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Summer scoop: I have an NSERC grant!
This January, I applied for a summer Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) from the National Science & Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Lakehead University has 20 such awards to give to applicants this year, and on Monday, I learned that I am the recipient of one!
I was (still am) a mixture of elation and trepidation. Part of me is still in a state of shock and can’t quite believe that this is real. I spend a good half hour after learning I got the grant just trying to calm down so I would not run up to everyone I encountered and yell, “I GOT A GRANT!” Another part of me is saying, “What do you think you‘re doing, Ben?
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Bookshelf
Review of Dawn of Empire: A Novel by Sam Barone
Thanks owed to What's the Name of That Book??? for finding this book based on my poor memory of what it was about when I read it the first time years ago.
Dawn of Empire delivers on its promise of an action-filled battle for survival against barbarians from the steppes. The strategy that goes into designing defences for Orak, from its crucial wall to the ditch in front and the archers behind, is impressive. Also impressive is the inherent conflict in the ideologies of the steppes people and the villagers. Sam Barone gives us a wonderful sense of the stark contrast between these two societies, and why the way of life of one is anathema to the other. In that sense, Dawn of Empire fulfils its purpose of depicting the rise of walled cities and the subsequent empires.
Try as I might, I could not engage with the characters. All of the antagonists are flat, with one-dimensional motivations, particularly those within Orak. Drigo's son and Nicar's son, for instance, are both the definition of "hormonal irrational adolescent" and attack Eskkar without really considering the consequences (although Caldor goes about it in a more underhanded manner, I'll grant him that). And everyone is black and white: supporting Eskkar or against Eskkar.
While I quite enjoyed Trella's character and her relationship with Eskkar, how many times did Barone need to tell us they had sex? Apparently before the Internet came around, that was the only way two people could express affection for each other. Eskkar and Trella spend so much time in their bedroom that I'm surprised she doesn't get pregnant sooner. Indeed, the book itself comments snarkily on their bedroom habits. So the romance subplot here isn't so much "romantic" as it is "he sleeps with her, she falls in love with him, he kills...
