Silver Magic By Dr. Bruce Davis

 Silver Magic

By Dr. Bruce Davis

First, a quick disclaimer. I know Dr. Davis, I've been over to thanksgiving dinners at his house. His eldest son is one of my best friends (He’s the dad I never had.). I've received a lot of consideration and friendship from the entire Davis family. I will always be grateful and very glad to have that friendship (For me, they are family in all but adoption papers, and have been since I was 12.). Now that said, everything in the review below is my honest opinion, I just feel it's best, to be honest, and upfront where there is a prior relationship between the writer of the story and myself. 

Doc Davis has had his medical degree longer than the internet has existed, receiving it from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago in the 1970s. He served his surgical residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital and with the Navy as a surgeon for 14 years. During that 14 years, he met his wife, a staggeringly skilled doctor of nursing in her own right, got married, had children, and served in the first Gulf War. They currently live in Arizona enjoying their extended family and dogs. As a writer he has written a great many books, most of them reviewed on this website, whether it be the science fiction Profit Logbook series, the stand-alone book Queen Mab's Courtesy, or the Magic Law series, of which this book is the third one. 

The Magic Law series takes place in another world in a universe where magic is possible, and humans share this world with elves, dwarves, and orcs. All the species seem rather closely related as there are half-elves and half-orcs all over the place. As you can imagine the history of this world is rather complicated. What we know is that once upon a time Mages ruled in something called the Magisterium, which was so traumatizing that everyone agreed that Mages should never be allowed political power again. There was also at least one genocidal war where the Orcs tried to wipe everyone else out and the elves, being immortal, still hold a grudge. Due to humans methodically and systematically studying magic, magic has been brought to the masses via easy-to-use magic items. Everyone has a magic mirror that can be used to communicate instantly with someone else by text or full call. There are weapons that fire needles that can be used to knock people out or kill them. People transport themselves in flying sleds, and so on and so forth. 

The books take place in the nation of the Commonwealth, a multi-racial society ruled by a Constitutional Monarchy (*Whistfully yearns to end that monarchy, in Communist*) and a parliament. Our main character Lt. Simon Buckley is a peacekeeper who is trying to serve justice and push society toward the better while fighting crime. This is harder than it sounds as he is often having to deal with not just the organized gangs and cartels of his city but elements of his own government who don't care for Simon's insistence that even the lowest Orc day laborer has rights protected by the law and even the most connected elf politician is bound by the law (This entirely tracks.  The system itself is designed this way, and a cop trying to make headway against that system is eventually either driven out, or is destroyed.  Funnily enough, Doc Davis and I are very very very different politically.). They also dislike the fact that he's promoted at least two Orcs and is championing still more. It's an interesting position to take given his father was murdered by an orc and he was raised by a Dwarf family. In fact his adopted father Haldron Stonebender is a police sgt and serves with him.

Silver Magic takes place right on the heels of Gold Magic, so if you haven't read that book, you'll find yourself swiftly lost. The city of Cymbeline is burning, as word has gotten out that a number of orc crime bosses were burned to death by an unknown human fire mage and the crime was covered up (You mean a corrupt government will take advantage of a fire to murder it’s enemies?  Nooooo.{The Government actually had nothing to do with it.  Also going to remind you that due to the mages being an oppressive governing class that were overthrown, there are actually laws against mages being rulers.  They can stand for elected offices from what I understand but they can’t be kings, etc} Ooh, plot twist!). Under the cover of the riots, Simon finds three murders, the first being an elf gossip journalist whose blood was blasted out of her body and a pair of orc break-in specialists who were drowned on dry land. At first, most are inclined to shrug off the murders as riot-related violence but Simon isn't convinced and is sure that all three murders are linked. As he and his department dig deeper, the political resistance grows and the stakes climb higher as he gets pressure from his own department's internal affairs team, the Mayor's office, and the hidden orc crime lords of the slums. All of these groups are either interfering or trying to steer this investigation for their own ends. 

Complications increase as a former Peacekeeper who was outed as dirty also appears to be involved and at least one member of the internal affairs team wants to nail Simon or his police captain as revenge for outing him. On top of that, Sylvie, an Elvish Ranger of the Elvish state, an openly progressive and disowned member of a noble Elvish house and Simon's girlfriend, is in danger. As the traditionalists in her homeland have gained power and rumors swirl of them getting ready to attempt a coup and launch a purge of progressives in the government (Aaaah, homegrown elf-fascism.). This is somehow related to a plot against the Commonwealth's own royal family using non-magic weapons modeled on something that Simon encountered back in the first book Platinum Magic.

Simon finds himself racing against time and a vast web of corruption and underhanded dealings to pursue not just simple justice for people who were murdered for knowing too much; but to keep his homeland from exploding into civil war or falling to invasion. Simon is also fighting his own self-doubt and frustration as he realizes that he's been battling the same forces since book 1 and feels he's made marginal progress against them at best. This is on top of feeling the pressure of being a Lt and needing to mentor and lead basically a platoon of investigators all pursuing their own cases. The plot is tense but moves at a good pace so you never feel bogged down. This made the book a page-turner for me that I really enjoyed as I followed Simon parsing through the murder investigation and various plots and schemes swirling around it. 

Dr. Davis continues with his world-building through slow revelation, avoiding long info-dump conversations instead preferring to reveal the history and facts of the world through events and causal dialogue in the story. This means the reader does need to pay attention to put various pieces together and get a coherent picture of the world but also means you don't get jared out of the story by a 10-page history lesson in the middle of your criminal investigation. I enjoy this style of world-building and consider piecing things together and theorizing as part of the fun, that said if he ever releases an appendix of history and background information for this world I would jump on it. That said the world feels real. He reinforces this through subtle but what I find to be truly effective means. 

For example, the characters in this story don't talk like modern Americans or historical characters but instead have their own phrases and word choices. You don't call people on your magic mirror for example, you summon them. It's small things like having your characters not say “Ok” or “All Right” that really cement the feeling that you're dealing with a different culture and people. Simon being raised by dwarves doesn't talk about being at a dead end but in a blind tunnel, he doesn't worry about being thrown under a bus but under a rock pile. 

I also like that we got to see more of Simon's adopted family and Dr. Davis manages to make them feel like family. Simon's adopted brother is happy to see him and teases him about his girlfriend. Molly his mother worries about his health and happiness. Hal, his father supports him in his career choices and is openly proud of him. I also have to admit that I'm really glad to see a functional caring family that works and plays well together. There's nothing wrong about writing dysfunctional family dynamics mind you but there are days that it seems like everyone and their mother is writing either that or outright abusive families. So this does make for a pleasant change of pace (I think it helps that Doc Davis actually knows that a healthy family dynamic looks like.). Plus it's good to see an adoptive family that isn't just brushed aside for the dead “real” family or shown as terrible people (Well he does have two adopted kids, one legal, one not, so…). 

That said there are some small issues to be aware of here. First of all, you will be utterly and completely lost if you haven't read the last two books. Because this book is full of payoffs from the prior two books, relationships that were defined earlier, and references to events covered in those books. As a reader, I don't regard that as a burden as they were great books in their own right but if you're coming in cold, you're in for a bad time. As a reviewer, I do feel I have to consider that when giving a grade. On top of that is that the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger. While the case is solved the bigger implications and the various political plots aren't entirely done and Simon finds himself having to take care of some business and maybe go on a road trip. Possibly a road trip with the entire family, which I'm gonna be honest I'm excited about this and can't wait to read the next book. 

So I'm going to be rating Silver Magic by Dr. Bruce Davis an A-. That said, I think this is the best-written book in the series so far. There's action, personal moments, and well-written relationships, intrigue, and everyone is acting in a fairly believable way. Honestly, if you're looking to start a new series, I would tell you to go ahead and get Platinum Magic and just work your way through. I'm dead certain you won't regret it. If you are feeling like that why not head over to the publisher of this work and other fine works Brick Cave Media, at https://brickcave.media/ You'll be supporting an independent publisher and the authors that way and getting a good book so everyone wins. 

I hope you enjoyed this review, if you did consider joining us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a dollar a month.  The ever-wise patrons get exclusive content, votes on future subjects of

book reviews and videos and more!  Speaking of, special thanks to frigidreads biggest supporter Big Steve! 

Next week we have a creature feature video where we look at different mythological creatures and hopefully

bring you something you’ve never heard of before. Hope to see you there, until then take care of yourself,

take care of each other and of course, keep reading! 

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

Anglo Saxon Myth, 9 herb chant and The Dream of the Rood

 https://youtu.be/tnFf67I5tWU

https://youtu.be/522uaEKSJf4

https://youtu.be/hqwTX7TSAYM

With thanks to Jason Berman for reading the 9 Herb Chant and Anonymous Reviewer 37 for reading the 9 Herb Chant and The Dread of the Rood poems. 

Anglo-Saxon Myths: The Struggle for the Seven Kingdoms By Brice Stratford

 Anglo-Saxon Myths: The Struggle for the Seven Kingdoms

By Brice Stratford

Brice Stratford is an English-born director, actor (both voice acting and stage), and writer. He is also listed as a folklorist and a writer. I can't find much information on him, other than he founded the Owle Schraeme theater company in 2008 to explore and recreate historical theater practices in a modern context. One such example is the recreation of Drolls, which were illegal street performances conducted in England during a short period when the theater was banned, which would have been 1642 to 1660 when the Puritans ran England (Oliver Cromwell was such a buzzkill he banned Christmas.  Remember Kids, just say no to Puritanism.  Granted, Christmas back then was incredibly raucous but Puritanism bans all fun. {These are the people who thought church organs were too exciting, so he isn’t wrong. }). So I can't speak to any academic credentials.  Then again, I don't have any academic credentials for book reviewing, so I suppose that makes me and Mr. Stratford even. 

Anglo-Saxon Myths is his first written work and was published in 2022, along with another work New Forests Myths and Folklore. According to his Twitter account, Anglo-Saxon Myths is the first in a planned trilogy. Mr. Stratford was kind enough to clarify over Twitter, that the New Forests book isn’t part of that trilogy. Which will be 2 more books meant to be focused on Anglo-Saxon culture. So I admit I’m somewhat excited to see that.  Anglo-Saxon Myths was published by Batsford which is an independent publishing company that was founded in 1843. 

Anglo-Saxon Myths is heavily focused on British myths and stories. The Anglo-Saxons were the people who moved into/invaded Britain after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire and were the dominant people in the region that is now England until the Norman invasion. So if you're interested in the beliefs and stories of the continental Saxons of Germany this book might not entirely work for you. That said even if you're focused on the German Saxons, the British Saxons were related to them so there may be some insights that make this book of value (There isn’t a whole lot of information on the German Saxons directly, because they didn’t write anything down if I recall. {Correct, also they picked a fight with Charlemagne and Charlemagne went completely metal on them} Yeah, never pick a fight with a German or Nordic guy who gets renamed in Latin with Magnus appended to it.  Just don’t do it.). The book itself is divided into three parts, each part has its own title and theme uniting the stories within which makes for interesting reading as each tale flows almost organically into each other. 

The first part entitled Scop, an old English word for poet or bard, tells of the creation of the universe and the generations of the gods. Creation is presented as a generational act, with each generation building on what had come before. It's here that we see a lot of the common roots with other mythologies from northern Europe.  For example, there being more than one world united by a world tree or a set of beings above even the gods who speak of fate or to use the Anglo-Saxon word wyrds. The gods themselves are shown as generational in nature, as we're shown at least 3 generations of gods each performing a specific set of tasks and often dying violently to make room for the next generation (It’s almost like their gods reflect their society or something.). This section sets up the scene for the future ones, explaining how the world came to be, why people exist, and where all the monsters and dragons the various heroes are going to be fighting came from in the first place. 

The second part is entitled Wreccan, which was a Saxon word for exile. The men and women who were Wreccan would sometimes become nomadic warriors, not unlike the Knight Errands of medieval stories or the Japanese Ronin. A lot of the heroes in the story are young men who have voluntarily exiled themselves in search of adventure and glory. It's here that Mr. Stratford starts introducing us to various Anglo-Saxon concepts such as mod, comitatus, and peace weaving. I won't spoil the book by defining them here but I will say that Mr. Stratfords does a rather fine job of carefully setting up each term, and the role it plays in the stories and using them so that we can understand them. Most of the stories are short but interrelated which keeps the organic flow of story into story. 

It's the second section that also contains a set of stories I found very interesting, the family of Weyland Smith. Weyland Smith is an incredibly interesting mythical figure and an enduring one. Even in the modern day, he's appeared in works such as the Fables comic line for example. He's often compared to the Greek god Hephaestus due to being a crippled smith and craftsman famed for his ability to make gear beyond imaging. Mr. Stratford goes further than any storyteller I know of in telling us the story of his great-grandfather Waellende Wulf, his grandfather Wada, and his father Wade before finally telling us of Weyland. Each of these beings has an interesting tale to tell, nor are they strictly human or mortal because while Weyland isn't quite a god, he's more than a man (Which is another common thing in a lot of Germanic legends, as I recall.). 

We're taken through Weyland's education and how he learns the various arts that would make him immortally famous, the loss of his grandfather to dwarvish betrayal, and the most famous story of his imprisonment and escape. I do have to note that this version presents the least morally dubious Weyland I've run across. A number of versions of this story I've heard before presented a much darker take on the relationship between Weyland and Princess Beadohild (Oh No.). The story also tells us of Weyland's son by that same Princess but again I won't spoil it. This family set of stories does however make for a good central narrative to hold the section together and provide the theme. As well as reinforce the generational cycle that was introduced in the first part of the book. There is more in this section than just Weyland's family but they take up the lion's share and provide much of the narrative glue if you will. 

The last part of the book is called the Bretwalda and refers to the kings and heroes who slowly but surely built the idea of a unified English identity. Unlike the first section which is set in a mythical prehistory or the second section which is set in the illiterate period of the medieval era after the fall of Rome but before the Christianization of Britain; this third and last section is set in an increasingly literate and historical time as the pagan faith of the Anglo-Saxons is slowly but surely superseded by Christianity. What makes this different from a lot of other stories that carry the same theme is that Mr. Stratford presents a Saxon conceptualization of the Christian god, referring to him as the Allruler and the GloryFather for example (I am seeing some definite bleedthrough of the All-Father Odin/Woden.  It’s almost like Christianity is incredibly syncretic.). As an aside, those are really awesome titles and as a practicing Christian, I can really appreciate them. Mr. Stratford also presents the Anglo-Saxon gods, especially Woden as fully supportive of this wave of conversion to a new religion; why is left unspoken, but then the plans of Woden presented to us in this book are hard to guess for mortal men. As they are dictated not by our own standards or morality but by a vision that measures time in generations of generations and works towards ends not entirely within our grasp. I have to admit I've never run into this before and it's a dizzyingly unique take on this part of history. It is however fairly historical in presenting many people as worshiping the Christian God and worshiping the pagan gods at the same time (Well, yeah.  They were polytheists. And also, Christianity is incredibly syncretic.  The Old Gods become saints or angelic beings over time or intentionally; elements of folk religious practice meld into Christian holy days.  Christmas didn’t derive from Saturnalia or Yule.  It derived from Both which had a lot of parallel traditions like robbing rich people, masters of fools, and ritual cross-dressing.  Oh, and Santa Claus is basically Odin.  This is also why Cromwell banned Christmas.  It was too pagan for the Puritans. Same in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Put up a Christmas tree there and your neighbors would lay hold of you, and deliver ye to the magistrate of the court in the shire in which ye dwell.). This was a thing that actually happened as people tried to split the difference between maintaining their old customs and embracing new identities and beliefs. 

As a result, we're left with the impression that the Christian GloryFather of the story is really just a new generation taking its place in the cycle of the universe. Not that it’s an entirely peaceful changeover, but the book doesn't gloss over the sheer amount of violence being done in this period. It does point out that much of the violence wasn't simply Christian vs Pagans but muddled by the goals and desires of the people performing the violence. For example, we have Pagan kings siding with Christians to expand their territory or kill rivals and Christian warriors battling for Pagan kings for glory and gold. Which weaves it rather well into the conception of the cosmos presented to us here in the story. It also gives a solid feeling of reality as in any conflict whether it be Anglo-Saxon Pagans fighting Christians, or Hungarian Christians battling Muslim Ottomans the simple fact is that the conflict is rarely as simple as everyone in one group on one side versus everyone in another group on the other. 

So what did I dislike about the book? Mr. Stratland doesn't give us much in the way of sources or in fact any in the book. So I'm left wondering where did he get his information? Is this a distilling of the historian Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth or is he adding a bit to the brew himself? For most readers, that's not going to matter and honestly, I'm not going to criticize him too heavily for that myself. Mythologies are living, changing things. One only needs to look at Arthurian Mythology or how we reimagine Greek stories, like Hades and Persephone or the Trojan war. It's just me being a bit of a snob, I would like to know how much is coming from the storyteller and how much comes from older sources. 

Also in the third section, I find myself wondering how much is being bent in the service of modern values and morals. The values and morals are ones I agree with: tolerance for people of different beliefs and customs, being willing to live in peace with others, and accepting the idea of diversity in people (I should hope, he’s still friends with me.  The gay atheistic vaguely Jewy communist) but... Are they the values that the original Anglo-Saxons would have held and preached or are we projecting? This is important to me because I want to understand the people in question and I feel looking at their stories and seeing what they valued and what they believed in brings me closer to understanding them. On the flip side, this could just be complete insecurity on my part and this is part of the Anglo-Saxon mythology (It kinda makes sense.  Polytheists don’t get their bees in a bonnet over other religions as much as monotheists do.). I'm not an expert on Anglo-Saxon culture so I can’t really say. So this isn't going to affect my final grade on the book either way. 

What I did like was this book was incredibly easy to read and utterly spellbinding. It was also presented in an entertaining style and manner with a first-person narrator that made you feel like you were sitting before a fire listening to a bard sing of the beginning of the world. I really didn't want to put it down. I'll admit that I preferred the first and second sections to the third.  I think most other readers will too but hearing the Almighty given such great titles did tickle me and I'd be lying if I said that didn't ease my opinion.  I've mentioned repeatedly Mr. Stratford has a very flowing, organic style of connecting his tales and stories and does a good job of setting up concepts and characters in a way to make them easy to remember and grasp for readers. 

I'm giving Anglo-Saxon Myths: The Struggle for the Seven Kingdoms By Brice Stratford an A-. While it lacks citations and any list of sources which makes it somewhat lacking for someone wanting to seriously study Anglo-Saxon myth on an academic level. It has great presentation and style and gives you accessible, exciting-to-read stories that introduce you to several new concepts and a small window into how Anglo-Saxons over a thousand years ago may have thought and viewed the world around them. This is a good book for anyone who is interested in Anglo-Saxon myths but simply doesn't know where to start or someone who just enjoys a good set of stories. I would keep them out of the hands of younger readers though as some of the material is mature but not explicit in nature. 

        I hope you enjoyed this review or at least found it informative. If you did, consider joining us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as 1$ a month. The ever-wise patrons get to vote on upcoming content and make suggestions. Speaking of Patrons a big thank you to our biggest supporter Big Steve. Next week we have a video on Anglo Saxon mythology and then after that another book review. I hope to see you there, until then take care of yourself, take care of each other and of course, keep reading! 

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

Minority Report Television Show Pilot review

 Minority Report Television Show

Pilot

So most of the time, I try to get a whole season or so in for these but the only way to view this series is to buy the episodes on iTunes. So I coughed up for the pilot and if people want more they can join Patreon and help me pay for it. That may be a bit ungracious but it is gonna be my position folks. Anyway, Minority Report started production in September 2014, was approved in May 2015, and aired on Fox from September 21st to November 30th, 2015, all 3 months. Fox even canceled three episodes dropping the season from 13 to 10 and then canceled it altogether in May 2016 after leaving it in Limbo for half a year. So let's take a look at the pilot.  Warning: I will be spoiling the plot of an 8-year-old television show. 

The show is set in Washington D.C. 2065, 11 years after the precogs have been freed and relocated and Precrime has been shut down. One of the precogs, Dash has returned to the city to try and use his ability to prevent murders. He's aided by a truly amazing artistic ability to draw what he sees and is smart enough to put together fragmentary details shockingly fast. He however has a problem: his visions never convey enough information for him to get to the right place at the right time to actually save anyone. 

 Detective Vega of the DC Police has a similar issue in that she joined up hoping to get into Pre-Crime and is tired of just showing up after a crime and cleaning up after it. She also has the rather cliché motivation of her father, a cop, being murdered and his killing never being solved. Now to be fair, the show does a good job of displaying that she's actually fairly good at putting information together and coming to correct conclusions. Like figuring out a murder victim had a daughter they were trying to protect when they were killed. So when Dash tries to pass on some information to Vega on the sly, only for her to hunt him down it's not a shock. They of course decide to team up and fight crime. 

Using Dash's visions and a terrifying police surveillance network (What in many places already exists, or has the technological capacity to exist.), they're able to narrow down a threat to a former Pre-Crime officer now running for mayor. His platform is promising to bring crime back down to pre-crime levels using technology as a substitute. The Hawkeye program uses the already massively common and intrusive surveillance systems in DC paired with an Algorithmic search engine to figure out who might be committing a crime in the near future, flag them for law enforcement, and place them under close surveillance (Some counties in Florida actually do this. You can imagine how racist the results are because it is very easy to build a racist classification algorithm.  The result is black teenagers having surveillance vans in front of their homes, being randomly searched, etc.). Speaking as someone who has to deal with Google and YouTube algorithms fairly regularly? That's terrifying. 

The threat is of course from two victims of Pre-Crime, suffering some brain damage from the method of detention that Pre-Crime used. Which leaves me asking, why did anyone think putting people in some bizarre torture coma was even a good idea? Let alone people who couldn't be formally charged with a crime! (I mean, they're already arresting it and prisoning people who haven't actually done anything. Why not torture them at that point?)So it's not enough to put them away for life without a trial but to use a method that torments them and leaves them brain-damaged? Why!?! Just Why!?! (Our criminal justice system already does this to the limits of technology. Pre-trial inmates in tent cities in the Arizona desert, pretrial inmates on Rikers Island … being on Rikers Island.  Often in solitary confinement for months or years at a time for no reason…) Of course, our two villains are men who despite their brain damage are capable of working together to create a rather complex plot to conduct what I can only call a terrorist strike to kill not just the guy running for mayor, but his wife, his 2-year-old son and hundreds of innocent bystanders in a political rally.

Now points for novelty because their plan to pull this off involves a homemade bio weapon delivered by computer-controlled passenger pigeons. Because the species was deextinctified by one of the men in question before being arrested for being in a vision of committing murder. Seriously, I used a bunch of creatures I wrenched from the oblivion of extinction and controlled through computer chips in their brains to deliver a bioweapon I cooked up on the sly while suffering brain damage is one hell of a science flex and I respect that. It's a completely evil and kinda depraved science flex but a science flex it remains. Also readers, yes I enjoyed every moment of typing that sentence.

Our heroes of course save the day, but the plotters are killed. Which left me sighing and points I think to what went wrong. Well, several things went wrong. Well, the pilot has this theme of surveillance and the use of it by authorities but doesn't engage with it. There's no debate if the Hawkeye system is a good idea or a bridge too far, it just sits there. Now maybe future episodes will engage that but this would be the time to establish that as a theme of debate of the show if you were going to do that. Instead, the pilot seems to quietly suggest that it would be great if our protagonists had this power because then they could stop all these murders but I have to ask... What else would be done with it? If you haven't realized by now that that is a question we have to ask about any power we hand our government or any other organization, I have to ask if you slept well through the last 2 decades.

Also, everything wraps up a bit to neatly. Our heroes don't ask, where did these guys get the resources to pull this off. They weren’t holding down jobs, and even homemade bioweapons that kill hundreds quickly can't be cheap. It's also odd that no one asks Detective Vega how she got all this information, either (does this seem like a society that cares over much about evidence to you?). Now beyond that, the acting is decent, although the dialogue suffers through sad attempts at Joss Whedon-style banter and comedy. Not to mention hit-or-miss humor using precog powers. As an adaptation, it comes in at D+ because it is rather far off the field of the original short story. As a stand-alone product? Honestly, the show is rather mediocre, coming in at a C at best. It's not awful or bad but it's not good either. I don't hate it but I can certainly think of a better use for 45 minutes of my time. 

Well, I hoped you enjoyed this review.  If you did consider joining the ranks of the ever-wise patrons at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads Where for a dollar a month you can vote on upcoming reviews and content, get access to special patron-only content (for example a podcast discussing the Minority Report movie) and more.  Next week we’ll be reviewing the book Anglo-Saxon Myths: The Struggle for the Seven Kingdoms by Brice Stratford, and the week after I’ll be releasing a video on Anglo-Saxon mythology. Hope to see you there, until then take care of yourself, take care of each other, and of course, keep reading! 

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

Minority Report By Philip K Dick

 Minority Report

By Philip K Dick

Minority Report was published in 1956, in a magazine called Fantastic Universe. Fantastic Universe ran for about 7 years from 1953 to 1960, publishing 69 issues. The main editors of the magazine were Leo Margulies who edited from 1953 to 1956 and Hans Stefan Santesson who edited from 1956 to the last issue in march 1960. The story became the basis for the movie starring Tom Cruise (patrons will get an audio cast of a friend and me discussing and comparing that). As well as a television show that ran for a single season (Dear God, I didn’t know about this, and now I cannot un-know it. {There’s gonna be a review of the pilot later!} Excuse me, I’m just gonna go Full Denethor). Now there are going to be spoilers below but the story is old enough to qualify for social security so, I'm past the limit (on caring) I feel folks.

The protagonist of our story is John Anderton, the aging creator and commissioner of the Pre-Crime police division.  Which under his leadership has grown to be the most powerful and effective national police force in the Federal West-Bloc (It’s very easy to be highly effective when you can violate causality, I guess.). I should note that pre-crime in the story can see all sorts of crime but they focus on the big nasty ones, like murder, rape, kidnapping, and assault. Because of this, no one has gotten away with a crime in nearly five years in the entire nation. (In addition to the causality issues, there are also some spectral evidence issues, but I’ll get to that later.)

The story opens with Anderton meeting his Senate-appointed assistant and eventual successor Ed Witwer and he’s resentful about the idea of being replaced. I'm honestly not that sympathetic to him here because frankly, there's a damn point where you just hang up the hat and go home, man. There are too many people in the world who grimly try to hang to every shred of power well past their due date and that's one of the reasons for a lot of the issues facing people of my generation and the Zoomers (I really enjoy being ruled by people old enough to fondly remember the original runs of US government anti-homosexual propaganda films.). You've done your work Anderton, go home, enjoy your wife (We have medication that can help.), and get a hobby while you're able to. Let the new blood have their time in the sun!

Sorry, sore point, there.  Well, the resentment explodes into full-blown suspicion when Anderton intercepts a prediction that he'll murder a man in a week. Now the predictions are given by mutants, who are strapped to metal chairs. They are pretty much vegetables. The story explains that the pre-cogs ability to see the future destroys their brain's ability to do anything else. So they have no personalities, or ability to function in any way.  Instead, they mutter their predictions constantly with them being translated by vast and powerful computers (that run on punch cards, this tickles me). The predictions are printed in Pre-Crime headquarters and the Army headquarters to prevent anyone from mucking with them. I honestly find this ominous, why is the army involved in a law enforcement matter? Why not the FBI? (And this is where we get into spectral evidence.  Like, there hasn’t been a crime.  The only evidence is the unverified say-so of a precognitive.  Put them under surveillance, sure…but arresting them?  Really? {Yeah, you think instead you would issue them some sort of precrime warning, there was an episode of Sliders built around that})

At first, he assumes it's Witwer as the victim and he's being set up so the Senate can replace him (weird how there's no mention of a President anywhere in the story). However, when his much younger wife corners him... He finds out that he's actually predicted to murder a man he's never met. Leopold Kaplan was a retired general who fought in the Anglo-Sino War leading the now-abolished Federal West-Bloc Army. These little tidbits raise all sorts of questions and I could spend days just chewing on them honestly (Someone really didn’t want to give Hong Kong back?). Kaplan actually has moles in the Army General HQ (You’d think the precogs would see the moles… You’d think moles would rate, at the very least.{What if the mole was the guy who got to the predictions first though?  These things are being printed directly from a computer run on punch cards after all…} Which is the other problem.  You shouldn’t ever have these going to just one person.) who send him a warning and he has men kidnap Anderton as Anderton makes his escape from Pre-Crime. Kaplan decides to turn Anderton in however rather than risk his own life (And you’d also think that they’d peg to the kidnapping…{Well when you got a mole directly editing the reports…}).

Anderton escapes with help, leading to a game of cat and mouse as he realizes he needs to break back into Pre-Crime HQ to find out if one of the pre-cogs gave a different prediction of the future. A minority report as it's called. Anderton finds one and realizes the implication of this if the pre-cogs can see different futures than everyone they've arrested for having a prediction of doing a crime now as an argument for innocence (Shocking!). It could undermine the entire system. We also have another wrinkle in that we find out that Kaplin has created a veteran's society with officers from both sides of the war and a following within the active duty service. Additionally, Kaplan carried a grudge over having his old position having been abolished and has political ambitions (Happy birthday to you, have a militant coup…)

In fact, when Anderton arrives to meet Kaplin again, we're treated to a full-blown military rally. Kaplin is aware of the minority report, intends to announce it and prove Pre-Crime doesn't work, and overthrow the Senate. Faced with these options, Anderton goes along with Kaplin until the cameras are rolling and murders Kaplin live on international television, and turns himself in. Since Kaplin was about to lead a fascist coup, the Senate decides to grant Anderton exile to a frontier planet as long as the secret of the minority report is buried. Anderton explains to Witwer, his assistant, that the flaw in the system is that anyone who sees the report may change their mind leading to a new prediction. Since the commissioner is the most likely person to see the report, that now makes Witwer the most vulnerable man on the planet.

The story is very much focused on the balance between the needs of individual freedom and security provided by a system (Is it really secure, though?  I mean, with causality being violated…{Anderton argues that this would only work for someone who can see the report and change their mind, so only the police commissioner, it says something that no one suggests, what if we just showed people that there was a prediction of them doing a crime?}  Of course not!  It wouldn’t be a police state if they gave someone meaningful due process.). It's also powered by Mr. Dick wrestling with what free will is and what it means. Mixed into this is Mr. Dick's anxiety towards authority in general but it's a lot lower-key than in later works like a scanner darkly. We also don't see him wrestle with the idea of identity which he'll start to do in later works. It is a good example of his early work though, willing to confront the idea of different timelines and possible futures and how knowledge of your own fate alters it. That said, it feels rough and due to the length (only 20 pages), there's lot left unexplored here. So I'm giving a C+.

    

            I hope you enjoyed this review, if you did consider joining the Ever Wise Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a dollar a month.  You get access to hidden content and a vote on future reviews and videos!  Next week we’ll be looking at the television show that was a sequel of sorts to the film.  I hope to see you there.  Until next time, take care of yourselves, each other and of course, keep reading!

Video themes of Philip K Dick, a brief overview

 Decided to go ahead and link the videos I've made making to the blog as well.  Enjoy! 

The Iron Dice (Breach of Faith book 7) by Gary Stevens and Daniel Gibbs

 The Iron Dice (Breach of Faith book 7)

by Gary Stevens and Daniel Gibbs

I've already gone into depth on Mr. Stevens and Mr. Gibbs in this review series at length, so I'm honestly gonna point you to the double hand full of reviews on other works in this universe. That said I will go ahead and repeat the disclaimer, I know Mr. Stevens. He's been a good friend and supporter of this review series for years. I'm also proud to consider him a personal friend. That said, all my remarks are my honest personal opinion, take that as you will (Same goes for me of course.).

The Iron Dice is the last book in the Breach of Faith series(For which the author is grateful.), set in the universe created by Daniel Gibbs. I won't spend too much time discussing the universe at large because I've already done so repeatedly, I'll just tell you to go ahead and check out other reviews that I've done on those books and there will be links at the end of this review. This book picks up the plot directly from the last book in the series Fortune's Favor and I'll go from there.

The Jalm'tar, an alien race that worships the concept of fickle fortune running the universe, had their plot to conquer the Independent Systems Federation through addiction to the powerful pain killer known as Curall fail. So they've decided they'll simply resort to brute military force (That tracks for Imperialist Scum.). After all the ISF doesn't have much of a fleet being a newly created weak confederation of worlds. Meanwhile, the Terran Coalition is still reeling from its decades-long war with the League of Sol, as are the alien races such as the Saurians. Because of that, their fleet is bigger and their worlds are untouched by war. The biggest issue is that the Jalm'tar didn't want to embark on a plan with so much risk, as the humans and their allies have shown themselves willing to go to in their eyes psychotic lengths to avoid being conquered.

Admiral James Henry of the ISF navy knows that his still small and frankly ramshackle fleet made up of a half dozen shiny new cruisers, former pirate flotillas, and planetary defense forces aren't gonna be able to win such a war. So he embraces a new plan, where he will attempt to prevent the war from happening at all by backing a rival to the current emperor of the Jalm'tar when he attempts to seize the throne and thus avert hostilities (Or so he hopes, the way these things go.). That rival is a prince of the blood and the actual son of the last emperor who lost the throne to his power-hungry uncle (This is why the Ottomans…. Ottomaned.). The prince was banished to a comfortable if boring exile on a frontier planet far from the centers of power in the empire but remains under heavy guard. On top of that anyone who wants to get to him has to go through the empire, as the frontier planet in question is on an edge of the empire that doesn't border human space.

So Admiral Henry needs a group of skilled, determined people capable of taking a spacecraft on a long journey through enemy space, landing on an enemy planet, and extracting someone likely under fire and keeping them alive. This group will then have to smuggle this person to the enemy's capital planet and into the palace of the Emperor! This is something that entire nations would devote millions of dollars worth of resources for training and equipment to pull off. Admiral Henry has the crew of the Venture Star, a group of independent civilian spacers with a single civilian ship.

However, the crew has already survived missions that would kill experienced special forces units or spies. Plus they're led by Captain Miriam Gaon, one of the best spies that the Terran Coalition ever trained. In addition, they have a pair of Jalm'tar defectors who have enough information to give them a shot of not only pulling this off but living to brag about it later. On top of that, the Prince still has supporters in the nobility so if he can get close enough to the palace before being discovered and then announce his challenge, the Emperor will have no choice but to accept. How will this contest for the throne of an incredibly powerful empire be decided? Literal rolls of the iron dice, as in dice made from actual iron. That's right the Jalm'tar will decide who rules billions of sapient beings through a series of dice rolls (What the actual fuck?  No way in hell.  I call bullshit on that society functioning. {It doesn’t seem any more insane than doing it through hereditary means.  That said only people with the right ancestry get to even try to roll, you can’t just walk in off the street}}). Whoever has the highest cumulative score after about 3 rolls... Wins everything. There's a lot to unpack here so I'm going to discuss it in the companion video.

Mr. Stevens does a good job of letting us explore the alien mindset of the Jalm'tar by letting us interact with them as individuals, who in many cases have common beliefs and a worldview but express them all in different ways. This is usually done in discussion with other characters in the story, letting us not just explore the Jalm'tar but the human and allied aliens in the setting as well. The book does a good job of expanding on characters like Piper, the 1st mate who has to make her peace with her active role in events and the weight of command. Janet, a survivor of League occupation and the student/mentor relationship she develops with Stephan the withdrawn Russian navigator who shows a truly inspiring level of patience and understanding with her. While also teaching her how to pilot and navigate the ship.

While the book does suffer the usual problem of Mr. Stevens's work of having so many characters that it's difficult at best to give each one the time and page count to really grow. Mr. Stevens does make a valiant attempt and at the very least keeps any of the characters from turning into cardboard cutouts with only 1 or 2 vague character traits. He also continues giving us a widely varied cast to work with of different faiths (or lack of), races, backgrounds, and species, among other things. He also manages to avoid turning the varied cast into feeling like something assembled from a list to give an appearance of diversity. Instead, you get a cast of people from different cultures, planets, and backgrounds who live and work together and sometimes engage in thrilling heroics for a common cause and it works well and feels real.

Mr. Stevens also puts an effort in to keep our heroes from winning too easily and ensuring that the victories they do win, while meaningful, come at a price. He also avoids wandering into misery porn but makes it clear what the full weight of that price is as well. We see this not just in the main storyline but in the character arc of Mei Ling Lou, who was serving as a Captain in the Federation Navy but during this and the last book finds herself weighing the cost of her service. Not just the risk to herself but how it affects her children.

I'm not a parent, but even I know how difficult it can be to serve miles and miles away from your spouse and children. It's a strain that many families break under and never recover from. There are also plenty of families who can make it work but even then that comes at a cost to the person serving and to their loved ones. A cost in missed moments, doubts, and fears that can never really be completely exorcized for good, and the knowledge that you could lose the loved one serving at any moment and there's nothing you can do about it. It's a hard row to hoe and even wealth and privilege don't make it any easier. Mei Ling is forced to confront that and make a final decision on where her priorities and loyalties lie and the thing is there is no real right answer here.

For some people being there for their children and spouse is going to be more important and they're not wrong to choose that. For others, service for something they believe to be important and greater than themselves and overrides individual concerns and I'm not going to say that's wrong either (Though I will say, if you have that mindset, maaaaybe don’t inflict that on someone else unless that person goes into it eyes wide open.  And even then, maybe try not to have kids.  Just my two cents.). After all, our society couldn't function without people making that choice. Not just in the context of military service but consider the demands we put on medical professionals, firefighters, teachers, and the legion of other professions and services that keep society grinding forward through the efforts of good men and women doing hard and often personally painful work. (Yes.  But our society also expects too much of such people. They shouldn’t have to make that choice in the first place because their pay and working hours should be sane.)

This is the last book in the series as far as I am aware and Mr. Stevens does a good job of bringing the character arcs to a close or at least to a satisfactory stopping point. As far as conclusions go, I feel this is a pretty good one. We have seen these characters grow, change and become stronger and better people, even if they've collected injuries and wounds along the way. This is one of Mr. Steven's greatest strengths, his ability to move characters through a believable path of growth and advancement while keeping a plot moving with a good amount of action and intrigue going. That said I wouldn't call the book perfect as I mentioned before the cast still feels a bit too large and because of that some arcs do suffer. Not everyone feels like they're at a good stopping point for their character arc honestly. 

Additionally, there was a political plot where the Federation, the Coalition, and other powers came together to discuss alliances. I honestly feel that the antagonists were not handled as adroitly as they could have been... It's not as heavy-handed as the League was for example but could have been done better. For that matter, the Jalm'tar Emperor was a bit of a miss as a villain for me but he was more than made up for by the other Jalm'tar characters. Because of that, I'm giving The Iron Dice by Gary Stevens and Daniel Gibbs a B+. The action is good as is the intrigue and most of the faults are easy to breeze by. Keep in mind though if you start at this book you'll be hopelessly lost so you'll need to start at the beginning of the series.

I hope you enjoyed this review.  If you did consider joining the patron at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a dollar a month.  Where through polls and discussion you have a voice in what future content gets made.  Next month we’ll be examining Minority Report as part of Dick Month, a tradition that has been supported by a majority patron vote. Patrons also receive bonus content!  Either way, thank you for reading and I hope you join us next week, until then take care of yourselves, each other, and of course, Keep Reading! 

Red text is your editor, Dr. Allen Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders Companion Video: https://youtu.be/iJJ3I73Fvs0 Prior Reviews in this universe: http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2020/05/echoes-of-war-fight-good-fight-by.html http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2021/12/echoes-of-war-strong-and-courageous-by.html http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2022/01/so-fight-i-echoes-of-war-book-iii-by.html http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2021/03/breach-of-duty-by-daniel-gibbs-and-gary.html

http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2020/09/breach-of-faith-book-ii-by-daniel-gibbs.html

http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2020/08/breach-of-peace-by-daniel-gibbs-and.html

http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2022/03/breach-of-trust-by-gary-t-stevens-and.html

http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2022/10/spacers-luck-breach-of-faith-book-5-by_21.html

http://frigidreads.blogspot.com/2022/12/fortunes-favor-breach-of-faith-book-6.html