Sociopaths, Psycho-Killers, and Half-Life Levels

I know I'm the last one in the universe that should be talking about Reality Vs. Fantasy.  The person who thought himself a Transformer for many years of his life, who still makes a "transforming" noise when I get up off the ground, who, as Jimmy Fallon read off in his "hashtag" segment, waves his hand in front of automatic doors like a Jedi.  So, as you can see, I'm not the best person to talk about knowing the difference between fantasy and reality.

I can't help but think as I'm walking to the car in the cavernous parking lots of the Galleria, with the endless pathways of concrete, with stairs and elevators, how the makers of Half-Life would have loved to make this into a playground for the first-person shooter crowd.  Computer graphics and interaction has become so realistic that anything short of reality is considered "retro."  I've said many times that, when the game Zork came out for the Commodore 64, and it actually had sounds that somewhat sounded like English, I was amazed.  Now we live and communicate with people all over the world in 3-D universes with their own economies and cultures.

So in college, and mind you, this was in the 1990's, when Half-Life came out, the Internet at the time was able to host multiplayer maps of any design, as long as you learned the graphic interface.  Among the favorite maps made was that of a parking lot.  Snipers could find people on the lot below, trip-wires could be set in stairwells.  One day my brother and his roommate spent quite a bit of time setting trip-wires all up and down a stairwell, hoping that one of our friends would come along and set the whole thing off, blowing up that part of the map.  It was hilarious.  There doesn't come a time when I'm in a new building, a hotel, a parking garage, The Galleria Mall itself, when I don't think, "This could be a great Half-Life level!"  And of course, I know it's just a game, a world outside of this reality, a playground for a few hours of entertainment.  I wonder, though, how many people trained for their own lives playing Grand Theft Auto, and then tried to carry out those actions, to some extent, in real life?  The arguments oscillate on whether violence in video games affects the mentality of teenagers, or people in general.  I would say, "Of Course!!!" It's not a great leap to go from me pretending to be Lion-O on the playground to someone "pretending" to be a sniper or a Halo soldier.  And it's not a great leap, given internal circumstances, to go from "pretending" to actually doing it.

People have always told me that I couldn't differentiate between Fantasy and Reality, and I have to dispute that claim, especially now, because there are people out there who simply cannot do it.  We've seen many examples of this, and the end result is usually tragic.  We've communicated to people (Postman) that violence is okay, that extreme scenes of gore and brutality are perfectly okay to show on television, as long as they don't show a breast.  And since pictures are worth a thousand words, each image is internalized and reacted to with vehement emotion.  We strive for more, for images of grief and violence, as constantly pushing the boundaries of what we have seen will create ratings, talk, (and negative or positive attention are both good things in the Entertainment business.) Zombies eating people?? Sure!!  No problem!!  Psycho-Killers on a neighboring channel? Wonderful! 

I've recently watched episodes of Criminal Minds on the basic cable television channels I have, and I found it quite understandable why Mandy Patinkin left the show after two seasons because he was disturbed by the material presented to the American public each week.  Shortly after watching this, I went walking at the Harry Moss Park (as the dirt trails were still too muddy).  Seeing single female joggers in their sweatsuits and ipods and earplugs running past, I could only think, "Well, she's dead." Because any sociopath that wanted to drag her off into the woods could easily do it. Plenty of places to hide a body.  Now, this is not to say that I'm going to become some mass-murderer, but you can easily see how someone with a loose grip on reality, or with sociopathic tendencies already built in, if they watched these television shows, could learn quite a bit from just watching and then start acting it out in the real world.  And all this for the final objective of making money through advertisement.  It's quite disturbing, actually.  All in all, however, I believe the places I walk to be safe, and my relative mental health to be stable.  I'm just not sure about the rest of the city. 

Book Review: Safehold by David Weber

It is truly an astonishing sensation to be delivered into the playground of someone's mind.  To watch as the person takes the dough, shapes a world, creates everything in that world, molds it into existence.  In essence, he is emulating God.  I know I've used that idea many times, and it is no more true than reading David Weber's Safehold Series.  The first book is titled Off Armageddon Reef.  I actually purchased the audiobook a few years ago and just sat it on my shelf, never really getting around to it.  It languished there, moving from shelf to shelf just to get it out of the way of other books I collected and haven't read yet.  And then last year, when I needed something to keep me awake as I drove to Dallas, Texas to an interview, to begin a new chapter in my life, I brought along the 25 CD set and immersed myself in the scenery of the interstate, and the scenery of Safehold.

Briefly, Safehold is the last remaining planet that is home to the Human Race. Destroyed by an alien race called the Gbaba, who could detect any technological power sources coming from any planet mankind should try and hide in, the Terran Federation decided that the only way to survive was to create a world where technology would be non-existent.  In other words, mankind would be put back into medieval times.  In order to keep things this way for the centuries needed to make sure the alien race would leave Terran space, the creators of this world made a religion (with themselves as Gods and Archangels) that specifically forbid innovation.  It is to this world that Merlin Athrawes awakes from a 900 year old hibernation.  He becomes, basically, Martin Luther, and challenges the Church of God Awaiting, albeit more subtly. 

As I said, Safehold is David Weber's playground.  He has written many more novels that take place in other worlds, in other universes, with other authors, but this one he's written alone, and I get the feeling that this world is his to become a Clockmaker God.  In other words, he created Safehold, with the rules and religion and people and circumstances, and then he lets it run.  The action comes as he sees it, as would happen naturally.  The conversations and innovations come slowly, over time, and he's done a magnificent job so far.  There are currently 7 books, with book 8 coming out September 8th, 2015. I can't wait for book 8 to arrive, so I can continue the journey through Safehold.

So now that I've gushed about the series, which is great for Sci-fi, Fantasy, Historical, and Military book lovers alike, here are the problems with the series.  First off, the series is *his* playground, so there's no editing of lengthy and sometimes boring conversations about weapon builds, historical and religious descriptions of the character's ancestors, etc... but while reading the books, you must realize that this is *his* world, and that to change it to suit his readers would go against what I feel is almost a work done as a writing exercise.  I think that Weber creates some of his other books to make money, to exercise his craft, to share his worlds with others, but for Safehold, it is Weber's world to tinker with, and we are simply along for the ride.  The main evidence I see of this is in the book structures.  There are no typical climaxes and then resolutions of each book, simply a continuation of the world from one book to the next, as if you could combine the whole saga into one long tome.   Most authors have these worlds, ones where you can exist inside the world if you want, but it's the author's work, and he or she will do whatever it is they want to do.  For Anne McCaffrey, Pern was that realm, although she had others.  Tolkien always had Middle Earth, and that was his sole realm-creation.  Even for fantasy writers, where they might have more than one series, I think there's always one that they feel most at home.  I know I could easily live inside Pern, or Middle Earth, and now Safehold.

The second major problem is that, having seen the inside of the books, I couldn't read them anyway. I say this because David Weber has a very annoying habit in this book of replacing vowels with "y's". For instance, the antagonist of the book is "Zhaspahr Clyntahn" and his second in command, "Wyllym Rayno." The names, only having looked at them in the book, would kill me.  I can't stand reading Fantasy novels where, by the time I've read the jacket and seen all the weird names, my eyes have glossed over and I can't stand to finish reading even that. Thus is it most fortunate that I have "read" all 7 books as Audio Books.  It is good to consult the maps in the books (they are online as well) from time to time, but I've taken to "reading" them on the way to work, or on long trips, or just sitting in my apartment with no television on.  In fact, I've gotten along quite well without cable TV because of my Audio Books.  I can be entertained without paying $100's to the cable company.  So, if I were to go into detail about the characters, I would write them as I have heard them pronounced. "Jaspar Clyntan" (the problem here is that without the Y, you read Clinton, and think of the past president.) and "William Rano"

One other note, if you decide to "read" the books as Audio, which I wholeheartedly recommend.  The narrators change, which, when book 3 came along and the person was different, I had myself a minor conniption. All of them, save one, does a fair job.  The British narrator for book 5 did a fair job, although he muffed the pronunciations somewhat ("Charis," instead of "Karis," as every other speaker had done).  But I could overlook that.  It's book 6 that drove me nuts.  The narrator did a wonderful job with female roles, and children roles, but when he started yelling "FIRE" during the battle scenes, it was funny.  The guy simply couldn't do battle scenes, and it made a war hilarious.  But if you can overlook that one, the rest are magnificently done, and kept me awake all during my travels.

There comes a time in your life when you need Fantasy worlds.  I don't know where I would be today if it hadn't been for J.R.R. Tolkien.  I have lived hours of my life in Pern, and I could go on living there, if I had to.  I would say the same for Safehold, and the times in my life when I could listen to the conversations between Emperor Caleb, Empress Charlean, and Merlin, plus a whole host of other really "good" good guys, were worth every minute.  I rather much like my fantasy stories where the good guys are good and the bad guys are stupid.  And being a Christian, much of the conversations with Archbishop Michael and the others, are as good sermons as you're ever likely to hear on a planet called Earth.  I guess I shall now be Awaiting book 8, and doing so with baited breath.    

A Reading List for Thinkers and Dreamers

[Wrote this as a list for a friend needing recommendations for reading. She told me to "overload" her, so I did. Feel free to use any of read any of these yourselves. I could have included pictures, of the book, but I'm not gonna. Better to click on the links of the ISBN numbers.]

Setting up a recommendation list requires a bit of organization.   Because I’m not sure what you’ll like, or what you’ve read in the past, (and because, I’ve read books in other Genres that I don’t usually read and have thoroughly enjoyed them, so sometimes it’s good to read outside the box), I’ll split it up into 5 areas.  Christian, Fiction, Kid’s, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and Other.  Of course, the Kids books are ones that they might be able to read, but that you’ll enjoy, too.  I’m gonna put ISBN links into this document  that will take you to the book on Amazon.  If you have an e-book reader, that might be the way to go, or getting them used would also the economical.

Christian Genre.  Unfortunately, I’m not very good at recommending Non-fiction books of Christian type.  I know what we sell at Lifeway, and what’s popular, but that’s about it.  The only Christian author I’ve read that wasn’t fiction is C.S. Lewis, whose book The Four Loves (9780156329309)was really good.

As far as Christian Fiction, you can’t go wrong with C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, although I would read them in the order the movies have come (or would have come) out (2,4,5,6,1,3,7).  I also highly recommend George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind (9781604594522). I once was sick, and had a rather high fever, and I picked up this book and read it all in one day. George MacDonald’s books are really good, if you can find the other ones edited by Michael Philips (North Wind is good in any form).  Also, I would read the classic Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, at least the first half.  The classic tale of Christian’s journey from home  to the gates of Heaven is one that is centuries ahead of its time, an outstanding read. And one you can get for free as an e-book through Amazon or Gutenberg project. (9781456569334).

Fiction

The Song of Daniel  by Philip Lee Williams. (0345364694) Williams is a retired professor of Creative Writing at UGA, and lives in Oconee County. I so loved this book, but it is quite out of print now, but easy to get. It takes place in Athens, and deals with a young man who takes care of the cemetery and a College Professor.

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon (9780143034902) A mysterious bookstore in Barcelona, Spain, holds all of the worlds forgotten books.  The main character finds a copy of “Shadow of the Wind” in the stacks and, enthralled with the book, searches to find other books, or the author himself.  He finds a stranger who is destroying all the copies of the book, who then threatens Daniel’s life.  A gothic book set in 1900’s Spain.  Continued in two other books.

 

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (9780553277531) my favorite book!! Lyrical, nostalgic, amazing!!!

I’m sure there are other regular Fiction titles I have stuck in my head someplace, but they aren’t coming out, so I’ll leave this for now.

Science Fiction – Fantasy

Orson Scott Card – Most anything, really. Every time (well most, Pathfinder was a dud) I read his books, I read for hours, then I go to get something to  eat, and I go back to my room wondering what really amazing TV show I had just been watching, and I realize it was in my own head, through the words on the page.  His lesser known works are really good.  Try Homecoming: Harmony (which starts with The Memory of Earth)( 9781568650890)and Songmaster (9780812524864)

Anne McCaffrey – The Dragonriders of Pern (9780345340245) (or Dragonsong, 9780689860089) Dragons, music, and a great storyline through many, many books. What’s not to love!

Arthur C. Clarke – Songs of A Distant Earth (9780345322401) was a great sci-fi book, and I love Clarke as an author.  His Islands in the Sky (9780140305357), written in the 50’s, predicted everything that man has done in space since, and probably will do in the future. And with Stephen Baxter, he wrote The Light of Other Days, (9780812576405) which, while the plot is weak and the ending akin to Spielberg’s A.I. ,unneeded, brings about hypothetics that fundamentally changes the way we think about everything. 

Other books that, looking at my bookshelf in my room (which is where I keep the books I really like), I would recommend:  Steven Warnock’s The Magog Gambit (9781466435438), Vanishing Point (0312852134) by Michaela Roessner. (I love apocalyptic novels, such as this. I loved Dean Koontz’ The Taking (9780553593501) and Pat Frank’s classic Alas,Babylon (9780060741877)). Also check out The Legacy of Heorot by the Sci-fi team Niven, Pournelle, and Barnes (9780722164075). 

As far as Fantasy, I don’t usually read fantasy for fantasy sake, but there is some good stuff out there, now out of print. Dragonworld (9781596872332)was made back in the late 80’s, and the sequel was made as a video game. Riddle of Stars, by Patricia McKillip, was good too (B00005XT24).

One last one, if you’re up for it.  Take Plato and put him in a science-fiction setting, and you get Neal Stephenson’s Anathem.  The book is best when the plot is non-existent. In fact, it’s one of the few books (Clarke & Baxter being another) where the plot gets in the way, but it’s fantastic to sit, read, and contemplate. (978-0061474095) Don’t get the Mass Market though, the print is tiny! Get the hardcover, looks great on your bookshelf.

Kid’s Books (for Adults too!!)

Get these for your kids, and read them yourself! They’re amazing!! Better than most books above!!

Christopher by Richard M. Koff.  Only book he ever wrote, and I absolutely loved it as a child. Now long out of print, but every kid should read it! (0553153633)

Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe (9781421527734) Take any RPG, and put it in book form, and start it in real world Japan. A fabulous book, one I know you’ll love. (He wrote a book novelizing Ico, from the PS2.  I have to have it!!!!)

Under Plum Lake by Lionel Davidson (0394512529) A boy is led underwater to a strata of worlds underneath ours. In a short 100 page book with imagery not unlike a supposed LSD trip, I literally could not put this one down. The only book he ever wrote like this.

The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen. Most known for writing The Hatchet, this one is survival with a hefty dose of Science-Fiction thrown in. Very good for those who don’t like to read. (0375873236)

As far as series go, I have two suggestions: D.J. Machale wrote a 10 book Pendragon series (having nothing to do with King Arthur) that is amazing! Plot twists that I didn’t see coming, and I actually haven’t read book 9 or 10 yet, cause I don’t want it to end.  The First book, The Merchant Of Death is linked here: (9781416936251)  And Diane Duane wrote a 9 book “Wizard” series, with the first book So You Want to Be a Wizard, which deals with other planets, wildlife, pollution, death, cancer, Ireland, and using Wizardry to keep the world in balance. A great series: (9780152049409)

Other

Some great non-fiction books to read:  Dove by Robin Graham (9780060920470), a memoir about Robin, who, in 1965, sailed around the world, and found loneliness, love, and ultimately, God.

Anything by Neil Postman, which is the basis for a lot of my thinking, and helps to see the world via how we communicate, through TV, Internet, images, etc… His most known book is Amusing Ourselves to Death (9780143036531)

Hope this helps.  If you need more, I can recommend another 200 or so books.  J