Nerd Culture Podcast

Welcome to the tenth instalment of Dust Jacket and the fifth and final review of the 2011 Hugo Award nominees. This week, we delve into mystery, court intrigue and a healthy dose of mythology as we look at N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, book one of The Inheritance Trilogy.

We’re in the home stretch now, wrapping things up in anticipation of Saturday night’s awards ceremony. I’m joined by my co-conspirator and world’s harshest critic, Luke.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Yeine Darr is ruler of the northern barbarian lands of Darr, an area isolated both politically and physically from the rest of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Her mother, Kinneth, was a member of the ruling Arameri family and former heir to the throne of the Kingdoms, who abdicated to marry her father. This led to a shism between Kinneth and Dekarta, Yeine’s grandfather and ruler of the world, who disowned her.

Shortly after Kinneth dies under mysterious circumstances, Yeine is summoned by her grandfather to the majestic floating city of Sky, where she is named heir to the throne. There’s a catch, however; her two cousins, the sadistic Scimina and the inebriated Relad, are also heirs, and only one can ascend to throne. Yeine is suddenly fighting for her life in a dangerous three-way power struggle.

Sky is not merely home to the ruling class of the Kingdom; the Gods themselves are imprisoned there, forced to serve as slaves to the ruling Arameri family. These Gods have a plan for Yeine, something they’ve been building to for decades.

Yeine wants nothing to do with the Kingdoms, the throne or the machinations of the Gods. She merely seeks the truth about her mother’s death. As she struggles to survive, she draws ever closer to learning not only the secrets of her family history, but also the truth about herself.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Released: 2011

Director: Rupert Wyatt

Writers: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto

What you need to know

A reboot of the classic Apes series, ‘Rise‘ sees scientist Will Rodman (Franco), develop a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, which not only arrests the disease but also increases brain functions. His best test subject is the female chimp ‘Bright Eyes’, (named for the discoloration the drug causes to the subject’s eyes and also a nod to the name given to Heston’s character in the original ‘Planet‘ film), but in order to protect her newborn she goes berserk and is shot dead. Will takes the baby chimp home and rears him. Christened Caesar, he quickly grows into an adolescent and reveals his high intelligence, caused by the drug passed in vitro from his mother.

During this time Will has also administered the drug to his father with great results. Spurred by this success, he constantly asks for controlled human trials but is rejected by his employer Jacobs, based mainly on the disaster of Bright Eye’s rampage. He continues to work at home researching the now adult Caesar and his father. Eventually the drug begins to fail and a desperate Will reveals all to Jacobs and he is greenlit to begin work on a new version of the drug. While he is at work the now ailing Rodman Snr gets into an altercation with a neighbour, who Caesar attacks in order to protect him. This leads to Caesar being imprisoned in an animal welfare facility for apes, where he is poorly treated. There he meets orangutan Maurice (named for Maurice Evans, who played Dr Zaius), gorilla Buck and various chimps. With his enhanced intelligence, it’s not long before he is in charge of his fellow apes, and he plans to escape.

Meanwhile, trials are underway on the new version of the drug, which will now be administered in gaseous form. During the procedure one of the scientists is accidently exposed to the gas and later becomes quite ill, even spitting up blood on the same neighbour earlier bitten by Caesar. The drug is successful on the test ape however, and Jacobs is delighted. Caesar escapes the animal shelter in order to procure some of the drug, takes it back to the shelter and exposes all of the apes to it. With the now super intelligent apes by his side, he then leads a revolt and escapes from the shelter with the intent of heading to the forest Will used to take him to play and exercise. Along the way they free other apes from both the research facility and the zoo. The Police attempt to stop the exodus on the Golden Gate Bridge, but the majority of the apes manage to escape. During these events the man the sick scientist infected is seen heading for a flight and wiping his bloody nose.

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Welcome to the ninth instalment of Dust Jacket and the fourth in our month-long look at the 2011 Hugo Award nominees. This week, we’re travelling to exotic Istanbul in the near future in Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House.

My co-conspirator Luke is flying solo this week, so let’s see how the world’s harshest critic goes when he’s left to run rampant on his own. Take it away Luke….

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Istanbul, Queen of Cities, wakes with a shout. Almost unnoticed, under the hustle and bustle of a mecca beginning its morning, a tram is bombed in the region of Necatibey Cadessi. For the city, it is a minor act of terrorism, not even enough to disturb the Metropolis. For six lives- Necdet, survivor of the bombing, witness to the terrorists suicide act, and now suffering mystical hallucinations; Can Durukan, a nine year old suffering from Long QT Syndrome where a sudden noise will kill him; George Ferentinou, an old Greek with a hand in one of the most terrifying stock market schemes of all time; Adnan, a young stockbroker trying to climb the corporate ladder; his girlfriend Ayse, an antiques dealer hired an ancient mystical artefact; and Leyla, who was just running late for a job interview- it is the start of week where the whole world will change.

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Welcome to my latest WoW spec – Shadow of a Doubt.  This spec is designed around the dismal chance of hope that you opponent(s) will have to defeat you, bombarding them with instant cast Shadow Bolts.

click here for the Shadow of a Doubt spec @ wowhead.com

The method to enact this madness is to make sure all enemies have Corruption on them at all times whether it’s from a hard cast, or a Soulburn: Seed of Corruption. I have tried this spec with a minimal gear setup on combat dummies, and if you have enough targets taking damage from Corruption, you can pretty much just cast instant Shadow Bolts most of the time, until a few of the targets are dead, or you heavily damage them all, depending on how much you scroll through your targets.

ROTATION

The rotation is to pick your main target then

Haunt > Shadowbolt > Unstable Affliction > Corruption > Bane of Agony

Ensure any other targets have Corruption and Bane of Agony on them at all times. Continue to bombard your main target with Shadow Bolts until dead then move to the next target etc. Don’t forget to use Howl of Terror to keep them off of you if you need to. If you start running low on hit points, using Drain Life will not only help to keep your life up, but it will also allow extra chances of casting more instant Shadow Bolts!

PET

I recommend the Fel Hunter as the active demon for this spec. Its ability to remove magic and deal damage to the primary target is handy.

BEST STATS

I recommend a high amount of Haste, followed by Crit. This will allow your Corruption and Drain Life ticks to proc more often for the chance of instant Shadow Bolts, and provide higher damage from the ticks and bolts.

Welcome to the eight instalment of Dust Jacket, and the third in our series reviewing the 2011 Hugo Award nominees. This week, we’re travelling back in time to WWII London in Connie Willis’ Blackout.

I’m flying solo this week, as Luke prepares for our frenetic final week of Hugo reviews.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Blackout is the third in a series of novels about time travelling historians from Oxford University in the year 2060.  The first two novels were Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog. The fourth novel in the series, All Clear, is the sequel to Blackout and was also published in 2010.

Three time-travelling historians from Oxford University in the year 2060 are sent back in time to WWII London to document the historical events of the time. Mike Davies is meant to be at Dover, documenting the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk. Polly Churchill is sent to Blitz-era London to catalogue the experiences in the bomb shelters. Merope Ward (calling herself Eileen) is a servant in an English manor in the countryside, where child evacuees from London have been sent.  Each has been sent to their location due to last-minute changes in the Oxford time-travel program, leaving them less than fully prepared to handle the time and location they find themselves in.

Arriving at different times during the war, they each find themselves stranded and unable to return to the present, while war rages around them.

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