Nora frowned after the cat and sat down on the bench next to Hiro. She furiously typed into her messenger. Between the six of them, they spoke ten languages, but there was not one they all shared fluently. So they typed, and used translations to be understood.
Paulo and I had an awful time getting here. The trains are all shut down. Nora wrote.
A woman got hit by one. Hiro replied.
Impossible.
Is it? Dawn typed. Or is it just so unlikely that it never happened before? The Man sold out and the trains stop. No such thing as coincidence.
The City: 029: Nora
November 6, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Dawn, Drabble, Hiro, Nora, The City, The Daytrippers Leave a comment
The City: 028: MacBeth
November 5, 2014
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MacBeth the Cat sunned himself on an outer wall of Osaka Castle. He enjoyed the spot because it was always warm and sunny during the day, and there were many small birds and squirrels to chase. Below him, a crowd of humans, teenagers, he noted, was gathering. Lazily, he cataloged and recorded their identities and conversation. He wasn’t listening, but the recording went on automatically. A pair of additional humans climbed the steps and joined the group. A female, identified as Nora O’Reilly, location: Donegal, Ireland, reached up a hand to pet him. He hissed, and bounded into the grass.
Hugh Likes Comics: Lone Wolf and Cub
November 4, 2014
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Lone Wolf and Cub Volume One: The Assassin’s Road
Written by Kazuo Koike
Drawn by Goseki Kojima
Published by Dark Horse Comics (English Version)
Originally published in Japan in 1970, “Lone Wolf and Cub” is a seminal document of Japanese Comics (Manga). The story of an executioner turned assassin in 16th century Japan was hugely popular, becoming a best-seller and spawning a series of films, two television series, and inspiring artists and writers in Japan and around the world. Partially translated and released in the US in the 1980’s, it was not fully collected in English until Dark Horse Comics began releasing volumes in 2000.
Ogami Itto was the Shogun’s chief executioner until the treachery of the rival Yagyu clan robbed him of his position and sentenced him to sepuku. In defiance of the Shogun, Ogami became an assassin living in “Meifumado,” the Way of Demons.” He takes his only living family member, his infant son Daigoro, with him in his quest for vengeance. As such, he is called “Lone Wolf and Cub,” a peerless killer who will take on any mission for five hundred Ryo.
“Lone Wolf and Cub” is an epic story collected over twenty-eight volumes, but each volume is picaresque, discribing specific assassinations or encounters Itto and Daigoro have on their journey. Deeply beautiful and starkly violent, these stories are quintessential Japanese pulp. Like Ogami himself, they are a paradox. At once noble and at the same time murderous, they celebrate Japan’s Zen Buddhist warrior traditions while standing apart from them.
Koike’s writing details the lives of noble samurai, struggling peasants, and suffering prostitutes with a historian’s careful eye. Kojima’s work evokes Japan’s greatest artistic traditions. This is a manga where ultra-violence and gratuitous nudity are positioned directly beside deep philosophical questions and breathtaking landscapes.
“Lone Wolf and Cub” is not a comic for kids, and it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Volume One features nine stories of samurai action that perfectly introduces the reader to the soul of Koike and Kojima’s groundbreaking work. It was an important step in my own appreciation of the medium, and it is a great place to start if you’d like something a bit more serious in your comics reading.
Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1 is available digitally, in print from Amazon, or from your local comics shop.
The City: 027: Renee
November 4, 2014
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The shoebox apartment wasn’t much to look at. It didn’t even have a window. It was just a single light bulb, a card table, and a phone. The only thing she had to look at was Norm pacing and mumbling to himself three feet away. She knew enough about virtual architecture to know that this room could be any dimensions, filled with whatever they could imagine. But they needed to remain anonymous and inconspicuous. Breaking The City’s rules would bring notice. The phone rang and she answered.
“I understand. The meeting’s tonight. You know where.” She hung up. “Frank’s in.”
The City: 026: Nick
November 3, 2014
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After Julia cleared him to leave, Frank still had to meet with his manager, Nick. He was in no mood to deal with the weaselly paper pusher.
“How the hell could you screw up like this, Frank?” The little toad asked.
“She shouldn’t have been able to do that. I was going the right speed.”
“But you hit her anyway, just like you hit that kid…” Frank got up and decked him. His avatar registered the hit and collapsed. Nick didn’t feel it, though. Frank was too angry to care.
“That was the last straw, Dumbass! You’re suspended, without pay!”
Hugh Likes Video Games: Castlevania, Circle of the Moon
October 31, 2014
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Published by Konami for Game Boy Advance (2001) and Wii U Virtual Console (2014)
Happy Halloween!
In honor of this dark and terrible holiday, I’m writing a bit about one of my favorite games, recently re-released. “Castlevania: Circle of the Moon” was a launch title for the Game Boy Advance. Although well received, it quickly came and went into relative obscurity as later installments in the series came out for the GBA and later Nintendo DS. But it’s still a classic in my book.
Considered a side-story at best, the game’s protagonist is Nathan Graves, an earnest young man in possession of Vampire Killer, the famous Dracula-slaying weapon of the Belmont clan, whose noticeable absence is never actually addressed. He’s out to stop the Vampire Carmilla from resurrecting Dracula and killing his mentor.
Like most of the franchise, the actual story is mostly just an excuse to show you the castle, and this is a good one. Like Symphony of the Night, this is a sprawling open castle which grants you access to new areas as you gain abilities. While it is a bit smaller than the Playstation’s sprawling ruin, there is a nice variety and scope to the castle, which is perfect for a portable adventure.
The gameplay is fun and feels nicely balanced. Nathan has a neat ability to twirl the whip like a shield and block some projectiles. He also has the DSS Cards. These cards, which you collect throughout the castle from certain enemies, act as the game’s magic system. Each effect and element card grants a different ability, giving you one hundred different ones, if you collect them all. These range from shooting fire balls to summoning angels to directly increasing your stats. These abilities are my favorite aspect of the game.
Not everything about the game has aged gracefully, however. The sound in particular has a low-res, monophonic quality that doesn’t do justice to the classic Castlevania music. As a launch title for the GBA, the color palate for the game is a bit dark and muddy. While this is thematically appropriate for the ruin of a European castle, it made the game difficult to see, particularly on the original screen, which was not backlit. More modern devices such as the DS and Wii U tablet handle the display better, but it was a clear step backwards from Symphony of the Night’s beautiful sprites and backgrounds.
If you’re looking for some classic vampire-slaying action without the punishing difficulty of the original Castlevania, I recommend picking up “Circle of the Moon.”
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is available as a GBA Cartridge (amazon,) or digitally from the Wii U store.
The City: 25: Marcy
October 31, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Fiction, Julia, Marcy, Nick, Sandra, The City Leave a comment
Marcy, along with Commissioner Jenkins and a delegation of IT and QA people met Julia and the corpse in the City Morgue. As far as she knew, it was the first time it had ever been used. After pleasantries, one of them played coroner and conducted a thorough examination. Aside from its already missing head, the corpse remained intact.
“Well, it’s certainly malicious code,” he said.
“Can you ID her?” Marcy asked.
“No, her credentials have been scrambled. This is nasty stuff.”
“Can we boot the user?” Jenkins asked.
“The eject code isn’t responding.”
And then the corpse sat upright.
The City: 024: Hiro
October 30, 2014
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They gathered in Midas Park. It stretched for miles, in the middle of The City, a patchwork of famous public spaces from a hundred terrestrial cities, and more so fanciful they could only have been designed there.
Hiro waited in front of Osaka Castle. There, the cherry blossoms always fell, and it had an excellent view of both the Sphinx and Old Faithful. Plus, he could see the building-sized screens covering the announcement. A crowd of milling Daytrippers and uncertain Citizens was already gathering beneath them. It was several hours before Dawn and the others arrived, looking completely frazzled.
The City: 023: Dorothy
October 29, 2014
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Dorothy was an assassin of improbable accidents. She specialized in Houses, but had other tricks and devices. She made her living off of a loophole in the laws of The City.
Even though it was a simulation, The City was a real place. An avatar was fragile; subject to gravity, fire, trauma. And an avatar only had one life to lose. Dying in The City could be as financially devastating as anywhere on Earth. Of course there were no guns in The City, but Dorothy had her methods. On the morning Midas was sold, her email account crashed from overuse.
The City: 022: Norbert
October 28, 2014
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Melinda turned to Camera Two.
“And now, I’d like to turn to International Finance expert Norbert Finkelmeyer. Good Morning.”
“Good morning Melinda.”
“What does this Midas deal mean?”
“It is effectively the sale of The City itself, because Midas Corp built and maintains it.”
“And why is that important?”
“Due to the hyper-realistic nature of The City, and the indulgent tax laws on the island nation where its servers are kept, Midas is the leading Financial Services firm in the world. Trillions of dollars move through the city every second.”
“What effect will this sale have?”
“We don’t know.”
Hugh J. O'Donnell 