Book Review - The Divide

(image from Amazon.com) William Overgard's The Divide is an alternate history tale involving a world where the Axis Powers won the Second World War. From what I could tell history diverged at a couple points, one being the election of an isolationist President in the United States and the second being a change in Germany's tactics that allowed them a quick victory over Britain.

THE STORY
It is 1976. Two-hundred years since the Declaration of Independence and thirty years since the United States surrendered to the Axis. The elderly Hitler and Tojo plan a historic meeting in the center of America at a place they call the Divide. America has been a peaceful place for a number of years, no real uprisings, citizens being willing slaves to their German and Japanese masters. All that is about to change.

A number of people get involved in setting the stage for a new American Revolution. It starts with the bizarre assassination of a Japanese general on the Fourth of July. The story then jumps between various characters - the trio of freedom fighters and their interactions with other rebel elements, an SS officer tasked with destroying the resistance, and other people whose lives are touched by the ongoing events.

Pieces start to fall in place and all of the threads lead to the meeting of the two rulers at the Divide. There are plenty of set-backs and a few twists and turns along the way.

Overgard's style is interesting. There is a tendency to introduce new information and then spend a few pages telling the back-story of that new information, usually in the form of flashbacks. While this works in most cases, there were a couple of times I wished he would shorten some of the flashbacks and keep going with the events in the 'present'.

THE CHARACTERS
The Old Man (Wayne Stubbs) is the main character of the story. He has a checkered past involving accidentally injuring a prostitute, indirectly causing his wife to commit suicide, and then wounding another prostitute in an attempt to kill her while suffering the rage and despair following his wife's death. He then fled to Canada and eventually made his way back after America fell to the Axis. Not the most heroic of backgrounds but he now feels he has to make up for the past by saving the country's future.

The Cowboy (Cooper): This young man was raised by The Old Man. He was raised to be a hero and to be an inspiration for others in the coming revolution. He plays his role well but gets caught up in his first real encounters with women (he and The Old Man lived a very isolated and hobo-like lifestyle).

Claus Dieter is the antagonist from the SS. He is on the trail of the heroes after the July 4th assassination. He is an evil and deceitful man who, while smart, is usually in over his head. He tries to destroy the resistance while keeping his superiors from getting rid of him for any failures.

In addition there are numerous other characters, an Amerind girl, a Jewish woman who is putting the finishing touches on her father's bomb, and many others. Most of the characters are interesting and the liberal use of flashbacks in the novel gives us all the information we need about them.

FINAL ANALYSIS
A great story overall. I have mentioned the sometimes annoying use of flashbacks, but there were only a couple of places that this really bothered me. The ending, while it wrapped up the main story, did not reveal the eventual results of the new Revolution. In fact the last page was about Hitler's daughter being pregnant. I'm not sure if this was to set up a sequel or just to establish that history keeps chugging along, even after some really historic events take place.

As with life, there are not happy endings, just another day and new challenges following the last.

PUBLISHER: Jove Publications, Inc.; copyright 1980 by William Overgard
GENRE: Alternate History
PAGE COUNT: 244
ISBN: 0-515-05492-5
2012 CHALLENGES: 150+ Reading Challenge 2012, 2012 Read 52 Books in 52 weeks, 2012 A-Z Book Challenge, 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge

Third Sentence Thrusday - The Divide

"Centered between the olive drab of the Honda halftracks and Mitsubishi combat cars was the shine of a Toyota limousine, yellow CNC pennants snapping at the fendertips." (from The Divide by William Overgard)

Sounds like the Japanese military is on the move. Someone important, like a general, given the Toyota limo with the pennants.

Of course, looking at the cover these vehicles are probably moving somewhere across the western United States. I wonder what they are up to and how the Germans and American resistance will respond.

(image from Amazon.com)

Third Sentence Thursday #12

"I was conceived and born in 1888." (from A Feast Unknown by Philip José Farmer)

This was the third sentence in the Foreword. It was part of the first person narration of the main character, Lord Grandrith. Normally when I hear the year 1888 my mind jumps to one thing. Despite all of the events that took place in 1888; The founding of the National Geographic Society, the Washington Monument opening to the public, Susan B. Anthony organizing a Congress for Women's Rights, George Eastman's patent on a camera that uses film rolls, the crowing of Wilhelm II as the Emperor of Germany, and countless other events of that year.

No, the first thing I think of hearing 1888 is Jack the Ripper.

This time my instincts would be right. The fourth sentence of the Foreword is: "Jack the Ripper was my father."

(image from Amazon.com)

Preparing for 1882

Tonight I've been working on more background material for a steampunk/superhero role-playing game I run on some Fridays. Its origins are a little complicated but after the one-shot adventure we decided to keep it going. The 2011 sessions of the game were set in 1881 and now that we have made it to 2012 it is time for my campaign to enter into 1882.

With 'four-color' power level heroes instead of pulp-level heroes (basically Power Level 10 in third edition Mutants & Masterminds) will easily change the world. Since it is going to be changed I started out with an alternate history. The first major change in the timeline was the Second French Empire defeating Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War. Now Germany is still a collection of Germanic states - the Northern German Confederation, Bavaria, Baden, Ruritania, etc. and the French annexed some German territory as well as Luxembourg. The French are in the process of constructing a tunnel to Algeria.

Africa currently has a few scattered European outposts and the Cape Colony and Boer states in Southern Africa. With the discovery of an incredible new element in the African Kingdom of Nri an interest in colonization is increasing. However it will go very differently than in our world. The very fact that France won its war with Prussia changed how the partitioning of Africa will take place. Add the complication of a powerful mummy rising in Egypt named Hsekiu and the reluctance of either France or England to allow the other to gain control of Egypt as Ottoman power collapses is going to lead to some chaos. Without a base of operations in Egypt the Mahdist uprising in Sudan will also have a much different course.

On top of this the player characters saved American President Garfield from assassination - another change in the timeline that will have dramatic effects. On top of that are the incredible technologies being developed by Scientists the world over and it will be interesting to see how things transform during 1882.

For source material I mainly use Victorian era fiction with a few interesting comic book related cliches. With my interest in the Wold Newton Universe and being in the final phases of writing a Victorian era adventure novel this campaign is allowing me to do things and use materials that don't fit exactly in either of those categories.

Counter-factual histories are fascinating. Even without superheroes this one would have some very interesting developments. It helps to prove the importance of certain events or people to history. Sure there the size and power of certain nations will lead to the same long-term results regardless of the exact people involved, but the journey and surprises along the way are worth the effort.

It's also great for the player characters since they will be well aware that their actions will have consequences and that future history has not yet been written.

Has anyone else developed an elaborate alternate Earth history for a role-playing campaign? If so what did you do and how did the PCs react to it?

Book Review - A Feast Unknown

I've finished reading my first book for 2012. I decided to start the years off with Philip José Farmer. I grabbed one of his books off my shelf that I had yet to read and picked A Feast Unknown. This book is certainly for adults only.

(image from Amazon.com)

While much of Farmer's writings touch on sexuality this book was at times a bit over the top on the subject. It is told first person by Lord Grandrith, an English lord who was raised by apes in Africa from the age of 1. Basically he is the real person behind Burrough's Tarzan series. Grandrith is attacked and hunted by the Kenyan military, Albanian mercenaries, and Doc Caliban (who was the 'real' person which the Doc Savage pulps were based on).

To the Grandrith's shock he finds that violence and death now cause sexual excitement and release while actual sexual activity does not arouse him any longer. Something similar is happening to Doc Caliban.

Behind it all are the mysterious Nine. A group of near immortal beings that control the world. Both Grandrith and Caliban are servants of the Nine and have their lives extended well beyond normal. Now the Nine are manipulating the two into conflict.

I won't go into details here, but many things are touched on during the story; infidelity, rape, incest, bestiality, homosexuality, and the general linking of sex and violence being experienced by the main character as I mentioned above. It is well written but if you are uncomfortable with such topics you may want to stay clear of this book. It is also clear that this book was written in the sixties.

The story leads all the characters to Grandrith's estates in England (well, all except the Kenyan military, I don't think they got through customs). A battle of a pretty large scale takes place between the various factions. After that Grandrith and Caliban battle each other for the right to fill an open seat in the Nine.

This book is not part of Farmer's Wold Newton universe. In this both Grandrith and Caliban are revealed to be children of Jack the Ripper which certainly does not fit the family trees created in Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Nearly non-stop action. At times the violence was a bit silly, and Lord Grandrith's uninhibited descriptions of various sexual topics was uncomfortable at times the story was, in total, interesting. While I haven't decided what scale to use for rating all the books I plan to review this year I'll just go with a six out of ten for it.

PUBLISHER: PEI Books, Inc. Copyright 1969 Philip José Farmer, cover copyright 1980 PEI books, inc.
GENRE: Science-Fiction, Adventure
PAGE COUNT: 288
ISBN: 0-872-16586-8
2012 CHALLENGES: 150+ Reading Challenge 2012, 2012 Read 52 Books in 52 weeks, Read Your Name 2012, 2012 A-Z Book Challenge, 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge

Reading Challenges for 2012

I'm going to be joining a number of book challenges in 2012. I'll be tracking my overall progress on my Book Reading Challenges page.

Here they are in no particular order. Follow the links to learn more about the specific challenges and please feel free to join any of them yourself. I've listed them all in one post so you don't have to hunt for all the challenges I've joined and have one-stop shopping for finding challenges that may interest you. Enjoy.

#1: 150+ Reading Challenge for 2012

#2: 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge from Book Vixen

Re-reads and crossovers from other challenges are good. Any format including ebooks and audio.

#3: 2012 Read 52 books in 52 weeks
Rule are HERE. You can sign up HERE.

#4: Chunkster Challenge 2012 - I'll be going for the lowest level on this challenge - the Chubby Chunkster. I will probably qualify for a higher level by the end of the year - but I'm playing it safe the first time through with this one.

#5: Get Steampunked! 2012


I'll be going for the Geared level on this one. I like steampunk, but the other books that are on my list for this year won't leave too much room for all the extra steampunk I'd like to read.

#6: Graphic Novels Challenge 2012 - I should be able to read 12 graphic novels during the year.

#7: Non-Fiction Non-Memoir 2012 Reading Challenge

I'm going to be ambitious with this one. I'm going to try to reach the Master Degree level of 25 non-fiction books for this one. This might be actually challenging given the number of other challenges I'll be joining.

#8: 2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge
Not sure what level of this one I can get to so I'll just start by shooting for level one (12 library books). I might make it to a higher level, we'll see how 2012 treats me.

#9: Read Your Name Challenge 2012




This one should be easy since I have a short name.

#10: Time Travel Reading Challenge 2012
I love time travel more than just about any other type of science fiction. I will be shooting for the Mind-boggling Voyage: 10 to 12 time travel books level. There is also a nice list of numerous time travel related books on the page for this challenge. Check it out!

#11: 2012 Short Story Reading Challenge - I'll be trying to reach the lowest level on this one, 1 to 3 books (with each book being an anthology of short stories.) I might end up doing more since I'm now writing more short stories.

#12: A-Z Book Challenge

I'll be going with Option B on this challenge. I just can't plan out reading specific books so many months in advance. I never know what will strike my fancy.

#13: 2012 Picture Book Reading Challenge
- I have an idea for a childrens book. It would be a good idea for me to read some to make sure I can further develop this idea. This challenge should help with that. I'll be going with level 1 on this one: 12 books.

#14: Truth in Fiction Challenge - This one might get tricky. The idea is to read a non-fiction book and a fiction book on the same topic. I'll be striving for the Masters Level in this one. Might be a bit ambitious but I will be reading a lot of non-fiction in 2012.

#15: 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

I'll be trying the 41-50 level. I have a large number of books that have accumulated since joining Bookmooch and Paperback Swap a couple years ago.

#16: 2012 War Through The Generations Reading Challenge: WWI - I've read many, many books about the First World War over the years. I've joined this challenge at the 'Swim' level (the highest level).

#17: The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge


- Hosted by Roof Beam Reader. I have to pick the 12 books ahead of time and list them here (as well as include links to reviews when I finish reading each book. Here is my list:
1 - A Feast Unknown by Philip Jose Farmer
2 - Tarzan at the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
3 - Frankenstein Unbound by Brian Aldiss
4 - Hadon of Ancient Opar by Philip Jose Farmer
5 - The Divide by William Overgard
6 - Gods of Manhattan by Al Ewing
7 - The Red Baron by Manfred Von Richtofen
8 - Voices From the Great War by Peter Vansittart
9 - Myth of the Great War by John Mosier
10 - Tunnelling to Freedom by Hugh Durnford & others
11 - The Burden of Guilt by Daniel Allen Butler
12 - World War I The African Front by Edward Paice

I've gone with half fiction and half non-fiction. Should be fun.

#18: 2012 Ebook Challenge There are seven levels to this challenge. According to the rules it is possible to move up levels but not down. That being the case I'll start myself at at the second level: CD - 10 ebooks. Shouldn't be too difficult. Last year I used my ebook mostly for short stories and digital magazines; reading 10 or more books on it this years shouldn't be too bad.

#19: Reading Challenge Addicts Challenge 2012


Since I'm attempting so many reading challenges it made sense to also join the Reading Challenge Addicts Challenge. Now I need to succeed at as many of these other challenges as possible to get a good grade on this one!

2011 Reading Challenge Results

Well in 2011 I set out to read 100 books. As can be seen below I only reached 60. A few things are responsible for missing the 100; work being very busy over the summer, reading too many magazines, spending more time writing, etc.

I will be starting a number of reading challenges in 2012. Hopefully I'll have better results.

BOOKS FOR 2011
=FINISHED=
Print
1) The Maker of the Universes: by Philip José Farmer (fiction/fantasy) [Third Sentence Review]
2) Legion of Gold expansion for D&D Gamma World: by Richard Baker & Bruce R. Cordell (Role-Playing Game)
3) The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction: by Philip Athans (non-fiction/writing)
4) The Gates of Creation: by Philip José Farmer; book two of the world of tiers series (fiction/fantasy)
5) A Private Cosmos: by Philip José Farmer; book 3 of the World of Tiers series (fiction/fantasy)
6) The Walls of Terra: by Philip José Farmer; book 4 of the World of Tiers series. Things keep developing and getting more interesting! (fiction/fantasy)
7) The Valley-Westside War: by Harry Turtledove (sci-fi/alternate history) [Third Sentence Review]
8) Short Trips and Side Steps: edited by Stephen Cole & Jacqueline Rayner. An anthology of Doctor Who stories.
9) The Wind Whales of Ishmael: by Philip José Farmer [Third Sentence review]
10) The Blue Max: by Jack D. Hunter [Third Sentence review]
11) The Bloody Red Baron: by Kim Newman
12) Squadron of the Scorpion: by Robert J. Hogan. Book #17 of the G-8 and His Battle Aces series. [Third Sentence review]
14) Libertarianism in One Lesson: by David Bergland (politics)
15) The Pity of War: by Niall Ferguson (history/world war one) [Third Sentence review]
16) The Red Baron: by Richard A. Boning; a brief biography of the Red Baron.
17) The Hussite Movement in Bohemia: by Josef Macek; a history of an uprising in 15th century Bohemia.
18) Armageddon - 2419 A.D.: by Philip Francis Nowlan [Third Sentence Review]; the original source of Buck Rogers!
19) Red Inferno 1945: by Robert Conroy; alternate history where the Soviet Union attacks the Allies in the days before Nazi Germany fell. [Third Sentence review]
20) 1942: by Robert Conroy (Alternate History)
21) The Lavalite World: by Philip José Farmer; part 5 of the World of Tiers series. [Third Sentence Thursday review]
22) Before Armageddon: edited by Michael Moorcock; stories by G.T. Chesney, Jules Verne, George Griffith, William LeQuex, W.J. Wintle, and E. Nesbit
23) A Princess of Mars: by Edgar Rice Burroughs
24) A Guide to Barsoom: compiled by John Flint Roy.A collection of important characters, locations, creatures, and other things from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom.
25) Riders of the Purple Wage: by Philip José Farmer. My copy included a number of short stories as well; including St. Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye and UFO Versus IRS.

Ebooks
26)The Desdamona Affair: by Clyde Allison
27)Gamefinger: by Clyde Allison
28)The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles: by Padraic Colum (mythology/fantasy)
29) Tarzan of the Apes: by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Audio
30) When Organizing isn’t Enough: by Julie Morgenstern (non-fiction/self-help)
31) The Next Decade: Where We've Been... ...and Where We're Going: by George Friedman; narrated by Bruce Turk (some interesting geo-political analysis)
32) Physics of the Future: by Michio Kaku. An amazing look into the technology of the next hundred years. (science)
33) Doctor Who: Tales from the TARDIS, Volume 1: by Brian Hayles, Terrance Dicks, Eric Saward and others. (science fiction)
34) Parallel Worlds: by Michio Kaku (science)
35) The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805: by Richard Zacks; A history of the First Barbary War.
36) America's Secret War: by George Friedman (geo-politics)
37) The Big Switch: by Harry Turtledove. Third book in 'The War That Came Early' series.
38) Into the Storm: by Taylor Anderson; book one of the Destroyermen series
39) Crusade: Destroyermen book 2: by Taylor Anderson.
40) Maelstrom: by Taylor Anderson; book three of the Destroyermen series
41) Distant Thunders: by Taylor Anderson; book four of the Destroyermen series
42) Rising Tides: by Taylor Anderson; book five of the Destroyermen series
43) The Three Musketeers: by Alexandre Dumas (fiction/classic)
44) The Automatic Detective: by A. Lee Martinez. (sci-fi/noir)
45) The First Three Minutes: by Steven Weinberg. (science)
46) Go the F**k to Sleep: by Adam Mansbach (read by Samuel L. Jackson)
47) Desperate Deception: by Thomas E. Mahl (narrated by William Sutherland)
48) Hominids: by Robert J. Sawyer. Part one of the Neanderthal Parallax series.

Graphic Novels
49) Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories: by Warren Ellis,John Cassaday, and Laura DePuy.
50) Planetary: The Fourth Man: by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
51) Century: 1910: by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
52) Planetary Vol. 3: Leaving the 20th Century: by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
53) Planetary: Crossing Worlds: by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
54) Planetary: Spacetime Archaeology: by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
55) Marvel 1602: by Neil Gaiman
56) Marvel 1602: New World: by Greg Pak & Greg Tocchini
57) Marvel 1602: Spider-Man: by Jeff Parker & Ramon Rosanas
58) Java Joint: by Jolly R. Blackburn, Steve Johansson, David S. Kenzer, and Brian Jelke
59) John Carter of Mars: Weird Worlds: written by Marv Wolfman, art by Murphy Anderson, Sal Amedola, and Joe Orlando
60) John Carter of Mars: The Jesse Marsh Years: written by Paul S. Newman, illustrated by Jesse Marsh

Review – Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows

Last week I went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Overall the film was a disappointment. While there were times I laughed at the comedic elements of the film I later realized that this wasn't Sherlock Holmes.

While Robert Downey, Jr. has an interesting interpretation of the world's greatest detective the film too often fell into a campy feel. I can live with the camp.

The first real problem was the violence. The number of people killed by Holmes & Watson was staggering. At one point Watson is firing what looks similar to a BAR at German guards at a weapons plant. I lost track of how many people he slaughtered with a weapon that wouldn't be developed until the tail end of the First World War (about a quarter century after when this film takes place).

Inside the factory where that battle took place were enough artillery shells to last part of a weekend during the Great War. Some of these shells appear to have been capable of deploying chemical weapons..... another thing developed after the War was in full swing many years later.

In any case gun play was uncommon in Holmes canon. It seems to be the first course of action in this adventure. The explosions and shooting were very out of place.

There also seemed to be no real mystery involved in the story. Holmes knows that Moriarty is up to no good at the start. Most of the film is just to drive Holmes into confrontation with Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Basically a bad retelling of “The Adventure of the Final Problem.”

On the plus side I did enjoy the musical score. So many movies these days have forgettable music, it's nice to have a movie with something more memorable. Earlier this year I saw the new Conan and was disappointed at the crappy music, nothing like the awesome score by Basil Poledouris. Musical scores these days leave much to be desired especially compared to what we had in movies twenty to thirty years ago.

So to summarize; if you liked the first film in this series you should at least enjoy this one. If you didn't like the first film you'll probably dislike this one even more. Overall I give it a 4 out of 10.

Pros:
*Nice music
*Good action flick if you forget it's a Sherlock Holmes film

Cons:
*Too much bloodshed by Holmes & Watson
*No mystery involved
*Moriarty's moronic plot
*A little too silly at times

Making good use of Atomic Blast in COH

I've had some luck advancing Technobabe in City of Heroes. A few months ago I picked up the Atomic Blast power from Radiation Blast. I wasn't impressed with it. The endurance drain and reduced endurance recovery made it less than useful for me. Many times minions would still be standing after the blast, admittedly in rough shape, but it didn't seem like a great power for a Defender.

Now it is one of my favorite attack powers. I just learned how to make up for the endurance drain with the use of inspirations and then activating Accelerate Metabolism or Power Sink to recover additional endurance. I can be back on the attack (or healing myself and teammates) before survivors of the Atomic Blast can recover. I had a friend a couple weeks ago notice how using Atomic Blast didn't seem to phase me.

Now as an added bonus I have the Burnout power from the Speed group. When activated this power recharges all the powers in my primary and secondary power sets.... including Atomic Blast.

I can now set off two Atomic Blasts in short order with minimal drawbacks to myself except using about a third of my inspirations and having a couple toggle powers turn off on me. Few things can survive the dual blasts.

It's gotten to the point now where I use a handful of defensive inspirations to buy me the time to draw multiple mobs together to really nuke the heck out of them all. Technobabe is turning into a real combat character; I have no trouble soloing with her like I did back in the day.

I'm just glad I stuck with Atomic Blast. As I've mentioned it did not impress me much when I first used it, but now it is awesome. I've got it slotted for six enhancements and in a few more levels I'll be ready to find just the right set of invention enhancements to make it even more deadly.

If you play City of Heroes I hope this helps you out some. Are there any other tricks anyone has picked up using this power?

December 2011 Update

It has been a bit since my last post. Life got very busy so posting took a back seat to other things.

One of the things that kept me busy was working on a short story for possible inclusion in an anthology. Problem is I don't like the current state of the story so I'll probably miss the deadline. That being the case I'll eventually post it online.

I'm also cleaning up my online presence. Last site I have to consider is MySpace. I would have deleted my profile there by now but I have a couple friends on there that won't do Facebook or other sites I'm on. I guess I should try to find something constructive to do with MySpace. Any suggestions?

Catching up on my reading is also taking up time. Needless to say I'm not going to reach 100 books for this year. I believe I'm up to 54 and I'm in the process of reading Tarzan of the Apes, Divide and Rule, and The First Three Minutes; that'll get me up to 57 and over Christmas I should be able to get one or two more in. It would be nice to reach 60... but when I was a kid a 60 was a failure, I'll need to get 65 for the 'D'.

This year has been a terrible one for table-top gaming. I have a once-a-month-or-so Mutants & Masterminds game I run and an occasional Pathfinder or Star Wars game. I really need to get some more gaming in soon. Hopefully 2012 will allow me to fit some extra games in.

The purge of old computer files, comic books, DVDs, and other crap continues. It's nice to have shelf space back. I'm getting more brutal in getting rid of DVDs. Since I quit Netflix over their price increase I've given Amazon Prime a spin. So far so good. No need for me to keep all the DVDs I had accumulated over a decade I'm selling them for what I can get through a couple avenues such as Swapadvd.

The comic books are becoming more difficult to get rid of. All the ones I had which had any value I've sold. The remaining ones are not worth the effort for what little cash I can get for them. I may have to come up with some sort of project to get rid of them, something artistic.

In any case since I've given up on that short story deadline I can now spend some more time updating my blogs. Perhaps with something more interesting than just a list of the reasons why I haven't been updating them....