Books I Like, But Have A Hard Time Reading...

The book: An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham.

This is book 3 in the Long Price Quartet.  I bought the first two in an omnibus edition from the Science Fiction Book Club.  In fact, their non-offering of the remaining two books as an omnibus is one of the things that lead me to stop being a customer of theirs.  But that's a rant for another day.  I read the first two books and enjoyed them greatly, and never got around to reading the last two.  Until recently, when a paperback omnibus edition was released.  I requested the volume for Christmas and was fortunate enough that Mrs. S. gave it to me over the holidays.  Since it had been several years since I'd read the first two books, I re-read them to get ready for book 3.  They were very good, much as I remembered.  But looking back at my book log, it has taken my over 2 weeks to read An Autumn War.  Normally I'd read 5 - 6 books in that time period.  The book was good, but painful to read.  If I weren't such a completist when it comes to reading books, I'd have put it down and moved on long ago.  As it is, I can't bring myself to read book 4 yet.

So what happened?  Let me put forward a few ideas.  First off, the book removes the very unique magic system from the world, as the main premise of the plot.  The culture portrayed in books 1 and 2 is the sole possessor of this magic, and when it goes away, they are vulnerable to military conquest, having trusted in their magic to keep them safe for generations.  So, no cool magic = less cool story.  Next point: the book is about the attempt to militarily conquer the now defenseless society, yet the military stuff is all off stage.  Whatever gratification there is to be had from reading descriptions of battles is not present.  Mostly what we get is the POV of the leaders of both sides of the conflict, feeling guilty about doing things they feel they must, in service of the greater good.  A lot of talking, but not a lot of doing.

Anyway,  I wanted to find out what happened to the characters, and I'll eventually read book 4 for that reason, but this book just didn't hold my interest as much as the previous two.

Sidereal

The Dangers of Teaching by Analogy

S. Jr. : Mommy, do farmers maple sugar the horses the same way that they milk the cows?

Sidereal

Sidereal Jr. Discovers the Germ Theory of Disease

Upon learning that his father has an ear infection:

S. Jr.: Daddy, maybe you got germs in your ear when somebody with germs in their mouth yelled at your ear.

Sidereal

Review: Black Magic Woman, by Justin Gustainis

Black Magic Woman, by Justin Gustainis
published in 2009 by Solaris








Summary:

Quincey Morris (a descendant of the character of the same name from Dracula) is a supernatural troubleshooter, called in to handle anything from a passel of Texas vampires, to poltergeists and evil curses. After beating up on some vamps in the first chapter (which seems to have originally been a short story of its own), Morris is called upon to investigate an escalating series of supernatural seeming events afflicting a family living in small town Pennsylvania. Morris is a fairly non-magical guy with lots of expertise in the supernatural, so after a quick investigation he figures out that a powerful practitioner of black magic (the titular woman) is trying to kill the family. Realizing he is out of his league magically, he calls upon his friend, Libby Chastain, who happens to be a powerful practitioner of white magic. With Morris' help, she sets up some temporary protective wards, and then the two of them set out on a cross-country journey to identify the bad witch and stop her.

Morris and Chastian tracking down their opponent is the main storyline, but an almost completely unrelated storyline is formed when a practitioner of evil magic from southern Africa arrives in the U.S. on a commission to create a powerful, evil magical artifact from the hearts of innocent children. An African-American FBI agent and a visiting South African agent (from their version of the X-Files) spend about half the book chasing down the serial killer of small children. The FBI agent plays the role of Scully, slowly being awakened to the supernatural while he tries to track down the killer.

Mild spoiler alert:

The two storylines almost, but not quite come together, when it is revealed (early on) that the evil African magician is working for the black witch who is tormenting the Pennsylvania family for personal reasons unrelated to her desire to obtain the evil magical artifact.

My Opinion:

I liked this book, even though there are some serious flaws in it.

1) The main bad guy, the evil witch, is supposed to be a powerful descendant of a long line of powerful, evil witches. She has a long term plan to become a Major Player in the supernatural underworld, but risks it all in order to carry out a 3 century old family vendetta (against the people who hire Quincey Morris). This results in Quincey Morris being brought into the picture and ends up ruining her plans. The bad guys behave systematically stupid, which allows the good guys to catch them.

2) The two storylines (Morris-Chastain and the child serial killer) don't quite come together in a satisfactory way. Either one by itself would have made a good novel, but to me they don't quite fit right together.

What I liked: Well, I liked all the good-guy characters. I am very fond of repurposing, or building upon pieces of classic novels, so the whole idea of Quincey Morris was the reason I bought the book. I also liked the two law enforcement agents of the second storyline. Their characters worked well together, and I hope Gustainis considers writing a book about their adventures.

The world building seems very standard urban-fantasy, though without a strong romantic component. What I liked very much was that Quincey Morris is very much a non-supernatural actor, who happens to have a lot of knowledge about the supernatural world. Gustainis is very clever in having Morris adapt modern technology to the myths of the various supernatural beings Morris encounters.

The Roundup:

Fun book, could have been better, will probably get the next book in the series, Evil Ways, eventually. I'd probably have it already if these books were sold in an e-book format that my Kindle can handle.

Next: The Detective Inspector Chen novels by Liz Williams.

Sidereal

What Other People Have to Say about Black Magic Woman:

A review at the Love Vampires Site.

Flynn Gallagher's review at the Internet Review of Science Fiction

Jackie at Literary Escapism

A review at The Dark Phantom Review

Review: The Last Colony, by John Scalzi

The Last Colony, by John Scalzi, published in 2007 by Tor Books







Summary:

The main character of each of the two previous novels in the "Old Man's War" series are reunited in The Last Colony: John Perry and Jane Sagan. John has retired from the Colonial military and has been given a new civilian body (pretty much like normal humans, as opposed to military bodies, which feature all sorts of upgrades). Jane has retired form the Special Forces (meaning she is a clone grown from a dead volunteer's DNA and has spent her entire 10 years of life as a soldier), and is also given a civilian body. John and Jane have married, and are minor members of the bureaucracy in the local government on a peaceful colony world. Together they are raising an adopted daughter, Zoë.

Towards the beginning of the novel, John and Jane are approached by the Colonial government and asked to serve as the leaders of a brand new colony being planned on a world the Colonials have traded for from another alien species. In this series, interstellar civilizations compete fiercely for inhabitable worlds to colonize, very frequently resulting in all out warfare. To obtain a new world without fighting is almost unheard of, so everyone is eager for the new colony to succeed.

Herein follows minor spoilers:

Immediately upon arrival, things go wrong, beginning with the fact that they arrive at the wrong planet. This is followed by the fact that the Colonial government lied to the new colonists and sent them to the wrong planet on purpose. This is followed by the fact that a brand new interstellar, interspecies government (that humans refused to join) has declared an immediate moratorium on all new colonies and actively hunts new colonies down and destroys them. Which is further followed by the fact that the Colonial government "let slip" the existence of the new colony on purpose to try to undermine the authority of the new interstellar, interspecies government. On top of all this, the planetary survey the humans did prior to colonization was incomplete and hasty and the planet has dangers that the colonists are only just discovering. And John and Jane, as representatives (and dupes) of the Colonial government, are perceived by their fellow colonists as liars and their authority as leaders of the colony is undermined.

My Opinion:

An interesting story, but not as fun as the two previous books. (See my review of Old Man's War.) There is much less emphasis on military action, so fans of military SF might feel shorted here. There is lots of political intrigue, both at the interstellar level and at the level of the new colony itself. This I like. We also get a more nuanced view of the relations between humans (led by the Colonial government) and other alien species. Some species consider humans to be the scum of the galaxy! And they may not be that wrong! There are a few points that didn't quite work for me, including a heavily played up threat to the colonists on their new homeworld which is never quite resolved and then conveniently disappears for the rest of the book when the "A" plot picks up more steam.

The Roundup:

A fun book to read. I am not disappointed to have given the author and his publishers my money, and I hope they view my purchase as incentive to produce further good works. This book was read by me on my Kindle, and I never would have purchased it had tor.com not offered Old Man's War for free a while back. This single free e-book has lead to the purchase of two more Scalzi books, whic I hope is viewed as incentive to offer further free e-books for established authors with popular series in print.

Next up: Black Magic Woman, by Justin Gustainis

Sidereal

What other people have to say about The Last Colony:

John DeNardo at SF Signal

A review by Russ Allbery

Rick Kleffel at The Agony Column book reviews

lorin_arch at arch thinking

gav at NextRead

Wherein a Prolonged Absence Is Explained, at least Partially, with a Further Promise of Better Behaviour

..... and I woke up in a bathtub full of ice, and all my hair was missing!

Eh, okay not really. I fell into a space-time vortex and only recently returned from an alternate reality where George H.W. Bush's son was the President of the U.S.A.

Okay, not really either, though I wish..... Actually it was the confluence of being really busy at work and re-reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. That's been discussed so much on the Internet already that its not really worth saying anything here. Except, damn -- cutting out that whole Faile-Shaido thing and the Bowl of the Winds could have saved three whole books, and perhaps enough trees to cover the entire state of New Jersey.

Next up, a review of The Last Colony, by John Scalzi.

Sidereal

New Word: malsearchification

malsearchification: noun. The use of another person's browser to conduct an embarrassing Internet search. This is most often done at work, when discovery of such a search on one's own web browser might lead to ridicule, humiliation, or legal action.

a visual example of a result from a malsearchification.

Sidereal

Further Conversations with Sidereal Jr.

Wherein my 4 year old son rediscovers Plato's Theory of Forms.


S. Jr. : I love pancakes. They're so pancakey!

Sidereal

New Word: coaster nazi

coaster nazi: noun. a person who insists upon placing a coaster under your drink, no matter what. A coaster nazi will surreptitiously slip a small disk beneath someone's cup, glass, mug, stein, chalice, grail or beaker, unless the opportunity presents itself to "out" the offender in the loudest way possible and thereby introduce a parable in which the damage inflicted by excessive moisture upon a wooden surface leads to an environmental catastrophe that renders the Earth inhospitable to life.

Coaster nazis can usually be identified by a disproportionately high number of coasters relative to the number of horizontal surfaces in their homes that are large enough to support a drinking vessel of any type. Other signs include a tendency to secrete coasters (or in extreme cases, napkins) on their persons, or limited kleptomania, exhibited only in bars, and focused totally on those small cardboard coasters with beer brand logos on them.

Sidereal

Conversation with Siderealette

In which my two year old daughter is proven to be more intelligent than every living Republican......

Siderealette: Daddy, big cars bad de Earf.


Sidereal

Someone Who Just Doesn't Get It

From an interview on time.com, with a British political journalist named Dennis Sewell, who has written a book on the influence of Darwin's theory of evolution on politics:

All things considered, do you believe Darwin was a great luminary in the path of human progress?
What has the theory of evolution done for the practical benefit of humanity? It's helped our understanding of ourselves, yet compared to, say, the discovery of penicillin or the invention of the World Wide Web, I wonder why Darwin occupies this position at the pinnacle of esteem. I can only imagine he has been put there by a vast public relations exercise.

This is what happens when supposedly educated people don't receive enough education in science. While it is certainly one motivation of science to produce inventions (e.g. ones that allow uninformed journalists spout off on topics on which they don't know very much and can't be bothered to actually reseach), the first and foremost goal of science is to explain things. Darwin "occupies this position at the pinnacle of esteem" because he provided an explanation that, in turn, provides a framework for understanding how nearly every biological thing you see around you got the way it is. On top of being a very profound explanation of the nature living organisms, Darwin's theory helps us understand important, practical things like the emergence of strains of diseases that resist antibiotics, and drives our understanding of the applications of things like genetics in the natural world.

In my mind, what this guy is saying is the equivalent of saying: "What's the big deal with Newton, it's not like he invented the Ipod or anything."

Sidereal

Books I Read in July: Wherein I Partially Catch-up with My Blog After An Eventful Summer

In July we have seven books, though five of them are in two separate series compilations put out by the Science Fiction Book Club. These kinds of volumes are the best thing the SFBC does, and I've pretty much reduced my purchases from them to these sorts of compilations. This is mostly because single volume books from them are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, and they take up too much space. So, if you are listening SFBC people, more multi-volume compilations, please!

The Audran Sequence -- George Alec Effinger: 7/7/09 - 7/18/09

This is a SFBC compilation of three excellent novels originally published in the mid 80s - early 90s: When Gravity Fails; A Fire in the Sun; and The Exile Kiss. I read them when they first came out, and jumped at the chance to own them in a nicer format. They're sort of Arabic-cyberpunk-hardboiled crime-soap opera novels.

Virga 1.2 -- Karl Schroeder: 7/19/09 - 7/26/09

Another SFBC compilation, this time of two novels: Sun of Suns; and Queen of Candesce. The world is a gigantic gasbag where people sail around on currents generated by hot air. Sort of like Congress... Awesome adventure tales filled with cool SFnal ideas.

The Vondish Ambassador -- Lawrence Watt-Evans: 7/26/09 - 7/26/09

A naive ambassador from an obscure land comes to the court of the ruler of the world's most important city with a secret mission. Coming off the boat, he hires the first dude he sees as his assistant. The world's most incompetent spies try to stop him. Hijinks ensue.

Star Dragon -- Mike Brotherton: 7/30/09 - 8/3/09

Oh, hey, we just found the only known life forms outside of our solar system living on the surface of a nearby star! Let's send a crew of psychopaths on a nuclear armed spacecraft to go see if these unique beings are worth exploiting commerically. Oh yeah, the trip takes years (sorry, no FTL here!) and the only forms of recreation for the crew are boning each other and extreme cosmetic body modifications. Ugh, stay away from this book.

So, seven books, 5 as SFBC multi-volume compilations, and two on the Kindle (the last two onthe list, in case you weren't keeping track). A good month for reading books in alternatee formats.

Sidereal

New Word: facon

Facon: noun. a substance assuming bacon-like qualities (e.g. coloration, shape, texture) without capturing any of the true essence of bacon.

Examples:

and

Sidereal

WWJB (Who Would Jesus Bill?)

For all my fellow citizens (notice how I didn't refer to you as my fellow taxpayers?) who are of right leaning political persuasions and who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, I have the following questions:

When Jesus healed the sick, did he check first for proof of insurance? To whom did He send His bill?

Sidereal

New Word: fixel

Fixel: noun. a fixture element. The fix for a problem the requires the least possible amount of work. Sometimes fixels do not actually solve the problem, but give the appearance of having solved the problem, at least for long enough time that the responsible party can flee the scene.

Many common fixels involve the liberal application of duct tape, or wood putty, or baby wipes, or all three simultaneously. IT personnel often use the word "workaround" as a synonym for fixel.

Sidereal

A Failure of Truth in Advertising.

I have a hard time taking anyone with this license plate on their car seriously, as the residents of the state of New Hampshire failed to collectively off themselves at any time between 2001 and 2009.

Sidereal

Further Conversations with Sidereal Jr.

In which an alternate explanation for the disappearance of the dinosaurs is posited.....

S. Jr.: Daddy, are the dinosaurs all gone from the Earth?

S.: Yes, they are.

S. Jr.: Are they dead?

S.: Yes, they died a long, long time ago.

S. Jr.: Why are they all dead?

S.: I don't know. Maybe they got sick?

S. Jr.: Or maybe they all went to the Sun!

He's at the forefront of both astronomy and paleology!

Sidereal

Books I Read in June

Okay, so July was pretty much a loss as far as blogging goes. But at least I was active in ways that were financially rewarding. And I managed to do a lot of reading. But first I need to cover June's reading list, so here goes, along with the usual comments of varying degrees of snark:

Poison Sleep -- T.A. Pratt: 6/3/09 - 6/4/09

Good book. Bad dreams become real as living nightmares walk the streets. The Forces of Good must stand together to defeat Evil once and for all. No, wait a minute, that sounds like our world, from January 2001 to January 2009.... At least in our world the Forces of Good finally triumphed.

Dead Reign -- T.A. Pratt: 6/5/09 - 6/6/09

Death comes calling, literally. And what's worse, he wants Marla Mason to return his magic Swiss Army Knife of Doooooom! But without it she can't be the top dog sorceress anymore. Plot ensues.

Spell Games -- T.A. Pratt: 6/7/09 - 6/8/09

Marla's dead beat brother comes looking her up wanting to patch up their bad relationship. And the fact that she's now fabulously wealthy has nothing to do with it, no sirree. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the fungus god of the Pacific Northwest (ahh, that explains Starbucks.....) decides to invade Marla's city in search of magic mushroom spores.

Daemons are Forever -- Simon R. Green: 6/9/09 - 6/11/09

Number two in Green's series about Eddie Drood, magical secret agent whose family has been protecting us from Lovecraftian horrors for centuries, while also exploiting us lesser mortals. Despite the fact that all the entries in this series so far have been puns on the titles of James Bond novels, they have absolutely none of the feel of Bond, at least the movie version.

The Sharing Knife: Passage -- Lois McMaster Bujold: 6/12/09 - 6/15/09

I get the feeling that I read this book back in third grade, when we covered settling of the Midwest USA, only back then it didn't have a 60 year old guy shacking up with an underage girl.
If you liked the first two, you'll probably like this one.

Ragamuffin -- Tobias Buckell: 6/19/09 - 6/22/09

More good space Jamaicans only this time they are versus fewer evil space Aztecs, but have some eeevil space Chinese to be versus against. It is a follow-up to Crystal Rain, and has some of the same characters, but they show up only about halfway through the book. Ragamuffin really expands Buckell's future history, and it has a pretty unique feel to it. Recommended.

Sideways in Crime -- ed. Lou Anders: 6/25/09 - 7/6/09

An anthology of mostly good alternate history crime stories. In some cases the term "crime story" is pretty loosely defined, but that's okay. I heard somewhere that the publishers went ahead with this book only after shooting down the companion book: Sideways in Dentistry.


So, seven books in June. Not bad. Of the seven, the first four were read on my Kindle. The first three of those were purchased directly as a result of reading the first book in the series as a free e-book. Ragamuffin was also bought because I enjoyed the first book for free. Sadly in the case of Ragamuffin, books 1 and 3 can be had in e-book form, but not book 2. But four sales made directly as a result of free e-books, in June alone. I hope all your marketing people are taking notes.....

Sidereal

Why the Republican Party Sucks: Part 3 of an Inifinite Part Series

Just wondering......

How many of those Republicans in Congress who are opposed to allowing their employers (i.e. ordinary Americans) a "government option" for health care have voluntarily given up the "government option" health care plan that their employers (i.e. ordinary Americans) are providing for members of Congress. One would think that if the "government option" is so bad then the Republicans in Congress would not avail themselves of it, insure themselves privately, and save their employers (i.e. ordinary Americans) the expense of insuring them.

Imagine the tax cut that could be passed along to ordinary Americans if the millionaire lawyers who take up so much space in Congress just paid for their own health care!

Just wondering.....

Sidereal

Review: Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, published in 2008 by Night Shade Books.







Summary:

A pirate themed anthology of original science fiction and fantasy stories. Story titles follow, along with my opinion of each one:

1. Boojum, by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette: good
2. Castor on Troubled Waters, by Rhys Hughes: bad
3. I Begyn as I Mean To Go On, by Kage Baker: OK
   
4. Avast, Abaft!, by Howard Waldrop: bad
   
5. Elegy to Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores and Righteous Thieves, by Kelly Barnhill: good, but insufficiently piratical
6. Skillet and Saber, by Justin Howe: OK
   
7. The Nymph's Child, by Carrie Vaughn: OK, but insufficiently piratical
   
8. 68d 07m 15sN, 31d 36m 44sW by Conrad Williams: bad
   
9. Ironface, by Michael Moorcock: bad
   
10. Pirate Solutions, by Katherine Sparrow: bad and insufficiently piratical
    
11. We Sleep on a Thousand Waves Beneath the Stars, by Brendan Connell: OK
    
12. Voyage of the Iguana, by Steve Aylett: bad
    
13. Pirates of the Suara Sea, by David Freer and Eric Flint: good
    
14. A Cold Day in Hell, by Paul Batteiger: excellent
    
15. The Adventures of Captain Black Heart Wentworth, by Rachel Swirsky: bad
    
16. Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake, by Naomi Novik: good
    
17. The Whale Below, by Jayme Lynn Blaschke: excellent
    
18. Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Skarskoe, by Garth Nix: excellent
    

My Opinion:

It's a tough call -- IMHO there are a lot of turkeys herein, stories that just aren't about pirates at all, or are about ex-pirates, or the children of ex-pirates, neither of whom are having piratical adventures. And some stories that are about pirates, but which are just plain bad. On the other hand, some of the stories are very good.

The first one, Boojum, tells the story of a living pirate vessel which sails a future solar system in which Lovecraft's Mi-Go patrol interplanetary space. Elegy.... is a wonderfully written story, but it felt a bit out of place, given my expectations of swashbuckling adventure stories. The Nymph's Child was a bit the same way, but not quite as well done. Pirates of the Suara Sea, and The Whale Below both succeed by merging a more traditional sort of pirate tale with science fictional trappings. A Cold Day in Hell features a naval officer on a hunt for a reknown pirate who terrorizes the American coast during the golden days of piracy -- only in this alternate version of our world, an ice age has begun to settle in on the world, and ships can only sail the seas rigged with skates for racing across the ice. Araminta is a secondary world fantasy wherein the titular heroine uses magic and her superior wits to survive at sea. The star of the anthology has to be the very last tale, Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Skarskoe, which appears to feature characters that the author, Garth Nix, has written about before. Here Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz masquerade as pirates, join a pirate crew, and manipulate the pirates into assisting them on their quest. I'm definitely interesting in looking up some of Nix's other work now, to see what I've been missing.

The Roundup:

There are enough good stories here for me to recommend looking this book up in the library. I wouldn't buy it, unless you are a pirate fanatic, or just really, really like anthologies.

Sidereal

What other people have to say about Fast Ships. Black Sails:

Richard Larson at Strange Horizons

Brad Moon at Wired

Fabio Fernandes at The Fix

Charles A. Tan at Bibliophile Stalker