oboy

I actually enjoyed it more that the two stars implies! But there are some major factors that bring it way down.

Two? I'm shocked. I really, really liked Eifelheim - it's one of the books I inflict on people whebn I want to demonstrate just how much SF is capable of.

Just the historic part with the aliens = 4 stars.
Just the "Now" part = 2.5 stars.
Put them together = 1 star.
Me being generous = 2 stars.

Strangely, that is exactly my review of The Doomsday Book.

Luke wrote: "Just the historic part with the aliens = 4 stars.
Just the "Now" part = 2.5 stars.
Put them together = 1 star.
Me being generous = 2 stars."

Granted the historical part is a lot stronger than the now part, but I do think you're being incredibly harsh.

You guys might like Haldeman's Old Twentieth. I'm only 77 pages in, but it has some really heavy scenes in the past without any balancing silliness in the future.

Got mucho enjoyment from your comments about short fiction, Luke. It's one of those things you run into all the time - the overwhelming predilection for the "single concept" tale, usually sprung from one neat idea for a character, situational setting, or (God help us) a cute little turn of phrase. I've never put the right words around what it was that bothered me about short fiction though, so it's good to hear someone fluently voice the same concern. So here's a question or two I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on: with the convention being that a writer earns stripes in short fiction before progressing to longer work, is this training people to write gimmicks and one-offs, a habit they may carry into their 10-part fantasy masterworks? Did you focus on shorter stuff before writing novel length material? If not, would you go back to young Luke of yesteryear and bully him into writing some before tackling a novel?

Brian wrote: "Got mucho enjoyment from your comments about short fiction, Luke. It's one of those things you run into all the time - the overwhelming predilection for the "single concept" tale, usually sprung f..."

Hi Brian,

Not all short stories are like that, but from my reading, a very large proportion of science fiction short stories are.

Thankfully gimmicks and one-offs aren't so common in novel length fiction. It does happen sometimes, but rarely. That it happened in Eifelheim is unfortunate, because the twee-ness trivialized not just the "now" part but tonally it clashed with what was happening in the historical part of the novel... namely, everyone dying of the Black Death (spoiler! ... or not really).

I have written a few short stories, but not science fiction, that I remember. The form just doesn't interest me. When I come up with a story idea it never seems suitable for short story format. This might be because I'm much more a fan of novels.

So no. I think there are many great novelists out there who have never succeeded in writing good short fiction. And there are probably many short fiction writers who never write a good novel. They have some things in common, but not as much as most writing workshops and tutorials seem to show. Which is a pity, because I'd love to go to a writing workshop, but they all seem to focus almost exclusively on short stories.

Still reading it. Just took a break... twice. Thanks for reviewing Luke. I appreciated your comments. Especialy how much of the story is given away. The modern characters are annoying. But those chapters go quickly. I switched to the audiobook and that is decent. I was hping it would be different from Doomsday BOok as I could no finish it either. DId like an earlier book of his In the Country of the Blind.