Author Archives: dogtrax

I have to admit: I wasn’t sure if seven writers writing one adventure novel would hold together strong enough to keep me interesting. But The Mongoliad, which was apparently originally conceived as a collaborative serial novel for e-readers and such, clearly came under the eye of an editor of some merit. The book mostly stands up to the talents of the seven writers (including one of my favorites, Neal Stephenson, which shows you the power of a name —  I would have probably just passed this one by without Stephenson’s involvement).

I have the paper-bound version of the book (which is the first in a series) because I was completely unaware of the online/app development of the story itself as an experiment with writing novel. After I was done reading the book, I was touring through the website home of the novel, and I came to realize just how vast the media elements were for the story as it unfolded — with videos, and maps, and chapters, and more. (Of course, you need to pay for premium service to gain access to all of the good stuff. And it costs a pretty penny.)

The story itself is about the reign of the Mongols over parts of Europe following the death of Ghengis Khan in the 1200s, and how various orders of the Christian brotherhoods came together to defend Christianity from the invasion. These brotherhoods were small groups of knights, and a plot is hatched to cut the head off the snake, so to speak. There are a few story lines underway in this first book, but I thought the character development was pretty well done. There’s more to the knights than just fighting (although these guys clearly love the intricacies of the fighting sequences), and some of the major characters are just outside the periphery of action, so we get a bird’s eye view of the story, too.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for the second installment of the book. Maybe I should do that online, though, and experience the book as an app.

Peace (in the book),
Kevin

I’ve learned something important over the past few months: always trust my friends with The Nerdy Book Club. I read so many tweets about The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate that I finally decided, I gotta get that book. And I did. And it is wonderful. Told in the voice of Ivan, a silverback gorilla who lives in an animal exhibit in a strip mall, the novel deftly brings us into the mind of an intelligent creature seeking do the right thing for a young elephant, Ruby, who arrives in captivity, too. Ivan has made a promise, and he intends to keep it. I won’t give the story away, except to say that the writing here will touch your spirit and the story will remind you of the importance of family, in whatever shape it comes.

The afterward is also interesting, as Applegate notes that her book was inspired by a true story of a captive gorilla in a mall “zoo” operation, but as she wrote, the story became something more. The One and Only Ivan is a keeper, and Ivan’s voice will linger with you for days, as it has done with me.

Peace (out of captivity),
Kevin

I know there is always a dispute in the athletic world about whether or not sports stars are role models for kids. They are. Those stars may not like it but in this culture of youtube-d power plays, ESPN highlight reels, and documentaries of the lives of popular culture figures, athletes are still looked to by kids for the ways to act, to play, to live. So, I was happy to see a piece in The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post about the ways that LeBron James uses his downtime to read books.

Check out this short television piece about James’ interest in reading. (His team, the Miami Heat, just won the NBA championship last night).

Peace (in the book),
Kevin