arts // no. 8

Crime and mystery in British Columbia

» Local authors explain why they set their works close to home

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

L°. crime and mystery
authors E. R. Brown,

Dietrich Kalteis, and Sam
Wiebe appeared at the Burnaby
Public Library McGill Branch
for a public reading of their
works, a lively discussion about
crime and mystery fiction, and
a Q-and-A on November 5.

Brown read from his novel,
Almost Criminal, which takes
place in the Fraser Valley; Kalteis
read from his latest novel, The
Deadbeat Club, which takes
place in Whistler; and Wiebe
read from his debut novel, Last
of the Independents, which
takes place in Vancouver.

discussed at length was why
they chose to set their novels in

more popular USA locations.
“It’s true: books set in
the States tend to do better. I
think we all knew that going
in. But the stories that we
were going to tell were tied to
the location,” Wiebe said.
Kalteis enjoys the familiarity
of the locations he describes in
his stories, such as the route a

The Deadbeat Club that involves

: going past the PNE grounds.

“I love reading a story

: where you can go, ‘I know
: where that is. It just makes
: itreal for you,” he said.

“All of our books take place

: in BC. There are some really great :
: crime novels set in BC, but nota
: lot. It’s really unexplored territory :
: ina lot of ways,’ Weibe said. :

Wiebe explained that for

: cities and regions to become
: popular book locales, it only
: takes a few best sellers to

: influence people’s interest.

“There are so many great

: Scandinavian writers, but it

: just takes one Girl with the

: Dragon Tattoo to make people
: more aware of the setting

: and show that there’s good

One of the topics the authors : stuff out there,” he said.

He provided a lengthier

example with Jan Rankin’s
British Columbia instead of using ; /"spector Rebus crime novels,
: which increased the popularity

: of Edinburgh, Scotland.

“When he started writing,

: Edinburgh was not a cool place.
: In fact, he had to move Rebus

: to London because London is a
: more attractive city. But after he
: wrote seven or eight books and

: people realized how good they

: were, suddenly Scottish lore is

driver takes in the first chapter of ; nowa thing. They have a festival

called Bloody Scotland with all
: these great crime writers,” he said.

For more insight to the

: crime and mystery genres, the

 

: Vancouver International Crime

Fiction Festival, CUFFED,

: presents An Evening with
: Ian Rankin at St. Andrew’s-

theotherpress.ca

Image via www.erbrown.com

: Wesley United Church on
: November 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets
: are $24 each and available
: through TicketsTonight.ca

 

Link takes on style in his new multiplayer game

» ‘Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes’ video game review

Lauren Paulsen
Senior Columnist

OOOO

don’t think there is a gamer

out there who doesn’t know
the Legend of Zelda series. | first
came across the series when my
cousins gave my brother and
mea Super Nintendo. Legend
of Zelda: A Link to The Past was
the first game we played. Being
quite young, we sometimes found
the puzzles to be challenging
and Link died frequently, but
boy did we have a blast. Even
after all these years, now that I
am an adult, I still love playing
games from the Legend of Zelda
franchise. Thus, I knew as soon as
I heard about the new Legend of
Zelda: Tri Force Heroes game for
the 3DS that I was going to get it.

The game is actually a direct

sequel to Legend of Zelda: A
Link Between Worlds. It takes
place several years later in a
country called Hytopia. Hytopia
is extremely fashion-oriented.
Styla, their princess, gets on the
bad side of a witch called The
Lady and she is cursed to wear
an ugly black jumpsuit that she

: can never take off. Now all of the
: citizens are afraid to be stylish

: in case they too are cursed. King
: Tuft, Styla’s father, starts looking
: for the hero of prophecy that can
: save their kingdom. Of course,

: that hero happens to be Link.

As I hadn't read the plot

: of the game before purchasing

: it, I was slightly taken aback

: as it wasn’t the typical “Save

: Hyrule” that I was used to. |

: also happened to find it kind of
: shallow; however, as I continued
: to play, I found it charming and
: amusing. Being able to wear

: different outfits to change how

: you fight was an interesting battle :
: mechanic, and the dungeons and
: puzzles were as engaging as ever.

I have to say that my

: favourite part of this game is the
: multiplayer aspect of it. Along

: with Link, two other heroes of

: unknown origin join him to

: save Hytopia. Link has to work

: together with these two to solve
: the puzzles in the dungeons.

: I quickly grabbed two friends

: and we started playing together.
: Despite the fact that trolling is

: super easy, we really enjoyed

: ourselves. Adding the multiplayer :
: aspect to a Legend of Zelda game
: only makes it that much better. |

: am told that it is similar to Four
: Swords in that regard, though I
: haven't played that game yet.

One downside to the

: multiplayer aspect is that you

: cannot play the story with only

: two players. You need three.

: You can always go online, but

: I prefer playing with friends,

: so sometimes it’s hard getting

: everyone's schedules to mesh

: just right. However, you don’t

: actually require other people to
: play, as there is a single-player

: option. In this case, you control
: Link and two Doppels that allow
: him to transfer his soul between

them. I found that, although I

: still enjoyed playing by myself,

: it wasn’t as entertaining as with

: my friends. The puzzles were also
: harder and more time consuming
: to solve. I have yet to beat any

: timed challenges by myself.

Despite a couple of flaws

: or plot holes, I really would

: recommend Legend of Zelda:

: Tri Force Heroes to any Legend

: of Zelda fan. It’s not the typical
: story, and might be a bit cheesy,
: but the fun I’ve had with my

: friends playing together has

far outweighed that and any

: negative aspects to the game.

 

Image via nintendo