Mini-Review: Year Zero by Rob Reid

Year Zero by Rob Reid was published in 2012 and is a fun, satirical SF book about the music industry. While I’ve seen a few comparisons to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I think that really doesn’t stack up, as Year Zero really aims to tap into musical nostalgia of the late 1970s and 1980s. Think something more along the lines of a combination of John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars and Cline’s Ready Player One with music.

The ultimate premise is rather goofy where a galactic society of advanced alien species discover the music of Earth, becomes crazy addicted to it, and incurs unimaginable debt to humanity due to piracy and copyright laws in the music industry. Reid actually pulls it off with an appropriate amount of humor and just enough reality to keep things grounded.

And of course it is full of nostalgia with music references everywhere.

But, Year Zero is also a satire where humor doesn’t always distract from the acrid bitterness of Reid himself. Reid has a long history in the real world in technology and music, where he was essentially the founder of the first musical streaming company – Rhapsody. From this point of view, the bitterness and anger of Reid’s experience as a tech entrepreneur somewhere between the rampant piracy of the Napster era and the mega music corporations and their legal teams.

I keep saying bitterness because it literally drips from this book. I think it’s safe to say that Reid holds true contempt for lawyers and executives of the music industry and the politicians that they own(ed). I really hope that writing this book was therapeutic for Reid and that he has managed to move past all this, because man…the bitterness. Note: judging from the bio of Reid on his webpage and the description of his latest SFF novel, After On, the therapy of writing is an ongoing project.

Anyway, there is just enough humor and nostalgia keeping the bitterness from taking over the book. It’s fun and gets in a few really great shots (such as the Bill Gates cameo), and some really fantastic music references.

So…looking for satirical science fiction full of musical nostalgia? This book is absolutely for you. And it’s pretty fun for the rest of too.

By Rob Reid:

Year Zero: Amazon

After On: Amazon

Other books mentioned:

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi: Amazon

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: My Review, Amazon

Mini-Review: Willful Child: Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson

Willful Child: Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson is a sequel Willful Child. Therefore, I recommendthat you stop now and read the review I wrote for it as I think it’s valuableto have that perspective before getting to what I write below.

If anything, in the two years since I wrote that review, my thoughts on Willful Child have only grown stronger. I think it is a superb satire of far more than just Star Trek, but read the review for that. I’ve come to realize that while the humor of that book is certainly coarse and inappropriate, that plenty of people ‘get it’ and therefore see what Erikson is doing in the book. All this adds up to me being very happy to read the sequel.

Unfortunately, I was largely unimpressed. Of course, I enjoyed a lot of what Erikson was doing with the book and how he plays with both time travel and parallel-dimension issues. I particularly found the gender-swap / parallel world parts to be well done and timely given so much of what’s going on. And of course, it’s hard for someone like myself to not be immensely amused by the comic-con sequence. Really, Wrath of Betty is worth reading for those two parts regardless of my overall disappointment.

Where does my disappointment come from? It’s all in the timing. Wrath of Betty continues the satirical directions from Willful Child, with a strong focus on the consumerism and rampant capitalism of the Western world. And this is unfortunately where it misses. Often the most effective satire works because it feels particularly timely to what’s going on in the culture it targets. Generally consumerism and capitalism are perfect elements for satire to target, but at least for me, it misses the elephant in the room for a satirical book published in 2016. I am speaking of the big issues we all see too much of right now – from Brexit to the US election and the idiot who will remain nameless, and war and refugees, etc. etc. A satire focused so much on consumerism simply doesn’t stick with me right now – it feels off topic, especially since reality is so primed for good satire (though admittedly, Brexit and the US election are often plenty satirical without any help at all).  

I do think that the focus on consumerism and capitalism in Wrath of Betty is likely to be more timeless and therefore would have more staying power than the satire I wanted to read. But, it remains that I simply couldn’t enjoy things as much as I wanted to. Yes, I realize that due to just how it works writing a novel, that Wrath of Betty was largely written well before reality jumped the shark, but that intellectual knowledge doesn’t really help my reaction to the book.

So, while I think Wrath of Betty is a worthy follow-up to Willful Child, it didn’t work well for me. However, it may well work for you.

Willful Child: Amazon, My Review

Willful Child: Wrath of Betty: Amazon

Review: Willful Child by Steven Erikson

As I begin this review, it’s clear that I need to establish some context – specifically about humor, and more specifically, about my sense of humor. In short, my sense of humor can be terribly inappropriate and offensive. It’s something that I’m constantly aware of, so many may not realize this, but it’s true. Yes I’m a product of the society I come from, but I’m also a product of my own love ‘Meta’. Which basically means that my humor often follows this process: 1) wow, that’s offensive and/or wrong, 2) I am aware that it’s offensive, 3) I’ll amp that up an order of magnitude or three, 4) now it’s funny.

I admit the above not because I’m looking for a discussion about the (de)merits of my sense of humor, but because I need to establish what I can find funny and my love of Meta. This leads me to Willful Child by Steven Erikson (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon), which reeks of inappropriate humor and Meta exploration of society. As a result, I’m essentially predisposed to liking this book, while I can see why a good number of people will not only not like the book, but loathe the approach taken (and with good reason).

Willful Child is branded as a Star Trek parody, which is absolutely correct, while missing the point entirely. Willful Child is absolutely a blatant parody of Star Trek, with a focus on the infamous Captain Kirk. The humor (or offense depending on your point of view) develops through Erikson’s decision of how to define his parody – essentially through the sexist (even misogynistic?), anti-authority, racial/species insensitivity (OK, this is being kind), aspects of Kirk. He does this through Captain Adrian Alan Sawback of the Engage-class starship Willful Child. While the parallels to Captain Kirk are there, the vision I (and likely those younger than me) kept coming up with is that of Captain Mal from Firefly, only in the persona of Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, but I may be unduly influenced by the cover art in this instance.

Let’s just say that Erikson lays it on thick. So thick that it really does become tiresome at times and it’s hard, even for someone with my sense of humor, to not feel disgusted by the choices made. Of course, that’s the point of Erikson’s humor in this book – forgetting for a moment whether or not that is a wise choice to make – we really should look at what Erikson is doing. And Erikson is essentially condemning pretty much the entire American-dominated, patriarchal, Western culture of the past 50+ years. Have I mentioned yet that it would seem that Erikson is one bitterly cynical person with a rather low opinion of humanity?**

Erikson uses his intentionally inappropriate humor in this book to focus on the absurd, horrific consequences of Western Culture. Being a SFF writer, he uses the underlying privilege of classic science fiction and its embodiment in Star Trek, as the vehicle for his condemnation. And the result really is a brilliant piece of work. The humor is over-the-top offensive, which I find funny*, and it is seamlessly woven into a completely paradoxical narrative – one that clearly loves classic science fiction and one that believes that the messages of classic science fiction embody the absolute worst of modern civilization. All the while, he makes the reader actually cheer for Captain Sawback (as they choke back vomit), in spite of him being a complete asshole, sexist pig. That’s a damn fine-line to manage.

And I can’t forget to mention the names – no author does names better. Essays could be written about the symbolic meaning names in this book, even those that aren’t blatantly offensive (I’m looking in your general direction, Security Officer Nipplebaum*).

One could (and probably should) argue that there are other, less offensive, ways to make the points that Erikson makes in this book. Erikson certainly isn’t inventing something new in his condemnation of the privilege of classic science fiction and poison that it injects into civilization. Though I have to admire the balls* that it takes to do it in this way, because the point is a rusty nail punched into the gut by a nihilistic deadpan philosopher** (now I’m laying it on thick), and it’s a point that’s not likely to win many friends.

Wrapping it up, I think that Willful Child won’t truly be a divisive book, since I think that the overwhelming majority of those who read (or begin to read) it won’t like it – whether they bounce off it being a humorous parody, or if they just find the humor disgusting – I simply think that not many will like this book. But I could be wrong, maybe my sense of humor isn’t as rare as it feels, and others will see this book as the brilliantly offensive manifesto (laying it on thick again) that I see it as. I guess I’m just a sucker of for cynicism wrapped in inappropriate humor, and I’m probably the only one hoping for a sequel***.

But I’m aware, so it’s all good.****

*See the first paragraph of this review

**Though, perhaps the in writing this Erikson is just trying spur thought and change?

***Seriously, I would love to see sequels to this, and I'm not-so-secretly hoping this book does find an audience. Does this review help or hurt those chances?

****I added a few minor edits post-publishing.

F*** Me Ray Bradbury

I just saw this and it is hilarious. (NSFW)

And here is a picture of Mr. Bradbury's reaction. Perhaps viagra was mentioned?

Happy belated 90th birthday to the grandmaster.

Review: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

As I sat down and began writing this review, my first reaction was something like ‘wow, academicals is a real word’ (even Microsoft says as much). It seems to be both a variant of academic and a reference to the clothing/uniform of a formal academic setting. The connotation points to a dusty old variation, reeking of formality and elitism. Coupled with the other word in the title, ‘unseen’, the stage is well set from one of the major thematic elements of Unseen Academicals (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) – just how out of touch the old traditional universities are with the common folk that make up the majority. While the universities see themselves as pinnacle of society about which everything else revolves, most actually view them as out-of-touch elitists that are (thankfully) unseen.

So, what is the bridge between the academicals and the masses? Sports of course. The central plot to Unseen Academicals is the formation of a ‘foot-the-ball’ team – the Ankh-Morpork version of football (or soccer to those of us in the US). The Unseen University must form a team as the city’s Patrician (a rather benevolent dictator) embraces football as he attempts to add a bit of civilization to it.

As with all Terry Pratchett books, the presentation is humor – a very British humor that ranges from laugh-out-loud to silent chuckle to ‘oooo, he didn’t do that’ to ‘that should have been funnier than it was’ to ‘I completely missed just how clever that was’ to not being all that funny at all. It’s all very light-hearted and far from serious – that is unless you read between the lines.

Not just about football and the University, Unseen Academicals also touches on topics as varied as fanatic fandom, recognizing who you are and becoming that person, puppy love, fashion, and racism. All of this is presented through the view of a few people – the head of the night kitchen at the Unseen University, her beautiful young assistant, Trevor the candle dribbler, and an odd creature of unknown origins named Mr. Nutt. Notable appearances are made by the Archchancellor of Unseen University, Ponder Stibbons, the Patrician, the Librarian and other favorites of Ankh-Morpork.

Now I’m from the USA and as expected, not a big follower of soccer/football. A large part of Unseen Academicals is British-style football fandom and all that surrounds it. As a result, I’m sure a bit was lost in translation, but as a sports fan I found much to be universal in nature and enjoyed it all the same.

Puns abound, wonderful wordplay toying with the medieval, absurd traditions become more so, and dialog verges on the ridiculous – exactly what one expects with a Pratchett novel. Unseen Academicals leans toward the late-Pratchett writing style where the slapstick satire is replaced by the clever that touches our world full of pop-culture and political references. I’m not a Pratchett aficionado, nor have I (yet) read all of the Discworld novels, but I’ll go ahead and say that I wouldn’t place Unseen Academicals among the best of the Discworld books, but it’s certainly nearer the top than the bottom. For me the humor was hit or miss with miss winning out more often, but on reflection I can’t help but think that much of the miss did indeed hit, I just didn’t notice it at the time*.

Unseen Academicals is the latest Discworld book from Sir Terry Pratchett. In spite of the inevitable deterioration that Pratchett suffers at the hands of Alzheimer’s disease, he was able to dictate this book using a combination of assistants and voice recognition software – and he’s still in top form. As with most Discworld novels, to fully appreciate Unseen Academicals, prior knowledge of Discworld helps – but a novice reader could easily enjoy the book without this inside information.

Unseen Academicals takes a bunch of fat wizards set in their scholastic ways and throws them onto a pitch full of rough common folk – hilarity ensues and so much more. Fans of Pratchett will love this one, though the appeal is not just limited to those fans. 7.5/10

Related Posts: Review of Sourcery

* This is far from the best example of my command (or lack thereof) of prose but seems oddly appropriate for a review of Terry Pratchett’s writing.†
† It also felt comfortably appropriate to utilize footnotes in a review of a Discworld novel.

Brandon Sanderson Satires Self

So the good folks at Tor apparently were creatively bored while Brandon Sanderson was visiting, and the result is is the video below where Brandon must deal with touring without David Farland.

Funny stuff

Ha - Happy Halloween

In The Know: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?

Neil Gaiman and His Amazing Oracular Journal

Go, visit it now - seriously. All of my life's problems may have been solved by this display of wisdom to my queries.


Edit - So, I thought I'd share some of the wisdom I received today.

First I asked it what I should have for lunch:

I'm in Hollywood with daughter Holly.

I Didn't know how to interpet that one - I went with drunken noodels.

Later I asked - It's Friday, should I leave work early?

But it's very out of print

I suspect that it will take a few drinks at happy hour prices to puzzle out the meaning of this, I should leave soon.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

Well, the title to this one just about says it all. Christopher Moore is known for his humorous, satirical and off-kilter writing – Lamb, is certainly no exception. It seems that the Bible forgot to mention Christ’s best friend – well, Moore provides us with his story, as only a very funny person can.

The story begins with an angel that can only be described as a bit incompetent. This angel receives instructions to resurrect Biff so that a new Gospel can be written. Our angel is not happy with his assignment, referring to Biff in less than flattering profanity.

Who is this Biff – certainly not someone mentioned in the Gospels as we know them? Biff is Jesus’ best friend from childhood (Jesus is referred to as Josh rather than the Greek version of the name we know so well). How could Josh go through life without ever lying, steeling, sinning, etc – well, his best friend did all these things for him.

Biff relates all the humorous, blasphemous and even mundane events of Josh’s growing up and seeking to achieve his destiny. We are finally told about what he did during those teenage and young adult years (remember most of the Gospels start with Jesus at the ripe old age of 30). The pair sets off for the Far East to track down the three wise men, in this time they receive teaching from many ancient philosophies (such as Buddhism and Taoism) and learn such things as kung fu, jew-do, yoga, alchemy, sarcasm, and how to keep camels regular.

Clearly this is a subject that many consider sacred and controversial; and Moore negotiates a very fine line quite well. The story is humorous, remarkably true to the Gospels, and not offensive (at least in my opinion). In fact, I’d even go as far to say that through all the crass and even silly aspects, the end result is an insightful construction of the possible origins of Jesus’ teachings. One my greatest surprises is that Moore clearly did his homework while writing this one – it’s not just a collection humorous anecdotes and fart jokes.

Moore is not the greatest writer out there, but neither is he a bad writer, and he is certainly a writer that I find quite humorous. He has no fear to tackle controversial and potentially offensive subjects, yet does so with a light heart and an ironic mirror. On my 10-point rating scale (describe here), Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal rates a solid 7. This is the first book written by Moore that I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.

Related Posts: Christopher Moore Book Signing