Saturday, April 27, 2019

The Last Days of Socrates (read for fun)

This is yet another college book that I never got around to reading. Yes, I rarely sold them back because I'm that much of a nerd. This is a collection of four stories styled as "dialogues".

I found Euthyphro  both fun and instructive. The  elenchus or Socratic Method is on display here and it shows the difficulty in defining seemingly obvious words like "justice". I like to see it as Socrates trolling Euthyphro; truly a gadfly as Apology goes into detail regarding.

Apology is the meat of the matter. It's  interesting. From what I can tell, instead of out-right refuting the charges against him, he tries to wriggle out of them by saying they don't apply. For instance, he isn't a teacher because he doesn't charge a fee and it's not his fault if others like his company and ask him things to which he answers at length. One has to wonder if he's taking his trial seriously. Indeed, he indirectly tells the jury that they're stupider than he is because they're unaware of just how stupid they are.

Crito is a short one. Crito argues from a worldly perspective; sons, and physical pleasures of life and such. Even in the next dialogue he's still focused on practical matters such as Socrates's funeral. He's a great foil for Socrates, the one who pursues only wisdom.

The more I read of Phaedo, the more I thought Socrates was making stuff up to ease the sorrow of his friends. Really, that seems to me to be his entire purpose in leading the conversation to the subject of why a philosopher should look forward to death and thus the concept of the immortal soul. While the idea of bodily needs and desires distracting the philosopher from the pursuit of wisdom makes perfect sense, the Argument from Opposites sounds more like wordplay than logic. Indeed, the editor's intersections between the sections of the conversation as well as the notes at the back of the book point out hasty agreements or weak points in argument.


After reading the entire book, I prefer the first two dialogues. They feel more solidly based and philosophical to me than the other two. The latter pair seem to me like an apology, of sorts, for the friends of Socrates. They tried to save him but he refused to be saved, and he refused to be saved because he wanted to die.
Even so, it is difficult to judge them as equals given their differing contexts (and when Plato wrote them, of course). Euthyphro is an acquaintance of his and doing something that Socrates disagrees with so he basically gets made to look foolish. The Apology takes place in a court room during a trial, which is much different than a private chat with his friends.
Then there's the discussion of how much of these events took place and how much is Plato creating as a frame device for certain concepts (like his Theory of Ideas). I find it telling that the Apology is the only one that was publicly witnessed by many people and more so that it appears to be the only one of the four witnessed by Plato himself.

I enjoyed all four and found them interesting in different ways.

Trickster Eric Novels gives The Last Days of Socrates an A.


Click here for my next book review (a request): Enaro


Click here for my previous book review (for fun): Mahou Sensei Negima -omnibus #8



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).


His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback
 

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Five Questions in the Crown of Blood (author interview)



Thaddeus White has completed his excellent Bloody Crown trilogy. I've read the first two so far and I rated both of them highly.  So when he asked me to spread the word on the third one I gladly agreed. Here are Five Questions for "Crown of Blood" and its series.
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1. What was it like writing the third book of a trilogy?  Describe for us any challenges or joys that came with it.
 
Kind of odd. I’ve been working on this trilogy for a long time now, and it’s significantly more challenging than three stand-alone novels because there’s a need for additional planning in order to keep the plot lines consistent across three books. At the same time, story arcs have to be of varying length, some trilogy-long, others starting and ending within a single book, or two, so that each book, whilst part of a great whole, is also a complete entry.
 
On the plus side, the greater size of the trilogy means that characters can have more depth and the story itself can have more ebbing and flowing. I’ve enjoyed the development of characters like Stephen Penmere and Sophie Hurstwood (the unofficial subtitle of the trilogy is ‘In Which Terrible Things Happen To Sophie’).
 

 
2. Did you have all three books planned out ahead of time or did you improvise as the war progressed? Perhaps it was a mixture of the two.

 
I planned most things ahead of time, because I didn’t want to risk driving into a dead end and then scrabbling for a resolution. One thing I decided late on (and changed) was who ends up on the throne. That was deliberate, as I thought it’d help maintain the ambiguity as to the ultimate victor of the war. However, I did fiddle with things a little bit, mostly increasing or decreasing the amount of time spent with a given POV as felt natural and fit better with the story.

 
3. What about the trilogy's cast. Is there anyone you became particularly fond of or, conversely, anyone whose death scene you looked forward to writing?

 
Ha. You say ‘conversely’ but I actually quite like killing off my favourite characters. Nothing completes a character like their demise. As for favourites, I have a few. The female trio of Karena, Sophie, and Charlotte were fun to write, and I really enjoyed Sir James’ elegant sense of humour (in Traitor’s Prize he describes a nobleman he’s teaching swordplay as not requiring ‘further decoration’ after the pupil falls down some stairs and gets the day off training).


4. The Blood Crown Trilogy is just one of the stories that you've written in this setting, correct? What other stories take place in this world you've created?
 

Bane of Souls and Journey to Altmortis, which have a few recurring characters (including Fritigern, Anja, and their hound, who have small roles in The Bloody Crown Trilogy) but are mostly separate. Bane of Souls follows Horst, a Kuhrisch who visits Highford and is compelled to join the mage’s tower, much to his displeasure (which isn’t improved when he discovers the city’s being terrorized by a spate of murders).
 
Journey to Altmortis follows Thaddeus and Lynette Falchester, and a motley crew of companions, as they head deep into the snowy Kuhrisch wilderness to catch up with some old enemies and reclaim stolen family heirlooms. But they find rather more than they bargain for in the ruined, subterranean city of Altmortis…
 
5. What are your post Crown of Blood writing plans?
 

In shockingly productive news, the next Sir Edric story, Sir Edric and the Corpse Lord, is quite close to completion. I just need to finish the beta-reading phase, give it a final proof, and sort the cover, and it’s good to go. My intention is to have it released some time in the second half of 2019.
 
After that, I’ve outlined the next Sir Edric comedy. There are a few ideas bubbling away for more in Crown of Blood world, but after finishing the trilogy I’m going to give myself a little break.

 
 
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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).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Mahou Sensei Negima omnibus 8: read for fun

This is a combat heavy omnibus. You can really see it that with the fight Kagetaro of Bosporus and, of course, the start of the tournament arc. Without Mahora Academy as the setting, the harem comedy elements that originally defined the series have been swept away. There are still romance jokes, naturally, such as Ako's crush on Negi's older alter ego and Asakura taking a picture of her pactio, but they are further back; jokes and side plots.

We also have the introduction of Jack Rakan. I've heard of him but this is my first time seeing him in the manga itself. I can see why he is so popular. He has endless comedic potential with his eccentrics and buffoonery ("ETERNAL NEGI FEVER!" hahahaa) but can shift to serious easily. He definitely has a battle-hardened war veteran vibe to him, which is displayed in both his badassery and also his contemplation about the last war and regret during it. Being of Nagi's comrades also plugs him into plot-and-background heavy stuff.

Magia Erebea. That is some creepy stuff. Its presentation and set up give it the gravitas deserving of something that could be called "dark magic". On that note, fantastic character development for Negi and Chisame. They've come far from their roots in earlier volumes but still the same.

The side plots with the other students, those still separated from the A-Party of Negi, are also fantastic. Yue joins a magic knight academy and without certain mental hangups to inhibit her, she is no longer a "baka ranger". That is so fun I think it could stand on its own. There's also Nodoka the treasure-hunter/adventurer. Now THAT is definitely something I want to read more about. The way Ken Akamatsu introduces it, her party running away from a collapsing dungeon, is irresistibly tantalizing.

 

Trickster Eric Novels gives Mahou Sensei Negima omnibus 8 an A+

Click here for my next book review (for fun): The Last Days of Socrates

Click here for my previous book review (for fun): Medieval Military Technology


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).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback