Month: September 2019

GAMER’S WILL SWEAR BY HARDCASTLE’S REFERENCE BOOK

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Fuck Yeah CoverThe first thing I can tell you about this month’s second book, is that quite a few of my readers are not going to like it from the get-go. But there will be a group of you who will be fascinated by this book, even excited. The book is Fuck Yeah Video Games by Daniel Hardcastle and published by Unbound (www.unbound.com) on the 19th September.

Another thing a few readers won’t like, is reading this book on your morning and evening commute as I found out. When I was met with a few raised eyebrows and tutting on the LUAS, Dublin’s light rail system (owing to the large yellow expletive on the cover). I even think a couple of mothers pulled their children closer and shielded their eyes.

The book charts the history of video games from the humble tennis game, where you moved a cursor up and down the screen trying to hit a bouncing white square past your opponent’s cursor to score a point,  to today’s modern games which are almost movie-esque in story-line and action, These allow you to play with or against not just a person or persons in the same room, but random strangers not even on the same continent, who more often than not may be half your age. These modern video games also feature so much detail, that the afore mentioned tennis game is now not too far removed from the hoop and stick our grandparents derived so much pleasure from as kids. The book also looks back at the success and failures of the large game designers and console producers (three of them to be exact) Sony , Nintendo and Atari… Who???(google it).

Gaming nowadays has progressed from something aimed initially at an age group spanning 8 – 18yrs, to today, where forty-somethings like myself are not ashamed to say they are gamers. No anoraks here, unlike train spotters and model train enthusiasts! Oh no, we stay warm and toasty in our bedrooms and “Mancave’s”.

Also, with the likes of the Nintendo WII console sports packs, gaming is now a family pastime and regularly seen as the ideal post-Christmas dinner entertainment. Where everyone from the youngest to the grandparents gets involved. Then of course you only have to see the news recently, where a teenager in America took home $3million for winning the Fortnite (it’s a popular video game) World Cup in front of a packed out sports stadium and even bigger online audience; and you wonder why some people such as Hardcastle can make a living out playing games all day long.

Yes, my name’s Adrian and I’m a gamer, but I’m not nerdy about. I don’t go out and buy a game and play it constantly, unless the wife’ away or out for the evening. This due in part to having responsibilities, I only really returned to gaming a few years ago when I requested a PS4 as a present for my fortieth, after a hiatus from when I played them in my youth.

FYVG is all in all an entertaining and light-hearted read. But it’s really a reference book, namely because it has footnotes, which I find distracting in anything that is not a self-help book, textbook or encyclopedia. It’s not a book you are going read from cover to cover.  It’s more like a swimming pool at a holiday resort, there for you to dip in and out of it on a regular basis, while leaving it on your coffee table or bookshelf as a conversation starter.

Daniel Hardcastle

Daniel Hardcastle

My initial reaction when getting it was that its very big. But I soon realised that of the 379 pages only 296 were actually part of the book, the rest were a list of 101 of the best games ever published, a glossary of terms used in the book, author bio and crowd funding acknowledgements, of which there are quite a few.

As for the games featured in the book, I’ve only played two. As for the 101 best games ever published listed at the back, its seven. Does that really make me a gamer? I was personally disappointed there where weren’t references to my current favourites “No Mans Sky”, which has had its own problematic road to success. Then there’s Tom Clancy’s Division 1 and 2, the numerous Call Of Duty games and for a real history lesson, games played on the Comodore 64, ZX Spectrum and my own Dragon 32(yep, Google it). Admittedly those three weren’t games consoles, but before consoles arrived on the scene video games were played on computers and publishers still release  PC editions of popular titles these days.

This is English author Daniel Hardcastle’s (@danNerdCubed) first book, despite what the inside cover might say. He’s is a gamer and regular broadcaster on Twitch – an online channel solely dedicated to allowing you to watch people like Daniel play video games… I’ve never watched any of these, as I’d rather be playing the game myself. The lavish illustrations in the book are provided by Daniel’s wife Rebecca and these include caricatures of the leading crowd funders who helped get this book published.

Overall, I got the feeling that Hardcastle was trying to emulate columnist, author and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson in his writing style and general ladishness, even referencing him several times throughout the book. But as much a I liked this book, I thought he tried too hard and, in the end If I discovered “Jezza” had ghost-written this book, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I did like FYVG, as I have an interest in the topic. But again, it is a book with a niche readership, despite the number of people worldwide who play video games. You’ll also find quite a few of the younger generation aren’t big readers. But again, as it’s quite easy to read in bite sized chunks, this maybe a popular read for them and also a way to reignite interest in the older games discussed in the book, that you’ll find in the second hand section of gaming stores and car boot sales.

 

Reviewed by : Adrian Murphy

This review is part of a Random Things Blog Tour. To see what the other reviewers thought of the book, visit their sites listed below, then if you get a copy comeback and tell us what you thought, we’d love the feedback.

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PRESCOTT’S SECRET TO SUCCESS IS A SMALL FEMININE ARMY ARMED WITH REMINGTON’S AND SHARP PENCILS

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The Secrets We Kept CoverNext year marks the 60th anniversary of the death of Boris Pasternak, the author of the famous novel, Dr Zhivago published in 1957. Despite Pasternak’s avowal that it was a love story, Dr Zhivago was banned in his home country due to its anti-October revolution sentiments, this also didn’t stop David Lean making it into a hugely successful film in 1965 starring Omar Sharif.

Lara Prescott the author of this month’s second book review, has been fascinated about the story of Dr Zhivago since she learned she was named for it’s heroine by her mother. The book is The Secrets We Kept and is published by Hutchinson Books https://www.penguin.co.uk/company/publishers/cornerstone/hutchinson.html on the 3rd September.

Prescott’s book is a novel about the writing of Dr Zhivago , the sacrifices the author and his muse Olga Ivinskaya (Lara) made; and the role the CIA played in getting a banned book to be an underground success in Russia. It was while researching the history of the book, she noticed many of the heavily redacted documents she was reading had been typed by the all-female typing pool of the CIA, an organisation in its infancy at the time the novel was written.

Why was the CIA interested in the book you may wonder? The Americans thought that itZhivagopster2 provided a way of enlightening the Russian readers to more western sympathies. The book was therefore being used as a weapon in the cold war.

This is a story of two strands. We follow Lara, Pasternak’s muse and mistress, and the inspiration for the Lara of Dr Zhivago. She suffered more than Pasternak himself for his art, spending 5 years in a ‘Re-Education Camp’; basically a labour camp, for her refusal to say that Pasternak was writing anti soviet literature and to supply details of the novel to her interrogators. Lara is loyal and she passionately believes in Pasternak as a writer but is not naïve and realizes the danger that Pasternak’s desire to get his masterpiece published and recognised is to herself and her family.

The other strand of the story takes place in America, where we meet Irina, a Russian immigrant who is employed by the CIA, ostensibly as a secretary but then, because of her Russian ancestry to be trained as a spy. She meets and falls in love with a fellow agent as she becomes involved in the CIA plot to release Dr Zhivago in the USSR.

The story is told through the eyes and voice of Lara, Irina and though the group voice of the secretarial pool at the CIA. The latter is the group that fascinated me the most. Women who had held challenging positions as undercover agents in the Second World War, relegated to typing. Whilst the story of Irina and Sally is from the imagination of Lara Prescott, the redacted files she read were typed by real women. I enjoyed the way Prescott gave the spy story a feminine twist. There are too many male dominated spy stories out there already and the important women of history have previously been frequently overlooked. This reminded me a little of Hidden Figures, the story of the women ‘computer’ at NASA who played such a vital role in the space race. Whilst I don’t like re do’s of male stories with a female twist, just to jump on a modern feminist bandwagon, this story rings true, mainly because at its heart it is true. How fascinating that the story behind the publishing of the book may grab our interest as much as the novel it is about!

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Lara Prescott (NY Times)

This is American author Lara Prescott’s (www.laraprescott.com) first novel, she holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the Michener Centre for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. Before getting her MFA she was an animal protection advocate and a political campaigner around the world, including trying to get the first woman prime minister of Trinidad & Tobago elected. She now lives in Texas with her family.

The characters are well written and all three main ladies elicited sympathy for their trials and tribulations. I felt the creation of the cold war America and Russia setting was very well researched. For a public who enjoy similar placed TV and film dramas, I can understand why this story has been sold to the producers of ‘The Night Manager’ and ‘La La Land’. It would have been one for David Lean too, if he were still with us. I was pleased to see that there was not a cliched happy ending. That would have been a let-down after a enjoying book that left me with lots to think about and a definite urge to revisit Dr Zhivago.

So “potoropis” down to your local book shop and get a copy or download it before the next cold war starts or winter sets in, which ever comes first.

 

Reviewed by Georgina Murphy

 

This review is part of a Random Things Blog Tour, to see what the other reviewers thought visit their sites listed below. Then if you get a copy and read it, comeback and tell us what you thought. We’d love the feedback.

 

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CORK GETS SWEPT INTO CRIME FICTION SPOTLIGHT WITH DOYLE’S TRILOGY

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River Of Bodies Final CoverThe city of Cork is the second largest city in the Irish republic after the capital Dublin, but is often considered by its residents to be the real capital.  It could have something to do with having the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney and the oldest yacht club in the world, founded in 1702. The city’s other claims to fame are, it was the location of the first Ford factory outside of America and the “Rebel County” of Cork is the largest county in Ireland.

I have a connection to the county, my mother’s family are from West Cork. I was only down there in July for a family birthday. As well as that, the city is home to one of the largest Jazz festivals outside of New Orleans, which takes place in October each year attracting over 40,000 visitors annually. Cork is also home to Noel “Noelie” O’Sullivan, the central character in this month’s first book review, its River of Bodies by Kevin Doyle and is  published by Blackstaff Press (www.blackstaffpress.com) in June this year.

River of Bodies is the second book in The Solidarity Books trilogy following To Keep A Bird Singing, which was published in 2018. The books follow the journey of small time activist  Noelie Sullivan as he continues his investigation into the powerful Donnelly clan, who were mixed up in the goings on in an industrial boys school in Cork back in the 60’s and the murder of a IRA informer, and its cover up by the Irish Police Force’s Special Branch unit in Cork. In the process of his research, his girlfriend and nephew have been murdered. His own life and the lives other close friends have been threatened.

It all started with the fairly innocuous theft of some classic records from Noelie’s flat tenTo Keep A Bird Singing Cover years previously and when, he by chance, discovers them in a charity shop at the start of the first book he also finds the confession of an ex Garda and a sheet of paper with the name of ‘Brian Boru’ (an old Irish king) in a couple of the LP sleeves. Early on in River of Bodies, his neighbour and friend dies from his injuries after a mysterious single car accident. As the trail takes him well beyond the county border and internationally, how many more deaths must Noelie and his close family and friends endure before they can unearth the truth?

One of the draw backs reviewing a literary series, is that I and my fellow bloggers/reviewers regularly get in at the second or third book. Now in most cases, there is enough back story to plough on regardless.  I was sent the first book in this trilogy as well, this time around and I was glad it had come too. As I attempted dive straight into River Of Bodies, only to discover 20 pages in, that there were quite a few references to what had preceded in the first book. So back I went and read it. There’s a funny story from our book group of one of our members picking up the second Hunger Games book inadvertently instead of the first one and then sitting there in the meeting all confused trying figure out what we were talking about…

You know from the outset that Doyle is onto a winner with these books owing to the topic and the other primary ingredients. Yep, kids, paedophiles and that old reliable, the religious orders.

If this trilogy is anything, it comes across a bit like an Irish take on The Millennium series, except their success was helped by the untimely death of its author Steig Larsson. Here’s hoping Kevin Doyle is in good health and the only thing he will need to achieve the success of this series is his great writing.

Our hero Noelie, is nothing special, just an ordinary Joe. A middle aged man, between jobs, whose only real claim to fame was a failed attempt to embarrass President Ronald Reagan at Shannon Airport when he visited Ireland in 1984.

I liked Noelie, but probably wouldn’t hold the same political views. Ireland maybe neutral but the American soldiers transiting through Shannon are helping the local and wider economy. Noelie maybe taken from Doyle’s own character, he’s an activist too, Noelie probably doesn’t want water charges, while I’m of the view nothing in this world is free and when we start rationing water, you’ll have to pay then (Soapbox away now)

The support cast, ergo the ragtag group of friends are all regular people too…  real earthy characters. There’s a previous occupant of the industrial schools, Black Gary, who sounds more like a pirate than a social avenger, Martin, Noelie’s gay neighbour,along with Meabh (a real nod to Lisbeth Salanader).

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Kevin Doyle

This is Irish Author Kevin Doyle’s (www.kevindoyle.ie) third book. Before writing To Keep A Bird Singing, he wrote a children’s book, The Worms Who Saved The World with Spark Deely (2017). Kevin has a masters in Organic Synthesis from University College Cork and has worked and lived in Australia and America, before returning home to Ireland where he now lives.

The story in both books is set ten years ago, during Ireland’s struggle to get out of the recession following the banking crisis. Everything seems real enough bar technical things which seemed a bit unbelievable for the law enforcement agencies of a bankrupt country which could hardly keep its fleet of vehicles on the road let alone eavesdrop on conversations using a person’s phone, especially when iPhones were still in their infancy. But again it all goes to help Doyle ratchet up the suspense around the mystery and the numerous disappearances and murders that occur.

My reading of the book with an English tainted accent probably didn’t do it justice and I’d love to hear it read in a local Cork accent. Foreigners or people like my wife from the East Midlands of the UK, may need to listen to it a couple of times if listening to an audiobook of this story.

So, if you’ve never been to Cork; then now maybe the time to go, in the company of the slightly rogueish Noelie Sullivan and his friends. Then once you read both of these books, get yourself on a cheap flight to there just in time for the Jazz festival and see what the lovely city on the River Lee has to offer.

 

Reviewed by: Adrian Murphy

 

 

This book is part of a Random Things Blog Tour, to see what the other reviewers thought, visit their blogs listed below, Then if you read the trilogy, come back and tell us what you thought.

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