Category — books

Title: PopCo
Author: Scarlett Thomas
Publisher:Harcourt
Pages:512
ISBN: 015603137X
Price: $5.46 (USD)

I enjoyed many things about this book – so much so that I read it cover to cover over the space of a day.

Alice Butler, an employee of PopCo in the Ideation and Design section, is headed to Devon, England for a company sponsored “Thought Camp” where she and her fellow employees will try to come up with new ideas for the next toy craze to hit the shelves.

While the work she does on the trip is very interesting, equally interesting to me was the story of her childhood and the mystery surrounding a necklace her grandfather gave her as a kid. The necklace has been engraved with a number that, if she can crack it, holds the key to a location containing millions of dollars in treasure. Much of Alice’s childhood revolves around learning the math that goes with breaking codes and ciphers. As a non-math person, I was really impressed by how Thomas (via Alice) explains codes and ciphers. You don’t need to have a background in math to understand what she’s talking about, and even if it still leaves you confused (or bored as some readers complained of) the mystery of her necklace and the treasure are more than enough to keep you interested.

I really enjoyed Thomas’s ability to remember what it was like to be a kid – the desire to be liked (or at least not teased) by the popular kids. The need to fit in and, at the same time, anger at having to fit in with the right clothes, hair, lipgloss, or whatever thing was currently cool. And the horror of having to hide those things that you were certain would cast you so far down the social ladder, you’d be reaching for the bottom rung – I think Thomas actually says almost exactly that at  some point in the novel. Alice’s ability with codes, ciphers, math and chess – and the fact that she lives with her grandparents – are things she wants to hide from the kids at school – especially the popular girls who seem to have accepted her as one their own.

I also liked that she understands the ways in which all those childhood things carry over into adulthood too. It’s the same sort of stuff even when you grow up (wanting to fit in, irrational worries that other people don’t like you or are upset with you and won’t tell you, trying to figure out what people want from you and what you want for yourself, feeling compelled to do things you don’t like in order to be “normal” etc.). Yet, with all these insights into her mind and being human, I found Alice’s sudden sexual relationship with another Thought Camp attendee, Ben, a little puzzling. Don’t get me wrong, it seems like a great way to pass the time and have fun while at a sometimes dull or pointless work outing – but given her repeated mentions of her shyness, her awkwardness and general lack of interest in being very social at all, I was surprised by the wordless/nameless sex she and Ben have. Their relationship does become more normal, but its beginning was a little jarring.

Despite that awkwardness – and who knows, maybe flings with colleagues happen like that all the time, and I just don’t know because I’ve never had one – I found myself intrigued and delighted with passages such as this:

“…I walk to the bus stop in town, breathing the bonfirey, marshmallowy smells of autumn. I love this time of year, when people start to rehearse for Christmas plays and pantomimes and the air feels like it’s full of magic spells. This is the time of year when arriving home after school feels cozy, like going back to bed.”

Maybe this only resonated with me because  I love autumn, but I found myself thinking, “Yes! That’s it exactly!” – and then bookmarking it. I also enjoyed her thoughts on marketing age-appropriate things to teenage girls (relevant to the plot, but I won’t spoil it for anyone) – and how many things are targeted at these young people but have insidious, adult meanings. Specifically this passage:

“I find it disturbing that there’s so much childishness in those magazines, and so much about sex at the same time…You are encouraged – in a playful, “childish” way – to pay so much attention to the detail of your “cute” socks and your “cute” bag and the cut of your…jeans and your bubblegum-coloured nail varnish because, well, basically because you want boys to think about fucking you. They don’t say that explicitly, though. They talk about fancying and snogging and crushes. What they don’t say is, “Here’s how to make boys your age want to fuck you.”

She goes on to talk about how that ends up making grown women, who are no longer the smooth-faced, thin and small 16 year olds they once were, want the illusion presented by the same magazines too, and so they end up buying age-inappropriate clothing and accessories as well.

It’s not that I had never thought of this, or noticed it, but Thomas put it so well that it was impossible to not think about it once I’d read it. And there are several other succinctly put observations about perfectly ordinary things throughout the book that made me think, “That’s exactly how I would have said it – if I’d been able to think it so clearly!”.

My only truly negative thought about this book involves the ending. Like other readers, and you can check out the reviews on Amazon.com for this, I was disappointed by the ending. The first 2/3 of the book is interesting and moving along at a good clip, and then it just…sort of…ends. I didn’t feel there was any resolution to anything. What sort of stuff was she doing with NoCo? What happened with her and Ben? Where was the treasure (and what was the treasure)? I didn’t feel that Alice had finished becoming whoever she became when the book skipped ahead through her further adventures after Thought Camp and then ended so abruptly.

However, there were many other who felt that the book ended exactly as it should have and I can see their point in this. Alice is smart and resourceful – thinking outside the box is second nature to her, what she does after Thought Camp may even be perfectly obvious, and the exact goings-on between her and Ben are not really crucial to the story anymore. For me, despite all this logical “I can see it your way too” thinking, the story felt unfinished to me. That being said, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing – because of it, I know that I will go back and re-read this book to see what I missed; to see if the things I missed make the ending better for me. And really, what better praise for a book about a treasure hunt is there than knowing the reader is going back a second time to look for more treasure themselves?

Title: The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer
Author: Nicole Sheldrake
Publisher: Amazon e-publishing
Pages: 310 (on Kindle)
ISBN: 9780987670700
Price: $2.99 (USD)

The titular character of Benjamin Skyhammer is a guy that pretty much everyone can identify with on some level: he doesn’t fit into society very well, he hates his day job (but loves his hobby), and he spends a good deal of time dreaming about the day when things will change for him. However, it’s all the reasons behind why he’s so easy to relate to, that make Benjamin Skyhammer stand out.

Skyhammer lives on Pingala, a world where everyone uses magic in their day to day lives – everyone except for him. Born without magic, Skyhammer is looked upon as something less than fully human. At their best, his fellow humans go out of their way to avoid any sort of contact with him; at their worst they openly taunt him (at rather low point in his personal history, a group of kids turned him into a snake for a lark).

As Keeper of the Retrograph Vault, a job he was forced into by virtue of being the only one able to get into the vault in the first place, he’s expected to be grateful and happy with such a cushy and easy job. Given that his predecessor spent most of his time as Keeper completely intoxicated, most people think the job is more than Skyhammer deserves as a magic-less outcast. Skyhammer, however, feels the job is a sort of boring punishment and is not content to sit on his laurels and take the easy way out. Instead, he and his best friend – his only friend really – Higgins, (a clever young lady, proficient in wizard level magic) spend the majority of their time hunting down the one Relic – a glove – that could bestow magical powers on Skyhammer and finally make him equal to everyone else.

During his various quests for this glove, Skyhammer finds other Relics and sells them as a source of income. This income goes towards paying informants who are helping him track the location of the Relic. When Skyhammer finally gets a solid lead on the whereabouts of the glove, he and Higgins are caught up in a race against time to get to it before someone else does

Without giving too much away, things go horribly awry and the fallout sends Skyhammer and Higgins on an adventure that ends up becoming far more complicated than either of them could ever have dreamed. Unexplained murders, political intrigues, and battles become the norm as they brave both beautiful and harsh landscapes to find the truth and to fulfill Skyhammer’s only desire. As might be expected, Skyhammer learns a few things about himself and the people around him along the way. Finding the truth, and seeking out your heart’s desire is hard, and sometimes frightening, work – but the rewards are great.

There are many things in this book to interest readers,  and of all the interesting things in it, I was most intrigued by the concept of the Retrograph.

Retrographs are pictures that are taken every minute of an individuals life – picture having a sort of camera as a third eye that takes a snapshot of one moment in time, every minute you’re awake. These Retrographs can be viewed at anytime – but only by the person to whom they belong. No one knows why the Retrographs exist, or for what purpose (those answers died with the ancients), they simply are – and every human, magic or not, has their whole life captured by this inner-eye. I have to admit, if we had anything like that now, I’d want the option of a delete button. After all, who’d want to look back on all the times you brushed your teeth or went to the bathroom (or worse!)?

I also enjoyed the wide variety in races (everything from humans to amoebas that like to knit) and the interesting technology too (flying carpets, magic slates, whole cities that float); it’s a world that is nothing like our own, but its inhabitants make it feel familiar and comfortable. The names of some of the inns that Skyhammer and Higgins pass through gave me the giggles as did the stories the locals feed the tourists regarding the name of their town, Four Hills (all I have to say is “conjoined princesses” – you’ll see).

The story itself moves along at a pretty quick pace. There were a few spots where I felt it went a little too fast, and the landscape, people and conversations went by in a bit of hurry. I’m a greedy reader, I like detail and back story (in the right measure). And there were some questions that I felt were not answered (perhaps the answers I wanted were deliberately not given to add an air of mystery – but I felt a little disappointed at not being let in on it)  and I must also be a little bit voyeuristic, as I would have liked more inner-dialogue – especially from Skyhammer – or at least more description of how the characters were feeling about certain events.

The only other thing that gave me a moment’s pause while reading, were the two instances where I felt that Benjamin Skyhammer acted wildly out of character. He generally seems like a fairly sweet sort of guy – the kind you take home to mother – even a little goofy and helpless at times. I had a hard time reconciling that Skyhammer to the two instances in the story (I could tell you which ones, but I don’t want to, a) spoil the plot or b) put ideas in your head about how you should react before you’ve even read it.) Let’s just say that I couldn’t (and still can’t) see someone of his character doing such things.

All in all, The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer is a good, fun read set in an interesting world that you’ll find yourself wishing you could visit for real.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

Ecclesiastes1:9-10 KJV

This quote has been on my mind this morning as I contemplate what constitutes plagiarism. My trusty Oxford English Reference Dictionary defines plagiarize as, “1 take and use (the thoughts, writings, inventions etc. of another person) as one’s own. 2 pass off the thoughts etc. of (another person) as one’s own.”

So, basically, intellectual theft – but what if you haven’t actually stolen anything and it only feels like you did? What if you’ve come up with a very, very similar idea – practically the same idea – independently?

Here’s what happened: several weeks ago, I wrote a scene in my first draft where my protagonist is learning to cross over from the human world into the world of the fae via a portal in one of BC’s provincial parks. I describe what the portal looks like, feels like, and even sounds like. The description I wrote has been floating around in my head for the better part of a year now and I was reasonably happy with what I wrote.

However, this morning I was finishing up the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Reckoning – I love this series, it’s such good fun to read – and I read a description of a portal to Faery that is, in some respects, nearly exactly like my own – so nearly exactly, in fact, that after reading it I had the uncomfortable feeling of having somehow stolen my description from Charlaine Harris.

Now, given that Dead Reckoning was released on May 3 (two days ago) and I didn’t purchase it until last night, or read the pertinent scene until 5:30 a.m. this morning – and that I have never met Charlaine Harris, never mind been part of her peer review group for upcoming Sookie Stackhouse novels – it’s an impossibility for either of us to have stolen the others idea about what a portal to Faery looks like.

So now I’m left wondering this:  if the ideas are nearly the same – and I’ve freely admitted here that they are – is it plagiarism if I keep my scene exactly the way it is, even knowing that Charlaine Harris beat me to the punch in publishing her idea first?

I want to say it isn’t plagiarism, because I know damn good and well that I didn’t steal her idea. I didn’t read it and think, “Oh, that’s so much better than my own idea of a portal made of Jello and glitter glue, guarded by armed squirrels – yoink!”.  And I certainly don’t own a time machine that would allow me to steal her unpublished work and burgle the bits about her portal to Faery. I wrote my scene in good faith thinking that it was my idea, and my idea alone.  But, now that I know it isn’t, I’m a little worried a future editor or agent will say, ‘Hey, I think Charlaine Harris already wrote this description, you two-bit hack.”

Yes, I could change it and save myself (and the readers of this blog) all my intellectual hand-wringing, but I don’t want to change what I wrote. I like what I wrote because it works for the scene – but is it plagiarism? Am I a thief now that I know how alike parts of the descriptions are?

Please, help me set my mind at ease one way or the other by leaving your take on this in the comments!