Catherynne Valente is a phenomenally talented author: her writing overflows with creativity, new ways to describe everything from a person to a settinCatherynne Valente is a phenomenally talented author: her writing overflows with creativity, new ways to describe everything from a person to a setting to an emotion, new ways to approach storytelling itself. Her style combines both postmodernism and New Weird techniques, and the lushness of her prose is reminiscent of Angela Carter and Tanith Lee (two of my favorite authors). I loved her novels In the Night Garden and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland.
Unfortunately, this collection was hit or miss for me. There were some wonderful stories (bolded below) but there were also some that I found to be completely unreadable. I'm always down for a challenge, but if things get too silly, too disgusting, and/or too shouty, I find that it's easier to just quit engaging rather than sticking it out and getting increasingly annoyed. Who has the time for that? I do that for people, may as well apply that philosophy to stories too.
All that said, for the most part the stories were perfectly fine. Each one was creative and unique, in their own way. And those stories that I loved - well, I really really loved them. At her best, she's one of the finest and most original of modern genre writers. She has a unique vision and she always goes her own way. An admirable writer.
if only this book were half its length, it would be so much more enjoyable. but that's just not the size of genre novels these days, alas. it has a grif only this book were half its length, it would be so much more enjoyable. but that's just not the size of genre novels these days, alas. it has a great premise: astronauts explore a giant alien vessel that is on target to crash into earth. not the most original of set-ups (Clarke, Bear, etc.) but always a fun set-up nonetheless. this vessel is indeed alien, so much Alienness, and also creepy, bizarre, surprising, all the good things. and completely dark, so we have a haunted house in space type feel. it was fun exploring this weird death-trap alongside the hapless explorers. and the solution to the main mystery - that mystery being What The Fuck Is This Thing - was great. unexpected (to me at least) and yet familiar, understandable, not too out there. well, this is science fiction so it was pretty out there, but it did make sense.
I appreciate that the author tried to do different things with perspective: side-ruminations by various characters inserted into the narrative, the premise of the book being that we're reading a nonfiction account of the trip, various transcribed audio recordings, etc. unfortunately, these devices often felt illogical and their execution was amateurish.
the main problem with this book is that it is essentially a chamber piece with a handful of characters and nearly all of them were made of cardboard. it's like Wellington's approach to characterization was to determine an Overriding Trait and then build an entire character around that trait. and so our lead is Regret. her antagonist is Paranoia. etc. having totally tedious characters who don't have complexity and certainly don't think like actual human beings with complicated thought processes, when this is a character-driven story, is... totally tedious. I wouldn't have noticed this issue, or I wouldn't have cared, if the book had been 200 pages, like so many classics published last millennium. but over 350 pages spent dealing with these uninteresting, unrealistic characters turned out to be a real drag. despite the fun premise and the interesting mystery and the satisfying resolution to that mystery. no person equals one trait!...more
sharp and dense, idiosyncratic, humane. a fine job by Kelly Robson, whose short stories I've admired.
sharp in its portrait of environmental progress sharp and dense, idiosyncratic, humane. a fine job by Kelly Robson, whose short stories I've admired.
sharp in its portrait of environmental progress having to cope with the mercurial nature of corporate interests that often supply needed funding: even far-future corporations are forever moving on to the next bright & shiny object - whatever new idea captures the public eye will capture their attention; what's not hot is what will not be funded.
dense in its portrait of how to bid for a competitive project, what strategies to use, how to operationalize that project, how to staff it. the book will give you the ins & outs of responding to an RFP; if you don't know what an "RFP" even is (you lucky dog), your interest in the story may wane during this book's first half.
idiosyncratic in its decision to spend so much time detailing an RFP process! more enjoyably, idiosyncratic in its choice of protagonist: a stubborn old woman who has no more fucks to give, righteous in her beliefs, and also half-octopoid. I admired how the author made clear that Minh's positive traits are but flip side to her weaknesses. her righteousness often curdles into an obnoxious close-mindedness; her stubbornness causes a slaughter.
humane in how Robson views all of her characters, in how to cope with tragedy and change; humane when considering difference, the young, the old, "foreign" cultures, the world itself. I love an empathetic author.
synopsis: in a post-apocalyptic Canada, various characters sign on to a project that has them traveling back in time to Ur, city of ancient Mesopotamia. surprising events occur....more
for something so brutal, this was a surprisingly fun, quirky experience. galactic investigator Version 43 returns to the outlaw planet of Belladonna, for something so brutal, this was a surprisingly fun, quirky experience. galactic investigator Version 43 returns to the outlaw planet of Belladonna, great name, and it's a society run by various crime lords, each uniquely interesting and horrible. Version 43 is murdered. soon after, Version 44 returns... and so on. we meet a number of versions of this cyborg cop, each iteration just a little less human, a little less empathetic, a little more coldly logical, a little more able to figure out the slaughter-mystery that he had originally been sent to solve. the case turns out to be political in nature, and so each layer of the mystery leads to even more corruption, more mysteries. the detective himself is a mystery, to the reader and to his various versions. alongside the main narrative is a parallel plot about a hybrid hive species set on eradicating humanity from the universe. of course these plots converge, as everything that rises must.
despite this book being wall-to-wall atrocities (mass murder and torture, rape and mutilation, suicide and the sex trade, genocide), the tone & pacing was... light & zippy? cheerful & breezy? upbeat & lively? it was like I was reading a science fiction version of Joe Abercrombie, minus the vicious nihilism at the core. Philip Palmer is a much sunnier author, in his dark and bloody way. that really shows up in SPOILER RED ALERT SPOILER FOLLOWS IN THIS PARAGRAPH RED ALERT SPOILER the rather corny, life-affirming ending. a very sweet and cheesy wrap-up that I completely forgave. I mean, so many horrifying bloodbaths came before, it was nice to end it all with an ice cream cone with extra sprinkles.
this is the second book I've read in the Debatable Space series of standalone novels. the first was the equally horrific yet compulsively readable Red Claw - highly recommended....more
gee whiz! this is a perfectly executed novella about two boys, age 12 (and a half!) and age 14 (and a half!), at odds with ultra-dimensional villains.gee whiz! this is a perfectly executed novella about two boys, age 12 (and a half!) and age 14 (and a half!), at odds with ultra-dimensional villains. Azathoth, so-named, and Nyarlathotep, perhaps (my guess, at least). the twist is that these two young fellows are the übermensch scions of a world-dominating clan that controls a world-dominating corporation. so, despite the reader most likely being sympathetic towards the charismatic brothers, this is basically a tale of evil versus evil. in brisk and bloody action-novel format! what's not to love?
synopsis: in 1956, while on holiday from the school for assassins known as Mountain Leopard Temple, two likely lads first engage in a bit of drinking & shagging with loose local lasses and then find themselves on the run from who knows what from where God only knows. much bloodshed occurs. the two then take part in an archeological dig and more bloodshed occurs. finally, a journey across dimensions of time and space and life and death and a big dead whale, and a little more bloodshed of course. all's well that end's well and the masters of this mortal coil shall continue to pull our puppet strings. good job and nice work, kids!
Barron's pacing is tight and his characterization is sharply etched and his tongue is so far in cheek it has bored a bloody hole right through, you can see it wagging at you, cheekily. I really, really, really, REALLY wish that this had been novel-length. gosh it went by too quickly!...more
fast-paced, fun, forgettable. prolific Darcy Coates stitches together an alien invasion quilt made up of three short stories and two novellas occurrinfast-paced, fun, forgettable. prolific Darcy Coates stitches together an alien invasion quilt made up of three short stories and two novellas occurring on five different space stations. the aliens are very The Thing, except in the last novella, which felt like a mashup of Aliens and video games (I guess? I never play them). the book has no style to speak of but the workmanlike writing is fine; world-building and characterization are shallow, but not too annoying. the whole thing is very pacey and pages were turned very quickly (especially during a nonsensical prologue in the last part, where we follow the protagonist as she desperately races across town to catch a flight - it was such a poorly conceived sequence I had to rush through it asap lol). I liked the fourth piece the best, as the characters in that novella are not just threatened by evil aliens that mimic humans, but also by the psychotic breakdown of the station commander, who starts off weirdly bitchy then ends up stalking the halls with a butcher knife while laughing to herself. different!...more
space operatics! future humanity belongs to two masters: the theocrats and the military, currently at truce. outside of this system are the independenspace operatics! future humanity belongs to two masters: the theocrats and the military, currently at truce. outside of this system are the independent mining communities in their haphazardly built asteroid lairs. the current obsession of the theocracy: who are the aliens among us, pulling our strings? the current obsession of the military: how to get more militarized, of course, wherever that path may lead... to aliens perhaps, or maybe to a long missing super-spaceship, lost a century before. both groups have a lot in common: arrogance, the ability to instill fear in the masses, and an interest in genetically mutated super-soldiers.
this was a dense little book with multiple protagonists, yet fast-paced and easy to read despite the wall-to-wall ideas. Jay Lake was an idiosyncratic writer with a lot on his mind. rest in peace, brother - you were taken too soon! this is one of those rare stories that could have gone on much longer. I didn't love the almost offhand nihilism and tragedy, but apparently a morbid outlook on the nature of humanity was a hallmark of this talented author....more
Entertaining, thought-provoking, full of mindboggling inventions, aliens, worldbuilding. Rich, dense and very sardonic. This one includes all of the aEntertaining, thought-provoking, full of mindboggling inventions, aliens, worldbuilding. Rich, dense and very sardonic. This one includes all of the author's leitmotifs, such as how war and brutality get justified, what exactly is this weird construct called "civilization" and can it actually give lives meaning, and of course the futility of tryna reason why because ours is just to do and die, dummy. Plus a nihilistic ending that's also a happy ending, very Banks.
2 stars per Goodreads means "It was ok" which is not exactly a ringing endorsement, but is certainly not "It sucked compost bin." To me, 2 stars means2 stars per Goodreads means "It was ok" which is not exactly a ringing endorsement, but is certainly not "It sucked compost bin." To me, 2 stars means Eh? Eh! and Yeah, it was okay. Enjoyable enough. The End of All Things was enjoyable enough. Scalzi is always a very generic writer when it comes to the prose and we get the same here. His human characters are pleasant and relatable and uninteresting and we get the same here. His alien characters are usually more human than alien and we get the same here. His plots are fun and propulsive with a simmering undercurrent of leftist-humanist ideology (which I enjoy) and we get the same here. The book is very John Scalzi and that usually means 3 stars for me. But this conclusion to his entertaining series seemed kinda, I dunno, phoned in? Like he had moved on to brighter, shinier objects and just wanted to get this whole thing over with? I mean, this was a nice way to spend time and I didn't resent it and it tied things up while leaving doors open and yet it was totally uninspiring. Well that's not quite true. The first sequence, detailing the unlucky life of a combo programmer/pilot turned into a ship and who then turns on his tormenters, was actually riveting. But the remainder of the book was very much Eh? Eh!...more
mileage may vary, depending on how much the reader appreciates this series' most mysterious character: the often reborn/once a religious fanatic/once mileage may vary, depending on how much the reader appreciates this series' most mysterious character: the often reborn/once a religious fanatic/once a gun-slinging secret agent/currently a poor little rich boy/and cybernetic pirate/and always horny homo sapien-adjacent being now known as Alec Checkerfield. he's my favorite character in The Company, so I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is basically a slow lifting of all the veils shrouding this bizarre and wonderful and surprisingly relatable fellow. the series' protagonist Mendoza is an equally fantastic character and she deserves a romantic lead with all of the trimmings.
past entries in this series have been more... secretive. they have concealed their true natures. ostensibly a science fictional series that spends time in multiple past eras, they are also each something quite different. the first, a romance; the second, a comedy of manners; the third, a memento mori; the fourth, a cold case mystery. this fifth book is a shift, as it is a nearly-straightforward biography. if a reader isn't interested in the life of Alec Checkerfield (or his prior iterations, Nicholas Harpole and Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax), then this book will be a drag.
for me, it was tons of fun. Baker's style remains light and breezy. her primary target also remains: hypocritical group-thinkers who make decisions that impact lives but eschew all responsibility for those decisions. in The Company series, they are literally "the Company" - company men and women. in prior books, these villains do their villainous thing while only being glimpsed briefly, in scenes where their laughable softness are highlighted. we finally get to meet a group of these group-thinkers and they are as pathetic (and as amusing) as one might imagine.
as always, Baker has an agonizing devastation in store for the reader. she loves to make a light fluffy cake, one with a secret filling full of nails, razors, barbed wire, the annihilation of the human spirit. but still light and fluffy!
okay I tried but I just can't with this two dicks popping up from one crotch thing. had to give up. otherwise this is a fast-paced, rollicking adventuokay I tried but I just can't with this two dicks popping up from one crotch thing. had to give up. otherwise this is a fast-paced, rollicking adventure with high stakes and amusing characters, one that would probably be lightly enjoyable, even with all of the extremely over the top sadomasochistic activities happening every other page. the book certainly makes bloodplay sound like just another Tuesday lol. anyway, I tried and failed, again, as this is my second time attempting to handle imagining a double-dong guy, so not blaming the author because apparently this is something that people semi-frequently write about. but two dicks from one guy, another dick from the second guy because this is menage erotica... that's just too many dicks for me. and here I thought I'd never say that last phrase....more
this is Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes through a Tom Reamy lens. same set-up: sinister carnival comes to a small midwest town, bringinthis is Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes through a Tom Reamy lens. same set-up: sinister carnival comes to a small midwest town, bringing with it magic and soul-searching about identity and a slow-burning, eventually over the top battle of good vs. evil. this is less of a rip-off and much more of a fond homage. I enjoyed it despite the familiarity of the story and overall preference for the Bradbury novel. the author has a lyrical way with words and a very modern sensibility when it comes to sexuality. Reamy also shows a very empathetic perspective when it comes to "difference" - the differences in the protagonists' (three young women) different approaches to life and especially the differences in physical appearance and ability experienced by the carnival's tragic "freaks". the Reamy lens also features a distinctly homoerotic vibe when it comes to describing the male gender (utterly absent when describing young women in the story), which was vaguely pleasant to a queer like myself - but also a bit eyerolling? anyway, this was an evocative, often moving, albeit rather unsurprising book overall. I preferred the author's prior San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Stories. that was consistently surprising and the breadth of imagination, depth of emotion, and range of styles on display really impressed me. unfortunately, Tom Reamy died before being able to write more. I wonder where his clear talent would have led him....more
Don't pile on! Don't be a bully! Get off of Twitter! Don't let the buzz of social media and the buzzing noises of all the voices in the world, from the news, from your peers' mouths, from your community's mouth... don't let that noise turn you into an automaton! Young man, you are an individual! Think for yourself!
Lesson #2: Don't Take Up So Much Space
Don't assume everyone wants to hear your loud male voice! Don't assume all of your thoughts, feelings, questions, and opinions need to be vocalized! And don't assume everyone wants to deal with all of your limbs spread out all over the place! Control yourself!
Death came to stay with the girl, a secret smile on his lips. "Your life is a living death as is, I feel quite at home here. You have given me such a coDeath came to stay with the girl, a secret smile on his lips. "Your life is a living death as is, I feel quite at home here. You have given me such a comfy place in your heart. All the world hates your people - I can see why you hunger for peace." And then Death sat back, to see what could be bought. And so the girl thought of the blade, and how it would plunge into her body. The girl would accept this death, and so unleash the weapons of war. A new price will be paid!
All the Dead came to stay with sin-eater, with all of their secrets. "Your life is a living death as is, we feel quite at home here. You have given us sAll the Dead came to stay with sin-eater, with all of their secrets. "Your life is a living death as is, we feel quite at home here. You have given us such a comfy place in your heart. All the world hates your people - we can see why you hunger for understanding." And then all the Dead stepped forward, to project thought, to punish those who fought, to mock that which they had caught. And so sin-eater thought, fought, was caught - but not for naught. Sin-eater would reject these Dead, and so unleash the future. A new destiny will be forged!
two well-crafted novellas set in the author's grim Revelation Space universe, each illustrating the separate goals of each hemisphere within Reynolds'two well-crafted novellas set in the author's grim Revelation Space universe, each illustrating the separate goals of each hemisphere within Reynolds' big, brilliant brain.
Left-Brained Reynolds wrote "Diamond Dogs": a studiously perhaps strenuously analytical piece. a small, highly differentiated party of dangerous and dangerously curious explorers return again and again to the death trap that is known as the Blood Spire. there they attempt to solve increasingly difficult logic puzzles that reward them with access to yet another room or, if their answers are incorrect, severely castigate them with surprise mutilation or death. this dark story offers scant answers to its mysteries but does provide pleasures familiar to any who enjoyed the movie Cube (or the book The World House). Overall it was ok, although the title bugged me - and this is a petty complaint, I know - as it doesn't mean much for the story and feels like a David Bowie fanboy decided on the title first and then bent his narrative to fit it to that title. Reynolds bends his characters as well, into new physical shapes that are at first exciting and then, finally, gross and depressing. 2 stars.
Right-Brained Reynolds wrote the superior "Turquoise Days": an enjoyably slow-paced affair that is more concerned with processing visual shapes and patterns, with ambiguity, with implied meanings. this novella is dense with emotion: regret, longing, melancholy, a spurt of anger, and then resignation, peacefulness. it is about the planet of the Pattern Jugglers, a nonsentient but still organic alien archiving system that lives in the oceans of watery Turquoise; some who swim in that ocean contribute a copy of their consciousness to that archive - and if they are particularly sympatico to those consciousness jugglers, they contribute their entire selves, body and all. most of Turquoise Days is about two sisters and the sorrows of one sister as she moves on with her life, her sibling having been subsumed by the ocean. eventually, an actual narrative reveals itself, and the novella becomes if briefly a story of a last fight against off-planet and all-too-human interlopers who would destroy the uniqueness of this beautiful world for reasons either fanatical or righteous, but both wearyingly typical for the human species. it doesn't end well, and yet it sorta does, which is so Alastair Reynolds. all in all, this was a very impressive story. 4 stars....more
it seems so long ago that i read this, my first and so far only book finished this month. it was a pleasant, hopeful, rather lovely way to start out 2it seems so long ago that i read this, my first and so far only book finished this month. it was a pleasant, hopeful, rather lovely way to start out 2021.
what is this "lurulu" of the book title?
"If you recall, we were speaking of lurulu. At the risk of banality, I will point out that 'fate', 'destiny', and 'lurulu' are not synonymous. 'Fate' is dark and ponderous; 'destiny' is more like a beautiful sunset. In speaking of 'lurulu', however, language of this kind is not useful. Lurulu is personal; it is like hope, or a wistful longing, more real than a dream."
"lurulu" was a pleasing way to envision a new year, after 2020. of course, after finishing this book, real world events soon occurred that were quite less than pleasing. and so my interest in reading fiction suddenly evaporated while an unhealthy obsession with watching the so-called news all day & all night came into being. happily, that wretched fever has passed and i am feeling a slow settling back into my preferred ways. i may now even be able to summon up the energy to reply to emails that have been for many weeks unanswered. and in time, may even start making plans!
this is my favorite author jack vance's last book. it has little in the way of a driving narrative. its central characters are low-key, well-differentiated but not ostentatiously over the top nor erratic; they have a quiet affection for each other that has a sturdy foundation of loyalty and is generously topped off with a teasing humor. ideal traveling companions for each other and for the reader. they have various adventures, they eventually find a restful home, they realize they are not done living a life of curiosity, they set out again. the novel is sequel to the equally charming, ocassionally dark Ports of Call and coda to the author's career. it ends as it is about to start again. in many ways it is an ideal last story: relaxed, gracious, ironic, humorous, hopeful, wistful, dreamy yet real; a summing up but also an open door.
synopsis: a young man and his friends travel here and there, learning about life....more
this novella is a typically charming and fast-paced entry in the saga of Miles Vorkosigan. basically a smash & grab caper. ah Mil3.5 stars, rounded up
this novella is a typically charming and fast-paced entry in the saga of Miles Vorkosigan. basically a smash & grab caper. ah Miles, I see so much of myself in you. the ego and pride, the sarcasm and humor, the irritation at not being a taller person, the ability to fuck anything that moves. really, he's the best. wait if I say that am I also saying that I'm the best? surely I don't mean to imply such an outrageous thing.
SPOILERS
so the story opens with Miles getting hit on by the ardent hermaphrodite captain of his ship (and who disconcertingly prefers "it" to he or she... kinda wish that wasn't the case, but this was written in the pre-"they" days, so can't really hold that against Bujold. she's trying.) which he handles sensitively and professionally and with no weirdness, and it closes with Miles happily getting it on with the physically dominating but quite insecure mutant werewolf-woman that he's just "rescued" (really, she's the one that rescues him). in between there is another exploited person rescued whose physical appearance is also quite different from the so-called norm. and all throughout are some strong emotions and some strong declarations all about how people experience difference, how people get othered, how it makes them feel. just like what Miles has dealt with his entire life. and yet despite the clear moral lesson on display, nothing felt forced. the story is brisk, fun, sweet, and casual.
and so a 3 star book gets a boost because I love the ideals. Bujold's beautifully progressive, humanistic nature really shines bright in this story. it made me happy....more
Loading...
