Whoohoo, another Nicolas Cage movie to enjoy Knowing, will be released in march 2009. Obviously Nicolas is one of my all time favorite  actors…. and although this movie is not strictly Sci-Fi Fantasy, it falls more in the drama thriller categories I still thought  I would share the joy.

The story line is not very new, but always a winner, and this time I hope will be no exception.

Cage plays a teacher who opens a time capsule buried in the ground by students in that very same elementary school 50 years previously. One of the finds from the capsule is a page full of numbers that turn out to be dates of all the major events from the time the capsule was buried, onward.

Thanks Sci Fi/jounalist for the hat tip

‘I have just read a great review of Patrick Ness’s book “The Knife of Never Letting Go” in Fantasy Book Critic and can’t wait to get my hands on it. I might be passed forty years old, but I can’t resist good young adult books, which for most of the time, I can’t really understand why they would be defined as young adult.

I don’t know what it is about these books, and their hero’s, Harry potter (of course) and Laura from the Golden Compass, but I love the feeling I have when reading these books.

I guess that being transported to a completely different world for the kind of adventure that would never in a thousand years ever happen to you in reality, drenches you (me) in a calmness not available in real life, allowing me to fully enjoy the adventures at hand.

Anyway, the first sentence in the book has been praised in every review around

“The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing to say.”

And if the rest of the book is anything like that first sentence, than no doubt it should be a fantastic read.

At the end of the review, which I am going to send you to read in just a minute, There is a QA with Patric Ness (who looks just like his name, buy the way, and is as cute as can be (-;) in which he says something so smart and applicable to all writing and art forms, that it deserves to be quoted, printed and hung on my think board

Q: Upon reading “The Knife of Never Letting Go”, I couldn’t help but think of the many authors who wrote stories featuring teens but were in fact talking to a wider audience, such as Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. Did any of these writers influence you in any way?

Patrick: Not as such. I always say when I’m teaching that the only success I’ve ever had (and this is 100% true) is when I’ve written entirely for myself. That is, wrote a book that I would kill to read myself, so in that sense I’m only ever writing for an audience of one. What I find happens is that when I’m really enjoying the story I’m telling myself, that joy sticks to the page in ways you can’t see but ways a reader will pick up on and like. So I try to avoid thinking about my “audience” as much as I can, because then I start getting bogged down in what I “should” say rather than what I want to say, then the story suffers and you end up not saying very much at all.

Ok. Now click here and read the review, then, if you have a yen for this type of books Go and by it. I am going to.

There is a close reading experiment going on now, here, where 7 woman will read Doris Lessings “The Golden Notebook” and conduct a conversation in the margins.
All 7 women are quite impressive and write and have published themselves so the conversation can in no way be boring. On the contratry.
You can also start reading the book in line via the Project site.
Thanks Post Weird Thoughts for the Hat Tip

I was lucky enough to have been able to get a reply from Drew via his website a few weeks ago, and here is the interview that was born.
Great guy, and an excellent writer!

Welcome to the South African SFF scene, Drew, and thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions!

No problem - I always like chatting with fans who enjoy my work.

First off, would you please tell us a bit about yourself? What you were
doing before the tales your wrote were published?

I worked a number of jobs before I finally started getting paid for my writing. I was a furniture mover, I drove a truck dropping off newspaper bundles, I worked as a bank teller and loans officer… but none of it was very fulfilling to me. So I went back to school to work on a Masters degree in English. During that time, I signed a contract with Wizards of the Coast to publish my first novel. Shortly after that I was hired by BioWare to work as a writer on their games. Things just sort of took off from there. I never actually did finish my Masters degree. I figured I was getting paid to write, and it just didn’t get any better than that, so I gave up school and I’ve never gone back.

Can you remember the one book you read that created this urge in you to write and share your tales with the world?

As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I don’t think there was any one book that really flipped a switch; I was writing stories as soon as I was old enough to put pen to paper and scratch out letters.

Your published work includes much more than what you’ve contributed to Star Wars; would you please tell us about everything else you’ve accomplished?

In addition to my two Star Wars novels (Darth Bane: Path of Destruction and Darth Bane: Rule of Two), I’ve also written two fantasy novels for Wizards of the Coast (Temple Hill and Throne of Bhaal), as well as two Mass Effect novels (Mass Effect: Revelation, a prequel to the BioWare video game and Mass Effect: Ascension, a bridge between the first Mass Effect game and the second). I’ve also been a writer on the Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights series of BioWare games, and I was the lead writer on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect games.

I’m currently working on a third (still untitled) Darth Bane novel, and with BioWare I’m the lead writer on the Mass Effect 2 video game. I’ve also published a number of sci-fi/fantasy short stories, though I haven’t had time to work on any short stories for the past few years - the games and novels (plus golf) eat up most of my time.

You’ve worked in big-name industries, Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, and the gaming industry with BioWare (much of the time); in terms of support with the projects you’ve tackled, which industry rates as the best?

I’ve been lucky, in that I’ve always been able to tell exactly the kind of story I’ve wanted to in all of my work. BioWare is great because they’re one of the few video game companies that focus on story, so writers are full-time employees who start on a project on day one and stay with it to the end. As far as my Star Wars experience, I’ve been fortunate enough to be the only author working in the Old Republic time frame, and the people at Lucas Books and Del Rey have allowed me to write about what I want, how I want.

Your name is part of two of the biggest games in the gaming industry, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect; what are the things, in your opinion, that yourself and BioWare did right to make these games such a success?

A key element to both games is story integration. There are games that have great gameplay mechanics and fantastic visuals, but they might lack story and characters. Other games have brilliant story, but the game itself is subpar. Both Kotor and Mass Effect managed to combine story, graphics and game play in a way that allows the whole to be greater than the mere sum of the parts. It also helps to have incredibly talented people working on the project. Many of the same senior people who worked on Mass Effect also worked on Kotor. We’re lucky enough to have the the right mix of talents and personalities - we compliment each other well.

Your contributions to the Star Wars saga have focused attention on a great character, Darth Bane; can you tell us how it came about that you were chosen, or allowed, to write Path of Destruction?

I’ll be honest - it’s not easy to break into the Star Wars novels. There are so many talented writers looking to work with the world’s most well known and popular franchise. Fortunately, I had an in - my work on Kotor. Once the game was released and became a big success, I approached Lucas Books and Random House/Del Rey with the idea of having a novel set in the Old Republic time period… something none of the novels had explored before. Based on my work in KOTOR and my first two novels with Wizards of the Coast, the powers-that-be decided to give me a chance.

But I didn’t want to focus on the KOTOR characters or time period. I felt
that, between the games and comic series, that story was already being
told. So I focused on another fascinating time period - the moment when
the Old Republic, with thousands of Sith and Jedi, changed forever. The
logical choice was to make a novel focusing on the man responsible for
that change; a novel that explored the Sith and the dark side in a way
that hadn’t really been done before.

The second Bane novel, Rule of Two, hit shelves in paperback on the 28th of October, and you are working on the third untitled novel; how does it feel to know that you’ve made your own much-loved impression on the GFFA?

Obviously it feels great. I love that fans have embraced the Old Republic time period, and whenver I see an action figure or minature from the Bane novels or Kotor I get a giddy little thrill, because I know I’m partly responsible. There’s something cool about knowing you’ve contributed to Star Wars, because it’s become such a fixture in our culture. My characters and stories will live on long after I’m gone… it’s almost like a small piece of immortality.

Working for BioWare must be one of the best jobs in the world; can you take us through a general day?

It’s a great job, but we work hard. As the lead writer, most of my mornings are consumed with meetings. I meet with the artists, the
cinematic designers, the level designers, the audio and voice over people, the other writers… anyone who is contributing to the game. It’s
important that we all stay on the same page, and everyone understands the vision of whatever we happen to be working on. In the afternoon, if I’m lucky, I get a chance to do some actual writing for the game. Unfortunately, this only happens about 2 or 3 days a week - often my writing time has to be put aside for more meetings. Anytime you get 100+ talented, passionate people working on a game, it’s going to be difficult to keep everyone moving in the same direction. So all the leads on the project (Lead Designer, Lead Artist, Lead Animator, the Project Director,etc.) find themselves struggling to balance meetings with actual content creation.

One of my friends told me that he cried like a baby at the climax of the
first Mass Effect game, and that the game in general was brilliant; what were the themes you all wanted to explore with Mass Effect (the game, as well as the two novels you’ve written), and why do you think the game would have such a powerful reaction with players?

We had several themes we wanted to explore in Mass Effect, and I think their universal relevance is what made them come across in such a powerful way. Humanity’s struggle to find their place in the greater galactic community reflects the struggle we all go through to find our place in the world. The nature of morality and whether the ends justify the means is another timeless theme explored throughout film and literature. And the potential threat of artificial intelligence or synthetic life is something modern society is already struggling with, so we wanted to reflect that as well.

Finally, we know you cannot yet speak about where you are taking Bane in his third outing, but do you have any other plans, writing-wise, or can you drop hints about any other exciting projects on the way?

I can’t say too much about projects I’m involved with… I don’t want to get fired or sued. I can say that in addition to the third Bane novel I’m also working on the second Mass Effect game, but I can’t comment on any other BioWare (possibly SW related) projects at this time. (I think you all know what I’m talking about…) I am also working on the first book in my own original fantasy setting, and of course I spend a lot of time working on my golf game.

Thanks, Drew, for taking the time to answer these questions, and we wishyou only the best of luck, great success, and many more books!

Thanks for the opportunity to speak to all your readers. If they want to know more about me or what I’m working on, they can go to my website at www.drewkarpyshyn.com - it’s all Drew, all the time!

I finished this book about two weeks ago, and I’m only posting the review now because I wanted to finish the other two books I was reading, too, and then do the reviews one after another. The reason for this is simple: I couldn’t put them down! Okay, I did put them down, alternating between each book; I read a hundred pages of each book before moving onto the next, so that’s why it took me just more than three weeks to finish three books.

Okay, time for the review: First off, Street of Shadows didn’t catch my attention the way the first book in the series did. One of the reviewers over at TheForce.Net said that the book was a bit lacking in the ‘noir’ department, but that didn’t matter to me, because I’ve never actually read any ‘noir’ so I have no way of making a judgement because of that. This book seemed to me as if a collective breath had been taken, as if the characters were taking stock of themselves and their situations before the final act.

In this book, Jax Pavan has changed professions: he’s no longer a bounty hunter, but a private eye, and with the help of I-5, Den Dhur, the Jedi Paladin Laranth, and the one-time servant of Darth Vader, they take on the investigation of a famed Camaasi artist, Ves Volette. The first thing I enjoyed was the fact that we get a new (almost current) report of the destruction of Camaas (an event, for those who know their Star Wars, which Timothy Zahn created in his Hand of Thrawn Duology), and we also see Camaas through the memories of Volette, which was cool; it was nice to be able to actually see the planet, and the glimpses we get of daily life there, as well as the landscape, serve to flesh out a location that no-one writing for Star Wars has ever taken us to before.

As a PI, Jax sucks. (Sorry Michael) At first I thought, okay, a Jedi as a PI would be unstoppable; I mean, he has the Force on his side, and with the reflexes and insight the Force allows, he would have been able to close any case very quickly indeed. But he struggles along, and we are taken through leads that seem to be there only for the value of being shown some interesting new sentient species and a pretty cool duel with a Cathar. Those were the highlights connected to Jax, for me.

But we also have other arcs to follow: the first being Aura Sing, the other being Captain Typho.

Aura was written very well! The last Time I saw her was in one of the Legacy of the Force novels, and I’m glad that such a tight reign was kept on her character. Aura kicks ass and is irredemably evil, and the vocal (and physical) play between herself and Vader is quite entertaining, especially because something happens in this book that took me completely by surprise: I won’t tell you what it is, it’s something Vader does, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you think it fits or makes sense. I enjoyed it.

Typho, as a character, has always been pretty flat (not even George Lucas could fix that), but Michael Reeves makes him interesting, and when Typho is chatting with an Imperial (you’ll know where as soon as you get to it) the insults traded there are some of the best that have graced the pages of any Star Wars novel. Anyway, Typho is looking for Padmè’s murderer, and he was in love with her, so this is a mission of vengeance for him.

One thing that I was very pleased with is that I-5 and Jax are friends, and Jax’s hang-ups with droids are almost completely gone. Michael also goes deeper into the issue, and so we understand why Jax felt the way he did with droids, which helps us identify even more with Jax and I-5. The other characters don’t have much of a role to play (except for the Paladin, Laranth, but that you’ll have to discover for yourself), but we do get two more connections going back to earlier Reeves Star Wars novels, and I have to say, I love the way that Reeves and Perry do this. Okay, every Star Wars novel does this, but these guys play with our expectations: you read something in one novel that, it seems, we won’t ever see again, or that has no further use, but we are proved pleasantly wrong.

All in all, this was an enjoyable book, not as great as the first book, but a worthy addition. There are duels, explosions, the use of the Dark Side, and humor, so any Star Wars fan should enjoy this book. If you’re not a Star Wars fan, then don’t even ask me if it would be a good idea to read this book; I’ve been reading Star Wars too long and according to the timeline and events to give you an unbiased opinion, but please, drop me a line if you want to to start reading Star Wars but don’t know where to start.

7/10

And as always, here’s the link to Michael’s website.