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server
Run multiple Elasticsearch instances on one server using Docker
<Without docker-compose.yml> 1. Install Docker 2. Elasticsearch 7.16.2 2-1. Install Elasticsearch # docker pull docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.16.2 2-2. Execute Elasticsearch # docker run -d -p 9200:9200 -p 9300:9300 --name es_x -e "discovery.type=single-node" -e "xpack.security.enabled=false" -e ES_JAVA_OPTS="-Xms200m -Xmx200m" docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.16.2 8fd1161fed14b8e048e0f929a37cfacbab56371dc4c2b134602469c321cc0421 2-3. Check Execution # docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 8fd1161fed14 docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.16.2 "/bin/tini -- /usr/l…" 45 seconds ago Up 43 seconds 0.0.0.0:9200->9200/tcp, 0.0.0.0:9300->9300/tcp es_x 2-4. Check your Elasticsearch settings # docker exec -i -t es_x cat /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.yml cluster.name: "docker-cluster" network.host: 0.0.0.0 2-5. Stop # docker stop es_x es_x   <With docker-compose.yml> 1. See up to and including Item 2-1. 2. docker-compose.yml version: '3.6' services: elasticsearch: image: 'docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.16.2' container_name: es_a ports: - 9200:9200 environment: - node.name="es_a" - cluster.name="es-docker-cluster" - bootstrap.memory_lock=true - discovery.type=single-node #- "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms200m -Xmx200m" volumes: - ./esdata:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data - ./eslog:/usr/share/elasticsearch/log ulimits: memlock: soft: -1 hard: -1 networks: - elastic deploy: resources: limits: memory: 1GB # Use at most 50 MB of RAM elasticsearch2: image: 'docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.16.2' container_name: es_b ports: - 9201:9200 environment: - node.name="es_b" - cluster.name="es-docker-cluster2" - bootstrap.memory_lock=true - discovery.type=single-node #- "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms200m -Xmx200m" volumes: - ./esdata2:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data - ./eslog2:/usr/share/elasticsearch/log ulimits: memlock: soft: -1 hard: -1 networks: - elastic2 deploy: resources: limits: memory: 1GB # Use at most 50 MB of RAM volumes: esdata: driver: local driver_opts: o: bind type: none #device: /data esdata2: driver: local driver_opts: o: bind type: none #device: /data2 eslog: driver: local eslog2: driver: local networks: elastic: driver: bridge elastic2: driver: bridge # docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d # docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml stop # docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml rm 3. Result # docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d [+] Running 2/2 - Container es_a Started 2.1s - Container es_b Started # docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml stop [+] Running 2/2 - Container es_a Stopped 1.2s - Container es_b Stopped 3-1. 9200 { "name" : "\"es_a\"", "cluster_name" : "\"es-docker-cluster\"", "cluster_uuid" : "KwFTIgGCT7e8ZDNJIau6Jw", "version" : { "number" : "7.16.2", "build_flavor" : "default", "build_type" : "docker", "build_hash" : "2b937c44140b6559905130a8650c64dbd0879cfb", "build_date" : "2021-12-18T19:42:46.604893745Z", "build_snapshot" : false, "lucene_version" : "8.10.1", "minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "6.8.0", "minimum_index_compatibility_version" : "6.0.0-beta1" }, "tagline" : "You Know, for Search" } 3-2. 9201 { "name" : "\"es_b\"", "cluster_name" : "\"es-docker-cluster2\"", "cluster_uuid" : "MZhKEnPuTdu5iNoatWOnQA", "version" : { "number" : "7.16.2", "build_flavor" : "default", "build_type" : "docker", "build_hash" : "2b937c44140b6559905130a8650c64dbd0879cfb", "build_date" : "2021-12-18T19:42:46.604893745Z", "build_snapshot" : false, "lucene_version" : "8.10.1", "minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "6.8.0", "minimum_index_compatibility_version" : "6.0.0-beta1" }, "tagline" : "You Know, for Search" }   * If error raised 'Custom Analyzer [nori_korean] failed to find tokenizer under name [nori_tokenizer]' Install Korean (nori) Analysis Plugin # sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install analysis-nori The plugin must be installed on every node in the cluster, and each node must be restarted after installation.   * Cannot bind to some ports due to permission denied Run as admin: net stop winnat net start winnat   Ref. Docker bind elasticsearch volume in app folder I have the following docker-compose file : version: "3.3" services: elasticsearch: image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:6.1.1 volumes: - esdata:/usr/share/ https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52373356/docker-bind-elasticsearch-volume-in-app-folder Docker, running multiple container (elasticsearch) I'm running one elasticsearch with version: '3' services: elasticsearch: build: context: . dockerfile: ./compose/elasticsearch/Dockerfile args: - VERSION=${VERSION} - M... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59500443/docker-running-multiple-container-elasticsearch Enable Hyper-V on Windows 10 Install Hyper-V on Windows 10 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/enable-hyper-v ElasticSearch on docker - 2nd instance kills the first instance I'm trying to run multiple versions of ElasticSearch at the same time, should be easy. Here are my commands: docker run -d --rm -p 9250:9200 -p 9350:9300 --name es_5_3_3_integration -e "xpack.sec... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47540547/elasticsearch-on-docker-2nd-instance-kills-the-first-instance ElasticSearch - cannot run two es docker containers at the same time ElasticSearch - cannot run two es docker containers at the same time I'm trying to run 2 services of ElasticSearch using docker-compose.yaml Every time I run docker-compose up -d only one service is https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72273655/elasticsearch-cannot-run-two-es-docker-containers-at-the-same-time Cannot bind to some ports due to permission denied For the last 3 months or so I'm having random errors where I can't bind a specific port where our Identity server is running on my local development workstation. At first I thought it's my broken m... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48478869/cannot-bind-to-some-ports-due-to-permission-denied [Windows 10] Docker 설치 완벽 가이드(Home 포함) Docker는 경량 가상화 기술인 리눅스 컨테이너 도구입니다. Windows 10 Home과 Pro에서도 몇 가지 설정을 통해 Docker Desktop으로 리눅스 컨테이너를 사용할 수 있습니다. 이 글에서는 Windows 10에서 Docker Desktop을 설치하는 방법을 총 정리합니다. https://www.lainyzine.com/ko/article/a-complete-guide-to-how-to-install-docker-desktop-on-windows-10/ 윈도우10 WSL2 설치하기, WSL2 우분투 설치하기 WSL이란? Linux용 Windows 하위 시스템을 사용하면 개발자가 기존 가상 머신의 오버헤드 또는 듀얼 부팅 설정 없이 대부분의 명령줄 도구, 유틸리티 및 애플리케이션을 비롯한 GNU/Linux 환경을 수정하지 않고 Windows에서 직접 실행할 수 있습니다. WSL2와 WSL1 비교 WSL 2는 Windows 10, 버전 1903, 빌드 18362 이상에서만 사용할 수 있습니다. 윈도우10에서 WSL2 설치해서 우분투 리눅스를 이용해보자 1. 윈 https://gaesae.com/161 Docker 기반의 Elasticsearch 설치 및 실행 본 문서에서는 Docker 환경에서 Elasticsearch 7.9 버전을 설치하고 실행하는 방법에 대해서 설명하고 있습니다. https://jinhokwon.github.io/devops/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-docker/ Korean (nori) Analysis Plugin | Elasticsearch Plugins and Integrations [6.4] | Elastic IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation. Elastic Docs› Elasticsearch Plugins and Integrations [6.4]› Analysis Plugins « kuromoji_numbe https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/plugins/6.4/analysis-nori.html#analysis-nori-install
John Doe · Feb. 7, 2023, 9:33 a.m.
elasticsearch docker
server
Set up minimal security for Elasticsearch
* Please refer to this.  Set up minimal security for Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch Guide [7.16] | Elastic IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation. Elastic Docs› Elasticsearch Guide [7.16]› Secure the Elastic Stack› Configure security for th https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.16/security-minimal-setup.html   * Django setup elasticsearch client with password auth You can pass the elasticsearch URL as from urllib.parse import quote_plus as urlquote elk_base_url = 'elasticsearch://{user_name}:{password}@{host_ip}:{host_port}' elastic_search_url = elk_base_url.format(user_name='my_username', password=urlquote('mysecret_password'), # password may contain special characters host_ip='my-elastic-host-ip', host_port=9200) ELASTICSEARCH_DSL = { 'default': { 'hosts': [elastic_search_url] }, }
John Doe · Feb. 6, 2023, 5:59 a.m.
elasticsearch
server
Can I run multiple Elasticsearch instances in one server?
Yes and I did that recently with my laptop for experimentation with things that I would like to do with ES Cluster. This setup simplifies my environment, instead of using docker or using multiple machines/VMs/EC2 instances. You can download and use the .tar.gz file recommended above, and then you can do one of the following options option 1 - untar the file into two directories: es-01, es-02 then update the config file in each node option 2 - untar the file into one directory: es-instance, copy the config directory to another location with something like path/to/es-01/config, path/to/es-02/config then create a script to launch elasticsearch from the same binary location (which is es-instance) but use different config location (one for es-01/config, one for es-02/config) You need to update the following parameters in config/elasticsearch.yml file to separate one node from the other. cluster.name node.name path.data path.logs http.port   Can I run multiple Elasticsearch instances in one server? Can I run multiple Elasticsearch instances in one server? -If yes, How can I install 2 Elasticsearch instances in a single Linux server. I am aware if we use "yum install" will be installed without any issue. Thanks in Advance https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-run-multiple-elasticsearch-instances-in-one-server/321230 how to run multiple instances of elasticsearch on one host I have several machines each with 128 GB of ram, each host is running a single instance of Elasticsearch. I would like to run another data node on each host and allocate around 30 GB to the jvm he... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28482449/how-to-run-multiple-instances-of-elasticsearch-on-one-host   You need to prepare two elasticsearch.yml config files to configure settings accordingly and specify these files when startup up the two nodes. /elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.yml /elasticsearch/config2/elasticsearch.yml /elasticsearch/config2/elasticsearch.yml cluster.name: trinitarian node.name: node-2 path.data: /path/to/data path.logs: path/to/logs network.host: 127.0.0.1 network.bind_host: 127.0.0.1 network.publish_host: 127.0.0.1 http.port: 9500   Linux Assuming your rpm or deb created an init.d script, to start a second node on the same machine do as follows: cd /etc/init.d cp --preserve elasticsearch elasticsearch2 Edit elasticsearch2 script: change # elasticsearch to # elasticsearch2 add node="2" after line prog="elasticsearch" change pidfile=/var/run/elasticsearch/${prog}.pid to pidfile=/var/run/elasticsearch/${prog}${node}.pid change lockfile=/var/lock/subsys/$prog to lockfile=/var/lock/subsys/$prog$node change echo -n $"Starting $prog: " to echo -n $"Starting $prog: (node $node)" change echo -n $"Stopping $prog: " to echo -n $"Stopping $prog: (node $node)" Save the file. Execute chkconfig --add elasticsearch2 service elasticsearch2 start I also had to add -Des.config=<path-to-second-config-files> to get it working   Run multiple elasticsearch nodes as a service on one Ubuntu-Server I have a server running Ubuntu 14.04 with 220 GB of ram on which I'd like to run elasticsearch. According to the documentation, one node should not have more than 32 GB of RAM, so I guess I have to... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26162690/run-multiple-elasticsearch-nodes-as-a-service-on-one-ubuntu-server   Windows /elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-env2.bat if not defined ES_PATH_CONF ( set ES_PATH_CONF=!ES_HOME!\config2 ) /elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch2.bat CALL "%~dp0elasticsearch-env2.bat" || exit /b 1   Check this: http://localhost:9200/ { "name" : "BEAST", "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch", "cluster_uuid" : "EVBl4ttGSWKP8MJJMivMCg", "version" : { "number" : "7.16.2", "build_flavor" : "default", "build_type" : "zip", "build_hash" : "2b937c44140b6559905130a8650c64dbd0879cfb", "build_date" : "2021-12-18T19:42:46.604893745Z", "build_snapshot" : false, "lucene_version" : "8.10.1", "minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "6.8.0", "minimum_index_compatibility_version" : "6.0.0-beta1" }, "tagline" : "You Know, for Search" } http://localhost:9500/ { "name" : "node-2", "cluster_name" : "trinitarian", "cluster_uuid" : "QRUfSRYISH-20jU7x9yxog", "version" : { "number" : "7.16.2", "build_flavor" : "default", "build_type" : "zip", "build_hash" : "2b937c44140b6559905130a8650c64dbd0879cfb", "build_date" : "2021-12-18T19:42:46.604893745Z", "build_snapshot" : false, "lucene_version" : "8.10.1", "minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "6.8.0", "minimum_index_compatibility_version" : "6.0.0-beta1" }, "tagline" : "You Know, for Search" }   Rebuild index: PS E:\pythonProjects\trinitarian\test> python manage.py search_index --rebuild --model xxx Are you sure you want to delete the 'board' indexes? [y/N]: y Deleting index 'board' Creating index 'board' Indexing 26 'Board' objects PS E:\pythonProjects\trinitarian\test>   Test with this code (test.py): import elasticsearch elastic = elasticsearch.Elasticsearch(hosts=["localhost:9200"]) indices = elastic.indices.get_alias().keys() print(indices) elastic2 = elasticsearch.Elasticsearch(hosts=["localhost:9500"]) indices2 = elastic2.indices.get_alias().keys() print(indices2)   Result: E:\pythonProjects\trinitarian\venv\Scripts\python.exe E:/pythonProjects/trinitarian/test/app/test.py dict_keys(['a', 'b', 'c', 'board']) dict_keys(['board']) Process finished with exit code 0
John Doe · Feb. 6, 2023, 4:18 a.m.
elasticsearch
news
“세계 최고의 전파망원경 8개가 ‘지옥의 문’을 찍었다”
5500만 광년. 빛이 5500만년을 여행한 뒤 지구에 닿았다.. 지금은 어떤 상태일까?   “세계 최고의 전파망원경 8개가 ‘지옥의 문’을 찍었다” 네덜란드 라드바우드대 천체물리학과 하이노 팔케 교수 이것이 최초의 블랙홀 사진입니다 하이노 팔케·외르크 뢰머 지음｜김용기·정경숙 옮김｜에코리브르｜376쪽｜2만5000원 “이것이 최초의 블랙홀 사진입니다.” 2019년 https://n.news.naver.com/article/023/0003744263
John Doe · Feb. 5, 2023, 12:52 p.m.
java
Jsoup - Working with URLs
Following example will showcase methods which can provide relative as well as absolute URLs present in the html page. Syntax String url = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com/"; Document document = Jsoup.connect(url).get(); Element link = document.select("a").first(); System.out.println("Relative Link: " + link.attr("href")); System.out.println("Absolute Link: " + link.attr("abs:href")); System.out.println("Absolute Link: " + link.absUrl("href")); Where document − document object represents the HTML DOM. Jsoup − main class to connect to a url and get the html content. link − Element object represent the html node element representing anchor tag. link.attr("href") − provides the value of href present in anchor tag. It may be relative or absolute. link.attr("abs:href") − provides the absolute url after resolving against the document's base URI. link.absUrl("href") − provides the absolute url after resolving against the document's base URI. Description Element object represent a dom elment and provides methods to get relative as well as absolute URLs present in the html page. Example 1. sample html <html> <head> <title></title> <script type="text/javascript" src="/resource/js/jquery-1.7.1.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" href="/resource/css/admin/general.css" rel="stylesheet" /> </head> <body> <span id="navi"> <img src="https://www.phenomena.com/media/xstorage/banner/2022-03-17_PM1109_L46DRH2Y8P.png" alt="" /> </span> </body> </html> 2. code package com.bad.blood.test; import java.io.IOException; import java.net.URL; import org.jsoup.Jsoup; import org.jsoup.nodes.Document; import org.jsoup.nodes.Element; import org.jsoup.select.Elements; public class Test { public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException{ Document doc = Jsoup.parse( new URL("http://127.0.0.1:8080/index.html").openConnection().getInputStream(), "UTF-8", "http://127.0.0.1:8080/"); Elements elems = doc.select("[src]"); for( Element elem : elems ){ if( !elem.attr("src").equals(elem.attr("abs:src")) ){ elem.attr("src", elem.attr("abs:src")); } } elems = doc.select("[href]"); for( Element elem : elems ){ if( !elem.attr("href").equals(elem.attr("abs:href")) ){ elem.attr("href", elem.attr("abs:href")); } } System.out.println(doc.toString()); } } 3. result html <html> <head> <title></title> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://127.0.0.1:8080/resource/js/jquery-1.7.1.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" href="http://127.0.0.1:8080/resource/css/admin/general.css" rel="stylesheet" /> </head> <body> <span id="navi"> <img src="https://www.phenomena.com/media/xstorage/banner/2022-03-17_PM1109_L46DRH2Y8P.png" alt="" /></span> </body> </html>   jsoup: Java HTML parser, built for HTML editing, cleaning, scraping, and XSS safety jsoup News Bugs Discussion Download API Reference Cookbook Try jsoup jsoup » jsoup: Java HTML Parser jsoup: Java HTML Parser jsoup is a Java library for working with real-world HTML. It provides a very convenient API for fetching URLs and extracting and m https://jsoup.org/
John Doe · Feb. 3, 2023, 7:10 a.m.
jsoup
server
Changing Tomcat's Default Session ID (JSESSIONID)
You can pass it as a parameter when starting the server. -Dorg.apache.catalina.SESSION_COOKIE_NAME=MYJSESSIONID -Dorg.apache.catalina.SESSION_PARAMETER_NAME=myjsessionid   * Eclipse Double click server - Open launch configuration
John Doe · Feb. 3, 2023, 6:47 a.m.
tomcat
java
Java's DecimalFormat method rounds up by force. How do we prevent that?
In https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/i18n/format/decimalFormat.html Customizing Formats (The Java™ Tutorials > Internationalization > Formatting) A browser with JavaScript enabled is required for this page to operate properly. Documentation The Java™ Tutorials Hide TOC Formatting Numbers and Currencies Using Predefined Formats Customizing Formats Dates and Times Using Predefined Formats Customizing https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/i18n/format/decimalFormat.html value: 123456.789 pattern: ###.## output: 123456.79 The value has three digits to the right of the decimal point, but the pattern has only two. The format method handles this by rounding up.   We can prevent that like this. package com.bad.blood.test; import java.math.RoundingMode; import java.text.DecimalFormat; import java.text.NumberFormat; public class Test { public static void main(String args[]) { double irr = 9.7485232; DecimalFormat df = new DecimalFormat("###.00"); String str = df.format(irr); System.out.println(str); // 9.75 // method 1 String str2 = String.valueOf(irr); System.out.println(str2.substring(0, str2.indexOf('.') + 3)); // 9.74 // method 2 System.out.println( (double)(int)(irr * 100) / 100 ); // 9.74 // method 3 NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getInstance(); nf.setMaximumFractionDigits(2); nf.setRoundingMode(RoundingMode.DOWN); nf.setGroupingUsed(true); System.out.println(nf.format(irr)); // 9.74 } } output: 9.75 9.74 9.74 9.74
John Doe · Feb. 3, 2023, 6:35 a.m.
java
Type conversion in Java
Converting int to string String myString = Integer.toString(my int value) or  String str = "" + i   Converting String to int int i = Integer.parseInt(str); or  int i = Integer.valueOf(str).intValue();   Double to String : String str = Double.toString(i);   Long to String : String str = Long.toString(l);   Float to String : String str = Float.toString(f);   String to double : double d = Double.valueOf(str).doubleValue();   String to long : long l = Long.valueOf(str).longValue(); or long l = Long.parseLong(str);   String to float : float f = Float.valueOf(str).floatValue(); Decimal to binary : int i = 42; String binstr = Integer.toBinaryString(i); Decimal to hexadecimal : int i = 42; String hexstr = Integer.toString(i, 16); or String hexstr = Integer.toHexString(i); or (with leading zeroes and uppercase) public class Hex {      public static void main(String args[]){        int i = 42;        System.out.print        (Integer.toHexString( 0x10000 | i).substring(1).toUpperCase());       } }   Hexadecimal (String) to integer : int i = Integer.valueOf("B8DA3", 16).intValue(); or int i = Integer.parseInt("B8DA3", 16);     ASCII code to String int asciiVal = 87; String str = new Character((char) asciiVal).toString();   Float to integer (Round off the decimal place) float a = 1.1f; float b = 2.1f; int i = ((int)(100-a/b*100)); System.out.println(i); // 47
John Doe · Feb. 3, 2023, 5:55 a.m.
server
Remove Trailing Slash in NGINX
Sometimes NGINX may show trailing slash in website URLs. Here’s how to remove trailing slash in NGINX to make your URLs look more intuitive.   Remove trailing slash in NGINX Here are the steps to remove trailing slash in NGINX.   1. Open NGINX configuration file Open terminal and run the following command to open NGINX server configuration file. $ sudo vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf If you have configured separate virtual hosts for your website (e.g www.example.com), such as /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/website.conf then open its configuration with the following command $ sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/website.conf 2. Remove trailing slash Add the following rewrite rule in server block as shown in bold. Replace example.com below with your domain name server { listen 80; server_name example.com; rewrite ^/(.*)/$ /$1 permanent; } In the above code, the rewrite statement will redirect all URLs to those without trailing slash. If you want to remove trailing slash from only a specific URL (e.g /product/) then update the rewrite statement as shown below. server { listen 80; server_name mydomain.com; rewrite ^/product/$ /product permanent; }   * You can also use this method. Remove the trailing slash from all paths except mypath. location ~ ^/mypath(.*) { try_files $uri @tomcat; } location ~ (?<no_slash>.*)/$ { return 301 $no_slash; } ... location / { try_files $uri @tomcat; } location @tomcat { ... }   3. Restart NGINX Server Run the following command to check syntax of your updated config file. $ sudo nginx -t If there are no errors, run the following command to restart NGINX server. $ sudo service nginx reload #debian/ubuntu $ systemctl restart nginx #redhat/centos
John Doe · Jan. 29, 2023, 9:54 p.m.
nginx
books
Counting Heads
There are more ideas to the page in this auspicious debut novel than many science fiction novels have in their entirety. In its twenty-second century world the world's survived the mega-terrorism of "the Outrage" that occurred in the 2060s and is now wondrously nanotechnical. Production is unneeded as any product can be extruded from recycled materials. Lifespans extend for hundreds of rejuvenated years. Nanoprocessors residing in one's body link to personal AI "valets" (later "mentars") that amplify one's life a myriad ways. Skilled trades -- like security and nursing -- are filled by an underclass of specialized clones, Robot "arbeitors" perform lowlier tasks. The world is so perfect there are just too many people for it. Jobs are scarce and money, for most, is scarcer. Core character Samson Harger, a packaging artiste, marries fellow "aff" -- "affluents" run the world with a pettiness and ruthlessness akin to medieval royalty -- Eleanor Starke, a high-powered corporate prosecutor who becomes one of the most influential people in the world. Just as they are granted the nearly unheard of privilege to have a child, their marriage is torn apart when Harger is misidentified by Homeland Command as a criminal and consequently "seared." Searing deprives Harger of the now-common (as long as one can afford it) lifespan of hundreds of years. He is left with perhaps four decades of life as a smelly social outcast. The story skips ahead 40 years and Starke, pursuing a colonization project to help relieve the masses, is assassinated in the crash of her space yacht, but daughter Ellen survives -- at least her decapitated head does. Ellen can be rejuvenated -- but only if her head avoids those who want her dead. The back story of Harger's seared life and subplots weaving around the goal of saving Ellen show more of the fascinating aspects of Marusek's dystopia and its denizens. Marusek evokes an impelling sense of wonder with an awesomely imaginative and all-too-believable future chock full of nifty details while allowing his characters to compel the novel. Counting Heads is a marvelous must-read from an author who must be noted as an important new voice in science fiction. -- (in CFQ Jan/Feb 2006 issue)   xwidget_78_Counting Heads
John Doe · Jan. 17, 2023, 6:55 a.m.
books
Play Dead
xwidget_77_Play Dead   There's a lot of style to Play Dead and some will find a fast-paced, entertaining read. But... Michael Arnzen is a talented, intelligent writer. His flair and potential was first noted with his first novel Grave Markings (1994). Academia intervened and the fiction slowed as he completed graduate degrees and became a college professor. He re-emerged a few years back with poetry and short fiction. A trademark of Arnzen's recent work is its cleverness. With 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories, for example, Arnzen applied the "literary" device of flash fiction exclusively to horror so as to prove his stated point that "[h]orror is the genre of the jolt, the shock, the spark." Each short-short story was intended to elicit an immediate reaction from the reader. It was an interesting experiment. Some of the stories succeed as stories, many of them don't. I applaud the experiment and delight in the ingenuity. It may even stand as a pioneering effort. But, as a story collection, it is not a complete success -- at least by my definition. [In some ways, 100 Jolts is an expression of the 1984 Stephen King statement in Danse Macabre that is usually abbreviated to, "I'll go for the gross-out." A fuller rendition of that quotation is: "I recognize terror as the finest emotion... and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I cannot terrify him/her, I will try to horrify; and if I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud." I wonder if, more than twenty years on, Stephen King still feels this way? I can't speak for King, but, to me, horror is much more than "shock." Nor can I agree with Arnzen's belief (also from his introduction), "Horror stories conflict is always about life and death, but death...always comes as a surprise. The climax of a horror tale is almost unilaterally a killing blow, catching someone or something unaware."] Back to the point -- Arnzen is a clever writer and 100 Jolts is a clever experiment and worth reading, but it is not a great collection. Play Dead, his long-awaited second novel, is also clever, but it is not a great novel. Play Dead's cleverness is displayed in several ways. The most obvious: It's about card playing and is divided into four parts, one for each suite of the deck. It has 52 chapters, each representing a card of the deck. Another example: A character named Axe is a cook. He gets "the axe" at work. A character thinks, "Axe got the axe." A couple of paragraphs later the same character thinks about how he must "bury the hatchet" and make peace. On the next page the character finds Axe in a dumpster and decides he has to bury Axe and thinks: "Had to bury the hatchet. Literally." This is a book in which you know what will happen next if a character says, "You bet your life." And, of course, there is a great deal of wordplay with card and gambling-related terms. The plot revolves around Johnny Frieze, a none-too-bright gambler down on his luck. Johnny sees life as sheer chance and pure luck. A bad guy, Nebo, and his henchman, Winston, are setting up a game of "Butcher Boy" and each of four players must make up a suite of the deck by taking Polaroids that "capture life." This are then turned into cards. Extra points are added for creativity. (I'm sure there is no need to translate what "capturing life" means.) Once the deck is complete the four players are to play to the death with the single survivor walking away with a million bucks (and a lot of bad karma). Why? We are, at first, offered an obvious extolling of cliches by Nebo: "Playing people...Life is a game...Without the possibility of loss there is no game...This is my game...." We later get a possible supernatural tie-in involving "prophecy cards" and the power of capital "F" Fate. Johnny becomes a player and is to provide the spades. Johnny's fellow players are Shorty, Ferret, and Preacher. Like most fictional characters with unfortunate nicknames, these guys are homicidal maniacs and immediately go about "capturing life" with great psychopathological fervor. Johnny, however, tries to cheat fate and Nebo. There are two female characters. Gin is Johnny's love interest and, therefore, endangered. The first paragraph of their first love scene begins: "Her lips tested like warm bread..." and ends "She tasted like a warm worm of menthol scotch." She's a tasty girl. Violet is an old slot machine queen. (We are never sure how old. A hint comes from the end and places her over 65, maybe 70.) Violet reads the Tarot and talks about fate-with-a-small-"f". Violet has some odd quirks for someone who evidently believes in her cards -- like keeping her deck bound with a rubber band and calling card that sure sounds like the Knight of Swords the King of Swords. I'm reviewing from an Advanced Review Copy, so maybe the knight/king will change, but, the point is: for novel in which Tarot plays a role, it seems a bit under-researched. There's a penultimate card game (these cards are well-researched and far more convincing, even if you are not a veteran poker player) and a clever trick ending that may pull the rug out from under the entire book for you. Play Dead lacks the sort of authenticity that is hard to define, but notable when missing. Instead of living, breathing, right-out-of-Vegas characters we get varying degrees of characterizations and no real feel for Vegas's unique reality. Any environment demands a response and Vegas demands a great deal. A better sense of place might also have provided more psychological nuance and more atmosphere. Oh we are told Vegas is "heaven right smack dab in the middle of hell" and that that it offers the tourists "one big excuse to be a loser for a day, and be damned proud of throwing their money away in a perverse ritual as moronic as religious fasting" -- but we feel neither the damnation of the flames nor the artificial salvation of air conditioning. Likewise the living hell of addiction is an underlying metaphor, but the reader is unlikely to feel any of that particular hell either. As I said before the, some readers will find the novel be a fast-paced, entertaining read. Maybe it will be "good" for them. Not all novels are, after all, "great." But this one could have been somewhat greater and shown more than the potential the author is already known to possess. Or, perhaps, Arnzen's talent might have been better served with fresh material. (Play Dead's first incarnation was as his Master's thesis.) Whatever the case, I look forward to his future work. (from Cemetery Dance #53)
John Doe · Jan. 17, 2023, 6:52 a.m.
books
Touched by Venom: Book One of The Dragon Temple Saga
Touched by Venom is certainly not the first fantasy novel to deal with a headstrong outcast girl and her fascination with dragons, but it is definitely the first in which bestiality is not only a positive, but provides spiritual enlightenment. First of a planned trilogy, this remarkable debut novel prologues with its young heroine witnessing some highborn thugs violently murdering her father and crippling her mother. Nine-year-old Zarq, her father, beautiful older sister, and mother, Kavarria, are members of the pottery clan who live, as do similar serfs, on the estate of a dragonlord. Kavarria, despite belonging to the hated Djimbi race, is valued for her artistry, healing, and helpful spells. She has hopes that her sexually enticing eldest, Waivia, will capture a lusty young noblepis attention and move far up the societal scale. Itpis about the only way a female can better herself in the male-dominated feudal society. All plans go array, however, and Waivia becomes, instead, a lowly sex slave. Kavarria goes to extraordinary lengths to save her, but her heroics result in the violent events of the prologue. Zarq and her insane mother seek refuge first in the macabre Zone of the Dead then in a convent of castrated holy women who care for old bull dragons. Even after death, Kavarria remains a devastating presence in Zarqpis life and in an effort to escape maternal haunting, she turns to the comfort of the highly addictive venom of the dragons. Zarqpis story continues with many grim but fascinating twists as Zarq moves toward her seemingly impossible destiny as a dragonmaster. By the bookpis end, future triumph can be dimly envisioned and it is clear that Janine Cross is a significant new voice in fantasy. Donpit be misled by the totally inappropriate cover of a curvaceous brunette; this isnpit run-of-mill girl-meets-dragon fantasy. (CFQ Vol. 37, Issue #8) xwidget_76_Touched By Venom
John Doe · Jan. 17, 2023, 6:48 a.m.
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