WILD LIFE - June 2023

I am defeated. Each month, the cover photo has included some sort of animal which relates to one of the stories. The connections between picture and story have been growing more tenuous as time has gone on. But this month, I can't think of any wild-life connection at all. Sorry. There's a photo of handguns instead. Glocks to be specific. Which got me thinking - so I noted down some bullet points. And then I invited some thoughful people to contribute to an article for your Max reading pleasure. Enjoy!

But if you're just thinking, "I don't care about any of this. Why did I get a notification?", then this section is for you.

Possibly the thing I like most about NS is the imagination and inventiveness of the players. Occasionally someone comes along with the vision, enthusiasm, and means to grow a seed of an idea into a successful and rewarding long term project. This wasn't one of those times. Two out of three ain't bad though!

The scene is the RMB of Warsaw 2023...

Glockse:
"Ok everyone, I have a kind of weird proposition. We could become a mercenary group.
I know it sounds sketchy, but here me out:
-We charge cards for people to hire us, either for recruiting, defending, or raiding
-We advertise to many regions, offering to act as guards or soldiers
-We get cards and fun gameplay!
But Glockse, you say, what about when we have our own personal war? Or when we want to take a break? Well then we just stop for awhile, announce we are taking a temporary break, and end our current contracts!!
Is anyone in? There is a poll now"

Warsaw pact founder:
"I actually genuinely like the idea, since on my main I’m trying to get RACKS of cash."
"A good way we could work out our economic system, the customer pays me, then I split the cash/cards with all of y’all."

With the poll in favour of the idea, Glockse made a price chart for various mercenary services. Within the hour, Glockse launched a Gameplay forum thread, "Mercenaries for Hire", with a link to the pricing chart.
"My region, Warsaw 2023, is starting a mercenary business. For cards, you can hire us to do raiding, defending, and any of that kinda stuff. This is intended for people to start payments, ask questions, and make suggestions."

Less than two hours later, on the RMB, Mayakava posted: "Hey guys someone contacted me via telegram to hire the region"

A little while later, Glockse adds: "Y'all if our current contracts go through we get 2.6 NSD over 4 days (!!!!!!!!!)"

Back on the forum thread, the idea was attracting a lot of positive attention.
Malphe II: "I do hope I get to see this model actually function one day, it would def make for a neat org dynamic."

Regnum Alea Spaceflee: "This is an incredible Idea! I hope you get it working soon."

But the "rookie" status of Glockse and their region started to show. Having seen that the pricing chart quoted in terms of "NSD", Giovanniland advised: "The currency unit in trading cards is called "bank" by the way."

And when Refiria asked: "How much does it cost to coup all the gcrs under my banner", Glockse responded: "Sorry, I don't know what "gcrs" is. Could you clue me in? I might know it under a different name."

Inevitably, this led to their credentials being queried, first by The Power that Preserves:
"The (potentially) million bank question is, I suppose, whether you actually know how to raid/defend.
Have you ever updated before? If so with which organizations?"

Glockse conceded: "I personally have, and have a somewhat noticeable account. However, we do definitely need drilling, a better structure, and recruitment."

Astrobolt followed up: "I’m also curious with which organizations you have updated before, or even engaged in military GP with."

Glockse: "Well, I would tell you, but I kinda need to keep it secret."

It seems that secrecy was needed as Glockse's WA was tied up in some longer-term gameplay activity. Being WA-locked this way would be an obvious hindrance to a fledgeling mercenary organisation. This wasn't the group's only impediment though, as some posts on the RMB revealed:

Mayakava: "glockse join the discord"

Glockse: "Sorry, I have parental controls."

The Great Empire of Soviet Reunions: "Glockse I as well cannot access discord."

Lack of access to Discord limited their ability to co-ordinate last-second jumps into target regions. That would restrict the types of gameplay actions they could take. For example, liberations or tag raiding would become impractical. But then there was also the challenge of being online when needed.

Glockse posted on the forum:
"I'm considering making the business limited on weekdays because we just can't guarantee that some work or school assignment will pull us away, and instead, we would do raids on the weekends and defends on the week days. Thoughts?"

Improper Classifications responded:
"Remember the following two things:
You're not gonna be on call at 8:00 AM or 6:00 PM - it's only gonna be around noon or around midnight.
If you're doing an influence pile you'll only need a few minutes to join the WA and move a nation to the target"

Glockse:
"Yeah, our problem is that we simply don't have our computers on us. For example, I have gum class till halfway through the minor update, and my fellow region mates have similar problems.
Ok, as of now, we are not accepting any new offers for a minimum of 2x weeks. I am sorry to everyone"

Over in new frontier The Amaranthine Isles, The Great Empire of Soviet Reunions delivered on a contract: "I’ll only be here for a few hours, as assigned by Glockse to endorse the delegate."

The forum thread fell quiet. A week later, I caught up with Glockse by telegram.

Me: Your idea of providing Mercenary services in return for cards / bank was well received. How many clients got in touch asking for services?

Glockse: Quite a few, actually. At this point,there have been 4 inquiries and 3 full orders, but for obvious reasons we are keeping there identities a secret.

Me: How have these jobs worked out so far?

Glockse: To be honest, this has been an absolute trainwreck of a project. We have had to cancel all orders, even a basic defending contract because our members weren't available.

Me: What do you think your next steps are?

Glockse: Over the next few months, we're going to have to establish a rough chart of what people are on at what time, and we'll also be gaining experience by participating in the big raider regions

However, a few days later, for reasons that were never publicly made clear, The Great Empire of Soviet Reunions chose to close down the region.
"Hello everyone. It is with full intent that I am disbanding Warsaw. I believe we will meet again once more, at a later date in time."

It's a shame that the project shut down. Glockse had a great idea, lots of enthusiasm, a positive attitude, and (despite spelling mistakes!) good communication skills. Glockse comes across as having a lot of potential. Hopefully they find the right region.

I asked this question shortly after the coronation of King Charles III. To me it was a no brainer. Vacuous money-chasers they may be, but the Kardashians do put in the effort to make their cash. Charles achieved his wealth by being born. The below extract from a 2016 article from The Shimmering Ostrich does a decent job of expressing it. Though in the seven years since there have been some significant changes in both families! It turns out my view is in the minority on NS though - the Royal Flush scored 18 points, versus just 8 points for my Kards.

"But who is better? The royal family or the Kardashians? The answer is: the Kardashians of course. The truth is that the royals are Kardashians for parochial Brits, something to gawp at and gossip about regardless of the details, famous for the very sake of fame. But whereas the royals have inherited their positions, the Kardashians have boldly made their own way, and the Kardashians surpass the royals in abundance when it comes to matters of style and good taste.

"Let’s look at some of the evidence. Whereas the Queen is always at pains to downplay her private wealth, under the stewardship of Kris Jenner the Kardashians have become a veritable media and retail empire. Kim, Kourtney, Khloé, Kendall, and Kylie don’t only eclipse Kate and Pippa, Beatrice and Eugenie when it comes to voluptuousness and high fashion. They are multi-faceted models, designers, and actresses, with their own lines in clothing and cosmetics, fronting for some of the world’s biggest brands, their success all self-made. Leave it to the royals to wave meekly and walk with their dogs through filthy country fields, and you wouldn’t find the Kardashians posing surreptitiously for bikini-clad beach shots.

"With regard to incendiary rhetoric, Prince Philip puts up a stern fight, but Kanye West has him roundly beat. In a close run race, Caitlyn Jenner edges past Camilla Parker Bowles in the sartorial stakes – and dare The Shimmering Ostrich suggest, is less damned in her day than Princess Diana was by the conservative right. While the royals lounge round Balmoral and Sandringham in their slippers, Rob Kardashian works his fingers to the bone knitting up sock after sock. And what value is a stuffy old Prince when Scott Disick, at the age of just thirty-three, trots the globe as a Lord?

"Of course the royals do no line in great music. And out of deference to them, we can also put their arms deals and sex scandals to one side. The royals might be nice to look at, if straight lines and pallid complexions are your aesthetic preference, but when it comes to substance, only the Kardashians are capable of offering us something plentiful yet refined."

Thanks to our voters

Occidius, Tarity Mat, Roylaii, La Xinga, Greatdux, Institute of cellulose hunetia, Improper Classifications, Of Withered Allyway, Korruscant, Ble the qamaika, Hubaie, Burg land, Anglican imperium, Bytswana, Ne ordenssttat biomenace, Melaka Sultanate, Bolgatostand, Poopcard 24, Imperial Mexican States, East Chimore, Smolcasm, Reyo, Osheiga, Aalen, Edush, Hrid lopata

So how would you run a mercenary business? Yeah, okay. I'm not really expecting you to answer. The question is just a literary device leading in to an article on how I would start going about it. Not that I've any specialist knowledge. Many of you would do a much better job than me. Hmm. I should probably get y'all to write this article instead.

Don't be WA-locked. When you start any new project, you're going to have to do most of the work yourself. The core task for mercenaries is to move their WA to a particular region, possibly at a particular time, and endorse one or more other WA nations. Yes you can ask someone else to do the task, but if they don't get the message in time, or don't follow / understand the instruction, you're going to want to step in and get the job done right.

Having "employees" you can trust is great. Ideally you will have some people who will show up when they're needed, where they're needed, and do what's needed. It sounds simple, but finding good people like this isn't easy!

A lot of people can't be online for the twice daily updates. And some will be offline for days or weeks at a time. But they can still help out on some contracts, like giving someone endos so that they can submit a WA resolution, or piling in a raider occupation, or helping a delegate transition in a feeder / frontier. Having a bank of people like this has got to be a benefit.

Recruitment. Remember you're recruiting for an organisation, and not a region. You don't need your team-mates to have a nation in your region. You just need them to put their WA puppet in the right place every now and again. You do need to know how best to contact them though! That could be via TG to their main, or pinging them on Discord. When you're creating your recruitment TG, remember to tag it as "recruitment for an organisation". However, iirc, years back there was a bug with the system that API TGs wouldn't work if tagged "recruitment for an organisation", but would work if tagged "recruitment for a region". I've no idea if this got fixed. Hopefully it did.

The wording of your TG is important. Take a look at the recruitment TGs for defender & raider regions. What about them appeals to you? Without plaigerising, what elements can you take from those? Remember as well that your org is different. Your first line can be some click-bait strapline like "EARN BANK IN YOUR SPARE TIME!!!" Think through who your target nations are too. Who is best to contact? New nations? Nations that have just joined the WA? Nations that have just resigned from the WA? If you are recruiting, it's worth trying to identify which demographics are responding to you and prioritising them.

Make a step-by-step plan for each job, even if it's a simple one. Look at each step, and figure out what could go wrong, and the impact of that. What if one of your team failed to show up at the right time? Or endorsed the wrong person? Or turned out to be a raider / defender plant? You can't always eliminate all risks. But you can often figure out ways to either minimise the chance of things going wrong, or to minimise the impact of things going wrong.

The plan and the risk assessment are going to influence the contract. If the job is to deliver five endos at Monday minor, do you still get paid if you only deliver four? Or six? And if you do deliver five endos at the right time, but things still don't work out the way the client hoped, do you still get paid? The contract is going to have to specify what is expected, and what acceptable margins of error are.

Don't have a public price list. Each job is going to be unique. And each client is going to have a different perception of value. Ask them what the job is worth to them. If it's too low, let them know, and suggest a figure that you think is acceptable. On Glockse's thread, Improper Classifications pointed out that some jobs would require the team turning out on time for an update, and other jobs had a twelve hour window during which you just need a few minutes of work. Turning out for update requires much more organisation, so is a higher cost activity. Of course, if endos are required by the client across multiple updates, there's an opportunity cost to consider too - you can't be doing other work while your WA is locked with an existing client.

Payment. You'd want paid upfront. At least partial payment upfront. You're running an org and have a reputation to maintain. If you can't deliver, but keep the cash, the client is going to ruin your reputation, and you won't get work again. On the flip side, if you didn't get paid upfront, the client can potentially benefit from your work, and then suffer no consequences by refusing to pay.

Occidius pointed out that some payment methods are more efficient than others. Gifting low-value cards has an effective 50% "tax". It costs 0.5 bank to gift an epic with junk value (JV) of 0.5. Effectively the client would have paid 1 bank for you to recieve 0.5 of value. Gifting Legendaries is more efficient. The client pays 1 bank to gift you a card that you can typically sell for higher. (Note that if you sell a Legendary, you're more likely to realise the current highest Bid price than the stated Market Value. Also remember that the game imposes a 10% tax on sales over 10 bank (go read up on the details, because I'm not explaining it properly!). Alternately, bank transfers are possible, though they're not without risk. See here and here for some info on transfers. If payment is via transfer, you might want to specify in the contract which party loses out in the case of a heist. And there's an outside chance that an unscrupulous client will try to heist their payment using an anonymous puppet. Figure out the risks of that, and how to mitigate.

I think Glockse and GESR had it right when they said the client should pay one person, then that person would distribute amongst the rest of the team. The client wouldn't want to deal with multiple team members who might be at deck capacity, or who weren't around to put asks on cards for banks transfers. Having a single point of contact makes it a far less frustrating experience for the client.

If they're not paying 100% upfront, check the client has the funds to pay. The payment might be coming from the client's main, or from a puppet. Get them to tell you which nation(s) would be paying. And get them to send you a TG from each of those nations confirming that they belong to the client!

Not all payment needs to be in bank. If you can think of other in-game things that would benefit you, it's fine to ask for those (excluding stamps and other items from the Store - that's against the Monetization rule). Up-voting a dispatch can help provide advertising for example. If your org has a main dispatch (credit to Glockse - they started a dispatch like this), you could ask the client and their region-mates to upvote it. The more upvotes, the more noticable your dispatch becomes on the best dispatches page. With client permission, you could also write a separate dispatch about their particular job. Get them and your team to upvote it, and hopefully get a good position on the new dispatches page. Also post it on your Gameplay forum thread. Advertising is good for business! (And yes, you're welcome to advertise your org in The NewsStand).

If you're able to tag-raid, that's another advertising route. Set the WFE, and also pin your main dispatch. And post it on the RMB. Yes, some defender will remove your WFE and suppress your post. But some bored individual will read your suppressed post at some point.

Jump points. Glockse had reckoned on using Suspicious for raids, and Artificial Solar System for defences. First point is - do you need a jump point for the contract? If not, don't bother. Second point is - neither of these jump points belong to you. Probably best to ask for permission before using them!

Communication is key, whether by TG, Discord or another method. Your communications with your client and team-mates need to be clear and unambiguous. You're also going to need to read up on some basic public relations skills. At some point, a job will go wrong, and you'll need to handle the fall-out. Knowing some basics might help calm the waters.

There's bound to be more to this topic than was touched on here. But then I'm not starting an org. Yet.

Every now and again I get triggered and go on an angry rant. Last month I got angry about foodbanks (again). For anyone wondering what a foodbank is, it's a place run by a charity where you can get some free groceries in those times that you have no money to buy your own. Foodbank use has been at record levels in the UK, including by people in full time employment who can simply no longer make ends meet. Your wages should cover the cost of living. And if you're on benefits, your social security money should cover the basics. But that's not happening. As a result, this "industry" of volunteers and charitable donations has grown. A massive amount of work is put in to delivering a few pounds worth of food. All of that activity could be redirected to better use elsewhere by simply raising wages and social security payments by a few pounds.

And to add to the insult, when you're a "customer" in a foodbank, you don't get a lot of say over what food you get. Someone else is choosing your meals for you.

And so to the million dollar (hah!) question:
I'm British, desperate, and at the foodbank. Luckily I get a choice of food parcel. Parcel 1: Cornflakes, UHT milk, pasta, tomato sauce, and a tin of tuna. Or parcel 2: Rice Crispies, UHT milk, rice, generic curry sauce, and a tin of sardines.

It was a close run thing for the duration of the poll, but the parcel with pasta came out ahead. For Lower Slobbovia, it was their preference of tuna over sardines that pushed their choice. Sweden Kard opted for the first parcel too, despite their cat prefering the sardines. Never tell the cat!

Thanks to our voters

Aethelia, ScotlandSerenity, All Wild Things, Evokice, La Xinga, Ajidiali, Sweden Kard, Lower Slobbovia, Ricore, Laforeia, Edge Hill, Korruscant, Greater Kobenhavn, Magyaroesia, Ian smith, Cretanja, The Earldom of Fallsbury, Life empire, New mordka, Catherine Louise Marie Ernestine Freneau, Osheiga, Perapasuy, DAIRYC, West ondoles, The Triton Sodality, Zordsworn State, Tarfas And Ifnom Asadi

I doubt there's anyone reading this that isn't aware that the site is hosted by author Max Barry. The game was created with the purpose of promoting his second novel, Jennifer Government. I'd been playing for a few years when someone pointed out that since we'd been enjoying this for free, it would only be polite to give the book a read. So I ordered a copy. And I loved it. And then I binge-read his other books too. When I saw Galactic Powers' poll Best Max Barry book, my attention was caught, and I got a bit carried away (like I do). Hence this article.

Galactic Powers told me: "I made this poll because I wondered about which of Max Barry's books was most popular, obviously, but also because I was curious to see how many people actually read them. Admittedly I was a bit surprised by how many people never picked one up at all. Its a little sad because he really is a pretty good author, and I think he deserves more credit for that than just being "the NS guy." I'd highly recommend everyone at least give some of his books a shot as it is the reason this website exists after all. But I did expect that Jennifer Government would be the most popular, since its the one that's advertised all over the site."

I don't know if the poll is representative of the NS population, but just under two-thirds of respondents had never read a Max Barry book. If you're one of them, and too cheap to go out and buy a book, get down to your local library and order a copy. It's free to you, it helps keep your library open, and (if the library has to order it in) it may even get Max a sale. But which to choose? From the poll results, it looks like Jennifer Government is favourite. But if you'd only ever read one, that would be the one you voted for, right? So I TG'd some poll respondents for the full story.

Concordare told me about their poll choice: "I'm afraid I have to confess that I haven't really read it yet, only skimmed it a bit." Concordare got kicked out the book club. Luckily some others had done the homework.

Syrup

The average person has three million-dollar ideas per year. Scat, an unemployed marketing graduate who knows you don't get noticed calling yourself Michael, has had his first. It's a sure-fire ticket to the life of shallow fame and fleeting celebrity he craves. But first he has to deal with 6, who is possibly the love of Scat's life or possibly ripping him off, and Sneaky Pete, marketing genius, refugee from Tokyo, and Scat's best friend—as far as Scat knows.

Belarusball
"One I really liked was Syrup. Mainly, the plot was great. It was funny (Coke marketing Fukk), full of twists, and generally interesting. There's not much more I can say - some books leave me going "wait, what just happened?" after reading them. Syrup didn't do that, though."

All Wild Things
"I'm a fan of Syrup too. It had betrayal, love interest, desire for revenge. All compelling stuff. It was a great story with no heavy underlying themes. I guess it was ... syrupy? I reckoned it would make a good movie. It turns out someone else thought that too - you can still catch it on Amazon Prime!"

Jennifer Government

The world is run by American corporations; there are no taxes; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; the Police and the NRA are publicly-traded security firms; the government can only investigate crimes it can bill for.

Hack Nike is a Merchandising Officer who discovers an all-new way to sell sneakers. Buy Mitsui is a stockbroker with a death-wish. Billy NRA is finding out that life in a private army isn't all snappy uniforms and code names. And Jennifer Government, a legendary agent with a barcode tattoo, is a consumer watchdog with a gun.

Galactic Powers
"Jennifer Government I read...maybe two or three years back, but I remember not liking the whole concept and thought the setting was a bit silly, although the characters were all good."

Hermes express 123
"I think it's a really interesting and unique look into a corporate dominated world, and what a nights watchmen state would actually be like. I also the naming conventions to be very funny. I enjoyed the plot, and the stories of the characters were worked well into it."

All Wild Things
"I thought JenGov was brilliant. Like an Agatha Christie, it had more characters than you can hold in your brain at once. Unlike an Agatha Christie, I was bought into the characters. I loved following their individual stories, and seeing how they weaved together into the plot."

Company

At Zephyr Holdings, no one has ever seen the CEO in person. The beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else, but does no apparent work. The sales reps use relationship self-help books as sales manuals, and one is on the warpath because of a missing mid-morning donut. In other words, it's an ordinary big company.

This is the book that asks the questions: When is physical violence an appropriate response to management policy? Why is that one reserved parking space always empty? Taking an extra donut from the team's basket: is that a sign of a motivated go-getter, or a sociopath? And this sea of incompetence and insanity they call a workplace: it can't really be that way by accident, can it?

All Wild Things
"Company was good. It so reminded me of my first office job! I didn't think it had the "feel good" of Syrup though, or the complexity of JenGov. Still a good read though."

Machine Man

Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It’s not a tragedy. It’s an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.

Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon.

All Wild Things
"Machine Man took me by surprise. Before reading it, I'd expected it to be my least favourite. But the plot took different turns than I expected, which I liked. I felt some of the characters were a bit flat though. (For those who read it - pun not intended!)"

Galactic Powers
"Machine Man is pretty much exactly what you said. I really didn't expect to like it, but unlike you, the plot still never clicked with me, and I agree that the characters weren't as good as in the other two I read."

Lexicon

They recruited Emily from the streets. They said it was because she was good with words. They'll live to regret it.
Wil survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember it.
Now they're after him and he doesn't know why.
There's a word, they say. It shouldn't have got out. But it did.
And they want it back.

Belarusball
"Lexicon was my favorite, for many reasons. First, I'm a total linguistics nerd, so reading a book about it was amazing. What I also really liked about it, though, were the characters. I'm going to be honest, I usually don't like the way Max Barry presents his characters - I think mostly, they come off as dull and monotone. But the characters in Lexicon were developed much better, they had full backstories, personalities, strengths and faults."

All Wild Things
"Lexicon I loved. It was a tough decision whether this or JenGov was my favourite, but this is it. The concept, that words have power, appealed. It was magic in a modern day setting. And it even had NS references! Like JenGov, it followed the stories of more than one character. Unlike JenGov, it was impossible to tell who was the "goodie" and who was the "baddie". And I think that was one of the things that made me like this more. Time magazine liked it too. They named it one of the Best 10 Books of the Year."

Providence

Once we approached the aliens in peace... and paid the price. Now [hu]mankind has developed the ultimate killing machine. The Providence class of spaceship.

All Wild Things
"While something like Machine Man was sci-fi, it was "near future". Providence was proper sci-fi. Unlike Max's previous books, this one seemed serious, which I wasn't prepared for! Whilst I gave it brownie points for exploring the theme of AI, I wasn't that excited by it. I don't read much sci-fi, so I don't know how it rates against other authors."

Socialist states of ludistan
"Honestly, I have only read Providence, which is why it is the book I voted for in the poll. [...] I too am not the biggest fan of sci fi, but I found the dynamic between the different protagonists to be fun reading, and interesting as well. I also did find the battle scenes to be somewhat exciting. And as you said the exploration of AI was an interesting choice for a book, but so was the exploration of loneliness and solitude, which was also quite present in the book. It was a good read."

Galactic Powers
"Providence I rated as my favorite simply because I really like sci-fi settings and it tackled some interesting topics, although I would say that its definitely not revolutionary or super-good compared to the best sci fi out there, but its good. The themes with AI and the overall atmosphere of the story (something that I really need to enjoy for me to enjoy a story) ended up making me like it quite a bit. I think I ended up rating it higher than Jennifer Government for that reason, as its a problem I have with a lot of dystopias where I think 'alright, this is exaggerated to the point that I can't read this.'"

The 22 Murders of Madison May

A mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality.

All Wild Things
"I felt this should have been brilliant. But it wasn't. Sorry Max. It can't be easy writing a novel that's set in 22 parallel dimensions. A character that appears in each dimension (like Madison) can have 22 different back-stories. Which really means you've got 22 slightly different characters, all with the same name. As a reader, it's hard to invest in a new character each chapter. There were a few characters that hopped across dimensions though, giving the consistency I was after. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to reveal that one of them was a murderer. Sadly, unlike the setting, the murderer seemed one-dimensional. And that's where it fell down for me. That said, I was hooked enough to read the whole book over a couple of days."

So how did Max rate against other authors?

Hermes express 123
"I think he's a pretty good author, who puts a lot of work and effort into his books. I'd say, 7/10."

Socialist states of ludistan
"While I still prefer books describing real historical events and people, I think that, based just off of Providence, that Max Barry is a most respectable author. In fact I believe that Providence, when compared to other fantasy books, was actually a better read than most Harry Potter books, which are one of the few fantasy franchises that I have read, mostly because I think that Providence is more original in my opinion. And I could without a doubt imagine that the same applies for his other books. On the other hand, I’d still prefer a book series such as the Ranger's Apprentice, which was just a fantastic read in my experience. All in all, I’d say that Max Barry’s talents as an author are most definitely greatly undervalued, and he stands fine against his fantasy opposition."

Galactic Powers
"Rating Max Barry against other authors, I'd have to say he isn't some prodigy or anything. He is good, don't get me wrong, very creative in his concepts (every one of his works is so different from each other one) and talented at coming up with storylines that tangle together different characters with different motivations. But I just couldn't ever find that thing that made it "click," something unique from Max Barry that I couldn't get from other authors. Maybe I should read some more of his books. I want to read Lexicon if I ever get around to reading some more of his stuff."

I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who responded to my TGs (including Concordare - read that damn book!). It was great to hear your thoughts, and I'm glad you got involved. I have to say that I felt a little self-conscious after writing this article and comparing it to mainstream press. When you read about a book in the mainstream press, the journalist has usually just put down their advance-copy, and has their "English Essay" hat on when writing it up. In contrast, most of us were commenting on a book we'd read quite some time ago, and none of us were hoping to pass our English exam on the basis of what we wrote. But then I remembered that the point of the article is to say "read a Max Barry book", and to help you choose which one. And I reckon we did a decent enough job of that. So go read one!

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