So long 2021

Another year bites the dust.

I can't say 2021 was all that terribly bad for me. All of my family stayed out of the hospital for the year, which was a nice change of pace. Got vaccinated to the gills. No Covid. Hell, aside from seasonal allergies, I've not really been sick in a couple of years now.

Got a new, better, job. Like the people I work with.

All told, I really can't complain too much about 2021. The isolation bit has sort of sucked, but it's not been as intense as 2020. The hints of politics for 2022 and 2024 are a source of the odd sleepless night, but I can't do anything about that.

See ya 2021. I won't say you've been a bucket of fun, but you've not given me too much grief. Here's hoping 2022 isn't a dumpster fire.

Review: "Leviathan Falls" by James S.A. Corey (Expanse finale)

I finished "Leviathan Falls" the other day and have been processing since then.

The last book in the Expanse series by the two authors who write under the pseudonym of James S.A. Corey is up to the usual sweeping standard of epic crazy. Multiple views across worlds as the fall of the Laconian Empire shakes out, some of the mysteries of the protomolecule builders come to light, and there's a final-ish showdown with the dark things beyond the rings.

I don't want to drop spoilers in, but I found the overall story to be quite satisfying. I found the conclusions for most of the main characters to be pretty good. I think one character got a raw deal, but such is the way of things. There was one new POV character introduced who bugged the shit out of me, but it's a moot point now. And the epilogue was perfect!

Sigh. Now I need a new series to read.

Daniel Black series by E. William Brown

A friend pushed me to read "Perilous Waif" by E. William Brown some time past. I enjoyed it and have been eagerly awaiting the sequel. In the meantime, I finally broke down and replaced by long-dead Kobo with a Kindle. I decided to fill it up with a few books and got Brown's "Daniel Black" series (only available in eBook).

There's four books in the series so far: Fimbulwinter, Black Coven, Extermination, and Thrall. Rather than go into them in detail, I'll just give my overall impressions as I binge-read them.

The Daniel Black series is about Daniel Black, a software engineer of 21st century Earth who has a spectacularly-bad run of luck. He's recruited by the goddess Hectate to journey to an alternate Earth to save the last of Hectate's worshippers, a sexy murder witch and her equally-sexy hearth witch lover.

As part of the bargain, Daniel is dragged through a stream of chaos that lets him pick up sorcerous powers. Daniel, a former devotee of roleplaying games and video games, munchkins the unholy hell out of this offer, picking up magics around earth, force, flesh, and even mana (the stuff of magic itself). Armed with 21st century knowledge and arcane power, Daniel then proceeds to kick ass in an alternate Earth version of Skandinavia where Ragnarok is starting.

Brown has a gift for really fun narrative. He keeps the story moving and writes entertainingly-intelligent characters. He likes to surround Daniel with a wide variety of sexy and deadly women. Many of them are barely-legal, but his narrative is quick to point out that's relative given the setting. There's lots of polyamourous sex, gratuitous sex, and just... uh... sex. There's also tons of the old ultraviolence mixed in for fun.

Daniel Black's 21st Century American morals and views are tackled in an interesting way through Brown's filter of this alternate Earth. You almost have to pity the first monster that comes across his magical flamethrower. Oops. Spoiler.

The series is a really fun read overall. I have to say, I can't wait for book five in the series. Brown has gone dark since the pandemic, by all accounts. I hope he's okay and hunkered down to crank out more books.

Review: "A Pilgrimage of Swords" and "The Kraken's Tooth" by Anthony Ryan

Fresh off reading "The Pariah", I took the recommendation of a friend of mine and gave Anthony Ryan's "Seven Swords" series a try. So far it's only two books: "A Pilgrimage of Swords" and "The Kraken's Tooth".

I burned through "A Pilgrimage of Swords" in about two days. I got "The Kraken's Tooth" immediately after and started in on that.

The two books go together, so it's easier to ramble about my overall impressions.

In a nutshell, the series is about Guyime, aka "Pilgrim", who bears a cursed sword with a bloodthirsty demon within it. The sword and the demon give our (anti-)hero long life and enhance his badass talents. Guyime, a former king with a decidedly bloodthirsty reputation, is sort of done with the whole mass-murderer routine and is looking to get out of his arrangement with his snarky demonic blade.

In "A Pilgrimage of Swords", Guyime joins a quest to meet the Mad God in order to get a prayer answered. He meets a variety of folk on his quest (as is typical of the trope), including a woman who calls herself "Seeker". Seeker is a beast-charmer on a quest to find her daughter, abducted by slavers.

As one might imagine when one looks for a being called "the Mad God", things go sideways pretty quickly. Guyime and Seeker wind up joining forces, leading into "The Kraken's Tooth". In the second book, the two are on a quest that has tied Seeker's quest for her daughter to Guyime's quest for an end to things. Without giving too much away, krakens are the scariest creatures in the world. Hunting for something called "The Kraken's Tooth", predictably goes in some horribly-wrong directions and involves a magic, demonically-possessed sword. Yes, I think there will be seven books in this series.

Overall the books are quick reads. I'm not going to suggest there's deep character development or anything, but the new characters who come on in the quest are intriguing. I think my favorite character is actually Guyime's sword. Hilariously-evil. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Review: "The Paraiah" by Anthony Ryan

Been a while since I read Anthony Ryan.

I liked his "Blood Song" book a lot. I know I said good things about the sequels, but honestly they lost me, especially when he got to "Queen of Fire". So much so that I've never bothered to pick up the successor series in the Vaelin Al Sorna story.

I picked up "The Pariah" on a whim, really. I was hitting a dry spell in my reading options and decided to give Ryan another shot. I'd tried his dragon series and found that to be uninteresting, so I wasn't sure what to expect of this book.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by "The Pariah".

This novel feels a lot like how "Blood Song" felt. Told as a first-person account of Alywn Scribe, a young bandit turned... uh... scribe... it traces how Alywn essentially gets in a lot of shitty situations, including a holy war. For all that, I found the story engaging. Ryan has a certain style to his tales and "The Pariah" has a lot of the flavor his "Raven's Shadow" series had. Mysterious, dark magic. Vague menace. Badass lady warriors. Gritty situations. Wolves.

Ryan likes wolves.

I'll certainly pick up the next book in the series. I hope it's better than "Tower Lord" and "Queen of Fire".

Thoughts on the Sniper Bladeworks LPC and DMF knives

I'm addicted to Kickstarter.

It's a problem.

So back in the midst of the pandemic chaos (okay, earlier in the pandemic chaos) I decided to back a Kickstarter to reboot production of a selection of knives. The company was called Sniper Bladeworks. I liked the look of the LPC (Lance Personal Carry) knife and, having recently gained some bonus money, decided to back said Kickstarter for one of those knives. I later expanded it for the DMF, a burlier, shiny beast of a knife that called to me.

Time passed. Kickstarters almost never hit their target delivery, and that was before a plague swept the planet. To the full credit of Sniper Bladeworks, there was good communication as to the very valid reasons for delay in delivery on the Kickstarter.

And then they did deliver.

The LPC

The LPC is a tough, burly, monster of a knife. It weighs just under a half pound and has a blade that's a shade past three and a half inches long. It's got a slightly-bent "pistol" grip that feels great. My initial reaction was that it's a bugger to open one-handed. I've since practiced a bit and gotten the hang of opening it. I think this is my new favorite knife.

And I own a lot of knives.

It's a sturdy beast of a thing that feels ever so slightly over-made in all the right ways. It's built for right-handed sorts, but that works fine for me. Fresh out of the box (okay, awesome zip-lock package) it was a bit stiff to open one-handed but is now smooth as silk. If I were to be marooned on a desert island, I'd want to have this on my person. I'm actually so enamored with it that it's become a sort of fidget-toy for me. Good thing I work from home these days!

The DMF

I don't properly know what "DMF" stands for. Do massive f*ckery? I honestly can't say. I thought the LPC was a brute as far as folder knives went, but the DMF makes my LPC folder feel almost dainty in comparison. The DMF weighs a bit over a half pound and has these cool bronze accents on the handle and the pivot screw. I'm not really much for bronze coloring, but I have to say it makes the DMF look awfully purdy. The DMF comes in a S30V blade but the Kickstarter offered a "damascus" style blade that's really quite lovely. The blade is beefy and feels indestructable. It's a chopping blade, with less emphasis on the point. More of a working style knife, to my mind. It has the same, slightly-bent, "pistol" style grip. Like the LPC, it takes a bit of practice to get used to opening it one-handed.

It's become my other fidget tool.

Sniper Bladeworks came out with an assortment of blades for their Kickstarter. I didn't really have a reason to get the fixed blades, but they do look cool. Their folding knives are truly outstanding, though!

Damnit Kickstarter! Every time I think I'm past you...

Review (okay, really just a reaction): Godzilla vs Kong

Wow, I've let this blog rot for the last month and a half!

Last night I was able to watch Godzilla vs Kong.

That movie hit the right buttons with me. It was just a few minutes under 2 hours and really doesn't waste time bringing in Godzilla to do his thing. While Godzilla didn't get as much screen time as I'd have liked, when he was on screen, he was kicking ass and breathing radioactive fire. It was glorious. Kong transitioned well from his Vietnam war-era film.

Oh sure, one can complain that the human characters were underdeveloped and one-dimensional. I could comment on that if I could remember any of them at all. I vaguely remember angry guy from the previous movie and Eleven from "Stranger Things" as an even more annoying teenager. I think the kid from Deadpool 2 was in it too. Oh, and some weird little girl who didn't speak. Their scenes were welcome breaks to either go fix a new drink or hit the restroom.

There's no surprises in GvK. It faithfully follows the kaiju movie formula. Act 1 - threat. Act 2 - exposition so the actors can earn a paycheck. Spiced up with a kaiju battle or two, usually left with an ambiguous conclusion. Act 3 - ultimate throwdown, usually with a new threat added in for shits and giggles.

If you're looking for a classic, uncomplicated, kaiju film with modern fx, then Godzilla vs Kong is the perfect viewing. If you're looking for a complex plot with nuanced acting, relatable characters, sanity, and all that stuff, you probably might want to keep looking through your movie queue.

2021 - the story so far

Welcome to 2021!

Aaaaah! Remember all the chaos and madness of 2020? Feels like yesterday, doesn't it? No?

I expect the fact we're starting 2021 with an attempted insurrection (possibly organized or enabled by some representatives in Congress) followed by the second impeachment of Trump has been a bit of a distraction.

Not a lot of shockers here. I'm not surprised the knuckle-draggers attempted a coup. I am a little surprised it got as far as it did. I'm not surprised Trump got impeached again. I'm not even remotely shocked that Moscow Mitch won't lift a finger to do anything useful to get the trial going.

Wow. Not even a full three weeks into a new year and it's utter madness.

Gonna be a fun year.

Yup. This.