NJ: Month End SF Book Group (Paramus, NJ) discussion
2012 Books Read Thread
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The following accounts are reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2012 Philip J De Parto.A WOMAN WORTH TEN COPPERS, Shadowed Path 1
The discussion could have been subtitled Phil against the World. Phil, who had selected the work, considered it a quiet, enjoyable little read. The rest of the group disagreed. Jeni and Karen disliked the ending. George found the story obvious. Jeni didn't like the pacing.
Phil, on the other hand, liked the characters and enjoyed the quiet despair of the long journey through the lands blasted by the Devourer's influence and the low-key struggle to figure out the right thing and do it. The book is largely about choices: how do people find the strength to go on after setbacks, how they choose to trust or refuse to do so, and how people decide to stand up for what is right. This is not to say the author got everything right. Many secondary characters are sketchily drawn and the expression, "Zounds," should never be used in a non Christian world.
THE MENACE FROM EARTH
The collection consisted of eight stories, with the title story, "Year of the Jackpot," and "By his Bootstraps" having garnered the greatest acclaim over the years. Phil, Jeni and Taras agreed with the assessment for the first two, but Jeni was unimpressed by Bootstraps. Phil, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the mechanics of the storytelling of this time paradox yarn.
Phil identified three themes running through the talks. The first was the presence of strong, competent women (Jackpot, Menace, "Project Nightmare"). The second was duty and sacrifice ("Sky Lift," "Water Is for Washing"). The third was a willingness to argue that free will is an illusion, at least for the sake of a story, (Jackpot, Bootstraps). The third point in particular occasioned a spirited debate.
All in all, this was a collection well worth reading, or rereading, particularly if you had purchased the Baen Books mass market paperback which combines this collection with THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH that included a forward and an afterward.
REDSHIRTS
The book is told from the viewpoint of a group of ensigns who have recently arrived on the Intrepid, the flagship of their interstellar confederation. They soon discover that command officers of the starship routinely survive the dangers of their away missions, but that the fatality rate of the redshirts who beam down with them is astronomical. They gradually reason that the only way to account for this is that their reality is controlled by a higher one: they are extras on a badly-written scifi show.
This is far from Scalzi's best work. One gets the feeling that the germ of the idea came to him and he thought "Sooner or later someone's going to get rich from this idea, so it might as well be me." As George pointed out, the book is written in best-seller mode: limited vocabulary, lots of dialogue, little description, little depth. Despite these shortcomings, Jeni felt it was a nice, light read except for the three codas while Phil felt the codas were the best part of the book. If you haven't read Scalzi, try OLD MAN'S WAR instead.
AWAKENINGS
The novel is a contemporary fantasy primarily set in New York City and its environs. NYPD Patrolman Cal MacDonnell, sleazy photographer Seth Raincrest, and junior high school student Daniel Huer have one thng in common: they seemingly popped into existence 13 years ago and have no memory of anything before that time. Lelani, a beautiful woman who is not what she seems, comes to the rescue of the two adults when they are separately attacked by non human creatures. She informs the duo that they were part of a group who fled a coup in the magical world of Aandor and that they must located the missing heir (Daniel) before assassins slay them all.
The plot is not particularly original, but I enjoyed the characterization. Cal in particular has an interesting dilemma. He is happily married with wife Catherine and daughter Brianna, but he is betrothed to a princess in Aandor. If he does not marry the woman, the political consequences will be dire, with thousands fo deaths the likely result.
The book has an ending, but Jeni (and to a lesser degree, Liz) felt it was a cheat. She explained that she wants to buy sequels to books she likes because she enjoys them, not because she is force to in order to learn the outcome of the book.
VORTEX, Spin 3
There are three sections to the work The first is set about 100 years in the future. A social worker, a policeman, a drug dealer and other parties become interested in an idiot savant who has a manuscript which details events from 10,000 years in the future. The second is the manuscript itself. The final section deals with the nature of the alien Hypotheticals who created the force field that encircles the Earth in SPIN and the Gateway to another world in AXIS. This last section jumps farther and farther along the timeline of the universe like the works of Olaf Stapledon.
HUMAN FOR A DAY
...an original anthology of 16 stories edited by Jennifer Brozek and Martin Greenberg. Only Philip and Jeni had read the book. Their assessments of the notable stories follow.
Both agreed that Seanan McGuire's "Cinderella City," about a fey creature who incarnates the metaphysical spirit of San Francisco, was the best story in the book. Jeni did not like Phil's choice of "The Mainspring of his Heart, the Shackles of his Soul" by Ian Tregillis. Phil liked the world building of this tale of French freedom fighters holding out against the alchemy-savvy Dutch who were trying to conquer the world. Jeni felt the Pinocciho plot of the mechanical man who wants to become human was trite.
Jeni really liked Tanith Lee's "The Dog-Catcher's Song," about a dog who becomes human for a day and who gets to truly love his mistress. Phil thought it was the worst story in the book. They also disagreed on "Band of Bronze" by Jean Rabe, about the statues in Central Park which annually get together to right wrongs in the park. Jeni liked it, Phil did not.
The both enjoyed "Tumulus" by Anton Strout about a childless woman who wishes to make a deal with a dead witch; "Mortal Mix-Up" by Laura Resnick about a vampiress who winds up in a goth witch's body when the girl's spell goes wrong; "Zombie, Interrupted" by Tim Waggoner in which a zombi PI must solve a case and get to his girlfriend before a spell wears off; and "Destroyer" by Kristine Kathryn, Rusch about a feral cat who takes a human body to right a wrong. The rest of the tales were judged as okay, but nothing remarkable.
THE BROKEN KINGDOMS, Inheritance 2
It is ten years after the events in volume one. The Arameri world empire is teetering. Their patron god, bright Itempas, has been cast down and walks the world as a mortal. The captive godlings of the Arameri have been set free. Godlings and mortals plot and scheme in the capital city of Shadow, formerly named Sky. When the blind artist Oree Shoth discovers the body of a dead godling in an alley, the hidden players set in motion their endgame.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book's world building, characters and plot. A number of reviewers have objected to Jemisin's distracted narration. Both Oree and THTK's Yeine digress a lot. They are in no hurry to tell their stories. I was perfectly content to take a literary stroll with them, but a number of readers prefer that the author plunge straight ahead to get to the point. Different strokes for different folks, but for me, definitely recommended.
CITIZENS
This is a mostly-reprint collection of 15 Military Science Fiction Stories written by military veterans. Robert Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke, Joe Haldeman, Murray Leinster and Gene Wolfe are among the heavyweights present.
The stories which worked best for me were those which focused on the military virtues of duty and sacrifice. Heinlein's "The Long Watch" published in 1941 about a young man who realizes that it is his duty to foil a coup although it means making his wife a widow and his children orphans still pulls on the heart strings. Very similar thematically is "The Price" by Michael Williamson, in which a group of young men and women accept a suicide mission to free their colony from the clutches of a rapacious Earth government.
Those stories are pretty straightforward. It is easy to root for the young and the idealistic. Jerry Pournelle's "Peace with Honor" isn't as pretty a tale. The choices facing the politicians and bureaucrats are all bad. They select the least bad option they can, but realize that each such choice flays away another strip of their honor and decency.
Eric Frank Russell's "Allamagoosa," Murray Leinster's "Exploration Team" and Arthur C Clarke's "Superiority" are all well-respected tales, but I personally enjoyed Patrick Vanner's "The Question" and John Ringo's "Earth's First Improved Chimp Gets a Job as a Janitor" better, at least on this reading. If I read the collection again, I might order things differently.
In summary, this is a solid collection of space yarns and not-at-all gun porn. If you haven't read them before, the book is particularly worthwhile
THE DEVIL'S ALPHABET
Over a dozen years before the start of the novel, the small town of Switchcreek, Tennessee experienced a unique event: most of the townsfolk began to morph into other versions of humanity. There were soon five classes of townspeople: Skips (those unchanged), the dead, giant gray-skinned Argos, hairless seal-like Betas, and grotesquely obese Charlies.
Paxton Martin is a Skip. He left town after the quarantine was lifted a decade ago. He is heading back to Switchcreek for the funeral of his pre-change girlfriend, Jo Lynn. Jo Lynn's death is officially a suicide, but small towns hide many secrets.
The group mildly enjoyed the book. The author does a good job establishing the feel of a small community, of the complex relationship between Pax and his father, and of the importance of the church in the South. There were mixed feelings about the end, with Jeni finding it unsatisfying, Phil enjoying it, and Liz somewhere in the middle. The possibility of the source of the mutations being from another universe led to a lengthy aside about speculations regarding parallel worlds and the multiverse.
MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE, Angel 1
The book offers a very different take on zombies, basically envisioning them as vampires, except that they need to eat brains instead of drink blood. As long as they've had their brain-shakes and brain tv dinners, they blend into society just fine. Of course, if they go without sustenance for a few days, they start rotting and go the George Romero route.
I like the book for three elements. The first was the heroine. Twenty year old loser Angel Crawford gets a second chance at a good life when she is turned after a drug overdose. With the help of an unseen mentor, she slowly learns the ropes of being both a zombie and a functioning members of society. I also enjoyed the setting of a "white trash" suburban Louisiana. Finally, I really liked that it was a cozy zombie tale. No rampaging hordes of undead--there have always been zombies among us. They have supply chains to obtain brains from funeral homes and elsewhere. It was refreshing to have a story where the fate of the world, or a substantial part of it, was not at stake. Recommended, although I am a bit uneasy that it is the start of a series and not a standalone novel.
WOMAN WORTH TEN COPPERS............Morgan Howell........................11/30/12
THE MENACE FROM EARTH.................Robert Heinlein.......................09/28/12
REDSHIRTS........................................John Scalzi..............................08/31/12
AWAKENINGS....................................Edward Lazellari.......................07/31/12
VORTEX.............................................Robert Charles Wilson...............06/29/12
HUMAN FOR A DAY.............................Brozek / Greenberg...................05/31/12
THE BROKEN KINGDOMS.....................N K Jemisin..............................04/30/12
CITIZENS: MILITARY SF BY VETS...........Ringo / Thomsen......................03/30/12
THE DEVIL'S ALPHABET.......................Daryl Gregory..........................02/29/12
MY LIFE AS A W TRASH ZOMBIE............Diana Rowland.........................01/31/12