Saturday, March 16, 2024

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock

There’s a small patch of woodland near where I live that’s been there for hundreds of years. It’s marked on maps of the area from the 1700’s and almost certainly predates those by some time. Looking at the tangled heart of the wood, with thick stands of holly and twisted branches, it’s very easy to appreciate the setting for Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood.


The main character Steven returns to his family home after the Second World War - a chilly farmhouse on the edge of a wood, no more than three square miles in area. He finds his brother Christian obsessed with the idea of exploring the wood, following in the footsteps of his missing father who disappeared into the wood years before, leaving only a series of cryptic notebooks.


It transpires that the wood holds many secrets, and in the best timey-wimey tradition is much bigger on the inside than the outside. It also has the power to summon archetypal beings from any point in time, stretching back to pre-history, drawing from the minds of people living nearby. The wood also frustrates any attempt at exploration, turning travellers back on themselves unless they follow certain hidden pathways.

This is a great premise for a story, and it doesn’t disappoint in the unravelling of some of the mysteries presented here. It also sets up a series of sequels, which I will be reading at some point. Holdstock does a good job of evoking a particular kind of British mythology, and it reminded me of The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner.

Monday, March 04, 2024

The Internet Con - How to Seize the Means of Computation - Cory Doctorow

 This book is a good explainer as to the current state of the internet, how we got here and what we can do about it. In a series of succinct chapters, Doctorow explains how monopolies and monopsonies (where a single customer dictates terms to small suppliers) operate, how the economic deregulation that took hold in the 80s made things worse and how tech monopolies now use IP law to lock customers into their platforms. I was surprised to learn that Apple even includes microscopic Apple logos on all of the components of their products as a way to prevent third parties from disassembling defunct iPhones and using the spare parts for repairs, by means of an obscure trademark law.

As a counterpoint to the gloomy situation where in the words of New Zealand software developer Tom Eastman we have "a group of five websites, each consisting of screenshots from the other four" we can use tools like interoperability to allow people to migrate from platforms like Facebook while still maintaining contact with their friends and family on there. The state of the internet might not be the most critical issue we are facing today, but an open and functioning means of computation will certainly help resolve the other problems.

This book is available as a DRM free ebook and audiobook direct from the author's website:

The Internet Con - Cory Doctorow



Saturday, March 02, 2024

Ms Marvel

I renewed my library card a while back and found that I can now use it to borrow magazines, audiobooks and ebooks via the Libby app on my phone and iPad. It turns out that Sheffield Library has an excellent selection of comics so I worked my way through 10 volumes of the Ms Marvel series from 2014.

Having enjoyed the TV series last year, it was fun to go back to the original comics to compare and contrast. The live action version of Kamala khan has light based powers and turns out to be a mutant, whereas the comic version can stretch to any shape and batter villains with huge fists or shrink to a tiny size to escape. The character has the goofy energy of a young Peter Parker, battling as much with homework, first crushes and school bullies as super villains. In a notable first for Marvel, she's also a young muslim American woman who takes comfort from her faith and community. 

The artwork has lots of fun, cartoony details and there's a plenty of humour in the writing, particularly the scenes where she interacts with her hero Captain Marvel and the rest of the Avengers. I like the neat touch that her costume is dynamic and modest, featuring a nifty flowing scarf rather than the usual sexist treatment that some other female superheroes get. 

Recommended!



Friday, March 01, 2024

Forbidden Lands

This session was effectively the season finale until the autumn, where we very much burnt our bridges in the scummy little town of Grindbone when we somehow got caught up in a running feud between the Bone Weasels and the Rust Brother factions. A handy lightning bolt from our magic trident obliterated Captain Kratullos of the town guard, giving us the chance to scarper and rescue Raven Sister Naveer on the way out of Dodge. Excellent fun!



 

Monday, February 26, 2024

Bibliomaniac - Robin Ince

Just after the lockdowns were lifted, the comedian and author Robin Ince was gripped by the idea of a book tour of a hundred or so independent bookshops, dotted around the British Isles. This book is the story of that tour - part picaresque travelogue with the usual battles with the vagaries of train travels and storm lashed back roads, part catalogue of the various weird and wonderful second hand books scavenged from the shops en route and part rambling musings on a kaleidoscope of topics, including science, pop culture and (of course) books and reading.

This is an ideal book for dipping in and out of. Each bookshop is described, along with an indexed list of the books obtained and the cakes consumed. Each leg of the journey has a charming hand drawn map of the rambling route as well. Entertaining fun!



Sunday, February 25, 2024

Swords Against Death - Fritz Leiber

 I think that I first read this book when I was 11 or 12, picking it up from the spinny rack of pulp fantasy and sci-fi books in Harpenden Public Library. Annoyingly enough, they didn't seem to have the first book in the 'Swords' series, so this was my introduction to the characters of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I re-read it in preparation for a Grognard Files bookclub.

It's a actually a collection of short stories written between 1940 and 1969, although they do tie together in a sort of chronological narrative. There are themes that tie the stories together and there's a recurring theme of one or other (or both) of the characters being enchanted somehow and haring off into danger. Leiber's prose is enchantingly baroque, sprinkled with references to exotic sounding places such as Quarmall, the Lakes of Plea and the beggar city of Tovilyis.

It's still a cracking read, although there are some somewhat dated attitudes towards sex and race in places (and those would become even more apparent in the last book in the series written in 1988). Highlights include The Jewels in the Forest - effectively a mini dungeon with a great twist, Thieves' House - which set the template for every D&D Thieves' Guild, and Bazaar of the Bizarre which is the archetype for the mysterious magic shop that appears in a previously blank wall.

Gary Gygax himself acknowledged these books as major influence on D&D and included them in the famous Appendix N of suggested reading in the Dungeon Masters Guide - a place they richly deserve.



Thursday, February 22, 2024