The Art of Video Games by Chris Melissinos and Patrick O'Rourke, my review

Like opening a scrap book and viewing my gaming life, I flipped through the digital pages of this forthcoming illustrated book from Welcome Books (who graciously provided me with a digital version to review), and I started to realize just how much a part of my life video games were--and are-- and as I grew, they grew along with me.

In conjunction with The Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit, The Art of Video Games, a full color celebration of video games tie-in book will be released by Welcome Books. Check out the retro clip packed promotional video here.

The Art of Video Games transported me back to the very beginning of gaming, as I read about one of the first releases for the Atari, Combat, which I recall fondly playing on my cousin Jeffery’s Atari (which I did not own) in his parent’s house in Brooklyn. It was a gaming love at first sight, a love affair which continues  to this day. 

The impeccably researched discourse brought me through to my Intellivision days, my favorite console from my youth, where I frantically hunted in the basic and pixel-minimal Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The authors specifically commented about the excellent use of sound effects in this now unabashedly basic game, something I completely agreed with, recalling with fright the heavy breathing of what could only be a dragon in the next cave.

All the classics are covered such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, as well as modern favorites like Fallout (and Fallout 3), and Mass Effect . This gamer learned lots of interesting things from the insightful text, such as, did you know that the “invaders” in Space Invaders were inspired by H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, hence the tentacled sea creature-inspired design looking like squid, crabs and octopi? Fascinating.

Early gaming legendary pioneers, such as Nolan Bushnell (the founder of Atari and arcade friendly Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza-Time Theaters), are interviewed, and these interview pieces break up the lavishly illustrated (in all their pixelated glory) screen shots and gaming design, with some great historic tidbits on early design and the free flowing creativity and hard work that went into early game design. Also many of today’s gaming pioneers are also interviewed.

The book covers all the stages of video game history, including what the authors call the “8-bit revolution” of 1985, when an obscure Japanese company released its new Nintendo Entertainment System to a U.S. audience, thrusting the lagging console market into future, and all of gaming along with it.

The only thing missing from this trip down gaming-memory lane were emulator codes so I could go back and re-play each game painful obsession, because at the time of their release, they were the coolest and most creative escapes and only added to my love of fantasy, adventure, comic books, novels, and even working with science fiction and fantasy, then working for a time at a gaming company myself.

Who would have thought it all those years ago, trying to angle my tank so that I can shoot and ricochet my shot off the wall from behind a barrier to take out cousin Jeffery’s tank, that gaming culture would have grown to be a vivid and enrapturing art form?

If Ready Player One was a fictional love song to video games, The Art of Video Games is the visual poem to gaming—simply a beautiful book filled with gaming nostalgia, inspired innovation and flat-out fun.

As much as I loved reviewing this in digital form, I can’t wait to pick up the printed book as well. I’m sure it’ll be beautiful. And I plan to try to see the exhibit when it comes to New York.

Game Over

My review of LIKE A SNIPER LINING UP HIS SHOT by Jacques Tardi

Remember that scene in True Romance when Christopher Walken (Vincenzo Coccotti) punches Dennis Hopper (Clifford Worley) in the nose and quips something to the effect of, "...and that's as good as it's gonna get, and it ain't ever gonna get that good again."

That is how this graphic novel reads, this ambitious adaptation of the terse French crime novel, The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette, is like a swift punch in the face, and it doesn't let up. 

The stark black and white illustration by Jacques Tardi, a master of the graphic novel form, was dead on. The story was violent enough; I had a hard time imagining all those scenes of gore in full color, the inker would have run out of red pens. And yet, then there are also panels of detached calm, depicting a man quietly drinking a beer, and we forget for a moment what happened the page before.

It's the familiar, desperate story of a killer who wants out of the game, and the lengths he'd go to get out.
 

Tardi's illustration, the thin-lined expressions, near unreadable emotions of the ruthless contract killer, Martin Terrier, are chilling. Presented is a professional killer, ruthlessly detached from his actions, yet oddly longing for a long lost girlfriend who he pulls into his downward spiral of violence.

Even the panel-heavy unjacketed hardcover from Fantagraphics is awesome, and a nice preview of the pages within. Not to mention this book's title wins as my favorite book title of 2011.

I'd like to note that I was not given this book as a review copy. I went out and bought it. First I read about it somewhere, then I tried to find it at a comic shop or two (which I won't mention here as both usually helpful shops didn't know what I was talking about). Then I went to order directly from the Fantagraphics website, but I'll be honest their first-time order set-up was a pain, so I cancelled that. Then I finally decided to order from bn.com, and that worked out perfectly (I even wound up ordering two of Manchette's other novels, one as an ebook and a paperback). See, good service will get the additional orders every time.

If you like solid noir crime stories, this graphic novel (and any of Manchette's original prose novels for that matter) are worth picking up. I should also mention that this collection was edited and translated by the always wonderful Kim Thompson.

WFC 2011 in San Diego, a town I've only been in for Comic Con.

I attended the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego this past weekend. It was pure luck that I headed west while NYC was hit with a phantom Halloween weekend snowstorm. But sometimes lady luck is on your side. 

In attendance was guest of honor, Neil Gaiman; Lifetime Achievement award-recipient, Peter S. Beagle; and the lovely, Charlaine Harris, author of the best-selling Sookie Stackhouse series, what is not to love about WFC?

Not to mention a several of my tribe that flew out of Dodge (Neueva York, in this instance) to attend. A special thanks goes to soon-to-be-published, mil-fantasy writer, Myke Cole, for sharing accomidations with me, making it easier for us both to be in attendance. He was a gentleman and a scholar, except when he wasn't.


I was pleased to reconnect with friends not from my hometown, a second tribe of sorts, whom I've become friends with at past WFCs (this being my fourth, I missed the San Jose show 2 years back). It's been nice to continue that friendship via social media like facebook, twitter and our collective blogs. But it's much nicer to share a beer with them at a con party, hanging by the back door.

Then there are the new people I met, some of whom I only rec'd a quick introduction and a handshake, others like the ridiculously charming Brent and Kristi Weeks, I was lucky enough to share a meal and some hysterical stories with. They were a super cool couple, I'll be for some time relaying their story with Kristi's infamous line, "not no." [you had to be there]. I also literally walked into Pat Rothfuss, another incredibly nice guy, easy to talk to about fantasy and all things, whom I hadn't met before. We wound up joining a big group for lunch, and it was just one of those easy breezy things that happens at WFC.

I was able to attend a few panels covering topics such as "Timeless Literature: What Makes a Book a Classic" to others, like the one moderated by my WFC bloodbrother since 2007, Peter Brett, entitled:  "Out from Under the Bed: Monster as Protagonist," where Pete and his fellow panelists dished on what it was like to write a monster's perspective, or what went into humanizing monsters (or making monsters of humans...) It was a great way to launch the 4 day convention.


I perused the dealer room with my very good friend and co-worker at DK Publishing, Nancy L. who reveled along with me when we saw a DK book in the choc-full-o-books Dealer's Room. [More on that, and a new friend I made in the dealer's room to come.]

I also got a chance to see one Lauren K. Cannon, a magnificent artist, make her first official appearance in the Art Show, with several magnificent pieces (note: Lauren has worked with Peter from the very beginning, designing wards, and creating artwork for his website, and eventually most of the artwork for his Subterranean Press projects).  I think we've seen just the tip of the iceberg with her talent as an artist.

I stayed through the Awards Banquet [pics to come] as I've not hit that jaded point where I feel I don't need to go to the dinner anymore. I enjoy it and it reminds me of the Edgar Awards banquet I used to attend while working for the Mystery Guild. There is something very cool about gathering with so many like-minded individuals, celebrating the work that inspires, those that create it, and our little niche of the book world.

More to come, as I believe this is my re-entering the blogging world. Hip-hip hooray!

My review of READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline

I recently finished reading an Advanced Reader Editon of READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline, and I am now wondering if the crafty author and I were separated at birth. His funny, action-packed near future sci-fi romp, was so packed full of 80s nostalgia, that I could swear we were twins, almost every reference hitting a direct cord with me.

Every piece of this fun novel was packed with movie, comic book, video game, and song references from the 80s, and I laughed at every mention of Crom, Intellivision, and many, many more. 

His character, Wade Watts, goes on the gaming adventure of a lifetime, very Wonka-esque, in fact, to win the golden ticket, or in this case the fortune of one John Halliday, inventor of the most popular video game in the future, the OASIS, where he hid his billions for one lucky winner to find at the end of the quest.

This book was part 1-part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in it's poor boy gets a chance, 1-part Little Brother in its mastery of a depicting a computer hacker pop-culture prodigy in the near future, and 1-parts Butter Scotch Ripple. It had that feeling that every single reference mixed in spoke directly to me, brethren, tribe, some would say. 

Then he did a bit about the band, Rush. And I realized this author was only human. We were not separated at birth. (Editor's note: I hate Rush. I just do, sorry, not my cup of tea.) It's okay, by the way, it did not pull me out of the book, it just reminded me that my alter ego did not write this story while I was sleeping and submit it under a false name.

So, aside from that one, minor point, I found Cline's book to be totally entertaining, hysterically funny, a creative whirlwind, and it is a book I've been recommending all over town.

All the while, the professional me, whose done a bit of licensing in my day, imaged just how challenging it would be to pull off that end of this book, as I've read it's going to be made into a film (I believe film rights have been sold and this is in early development) With practically every major fantasy and science fiction film, comic book, and video game mentioned (not to mention lots of music), I don't want the licensing clearance job on that project. (whew!)

In conclusion--a really fun book. My only criticism is that if you are not someone interested in the culture of the 1980s, comic books, video games, fantasy novels, John Hues movies, pop music, and all things related, you might not be interested in the slightest. For the rest of us, it's a damn good time.

When video games and digital books collide

I just read this tonight in the Publishers Lunch daily email newsletter and thought this was a stroke of genius idea. I love it when gaming and books collide (two of my favorite things):

DIGITAL
L.A. NOIRE: The Collected Stories, published in conjunction with Rockstar Games, a series of short stories by authors including Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Jonathan Santlofer, Duane Swierczynski and Andrew Vachss, some of which are based on characters and cases from the world of L.A. Noire, Rockstar's forthcoming new video game, featuring murder and deception in 1940s Hollywood -- actresses desperate for the Hollywood spotlight, heroes turned defeated men, emotionally torn protagonists, depraved schemers and their ill-fated victims, to Mulholland Books, for publication as an ebook original on June 6, 2011. 

What an interesting move to rally quite a collectible list of respectable authors to release a book associated with Rockstar's release of L.A. Noire video game. The folks at Mulholland Books are doing some amazing things, check out their site, they do quite a job with it.

What I've been up to

So, what have I been up to? A lot of changes going on in my professional life, but more on that to come in the following weeks.

A good friend recently gave me a copy of Carrie Vaughn's newest novel, After the Golden Age. This is Carrie's first superhero novel, a category of fiction I've become enamored with since I read, Soon I Will Be Invincible a few years back. I was initially intrigued by the eye-catching jacket art, and I'm a few chapters in and so far its' good stuff.

I saw this novel first mentioned on Tor.com -- they send out a great newsletter & run a cool site, if you haven't checked it out, please do, it's become a hub for all things sci-fi and fantasy. I hear about many new and exciting things there.

Without spoiling too much (and since I still have plenty to continue reading myself), I'll simply say it is the story of a young woman, the daughter of a famous superhero mom and dad team, who is a much sought after prize to the enemies of her parents. You can see how that can get annoying real fast.

I also have been reading the ebook app version of Reif Larsen's illustrated novel, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet. This well crafted book was originally published in hardcover in 2009, and I'm enjoying the app so much I plan to attempt to track down a hard copy to add to the attic library. A clever mix of Wes Anderson-like attention to detail and the endearing story of a 12-year-old using his obsession and skill at cartography to figure out life. I highly recommend the interactive app or go and seek out the actual book which is out in paperback now. Even the original hardcover jacket is made of awesome.



Here's to hoping I post more regularly. But until then...

monday night rambling, ramblers.

Listening to Bad Religion while I pay bills and try to accomplish some freelance work.

Reading fantasy manuscript in PDF form on iPad, not so bad, with the multitasking I can jump to notepad, jot some quick notes then transfer my notes to reader report later on.

Oh, now Pearl Jam, I do love the shuffle. ("W.M.A." if you're wondering.)

Not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore. And hell, I don't blame you, as I am an infrequenaut of blog activity.

I actually started writing a draft blog the other night about how in my world (and my buddy Joe's) when we were kids, Cobra worked with the Empire, storm troopers and Cobra soldiers in AT-ATs, Snake Eyes vs. Vader. Seriously. A Jedi-trained Snake Eyes is nothing to scoff at. (Still saved as draft, I might post some day.)

I particularly liked Firefly working with Boba Fett. My two favorites.

I digress.

Some more book reviews will be posted soon. A few manuscripts I've read recently are close enough to publication to write about them. I'd also like to write a review of a friend's play I saw (full disclosure, it's a friend and I liked it, so it's more of a discussion).

Anyway, I'm stalling. Back to work.

Look ma, no pictures in this post. Who would have thought.

One random commenter on this post will win a copy of book I did some copyediting work on. It's a snappy science fiction collection exclusive to a certain book club where I used to work.

Prove to me you're still out there. Shoot up a flare.

I'll end as Radiohead's "Reckoner" comes on. Nice.