Friday Fiction, E. Lily Yu, "Ilse, Who Saw Clearly"

Although she is a relatively new writer (winning last year's Campbell Award for Best New Writer), E. Lily Yu has already become one of my favorite writers of short fiction. I find her prose lyrical and intelligent.

A Healthy Choice: Iron Man 3

Editor's Note: In response to Jen Miller's post about the first Iron Man movie, Mark Schelske recommended that she see Iron Man 3.  Today, we run his review of that film.

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Iron Man 3 is pure popcorn without all that fake butter and high sodium.  Unlike the previous movie, which caused high cholesterol, this movie is nutritious. 

Tony Stark is suffering from the adverse affects of his past adventures, so he is forced to make himself a better man, a healthier man.  Yet a villain stands in his way - the Mandarin.  I thought I’d hate Ben Kingsley as this bad guy terrorist.  Let’s just say he proved me wrong.  Moreover, Robert Downey Jr. as Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts continue their chemistry.  I even liked Don Cheadle’s performance as James Rhodes.  His character, the Iron Patriot, had some laughs, unlike the flat performance in Iron Man 2.

A Self-Indulgent Superhero

I realize that I'm coming very late to the party on this one, but I just saw Iron Man last weekend.  This film was a huge hit when it premiered in 2008, grossing over $500 million in the box office worldwide, and continues to remain popular, having inspired two sequels (one that just came out a week ago--check back on Wednesday for our thoughts on this latest installment).  It also got quite a bit of critical praise, including from Roger Ebert, who called it one of the best films of the year.

I would like to disagree.  Iron Man is a lousy superhero movie.

Friday Fiction: Maria Dahvana Headley, "The Traditional"

Lightspeed categorizes "The Traditional" as science fiction. I would have called it fantasy, maybe even dark fantasy, being as I've twice had semi-nightmarish dreams set in the world of the story since reading it in draft. Whatever it is, it is brilliant.

Robert McCammon’s Novella "I Travel by Night" Invokes Intrigue

A kidnapper calls for Trevor Lawson by name, and the undead detective cannot resist the opportunity to seek out his maker amidst Louisiana quagmires in nineteenth-century America. Robert McCammon’s newest novella I Travel by Night is shrouded in smoke and mystery, much like its vampire adventurer protagonist who is perpetually hidden beneath a top hat and the smoke of a cheroot.

McCammon has meticulously invoked historic America in the south and marvelously constructs the damp atmosphere and the gas lamp-lit Victorian era region surrounding New Orleans.

Innovation and Imagination: Kickster and the Future of Video Games

It has certainly been a busy year to say the least--not only for me, but also for the gaming industry.  I believe the last time I wrote a piece for this site, it happened to be the Diablo 3 review last June, so a lot of time has passed for sure.  Games have come out, with some being immortalized within a community and with others sinking into the ether to be left alone.

A large trend that popped up in 2012 for the gaming industry was that of the Kickstarter.  Just what is Kickstarter you say?  Well, let’s head over their website to get their take…

“Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others.”

For video games, Kickstarter is a platform for developers, both indie and well established, that has helped promote and achieve some goals, while leaving some unpopular ideas to the wayside.  This past year, it seemed that once a few developers got their wishes funded to produce their own creative projects, other developers threw in their hats for their own pet projects.  And these are some projects that aren’t typically accepted by big publishers due to the risk involved in releasing a game to a possible niche crowd.

Games like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed are known year after year to produce big numbers for publishers and developers due to the hype involved, their history of gameplay, and millions strong community.  While I have had my fun with some of these yearly-released titles, I will say they tend to lack innovation or not stray too far from the previous titles, due to not wanting to exclude anyone.  And so each yearly release blends together with those before and after it, in both style and gameplay.  And while many gamers are severely annoyed by this lack of innovation, many of them are not “voting with their dollars” when it comes time to purchasing new titles and thus, letting the industry know what they truly want.

This is where Kickstarter has really helped video games turn a corner.  Developers like InXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment proved to the publishers that some games are actually worth making, including Wasteland 2, Project Eternity (Working Title), and Torment: Tides of Numenera.  I mean, who would have ever thought that another Planescape (Torment) title would ever be released?  Not because the game wouldn't be good, but because of the lack of risk-taking by publishers nowadays.

Planescape basically was a game of dialogue where lengthy lines of text not only displayed character dialogue, but also informed players of their environment similar to what you’d hear around a D&D game.  Of course, you could melee your way through the game, ripping through dialogue trees without care, but you would be severely missing three quarters of the actual game.  But because of this immersion in dialogue, a sequel of Planescape seemed meaningful only to those who played the first game, due to what typical gamers want nowadays. 

Exploring the Human Mind in a Modern Way: Eric Rabkin's Online Science Fiction and Fantasy Course

I’ve just had my fist experience in a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course): Professor Eric Rabkin’s "Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World," which took 11 weeks from February to April. It gave me a lot of useful information, but most of all it made me a better reader.

It was the second time this course was offered (and if anyone feels interested after reading this, there will be a third one starting on June 3rd – it’s free, just go here). For those unfamiliar with the work of Rabkin, he’s a professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan and author of such books as The Fantastic in Literature (1976), Fantastic Worlds: Myths, Tales, and Stories (1979), and The Rise and Fall of Twentieth Century Formula Fiction (2001). More importantly, he’s a skillful and entertaining educator, the kind that makes you wish all your teachers were like that.