Messer'd Review: "Tuf Voyaging" by George R. R. Martin

"Cats are most intelligent animals. In fact, it is well known that all cats have a touch of the psi." - Haviland Tuf, Tuf Voyaging

If you love cats and you love space adventure and you are a Martin fan, then this collection is for you.

Yes, I said, collection, because this book is not a novel at all. Although it portrays itself as one, the book is instead a collection of short stories that Martin published in science fiction magazines since the mid seventies. The book is comprised of seven of these stories and was originally published in 1986. The story begins with The Plague Star, and then going on from there in a chronological order that tells an entire adventure of the very strange space trader, Haviland Tuf and his cats, Havoc and Mushroom (don't get too attached, this is a GRRM novel, after all).

I won't belabor you with the details of what happens in the book because it is pretty exciting. We begin on Tuf's ship, the Cornucopia of Excellent Goods at Low Prices, and we adventure with a mixed group of space academics and stuffy shirts (Celise Waan will definitely get under your skin in the same way Cersei Lannister does) towards something they learn is called, the Ark.

Yes, Ark much like Noah's Ark. The Ark is a defunct biowar seedship of the Ecological Engineering Corps, or, ECC, which was part of the old Federal Empire that originated from Earth. This ship is enormous and has collected various samples of things throughout the universe. This Corps had mastered the art of cloning and genetic mutation, but due to some war that poses questions of ethics when given that kind of power (a theme that motivates the stories), these people no longer exist and the ship has been abandoned for hundreds of years in distant space.

Although this Ark mimics that of the biblical one, Martin's panache for shaking up religious motifs in literature does not disappoint and is actually quite pleasing, but then you also have to consider that these stories precede his Songs of Ice and Fire (or for the uninitiated, Game of Thrones).

I mentioned the distasteful character Celise Waan. Her dialogue reminds one so much of Cersei that you cannot dismiss the connection. Also, in the beginning we are introduced to Rica Dawnstar who could be an early iteration of Gerold Dayne in SoIaF, called the Darkstar. Their characteristics are very similar (except Rica gets to ride a motherfucking DINOSAUR) and throughout the stories, many of the characters feel like early samplings of what characters were to come. Later, Tuf meets a woman referred to as, Ma Spider, named Tolly Mune who has a character development very similar to Jamie Lannister.

Writers (and yes, I do speak for myself) are notorious for weaving our older works into the rest of our writing throughout our life. While it may be hard for some to see the pattern, prolific writers like Martin (and the god of proliferation himself, Stephen King), are very easily traced when it comes to this arc of story development, character building, and themes that unfold throughout.

Over all, I really enjoyed this collection and even some of it got me a little angry, because while Martin is an unsung science fiction writer (because SoIaF dominates it all because of the show) some of his stories have slipped through the cracks. One of which, that caught my attention so well, was how the EEC perish in the first story, The Plague Star.

If you are a Halo fan, there is a chance that you owe that to GRRM. Why? Because The Plague Star was first published in 1985 and the story of the EEC and their war sounds a lot like that of Halo. As the story unfolded, I could not help but see similarities of the fight of the EEC and their enemies, the Hruun (from which I understand them to be sort of like sentient dragons???) that goes all the way into a war of plagues. The EEC rig their ship to unleash a torrent of monsters and disease to the Hruun as they board the Ark, very similar to the first Halo where you encounter the plague-like Flood as you go towards the library, led by a crazy robot (a little similar to the cybertech named Jefri Lion, who aides Rica and Tuf around the derelict ship by lighting their pathways), and ultimately, there are some cool weapons you encounter including plasma turrets, a needler (carried by Rica) and other weapons and concepts (mech suits) that begin to set off alarm bells.

Whether the creators of Halo made these connections, I cannot say, but I will say that the book was an excellent read. Martin does a great job developing characters and immersing you in a fantastic journey about space, cloning, and the ethics of genetic modification. If you are like me, and waiting for book six, then Tuf Voyaging will surely tickle your fancy.

Also, this book has a ton of awesome cats, so yeah. CATS.

Tuf Voyaging is available at most booksellers, and is especially cheap through Amazon Prime.

Game of Thrones: Bloodlust and some thoughts about the differences between the book-reader and show-only fans

*Note: I will try not to post any spoilers here, but you probably should be caught up on the latest Game of Thrones episode, "The Mountain and the Viper" before you continue to read this post.

After the newest episode of HBO's Game of Thrones appeared for the world to see, the internet took great offense to the death of Oberyn Martell, played by the charming Pedro Pascal. His death was awful, to say the least (however, it did leave me hungry for grapes), but for us stuffy-holier-than-thou-book-readers, we totally knew it was coming because it's the catalyst for a bunch of other bad shit that is going to spill out and cover the realm with a sort of anarchistic insanity that makes everything feel even more hopeless and heartless than it was before.

While I understand the differences between books and screen, I am still of the belief that this series is literally the best book-to-screen adaptation ever done in the history of books being made into movies, etc. I've read the books and am currently filled with the great desire to read  A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons again if I weren't so swept up in this book, Tuf Voyaging, also written by George R. R. Martin.

Some people don't want to be spoiled so they don't read the books. I get that. You want to be surprised as to what happens next and that's great and all. Some people don't have time to read, and though I think that excuse is bullcrap (audio books on your commute, jog, or whatever is a good way to do some "reading") that's fine and good, too. But as this season of GoT comes to a close and my Twitter and Facebook is filled with the whining about favorite character deaths, threats that they will stop watching if one more of their favorite characters die, or cursing Martin for killing so many people, I am getting more and more frustrated with these complaints.

Maybe it's just me, and it probably is, but then again, I have read ALL the books and I know what happens up until the end of Dance and the new chapters Martin has released on his website, here and I am not so surprised when a character bites the dust (even if he or she has not died in the book) on the show.  Martin sort of explains why in this interview with Conan O'Brian  and in short, there is a difference between when he kills characters and the showrunners kill characters.

Each season of GoT runs in 10 episodes, which is not much time to accomplish the story arcs that the books do in their many, many pages. A lot happens in the books and these favorite characters, like the Viper of Dorne, expire after having existed for some length of time instead of a few episodes or only a season. This doesn't make their deaths any less tragic, but the books do give you some time to recuperate and there are small "wins" that some characters have that make the tragedies we face as readers, redeeming.

Let's take Sansa, for example. Her storyline is one of the things that has surprised me the most with this show this season. I absolutely love her story and the way she finally starts to grow out of her little fantasy world and realize what is going on around her. This last episode, when she slowly walks down the stairs with her hair done in the way her mother used to wear it, the scene was such a powerful, yet subtle way of demonstrating that. The Sansa/Baelish events that took place in the last books were the ones that had me tittering the most because although she's only about 13 or 14 at this point in the books, the tense exchanges between her and Petyr are wonderfully written. Sansa finally becomes more than her age and realizes that everything really is a game at this point and she finally begins to move her pieces around on the board. This story is fascinating for me, especially now with the show because that scene demonstrated that Sansa holds one of the most powerful men in all of Westeros in her hands. Does she know that yet? I'm not sure she does, but she is getting there.

But back to the subject at hand: Oberyn Martell's death.

Oberyn is a great character and he was portrayed wonderfully, but by now, viewers should know that blindly giving in to your revenge leads you nowhere. The Viper knew he would not leave King's Landing alive, but if you were given that on a platter in the show, it might be a big yawn fest. Although I knew how the Viper died, I was excited because this scene between he and the Mountain in the book was so intense and all the emotions were high because Tyrion's life is in serious jeopardy. Tyrion's life had been in jeopardy before on the Blackwater, but viewers didn't quite experience that little heart-attack like us book-readers did.

The way Martin writes death, for me as a writer, is amazing. After the second book, A Clash of Kings, I began to realize how characters were dying in the Song of Ice and Fire novels.

They never die in their own chapters.

This is a HUGE realization that I hope he sticks to as a pattern (because all of us writers write in patterns, we have to, patterns are a part of our everyday), because it creates some real tension, especially when you're waiting for book six, wondering if he is still following this pattern because several characters HANG IN THE BALANCE OF LIFE AND DEATH.

Show-only fans do not know the torture of the possible deaths that are coming in the following seasons. They won't know that last SURPRISE MOTHER FUCKER chapter in Dance, because they don't want to be "spoiled" and like being "surprised" by the show. Like I've said before, the show continues to surprise, wow, and entertain me because IT IS WRITTEN VERY WELL and by very capable people, including Martin himself, once per season, this season's appearing very early as "The Lion and the Rose" where we all got to cheer the horrific death of the worst king in fiction history. I cannot remember who said it or if anyone can trace back to who said it first, but I enjoy the musing that if spoilers ruin something for you, whether it be a movie, book, show, or whatever, then the piece wasn't that great to begin with. (Unless you are one of those people who is usually difficult about everything, then you can just wait the fuck outside.) If the total experience of the story has been ruined, then the journey isn't executed very well. Just about everyone knew that Frodo throws the Ring into Mordor, but we all enjoyed the experience getting there. When we go and watch things we are familiar with, we have an idea about what is going to happen, but with really good writing, it is the journey that is enjoyable.

I (for the most part) know what is going to happen in GoT and the journey of the show every week has me cheering at the screen, freaking out that some scenes are appearing early (DAT KISS) and really, really excited to see how they are played out. I cry at the show in the places where I cried in the book and I'm not ashamed.

However, I will say that you show-only fans are so amusing when it comes to misinformation. (This happened today among my friends who have been made pixels to protect them from other trolls like myself. Only I get to troll the people I love. ONLY ME.)

Yes, I'm horrible and mean, but messing around with people about something they can very easily look up and comfort themselves or mourn their loss is very amusing because the journey to get there, to the moment we are all either dreading or looking forward to will be a great one because Benioff and Weiss, although bloodthirsty and sinister as they are with the show, have done a fantastic job so far and have not let the fans down yet.

I'm looking forward to these last two episodes because some AMAZEBALLZ shit is going to happen, and some HORRIBLE shit is going to happen. To which of the beloved characters I will not reveal because who knows, they could really change shit up and do the opposite of the books and then everyone would be surprised. But for the sake of you show-only fans, enjoy these last two because we all will have a long wait before season 5 and us book-readers probably have a longer wait until book 6.

I'll be patient until either because you can't rush fucking awesomeness.