is perhaps around 25-30 hours, I think). But it has fantastic combat, engaging missions with multiple outcomes, and the approach to skills is excellent as all of them are useful and deciding where to spend points (and which perks to get) will alter your playthrough significantly. It’s a very good game indeed.

 

Thaddeus

Review: Series 1 of Blake’s 7

Yes, finger on the pulse as always, reviewing a sci-fi series from the late 1970s. It was the heyday of British sci-fi, when special effects were dire and writing was excellent. I’ve had the notion of watching Blake’s 7 for ages and finally watched the first series.

I had a good feeling before the show even started because I saw the name Terry Nation and, having read plenty of Doctor Who books and seen more than a few episodes of the show, knew that was a very positive sign. And the augury proved true.

In terms of spoilers, I’ve got to talk about the premise and main characters but will try and keep any plot points beyond the obvious to a minimum.

The first episode is a little bit of its own animal as Blake has lost his memory (or, more accurately, had it reprogrammed by a dictatorial government). He discovers through the aid of some political freedom fighters that he once was a leader in a rebellion against the government but when he was captured they used mind-altering techniques to turn him into a model citizen and poster boy for his erstwhile enemies.

His new allies end up being of little use, though, and Blake gets put on trial with a view to fitting him up for harming children and using that as a pretext to get him away from where he might cause harm. Cue episode two, when he’s on a prison ship bound for a penal colony. From this point he starts being more himself, putting together a band of rebels intent on doing good.

I drifted away from New Who some time ago, which happily means that while I’m aware of the idiotic character assassination that has recently occurred I’m less concerned than if I were still into it (Doctor Who was one of my favourite TV shows as a child). Defeating cybermen with happy thoughts, and deus ex screwdriver do not good plots make. Terry Nation is of a different era, and it’s all for the better. It was so refreshing to have intelligent villains making rational plans to try and trap Blake and his crew, and it made the success of Blake et al. all the more impressive. There are two main recurring villains in the first series: Travis, a soldier with a serious grudge against Blake, and the Supreme Commander, who is a very wily (and utterly ruthless) lady.

On Blake’s side, including himself and the ship’s computer Zen, are seven individuals. These range from the telepathic Cally to ex-smuggler Jenna. My favourite is easily Avon, who is a highly intelligent, calculating man who might yet betray Blake and has some cracking one-liners (when another crewman complains of a sharp pain right behind his eyes, Avon asks if he’s considered amputation [NB this is early in the second series]).

Mostly the 13 episode first season is a set of self-contained stories, although the story arc of Blake being incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit and being shipped off does occupy the first few episodes. Likewise, there are recurring villains, and the final two episodes do form a two-parter rather than separate stories.

Effects-wise, things are charmingly ropey. That may put one or two people off, but the sharp writing, smart plots, and entertaining characters more than make up for it.

If you’ve not really heard of or considered watching Blake’s 7 I can strongly recommend giving it a go.

Thaddeus

Review: The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is ridiculous and sublime.

A short time after reading the classic The Hobbit for the first time, I just finished Douglas Adams’ famous The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s odd, witty, surprising, quite compelling and rather short.

Coming in at just over 150 pages, it’s not a huge tome, but it is an engaging one, following the hapless Arthur Dent as he lurches from one bypass disaster to another, ably assisted by his alien friend Ford Prefect. It’s quite hard to describe events beyond that without spoiling things, but suffice to say the pace is swift, the writing is charming, the strange, surreal sense of humour is fantastic, and it’s really good.

So give it a read, if you haven’t already.

Thaddeus

First Thoughts: Stellaris (PS4)

Stellaris is a real time with pause strategy game that’s been out for quite some years now, especially for PC. Being a console peasant, I’ve only just gotten around to getting it. So, is it mind-bendingly complicated or easy to get into?

Yes.

It’s complicated. There are multiple resources/currency types, huge timescales, diplomacy, internal political factions, bureaucratic limitations and various policies, as well as racial bonuses and disadvantages you can give yourself.

And yet despite that, I haven’t had too much difficult so far with my first game. The tutorial tips are really useful, and, although complex, everything seems to make intuitive sense. I’ve made some mistakes, which is to be expected for a complicated game the first time it’s played, but nothing horrendous (probably should’ve built more starbases and fewer districts).

Let’s start at the beginning. There are preset races/civilisations you can play as, or you can make your own. I toyed with being Cosmic Dragons or a reptilian version of Rome (may create those later) but decided to go with the British Space Empire, exporting tea, cricket, and intergalactic violence to anyone who crosses me. There’s a range of cosmetic stuff you can play with, as well as gameplay mechanics such as boosting how adaptable your species is (handy for colonising more worlds). Another cool feature is that empires you create may then appear in your future games as AI civs (you can enable or disable this feature as you like for each individual empire).

Start up the game and you’ve got your homeworld, a small military force, and civilian ships. These last ships are the most immediately useful. Constructions ships create mining facilities, and can build starbases in other systems, claiming them for your empire and enabling the constructions of mining operations. Science ships fly about surveying everything so you know which systems are worth claiming. They also analyse anomalies which can yield significant benefits (mostly scientific, but one example of something different would be that found a ship way more advanced than anything I had, trapped in the gravity of a planet. I tried and succeeded to retrieve it, substantially boosting my military capacity).

It’s a really laid back game. Mostly. The vast distances can mean that if you get caught short militarily you end up unable to defend if your ships are too far from the action.

Other empires can have wildly varying attitudes towards you, based on xenophobia/xenophilia and how similar/far away you are from them. Butter them up with trade deals (or gifts), or crack some skulls and go to war (I did this and claimed two systems from the Figyar Star Commonwealth, including a natural bottleneck to stop them annoying me in the future).

The speed can be varied from slow to average to fast, as well as pausing possible pretty much any time you like. There’s a really nice level of creative writing with the varied anomalies and special research projects that I appreciate. Still relatively early days (I’ve been playing for less than a week), but right now I’m enjoying it a lot. Recently formed a federation with my best alien friends, and a third member just joined, putting us in what I hope is pretty good shape.

I have to admit to a perverse desire to try playing it in German. I’ve played quite a few games that way, and it’s the only reason I can remember more than a handful of words.

Thaddeus

Age of Wonders: Planetfall (PS4) – First Impressions

I snagged this for £6, having been intrigued for a while by the seeming mix of Civ and XCOM mechanics. But how does the sci-fi game stack up after a couple of hours of play?

Pretty well, actually. There are six factions available, of which I’ve only played the Vanguard (think humans with advanced war machines and laser guns). The others are the man-hating tree-huggers, insects without a hive mind, cyborg vampires(ish), human resource capitalists, and Russian space dwarves. You can customise your own commanders (who partake in combat) and there’s a decent array of options, from flags to vices.

There are two tenets of gameplay: a strategic world map, and tactical combat on a battlefield. I’m a console peasant but like the idea of strategy games (may get Stellaris next month) so I’m still getting to grips with all the strategic stuff, but so far I think it’s fairly intuitive and easy to follow. In addition, the research often leads to amusing little quotes, and it’s nice the game doesn’t take itself too seriously.

You start off with a planetfall colony, to which you can annexe adjacent sectors for more food, productions and other resources. It’s also where you create new units, including the coloniser to set up new colonies.

The tactical battles play out significantly faster than XCOM’s. Beforehand (when initiating, at least, unsure if it happens when you defend) you get to compare the relative strengths of the armies, which is very helpful. You can also have an auto-combat option, which simply gives you an automatic result. During the battle you can also hand over to the Machine God to run auto-combat from there (you’ll see the moves taken in this instance). There are options to cut down on the brief overhead intro and make enemies’ turns quicker, which I adopted to cut down on noise (see below).

A really nice feature is modding units. Research soon yields bonuses, from ammo that inflicts bleeding to hitpoint restoration abilities. You can apply these to units individually or en masse, giving that template a name (the suggested ones, such as Butcher and Eviscerator, are usually pretty good). That way, you can create these specifically upgraded units at your colony, if you want to. It also makes tier 1 units more useful later on, it seems, rather than just becoming obsolete.

The biggest drawback I’ve encountered isn’t the game, it’s the console. Fellow PS4 owners will be aware that the machine (I’ve got a fat original version) can be noisy a lot, and occasionally mimic a jet engine with alarming authenticity. It’s audible during the strategic map, but during the tactical battles it can get pretty damned loud. Can’t fault the game for this because I’ve had the same with many other titles, and it’s obviously a console cooling weakness, but if, like me, you get nervous of your console melting itself, this is a downside.

The game itself, however, is pretty good.

Thaddeus

Review: The Outer Worlds (PS4)

I finished my first playthrough of this game a few days ago, playing as a high intellect sniper type of character.

I’ve got to say my expectations were pretty high, and they were met. This is a great sci-fi game, with a range of options in main and side-quests, as well as varying combat playstyles and a lot of freedom (you can kill a lot of characters, maybe everyone, whereas other games in this genre might make them ‘essential’).

Downsides: it is shorter than some comparable games. However, it still clocks in at something like 30-40 hours, and Obsidian were totally up front about this. They never claimed it was a 200 hour game. Textures on an old, fat PS4 can take a second or two to show up. And if you do the vast majority of quests, as I did, you’ll end up feeling overpowered relatively quickly (which suited me as I have the combat skills of tortoise stuck in a bucket).

Dialogue is an area where the excellent character creator (in terms of setting up strengths and weaknesses) really shines. You get special dialogue options for lots of skills, such as Engineer prowess, and the Dumb option if you make your character a little bit dim.

In combat you can go for a melee approach, sniping, guns blazing, and I’d guess full stealth would work too (I have zero experience of the latter, the others all work fine). Be sure to get the tinkering skill (Engineer 20, I think) to improve your weapons/armour, as this’ll help out quite a bit. Enemies come in the form of automechanicals, mischievous people, and rabid creatures (alien apes, dogs, and insects). The variety could be a little better but it works fine.

The world-building is another especial strength, creating a plausible corporate dystopia in which perfectly reasonable people are constrained by the bounds of a hyper-capitalist society. It does a great job of making the inhabitants of the Halcyon system credible, rather than 2D cardboard cut-outs, and nowhere does this work better than with the character of Parvati, who was my ever-present companion in the first campaign.

Genuine moral (and personal) dilemmas are presented, with legitimate choices either way, and often scope to be pretty evil if you want to be (not that I was).

During my first run I didn’t encounter a single serious bug, no hangs, freezes, crashes, or offers to pay $100 a year for a game I’d already bought.

Although not the longest RPG in the world the decisions with consequences plus varying play styles in combat and dialogue means it’s easy to envisage multiple playthroughs (I’ve just started a ‘dumb’ run).

The Outer Worlds a very good game.

Thaddeus

The Outer Worlds – Early Thoughts (PS4)

Yes, yes, pre-ordering games is generally a bad thing. But this game, by Obsidian (makers of Fallout New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity) looked very good indeed. And, so far, I’m not regretting the decision at all.

At the time of writing I’ve played about six or seven hours or so, and have left the starting area.

The Outer Worlds is set in a new alternate reality future, in a distant star system which is run by corporations in a rather dystopian way. You play a chap or lady thawed out from a ship where hundreds of people ended up as popsicles rather than colonists.

There’s a lot I like about the game, and a few minor gripes, so I’ll outline the downsides first. The subtitles are too small. Doesn’t affect me personally but if you rely on them I can see that being frustrating. Textures take a little while to load in. It does make the fat PS4 scream a bit, although this is a console rather than game problem, and the inventory menu helps it to calm down.

The plus side is that all the big stuff, so far, is good. Sometimes very good. The setting, the story, the dialogue, all are great. The combat is fine (this isn’t my area, really, but it’s fine on the standard difficulty setting). The cold, bureaucratic nature of a corporate dystopia contrasts brilliantly with the exotic and vibrant alien worlds. When you leave the office of the first bigwig you meet, having been invited to do him a dubious favour, you can look up and see the dazzling sky of another world.

The whole colony is run by a few major companies (with only one space station excepted), where people are seen as biological components in a corporate machine. But despite this, the members of corporations often come across sympathetically, as decent people stuck in a difficult place (not unlike the real world, where perfectly good people can get lumbered with less than lovely work). This adds depth and plausibility to the world, and is enhanced by the humour. This brings another dose of realism, without being over-egged.

I’ve kept stuff story-light because I don’t want to spoil anything, so all I’ll say is that the early stages are promising. Side quests and main story missions often have varying potential outcomes, and you can screw up tasks entirely (I believe you can kill anyone, but I’m playing as a nice ex-elevator technician so I haven’t tested it myself). The companions seem to be quite diverse in their personality (when it comes to combat you can mould them as you wish, so only personality matters when picking who to take).

In short, it’s really rather good.

Thaddeus

Guest Blog: Anthologising – Not Just Spinning A Line, by Damaris Browne

I’m getting excited. On 15^th August the SF anthology Distaff is released – which makes it sound like a long-term prisoner finally getting out of jail, but I’m pretty sure that’s just coincidence. (Though do insert here your own puns about both being penned, and the price of the anthology making it a complete steal.) Then on 23^rd August there’s the formal launch. And that makes it sound like an ocean-going liner which needs to be sped on its way with a magnum of champagne, though since the launch is taking place at Titancon in Belfast, it’s perhaps more likely to be floated on a sea of Bushmills and Guinness.

Why the excitement? It’s not simply because my story The Colour of Silence is included, though if you want to read about a ship being launched – albeit without champagne or Guinness – there it is. It’s because the anthology is something of a rarity. An all-new (no reprints) all-SF (no fantasy) all-female (yep, no stories from men) anthology, and – which surely makes it unique – wholly devised, organised, written, edited and produced by women. From concept to cover, through beta-reading, formatting, and beyond to the launch eats and promotional give-aways, it’s women all the way.

Which is where the title comes in. For a distaff is the rod on which raw fibres are wound prior to spinning, a task which was invariably carried out by women, and women were often buried with their distaffs in the same way a man might be buried with the tools of his trade or his sword. As a result “distaff” also came to signify women’s work and their sphere of influence. And if in the past it also carried the weight of male condescension and a whiff of insult – when the church was drumming up support for the Third Crusade, those men who didn’t take up the cross were given distaffs and wool, the implication being they might as well be women and sit at home spinning – well, SF hasn’t exactly been free of that scorn for women, their worth and their writing, so we’re taking back control of that narrative, too.

With our Distaff, we’re spinning tales rather than wool or flax. And those tales cover the full cloth of Science Fiction, for we might be women but we haven’t written just for women – the stories are for everyone who likes a good yarn. (See what I did there?)

Past mistakes, present concerns, future prospects – these are the threads which wind through the anthology, making one whole from nine very different tales. Stories set on Earth, on spaceships, on orbitals and on alien planets. And if you want alien creatures we have friendly aliens, curious aliens, rocky aliens and mutant-humans more alien than all the others.

In this nine-ply skein there are twists of all kinds, with aspects of comedy, horror, romance, tragedy and everything in between. We have Nordic police and Nordic myth, environmental messages and examinations of grief, icy inventors, lovelorn ships, planet-saving AIs, rainbow ponies, staring chickens, plagues and immortality, guilt and nowhere-near-enough guilt, clever children and dead children, art and actors, a degraded Earth and an Earth being reborn.

Above all we’ve spun stories full of hope, determination, resilience and love. What more could any SF lover – male, female, both, neither, Earthling or otherwise – want?

Come on. Pick up a Distaff and take a spin with us!

Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK 

Distaff website

Damaris

Review: Repulse, by Chris James

This is an interesting book. It’s a sci-fi ‘history’ of a war to be fought in Europe, 2062-64, written in a style not dissimilar to some general overview histories I read last year about the World Wars.

The war in question features a sprawling Middle Eastern/North African Caliphate which suddenly attacks Europe, using technological advantage to conquer the whole continental landmass. Will Britain manage to defy the odds and survive? Will the Caliphate be pushed back?

The tech level is an order of magnitude beyond current possibilities, with tanks and soldiers making appearances but battles and war dominated by autonomous aircraft guided by AI. There’s shielding, lasers, and so forth. I thought the tech level was fairly realistic, whilst still, of course, being futuristic and interesting.

It’s an odd book. I did take a while to get into it, although I do read sci-fi sometimes, and military history. Near future and modern history are less interesting to me than either older history or more advanced sci-fi, which may be why it took a while for me to get into it, although I did end up reading the last third much more rapidly.

The writing style echoes those of genuine modern histories and does a good job of imitating them, with sources (diaries, other histories, papers released under the 30 year rule etc) being utilised. It’s an interesting approach and works well.

However, that same approach, with some exceptions (eyewitness testimony, diaries), does necessarily increase the distance between reader and brutality of war, which would not have been the case had a more traditional first/third person perspective been adopted. Obviously, this is a choice that’s been made, and the historical approach does enable a more neutral view, allowing for consideration of battlefield moral dilemmas rather than either justifying or decrying harsh measures in war.

Overall, I thought it was interesting and quite liked it. I’d suggest checking the sample before buying to see if it’s your cup of tea.

Thaddeus

Through the Looking Glass

A while ago, there was some ‘controversy’ when Warhorse Studios, the chaps behind the game Kingdom Come Deliverance (set in Bohemia [roughly the Czech Republic] in 1403), were criticised because everyone in it was white. The game’s set in a small geographical area, and everyone being white then is realistic, which is the angle that’s strongly pushed at every level in KCD. Larger cities were more cosmopolitan, but there’s no equivalent of Prague or Vienna in the game. In my view, those wanting diversity were simply trying to impose modern standards on historical reality (which isn’t necessarily unreasonable if you have a fast and loose approach to history, but the whole KCD game was focused on being realistic).

But it did get me thinking. Sometimes, people want to impose modern social, moral norms on historical works of media, whether videogames, film, TV etc. But what if it happened in reverse? What if we had a roughly medieval mindset, and assessed modern works by that standard?

In Stargate: Atlantis, female cast members often have bare arms. That would be frowned upon. (Plunging cleavage, not a problem, but biceps? Titillating beyond acceptability). There’s also a lot of loose hair. Again, at some periods in history this was rather indicative of, er, prostitution (as were the bare arms). A medieval person, once having gotten over the witchcraft of television, would be bemused to see this.

In the West, there’s generally been a decrease in formality between higher and lower status people (thinking primarily of working relationships, but also in those wonderful countries that still benefit from the splendidness of monarchy). This lack of formality would seem quite odd to those of a medieval mindset, where one’s social superior (local lord, say) could be the man sitting in judgement on you one day, and it paid to show due deference.

Medieval attitudes to vegans would be interesting to observe. Animal cruelty was pretty widespread, yet meat wasn’t eaten on around half the days of the year (it was permanently banned on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, as well as being forbidden on certain holy days). Voluntarily not eating meat might be seen as indicative of religious devotion.

Sticking with food, being fat was seen as a sign of prosperity. In a world where one bad harvest can kill the frail and two bad harvests can destroy peasant villages, having sufficient food to not merely meet but exceed needs was proof of wealth. Paler skin was also indicative of high status, as more time was spent indoors rather than working the fields. Thinner people (generally but not always considered more attractive these days) were seen as less attractive because it was down to lack of food, rather than an aesthetic choice.

Despite certain glass-ceiling smashing memes, women have had leading roles in sci-fi for quite some time (Ripley, Janeway, Samantha Carter, etc). In a world where petty treason makes it a criminal offence for a wife to disobey her husband, and which could be successfully used by a woman ordered to commit a crime to escape legal punishment, this would probably be seen as really rather odd. That said, there were exceptions in medieval times (Black Agnes commanded a Scottish castle when her husband was away, defying English attempts to capture it, for example) but it’d still seem rather peculiar in medieval eyes.

The absence of references to God would be utterly perplexing. Excepting the odd expression (“Thank God for that” etc), most people hardly ever refer to God in day to day conversation. Obviously religious people do more often, but even that would be dramatically less than was usual for medieval England, which was steeped in Christianity.

Which brings us to an ugly aspect of medieval thinking: widespread dislike of the Jews. Jews came over with William the Conqueror in 1066, and suffered particularly during the reigns of John and Edward I. They were generally concentrated in a small number of urban centres, mostly London, and were pretty well-off due to usury (the forerunner of modern banking). However, this was against Christian teaching at the time, so, whilst economically beneficial for the Jews, and also more widely, the wealth was achieved through acts against Christian doctrine, by a minority. Sadly, the average medieval fellow watching TV showing anti-Jewish behaviour might be more likely to side with the bigot than the victim.

It’s almost as if imposing the moral and social attitudes of one time period on another, far removed, is a daft thing to do…

Thaddeus

So, The Last Jedi [spoilers galore]

I am, it’s fair to say, rather late to this tap dance. However, I did recently see this film. And so I thought I’d ramble about it (this is my blog, after all, home of rambling about sci-fi and fantasy. And history).

For those who haven’t seen it yet, this ramble will be laden with spoilers, so if you don’t want them, stop reading now.

Sometimes in really grim/serious films (Batman Begins, for example) I wish they’d add a little levity. I don’t mean change the overall tone, but people crack jokes, even if just as a coping mechanism in terrible situations. In World War One, when soldiers were pinned down in trenches with dead friends, they’d prop the bodies up (mimicking a soldier on guard duty) and shake their hand when they walked past. It’s ok to have a joke now and then, even if it’s still pretty grim.

The Last Jedi is the opposite. It’s ok to be serious now and then. Impending evacuation under heavy fire, wildly outgunned? Better crack a joke then. Waking up from some sort of medically induced coma? Slapstick and leaking time.

Star Wars has always been (mostly) family friendly (very friendly if you include the incestuous kissing in Empire Strikes Back). That doesn’t mean it can’t take things seriously, just occasionally, when dealing with what is, essentially, war between good and evil. Darth Vader could crack a joke (as Captain Needa discovered), but he was still a serious character. Hux is practically comic relief.

Captain Phasma and her rubbishness returns. Cool armour, lame turn of events. And then there’s Snoke (daft name), the pale imitation of Emperor Palpatine. But what really annoyed me about Snoke was how damned contrived and clunky the dialogue was when he ‘read Kylo Ren’s mind’ and saw him turn the lightsabre (yes, Americans, sabre is spelt this way in England) and kill his ‘true enemy’. … Decent twist to have him kill Snoke but the lumbering awkwardness of the dialogue and the mental hoops to jump through detracted from it.

In the same way JJ Abrams doesn’t understand the basic concept of space being big, it seems Rian Johnson didn’t understand the first thing about Star Wars. Or, if he did, he wanted to ‘interpret’ it (ie damn internal consistency) in the same way that Russell T Davies buggered up Davros’ character in New Who*. Luke, the hopeful hero who believed he could turn Darth Vader, apparently now thinks about killing his own student whilst he sleeps, and attempts it in such an incompetent way he accidentally turns said student evil. And is also capable of being defeated by same student.

Right.

Not only that, Luke apparently knows how to speak Wookie less well than Rey, who helpfully translates what Luke’s close friend Chewbacca has to say.

The plot wasn’t hugely engaging. Star Wars does get knocked for rehashing the Death Star story (although it’s worth noting that The Empire Strikes Back had nothing to do with that and is the best film by a mile), but this effort did make me wish there was a superweapon on the loose.

The storyline is that they need fuel after evacuating. The First Order is chasing down the tiny remnants of the Rebellion. Rightyho. Not the most engaging plot ever.

I do disagree with some criticism I’ve read. Rose wasn’t my favourite character but she wasn’t terrible.

Some have criticised the revelation that Rey’s parents were not especially significant, but I don’t think that was a problem at all. Not everyone has to be related. Plus, the weird relationship she develops with Kylo Ren would’ve been, er, a bit weirder if they’d been related and she *had* been Luke’s daughter.

I think Luke appearing effectively as an astral projection to Kylo Ren was fine (that’s a new power rather than one which contradicts previous rules of the universe), although his inexplicable death afterwards was both nonsensical and a very stupid way of killing one of the franchise’s key characters.

It was absolutely irrational that Admiral Holdo decided to ram, at hyperspeed, Snoke’s ship. And that it worked. Yes, noble self-sacrifice, etc. But it doesn’t actually make any bloody sense at all. The premise was that the Rebel cruiser was the only ship that could be tracked and therefore the smaller escaping ships would be safe as all First Order attention would be on the cruiser Holdo was piloting. She was drawing it away and would be killed (the plan was foiled when the First Order was able to fire on the smaller ships after all).

So why not ram Snoke’s ship to start with? If you’re certain to die and the options are to die alone or take down a huge ship and thousands of enemies, why wouldn’t the latter be your first option? For that matter, why wasn’t that approach used with the Death Stars? Or the Starkiller base? You don’t even need a human aboard, just get a droid to pilot a large, empty ship. I’m really not a fan of plot ‘twists’ that don’t actually make any sense.

I’d quite like to watch Phantom Menace again to have a side-by-side view of the films. I suspect the prequel would look good by way of comparison.

The flaws with The Last Jedi, besides an uninspiring story, is that it contradicts what’s been previously established, most obviously with Luke’s character. It also has a lot of stuff that just feels unrealistic (yes, it’s sci-fi and gets to break rules on faster than light travel, but even fantastical stories have to maintain their own rules and have some semblance of contextual realism. Otherwise Snoke could just snap the Rebel ships in two using the power of his mind).

I tend not to do film rambles/reviews, so didn’t post about this before, but I thought Rogue One was pretty good. Had weak spots, of course, but I liked the sense of certain doom, loved the ending, and, although some better characters would’ve been good (likewise if the pointless monks had been axed) it was a decent film.

The Last Jedi is the weakest of the Star Wars films I’ve seen (all except Solo). I do think the reaction has been over the top. Whilst not a great film, it’s still just a film. Pouring abuse over people is not limited to those who hate The Last Jedi, but it’s depressing to see (videogame developers, politicians, almost anyone in the public eye can get dogpiled with venom, sadly).

I’ve seen a little of the fallout from the film. Boycott for Solo, hate for Rian Johnson and the actress who plays Rose and so on. Disliking a film is fine but personalising hatred online is just wrong. It’s like complaining the well water is brackish and pouring in poison.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts on The Last Jedi.

Thaddeus

*Spoilers for Doctor Who:

Davros’ whole character arc was creating the daleks, being betrayed by them and then trying to (and eventually succeeding) in reasserting control. Then in New Who, he actually agrees to be the compliant captive of the dalek leader. Utter tosh. Tosh, I tell you!

The Last City: pre-order now!

Good news! Sci-fi anthology The Last City, featuring stories from a dozen authors including me, is out on 15 February. The UK pre-order link (just 99p for Kindle pre-orders) is here.

The Last City, cunningly, revolves around a city in space that mines asteroids in a distant solar system. Human explorers arrived there some time ago, and also have small (mostly rubbish) colonies on the system’s planets. Over time, the City has evolved into a political structure akin to corporate feudalism, with President Toros Strand enjoying a firm grip on power.

From the glittering heights of power to the criminal underworld beneath, twelve tales of excellent new sci-fi await within The Last City.

Thaddeus

Fallout 4 – Diary of a Deceiver, Part 2

The first part of Pang Li’s cynical adventures in post-apocalypse America can be found here. And now, the adventure continues:

Date: 2287 October 24^th [Afternoon]

I’ve found an intelligent and helpful friend. Admittedly, he’s an Alsatian, but it’s still a nice surprise.

After shooting a few ruffians with a gas mask fetish, I encountered some people who aren’t violent thugs. Problem is, they’re a junkie, a loser, a bitch and a hick, led by some sort of weird LARP enthusiast. He’s called Preston Garvey, and has a laser-powered musket, for pity’s sake. And you know what they called the Alsatian? Dogmeat.

Dogmeat.

Might as well have called him Hors d’Oeuvres.

And just compare the LARPers to Dogmeat’s attitude. He came out of nowhere and we worked together. Gravyboat and his chums (five of them, total) were hiding in a room whilst me and the Dogmeister took out every one of the thuggish gang attacking them. No wonder people say dogs are man’s best friend. At least that hasn’t changed.

That said, they did have some useful information. Seems there is a city built around the old football stadium. It’s got to have someone who has basic technological expertise. That’s the good news. The bad news is the quintet of fools have decided they want to make their new home at Sanctuary Hills. As long as they don’t bother me, I’m sure I’ll be able to tolerate them. Besides, having someone armed and on patrol whilst I’m gone might be useful.

Late addition: Preston’s quite an attractive man, but if he tries telling me about a settlement in trouble one more time I’m going to introduce his nuts to my baseball bat.

Date: 2287 October 25^th

I was heading south to Diamond City when I caught some radio chatter (and not the whiny weasel on Diamond City Radio). It was a cry for help from some militant group holed up in a police station. Got there in time to save a librarian, an invalid, and a tin hat uniform called Danse. They were being attacked by the irradiated, degraded, mindless residents of Boston (now referred to as ‘ghouls’).

Danse wouldn’t give me any info on his group, but I, and my charming bathrobe ensemble, did manage to persuade him to hire me. It’s perfect. The mission is retrieving some hi-tech gear to boost their radio. With any luck, I’ll be able to use that to contact Beijing directly. If not, I’ll see if I can get in touch with whatever’s left of Chinese intelligence over here.

Found some good supplies in the police station. Might use the handcuffs on Preston if he keeps blathering about settlements (he says he can’t help them because his ‘hands are full’ in Sanctuary, but all he ever does is walk up and down the street, whistling. In the old world, he would’ve been a standard issue desk jockey, handing out orders and doing nothing himself). Also found a holotape diary from the librarian. The group’s called the Brotherhood of Steel. Sound very aggressive, an army focused on guns with a serious lack of interest in intelligence. Weird that there’s no mention of the US Government. Does it even exist? Was our victory absolute? Anyway, the Brotherhood’s lax with cybersecurity, not even a password on their computer. They’re a long range recon team. Danse seems skilled at getting his soldiers killed. Good to learn right before we head out together.

I think Danse might be a shade socialist. We arrived at ArcJet Systems and he started ranting about corporations and technology being abused. Maybe this Brotherhood is more compatible with Chinese than American thinking. He also mentioned something called the Institute, descendants of scientists. If this transmitter doesn’t come off, they sound like a good lead.

Got attacked by androids called synths. I think Danse’s balls are bigger than his brain. I fired up a rocket engine to incinerate them (he survived, although, to be frank, that wasn’t really a factor in my decision) and he congratulated me on the tactic, despite almost cooking him alive. Unsure if he’s dumb as a post or hard as nails. Either way, he invited me to join his merry band of militants. I said I was unsure. Don’t want to get tied down, for all I know the Brotherhood’s got more enemies than friends.

That’s the good news. The bad is that the transmitter was too weak to contact Beijing, and nobody responded to my old call-signs to local intelligence HQ. I’ll have to look elsewhere, and the only place to go is Diamond City.

Thaddeus

Fallout 4 – Diary of a Deceiver, Part 1

Note, I’ve deliberately taken some liberties with the storyline, so there will be some spoilers and me making some stuff up. This is a little bit of comedy intended to be read by people who have finished the game (just so they get the references, as well as not suffering spoilers).

This is the first time I’ve written something like this (well, apart from a Metal Gear Solid story I wrote about 15 years ago) so do let me know if you like it and I’ll write more of this and/or other games.

Date: 2077 October 23^rd

I’m growing really tired of this suburban hell. Being married to the most stupid man alive doesn’t make it any easier. Nate’s idiocy does mean I’ve gotten away with a few close calls when anyone with half a brain would’ve noticed something amiss (my bosses back in Beijing really did pick out a prize-winning sucker for me), but this latest episode is just something else.

The baby’s black, Nate. And you’re not. Did you think he was born with a suntan?

It’s bloody annoying, but if this jester really is the calibre of a career soldier in the US then at least we’re going to win this war, and probably soon.

HQ sent over a muppet with a clipboard to get me signed into the local vault (a private enterprise shelter in case of nuclear devastation). Seems a little unnecessary, but does help me blend in with the local paranoid bed-wetters.

Halloween’s close. It’s this Western holiday which involves socially-sanctioned vandalism, harassing people in their own home for sweets, and dressing up like fools (or skanks. You wouldn’t believe the kind of thing Nate wanted me to wear). The sooner we crush these capitalist pigdogs the better.

Although I do like their sweet rolls.

Late addition: we’ve nuked most of the US! Got to run to the shelter, but we’ve won!

Late late addition: you know, some warning from Beijing would’ve been nice. I almost got swallowed by a nuclear storm. The shelter seems functional enough, although I think in the confined conditions I may end up murdering Nate. And the social etiquette is really intrusive. I had to strip down to my underwear and put on this blue catsuit in front of some pervy doctor. Just as soon as I’ve gone through decontamination and everything checks out I’m going to lay down the law to him.

Date: 2287 October 23^rd

Decontamination was a con. I should’ve known better than to trust a dodgy Western corporation. I got frozen cryogenically. Briefly got thawed out to see some slaphead shoot Nate and steal the kid. When I woke up properly, everybody else was dead. A dozen cryo-chambers and every single one failed except mine (Nate’s seemed to be working but given he had a gaping hole in his skull it didn’t do him much good).

Found myself a new catsuit and a truncheon. Everything’s dead here except for some giant cockroaches. I must have been out for a while. Got hold of a gun and some glasses (I always did my best work as ‘sexy secretary’) and found a handy PipBoy. Time to go home, dig out the transmitter, and get in touch with Beijing.

Late addition: more roaches at home. Codsworth (damned silly name. Serves me right for letting the moron pick it) was the only thing still functioning but I think he’s suffered some sort of corrosion. Gave me a holotape of Nate being soppy.

Oh, and the war ended just over 200 years ago.

Everyone I know is dead. On the other hand, my backpay is going to be billions of yen, so swings and roundabouts.

Date: 2287 October 24^th [Morning]

All the houses were absolutely ruined. Took a while, but I managed to salvage enough junk to build a half-decent home, and used my stash of weaponry (still serviceable) to create some machine-gun turrets. That’s the good news. The bad is that my radio transmitter was busted. Seems like vandals broke in, missed the guns but had a shooting match and turned the comms gear into Swiss cheese.

The US is an absolute mess of lawless decadence and social breakdown. And now it’s irradiated too. Still no idea how things are back home. Starting to worry Uncle Sam might have sent a missile or two Beijing’s way. But we’re resilient, I’m sure everything’s ok. That does leave the problem of contact, though. Only option is to wander into this apocalyptic mess and try to find someone who knows one end of a diode from another. What fun.

Oh, and Codsworth kept rambling on about Shaun (that’s the kid). Annoyed me at first, but “I’m looking for my son” is a much better excuse for wandering about than “I’m a Chinese spy. Any idea how to get in touch with Beijing?”, not least because I can’t imagine the locals (if there are any) will be fans of China given we nuked their country back to the Stone Age.

Part 2 is here.

Thaddeus

Space Adventures of the Proximate Kind

There are plans already under consideration for the colonisation of Mars. Bases on the Moon, mining the asteroid fields, exploring Titan (Saturn’s moon) for life, all are on the horizon.

To be honest, it’s all quite exciting, both in real life and in terms of the sci-fi that can be written about such things. Scientific advancement, commercial gain and military advantage could all play a role in the near term exploration of the solar system.

On the scientific front, Mars and Titan present the most intriguing prospects. Mars is nearer, although getting there will still take months. Establishing a base will require substantial resources, but modern technology does offer some short-cuts that even a few years ago would have been impossible. For example, 3D printers mean that you don’t need every precise structure or tool to be carried with the human crew. Printing materials could be sent on ahead with unmanned or robotic expeditions, and future blueprints for improved structures could be sent from Earth and printed on Mars.

Any trip is believed to be one way, because of the lower gravity on Mars that would create health problems for anyone returning to Earth (not to mention prolonged exposure to zero-G on the way to Mars). For a long term settlement, a stable gene pool would be needed (which would also tie in neatly with the generally international approach towards space exploration). Of course, not everyone has to go at once. Farming would require internal agriculture (cultivating Mars would require it to be terraformed). Energy supply and other fuel sources is an interesting one. Solar panels could add some juice but I’m not sure if that’d be sufficient. Due to long flight times and the potential for mishaps, sustainability would have to be the goal. If the colony were reliant on fuel sent from Earth then it could easily find itself cut short.

There are diamonds the size of cars in Jupiter. Unfortunately, fishing them out is technically problematic. However, the delicious deposits contained within the asteroid belt are altogether more accessible.

In my short story Dead Weight (in Explorations: Through the Wormhole), I had to rework the early draft because I’d wrongly believed the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt was some sort of Star Wars maelstrom. It’s not. There are big open spaces between the various rocks and, although you’d still need to be careful, mining them is eminently possible in the near(ish) future. The bigger problem is likely to be how you divvy up fairly, between either companies or nations, the resources of the asteroid belt.

An international company could be the way to go. So far, after the 1960s space race between superpowers, space exploration has generally been along rather friendlier lines than terrestrial politics. Whether that continues remains to be seen.

Mining could probably be done largely by robots, which would dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of operations. Humans are a pain in the arse to move through space. They need oxygen, food, water, psychological well-being (an increasingly important factor for longer flights), somewhere to get rid of the waste they produce daily, and if you land them too quickly they turn into meat paste (landing a robot too hard will break it, but they won’t leave behind upset relatives).

Titan is a moon of Saturn, and the only other place in the solar system where liquid water seems to exist. This presents the best possible chance of finding life in our near neighbourhood, which is very exciting until you remember that also means it makes an impending apocalypse a lot likelier. Leaving aside the Fermi Paradox and the Great Filter, life on Titan could also present a serious pathogen problem. It is, nevertheless, a fascinating prospect.

Any visit to Titan would be much harder than visiting Mars. For a start, it’s a lot further away. That means more time in zero-G and more time floating in a tin can, which will increase physical and psychological effects. Secondly, a mission would probably be about collecting samples and the like. Now, you could do this just with robots. That’s cheaper and safer. But humans are smarter than robots and more adaptable. The gravity, however, is less than half that of Mars. So, if you’re sending a human, that’s moving from prolonged zero-G to 0.14g. Very much a one way trip for something organic and squishy (it also raises the question of what happens if you actually found something advanced, say a space-donkey, and tried bringing it back to Earth. The affect would probably be the same as if you tried moving an Earth-donkey to a planet with 7g).

However, the Moon has surface gravity of 0.16g. That’s a seventh higher (akin to a human moving to a world with 1.14g). You’d notice, but it wouldn’t be horrendous. Species (or returning humans) could go to a lunar base for experimentation. No need to try and establish a permanent base on Titan, the gravity’s practically identical, and it’s miles (and then some) closer to Earth for fuel, communication, supplies and so on.

Most of the above assumes that we continue to have relatively friendly space adventures. However, the history of the human race is one riddled with conflict. Any nation that acquired dominance of space would have huge advantages. Asteroid-mining would give a resource and commercial advantage, access to the Moon, Mars and Titan would offer scientific progress denied to lesser nations, and the military aspect of near-Earth domination would be significant.

There are a number of existing or near-term weapons projects that operate from or in space. Tungsten rods operate by firing a rod of tungsten (as you may have guessed) at the Earth. The kinetic energy of it hitting the planet is immense, but also highly localised. It’ll annihilate a house, and the next door neighbour will be fine. (Sidenote, all ICBMs have nuclear warheads because a smaller payload would have less destructive potential than the kinetic energy of the missile itself).

Masers are also in development currently and would probably work in space. The problem with space warfare is that damage would commonly include explosive decompression and total destruction of the ‘enemy’. It’s hard to think of anything other than a war of annihilation (you might think of an EMP to knock out the electrics, but do that and how long will the oxygen and warmth last?).

Hopefully we won’t see military nonsense in space, but we’ll find out in the coming decades.

Thaddeus

Interview with Brian Turner

Today I’m joined for interview by Brian Turner, who is author of the recently released fantasy Gathering (Chronicles of Empire book 1), as well as lord of the SFF Chrons manor (an excellent forum where people into fantasy and science fiction can discuss writing, reading, books, film and so forth).

There’s an ensemble cast rather than a single (or a couple) stand-out POV characters. Why did you choose to go down the route of many POVs, and what did you feel the advantages were?

As some people have noticed, the inspiration for the Chronicles of Empire series came from role-playing games. One huge difficulty was taking that experience and giving it life outside of those limitations.

But if I were plotting and writing from scratch, I would definitely have focused on no more than 3-4 max. The more main characters there are, the more difficult it becomes to pull off successfully.

I found it horribly, horribly, challenging. I was lucky in that I had a great developmental editor in Teresa Edgerton, who wasn’t afraid to tell me when I was going wrong.

The sole advantage of an ensemble cast, though, is that you can tell a more complex yet complete story. That’s why they’re so common in film and TV. But with novels, it requires a disproportionate amount of effort to try and make it work. There’s a clear reason why most books are focused on one main character, even in the presence of a strong supporting cast.


Seven main characters travelling together is the hallmark of a writing genius* but it also somewhat limits the scope of action. Presumably in later books (a bit like the Fellowship of the Ring) the group gets split up for separate adventures?
(*I may have used a very similar approach in Journey to Altmortis).

That already happens to a degree in Gathering, and it will do so to a degree in other books. Ultimately, the story is about how these characters work for and against one another in the longer telling of it.

At no point do I ever think about sending people off on journeys to make the writing easier - such events must make the writing harder because it has to make the story more complex and self-referencing.

A story about an ensemble cast must remain a story about an ensemble cast, and not a collection of individual adventures.

It’s clear from reading the book that you’ve done plenty of research when it comes to historical influences. What particular sources did you find useful for world-building a (mostly) medieval fantasy?

I’ve read a huge amount of history over the past 20 years as research for the Chronicles of Empire series. The aim has always been to use that to make the world of the story seem more real, even if I’m limited with how much world-building I can share.

The big challenge has been to move away from political history and into social history, and focus on the details of daily life that make the everyday experience both extraordinary yet ordinary.

Any good history book will do that, whether it’s second-hand commentators such as Edward Gibbon, John Julius Norwich, Terry Jones, Ian Mortimer, Francis and Joseph Gies; or first-hand sources, such as Thucydides, Polybius, Tacitus, Suetonius; and outstanding historical fiction and fantasy fiction writers such as Colleen McCollough, Ken Follet, Bernard Cornwell, Robert Fabbri, George R R Martin, Joe Abercrombie, David Gemmell ... and so on and so on.


Pedantic classical question: you made the chariot teams yellow, blue, green and red, like Rome. Except Rome had a white team rather than a yellow. Any reason for the difference?

Simply because it made all the colours primary ones. And while I’ve used history as a great source for inspiration, it made no sense to simply repeat everything if I found it better to personalise it.

A good example is that I abandoned the Theory of the Humours from ancient and mediaeval medicine, and replaced it with a colour-based theory of philosophy. This is why prime colours became all the more important, and why changing the whites to the yellows was more consistent with the worldview I’d created.


Although largely fantastical, there’s also a sci-fi element. Why did you opt for this, as opposed to going for a fantasy-only approach?

Simply because I hate the way that thousands of years of ritual folk magic has become abused by the modern fantasy genre. It’s no longer treated with any respect, and instead largely appropriated for simple power fantasies. Ironically, it’s RPGs that have driven this development.

So my first act with writing about my own RPG adventures was to invoke Clarke’s law about suitably futuristic technology being indistinguishable from magic. That way, any element relating to RPG magic could be swapped out for future technology.

I wrote a science fiction novel based on the same world, set 2,500 years in its future, then connected their stories. That forms the core plot arc in the Chronicles of Empire series.

Then, in the character development process, I gave each of the seven main characters their own individual belief system and developed it accordingly. There is magic in Gathering - but it’s based on real-world ritual magic, with the personal and social meaning it’s meant to have.


The Gathering is the first book of the Chronicles of Empire series. Do you know how many entries there will be, or have an approximate schedule of releases in mind?

I’ve posted something about that here: About the Chronicles of Empire series. There are 6 books in the core Chronicles of Empire series, with potentially as many as two trilogies that will support and complete this.

However, the writing needs time to grow properly. With only one character, an author just has to get a character from A to B. With seven characters, everyone is transecting each other’s scenes and development arcs. It requires time to consider and account for the effects of this on each one, as well as plot and continuity.

I suspect it’s going to take about 2 years to write each book, but I won’t rush to release anything I’m not happy with. Conversely, I won’t allow the story to stray and meander either. I have a very clear sense of focus, but not everything comes into view immediately.


Being vague, the ending is a natural break point in the story. Will the sequel continue immediately afterwards or (my guess) will there be a few months/years interval?

The story does continue shortly after, but the structure for the second Chronicles of Empirebook, Awakening, is going to be very different. Gathering takes place over just 6 days, but Awakening must cover around 3-4 years. That’s going to be a tough sell for a character-driven story, even with its far more pronounced emotional highs and lows.


Away from writing, how do you like to relax?

My social outlet has been the chronicles forums SFF Chronicles - science fiction and fantasy forums, and it’s also been a great place for critical feedback, as well as meeting some truly wonderful people.

I also read a ton of books, about 2:1 fiction to non-fiction. I’ve been making a big point to read different genres, and outside of my preferred topic areas. I figure anyone who wants to be a good writer needs to do that.

I’m especially enjoying the thriller genre at the moment, and the way the writers there focus on being concise while driving pace. When I’m burned out from reading I always pick up a Lee Child novel.

I’ve also discovered some amazing hybrid authors - those with normal publishing deals, but also self-publish - who write exceptional and polished cross-genre novels, such as Jo Zebedee and Ralph Kern.

There's also a book called Kingdom Asunder by a writer named Thaddeus White I need to read as well. [Sounds like the sort of splendid book everyone should buy – TW].


Beyond the next books in the Chronicles of Empire, what are your writing plans for the future?

Chronicles of Empire is going to keep me very busy for a long time. There’s so much I could cover outside of the main story. If I’m lucky, the Universe will grant me time enough to write a WWII thriller series after all that.

http://www.chroniclesofempire.com/
https://www.sffchronicles.com

Thank you for having me.

Brian G Turner


The pleasure was all mine,

Thaddeus

Review: Abendau’s Legacy, by Jo Zebedee

I received a free copy of this in return for an honest review.

Abendau’s Legacy is the final part of dark sci-fi series The Inheritance Trilogy. Warning: there are, necessarily, spoilers for the events of Abendau’s Heir and Sunset Over Abendau below.

Abendau’s Legacy takes place very shortly after the end of Sunset Over Abendau. The Empress has reclaimed about half her empire, the other half loosely coalescing around the idea of a republic. Kare, her son, is forced to confront not only his fear of her but also try to keep his wayward son in line and the rest of his family safe.

There’s an interesting approach of having a relatively small cast but many POV characters, and the author does well to capture the differing perspectives (most of the time you’d know whose viewpoint you were seeing through even if unaware of their name).

The heart of the book is the strength of the characters and their sometimes fractious relationships with one another. It’s very emotive (sort of Hobb meets Abercrombie in space).

Generally, the plot works well. There are some little twists that are credible but also surprising (a tightrope to be walked with twists), although one late [minor] twist felt a little jarring/unnecessary. Weaving together the various plot threads was very well-balanced, particularly late on.

The story’s tightly focused on the characters, smaller in scale and more intimate than sci-fi can sometimes be. It’s more about people than the action (although there’s no shortage of that).

Here and there the turns of the plot were predictable, which, at those times, did reduce dramatic tension.

Obviously, this is the third book of a trilogy. To my mind, it’s at least as good as the previous book (Sunset Over Abendau) and if you’ve bought the first two you need have no qualms about buying this one.

Thaddeus

PS Note on review policy, submissions etc: I very rarely review fiction any more. If I’ve reviewed something of yours in the past and have nothing on, I might be interested. However, right now I’ve got five books to read (and my own to promote), so the window is definitely closed until 2017 at the earliest. How this changes going forward depends on things that are strange and mysterious.

Explorations Special Offer

For one week only Explorations: Through the Wormhole has been cut in price from £3.99 to £0.99.

The sci-fi anthology, with stories set in a common universe, features my short story Dead Weight. It’s really rather good, easily the best Chinese smuggler sci-fi I’ve ever written. There are also stories by sci-fi bestsellers such as Richard Fox, Ralph Kern and Jo Zebedee, as well as 10 other authors.

Kingdom Asunder will be out very soon, all being well, but in the meantime you can enjoy my short story (and others, of course) in Explorations for less than half the price of a cup of coffee.

Thaddeus

Explorations: Through the Wormhole is out now

Explorations: Through the Wormhole, a sci-fi anthology featuring short stories by 14 authors (including my own Dead Weight), is out now.

The stories all happen in the same universe, and follow (from 2052) the first emergence of wormholes in the solar system. My own focuses on the Winged Oasis, a Chinese smuggler ship that’s being pummelled by an imperial frigate.

It’s a cracking trilogy, with contributions from bestselling sci-fi authors such as Jo Zebedee, Ralph Kern and Richard Fox.

Physical editions of Explorations are planned for a fortnight from now, and an audiobook edition is also coming (something I forgot when I gave my characters Chinese names and then had to check my pronunciation was correct [it was. Huzzah for pinyin!]).

There’s also a related newsletter, which will contain sci-fi news from many authors, (including but not, I think, limited to the anthology contributors) at http://www.scifiexplorations.com/ [Unsure as yet if I’ll be able to cheekily get Kingdom Asunder plugged that way, but I have, at least, mentioned it just now. Still on for a December release, currently].

So, buy Explorations: Through the Wormhole and enjoy excellent stories from some of the best sci-fi authors in writing today (and me).

Thaddeus

Jo Zebedee’s First Year Review

Sunset Over Abendau, the sequel to the best-selling debut novel by Northern Ireland’s Jo Zebedee, will be released on 16 April. Looking back on the last 12 months, and ahead to that release, Jo Zebedee has kindly agreed to an interview.

TW: It’s been an eventful year for you, publishing your first book and accruing sales to such an excessive degree some might call it selfish. Having achieved best-seller status with your first book, does that lessen or intensify nervousness ahead of the sequel’s release?

JZ: It's been a crazy first year. Lots of attention - more than I ever expected - and a huge juggling act (I also have a day job and a not-quite-so-young-anymore family.) In the weeks leading up to the launch I'm running a writers' event, attending Mancunicon (and being on a couple of panels) and editing another book, so I don't have time to be as nervous!

I think, though, this time I will enjoy it more. Reviews on my first two books (I self published a

standalone novel last year) have been astonishingly good, and I have a lot more confidence, so

less feels like it's riding on Sunset. I spent too much time worrying last year and not enough

enjoying it - I'd like to reverse that this year.

TW: What advice would you give it aspiring authors, whether just starting out, or as they approach the release of their first book?

JZ: Be realistic. Few hit the market and do well straightaway. If there are slow weeks, don't panic. But, also, no one else will promote it as well as you can. You were passionate enough about the idea to spend months, sometimes years, writing about it. Get out there, on whatever platforms you feel able to interact on, and make connections.

Oh, and up until that first release writing will have been relatively sedate. Once you're promoting, editing the next and trying to come up with something new, things get crazy. So enjoy the buzz and the rush of the first when things aren't too chaotic.

TW: Obviously you’ve written the Abendau trilogy, but in addition to that, what else have you been writing, and how many projects do you usually have on the go at once?

JZ: I have lots on! As well as the trilogy I self published Inish Carraig last year, which ended up on a recommends list for the Hugo award, which was a real shock. Inish Carraig is set in my native Northern Ireland; in 2017 I have another Northern Irish based story coming out from Inspired Quill. This one will be my first fantasy, which is exciting.

I'm also working on a new sf thriller and have plans for a fantasy series when I find the time to write it. I also wouldn't rule out a return to Abendau at some stage.

TW: Do you like reading the same sort of things you write?

JZ: Yes. I read a huge amount of fantasy and sci fi, preferring deep characterisation and escapism to technology and whiz-banging (although I do like a nice, zippy spaceship).

But I also read lots that I don't write - magical realism, for instance. It's a million miles from my normal light description (although my fantasy book coming out in 2017 has a feel of it). I read lots of genres- general fiction, crime, literary. Anything that intrigues and takes my fancy. I think it's good for a writer to read widely.

TW: When you aren’t writing, what do you do to relax?

JZ: Ha! I have time to relax?

I find it easier in the summer because I like walking and gardening - I grow a lot of veg - plus cooking. Very domestic for a dark sf author! I also love spending time as a family, cinema, that sort of thing and try to keep a good portion of my weekend free for that.

TW: Over the last 12 months or so you’ve had your first book published and prepared for the release of the trilogy’s second instalment. What’s been the best and most difficult moments of the last year?

JZ: Best - knocking Star Wars off number one in the charts was hard to beat! And the Hugo/Campbell call-out. I also had a fab launch night for Abendau's Heir at Waterstones in Belfast which was great fun, and a great first convention as a panellist at Titancon in Belfast.

Most difficult - the slow weeks when sales were tough. And the work/life balance - I'd like to swing that a bit more in my favour at some point.

TW: Sexual violence against men is an area that’s largely neglected in history, fiction and the modern media (a third of the Rotherham victims were boys, though this is rarely reported). How difficult was it to write about that?

JZ: Tremendously difficult, and I didn't set out to do it. However, I did set out to write an accurate portrayal of torture and its impact and, once researched, it became clear that sexual violence fills a large component of that, both to men and women. Once my character was in the position he was in, it was inconceivable that he would not have been subjected to it.

Finding research into men was a little tricky - most rape studies are about female victims. Once I found the source material, it was utterly harrowing.

I hope I did the subject justice. I hope, more than anything, it wasn't gratuitous - and the reviews tell me it didn't come across that way. I chose not to overtly show the sexual violence in a scene, but instead did a slower, more personal reveal of it - as the impact is deeper than the event alone could have shown. In fact, I felt if I portrayed it on-page, I'd reduce its impact. It's easy to write a scene that shocks - it's much harder to write one with real pathos.

I hope, as well, in the sequels, I do justice to its impact.

TW: Do the events in Sunset Over Abendau follow on immediately after Abendau’s Heir, or is there a gap [if so, what’s happened in the meantime]?

JZ: There's a ten year gap, mostly where the changed order reflected at the end of Abendau's Heir is implemented. But it's easy enough to pick it up as the follow-up as those ten years have done little to reduce the impact of the events of book one. That was important to me - there can be no quick fix to the ordeal I've portrayed.

What was also important was to show that impact wasn't just on Kare. He's the epicentre, yes, but everyone surrounding him has been affected. As the story moves on, it becomes much more of a shared narrative.

Overall, the characters are older, cagier and more world-weary. I like the older tone - and that deepens further in book three.

TW: What’s the premise of Sunset Over Abendau?

JZ: Kare promised he'd hold the Empire for ten years and no longer. A decade later, he's no nearer to freeing himself. Haunted by past events, in a role he hates, the temptation to walk away bites deep.

When the lost heritage of his father is revealed a new future opens to him, one threatened when old enemies rise against those he loves. To safeguard them, Kare will have to fight for the Empire he hates and face the deadly secret hidden deep in Abendau's deserts.

TW: Abendau’s Heir had a pretty tight focus, and a relatively small set of characters we got to know very well. What new characters will we see in Sunset Over Abendau?

JZ: A few new characters appear - we learn about Ealyn's heritage and are introduced to the Space Roamers who hold the key to that revelation.

We also find out more about the desert people through Baelan, a young adult point of view, one of two key YA voices in it (I often write cross over material.) The desert people hold the key to understanding the Empress, so his voice is important to the trilogy.

But we also have old favourites - both good 'uns and thoroughly bad eggs.

TW: What are your plans for the future?

JZ: I'm busy, with writing work lined up to the middle of 2017. In the Autumn, Abendau's Legacy will come out to complete the trilogy. I also have a number of short pieces coming out in various anthologies.

I blog weekly, at least, on jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk and plan to keep that up.

In the meantime, I'm writing new material - a sf thriller at the moment, and then I hope to get stuck into what I'm calling a frontier-fantasy duology. I might also tackle a sequel to Inish Carraig. And somewhere amongst that, I'd like to find time to hunt out a new agent - I think I'm at the point where I need someone in my corner.

Sunset Over Abendau can be pre-ordered here.

Links to my books can be accessed via: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jo-Zebedee/e/B00VM61TZG

Website -www.jozebedee.com

Blog -www.jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter - https://twitter.com/joz1812

Thanks to Jo for the interview, and best of luck with Sunset Over Abendau.

Thaddeus