Words, Words, Words
A catalog of my comments and thoughts on books, reading, and writing as well as anything I come across that seems interesting. I used to sell other people's words at an independent bookstore but now I hope to get by on selling my own.
Favorite SciFi trope?: I've read 300 out of 541 pages.
"'Trouble. Do you know any alternative routes?'
'Not really. This is my first time in South Dakota,' said Shadow. 'Also I don't know where we're going.'"
The enigmatic man with the plan, except he can't reveal it or you'd ruin it. Invariably, his own ally will scatter the plan in a way he could have easily avoided if the head guy didn't withhold information.
Note: in this quote, Shadow is the driver and he isn't even allowed to know where they are going. You can catch this trope all the time in anything where the personality of the hero is a major trait. Sherlock Holmes is a good example, most Harrison Ford characters for some reason, Burn Notice.
In any case, it is a major thread in American Gods, it can be kind of frustrating until you put together that Neil Gaiman's definitely made a decision that the heroes will make this mistake over and over and poor Shadow is going to fuck up royally in some novel way that he couldn't have possibly guessed at. After you realize this, it's just funny.
