Unfortunately it seems to have only been printed by a Canadian small press (Tesseract Books), I'll dig around and see if it's available online.
The plot is this: after a strange "dayout" in a small english village the entire female population of childbearing age finds itself pregnant. When the children are born it soon becomes obvious there's something strange about them. They are more, or less, than human.
The whole story is told from the point of view of a vilage resident who happened to be away during the crucial day. There's a bit of an awkward paragraph were Wyndham basically excuses himself for using this device, but otherwise Wyndham is in top for. The deceptively casual perspective of someone immersed in an extraordinary event which eventually becomes mundane by it's very closeness helps the story, as does the setting (much as the small-town setting for The Body Snatchers). The deliberate tone and approach of the characters to the situation is both mildly quaint and a bit British, but believably so.
Not just a classic, and a must read for any SF fan-but also a compelling story unto itself. And a refreshingly compact story harkening back to the days when authors were content to tell a tight, gripping story in less than 200 pages. (14/Jan/1999)
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Light-hearted time travel comedy of errors. Packaged as a mainstream novel so as not to scare away the 'danes but still quite firsmly entrenched in the lighter side of genre as depicted by the likes of Asprin or Adams. The slant of this story is a Victorian comedy of errors, the errors mainly brought about by a pair of time-travellers whose task it is to fix an earlier potential paradox.
Alot of fun, especially if you like the Victorian era at all. Touches of Wodehouse and tips of the hat to the great mystery writers of the 30's. Delightful and highly recommended.
(11/Dec/1998)
The Uplift War focuses on a different planet settled by earthling which becomes a hostage in the galaxy-wide war brought on by the ship in the first book. Aliens invade and the locals, mostly neo-chimpanzees resist. Alot of the ideas from the first book are expanded upon. We get to see more of the aliens and their view of us.
Well, there's no follo-through oreven mention of the plot started
in Startide Rising, plus the end resolution relies on the good old
all-purpose Deus Ex
of "fate" with a good dose of mysticism which we're apparently just
meant to shrug off as 'psi' activity. A very sloppy ending, the core of
which you see coming halfway through the book. In addition the
romance subplot of two girls for every guy is a little bizarre. All in
all it doesn't hold up nearly as well as it starts, which is a shame
because I've always like guerrila resistance style stories and at the
start this one was a dozie.
Doesn't give me
much hope for the next in the series.
According to the blurb on this book, _Sundiver_ is really the first book in the series... guess I'll have to go check it out now.
Slant by Greg Bear Also half-way through this one (I misplaced it). Was a little slow going in the first chapter or so but picked up fast and is going strong so fat. A mystery plot/subplot, an interesting futuristic setting where both the technology and the culture have changed and are examined convincingly enough (although there's a suprisingly Feminine Mystique feel about the wife of one of the characters) so far recommended.
It sounded so cool, how could I resist? Time/dimension travellers
kidnap Elvis to set him up as a cult figure in their universe?
Unfortunately the first _interminable_ part of the book is set in their
universe and we are subjected to the characters speaking in their
ever-so-clever futurespeak and since it's all the the first person (which
is not a plus) it's not just the dialogue but *everything*... which is all
very well if you're Anthony
Burgess but drove me to distraction.
When I find myself
skipping ahead to the next page to see if it's ever going to end ... well
it's not exactly a good sign. Maybe I'll try it again, or skip a chapter
or two to see if it gets better...I just hate doing that.
Also-don't be mistaken-despite the premise, so far at least this
is
not a comedy.
Well it's been awhile (again). I moved and spent the last few weeks with all my books in boxes (and that's alot of boxes). But here's a brief rundown of what I remember reading ;)
The sort of book that sums up and embodies the golden age. Adventure, future worlds and inventions, a brave young hero against impossible odds (and a little romance even) It sounds trite when you just spell it out-but it's not. It's sense of wonder embodied. A good plot, tight prose and plenty of action. No wasted pages, it sweeps you up and tells you a ripping yarn and deposits you a little more bright-eyed at the end.
If you haven't read it you probably should-aside from being fun and worthwile it's also a SF classic. (and remember, fans are slans ;)
George Orr is afraid to sleep because his dreams have the power to
change reality. Now there's a nifty 'what-if' to tickle any reader's
fancy. LeGuin takes it and runs with it,and bless her-doesn't chicken out.
Follow through can be a dangerous trick for a writer, if they go too far
and show too much the stories tend to become muddy and unsatisfying or
overlong and indulgent. But LeGuin pulls it off and keeps it under 200
pages, even. George Orr is the essence of normality, but she makes him
real. As she does his psychiatrist and his lawyer (how's that for the Holy
Modern Trinity) who are the other central players.
Reminiscent of Dick but clearer and more focused than anything I've
read of his yet. Very satisfying.
A good idea well thought out and implemented-what if the Time Machine from H.G. Well's book had taken another trip governed by the laws of time travel as we understand them today. Technically the science seems pretty thorough (I say seems since I am not a hard science type) and alot of the ideas are intriguing. Some of the casuality seems a little blurred (namely how the ironclad makes it back to it's own time-it's the only example I can recall of a trip into the past not affecting the subsequent trip back to the 'present' despite some pretty major goings on)
Other than that it's an interesting book that drags on a little
too long and maybe shows too much. The birth and death of civilisation,
humanity and the universe itself-ultimate evolution of the body and
mind-infinite awareness-eternal mind expansion-blah, blah, blah... not to
sound blase about it but after a while it gets boring. And Baxter
obviously knows this since our hero feels pretty much the same way we
do about it...but he still dwells on it too long, too often and too
closely
That said, when he lets himself just tell the story it's a winner
the ideas are fresh, the action is good and the science is hard. Just
skip the 'begats' and enjoy.
Of course Herbert is one of those authors that are haunted by their best work, and not entirely without reason. Although there is no real reason to compare this book to Dune, there's the memory that this is the author that wrote that great book and when this book doesn't measure up it's perhaps judged more harshly than it would be if it where by someone else, a newcomer or a less gifted writer. But it is a lesser book just the same, of course
That said-it's an interesting idea quite well done. The
plot centers around a man who loses his family to an IRA bomb and
decides to take his revenge on Ireland in particular and the world in
general. He succeeds beyond anyone wildest expectations. One problem I
had with it was that there was a little too much of the same in the second
half of the book. The other was the unrelenting pessimism of it...
I read and watch alot of post-apocaliptic and dystopian works and
alot of them are pretty bleak. But throughout Herbert seems to find
no reason to think humans have any redeeming qualities. War, hate,
prejudice, mob mentality, vengeance, selfishness, ignorance,
nationalism, superstition and good old simple bloodthirst rule
uncontested. And at no point does any character have a change of
heart or the inkling that maybe this is not the way (well one does-but
it's downplayed and not really allowed to give you hope plus it's well at
the end of the book)
I can understand going for realism-but I think given the globality of
the scenario and the range of characters he took it to an unrealistic
extreme. It also makes me wonder what might have been happening in his
life at the time...
(22/Jun/1998)
Been waay to busy (to update, not to read), plus offline for a
while... but here's the scoop, I may elaborate later or I may not:
Read and liked: Maureen Brinbaum: Barbarian
Swordsperson, Anno Dracula (!!!), Bloody Red Baron (!!), Odd John, Sirius,
Ayesha: The Return of She, Fourth Mansions
Read and thought it was ok:
A Spectre is Haunting Texas (seems like it was better when i was
reading it than when I was done)
Read and thought it was bad/didn't finish:
Can't think of anything just now... but probably cause I simply
erased them from memory :P
(9/Feb/1998)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
by Stephen King
Good King...not vintage King, but much better than some of the less than top-notch efforts which he's put forth lately.
Unfortunately it's not really the fourth story in the Dark Tower series, even if it is the fourth book he's penned in it. It's basically a prequel dealing with Roland's coming of age in Mejis. The story is good if a little drawn out, I can't help but feel it shold have either been condensed to allow for some real progress in the series (all we get is resolution of the last book and set up for the next) or simply cropped of the "contemporary" parts and marketed, maybe in a magazine, as a true prequel.
If you're a Dark Tower fan, by all means read it, it fleshes out Roland's character and motivations quite a bit. It also drops (of course) hints, clues and references galore. The yarn is good and it's nice to get a closer view of Roland's world. But can you skip it and still get the series? Certainly.
I just hope that this wasn't purely a procrastination King hasn't completely lost his way in this and simply doesn't know how to wrap this thing up. In the intro he says there are three more books to come in the series... we'll see. (17/Jan/1998)
I just started this today and am about a third of the way through, it's that engrossing. The plot involves a string of murders on a human colony which originally seem to be the work of a native species of sentient aliens. When an investiator is called in he discovers that the truth is alot worse - the crimes have been commited by children who have been influenced by their contact with the aliens.
That's just the premise, really. Soon the action leaves the colony and moves to the legal battle as thee lawyers and psychiatrists decide how to try this case, which is the first true test of the "Alien Influences Act" which determines wether a suspect is to be tried as human, human under alien influence, alien with human charachteristics or alien. To add to the whole mess, the perpetrators in this case are minors and the powers that be seem to have their own reasons to have the whole thing buried.
So far, so good - great, in fact. My only worry is that the plot
will thicken too much, if the subplots are kept to the number they're at
now I know this is going to be a good ride. If it gets a little more
tangled it could spoil what is so far a clear and fascinating story.
Also, for some reason the smell of things is mentioned very often,
(cinnamon, daffodils, roses, sweat) which is a little distracting, if it
were just POV of one of the charachters I'd take it that their sense of smell
is extra keen - but several of them do it.
Well, in this case it's the final two thirds that dissapoint. As I
feared it doesn't stay focused. There are a couple of jumps to later dates
which leave you with a sense of having lost touch with the characters,
they where interesting enough for you to want to follow them but twenty
years later with little or no background it's hard to make the connection
between them and the children. Then there's the fact that only one of them
gets any real fleshing out, another comes close but gets cut short.
Plot-wise what could have been an interesting legal or philosophical
debate on what is human and the differences between children and adults
(often alien to each other) becomes instead a been-there-done-that book
on the power of belief. If she had stuck to psychological changes in the
children and the rather awesome implications of that, the background of
the Salt Juice addiction and political maneuvering would have added to the
plot since you really do care about the children. But with the added
factors of physical changes, telepathy, illusions and (god help us) soul
theft, it loses it's impact and the end is an anticlimax. By the time you
get there you honestly don't care, the children for all intents and
purposes could have died before the trial.
Not recommended, especially since it could have been a very good book.
(7/Jan/1998)
Well I've been disloyal and read non-genre books nearly exclusively (well compared to my usual, anyway) over the holidays (the best being Dorothy Parker, What Fresh Hell Is This? a biography of Mrs. Parker by Marion Meade. If you are a fan of Parker, it's a must.
But I never stray too far, or for too long - so here's a li'l sumthin'
A sad occassion for printing this anthology. Amazing Stories died in 1995, after being bought (and some say mismanaged) by TSR. On average, the stories in this anthology are good, which is to say I skipped some entirely and some where better. Nothing took my breath away, and few even left a refreshig spearmint aftertaste.
Some, like "The Time of Her Life" by Nancy Springer, "The Persistence of Memory" by John Morrisey were good, but at the same time they felt a little too familiar. Which makes me suspect this is why they are in this book rather than in a back issue of Amazing. It's worth a read but I wouldn't buy it in hardcover, maybe not even as a new paperback, and all in all I would have rathered that they had published these in 1996 issues of Amazing, especially given that the last few issues I purchased of the magazine ('92 and '93) had little or nothing of even this caliber.
Another problem with this anthology is that the back blurb reads "...brings to print the last unpublished stories, in effect the last issue of Amazing [...] stories by Howard Waldrop, Nancy Springer, Gregory Benford, Ursula K. Le Guin, Don Webb, and Eleanor Arnason" Now this is true...to a point. The Benford, LeGuin and Waldrop stories are in fact all reprints, as is a "classic Dick story from a 1950's issue" and "Hardware Scenario G-49" by James Alan Gardner. And even those don't really shine, although LeGuin's "Unchosen Love" is pretty good, as is "The Gauze Banner", by Arnason.
(3/Dec/1997)
Just started this... first Dr. Who book I've picked up (with the
Kennedy angle I couldn't resist)... only a couple of chapters in..so far
it's peachy-keen.... more later.
Well, I finished it and it continued to be keen... a good book and a fun read
alot of little Whovian references (didn't catch them all). Caveat, though, this is
mainly a journalist-conspiracy story focusing on an outside view of UNIT... there's
actually little of the Doctor and practically no Kennedy although that's what the plot
revolves around. Read it if you
can find it. Not great literature, but definitely worth the ride
(5/July/1997)
Overcoming my distrust for the cyberpunk genre-feel and the
authors that dabble in it I just started this. Ok, so that's a bit of an
exageration, but I've been pretty unsatisfied with the --punk trend
and only enjoyed a very few of the works it's produced. Since one of the
ones I did enjoy was Snow Crash I figured I'd give
this one a whirl. So far it's interesting enough to continue ;), so I'll
report back when I reach the end.
(Well... it says something either about me or about the book that
I couldn't make it past the first chapter....if you like the subgenre go
for it. If not, this ain't the one to start on)
What were the best SF stories of 1960? No one is more likely to have the best and brightest than Judith Merril, editor extraordinaire. The Best of series have always been my favorites partly because they are just that and partly because the 9th Annual edition was one of the first SF books I read and along with the Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus which I no longer own.
(25/June/1997)
A nice Del Rey reprinting with the original W.W. Denslow illustrations. Still delightful after all these years. More clever than the movie, I think. Baum is sly about putting in some very awful puns which almost seem to be the whole point of the book. Now of course I have to go find all the rest of the books in the series.
So, I found it and I read it... and Murphy is an excellent writer. It was easily as satisfying
and well-written as Nadya or The City, Not Long After.
It was more subtle, dealing with a mother-daughter relationship, and concentrating on that.
(as opposed to NadyaThe City... both of which seemed
to include more charachters and outside situations.
The City, Not Long After still stands separate in my mind as a magical
book of the variety I keep in a special place in my heart (beside most of Richard Adams'
works (Shardik), all of Cordwainer Smith's, The Narnia Chronicles and single
books like City, The Last Unicron and A Canticle
for Lebowitz.
A collection of six stories by Pohl, all dealing with the future and all dystopian. Overpopulation, class wars, consumerism, etc. Enjoyable but not exceptional.
A resonable overview of Moore's short stories, including classics like "Shambleau" . I found them all enjoyable and some excellent. A couple of times I found the style a little dated (the repeating of an idea over and over again was overdone ocassionally), but that is not very surprising given their age. A couple of old favorites I recognised ("Fruit if Knowledge" and "No Woman Born"). Like all the books in that particular "Best of series" (check out their Cordwainer Smith one) it's worth it. (3/June/1997)
I've been too busy to find a new novel to get involved in, so I'm digging into this lovely hardcover chock-full of stories from Verne to LeGuin... short stories are my first love, but I've been avoiding reviewing anthologies (as opposed to single author collections) since I tend to read more than one at a time (picking and choosing ;) and always have a couple of half read anthologies lying around. Anyway... a few of the stories I've read before ("Nobody's Home" by Joanna Russ, "The Burning of the Brain" by Cordwainer Smith, "The Tissue Culture King" by Julian Huxley, R.U.R. by Carl Capek) but the rest are new to me. (27/May/1997)
Well... I lost The Return of She and finished Nadya and then BayCon '97 happened so I'm (briefly) between books.
Nadya was good... not great like The City, Not Long After , but worth reading, worth recommending and I don't regret buying it hardcover. I'll probably be looking for a copy of either The Return of She or Murphy's 1987 Nebula Award winner The Falling Woman. Check back in a couple of days.
(11/May/1997)
I'm still near the beginning, but it's great so far. In alot of ways it
reminds me of the Tarzan books... not just because of similarities in theme
and style (and era). But also because of the sense of adventure and
wonder which I felt very strongly when I read the Tarzan books (especially
the one with the miniature city... I don't remember the name).
It's also suprisingly modern in it's attitudes about the people and
customs. The narrator is a highly intelligent and educated man and
because of this there isn't some of the embarrasing eurocentric attitudes
you often find in old stories of this type. (or not as many, in any case)
(May 18) Done with She and am now eager to begin on The Return of She as soon as I find out where I left the damn book. In any case I heartily recommend the first and expect to enjoy the later.
If I don't find it I'll be starting Nadya: The Wolf Chronicles by Pat Murphy who, after reading The City, Not Long After inspires me with such confidence as an author that I bought Nadya in hardcover without any trepidation (or hardly any, $25 is alot for a book I haven't read on my budget).
This is the first Varley novel I've picked up, and so far it's holding up quite well. One of it's central elements is cloning, which has been in the news alot lately, of course. This wasn't the reason I started reading it though, that was the title. Varley is kind enough to tell you the correct pronunciation at the very beginning so you can spend the first few chapters saying "Ofiyuke", "Opheyukee", "Hopuchi??" and then turning back to the preface.
Nonsense aside, the story is quite solid with a good main character (and she is that rather than a cardboard cutout) and a periphery of interesting secondary players. The plot is a little diffuse at the point I'm at but seems to be tightening up. I only hope the payoff is as satisfying as the rest of the book.
Well, I finished it. A little dissapointed with the ending. Seems to be set up for a sequel or series. I'm not sure that there is a continuation, I'll have to take a look and see, if there is I'll definitely pick it up. Still... this one's a keeper, very good yarn and good concepts.