This article was originally published in The Tribune newspaper.
This week's column puts the focus on
horror. So put your headphones on, turn up the volume – and
prepare
for a good scare...
We're Alive: Lockdown
Last year, I reviewed the excellent
We're Alive – a podcast telling the story of a zombie virus
breaking loose and bringing about the end of the world...
mostly.
That followed the story of a few survivors as they tried to make
their way in this post-apocalypse world. For those wanting to
take a
dip into the same world but without the huge number of episodes,
there's now a new spin-off, Lockdown, six episodes long and
following
the view of the end of the world from inside the walls of a
prison.
The show drops you straight into the
action – before flashing back to the moment when things started
to
go wrong inside the jail, just as two prisoners are about to be
released and back to the freedom they've yearned for. Suddenly,
the
bars that kept them in might just be the thing that keeps them
alive...
The production is excellent, great
voice actors and some genuine scares even in this slow
beginning.
If you want a horror story on the
radio, here's a great place to start.
The Black Tapes is a docudrama
following host Alex Reagan as she sets off on a paranormal
investigation – starting with Dr Richard Strand, a ghost hunter
who
doesn't believe in ghosts. She uncovers his store of VHS
tapes... and
the horrors that lurk within.
Fictional, of course, but the show
presents itself as a documentary, with Reagan detailing her
investigation as she goes along in the fashion of a radio show,
with
interviews with a medium and other individuals she encounters
along
the way.
There's two seasons of the show so
far
– and bear with the first episode, it takes a while to get
going...
until a door on a video tape slowly creaks open all by itself.
Then,
things get weirder... and scarier.
Another show with excellent
production,
this is for those who are fans of ghosthunting shows on TV, who
wonder what would happen if it all turned out to be real...
Away from the scary stories
themselves,
there's a wealth of podcasts chatting about the horror genre –
and
Night of the Living Podcast is one of the longest established of
those. It's great fun, its format is essentially a bunch of
friends
sitting around and chatting about horror – then picking a
straight
to video movie to praise or pillory before moving on to
something
more mainstream.
A recent show focused on the movie
Trace – about a group of young people experimenting with
Electronic
Voice Phenomena when everything goes wrong, including –
according
to the NOTLP team – the script, the characters and everything
else
with the movie. They gleefully rip apart the movie, with
spoilers
galore because, as they say, if it's a rubbish movie, they'll
tell
you everything to save you the trouble.
They then move on to the Louis
Gossett
Jr classic Enemy Mine and share what they loved about the movie
–
plus lots of little nuggets of information about the movie. Bad
Guy
#2 in the movie who we can't remember his name? He ends up being
executive producer of the Paw Patrol cartoon. Parents, you know
you're singing that theme tune now.
There's a great love and affection
by
the hosts for their genre – and this particular show was also
filmed in front of a live audience too, so there's plenty of
banter.
Just beware of some fruity language from time to time.
The book poses a simple question - what would happen if the internet suddenly disappeared?
Presented in 20 Apps - rather than chapters - the book shows the unravelling of a near-future society after the internet suddenly, inexplicably goes missing.
Essentially, this plays out as a series of vignettes showing different groups affected by the blackout.
At first, we are presented with a scene from before the blackout - an incident of brutal domestic violence kickstarted by one partner seeing messages to his wife. Does this hint that we would be better off without the internet communication so pervasive in our lives? Well, the next chapter suggests not, as things quickly go from inconvenient to very, very bad. Some spoilers here for the early part of the book, so look away if you don't want to know them. In the face of the blackout, people in one community gather in one centre to find out what is going on. Gathered around TV sets, they hear the US president announce that the internet is indeed gone and no one knows how or why. Panic sets in, there's a sudden outbreak of violence that escalates before security robots intervene and, in what might be considered a design flaw by most robot designers, kill thousands of people in self-defence. Yes, thousands. In the heart of all this chaos, our ostensible lead characters at this moment in time turn killers themselves with surprisingly little provocation, and get away in part because of some help from a passing rioter who seems to have come to the party prepared with a rocket launcher. After those deaths, the officers investigating it seem to be more focused on flirting with one another and arranging a date than being in any way affected by death in such magnitude. In short, it all goes a bit weird.
Now reading this, you might think the author is going for a surreal, blackly comic tone, but really it doesn't come across that way. Indeed, it's quite brutal and bleak at times, sad and poignant in moments rather than aiming for satire.
As the book progresses, we see more of these vignettes. There's no central character, we just see how
the blackout affects citizens; the current US president; a former president turned inventor who created a gauntlet equipped with taser and other devices to fight off would-be rapists; the man who attempted to attack her in her youth leading to the invention and even a nutcase who seizes the opportunity in the chaos to become a serial killer. That format of presentation isn't necessarily to the detriment of a book - just look at Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles to see a book where a core central premise is played out by a host of different characters.
Sadly, there's not really much exploration of the other aspects of how society would be affected by the sudden absence of the internet. Businesses largely carry on as normal. News teams seem to have no problem with going out to their remote crews even when the data has stopped flowing. There seems to be no major financial crash. Those robot policemen keep on with their overeager policing, seemingly with no need to connect to a central control network. It all focuses in on the people themselves and their reaction to a world where they are disconnected.
What really undercuts the book though is a lack of solid editing. There's too much of a word soup in the dialogue of characters - early on in that scene with all the deaths, the characters are using verbose, wordy dialogue that looks like the author is showing off his vocabulary, even at a time when panic is setting in. That might work for occasional characters, but this is everyone, even one character derided for not being intelligent says things like "Maybe you could just film erotic videos of yourself naked prancing around, touching yourself sensually for all the sleazebags that still like going into a seedy brick-and-mortar store to get their fleshy debauchery fixings." The character voices aren't true to what you'd expect to hear - and they are inconsistent too, with the young girl at the heart of the deaths early on having a completely different voice later on as she talks to her mother. That kind of dialogue, much later in the book, really shines, and there's an honesty and integrity to that which really lets you connect with the characters. The word soup extends to the dialogue tags, too, with the author refusing to settle for "said" as a tag when he can make use of responded, probed, exclaimed, hissed and many more. In addition, sometimes the author veers into all capital letters when someone is shouting - and when someone is shouting really loud? All caps plus bold! Kudos, though, to the shouted line of "SO I CAN'T TROLL ANYMORE?"
There's too much telling rather than showing too - and again this is something that solid editing would have highlighted. One character, for example, we are told is "enraged to the maximum dosage" - an odd way of expressing it for starters, but do we really have to be told that rather than letting us understand his feelings through his words and actions? Just show us what's going on, man.
Loading the story down with such baggage stops it from being able to breathe - and that's a real shame, because there is a great idea here to explore. That idea remains compelling despite the flaws in the execution and I really wanted to know what happened next for a number of the characters.
In the end, the implications of that central idea aren't fully explored, and the execution gets in the way rather than helping the book to shine. The potential idea of the book would earn it a four stars, but each of those negatives knocks a star off for me. Reluctantly, I give it two stars - because I really wanted to see where such an idea would go, and despite that mark, I still want to see what the author will come up with next. But get a decent editor!
When you think about an author at work, you think about the scribbling pen, the rattling keyboard, the words springing from the head onto the page. You seldom think about the editing part of the process. Author Ricardo Victoria visits the blog to talk about the necessary chore that is editing.
Editor's note - there are many ways to edit a story, on screen, reading aloud to hear the rhythm of the story and to make you pay attention to each word... but the line editor at Inklings Press prefers the old-fashioned way, printing the story out, and getting out the red pen to mark up any changes. What's important, says editor Stephen Hunt, is changing the context in which you look at the writing, getting away from the screen in which you first viewed it, so that you deliberately force a change in perspective. That change, that shift can help you notice errors you didn't previously.
I’m gonna
be honest here and have a full disclosure: I hate editing. I hate revisiting an
old story of mine. I cringe at the cheesy dialogue of yore, the lousy ideas.
Since I’m not the most patient man on earth (my wife can attest that), the sole
idea of having to go back to my finished draft to polish it when it has took me
a month, a year, a decade to get it done is infuriating. That said, I will bite
the bullet and do the revising anyway; because it is one of the surest ways to
become a better writer. I can’t edit my own stories, I get in my own way too much.
But that is what editors are for: to help us polish our stories.
Writers
need editors as much as humans need medicines (whatever the kind you want,
alternative or mainstream, the point is the same). It is a bitter pill to
swallow, as it means exposing your creation to someone else’s opinions and that
can be devastating. But it is necessary, as it comes to a point where you as
writer are so engrossed, so embedded in the story that you miss the mistakes,
the errors, the fluidity of the narration; you read the story as it is in your
head, not as in on paper. And unless I managed to invent a machine that allows
people to see your ideas as if they were a movie or make a computer to transcribe
it, truth is that much gets lost at the hole in your elbow from your brain to
your hand. Editors can help a writer with that as they can be more objective – albeit
far from perfect - and detect the mistakes that can be amended and even improve
your ideas. Of course, you need good chemistry with your editor as an antagonistic
relationship will end up more often than not in disaster. Your editor should be
what Alfred is for Batman, your aide de camp to help you find the way. They don’t
dictate the course, but help you navigate it.
I came to
this conclusion after reading an article that Brent and Stephen shared in our
daily chat (here is the link: https://medium.com/@bpeschel/publish-your-first-draft-db1097f896ed#.2oz7lyeir) that Brent described as ‘soul crushing’. Fortunately for me, I don’t have a soul to crush. The gist of the article is that
the current bar on writing is so low, that writers can publish any dross, any
poorly conceived and even more poorly written story and still be a success - and then
presents a couple of cases. One of those cases make a good point: having an
editor means investing in something when you don’t know if it will sell. I call
bullshit, because if you think that of your story then you don’t have enough
faith in your ideas. If you had, you would find a way.
This low
bar, which with all due respect I consider to be pinnacled by EL James and
her work, are a result of the current trends in publishing, where now if you are not
one of the lucky ones to get picked by a major publishing house, you have the
option to self-publish online. What in years before was considered vanity
publishing has now become the standard and anyone can publish anything short
of a fanfic (and that is just because of the legal issues). I shudder when I
think of ‘My Immortal’, the legendary worst fanfic ever written, becoming an ebook.
I know that
you keen reader will call me hypocrite, as I’m part of Inklings Press and we
self-publish. But here is the thing and why I said that the point about not
having dough for an editor makes editing your book impossible. There are ways.
Here at Inklings Press, we found one. All of the anthologies we have published
so far go through three editors: Stephen, Brent and I. Granted neither Brent
nor I do this for writing, so we stick mostly to plot points and overall
quality of the story we are reviewing. Stephen, who is actually a newspaper
editor and thus does this for a living, does the heavy duty of the line by line
editing and does a stellar job. Brent is getting there. Actually that was one
of the reasons behind the creation of Inklings Press, to have a support network
of like-minded aspiring writers, some with experience, some not, to help us
develop our stories and polish them to the point they stand a shot at being
published and well received. We are stumbling a bit on the way, but we will get
there. Because we want to be good and get known for our quality.
At my day
job, where I have to review hundreds of pages of academic writing by my
students, I get used to the fact that most of their work could be good on
ideas, but regular or bad in their execution on paper. Some
of them hate me for that (my wife who used to be one of my master’s students
can attest that), but at the end of the day it came to a couple of questions:
is this the best you can offer to a reader? Do I have enough faith in my work that I know
it can be improved with proper editing? And more important: would I be proud of
myself down the years when I reread what I wrote? If I’m honest, I can’t read
my PhD thesis to this day because I want to smack my past self in the head. It’s
not a bad document – I got my PhD - but I know it could have been better if I
just put enough effort back then instead of trying to get things finished
faster.
It has been a bitter pill to swallow for me, as I said I lack patience;
but it is a pill I will gladly swallow if that means that my novel in progress
becomes good enough to be published, reaches enough readers and connects with
them and allows me to keep writing more stories in that world I’m creating,
because it has been well received. And for me the challenge is double as I’m
doing it in my second language for a market that is flooded with options (in
the Spanish market, the problem is the lack of market for fiction or genre
stories). Thus I have a double barrier to overcome and it becomes a matter of pride,
to prove it can be done. That’s why I can’t conceive that someone won’t get an
editor when they have easier access due to speaking the language already.
Think of
this: all those acknowledgments you see in the first pages of a book are
usually for the editor and the beta readers, be it your wife, your cousin or a
friend. Because they dedicated their time and minds to help the writer get
there, to help the book to be properly finished.
At the end
of the day, choosing to get an editor or at least some beta readers is up to
you. There are options to publish your weekend project and get paid for it. As
that linked article says, the bar is pretty low. But just because the bar
is low, you don't have to settle for that. It just means there is plenty of room for a
well-polished book. Find someone that can help you: a friend, a paid editor, crowdsourcing,
don’t settle for excuses, find a way. You owe it to your readers, to your
characters, to your story and more important, you owe it to yourself. Create a
product that you will be proud of in the future.
Sebastian: The Life of Sebastian and Hanna Greene
By Elizabeth Johnson
Patience is so seldom asked for in a new novel that it's a pleasure to read a book that positively demands it if you are going to make the most of it.
Sebastian is a vampire. Turned by his own mother and then forced to live for centuries as an eternal teenager, he turns to bloodlust in revenge for her killing. That bloodlust comes to a sudden and unexpected halt as he stands over one of his victims and discovers the baby she was carrying in a bag. This is Hanna Greene. From this moment, Sebastian instantly rejects the cravings for blood that have turned him into a monster and becomes, by turns, first Hanna's protector, her guardian and then, her love.
I found this latter aspect creepy, and difficult to deal with - from an almost parental position, he falls in love with her and that comes too close to grooming to be comfortable with. But should it be comfortable? The most successful vampire film of recent times, certainly artistically, was Let The Right One In, whose child vampire, Eli, simmers with discomfort in every aspect. I can barely watch the movie a second time, and yet, if someone asks me, I will tell them every time that it is brilliant.
What matters here in Sebastian is that Hanna is no pushover. Without spoiling the story, she is a powerful character in her own right, both in ability and in her personality. That's vital, because she faces real dangers, with Sebastian not the only part of the supernatural world drawn towards her. She's smart, picking up on clues as to what is going on around her, and she carries secrets of her own as she seeks to find out who she is, leading to a crucial decision that, for the patient reader who has borne through sections that may have scritch-scratched at the inside of their heads, provides validation at last.
So be patient when you pick up this book. Be patient as you work your way through the hefty opening as Sebastian recounts his history - the real action of the novel doesn't get going until after Hanna's first appearance more than 100 pages in, and for much of that opening, Sebastian comes across as a petulant brat. Be patient as you wrestle with the difficulty of the central relationship. Be patient, and trust that the author will deliver in the end.
AI rating: 3.5/5, rounded to 4
Sebastian, The Life of Sebastian and Hanna Greene, is available on Amazon here. Its sequel, Sebastian 2: Dark Times Arising, has been out for about a month and is available here.
There's a gentle charm to Anthony Stancomb's Notes From A Very Small Island. The book charts the experiences of the author and his wife, Ivana, on the island of Vis, in Croatia, touching on the changes in the wake of the war there and ahead of the country's accession to the EU. Politics is, without doubt, a key part of the novel, but only in the sense in which it touches on the life around Stancomb. For the author is a keen observer of the daily details of life, from the fear that comes with shelling by artillery to the mellow pleasantness of life around the cricket pitch.
Stancomb paints the lives of those around him in warmth and detail, from the radio host to the frustrated delivery man, the crowd at the bar who welcome a fellow drinker to the politicos who are wary of foreigners. What emerges is a series of vignettes, each illustrating some part of the couple's life on the island of Vis.
Amiable and delightful, it lights up the Mediterranean landscape in which they live, showing the real life and detail that sits behind the picturesque facade. This is one of those books that would reward not so much sitting down in a single sitting to read through it, but simply having on hand to delve into for a chapter now and then in the manner of a James Herriot book. It's a travelogue to illustrate the quirks of discovering the ways of life in a new world - and one to bring many a smile while reading.
Blog host Leo McBride has a message for you. A slice of flash fiction. Are you ready? Then prepare for...
The Last Post
By Leo McBride
THIS is the last message the human race will ever send.
Forgive my brevity, but I have just fifteen minutes to write what I want to say, 15 minutes to tell you what happened to the planet Earth. To tell you who we were.
For what it is worth, for these next few minutes, you should know I am General Adam Conlon. Of the few of us left alive, I am the one who saw it all, from the start, who watched as the plague swept our land.
It began when we lost contact with Alaska. Not just one part of the state, but all of it. One minute, all communications were normal and the next, nothing. At the time, I was in Cheyenne Mountain, as we prepared to listen in on an experiment at Arnesil Energy Labs. It was there the virus originated.
At first, we didn’t know what had happened. There was shouting, mostly demanding of our communications section where the link had gone, but little concern. However, communications never returned and the next morning brought the first reports of the virus, of how it was spreading. Western Canada was the first affected, then Washington State. From there, it was unstoppable.
No-one will ever know for sure what happened in Alaska, why it lost contact so quickly. But we know what happened elsewhere, thanks to reports from those who resisted the virus long enough.
People lost control. Some could not command their limbs to function. Others became crazed, running wild through the streets, destroying everything. Animals were the same. In our bunker, we heard tales of people savaged by their own dogs while not even being able to raise a hand to protect themselves.
The madness seemed worst of all, millions of years of evolution wiped away, the cruel and the savage wreaking havoc while the helpless could only die. It didn’t matter. Sooner or later, the virus attacked even the ability to breathe, and life simply stopped.
Most of this we saw from afar. Finally, the order came to evacuate, to flee to the furthest point imaginable, to give us time to find a way to stop it, or maybe just get far enough away that it wouldn’t touch us. As if that was ever a hope.
In the end, there were just a few of us, huddled here in an Antarctic base, the last things alive in this world. All the people had gone, along with all the animals, even the plants.
And we had been able to recognize the virus, watch as it started to take hold on ourselves, as some of those in the bunker became crazed. Some died quickly, at the hands of others, others simply faded away. The first to go was the president. He vowed the virus would never catch him, but it did, it just took a revolver and a suicide to do it.
Some prayed for a miracle, but we knew there was no defense. For this virus was unlike any other the world had ever seen, for it had been manufactured, created and cajoled from energies we did not truly understand.
The energy labs had been experimenting with electromagnetic forces, playing with patterns and trying to understand how they could be used as a weapon. For all life uses electric currents in some form or another. A synapse sends a spark of information from the brain, lets it fly throughout the body until it reaches an arm, a leg, commands it to move.
It was an hour ago I came to understand the purpose of all of this. You see, it wasn’t a mistake at all. No. This was the way things were meant to be. Life is an intruder. Life is the virus, worming its way into the universe. It was only fitting it came to be like this, wiped out by an antibody we never expected to encounter. We have been purified, we have been cleansed.
I had to bide my time before I could send this message. It took a day before I had the chance to kill those between me and the only transmitter within reach which could still broadcast outside of Earth’s atmosphere.
You see, the electromagnetic pattern can not only be spread by the natural magnetic field of a planet. It can also be transmitted. We isolated it. We know how to reproduce it. It is already part of this broadcast, freed to cleanse other worlds, not just our own.
This is the last message your kind will ever receive.
Throw out everything you know about werewolf stories, and strap in for a high-octane ride.
From a prologue that quickly establishes the ancient myth behind the werewolf story in this world, the reader is catapulted into a blockbuster scene as commandos board Air Force One in flight to discover its occupants butchered, and the US President dying, gasping out only one word to hint at who the killer was. It's a scene right out of Tom Clancy, but with a werewolf twist.
We then jump back in time to meet Diego Constance, code name Twenty, a werewolf hundreds of years old and a hired assassin in the service of successive US Presidents, from Andrew Jackson onwards.
And so the story propels us through a fast-paced series of events, as the killer becomes a target, and he starts to piece together a conspiracy of almost apocalyptic proportions, with a killer bacteria sweeping across the United States and bringing society to the edge of destruction.
This is the second novel I've read by Rafael, and he sure knows how to put together his action - there's barely a moment's pause as the werewolf kills his way towards the top as he hunts down his ultimate prey.
Along the way, he is aided by the last surviving relative of a family that has long served him, and the brilliant Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Elena Norwich. These last two perhaps don't feature as much as you might think - largely sitting on the sidelines as Twenty's bid for revenge takes centre stage. I'll confess I'd hoped for a bit more from each of these in the story, it felt like we spent time with each character only for their own story not to get going - but that's really the only criticism I have for this tale.
The body count is high, and yet you stay on the side of the werewolf protagonist, even as you may be appalled by the horrific actions he commits along the way. It feels like a big action movie playing out in front of you - so grab your book, some popcorn and enjoy!
It happens sooner or later to every author - the bad review. The criticism that stings you, the comment that keeps your eyes open and your brain ticking at two in the morning when you should be sleeping.
And you know what? That's a good thing.
I'm still very early in my writing career - with barely double figures in terms of stories published so far, and thankfully what I've written so far seems to have been very well received.
One recent review chided my most recently published story for not having characters that the reader could care about but... you know what? That's ok.
Years ago, I started to play a great board game called Go. An ancient game - there's a picture of it at the top of the page - full of strategy. I started playing against my old psychology teacher (yes, that's how many years ago) and he was merciless. He'd been playing for years and had no compunctions about inflicting a massacre here and there. And you know what? That made me learn. Before too long, I was taking him on at equal measure - and I thanked him for both introducing me to a game I still love today, and for teaching me without going easy on me.
Because I'm still learning in my writing, sometimes a not-so-great review is just as useful to me as a positive one. Don't get me wrong - I turn cartwheels every time someone says positive things about a story. I may even have kissed a screen once. And I liked it. Just... don't try that with plasma screens.
But sometimes a criticism can make you reconsider what you've done and whether you should perhaps have done things differently. That review that didn't think my characters were well enough developed in that short story? That's the kind of thing that can make you sit down and properly ask what you might have done differently, whether the balance was right in carrying on with the action or cranking it back to get the reader to know your characters a little more. Reviews that make you think, that make you assess your writing, that give you the opportunity to learn and develop - those are golden.
Here's the crucial element, though, and I say this as someone who has been a reviewer for more than 20 years professionally. The next six words are crucially important: A reviewer is not always right.
This may seem nonsense, right? A reviewer's taken the time to review something and now you're telling them they are wrong? Well, no, not saying any reviewer is wrong - in fact, I feel I should repeat that bit in caps lock and with flashing lights around it just to be sure. The review they give is absolutely reflective of the experience they have had with the book. However, some pointers are worth taking on board, others aren't.
Let me give an example - recently, I reviewed a book that had a remarkable amount of sex scenes. Frankly, it was hard to imagine how the characters ever got anything done with all the sex they were having. Now, I could easily have written a review saying "Far too many sex scenes!". However, that was clearly the point of the book - exploring a sexual relationship in the context of the society it portrayed. If I wrote that there was too much sex, should the author react by toning down what she wrote? Not at all - she wrote what suited her novel.
The essence of what to take away from criticism is that you should weigh it in your head, keep what is useful and let go of what is not. In fact, the exact same thing you should do with praise.
To paraphrase a line from Kipling, meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same.
But one thing that one should never ever do... never argue with the reviewer! They've devoted time to giving their opinion. Even if you disagree with their opinion, thank them, then move on. Arguing will never, ever end well...
We
welcome regular visitor and guest blogger Ricardo Victoria for a Q&A.
He's been by before of course but this time around we're focusing on
his design work.
Welcome
back, Ricardo – now, this time around we're talking design. You
have a background in sustainable design – which first time you told
me, I had no clue what that was. Give us the quick
over-cocktails-and-chat version of what that means.
Ah,
you open with tough questions already, considering that there isn’t
even a consensus of what design is: is it art, engineering or a mix
between them? I would say, drawing from my personal experience as
academic and designer, that design is the action of solving a need
through the creation of an object, be it a poster, a cover, a car, a
catscan or a building, in order to improve the lives of people. I
think that Dieter Rams, former head of design of Braun gives a better
summary of what is design and what should be when he talks about his
ten principles for good design
(https://www.vitsoe.com/rw/about/good-design).
Now,
sustainable design would be the act of solving those needs through an
object, framed within the sustainability context. In sustainability,
a word that sadly has become a buzzword in inexperienced hands but
must remain german for the future of the planet and human
civilization, there is something called the ‘triple bottom line’.
That ‘triple bottom line’ is three spheres of basic action and
effect that surround any human activity: ecology, society and
economy. Only through the balancing on each of these spheres, with
mindful decision making, can we talk that something is sustainable.
If you want a better definition of what is sustainability, look up at
the Brundtland report, which provides the most agreed upon definition
of what sustainability is: "Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Thus,
sustainable design would be the act of solving needs through objects
or systems that are mindful of current and future needs with a
minimum negative impact on the environment and generating positive
societal change whilst at the same time helping the people behind
that solution to generate enough revenue to keep doing so. There is
more technical aspect to it, but this would be a primer. If any of
our readers want to know more on the topic, I can’t recommend
enough a book called ‘Design by Sustainability’, by Drs. Tracy
Bhamra and Vicky Lofthouse at Loughborough University. It’s the
book I use for my lectures and was written by my PhD supervisors.
(Incidentally, I did the illustrations for the first edition).
I
personally believe that sustainable design IS the future of my field
and should be implicit in any design we make.
What
project have you worked on in that field that gave you the most
satisfaction?
To
be honest, until a few months ago, I haven’t been in charge of my own
project, rather just collaborating with others. While those projects
carried out at Loughborough University were great, the ones here at my
day job haven’t been particularly exciting. Thus now that I’m in
charge of my own project, one where I’m putting one of my
hobbies, board games, together with my field of study, it feels more
rewarding. Teaching sustainability through board games is fun
and intellectually rewarding.
That
said, I have certain fondness for my PhD project. Whilst I admit it wasn’t the best (maybe I’m being too critical of myself), I love
it because it proved to my current employers at least that you can do
and research sustainable design in Mexico.
Stepping
on from there, you've moved into doing cover design work – having
designed the covers for the Inklings Press books so far. Three of
those are under your belt now – what have you learned as you've
been making that move into being a cover designer?
That
cover design is 30% inspiration and 70% hard, structured work. Most
people think that cover design is easy: you just get an idea and put
it together and voilá, a cover is done without regard to certain
basic design principles. That’s why you end with horrid covers;
mainly on some self-published books whose covers look like cheesy
90s video film covers. No offense, but my designer sensibilities
hurt with them, so I apologise if I come across as a snob.
To
do a good cover, you need to have a good sense of spatial and
editorial composition, good use of colors, be aware of current design
tendencies, know the content of the book so it can portray it as
accurately and respectful as possible. A cover should hook the reader
long enough so they can read the blurbs on the back and then give it
a chance.
Knowing
how to use the basic software, such as Photoshop, is essential as
well, especially when you are editing an image.
But
there is a rule that applies to any design, including cover design
that anyone wanting to enter the field should remember: Keep It
Simple, Stupid. The more elements you add, the more garish and cheap
will look. And that is a killer for your book hopes.
Do
you have a favourite of the three covers? I'll confess I like Tales
From The Mists most of the three, with the merging of the face with
the trees, think it's very sinister. If you do have a favourite, what
makes it stand out to you?
You
are making me choose between my children, you monster. I think Tales
of the Universe is my favorite right now because it looks like a good
cover should look and gives you a decent idea of the content inside
the book. It’s clear and allows reading the name of the authors and
the image is just inspiring. Just a side note, as I saw that mentioned on some reviews: I did not draw the art used in the cover (I’m
a lousy illustrator, as Herc’s portrait shows). I got the image
from a website that offers free for commercial use images and as such
is a Creative Commons object. I don’t like to claim work that is
not mine. I did design the layout and aesthetical composition of the
cover.
Are
you planning to branch out and do more cover design work?
It
wasn’t on my original plans but sure, it’s being considered. It
allows me to stretch my designer's muscles (albeit I’m a product
designer, I like graphic design as well and have taken courses on the
subject. And my wife, a graphic designer with editorial and publishing
background, keeps teaching me how to do it). I do it for the art, man.
Does
this kind of work vary substantially from the sustainable design work
– do you exercise different creative muscles?
The
core muscles are the same, creativity, design layout work and
inspiration. However the external muscles vary. With cover design, I
get to explore my aesthetical sensibilities and experiment, it offers
me more freedom. My work on sustainable design tends to be more
academic and thus a tad rigid in terms of methodology and results
showcasing.
You
also have your eyes set on game design, I understand – what's your
gaming background?
As a gamer, I started with D&D 3rd Edition and Magic when I was in
school. When I went to Loughborough for my PhD, I joined the Game
Society (back then it was RAWS) and thus I was introduced to a
plethora of games by the people there. It was there where I met Matt
(of Save Sekhmet fame), playing with him Bureau 13, Exalted and Big
Eyes, Small Mouth. I also started playing Legend of Five Rings,
several board games courtesy of a friend named Jules (he is one lab
accident from becoming Dr Doom), who also introduced me to one of my
passions: Heroclix. That game did wonders for my math abilities, my
strategic thinking and also allowed me to meet Stephen (who beat me
graciously on several occasions and even gave me free figures) and
Brent (who as a good American, never wins graciously, is a sore loser
and still owes me a rematch, the bugger). Right now I play with my
wife and my high school friends the occasional game, including but not
limited to Carcassone, King of Tokyo, Flashpoint and I’m trying my
hand at Arkham Horror (once I decipher the rules).
Ricardo, at the right of the gaming table, in action playing Heroclix at a competitive tournament
A
game designer, well that’s another matter. I started designing
board games during my first year at my undergrad, with an educational collectible card game (I did everything, from rules to illustrations
under a week for 60 cards). I also designed a tridimensional, 360°
tic tac toe out of recycled cardboard and a miniature game based in
Mexican mythology. That game's a funny story, the teacher of that
course thought my original ideas were crap and forced me to make changes to his liking (which is crap and he is a lousy designer to
boot), despite the fact that my research showed otherwise. Cue a year
later, I’m in the UK and I found that Wizards of the Coast released a
miniature game with similar ideas to mine. I didn’t get angry, on
the contrary, I felt vindicated as it showed me that I was on the
right track.
Later
in the UK, once I got tired of the competitive scene of Heroclix, I got
the chance to became a playtester for Wizkids and got to work with a
couple of sets, including Monster & Mutations (that rookie Jean
Grey First Class with quake as power was a change suggested by Jules
and myself) and Arkham Asylum. That allowed me to learn a lot of the
playtest process for any game as well as peek behind the design
choices for rules and mechanics that most player overlook or complain
about. Trust me, it is not easy to balance a figure, even less almost
a hundred. But I love the challenge. Right now I’m reading a lot of
books on game theory, game design and world building.
The Jean Grey figure from the Monsters and Mutations set that Ricardo helped to playtest.
What
was the first game of that nature you remember playing? For me, it
was original D&D.
D&D
3rd edition, Magic and a similar game called Animayhem, where you
used ADV and Manga licensed characters from the 90s to play. I
always used Goku.
And
what do you want to do in terms of game design?
Games
that are fun, easy to play with high replay value, with streamlined
rules and when possible, versatile. And if they can be used to teach
something, well, I will consider it a good job. I also dream of
creating my own RPG core system mechanics and maybe a miniature game.
What
makes your game design different from others on the market?
The
topic. So far, there are only two games that tackle directly the
sustainability-related issues, CO2 and an new Kickstarter called ThinIce, which I really want to buy.
How
do you begin to design a game? What are the building blocks?
You
need a core concept, an idea that can be developed into a game. Then
you need to start working and tinkering with game mechanics, rules and
playtesting. Forget the fancy models and coloured printouts. That’s
the last part to do. First, focus on the game mechanics, which is the
main objective of your game, how the players will achieve it. Matt
Forbeck, on the Kobold Guide to Boardgame design, says that: “[Game
name] is a [category of] game in which [the players or their avatars]
[do or compete for something] by [using tools the game provides
them]” Without that, you don’t have a game.
Competitive
games: Those that require developing a strategy opposing the actions
of the other players in order to win. They range from the simpler, such as Monopoly and Risk, to more complex games, such as Magic the
Gathering.
Co-operative
games: Those that while allow only for a winner, they require that
players have at some stage of the game objectives that are
compatible or allow for trade and alliances, even if is only for a
round. Usually these games have a developed ‘economy’ system
that allow for negotiation and resource management. A good example
of this kind is Settlers of Catan.
Collaborative
games: Often seen in horror-themed games, these require that all
players agree in coordinating common strategies to win, since the
rival is a ‘virtual’ foe (or in some cases a single player
opposing the rest in a different role). Either all of them win or
lose (albeit some games allow for acceptable ‘losses’). Examples
are: Shadow of Cthulhu, Mansions of Madness and Fury of Dracula.
But
the most important thing you need is to have fun. To love fun so you
can design games that is fun for others. No one wants to spend 30
minutes of their lives with a boring game, or a random one (I’m
looking at you, Monopoly). Fun is the key word here to develop the
mechanics. The looks and name are just mere window dressing.
Are
there any games you've played where you look at them and think
there's a fundamental mistake in their design that you think
undermined them? You don't have to name names if you don't want to
offend but how did that misstep affect the game?
There
are a couple that could do a better job in streamlining the rules,
instead of offering you a massive rulebook. I get that due to the topic
of the game such precision is needed, but it kinda detracts from the
experience and have scared many of my regular players. Alei
Kotdaishura is great with board games and she helps me to set them up
and she has struggled with those games too, so it’s not just me.
Also I hate, but that is a personal pet peeve, games where players
have to invest hefty amounts of money just to be midly competitive
and don’t be trounced by min maxers. I get that is a common risk in
collectible games as well as the source of revenue, but it really
grates me as you end with a smug elite that kill the fun for new
players. Brent and Stephen know what I’m talking about as they
suffered it as well during our tournament days, Stephen less so since he is a great player. (Editor's note: I hear Stephen uses hypnotism to win)
Any
other projects that you have worked on that stand out?
Inklings
Press, of course.
Thanks
for sharing that different strand to your life, Ricardo – now, we
haven't had a Q&A with you this year, so we get to ask our
regular closing question. What are you reading currently, and what's
the best book you've read this year?
Right now I´m reading Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, who i think is a great author. I haven't read many new books this year, mostly rereading a few ones to get inspired for my novel. That said, the newest book I read that I enjoyed thoroughly was Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.
