I have just finished another excellent Nebula award nominee, Updraft by Fran Wilde. Thought I haven't read the winner yet (Uprooted is on my list and my Kindle) this had to have been a strong contender. In fact it won in the young adult category. It features a young protagonist, though the tone of the book isn't really youthful. It's a good, challenging read.
The synopsis was kind of blocky and made the book sound kind of ordinary, so I wasn't sure I would like it. In fact, I was fascinated by it. Wilde has crafted an amazingly complex universe, with plenty of potential.
The people of the City (and the people know of nothing beyond the City, so far as I can tell) live in a set of living bone towers that rise up out of the clouds. They apparently at one point lived below the clouds, but they fought constantly and were almost wiped out when the last few decided to Rise and inhabit the towers. Now their entire universe is those towers, and the central Spire, where the Singers who interpret the City and protect its residents, live.
Basically they are parasites of some sort, though the nature of what grows the towers they live in is not explored. It's a precarious existence, and the people are a hard lot. Not given to assisting the weak or helping each other.
Our protagonist wants to apprentice to her mother as a trader, though their relationship is a cool one. But she's not very careful, and an infraction marks her as a Lawsbreaker. She is offered amnesty if she joins the Singers, and eventually does so. From there the book develops the secrets of this universe, while continuing to clarify the character of the people.
The book is a fine, satisfying read. And it has a real ending, even though it is meant to be a part of a series. There is a definite sense of closure at the end, but plenty of room for new stories.
This is a book I'd highly recommend to adults of any age. I look forward to many more. 4 stars!
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Monday, June 13, 2016
Rattlesnakes and Men, by Michael Bishop
Asimov's eventually posted Rattlesnakes and Men for free for award reviewers, so I've picked it up for the Nebula nomination. Even though it didn't win (Sarah Pinsker's Our Lady of the Open Road took the honor) it's a pretty good one. But beware, highly political!
Our protagonist is part of a lower-middle-class family, working hard to get by. She and her husband take an opportunity to move to a new town and work for a friend of the family. But they find that the county they have moved to is drenched in "rattlesnake culture"--rattlesnakes, genetically engineered to be (less) dangerous to their owners--are the obsession of the men of the county, and it's a conservative area so they run the show.
The rattlesnake bit is a transparent parody of "gun culture". The obsession with rattlesnake ownership extends to requiring everyone to own one (a reality with guns in a few small towns) and falsifying death certificates to cover up rattlesnake deaths (less clear that that is happening in real life). If the Sad Puppies were infesting the Nebulas it would definitely be held up as an example of PC obsession, but this would be a somewhat harder sell because the story is actually pretty well written, by a master craftsman.
Overall I like it enough to give it four stars but I don't disagree with the award choice. Read it to reinforce or stretch your echo chamber, as appropriate.
Our protagonist is part of a lower-middle-class family, working hard to get by. She and her husband take an opportunity to move to a new town and work for a friend of the family. But they find that the county they have moved to is drenched in "rattlesnake culture"--rattlesnakes, genetically engineered to be (less) dangerous to their owners--are the obsession of the men of the county, and it's a conservative area so they run the show.
The rattlesnake bit is a transparent parody of "gun culture". The obsession with rattlesnake ownership extends to requiring everyone to own one (a reality with guns in a few small towns) and falsifying death certificates to cover up rattlesnake deaths (less clear that that is happening in real life). If the Sad Puppies were infesting the Nebulas it would definitely be held up as an example of PC obsession, but this would be a somewhat harder sell because the story is actually pretty well written, by a master craftsman.
Overall I like it enough to give it four stars but I don't disagree with the award choice. Read it to reinforce or stretch your echo chamber, as appropriate.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Barsk: The Elephant's Graveyard, by Lawrence Schoen
Barsk is a Nebula award nominated novel, and I think it has one of the most interesting backstories so far. But let's come back to that.
Barsk is a story of uplift, which of course reminds one of David Brin's Uplift series. B, ut in this case the sentient species have left mankind long behind--there are no people left. Most of the uplifted species live in an alliance, governed democratically. But the main driver of the story is an advance two of these species has made--the Elephs and Lox (African and Asian elephants, loosely) have invented a drug that can allow certain users to contact deceased people. They do this by way of "nefshons", particles of personality that each person disperses as they live. Schoen does a nice job of explicating this and giving it means to drive the plot through the book.
But back to the drug. It is a byproduct of the isolation of the Elephs--the other species find them ugly and banished them to a gloomy, rainy world. Other species have not been able to reverse engineer it, and they are now more intent on finding the secret. O. ur protagonist, Jorl, is one of those who Speaks to the dead. He and his friend Arlo become the key to the future as developments in the drug threaten society as it is.
There's a lot more to the plot, and it's a pretty interesting one. This is not an action novel--rather, it is driven by the interplay of the science of "nefshons" and the prejudice against the Elephs and Lox.
According to Schoen this novel was 20 years in the making, and it shows--it has much more depth than other Schoen items I have read, though the only things I've read of his are the Buffalito stories. Schoen is much more allegorical in this tale, and though his reasons for prejudice against the honorable Elephs and Lox are superficial they are unfortunately believable. This is a novel to ponder and digest, as opposed to a page turner--it is engaging, but the moral imperatives behind the story are its interesting points. Read this if you want to spend some effort--it is worthwhile, and as far as I am concerned a pretty strong entry, though I know it didn't win and I haven't read the winner yet. 3 stars from me.
Barsk is a story of uplift, which of course reminds one of David Brin's Uplift series. B, ut in this case the sentient species have left mankind long behind--there are no people left. Most of the uplifted species live in an alliance, governed democratically. But the main driver of the story is an advance two of these species has made--the Elephs and Lox (African and Asian elephants, loosely) have invented a drug that can allow certain users to contact deceased people. They do this by way of "nefshons", particles of personality that each person disperses as they live. Schoen does a nice job of explicating this and giving it means to drive the plot through the book.
But back to the drug. It is a byproduct of the isolation of the Elephs--the other species find them ugly and banished them to a gloomy, rainy world. Other species have not been able to reverse engineer it, and they are now more intent on finding the secret. O. ur protagonist, Jorl, is one of those who Speaks to the dead. He and his friend Arlo become the key to the future as developments in the drug threaten society as it is.
There's a lot more to the plot, and it's a pretty interesting one. This is not an action novel--rather, it is driven by the interplay of the science of "nefshons" and the prejudice against the Elephs and Lox.
According to Schoen this novel was 20 years in the making, and it shows--it has much more depth than other Schoen items I have read, though the only things I've read of his are the Buffalito stories. Schoen is much more allegorical in this tale, and though his reasons for prejudice against the honorable Elephs and Lox are superficial they are unfortunately believable. This is a novel to ponder and digest, as opposed to a page turner--it is engaging, but the moral imperatives behind the story are its interesting points. Read this if you want to spend some effort--it is worthwhile, and as far as I am concerned a pretty strong entry, though I know it didn't win and I haven't read the winner yet. 3 stars from me.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
The Builders, by Daniel Polansky
The Builders is another novella nominated for a Hugo this year. Not available free, but I donated my copy to the local library.
The author refers to The Builders as a "one-joke" story. I think that is pretty much the case--and since I have not read anything else by Daniel Polansky, I am not sure I can judge his writing by this story. Not that it's bad.
The story centers on the Captain and his group of hard-bitten mercenaries, back for another try at a failed conquest. The characters are set as animals--more than one of the reviews supplied by the publisher in the paperback version make comparisons to Watership Down, but I do not see the connection. Think of it more as a sort of parody of The Seven Samurai, except that there is no justice in their quest, it's pretty much about revenge.
The writing is very much over the top--the characters are caricatures. It's fun to read because the irony is right on point--heavy and dark, just enough so to keep the story from being just silly. Those caricatures, in fact, drive the story--the plot is somewhat secondary, and bears almost no describing without being spoiled.
I enjoyed this little tale, though given the theme of this blog I didn't like paying for it. But if you can find it at your local library or even bookstore, take a couple of hours (with a coffee if you're at the bookstore) and give it a read. 3 stars.
The author refers to The Builders as a "one-joke" story. I think that is pretty much the case--and since I have not read anything else by Daniel Polansky, I am not sure I can judge his writing by this story. Not that it's bad.
The story centers on the Captain and his group of hard-bitten mercenaries, back for another try at a failed conquest. The characters are set as animals--more than one of the reviews supplied by the publisher in the paperback version make comparisons to Watership Down, but I do not see the connection. Think of it more as a sort of parody of The Seven Samurai, except that there is no justice in their quest, it's pretty much about revenge.
The writing is very much over the top--the characters are caricatures. It's fun to read because the irony is right on point--heavy and dark, just enough so to keep the story from being just silly. Those caricatures, in fact, drive the story--the plot is somewhat secondary, and bears almost no describing without being spoiled.
I enjoyed this little tale, though given the theme of this blog I didn't like paying for it. But if you can find it at your local library or even bookstore, take a couple of hours (with a coffee if you're at the bookstore) and give it a read. 3 stars.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Asymmetrical Warfare, by S. R. Algernon
Asymmetrical Warfare is one of Nature's very short SF stories. Kind of a shout-out to classic Campbell, in that we have a battle between Humans and star-shaped aliens. That stellate shape is quite important to them. They regenerate like starfish also.
It's a fun little read, take a few minutes. 3 stars
It's a fun little read, take a few minutes. 3 stars
Folding Beijing, by Hao Jingfang, trans. by Ken Liu
This is the second translation I've seen by Ken Liu that is getting an award nomination, the first being The Three Body Problem. Folding Beijing has a lot of the same flavor as that one. The latter has a novella nomination for Hugo this year.
China has many more potential fans of SF than the US, or probably all english-speaking countries put together, so I'm interested in their SF. The story is an interesting setup for social commentary on inequality--which unfolds (ha) differently than it would with an American author, I think. The technology speculation here is that China has solved Beijing's space problem by constructing the city so that it will literally fold up, exposing three different parts of the city. The high-class folks (10%) get half the time, and the two lower levels split the other half. When one's part of the city is folded, one is in hibernation until it's time to come back.
But there are ways to travel between the spaces, since it's mechanical. Our protagonist, a middle-aged, single man working as a recycler, is prepared to make that journey for money. As these stories go it's a well-worn path, but pretty radical for China. The fact that the protagonist is older and never married stood out for me, even though that's not that unusual in classic SF. Made me think about their one child policy and preference for males.
The premise seems a stretch (at one point the author describes the construction, seems like bricks and wood), until I remembered James Blish's popular Cities in Flight series and figure maybe it's no worse than that. It's worth checking out for cross cultural interest. 3 stars from me
China has many more potential fans of SF than the US, or probably all english-speaking countries put together, so I'm interested in their SF. The story is an interesting setup for social commentary on inequality--which unfolds (ha) differently than it would with an American author, I think. The technology speculation here is that China has solved Beijing's space problem by constructing the city so that it will literally fold up, exposing three different parts of the city. The high-class folks (10%) get half the time, and the two lower levels split the other half. When one's part of the city is folded, one is in hibernation until it's time to come back.
But there are ways to travel between the spaces, since it's mechanical. Our protagonist, a middle-aged, single man working as a recycler, is prepared to make that journey for money. As these stories go it's a well-worn path, but pretty radical for China. The fact that the protagonist is older and never married stood out for me, even though that's not that unusual in classic SF. Made me think about their one child policy and preference for males.
The premise seems a stretch (at one point the author describes the construction, seems like bricks and wood), until I remembered James Blish's popular Cities in Flight series and figure maybe it's no worse than that. It's worth checking out for cross cultural interest. 3 stars from me
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Obits, by Stephen King
I haven't quite given up on the Hugo Awards yet--I am reading the works that don't look to be too influenced by the Sick Puppies or the more radical of the Sad Puppies--I have discussed them earlier.
That leaves a short list in the shorter fiction. Obits by Stephen King is on it. He doesn't get a lot of these nominations, I would think that the nominators don't think he needs it. But one could nominate most anything he writes, as it is both speculative and very well written.
Obits treads a well-worn path of sympathetic magic--voodoo in particular, though that's not exactly what's going on here. Our protagonist is finding his prowess as a writer--in fact, he can kill with it. But not with great control. The power and terror of that possibility is shown here.
It might be a little too tired, I think I saw this on The Twilight Zone but am not sure. The protagonist at one point becomes afraid that his secret will get out. Maybe too much? Would anyone believe him if told?
It's a decent story and I am sure King fans will enjoy it. I was mildly amused. Will give it a weak 3 stars.
That leaves a short list in the shorter fiction. Obits by Stephen King is on it. He doesn't get a lot of these nominations, I would think that the nominators don't think he needs it. But one could nominate most anything he writes, as it is both speculative and very well written.
Obits treads a well-worn path of sympathetic magic--voodoo in particular, though that's not exactly what's going on here. Our protagonist is finding his prowess as a writer--in fact, he can kill with it. But not with great control. The power and terror of that possibility is shown here.
It might be a little too tired, I think I saw this on The Twilight Zone but am not sure. The protagonist at one point becomes afraid that his secret will get out. Maybe too much? Would anyone believe him if told?
It's a decent story and I am sure King fans will enjoy it. I was mildly amused. Will give it a weak 3 stars.
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