Blade Math in a Straightjacket

I finished Empire of Blood this morning.

First of all, I should have set my expectations a bit lower than I did. I remember reading other novels from this time period (but not this series) and some of them are world-class. A lot of them are forgettable and a few are detestable. Empire of Blood falls towards the low-end of the forgettable category.

The framing story of Richard Blade is weak at best, or at least in its twenty-third iteration. They don’t explain much about his travels through the dimensions. The characters in 1970’s England are glossed over and strictly background fluff. They have little to no bearing on the actual story. This was a wasted part of the story. It could be used to draw out the characters and Richard more so there was a more defined world for the reader.

Richard Blade is transported to a new dimension with each book, this one being no different. In this one, he faces down a despotic, bloodthirsty ruler while making friends amongst everyone else. He beds every major female that appears in the story and doesn’t even waste a moment when one of them is tortured to death. That Richard Blade, it’s a wonder he isn’t married! Most of the other characters in the story are barely one-dimensional including a character who saves Richard’s life, an exposition laden love interest, and a key figure in the pivotal climax of the novel.

The writing is also a serious detractor for this book. I know that’s like saying Jackie Chan movies have bad dubbing, but it’s a point worth making. This type of book was churned out to keep the series going and to provide titillation for young men who could obtain them. It reads easy enough, but with just a little bit of work and editing, it could have been much better.

Overall, this is a book I couldn’t really recommend to anyone. It’s cheap pulp fiction with no real redeeming qualities except to perhaps teach fledgling writers how not to write.

———————————————-

I watched Constantine (2005) last night. That is such a great movie in my opinion. They did everything wrong with it (in some people’s opinions), but still managed to make a great film. After seeing that, I’m looking to fill out my back collection of Hellblazer graphic novels.

I’m still stuck with my multiple timeline character story. I have a main protagonist who is taking definition, but I don’t have a story to go with the idea. Although an idea struck me just now to combine it with my universal equation story idea. A little brainstorming, some Earth music, and I might just have something there.

A very intriguing reading today. It was all minor arcana cards. It was a strange reading, but the future card was represented by the Ten of Rods. A card symbolizing hard work and possible overworking. Something I am familiar with, and could certainly explain my current state of mind. This week has been a whirlwind so far. Perhaps this weekend will be a nice time to cool off the brain and let things relax a bit. Get some reading and writing done.

Erica and I are in the midst of a new redecorating project. We just got back some of our art pieces and now we have to decide where we’re going to place them in the house. I think we’re going to use this opportunity to move our main rooms back to their original themes (travel, media, fantasy, etc.). No matter how we distribute it, we still won’t have enough walls to put up even most of our art.