Second Opinion: The Dragon's Path/The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham

      

As much as we love each other here at Nerds of a Feather, we sometimes do have disagreements. One disagreement that The G and I cannot seem to iron out revolves around our respective views of Daniel Abraham's new epic fantasy series, The Dagger and the Coin. The G wrote excellent reviews of Book 1, The Dragon's Path (which he gave an 8/10) and Book 2, The King's Blood (which he gave a 6/10). My opinion is actually the inverse of his. Whatever the case, I see no reason to reinvent the wheel, which The G has done quite well, so instead of providing a traditional review of both books, I will simply state what I feel were the strengths and weaknesses of each installment of the series. This "Second Opinion" is my contribution to our Nerds of a Feather Anniversary Celebration!

The Dragon's Path

I literally flew through the book, gobbling it up in a few days. It is fantastically well written for a fantasy series, featuring crisp and clear prose. Further, Abraham deals with the issue of morality in a unique and inventive way. Geder, for instance, is pure of heart but evil in action. But Abraham grapples with morality in even more sophisticated a manner through the use of Dawson, a blue-blood (noble) in the truest sense of the term. Dawson fights to uphold the nobility; he fights for tradition, for what he thinks is right, true, and just. But in the process, he emerges as something of an anti-hero. I found myself rooting for his victory and rejoicing in his good fight while reviling his cause. What is morality, Abraham suggests, when what is moral and good to one is truly repulsive to another?  

Of course, The Dragon's Path makes no qualms about the immorality of atrocity. Abraham includes a number of spine-chilling scenes, acts of such emotional power that we rarely find in works of epic fantasy. One of the most horrible atrocities I have encountered occurs in this novel. But the presentation of this atrocity in a lighthearted manner, without celebrating its grit, its blood, or gore, make it all the more disturbing.  

Nonetheless, I had a number of quibbles with The Dragon's Path. As I see it, the book had four main weaknesses. First, the world building is a bit splotchy. Abraham introduces the idea of 13 races, but fails to flesh this idea out throughout the course of the novel. Perhaps it would have been more effective, as The G mentions in his review, had Abraham introduced the various slave races in a more gradual and natural way. The way he has it set up now, I am not sure that the 13 races actually adds anything to this series. 

Second, Abraham only hints at a broader narrative without really beginning to engage in it. Failing to introduce the main story arc, even in a limited way, detracts from the power of the story. Why continue reading the series when we have little idea where it is going?

The answer, of course, should have been the characters. Had Abraham created a character-driven fantasy with protagonists and antagonists about whom the reader truly cares, then that would overshadow the lack of a main story arc. Sadly, Abraham fails to do so. (A perfect example of a writer who does this well is Steven Erikson in The Malazan Book of the Fallen. One has little clue of the overall story line even after the first four or five books. But Erikson creates fantastic characters, an inspiring formula, and brilliant world building that keeps the reader engaged nonetheless). Although I enjoyed watching Cithrin grow up and seeing Marcus grow increasingly more protective over her, I never really began to care for the main characters. 

Finally, the novel only hinted at tenuous connections between the characters. While I understood that they would play more important and interconnected roles as the series progressed, I found myself wondering why each of the four main viewpoints did not connect to the others in a more intuitive way.

In the end, I did enjoy The Dragon's Path. The writing is clear and engaging, and Abraham deals with morality and atrocity in a more engrossing way than most other epic fantasies I have read. But the problems in its story arc and its characters do not warrant the fantastic score The G gave.  

The Math

The G's Score: 8/10

Jemmy's Second Opinion: 6/10 "Still enjoyable, but the flaws are hard to ignore"

The King's Blood    

I also find myself disagreeing slightly with The G's assessment of The King's Blood. In this book, Abraham presents is a more complete package than he did with the first installment of the series. The King's Blood is well written and engaging; I zipped through it, finishing the book it in even less time than I finished the first volume. To me, Abraham transformed most of the weaknesses of The Dragon's Path into strengths in The King's Blood (except the 13 races, which still seems to add little to the broader story).

First, and most importantly, I began to care about the characters. Cithrin truly comes into her own as a bank manager and as a political and economic mind. And although not all her decisions feel natural or make sense (her relationship with and protection of Geder, for instance--in this, I do agree with The G's criticisms), I remained invested enough in the character for my suspension of disbelief mechanism to kick in. After all, Cithrin is a fantastic character: highly intelligent, ambitious, fearless, and eminently practical. Marcus becomes more sympathetic and complex, as he becomes increasingly torn between his duties as Cithrin's head of security and his growing fatherly affections for her. Geder, always repulsive, continues to portray the child-like quality of evil. Child-like purity, after all, is composed of equal parts good and evil, parts which at times seem to be at war within Geder's personality. Dawson, ever the challenger for his particular sense of justice, fights the good fight, engaging in a battle he knows he is unlikely to win. And Clara, Dawson's wife, finds herself pushed into a decision that she otherwise would not have even thought up. It is the characters that make the story, and The King's Blood does a much better job in getting the reader invested in its characters, whether we like them or not.

Equally importantly, the connections between the protagonists and antagonists become clear as a sunny day. The advent of the spider priests (under Geder's protection), Marcus's personal quest, Master Kit's existence, Cithrin's attempts to establish herself in the bank, and Dawson's battle to save the kingdom point to where Abraham is headed with the series, and kept me much more engaged than did the first volume of the series.  

!SPOILER AHOY!

One of The G's biggest criticisms of The King's Blood is the fact that Geder was chosen as Lord Regent instead of Dawson. This, The G argues, makes no sense. But I do not feel that this should be seen as a flaw in The King's Blood. Instead, it is a flaw of the first book of the series, The Dragon's Path. Geder Palliako was the obvious choice or Lord Regent once he became the protector and adoptive father of the crown prince. So while I agree with The G that Dawson was the obvious first choice for Lord Regent, I also recognize that his fate was sealed after Geder became the crown prince's gallant protector. Instead of being a problem with The King's Blood, let's add it to the [growing] list of problems with The Dragon's Path.  

!SPOILER ENDED, READ ON, OH FEARLESS READER!

The King's Blood, in the end, does much to invigorate the series (which has a lackluster beginning). It is well paced, interesting, and ties the otherwise disparate story lines into an organic whole. While there are, as The G points out, some forehead slapping moments, they are offset by wonderful character development and a fast-paced character-driven story. Whereas I am hesitant to give an emphatic recommendation to The Dragon's Path, The King's Blood gets two thumbs up.  

The Math

The G's Score: 6/10 

Jemmy's Second Opinion: 8/10 "Well worth your time and attention"

[Read about our scoring process here, and learn why we say "no" to grade inflation.]

AiIP: The Self-Publishing Manifesto

First things first: Happy Anniversary to the Nerds Feather crew! I guess I'm sort of part of that crew, but I'm the new kid here and have been reading this blog for far longer than I have been contributing to it, so I can throw in my congratulations, right?

I stumbled across Nerds Feather in the process of tracking down review sites to send my book to (Did you know I have a book coming out? In eight days? Perhaps you should read it) and was instantly hooked (to the extent ADD will allow). I love good reviews that don't take themselves to seriously, and Nerds Feather provides that. And when 'The G' asked me to contribute, well, that's just flattering, even though he probably won't let me review my own book (Entire review: the greatest work of fiction to ever grace this earth).

About that:

I want to call this part 'I am a Self-Published Author', but that just feeds into the pretentiousness I am about to denounce. But that's not news; I am self-publishing my upcoming book; and, honestly, proud to. Not because I'm self-published, or indie, or whatever- but because I have a quality product and that's the route I chose.

It's not the only one.

Time will tell if it's the right one. For some reason, a lot of 'indie' authors (one in particular) plant this flag of WE ARE INDIE HEAR US ROAR and it's bullshit. It is, because so many of these authors draw a line in the sand that doesn't need to be there, with no regard to the actual product- the story itself. If they actually cared about the publishing industry and it's future, they would spend more time on the product rather than the platform.

This has been driven home, time and again, in this little quest of mine. As with how I found and came to love this blog, searching for places that would read, if not review, my book, time and again I read some variation of (this from Insatiable Booksluts, which is itself a fantastic review site):

I’ve decided that IB will no longer accept pitches for self-published work. I’m not making a judgment about all self-published work here; no, this is about the fact that, energy-wise, it’s really draining for me to sift through pitches because I don’t have a touchstone for self-published work. Is this or that book going to be good? I dunno. I have to put a lot of research into books to see if it’s worth it to try to read it, and most of them don’t make the cut, so that work is for naught.

And that's more kindly put than some of what I've seen. Guess what? I don't blame them in the slightest. I have read some garbage published through traditional houses. I have read some fantastic books from those same houses. I have read some garbage that is self-published. I have read some that is... passable, I guess. A couple, via Kickstarter, that I liked. Nothing that made me go Oh Em Gee this is FANTASTIC.

But that's the point up there in blockquotes; it's one giant slush pile and the reader is supposed to fork over $3+ to go through it? Is that really what we- as self-published authors- are asking them to do? I'm all in favor of readers having more control via reviews on GoodReads or wherever, but come on. Reviewers certainly don't want to sift through every unedited manifesto that gets slapped up on KDP with a poorly Photoshopped cover.

I'm different, shouts every self-pulished author. Hell, I said it, right up there, in black and white. I believe it's true. So do each and every one of them. With so many in the same inferior boat, that is clearly not true. I hope it is for me; I've spend time and money to be sure it is. That's for you to judge, though.

So what's the solution? What's the vetting process? Does it boil down to what I ask of you in the previous paragraph- you, the reader, are asked to judge my work? Or will hybrid presses rise further; essentially publishing co-ops?

So, self-published authors, if you're going to proclaim it the future, you damn well better have a plan and a quality product to back it up.

Post Script: Go read Chuck Wendig's take on these issues. They are quite good (and R-rated).

Well, that was cheery, wasn't it? Let's talk about something else.

 In things that will hopefully improve said self-publishing, Barnes & Noble rolled out Nook Press, which is basically a step up from their mediocre PubIt platform, to say nothing of an effort to get some authors to publish exclusively with them. We'll see where it goes; I think it will be useful to authors- but obviously, given my above rant, I'm not terribly optimistic about the use it will see.

But Amazon (etc) is Killing Bookstores!

This was actually going to be the original thrust of this post, but Peter Damian beat me to it over at Book Riot, and I can't really top dinosaur and lifeboat metaphors, so I won't try, but there are two things I want to add to his most excellent piece:

1) Chill out, everybody. OK, so he technically says exactly that, but I want to say it, too. Not every shift in publishing is the end of it. The sky is not falling, it's just changing, and there are going to be some clouds. It makes me think of Jurassic Park (the book) where they're talking about what will happen if the dinosaurs reach the mainland and it will be the end of the world. Malcolm chimes in with words to the effect of 'the world will be just fine. It's humans who will die.' So maybe some things will die off. Books will chug merrily along (Wooo dinosaur metaphor! Sorta).

2) That said, bookstores aren't going to be a casualty- at least, not yet. There certainly ones who are dying off- Pete will talk about the one near him with piles of dusty books that struggles to move any product. Conversely, my writing hole and sanctuary, Village Books, seems to be thriving. I talked to Lindsey over there the other day, and she pointed out exactly what Peter did- it's all about adaptability. Like all of us, the Village Books crew were nervous about the change that ebooks would bring. But they adapted, bought into the change and kept doing what they do best- selling books. A great staff, great selection and clean store will keep getting books into the hands of readers.

Saving the Best for Last

That is, if you like science fiction. In eight days, my short story collection will come out. Reviews are starting to pop up and have been outrageously good; check them out. If you feel so inclined, help spread the word- I'll be giving some advance copies away if some social goals are met.

You can grab a sample from the site- downloadable in pdf, epub or mobi format.

And finally, check into my blog tomorrow for an announcement about a very special release giveaway in conjunction with Fireside Magazine and Chuck Wendig.

Bioshock Infinite

the magic is back!

Bioshock has returned with a vengeance! The original Bioshock was, and still is one of the most original games of this generation. Bioshock Infinite is right up there with it, possibly even higher. While there are similar themes to the original and some connections can be drawn, this is a completely different game. Instead of taking place in Rapture, deep under the surface of the ocean, Infinite's environment is high above the clouds in a dystopian city called Columbia. This picturesque metropolis is populated by followers of the Prophet Comstock, a former American patriot who seceded from the Union and took his city into the sky along with his devoted followers. Before we get too deep into this, let me just say that Infinite brought back that sense of wonder and discovery I felt when I played the first Bioshock. It is unique, original, deep, challenging, imaginative, beautiful, and frightening, all at the same time.

the basics

I don't want to spoil a game this great so the amount of information I include about the story will be very limited. To include too much detail would be tantamount to telling a four-year-old every last gift Santa was going to bring him the night before Christmas. Not cool. Still, I have to include a little bit of background so I'll do my best to cover the necessities without giving away too much. It's a fine line I'll be walking, so please forgive me if I step a little too far to one side or the other. I'm trying here. Cut me some slack!

You play this first-person shooter as Booker DeWitt, a former member of the 7th cavalry at the "battle" at Wounded Knee. Most Native Americans would describe it as the Massacre at Wounded Knee, but suffice it to say he isn't the most heroic of protagonists. After that, he worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency as a union buster. Again, not exactly a saint. Upon arrival, he is given this box and a message, "Bring us the girl, wipe away the debt." 

As I said before, there are some similarities between this game and the original. In Bioshock, the leader of the dystopian underwater city Rapture was named Ryan. In Columbia, the man's name is Comstock. He has led his followers "out of the Sodom below" and up into his perfect city in the clouds. However, as events progress, it becomes more and more clear that Columbia is no utopia. Well, it might be considered utopia by pre-Civil War plantation and slave owners in Mississippi, but in today's terms, it's kinda racist. Columbia runs on slave convict labor and interracial dating/marriage is forbidden. They're even racist against the Irish, as you learn in one of Columbia's many Kinetoscopes. These reminded me of the Penny Arcade at Disneyland and their flip-card movie machines from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

You are tasked with finding Elizabeth, "the girl", and bringing her back to New York City. Elizabeth is Comstock's daughter. He has trapped her in a tower and expects her to follow in his footsteps and lead the flock after he dies. That's about all I'm going to say about the plot because I don't want to ruin it for any of you. Suffice it to say the story is deep enough to write a book or two about. Unlike Bioshock, which starts you off in an immediate state of terror, Infinite begins idyllically and slowly devolves into an horrific nightmare. It is the type of game that you will have to play twice in order to have a chance at catching all the details. In fact, I'm already about five hours into my second playthrough. I started it within minutes of finishing the game the first time and watching the credits (be sure to watch until the end). I suspect you will too, if you decide to pick up this masterpiece of modern gaming. 

the soundtrack is a character

One of the first inklings I had that there was more going on here than a simple rescue mission was the music. It begins in total agreement with the period in which the game takes place. The music for the loading screens is Solace, a piece written by Scott Joplin in 1909 and used by Marvin Hamlisch in the movie The Sting. However, as you get deeper into the game, you start to get musical hints that there is something screwy going on. First, I heard a calliope in the distance playing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, the Cindy Lauper classic from the 1980s. Then I passed by an area that was clearly blasting Creedence Clearwater Revival. My first thoughts were that they had some serious continuity issues they simply expected a musically uneducated audience to miss. 

Finally, when I came across a 1912 version of Painted Love, I realized these tracks were most definitely placed with more than a smidge of thought behind them. They point to one of the themes of the game: the space-time continuum. I won't go into that particular aspect any further so as not to spoil it, but it was quite the epiphany when I figured out that they were using the music to hint at later events in the story. It's just one of the many bits of brilliance contained within Bioshock Infinite. 

elizabeth and the rest of the npc cast

The non-player characters' (NPCs) realism and their addition to the completeness of Columbia can only be compared to those in Grand Theft Auto IV. Of course, the characters and the subject matter of their conversations were completely different, but it is the only other game I've played where they took such time and effort to add detail to the NPCs. Remember the crazy street-preaching bum, the people on cell phone conversations, the groups of girls talking about their dog boyfriends on street corners in Liberty City? They served to make the GTA4 universe feel all the more real and helped with player immersion in the gaming experience. The NPCs in Bioshock Infinite are no less effective at bringing you into their world and making it believable. 

Take everything I just said for the regular NPCs and multiply it by infinity for Elizabeth (see what I did there?). She is immediately sympathetic, locked in a tower like some early-20th century Rapunzel, being unknowingly monitored and experimented upon by her own father. She is a free-spirited innocent with absolutely no idea of the mess in which she's involved. Throughout the action of the game, she never got in the way. She constantly found useful items for you, especially during combat. She was able to open tears (rips in the space-time continuum) that allow for auto-turrets, weapons, cover, or automatons to aid you in combat. While this was one of the weak plot points (tears that release auto-turrets), in my opinion, I was very thankful for it at the time! Still, I would've preferred they leave them out for the sake of realism. I can always die a few extra times. That was literally one of maybe three minor imperfections in this game. It was that good. 

I read that programming Elizabeth was one of the most difficult parts for Irrational Games, the developers, and I can understand why. She is so lifelike that you feel like you're playing with another human being, not a computer-controlled NPC. There were stories of glitch after glitch with the heroine in the beta testing phase, but in the end they really got it right. She is the perfect partner: always helpful, never in the line of fire, never blocking your movement. Discovering the mystery behind Bioshock Infinite with her was a joy. 

gameplay and weapons/powers

As previously stated, there are many similarities between Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. One of those is the powers that are available to use for dispatching enemies. In the first game they were called "Plasmids". In Infinite, they are known as "Vigors". Of course they had the obligatory fire and electric attacks, but some of the others were quite ingenious and creative. 

The Feast of Crows sent out a flock of flesh-eating birds that attacked enemies in the immediate area. Undertow would pull unsuspecting enemies off the side of whatever part of Columbia they happened to be standing on and plummet them to their death miles below. My favorite had to be Possession, though. It would take over an enemy and they fought on your side until they were either killed or all other enemies had been dispatched. If they managed to survive the onslaught, they immediately committed suicide upon coming out of the haze they were in and realizing what they had done, murderously turning on their fellow police officers. One guy literally bashed his head in three times with a baseball bat to get the job done because he didn't have a gun. That's dedication! 

Traveling around Columbia brought a completely new mechanic to gaming. There were tracks called "skylines" that connected the various sections of the floating city. They were used, along with floating barges and zeppelins, to transport goods and people between areas that weren't physically connected. They were also used to get Booker and Elizabeth further along in their missions. I'm not aware of any games that have used this roller coaster-esque mode of transportation before, so you wouldn't be out of your mind to expect a few glitches here and there. However, the programmers pulled it off without a hitch. It took thirty seconds to master and was an invaluable tool for both travel and combat.

You traveled on the skylines via a skyhook, which the soon-to-be-dead officer is so nicely modeling above. In a not-so-shocking addition, landing on an enemy when detaching from a skyline at 30 mph didn't do good things for them physically. It was also a great way to get out of the line of fire and let your armor re-charge if you were close to death. The use of skylines was a stroke of genius, and the skill with which the programmers pulled it off is no less impressive. Like so many parts of this game, the smoothness with which they instigate new gameplay mechanics like the skyhook is bordering on magical. Many fantastic games like Dead Space, Call of Duty, Gears of War, and Halo took a sequel or two before they honed their mechanics to perfection. Although this is technically the third installment of Bioshock, it is an entirely different game than the first two in many aspects, not the least of which being that it takes place miles above sea level instead of miles below it. The skyhook and Elizabeth alone are reason enough to play this game for yourself.

in summation

If you couldn't tell, I loved this game. Its combination of an amazing story with flawless gameplay mechanics and character development made for one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I've had since the first Bioshock. It even managed to top it in many areas. The way that Columbia builds tension, starting out as a pleasant, Disney-like utopia and descending into a terrifying hell of racism and murder, presented more overall development than its predecessor. The addition of the best NPC I've ever encountered in Elizabeth and her childlike innocence only served to raise my regard for the game even higher. It is definitely not for children or the faint of heart as it contains many adult themes, not to mention the fact that the depth of the story is simply above the head of your average 12-year-old. Bioshock Infinite is one of those games you will have to play at least twice before you fully understand it. That depth of story is why I'm giving it my highest grade. I highly recommend this game to anyone that, well, to anyone that plays video games. You will not be disappointed.

the math

Objective score: 10/10

Bonuses: +1 for Elizabeth, the finest non-player character to ever be programmed into a game.

Penalties: -1 for the few stretches they made to help the action along, like creating tears with auto-turrets or weapons. They were helpful, no question, but they took me out of the realistic universe Irrational Games created for brief moments. 

Nerd coefficient: 10/10. Mind-blowing/life-changing/(one of the) best...game(s)...ever!

Abandoned First Anniversary Kickstarter Projects

The Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together blog turned one yesterday, and a few weeks ago when The G pointed out that the big day was on the horizon, he asked me what we should do to celebrate. I had a lot of ideas. Big ideas. Ideas that would cost money. Yet we are but lowly blog contributors; we are not made of money, nor are we any of us accumulating it with any great haste. So where do nerds go when they have ideas they can't pay for? That's right --

!KICKSTARTER!

So here are the ideas I presented to The G for our First Anniversary Nerds of a Feather Kickstarter:

Make your own thrilling retro cover here.

Nerds of a Feather, the Book
The interwebs are great and all, but you can't hold them in your hands. So what better way to commemorate the first year of Nerds of a Feather than by printing up and binding all 365 posts from April 11, 2012 to April 11, 2013 (and yes, by an odd coincidence, there really are 365)? As a special treat, this handsome volume would also include all of the posts that The G started but never finished. You know, for the Nerds of a Feather completist out there. Sadly, this was a nonstarter among the contributors, with the feeling being that we are living in an increasingly ephemeral time in which, soon enough, ones and zeros will replace all of our worldly belongings. So a book was out of the running, but there's always...

Well, we had to get *somebody* with box office appeal.

Nerds of a Feather, the Movie
Based on the true story of a humble graduate student who had a vision for ranting about nerdy things, like why Robert Heinlein is dumb and movies about killer sharks are super awesome, the story would have followed the creation of a small, nationwide team of highly specialized geeks, all crushed under crippling student loan debt, and their bloody rise to power before succumbing to coke-fueled excess and a late career lapse into saying "hoo-ah!" at inappropriate times while writing run-on sentences. Sadly, the $33 million production budget put it out of reach for Kickstarter. But Amanda Palmer has to make another album someday, so maybe next year the $33 mil will seem more attainable.

I cheated and picked the band name myself, but generate your own random album cover and title here.

Nerds of a Feather, the Supergroup
You may not know this, but Nerds of a Feather contributor Molly has a lovely singing voice. I have a voice that sounds a little like crushed gravel by the side of the road, but I write folk songs, so I figure it's cool. The G has more than dabbled in electronica, and I'm sure the rest of the Nerds Feather crew can wield a mean tambourine and/or pair of maracas when pressed. So why not -- why NOT! -- I asked, create a supergroup? This is actually kind of a good idea...we might wind up doing this, Kickstarter or no.

But Finally...
For so, so many reasons, we weren't able to get any of these projects up on Kickstarter, and in the end we decided to keep it simple:

It's not every Jedi can balance a cupcake on his head while fighting.

A sincere thank you to all of our wonderful readers for a great first year. Here's to not going down in flames in the next 12 months! Follow us on Twitter @nerds_feather.

Retrospecticus!

Can you believe it's been a year already? Because I can't. In the beginning, there was just me with a URL I'd paid a small amount of money for and the vague notion that I wanted to blog about "nerdy stuff." The idea had come to me while sitting in a dingy Thai restaurant famous for its "secret menu" (which means you just have to ask for it) of southern Thai curries, which for those of you who don't know, tend towards the psychedelically hot. So maybe it was the chili speaking, but blogging about "nerdy stuff" seemed like a good idea at the time. And after a year, I can safely say that it's been orders of magnitude more fun than I ever imagined.

Of course, credit goes where credit's due: nerds of a feather would never be what it is today without the tireless efforts of my co-administrator Vance and our platoon of top-notch writers--Molly, Philippe, Mike, Jemmy, Brad and our newest contributor, Zhaoyun, as well as our monthly columnist Dean. Each brings their own interests and style to the table, but I'm constantly amazed at how good their shit is. Together we've managed to expand from our early coverage of science fiction, fantasy and cult films into comics, crime fiction, anime and gaming. But how did it all happen? Let's ask the nerds of a feather disembodied institutional voice to give it to us straight...

-The G

April, 2012

Things started with a call to arms from some weirdo calling himself "The G," and who was laboring under the strange delusion that this blog would eventually cover "cars, sports, politics" [WTF]. At that time, he was preoccupied with changes in the publishing industry, as well as the imminent arrival of alien dinosaurs hellbent on conquest. Thankfully Vance came on board and helped him simmer down with top-notch reviews of the films It Came From Outer Space, The Iron Rose and provided us with our first bona fide hit when he reviewed Pavane by Keith Roberts, which just happens to be one of Neil Gaiman's favorite books. For his first book review, The G covered Saladin Ahmed's now Hugo and Nebula nominated Throne of the Crescent Moon, while he and Vance entered into a mindmeld in order to systematize the bell-curved scoring system that marks us all as a bunch of cranky old nerds.

May, 2012

Big things happened in May, not least of which was bringing Molly on board. She and Vance did back-to-back reviews of The Fly (1958) and The Fly (1986), and we all came together to rant about the things we hate in film. The G gave Iain M. Banks' sociological space opera novel The Player of Games the site's first 9/10, interviewed Ian Rose from the sadly now defunct SF/F magazine Nine and reduced all six seasons of Lost into haikus. Vance checked out season 3 of Community for our first proper TV review and watched another Criterion Collection attempt to get B-movies, while Molly checked in to see what Dracula and Satan are up to.

June, 2012

More awesomeness ensured in June, not least of which was corralling Philippe into feeding his inner nerd with sweet, sweet comics. To that end, he read Forgetless and Dan the Unharmable, while he and The G got into a long-winded conversation about those annual summer superhero crossovers, where everyone gets together to stop the worst menace ever (since the last one). On the SF/F side, The G had the pleasure of doing a great interview with one of his favorite SF/F people, Djibril al-Ayad of The Future Fire and found Murakami's 1Q84 mostly disappointing, while Vance ranked the novels of Kurt Vonnegut, eulogized Ray Bradbury and they both posted their (intended) summer reading lists. Vance and The G also watched a shitload of B movies, of which The G probably liked The Reef more than any of the others (it has real shark footage), while Vance dug pharaohs-and-Elvis epic Bubba Ho-Tep. 

July, 2012

July was a true banner month, not least of which because Mike started writing for us with this excellent tale of ComicCon, followed by a reflective piece on his quest for a DeLorean complete with flux capacitor. We were also graced with fantastic guest posts from Rob K. and Raighne Davidson on, respectively, Maus and Pottermore. In terms of SF/F, The G reviewed John Scalzi's Hugo-nominated SF comedy Redshirts and Daniel Abraham's charming fantasy novel The Dragon's Path, and then ranked George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels (sorry, but A Dance with Dragons kinda sucked). Philippe read the cool-ass comic Rachel Rising and then mused about how comic books shaped his spiritual choices. Vance reviewed oddball horror flick Cat People and ranked the Harry Potter films, while The G found himself loving the surreal Viking film Valhalla Rising despite its glacial pace and unnecessary gore. Then Molly showed us all up when she gave Orson Scott Card a virtual wedgie for fixating on the helicarrier in his critique of The Avengers (WTF).

August, 2012

Though no one joined us in August, it was still a great time to be a nerd of the feather. Vance packed the lecture hall for the first installment of his Cult Films 101 series, watched arguably the worst movie ever made and then gave our our first ever perfect score to the masterful French film La Jetee. Meanwhile, Mike entered the third gate, reviewed the top-notch Underwater Welder and then started his weekly comic round-up Thursday Morning Superhero, to much rejoicing. Philippe ranked the various Bat-books of DC's New 52 and checked out Grant Morrison's history/memoir Supergods. The G wasn't around all that much, but did manage to pick his 6 7 favorite books from Gollancz's SF Masterworks series.

September, 2012

In September not one, but two writers came on board. First, there was Jemmy, who took a look at anime classic Porco Rosso and reviewed Jeff Salyards' gritty fantasy novel Scourge of the Betrayer. He was soon joined by gaming guru Brad, who debuted with his first impressions of the addictive Diablo-as-FPS Borderlands 2. Vance continued his Cult Films 101 series and mused about space elevators, while The G poured sweet haterade on the overreated British film Attack the Block. Philippe was out of town, so comics pointman Mike picked up the slack with his weekly TMS column, took a look at Robert Kirkman's Thief of Thieves and checked out a pretty sweet H.P. Lovecraft inspired dice game. And The G was lucky enough to read Andrjez Sapkowski's collection of short stories centered on Geralt of Rivia (aka the Witcher of video gaming fame), The Last Wish.

October, 2012

October started with our biggest story ever--a two part interview with SF critic extraordinaire Paul Kincaid, who expounded on his theory that science fiction has reached a point of "exhaustion." It's a must-read for any SF/F fan, and though I'd love to take credit for its awesomeness, that rightly belongs with Paul, who raised the level of discourse and helped introduce our blog to a lot of our now regular readers. I followed that up with a list of six SF/F short stories that, perhaps, suggest that the genre isn't exhausted, and was lucky enough to review both Sapkowski's fantasy masterpiece Blood of Elves and Rob Ziegler's excellent debut novel Seed. Oh, and there was this little interview with Brian White of Fireside Magazine too! Like I said, big month, but we weren't done there--Jemmy interviewed fantasy author Jeff Salyards and then found to time to explain to us why Princess Mononoke doesn't quite live up to its reputation. Vance, for that matter, kept himself busy with Curse of the Demon and Call of Cthulu and then topped if off by ranking the Roger Corman/Vincent Price films. Meanwhile, gaming guru Brad checked out the kickass Arkham City and lamented the fact that so few of us played Blur, while Mikey fell in love with Cow Boy and finished the month on a high note by covering the very cool Halloween ComicFest.

November, 2012

We reviewed a whole lot of shit in November. Philippe kicked things off with Justin Robinson's novel Mr. Blank, a tidy slice of tongue-in-cheek conspiracy noir, as well as the comics Black Lung and Rebel Blood, the latter of which proves there's still some life in this whole zombie thing. New guy Brad showed us all up by covering Halo 4, two Borderlands 2 expansions, a classic review of NES time-sink Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and still had time to wax poetic about those rarest of beasts, games that tell compelling stories well. Desperately trying to keep pace with Brad, The G pitched in on the video game thing with an in-depth look at the multiplayer component of Black Ops 2. Over in SF/F, Jeremy reviewed an excellent short story collection by Kij Johnson, The G read Michael Sullivan's traditional fantasy Theft of Swords and Mikey looked at Spaceman, which is quality SF in graphic form. Vance ranked the best/worst schemes by James Bond villains (and there are just...so...many), sat through a wacky prison/Kung Fu flick and the much more palatable Ray Harryhausen-animated Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, and we all opined about that whole Disney/Star Wars thing. And then Molly returned from hiatus to show us the future of D&D and then gave Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings a virtual wedgie.

December, 2012

Ah, December, you were so chock full of big stories, like Mikey's most popular installment of TMS ever and Molly's alcohol-fueled lament over Peter Jackson's craptastic Hobbit film. Philippe continued to rock the crime fiction, with reviews of James M. Cain's just-back-in-print novel The Cocktail Waitress and noir/SF crossover The Dewey Decimal System. In SF/F literature, The G loved The Apex Book of World SF 2, and Jemmy mostly liked Cory Doctorow's Pirate Cinema. Vance checked out some classic radio SF, and subjected himself to the horrors of the Star Wars Holiday Special, while Brad reminisced about his marathon sessions of Mortal Kombat. And to finish things off, Vance, The G, Molly, Mike, Brad, Jemmy and Philippe all shared their holiday gift guides.

January, 2013

Molly welcomed us to the New Year by spreading the word about Perihelion, and Mikey kicked off an epic run of comics-related posts, starting with his round-up of the Best Comics of 2012 (SPOILER ALERT: there was no winner crowned, but we all kinda won, didn't we?) and his two-part coverage of Nick Spencer's long-in-the-making Infinite Vacation, which finally reached its conclusion. The G began his serialized review of John Scalzi's serialized novel The Human Division before things got seedy as The G and Philippe turned their attention to crime fiction. Turning to the graphic novel-as-journalism, Philippe found an absolute gem in Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza, which earned a rare 10/10. Jemmy fired across the bow at some pirate fiction, and Indie Publishing Guru Dean Smith-Richard reminded independent authors that skimping on quality control only hurts themselves, and shared some great insight into successfully Kickstarting comics from Devin Michaels of the Destiny's Fate series. Brad found a lot to like in the puzzle game/RPG hybrid Puzzle Quest 2, and the nerds tackled a lot of big questions like whether or not franchises might do better under someone other than their creators, and what ramifications violence in video games and beyond has today in the wake of repeated national gun tragedies. But to take a break from the gloom, we got to spend a few minutes with RiffTrax writer Sean Thomason, talking MST3K, terrible, terrible movies, and beer. Hooray, Beer!

February, 2013

February was the most controversial month of our inaugural year.  It began with possibly the most shocking announcement yet: a new scoring system that allowed us to deem the worst of the worst a zero!  The topics heated up and the fans were caught off guard as Phillipe ranked the top moments in 30 Rock and the book Dinosaur Thunder (despite annoying characters and bad editing) took advantage of a +7 in bonuses to earn an 8/10!  In one of our most epic posts, if not the most epic post of the year, Grimmy Grimmy Dark Dark touched on the impact of violence and rape in the fantasy genre and had the interwebs buzzing.  Our monthly adventure down the road in indie publishing took a look at crowd funding and many of the issues associated with platforms like Kickstarter.  Deadspace 3 was the top game of the month clocking in at a near perfect 9/10 and Vance winded us down with self-inflicted pain as he sat through The Baby in its entirety.

March, 2013

While you were busy with your taxes, Nerds of a Feather was in the last month of its very own fiscal year. March was thus jam packed with the most awesome of awesomeness. Molly got into the kitchen and whipped up a nerdy gift guide for your nerdy kitchen. The G started a few posts that he never finished. But hey, he did give us a number of great ones: he continued his epic reviews of John Scalzi’s The Human Division and relived the little bit of the Cold War he remembers when reviewing Ian Sales' Adrift on the Sea of Rains. Vance, too, spent time stuck in the past, remembering what America was supposed to be. That is, when he wasn’t watching awesome cult movies like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Mikey showed us what Grand Theft Auto For Kids would look like, and reminded us of the pure, unadulterated wonder of International TableTop day. Jemmy saddled up to review Joe Abercrombie's Old West-inspired fantasy, and spirited us away to his first 10/10 in Miyazaki Hayao's most complete Studio Ghibli movie. Dean Smith-Richard continued his ever-informative quest to educate us about the wonders of indie publishing, and gave us a preview of his own forthcoming book, 3024AD. And last, but definitely not least, we got our first review from new collaborator, Zhaoyun, who took a bite out of a famous post-apocalyptic vampire novel.

Joe Abercrombie's FIRST LAW TRILOGY Getting Graphic Adaptation

This just in from Lord Grimdark himself:

It is with the greatest pleasure of which my withered prune of a heart is capable that I announce the release of a project that has been a long time in the pipeline, which is, as many of you may already have guessed, a full colour, comprehensive Graphic Novel adaptation of that pillar of 21st century fantasy fiction: The First Law Trilogy. 

It’s been put together by Rich Young of Blind Ferret, adapted by Chuck Dixon, with art by Andie Tong, colours by Pete Pantazis, lettering and design from Bill Tortolini, all done under the horrifying gaze of my single flaming unblinking eye. I am hugely pleased with the results, which, no lie, have exceeded every expectation.

And guess what?

But the thing that’s of particular interest to me about this project, and probably will be of some interest to you as well, is the method of distribution. Mainly – that we’re giving it away to anyone with an internet connection. 

Yes, you heard me right. We’re serialising it, free, at www.firstlawcomic.com. 

The first twelve pages are up there now. You can go look at them. For nothing. And there’ll be new pages added every monday, wednesday, and friday, if things go according to plan, for years to come. And you’ll be able to look at those too. For nothing. The hope is, that when we’ve finally completed this project, there’ll be well over a thousand pages of high quality First Law graphic novel up online. For nothing.

For those who want to read the comics in traditional 22-page form, you can buy issues at ComiXology for the usual $0.99 - 2.99 prices.

Oh, and here's the first installment for your reading pleasure!

UPDATE: SFX has posted an interview with Abercrombie about the graphic adaptation.