I received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.
Here’s a book that has the basic idea that humans are hardwired to be pieces of shit,I received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.
Here’s a book that has the basic idea that humans are hardwired to be pieces of shit, and that the solution might be to genetically upgrade us to be better. The first part is obviously true, but the second part has to be pure science fiction because even if you take a turd and sprinkle it with glitter and tie a pretty bow around it, it’s still a piece of shit.
The official plot summary on this is fairly thin, and they’re are some twists and turns so I don’t want to give away much other than to say that it’s set in the near future where after a disaster caused by genetic engineering caused a massive famine that the world has cracked down on all aspects of DNA tinkering. A man named Logan Ramsey who has his own troubled past he’s trying to redeem is working for an agency trying to stop black market science when he gets dosed with something during a raid. While he initially seems to recover, Logan realizes that he is being improved. Hilarity ensues…
I’m not the biggest Blake Crouch fan in the world, and like most of the other books of his I’ve read I found this to be fine. It’s got an interesting idea, and a well thought out world built up. His writing is OK enough, and there is some interesting discussion about the nature of humanity and why we refuse to acknowledge long term threats like climate change.
However, while this is the kind of story that should be right in my wheelhouse it never feels like it elevates to that next level where I’m really excited about turning the pages, and once I’m done I feel a momentary sense of satisfaction and promptly start forgetting about what I just read.
So hardcore Crouch fans will be probably enjoy as might any sci-fi/thriller fans who pick it up. I don’t regret reading it, but it didn’t have much of an impact either. ...more
I received a free advance copy of this for review from NetGalley.
You load sixteen drones, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt…
ItI received a free advance copy of this for review from NetGalley.
You load sixteen drones, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt…
It’s the near future, and the giant company Cloud dominates the economy with its massive warehouses that are essentially cities where the employees live and work. However, the CEO of Cloud, Gibson Wells, has just announced that he’s dying of cancer so there’s change on the horizon as a couple of new employees meet during the hiring process. Paxton’s dream of running his own business was destroyed by Cloud, but now he needs a job so he finds himself on a security team. Zinnia acts like just another person looking for work, but in reality she’s been paid by a mysterious client to infiltrate Cloud and uncover some of its secrets.
Unfortunately, it’s hard for Zinnia to find holes in Cloud’s security, and even harder when she is worn out from long shifts spent running to fill orders. A relationship with Paxton might be her best way to complete her mission, but can she use him like that if she actually likes the guy?
On the surface this seems like your standard dystopian tale with some idealistic folks trying to take down an evil corporation, but this book is deeper and more subtle than that. For starters, the characters aren’t stereotypes. You might expect Paxton to be bitter and angry about his company being destroyed by Cloud and having to go to work for them, but he’s actually a guy who still believes that he can achieve his dreams by good ideas and hard work. Zinnia isn’t a radical trying to change the world either. She’s a mercenary doing a job for money, and while she has no love for Cloud she’s not looking to take it down either.
We also hear from Gibson Wells in the form of messages he’s releasing as he does a final farewell tour of the company he built, and that includes some of his history. At first his folksy tale of how he started Cloud with little more than an idea and some furniture scavenged from a closed school gives us the impression that this is the American dream taken to its fullest potential. Especially when Wells lays out that part of his goal for creating the Cloud facilities was to provide good jobs while helping to stave the increasing ravages of climate change by making the greenest facilities possible. It all sounds very reasonable, maybe even honorable. Yet as we learn more and more about how Cloud actually works Wells’ defense of his business tactics start to ring increasingly hollow.
For example, all the Cloud employees are on a rating system where their performance is constantly evaluated and a star value assigned which Wells explains came from his old grade school days when he always tried to get all the points possible on his assignments. That sounds good, but when average performance might get you fired then it’s a constant battle to be great, even perfect. Which then means that the standards shift to a point where people literally have to run themselves ragged to meet the minimum performance level.
Another thing the book does an excellent job at is showing just how falling into a routine might be the most dangerous and depressing aspect of all. There are several points where both Paxton and Zinnia get into the rut of just doing their job, returning to their small apartments, watching TV, falling asleep, and then doing it again. This, more than anything, might be the thing that lets Cloud flourish. If your employees have to expend so much physical and mental energy to get through an average workday that they just want to collapse into a stupor every night then they’re never going to have the time or gumption to try and shake things up in any way.
So this is a well written book with a timely message that I thought it was excellent. It also depressed the hell out of me because I read it on device I got from the company that Cloud is obviously based on. Now I’m posting a review on a website owned by that same corporation. Even though I don’t directly work for that company it’s changed my life in many ways, and I went along with it because it was cheap and convenient without wondering too much where it all ends. Oops.
Even worse is that after reading this now, at a time when billionaires make the rules and the bottom line is used to justify everything they do, I don’t see a way that it gets better without humanity going all the way down Fury Road and just starting over.
But hey, it’s still a good book so go ahead and read it. Just maybe try to find a copy in an independent bookstore....more
I received a free copy of this for review from the author.
**I'm reposting the review because this is now being published as a Kindle e-book on May 1, I received a free copy of this for review from the author.
**I'm reposting the review because this is now being published as a Kindle e-book on May 1, and it's only $2.99 if you pre-order.**
In a dystopian near future a handsome young man named Rhodes has a lucrative illegal business as a Husk which means that he essentially rents out his body to rich people No, not like that, you perverts. These are dead rich people…OK, now I'm gonna have to ask you to leave because that’s just sick. Go on. Close the door on your way out.
Where were we? Right, so the deal is that the richest people have found a way to cheat death and download their consciousness into computers, but playing Halo and trolling on Twitter gets boring after a while so they can rent a Husk and have a human body for a few days. Rhodes enjoys the money plus it’s a lot better than being one of the millions of suckers who can’t earn a living at a regular job, but his clients seem to be increasingly less concerned with damaging the merchandise. (You know how nobody really cares what happens to a rental car they’re driving? Same principle.) Plus, he’s started having weird flashes to things that aren’t his memories.
Most of the book is essentially a sci-fi conspiracy thriller, and it functions pretty well as that. I was a little let down that it didn’t do a bit more contemplation about identity and its relation to the physical body. However, Messum does a lot in the first person narrative that has Rhodes becomingly increasingly aware that while he thought he was just renting out his physical self that he might have been peddling something far more precious so essentially it becomes an extended metaphor on prostitution. So we do get some deeper themes on the idea that you can’t entirely separate the body from the mind.
The third act seemed like it was in jeopardy of turning into a pretty standard action and revelation style plot, but it swung back around to deliver some genuine surprise at the end. Overall, even though some elements are familiar it ends up being an entertaining story with enough meat on the bone to give your brain something to chew on....more
Amos Burton is the resident bad ass among the crew of the Rocinante who often argues that whatever problem they have at the moment could be solved by Amos Burton is the resident bad ass among the crew of the Rocinante who often argues that whatever problem they have at the moment could be solved by a judicious use of gunfire and/or tossing someone out the nearest airlock into space. But Amos isn’t a thug, or rather, he’s not just a thug. He’s repeatedly been shown as a loyal friend and soft-hearted protector of the defenseless who would rather die then fail to keep a promise. It's all of these elements of his personality that make him among my favorite characters in the series.
This novella dives into the personal history of Amos that has been teased in the series. Here, we learn that young Amos (Who wasn’t called Amos back then.) grew up on the mean streets of a future Baltimore that’s even worse than David Simon could have imagined. After a childhood spent in sexual slavery, young Amos is trying to move up as an enforcer for a local gangster, but even a murderous band of criminals is a bit put off by the casual way in which Amos can determine that the best way to deal with a troublesome guy is shooting him in the head. When a crackdown by the security forces gets some gang members locked up, a purge of anyone with the potential to rat out the head of the mob commences and young Amos finds himself in a bad position.
Overall, this was a pretty good story that does provide some insight into Amos’ background that explains a lot about his personality and behavior. I also appreciate that the writers who jointly make up the James S.A. Corey name seem to be able to produce some extras like this without getting derailed from the more important task of regularly cranking out Expanse novels.
However, while it’s an interesting story, I’m not sure that its most important aspects couldn’t have been folded into one of the books rather than selling it as it’s own thing. I’m not complaining that it’s a rip-off. It’s bonus material, and it’s produced and sold as such including a reasonable price for the content you get. It just doesn’t feel like it added so much that it rates a whole extra about Amos. Still, like the other writing in the series it’s fast paced and entertaining, and it does add some depth to a popular character so it’s probably worth a look by dedicated fans....more
A bunch of people live in an underground community and those who break the rules are cruelly expelled to their doom? Reality TV producers have to be kA bunch of people live in an underground community and those who break the rules are cruelly expelled to their doom? Reality TV producers have to be kicking themselves for not coming up with this idea themselves.
At an undetermined time in the future, the people of the Silo have lived for generations with only a few dusty camera views to show them the world above ground. After the sheriff steps down from his post in rather dramatic fashion, the mayor and a deputy determine that a mechanic named Juliette is the best candidate to replace him, but her appointment results in a series of events that threaten to expose long kept secrets and tear the Silo apart.
Hugh Howey is one of the biggest success stories in self-publishing, and I understand why after the early chapters do an exceptional job of introducing us to this world. The stairwell is a vertical highway connecting the complex, and journeying from top to bottom is no easy task. Having two characters make the trek in the early part of the book was a great way of giving us a tour of the Silo that established not only how it works logistically, but how it functions as a society. Juliette started out as a very strong character against this vivid background, and Howe sets her up perfectly as the hero to carry the story.
Unfortunately, he seemed to have some problems with what to do after that, and I was slightly let down at where the plot went from there. I can’t say much about that without giving the book away though. (view spoiler)[
I was disappointed that Juliette wasn’t given more to do in the sheriff’s role and as a character overall. In fact, while Bernard made for a great villain with his infuriating arrogance, he was so ahead of Juliette at every turn that it made her disappointingly passive. While she takes plenty of actions during the course of the story, none of them really accomplish anything.
Juliette doesn’t uncover the conspiracy; her friend in IT finds the data that clues her into what’s going on although she does figure out the bit about the suits being deliberately made badly. Before she can really do anything as sheriff she’s almost instantly demoted and sent out to clean and only survives that because her friends swapped the faulty parts of the suit. That kicks off the whole rebellion, but Juliette has no part of it. At the other Silo she spends most of her time trying to get a pump working and almost dies doing so, but again, that doesn’t resolve anything in this story. Finally, in the end, she again almost dies because she accidently tries to save the life of the villain of the story, and we learn that Bernard wasn’t bested because of anything she did, rather it was all done by other people.
Part of this is disconnection is because of the structure of the plot. Sending Juliette out of the Silo automatically cuts her out of the action that takes place for the rest of the story. Her dangers mainly come from her environment, not because of anything connected to the plot although an argument could be made that Howey was trying to put in some kind of theme about her overcoming the elements since she almost dies by earth and air (Surviving the toxins and asphyxiation after being sent out to clean.), water and then fire.
One of her Big Damn Hero moments is supposed to be her rushing up the stairs of the second Silo when she’s completely exhausted because she’s desperate to get back into radio contact with her friends, but what exactly was that going to accomplish even if she had gotten back in touch of them? Essentially the character's major achievement is that she suffers and endures so that she can continue to suffer and endure.
So I found it very disappointing that we had a good character that I wanted to root for as the lead in the story, but she felt removed from the action with little actual impact on the plot. It’s kind of sad that Howey built up such a great sci-fi setting and then pushed the best character away from it to have her explore something similar but decayed and mostly empty.
I was also wishing that the story would have been more than a vast conspiracy storyline. The idea that all the silos were part of some centuries old evil master plan was OK, but I think it would have been far more interesting if the situation in the Silo was the result of internal conflicts that had built up over the decades. Juliette and Bernard at war with each other in the Silo is a story I’m more interested in than just another plot about unspeakable secrets kept from a society. (hide spoiler)]
Overall, Howey created a well written sci-fi tale with an intriguing setting that I was very interested in, but unfortunately, I found the plot and actions taken by the characters far less compelling. I don’t regret reading this, but I probably won’t be checking out the follow-up books to it. ...more
One of the stories in this collection features experimental drugs that can enhance someone’s verbal ability to describe an event. I feel like I could One of the stories in this collection features experimental drugs that can enhance someone’s verbal ability to describe an event. I feel like I could use a few doses of that stuff to help me review this book because I’m struggling to articulate what I found so good about it.
At a basic level, there are ten short stories that reminded me somewhat of Kurt Vonnegut because Saunders uses sci-fi concepts and humor in several of them to depict various aspects of human nature, but this has some nastier edges than you’d usually find in Vonnegut’s more melancholy tone.
I enjoyed almost all of them, but there are three stand outs. Escape From Spiderhead features a genuinely disturbing account of a prisoner being used an experimental subject for various drugs that can be used to make someone fall instantly into love or hit a suicidal depth of despair within moments. Victory Lap is about a young man whose behavior has been so dictated by his parents that he finds himself almost paralyzed as he witnesses a neighbor girl being abducted. Exhortation is written as a message from a corporate middle manager urging his people to do a better job that takes a sinister turn.
There are similar characters and ideas brought up in a several of the stories like a dystopian future with a corporate layer of bullshit laid on top of it. Both Spiderhead and My Chivalric Fiasco have drugs that can modify behavior to extreme lengths. Prominent characters are poor and stupid like Al Roosten and the narrator of The Semplica Girl Diaries.
The only one I didn’t care for was the very short Sticks about a man whose yard decorations get increasingly bizarre. That one seemed more gimmick than story. ...more
Katniss just wanted to survive the Hunger Games and protect her family from the evil President Snow, but she inadvertently inspired all of the distric Katniss just wanted to survive the Hunger Games and protect her family from the evil President Snow, but she inadvertently inspired all of the districts to rebel against the Capital. Now District 13 has rescued Katniss and wants her to become the ultimate symbol of the rebellion as the Mockingjay. However, Snow still has someone close to her held captive, and Katniss fears that any move she makes to aid the uprising will hurt someone she cares about.
I alternated between really liking this and being generally irritated. Most of my frustration came from Katniss herself. In the first book while she was often unsure or filled with self-doubt, she never let it overwhelm her, and it was that toughness that enabled her to survive. In this book, Katniss’s default reaction seems to be either acting like a sulky teenager when asked to perform as the Mockingjay or to have complete emotional meltdowns that require her to be sedated.
It’s particularly glaring because at the start of the trilogy Katniss had nothing but contempt for the way her mother gave into depression after the death of her father which left her to find a way to feed them and her sister. Yet in this book, Katniss avoids dealing with issues by hiding in a closet and going to sleep. I could understand why she’d be a bit of a mess at the beginning of the book, and when it looked like she was finally stepping into the role as the face of the rebellion; it made me want to cheer. But it seemed like just minutes later she was unable to cope with anything going on around her again.
Plus, with the first person narration of a confused and terrified young woman, we never got a view of the bigger war and what Katniss meant to it. So I couldn’t understand why everyone continues to insist that she’s such a valuable propaganda tool when she had just one really good on-camera moment after a battle. There could even be an interesting concept there with her not living up to the image she portrayed, but nothing is done with it.
There was still a lot I liked about this. The way that Katniss is still being used to some extent by the rebellion and still has to perform for the cameras was a nice touch that kept that reality show absurdity and falseness that ran through all the books. I was especially impressed at just how dark Collins was willing to make this.
Maybe the problem is just that I’m not the target audience. As a forty-two year old male sci-fi fan, I was interested in reading about the evolution of a scared but tough young woman into the face of a rebellion against a fascist government while shooting some bad people with arrows. I would have liked more of that and less of the love triangle. But close study of my teenage niece leads me to believe that they kind of like that mushy stuff. ...more
Don’t you hate it when you accidentally start a political uprising?
Katniss survived the Hunger Games, but she’s inadvertently become a symbol of defiaDon’t you hate it when you accidentally start a political uprising?
Katniss survived the Hunger Games, but she’s inadvertently become a symbol of defiance that is inspiring some in the twelve Districts to begin pushing back against the despotic Capital. After President Snow threatens her family and friends, Katniss tries to put out the fire she stated, but her efforts only seem to encourage more dissent. Snow’s revenge is to pull her back into another round in the arena to shut her up once and for all.
I was impressed with the first half of the book which did not try copy the first book’s pattern, but instead put Katniss into a new situation of reluctantly trying to carry out Snow‘s commands to help quash the burgeoning political discontent. There was a lot that could have been done with Katniss in that role, and the book seemed poised to follow through with that story. Unfortunately, Collins chickened out and decided that the readers wouldn’t be happy unless Katniss was back in the arena.
So while the new death match is a bigger and badder version of what we saw in The Hunger Games, it ends up seeming familiar and a letdown kind of like The Hangover Part II. (“It’s the same story as before, but this time it’s in Thailand!!”)
I was far more interested in the idea of Katniss evolving from terrified political pawn into the revolutionary that she seems destined to be than I was in seeing her once again fight for her life. Hopefully, that’s what I’ll get in the third book....more
I am a complete sucker for any kind of Days of Future Past style stories because if there’s one thing I love more than reading about an elaborate fictI am a complete sucker for any kind of Days of Future Past style stories because if there’s one thing I love more than reading about an elaborate fictional construct like the Marvel universe it’s reading about the destruction of all the heroes that populate it. Go figure….
So even though reviews by friends like Brandon and Stephen put this into three star territory I was revved up to try it. Surprise, surprise. Three stars from me, too.
The main idea in this is pretty bad ass. The major Marvel super-villains realized they outnumbered the heroes and united in one master surprise strike that killed almost anyone who could oppose them. With the good guys out of the way the bad guys carved up most of America into territories and began making the world completely shitty.
Decades later in the remains of California one of the few surviving former heroes Logan (a/k/a Mr. Don’t Call Me Wolverine Anymore) scratches out a meager existence on a farm with a wife and a couple of kids, but he’s late on the rent to the descendants of the Hulk. Bruce Banner took California away from The Abomination, but one gets the sense that he’s firmly in the evil camp these days with his offspring acting like a bunch of redneck bullies.
This isn’t the old Logan that readers have known because this older, battered man refuses to fight and hasn’t popped his claws since the night the heroes died. An old and blind Hawkeye shows up and asks Logan to drive him across the country to make a mysterious delivery. As the two men cross an America where the descendants of both heroes and villains fight for power, we eventually find out the story of what happened to the major players in the Marvel universe as well as why Logan went from bad ass Wolverine to pacifist farmer.
I absolutely loved the core concept of this book, and would dearly love to see a story about the last minutes of the super-heroes and the aftermath. I especially enjoyed that this is not a time travel story where the current version of Wolverine gets a glimpse of this dark future. That’s how these are usually done, but knowing this isn’t some future that can be prevented but rather a story of what did happen (In at least one potential timeline.) makes it a lot more powerful.
My problem with this is that it focused only on Wolverine, probably the most overexposed character in the Marvel stable outside of Spider-Man. Yeah, I know it’s a Wolverine story, but the idea is so big and has so much potential that it seems like kind of waste to turn it into just another Logan story that you can see the ending come from a mile away. (view spoiler)[Anyone have any real doubt that Logan wouldn’t be popping his claws and dealing some damage by the end of this? So despite the elaborate set-up, this became just another story of Wolverine overcoming his tragic past just in time to go berserk and carve up a bunch of people like sushi. (hide spoiler)]
And I had another problem with the revelation of what happened to Logan that caused him to swear off gutting people.(view spoiler)[ We learn that during the attack on the super-heroes Mysterio tricked Wolverine into killing all of his fellow X-Men by making him think they were bad guys.
Really? Freakin’ Mysterio? The B-list villain that Spider-Man routinely beats manages to trick one of the cagiest heroes in the Marvel ‘verse into killing all of his closest friends. Oh, and the entire line-up of the X-Men can’t stop Wolverine? They have when he’s gone nutso before. It’s a powerful reveal, but it’s kind of hard to believe. Maybe if they would have had multiple illusion masters or telepaths combine forces I could have believed it, but there’s no way that I’m buying that Mysterio (a/k/a Captain Fishbowl) engineered the destruction of the X-Men all by himself. (hide spoiler)]
Like most of these types of stories, there’s some powerful moments by showing us the ‘deaths’ of heroes and a trophy case filled with their costumes and weapons, but I’ve seen that before. (The Hulk story Future Imperfect is one example.) So even it’s best parts aren’t all that original. Fun but flawed is my final impression of it....more
When it comes to The Hunger Games, I feel like I’m walking into the ballroom in my tuxedo with a bottle of champagne in each hand only to find no one When it comes to The Hunger Games, I feel like I’m walking into the ballroom in my tuxedo with a bottle of champagne in each hand only to find no one there except for a lone janitor sweeping up confetti along with a couple of people passed out under tables and there's only a bottle of crème de menthe left at the bar. In other words, I’m late to the party.
Since I’m so tardy, I don’t think there’s anything I can add, particularly since YA isn’t my usual thing. So I’ll just give it four stars and note a few things that stuck out for me:
* I particularly liked the way that Collins portrayed the reality television aspect to the games. The idea that the smart contestants have to play a role in order to get public support even as they’re fighting for their lives was a good way to work some subtle points about the nature of watching people who know they’re being observed.
* Collins also did a nice job of depicting the ‘hunger’ aspect of this. The descriptions of the food deprived District 12, Katniss’s constant struggle to literally put bread on the table, and then her fascination with the rich food of the Capital kept you aware of how food was always on her mind. It also had me constantly raiding the fridge.
* This reminded me a lot of Stephen King’s The Long Walk (Written under his Richard Bachman alias originally.) in a good way. That story also featured young people competing in a brutal public contest that was orchestrated by the government for the amusement of the masses. This gave me the urge to reread it.
* I’ve got a teenage niece who went through an unfortunate Twilight phase, but she came through unscathed and is a big fan of this series. I’m tremendously glad about that because I obviously prefer her using the tough and independent Katniss as a role model rather than Bella Swan. I’d rather see her running through the woods hunting humans with a bow-n-arrow rather than pining over pale losers....more
I originally gave this book 3 stars as harmless lightweight fun, but my opinion of it declined as time went by. Then after reading Armada I fully realI originally gave this book 3 stars as harmless lightweight fun, but my opinion of it declined as time went by. Then after reading Armada I fully realized what a talentless one-trick hack that Cline really is so I changed this rating. Plus, his outraged hardcore fans kept coming on here and telling me that I missed the point since I didn't give it 5 stars so I might as well give them something to really be mad about. If you're one of those Cline fans who wants to whine about it in the comments I will just delete it and block you.
Adventures in Time Mowing
After my laptop fused to my lawn mower due to a freak lightning strike, I discovered that I could use it to travel through time.
“Wow, where’d you come from?”
“I’m from 2011. Got a time mower and decided to come to the future. I’ll spare you the full origin story. My name’s Kemper.”
“I’m Wade Watts. Welcome to 2044.”
“Thanks. I gotta say, things are looking kind of grim around here. Are those mobile homes stacked up like hillbilly skyscrapers?”
“Yeah, I live in one of them. We’ve had a lot of problems once the cheap fossil fuels started running out. Life kinda sucks ass these days. Fortunately, we’ve got the OASIS.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s this virtual reality that’s kind of a combination of the Internet and the biggest MMORPG ever made. Here put this on, and I’ll show you.”
“Hey, this is pretty sweet, Wade. But what’s with all this old stuff here in your virtual room. It looks like the ‘80s vomited in here.”
“Oh, it’s part of my research for the contest. See the guy who invented the OASIS was this old nerd named James Halliday. He left an Easter egg hidden somewhere in the OASIS and whoever finds it wins the prize. He was totally obsessed with the ‘80s and nerdly stuff like computers, sci-fi, cartoons, movies, comics and video games. He left three keys to three gates hidden in here, and the clues have to be stuff that he loved. So a lot of people like me have to know all about the '80s to hunt for the egg."
“How long has this been going on?”
“For years now. Nobody has found the first key yet.”
“And you what? Watch movies from the ‘80s? Listen to the music? Read his favorite books? Play old video games?”
“It‘s even bigger than that. Because of the contest, the entire world is obsessed with the ‘80s. The clothes and hairstyles are considered cool again.”
“Really? Well, I gotta get the hell out of here then. Thanks for showing me this, Wade. How do I log out?”
“You’re leaving already? Don’t you want to…Oh, my god! You said you were from 2011? And you’re in your 40s, right?”
“Well, just barely…”
“So you actually lived through the ‘80s?”
“Afraid so. High school class of 1988.”
“That’s awesome! You gotta tell me all about it, Kemper.”
“Kid, why would you want to hear about that? You’re sitting here with enough computer power to download everything from the collected works of Shakespeare to the entire run of The Wire and you want to hear about the ’80s? Just for a contest?”
“I love the ’80s. It was the coolest time ever!”
“Uh, not really. In fact, I think the ’90s beat the shit out of them. That not worrying about the Cold War thing was a relief and the music was a lot better. Plus we got to wear flannel. That was fun.”
“But… you got to play the old video games in the actual arcades, and you saw the first generation of home computers come out. Plus, music videos and John Hughes movies and Rubik’s Cubes and Michael Jackson’s Thriller album and….”
“Yeah, Wade. I lived through it all. I remember when MTV played music videos and when Eddie Murphy was funny. But you’re making me sad, kid.”
“Why?”
“Lemme tell you a story, Wade. About ten years after I got out of high school, an old buddy I had stayed in touch with had a birthday bash and invited a bunch of us that used to run around together. So we’re at his house drinking and playing cards just like the old days and catching up and playing ‘Remember when?”. It was a lot of fun, but we’d been listening to hair metal and classic rock all night, and at one point, I was flipping through the CD’s.”
“Actual CD’s! Not downloads?”
“Hell, I’m so old even my post-high school stories are dated now. Yes, Wade, real CD’s. Anyhow, I found a new Foo Fighters album, and I put it in. And this one guy made a face and asked me why I had taken the Guns-n-Roses out. And I said something like the nostalgia had been fun but I needed something from that decade. Being completely serious he said that he didn’t know how I could listen to that stuff, and that he still listened to the same exact music we did in high school. He had just replaced his old cassettes with CD’s. The guy had completely managed to miss grunge and was perfectly happy with the same play list in 1998 that he’d been listening to in 1988. And that was one of the saddest things I ever heard, Wade.”
“But maybe he just really liked that stuff.”
“I liked it too, once upon a time. And I can still belt out a pretty good version of Relax when Frankie Goes to Hollywood comes on the radio, but it was a certain time and place. Now it’s done. I find it depressing that someone of Gen X would want to be stuck there and never moved on to anything new. But it got worse after that, Wade. Because we got older and then the media started catering to us by going for nostalgia trips on everything from trying to remake the Knight Rider TV show to shitty movies like The Transformers and G.I. Joe to the goddamn Smurfs. I’m tired of it in 2011, Wade. I don’t want a new Indiana Jones movie, I want the NEXT Indiana Jones. But no one is working on that because all of us got obsessed with regurgitating our childhoods over and over.”
“That is kind of sad, Kemper.”
“What’s even sadder is seeing it happen to a generation that didn’t even live through it. When I was a teenager, I got sick to death of baby boomer nostalgia and there’d be these kids my age who tried to be like damn dirty hippies by wearing tie-dye shirts and going to listen to Grateful Dead tribute bands. They were nostalgic for an era that wasn’t even theirs, and I always thought it was a waste. Don’t be like that, Wade. You seem like a nice kid. Don’t sit here watching Family Ties reruns and playing Space Invaders and making jokes about Ewoks. That was then. This is now. It’s your time and you should be out there trying to find the stuff that will become part of your own memories of growing up, not rehashing ours.”
“Gee, Kemper. That’s a really good point. You’ve opened my eyes. Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome, Wade. By the way, what the hell was this prize that was so good that it got the entire world doing the safety dance again?”
“Oh, the winner gets the controlling interest in Halliday’s company and his personal fortune which is about $240 billion dollars.”
“Did you say $240 billion? Dollars?”
“Yes, so how about we log off. Maybe I’ll take a walk and see if I can find this girl I like. I’ve been…”
“Screw that. Fire this rig up, Wade. Put on some Def Leppard and find me a pair of acid washed jeans and some high top Reeboks. Let’s start looking for clues. For $240 billion I’ll live through the ‘80s again.”
I didn’t actually hate this book. It did a lot of very clever stuff regarding an entire virtual universe. And for a member of Gen X, it was a fast and fun romp down memory lane. It was kind of like Snow Crash meets the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World movie.
But I’ve got a personal pet peeve against people trying to live in the past and since this book is nostalgia porn*, the basic premise did rub me the wrong way. The idea that the kids of the 2040s are just watching episodes of ‘80s TV shows and playing Donkey Kong really kind of depressed me.
*I stole that phrase from Flannery’s review. Sorry, Flannery! It was just too good.
I might have been able to get past it a little easier if at least one of the kids said something like, “Jesus, I hate this ‘80s bullshit. I can’t wait until his freakin’ contest is over so I can live in the here and now.” But instead all of them treat it like it’s the greatest entertainment ever. So even though a few post ’80s things like Firefly or the Lord of the Rings movies get mentioned, we’re supposed to believe that nerd pop culture reached a zenith in the ’80s and nothing worth geek obsession happened between 1990 and 2040? Sorry, but that seems kind of unlikely and the kind of wishful thinking that an aging Gen Xer would write as he pines for his glory days....more
Warning! The following review contains humor. If you read it and actually think that I'm being critical of Huxley, try reading it again. (Here's a hinWarning! The following review contains humor. If you read it and actually think that I'm being critical of Huxley, try reading it again. (Here's a hint. Look for the irony of the italicized parts when compared to the previous statements.) If you post a comment that asserts that I'm wrong/ stupid/ crazy for this and/or try to lecture me on all the points you think I missed then I'm going to assume that you read it literally, missed the joke, didn't read the other comments where I've already answered this about a dozen times, and I will delete your post.
I have to apologize for this review. The concept of this book was so outlandish that I think it made my mind wander, and you may find some odd random thoughts scattered in it.
Anyhow, this book was so silly and unrealistic. Like any of this could happen. In the far future the babies are genetically engineered and designed for certain stations in life with a large workforce bred to be happy with menial jobs that don’t stress them physically or mentally. I really should look into getting that data entry position I saw in the job postings. It’d be a lot less stressful than what I‘m doing now.
In addition to all the genetic modifications, the children are raised by the state, and words like ’father’ and ’mother’ are considered obscenities. Subliminal messaging through infancy and childhood also condition people to repeat idiotic platitudes as if they are genuine wisdom. I’ve been in a bad mood today. I need to turn that frown upside down. And since the world economy depends on constant consumption by the highest classes, they’re encouraged to be wasteful The collars on a couple of my shirts are a little frayed. I should go buy some new ones and throw the old ones out. and to engage in activities that demand spending and resource use. Should I get a new set of golf clubs? I lost my old ones when we moved, but I hadn’t played in a long time. But would I play more if I got new clubs? There‘s that really nice looking course right down the street. I don‘t know how they keep the grass that green in this heat. The population even gets to zip around in their own private helicopters rather than cars. Man, when are they going to come out with jet packs for everyone. It’s 2011 and I’m still driving around in a car like a chump. I want my jet pack!
Casual sex is actively encouraged. Wow. These condom commercials on TV have gotten really racy. The population is also programmed to be constantly partaking of some form of entertainment and to never just sit quietly and think I’m bored. Writing is boring. or to be alone Let’s check Facebook and see what all my friends are doing.
One of the sillier ideas is that the foundation of this society is Henry Ford’s assembly lines and that Ford has become the most revered figure in history. Like a businessman could ever become that popular. Is Steve Jobs making any announcements this week? I get itchy when there‘s no new Apple products.
While everyone seeks to be constantly entertained, all of the entertainment panders to the lowest common denominator. Hey, Jersey Shore is on! and the emphasis is on presenting it with gimmicks to engage the audience like ’the feelies’, movies that the audience can also smell and feel the sensation from. I wonder if they’ll re-release Avatar at the movies so I can see it in 3D again like James Cameron intended? At one point, a character complains about the feelies, “But they’re told by an idiot….works of art out of practically nothing but pure sensation.” I should go see that new Michael Bay Transformers movie.
Perhaps the most far fetched idea in this is that the population has been trained to sedate themselves with a drug called soma that relives any potential anxieties and keeps people from thinking about anything upsetting. I want a beer.
I guess this Huxley guy might have gotten lucky and predicted a few things, but he was way off base about where society was going. ...more
We have taken your family hostage. If you want to see them alive again, immediately write a dystopian novel that incorporates the folDear Dan Simmons,
We have taken your family hostage. If you want to see them alive again, immediately write a dystopian novel that incorporates the following ideas:
1) The election of Obama in 2008 triggers a wave of socialist entitlement programs that bankrupts the United States. Be sure to repeatedly point out that the debt run up by the liberals is the key factor in this. Do NOT mention that Bill Clinton‘s administration paid off a huge national debt that had increased dramatically during the Reagan and Bush Sr. years or that a surplus once again became massive debt during George W. Bush‘s two terms.
2) 75% of the US population does NOT pay taxes, but is entitled to expanded benefits like retiring at 50 with full Social Security benefits. Do NOT point out that it’s usually the Democrats who are accused of wanting more taxes or that current conventional wisdom regarding Social Security is that the retirement age will be raised, not lowered.
2) Muslim extremists now rule most of the world because Obama and the liberals appeased them at every turn. Do NOT mention the so-called Arab Spring or how Obama ordered a SEAL team to appease Osama bin Ladin.
3) The US has lost several states to secession and the southwest has been captured by militarized Mexican gangs.
4) Global warming was proven to be a myth. That’s it. Just say that.
5) The US wasted the last of its money researching worthless green technologies. All the cars are now electric pieces of shit with extremely limited range. Make sure that at some point the hero pins all his hopes of escape on obtaining a V8 muscle car and that his idea is inspired by Mad Max and The Road Warrior. Do NOT point out that a huge expansion of power by countries promoting radical Islam would probably have to be financed by oil production.
6) Right wing radio commenters have been banned and broadcast as pirate radio stations while the state sponsored NPR is the official news channel. Do NOT mention Fox News at any point.
7) The liberals stripped the US military of its nuclear arms and funding. However, the military is now farmed out as a mercenary army to raise cash. If the army was gutted, why would anyone hire it as a mercenary force? Do NOT raise that question.
8) Be sure that there is a character who is an aging academic who is realizing that his type of well-meaning but fuzzy headed liberal thinking was the reason the world has gone to hell.
9) Japan now effectively controls the US.
10) Texas is an independent republic that is the last bastion of real American ideals like keeping most of what you earn to pay for your own health care. Wait. Didn’t we say that we wanted you to have most of the old US paying no taxes and that was part of the downfall? Oh, well. Write it up like that anyhow. No one will notice.
You may incorporate whatever sci-fi elements you feel necessary to entice your usual readers. We suggest a drug that most of the country is addicted to that allows users to relive their favorite memories over and over. Also, mystery stories are popular so incorporate some kind of plot with a detective. Perhaps a former cop who is now addicted to this drug after the death of his wife? We leave those details up to you so that you can get your fans to read this political manifesto.
Once this book is published, we will release your family unharmed.
Oh, did I read this book at the exact wrong time of my life.
It's about a thirty-nine year old guy who is quickly losing what small traces of cool he eOh, did I read this book at the exact wrong time of my life.
It's about a thirty-nine year old guy who is quickly losing what small traces of cool he ever had to middle-age as he is relentlessly mocked by a youth culture that finds him old, disgusting and out of touch.
I’m forty, very nearly forty-one. I don‘t like Twitter. I don’t know who half the celebrities referenced in the news are any more. (What the hell is a Snooki??) I got a painful case of bursitis seconds after turning forty that lasted most of the year. And at Christmas, my twelve year old niece was teaching me how to play Farkle. (With real dice and a pen & paper. Like in olden times!) While she was effortlessly playing, talking to me, holding two other conversations, keeping score and texting every fifteen seconds, I could barely add up my own rolls and had to refocus every time someone said something to me. An hour of that, and I felt like I should just wander outside and lay down in the snow to die so I wouldn’t take up precious resources that she’ll need.
So I had to grit my teeth a lot while reading.
It’s set in the near future where the current internetization of our personal lives has been turned up to 11. Everyone uses a device called an apparat (the ultimate smart phone) to broadcast all their personal info, and everyone is constantly rating everyone else on everything from personality to sex appeal. There's no concept of personal privacy when your credit rating and your sexual history (which most people film) is available to everyone. In a society where image is everything, aging or being unattractive are considered sins.
Unfortunately, for Lenny Abramov, he’s thirty-nine, ugly, depressive and so terrified of death that he’s been saving constantly for expensive anti-aging treatments from the company he works for. Just before returning from an extended work trip in Italy, he meets the much younger and very pretty Eunice Park, a Korean-American with a lot of issues with her parents.
Lenny falls hard for Eunice and talks her into coming to see him in New York. Despite Lenny being a dork who still reads smelly old paper books and Eunice being a trendy shopaholic with low self-esteem, the two find a connection and begin a relationship. But around them the American economy based on spending is circling the drain and political tensions are running high as the entire country seems on the verge of collapse even as everyone still tries to look good and keep their personal ratings up.
I really liked this premise of a technologically based youth culture run amok as the entire house of cards is about to collapse, and I found the romance between Lenny and Eunice to be (as advertised) a super sad true love story.
But in addition to reminding me constantly of how old and out of touch I am, Shteyngart, pulls a good trick here that makes me feel like an asshole just for typing this. Because how do you rate a book on the internet when that book mocks a culture that feels the need to obsessively rate everything via digital devices?
To hell with it. Three stars. It should probably be a four star read, but I’m deducting a star for screwing with my head and bumming me out....more
The good news is that Charlie Huston has finally started using quotation marks instead of the annoying and cI have good news, and I have better news.
The good news is that Charlie Huston has finally started using quotation marks instead of the annoying and confusing dashes before dialogue. Granted, he still isn’t using ‘he said’ or ‘she asked’, but progress is progress.
The better news is that Huston has written a masterpiece.
It’s been fascinating to read along as pure talent has evolved to extreme skill from the Hank Thompson and Joe Pitt stories to the point where Huston started delivering these stand-alone novels that have shown him growing as a writer with every book. What he started in The Shotgun Rule and followed up with in The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, he has perfected for Sleepless. Reading a Charlie Huston book used to be like a grenade going off in your face. Sleepless is like getting carved up by a scalpel.
Set in an alternate version of 2010, an epidemic of insomnia leads victims to prolonged and ugly deaths. The SLP disease has pushed an already unsteady world to the very brink of collapse. Governments and services are in the midst of a slow motion disintegration, and the only thing that still works reliably is the Internet as people still demand on-line gaming and other distractions. In Los Angeles, open gang warfare is common and religious cults are beginning to clash with what’s left of the military and the police in what is almost sure to be the opening rounds of a global meltdown.
An idealistic LAPD officer named Parker Haas naively thinks that the tide can be turned if people will just start doing the right thing. Unfortunately, his wife Rose is already suffering from the sleepless disease, and things aren’t looking good for his infant daughter either. Park hides from his personal issues by dedicating all his time to his undercover assignment, tracking down any black market dealing of a drug called DR33M3R which is the only thing that offers some relief against the insomnia. But Park crosses paths with a deadly mercenary hired to recover a stolen object, and things get ugly in a hurry.
This book reminded me of the better cyber-punk books like Snow Crash, but Huston has built something unique here. The version of a world collapsing was brutally cynical but filled with moments of grace from desperate people. Huston flips from a third person narrative covering Park’s story to Park’s heartbreaking first person journal entries to another first person narrative from the mercenary’s point of view. This creates an eerie disconcerting vibe that makes you feel like it’s all a confusing dream for the first few chapters, but it’s a nightmare that feels all too possible....more
I kind of blame Stephen King for reality television.
That’s not fair because he certainly wasn't the first person to do stories about murderous games dI kind of blame Stephen King for reality television.
That’s not fair because he certainly wasn't the first person to do stories about murderous games done as entertainment, and it’s not like he produced Survivor or Big Brother. However, two of the books he did under the Richard Bachman pen name before being outed are about death contests done to distract the masses in dystopian societies. So whenever I see an ad for those kinds of shows I can’t help but think that the people who make that trash read those books but saw them as great TV concepts rather than horrifying visions of the future.
The scenario here is that 100 teenage boys volunteer to be part of an annual event called The Long Walk. The rules are simple. You start walking and keep up a speed of 4 miles per hour. If you fall below that pace you get a few warnings. If you don’t get back up to speed immediately, you get shot. Easier than checkers, right? Here’s the real rub: You absolutely cannot stop. All 100 boys walk until 99 of them are killed. Last one still teetering around on whatever is left of their feet then wins the ultimate prize.
On the surface you could say that this concept that could seem silly or absurd. Why would anyone volunteer for this? Answering that question turns out to be one of the best parts of the book as King moves the walkers through stages while things get progressively worse for them on the road. What King tapped into here is that realization that deep down we all think we’re special, that things will always work out for us, and this is especially true when we’re teens with no real ideas about consequences and our own mortality.
While the story focuses on one character it really becomes about all of the walkers, and we get to know them through their conversations and how they deal with the death that is literally nipping at their heels. Eventually the grim reality of their situation sets in, and we also view how the boys react to realizing the true horror they signed up for. We also learn a bit about the world they live in, and it’s an interesting minor aspect established in a few stray bits that this is essentially some kind of alternate history where World War II played out somewhat differently.
I’d read this several times back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but hadn’t picked it up in the 21st century so it felt like there’s a dated element to the way that Long Walk functions. The boys essentially just show up in whatever clothes they have and they start walking with little fanfare. It almost seems like a contest at a county fair instead of something that captures the nation’s attention. There’s some explanation given about how they don’t want crowds or TV cameras around as distractions at the start until the walkers get settled into the routine.
However, that doesn’t seem to fit with the idea that the event is being orchestrated as a distraction and weird kind of motivational tool. If the story were told now there would be a lot more about the media coverage, and the whole thing would probably have a corporate sponsor. Plus, the walkers would have matching shoes and uniforms designed to look cool and keep them walking longer. They’d also probably have a more sophisticated method than soldiers with rifles and stopwatches dispatching the lollygaggers, too. This doesn’t hurt the story at all, though. Instead it gives the whole thing a kind of dated charm like watching a movie from the ‘70s where everyone is smoking and people have to wait by the phone.
One more note about Stephen King: The man really needs to have a spoiler warning branded on his forehead. I had to stop following him on Twitter after he spoiled major events on both Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. My friend Trudi had part of The Killer Inside Me ruined for her by King's introduction in which he described several key twists. I was listening to an audible version of this that had an intro from him talking about why he did the whole Richard Bachman thing. In it, he casually gives away the end of The Running Man novel. Fortunately for me I'd already read that one, but Uncle Stevie clearly just doesn't get the concept and why it pisses people off.
Overall, The Long Walk held up to my memories of it as one of the better King books as well as having a chilling idea at the heart of it. Sure, some might say that the idea of contest that dehumanizes people for entertainment to make things easier for a fascist ruler is far-fetched. On the other hand, this TV show will be premiering a few days after a certain orange pile of human shaped garbage takes power.
This is the story of a small town hell raiser named Buster ’Rant’ Casey who did some slightly unusual things when he was growing up like collecting buThis is the story of a small town hell raiser named Buster ’Rant’ Casey who did some slightly unusual things when he was growing up like collecting bucketfuls of his classmate’s teeth. Young Rant also angers more animals than Steve Irwin so that they’ll bite him and infect him with rabies which he deliberately spreads to his class mates. After he grows up and moves to the city, Rant joins a disenfranchised part of society forced by law to stay in their homes during the day and who get their kicks by crashing cars into each other. After his spectacular fiery death, the government labels him a bio-terrorist who unleashed a deadly outbreak of rabies while others claim that Rant may have had a larger destiny than anyone can imagine.
And that’s not even the weirdest or most twisted part of the story…
This is my second favorite Chuck Palahniuk novel after Fight Club. Rant’s story is told as an oral history by a variety of friends and enemies. The mishmash of weird anecdotes about a guy who seems to be completely fucked in the head eventually coalesce into a wild narrative that almost makes an audible click as the story starts locking together.
Like all of Chuck P.’s books, it’s disturbing and gory and gross and funny and definitely not for the faint of heart or easily offended. As soon as I finished it the first time a few years ago, I knew I’d come back to it again because this is one of those story where knowing the ending gives you a whole different spin on things your second time through. ...more
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