Looking at the fantasy and science fiction landscapes these days, they are dominated by neverending series. And lo, it has become fashionable to complain that even before mediocre writers earn their craft, they are already working on neverending series, milking money one dollop at a time from the waning pool of traditional readers by pumping them full of mediocre writing, over, and over again.
Insofar as it goes, it's true. Outside of Neal Stephenson, I'm hard pressed to name a one-off I've read recently. Traditional (mostly Baen), or Indie
Another major stumbling block is authors painting themselves into a corner, or worse, losing control of the series overall arc. Simply not finishing it - or looking like it never will. As has been discussed ad nauseum regarding George RR Martin's Westeros books, he long ago wandered off the trilogy reservation, is still adding more plot threads and characters, and doesn't seem on track to finish the books in his lifetime. The TV series has eclipsed the series which started twenty years ago.
You know what I loved about Babylon 5? It had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even Gary Larson and Bill Watterson quit before their work became a parody of itself.
John Ringo has how many series now that have just petered out and not come to a conclusion? Granted, they're all awesome, and he writes so fast you lose track of what was left behind as you buy the next hit of black ink crack. It's also true he's at least found good stopping points for many. He's mostly resolved the Council Wars, thank god the Prince Roger books found a good stopping point, and The Black Tide books came to a sudden - and clumsier than usual, as much as I loved it - but appropriate halt, but the Aldenatta storyline is in cliffhanger mode, Troy is in limbo, Harmon and the Keldara need a new mission, and holy crap he's writing in Larry's universe?
Series have one other nasty effect - even on authors that are utterly outstanding, and haven't lost the thread.
Opportunity cost.
OK. I love Larry. I love Ringo. They're fantastic storytellers and their writing has only improved. I want to find out what happens to Owen, Milo, Earl, and hell, even Franks - and I'll stand by my opinion that as much as I like all the MHI books, Alpha and Nemesis just work better. If all Larry ever cranked out was MHI and Grimnoir, would we see "Son of the Black Sword"? As much as I want to find out what happens to Tyler Vernon, or Prince Roger, would I want to sacrifice Sophia and Faith? Or Chad?
Ringo will wrap up or simply drop the series until the muse attacks him in a dark corner again. And even his muse is hard pressed to keep up with the torrent of different universes he generates.
Larry dodged this also - while there will be more Grimnoir books, they won't be properly speaking sequels, but further forward, a new generation, new people, new stories. MHI is still effectively open ended, but he's now free to explore new territory and ideas.
If they stayed in their current worlds, they could never tell stories that cannot be told within the existing series.
So some stories need more than one book. Many don't. Authors should give themselves the opportunity to try something new, even as they forge ahead with what they know works.
Aside from the Ringo book I mentioned earlier - and that the Didact took John to task about the lack of sequels - I wanted to delve deeper into the Cruxshadows song "Eye of the Storm." Actually, I'll be going through a lot of their songs that I enjoy, and while the order will generally be somewhat chronological, in the order I ran into them more or less, this will be an exception. On the Goth spectrum they're more dance, less whiney, "Darkwave", and so closer overall to the Sisters of Mercy than Bauhaus - though Peter Murphy's Deep is an album I still play. Rogue's voice can take getting used to, some of the lyrics can come across as pretentious poetry, and they certainly layer greek myth and religious symbolism almost as heavily as Sabaton does warriors and warfare. They also play violins.
But why start here? After all, my first exposure was Winterborn, courtesy of the inimitable authorial crack output of John Ringo.
First of all, I had the chance to run into Rogue, the lead singer, at Dragon*Con in Atlanta years back. He was a very relaxed, open, and chill dude. I ended up chatting for a fairly long time - and am glad that no-one else was hitting him up for autographs at the time - specifically about this song.
It didn't hurt that the dancers were hot in a goth-faerie kind of way.
The concert was fantastic, including a killer rendition of Immortal.
It's a long song so I'll include the full copy at the end.
There are a number of ways you can take the opening - both secular and religious. It certainly isn't in conflict with the concept that God would not give you a test greater than you are able to handle if you but trust in him.
The trials you now are facing,
They are not greater than your will,
For there is nothing under Heaven,
You cannot overcome.
See the door that lies before you,
And know - this too shall pass.
The confrontation of your fears,
In strength drawn from the past.
Skip forward a few stanzas
I believe in what I fight for,
And I have paid for it with pain.
I am here because my contributions,
May help turn this fate away.
And all who stood by and did nothing,
Who are they to criticize?
The sacrifices of others-
Our blood has bought their lives...
Ahhh.. head-exploding goodness. I believe in what I fight for.... While a lot of their songs can be as pedastalizing as any pop bands, they certainly get the "warrior sacrifice" thing - a reason John became huge friends with them (and was at Rogue's wedding...). Most notably, echoing Roosevelt's "man in the arena" - And all who stood by and did nothing, Who are they to criticize?
Belief. Kratman of the Carrera novels based an entire spinoff in the Posleen universe, The Tuloriad, the entire point of which was the need to bring religion to a religious war. To believe in something that gives you the will to fight. Having the swiss guard stand and fight with pikes, not so much echoing but rhyming with the last stand of the guard in 1527 with better results, was a bonus.
I believe in what I fight for. Let that roll off your tongue. Civilization. Western values, and free men. Leftists no longer believe in the civilization that gave them birth, and will no longer fight for it.
There is no love untouched by hate,
No unity without discord.
There is no courage without fear,
There is no peace without a war.
There is no wisdom without regret,
No admiration without scorn.
There is strife within the tempest,
But there is calm in the eye of the storm...
In no real universe with humans will we ever be without anger, without hate, without fear. Even trying is damn near the definition of insanity. If we don't have scorn, how can we even have admiration? How does it have meaning? Without something to be afraid of, where can there be courage?
Without the negatives, how can we choose the positives?
The pages of our history,
Are written by the hand,
With eyes and ears and prejudice,
Too far removed to understand.
And so the heroes of the ages
Are stripped of honesty and love.
To make them seem less noble,
And hide what we can become.
Once, in the days of Herodotus, those who wrote history, who spoke of battles and war, were the educated class, and thus also the ones who kept their armor, stood in a phalanx, and marched with spear and sword. They knew the sound of a swordblade scraping on teeth.
Most modern historians know no such thing. They have avoided the battlefield and think themselves better for it. Morally better. And they look with disdain at those who have fought. And not having fought, not having gotten in the cage, in thinking it was lesser, they strip our heroes of all that is noble. They wallow in the gutter and tell us there are no angels, that we cannot touch the divine.
Incidentally, it was these paragraphs I specifically talked with Rogue about.
If you find the courage within you,
To face the path ahead,
It matters not the outcome,
If what you will gain instead,
Is a heart deepened in the knowing,
That experience carves the soul,
And the very thing that empties you,
Shall surely make you whole.
Even failure can teach you, if you are willing to get back up and try again, to learn, instead of hide. In the Nietzschean sense, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Eye of the Storm by The Cruxshadows
The trials you now are facing,
They are not greater than your will,
For there is nothing under Heaven,
You cannot overcome.
See the door that lies before you,
And know - this too shall pass.
The confrontation of your fears,
In strength drawn from the past.
Where the silent voices whisper,
'Find the course that is your own,
And however great the obstacle,
You will never be alone.'
For I have watched the path of Angels,
And I have heard the Heavens roar.
There is strife within the tempest,
But there is calm in the eye of the storm.
In fragments of an instant,
The chaos has returned,
And all that was left to sentiment,
Beneath the banner burned.
And as that voice was slow receded,
Into echoes, memory,
My doubts were re-ignited,
And fear awakened from it's sleep.
I believe in what I fight for,
And I have paid for it with pain.
I am here because my contributions,
May help turn this fate away.
And all who stood by and did nothing,
Who are they to criticize?
The sacrifices of others-
Our blood has bought their lives...
This is the moment of truth,
At the point of no return.
Place faith in your convictions,
As boundaries start to blur.
There is no love untouched by hate,
No unity without discord.
There is no courage without fear,
There is no peace without a war.
There is no wisdom without regret,
No admiration without scorn.
There is strife within the tempest,
But there is calm in the eye of the storm...
The pages of our history,
Are written by the hand,
With eyes and ears and prejudice,
Too far removed to understand.
And so the heroes of the ages
Are stripped of honesty and love.
To make them seem less noble,
And hide what we can become.
This is the moment of truth,
At the point of no return.
Place faith in your convictions,
As the boundaries start to blur.
There is no love untouched by hate,
No unity without discord
There is no courage without fear,
There is no peace without a war.
There is no wisdom without regret,
No admiration without scorn
There is strife within the tempest,
And there is calm in the eye of the storm...
There is no love untouched by hate,
No unity without discord
There is no courage without fear,
There is no peace without a war.
There is no wisdom without regret,
No admiration without scorn
There is strife within the tempest,
And calm in the eye of the storm...
There is no love untouched by hate,
No unity without discord.
There is no courage without fear,
There is no peace without a war.
There is no wisdom without regret,
No admiration without scorn.
There is strife within the tempest,
And there is calm in the eye of the storm...
If you find the courage within you,
To face the path ahead,
It matters not the outcome,
If what you will gain instead,
Is a heart deepened in the knowing,
That experience carves the soul,
And the very thing that empties you,
Shall surely make you whole.
Where the silent voices whisper,
'Find the course that is your own,
And however great the obstacle,
You will never be alone.'
For I have watched the path of Angels,
And I have heard the Heavens roar.
There is strife within the tempest,
But there is calm in the eye of the storm.
Before writing this I made the mistake of looking at the existing reviews. Heh. There was a lot of hate for Ringo in the comments. I also get it - Ringo's sense of humor and story complements Larrys, but it's different. I know people who can't stand the Grimnoir books but love MHI. Go figure.
So I'll tackle complaints first:
"Mary Sue" - my first hint you don't read John Ringo, especially when you claim to like his other stuff. Have you ever met his characters? I don't mean in the books - I mean the real-life people many of his characters are based on. Over the top, exceedingly competent, scary smart, sometimes to the point of I'm not sure they can tie their shoelaces. Except they can, and likely have a black belt. John brought this trend up regarding a review of the first Looking Glass book - "the guy I based him on does all those things, and already knows how to shoot."
"But - he's too smart." - OK , almost a point here. Yes, Chad learns Aramaic at nine. His dad is 140+ IQ, his mom likely far higher, and so is Chad. Prodigies like this are rare, but believe me, they DO exist. That said, it says something about standards in America when we've fallen from 16 year old professional surveyors in the wilderness, and thirteen year olds commanding prize crews, to not even believing such people can exist, much less taught to function without the magical tome of a teaching degree and a certified acolyte of the teachers union to wield it.
"But - he's still too smart" - and FWIW - John hangs a lampshade on it. Early in the book, he discovers that he was granted this gift for a purpose, and if he choses the path of duty, that purpose will bring him suffering and pain as well. He's also almost autistically focused on immersing himself on whatever he's learning, something I've seen before in real life, in people who learn quickly.
For the idiot who compared this to "Name of the Wind" -
If you liked that book, you are never going to be a Ringo fan. One writes men, no matter how over the top, the other writes a whiny perpetual victim, no matter how pretty the prose.
"Name of the Wind" is one of the few books in my entire life I've never finished - almost entirely due to the whiny "I'm so special" snowflake protagonist. A list that includes the Wheel of Time series, but not hundreds of SF books, the Anabasis or Kagans book on the Peloponnesian war.
"My Misogyny" - yep - Chad sleeps around. Get over it. I know SJW types and liberals have a problem with this concept, but there are multiple tiers of good and bad, and multiple value axes. Guys who constantly have women hanging over them exist, and they're not forcing the women into anything. Get over it. Sure, some are jerks (women have a hard time differentiating between "asshole" and "guy who says no because he has priorities and self respect"), but most aren't. Chad's excuse may be paper-thin, but his life will cause pain to those he loves one way or the other. It may not be as good in the long run for civilization as family, but he's fighting for it in other ways. Also, if Chad got their panties in a wad, they should look up "Oh John Ringo No" on his Paladin of Shadows books. Their heads will truly explode. And given the anti-heroes I've seen praised, I'd rather have Chad at my side than John Wayne Cleaver of the excellent, but disturbing, "I Am Not A Serial Killer" by Dan Wells. (Also - another sign they never read Ringo.....)
"Liberal bashing." Yes, John has politics. They are, more or less, in your face. Despite that, he is also a fantastic weaver of stories and characters. I've known an ardent feminist to cry at the death of Sergeant Ellsworthy, a minor character in A Hymn Before Battle, after earlier bitching how she was sexualized at the beginning. That said, in this book, they are much more in your face. This is a memoir - I take it most of the snowflakes with this complaint have never listened to soldiers, or most conservatives discuss politics. Chad is hardly the most blunt I've heard, and one would be hard pressed to contradict the facts behind a position Ringo takes, even if you could argue how they should be interpreted. Please step outside of your bubble - part of the purpose of stories is to discover something new.
"Two dimensional characters" - do you need it laid out with cheat codes, or in some other equally obvious way? John doesn't write for stupid people. He is an expert at sketching out a character in a few brush strokes, such that you feel for them, and when they die (hey, it's John), you feel the loss. If you think his characters are cardboard cutouts, you're not paying attention. His descriptions of Japanese culture as demonstrated by the behavior of various chracters, for example, were spot on.
"Show Don't Tell" - It's a fucking memoir with a number of technical discussions to help future monster hunters - or did you miss the opening segment? With this comment you tell me that you're either too ignorant the implications of the term "memoir" or you didn't read the book. Or both.
"Oppositional" - you actually have a point here. Given the abusive upbringing Chad was subject to, his nearly reflexive oppositional defiance was understandable, but I think overplayed.
This book is the first of several memoirs written by a presumed - dead hunter that, between hints in the first couple chapters and a knowledge of the background of the core MHI books, likely died in the "Christmas Party" well before the core series starts up.
Chad was raised by abusive academics, with most of the faults they are subject to, and a few more because of a surplus in IQ, and a surfeit of compassion or real world experience. This has resulted in an over-the-top rebellious streak ("Do you know how hard it is to get perfect 'C's'"), and an understandable desire to be the opposite of what his parents wanted.
So he joins the Marines.
He enjoys his career up to the point that a minor miracle saves him from the Beirut barracks bombing, and he gets a one-on-one conversation with St peter, discovering that his gifts, especially his intelligence, are there for a purpose. And he's given a choice: go to heaven, or return, alive, to a life of duty in the service of God, a path that was almost guaranteed to include much personal suffering. And a sign to look for. 57. Not Heinz.
Yes, Chad is on a mission from God. And so, after going through intensely painful rehab and rebuilding, he is discharged, and sets off to find out why he should be on the lookout for "57". This being the MHI-verse, it's little surprise zombies are involved in the answer.
And then things really get started.
If I had to give a one - line description, it's that a (only) slightly nicer Mike Harmon from the Kildar books narrates a memoir similar in tone to the Last Centurion, about hunting zombies, Werewolves, and worse within Larry's MHI universe.
In structure - the book is a memoir. As such, while there is still a narrative thread and a climax, with one vignette mercilessly setting the foundation for the next, it's more of a series of vignettes, important moments in his background and career, and tips for fellow hunters. So yes, like Centurion, a lot of "tell don't show", asides, and personal rants.
Since I know people who are otherwise Ringo fans who hate the Kildar and Centurion books, I'm not going to say "If you like MHI", or even "if you like Ringo and MHI", then buy the book. On the other hand, if my one - line elevator pitch already has you twitchily reaching for your wallet, even if you've never read Larry's books (what's wrong with you?), go ahead and spend that money.
P.S. - Oliver Wyman is the narrator on this, much like Larry's other MHI books. Fantastic narration job.
