| Title | : | Faction Paradox: Burning with Optimisms Flames |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781909031050 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 2012 |
He would tell me that the stars are burning worlds, caught forever in their unending flames, raging, roaring against the night. They look out beyond their fragile spheres for places of calm and serenity to shine their brightness and bring life.
He would clasp me around the shoulder and say that we were like stars. We had to use the energy within us to defeat the cold spaces, to turn away the dark things that dared to destroy life. We had to find our own calmness and serenity even when it was denied us.
I don’t think I understood him then. I was too small, and my brother never spoke in the concrete terms that my brain could comprehend.
Looking back on it, though, I think that’s when P.J. began to burn.
- Intermediant Izzy Ring, The Heaven Facility
Faction Paradox: Burning with Optimisms Flames Reviews
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(Ob. disclaimer -- I know several of the authors in this collection, as well as the publisher, in a friendly-on-Twitter-and-Facebook kind of way. However, I got to know these people, in most part, because of my admiration for their work, and so I don't believe that me knowing them is biasing me towards liking their work more. But it's better to say these things upfront.)
That this is a book geared to my tastes should be obvious from the very title. I love the Faction Paradox books anyway, but this is named after a song by XTC, one of my favourite bands. The table of contents confirms that the high expectations are justified -- we have new stories by four of the authors of The Book Of The War, Philip Purser-Hallard, Simon Bucher-Jones, Jonathan Dennis and Kelly Hale, all of whom are writers whose other works I've enjoyed as well. There are also stories by Elizabeth Evershed and Helen Angove, two of the new writers from Purser-Hallard's Tales Of The City whose stories
I singled out for special praise when I reviewed that, and there's actually a story by Aditya Bidikar, who first became interested in Faction Paradox after reading one of my blog posts about it.
Overall, the tone here is darker than previous Faction works. While the earlier Faction and Faction-related books are very much on the borderline between SF and Fantasy, with an admixture of historical adventure, here the stories are often little horror miniatures, of a type that would not seem too out of place in the old Pan Books Of Horror Stories -- creepy little tales with a black sense of humour. Which, of course, fits the Faction milieu perfectly.
I won't look at every story in the collection individually -- there are some about which I have less to say than others -- but all are worth reading. But I'll talk a little about the ones that I actually have things to say about:
Raleigh Dreaming by Elizabeth Evershed is so different from the other story of hers I've read (The Socratic Problem) that it's hard to believe they're by the same writer. Some motifs reappear -- famous people from wildly different historical time-periods coming together, for example -- but the prose style here is very different, cleverly managing to suggest the 16th century patterns of speech of its narrator without ever slipping into archaism. And the method of time travel involved is a lovely little touch (I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it -- always a danger when talking about short stories much more than novels -- but it's funny, clever, and perfectly appropriate). A worthy opener.
Wing Finger by Helen Angove reminded me quite a bit of Lawrence Miles' Grass in its central idea, but Angove takes the idea in a very different direction. The redemption of the narrator, who is a zealot, a coward and a fool until it counts, is beautifully done, and Angove does a wonderful job of pastiching Regency-era prose styles.
Squatter's Rights by Juliet Kemp is one of the creepiest short horror stories I've read in a long time, especially because the trap in it sounds so seductive at first.
After The Velvet Eon by Simon Bucher-Jones is the story here that, more than any of the others, needed to be told as a Faction Paradox story. Probably the best-structured of the stories, this is time-travel, emotional storytelling and folk-tale combined in a way that Steven Moffat wishes he could. There's a love of language here that's characteristic of Bucher-Jones' work, too -- "St Vermis' Star", for example, is just a wonderful touch.
Remake/Remodel by Jonathan Dennis sees the welcome return of Faction Hollywood, one of my favourite things from The Book Of The War. A creepy/funny story about desperation for stardom, the film industry and changing tastes in superheroes, as well as about conceptual entities.
Dharmayuddha by Aditya Bidikar is the story I'd have written if I knew anything about Hindu philosophy. I mean that literally -- I was scared by some of the ways this parallels something I've been writing, and it sparked off all sorts of ideas that had already been sort-of lurking in my brain. This story manages to meld the Hindu idea of the Yugas perfectly with something that's been hinted at in various Faction books, and expands the mythology beautifully.
A Star's View Of Caroline by Sarah Hadley is... problematic for me, in that the criteria I judge it by may not be the criteria other people do. As a Faction Paradox story it works very well, although there is an element in the character PJ of a sort of fetishising of learning disabilities that one sometimes finds and which I'm not entirely comfortable with. But it tells the kind of story one hopes for in a Faction Paradox story -- one involving the way our thoughts affect the world, the way the media affect our thoughts, and how those things all affect what is possible -- very well.
The problem is that it's set in what seems to be a generic skiffy post-apocalyptic background, but it's one which will be very familiar to viewers of a certain TV show. And the story's conclusion, which is enormously powerful, draws much of its power from association with two scenes from old black-and-white episodes of that show, one from 1964 and one from 1965. And I have no idea how someone who hasn't seen those nearly-fifty-year-old black-and-white episodes of an old science fiction programme will react.
Now in some ways, this is a good thing -- there is nothing in the story that requires you to have seen, or even to have heard of, those old stories. It works as a self-contained story, as far as I can tell, and the resonances with those other stories only add to its power. But it does mean that I can't judge how well this would read to someone who hadn't seen them.
And De Umbris Idearum by Philip Purser-Hallard is the story I would have *liked* to have written out of all these. It's the first time, I think, that Purser-Hallard has ventured out of his own section of the Faction 'mythos' -- the City Of The Saved, which he created and has written several stories and a novel about -- and written something based on some of the other ideas from the Faction books.Here he takes on the Remote and Remakes, two ideas I've been wanting to see more exploration of, and uses them to tell a multiply-nested story of three priests, from three different time periods, which revolves around a theological conundrum about the nature of original sin. Whether intentionally or not, it ties together several themes from other stories in the collection very cleverly (the interference with the Earth's scientific development in Wing-Finger is similar to some of the events here, the story is structured like the Russian dolls from Office Politics, and so on), while dealing with many of Purser-Hallard's own usual themes.
Those eight stories only make up a little over half the book -- the other six stories all have things to recommend them as well. This is a very, very impressive collection, and you should all buy it. It's available from Obverse Books as a
hardback or an
ebook -
Gosh has it really taken me over a month to finish this one? Blimey. Anyway, a bit of a book of two halves really, this is another Faction Paradox short story collection from the fab folks at Obverse Books, and while roughly half of them are excellent, the other half are quite, quite poor. They are broadly arranged thusly; bad ones at the beginning, good ones at the end, which in fairness is probably the best way round to do it, but the first few really did feel like a slog. Let's do a one sentence summing up of each one because it's Sunday afternoon and I've got nothing better to do, shall we?
'Raleigh Dreaming': Actually, this one was really good, ruining my 'bad at the beginning, good at the end' assessment straight away. Curses.
'Office Politics': Hmm. OK, but (as will become a bit of a theme as we go on) very little to do with Faction Paradox. Very different to what you normally get from FP books, and I remain unsure whether that's a good thing or not.
'...and from the Tower she did fall': Interesting conceptually, absolutely nothing to do with Faction Paradox at all. A bit confusing in that I couldn't decipher which 'side' several characters were on. Feels a bit like the writer's gone "Well I've written this story, who can I sell it to? Ahh yes Obverse, I'll put in some perfunctory references to people in skull masks, job's a good'un."
'La Santa Muerte': Easily the worst in the collection. A boring, nothing story about Mexican gangs, with some vague voodoo-y themes. I know the strength of the Faction Paradox concept is that it can be anything, go anywhere, etc, but as a person who buys these collections because they are Faction Paradox books, it would be nice, occasionally, to have a story about Faction Paradox, y'know?
'Dos Hombres - A Fable': Another one about South American voodoo-y stuff, slightly better than 'La Santa Muerte'.
'All the Fun of the Fear': The second worst in the collection. I was looking forward to this one, because Stephen Marley wrote one of the best regarded Virgin Dr Who books in the 90s, and I was very disappointed. He shoehorns in a pair of characters he created elsewhere, and has them go to "The Eleven Day Empire". Except it's not the Eleven Day Empire, because anyone can access it (in all other stories only FP members can get in) and there are just loads of normal people living there. Also, I couldn't tell if it was really really reactionary, or if it was being secretly ironic, but by this point I had ceased to care.
'Wing Finger': At last! The light at the end of the tunnel! It beckons. A nicely constructed and interesting story with well rounded characters, told in the 'fake history document' style I find very engaging and suits FP fiction so well. The only way is up. Baby.
'The Strings': Brilliant again, and proof that if you have a good idea and execute it with style and flair, you can prove my 'These all need to be related to Faction Paradox in some way' rule completely wrong and make me look like an idiot.
'Squatters' Rights': Genuinely scary and tense. Not the most original plot in the world (a guy invites another mind into his head in an attempt to make it deal with all his crap and it goes horribly wrong) but very well paced and builds to a lovely climax.
'After the Velvet Eon': As with anything by Simon Bucher-Jones, this is intricate, packed with ideas and wonderfully structured. I didn't quite understand all of it but I'm sure this is due to my denseness rather than anything else. A treat.
'Remake/Remodel': Fighting for the Best Story in Collection spot. I think if I wanted to show someone the strength and adaptability of the Faction Paradox concept, this is the story I'd point them to. Quite biting in a way, and very topical culturally, an excellent idea, well told.
'Dharmayuddha': I'm a bit on the fence about this one. Very different, not quite sure if it worked for me. May improve upon a second reading.
'A Stars View of Caroline': Another gem. Complex but heartfelt. Excellent world building. (I realise there are a lot of very short sentences in these and that makes them frustrating to read, I'm very sorry)
'De Umbris Idearum': The second contender for Best Story in Collection, which is unsurprising, coming from Faction Paradox MVP, Philip Purser-Hallard. Completely unrelated to the City-based stuff he normally does, here he delves into one of FP's less explored concepts, The Remote, who made their debut in Lawrence Miles' two part Dr Who epic 'Interference'. Another in the 'fake history document' style, complete with witty and informative footnotes (basically, if your work of fiction contains footnotes referring to other works that don't exist, I'm sold), it's just exactly what you want from a short story.
So in total: Two amazing ones, six very good ones, three OK ones, one not great one and two stinkers. Pretty good ratio, I'd say. Just please no more Mexican death cults next time, eh folks? -
A Faction Paradox collection without any kind of overarching narrative or theme, really giving the authors the chance to go all out.
Raleigh Dreaming by Elizabeth Evershed is a gorgeous historical story that really sets the tone. A beautiful, artsy, frightening dream told through the eyes of Sir Walter Raleigh, spanning several countries as well as centuries.
Office Politics by Alan Taylor is sweet, gruesome, well-written and to the point. Very Junji Ito, in a way. The twist in the narration style works extremely well.
…and from the Tower she did fall by Cate Gardner is a surrealist nightmare. I liked it a lot.
La Santa Muerte by Daniel Ribot leaves slightly too much unexplained for my liking, and feels more like non-genre crime fiction than like a Faction tale, but I enjoyed the style and atmosphere.
Dos Hombres – A Fable by Kelly Hale has Kelly Hale dipping into different mythologies and witchcraft cultures. Good stuff, as is all her writing.
All the Fun of the Fear by Stephen Marley is an Iris Wildthyme-ish story that jumped a fence and ended up in Faction lore.
Wing Finger by Helen Angove is a very classic adventure story, which could easily be fleshed out into a full-length novel. Very fun to read.
The Strings by James Worrad is proper space opera with a very tight writing style. Looking forward to reading more from this author.
Squatters Rights by Juliet Kemp is delicious gothic glitch horror. One of my favourites in the book.
After the Velvet Eon by Simon Bucher-Jones plays with time in the way only written text truly allows, and is probably the most purely Faction-y of this book's stories.
Remake/Remodel by Jonathan Dennis dives into Faction Hollywood and its many rituals, through the eyes of an outsider; a breezy, very enjoyable read.
Dharmayuddha by Aditya Bidikar is a story I should probably read three more times — the Second War In Heaven transposed onto Hindu mythology, or is it the other way around? The characters still linger at the back of my mind while I try to match them up with known lore.
A Star’s View of Caroline by Sarah Hadley seems to mix Jim Mortimore's "Campaign" with Lawrence Miles' "This Town Will Never Let Us Go," but gets too blatantly referential after a while; would work really well with another round of editing.
And finally, De Umbris Idearum by Philip Purser-Hallard gives us cool historical, multimedial Remote lore, with different characters each showing their own perspectives on religion, ritual and cults. -
The second volume of Faction Paradox tales from Obverse Books, and another glorious Pandora's Box of storytelling. It remains the case that the Faction is such a flexible concept that the stories in these books can (and do) take you absolutely anywhere. That's part of the joy of these. You never know what you're going to get next.
Even more than in the previous collection 'A Romance in Twelve Parts', 'Optimism's Flames' allows the Faction to remain a shadowy influence on other people stories. If the book fails at all, it is in how far it plays with this. I've read complaints that the Faction barely seem to appear in many of these stories, and sometimes don't feel particularly relevant to the story they're in when they do. That's a valid criticism - few of these tales are about the Faction. Instead, the Faction is an influence, sometimes minor and sometimes major, which is what allows for such a breadth of stories to be told. I consider that a benefit rather than a failing, that makes these anthologies unique and valuable. It means that the hugely entertaining Hollywood pastiche 'Remake/Remodel' can be found in the same table of contents as the mesmerising and entirely horrific 'Squatters Rights'. Particular favourites include Aditya Bidikar's 'Dharmayudda', which plays beautifully in the realms of Hindi mythology, and Philip Purser-Hallard's 'De Umbris Idearum, a layered tale of Catholic priests past, present, and future coming to terms with an ideology which unpicks fundamental parts of their own religion, almost undoing the need for faith. Another absolute triumph of a book, particularly beautiful in the hardback edition. Everybody interested in genre fiction should be picking these up. -
what a book! I really loved this collection, and the wide variety of stories it offered. As Always with Faction paradox really, you never quite know what the next story will bring.
Overall, I'd rate this anthology 4.5/5
Raleigh Dreaming by Elizabeth Evershed
A really lovely story playing with time travel and memory and the art of dreams. It was just a blast and a perfect opening imo
Office Politics by Alan Taylor
Probably the only story I've ever encountered that uses "we" as a narration and actually makes it work. The story itself is pretty simple but it works so well, and I just loved how it used the narrative style to help the plot.
…and from the Tower she did fall by Cate Gardner
I'm not sure what I can say exactly about the plot, but the aesthetics and ideas were wonderful and exactly the kind of stuff I love about faction paradox.
La Santa Muerte by Daniel Ribot
I liked some of it, and it's a nice action driven story, but while the writing is fantastic it's just not really my kind of stories.
Dos Hombres – A Fable by Kelly Hale
It's a tale of witchcraft that is very witty and just a great romp. Very enjoyable stuff
All the Fun of the Fear by Stephen Marley
Yeah... That one wasn't for me at all. Didn't like it much :/
Wing Finger by Helen Angove
Beautifully written! I love episcopal stories, and this one really uses the medium to its advantage. Plus there's just something wonderful about the Faction mixing with a scientific exploration on the edge of the discovery of the theory of evolution
The Strings by James Worrad
Sci-fi just like I like it, with a fleshed out alien world, interesting customs and characters and a story that just works and remains strong all throughout. I really liked that one!
Squatters Rights by Juliet Kemp
Playing with memories and the loss of them, and some wonderful horror mixed into the mix, it has a great atmosphere and was yet another great story
After the Velvet Eon by Simon Bucher-Jones
I just love the framing of it and how it plays around with time! It's such a great concept that can only really be done in Faction Paradox.
Remake/Remodel by Jonathan Dennis
Faction Hollywood is one of those concepts from Book of the War I find extremely fascinating and also quite underused, so this story was a treat for me.
Dharmayuddha by Aditya Bidikar
I have absolutely no idea what's going on in this one and I love it. It's beautifully well written and really makes me question how the various characters matched up with FP lore.
A Star’s View of Caroline by Sarah Hadley
This is a bit of a weird one, but I really love the concept and I found it an entertaining read tbh
De Umbris Idearum by Philip Purser-Hallard
This is an interesting take on ritual and religious beliefs and brings some more information about the Remote, so all in all it was a great way to bring this fantastic anthology to a close -
If you didn't have the first idea what Faction Paradox was, you could still enjoy a fair chunk of Burning With Optimism's Flames just as an anthology of weird fiction. Juliet Kemp's 'Squatters' Rights', for instance: a creepy little contemporary horror story about that old, bad idea of editing one's unpleasant memories. Or 'Office Politics' by Alan Taylor, which could be summarised as David Cronenberg doing deservedly horrible things to Ricky Gervais. Other tales leave Stevenage far behind, taking us to distant alien realms, and if there's usually a glimmer of the War somewhere in the background, well, when isn't there? And whether we're deep in the politics of 27th century interplanetary Catholicism, or back in time as something very untoward happens to the Tower of London, the standard is generally very high. For me only Helen Angove's 'Wing Finger' didn't really work; I have a general aversion to historical fiction which uses hindsight merely to bludgeon idiots of the past, and the poltroon in this one isn't even particularly plausible in his errors. There are a few stories which definitely benefit from an understanding of the Great Houses, the Eleven Day Empire and the like - including, perhaps unfortunately, the opener, Elizabeth Evershed's excellent 'Raleigh Dreaming'. There's even one which hinges to some extent on knowledge of a certain TV series with which Faction Paradox is legally no longer associated, in which invaders with domes and long eyes oppressed a future Earth, albeit with a somewhat different resolution (as can happen when wars encompass time as a battleground). But I'd still overall call this a better introduction to the strange charms of the Faction than either of the supposed opening volumes.
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http://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2014/03... -
another erudite accomplishment of fantabulous astoundment to amuse the grandest of viziers and entertain the common folk after a spot of supper and a goblet of fine neverberry wine
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Well this one is both equally good, and equally bad. The good is extremely good (the stories by Elizabeth Evershed, Alan Taylor, Sarah Hadley, and Phil PH, for example), but the bad is quite bad (I'm including dreadfully boring in this class). I was certainly expecting more, considering how great Tales of the City was. Disappointing.
