New Novel Available: Shaken (No Job Too Small), Read stuff! Options

[Sendaz]

I a pleased to see you get some favorable reviews and hope to see lots more novels from you. Maybe you will write enough of them to start searching for dedications and I'll get a mention for my small part in getting you started. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Oooooo... sounds like that is a story in itself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[tisoz]

I used to sponsor SR fiction contests with prizes. Critias/Russell won one, he may have said it prompted him to start submitting material for publication, but I said I'd take credit for helping him get started. I think that was about 10 years ago, as he picked up his prize/book at GenCon in person.

Link in sig goes to contests

[Critias]

It mostly helped in that Jason Hardy knew who I was from those, and trusted me to be able to spin a story.

And I won more than one. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

As far as dedications and plenty of books goes...well...gimme time. There's more on the way, I can tell you that much.

[Blade]

After reading the reviews here, I decided to give it a try. Let it be known that I'm a harsh critic.
For readability, I'll shorten the name to Shaken for the review.

Shaken is a Shadowrun Noir novel.
Similarly to Nigel Findley's books with Dirk Montgommery, it relies on a Shadowrunner/PI to get to something that's more like a classic Noir novel in the Shadowrun universe rather than a truly Shadowrunning story. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as Noir and Cyberpunk go really well together, but I can't help feeling that rather than try to force the classic Noir story (a PI working on a case) in Shadowrun, it might be interesting to try to have the Noir tone in the classic Shadowrunner story (a team of runners doing a run).

Writing good classic Noir is difficult. You've got to find the right tone, you've got to respect the tropes of the genre, etc. Writing outstanding classic Noir is even more difficult: with the constraints you have, being able to find something that makes a difference with other similar books while respecting the constraints is a huge task. Setting it in a different universe (medieval, fantasy, urban fantasy) is a nice twist, but one that has already seen many uses. An outstanding writing style could help, but while the style of Shaken is pretty good, I wouldn't go as far as to call it outstanding.

So consequently, as far as Noir novel go, Shaken is good, but not exceptional. As far as Shadowrun novels go, it's clearly one of the best, but the fact that it's not really about Shadowrunning feels like cheating (but that's pretty common with Shadowrun novels, many go for the usual single main protagonist instead of being about a team). As a bonus, it does nice explanations for first-comers (though I can't tell if they're working or not).

It's very close to the rules, giving the names of the implants, spells, powers, etc. and having them provide the effect they're supposed to give, which is both good and bad. Good because it maintains consistency with the game, bad because first it seems a bit artifical sometimes. Sure, you'd expect some people to use the official game terms for stuff, but some variations are to be expected: mages might have their own variants for spell names, implants can have product names that are distinct from the implant generic name, etc. The second reason why I'm not sure I like the direct inclusion of game terms is that it often feels like the writing is just a translation for "hopefully, my Reakt gave me +2 to Dodge". However, I have to admit that the portrayal of the effects of ware is pretty good and far above average for Shadowrun fiction.
Likewise, the knowledge of the Shadowrun universe (both rules and setting) clearly shows, which is appreciable. The author feels at ease with the world and its dynamic, which probably makes it a very good book to help first time players get to know the world. I appreciated the relationship between the protagonist and the mafia, a nuanced position of being outside of their grasp while still acknowledging their power, a line that players often have trouble finding.

I had some trouble with the main character. While not completely a Mary Sue, he still feels like he's always above it all. Even when the writer is trying to show him as weakened or desperate, it feels like he's a badass who'll manage. Sure, that's more or less expected from a hard-boiled PI in a Noir story, but here it doesn't feel right. I'm not sure exactly why but I could see a few explanations. The first is that there's a lot of self-analysis by the protagonist. You'll rarely have Marlowe's feelings written clearly. You'll have his reactions, but it won't go very deep in the analysis of what he feels and what he thinks, as is done here. The second is that the character has so many aces in the hole, between implants and magic that whatever bad stuff happens to him, it's pretty clear that he'll be able to shrug it off. This isn't made any easier by the fact that he rarely seems to be directly challenged on his weaknesses. When it happens, it's mostly as a way to show that this weakness is actually not that weak. The third is that the character is pretty smug, so he does more or less feels like he's having the upper hand even when everything goes badly for him.

But that leads to another problem I had, which is the melancholic tone that's so associated with Noir. It's a bit strange here, for example

[ Spoiler ]

the character will sometimes show some despair for having no friends except for his ally spirit but at the same time these friends show up regularly, so it's hard to take that complaint seriously

. Also

[ Spoiler ]

the happy ending feels very upbeat compared to the standards of both Cyberpunk and Noir.

.

So as far as Shadowrun books go, it's a good one, probably one of the best. As far as Noir or Cyberpunk books go, it's a bit standard. If I were to give it a score from 0 to 5, it would be a 4/5 Shadowrun book (I've yet to read a 5/5 Shadowrun book) and a 3/5 book in general. The style might be slightly above the average sci-fi book, the story is decent but I found a lack of challenge and a lack of emotion. It's a nice read, but probably something I'd forget soon, except maybe for its handling of the effects of ware and some other details of the Shadowrun world.

[Sengir]

But that leads to another problem I had, which is the melancholic tone that's so associated with Noir. It's a bit strange here, for example

[ Spoiler ]

the character will sometimes show some despair for having no friends except for his ally spirit but at the same time these friends show up regularly, so it's hard to take that complaint seriously

.

[ Spoiler ]

Kincaid isn't the paragon of psychological well-being, seeing his situation as far darker than it objectively is sounds symptomatic

[KCKitsune]

***edit***

Nevermind, I thought this was a new book. I wish there was a "delete post" button when someone like me has a brain fart.

[Critias]

I'm glad you (mostly) dug it, Blade. I know I'm not writing high literature or American classics or anything, so I'm content with being mostly compared to other SR novels, and stacking up against them favorably is fine with me. I appreciate the feedback.

[Blade]

Nice to see you take it this way, I was afraid I'd hurt your feelings. I'll keep an eye out for your next book. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Critias]

Nah, man. It's all good. Honest criticism is always welcome.

[JesterZero]

I'll largely echo that. While I didn't think that Shaken compared favorably with Neat, it was still one of the best...if not the best...of the SR5 novels. I had the opportunity to read both World of Shadows and Deniable Assets while travelling this summer, and they both just reinforced my opinion that

1. Whatever CGL is paying novelists, it apparently isn't typically enough to get someone with bona fides in both fiction writing and the Shadowrun setting, and
2. John Helfers should not be allowed to put together any more Shadowrun anthologies*

In some ways, I actually hold Critias indirectly responsible for my ire. I had given up on Shadowrun fiction entirely, and finally bought Neat in a moment of weakness. It was fabulous. And so, like an idiot I've been buying the SR5 books ever since, and nothing else has remotely come close. Honestly, quite a bit of it has been downright bad. And to be clear, Shaken was nowhere near bad; it was actually good. Just not as good as Neat.

Anyhow, in the interest of being constructive, or at least clear, the biggest issue I had with Shaken was that it came off much more like the typical elf-mage-protagonist power fantasy, whereas Neat had gone to such great lengths to subvert those tropes. I'm running off of older memories here, but the novella read more like a story that could actually exist in the Shadowrun universe: once upon a time, Critias created a character named Kincaid, played him at a home game, had some terrible-no-good-very-bad dice rolls, and got royally messed up; this is the story of what happened next.

In Neat, the protagonist was an elf...but no one liked him except his ally spirit. He was a mage...but he burned out. He's actually a downtrodden loser, not a power player who's slumming it for kicks.

In Shaken, all of a sudden it seemed like we were reverting to type. Kincaid may be surly...but even so, he's still more charming than all y'all. Kincaid may be burned out...but even so, he's still able to lay a magical beatdown on initiates. That's just not as interesting, at least to me.

To be clear though, and to end on a positive, at this point you're really only competing with yourself in terms of Shadowrun fiction. So even with all those criticisms, you still wind up going first / second in my ranking of all the SR5-era fiction.

*To be fair, it was miles better than Spells & Chrome, which was arguably the worst fiction book of the SR4 era. World of Shadows was just very, very uneven.

[lokii]

Game Trade Magazine had Stirred as an August release a while back. Obviously, you never trust those dates, but I take it as a sign, that Stirred is ready to come out? And it's the missing book of a trilogy, right?

The story blurb floating around, if someone is interested (haven't read Neat or Shaken yet, so I can't tell if it has spoilers for those two books):

Jimmy Kincaid, burned-out mage and P. I., has a lot on his plate. Gang wars, feuding mobsters, unreliable magical power, and an encrypted data file that's already cost him friends, but he can't even access. When the troubles of the Seattle sprawl deepen into a bloody conspiracy with ties to neighboring nations and inhuman powers, he knows he's on the job of his life. Luckily, he's not alone. A man like Jimmy can't walk these shadowed streets without making enemies, but he's made allies, too.

Hopefully those allies will be able to save Jimmy from the dark, powerful forces converging on him...before it's too late for everyone...

1. [..]
2. John Helfers should not be allowed to put together any more Shadowrun anthologies*

You are too late for Drawing Destiny. But third time's the charme, right?

[Critias]

Game Trade Magazine had Stirred as an August release a while back. Obviously, you never trust those dates, but I take it as a sign, that Stirred is ready to come out? And it's the missing book of a trilogy, right?

Not quite, and not quite. Neat is more of a prequel, the trilogy ("No Job Too Small") kicks off with Shaken, Stirred is the second.