T.K. Wade -- Author

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Dark Tower [Book Review]

[I spoil quite a lot of this story. I don't really spoil the ending because there isn't one anyhow.]

"The Dark Tower" is a novel written by C. S. Lewis. It is unfinished and also fragmented. What remains of the novel was published posthumously in 1977. Apart from the fact that Lewis never finished this book, parts of it are actually missing, likely burned by someone who did not know exactly what they were throwing into the fire. But what remains is a fascinating piece of literature, so don't let that bug you too much.

The story of "The Dark Tower" has to do with some people at Cambridge who were experimenting with a device called the chronoscope. It is a device that can peer into either the far past or far future. It has no way of actually setting it though, so there is no way to know exactly which period is actually being viewed.

However, what these gents actually see through the window is so incredibly surreal that it brings to question what is actually being seen. One of these odd visions takes the form of a man with a stinging horn coming out of his forehead, who they dubbed the "stingingman." If he uses this sting on someone, they become emotionless drone-like beings.

Things get even crazier when one of the people watching this "Othertime" ends up materializing on the other side and even turns into one of the stingingmen. It is here that the men begin to wonder if they are even seeing another time at all. Things are just too strange, and it is hard to fathom how this sort of world could exist on earth at any point in the future or the past.

The titular dark tower seen through the chronoscope is the same as the tower at the Cambridge library. How could it exist there when things are so weird? And lastly, one of the men watching ends up getting his soul switched with his double on the other side, trapping him in Othertime. This makes up the second major half of the story where you actually get to explore the other side of the chronoscope.

I say that he has a soul swap, because he actually does become the stingingman in the Othertime universe. He thinks like him, has the same urges, has the same language, but he is not the same man. That means that the stingingman is still the stingingman, but someone else is pulling the strings. This goes well with what I call the "meat puppet" theory for how the soul works. A soul controls the body, but the body still is what it is regardless. The mind, all of its knowledge, and memory, have nothing at all to do with the soul. A person's actual identity seems to come from the soul, however, that has very little if anything to do with the body and it's brain. You are who you are regardless of what your brain thinks it is. This actually lines right up with my own personal beliefs.

There was also one other incident before the book abruptly ends that, although subtlety presented, gave me a very pleasant shock. In one scene, the transferred stingingman was reading from a book in that world's own language, and he read about a genuinely evil man that was doing experiments on children. When he read that the man was later assassinated, it seemed to me that he tried to say "Thank God," but couldn't actually say "God." Although it isn't completely clear who he was trying to thank, the point was that there was no word in the stingingman's head that could reference the one being thanked.

The latter paragraph suggests that the world on the other side of the chronoscope might actually be Godless. This could be true considering one of the men watching it called the place Hell. Now, I'm not saying that this place really was Hell. It is more suggested that it was a parallel dimension that was running alongside our own timeline. However, if this place truly was Godless then it certainly comes close to being like Hell, insomuch as it is a place separated from God.

I am very sorry if this review is confusing. The story itself can be confusing at times. It does not help that entire swaths of content is missing from it, and also that it simply stops before there is any real conclusion. It is a bit frustrating, to say the least. However, what is there has enough to make it all so very interesting, and I do recommend that you read this one through. Just take it for what it is. Don't worry so much about what is missing, and focus on what is there to read. What you will get from it is an extremely surreal fever dream that came out of the mind of the man who gave us Narnia. It is very much worth the journey.

This blog was written on February 10, 2025.

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Monday, April 14, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Arrival [Video Game Review]

"Arrival" is a video game released in 2021. It is a map pack made for classic Doom II. It was created by Walker Wright also known as Pavera. I found it in the Featured Mods on the excellent Doom+DoomII Remaster put out by NightDive Studios.

"Arrival" does not really have a story. It is just a map set that proposes a set of challenges for the player. There is nothing wrong with that, since Doom has always been about the gameplay. That said, there is no better story than "guy with big guns kills demons a lot."

The theme here has to do with very... VERY large maps with a lot of enemies everywhere and constantly. They are not slaughter maps. Most of the enemies you face are the weaker sort, but intermixed with Arch-viles and Revenants. This combination often puts you in a situation where you have to make extremely hard pushes through a crowd in order to get to the key you need.

And you will be looking for those keys. All the maps need those keys for you to escape. You will be spending most of your time exhausting yourself trying to get the keys, usually all three of them, just to get yourself to the ending. These maps are intended to really tire you out by just constantly giving you a lot of fights.

The fights are not always really difficult per se, but they happen so much and so constantly that you might find yourself psychologically losing it a little. I had to keep taking breaks just to wind myself down. The Arch-viles were a constant problem since they were always reviving enemies you had worked so hard to kill. I pretty much made it a rule to use the BFG whenever I saw them.

These maps also give you an absolute ton of ammo and health. You'll pretty much see the stuff lying all over the ground. It looks like a lot, but I found myself spending the time to gather it all up when I could. All that ammo gets used. It never ever seems like enough. If you play this one, just be aware of what you have. Don't let the abundance of ammo lead you into a false sense of security. You will run out if you are not careful.

I was unable to find a secret exit in this map set, even though there is an extra mission called "Dad Bod" or in the case of the remaster it's called "Father Figure." If you play the game through regularly, you end up with an actual bad ending where you get lost in Hell forever. They accomplish this by placing you in a map with no exit. The true ending comes from playing "Father Figure" which you have to access from the level select menu. And this, sadly, means you have to "pistol start" it.

Well, I did it. I pistol started it and was able to finish it... just barely. It was about as exhausting as all of them, but I'd say that it was a tad easier than most of them. But, Lord, these maps were just so very tiring to play. I loved how everything looked though. They are well made maps with some interesting challenges.

Do I recommend "Arrival" though? I actually do, but you need to be ready to fight and fight hard. You'll be white-knuckled from beginning to end. There's no way around it. Lock and load, space marine! It's gonna be a long one!

This blog was written on February 9, 2025.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Word of Mouse [Book Review]

"Word of Mouse" is a children's book written by James Patterson and Chis Grabenstein. (Although probably mainly the latter in this case.) It was published in 2016. I actually started reading this book many years ago but stopped because... frankly it was boring me. But I decided to give it another shot recently, and things seemed to go a little better. I think it had more to do with where my frame of mind was at the time, rather than the subject matter.

"Word of Mouse" is like a children's version of "Miss Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." It's protagonist, a mouse named Isaiah, escapes from a lab that does tests on animals, but those same tests have made him extremely intelligent, even to the point of being able to speak and read English. He makes friends with other mice and one human girl who he has to communicate with by jumping around on a laptop keyboard. Very cute.

Most of the book has to do with him trying to survive outside of the lab but with the constant sadness that he left his entire family in such a terrible situation. The story picks up when he concocts a plan to rescue his family from the lab.

Now, you may be wondering if this book makes lab scientists look like vicious, evil animal torturers... and yes. It does. It absolutely does to a cartoonish degree. I'm not joking. These scientists absolutely love torturing animals and are always fearful that the ASPCA is going to find out what they're doing. Yeah, I didn't really care for this plot point. It felt very manufactured.

To be honest, I found much of the last quarter of the book to be somewhat surreal. The authors went through a lot of trouble to factor so many things in for the mice to deal with to make it seem realistic in the way that they interact with the human world. I did a similar thing back when I wrote "God and the Squirrels," where I had a team of squirrels attempting to "pilot" a car. But I was never trying to push any weird lab animal abuse conspiracies at anybody.

Like my "God and the Squirrels," this book has a lot of religious stuff in it as well, but mostly towards the end. A lot of the agendas get dropped near the end so you have plenty of time to fall in love with the characters up to that point. Yeah, it kind of sucks, I know. I'm not saying religion in books are bad, but the Christianity represented in this one was more progressive in nature. It had me scratching my head a little.

You need to understand something. I don't hate this book. It plays out like a children's movie almost to the letter. It's very entertaining, cute, and fun. It just ends on an unrealistic and surreal note. It's not a bad ending. You just have to accept it for what it is. And what it is... is just not as good as what came before it. This book gets a solid 75%. That's right. This book is 75% good. And the ending doesn't kill it; it just comes across as a bit forced and stupid.

But do I recommend it? Well, I do, but I don't think you should if the stuff at the end is going to bother you. It is wildly entertaining and well-written. All the characters are very interesting... except for the evil lab scientist. It's a mixed bag. Read at your own risk. (But let's be honest... "God and the Squirrels" is probably a better book.)

This blog was written on January 28, 2025.

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Monday, April 7, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Deathless [Video Game Review]

"Deathless" is a video game released in 2018. It is a full map pack for original Doom, created by James Paddock.

I keep running into these wonderful Doom map packs that continue to surprise and entertain me. "Deathless" is a four episode map pack that replaces the campaign from original Doom. It contains no weapons or enemies from Doom II. It also takes the plot from the original game too. All that's different here are the maps themselves.

The name of the game here is small maps. Every map in "Deathless" are very small, compact, and have usually an enemy count from about 6 to 40. Although the maps are small, they are still a lot of fun to explore. They don't take a whole lot of smarts to unravel them, and that was the idea. It's like playing the entire original campaign in bite-sized chunks.

As I said, there are four episodes like the original game had. In this version, they are called respectively "Lifeless", "Ruthless", "Deathless", and "Griefless." Each episode has one secret level which usually are smaller compact versions of famous levels from both Doom and Doom II. The designs of each map are very good. They all feel like small facilities being guarded by a realistic number of sentries. All the enemies are organically placed, making everything feel like it is supposed to be that way.

Another thing that is very notable about "Deathless" is just how accessible it is to anybody. For new gamers, this is an easy map pack to start out with. And if it gets too easy, the difficulty setting will help up the enemy count. Everything about this game is very satisfying. Just keep in mind that if you prefer the huge sprawling maps from the original games, you will not find them here. All these maps are small and wonderfully tight. Some of the best design I have ever encountered in Doom history.

I do recommend "Deathless" especially to people who are interested in a change of pace. Doom is known for their huge and complicated missions. It's good to change things up once in a while. This map set is available as a Featured Mod in the excellent "Doom+Doom II Remastered" put out by NightDive Studios. Give it a try!

This blog was written on January 27, 2025.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Beware of the Mouse [Book Review]

"Beware of the Mouse" is a novel written by Leaonard Wibberley. It is the fifth and final book of the Grand Fenwick series. It is also my favorite. The book was published in 1958, making it the second book released, but it seems to be the suggestion of the author that it be read last.

"Beware of the Mouse" actually takes place in the Middle Ages and goes into more of a history tale of the world's smallest fictional country. What's interesting about setting the story so far back in time is that very little has even changed. Even in the modern era, Grand Fenwick still lived as if they were in the Middle Ages. They even used the long bow, which is their weapon of choice.

The plot of this one has to do with a serious threat from France after the rival country begins deploying a new weapon called the cannon. It is a terrifying weapon that threatens to destroy anybody who has to content with it. France hates Grand Fenwick and wants to claim them for themselves. The issue is that Grand Fenwick knows nothing of gunpowder and cannons and worries that their mastery of the long bow will fail under such a frightening new weapon.

As usual in this series, it is up to Grand Fenwick to act as the underdog while dealing with overwhelming forces going against them. In this case, the forces coming outnumber them 40 to 1. I don't want to spoil how it goes, but it was wonderfully told.

All the characters in this book are charming an wonderful. The knight known as Sir Dermot, an Irishman, steals the show by being both the bravest and the most cowardly all at the same time. His duality is hilarious, and I loved every single scene with him in it. Much of the story is about him trying to determine his destiny, not only as a knight, but as a man.

This story also is a great way to learn about how people lived in the Middle Ages. It all seemed very accurate to the era, which actually helped sell some of the more humorous moments. Nothing here is sensationalized. If something was awkward, then the author gives us the truth.

I think the best part of this book was that you don't need to read any of the other ones to get into it. It is entirely not dependent on the modern stories. I love this because it really ended up being, not only my favorite in the series, but just such a damn fine Middle Ages book in general. I'll even go so far as to say that, if you only read one, read "Beware the Mouse." It's really that good!

All in all, I loved this series. I am so happy they exist and are now apart of my imagination. Thank you, Leonard Wibberley, for these wonderful stories. I will always have a special place in my heart for the tiny country of Grand Fenwick.

This blog was written on January 26, 2025.

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Monday, March 31, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Thing [Video Game Review]

"The Thing" is a video game developed by Computer Artworks and published by Black Label Games. It was released in 2002, and the remaster was recently released by Nightdive Studios in 2024. It is considered the canon sequel to the 1982 film of the same name. Yes, it is canon. That was entirely confirmed.

I played this game on console back when it originally came out. I was fascinated by the concept, but found the game to be very glitchy and unpolished. Apparently the PC version was better, but I never knew that. Because of all the problems I had, I never bothered to finish it.

The remaster has given this game a new life, and it is yet another reason to love and adore Nightdive Studios for all that they do for us. This review is mainly for the remastered PC version.

Taking place mere moments after the original movie (and having nothing to do with the prequel that came later), this game follows the story of Blake, an American soldier investigating the site where the movie took place. Along the way, you encounter other people at the site, and they may or may not be the thing. Once again, we are in a situation where we have to be suspicious of everyone.

Or do we?

Honestly, one of my biggest complaints was how the game tries to implement the paranoia aspect from the movie. Without going too much into it... they sort of failed. I never actually cared if anyone with me was the thing; I was just happy to have someone to help shoot the creatures coming at me for as long as they were willing. If they changed along the journey, they were honestly easy to kill. The blood test from the movie was in the game, but it was not always accurate, and because of the reason I gave above, I never really was interested in forcing the thing to come out. So this was a fail.

The story, however, was very interesting. The game actually does make for a good sequel. It does involve a bit of stretching though. Like... it is about a secret military base that was examining the thing as possible weapons/immunity research. It doesn't make much sense, but the game still makes it interesting enough. I liked it.

The gameplay is fun and engaging, and the combat is exciting and thrilling throughout. Although sometimes the game forces you to leave people behind for absolutely no good reason. It baffled me whenever this happened. All I am saying is don't get used to anyone with you. Just be happy you're staying alive.

"The Thing" is a very flawed game in almost every aspect of itself, but the good news is that it is fun. It's a fun game, and that's all we can ask from something like this, I suppose. I do recommend it, although you really should get the remastered version. It is much better and even closer to being canon-accurate.

This blog was written on January 1, 2025. Happy New Year!

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Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Going Down [Video Game Review]

Do any of you know a guy named Cyriak? His full name is Cyriak Harris, and he has been making music videos on YouTube for a very long time. These videos are very creepy and strange and often feature themes of cyclical repetition, fractal patterns, and mutations. They are intensely creepy and weird. He takes one theme or video and completely turns it into a terrifying nightmare set to some very discordant music that he makes himself. They are also often very humorous which contrasts pleasantly with the fact that they are terrifying. I have been a huge fan of his stuff for over a decade, and I always look forward to his new videos.

Well, recently I found a new Doom game called "Going Down" (released in 2014) that I downloaded completely at random. Honestly I was looking for a new game to blow off some steam on. I wasn't even going to finish it. The first thing I noticed was that I hated the music. It was discordant and silly and did not really sound like any music I had ever heard in the Doom games. I actually said to myself out loud, "This kind of sounds like Cyriak's stuff."

But then I had a sudden feeling of dread wash over me. I turned the game off and began searching information on the "Going Down" map pack. It was created by a user known only as "mouldy." And when I dug just a teeny bit deeper, I found out that the true name of mouldy was none other than Cyriak Harris. Well, I'll be damned. Cyriak made a Doom game.

And I figured he might have done a great job too since he was listed in the "featured mods" section of the Doom+DoomII Remaster. Anything in that category means that it is not just any Doom mod... it's considered one of the all time greats. And I then decided to play the whole thing through (all 32 maps) and see how much they stack up to Cyriak's body of work.

The whole concept of "Going Down" has to do with traveling from the top of a building and working your way down, killing everything you see along the way. This ultimately leads down into the basement areas... and eventually something that greatly resembles Hell.

Cyriak has perfected the concept of the "monster closet" by very strategically making a very empty room turn into a room full of enemies in seconds flat. One thing that is very particular to this map set is that, when enemies suddenly appear in front of you, they very often appear behind you as well. Cyriak loves trapping the player in between enemies very quickly. He's using a lot Doom voodoo to make it happen too. I have rarely seen so many tricks pulled in Doom in one map pack.

The map author also uses his sheer mastery of map editing to create situations where you can only use one weapon in a map, by either making all the other weapons less useful or just somehow taking the other weapons away. One mission had me only using the chainsaw and another just my fists. No matter what you are forced to use, a ton of enemies will be appearing regardless of if you feel it is fair or not... so just deal with it!

The main thing that happens so often in this map pack is that you can go from zero enemies to an absurd amount very quickly. I think this is his way to falling back to his music videos. In a strange way, it does sometimes feel like the monsters are repeating out in some absurd version of macro cellular mitosis.

There was also some witchcraft created by Cyriak that rather boggled my mind. In one situation, you are in an elevator, and when you take a few steps forward, the light go out and then, when they come back on, the whole room is covered in blood. That is not easy to accomplish in the classic Doom engine. He had to pull some very silly tricks to make that happen. He had to, in some crazy way, transfer the player seamlessly from one elevator to another just to make that happen.

The intermission scenes are silly. They have Doom Guy taking phone calls from his mother and mentioning that he is busy killing demons and such. His speech is very British. This is a bit off-putting, but it happened because Cyriak happens to be British.

The map pack had two secret levels which were very enjoyable and easy to find. The final mission had an original boss in it, and it was a very epic battle. It was followed by a epilogue mission where you are attacked in your own apartment complex. Very cool.

Without a doubt, I recommend "Going Down" as an absolutely must-play Doom map pack. If you have the Doom+DoomII Remastered available, it is free to download. Also check out Cyriak's music videos on YouTube! They are super creepy and fun to watch.

This blog was written on January 15, 2025.

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