Ranger of Middle-Earth

In the Forests of the Ettinsmoors, a lone Dunadan hunts Orcs...

Rendezvous With Rama

The first Arthur C. Clarke I read was his short story, The Star, in the Asimov-edited Hugo winners anthology. I liked it, so when I happened upon a copy of Childhood's End a few weeks later, I snatched it up and read it in the next day or two. It had the steady, organic procession of Greek tragedy, and the description of alien vistas and technology were breathtaking and very cohesive. Clarke excels at first contact stories, whether it involves giant saucers or monoliths and Rendezvous with Rama is no exception.

A big part of the novel is the slow discovery of what lies inside Rama, so I'll try not to give away too much. The set-up's simple, a large object is discovered moving at an astounding rate towards the solar system, a probe discovers that it's a massive spaceship and the only Earth vessel in range goes to investigate.

The best portion of the book for me was the middle, as the spaceship crew enter Rama and begin to explore Clarke delivers some of his great description- it's completely alien, unknowable, but it all fits together, what little we understand makes sense. It's the same feeling one gets with the monoliths in 2001, especially the first encounter on the moon.

It almost reminded me of Lovecraft's Elder Ones, so high above and beyond humanity that we might as well be insects. The Ramans, what ever they are, don't really care about humanity's contact with them.

He paces himself well too, there's no real sudden jerk as something's discovered or explored, it flows at a steady pace. This makes it easier, I suppose, to digest the incredible things he's talking about.

Clarke makes comparisons between the exploration of Rama and Earth-bound archaeology- this is very fitting. There is no life here, it's sterile, at least at first.

As the novel progresses the first mysteries are more-or-less solved, but this only digs up new ones, another Clarke standard (curiouser and curiouser!). After the slow build-up, however, the eventual discovery of life in the form of 'biots', while intriguing, didn't quite live up to my expectations- no monoliths! While an interesting idea and well-done it seemed too much like a science fiction conceit, not a part of the discoveries that have gone on before. It made Rama become a little too human, especially since several of the biots, including the first encountered, came close to actual creatures.

Clarke picks back up soon after the first biot scene, with a crewmember's journey through a suitably strange landscape. It may just be me, but this sequence (and the biots), seemed really close to the stories and ideas written a generation before Clarke, Stanley Weinbaum's short story A Martian Odyssey, for example. While I enjoy reading this kind of Sci-fi, it felt a little out of place in Rama.

Still, it was an excellent book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It ranks with Childhood's End and 2001: A Space Odyssey as some of Clarke's best work, the atmosphere of the first half alone is well worth the read, and I'll definitely be re-reading it.

Have thoughts of your own on this or others of Clarke's work? Leave a comment!

Book cover art

I like buying used books. Something about the act of hunting through shelves of books, never knowing quite what you're going to find, the history behind every beaten-up paperback, and the smell of old books- not to mention the prices- appeals to me a lot more than simply going down to a chain bookstore and getting exactly what you came for. I also like to read older books, mostly Science-fiction and Fantasy from the turn of the last century up to the early 80's, so used bookstores tend to have more of what I like to read than new ones. One of the interesting features of used books is all the different cover art available. Most of these are frankly mediocre at best, but sometimes you find a gem- here are three of my favorites:

First- The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, cover by Yvonne Gilbert. This is one of the best non-Tolkien high fantasies. She creates a well thought-out world, with perhaps the best handling of magic I've ever seen. The cover captures the story well, I like its muted colors, Ged's clothing, in particular, looks like it belongs together and has seen some wear. It really captures what I try to do on most of my fantasy paint-jobs, especially my Dark Tower miniatures.

 Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov, cover by Michael Whelan. My favorite volume of the classic series, the cover illustrates the Mule in the disguise of Magnifico playing his Visi-Sonor in the Ruins of Trantor. It's almost surreal with its yellow and green highlights, contrasted with the bright colors of Magnifico's clothes.

The Silver Warriors by Michael Moorcock, cover by Robert Gould. I actually haven't finished this one, having just gotten it Friday. It's the first Moorcock I've read and I'm really enjoying it. It has the trapping of a good Robert E. Howard story, with a well done atmosphere. The cover is set up almost like a medieval manuscript, and reminds me of Tolkien's Thror's map from the Hobbit.

Disagree with my choices, or have a favorite of your own to share? Leave a comment!

Khazad!

I rarely buy any Lord of the Rings miniatures. It's by far my favorite work of fiction and I love many of the GW sculpts, but the high price tag proves a big barrier to assembling any armies. However, I've been in a Tolkien mood lately, re-reading LotR for the tenth time, so I treated myself to some Khazad Guard last weekend and got them all painted up!

I really like these sculpts. For the inspiration, the sculptor appears to have gone back to the Silmarillion, in particular the Dwarves of Belegost at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

The miniatures, as befit Dwarves, are covered in armor, including the face-masks mentioned in the Silmarillion. I think the armor turned out really well and will make them stand out against the primarily dark-clothed Orcs that they will be facing.

Many people paint the armor in a mixture of silver and bronze- while this looks good, I wanted to stick to a more realistic, almost Anglo-Saxon palette.

I used more muted colors on most of the clothes, to try and ground the armor. On all of the models there is a sort of arrow-shape on the greaves- I painted these all alike to serve as a sign of the Dwarves' house or lord.

These models are useful for pretty much any dwarves from Middle-Earth's long history, whether fighting the Goblins at Aznulbizar, or aiding the Elves before the gates of Thangorodrim.

Baruk Khazad! Khazad aimenu!