NJ: Month End SF Book Group (Paramus, NJ) discussion
2007 Books Read Thread
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The following accounts are reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2007 Philip J De Parto.CITY
... a classic and consists of a group of related stories which collectively tell of the fall of man and the rise of his successor, a race of intelligent canines. Along the way we encounter other players in the game: mutants, robots and ants.
It was a very pleasant discussion, with Barry and Taras bringing hand outs and Phil coming with "Epilog," a years later coda to the work which was published in the collection, ASTOUNDING.
THE BIG OVER EASY, Nursery Crimes 1
Hero of the novel is Detective Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crimes Division. He is investigating the death of Humpty Dumpty. Was his fall an accident, suicide, or MURDER? The book is loads of fun as Fforde–best known for his Thursday Next series–tosses playful bombs in all directions. “Publish or Perish” is how the police department is organized. Detectives whose cases are written up in crime magazines get promotions. People like Jack wind up in dead end jobs.
There are uncountable nods to old myths and fairie tales, Monty Python, and any number of pop culture references. We had a good time with the inspired silliness of the work.
HABEAS CORPSES, Halflife 3
... the third in a series begun in ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE and DEAD ON MY FEET and which continues in DEAD EASY. The hero is Christopher Csejthe, a half vampire who received only one of the two viruses which makes one a classic vampire. The preceding sentence encapsulates the author's central dilemma. On the one hand, he is trying to give a scientific rationale for vampirism. On the other, he has introduced werewolves, demons, and all other manner of traditionally supernatural characters without providing a scientific fig leaf.
Simmons refuses to be pigeonholed into telling a predictable story. At times his books are funny, horrific, relevant, escapist, and wise at times this works well, as when Christopher has a discussion about marital fidelity with the vampire Deidre in FOOT. AT others, it seems like he makes his plot choices by tossing random books into a blender. Certainly Baen has no idea how to market the guy. Book one tried to be fuzzy elf cute. Book two, a thriller. This time they put the voluptuous Deidre in leather with a rifle on the cover.
At its heart, this is a book about power and responsibility. When Christopher killed the vampire who claimed to be Elizabeth Bathery in FEET, he inherited her position as head of the New York demesne. Chris has no interest in this position, so a group of honorable vampires has been holding things together hoping that he will change his mind. Vampires of the less honorable sort have made several unsuccessful assassination attempts on Chris, who decides that he has a better chance of survival if he assumes command than if he continues to remain on the sidelines.
Unfortunately, the author adds in two additional plot threads. The first concerns a man Nazi scientist out to reestablish the glory of the Third Reich. The other is a red herring of a Central American demon who simply wants to go home. The book is okay, but not up to the level of the first two.
PHOBOS
... a mystery/thriller set on the Red Planet and its larger moon. While rebellion brews in the domed mining towns on the planet’s surface, something is killing people at a terraforming research station on its moon. The book combines bits from several genres–police procedural, space infantry, thriller, and mystery. It received strong reviews from PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY and other places, but sold poorly. The author is a past guest of the Association
Pam very much enjoyed the book because it was more than simply a mystery set in space. The science fiction elements were integral to the story. Phil also enjoyed it. It reminded him of books like THE CURRENTS OF SPACE by Isaac Asimov. Unfortunately, his voice gave out after reading aloud the prologue, and he was pretty much a non factor the rest of the evening. Taras had problems with military strategy of the space soldiers.
A CHARMED DEATH, Bewitching 2
... a triple genre book. It is labeled as a mystery on its spine. It is shelved in romance. And it features a woman who can do magic as its heroine.
This is the second in a series that began with THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC. Heroine Maggie O'Neill--thirty years old, unmarried, always a bit of an oddball-has recently made a batch of cool new friends who have taught her how to make sense of the intuitions and premonitions she has experienced her entire life. She has joined the local wiccan community which is initiating her into the mysteries of the goddess and the hidden realm that most do not see.
She is working at her job at Enchantments, a small upscale gift shop, when she witnesses a confrontation between two groups of customers. The first is a trio of HEATHERS/MEAN GIRLS wannabees. The other is a Goth Girl, a newcomer in town. Before the evening is over, the chief Mean Girl is dead, and the Goth is a suspect, at least in Maggie's eyes.
This is a pleasant enough read, with a nice evoking of small town Indiana and an interesting batch of secondary characters, but I felt that the ending was a bit deus-ex-machina. The bad guy could just as easily fallen through thin ice on his own without the need to have Maggie belatedly discover her magical powers.
AIRS BENEATH THE MOON, Horsemistress 1
... the first in a trilogy which is aimed at both the YA and adlult fantasy markets. It is somewhat reminiscent of Anne Mc Caffrey's Pern series, though with flying horses, with bits of MEAN GIRLS and court intrigue thrown in.
There are two interwoven plot threads in the book. The first follows 15 year old farmer's daughter Larkyn Hamley who, through an unlikely set of circumstances, bonds with a newborn winged horst, an honor normally reserved for the gentry and is sent off to the air riders' academy. The second follows Horsemistress Phillipa Winter, second in command at the academy, who is on the trail of a sinister plot by the dastardly William, the heir apparent of the Duchy of Oc.
BEYOND SINGULARITY
... a reprint anthology of 14 stories dealing with humanity after the evolutionary Singularity postulated by Vernor Vinge and other writers. The Singularity is the moment or series of moments in which advances in genetic engineering, AI development, cybernet interfaces and other technological changes result in a world and a post humanity which is unrecognizable and incomprehensible to that which has gone before.
Except for "Old Hundredth" by Brian Aldiss, the stories in the anthology were published in the past ten years, although in a variety of magazines and anthologies. Writers include Gregory Benford, Cory Doctorow, Greg Egan, James Patrick Kelly, Charles Stross, and Michael Swanwick.
The two stories which most captured the feel of the post Singularity world were "The Voluntary State" by Christopher Rowe and "Rogue Farm" by Charles Stross. The latter story begins with a farmer powering up his tractor and then seeing "an itinerent farm coming down the road." Another significant story was "Border Guards" by Greg Egan, both for its depiction of a game of quantum soccer and for its tratise on the injustice of death. Taras and Bob disagreed, feeling the tale was overly didactic and one dimensional.
We had fun with Walter Jon Williams' "The Millennium Party" which was short enough that Taras could easily read it to the group. It literalizes the observation about how men can compartmentalize their feelings.
This collection is a good starting place for anyone wishing to sample some of the newer writers in the field. Egan, McCauley, and Stoss are also heavily identified with the New Space Opera Movement.
HELL TO PAY, Nightside 7
... a bit of "what has gone before" led off the discussion.
The NIghtside is a sort of fantasy noir version of London created by the goddess Lilith to be neutral territory in the war between Heaven and Hell. It is home to gods, demons, superheroes, monsters, and legends. Lilith herself is long gone, banished to a limbo by her rebellious subjects ages ago. Or so everyone thought.
Twenty five years ago, a greatly weakened Lilith returned and has since been in hiding, quietly rebuilding her might. She also gave birth to a son, John Taylor, hero of the series, and gifted him with a couple of super powers including the ability to locate anything he sought, for reasons of her own. But there is something about Lilith that just makes people want to cross her.
The first six books presented the Lilith story arc. At the end of book six, SHARPER THAN A SERPEN'T'S TOOTH, Lilith has again been banished to Limbo, and many of the great ones of the Nightside are fled, dead, or in hiding. New forces begin to stir.
Jeremiah Griffin, an immortal, and possibly the richest man in the Nightside, hires John Taylor to locate his missing granddaughter (and heir), Polly, in the latest book. Even for the man with the ability to Find Things, this will be no easy task, for someone has magically shut down his ability. John is not the only one looking for Polly and many people may have a motive in making sure that she is not found.
Green alternates between epic struggles and quieter tales in this series. This is one of his simpler yarns. I personally prefer his all-hell-is-breaking-loose works, but this is not a bad place to begin for someone new to the books.
OLD MAN'S WAR, Old Man's War 1
... is several notches above he usual military science fiction genre and was a Hugo Award finalist for best novel. It is in the tradition of such books as STARSHIP TROOPERS and THE FOREVER WAR and is reminiscent of classic Heinlein.
The premise of the novel is that a 75 year old makes a better interstellar soldier than a callow youth. The Colonial Defense Force transplants a sound mind trapped in an aging body into a souped up new body and drops it off to war. Actually, to a series of wars, for a number of alien races are interested in each others colony worlds and an old man has the breadth of experience to adapt more quickly to the variety of hazards and habitats that the soldiers will experience.
The book was full of interesting humans, more-or-less humans, aliens, and technologies. One of the novel's strongest sections detailed the technical specifications of the characters' new bodies. We had a lot of fun having Taras read aloud this section with Phil and Greg chiming "Trademark" in the appropriate places.
THE UNHANDSOME PRINCE
... a fractured faerie tale of a not particularly good looking prince who escapes from froghood due to the kiss of a beautiful maiden. Hijinks ensue when she brings him to court for breach of contract, i.e., she was promised a Handsome Prince and received one who looks like a Dweeb.
There are some very funny scenes in this book like Rapunzel's fixation upon hair products and the effects of a philosopher stone, but the book has received a degree of notoriety in some quarters because an evil prince intends to end the money problems of the royal family by expelling the Jews.
Philip passed out a review of the book complaining about this plot thread and responded to the argument. He and Pamela read passages from the novel.
THE CURRENTS OF SPACE
... my favorite Asimov novel. It is set in Dr A's future history during the rise of Trantor, when its Empire covers about half the galaxy. The basic plot is a mystery/thriller, but there are lots of nice throwaway science fiction details -- race and pigmentation, peace and order, interstellar espionage and intrigue, the upper and lower cities, and the titular currents of space -- to make this a legitimate science fiction novel and not simply a spy novel with a few sf trappings thrown on it.
CITY...................................................Clifford Simak...............................11/30/07
THE BIG OVER EASY........................Jasper Fforde................................10/31/07
HABEAS CORPSES............................Wm Mark Simmons......................09/28/07
PHOBOS.............................................Ty Drago.......................................08/31/07
A CHARMED DEATH.........................Madeline Alt.................................07/31/07
AIRS BENEATH THE MOON.............Toby Bishop.................................06/29/07
BEYOND SINGULARITY....................Dann / Dozois...............................05/31/07
HELL TO PAY.....................................Simon Green...............................04/30/07
OLD MAN'S WAR...............................John Scalzi..................................03/30/07
THE UNHANDSOME PRINCE............John Moore.................................02/28/07
THE CURRENTS OF SPACE...............Isaac Asimov................................01/31/07