T.K. Wade -- Author

Monday, June 17, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Mate in Two Moves [Short Story Review]

[Only minor spoilers included.]

"Mate in Two Moves" is a short science fiction story written by Winston K. Marks. It was published in 1954. It was a bit longer than most of his works, so it took me a while to read it.

This story is fairly relaxed. It is about two medical scientists named Murt and Phyllis dealing with a rather amusing problem. The world seems to be going through a very strange pandemic that is causing people to fall hopelessly in love. An actual "love bug!"

The problem with this virus is that it is so powerful that it keeps everyone very distracted, sometimes to their detriment. People are quitting their jobs over the obsessions they are having with the opposite sex, and some of them are getting married without really thinking any of it over.

Even worse is that people who are already married are also affected. They get extremely depressed or jealous whenever away from their spouse. As silly as the virus is, it is actually making problems in the world, and the two scientists are working to figure out a cure... that is until they get infected themselves.

That's all I want to spoil about this one. The thing I like about this story is how well the characters are presented. They seem like real people dealing with a very odd problem. The ending made me smile. I honestly don't really have a complaint for this one.

Yes, I recommend "Mate in Two Moves." It's mainly for more casual readers though. This is more like soft scifi. It's there to give you something to think about, and it leaves you with a smile for having experienced it. Give it a read if that sounds like fun to you.

This blog was written on May 15, 2024.

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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster [Video Game Review]

"Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster" is a first-person-shooter game developed by Nightdive Studios and released this year in 2024. It is the remastered version of the old LucasArts game from 1995. I had a bone to pick with this one since I spent a lot of time trying to get it set up with controller support (a hobby of mine), and I just could not swing it. It was always a disaster, and it made playing the game a chore. I also played the Playstation version from 1996 back in the day, and I did not enjoy the controls for that one, although I think I did beat it.

This game is the first in the "Dark Forces" series which spanned five incredible games. It was good that Nightdive managed to bring it to modern gaming machines so that we could all enjoy it again. It's rough though. I mean, it looks like they did as good as they could, but I do have some issues.

The story is about rebel mercenary Kyle Katarn as he battles the empire with an assortment of guns. Seriously, the whole game is him murdering an absolute ton of Storm Troopers. He's a one-man-army. But there is more to it than that. There are specific mission critical elements that you have to fulfill, which was one of the first FPS games to try that sort of thing. I'm both impressed and annoyed by this.

These mission objectives are sometimes really difficult to figure out and often leads to confusion. They did not always make what you were supposed to do clear in those old games. The Sewer and Detention Center is a good example of this. I ended up running in circles, not knowing where I was supposed to go.

Also I think a button in the Fuel Station was bugged. There was a button that just would not activate if I did not just go directly to it at the beginning of the level. That drove me crazy! I restarted that mission almost five times.

Apparently all of these problems are from the original game. Nightdive just left them in and fixed everything else. This is a bit surprising because Nightdive is known to slightly improve the games they refurbish. I guess they either did not want to or couldn't this time around.

Other than those problems I mentioned, this game is an absolute blast. When you aren't trying to figure out objectives, the combat in this game is very satisfying. The Imperial Base was probably my favorite. They had the most enemies in that all lined up for slaughter, even on easy mode. I guess the game is kind of a mixed bag, but I liked it.

There is also a single new level to play called "The Avenger." This was apparently the original first level that was scrapped because they thought it was too hard. I kind of agree with that. It felt like a level that would have been more appropriate much later in the game. I did enjoy it though, and I am glad they included it. It somewhat incentivized the high price of $30, but honestly I would have appreciated some map revisions as well. Darn.

I do recommend "Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster," even for the price. I think it is pretty awesome that they took such an antiquated game and brought it to the modern era. This is something that needs to keep happening. I hope they continue on with the rest of this series as well.

This blog was written on May 10, 2024.

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Monday, June 10, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Hour of the Gate [Book Review]

"The Hour of the Gate" is the second novel in the "Spellsinger Saga" written by Allan Dean Foster. It was published in 1984. I reviewed the first book ("Spellsinger") a while back.

If you tried to read this book without reading the first one, then you'd be 100% screwed. This does not feel like so much of a sequel as it does the second half of a giant book. It absolutely does nothing to help you with the first book in any way. You pretty much have to read "Spellsinger" to understand anything. It's kind of a shocking way to do a second book in a series. I haven't quite run into this phenomenon before.

The story continues the adventures of Jon-Tom, a law student that was zapped into a fantasy world with talking animals, as he and his party attempt to thwart an attack by a race of insects called the Plated Folk. The Marxist dragon Falameezar is back again, but not quite as much as the last time. And there is a new riverboat pilot character named Bribbens, a frog, who joins the party.

There is also spiders. Yes, there is a whole race of spiders called Weavers introduced in this book. Not my favorite thing to read about, but Foster did a fairly good job at making them seem beautiful in some way. My only complaint is that all of their dialog is written without any capital letters. I think he was trying to make them sound like they were whispering, but I would have rather he had typed it out normally.

The first book was actually full of a lot of humor, but this one was so serious that I barely found myself smiling at all. It was a book about war, armies, and trying to form allies. There were a lot of scary parts too. It was all well told, but I kind of missed the humor of "Spellsinger."

Once again, Allan has trouble with pacing, although they did seem like they kept moving in this one. There were not as many scenes where they were just standing around for full chapters just talking to each other. I did feel like slow progress was happening.

Where Allan did seem to have trouble was in managing a large group of main characters. At times, the main party could have up to nine or more characters, and some of those characters would not be mentioned at all for full chapters. This made me sometimes forget that they were there or think they had left the party altogether. And then suddenly they say something, and I am left shocked that they were still present. This was unfortunately a problem for the entire book.

The ending was a bare pass. It worked, but I have read better conclusions in other books. I've heard that the rest of the series is much more light-hearted than this one. It seems to be the black sheep of the whole set. That's good, I guess!

Now, I did recommend the first book, but I feel bad about not recommending the second. After all, the first book is half the bloody story. I think the completionism factor of "The Hour of the Gate" is good enough to recommend, but you should just be forewarned that it is a slow, dark, and very serious story with an ending that just barely manages to handle its wrap-up in an appropriate manner. In short, it's good enough!

This blog was written on May 9, 2024.

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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Forsyte's Retreat [Short Story Review]

[I do not spoil the ending of this story.]

"Forsyte's Retreat" is a short science fiction story written by Winston K. Marks. It was published in 1954.

The story here is about a man named Sextus Forsyte, a man who really does not like being out in the open. He doesn't want fame or fortune. He just wants a job where he can be out of the way where nobody knows or cares about him... like a hotel manager!

The hotel he ended up with was very small, offering something like 250 rooms. But there's a problem. The hotel has been modified so that the elevators can take the guests to the same rooms but at different times in history. Therefore the hotel actually has thousands of rooms available. Despite this, the hotel only has enough employees for if it was just a regular hotel, causing the place to be severely understaffed.

On top of the chaos, the mechanism that allows the hotel to operate in this way is breaking down. This is causing some people to just spontaneously appear in people's rooms as the time field collapses here and there... and Mister Forsyte has to handle all of these complaints.

Now, this story has a hilarious and fun ending, and I think this story is so good that I won't be spoiling it. I do recommend it, and I think you should dig it up and read it. The stories of Winston K. Marks are easy to find. In fact, you might be able to just listen to his stories over YouTube or something. Give this one a read; you won't regret it.

This blog was written on May 6, 2024.

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Monday, June 3, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Breeder Reaction [Short Story Review]

[I completely spoil this story.]

"Breeder Reaction" is a short science fiction story written by Winston K. Marks. It was published in 1954. This one had me scratching my head.

So the whole story is from the perspective of a man working for the advertising wing of a cosmetic company. One of the women there claims she has a new product with a new additive in it that supposedly makes a person look radiant. And the proof is there that it does indeed work. Even so, the guy just doesn't like it and so turns her down, but she tricks him into signing an agreement to do it anyways.

Turns out this stuff works so well that they have to put the special element into all their products which makes everyone... absolutely everyone... become radiant looking. The problem is, however, that this new element has been untested. The testing actually begins after it takes the world by storm.

Hilariously, we find that the untested element just makes people pregnant... somehow. Even men. So now everyone's pregnant. That's pretty much how it ends. It ends with everyone pregnant. Use lipstick and get pregnant. Use shampoo and get pregnant. They even point out that the men will need Cesarean sections just to get the poor babies out. (Right. Yeah. Even Winston didn't wanna go there.)

What in God's name is this author's obsession with pregnancy and men getting pregnant? He did this back with "Unbegotten Child," which I thought was just him pitching his version of evolution. But no! This guy really seems to like or at the very least think a lot about people getting pregnant! Everybody! You, me, your cousin Joe, the president... everybody gets pregnant. Why? Why, I ask you?

Anyways, the story actually wasn't so bad. I recommend it because it's so short, and you might get a chuckle from its delivery. Maybe the guy was just trolling us. I don't know.

This blog was written on May 4, 2024.

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Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Oz Authors Favorites

Here is my final list of Oz authors from most favorite to least favorite.

*****

#1 Favorite: Rachel Cosgrove Payes

Ultimately Rachel just did the best at making characters seem alive and believable to me. It isn't just the Percy thing, although that is a major part of my decision. That said, I love all her stories completely and never found anything to complain about. They were perfect stories.

#2: Eric Shanower

An absolute genius in creating Oz stories. I liked some more than others, but the real kicker was the fact that he was able to take Oz into different forms of media. Truly masterful.

#3: L. Frank Baum

The creator of Oz. None of the things could have existed without him. He set the groundwork for all future authors to create.

#4: Jack Snow

A short lived but important author who showed us the beauty of Oz more than any other.

#5: Edward Einhorn

The man who showed us that all the continuity errors were a part of the experience. He also showed us that we can write our own Oz story, and it might end up being true.

#6: John R. Neill

He proved that Oz can be like a cartoon. He made us all laugh at his silliness.

#7: Sherwood Smith

She showed us the contrast between our world and Oz. This brought out why the Oz universe is so important to escapism fantasy.

#8: Gina Wickwar

#9: Dick Martin

#10: Elois Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw

#11 Least Favorite: Ruth Plumly Thompson

Too many duds. Even though she did have some genuine hits, most of her stories were bad. Just seeing her name put a bad taste in my mouth. She just could not break out of her own formulas enough for me to like her. I also consider her best work to be "King Kojo" which doesn't even take place in Oz. It may be canon, but it's still not Oz. This is why she is last on the list.

*****

Okay, that's it!

This blog was written on May 3, 2024.

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Monday, May 27, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Hundreds of Beavers [Movie Review]

I really questioned whether or not I wanted to review this. I had to have a good think about it. I don't normally go into films, especially newer ones. Movies these days are stupid. I can't get into them. All they do is deliver meaningless popcorn entertainment or else they spend half the film trying to convince you of some dumb message. New movies suck. They just do.

But...

"Hundreds of Beavers" is a movie released in 2024, the very year I am writing this review. It just came out in April, and this is the very beginning of May that I am writing this. Yes, this movie is extremely fresh off the presses. Also its extremely good.

"Hundreds of Beavers" is a little hard to explain. It is filmed in a flurry of artistic ways. It combined various styles such as black and white media, silent film aspects, animation, puppetry, early cartoon physics and concepts, live action mixed with cartoons, puppets, people in animal costumes, and also certain aspects of video game mechanics. There is probably more that I forgot to mention, and that is likely because the movie is just so full of ideas.

First and foremost, the movie is mainly a comedy; it is there to make you laugh. However it's a bit of a mixed genre. In addition to being a comedy, it is also a survival story, a horror movie, and a romance. It mixes everything up pretty evenly with the comedy aspect happening throughout. As silly and goofy as this movie is, you will get invested in the main character by the end of the film. You'll want him to succeed.

Oh, and what even is this movie about?! It's about a man who originally produced applejack for a living, but he loses all of that, including his farm and everything. From there, he is left out in the cold trying to survive on his wits, something he isn't good at. Actually he is pretty miserable at it. He spends half the movie trying to figure out how survival in the cold actually works.

The man ultimately learns that there is a guy who is offering goods for animal furs, and if the main character can give him enough of them, he can have his daughter as a wife. The problem is that he wants beaver furs mainly, and the beavers are freaking organized. This is a task easier said than done.

I won't spoil anymore than that, but I do want to point out that all the animals in the movie are either puppets or people in animal costumes. It's the silliest thing in the world, but you do get used to it after a while. It's just how this world works. There are no actual animals in the entire film.

The movie also works by its own set of rules. These rules are very slowly delivered as the movie progresses. A lot of it is cartoon logic that does not really lean in favor of the main protagonist. Basically it's up to the protagonist to learn these rules so that they ultimately benefit him in the hunt. That's one of the reasons it's so easy to get invested in the movie. You begin to understand that the whole movie is a puzzle made up of cartoon logic, and, once you learn the rules, you can win the game.

This movie just freaking game out, and I absolutely recommend it. Do whatever you can to see this movie. I'll be trying to get my friends a copy if I can. I think everyone needs to see this brand new movie that is worth viewing. Remember, it may be a comedy, but you will get invested in the story. There is enough there to engage you. Give this one a watch if only to celebrate that a good movie was actually released in 2024.

This blog was written on May 3, 2024.

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