Re-reading this was enjoyable, especially given that I had been thinking a lot about Lovecraft (with running Trail of Cthulhu) and it's relationship to espoinage fiction (given the Delta Green connection in my game). Plus, I've been reading a bit of Hellboy/BPRD and thinking a bit about Cold City/Hot War too, so I guess the whole apocalypti/monsters from beyond thing might be rather on my mind right now.
Anyhow, to the book itself... it's certainly raw compared to his later work, and filled to the brim with nerdy jokes about Lovecraft, information technology and spy fiction. Still, they are good jokes and it is a good story. I suspect that The Jennifer Morgue will get a second read pretty soon, too, and I'm looking forward to the third outing even more now.
Showing posts with label spy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spy. Show all posts
25 January 2009
05 July 2008
Casino Royale
Finally got around to watching this, and immediately regretted not doing so earlier. Very good, and feels a lot closer to the Bond I remember from the novels than the other films. Now looking forward to the next one (even though it has a silly name).
11 March 2008
The Night Manager by John Le Carre
An interesting story, written soon after the Berlin Wall came down and dealing with spy agencies looking for other targets. Also stands out in that it kind of has a happy ending.
28 February 2008
09 February 2008
The Good Shepherd
Interesting.
This is a fictionalised version of the early days of the CIA, from the point of view of Matt Damon's counter-intelligence expert. I'm not an expert on the history, but the impression I got was that the main characters were all loosely based on real people and likewise with the events in the film.
It's pretty slow, and Damon plays his guy so cold that it takes a while to find people in the film to empathize with. As everything starts to slot together, it becomes more compelling.
I'm not sure yet what message to take away from it, which at least suggests it's somewhat deeper than most films. Well worth a look.
This is a fictionalised version of the early days of the CIA, from the point of view of Matt Damon's counter-intelligence expert. I'm not an expert on the history, but the impression I got was that the main characters were all loosely based on real people and likewise with the events in the film.
It's pretty slow, and Damon plays his guy so cold that it takes a while to find people in the film to empathize with. As everything starts to slot together, it becomes more compelling.
I'm not sure yet what message to take away from it, which at least suggests it's somewhat deeper than most films. Well worth a look.
14 December 2007
The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian
This book is fairly unusual in the series in that little of it takes place at sea. The plot concerns legal entanglements and spying in England, mainly, and so it's a change of pace from most of the series. However, this gives us a different perspective on Aubrey and Maturin.
10 December 2007
Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian
Another re-read. This is one of the books that gets deepest into Maturin's work as a secret agent, and this gives it overall a very tense story (especially as we the readers know of a traitor that he does not). It is also the first time we really get to know Reverend Martin, and his unfortunate habit of being bitten, stung or otherwise abused by random creatures.
02 December 2007
Spione by Ron Edwards
This book is part general history of spying in the Cold War (particularly in Berlin) and discussion of the popular culture associated with it. It's also a game to replicate personal spy stories - basically stories like Le Carre's.
The history part is very good. It's concise, and packed with interesting facts. As well as that, it follows neither an academic historical format nor that of a typical history aimed at laypeople. It's somewhere in between, but not on a direct line. Perhaps it's just that it seems to reflect Edwards' own research and discoveries (and his excitement while doing that).
The game is quite specific and closed. You tell the story of two spies in Berlin during the Cold War. Characters are pre-generated and included in the book. However, the personal history and role as a spy are separate. Character generation is basically picking one person and one spy sheet, and sticking them together.
The other element to character generation is one that I find somewhat out of my comfort zone. Every player is required to write down two 'trangressions' - morally wrong things that they or someone they know has done. The player for each of the two characters each pick one of these at random and this act becomes part of the character's history. This feels like it's getting into a kind of psychodrama that I have no real interest in exploring. On the other hand, these spy stories generally include flawed characters and this method seems well picked to have a plausible and relevant flaw included.
The other players, by the way, share the responsibility for playing all other characters in the game.
Play proceeds by building up scenes, each player taking turns to add elements. The scenes generally are about one or the other spy, but everyone gets a turn to add to them. When the scenes reach a flashpoint (that's the game term - essentially a critical conflict) then you go into a card game to resolve that. Each player has a particular card associated, and a certain number (based on the character) are laid out. Then you play a few rounds of a game that allows you to maneuver your cards around. This allows you to influence the order of narration (each player narrates as their cards are placed in the line) and how much authority you have (e.g. if you lay a card on another player's, they narrate one thing and then you add to that; only if you have two matching cards may you narrate a character's death; etc).
Play continues through building up scenes to flashpoints until a spy's friends and companions are all removed from play - then the character comes in from the cold, one way or another. Once both spy's stories are over, the game is finished.
The history part is very good. It's concise, and packed with interesting facts. As well as that, it follows neither an academic historical format nor that of a typical history aimed at laypeople. It's somewhere in between, but not on a direct line. Perhaps it's just that it seems to reflect Edwards' own research and discoveries (and his excitement while doing that).
The game is quite specific and closed. You tell the story of two spies in Berlin during the Cold War. Characters are pre-generated and included in the book. However, the personal history and role as a spy are separate. Character generation is basically picking one person and one spy sheet, and sticking them together.
The other element to character generation is one that I find somewhat out of my comfort zone. Every player is required to write down two 'trangressions' - morally wrong things that they or someone they know has done. The player for each of the two characters each pick one of these at random and this act becomes part of the character's history. This feels like it's getting into a kind of psychodrama that I have no real interest in exploring. On the other hand, these spy stories generally include flawed characters and this method seems well picked to have a plausible and relevant flaw included.
The other players, by the way, share the responsibility for playing all other characters in the game.
Play proceeds by building up scenes, each player taking turns to add elements. The scenes generally are about one or the other spy, but everyone gets a turn to add to them. When the scenes reach a flashpoint (that's the game term - essentially a critical conflict) then you go into a card game to resolve that. Each player has a particular card associated, and a certain number (based on the character) are laid out. Then you play a few rounds of a game that allows you to maneuver your cards around. This allows you to influence the order of narration (each player narrates as their cards are placed in the line) and how much authority you have (e.g. if you lay a card on another player's, they narrate one thing and then you add to that; only if you have two matching cards may you narrate a character's death; etc).
Play continues through building up scenes to flashpoints until a spy's friends and companions are all removed from play - then the character comes in from the cold, one way or another. Once both spy's stories are over, the game is finished.
20 September 2007
Spook Country by William Gibson
Really great.
It's in the same style as Pattern Recognition (indeed, it shares some characters), and again deals with possible alternative uses of existing technology. It seems to me that Gibson's writing is getting more subtle each book, and this one is almost sparse. There aren't many wasted words.
It follows three different characters, all tied into a mystery, and they get chapters in turn. I've read some other books in this style recently, and this one shows how it should be done. Gibson's chapters are short and punchy, so you never have to think about what was happening to a character last time you were with them. A positive contrast to multi-character stories that seem to use this as a way to essentially fit multiple novels into one book.
It's in the same style as Pattern Recognition (indeed, it shares some characters), and again deals with possible alternative uses of existing technology. It seems to me that Gibson's writing is getting more subtle each book, and this one is almost sparse. There aren't many wasted words.
It follows three different characters, all tied into a mystery, and they get chapters in turn. I've read some other books in this style recently, and this one shows how it should be done. Gibson's chapters are short and punchy, so you never have to think about what was happening to a character last time you were with them. A positive contrast to multi-character stories that seem to use this as a way to essentially fit multiple novels into one book.
10 September 2007
The Bourne Ultimatum
Fine action movie here. The plot seems to have been edited down to a point where there are holes bigger than what remains, but this doesn't prevent it holding together the three key action sequences that are what the film's really about.
This is as good as the first two films in the series, maybe better.
This is as good as the first two films in the series, maybe better.
28 July 2007
The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross
The second novel in Stross' Lovecraft/spy/computer hacking series. Where The Atrocity Archives was his take on Len Deighton, this one goes after Ian Fleming and James Bond.
It's a better novel than the first one, too. Really funny and fairly exciting stuff. It also has a high amount of geek-stuff, references to this or that bit of pop culture, Lovecraftian lore, and so forth.
It comes with an extra short story at the end (about the dangers of online gaming and also HR departments) and a fun little essay about Fleming and Bond.
It's a better novel than the first one, too. Really funny and fairly exciting stuff. It also has a high amount of geek-stuff, references to this or that bit of pop culture, Lovecraftian lore, and so forth.
It comes with an extra short story at the end (about the dangers of online gaming and also HR departments) and a fun little essay about Fleming and Bond.
29 April 2007
Espionage by Ernest Volkman
Subtitled "The Greatest Spy Operations of the 20th Century," which pretty much sums up the book.
Volkman has selected 22 cases, and devotes a good chapter to each. He covers how the operations began, their objectives and their effects on history. His writing is good, making even a few of the more dry cases interesting. Most of them don't need this, as they're pretty exciting. There's also a large number that I knew nothing or very little about.
He rounds it off with perhaps the most ludicrous operation ever, an attempt in 1945 to reduce German morale using forged postage stamps with subversive messages on them. Yes, really. (Spoiler: it had absolutely no effect on German morale).
Volkman has selected 22 cases, and devotes a good chapter to each. He covers how the operations began, their objectives and their effects on history. His writing is good, making even a few of the more dry cases interesting. Most of them don't need this, as they're pretty exciting. There's also a large number that I knew nothing or very little about.
He rounds it off with perhaps the most ludicrous operation ever, an attempt in 1945 to reduce German morale using forged postage stamps with subversive messages on them. Yes, really. (Spoiler: it had absolutely no effect on German morale).
05 April 2007
A Perfect Spy by John Le Carre
Another Le Carre classic down. This provides an interesting portrait of the life of the "perfect spy." It's an cynical look at what might drive someone to live a life of total deceit.
20 March 2007
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre
I'm going to be reading a bunch of Le Carre novels as research for my Cold War espionage superheroes game. This is the first.
Good. Bleak. Terrifyingly bleak. I guess this was what the height of the Cold War felt like.
Good. Bleak. Terrifyingly bleak. I guess this was what the height of the Cold War felt like.
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