2010 Hugo Awards Showcase ed. by Mary Robinette Kowel

This was book groups November pick.  It is a selection of the 2009 novella, novelette and short story Hugo nominees and winners, the idea being the novel gets all the attention, but because the shorts are often in smaller, not as widely read or distributed magazines they don't have a chance to shine.   This is very similar to the Nebula Awards that we like to read each year.

2010 Hugo Awards Showcase Includes:

Novella

•“The Erdmann Nexus” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)


•“The Tear” by Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)




Novelette
•“Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel (F&SF Jan 2008)


•“The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s Feb 2008)


•“Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)

Short Story

•“26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Jul 2008)

•“Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)

Short stories are hard to review because one's taste is so subjective. I'm actually not that wild about shorts, they don't contain enough substance for me. With that being said, there were a couple in here that really stood out. I particularly liked Kij Johnson's and James Alan Gardner's piece and I'm always a fan of Ian McDonald's work. You will probably laugh at the contradiction, but McDonald's work was about the right length. If you've read his stuff you'll understand.

I had already read Pride and Prometheus in the Nebula Award selection and didn't care for it then. The remainder were just sort of eh.

The Martian Trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs

When it rains in a Burroughs novel, the reader gets wet." -- Science-fiction writer Jack McDevitt

From Goodreads.com: Combining otherworldly adventures with elements of classical myth, fast-paced plots with cliffhanging tension, and imaginative fantasy with vivid prose, Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Martian Tales Trilogy helped define a new literary genre emerging in the early twentieth century that would become known as science fiction.

Hero John Carter proves himself against deadly foes in The Martian Trilogy. In the first installment, Carter wins the affections of the "princess of Mars" and the respect of the Martian warlords whom he befriends. The excitement continues in The Gods of Mars when Carter engages the Black Pirates in airborne combat above the dead seas of Mars and leads a revolt to free the Martian races from a religion that thrives on living sacrifices. In the third book, Warlord of Mars, Carter overcomes the forces of evil that would destroy the planet. By the end of the trilogy the Martians all clamor for a triumphant John Carter to be their king.

We read this for book group in October – not sure what most folks thought because we had a small turnout.


When science fiction books dub themselves as “pastiche”, this is what they are referring to. Written about 1920 or so, the character John Carter finds himself first running from an Apache tribe, wounded, and holes up in a cave. He wakes up on Mars, chased by Martians, taken as an honored guest and reviled prisoner. Carter falls in love with a Martian Princess, effects her escape, and well, I won’t ruin what happens next.


Cheesy? Definitely. Fun? Totally. If you can look at the story from the perspective of when it was written, we are looking very much at some of the first speculative science fiction. And while with today’s knowledge it may seem trite, unbelievable, and farfetched, back then it would have been quite adventurous. I also thought his creation of a variety of ‘aliens’ was pretty darn innovative.


Now, I will also say – a confession if you will – that I have not finished Gods of Mars nor Warlord of Mars. I can really only take so much constant swashbuckling before I need a break. I needed a break.


If you have read S.M. Stirlings: In the Court of Crimson Kings, you would probably enjoy this book.

Patrick Rothfus: Author Reading and Signing in Duluth

First, I will say straight up that I have not yet read Mr. Rothfuss's book: In the Name of the Wind.  However!  I want to support any scifi-fantasy author that manages to make it to Duluth.  We are really off the beaten path up here and don't get very many (ie: none) scifi/fantasy authors.

Reading/Booksigning

Tuesday, October 12th
7:00pm – 10:00pm
Barnes and Noble
Duluth, MN 55811
218-786-0710

His website:  Patrick Rothfuss

Eon by Greg Bear

This was September’s book group selection. We’ve read one Greg Bear previously – Slant, which received mixed reviews.

Per Goodreads.com: The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad. For the Stone was from space--but perhaps not our space; it came from the future--but perhaps not our future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A human-English, Russian and Chinese-speaking--civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities and museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth's survival pale into insignificance.

This book was published in 1985 and current events of the time were reflected in this: we were at the height of the Cold War with Russia and political tensions around the globe were significant. And I think that’s where my issues with the plot came into being. I was old enough at the time to be aware of the political climate, but not old enough to really care. So now, looking at this through the lens of history, I found the futuristic antagonism between the US and Russia almost unrealistic. Or, phrased this way: our enemies today are not going to be our enemies of tomorrow.

Setting that aside, I felt this was a fairly interesting book up till the Nuclear Holocaust on Earth. Here is this asteroid that has an unlimited inside – a seventh chamber that goes on seemingly to infinity. We have advanced cities and libraries full of accessible information. We have mystery, intrigue and good science. We have mostly interesting characters.

I don’t want to give away too much here, but I started to lose interest with the arrival of the future humans. It was as if the main characters underwent a personality change. Still, we all agreed – for different reasons – in book group that this is worth finishing.

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

This is July's book group selection. We must have been in an odd mood when we picked this one as it is very different from our usual choices.

Anyanwu is a healer with the ability to metamorphose herself into any creature that she has tasted or
eaten. She can ingest plants and ascertain if they will heal or poison. She can alter her form to be male or female, but in the end, she is always Anyanwu, a healer. Anyanwu knows she cannot easily die and estimates she is over 300 years old.

Doro is neither a ghost or a spirit, but lives off of other bodies. He kills for pleasure, for necessity, to keep on living. Over the eons, he has built up colonies of peoples for his purposes, to try and breed another Doro, to supply himself with strong bodies, to create a super race of peoples. In his selfish quest for unique individuals he finds Anyanwu, a wild seed not of his making, but who he will make part of his plans.

This is both a fascinating and disturbing story. The dance between Anyanwu and Doro can be perplexing. Anyanwu is by no means stupid or dim witted, she has lived a long time and seen a lot, but yet she remains very passive/submissive in the presence of Doro.

Doro's actions and plans are disturbing as he is using people for breeding purposes. Here we see cultural conventions being challenged as he mates who he wants, when he wants, and, in some cases, how he wants.

I enjoyed this book because it made me think and squirm a bit. It's good to read something non-conventional every once and a while. Recommended.

Nebula Awards Showcase 2010

This is June’s book group selection. We’ve read eight Nebula Awards books to this point – in fact, when the book is brought to the table, it is the one selection we don’t bother with the voting process. We’re going to read this one!

This year’s Nebula Awards (which is always about two years behind when they are actually awarded – I don’t recall why right off hand), took a look at the history of SFandF from the 1950’s through the 1990’s.

It was a mixed bag of stories, yet there were strands of familiarity or similarity running through the selections.

The featured author’s were:
The Spacetime Pool Catherine Asaro (novella) – the story of a young woman who is pulled from one timeline into a different timeline where physics and mathematical constructs are the same yet represented differently. She is part of a prophecy between two twin brothers, one who rules as a tyrant and one who could rule with a compassionate heart and whichever one she marries will rule all. I found this one tedious.

Pride and Prometheus John Kessel (novelette) A blending of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein. Left me dissatisfied all the way round.

Trophy Wives Nina Kiriki Hoffman (short story) Well written and engaging. Two women share an unusual bond and an even stronger mission.

Powers Ursula K. LeGuin (novel excerpt) Hmm…can’t recall what this one was about. Must not have made an impression on me.

Flora’s Dare Ysabeau S. Wilce (novel excerpt) Very well written and intriguing. Usually not wild about young adult, but this one was mature enough for my tastes along with an interesting world setting that if time permits I would add this to the reading list.

There is also a inside look at the script to WALL-E, a selection of poetry (which I usually skip if it’s more than a page long), and selected introductions by several prominent authors introducing each decade and the authors that made up that decade. Some I read, others I skipped.

It will be interesting to see what the book group thinks of this selection

Dies the Fire by SM Stirling

This is May's Scifi bookgroup selection and this is the second SM Stirling book we've read. The first In the Court of Crimson Kings - you can follow the link to my review.
was

I made it to page 263 or thereabouts (Chapter 16 I believe) before throwing in the towel. It wasn't that I had a problem with the writing, because I thought the writing style in and of itself was just fine. SM Stirling does have a way of pulling the reader along in an engaging fashion.

No, my issue was with the subject matter - the end of the world as we know it. Electricity ceases to work. Gunpowder ceases to work. Engines cease to work. Satellites cease to work. Planes fall out of the sky, trains stop working, and everything literally turns off. Society is plunged back to the Dark Ages but nobody knows why.

Okay. Fine. EXCEPT - why would gunpowder stop working but yet gasoline can still be ignited and used as a way to cremate the dead bodies? Gun powder is less refined than gasoline. There were other little items like that that had me scratching my head - which means I was pulled out of the story.

Another issue was that the members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA)/Wiccan/Ren Faire group would be the ones to save the world (exaggerating a bit here - but not by much). If you are not familiar with the premise of the SCA, it is a middle ages re-creationist group. I participated in this Society for a number of years before bailing. I know for a fact that probably 95% of the people in this outfit could not save the world because they know how to make chain mail. Nope, not going to save the world with two horses and a lute either.

Which brings us to the SCA fellow who was taking over Portland as if he was Caesar himself. Complete with a hall full of torches and gladiator rings. Riighhtttt....

And then there was the outdoorsy pilot guy. He might have been plausible if it wasn't for the Tolkien loving, bow toting, rich chick that just happened to be in the plane he was flying when they went down and Lo! They picked up a smithy type person and Lo! soon they all had tabards and helms and spears and crossbows and were taking archery lessons from Tolkien chick.

Too much fantasy for my taste...and I LIKE Tolkien. I also found this to be eerily similar to Lucifer's Hammer by Niven/Pournelle which was putting me off.

If you like post-apoplectic stories, this series is for you.

The Golden Globe by John Varley

This is Aprils bookgroup selection. We have read by Varley: Steel Beach, Titan and now The Golden Globe.

From Goodreads (because I despise retyping synopsis): Sparky Valentine is a former child star turned down-on-his-luck thespian who's just reached the grand old age of 100. Not that you could tell by looking at the old ham, who for some reason never seems to age--or stay out of trouble. Sparky's in the midst of a whirlwind theatrical tour designed to bring a bit of culture to the frozen desolation of the outer solar system when bad luck strikes in the form of a gumshoe hot on his tail. Sparky decides to skip the outer burgs for the more hospitable environs of Pluto, but things only get worse when he runs afoul of the notoriously unforgiving Charonese Mafia. As he's making his getaway, he learns something astonishing. The famous director Kaspara Polichinelli of Luna is planning a performance of King Lear, and he's short a lead to take on the title role. Sparky wires Polichinelli that he's interested, and Polichinelli tells him the part is his. Now all Sparky has to do is find a way to scrape together enough cash to get to Luna before the play starts while avoiding a seemingly unstoppable (and unkillable) Charonese hitman. --Craig E. Engler

I have mixed feelings about this book. I found the storyline intriguing, but the pages and pages of extraneous exposition incredibly dull and irrelevant to the story. For one example, I really didn't care how a outpost on the planet Oberon or was it the planet Oberon? was made and gravity enhanced. There were other places similar to this were it seemed the "science" was just rather stuck in. While I like science in science fiction, in this case it was distracting. This 500 page book would have been outstanding at 400 pages with a bit of editing.

However, it was the ending that that made the story for me. I suspected part of it earlier in the book, and it was this curiosity that kept me going till to the final pages. If you don't mind skipping bits, or if science is your thing, I recommend this book.

Gridlinked by Neal Asher

A most excellent book! A faced paced science fiction book as science fiction should be written in my opinion. A bit space opera, a bit interstellar intrigue, a bit cyberware. The kind of book I like to read.


Paraphrased from Goodreads.com: Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcibles" (matter transmitters controlled by AIs) allow interstellar travel in an eye blink throughout the settled worlds of the Polity. Cormac is nearly burnt out, "gridlinked" to the AI net so long that his humanity has begun to drain away. He has to take the cold-turkey cure and shake his addiction to having his brain on the net. Now he must do without just as he's sent to investigate the unique runcible disaster that's wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a thirty-megaton explosion. With the runcible out, Cormac must get there by ship, but he has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Arian Pelter, who now follows him across the galaxy with a terrifying psychotic killer android in tow.

This is the first book with Ian Cormac, agent extroidinaire. I believe there are now 5 more books in the series. Whew, there is much I wish to discuss about this book, but don't want to give anything away.

Go read the book! 'Nuff said.

Matter by Iain M. Banks

This was February's book group selection.

Matter is set in the Culture Universe, which I find to be absolutely fascinating. The background of
this book is, Sursamen is a Shellworld, a multi-level world created by beings long since gone and populated by a mixture of humans and aliens. At it's core resides the World God, and ancient being that just hangs out.

Prince Ferbin is dragged off to war against the Ninth by his father, King Holse. The battle goes badly and Ferbin flees only to witness the brutal death of his Father at the hands of a traitor. Ferbin flees again, knowing his life is forfeit if he shows his face at court. However, by running he knows he puts his younger brother in peril, but it's the only chance he has of saving Oramen.

Accompanied by his steadfast servant, Holse, Ferbin makes his way to the surface and goes in quest of two people who may be willing to help him avenge his fathers death and save Oraman: one is the person who brought them the technology and the other is his sister, gone 15 years now in service to the Culture.

I'm simplifying greatly here. The concepts that Banks brings to a Culture book are just amazing. The Culture ships are back with their quirks and personalities. We are introduced to Special Circumstances, an organization that likes to nudge developing societies along. We come across a galaxy full of aliens with their own agendas and power struggles who merely tolerate the humans. I also thought Matter was a better read than the Algebraist. The Algebraist, while fascinating, was a slog through a peat bog. Matter was more of a slog through a partially frozen peat bog.

Meaning, these are not quick reads. But I highly recommend them.

Foreigner by CJ Cherryh

This is January's scifi book group selection. We've been bringing this one to the table for a while now and I'm glad it was finally selected.

From Amazon.com: Set on an alien world where the descendants of humans marooned in a long-ago starship accident live segregated from the indigenous atevi on a remote island, this polished and sophisticated tale from the popular author of Hestia addresses the complicated issue of how humans might have to compromise to survive on a planet where they are barely tolerated by the original, humanoid inhabitants. When Bren Cameron, given the name paidhi because he is the only human allowed to mingle with the atevi, survives an assault by an atevi assassin, the shaky detente between the human enclave and the alien society is threatened. Subjected to kidnapping, imprisonment and psychological torture, Cameron finds himself caught between rival factions of atevi as he must grapple with both human and alien xenophobia and with the insidious influence of human technology and culture on an extraterrestrial society.

Cherryh can sometimes be difficult to read; her sentence structure or wording is different enough to give a person serious brain skids. However, thankfully, this book wasn't like that. My complaint with this book is similar to that of Sunshine - we spend way too much time in Bran's head. Get over the fact that you have been kidnapped, are stuck in a secluded mountain castle, and grow some balls. Bran Cameron is supposedly an elite politician/interpreter/liaison between the atevi and the humans. A position represented as being difficult to achieve. Yet, when he is kidnapped, he spends the majority of his time wringing his hands and demanding to know where his security guards are.

Still, it was a very interesting book, a unique look at how an alien culture might view humans who have provided them with a bit of singularity, but who don't want them on the planet. I enjoyed this enough to want to read book two. We'll see about books three through ten later...