Letters from Whitechapel - A Review.

Between the years of 1888 and 1891 a series of brutal slayings captivated the media of Victorian England. Unsolved to this day, the murders that shocked and terrified the downtrodden Whitechapel district, were perpetuated by a man who, in his shocking letters to the police, assumed the pseudonym “Jack the Ripper”. To this day, the unsolved nature of the crimes and the taunting correspondence from the infamous serial killer invoke a morbid curiosity in people, generating an unending stream of novels, movies, and speculation about what really happened under the soot filled skies over a century ago.

Letters from Whitechapel is a deduction based board game, designed by Gabriele Mari and Gianluca Santopietro, illustrated by Gianluca Santopietro, and published by Nexus Games. In the game, one player assumes the role of Jack the Ripper, who commits crimes, and attempts to avoid police detection through a mechanic of hidden movement across the winding labyrinth of streets and alleys. The other players portray the police detectives historically assigned to the Whitechapel Murder cases, and attempt to search out, and apprehend Jack through the use of logic and deduction.

The game takes place over the course of four nights, with a total of five murders committed. Although these numbers make for a tense and exciting game, they certainly aren’t arbitrary.  Of all of the murders that actually took place in the Whitechapel district while the police case was open, only five of them are considered to be canonically associated with Jack the Ripper, and of those five, two occurred on the same night, dubbed the “double event” by Jack’s own hand - and faithfully represented in the rules for Letters from Whitechapel.

This attention to detail in both the rules and components of the game makes it engrossing on a visual and intellectual level. So many of the rules and components have a solid grounding in the history of the Whitechapel Murder cases, and this adds greatly to the macabre theme of the game. From a mechanics standpoint, Letters from Whitechapel could have been a simple cops and robber themed game, but the art, components, and rules really bring 19^th century Whitechapel to life, and really pull the player into the history.

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Quite Quotable

"If society does not move forward, it will decline."

Jack McDevitt, Infinity Beach

Past Midnight

Okay, that took a little longer than expected, but I started reading Thoreau's Walden also.  (I'm bad for reading two or three books at the same time.  Sometimes four or five.  My record, which included an audio book, was seven.)   I was going between chapters for a bit, but finally just sat down today to finish Midnight.

How sould I put this?  Um . . . Wow, comes to mind.  When last we parted, I told you about the hook with Nathan Brazil.  Anyway, this grand construct of the Well World, in fact, becomes just an ordinary setting (well, as ordinary as an artificially created world can be).  All the mysteries around Brazil are slowly revealed in the grand quest to make it to the legendary Well of Souls.  Everything that I hypothezied about the character wasn't just wrong - it wasn't even close.  He truly must be one of the most unique and remarkable characters ever created.  I cannot believe I waited so long to read this book.

Speaking of which, Midnight at the Well of Souls is the first of a series, but it can be read as a stand alone novel.  I don't know if Chalker wrote this book then the others to hook into the enthusiasm of his readers or if there was a grand plan from the beginning.  Whatever it may be, this is one of the great books that has a definite beginning, middle, and end, that isn't afraid to explore incredible ideas.  I highly recommend it.  Highly.  And while I desperately want to dive into the second book, I do not feel cheated or compelled to read it the way a lot of authors today get their readers to do by having cruel and obvious cliffhangers.  I can now finish my other reading, while merely looking forward to seeing how, and if, Chalker was able to top himself.

Unfortunately, I think this book is out of print.  I know Baen picked it up a few years ago.  But as I said before, the do have the ebook available, and you don't have to buy the whole series.  Hold a sec . . . yep, I was right.  You can get Midnight for $4.00.  It is a very worthy investment. 

Here's the link to save you some typing:  Midnight at the Well of Souls.

Enjoy!

Review: Super 8 (Abrams, 2011)

When I returned home from seeing Super 8, I had to fight the urge to look through my VHS movie collection to make sure I didn’t already have it on tape.  It is that much of a throwback to the works of Spielberg and his halo of directors in the 70’s and 80’s.  Add some additional hints of Stephen King, and the overall effect is one of almost overpowering nostalgia.  If that was all the film had going for it, it would be ultimately unsatisfying, but Super 8’s real strength is its characters and their stories, which in the end are far more compelling than the sci-fi horror fiction that serves as their backdrop.

Click here to read the rest of my review at The Blackest Eyes (opens in a new window).

My First Visit to the Well World

About twenty-five years ago or so, a friend suggested I read Jack Chalker's Midnight at the Well of Souls.  I was on a strick diet of sword and sorcery at the time - Howard, Leiber, Moorcock, and the like - so, sadly I never got around to it.  I believe I even bought a copy at the time.  Anyway, I was browsing the ebooks over at Baen.com, and lo and behold, what do I find?  The complete Well World saga.  I bought every book and have started reading the first.

All I can say is that I could kick myself for waiting so long.  Well, I guess I should qualify that I'm only approximately 50% through the first book (Midnight), but I can tell I'm going to be reading the rest.  I like Chalker's style a lot.  I find it easy to read, even when he's talking about ancient super-computers.  Initially, I thought it was going to be a lot like Niven's Ringworld in that the setting is the prime attraction.  Now, let me say I love Ringworld, and it remains one of my favorite science fiction novels.  But sometimes it seems that the characters are there primarily to explore the setting.  I don't have a problem with those types of books at all as long as the setting continues to fascinate.  The first half of Midnight did that for me, but it was at that halfway point that Chalker hooked me for the rest of the ride. 

The main character, Nathan Brazil, was interesting enough up to the mid point.  There were some hints that he was definitely different from everybody around him, but now, it's like - BAM! - he's different from anybody in the entire galaxy.   I hated setting the book down this morning to go to work.  Don't want to give any spoilers - but what a hook!