Review of Wolfsbane by Guy Haley

Horus Heresy novels like Prospero Burns and Scars have not offered readers a nuanced view of Leman Russ—the Emperor's executioner and primarch of the Space Wolves. Good things come to those who wait, however. Here, at the 49th book in the series, readers finally get a look inside the head of the Russ. Accordingly, let's take a look at Wolfsbane (2018).

Wolfsbane opens on a moment in pre-Heresy history when the Emperor, accompanied by a young Horus, go to the ice planet of Fenris to an up and coming leader, one Leman Russ. Primitive, atavistic, brutish—Russ possesses little grace or etiquette, just an animal's mind reveling in battle and feast. Horus is put off by Russ' demeanor, but the Emperor informs him that Russ is his primarch brother, and that the two will need to work together in the future as part of the Great Crusade. Horus accepts Russ and puts his grudge aside. But its a grudge that must eventually be resolved. In Wolfsbane, it may decide the fate of the Heresy.

Cardboard Corner: Review of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn Red Rains expansion "Corpse of Viros"

Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn (aka Ashes Reborn in its 1.5 incarnation) is one our favorite expandable card games. It's checks a lot of boxes. Great concept and art. Super tight design. Unique mechanisms. And fun back and forth gameplay. Recently, having reached a natural pause point in content production, the game's producers decided to take Ashes in a new direction, a popular direction of modern gaming—regardless board, card, or video. That area is PvE (person vs environment), and the new release is Red Rains: “Corpse of Viros” (2023).

“Corpse of Viros” kicks off the Red Rains PvE series. One release is planned for each of the seven dice types, with “Corpse of Viros” featuring Charm dice. In this new mode, one to two players take on the game-controlled Viros and all its aspects. Knock its hit points to zero, and the phoenixborn win. It kills a phoenixborn, and Viros wins. From 10,000 feet, it's that simple.

Time to Move On from Tom: Alternatives to Magic: The Gathering

Is Tom Cruise starring in the latest Hollywood action drama you'd most like to see? Sorry, but it's time to move on—and this coming from someone who grew up with Cruise. He had his day, even ruled it, and now he's just milking it. And I would say the same about Magic: The Gathering. If you don't know what Magic is, don't bother reading further. It will be meaningless rambling. If you do know, do care, and do perhaps consider Magic the Greatest TCG of All Time!! <trumpets tootle>, then have a read. I'm going to do two things: dismantle the myth around Magic today and offer a view forward. Tom Cruise, no matter how good the botox and hair dye, is past his prime, and so is Magic. Time to move on, and here's why and how.

Before getting our coffin nails out, let's give credit where credit is due: Magic: The Gathering is a monumental success. Firstly and singularly, it has the most superlatives of any expandable card game/trading card game/collectible card game/whatever you want to call the business model which sells randomized packs of cards at varying rarities, which in turn can be played in a duel with a friend within a ruleset that is expanded upon and toyed with by each new card released. Richard Garfield created Magic in 1994, and the gaming world literally has not been the same since. Magic has significant presence on the collector's market (let alone the trading card market) and has significant presence on the tables of numerous tournaments and millions of homes. Magic is the first, the biggest, the most successful, the longest lasting card game still producing fresh content on the market. Kudos and congrats to Wizards of the Coast, the game's producer, on this success. It. is. deserved.

Review of Joe's Liver by Paul Di Filippo

That thimbleful of readers who regularly visit Speculiction know that it prefers the strong undercurrents of fiction, undercurrents that go largely unnoticed by the mainstream yet are more original, more sophisticated than what flows on the surface. Paul Di Filippo is a fish who swims in these waters. Impossible to pin down to a particular current, however, Joe's Liver (2000) is yet another book that can't be summed up in a word or two. (Presciently thigh-slapping? Naww, no justice there...)

Joe's Liver is the story of a guy named Reader's Digest from a fictional Caribbean island nation (that really likes nutmeg). Yes, his name is Reader's Digest, a name given him by his mother, a woman who loved the American periodical, and who instilled a similar love in her son. (Don't worry, he quickly becomes Ardy in the story, i.e his initials.) She instilled the love to the point Ardy has made the decision to travel to the US to visit Reader's Digest HQ. Trouble is, he doesn't have a visa to enter the country. The novel thus opens with Ardy making a border run from the Canadian side, a run that quickly spins out of control. Ardy's path to his goal waylaid, the obstacle course of American culture awaits.

Review of Past Crimes by Jason Pinter

Every human on Earth has some fascination with true crime. Fortunately for the human race, more people look on with atavistic fascination than look to actively generate new stories. Capturing this fascination in NY Times bestselling thriller fashion is Jason Pinter's Past Crimes (2024).

Cassie Wells is an employee of VICE, a broker that licenses people's tragedies and crimes to entertainment syndicates like Past Crimes. The most popular thing going, Past Crimes makes virtual shows that reenact crimes for people's viewing pleasure as well as virtual participation. The majority of existence having moved online, nearly all interactions in Cassie's 2037 USA take place through avatars (called wraps), including meetings with clients/victims to get them to sign over the rights. One day, after asking people to choose between the moral dignity of their tragedies vs. financial compensation for their tragedies' exploitation, disaster occurs to Cassie. Spinning her life in an unexpected direction, she is forced to confront the real world impact of Past Crimes on society.

Review of Old Earth by Nick Kyme

I know not everyone is enamored by the Salamanders/Vulkan story thread in the Horus Heresy. I partially understand why—partially. Vulkan's character is one of the most straightforward, monochromatic of the primarchs. He is unfailingly loyal and believes in the value of life. In a grimdark setting, I can see how some might find this 'boring'. For me, however, Vulkan and the Salamanders occupy a symbolic role that has nuance—only a degree of nuance, but nuance nonetheless. If Vulkan Lives and Deathfire have shown us anything, then it's that mortality is not black and white. Old Earth (2017) by Nick Kyme, 47th book in the series, looks to take the Salamander/Vulkan storyline one step closer to resolution, to Terra, and to link it further with the meaning of human existence.

Old Earth begins by confirming (Alert! Spoiler for Deathfire!) Vulkan's resurrection at the end of that novel. Emerging from the fire and ash, he collects his wits and meets happens upon a group of his closest officers who had been looking for him. Knowing that he must abandon his Legion for a mission of the utmost importance (for mystical reasons after his resurrection!), Vulkan takes this small group of Astartes on a harrowing mission through the planet's lava core to... that is for the reader to find out.

Review of Ruinstorm by David Annandale

Of all the back cover blurbs in the Horus Heresy, Ruinstorm by David Annandale (2017) has perhaps the least chance of inspiring interest. Various legions of space marines encounter Chaos in the Warp, blah, blah, blah. Bolter porn if ever there were, yes? Only seemingly. The 46th book in the Horus Heresy series manages to be engaging for the individual storylines it progresses as well as the criticality of the waypoint it achieves in the overarching story arc. And for those worried by my intro, don't. There is a strong dash of bolter porn, as well.

With the collapse of Imperium Secundus in Angels in Caliban, the three loyalist legions—Dark Angels, Blood Angels, and Ultramarines—get in their ships and head to Terra to defend it. Problem is, the Ruinstorm—that massive cyclone of Chaos unleashed on the universe by the Word Bearers—blocks their traversal. With no choice, the three Legions, led by their storied primarchs Sanguinius, Guillaume, and the Lion (with Cruze imprisoned in the hold), enter the storm. They do not exit the same as they entered.

Cardboard Corner: Review of "NeXt Evolution" expansion for Marvel Champions

Marvel Champions has made it. It has gotten through the difficulties of launch, through the obstacle course of gaining momentum, and is now flying high. Sales have been great through dozens of hero packs and six deluxe campaigns. But some may say that now is when the going really gets tough. How to sustain success? Let's see how the seventh deluxe expansion, NeXt Evolution (2023), handles it.

NeXt Evolution returns to the lore of the X-Men introduced in the previous deluxe, Mutant Genesis. Nothing unique to this expansion, I struggle with the lore. It's the same as last time, and the time before, and the time... The heroes of the moment sit around relaxing; bad guys commit surprise attack; heroes jump into action and one by one thwart the villains' nefarious scheme; heroes win. NeXt Evolution is exactly the same; just replace old faces with new. I know Marvel Champions is not a vehicle for story, just hero vs. villain scenarios with story pasted on. It's still difficult for me to muster the energy necessary to create a story introduction when it has become so repetitive.

Review of Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

It is the dismay of people learning the English language everywhere to discover the fact that they must, in fact, learn two languages: the signed (written) and spoken (verbal). For whatever reason, we have 'to', 'two', and 'too' while writing, but pronounce all the same. There are few other languages for whom spelling bees are as dynamic. Literally embracing this fact to tell of a post-apocalyptic future is Russell Hoban's brilliant 1980 Riddley Walker.

Riddley Walker is set an unknown amount of time in a post-nuclear future of England. Shit hit the fan, and the bombs went off. Enter young Riddley Walker. Son of the group's soothsayer, he faces tragedy early when his father is crushed while excavating a large machine from the mud. But more ominous omens occur, including Riddley being attacked by a pack of dogs. He is forced out of the group and into the wilds. Journeying the ravaged, primitive lands, he runs into all manner of people, trying discover a new place for himself.

Review of They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley

There are many patterns observable in human social behavior. One is copy cats. A person needs look no further than Chinese industry to find millions of people beavering away to recreate Western products in an attempt to make a buck. Not being critical, that's just humans being humans. If the situation were reversed, the West would do the same. And the same is, of course, true in writing fiction. One writer makes a big splash on the reading scene and inevitably a line of writers will queue up to do something similar. Published two years after Alfred Bester's successful The Demolished Man, cue Frank Riley and Mark Clifton's They'd Rather Be Right (1954).

They'd Rather Be Right is the story of Joe Carter and the cybernetic brain he and two university professors create. The brain is nicknamed ”Bossy” and is capable of inferring advanced intelligence and immmortality. Naturally, Bossy becomes much sught after for it. So excited, in fact, the government shuts the Bossy project down. Just as naturally, this pushes Bossy underground where its powers can still be utilized. But while there are many people who want the powers Bossy offers, are they willing to give up what Bossy asks in return?