Book Review: The Living Dead

The Living Dead
John Joseph Adams (editor)
Night Shade Books
ISBN: 1597801437

An excellent and diverse anthology; definitely not for the squeamish.  The short stories packed into this book (there are 34 of them) cover everything you ever wanted to know about zombies, and then some.  Most of the stories have been published previously, but a good range of authors and mythos are represented--even the most hardcore and well-read zombie enthusiast is sure to find something they haven't seen before.  As much as there's something here for everyone, there's also something here to offend everyone--from the violent, to the vivid, to the just plain gratuitous, you will find plenty of gore, sex, and general human badness.  As should be expected, the recurring theme is not so much about the monsters that threaten to end the world as we know it, but about the people, decisions, and events that could allow it happen.

Dragon Age RPG Player's Guide Review

I'm not a fan of video games, so i haven't played the console or PC version of Dragon Age, but with all the wonderful things i have heard about it by people who are and have, i thought the pen and paper version had to at least be worth reading.

The first thing that i found off-putting was that the books come in $30 boxed sets.  That might be ok in theory, except that the first set (Players Guide, Game Master's Guide, and a map of Ferelden) only gives you rules for character levels 1-5.  Apparently the next boxed set, due out in 6 months, will contain levels 6-10, the next will contain another 5 levels, etc.  It's going to get expensive to play a single character through much advancement.  Designer Chris Pramas claims it will be more digestible for new players, but personally, i would rather spend $50 for one 'intimidating' fat book that will allow me to play a basic character through max advancement, than $120 on "more digestible" chunks over time.  Though i do suppose there's no reason to buy future sets anyway for those of us that were underwhelmed by the first.

My next gripe is that the character choices are limited: elf, dwarf, human; warrior, mage, rogue.  That's it.  It could be that that's all the video game offers, but i require more diversity.  Basic character creation is thus: you get 8 abilities, determined by random rolls.  Skill checks are 3d6+ability (+/- bonuses/penalties).  You can customize your character with ability focuses, backgrounds (think 'city elf' or 'surface dwarf'), and talents (skills).  You gain class powers by level.

Combat: for some reason it took the writers five steps to tell us roll for initiative; winner goes first, etc. They hid the fact that you get both something called a 'major action' and something called a 'minor action' each turn in step 4.  By step 8 i realize the authors are still just telling us to take turns.  :|  Minor vs Major actions are what they sound like and make sense once listed (ie: aim and shoot).  Moving on.  What combat really involves is making an ability roll against your opponent's defense score.  Well that's disappointingly simple after more than a page on the process of determining an initiative order.  We add complication with something called stunt points.  There are also modifiers for riding a mount into combat.

There's a lot of fluff, which i promptly ignored.  It might be brilliant, but not what i'm looking for in a game, especially one that's heavily targeted at people who have played the video game and presumably know enough of the storyline to not really need extensive world info.  Keep in mind the book is only 66 pages long.  That space would be put to better use with more spells!
There's just not much to this pdf.  As awesome and action-packed as the video game allegedly is, i was expecting more fun stuff, maybe even enough to convince me to try the Xbox 360 version.  As it stands, my answer to that question is still "meh."

Good points: the art is pretty, and there are maps.

In conclusion, this game seems to be completely playable if you have no illusions of playing high or even mid-level characters.  It just doesn't do anything for me that other games don't already do better.

Book Review: World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Max Brooks
Three Rivers Press
ISBN: 0307346617

A social and psychological commentary set to the entertaining backdrop of a zombie apocalypse--genius, really.  There is a reason people are calling this *the* zombie book to read; it is arranged as a series of short stories that artfully entwine to answer all the questions you ever asked yourself (and more) about what would happen if society spiraled into chaos.

I seriously squeed when i received this for my birthday from my husband--i've heard so many wonderful things, and it did not disappoint.  So often books about possible futures (especially post-apocalyptic ones) are so...i don't know.  Lame.  But this is not; it is gritty and horribly, beautifully realistic.  Each character has a story to tell (literally), and they are each unique and insightful.

It is more than a story about zombies, but a story about people, which will leave you walking away with a proper mix of disgust, humor, and pride at being human yourself.

Book Review: Game Widow

Game Widow
Wendy Kays
Synergy Books
ISBN: 1934454265

Not terrible, but not great--good if you're completely mystified as to why anyone would ever want to play video games, but provides nothing terribly insightful if you game yourself or have a lot of common sense.  It does cite a lot of sources and resources though, so it's not a completely useless if you're doing some research.  It's not especially well-written though, and it gives the reader a lot more "duh" than actual, helpful advice.

Book Review: The Alterverse

The Alterverse: Book One of the Gamers Trilogy
Donald Semora
Self Published
ISBN: 0-615-30453-2

I’m always excited to read anything game related, so when Don told me he was writing a book about gamers, living their adventure, I was truly stoked. Gamers tell the best stories, afterall, and this guy is a player, GM, and game writer all in one.

When the book arrived in the mail* I was immediately impressed with how pretty it was; the paper is of good quality, the art varies from decent to great, and the layout is appealing. Definitely one of the better self-published paperbacks I’ve seen, and even above most mainstream titles in the same $10.50 price range.

What disappointed me upon further inspection was the number of typos. This, paired with difficult sentence structure, was pure distraction for me. I found myself re-reading paragraphs in an attempt to understand who had just said what. In all fairness, there was apparently a miscommunication of some sort with the printer, and the unedited version was sent out—I choose to be optimistic and believe that all of my gripes will be resolved with the second printing.

The story itself is good, but mildly cliché. I kept looking for something to break the mold; I was expecting to get rickrolled by the author, but that never really happened. The people that seem evil are the bad guys, and the guy you think is going to betray them all, does.

There were plot holes. Not huge ones, but ones that my own gaming group would have hounded me over if I ran this as an adventure. There were things that really stood out to me from the beginning as something that the party should have tried, and there were strategies and logic used that didn’t seem to fit their experiences.

Many of the elements that weren’t predictable seemed out of place or even illogical. Actions and dialog from many of the characters didn’t seem realistic. Some of these things may have been solved with more information from the author; for example, the seasoned warrior woman was nearly overtaken by something the untrained gamer geeks easily defeated; what other unmentioned variables caused this? The lack of detail almost seems to imply that she needed to be rescued just because she was a woman, or maybe the party was outnumbered by more than it seemed.

What I really look for in a novel is some major plot twist (which I suppose may come later in the trilogy), provocative social commentary, or some other element that really makes me think. I was disappointed to find nothing like that, only the story I went in expecting. This would make a very good book for young readers (if the grammar was cleaned up a bit), but I found it lacking anything of substance that would make it a classic for adults. It was probably better suited as a gaming adventure than a fantasy novel, though I do like the idea behind it. Not a bad first attempt by the author, but I want more.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the author for review

Food Review: Baconnaise

Baconnaise.

Trial 1: warm Baconnaise, straight from the mail delivery person's car, on white bread.

Verd (my husband) and i couldn't wait to try this, so we got straight to it, spreading it on white bread for a new spin on the classic trailer-park sandwich. Not bad. It was a bit too vinegary for my tastes, but we agreed it would probably improve with refrigeration.

Trial 2: room temp on pumpernickel.

Now this was good. The flavor of the bread helped smooth the mayo taste, and the bacon flavor really came out. Our 7-year-old son was crazy about it.

Trial 3: chilled on a ham, bacon, provel and lettuce sandwich

Heaven. I really can't imagine a better sandwich, unless we had fresh tomatoes or i had taken the time to toast the bread. It really takes meat between two slices of bread and transforms it into something special.

The Verdict: Good Stuff.

It wasn't ZOMGbestthingevar, because it did still taste like mayo (and i'm not a huge fan of that, though i do like it sometimes in moderation), but it had a nice subtle bacon flavor that wasn't too salty or smoky. Decent as a spread on a nice piece of bread. Ridiculously good on any sandwich involving lettuce and bacon.

By the way, this product is also kosher and vegetarian-safe.