late review: talus and the frozen king

When one hears the word “detective” several images immediately come to mind.

There’s, of course, the immediate reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, literature’s most famous detective (made popular again in recent times thanks to Robert Downey-starring film adaptations, and a couple of TV series produced on two sides of the Atlantic). One is also reminded of Clint Eastwood in his role as Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry series of films. Moving onto comics, there’s of course Batman, who, for all the gadgetry and action, is a detective. Comedic and bumbling detectives also come into mind, most notably, Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther franchise or the late Leslie Nielsen’s character Detective Frank Drebin from the Naked Gun films.

Graham Edward’s Talus and the Frozen King however conjures none of these images. Personally, I thought that the book gives readers glimpses of the Sherlock Holmes type of detective, more akin to BBC’s wildly popular Sherlock TV series, BUT set in some 3,000 years earlier, even way, way older than the Robert Downey-film version of Sherlock Holmes that was set during Victorian times.

With Talus and the Frozen King, Edwards is presenting readers with a new flavor, a new sub-genre – a detective story set during the Bronze Age. And with his protagonist Talus the Detective, what we have is not a wizard who can magically solve the mystery but a bard who’s very background in travel, storytelling, and a keen sense for detail and observation are key assets in determining the “who” in this maze of a story. 

In a nutshell the story is that Talus and his companion, Bran, arrive in a snow-covered village just in time that a murder was committed. Not just any ordinary murder but the murder of the village’s king. How the king was killed and whodunit is what Talus has set himself to find out. But, as detective stories go, everyone is suspect, even the one solving the murder himself. Edwards masterfully weaves a tale of intrigue and suspicion that’ll make you finish the novel to find out who really carried out the crime. Up until the very end of the tale, the pinpointing keeps on shifting from one possible suspect to the other. The author manages to cleverly deceive his readers, passing on the blame on almost all characters but in the end, we learn that the murder of the king was more complex than it initially seemed. The twists and turns that the storytelling undertook, however, makes you wonder though if such a thing – a very complicated murder – could’ve really happened in the past.

The use of flashbacks to flesh out the main character’s back-stories and what motivates them but still left readers with a sense that there’s more history to Talus and Bran and that the fact the present story happens two years after the duo initially met tells readers that there are more cases from the bronze age detective to solve in the future. 

Similar to TV detective shows somehow, the initial chapters of the book were rather slow, owing to the fact that all the elements of a detective story had to be laid out first. Then the detective and his assistant had to have time to gather more clues and examine the compiled evidence before the conclusion can be achieved. By the time however, we come close to the big reveal, Edwards took his readers through a bloody rampage.

The book however is refreshing in a way. Instead of the usual unraveling of political intrigue like many in today’s recent fantasy fare, Talus and the Frozen King presents a murder procedural with enough action and mystery to satisfy those whose leanings are towards such genre. Of course, Edwards has meticulously adapted his detective's devices and methods to fit the period so no magnifying glasses or DNA machines or fingerprint scanners. What we have is Talus who's training as a bard, as an individual who has an eye for detail, is the weapon or gadget itself. 

In all, Talus and the Frozen King is an enjoyable read with an interesting premise. It maybe however, not everyone's cup of tea. To some, the idea of a bronze age detective might be too far-fetched and hard to believe. Edwards however is telling us to suspend our skepticism and toy with the idea -- what if a detective did exist neary 3,000 years ago, how would he or she be solving a murder mystery without the aid of modern forensic methods or equipment. That's what this book is all about: imagining what if.

Talus and the Frozen King is now available in the U.S. while it’s release date in the U.K. and Ireland is on April 10.

wednesday warbles: initial thoughts on a.g.o.t., religious stuff with ikai, toxic at the desk, 200

Still breathing, folks :)

Over the course of the last two weeks, my to-do list at the Desk has ballooned from 20-plus to over 35 items late last week. Today, Wednesday, I have managed to trim it down to 25 ... so far ... but the deadlines are on the hound. 

However, before I go insane though, I decided to take a break and write a few warbles (it's a Wednesday, after all) and to let you know that I'm still here, alive and kicking (and getting a caffeine fix to get the gray matter going).

* * * *

Initial thoughts on George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones?

I'm only on page 184 of the mass market paperback edition but at this early in the reading, I could say that the plot (and plots and sub-plots and counter-plots) is already beginning to thicken. We're already beginning to see the pieces of the entire machinery of the series starting to move and it could only get more complex (and complexer) as the series progresses. We're getting hints of motives and motivations, of the politics and intricacies of ruleship that define the reign of King Robert Baratheon, of the incoming conflict that would result in the power struggle all amidst the drapery of an incoming winter spell.

Brilliant! Brilliantly written and that GRRM is one heck of a writer. I do hope the rest of the series doesn't disappoint. But judging from the praise the series has received all over (resulting to a TV adaptation), there's little to doubt that the series will disappoint. 

After reading the opening chapters, I definitely need to get my hands on the next set of books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series to avoid the "bitin" syndrome.

* * * * 

How do you explain religious differences toa 4-year old?

I was posed this question earlier this morning by my daughter. Apparently, one of the assignments given by their teacher is that all students should bring a rosary everyday (Ikai goes to St. Paul's College - Makati, even if she is Protestant-christened). And being the 4-year old she is, she has said that she has to bring a rosary because all her classmates were bringing theirs.

I told her that she doesn't need to bring a rosary because she was not Catholic.

"What is Catholic, Papa?"

Uh-oh, cornered. 

After a few seconds of thinking about the best way to answer a 4-year old, I sat beside her and proceeded to explain religious schism. I told her that all people prayed and believed in only One God. That everyone believed in Jesus as well. However, I told Ikai that not all people prayed and believed in God and Jesus in the same way. There are groups of people who are called Catholics who pray to God in one way and then there are others called Protestant who pray to God another way. It just so happened that she goes to a Catholic school even though she is a Protestant.

I told her that she doesn't have to follow how her classmates pray to God but that there's no harm if she wants to follow as well.

A bit too much to digest but I think Ikai understood. She's a bright little girl after all.

But to comfort her, I got her diary and scrawled a note to her teacher asking if Ikai, being a Protestant, needs to bring a rosary as well. I told Ikai she has to show her diary to her teacher and that her teacher will answer. If however my daughter still wants a rosary (it's hard to feel different from the rest of your classmates, of course -- she's only 4 after all), we agreed that she will ask her grandparents (my parents, of course) for a rosary.

"May rosary naman sila Lolo Ely sa car, di ba?"

I think someone little is being too tad observant and has one heck of a memory :)

* * * *

Walking along the same lines, I think our daughter is having a bit of crisis of faith, in her own way of course. And that's probably partly our fault as we enrolled her in an all-Catholic school.

As it is unavoidable, Catholic students do Catholic things -- pray specificied prayers and do the sign of the cross. They're even taught that. Ikai of course, wasn't taught those things. Even in Sunday School at the UCCP Cosmopolitan Church, there were no set prayers or sign of the crosses. They pray, they sing praises, they do Christian stuff -- the Protestant way.


So, it's a bit confusing for her right now so I guess that's why the talk about Catholics and Protestants this morning might help.

I just thought about this a few secs back because I remember when I accompanied Ikai on her school field trip last month, before the bus left, her teacher led the prayer -- "In the Name of the Father, the Son ..." and I espied Ikai minutely doing the sign of the cross, taking care that I didn't see her making the Catholic prayer gesture. But the small movements caught my attention and she looked sheepishly at me, embarassed at being caught as if doing something wrong. 

I smiled at her and told her it was alright if she wanted to do the sign of the cross. No harm done. None offense taken. 

* * * *

I saw my weighing scale this morning after I got out of the shower. So, I said to myself, let's see if all the calorie-counting I've been doing the past several weeks has been helping.

I adjusted the knob so that the needles points exactly to "0", stepped on the scale and voila -- 200lbs?! I can't farkin believe it. So, I get off again and on again and the needle still points to 200. 

So, I step off again and for the third time step on the scale and this time the needle went 202 lbs. Repeated attempts resulted to 202-ish marks. That settled it.

Still an improvement from my 206 lbs. a month ago. I need to rev up the walking regimen and keep on calorie counting.

* * * *

Right, time to get back to work now. Ciao!

monday mumblings: iloilo trip -- batchoy, brian, and coffee; comics on the reading list

I've not been reading any books of late because I've been rather hooked to reading (backtracking) on the events in DC comics. Right now I'm working on getting through the pre-Infinite Crisis series of books. As can be seen on the right side of this blog, I'm currently reading The Return of Donna Troy, one of the books that tie-in to the whole Infinite Crisis and after this 4-issuer, I'll get on to Villains United before I finally read Infinite Crisis proper and the ensuing 52 (and 52 Aftermath).

When I'm done with 52, I'll be proceeding to Final Crisis.


The unfortunate victim of my sudden turnaround to comics is A Game of Thrones which continues to be unread despite having traveled with me to Iloilo and Roxas City last week.

* * * *

Desk-work brought me back to Iloilo City last Wednesday.

My last visit to the place was I think late 2004 when I went there with the then RP National Basketball team coached by Boycie Zamar and bankrolled by Cebuana Lhuillier, my former desk. We were in Iloilo for the "Try-Outs ng Bayan" along with then the young national players of which I remember only Dennis Madrid, Celino Cruz, Marc Pingris, and Cyrus Baguio.

Last week, work again found me in Iloilo albeit for a quick stay (unlike the 2004 stay which was, if I remember correctly, 5 days). I had to visit our Iloilo branch and see what improvements can be done on the marketing-advertising side. I planed into the city on the noon-time PAL flight and was at the branch by 2:30pm. After an hour and a half and a dozen or so photos of the branch, I then had to kill time before meeting up with my pal, Brian, later that evening.

So, I undertook a mission I had promised to do -- sample the local coffee shops.

I was aiming to sample at least a couple of coffee shops but due to time constraint and the fact that the night plans changed abruptly, I was only able to check out Coffeebreak.

Near the Desk's branch was a branch of Coffeebreak which I promptly went to for a late lunch (I had just realized that I hadn't had a proper lunch as the flight was right smack in the middle of lunch-time).

Hazelnut coffee with passion "brownie"

I ordered their brew-of-the-week which was Hazelnut and also ordered a pastry which CB called Passion.

Passion is a moist choco-cake slice that is more brownie than cake with a choco-layer in between and almonds (or were those walnuts?) on top.

I'm not much a connoisseur of coffee but the CB brew was quite good and brownie was filling. Since I only had enough room for one coffee-type, I didn't have the chance to sample their iced or frapp coffee versions. Next time probably.

Aside from the great coffee and brownie was the free wi-fi at CB. 

Access to wi-fi granted!

I finally got the chance to test out the wi-fi capabilities of the PSP I brought along and after finally getting it configured, I simply asked the barista for wi-fi access and in minutes I was happily surfing away.

Using the PSP to connect to the internet shows one that not all websites have been configured to work on all mobile devices. Maybe the sites would work well on most tablets and smartphones but websites like Yahoo and even this blog did not display properly on the PSP screen. I could not even access the CMS of Blogger.com which made on-site blogging impossible. Fortunately, the mobile website versions of Twitter and FB worked well. Maybe I just need to install another internet OS on the PSP or upgrade it.

Just like any other coffeeshop, Coffeebreak's counter was easy to understand although they were more colorful than your usual green, brown, mocha variant shops.

Aside from passion, there were a lot other pastries and sweet stuff to chose from. Unfortunately, I wasn't there for a sugar-load. The other delicacies will just have to be tested on another occasion.

* * * *

It's always good to see Brian. 

Brian relocated to Iloilo several years back, got married, had kids, and has settled in his home province for good. So, it's quite seldom that we see each other, the last time being on the sad occasion of our friend's death.

Despite my trip to Iloilo being just a one-nighter, I still checked up on him and we agreed to meet later in the evening. He picked me up from my hotel around 9:30pm.

Deciding that coffee was the last thing on his mind that evening, we went instead to a small watering hole just off Loney Bridge (I think) for two bottles. While the videoke was blaring with tunes sung by the other patrons of the bar, we talked about life, careers, future plans, diabetes cares, and other stuff including reminiscing old times. 

After the two bottles and a song each, Brian proceeded to give me a tour of the city. I was surprised that at before 11pm, Iloilo was already relatively quiet, not unlike Cebu which at midnight was still roaring with life.

See you on my next vist, bro.

* * * *

The next day, I got up early, had breakfast at the hotel's resto, packed up my stuff and headed to the bus station for the trip to Roxas City which I'll chronicle on a next post.

* * * *

Everyone knows that Iloilo is famous for La Paz Batchoy. And when it comes to batchoy, the name Ted's easily comes to mind.

Deco's La Paz Batchoy

So, I evaded Ted's even though it was just around the corner and instead tried the La Paz batchoy at Deco's.

I ordered their special which promised a whole lot of extra stuff that would turn-off my doctor. This was dinner, some 30 minutes after I just had my mid-PM/late lunch at Coffeebreak. 

Along with the batchoy, I ordered four pieces of pre-war pandesal. The digit-sized pandesals were more interesting than the batchoy, sadly. These pandesals were bite-sized and were packed. You could use them as pamato if they were flatter. Despite their diminutive size, they were surprisingly filling. And they were baked well -- firm, packed, solid, yet easy to munch on. More like soft biscuits only thicker.

Going back to the batchoy ...

If my tastebuds remain accurate, the batchoy at Ted's was tastier. Although both stores used the same ingredients and are cooked the same, it all boils down to the sabaw or the broth. Ted's sabaw was the more superior one IMHO.

monday mumblings: moron -- not the person, charlie and the choco fact, book to bring on a trip, sicknesses in the family

Alright, I changed my mind over the weekend about reading 52.

I realized I needed to read first Infinite Crisis before hitting 52 and since I don't have a complete copy of IC yet, I have to defer reading 52 then. Makes sense, otherwise I won't understand what was going on when the storyline first emerged in the DC Universe some years back.

Instead, I found an old copy of Roald Dahl's Charlie and The Chocolate Factory sitting in my bookshelf last Friday evening and decided to read it. It's a short read, bound to be done in a few hours (if I get those few hours tonight). 

The book has already spawned a couple of theatrical releases. Initially in 1971 which was entitled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which the author disowned as the story focused more on Wonka (played by Gene Wilder) rather than on Charlie Bucket, the protagonist of the tale. In 2005, Johnny Depp took on the Wonka character in the more-properly adapted film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which also starred Freddie Highmore as Charlie. I have yet to see the Gene Wilder-starrer but I've partially seen the Johnny Depp and I've liked what I seen. I will have to secure myself a DVD copy of the Tim Burton-directed film version.

Going back to the book, this is probably the youngest book I've ever read (discounting of course the books of my daughters, Ikai and Issa) and in my opinion, is a tad even younger than The Mysterious Benedict Society series.

* * * *

I'll be off on a business road trip this mid-week and while I'm hoping to get some fiction writing done, it'll be somewhat impossible given that I won't be bringing any laptop with me. It'll be back to basics pad and pen style if I do any writing. It's going to be likely more plotting and outlining rather than writing but that still going to be progress especially with a month-end deadline forthcoming.

* * * *

I'll be bringing along for the trip, A Game of Thrones. It's about time I work on this book to see what the fuss was all about and whether the next volumes of the series merit the pesos I'll be shelling out.

Depending on how long I'll be gone, I usually pack one to two books plus I carry a laptop that contains more reading materials, just in case. This time around though, I've got no rig on hand so if the PSP doesn't consume all my free time then GRRM's A Game of Thrones will be my main entertainment.

Of course, there's always cable TV.

But then again, depending on what province you travel or the type of hotel you stay in, there's no 100% guarantee the cable TV will be quite good. Better to have a good book on hand, just in case.

* * * *

Came in late for work today as Ikai had to be brought to the hospital as she's had high fever since yesterday afternoon.

Elvie and I woke up several times during the evening to monitor her temperature which hovered in the 38's. This morning, even though Ikai was singing and dancing around, her temp still hovered in the high 37's so we decided to bring her to the hospital for a check-up.

Of course, dengue is the unspoken fear we hope against the most however, the ER docs said it's quite too early to test her for that. They instead ordered a urinalysis to check whether she has UTI or a viral infection. After finally getting urine sample from Ikai after a couple of hours at the hospital, the doc told us we could take her home and observe her there. If the fever continues until tomorrow, we're bringing her back for a CBC.

Hopefully, she'll get well soon as she has practices to attend for her Twinkler Scout investiture on Friday (alas, I am away and cannot witness the occasion).

* * * *

I was in the hospital last night as well.

My father had flu-like symptoms since last Friday and after much egging, he finally permitted himself to be checked up. Good thing I was in Laguna yesterday evening and I accompanied my folks to a nearby hospital for the check-up.

CBC and urinalysis came out clear so the doc suspected viral infection in the throat area (aka trangkaso) since Papa also had a cold and slight coughing spells.

After an hour or so at the ER, my father was discharged.

* * * *

Moron (pronounced moo-ron not mow-ron) is a native delicacy of several provinces in the Philippines, namely in Leyte and Samar and most recently, I learned from Butuan as well.

It's a suman (rice-cake) made from milled rice, blended with coconut gata (coconut milk), flavored with chocolate, and wrapped in banana leaves and resembles a tamale or corndog in shape. Over the long weekend last week, I was the proponent for the making of moron at Laguna. I helped out of course, helping in stirring the quickly-massing milled rice and coconut (continuous stirring is needed to keep the mixture from sticking to the pan as it becomes a sticky dough-like substance) and in shaping the two dough flavors into small flat cakes for blending later on.

Last time my parents came home from their hometown in Samar, they brought with them commercialized moron which were sold at P75 a dozen -- freakin' robbery considering that the morons were roughly just about four inches long and an inch in diameter. In contrast, the moron we usually make at home are about half-a-ruler in length and somewhere near one and a half inches thick. 

Last night, I went home with lots of moron in a bag :P
Last week when we cooked moron at Laguna, there were still a lot of banana leaves left over. Last Friday, rather than allowing the banana leaves to go to waste, my parents decided to cook another batch of morons so that the banana leaves would become useful. How's that for reasoning? :P

late night musing on how i got started on comics

Well, despite it being displayed that I'm now reading DC Comics 52 series (yes, late-bloomer), I have yet to really start reading the series. But the series is ready and primed and all I got to do now is sit down and actually read it. 

I'm backtracking obviously, trying to retrace DC's major storylines this past decade or so before I delve into their reboot this month. DC's plan of wiping out all their titles to start with a clean slate of 52 comic titles all beginning as Issue No. 1's is an obvious gamble and it might just pay off as it has gotten a lot of interest from guys like me who have been hovering in the peripheral trying to determine the best way to jump back into a hobby that I've somewhat outgrown when I hit mid-high school.

* * * *

I've never been so much of a collector mainly because like other hobbies that I have seemed to have picked up growing up, comics-collecting is expensive. As a student and with both parents working to support a brood of three, comics was a luxury. My parents would rather spend on a book than a comic. The only  comic I could afford back in my elementary days was Funny Komiks, which I eagerly anticipated every Friday (badgering my mother to buy me a copy on her way home from the palengke).

But I did get to read a lot of comics thanks to schoolmates and friends who were generous enough to lend me their copies. One neighbor comic junkie was a Marvel Comics fan so I got to read the likes of Captain America, Spidey, Iron Fist, the Micronauts, and Daredevil from him. One memorable comic issue was this Captain America issue where the secret origin of the Red Skull was revealed to Cap by no less than Red Skull himself. Other friends, like myself, preferred DC and while I do not recall reading Batman or Superman comics from those early years, I did get to read Aquaman, the Doom Patrol, and others I can no longer remember now.

* * * *

By skimping on meals, I did get to buy my own comics. But not on a regular basis as subscription was obviously  not feasible. Instead, trips to bookstores (back then, I wasn't aware there were shops that specialized in comics) where comics were sold meant choosing the comic that had the best art, and hopefully had lots of costumed guys in it.

So, I went for "team" comics and if I recall correctly, the first comic I ever bought was Tales of the Teen Titans (see the cover on the left) that pitted the Titans against an alien, I think, and this was where we learned that Cyborg's dad who works for STAR Labs, was the one responsible for making Cyborg, well, a cyborg.

Other team comics I purchased included a copy of Legion of Super-Heroes -- the one with the iconic full-page scene of Mon-El single-handedly trying to lift a floating city that just lost its ability to float, an Infinity Inc - Outsiders tie-up, Outsiders, and a Justice Society of America issue that was still set in World War II.

The only Marvel "team" comic I ever bought was this issue of the Avengers with Spiderman in training and they were battling Nebula out in the cosmos.

* * * *

In due time, I discovered there were other comic publishers and titles outside of DC and Marvel. And that some were edgier. Titles like Sun Runners and Axel Pressbutton were indeed edgy as their content was "For Mature Readers" only. Not only did these titles contain cuss-words, they also were free with their depictions of the bodily wonders of females, alien or human alike.
Then there were also the THUNDER Agents -- Dynamo, No-Man, and Menthor -- as well as other heroes from Archie Comics' superhero rosters including Shield, Black Hood, and the Web in a team called the Mighty Crusaders.

Of course, I did eventually manage to get issues of the staples of team comics like Justice League, the Avengers, the X-Men and their related groups. 

* * * *

I was in third or fourth year high school when Superman "died" at the hands of Doomsday.

A classmate of mine was an even more fanatic than myself and he regularly had a supply of comics with him (deep pockets and all) and it was through his purchase of "The Death of Superman" that we learned that DC was unbelievably killing off its iconic hero. 

We mourned Supes death, just like the rest of the world, little knowing that death and resurrection are requisites to being superhero. Apparently, in this business, no one dies forever. I remember a short 3-panel comic from a Marvel magazine. Some people visit the X-Men's mansion, the butler answers the door and the visitors ask for Jean Grey (at that time, I think the X-Men were involved in the Phoenix Saga, if I'm not mistaken). The butler replied, "She's dead. Come back next week."

* * * *

My seeming knowledge of DC comics comes not from reading DC title after DC title but because somehow in the late 80s, I managed to get my hands on two issues of DC's Who's Who -- what was supposed to the definitive guide to all things DC. 

While I only got the successive issues 18 and 19 that covered heroes and villains from Phantom Girl to Pursuer, and Puzzler to Roy Raymond, respectively, you still learned a whole lot about DCU and its citizens. Notable entries in the two issues include Robin, Riddler, Poison Ivy, and Reverse-Flash.

Nowadays, I can do research on just about any comic character off the web.

* * * *

When Image Comics formed in the 90s, my friend Brian and his brother, Mark, got crazy and started acquiring Image title after title -- including Youngblood, WildCATs, and Stormwatch. Bri's favorite however was Todd MacFarlane's Spawn series which was indeed a visual treat. We eagerly awaited the new issue every month for that first volume.

Thus, with the exception of Spawn, which in my opinion was magnificently drawn, I was introduced to the exaggerated art of the comics of the 90s that had the pre-requisite superhuman dressed in invincible armor or spandex and he sported a variety of weaponry that is almost always never used. Of course, the super-heroines didn't have such protrusions except for the anatomical ones. For the female heroes, the skimpier the costume, the better (think Voodoo, Zealot, and Diva and you know what I mean).

* * * *

Nowadays, it's more practical to buy the collected editions. 

late review: path of the sun

After what seemed like eons, I've finally read the 24th chapter of Path of the Sun by Violette Malan and in the process ended reading the book.

Well, I generally liked it although the ending was a bit of a disappointment, at least for me.

As this is the first Dhulyn and Parno novel I've read, I'm zero as to how their previous adventures had prospered and ended. From hints within the book, the previous adventures of the duo and their friends Gun and Mar were more engaging, I believe. It would seem to me that by the time Parno and Dhulyn appear in the Path of the Sun novel they've already achieved Steven Seagal-ish qualities in that they're in their ultimate forms -- Dhulyn already a tad more experienced with her Vision and Parno with his Pod sense along with their extra-human fighting skills as Mercenary Brothers. That is what's evident for me.

The book is a detective case, in truth. Charged with protecting their employer, Parno and Dhulyn, are however unable to ultimately to do their jobs and have to seek out the killer of their employer to exact some form of "revenge". Using skills learned from their years of training and field experience as Mercenaries, the duo (who have the penchant to call themselves affectionately as "my heart" and "my soul" while exchanging playful yet punishing blows) enter the mysterious Path of the Sun and emerge in a mirrorworld not unlike their own and thereby track the killer who, eventually as always, gets caught after a bit (yes, only a bit) of a scuffle.

There's no heavy undertones in this book, just plain straight, cop-work set in a medieval setting. Of course, the killer's motives are politically-charged -- someone feels that he should be sitting on the throne but his claim has been effectively nulled with the birth of a rightful heir. The mastermind hatches a plan that'll bring the throne to his hands and recruits the killer. Killer kills the wrong people -- Mercenary Brothers --and the Mercenary Brothers love their own -- so enter the dynamic duo of Dhulyn and Parno to solve a string of murders and in the process right the wrong in the succession.

And while the ending is unavoidable -- the mastermind will get lynched, the wronged prince gets the throne, Dhulyn and Parno live happily ever after as far as their Mercenary lives allow -- Malan doesn't tell us that. She ends the novel at Chapter 24 with Dhulyn and Parno still stuck in the mysterious labyrinthine Path of the Sun but we, the readers, know that because they have the blood of Steven Seagal, they'll move on to their next adventure in probably a couple of years or so.

A sure different way to end it, with a try at wry humor but personally, I would have preferred it if Dhulyn and Parno eventually reunited with Mar and Gun and the prince gets crowned and gets the girl who loves horses. I'm sucker for such endings that spell it out for me so I was a bit surprised when the book ended so suddenly.

But that's more of an idiosyncrasy than a real flaw in the work. The ending, despite not suiting my taste, does not deter the fact that Path of the Sun is a exceptionally-written tight piece of fiction. Despite its brevity, it tells a lot and as I've mentioned before, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the earlier adventures of Parno and Dhulyn if they become available locally. It's also quite refreshing for me as instead of your usual magic-laden novels, the magic stuff in the novel is subtle, at many times uses dreams as its medium. We don't see lightning being summoned or fire blasts appearing out of calloused hands. Instead the magic is innate -- it's in the characters themselves.

Path of the Sun was a good read. A bit slow-paced yet engaging and definitely sustained my interest throughout.

Final Rating: 4 / 5 - If you get the chance, read it as it's worth it!

now on the grrm bandwagon

Now why did I upload the image of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of books?

That's because I now am officially joining the bandwagon of new GRRM fanatics with my purchase of A Game of Thrones, the first novel of the series.

After reading raves and praises for the series, and after reading the short novel "The Hedge Knight", I was convinced that GRRM's books will be worth diving into.

Thanks to National Bookstore's ongoing Cut-Price Booksale (which runs until the 21st of this month), I scored the mass market paperback edition (the blue one with the sword and not the Sean Bean version) for only Php 252 about an hour ago.

Now, if the pockets become deep enough before Sunday, I will try and purchase at least the next two books at the same rate of Php 252 apiece. NBS-Greenbelt still had several copies of the next three books in the series, namely A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast of Crows. I've only seen hardcover editions of A Dance with Dragons so far but that can wait as I still have to go through the first four novels before I ever get to ADWD.

* * * *

A quick check with my book purchases tells me that I've spent a mere Php 729 pesos from NBS' ongoing Cut-Price Booksale. I'm sure other bibliophiles' purchases have gone over the thousands. My wife will still be able to fathom my obsession with sci-fi and fantasy books :)

late review: legends 2 - new short novels by terry goodkind, george r.r. martin, & anne mccaffrey

Before I buy a music CD of an artist of which I've never heard of or only having a fleeting familiarity, I make sure I have listened to at least three songs from the prospective album before reaching into my pockets. Thank goodness for record bars that allow you to sample music (alas, no more Tower or Music One for such).

The same is true for a multi-volume series from an unknown author (at least, unread by yours truly). You would want a taste of how he or she writes before you splurge on that trilogy, pentad, or 12-volume epic or otherwise you'll be wasting several hundred pesos when you're the type like moi who otherwise buys his multi-volume series at least three books a time (a lesson I learned after completing David and Leigh Eddings' fantasy series in over three years or so).

So, the Legends 2 compilation of novellas by modern fantasy masters, edited by Robert Silverberg, comes as a sampler of sorts. The volume I have, Volume 2, collects short novels by Terry Goodkind, George RR Martin, and Anne McCaffrey -- three fantasy authors I've yet to read. The two other volumes compile short novellas by other writers like Stephen King, Silverberg, Orson Scott Card, Raymond Feist, Robert Jordan, Ursula Le Guin, Tad Williams, and Sir Terry Pratchett. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to score second-hand editions of the two other volumes from Book Sale.

But now more on Volume 2 ...

As someone who has yet to step into the popular fantasy worlds created by Goodkind, Martin, and McCaffrey, the novellas in Legends 2 act as a sampler of sorts. Even without buying the first volumes in their respective series', Legends 2 is already a good step into those worlds as these lengthened short stories are already able to give you a deeper-than-expected immersion to their respective worlds. They give you a bite, a listen, before you go on and buy the real thing.

After reading Goodkind's "Debt of Bones", set some years before Richard Cypher was born, I immediately wanted to rush to the bookstore to get my hands on "Wizards First Rule", the first in the Sword of Truth series. On the other hand, Martin's "The Hedge Knight", a scene set about a hundred years before the politically-motivated Song of Ice and Fire series intensified my belief that I should jump in the GRRM bandwagon (and also try to score a copy of the HBO TV series based on the epic). Thirdly, after some hesitation and a bit of a slow start, I found myself enjoying McCaffrey's Runner of Pern, a story about the Runners' caste in her sci-fi and fantasy mash-up set in the world of Pern. I'm sure to start looking around for other Pern books from now on.

The three novellas are all superbly written, no doubt showing the prowess of the writers and the richness and depth of the imaginative worlds they've created. While you're only shown a bit of the worlds explored in the volume, there leaves no doubt in your mind that there's a whole lot of world out there to explore for each of the three novellas in their respective series'. Instead of just being merely satisfied, you're left with a craving to know more, read more, and be immersed more. Just like the first time you traveled with Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and his merry band of dwarves to Smaug's mountain to retrieve the Arkenstone.

I can't really say much about the writing as I've yet to compare these stories with the authors' other works, having read none before. But reading these novellas gives you a glimpse of how the authors' respective series' will "sound" like. And from my personal "sounding" of the three novellas, I liked how they sound. The full series' promise to be a treat.

First time readers of these authors will surely delight in this book. And for a read in mint condition, bought at only Php 80, this is quite a steal! Brand new sells at over Php 300 at most bookstores.

Now, I will just need to shell out a few thousand or so to buy the full series of all three authors though. Now, that's a killer.

Final Rating: 5/5

friday frolics: issa's words, a game of thrones, coloring a 3rd world astronaut

Whew!

Tired. But otherwise happy.

Work has caught up with me hence the non-presence in this space on the ole web since Tuesday last week. When I get home, rather than go online, I'd much rather play around with my daughters or rest. I've also not been reading anything as my mind, I think, is not ready for any heavy thinking after a full day's brain-wracking at the Desk.

I've also been spending my after-office hours doing school work with Ikai. Last week, it was doing her assignments. This week, it has been reviewing for her long tests which happened yesterday and today would be the second day of the long tests. These times, for me, are far more special than logging on and finding out the latest that Facebook vendors have to offer.

So, I missed some messages and missed greeting people on their birthdays. My apologies. I was attending to important stuff.

In addition to work, I've also been busy with The Gaming Daily with updates. It seems that while the traffic numbers aren't all that impressive, the simple news blog is getting the attention of people and companies with an affinity with gambling. I'm not endorsing gambling, mind you. I myself, I don't gamble -- err, except for the occasional lotto -- but I don't have anything against people who gamble responsibly. Much like people who smoke, for me, gambling is a choice. I mean, for something like four years I was working in the gambling industry but I never got hooked to it.

Just don't overdo it -- compromising money that's meant for something needed like food, or to pay the tuition fee of your kid at school, or to pay the rent. That's bad form and if I were the owner of the gambling establishment and I learn that you're gambling compromised money, I'm going to haul you and kick your butt out of the place (or cut you off your account, if you're online).

So, my apologies for the delay to the select few who find their way here every now and then.

Let's move on then ...

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Our little Issa is talkative. However, of the several seconds of conversation, you'll only understand a few words out of it. But heck, it's fun "talking" to Issa because when she talks to you, she calls your attention with a firm "Papa" and then babble away for the next few seconds. She then stops and expects you to reply. Usually a "Yes" or an "Oo" or a nod would be enough, and she would smile.

It's like harkening back to Ikai when she was the same age and just about learning to talk.

Issa's vocabulary consists of just a few words but they're enough to get your attention including:

• Bye-bye, ________! (accompanied by a hand waving)

• Avoo -- shortened "I love you" which was also something Ikai used to say during her baby babble days

• Too -- what she says when she wants water. If you don't give her water in the next minute, you'll hear her say "Too-beeg"

• "Wize" -- she can't pronounce "R's" yet so that's "rice" for you

• Mik -- she's also missing her "L's" sometimes so, just add "L" between "I" and "K" and you'll know what she needs

• Juice -- yes, she says this clearly

• Na-nak -- that's knock-knock for you

• Mm-pohn - cellphone

• 'Ello - she's also missing her "H's"

• Ballow -- ehems, that's borrow

• Aiku -- not a Japanese term but rather "Ayoko"

• No! - sadly, Issa says this word a lot and with force at that

• Bas -- what she says when she wants to go outside

• Ba-ba, Ba-ba ______ -- when she wants to go down or she wants someone to go down

• Kayt -- when she wants to go up to the bedroom

• Piss -- usually accompanied with an index finger pointing at the fish on the table

• Wight -- not the monster, but "light"

These are just a handful of her small but progressively increasing vocabulary. There's tell-tale signs that like her Ate Ikai, she'll be a talkative one.

Unfortunately, she doesn't call her sister "Ate Ikai" but only Ikai. Ask her to emulate you to say "Ate" she will just say "Ikai". Hopefully, she'll later on learn how to do so. But her Mama and Papa, and Lola and Lolo are already clear. Most especially her "Auntie" which little Issa says with much "lambing" -- a testimony to her love of my sis-in-law who's in all aspects her true yaya.

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I've been ridiculously addicted to Diamond Twister, a Samsung-app-game that I play on my wife's Samsung Wave 525 phone. Think Bejeweled and that's the basic premise of the game. Never mind that there's a story and other challenges (find the stone or the gem, or race against the time to earn the needed cash objective, or race against time to accumulate the number of gems needed). The basic is that you've got to line up three gems or more of the same kind vertically or horizontally (no diagonals) and watch mayhem unfold. There are boosts as well, which I guess is the reason why this game isn't called Bejewelled.

When I get my own smart phone, I'm sure I'll be buying this game-app as well. For only Php 60, it's worth it given that you'll be wasting hours on this nifty little game.

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The ridiculously popular Angry Birds game is now available as well on the Bada network. Previously only available for Android, Windows, and OVI, it's good to know that the game has now been ported to the exclusive Samsung network. What's best about it is that AB is free to download and install.

Unfortunately, there's a problem with Elvie's Wave 525 in that it's not connecting to wi-fi hence it has been disconnected for quite some time now.

A visit to ElectroWorld in Greenbelt yesterday wasn't helpful as the lady attendant who tried to help us fix the problem, well, only ended up trying to fix it. She said it would be best to bring the unit over to a Samsung service center as trying to rectify the problem with internet connection was beyond her powers.

Apparently, Samsung phones running on Bada system are encountering the problem. She however assured me (because she knew I was planning to buy one) that the Samsung phones running on the Android OS encountered no such problems.

We asked for Samsung's Makati service center address and contact numbers and hopefully one of these days, Elvie's 525 will be back to tip-top shape.

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While the rest of the genre-world awaited the sale of George R.R. Martin's fifth volume in the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy epic, A Dance of Dragon, I have the miserable luck of not being able to secure a copy of the first volume -- A Game of Thrones -- from my usual book haunts.

Hopefully this weekend, I will get a chance to go around the bookshops and find me a copy so I could get in on the action as I've read many raves and praises about this series. With an HBO series propelling the series' popularity further, I've no further reason to delay immersing myself in this new medieval world.

If I do score a copy this weekend, that could mean Kevin J. Anderson's The Edge of the World would have to wait for a bit before its plastic cover gets unwrapped.

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As is the case, a lot of personal projects are still wallowing in the pits.

But in between work, when I want to de-stress, I've been doing some practice coloring on Photoshop.

It's slow progress as this is the first time I'm doing this on PS (before, I practiced crudely on CorelDraw before the Compaq rig conked out).

I sketched the image freehand using a Mongol No.2 pencil on a half-bond sized sketch pad (always have one on my bag, never know when inspiration strikes). I then proceeded to ink over my pencils using a Uni Pin Fine Line drawing pen with 0.2 tip. Then, using an old-fashion eraser, erased my pencil drawing.

I then had the image scanned at 300 dpi.

Opening up the image on Photoshop, I proceeded to color the image bit by bit.

Since I didn't have a drawing tablet, I had to do it old-school using the Pen tool. Starting with the head and moving down the body parts, the steps I followed included:

1) Creating the shape of the area using the Pen and Convert Point tools.

2) Color the created shape black as this serves as the background / outline.

3) Duplicate the created shape and fill it with another color.

4) Then scale it a bit so that it's smaller than the original shape.

5) Then selecting both the original and copied layer, align them centrally so that the black background forms the outline of the shape (reminiscent of how other draw on CorelDraw).

I created folders for each body part so that it's easy managing the many layers.

Now, you'll think. If I was coloring it on PS then I could've avoided one step in the process by not inking it. Well, I wasn't thinking about coloring it when I first drew the image. It was just meant to be something on the sketch pad and to add some permanency to it, I decided to ink it. It was only after I liked the results that I thought of coloring it. So, yes, inking would've been pointless but then again, it was good exercise as well.

In any case, the image on the left is what I've finished so far -- the flat colors. What will happen next would be to add a little more detail on the arms, chest, groin, and legs. As can be gleaned from the original sketch, there are little bits and stuff that is missing on the image on the left -- the image that will make this "3rd World Astronaut" more steampunkish which is my aim in the final render.

What prompted me to work on this?

I was reading Mervin Malonzo's webcomic Tabi Po last Monday when I chanced upon his "Laktaw" (skip) page where he detailed the process by which he comes up with each page of his comics. The process was straightforward that I was enticed to follow the steps myself. Good fortune that I had just finished sketching the image of the Pinoy steampunk astronaut that day and it came in handy when I got the urge to try and do some PS coloring.

Inspiration credit also goes to FreakAngel's Paul Duffield who in their skip week also discussed how he interfaced with his colorists for the FA's pages. It was Duffield who wedged the idea in my head but it was Malonzo who nudged me to action.

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Happy weekend, folks!