I read Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. It's good, short book from the 1960s about first contact with a sentient, alien race, and the struggle versus an evil corporation to get them recognized as intelligent. I was surprised how much legal wrangling and maneuvering there was in the plot. The aliens aren't particularly alien, but then the story isn't really about them. The fight over their intelligence was a little one-sided so the ending was never really in doubt, but I did like it.
I'm already a good chunk into Behemoth, the sequel to Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld.
In the middle of Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh. I really like her writting style, I feel like I am playing the part of some of the characters at times. Not a fast paced book, yet. It seems to go in spurts. Also Im half way through and have NO idea where shes going with the main story
Just finished an excellent book, Stealing Light by Gary Gibson. It reminded me a little of Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds but it was paced much quicker. I will definitely continue with this series.
Just finished an excellent book, Stealing Light by Gary Gibson. It reminded me a little of Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds but it was paced much quicker. I will definitely continue with this series.
You might want to check out John Steakley's Armor, to make a trifecta out of it, but perhaps after you read Starship Troopers; Heinlein is unabashedly pro-military, while Steakley is far more cynical and wrote Armor as a response to Starship Troopers (some scenes parallel ST specifically, but twisted or inverted.)
I’ve certainly heard of Armor, but I didn’t realise it was written specifically as a response to Starship Troopers; my impression was (until you just corrected it) that it was more “in the tradition of…” rather than a critique. Of course, there’s a long tradition of military science fiction that probably owes some debt to Heinlein’s book (Scalzi and Buettner are two others that jump to mind besides Steakley). So much to read, so little time.
Speaking of which, I’ve just finished I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Written in 1954, the plot is set from 1976-9 and the book is a science fiction/horror hybrid, but reads more like horror and less like science fiction in 2010. My last read, The Forever War, was, in many ways, a book about alienation and loneliness, and coincidentally so is this. However, whereas The Forever War was about the way society treated, and the adjustment disorder suffered by, Vietnam veterans in the 70s, I Am Legend is about the Cold War paranoia of the 50s. The book, like Haldeman’s, transcends its cultural and historical context, and remains relevant as a commentary about the alienation caused by modern conformity and marginalisation. In fact, the plot is one that has been recycled in film and literature time and time again (Night of the Living Dead, The Stand, 28 Days Later, The Passage, etc.). For those that don’t know (if any one doesn’t) I Am Legend is the classic story about a plague that sweeps humanity, turning almost all of the Earth’s population into (in this case) vampires, leaving one man to survive against the horde. I understand I Am Legend is the original version of this tale, and one of the best I’ve encountered. I liked this book very much, and thought it was a poignant existential tale of loneliness and despair, a story of one man struggling to find meaning in a meaningless life (by killing one vampire at a time).
You would think that a book about a man holed up in a house for three years was in danger of being stagnant and boring, but Matheson does a good job at keeping this potentially monotonous situation interesting and engaging (with one tedious sequence in the book proving to be an exception, as discussed below). There are some adrenaline-pumping scenes in the book. In particular, Part One ends with a nail biting scene, in which Neville finds himself trapped outside his house at sunset after forgetting to wind his wristwatch the night before.
I also found the passage of the book detailing Neville’s attempts to coax a frightened dog inside his home, only to have his new companion die within a week of befriending it, quite poignant.
I loved the bleak comedy inherent the fact that Neville’s primary nemesis amongst the undead is his old next-door neighbor, a man he carpooled to work with every morning in his old like – to my mind this encapsulates the edgy paranoia of the book. The scenes involving Ruth are also particularly tense, as Matheson plays on Neville’s, and in turn the reader’s sense of paranoia – is she or isn’t she one of the infected, and if not, is Neville about to make a horrible mistake by committing some act of violence against her? By today’s gory standard, the horror is very subtle (some might say tame but I appreciated the restraint), and the most horrific scene for me is when Neville recounts the way he was forced to put his own wife to rest (for the second time).
What I didn’t really like? For a fair bit of Part Two (there are four parts) Matheson inflicts the monotony of his protagonist’s existence a little too much on the reader as well. There’s also some pretty clunky popular science involving bacteriology and hematology for a lot of that part, which I felt would have been pretty naff even back in 1954. Matheson also falls back on a lot of repetitive descriptions to try and impress upon the reader Neville’s existential torment; there’s lots of clenching fists, snarling and curling top lips, stomping around, breaking whiskey glasses, and general thrashing about. It occasionally brought to my mind Jack Nicholson’s worst kabuki acting in parts of The Shining. One last quibble – the ironic ending felt a tad too heavy-handed, and a little more subtlety probably would have been less insulting to the reader’s intelligence, but otherwise it was a really enjoyable read.
Just finished Out of the Dark by David Weber. This was a remarkably good book, plenty of action and he's very knowledgable with regards to current military stuff. The whole idea was done well, but the end felt rushed and I couldn't help but want the last 40 or so pages to be expanded some more. The potential sequel could be excellent!
Last night I finished Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. The sequel to the amazing Leviathan wasn't as original as the first book, but it was still very good.
Next up will probably be Devices and Desires by KJ Parker.
I'm still reading Michael Flynn's The January Dancer. After almost a month, I'm 120 pages in and haven't picked it up since about two weeks ago. It should be enjoyable: Flynn always comes up with clever sayings and humorous moments, the novel is written with fairly nice prose, the overall idea he's exploring is intriguing, the chapters aren't too long, and the book is barely over 300 pages.
Yet I just can't read more than a handful of pages at a time: the short chapters, huge selection of characters, and immersion (he rarely stops for exposition, so you're left to understand the world on your own) should create a fast-paced read, but in a way they work against it to slow it down. I'm constantly trying to figure out who is who, what government/planet/social system he's talking about now, and how this all relates. However, I have reached a point where some of the POV characters are on the same ship, so hopefully this will not be as much of a problem; I intend to finish this novel, one way or the other.
Edit: I see Robb had much of the same problems in his review. Thankfully, he says it does come together near the point I'm at.
On the other hand, I'm reading free online novel Light on Shattered Water by Greg Howell (available here: crash.ihug.co.nz/~howellg/). After reading one of his novels linked to me way back in 2005, I'd lost track of his website, figured he hadn't written more past the one novel he had then, but to my surprise I found he had finished two other novels, a novella, and started a new novel in that time. Howell's work might be published free online, and while some might find that a warning sign, he is an example of someone who actually has the talent to back this up: not only does he feature engaging characters via a first person narration that puts us deep into characters, not only does he always strongly "detail" his novels with moments comparing society, not only does he deliver this but his works are long for those who like to get lost.
Howell's work seems to usually feature first contact between a human and an alien, sometimes due to a modern man making an accidental trip into a parallel world and sometimes due to a futuristic human society landing in a foreign galaxy, and the impact they have on each other on a personal and social level. Overall, he reminds me most of C.J. Cherryh.
In Light on Shattered Water, we follow a modern day man named Michael who goes out to the wilderness for a vacation and via an electrical storm ends up in an alternate Earth where humans never existed. Once there, he struggles to survive in a world that's on the equivalent of our 15th Century where most of the inhabitants react to his alien nature with hostility, and eventually ends up in a "golden cage" working for one of the land's kings. You see, Michael is an engineer, and in a land that's on the verge open war with each other the future technology--from faster ships to better muskets--he could give them is very valuable knowledge. The way Howell puts us in Michael's shoes is remarkable, and even in chapters where it's simply him chatting with his captors the interplay between societies (and there are some large differences between him and them, like the fact that they not only don't worship a god but cannot comprehend one; though there are also humorous ones, such as when Michael shows an alien friend of his Basic Instinct on his dying laptop) I was interested in events. The novel's 287,000 words long, aka the length of a shorter Robert Jordan novel, but it never fails to intrigue and while reading the final 1/4 last night I found myself up to 6AM as the climax was so emotionally and action charged that I couldn't stop! So check it out.
What I didn’t really like? For a fair bit of Part Two (there are four parts) Matheson inflicts the monotony of his protagonist’s existence a little too much on the reader as well. There’s also some pretty clunky popular science involving bacteriology and hematology for a lot of that part, which I felt would have been pretty naff even back in 1954. Matheson also falls back on a lot of repetitive descriptions to try and impress upon the reader Neville’s existential torment; there’s lots of clenching fists, snarling and curling top lips, stomping around, breaking whiskey glasses, and general thrashing about. It occasionally brought to my mind Jack Nicholson’s worst kabuki acting in parts of The Shining. One last quibble – the ironic ending felt a tad too heavy-handed, and a little more subtlety probably would have been less insulting to the reader’s intelligence, but otherwise it was a really enjoyable read.
I thought the ending was great!.. in fact the way it finishes makes the entire thing worthwhile. When an ending is unrealistically upbeat, or positive against all odds, or offers some hope no matter how bleak the circumstances... that is what should be insulting to a reader.
Matheson ends the story the only way it could have ended.
Humanity hasn't been replaced, only enhanced, mutated. In the final scene, Neville comes to understand that in this new world order, it is he who is the monster.
Oh, sorry if I was unclear. What I was trying to say was that I thought Matheson was a little bit heavy handed in emphasising the irony of Neville’s fate. There are some lines about coming “full circle” which I didn’t think were necessary. I think an intelligent reader would appreciate the irony without it being made so explicit. It just seemed a little forced and corny to me. I would have preferred a lighter touch and a bit more subtlety. So, my problem was more the way the ending was written, rather than the ending itself, which I actually liked.
Oh, sorry if I was unclear. What I was trying to say was that I thought Matheson was a little bit heavy handed in emphasising the irony of Neville’s fate. There are some lines about coming “full circle” which I didn’t think were necessary. I think an intelligent reader would appreciate the irony without it being made so explicit. It just seemed a little forced and corny to me. I would have preferred a lighter touch and a bit more subtlety. So, my problem was more the way the ending was written, rather than the ending itself, which I actually liked.
Finished Robert Charles Wilson's Bios and Blind Lake.
Blind Lake was good but not great, as usual Wilson's character development is well done but I found this a little slow. Thought a plot involving humans with a special device to watch life forms on a distant planet could have had so much more potential.
I enjoyed Bios a lot more, and for Wilson it had a much larger sci-fi focus as opposed to human drama and charater building. A short read at 200+ pages but interesting.
I finished Light on Shattered Water (crash.ihug.co.nz/~howellg/) two days ago and I'm very impressed: for a novel that goes on for about 60 pages after its apparent conclusion, it was very well paced and Howell uses this space to wring all the emotion he can from the character's situation, give all his side characters one last good show, put in a second more personal action climax (to spoil it the least, the mostly powerless protagonist chooses to chase after one of the assassins who's been trying to kill him the entire novel instead of leaving it to his guards--solely because he's sick and tired of being hunted), and a few more plot revelations.
It's the sort of ending that lingers with the reader for a few days after reading instead of quickly vanishing from memory. If it was published in hard copy I would pick up one right away to add to my library, and I'll certainly be reading the sequel after taking a break--it's that sort of ending, it makes you want more but it drains you.
I am taking a brief sci-fi reading break, to read a bunch of nonfiction. But when I return, my reading list includes:
Ilium and Olympos, by Dan Simmons Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World, by Neal Stephenson City of Golden Shadow, Mountain of Black Glass, River of Blue Fire, and Sea of Silver Light, by Tad Williams The Broken God, The Wild, and War in Heaven, by David Zindell The Risen Empire, by Scott Westerfield Schismatrix, by Bruce Sterling When Gravity Fails and A Fire in the Sun, by George Alec Effinger
Also finished The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett - very good, well paced and with an interesting idea at its centre. I'll be reading more by this author...
