Adam Roberts's Blog, page 23
September 21, 2011
Term
That time of year again: a new academic term, which will (of course) soak up the lion's share of my time and energy until Christmas. I'll try not to go wholly silent here (or over here, either; here will keep on plodding its daily plod, regardless), but posting may de-frequentify.
Still: news is -- I've now written a first draft of this title, with some changes (the Captain is now called 'Cloche' instead of 'Mason', for instance). The plan -- if I can persuade him, and he has the time -- is for the most excellent Mahendra Singh to illustrate it, in his initmiable, wonderful way: check out his Carroltastic Snark blog for some examples of what he does. I'm toying with the notion of translating it into French and seeing if les gens Bragelonne would be interested in it. Otherwise, I'm adding a couple more goodies to what will be the e-edition of Jack Glass, my 2012 Gollancz title.
September 12, 2011
By Light Alone on the Radio 2 Book Club (with Simon Mayo)
I'm thrilled that By Light Alone has been chosen for the Radio 2 Book Club, as hosted by the excellent Simon Mayo. I'll be appearing on the drivetime show next Monday (that's the 19th September, at 1800) to talk about the novel; and answering questions online afterwards. More details, and a free chapter, here.
Anticopernican
Still available for e-download, at the ridiculously inflated price of £0.86p (or 99c), my dwarf novel Anticopernicus has been reviewed in a few places. For starters, Rich Puchalsky has turned his acute critical intelligence upon it [the review contains spoilers]:
The whole point of SF being a literature of ideas is not that it's supposed to be ideas about geosynchronous satellites that people later actually invent. Well, some fans think that it is, but I don't. It's supposed to be about ideas that de-center you, make you rethink where you are in ways that more realistic literature can't, because reality as we know it doesn't furnish what we need to see our position of privilege. Hard SF is supposed to do that with scientific ideas, ideas that have force because, as far as we know, they're really true. That is what is essential to hard SF, not scientific plausibility in all of the story's supports. So, does Anti-Copernicus work as hard SF? I think it does.
Rich knows both astrophysics and environmental science, so I value his judgment on this even more than I usually would. And Liviu Siciu (aka 'Fantasy Book Critic') has the following to say:
Anticopernicus (A+) is very good stuff and worth all the money and more, since it offers in those 40 pages what others offer in 300, while it has a great resolution in true sfnal spirit. Despite being self published, the editing was top notch too, with only one typo that jumped at me. Highly recommended as a blend of literary fiction, space sf and musings on humanity and our place in the Universe. Since the style is so Adam Roberts, I think Anticopernicus serves as a very good introduction to the work of the author, so I also suggest to give it a try if you want to see why I rate Adam Roberts in my top 10 list of contemporary sf writers.
There are some more reactions to the piece on Goodreads.
One more thing: soon after the book's e-publication I got an email from Ange Mlinko (after whom the protagonist is named); she subsequently blogged her reaction on the LRB blog. Interesting stuff.
September 8, 2011
Lemistry: A Celebration of Stanisław Lem
When: Fri 9 Sep 2011, 18.30 – 20.00
Where: Conference Centre, British Library
Price: £7.50 / £5 concessions
"A truly great European writer, Stanisław Lem (1921-2006) transcends both Polish literature and his chosen genre, science fiction. Best known for his twice-filmed novel Solaris, he was a virtuoso storyteller who packed his writing with philosophy, comedy, and allegory. This evening's rich celebration features contributions by writers John Gray, Toby Litt, Wojciech Orliński and Adam Roberts, eminent translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones and film makers Ari Folman (currently filming Lem's The Futurological Congress as follow up to Waltz with Bashir) and The Brothers Quay. Chaired by journalist and critic Rosie Goldsmith."
By Light Reviewed
I've been neglecting this website: apologies. I'll make things a little busier here, starting off with some reviews of By Light Alone. Here's Stuart Kelly, at the Scotsman:
TWO years ago, Kim Stanley Robinson declared that Adam Roberts ought to have won that year's Man Booker Prize. Roberts, like writers as diverse as China Mieville, Will Self, Ken MacLeod and David Wingrove, exists in that weird hinterland between literary and genre fiction. By Light Alone is both more interesting in terms of its ideas and more memorable in terms of the actual, sentence-by-sentence writing on the page than much of what passes as serious fiction. I once, in a rather exasperated moment, said that I yearned for a literature without dinner parties. By Light Alone, with nauseous and visceral brilliance, manages to be a great contemporary novel that includes even them. ... Roberts is asking important questions about the nature of need, the metaphysics of hunger and how revolutions come about, both technologically and politically. Maybe it's time for a new prize: not for "literary fiction" or "good reads" but for novels that actually challenge.
To have pleased a critic as intelligent and perceptive as Kelly is very gratifying indeed. Here's the equally intelligent Guy Haley at SFX:
Is it possible for a writer to follow the precepts of Moore's Law, doubling their capacity for excellence with every book? Probably not, but Adam Roberts is giving it a spirited try ... Roberts cunningly pricks out the ridiculous shape of our society with wickedly sharp satire. Inequality and self-obsession are his targets, and yet he manages to hit them while keeping his characters entirely human and sympathetic. No-one does SF parables quite like Roberts, and as usual it's all spun from the most amazing prose. Taken in isolation, his sentences here tend to the overly candied, but the effect of them en masse is hypnotically poetic. It's brilliantly effective, and affecting. Roberts's SF novels are all worthy of praise, but there's a certain majesty to By Light Alone – better rush out now and buy it, before the mainstream literary establishment sweeps Roberts under its wing and tells us he's not aloud to play out with the nerds anymore. It's hard for us sometimes to credit some of the claims made by PR, but when Gollancz calls Roberts one of the most important writers of his generation, it's something of an understatement: this man puts art at the heart of our genre.
Here's the estimable David Barnett, in the Independent on Sunday:
If By Light Alone were written by David Mitchell or Margaret Atwood, for example, it would doubtless be said to "transcend its science fiction" roots, as all literary fiction which borrows SF trappings must. But By Light Alone is unashamedly SF, and would that half the supposed "literary" novels on the shelves today were as well written, thoughtful and intelligent as this.
Finally here's Gwyneth Jones, in the Guardian. A rather negative review, I think (it's a little hard to say) -- though it's an honour to be reviewed by a writer of her stature:
Every element in the story of Leah's disappearence and return will be equally, annoyingly shorn of context, all details blurred and dim – swamped in the mush of Marie's utter indifference, and George's helpless failure to connect. Clearly, one of the targets of Roberts's satire is a fat-headed culture of ignorance. Likewise, there's a righteous purpose, as well as some malicious glee, in the obesity motif. The titanic blimps who stomp through these serious pages, in a pastiche of gross-out reality TV – Very Fat People Having Sex; Very Fat People Sicking Up Their Dinners – are there to teach us a lesson. By making visible the invisible blubber that swaddles our own beautiful people – the sickening cushion of wealth that smothers empathy – Roberts strips the super-rich of glamour and lampoons everyperson's complicity in the toxic religion of greed. If some readers are offended or sceptical of his motives, that's a risk he seems happy to take. At the Ararat resort there is an attraction called the Ice-Cream Mountain, a Brobdingnagian treat obliquely recalling the mountainous diamond in F Scott Fitzgerald's story, "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz". Fitzgerald's influence is cited in the publicity for By Light Alone, and invoked by the novel's handsome cover; and justly so. But Roberts's updating of romantic jazz age pessimism is ironic. The wondrous gem has become an infantile heap of goo. The rich just aren't different enough, these days. Extreme wealth isn't a tragic, interesting disease, it's a planet-wrecking blight. It's not pretty, and it's not romantic.
July 29, 2011
Lightalone
Author copies arrived today. Looks even more beautiful when held in the hand than it does online. You can pre-order a copy, or wait until the 18th August when it hits the shops.
Another thing occurs to me: I'm proud of this one.
July 21, 2011
Anticopernicus
A tentative dipping of one of my toes into the world of e-publishing, this: a Dwarf Novel called Anticopernicus: four chapters (about 15,000 words) never before published, and not to be made available in any other way, yours for the low-low price of eighty-six pence, or equivalent prices in cents, American or European. And yes, that is the proper terminology: it's the same across the world -- in French (roman nain), German (Zwergroman), Russian (карликовая роман), Arabic (كوكب قزم), Chinese (矮行星) and so on.
The book is a brief but I hope readable and thought-provoking Alien First Contact/space flight yarn, and it also happens to contain the answers to the following two questions, which have been tormenting modern science -- (a) what, precisely, is dark energy? and (b) what is the solution to the celebrated Fermi Paradox? I think I'm right in saying that the answers to both questions proposed in Anticopernicus are new and original; and I hope they have some dramatic effectiveness, although I can't claim they're necessarily right. But you never know. If you have a Kindle, or have downloaded the (free) Kindle app to your smartphone or iPad, then I ask you politely to go to amazon and spend 0.89p on this short tale. I'll be very grateful if you do.
At any rate, this is my first endeavour in the world of auto-ePublishing. I don't expect to the book to sell enormously or make me much money; but if it does reasonably well (and 'reasonably' means: anything that isn't catastrophically badly) I may publish another dwarf novel via the same route at some point in the future. (Remember: 30% of that 86p goes straight into my pocket! Alternatively you could just give me 28p when you see me next).
One final note: the splendid cover art you can see there was done by the very talented Bruce Asher. If you're looking for cover- or poster-art for any reason, I recommend him: he works quickly, to a high standard, and his rates are very reasonable.
July 5, 2011
Nifffty
From Wednesday 6th July through to Friday 8th I shall be a guest of NIFFF: that is to say, the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival. Check out their website (you'll find me hiding, with others, behind the 'New Worlds of Fantasy' link on the left-hand sidebar). If you happen to be in beautiful Neuchâtel, come up and say hello. It'd be nice to see you.
Niffty
From Wednesday 6th July through to Friday 8th I shall be a guest of NIFF: that is to say, the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival. Check out their website (you'll find me hiding, with others, behind the 'New Worlds of Fantasy' link on the left-hand sidebar). If you happen to be in beautiful Neuchâtel, come up and say hello. It'd be nice to see you.
June 21, 2011
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