SPSFC Round 1, Part 6: Self-Published Science Fiction Contest reading

I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the first-ever Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! What is that? Check out the write up over at Red Star Reviews for an explanation. The first round of the contest for we judges is to whittle down the pile of books we’ve been given from the 30 (31 for our group!) to 10 that we’re going to read in their entirety. How do we do that? Well, we read 10-20% of all 30 of the books and then vote on whether we’d like to continue them. I’m going to blog about these as I go, and I want to know what you think! How do you like the covers? Have you read the book? Did my write-up make you want to read it? Let me know!

Extinction Reversed by J.S. Morin

I’ve been listening to Morin’s “Black Ocean” series and loving it. It’s self-described as “Firefly with magic” and I think that’s largely accurate. I was hugely looking forward to diving in to Morin’s work for the SPSFC. It’s a story about a future on Earth without humans. Instead, there are AIs that are attempting to recreate humanity, which is seen as a kind of blasphemy by some. I found it difficult to get into the characters, though. In part, this was because their names are variants on common names and a number (eg. Eve318). I also think I went in thinking it would be a light-hearted romp similar to Morin’s “Black Ocean” series and it’s clear this one requires the reader to slow down and think quite a bit more. That is obviously not a bad thing, but my expectations being so thrown off made it hard to orient myself. I consider this one a maybe, though I lean yes.

The Memories of Khassos by Leah Flaherty

There are quite a few threads happening in this book, and it was confusing to start off. At 20% in, things started to pull together. The plot seems to be about surveying the multiverse to see what events may or may not become important in the “real” or preferred universe. Another thread follows someone trying to sell information but running afoul of the law in a way that surprised that character far more than it surprised me. There are maybe too many plot threads going on all at once, to be honest, but each one is interesting in its own way. I’m intrigued enough to slot this one into my “yes” category.

The Shepherd Protocol by Fowler Brown

I’m a sucker for AI stories or stories about android like things or sleeves (people wearing robot bodies). Brown’s The Shepherd Protocol is a story about a synth—an AI in a metal body—trying to figure out what’s happening that’s killing others like her. Melos is an interesting protagonist, and the way humans treat synths reads like a commentary on our society. It’s got quite a bit of mystery thrown in. One issue I’m having is that I haven’t found the characters compelling yet at this point. Thematically, it’s all right up my alley, though. I’m torn about it. Consider this on the “maybe” list.

Round 1 Status

I’ve now dipped my toes into 18 out of 31 books. I’m now at 5 yes, 6 no, and 7 maybes. I obviously have far too many on my “maybes” list. I’d love to hear from you what you think if you’ve read any of these books or want to see them on my longer reviews! Want to know what other books are on the list? Check out Red Star Reviews’ post on my team’s list to see the covers!

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

Reading the Horus Heresy, Book 16: “Age of Darkness”

I know I’m late to the party, but I finally decided to start reading the “Horus Heresy,” a huge series of novels set in the universe of Warhammer 40,000 (though it is set much earlier than the year 40,000). I thought it would be awesome to blog the series as I go. With more than 50 novels and many, many short stories, there will be a lot of posts in this series (I doubt I’ll get to all the short stories). I’m reading the series in publication order unless otherwise noted. There will be SPOILERS from the books discussed as well as previous books in the series. Please DO NOT SPOIL later books in the series.

Age of Darkness by various authors

Age of Darkness is another collection of short stories in the Horus Heresy line. Like the others, it delivers a collection of stories that provide background to the various conflicts breaking out along with the occasional character piece. For this review, I’ll write briefly about each individual story before posting an overall impression at the end.

Rules of Engagement by Graham McNeill

I loved this story that pitted the Ultramarines’ commitment to their Primarch with his own, in person teaching on how to fight a battle. The Ultramarines are not nearly as boring as I thought they might be.

Liars Due by James Swallow

Lots of buildup that mostly just shows how planets outside big realms of influence might react to the heresy. A decent read with some good intrigue.

Forgotten Sons by Nick Kyme

A seriously action packed novelette about trying to sway a planet’s loyalty towards Horus or the Emperor. I liked how this shows the challenges faced by planets that could be torn apart by conflict.

The Last Remembrancer by John French

Layers of trust are wiped away in this intriguing short story about a remembrancer telling the Iron Fists about Horus. The payoff isn’t as strong as I hoped, but it’s okay.

Rebirth by Chris Wraight

The Thousand Sons are turning into my favorite of the traitor legions, and this short story just solidified that even more. It’s got enough layers in it to make it interesting throughout, and the ending, which apparently reverberates in larger WH40K lore, was great.

The Face of Treachery by Gav Thorpe

A huge battle has its tide turned by betrayal. I loved this one for both its action and the tight plotting Thorpe gave it.

Little Horus by Dan Abnett

Little Horus leads the Sons of Horus in battle and effectively springs a trap intended for Horus himself. It’s got tons of action and great plotting, as is typical of Abnett. A very good read.

The Iron Within by Rob Sanders

Big action with Titans is one of my favorite things about the Warhammer universe, and this short story delivers on that. It’s not as thoughtful as some of the others in the collection, but makes up for it in cool vistas and solid action scenes.

Savage Weapons by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

A surprisingly tight-knit scene is the core of this story, but that scene is set for a clash between Primarchs. It’s got tons of great action and certainly seems to loom larger than the short story itself.

Overall Thoughts

I greatly enjoyed Age of Darkness. Every single story included was well done, with some standouts mixed in to an overall great collection. To me, these short stories help prove a point I’ve made several times in my reviews of the series: a lot of the novels would make better short stories. Too often, there is excess fluff that keeps readers away from the action or plot. In these short stories, we don’t encounter that issue. One problem that did arise is that I was listening to this as an audiobook on Audible. I have listened to a few of the Primarchs novels as well, and they all have the same issue this collection did: the sound balancing is terrible. The readers shout, whisper, etc. and do it all to the point where I find myself constantly having to adjust the volume as I listen to it on the go. It’s quite annoying, to be honest. The readers do a good job, but all of these audiobooks could do with much, much better sound balancing, so that as a listener I’m not straining to hear one moment and then having my eardrums pummeled the next.

Age of Darkness is a great collection that should not be skipped. There’s a lot here that fills in details of previous and future conflicts, along with great character building throughout. I definitely recommend the collection.

(All Links to Amazon are Affilliates.)

Links

Horus Heresy and Warhammer/40K Hub– All my posts on the Horus Heresy, as well as books throughout the Warhammer and 40K universe can be found here.

J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

SPSFC Round 1, Part 5: Self-Published Science Fiction Contest reading

I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the first-ever Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! What is that? Check out the write up over at Red Star Reviews for an explanation. The first round of the contest for we judges is to whittle down the pile of books we’ve been given from the 30 (31 for our group!) to 10 that we’re going to read in their entirety. How do we do that? Well, we read 10-20% of all 30 of the books and then vote on whether we’d like to continue them. I’m going to blog about these as I go, and I want to know what you think! How do you like the covers? Have you read the book? Did my write-up make you want to read it? Let me know!

Detonation by Erik A. Otto

I don’t know what to make of this book. I read the first 15% and I just genuinely don’t understand where it’s going. It seems like it’s a kind of pastoral setting for a post-nuclear holocaust, but the action ramps up almost too quickly. I wasn’t able to get my feet under me on the new set of characters before they got thrown into intense peril and everything was happening at once. It looks like it could shape up into an interesting post-apocalyptic novel and does remind me a bit of Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow in that sense. I’m not sure where to go from here. I may read more of it myself. It’s a maybe.

The Trellis by Jools Cantor

I’ll admit it; I’m a sucker for the combination of science fiction and mystery. Here, Jools Cantor sets up an intriguing future with self-driving taxi systems, late stage capitalism, and more surrounding a murder mystery. There seem to be two primary plot threads: one, being a young woman seeking a job amidst corporate surveillance of the highest sort. Legitimately, the scenes with her make me think about how plausible and scary the future Cantor creates in this book is. The other scenes follow the future of detective work, and it’s bleak. I love this novel’s first 10%, and I am definitely putting this as a firm “yes.”

Golden Crunk of Cringle Ken Rudisill

A brother-sister pair are stowaways on a spaceship and go to steal various things on board. Lots of sexual fantasies, no small amount of what I took as sexist or homosexual language or use of terms, and even some jokes about incest started off the novel. I just don’t really get where it’s going at all apart from some artifact that sets off sexual fantasies or something, and it doesn’t feel compelling to me. This one is a no.

Round 1 Status

I’ve now dipped my toes into 15 out of 31 books. I’m now at 4 yes, 6 no, and 5 maybes. I’m definitely going to need to circle back to my “maybes” and revise that list down quite a bit. Want to know what other books are on the list? Check out Red Star Reviews’ post on my team’s list to see the covers!

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

Watching Babylon 5 for the First Time, “Crusade”: Episodes 1-2

Space Archaeology: Even Cooler than Archaeology

I am very late to the Babylon 5 party. As it came out, I was a bit young for the show and the few times we tried to watch as a family, it was clear we had no idea what was going on. After several people bugged me, telling me it was the show I needed to watch, I grabbed the whole series around Christmas last year on a great sale. I’ve been watching it since, sneaking it in between the many things going on in my life. It quickly became apparent that I’d want to discuss the episodes with others, so I began this series of posts. Now I’ve finished the series, but am working my way through the movies, related works, comics, and books. Please don’t spoil anything from other works here! 

1: War Zone

It’s always exciting starting a new TV series, and I was doubly excited going into this series as a newly minted Babylon 5 fan. Nothing like having more Babylon 5! It quickly becomes apparent in this first episode that special effects is being more heavily utilized. We see a bunch of different locales fairly swiftly, including one of my favorite sci-fi tropes, the future archaeological dig. I was also excited to apparently have a technomage on board from the beginning? They were one of the intriguing side adventures left largely unexplored after the end of Babylon 5’s run.

The stories in this episode seem to open into a bunch of potential paths. There’s the archaeological team of questionable legal status trying to figure out what to do about a crashed alien ship. I enjoyed this little plot. then, there’s Captain Matthew Gideon and his newly assembled crew, including Dureena Nafeel–a thief, Dr. Sarah Chambers, the science nerd (I think? we don’t get a great picture of her yet), and Lieutenant John Matheson, a telepath.

The ship they help crew, the Excalibur, is almost comically huge (more than a mile long, I believe they say). I always wonder about obscenely huge ships in science fiction like this. Where do the resources come from? What makes such huge ships worth the investment when they can’t cover nearly as much space as many smaller ships? It’s a complaint I have a lot, but I’ll bury it for now.

I thought the aliens on the planet where the archaeologists were at were a bit silly looking. Also, the acting seemed more forced than it did on the main Babylon 5 series.

Since watching this first episode I learned that the continuity is strange and the viewing order is all messed up. Oh well, I think I’ll just keep going in the order they have on DVD. I thought this was a decent series opener. I’m interested in watching more, for sure.

2: The Long Road

So there’s a dragon… in SPAAAAACE! I gotta say, I love the idea of a dragon in space. My first impression, though, was that this doesn’t make any sense whatsoever in the universe of Babylon 5. Anyway, the dragon appears to only be the, er, biggest of the problems on the planet. There’s any number of other prank-like efforts to thwart mining the planet. That’s a problem, because the planet has some mineral that potentially helps humans fight the Drakh plague.

Anyway, Galen, the technomage, is highly amused by Captain Gideon’s attempts to blend in with the local populace, who are apparently… somewhat displeased by the efforts to strip mine their planet as well. After a mob comes to tell them to get out of town, Alwyn, a local technomage (?) intercedes and saves them. Galen seems even more amused by this, which is interesting to me.

Alwyn is the cause of all the troubles for the mining operation, and he is extremely displeased by how the planet he is trying to serve is being destroyed by the need to be efficient and speedy. (As an aside, Alwyn is also unhappy with the “cowardice” of the technomages for leaving just as the Shadow War was breaking out.)

After the situation escalates into a hostage crisis, the technomages show up. They’re a tad put out. The Earthforce people who try to stop the situation beleive the technomages are only able to create “smoke and mirrors,” and after they fly straight through the Dragon, this seems to be true. But then Galen and Alwyn show up and wreak havoc with some holo-demons Alwyn designed which apparently can interact physically with people. But the situation continues to escalate, until Alwyn decides to take it upon himself to end it all. His preparation of a devastating spell prompts Captain Gideon to use his main gun to stop him. Alwyn appears dead, but he is alive–apparently using himself as a distraction to force Gideon to destroy the mining operation with the Excalibur. It’s a poignant moment when he talks to Galen after this. He sees the “glassed over monument” of the mining pit as a good reminder and warning.

I think this episode has me buying in to the series a lot more than the first episode did. The technomages are awesome. I actually thought about the show Firefly quite a bit during this episode. It felt like an episode of that show, with all the wheeling and dealing and balancing the interests of a big military power with the interests of the locals. It’s a fine episode of television.

(All Links to Amazon are Affiliates Links.)

Links

Babylon 5 Hub– Find all my Babylon 5-related posts and content here.

J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

SPSFC Round 1, Part 4: Self-Published Science Fiction Contest reading

I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the first-ever Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! What is that? Check out the write up over at Red Star Reviews for an explanation. The first round of the contest for we judges is to whittle down the pile of books we’ve been given from the 30 (31 for our group!) to 10 that we’re going to read in their entirety. How do we do that? Well, we read 10-20% of all 30 of the books and then vote on whether we’d like to continue them. I’m going to blog about these as I go, and I want to know what you think! How do you like the covers? Have you read the book? Did my write-up make you want to read it? Let me know!

Above the Sky by J.W. Lynne

First of all, J.W. Lynne shares a great name with yours truly, who has gone by J.W. his whole life. Lynne is a woman, and her writing rocks. More on that now! Second of all, this book’s description makes it sound possibly derivative–shades of The Hunger Games and Divergent and we’ve already gotten about a million of these copycat books, right? Yes, we do, but Above the Sky grabbed me at the beginning with some great characterization and, more importantly, an intriguing overhanging threat that is alluded to from the beginning of the story–something that is above the sky. As the teens deal with Ender’s Game like scenarios, that lingering threat looms in the reader’s head. What exactly is “Above the Sky”? I don’t know, but I can tell you right now I’ll have this on my yes list because I want to find out.

Banneker Bones and the Giant Robot Bees by Rob Kent

Other readers in my group noted that this one seems aimed towards a younger age group. That is a disqualification based on our rules, but we in the group were also interested enough to investigate by reading to see if that was the case. I’ve enjoyed quite a bit of juvenile fiction as an adult, and Banneker Bones and the Giant Robot Bees does read like an enjoyable romp. It’s on the “no” list because of the contest rules, but readers who enjoy (intentionally) silly robot stories and juvenile fiction should check it out.

World of Difference by WJ Donovan

So close to having two people with the same initials as myself in one book contest! That would have been awesome. WJ was a nickname I had in grade school, though. Anyway, I am guessing readers are more interested in the contents of the book than my musings about people’s names, so here goes. At 11% in, I’m not sure what to make of this novel. There are a lot of character threads being introduced and it’s a bit hard to get my legs under myself as it goes. On the flip side, there’s enough action and intrigue here–and weird technology combined with today’s technology–to make a mashup of interesting that makes me want to keep going. I’m going to push my read of it to 20% and make a decision then, but I’m thinking this is a firm maybe right now.

Round 1 Status

I’ve now dipped my toes into 12 out of 31 books. I’m now at 3 yes, 5 no, and 4 maybes. That “maybes” list is going to have to get cut down for me at some point, but I don’t want to think about that right now. Want to know what other books are on the list? Check out Red Star Reviews’ post on my team’s list to see the covers!

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer seasons 3 and 4

It turns out that there are a lot of shows I’ve wanted to watch for a while but never got around to. I’ve been catching up, though! I recently finished my first-ever watch-through of Babylon 5 (check out my posts on the series) and I’m 4 seasons (well, at the beginning of season 5) in Buffy. This show is… phenomenal. My discussion of the seasons 3 and 4 follows, and will have SPOILERS for those seasons. Please do not spoil later seasons for me!

Season 3

“Anne” was a good episode to set up the rest of the season–seeing Buffy so distraught while watching her group of friends attempt to make up for her not being around was a solid thread. Having Angel return is a huge lead on the whole time, and I kinda wish I didn’t know a separate show for Angel exists. That made me fairly confident going in that he was going to leave. And of course he does pull what I call the “Spiderman.” The Spiderman is when someone decides they can’t be with the person they love for some allegedly honorable or noble reason but it’s really just annoying because their decision doesn’t resolve the alleged problem to begin with. Anyway, Angel gives Buffy the Spiderman, and a bit of it goes in the other direction. I am sure there’s all kinds of fan fic dedicated to having them end up together forever (and I guess it is theoretically possible they get back together in-universe at some later point–there’s a lot of the show to go).

There are other threads, of course. Willow’s own burgeoning power(s) is a fun one. Faith is an exciting character, and I didn’t really expect them to take her in the direction they did. It’s pretty awesome to see more of the Council and the interactions they have with Buffy.

At this point I’m totally into the show. I love its lore, I love the characters, and I think it has built an exceptional amount of story to build upon. I’m glad to see there are comics and novels that explore more of the series. If you have any (spoiler-free!) recommendations, please let me know!

Season 4

Season 4 started off a bit rough, in my opinion. The new setting, a group of new characters, and having a bunch of other characters get introduced and then killed off right away made it start feeling a bit like a monster-of-the-week scenario. But then the storylines that continued to draw threads through the season really got their feet under them and the season just became a series of high point after high point. Honestly, it’s my favorite season so far.

One obvious high point is the episode “Hush.” I don’t like horror movies. I just don’t like thinking about all the grossness that goes into the awful ways people devise to kill people in horror movies. Here, the established characters and extremely creepy makeup and music combined with eerie silence of everyone involved make it a haunting and amazing experience. It’s honestly one of the best episodes I’ve seen of anything.

Oz? Oz came back as a one-off!? What the heck? I honestly didn’t expect them to bring him back and then tie him off as a character all at once. It makes me wonder if something was happening behind the scenes because he was such a fun character, and I loved having werewolves around. I guess it did get tedious having to have episodes where he was stuck in werewolf prison off and on, but I also thought they could have taken him as leader of a werewolf pack around town and run with it. I wonder if we’ll see more of him someday.

Faith’s resolution (for now? who knows) is another great twist. She was a good villain, and the hints at the end of this season about the “darkness” inside Slayers is interesting.

“Superstar” was one of the most fun episodes of television… ever. It was surreal in a way that was never horrifying or frightening (looking at you, “Hush”), but delivered the goods on plot, fun, and character development. I hope Jonathan shows up again. Adam and all the secret agents I haven’t really discussed at all to this point, but I thought they did a fabulous job. Like I said–the threads that started early in this season truly give great payoffs later. It’s a delight all the way through. I can’t wait to watch more.

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

SPSFC Round 1, Part 3: Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Reading

I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the first-ever Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! What is that? Check out the write up over at Red Star Reviews for an explanation. The first round of the contest for we judges is to whittle down the pile of books we’ve been given from the 30 (31 for our group!) to 10 that we’re going to read in their entirety. How do we do that? Well, we read 10-20% of all 30 of the books and then vote on whether we’d like to continue them. I’m going to blog about these as I go, and I want to know what you think! How do you like the covers? Have you read the book? Did my write-up make you want to read it? Let me know!

Things They Buried by Amanda K. King and Michael R. Swanson

Kids are disappearing, and only a few people are paying attention. Things They Buried sucked me in with it’s intriguing world-building but left me a little confused about its direction and tone. I read 23% of this one so far, and I am enjoying it. It’s got a sense of lost-ness and bewilderment at times that is almost as unsettling as some of the horror-ish elements. I’m not really sure how to categorize this one, either. Science fantasy seems accurate, but how much of the fantasy elements are really science? I don’t know. I’m interested enough to read more, though this remains a maybe for me.

Zenith: The Interscission Project Book One by Arshad Ahsanuddin

I’m not really sure what to make of this one. The cover had me thinking far future, but the story itself seems like it could be happening today. The premise is some kind of group of corporations is working together to try to get technology to travel between stars. The problem is finding a crew willing to risk their lives on an unproven technology. At 20%, not much has happened, and I don’t think it’s making the cut for me.

The Jagged Edge by AJ Frazer

Frazer’s book reads like a thriller more than sci-fi, but it’s got traces there, too. I am not sure what to make of it at 20% in. Shadowy insinuations about eco-terrorism and the possibility of changing the ecology as well as environment are starting to appear, but the bulk of the story so far is some rich guy having fun climbing mountains and having sex. It seems like the story is just about to take off, which has me interested, but also at 1/5 into the book, I lean towards thinking I should be more invested. This one sits firmly in the “maybe” category for me.

Round 1 Status

I’ve at least sampled 9 out of 31 books. I need to eliminate 2/3 books every time, and this part of round 1 has me with one maybe and one yes. So far, that means I have 2 yes, 4 no, and 3 maybes. See my previous posts in this series to read my other sample thoughts. Want to know what other books are on the list? Check out Red Star Reviews’ post on my team’s list to see the covers!

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

Presidential Biographies: Warren G. Harding #29

My quest to read (at least) one biography per President continues with Warren G. Harding, the twenty-ninth President of the United States. My normal selection process for finding a biography (reading reviews online and utilizing and this website- My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies) was made difficult by the dearth of biographies written about Harding. You’d think being President would give you a surefire path to having biographies churned out about you every so often, but you’d be wrong. Anyway, I chose The Harding Era by Robert K. Murray. 

Here, I’ll offer my thoughts on that biography, and proceed to present my official ranking for the DEFINITIVE RANKING OF PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!!! The full list of the rankings with all the Presidents as well as comments on their careers, updated as I read through this list, may be found here.

Warren G. Harding- The Harding Era by Robert K. Murray

Warren Gamaliel [how’s that for a biblical middle name?] Harding was clearly one of the more corrupt Presidents that our country has ever had. Murray’s biography focuses almost exclusively on his Presidency, so I was left to other sources to research Harding’s early life. Harding ran his town’s newspaper before he got fully into politics, and one almost wonders if this impacted his later life as he almost begged to have sordid headlines written about him later on. 

As President, Harding faced many challenges, both home and abroad. The end of World War I still loomed over the world and many questions raised by the armistice were unresolved by the time Harding was sworn in. Demobilization of the military, social and economic readjustments thereof, Congress was largely floundering with no clear leadership, lack of postwar planning in general, and massive labor issues were among the several challenges Harding faced immediately.

The League of Nations was one of the largest foreign policy challenges, and Harding ran, in part, on a kind of opposition ticket. Oddly, he favored something very similar but wouldn’t name it as a “League of Nations,” opting for looser terms. That’s not all that different from many politicians today who fail to acknowledge by name the policies or policy-makers who make popular decisions, but it doesn’t make it any more frustrating. Harding ultimately managed to convene a naval conference that led to limits on the building of navies worldwide and managed to maintain some semblance of peace for a decade until nations flagrantly violated the treaty. One may fairly ask whether Harding’s own opposition to a stronger League may be to blame for the massive military buildups that then occurred. 

Demobilization had to happen swiftly for Americans to be satisfied. The War was won, so the general consensus was there was no reason to keep soldiers in place. But because of a total lack of planning for what should happen after the war–something the biography Murray blames almost entirely upon Woodrow Wilson–this rapid demobilization led to economic turmoil and collapse. Harding thus tried to navigate these economic problems by supporting farmers and then attempting to give some concessions to labor.

But even as he did this, Harding installed benefactors and friends in important positions in government, resulting in numerous scandals as these people proved to be incompetent or blatantly in violation of U.S. laws. Harding botched his handling of many of these affairs, and may have been involved in scandalous affairs himself. 

Harding also strongly supported the notion and wording of “America First,” a policy that many probably don’t know can be traced back to Harding and beyond. Harding’s notion of America First was quite popular and involved strong anti-immigration sentiment. This was backed by anti-Catholic sentiment as well and notions that people from certain European countries were more to be favored as citizens than those from others. This ethnically charged concept of what it means to be “American” persists to this day, and we can thank the legacy of unfortunately popular policies like those of Harding, in part, for this persistence. 

Overall, Harding’s Presidency did help bring peace back to the world, though, as is unfortunately the case with so many of our Presidents, this peace and attempt to bring forward prosperity was largely directed towards select white elites. 

Warren G. Harding’s Original Ranking in THE DEFINITIVE RANKING OF PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES (Full and Updated List Here)

Warren Harding (29th President – Original Ranking #25)- Harding tackled some of the major problems that the Wilson administration left behind, and did so with some success at points. His navigation of international waters (in some cases, literally) helped bring peace through mutual agreement over naval treaties and other efforts to maintain lasting peace. Though these ultimately failed, it is hard to lay much of the blame for the failure at Harding’s feet. However, we can blame much ongoing racial tension and white supremacy at Harding’s feet and his promotion of the quite popular (now and then) “America First” policies he favored. Moreover, his Presidency was wracked with scandal and corruption on a scale that impacted domestic policy and wide ranges of people. It seems clear more evaluation of Harding is warranted, and it would be interesting to see more modern takes on his time in office.

Links

J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

SPSFC Round 1, Part 2: Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Reading

I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the first-ever Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! What is that? Check out the write up over at Red Star Reviews for an explanation. The first round of the contest for we judges is to whittle down the pile of books we’ve been given from the 30 (31 for our group!) to 10 that we’re going to read in their entirety. How do we do that? Well, we read 10-20% of all 30 of the books and then vote on whether we’d like to continue them. I’m going to blog about these as I go, and I want to know what you think! How do you like the covers? Have you read the book? Did my write-up make you want to read it? Let me know!

Edge of the Breach by Halo Scot

Ever read a book that is well-written and even engrossing but also turns you off based on the world? That’s kind of how I felt through the first 20% of this one. The world is honestly depressing. I enjoy my share of grimdark–I’m a huge fan of Warhammer 40K, for example–but this just felt relentless in a feeling of hopelessness and even anger. The main character is like wandering around in a future Earth that was literally turned upside down by apocalyptic war. He’s traveling with his mom, who hates him and they talk about how they want him dead a bunch. It’s relentlessly dark almost to the level of being a caricature. I honestly am guessing some of the other reviewers may vote for this one to be one we finish because it reads as some quality writing, and I’ll read it if it comes to that. For now my vote is against it. It’s too sad.

Dragon’s Baby by Miranda Martin

I’ll be honest up front: romance is just not my genre. Don’t get me long, I enjoy romantic connections between characters and enjoy many classics that might be called “romance,” in a sense, but the genre that is largely considered “romance” now is just not my cup of tea. I decided to give Dragon’s Baby a fair go, and read 30% of it instead of the 10-20% we’re committed to for each book before moving on. I was surprised because it didn’t really seem like anything happened… at all. Like, there’s some space dragon guy with multiple man-parts who is sad or something, and there’s some women over in this other part of the universe who are joking about guys and that’s… really about it. I almost want to keep going just to see if anything at all happens, but this just isn’t my style.

This Blue Ball by Wayne V. Miller

The award for the most minimalistic cover goes to… this book! I don’t dislike minimalism, though. As of my look at this book, it has no reviews on either Amazon or Goodreads. That certainly makes it feel like among the most indie of the indie titles we have in this contest. The story is told through a series of “weblog” entries as a kind of found story. The main character of these weblogs is… not a very good person as far as I can tell. There’s some subtle racist and sexist tones here, but I can’t tell if the author is critiquing them or not. The guy writing the weblog isn’t the most likable, but the story is intriguing to me. I can’t decide if it’s a yes or no yet so I’m putting it on my maybe stack.

Round 1 Status

I’ve now dipped my toes into 6 out of 31 books, with tons more to go. I need to eliminate 2/3 books every time, and this part of round 1 has me with one maybe out of 3. So far, that means I have 2 yes, 3 no, and a maybe! Want to know what other books are on the list? Check out Red Star Reviews’ post on my team’s list to see the covers!

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.