I'm over at Bookshop Talk, talking about The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea, translated by JaHyun Kim Haboush. Go read about it! Or don't -- and just go read the book!

Boardgame Review: Dino Hunt Dice

At Salt Lake ComicCon, my kids discovered Zombie Dice. They loved it, but there's something really unnerving about hearing a five-year-old cheer, "Yes! More brains!"

So I was really happy to discover Dino Hunt Dice. It's also made by Steve Jackson Games and has almost-identical rules. Instead of brains, you collect dinosaurs.

Usually I'm a big fan of games with a fair amount of strategy and choice-making. This isn't that game. Dino Hunt Dice only has one choice to make -- whether or not you want to keep what you have or roll again and chance losing it all (here's the complete rules). There's a certain amount of calculated risk and probability involved, but this is no Euro game. So...why pick this game up?

You need something short. The game plays in about ten minutes, so it's perfect for moments when you really just don't have time to break out an hour-long game but want to be able to play something with your kids. It would work as a quick filler game for gaming groups, too -- or as a way to determine who gets to pick the next, heavier board game for the group to play. 

You need something simple. This is the kind of game one can literally play one-handed. The rules are easy peasy. It would be an easy game to get non-gamers to play. A great game for people who want to chat more than strategize. I don't have any very young novice board game players right now, but this would be a great game to introduce to a three-year-old. The luck element is heavy enough that they have a good chance of winning, but the game is still ten thousand times more interesting than Candyland. I'm excited to have a game that I'd willingly play with other adults that can also be accessed by kiddos still learning how to roll dice. And unlike a lot of dice games where there's some real score keeping involved, here you just have to be able to keep a running tally to twenty.

You need something portable. The whole game comes in a cup that would fit in most purses. It wouldn't be a bad game to just keep stashed in the car, and it's almost certainly going to be traveling with us. No need to worry about busted corners on boxes or finding space for it.

This game is no Settlers of Catan. It's not amazing or revolutionary. But I'm grateful to own it for those moments when we need short and simple and pulling out an absolutely brilliant game just isn't feasible. The kids have played it with me and by themselves I-don't-know-how-many-times. It seems easily worth the ten dollars we paid for it.

Boardgame Review: Black Sheep

I think this is the first boardgame I've come to because of the artist. I went to Ursula Vernon's website to check out her work and found Black Sheep. It had Ursula's delightful art, it was published by Fantasy Flight, and the designer's name looked familiar too. Google informed me that's because Reiner Knizia's done a lot of board games that I've played before.

How had I never heard of this game? I quickly acquired a copy.

The day it showed up, we played it six times. Twice in the afternoon with the kids. Twice with the kids and husband after dinner. And then twice more with just my husband that evening. Because it called, siren song-like on the shelf, and we couldn't leave it alone.

GAMEPLAY:

Black Sheep is a fast game with the feel of a more complex worker placement or bidding game. It's also a good deal like playing three simultaneous hands of Texas Hold 'Em.

Three fields are placed in the middle of the table, each with two animals on it. Players each have a hand of three cards, and take turns playing cards on their side of the field. When each player has three cards on their side, the field is scored. Between the animals on their fields and their own cards, players looks at their combinations of animals. One player might have a four-of-a-kind, another a full house, and another two pair. The player with the best combination (in this place, the four-of-a-kind) wins. They take the two animals and place them on their own coral.

The little animal figurines each have numbers stamped on the bottom -- victory points for the end of the game. Black sheep, however, count negative against your score! There are also end-of-game bonuses; one for whoever has the most of each type of animal, plus bonuses for having a complete set of animals. There are option mission cards, but we haven't added that extra layer of complexity yet.

PROS:
*It's a good balance of luck and skill. That makes it great for families -- older players are still engaged and younger players can still win. This would also be great for a gaming group where there's a mix of hard-core boardgamers and people who want to try something new, but are intimidated by complex games with lots of components. (I should probably note that my 5-year-old has better strategy than me, anyway. He's happy to throw down the best cards he has and keep going. I tend to use some fields as essentially discard piles so I can look for just the perfect card to win somewhere else. The first game we played, he beat me 41 to 8. No, that's not a typo.)

*It's short. Also good for families, or a quick inbetween game at a group while waiting for people to show. It also means that the luck factor isn't devastating -- if the cards hate you this game, it's okay. There will be another game. Soon.

*Your hand is always three cards. We skip a lot of card games because the kids aren't coordinated enough to fan out and hold a dozen cards at a time. No problems here.

*It's easy to learn. I had to read the rules twice to get the hang of it, but only took a minute to teach my husband. The kids got the game play quickly, though it took them a few game to memorize which kinds of combination were better. They do not have any passing familiarity with poker.

*The corral where you keep your animals lists them from highest-value to lowest value; important if you're trying to figure out a tiebreaker (A three-of-a-kind of horses, for example, beats a three-of-a-kind of sheep).

*Quick set-up. Quick clean-up.

*Cute animals! Both in the arts and in the little pieces.

CONS:
*Fantasy Flight always makes games with top-notch components, so I was surprised the fields weren't made out of something heavier. On the flip side, I wouldn't mention it if it were another publishing company. They look nice, and it probably helps keep the price of the game down.

*Cards are small, but I don't think it'd fit on my table well, otherwise. It means they're easy for my kids to hold, but hard for me to shuffle. There's a moderate amount of shuffling in a 3-player game, and quite a bit in a 4-player game.

Review: Catan Junior

I know I usually do comparisons or make lists, but Catan Junior deserves an entire post to itself.

How well does this compare to Catan? The Catan we know and love? The Catan that can be recreated entirely out of cookies, cupcakes, or what-have-you?

It feels like Catan, not a random game with the name slapped on. It plays a lot like Catan. And I think the way it's scaled-down and simplified for kids is brilliant. Let's start at the top:

Components: Catan Junior has the quality and feel of a great Euro-style game. The colors are kid-friendly and bright, but also beautiful.

Unlike Catan, there aren't resource cards, but hefty, well-constructed resource tokens (which you can kinda see in the top of this picture). They're easy to handle. They feel nice. I like boardgames with fiddle-worthy pieces, and these live up. In a game where secrecy isn't paramount, I think this was a smart switch. We can work on holding cards and not flashing them to other players in a game with less going on (like Go Fish).

Reviews for Drift

The Kindle version of Drift is out! Also. I haven't linked to the Kirkus review, but they had some nice things to say:

Readers will find watching Hutchins’ unusual magical rules bring about startling consequences for family and political structure utterly fascinating. Totally fresh.

I also haven't mention Sarah Beth Durst's review here, which gets quoted on the cover. I had no idea my published had sent the book to her. Vessel is amazing. It's still surreal that she read my book, let alone said nice things about it.

A fantastic adventure set in a stunning, original world, Drift is the kind of book that draws you in so completely that you'll believe you are living on an island on the back of a turtle, fighting off water spirits, and claiming your own magical treasures. Some of the best worldbuilding I've ever read.

Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience: KidCon 2014

Thanks to an excellent friend of mine, I ended up with a pair of tickets to SLC Comic Con. And kids under ten get in free -- hurrah! We decided all to go and just have fun.

I think this was the first conference/convention I've gone to with no aspirations of professional development. We walked the dealer's floor. We hung out at the KidCon area.

And KidCon was awesome.

There was a giant LEGO display from the Utah LEGO Users Group, including a spectacular Helm's Deep, the Orthnac, trains, the Avengers hovercraft, castles...it was fantastic. Someone else had a giant balloon sculpture. Disney princesses hosted tea parties. The Children's Museum had a booth where kids could transform painted toilet paper rolls into superhero bracers.

LEGO Orthnac

And there was great programing. The Leonardo did some science experients and explained how science was like super powers! The Hoogle zoo brought out some cool animals (owl, kestrel, snake, armadillo) and explained how animal adaptations were like super powers! There was something going on at one of the two stages about every half hour, it seemed.

The costumes were amazing, too. My kids adored all the Star Wars stuff, especially the guy with a real-sized, remote-controlled R2D2. I've never had the kids ask me to take their picture before.

I was told that this is the first time there's been kid programming at SLC Comic Con...which isn't a long wait, because this Comic Con debuted last year. Spectacularly. This year, there were more than 100,000 in attendance, making it the 3rd largest Comic Con in the nation, and the largest convention to be held in the state of Utah.

I'm glad we got to go and be a part of it. The kids are already designing costumes for next time.

K-Drama for the Epic Fantasy Reader

At least once a week, I read something on Twitter about TV that makes me want to respond "you really should be watching historical Korean dramas."  Frustrated with episodic stories that go nowhere? Historical k-drama. Longing for wide-sweeping, big-scope stories?  K-drama.  Want interesting female characters?  K-drama.  Lamenting there's no chance for tragedy?  K-drama.

I'm fairly new to watching this genre, but it explodes my epic-loving brain.  Sweeping stakes.  Politics that really...well, make sense as politics.  Often, novels and movies talk vaugely about "political power" or "influence," but the dramas show how people are power.

Really, the historical k-dramas utilize a whole series of tropes I'd never seen before.  The first historical k-drama I watched, I felt like I'd just discovered Robin Hood and King Arthur for the first time.  It's changed the way I think about fiction and storytelling.

And so, if you love epic fantasy...big, rolling stories that are worth every second...I've got a pair of reccomendations.

Faith.  A warrior travels forward in time, looking for a legendary doctor to save the Queen's life, and brings back a plastic surgeon instead.  This story is half-historical, set in the mid-14th century reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo -- a turbulent time where the king tries to assert Goryeo's independence from Yuan (China).  But there's also some fantasy elements -- a bit of time travel, and some combat magic.

This is an easy show to drop into.  Having someone from the modern world kidnapped into 1300's politics allows for a gentler learning curve.  For all the sweeping drama -- coups, military maneuvers, betrayals and manipulations -- I loved the occasional funny character moments that sneak in.  The king and queen's relationship here also gave me the epiphany that I don't hate romance...I just like a specific kind of romance, which this had in spades.  Literally, I jumped up and down and squealed like a broken saxophone when this married couple held hands.  One day, I hope I write a romantic plot line half as emotional.  Overall, this series is twenty-four episodes of goodness.

Dirt Candy Review at Bookshop Talk

My review of Dirt Candy is up at Bookshop Talk!  It's half cook book, half comic book, and all fun.  Check out the review here.

Bookshop Talk: Throne of the Crescent Moon

My review of Throne of the Crescent Moon is up on Bookshop Talk (click here).  This book kept me company on two overnight bus trips -- it's fantastic.

Bookshop Talk: Variant

My review of Robison Well's Variant is up on Bookshop Talk!  I've already matched it up with a board game (here), but the review gives more complete thoughts on just the book.

Bookshop Talk: Shades of Milk and Honey

My review of Mary Robinette Kowal's Shades of Milk and Honey is up at Bookshop Talk.  Fabulous, fun book -- come on over and check it out!

Bookshop Talk: The Golden Age

I've got a new review up at Bookshop Talk for John C. Wright's The Golden Age, a brilliant far-future science fiction novel.

Two New Reviews Up

I've got two new reviews up at Bookshop Talk!  Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, a very old favorite, and The Shifter by Janice Hardy, a new gem.  If you're a writer, Janice also has a phenomenal writing blog, The Other Side of the Desk, you should check out.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm

Been a busy day!  My review for Dianna Wynn Jones' The Dark Lord of Derkholm is up at Bookshop Talk.

Mistborn Review up at Bookshop Talk

Y'know how I keep mentioning Bookshop Talk?  Yes, they're an awesome review site, and yes, I've got another review up, this time for Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, the most mind-blowing thing I've read since Tolkien.  Really.  It even gets the place of honor next to Tolkien on my shelf, in shiny hardcover.

If you've never read Brandon Sanderson, I weep for you.  You can read one of his books, Warbreaker, on his website for free.  Also amazing.

The Scariest Conference Class

First off, I've got another review up on Bookshop Talk, this time for Shadow Spinner, one of my all-time favorite YA must-read books of pure delight on paper.

Now, for more conference report!  Dan Wells, author of "I Am Not a Serial Killer" gave an amazing class on suspense.  Despite being a very nice person, his scary-skills are so honed that after this class, the little blinking light on the smoke detector in my hotel room kept me up at night.  Yes, I stayed in brightly-lit places right after this class, but I learned some amazing things.

I'm not writing horror, but the things he talked about easily translate to creating suspenseful scenes.  So, here's my not-so-scary notes (the actual class came with film clips; my notes come with book examples that jumped to mind).

1. Establish "normal," then break it.  Something is rarely scary out of context.  Imagine Lord of the Rings opening with Frodo screaming, "Ah!  Nazgul in the Shire!"  This isn't tense at all.  What's a Nazgul, and where's the Shire?  Once Tolkien establishes that the Shire is a place where spoon-theft ranks as a high crime and that these Nazgul are somehow connected to that creepy old ring, well, then I'm on the edge of my seat.  When the Scouring of the Shire comes, I'm petrified.

2. Familiar Things Become Unfamiliar.  This is similar to #1.  I just finished James Dashner's The Maze Runner, and he's a pro at all of this.  He establishes how something works (one new boy will emerge into the Glade once a month), but then it doesn't work that way (the day after a new arrival, a girl shows up -- with a note).  As an added bonus, the character's panic feels real because I'm panicked.  This just can't be a good thing.

3. Let the readers wait for the other shoe to drop.  This made me think of The Hunger Games.  I know Katniss has a death-match waiting for her, but the Suzanne Collins lets this tension build, build, build for a good chunk of the book.  By the time Katniss reaches the arena, I'm a nervous wreck (and it's 1:00am, but hey, who cares about sleep?).

4. Push fear buttons.  If you talk about or show creepy stuff, it creeps people out.  Ah, the power of perfectly chosen setting details.  In Shadow Spinner, the story largely takes place in a harem that saw a bloodbath some years before.  That aspect of the setting seeps into the scenes, adding tension to every page.  A floor that's been scrubbed clean.  Lots of now-empty areas that were full before the purge.  Marjan wondering what dead girl occupied her room before her.  These are scattered throughout the book, but the author doesn't let you forget what happened and what could happen again.

5. When the time comes, show the monster.  Dan Wells had just enough time to shout this sentence, without explanation, as filed out to run to our next classes.  Consequently, I've spent too much time thinking about it.  Not all books have monsters, after all.  Personally, I think it ties back to #3.  Wait for the other shoe...but when you let it drop, let it really go.  The end of Mistborn left me holding my breath, probably for longer than my brain cells appreciated.  For most of the book, I have a good idea that our hero, Vin, is going to end up confronting the Lord Ruler.  When she does, Brandon Sanderson doesn't downplay the moment.  There's certainly no tea and crumpets.  When the shoe drops, it explodes.  Awesomely.


I gave macro-examples, but this works on a scene-by-scene level, too.  After this workshop, I rewrote a lackluster scene where someone was about to be arrested, but she didn't know it.  I had it start with all sorts of people being awake too early (#1).  The guards didn't address her by her title (#2).  Originally, I let the information all drop at once, but I held it back and let her (and hopefully the reader) worry about what had happened (#3).  All the details, from the cold floor to the stale smells, were foreboding ones (#4), and when the bad stuff happened, I let it all happen at once -- worse than I hope the reader could anticipate (#5).

Dan Wells also has an amazing presentation on story structure available on You-Tube.  Very smart guy, that Dan Wells.

Bookshop Talk & The Desert of Souls

I ran across Bookshop Talk some time ago and they hooked me.  They review books -- but only books they adore.  The also include a brief barometer of language/sensuality/violence at the bottom.  I know someone will yell "censorship!" but I love knowing what I'm getting into.  I could (but won't) make a list of books I thought were fantasy adventure novels only to realize three-quarters through that they were stealth romance novels with the obligatory, ludicrously steamy scene somewhere near the end.  I'm of the opinion that such scenes are about as necessary as three pages describing someone brushing their teeth.  So, I love this site.  It's helped me accurately find books that I know I want to read and dodge the ones I know will make me roll my eyes.

They accept outside review submissions (rules are here).  What with packing and then being gone to the conference, I missed it when they put up the review I wrote for The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones.  It's a straight-up adventure ripped from the same leaf as Arabian Nights.  Lots of sword play, adventure, and no teeth-brushing.  Highly recommended.

More reports on the Storymaker conference coming soon.