Down the Stacks #38: There Will Be Dragons

This week on Down the Stacks, We’ll be looking at an interesting spin on science fiction and fantasy with There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo.

Other Media Review: Obduction

A small but powerful force in my childhood was a series of puzzle-adventure games created by the small studio Cyan, Inc. called Myst.  Myst was a series of six games released between 1993 and 2005, independently at first and later in partnership with Ubisoft.  The first game, Myst, and its sequel, Riven were some of the bestselling games of their time and had profound influences on the adventure game genre, for better or worse.

What drew me to Myst as a child, and what now drives my efforts to acquire and re-experience the series up to at least Myst IV: Revelation is the stories the games tell and the smooth integration of puzzles into those stories.  I haven’t found another computer game that has managed to achieve that almost perfect combination of difficult yet logical puzzles with a deep and story-rich world.

Then, Cyan returned after taking a gamble on crowdfunding and released a whole new game that has recreated the Myst formula: Obduction.  I was excited, and the game became one of my top reasons to get a new computer: I needed better graphics and CPU than my old computer had.

So, how does Obduction compare to my Myst nostalgia?

Short story: Lilianne and the Dragon

Based on an idea brainstorming post I saw on Tumblr once.

Story Fragment: Avatars of Vulpran part 3

Part one.

Part two.

Read part 3 below the break.

Down the Stacks #37: A Study in Sable

Normally, I try not to spotlight the same author multiple times in a row on Down the Stacks, but when I went to return Home from the Sea to the library I saw this week’s book, A Study in Sable, by Mercedes Lackey, on the New Books display and I couldn’t resist.

Down the Stacks #36: Home from the Sea

It’s time for a Mercedes Lackey book again here on Down the Stacks.  Unlike my previous reviews of Lackey novels, I’ll be focusing on one particular book rather than just providing an overview of an entire series.  This week’s selection, Home from the Sea comes from the “Elemental Masters” series, which is set in the early 20th century, primarily in England, and contains loosely connected tales of mages hidden among every level of society and can command one of the four classical elements - Fire, Water, Earth, and Air - along with a host of hidden Elemental and airy creatures.  Each Elemental Masters book can stand alone, but a couple of sub-series involving recurring characters have emerged, and Home from the Sea belong to one of those.

Down the Stacks Meta: What I Expect from Books

It occurs to me that I haven’t established any metrics or official expectations that I hold books to on Down the Stacks.  Time to fix that.

What does C.T. Vulpin expect from a book?  What makes a book “good” in my opinion?