Book Review | Normal by Warren Ellis

There are two types of people who think professionally about the future: foresight strategists are civil futurists who think about geoengineering and smart cities and ways to evade Our Coming Doom; strategic forecasters are spook futurists, who think about geopolitical upheaval and drone warfare and ways to prepare clients for Our Coming Doom. The former are paid by nonprofits and charities, the latter by global security groups and corporate think tanks.

For both types, if you're good at it, and you spend your days and nights doing it, then it's something you can't do for long. Depression sets in. Mental illness festers. And if the abyss gaze takes hold there's only one place to recover: Normal Head, in the wilds of Oregon, within the secure perimeter of an experimental forest.

When Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, arrives at Normal Head, he is desperate to unplug and be immersed in sylvan silence. But then a patient goes missing from his locked bedroom, leaving nothing but a pile of insects in his wake. A staff investigation ensues; surveillance becomes total. As the mystery of the disappeared man unravels in Warren Ellis's Normal, Adam uncovers a conspiracy that calls into question the core principles of how and why we think about the future--and the past, and thenow.

***

For all our whistle-blowing and brainstorming, for all our back-slapping and activist hacking, for all the awareness we've raised and for all the progress we've made—for all that, it's not going well, the world.

That, at least, is what Adam Dearden believes, and, as a futurist who's resided on both sides of the aisle, he should know. Knowing what he knows, though, doesn't mean he can do a damn thing about it. That frustration recently reached fever-pitch for him when, whilst working in Windhoek, he saw something he shouldn't have seen; something that sent him over the proverbial edge.

He was a futurist. [He] gazed into the abyss for a living. Do it long enough, and the abyss would gaze back into you. If the abyss did that for long enough, the people who paid you for your eyes would send you to Normal Head. The place was paid for by foundations and multinationals alike, together. Most of their human probes needed it, one way or another, in the end. His first thought, in fact, that night in Windhoek, was that he was going to end up in Normal if he couldn't keep his shit together. (p.16)

He couldn't, of course.

Built "on the bones of a town founded by a madman whose last recorded words were about its terrible lights," (p.12) Normal Head Research Station is a sanctuary of sorts for screwed-up spooks and strategists and such. There, anything that could coax out their crazy is contained: mobile phones are a no-no, social media is strictly prohibited, and you can only access the internet if you've demonstrated yourself relatively sensible.

Which leaves... what? Well, there are a few DVD box-sets to watch, a bundle of board games to play, I dare say, and acres of ancient forest to get lost in. Your only real responsibility, when you've been sent to Normal Head, is to get better—if only so you can go back to gazing into that infinite abyss. And Adam Dearden does want to get better. Alas, within hours of his arrival, he witnesses something that beggars belief; something so unsettling that it puts him in mind of the riot that was his ruination rather than the road to recovery.

Meme, Myself and I | Regarding Reading Habits

Memes of the old mold seem in recent years to have gone the way of the dearly departed dodo, and although I thought them at best a guilty pleasure then, now, much to my surprise, I find myself missing them. To wit, it was with happiness in my heart that I saw a fifteen question genre fiction book meme, mostly focused on reading and buying habits, featured on Pornokitsch a wee while back. I gather those guys got it from Gail Carriger, who traced the thing back to SF Signal.

Fast forward a fortnight—and the fact that it's taken me a fortnight to answer fifteen quick questions should tell you something about how bloody busy I've been recently—and I'm finally finished!

***

1. What was the last sf/f/h book you finished reading?

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro: a genre novel by all accounts, although one at its best when its fantastical trappings are left in the background. I called it "a minor work by a modern master" in my review for Tor.com—a statement I feel safe standing by despite the unadulterated praise that's been heaped on it this week.

2. What was the last sf/f/h book you did not finish reading and why?

I finish almost everything! But that's because almost everything I read, I read with a view to review, and my feeling is that to review a book fairly, you have to see it through to its conclusion.

3. What was the last sf/f/h book you read
that you liked but most people didn’t?

Hmm. Maybe Something Coming Through by Paul McAuley? I wouldn't go so far as to say most people disliked it, but I certainly liked it more than most.

4. What was the last sf/f/h book you read
that you disliked but most people did?

As above, so below. Though I didn't quite dislike it—as I put it at the time, The Death House by Sarah Pinborough is never less than "completely competent"—I certainly didn't love it, and I dare say a fair few folks did. Each to their own, of course.

5. How long do your single-sitting
reading sessions usually last?

If I have less than an hour to spend reading, it isn't often worth my while, because the longer I spend reading, the faster the speed I read at. In an hour, for instance, I might make it through fifty pages; in four, I'll defeat four hundred. It's funny. 

Also frustrating, because four free hours are increasingly hard to find.

6. What are you currently reading?

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers: a formerly self-published science fiction novel which the fine folks at Hodder are hoping to bring to a bigger audience when they re-release it as an ebook in a few weeks.

7. Do you like it so far?

I'll be reviewing it soon—don't anyone act surprised or anything—so I don't want to give the game away, but do I like it so far? Hell yes.

That said, I still have half of the whole to go. It's all to play for!

8. How long ago did you buy the book you are
currently reading (or the last book you read)?

I, uh... didn't. I'm reading a review copy. But I do at least have the decency to feel bad about that, such that I'll probably buy a final physical edition of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet if it continues to kick ass.

9. What was the last physical sf/f/h book you bought?

The Bees by Laline Paull. My mum doesn't read much, and rarely could what she reads be considered speculative, so when she does recommend something along those lines, I pay attention.

She was well into this one. Not sure I am so far, but my progress through The Bees has been slow; I'll let you know how it goes.

10. What is the sf/f/h sub-genre you like the most and why?

Weird stuff really does it for me. In part because there's just not a lot of it, so it seems special in a way other sub-genres don't.

Relatedly, roll on the next China Mieville collection, Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories.

11. What is the sf/f/h sub-genre you dislike the most and why?

Epic fantasy can be simply brilliant—see Guy Gavriel Kay, another of my favourite fictionists—but all too often, it's forgettable and repetitive.

But on balance, I'm going to have to say steampunk. Nine times out of ten, I find, steampunk stories favours style over substance, and I've long since tired of trying to find exceptions to the rule.

12. What is your favorite electronic reading device?

The second generation Kindle Paperwhite I gifted myself last summer. I don't use it all that often while I'm at home, where of late I've had the luxury of a library, but it's been a proper godsend on holidays. Come the end of the month it'll be coming to Gdansk with me.

I'm already wondering what to load it up with...

13. What was the last sf/f/h eBook you bought?

Actually, I bought twenty, some of which I already owned in physical format, by way of the Humble Subterranean Press Book Bundle. I can't resist a sweet deal, and at fifteen squids these were a real steal.

14. Do you read books exclusively
in one format (physical/electronic)?

I used to do. Reading ebooks was an age-old practice before I finally gave it a go, and old man that I am, I still favour physical editions—for the feel, the physical impression of progress and the notion of the novel as an object of artistic value—but I'm markedly more open to ebooks these days.

15. Do you read ebooks exclusively on a single device,
ie. an eBook reader, a smartphone or a tablet?

When I read ebooks, I read them almost exclusively on the Paperwhite. Occasionally I have to work with a PDF file, however, and allow me to close out this post by echoing the frustrations of the Pornokitsch kids: PDF files are a living nightmare. For those, I have my tablet: a 10.1 inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S.

Status Update | Google Drive of Doom

Last week, something horrible happened. Not something properly horrible—nobody's dead or anything, thank the heavens—but something went wrong behind the scenes of The Speculative Scotsman. Something that's made me more than a little miserable since.

Long story short: I broke the blog.

Long story long: I got myself a fancy new phone a month or so ago, namely an HTC One M8. It's proved a huge improvement on the Samsung Galaxy S2 I'd been toting about essentially since the turn of the century; hasn't hurt that it's so easy on the eye either.

In any event, it's an Android, so it's tied to Google from the ground up: the opposite of a problem insofar as it automatically imported most everything I needed from my old mobile. My contacts and whatnot. My pictures and preferences. Then, when I took a few photos, Google Drive offered to store them in the cloud. I said sure.

This was my first mistake.

I made my second when Google Drive decided to start syncing the thousands of images tied to my email address, which, as it happens, is also my Blogger login—to wit, every picture I had ever embedded in posts on TSS was about to be backed up. This seemed an almighty waste of space and time to yours truly, so I deleted these files from the list of images to sync. What I didn't realise I was doing was deleting the images from the internet as well.

Didn't take long for the penny to drop, but by then, the damage was done.

And here we are. Since bodging the blog, I've spent any number of hours uploading old images. It's taken days—days I don't have—but I've managed to redo 2014 to date. Only four more years of posts to go!

So if you were wondering what I've been so busy with in recent weeks: this. And I'm afraid I'm far from finished fixing my fuck-up. One day, eh?

In the interim, I ask only for your patience, dear readers. That said, your sympathies wouldn't go amiss...

Book Review | No Harm Can Come to a Good Man by James Smythe

How far would you go to save your family from an invisible threat? A terrifyingly original thriller from the author of The Machine.

ClearVista is used by everyone and can predict anything.

It’s a daily lifesaver, predicting weather to traffic to who you should befriend.

Laurence Walker wants to be the next President of the United States. ClearVista will predict his chances.

It will predict whether he's the right man for the job.

It will predict that his son can only survive for 102 seconds underwater.

It will predict that Laurence's life is about to collapse in the most unimaginable way.

***

Pay attention, people of America, for today is a day unlike any other.

Today, I want to talk to you about tomorrow; I want to talk to you not about what the world was, but about what the world will be. Today, it is my tremendous pleasure to introduce you to your next president, so put your hands together, please, for a father, a son and a husband—for a family man who can. For a soldier, a senator, a standard bearer of vibrant views and vital values. Ladies and gentlemen... Laurence Walker!

A word to the wise: he's the kind of guy who'll look you in the eye whilst telling you what he's going to do for you. And unlike the other lot, he'll follow through, too:

That's been one of his major arguments the last few years: politics has become about empty words and even emptier eyes, promises made that are for self-aggrandising reasons rather than because somebody believes that they are the right thing to do. This is how he's become popular, a man of the people. (p.24)

But politics is power, and power, of course, corrupts, so how can a man of the people—a good man, goddamn—hold the highest office? According to ClearVista, the simple fact of the matter is... he can't.

You Tell Me | To Infinity... and Beyond!

So hey.

Today's the day! The day we hear what the next Xbox will be all about — or at least what it'll be called. I'm excited. How about you?

In case you weren't aware, in a few short hours — only four more from the time of this post — Microsoft are going to hold a press event where "A New Generation Will Be Revealed," or so the email I got this morning insists.

We already know about the PS4, and though I could honestly care less until there's a new Zelda to worry my bank balance further, I'll admit the Wii U exists, thus this is the last of the last crop of consoles in line for a generational refresh.

I have very high hopes for the Xbox Next, or the Xbox 365, or the Xbox Infinity, or whatever they end up calling the thing, because this generation, I played most of my go-to video games on the 360. I've enjoyed achievements a great deal in recent years, and the seamlessness of the online experience is still second to none. A steady stream of Halos haven't hurt the Xbox's cause either.

But there's still so much to play for. Sony look to have ratcheted back their arrogance, leaving Microsoft to inherit their hubris. If they get too big for their boots — and we'll get an indication of whether or not that's actually the case later today — I'll be buying a PS4 before the next Xbox.

Fingers firmly crossed Microsoft have taken to heart some of the criticism that's come their way since we heard tell of all this online only nonsense. And as a renter rather than a buyer, if I'm unable to play used games on the next-gen Xbox without paying for an additional user license or some such rubbish, I'm done.

For the moment, though, we just don't know.

That said, we will in a bit... so now's the time to speculate. :)

What do you want from the next Xbox? Please do tell.

For my part, this Illumiroom technology really appeals to me:

Make that a pack-in and I'll be happy.

I Tube | Kara: A Quantic Dream

Just so you know, this news is not news. It's months and months old - from way back when in March 2012 - but until very recently, I'd managed to completely miss it. Maybe you had too.

I suppose the reason I overlooked it initially was a case of crossed wires. After all, Kara purports to be a tech demo from the team at Quantic Dream — who developed Heavy Rain, one of my favourite games in recent memory. But be that as it may, I've been burned by tech demos often enough that I've taught myself to turn the other cheek when they appear... even when they come from top-notch developers, as in this case.

Kara, however, is as much a movie as it is a tech demo. A short movie, admittedly. That the whole thing's running in real-time on a PS3 is impressive, certainly, but come to Kara for the title character and the heartbreaking narrative rather than some aspirational demonstration of the quality of tomorrow's graphics or performance capture.

Kara put me in mind of nothing so much as The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang, which I reviewed here on The Speculative Scotsman a year or so ago. Set seven minutes of your grind aside and you'll surely see why:

To my mind, this so-called tech demo attests to the storytelling prowess of the creative leads at Quantic Dream at least as much as it does the engine they're building their next game with... whatever it is.

Tell you what, though... after Heavy Rain, and this minor magnificence, I have my fingers firmly crossed we'll hear more about the team's next project in a few short weeks at E3.

Which reminds me: what are you hoping to see revealed at this year's expo?

Give me Bioshock: Infinite, Half-Life 3, GTA5 and a bit of Bungie's next project, and I'll come home a happy camper.

Remember, I tube so you don't have to!

Science Faction | Why Do Old Books Smell So Good?

Despite my initial resistance to books, the new breed, I do actually own an e-reader. We've talked about it before. In point of fact, it's a tablet in disguise - the original Transformer, if you must know - but after a period of experimentation with Aldiko and several other alternatives, the increasingly full-featured Kindle app has served me very well.

Well enough that these days, the ratio of my reading habits - which is to say the number of e-books I read versus the number of tree-books - is fast approaching 1:1. That said, if I love a book, I'll buy the hardcover, regardless of whether or not I already own an electronic copy. This has become something of an issue in itself... but it's not the issue I want to talk about today.

What I want to talk about today is why I still tend to buy tree-books over e-books. There are many reasons, really, but whenever I have to rationalise my fondness for physical copies, one of the first factors I look to is, oddly, the aroma of a beloved old book. The savoury scent of printed paper. The musty wonders of something second-hand. The way that a simple smell can take you back years - decades, even - to the time you first read through a particular book. A favourite, say.

Speaking of which, I have a mind to spend a minute sniffing my first edition of The Scar, but for the sake of this bitty blog post - already many weeks in the making - I'll resist.

Now I'm not a complete idiot. I don't lead with my nose in altogether too many of my decisions, but when it comes to books, the smell of an old paperback means a great deal to me. Or rather, it did... before I watched the short video embedded below, which aims to explain some of the starter science behind that marvelous musk.

Fair warning and all: this clip has taken the wind out of my sails somewhat, so watch it at your own peril.

So how about now? Still love the smell of old books? Even now you know the aroma is essentially a combination of chemical reactions and rot?

Sniffing The Scar will never be the same again! :/

Video Game Review | Deus Ex: Human Revolution, dev. Eidos-Montreal

It is the year 2027: fully quarter of a century before the events of Deus Ex.

Biomechanical augmentations are not yet commonplace, or very affordable in the eyes of the everyman, but the bubble around them is blowing up. Everyone wants augs; everyone except those folks who think them against God, or the natural evolution of the human animal.

Competition in the design, manufacture and distribution of these technologies is fierce, but Sarif Industries are at the forefront of their field, and one of their researchers - Dr. Megan Reed - thinks she may have just discovered the game-changer: a double-helix delivery vehicle for the bleeding edge biotech that should circumvent the need for the anti-rejection drugs all augs as yet rely upon, to stop their bodies from booting out these strange foreign objects which allow their privileged users to jump higher, run faster and think more quickly, among a many other talents.

But just as Megan is about to announce her discovery, Sarif Industries' headquarters in Detroit is attacked by a small army of heavily-augmented supersoldiers. Security Chief Adam Jensen, Megan's ex-boyfriend, does everything in his power to turn back this violent incursion, but man is no match for machine - or rather man/machine - and Megan, along with all those scientists involved in this project which could revolutionise an entire race, are either killed or kidnapped.

Adam only survives the attack by the skin of his teeth, and when he awakens, six months later, the skin of his teeth is pretty much all that's left of him... because to save his life - not to mention make him better able to see to these supersoldiers - his employers have refitted him with all the augmentations under the sun. Adam has hardly settled back into his role at Sarif when he picks up the trail of the shady organisation responsible for the death of so many, so close to him, and the destruction of so much, of such vital importance.

And now he can fight fire with fire...

So begins Deus Ex: Human Revolution, at last a worthy and worthwhile successor to a game that in its era completely revolutionised the way we play. Eidos-Montreal's long-gestating sequel cannot aspire towards that impossible crown again, but it embraces both those core tenets of the original - player choice, first and foremost, but also a noirish near-future, and an onion-skin, discoverable (or not) narrative rich with morality and conspiracy and intrigue - as well as those innumerable game-changers that the medium has for its part embraced in the decade since Deus Ex's release.

Invariably what will strike you first, upon booting up Human Revolution, are its incredible looks. And, after years of browns and greys and muted yellows on a good day, my oh my are they a sight for sore eyes! Truly, the design imperative behind this game - an neo-noir empire of black and gold and beautiful, fuscian blues - is so unique in the dreary follow-the-leader industry of today as to make this world, and its dazzling lights and dizzying heights, its glittering, gossamer sheen, come alive in mere moments. It will take you about thirty hours to beat Human Revolution, plus or minus perhaps five depending on how far down the rabbit hole you fall, and even then, you will not want to leave.

I didn't.

I started a second playthrough.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Looks, as we all know, are only skin-deep, and what, you might be wondering, is the ghost in this machine? Well, I bet you've already met - at least I hope for your sake you have - for it is in every meaningful sense the spirit of the original Deus Ex: a game you can play pretty much any way you please - whether by stealthing or shooting or hacking or simply exploring your way into any number of high-stakes scenarios, and if you're lucky out of them again - for either as little or as long as you please, thanks to an unrestricted save system and a selection of activities which cater to those with mere minutes or many hours on their hands.

Do not misunderstand me: this is also a game which very much rewards a certain level of dedication, and though the most casual gamers may flounder somewhat, those players who have perhaps drifted from the industry in the last ten years will find returning, by way of Human Revolution, a lot like riding a bike.

That is to say, a gold-leafed bike with onyx trim, twelve light but durable wheels, a multi-functional heads-up display complete with cruise control, temperature regulation, satellite guidance, impenetrable security systems and its very own onboard library. But for all that, it's still easy riding... unless you're going to go and jack the difficulty up, which--- well. Don't make the same mistake I did. Human Revolution can be as hard as it can be easy; exactly, then, as all games would be in an ideal world.

These days, player choice is a back-of-the-box bullet point every game developer likes to blow their trumpet about, but precious few games actually realise this idea, or reward such a spread of play-styles as thoroughly as Human Revolution. For instance I specced my Adam Jensen out like Mr Metal Gear Solid himself, Solid Snake, investing my currency and experience points, of which there are no shortage, into Praxis kits to upgrade my stealth augs for better radar, silent running, undetectable takedowns, and later on, an invisibility cloak that quickly became my go-to tech in tricky situations. When I had to shoot dudes, I shot them with a stun gun rather than the pistol I carried throughout, and trusty tranquilizer darts rather than an assault rifle, then dragged all the bodies off into some shadowy corner of the maps... till there were stacks of them, I tell you, stacks of them!

I tend to think, having played this way, that I saw the best of Human Revolution, and two achievements in the Xbox 360 version - for never setting off an alarm, or killing a single person - were fair impetus to do so. In the end, alas, I got neither: in part because there came a point in the endgame where a choice I'd made in the approach to it came back to bite me, and I had to kill to live - alarming several guards, needless to say - but also because I wanted to see what else this game could have been, if I'd played it another way.

And as a shooter, Human Revolution is competent enough; the action RPG has come a very long way. It's no Modern Warfare, of course, nor even a Mass Effect 2 in that regard, but its mechanics are more satisfying than say Alpha Protocol's, and a great deal improved over those you may remember from Fallout 3, to call out a couple of Human Revolution's contemporaries.

This single choice - to kill or not to kill, that is the question - has huge gameplay ramifications, as have the others you will make in the course of the meaty single-player campaign of Human Revolution... and there are myriad other decisions in the offing. Take a bribe, or dob in the doer? Plant drugs in this one guy's apartment to get him arrested, or heave him of his balcony? Risk your life to save a certain supporting character, or worry about your own well-being first?

Your particular choices do not impact the narrative of Human Revolution so much as the experience. Whether you shoot to kill or only to stun... whether you save or sacrifice... you can still hack all the computers you please to read notes and emails that expand upon the story, browse all the e-books scattered throughout the environments, and listen to henchmen chatting about the pros and cons of one dastardly plan or another. Ultimately, how the story ends - in one of four ways - is the result of a single decision you will make before the final cut-scene. Which I'll admit I found a little disappointing.

Nevertheless, Human Revolution is a vision so grand, and a game so understanding and forgiving in its design and execution that I do not find it difficult to forgive the slightness of its lastmost moments. It is still easier to overlook what is some pretty terrible voice acting, and the fact that this belated but brilliantly distinct sequel plays fast and loose with the notion of a steady frame rate -- though I understand the PC version is rather more reasonable in that respect. These are minor missteps at worst, and at its best, in its looks and its essential, surprisingly faithful feel, Deux Ex: Human Revolution is, if not a full-blown revolution in its own right, then a pliable and riotously rewarding experience which could very well lead to one.

Easily game of the year material.

News Flashing | E-Reading E-Volved

Twice in December, on two separate occasions, I bought and paid for a 16GB model of the Archos 101. This was to be one small step for a Scotsman, towards e-reading, and I hoped it would open doors not only to e-books, but also to digitised comics.

It was not to be. Neither of the companies I made my orders with came through in a reasonable time frame, despite assurances to the contrary. And with the lattermost of them, I had to wait a full month for my £300 refund. This did not make me happy.

But I'm kind of glad to have been put through the wringer, now. Because this just happened:

"Made for tablets, by tablets."


Or something.


I'm not usually one to get all excited for firmware, but to hell with the Archos 101 and its half-assed Android 2.1/2 OS: Honeycomb looks to be the true future of e-reading - at least it does from my vantage point. Because I want pictures, as well as words. Perhaps even moving pictures... a big ask, I know! :P


No idea as yet which of the next wave of 10" tablets sporting Honeycomb I'll drop the big bucks on - nor, indeed, do I have any clue when we can expect to see them start hitting store shelves - but when the dust of CES has settled, I mean to see where the chips have fallen and get a pre-order for my favoured device in quick smart.


And then... then The Walking Dead. And Locke and Key. And Ex Machina.


At long god-damn last, am I right?