The Magician: Apprentice and Master by Raymond E. Feist

Once again I dive into a fantasy world on audio, this was the author revised edition including the first two volumes of The Magician: Apprentice and Master by Raymond E. Feist, aka The Riftwar Saga. In the audio edition, they were treated as one volume, so I didn't actually know when I went from one book to the other, thanks husband for helping me out with that. I have not read Feist before, so I come to the revamped version ignorant of the original published work. I can't imagine many objections to the changes as they were initiated and made by the author, but I'm sure there are some nonetheless. 

Our story is set in the land of Crydee, a small rural Duchy in The Kingdom on the world of  Midkimea. Our protagonists are Pug, an orphaned kitchen boy (whom lends the book its title), and Tomas, the cook's son and Pug's best friend. We begin right before The Day of Choosing, an important rite of passage for the young men of Crydee in which they learn if they will be apprenticed to any of the tradesmen in the Duchy. Pug and Tomas both would like to be soldiers or foresters. On the auspicious day, Pug is left standing alone after all the other boys have been picked, the Duke's magician, Kulgan.

Just as Pug is becoming serious about his studies, there is a shipwreck. This is no ordinary shipwreck, but one of an alien warship from another world, heralding the coming of an invasion. The Duke and his men seek aid from the Prince and King, but all does not go as planned. (Wouldn't be much story to tell if it did, now would there?) War ensues throwing the kingdom and the boys' lives into chaos and interrupting their studies in the arts of fighting and magic.

Over the course of the story, we get to watch the boys grow into men and come to know more about the Kingdom's enemies, the Tsurani. I cannot describe the plot of the second book without giving away the ending of the first, so I will refrain from sharing any details.

The story was well-told and action packed, as well as funny and occasionally touching. The reader did an excellent job, though I could not find his name. If you are looking for high-adventure fantasy, you'll enjoy this. I'll be listening to the next book in the series, Silverthorn next.

Horns by Joe Hill

As some of you may have noticed, I've been on a Joe Hill kick lately. Horns is classified as horror due to the supernatural elements, but it is really more of a drama. The story of Ig Perish, his brother Terry, his friend Lee Tourneau, and his girlfriend Merrin Williams.

The story opens with Ig waking up to discover that he has horns growing out of his forehead. He has no recall of the events of the night before. He quickly learns that his horns have a terrible power. People unwilling spew forth their dirtiest secrets and desires, asking for his permission to fulfill their darkest desires. The plus side of the horns is that they make people forget they are there, and forget their conversations with Ig.

We learn very quickly that Ig lost the love of his life, Merrin, almost exactly a year ago in a horrible rape/murder. He was the one and only suspect, the case was dropped when the evidence went up in a lab fire. Everyone in town, including his own parents believe he is guilty of murdering her. The only person that believes he is innocent is his brother, Terry. Hill tells the story in a non-linear fashion. We start in Ig's presence, jump back to the day in Ig's childhood when he almost drowns and meets Lee. The next segment jumps to right before Merrin's murder, where we learn that she breaks it off with him the night before he leaves for a new job in England. This is the same night she is murdered. We then move to the section titled "The Fixer", this gives us Lee's perspective on events. The final section returns us to the present after Ig has the horns and shows us the resolution of the story.

It may seem strange to some, but there is never a moment in the story that I believed Ig was guilty of the crime, despite the fact that he sprouts the horns and powers of the devil. This is the story of a decent guy who life is destroyed by heart breaking occurrences. There are a few twists, though if you are paying attention (or know a bit of abnormal psychology) you will probably guess them ahead of time. The emotional purity of his story telling that was glimpsed in 20th Century Ghosts is fully realized here. You feel for Ig and Merrin, and the tragedy that destroys them. You feel Ig's misery upon learning that his parents think he is guilty, his hope rekindled a bit when he knows that his brother never believed it. Ig's good heart when he forgives most of those that have wronged him.

Once again, I listened to the audio book. Be careful when driving and listening to this at the same time. It could be hazardous to your health. If you are eye-reading it, I suggest a box of tissues on hand if you are the type to cry at movies. Part of me thinks this would make an interesting film, but I fear it would be ruined by Hollywood. A devil as a protagonist may be too much for them.

I really enjoyed the ride this book took me on.

Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer

We got Artemis Fowl, the audio book, to listen to during our move. This didn't work as planned since the moving truck didn't have a way to plug in the iPhone to the radio. We have an FM receiver to use instead, but the reception and interference were so bad that we couldn't understand most of the story. So listening to it was put on hold, I heard just enough of the story to know that I wanted to finish it. The narrator, Nathanial Parker, was excellent, his voice intoxicating. His delivery and voices fit perfectly with the story.

 I was unaware when I began listening to the book that the main character, Artemis, was actually an anti-hero. This was a pleasant surprise, it added a nice twist to this YA book for me. I knew that it wouldn't quite follow the formula that many books for children do. The humor is apparent right away, though it is very subtle (and a bit of what we'd call British) in some places. Colfer utilizes a very high level of vocabulary, always a plus in works aimed at children. He does this in a manner that not only teaches the young readers new words, but increases the comedic effect of the scenes. The humor is well balanced by the action scenes, which come to life through the words used to describe them.

Our anti-hero is a young genius from a very wealthy family. His father has disappeared, his mother has lost her mind, and he is trying to regain the family fortune. To achieve his aims, he develops a complex plan to exploit the Faerie population of the world.

On the other side of the conflict are the faeries, the narrative focuses on LEPrecon Holly Short. She is the first female LEP officer, and therefore has a lot to prove to herself and the military complex. Holly is thrown in Artemis' path after a mission goes horribly wrong and she is ordered to go to the surface to recharge her magic.

One aspect I found interesting is that the Faerie equipment wasn't strictly magic based, they combined the best of their magical knowledge with science. The faeries have gone underground, literally, but are also wired into the human's ("Mud People") satellite network to keep tabs on us.

I recommend this for a road trip or just an enjoyable read. This book would work great as a read aloud for the whole family, including the teenagers.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

My husband has been encouraging me to read this book for about a year, he read it and thought it was great. After much delay, I have finally caved under the pressure. (Actually, I just finally felt in the mood for it.) I chose to read it via audio book in order to allow for packing, driving, and cleaning while I read. I'm really looking forward to a few days of lounging with a good book at some point in the near future.

The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of Henry, a reluctant time traveler, and Claire, his eventual wife and the love of his life. It is the story of their relationship and their love, but it's not a romance novel. It's a dramatic story, with a bit of science fiction thrown in through the element of time travel. Henry begins time traveling at the age of five, he has no control over when or where he goes, he can not prevent himself from going. When he arrives, it is without any clothes, and he acquires a rather unique skill set to survive these unexpected jaunts in time and space.

The audio recording was the BBC edition, read in two points of view, Henry's and Claire's. Both readers were excellent, and really helped bring the characters to life. William Hope gives life to Henry, while Laurel Lefkow voices Claire.

Time traveling is not always a pleasant experience for Henry, he is often returned to pivotal moments in his own life and these are not always pleasant. The time traveling complicates his life as he will suddenly vanish and reappear, the passage of time is not always equal on both sides of the travel either. He may be in the past for a day and gone from the present for 30 minutes, or in the past for 30 minutes and gone from the present for a couple of days. The erratic nature of the time travel causes worry and strain in Henry and Claire's relationship, as well as their desire for a normal life.  Their feelings for each other are strong, but often convoluted, as Henry's first meeting with Claire is not Claire's first meeting with Henry.

Claire has known Henry since she was a child, but Henry doesn't meet Claire until they are both in their 20s. Henry is disturbed by how well Claire seems to know him, while she is a stranger to him. Henry tries to keep his time traveling a secret, as most people would simply think him insane.

Audrey Niffenegger's writing is wonderful. Henry and Claire have distinctive voices and perspectives. I think the passage that truly one me over was her writing as 6 year old Claire. She captured the speech patterns of a young child perfectly, including the stops and starts and the exuberance that almost renders them incomprehensible to adults. The book is very emotional, I was in tears in several places, sometimes from sadness, sometimes from joy.

If you've seen the movie and didn't like it, ignore that and read the book. The movie, so I've been told, falls extremely short of the emotion and depth of the book.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

I'm pretty sure that this 1983 movie was my introduction to Ray Bradbury. I only saw it once, but it really stuck with me. I don't remember the details, just that it was the first creepy movie I'd ever seen from Disney. I really need to re-watch it as an adult and see it if holds up after 20 plus years. I wonder if Netflix or Hulu have it available on instant watch.

I've had the book version on my to read list for years now, and finally started to read it during our shut down day a week or so ago. I found that though I liked Bradbury's style, I couldn't get into the book. It felt like it should be a radio program, that someone should be reading it to me. So I had my spouse find it in audio format, read by Paul Hecht. His voice fit the feel and vernacular of the story perfectly.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is the story of two best friends born hours of each other, and complete opposites. They are 13, one light, one dark. The boys are Jim Nightshade, an only child of a single mom, and William Halloway, a late-life child. They first strange encounter occurs when they are lying under a tree, letting their minds drift in the way which comes naturally to boys. They are approached by a strange lightning rod salesman, and instead of selling them a rod, he gives them one, informing them that a storm in coming and that Jim's house will be hit by lightning and burn to the ground without the rod. He then wanders off, William wants to put the rod up immediately, while Jim tries to blow the situation off as nothing. In the end, Will gets his way.

There is anticipation hanging in the air through out the town, more than just the usual eagerness among the children for Halloween. Even the adults sense that something is coming. Suddenly there are playbills all over town for Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show. The boys sneak out in the early morning to check it out, because carnivals do not usually arrive late at night and they are curious. The carnival is setting itself up when they arrive, but there is no sign of any people. This both fascinates and horrifies them.

They are scared yet can't stay away. They get in over their heads, as teen boys tend to do and reach out to the only other person that seems to know that something is wrong at the carnival, Will's father. Will and his father have been distant from one another his whole life, through this adventure they come to know each other.

I really enjoyed the pacing and verbage used in this book. Mr. Hecht's voice adds to the period feel of the story. I usually don't read audio books because I am distracted from auditory input easily, often even when the reader and the story are both very good. To focus on an audio book I must be driving a car or cleaning the house. If you enjoy suspenseful adventure horror stories, or Bradbury, I recommend this book.

My First NaNoWriMo Experience

This November I decided to take part in a great experiment: Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month. This event is online and creates a goal of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Nanowrimo encourages writers to kill their inner-editor and just get the words on the page. Writing is usually very lonely business, you toil away alone in a room, Nanowrimo lets authors morally support each other, be aware that others are writing with them, and even allows for a little friendly competition. If you are an aspiring writer, I really recommend that you participate in this event.

Nanowrimo is not the experiment, in and of itself. I refer to this November as an experiment because I am not a writer. Many of you may say, that can't be right as I write a blog. Many people write, but not all people that write are writers. At least, not in my book. To me a writer is someone that has a passion for story telling, someone that wishes to make their living writing. This writing can be fiction or non-fiction, they can be a poet, a novelist, a journalist, or a freelance writer, but is must be an identifying part of their personality and character. My husband is one such individual, as are several of my other friends, to call myself a writer would be an insult to them.

I joined Nanowrimo primarily to gain insight into my husband's writing world, to understand the pressures and challenges he faces when it looks as if he is doing nothing but staring blankly into space or mindlessly watching TV. I can tell you, after 30 days of writing, he is not doing nothing, neither is any other writer when they appear to be lazing about. I wanted to bond with my spouse over the writing experience and challenge myself mentally. I only vaguely had an idea of what I wished to write, this likely added to the challenge of putting 50,000 words on paper. I just had a few pieces of a story that repeatedly and randomly would pop into my head in dreams or as I lay trying to sleep. I am proud to say that despite having a long term anxiety about writing, I was able to expand on my kernels of story and complete the 50,000 word challenge. I even finished a day early, which turned out to be very fortunate as our internet crashed on the last day. I am sad to say that I wasn't able to wrap up the whole story in 50,000 words, but I completed the challenge.

Nanowrimo is well planned. 50,000 words divides up to be 1667 words a day. This is a manageable amount even for people that work full time (I should know, I work full time.). There were days when the words came easy, some days they came hard, and some days when they didn't come at all. They offer forums, fun stuff to do when you are stuck, and activities to help you overcome writers block. They also have weekly pep talks from successful authors. Neil Gaiman has written one, authors this year that offered up a pep talk included Lemony Snicket and Mercedes Lackey. Even if you are not a writer,  you might enjoy some of your favorite writers' outlooks on their craft. One of the things I like about Nanowrimo is that the donations they ask for support a Young Writer's Program that is offered to all for free. It's all about getting kids to write and interact with the written word whether on paper or the internet.

I doubt I will participate next year, I don't really have another story to tell. I did enjoy the experience this year, and learned quite a lot about myself and the art of writing. As for the story I wrote this year, I pretending it doesn't exist for a month. After that time, I will deign to reread it, then I will decide if I will work on it some more or erase it for eternity. I may post it here as a serial story, or I may not. It's fate remains in the ether.

Congratulations to all those that won Nanowrimo, especially Don and John. And to those that didn't quite make it, if writing is your passion, don't give up.