A Review of Sorts: Bulletwisdom Goes Hungry

I don't know if this is so much a review as it is me reminiscing about the mixed feelings I have about Suzanne Collins impressive YA series, The Hunger Games. First, I need to say thanks to author of the upcoming Newsoul series, Jodi Meadows, and her agent from the Strothman Agency, Lauren MacLeod. On Twitter, one comment led to another, and when the two were interested in my opinion on the series, I felt obligated to take up the challenge. Since I had not reviewed a book, let alone a series, in years, it made for an interesting experience.

***Stop here if you don't want any spoilers. I address specifics across all three novels***

The Hunger Games is a complex, dystopian YA series that well represents the best themes from a long list of dystopian/sci-fi works: Ender's Game, The Most Dangerous Game, The Running Man, and Brave New World. Okay, that's a heady list, and maybe I'm overstating, but at the end of the series (particularly the first entry) I couldn't help but be a bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of the themes. If you're an author and you're picking and choosing your inspiration, those are some of the all time greats.

I'll play loose here. A young girl lives is thrown into an arena and forced to hunt other children (The Most Dangerous Game). In the Hunger Games, the audience revels in the killing while even the victors are portrayed as losers (The Running Man). The people of the ruling district, the Capitol, are extremely detached from the society they're oppressing (Brave New World). And the main character finds herself at the end of her victorious struggles haunted and depressed, wondering, 'What was it worth?' (Ender's Game) I could probably throw in themes from Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies for good measure, but needless to say, I really enjoyed reading Collin's series.

But that's not why I'm here. On Twitter, I became involved in a discussion surrounding the violence presented in The Hunger Games. Was it excessive? Is it appropriate for a Young Adult audience. I'm a Soldier, I've been to war, and my life experiences force me to look at things with a slightly different perspective than most.

So to answer the questions: Yes, the violence is excessive. And yes, it's appropriate.

Now, I don't think I'll be passing Catching Fire and Mockingjay to my ten year old anytime soon, but my field-worn, water-damaged copy of The Hunger Games is already in her hand. To point out something about the list of novels I referenced earlier, they all were considered controversial or at the least, avant-garde, and they all contained a considerable amount of violence.

Oh, and by the age of sixteen, I read them all. The Hunger Games is no more inappropriate a literary work for tweens than anything else on a banned high school reading list.

It's necessary to take a moment to comment Collin's handling of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It's all over The Hunger Games. All the games' former victors portray significant degrees of PTSD. All the tell-tale symptoms are there: flashback, nightmares, alcoholism, drug addiction, hallucinations, etc... the list goes on and on.

I see PTSD everyday. I have a friend who will randomly streams tears while he sits in meetings or at his desk. There are Soldiers in my command suffering from chronic insomnia and night terrors. One time in my house, I actually dove for the tile at the sound of a backfiring car. It's real. It's affecting our Soldiers, and it's not something you can wish away.

By the third book, there's a PTSD scene every other page. Maybe it's a bit overdone, but by the end the effects on the main character are permanent and lingering. Good triumphs over Evil and there's no happy ending, just a quiet torment tempered by drugs, counseling and the passage of time. The characters find a tepid happiness, and like many Soldiers from today's ten-year War on Terror, a return to true normalcy after experiencing the horrors of war is all but impossible.

Some of the concepts weren't all that well done. I laughed when one of the engineers lamented about their inability to reproduce high-altitude aircraft, this coming from a dude with invisible hovercraft. Uh-huh. And their combat tactics weren't all that smart. I felt it was like two insurgencies fighting each rather that a bunch rebels versus an actual nation. And in Mockingjay, the defense of the Capital hinges around a city-scale version of the X-Men's Danger Room. That would look great for the movie adaptation, but for battlefield tactics, it's just silly.

I guess also lost along with representative democracy and the 'advanced' technologies from the old United States were simple fundamentals of war like Mass, Maneuver, Economy of Force, Security, Surprise.... and Tanks! Oh, how this story made me long for good ole' days of war where civilized men slugged it out with mechanized armor and artillery (that's a poke at today's counterinsurgency warriors). The war in this book is what I imagine would happen if ten-year old politicians staged a fight with legos, army men, and toy dinosaurs. I digress. What I enjoyed about this book weren't the technologies and tactics.

Maybe the takeaway from The Hunger Games isn't just the simple the 'war is hell' theme from Red Badge of Courage or Saving Private Ryan. Maybe, when you experience something that traumatic, that horrific, the effects last a lifetime. Time will not heal all wounds. Some injuries never go away.

Should my two children ever face going to war, and I pray they never do, it's a lesson I want them to learn.

The Hunger Games, highly recommended.

To Blog, or not to Blog?

Should unpublished writers blog?

That is the question. This week, a couple of influential bloggers, agent Mary Kole and writer Jodi Meadows, both weighed in on relatively opposite sides of the discussion. (I say relatively because since posting, their opinions are shown to be much closer than originally implied). After reading friend PJ Schnyder's post, I decided my own opinion was necessary. The

I say go for it. Whatever you want. Especially if you are a new and unpublished writer. Go wild.

Why? Because you ARE an unpublished writer. Use your blog and other social media networks to enjoy yourself and test your creative limits. Blogging daily or weekly encourages the development of good writing habits such as, say, the ability to meet a deadline (ignore the fact I failed to post last week) or

If you write something down, you're more likely to remember it later. If you see another writer or publishing professional put out some interesting factoid or advice, analyze it and blog about it. Do that and you're more likely to internalize it than if you simply saved a link somewhere in your bottomless collection of bookmarks.

Your blog doesn't have to be great. Shoot, it doesn't have to be good (although it would help). Hell, it doesn't even have to be amazingly average (think, blog devoted to cats, blech). It just needs to make you happy from week to week as you get out there and share your ideas. Look at it this way: It can only have a positive effect on your other writing efforts.

Now, on the flip side. If you're not enjoying it, if every day or week or month you look at the keyboard and say, "Damn, I have to do the freaking blog," then you should reconsider why your doing it in the first place. If it's not fun or enjoyable, then it's probably not worth doing. Although I usually say, 'if you can't do it right...', but that's a different discussion.

I also don't recommend 'bitch' blogs where you aim the rhetorical flamethrower at current or future employers, agents or corporate entities. If you're going to burn down the bridge, at least wait until your standing on it with a contract in hand.

Chances are, your blog and Facebook account are not going to help you get an agent and get published. Yes, there are exceptions, rare ones, but in the end you have to actually write material that is extremely interesting to achieve your breakthrough moment. It is at that point that you will be forced to reevaluate your position as you attempt to walk the fine line between image, publicity, and marketing. After all, when you're a successful writer, the big boys will have much $$$ invested. Don't be surprised if they not-so-subtly request you to make a change, or ten.

Make it big, delete your old blog, pretend it never happened, then hire a marketing firm and publicist to come up with the interesting material for you.

Again, not there yet? Go wild.

A Memorial

A couple weeks back, our Battalion lost a Soldier. Private First Class Barry Smith left this world far too soon. Only a month in the unit, Barry impacted everyone around him. He was talented, ambitious, creative, and gregarious, possessing a monster work ethic that would have seen him rise to the top of the profession. God decided he was too good for us, and brought him home.

This week my battalion did some platoon-level training and live fire. It was a tiring week. We ran each of our 6 platoons through a thirty-six hours training 'lane' consisting of events that would test their ability to perform basic, required tasks.

No room for error. Because of the tragedy, we compressed what my Brigade Commander called a 'tight timeline' to an insane point where if any of the platoons were hung up, it would adversely affect the training of the entire battalion.

Transparent to each of the platoons, was the tireless work of my Officers and NCOs. They worked tirelessly to make a great training event. We were fielding new equipment, training on new systems, introducing new personnel to the staff, and executing an aggressive.



But we made it, and made the news in the process. When we got back to the rear, we were smoked, completely drained by humidity, frustrating moments, and lack of sleep.

Then I got an email from Jodi Meadows. She posting a critique of my query at her site, (W)ords and (W)ardances. Last fall, I had limited success submitting my YA, EMANARE, with what I considered a train wreck of a query letter. What can I say? I was young. She's the first to look at the redo, so I'm hoping with her assistance and a better overall product, I can move forward.

This is my first weekend home in three weeks. Overall, May has been the toughest month on the job. Can't wait for June.


UPDATE - Jodi's critique of my query letter is up her site here. She provided some extremely helpful observations. Thanks Jodi!