The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black

The fictional biography of the great surgeon Dr. Spencer Black.

A dark, night time story in the streets of Philadelphia as you watch Spencer Black grow up. Starting as the son of a grave robber to becoming a doctor, a circus sideshow host, a husband, and a madman obsessed with a single idea. 

A brilliant book the likes of which you have never seen.  
     This is one of the most interesting and intriguing books that I have ever read. It is a short book, maybe 100 pages of text in the hardcover copy  with about 50 pages of illustrations. The illustrations depict the attaching of bone structures and muscle to and from a variety of creatures to create mythical beings. 

It is fantastic, strange, haunting, cruel, and something I have never seen before in a book. 

Philadelphia. The late 1870s. A city of cobblestone sidewalks and horse-drawn carriages. Home to the famous anatomist and surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a "resurrectionist" (aka grave robber), Dr. Black studied at Philadelphia's esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world's most celebrated mythological beasts - mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs - were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind? "The Resurrectionist" offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his humble beginnings to the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black's magnum opus: 'The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray's Anatomy' for mythological beasts - dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus - all rendered in meticulously detailed black-and-white anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. 'The Resurrectionist' tells his story. [back cover]

Give the first few pages a quick read, you might find it to your liking. Amazon's first few pages I highly recommend it and shall not say anything more in fear of giving away the story. (video book trailer on the left of the Gread home page)

Sometimes you need to exhume the dead to find the treasure within,

M.

The Sandman Comic Book Series

He is the King of Dreams, the Prince of Stories, Lord Shaper, Morpheus, Oneiros, King of All Night's Dreaming ... He is the Sandman.

The Sandman series was written by the author Neil Gaiman who is known for his novels Coraline and American Gods.

The comic revolves around the Sandman in a beautifully illustrated world. It is a dark land the comic inhabits with a dialogue that is deep and riddled with underlying truths. The Sandman is a cold, distant character but one you find yourself liking more and more as you read on. He is not a hero, he is a dark protagonist who tries to do what he believes to be right and protect the people of Earth's dreams and the creatures that call the Dreaming home. 

Dream, Death, Desire, Delirium, Despair, Destruction, Destiny

Throughout the comics you learn more and more about the Sandman and eventually you'll meet the rest of his family, the Endless. 
Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. Destiny is the oldest. He is shown as an old man wearing a brown robe and carrying the Cosmic Log. Death is Dream's closest sister, she's a fantastic character, and seems to be able to provide advice for Dream (the odd times that he asks). Destruction is not seen for the few comics and has abandoned his role as a member of the Endless. Delirium's hair and clothes change as does her tone and the topic of her speech. She was once Delight but transformed to Delirium, a young girl with different coloured eyes and an inconsistent shadow. Despair is a fat, short woman and is the twin to Desire. Desire is both male and female or neither as she (since its a woman depicted above but in the comics it could be a person of either sex) represents all that a person may want. The Endless are all unique and greatly developed characters. 


The Endless are not the only gods or aspects to appear in the Sandman comics. Cain and Abel, Anubis, Loki, Odin, Lucifer, Beelzebub and many others appear to help Sandman or to reek havoc in the world. 

"The million lords of hell stand arrayed about you. Tell us, why we should let you leave? Helmet or no, you have no power here — what power have dreams in Hell?"

"You say I have no power? Perhaps you speak truly. But — you say that dreams have no power here? Tell me, Lucifer Morningstar... Ask yourselves, all of you, what power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of Heaven?" - Lucifer and Dream, in Preludes and Nocturnes

One thing you'll learn is that the Sandman is more powerful than you'd ever expect. He's above those who oppose, If something happens in the Dreaming it is because he has let it. He will reclaim his power if it stolen. He will walk to hell and back to retrieve it. He is the King of Dreams. 

It is a magnificent, dark comic and one that will always keep you on your toes, waiting to know what will happen next. 

Give it a read, it won't disappoint. 

M.

"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot." - Dream, in Dream Country

History of the World

I have always enjoyed the board game Risk but it's flaws make it a difficult game to find participants for. Flaw 1: after everyone else has been beaten off the board the remaining two players could be playing for ... ever. Flaw 2: Its one of the most popular board games in North America and just like Monopoly no one plays it and very few people actually play it.

History of the World is almost like a hybrid Risk game. Like Risk you conquer countries and territories across the world and earn victory points based on how much of each territory you control at the end of your turn.

Each player plays a different colour as they progress through the seven epochs of the game. In each epoch the players randomly draw a civilization card which tells them where they start, how many armies the receive, if they have a capital city, and whether they start with sea travel or not. The player then proceeds to fight other players and claim countries across the map. 

The picture to the left depicts the cards of the game. The top cards are the front and back of the civilization/empire cards. It shows that the player starts in the Indus Valley with 4 armies and on the other side the order of play  The bottom cards are used as special abilities for a single epoch.

The scoring is 1x for presence in a coloured group of countries (ex. North America, the Middle East, Southern Europe etc), 2x for dominance (two countries more than any other player in that area), and 3x for control (at least three countries in the area and no other players with presence). As the game progresses through the epochs different areas on the map are worth more points than others; accurate to history the first epoch revolves around the Middle East with empires like Macedonia, Babylonia, and Assyria. Then the majority of the empire cards shift to India and China before moving to Europe and then eventually North America. 

What is unique to History of the World is that players score their points as soon as they end their turn; so unlike risk where it is very important to reinforce choke points and build up your armies in History of the World it's best to spread your empire as far as you possibly can to score the highest number of points possible. You score both the countries you took this turn and those you conquered in older epochs as long as they are still in play so it is best to try and conquer new territories and not cannibalize the territories you already control from a past empire. 

The game is very strategic and is ideally played by three people (four seems like there is too much waiting between each turn). The game does take approximately 3 to 4 hours to complete but you could end it after any epoch if you wish. If you enjoy Risk, this game will be a new favourite.

Enjoy conquering the world

M.

Por(t)al 2

... the game that taught us that infinitely running through the same wall never gets old

... or that a thin layer of goo is quite bouncy

... or that dropping your friend through a portal to make him/her fall into a few inches of water and short circuit (die) is slightly entertaining

I present you Portal 2!  

Two robots (in the coop play) with the ability to open accessible portals awaken in a beautifully created, futuristic, post apocalyptic type world with a psychotic, manipulative, sarcastic, training controller robot named GLaDOS. She (the voice is robotic but a woman's so...) she has devised countless levels of puzzles in a massive facility that it seems was originally used to test humans. She is now using it to test you. 

The game is challenging and fun, giving you a sense of accomplishment as you weave your way through a maze of puzzles. Each new level becomes harder or at least different than the last. In some levels you'll have try again and again to make the perfect jump or recall the buttons you pressed to test them in a different order. 

To move through the puzzles, and sometimes to make them just a little more difficult, there are glowing, blue, hologram walkways, anti-gravity vortexes, slime that makes you slide really fast, goo that makes you jump higher, lasers, machine gun fire, and contraptions similar to a catapult that will throw you great distances. 

The physics of the game are fantastic and mind boggling at the same time. You fire a portal at the wall and one at the floor and as you move through the wall to the floor you feel slight vertigo as your view and gravity reasserts itself in the game. How the programmers were able to comprehend the physics of the scenario and how the world and robots would react to the changes is amazing and definitely something to be applauded.

I found Coop to be a great addition to the game. Sometimes two brains were better than one and the extra set of portals made things much more interesting. I'm all for coop games and it was fun to play with my buddy and also my sister. 

The interaction between the two robots is also a comical, novel feature of the game. You can hug, smack each other, tell a joke, and even play rock, paper, scissors.

It is an amazing game to play and it is frustrating at times. It is a win that you have to earn. 

I know its in the past by a few years but definitely give it a rent or buy it used, I'm sure you can find a cheap copy somewhere. 

Worth it,

M.

B-A-N-A-N-A-grams

Bananagrams! (Yes I've gone from ancient games to those played by small children) It's like a free board Scrabble game that my girlfriend and I have started playing together. She loves it and if she's got her larger purse with her there's a good chance that it’s in there somewhere. 

You play Bananagrams on a cleared table top, with lots of space, and use the letters you pick up to create words. The words have to be connected and branch off from each other (like Scrabble). You start with 21 tiles (in a two player game) and once you use all those letters to form interconnected words you say "peel", all other players, including yourself, must pick up a new tile. When there are no more tiles on the tree you say "split" where you would have said "peel" and you are declared the winner. I should mention that you only play with your letters and the words you've laid down in front of you; there are no adding words to other people's boards.

If you are stumped with the letters you are holding you can trade in one of your tiles for three from the tree. Another option to get out of a jam is to rearrange your board. You can move any of your words around, add or remove letters/words; you could even restart your entire word arrangement if you wanted to (unlike Scrabble). 

Like Scrabble you cannot use proper nouns as words (names, places etc.) or acronyms (I'm not sure about this one but the lady is sure that they aren't allowed). There is no scoring and even a person who is struggling at the beginning can get their words in order and call "peel" to find that there aren't any more letters and they have in fact just won the game.

It's a fun, light game and takes between 5-15 minutes to play. It would make a really funny drinking game, especially as the words get worse and worse. Up to now we've enjoyed it sober and have started to get more competitive. (And yes, she's winning)

Score Board
Her	Me
llll	lll

I'm pretty sure it's a little kid's learning tool, but who cares? It's quick, easy, portable, and fun. It's also cheap, I saw it online for $12, it's definitely worth it if you're a Scrabble fan. 

Try it and enjoy,

                               M.

Hero Quest Review

I know I said I wouldn't be reviewing games that are covered in dust but this one I do have to bring back to the surface. The game is Hero Quest.

This game is old. Hero Quest was released in Canada and the US in 1990. This is a 24 year old game and when I first started playing it I found the yellowed character sheets that my parents and uncle had used when they had played the game, who knows how long ago.

It's a fantasy game and players play as four heroes, with different strengths, weaknesses, and magical abilities. A player must also be the evil Warlock Zargon, who controls the monsters on the map. In the original game, the campaign booklet has ten different map layouts,  with multiple treasures, different quests, and stronger enemies as the hero's progress through the stages.


The Barbarian is all strength with a little mind, he is there to slay monsters. He's a strong character and a low mind (defense against spells) only shows its slight weakness in the later levels when Zargon's minions start to receive stronger spells. The Dwarf is also a strong fighting character but he has the ability to disable traps with his 1 point sharper mind. The Elf (which we called Elrond) is a good support character. He has a mid-level strength and three earth spells. The Wizard is weak in strength and has limitations as to what weapons he can use. As my friends and I played through the game we always found ourselves protecting the wizard, he is a burden because of his low attack strength but his spells will get your team out of some tight places and he has a few treasures that can be acquired that will make him a much stronger character. Hint: Don't be afraid to use the wizard's spells, you get them refreshed every map.

I found that the best number of players is three. One plays the Wizard and the Barbarian, another plays the Dwarf and the Elf, and the last plays Zargon. This evens out the fun characters with the support characters.

As Zargon you are the one who places the furniture, doorways, and monsters on the map. This information is only known to you until the heroes "see it" in their field of view and then it is placed on the board. You only play the monsters after they have been seen (and when I played as Zargon, since I'm the only one who sees the  fully uncovered map I would throw in extra monsters and traps ... just to make things interesting)

It's a lot of fun, tons of pieces and monsters keep it interesting and the fact that you play on the same dungeon map never gets boring. I started playing at about the age of 10 or 11 so it's great for younger kids and their friends. Mom or Dad should probably play as Zargon but it really is all ages friendly. If you play through the and want more levels, cards, monsters, and characters you can find them online. People have made alternate scenarios with extra printable cards. You're game booklet should also come with a grid of the map and you can even design your own layout and quest.

Always search of traps, hidden doors, and as always treasure.

Stay greedy my friends,

M.

Malazan Book of the Fallen

A coworker was talking to me the other day and asked if I had read the Game of Thrones series and I responded that I had a long time ago. He proceeded to fan-boy about them and then said "they were the best books I've ever read." He looked at me as if I was to respond in the same way. I simply said "I've read better" and then proceeded to list books that I thought we amazing and better than Game of Thrones. One of these series was the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

It is a series that is quite under-discovered and under appreciated. These books, there are ten in the Steven Erikson series, are the most fantasy driven, in-depth, creative, absorbing books I have ever read. They stand next to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in depth and creativity.

The series contains a massive world populated by various unique races scattered across the map, each with a unique culture, language, behaviour, and ways of waging war and fighting. It is such a colourful and extensive story that will blow you away.

The story focuses mostly on a few group of characters and the focus changes both within the book and from novel to novel. This does create difficulty, at times, when trying to follow the story but it necessary with such a large tale and it does get easier as you get used to the writing method. The main characters are Ganoes Paran, a nobleman's son who is an untested officer in the Malazan Empire's army, The Bridgeburners, the most feared and well known squad in the army,

Don't stop reading because of Deadhouse Gates, it's a good book but it is the slowest of the series and will feel like it drags a little. It's a pivotal portion of the story so you have to read it and trust me it only gets better afterwards.

Author	Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen)	Ian Cameron Esslemont (Malazan Novels)
Malazan	Gardens of the Moon Deadhouse Gates Memories of Ice House of Chains Midnight Tides The Bonehunters Reaper's Gale Toll the Hounds Dust of Dreams The Crippled God	Night of Knives Return of the Crimson Guard Stonewielder Orb, Sceptre, Throne Blood and Bone Assail
Novellas surrounding the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach	Blood Follows The Healthy Dead The Lees of Laughter's End Crack’d Pot Trail The Wurms of Blearmouth
The Kharkanas Trilogy	Forge of Darkness Fall of Light (2015) Walk in Shadow (TBA)

In the above table I have read the books with the bolded titles, they are listed in correct order as well. They are fantastic and I hear good things about Cameron's writing in the world the two authors share. 

I urge you read these books, they are beyond fantastic but I word of advice, don't read them while reading another series or other fantasy books in between. The plot lines will start to become intermingled in your mind and you'll forget key characters and events.

Please read and enjoy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is the definition of high fantasy. 

M.

Going Full Arcade with Time Crisis 3

Arcade version Time Crisis 3. 

YES! What a game, you have a gun and a pedal and that's it. 

What a great game. You can play solo or two player coop . The graphics on TC3 are outdated now but it's still a very entertaining game. It was developed by Nex Entertainment, published by Namco, and released in arcade form in 2003. The graphics remind me of old Resident Evil 4.

I only bring it up because I was at an arcade a few days ago and I played it with my girl friend. She died twice but I almost made it through 3 acts without dying. I used to play it all the time with my dad and I guess I still have my edge. And since I felt nostalgic I decided to write a review for you.

Time Crisis is a two person shooter where you fight side by side. One of the coolest features, aside from actually holding the gun and aiming, is the kick of the gun as you fire at the screen. When playing you fight your way through many different surroundings and scenarios. You don't, however, control your movement. After killing the 5 to 10 guys in one small view, the camera goes to a quick (skippable) cut-scene  or movement sequence and then you are able to continue fighting in a new spot. 

In TC3 there are four guns: your pistol, machine gun, shotgun, and grenade launcher. Each has unique ammo (your pistol is unlimited) that you collect by killing certain types of enemies. ->

To switch guns you press the pedal down, causing your character to duck and be safe from all forms of enemy attacks. Then by clicking the trigger you can scroll through the four gun types. By ducking you also automatically reload with no wait involved.

I don't know how great the console games are but I'd certainly recommend it if you're ever in an arcade. You certainly get into it and may start ducking as rockets or bullets fly overhead. The point system further boosts a player competitive nature and when playing coop you can see who got the higher points and who died the fewest times.

Save the grenade launcher ammo for the boss. 

M.