E.M. Epps's Blog, page 5

Review: "Embassytown" by China Mieville

Thumbs up for Embassytown by China Miéville. Science fiction.

This is one of the few science fiction novels I could find that focuses heavily on linguistics as the science to go with the fiction. It was my first China Miéville novel. Now, if I knew two things about Miéville going into this book, it was that A. He is a genius and B. His books are horribly flawed because [insert complaint here]. Both A and B are true. My God, this book is a work of genius! It is beautifully written, the plot is unique and engrossing, and there is enough exquisite strangeness and creativity here for four or five lesser books. I loved it; I didn't want to put it down. However—yes, it has its difficulties as well. First, the basic linguistic premise makes no sense if considered for a couple of seconds. To my own surprise, I was enjoying the book so much I was willing to let Miéville pull the wool over my eyes by fancy logicking. Second, the protagonist/narrator was undefined, so drastically so that I feel it must be deliberate. I can't picture her, nor predict what she would do or say or feel in any situation. She is a zero, serving only to tell the story. Thirdly, while the world and the alien Ariekei people are described with great specificity and detail, I still can't visualize them. How can you be both specific and abstract at the same time? I don't know. But Miéville is such a genius that even his flaws are impressive works of art. At a certain point, I have to call the weirdnesses of an author's style features rather than bugs, and either accept them or move on. I loved this book; it is possible that you will love it too, or hate it, or hate and love different bits. If you are interested in science fiction about languages, or very alien aliens, or just wild creativity, try it out and decide for yourself. You might just find it's worth it.

"Oh, bullshit," Wyatt said. I blinked. "This isn't one of those stories, Avice. One moment of cack-handedness, Captain Cook offends the bloody locals, one slip of the tongue or misuse of sacred cutlery, and bang, he's on the grill. Do you ever think how self—aggrandising that stuff is? Oh, all those stories pretend to be mea culpas about cultural insensitivity, oops, we said the wrong thing, but they're really all about how ridiculous natives overreact." He laughed and shook his head. "Avice, we must have made thousands of fuckups like that over the years. Think about it. Just like our visitors did when they first met our lot, on Terre. And for the most part we didn't lose our shit, did we? The Ariekei—and the Kedis, and the Shur'asi, and Cymar and what-have-you, pretty much all the exots I've ever dealt with—are perfectly capable of understanding when an insult's intended, and when it's a misunderstanding. Behind every Ku and Lono story, there's...pilfering and cannon-fire. Believe me," he added wryly. "It's my job." He made thieving-fingers motions. It was because he would say things like that that I liked him.

Review: "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud

Thumbs up for Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. Nonfiction/art.

A great overview of the art form. I'd been meaning to read this for a while, and it seemed a natural companion to Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, which I just finished. And now this has got me wanting to read all of the other graphic novels that have been on my to-read list for ages. You can expect a fair number of them in this space soon.

"Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture" by Rob Salkowitz

Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World’s Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us About the Future of Entertainment by Rob Salkowitz. Business.

Sort of business. Definitely business? Except maybe not; it's about comics, of course, their past, present, and several possible futures. Well, what the hell, I don't have to categorize it properly anyway since I know the author and can't review it. Lucky save!

Even the biggest film stars who come to San Diego now act as if they are casual comics fans, as steeped in esoteric trivia as the guy in the third row wearing the Ambush Bug costume. I recall the stately Helen Mirren appearing on a panel in 2010 sporting a T-shirt honoring the plainspoken comics memoirist Harvey Pekar, who had died several weeks previously (a very sophisticated choice on the part of her PR staff, I must say). The burden of having to seem geek-tolerant and totally not the kind of popular girl that dissed nerds in high school falls especially heavily on the shoulders of the hot young actresses cast in comics-oriented action movies. Luckily, it doesn’t take much work for them to win over most comics fans. If every star who professed fandom from the stage at Comic-Con actually bought comics, there wouldn’t be a sales problem. But, you know, they're actors. They can pull it off.

Review: "Bite Me! A Vampire Farce" by Dylan Meconis

Thumbs up for Bite Me! A Vampire Farce by Dylan Meconis. Fantasy/graphic novel.

The French Revolution with vampires. Hilarious ones. You can read the whole comic online, which I highly suggest you do if you want to giggle.

"Oh sure, ONE little decapitation and it's all MY fault suddenly!"

Review: "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster

Thumbs up for Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster. Fantasy.

It's an unfortunate fact that sometimes great writers come to one's attention only because they have died. If this work is any indication, the world has indeed lost a great writer. There is absolutely nothing nice in this novella about a society in which identity is, let's say, flexible—but it is exquisite.

The yellow mask draws me, the one made from the pelt of a mute animal with neither fangs nor claws—better for the workers to collect its skin. It can only glare at its keepers through the wires of its cage, and when the knives cut and the harvesters rip away its skin, no one is troubled by its screams.

Review: " Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster

Thumbs up for Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster. Fantasy.

It's an unfortunate fact that sometimes great writers come to one's attention only because they have died. If this work is any indication, the world has indeed lost a great writer. There is absolutely nothing nice in this novella about a society in which identity is, let's say, flexible—but it is exquisite.

The yellow mask draws me, the one made from the pelt of a mute animal with neither fangs nor claws—better for the workers to collect its skin. It can only glare at its keepers through the wires of its cage, and when the knives cut and the harvesters rip away its skin, no one is troubled by its screams.

Review: "The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman

Thumbs up for The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell. Fantasy/graphic novel.

A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, sort of. If someone can tell me why Neil Gaiman is so much truer than everyone else, I'd be much obliged. But perhaps magic is by definition impossible to analyze. (Also: Chris Riddell is amazing.)

It seemed both unlikely and extremely final. She wondered how she would feel to be a married woman. It would be the end of her life, she decided, if life was a time of choices. In a week from now, she would have no choices. She would reign over her people. She would have children. Perhaps she would die in childbirth, perhaps she would die as an old woman, or in battle. But the path to her death, heartbeat by heartbeat, would be inevitable.

Review: "Jaran" by Kate Elliott

Thumbs up for Jaran by Kate Elliott. Science fiction.

I always suspected, from having read about the anthropological bent of this book a long time ago, that I would like it. Unfortunately, the paperback edition I always see has the most excruciating type and my eyes would not cooperate. At last, on little more than a whim, I broke down and bought the ebook (or rather, the four-in-one ebook). Now I have a problem, because I loved this book so much I can't actually review it cogently. The paperback, to give you context, is 500 pages of small type, and I read it in two sittings, the second of which extended to 3:00 (or was it 4:00?) in the morning, causing me to call in to work the next day with a book hangover. It's—it's—er—well, in lieu of any more sophisticated way to express my love, I'm going to go cheap with a comparison and say it's what Outlander should have been and wasn't. There are striking similarities in the plot: woman from an advanced society is stranded among a far less technologically advanced people, and has to take a long journey via horse to get home. Along the way, political intrigue, adventure and romance. Except every single thing about it is better. (That's not a dis on Outlander, which was a perfectly good book; it's just that I loved Jaran that much.) Elliott's culture is her own invention, but it feels very real. Not a single thing about the worldbuilding struck a false note. Jaran is a perfect balance of character and society, shown through through often-witty interactions; bouts of page-turning action; and a hell-of-a-lot sexier simmering romantic tension than the to-me rather tedious boffing of Claire and Jamie. Of course, all my accolades could just as well be a warning: it's a 500-page book focusing on the subtle relationships of characters to each other in the context of a highly mannered society. If that's not your thing, avoid it like the plague. But, obviously, it's my thing.

On Earth she had learned to walk without hearing, to look without seeing. she had surrounded herself with a wall. Here she listened: to the wind, to the horses, to the voices of the jaran as they spoke, wanting to be heard, to hear. On Earth she had taught herself to deal with people as if they weren't there; only to protect herself, of course. Yet how many times had she spoken to people, only to realize later that she had never once looked them in the eye? In this land, one saw, one looked, and the lowering of eyes was as eloquent as their meeting.

Review: "The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse" by Nina Post

Thumbs up for The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse by Nina Post. Fantasy.

I can't review this book because I've come to know the author since I reviewed her book The Zaanics Deceit (which was on my Favorites of 2014 list). I will say, however, that if you've already read Good Omens and want to laugh your ass off at a zany apocalypse, you can't do better than Last Condo Board.

Murray nodded then launched into it. "There's an angel for everything. There's at least one for every day and every hour of the day and night, at least one for every species, and at least one for every occupation. There's the angel of aquatic animals, the angel in charge of HVAC systems, the angel who protects commerce brokers—"

Review: "Kinds of Power" by James Hillman

Thumbs up for Kinds of Power: A Guide to its Intelligent Uses by James Hillman. Nonfiction/philosophy.

I enjoyed this book, though I don't think I understood most of it. Sometimes I will chalk that up to a failure of my own discernment, but in this case I was not entirely sure that Hillman understood what he was getting at, either. I consulted with my dad, on the (correct) guess that he had probably read some Hillman at some point. "Yeah, he's just like that," said my dad. So, while this book was not what I thought I was getting into, and I would hesitate to say what I took away from it, and I will have to decline to tell you what it was about, I'm certain it expanded my brain in some subtle way. (Also, more animism here, and polytheism to boot! What's up, Gods?) Here's one of the less stream-of-consciousness-y passages, from the chapter on service, which Hillman considers a type of power:

Quality service, then, enhances life by keeping one eye always on the ideal, striving for purity of perfection. Of course, the ideal cannot be achieved, for that is the nature of "ideal," which explains why an ideal is not simply a benchmark standard. "Ideal" implies qualities that are beyond any preset description. They are only pointers to how things should be and, perhaps, how they desire to be, as if something in each moment of life wants to transcend itself. Perhaps improvement is not only a human desire. Perhaps progress toward perfection, toward the realization of the ideal, is inherent in the very nature of things, which service recognizes by doing what it can to support this desire for enhancement, bringing out of each thing its best possible performance. This is the spiritual impulse that is the true root of service. Our service in life and our service to life attempt to return whatever we do to a utopic vision, the ideal of heaven, which each of us feels in the heart as an aesthetic joy whenever something is done really right.