The Hobbit: An Unexpected Review

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I took Nicole and Kate to see The Hobbit last night. I had been looking forward to it for a long time, and had attempted to learn as little as possible about the production beforehand. Only when we saw Skyfall last month did I even see a trailer. I wanted to go in fresh without preconceptions. I also made sure to re-read the novel beforehand.

My verdict: it was…good. I wish it had been great though.

Spoilers for Book and Movie Ahead!

I should say right away that I do understand the problems faced by Jackson and his writers. The Hobbit is very different in tone than the Lord of the Rings. It was a children’s book after all. If they did The Hobbit as written, it would have been a lot more light-hearted and well, goofy than the previous three films. Tolkien was a serious world builder though, and the story of The Hobbit has an important place in the history of the Third Age of Middle Earth. What Jackson and crew were trying to do was put the story in its proper context by bringing in a lot of material from Tolkien’s other writings. Obviously, they want these three new movies to serve as a lead-in to the original three to form a larger epic. I don’t have a problem with this approach. In fact, as a Tolkien nerd, I applaud it but it did have some consequences in the way they changed things.

As you watch The Hobbit, it’s hard not to notice the way the film is similar to Fellowship of the Ring. Thorin is in the Aragorn role. The actor they picked and the hairstyle they gave him reinforce the point; he looks like mini-Strider. In the Fellowship, Jackson and his writers created a new villain specifically for the film: Lurtz, the Uruk-Hai leader. His purpose was to give the climax of that movie a villain that could be overcome. The audience could thus have a little satisfaction at the end of the movie, even though the Fellowship was broken and the heroes’ fates uncertain.

In The Hobbit, they use Azog in this role. He is not in the novel, and for very good reason: he’s dead. Azog, you see, was the King of Moria and he did lead the orcs against the dwarves in the Battle of Dimrill Dale as depicted in the film. However, Thorin’s cousin, Dain Ironfoot, beheaded Azog in that battle. It’s Azog’s son Bolg who appears in the novel and leads the orc forces in the Battle of Five armies.

I find it strange that in order to give the broader backstory of The Hobbit, Jackson changed the story simply so he could have his Lurtz for the movie. Lurtz himself was a made up character and few people minded because adding another Uruk war leader didn’t seem like a stretch. It would have been wiser to follow that lead here than muck things up so badly with the lore. Bolg is King of Moria in the novel. Will he just be shoved aside by Azog in the next movie? If not, why is he king when his father still lives? And why let Thorin steal Dain’s thunder when he’s likely to be an important character in the next two movies?

We see more echoes of Fellowship in the Rivendell sequence. In the novel here’s what happens there. Thorin’s company arrives and the elves feed them and their ponies. Elrond identifies the swords from the troll lair and reads the moon runes on the map. The elves give them fresh provisions and wish them farewell and good luck on their quest. That’s all. In the movie, however, there’s a whole subplot about how Thorin doesn’t want to go there and doesn’t trust the elves. Elrond doesn’t think their quest is a good idea, just as he had doubts about Aragorn in Fellowship. I did not mind the impromptu meeting of the White Council (as this helps set up the action in Dol Guldur that’s presumably happening in movie three), but changing the original story again to echo Fellowship seemed unnecessary.

My other major problem with the movie the inclusion of many scenes of big things crashing into other big things while people leap like gazelles through the wreckage. This was  the sort of stuff that made King Kong tedious. He takes one paragraph from the book in which stone giants are throwing rocks at each other as a game and turns it into a 10 minutes action scene with mountain peaks swaying this way and that. Then it’s “crazy bridges” in Goblin-town, whereas in the book Gandalf simply slays the Great Goblin and all his minions freak the hell out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good fight scene and some of the bits were cool, but those sorts of scenes are to Peter Jackson what white doves are to John Woo.

All my annoyances came together in the climactic battle. The scene that takes place in a forest in the novel is re-positioned on a crag so now trees can crash into each other until one (populated, of course, by all the protagonists who have just leaped from tree to tree!) hangs over the edge. Azog the already dead arrives to kill Thorin and then we don’t even get the satisfaction of having the mini-villain killed. The whole climax was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. At least there were giant eagles though.

I suppose this all makes it sound like I hated the film but I didn’t. Much of it was enjoyable and if you are not a lifelong Tolkien nerd like me, you won’t really give a shit whether it’s Azog or Bolg in the Battle of Five Armies. I will say I thought the riddle sequence with Bilbo and Gollum was terrific. And man, Gollum technology has advanced a lot in 10 years. I must note though that Jackson and his writers do in fact make Bilbo a thief. In the novel, he finds the ring by accident while stumbling around in the dark. In the movie, he sees Gollum drop it and then picks it up. This actually gives Gollum a moral leg to stand on, which he certainly did not have in the books.

In the end The Hobbit is a good fantasy film, certainly better than the shit we endured in the 80s. I just think the choice, conscious or not, to pattern it on Fellowship of the Ring was a mistake. Now granted, I haven’t seen parts two and three. Seeing the trilogy in its totality may change my mind. Right now, I can’t see why certain things were done to the story but maybe that’ll be made clearer in the next two.

That’s my basic review. Now I’m just going to toss out a few nitpicks that only the hardcore Tolkien fans will have any interest in. You can stop reading now if you want; I won’t be offended!

  • From the moment Balin came I screen I thought he looked too old. This is the dwarf who’s going to lead the Moria expedition decades later. In the novel Thorin is actually older than him. You would not guess that in the film.
  • Elrond going on an orc hunting expedition? Sorry, but no. That’s the sort of thing his sons Elladan and Elrohir do.
  • Glamdring and Orcrist also glow blue blue when orcs are near but did not in the movie.
  • Radagast is not described in great detail by Tolkien, so the film’s depiction of him isn’t wrong per se. The wacky factor was amped way up though.

Forgotten Soldiers

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The 26th Cavalry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts. They made the last mounted charge in the history of the US Army.

This past Saturday I went to the Museum of Flight for a special screening of a documentary called Forgotten Soldiers. It tells the story of the Philippine Scouts, US Army soldiers recruited from native Filipinos and led mostly by American officers. The Philippine Scouts were some of the first US soldiers to fight in World War II, since the Japanese began their invasion of the islands on Dec. 8, 1941 (the day after Pearl Harbor).

Forgotten Soldiers is competently made, akin to something you’d see on the History Channel. What makes it rise above such fare is the story itself and the number of surviving vets who tell their own stories. I’ll happily overlook rough transitions and overuse of reenactor footage if the story is compelling and it certainly is.

When the Japanese invaded, the Philippines was in the midst of an 11-year transitional period to full independence as a commonwealth (which was completed in 1946). The raising and training of the Filipino Army went slower than planned, so when the fighting started it was the Philippine Scouts who were the best trained and equipped troops available. They went into action quickly, blunting the Japanese attacks. They then fought a series of rearguard actions as General MacArthur ordered his forces to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. The fighting was furious. The first 3 Medals of Honored FDR awarded during World War II were to men of the Philippine Scouts for actions in this campaign.

The Scouts then defended Bataan for four months with other American and Filipino troops. In this period, their 26th Cavalry Regiment made the last horse mounted charge in the history US Army, successfully recapturing a village from the Japanese. The food situation was so dire on the Bataan Peninsula though that the regiment was order to hand over its horses for slaughter shortly after their epic charge. This is one of the most poignant moments in the movie actually. Over 70 years later the vets are still broken up about the horses who had served them so well meeting such a fate.

The troops on Bataan waited for a relief convoy that was never dispatched. After the Japanese brought fresh troops and mauled their defenses, US Major General King surrendered 75,000 Filipino and American troops went into captivity, including the Scouts. Although exhausted and starving already, the troops were sent on the soon infamous Bataan Death March. Thousands died on the way to an overcrowded prison, where more died of disease and starvation.

About a year later the surviving Filipinos were released from prison, providing they signed a pledge not to attack the Japanese. At this I would have considered my duty done, but many of the Scouts joined guerrilla bands as soon as they regained their strength. They fought their occupiers until MacArthur came back and defeated the Japanese. Then many of the Scouts returned to formal duty and served on subsequent campaigns until the Japanese surrender in 1945. The Filipino veterans were offered American citizenship in recognition of their efforts and many came to the US and settled here.

So yes, great story and one worth telling. The early events of America’s war are often glossed over quickly because people don’t like to dwell on defeats. The bravery and endurance of the Philippine Scouts is worth recognition though, so I hope Forgotten Soldiers finds a wider audience.

I would have been happy enough to just see the movie, but there was a panel afterwards put together by The Philippine Scouts Heritage Society. The President of the group, Jose Calugas Jr., was there. His father (Jose Sr.) won the first Medal of Honor in WWII and passed away in 1999. The greater surprise was the presence of Dan Figuracion, one of the Philippine Scout profiled in the movie. He survived the war, stayed in the army, and then fought in Korea and Vietnam. He’s 93 and lives in the Seattle area.

A Q+A followed. I got to ask Dan something I’ve wondered about for a long time. Namely, how did the troops feel when Gen. MacArthur took off for Australia and left them behind for capture, brutality, and privation? “I have returned,” is a great tale, but I figured it didn’t look so noble to guys on the ground. Dan’s answer? “I didn’t even know he was gone! I didn’t hear anything about MacArthur until he came back.” Ha!

A few minutes later this women in the audience took the mic and introduced her father. He was 95 and also a former Scout. He had been in one of the engineering units. The guys on the panel waved him up and he joined them onstage. It was a surprising and touching moment.

I’m glad I had the chance to go to the screening. The Museum of Flight is a great place and I’m happy I’m a member so I hear about events like this. If you are a history nerd like me, seek out Forgotten Soldiers.

 

Election 2012: A Progressive’s View

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Most of the time, I try not to post about politics too much. I will post a link or make a comment or tweet sometimes, but I try not to make that the majority of my online presence. For one thing, most folks follow me because of gaming and not politics. For another, it’s easy to tune out the person who relentless beats the same drum every day and I don’t want to be that way.

This essay has been building for a long time and I decided that the day before the election was the best time to post it. Before I get into it, let me make two quick points. First, this should not be construed as the political statement of Green Ronin Publishing. Our staff has diverse opinions and we work with freelance writers, artists, and editors from across the political spectrum. If you want to hate me, that’s fine. Just don’t take it out on the folks who work for GR. Second, I’m going to say some very unkind things about the GOP. If you are a Republican, I want you to understand that my anger is not directed at you, but the current leadership of your party. America can and should support many political points of view and I’ll fight for your rights to believe what you want. I will not, however, stand mute while all the progress that was achieved at such cost in the last century is undone.

Honest Debate

One of the things that is most frustrating about the current mediascape is that there is little room for honest debate. We go from fake outrage to fake outrage and rarely get at the underlying truths. We can’t have an honest discussion about what’s been going on in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip because no American politician will give Israel less than 200% of their unconditional support. We can’t have an honest discussion about guns because of the massive power of the NRA and complete unwillingness of modern Democrats to even engage on the issue. And most ridiculous of all, we can’t have an honest discussion about President Obama.

Like many progressives, I am indeed disappointed in Obama. If we could have a critique of his performance that was based on reality, he would have faced a primary challenge from the left. My biggest problem with him is that instead of drawing a hard line between the Bush administration and his administration, he continued some of Bush’s most shameful practices. I wasn’t some wide eyed optimist in 2008 but I thought there was a reasonable chance we’d see a clean break from W’s disastrous presidency. Turns out not so much. While Obama did ban the use of torture and say the CIA black sites were going to be closed, the practice of rendition has continued. Instead of refuting the Bush era power grab of “executive privilege,” Obama went even further with the creation of  “kill list” and the execution of American citizens without trial. And he has presided over a drone war which is presented to Americans as focused and surgical but in fact has terrorized the whole border region of Pakistan and killed hundreds of innocent people.

All the while the Obama Justice Department has done nothing to bring Bush era war criminals to justice. Men who lied us into war in Iraq, got thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed, and squandered billions of dollars are not in jail where they belong. They are writing books, giving speeches, and appearing as pundits on TV. Obama said we should look forward not back. Well hey, I’m going to try that defense if I’m ever arrested. “Sure, I did those crimes but we should look forward, not back. Now where’s my book deal?”

These are all legitimate reasons that Obama should have faced a serious challenge for reelection. Instead of having that debate on what he’s actually done, the right wing noise machine has been fear mongering about Imaginary Obama (or IO). IO is a shared hallucination of the right, a bogeyman they have created that has little in common with Actual Obama (AO). He’s a dangerous radical! He’s both a communist and a Nazi! He’s a secret Muslim from Kenya! He’s going to create death panels and brainwash your children! And all his crazed plans will come to fruition unless we rally together and give the ultra-rich more tax cuts!

IO has been a real growth industry. It’s hardly possible to keep up with all the baseless scandals that have been whipped up and repeated ad infinitum on Fox News, talk radio, and so on, but the truth about AO is surprisingly ordinary: he’s a corporate friendly centrist who is left of Bush but right of FDR and sometimes even Reagan. Hell, even his supposedly socialist health care reform was birthed in a conservative think tank and first implement by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. Do you think that’s what any progressive really wanted? We wanted the public option (AKA Medicare for All), but the Democrats (the world’s worst negotiators) took that off the table before the negotiation even started. Nice job, AO!

As I hope is clear, I have serious problems with Obama. I would have liked a different choice, but in our two party system he’s my leftish option. So am I going to show my disaffection by switching my vote and going for Romney?

No. In fact, hell no! Let me tell you why.

The Madness of the GOP

I have some friends who are not going to vote for Obama or Romney. They are either voting for a third party (like I did in 2000) or not voting at all (like I did in 1996, when I felt Clinton was not sufficiently progressive). There’s an article about this very thing in the Atlantic called “Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama.” Many people are so disgusted with politics generally and with Congress in particular that they feel that both of the major parties are the same so they refuse to vote for either.

Believe me, I’ve been there. I’ve laughed along to Bill Hicks talking about the puppets on the left and right. If you’ve paid attention to politics at all in the 12 years, however, you have to know that there is a difference. If you don’t vote at all, you reward the worst actor (the GOP in this case). If you vote for Romney because you are disappointed in Obama, you baffle me. It’s like saying, “This coffee I ordered is lukewarm. Give me a cup of poison instead!”

Americans, it seems, don’t like to remember how we got here. Conservatives have taken this to new heights with full on amnesia about the years 2000-2008. It’s the only way Mitt Romney can possibly say, “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?” with a straight face. Certainly Mitt and his super rich friends shouldn’t be complaining: 93% of the growth from the recovery has gone to the 1%. And the Wall St. bankers who almost blew up the world economy with their reckless gambling and huckster tricks? They are not only escaped jail, they are making money hand over fist.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As soon as Obama became president, the Republicans became very concerned about the deficit. Why, this deficit was outrageous and it was all Obama’s fault, with his tax, borrow, and spend liberalism! What they fail to mention is that Clinton left office with a surplus and it was the Bush administration who piled up most of this debt. Two disastrous sets of tax cuts for the rich and two unfunded wars together with a recession that was almost a depression account for most of our debt. Take a look at the chart here that spells it out quite clearly. Yes, GOP, you truly built that and throughout the Bush administration you didn’t give a shit about the deficit. Dick Cheney famously said, “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” He should have added, “when Republicans are in charge.” When a Democrat is president, they miraculously become super important again.

You’ll note the enormous effect that Bush tax cuts have had on the economy. And yet in 2010 and again this year the Republicans have fought tooth and nail to extend them and hope to make them permanent. Obama and the Senate had a perfectly reasonable plan to keep the middle-class tax cuts during the recession but let those for the rich expire as they should have two years ago. But the GOP said in essence, “Screw the middle class. Rich people get tax cuts or no one does!”

This was a revealing moment. This was the GOP fighting for its real constituency: the super rich. The big corporations and the greedy billionaires pay them very well to do so. And fighting so hard to protect and enrich the 1% by advocating policies that are a detriment to 99% of Americans? They call that patriotism.

The root of this, and it can’t be repeated enough, is the zombie lie of trickle down economics (AKA supply side economics). In a rare moment of truth telling, Bush the Senior called it “voodoo economics” and he was right. This is not an economic theory but a charlatan’s trick. If only we give the rich more and more tax cuts, money and jobs will rain down on the rest of us! We’ve seen little but this sort of magical thinking for the past 30+ years, so where is the promised utopia? Well, what do you know, it turns out most gains went to the super rich! Who could have predicted?

The increase in worker compensation from 1978 to 2011 is 5.7%. Think about that for a minute. How much more expensive is every goddamn thing in the world now than it was in 1980? Wouldn’t it be nice if wages kept pace? Well don’t worry because the increase is CEO compensation in the same period was a whopping 726.7%. Yes, you read that right: 726.7% growth for CEOs vs. 5.7% for workers. Suggest in any way that this is unfair and you are accused of class warfare. Well, my not so wealthy conservative friends, I’ve got news for you: the 1% and your party’s leadership have been engaged in class warfare for decades and we the people are losing.

All that is stark enough, but the real lunacy comes in the realm of social issues. The Christian Right, including the frightening Dominionists, have come to the fore here and all of a sudden we are re-litigating fights that the rest of America thought were settled.

Unable to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the GOP has opted to try to make it as hard as possible for women to have a medical procedure that has been legal in America since 1973. The hypocrisy here really shines. The party that says it wants government off our backs has been passing or attempting to pass a series of laws in the states that mandate a transvaginal ultrasound for any woman wanting an abortion. This is an invasive medical procedure that they want women to go through for no medical reason. This is bullying and intimidation pure and simple.

But wait, there’s more for you, ladies. There are pious nutjobs like Rick Santorum who not only want to end a woman’s right to choose, but also want to ban contraception. If you have a baby, well that’s just God’s will! Then there are the increasing number of GOP rape enablers. There have been so many of these frightening statements from the mouths of Republican politicians, you’ll need to consult this handy GOP Rape Advisory Chart to see them all.

The Elephant in the Room

At last we come to the Tea Party, the supposedly grassroots movement that is of course nothing of the sort. I clearly remember, though the media does not, that at the very first Tea Party rally in DC Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks was ready with buses too transport protesters to the capital. Yes, nothing says grassroots like a corporate lobbying group “guiding” your movement.

I feel bad for the Tea Party people. I really do. Most of them are poor and middle class folks who’ve been fed a steady diet of lies so they march in the streets for their corporate masters while cutting their own throats. This is a movement that is outraged by high taxes (Taxed Enough Already) when taxes are at their lowest rate in 30 years.

Rather than fight tyranny, what the Tea Party has really done is let the most extreme elements of the right take over the GOP agenda. They have welcomed back with open arms paranoid conspiracy theorists like the John Birch Society, who were famously kicked out of the conservative movement by William F. Buckley. Their leader, Buckley said, had views on current affairs that were “so far removed from common sense.” The right likes to present the Tea Party as something new but it’s not. They are recycling the same nonsense the lunatic right has been peddling since the early 60s. The difference is that the Republicans have no one like Buckley to tell them they’re full of shit. The GOP thought they could use these people but the joke has been on them.

In 2010 the Republicans took over the House of Representatives, and a wave of of new Tea Party candidates came into the government. Naturally they all signed loathsome toad Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. This pledge, which most GOP Congressmen–and one Mitt Romney–have signed, says that signers will never vote to raise any tax for any reason. Now remember that the GOP is also the party that says the government should be run like a business and that’s one reason Mitt Romney is supposedly a great candidate. So taxes are how the government raises revenue to run the country. How would you react if the members of your company’s upper management signed a pledge to never increase the amount of revenue the company brought in? And if they told you that, better yet, the company should strive to bring in less revenue? Makes no sense at all, does it? And yet, Norquist and his allies have used this pledge to prevent Congress from doing anything sensible in the face of the financial crisis. Remember, the hallowed saint Ronald Reagan himself raised taxes 11 times.

The GOP takeover of the House better enabled them to execute on what had been their strategy from Day 1 of the Obama presidency: hysterically oppose anything Obama proposes–even when he tries to adopt Republican ideas–and work for a continued economic disaster for most Americans so they can take back the presidency this year. Or as they call it, patriotism.

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” That’s the game in a nutshell. They have massively abused the filibuster rule in the Senate to block a long stream of bills, including the American Jobs Act. They cry about the deficit while refusing to allow the government to raise new revenue. Instead, they demand that we cut more social programs because austerity is the only solution. Yes, so convenient that they want to save money by getting rid of things they hate (like funding for Planned Parenthood and PBS, even if the “savings” would be paltry) while demanding even more money for the military (even when they say they don’t want it).

Meanwhile in the house, Speaker John Boehner “relentless focus on jobs” looks an awful lot like an attempt to set the social clock back 100 years. Lots and lots of bills about repealing health care reform and controlling women’s bodies, but very little on the job creation front. You can see their laser-like focus here.

Enter Mitt Romney

Honestly, I’m not going to waste too much time on Mitt Romney. He is probably the worst candidate the Republicans could have picked for this election. He’s a Yankee, formerly pro-choice governor from Massachusetts whose signature achievement–Romneycare–he must disown because it was the template for evil socialist Obamacare. He’s also the living, breathing embodiment of the 1%. The GOP might as well have nominated Richie Rich. His vaunted business experience was the predator capitalism of his company Bain, which destroyed companies–often previously profitable companies–by loading them up with debt and then riding off into the sunset with millions of profit. You want to see that template applied to America? I sure don’t.

On top of all that, Mitt is the lyingist candidate I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to say anything about Mitt except that he really likes, money, power, and Mormonism. Other than that, what does he really stand for? He acts like a businessman, telling each crowd what they want to hear. The Mitt we saw in the Republican primaries was a completely different guy than the one who appeared in the presidential debates. All politicians do exaggerate and lie to some degree, but 616 verified lies in 30 weeks? That’s some kind of record. Just recently while campaigning in swing state Ohio, Romney claimed that Chrysler was going to send American jobs on Jeep to China. Only problem with that claim: it’s totally false. This has not, of course, stopped Mitt from repeating it, just as he repeated the lie that Iran needs Syria for access to the sea line many times (most recently in the debates).

Mitt promises real change but that is nonsense. His policies and his advisers all come straight from the Bush administration. Mitt and his allies want you to forget that the GOP is responsible for the terrible shape of the country. They want you to forget that they have done everything in their power to prevent an American recovery because they’ll be damned if Obama gets credit for fixing their mess. Are things great now? Absolutely not, but things have improved since the the worst president in US history (that’s George W. Bush to be clear). Do you want a do over? Do you want to invade Iran this time? Or maybe you prefer different unfunded wars? Do you want more tax cuts for the rich? I sure don’t.

Vote Because They Don’t Want You To

This is all a long way of saying that Democrats and Obama have their problems, but they are by far the lesser evil. Please go out and vote, no matter what your party or views. When you vote, you are exercising your democratic rights and that is always important. You should also vote because fundamentally, the GOP doesn’t want a high voter turnout. Historically, high turnouts favors Democrats and low turnouts favors Republicans (that’s why they won in 2010). So in addition to all the other corrupt and morally bankrupt things they’ve been up too, the GOP has been busy trying to disenfranchise voters across the country.

The Republicans made up a phony threat–in person voter fraud–and then passed a series of voter ID laws to restrict voting. Actual number of verified in person voter frauds since 2000? Seven. Seven! Number of citizens they want to deny the vote to? Possibly more than 5 million, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. In Florida Governor Rick “Crypt Keeper” Scott refused to extend early voting hours and attempted a voter purge earlier this year. Republican Secretary of State in Ohio John Husted made an 11th hour rule change that may lead to countless provisional ballots being thrown out. In person voter fraud is bunk but voter suppression is very real and one party is behind it: the GOP. This a direct attack on our democracy and we should not stand for it.

Get out out there and vote to end this madness. I lived through 8 years of Bush and I don’t want to go back there. I want Obama to win and then in 2016 I want a real progressive to become president. I don’t want big government or executive privilege; I want good government. I want a government that doesn’t try to impose its will on other nations without just cause (and without sidestepping a formal declaration of war). I want a government that ends the bloated budget of the Pentagon and makes a leaner, smarter military. I want a government that will build and maintain infrastructure like roads and bridges, and plan for the effects of climate change. I want a government that will invest in science and education and leave religion where it belongs: in churches. I want a government that ends the disastrous and ineffective War on Drugs and the prison industrial complex that’s grown up because of it. I want a government that prosecutes war criminals and white collar criminals with vehemence, so we end the abuses of Wall St. and stop something like the Iraq War from ever happening again. I want a government that reforms the tax code so it’s truly progressive and easy to understand, with no tax special tax rates, loopholes, or deductions for the super rich. I want a government that is interested in social justice and the prosperity of all.

Let’s make it happen, Americans. Step one is not just defeating Romney but sending the Republicans in the Senate, House,and (very importantly) the State Houses packing as well. They have earned our contempt: let’s show it to them.

 

RPG Rarities and Author’s Copies Up for Auction

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“One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters.”

-Aragorn

The past few months have not been kind to our bank account. I have a bunch of medical bills (don’t worry, nothing serious) and our shitty insurance is covering nothing (what am I paying for again?). Then the water line to our refrigerator burst in the middle of the night and the subsequent flood destroyed the rug in our living room and we’re in the process of doing the floor over. I’m trying to offset these setbacks by selling a bunch of stuff of eBay. This first wave is RPG focused, but there will be more.

There are some genuine rarities here. I’ve copied over the auction descriptions here, along with direct links. If you want to see my seller’s page, you can find it here.

In the US I ship USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. For international buyers, I ship USPS Express Mail. I will combine shipping if you win more than one auction.

Blood of the Valiant (Ronin Publishing Edition)

Blood of the Valiant is the Guiding Hand sourcebook for the Feng Shui RPG, and it’s also a great background book for players of the Shadowfist TCG. This is the first RPG book I wrote all of and I released it through my first company, Ronin Publishing, under license from Daedalus Entertainment.

The book was later reprinted by Atlas Games but this is the original release and it comes from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blood-of-the-Valiant-Feng-Shui-RPG-Ronin-Publishing-Authors-Copy-/290793496194?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a49e82

Blood of the Valiant (Atlas Games Edition)

Blood of the Valiant is the Guiding Hand sourcebook for the Feng Shui RPG, and it’s also a great background book for players of the Shadowfist TCG. This is the first RPG book I wrote all of and I released it through my first company, Ronin Publishing, under license from Daedalus Entertainment.

This is the later Atlas Games edition and it includes some extra material by Keith Baker. The book comes from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blood-of-the-Valiant-Feng-Shui-RPG-Atlas-Games-Authors-Copy-/290793497683?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a4a453

Children of the Horned Rat (WFRP2)

Children of the Horned Rat is the Skaven sourcebook for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd edition. To the best of my knowledge, it was only printed once and is thus increasingly hard to find.

I designed WFRP2E and wrote the adventure in this book. It comes from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Children-of-the-Horned-Rat-WFRP2-Warhammer-Skaven-Authors-Copy-/290793501274?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a4b25a

Dragonlance Fifth Age Pre-Press Copy

This auction is for a rare pre-press copy of the Dragonlance Fifth Age RPG. It’s a bound printout of the laid out book (without art) that was sent out to reviewers before the game was published. You can see on the pictures that it was printed out on May 2, 1996 at 3:54 pm. Only a handful were made, which makes this a great collector’s item for Dragonlance fans.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragonlance-Fifth-Age-RPG-Pre-Press-Copy-Extremely-Rare-/290793503052?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a4b94c

Dragonlance Heroes & Fools

This is a very rare misprint of the Dragonlance Heroes & Fools fiction anthology. Here’s the story.

When this book came out in 1999, I was working at Wizards of the Coast and my group was right next to the book department. When a new book came out, they’d usually swing by and drop one on everyone’s desk. I put mine in a drawer and then missed work the next day. While I was out, they came by to pick up all the copies. Turns out the whole first print run had a misprint on the final page. Worse, it was in Margaret Weis’ story!

As you can see in the pictures, somehow the last section of a previous story by Janet Pack was appended to the end of Margaret and Don Perrin’s story. The paragraph that begins, “Monster and Solamnic sprinted for the ruined weapon,” and everything after it is from the anthology’s first story and has no business being there.

Most of this print run was destroyed. Only a few fluke copies like mine still exist. This is a great item for Dragonlance collectors!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragonlance-Heroes-Fools-Misprint-Weis-Novel-Extremely-Rare-/290793509435?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a4d23b

Dune RPG Limited Edition

Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium is the only RPG ever published based on Frank Herbert’s legendary scifi series of novels. Wizards of the Coast published it in the year 2000 in a limited run of only 3,000 copies. It has never been reprinted.

I was working at Wizards of the Coast at the time of publication and this is my personal copy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dune-Chronicles-of-the-Imperium-RPG-Last-Unicorn-WotC-Rare-/290793515674?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a4ea9a

Freeport Trilogy Original Modules

This is a complete set of the classic third edition D&D modules The Freeport Trilogy. They were some of the earliest releases for Green Ronin Publishing and the d20 System as a whole. The adventures are Death in Freeport, Terror in Freeport, and Madness in Freeport.

I wrote Death in Freeport and developed Terror and Madness. These modules come from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign them for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer them without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Freeport-Trilogy-Original-Modules-d20-D-D3-Green-Ronin-Authors-Copies-/290793518753?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a4f6a1

4E Freeport Companion

Freeport is a city that can be dropped into any fantasy campaign setting and it’s detailed in full in Green Ronin’s Pirate’s Guide to Freeport. Expeditious Retreat published this companion for use with 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons under license from Green Ronin. If you love 4E and Freeport, this book is for you!

I created Freeport and wrote some of the material that was adapted in this book. This copy comes from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4E-Freeport-Companion-D-D-Green-Ronin-Expeditious-Retreat-Creators-Copy-/290793522384?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a504d0

HARP Bundle

High Adventure Role Playing is a set of fantasy rules published by ICE in 2003 and descended from their Rolemaster RPG. This bundle includes the core rulebook, College of Magics, Martial Law, and Monsters: A Field Guide. Get everything you need to start a campaign in one go!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HARP-RPG-Bundle-4-books-ICE-Iron-Crown-/290793524464?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a50cf0

Hong Kong Action Theater, 2nd Edition

You are bidding on a copy of the Hong Kong Action Theater RPG. The publisher, Guardians of Order, went out of business several years so it’s becoming harder to find.

I wrote the lengthy history of Hong Kong cinema and the movie reviews. This book comes from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hong-Kong-Action-Theater-2E-Guardians-of-Order-Authors-Copy-/290793526933?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a51695

The Jade Hare (D&D)

The Jade Hare is an extremely rare D&D module published in 1992. This short adventure was given away with orders from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop in 1992. Most, like this one, came without a cover (I have one with a cover but I’m not desperate enough to sell it yet!).

I got this when the remnants of TSR’s old legal archive were put into the company store at Wizards of the Coast 12 years ago. I was lucky enough to be working there at the time.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Jade-Hare-Super-Rare-D-D-Module-TSR-/290793530583?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a524d7

Liber Chaotica (Warhammer)

Liber Chaotic is the epic background book about Chaos in the Warhammer world. There were originally four separate books, one each for Khorne, Nugle, Slaanesh, Tzeentch. These were combined with a fifth book about Chaos Undivided and the Liber Chaotica is the result. This is the softcover edition, of which I believe there was only one printing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Liber-Chaotica-OOP-Black-Library-Chaos-Warhammer-40K-/290793548270?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a569ee

Over the Edge RPG Bundle

Over the Edge is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, so journey back to the 90s and see the original. This bundle includes 7 Over the Edge books: the core rulebook, Friend or Foe?, Weather the Cuckoo Likes, Player’s Survival Guide, Cloaks, Wildest Dreams, and the Myth of Self. Lose yourself or your mind on the island of Al Amarja!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Over-the-Edge-RPG-Bundle-7-Books-Atlas-Games-/290793532828?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a52d9c

Realms of Sorcery (WFRP2)

Realms of Sorcery is the magic sourcebook for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd edition. To the best of my knowledge, it was only printed once and is thus increasingly hard to find.

I designed WFRP2E and co-wrote this book. It comes from my personal collection. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Realms-of-Sorcery-WFRP-2nd-Edition-Warhammer-Authors-Copy-/290793491773?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a48d3d

Slavers (AD&D)

Slavers is the second edition AD&D sequel to the classic A1-A4 Slavelords modules of first edition. I wrote this with Sean K. Reynolds back in 1999 and it was one of the last releases for second edition.

This is one of my personal copies. I’m happy to sign it for you if you like (or not, if you’d prefer it without my scrawl).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Slavers-AD-D-Module-Greyhawk-Sequel-to-Slavelords-Authors-Copy-/290793537226?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a53eca

 Wings of the Valkyrie (Champions)

Wings of the Valkyrie is the only Champions RPG release to ever be recalled by the publisher and is this quite rare. In the adventure, the PCs must go back in time to save Hitler and so preserve the timeline. This plot did not sit too well with many folks at the time, and this led to the recall.

This copy has never been opened and is in its original shrinkwrap. It comes from my personal collection.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-of-the-Valkyrie-Super-Rare-Champions-Module-Recalled-by-Publisher-/290793538673?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a54471

Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards RPG Bundle

Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards is an acid trippy fantasy movie from 1977, but did you know it also had a roleplaying game from 1992? It’s true and you can get everything published for it in one go! You get the core rulebook, Scorch sourcebook, Montagar sourcebook, GM Screen, and Character Sheets.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ralph-Bakshis-Wizards-RPG-Complete-Product-Line-/290793539950?pt=Games_US&hash=item43b4a5496e

 

The Art of RPGs: Curator’s Statement

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This month and next at Krab Jab Studio we are featuring the Art of Roleplaying Games show that I curated with Julie Baroh. We had a great opening the weekend before GenCon and now on Thursday night we are doing another event. This one is a meet the artists mixer and it’s happening on the eve of the Penny Arcade Expo here in Seattle. Many of the artists whose work is in the show will be there, and there will be beer, wine, and snacks. For more details, see the Facebook event page.

Julie and I wrote curator’s statements for the show. For those of you who can’t make it down to Krab Jab, I thought I’d share mine here.

Curator’s Statement

From the beginning of published RPGs in the early 70s, art has played an important role. The words described the rules and evoked the worlds, but the art helped bring it all to life. I got into RPGs in 1979, when I was 10 years old. Certain pieces of art, like the cover of The Village of Hommlet and A Paladin in Hell in the AD&D Player’s Handbook, were burned into my brain forever. Later, I encountered artists whose work defined entire game lines, like P.D. Breeding-Black on Talislanta and Tony DiTerlizzi on Planescape.

In the early 90s I started my career in the game industry as a freelance writer. At first I had no say in the art that accompanied my writing. Then in 1995, when I was working on a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book called Dying the Light for Hogshead Publishing, I got to write my first art order. It was exciting to conceive something in my mind and then see a talented artist interpret it in the final book. In my first company and then in the early days of Green Ronin Publishing, I had the chance to art direct many books and that was a new challenge. Not just writing the art orders, but recruiting artists and working with them to produce the final work gave me a true appreciation for the work that goes into a RPG book beyond the text. It also made me realize that while I could art direct a book, there were folks far better at it than I. That’s why I brought in Hal Mangold as a partner, and he has art directed and graphic designed almost every Green Ronin project for the last ten years.

When I joined Krab Jab in 2011, I was just looking for a co-working space to do my writing. I loved the idea of working in a creative space instead of a soulless cubicle. I wasn’t thinking in terms on curating a show, but one day I suggested to Julie Baroh that a show focused on RPG art would be awesome and we decided to curate it together. As far as I know, no one has attempted a gallery show like this before. The response from the artists and the public has been tremendous and I’m thrilled with how the show came together. We’ve got work from 30 years ago to today and from a wide variety of artists. Here’s the thing though: this show only scratches the surface of what’s been done in RPGs in the past four decades. RPG art has rarely appeared in galleries but I think the skill and imagination on display here make it clear that it should.

I hope you enjoy The Art of RPGs and get some of that inspiration I experienced as a 10 year old. Even more, I hope we get to do this again!

Recent Reading: Ill Met by Moonlight

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Ill Met by Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss is an account of how two British officers from the Special Operations Executive and a band of partisans conspired to kidnap a German general on the island of Crete. What’s interesting about this memoir is that Moss, one of the officers involved, actually wrote most of it as a diary during the events themselves. He and his cohort Patrick Leigh Fermor lived on Crete for months and spent many idle days hiding in caves and waiting for developments. During that time Moss recorded events as they unfolded. He added some explanatory text after the war (like what their actual plan was, which he didn’t write down in case the Germans should get hold of his diary), but largely the events are related within days or even hours of their happening.

The bold band succeeds in kidnapping German General Kriepe and then spends three weeks dodging German patrols before getting him off the island and whisking him to Cairo.  They manage to do all this without firing a shot. This was possible because they had the support of an angry Cretan populace. Again and again, the band is sheltered, fed, hidden, and assisted in ways great and small by Cretan villagers and shepherds. As a Greek-American, I found the details of the Cretan resistance movement quite interesting (so much so that I just ordered a used copy of Antony Beevor’s Crete: The Battle and the Resistance).

I really enjoyed Ill Met by Moonlight. It is focused on just this one mission, so after reading it I had to look up the main characters and find out what happened to them during and after the war. To my surprise I found a clip of a 1972 Greek television show about the kidnapping. It reunited Patrick Leigh Fermor with many of his partisan comrades and General Kriepe himself! The video is not subtitled but I watched it anyway to see these characters I had read about and see their reactions and body language. I’ll have to have my mom translate it for me some time.

The book was a birthday gift from Will Hindmarch, so thanks, Will!

The Art of Roleplaying Games Gallery Show Looking for Submissions

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I am co-curating and Green Ronin Publishing is sponsoring an art show at Krab Jab Studio called The Art of Roleplaying Games. The idea is to show off some of the awesome art that has been produced for RPGs in a gallery setting. We hope to display a breadth of material that represents RPGs from the early days to the present and feature art from a wide variety of games.

The show opens on August 11, 2012 and runs through the first week in September. We’re planning a special event the night before the Penny Arcade Expo begins, and we hope we can lure some attendees away from downtown to check out the show and the Georgetown neighborhood where Krab Jab is located.

We already have some art lined up but right now it’s mostly from local Seattle artists and we’d love to have participation from further afield. If you are an artist, collector, or company  that owns original RPG art and you’d like to be part of the show, please contact us at krabjabstudio [at] gmail [dot] com. Let us know what you’d like to show and what game products they appeared in.

Work can be any 2D media, color or grayscale, and must have been created for use in a roleplaying game publication. Krab Jab Studio does have an artist agreement that needs to be signed prior to hanging (it’s very standard legal stuff). Krab Jab Studio takes 20% commission for works sold inhouse or online, but you are not required to have your pieces for sale. We do catalog the show and list it on our website (www.krabjabstudio.com). By August we should be set to ship art within the US (we currently sell locally).

About Krab Jab Studio

Fully established by 2010, Krab Jab Studio is the workplace of artists Julie Baroh, Milo Duke, Mark Tedin and writer Chris Pramas. With a monthly rotation of guest artists in our gallery, Krab Jab has developed a steady following in the funky, industrial artist’s haven known as Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Krab Jab Studio also facilitates classes and workshops, most of which are developed as further education in the illustrational arts. Mark and Julie run a successful weekly costume drawing group, bringing in costumes and models of all kinds.

The name “Krab Jab” is a combination of initials of founders Julie Baroh and Kyle Abernethy. We found it to sound funny, and it stuck, even after Kyle left in 2011 (he still shows with us each month). Previous Krab Jab artists have included painters Michael Hoppe and Sandra Everingham.

About Green Ronin Publishing

Green Ronin Publishing is a Seattle-based company known for its dedication to quality books and games. Founded in 2000, Green Ronin has been at the forefront of roleplaying game development ever since, taking home the coveted ENnie Award for Best Publisher an unprecedented three years running. With great licenses like Dragon Age and A Song of Ice and Fire, groundbreaking games like Mutants & Masterminds and Blue Rose, and a roster of top flight designers and illustrators, Green Ronin Publishing is a leading light in the hobby game industry.

Personal Note: If you are wondering how I am both president of Green Ronin and a member of Krab Jab, see this older post. Short answer: I’m using Krab Jab as a co-working space.

Game Night

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Note: I wrote this as one of our Ronin Round Tables, a feature we do each Friday on www.greenronin.com. I thought I’d post it here for folks who don’t make it over to the company site frequently. Enjoy. 

In 1999 Nicole and I decided to start hosting a game night at our place to play RPGs. While we’ve moved from that apartment, cycled many friends in and out of the group, and changed the night of the week several times, game night has been going on as close to weekly as we can manage for the last 13 years. It’s a key social activity for us and one that we always try to maintain. Even last year, when I spent 10 months in Austin working on the Warhammer 40K MMO, I Skyped in for at least part of the night to keep that connection. Maintaining a game group is not without its challenges though, and we’ve faced many over the years. I know we’re not alone in this either. How many of these sound familiar to you?

Many Players, One GM
For many years, I ran nearly every RPG on game night. In the early years we played a lot of d20 games, as Green Ronin was one of the leading d20 publishers during that era. I had a long running D&D campaign, ran Freeport adventures, and playtested V for Victory, the World War 2 mini game I designed for Polyhedron Magazine. Later I ran a playtest for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd edition, and even a short-lived Lord of the Rings game when it seemed like we might get to design a LotR game for Games Workshop (not getting to design that game still makes me sad). Later there was Dragon Age, of course, but game night is not all about playtesting. I also ran stuff like a Savage Worlds Day After Ragnarok game and a weird mash-up of Feng Shui, Underground, Delta Green, and Deadlands. Once in a while, someone else would volunteer to run and I’d enjoy just playing, but those campaigns never lasted. We’d do 3 or 4 sessions and then I’d be back in the GM’s chair. I do like to GM but a certain point I started to get burned out. We got another GM when Ray Winninger joined the group, but ultimately Ray decided he preferred running longer sessions on weekends than working within the constraints of a week night that includes dinner and socializing (and hey, Ray, you can start those up again any time!).

Differing Tastes
Some groups have one glorious campaign that lasts for a decade or more but in my experience those games are the exception. Most campaigns seem to last six months or less. That is certainly true of our group. We’ve had maybe two that have lasted longer than a year. Naturally then, a common question is, “What are we playing next?” This isn’t always easy to answer. Tastes vary widely among our group and what we ended up playing was often a matter of compromise. In all our years of game night, I’ve never run one of my very favorite games, Pendragon, because I knew we had players who just wouldn’t be into it. That game requires a group of players who really buy into the setting and concepts, and I didn’t want to frustrate myself by trying to force it on them.

Life Intruding
I look back fondly on my teenage years, when I had way more free time for gaming. Everyone in our group (with the exception of my step-daughter Kate) is a grown up and of course we have all sorts of responsibilities. Almost everyone who has ever been in our group works in either the tabletop or video game industries, so there have been many times that we lose people for months of crunch time. Convention season is another difficult time, as many of us travel for weeks in the summer to attend this con or that. Marc “Sparky” Schmalz, GR’s Director of E-Publishing, also went back to school a couple of years back, which sometimes limits his time. Mitch Gitelman, an old friend who joined the group while I was in down south, is one of the guys behind the recent Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter and we’re pretty sure that’s going to keep him busy. So while we try to meet every week, it isn’t always possible. Sometimes it has seemed like the whole thing will unravel, but we’ve always pulled it back.

Changing Faces
The game industry can be volatile so we’ve had to watch many friends move away for new jobs, but we’ve also filled empty spots with friends who have moved to Seattle for a new gig. Sometimes the same person has done both those things. The most famous example is Bruce Harlick of the old Hero Games crew, who moved here to work on the Matrix MMO, was part of group for many years, and then moved back to California for several other video game jobs (ending with his current gig at Zynga). We still call him “Bruce the Traitor” for leaving us but he’s far from the only one. Jim Bishop left to go work at BioWare, Patrick Swift for a job at Upper Deck and now Cryptozoic, Tim Carroll for a job at Apple, Jess Lebow for a job at Ubisoft (and the distance record by moving to China!) and hell even me for a while when I lived in Austin last year. Every time we gain or lose people, the dynamic changes a little bit. This isn’t always bad, but it’s another thing that makes long term campaigns hard. GR’s webmaster Evan Sass gets bonus points for being the one person outside the household who has stayed with us through thick and thin.

Campaign Failure
For many of the reasons outlined above, we’ve found it harder and harder to maintain campaigns. While the group was originally conceived as RPG focused, a few years ago board and card games started to overtake that. Since the group often varied week to week, depending on who was traveling or crunching or what have you, it seemed better to play games we could finish in a night. And as I mentioned, I was also burning out on GMing and I wanted a break as well. So we’ve ended up playing games like Ticket to Ride, Dixit, Thurn and Taxis, Small World, Formula Dé, Dominion, and recently Miskatonic School for Girls (a Kickstarter that Nicole backed).

As you can see, we’ve had our ups and downs. Some nights we don’t even game at all. Nicole Lindroos, in addition to being Green Ronin’s General Manager, is a fabulous chef, so she always cooks and we drink, talk, and catch up. Those nights are fun too and even if we only talk about gaming (which is pretty much inevitable for us), I’d rather get together than miss a game night. It’s gaming that keeps us bonded together, keeps us coming back week after week to socialize, and keeps our friendships strong. Of course, it’s better when we actually play something but now my step-daughter Kate (who is 16) is part of the group and she’s helping to keep us honest. Last week she basically told us that game night without games was bulllshit and she wanted to play a superhero RPG please. I think we raised that girl right!

Top Five Reasons I Won’t Support Your Kickstarter

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5. Your promises are vague and so is the delivery date of the project.
4. You spend 30 days on all social media talking about nothing but your Kickstarter. I didn’t back it the first 500 times I heard about it, but number 501 is sure to do the trick!
3. The leader of your team is an ethically-challenged piece of work who has already publicly disgraced himself.
2. Your “funny” game is about rape.
1. You are a millionaire and you Kickstart something you could easily afford. Asking people poorer than you to fund your project is so 1%.

The Man in the Ushanka

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I started this story when I was in Austin and finally finished it over the weekend. Really, it’s the start of something longer but as I may or may not pursue that, I decided to just post it here and see what people thought. I’ll explain what I was trying to do in a later post but better if you don’t read that first.

The Man in the Ushanka

It was cold.

She tried to think of warm places. Summer in Catalonia, the streets of Barcelona baking in the noontime sun. The trip to Greece with her father when she was only 13. Walking through the Grand Socco in Tangier, sweating under her djellaba as she tried to shake the fascist agents tailing her.

Thinking about the Franquist swine got her blood up and that helped. Reflecting on her comrades and what they had lost let her focus, let her remember why she had traveled so far from her homeland.

A year ago they had lost the war. Franco and his fascists had conquered Spain. She had fled, like hundreds of thousands of others. Many had ended up in refugee camps in France or other nations, but not her. The war was over but she still had a purpose. She had wept bitter tears for her dead friends and then set about her task. Now she was here and it was cold.

Harbin. Far in the north of China, a stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Her skills, her instincts, and her will had brought her here, to this city, to this street, to this building. Ten minutes ago a man wearing a thick, fur ushanka had entered the building. No one else had followed and the street was empty. No one else was foolish enough to be out after dark.

She padded up to the door and paused to listen. Nothing. It appeared unlocked, so she eased it open slowly and slipped inside. The entry room was dark and empty. She heard voices beyond.

The speakers seemed fully engaged so she gave herself a few minutes to warm up. Then she pulled off her gloves and reached under her coat to find her chosen instrument: a Mauser machine pistol. She did not bother to attach the broomhandle-shaped shoulder stock. That was used to steady your aim for distance shooting but tonight was all about getting up close.

She moved forward quietly and scanned the next room. It too was dark and empty but a door across the way was open and light shined up from the basement. She made her way there and padded down the stairs. Now she could hear the speakers quite clearly: two men, both Russian.

“…you see, comrade, this is why you must return to Mother Russia. We need men of science like you to build our great Soviet state.” The speaker had his back to her but she recognized his voice. She was sure she would never forget it, in fact. Her grip on the Mauser tightened.

“I have given you my answer a dozen times,” the other man said, his voice agitated. “I came to Harbin to get away from Stalin and his cronies. I don’t care about politics. I just want to be left alone to continue my work.”

“And as I’ve told you as many times, comrade, your work is why you are needed in Moscow. You won’t be punished for your flight. You can have a comfortable life, an intellectual life…if you come voluntarily.”

She was down the stairs before the man could give his answer.

“No one here is going to Moscow,” she said calmly in Russian, leveling the Mauser at the man in the ushanka. “You least of all.”

“Dr. Karpenko,” chided the man as he turned around. “You didn’t tell me you had found love in Harbin.”

His smile froze on his face when he saw the Mauser. “Your devotion is touching, my dear, but you better put the gun down before you make me angry.”

“I don’t know this woman,” said Dr. Karpenko, backing away.

The man in the ushanka looked from the gun to her face. Their eyes locked. “If you knew who I was, woman, you would run screaming into the night. Get out now.”

“I know exactly who you are,” she said, and the man laughed. She continued, “You are Georgy Rakov, a Major of State Security of the NKVD. You learned your trade in the Lubyanka prison in Moscow. There you tortured and executed many innocent comrades during the purges. From 1937 to 1939 you were stationed in Spain, ostensibly to fight fascism. Your real mission was to set up secret prisons near Madrid, where you could bring a little bit of Lubyanka to the Spanish Republic.”

Rakov took a step back. She tensed, thinking he might be trying to make a break towards an unknown exit, but now that she could see the basement she knew she had him cornered. The room was full of machinery, and strange machinery at that. She saw whirling gyroscopes, sparking antennae, and countless moving cogs. The work of Dr. Karpenko, she presumed, but what its purpose was she could not say.

“You seem to have me at a disadvantage, madam,” said Major Rakov. “You know so much about me and I so little about you. Who sent you? The Whites? The Japanese or their Manchurian puppets? Franco?”

She shook her head slowly. “You really don’t remember, do you? I suppose when you’ve tortured so many, the faces all blend together.” She removed her hat and tossed it to the floor. “I am Sara Nikas Ramon. Do you recognize me now? No? Perhaps you remember me better by my code name: Nike.”

Rakov’s eyes went wide. “You! You’re supposed to be dead. I ordered your execution myself!”

“So you did,” she replied coolly. “I’d tell you how I escaped but I want you to go to your grave wondering how I survived, and how I tracked you down.”

Dr. Karpenko suddenly piped up. Sara had been so focused on Major Rakov that she had forgotten the exiled scientist was there. “I am no friend of the Soviets, but please do not shoot him down here. This machinery is very delicate and I will not see my life’s work ruined.”

“Rakov seems to value your work,” she said. “That alone inclines me to destroy it, but I will not. I have but one purpose here.”

“She thinks she is going to kill me, doctor,” said Major Rakov with a laugh. “Well, Nike, here I am. Shoot me, if you have the guts.” He thrust out his chest, daring her to fire. “Can you do it? Can you murder a man in cold blood?” He was using the voice she knew so well. The hard voice of command. The one that both guards and prisoners feared.

She eased off on the Mauser and sighed. “I cannot kill a man in cold blood.” Rakov’s face lit up in triumph. “But you are not a man,” she said, snapping the machine pistol up and firing a burst straight into Rakov’s chest.

He staggered back and crashed into a wall. He doubled over, coughing and wheezing. Then he righted himself and suddenly there was a pistol in his hand. His mouth and chin were wet with blood, but still he smiled as he brought his pistol up.

“This is for my comrades,” said Sara icily, and she squeezed the trigger again. More bullets tore into Rakov and he fell heavily to the ground. To her amazement, his pistol slowly rose again but hand was shaky and it was pointing in the wrong direction.

Sara shook her head, muttering, “Can’t you even die without Stalin’s permission?” She walked across the basement to finish the job and that’s when the pistol went off. She realized that he hadn’t been aiming at her at all, but at Karpenko’s strange machinery. Three shots rang out in the basement and then Rakov’s arm fell to the floor.

It was enough. The machinery began to smoke and electricity arced off the antennae. “You fools!” cried the doctor. “You fools!”

Sara turned to dash towards the stairs but it was too late. The machinery exploded with a roar, throwing her forward. It seemed like she flew through the air for a long time. She knew she would crash into the stairs or the wall and probably break her neck. Instead she had the sensation of falling from a great distance. She was sure her eyes were open but she saw nothing but white. Then she felt a chill shock and all the breath was knocked from her lungs.

She didn’t know how long she laid in the cold. Was she dying? Was she dead already? Finally, the aches in her bones convinced her she was still alive and she struggled to her feet. She had fallen, Sara realized, into a snow drift, but how could that be? She had been inside a house.

It was snowing and she was chilled to the bone. Sara cursed herself for taking off her hat in Karpenko’s basement. What little body warmth she had was being sucked away quickly. She put her gloves back on and began to move. If she stayed still, she was going to freeze to death.

After a few minutes of trudging she came upon an arm sticking out of a snow drift. She grabbed the hand and pulled. The body would not budge so she used both hands and put her back into it. Suddenly it came free from the ice but now she was off balance. She lost her footing and fell to the ground, the body falling on top of her with a thud. She found herself staring into the frozen face of Major Rakov. Fear clutched her gut but it passed quickly. Rakov was dead, his lifeless eyes gazing into nothingness.

Sara got up and dusted the snow off her coat. It was then she noticed Rakov’s ushanka in the snow drift his corpse had so recently occupied. She smiled and picked it up. In weather like this, a good ushanka could save your life.