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Half Mast
Alex, the protagonist of the story, is a geeky kid. He gets picked on. And he kills somebody because of it. But that's pretty much where the similarities between Alex and Dylan Klebold end.
What's refreshing about Half Mast is how the author accurately captures the world of a high-school outsider. Writers can be pretty introverted types themselves, but few of them end up killing anybody. So when they try to imagine the type of character who would, a lot of them tend to fall into the trap of inventing someone even more unfathomably nerdy than themselves. Thankfully, Null avoids this.
Alex isn't a complete, pathetic loner. He has friends. And together, Alex, Travis and James aren't the typical cookie-cutter stereotypes of kids too terminally dorky to get with the program. They're not so trollish that they can't get within booger-flicking distance of a girl, or so chess-club square that they wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol at a party (in fact, they spend much of their summers doing just the opposite). Null gets it: that most geeks aren't necessarily "deprived," and being an outsider isn't always about being excluded. It's about being different -- and that, in and of itself, can have its consequences.
In Alex's case, his nemesis is Steve Williams: hometown hero, star athlete, the pride and joy of Fall Valley High -- if you care about that sort of thing, that is. Alex doesn't, particularly. He fails to kowtow to Steve the way the way Fall Valley's golden boy thinks he deserves -- and here's where his proverbial troubles begin. Steve subjects Alex to a series of humiliating tortures that should have even the most picked-on geek cringing.
When Alex does finally strike back, it isn't with a hail of gunfire, either. He's calculating about it. I must admit, I'm not really convinced that Alex's modus operandi would actually pan out the way it does in Half Mast. But it certainly makes for more interesting reading than your standard shoot-out, and in its way, it's much more sinister. Also, because Alex doesn't have the option of the Columbine killers' quick way out, he's forced to live with his actions and their impact on his own life.
That's the book's focus, and what saves it from being just another wannabe crime thriller. Christopher Null cares about his characters, and he's taken care to depict them in a way that geeks will find sympathetic and (mostly) believable.
While a lot of Null's characters and situations were amusingly familiar, others rang less true. The Steve Williams character was a little too prone to making speeches about the relationship between bullies and their victims, for example, instead of just knocking Alex into the dirt the way the kids at my school would have done. There were also a few too many end-of-chapter "zinger" one-liners for my taste, and the novel uses the awkward device of a present-day journal talking about events that took place several years in the past.
Still, it's an impressive debut novel about an uncommon subject matter, and one I think a lot of Slashdotters would get a kick out of. Half Mast is a fast read, and an enjoyable one. It's also notable because the author chose to self-publish rather than go the traditional route. (Or maybe the topic was too "troublesome" for mainstream publishers in a post-Columbine world?)
You can purchase Half Mast from bn.com as well as from Null's own Web site at sutropress.com, which also has some excerpts from the book. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
That's not really NORMAL. You have to have a predisposition to psychosis AND be a nerd in order to flip out with a gun. We need less people blaming parents and more people advocating psycho tests instead of standardized academic testing.
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Why do we have things like Columbine nowadays when these things were unheard of 30 years ago? Because we didn't have people psychoanalyzing (read: witch doctoring) everyone's feelings and demanding parents use "quiet time" when the kid needed "hit with stick time". We had discipline and ethics that came from our parents and not from the government.
Overrated Moderation: This posts sucks... because.
The antagonist in this story is probably the one
that has it right. I point to this post:
Advice you would give your 12 year old Self
and I suggest that the sooner you cast off the idea
that you should be nice to everyone, have respect
for other people, and just try to get along, the
faster you'll wake up to the true nature of the
world. Then you'll be able to succeed, and go even
further because of your intelligence and general
geekishness. It's sad, but it appear to be true.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
I'm lucky. I get annoyed because people kowtow to me because I'm smart. They make fun of me in the same breath, because I'm not athletic, but that's cool. I've got more than enough respect. It's interesting how mere chance can influence your school experience - high SAT scores at my school are worth as much as (or even more than) athletic honors.
Everyday of our lives we are taught the same lesson:
Don't fight the system,
Don't speak out,
Don't dress differently.
Be part of the crowd,
But don't make a scene.
Don't be a blip on the radar of humanity.
Blend in.
This message has been etched in stone
And continues to repress and distress.
The hatred multiplies
As those "freaks", those cancer on the popular skin,
Must comply.
But it is this silence
That feeds the violence.
All of the Doom
Brought forth by a volatile human Quake
May seem Unreal
But this is no game,
And it was no game that caused this.
It was the repression, the deception,
The correction, the depression.
If the undesirables make a stand,
Raise their collective hand,
If they even dare to breathe,
Push them down; make them desirable.
That's the American way.
If something is wrong, just point blame
On television or a video game.
There's no shame in that.
It's not the parents' fault:
They are symbols of perfection,
Models for the youth.
To tell you the truth,
Why am I even writing this poem?
It's not about talent or scholarship,
But conformity and censorship.
1984 is not too far-fetched.
Let's just hope that all the dreamers,
All the geeks, all the freaks,
Stay true to themselves
Because they can emancipate the slaves
Hopefully without filling up the graves.
They are the key
To making this nation what it claims to be:
The land of the free.
-- T.V.
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
Another good read would be Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with geek/nerd topics, but does delve deeply into the effects of committing a murder on the psyche.
Ah, little do you know that the chicks athletes get are the boring blond bimbos that are just waiting for the boring house in the suburbs with the boring SUV full of boring kids. While those who "smoke and refuse to participate" are the ones that get the really cool chicks.
You don't have to be born with the psychosis. Enough constant abuse will give it to you. Everyone has a breaking point.. most kids find ways to cope or stop the abuse before they reach it. Some can't.
Furthermore, it takes more than just peer abuse to cause a kid to snap. In all the situations of school shooting, there has been abuse or neglect from a majority of the adults in the kids' life, too.
It's a shame that Jon Katz, who is a respectable journalist with a significant carreer, had to suffer the indignity foisted upon him for his attempts at contributing to Slashdot. The draw of Slashdot was independent of any serious journalism -- except references to resources off the site through the "stories," which aren't stories, per se, but annotated hyperlinks -- and adding a journalist to Slashdot broke the pattern. "One of these things is not like the other" -- a good lesson from Sesame Street that applies here.
Roblimo said somewhere that the poor grammar and abysmal misspelling of CmdrTaco, et al, add to the character that is Slashdot. I agree. Slashot is an informal medium. The content is mainly references to ecletic outside content and comments from readers. Bringing onboard a serious journalist to create indigenous content was a fundamental error. In many ways Slashdot is to Nerds what the Drudgereport is to political and pop culture newshounds, with the addition of comments. If the Drudgereport hired Sam Dondaldson, that would be akin to the mistake Slashdot made in hiring Jon Katz.
This mention of Hellmouth brings back the bad taste that has been dormant since July 10, 2002. I feel pity for Katz--he never had a chance here. It would have been a different story, I believe, had Katz's articles been published elsewhere and linked to by Slashdot. That would have removed much of the vitrolic noise that accompanied Katz's stories.
Im sick of a--holes, who tell me and others like me didnt suffer or "thats what everyone went through and stop whining."
What the f--k is the difference between being physically abused by a peer or being physically abused by a parent? The difference is if your physically abused by a parent you can call family services and theyll act. You try reporting physical abuse by a peer the abuser wont even get arrested will get some minor slap on the wrist and then beat u up again for reporting them.
This is not about "having no friends" . I would have been happy having no friends if the bullies would have just left me the h-ll alone!
Some of us have emotional scars that have lasted years, and therapy bills going into the thousands of dollars, and we didnt suffer?
Most of us didnt care if we didnt hang around with the popular people, or had only a few friends, or didnt get many dates. We just didnt think it was right to be tormented by others because didnt have those things.
I played soccer and hockey at school a bit, and found them both very dull. It's all just basic trig, and you don't get exercise if you play them well, you stand where the ball is going to be, then deflect it slightly so it goes past the keeper into the goal. Wow, wasn't that fun. Oh, and everybody labels you as 'flukey', since you seemed to put no effort into scoring (which rather seemed the point, I dislike inefficiency). Eventually at a hockey team practice I just said 'Enough, this game is dull' and got sent to do a lap of the pitch. 10 laps later the teacher noticed I was still running and told me I could come back and join in. I said thanked him, but said that the running was more fun (I think better when running / walking than when stationary). Conversations with PE teachers often went along these lines:
PE Teacher: Would you rather do maths?
Me: Yes.
PE Teacher: *Confused expression* Would you rather go for a run?
Me: Yes.
PE Teacher: Oh...
The thing that always irritated me was the assumption that because you disliked a sport, you must be bad at it. At one point during an RAF competition I was told by my other members of my flight, who knew of my dislike for football to 'just stay out of the way'. I did so, until we were two goals down, then I joined in, scored the next three goals, and sat back down. Even after this there was still a belief that 'doesn't like football' (soccer for American readers) implies 'is no good at football'. People are far more willing to believe stereotypes than actual evidence.
At university I joined the Dark Ages Re-enactment group. The group coordinator (she doesn't like the term leader) describes it as a 'contact sport'. Hitting someone with a metal (EN45 spring steel) sword, while avoiding their blows and not actually injuring them is superb exercise, great for improving co-ordination, and a lot of fun. If only it had been offered at school (by the sixth form I'd chosen shooting as my games option).
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1. Dude, hookers don't count...
2. I quit living my life in a bar when I looked around one day and saw the sagging, tired old men that had been doing that their whole lives and deciding that I for one wasn't going to die a slow death that way.
3. Being athletic doesn't have to mean running around playing with your balls...
A footballer might be able to run 100 yards faster than me but I can snap his limbs in a heartbeat, and I'll out-run him over a mile.
4. Again, hookers don't count. Take it from the geek who's screwed his biology teacher, a cheerleader and a 19yo lingerie model (...and who's still kicking himself for leaving her...)
5. Haven't you ever read Nietzsche? God is dead already.
My aplogies to all those who would treat this a troll, but he pushed a button.
These school rampages have been happening since there schools such as in Bath Michigan, 1927 . But they really picked up in the late 1990s.
*sigh*
No. What it means is that a lot of people are just not interested in competition. I don't know why this concept seems to be so difficult for some people to assimilate. Competing in sports is not inferior in any way; not everybody is interested, however.
It also means that when you put exercise on that footing, many of those people will shun the activity, even when they would otherwise enjoy it, and when it would really be beneficial to them.
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