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Facets
Contents:
Surfacing (1988)
Video Star (1986)
No Spot of Ground (1989)
Flatline (1988)
Side Effects (1985)
Witness (1986)
Wolf Time (1987)
The Bob Dylan Solution (1989)
Dinosaurs (1987)
Surfacing (1988)
Video Star (1986)
No Spot of Ground (1989)
Flatline (1988)
Side Effects (1985)
Witness (1986)
Wolf Time (1987)
The Bob Dylan Solution (1989)
Dinosaurs (1987)
372 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Walter Jon Williams
238 books894 followersWalter Jon Williams has published twenty novels and short fiction collections. Most are science fiction or fantasy -Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire to name just a few - a few are historical adventures, and the most recent, The Rift, is a disaster novel in which "I just basically pound a part of the planet down to bedrock." And that's just the opening chapters. Walter holds a fourth-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate, and also enjoys sailing and scuba diving. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Kathy Hedges.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 7, 2022
Facets was the first collection of short fiction by Williams; it was published by Tor in 1990, way back in the days when major publishers regularly released collections of short fiction by a single author. All of the stories appeared in the mid-to late-'80s, most in Asimov's SF magazine. After a nice introduction by Roger Zelazny, the book starts off with what has become one of his most popular stories, Surfacing. It's a very well-written story of research and whales and communication and romance, but I'm in the minority of those who felt it lacked an acceptable ending. Video Star is an excellently fast-paced future caper story that would have made an excellent movie. No Spot of Ground is a long alternate history literary story which features Poe as the main character as a commander in the Civil War; it would probably have to be headed with a trigger warning for racist content if it appeared today. I didn't care for Flatline, a second person A.I. short piece. Side Effects, which was his first story published in the sf field, is a cautionary tale about the medical profession, and seems charmingly tame compared to what we know about the current state of health care reality. Witness is a story from the Wild Cards books edited by George R.R. Martin and is better read in that context. Wolf Time is an action-packed and captivating sf adventure, and The Bob Dylan Solution struck me the same way as Side Effects, except this time it's the entertainment industry under consideration. Dinosaurs closes out the book; it's another of his most popular stories, a true sf tale of alien contact and senility and is a very thought-provoking read. It's a very enjoyable read, with a lovely Rodney Matthews cover.
June 7, 2017
"Surfacing" ★★★½ | A reclusive alcoholic scientist with violent tendencies investigates mysterious deep-sea creatures on a distant planet. Maybe a few too many plot hooks for a story this size, but the core ideas were quite good and the setting (with the glaring exception of the "Kyklopes" aliens) seemed well-realized.
"Video Star" ★★½ | A competently written, but not particularly surprising, cyberpunk heist story.
"No Spot of Ground" ★★★ | Alternate history where Edgar Allan Poe doesn't die in Baltimore, but instead survives and joins the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The inescapable conclusion is that if this is what would have happened, we might all be better off for Poe's dying. (Poe included!)
Flatline ★★★ | Post-singularity cyberpunk goodness, with a slight ding for second person narration and a threadbare plot. Cool scenes and characters though, and a style that really reminded me of Shadowrun specifically. (I don't think Williams had any connection to that game outside of both being influenced by William Gibson.)
Side Effects ★½ | Relentlessly cynical and barely sfnal crossed-lives story about pharmaceuticals and slightly bent doctors. Whoop de do.
Witness ★★★★ | Set in the Wild Cards shared universe, an alternate history of superpowers and mutants starting after WW2. This is the story of one of the first "aces," or non-mutated superpowered people, and how he ended up betraying everyone he loved because of the Red Scare. Fun!
Wolf Time ★★★ | Possibly set in the same universe/timeline as "Video Star" (or just using some similar setting concepts), about an ex-corporate-soldier who gets hired for One Last Job―so, very similar to "Video Star." This one was shorter and had some good action, so it gets the edge.
The Bob Dylan Solution ★★½ | Reminiscent of some of the satires of Madison Avenue marketing firms from the Fifties (see, e.g., Pohl's "Tunnel Under the World"), except this is drenched in Eighties colors and it's about L.A. record companies shaping public opinion through their artists. Nothing too surprising, but pretty well crafted.
Dinosaurs ★★★★ | A weird, weird, existentially-horrifying story about a "human" "diplomat" trying to negotiate peace with a civilization of what I imagined as three-legged kangaroo-shrew-people. "Human" is in air-quotes because this is set eight million years in the future and humanity has evolved in monstrous ways. "Diplomat" is in air-quotes because, well, you'll have to read it.
OVERALL RATING ★★★ | "Surfacing" and "Dinosaurs" are the standout stories of this collection for me, although there are several other solid offerings.
"Video Star" ★★½ | A competently written, but not particularly surprising, cyberpunk heist story.
"No Spot of Ground" ★★★ | Alternate history where Edgar Allan Poe doesn't die in Baltimore, but instead survives and joins the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The inescapable conclusion is that if this is what would have happened, we might all be better off for Poe's dying. (Poe included!)
Flatline ★★★ | Post-singularity cyberpunk goodness, with a slight ding for second person narration and a threadbare plot. Cool scenes and characters though, and a style that really reminded me of Shadowrun specifically. (I don't think Williams had any connection to that game outside of both being influenced by William Gibson.)
Side Effects ★½ | Relentlessly cynical and barely sfnal crossed-lives story about pharmaceuticals and slightly bent doctors. Whoop de do.
Witness ★★★★ | Set in the Wild Cards shared universe, an alternate history of superpowers and mutants starting after WW2. This is the story of one of the first "aces," or non-mutated superpowered people, and how he ended up betraying everyone he loved because of the Red Scare. Fun!
Wolf Time ★★★ | Possibly set in the same universe/timeline as "Video Star" (or just using some similar setting concepts), about an ex-corporate-soldier who gets hired for One Last Job―so, very similar to "Video Star." This one was shorter and had some good action, so it gets the edge.
The Bob Dylan Solution ★★½ | Reminiscent of some of the satires of Madison Avenue marketing firms from the Fifties (see, e.g., Pohl's "Tunnel Under the World"), except this is drenched in Eighties colors and it's about L.A. record companies shaping public opinion through their artists. Nothing too surprising, but pretty well crafted.
Dinosaurs ★★★★ | A weird, weird, existentially-horrifying story about a "human" "diplomat" trying to negotiate peace with a civilization of what I imagined as three-legged kangaroo-shrew-people. "Human" is in air-quotes because this is set eight million years in the future and humanity has evolved in monstrous ways. "Diplomat" is in air-quotes because, well, you'll have to read it.
OVERALL RATING ★★★ | "Surfacing" and "Dinosaurs" are the standout stories of this collection for me, although there are several other solid offerings.
March 20, 2021
Impressive collection with great variety, and stories which are both fun and thoughtful.
I treated myself to a copy because I wanted to read "No Spot of Ground," which I have reviewed separately, and which was the stand-out story in the collection, for me.
But Williams treats us to a bit of everything: techno-thriller, alternate history, cyberpunk, near-future social satire, far-future space opera and super-hero origin story. (Have I missed anything?) Every story won't appeal to every reader, but any reader can recognize that every story is well-crafted, and offers an interesting "taster" in some sub-genres that you might not otherwise try.
My favourites, aside from "No Spot of Ground," are
"Surfacing," which is a very nicely-done re-imaging of Roger Zelazny's classic novella "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth." I thought it was very interesting that Zelazny makes no reference to this in his otherwise thoughtful introduction to the volume -- it just seems like a no-brainer to me that this is a thoughtful, clever re-imagining of Zelazny's idea. I occasionally used "Doors" in my SF class, and one of my best student's immortal comment on the story was It was a shame that a whale had to die so the main characters could get laid. In this version,
...and "Side Effects," which is a chilling reflection on Big Pharma, which only seems more plausible, 35 years after it first appeared.
I treated myself to a copy because I wanted to read "No Spot of Ground," which I have reviewed separately, and which was the stand-out story in the collection, for me.
But Williams treats us to a bit of everything: techno-thriller, alternate history, cyberpunk, near-future social satire, far-future space opera and super-hero origin story. (Have I missed anything?) Every story won't appeal to every reader, but any reader can recognize that every story is well-crafted, and offers an interesting "taster" in some sub-genres that you might not otherwise try.
My favourites, aside from "No Spot of Ground," are
"Surfacing," which is a very nicely-done re-imaging of Roger Zelazny's classic novella "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth." I thought it was very interesting that Zelazny makes no reference to this in his otherwise thoughtful introduction to the volume -- it just seems like a no-brainer to me that this is a thoughtful, clever re-imagining of Zelazny's idea. I occasionally used "Doors" in my SF class, and one of my best student's immortal comment on the story was It was a shame that a whale had to die so the main characters could get laid. In this version,
...and "Side Effects," which is a chilling reflection on Big Pharma, which only seems more plausible, 35 years after it first appeared.
September 7, 2012
Like a lot of science fiction writers, Williams does his best work at shorter lengths.
Part of this is a consequence of the genre: SF works best at short to medium lengths, despite the marketing constraints for multivolume series, because the essentially SF qualities of a narrative (worldbuilding, inventive premise, etc) tend to hold together better over shorter lengths. Part of this is because of the filtering process that old-school SF exerted on its writers: the route to publishing tended to be through small volume digests like Analog, Amazing, etc. This route was the defining feature of Golden Age SF, in a lot of ways.
And part of it is because Walter Jon Williams is really good at writing at short length. There are two great stories in this collection: Dinosaurs and the Wild Cards bit (the only shared worlds story to win a major SF award, if I'm not mistaken). Most of the rest of it is good too, showing a range in style and content that's impressive.
Part of this is a consequence of the genre: SF works best at short to medium lengths, despite the marketing constraints for multivolume series, because the essentially SF qualities of a narrative (worldbuilding, inventive premise, etc) tend to hold together better over shorter lengths. Part of this is because of the filtering process that old-school SF exerted on its writers: the route to publishing tended to be through small volume digests like Analog, Amazing, etc. This route was the defining feature of Golden Age SF, in a lot of ways.
And part of it is because Walter Jon Williams is really good at writing at short length. There are two great stories in this collection: Dinosaurs and the Wild Cards bit (the only shared worlds story to win a major SF award, if I'm not mistaken). Most of the rest of it is good too, showing a range in style and content that's impressive.
July 23, 2022
I tried really hard to get on with this collection of short stories - I remember loving Jon William's cyberpunk novels as a teen. Video Star (1986),the only pure in-genre cyberpunk story included, was as good as I remembered. Unfortunately, everywhere else, I struggled. Surfacing was interesting, but not dramatic enough to sustain its length. No Spot of Ground was a great example of something that WOULD NEVER GET PUBLISHED TODAY (TM), but otherwise not hugely notable. Side Effects was thought provoking but maybe the ideas about medicine too taken for granted now to be impactful. The others were just "meh".
Not for me.
Not for me.
October 15, 2017
Good sci-fi. The alternate history story with Edgar Allen Poe as a Confederate general dragged a a little, but everything was imaginative and engaging.
June 28, 2014
3 and a half stars
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews