Review for Fun - Heaven is for Real

A Trickster Eric Novels review

This book came so highly recommended from my grandmother that she bought it for me (and maybe some other relatives; I'm not certain). Before I get into the review itself I want to make something clear: this book is about Colton Burpo and not Alex Malarkey and it was Alex that disavowed his story, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, in 2015. Colton continued to stand by his own in the announcement's aftermath. Now into the review itself.

Todd Burpo is a good author. I say this because he uses the First Person Narration well. It evokes that sense of familiarity and directness that I've heard 1st person is supposed to be for (I rarely encounter it as such). He's also done a good job making these events into a narrative instead of a recitation events; the prologue leads to a sense of impending doom that is fulfilled in the hospital visit and leads back to itself and flows into the meat of the story; the Heaven visit. Yet this has a downside to it.

For a book ostensibly about Colton Burpo, his father feels more like the main character. First of all, he's the one writing this book and he does so in First Person Narration. Second, about half of the book (60 or so pages) is about him and his struggles prior to Colton's visit to heaven. Context and background are good and all but that is excessive. Certainly the "holding Rosie the spider" thing could have been cut out. After the hospital visit there are still a few more chapters before Todd Burpo writes that he suspected that something supernatural might have happened.

It wasn't an immediate thing. Apparently Todd didn't tell anyone for some time afterward and might not have done so at all if not for a particular question asked by his father, and even then he only talked about it when asked. After the initial shock, Todd writes that he only asked open-ended questions so he didn't "pollute the source" so to speak with leading questions. In fact, he even tried trick questions to determine if Colton is basing his answers on true observation or earthly knowledge and Colton passed the test (if he realized it was a test at all).

The main thing for truth and validity that I see here is that Colton was four years old at the time. Four year olds don't know how to deceive. Sure, they can make up stories but not deceive. Certainly they wouldn't have the patience or self-discipline to keep it up for a prolonged period of time. A kid this age would get bored and move on. There's also the factor of knowledge; even a preacher's kid wouldn't know this stuff. At that age, religious education is basically "God loves you" and "be nice to people" level stuff.

I don't believe it deserves to be labeled as "afterlife tourism" because Colton doesn't talk about how wonderful Heaven is. For certain he wants to go back there but doesn't go on at length about what it looks like. It's more about the people he meets there.  Nor do I think that "un-biblical" or whatever is a fair label either. Every time, (and if not every time then most), that Colton talks about Heaven there is a pause where his dad-as-narrator matches it with something from the Bible. Another thing, I've heard that some readers discount some of the "knowledge proofs" like Colton's mother having a miscarriage before he was born by suggesting that someone else told him without the parent's knowing or the parents told him and forgot they did so. When does "your mother had a miscarriage before you were born and it was a girl" come up in conversation with a four year old?

Finally, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Todd writes that he or someone else asked Colton about Satan numerous times and the kid would shut down every time; like it was too scary to talk about. He could talk about a war between angels and devils but Satan was too much. Speaking of that war, he gets serious. It's not like a kid talking about some awesome fight scene but some truly dreadful event.

To me, Todd sounds like he's telling the truth but he's not the one telling the story; his dad is so that is another level of discernment. Is his dad telling the truth about him? Maybe, maybe not; I don't have a means by which to judge him other than the book I have. I'm sure a lot of reasons or arguments could be made for not trusting him or the story since it can't be independently verified. For a skeptic that insists on rock-solid, physical, (etc.) evidence then I imagine that not even having such an experience themselves would convince them (Read: Agent Scully, although ironically she was more inclined to believe religious stuff than other "supernatural" stuff).

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Heaven is For Real" a B+

Click here for the next book review (not a review request): Killer Angels

Click here for the previous book review (a review request): Willakaville


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Movie Review: Doctor Strange

I saw Doctor Strange shortly after it came out. I will examine plot, character and polish before assigning a grade.

PLOT

How can anyone compared this movie to Iron Man 1? Here are the only similarities: Arrogant and brilliant rich guy gets injured somehow, his worldview changes, he develops new abilities and decides to become a superhero. That's it. That is all. It's high level, basic, general stuff, and it's going to be shared across a lot of stories. The reason for the arrogance, brilliance and wealth is different; the injury is different and has a different context. The way the worldview changes is different. The new abilities are different and the way that they are developed is even more so. Their enemies and how they deal with these enemies are different. Their natures as superheroes and why they make the decision and where they are at the end of their origin are all different. "How Dr. Strange is different from Ironman" could be its own blog post and it would likely be longer than this review here.
Anyone who has read my blog for a while knows my feelings on The Fruitless Quest for Originality.

 In sum, Marvel Studios is making super hero movies. Therefore, they will all share certain characteristics because they are in the same genre. That's a good thing. Superhero movies are what people go to see (yes, different people have different tastes and go for different things (like Loki) but all these things are under the same umbrella)).

Despite the previous paragraphs, there's plenty of original stuff here.
1. This the first MCU movie in the fantasy genre. Previously entries have all been science fiction or sufficiently advanced science at most. Now we have sorcerers and mystic threats like Dormmau.
2. Kaecilius is neither the "unstoppable monster" nor the "white guy in a suit" that I've heard critics complain about in regards to MCU villains. He's driven neither by greed nor ego nor fantastic racism but a sense of great personal loss. The villain revealed in the stinger is also quite different from anything else seen in the MCU so far.
3. Strange is a doctor, and unlike Bruce Banner, he IS that kind of doctor (i.e. medical) which means the Hippocratic Oath comes into effect. You will not find a climax resolution like this one anywhere else in the MCU.
　
The movie follows a steady and logical progression. I've heard some say that the manner of which Dr. Strange first heard about Kalma-Taj is an unbelievable coincidence and to that I say "miraculous recoveries are going to make waves and other patients looking for miracles are going to ask about them". There is no instant expert here' "study and practice; years of it" are what it takes to be a competent sorcerer and even shortcuts like photographic memory and reading books in astral form while your body sleeps only takes a novice so far so fast. Strange is outclassed by every sorcerer out there and he doesn't win via luck or asspulls (whether or not you consider the Cloak of Levitation to be one of those is YMMV).
　
The ending is great. Stephen Strange is all set up to act as Doctor Strange in future films but it doesn't have any of that Mighty Whitey stuff that people were worried about (the Ancient One is a more complicated topic) because of spoiler (I can discuss this with a reader privately if they would like to do so).  The stinger shows him in his classic costume and jumping into another dimensional threat adventure.

CHARACTERS

Strange is great. Benedict Cumberbatch did a great job with both the arrogance that Strange starts with and the selflessness that he develops. He has distinctive traits like his watch collection, insistence on the Hippocratic Oath and the bookwormness. The circumstances of his heroism are also well played. He is a different kind of hero than any other presently in the MCU; he's not an atoner (Iron Man), or a boy scout (Captain America), a proud warrior race guy (Thor), secret agent (Hawkeye) a dad trying to make ends meet (Ant-Man) etc. He's just a guy looking for a cure yet he still steps up to save the world.
　
Mordo is also great. I've heard he's a flat character in the comics but that is definitely not the case here. He's a mentor figure. He shows compassion but he has limits. He helps others and yet has some frightening inner demons. Even after he and Strange part ways in the end he is not a clear cut villain. There's plenty of room for an argument about him being an anti-villain. The plot of the movie is such that his What the Hell, Hero? towards Strange is both right and wrong at the same time.
　
Wong has a small role but it is still a meaningful one. He's this scary tough librarian and also a straight man. Yes, he's both of them.

The Ancient One is a classic mentor figure. It's very well done. She is a formidable sorcerer, a wise teacher and leader, she has gravitas but she is still human. She has plenty of her own flaws and mistakes.
　
Kaechilius is a multi-layered bad guy. He came to Kamar-Taj a broken man seeking power, much like Stephen Strange. He was welcome in, trained, and assisted in overcoming his tragedy. He did but in a way that made him a super villain instead of a super hero. However, he doesn't think of his plan as an Evil Plan and he has some basis for this. He wants everyone to be immortal so they don't experience the loss of family like he has. He makes quite a touching Motive Rant during a pause in his fight with Strange. There's a spoiler that grants him another layer.

POLISH

If there is one thing everyone agrees on it is the amazing, mind bending, visuals. Inception has nothing on Doctor Strange.
　
Trickster Eric Novels gives Doctor Strange (2016 MCU) an A+

For the next movie review, Assassin's Creed, click the title.

Answering Review Request: Willakaville

Mathew Heinecke asked me to read his book "Willakaville". It is a collection of short stories about the odd things that happen in the town of Willakaville. I will examine a few of these and then assign a grade.

As a whole these are morality tales. Short, plot driven narratives that illustrate the importance of performing one behavior and avoiding another, though some of them are more frivolous than others (the latter half of this sentence is not a pejorative; meant only to mean they are for entertainment rather than teaching). These are good morals and good lessons, in my opinion: "be polite", "be confident", "learning can be fun", etc.

The age range is very young on this. Personally, I think anyone ten years or older will roll their eyes at some of these. The age range might be higher or lower; I'm only guessing. The plots are very simple, their characters are similarly so, and require much in the way of Willing Suspension of Disbelief. When I was this age, I wanted something with more depth. Again, this is not meant as an insult but merely a generalized observation. The stories as individuals vary in terms of characters, plot, etc. with some better than others. That's why I'm taking a closer look at three of them.


"Transformation"
This one is great. The moral is sound and well delivered. In short, it is 'polite and helpful people are more popular than jerkass bullies' and has a 'stand up for yourself, also politely' moral interwoven with it.  It has a protagonist with depth. Instead of a bell curve, its plot is more of a roller coaster. To fully explain would be to summarize the whole thing which is another good point; it is a cohesive whole. Suffice to say that it is a piece that starts as a classic Fairy Tale type story and shifts into something more Magical Realism.

"Secret Passage"

I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, it gives factual historical information about how Philo of Byzantium is credited with the invention of the water wheel (or close enough). On the other hand, it gives out a random line about how women were banded in Ancient Greece. Gender equality was not that bad. Then again, it is the children who say this and they are not the expert that their teacher is, who values historical accuracy extremely highly.

The plot is nonsense but I think perhaps it was meant to be the "so ridiculous that it is funny" sort of nonsense. In that case, it just didn't appeal to me.

"The Mushroom Virus"

This is one of those that requires a tremendous amount of Willing Suspension of Disbelief. A kid puts a vitamin that his mom gives him into a science class petri dish and overnight this creates mushrooms that bring out hazmat suit guys and cause both the police AND the military to quarantine the city within the day. No one knows what the mushrooms do and yet everyone still panics. Then someone starts eating them and turns into a zombie. I feel like the whole purpose of it was the single line about how "garlic and oregano are natural anti-fungals". Maybe it was a moral about how "paying attention in class can come in handy".


When grading this I tried to keep in mind the audience that Mr.Heinecke was writing for. In some of the stories, I personally think he was talking down to kids because being silly and lighthearted gave way to being thread-bare and bland. In other stories, the plot was pretty deep while still being age appropriate or providing an engaging way to teach some lesson or trivia.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Willakaville" a C

Click here for the next book review (which was not a review request): Heaven is for Real

Click here for the previous review request: "Gold Dust"


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Answering Review Request: "Gold Dust"

Catheraine Weaver asked me to read her novel "Gold Dust". It principally features a schoolgirl's attempt to basically save her mother's soul. I will examine Plot, Character, and Polish and then assign a grade.

PLOT

This story stars Alex Lee, a girl in California. She goes to school, visits her grandmother, and worries about her mom overworking herself. Combined with the Ordinary High School Student intro, it is a solidly characterizing but bland start. That goes away very soon and becomes something quite engaging.

Alex's initiation into the magical side of things is something both unusual and classic. She gives what she think is a common drunker a packet of manju. For this good deed she is rewarded with a truly magical wish. I'm more used to stories that start with the muggle protagonist getting caught in the middle of a supernatural fight. Then again, I watch a lot of fighting anime. Anyway, this is more fitting with the tone of this story.

It is fitting because of this world's Magical Underpinnings of Reality. The story's setting is based upon the idea of "Consensus Reality", that is, reality is composed by the thoughts of those living in it and those thoughts can change reality. This informs how magic works; anyone with the knowledge and skill can change physical reality or influence someone's mind through their deliberate thought and belief that it is so. This also informs the setting; there are two parallel worlds with two versions of California dating back to a time one thousand years previous. Passive but intense  and perpetual worldwide belief severed the single world in two. Most directly, it informs the Evil Plan. Alex's mother unwittingly signed away her 'thought power' in "imaginative rights" to the new owner of her company. She must have confused it for "Intellectual Property". Ms.Weaver makes model use of her setting to shape her plot. There may be other "save both worlds" stories out there but Mis.Weaver's version of that template could only happen in her setting.

There's magic lessons for Alex to learn this sort of thing. She is bored by this despite great personal motive to pay attention. On one hand, I acknowledge that a boring teacher is a boring teacher even if they are teaching functional magic but on the other hand this was the only way to save her mother which is pretty pumped up about. Personally, I found the lessons to be quite interesting but I was one of the kids who liked going to class (with one or two exceptions).
The magic system is consistent which is definitely a plus. Making sure that Magic A is Magic A is a big deal for speculative fiction (fantasy and science fiction together) in order to maintain tension and avoid story breakers.
It is also creatively used. Alex conjures things from localized rain storms to long range surveillance to the Jedi Mink Trick by playing the proper tune on her flute (magic wand analogy) with the right thoughts and feelings in mind.

There is an alternate history for the "Magical California" which includes an Amazon Queendom and a royal army of griffins, but is otherwise similar to "Non-magical California". In fact, there's this amusing little scene where Alex accidentally transforms her history book into one for the Magical California and she's able to give a summary of the homework assignment correctly by mentally editing out the magical parts.

"Gold Dust"; it's not much of a spoiler to say why that's the title and I find it an interesting bit of world building. You see, gold is the most magical material in the world. It amplifies magical power and is the easiest material to transform into something else. That's why it's valuable in the Magical World. The Non-Magical world just thinks that it holds its value because it is among the most stable of elements. That right there is the key difference between the two worlds; distinctly different and yet Not So Different.

It is a great example of organic plot escalation. Alex starts off wanting only to get her mom back to her normal self but as she travels and events unfold, she gets pulled into other things and bigger things. She meets people with other problems and they help each other to solve all of the other's problems as the situation escalates over time. It helps that all of them have a bone to pick with the same guy.

The Evil Plan of Herman Mendez starts out as some petty power grab by a corrupt corporate executive but there's a wham chapter. At that point it gets....scary; a lot more dangerous, a lot more far-reaching, and a lot more sinister. Think "1984" if that book were in the fantasy genre; yes, that kind of creepy.

There is a fitting ending for a first in a series; Sequel Hook. Today's crisis has been averted, the good guys accomplished their objectives and the Big Bad is beaten, but he'll be back. I like to think of Alex's last action in the story as a non-verbal Badass Boast.

If I had to point out any flaws in the story, it would be a difficult thing to do. The only one that comes to mind is Martin agreeing to a contract that clearly sounds like a scam and this contract  is the backbone of the plot. However, greed has made people do stupid things before and this sort of behavior is mentioned early on so it is not really a flaw at all.

CHARACTERS

Alex Lee
--> She is an Ordinary Highschool Student who starts her narrative by telling the reader that she is ordinary and not star material. Normally, I find this kind of "ordinary identification" to be annoying but not in this case. In this case, it is relevant because the feature of ordinary that has the most attention is her lack of imagination. As it happens, her mother is a fantastic creative artist and confidant woman, who stands as a foil for Alex, and imagination is literally power.
--> Mis. Weaver further uses this trope to show Alex's Heroic Self-Depreciation; she actually has a strong and quick imagination and this is shown by her seamless and extended lies/excuses/story making early in the narrative.
--> I find Alex to be a realistic take on a school age hero (not protagonist; there's a difference although she is both in this case). Just the initial goal of getting into her mother's secured office and talking with her has the girl feeling nervous and overwhelmed much less the much bigger, more complicated, and more dangerous missions with higher stake goals that come after that. Yes, she gets scared, and yes, she panics but she soldiers on anyway (with a little advise remembered from her wise Buddhist grandmother). She thinks well on her feet, when she has confidence enough to do so. She also has a lot of help and not just from other kids or animal side icks but from adults as well.

Speaking of the adult characters, it's nice to see a story where the adults are helpful, and more importantly, reasonable. For instance, when Alex is trying to explain to her mom about the magical stuff going on, she is initially disbelieved until she does a bit of magic in front of her. After that not only does her mom believe her but she can do magic too and because of her greater confidence and imagination, do it a lot better than Alex. She is not the only adult this happens too.


Ian is a Determinator. That is his core trait. To find his missing cousin he spent two weeks hiding in a giant corporate compound dodging security guards. Another big character trait is his habit of falling for "impossible girls" which leads to distraction during the thought-control based magic lesson and occasionally later. It is both an amusing running gag and an age appropriate character flaw.

Celeste is quite the plucky girl considering her initial situation and what follows. She is also quite skilled with magic and can use it after informal lessons and only needs to sing; no magic wand required. She quickly makes friends with Alex and the two perform combination spells that are fun to imagine. Part of the humor in her character and powers is that she is a Beastmaster whom circumstances force to travel in a wedding dress; thus, the Disney Princess jokes.

Herman Mendez is the Big Bad. He's a Corrupt Corporate Executive, a Control Freak, a con artist, a kidnapper and likely also a pedophile. Yeah, he's a nasty piece of work. He's also Faux Evilly Affable which makes him more detestable, in my opinion, than if he were a Card Carrying Villain. He has little screen time but it is enough to demonstrate that he really is as bad as people say he is. There is no Informed Villainy here. He appears to be a Non-Action Big Bad which would fit with the other parts of his character that are present; hire thugs to get their hands dirty for him.

POLISH

The story is told in the first person. I did not find this to be intrusive except at two points. It's mostly used to show how frazzled Alex feels at basically every point in this book, yet still moving on.
I didn't' see any spelling or grammar problems.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Gold Dust" by Catharine Weaver an A+

Click here for the next review request: Willakaville

Click here for the previous review request: Crik

Click here for the review for the sequel to Gold Dust: Phoenix Down


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Answering review request: Crik

Karl Beer asked me to read his story "Crik". I will examine plot, character and polish and then determine a grade.

The Amazon blurb says little about the setting or the plot so it is difficult to say much here without spoiling. SPOILERS AHEAD! There, you have been warned.


PLOT

When I first received this request and started reading this book my impression was "familiar elements in an unfamiliar plot" and that remains my opinion. No single element here is original but the way they are put together is unique. For instance, there are many stock super powers such as Beast Master/pest controllers, Dream Walker, Necromancy, Green Thumb etc. but this is mundane. Everyone in the village has one and this has been the case for generations. There is a creepy man living alone in the woods that has a sinister purpose but the mechanics of this verse give him a degree of distinctiveness. There is a quest through the Unknown World through which the "hero" becomes wiser and more mature but he hardly counts as a hero for most of it.

When I say the powers are mundane, I mean that they are treated, in-universe, as mundane. There is nothing special about having powers. Having powers is normal. Indeed, Bill is called a "freak" by some because he doesn’t have powers similar to how powered people would be called freaks in stories where having powers is rare. What Mr.Beer did with Crik is less common than the flip side and that is partly why I say it is creative. I certainly do not mean the powers or situations are "boring". Few indeed are the parts in this book that can, in my opinion, be considered "boring".

The other reason I say it is creative is because of the mechanics of how the powers work. Jack's Living Shadow, for instance, has a lot of details in how it works. The strength of nearby light determines how strong Yang is; stronger light casts a darker and more defined shadow which means Yang is capable of more while weak light makes him pretty impotent. Complete darkness is where he is at his strongest, which is something I did not expect. The following explanation made perfect sense; in complete darkness Yang is everywhere at once. He can come down on something (or someone) like a thunderbolt and smite them but he also has less control in this form because he is essentially formless; no hands or fingers. Therefore, he needs a light source for delicate work. In fact, he deliberately stays motionless every night because he is afraid of accidentally harming Jack. Yang is essentially Unskilled But Strong or Weak But Skilled depending on the situations. He has other powers besides these depending on the color of the local light; standard candles or sunlight gives him standard abilities. Purple light enables him to speak and other colors enable him to perform Exposition Beams.

This sort of detail is something that I love to see in fantasy novels. The part where Yang explains all this to Yang is one of my favorite parts of the book.

In addition to the powers, there are other mechanics of the verse that I like. The Narmacils are fascinating. Their life cycle, why they need human hosts, and the ways they can stretch their powers; all of this shows the thought Mr.Beer has put into the fictional species he has created. While Super Empowering is not a new idea (even the more specific version that tiny creatures are providing the power to human hosts is not a new idea) Mr.Beer has put his own personal spin on it. That is a clearer mark of a talented author than attempts to create something entirely new (it is a fool's errand to try).


The final battle is awesome. Here we have a village of diverse Talents vs plate mail warriors and ghosts with a zombie army reinforcing the former. It reminded me of a video game, a strategy-action one like Dynasty Warriors, where players had to move across the battlefield and fight different enemies in different situations.
There are a lot of characters here; a lot of named characters with individual powers and varying levels of skill in combat. Mr.Beer transitions between them well to give a good sense of the battle while also conveying the general fear and confusion of the villagers and Jack in particular.
The scene where Inara shows up with her zombie reinforcements is another one of my favorite moments. Coming up over a hill, riding her Noble Wolf guardian, flanked by the undead and she does this in response to a ghost walker's You And What Army moment.

The resolution is good; conflict resolved with a fitting aftermath. I like stories that have an aftermath, denouement, whatever you want to call it. It shows that they are more than just their climax; that they can continue beyond the high action. I suppose I like seeing where the sticks lie after the dust settles. In this story there is the intensely personal of Yang and Yin/Jack's reconciliation and the more wide-scale repulsion of the Ghost Walker Invasion with other threads like Inara finally going home to reunite with her family and the way the villagers react to a third secret let loose by the invasion.


This is the part of the review where I talk about the things I didn't like or the narrative weaknesses I see. There is a difference.

The Amazon blurb is misleading. The "horrifying secret" is indeed horrifying but it is hardly a secret. There are grave stones in the community's graveyard marked "ghost walker" and the protagonist knows tales about them. The part about Jack's shadow being his greatest enemy is simply Jack's paranoia; this is never remotely the case. The narmacils aren't a secret either. Parents tell their kids about them when they're 18 years old; it's a coming-of-age thing like the Birds and the Bees.
This is not a narrative weakness; it is something I dislike. It has nothing to do with the book.

-----> My next point is the narrative thrust of this book. Jack leaves the Known World, faces Trials and Tribulations, Descends into the Abyss, the whole Hero's Journey nine yards all because of the irrational belief that his narmacil is evil incarnate and has been subtly controlling him towards a mysterious-yet-definitely-sinister purpose. The book itself foreshadows their reconciliation but even without that it is easy to see The Blue Bird of Happiness resolution coming.
---> Adding to this effect is that the entire plot only happened because Jack was able to see a forest giant enter Crik and bury a narmacil egg at night and during a heavy rain storm. I kept thinking " a lot of people are going to get hurt or worse because of this kid's paranoia".
----> For sure there is positive stuff; Inara's rescue, the baby narmacil's rescue, Knell is no longer tormented by the Birdman, and Jack reconciled with Yang in a more powerful way then a talk with his mother would have been. It wasn't a pointless journey.
---> This is a narrative weakness. All Jack has to go on for his "narmacil are evil" belief is that his shadow has be engaging in petty mischief for years. Based on his interest, one would think that he'd be a Nightmare Fetishist. If the story can be averted by asking one's mother, with plenty of opportunity to do so, about were your powers come from that is a weakness. The wait-until-they-are-18 thing is also a weakness and Jack recognizes that it doesn't make sense. There's no explanation.
It is unfortunate that these points involve the protagonist and the reason for his quest. For me personally, they slowed down and made more unpleasant a story that I otherwise think is a good one.


CHARACTERS

---> I don't like Jack. He has the same interest in the macabre as Yang yet he takes Yang's interest as proof of evilness and then blames his own interest in it on Yang. This makes him a hypocrite. He has no evidence or indeed any reason to think Yang or other narmacil are evil and yet he adamantly believes so. This makes him paranoid and irrational. He wants to search for the house of someone he doesn't know exists and abandon his friend in the woods, of which his friend doesn't know how to navigate. This shows a lack of concern for others. He occasionally realizes how selfish he is for doing this but brushes it aside. This underscores his selfishness. He occasionally wonders if his distaste is based on Beauty Equals Goodness but brushes that aside as well. He refuses to listen to Inara, who has proven herself to be more knowledgeable about narmacils and Crik wood in general. This marks him as closed minded.
---> His fantastic racism in particular made this hard to read. I don't mean this in a political-real-world-analogous sense. It was boring and tedious and annoying. Rarely one page passed without him thinking through the 3rd person limited narration or dialogue about how the narmacils are obviously evil and that he is the only one rational for thinking this way.
---> I give him credit for overcoming the fantastic racism, at least in regards to Yang and the narmacil in general. He certainly doesn't lack for courage at any point in this narrative.


I like Inara. After all the torture and horror she experienced in the Marsh House she remains more reasonable, more friendly, and more optimistic than Jack. This is a sign that she is a tough girl, both emotionally and mentally. At the same time, she's not a Pollyanna. She certainly has been traumatized, such as the experience making her unable to appreciate things such as a beautiful day like she used to and wondering if her parents will still love her despite her new deformity. Personally, I find her view on necromancy to be interesting but, in this case, I can understand why Jack would find it abhorrent.

Bill is interesting for a number of reasons. He doesn't have a Talent so he has a different perspective on them than both Jack and Inara; a third voice in the debate. He is the only one without a Talent and so he is a "freak"; yes, the "normal one" is not normal because Crik's idea of normal is different from the reader's idea of normal. A third point is how his beastmaster power works; it's basically mind-control that only works on non-human and non-supernatural creatures. If his control slips then the Noble Wolf protecting the group suddenly reverts back to a Savage Wolf. There's also his academic interest. In contrast to Jack, he has read a lot more than comic books. This turns up on several occasions.


There is a rotating cast of villains: Krimble, the Ghost Walkers, and the Birdman. Three villains generally means a cluttered narrative, but not in this case. Mr.Beer does a good job of making all three of them distinct, relevant, evil-sinister in their own way. This is accomplished primarily by giving them each their own arc within the overall adventure.


POLISH

I found the prose to be long-winded and occasionally purple. One time I read a paragraph and then had to re-read it before realizing that it doesn't actually say anything. I much prefer the dialogue. The dialogue is often powerful, emotional, and heavy with characterization.


Trickster Eric Novels gives "Crik" a B

For any who are confused by this rating, I provide the following two lists of positives and negatives. Hopefully, this will resolve any confusion.

Positives
1. Creative use of classic tropes such as Stock Super Power, Lost Woods, and the Hero’s Journey.
2. Well-thought-out original species (the narmacil); their life cycle, their need of hosts and the powers that they grant.
3. Skillful use of villains; all three are relevant and important without cluttering the narrative or making them bleed together.
4. Inara is all-around fantastic.
5. Bill provides a useful third point of view between Inara and Jack regarding the narmacil.
6. Awesome climatic battle.
7. Strong conclusion.

Negatives
1. Jack’s baffling and tedious Fantastic Racism (because he is the protagonist, there is a lot of it in the narrative).
2. Could Have Avoided This Plot regarding the nature and origin of Yang (this underpins the narrative and so it affects everything).

As you can see, the positives outnumber the negatives 3-1 but the negatives are more noticeable and prevalent because they involve the protagonist’s personality and the reason he goes on his quest.

Click here for the next review request: Gold Dust

Click here for the previous book review (not a review request): Seinfeld And Philosophy

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Sassy Saturday: Annala tells the God of Order that he's full of crap

Welcome to another week of Sassy Saturday at Trickster Eric Novels.  Every week will be an excerpt from one of my novels showcasing a kick-butt heroine. If you want read about the original blog hop the link is here.

The previous Sassy Saturday post can be read here: Mad Scientist and a Monster Unicorn

The context for this post: Order has invaded Annala's hometown, Dnnac Ledo, and she is unable to fight him because a magical slave collar restricts her abilities. Then she realizes that the collar is the perfect weapon against him.

This is the last excerpt from Mana Mutation Menace. This means that it is also the last Sassy Saturday until I publish Transcending Limitations. That is going to happen sometime next year; like March or so.
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Order's invasion was overwhelming. Both Meza's ordercrafter hunters and the village guardians were spread thin. Even the civilians had taken up arms to fight against the invading army, but it was still not enough. As the battle continued, four enforcers ganged up on Alexis.

Mustering her courage, Annala stood, hiked up her skirt, and ran forward. She had to do this; she had to because there was no one else. It was fear for her aunt that compelled hers; her aunt and herself. She feared that what she saw in her vision, and what happened to Alexis in real life, would come to pass once more. Thwarting such a nightmare was worth any risk.

The enforcers ignored her because she was designated as a slave. The Order Shield was as thin as air to her. Order himself didn’t notice her until she was under his nose. She slapped him across the cheek and shouted,

“Hypocrite! Your host stalked me for months despite the local government’s laws against stalking and the laws against private ordercrafters. He disrupted my life, sowed disorder in my community, locked this thing on my neck against my will, and kidnapped me. You yourself disapproved of that last one! Now here you are vandalizing like the original vandals! How can a being that protests to embody Truth and Rule of Law defend against such hypocrisy?”

Order hesitated. His pilfered body stopped moving and his aura dimmed a degree. Lacking his direction, the enforcers also lacked his vitality and elves all over the village suddenly found themselves an easier fight. Alexis fought her way out of her silver vapor cage and Meza banished the ones that attacked himself. Nulso’s body stood alone, except for Annala.

She backhanded him on the other cheek and again denounced him.

“You are like Theodosius I, who claimed to be the legitimate 167^th Western Emor Emperor because he occupied the capital and convinced the Eastern Emor Emperor that it was so! In truth, he was a thug and a bandit who conquered with thugs and bandits. All you prove here is that your precious ‘stability’ is nothing but brute force and fear. Such things are chaotic in nature, devoid of any ‘law’ except the ‘Law of the Jungle.’”

  An ethereal tendril wound itself about Annala’s waist and up towards her neck and the collar resting there. Annala didn’t flinch; her fist clenched, her shoulders tensed, and sweat broke out all over her body, but she didn’t blink or look away. Neither did Nulso’s body. His sense of awareness was focused solely on Annala. Alexis and Meza took this opportunity to finally pierce his Order Shield. Annala’s intervention provided the opening they needed. To make sure Order didn’t notice, Annala slapped him a third time and continued her scathing criticism.

“You can’t kidnap me. You yourself recognized me as Eric’s property. To do so would be stealing. You can’t justify that. You can’t even use Eminent Domain because you lack the consent of the governed to form a ruling body of law.”

Sagart whispered hymns to boost Alexis’ and Meza’s strength.

“A mind such as yours is wasted serving Lady Chaos. You should join my administrators. I would place you in charge of every elf on this world; slave or free. I’ll even remove the collar.”

Alexis and Meza, working together and with the power of Sister Sagart's prayers, finally broke through. The latter ripped open a body-sized hole in the Order Shield with his bastard sword and the former lunged with her rapier. Order ignored the wound to his vessel. Hearing Annala’s reply was more important.

She smiled politely. “I must respectfully decline. While it is a tempting offer, the job security leaves something to be desired.”
_____________________________________________________________________

Mana Mutation Menace, and the rest of the Journey to Chaos series, is available for purchase at Amazon as both an ebook and as a paperback. The series is also available in Kindle Unlimited.

 To learn more about the heroines of Journey to Chaos, visit the Tvtropes character sheet. 

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

The Author's Show Radio Interview: Mana Mutation Menace

Mana Mutation Menace raido interview

At this link is a recording of the interview I did with the Author's Show about 1.5 weeks ago. What is really cool about this is that it's not on a blog with mail-in text but a radio interview. It's radically different from anything I've done in the past.

I didn't know this stuff was out there until a month or so ago. Then I got an email from Reader's Favorite saying I won a prize from this contest that I entered. No, not a medal prize for my book but a random drawing for entering. I looked it up and talked with the people at The Author's Show to find out what I needed to do to claim this prize.

I didn't have to go to a studio to make the recording. I did it over Skype. That meant that I had to download Skype and get a headset. Testing that was fun; Skype has an "echo chamber" number for that sort of thing that records what the user says and plays it back for them. So I recited what "T.A.R.D.I.S." stands for. All that was left after that was to wait for the interview time.

It was a fifteen minute interview regarding a number of subjects: what the book was about, what value readers can get from it, books from other authors that mine is similar to and other things. In retrospect, I think I could have done a better job but it was my first one so that is to be expected.

Mana Mutation Menace raido interview





Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Sassy Sunday: Mad Scientist and a Monster Unicorn

Welcome to another week of Sassy Saturday at Trickster Eric Novels, although technically this is Sassy Sunday.  Every week will be an excerpt from one of my novels showcasing a kick-butt heroine. If you want read about the original blog hop the link is here.

The previous Sassy Saturday post can be read here:Haggling with elves is easy for Emily

The context for this post: Nunnal Enaz, the mother of Annala, is evaluating the latest specimen in her mana mutation research. She does this by jumping into its cage and fighting it.

I redacted names in three places here because they are spoilers.
______________________________________________________________________

A lightning bolt shot by his head, just missing his ear, and struck a piece of machinery behind him. It exploded and two aides doused the ensuing fire. Nunnal and Meza returned their attention to the pit, where the monster was firing more bolts from its horn. They bypassed the shield as if it weren’t there.

“Recalibrate the shield now!”

“Working on it!”

Screens of light above the monster flashed, then it stopped the bolts like everything else the monster threw at it. Nunnal joined the elf at the terminal for the shield and looked over the readings for the last five bolts.

“A-Guy, did he do what I think he did?”

“Yes, Director. Instead of electricity formed from mana, he generated the bolts from earthly electron activity.”

“Monster intelligence is a fascinating subject. Add this to the database.”

“Yes, Director.”

“B-Guy, begin analysis of the monster’s insides, but use something that’s least likely to cause damage. That’s still \\\\\\\\  in there, after all.”

“Yes, Director.”

“C-Guy, take samples for later chemical examination and treatment. I want hair, scales, feathers, blood, and saliva. If you can get a shaving of the horn, do that too.”

“Yes, Director.”

“D-Guy, prepare fodder so we can see how he reacts to prey. Unicorns typically aren’t carnivorous, but given that this is a new breed, I want to know for sure.”

“Yes, Director.”

“E-Guy, start up the durability test implements.”

“Yes, Director.”

As Nunnal continued giving orders and rambling theories, her minions sighed and went about their work. The director was always like this when she got excited. It was best to keep one’s head down and avoid attracting attention.

“Just once, I’d like her to remember our names,” Bealir muttered.

“I’m not even a guy,” Caluly moaned.

Such tests and more were performed to learn about this new monster. As each result came in, Nunnal giggled like a schoolgirl in anticipation. As she became more involved, she stopped referring to the monster as “him” and instead as “it.” Then F-guy smacked her and told her of her slip. She coughed and thanked him and then walked to the pit and apologized to the monster. It responded by exhaling poison gas. The barrier adapted to the new material and forced it back to the monster, but before the monster could breathe it in, its horn neutralized the poison. Nunnal’s face lit up once more and she rattled another list of orders.

Then she jumped in.

“Hello, ///////////////////.”

The monster jabbed her forehead with its horn. It pierced her head and her brain, causing a good deal of pain. Her Seed of Chaos mended the damage. The light of her eyes never dimmed.

“So you don’t respond to your title.” She dodged three jabs. “How about ///////?” She dodged two more jabs but not the following energy blast. She let that one hit to determine what it felt like. “Concentrated. You know your stuff.”

It breathed more poison and she took a deep whiff of it. She continued dodging and observing it at close range while waiting for the poison to take effect. Then, all of a sudden, she blacked out and her body fell limp. The creature bit her stomach and chewed on its muscle. Then she blew it away with a chant-less wind spell.

“Poison that goes directly to the brain and shuts it down, thereby killing the target without damaging the internal organs or muscles. You are a healthy eater, aren’t you?”

She jumped to her feet.

“It also lends support to the theory that you can’t handle your own poison, but there are monsters like that. Generally, they don’t live long enough to be studied but—”

Another horn blast cut her off, and to her surprise, it was neither mana nor the pure electricity but wind. It blew Nunnal clear off her feet and onto her backside. The monster stomped its front right hoof onto her stomach and the front left talon onto her left wrist, then it spat slime onto her right hand. It quickly hardened and Nunnal found herself unable to remove it.

“Battle tactics? Fantastic! D-Guy, are you getting this?”

“Yes, Director.”

The monster lowered its head to bite her chest, forgoing any kind of attack to her head. This fascinated her all the more; it remembered that attacking her head merited no results. She spirit-flared the creature off her, broke the slime restraint, and jumped out of the pit.

“It’s possible that the battle instinct of a mercenary carried over,” she said to herself. “Indeed, muscle memory is a potent thing and well recognized in monsterology, even among mortals, and the capacity for killing is a primal one….”

______________________________________________

Mana Mutation Menace, and the rest of the Journey to Chaos series, is available for purchase at Amazon as both an ebook and as a paperback.

 To learn more about the heroines of Journey to Chaos, visit the Tvtropes character sheet. 

The next Sassy Saturday is Annala tells the God of Order that he's full of crap

In other news, I did a radio interview with The Author's Show last week and it will be broadcast on this coming Tuesday. In it I talked about my writing process both for this book and more generally. If you could help me spread the word about it then that would be great; much appreciated.


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Sassy Saturday: Haggling with elves is easy for Emily

Welcome to another week of Sassy Saturday at Trickster Eric Novels.  Every week will be an excerpt from one of my novels showcasing a kick-butt heroine. If you want read about the original blog hop the link is here.

The previous Sassy Saturday post can be read here: Conversion War Vision Quest

The context for this post: Eric and Kallen are in a situation where they need to acquire a lot of expensive items from the elven city-state of Dnnac Ledo.  The smith says that he is willing to trade and Emily steps up to negotiate.
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Sonic palmed a piece of ore and held it up to the light.

“This stuff is common iron. As good as it is, it gets boring to use the same old stuff. I’ve heard rumors that a grendel’s hide is made of a unique metal and I’ve wanted to use some of that stuff for six hundred and eighty years, but they’re rare creatures. By the time I catch news of one, someone else has stripped it clean! If you have a Seed of Chaos, then I could harvest it without doing you any permanent harm.”

“You want to skin me alive?”

Sonic frantically waved his hands. “I’ll pay you, of course! I’ve accumulated plenty of human money over the centuries and it’s not like I have many opportunities to use it.”

“How much are we talking?”

“How much do you want?”

Memories of the pawnshop came back to Eric and gave him pause. Discussing how much Pilaocv would pay him for Lunas’ influence choker came out gibberish to him. He settled on a trade because he couldn’t comprehend the economics. He’d rather not go through that again.

“How about a trade: three daggers, two swords, an axe, and two suits of body armor.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

Eric thought so too, but a lie came naturally.

“I want three daggers for myself and my two teammates, two swords for Tiza so she can dual wield them, an axe for domestic labor jobs, and the armor for Tiza and Nolien as well because they lack my and my mentor’s physical advantages.”

“Alright, that makes sense. Okay, first show me your true form.”

Eric reached for his grendel identity and allowed it to shift his human body into its true stature. It occupied substantially more space and this delighted Sonic. He fingered his way from Eric’s knuckles, up his arm, and down his back.

“Fascinating! The stuff I could make with this...” He grew an abacus in his stomach and set about making the calculations. “Now let’s see….considering your size…..” He moved several rings to the right. “Then balance that against the equipment you asked for.” He moved other rings to the left. After a couple permutations of this, the abacus dissolved into his stomach. “If I took four complete hides, then we would have a fair trade.”

“Deal!”

“What!?” Emily asked. “He wants to take every inch of flesh off your body! Four times! Even if you can grow it back, how is that okay?”

“Smithery is my Eternal Hobby,” Sonic said seriously. “It’s what I do to stave off chaotic madness and create meaning in my life. Opportunities like this are what I live for. Besides, it’s just skin. It’ll grow right back.”

“I don’t think you grasp how painful this is going to be for Eric,” Emily said.

“Emily...”

“Shut it, Eric! You don’t understand this either. You may have an elven girlfriend, but I’ve spent a lot more time around elves than you have. They think differently, and not because they literally have chaos in their brains. Their Seed of Chaos makes them apathetic. They think nothing of ripping arms off because they grow back. They can’t understand a human’s need for food because starvation can’t kill them. They think we’re stupid barbarians because we can’t spend our lives doing mad science for shits and giggles. Just because you have a Seed of Chaos, it doesn’t make you an elf.”

Someone clapped. Everyone looked up and saw that it was Tasio.

“Well said! I’m glad I dragged you here. You’re fun.”

“Go to the abyss. You’re worse than they are.”

Tasio shrugged and said, “Guilty.” Then he disappeared again.

The smith looked shocked and immediately bowed his head in apology.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give the impression that I wanted to avoid pain by pushing it on someone else. I assure you that elves still comprehend pain even if we do heal quickly from it. If I could transform myself into a grendel, I would, but I have no idea how to do so. I don’t know what they look like and I don’t know how their skin works. How about this? Three hides.”

Emily threw up her hands. “It’s like talking to a wall. I don’t think you’ve ever had your skin peeled off before.”

“You have?”

“Eight weeks ago; Bog of Poisoned Glory. I was helping Kallen find Forol so she could ask the goddess for a blessing. I was infected by a parasite that ate my skin before my eyes, then moved into my internal organs. Kallen had to give me two years off her life just to keep me stable enough to get to the ER. I was in intensive care for seventy-two hours.”

“Okay, two hides.”

“Emily, it’s all right,” Eric said. “If I didn’t believe in the idiom ‘no pain, no gain,’ I wouldn’t make it through Basilard’s training sessions.”

“One hide or Eric walks out and you’ll lose this opportunity forever.” Emily leaned in closer. Her stare was sharp and piercing. Her Evil Eye filled him with despair for lost time and crushed dreams. “For the rest of eternity, you’ll curse your greed overcoming your creativity.”

“Fine. One full hide for everything.”

Emily blinked and leaned back. “I’m glad we could come to terms.”

Kallen slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close.

“You drive a hard bargain, as usual.”

“It was nothing, Boss. Just practice.”  

_________________________________________________

Mana Mutation Menace, and the rest of the Journey to Chaos series, is available for purchase at Amazon as both an ebook and as a paperback.

 To learn more about the heroines of Journey to Chaos, visit the Tvtropes character sheet. 

The next Sassy Saturday post is Mad Scientist and a Monster Unicorn


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Sassy Saturday: Conversion War Vision Quest

Welcome to another week of Sassy Saturday at Trickster Eric Novels.  Every week will be an excerpt from one of my novels showcasing a kick-butt heroine. If you want read about the original blog hop the link is here.

Yes, it's been a while. I've been busy with a lot of things. Anyway, on with the post.

The previous Sassy Saturday post can be read here: Routine Mission Monster Slaying

The context for this post: Long story short, Annala is on a vision quest that will grant her understanding and empathy. It takes the form of stepping into the role of a holy warrior during The Conversion War.
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“One of the ‘lesser beings’ here is Annala; one among billions. Can you find her? If you succeed, you will pass my test.”

“My third one. I accept.”

“Fair warning; she may not be as you remember her.”

A girl awoke with a start. Heart beating furiously and sweat circling her brow, she sat up. Looking around, she saw no sign of anyone; a curious thing because she thought she heard someone call her. The sun was peeking through the windows, so she decided to dress. She put on a robe and walked to the back of her home for the morning cleansing ritual.

She took extra care washing her hair. Its rich golden-brown color was proof that she was the granddaughter of Lady Chaos. She could not be permanently injured, never ill, never die, and her beauty would only grow as she aged. She was truly blessed.

Once she was clean, dry, and clothed, she stepped inside the kitchen. As a chaotic acolyte, it was her job to make the morning meal. Her teacher’s wife caught and picked a lot of good food, so she was never hungry. In fact, with all the available ingredients, she could experiment: these nuts grounded into a powder and mixed with this sap made a tasty sauce, and boiling these certain leaves made a refreshing tea. Other experiments, she blushed to think, were not as successful. Her teacher and his wife ate them nonetheless and with good humor.

"Good morning, Annala," an old man said. Most of his hair fell down his face rather than his head. In that regard, he was similar to men his age, but his ears told otherwise.

"Good morning, Teacher," Annala said, bowing.

"Did you slept well?"

“I had a strange dream.”

“What have I taught you about dreams?"

"They are messages from The Trickster and we should pay heed to them. The reason they're so weird is because he wants us to improve our reasoning by deciphering them."

The old wiseman smiled kindly. "That's my favorite student."

The younger frowned. "I'm your only student."

"Good! Then I won't have to disappoint anyone when you finally succeed me."

This was a game they had played for as long as she could remember. She hoped to continue playing it forever and why not? Both of them were immortal.

If Annala closed her eyes, she could still remember the scene. Now it was gone...they were gone; killed by mortals. To think that the immortality bestowed upon them by Grandmother Chaos could be revoked made her shudder. She had never seen such eldritch magic before. Her fellow soldiers counted on her to protect them from it.

Far from her secluded village, she marched with a company of elven warriors. They traveled the countryside searching for signs of the dark arts so they could kill its practitioners. Thus far, every human settlement they came across used it and so they had been very busy.

Her job was to project the blessings of Grandmother Chaos to shield and inspire those around her. Between her power and their valor, even the empowered fiends were no match. Every trace was wiped out as if it had never been there. Humans bred like rats so there would be no harm done to their total population. Besides, they weren’t going to live much longer anyway. Their quality of life was so poor, their already short lives were cut even shorter. All she and her companions did was deny them a year or two.

She shuddered. The others noticed and guessed its cause but said nothing. None of them wanted to talk about the blasphemous power they fought against. All of them were too scared to think about it. The only reason they sought it out was because they were more afraid of its users appearing on their doorstep without warning. There were rumors that an entire village had been enslaved and their imaginations spun ever more horrid tales of what happened to them.

An ethereal hand pulled her mind out of the illusion and back into reality. She was in a dungeon and tormented by an ordercrafter. That was what these fiends called themselves: “Those empowered by Order to bring stability to this world.” In addition to the physical imprisonment, they pulled their captives back and forth from illusions to blur their distinction of reality and break their will.

Her wrists were shackled above her head and pulled so high she stood on her tiptoes, while her ankles were secured with manacles bolted to the floor. In normal circumstances, she could escape from these as easily as breathing via shapeshifting, but a metal collar clenched tight around her neck suppressed her chaotic ability. It made her weaker than a magic-less mortal.

“The Age of Elves is over,” the ordercrafter said. “Never again will your kind threaten us. You belong under our feet and putting those clever minds of yours to our benefit.”

“Go to the Abyss, temp!”

The ordercrafter forced a rag into her mouth. She tossed her head and thrashed in her restraints, but it was tied behind her head. The blood that was drenching it dripped down her throat and infected her with its diseases. They would cause her tremendous pain but wouldn’t kill her. While diminished, her Seed of Chaos would still prevent her death. Escape was impossible.

_______________________________________________________________________
Mana Mutation Menace, and the rest of the Journey to Chaos series, is available for purchase at Amazon as both an ebook and as a paperback.

 To learn more about the heroines of Journey to Chaos, visit the Tvtropes character sheet. 

Click here for the next Sassy Saturday: Haggling with elves is easy for Emily.

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

Read for Fun: Seinfeld and Philosophy

"Seinfeld and Philosophy" is a book I bought some time ago. I read a few of its essays but then it got lost in the shuffle. I finally finished it the other day. The show about nothing has profound things in it. Since this is a philosophy anthology I can't use my normal grading method so I'll just sample three of the essays.

 "The Costanza Maneuver: is it rational for George to 'Do the Opposite'"?

This is one of my favorites. Not only is it interesting but it cleaves to Seinfeld as much as to the philosophy. I'd say this is one of the better essays in that regard.  

The title of this episode refers to the season five episode "The Opposite" where George realizes that his every instinct has been wrong so Jerry (jokingly) advises him to do the opposite of what his instincts tell him.  In pursuit of determining if this is a truly rational thing to do, the author of the essay uses concepts such as the Three Kinds of Rationality (minimum, median and maximum) and employs a test; it is rational if it is both feasible and reliable. 

The author of the essay also speaks of the comical mechanics in this central joke of the episode. Neither George nor the audience expects the Costanza Maneuver to work and the contrast with its great success is both startling and baffling. It's also about George's neurosis; that's always funny. 

Seinfeld, Subjectivity and Sartre

This one is about the constructions of the Self (identity, personality etc.) and how it exists in relation to others. It is not only that the persona of the characters is revealed through their interactions with others but that it is influenced and built by them. Examples include Jerry encouraging some odd plan or another by George and Kramer's eccentrics coming from all the strange people he interacts with.

This particular essay had another point to prove; that Jean-Paul Sartre advocated the relationally constructed Self instead of being an essentialist. The author of this essay goes to great lengths to disprove what I assume is a widespread and long standing interpretation. Of course, Sartre's play, "No Exit" and that famous line "Hell is other people" is brought up. In both the play and the TV show there are three (or four) unpleasant people locked in a room for a prolonged period of time as their punishment. Yet the author of this essay notes that the Seinfeld four don't see it as torture because it is their natural environment.
Seinfeld and the Moral Life

The author of this essay attempts to prove that the four main cast members are kind and compassionate people who regularly try to do the morally correct thing; yes all four of them.  While I disagree I'm more put off by the faulty logic and reasoning in this essay.

Before starting the argument to prove this, the author of the essay first separates "integrity" from the idea of "being moral" because someone can be a horrible immoral person with great integrity. While this is sound enough it also means there is less land to defend. When the author of the essay begins their defense of their argument they point to the few actions that could be interpreted as good and kind and ignores the context. It's cherry picking.

Then the author of the essay responds to possible counter-arguments by stating that being a "comedy of manners" is more or less the same as being concerned with morality because manners are about avoiding hurting someone's feelings. This ignores the possibility of being petty, superficial or self-interested. There is also the phrase "obviously false on its face". This sounds like the start of the Costanza Maneuvers' first section. It referred to the tendency of some people to believe they've won an argument by saying "you're being irrational". Saying that something is false does not prove it to be so.

 _______________________________
 There are others in this essay that I greatly enjoyed such as "J. Peterman the Ideological Mind: Paradoxes of Subjectivity" and the "Elaine Benes: Feminist Icon or Just One of The Boys". There are only one or two that I disliked and that's more about disagreement or whatever.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Seinfeld and Philosophy" an A


Click here for the next book review (a review request): Crik

Click here for my previous book review (a review request): Fae

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).