The Blog of Rob - Culcha, innit?

Science fiction book meme

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:23:49 +0000

I came across this SciFi book meme at the weekend. At first I thought I was a month behind the crowd, which is nothing unusual, but then I discovered the source and find that was over a year ago, which is a bit more my usual speed

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror?
SF, though increasingly I'm reading Fantasy these days - there seems to be so many more fantasy books and, on average, they're longer.

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback?
If I can't wait to read it and I can afford it then I'll get the hardback, otherwise paperbacks are much easier to deal with on the Tube.

Heinlein or Asimov?
Erm... neither. I did read a Heinlen book once, a long time ago, I wasn't inspired to read any more.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar?
Brick and mortar, the online savings aren't enough to make me deny myself the pleasure of wandering round a bookshop for half an hour. Plus, Amazon managed to really, really annoy me a few years ago...

Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Waterstones.

Hitchhiker or Discworld?
Even though H2G2 is one of the main reasons I got into SciFi in the first place I'll have to side with the Discworld series.

Bookmark or Dogear?
Bookmark! Bookmark! You did not just fold a page my pristine book! (I have to look away when someone does it to a book that doesn't belong to me, if someone does it to one of my books they could well be in for a serious bout of passive-aggressiveness huffyness)

Magazine: Asimov's Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?
Neither.

Alphabetize by author Alphabetize by title or random?
I use the Unordered Pile Organisation Methodology (TM).

Keep, Throw Away or Sell?
Keep.

Year's Best Science Fiction series (edited by Gardner Dozois) or Years Best SF series (edited by David G. Hartwell)?
Neither.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Keep

Read with dustjacket or remove it?
Remove

Short story or novel?
Novels, they seem to be more compatible with train journeys. I used to read more short stories back when I had more free time.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
It has to be Potter, since I've not read Snicket.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Either the chapter break, or a section break or wherever I am when I have to get off the train. Generally I won't start another chapter if I can see I won't hit a convenient break before the end of the journey, but sometimes I just get too wrapped up to stop and find myself squinting at pages under streetlights as I'm walking back from the station.

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?
It's quite possible that, should any book I pick up start with either of those two sentences, it would be put right back on the shelf in the bookshop.

Buy or Borrow?
Buy, buy, buy!

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?
Browsing round a bookshop is a unique and special experience.

Lewis or Tolkien?
Tolkein.

Hard SF or Space Opera?
Hard SF. If it isn't Hard SF then it's probably just fantasy in a futuristic setting.

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)?
Don't read many short stories these days, but the ones I buy are in collections.

Hugo or Nebula?
Don't really care.

Golden Age SF or New Wave SF?
New Wave SF.

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?
Tidy ending.

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?
Morning and evening usually, as I read on my daily commute.

Standalone or Series?
Not too bothered.

Urban fantasy or high fantasy?
Either.

New or used?
New.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
This is obviously a trick question, the moment I mention a book I'm sure the SciFi mafiosi are going to leap out and say "Everyone's read that, you noob!" So I'm going to stick to somewhat safe ground by choosing a SciFi book not by a SciFi author: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami.

Top X favorite genre books read last year? (Where X is 5 or less)
1. Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
2. The Algebraist by Iain M Banks
3. Learning the World by Ken MacLeod
4. The Snow by Adam Roberts
5. Natural Hisory by Justina Robson

Top X favorite genre books of all time? (Where X is 5 or less)
1. Neuromancer William Gibson
2. The Cryptonomicon Neil Stephenson
3. Diaspora Greg Egan
4. The Player of Games - Iain M Banks
5. Elvissey Jack Womack

X favorite genre series? (Where X is 5 or less)
1. Bridge Trilogy - William Gibson
2. Baroque Cycle - Neal Stephenson
3. Ambient Series - Jack Womack
4. Night's Dawn Trilogy - Hamilton
5. Otherland - Tad Williams

Top X favorite genre short stories? (Where X is 5 or less)
Haven't read many recently, but here are some short story collections I really liked.
1. Patterns by Pat Cadigan
2. Axiomatic by Greg Egan
3. Burning Chrome by William Gibson ("Red Star, Winter Orbit" I really liked)

Robin Hobb's Soldier Son Trilogy

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 22:03:12 +0000

Been meaning to post about these books for a while now. Having ripped through The Liveship Traders, followed by The Farseer Trilogy and then The Tawny Man Trilogy basically as fast as I could afford to buy the books, I was quite keen to read the new novels. Note to others who follow in my footsteps (ha!) - I read the three trilogies out of order, mainly because I had the first book in the Liveship trilogy sitting on my shelf for about five years after acquiring it 'on special offer' from a BCA membership.

I got Shaman's Crossing a few months ago and I finished the sequel, Forest Mage, last month. I was all set to write up a review and link it in to some insightful remarks about Hobb's rather aggressive attitude to fan fiction, but then she went and replaced the rant on her site with one about books to movies and that took the wind out of my sails somewhat.

OK, so I'm all ready now! First off, the fan fiction thing. I read the rant and, while I can empathise with her feelings that other people making her characters do things she never wanted them to is kind of disgusting, a sort of combination between masturbatory 'fiction porn' and being forced to do something very horrible indeed against your will, I wonder if her feelings on the subject are so strong because 'Robin Hobb' (real name Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden) is herself a fictional creation? Despite my (probably very unfounded) opinion of her underlying motivations I did find myself agreeing strongly with her sentiments that, as a fledgeling writer, you're much better off trying to write in your own world with your own characters then trying to steal someone else's. Whatever her opinions, it doesn't seem be stemming the tide much - the Robin Hobb Yahoo! Group has in the tagline 'Fan fiction always welcome'.

So, now the Soldier Son Trilogy. This has, it seems, excited a certain amount of controversy among diehard Hobb fans, some have claimed to hate it, others have claimed to really enjoy it, and still others have been a bit guarded saying, it'll get better when we have the whole trilogy to read. The comments on Amazon about the first book are really quite entertaining - ranging from one to five stars and with varying degrees of vitriol, here are some (negative) outtakes:

I suppose it just goes to show that the well of creativity for some writers definitley runs dry.(J. P. Nowlin)

Out of hundreds upon hundreds of books I have read I have only not finished a book twice, this one being number 2. Highly disappointed. (Jon Corbett)

I wonder if Robin Hobb is embarassed that she wrote this book. ( Shannon B Davis)

I think a lot of people are concerned about the nature of the competing factions in the story - basically the 'environmentalists' are the bad guys, which is fairly unusual in my experience of the F&SF genre. This is a typical quote:

It created quite a dilemma for me - although the main character survived and saved his friends, I found myself wishing that the "bad guys" had won, and been able to keep their land and forests free from logging, etc. ( Shannon B Davis)

I think this highlights the central issue here - people are obviously not reading to be challenged, to look at things from a different perspective, but to have their current views encouraged and endorsed. It also seems to be a very common opinion that the whole plotline is some sort of parallel to the way fledgling America dealt with the Indian tribes - personally I think this is a bit of a reach, the story of a nation cut off from it's own harbours turning inland to battle an indigenous people that they've lived with, basically peacefully, for centuries, in an attempt to rebuild their own natural resources is not really analogous to a bunch of foreigners turning up on the coast and then using a combination of military muscle, betrayal and disease to exterminate a race they'd never met before through the course of three hundred years (in fact, in the book, even the disease is backwards). If it seems the same in some people's heads I suggest that's more to do with what's in their heads than what's in the book.

The other common criticism is that the protagonist is, well, a bit dull. In this case the criticism is a little more fair, but I personally didn't have too much trouble seeing him as a product of his upbringing, and I'm sure I didn't find him nearly so tedious as many others have claimed. In fact, I'm inclined to agree with this reviewer:

Excellent first book, if a bit too subtle for some readers ... I think that some of the delight of this book (and I suspect this trilogy) is watching his perceptions change as he is thrown into the "real world." (A. Galaitsis)

Overall, I liked both books, certainly I had no trouble finishing them like some of the above critics, though I also didn't stay up late into the night to read 'just one more chapter' like I'd been doing for the previous nine Robin Hobb books I'd read.

PS. What's with Amazon and this 'Real Name™' mularky? I have a real name, it doesn't belong to Amazon, why would it be a trade mark?

Top Ten Sci-Fi Books

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 01:06:29 +0000

Since everybody seems to be making lists right now, and having been inspired by some other lists, I've produced my own list - Rob's Top Ten Sci-Fi Books.

Top 50 Personal Sci-Fi Blogs

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:12:33 +0000

These things seem to be popular at the moment: the top 50 personal sci-fi blogs from author John Scalzi. The definition of 'personal' seems to have incited most of the commentary, as some quite popular and/or famous blogs have been left off the list. I bookmarked a few I liked the look of from the list and the comments.

Dusk and Summer

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 13:05:07 +0000

There's a new Dashboard Confessional album available on emusic. I've listened to it a few times now and I can't say it's gripped me yet in the same way the older albums have, but it's pleasant enough to listen to.

Why are we alone in the universe?

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:56:48 +0000

According the the story Meat, by Terry Bisson it's because we're too disgusting to know! An old story (from 1991, apparently) but entertaining.

--Edit

Cool, there's also a film

JPod

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:24:56 +0000

I'm a big fan of Douglas Coupland, so I was delighted to discover he has a new book out, JPod. From what I'd read it seemed this novel was a reworking of his classic Microserfs, which is one of my favourite books of all time, but apart from the tech/nerd characters it's not really very similar. I initially found this a bit disappointing but I think that was my expectations rather than the quality of the book, and a few hundred pages later I was engrossed (and, at times, giggling on the tube). Not so much a reworking, more of a sequel I think. The book is brazenly self referential, from the opening line of part one:

"Oh god. I feel like a refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel."

Later in the book Coupland himself makes an appearance and promptly steals the protagonist's laptop so he can make his life into a book, it's easier to steal your life than to make stuff up he tells him! So leaning towards the ironically self referential, which is quite enjoyable in it's own right, but makes this not the ideal book to introduce yourself to Coupland if you've not read his books before.

Postmodernism Generator

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 12:05:30 +0000

This is funny: The Postmodernism Generator. I got an essay entitled "The postcultural paradigm of narrative in the works of Gaiman", highlights included a long discussion on the works of Madonna:

In the works of Madonna, a predominant concept is the distinction between masculine and feminine. The subject is interpolated into a deconstructivist sublimation that includes reality as a paradox. Thus, the premise of the postcultural paradigm of narrative implies that the media is capable of intentionality, given that Sartres analysis of semiotic theory is invalid.

Unfortunately the 'permalink' feature doesn't appear to be working.

Battlestar Galactica

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:37:00 +0000

After running out of things to watch I followed a friend's recommendation and took a look at Battlestar Galactica. I have vague memories of the original series as lightweight and relatively unchallenging entertainment, with the typical pantomime view of good and evil. I have to say the new version is much better, and has the potential to be really great. The idea of introducing evolved 'human looking' Cylons was something of a masterstroke, allowing the use of real actors in the role of machines which in turn allows a lot more depth of character to be explored. Humans are no longer purely good, Cylons are no longer purely bad and there is a rich vein of 'what makes us human' to be explored in the plots. Also the monotheistic belief system of the Cylons creates some interesting possibilities when compared to the polytheistic belief system of the humans in the show, and the 'religious war' background offers some interesting links with the older show - 'we have all lived before, this has all happened before' is one of the oft repeated mantras, of both religions, which indicates a fundamental belief in reincarnation of both individuals and the entire universe. So far I don't think the show has really reached it's full potential as far as exploring these issues is concerned (I'm near the beginning of the second series) and there's an obvious risk it won't ever reach that potential before degenerating into soap opera like most long running US TV shows, but if it even stays as good as it is now for another full season it will gain a deserved place in the classics.

Wicked

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:47:00 +0000

This week I've been reading 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire. I first saw the book when I was out Christmas shopping (for me, mostly an excuse to visit bookshops) but couldn't afford it at the time, when I went back when I could afford it I couldn't remember what it was called or who it was written by... Last Saturday I spotted it in the Waterstones in North Finchley and, being conveniently flush, I purchased it and repaired immediately to the Costa next door. Since then it hasn't quite been "couldn't put it down" but every moment when I've had time to be reading I've spent engrossed in this book. As the title suggests, it is the story of the life leading up to the moment when Dorothy pours a bucket of water over the Witch, Elphaba, but it takes the black and white, good and evil morality of it's source material and turns it on its head. The Wizard is a totalitarian dictator and Elphaba a freedom fighter. Of course the ending couldn't really come as a surprise, but the story leading up to it is frequently surprising, shocking and sometimes very funny. The main themes of the book are the nature of evil and the possibility of free will, but the book manages to avoid getting bogged down in philosophy and is an excellent read as well as a thought provoking one.

Harry Potter and the half baked plot

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 22:48:06 +0000

I'm just about finished reading the new Harry Potter book for the second time, and before I go any further I'd like to point out that I liked it enough to have read it twice within two weeks of release I can't help feeling this is the first Potter book which isn't 'stand alone' - that is, there's not really enough plot in the book to keep someone reading if they didn't care overly about the major revelations going on every other chapter (ie. someone reading their first HP book). It seemed to me a bit more like "Here's all the things you're going to need to know before the final book" with a few chapters of action tacked on at the end.

Kafka on the Shore

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 23:09:00 +0000

This week I've just finished reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I actually bought the book before Christmas but it's been languishing in a Waterstones bag under a pile of other stuff at the foot of my bed until I got round to doing some tidying earlier this month.

I can now say I wish I'd tidyed up sooner! I've been a big fan of Murakami's since I read his Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World back when I was a student. His writing is clear and uncomplicated - or I should say the translations are - yet the books generally feature ordinary (if sometimes over-imaginative) people in extra-ordinary situations, and we're not contained by mere physical reality here. Oh, and cats, usually several of them.

Very real characters in very unreal situations are a feature of Kafka on the Shore, in a plot which deals with dreams, reality and destiny. And cats. If you like slightly off-beat fiction then you'll find this an excellent read.

The Decemberists

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Sat, 09 Apr 2005 19:48:49 +0000

I upgraded my EMusic account this week, so I could download an extra 25 songs a month. I've downloaded quite a few things as a result but, at the moment, my favourite has been The Decemberists, I've been listening to their album Picaresque which reminds me a bit of 90's indie band Cast.

Jennifer Government

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:10:24 +0000

This weekend I've been reading Jennifer Government by Max Barry, a satirical look at a near future world dominated by free markets and corporate greed. It was a highly entertaining and not overly heavy way to pass the time, the main characters were engaging and the plot was gripping enough to keep things moving along. Overall a recommended read. I should add, the only reason I bought the book was because I started playing Max's online game - Nation States - a few months ago, a cunning marketing strategy by the authour I think.

Manda and the Marbles

nospam@example.com (robertc) — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 22:23:47 +0000

Not posted for a while, not that anyone's reading, but just to keep things ticking over I thought I'd mention that I've been thoroughly enjoying listening to Manda and the Marbles recently. Sort of like a smoother Transvision Vamp, I downloaded the whole album from Emusic.com.