Review of World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review of World War Z


The zombie apocalypse is over. The world has come back from the brink of destruction in this gripping account of the zombie war by author Max Brooks. Each chapter is an interview conducted by (Max Brooks), and is recounted in the voice of the interviewee, with rare interruptions by Mr. Brooks. I listened to the audio book on CD in my car. I believe that the CD’s are better than the book. Why? Because we get to hear the accents of the interviewees. The actors doing the voices are A-list, and do a remarkable job of conveying the emotion of the story. The interviews are all fantastic, especially the one about Paul Redeker, the ex-apartheid official who helped save South Africa. I listened to that one twice. I also really enjoyed the interview of the Iranian pilot. The characters interviewed run the gamut from grunts on the ground to high-up officials from various countries. Each story is great in its own way, and only a few times did I get out of the story, and thought:an actor is reading this. The audio book I bought was only $14.99 at Borders, but it was slightly abridged. I’d like to get the book and see what I missed.

The social commentary in this work is thought provoking, though you may not even realize what Brooks is hinting at while listening/reading the book. One clever touch is taking famous figures from today, though Brooks doesn’t name names, and skewering them for what he imagines they would do if the zombie war became real. He also points out how some countries would contribute to the catastrophe because of their nature—namely, China, Iran, India, Israel, South Africa, and the United States.

If you love this book, or are interested in it, you must read the free online stories called Tales from the Zombie War (search online and you’ll find it), which take us deeper into the zombie apocalypse.

World War Z was highly entertaining and totally worth the time to either read, or listen to it.

Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com

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Clint Johnson presented Triple Duty Writing

Hello,


I went to a book signing and writing-workshop tonight at the South Towne Barnes and Noble in Sandy, Utah. I picked up a copy of The Green Dragon Codex by R.D. Henham, who is actually Clint Johnson this time around. R.D. Henham is the house name used in the Dragon Codex series.

Clint signed books for an hour, then he presented a writing-workshop for two hours in the B&N café. There were fifteen of us, and Clint did an excellent job making us all think, beginners and published writers alike. I’ve heard him on panels a few times and really admire his teaching ability, which is why I went.

He called the presentation: Triple Duty Writing, using characterization to accomplish multiple things in your writing.

The idea is that all of your writing, each paragraph of your work can use characterization to set the scene and advance the plot. Sometimes, we just do one thing. We write a page of description (boring), or focus purely on characterization (too one dimensional), or we advance the plot (not satisfying enough). By doing all of those things with characterization you make the work stronger.

A couple of good points he made: A great way to reveal character is to show how they respond to other characters. Also, setting and plot are catalysts to cause the character to change. One of the main techniques is a character commenting on their environment, internally or externally. Clint made so many points, and I can’t rehash them all here, but then he gave us a ten-minute writing assignment. He let us choose from four scenarios and told us to use characterization to reveal who the character was, emphasizing the character by how they respond to the setting/event. I picked this one: a reporter finds a body that washed up on a beach.

Here’s what I wrote:

Tiny red crabs swarmed on the man’s dead body, crawling up the strands of seaweed that wrapped around him like funeral linen. Pristine Mexican beaches, right. The only thing that kept the tacos and margaritas I’d just had at the Buena Vista hotel was that the sea covered most of the smell. As a reporter working out of San Diego I’d seen corpses pulled out of the sea, but never after they’d been in the water for this long, and then on beach for maybe longer. Coming south of the border to get away from work as a crime reporter seemed like the dumbest idea I’d ever had, and I’d actually married Sofi twice. All I had wanted to do was have a few drinks, find an empty stretch of beach to work on my novel. Now I was in reporter mode wondering who in name of Jesus Christo this dead amigo was.

Some of us read our passage aloud and we discussed the techniques we used. It was a good assignment and there were some good insights given to all who shared their attempt.

Then, we had our next assignment. Rewrite the passage with an entirely different character. Here’s what I wrote.

Tiny red crabs swarmed on the dead man’s feet, crawling up the strands of seaweed that wrapped around him like wet newspaper. Another good day, Dirty Juan thought as he dragged the fresh corpse out of the waves. Mexican beaches had been rich pickings since the bendejo Americanos had started sinking boats of refugees heading north. The dead usually had their whole life savings strapped to their inner thighs with duct tape and that’s where he would look first on this one. Too bad it took a stack of pesocreds to buy a months worth of tortillas and beans. It didn’t matter that much to Dirty Juan. He could always find something to eat on the beach. Once you ground up the meat, and put on some salsa, it tasted almost liked pork.


I never got to read the last one aloud, whew!

Anyway, Clint did a great job and I’m really enjoying his new book, The Green Dragon Codex. Check out his website at http://clintjohnsonwrites.com/.

Best wishes,

Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com

Review of The Queen of Stone

The Queen of Stone by Keith Baker


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Queen of Stone
Thorn of Breland

The medusa on the cover made me pick it up, but the writing sucked me in. The first three chapters are extremely well-done, and kept me guessing for quite some time. If you love strong female characters, this is a book for you.

The main character is a super spy named Nyrielle Tam. Code name: Thorn. Picture OO7, except she’s a female half-elf who uses magic. Instead of all the technical gadgets that James Bond has, Thorn has magical items to help her on her secret impossible mission. The coolest item that she does have is her dagger, Steel. He’s intelligent, meaning that he can speak to her telepathically, but only when she touches him. Steel and Thorn have a very, well, thorny relationship. Steel knows a ton of things, can detect magical spells, and acts like a kind of radar and annoying mentor all at the same time. All Thorn has to do is pass him over any language and he can read it for her. What a weapon for a spy to have.

Her mission involves . . . Forget it. The mission is classified.

One of the big strengths of this novel is that Keith Baker created the world, which several other authors are now writing in. He knows the material and uses it to add just enough complexity to make it interesting. By the way, Eberron is the world that won the Wizards of the Coast Contest a few years ago. It is a fascinating place and I’ve enjoyed learning about it immensely.

If you’re interested in a new take on fantasy, check out Queen of Stone. The writing is very strong and don’t forget to pay attention to the little hints along the way. They are a big payoff at the end, which I did not see coming.


Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
www.paulgenesse.com

View all my reviews >>

Review of District 9

Review of District 9 (no spoilers)


The new movie, District 9 blew me away.

I saw District 9 in Indianapolis when I was at Gen Con a few days ago. I went with a couple of friends late one night. I’m glad I saw it, and thought it was completely awesome. I really felt like I had been kicked in the gut during parts of this movie. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s rated R for good reason. There are some really gory moments that made even me, the hard to shock nurse, cringe a little.

The story was brilliant. The film is shot like a documentary about what happened when we humans decided to move the aliens who had been stuck on Earth to a different holding camp. It follows one man, who was put in charge of the operation, interspersed with documentary style clips. I don’t want to say any more. I avoided watching the trailers and wanted to know as little as I could before seeing it.

Overall, the movie is a revelation and shows what can be accomplished when excellent film-making, amazing CGI, great acting, and tremendous writing come together. I can nit-pick the heck out of anything, but I can find almost nothing to pick at with this movie. Perhaps one line of dialog toward the end, but that’s it.

The two friends that I saw it with, writers Chris Pierson and Brad Beaulieu, discussed it afterwards. We were all just shocked at how good it was. The plot moved so fast, was so interesting, and kept our attention the whole time. The ending is not what you’d expect from Hollywood—though this was not really a Hollywood movie. Peter Jackson produced and a South African guy directed.

I give this movie five out of five stars. Go and see it on the big screen, but leave the squeamish friends, and the kids at home.

Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com

Great First Lines

Hello,

One of the Gen Con panels was about great first lines. The panelists were, me (Paul Genesse), Patrick Rothfuss, Gregory A. Wilson, and Brad Beaulieu. Here is the list of great first lines that I read from during the panel.


Great First Lines:

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
--The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 1937


I always get the shakes before a drop.
--Robert. A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers, 1959


Sleeth’s great yellow eyes slid open; behind crystalline membranes, long slitted pupils expanded wide in the ebon darkness.
Dennis L. McKiernan, Dragondoom, 1990


The day they gave me my mask was the first day I felt truly alive.
--Michael A. Stackpole, Dark Glory War, 2000

“I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one. Or at least as close as we’re going to get.”
--Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game, 1985

“We should start back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.”
--George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones 1996

I am not, as they say, human.
--Brad Beaulieu, A Girl Named Rose

Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity.
--Brandon Sanderson, Elantris 2005

I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.
--John Scalzi, Old Man’s War 2005

It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.
--Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind, 2007

On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American Dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth story window.
--Larry Correia, Monster Hunter International 2009


In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.
--Frank Herbet, Dune 1965

Gen Con 2009 Recap

(Authors: Gregory A. Wilson, Monica Valentinelli, and Paul Genesse)


Gen Con 2009 Recap


Hello Friends,

I had a fabulous time at Gen Con this year. It was my best ever. I was on twelve one-hour panels, did two book signings, and did a reading with New York Times bestselling author, Patrick Rothfuss, who wrote The Name of the Wind. It was very busy, but very fun. The best thing was hanging out with the other members of the Writers’ Symposium and meeting my old friends and fans.

Gen Con is one of those amazing times where you don’t get any sleep, and never have enough time to see and do all that you want.

Thank you to all of you who signed up for the Writers’ Symposium Ezine. You’ll be getting the next issue in October. The old issues are available for download on the website, or the text versions are posted on the Writers’ Symposium Blog.

Here's a link to the pictures I took at Gen Con. You can download them in high quality from here:

http://gallery.me.com/paulgenesse#100227

Or view them on Facebook where I’ve written a commentary about many of the photos.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137895&id=583339135&l=e0a3539aab

Best wishes,

Paul Genesse
Editor of the Writers’ Symposium Ezine
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com

Interview of Author Paul Genesse

Hello,

Historical fiction writer, Linda Weaver Clark, interviewed me about book two, The Dragon Hunters. I also interviewed her, in a separate post, posted today.


Linda's Questions

Linda: As a fantasy author, do you have to do any research or does it come straight from your imagination? To create a world that doesn’t exist seems very difficult to me and takes real talent. How do you create a fantasy world?

Paul: My whole life is research—or at least that’s what I’d like to believe—especially when I’m watching TV in the wee hours of the morning or reading fiction when I should be studying some dense book on the history of Bronze Age warfare. Seriously, every interaction I have teaches me something that might end up in my novels or short stories. The educational shows, books, games, all of my traveling, and the many documentaries I watch contribute greatly to my writing. Building imaginary worlds that are believable takes a lot of thought and planning. I feel like every year of schooling, elementary school, junior high, high school, and especially college, has given me the tools necessary to create fantastical worlds. I think you need to have a solid understanding of history, geography, politics, culture, psychology, sociology, biology, and so much more to get it right. I spend time at the library, online, or on Amazon.com finding books that I have to have in my collection as references. The research never ends for me. I also find that having good conversations with intelligent friends about world building helps guide my research and leads me to fill in the gaps. The consequences of the choices you make when creating worlds are sometimes not obvious, but with a good working knowledge of our world, you can come up with the right idea. Just imagine if the world you created had magical lights that never went out, or a source of energy that never ran out. All of these seemingly minor things would change everything.

Linda: Do you put part of yourself into a character and does that person take on some of your personality traits? Since you write fantasy, do you pattern your characters after people you know? Do you have a favorite character and why?

Paul: The characters in my fiction all have some part of me in them, generally exaggerated. I can’t escape it. Sometimes I try to remove myself from the characters and make them totally different from me, but in truth—they all have some aspect of my personality. The main character in my Iron Dragon series, Drake, has a guardian personality like I have. I’m a registered nurse in a cardiac unit and I watch over people and protect them. Drake is very much like that. He lives to serve others and makes great sacrifices for those under his protection. I use the Meiers-Briggs personality templates as models for the main characters in my books. I feel it’s important to get a character’s psychology correct, or they just don’t feel right to the reader. My favorite character in my Iron Dragon books depends on the moment. When I’m writing Drake, he’s often my favorite character, but if I go to the depth of my soul, my favorite character is Bellor, (sounds like, Bel-LOR). He’s an old dwarven War Priest who has lost almost everything during his 250 years of life. He is wise and kind—a truly good guy who other people would sacrifice their lives to protect. He carries a heavy burden and knows that if he does not succeed, no one else will.

Linda: Your new novel, “The Dragon Hunters,” sounds very interesting. Could you please tell me how you developed your story? How did you come up with the idea? And what is the plot?

Paul: I’ve always thought that going after a dragon was the most interesting kind of fantasy story. Ever since I read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien I was in love with the concept. Finally, I wrote a series, The Iron Dragon novels, where the main idea is to defeat the Iron Dragon King and stop him from taking over the world. The description of the series is, “A hunter must leave behind the woman he loves, give up all hope of survival, as he is forced to guide his most hated enemies on a suicidal journey to the lair of the Dragon King.” The description of book two is, “The last of an order of dragon hunters must track down the daughter of the Iron Dragon King, and stop her from getting the Crystal Eye, an artifact that will cause the destruction of their world.”

Linda: What age group would you recommend for reading your books? Can adults and young adults appreciate them?

Paul: Library Journal gave me a great review and said that ages 12 and up should read the book. I find that 10-11 years olds love it as well, but the book is more for teens and adults. It’s very scary at times and has a significant amount of violence—though nothing more than kids see on TV or in video games every day. What’s made me feel good is that I’ve had an excellent response from adults. I have many fans who are in their twenties as well as older women who happen to be grandmothers. I think that almost everyone finds a character that they identify with in the Iron Dragon books, and that’s why they’ve been so well received. If I’ve done my job right, years from now, when people have forgotten the plot, they will remember the character that they loved.

Read sample chapters, listen to podcasts, watch videos about the Iron Dragon Series at www.paulgenesse.com.