Be Careful What you Wish For
Nine years ago, I abandoned my software development job for my current position as an IT security administrator. While life as a code jockey was fun, it also meant long hours away from home; there was a stretch of some months in 1998 where I worked an average of 80 hours a week on a critical project that was behind schedule. There were years
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Oh, I do that now. Back then, I saw it as a challenge. Can I do this? Am I capable of doing this? They came to me and asked me to help save the project, and I knew from prior critical projects that the company had opened up their wallets and even thrown extra vacation time at people who volunteered to swoop in like Mighty Mouse. Besides, I figured that the project would be done in a month. Three months later, and then the big ol' fat "sorry, we'd love to give you the bonus, but the company didn't do that well this past year" made me realize what a fool I'd been.
"Mongo don't know. Mongo pawn in game of life."
But yes, this has affected my reading desires. I desire heroes who want MORE out of life. They don't want to be stuck in the birth role they were given. They'll abandon family if they have to to get what they want if family is holding back just because. (And heaven knows down in poverty some members of family want to keep you poor 'just because'.) I have a hard time relating to heroes who have limitless access to wealth and power and use such to obtain their goals. I prefer those who work against the odds.
What sort of hero? The Horatio Hornblower type who rises through the ranks, or the person who seizes the day because it is the path to riches/fame/whathaveyou?
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What sort of hero? The Horatio Hornblower type who rises through the ranks, or the person who seizes the day because it is the path to riches/fame/whathaveyou?
A combination of both. Someone who knows when to jump at the risk, despite the odds or the real possibility of failure. And when they do fail, just pick themselves up and try again. Heh...I'm thinking more "Anne of Green Gables" than any sf piece.
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Also they're more apt to move around if the company wants them to. Once you get settled down, you're not that inclined to travel.
Someone who knows when to jump at the risk, despite the odds or the real possibility of failure. And when they do fail, just pick themselves up and try again. Heh...I'm thinking more "Anne of Green Gables" than any sf piece.
Have you read The Name of the Wind? I think you've described the protagonist Kvothe very well.
Ugh. I have to admit I'm biased against L.M. Montgomery's works -not because of anything she did or wrote- but because my mother swoons over her stuff. And me, being the contrarian that I am, refuse to pick up any of her works. (It's part of the same reason why I don't play golf other than putt-putt: my dad is a huge-huge-HUGE golf nut.)
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