Jan 05 2015

The Peripheral by William Gibson

I adore William Gibson with a slightly unhealthy fierceness, akin to obsession. His Neuromancer was my first introduction to cyberpunk of any sort, and I knew I had found my tribe, or at least part of it. To read Neuromancer in 1984, before everyone had a desktop computer and AOL, was a complete nerdgasm for a young geek in those days. I was fifteen years old, and had known from the age of 11 that I was going to work in computers somehow, someway, someday, even though everyone thought that was nuts.

I take this short trip down nostalgia lane because reading The Peripheral brought back those same feelings. This book is old school William Gibson, with that same ease of language that introduces the new and unusual as something accepted and known, and makes it interesting and puzzling and attractive all at once. And there’s time travel! In a way, it felt to me that The Peripheral does for our near(ish) future what Neuromancer did back in the early 80s for the world wide web. He builds a world that you can imagine coming into being, and meanwhile tells a really good story around it.

I realize now, at this point, that I haven’t actually told you what the story is, but I think I’m not going to. There’s the near future, one that you and I can relate to as happening within the next 20 years or so, and then there’s a future future, and the two complement each other in a story that includes intrigue, guns (of a futuristic type), death, and a healthy dose of “I need to know what happens NEXT!”

Highly recommended.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/05/the-peripheral-by-william-gibson/

Jan 04 2015

The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us by James W Pennebaker

Despite the unpromising beginning, The Secret Life Of Pronouns did turn out to be a fascinating look at how our personalities and circumstances influence the language we use, unconsciously betraying us to the canny observer. I especially liked how it tied into the website and the exercises there, with bonus points for the humor. A great read for people who care about language and the way we present ourselves; it’ll probably teach you a little something about your own attitudes along the way.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/04/the-secret-life-of-pronouns-what-our-words-say-about-us-by-james-w-pennebaker/

Jan 04 2015

The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel by Michel Faber

I admit that I was prepared to not like this book. It concerns a Christian pastor being sent to the first inhabitable planet found by humankind so that he can minister to the alien species already living there, but I quickly discovered that that was an extremely simplistic view of the story. What I had expected to be a boring read, or an annoying read, or perhaps a non-read if I put it down and never picked it up again, quickly turned into an I’m interested read. This is a book very much about people – their personalities, their relationships, their abilities to encompass certain amounts and types of information, and also their frailties. There were several unexpected heart-wrenching turns to the story, and while this is most definitely a science fiction novel, it’s one that deals with the ramifications of science as it relates to human (and alien) existence, and not just thrusters on full.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/04/the-book-of-strange-new-things-a-novel-by-michel-faber/

Jan 03 2015

Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders by Samuel R. Delany

I bought this book blindly because of the title and the author. I have loved some of Samuel R. Delany’s past science fiction novels, and that’s how I thought of him – a Science Fiction writer and only a Science Fiction writer. Combine that with the title and I thought I couldn’t go wrong with a blind buy like this.

You know what they say about assumptions.

I’m still puzzling over what I think of this novel. When I first started it, I was immediately plunged into a lake of hardcore gay erotica. That doesn’t bother me in and of itself, but I think it’s true to say that within this book everyone will find some graphically-described sexual practice that is guaranteed to push the reader right out of his or her sexual comfort zone and right into what-the-hell territory. In fairly rapid order, without warning, I was introduced to coprophilia, mucophilia, mysophilia, pedophilia, salirophilia, zoophilia, and urolagnia. (I’m pretty sure that isn’t a complete list, either; I got tired of looking at the ‘philia’ page of Wikipedia.) I believe with all my heart in consenting adults doing whatever the hell they want sexually, but I quickly reached the point where I wasn’t sure I wanted to read about it. That’s part of why it took me so long to finish the book, along with the fact that it’s 800+ pages long.

Eric, the main character of the book, moves to a small seaside town (Diamond Harbor) in Georgia in 2007, just before his 17th birthday. He immediately meets the love of his life, Morgan Haskell, who prefers to go by the nickname ‘Shit.’ They live in an area called The Dump, which is financed by a wealthy gay African American who grew up on the island that is part of the town. In this little piece of Diamond Harbor, black gay men (with the occasional white man, of which Eric is one) are encouraged to live, work, and love without worrying about being judged.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/03/through-the-valley-of-the-nest-of-spiders-by-samuel-r-delany/

Jan 02 2015

Never Deal With a Dragon / Choose Your Enemies Carefully / Find Your Own Truth by Robert N. Charrette

For my first review for the Frumious Consortium, I’d like to start with a bang, a triple play. Three books at once, all part of a trilogy inscribed in the same universe, all by the same author, and all uncommonly uniform enough in style and execution as to try and pass a single review as if it where worth for three whole reviews, all at once.

Background

Shadowrun is a universe that was designed for and stems from a Cyberpunk RPG. It is set on earth in the second half of the 21St century, an earth where not only have different cathaclisms changed the socio-political structure of humanity and mega corporations have consolidated, bringing on new and perfected technologies and a typical cyberpunk setting, including a matrix and all, but where also magic has been discovered to be real and to come and go in cycles, being the 2000s the start of one such cycles, producing in the end a mixed environment of corporations and high tech with magic and varied creatures, both sentient and not sentient, which makes this universe a particularly rare one, and tends to divide readers and players into pretty well separated camps of fans and detractors.

I’m a fan of the universe, as much as of “traditional” cyberpunk.

The books

Like a few other RPG franchises, apart from the different tabletop games, and old and recent computer games set into the shadowrun universe, the publisher, FASA Corporation has licensed and published a total of 40 books inscribed into the universe, as a way to expand the game outside the play itself, beef up the background, and create famous characters for the universe.

Never Deal With A Dragon, Choose Your Enemies Carefully and Find Your Own Truth by Robert Charrette are books number 2, 3 and 4 published on shadowrun by fasa. And they all deal with the fall of a single character, Samuel Verner from corporate grace and his entering of the shadow world,and his quest to find and save his sister, all that’s left of his family.

Being part of the first four books ever produced into the canon, these three thankfully waste very little time introducing us into the world, and do so in a cursory manner as it accompanies us through Verner’s troubles and tribulations, yet things are written clear enough that someone with no experience on the universe wouldn’t have that much of a trouble grasping most of what is happening, if at the cost of missing a little of the why.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/never-deal-with-a-dragon-choose-your-enemies-carefully-find-your-own-truth-robert-n-charrette/

Jan 02 2015

The Stolen: An American Faerie Tale by Bishop O’Connell

I’m not entirely sure why I picked this book up. I have an enormous To Be Read (TBR) pile that’s 400+ books and counting, and so when I finally get to a book, I often have trouble remembering how or when it got into the pile. In the spirit of trying to reconcile my need for perfection with the idea that a short book review is perfectly acceptable, I’m going to make this concise.

I found this book to be derivative. Faeries of various warring courts both in the human world and without. The liberal sprinkling of Irish brogues and Gaelic phrases that seemed strained at best and haphazard at worst. Wizards, because, well, why the hell not? I can’t even really say I found some of the ideas good if badly executed. It really did seem to come down to a repetitive series of fantasy and urban fantasy tropes, and it jumped the shark for me in the first chapter when an Irish Fain (whatever that is, the author never really explained) went berserker on some evil faeries who had killed his fiancee.

I had started to say that this would be an adequate introduction to the urban fantasy genre for Young Adults, but I can’t even say that. If you want an excellent introduction to urban fantasy then go with Charles de Lint, even if he does have an obsession with penny whistles.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/the-stolen-an-american-faerie-tale-by-bishop-oconnell/

Jan 02 2015

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

One of the biggest issues with a SF/F series is in the area of character development and growth.  While mysteries require no change to the characters themselves, a series has the difficult balancing act of maintaining accessibility for first time readers, while simultaneously rewarding fans with meaningful growth and character development.  One of the tipping points in a series is when the hero has done so well as to move out of the circumstances that started the series, and into a larger, more demanding role, which takes them out of the series premise, and into a series of power-leveling exercises against ever-more potent foes and dangers.

 

Jim Butcher’s Cold Days, the penultimate entry in the Dresden Files series, manages to avoid this issue, as the wizard Harry Dresden picks up a new role following his death and aftermath in Ghost Story, but the problems (and the wisecracks) remain. As the Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, the power level has been upped for Harry’s adversaries, but for Harry?  Not so much.

 

A good part of the novel is spent getting the band back together, as the various members of the supporting cast are reunited with Harry and wind up working with him on his latest struggle. It’s one of them more enjoyable parts of the book, as the characters are integrated more or less seamlessly into Harry’s life, with some unexpected twists since last we saw a few of them.  As the Winter Knight, there is more mayhem, and especially more intrigue, as befits a mortal working with the Sidhe.

 

The book flows really well, as I would expect from the fourteenth book in a series, but offers easy accessibility for the newcomer to the Dresden Files. Harry’s setting out on his new role as Winter Knight, and I’m curious to see how well the shift to a wider focus is going to play out in the series.  The next novel , Skin Game, is already out (and has been since May, 2014), so we’ll get a chance to see how things shake out after this debut of a new chapter in Harry’s life.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/cold-days-by-jim-butcher/

Jan 02 2015

Taking Stock of 2014

Three themes emerged in my reading this year, without great conscious intent on my part; well, four if I count getting back to a more typical number of books read. The year did not feature any births, international relocations, invasions by neighboring countries, or major changes in employment. All of that helped in finding more time to read.

The first theme was Rick Riordan. Kid One is a huge fan and wants to discuss; ergo, I am reading them. And while I’m well outside the target audience, they are still good fun, heartfelt, and not completely obvious.

The second theme is fantasy/science fiction in translation. This is doubly fun, as the assumptions that the authors are proceeding from or the tendencies that they are extrapolating are different from the Anglo-American background that I come from. Alien worlds (or future histories or alternative histories or fantasy settings) built by someone from a foreign culture are put together differently, and I like that. I’m looking forward to reading more in this vein.

(As a side note, I only read three books in German this year, but two of them were very long, and one of them I translated, so I read it with great care. Possibly more care even than the author and his German-language editors, but that’s another story.)

The third theme is Poland. I used to have what was generously referred to as a reading knowledge of Polish. It never got as far as reading books in that language, just articles, and it has long since gotten very rusty. Nevertheless, I like Poland, Polish history and Polish literature lots, even though I have so far only managed to live there for a summer. (I suspect I am in a small minority that really likes all three of Germany, Poland, and Russia.) At any rate, there was more Poland this year than in a long time, and I was glad to pick up that thread again. There are several more books related to Poland or by Polish authors near the top of the to-be-read piles, so this trend is likely to continue.

I re-read four books this year, all after I had recommended them to a friend. They are also all books I need to be careful about picking up at all, because I find it very hard to put them down again once I have started. They are The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin (to my mind, his best book qua book), Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

Hands down, the best book of non-fiction I read was Just Kids by Patti Smith. Beautiful and touching, a memoir of her early life and a love letter to Robert Mapplethorpe. Other top non-fiction included Inside the Stalin Archive by Jonathan Brent and Red Fortress by the formidable Catherine Merridale. The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor concluded his story of walking from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1938, but it was unfinished at his death, and it is not quite as brilliant as the first two volumes.

Top favorites in fiction included Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin, and the aforementioned re-reads. Tintenblut and Tintentod, if you read German (although the author professes to be very happy with the English translation). Casting Fortune nearly completed my reading of John M. Ford’s works; only two short story collections remain, at least until I start re-reading. Special mention goes to The Vagrant King by E.V. Thompson, rollicking historical fiction that tempts me to say that they don’t make ’em like that anymore.

Full list, in order read, is under the fold with links to my reviews here.
Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/taking-stock-of-2014/

Jan 01 2015

Theogony / Works and Days / Shield by Hesiod

Hesiod’s poems, along with Homer’s epics, can be considered the bible of the ancient Greeks, but Hesiod’s works are far more religious in nature than Homer’s, both in theology and in moral doctrine. Theogony describes the origin of the gods and the world. I am not sure if Hesiod is simply recounting basic accepted beliefs in poetic form or if he is in fact the originator of these beliefs; I suspect no one really knows this now. In Works and Days he holds forth on edifying moral precepts, much as Solomon does in the book of Proverbs in the bible. He exhorts his wastrel, idle brother to leave idleness and devote himself to hard work, warning that poverty follows hard on the heels of idleness, just as Solomon’s Proverbs do. There is a lot of misogyny is his discussion of women; he believes they are a curse from the gods, although he acknowledges that it is worse for a man to die alone than to marry and have a family. The critics have been hard on Shield as a dull and irrelevant poem, but I found it rather exciting as a short account of one the heroic deeds of Heracles, and even the over-lengthy description of the shield itself is full of images that shed much light on early Greek culture. The critics have not been as generous to Hesiod as they have been to Homer, but that in my opinion is unfortunate, because it is these poems that establish the moral and religious framework of the early Greek mind. It is true that their literary merit is not as great as Homer’s epics, but as cultural artifacts they are immeasurably superior. And they are not wholly unenjoyable to read, for what it’s worth.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/01/theogony-works-and-days-shield-by-hesiod/

Dec 31 2014

Fear Agent Vol VI: Out Of Step by Rick Remender

Pretty sure it’s been too long between me reading this volume and the ones that preceded it, as I found the sci-fi confusing, though compelling. The only really false note for me was the internal personality struggle between Heath and his evil clone, but that was likely more an issue of pacing than plot. Otherwise a worthy end to the Fear Agent saga. I do feel that it went a little too timey-wimey for me by the end, but given that the first volume was my favorite for its straightforward cinematic space-adventure style, this should be unsurprising.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/31/fear-agent-vol-vi-out-of-step-by-rick-remender/