SF Signal: March 2006 Archives

Friday March 31, 2006

REVIEW: The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg

REVIEW SUMMARY: Depending on how you squint at it, this is either sf or mainstream, but either way it's a very good book.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Four college roommates travel across the country in search of immortality. Only two will get it, but only if the third commits suicide and the fourth is sacrificed.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Superbly written; intriguing plot; a good mood piece.
CONS: I was expecting science fiction and got mainstream.
BOTTOM LINE: A very enjoyable book that left me feeling deliciously somber.

If you plan on reading Robert Silverberg's The Book of Skulls - and you should - go into it knowing that it's one of those books labeled "science fiction" that reads more like mainstream fiction.

The premise is simple enough but with an element of the fantastic thrown in. Four college roommates embark on a quest for immortality when one of them, the scholarly Eli, discovers an ancient manuscript in the university library. He convinces his roommates - Timothy the spoiled rich kid; Ned the gay poet; Oliver the bright farm boy - to join him on his quest because immortality is only granted under certain conditions: four candidates must appear together but only two will achieve immortality in the Brotherhood of the Skulls. Of the other two, one must commit suicide and one must be sacrificed.

Today (this book was written in 1972) this sounds like the premise for a cheap reality show and so it is no wonder that the young men search for the Brotherhood only half-believing it's true. Logic tells them this is a hoax but the desire to live forever is so strong within them that any chance, no matter how remote, is worth a look. So they travel from New England to Arizona in search of the mysterious Brotherhood. The trip itself takes about half the book while the second half involves their trials.

But the plot, as intriguing as it is, is only secondary in The Book of Skulls. The book is really a character study - a four character study to be exact. The narrative is structured in alternating first-person views from each character. Through their eyes and thoughts we learn about their histories and background, their thoughts and fears, their sexual escapades and prejudices, their weaknesses and their secrets. (Oh they have secrets!) And the mood of the story is perfect for their quest. Each reading session left me feeling introspective and the ending left me feeling wonderfully somber.

This isn't the kind of book that blows you away but its poetic writing and insightful look into the minds of its characters makes you keeps eating it up anyway. (This, by the way, was what I was hoping for in Geoff Ryman's 253: The Print Remix but, alas, the structure of that book was too limiting to be effective.) Silverberg shows his command over the written word (again and again) with every page. You get to know these characters, even if you don't necessarily like them. They play well within their own narratives as well as in the interaction with each other. Who will willingly commit suicide to help his friends? Who will be killed to save the remaining two? These are questions you keep asking throughout the book, but the answers don't really matter. It's the personal peek we get into their lives that holds your interest. The question of immortality is only secondary.

And therein sits an issue I had with the book. Well, not an issue so much as an unmet expectation. The book is labeled as science fiction and has a plot that reeks of fantasy, but it reads like neither of these. This book could just as easily be classified as mainstream fiction. This is not a bad thing in itself - genre definition should be an aside, right? A good story is a good story, isn't it? (I do, however, draw the line a cat-detective fiction.)

Ultimately it comes down, I think, not to genre definition but to expectation. My expectation was that of being a science fiction novel. As Silverberg explains in an enlightening and entertaining afterward to the recently-reissued Del Rey edition (although I alternated readings with my SF Masterworks copy and even an older mass-market paperback edition depending on where I was reading it - hello my name is John and I'm a biblioholic), the science fiction element could be argued to be the immortality aspect. Maybe so. But sf readers should know that the book is light on what one normally thinks of as sf. It simply reads like mainstream fiction. But a damn fine piece of fiction it is.

(One could also argue that the science of sociology qualifies this as sf. In the afterward, Silverberg admits the classification difficulties with this book. SF fans see it as mainstream but mainstream fans see it as science fiction. Take that, bookshelf stockers!)

(One other note about the afterward: Silverberg mentions how The Book of Skulls was nominated for both the Hugo and a Nebula in the same year, but it lost out to a rather "ordinary" book of "modest value". I couldn't resist. I looked it up. The 1973 Hugo and Nebula Awards went to Isaac Asimov for The Gods Themselves.)

Monday March 27, 2006

SF Tidbits for 3/27/06

RIP: Stanislaw Lem. [via Locus Online]

Wired list the The Best Sci-Fi Concept Albums. [via Big Dumb Object]

A history of the British Science Fiction Book Club. [via HubBub]

Joss Whedon wouldn't mind putting TV Wonder Woman Lynda Carter in his upcoming Wonder Woman movie, but only if it's right and doesn't pull viewers out of the movie.

Stephen King likes Battlestar Galactica, saying it's "a beautifully written show, driven by character...there's not a better acting troupe at work on television" and it's "far better than Star Trek, in any of its incarnations." Hmmm, I'm sure that sits well with Trek fans.

Ed Gorman offers a piece on Richard Matheson.

HomeVideo.com's list of Great Sci-Fi Movies.

Listen to the original radio broadcast adaptation of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. [via del.icio.us]

Heat Vision And Jack

Heat Vision and Jack was a pilot for a FOX TV show done in 1999 byt Ben Stiller. It stars Jack Black as an astronaut on the run from NASA and the evil Ron Silver, played by Ron Silver (classic). Heat Vision is Jack's motorcycle and is voiced by Owen Wilson. I guess you could say its a cross between Knight Rider and The Six Million Dollar Man, only funnier. You'll either like it or hate it, depending on your Stiller stomach quotient. It is cheesy and it is dumb, but I think it was created to be a parody, sort of a Police Squad for SF series. Yes, this is real, you can look it up on IMDB.

REVIEW: Best Short Novels: 2005 edited by Jonathan Strahan

REVIEW SUMMARY: Some hits, some misses.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Anthology of nine novellas and 1 novelette from the year 2004.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: 8 stories ranging from good to excellent
CONS: 2 stories mediocre or worse.
BOTTOM LINE: A good assortment of stories from 2004.

With several other "Best of..." anthologies on the market, it helps that each one sets its own unique goals. For Jonathan Strahan's Best Short Novels series, available exclusively from the Science Fiction Book Club, the goal is to showcase the best novellas of the previous year in the genres of science fiction and fantasy; Best Short Novels: 2005 collects ten stories published in 2004.

As Strahan notes in the book's introduction, the goal of this series is much the same as Terry Carr's ill-fated The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year which had a two volumes run in 1979 and 1980. Fortunately for Strahan, he offers more as he is able to publish twice the number stories with his Best Short Novels series. Here's hoping Strahan has a much longer run; this is a great vehicle for getting quality fiction to the masses. And yes, I say this even after having read stories which did not overwhelm me. Just having the anthology is the prerequisite to reading what some consider the best out there. Just because I may disagree with some of the selections doesn't mean that the series lacks value. On the contrary, I applaud the efforts put forth by the editor and publisher to put these volumes together. I eagerly await diving into the previous year's edition (which waits patiently on my to-read pile) and the upcoming edition dues out later this year.

It's worth noting that Strahan's definition of "novella" is a bit more lenient than the Science Fiction Writers of America's definitions. One of the stories contained in this anthology, Judith Berman's "The Fear Gun", is listed in the Locus Index as a novelette. (For purposes of my Short-Story-a-Day project, which uses the SFWA definitions, I therefore label it as a novelette.)

Overall, I would classify this anthology as being eclectic in its selection. The stories range from classic sf tropes to romantic fantasy - how much more diverse can you get? Some stories even offered different sub-genres within themselves. The varied selection turned out to be a double-edged sword, though, as some readers (like myself) may find a sub-genre that is not to their tastes. (Romantic fantasy? Bah!) On the other hand, you get exposure into these genres with a "cream of the crop" selection that might change your mind.

I had already read four of the stories contained in this volume; three of which I read last year in Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction #22. This is another side effect both fortunate and unfortunate. It's fortunate because it lends weight to the perceived quality of the story when two highly regarded editors choose the same story. It's unfortunate in that the space taken up by those stories could have been used to expose me to more juicy fiction of the unread variety. But that's just a by-product of one's own personal reading habits.

Continuing the trend of newer short fiction, half of the stories contained in this volume are available online. That's good news for those who wish to sample the book's selections. Interestingly, there are not one, but two stories concerning Medusa, the gorgon who can turn men to stone with just one glance. One of those two stories was very good, the other not so much.

Standouts in this anthology are: "Mayflower II" by Stephen Baxter; "Sergeant Chip" by Bradley Denton; and "Shadow Twin" by Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin and Daniel Abraham.

Reviewlettes follow.

STORIES IN THIS ANTHOLOGY:

"Men are Trouble" by James Patrick Kelly [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [I read this on 12/04/05. Here's what I said then.]
- Synopsis: A hard-boiled missing-person detective story set in a future where alien "devils" have wiped men from the face of Earth yet "seed" the women for the continued survival of the human race.
- Review: The first half of this story had me a bit confused because no explanation was given as to the motive of the devils. The pace of the story picked up around the middle and I thought the motive of the devils would be tied to Fay Hardaway's case, but it didn't turn out that way. (At one point, I suspected the ending of the story would reveal that the men had been turned into the devils, but nope, wrong again.) Much more interesting to me was the back story of the devils and how the humanity (the women) handled it. In the story, there is the older generation of women who remember men and younger women who do not. Women are paired off and seeded by the Devils so that the Human race may continue. The church of Christers are secretly impregnating women themselves in defiance of the Devils. The economy is shot (everything is super-cheap!) and most of the jobs are done by bots supplied by the devils. All of this makes a really interesting backdrop that I wish was highlighted more. But the writing style was perfect for a detective story and the character of Fay was well done - all of which made this an enjoyable story in the end.
- Note: Available online at the author's website.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus Award.

"Mayflower II" by Stephen Baxter [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [I read this on 11/25/05. Here's what I said then.]
- Synopsis: A story of species survival set in the Xeelee universe beginning shortly after mankind's overthrow of the Qax occupation. Here, one thousand people (out of 50,000) from Port Sol flee the arrival of the Coalition that will kill them because they aided the Qax. One of the five sub-light speed generation ships, Mayflower, is the focus of the narrative; specifically through the eyes of Rusel, who gains immortality along the voyage so that he (and other Elders) may guide the shipboard civilization through their proposed 50,000 year journey.
- Review: Another engrossing, millennia-spanning tale from Baxter. Beginning with the adventurous and emotional escape from Port Sol, the story jump-skips across years and millennia to broad-stroke how the human society has changed. Wonderful depiction of customs, trends and degradation. Along the way, Baxter leverages a not-small handful of thought-provoking scenarios like natural selection, eugenics, societal manipulation, survival scenarios and more. For a story that kept jumping between stops, it had an amazing you-are-there feel. Outstanding story.
- Note: Set in Baxter's Xeelee universe.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.
- Award wins: 2005 British SF.

"Sergeant Chip" by Bradley Denton [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 03/17/06]
- Synopsis: A story of the perils of war as seen through the eyes of Chip, a K-9 unit trained-for-military-combat.
- Review: The premise sounds hokey, but doggone it, it works. (Sorry; couldn't resist.) Excellent and very enjoyable story that's told from the perspective of the dog who, through the help of technology, is able to communicate (after a fashion) with the person who holds the communicator device. In this case, the dog forms a strong bond with Captain Dial. The "dumbed down" perspective of the dog is a great device that is as effective here as it is in Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon". There's an entertaining grab bag of fun here: action, plot twists, characterization and drama. The antagonist, Lieutenant Morris, forms some tense anti-K9 moments. If I were forced to pick a down side to this very enjoyable story, it would be the minor nit that it tries a little too hard to tug at your heart strings. Even so, this was a fun read.
- Award nominations: 2005 Hugo; 2005 Locus.
- Award wins: 2005 Sturgeon.

"The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance" by Eleanor Arnason [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [I read this on 11/29/05. Here's what I said then.]
- Synopsis: The life story of Akuin, a male member of the fur-covered Hwarhath species who foster a matriarchic society on-planet while the adult men work in space to defend against the inevitable and impending attack from humans.
- Review: As other stories I've read in the Hwarhath series, this is a character-driven piece that uses the interesting alien culture as a backdrop. Here, Akuin is a sort of outcast. Firstly, he is considered "ugly" because his fur is not uniformly colored - it has spots. Secondly, he takes a shine to gardening instead of all the other activities considered normal for a young male Hwarhath. The Hwarhath culture is interesting in that suicide is accepted as long as it is approved by others. Also, same-sex relationships are the norm. The story follows Akuin's education at school, his assignment on a space station, his relationship with a male physicist who thinks a cataclysmic event is just around the corner, and his AWOL seclusion in the mountains - another indication of his not fitting in. The end of the story, which mentions the off-stage end of the war between Hwarhath and humans, features a pair of lovers (one Hwarhath, one human) named Ettin Gwarha and Sanders Nicholas who, I assume, are featured in other Hwarhath stories. (Indeed, Googling the name "Sanders Nicholas" yields some Inside-the-book results from Amazon in Arnason's Ring of Swords novel.) As a character study this was somewhat interesting, but I found the backdrop to be more appealing.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.

"Under the Flag of Night" by Ian McDowell [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 03/17/06]
- Synopsis: Tobias Constantine and Anne Bonny search for Edward Teach's (Blackbeard the pirate's) most valuable treasure: God's Cauldron of Plenty, a close relative to the Holy Grail. Constantine learns of the treasure through the book A General History of the Pyrates (Arrrgh!) by Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe. He enlists the aid of super-tough Irish woman pirate Bonny. Together, and with the help of a mystic suspected of charlatanism, they reanimate the decapitated head of Blackbeard to learn the location of the treasure. But Constantine's enemy, Edmund Love, is ahead of the game and uses the cauldron's magic to resurrect Captain Kidd.
- Review: A swashbuckling tale that mixes history, magic, pirates and...zombies! With its interesting use of historical figures, the story reads more like a medieval fantasy tale, but it does give it a little something extra in the process. I kept expected time travel to enter into the picture. My mistake; this is basically an alternate history fantasy with a splash of well-placed humor.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.

"Shadow Twin" by Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin and Daniel Abraham [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [I read this on 06/25/04. Here's what I said then.]
- Synopsis: Ramon Espejo, an angry, unsuccessful prospector on another planet, comes across another alien race hidden within a mountain rich with valuable ore. He is attacked, wakes up and is forced by the aliens to hunt down another human.
- Review: Excellent story whose only shortcoming is a slow start. Once the action starts, it is relentless. Ramon is tethered to Maneck, one of the aliens, by a wire embedded into his neck. It's a high-tech leash that, among other things, allows Maneck to inflict serious pain and force Ramon to do his bidding. Ramon learns much about the aliens' philosophy of life and, in the end, comes to some stark realizations about his own life. Good action that keeps you reading.
- Note: Also available online at SCI FICTION.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.

"The Concrete Jungle" by Charles Stross [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 03/23/06]
- Synopsis: Bob Howard is a computer nerd agent of the British Men-in-Black-like organization known as The Laundry, super-secret handlers of alien (Cthulhu!) horrors. His investigation into the mysterious and sudden destruction of a cow leads him ever-deeper into conspiracy.
- Review: This is a cool (and unique) mix of sf, Lovecraftian horror and spy thriller, with a little alternate history thrown in. The genre-mixing took a little getting used to; Gorgons and zombies are not the norm in sf. Fortunately, the spy thriller aspect acted as the glue holding the genres together. When Bob reads the top secret reports on the history of how gorgonism came to be studied by scientists we get a nice quick jolt of alternate history. The action scenes were well done and they had a digital age feel as the destructive power of Medusa's stare is replicated in the ever-prevalent security cameras and webcams. The corporate aspect of the story, while ultimately integral, felt a bit disconnected at first, but this was still a very fun read.
- Note: Also available online.
- Note: This is a sequel to Stross' The Atrocity Archives.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.
- Award wins: 2005 Hugo.

"The Gorgon in the Cupboard" by Patricia A. McKillip [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 03/25/06]
- Synopsis: A painter named Harry, madly in love from afar with a contemporary's wife named Aurora, calls on the Muses to help him find true inspiration for the one great painting. The Muses reply by using a recently finished painting as the embodiment of Medusa, the gorgon who can turn men to stone with her stare. Meanwhile, the destitute former model for Harry, and the basis for his Medusa painting, returns from dire straits to once again become Harry's model.
- Review: The warning signs went up when I saw the story's introduction label it as "romantic fantasy" two genres smashed together to make an unholy third. I have more success with science fiction than I do with fantasy and the romance aspect of the label put me off from the get-go. I was pleased to find it light on the romance side and I was hopeful when Harry's Medusa painting spoke from the cupboard where he kept it. Alas, I ultimately could not get into this story. There is the notion that Harry (and all the painters with whom he associates) doesn't see real the person behind the subject. The only thing the painter sees is his Persephone, his Cleopatra, his Aphrodite or whatever he is painting. Jo manages to break the spell that Aurora holds over Harry (beauty that renders him motionless like stone. Get it? Nudge, nudge.) because Harry gets to know the real Jo.

"The Fear Gun" by Judith Berman [2004 novellette] (Rating: ) [Read 03/25/06]
- Synopsis: After an alien invasion, small pockets of humanity survive. In the small town of Lewisville, some semblance of civilization survives as the locals fend their town from further alien invasion from the survivors of an alien ship that has crash-landed in the nearby mountains. The townspeople have managed to retrieve a nice collection of weapons from the aliens, but not the dreaded Fear Gun, which instills moribund fear in its victims. When the military arrives looking for the alien secret and tries to gain control of Lewisville, the townspeople have to decide which is the greater evil; aliens or military occupation?
- Review: Not a bad story, but it lacked the dramatic impact given the tension-filled premise. For example, the opening sequence in which a man maintains constant vigil on his front porch was well done drama, but the subsequent chapters shows us some les-enjoyable political power struggles and too much character melodrama were less so. Each section of the story focuses on a different resident as the story unfolds and the military come to town. The weapon of the story's title, it seems, is not quite what people think it is, as another well-done action scene in a warehouse shows us.
- Note: Also available online at the author's website.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.

"Arabian Wine" by Gregory Feeley [2004 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 03/26/06]
- Synopsis: The trials and tribulations of Matteo the merchant as he tries to capitalize of making coffee (the Arabian Wine of the title) the beverage of choice in renaissance Europe.
- Review: Although this was billed as alternate history in the introduction, this subtlety of the story made it read more like vanilla-flavored historical fiction. Matteo tries like mad to get the coffee market off the ground but meets with resistance every step of the way. Things look good when he has engineers working on the ultimate steam-powered coffee vat, but not so good when the church accuses him of disrupting civil order, apparently through the effects of the caffeine which heretofore were used only for medicinal purposes. Like I said, this reads like a history lesson and was not overly entertaining for the sf-lover in me. That said, Feeley's writing style is easy to digest and helped move the extra-long novella along.
- Note: Also available online at Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
- Award nominations: 2005 Locus.

POLL RESULTS: Objectivity in Reviewing

Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.

QUESTION
Do you think it's possible for a book reviewer to remain objective if he or she has received the book for free from the publisher?

RESULTS

(48 total votes)

Be sure to vote in this week's poll: Has Battlestar Galactica jumped the shark?

Friday March 24, 2006

SF Tidbits for 3/24/06

Peter Jackson's King Kong will be the first title available from Universal Pictures' upcoming download-to-own service. [via SciFi Wire]

Minnesota Stories video-interviews Bruce Sterling who talks Spime. (Relatively long download.)

Locus Online offers an excerpt of Gary K. Wolfe's Hugo Award-nominated Soundings: Reviews 1992-1996.

Paizo Publications announces the official cancellation of Amazing Stories. [via Locus Online]

Voting begins for the Spaceys, Canada's only sci-fi and fantasy television awards show.

SFRevu interviews Ken MacLeod, author of the Hugo-nominated Learning the World.

Wikipedia's List of Fiction Inspired by Dune.

REVIEW: River of Gods by Ian McDonald

REVIEW SUMMARY: A novel that's thought-provoking, literary and entertaining despite a slow start.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The story of several characters during a time of political and environmental change in a futuristic 21st century India.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Cool technology; Indian culture creates excellent atmosphere; engrossing storylines; well-crafted.
CONS: Slow start; incomplete glossary.
BOTTOM LINE: A hugely enjoyable book on any number of levels.

The futuristic India in Ian McDonald's River of Gods would be marvelous enough with its technological society, one where the sentience of artificial intelligence is limited by a law called the Hamilton Acts; where illegal software houses circumvent the law; where a government agency known as The Ministry "excommunicates" rogue AIs from this world; where virtual reality is the order of the day; where popular soap operas feature computer-generated characters played by computer-generated actors; where advanced medical procedures can turn you into a genderless "nute" or genetic engineering can give you a disease free, slow-aging Brahmin child; where power is generated underneath sidewalks that harness the energy of footsteps ; where even greater amounts of energy can be realized from the potential difference between two universes that exist at different ground states; and where an alien artifact is found in space that holds untold mysteries.

But River of Gods goes one step further, adding a whole other layer of enjoyment in the process, through the portrayal of Indian culture. It permeates everyone and everything, bringing forth interesting concepts and vivid imagery that give it a distinct mood and flavor. India's caste system remains but now includes the Brahmin, a group of people genetically-bred to be disease free, whose long life gives them an extended period of youthful appearance. The culture's many Gods are also prevalent in the story. For the culturally-uninitiated (like myself) there is a handy glossary included that defines many Hindi terms. However, the novel is so steeped in culture (and wonderfully so) that the glossary is woefully incomplete. Many of the words this Average Westerner looked up were not included. Eventually, I stopped using it. Needless to say, those who know Indian culture and especially Hindi will find a whole other level of enjoyment that escaped me, as evidenced by the light bulbs that went on when I asked a Hindi-speaking friend to translate words and section titles.

Even so, what is left behind was immensely entertaining. The story follows several characters through a time of political and environmental change in India. A years-long drought has pushed the region of Bharat towards war with neighboring Awadh. The Prime Minister's secretary, Shaheen Badoor Khan, is pivotal in maintaining victory for Bharat while trying to simultaneously neutralize the impending government takeover by the people's prophet, N.K. Jivanjee. Unfortunately for Khan, he has a "perverse" predilection for nutes, social outcasts because they are different by choice. One nute, Tal, is a set designer on the nationwide soap opera sensation Town & Country, where CGI characters are played by CGI actors. Reporter Najia Askarzada gets to interview the soap's low-level AI stars but eventually becomes embroiled in national conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nandha is a Krishna Cop with the Ministry, sworn to eliminate any AIs that rise to a certain level of intelligence while utilizing his own AIs (named after Gods) to capture the rogues. Deeply involved in his work, Nandha fails to realize his wife Parvati forms a questionable relationship with her gardener.

Vishram Ray, formerly a failing comedian, is bequeathed a part of his father's lucrative power company. Their research and development division has found a way to harness energy from other universes using different ground state energy levels to generate power with no cost.

Thomas Lull is a dropout from society, but his past skills are needed by scientist Lisa Durnau as she is enlisted by NASA to explore the strange alien artifact known as the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is located at the heart of an asteroid that suspiciously keeps missing a collision with Earth. Lull and Lisa meet up with the mysterious Aj, another mystery as she shows signs of having paranormal powers.

Lastly, there's Shiv; a street thug and murderer who, driven by debt and fear of loan-shark-controlled robotic debt collectors, is being manipulated by powers far beyond his understanding.

These many plotlines are kept separate for a large part of the book's beginning, something I found to be somewhat disconcerting as I wondered how story lines would intersect. What can I say? I'm an impatient reader. When they did start intersecting, that bewilderment disappeared. It paid off being persistent as McDonald manages to not only successfully juggle these storylines, but does so in a way that keeps you immersed within them.

The language of the novel is beautifully crafted and is infused with symbolism, mostly by way of the Gods. There is also a healthy dose of thought-provoking ideas in the areas of sentience, reality and what it means to be human. The Singularity, a currently popular sf theme which is in danger of showing its age in the genre, also makes an appearance. River of Gods deftly circumvents the overexposure issue by not concentrating on life after the Singularity so much as the way we might get there. (Sorry, can't say more without spoilers.) Suffice it to say that the book holds many, many wonders. And, dare I say, between the writing style and the layers of story construction, the book gives the impression of being what one might call a "Literary" novel.

When River of Gods was released last year in the UK, it received much notice. It was the winner of the 2005 British Science Fiction Association Awards and nominated for the 2005 Hugo, Clarke and Locus awards. I went in with some trepidation at the prospect of not liking yet another acclaimed book. I needn't have worried. River of Gods is a hugely enjoyable book on any number of levels.

Thursday March 23, 2006

SF Tidbits for 3/23/06

According to Variety, Universal has picked up the rights to adapt Alfred Bester's sf classic The Stars My Destination. [via Cinematical]

A Serenity system map.

42 Things You Should Know About The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Ray Bradbury's favorite Bradbury book is Dandelion Wine.

H.P Lovecraft's fantasies (including Cthulhu) have been turned into "a baroque musical cabaret named Mountains of Madness." [Link via Mumpsimus]

Alan DeNiro reviews Cordwainer Smith's "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" [See SF Signal's reviewlette. Link via Mumpsimus]

Two Cool Anthologies on the Horizon

Kathryn Cramer shows off the covers of some nifty-sounding anthologies that she and hubby David G. Hartwell have edited.

The first, due in April 2006, is The Science Fiction Century, Volume One (edited by Harwell alone) and looks to be a trade paperback booksplit reprint or Hartwell's 1997 The Science Fiction Century. In true biblioholic fashion, I've yet to read that one even though I bought it years ago.

The second is the Tor book The Space Opera Renaissance and it's due out in July 2006. Here's the book description:

"Space opera", once a derisive term for cheap pulp adventure, has come to mean something more in modern SF: compelling adventure stories told against a broad canvas, and written to the highest level of skill. Indeed, it can be argued that the "new space opera" is one of the defining streams of modern SF.

Now, World Fantasy Award-winning anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have compiled a definitive overview of this subgenre, both as it was in the days of the pulp magazines, and as it has become in 2005. Included are major works from genre progenitors like Jack Williamson and Leigh Brackett, stylish midcentury voices like Cordwainer Smith and Samuel R. Delany, popular favorites like David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and modern-day pioneers such as Iain M. Banks, Steven Baxter, Scott Westerfeld, and Charles Stross.

Mmmmm...crunchy sf goodness...[Homer gurgle]

EW's Top 25 Worst Sequels

Entertainment Weekly has identified 25 of the Worst Movie Sequels Ever Made. There are more than a few sci-fi, fantasy and horror movies that made the list.

Staying Alive (1983)

CaddyShack II (1988)

Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha' Hood (2003)

Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Batman & Robin (1997)

Weekend At Bernie's II (1993)

The Fly II (1989)

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

The Sting II (1983)

Conan the Destroyer (1984)

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)

Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Revenge of the Nerds II: nerds in paradise (1987)

The Godfather Part III (1990)

Legally Blonde 2: red, white & blonde (2003)

Teen Wolf Too (1987)

Porky's II: The Next Day (1983)

The Next Karate Kid (1994)

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

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