Ha! Post number 10!

Anyone who doesn't check this blog daily and wants to know what's happening may have a lot of reading to do.

There really isn't a happy ending for anyone in this book.

King Olin is well and truly dead. Despite what lies underneath, he is buried in the family crypt after several days of mourning.

Briony will soon be crowned queen. She has refused Prince Eneas's marriage proposal, in part because she does not want Southmarch to trivialized under the larger Syan's king, but mostly because she has realized that she loves Ferras Vansen (I never really mentioned this, but believe me, there was a suitable amount of thought devoted to this).

Ferras Vansen (having loved Briony for the entire series and having been resigned to her marriage to Eneas) is now Briony's lover, but, due to his low birth, this fact must be kept secret. Being unable to marry him, Briony instead makes him the Lord Constable.

Barrick, distanced from his home and family after the events in the shadowlands, will return to Qul-na-Qar (capital city of the Qar) to be their king. He was only briefly present at his fathe's funeral.

Qinnitan is comatose, but has received the Fireflower from Saqri. Able to communicate with Barrick (her lover) at times, both of them are likely to spend the rest of their lives trying to get her back to the land of the living.

Saqri died from wounds received in battle.

Yasammez died in the deluge in the depths, causing the Shadowline, the physical barrier between the Qar lands and the rest of Eion, to disappear. With no way to remain secluded, how long will the Qar last?

Chaven died at the hands of Vo.

Chert is now hated by many (but not all) of the Funderlings, due to his plan destroying their holiest site and will live with his wife, Opal, in the castle to raise Alessandros.

Flint, actually well over fifty, has resolved to wander the world in order to learn more about himself. Earlier in the story, part of the essence of Kupilas fused with him, so that he is no longer entirely himself. This devastated Opal.

Scotarch Prusus, a brilliant mind despite his disabilities, is the temporary autarch. With Vash at his side, he will rule Xis for five years (at which point an autarch from the insane royal family will take the throne), attempting to bring peace to his own land.

Merolanna will die within another year. She is, however, happy that she was able to see her son.

Sister Utta will create a new, larger shrine to Zoria (who may or may not be dead).

Shaso has been cremated and brought to Southmarch by Dawet, his old enemy in life (for having raped his daughter [maybe]).

Dawet has been Briony's ally through the other three books and will remain in Southmarch in order to perform Briony's dirty work. His first act was to kill Queen Anissa, Olin's second wife and mother of Alessandros, but also indirect murderer of Kendrick. Briony's plan had been to have her imprisoned. It seems likely that he had been in love with Shaso's wife.

Elan M'Cory, not returning Tinwright's love, will attempt to nurse Gailon Tolly, her lover, back to health (it is much more likely that he'll die).

Tinwright, having been saved from death by a prayer book in his pocket, will write a play of the events.

Like I said, the best anyone really gets is a bittersweet ending. Ferras and Utta seem to have ended up better than the others, but neither are untempered by sadness. Ferras will have to keep his love for Briony secret, while Utta will watch Merolanna die a slow death.

I'm not really sure how much I like the ending; everything seems so unfinished. None of it really feels like it's over. There almost seems to be enough loose ends to write a book off of (not that Williams will).

Hmm, I was going to write about how unusual it is to have such an unhappy (meanint "not happy but not really sad") ending, but then I remembered Lord of the Rings. And Dune. And Moby Dick. And War and Peace. What's so hard about letting a hero end up happy? With that said, I'm not sure that I really want an absolutely happy ending; a more ambiguous one tends to be more interesting, as nothing really gets too predictable.

If everyone had gotten the girl/boy and lived out a happy life, those last hundred pages would have been horribly boring. An ending like this keeps you on your toes the entire way through.



Regardless of how well these characters' lives went, remember to have a Happy New Year, everybody.

(Note: what follows does not even approach chonological order)

Now that Briony controls the majority of her castle, she goes after Hendon Tolly with several of Eneas's men. They find him in her family's crypt. The man about to sacrifice Alessandros (in order for his God's blood to be smeared on Chaven's mirror as a sacrifice to Zoria) is quickly shot in the chest with an arrow. While Briony engages in a losing fight with the more well practiced Hendon, a ghastly figure appears at the door.

Going back to the man with Alessandros, Tinwright was being forced to do so by Hendon. The regent of Southmarch had captured his love, Elan M'Cory, and was threatening the both of them.

Evidently, Shaso really was dead all along (it was my own assumption that he was alive). Instead, the crippled man was Gailon Tolly, Hendon's older brother, who was "killed" mid-way through book one (in a grab for power by Hendon). He had laid in his hidden grave (he wasn't immediately "known" to be "dead") for days before realizing that he was actually still alive. Despite the numerous arrow wounds and other ailments, he set out to warn the Eddons of his brother's treachery. Clearly too late, he now wishes to help kill Hendon However, Gailon is simply stabbed in the chest by said brother.

Hendon then runs off into a dark corner of the crypt. Following him, Briony discovers a large crack in the wall leading into a cave. Seeing a large chasm to the side, she stops to think. Hendon drops down from the ceiling, and Briony manages to stab him in the chest and eye. As Hendon tries to take her with him into the chasm, she is saved by Chert, who has finished his business with his own plans. She then starts her way down the cave, knowing that it leads to the Shining Man in the depths, despite Chert's warnings that she would be killed.


Despite having successfully stood against the Xixies with the help of the Qar, Ferras and the Funderlings are dismayed to learn that it was all in vain; the autarch found an alternate way to the Depths. They fight their way down to the Sea in the Depths (the Shining Man being on an island in a sea of his own silver blood), in time to see Sulepis summon the god.

The autarch sacrifices dozens of children, spilling their blood into the sea before beginning the ritual. He then reads a ritual summoning, binding the god with his many names: Kernios, Xergal, the Stonelord. He offers Olin as the god's physical body (which puts Olin through extreme pain, and Qinnitan through only a little less).

To his chagrin, it was not Kernios that he had summoned, rather, it was that god's son; the trickster, the god of fire and poetry; Lok-- er, that's not right --Zosim (that's it!). Chaven appears, having been the god's half-willing slave the entire time. When he joined the Godstone with the Shining Man (completing the whole; the Godstone had broken off centuries earlier), he would manifest as he wished.

Chaven is promptly dispatched with by Vo. Both the god and autarch try to bargain with him, and he eventually joins the Godstone and Shining Man. With this, a firey form arises out of the void that was once the Shining Man. Described as looking light a beautiful young man made of white flame, with a cloak of fire, he promptly eats Vo and tears the autarch's limbs off before using him a a crest for his helmet (Sulepis now being on fire and still very much alive).

Yasammez, daughter of Crooked, who originally sealed away Zosim, and wielder of Whitefire, the sword of Zmeos (called the Great Enemy by the people of Eion and venerated as Nushash, god of fire, on the continent of Xan), challenges him. Growing to large size herself, though clearly pushing past her limits, she fades rapidly.

Back during the ritual, we followed Beetledown the Bowman, a Rooftopper (who we have seen several times during the series). It was he who obtained the Astion and ensured that Chert's plan would come to fruition, [possibly] losing his life in the explosion.

Shortly before the ritual, Barrick and Vansen attempted to prevent the summoning and save Olin and Qinnitan by fighting their way to the autarch. Having failed and been forced to watch the ritual, they climb into one of the reed boats that the autarch used to get to the island (Barrick having received warning to do so from the Fireflower).

Shifting back to the god; it was never Yasammez's plan to kill Zosim. Her intention was actually to stall him.

As Chert's explosives go off, a great roaring is heard. What better way to combat Zosim, the lord of fire, than with the power of Erivor, lord of the waters? (Did I mention that Southmarch castle is on an island? No? Well, there it is.) As the water rushes in, Barrick and Vansen struggle to hold onto the boat while keeping hold of Olin and Qinnitan's limp bodies; everything else is drowned.

Rejoining Briony, she finds Willow (who had been lost behind the Shadowline for a time; an event that tends to drive people mad) and Kayyin (who spent some time with humans, and especially Willow) under attack by elementals. She and Chert try to help, but are unable to prevent the elementals from taking back the Fever Egg (now enhanced to be able to wipe out all life on the planet over several years).

To prevent it from being broken, Kayyin (who had more face time in the three previous books) grabs onto the "feet" of the elemental about to smash it to the ground. Now over the pit leading to the Shining Man, Willow holds onto Kayyin, dragging all three down into the rising waters.

Briony watches as the waters begin to rise up the pit. On the top of the waters are Barrick, Vansen, Olin, and Qinnitan in their boat.

Vash has been conspicuously absent throughout this section.

Now, my opinion:

I'd say that this is a pretty good climax; perhaps not the twist I was expecting (though there is 100 pages and plenty room for something to happen), but good none-the-less.

To Ms. Washburn, this is what I wanted when I complained about Dracula's lack of an epilogue; Shadowheart is going to devote a seventh of the book to the aftermath of the climax and character developement. That sort of thing is what makes a story "come alive" for me.

Also, an interesting fact.

I hear that over 99% of murderers in the U.K. have used the substance Dihydrogen Monoxide.

Saint Antoine

While this has nothing to do with independent reading, it is something that I found interesting, and it relates to class (plus, I still need a few more posts).

The use of the name "Saint Antoine" in A Tale of Two Cities refers to the Bastille. It was originally built during the Hundred Years' war as an add-on to the Saint-Antoine gate. The Bastille Saint-Antoine (Castle of Saint Anthony) was built in 1383 as extra protection for eastern Paris.

"Saint Antoine" seems to be a French localization of "Saint Anthony." Which Saint Anthony, however, (Anthony the Great, a hermit famous for being tempted in the desert [as portrayed in The Torment of Saint Anthony, painted by Michaelangelo] or Anthony of Padua, who was visited by a child Jesus and after whom San Antonio is named), I do not know. On one hand, Anthony the Great is likely the more well known, but on the other, Anthony of Padua was at least geographically and chronologically close.

Why on Earth you would name a gate of a city after a saint, I do not know.

Also, "Crocodilopolis" is a great name for a city.

Now that everyone is at Southmarch, the big fighting is starting up (interestingly, the next 220 pages are all going to take place during a period of 12 hours or so).

Briony and Eneas move toward the castle to find the Xixian camp under attack from the caves below. The enemy of an enemy being a friend, they help, and destroy the camp. They meet with Queen Saqri, who takes command. Under her orders, they go to take back the keep from Hendon Tolly. Some soldiers rejoice at the return of the Eddon family (though they remember only Olin's name), while others are loyal to Tolly.

Ferras Vansen and his Funderlings have retreated to the very deepest of the tunnels: the Maze. With hours (perhaps a day; not all of the characters' stories are occurring at the exact same time) before the worst danger is past, they can retreat no farther; they must make a stand here, and do their best to defend the Shining Man (the dead god Kupilas or Crooked encased in stone, though they do not know this).

Chert's plan has been put on halt due to a simple formality. Without an Astion signifying official Guild work, it has been put on hold indefinitely. Attempting to reach the guild, he briefly helps Briony by showing her to the Stormstone roads (created years ago by a Funderling named Stormstone, who realized that having few exits from Funderling Town was a recipe for disaster; this is -was- a closely guarded secret). He also contacts the Rooftoppers.

The Qar are now fighting their way down to help the Funderlings. They are taking a path that goes largely around the Xixian army. Barrick is wearing the armor of Saqri's son.

It was the death of this son, and his sister/wife Sanasu's abduction that caused the Qar's hatred for humanity. He and Sanasu were taken during a pilgrimage to the Shining Man [human] generations ago, having been given up by Stormstone. It is through Sanasu, queen of Southmarch, that the Eddon family has the blood of the god Kupilas.

Within the Qar ranks, the Elementals have peacefully [for now] rebelled, and no longer fight alongside their brothers and sisters. Worse, one of the youngest and most brash of this race holds the Fever Egg, which has the power to destroy all life within a large area. The girl holding it considers it to be worth the sacrifice of the Qar in order to destroy Southmarch; it is only Yasammez's power (as a demigod, daughter of Kupilas/Crooked) that holds her in line.

Chaven has been discovered by Barrick deep in the caves. He does not remember what he was doing, but attempted (and failed) to hide a small statue that had been stolen (by Barrick) from the temple of Kernios years ago.

Duchess Merolanna (an old relation to Briony and Barrick, mother of Flint (with Avin Brone), many years ago; longer than Flint is old, it seems) has had a dream (according to her, one sent by the gods) that she must protect the children; she goes to act on this.

Shaso has gained entrance to Southmarch through the Skimmers' secret entrances with the guidance of Rafe, who was payed with a large gold coin.

Vo is currently lost in the tunnels beneath Southmarch. He is also going crazy.

Qinnitan is being held caged by the priests of Nushash, and being forced to drink mixtures that will bring forth the blood of the god in her (again Kupilas, during a period when he lived among humans [I think]).

Tinwright has continued helping Tolly (who is increasingly unstable), discovering that the Godstone disappeared from the temple of Kernios several years ago, never to be found again (gee, I wonder where it is now). He is also working as a spy for Avin Brone, who is gaining increasing support due to Tolly's disregard of the autarch's attack. Right now, he is stealing the child Alessandros Eddon; youngest of the Eddons, Tolly's token claim to the place of Lord Protector, and planned sacrifice to Zoria (having the same blood as King Olin).

I have quite high hopes (read: "expectations") for the ending of this book. Between the incredible twist of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, and the bolt-out-of-the-blue ending of Otherland, I think that this is a reasonable expectation (or maybe the biggest surprise would for there to not be a surprising ending).

Part of what I about Tad Williams, I think, is the detail put into each world. Both Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Shadowmarch have their own religions (which differ based on the part of the world). Memory even had a Christ figure: Usires Adon (who was crucified upside-down on a tree, but whose role was otherwise left ambiguous). Otherland had newsfeeds at the start of each chapter that revealed "fun" tidbits (such as otters being extinct). All the characters are also nice, as you'll almost certainly end up with one you like (it may be a bit of a cop-out, but Good King Olin is pretty great; he's a fun, smart guy).

I've run out of ideas for titles.

Happy Holidays

Have a good holiday everyone!





Err... Now what do I say?

How about I bring the Scandinavian Yule Goat to everyone's attention; he's much more fun than Santa Claus. You can't deny the fact that the idea of a man-goat bringing gifts is better than a man in a red suit bringing them.




Note: this post was made largely to take up space; I want to have 10 posts in December, so expect a few more in the coming days.

So, now that I'm three hundred pages into Shadowheart (now that's a better reading pace), I'd say it's time for an update.

Serving as a backround for all other characters, the Autarch has finally attacked Southmarch. He has a force that numbers thousands upon thousands, from the Naked, poorly trained footsoldiers of conquered countries that are now part of Xis, to the White Hounds, whose forefathers were captured in Eion (the northern continent) and who are said to be worth five regiments each, he outnumbers all the armies that can be brought to bear in this fateful time. Even worse, the army at Southmarch is less than half of his full force. The rest of it awaits in Hierosol, the fortified port, mightiest force on Eion, unconquered since time immemorial; until now.

The mad Autarch Sulepis, who was only 24th in line for the throne when his father died (guess what happened to his brothers), plans not to conquer the castle, but rather the Funderling tunnels underneath, where the Shining Man, a stone formation that is the Holy of Holies to the Funderlings, awaits. There, he plans to awake from their sleep the three gods the sleep there; that have slept "there" (though truly in the Void and in a rather fitful sleep entirely unlike the sleep of a human) since the god Crooked (as he is called by the Qar) cast them into the Void after the Theomarchy, the godswar in which the three slew his brothers (who were sided with by the Qar and whose defeat began the Long Defeat of said race) for thousands of years. He intends to enslave them (I think; he may think that only his god, Nushash, god of fire, waits there) and use them to increase his power exponentially. To do this, he must make use of the Godstone at Midsummer (an ill-omened day; the sun begins to fail against the "forces of darkness"). Midsummer is less than a tennight away. Also required is a blood sacrifice, King Olin's role (him having the blood of a god, Crooked, through his royal Qar heritage (Note: the Fireflower is derived from the fact that three siblings, two of whom married and gifted the Fireflower to their children, establishing the ongoing memory, while the other, Yasammez, retained it and is now immortal)).

Meanwhile, Briony has arrived at Southmarch with Prince Eneas and his single regiment and met her imprisoned father in the Xixian camp outside the castle.

Ferras Vansen is still leading the Funderlings against the Autarch in the tunnels; they are using a strategy that I don't understand, but involves retreating and baiting the Autarch's forces. The Funderlings number barely 2,000.

Chert Blue Quartz is working on a desperate plan that involves 200 barrels of gunpowder.

Barrick and Saqri have taken one of Crooked's roads through the Void to reach Southmarch, and are now gathering the exiles there, which include the Rooftoppers and the Skimmers, who live in the castle and have some old feud with the Qar (I'm guessing that they sided with the Three Brothers during the Theomarchy; the rooftoppers with Perin (the Lord of the Peaks), and the Skimmers with Erivor (lord of the waters)). All told, the Qar number less than 1,000.

Lady Yasammez has given up hope, accepting the end of the Long Defeat.

Sister Utta (who I couldn't name in my first Southmarch book) has met Willow (whose role in the other books I have forgotten).

Matthias Tinwright is currently researching the gods, may have discovered the Godstone (which the Autarch needs) and trying not to offend Hendon Tolly (who is only slightly less crazy than the Autarch and is trying to summon Zoria, the virgin goddess over whom the Theomarchy was fought, using mirror-magic).

Shaso dan Heza, a man of Tuan (a country which of conquered by the Autarch but which hasn't given up hope) and former armstrainer of Kendrick, Barrick, and Briony, is also on his way to Southmarch. It was he who guided Briony out of the castle, and was "lost" in a fire set by her enemies. According to him, he actually died and was resurrected by the gods. He is still covered in terrible burns and can barely speak.

Daikonas Vo, the White Hound sent by the Autarch to capture Qinnitan has nearly been killed by her with poison that he bought to keep the bug that he was tricked into swallowing by the Autarch from being able to kill him (Vo) at his (the Autarch's) command. He is now lost in the caves below the castle and is in extreme pain.

Qinnitan (big surprise) has been recaptured and is in the hands of the Autarch.

If you've made it this far while understanding all of the above, I congratulate you. I lost track myself, at times.

Despite the complicated plot (all of the characters detailed above have sections from their perspectives [plus Vash, a high-ranked minister of the Autarch who has been told to contact Avin Brone]) I find this a much easier read than A Tale of Two Cities. I suspect that Tad Williams is just writing at a lower level than Dickens, but I'm sure that my love for fantasy and distrust of realistic fiction also has something to do with it (the worst books I've ever read are all realistic fiction). At least Dickens doesn't write books to be as long as Williams does.

Now I'm off to play some Minecraft after updating my biweekly poem.

Maybe I'll think of a title later.

In the next forty pages of The Lodge of the Lynx (miserably slow, but...), a good bit has happened.

It is discovered that the Lodge has carried out a ritual sacrifice; in the middle of the night and forest, around a stone slab, they gather. They kneel an old man on the slab, drugged and tied. Slitting his throat with a scalpel, they allow the blood to fall onto the torc. All this is seen by the gamekeeper of the land through his rifle's scope. McArdel goes to load his gun, but it jams, making a sound like a cannon in the silence. He runs.

A few hours later, Sinclair gets a call from McLeod, who has been recuited on the case. The three (including Peregrine) are led to the grim scene by McArdel. There, Sinclair and McLeod receive a terrible surprise; the murdered man was Randall, owner of a bookshop, friend, and fellow Initiate. As they wonder why he was chosen (Sinclair had heard from Randall the day before, and realizes that he had been led into a trap), Peregrine sketches the events.

The sketches resulting are indisputable proof that the Lodge is at large again. The group that the three belong to (I don't know of a name) must be notified.

Past that...I don't care; I've Shadowheart to read now. My decision on the plot is to provide short summaries for each character, then provide more information as needed.

Princess Briony- princess-regent of the kingdom of Southmarch, in exile due to the coup by the Tollys, currently in Syan with Prince Eneas (who is "interested" in her), friends with the group of players called Makewell's Men, relations currently strained due to the death of there leader at the hand of one of the guards of said prince due to a misunderstanding (which I'll explain later), twin of Brince Barrick

Prince Barrick- prince-regent of Southmarch, lost during the battle to push back the invading Qar (hold with me, here), currently in the Shadowlands (I think that's the name), has inherited the Fireflower, which is the collective memory of the kings and queens of the Qar, descended from the union between (to be edited) and (to be edited) the princess of the Qar; this results in his red hair and fits of insanity, twin of Princess Briony

Chaven-practitioner of (to be edited; mirror magic*), physician of the royal family, in exile in Funderling (like dwarves, except better) Town, underneath Southmarch Castle, friend of Chert Blue-Quartz

Chert Blue-Quartz- a Funderling working to protect Southmarch from the invading Qar, friend of Chaven and Ferras Vansen, caretaker of Flint (whom he and his wife found as a child)

Ferras Vansen- captain of the Southmarch army, former farmer, friend of Chert, currently in Funderling Town, working to protect Southmarch, formerly accompanied Barrick into the Shadowlands, but was lost in battle against Jikuyin, a demi-god when cast into a door to the underworld; ended up in Funderling Town after a journey through it, romantic interest for Briony

Flint- discovered as a child by Chert near the border with the Shadowlands, former holder of a mirror that was part of the castle (to be edited), later passed to Barrick in a failed attempt to save the Qar queen, Saqri, and halt the invasion (the queen was saved by the death of the king [her brother], the blind Ynnir, and aformentioned passing of the Fireflower to Barrick), strange connection to the gods

Autarch Sulepis am-Xis III- god-king of the empire of Xis, on the south continent, currently on his way to Southmarch to destroy it and sacrifice its king, Olin, in order to reawaken the gods (who are quite vengeful, unbeknownst to him), gob-smacking insane

Olin Eddon- king of Southmarch, inheritor of the curse of his blood (see Barrick); this gets stronger the nearer he is to Southmarch, currently prisoner of Sulepis

Scotarch Prusus- retarded man chosen by Sulepis to be his successor; if Prusus should die, Sulepis would be dethroned; reasoning - unknown

Qinnitan- former acolyte in Xis, chosen to be one of Sulepis's wives, later escaped, then recaptured, then escaped near Southmarch, unknown relation to the royal family of Southmarch (lock of bright-red hair, magical communication with Barrick)

Tinwright- former royal poet (made so out of pity by Briony), loves Elan M'Cory, however, she wishes to be killed, as she is an unwilling lover to Hendon Tolly; cruel ruler of Southmarch, currently trapped in Southmarch Castle, recently discovered by Hendon

Avin Brone- intelligence master of the royal family, now a figure-head

Kendrick Eddon- former prince of Southmarch, older brother to Briony and Barrick, murdered in first book by a woman-turned-demon

Yasammez (aka Lady Porcupine)- war-leader of the Qar at Southmarch

(to be edited)- relation of the royal family, involved with war, friend to the Rooftoppers (like gnomes, except more elven; about the size of your finger), currently a prisoner of Yasammez

(to be edited)- friend and nurse to (to be edited), involved with war through her, prisoner of Yasammez

Queen Upsteeplebat- queen of the Rooftoppers

Now you understand why I can't do a summary; Tad Williams's books are enormously complex, and I'm not sure where alot of this is going, myself.

Note: the Qar, northern kingdoms, and Xis all revere the same gods (in Xis's case, their opposing pantheon), but have hugely different views of them. The Qar, who fear the inevitable (and soon to be occuring) awakening of Perin, the sky god, Erivor, the god of water, and Kernios, the lord of the underworld, (revered as the Trigon in Southmarch) from a sleep placed on them by the god Crooked, one of few survivors of the opposing pantheon after gods' war, seem to be closest to the truth.

I'm sure I'll think of something else later (oh; Southmarch was formerly a Qar castle; they are really angry about a war that occured generations ago to men and began their inevitable descent to extinction; this war is an attempt to take Man with them; I think), but that's all I have for now.

I can't wait to read this book! Of the three series (two quadrologies and one trilogy) that I have read by Tad Williams, this one is likely my least favorite (behind Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Otherland [which are both heartily recommended]), but it's still great.

Boy, that's alot of editing to do.

*(to be edited) seems to have some very dark connotations in this world; Chaven began in a partnership with a god; he is now dependent on it. This god may or may not be the Lord of the Peak revered by the Rooftoppers; both are owls.

Something Occult This Way Comes

Ach, I've really been slacking on these posts (by my standards, anyway). Honestly, I haven't been reading enough of my book (again, by my standards); I'm only on page 50 after a week. Either this book just isn't lightin' me up, or I've been occupied by other things (namely, videogames); I'd say that the latter is the more likely.

As far as what I have read:

We open to 12 acolytes and a Head-Master. The Head-Master wears a Celtic torc of meteoric iron. With it, he summons a storm, which quickly rises, destroys a tower of the castle Balmoral with a crack of lightning, and disperses again. This is widely believed to have been a terrorist attack, despite numerous reports that it was lightning that destroyed the tower.

This attracts the attention of Sinclair, Peregrine, and McLeod, but the first two have to take care of something first. Along with Sinclair's friend, Christopher, who is a priest and a fellow Initiate, the three go to the house of Helena, who has been complaining of bad dreams; Christopher believes it to be magical in nature; not a haunting, but something similar.

When they get there, they discover that the cause is a negative echo of a past event. Sinclair hypnotizes Helena, and Peregrine sketches the event using her descriptions and his power. The resulting image is that of a ritual initiation or one of the Lodge of the Lynx around one year ago (this is occuring no more than a few months after the last book).

They preform a short cleansing ritual, then leave.

We rejoin the Head-Master in his chateau in the Cairngorms. There he speaks to his associate, the rich Mr. Raeburn, also part of the Lodge. He speaks of the disruption of his plans at Urquhart, and the death of Geddes. He destroys Geddes's ring (which Raeburn "recovered" from the police), and seems to imply that this act also kills Geddes himself. Other than this, he is not concerned over the loss at Urquhart; the spell-book was unnecessary, if a bit safer, and of unknown power. The torc used at the beginning of the book will work just as well.

Raeburn suggests keeping track of Sinclair, McLeod, and Peregrine, as they may have been the cause of the failure to take the spell-book, but the Master again shows little concern.

Hmm, I really ought to stop posting at night; I can tell that this post is poorly written, but there isn't really much that I can do about it right now. It feels redundant even as I write it.

On the topic of the book, I'm not really sure what to say. I'm really not even sure if I like it yet; I'm leaning towards yes, but again, I haven't read too much of it.

Post script: 12/13/10
I would like to clarify that the reason they wanted Scot's spell book is because it was safer than the torc. Being much older, and unused for a long period of time, the torc's magic was more unpredictable. This is waved aside by the Master because he had already tested the torc earlier; the lightning strike from the beginning of the book.

Sinclair the Wizard

As the group approaches the cave, McLeod pulls out his gun and Sinclair hands his blue gemmed ring (which apparently has protective magic [well that sounds clunky]) to Peregrine; Sinclair has his own protection.

They see a group of four robed and cowled men walking out of the cave; two men carrying a large chest, one man holding aloft the case holding the MacLeod Fairy Flag, which has a trail of wisps streaming off of it to the Hepburn sword, which is held up by the leader, who brings up the rear, with one hand on the hilt, one near the tip of the blade. Around them swarm fey green points of light; the faerie guardians of Scot's treasure. On the shore of Loch Ness sits a boat, with another man, this one holding a machine gun.

Sinclair confronts the group, stating that it is not to late for them to stop their actions and be subject to only mundane law; not to the laws of the Higher Planes.

Of course, they do not submit. The man in the boat begins firing on Sinclair, but he drops down, out of sight of the gunman. McLeod, with his pistol, engages in a firefight, which ends with the inspector being caught in a rockslide and knocked out. This same rockslide causes the man holding the flag to drop it, shattering the case. With the magic link between sword and flag gone, the faeries swarm. They tear and bite at the men, covering them with bloody gashes. As the man goes to pick up the flag, a puff of smoke goes up; the legend was true, only a MacLeod could touch the flag.

During this time, the leader of the group slashes at Sinclair with the Hepburn sword, and Sinclair pulls out his defense, a small dagger which he holds by the blade. Both weapons glowing with power, the sword is blocked by the hilt of the dagger. However, the cultist does not pull away, instead, he continues pushing, forcing Sinclair to one knee. Realizing that Sinclair is in danger, Peregrine runs into the fray, one hand grabbing the man's arm, the other, the blade of the sword (brilliant, that). He falls away, his hand badly slashed. The cultist moves to kill Peregrine, but Sinclair makes his move.

Using the dagger to draw out a sigil in the air, he draws wrenches the blade away from him, destroying the barrier that protected him from the faeries. Having been waiting for such an occassion, they quickly kill him.

Now turning on Sinclair and Lovat, the faeries again swarm. McLeod awakes to see his friends surrouded by them, and quickly finds the Fairy Flag. Picking it up (unharmed; he is a MacLeod), he drapes it over his shoulders and commands the faeries to stop; these two men are under the protection of the faerie-favored MacLeods.

The other two men quickly get on the boat with their chest. Unable to follow, the faeries and our characters can only watch. The faeries, however, seem quite happy.

Suddenly, the boat's power cuts out. Lightning strikes the water, and it boils. A triangular head on a long, snakelike body rises up. As the men frantically attempt to restart the boat, the monster of Loch Ness rises up and smashes it. One is killed instantly, and the other eaten before the head sinks back down.

The official police report is along the lines that the boat hit a log and sank, and that the rest could be put down to terrorist activities.

With the flag and sword returned to their rightful places, Sinclair takes a look at Peregrine's hand. The ring has a large gash in it; if it had not been there, two of the fingers would be gone. As it is, it's a bad cut that will take time to heal, but nothing too serious (police report was that he cut it on the glass of the Fairy Flag's case).

As everyone begins to leave, Inspector McLeod shows Sinclair a piece of evidence that he might be interested in. It was the leader's finger, on it, a red signet ring. Engraved on the ring is the image of a big cat with tufted ears; the symbol of the Lodge of the Lynx.

The next book in The Adept series is The Adept: Book Two: The Lodge of the Lynx.

What I know of the Lodge of the Lynx so far is that, as Sinclair and McLeod are members of an organization that uses the magic of the Light, so the Lodge uses dark magic. I'm really not entirely sure whether the Light qualifies as a deity, so I couldn't venture to guess if the Lodge has a similar patron.

It was interesting to me how much this book drew on existing traditions. At least some of the locations are real (likely all) and the MacLeod Fairy Flag does exist. The Hepburn sword I can't really speak for, but there have been several Hepburns who were the Earl of Bothwell. This certainly isn't something I'm used to; generally, I read books that are set in their own universe. This one, although it's set a bit into the past by now, presents it as if this sort of thing were really going on around us. That's not to say that that makes it in any way worse; it was a good book.

I do think that I prefer the more standard fantasy (sci-fi is just fantasy with bolts on, after all) stories, though. I can't really say why; they just strike me as more interesting. Then again, it could just be because I have read a whole lot more of those stories, and have been able to pick out favorites.

I would have liked to get more explanation of the magic that is used in the book. I know that this is the first book, but nothing was really explained. You were just expected to take it as it comes.

The Adept's Apprentice

Three hundred pages into The Adept, only twenty pages shy of the end, I'm thinking that it's time for a post.

Our two main characters are Sir Adam Sinclair, a seasoned Initiate, and Peregrine Lovat, a young artist who has only recently discovered his powers (for lack of better word).

They, and many others, are Initiates, and have, over the course of their many incarnations, been introduced to magic in some way. So far, we have seen that Sinclair was once an egyptian pharaoh (a life he apparently remembers well) and a Knight Templar (who was burned at the stake). Peregrine originally received his powers at Delphi during the time of Pericles. In this incarnation, his powers are usually used to create detailed sketches (his being an artist, after all) of past events.

The book opens as a thief breaks into a museum and, ignoring everything else of value, steals the Hepburn Sword, which once belonged to Sir Francis Hepburn; the Wizard Earl. Exiting the museum, he hands the sword to his employer who, after handing him a large sum of money, shoots him three times.

Sinclair, as Master of the Hunt, is charged by the Divine Light to stop an evil of unknown (to the characters) origin. Peregrine, as his student, will also help.

The next crime the cult commits is the desecration of the grave and body of Michael Scot, an adept of the medieval ages. Using the sword, which has been charged with energy after being around a powerful necromancer for many years, several members draw his soul to him and force it back into the body.

Sinclair and Peregrine arrive the next day, along with another Initiate, Inspector McLeod. Upon examining the body, they discover the the soul has not been allowed to exit, causing it immense pain (due to being in a centuries-old body) and putting its current incarnation, a young girl named Gillian Talbot, at risk of death. Without much time to spare, Michael Scot looks into Peregrine's eyes, setting him sketching (it sounds... less cheesey in the book). After he has sketched out several pictures of a castle and a cave beneath it (a rune is engraved near the cave; it is protected by the faeries), the location of the treasure the cult is after, Sinclair releases the spirit (though the girl has now been in a coma for over 12 hours, and the soul's personalities [various incarntaions] are largely destroyed; it will take many days of work by Sinclair to return him/her/it to a normal state).

The three now know what their enemies are after; the spell-book and faerie gold of Michael Scot.

Peregrine is able to narrow the possible locations down to four: Foulis, Strome, Eilean Donan, and Urquhart.

A third theft occurs; this time by two theives, a man in a black ski mask and a young woman. The faerie flag of the MacLeods, alleged to have the power to summon terrible faeries to turn the tide of a battle if it is unfurled by a Chief of the clan, is stolen from Dunvegan Castle. The girl drives it to shore (the castle being on an island) and hands it off to a man in a boat. Again, she is promptly shot three times.

Sinclair, Peregrine, and McLeod (who has been called in by his clan's chief) go to the castle. There, Sinclair confronts a banshee, the faerie spirit of the flag. Nearly killed in the process due to the faeries' hate of most humans, he is able to convince it to show the location of the spell-book and gold: Urquhart.

Meanwhile, a storm whips up. Horrible winds, strong enough to tear roofs off and unpredicted by the weathermen, begin. Only just able to take a ferry to the mainland, and even then forced to jump the car a yard from boat to dock, they make their way to the castle. Despite the darkness, Sinclair is able to guide them by praying to the Divine Light for better sight; they must get to the castle as swiftly as possible, for the cult will attempt to take the treasure, using the faerie-magic charged flag as a shield (still in its case; another legend is that any one not of the MacLeod clan who touches the flag will be destroyed), at moonrise. Being Hallowe'en night, both sides' magic will be at its strongest.

They get out of the car a mile away from the castle when they are forced to swerve off of the road to avoid what Sinclair describes as a deer (though he only saw antlers, and believes it to be... something else [assumably a faerie]).

I was tempted to skip this post, really. The above summary isn't a very good one; I've omitted entire supporting characters and most of Peregrine's actions. I just can't fit them in there in a resonable amount of space. However, this is only the first in a quadrology, plus, I don't know how far I'll get into the next one before Monday.

The place-names are entirely a mystery to me (even Urquhart castle actually exists; it's where the majority of Nessie sightings occur); it's set in the Scotland. Two changes in the language are most noticable to me (other than the Scottish accents). Flashlights are called "torches" and tractor trailers are called "articulated lorries." I've heard of these changes before, but the articulated lorry bit still seems a bit funny to me (though I'm not really sure why).

It is a good book, and I do plan on reading at least one more of the series; I may not finish it, however. Sometime this month, the Cambria County library will hopefully get Tad Williams's new book, which will take me a good while to read (most of his books being over 800 pages).

That presents a problem in itself; it will finish up a [rather lengthy] quadrology. Plus, Tad Williams doesn't write series in the same way Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris (authors of The Adept) do. His form a single story, with no real conclusion at the end of the book. This may not matter if the library doesn't get the book in before the end of the semester, but it is likely best to have some sort of game plan; I've added a poll on the side of the blog (or I will, at least).

This may be a bit premature, but, quite frankly, I'm bored.

Ooh, was a bit scared that this entire post had been deleted when I got a posting error; good thing they save as drafts automatically.

It's Like Riding a Velocipede!

Over the weekend, I read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett (yay!) and Neil Gaiman. It was a really fun comedy about an angel (Aziraphale; who guarded the gates of Eden) and a demon (Crowley; the snake who tempted Eve) who have been notified that the end times are coming. Having been on Earth for 6,000 years (the age of the planet), they have become quite fond of it, and actually work against their masters' wishes in an attempt to preserve it (is it really against the plan, though? It is ineffable).

Unbeknownst to them, the child that they thought was the antichrist (named Warlock; they have both been influencing him) was switched at birth due to a misinterpretation on the part of the Satanist nurse. The true antichrist, Adam Young (other suggested names included Wormwood and Damien), has been raised as a normal English boy.

Meanwhile, the four horsemen, War, Famine, Pollution (Pestilence quit after the discovery of Penicillin), and War, ready themselves to ride.

Unsurprisingly, this was a great book, with some laugh out loud moments (it was written by Terry Pratchett, after all).

I also learned a few things (which I suppose I should do with any book, but I noted this time specially). For example, the definition of "velocipede," who Azrael is, and the fact that, in England, many highways are named M# (or was it "H?"). I also found out about this Saturday's poem in the book (I like it; the only problem is that it is easy to fall into the meter of the "London Bridge is Falling Down" song at times).

This message has been brought to you by Rex Cosgrove at 1am (so don't be too critical).

My next book is The Adept, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. All I know about it right now is that an adept is skilled magic user in fantasy stories, the Adept of the books has been reincarnated several times, and that it takes place in England.

Imagine that there's an "a" before "skilled."

Trevize's Travels

I've read alot of this book since I last posted, so this is going to be a bit of a pain.

After the group leaves Aurora, they go to the next set of co-ordinates; Solaria. Having been seemingly deserted for millenia, we find that there are still humans--of a sort--on the planet. Having lived underground for these millenia, they find that the Solarians, the last of the Spacers, have genetically engineered themselves to a great extent over the generations.

Shortly after Bander meets them and takes them into his--its, rather--mansion, the group is basically insulted several times as Bander calls them half-humans. The Solarians are now hermaphroditic; they have both male and female "features." Trevize indicates that this causes a stall in evolution, but I don't know how that works (nor do I have any desire to). They also have an extra brain-lobe, called a transducer. This lobe can harness the energy caused by the flow of heat from the core to the crust and the light to the shade; this allows them to transport objects through their air and power their estates.

Bander eventually tries to kill them, as all Solarians would have, but Bliss is able to stop him; she is extremely upset by the fact that she accidentally killed him, however. In trying to escape (they are by now quite far from the entrance) they come across a child named Fallom (they refer to it as a she). She would have been the successor to the estate, but she is currently to young, and would instead be killed; they take her with them.

The third set to coordinates takes them to Melpomenia, where (after dealing with some potentially deadly moss) they find a set of fifty coordintates; all fifty of the Spacer worlds.

Inserting these into the computer, the group finds that it forms a rough sphere, as would be expected. When the center of this sphere is calculated (the center being the likely origin of settlers) a planet with the name of Alpha is found.

This planet is found to be orbited a binary star; Alpha Centauri. On it, there is one small continent. It seems to be a paradise, but they are eventually told by a woman who loved Trevize that they had been infected with a virus to which the "natives" were immune; if they did not leave immediately, it would be activated, and they killed.

They then go to the nearest star to that one, which does not exist on the Galactic map, as all the Spacer worlds. Trevize has been uneasy with Fallom the entire time, go so far as to call her a monster. Approaching the next star, they see one of the tell-tale signs of Earth's solar system; Saturn. Pelorat had heard that the sixth planet from Earth's sun boasted rings that dwarfed the planet itself- something unheard of in other locations. After staring at it in awe, they continue toward the rocky planets.

They come toward Earth and see its moon; the second tell-tale sign. However, the final sign, which they had hoped to by a myth, is also there: the radioactive crust. Disappointed, they prepare to head back to Alpha wtih the hope that, as the nearest planet to Earth, the secret would have been moved there.

Just then, Fallom takes over. Attempting to control the ship, she tells it to go to Solaria (which she sorely misses). With here extremely limited understanding of the Galaxy, however, she believes that the nearest large body (the Moon) is Solaria. This contradictory command preventing the computer from responding, the others pull her away from the interface.

But the event has brought the Moon to Trevize's attention; perhaps the secret was relocated to the Moon, rather than Alpha; there is no atmosphere, but many planets build down rather than up.

Approaching the body, Bliss detects a sentience; apparently neither a robot (they encountered robots on Solaria) or a human. Entering an airlock, they are greeted by a red-haired man. Fallom takes a liking to him, as he reminds her of her robot caretaker on Solaria.

This man introduces himself as Daneel Olivaw, and sends Bliss and Fallom out of the room; they are not Foundationers. Telling the two men that he is twenty thousand years old, he describes to them his ultimate goal. Older than any other being in the Galaxy, he has worked all that time to bring about Galaxia; it was only when he decided that it may fail that he helped Hari Seldon develope psychohistory, to bring about the second best option: the Second Galactic Empire. The reason for this is the Zeroth Law; the only way to truly work by it is to make mankind a single organism.

He has renewed hope for Galaxia, however, with the success of Gaia. Only one more major problem stands in the way. Daneel is dying. With his lifespan of twenty thousand years, every part of his body has been replaced several times. With each replacement, his positronic brain (to which all of his memories are uploaded) becomes more advanced. It grows in capacity, but becomes more volatile. His first lasted ten thousand years, but his latest only six hundred. The only way to make sure that Daneel survives to see Galaxia through is for him to...let's say "fuse his essence" with Fallom.

Being a Spacer, she will live for several hundred years, enough for Daneel to see his plan through. Despite Bliss's love for her, it is the only option.

Before the book ends, we get to hear Trevize's revelations. He now strongly supports Galaxia; he has seen the flaw in psychohistory; it only allows for one sentient race. Despite the fact that only one exists in our galaxy, countless other galaxies exist. If, at any time, a race in another galaxy unites it and turns outside of its own galaxy to find this one filled with petty squabbles, our galaxy--and our race--would fall. The only way to definitively prevent this is to create Galaxia--to create a truly united galaxy.

So the Foundation series ends.

Asimov wrote two other Foundation books, Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, but I have no intention of reading them any time soon. As I've stated before, prequels tend to annoy me; the chance for surprises, such as the revelation of the Second Foundation's location, is greatly diminished. Contrary to what Shakespeare may have thought, those surprises are part of what makes a story great for me.

The Foundation series was a great story. It occasionally got a little slow for me, but it was interesting throughout. Gaia was a developement that I could never have foreseen, and it served as a great backround for the final book.

I can't really say that Asimov has become one of my favorite writers (those being Terry Pratchett and Tad Williams, who are both alive and writing *cheer*) but I suppose that he's up there. His books are great, but not quite as entertaining or awe-inspiring (respectively) as my two favorites.

As to the book at hand, I wish that we had gotten more face time with Pelorat. In fact, I don't feel like I know any of the characters as well as I would like after having spent several hours of my life with them (so to speak). Pelorat's case especially irked me, though. He hardly did anything in this book except come up with the occasional piece of information. The time specnt between planets was almost entirely spent in arguments between Bliss and Trevize.

Oddly, however, I feel like Pelorat had the most detail in his personality. He was a really simpathetic (I hesitate to use the word; it makes it sound like something horrible happens to him) character to me.

What do you know? That wasn't so bad after all.

The Planet of Farewell

Foundation and Earth opens with Trevize still on Gaia. He has become irritable after his choice for Gaia over the Fouindations in the last book, and becomes increasingly angry toward anything/anyone that is Gaia. He questions both why he made the decision and why it was he who had to make it. Eventually, he decides to head out for Earth, his original destination, feeling that it holds the answers.

Pelorat decides to go with because Trevize is his friend, and Bliss comes because Gaia feels that it is necessary.

Their first stop is Comporellon (according to legend its founder was Benbally and its original name was Benbally World; Ben Baley, son of Elijah Baley, and Baleyworld, anyone?), home world of Compor, who asserted in the previous book that Earth was uninhabitably radioactive, and in that sector of space. They are nearly stopped at the entrance point because of Bliss's lack of papers (being from an unknown planet), but are let through because of their advanced gravitic ship (it's powered by gravity; this is a technology only Terminus currently has).

On the surface of the cold planet, they are stopped by armed men and taken to the Mintrans (Minister of Transportation). The Mayor of the First Foundation has sent out a message to all planets "asking" for the return of Trevize's ship; Gaia wiped Trevize from Branna's mind, but not the ship. However, the Mintrans has no intention of giving the ship to the Foundation. The reverse engineering of such a ship would advance Comporellon in that field significantly.

Trevize manages to convince her to let him go, largely because of the Comporellian fear of Earth (called only "The Oldest"). He next goes to a professor on ancient history, from whom he receives three sets of coordinates (which the prof. found in the near-unintelligible logs of the ancient ship of D.G. Baley and Gladia).

The three are currently on their way to the first of those three coordinates, the planet Aurora.

So far, the only real problem that I have with this book is that some of the references to previous books seem shoe-horned in; that professor finding the ship of D.G. and Gladia annoyed me a little.

Perhaps the most interesting developement in the story is Trevize's pondering on a third law that is necessary for psychohistory (in addition to the requirements of a large mass of people and that those people do not know the predictions). It would have to be something obvious; something that is taken for granted; I suspect that this requirement will involve the existence of R. Daneel Olivaw.

Something important that I forgot to mention in the last post was that part of the reason Trevize chose Galaxia was because it was the only of the three that would take place over a long enough time period that it would not necessarily occur; he despises the idea of a hive-mind.

Update:
Having landed on Aurora (whose ecological balance is failing) Pelorat and Bliss head out to search the ruins that they landed near. Trevize stays behind, blaster and neuronic whip (which stimulated all nerve endings, resulting in extreme pain) at the ready; he feels general unease at the thought of a planet that was deserted. Not just uninhabited (such planets are common), but deserted.

After thinking about such mythical beasts as lions, tigers, whales, unicorns, and orcs, he notices a large dog. Initially thinking that, as all dogs are bred to love humans, this one would be friendly, he moves slowly toward it, trying to get it to be his friend; he is quickly greeted by a snarl. As twenty other dogs begin to surround him, he climbs a tree, and fires at one with his blaster. The dog, quite literally, explodes, and the other dogs eat its remains.

The shot brought back Pelorat and Bliss, whose mental powers hold the dogs off long enough for Trevize to scare them away with the "whip." They hurry back to the ship shortly after Trevize considers that house cats and dogs would be the largest predators that the Spacers would have taken to their planets; would they evolve to fill more niches? Could there be such a thing as semi-aquatic dogs and flying cats (in the fashion of flying squirrels)?

By the way, the Spacer world are called the Forbidden worlds by the people of Comporellon; despite being habitable, they have not been resettled, and appear on no maps.

Confrontation in the Sky

Enter:
A Mexican standoff between the First Foundation, Second Foundation, and Gaia.

The First Foundation ship is protected by several things: a) their mentalic shield b) their copious weaponry c) the fact that the death of Branna would perhaps deal a fatal blow to the Plan (even though she knows that the Second Foundation is located on Trantor).

The Second Foundation ship also has protection: a) the mentalic shield has not been perfected; the First Foundationers are prevented from firing b) the possibility of bringing the combined force of all Second Foundation mentalics to bear against Gaia c) the mentalic skill of Stor Gendible.

Gaia (which is a near hive-mind; all things [including the planet itself] are connected, but still have their own sentience) has the protection of only it's hold on Gendible and the First Foundation crew (Sura Novi; not as harmless as she seems). This, however, puts both ships out of commission.

Enters the ship carrying Trevize, Pelorat, and Bliss (a Gaian).

Trevize is told that only he, with his power to be sure of things once in a while due to his untrained mentalic capacity, can choose who wins: the First Foundation, creating a violently established, violently maintained, and violently ended Empire, the Second Foundation, making a calculating Empire that would remain forever in a state of virtual death, or Gaia, which would, over time, establish Galaxia, a galaxy-wide hive-mind. (more-or-less).

Listening to pleadings from both sides, he is reminded of his remark that the galaxy seems alive. He chooses...

Branna returns to the Foundation with no memory of the events; she now believes that she won a minor victory in securing Sayshell peacefully as part of the Foundation Federation, and that Trevize was a crackpot in believing the Second Foundation still existed.

Gendible leaves feeling relieved at having neutralized the threat of First Foundation mentalic shielding; he will return to Trantor to become the First Speaker with his love, Sura Novi, at his side.

Pelorat and Trevize return to Gaia, and Pelorat decides to stay there; he has found bliss in loving Bliss (he's a fifty year old man with a wife and child and Bliss appears to be a young woman of no more than twenty).

Trevize confronts Bliss on Gaia; he tells her to take care of Pelorat and that he knows her secret- she's a robot. As had been mentioned several times, Gaia was founded millenia ago by robots that had advanced so far that they were nearly indistinguishable from humans, except that they were mentalic. Gaia's hive-mind is the pinnacle of a mentalic society, in fact. Bliss strongly implies that this is true, although she/it/Gaia would not speak in concretes.

Trevize then goes to the leader of Gaia (de facto leader, at least) whom he questions on the topic of the Galactic Library at Trantor; when he Chose, he received brief insight into Gendible's mind via the ship's computer; he learned that there were no files on Earth inside the library. Why was this? Don denied that he/it/Gaia had anything to do with it, but that they/Gaia would supply him to help discover why; clearly, it was important. So does this lead to Foundation and Earth.

Yes, I am aware that a skipped over a brief period of time, but it makes for better dramatic effect, no?

This was a really great ending. It really kept you on your toes (or perhaps the edge of you seat) from the time that you discover that Gaia is a hive-mind; it was really tense there for a while. I'm certainly glad that there was no Shakespearean sonnet to come before this one!

I was sort of (or rather, rather) disappointed in the fact that R. Daneel didn't show up. I assume that he is behind the disappearance of Earth from the library, but I would have liked for him to have had a larger presence in this book; he was an interesting character.

Foundation and Earth is the last Asimov novel that I intend on reading for a while; chronologically, that's where his novels end, and prequels tend to annoy me.

To Green Planet Earth

Moving several millennia into the future from Robots and Empire, we arrive back in Foundation times. Foundation's Edge takes place 498 years since the establishment of the First and Second Foundations, and the Seldon Plan is right on track.

The First Foundation is well on its way to becoming the next Galactic Empire, as it is already the most powerful force in it; those planets that are free are so because the First Foundation (known only as the Foiundation, to most) allows it. The Second Foundation, on the other hand, has been working hard to make sure that the Second Galactic Empire is formed, and their decendents can become its rulers. With the First Foundation thinking that destroyed after the events of Second Foundation, the psychohistorians there are free to work, and have kept the Plan on track quite well.

it's too well on track, in fact. Several people in both Foundations have become suspicious. Just a century and a half after the near-catastrophe that was the Mule, there should be some discrepancies between Seldon's Plan and reality.

The First Foundation's current Mayor, called Branna the Bronze, and Golan Trevize are two of those people. Shortly after a Seldon Crisis has been resolved by Branna (by keeping the capital on Terminus) their worst fears have been confirmed; when Seldon's image appears to congratulate them, it matches Branna's reasoning nearly word-for-word. It's impossible to think that Seldon could predict so far, so well, into the future; the Second Foundation is still controlling them.

The more vocal of the two, Trevize, is bringing attention to the fact. Inorder to prevent more Second Foundation tampering, Branna exiles him until he can discover the location of the Second Foundation. Going along with him is a historian named Pelorat, who has spent much of his life in a search for the mythical origin planet, Earth. Treveize decides to go along with the search for Earth, thinking that, as Seldon said that the Second Foiundation was at the oppostie end of the Galaxy from the First, it must be on Earth; Terminus was, in Seldon's time, the newest planet to be settled, and Earth would be the oldest. They travel to the planet Sayshell in search of information on the planet Gaia.

On Trantor, the true home of the Second Foundation, Seaker Stor Gendibal has become convinced of something similar. The fact that there have been so few variations from the Plan in the times since the Mule, prompts him to run some figures through complicated pychohistoric calculations, and he arrived at three possibilities; either there are more variations in the Plan than there truly are (obviously false), Gendibal's calculations are off (which no one believes), or there is and even higher power working toward the fufillment of the Plan than the Second Foundation.

Calling them Anti-Mules (the Mule nearly broke the Plan, this group is keeping it on track), he presents his theory to the other eleven Speackers. After successfully avoiding conviction in the trial following his impeachment (for the un-Speakerlike conduct of making such an improbable possibility known while operating largely on intuition), he manages to convince them of this fact. however, this results in his exile, though the current First Speaker has named him as his successor if he returns successfully (Gendible would be the younges-ever First Speaker at the age of 32).

On the way,, a Hamish (the farmers of Trantor call the planet Hame, or Home) woman saves him from being beaten by a Hamish man (this is very out-of-character; the Hamish are terrified of the scholars ["scowlers" in their dialect]). Realizing that the two had been altered by whatever force is guiding the Plan, he brings the simplre Sura Novi with him, as any tampering with her mind will be immediately apparent to him (plus, he's falling in love with her).

Gendible sees Trevize for the man that he is; he would have been an incredible Second Foundationer if it weren't for the rule against recuriting Terminus natives, and he still possesses great abilities for deducing an answer with little info) and sends Trevize's former friend (who turned him over to the Mayor) Compor (a Second Foundation agent) to keep him on Sayshell until Gendible could arrive.

This is accomplished by telling him that the real Earth is in a different place (it is the true Earth; its history in the Empire Trilogy was mentioned and it is highly radioactive). Trevize suspects Compor of being Second Foundation, and plays right into their hands by doing the opposite of what Compor advised (going to the real Earth).

That brings us right up to date.

I think that his has been the best of Asimov's books so far; I've been unhappy that my sutdy time has been cutting into my reading time. It's really had be disliking the fact that I have to put it down.

Plus, I finally figured out how big a parsec is! In Asimov's universe, at least, a single parsec is equivalent to 3.26 light years; I thought that that was quite neat.

P.S.
Since originally composing this post, I have read some more of the book.

Trevize and Pelorat are in Gaian space now, approaching carefully because of stories of the destruction of a large Empire fleet when it moved against the planet and also the fact that even the Mule skirted around it. Trevize suspects that they are being manuevered into going to Gaia. When I left them, they were being tractor beamed into a space station.

Having sent such info to Branna, Compor now awaits Gendible's arrival.

In her turn, Branna has sent four large Foundation ships (which could easily wipe out Sayshell) to the edge of Sayshellian space; Sayshell has remained neutral for centuries, even though it has been completely surrounded by the Foundation and the Mule's empire. The Mule spared no other planet mercy. The planet Gaia is on no map, and even Pelorat does not know how he found out about it.

These ships naturally worry Sayshell, and it is doubtful that the Foundation could survive an uprising amongst its members if violent action is initiated and sparks a dislike of a now expansionist Foundation.

The fate of the Second Foundation is also beginning to come into doubt; the First Foundation is light years (or parsecs, rather) ahead of them in all sciences beside psychohistory. True, the Second Foundation can alter minds, but how long will that hold off the First Foundation when the Second's military might is dwarfed by any planet in the Galaxy?

I dislike not being able to keep a backup of these posts on my computer.

Veterans' Day

I was intending to post a poem today to honor the veterans, but I honestly couldn't even think of what sort of poem would be most appropriate, let alone which poem. My solution, then, is to provide a link to a list of general war poems.

http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/SubjIdx/war.html

They all have different view points on war, so take each one as you will.

As far as those who didn't make it back from the war, I can do little for. I came across a phrase which I suppose fits the occasion well, however, so:

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

Also, my condolances to those family and friends who surive the fallen.

I would like to point out the reason the Veterans' Day is today (well, yesterday now); it was on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 (Nov. 11th at 11am) that the cease fire with Germany came into effect (which by then had gone through the German Revolution, resulting in the creation of the Weimar Republic; the kaiser of Germany and Prussia, Wilhelm II, was also about to be exiled).

Alas, Earth

On Earth, Gladia has remained a very public figure, and is pressed into another speech. Midway through, a laser shot is fired. Daneel dives to protect he who he considers to be most important: Giskard. He can now follow the Zeroth Law quite well. A clean hole is left just behind the point in space where Giskard’s head would have been.

The attacker, having been beaten by the crowd around him, is found to be a humanoid robot (sent by Mandamus). However, the act of aiming a deadly weapon so near a group of humans has greatly affected its positronic brain and it is under very strong orders not to reveal anything in relation to its master. After a short period of questioning, the only thing that the robot says about the location of the base in “-- mile --.” After this, its brain effectively shuts down; the information held within is irretrievable.

After some speculation on what the word “mile” means (everything, including Galactic Standard Time, is by now metric), Daneel and Giskard go to an official nuclear specialist (I no longer have the book, so I can’t give you the specific office) who they ask for advice about what three syllable word or phrase would have “mile” in the middle.

With some tampering by Giskard encouraging her to help them, she speculates on it before coming to a conclusion. There was one location that the base could be; one of the most isolated places on the planet, where it is taboo for any robot to go, let alone any human. It was the site of the nuclear near-catastrophe that forever turned Earthmen away from nuclear power (although the fusion of light particles is now a common energy source on other planets). Three Mile Island.

There, Amadiro and Mandamus squabble over the time frame of their plan. Mandamus has no interest in killing, only in weakening the Settlers, while Amadiro, with his hate of Elijah Baley, wants to see the plan come to fruition well within his lifetime, with the added bonus of killing great numbers of Earthpeople. Mandamus wants to set their machine so that the radiation produced by the nuclear intensifier’s action on the natural deposits of radioactive elements on Earth would cause the radiation to reach its peak in 150 years before steadying; this would give Earth more than enough time to evacuate and cause the Settlers to believe that it was an unexplained, but natural, phenomenon. Dr. Amadiro wants the destruction of Earth to occur over 4 times faster (a change from the setting 2.72 to 12) so that he is still alive to take the credit for the destruction of Earth.

Eventually, Dr. Amadiro pulls a blaster on Mandamus, threatening him with death while bribing him with a high governmental position.

Here, Daneel and Giskard enter, and rip the blaster out of Amadiro’s hands. The two doctors attempt to order the robots to leave, claiming that there is no danger, so the Second Law takes precedence; this, of course, fails against the Zeroth Law. Giskard is eventually forced to put Amadiro into a coma after manipulating him into a rage during which he admits their plans.

Mandamus then launches into a speech about how the destruction of Earth would ultimately benefit mankind. He speculates that, with the Holy World of the Settlers gone, they would be forced to spread ever farther into the galaxy. Giskard hears this and speculates on whether this is true. He knows that Mandamus does not believe his words, but he also knows that it would remove the one thing that he and Daneel had speculated was a crutch equivalent to the robots and long lives of the Spacers.

Thus, when Mandamus lunges for the controls after shouting a command to the robots to “Freeze!,” Daneel is powerless to stop him. After being ashamed of himself for having allowed the Second Law to take precedence over the Zeroth, Giskard reveals that he had prevented Daneel from stopping Mandamus. He believes that the destruction of Earth would ultimately be better for humanity, but the fair chance that it would not be is killing Giskard.

In his final moments, Giskard speaks the final set of commands that would convert Daneel into a telepath (though the two could only sense and manipulate emotions).

He was now the protector of the Galaxy, and is now all alone.

This was probably my favorite book out of the Foundation series so far.
I’m honestly not sure what else to say, but I will compare the Robot series to “Mid-Winter Resolution,” by S. L. P. Van der Veer, which we read in English a few days ago. The theme is actually quite similar. In the poem, a man speculates that if everyone remains in doors during the winter, (living relatively easy- taking no risks) everyone will remain lethargic evening the spring, when they need to get more things done. In the Robot novels, the Spacers have become to comfortable with their robot servants and perfect worlds; to comfortable to compete with the more energetic and vigorous Earthmen for control of the future. The authors seem to have set out to send the same message; one that is relevant even now.

Mountain of Super Heavy Elements

In Robots and Empire, Earth is in great peril. Dr. Amadiro, who has opposed the expansion of Earthpeople for two centuries and is of the opinion that the withering and dying of the entire human race would be better than seeing the short-lived, dirty barbarians populate the Galaxy, has found a partner in Dr. Levular Mandamus.

Mandamus has discovered (mind, I have no idea if this applies in the real world) why Earth is the only world that has been found in the galaxy to have organisms more complex than ferns and insects; the moon. No other inhabitable planet has such a large moon, in fact (again, this may or may not reflect real life) Earth is one of the few rocky planets with a comparably large moon. The tides created by the Moon have caused something that has proven vital to the evolution of intelligent life; plate tectonics. With the friction produced by the action of the tides on the ocean floor, kinetic energy is converted into heat energy, resulting the the slowing of Earth's rotation and continued plate tectonics. This means that the Earth has a much thinner crust than any other known inhabitable planet. More importantly, however, it means that uranium and thorium has accumulated in quantities 1,000 times more than on any other life-sustaining planet. These elements are distributed unevenly, meaning that, in certain places, there is enough natural radiation to force more rapid mutation; in other words, evolution (still operating off of sci-fi logic, here).

The pair plans to use this radiation, with the help of the newly invented nuclear intensifiers (which use W particles to hasten nuclear decay) to destroy the Earth. This woiuld, they hope, demoralize the Settler planets (which treat Earth as a holy place) and eliminate their competition for control of the Galaxy.

They have also discovered R. Giskard's incredible ability, and realize that he has been using it to maintain the late Dr. Fastolfe's control on Aurora's government. They worry about the fact that he is heading to Earth, where they have used humanoid robots similar to Daneel to infiltrate the populace, and head there themselves.

Shortly before this, Gladia and D.G. Baley went to Solaria. There, they discovered that, sometime before the Solarians seemingly disapeared, the robots were programed with a very specific definition of "human" as pertaining to the Three Laws; anyone who does not speak with a Solarian accent is marked for death. They escape, seemingly due to a malfunction in the humanoid robot that was then trying to kill them, but truly due to the intervention of Giskard (who also "killed" Jander).

They go to Baleyworld, where Gladia becomes a hero after a speech about how Spacers and Earthpeople are truly the same, how a long life does not equal a happy or eventful one, and how, when the Settlers become dominant, they should learn from the mistaken policies of the oppressive Spacers, and show tolerance.

Gladia then decides to go to Earth, taking Daneel and Giskard with her, so that she can attempt to stop the potential war before it starts.

Meanwhile, Daneel has created the Zeroth law, which reads:

0. A robot my not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

The first law then reads:

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate the Zeroth Law of Robotics.

This revelation has been brought about by two centuries of mulling over the dying words of Elijah Baley, those being to the effect that "What the ending of a single thread to the continuance of the larger tapestry?" However, Daneel and Giskard are the only two robots with any inkling of this new Zeroth Law, and even they may not truly follow it yet. Giskard doesn't even believe in its validity, pointing to all the atrocities commited in history that were supposedly for the betterment of humanity as proof. The two decide that "humanity" must be defined.

The two are also the only beings in the Galaxy that have an idea of Amadiro's plans.

This book is really getting good! I'm sort of glad to see that Gladia isn't actually the main protagonist (or at least not the only one), despite the fact that the book opened with her. Daneel and Giskard are really the most sympathetic characters. What makes it all the more interesting is that, when you think about it, they don't even experience emotions as we know them. They describe things such as pleasure in word to the effect that their positronic pathways become clearer, allowing clearer, faster thinking and actions in a feeling roughly analagous to the human concept of pleasure.

Also of note is the fact that this is perhaps the first book where so much time is spent on the antagonists' points of view. I've read books that had short sections that explored their actions from their point of view, but this book spends more time on them than on the protagonists, it seems to me. It may be closer to equal than it appears, but, given with the protagonists' numerical superiority, that's still quite unusual; I think that I'd like to see more books like that.

This is an example of ironic fate, as the outcome of the conflict is shown in the Empire Trilogy, which is set well into the future of this universe.

Oh, and why doesn't the rock cycle allow for the creation of rock? All of the rock in the rock cycle must have started off somewhere (namely, in space). That original rock wouldn't fit into it.

A Tale of Many Cultures

Having finished The Robots of Dawn several days ago, I’d say it’s about time to do a post.

I didn’t really like it as much as the previous two books of the Robot Trilogy for two reasons: 1. I simply didn’t like the plot as much and 2. the exploration of Aurora’s little oddity, just as Earth’s Cities and Solaria’s agoraphobia before it.

Before I get into that, however, you need some background. Elijah has been called to Aurora (Roman goddess of the dawn) and, specifically, the city of Eos (Greek goddess of the dawn). They are named for the two goddesses because Aurora (at first, New Earth) was the first planet (other than Earth, of course) to be settled, and represented the dawning of a new era. Eos is the most populous city on all of the 50 Spacer planets, and even there, large tracts of open land are between each building.

Elijah must clear Dr. Fastolfe’s (the head of the Auroran government, the staunchest supporter of allowing Earth the right to expand into the galaxy, and the creator of the only two robots that look so much like humans [Asimov has a name for these robots, but I don’t remember it]). He has been accused of “killing” the robot Jander, the second such robot to be made (the first being Daneel). If this were to be proven, his political life would crumble, and Earth’s last hope would fade.

He faces opposition in Dr. Amadiro, who resents Fastolfe for withholding the secret of human-like robots from the scientific community.

Along the way, we meet R. Giskard, a more primitive robot that nonetheless proves to be extremely important. He is the only telepathic robot in existence (although this is not unprecedented, as shown in I, Robot). Elijah realizes this at the end of the book, and Giskard allows him to remember it, although he removes any drive to tell someone else.

Daneel plays a relatively small part, although he is elevated in status to Elijah’s genuine friend.

That first part sounded oddly like an advertisement…

If you wish to know the rest of the story, you’ll have to read it! Call 1-817-888-8888 today. And now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Hmm, odd.

Now, back to why I didn’t like the book so much. The main reason being, #2 the exploration of Aurora’s oddity, which is polygamy. This made for some rather uncomfortable conversations, and even one less-than-appropriate scene. Ironically, his wife is named Jezebel, while his lover is Gladia. She is also the protagonist (along with Daneel and Giskard) of the next story, though she is largely unsympathetic to my for the above reason.

This seems to run contrary to what I had come to expect from Asimov. He has also written several books on the topic of the Bible, and even used the biblical story of the adulterer that Christ saved from stoning, in Caves of Steel, which seemed to teach Daneel a lesson in humanity, having told the criminal of the story (read the book to see who it is) to “go, and sin no more.” However, it occurs to me that this blog really ought to be kept secular.

In the next story, Robots and Empire (which begins to connect three of his trilogies, Foundation, Robots, and Empire [which I read around 1 ½ years ago, and feel no need to read again]), which is set roughly two centuries farther into the future, Gladia goes to Solaria once again. Daneel Giskard Baley, descendent of Elijah in the 7th degree, has come from Baleyworld (creative name, eh?), one of 20-odd earth settled planets, to investigate occurrences on Solaria.

Solaria has recently been abandoned by the 20,000 that once lived there, though millions of robots have been left behind. It was the last Spacer planet to be settled, and the first to collapse. The Traders of the new planets have attempted to gather these robots to sell to the Spacers (robots are prohibited in the Settlers’ planets, as they believe that they lead to stagnation). When the two ships landed, however, they were quickly destroyed, leading to the questions “why?’ and “by whom?”

Daneel and Giskard consider it very odd that the Spacer worlds were willing to allow the exploration of Solaria, and believe that the Spacers are stalling for time; time to activate a mystery weapon aimed at Earth, potentially destroying both the outward expansion of the Earthmen (which they resent) and the threat of the increasingly powerful Settler worlds.

It’s interesting to note how much an over three-century lifespan would change the pace of history. If an official could reasonably expect to be in office from 1700 (long before the Revolutionary War) until now, where would we be? Personally, I share the Settlers’, and assumedly Asimov’s, opinion that we wouldn’t be too well off. With such a slow inflow of new ideas and perspectives, society would stagnate.

Did I mention that Giskard founded the science of psychohistory?

Hmm, after wondering exactly what it meant for a while, I looked up "biweekly" to find that it can mean both twice a week and once every two weeks; I plan to update that column twice weekly.

The Three Laws of Robotics

These have been posted on the side of the blog for a week or so, but I would like to have that space for something new. I decided that these ought to be on my blog somewhere, however, so here they are.

1. A robot may not (knowingly) injure a human being or, through inaction, (knowingly) allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

These, of course, are vital to all of Asimov's books that involve robots.

Interesting fact; Asimov was one of the first to publish a story involving a robot that did not have that robot turn on its creator (a la Frankenstein). This was (in-universe) due to the three laws that are a key part of each robot's positronic brain.

Hmm, Fire and Ice has one line that doesn't quite fit the available space at the side of the blog. Just consider "fire" to be part of the first line.

Children of Earth

Since my last post, I have finished the books The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun. As mentioned before, both books follow the detective Elijah Baley and his partner R. Daneel Olivaw.

The Caves of Steel is a more traditional mystery story (except set in the future, of course) than The Naked Sun; it all takes place on Earth. I won’t really go into the storyline, as it would be difficult to do with a mystery story, but suffice it to say that it’s a great story. Besides being a good mystery story (even if the end isn’t all that surprising) it shows just enough of the strange culture of this future Earth to make you want more.

I was wrong in saying that the problem was lack of space in my last post; it was lack of resources (a much more reasonable problem). Food is rationed, and such things as actual meat are rarities. The majority of the food for the planet is specially bred yeast. They can make anything from stand-in strawberries to lubricant from it.

A good deal of the book deals with the fight by Earthmen to arrest the integration of robots into the economy. Everyone accepts that robots can work in the fields, but as they become more common in the Cities, riots have occurred.

The Cities are also important to both stories. They are giant caves of steel and concrete (hence the title) that house the grand majority of the inhabitants of Earth. They are essentially giant, opaque domes enclosing the entire city. These have the major drawback of massive consumption of resources; they cannot support themselves for a single hour. If even something simple were to go wrong; catastrophe.

The Naked Sun takes place on the planet of Solaria, which has a population of 20,000. It’s robots outnumber its humans 10,000:1. Elijah Baley and R. Daneel are sent both to solve another murder and to spy for their respective planets, Earth and Aurora (the most powerful of all the 51 inhabited worlds).

Earth fears an invasion by the Outer Worlds; an invasion in front of which, they would be powerless. Elijah is expected to find their weaknesses. Of R. Daneel’s mission, however, we know little about.

This book deals heavily with psychology and sociology. The citizens of both Earth and Solaria have developed irrational fears due to their lifestyles; those on Earth fear the outdoors, and those on Solaria, each other.

Elijah is forced to confront his fear of the open air; the naked sun. All those humans of Earth who inhabit the Cities have this fear; very few ever venture outside. Elijah considers it barbaric to live one’s life as dictated by the rotation of the planet. It is unlikely that he will ever truly overcome this fear; it’s likely a mental disorder, honestly. If he spends too much time outside, he will actually faint.

The Solarians, on the other hand, fear “seeing” each other. Due to its low population, they are isolated from each other, and meet each other only through “viewing;” seeing each other by hologram. This has led to a great fear of “seeing.” Even a woman who frequently “sees” children will only allow Baley to stand 20 feet away. One other man couldn’t handle his presence and eventually fled from the room, still another committed suicide at the threat of someone going to meet him. Depending on whom you ask, the planet may be a utopia, dystopia, or just something in between (hmm, Word doesn’t recognize “dystopia”).

They are isolated from all physical contact with other humans beginning in roughly their teens. It is considered horrible that younger children enjoy contact, enjoy “seeing” each other, enjoy playing physical games. This occurs in only one building on the planet, where all of the children are brought up from one-month-old fetuses until they are ready for their own estate.

Spouses are assigned to each person, and, as the population is rigidly controlled, children are only allowed if it is approved (by whom, I’m not sure) after an examination of each person’s genes; fetuses with genes showing a likelihood of such things as nearsightedness are killed (on all of the Spacer planets, genetic defects and disease are virtually unknown; this is both a strength and a weakness; they have no natural immunity). The assignation of a spouse is quite traumatic for both parties, due to the aforementioned fear.

However, tricentenarians are very common.

Interestingly, these are just two in a long string of books that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I find very few that I don’t. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that, despite being a fan of fantasy and sci-fi, I really don’t like Lord of the Rings and Dune much at all.

Too bad my luck at finding books I like (or my mom’s luck, perhaps) doesn’t stretch to enjoying books that are assigned to me. Dracula and Frankenstein were pretty good, but summer reading books tend to get under my skin.

The title this time is a reference to Children of Dune. It doesn’t really refer to the actual plot (which I don’t remember) but rather to the fact that the Outer Worlds, once colonies of Earth, have turned against it, and are perhaps even preparing for war.

Stay tuned for The Robots of Dawn; the next of the Robot series.

Ach, I forgot something important; another major subplot of the books is that Earth must colonize more worlds in order to survive (the only Earthman who know this is Elijah, as he has been manipulated by the Spacers). Those new colonies would be better than any of the currently inhabited worlds, as they would have take things to fewer extremes, being used to having some robots around but not relying upon them overmuch (I think that was the reasoning, anyway).
It would relieve the pressure of the population on Earth (which hardly compares to the future population of Trantor) and they would be able to establish a stable C/Fe culture, as it is called in the books (Carbon/Iron; Human/Robot).

Smallness

This is a minor post, so it doesn't get a clever (to my mind, at least) name.

The Caves of Steel, the first of Asimov's Robot series, is set significantly closer in time period than Foundation (a few millenia). By this point, animosity has grown between the Spacers and those who live all their lives on Earth.

There is also a great deal of anger toward robots, which are taking over peoples' jobs.

Elijah is an investigator who has been assigned to the murder of a Spacer; a scientist. His partner, as dictated by the Spacers, is R. Daneel Olivaw; the murdered scientist's greatest creation; "R." standing for Robot.

Interestingly, this book seems to deal with overpopulation (here comes the reason for my post). A global population of eight billion strains the available living space on Earth. That's right only eight billion; that's just 1.2 billion more than today's population. A little research, however, shows that the world's population had just his 3 billion in 1960, several years after this book was written. Asimov must really have thought that a 166% increase would have been disasterous.

He probably never imagined that we are now projected to hit 9 billion by 2050; several years before he predicted we would hit 8 billion.

Although, Wikipedia claims that the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that we'll hit 7 billion in July of 2012. 2012. It's going to cause the end of the world over the course of five months; I'm calling it right now.

On the topic of the book, this older copy has the worst image of a robot that I could possibly imagine. It's hilariously impossible.

http://www.amazon.com/Robot-Novels-Caves-Steel-Naked/dp/B000PC46DU

Look at it! (That naked bit refers to The Naked Sun, which is also in this copy of the book.)

The Foundationa Strain

I would like to share my new favorite word with everyone.

quixotic-adj.-resembling or befitting Don Quixote

That's right, he has a word (in the English dictionary) that was named after him! Plus, they apparently still know it even after they've forgotten where the human race originated! I guess it's going to become wildly popular soon.

Otherwise, I’ve finished my Gothic story, and I’m quite happy with it. I hope anyone reading this will enjoy it (and vote for it) when it’s read in class.

In Second Foundation, we start with the Mule. He has searched for the Second Foundation for 5 years; during this time period he has not expanded his empire. He sends out a man who he has not used his mutant powers on, along with one who has been artificially faithful to him for years.

The unaltered man finds the Second Foundation to a planet at the center of a much smaller empire. With the other man, he travels to a small planet in the empire to prove his conjecture.

Once there, he accuses the Mule’s man of having been altered by a Second Foundationer, who are known to have mental powers surpassing the Mule’s. Just then, the Mule appears, having traced the ship. He knows the man to be from the Second Foundation, and engages him in a battle of wills. The Mule wins, and forces him to tell the true location of the Second Foundation; the planet they are currently on.

The First Speaker, leader of the Second Foundation, then enters. He reveals that the first man had volunteered to have his mind altered into believing an incorrect location for the Second Foundation. He overpowers the Mule, and forcibly changes him into a more harmless dictator.

In the second section, we skip a bit further into the future, to join a 14-year old girl named Arkady.

We also see the new First Speaker, who knows that the Foundation is becoming dangerously close to destroying Seldon’s plan by studying to far into psychology and relying on the Second Foundation to keep them safe.

He tricks the leading psychologists there into believing they had destroyed the Second Foundation (who they knew were altering the minds of many of the Foundation’s leaders) with a psychic weapon that they had developed.

At the same time, Arkady realizes the location of the Second Foundation to be Terminus itself, as a circle (the galaxy) has no end. This is untrue, and it is later revealed that Arkady had been altered at birth, so the psychologists could detect nothing unusual in her, as being altered was her usual state.

A conversation between the First Speaker (who doesn’t actually speak; the Second Foundation has developed psychology so far that they can read minor gestures like a language) and his future successor reveals the true location of the Second Foundation to be Trantor; the opposite end of the galaxy from a psychologist’s point of view. It was the center of the greatest ever empire in Seldon’s day, while Terminus was a tiny, unpopulated planet.

The First Speaker is also revealed to have been the seemingly innocuous farmer that Arkady had been staying with when she fled the Mule’s successor (in title only) to Trantor during the war between Kalgan and the Foundation (if you want to understand that…read the book!).

So. This book rekindled my interest in the Foundation series, as it was a good bit more complicated than the other books in it. I do plan to continue reading the series, and sincerely hope that I can find the rest of the books.

The next book that I need to read, Caves of Steel, will actually jump into a different series, the Robot series, and will be set in the past in relation to Second Foundation. This seems like it will be rather annoying to me. I have also had difficulty finding it; I know it’s somewhere in this house (I’ve read it before) but it’s nowhere to be found. A quick scan of the school library recently showed there to be many Asimov book, so I hope I can find a copy there, at least.

Boy, that was rather lengthy and ineloquent, wasn’t it? That title is a pretty big stretch, too.