Paul's Thursday Reviews CCXCVII · 9:22pm Jun 2nd, 2022
When I was a kid, I used to enjoy playing with fire. I may have enjoyed it too much, considering all the fire-related injuries I sustained in the process. I even caused an explosion once (in my defense, I was only two years old). But then I left home and that kind of thing stopped, almost entirely because I came to live in places where starting fires for any reason was… uh… inadvisable. You know. High school and college campuses, apartment complexes, in the middle of the friggen city. Places like that. One thing about being around (and burned by) fire a lot as a kid was that I developed a good grasp of fire safety.
Now I live in my own home, with a yard, in a rural space, with plenty of natural sources of fuel in the area (read: trees). Which means if I want to start a fire, I can start a fire.
So I have been. Quite a lot, actually. I’ve been using the boxes from the move to start them. Got a nice open space set in the back that is the designated burn spot, and once a week or so I’ll just build and light a fire for the sake of it. Even in this summer heat, because I’m weird like that. I find the sound of a crackling fire soothing and the smell of wood smoke pleasant.
The only reason I bring all of this up is that I had a thought the other day: this is a rather rural concept. How many urbanites out there have ever enjoyed a fire? Do they know how to prepare one? How to light it if they don’t have some readily available kindling? Or the steps to prevent it from spreading? Have they ever just sat around one on a cool autumn evening with friends and family? How many of them are reading this right now with a reaction of shock and maybe alarm that people can see this as a legitimately relaxing activity?
I dunno, it’s just a curiosity I developed recently. Thought it would be an interesting topic to bring up.
Enough of my mad ramblings. We’ve got reviews to read.
Stories for This Week:
Starlight Over Detrot: A Noir Tale by Chessie
One of Us by bkc56
Mission of Mercy by Trick Question
Total Word Count: 1,481,864
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 1
Pretty Good: 1
Worth It: 0
Needs Work: 1
None: 0
Starlight Over Detrot: A Noir Tale
1,460,769 Words
By Chessie
Detroit sits on the very edge of civilized Equestria. It’s full of some of the worst slime the country has to offer. When a young mare is murdered under mysterious circumstances, the Chief of Police calls upon her best detective, Hardy Boiled Jr., to handle the case. Cranky, rude, and stubborn, Hard Boiled thinks this will involve another dumb criminal being brought to justice. He couldn’t be more wrong.
146 days. That’s how long it took me to read this. One would think this would make me long for the conclusion. On the contrary; when I realized I had only a couple weeks left, I found myself regretting that it was almost over.
Where the story shines first and foremost is in its characters. Almost all of it is viewed from the perspective of our surly protagonist, Hard Boiled. Hard Boiled has a big problem. You might think it’s the severe lack of bagels, to which he is frighteningly addicted, or the fact that his violence-prone drug-addicted boss just saddled him with a rookie for a partner, or perhaps his eternally sour and self-critical nature. No. Hardy’s problem is that his Special Talent is to be the living embodiment of justice. His cutie mark causes him physical pain when injustice is in his vicinity, and in a crime-ridden hole like Detrot that means it’s stinging every second of every day. He can’t leave things be. Hardy is a pony who has to help, who has to fix things, who has to be on the front lines.
But Hardy’s only the face of the story. He picks up a few malcontents and oddballs along the way. His rookie partner and Best Pony, Swift Cuddles, is the most adorable bite-sized ball of lethality there ever was. She’s brave, she’s loyal, and she’s so smol you might consider cuddling her despite the razor sharp teeth and elite combat skills.
Then there’s the ever-awesome Taxi, AKA Sweet Shine, who serves as Hardy’s driver due to him being an absolute terror (in horrifying literal ways) behind the wheel. The phrase “beautiful as she is deadly” comes to mind, but as Hardy’s childhood best friend she makes it her responsibility to assist his mental health whenever things start to become too much. Granted, her solutions to these things tend to involve brain damage, but if it works…
Last but not least is Limerence, the brains of the bunch who is more than capable of magicking up solutions to some of their trickiest problems – often literally. Regularly acting as the straight face to everypony else’s antics, he is nonetheless a firm ally and wise consul to ensure everyone achieves what they need to. Just as long as he doesn’t get dumped into any more sewers.
These four characters make up the core of the story via their interactions and growth. Be it Taxi’s struggle against her own Special Talent, Swift’s need to feel useful, Limerence’s epic family feuds, or Hardy’s regularly slamming into his own mental limitations, there’s always something going on to keep things interesting. And they’re not alone, as Chessie has created a huge supporting cast to keep things going, ranging from a homicidal police chief to a mortician who has to be descended from Pinkie Pie to a certain Princess of Friendship who has gone out of her way to make sure nopony knows she exists. I’d like to list more, but seriously, there are far too many interesting characters with fun personalities to explore than I could justify including in this review.
Oh, right. I neglected to mention that this is set several decades after the events of the show. A lot has happened in the ensuing years, up to and including a devastating war against the dragons. That’s a lot more important than mere background spice, by the way. In fact, that’s one of the story’s highlights; everything is important. Everything. Chessie does a delightful job of putting everything together in a nice, neat package despite the length, and things you might think were just offhand mentions come back later in big ways (I knew that museum piece was brought up for a reason!).
You may even start to think that the author forgot some things. For example, remember how this whole story is supposed to be about a murder case? Imagine you’ve gone for a few hundred thousand words and that case still hasn’t been solved. Heck, it’s barely being mentioned anymore. You’d be forgiven for thinking that it’ll remain a mystery forev— Oh, wait, there it is, and it’s still the key to everything. I loved the author’s ability to keep circling back to things like that.
Granted, it wasn’t perfect. I can think of a few notable characters who, when the story was all over with, kinda get forgotten in the conclusion. Characters like a certain blind prince, or a diamond dog leader, or a pair of secret agents sequestered in a long-forgotten warehouse. I suppose I can’t blame Chessie for that, though. I mean, if they gave satisfying, thorough conclusions for every character, the epilogue would have to be a novel unto itself. So… yeah. I’ll be forgiving. Even if I’d really like to have had one more scene featuring a trio of not-so-young-anymore crusaders.
There’s so much one could say about this story, at this point I’m rambling about whatever pops into my head at a given moment. At one-and-a-half million words, it’s impossible to touch upon everything. So I’ll hit upon a few more things real quick before I wrap this up.
- The character work is top notch. Once you’ve been with Hardy, Taxi, Swift, and Limerence for so long they start to feel less like characters in a story and more like best friends. That’s a tough thing to do for any author, but Chessie manages it like a pro.
- The story operates under the concept of escalation. What starts as a murder mystery evolves gradually into more and more serious problems. It goes from trying to find one pony’s killer to trying to stop an entire criminal organization to putting an end to cult sacrifices to saving an entire city from destruction to rescuing the world to facing off against literal, living astral bodies. By the end I suspect the only reason Chessie stopped was due to asking the simple question “How do I go beyond this?” and coming up blank.
- One unusual and welcome, if somewhat disturbing, aspect of the story is the psychological impact of the events. Whereas many writers would have things happen and the characters would simply move on, Chessie recalls that these events are traumatic. Hard Boiled, possibly starting the story with PTSD, eventually develops extreme issues to the point that he starts regularly falling apart, often without any external cause. He has some strong mental defenses, but he’s only equine.
- I am greatly impressed by Chessie’s ability to make every scene and chapter feel important. I never felt like what I was reading was wasted space. Even the silly parts. Those were critical to maintaining everypony’s sanity.
- The one thing I suppose I should note as a potential negative is, again, the escalation. Hardy & Co. go through all sorts of outrageous things. At times it can feel a bit ridiculous. I am reminded in some ways of Fallout: Equestria, and much more so Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if FE was a major inspiration for how this story is written. That’s not to say it’s a one-to-one comparison. Not at all. But there are several things in Starlight Over Detrot that definitely call the story to mind; the atmosphere, the storytelling methodology, the character work, etcetera. To me, this is all a great thing. Yet there are a bunch of people, sadly misguided and ignorant, who think poorly of Fallout: Equestria. I have doubts that they’ll feel any better about this.
There’s so much more I could say. I could pick out specific scenes, highlight some great character moments, or perhaps discuss the scope of it all. But alas, I have to stop this review eventually, plus I want to avoid spoiling many of those elements. Let it be sufficient for me to say that I greatly enjoyed this story and looked forward to it for all the half of a year I spent reading it, and greatly regret that I’m finished. I suppose now I have no choice but to explore Chessie’s other works just to see more of these beloved characters. Because again, it’s really the characters that sell it.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Swift is Best Pony for this AU. It bore repeating.
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Equestrian Opposition Party — Worth It
One of Us
13,471 Words
By bkc56
Sequel to The First Adventure
Tinker Cob is a starving changeling looking for work. While in disguise in Canterlot, he comes across the new home of married couple Quicksilver and Misty. Tinker’s quite the handyling and offers to perform the many repairs and maintenance the house is desperately needing, leading to a lasting friendship. At least until the changeling invasion…
This was a fairly predictable tale. Tinker Cob becomes Quicksilver’s and Misty’s assistant, they’re good friends, changeling invade Canterlot, Tinker gets outed, the three reaffirm their relationship. If anything in this story surprises you, you haven’t been reading much about changelings. So the question is how well the author presents the story over the story itself.
Alas, there are a number of issues. bkc56’s biggest, and one that has been present ever since the first story, is atmosphere. Simply put, there is none.
For example, there’s this one scene where Tinker, now revealed, is telling his full background to Misty and Quicksilver. And then… Misty… Uh… She’s crying? For some reason? Was I supposed to be feeling some sort of sadness? Why? Tinker’s just reciting some facts about his home life. The problem with the scene is that bkc56 relies entirely on dialogue to push the emotion through, and the dialogue as-written is not anywhere near enough. Having Tinker shake his head doesn’t tell us anything about how the scene is supposed to feel. It’s just a character shaking his head.
This problem is ceaseless. There’s no moment in any scene in the story that generates anything resembling atmosphere. bkc56 relies too much on dialogue, and when they do try to use narrative it’s in as direct a way as possible. Take the actual changeling invasion. It’s a list of events, with no accompanying emotive drive behind any of it. For example…
Hooffalls over their heads. A crash from the kitchen. Something beating on the front door. They were surrounded, trapped. Two changelings appeared at the kitchen door. They poked at the shield. Blank eyes stared at the couple. There was nowhere to run.
Is this supposed to be frightening? Actiony? Alarming? Okay, these things happened, but how are we supposed to feel about any of it? There’s zero attempt to get into either Misty’s or Quicksilver’s heads. Get a little flowery, author. Metaphors and comparisons. Assault our senses. Make us feel like we’re there!
The dialogue doesn’t help. It’s often awkward and unrealistic. Like the Royal Guard officer who gives Tinker a talisman and then proceeds to describe the talisman. You know, the one he just gave him. That he can see. With his own eyes.
Or Quicksilver talking to two sisters who are clearly in shock:
“I... I think we’re okay.”
“I’m sure you were really scared today and probably wanted to run away. I mean, that’s kind of what we ponies do.”
Uh, what? Two ponies are coming out of shock, and you respond by telling them what they probably wanted to do when they weren’t okay? What kind of value does that add to the conversation? Is this somehow supposed to be comforting? What makes things worse is that I’ve read other stories featuring this character and I know Quicksilver’s not this socially awkward. Nor does the story depict this entire conversation as awkward. Heck, bkc56 treats it as if this moment has somehow helped these sisters get over their shock, but I have no idea why.
Or how about when Tinker, hiding out in Appleloosa, discusses with Quicksilver and Misty how he might get back into Canterlot without being detected by the Royal Guard. They bring up an infiltration plan, talk about timing… and then, only when all that’s done, does Tinker suddenly go all open-mouthed in shock because “I can’t believe you’re helping me!” Uh, yeah, pretty sure that’s not how this works. The shock is supposed to come when you find out that ponies are willing to help you, not after you’ve spent twenty minutes discussing exactly how they are going to do so. I could understand if Tinker was going through the entire discussion in a state of shock and disbelief, but there’s no indication of that. Heck, he’s outright boasting about his infiltration abilities before the shock that he can discuss this openly with them comes up.
And then there’s that strange “that side of you” moment. Same scene as above. Quicksilver and Misty are questioning how hard it’ll be to get Tinker into Canterlot, and he’s all “oh, that’ll be easy. We’re infiltrators, it’s what we do.” And then the two ponies act all shocked and horrified, as if somehow the changeling infiltrator stating the obvious is supposed to be a big, weird, damning moment. And I’m sitting here thinking “Why are they acting like this? It’s not like he just said he plans on eating babies or something.” Is being able to sneak into the city – the very thing you’re planning together in the first place – supposed to be some hideous, terrible act worthy of fright?
There’s more I could point out, but I digress. I couldn’t make heads or tails of a lot of what was happening here. Not the events themselves, but the behavior of the ponies. None of it felt real. Couple that with such a direct writing style that lends nothing to mood and I couldn’t get into it at all. It’s strange, because the previous stories in this series had these problems but they didn’t seem so… problematic, for lack of a better word.
I’m not done with these characters yet. There’s a particular story following this one that I’ve actually been wanting to read, and it’s finally next. But for this story, I’m afraid there’s only one rating I can offer.
Bookshelf: Needs Work
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
High-Water Mark — Worth It
The First Adventure — Worth It
Mission of Mercy
7,624 Words
By Trick Question
A random pony has materialized in Ponyville. Not “moved in”, not “just visiting”, not even “teleported”; one millisecond she didn’t exist, and the next she was standing in front of Fluttershy at the market. As if that weren’t strange enough, this pony has no name, no cutie mark, is absolutely filthy… and she’s suffering from a depression so powerful it’s made her suicidal.
Trick Question’s modus operandi involves a talent for twists, so I was surprised that this one doesn’t really have one. If you squinted and tilted your head sideways, you might see the conclusion as one, but I don’t think so. I didn’t think for even a moment that Fluttershy was bluffing, for example.
To make up for the lack of the anticipated twist, Trick Question gives us a strange and thoroughly interesting rendition of Equestria that runs on “lessons”. If something important is going to happen, there will be a lesson involved, otherwise everything will be fine. For example, when Fluttershy goes to the market to buy cherries, she doesn’t bother to count out the coins; she just opens the purse and dumps the money. There’s no lesson to be learned with this purchase, so the amount that comes out is exactly right, despite her making no attempt whatsoever to make sure of it. As another example, there’s a point where Fluttershy’s legs are covered in mud. But there’s no lesson to be learned from that, so as soon as she leaves the mud puddle her legs are perfectly clean.
The world runs on lessons. No lesson, no consequences.
This idea is fascinating and I’d love to see it explored in greater detail sometime. It more than makes up for the lack of the author’s trademark twist trickery.
That’s not to say this is the big thing the story is about. Not at all. It’s merely a setting, one that makes a pony who seems to exist only to commit suicide all the more glaring. After all, where’s the lesson in suicide? All of Fluttershy’s friends puzzle over this while doing what they can to help this poor, suffering pony. Then we get to Fluttershy’s solution, which I can see coming off as highly controversial. Certainly it would have been for her friends had they known how serious she was about it.
This is not like TQ’s usual works, but it’s still a solid entry in their library.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Knight and the Knave — WHYRTY?
Broken Symmetry — WHYRTY?
Familiar — WHYRTY?
Shoot for the Moon — Pretty Good
Back to Normal — Pretty Good
Stories for Next Week:
dead butterflies (One of Them Will Destroy the Other) by The Red Parade
Synthetic Bottled Sunlight by NorrisThePony
Familiar by GaPJaxie
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Man, I've been looking forward to this review for a long time!! 1.5 million words is such a commitment, and I didn't want to risk disappointment if the story lost its way... There's really not many things worse than that. With your recommendation, I'm absolutely adding Starlight Over Detrot to my RiL. How could I not? Thanks for your effort in reading and preparing the review :)
Also, to answer your question about fires: I'm a suburbanite myself, and my experience is limited. I learned how to start a fire in scouts, but I rarely have the opportunity to exercise that knowledge (much as I want to). That said, I do enjoy pretty frequent backyard bonfires! Burn baby burn
I've always thought "Starlight Over Detrot" sounded like something up my alley. Now I'm even more sure. If only it weren't so long! I don't have anywhere near the time to tackle it.
I have had my fair share of bonfire experience. From Burning Barrels for trash up to giant house sized brush clearing. Some are nicer than others. The house fire was less fun. (It wasn't ours, but even then...)
5661703
I've had a few people binge read it in about two weeks. To be clear, they were all unemployed, but they did manage.
5661713
Give a read to like, the first three chapters. If you're not interested after that, there's no shame in quitting.
- Chessie
Random unrelated question, but have you ever read Moby Dick?
Anyways, re: bonfires—
All the time. Save my time in college, I've always been around them. when I was little and lived in a suburban area, my grandfather's brother owned a farm near Abilene and we'd make a trip there every memorial day weekend to visit that side of the family. Dove hunting and a bonfire were requirements for the outing, so that was where I learned to shoot and burn things. I'd been going there yearly since I was born, and there's even a picture of me as like a three or four year old standing on top of a big round haybale because I also loved to climb things. (I got pretty decent at sport climbing later in life)
Around the time I turned 9, we moved to a more rural area with a large backyard, and have had fires effectively whenever I wanted since then. Getting my friends together and drinking or having a cigar around the fire has been a common occurrence for the last seven/eight years.
Starlight seems like my kind of story, though I generally don't have time to read anymore. I'm moving to Japan here in March though, so maybe I'll check it out then. At present, I'm reading through all of the Sherlock Holmes novels (audio book, since I'm illiterate), so naturally the detective story is something I love.
5661721
I am not ashamed to admit that I don't think I could accomplish that feat! But Paul has really sold your ability to keep a story on track, and to develop some colorful characters. That is well worth whatever time it takes :) I hope you won't mind me leaving some comments along the way!
5661713
Same. Especially since I just started a nearly 200 episode long anime series like three days ago.
5661733
Ooh, which one? I kind of like longer series at times, but I rarely want to watch multiple at once. Right now, I'm midway through S2 of rewatching/seeing the parts I'd missed of Sailor Moon, so I've already got my long series covered.
man, sitting around a fire in the autumn was always great :D too bad my family disintegrated after my grandparents died
I really want to read Detrot but it's just so goddamn long. D: As it is, Synthetic Bottled Sunlight is high on my list because I already reviewed it back when it was a one-shot!
Not everything I write has a twist to it! Unless... the twist was secretly no twist...
5661737
I believe Present here first pointed out to me that non-Wild Equestria might be the protagonist in my story—or at least a major character. It was definitely fun to look at things through the eyes of the Mane 6 in this one, either way.
5661737
also
*hugs*
5661735
PriPara. It's cute.
And so Starlight Over Detrot becomes the new longest story to earn a Whyrity, beating out FoE by more than double. It's certainly a commendable feat for for such a behemoth to to remain enjoyable the entire way through without ever becoming stale, especially considering it took nine years to fully release. I know that for something like Project Horizons, being as long as it was and the caveats that came with that were part of why it didn't reach the top shelf.
Now I just gotta hope that Starlight wins the recent MoI poll so I can finally get my hands on a gorgeous, nine-volume collection of Epic Horse Words.
Vis-a-vis the fire stuffs: I've grown up in a rural and wooded enough part of the world that being around fire isn't particularly frightening to me. It's never been a constant in my life, and I never learned how to start one myself (I'm still a bit of a scaredy-cat, I just get others to do it for me), but I have no shortage of memories centered around evenings by fires with friends, family and food. I've also had several pyromaniac friends growing up, so I guess I got to live vicariously through them. Can't say I've ever learned to appreciate the smell of smoke, though.
5661741
like ya do :B
5661744
I actually started watching Pripara not long ago! I'm only at episode 10 because of reasons, but it's so cute. (I fell down the idol anime rabbit hole with the original Aikatsu season. God OG Aikatsu was so good.)
PaulAsaran. Pony pensman, prose pundit, and possible pyromaniac.
Ohhhhh, Synthetic Bottled Sunlight. Looking forward to that one.
I'm one of those weird people who really liked Fallout: Equestria, but didn't care for Project Horizons. Not that I disliked it; it just didn't grab me and I forgot to continue reading after a half dozen chapters. That said, Starlight Over Detrot is on my Top Favorites list, and pretty high up on that list. And yes, you are perfectly correct about the status of Swift Cuddles. Every notable point you mentioned had me nodding to myself in agreement while also saying. "But wait! What about—[insert another awesome thing here]" Each chapter had more fantastic ideas and gripping plot than most entire stories. Glad to have another addition to the chorus that sings its praises.
As for fire...
I grew up in the country, moved to the city (LA and the Silicon Valley) for the high-tech job opportunities, and when I'd made enough money, moved back to the country and bought a ranch. At least for me, fire is very much a country thing. The only time the city folk I knew got near real fire was for a BBQ, and that was mostly briquette or (shudder) gas* jobs. Up here, there's brushing, bonfires, wood smoking/BBQ, a firepit in the ramada, and (in my case) heating with a woodstove. Watching someone use a half box of matches, an entire newspaper, and a pint of lighter fluid to get a campfire going is pure torture for me. What do they teach kids nowadays?
----------
That ain't a BBQ, pardner, that there's an outdoor stove.
I’ve been looking forward to your SoD review. I am pleased that you placed it on the objectively correct shelf; now I don’t have to riot.
My only slight disappointment is you didn’t comment on the brilliance of the comedy and wordplay, especially since it kicks off almost every chapter, but as you said, there’s only so much room in a review.
Now I can look forward to your review of Familiar next week, another fantastic fic. I hope you’ll read the other fics in the same universe, too. (Even if they’re a bit too subtle for their own good at times, IMO – for at least two out of these three fics I had to refer to the comments for explanations about certain scenes.)
5661737
It is completely and utterly worth the read. Honestly, after the tens of millions of horse words you've read and reviewed, some of it being quite a slog, Detrot will flow by effortlessly. Like I said above, there are often more surprising and wonderful things in one chapter than are managed in most full novels.
Ooh, I'm envious.
Quite frequently, when I was younger. Used to stack loose bricks to make a little fireplace, fill it up with whatever dry garden waste was available, and then watch the fire. Never learnt to start one without matches and old newspapers, though.
Once I reached my teens and figured out that I could make the fire much stronger by feeding it air through a steel pipe, I managed to get it hot enough to melt a beer can into a coin-sized lump. I also used to fill a basin with fine mud and leave it over the fire so I could watch it bubble and boil like one of those volcanic mud pits on National Geographic.
I don't do all that fun stuff anymore because open burning is illegal in the city and suburbs. Closest I get to it nowadays is when the family comes over for a barbecue.
5661713
You could read it in small snippets at a time? That would take forever, though. Maybe think of it as a new hobby.
5661725
I have not, but I've heard from plenty of people who have. Their description makes me think of another story I read, The Last Days of Pompeii. It was 200 pages of exactingly detailed ancient architectural description and 20 pages of actual story, with the volcano only taking up maybe 3. Similarly, I hear Moby Dick is 200 pages of exactingly detailed descriptions of the whaler's occupation and 20 pages of actual story, with the whale itself taking up maybe 3.
When I develop an interest in the specifics of whaling, then I'll be interested.
5661737
Suck it up, buttercup! [/rleeermey]
The options are either to devote a few weeks to it alone or read it a chapter at a time over the course of months. I can only say that once you're two or three chapters in, you may not want to stop.
5661747
Mol poll? Sauce, please. I would certainly pay for a physical copy.
5661765
5661796
Frankly, there's so much to praise about that story that if I tried I'd A) forget things anyway and B) have to devote an entire review blog just to it because Luna in the sky with diamonds there's so much to talk about. It was only after the review released I realized I neglected the awesome and highly entertaining snippets at the start of most chapters, just for example.
5661804
Yeah, I never learned to do it "au naturel", either. I'd like to learn, though. Seems like a worthwhile skill to have if ever I get to go camping again. Or the apocalypse. Whichever.
5661747
I love the smell of smoke. In fact, I like the brief experience of being a little too close to the fire, enough so that your body is telling you "you need to back away" but not so close as to actually get hurt provided you listen to what your body is saying. I like to refer to it as "that pleasant sting".
I've always wanted to write a story with that title.
5661796
In my experience, every type of outdoor grill brings with it its own impact on the food in the form of some flavoring. Even gas grills provide a different result, which is odd considering... yeah, outdoor stove. My dad has no less than five grills, two of which were hand-crafted by my grandfather, one runs on propane, one's pellet-fed, and one's a Kamado Joe. He uses each one for different things depending on what's being cooked and why.
5661804
When I was a kid, my father built a white-brick grill out at a camp we had in the local swamp. We used to always use it for cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. The camp is abandoned, but the bricks are still there. I'm hoping I can get them and make my own little fire pit out of them. Problem is, they're outrageously heavy, too much so for my little car to carry all of them. It would have to be a long, regular process gathering them up a few at a time.
5661856
This is almost right, but I assume the following may be true of your Pompeii book as well.
Moby Dick is 190 pages of exactingly detailed descriptions of the whaler's occupation, 15 pages of purely painful purple prose, and 10 pages of actual story, with the whale itself taking up maybe 5.
I'm still convinced that the whole original manuscript was written in lavender ink. The narrator 100% saved the book for me because the performance was fantastic. There's no chance I would've gotten past the first handful of chapters if I had to actually sit down and focus on the thing.
I only ask because, I'd always wondered why allusions to the white whale were so common in popular media, and I remember it coming up a lot in cartoons from back in the aughts, specifically Edd Ed n' Eddy and The Fairly OddParents. I still don't know how or why the book was ever popular. I believe actually reading the thing has baffled me more.
5661878
Yes, the original book is meh (if we're being generous), but the concept it brings, the titanic struggle, a man succumbing to his hatred... I think that does it all on its own. People don't need to read the book. It's the idea behind it that resonates.
5661885
I suppose I can see the titanic struggle aspect of it, but as for the hatred thing, I believe Alexandre Dumas did it better in the Count of Monte Cristo, since I've been on a tear of very old books lately. In modern terms, Moby Dick is the oscar bait movie which, on it's own has very little merit, but is talked about because a certain class of people like to talk about it.
5661891
We're not asking "who did it better?" We're asking why one specific story is so beloved by so many.
Besides, Edmond Dantes was fighting against people. Ahab was fighting against a force of nature. I wouldn't discount that. Just the idea of a giant whale fighting against mankind has its own mystical imagery behind it, and humans have been drawn to that stuff since they were capable of having rational thoughts.
5661885 5661891
Sorry guys, but you hit my Moby Dick Rant button. Brace yourselves:
The thing that nobody seems to know is that Moby Dick is one of the funniest books of its time. There are so many expurgated and bowdlerized editions out there that harm the comedy (or get rid of it altogether) that the standard English Major view of it as a Great Symbolic Struggle™ has come to dominate the collective consciousness. It doesn't help that a lot of people who claim to have read it have actually only read the Cliff Notes or were told what to think about the book before reading it and were poisoned thereby. True, some of the humor is buried under the thick, fashionable prose and mannerisms that were popular at the time, but so much is outright slapstick!
Just a few examples off the top of my head:
Ahab doesn't appear on deck for several days, and the crew has all sorts of ludicrous ideas why, when the truth is that Ahab managed to kick himself in the balls with his own wooden leg by breaking it off against a curbstone and can't get out of his bunk until the swelling goes down! How is that not hilarious?
Ishmael first meets Queequeg when the harpooner bursts into the inn room in the middle of the night with a fistful of shrunken heads in one hand and a bloody hatchet in the other. Quite a lot of screaming ensues, until Queequeg explains that he's dressed that way to sell (fake) shrunken heads to the dumb Yankees, the blood is from a pig, and the top hat is just because Queequeg thinks it gives him a more distinguished air.
There are holes drilled in Pequod's quarterdeck for Ahab to stick his wooden leg into so that he won't fall over, and they make it sort of hard to walk backwards, so Ahab often has to stump around in a three-quarter circle to address one of his officers. To say nothing of the slate nailed to the leg so that Ahab can do his latitude calculations while sitting cross legged in his cabin.
The captain of the other ship they meet in the South Pacific who, when asked if he's seen Moby Dick says, "Seen him?" and then holds up a peg arm. (BTW, he prefers a mallet instead of a hook because of a terrible incident when he tried to scratch himself with the wrong "hand.")
Two whole chapters of increasing ridiculousness on why white is a scary color!
And the end where Ishmael uses a coffin as a lifeboat... c'mon! That is not only a great bit of irony, but it's freakin' funny!
It's a shame the language helps to hide the humor, and that English Professors have managed to complete the assassination of the actual book. Oh well, Shakespeare has it just as bad. Nobody really knows how absolutely, hilariously filthy the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet is any more. Oh, and the 1977 Three Musketeers film? All that goofy comedy is taken straight from the book, despite every other adaptation leaving it out.
But that's what happens when popular literature of the past gets turned into museum pieces by academics. They're not allowed to be funny or dirty any more.
[/rant]
5661928
I don't think the humor was lost on me, I just think it was weird and out of place, and not exactly funny. Weirdly enough, my favorite parts of the book were in fact the details about the practice and profession of whaling, and the anatomy of the whale itself. If Ahab spoke I almost immediately tuned out, and I just got bored most of the time.
Re: Shakespeare — I just can't get into him, or plays generally. I've tried so many times to read them and I never can. Othello is the only one I know, and only because I watched a good movie of it.
Also, I love the 97 Three Musketeers and watched it many times with my father. The book is on my soon to read list, but I think I'm bias because I've never watched a version of anything Dumas wrote that I didn't like.
5661914
One thing that ran through my head upon finishing the book: "It's just bible fanfiction, innit?"
It does detail 'whale mythology' pretty well too, I suppose. It's just not a 'novel' in the sense I expect a novel to be, and not the kind of novel I'd voluntarily read again. Not for me, nor do I get why people like it. There are good things buried in there, but how you'd get so far without being determined to do so, I wouldn't know. Maybe, like me, finishing it for the sake of it.
5661863
Ah yes, the sting of light danger and knowing you're alive. I agree it would make for a fantastic story title, as well as a very versatile one. Would you write it specifically centered around fire, or only the feeling generated from this circumstance?
Despite my distaste for smoke, I still think I've spent the majority of my time fireside directly in its path. It always seemed to have an uncanny ability to blow right towards where I was situated. Of course, I was too stubborn to move, so it was always me and the smoke, locked in a deadly standoff, daring the other to budge first. Usually accompanied by me chanting "I hate white rabbits" under my breath, cause my dad always told me that telling the fire my disdain for them would make the fire 'respect' me, or something, and it would choose to blow its smoke into someone else's face. For some reason.
...I don't think I ever figured out where that came from.
5661858
Here ya go.
There's a couple other strong contenders, but Starlight's the one I've got my eye on.
5661939
Uhmn... if you found the prose in Moby Dick to be purple, be prepared for frikkin' ultraviolet. Dumas got paid by the word, after all. Do a bit of investigating before you choose a version; there may be a translation that's more suited to 21st century tastes out there somewhere.
Well. That is the first time I have ever added a story longer than Fallout: Equestria to my RiL list. Realistically it's going to be Ri much L, if ever, but I haven't even tried to read eg Project Horizons so it's an achievement in itself. Whether I ever will read this enormous thing is a good question, to which the answer may well be hollow laughter, but at least I am theoretically intending to now.
As for fire... on this side of the Pond, we just don't have the space. I'm (just) old enough to have cooked sausages over a fire with a school group, but that's about it. I was never a Scout, and we don't really have summer camps in the US sense, so add that to my living in towns of some kind all my life and you can see where I'm going with this. And BBQs here = briquettes at the very best, I'm afraid.
As one of those:
Who finds Fallout: Equestria almost entirely unreadable--I made it to chapter 13 before deciding that this Was Not For Me--I don't suppose I should hold out much hope for Starlight Over Detrot. Reckon I'll give it a try, though, just to see...
Mike
5661974
It would have absolutely revolved around fire, although the specifics vary as I'm never quite sure how it would play out. There was one about a guy who ends up accidentally killing people due to his love of fire. There was another, more slice-of-lifey one about a guy and his fascination with fire and learning it's not necessarily a bad thing. And because it's kinda my thing, I had one that was a creepy Weird tale about a guy who looked at fire in an obsessive, culty kind of way and would have treated fire itself as an entity for him to interact with (although whether it was real or just in his head would have been ambiguous).
I haven't written any of them because it's one of those things you want to do well and I can never settle on an idea.