Coming August 1, 2011

Answer, Please?

So, what did they all have in common? 

All the people pictured in my previous post were interviewed for my first book, "How Fantasy Sports Explains the World: What Pujols and Peyton Can Teach Us About Wookiees and Wall Street" -- which is just a few months away from being found on the shelves of your local bookstore.

Also in the mix? The writers who created the two scenes depicted above, Alec Sulkin (left) and Jane Espenson (right)...  and many others who were all gracious enough to share their distinct points of view with me. 

How does it all come together and what in the world does this all have to do with fantasy sports? For those answers, we're just about 70 days away...

What Do They All Have in Common?

                                             Yau-Man Chan (Survivor)                             Steve Ward (VH1's Tough Love)

The Reduced Shakespeare Company

                                                 Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson                                    Damien Echols (see: WM3.org)

The Book With the Draggin' Plot

So, this book is the first in a trilogy that was published posthumously and became a huge international sensation. I've finally gotten around to reading it, and, well, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

It's not that it's written poorly -- in fact, the central mystery at the heart of the book is quite well-crafted. It's just that it takes so long to get into the investigation that by the time you do, you've almost forgotten why you were reading in the first place.

On top of that, the translation from Swedish into English is clunky at times, and anything which slows the pace at which you can turn the pages in a page-turner is a detriment to enjoyment. Moreover, although I have some Swedish ancestry, the culture depicted in this book is so alien that it's hard to fully immerse oneself into it. 

I've never read so many descriptions of coffee being brewed, poured and shared in my life. And I get it... it's cold. But do I need page upon page of text telling me how cold it is? It's like Anne Rice and her infatuation with pointing out each and every magnolia tree in Louisiana before finally getting around to introducing the witches. I get it... now can something happen?

Really, this book was really three compeltely different stories mashed up into one - the first was about the titular girl, which was essentially a version of La Femme Nikita. The second was a snooze-fest about financial espionage that smacked on John Grisham platitudes. The third was a noir-esque "cold case" that actually had some meat to it, save for the fact that for about 100-150 pages, the main character sat around debating whether or not to participate in trying to solve it. 

It's decent, but not the be-all end-all that it was purported to be. Personally, I waited several years before deciding to read the book, and now that I have... I wish I'd waited for David Fincher's movie. 

The Plot Quickens

Sorry for the lack of new posts this week... Not only did we spend some time up at Bristol, locked in a room with my ESPN fantasy brethren -- or in Stephania's case, sistheren -- ranking all the top fantasy football options for the next year, but we also are in the homestretch of the editing process for the book -- less than 90 days and counting!

Once we've locked down the galleys and can come up for air, we'll be back a bit more regularly... 

Oh, and for those who haven't already figured out the whole Marty the Fishboy thing... he was indeed the kid's show host's sidekick. But why is that important to me? Well... for that, you'll have to wait for the book...