The Wolf at the End of the World by Douglas Smith

The Wolf at the End of the World by Douglas Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Wolf at the End of the World takes stories from indigenous North American cultures and brings them to life in a modern fantasy world where the spirits are real. Smith mixes modern life and the spirits from the stories together smoothly to tell a story of world-threatening danger.

This is a story about the interaction between the modern world and a spirit world that has been all but forgotten. A few Ojibwe elders still remember the old ways, and there are a few shapeshifters, or Heroka, who live in secret and have direct links to the spirits. But the Heroka are caught between a government agency that fears them from the modern world, and malevolent spirits bent on world devastation from the spirit world. The oblivious destruction of the natural balance by ignorant humans have given those spirits an opportunity that could mean the end for humanity.

A variety of relationships develop throughout the story: family ties, the bond between lovers, the close-knit communities of the Ojibwe people and the Heroka, the Heroka's partnerships with their totem animals. All the main characters are well rounded and developed, both the heroes and villains (and it's not always clear which those are).

I enjoyed Smith's writing style, which kept just enough action in the early going to keep things interesting, then built to a whirlwind of activity in a climactic final confrontation. There's plenty of good dialog, and the occasional humorous interaction (mostly involving the young Heroka Caz) breaks up some of the serious tension.

There's some fairly obvious cultural commentary in the book. Greed of the white man upsetting the natural balance is a central theme. Younger generations leaving behind their cultural roots, fear and hatred of those who are different, abuse of power against minorities...plenty of clear warning messages. But it never felt to me as if Smith was preaching, rather just letting the results of bad choices come to light.

I thought The Wolf at the End of the World was a solid story and an enjoyable read, though the concept of bringing old stories to life isn't particularly original. It's a good implementation of that well-trodden path, though, well worth a look.

From Eeebox to ThinkCentre

The tiny little computer I bought back in 2011 finally gave up the ghost last week. It did yeoman's work for six years as a proxy and file server. This week, I spent a few hours setting up a replacement.

That little computer was an ASUS "Eee box" that I picked up from Newegg for less than $200 (of course, I named it Eeebox). Very low-powered - didn't use much electrical power, didn't have much processing power. I put Ubuntu Linux on it, added a couple of external drives for storage space, and used it as a file server at home. It also did duty as a proxy server, routing traffic over a VPN connection for security. For a while it was also my MythTV server, but it really didn't have the power for that, and eventually I moved MythTV over to another machine.

I've had a few problems over the last year or so, with the machine occasionally rebooting itself or locking up. So I'd kept an eye out for a replacement, and back in February there was a sale on Woot for a Lenovo ThinkCentre tiny desktop (obviously, this one is Thinkbox). About twice as expensive as Eeebox had been, but more than twice as powerful in pretty much the same small footprint and with similar low power usage. So when the Eeebox hard drive started making seriously disturbing noises last week, I was ready to make the switch.

Ubuntu works fine as an operating system, so I saw no reason to change to anything new. Installation was straightforward via a USB drive, using the server version of Ubuntu since I don't plan to use any desktop applications. It was pretty obvious right away that Thinkbox is a much faster machine - installation and updates went much more quickly than just about anything I'd done on Eeebox. Recovering my file shares was as simple as plugging in those external drives and copying over the filesystem and sharing entries.

The bulk of my setup time was spent making sure that my VPN and proxy configuration was correct. The VPN software I use is openvpn, which is a standard package for Ubuntu, and my VPN provider has an easy download package with all the configuration files. The tricky part is that I use a three-network setup: my local home network, a US VPN connection, and a European VPN connection. (Why two VPN connections? Some things only work with one or the other.) It's easy to configure openvpn to start both connections - just put both in /etc/default/openvpn and put unique port numbers/device names in their configuration files - but then you need to make sure network traffic goes to the correct connection.

The way I accomplished this is using iptables. First, I configured both VPN connections so they don't try to take over the system's default routing with the route-noexec directive in their configuration files. Then, using this blog post as a guide, I created two sets of rules that enforce routing for each network interface. Using the route-up, up, and down directives in the VPN configuration files, those rules are updated every time the VPN connections start or stop. This means that I can still use my default network for basic stuff (like checking for OS updates or installing new software), but the two VPN connections can always be available at the same time. Finally, I use the dante proxy server to bind to the VPN network interface.

So what does all this do for me? The end result is that any machine connected to my local network can use a VPN connection simply by setting the proxy server. I can even have two different applications on the same machine (say, Chrome and Firefox) using separate connections at the same time. Depending on what I'm doing, I might use my normal Internet connection, the US VPN, or the European VPN - all I have to do to switch is update the proxy settings. No need to have VPN software installed on multiple machines or worry about turning the connections on and off.

Thinkbox has been up and running for a few days now and seems to be functioning just fine. With any luck, it will last at least as long as Eeebox did.

Club Anyone by Lou Agresta

Club Anyone by Lou Agresta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Club Anyone has an awful lot packed into one book. Dystopian corporation-ruled future. Human cybernetic augmentation. Colonization of Mars. Drug addiction. Romance, both failed and successful. Artificial intelligence. And that is by no means an exhaustive list.

The story follows Derek, a mid-level employee of a major corporation who has big plans to make a new life for himself and his family on Mars. Plans that almost immediately fall apart as his wife refuses to leave Earth to join him, initiating a downward spiral that leads him into ever-increasing debt to his employer and dangerous underworld involvement. The first half of the book is all about Derek's fall into danger, depression, and some terrible life choices.

Things change significantly in the second half of the book, as Derek (barely) survives the trouble that he fell into. It's hard to say much more than that without spoilers, but I doubt anyone would be surprised to know that there's plenty of action, wild and crazy people (and other entities), and romance to heal his broken heart. The story ends well, but with enough open questions that future stories set in the same world are certainly possible.

The world that Agresta builds is nicely detailed, describing a blend of cyberpunk and space colonization genres. Cybernetics are common, corporations are ultra-powerful, and there's a thriving black-market of illicit tech and drugs...very much the cyberpunk style. Setting the book on Mars adds an interesting twist to what I'm used to thinking of as the standard cyberpunk world.

I enjoyed Agresta's writing style, which has plenty of wit and does a fine job bringing the story's characters to life. I thought the pacing dragged a bit in the first half of the book, but once the action really started in the second half, I had no trouble staying engaged through to the end.

For anyone that enjoys the cyberpunk genre, Club Anyone should be high on your read list. Fans of any kind of sci-fi action and intrigue will likely enjoy it, for that matter, even if cyberpunk isn't usually your thing.

Stay Crazy by Erica L. Satifka

Stay Crazy by Erica L. Satifka
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you." That old saying isn't entirely accurate in Stay Crazy, because our heroine Em really is paranoid (specifically, paranoid schizophrenic with depressive tendencies). But as strange things happen at the local superstore, it may that something really is out to get her, too.

Em is a young woman dealing with mental illness in rural Pennsylvania. She's had to drop out of college, returning home to live with her mother and younger sister. When she takes a job at the local Savertown USA big-box discount store, she begins to hear a voice coming from another dimension. Strange suicides plague the store's employees, and Em follows the voice's instructions to stem an extra-dimensional incursion and save the day.

At least, that's how Em describes things. Since the story is told entirely from her perspective, and her illness is certainly not totally under control, it's not clear to the reader whether the unnatural extra-dimensional events are really happening or not. It all seems to merge into the world as Em sees it, but is it reality or something warped by her perceptions?

In the end, I don't think it really matters, since Stay Crazy is less a story about extra-dimensional beings and more a window into Em's life as she deals with her illness. Struggling with her medication, dealing with well-meaning but unhelpful doctors, relationship troubles, and many other aspects of living with schizophrenic and depression. All made more difficult by the knowledge that she's in a dead-end job in a small town with little prospect for improvement.

Em is a sarcastic and witty narrator. There's plenty of humor, even when things appear to be pretty bleak. Satifka's characters are nicely developed as the story moves along, though few are particularly likable (at least as colored by Em's perceptions).

Em certainly has her fair share of problems, both self-inflicted and external. The author doesn't end with a happily-ever-after scenario, but things are looking up for her, though plenty of work remains. In the end, I felt like she'd made it through a difficult time and had hope for a better life ahead. Despite all the difficult subject matter, Stay Crazy manages to be both an entertaining and hopeful story.

Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace

Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Everyone else sees a legion of undead clowns worshiping a giant chicken, right?" If that sentence makes you want to read more, then Envy of Angels is the book for you.

If the modern world was home to fantasy races (goblins, demons, etc), and they had formal events just like normal folks, then they'd need someone to do the catering. That's the basic premise behind the Sin du Jour series, of which this is the first book.

Wallace writes with a light and humorous style, suited perfectly to the fantastic-but-not-too-serious subject matter. I ran across quite a few lines worth a chuckle, and the parody of a certain segment of the fast-food industry is great.

I enjoyed all the characters, though none had a lot of depth. That's not surprising in a fairly short book with quite a few different characters. I haven't yet read further into the series, where I expect one would learn more about many of them.

I'll be seeking out more of the Sin du Jour series. If the later books are as good as the first, I'll go through them all and be looking for more.

Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story by Janine A. Southard

Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story by Janine A. Southard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a book with "Magic iPhone" in the title, to be honest. Urban fantasy, to be sure. An immortal elf, not too surprising. Set in Seattle, that fits (if not as obvious as Silicon Valley would have been). And less-than-ideal romance, sure, that works in any story. But there's less focus on either the magic or the technology than I would have expected.

The focus of Cracked is much more on relationships, particularly the three main characters. Morena and Suzyn dominate the first half, and Magic Guy (that's the aforementioned elf, who is fine with the nickname) makes it a trio later on. Morena spends a lot of energy on romance, but that's not really what the story is about. It's about friendship, and realizing that while everyone may need someone, traditional romance isn't the only solution.

There is magic involved in the story, of course, but it doesn't dominate. Morena and Suzyn never even acknowledge that it exists. The iPhone of the title plays a large role in driving the plot, but it's not until late in the book that the magic is really front-and-center. For most of the story, there could have been no magic at all, if you allow for some pretty strange coincidences.

The novel is set in Seattle in 2013, and there's a lot of specific references that make sense in that context. I suppose in 50 years it might be difficult for younger folks to relate, but right now it works just fine. It certainly helps if you're familiar with the Pacific Northwest, but I don't think it's necessary. Enough is explained that anyone should enjoy a good portion of the references, even if some of the more subtle things go unnoticed.

The story is a fairly quick read, and easy to follow. There's not much in the way of page-turning action or suspense, but the characters are enjoyable and well defined. I found myself happy to keep reading to find out what they'd do next. Give Cracked a try, and you'll likely find yourself doing the same.

Blood Blockade Battlefront

Blood Blockade Battlefront is an anime series about an alternate New York where a hole to another dimension has turned the city into a crossroads for all kinds of non-humans, mixing with the human population. A magical barrier keeps the intersection between our world and "Beyond" contained, preventing the two dimensions from destroying one another.

The protagonist in Blood Blockade Battlefront is Leonardo Watch, an unremarkable human except that his eyes have been replaced by a powerful artifact that lets him see nearly anything, no matter how well hidden or disguised. He got those eyes when an unknown entity took his sister's sight in exchange, and he's in New York looking for answers and to find a way to help her. Leonardo joins a group called Libra, a secret society that works behind the scenes to curb dangerous magic and non-human attacks. The other members are much more skilled in terms of fighting prowess, but Leonardo's vision is a huge asset in tracking down threats. He also meets a brother-sister pair who call themselves White and Black, who have a similar history to his own.

There's a good balance in Blood Blockade Battlefront between advancing the plot, developing characters, humor, and action. Some shows focus on one or two of those things largely to the exclusion of the others, and that can work fine, but I appreciate that the writers put the effort into using all those aspects. The humor in particular is often understated and dry, but fits in well, usually at the expense of one character flaw or another. Action encompasses not just fighting but also other scenes, like high-speed chases. Actual fighting is largely limited to the combatants shouting names of their "secret techniques" at one another. Not my favorite style, but it's not over-used here so I can put up with it.

Blood Blockade Battlefront reminds me a bit of Monogatari, in a few different ways. Both deal with confronting supernatural threats outside the public eye, use some pretty strange visual aspects, and have occasional weird perspective shifts. All of this is much less pronounced in Blood Blockade Battlefront than it was in Monogatari, though. The character types and development felt similar to me, too. However, there's no harem aspect and more action in Blood Blockade Battlefront, which is all to the good. If you liked Monogatari, there's a good chance you'll like Blood Blockade Battlefront too.

I enjoyed this first series of episodes for Blood Blockade Battlefront, and look forward to the second set later on this year.