Bitching, Bam-Bam, & Books

Madness! Madness, I say!

I have spent most of the week pretending to be a school teacher. Between The Boy needing me to review homework and reports, and helping one of the kids from Scouts write up his Eagle project workbook, I haven't had a minute to do any of my own work! I don't understand how people keep sane lives. We seem to be the only family on the planet who does nothing but run from crisis to crisis. Hell, even The Boy notices it. He was telling me last week how "None of his friends . . ." run around as much as he does. They spend their time relaxing and hanging out. I don't know 'bout that, but he's definitely right: for a three person family we are way over the top on the running about. I guess I just suck at organizing and scheduling.

I heard last night that Bam Bam Bigelo, the wrestler, had died. Now, I'm not generally a fan of wrestling (at least not since I was 12) but Bam-Bam was a local guy. I had the opportunity to meet him a few years back. I was coaching my son's Pop Warner baseball team and Bam-Bam was doing the same for his kid's team. We played each other a few times and I spent some time talking with him. His real name was Scott and he was a hell of a nice guy. During one of the games, my son took a ball to the teeth (ouch!) and Bam-Bam was out on the field to make sure he was alright, even before I was. The guy was a bit of a local hero as well -not because of the wreslting- but because he ran into a burning house a few years ago to rescue three children. As I recall, he was pretty badly hurt doing so. Anyway, I was bummed to hear about his passing. Nice guy.

So, I never talked about the books I read over Christmas vacation. I caught up on Lynn Viehl's "StarDoc" series, and David Farland's "Runelords" series. I also picked up Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" and "Neverwhere". I have to admit (with great shame!) I had never before read any of Gaiman's work. I had heard folks rave over him and kept meaning to, but never quite got around to it. Have to say I was heartily impressed. There's a realism to his bizarre fantasies that strikes at you. (excuse the oxymoron, please!)

Now, SL Viehl's (aka Paperback Writer)"StarDoc" series is wonderful. I love her work (under any of her names!) as a rule. I read the entire series and loved it. I picked up the latest book, "Rebel Ice". The writing was outstanding but I was a little annoyed by the story itself. I had the exact same thing happen with "Sons of the Oak", the last Runelords book, and for similar reasons. See, when you read series like this you invest a lot of time into, not just the story, but into the characters. You learn their hopes, dreams, flaws, and you are always praying for the "happy ending" for them. Sometimes it never comes, and that's alright with me. I feel bad for the character but if that's the way the story plays out, I'm fine with it. What bugs me is when the author shifts characters on you after several books. That truly aggravates me.

"Sons of the Oak" completely changes POV from the main character of the preceding novels to his children. I HATE THIS DEVICE! I've seen a lot of really good series die because of this. I'm sure there are good reasons for doing so, but I don't think it's something I'd ever do in my own work. If you can't continue with the same MC, let the series die and move on! "Sons of the Oak" might be the best novel of the series, but I'll never know. I tried, but I had to put it down after a hundred or so pages. I just couldn't bring forward any emotion for the MC's kids. I kept saying to myself: "This would be so much better if Gaborn were here . . ." I finally just gave up.

"Rebel Ice" keeps the same MC . . . sort of. The problem is, she's been injured and has total amnesia, in effect: she is an entirely different person. Now, I DID read this entire book (and liked it! The writing is wonderful!) but I still felt a little cheated at the end. I had come to the novel expecting one thing and got another. Think of it like buying tickets to see Sir Lawrence Olivier play "King Lear" and having it announced just before curtain that the part will instead be played by Anthony Hopkins. It will be a fine show, of course, but not quite what you wanted to see, now is it?

I know, I know! They're experimenting . . . spreading their wings . . . expanding their horizons, and as a writer myself I should appreciate that. I get it; I really do. BUT: as a reader, I want my characters to be the same person throughout. They can grow and change ( In fact, they'd better!) as much as the author wants and I'm good with that. It's the replacement that bugs the crap out of me. If saintly little Mary Sue from book one becomes a psychotic who murders puppies for fun in book five, I'm good with it, as long as you can show me the progression. If you decide to kill off Mary Sue cuz she's too sweet and bring in her evil twin sister to play the psycho role . . . I ain't gonna be happy! These are novels, folks, not soap operas. I want one MC from start to finish with no shark jumping, thanks!

Later!