[Hobbit]

This is where you tell us what you're reading in the galaxies of SF this month. Good or bad, please let us know what you thought.

Again, a little reminder: the rules on links in posts changed a couple of months ago at SFFWorld. Please READ HERE (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=392720) before you use inappropriate links. Thank you.

Over to the Book Clubs....
The SF Book Club discussion is on Gateway by Frederik Pohl. (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17499) Another big award winner, Gateway won the 1978 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1978 John W. Campbell Award.

This month's Fantasy Book Club discussion is on ASH: A Secret History by Mary Gentle.. (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=406128#post406128) This was chosen without any persuasion on my part, though it is pretty well known at SFFWorld that I think it is one of the best books I have ever read.

Join in if you can!

Hobbit

[Wolf_]

Me? It's the Command And Conquer 3 Novel by Keith R A De Candido.

[s271]

M. John Harrison Light
That was not a fast read for me. I was reading it on and off during several months. It's a kind of postmodern SF or modern postSF. In this book there is ultra-tech space combat, hardboiled criminal gangs, sympathetic serial killer, pitiful dysfunctional aliens, boiling space-time foam and runaway sentient algorithms. And of cause mystery bigger then Earth and higher calling. It is as if Alastar Reinolds decided to drop SF and go into mainstream literature, but changed his mind and stopped halfway. The book was not exactly gripping for me, but it was worth reading.

[raggedyman]

While searching for story collections by Henry Kuttner on line , I found "Girls For The Slime God" edited by Mike Resnick. There are 3 stories by Kuttner and 1 by Issac Asimov. In the first story alone the heroine gets her clothes torn off five times by a BEM but never fear , her virtue is saved by the timely arrival of the hero. The stories were all written in 1938 so they're pretty tame. I also tried "Light" by M. John Harrison but could only get through a third of it before putting it away. Ill try again in the future.

[Eventine]

I recently finished up Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell. Crystal Rain introduces us to an interesting low-technology setting (blimps and trains seem to be the most advanced technology) which could have easily been presented as a fantasy for most of the novel. However, the interest lies in that this low-tech environment is really a lost-tech environment - the civilisation is actually the remnants of a more advanced colony that has retroverted following some form of conflict in the past. The high-tech past is now a thing of legend, yet the Nanagandan inhabitants understand it was something humans could achieve, and that some strive to regain.

The protagonist, John de Brun, is an amnesiac who has been living in a Carribean-descended community since mysteriously washing ashore in the past. de Brun's world is thrown into turmoil with the invasion of the neighbouring Azteca civilisation at the prompting of the Teotl - their gods. To the reader it soon becomes obvious that the gods (the Teotl for the Azteca and Loa for the Nanagadans) are aliens and the SF elements of the novel start to take on weight, especially as it becomes apparent that de Brun has some form of tie to an ancient artifact that is perhaps the basis for the war.
We're introduced to the world through de Brun's struggles to remember his past and the telling of stories to his teenage son. This allows us to see how the fall of civilisation has lived on in myth and legend, and how the current inhabitants interpret technology they no longer understand. Adding to the mix is Pepper, an enigmatic character who seems to have links to de Bruin's past and, fortunately, a fully functioning memory.
There's a lot of action crammed into this novel - it reminds me a little of some of Leigh Brackett's work, where the science isn't the focus, it's merely an enabler for the characters and their adventures. That's not to say it's a ray-guns replacing wands style science-fantasy (which most of the Brackett I've read is) - the lost-tech culture merely makes hard science unecessary.
I think it's also worth mentioning the cover, which features deBrun, hook for one hand and a gun in the over leaning in the rigging of an airship - it captures the adventurous nature of the novel.
My only gripe with the novel is the character's style of speech, which can be somewhat disconcerting to start with but becomes natural as the novel progresses. This and a few info dumps early on are easily overlooked given that Crystal Rain provides an exciting mix of action, SF, mystery and setting. I'm looking forward to the follow up, Ragamuffin, which takes the planetary scope of this novel to a much broader environment.

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

Retief: Envoy to New Worlds [*Jame Retief], Keith Laumer, Baen April 1987 (c, pb) (8 out of 10)
----Protocol (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671318578/0671318578___4.htm), (ss) If Jan. 1962 {a.k.a. "The Yillian Way"}
----Sealed Orders (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671318578/0671318578___6.htm), (nv) If May 1962 {a.k.a. "Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain"}
----Cultural Exchange (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671318578/0671318578___9.htm), (ss) If Sep. 1962
----Aide Memoire (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671318578/0671318578__34.htm), (ss) If July 1962
----Policy (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671318578/0671318578__13.htm), (nv) If March 1962 {a.k.a. "The Madman from Earth"}
----Palace Revolution (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671318578/0671318578___8.htm), (nv) If Nov. 1961 {a.k.a. "Gambler's World"}
----Rank Injustice, (nv) New Destinies Vol. 1 1987

For truly funny genre fiction, you'd have to look far and wide to beat the Retief stories of Keith Laumer. Laumer spent some of his U.S. Air Force stint in the diplomatic corps, and collected more than enough experiences to invent his own (science) fictional diplomat, Jame Retief, a self-described "diplomat-at-arms" who must constantly circumvent the pandering, obfuscation, denial, and outright malfeasance of his higher-ups in averting one interstellar catastrophe after another! Off and on through the years, I've read a few of the Retief short stories, but this time I decided to read a full collection, and it was well worth it. My favorite is probably "Cultural Exchange":

First Secretary Magnan took his green-lined cape and orange-feathered beret from the clothes tree. "I'm off now, Retief," he said. "I hope you'll manage the administrative routine during my absence without any unfortunate incidents."

"That seems a modest enough hope," said Second Secretary Retief. "I'll try to live up to it."

"I don't appreciate frivolity with reference to this Division," Magnan said testily. "When I first came here, the Manpower Utilization Directorate, Division of Libraries and Education was a shambles. I fancy I've made MUDDLE what it is today. Frankly, I question the wisdom of placing you in charge of such a sensitive desk, even for two weeks; but remember, yours is a purely rubber-stamp function."

"In that case, let's leave it to Miss Furkle, and I'll take a couple of weeks off myself. With her poundage, she could bring plenty of pressure to bear."

"I assume you jest, Retief," Magnan said sadly.

And you just can't beat his acronyms:

Manpower Utilization Directorate, Division of Libraries and Education (MUDDLE)
Motorized Equipment Depot, Division of Loans and Exchanges (MEDDLE)
Special Committee for Rehabilitation and Overhaul of Underdeveloped Nations' General Economies (SCROUNGE)
Interplanetary Tribunal for the Curtailing of Hostilities (ITCH)

All hail Retief!

[Bob Lock]

Just finished Death's Head by David Gunn after seeing Neal Asher's recommendation on his blog and wasn't disappointed. This is a non-stop action book, a military sf novel that lives up to the cover blurb:
He's armed and very, very, dangerous...
It's about a genetically enhanced legionaire and his best friend, a talking gun. The gun almost steals the show and the book finishes with you wishing you had one yourself. An easy read, full of action, I read it in two days, could hardly put it down.

[Hobbit]

Hi Bob!

Kater / Owen reviewed it for us a while back, in May: REVIEW HERE. (http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/359.html) Don't think he was quite as impressed as you, but it sounds like a good page turner, for those with strong stomachs!

Hobbit

[Bob Lock]

Hey hey Hobbit *throws a hobnob* yeah I notice Owen thought it unsubtle etc, etc which is a fair comment but every now and then I find it nice just to be able to throw myself into a book and enjoy it just for its grittiness and no-holds-barred approach and not have to get deeply involved in back-stories, endless foreshadowing. This is that sort of book, right from the start it's a rollercoaster that keeps you on an adrenalin high until the end. And yeah, not for the squeamish and definatetly not for feminists, Sven is somewhat...umm.. oh well, see for yourself :)

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

Galactic North [*Revelation Space], Alastair Reynolds, Orion UK Nov. 2006 / Ace June 2007 (c, hc) (10 out of 10)
----Great Wall of Mars [*Clavain], (nv) Spectrum SF #1 2000
----Glacial [*Clavain], (nv) Spectrum SF Feb. 2001
----A Spy in Europa (http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/europa.htm), (ss) Interzone June 1997
----Weather, (na) *
----Dilation Sleep [proto-*Revelation Space], (ss) Interzone #39 1990
----Grafenwalder’s Bestiary, (nv) *
----Nightingale, (na) *
----Galactic North, (nv) Interzone July 1999

When I first read Revelation Space several years ago, I knew I had found both an author and a "Future History" that I could sink my teeth into, probably the most promising series since Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" books. Now, Reynolds has compiled the series' short fiction into a new collection, Galactic North, with about 60,000 words of brand-new novellas!

Here's a younger Clavain (from Redemption Ark, etc.) trying to end the Solar System's largest cultural conflict the only way he knows how: by going over to the other side. Here's the surviving crew of an interstellar ship, victim of a horrible crime, setting off on a chase for justice and revenge, though it will take thousands of parsecs, as well as tens of thousands of subjective years. And here's "Grafenwalder's Bestiary," where a group of decadent-but-rich "collectors" try to outdo each other with their latest acquisitions of unusual and exotic life-forms; the ending of this great novella still makes me chuckle!

And here's hoping for a long and prosperous life for Alastair Reynolds, who will only get better with time. This is one of the best single-author collections that I have ever read.