Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

I've frequently heard Cormac McCarthy placed very high in terms of writing prowess. I've been trying to branch out more from my traditional fields of historical adventure, fantasy, historical research, science fiction, and horror.

Part of that has been classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, Johnny Got His Gun, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All solid books, well worth reading, very rewarding works.

And then there's Child of God.

The first portion of the novel was nearly incomprehensible to me. I'm reading and reading going, "Okay, a few more pages, a few more pages before I put it down." But I don't.

And I get to the second portion of the book, which is so much better written, it encourages me to finish it.

But it's a book whose purpose I couldn't quite fathom. It's like, "Here's some vile individual with no redeeming qualities but hey, bad stuff!" That worked okay in The Road with it's bleak outlook and horrific setting but here it fell flat on its face.

I'm sure there are some that love it but I just couldn't get into it.

Having said that, even though I find the main character, Lester Ballard, a horrid character, he could make a great antagonist in a fantasy RPG.

Imagine a ranger or wilderness survivor who doesn't deal with civilized folks. His own house, which isn't his, is rumored to have burned down and within it's confines, rumors persist that things.... unwholesome things were found in the burnt ruins.

Living in a series of caves now, Lester interacts with horrific sub-humanoids that leave him alone.... in exchange for flesh!

Imagine if you took the monsters from the movie the Descent, took the hinted at nature of the sequel where people were helping to feed the monsters, and had Lester, a survivor who doesn't care what he's dealing with, providing the monsters with people as meet and other things.

Imagine further that Lester's horrors don't end there and that he's favored by foul deities who reward him with undead followers.  Imagine heroes entering a room that has zombies covered in adipocere, "a pale gray cheesy mold common to corpses in damp places, and scallops of light fungus grew among them as they do on logs rotting in the forest. The chamber... filled with a sour smell, a faint reek of ammonia." Lester could have his own brand of zombies who guard their slayer.

The description of the caverns has merit and it's a quick read. If you've got a knack for mashing genres and ideas up like I tend to have, you can pull some interesting bits from it for your own games. But on it's own? Thumbs down!

Kindle Sales redux or Amazon please stop putting stuff on sale

Sorry to spam my blog again with sales, but for some reason, Amazon.com has been putting a lot of kindle stuff on sale and while I'm not going too pop $8 or $10 bones down for most electronic books, when they go on sale, hey, it's go time. This time around though it's not a monthly thing or special sale, just the Gold Box Deal of the Day so act quick or they'll be gone.

The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann is one I'll pick up for the madre and take a look at it when she's done. She has a Kindle and I have a Toshiba Thrive so it's not a big deal. Historical with a touch of this and that in 18th century Sweden with a lot of high reviews for $1.99? Done.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is another one that gets a lot of praise. I've read the Odyssey and the Iliad several times so this looks like a variant on it for $1.99.

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land I've read some material on the Crusades and have some Osprey books to work on in the subject so for $1.99 I'll take some more reference work.

There are something like 80 books there and the rest of them look like they cover a wide range of topics. Does anyone have any recommendations based on the Gold Box Deal of the Day or should those three cover it?

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

Half Priced Books is a twisting and changing labyrnith of books that refreshes itself every time one enters it. Upon my last visit, I saw The Good Thief. I'd heard good things about the book so decided to pick up in trade for less than I could in paperback.

The writting is brief and to the point making it a quick read. While I haven't gotten very far in it yet (shakes first at 56+ hour work weeks), I have enjoyed what I have read. With that in mind, beware the spoilers!

Ren: The main character is missing his left hand. This in and of itself is a distinctive feature. Not only that but a limitation. While he does his fair share of work, it often takes him longer. In addition, it's a social stigma. Players generally love to have distinctive features ranging from hourglass eyes and albino skin to unique wounds or markings that make them stand out.

Ren is from an orphanage. The orphanage is Cahtolic in a Protestant land. They build up walls to protec themselves from being burned down. They didn't seek out children, but children were 'gifted' to them. Those children that don't find a family are adopted into the military life. In and of itself, this serves as a simple methodology for players who don't want a lot of family ties or background.

HOWEVER, and this is key, while Ren is taken out of Saint Anthony's Orphanage for boys by his 'brother', he does have a whole cast of characters that we are introduced to, if only briefly, including various brothers who have different personalities as well as other orphans. A pair of these being twins, apparently a bad omen in those dark times where the latter born was often killed as a changeling.

My point here is that just because you've set yourself up with the loner background by default doesn't mean that it must be that way. There were people at the church. There were friends at the church. Perhaps the blankets were too thin, but you knew what the schedule was every day and they provided food, shelter, and education. The routine of daily life, a secure daily life, might beat the 'adventure' one could find outside the walls.

I'm looking forward to reading more in the Good Thief because Ren quickly grows on the reader and provides some interesting observations in a setting that thus far, isn't that different than many fantasy settings.