Tent life...

I thought this picture (of a nomadic herder's tent in Mongolia) was great.

Lilacs...

Walking to work, I saw a bush of lilacs that were bright cherry red. It was striking - I'd never seeb such a thing.

It was lovely.

Perfect Dark: Initial Vector...

Still reading Greg Rucka novels one after another, today I finished Perfect Dark: Initial Vector.

It's a book based on the XBOX game "Perfect Dark Zero", which I never heard of. And no, I wouldn't normally read a novel based on a video-game, except that I have extreme faith in Greg Rucka.

The beginning was not promising. A fight-and-chase sequence; pretty girl with red hair and a big gun. It turns out (after two pages) to be an intense scene from a future-tech video-game she is playing. Any other author, and I'd have run away.

And in fact, the first third of the book follows the style I'd expect from a video-game, and from Greg Rucka: good, fast action, a high-tech commando raid, a snatch of an industrial spy, a heroine and villain who have the whiff of superpowers about them - she has unexplained fast reflexes, he is enhanced by addictive drugs. Viewpoint pops from person to person in the way I wish thrillers wouldn't do - I love a strong, consistent point of view. It was a good, snappy read, but nothing above the average adventure novel.

By halfway through there's more substance. Characterization picks up. Action develops moral and social implication, and psychological depth. Characters began to seem three-dimensional, their lives and motivations real.

I like the theme: mega-corporations fighting over the world, or, more specifically, the health of populations. The book starts with a pandemic originating in Toronto: millions of Canadians die in the prologue. Yeech! Much of the action is set in Vancouver, some in Europe and Asia. The world of 2020, with anti-grav fliers and the possibility of a cure for cancer.

Forget that it was based on a game, it was a damn good thriller.

(no subject)

A post worth remembering - fabu's LJ entry this evening. About self-actualization: not a phrase I like, but I put it in other words - learning to be myself.