 Freighter Captain by Max Hardberger What the hell? I have never read a book so poorly written that I just couldn’t stop reading. I learned a great deal from this book, not only about what it’s like to captain a tramp trader in the Caribbean but also about what truly awful writing looks like. I hope Max Hardberger never reads this review (I am, in fact, a little bit terrified of Max Hardberger at this point) and if he does, I hope he understands where I’m coming from. I don’t get the impression Mr. Hardberger is trying to write fine prose, but rather to tell an amazing story from a fascinating perspective. So first, the problems: this whole book reads like terse entries in some scruffy log book. That rule about “show, don’t tell?” The author has not only ignored that advice, but consigned it to the dark and sulfurous depths of hell. It is so close to 100% telling that on the rare occasions when he tries to toss in a little showing the sentence jars me out of my seat. Then, the narrative flow was extremely odd. He would mention things that had almost no impact on the story (“I got some of the spare parts at the store, but had to track down the others through a guy named Lucky”) in one sentence, then use the next sentence to yank the story a hundred miles down the timeline. As someone who reads a lot of novels, I was constantly saying to myself, “Oh hey, that’s odd, I bet that will come back into the story later.” Only it never did. It was like he was constantly foreshadowing some other story that I didn’t get to read. Then, and this seems pretty petty compared to the other violations of story-law, he almost never explained anything. This happened a lot with nautical terms. I’ve taken 3 different American Sailing Association courses; I know me some nautical terms, though not all of them. Yet I seldom had any idea what he was talking about. He’d throw down abbreviations and technical jargon all over the place and just expect you to tag along. Or not. I don’t think he cared. OK, so given these complaints, why read the book at all? I’m not the kind to be squeamish about chucking a book that I’m not enjoying. But I couldn’t stop reading this one. For some reason, completely unconnected to the prose on the page, this story was utterly compelling. A big part of it, I think, was the insider’s perspective on an industry that is ubiquitous but hidden from most of us. Many of the goods we eat, buy, and use travel around the world on shipping vessels, yet for the most part we are ignorant of how this system works. Even those of us who like boating and boats may never see this aspect of the waterborne industrial complex. Then there’s the more than passing similarity between the stories Max Hardberger has to tell and the pirate stories that are so popular these days. I often had the impression that Captain Jack Sparrow would have very little to teach Captain Hardberger, besides maybe how to apply eyeliner. So maybe this book is the exception that proves the rule. In general, you can’t write a book like this and expect anyone to read it. Yet with this particular book, I guess maybe if your story is so utterly engaging you can drag readers along for the ride, nearly against their will. Who should read this book? I don’t know. Maybe English majors or editors looking for an example? Maybe the curious and open-minded with a tolerance for crippled prose? Maybe you? I can’t say it’s a good book, but I can say I’m damn glad I read it. View all my reviews
 Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher I’ve never enjoyed short stories as much as novels, though I couldn’t give you any rational explanation of that. I bought Jim Butcher's Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files as soon as it was available, promptly read the last story in the collection (which occurs immediately after the stunning event that ends Changes) to see what new would be revealed, then put the book on the shelf and ignored it. Over the next couple months my neighbor, also a Harry Dresden fan, kept asking if I’d read any more of the stories. I always said no, that there were other things I’d prefer to read; I don’t really like short stories that much. Recently I’ve decided I need to try my hand (fingers?) at writing a few short stories. The motivation is purely self-promotional: I want to give people a taste of the world I’ve created in my novel, but I don’t want to self-publish the novel. I also want to give people a reason to come back to my website: not just to support me or to hear about what I’m doing, but to get something for their time. Short stories, being by definition short, can be written faster than a novel. My plan is to write a story a month, posting it in weekly installments. In order to get my short story on, I figured I better read some of them. Just because they’re shorter, doesn’t mean it’s easier to write them. So I picked Side Jobs up off the shelf and gave it a try, figuring I already knew and liked Butcher’s style. I really enjoyed the collection. It was particularly interesting for me to read the first story, a project he assembled for an MFA program, showing an early piece of writing by an author who has come a long way commercially. The rest of the stories were very enjoyable, each one giving me a dip into Harry’s world and lasting just long enough to be satisfying. I’d still take a Dresden Files novel over more short stories, but if you are, like I am, waiting for the next novel to drop, I would highly recommend you give yourself a booster-shot of magical ass-kicking in short story format in the meantime. View all my reviews
 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare So there I was, reading a lot (and I mean, a lot) of steampunk novels, and amazon.com says, “yo, you’re reading a lot (and I mean, a lot) of steampunk novels. Wanna read Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare?” And I say, “Huh, that sounds like a steampunk novel. Perhaps I should read it.” So I download a sample, and the sample is nice, so I decide to get the book, only a hardcover edition is within a few bucks of the Kindle edition price, and since I’m a tactile kinda guy, I order the hardcover. It comes. It sits on my shelf even now. I notice that Ms. Clare has other books, published earlier, so I hit the library and check them out. City of Bones and City of Ashes, books #1 and #2 in the “Mortal Instruments” series. Here are my two cents: Cassandra Clare can write good well. The books are good. The characters are interesting and three dimensional, the action is fun, the world building intriguingly done and carefully revealed. This is YA fiction, though not steampunk--more of a paranormal/urban fantasy thing. Not an issue, since I like that genre just as much. Here’s my problem. The teenagers in these books are too teenager for me. This is not a knock against the author. Indeed, as far as I can tell (from the vantage point of a 36 y/o), the teenage characters act, speak, and are authentically teenage. I’ve read lots of YA fiction and not had this reaction, so I don’t know exactly what Clare is tapping into here that I don’t like. Essentially, I didn’t care about the interpersonal problems these kids were having. I liked the supernatural problems they were having, but there was less of that and more of the other. Frankly, I didn’t give a damn which teenager was kissing which teenager while wishing they were kissing which other teenager. Teenagers making out and the ‘dating’ drama that goes along with that is something I didn’t really enjoy when I was a teenager, and it hasn’t gotten any more interesting with time. Again, this is not a negative review. Cassandra Clare can write, and I’m still very much looking forward to reading Clockwork Angel. If you like YA and you like urban paranormal or contemporary fantasy, I suggest you check these books out. Tell me what your reaction to the characters was. I can’t quite put my finger on what is causing this reaction in my brain, when I’ll happily put up with less well-drawn characters in other situations. Any thoughts? View all my reviews
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