What I Read in 2006
Andrew Plotkin
borrowed, or bought earlier and didn't get to until 2006).
# january 2006
Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
by book three. Fforde should have put the ending (which was cute) at
the end of book 2 and gotten on with something else.
Gaiman, Neil -- Anansi Boys
Charming and moves right along, which means Gaiman has avoided all the
reasons I disliked _American Gods._ Still has all the good parts of
_American Gods_ -- plus funny -- so, basically, read this.
Levy, Jennifer; Danto, Arthur C. -- 397 Chairs
More of my design-collecting fetish.
MacLeod, Ken -- Learning the World
Full of entertaining bits, and things happen, but I'm not sure there's
a story.
Isaak, Elaine -- The Singer's Crown
Definitely no story. Narration goes off rails, finds some new ones,
goes off them too. I think the main character spends a lot of time
bummed out, either because he's a eunuch or for some other reason.
# february 2006
McKillip, Patricia A. -- Solstice Wood
I like when McKillip does contemporary. I am told the sense of place
is completely wrong for -- New England? (sorry, my copy may be
unpacked yet but I'm not at home) -- in any case, I don't care. Mad
characters are still sparkly and delightful against a modern backdrop.
Williams, Liz -- The Banquet of the Lords of Night & Other Stories
Contains the very short story that _Snake Agent_ was founded
upon. Lots of other stories with similar atmospheres, although they're
not otherwise related. I liked enough of these to recommend it,
particularly if you liked _Snake Agent_ (see below).
Knight, Damon (ed.) -- Orbit 18
Contains "Rules of Moopsball". Also, as it turns out, a story that was
expanded into _The Memory of Whiteness_, but the Moopsball piece is the
one that will live in fannishness forever.
Briggs, Patricia -- Moon Called
Preternatural romance called. Briggs is the latest author to
answer. This is a solidly-written entry in the subgenre, which is
good, because the subgenre is now too full for crap to get by on
sparkly-new ideas and steamy sex. It's werewolves, although the
protagonist is not one herself. The blending of pack nipping-order
and politics is convincing.
Berg, Carol -- Daughter of Ancients (Bridge of D'Arnath, book 4)
End of series, honest for real this time. As I said in some previous
commentary, only the first book is really compelling -- you read the
rest if you want to hang out with the folks and have some more
adventures. They're nice folks.
de Camp, L. Sprague; Pratt, Fletcher -- Tales from Gavagan's Bar
Many, many old saws, which were new at the time. Remember what I said
about a subgenre which gets by on sparkly ideas? SF/F stories set in a
bar was an older one, although to be fair, short-shorts don't need an
excuse.
Shedley, Ethan I. -- Earth Ship & Star Song
I only barely remember the storyline here. Earth's ecology collapses
and humanity has to do something else. This was a grand vision of the
future, only not well-developed enough to become a classic.
Palmatier, Joshua -- The Skewed Throne
Compelling series opener. Loveable thief girl grows up wild on the
streets, except none of that "loveable" crap. She's desperate,
constantly on the brink of starvation, and good at stabbing things and
running away. She has to learn to understand her magical talent
(which, being totally uneducated, she narrates in a very idiosyncratic
way) while finding allies (which are not the same as "a loving home
and replacement parents").
Bowes, Richard -- From the Files of the Time Rangers
A collection of short stories. The background is a mix of Greek gods,
time travel, tall tales, and other stuff I've forgotten. This mix does
not hold together.
# march 2006
Green, Simon R. -- Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth
Episode in the Nightside series; ends a story arc. Predictably, Green
is not able to carry off all the omens and import that he's been
building up over ?six books, but he has a jolly good try.
Wilson, Robert Charles -- Spin
Stomped all over the 2006 awards, because it's good. Today's reason
for all the stars going out is that Earth is in a time bubble.
Therefore, we get to experience the grand vision of the future in one
generation of viewpoint: terraforming, alien human civilizations, the
death of the Solar System. This works fantastically well, and I only
wonder why nobody has done it before... oh, right, Stapledon and that
Sheffield one. Wilson must be a good writer or something.
Broderick, Damien -- Godplayers
Broderick, Damien -- K-Machines
Broderick has a crush on Zelazny's Amber series. If you do too, re-read
Amber.
# april 2006
Dennett, Daniel C. -- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural
Phenomenon
Dennett calls for religious behavior to be studied in all the ways
that you might expect would freak out non-atheists: anthropologically,
sociologically, biologically, evolutionarily, memetically. Only has
the barest sampling *of* such studies; Dennett is mostly
counterarguing-in-advance the objections and the freaking-out. If you
think humans can never or will never study themselves that way, this
is an interesting book. If you think you already do it because you're
an SF fan, you should probably read the book anyway, if only to cure
your naivete about how hard sociology is. If you want to understand
religion, this book will not solve your problem.
Novik, Naomi -- His Majesty's Dragon
Reading this book is like petting a fluffy cat. The cat is a dragon,
who is British and modest, and he's got a human captain, and it's the
Napoleonic War, and it's wonderful comfort food.
Westerfeld, Scott -- Blue Noon (Midnighters, vol 3)
Good wrap-up to good, original take on the teens-with-superpowers-
fighting-demons thing. Things turn out to be more complicated than we
thought, and war costs and costs.
Nix, Garth -- Sir Thursday
This is the middle of the series, so "more of same," meaning more
pretty-good kid adventure serial so I'm happy with it. They're coming
out awfully far apart for such short books, though. I hope Nix isn't
tired of the series.
Kransen, Charon; Le Van, Marthe (ed.) -- 500 Bracelets
Leier, Ray; Peters, Jan; Wallace, Kevin; Aimone, Katherine Duncan (ed.)
-- 500 Wood Bowls
Further developments in the contemporary-design series. The bracelets
push and then disintegrate the notion of "you wear it on your wrist,"
which is nifty, plus many of them are beautiful. The wooden bowls are
just beautiful.
Norton, Andre -- Sargasso of Space
Norton, Andre -- The Zero Stone
Saw these cheap, so I bought them. I read them when I was eight, just
like you did. I was surprised how little I remembered of _The Zero
Stone,_ but it turns out it was good.
# may 2006
Novik, Naomi -- Throne of Jade
Boy and dragon go to China.
Peters, Jan; Kieffer, Susan Mowery (ed.) -- 500 Baskets
These get downright mathematical.
Vinge, Vernor -- Rainbows End
Lots of cool stuff, but not quite satisfying. Big flashy ending...
well, you'd call it big if you hadn't seen Vinge turn off stars and
steamroll galactic civilizations in his previous books. Which is an
unfair comparison; this is a near-future piece. My point is, it's a
big flashy ending that doesn't seem to resolve very much. Feels like
Vinge wanted the big and the flashy but didn't really have an ending
in mind, so he threw fireworks onto some plot elements and called it a
day.
Williams, Liz -- Snake Agent
It's a dark night in the Chinese afterlife and everybody's got a small
flaw in his character. No, the book doesn't have that line, but it
might as well. Detective-Inspector Chen doesn't live in Hell, but
sometimes he has to go there on police business. The afterlife
bureacracy is just as mucked-up as the mundane one, which makes this
both perfect Chinese myth and perfect noir procedural. My only
complaint is that Williams tries to be funny and doesn't quite know
how. Hopefully she'll get better at that in the sequels.
Fairclough, Robert (ed.) -- The Prisoner: The Original Scripts, Volume 1
Obsessively detailed rendering of the TV show's scripts; perfect for
the obsessed fan (i.e., me). Packed with notes about changed lines,
cut and added scenes, production details, who argued with who on the
set and how that affected the episode, etc, etc. Bonus essays on
various people responsible for the series (it wasn't just McGoohan and
a weather balloon); also a couple of unused episode outlines. Must
grab volume 2.
Butcher, Jim -- Dead Beat
I'm sticking to paperbacks for the Harry Dresden series, which means
I'm now permanently behind. My memory says this one has more action
and less character development, which doesn't bother me. No, I'm
probably confusing character development with hot vampire/faerie sex.
My mistake. This one has character development, and also zombie
dinosaurs, so win-win. (In case you're the last Dresden fan to hear,
he's turning into a Sci-Fi Channel series this month. I'm optimistic.)
Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
with me both ways.
# june 2006
Novik, Naomi -- Black Powder War
Third book. (But not the end of a trilogy. These books are reasonably
self-contained, but the series plot-line shows no sign of ending.) In
case you're the last Temeraire fan to fear, Peter Jackson optioned
this for a movie. Note that "optioned" is a long way from "making it",
especially if _Eragon_ drives the dragon movie market into a sinkhole
and then pees on it with the fury of a thousand once-burned studio
executives.
Reynolds, Alastair -- Pushing Ice
Stand-alone novel about engineers. An Alien Artifact Enters the System
and only our hero comet-drillers can reach it. They then have
arguments. Reynolds makes a creditable (but not very convincing)
attempt at having the backbone of his story be the rivalry between two
women, both of whom (being engineers) are sure they know how to deal
with everything. The coolness of the alien artifact covers the cracks.
Shinn, Sharon -- The Truth-Teller's Tale
Shinn stepped out of the revolving door of SF/F romance to do _The
Safe-Keeper's Secret_, which was (deliberate irony) a frank and
disarming YA fantasy. This one is set in the same world; but the story
is more contrived and awkward. Still nice.
Kimbriel, Katharine Eliska -- Kindred Rites
Sequel to _Night Calls,_ a fixup in which a girl with the Sight grows
up in backwoods-settler country. This novel is a single story; still
pleasant company.
# july 2006
Rowles, Chuck -- Going Home, book 1 (The Gods of Arr-Kelaan)
Rowles, Chuck -- Going Home, book 2 (The Gods of Arr-Kelaan)
Graphic novels about a passenger liner that crashes on a low-tech
planet, leaving the few survivors inexplicably omnipotent. Protagonist
wants nothing more than to stagger around the rest of his life
creating beers for himself. He can't avoid getting caught in more
important events. Has the right funny-serious tone.
Edwards, Ron -- Sorcerer
Edwards, Ron -- The Sorcerer's Soul
Snyder, Matt -- Nine Worlds
Two "new style" role-playing systems, meaning that they're founded on
a simple storytelling mechanic rather than a combat or skill-
simulation mechanic. These are small books -- no spell tables or
artifact lists. In _Sorcerer_ you are bound to a demon who can do
magic for you; it has needs and you have desires, so how much are you
willing to pay? _Nine Worlds_ is a Greek geocentric milieu in which
you manage a list of story goals ("free my love from Hades") instead
of a list of skills, and counterbalanced honor-vs-glory instead of hit
points.
Bear, Elizabeth -- Blood and Iron
Modern urban fantasy turned up to 11: wizards with cellphones,
dragons, the Faerie Queens, immortal conspiracies, armies of trees.
It's war (human-vs-elf, light-elf-vs-dark, dragon-aiyee-run-away) but
Bear vindictively avoids taking sides. She is self-assured enough to
make all this satisfying for me, but you may disagree.
Monette, Sarah -- The Virtu
Second book in ?four-ology about a wizard and a thief on the run, each
of whom is a whirling tornado of emotionally fucked-up. This time
they're running *towards* something (and Felix is no longer
schizophrenic) so the story has more drive. I'm tempted to say that
_Melusine_ and _The Virtu_ are half-novels that form part one of a
duology -- but I say this in retrospect of _Melusine_. Never mind,
it's all about the character narration.
Stross, Charles -- Glasshouse
Post-scarcity post-humans volunteer for a cripplingly primitive
lifestyle experiment: mid-20th-century Earth. Experiment turns out to
be More Than It Seems. Stross is down off the pure-idea buzz of
_Accelerando_, but this social commentary isn't incisive enough to be
a replacement. Fortunately, the plot holds up adequately.
Duncan, Dave -- Children of Chaos
Rollicking adventure with politics on a dodecahedral planet. People
have magical talents, which cost in subtle or obvious ways. If that
sounds stock, remember that Duncan has been making stock fantasy
rollick for decades now. Part one of two.
Park, Paul -- A Princess of Roumania
Got a few chapters in, was bored blind, threw it aside.
Lynch, Scott -- The Lies of Locke Lamora
Gonzo-fun romp about the first long-con man in fantasy city. The
setting is a take on Renaissance Venice, which is also a nice change.
Much blood and revenge. This is a complete story but some plot threads
carry forward into a (planned) long series.
Stross, Charles -- The Clan Corporate (The Merchant Princes, book 3)
"Book 3" is all I can say. I suspect this series will read better all
at once, but I have no self-control.
Morrison, Grant -- Crawling from the Wreckage (Doom Patrol, collection 1)
Morrison, Grant -- The Painting That Ate Paris (Doom Patrol, collection 2)
Morrison, Grant -- Down Paradise Way (Doom Patrol, collection 3)
The late-80s magical-surrealism comic book series, collected as
graphic novels. If you are turned on by the idea of the Brotherhood of
Dada, or a villain who has every superpower you aren't currently
thinking of, you should read these.
Carey, Jacqueline -- Godslayer
Conclusion to a two-parter which is intended as a trenchant criticism
of Tolkien. To Carey's probable chagrin, the series fails as
criticism/analysis, but succeeds pretty well as unashamed Tolkien
imitation. Only with more sympathetic villains, which *is* nice.
# august 2006
Kushner, Ellen -- The Privilege of the Sword
Twenty years after _Swordspoint_, forty-ish before _The Fall of the
Kings_. Where _Swordspoint_ was a prickly romance and _Fall_ mused
about the romance of lost magic, _Privilege_ is a tight dissection of
class and gender roles in the changing fantasy city. Or rather, it's a
excellently-rendered growing-up narration of a country girl who comes
to the big city and learns to duel -- with social issues shining out
from behind every crack. Fully readable on its own, but if you've read
the other two, this illuminates various characters from new angles.
Brust, Steven -- Dzur
Vlad finally gets a decent meal. This book does much to set up coming
alarums and emergencies, but doesn't do a lot of plot advancement. So,
polar opposite to _Issola_. I am okay with alternation, but Brust
would be better served by a more even mix, particularly if the books
are going to appear at four-year intervals.
Turner, Megan Whalen -- The King of Attolia
Long-awaited conclusion to three-book set (but not really a trilogy)
about a thief who makes good. (Heh heh.) Once again, a book to read
for the great company, although this time they're viewed by an
outsider.
Sanderson, Brandon -- Mistborn
I declare Sanderson to be the new Dave Duncan. Big fat fantasy about a
rebellion in the land oppressed by the Dark Lord. Complicated magical
talents that the author describes in obsessive detail. Lots of
politics. Unashamedly fun. This is the beginning of a series, but it
does have a satisfying conclusion (yes, the confrontation with the
Dark Lord, and guess how *that* goes? Wrong.)
Walton, Jo -- Farthing
1940s British country-house murder mystery, with political
complications. Excellently narrated by two very different characters.
I've read too many reviews of this to believe that you haven't read
any, so I'll stop there.
Powers, Tim -- Three Days to Never
Better than the worst Powers. I think it's not as good as his best,
but I thought that about _Last Call_ and then changed my mind after a
couple of rereads. I will reread this and decide then. In any case,
it's got ghosts, Einstein, time machines, Charlie Chaplin, and the
weirdness locus that is Hollywood.
Abraham, Daniel -- A Shadow in Summer
Big, detailed fantasy world in which magic is done by enslaved demons.
The demons are not thrilled with their role. This is politics top to
bottom -- but since it's one demon to one mage, and one demon can give
a winning edge to an entire city, it's really *personal* politics.
Beginning of an ambitious series (unsure of planned length) which
looks like a winner from here.
Caine, Rachel -- Firestorm (Weather Warden, book 5)
Not much to say: the fifth of an unboundedly-long fluff preternatural
romance series. It still has momentum -- that is, the overall
situation continues to change. I still like it.
Perry, Steve -- The Musashi Flex
In a distant future run by big corporations, a few men challenge
themselves with the deadly sport of... Okay, this could describe any
number of books, but this one is fairly well-done. The martial arts
ring true (at least from my standpoint of a couple of years of
aikido). The characters are broadly drawn but engaging. I am told this
is a precursor to a bunch of other books, but I didn't know that when
I read it and it was fine.
Sherman, Delia -- Changeling
Straight-up kids' story about a kid in Faerie New York. She has
adventures. This is not irony or a dark adult take; it's an adventure
for pre-teens to enjoy. Note: my copy vibrates when I take the Red
Line from Harvard to Central. If you need to locate the Genius Loci of
Boston, you know where to look.
# september 2006
Duncan, Hal -- Vellum
Very eccentric ramble through a Greater Universe with an Eternal War.
Characters drift from one setting and role to another. There seems to
be an overall plot, but it's hard to pin down, particularly since this
is only the first half of the story. I liked it for its mix of
Miltonian and modern-punk tropes: angels in a tattoo parlor, being
etched with Enochian symbols of power. This also conveys the unbounded
infinity of the Greater Universe better than anybody since Zelazny.
However, I suspect it's a love-it-or-bored-by-it book.
Nagata, Linda -- Memory
Epic quest on a world of magic, only the magic is out-of-control
nanotech. (Nagata does this much, much better than Chalker.) The
society is carefully thought out, not made of stupid people, and quite
a bit stranger than your fantasy goggles lead you to assume.
Keck, David -- In the Eye of Heaven
Gritty feudal fantasy. Our boy aspires to be a knight, but the piece
of land his father scrounged for him comes unscrounged. Now what the
heck is he going to do? This is a world where even tournament combat
can easily leave you with broken fingers or sprained shoulders --
which is to say, a realistic world -- but it also has magic. Of the
Norse persuasion: lots of dooms and vengeance from beyond the grave.
Pleasant, but did not convince me I had to keep reading the series,
particularly not in hardcover.
Nazarian, Vera -- The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass
Far-future novella: Earth is dying, humans are wispy asexual
creatures. They have a male in stasis, and they periodically (rarely)
need to raise a fertile female to mate with him and get some more
genetic bafflegab. This is a dreamy little (non-porny) romance, but
I didn't care much.
Kibuishi, Kazu (ed.) -- Flight (vol 3)
Graphic novel anthology. (Is that a contradiction in terms?) Okay, a
collection of short comics by different authors, on the general theme
of "Flight". Very wide range, although it tends towards the cute.
Gaiman, Neil -- Fragile Things
Collection of stories, of which I think I'd seen nearly all before.
But if you don't have a copy of "A Study in Emerald", this is a good
place to get it.
Tufte, Edward R. -- Beautiful Evidence
A collection of essays related only by Tufte's interest in design.
This has the "sparklines" essay, the "PowerPoint suxxors" essay, and
one on how to mount garden sculpture.
Pratchett, Terry -- Wintersmith
I think Pratchett's "young adult" Discworld books are drifting towards
being the same as the "adult" ones, except shorter and with Tiffany
Aching. This is not a complaint, just an observation. _Wintersmith_ is
typical Pratchett.
Schroeder, Karl -- Sun of Suns
Space pirates! Okay, freefall pirates in a giant air-bubble. All of
Schroeder's usual care for social constructions (when every state is a
rag-tag fleet of floating platforms around a hand-tended fusion sun,
what is the ecology of nations?) plus fleet engagements, revenge, a
voyage of discovery into a lost world, a kid growing up, ancient
technology, adventure, and maybe a little bit of true love. There will
be sequels, which I am happy about.
# october 2006
Jones, Diana Wynne -- The Pinhoe Egg
Best Jones in a while, I'd say. Usual magical follies, but with a
non-silly thread: the old grandma of the extended family is going
senile and isn't competent to live on her own. But she's still the
most powerful witch in the clan, and perfectly capable of making
everybody's life hell. What now? This gets tangled with family feuds,
old wars with the Little People, the usual crop of teenage wizards,
and the Crestomanci (who for once doesn't know as much as he thinks he
does). The tone is a little more uneven than Jones's best, but she's
still got it.
Bujold, Lois McMaster -- Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, 1)
I still think Bujold was watching "Firefly" the whole time she was
writing the dialogue for this. Explicitly New-World-settlers fantasy,
with small towns of farmers and nomadic tribes. Only the nomads are a
distributed military culture dedicated to hunting down "malices"
(demons). Our heroine falls in with one of them, and then -- the
smoochies. There is a certain amount of "nomads good; farmers idiots",
but shades of grey do creep in eventually. This is half a novel. More
specifically, it's half a *Bujold* novel, so it has all the characters
and the initial problem, but our heroes have not yet been dropped into
the cacky. This gives it a bit of a Mercedes Lackey feel, but I have
faith that the cacky is looming ahead.
Bourdain, Anthony -- The Nasty Bits
Collection of essays about the food world. Lacks the brutality of his
first book, and the flagrant self-mockery of his TV show. Result:
bland.
Littleton, Maurine; Kieffer, Susan (ed.) -- 500 Glass Objects
Damn, I love art glass.
Zahn, Timothy -- Night Train to Rigel
Old-fashioned action movie in space. Politics, chase scenes, aliens,
people found dead. Starts, in fact, with a mysterious dying stranger
who lives just long enough to hand over an interstellar train
ticket. That tells you all you need to know.
Stemple, Adam -- Singer of Souls
Starts as Scribblies-style urban faerie fantasy. Ends bitter, bitter
black. Stemple must have seen one too many junkie friends die.
Hodgell, P. C. -- To Ride a Rathorn
This is "Jame hits military school" and the military school barely
survives it. Good old Jame. Not much is resolved here -- I think it's
really only part one of the original "military school" plotline. But
it's a return to _God Stalk's_ more quirky and whimsical brand of
total chaos and disruption. I enjoyed that, particularly since I am
sure it's a temporary respite. (Complaint: the book design is
terrible, with a half-obscured cover title and internal maps at 72
dpi.)
# november 2006
Dennett, Daniel C. -- Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a
Science of Consciousness
This is a collection of counter-counterarguments to counterarguments
to Dennett's books on consciousness. (It has nothing to do with
_Breaking the Spell,_ above.) As such, it's probably only interesting
to people who are already fans of _Consciousness Explained_ etc.
Palmatier, Joshua -- The Broken Throne
Book two of fantasy series that I'm pretty pleased with. Our heroine
is now a figure of power in the city. She still carries her knife, but
now she has problems that can't be solved by stabbing: magic, famine,
barbarian invaders, corrupt merchants, and her questionably-gruntled
predecessor. She copes.
Wrede, Patricia; Stevermer, Caroline -- The Mislaid Magician, or Ten
Years After
Returns to the epistolary form of _Sorcery and Cecelia._ (But now the
menfolk are writing letters too. Admirably distinct voices.) The story
is fine -- more of same -- but it's nice to see the background world
evolving. It's not just fantasyland, it's semihistorical England, and
the "history" means change.
# december 2006
Stross, Charles -- The Jennifer Morgue
More "Bob Howard" spycraft-and-Cthulhiana. Writing these is clearly
more fun for Stross than a bucket of kittens, and so reading is too.
(Did you catch that the protagonist's initials are "BOFH"?) This one
goes consciously towards the gonzo-spy end of the spectrum, so the
lurking horrors are a little shortchanged. Nonetheless, terrific.
Bear, Elizabeth -- Carnival
I didn't like _Hammered_ much, but Bear has gotten much better at
dropping in vast swathes of background without stopping the story dead
at the outset. This is a standalone in which a not-very-admirable
Terran empire is taking back a bunch of emancipated colonies (which
are not necessarily that admirable either). One colony is More Than It
Seems. It's a character story on top of politics on top of culture
clash, and all of these levels are well-done.
Baker, Keith -- The Shattered Land (The Dreaming Dark, book 2)
Baker, Keith -- The Gates of Night (The Dreaming Dark, book 3)
The first book in this series was pretty generic D&D fiction (albeit
in a D&D milieu that Baker invented himself). By the second book he's
figured out what story he wants to tell about his characters, so what
comes out is respectable fantasy. There are some excellent
world-building moments, too. I hope he turns to writing non-tied-in
fantasy.
Smith, Sherwood -- Inda
I am only halfway into this, due to disruptions of my reading schedule
(see below). Smith does big feudal politics (politics is this year's
theme, isn't it?) from the point of view of a kid at military school
(two more themes, come to think of it). The names and titles --
everybody has two or three of each -- take a few chapters to get used
to, but the YA viewpoint is metal-solid. (First line: "Let's go fight
the girls!") My only complaint is that the narration has potholes;
it's mostly tight-third-person, but sometimes jumps heads or goes
omniscient to make some point. Consistency would work better.
Wolfe, Gene -- Soldier of Sidon
Have not gotten to this.
Duane, Diane -- The Empty Chair (Star Trek)
Wrap-up of the highly-spread-out Rihannsu ("Romulan") series -- Duane
started it in the first era of Trek novelizing. The characters are all
smart, smart renditions of the classic Trek cast -- which is
tremendously satisfying to read. Unfortunately, they don't *talk* like
the classic cast, which is somewhat disappointing. I mean, Duane's
Kirk is a great captain and her McCoy is a great doctor and so on; I
just can't imagine Shatner or Kelley saying these lines. Nonethless,
we get a big windup for the Rihannsu, with some great moments, and a
bit of clever chamfering to fit this continuity in with the canonical
TNG view of the Romulans.
Danielewski, Mark Z. -- House of Leaves [bought in 2004]
I appreciate that someone is still willing to treat typography as a
fireworks factory rather than pavement. (Who was the last one -- Ellen
Raskin?) This faux-documentary rendering of a surreal horror incident
is entertaining if you're willing to put in the work to parse it
all. The footnotes stack three layers deep. Note that while the horror
genre's blends with F/SF take on the latters' emphasis on plot, the
classic ghost story is not a novel, and neither is this. A Thing
Happened.
Hobb, Robin -- Shaman's Crossing [borrowed]
Hobb, Robin -- Forest Mage [borrowed]
As the person said whom I borrowed these from: "Robin Hobb has pretty
much figured out how to end a novel now." Solid fantasy, and if I
didn't come out the other side transfigured, I can at least say that
all my predictions about where the plot was going were proven wrong.
Will be -- okay, borrowing -- the conclusion of the trilogy when it
appears.
Susanna Clarke -- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell [borrowed]
I started reading this in mid-December, which more or less blew out
the rest of the year (which is why I didn't get to the Wolfe). It
takes a few hundred pages to introduce a character who is not
repulsive, and another few hundred before I started caring what
happened to him. This does not seem like the best structure for a
novel. And Clarke's consummate control of tone is not apparent until
the going gets very fey and strange -- at which point you realize that
all the dry fustiness is deliberate -- at which point you wonder why
she worked so hard to make her novel dislikeable. But I eventually
wound up intrigued by the history of English magic, mostly revealed in
footnotes, which is much stranger than the quasi-historical setting at
first implies.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't subjected you to searches without a
warrant, it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because of
the Fourth Amendment.
James Nicoll
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>
>Lynch, Scott -- The Lies of Locke Lamora
>
>Gonzo-fun romp about the first long-con man in fantasy city. The
>setting is a take on Renaissance Venice, which is also a nice change.
>Much blood and revenge. This is a complete story but some plot threads
>carry forward into a (planned) long series.
>
And subject of an acrimonious flamewar online, for reasons
I never quite got (Or rather, I can understand why someone might
make the claim that they did why about reviews of this book in
particular?).
--
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)
Kurt Busiek
> (Or rather, I can understand why someone might
> make the claim that they did why about reviews of this book in particular?)
...
What?
kdb
PS - I thought THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA was terrific -- I described it
once, I think, as "Ocean's Eleven set in Ethshar" -- and will gladly
buy the author's next, sequel or not.
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <enk3ar$kmd$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
> Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> >
> >Lynch, Scott -- The Lies of Locke Lamora
> >
> >Gonzo-fun romp about the first long-con man in fantasy city. The
> >setting is a take on Renaissance Venice, which is also a nice change.
> >Much blood and revenge. This is a complete story but some plot threads
> >carry forward into a (planned) long series.
>
> And subject of an acrimonious flamewar online, for reasons
> I never quite got
I heard vaguely about that. I'm small-minded enough to stop reading an
author's books for his behavior in online fora I inhabit, but when
it happens totally out of my sight, I will ignore it.
> (Or rather, I can understand why someone might make the claim that
> they did why about reviews of this book in particular?).
Your grammar sleep furiously.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't subjected you to searches without a warrant,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're an American.
Gene Ward Smith
Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
>
> Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> by book three.
I was tired of it after book one.
> Levy, Jennifer; Danto, Arthur C. -- 397 Chairs
>
> More of my design-collecting fetish.
Eh? Arthur C. Danto, the noted philosopher and art critic? Is this
book about chairs, or is it sf, or both?
> Briggs, Patricia -- Moon Called
>
> Preternatural romance called. Briggs is the latest author to
> answer. This is a solidly-written entry in the subgenre, which is
> good, because the subgenre is now too full for crap to get by on
> sparkly-new ideas and steamy sex.
It always had a Sturgeon's Law problem, but what's interesting is that
often now the books are only nominally romances. In reality, they tend
to be paranormal stories with female protagonists. In these cases, some
of these are marketed as fantasy, and some as romance, without there
being a whole lot of difference between them.
> Novik, Naomi -- His Majesty's Dragon
>
> Reading this book is like petting a fluffy cat. The cat is a dragon,
> who is British and modest, and he's got a human captain, and it's the
> Napoleonic War, and it's wonderful comfort food.
The cat isn't all that modest.
> Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
> Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
> Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
> rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
> down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
> with me both ways.
What--against smoking even pot? I thought Spider thought pot was a
vitamin.
> Carey, Jacqueline -- Godslayer
>
> Conclusion to a two-parter which is intended as a trenchant criticism
> of Tolkien. To Carey's probable chagrin, the series fails as
> criticism/analysis, but succeeds pretty well as unashamed Tolkien
> imitation. Only with more sympathetic villains, which *is* nice.
Um...not a good imitation of Tolkien. Not even close. VERY bad writing.
ebear
Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> Here, James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> > In article <enk3ar$kmd$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
> > Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >Lynch, Scott -- The Lies of Locke Lamora
> > >
> > >Gonzo-fun romp about the first long-con man in fantasy city. The
> > >setting is a take on Renaissance Venice, which is also a nice change.
> > >Much blood and revenge. This is a complete story but some plot threads
> > >carry forward into a (planned) long series.
> >
> > And subject of an acrimonious flamewar online, for reasons
> > I never quite got
>
> I heard vaguely about that. I'm small-minded enough to stop reading an
> author's books for his behavior in online fora I inhabit, but when
> it happens totally out of my sight, I will ignore it.
Oh, if this is the flamewar I am thinking of, it had nothing to do with
the author. It was reviewer v. reviewer, mano a mano. Or womano a
womano, more precisely.
Very odd.
--ebear
James Nicoll
Kurt Busiek <kurtb...@aol.com> wrote:
>On 2007-01-04 16:13:48 -0800, jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
>
>> (Or rather, I can understand why someone might
>> make the claim that they did why about reviews of this book in particular?)
>
>...
>
>What?
>
C.M. Morrison implied that the positive reviews of LIES were
subsidized [1] and that reviewers who said they liked it were therefore
lying lie-pants who were on the take and not honest. For some reason,
this didn't go over all that well with the reviewers who liked LIES.
For the record, I liked LIES and while I was paid to say
that, I would have been paid exactly the same amount for saying I
hated it.
Now, some authors I can see why someone might think that
there was a world-wide conspiracy to push their work. Leo Tolstoy
hated Shakespeare's work and found extra-literary reasons to explain
Shakespeare's popularity. This wasn't out of malice but because Leo
was nuts.
There's isn't two pennies in the average book's budget
to push it (beyond the usual pro ads) and the payback from the
average reviewer's effects on sales might justify a penny per
head. Now I am a reasonable guy and where someone else might
speculate about crack-pipes, hereditory insanity or congenital
syphilis, I believe that is beneath me, even though I am one of
the people Morrison appears to be libeling. I am just puzzled
why anyone would think it halfway sensible to blame a difference
of opinion on a widespread program of bribes.
I mean, I loathe FIREFLY but I don't think reviewers are
being paid to like it. I can imagine people who disagree with
me -- indeed, I am given evidence every day that this is
possible -- without needing some shadowy conspiracy, perhaps
involving the Masons or the heathen Chinese, to explain it.
It didn't seem to me that LIES had the properties that
would attract the degree of malice that Morrison seems to have
towards it, a malice that some might say has wrestled his reason
to the ground.
1: http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2006/06/the_lies_of_loc.shtml
"Just like everyone else, I am rather suspicious of hype. As soon as I
hear something is the best new thing ever I start to wonder what's wrong
with it. Sometimes, as in the case of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,
the praise seems warranted. Far more often I want to know how the reviewer
was bribed to tell me such lies. Which brings me to The Lies of Locke
Lamora, a book awash in buildup."
James Nicoll
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>Here, James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>I heard vaguely about that. I'm small-minded enough to stop reading an
>author's books for his behavior in online fora I inhabit, but when
>it happens totally out of my sight, I will ignore it.
The author wasn't involved.
>> (Or rather, I can understand why someone might make the claim that
>> they did why about reviews of this book in particular?).
>
>Your grammar sleep furiously.
Why is it if I skip a word, it either destroys the sentence or
reverses its meaning?
Elaine Thompson
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
...
>
>Isaak, Elaine -- The Singer's Crown
>
>Definitely no story. Narration goes off rails, finds some new ones,
>goes off them too. I think the main character spends a lot of time
>bummed out, either because he's a eunuch or for some other reason.
Poor authorial choices? It looked promising, but the main characters
were flat, and she killed off the most interesting one halfway
through. I skimmed to see if it improved. It didn't. Must have sold
well enough, though, I saw a sequel in the local store recently.
>
># february 2006
>
>McKillip, Patricia A. -- Solstice Wood
>
>I like when McKillip does contemporary. I am told the sense of place
>is completely wrong for -- New England? (sorry, my copy may be
>unpacked yet but I'm not at home) -- in any case, I don't care. Mad
>characters are still sparkly and delightful against a modern backdrop.
Yes. I had trouble figuring out where it was set, other than the same
place as WINTER ROSE. Which I also couldn't place in a real
geography. But SW seemed like it was meant to fit into such a real
place, and I couldn't work out where.
Have you noticed how she's revisiting villains in her last few books?
In .... aaargh... the brain just took a hike ... the one about the
school of magic, she more or less rehabilitates the shapechangers from
Riddlemaster, and in SW the villains of ROSE. And in THORN there
really weren't any villains.
>
>Nix, Garth -- Sir Thursday
>
>This is the middle of the series, so "more of same," meaning more
>pretty-good kid adventure serial so I'm happy with it. They're coming
>out awfully far apart for such short books, though. I hope Nix isn't
>tired of the series.
LADY FRIDAY is turned in to the publisher and coming out in ... March,
IIRC. I bought them originally for me, but our 10 year old is now
obsessed with them. (She won't touch Harry, though.)
>Shinn, Sharon -- The Truth-Teller's Tale
>
>Shinn stepped out of the revolving door of SF/F romance to do _The
>Safe-Keeper's Secret_, which was (deliberate irony) a frank and
>disarming YA fantasy. This one is set in the same world; but the story
>is more contrived and awkward. Still nice.
There's a third one, now, focusing on the Wish Giver. I liked them
better than I expected.
...
>
>Bear, Elizabeth -- Blood and Iron
>
>Modern urban fantasy turned up to 11: wizards with cellphones,
>dragons, the Faerie Queens, immortal conspiracies, armies of trees.
>It's war (human-vs-elf, light-elf-vs-dark, dragon-aiyee-run-away) but
>Bear vindictively avoids taking sides. She is self-assured enough to
>make all this satisfying for me, but you may disagree.
I really really wanted to like this one. instead I kept putting it
down and putting off picking it up again. I finally realized the
Eight Deadly Words applied, and put it on my husbands TBR pile to see
if he got on any better with it than I did. (So far he hasn't worked
his way down to it.) I started GREYWALKER by our own Kat Richardson
instead and greatly enjoyed that.
>
># october 2006
>
>Jones, Diana Wynne -- The Pinhoe Egg
>
>Best Jones in a while, I'd say.
Well, that's good to hear from a reliable source. AFter the one where
the only memorable character was a minor player who was an elephant
I'd put off jumping on new DWJs on sight.
--
Elaine Thompson <Ela...@KEThompson.org>
Konrad Gaertner
>
> And now, my list of all the books I bought in 2006 (plus a few that I
> borrowed, or bought earlier and didn't get to until 2006).
I've read a surprising number of these. [PS. the thread about numbers
in titles is over there -->]
> Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
>
> Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> by book three. Fforde should have put the ending (which was cute) at
> the end of book 2 and gotten on with something else.
Better than the previous two, but still not as good as the first.
> Isaak, Elaine -- The Singer's Crown
>
> Definitely no story. Narration goes off rails, finds some new ones,
> goes off them too.
I bounced off it when the aged crone gives the hero a Destiny.
> Briggs, Patricia -- Moon Called
>
> This is a solidly-written entry in the subgenre, which is
> good, because the subgenre is now too full for crap to get by on
> sparkly-new ideas and steamy sex.
I really liked it, though I'm a bit worried the sequel; the first
chapter (available on her website) adds two new types of
supernatural to a setting where we already have more than we need.
> Berg, Carol -- Daughter of Ancients (Bridge of D'Arnath, book 4)
>
> As I said in some previous
> commentary, only the first book is really compelling -- you read the
> rest if you want to hang out with the folks and have some more
> adventures. They're nice folks.
I read the first book, but wasn't impressed with the characters.
> Palmatier, Joshua -- The Skewed Throne
>
> Compelling series opener. Loveable thief girl grows up wild on the
> streets, except none of that "loveable" crap.
That sounds interesting.
> Wilson, Robert Charles -- Spin
>
> Stomped all over the 2006 awards, because it's good.
I gave it the eight deadly words.
> Novik, Naomi -- His Majesty's Dragon
>
> Reading this book is like petting a fluffy cat. The cat is a dragon,
> who is British and modest, and he's got a human captain, and it's the
> Napoleonic War, and it's wonderful comfort food.
As has already been pointed out, Temeraire isn't at all modest.
> Westerfeld, Scott -- Blue Noon (Midnighters, vol 3)
>
> Good wrap-up to good, original take on the teens-with-superpowers-
> fighting-demons thing. Things turn out to be more complicated than we
> thought, and war costs and costs.
Agreed on all counts.
> Nix, Garth -- Sir Thursday
>
> This is the middle of the series, so "more of same,"
I bounced halfway through the second book. Nix seemed to be trying
too hard to invoke sensawonda.
> Novik, Naomi -- Throne of Jade
>
> Boy and dragon go to China.
If I didn't already own a copy of the third book, I'd probably have
stopped with this one.
> Williams, Liz -- Snake Agent
>
> My only
> complaint is that Williams tries to be funny and doesn't quite know
> how. Hopefully she'll get better at that in the sequels.
That wasn't a problem for me; I'm not sure if I found her funny or
just didn't notice she was trying. Notable for the shortness of the
chapters (averaged less than four pages each).
> Butcher, Jim -- Dead Beat
Still one of my favorite series.
> Novik, Naomi -- Black Powder War
>
> Third book. (But not the end of a trilogy. These books are reasonably
> self-contained, but the series plot-line shows no sign of ending.)
The series may be going in a direction I like, but I got very angry at
the excerpt from the fourth book.
> Bear, Elizabeth -- Blood and Iron
>
> She is self-assured enough to
> make all this satisfying for me, but you may disagree.
I had a problem with switching one POV thread to first person near
the end (I eventually figured out why, but it still was very jarring).
> Lynch, Scott -- The Lies of Locke Lamora
>
> Gonzo-fun romp about the first long-con man in fantasy city. The
> setting is a take on Renaissance Venice, which is also a nice change.
> Much blood and revenge. This is a complete story but some plot threads
> carry forward into a (planned) long series.
An author and series to watch.
> Stross, Charles -- The Clan Corporate (The Merchant Princes, book 3)
>
> "Book 3" is all I can say. I suspect this series will read better all
> at once, but I have no self-control.
I was a bit disappointed in several aspects of this.
> Carey, Jacqueline -- Godslayer
>
> Conclusion to a two-parter which is intended as a trenchant criticism
> of Tolkien. To Carey's probable chagrin, the series fails as
> criticism/analysis, but succeeds pretty well as unashamed Tolkien
> imitation. Only with more sympathetic villains, which *is* nice.
Interesting for adding extra shades of grey to a Tolkien imitation,
but not nearly as well written as her Kushiel books.
> Brust, Steven -- Dzur
>
> Vlad finally gets a decent meal. This book does much to set up coming
> alarums and emergencies, but doesn't do a lot of plot advancement.
Not the best of the series, but I'll still buy him in hardcover.
> Sanderson, Brandon -- Mistborn
>
> This is the beginning of a series, but it
> does have a satisfying conclusion (yes, the confrontation with the
> Dark Lord, and guess how *that* goes? Wrong.)
Actually, the trilogy is named Mistborn; this book is _The Final
Empire_. The others will be _The Well of Ascension_ and _The Hero
of the Ages_, each focussing on a different magic system.
> Walton, Jo -- Farthing
Un-cosy mystery; start of a loose series (focussing on Carmichael)
called Still Life With Fascists.
> Caine, Rachel -- Firestorm (Weather Warden, book 5)
The first book was the most obvious Mary Sue I've ever read.
> Duncan, Hal -- Vellum
>
> However, I suspect it's a love-it-or-bored-by-it book.
Bounced.
> Keck, David -- In the Eye of Heaven
>
> Pleasant, but did not convince me I had to keep reading the series,
> particularly not in hardcover.
I bounced off this for some of the same reasons I don't like Gene
Wolfe.
> Pratchett, Terry -- Wintersmith
>
> typical Pratchett.
And therefore on my short "buy in hardcover list".
> Bujold, Lois McMaster -- Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, 1)
>
> More
> specifically, it's half a *Bujold* novel, so it has all the characters
> and the initial problem, but our heroes have not yet been dropped into
> the cacky. This gives it a bit of a Mercedes Lackey feel, but I have
> faith that the cacky is looming ahead.
I too hope for more fantasy and less romance in the second half.
> Hodgell, P. C. -- To Ride a Rathorn
>
> (Complaint: the book design is
> terrible, with a half-obscured cover title and internal maps at 72
> dpi.)
I think worse than 72 dpi; you can *count* the pixels on those maps.
Still, I encourage everyone to buy lots of copies so we don't have
to wait so long for the next one.
> Wrede, Patricia; Stevermer, Caroline -- The Mislaid Magician, or Ten
> Years After
>
> Returns to the epistolary form of _Sorcery and Cecelia._
Which is good all in itself; the format of _Grand Tour_ didn't work
at all.
> Hobb, Robin -- Shaman's Crossing [borrowed]
> Hobb, Robin -- Forest Mage [borrowed]
>
> Solid fantasy, and if I
> didn't come out the other side transfigured, I can at least say that
> all my predictions about where the plot was going were proven wrong.
I bounced off the second one when the protagonist started getting
possessed solely to advance the plot. Mind you, I didn't like him
much to begin with.
> Susanna Clarke -- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell [borrowed]
>
> It
> takes a few hundred pages to introduce a character who is not
> repulsive, and another few hundred before I started caring what
> happened to him. This does not seem like the best structure for a
> novel.
I gave up halfway through.
--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - - - email: gae...@aol.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
"I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."
-- James Nicoll
Andrew Plotkin
>
> Andrew Plotkin wrote:
>
> > Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
> >
> > Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> > by book three.
>
> I was tired of it after book one.
>
> > Levy, Jennifer; Danto, Arthur C. -- 397 Chairs
> >
> > More of my design-collecting fetish.
>
> Eh? Arthur C. Danto, the noted philosopher and art critic?
Don't know him. He seems to be present as the book's GoH, as it were
-- he writes a scholarly introduction, full of eloquent pipe-waving,
and then the book's editors get on with the content.
> Is this book about chairs, or is it sf, or both?
It's a collection of photographs of chairs.
> > Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
>
> > Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
> > Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
> > rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
> > down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
> > with me both ways.
>
> What--against smoking even pot? I thought Spider thought pot was a
> vitamin.
He's *for* people who want to smoke (pot or tobacco, but he spends
more time fulminating about tobacco restrictions). I don't think
possession or use of tobacco should be illegal per se, but restaurant
bans do not strike me as the end of good in human civilization, and
the idea that the very high smoking rates in third-world countries are
a social good which should be defended by international policy-makers
is dumb.
> > Carey, Jacqueline -- Godslayer
> >
> > Conclusion to a two-parter which is intended as a trenchant criticism
> > of Tolkien. To Carey's probable chagrin, the series fails as
> > criticism/analysis, but succeeds pretty well as unashamed Tolkien
> > imitation. Only with more sympathetic villains, which *is* nice.
>
> Um...not a good imitation of Tolkien. Not even close. VERY bad writing.
Not a *good imitation*, but it's a success *in the genre of*
Tolkien-clone fantasy. (A genre which includes, as a defining but not
detracting feature, being not as good as the original.)
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't thrown you in military prison without trial,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're patriotic.
Andrew Plotkin
> On Thu, 4 Jan 2007 23:41:15 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Plotkin
> <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>
> >Bear, Elizabeth -- Blood and Iron
> >
> >Modern urban fantasy turned up to 11: wizards with cellphones,
> >dragons, the Faerie Queens, immortal conspiracies, armies of trees.
> >It's war (human-vs-elf, light-elf-vs-dark, dragon-aiyee-run-away) but
> >Bear vindictively avoids taking sides. She is self-assured enough to
> >make all this satisfying for me, but you may disagree.
>
> I really really wanted to like this one. instead I kept putting it
> down and putting off picking it up again. I finally realized the
> Eight Deadly Words applied, and put it on my husbands TBR pile to see
> if he got on any better with it than I did. (So far he hasn't worked
> his way down to it.)
I've had friends hand it back to me and say "Well..." in that hesitant
tone of voice that makes me wonder if I'm an idiot. (Briefly.)
> I started GREYWALKER by our own Kat Richardson instead and greatly
> enjoyed that.
I read a couple of chapters of that and put it on my short list. But I
still have some of _Inda_ and all of _Soldier of Sidon_ to get through
before I can buy another book. Can't let the to-read pile reach
*three* books high...
(Pause while the newsgroup all draw their sabers.)
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't thrown you in military prison without trial,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're patriotic.
Dan Blum
> McKillip, Patricia A. -- Solstice Wood
> I like when McKillip does contemporary. I am told the sense of place
> is completely wrong for -- New England? (sorry, my copy may be
> unpacked yet but I'm not at home) -- in any case, I don't care. Mad
> characters are still sparkly and delightful against a modern backdrop.
The book this is supposed to be related to - Winter Rose - is my least
favorite McKillip. I didn't hate it, but it didn't do anything for me,
either. Given that, is it worth reading this?
> Jones, Diana Wynne -- The Pinhoe Egg
> Best Jones in a while, I'd say. Usual magical follies, but with a
> non-silly thread: the old grandma of the extended family is going
> senile and isn't competent to live on her own. But she's still the
> most powerful witch in the clan, and perfectly capable of making
> everybody's life hell. What now? This gets tangled with family feuds,
> old wars with the Little People, the usual crop of teenage wizards,
> and the Crestomanci (who for once doesn't know as much as he thinks he
> does). The tone is a little more uneven than Jones's best, but she's
> still got it.
While I enjoyed the book, I had the same issue with it I did
with Conrad's Fate, namely
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
that everything is resolved by Chrestomanci & Co. swooping in and solving
all the problems in short order. Which is a sensible thing for them to
do, given the opportunity, but it does make for a somewhat anticlimactic
ending. The problem was more noticeable here than in Conrad's Fate since
in the latter people had gotten in rather worse trouble before the cavalry
rode over the hill, so there was more dramatic tension.
The endings of the earlier Chrestomanci books were better, so Jones can
certainly manage to produce decent endings in this milieu - I hope she
does so next time. In any case, it's still a fun read.
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."
Kat R
> In article <enk6dt$ipb$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
> Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>> Here, James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> I heard vaguely about that. I'm small-minded enough to stop reading an
>> author's books for his behavior in online fora I inhabit, but when
>> it happens totally out of my sight, I will ignore it.
>
> The author wasn't involved.
>
>>> (Or rather, I can understand why someone might make the claim that
>>> they did why about reviews of this book in particular?).
>> Your grammar sleep furiously.
>
> Why is it if I skip a word, it either destroys the sentence or
> reverses its meaning?
>
It's that nasty, nasty English language waiting to take its revenge on
you for saying it beat up other languages in dark alleys.
--
Kat Richardson
Greywalker (Roc, 2006)
Website: http://www.katrichardson.com/
Bloggery: http://katrich.wordpress.com/
Kat R
...
>> Bear, Elizabeth -- Blood and Iron
>>
>> Modern urban fantasy turned up to 11: wizards with cellphones,
>> dragons, the Faerie Queens, immortal conspiracies, armies of trees.
>> It's war (human-vs-elf, light-elf-vs-dark, dragon-aiyee-run-away) but
>> Bear vindictively avoids taking sides. She is self-assured enough to
>> make all this satisfying for me, but you may disagree.
>
>
> I really really wanted to like this one. instead I kept putting it
> down and putting off picking it up again. I finally realized the
> Eight Deadly Words applied, and put it on my husbands TBR pile to see
> if he got on any better with it than I did. (So far he hasn't worked
> his way down to it.) I started GREYWALKER by our own Kat Richardson
> instead and greatly enjoyed that.
*tips hat* Thankee.
I'm frustrated with that book, myself. I think Bear's a better
craftsman than I am by far, but I just can't care about the characters
or the story. I feel bad....
James Nicoll
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>
>> > Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
>>
>> > Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
>> > Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
>> > rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
>> > down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
>> > with me both ways.
>>
>> What--against smoking even pot? I thought Spider thought pot was a
>> vitamin.
>
>He's *for* people who want to smoke (pot or tobacco, but he spends
>more time fulminating about tobacco restrictions). I don't think
>possession or use of tobacco should be illegal per se, but restaurant
>bans do not strike me as the end of good in human civilization, and
>the idea that the very high smoking rates in third-world countries are
>a social good which should be defended by international policy-makers
>is dumb.
Googling leads me to believe he has kicked tobacco. Is this
not the case?
Andrew Plotkin
> Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> >
> >> > Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
> >>
> >> > Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
> >> > Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
> >> > rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
> >> > down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
> >> > with me both ways.
> >>
> >> What--against smoking even pot? I thought Spider thought pot was a
> >> vitamin.
> >
> >He's *for* people who want to smoke (pot or tobacco, but he spends
> >more time fulminating about tobacco restrictions). I don't think
> >possession or use of tobacco should be illegal per se, but restaurant
> >bans do not strike me as the end of good in human civilization, and
> >the idea that the very high smoking rates in third-world countries are
> >a social good which should be defended by international policy-makers
> >is dumb.
>
> Googling leads me to believe he has kicked tobacco. Is this
> not the case?
I haven't heard. He seems to think people should be able to decide
whether to smoke or not (which I agree with), and also that standing
next to a smoker is not smoking and not a matter anybody should
complain about (which I, er, don't.)
Note: I have now paraphrased several opinions of Spider Robinson from
a book I read nearly a year ago. If my memory sucks, or if I was
reading prejudicially and thus have my head up my ass, I welcome
correction.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
You don't become a tyranny by committing torture. If you plan for torture,
argue in favor of torture, set up legal justifications for torturing
someday, then the moral rot has *already* set in.
Tim McDaniel
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> For the record, I liked LIES and while I was paid to say
>that, I would have been paid exactly the same amount for saying I
>hated it.
I think it would be better and more accurate (though less
entertaining) for you to say that you were paid for your time and to
express your honest opinion.
<http://groups.google.com/group/alt.folklore.urban/browse_thread/thread/bbfb5dcc9b2872cc/b8c5aeed4486edcf?#b8c5aeed4486edcf>
touches on the expert witness.
From: Charles Wm. Dimmick - view profile
Date: Mon, Dec 24 2001 9:05 pm
Email: "Charles Wm. Dimmick" <cdimm...@snet.net>
Groups: alt.folklore.urban
Rick Tyler wrote:
> I was impressed with the incredible detail of the questioning
> and the testimony. Watching the attornies question their expert
> witnesses in the civil trial was especially entertaining.
>
> "My client is paying you to testify, isn't he?"
Read our book "The Geologist as Expert Witness". [American
Institute of Professonal Geologists, Westminster, Colorado]
L. "You are being paid for your testimony, aren't you?"
W. "No, I am being paid for my time."
L. "And how much are you being paid?"
W. "....an hour" [be sure to answer this question honestly and
without hesitation]
L. "Isn't that an awful lot of money for your time?"
W. "Perhaps, but that is what my time is worth."
> "You would testify for anyone who paid you, wouldn't you?"
"If I could do so without compromising my ethics, yes."
> And these questions were by the attorney who hired the expert
> witness. I guess the idea is to drag out all the bad things
> about the witness yourself before it comes out in cross
> examination.
...
> I mean, I loathe FIREFLY but I don't think reviewers are being
>paid to like it. I can imagine people who disagree with me -- indeed,
>I am given evidence every day that this is possible -- without
>needing some shadowy conspiracy, perhaps involving the Masons or the
>heathen Chinese, to explain it.
"The heathen Chinee" appears to be the more usual spelling. -- Did
you realize that Chinese, perhaps heathen, are prominent in _Firefly_?
--
Tim McDaniel, tm...@panix.com
James Nicoll
Tim McDaniel <tm...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <enkhbe$4t2$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>> For the record, I liked LIES and while I was paid to say
>>that, I would have been paid exactly the same amount for saying I
>>hated it.
>
>> I mean, I loathe FIREFLY but I don't think reviewers are being
>>paid to like it. I can imagine people who disagree with me -- indeed,
>>I am given evidence every day that this is possible -- without
>>needing some shadowy conspiracy, perhaps involving the Masons or the
>>heathen Chinese, to explain it.
>
>"The heathen Chinee" appears to be the more usual spelling. -- Did
>you realize that Chinese, perhaps heathen, are prominent in _Firefly_?
If by "prominent" you mean "largely absent" then yes, I
am aware of this.
As I recall, Whedon fell back on the Redford Defense:
Q: Well that bridge has been burned. In the universe of Serenity, Chinese
is spoken, Chinese is a general influence but there are no Chinese people.
Whedon: It kind of happened that way. We auditioned Asian actors. We
auditioned pretty much every race for every role. Including for Simon
after we cast River. She looks kind of Asian, and they could be half
brother and sister. It was just how it worked out. And then some people
have been offended by that, but ultimately the cast is fairly multi-racial
and absolutely the people who are supposed to be playing those parts, so
what are you going to do?
Q: Is there like a nerdly explanation, like the Chinese superpower is
in another part of the solar system?
Whedon: No, I don't have a fan wank for you there.
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=interviews&id=4389
Apparently there weren't many Asian actors intersted in working as extras
either.
BTW, I appreciate that looking for the above led me to this defense
of the lack of Asians in FIREFLY:
"I could also go into how Inara Serra is a Buddhist, but hey, why ?? a point."
http://www.onlinepokercenter.com/blogs/poker_addict/2005/10/objects_in_space_asians_in_jos.html
This may be related to the bleaching effect of pre-late 1970s Mormonism*:
become a Buddhist and become an honorary Asian.
* You want to google for "curse of the Laminites".
Andrew Plotkin
> Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> > McKillip, Patricia A. -- Solstice Wood
>
> > I like when McKillip does contemporary. I am told the sense of place
> > is completely wrong for -- New England? (sorry, my copy may be
> > unpacked yet but I'm not at home) -- in any case, I don't care. Mad
> > characters are still sparkly and delightful against a modern backdrop.
>
> The book this is supposed to be related to - Winter Rose - is my least
> favorite McKillip. I didn't hate it, but it didn't do anything for me,
> either. Given that, is it worth reading this?
Yes. Winter Rose is near the bottom of my list, too.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
It's a nice distinction to tell American soldiers (and Iraqis) to die in
Iraq for the sake of democracy (ignoring the question of whether it's
*working*) and then whine that "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
rayc...@hotmail.com
> Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
>
> Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> by book three. Fforde should have put the ending (which was cute) at
> the end of book 2 and gotten on with something else.
I enjoyed this onemore than you I think, but thought it was time to
stop the series.
> Gaiman, Neil -- Anansi Boys
>
> Charming and moves right along, which means Gaiman has avoided all the
> reasons I disliked _American Gods._ Still has all the good parts of
> _American Gods_ -- plus funny -- so, basically, read this
Highly recommended. I thought it was much better than American Gods.
> MacLeod, Ken -- Learning the World
>
> Full of entertaining bits, and things happen, but I'm not sure there's
> a story
I thought this was excellant....I like MacLeod since it seems he can
write small self contained books. It was actually my favorite among
the Hugo nominees.
> Wilson, Robert Charles -- Spin
>
> Stomped all over the 2006 awards, because it's good. Today's reason
> for all the stars going out is that Earth is in a time bubble.
> Therefore, we get to experience the grand vision of the future in one
> generation of viewpoint: terraforming, alien human civilizations, the
> death of the Solar System. This works fantastically well, and I only
> wonder why nobody has done it before... oh, right, Stapledon and that
> Sheffield one. Wilson must be a good writer or something.
I like this one a lot. While it wasn't my favorite, I did like it
enought that I didn't have a problem with it winning the Hugo.
>
> Vinge, Vernor -- Rainbows End
>
> Lots of cool stuff, but not quite satisfying. Big flashy ending...
> well, you'd call it big if you hadn't seen Vinge turn off stars and
> steamroll galactic civilizations in his previous books. Which is an
> unfair comparison; this is a near-future piece. My point is, it's a
> big flashy ending that doesn't seem to resolve very much. Feels like
> Vinge wanted the big and the flashy but didn't really have an ending
> in mind, so he threw fireworks onto some plot elements and called it a
> day.
It did feel somehow uncomplete...but still really cool. Lets hope that
we don't have to wait so long for his next book.
> Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
>
> Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
> Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
> rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
> down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
> with me both ways.
I agree, it seemed very uneven to me, with a lot of the essays not
worth skimming.
> Reynolds, Alastair -- Pushing Ice
>
> Stand-alone novel about engineers. An Alien Artifact Enters the System
> and only our hero comet-drillers can reach it. They then have
> arguments. Reynolds makes a creditable (but not very convincing)
> attempt at having the backbone of his story be the rivalry between two
> women, both of whom (being engineers) are sure they know how to deal
> with everything. The coolness of the alien artifact covers the cracks.
>
I think this might be Reynolds' best novel yet, but I didn't really buy
the behavior of the two women. I could see perhaps one character being
so petty, but to have two seems streching things.
> Stross, Charles -- Glasshouse
>
> Post-scarcity post-humans volunteer for a cripplingly primitive
> lifestyle experiment: mid-20th-century Earth. Experiment turns out to
> be More Than It Seems. Stross is down off the pure-idea buzz of
> _Accelerando_, but this social commentary isn't incisive enough to be
> a replacement. Fortunately, the plot holds up adequately.
Enjoyed this one a lot. Much more of a novel than Accelerando.
>
> Stross, Charles -- The Clan Corporate (The Merchant Princes, book 3)
>
> "Book 3" is all I can say. I suspect this series will read better all
> at once, but I have no self-control.
A little disappointed in the cliff hanging endings of these, but still
looking forward to where Stross is going with this.
> Walton, Jo -- Farthing
>
> 1940s British country-house murder mystery, with political
> complications. Excellently narrated by two very different characters.
> I've read too many reviews of this to believe that you haven't read
> any, so I'll stop there.
Read and enjoyed.
> Powers, Tim -- Three Days to Never
>
> Better than the worst Powers. I think it's not as good as his best,
> but I thought that about _Last Call_ and then changed my mind after a
> couple of rereads. I will reread this and decide then. In any case,
> it's got ghosts, Einstein, time machines, Charlie Chaplin, and the
> weirdness locus that is Hollywood.
Not my favorite (mine remains Last Call), but still good Powers.
> Nagata, Linda -- Memory
>
> Epic quest on a world of magic, only the magic is out-of-control
> nanotech. (Nagata does this much, much better than Chalker.) The
> society is carefully thought out, not made of stupid people, and quite
> a bit stranger than your fantasy goggles lead you to assume.
>
I skipped this, though most the of the Nagata I've read I've enjoyed.
Maybe I should get a copy to check out.
> Schroeder, Karl -- Sun of Suns
>
> Space pirates! Okay, freefall pirates in a giant air-bubble. All of
> Schroeder's usual care for social constructions (when every state is a
> rag-tag fleet of floating platforms around a hand-tended fusion sun,
> what is the ecology of nations?) plus fleet engagements, revenge, a
> voyage of discovery into a lost world, a kid growing up, ancient
> technology, adventure, and maybe a little bit of true love. There will
> be sequels, which I am happy about.
Very happy that he's planning sequels. I like this a lot, and thought
it was the best of his that I've read so far.
> Stross, Charles -- The Jennifer Morgue
>
> More "Bob Howard" spycraft-and-Cthulhiana. Writing these is clearly
> more fun for Stross than a bucket of kittens, and so reading is too.
> (Did you catch that the protagonist's initials are "BOFH"?) This one
> goes consciously towards the gonzo-spy end of the spectrum, so the
> lurking horrors are a little shortchanged. Nonetheless, terrific.
I mentioned in another thread how much I like this. I thought it was
better than The Atrocity Archives...and it had a wonderful cover.
> Bear, Elizabeth -- Carnival
>
> I didn't like _Hammered_ much, but Bear has gotten much better at
> dropping in vast swathes of background without stopping the story dead
> at the outset. This is a standalone in which a not-very-admirable
> Terran empire is taking back a bunch of emancipated colonies (which
> are not necessarily that admirable either). One colony is More Than It
> Seems. It's a character story on top of politics on top of culture
> clash, and all of these levels are well-done.
I read Hammered and it's sequels, and remain unsure of whether I want
to continue trying Bear. I thought they were good books, but could
have been condensed somewhat (though maybe it was a case of the books
having too much going on?). I'm not interested in trying her fantasy
work, but need to decide if Carnival is worth checking out.
> Duane, Diane -- The Empty Chair (Star Trek)
>
> Wrap-up of the highly-spread-out Rihannsu ("Romulan") series -- Duane
> started it in the first era of Trek novelizing. The characters are all
> smart, smart renditions of the classic Trek cast -- which is
> tremendously satisfying to read. Unfortunately, they don't *talk* like
> the classic cast, which is somewhat disappointing. I mean, Duane's
> Kirk is a great captain and her McCoy is a great doctor and so on; I
> just can't imagine Shatner or Kelley saying these lines. Nonethless,
> we get a big windup for the Rihannsu, with some great moments, and a
> bit of clever chamfering to fit this continuity in with the canonical
> TNG view of the Romulans.
I'll have to read this...Duane's been one of the few Trek novelists
that I will still pick up (in my youth I had a bad habit of reading all
of them...)
> Susanna Clarke -- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell [borrowed]
>
> I started reading this in mid-December, which more or less blew out
> the rest of the year (which is why I didn't get to the Wolfe). It
> takes a few hundred pages to introduce a character who is not
> repulsive, and another few hundred before I started caring what
> happened to him. This does not seem like the best structure for a
> novel. And Clarke's consummate control of tone is not apparent until
> the going gets very fey and strange -- at which point you realize that
> all the dry fustiness is deliberate -- at which point you wonder why
> she worked so hard to make her novel dislikeable. But I eventually
> wound up intrigued by the history of English magic, mostly revealed in
> footnotes, which is much stranger than the quasi-historical setting at
> first implies.
I think I must have had a free break in my time, since I was able to
plow into this without feeling bored with the begining. I thought it
was remarkable acheivement, but doubt that I would read a lot more of
her work.
Tim McDaniel
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <enlsip$akq$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
>Tim McDaniel <tm...@panix.com> wrote:
>>"The heathen Chinee" appears to be the more usual spelling. -- Did
>>you realize that Chinese, perhaps heathen, are prominent in _Firefly_?
>
> If by "prominent" you mean "largely absent" then yes, I
>am aware of this.
*sigh* Well taken. "Language and elements of traditional Chinese
culture", perhaps?
--
Tim McDaniel, tm...@panix.com
Randy Money
are, in no particular order, and with some comments.
John Collier, _Fancies and Goodnights_
Fine collection of short stories. Collier was a mainstream writer -- his
work appeared regularly in The New Yorker, among other 'slick' magazines
-- who really wrote fantasy, horror and mystery/crime. "Back for
Christmas" and "Bottle Party" are still pleasantly cynical stories even
though I've read them numerous times. "Evening Primrose" is probably the
most emotionally charged story in the collection, and quite powerful.
The revelation for me was "Bird of Prey," a horror story with a powerful
sting at the end.
M.R. James, _Collected Ghost Stories_ & _Casting the Runes and Other
Stories_
Finished in December 2006, though I read about 2/3s of it in December
2004. James is the name usually mentioned when the subject of ghost
stories is raised. He wrote elegantly and concisely, creating some fine
examples of what he called a "pleasing terror," notably, "Casting the
Runes," "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad," and "Count Magus."
Peter Beagle, _The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche_
Beagle has one of the most charming authoral voices I've ever come
across, and it's displayed well in the fiction and non-fiction in this
collection. Two of the stories, "Come Lady Death" and "Lila the
Werewolf" are modern fantasy classics, and "Professor Gottsman and the
Indian Rhinoceros" seems to be heading toward classic status.
Christopher Priest, _The Prestige_
A good novel of character mixed with a strong evocation of time and
place, and woven with an examination of the doppelganger trope; the
magicians in this keep spurring each other to excel and the glory and
the price (personal as well as professional) of that are both apparent
as the story progresses. I bogged down a bit at the beginning of the
fourth section, but whether that was the book or me at the time, I'm not
really sure. I hope to read more of his work this year; _The Glamour_
sits on the TBR pile.
Sean Stewart, _Resurrection Man_
I liked this novel and wanted to like it more than I did. In this, the
world is roughly contemporary with our own but magic has been seeping
back into it since the end of WWII. It's a tremendously promising
premise, very neatly woven into the human story Stewart tells, but there
was something -- maybe in the texturing; it's not as evocative as, say,
Priest's novel -- that was lacking. I'd still recommend it, but with
reservations.
Jack Williamson, _Darker Than You Think_
1940s fun. There are some story conventions of the time that feel creaky
now, but not many. I can see why it's included in many fantasy and
horror lists, but it does depend on your tolerance for '40s pulp fiction.
Albert Sanchez Pinol, _Cold Skin_
CS is interesting rather than entertaining or engrossing. I recommend
it, but I suspect milage will vary greatly as to its worth. Two
lighthouse keepers try to fend off attacking sea creatures. It's a bit
of William Hope Hodgson mixed with Joseph Conrad, and a bit more
self-serious than it earns the right to be.
Lord Dunsany, _Fifty-One Tales_
This was fun, but as with so much of Dunsany's fiction I found I forgot
the stories almost as soon as I read them.
Douglas Clegg, _Mischief_
Fulfills genre (horror) expectations, but I felt Clegg had hold of
something that could have resulted in a fuller, denser novel. That said,
I am interested in seeing what Clegg does with the setting in his other
stories.
Two mystery/crime novels that may or may not be of interest in rasfw:
George V. Higgins, _The Friends of Eddie Coyle_
Michael Chabon, _The Final Solution_
Higgins has a terrific grasp of dialog and I'm amazed how he can propel
his story with it.
As for the Chabon ... I thought this would be the second year in a row
where my favorite reads were story collections until I read _The Final
Solution_. It's a wonderful Holmesian homage that deftly explores the
physical disintegration and the loss of confidence physicially and
mentally that accompanies aging even for the exceptional people among
us. It's short at only 130 pabes in hardcover, but I highly recommend it.
Randy M.
KM
> next to a smoker is not smoking and not a matter anybody should
> complain about (which I, er, don't.)
>
Perhaps not technically, but I don't want THEIR cancer - and imposing the
"choice" on me is both rude, inconsiderate and a health risk.
Kat
*a pet hate, as you might guess*
James Nicoll
Tim McDaniel <tm...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <enlu82$guf$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>>In article <enlsip$akq$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
>>Tim McDaniel <tm...@panix.com> wrote:
>>>"The heathen Chinee" appears to be the more usual spelling. -- Did
>>>you realize that Chinese, perhaps heathen, are prominent in _Firefly_?
>>
>> If by "prominent" you mean "largely absent" then yes, I
>>am aware of this.
>
>*sigh* Well taken. "Language and elements of traditional Chinese
>culture", perhaps?
A few words and elements of Chinese culture as imagined
by a guy in Southern California.
David M. Palmer
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> And now, my list of all the books I bought in 2006 (plus a few that I
> borrowed, or bought earlier and didn't get to until 2006).
> Wilson, Robert Charles -- Spin
>
> Stomped all over the 2006 awards, because it's good. Today's reason
> for all the stars going out is that Earth is in a time bubble.
You seem to be Scalziless. _Old_Man's_War_ is what _Spin_ had to stomp
over to get its awards. Oh, and I see _Accelerando_ also has
bootprints--I thought it was the previous year. Whatever, it was a
good year.
Does anybody else see anything obvious missing?
--
David M. Palmer dmpa...@email.com (formerly @clark.net, @ematic.com)
Ken from Chicago
"Kat R" <null....@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:CpSdnfDvFP01kwPY...@comcast.com...
Why don't you care abotu GREYWALKER characters? Are you, as author, too
close to the source? It didn't do what you *planned* on doing which we as
readers wouldn't know since we've only seen the end-product?
-- Ken from Chicago
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <enk3ar$kmd$1...@reader2.panix.com>, Andrew Plotkin
> <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>
> > And now, my list of all the books I bought in 2006 (plus a few that I
> > borrowed, or bought earlier and didn't get to until 2006).
>
> > Wilson, Robert Charles -- Spin
> >
> > Stomped all over the 2006 awards, because it's good. Today's reason
> > for all the stars going out is that Earth is in a time bubble.
>
> You seem to be Scalziless. _Old_Man's_War_ is what _Spin_ had to stomp
> over to get its awards. Oh, and I see _Accelerando_ also has
> bootprints--I thought it was the previous year. Whatever, it was a
> good year.
I am currently Scalziless. I read OMW in its original electronic
release, and thought it was good fun. When I heard it was being
published, I planned to buy it; but I've been in a low-income
situation for a while, so I was going to wait for the mass-market
paperback. I understand this has now arrived. I have not yet been to a
bookstore this year. :)
The rest of his books are also on my list, but backed up behind OMW.
(I'm not pretending this makes sense; it's just how it came out.)
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
"Bush has kept America safe from terrorism since 9/11." Too bad his
job was to keep America safe *on* 9/11.
Gene Ward Smith
> > I'm frustrated with that book, myself. I think Bear's a better craftsman
> > than I am by far, but I just can't care about the characters or the story.
> > I feel bad....
> Why don't you care abotu GREYWALKER characters? Are you, as author, too
> close to the source? It didn't do what you *planned* on doing which we as
> readers wouldn't know since we've only seen the end-product?
I thought the craftmanship was just fine. I do wonder about this epxert
knowledge of "the grey" and "greywalkers" two of the characters had,
which didn't seem to have much of a source. It's not as if this is the
standard lore about the astral plane.
Daphne Brinkerhoff
Ken from Chicago wrote:
> "Kat R" <null....@lycos.com> wrote in message
> news:CpSdnfDvFP01kwPY...@comcast.com...
> > Elaine Thompson wrote:
> > ...
> >>> Bear, Elizabeth -- Blood and Iron
> >>>
> >>> Modern urban fantasy turned up to 11: wizards with cellphones,
> >>> dragons, the Faerie Queens, immortal conspiracies, armies of trees.
> >>> It's war (human-vs-elf, light-elf-vs-dark, dragon-aiyee-run-away) but
> >>> Bear vindictively avoids taking sides. She is self-assured enough to
> >>> make all this satisfying for me, but you may disagree.
> >>
> >>
> >> I really really wanted to like this one. instead I kept putting it
> >> down and putting off picking it up again. I finally realized the
> >> Eight Deadly Words applied, and put it on my husbands TBR pile to see
> >> if he got on any better with it than I did. (So far he hasn't worked
> >> his way down to it.) I started GREYWALKER by our own Kat Richardson
> >> instead and greatly enjoyed that.
> >
> > *tips hat* Thankee.
> >
> > I'm frustrated with that book, myself. I think Bear's a better craftsman
> > than I am by far, but I just can't care about the characters or the story.
> > I feel bad....
> >
> > --
> > Kat Richardson
>
> close to the source? It didn't do what you *planned* on doing which we as
> readers wouldn't know since we've only seen the end-product?
I read her post as saying "I'm frustrated with that book [Bear's]
myself. I think Bear's a better craftsman than I am by far, but I just
can't care about the characters or the story [in Bear's book]. I feel
bad...."
That is, "Bear's a better author than I am but I don't like her book."
--
Daphne
John Fairhurst
news:enk3ar$kmd$1...@reader2.panix.com...
> And now, my list of all the books I bought in 2006 (plus a few that I
> borrowed, or bought earlier and didn't get to until 2006).
>
>
>
> Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
>
> Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> by book three. Fforde should have put the ending (which was cute) at
We read one of the Fforde books for our SF reading group, but I couldn't get
into it, and never felt any desire to try any others - possibly a hazard of
reading one part way through the series, but this is a consistant problem
with our reading group - getting enough copies of a particular book to go
around.
> Broderick, Damien -- Godplayers
> Broderick, Damien -- K-Machines
>
> Broderick has a crush on Zelazny's Amber series. If you do too, re-read
> Amber.
>
The Corwin Ambers books are rereadable.
Unfortunately, the Merlin ones aren't.
> Norton, Andre -- Sargasso of Space
> Norton, Andre -- The Zero Stone
>
> Saw these cheap, so I bought them. I read them when I was eight, just
> like you did. I was surprised how little I remembered of _The Zero
> Stone,_ but it turns out it was good.
>
Norton was an early influence, but I was 12 when I found her, and I have to
admit, 41 when I read _Sargasso of Space_... :-)
>
> Novik, Naomi -- Black Powder War
>
> Third book. (But not the end of a trilogy. These books are reasonably
> self-contained, but the series plot-line shows no sign of ending.) In
> case you're the last Temeraire fan to fear, Peter Jackson optioned
> this for a movie. Note that "optioned" is a long way from "making it",
> especially if _Eragon_ drives the dragon movie market into a sinkhole
> and then pees on it with the fury of a thousand once-burned studio
> executives.
>
I'm trying to think of a movie that's got dragons in it that hasn't stunk?
> Stross, Charles -- The Clan Corporate (The Merchant Princes, book 3)
>
> "Book 3" is all I can say. I suspect this series will read better all
> at once, but I have no self-control.
>
I read book two and three one after the other and I found three to be, um, a
bit of a mess...
> Bujold, Lois McMaster -- Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, 1)
>
> I still think Bujold was watching "Firefly" the whole time she was
> writing the dialogue for this. Explicitly New-World-settlers fantasy,
> with small towns of farmers and nomadic tribes. Only the nomads are a
> distributed military culture dedicated to hunting down "malices"
> (demons). Our heroine falls in with one of them, and then -- the
> smoochies. There is a certain amount of "nomads good; farmers idiots",
> but shades of grey do creep in eventually. This is half a novel. More
> specifically, it's half a *Bujold* novel, so it has all the characters
> and the initial problem, but our heroes have not yet been dropped into
> the cacky. This gives it a bit of a Mercedes Lackey feel, but I have
> faith that the cacky is looming ahead.
>
I'm really, really worried about starting a new Bujold series; I would hate
to be disappointed after Vorkosigan and Chalion.
> Duane, Diane -- The Empty Chair (Star Trek)
>
> Wrap-up of the highly-spread-out Rihannsu ("Romulan") series -- Duane
> started it in the first era of Trek novelizing. The characters are all
> smart, smart renditions of the classic Trek cast -- which is
> tremendously satisfying to read. Unfortunately, they don't *talk* like
> the classic cast, which is somewhat disappointing. I mean, Duane's
> Kirk is a great captain and her McCoy is a great doctor and so on; I
> just can't imagine Shatner or Kelley saying these lines. Nonethless,
> we get a big windup for the Rihannsu, with some great moments, and a
> bit of clever chamfering to fit this continuity in with the canonical
> TNG view of the Romulans.
>
I really liked Duane's Rihannsu, rather a pity ST:TNG didn't go with her
visualisation. I entirely agree with your comments regarding the differences
between her TOS crew and the ones I recall from the TV series and the films.
Hmm, I think I'm going to count myself lucky to have actually heard of some
of the authors on these lists
--
John Fairhurst
http://www.johnsboks.co.uk
jo...@johnsbooks.co.uk
Aaron Bergman
> Palmatier, Joshua -- The Broken Throne
>
> Book two of fantasy series that I'm pretty pleased with. Our heroine
> is now a figure of power in the city. She still carries her knife, but
> now she has problems that can't be solved by stabbing: magic, famine,
> barbarian invaders, corrupt merchants, and her questionably-gruntled
> predecessor. She copes.
I liked the first book a fair bit, but for this one I couldn't shake the
feeling that I've read this book before. Many, many times.
> Hobb, Robin -- Shaman's Crossing [borrowed]
> Hobb, Robin -- Forest Mage [borrowed]
>
> As the person said whom I borrowed these from: "Robin Hobb has pretty
> much figured out how to end a novel now." Solid fantasy, and if I
> didn't come out the other side transfigured, I can at least say that
> all my predictions about where the plot was going were proven wrong.
> Will be -- okay, borrowing -- the conclusion of the trilogy when it
> appears.
The second book was tremendously frustrating. I understand Hobb's point
about being out of control of one's life and actions, but it just isn't
particularly pleasant to read about a protagonist who can't do anything
to affect anything.
Aaron
Konrad Gaertner
>
> I'm trying to think of a movie that's got dragons in it that hasn't stunk?
"Dragonslayer" (1981) was pretty good, wasn't it?
http://imdb.com/title/tt0082288/
Peter D. Tillman
"John Fairhurst" <jo...@johnsbooks.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
> >
> > Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> > by book three. Fforde should have put the ending (which was cute) at
>
> We read one of the Fforde books for our SF reading group, but I couldn't get
> into it, and never felt any desire to try any others - possibly a hazard of
> reading one part way through the series, but this is a consistant problem
> with our reading group - getting enough copies of a particular book to go
> around.
You may want to try again with the first, THE EYRE AFFAIR. Exceptionally
well done. Usual humor caveats apply.
Have a look for Rich Horton's review, here or at
http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
_Richard III_ staged like _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ is worth the
price of admission:
There was a moment's pause and then the curtains re-opened,
revealing Richard at the side of the stage. He limped up and down
the boards, eyeing the audience malevolently past a perticularly
ugly prosthetic nose.
"Ham!" yelled someone at the back.
Richard opened his mouth to speak and the whole audience erupted in
unison:
"When is the winter of our discontent?"
"Now," replied Richard with a cruel smile, "is the winter of our
discontent..."
A cheer went up to the chandeliers high in the ceiling. The play
had begun. Landen and I cheered with them. Richard III was one of
those plays that could repeal the law of diminishing returns; it
could be enjoyed over and over again.
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
art...@yahoo.com
Peter D. Tillman wrote:
> In article <rTaoh.12096$696....@newsfe7-win.ntli.net>,
> "John Fairhurst" <jo...@johnsbooks.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > >
> > > Fforde, Jasper -- Something Rotten
> > >
> > > Was this the fourth one? It was okay, but I was tired of this series
> > > by book three. Fforde should have put the ending (which was cute) at
> >
> > We read one of the Fforde books for our SF reading group, but I couldn't get
> > into it, and never felt any desire to try any others - possibly a hazard of
> > reading one part way through the series, but this is a consistant problem
> > with our reading group - getting enough copies of a particular book to go
> > around.
>
> You may want to try again with the first, THE EYRE AFFAIR. Exceptionally
> well done. Usual humor caveats apply.
It took me a while to get into The Eyre Affair, but I am glad I stuck
with it. Too British? maybe, though I didn't have that problem with A
Hitchhikers Guide. I t would have helped if I had read Bronte though. I
am having a similar problem with Good Omens, but I will stick with it
(Too Brit?)
Mike Schilling
"Peter D. Tillman" <Til...@toast.net_DIESPAMMERSDIE> wrote in message
news:Tillman-08FD8E...@sn-radius.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net...
> You may want to try again with the first, THE EYRE AFFAIR. Exceptionally
> well done. Usual humor caveats apply.
>
> Have a look for Rich Horton's review, here or at
> http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
>
> _Richard III_ staged like _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ is worth the
> price of admission:
Agreed, but I found the second one to be far too much of the same, and have
no intention to read the third.
Joe Bednorz
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>And now, my list of all the books I bought in 2006 (plus a few that I
>borrowed, or bought earlier and didn't get to until 2006).
>
>
>
>Knight, Damon (ed.) -- Orbit 18
>
>Contains "Rules of Moopsball". Also, as it turns out, a story that was
>expanded into _The Memory of Whiteness_, but the Moopsball piece is the
>one that will live in fannishness forever.
"Rules of Moopsball" by Gary Cohn
<http://www.eblong.com/zarf/moopsball/index.html>
"Transcribed to HTML in 2005 by Andrew Plotkin. This Web edition is
presented with the author's kind permission. Please do not reprint or
redistribute without permission."
>Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
>
>Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
>Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
>rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
>down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
>with me both ways.
Spider Robinson recently posted to alt.fan.heinlein:
<http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.heinlein/browse_thread/thread/328a052807bd1bb5/4842193cc465e8f3?hl=en&>
>
>Gaiman, Neil -- Fragile Things
>
>Collection of stories, of which I think I'd seen nearly all before.
>But if you don't have a copy of "A Study in Emerald", this is a good
>place to get it.
It's available for free download as a PDF from Neil Gaiman's site:
<http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/shortstories/>
>
>Tufte, Edward R. -- Beautiful Evidence
>
>A collection of essays related only by Tufte's interest in design.
>This has the "sparklines" essay, the "PowerPoint suxxors" essay, and
>one on how to mount garden sculpture.
>
"PowerPoint is Evil" by Edward Tufte.
<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html>
"PowerPoint Does Rocket Science" by Edward Tufte.
<http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1>
--
Index to free SF: <http://www.mindspring.com/~jbednorz/Free/>. The
Thunder Child's SF links to Project Gutenberg, Baen Free Library and
CDs, the Sci-Fi Channel's archive of classic & original SF & more.
All the best, Joe Bednorz
John M. Gamble
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>
> C.M. Morrison implied that the positive reviews of LIES were
>subsidized [1] and that reviewers who said they liked it were therefore
>lying lie-pants who were on the take and not honest. For some reason,
>this didn't go over all that well with the reviewers who liked LIES.
>
Well, except that she didn't. It's a one-line throwaway comment,
clearly not meant to be taken as a call for a congressional
investigation into literary payola.
I'm still bemused by the fact that a reviewer took it personally, and then
wildly responded to it. We've seen what happens when writers respond to
bad reviews; this was not far different.
[snip about the merits of the book]
>1: http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2006/06/the_lies_of_loc.shtml
>
>"Just like everyone else, I am rather suspicious of hype. As soon as I
>hear something is the best new thing ever I start to wonder what's wrong
>with it. Sometimes, as in the case of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,
>the praise seems warranted. Far more often I want to know how the reviewer
>was bribed to tell me such lies. Which brings me to The Lies of Locke
>Lamora, a book awash in buildup."
Yep, and then she goes on to review the book in the fashion of Damon
Knight's "Half-Bad Writers".
Now, yes, she didn't like the book. She didn't like the book so much that
she went into a style of rhetoric that many people don't like (I'm not
thrilled about it myself). But that's about as far as one can go with it.
--
-john
February 28 1997: Last day libraries could order catalogue cards
from the Library of Congress.
Peter D. Tillman
Joe Bednorz <inv...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> >Robinson, Spider -- The Crazy Years
> >
> >Spider is now a grumpy old guy. This is a collection of grumpy essays.
> >Once or twice he slips into telling an anecdote, and the readability
> >rockets up, but then he goes back to grump. It doesn't help that he's
> >down on the Internet and up on people who want to smoke, scoring zero
> >with me both ways.
>
> Spider Robinson recently posted to alt.fan.heinlein:
> <http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.heinlein/browse_thread/thread/328a0528
> 07bd1bb5/4842193cc465e8f3?hl=en&>
[Spider pimps his Heinlein-outline novel, um, VARIABLE STAR]
Actually, I just read the thing, and after the clumsy-retro opening,
it's pretty good, if *very* slight. I couldn't even remember the
*title*, and I just read it 2 wks ago. Seldom a good sign.
DEFINITELY not Hugo-quality material, fersure.
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
--
Canadian Terrorism Alert:
In the middle of a crowd booing Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien,
a man was arrested, apparently only because he was holding a slice of
pie (since a protester had once hit Chretien with a pie).
[Vancouver Globe and Mail, 8-1-02]
Andrew Plotkin
>
> Smith, Sherwood -- Inda
>
> I am only halfway into this, due to disruptions of my reading schedule
> (see below). Smith does big feudal politics (politics is this year's
> theme, isn't it?) from the point of view of a kid at military school
> (two more themes, come to think of it). The names and titles --
> everybody has two or three of each -- take a few chapters to get used
> to, but the YA viewpoint is metal-solid. (First line: "Let's go fight
> the girls!") My only complaint is that the narration has potholes;
> it's mostly tight-third-person, but sometimes jumps heads or goes
> omniscient to make some point. Consistency would work better.
I finished this today. I am impressed in a lot of ways, and annoyed in
a few others.
I am not annoyed with the way the book wraps up. Smith somehow pulls
off a *satisfying cliffhanger* -- something which I will need to think
hard about for a few years. It has something to do with how clear the
rhythm of the story is: this book ends with the *second* utter
uprooting of the protagonist's life. So we feel that the previous
section has been concluded (just as the first section was concluded,
mid-book), and something new will happen next book. And it will be
even more so. But, despite all the above, OH MY WHAT THE HELL.
I am slightly annoyed with the protagonist, who takes a long time --
and an utter uprooting -- to show much character beyond "brilliant and
everybody loves him, oh except the nasty people." The brilliance
stays kind of overdone, notwithstanding the fact that it's always
communicated from other people's POV. "Damn," they keep saying, "that
kid sure is brilliant."
I am impressed with the way Smith keeps an eye on the ball at all
times: the ball being the idea of leadership. All the characters, good
and bad and incompetent, orbit around this idea. They all have
different takes; some are obsessed with it and some aren't conscious
of it at all; but issues of command and leadership are in everybody's
story.
I am annoyed at some of the Standard Fantasy Tropes. Universal
benevolent magic prevents all STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Yeah
yeah, fine, so you get legal prostitution (as a service profession in
which everybody is kind and wonderful) and sex ed for the kids
(including tutors, see above). This was brilliant the first time
someone thought of it, in 1970 or so.
(I was briefly impressed that Smith threw in the *other* universal
benevolent magic -- which should *also* have been a standard trope
since 1970, but I've never seen it before: household magic to make
garbage, sewage, and dead bodies disappear. Never mind the sexual
hangups: this is the spell that makes civilization possible! Except...
for plot reasons, Smith has to introduce a mysterious exception: the
spell doesn't work on the corpse of someone you killed unlawfully.
This is rules hackery of such magnitude that I had to give up thinking
about it entirely.)
(There is also a line about wizards having bred "sexual predators" out
of the human race. I had already given up thinking when I hit that, or
it could have gotten messy.)
(Fortunately, magic is a very small part of the book. The household
spells are ubiquitous; a few others are expensive foreign imports,
rarely seen; everything else is hearsay.)
That stuff aside, everything in the story felt real. There is
fighting, but there is *way* more *training*. Characters spend weeks,
months, years in drill and practice. This is a big part of their
lives, and it is neither glossed over nor allowed to bore the reader.
(When your life is military school, the events of your life happen in
that context. Right?)
As I said in my initial post, the narration jumps around too much. I
am okay with multiple viewpoint characters -- particularly once I
realized how Smith was pulling themes out of many viewpoints. But
changing viewpoints repeatedly in a single scene, I dunno, it felt
clumsy. Our heroes walk in on an unexpected antagonist, and we get two
paragraphs of her POV (for the first time in the book), and then back
to our guys -- without so much as a blank line or divider. I was
thrown.
Every character's motivation is made clear and at least slightly
sympathetic. That's impressive. Some of them are motivated by really
*stupid* notions -- or are stupidly self-delusive about their
motivations. That's, well, realistic but irritating anyway.
I really want to read the sequel now. When is it scheduled for?
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Randy Money
> John Fairhurst wrote:
>
>>I'm trying to think of a movie that's got dragons in it that hasn't stunk?
>
>
> "Dragonslayer" (1981) was pretty good, wasn't it?
> http://imdb.com/title/tt0082288/
>
I thought so.
Randy M.
William December Starr
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) said:
>> Did you realize that Chinese, perhaps heathen, are prominent in
>> _Firefly_?
>
> If by "prominent" you mean "largely absent" then yes, I am aware
> of this.
>
> As I recall, Whedon fell back on the Redford Defense:
[*]
--
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
JFW Richards
I am forced to agree with you concerning the Tuesday Next books however
I think that he found his form again in the N ursery Crime novels _The
Big Over Easy_ and _The Fourth Bear_
BTW we did an audience participation version of Richard III at Paragon
II with Mr. Fforde in attendance a good time was definitely had by
most.
Regards
JFWR
David Given
[...]
> I am forced to agree with you concerning the Tuesday Next books however
> I think that he found his form again in the N ursery Crime novels _The
> Big Over Easy_ and _The Fourth Bear_
I thought _The Eyre Affair_ was utter genius; he managed to build his bizarre
but somehow meaningful universe were you get door-to-door Baconians, mad
scientists, home Dodo kits, street-corner Shakespeare reading machines, and a
103 year Crimean war out of a perfect mix of the lunatic and realistic. It
feels like somewhere where you could actually live, rather than an extended
running joke. (Some of the Crimean scenes are really quite grim.)
The other three books I thought were clever and amusing but nothing like as
good. I haven't read _The Big Over Easy_, despite living in Reading, but am
looking forward to it...
(VeryMinorSpoiler for _Something Rotten_: _TBOE_ was actually... well, not
written, but constructed by Thursday Next as a way of resolving an industrial
dispute.)
--
┌── ｄｇ＠ｃｏｗｌａｒｋ．ｃｏｍ ─── http://www.cowlark.com ─────────────────────
│ "Is Eris true?" "Everthing is true." "Even false things?" "Even false
│ things are true." "How can that be?" "I don't know, man. I didn't do it!"
│ --- _Prinicipa Discordia_