Blogcritics Author: W.E. Wallo

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Book Review: Nightlife by Thomas Perry

W.E. Wallo — Thu, 18 May 2006 09:11:31 EDT

Thomas Perry's Nightlife follows a female chameleon (and serial killer) as she repeatedly reinvents herself in order to avoid capture. As the story opens, the beautiful Tanya Sterling has just carefully killed her latest suitor and slipped out of his apartment unnoticed. Her seemingly innocuous computer geek boyfriend, however, happens to be the cousin of a dangerous Los Angeles thug named Hugo Poole. Worried that his cousin's death might be some sort of "message" from unknown parties, Poole hires a private detective named Joe Pitt to investigate.Pitt -- a former prosecutorial investigator -- travels to Oregon to investigate the death. His involvement in the official police investigation is assured, both by his sterling reputation and by Poole's own requests. This does not sit well with Portland homicide detective Catherine Hobbes, who must nonetheless incorporate the Tinseltown detective into her search for the killer. Hobbes and Pitt form an uncomfortable alliance of convenience as they conduct their parallel investigations; it doesn't help that the tension between them also tosses off a few romantic sparks.What seems as if it might be a hunt for an elusive witness soon becomes something more as Hobbes and Pitt track the mysterious "Tanya Sterling" from Portland, only to run into a new identity: Rachel Sturbridge. With the heat on, Rachel quickly becomes Nancy Mills, and so on. "Tanya" is an apparent expert at forging documents and changing her appearance almost on a whim. She is able to take swift advantage of the system and institutions around her, but as the net closes around her she finds herself resorting more and more to violence. Hobbes soon becomes convinced that the woman she once thought was a reluctant witness to her boyfriend's murder is actually an efficient killer in her own right. Hobbes tracks Tanya from Portland to San Francisco and beyond. She always seems one step behind Tanya, who has quickly become accustomed to leaving dead bodies in her wake. In Tanya, who is in reality a young woman named Charlene, Perry has created an intriguing villain. She is in certain respects the extreme extension of contemporary consumer culture, a caricature of someone who has truly embraced the idea that she can -- and should -- have it all. Perry suggests that Tanya is, in many respects, little more than a "regular" person who wanted nothing more than anyone else - namely, to be happy, albeit on her own terms and without regard to the happiness (or even continued existence) of anyone else. The narrative is a touch choppy, especially as it shifts from the perspective of Joe Pitt to that of Catherine Hobbes. The frequent shifts to the vantage point of Tanya are stronger and certainly offer insight into her character's off-kilter world. For the most part, the story's strength lies in the cat-and-mouse game between Tanya and Catherine - in many respects, Catherine proves to be the only opponent truly worthy of Tanya. As Tanya seeks to turn the tables on her pursuer, the story gets some of its most unexpected turns. The Hugo Poole/Joe Pitt aspect of the story often seems somewhat artificial and unnecessary to the main narrative, although it does provide some "off-duty" relational sparks for Catherine's character. Ultimately, however, once Nightlife hits its stride it quickly establishes itself as a fast-paced, engrossing tale of a quick-witted killer and the woman who hopes to bring her down. In Tanya, Perry has created a wonderfully unpredictable antagonist; in Catherine, he has established a compelling protagonist. Together, they combine to create an engagingly twisted labyrinth of a tale.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Book Review: Any Approaching Enemy by Jay Worrall

W.E. Wallo — Thu, 18 May 2006 01:53:33 EDT

In Any Approaching Enemy, Jay Worrall's second book featuring Captain Charles Edgemont, the young naval officer faces a host of new challenges (both personal and professional) as the war against Napoleon continues to unfold. It is the spring of 1798, and the stakes in the conflict between England and France continue to rise as Napoleon asserts ever more military might on the mainland. Now in command of the 28-gun frigate Louisa, Edgemont is assigned to the Mediterranean fleet of recently promoted Admiral Horatio Nelson. Unfortunately, a violent storm scatters the fleet, and leaves Edgemont and another ship, captained by his good friend and former lieutenant, adrift and uncertain. Several of the other frigates in the fleet return home, but Edgemont opts to pursue the course he believes Nelson might have taken. He hunts for Nelson -- and a mysterious French fleet -- the length and breadth of the Mediterranean. In the process, he learns from an English spy that the French hope to smash the British superiority at sea and have constructed this mighty fleet with which to do so. The voyage takes Edgemont and his crew along the Tuscan coast, past the island of Elba, and through a host of sites such as Sicily, Create, Cyprus and more. He is unexpectedly joined by his feisty Quaker wife, Penny, and her friend and companion Molly. Penny traveled alone from England in order to speak with her husband and "manage" his properties. Juxtaposing Edgemont's domestic interludes with the rough and rugged life at sea, Worrall's tale climaxes with what is generally considered to be one of the defining naval battles in history -- the Battle of the Nile (often also described as the Battle of Aboukir Bay). Having rejoined Nelson's fleet, Edgemont will be a principal player, as well as a witness, to the devastation of this key encounter - a battle which, in its own way, set the stage for the rest of the Napoleonic war. Worrall's command of historical details and his handling of nautical life justifiably invite comparisons to Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forrester. His Charles Edgemont is a worthy compatriot of Jack Aubrey or Horatio Hornblower, and Worrall cleverly incorporates an homage to each of his predecessors. The uniquely endearing qualities of Worrall's books, however, are to be found in the warmly human relationship of Edgemont and his wife. She is a devout Quaker; she and Edgemont were married despite the concerns of her family and her many objections to his profession and to the "art of war" itself. It is through Penny that Worrall elevates Edgemont to something other than a cookie-cutter clone of his Age of Sail companions -- it is through her "discussions" with him that Edgemont is encouraged to review his life through other eyes. Edgemont's encounters with his admittedly free-thinking wife, who envisions everything from the construction of a mill on his estate to a school for the children of his farm tenants, arguably comprise the heart of the book. They suggest that there is something other than war as man's destiny; they are in turns romantic, humorous, and poignant. When, after Edgemont and his crew rescue her ship from capture by the French, she confronts him about the reality of the "butcher's bill" he and others describe so euphemistically, we see both the necessity of those involved in combat to dehumanize that which they do and a recognition of the true cost of warfare. Worrall has managed to successfully combine powerful, dynamic naval action with a meaningful personal relationship that allows him to explore the social culture of Edgemont's day -- from class structures, prostitution, slavery, and the abilities of the "gentler" sex, Edgemont's perceptions are frequently challenged by his wife and his own experience. Its mixture of deft characterization, playful romantic elements, and realistic, rousing combat make Any Approaching Enemy a worthy addition to the field of nautical fiction. Also by Worrall:Sails on the Horizon is the first book in Worrall's series of naval tales featuring the exploits of young Charles Edgemont. At twenty-five, Edgemont is a second lieutenant aboard the HMS Argonaut. It is 1797, and France and England are at war - indeed, it seems that much of Europe is at war in one respect or another. When a British squadron is confronted by a larger fleet of Spanish ships off the coast of Portugal, the Argonaut is the smallest vessel in the British line. Unfortunately, it also finds itself playing a critical role in the unfolding battle.When the Spanish ships attempt to escape, the commander of the British squadron orders the Argonaut on a collision course so as to cut off the line of retreat. The crew of the Argonaut find themselves on a suicide run, attempting to slow the Spanish fleet long enough for the rest of the British ships to get into range. Edgemont and his gun crew acquit themselves admirably, but the terrible punishment inflicted by the Spanish guns severely damages Edgemont's ship and kills both the captain and the first lieutenant. Suddenly thrust into command of the ship, Edgemont refuses to strike his colors despite the overwhelming odds; by holding out for a few more crucial moments, the tide of battle turns. His conduct results in both a permanent promotion to the command of his own ship but also to a sudden fortune from the prize money associated with several of the captured ships. He returns home to visit the family he hasn't seen in years, only to learn of his father's recent death and the financial struggles faced by his brother, who is attempting to save the family estate. During this visit, Edgemont also manages to unceremoniously encounter a young Quaker woman named Penelope Brown. Enchanted by her intelligence and independence, he finds himself falling in love with a woman who categorically abhors his profession and war itself. Slipping easily between the sea-faring action and the land-locked romance, Worrall fashions a tale of a young man whose perceptions are challenged not just by the crucible of war but by his relationship with an unexpectedly articulate opponent: namely, the woman he wants to marry. It all adds up to a highly entertaining debut, with the promise of many more chronicles to come.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Book Reviews: Cybernetica, The Blade Runner Experience, The Philosophy of Film Noir, more

W.E. Wallo — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:23:23 EDT

It is interesting to see on occasion how the books that end up on one's shelves in a seemingly haphazard manner suddenly form a sort of a pattern. I started reading Michael J. Cavallaro's novel, Cybernetica, which is about a Matrix-like future where the average citizen is controlled by a computer-to-brain neural network, just as The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic arrived. Shortly thereafter, I received a copy of The Philosophy of Film Noir. In many respects, these books come at society and culture from different angles, and yet offer intriguing insights into not only the neo-noir dystopian future but the present state of humanity as well.CyberneticaCybernetica borrows somewhat from the classic "cyberpunk" work of William Gibson and adopts the uncertain mind control concerns of The Matrix in a story where the world is largely controlled by a brain-to-computer interface system called "sublimation." This networked interface allows for a significant level of control over the general populace, and is the subject of intense conflict between an ever-shifting alliance of shadowy government operatives, corporate interests, and criminals.The story is set a generation after the conclusion of the "Encryption Wars." The rise of the sublimation interface means that the overwhelming majority of citizens exist in an interconnected environment in which their perceptions are subtly shaded and shaped by those who manipulate the system. There is a criminal subculture, however, that falls outside the system - a component of which suffer from a condition called blindsight, which somehow prevents them from connecting to the larger culture (according to Cavallaro, "blindsight" is essentially a neurological inability to receive some elements of subliminal information, which essentially means that a component of society is still able to "think for themselves"). From the ranks of these erstwhile criminals, a group of insurgents now seeks to destroy the sublimation system and restart society. (Full review)The Blade Runner ExperienceIf any film launched cyberpunk into the mainstream, it was Ridley Scott's 1982 future noir, Blade Runner. The film opened to middling reviews and lukewarm box office, but its status as a cult classic grew at an exponential rate. A director's cut of the film (and then another director's cut) eliminated the clunky voiceover narration by Harrison Ford, the film's star, and also expanded upon Scott's original vision of a world in which humans have become disinterested, despairing, and almost robotic in their existence - and where the quest for knowledge (if not the hunt for the divine) is embodied by the replicants, the "almost humans" with their crudely fashioned memories borrowed from "real" people. This book seeks to examine the film from a variety of perspectives; the series of essays included here consider not only the original film but the other ways in which the story has been expanded by a PC game and a series of novelized sequels (which seek to build upon the tenuous nature of Deckard's humanity, simultaneously bringing into sharp relief the question of exactly what it means to "be" human anyway). The book also explores the many ways in which the film has influenced a host of imitators, and delves into the interaction between the film's fans and the nightmarish future envisioned by Scott and his crew. The authors of the essays found here are a disparate collection of philosophers, film historians, and cultural critics, and the book is a welcome addition to the study of an amazingly influential film.The Philosophy of Film NoirTo most film purists, the "classic period" of film noir ended sometime in the 1950s. And one might well think that a film genre generally concerning itself with crime and often confining itself to the period immediately following World War II might not have much to do with the dystopian futures of so much contemporary science fiction. But I think such a conclusion is, in a word, wrong. Many of the thematic undercurrents of film noir in fact mirror the fearful realities of a story like Blade Runner, and there is little surprise in why Scott borrowed many of the conventions of noir for his film. The nihilistic and existential fatalism often found in film noir spills over into visions of dystopian futures as well. The alienated protagonists, the femme fatales, the Byzantine plots and the overriding sense of impeding, inevitable doom infuse them both. In this book, editor Mark Conrad and a group of other contributors (among them philosophers, film historians, and English professors) examine film noir through the prism of contemporary thought and find more than just an eclectic fusion of the hard-boiled detective and some fancy German expressionism. Instead, they discuss how film noir represented an active repudiation of the "American Dream," and how noir neatly inverted the standard assumptions about morality and progress. It derailed the notion that progress was always beneficial or inevitable, and in fact asked whether "progress" had really done any good at all. I enjoyed Conrad's lengthy exploration of Pulp Fiction as a contemporary neo-noir, and found the overall discussion of the existential disenchantment associated with noir fascinating.In keeping with the continuum of noir thought established in this text, one can certainly see the noir roots of Blade Runner or even a contemporary film such as John Cusack's recent "black comedy," Ice Harvest (indeed, Ice Harvest is best described not as a comedy at all, but as a bleakly humorous neo-noir). The Philosophy of Film Noir is at times a somewhat difficult book to read, as the writers delve into some of the more challenging aspects of cinematic analysis to make their various points. At the same time, however, it is quite a satisfying book, as each of the authors brings a unique perspective to the discussion and they are able to isolate, identify, and explain some of the more subtle aspects of a genre which, on the surface, seems all about gangsters and pretty girls who done somebody wrong. Other titles on the Shelf:Our TownJournalist Cynthia Carr's meditation on the 1930 lynching of two African-American men in Marion, Indiana, is a powerful exploration of racial issues brought to a personal level. While the picture that forms the centerpiece of her tale is a famous one, often seen in textbooks as a pictorial reflection of the racial violence lurking beneath the surface, it is also a personal one, as she often wondered whether her own grandfather happened to be there the night a crowd broke two young men out of jail and hung them from a tree in the courthouse square.The book tracks Carr's decade-long exploration of her family history and the events of that night as a microcosm of race in America. She conducted scores of interviews with as many of those she could find who might shed light on what happened and who orchestrated the lynching - something that everyone wanted to dismiss as somehow organic and unplanned and yet must have required some sort of spark, some sort of organization and complicity on multiple levels. She also explores contemporary race relations through interviews with a disparate group of current neo-Nazis, KKK members, and others. Infused with Carr's own quest to understand the grandfather she senses she didn't really know (and to discover, if she can, whether he might have been present, or participated, in the horrific crime captured forever on film), the narrative is powerful and evocative. At the same time, there is something unsatisfying about the book, but it is something that is undoubtedly inevitable: there is no closure.No closure for Carr, really, and no closure for the reader. The story of August 7, 1930, is not in fact frozen in time, and the memories, perceptions, and beliefs of everyone involved reflect the same truth as Kurasawa's Rashamon: each person remembers things differently, and each brings his or her own prejudices and perspectives to the "truth" of what they tell. Regardless, of course, Our Town remains a compelling narrative of Carr's personal odyssey through America's racial past. Her interviews with James Cameron, who was himself nearly lynched that night and miraculously survived, are certainly one of the highlights, as are her encounters in the wacky, wild underworld of contemporary "Kluxers." At one point, Carr mentions that a reconciliation expert observed that "truth does not bring back the dead but releases them from silence." Simply by writing this book, Carr demonstrates that there is a time to be silent no more.The Water RoomPublished last year in hardcover, Christopher Fowler's novel The Water Room has just recently been published in paperback. The book brings back the protagonists of Fowler's novel Full Dark House: Arthur Bryant and John May, arguably London's "oldest and crankiest detectives." As the leaders of Scotland Yard's Peculiar Crimes Unit, the two men are well past retirement age and yet find themselves still solving mysteries in whatever unconventional manner necessary.The sister of one of Bryant's friends is found dead in her basement, the friend asks Bryant to investigate. While the death seems unremarkable at first, the presence of river water in the woman's throat (in an otherwise dry basement, mind you), presents clear complications. She appears to have drowned - and yet no one can articulate exactly how that could have happened.When a young woman purchases the old woman's house on the recommendation of a neighbor, she hears odd sounds of water in the walls. The neighborhood - a pocket of old London - seems outwardly pleasant and yet each home seethes with unexpected mystery and tension.Meanwhile, an old flame of May's has asked him to investigate the rather suspicious activities of her husband, a historian who appears to be working for an unscrupulous businessman with an unspecified interest in underground rivers. Oddly enough, the two cases may have something to do with one another - and as other suspicious deaths start occurring, Bryant and May are left struggling to decipher the meaning behind the bizarre events.The book features an impressive array of fascinating characters, a clever plot, and a wonderful sense of history. Bryant and May are another bickering odd couple, but one that manages to avoid many of the clichés associated with the "buddy genre." Their relationship has a sense of authenticity (indeed, even of "age," as befits two men who have been working together, and enduring each other's foibles, for decades). Replete with a quirky wit that engages the imagination, The Water Room is an entertaining contemporary take on the "locked room" mysteries of old.Dark AssassinAnne Perry's latest novel to feature Victorian-era policeman William Monk is an engrossing, entertaining period mystery that envelopes readers in the dual worlds of 19th-century London. Newly appointed to his post as superintendent of the Thames River Police, Monk and a boat crew patrol the river one foggy night and happen to witness a young couple fall from a river into the icy water below. Despite the crew's efforts, all they can do is retrieve two corpses from the water. The question Monk keeps asking himself is whether it was an accident, an abortive suicide attempt, or something more sinister. After all, he had watched the couple engage in a heated discussion right before she put her hands on his shoulders, and he grabbed her. Was she trying to push him away? Was he trying to save her from falling over the edge, or was he pushing her?Monk's investigation leads not to an easy solution but rather to more puzzles. The young woman's name was Mary Havilland, and she was supposedly engaged to the young man, whose name was Toby Argyll. Mary's father had once worked for the Argyll Company as an engineer, but died recently under suspicious circumstances that were ultimately ruled a suicide. Mary refused to believe that her father would have done such a thing, and instead insisted that he had been murdered because of his concerns about the new city sewer system being constructed by the Argyll Company. Monk and his wife, Hester, venture from the elegant homes of the elite to the murky slums where the less fortunate eke out a meager existence in their efforts to understand what might have caused these three deaths. Soon, it appears Monk may well have uncovered a deadly conspiracy, and as he seeks an elusive assassin he enlists the aid of his former enemy Superintendent Runcorn. Together, they hope to decipher the true face of the killer before anyone else dies in the dangerous world beneath the city streets.Several components combine to make Perry's work memorable. In Monk she has created a complex character who still struggles with the loss of his memory as a result of a nearly fatal accident a number of years ago. The construction of his "new identity" from the ashes of the old still means that he must confront the relational damage he did on many fronts. His profession and the independence of his wife make for intriguing home dynamics as well. Perry also lavishes loving attention to the details of her historical setting, and deftly shapes the mood and tenor of the Victorian environment. The class distinctions and economic dichotomy of the period are articulately established, and Perry moves seamlessly from the murderous dives of the docks to intricate courtroom intrigue. The Ethical AssassinDavid Liss -- best known for his historical novels such as A Conspiracy of Paper and The Coffee Trader -- attempts to channel Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen in his latest book, a manic South Florida caper that sees its young protagonist on the wrong side of a gang duplicitous drug dealers and their redneck sheriff enforcer. His only ally? The philosophy-spouting killer who got him in the mess in the first place. The story is set in the summer of 1985; from all appearances, just another hot, sticky Florida summer. Lem Altick is a 17-year-old encyclopedia salesman (clearly, the novel had to be set 20 years ago for this aspect to work: not many encyclopedia salesmen anymore, what with the advent of "the Internet"). He's going door-to-door trying to sell his overpriced sets of books in order to earn money for college so he can escape his current banal existence. He spends several hours with one couple trying to convince them to purchase a set of books, and has just sealed the deal when a killer walks in and shoots them both. Unfortunately, the killer hadn't counted on Lem. And since he regards himself as something of an ethical assassin who only kills in the context of a distinct moral code, the killer -- whose name is Melford Kean -- offers Lem a relatively simple deal. Stay quiet and nobody gets hurt. Make noise, or talk to the police - and, well, Lem will just have to take the fall.Lem has little choice but to take the deal. However, unbeknownst to either Lem or Melford, the couple he just killed have ties to a local drug syndicate. They're tied in with the local sheriff, a psycho redneck who enjoys treating his county like his personal fiefdom. And they're also connected, in a roundabout way, to drug-runners who use the encyclopedia sales operation as a front for their more lucrative business. Jim Doe, the sheriff, saw Lem near the trailer the night of the murder. While Doe has little reason to investigate the murder itself (and in fact works to cover that up), he does want to know what happened to the stash of cash that was hidden somewhere in the trailer. Meanwhile, Melford appears to have taken an interest in Lem, who he regards as in need of mentorship.It seems that Melford is something of an intellectual, a semi-Marxist with his own peculiar vision of the world. He regards himself not as a murderer but as a vengeful environmental activist. (Lem and Melford also end up in what might be characterized as the "obligatory" animal research laboratory.) Much against his will, Lem is about to embark upon an odyssey that will undoubtedly expand his mind - should he be fortunate enough to live so long.Liss' narrative is a bit uneven, and the transitions from Lem's first person account and the third person renditions of the exploits of the other characters are somewhat abrupt. At times, the effort to construct the absurdist world so artfully developed by Hiaasen or Leonard seems a touch forced. However, the characters of Lem and Melford are generally strong enough to fuel the story through those potholes; the two present an intriguing philosophical dichotomy. Melford is a fascinatingly elusive example of certainty in the midst of the existential amorality around him, and his beliefs clearly attract attention (including the attention of the lovely young woman who is the erstwhile enforcer for her drug-dealing boss - at least, until she meets Melford). All in all, The Ethical Assassin is an entertaining, frequently funny, mixture of a disparate crew of bottom feeders - and of ethics as well.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

PC Game Review: Deimos Rising

W.E. Wallo — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 15:21:01 EDT

What makes a game fun? What makes a game entertaining despite its uncanny resemblance to prior incarnations of similar games? In his book A Theory of Fun for Game Design, game designer Raph Koster suggested that part of what makes games appealing are the patterns, because our minds tend to embrace the struggle to master a new or unfamiliar pattern. At the same time, however, Koster noted that we have a tendency to enjoy games which offer new puzzles within a familiar paradigm -- thus the seemingly odd spectacle of seeing reviews in which the reviewer speaks of "tired formulas" or "breathing new life into an old genre" even as fans continue to gobble up the games in question. I mean, Halo is fun not because it is so different from Quake or Doom but because it actually respects the things that make such games fun: namely, interesting scenery, nasty bad guys, and big guns to blow 'em all to smithereens. We seem to like new twists, but that doesn't mean we always want entirely "new" structures of play.Which brings me to the subject of this review. While it was first released for the Mac several years ago, Deimos Rising remains a fun, frantic game that harkens back to the arcade games of my youth, when the goal was to see how long you could last on one quarter (suffice it to say I never lasted as long as one friend of mine, who could milk what seemed like hours of game play from one tiny coin). Basically, Deimos Rising is a vertical scrolling shooter, and it honors the things that made those games such monumental time-eaters (some fools might say "time-wasters," but then they don't know of what they speak). I recently tried the Windows port of the game (available in a shareware version from Ambrosia Software). The "sequel" to a 1990s shareware game called Mars Rising, the game's basic format is simple: you have to fly your little ship (whatever it is, be it a star fighter or some sort of pseudo-military combat fighter, I'm really not quite sure) along a variety of landscapes and blow stuff up before they take you out. Yup, that's pretty much it. But it is just as possible to reduce virtually any game to a seemingly simplistic common denominator, so that really doesn't quite do justice to the game -- nor define why it is so much fun.As the pilot, you're matched up against hordes of aerial and land-based opponents. To make things a bit more interesting (not to mention more difficult), you have two different sets of weapons -- the primary laser-type gun to fend of the airborne baddies and a secondary bombing attack to be used against the stationary cannon and mobile tanks on the ground. The bombs have to be "dropped" in close proximity to their targets, and it usually takes several hits to wipe something out on the ground. Meanwhile, of course, you're being swarmed by the aerial enemies (and if you attack them, you may miss one of the ground-based baddies, who probably won't miss you). As you progress through the game's twelve levels, both the enemies and your ship's armament become progressively more impressive. The game designers incorporated plenty of special powerups and the like (often a necessity, including the occasional extra life) and yes, the ship is equipped with a set of shields that don't last very long but can come in handy on occasion. Although the game's been out a while, the graphics are still sleek and smooth -- quite an improvement over the grainy images of those old arcade games, even if the game play remains largely constant. The system requirements are minimal (Direct X 7, QuickTime 5.0, Pentium 400mhz or higher, 64 Meg memory) and the game promises to play smoothly on almost any machine. It is intriguing to see the games different people find addicting; as Koster suggests, there must be certain patterns and challenges that intrigue us in different ways. Some people love Solitaire; others can't get enough of Madden. A game like Deimos Rising has a basic and timeless appeal with its easy accessibility and yet challenging game play. If you haven't experienced the game but enjoy vertical-scrolling shooters, check out the shareware version: it may not be a "revolution" in gaming, but it's an entertaining twist on a classic genre.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Book Review: The Sword of Straw by Amanda Hemingway

W.E. Wallo — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:17:25 EDT

Amanda Hemingway's contemporary retelling of the Grail myth gains significant strength in The Sword of Straw, the second volume in her Sangreal Trilogy. In the first book, The Greenstone Grail, the story of young Nathan Ward, a young boy who wandered other worlds in his dreams, was intriguing and yet seemed somewhat incomplete. The Sword of Straw finds Hemingway far more assured in her characterization and narrative; the story unfolds in a far more mesmerizing way.Nathan may be only 14, but he has already accomplished the seemingly impossible: transported to an alien universe in his dreams, he managed to retrieve the ancient Grail. It is now held for safekeeping by his "uncle," an unimposing wizard of impressive strength. Now his dreams are sending him to another world: a barren landscape ruled by an abandoned city, where the young Princess Nell strives to care for her sickly father.It seems that in a moment of rash anger, the king drew a magical sword from its sheath - a sword that bears a terrible curse, and bears within it an ancient demon. The sword brings death, even to its wielder, and the injury the king suffered has never healed. The kingdom's population has fled, and now only Nell and a few loyal servants have stayed by the king's side.Legend claims that a stranger can heal the king - a stranger who can likewise wield the sword, and defeat the evil within the blade. Few would have expected such a hero to be an adolescent teen who arrives in his pajamas - few, that is, save those who are slowly deciphering the fact that Nathan is somehow the one chosen to retrieve the ancient Sangreal relics and save an alien universe. Meanwhile, forces back on earth seek to stop him, or to steal the Sangreal items for their own purposes. Steeped in myth and an emerging lyric grace that echoes the best of writers such as Patricia McKillip or Connie Willis, The Sword of Straw is a delightfully compelling fantasy. In Nathan there is also something of the poignant coming of age found in T.H. White's The Once and Future King: a sense of that which is lost, and that which is gained, through age. Mixing in a dash of science fiction (its "alternate universes"), the story nonetheless manages to represent itself well as a contemporary manifestation of mythical magic.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Book Review: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

W.E. Wallo — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:31:22 EDT

Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon is a unique combination of fantasy and Napoleonic conflict. The book, the first in a trilogy, is set during England's 19th-century struggle against Napoleon's France. Novik did not set out to write just an historical novel, however. Instead, she wrote an alternate history of sorts, one in which dragons play an integral role.Will Laurence commands the English warship Reliant. He encounters a French frigate and captures it (and its cargo). He and his crew are astounded to discover the most unexpected item among the booty: namely, a dragon egg. The battle for supremacy in Europe has a different cast here, as each side possesses a fleet of dragons (and dragon riders), which are used in aerial combat. Clearly, the egg was destined for Napoleon's forces; however, it is unclear why the French ship was so far out to sea since the egg appears almost ready to hatch. There are dangers associated with young dragons - and a navy ship is no place to keep one.Laurence hopes to get the egg back to England before it hatches (undoubtedly, it will be worth quite a bit). Unfortunately, he is unable to do so. His crew must submit themselves to an odd ceremony after the hatching: namely, they have to make themselves available to the dragon as something of a companion. The companion so chosen will be "imprinted" onto the dragon's mind, and will become the dragon's rider. Normally, this process is done with a trained group of members of the aerial corps. Since it has to happen right away, however, Laurence and his crew do what they can with a makeshift ceremony.The dragon chooses Laurence - which means that Laurence's life as he had known it has come to an end. The aerial corps is a closed band of loners, largely cut off from and misunderstood by the rest of society. Their constant companions are the great beasts, the majority of whom can speak. (The intellectual level of dragons varies, however, and this will be a component of the story.) The dragon, who is named Temeraire, will have no other rider: and thus begins Laurence's transformation from sea captain to a captain in the uncertain and ethereal world of England's Aerial Corps.The book focuses most of its attention on Laurence's indoctrination into this strange new world (as strange, in its own way, as the culture aboard a British warship of the period seems to contemporary readers). He and Temeraire must be trained in combat, and so they are sent through combat school (albeit at a rapidly accelerated pace, as England can use all the dragons it can muster). And the book also details Laurence's growing friendship with the dragon (who can, after all, talk quite well and is very inquisitive).The book is a rousing and entertaining fusion of historical realities with one of the most enduring mythic images. The interjection of dragons and aerial combat into the Napoleonic Wars is just bizarre enough that it works; Novik's deft development of her characters, especially that of Laurence himself, is largely responsible for this. In many respects the book seems historically accurate, and in keeping with the tradition of writers such as Patrick O'Brian. The fantasy aspects of the story are handled responsibly, and developed with a similar sense of authenticity. Were talking dragons the size of passenger jets to have existed during the Napoleonic wars, they might well have been utilized in combat in much the way Novik envisions. His Majesty's Dragon is a deftly constructed, well-plotted "alternate history" that manages to feel original rather than cobbled together from mismatched parts (something which was a distinct possibility given the unique story elements Novik combines here). While fans of historical fiction might well chafe a bit at the insertion of mythical beasts into a historical framework where novelists are applauded for their realistic presentation of the era, Novik develops the tale with an engaging style that might well introduce some fantasy readers to the wonders of their own world's past.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Book Review: Cybernetica by Michael J. Cavallaro

W.E. Wallo — Fri, 7 Apr 2006 07:59:32 EDT

Michael J. Cavallaro's debut novel, Cybernetica, is an interesting fusion of the two disparate threads of science fiction literature: the dystopian, millennialist nightmare of looming peril and the utopian vision of the boundless possibilities of a better tomorrow. Science fiction is essentially a form of speculative fiction that examines the effect of a real or imagined science or technological advance upon humanity; as Thomas Disch noted in his excellent historical exegesis of the genre, The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of, SF consequently allows authors quite a bit of latitude in establishing new cultures and societies, as well as exploring the potential and problems associated with the seemingly inevitable march of progress.From Ursula K. LeGuin to Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard to Phillip K. Dick, there is a broad array of ideological and sociological discussion at play in most science fiction (whether conscious or not). In contrast to the many tales of robots run amok, Issac Asimov calmly interposed his three laws of robotics, arguing that fears of killer robots (or HAL, for that matter) were little more than the contemporary version of Frankenstein's monster or the ancient tale of the Golem. Regardless, science fiction has always served as a vehicle for displaying our culture's fears (and occasionally its loftier aspirations as well). Indeed, the possibilities offered by technology are often tempered by the fear of misuse. The perception of "Big Brother" watching our every move need not be argued by a man in a Guy Fawkes mask: the rising tide of computers and the Internet likewise instills fear in otherwise "ordinary folks" as well. When people hear stories of government efforts to access search engine information, "data mine" phone calls, or otherwise curtail, censor, or monitor access to online information, they grow nervous.Even non-governmental programs can lead to concern, be it of a satellite mapping program, spyware, or the knowledge that privacy is quickly evaporating in the face of an all-pervasive information network.Cybernetica borrows somewhat from the classic "cyberpunk" work of William Gibson and adopts the uncertain mind control concerns of The Matrix in a story where the world is largely controlled by a brain-to-computer interface system called "sublimation." This networked interface allows for a significant level of control over the general populace, and is the subject of intense conflict between an ever-shifting alliance of shadowy government operatives, corporate interests, and criminals.The story is set a generation after the conclusion of the "Encryption Wars." The rise of the sublimation interface means that the overwhelming majority of citizens exist in an interconnected environment in which their perceptions are subtly shaded and shaped by those who manipulate the system. There is a criminal subculture, however, that falls outside the system - a component of which suffer from a condition called blindsight, which somehow prevents them from connecting to the larger culture (according to Cavallaro, "blindsight" is essentially a neurological inability to receive some elements of subliminal information, which essentially means that a component of society is still able to "think for themselves"). From the ranks of these erstwhile criminals, a group of insurgents now seeks to destroy the sublimation system and restart society.Cavallaro creates an intriguing world and populates it with a set of characters that manage to transcend the stock or stereotypical traits they might otherwise represent (the starlet, the technologically "enhanced" bodyguard, the renegade with a past, the shadowy villain, etc.). Moreover, he articulates one of the enduring, and fascinating dichotomies confronting the modern, networked world: whether these systems empower individuals in new and unique ways, or whether they are simply another vehicle for societal control by the "elites." To a certain extent, Cavallaro's book seems to reinforce the notion that technology itself may well be a neutral, and may be directed toward either ultimate end. The question he seems most intrigued by is not one of use, but rather abuse. While the narrative is somewhat disjointed at times, the book succeeds in articulating an individualized perspective on what the emerging neural/computer paradigm might hold for the future of humanity.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Eclectic Bookshelf: Moonlit Metaphors

W.E. Wallo — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:56:24 EST

Clothes, the old saw goes, make the man (or the person). Books, perhaps, help make (or shape) the mind. In that regard, when it comes to choosing one's mental companions, it is often true that new books are easy to love. They're fresh-faced, pretty young things, with their whole life stretching out before them. To borrow from John Patrick Shanley, they're like moonlight in a martini: elusive, intriguing, and captivating. Old books, like the rich, are different; one need only spend a few hours in a used book store to realize that it may well take an act of the will to love the brittle pages and lifeless covers of ages past. Like many fellow travelers, I have loved and left many books of both varieties. I have purged my shelves of many former compatriots over the years, abandoning them to the care of the strangers at the local thrift store or the patrons of the occasional garage sale. I have also benefited greatly from the purges of others, be it the rare garage sale find, the worthy used item, or an outright gift. Years ago, I received a box of books: a virtually complete paperback set of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, along with a few other nuggets of early 20th-century science fiction (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and the books of Otis Albert Kline, for example). The box also included a slew of military books, with subjects such as the battle of Stalingrad and the Flying Tigers. I loved those books. To be sure, Burroughs had a tendency to become repetitive, somewhat like the westerns of Louis L'Amour (and speaking as someone who will actually cop to having read every one of L'Amour's books except Bendigo Shafter, I believe I am a worthy witness to this truth). But Burroughs could also be quite entertaining; to this day I still remember Tarzan Triumphant, undoubtedly my favorite Tarzan novel, and The Mad King, which is one of those ubiquitous "I'm a king with a royal double I never knew about" stories that were probably less of a cliché a century ago than they are today. As for Kline - well, his take on the whole "let's have a guy go to another planet and become king of the aliens and beat up the evil overlords" genre was actually a load of fun, albeit somewhat derivative of Burroughs' more successful John Carter books (or Carson Napier of Venus, for that matter). Some books never quite leave your mind, let alone your possession. These books, these gifts, have traveled with me. They have been my companions across 20-plus years and countless miles; once in a box, left unopened for years, but now on a shelf, piled high and free, where I can visit them from time to time and return for a moment to those distant days when I explored those improbable alien lands for the first time. This is not always the way of it, of course. The dog-eared copy of Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, which I read some 15 or more times in high school, fell by the wayside somewhere in between there and here, between then and now. It is like that as well for the box of books now in the back of my car, waiting impatiently for their new home somewhere other than the cramped, overflowing confines of the bookcases I can't seem to keep tidy. Some purges, it seems, are inevitable. Yet one must assume there is still something of Thomas Covenant rattling about inside my head; perhaps there is also something of the countless other characters, from Jack Pumpkinhead and Princess Ozma to the Riddle-Master of Hed or Dickens' pernicious Pip, who have each occupied an occasional parcel of mental real estate. Oh, I still have my personal preferences, as do we all. Some old, some new. When I first read Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, I marveled at the wit and creativity of his tale; likewise, when I read Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter's Nation of Rebels, I found their perceptions of popular culture quite striking. And yet with books I find I can indeed backtrack, revisiting old terrain with new eyes, be it Tolkien or Chandler or Hemingway: in each, there is that opportunity for a new revelation with each pass across the surface of the text. On the bookshelf, it seems, one can find both the newly discovered and the eternally relevant.Here are this week's reviews from a wildly disorganized bookshelf:Bright Boulevards, Bold DreamsDonald Bogle, the author of Dorothy Dandridge, is one of the nation's leading authorities on African Americans in film. His extensive knowledge and incisive writing is on display in Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood. This immensely readable (as well as intermittently shocking, sad, entertaining, and poignant) history tracks some 60 years in the history of "Black Hollywood." Bogle interviewed a host of historical figures and documents how they carved a place for themselves in an industry that initially was not interested in them.As with the rest of the nation during much of the period covered by the book, Black Hollywood was a world set apart from what we typically think of the golden age of "Tinseltown." It possessed a distinct social structure all its own, as well as its own social scene and personalities. Bogle explores the lives of such people as Hattie McDaniel, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr., and many more. As he documents, from even its earliest days there was an African American presence in Hollywood that defied easy categorization, such as in the context of the relationship between the woman who called herself Madame Sul-Te-Wan and D.W. Griffith, the director whose masterwork was arguably the racist Birth of a Nation (some might look to Griffith's Intolerance to see an impressive early silent film in many technical respects, but it is for Birth of a Nation that he will undoubtedly forever be remembered).The book reflects a part of entertainment history that is often overlooked or lost to the mainstream. The narrative is masterful, both conversational and engaging while remaining always informative. Far from being a dry documentary on African American performances in front of the camera, the book documents the often-unseen world behind it: the nightclubs and social interaction, the gossip and the glamour. It is these human stories which give the book its heart, if not its soul as well.The Nymphos of Rocky FlatsVampires never seem to lose their cool. Whether it's Anne Rice, Joss Whedon, Wesley Snipes or Kate Beckinsale, there are constant efforts by the contemporary heirs of Bram Stoker to breathe new life into these ancient bloodsuckers. From Buffy to Blade, modern vampires and their hunters constantly escalate the blood and the violence, even as others play the genre for laughs (for example, George Harrison in Love at First Bite, or David Niven slumming in Vampira). In literary circles, the heavyweight in recent years has been Rice, although she is hardly alone. Most recently, vampires have been the latest to walk the mean streets popularized by Raymond Chandler, as writers such as Charlie Huston graphically transform their fanged protagonists into private detectives, in the process somehow fulfilling Chandler's directive that such characters manage to be the best to walk the darkened streets and alleys of the underbelly of America. Huston's book Already Dead, released earlier this year (and reviewed here), is a dark urban fable replete with intense, bloody violence. In contrast, Mario Acevedo's new novel, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, is a literate, darkly humorous fusion of the vampire legend with Area 51, space aliens, and yes, nymphomania.Felix Gomez came back from Operation Iraq Freedom with his own unique disease syndrome. After a firefight in which he and other soldiers accidentally killed a family, including a young girl, he met an unusual form of retribution: a vampire who honors Gomez' request to be punished by bringing him into the eternal brotherhood of the undead. With the help of modern cosmetics, Felix is able to venture out during the day and simply chalk his appearance up to a "skin condition" he picked up in the Persian Gulf. However, his simultaneous aversion to drinking human blood is having an unintended side effect: his "vampire powers" are slowly eroding away. As the novel opens, his work as a private detective has caught the attention of an old acquaintance, who has invited him to the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colorado to help investigate a mysterious outbreak of nymphomania among some of the female employees. The guy can't seem to cut through the red tape to discover what sort of contaminants might have caused this bizarre outbreak - which is why he's willing to pay Felix $50,000 to uncover the truth. Since Felix is now up against some of the most lethal, nefarious enemies around (i.e., government operatives), he has to muster his flagging powers in order to find out what is behind all the "horny women" at the secretive facility. His investigation proves surprisingly difficult, impeded in part by the fact that every time he attempts his vampire hypnosis on one of the victims of the nymphomania, he runs into trouble. He has some assistance from local vampires and another mythical ally, but also another problem: vampire hunters from Eastern Europe who are bound and determined to take the stake to every available vampire. As he uncovers the improbable reality and Byzantine secret operations at the base, the evidence seems to suggest the truly impossible: that the most absurd, crackpot theories of UFOs and alien abductions may well have some basis in fact.Acevedo manages to take his campy plot and make the most of it, avoiding the easy exploitive angle and infusing more dark humor into the story than overt titillation. He seems determined to have a bit of fun in merging his horror with the hard-boiled detective genre. The plot seems a bit uneven at times and yet overall this campy retake on the vampire myth is oddly engaging.The Once and Future KingIn the entertaining BBC comedy series As Time Goes By, the crusty character played by Geoffrey Palmer decides to read some of the books he "thinks" he read as a child (such as The Tales of Winnie the Pooh). For me, T. H. White's seminal work of Arthurian lore was one such title: a book one dimly remembers "maybe" reading, but which one perhaps knows more "about" from other sources than the text itself.Late last year I picked up a copy of The Once and Future King at Borders. It is indeed a delightful book, a fanciful retelling of the Arthurian legends most of us think we know so well. While the opening portion of the book was indeed lifted to create Disney's The Sword in the Stone (an uneven, and relatively unremarkable Disney animated flick), the book really hits its stride once the young "Wart" draws the enchanted sword from the stone, forever changing his life - and England as well. From Merlin, the wise sage who lives his life backward to the "ill made knight" Lancelot, White's book is simply a fantastic recasting of the myth of Camelot in distinctly human terms.After ElizabethYes, more history. This time, we go back a couple more centuries with Leanda de Lisle for her engaging snapshot of the transition between Elizabeth I of England and James, her most unwelcome successor as the lord of the fair realm called England. The book does not ignore the early years of her reign (which were justifiably some of the most heady years enjoyed by any monarch), but instead chooses to cast a critical eye at a period often ignored by historians: the end of the affair.The last years of Elizabeth's reign were troubled. Far from being the solid, dependable monarch often depicted in film, at the end of her life Elizabeth was but a shadow of her former self. In poor health and with her mental faculties arguably diminishing, she brooked little opposition and remained excessively insistent upon ignoring the realities of the moment. She refused to make provision for an heir of any sort, leaving the door open to conflict over her successor; this was especially true as there were a number of possible claimants who each had some claim to the throne.The transition to James -- which many historians have regarded as essentially bloodless -- was far from assured at the time. Instead, as de Lisle documents, Elizabeth's court was a seething hotbed of turmoil, possible treason, and striving for personal advancement. James was regarded with suspicion by many who distrusted or despised his Scottish roots, and when he failed to keep many of his promises upon obtaining the throne there were many, both Catholic and Protestant, who conspired against him. De Lisle does a wonderful job of describing the often dissolute cast of characters who sought to shape or subvert the English monarchy to their own ends, as well as casting a modern eye upon the social institutions of 17th century England. By narrowing the lens of her focus to this brief moment in time, she is able to carefully explore the palace conspiracies and intrigues which shaped the transition from the England of Henry VIII and Elizabeth to that of the House of Stuart. It is well-written and compelling; a fascinating freeze-frame of history.A Hole in JuanDespite the play on words, the Juan in Gillian Roberts' latest Amanda Pepper mystery doesn't actually end up perforated with bullet holes. Nonetheless, one does have to wonder why anyone in Philadelphia would pay to send their kids to the private school where Amanda teaches, given the number of rather brutal mysteries she has had to solve involving students or faculty of the institution. This latest episode is no exception.Halloween is only a few days away, as is the school's annual "Mischief Night" party. Normally, the school escapes with a few incidents of minor vandalism and other pranks. This year, however, an ominous sense of doom hangs over the school, much of it centering around a new science teacher, whom many of the students seem to regard as some sort of evil classroom dictator. At first the incidents seem relatively harmless: somebody decides to summon the fire department during a test. Then all the orange and black paint disappears from the art room, and the mustard packets vanish from the school cafeteria. The stakes rise, however, when chemicals and equipment disappear from the science lab and Amanda discovers that one of her exam keys and her attendance book are both missing. To make matters worse, the science teacher, Juan Reyes, receives what might well be a death threat in the form of a letter referencing an incident about a teacher killed by students.Amanda's life is already hectic enough as she's trying to balance her professional obligation to the school while spending the rest of her time working as a private investigator with her husband. Not to mention the rather inconvenient presence of her husband's nephew, a 16-year-old high school dropout who has crashed at their place for the foreseeable future. Now she has to investigate her own students - including a popular group of seniors who may be at the crux of the recent shenanigans.When an explosion in the science lab critically injures Reyes, Amanda must pursue her fear that some of the students were involved. When she receives a warning that there is more to come, she knows that she must identify the perpetrators and stop them before their next prank proves fatal. Roberts' novels are breezy, entertaining fun. There's not a lot of over-the-top gore or violence; instead, the story is understated and almost elegant in its straightforward puzzles. Amanda's relationships with both her husband and the husband's nephew breathe as if real, and embody a gentle wit and relational experience. While not an exceptional mystery in a plot sense, A Hole in Juan is a well-crafted tale of an amateur sleuth and the schoolyard trouble she's forced to solve on her own. The Templar LegacySteve Berry's latest novel might well be characterized by many as a riff on the same themes articulated in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. In it, Cotton Malone, a former government operative, is contacted by his former supervisor, who is also the widow of a researcher who had spent his life investigating the ancient medieval order of the Knights Templar. The researcher apparently committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. Somewhat against his will, Cotton is drawn into an investigation that seemingly leads toward the "lost" treasure, who were forcibly disbanded by the king of France in the 14th century. Combining a love of arcane documents, dead languages, and cryptic puzzles, Berry's narrative is entertaining if not always plausible. Malone quickly discovers that there are other players hot on the trail of the treasure, many of whom aren't interested in playing nice or sharing their toys. And the frequent discussion of Gnostic theology will undoubtedly tip many readers to the reality that the Templar treasure may involve more than just a cache of gold and precious jewels: there is a secret here as well, a secret that might well reverberate throughout contemporary Christendom. (full review)

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

DVD Review: Ultimate Avengers - The Movie

W.E. Wallo — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 00:34:15 EST

When Marvel Comics first unveiled its "Ultimate" line of superhero comics, which essentially jettisoned the prior 40 years of comic "continuity" and rebooted the storylines for a contemporary audience, many fans considered it little more than a publicity stunt - and probably a lousy one at that. But a funny thing happened: the Ultimate line, with its often edgy, revamped characters, was actually pretty good, and in many instances started outselling Marvel's longstanding titles (those set in the "Original Universe," as it were) . First Spidey got the Ultimate treatment, and then the X-Men; subsequently, Marvel introduced what was in many respects the best reboot of them all: the recreation of the Avengers, "America's Mightiest Superheroes," now called The Ultimates.This new line of comics offered characters often quite similar in many respects to the old ones (for example, Captain America still got his start during WWII and Thor still carries a hammer and controls the weather, although now he's a militant environmental activist and near-anarchist). But by ditching the accumulated "back stories" of the characters, the writers were free to develop dynamic new relationships between them. The Ultimates can be legitimately criticized for its overemphasis on pop culture references (having a character go out with Freddie Prinze Jr., for example, just seems far too cute for the rougher, edgy storyline Marvel was otherwise creating), but the title manages a remarkable transformation in characters such as Captain America, the Hulk, and Iron Man. The creators also authored a minor miracle when they made the contentious relationship between "Giant Man" and his wife, the Wasp, more than a dull afterthought of the overall comic.In any event, The Ultimates is one of Marvel's more popular lines, and as such it is hardly surprising that they would try to capitalize upon its popularity with the release of an animated version. Released at the end of February, Ultimate Avengers intriguingly returns with the old title ("Avengers"), probably in an effort to reach out to fans who might not be aware of the new version. I had hoped that the animated version would do a good job of capturing the gritty edge of the new title, which I have long considered to be one of the best superhero comics currently available. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.Despite its frequent (and at times annoying) pop culture allusions, the dialogue of the original book is Shakespeare next to the trite, hackneyed dialogue offered up here. The animation is slow and jerky, symbolized by the image of a WWII transport plane flying into a Nazi-infested valley in which the only things really "moving" are the propellers on the plane; the plane itself is dragged in static fashion across the screen, like a picture in a pop-up book pulled along a straight-line path. Instead of the more nuanced narrative of the original, the video offers a jumbled heap of clichés, often inserting excessively patriotic observations delivered with a painfully dry sense of humorlessness. The video also largely eviscerates both the intriguingly anti-establishment Thor and the hyperactive Hulk (the latter of whom in the comic became a metaphor for the raging id, freed from all moorings and restraint - this Hulk could talk as well as rage, and all he wanted was to satisfy whatever urges came to mind). The storyline here cannibalizes elements of the first few issues of The Ultimates, in which Captain America's 1940s fight against Nazis is revealed to have actually been against a sinister race of aliens who now, 60 years later, plan on finishing the job. In both versions, the Hulk is instrumental in the final battle, but it is only in the comic that there is any real suspense to the struggle. The animated version also ditches any semblance of identity for the alien invaders, and jettisons the intriguingly tactical aspect of Captain America's combat skills. While the video is oddly rated PG-13, it a tame, uninspiring doppelganger, mirroring the true self only at the edges and not as concerns the essentials. The only intriguing or original elements on the disc can be found in the special features, including one called "Assembling the Avengers" that has interviews with such creators as George Perez and Kurt Busiek. Otherwise, for anyone interested in The Ultimates, stick to the colored paper of the comic book. You'll find it a far more enjoyable experience.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

Book Review: The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

W.E. Wallo — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:39:05 EST

Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy spins the medieval destruction of the Knights Templar into a contemporary conspiracy of daunting proportions. Originally, the Templars were a militaristic monastic order designed to protect travelers to the Holy Land. From their humble beginnings, however, they became one of the richest, most powerful forces in all of the medieval world. In 1307, the king of France opted to dissolve the order and accused its members of not only heresy but perversity as well. The order's last grand master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake in 1311. Unfortunately for the French king (although to the delight of countless writers since), the order's purportedly boundless riches were never recovered. Borrowing a page from Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, Berry's novel presupposes that the treasure of the Templars is not simply gold or precious jewels looted from countless sites across the Holy Land, but something more elusive: a secret that stands at the heart of the west's religious traditions, and one that has secretly divided the church from within for centuries. Former U.S. agent Cotton Malone has retired early and now spends his days pleasantly engaged as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen. One day, however, he receives an unexpected call from Stephanie Nelle, a former superior who would like a bit of assistance. When Cotton foils what appears to be an attempted mugging involving Stephanie and the thief flings himself from a tower to avoid capture, Malone's instincts are engaged. He knows something isn't quite right, a conclusion that will shortly prove amazingly accurate.Nelle is in Copenhagen on a mission that has nothing to do with U.S. national security. Instead, it is a personal matter involving her husband's apparent suicide several years before. Her husband was an expert on the Templars and had long been on the track of their mysterious treasure. Now Stephanie is somewhat reluctantly following in his footsteps, in part because of a sense of obligation stemming from the recent loss of her son, and in part because of a mysterious packet she recently received. Piecing the clues together will prove difficult for Nelle and Malone, even more so because while they receive help from unexpected sources they are also facing an unanticipated enemy. Buried within the contemporary church is a secret dark order, an order that has been biding its time for centuries, seeking that which was lost -- a corruption even of that vaguely defined version of the Templars which lurks at the edges of the modern world. Raymond de Roquefort, the current master of the Templar knights, himself seeks the treasure for reasons of his own. And he is willing to use whatever means at his disposal to obtain his goal: the lost secret of the Templars, a secret so powerful, so potent, that it was at the root of a schism in the medieval church and promises to do likewise even today.Combining whiffs of ancient alchemy and cutting-edge science seemingly known to the ancients but lost in the mists of time, Berry's narrative manages to careen from one improbable scenario to another, even as the characters ponder ancient puzzles, decipher dead languages, and debate the symbolism and meaning of Biblical scriptures. Overall, a deft sense of characterization keeps the story from stumbling into incomprehensibility, and in the end Berry brings the tale to a clear resolution. Fans of The Da Vinci Code, Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt, or even the books of James Rollins will undoubtedly enjoy The Templar Legacy.

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.