Tome of Geek: The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu

As a long time reader of both science fiction and fantasy I often find myself weary of books that cross genres.  Call me old fashion but I enjoy my aliens and spaceships safely in space and my orcs and swords safely in the woods.  When it comes to crossovers or genre mashes I’ve been burned, books that either poorly mixes them or just end up ruining what’s best of both genres.  One of the best crossovers has been the Split Infinity series by Peirs Anthony and in that book there was a fantasy world and a sci-fi world and our hero leaps between the two.

The lives of Tao by Wesley Chu is one of the few genre mash-up I truly like.  The book is about Roen Tan, a out-of-shape IT technician stuck in a dead-end job in a rut of a life he hates, who gets possessed by a symbiotic based-alien named Tao.  Tao is an anient alien life-form that crashed landed on Earth in the time of dinosaurs.  They have existed that entire time by possessing one life-form to another, shaping humanity in a bid to get home.  But as Roen finds out things are never that simple.  The aliens have split into two factions who are at war and Roen’s just been drafted.

Roen becomes the mix between James Bond and Ezio Auditore da Firenze 

The book is a mash-up of the spy and science fiction genres.  On one hand we have aliens and war but on the other we have dead-drops, safe houses, passwords, and spy training.  The sci-fi aspect reminds me of Doctor Who or Highlander: The Series. Both series go back to the past, one physically the other in flashback, and we witness major events with a sci-fi twist.  Either the Doctor, or an alien, was involved in the Magna Carte or Duncan MacCleod good friend was actually Jackie Robinson.  In The Lives of Tao we learn that Tao, and others of his kind, have shared bodies and influenced major political and historical figures like Gengis Khan, Voltaire, Churchhill, and even Shakespeare.  The Lives of Tao takes a look at history in much of the same vain as Assassin’s Creed does: history with a creative twist.  In short Roen Tam’s been drafted into the eternally-good-but-eternally-stuck-as-the-underdogs Assassins and the Templars are getting stronger by the minute.

The spy genre side of the book starts at basic training, putting our unlikely hero through the ringer and teaching him the ropes much like Collin Farrell in The Recruit.   We seem him go from out of shape into a lean-mean fighting machine.  We seem him progress through the unflattering world of boring mission to high security shoot out much like Piper Perabo in Covert Affairs.  It ends up in an island shoot-out much like the Connery days of James Bond.

The Lives of Tao is one of those good books that pulls off the mash-up perfectly.  We get the full sci-fi feeling combined with the spy genre without either side getting diluted or ignored.  We get the full effect and in turn get a character we care about.  Roen becomes the mix between James Bond and Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin Creed 2, Brotherhood, Revelations).

We get the full sci-fi feeling combined with the spy genre without either side getting diluted or ignored.

The book isn’t perfect but the downfalls are minor at best.  The first chapter throws in the final days of Tao’s previous host.  This means, much like the opening scene of a bond film, you get thrown in the deep end.  Sadly unlike a Bond film you don’t have the natural progression inwards.  The first chapter is like been beaten with a sci-fi film when you missed that couple minutes of voice-over that explains everything.  The first chapter is heavy with weird names like Prophus and Genjix and tossed before characters like Tao and Jeo without as little of an explanation.  It makes the first chapter really hard to get through but after that its gravy and everything makes sense.  While I fear that there are a great number of people who won’t make it past the first chapter those who do will be treated for a nice surprise.

Purchase The Lives of Tao at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org and Robot Trading Company.  Wesley Chu can be found at his website

Robot Trading Company

Geekitorial: Screw You Stephen King – I prefer Richard Bachman

I am an avid reader.  I love reading.  I have shelves upon shelves of books.  That brings up an interesting question.  Why is it when you’re apartment is about to be overrun by useless junk and papers you’re called a HORDER but when its about to be overrun by books you’re called CULTURED?

Never mind.

Anywho today I wrote an article that examines why books make us crazy?  Why we become so fanatical over them?

What is it about a good book that makes people crazy?

During the part of my life I like to call Growing up Redneck I did a lot of an activity that was very unpopular in my area called READING! I’m a big fan of reading, always have been, but it never fails to impress me how passionate people can get over a book.

I’ve seen people go nuts over a movie, I’ve done it myself, but even that level of nuts seems to be miniscule compared to the insanity that is a book fan. The Sparkle War between Team Jacob and Team Edward, which took the lives of a massive amount of pre-teen girls (and a few awkward grown men), started long before the likes of Patterson and Lautner took form. That battle started back in the books.

Read the full article here

Geekitorial: What would Larry do with a Giant Robot?

It’s not often I get anything powerful.  My wife wont let me use power tools – to be fair after we lost the last three houses due to accidental explosions due to cutting stuff for the sake of cutting stuff I get it – so it’s very unlikely I’ll ever get a Giant robot.

But if I do — if I mail enough cereal box tops and get my Giant robot shipped in six – eight weeks (assembly required) I think I know exactly what I will do — and I told it to the people at Geeks Versus Nerds.

There is a big question that exists in the world, bigger than What’s the meaning of life? bigger than What would I do for a Klondike bar? and bigger than Who is batman? This question is: What would I do with a Giant Robot?

There is no right answer to this question, except for mine of course, so we will ask it of many people and see what they say.

So as I ponder this question I do have to admit I’m watching the season three premier of Transformers: Prime. So I might be a little biased. So what would I do with a giant robot? One word: Headmasters!

Read more here!

Tuesday Test: Video Games

Welcome Tuesday Test!  Today we talk about a hobby we all know and love: Video Games!!

Gaming has been around since the 1970s and in each decade, in each generation, the industry changes and grows.  The industry evolves.  So I figured it was high time for a video game crossword.

This crossword spans all of gaming.  I tried to use the biggest and most important names and references for the puzzle.  See how many you can answer!!

Panic View: Jeff Somers: The Sequel

I’m told the picture isn’t blurry, Jeff actually looks like this.

In the past year or so I have been able to interview several authors for 42 Webs.  Thank, partly, to Hal-Con, to different groups I have become affiliated with, and to the generous authors who gave up their time to answer back.  So far my favorite interview has been with Jeff Somers, author of the Avery Cates books.

I sat down with him last year, well more email and he replied, and we talked about Cates, being a writer, and his upcoming book Tricksters.  Well now that Tricksters is out (watch for my review) we decided to do a follow up and see how thing are going for Jeff.

1) Magic has always been a system with consequences but normally the consequences are reserved for the ‘big spells’. What made you want to examine a world where every spell had a physical and personal cost?

The novel has its origins in a short story I wrote nearly 20 years ago, which centered on a man witnessing a homeless vagrant suddenly levitate in a bar parking lot. That image was the core of the story, though it was buried pretty deeply in the final version of the novel.

On a broader sense, this is a bit of a reaction to all the stories out there where immense power is depicted without consequence – when having some random talisman or simply being born as The One means you can wield all this power at no personal cost. There should be personal cost. There has to be – and I think at a certain point I realized that the levitating vagrant in my story was a vagrant because he’d paid that price – and then I was off to the races.

It’s possible this was inspired by my lifelong love affair with booze, actually. I mean, you can drink all you want and have a great time, but there is a correction coming, and that correction is usually harsh. See? Consequences. Forget entropy, the universe is all about consequences.

2) What research goes into a book centered on self mutilation? (insert obvious emo music joke)

I think your standard issue adolescence is all that is required, actually. Including the Emo Music. Which we all have far more of then we’re ready to admit. J’accuse!

In other words: None research. None whatsoever. That’s how I like to roll: Ignorant and defensive.

3) I enjoyed the story of Lem but found myself fascinated with Mags. Where did he originate from?

Mags is rare for me in that he is a being of pure imagination – he’s not based in any way on anyone. But I definitely wanted a Of Mice and Men dynamic, because Lem and the other characters are so knowing, so crafty. I wanted someone to counterbalance that and be sort of innocent.

I also wanted to have a character who represents a more traditional form of power – Mags is a big guy, and very strong, and more or less fearless in the moment. Mags could kill someone with his bare hands if inspired to do so. And yet he’s one of the least effective people in the story. In this universe, nothing trumps magic, if you know what you’re doing.

4) Mika Renar was a villain that when all was said and done we learned very little of but still found ourselves spellbound for (see what I did there?). I compare her to the early days of Ernst Blofeld from the James Bond films – a relatively silent mastermind in the back. Will we learn more of her? Of what it takes for someone to get to a place where mass genocide is and alright thing to do?

You’ll get to know a little more about her in Fabricator, yes – but not much. I think her motivations are pretty simple, actually. It ties back to the idea of consequences – she has found a way to have other pay the consequences for her use of magic (by having others bleed for her) – so why wouldn’t she seek to have others pay the ultimate consequence for her?

I liked playing with the idea of all the big-shot mages in the book being rich, the upperclass, the 1%. They see it as natural for everyone else to pay their bills, in a sense, and are outraged that anyone would question their right to do whatever they want.

Naturally, I’d be Mika Renar in a second. Rich, powerful, and with a bona fide way to become immortal? Excuse me while I throw every one of you under the bus. Wait, that may be unwise to admit. We can edit that out, right?

5) What can you tell us about Melanie Billington and the upcoming war?

Let’s call her Mel Billington, Ustari Hunter for the sequel. I don’t think the war is going to go the way people might assume. There’s more of a cat-and-mouse, mental side to it – although a lot of people are going to die as a result. That I can guarantee. Because why else write novels unless you can destroy worlds? Seriously.

Melanie is a small-timer who becomes a True Believer – in the fight against Renar, in Lem’s specialness, and in her own sense of what’s right and wrong. Which can be a dangerous thing in of itself, that faith. I kind of feel like you always have to question your own judgment of morality. Melanie doesn’t do that, though her absolutely loyalty to Lem tempers her a bit.

6) What about the Urban Fantasy genre made you want to write in it? What about it drew you in?

This might sound like an old saw, but I don’t think about genres beyond the broad buckets of SF/ Fantasy, Horror, etc. When my agent told me Pocket was categorizing this as UF I thought, huh. It had simply never occurred to me. When I was growing up I thought of things as Science Fiction, and nothing else. Then again, I also think everything should cost the same as it did in 1977, so obviously I am not thinking about the world in the right way.

I think just as with The Avery Cates books, ultimately there’s a lot of hard boiled detective in Trickster. A lot of those classic detective novels from Chandler and Hammett had protagonists who were frequently broke, desperate, and up against conspiracies.

A lot of my fiction stems from taking reality as I see it and just twisting it a bit and seeing where that leads me. Sometimes it leads me to a futuristic sort of universe, this time it led me to a universe based on the one I live in but proposing that magic really existed but was much more rare and much more difficult than you might think. But ultimately the process of creation is basically the same.

7) The Avery Cates series takes place in the future, Trickster takes place in the present. You seem to be going back in time. Will we see a steampunk or fantasy series next from Jeff Somers? Does writing back in time require drinking at 88 mph?

Hah! Is it backwards in time, or just going sideways to alternate universes? Who knows, buried deep, deep in there might be a connection between those two universes.

But no steampunk from me. I wouldn’t look good in the fashions.

8) A topic authors often seem divided on is writing for shared universes (Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, Dragonlance, Ebberron, Warcraft, Magic etc). Some are staunch defenders of it and some are not.  Which side does Jeff Somers fall in that debate? Is there any shared universe you would love to write for?

I have nothing against it as a practice, but it doesn’t appeal to me. First of all, all that research! I prefer to just make up my own stuff and be able to claim super secret history when I screw up my own details. Plus, I don’t like to share – I prefer to work in my own sandbox and have no desire to work in anyone else’s.

When I was much, much younger I wrote what is essentially fan fiction set in the universe of that old 1960s TV show The Prisoner. I was a huge fan and it’s like 40,000 words telling a sequel story about the character. It was a lot of fun, but I doubt I’d spend time on something like that today – instead, I’d be much more excited to jump off from there and do my own paranoid spy thriller, you know? Which no one would care to read, of course, because they already have The Prisoner.

Seeing how Jeff Somers has already answered 42 Web’s signature question.  We have given him a slightly edited one to answers

9) What is Jeff Somers reading these days? Anything he’d suggest for his fans and audience?

The best novel I’ve read recently is The Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell. It’s pretty amazing, a bit of a mind screw, and has had me jealous ever since I read it. I’d recommend it wholeheartedly.

Jeff can be found at his blog: jeffreysomers.com

New adventure to look forward to: Steampunk Jim Butcher style

Reblogged from everydayfangirl:

I just found out that one of the genre authors, Jim Butcher, that my husband and I read and listen to on audio will now be publishing Steampunk novels.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/jim-butcher-lands-deal-for-new-steampunk-series_b66421

Based on the description mentioned in the article above he had us at: "...talking cats, who are horrid little bullies.”

I cannot wait for him to complete this and I can start another new adventure.

I love Jim Butcher's books. I have been a big fan of the Dresden Files ever since the show led me to the books. It was downhill from there. My love, and impatience, got me to break my golden rule. "Don't buy Hardcovers." I mean honestly, who can wait another six months after the book is out ot read about Harry? Who I tell you? Nobody - that's who!!

Spilled Ink: Doctor Who/Star Trek Crossover

Recently the Geeks Versus Nerds Online Magazine went live!  They will be filling out inter-tubes with geeky, and nerdy, goodness.

A buddy of mine, Matt LeDrew, decided to throw his hat into the ring and join the GVN:OM writing staff.  He’s a energetic writer who just bombarded me with all sorts of reviews.

Recently he wrote an review for their online magazine.  He looked at the Doctor Who/Star Trek: TNG Crossover comic that IDW put out.  It’s a great review that allows us to examine the worlds of TNG and DW and see how they mess together.  I’d love to claim credit for the article but I probably shouldn’t

I’ve been a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was five years old. It’s something I’ve always loved, and one of the few things I was able to enjoy on one level as a child and can now enjoy on another level as an adult. TNG especially, to me, is the definitive mark of the franchise, though your experience may vary.I became a fan of Doctor Who only in this past year with the purchase of my Netflix account, after repeated insistence from my girlfriend that it was “awesome.” And it is. It’s truly a wonderful show, and every episode is just remarkably crafted. There are no “misses” I’ve seen yet.

So when I found out IDW was doing a crossover comic featuring both franchises I should’ve been excited… right?

Read more at Geeks Versus Nerds