Archive Page 2

Upcoming Books & Reviews

Published February 14, 2013 Geek Stuff Closed

Last year was a decent one for books, but this year is already shaping up to be a pretty good one. So far, I’ve attacked the ever growing book pile with a bit more organization than I have in the past, and as a result, I’ve got a hefty stack of books that I’m planning on reading over the next couple of months, for reviewing and for pleasure. Here’s what I’ve got coming up:

The Office of Mercy, Ariel Djanikian – This review’s been turned in, and it’ll be up at some point. Think Hunger Games with a bit more of a philosophical twist. The book’s an interesting read, one with quite a bit to think about, and an intriguing plot and world.

The Burn Zone, James K. Decker – James and I had the fortune to be on a podcast together, and he graciously offered to send me a copy – I’m very sad that I overlooked it when I wrote up my February book list for Geek Exchange. I’m reading it now, and it’s pretty awesome so far.

The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, edited by John Joseph Adams – This is a new JJA themed anthology, and there’s a solid reputation behind it for really high quality stories there. I’m a couple of stories in already, and it’s a really funny, excellent read a couple of stories in.

Debris Dreams, David Colby – This is a book published by VT Speculative Fiction publisher Candlemark and Gleam, and it looks like a fun read, one that I’m planning on reviewing for Geek Mountain State. It came out last fall, and it’s slowly crept up my to-read list.

Bowl of Heaven, Gregory Benford & Larry Niven – I’ve seen this book get some pretty terrible reviews, which is unfortunate, because it looks like it’s got all the markings of a really epic read, from two major Space Opera authors. I’ve been looking forward to reading this one since it came out.

You, Austin Grossman – Grossman’s long overdue for a second novel (his first was Soon I Will Be Invincible, which I need to re-read), and this one is just as good, if not better. This one follows the video game industry, and it’s got a nicely complicated, multilayered plot that spans decades, platforms and space & time.

NOS4A2, Joe Hill – A friend of mine snagged me an advance copy of this book, and I’m eagerly waiting to read it. Hill’s prior novel, Horns, is one of my absolute favorites, although I’ve yet to get to Heart Shaped Box. This one sounds wonderfully demented.

Love Minus Eighty, Will McIntosh – It’s going to be a couple of months before I get to this book, because it’s officially out in June from Orbit Books. I’ve been a huge fan of McIntosh’s last two books: Soft Apocalypse is one of the best books to have been released in the last decade, and Hitchers wasn’t bad either.

Abbadon’s Gate, James S.A. Corey – I don’t have a copy of this in hand, but it’s easily the most anticipated novel that I’ve got on my forecast so far this year. Leviathan’s Wake and Caliban’s War were two awesome reads, and I can’t wait to see how they finish out this 1st trilogy.

Others to Read:

There’s a couple of other books that I’m taking my time with and enjoying on my own pace:

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn – This has been the hot item of 2012, and I picked it up at Christmas thanks to a couple of gift cards. It’s a really dark, interesting read so far (I’m probably 1/3 of the way through). I can see why there’s a lot of hype for it.

Northwest Smith, C.L. Moore – I recently joined Singularity & Co, a small company dedicated to saving old science fiction novels and re-releasing them as eBooks. It’s a fantastic idea, and a great company to get behind, with a neat store down in Brooklyn. I wrote about C.L. Moore recently, and really found her stories entertaining.

Lay Saints, Adam Connell – I’m going to eat my words on self-published fiction with Lay Saints, a book that Connell couldn’t find a publisher for. A couple of people who’s opinion I hold in good regard recommended the book, and I’ve been picking away at it.

The Girl Who Would Be King, Kelly Thompson – I’ll go back for a second helping, because Thompson’s book is another self-published effort that I came across last fall, and it looked like it had an intriguing plot and characters.

Among Others, Jo Walton – This book won the Hugo last year, and I can see why: it’s got a lot of references to a lot of books from SF’s history. I got this when I became a supporting member of ChiCon last year, and I’ve been reading away at it ever since, a chapter or two at a time. It’s a fantastic read.

The Universal Mirror, Gwen Perkins – Gwen was a classmate of mine at Norwich, and this book has languished on my shelf for too long. Sometime this year!

Undoubtedly, there’s a couple of other books that I’ve got that I’d like to read that I’m forgetting, as well as some that I’ll pick up that are unexpected. The pile grows ever greater, and one of the big goals that I’ve got is to get through some of the classics, especially those that come as I research more and more of SF/F’s history. There’s a lot of good material there, and with the exception of those short times after I finish a book, I’m never wanting for something to read, which is nice.

The Many Names of Catherine Lucille Moore

Published February 7, 2013 Geek Stuff , History & Politics , Kirkus Blog Closed


Women are vastly underrepresented in science fiction circles, especially back in the pulp days. While many point to Mary Shelley, her role is a real influence, but still removed from the modern science fiction market. As we move further up in time, the pulp era saw the first professional female authors who would continually shake up the genre. Catherine Lucille Moore was one of the earlier authors to have been writing, with her first stories published in the early 1930s.

Researching C.L. Moore was an a frustrating, but rewarding endeavor. Up until now, I’ve put together a fairly good go-to list of books for background information on my subjects, which generally requires some additional research by combing through author or book specific texts. In this instance, C.L. Moore is largely ignored by most SF History scholars. When mentioned, it’s often in the context of being married to her husband, Henry Kuttner, who’s generally considered a lesser author. There is no formal biography, and the information that I found for this piece was spread out among a number of sources – a bit of information here, a bit there, and so forth.

More research was – and is – needed. Contacting Indiana University’s archives, I found the existence of three previously unknown stories, and other online searches found a considerable amount of anecdotal information on Moore and her works.

Read up on The Many Names of Catherine Lucille Moore over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here’s the sources that I used:

The Bulletin, Fall 2012, SFWA: This feature in the SFWA bulletin has some good background information on Moore’s career, in a discussion between Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg, two admirers of Moore’s.

Moore, C L, SF Encyclopedia: This entry on Moore has a good look at her publication history and a good discussion about her work with her husband, Henry Kuttner (His entry provided some good background information on him).

Doomsday Morning, C.L. Moore: While writing this piece, I happened upon a used copy of this book, which provided a nice author biography, which brought out a couple of neat details: that she liked writing with a view.

Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz: Moskowitz’s history is one that I continue to take with a grain of salt, due to anecdotal evidence that he never disclosed his sources, and a lot seems to be based on second-hand stories. Nonetheless, he devotes an entire chapter to Moore and her life, providing some biographical notes in context with her work.

Catherine Lucille Moore & Henry Kuttner: A Marriage of Souls and Talent: A Working bibliography: When I got this from interlibrary loan, I thought that this volume would have more of a biographical component, but all that it contains is a fairly comprehensive listing of Moore and Kuttner’s works. It did, however, yield some good information about the publication dates of some stories, as well as a listing for her Gandalf Award, which I didn’t know about (none of the other sources that I came across had this information).

Indiana University: I’m particularly indebted to Assistant Archivist Carrie Schwier and intern Cynthia Lynn, at Indiana University’s archives, who was able to help me locate some early stories that Moore published, as well as some other archival information.

Many thanks are owed to Mike Resnick, who provided some great memories of Moore, and some good background information on her life.

Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Moons of Mars

Published January 24, 2013 Geek Stuff , History & Politics , Kirkus Blog Closed


For my last Kirkus Column, I talked about E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith and his stories that kickstarted Space Opera. This week, we’re going back a little further and looking at pulp author Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the characters for which he’s known: John Carter and Tarzan.

I had a passing familiarity with Tarzan as a kid, but I wasn’t really introduced to John Carter until last year, when the movie was released. I thought it was decent, a bit long, and a bit directionless, but that seems to be the case with Burroughs and his stories. But, it’s not the only story to be found from Burroughs that’s been adapted, and while researching, I got to do delve into some of his books a bit more, and found them to be perfectly entertaining, even if I found him to be a bit of a racist git.

Go read Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Moons of Mars over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here’s the sources that were used:

Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss: Aldiss spends a considerable amount of time (an entire chapter), talking about Burroughs’ stories and his influence after the fact. It’s an interesting and critical look at ERB’s writings and legacy.
A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs: Junot Diaz introduces this volume, and like all other Library of America editions, this one comes with a very good biography at the end, as well as a detailed timeline of the John Carter stories. It’s a little complicated, because the timeline ONLY covers the John Carter stories, which requires a little puzzle-work when coming up with a fuller chronology.
Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs: Thomas Mallon introduces this one, and like the John Carter edition, this comes with a biography and chronology that was extremely helpful.
Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan: Irwin Porges: This tome is much like Burroughs himself: it’s overly long and winded, but it’s a near-exhaustive biography of Burroughs and his life, recounting extreme details into the man’s life. It’s not entirely critical, but it’s probably one of the best resrouces out there.
A People’s Guide to Los Angeles, Laura Pulido; Laura Barraclough; Wendy Cheng: I try and avoid Wikipedia for hard facts, and I only use it to get a thumbnail sketch of a person during my initial stages. However, it does have its uses, and the entry on Tarzana linked me to this book when I started seeing things about ERB and his fairly racist views towards anyone not white. None of the other sources seemed to contain this information, which I thought was strage, but important.
The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts: Roberts’ history is a trusty stand-by, and provided a good overview of ERB’s work.

The Kassa Gambit

Published January 16, 2013 Reviews 23 Comments
Tags: ,

The Kassa Gambit

As the new year rolls around, I’ve been keeping my eyes out for the new crop of books that are set to be released. Already, there’s a handful that have caught my eye, including M.C. Planck’s debut novel The Kassa Gambit. Set in deep space, with inter-colony intrigue, a smuggling ship and a neat cover, it has all the hallmarks of a book that looks to be a fun read, and for the first two-thirds, it really is. The final third, however, demonstrates just how quickly a book can go from a fun and entertaining affair to one that fills me with the desire to throw the book across the room. It’s a shame, because this book looks as through it might have been good, rather than blatantly offensive.

Set in deep space following the ecological collapse of Earth, humanity has taken to the stars by way of nodes, transportation points that allow ships to travel the vast distances of space, and settle on a variety of colonial worlds. The crew of a smuggling ship, led by Prudence Falling, come across Kassa on a routine run, only to find that the planet’s population has been utterly devastated by an unknown attacker. Close behind her is Kyle Daspar, a political officer and double agent infiltrating the League, a political movement intent on dominating the planet Altair Prime. The two characters fall into one another’s company, and uncover something that is poised to upend the order that’s been established in space.

The overarching political elements to this story, the characters and overall universe start out great, and I was reminded a number of times of a favored novel, The Icarus Hunt, by Timothy Zahn more than once. Planck has set up a neat universe, with some good logic behind the people and mechanics of how things run. As the characters move forward, we see that not all is what it seems, and that their groundbreaking discovery has very different implications than they previously thought: it’s part of a political movement that’s designed to allow the League to gain an incredible amount of political power. Here, it’s a neat take on what’s generally a blunt instrument in science fiction, and there’s a nice blend of space opera and political commentary here.

However, around the 60% mark, the book loses steam – a lot of it. The characters break down considerably, and the political conflict that felt very nuanced, devolves into a bunch of caricatured villains and half-hearted action that moves along only by momentum. The characters just… drift and bicker to no end. Worse, however, is how Planck completely upends the two characters, absolutely ruining everything that came before it. In the final act, Prudence is threatened by a violent rape that leaves her utterly traumatized  The scene is so poorly thought out and out of place that it feels as though it doesn’t belong.

I don’t want to diminish the real horrors of sexual assault, and the presence of the actions aren’t what bothered me: it was that the scenes felt as though they were simply dropped in as a tool from a menu: threaten main female character with violation, and have the male character that she’s previously hated/disliked/attracted to inconsistently throughout the book sweep in to save the day and protect her dignity. The scene is so utterly by the numbers – a smelly, disgusting enemy guard advancing on the stripped naked (Yep) characters, before letting his guard down and being taken down.

There has been a lot of talk about this sort of thing in the geek lit community, from Seanan McGuire and Jim C. Hines in the literature realm to quite a bit in the video game industry. McGuire had a point recently that bothered me: a reader asked her when a main character of hers would be raped. Not if – when. The action seems to have become a tool through which a female protagonist can be almost casually brutalized and I was very bothered to see it present in this book. McGuire had this to say about it: Because it is a foregone conclusion, you see, that all women must be raped, especially when they have the gall to run around being protagonists all the damn time.  This sort of thing troubles me greatly, and while I don’t know what the author’s intentions are with the scene, whether or not it’s simply an escalation, but the male characters in the book are never threatened with similar trauma.

Beyond that, the action becomes a point where Falling moves from being a strong, confident character in charge of a space ship, to someone who realizes that all she really needs in life is a strong man to protect her from the bad things in the world, which runs completely contrary to everything that ran up before that. It was enough to make me slam the book shut when I finished, never to open it again. I don’t know what the intentions of the scene were, or if there was some noble intention behind it, but whatever the reason, it sent the book off the rails to such a degree that there is no return. It’s a shame, because the book had quite a bit of promise.

So, The Kassa Gambit turns from a rather fun read to one that’s downright offensive to read by the time you reach the end, and ultimately, while it contains a number of interesting kernels, they’re never followed up on or capitalized in any major way. It’s a shame, because the book was a promising one.

Mrs. Allen

Published January 14, 2013 Uncategorized 3 Comments

Image

There are always those people who influence you early in your life. Sometimes they’re teachers, civic leaders or friends. In my case, it was a librarian named Sylvia Allen, who had been the Librarian for Harwood Union High School’s Harry Brusa Library for a quarter century. I arrived at the combined middle and high school in 1998 at the age of 13, and I was a quiet, geeky and completely unprepared student. Just a year before, I’d been introduced to the Star Wars films in theaters, and was an obsessive reader of Hardy Boys mysteries and Star Wars novelizations.

My experience as a geek in school wasn’t really all that bad. I didn’t really understand how to interact with a lot of people, and had some issues there, but there was none of the beatings, not much of the bullying, and I was never stuffed into a locker like television would have you believe. But, I was scared for part of the time, simply because I never quite fit in. I sought refuge in the school’s library, where Mrs. Allen quickly became a friend. Her library was well organized, and stocked with an impressive range of science fiction / fantasy novels, nonfiction tomes and magazines that I worked my way through. She encouraged me to explore beyond my reading comfort level, and because of her recommendations, I picked up novels such as Dune, Foundation, and many, many others that spring boarded my interest in science fiction, fantasy and writing.

At some point in High School, I simply stopped going to study hall, stopping by the room was a mere formality on my way to the library. I found the internet there, where I set up my first website and found discussion forums and other like-minded people on the internet. (Hello, TFN’s Jedi Council Forums) and quite a bit more. Midway through, she (along with Mrs. Lehner, the assistant librarian) took me on as a library intern, where I learned how to use the library’s software to check in and out books, how to cover, repair and tag a book for circulation, She also served as a vital go-between for be between a fairly new website, Amazon.com and my weekly allowance. For years, she helped me keep up to date with the onslaught of Star Wars novels that came out, and cheerfully kept up with my repeated question: “Is it in yet?”. She provided me with much guidance during that time when it was most crucial.

At the beginning of my high school career, Mrs. Allen vanished for half a year. I later learned that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer, which was closely followed by a remission. She recovered, and was back in her office full time within a year. Looking back, it’s an amazingly short amount of time. I don’t remember any change in her attitude towards the students or her role in the library. In 2003, I graduated. She had sponsored me for a scholarship, which helped with books for college, and she came to the graduation party that my parents threw that day, where she fit right in with the rest of my family.

We sort of lost touch over next couple of years – I would exchange an e-mail or two, and dropped by the library early on while I was in college to say hello. In 2005, she finally retired after 25 years of service to the school, and set about writing a book, something that she always wanted to do. She worked on researching the Vermont Transit Company’s history in 2008, and in 2011, she finally published it. It’s a short, well written history on a small piece of Vermont history: The People Will Be Served: A History of the Vermont Transit Bus Company. By that point, she had reached Facebook, and we talked every now and then.

At some point, the news came that cancer had returned – this time, an aggressive form of lung cancer. She told me that there wasn’t anything to be done: just repeated chemo treatments to hold it back. It was sad news, but she was upbeat about it, and her enthusiasm never flagged. Last year, on a whim, I sent her a note that I’d be trooping at the Brownell Library in Essex Junction, not far from where she lived, asking if she’d be interested in coming out. She came out, and I was a bit shocked at how much her illness had impacted her. She smiled, and made a joke about how I wouldn’t be able to recognize her. She was a bit slower, shakier on her feet, but we talked for a little while. I introduced Megan, and she apologized for not making it out for our wedding. She had sent us a nice clock, which graces out living room. We talked about books, and she noted that chemo had ‘fried her brain’, making it difficult to remember what she read. I felt bad, but she told me that it wasn’t a bad problem to have: she was able to re-read a number of books as though it were the first time.

She slipped out of the event early as more people came around: her condition left her immune system weaker, and she avoided large crowds. We stayed in touch afterwards with updates on how we were doing, and life went on.

In December, I received a Christmas card from her, and as I read it, my stomach dropped. She told me that her cancer treatment had come to and end, and that there were no further options. I realized at this moment that time was limited, and sent off a letter to her, hoping that I’d be able to see her in the new year.

Last Thursday, Mrs. Allen passed away, and I feel like I have a hole in my heart knowing that she isn’t out and about somewhere. Of all the non-family people in my life, her guidance was most important to me, and I know that it was the same for a lot of other people around me. I’m sad, because she was fantastic: humorous, strong, and someone who loved books. Most importantly, she taught me how to love books, and the stories that they hold, lessons that I’ll keep with me for a very long time. Cancer really sucks, but it was something that she took in stride and didn’t let it rule her life.

Today would have been her birthday, and I while I’m sad that I can’t wish it to her this year, I’m happy that I’ve been able to do so in the past. I miss her dearly.

The Amazing Stories of E.E. Doc Smith

Published January 10, 2013 Geek Stuff , History & Politics , Kirkus Blog 2 Comments

I got into science fiction through my love of Star Wars. The geeky primer had already been charged with earlier stories, but George Lucas’s films pushed my geeky little mind into overdrive.

Space Opera is said to have begun with a fellow known as E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith.  Last time we talked about science fiction, we left with Hugo Gernsback and his contributions to the genre, and between his work and the beginnings of John W. Campbell’s Golden Age, Smith’s a major figure to look at. He’s a fascinating character, and his contributions to the genre deserve quite a bit more notice.

In a lot of ways, Smith invented the intergalactic space opera, from which so many well known books, television shows and films owe their existence. Read up on The Amazing Stories of E.E. Doc Smith over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here’s the sources that I used:

Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction, Brian W. Aldiss: Aldiss’s reliable book has some excellent commentary on Smith’s place in fandom and the legacy of his novels, as well as some background information on the book’s creation. There’s nothing extensive: what we have here is a small nugget of information, but it’s a valuble piece of information.
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, John Clute: This has become a favorite source of mine – There’s a great entry on Smith’s works and their importance. Most importantly, it pointed me to some other sources, and provided some good dates.
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World, Thomas Disch: Small mention of Smith here, but there’s some background information.
Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, James Gunn: Gunn’s’ book has a great couple of pages on Smith’s life and works, providing some contextual information in addition to covers.
Seekers of Tomorrow, Sam Moskowitz: Probably one of the most valuable sources, Moskowitz’s text is one that needs to be taken with some salt: it’s not a hugely reliable source in most circles, and reportedly, Moskowitz didn’t divulge his sources. However, it provides a look at Smith’s early life, filling in the gap between his birth and the time he began to write.
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with his Century, Volume 1: Learning Curve: 1907-1948, William Patterson Jr.: Heinlein was a friend of Smith’s, and he popped up several times in its pages.
The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts: Roberts provides a good overview of Smith’s works, and their placement within the pulp era.
Survey of Science Fiction Literature, volumes 3 & 5, Frank Magill: These two volumes of literary criticism looks at the Lensman and Skylark stories that Smith authored in great detail, providing an excellent literary overview and some biographical information.

2012 Award Eligibility

Published December 28, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
Tags:

It’s the end of 2012, and it’s been a fun year when it comes to writing things. I’ve got a couple of projects that are eligible for the Hugo Awards this year:

Best Related Work:

Awarded to a work related to the field of science fiction, fantasy, or fandom, appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year or which has been substantially modified during the previous calendar year. The type of works eligible include, but are not limited to, collections of art, works of literary criticism, books about the making of a film or TV series, biographies and so on, provided that they do not qualify for another category.

A Brief History of Speculative Fiction: In 2012, I’ve looked at some of the founding figures of science fiction. 2013 is going to be a fun year: I’ve only scratched the surface. Here’s the posts that I’ve published:

Best Fan Writer:

This is another person category. Note that it does not just apply to writing done in fanzines. Work published in semiprozines, and even on mailing lists, blogs, BBSs, and similar electronic fora, can be including when judging people for this Award. Only work in professional publications should not be considered.

My work for Kirkus doesn’t apply for this one, but my various interviews, reviews and commentary written in 2012 for SF Signal and Lightspeed Magazine do qualify. I don’t know that my work here will reach the nomination stage, but I am rather happy with the work that I’ve done for the various websites out there. SF Signal is eligible again as Best Fanzine, which it won for it’s writing in 2011, as well as it’s podcast (which was nominated in 2011). Lightspeed Magazine is eligible for Best Semiprozine (nominated twice). It goes without saying that a large number of Lightspeed’s stories first published in 2012 are eligible, and editor John Joseph Adams is eligible for Best Editor, Short Form. I’d recommend all of the above for the awards in which they’re eligible.

“When ships to sail the void between the stars have been invented, there will also be men who come forward to sail those ships.” -Johannes Kepler

Blog Stats

  • 89,729 hits

Twitter

Archives

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 860 other followers

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 860 other followers