Me. Morven AKA Matthew Jude Brown, also findable as Morven on
The Other Wiki and a lot of other places. Morven's been my online name since 1991; it was a character name in an (atrocious) story I was writing at the time. I'm a mid-thirties British nerd living in Southern California, and working at a big private university. Sysadmin. Written sci-fi and fantasy fan. Things I love, in no particular order:
- P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath series. I'm pretty much the sole author of the Kencyr Wiki
, somewhere north of 600 articles trying to document every single obsessive thing about this series. Trying not to add examples of this to every trope on here, but failing.
- C.J. Cherryh's fantasy and science fiction, especially the Morgaine Cycle and the more recent science fiction.
- Gene Wolfe's Book Of The New Sun, the first five at least.
- Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books. Am I the only one to see scary parallels between Hodgell's Jame and Bujold's Miles?
- Ian M. Banks' novels, especially some of The Culture and Against A Dark Background
- (adding to this ...)
This site got me reading manga. Reactions to some of it:
- Claymore ? amazing. Holy crap it's amazing.
- Black Lagoon ? if only Hollywood action movies could pull this off.
- Bitter Virgin ? which I thank for proving that I'm a big enough sap, still, to cry through most of it.
- Rosario + Vampire ? on a friend's recommendation that, underneath the typical school setting, Unwanted Harem and Fanservice, there's much to like. He was right; genuine, believable character development, for one thing. And many a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- Karin (aka Chibi Vampire) ? frightfully cute, and with an interesting take on vampires; neither fully the standard Japanese take nor the standard Western take either.
- xxxHoLic ? BEAUTIFUL artwork. Big art deco/art nouveau influences, I think. Very bittersweet, with a story that develops slowly.
- The Wallflower ? shojo series in which four bishonen boys are given the task of turning a reclusive girl obsessed with gore, horror movies and all things Goth into a proper young lady. It's an interesting subversion, because she doesn't reform; she does grow and loses some of the reclusiveness and social awkwardness, but she's still a freak and happy with it - although she can fake being a lady for short periods if she needs to.
- Iono the Fanatics ? short and sweet Yuri Genre series featuring a fascinatingly predatory lesbian Queen, Iono.
- Angel Heart ? Seinen series in which a female assassin who nearly killed herself is given the heart of a woman who died in a car crash, and finds that she starts having memories of the dead woman, and eventually that her soul is living within her.
- Hayate the Combat Butler ? Hilarious comedy series that tropers should enjoy, because it's constantly playing with tropes and is a never-ending sequence of Shout Outs to all kinds of anime, manga and even western TV shows and movies. Unlike much comedy, though, it doesn't neglect the plot or characters, who aren't just cardboard cutouts to stick in silly situations.
- Midnight Secretary ? Enjoyable vampire romance josei manga. Nothing really groundbreaking, but well-written and with enjoyable characters.
- Vampire Knight ? one of those It Gets Better stories; after the first couple it was good enough to keep reading but not really getting to me, but it managed to make the obvious twist everyone knows coming (come on, how many vampire stories like this don't have the main girl becoming a vampire) have a twist within it that I wasn't quite prepared for, though I started to guess a few chapters early. Some decent character development and a surprising absence of filler make this one worth catching. Story isn't over, though (at most, they're half-way through), and I hear the anime isn't as good.
- Gokusen ? published as a josei manga, but this examines themes common in shonen and seinen (yakuza life, and a boys' school for delinquents) from an interesting female perspective, that of deceptively normal and meek-looking newbie teacher Yamaguchi Kumiko. We soon learn that she's the heir to a yakuza family who decided her life's goal would be as a mentor and teacher to troubled kids after her family took in two homeless kids and raised them as her foster-brothers. She becomes an unlikely but fiercely protective mama bear to her messed-up kids, and it's all very well written. Notable for not having the Only Six Faces problem; every character is well-drawn and physically unique. And, unusually for josei, only one of the boys counts as a bishonen; troubled smart kid Shawada Shin, son of the police chief, who falls pretty hardcore for Kumiko, though so far she's barely noticed.
- Nodame Cantabile ? working on this one now; interesting character drama set at a music school, centering around the Odd Couple of prissy, perfectionist would-be conductor Shinichi Chiaki and slobby, weird, gifted girl Megumi Noda (Nodame).
Thinking about it, I have a major thing for
ActionGirls and tough female characters in general.
I'm also a long-time wannabe author.
Vandalize Morven here!
You seem like a cool guy, and good luck on becoming an author! -
Black Dove
Morven has an amazing Unix sysadmin beard. And is an awesome guy in general. -
William Wide Web
Listen all y'all, it's sabotage! Just dropping by. >:3 —
goodtimesfreegrog
Vandalized
for great justice. Seriously, Morven is awesome. Pleasant fellow. :] —
a vandal
I think Morven is a
Pretty Cool Guy. eh gives tropers rides and doesn't afraid of anything. —
Ironeye
Why did I think you're female? -
Krrackknut.
- A mistake I made before too. —Morven
- And yet, you have a full beard... - English Ivy
- I know — confusing! But I don't see that from the inside. —Morven
Morven's a great
Reasonable Authority Figure with an awesome beard. -
The Jackal
Morven is a critical threat to the safety for our nation (wherever that is). Atomic bombs won't work on him. Try hydrogen bombs combined with prolonged small arms fire, then get back to me. —
Korodzik
Morven, fun guy, smart guy, great guy. ~
Zyxzy
I hope you enjoyed the joys of Disneyland next door. (Lucky guy.) -
QQQQQ
I originally thought you were a woman because of
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles,
in which there is a
witch named Mor
wen. As a fellow aspiring fantasy author, I wish you good luck! -
Leradny
I seem smart and interesting? Thanks! -Parakaitz
You sure that you're not
The Ace around here? -
Flanker 66
(blushes) Thank you for being so nice to me. By the way, you seem to have a
Badass Beard -
Beholderess
Godot Was Here.
Calm, cool, collected, and seemingly understanding. A great person to have around the fora.
Tuefel Hundne IV
Morven is the coolest son of a bitch this side of the galaxy. -
Exelixi
I figured it was about time I vandalized your page. Thank you for being so nice to me upon my arrival, and for all the interesting converation. Finally, the Internet proves capable of having genuinely good/nice people! Hurrah! -
Punkreader
Thanks for your help! Also you're very funny. XD -
Stolen By Faeries
Morven is! ~~
Blixty Slycat
Morven on up to the east side! ~
Irene
The hills rolled up to the moon on slopes of wind-bent grass, crested, swept down into tangled brier shadows...
