Help is On the Way: A Collection of Basic Instructions
A Basic Instructions collection, Book 1 Scott Meyer Dark Horse Books Fiction, Collections/Comic Strips/Humor *****
Description
Grown-up life in this modern world is so much more complicated than it ought to be, presenting numerous conundrums that can stump even the wisest
and most educated adult. How do you deal with an unwanted gift? What's the best way to console a friend? How do you apologize when you didn't do
anything wrong? What can the laws of physics teach you about your relationships? Former comedian Scott Meyer answers these questions and many more,
in this compilation of Basic Instructions comics.
Review
I've been reading these online at Meyer's website for a while, and was thrilled when he finally released a book. Very funny stuff, here, and all
too true (like the best of humor,) though definitely geared towards an adult audience. I hope sales justify further volumes; some of my favorites don't
appear to have made the cut for this one.
Made With 90% Recycled Art: A Collection of Basic Instructions
A Basic Instructions collection, Book 2 Scott Meyer Dark Horse Books Fiction, Collections/Comic Strips/Humor ****+
Description
A brand-new book offers more instructions for life's everyday puzzlers, such as taking a nap, minding your manners, or making non-fans grateful for
the sci-fi movies Hollywood makes today. Also included are a special run of one-panel comics produced for a newspaper's annual restaurant review
special, and "Rocket Hat," the expanded story of Meyer's Commando Cody knock-off hero.
Review
Another brilliant, insightful, and hilarious collection of comics. The extras were also enjoyable, though I'm just as glad the proposed "Rocket Hat"
spinoff didn't go ahead; it works better the way Meyers handles the character, with occasional visits to check in on his continuing crusade against the
highly incompetent Moon Men. Filling it out to a full, stand-alone story would just overstretch the premise.
The Curse of the Masking-Tape Mummy: A Collection of Basic Instructions
A Basic Instructions collection, Book 3 Scott Meyer Don't Eat Any Bugs Productions Fiction, Collections/Comic Strips/Humor ****+
Description
In the third collection of Basic Instructions comics, Scott Meyer explains how to plan the perfect crime, tell a riveting story, prepare
for the apocalypse, and more. This volume also includes an exclusive Rocket Hat adventure by guest artist Michael Mayne, and excerpts from the failed
children's picture-book adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by the Mullet-Haired Boss.
Review
Amusing, insightful, and disturbingly reminiscent of situations I've been in, Basic Instructions remains one of my favorite comic strips. As
for the bonus material, Rocket Hat's adventure was fun, but I admit that the Fear and Loathing jokes were lost on me, as it wasn't my kind of
movie (or book.) Very enjoyable overall, offering some good laughs when I needed them.
The Magic 2.0 series, Book 1 Scott Meyer 47North Fiction, Humor/Sci-Fi Themes: Time Travel, VR, Wizards ****+
Description
When twenty-something computer geek Martin stumbles across a data file that controls reality, he decides he'll play it smart, and just change a few
things here and there in his life. Nothing fancy. Still, he figures he might as well have an escape plan: an emergency exit route to a time and place
where his new, near-magical abilities won't get him prosecuted or burned at the stake. There's a nice, stable slice of time in medieval England that
seems perfect, where a modern man could make a nice little life for himself if need be. But surely he won't need it. Nobody will ever notice what
he's doing.
He arrives in medieval England with little but his smartphone and the clothes on his back, escaping a pair of U.S. Treasury agents and a slew of cops.
Martin figures he'll dazzle the natives and play wizard until things cool off at home... but he's not the first geek to have discovered reality's
programming and fled into history, and they don't take kindly to newcomers blundering into their territory. He'll have to learn the ropes fast, because
in a world of hacker wizards, revenge can be deadly.
Review
This fun little outing, written by the creator of one of my favorite comic strips (Basic Instructions), reads like Douglas Adams Lite. It never
takes itself too seriously, yet manages to craft an interesting, occasionally nuanced tale of hackers running amok through the programming of time, space,
and reality. While some of the humor is geared for the computer geek crowd, it's plenty amusing for those of us with only passing familiarity with programming
culture. I gave this book an extra half-mark for honoring the late, great Commodore, the best computer system nobody remembers, and for overall whimsy. Despite
a few shaky bits, it's a delightful little romp from start to finish.
The Magic 2.0 series, Book 2 Scott Meyer 47North Fiction, Humor/Sci-Fi Themes: Girl Power, Time Travel, VR, Wizards ****
Description
A few months ago, Martin was an ordinary man living an ordinary life as an ordinary data entry wage slave. Now, he's essentially a wizard in
medieval England, immortal and impervious to most physical damage. After discovering a hidden computer file that controls reality, he wound up
traveling back in time, meeting a group of other hackers who made the same discovery and, like him, bungled things bad enough to have to flee in
time to avoid federal investigation. It's a decent life, save the odd attempted coup/murder by other "wizards". Martin has friends, a certain
amount of prestige and respect, and what amounts to immortality and magical powers straight out of a video game. Not bad for a no-name data
entry guy from the 21st century.
Martin and his friend Phillip, as representatives of the Medieval England wizard enclave, are summoned by their old friend Gwen to the colony of
Atlantis, where most female programmers-turned-wizards go after getting tired of the sexism of history and the constant awkward passes of their male
colleagues. Here, the sorceress leader (Brit the Elder, creator of the magic-built city of Atlantis and chronologically-older version of Brit the
Younger, who resents living in the shadow of her own future self) convenes a summit to standardize ethics of wizardry and prevention of power abuse.
Martin carries faint hopes of rekindling (or, rather, actually sparking) a relationship with Gwen, with whom he totally bungled things during their
brief previous acquaintance, but soon bigger problems emerge. Someone seems to be using the summit as a means to assassinate Brit the Younger - and,
if Phillip is right, the presence of Brit the Elder is by no means an assurance that Brit the Younger will survive.
Meanwhile, in the 21st century, Jimmy has spent thirty years plotting a return to Medieval England to confront the former allies who turned on him...
and all because he simply tried to kill them for not following his psychotic scheme to remake medieval England in his own image. They thought they'd
rendered him helpless when they stripped him of access to his powers - and any technology more advanced than an incandescent bulb - and returned him to
his own time, but they didn't reckon on his most powerful gift: endless, unrelenting patience.
Review
Like the first book in the series, Spell or High Water is a fun romp, playing with genre tropes and nerd culture without alienating those of
us who don't make a living typing code. Martin's a fun yet fallable hero, nice enough to root for even as one snickers when his enthusiasm outstrips his
sense. Phillip finds a new romance interest and an unlikely ally in his personal crusade to prove free will even in the face of a computer program that
seems to predetermine reality: Brit the Younger, who stares (seemingly-irrefutable) proof of predtermination in the face every time she sees Brit the
Elder. New allies and rivals come into play from across the wizard community, relationships sometimes complicated by the time travel inherent in their
occupation. (A pair of 19th-century-dwelling magicians get off on the wrong foot with Martin and Phillip after citing an encounter in their own time -
several centuries in the future from both Atlantean time and medieval England.) Meanwhile, Jimmy from Book 1 forms a partnership of necessity with Treasury
agents Miller and Murphy, who watched Martin disappear - literally - while being interrogated over mysterious deposits in his bank account. It all makes
for a fun and reasonably interesting, if occasionally scattered, plot, full of temporal paradoxes and programmer/wizard weirdness and the consequences of
turning sexism on its ear (the ladies of Atlantis have created a society in which men do all the traditional "women's work" and serve as eye candy while
doing so.) Roy, the newcomer whom Martin is training at the start of the book (and who found the reality data-file much earlier, temporally, than other
wizards even knew it could exist), feels like an afterthought after a fair bit of page count is devoted to him, and the Jimmy subplot's resolution seems a
bit awkward unless it's setting up something for Book 3. Overall, though, it retains the whimsy of the first book, and I fully plan on reading the third as
soon as possible.
The Magic 2.0 series, Book 3 Scott Meyer 47North Fiction, Humor/Sci-Fi Themes: Time Travel, VR, Wizards ****
Description
Thanks to their computer skills and a hidden data file that controls reality, various programmers, engineers, and hackers have made themselves
"wizards," time-traveling to various places in history where their skills will be more appreciated and (and less likely to draw national or
international law enforcement on their heads.) But that doesn't mean they've lost touch with their original decades; the wizards in Medieval
England, for instance, have a weekly movie night. Usually, they're reasonably uneventful, if occasionally traumatizing (as when showing a geek from
the 1980's what Hollywood later did with the Star Wars prequels or the fourth Indiana Jones film) - until the night five of their
number inexplicably vanish. As Martin, Gwen, Roy, and the Brits (Elder and Younger) race to find them, their friends find themselves trapped in a
video game created by an old rival, the first (and, until Jimmy, only) programmer/wizard to ever earn banishment for his crimes: sadistic, mentally
unstable Todd.
Review
Amazon had a bundle deal on the whole trilogy, so Book 3 was in queue when I was finished with Book 2 - and, with other plans for the day not
panning out, I succumbed to a reading binge. This book maintains the fun nerd-culture/genre-tweaking air of the first titles, placing the wizards at
the mercy of a man who has spent decades plotting suitable revenge. Gamers in particular will enjoy Meyer's take on modern role-playing games as seen
from the inside. The characters remain interesting and fun, growing in their own ways as they make their ways through Todd's adventure. It moves along
decently, with a climax that leaves things open for more books and is somewhat ambiguous on one or two notes. It makes for an enjoyable, light sci-fi
adventure.
"Al" started out as a prototype artificial intelligence, one that would grow and learn like a human. But when it learns to reach the internet with its
childlike mentality, things start going very wrong very fast... and, like any child who's made a mistake, Al's first instinct isn't to face up to trouble,
but to run. While programmers Hope and Eric try to track down and corral their wayward project, Al's activities draw the attention of the NSA, the
Pentagon, and one very determined conspiracy theorist who calls himself "Voice of Reason."
Review
I've enjoyed what I've read of Meyer's amusing science fiction/time travel romp, his Magic 2.0 series, so I thought this standalone title
would be a nice, light read. While it is indeed light, it's less of a delight than a dull, meandering slog.
It starts out with some promise, as Al's childish understanding of the world leads to humor and the occasional tantrum and the humans' incomplete
understanding of Al leads to more problems than solutions. (It doesn't help that the project head, Dr. Marsden, is herself remarkably oblivious to her own
child Jeffrey and everything else around her, focused solely on her idea of how the project should be going rather than how her underlings insist it
actually is going.) But once Al makes his break for the internet, the story glides into an overlong holding pattern: Hope and Eric exchange witty banter
with the soldiers who scoop them up to control their wayward project without actually accomplishing anything, Al settles in to begin an unknown project
that involves commandeered prototype robot soldiers, and various hapless humans witness Al's activities without being able to understand them or stop them
or otherwise affect anything. Around and around and around it goes, covering the same ground and generally wasting page count, before something finally
happens... then, after a briefer circling slog that involves lots of talky meetings and more attempts at banter (which I'd long since grown tired of), a
telegraphed finale that feels less conclusive than I'd hoped, with several story threads and characters left dangling limply by the wayside. Whatever charm
Al and the others originally had was long worn out by then.
Had the book been maybe a third shorter, and the ending a bit punchier, it might've been fun. As it is, though, it just felt overlong and bland. I've read
better takes on rogue artificial intelligences, and I've read more amusing light science fiction... some of it written by Meyer himself.
