http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/tc01.htm
Wormhole time tender's raconteur replay.
4 out of 5
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Tomb Wife - Gwyneth Jones
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gwynethann/Tomb.htm
Extradimensional big brain spaceflight fun, Batman.
4 out of 5
Extradimensional big brain spaceflight fun, Batman.
4 out of 5
Finisterra - David Moles
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/dm01.htm
Aeronautical gasbag butchery breakdown backup solution.
4 out of 5
Aeronautical gasbag butchery breakdown backup solution.
4 out of 5
Mainspring - Jay Lake
Adventurer not the Messiah, maybe.
This starts off as an entertaining quest for a teenager, who, in a solar system that has planets moving thanks to large clockwork mechanisms, is visited by an Angel and told there is a Serious Problem to be solved.
This problem being that the world is out of whack, and needs attention from your standard magical artifact to get it back into synch.
Needless to say, clockmakers and other serious types don't jump to belief in a boy's angel stories, so off he goes alone after a falling out.
The majority of the book is quite charming, dealing with this boy's journey. England, America and China all exist, and he ends up with the English air-navy. A book like this I think it is probably de rigeur to have airships. These actually have a bit more emphasis on the ship.
An attack by winged savages on this flying machine precipitates the rest of the story, and our hero ends up again relying on himself, gaining some aid from your garden variety inscrutable oriental and a fellow naval man who is not what he seems.
In following the latter across a bridge visited daily by some seriously dangerous gears, the book loses its way somewhat, as after this section it, and the character, transmogrify into a far more tedious, not to mention predictable messianic state. The rapid change in character for the protagonist over such a short period didn't seem to believable to me. The rest of the story is pretty obvious from there, it would seem, which would be ok if the tone matched.
I'd give the first 2/3 4 out of 5, or just about, but the end only a 3.
3.5 out of 5
This starts off as an entertaining quest for a teenager, who, in a solar system that has planets moving thanks to large clockwork mechanisms, is visited by an Angel and told there is a Serious Problem to be solved.
This problem being that the world is out of whack, and needs attention from your standard magical artifact to get it back into synch.
Needless to say, clockmakers and other serious types don't jump to belief in a boy's angel stories, so off he goes alone after a falling out.
The majority of the book is quite charming, dealing with this boy's journey. England, America and China all exist, and he ends up with the English air-navy. A book like this I think it is probably de rigeur to have airships. These actually have a bit more emphasis on the ship.
An attack by winged savages on this flying machine precipitates the rest of the story, and our hero ends up again relying on himself, gaining some aid from your garden variety inscrutable oriental and a fellow naval man who is not what he seems.
In following the latter across a bridge visited daily by some seriously dangerous gears, the book loses its way somewhat, as after this section it, and the character, transmogrify into a far more tedious, not to mention predictable messianic state. The rapid change in character for the protagonist over such a short period didn't seem to believable to me. The rest of the story is pretty obvious from there, it would seem, which would be ok if the tone matched.
I'd give the first 2/3 4 out of 5, or just about, but the end only a 3.
3.5 out of 5
The Execution Channel - Ken MacLeod
Cold war, with cable tv psychology and superscience.
What seems at first to be mostly a near future spy novel, shows it has a different focus, by looking at the uses common mobile phone technology and the internet via blogs and forums can be put to by spooks and those in the disinformation business.
The story centres on a family caught up in this, one spy, one activist, one soldier.
Definitely interesting in a future with tensions rising between superpowers, and killer diseases operating.
What appears to be a new type of weapon has been used in the UK, and this causes everything to change.
As the main non-spook blogger mentioned in the book describes it, a "WTF" type of moment.
3.5 out of 5
What seems at first to be mostly a near future spy novel, shows it has a different focus, by looking at the uses common mobile phone technology and the internet via blogs and forums can be put to by spooks and those in the disinformation business.
The story centres on a family caught up in this, one spy, one activist, one soldier.
Definitely interesting in a future with tensions rising between superpowers, and killer diseases operating.
What appears to be a new type of weapon has been used in the UK, and this causes everything to change.
As the main non-spook blogger mentioned in the book describes it, a "WTF" type of moment.
3.5 out of 5
Brasyl - Ian McDonald
Quantum conflict time.
A book told in eight sections, all starting Our Lady Of... from golden frogs to all worlds.
Each section has three parts, that are stories happening in three different timestreams. In the beginning, you are not particularly sure why there is a 2006 really, really bad reality tv maker in one, and an early 18th century priest in another, and you think 'he better be tying this all together in the not too distant pagecount.' The third part, set in the 2030s, makes rather more sense to begin with, following some people versed in quantum technology. This part, along with bits of satire from the current day setting give you some of the frenetic feel of a Snow Crash, or Accelerando by way of Antibodies.
He does pull the three disparate threads together, and this book is rather good. It gets better and better as it goes on, even if the start drags a little. There is plenty of action to come later, though, so you should definitely cut this part a break.
At the heart of the novel is the quantum nature of reality, and the place of humans within, and in particularly in this case, Brazilians.
A refreshingly different setting, and sport even plays a role, which is in general a little different, as a large number of sf geeks or writers have no interest in, phobias of, or avid dislike of things football. Whether McDonald does or not, I am not sure, but a pivotal secondary character is a 1950s Brazilian national team goalkeeper.
Also swords, lots of swords, particularly of the quantum variety that Wolverine himself would be pretty pleased with.
This book is also shorter than I thought it would be with the word 'epic' being bandied around the place, and was not quite 400 pages.
While resolved, plenty of spinoff novella or other opportunities if he desires.
Absolutely worth checking out.
4.5 out of 5
A book told in eight sections, all starting Our Lady Of... from golden frogs to all worlds.
Each section has three parts, that are stories happening in three different timestreams. In the beginning, you are not particularly sure why there is a 2006 really, really bad reality tv maker in one, and an early 18th century priest in another, and you think 'he better be tying this all together in the not too distant pagecount.' The third part, set in the 2030s, makes rather more sense to begin with, following some people versed in quantum technology. This part, along with bits of satire from the current day setting give you some of the frenetic feel of a Snow Crash, or Accelerando by way of Antibodies.
He does pull the three disparate threads together, and this book is rather good. It gets better and better as it goes on, even if the start drags a little. There is plenty of action to come later, though, so you should definitely cut this part a break.
At the heart of the novel is the quantum nature of reality, and the place of humans within, and in particularly in this case, Brazilians.
A refreshingly different setting, and sport even plays a role, which is in general a little different, as a large number of sf geeks or writers have no interest in, phobias of, or avid dislike of things football. Whether McDonald does or not, I am not sure, but a pivotal secondary character is a 1950s Brazilian national team goalkeeper.
Also swords, lots of swords, particularly of the quantum variety that Wolverine himself would be pretty pleased with.
This book is also shorter than I thought it would be with the word 'epic' being bandied around the place, and was not quite 400 pages.
While resolved, plenty of spinoff novella or other opportunities if he desires.
Absolutely worth checking out.
4.5 out of 5
Deadstock - Jeffrey Thomas
http://www.solarisbooks.com/assets/download.zip
Punktown dick dol search
I suppose he might not always be a dick given this book, what with the chmera shapeshifting thing letting Stake definitely go girly if he wants to.
Here he is hired to retrieve an artificial lifeform.
Given this sort of milieu there is a whole blue boatload of dodginess under the surface.
Thrown in some gangs, a bit of Lovecraftian tentacle works and a femme fatale or too and it isn't too bad a book.
3.5 out of 5
Punktown dick dol search
I suppose he might not always be a dick given this book, what with the chmera shapeshifting thing letting Stake definitely go girly if he wants to.
Here he is hired to retrieve an artificial lifeform.
Given this sort of milieu there is a whole blue boatload of dodginess under the surface.
Thrown in some gangs, a bit of Lovecraftian tentacle works and a femme fatale or too and it isn't too bad a book.
3.5 out of 5
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