Welcome back!
I’ve been very busy on another short-deadline project that I can’t talk about yet, and it’s absorbing all of my time and attention. I think it’s something many of you will be very excited about when you hear what I’ve been up to, but my boss will have my head if I spill the beans now. Suffice it to say that between Dark Sun, Gamma World, and this New Coolness, I’ve had a very busy and interesting year or so in the game-design biz. And that doesn’t even count at least three other Really Cool Things coming up in the next few months that I’ll get to work on outside of the D&D multiverse. I promise I'll tell you all about them when I can!
Some Reading Recommendations
For a couple of months now I’ve been working my way through my “Christmas stack,” the new books I got around the holidays. I thought I’d say a few words about what I’ve been reading just in case anybody finds it interesting. Two of the best SF titles I’ve read in a very long time: Ilium by Dan Simmons, and Anathem by Neal Stephenson. There was a period a couple of years ago when I was beginning to wonder if the great science fiction was slowly vanishing in a sea of fantasy titles; I’m glad to say that I didn’t have much to worry about. Ilium manages to mix up The Time Machine, the Iliad, the Tempest, and the singularity in a brilliant batter that I almost couldn’t put down. It’s great stuff. Anathem is another masterful work, one of the most thought-provoking premises I’ve run across in a long, long time. If you think a book that draws heavily on the history of philosophy might sound boring, you’d be mistaken—this is a great read.
In terms of nonfiction, I just read a great examination of the Battle of Midway called Shattered Sword, by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about Midway, being a big WW2 naval buff, but Shattered Sword really opened my eyes. I’m often a little skeptical of revisionist history, but the authors did an excellent job in isolating the misunderstandings that have become part of the story of the battle for fifty years or more. All of you IJNCVLF guys out there need to own a copy of this book—you will gain an incredible understanding of Imperial naval aviation, its strengths, and its fatal flaws.
(Why is it there’s only been one movie ever made about Midway? The old Charlton Heston film is OK, but it certainly contributes to the mistaken mythology of the battle reexamined in Shattered Sword. For that matter, why aren’t there more WW2 naval movies? The groundpounders got meticulously crafted films like Saving Private Ryan and Flags of Our Fathers. Take out submarine movies and Pearl Harbor, and what do you have left? In Harm’s Way, and Sink the Bismarck. OK, sure, you’ve got Mr. Roberts and The Caine Mutiny, but those aren’t movies about battles. Somebody get on that, or at least tell me a couple of good films I’m overlooking.)
My Fantasy Baseball Team
I mentioned last time that I’m playing an ESPN fantasy baseball league with some old TSR colleagues and their friends. Our automated draft took place at oh-dark-thirty on Easter Sunday, and I’ve got my team. It looks like I drew a pretty weak draft position (9th out of 10 teams) but I feel that I wound up with a team that’s probably about fourth-best in the league out of the gate. There are a couple of teams that are clearly better, and a couple of teams that I think are clearly worse. Some of my big stars: Adrian Gonzalez, Evan Longoria, Pablo Sandoval, Zach Greinke, Jake Peavy, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Josh Johnson (I love my starting pitching). I’ve got a couple of intriguing younger players in Jason Heyward, Jay Bruce, and Stephen Strasburg.
I feel like I need another big outfield bat to really compete, but big seasons out of Heyward and Bruce would put me in pretty good shape. I wound up with no Phillies or Mariners, which is a bit of a bummer, ‘cause I do like to have a couple of home-towners anchoring my roster. On the other hand, there’s an old saying about eggs in baskets that seems to apply when stacking up your favorite team’s players on your fantasy roster. A bad season or big injury hurts twice as bad when it’s affecting the standings in two leagues!
