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No. 64 The Nightmare Stacks - Charles Stross
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No. 63 All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders
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No. 62 The Sound of Summer - Jim Maxwell
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No. 61 Chanur's Homecoming - CJ Cherryh
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No. 60 Old Mars - George R R Martin & Gardner Dozois eds
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No. 59 The Kif Strike Back - CJ Cherryh
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No.58 The Philosopher Kings - Jo Walton
The tale of Plato's 'Just City' is picked up twenty years after the events described in its predecessor. The city has sundered into five, each practicing its own version of Platonism, Athene has departed with the the robots, making life more difficult
The tale of Plato's 'Just City' is picked up twenty years after the events described in its predecessor. The city has sundered into five, each practicing its own version of Platonism, Athene has departed with the the robots, making life more difficult
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No. 57 The Best Science Fiction of the Year #9 - Tery Carr (ed)
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No. 56 Saturn Run - John Sandford & Ctein
John Sandford is most famous for his thrillers, but with the assistance of Ctein, dabbles in some science fiction. The partnership has produced a pretty fine page turner, which replicates the space race of the 60s with the carrot for winning being somewhat more attractive than the kudos from being first.
An object approaching Saturn from interstellar space can only be an alien starship. It is first observed by the apparently lazy and lackadaisical son of a wealthy businessman, given a makework job in ???
So begins a foolish, wasteful and selfish chase to the outer reaches of the solar system by the superpowers of the time, the USA and China. The prize for the winner, exclusive access to alien technology. China cannibalises a perfectly good Mars colony ship for the quest whilst the USA repurposes a space station with rather more audacious technology involving molten metal radiators no less. Some engrossing enough technological geekery describes the development and testing of the
John Sandford is most famous for his thrillers, but with the assistance of Ctein, dabbles in some science fiction. The partnership has produced a pretty fine page turner, which replicates the space race of the 60s with the carrot for winning being somewhat more attractive than the kudos from being first.
An object approaching Saturn from interstellar space can only be an alien starship. It is first observed by the apparently lazy and lackadaisical son of a wealthy businessman, given a makework job in ???
So begins a foolish, wasteful and selfish chase to the outer reaches of the solar system by the superpowers of the time, the USA and China. The prize for the winner, exclusive access to alien technology. China cannibalises a perfectly good Mars colony ship for the quest whilst the USA repurposes a space station with rather more audacious technology involving molten metal radiators no less. Some engrossing enough technological geekery describes the development and testing of the
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No. 55 Arkwright - Allen Steele
Allen Steele revisits the 'generation ship' trope, with a more hopeful take than either Carter Shultz's brilliant 'Gypsy', or Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Aurora'.
Allen Steele revisits the 'generation ship' trope, with a more hopeful take than either Carter Shultz's brilliant 'Gypsy', or Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Aurora'.
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No. 54 Chanur's Venture - CJ Cherryh
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No. 53 Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee
In the Hexarchy, mathematics rules the cosmos. The beliefs of the population govern the fabric of reality itself. Non-conventional ideas must threaten the fabric of society itself and are ruthlessly suppressed.
In the Hexarchy, mathematics rules the cosmos. The beliefs of the population govern the fabric of reality itself. Non-conventional ideas must threaten the fabric of society itself and are ruthlessly suppressed.
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No. 52 Dissidence - Ken MacLeod
MacLeod's new trilogy begins in a basement in London, as 'Accelerationist' operative 'Carlos the Terrorist' prosecutes the battle against the forces of the 'Reaction'. Axle vs Rax, Progress versus Conservation, it is ever the same, and this vignette concludes with an atrocity - slaughter of innocents, the perpetrator burid under rubble.
Fast-forward a millennium, under the rays of a foreign star.
MacLeod's new trilogy begins in a basement in London, as 'Accelerationist' operative 'Carlos the Terrorist' prosecutes the battle against the forces of the 'Reaction'. Axle vs Rax, Progress versus Conservation, it is ever the same, and this vignette concludes with an atrocity - slaughter of innocents, the perpetrator burid under rubble.
Fast-forward a millennium, under the rays of a foreign star.
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No. 51 The Pride of Chanur - CJ Cherryh
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No. 50 Transition - Iain M Banks
Iain Banks takes on the multiverse in 'Transition', which checks the boxes with an unreliable narrator, non-linear storyline, dark humour and graphic violence.
Iain Banks takes on the multiverse in 'Transition', which checks the boxes with an unreliable narrator, non-linear storyline, dark humour and graphic violence.
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No. 49 The Obelisk Gate - NK Jemison
The sequel to the Hugo Award winning 'The Fifth Season'. Jemison picks up the narrative shortly after the close of the previous installment, with Essun and the complement of the underground com ??? battling their prejudices and mistrust toward orogenes, and learning the challenges of the encroaching season and the features of their unique home. The return of Alabaster, half turned to stone, and his companion stone eater ???, provides further complication, as do the actions of ??? and ???.
In a fresh narrative strand, the story of Essun's missing daughter Nessun and her father are plotted as they seek their own sanctuary, encountering it in the person of the transformed 'Guardian' ????.
As the title suggests, the mysterious floating obelisks have a role to play in the story. Jemison quite artfully reveals the secrets of her world throughout. We the readers begin to learn and speculate more. The distinctive second person tense is maintained, so if such bothers you, be forewarned.
The sequel to the Hugo Award winning 'The Fifth Season'. Jemison picks up the narrative shortly after the close of the previous installment, with Essun and the complement of the underground com ??? battling their prejudices and mistrust toward orogenes, and learning the challenges of the encroaching season and the features of their unique home. The return of Alabaster, half turned to stone, and his companion stone eater ???, provides further complication, as do the actions of ??? and ???.
In a fresh narrative strand, the story of Essun's missing daughter Nessun and her father are plotted as they seek their own sanctuary, encountering it in the person of the transformed 'Guardian' ????.
As the title suggests, the mysterious floating obelisks have a role to play in the story. Jemison quite artfully reveals the secrets of her world throughout. We the readers begin to learn and speculate more. The distinctive second person tense is maintained, so if such bothers you, be forewarned.
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No. 48 The Swarm - Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston
2.5 stars. Card and Johnston pick up their narrative a year or so after the end of the First Formic War. After the destruction of the Formic Scout Ship through the agency of Mazer Rackham, Vico Delgado, Lem Jukes and Imala Bootstamp, the Formic fleet is reconstituting far outside the Kuiper Belt. Earth is on a war footing, all national governments subordinate to a triumvirate of war leaders - Hegemon, Strategos and Polemarch. The International Fleet is expanding rapidly, building ships and conscripting and training soldiers.
Incredibly, the fate of earth once more hangs on the struggles of a few isolate individuals, who happen to be in the right places and at the right (or maybe wrong) time. The depiction of the apparatus of the military as being almost totally bumbling and incompetent strains credibility to the utmost. Either these players are incompetent, and their nefarious schemes must surely fail, or (as is the case),should their plans succeed they surely could not be termed incompetent. So it is with the cardboard cutout schemer Colonel Vaganov, and the cowardly Polemarch Ketkar.
So of course, it falls to our heroes to save the day. Victor Delgado apparently engineers all of the zero G tech advances necessary for tunnel warfare with formics in his spare time, whilst Mazer Rackham is the only soldier in the IF who seems to realise that training in zero G combat might be required! This scenario allows him to be reunited with chinese orphan Bingwen (and the evil Colonel Li).
The interesting aspects of the story are the speculations as to the nature of the formics and their hive intelligence. The perspective of scientist Wila Saowaluk present her musings on the motivations of this different type of intelligence. Can it even see humans as intelligent? Does it know it is committing genocide. Of course, as readers, we know how the war against the Hive Queen will end, so there is a dual purpose to this philosophical element. Victor Delgado's exploration of an Kuiper Belt asteroid undergoing modification by formic forces provides insight into the construction methods used by the formics. Slugs which eat asteroids and excrete purified metals! Exactly how this system has evolved is in the realm of extreme handwavery, but it is rather fun.
This is the first of another trilogy, so ends with a cliffhanger.
2.5 stars. Card and Johnston pick up their narrative a year or so after the end of the First Formic War. After the destruction of the Formic Scout Ship through the agency of Mazer Rackham, Vico Delgado, Lem Jukes and Imala Bootstamp, the Formic fleet is reconstituting far outside the Kuiper Belt. Earth is on a war footing, all national governments subordinate to a triumvirate of war leaders - Hegemon, Strategos and Polemarch. The International Fleet is expanding rapidly, building ships and conscripting and training soldiers.
Incredibly, the fate of earth once more hangs on the struggles of a few isolate individuals, who happen to be in the right places and at the right (or maybe wrong) time. The depiction of the apparatus of the military as being almost totally bumbling and incompetent strains credibility to the utmost. Either these players are incompetent, and their nefarious schemes must surely fail, or (as is the case),should their plans succeed they surely could not be termed incompetent. So it is with the cardboard cutout schemer Colonel Vaganov, and the cowardly Polemarch Ketkar.
So of course, it falls to our heroes to save the day. Victor Delgado apparently engineers all of the zero G tech advances necessary for tunnel warfare with formics in his spare time, whilst Mazer Rackham is the only soldier in the IF who seems to realise that training in zero G combat might be required! This scenario allows him to be reunited with chinese orphan Bingwen (and the evil Colonel Li).
The interesting aspects of the story are the speculations as to the nature of the formics and their hive intelligence. The perspective of scientist Wila Saowaluk present her musings on the motivations of this different type of intelligence. Can it even see humans as intelligent? Does it know it is committing genocide. Of course, as readers, we know how the war against the Hive Queen will end, so there is a dual purpose to this philosophical element. Victor Delgado's exploration of an Kuiper Belt asteroid undergoing modification by formic forces provides insight into the construction methods used by the formics. Slugs which eat asteroids and excrete purified metals! Exactly how this system has evolved is in the realm of extreme handwavery, but it is rather fun.
This is the first of another trilogy, so ends with a cliffhanger.
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No. 47 The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin
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No. 46 Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink - Elvis Costello
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No. 45 The Door Into Summer - Robert Heinlein
3.5 Stars. This was always one of my favourite Heinlein's, and a revisit via audiobook was fun. Whilst the treatment of gender roles is a little archaic, and the dialog more reminiscent of 50s America than anything else, it is still an entertaining ride. It is quite interesting to spot the developments that the author 'predicts', and contrast with developments which are absent from his imagined future. For example, the 'Roomba', robot vacuum cleaner, and Computer Assisted Drafting, or similar processes are imagined, whilst everyone still smokes like chimneys.
Daniel Boone Davis is an engineering whiz, but not quite so clever when it comes to business. We meet him in the middle of a magnificent bender, after he has lost his company 'Hired Girl inc' to the devious machinations of erstwhile partner and pal Miles Gentry, and the evil and manipulative company bookkeeper,(and Dan's fiancée)Belle Darkin. Belle gets the benefit of all of the calumny in this betrayal!
In despair, Dan decides to escape to the future, and take the recently developed 'cold sleep', of suspended animation. This new technology has a 70% success rate! Maybe this explains all the smokers! This is Dan's 'Door into Summer', and he plans also to take his tomcat 'Pete', his only friend in the world, with him, after leaving his remaining 'Hired Girl' stock to the one human he still trusts, Miles 11 year old stepdaughter Ricky. However, a final confrontation with Miles and Belle does not go as planned, and Dan finds himself shanghaied into the year 2000 without Pete, after he is drugged and incapacitated.
In the year 2000, Dan finds that his inventions have been successful, only not for him. And not it seems for Belle and Miles either. Someone named D.B.Davis has patented his inventions, only he cannot recall ever doing so. A paradox indeed. Heinlein requires another unlikely technology to provide the explanation for, and execution of these series of events, and in keeping with the author's style, he makes dresses up the requisite hand wavery with admirable despatch.
You won't regret taking this particular journey with Dan and Pete.
3.5 Stars. This was always one of my favourite Heinlein's, and a revisit via audiobook was fun. Whilst the treatment of gender roles is a little archaic, and the dialog more reminiscent of 50s America than anything else, it is still an entertaining ride. It is quite interesting to spot the developments that the author 'predicts', and contrast with developments which are absent from his imagined future. For example, the 'Roomba', robot vacuum cleaner, and Computer Assisted Drafting, or similar processes are imagined, whilst everyone still smokes like chimneys.
Daniel Boone Davis is an engineering whiz, but not quite so clever when it comes to business. We meet him in the middle of a magnificent bender, after he has lost his company 'Hired Girl inc' to the devious machinations of erstwhile partner and pal Miles Gentry, and the evil and manipulative company bookkeeper,(and Dan's fiancée)Belle Darkin. Belle gets the benefit of all of the calumny in this betrayal!
In despair, Dan decides to escape to the future, and take the recently developed 'cold sleep', of suspended animation. This new technology has a 70% success rate! Maybe this explains all the smokers! This is Dan's 'Door into Summer', and he plans also to take his tomcat 'Pete', his only friend in the world, with him, after leaving his remaining 'Hired Girl' stock to the one human he still trusts, Miles 11 year old stepdaughter Ricky. However, a final confrontation with Miles and Belle does not go as planned, and Dan finds himself shanghaied into the year 2000 without Pete, after he is drugged and incapacitated.
In the year 2000, Dan finds that his inventions have been successful, only not for him. And not it seems for Belle and Miles either. Someone named D.B.Davis has patented his inventions, only he cannot recall ever doing so. A paradox indeed. Heinlein requires another unlikely technology to provide the explanation for, and execution of these series of events, and in keeping with the author's style, he makes dresses up the requisite hand wavery with admirable despatch.
You won't regret taking this particular journey with Dan and Pete.
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No. 44 Every Heart a Doorway - Seanan McGuire
This is a tale of regret. Those boys and girls (and it is mostly girls), who have found portals to secondary worlds and like Alice and the Pevensie children have adventured therein, must someday perforce return to the 'real' world. When they get there, they find that their portal has closed to them. Not all of them are reconciled to this fate.
Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, is the place where despairing parents send such childen. Nancy has returned from an underworld, the Halls of the Dead, under instruction to be sure she wants to return. Nancy is sure, but learns that her doorway may never open for her again. She learns the ways of the school, experiencing those challenges expected of a new student in any school.
And then someone starts killing the students and removing trophies.
I can see the craft in the writing, but not really quite in my sweet spot. [The identity of the killer is not particularly surprising
This is a tale of regret. Those boys and girls (and it is mostly girls), who have found portals to secondary worlds and like Alice and the Pevensie children have adventured therein, must someday perforce return to the 'real' world. When they get there, they find that their portal has closed to them. Not all of them are reconciled to this fate.
Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, is the place where despairing parents send such childen. Nancy has returned from an underworld, the Halls of the Dead, under instruction to be sure she wants to return. Nancy is sure, but learns that her doorway may never open for her again. She learns the ways of the school, experiencing those challenges expected of a new student in any school.
And then someone starts killing the students and removing trophies.
I can see the craft in the writing, but not really quite in my sweet spot. [The identity of the killer is not particularly surprising
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No. 43 To Like The Lightning - Ada Palmer
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
It is almost as if Ada Palmer has reviewed the words of John Lennon's 'Imagine' and posed the question 'well what if there WAS no religion? What if there was nothing to fight over? How would that world work?'
And so in the world of 'Too Like the Lightning', in the middle of the 25th Century there are no proselytizing religions. Belief is purely a private matter, for discussion of the individual with their counsellor (sensayer). Three people, meeting together and talking of God constitutes a Church meeting, and is proscribed by law. The 'Church Wars' saw to that.
Nation states are no more, with humanity affiliated instead into seven Hives of the like-minded, whose globe spanning clans have also replaced the nuclear family with the bash'(from the Japanese i-basho), groupings of four to twenty friends, rearing ideas and and children together in their private havens of discourse and play. Masons, Humanists, Gordians, Cousins, Utopians, Mitsubishi, Europeans and the Hiveless all have a role to play.
Fundamental to the function of the world is the existence of cheap, rapid and reliable transport. The Mukhta, the really truly flying car connects the world and obliterates distance. one can live in Chile, work in London, and be home in time for dinner.
The Saneer-Weeksbooth bash' has the responsibility for maintaining and controlling the system which manages the cars. Hundreds of millions of lightning fast transits every day. They are the most important people in the world.
Into the bash' comes Mycroft Canner, our unreliable narrator. Mycroft is a 'servicer', fated to make himself useful as punishment for initially unspecified crimes in his past. Mycroft relates the events of a very critical seven days, days on which it seems, the fate of the world will depend. Palmer cloaks Mycroft's commentary in prose reminiscent of the 18th century, which is appropriate, because she has cherry-picked and warped the ideas of the Enlightenment to build this world for our enjoyment. The subject of the story begins with the investigation into the theft of the 'Seven-Ten List', which is quite simply, a selection of the 'most influential' personages in the world. The theft it seems, may be associated with the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'. But more importantly, the bash' has a secret. The boy Bridger, who it seems, can make wishes come true....
There is a lot to like here. The story is new and inventive, and after initial orientation, the tone of the narration works well. It is rare to find a story of utopia, rather than the dime a dozen dystopias which are the currency of near future fiction these days. Of course, below the surface, perhaps it is not so perfect after all.
I did however, find it hard to comprehend why the 'Seven-Ten List', even if stolen could be of much consequence, given that these lists are the opinions of a journalists and commentators. Whilst the world is well conceived, it focuses exclusively on the lives of the elite and influential, without giving a glimpse of how the ruled pass their lives. And, perhaps not surprisingly, since the Enlightenment is largely a European idea, it is overly Eurocentric. Africa and South East Asia seem to have disappeared, whist the Mitsibushi hive is seemingly the ghetto for inscrutable orientals.
The sequel, 'Seven Surrenders', is released in December 2016, and is much anticipated
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
It is almost as if Ada Palmer has reviewed the words of John Lennon's 'Imagine' and posed the question 'well what if there WAS no religion? What if there was nothing to fight over? How would that world work?'
And so in the world of 'Too Like the Lightning', in the middle of the 25th Century there are no proselytizing religions. Belief is purely a private matter, for discussion of the individual with their counsellor (sensayer). Three people, meeting together and talking of God constitutes a Church meeting, and is proscribed by law. The 'Church Wars' saw to that.
Nation states are no more, with humanity affiliated instead into seven Hives of the like-minded, whose globe spanning clans have also replaced the nuclear family with the bash'(from the Japanese i-basho), groupings of four to twenty friends, rearing ideas and and children together in their private havens of discourse and play. Masons, Humanists, Gordians, Cousins, Utopians, Mitsubishi, Europeans and the Hiveless all have a role to play.
Fundamental to the function of the world is the existence of cheap, rapid and reliable transport. The Mukhta, the really truly flying car connects the world and obliterates distance. one can live in Chile, work in London, and be home in time for dinner.
The Saneer-Weeksbooth bash' has the responsibility for maintaining and controlling the system which manages the cars. Hundreds of millions of lightning fast transits every day. They are the most important people in the world.
Into the bash' comes Mycroft Canner, our unreliable narrator. Mycroft is a 'servicer', fated to make himself useful as punishment for initially unspecified crimes in his past. Mycroft relates the events of a very critical seven days, days on which it seems, the fate of the world will depend. Palmer cloaks Mycroft's commentary in prose reminiscent of the 18th century, which is appropriate, because she has cherry-picked and warped the ideas of the Enlightenment to build this world for our enjoyment. The subject of the story begins with the investigation into the theft of the 'Seven-Ten List', which is quite simply, a selection of the 'most influential' personages in the world. The theft it seems, may be associated with the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash'. But more importantly, the bash' has a secret. The boy Bridger, who it seems, can make wishes come true....
There is a lot to like here. The story is new and inventive, and after initial orientation, the tone of the narration works well. It is rare to find a story of utopia, rather than the dime a dozen dystopias which are the currency of near future fiction these days. Of course, below the surface, perhaps it is not so perfect after all.
I did however, find it hard to comprehend why the 'Seven-Ten List', even if stolen could be of much consequence, given that these lists are the opinions of a journalists and commentators. Whilst the world is well conceived, it focuses exclusively on the lives of the elite and influential, without giving a glimpse of how the ruled pass their lives. And, perhaps not surprisingly, since the Enlightenment is largely a European idea, it is overly Eurocentric. Africa and South East Asia seem to have disappeared, whist the Mitsibushi hive is seemingly the ghetto for inscrutable orientals.
The sequel, 'Seven Surrenders', is released in December 2016, and is much anticipated
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No. 42 The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
I first read the novel soon after it was released. It has aged very well. Stephenson's inventive and clever extrapolation of technological trends makes for a fine tale, and indeed still does, even though of course, many of the speculations shall never come to pass.
The kernel of the story is 'what if we got nanotechnology and matter compilers working?'. The speculation runs from this seed (well feed), as Stephenson tells of 21st Century Shanghai, where the world is split into tribes (phyles), as traditional nation states have disintegrated. And so we are introduced to the neo-Victorians, one of the more successful groupings(so disciplined and hard working don't you know), where nanotech engineer John Hackworth has great ambition. He has been seconded to a special and private project by equity Lord Finkle-MacGraw. This project is to produce a one off 'smart' book, destined to guide the education of Finkle MacGraw's granddaughter. He seizes the opportunity to duplicate this resource, for the benefit of his own daughter. With the aid of black-market matter compilers in the Celestial Republic, a copy is made. But Hackworth meets with foul play in Shanghai, and the purloined copy ends up in the hands of street urchin Nell, through the agency of her brother Harv and his gang.
And so we learn of the effect of the stolen book 'The Young Ladies Illustrated Primer', on the life of Nell. The strands of the story follow Nell's real life experience, and in parallel, her life as 'Princess Nell', in the Primer.
I reread as an audio book, listening is short swatches on the way to and fro from work. The audio version was rather well read.
I first read the novel soon after it was released. It has aged very well. Stephenson's inventive and clever extrapolation of technological trends makes for a fine tale, and indeed still does, even though of course, many of the speculations shall never come to pass.
The kernel of the story is 'what if we got nanotechnology and matter compilers working?'. The speculation runs from this seed (well feed), as Stephenson tells of 21st Century Shanghai, where the world is split into tribes (phyles), as traditional nation states have disintegrated. And so we are introduced to the neo-Victorians, one of the more successful groupings(so disciplined and hard working don't you know), where nanotech engineer John Hackworth has great ambition. He has been seconded to a special and private project by equity Lord Finkle-MacGraw. This project is to produce a one off 'smart' book, destined to guide the education of Finkle MacGraw's granddaughter. He seizes the opportunity to duplicate this resource, for the benefit of his own daughter. With the aid of black-market matter compilers in the Celestial Republic, a copy is made. But Hackworth meets with foul play in Shanghai, and the purloined copy ends up in the hands of street urchin Nell, through the agency of her brother Harv and his gang.
And so we learn of the effect of the stolen book 'The Young Ladies Illustrated Primer', on the life of Nell. The strands of the story follow Nell's real life experience, and in parallel, her life as 'Princess Nell', in the Primer.
I reread as an audio book, listening is short swatches on the way to and fro from work. The audio version was rather well read.
![Picture](/uploads/1/6/7/8/16787882/into-everywhere.jpg?174)
No. 41 Into Everywhere - Paul McAuley
The sequel to last year's 'Something Coming Through' continues the the story of humans seeking the answers to the motivations of their 'helpers', the enigmatic and inscrutable Jackaroo. The futuristic Gold rush continues, scrabbling through the mysterious leavings of the 'Elder Cultures', sometimes finding riches, and sometimes madness or death. Lurking in the background are busineswoman Ada Morange and policeman Adam Nevers who have irreconcilable differences about the wisdom of using alien technology. And then there are the !Cha, who are only interested in the story...
Lisa Dawes and her partner Willie had eke out a living on Jackaroo Gift World First Foot, prospecting for exploitable alien artifacts. At least they did until the 'Bad Trip', which left both of them shattered, and carrying an alien ghosts in their heads. Eight years later, they have gone their separate ways when Lisa's ghost wakes. Something has happened to Willie. And it is not something good. In her quest to find out what has happened to Willie, Lisa begins a quest in which she loses everything...
A century in the future, Tony Okoye captains the Abalunam's Pride, seeking the alien secrets, hidden in stromatolite fossils on a slime planet, which, if decoded, might restore his family's fortune and reputation. When a heavily armed raider enters the system through the local wormhole mirror he must flee with what little his party has recovered, hoping that it will be enough. But he is betrayed and loses everything...
This sequel can be read well enough as a standalone. There is sufficient backstory recapitulation provided to make a pre-read of 'Something Coming Through' unnecessary. I think it is a stronger book than its prequel, with tension and mystery held throughout, and with a plausible and satisfying resolution. McAuley creates a deliciously eerie atmosphere, particularly with his worldscape descriptives, be it the strip mall encumbered deserts of First Foot, or the melancholy dankness of the eternally rainy streets of Tanrog, the only city of waterworld Veles. And he has learned the lesson of the Heechee, that the chase is most often more satisfying than the unveiling.
This one is on my Hugo longlist for 2017.
The sequel to last year's 'Something Coming Through' continues the the story of humans seeking the answers to the motivations of their 'helpers', the enigmatic and inscrutable Jackaroo. The futuristic Gold rush continues, scrabbling through the mysterious leavings of the 'Elder Cultures', sometimes finding riches, and sometimes madness or death. Lurking in the background are busineswoman Ada Morange and policeman Adam Nevers who have irreconcilable differences about the wisdom of using alien technology. And then there are the !Cha, who are only interested in the story...
Lisa Dawes and her partner Willie had eke out a living on Jackaroo Gift World First Foot, prospecting for exploitable alien artifacts. At least they did until the 'Bad Trip', which left both of them shattered, and carrying an alien ghosts in their heads. Eight years later, they have gone their separate ways when Lisa's ghost wakes. Something has happened to Willie. And it is not something good. In her quest to find out what has happened to Willie, Lisa begins a quest in which she loses everything...
A century in the future, Tony Okoye captains the Abalunam's Pride, seeking the alien secrets, hidden in stromatolite fossils on a slime planet, which, if decoded, might restore his family's fortune and reputation. When a heavily armed raider enters the system through the local wormhole mirror he must flee with what little his party has recovered, hoping that it will be enough. But he is betrayed and loses everything...
This sequel can be read well enough as a standalone. There is sufficient backstory recapitulation provided to make a pre-read of 'Something Coming Through' unnecessary. I think it is a stronger book than its prequel, with tension and mystery held throughout, and with a plausible and satisfying resolution. McAuley creates a deliciously eerie atmosphere, particularly with his worldscape descriptives, be it the strip mall encumbered deserts of First Foot, or the melancholy dankness of the eternally rainy streets of Tanrog, the only city of waterworld Veles. And he has learned the lesson of the Heechee, that the chase is most often more satisfying than the unveiling.
This one is on my Hugo longlist for 2017.
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No. 40 Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff
Matt Ruff draws his readers into a different kind of alien world in 'Lovecraft Country'. It is the alien world of Jim Crow America, barely 70 years past that will be unfamiliar to many, and repressed from memory by others. It is different because that world reallly existed.
This vividly realised world is overlaid with elements of Lovecraftian horror, covens of sorcerors battling each other for dominance, stolen magical books, portals to distant planets, haunted houses and poltergeists, disastrous magic rituals, plus plans for revenge and redemption. That the heroes of the story are African Americans, even African American women might have that misogynistic old racist Lovecraft spinning in his grave is an added pleasure.
Most of all it is the story of a the extended Turner/Green family as they make the best of a difficult world. It would be hard enough to make ends meet if one only had to deal with corrupt policemen, prejudiced and discriminatory laws and irrational fears of frightened and ignorant white folks and their all too knowledgable leaders. Finding that ones ancestors are descendents of powerful warlocks, who need their blood, and are not particularly concerned whether they survive its extraction does not make for a happy life. How they come to deal with the challenge makes for a real page turner.
It is eligible for the Hugo award in 2017, and goes straight on to my longlist for best novel.
Matt Ruff draws his readers into a different kind of alien world in 'Lovecraft Country'. It is the alien world of Jim Crow America, barely 70 years past that will be unfamiliar to many, and repressed from memory by others. It is different because that world reallly existed.
This vividly realised world is overlaid with elements of Lovecraftian horror, covens of sorcerors battling each other for dominance, stolen magical books, portals to distant planets, haunted houses and poltergeists, disastrous magic rituals, plus plans for revenge and redemption. That the heroes of the story are African Americans, even African American women might have that misogynistic old racist Lovecraft spinning in his grave is an added pleasure.
Most of all it is the story of a the extended Turner/Green family as they make the best of a difficult world. It would be hard enough to make ends meet if one only had to deal with corrupt policemen, prejudiced and discriminatory laws and irrational fears of frightened and ignorant white folks and their all too knowledgable leaders. Finding that ones ancestors are descendents of powerful warlocks, who need their blood, and are not particularly concerned whether they survive its extraction does not make for a happy life. How they come to deal with the challenge makes for a real page turner.
It is eligible for the Hugo award in 2017, and goes straight on to my longlist for best novel.
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No. 39 Something Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What It Was - Paul McAuley
A vignette from the author, who introduces the hamlet of 'Joe's Corner', where the title is an accurate representation of the contents of the novelette.
Read it here.
A vignette from the author, who introduces the hamlet of 'Joe's Corner', where the title is an accurate representation of the contents of the novelette.
Read it here.
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No. 38 Leviathan Wakes - James A Cooney
Well, 'Leviathan Wakes' promises Space Opera, and delivers quite satisfactorily. It is not knock your socks off great, and is to be fair, based on a pretty hackneyed plot, but it still manages to be a pleasing enough page turner.
We are presented with a fairly well fleshed out solar civilization, where, not of course, the 'outer planets' are restive, and Mars and Earth are testy rivals. All it will take to spark a war is the right set of circumstances, and the right set of convenient fools in the right place for ignition. The story is told from the POV of two contrasting stereotypes - Boy Scout and noir detective.
Jim Holden is the Boy Scout, a spaceship captain right out of central casting. Big, handsome and naive. He has a wisecracking crew, complete with the requisite feisty female 2IC as a means for the story to crash and burn the Bechtel test. He's obtained his ship via treachery out of accident. he is determined to Make Things Right.
Our noir detective/cop is Joe Miller. He's divorced. He's a drunk. He's on the downward slide, doesn't know it, and gets all the shitty jobs. So when war breaks out, he becomes obsessed with the last of his shitty jobs, locating poor little rich girl Julie Mao, who has vanished in the belt. So obsessed in fact, that he obsesses himself ou of a job. And so he sets of on a quest to Find Julie, and Make Things Right.
So when two archetype both want to Make Things Right, it is inevitable that they should meet. And they do, and they don't get along. But nevertheless, these odd partners are forced into cooperation by a 2 billion year old secret, which just might be the end of everything. Will they prevail?
Hint: there are 4 sequels to this book! By the way, the evil corporate boss who is risking the future of the human race to become rich and powerful is missing a white cat on his lap, but otherwise fits the sterotype perfectly.
Well, 'Leviathan Wakes' promises Space Opera, and delivers quite satisfactorily. It is not knock your socks off great, and is to be fair, based on a pretty hackneyed plot, but it still manages to be a pleasing enough page turner.
We are presented with a fairly well fleshed out solar civilization, where, not of course, the 'outer planets' are restive, and Mars and Earth are testy rivals. All it will take to spark a war is the right set of circumstances, and the right set of convenient fools in the right place for ignition. The story is told from the POV of two contrasting stereotypes - Boy Scout and noir detective.
Jim Holden is the Boy Scout, a spaceship captain right out of central casting. Big, handsome and naive. He has a wisecracking crew, complete with the requisite feisty female 2IC as a means for the story to crash and burn the Bechtel test. He's obtained his ship via treachery out of accident. he is determined to Make Things Right.
Our noir detective/cop is Joe Miller. He's divorced. He's a drunk. He's on the downward slide, doesn't know it, and gets all the shitty jobs. So when war breaks out, he becomes obsessed with the last of his shitty jobs, locating poor little rich girl Julie Mao, who has vanished in the belt. So obsessed in fact, that he obsesses himself ou of a job. And so he sets of on a quest to Find Julie, and Make Things Right.
So when two archetype both want to Make Things Right, it is inevitable that they should meet. And they do, and they don't get along. But nevertheless, these odd partners are forced into cooperation by a 2 billion year old secret, which just might be the end of everything. Will they prevail?
Hint: there are 4 sequels to this book! By the way, the evil corporate boss who is risking the future of the human race to become rich and powerful is missing a white cat on his lap, but otherwise fits the sterotype perfectly.
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No. 37 Visitor - CJ Cherryh
The 17th book in CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series kicks off immediately after the closing events of its predecessor 'Tracker'. A semblance of peace has been restored to Alpha station as it orbits the Earth of the Atevi. Bren Cameron is rid of the troublesome human stationmaster Tillington, and Braddock, putative leader of the restive refugees from Reunion Station is in atevi custody. Human associates of the heir to the leadership of the atevi, the young gentleman Cajieri, are safe after their misadventures. Not ideal, but manageable. The kyo starship continues to approach the space station. For talking, or perhaps for less desirable actions.
This latest installment draws heavily on backstory from the the series. In particular it draws on the events of 'Explorer', and just what happened at Reunion and why. Complicated of course in that many of the protagonists are dead, and records are lost or locked away.
The tension builds as the arrival of the Kyo ship becomes imminent. If something goes wrong, there is no escape here. There are the distraction of human and atevi politics to consider. Bren Cameron muses on how he became paidhi, and the changes that he brought to the role, all the while desperately boning up on what little kyo vocabulary was accumulated back at Reunion. How accurate is the story he knows?
The tension is maintained as the kyo arrive, and through the taut negotiations between kyo and atevi and paidhi. The process of deciphering a language from first principles is unpicked and is fascination. What role do facial expressions hold, and what information is imparted by what cannot be heard?
And then the author lobs a bomb into the series leading to the cliffhanger ending. The reader is left speculating on the necessity for secrecy, the likely effect on trust of such deceptions, and just when these newly planted seeds might come to to fruition, and will that harvest be for good or ill. This is a 'payoff' entry in the sequence. The author has choices on how to proceed, as options for the series widen out from the tight focus on the atevi homeworld. I for one am delighted by this turn of events, and eagerly anticipate the closing installment in the 6th Foreigner trilogy (!) ' Convergence',
The 17th book in CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series kicks off immediately after the closing events of its predecessor 'Tracker'. A semblance of peace has been restored to Alpha station as it orbits the Earth of the Atevi. Bren Cameron is rid of the troublesome human stationmaster Tillington, and Braddock, putative leader of the restive refugees from Reunion Station is in atevi custody. Human associates of the heir to the leadership of the atevi, the young gentleman Cajieri, are safe after their misadventures. Not ideal, but manageable. The kyo starship continues to approach the space station. For talking, or perhaps for less desirable actions.
This latest installment draws heavily on backstory from the the series. In particular it draws on the events of 'Explorer', and just what happened at Reunion and why. Complicated of course in that many of the protagonists are dead, and records are lost or locked away.
The tension builds as the arrival of the Kyo ship becomes imminent. If something goes wrong, there is no escape here. There are the distraction of human and atevi politics to consider. Bren Cameron muses on how he became paidhi, and the changes that he brought to the role, all the while desperately boning up on what little kyo vocabulary was accumulated back at Reunion. How accurate is the story he knows?
The tension is maintained as the kyo arrive, and through the taut negotiations between kyo and atevi and paidhi. The process of deciphering a language from first principles is unpicked and is fascination. What role do facial expressions hold, and what information is imparted by what cannot be heard?
And then the author lobs a bomb into the series leading to the cliffhanger ending. The reader is left speculating on the necessity for secrecy, the likely effect on trust of such deceptions, and just when these newly planted seeds might come to to fruition, and will that harvest be for good or ill. This is a 'payoff' entry in the sequence. The author has choices on how to proceed, as options for the series widen out from the tight focus on the atevi homeworld. I for one am delighted by this turn of events, and eagerly anticipate the closing installment in the 6th Foreigner trilogy (!) ' Convergence',
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No. 36 Penric's Demon - Lois McMaster Bujold
I received the book as part of the 2016 Hugo Voters Packet. This story was one slated onto the final novella ballot as 'collateral damage' by the erstwhile 4GW gamma male battalion of Theodore Beale.
Nevertheless, I have no problem believing that it might have been selected by many others purely on its merits as a good story, well told.
Lord Penric is on the way to his betrothal to the nicely rounded daughter of a cheese merchant, when fate, in the form of the ailing Divine Ruschia happens upon his life. For Ruschia is the mount for a demon, which takes the opportunity to leap from dying Ruschia, to the nearest handy warm body, our hero Penric. Penric falls into a black faint....
And so, when Penric wakes from his stupor the next day, he finds that his betrothment is off, no one will touch or go close to him, and he is a hot potato of the highest order, who must be transported to the temple of Ruschia's order in Martensbridge so the powers that be can decide what to do with him. Because demons are rare, powerful and valuable. And he has been most inconvenient.
Penric had wished for an exciting life. Now he has one......
Bujold writes well, conveying Penric's initial bewilderment at his fate, and his growing excitement as he understands the opportunity bestowed him. The demon, whom Penric dubs 'Desdemona' also becomes a character in the saga, not just a mcguffin. The world of the Five Gods is built subtly and artfully by the author. A sequel is already available.
3.5 stars. Second best of the novellas.
I received the book as part of the 2016 Hugo Voters Packet. This story was one slated onto the final novella ballot as 'collateral damage' by the erstwhile 4GW gamma male battalion of Theodore Beale.
Nevertheless, I have no problem believing that it might have been selected by many others purely on its merits as a good story, well told.
Lord Penric is on the way to his betrothal to the nicely rounded daughter of a cheese merchant, when fate, in the form of the ailing Divine Ruschia happens upon his life. For Ruschia is the mount for a demon, which takes the opportunity to leap from dying Ruschia, to the nearest handy warm body, our hero Penric. Penric falls into a black faint....
And so, when Penric wakes from his stupor the next day, he finds that his betrothment is off, no one will touch or go close to him, and he is a hot potato of the highest order, who must be transported to the temple of Ruschia's order in Martensbridge so the powers that be can decide what to do with him. Because demons are rare, powerful and valuable. And he has been most inconvenient.
Penric had wished for an exciting life. Now he has one......
Bujold writes well, conveying Penric's initial bewilderment at his fate, and his growing excitement as he understands the opportunity bestowed him. The demon, whom Penric dubs 'Desdemona' also becomes a character in the saga, not just a mcguffin. The world of the Five Gods is built subtly and artfully by the author. A sequel is already available.
3.5 stars. Second best of the novellas.
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No. 35 The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K Dick
I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Philip K Dick's classic 1962 alternate history.
Japan and Germany have won the 2nd World War. The United States is divided between the Nazis on the east coast, and the Japanese on the Pacific Coast. The story is told via the point of view of four main characters. Nobusuke Tagomi is a high placed Trade Official. He obtains American antiquities through the business of Robert Childan, a nervy japanophile and obsequious social climber. Also supplying Childan (with antiques of dubious provenance), is Frank Frink, Jewish-American metalworker and sometime jeweler, whose estranged wife lives in Canon City, in the buffer-zone mountain states. These characters choices are often made at the behest and request of divinations through the I Ching, the Book of Changes. All of them read or encounter the subversive novel, 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', which weaves a tale of an alternate history in which the USA had not been defeated.
Once refreshed of the plot, cannot understand why Amazon messed so extensively with the plot for the excellent miniseries which I enjoyed last year. The most inexplicable difference was the replacement of the novel 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', with clandestine and banned films. A book is just so much more accessible to a wide audience, than a banned film.
I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Philip K Dick's classic 1962 alternate history.
Japan and Germany have won the 2nd World War. The United States is divided between the Nazis on the east coast, and the Japanese on the Pacific Coast. The story is told via the point of view of four main characters. Nobusuke Tagomi is a high placed Trade Official. He obtains American antiquities through the business of Robert Childan, a nervy japanophile and obsequious social climber. Also supplying Childan (with antiques of dubious provenance), is Frank Frink, Jewish-American metalworker and sometime jeweler, whose estranged wife lives in Canon City, in the buffer-zone mountain states. These characters choices are often made at the behest and request of divinations through the I Ching, the Book of Changes. All of them read or encounter the subversive novel, 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', which weaves a tale of an alternate history in which the USA had not been defeated.
Once refreshed of the plot, cannot understand why Amazon messed so extensively with the plot for the excellent miniseries which I enjoyed last year. The most inexplicable difference was the replacement of the novel 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', with clandestine and banned films. A book is just so much more accessible to a wide audience, than a banned film.
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No. 34 Hugo Awards 2016 - Assorted Short Fiction
The Hugo Award nominations were again affected by Puppy crap. The shorter the fiction, the worse the effect. Novels and Novellas, Pretty much unaffected. Novelettes a bit worse, and Short story a near total loss.
Again I voted on merit, and with few exceptions found the slate promoted items to be of inferior standard. Those which were not were invariable the 'sacrifice' nominations of the Rabid Puppy ilk. I found that 'no award' only needed to be deployed in the Short Story and Related work categories.
The Hugo Award nominations were again affected by Puppy crap. The shorter the fiction, the worse the effect. Novels and Novellas, Pretty much unaffected. Novelettes a bit worse, and Short story a near total loss.
Again I voted on merit, and with few exceptions found the slate promoted items to be of inferior standard. Those which were not were invariable the 'sacrifice' nominations of the Rabid Puppy ilk. I found that 'no award' only needed to be deployed in the Short Story and Related work categories.
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No. 33 The Sands of Mars - Arthur C Clarke
The 'Sands of Mars' tells a tale of the colonisation of Mars. Much of the planetology is of course very dated, and wrong, but this does not really detract from the romance of the adventure of discovery and exploration the author describes. The life aboard a transfer spacecraft between Earth and Mars seems believable enough (if one ignores the cigarettes and whisky!). Clarke is confident enough to give his characters some detailed backstory and development, at least in the case of his author protagonist Matthew Gibson.
It is a story 'of its time', being both relentlessly male and anglo saxon in their cultural milieu. The one female character in 'Sands of Mars', is but a cipher, romantic interest for a spaceman.
Paired with 'The City and the Stars' the set is a good retrospective of Clarke's many strengths, most particularly his sense of the mythic and of deep time and the universe
The 'Sands of Mars' tells a tale of the colonisation of Mars. Much of the planetology is of course very dated, and wrong, but this does not really detract from the romance of the adventure of discovery and exploration the author describes. The life aboard a transfer spacecraft between Earth and Mars seems believable enough (if one ignores the cigarettes and whisky!). Clarke is confident enough to give his characters some detailed backstory and development, at least in the case of his author protagonist Matthew Gibson.
It is a story 'of its time', being both relentlessly male and anglo saxon in their cultural milieu. The one female character in 'Sands of Mars', is but a cipher, romantic interest for a spaceman.
Paired with 'The City and the Stars' the set is a good retrospective of Clarke's many strengths, most particularly his sense of the mythic and of deep time and the universe
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No. 32 The City and The Stars - Arthur C Clarke
I listened to the audiobook whilst driving to and from work over a month or so. 'The City and the Stars', is a science fiction classic, and one I enjoyed when I first read it as a teenager. It has stood the test of time quite well, and I could imaging a young Iain Banks perhaps finding the first glimmerings of the 'Culture' in its pages. The story of the eternal, static city of Diaspar, and how it is changed by the restless curiosity of 'unique' Alvin, the misfit who changes everything, and challenges the comfortable age-old myths of the majority, makes for a very satisfying read.
I listened to the audiobook whilst driving to and from work over a month or so. 'The City and the Stars', is a science fiction classic, and one I enjoyed when I first read it as a teenager. It has stood the test of time quite well, and I could imaging a young Iain Banks perhaps finding the first glimmerings of the 'Culture' in its pages. The story of the eternal, static city of Diaspar, and how it is changed by the restless curiosity of 'unique' Alvin, the misfit who changes everything, and challenges the comfortable age-old myths of the majority, makes for a very satisfying read.
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No. 31 Perfect State - Brandon Sanderson
A nomineee for Best Novella in the 2016 Hugo awards. I received the book as part of the Hugo voter's package. This was one of the works gamed onto the ballot by the supporters of Donald Trump's biggest fan. It is a perfectly harmless story, told well by an able author.
The Wode looks after all the precious Liveborn. In order to support their vast population, each is reduced to being a 'brain in a jar', but with the redeeming virtue that said consciousness is inserted into a virtual world where they can be heroes, not just for one day, but for their entire and lengthy lifetime, making their world right for the virtual or 'machineborn' who inhabit it.
To spice up this existence, Liveborn may interact, engaging in confrontations with each other in special 'Border Worlds', where even they may be at risk. Just why this particular type of 'stimulating' interaction is necessary is not well justified, give the risk to the supposedly valuable LiveBorn. Additionally, LiveBorn may be called on to breed, the better to keep the machine going. Strangely, this particular requirement breeds resentment in our hero Kai, and his resentment leads to a choice of partner which, in the end spawns an adventure of a rather unexpected and hazardous nature.
A nomineee for Best Novella in the 2016 Hugo awards. I received the book as part of the Hugo voter's package. This was one of the works gamed onto the ballot by the supporters of Donald Trump's biggest fan. It is a perfectly harmless story, told well by an able author.
The Wode looks after all the precious Liveborn. In order to support their vast population, each is reduced to being a 'brain in a jar', but with the redeeming virtue that said consciousness is inserted into a virtual world where they can be heroes, not just for one day, but for their entire and lengthy lifetime, making their world right for the virtual or 'machineborn' who inhabit it.
To spice up this existence, Liveborn may interact, engaging in confrontations with each other in special 'Border Worlds', where even they may be at risk. Just why this particular type of 'stimulating' interaction is necessary is not well justified, give the risk to the supposedly valuable LiveBorn. Additionally, LiveBorn may be called on to breed, the better to keep the machine going. Strangely, this particular requirement breeds resentment in our hero Kai, and his resentment leads to a choice of partner which, in the end spawns an adventure of a rather unexpected and hazardous nature.
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No. 30 Obits - Stephen King
I received the book at part of the Hugo voter's package. A struggling writer of snarky celebrity obituaries discovers that when he writes similarly snarky pending obituaries af persons which the world will be better off without, said person obligingly shuffles off the mortal coil. King does a good job of describing the sorry state of journalism in today's digital world, and invests his characters with the ability to examine their actions and temptations. The story arc is handled with aplomb, as might be expected of a writer with King's pedigree. It doesn't surprise, it doesn't disappoint, and whilst not out of place in the group of nominees, isn't particularly outstanding.
I received the book at part of the Hugo voter's package. A struggling writer of snarky celebrity obituaries discovers that when he writes similarly snarky pending obituaries af persons which the world will be better off without, said person obligingly shuffles off the mortal coil. King does a good job of describing the sorry state of journalism in today's digital world, and invests his characters with the ability to examine their actions and temptations. The story arc is handled with aplomb, as might be expected of a writer with King's pedigree. It doesn't surprise, it doesn't disappoint, and whilst not out of place in the group of nominees, isn't particularly outstanding.
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No. 29 Binti - Nnedi Okarafor
A top notch novella, with a sparkling sense of the strange and the alien. Binti is the first of the Himba people to be selected to attend the Oomza University, where the best and the brightest are invited to study. En route, Binti's journey takes a shocking turn when her ship is attacked by the aggressive Meduse. A lucky series of coincidences leads to Binti's survival. She uses these circumstances to change her destiny in ways that are disturbing and reveal the true cost of knowledge and sacrifice.
A top notch novella, with a sparkling sense of the strange and the alien. Binti is the first of the Himba people to be selected to attend the Oomza University, where the best and the brightest are invited to study. En route, Binti's journey takes a shocking turn when her ship is attacked by the aggressive Meduse. A lucky series of coincidences leads to Binti's survival. She uses these circumstances to change her destiny in ways that are disturbing and reveal the true cost of knowledge and sacrifice.
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No. 28 The Builders - Daniel Polansky
The Magnificent Seven meets Redwall, as the Captain gets his band back together for one last mission.
To right a wrong. To end it all, once and for all. Short punchy chapters introduce the characters. Bonsoir, a very individual stoat, Cinnibar, dragon or perhaps salamander, Gertrude, the guinea pig (unique amongst her kind, being tailed and all) to name but a few.
There is a buildup, back story, plenty of death and mayhem (mostly of rats), and a fine punch line to what the author calls a 'one note' joke.
Diverting enough to provide a bit of diversion on a long flight. 3.5 stars
The Magnificent Seven meets Redwall, as the Captain gets his band back together for one last mission.
To right a wrong. To end it all, once and for all. Short punchy chapters introduce the characters. Bonsoir, a very individual stoat, Cinnibar, dragon or perhaps salamander, Gertrude, the guinea pig (unique amongst her kind, being tailed and all) to name but a few.
There is a buildup, back story, plenty of death and mayhem (mostly of rats), and a fine punch line to what the author calls a 'one note' joke.
Diverting enough to provide a bit of diversion on a long flight. 3.5 stars
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No. 27 The Aeronaut's Windlass - Jim Butcher
The opening volume of Jim Butcher’s new series is set on a world where the population is restricted to ‘habbles’, the many levels of tall ‘spires’, separated by a mist shrouded surface, infested with deadly beasties and worse. Trade and communication is possible only by means of great airships, held aloft by etheric currents harnessed by special magical crystals. Such trade brings forth privateers, and to need for the scattered spires to have naval fleets to defend their traders from such depredations.
One such privateer is Captain Grimm, drummed out of the Albion Fleet for a cowardly act which no one can bring themselves to mention. But he now captains the ‘merchant’ ship Predator, with his government’s permission to indulge in a bit of predation of his own. It does not go so well, and he limps back to Albion with a crippled ship, and debts he cannot pay.
In Albion Spire, Gwen Lancaster, daughter of a noble house, has so singularly failed to research family history, that she is unaware that she has been manipulated into joining the Spirearch Guard by her ever so aristocratic mother. And her warriorborn cousin Benedict can watch over her, to see she comes to no harm.
Bridget Tagwynn’s house has fallen on hard times, but this does not excuse her of the obligation to serve the in Spirearch’s Guard for a year. She is not well pleased to be forced to consort with the arrogant scions of the High Houses. Fortunately, her father has agreed that Rowl, of the Nine Paws Clan, will also offer service for a year. Surely nothing can go wrong.
Two weeks later, with the well-meaning ‘help’ of Lady Gwen, Bridget has ‘offended’ inbred chinless wonder Reggie Astor, and must duel with him. If she defeats him, her house will be at the mercy of the powerful Astor clan, and if she loses, she is well, dead. As the duel is about to commence though, invaders from Spire Aurora stage a daring sneak attack….
There is a lot going on here, and it is a rather tedious build for the first 200 pages or so as the scene is set. Our merry band find themselves on a secret mission for the Spirearch, who has generously laid on the funds to have the Predator repaired, provided Grimm serves him on this one mission. Said mission is to take two etherialists (aka wizards) to Habble Landing, there to seek out the ‘Enemy’, believed to be located there. Gwen, Bridget, Benedict and Rowl get dragooned along, being as they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The steampunk elements of the worldbuilding are all a bit cookie-cutter, with vaguely Edwardian duelling and Aristocratic Great Houses in the mix, along with airships (but magically floated ones no less), and elaborate quasi naval battles. The roles of the cat tribes are a pleasing point of difference, which sometimes slips over the edge of a bit too cutesy, but is overall a positive element. Etherialists have very great powers (looks can kill), but which come at a cost. All of them are odd, or mad, and suffer from very Laundry File-like holes in the brain the longer they manipulate the ethereal forces!
Elements of the world are revealed through the POV characters experiences, rather than lengthy dumps of information, so that at the end of the book there are still many unknowns (and of course with a sequel or two in the wings this is not such a bad thing). Not much is revealed of the motives for the Auroran attack, other than some vague mutterings about high taxes and a corrupt government which must perforce raid other spires periodically to collect loot, and winnow the population. Of course, our brave Albion aeronauts likewise indulge in piracy, so the reasons for outrage over such actions are curious.
Butcher’s battle scenes are initially exiting, but ultimately overlong and brutal, though the casualties are principally amongst the rank and file soldiery, or amongst civilians. Combatants of both sides have enough of a moral compass to reflect on their actions, and their ability to live with their experiences. Generally, the combatants have altogether too many damage points, and so conspire to overextend the battle sequences unnecessarily.
The novel has been nominated for the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel. I think it is the weakest of the five nominees, but is still a pleasing enough read.
The opening volume of Jim Butcher’s new series is set on a world where the population is restricted to ‘habbles’, the many levels of tall ‘spires’, separated by a mist shrouded surface, infested with deadly beasties and worse. Trade and communication is possible only by means of great airships, held aloft by etheric currents harnessed by special magical crystals. Such trade brings forth privateers, and to need for the scattered spires to have naval fleets to defend their traders from such depredations.
One such privateer is Captain Grimm, drummed out of the Albion Fleet for a cowardly act which no one can bring themselves to mention. But he now captains the ‘merchant’ ship Predator, with his government’s permission to indulge in a bit of predation of his own. It does not go so well, and he limps back to Albion with a crippled ship, and debts he cannot pay.
In Albion Spire, Gwen Lancaster, daughter of a noble house, has so singularly failed to research family history, that she is unaware that she has been manipulated into joining the Spirearch Guard by her ever so aristocratic mother. And her warriorborn cousin Benedict can watch over her, to see she comes to no harm.
Bridget Tagwynn’s house has fallen on hard times, but this does not excuse her of the obligation to serve the in Spirearch’s Guard for a year. She is not well pleased to be forced to consort with the arrogant scions of the High Houses. Fortunately, her father has agreed that Rowl, of the Nine Paws Clan, will also offer service for a year. Surely nothing can go wrong.
Two weeks later, with the well-meaning ‘help’ of Lady Gwen, Bridget has ‘offended’ inbred chinless wonder Reggie Astor, and must duel with him. If she defeats him, her house will be at the mercy of the powerful Astor clan, and if she loses, she is well, dead. As the duel is about to commence though, invaders from Spire Aurora stage a daring sneak attack….
There is a lot going on here, and it is a rather tedious build for the first 200 pages or so as the scene is set. Our merry band find themselves on a secret mission for the Spirearch, who has generously laid on the funds to have the Predator repaired, provided Grimm serves him on this one mission. Said mission is to take two etherialists (aka wizards) to Habble Landing, there to seek out the ‘Enemy’, believed to be located there. Gwen, Bridget, Benedict and Rowl get dragooned along, being as they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The steampunk elements of the worldbuilding are all a bit cookie-cutter, with vaguely Edwardian duelling and Aristocratic Great Houses in the mix, along with airships (but magically floated ones no less), and elaborate quasi naval battles. The roles of the cat tribes are a pleasing point of difference, which sometimes slips over the edge of a bit too cutesy, but is overall a positive element. Etherialists have very great powers (looks can kill), but which come at a cost. All of them are odd, or mad, and suffer from very Laundry File-like holes in the brain the longer they manipulate the ethereal forces!
Elements of the world are revealed through the POV characters experiences, rather than lengthy dumps of information, so that at the end of the book there are still many unknowns (and of course with a sequel or two in the wings this is not such a bad thing). Not much is revealed of the motives for the Auroran attack, other than some vague mutterings about high taxes and a corrupt government which must perforce raid other spires periodically to collect loot, and winnow the population. Of course, our brave Albion aeronauts likewise indulge in piracy, so the reasons for outrage over such actions are curious.
Butcher’s battle scenes are initially exiting, but ultimately overlong and brutal, though the casualties are principally amongst the rank and file soldiery, or amongst civilians. Combatants of both sides have enough of a moral compass to reflect on their actions, and their ability to live with their experiences. Generally, the combatants have altogether too many damage points, and so conspire to overextend the battle sequences unnecessarily.
The novel has been nominated for the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel. I think it is the weakest of the five nominees, but is still a pleasing enough read.
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No. 26 Light - Michael Grant
A decent enough end to Michael Grant's YA update of 'Lord of the Flies'. Plenty of death, destruction and mayhem ensue as the walls of the FAYZ finally come down. The dead are mostly in walk on roles, but a few of the key characters bite the dust in this final chapter.
A decent enough end to Michael Grant's YA update of 'Lord of the Flies'. Plenty of death, destruction and mayhem ensue as the walls of the FAYZ finally come down. The dead are mostly in walk on roles, but a few of the key characters bite the dust in this final chapter.
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No. 25 The Thing Itself - Adam Roberts
Adam Robertas rarely provides the reader with the easy road, and 'The Thing Itself' is no exception. Science fiction is supposed to be food for the mind, and we have this in spades in this neat package. A typically Robertian protagonist, Charles Gardener's (middle aged, sexually frustrated male, whose life has not lived up to early promise) has a tale full of woe.
From the bookends of terror and bloodshed in the Antarctic and Arctic polar wastes (nodding sagely to John Carpenter), to speculations on the nature of reality and human perception of time and space whilst on the run from the 'powers that be' with a fugitive AI, the main narrative moves at a spritely pace, interspersed with flashbacks and flashforwards into the timestream, which are quite neatly tied up in a Kant shaped philosophical bow in the denouement. Does the atheist put a convincing argument for why one should believe in God? I'm not sure, but the read is well worth your time.
Adam Robertas rarely provides the reader with the easy road, and 'The Thing Itself' is no exception. Science fiction is supposed to be food for the mind, and we have this in spades in this neat package. A typically Robertian protagonist, Charles Gardener's (middle aged, sexually frustrated male, whose life has not lived up to early promise) has a tale full of woe.
From the bookends of terror and bloodshed in the Antarctic and Arctic polar wastes (nodding sagely to John Carpenter), to speculations on the nature of reality and human perception of time and space whilst on the run from the 'powers that be' with a fugitive AI, the main narrative moves at a spritely pace, interspersed with flashbacks and flashforwards into the timestream, which are quite neatly tied up in a Kant shaped philosophical bow in the denouement. Does the atheist put a convincing argument for why one should believe in God? I'm not sure, but the read is well worth your time.
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No. 24 Letters to Tiptree - Alisa Krasnostein and Alexandra Pierce (editors)
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No. 23 The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins
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No. 22 The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
Listened to an audio book on the way too and from work. Such a dense array of fantastical ideas in such a short novel.
Listened to an audio book on the way too and from work. Such a dense array of fantastical ideas in such a short novel.
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No. 21 Gypsy (plus) - Carter Scholz
This book contains the novella 'Gypsy' (which I did not read in time to nominate for the Hugo Award, fat lot of good that would have done), plus some short stories, an essays and an interview with the author. The additional works are wry, and only tangentially science fiction. The interview will strike up some chords of resonance with the hobbies of some of the protagonists of the title novella, whilst 'United States of Impunity' sets out some of the reasons for the quiet desperation and despair which are the genesis of the mission of the 'Gypsy'.
The title novella is a perfectly formed jewel. Spare and concise in its prose, it recounts through the real time experiences of 'stewards' of the starship's crew as one by one they are woken from hibernation to atend to setbacks and challenges arising from the journey to the hoped for Ghost Planet at Alpha Centauri. The purloined starship, built and crewed by disillusioned scientists out of the crumbs which fall from the table of the rapacious military-industrial-financial conglomerate which rules and exploits an Earth fast going to hell in a handbasket, is just adequate for the mission. There is a pioneering spirit, and sellfless bravery at the fore in this exploit. The backstories of the crew, and their recruitment intercut the episodes from the journey and reveal the motivations of these pioneers.
Despite some apparent similarities, this is NOT 'Aurora Lite', it is a more hopeful tale, even given the sombre fate of the mision to Alpha Centauri. I'm pleased that I took the time to read this collection.
This book contains the novella 'Gypsy' (which I did not read in time to nominate for the Hugo Award, fat lot of good that would have done), plus some short stories, an essays and an interview with the author. The additional works are wry, and only tangentially science fiction. The interview will strike up some chords of resonance with the hobbies of some of the protagonists of the title novella, whilst 'United States of Impunity' sets out some of the reasons for the quiet desperation and despair which are the genesis of the mission of the 'Gypsy'.
The title novella is a perfectly formed jewel. Spare and concise in its prose, it recounts through the real time experiences of 'stewards' of the starship's crew as one by one they are woken from hibernation to atend to setbacks and challenges arising from the journey to the hoped for Ghost Planet at Alpha Centauri. The purloined starship, built and crewed by disillusioned scientists out of the crumbs which fall from the table of the rapacious military-industrial-financial conglomerate which rules and exploits an Earth fast going to hell in a handbasket, is just adequate for the mission. There is a pioneering spirit, and sellfless bravery at the fore in this exploit. The backstories of the crew, and their recruitment intercut the episodes from the journey and reveal the motivations of these pioneers.
Despite some apparent similarities, this is NOT 'Aurora Lite', it is a more hopeful tale, even given the sombre fate of the mision to Alpha Centauri. I'm pleased that I took the time to read this collection.
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No. 20 Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
3.5 stars. Ernest Cline's well regarded first novel is real page turner. It is a geek quest story, and a loving paean to heritage computer games and above all the 80s. It is a fun read, though too close an inspection of the economics of the world is not advised.
The world of 2044 is a rugged place for most of the population (though the reader only experiences the USA and Japan). In an extrapolation of the current trend of squeezing the middle class into non-existence, the majority are underemployed, in joe jobs and shoehorned ito trailer parks (which have become high rise).
Wade Watts is one of the underclass. Like most of the population he is addicted to the 'bread and circus' of the day, the on-line gameworld of OASIS. The creation of James Halliday, OASIS is virtual reality on steroids, and nearly everyone in the world interacts with it on a daily basis. And when Halliday dies, his final message to the world is to anounce a quest for gamepalyers in OASIS. The first player to follow the clues, dodge the traps and pass through the three gates to defeat the Final Boss to find 'Halliday's Egg', will take control of the entire OASIS empire.
Five years pass, and no one has made ANY progress. Then Wade finds the first clue, gains instant celebrity and the emnity of IOI, the obligatory evil corporation which wants control of OASIS for itself, and will do anything to achieve its goal. Game on...
3.5 stars. Ernest Cline's well regarded first novel is real page turner. It is a geek quest story, and a loving paean to heritage computer games and above all the 80s. It is a fun read, though too close an inspection of the economics of the world is not advised.
The world of 2044 is a rugged place for most of the population (though the reader only experiences the USA and Japan). In an extrapolation of the current trend of squeezing the middle class into non-existence, the majority are underemployed, in joe jobs and shoehorned ito trailer parks (which have become high rise).
Wade Watts is one of the underclass. Like most of the population he is addicted to the 'bread and circus' of the day, the on-line gameworld of OASIS. The creation of James Halliday, OASIS is virtual reality on steroids, and nearly everyone in the world interacts with it on a daily basis. And when Halliday dies, his final message to the world is to anounce a quest for gamepalyers in OASIS. The first player to follow the clues, dodge the traps and pass through the three gates to defeat the Final Boss to find 'Halliday's Egg', will take control of the entire OASIS empire.
Five years pass, and no one has made ANY progress. Then Wade finds the first clue, gains instant celebrity and the emnity of IOI, the obligatory evil corporation which wants control of OASIS for itself, and will do anything to achieve its goal. Game on...
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No. 19 The Player of Games - Iain Banks
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No. 18 The Dispossessed - Ursula Le Guin
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No. 17 Emergence - John Birmingham
There are two types of 'Emergence' in John Birminghham's first 'Dave Hooper novel. The first is the escape of the brutal monsters of the Hunn Horde, from the UnderRealms to which they have been consigned for many ages. The second is that of protagonist Dave Hooper, whose accidentally sucessful confrontation with Battlemaster Urgon Htoth Ur Hunn bestows on unexpected power and knowledge.
Dave Hooper is the right-wing nerd fanboys wet dream hero. He is just like them. Our guy is a hardworking family man, approaching 40, and not the specimen he once was. He's estranged from his wife (not his fault of course). Working on the oil rigs as a safety officer involves long shifts away from the family. It's a tough and unforgiving life. And assuaging the loneliness with expensive hookers, hard drugs , junk food and hard liquor is almost a neccessity. So surely junk food fuelled super-strength, super-speed and sekrit lore are just the panacea for Dave's ills. He'll show everyone.
The Hunn so (subtle JB) are the rightwing scuttlebug USians worst nightmare. Utterly pitiless, brutal and supremely powerful, they can appear almost anywhere without warning, bringing death and destruction with them. And they eat people. And enjoy it. (Oh and they have a rigid power structure, where the elite rule through right of strength, and ther undeclasses know their place)
So the premise is beautifully set up for the audience. What the audience doesn't realise is that Birmingham is trolling them outrageously. This is the author who, in his 'Axis of Time' trilogy inserted nutjob Australian newspaper columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt as an SAS demoitionist, for the purpose of having him shot in the head (which would have made no difference to the quality of his columns or blogs!). So the text is littered with little nuggets of left wing 'messages', and snide remarks about Goorge W Bush and some key right-wing talking points. Mind you, there's also plenty of off-hand and casual sexism too though, so be warned.
The story begins with Hooper's hangover hazed encounter with Urgon Htoth Ur Hunn, soon after the barbarous attack of the Hunn on the Hooper's Longreach rig workplace. The explosive beginning is followed by a long and intermittently tedious buildup to a climactic battle in the shanty towns of New Orleans. The interregnum is chiefly concerned with Dave coming to terms with, and learning to use the abiliies and lore which he has acquired, but also addresses his tense interraction with the military authorities who do not know just how to use this strange asset, and it seems might even prefer that he be made to dissappear.
For me, there is a curious lack of tension though. I just know Dave must prevail. And it also seems that the Hunn, used in the past to terrifying primitive humans, might just be outmatched by any convntional military operation. Boiled leather armour is not likely to be much chop against depleted uranium armour piercing ammunition. The major threat of the Hunn is the random nature of their egress from the UnderRealms. They can do a lot of damage before superior force can be brought to bear. Questions as to why Dave is the chosen one are not addressed, nor the mechanism for power transfer. It is also strange that powers acquired from Batlemaster Urgon should be so superior as to enable Dave to prevail over Urspite Surgoth in the climactic showdown.
Overall, worth 2.5 stars. Better than the 'Disappearance' series, but not up to the standard of 'Axis of Time'.
There are two types of 'Emergence' in John Birminghham's first 'Dave Hooper novel. The first is the escape of the brutal monsters of the Hunn Horde, from the UnderRealms to which they have been consigned for many ages. The second is that of protagonist Dave Hooper, whose accidentally sucessful confrontation with Battlemaster Urgon Htoth Ur Hunn bestows on unexpected power and knowledge.
Dave Hooper is the right-wing nerd fanboys wet dream hero. He is just like them. Our guy is a hardworking family man, approaching 40, and not the specimen he once was. He's estranged from his wife (not his fault of course). Working on the oil rigs as a safety officer involves long shifts away from the family. It's a tough and unforgiving life. And assuaging the loneliness with expensive hookers, hard drugs , junk food and hard liquor is almost a neccessity. So surely junk food fuelled super-strength, super-speed and sekrit lore are just the panacea for Dave's ills. He'll show everyone.
The Hunn so (subtle JB) are the rightwing scuttlebug USians worst nightmare. Utterly pitiless, brutal and supremely powerful, they can appear almost anywhere without warning, bringing death and destruction with them. And they eat people. And enjoy it. (Oh and they have a rigid power structure, where the elite rule through right of strength, and ther undeclasses know their place)
So the premise is beautifully set up for the audience. What the audience doesn't realise is that Birmingham is trolling them outrageously. This is the author who, in his 'Axis of Time' trilogy inserted nutjob Australian newspaper columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt as an SAS demoitionist, for the purpose of having him shot in the head (which would have made no difference to the quality of his columns or blogs!). So the text is littered with little nuggets of left wing 'messages', and snide remarks about Goorge W Bush and some key right-wing talking points. Mind you, there's also plenty of off-hand and casual sexism too though, so be warned.
The story begins with Hooper's hangover hazed encounter with Urgon Htoth Ur Hunn, soon after the barbarous attack of the Hunn on the Hooper's Longreach rig workplace. The explosive beginning is followed by a long and intermittently tedious buildup to a climactic battle in the shanty towns of New Orleans. The interregnum is chiefly concerned with Dave coming to terms with, and learning to use the abiliies and lore which he has acquired, but also addresses his tense interraction with the military authorities who do not know just how to use this strange asset, and it seems might even prefer that he be made to dissappear.
For me, there is a curious lack of tension though. I just know Dave must prevail. And it also seems that the Hunn, used in the past to terrifying primitive humans, might just be outmatched by any convntional military operation. Boiled leather armour is not likely to be much chop against depleted uranium armour piercing ammunition. The major threat of the Hunn is the random nature of their egress from the UnderRealms. They can do a lot of damage before superior force can be brought to bear. Questions as to why Dave is the chosen one are not addressed, nor the mechanism for power transfer. It is also strange that powers acquired from Batlemaster Urgon should be so superior as to enable Dave to prevail over Urspite Surgoth in the climactic showdown.
Overall, worth 2.5 stars. Better than the 'Disappearance' series, but not up to the standard of 'Axis of Time'.
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No. 16 Gateway - Frederick Pohl
An audio re-read in the car on the way to and from work, because my radio is on the fritz
A story that stands up very well to the tests of time - there are few jarring notes. The unconventional structure of the novel, where Robinete Broadhead tells of his experiences as a prospector on Gateway, alternately through accounts of his therapy sessions with AI psychiatrist Sigfried von Shrink, and flashbacks to the events at the heart of his trauma.
An audio re-read in the car on the way to and from work, because my radio is on the fritz
A story that stands up very well to the tests of time - there are few jarring notes. The unconventional structure of the novel, where Robinete Broadhead tells of his experiences as a prospector on Gateway, alternately through accounts of his therapy sessions with AI psychiatrist Sigfried von Shrink, and flashbacks to the events at the heart of his trauma.
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No. 15 Pissing in a River - Lorrie Sprecher
Lorrie Sprecher's novel is the story of Amanda, an Anglophile American lesbian punk with OCD, who vows to voices of the 'women in her head' that she would 'get to England even if it killed me'.
And so she does, studying Literature at Exeter University in the early 80s, and returning to London in the fraught augties where she not only meets the physical manifestations of her cranial voices, but changes her life.
Through it, the test is peppered with an encyclopedia of punk history, with bands, concerts, songs and lyrics referenced in such profusion that the temptation is to pause and try to track down the music!
Lorrie Sprecher's novel is the story of Amanda, an Anglophile American lesbian punk with OCD, who vows to voices of the 'women in her head' that she would 'get to England even if it killed me'.
And so she does, studying Literature at Exeter University in the early 80s, and returning to London in the fraught augties where she not only meets the physical manifestations of her cranial voices, but changes her life.
Through it, the test is peppered with an encyclopedia of punk history, with bands, concerts, songs and lyrics referenced in such profusion that the temptation is to pause and try to track down the music!
![Picture](/uploads/1/6/7/8/16787882/7792009.jpg?149)
No. 14 Black Widow - Chris Brookmyre
3.5 stars
Chris Brookmyre returns to the story of Jack Parlabane in his latest novel. Jack is coming to terms with his very recent divorce, and is still trying to extract his career from the abyss into which it has lately fallen. Creating 'content' for on-line media pays some of the bills, but this eviscerated version of 'journalism' is neither satisfying, nor an endeavour likely to restore his lost reputation. Then Peter Livingstone's sister Lucy arrives on his doorstep, with questions about her brother's tragic death, just 6 months after his fairytale marriage to surgeon Diane Jager.
Diane cuts into people for a living, and she’s good at it. She needs to be in the male dominated environment of her profession. She maintains anonymity in the tell-all blog she writes. Until her account is hacked, and her identity, and those of the colleagues she has exposed as sexist and hypocritical make her employment untenable. She flees to a new start in quiet Inverness and buries herself in her work. She wonders if that is all there is or can be. That is until she meets Peter, a man who seems to tick all the boxes. Then something happens to Peter....
Brookmyre crafts his story well, interweaving the viewpoints of Diane, Jack Parlabane, and Inverness polis Ali and Rodriguez with skill and timing.
3.5 stars
Chris Brookmyre returns to the story of Jack Parlabane in his latest novel. Jack is coming to terms with his very recent divorce, and is still trying to extract his career from the abyss into which it has lately fallen. Creating 'content' for on-line media pays some of the bills, but this eviscerated version of 'journalism' is neither satisfying, nor an endeavour likely to restore his lost reputation. Then Peter Livingstone's sister Lucy arrives on his doorstep, with questions about her brother's tragic death, just 6 months after his fairytale marriage to surgeon Diane Jager.
Diane cuts into people for a living, and she’s good at it. She needs to be in the male dominated environment of her profession. She maintains anonymity in the tell-all blog she writes. Until her account is hacked, and her identity, and those of the colleagues she has exposed as sexist and hypocritical make her employment untenable. She flees to a new start in quiet Inverness and buries herself in her work. She wonders if that is all there is or can be. That is until she meets Peter, a man who seems to tick all the boxes. Then something happens to Peter....
Brookmyre crafts his story well, interweaving the viewpoints of Diane, Jack Parlabane, and Inverness polis Ali and Rodriguez with skill and timing.
![Picture](/uploads/1/6/7/8/16787882/3120293.jpg?139)
No. 13 Fear - Michael Grant
Volume 5 of the 'Gone' series finds more ways to torture the teenagers of the FAYZ, this time by turning out the lights as the series builds to its climax.
Volume 5 of the 'Gone' series finds more ways to torture the teenagers of the FAYZ, this time by turning out the lights as the series builds to its climax.
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No. 12 The End of All Things - John Scalzi
3.5 Stars - an engaging continuation of the 'Old Man's War' sequence. These four pieces of short fiction kick of shortly after the events of 'The Human Division', with the novella 'The Life of the Minds'a standout 'brain in a jar' story making a fine beginning. Rafe Daquin, a down on his luck pilot makes a fateful choice of employment. A promotion to chief pilot turns out to have unattractive consequences...
Within the stories, Scalzi explores themes of maintenance of empire and control, in a populous and fractious galaxy, where freedom and self-determination may carry a real risk of subjugation or extermination by others.
What are the motivations and choices of the leaders of the Conclave, the Colonial Union and Earth, who are pressed from all sides by competing and often irreconcilable demands? ('This Hollow Union')
How do common soldiers cope when their orders to protect the staus quo of empire sees them participating in actions which seem against the interests of those they are tasked to protect? ('can Long Endure').
It is all wrapped up nicely enough in the finale 'To Stand of Fall', which might well be the last we see of this particular series.
Scalzi's light hearted and mildly mocking prose reads and scans well, and the narratives in the individual stories motor along quite satisfactorily. To some extent, the exploits of our heroes are perhaps overly assisted by the stupidity or overconfidence of their enemies, but these faults are minor. Well worth the time to read, especially if you have enjoyed the earlier installments.
3.5 Stars - an engaging continuation of the 'Old Man's War' sequence. These four pieces of short fiction kick of shortly after the events of 'The Human Division', with the novella 'The Life of the Minds'a standout 'brain in a jar' story making a fine beginning. Rafe Daquin, a down on his luck pilot makes a fateful choice of employment. A promotion to chief pilot turns out to have unattractive consequences...
Within the stories, Scalzi explores themes of maintenance of empire and control, in a populous and fractious galaxy, where freedom and self-determination may carry a real risk of subjugation or extermination by others.
What are the motivations and choices of the leaders of the Conclave, the Colonial Union and Earth, who are pressed from all sides by competing and often irreconcilable demands? ('This Hollow Union')
How do common soldiers cope when their orders to protect the staus quo of empire sees them participating in actions which seem against the interests of those they are tasked to protect? ('can Long Endure').
It is all wrapped up nicely enough in the finale 'To Stand of Fall', which might well be the last we see of this particular series.
Scalzi's light hearted and mildly mocking prose reads and scans well, and the narratives in the individual stories motor along quite satisfactorily. To some extent, the exploits of our heroes are perhaps overly assisted by the stupidity or overconfidence of their enemies, but these faults are minor. Well worth the time to read, especially if you have enjoyed the earlier installments.
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No. 11 The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu
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No. 10 The Citadel of Weeping Pearls - Aliette de Bodard
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No. 9 The Bone Swans of Amandale - CSE Cooney
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No. 8 Black Wolves - Kate Elliott
Kate Elliot’s exemplary worldbuilding skills aren’t really tested in this much appreciated return to the lands of the Hundred, from the recent ‘Crossroads’ trilogy. The tale opens just 15 years after the conclusion of ‘Traitor’s Gate, to introduce Captain Kallas, a soldier of the titular ‘Black Wolves’, whose cohort ranges the Hundred, eliminating enemies of King Anjihosh, the Great Unifier. In Toskala, the complexities of Anji’s family are laid out for the reader, the incipient cracks in the edifice waiting to widen.
The narrative skips forward forty four years, whence the seeds of the doom for the nation founded by Anjihosh after his victory over the chaos caused by corrupt Guardians, have sprouted and taken root in those very cracks. Anjihosh is dead, and so is his successor Atani, killed 22 years before by traitorous Lord Seras, in a suspicious ambush which led to the disgrace and disbanding of the ‘Black Wolves’. Atani’s son Jehosh now rules, but his absences fighting border wars, palace intrigues and the increasing meddling of the troublesome imported priests of Beltak the Shining One are crowding out the old ways of the Hundred. The Seven Gods have been pushed to the margins or suppressed, as a darker canker hides beneath.
The tale is told from the POV of Kellas, the old soldier who returns reluctantly to duty from that of Sarai, an outcast Ri Amarah woman, thrust into a political marriage to Gilaras the wastrel son of the regicide Seras, and Dannarah, daughter of Anjihosh and marshal of the reeves, whose charges are again under threat from those who covet the power of the giant eagles who are the reeve’s partners. This is the first instalment of a planned trilogy, so ends in a tantalising cliffhanger, and promises to reveal more of the underlying rationale of this fascinating world, and in particular, the role of the hitherto mysterious Ri Amarah.
Eligible for the Hugo award in 2016, and on my list of nominees
Kate Elliot’s exemplary worldbuilding skills aren’t really tested in this much appreciated return to the lands of the Hundred, from the recent ‘Crossroads’ trilogy. The tale opens just 15 years after the conclusion of ‘Traitor’s Gate, to introduce Captain Kallas, a soldier of the titular ‘Black Wolves’, whose cohort ranges the Hundred, eliminating enemies of King Anjihosh, the Great Unifier. In Toskala, the complexities of Anji’s family are laid out for the reader, the incipient cracks in the edifice waiting to widen.
The narrative skips forward forty four years, whence the seeds of the doom for the nation founded by Anjihosh after his victory over the chaos caused by corrupt Guardians, have sprouted and taken root in those very cracks. Anjihosh is dead, and so is his successor Atani, killed 22 years before by traitorous Lord Seras, in a suspicious ambush which led to the disgrace and disbanding of the ‘Black Wolves’. Atani’s son Jehosh now rules, but his absences fighting border wars, palace intrigues and the increasing meddling of the troublesome imported priests of Beltak the Shining One are crowding out the old ways of the Hundred. The Seven Gods have been pushed to the margins or suppressed, as a darker canker hides beneath.
The tale is told from the POV of Kellas, the old soldier who returns reluctantly to duty from that of Sarai, an outcast Ri Amarah woman, thrust into a political marriage to Gilaras the wastrel son of the regicide Seras, and Dannarah, daughter of Anjihosh and marshal of the reeves, whose charges are again under threat from those who covet the power of the giant eagles who are the reeve’s partners. This is the first instalment of a planned trilogy, so ends in a tantalising cliffhanger, and promises to reveal more of the underlying rationale of this fascinating world, and in particular, the role of the hitherto mysterious Ri Amarah.
Eligible for the Hugo award in 2016, and on my list of nominees
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No. 7 If Then - Matthew de Abaitua
3.5 stars in fact.
After an economic and societal collapse, the citizens of Lewes have submitted themselves to rule by an all encompasing data collection algorithm, 'the Process'. Via ubiquitous organic implants, the emotional satisfaction of the participants is monitored, and the 'Process' dispenses goods, services and employment to its serfs in a way calculated to maximize their happiness. Sounds great hey?
From time to time, the system must be rebalanced, and surplus citizens, calculated to be of no value to the 'Process' must perforce be evicted from the town. It is James' responsibility, as the town bailiff, to enforce these evictions. He has frightening steampunk armour, and a callous ritual to asist in the execution of these duties.
On patrol, outside town James finds an injured soldier, Hector, strung on barbed wire. The Process is manufacturing soldiers, and is recreating the Gallipoli landings, to refine and improve its algorithmic equations for perfect harmony and peace. James, Hector and the citizens of Lewes are to be cogs in the grinder.
Sounds mad and bonkers, does it not?
But century after the disaster of Suvla Bay, no more insane than that campaign and what came after in the Great War. Especially since the centennial comemorations focus on the bravery of participants, and not the stupidity which let to its necessity. There is passion and bitterness aplenty in Matthew De Abaitua's novel, and it is well worth the reading
3.5 stars in fact.
After an economic and societal collapse, the citizens of Lewes have submitted themselves to rule by an all encompasing data collection algorithm, 'the Process'. Via ubiquitous organic implants, the emotional satisfaction of the participants is monitored, and the 'Process' dispenses goods, services and employment to its serfs in a way calculated to maximize their happiness. Sounds great hey?
From time to time, the system must be rebalanced, and surplus citizens, calculated to be of no value to the 'Process' must perforce be evicted from the town. It is James' responsibility, as the town bailiff, to enforce these evictions. He has frightening steampunk armour, and a callous ritual to asist in the execution of these duties.
On patrol, outside town James finds an injured soldier, Hector, strung on barbed wire. The Process is manufacturing soldiers, and is recreating the Gallipoli landings, to refine and improve its algorithmic equations for perfect harmony and peace. James, Hector and the citizens of Lewes are to be cogs in the grinder.
Sounds mad and bonkers, does it not?
But century after the disaster of Suvla Bay, no more insane than that campaign and what came after in the Great War. Especially since the centennial comemorations focus on the bravery of participants, and not the stupidity which let to its necessity. There is passion and bitterness aplenty in Matthew De Abaitua's novel, and it is well worth the reading
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No. 6 Archivist Wasp - Nicole Kohner-Stace
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No. 5 Seveneves - Neal Stephenson
‘Seveneves’ is a massive brick of a novel. Stephenson begins with a bang, destroying the moon in the opening sentence ‘for no apparent reason’. Hand of God, or cosmic accident it matters little. If you had a bad feeling about that cosmic accident, you were correct, and a Hard Rain is surely gonna fall.
The first third is concerned with ‘the End of the World’ what the human race might do if faced with the certainty of annihilation. The International Space Station is to be a life-raft, and a miniscule fraction of humanity will shelter whilst the remnants of the moon obliterates 7 billion souls.
After 704 seconds of reflection for the passing of the human race, the survivors set about consolidation, turning mere survival into a platform for rebuilding, whilst responding to the inevitable setbacks, infighting and winnowing that the precarious tread of humanity must rest. The political infighting which was for the most part absent from the first third of the story, is a key element in the near catastrophe of the climax to this chapter.
The concluding stanza, set 5000 years in the future, is more speculative, imagining the society and culture which arises as a result of the events which close the 2nd chapter, whilst springing its own surprises.
The book is brimming with hard science fiction ideas, all of which are handily extrapolated from existing technology. The presentation is not without lengthy infodumps, which sometimes interrupt the narrative, though not significantly so until the overlong setup and gaze in awe of the orbital cities built on the ruins of the moon, and the transport systems used to access them in the setup for Part three. It recalls the interminable slow pan technoporn of the Enterprise resting in Space Dock in ‘Star Trek-The Motionless Picture’. The story does lurch back into gear though, but after about 100 pages and cruises to a satisfying conclusion in the vacant but still disputed landscapes of a re-terraformed earth.
This is a story about how events effect people, and as a consequence, the characters are drawn in broad brushes, with minimal exploration. There are few truly 3 dimensional protagonists, the majority of the cast having to be content with being of cardboard, or indeed a single note. They do serve their intended purpose in pushing the plot along. It is that type of story, where the objects and their interactions are the nub of the matter. A worthy and enjoyable read.
‘Seveneves’ is a massive brick of a novel. Stephenson begins with a bang, destroying the moon in the opening sentence ‘for no apparent reason’. Hand of God, or cosmic accident it matters little. If you had a bad feeling about that cosmic accident, you were correct, and a Hard Rain is surely gonna fall.
The first third is concerned with ‘the End of the World’ what the human race might do if faced with the certainty of annihilation. The International Space Station is to be a life-raft, and a miniscule fraction of humanity will shelter whilst the remnants of the moon obliterates 7 billion souls.
After 704 seconds of reflection for the passing of the human race, the survivors set about consolidation, turning mere survival into a platform for rebuilding, whilst responding to the inevitable setbacks, infighting and winnowing that the precarious tread of humanity must rest. The political infighting which was for the most part absent from the first third of the story, is a key element in the near catastrophe of the climax to this chapter.
The concluding stanza, set 5000 years in the future, is more speculative, imagining the society and culture which arises as a result of the events which close the 2nd chapter, whilst springing its own surprises.
The book is brimming with hard science fiction ideas, all of which are handily extrapolated from existing technology. The presentation is not without lengthy infodumps, which sometimes interrupt the narrative, though not significantly so until the overlong setup and gaze in awe of the orbital cities built on the ruins of the moon, and the transport systems used to access them in the setup for Part three. It recalls the interminable slow pan technoporn of the Enterprise resting in Space Dock in ‘Star Trek-The Motionless Picture’. The story does lurch back into gear though, but after about 100 pages and cruises to a satisfying conclusion in the vacant but still disputed landscapes of a re-terraformed earth.
This is a story about how events effect people, and as a consequence, the characters are drawn in broad brushes, with minimal exploration. There are few truly 3 dimensional protagonists, the majority of the cast having to be content with being of cardboard, or indeed a single note. They do serve their intended purpose in pushing the plot along. It is that type of story, where the objects and their interactions are the nub of the matter. A worthy and enjoyable read.
![Picture](/uploads/1/6/7/8/16787882/4708106.jpg?132)
No. 4 The Fifth Season - N K Jemisin
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No. 3 Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Naomi Novik has forged a narrative based on Polish fairytales, which begins with a familiar trope, and takes it to unexpected destinations. On the borderlands of the kingdom there is a valley. And an old and evil Wood which year by year expands. The valley is defended from the depredations of the Wood by the 'Dragon', an ancient and bitter wizard. Every 10 years, he takes a 17 year old village girl as his servant. And the experience changes these women so much that they choose to leave their homes forever once their servitude is done.
Best friends Kasia and Agniewska are candidates for selection this year. And everyone expects the beautiful Kasia to be chosen. Only life has unexpected turns, and so begins Agniewska's journey to mastery of magic. It is initially, a journey none of the parties is particularly happy about, and seems destined to end in tears.
As the story unfolds, the reader learns of the way in which magic is created and wielded, and what arts may have been lost and forgotten in ages past. A desperate mission to the kingdom's capital thrusts Agniewska unknowing into the intrigues of court life, where she battles the prejudices of the hidebound and powerful. After a catastrophic series of events which leave the kingdom in disarray, an equally desperate fight back to the Dragon's tower leads only to the needless
Eligible for the Hugo award in 2016, and on my nomination ballot.
Naomi Novik has forged a narrative based on Polish fairytales, which begins with a familiar trope, and takes it to unexpected destinations. On the borderlands of the kingdom there is a valley. And an old and evil Wood which year by year expands. The valley is defended from the depredations of the Wood by the 'Dragon', an ancient and bitter wizard. Every 10 years, he takes a 17 year old village girl as his servant. And the experience changes these women so much that they choose to leave their homes forever once their servitude is done.
Best friends Kasia and Agniewska are candidates for selection this year. And everyone expects the beautiful Kasia to be chosen. Only life has unexpected turns, and so begins Agniewska's journey to mastery of magic. It is initially, a journey none of the parties is particularly happy about, and seems destined to end in tears.
As the story unfolds, the reader learns of the way in which magic is created and wielded, and what arts may have been lost and forgotten in ages past. A desperate mission to the kingdom's capital thrusts Agniewska unknowing into the intrigues of court life, where she battles the prejudices of the hidebound and powerful. After a catastrophic series of events which leave the kingdom in disarray, an equally desperate fight back to the Dragon's tower leads only to the needless
Eligible for the Hugo award in 2016, and on my nomination ballot.
![Picture](/uploads/1/6/7/8/16787882/4352753.jpg?132)
No. 2 The Gracekeepers - Kirsty Logan
Kirsty Logan has created a sad, divided and eerie world in this lambent and magical tale. The waters have risen, and humanity is divided between 'landlockers' who jealously cling to the dwindling land, and the 'damplings', who perforce must make eke out their lives on the waves.
The circus troupe 'Excalibur' sails between islands, performing for the landlockers and earning the troupe a meagre living, never quite enough to fill their bellies. Ringmaster Jarrow, once a landlocker, dreams that his family 'Stirling' will return to the land. He has saved to buy a house, and plans to marry his son Ainsel to North, a young woman who performs in the circus with her somewhat tame bear. North, who has an ambivalent love for her unnamed bear, is less than enamoured with this plan.
Callanish, is a gracekeeper, self-exiled to an artificial island where she conducts dampling funerals. These 'Restings' consign the departed to the deeps, the length of mourning defined by the time taken for a small bird, a 'grace', to starve. Callanish has chosen exile from her home because of a 'mistake' in her past which has estranged her from her mother. Once, as a child, Callanish has seen the circus, and witnessed a tragic event which has shaped North's life.
A storm at sea brings tragedy to the 'Excalibur', and draws North and Callanish together once more as the Resting is conducted, and the Excalibur repaired. After these visitors leave, Callanish is drawn to abandon her post, seek reconciliation with her past and her secrets and seek out her bear girl across the treacherous seas.
Kirsty Logan has created a sad, divided and eerie world in this lambent and magical tale. The waters have risen, and humanity is divided between 'landlockers' who jealously cling to the dwindling land, and the 'damplings', who perforce must make eke out their lives on the waves.
The circus troupe 'Excalibur' sails between islands, performing for the landlockers and earning the troupe a meagre living, never quite enough to fill their bellies. Ringmaster Jarrow, once a landlocker, dreams that his family 'Stirling' will return to the land. He has saved to buy a house, and plans to marry his son Ainsel to North, a young woman who performs in the circus with her somewhat tame bear. North, who has an ambivalent love for her unnamed bear, is less than enamoured with this plan.
Callanish, is a gracekeeper, self-exiled to an artificial island where she conducts dampling funerals. These 'Restings' consign the departed to the deeps, the length of mourning defined by the time taken for a small bird, a 'grace', to starve. Callanish has chosen exile from her home because of a 'mistake' in her past which has estranged her from her mother. Once, as a child, Callanish has seen the circus, and witnessed a tragic event which has shaped North's life.
A storm at sea brings tragedy to the 'Excalibur', and draws North and Callanish together once more as the Resting is conducted, and the Excalibur repaired. After these visitors leave, Callanish is drawn to abandon her post, seek reconciliation with her past and her secrets and seek out her bear girl across the treacherous seas.
![Picture](/uploads/1/6/7/8/16787882/6989482.jpg?187)
No. 1 Old Venus - Gardner Dozois & George RR Martin eds