Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Experience

2012 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:30:00.004-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
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Kelly Link
"Two Houses"
© 2012, "Shadow Show: All New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury"
ed. by Sam Weller & Mort Castle
Get in Trouble, 2015
--short story : 2013 Locus Poll
--short story : 2013 Shirley Jackson award
--2016 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction
--/ third place space sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ emotion award
--/ shock value

from Eugenia Williamson's review in Boston Globe:

"Among the best stories in “Get In Trouble” the new collection from the inimitable Kelly Link, is “Two Houses.” In it, a group of multinational astronauts from the future hurtles toward Proxima Centauri, a journey that will take them hundreds of years, during which the voyagers go to sleep for long lengths of time. Their vessel, a ship called House of Secrets, runs on a vaguely sinister operating system named Maureen. It puts the astronauts to sleep, wakes them up, conjures synthetic food for their meals, and fills their heads with fanciful hallucinations almost indistinguishable from real life... Within this realm — one somewhere between full consciousness and dreaming — she conjures a ridiculously brilliant tale utterly devoid of technical details or anything else that might free the reader from Link’s thrall. The astronauts decide to celebrate their wakefulness by telling ghost stories, one of which involves a terrifying conceptual art installation far creepier than any work as yet to be made in the real world."

Perfect recreation of Ray Bradbury's mood and atmosphere of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" in space / generation spaceship setting.

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2008 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:28:00.004-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
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Reviews by Avi Abrams

Jeff VanderMeer
"The Situation"
© 2008, PS Publishing
--/ third place f novelette
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ emotion award

Jeff VanderMeer is not a pirate (swashbuckler, filibustier, rogue), nor is he a squid researcher, or a mushroom grower (though some of his writings may suggest all that, given their ferocious weirdness). He is, however, a damn good writer, who can easily cram a juicy epic into a thin sliver of a book: in this case, a 50-page worth Situation.

Somewhat reminiscent of Vernor Vinge's novella "The Monster Cookie", this particularly steamy slice of corporate Gormenghast for the economy-plagued America provides plenty of emotional harakiri and gut-spilling visual thrills... it crawls around the astonished reader like a mishapen beetle (complete with the grotesque patterns on its carapace and clockwork-sounding clicks). At any point in time this novella seems to have enough potential to be turned into a full-blown 500-page paperback slab, but Jeff Vandermeer never makes this "Alienation in the Workforce" any longer than it needs to be. He lets it lie where it may (using the long-forgotten art form of understatement) - and boy, does the whole thing curl around your subconscious in deliciously disturbing ways!

Suffice it to say that anybody who's been slighted by the benefits-rich corporate culture, or has ever caught a whiff of something rotten emanating from the CEO's office (the Chairmen of the Board abide in a sort of a metaphysical tower and seem to be of insectoid, slug, or worse nature) - anybody who felt the foreboding of CHANGE ready to percolate down the managerial chain... anybody who was strangled creatively or artistically in the name of Almighty Routine... these readers would really appreciate the bizarre Kafka-esque environment of the "Situation", and may cherish it as a sort of confessional, akin to a conversation with a wise (if somewhat mischievous) priest at an altar. The words of wisdom seem to be "Get Out! While you can, and leave your red stapler behind" - but there is more to the particular kind of doom which Jeff VanderMeer carefully measures out. The unavoidable outcome of being fired seems almost a happy ending to a progression of humiliation and defeat.

So in a way, this is a quest, only in reverse. The happy start of the story occurred somewhere during the peaceful "belonging" stage of being gainfully employed. But when the situation developed, everything turned into a bloody, fleshy, surreal set-up (think of "Existenz" movie, or J. G. Ballard's particularly weird nightmares). With the final page the reader can expect to be emotionally exhausted, greatly desiring more details, and only getting fifty pages worth of text. Kind of like Harlan Ellison's angriest (and most laconic) best. Good things come in small packages, indeed.

Download the full text online here, read about the circumstances of how it was written in Jeff's interview on DRB, or order the book at PS Publishing site.

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Jeff VanderMeer
"Secret Lives" (coll)
© 2008, Prime Books
--/ fourth place f collection
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award

Speaking of Harlan Ellison's "angry candies", or his "From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet", here we have a similarly delicious set - a short collection (little more than 100 pages) of themed stories, vignettes of the secret lives of various quite ridiculous, or utterly boring characters. This is a gauntlet thrown in the face of each of us: "Hey there, do YOU have a secret worth of writing about?" My completely uneducated guess would be that most people lead some sort of secret life, even if known only to the powers above. Admit it, or not, this is a voyaristic bliss package, capable to illuminate your boring life with rays of unadulterated lunacy, even if said lunacy is only a product of Jeff VanderMeer's mind.

This book takes my pick as the most intriguing and under-appreciated publishing event of the year (it even has a strange, unaccounted story on the other side of the cover). Don't try to search for it in your cavernous Borders store, and don't confuse this book with Jeff's previously-issued collection "Secret Life". You can order a copy through the Prime Books website.

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Jack O'Connell
"The Resurrectionist" (nv)
© 2008, Algonquin Books
--/ fourth place f novel
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ emotion award

Themes of redemption and forgiveness glow throughout the fabric of this essentially noir narrative, melding together two wildly separate storylines - one half of this novel can be enjoyed as a dark paranormal medical thriller (channeling the best of Dean R. Koontz or Robin Cook), and the other half is a rich, colorful trip down Ray Bradbury lane (or more recently, Katherine Dunn's surreal world of "Geek Love"): following a group of sideshow freaks on their way across darkly-shaded land to find their true selves - the lyrical, sad tone enriches the visions of the grotesque and finds a way to the reader's heart, to the point that this "Limbo" part of the story can be considered a masterpiece of "New Weird" in its own right.

Not all is seamless in this book (this is partly why it reads like a wildly swerving motorbike ride). Some parts of the novel seem jumbled together like jigsaw puzzle pieces that do not quite fit, but are forced in anyway. For example, the ending contains some deep allusions and metaphors that ask to be expanded upon, and the final pages come way too quickly - one is left with half-substantiated emotions and unsatisfied longings, which might even be termed as sheer "confusion"... but, boy, does this novel reads like melancholy Bradbury sometimes! Some critics say that The Resurrectionist "transcends reality and redefines noir"; I would not go that far, but I have to admit that I was entirely charmed by the protagonist's story and lovable freaks' encounters with ruthless people and cruel landscapes... The book leaves a solid bittersweet aftertaste, prompting long reflection on themes of identity, grace and redemption - a lingering and haunting effect.

"Part classic noir thriller, part mind-bending fantasy, The Resurrectionist is a wild ride into a territory where nothing is as it appears. It is the story of Sweeney, a druggist by trade, and his son, Danny, the victim of an accident that has left him in a persistent coma. Hoping for a miracle, they have come to the forbidding, fortresslike Peck Clinic, whose doctors claim to have “resurrected” other patients who were lost in the void. What Sweeney comes to realize, however, is that the real cure for his son’s condition may lie in Limbo, a fantasy comic book world into which his son had been drawn at the time of his accident. Plunged into the intrigue that envelops the clinic, Sweeney’s search for answers leads to sinister back alleys, brutal dead ends, and terrifying corners of darkness and mystery."

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2007 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:27:00.004-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
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Michael Chabon
"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" (nv)
© 2007, Fourth Estate / Harper Collins
--novel : 2008 Hugo W
--novel : 2008 Nebula W
--second place : 2008 Campbell Memorial/2
--sf novel : 2008 Locus W
--novel : 2008 British SF
--long form : 2008 Sidewise W
--/ second place "alternate history" sf novel
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ emotion award
--/ mystery award

A simply astonishing achievement. The novel is a gut-wrenching, soul-churning, emotional wreck, bringing to mind some Harlan Ellison's "phantasmagorical" hara-kiris - combined with Raymond Chandler, no less. The idea that Jewish people would end up in Alaska instead of Israel, is preposterous and yet... strangely plausible; the mystery plot is engaging (though somewhat blurry in places, as though seen through a swirling Northern fog), the writing style is incisive and sublime - even laconic, but never lacking in subtle poetry and realism. In fact, the weird characters inhabiting this novel are sometimes too real for comfort - with others taken from a lurid roster of pulp fiction heroes - and indeed they all create a marvelous mess, which only a true Messiah can possibly redeem.

If you can stomach the idea of universal angst blown to alternate-history proportions, and if you can catch the typically Jewish sense of optimism against the overwhelmingly miserable odds (in this book's brightest moments), then ‘The Yiddish Policemen’s Union’ will become the most memorable reading event of the year. Trust me, it's that good. Audacious! Atrocious! Brilliant!

(review by Avi Abrams)
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2006 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:23:00.005-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
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Alastair Reynolds
"Weather"
(Revelation Space series)
© Galactic North, 2006
--/ third place space sf story
--/ adventure award
--/ wonder award
--/ awesome scale

This is as straight-forward story as you can get: a simple space piracy potboiler, with classic set pieces and predictable special effects. None of the above constitutes a bad thing, though. Space piracy stories historically have been frowned upon by all kinds of critics, dismissed en masse as juvenile and unoriginal. Well, what can we say? other than: pirates are supposed to have a bad rap, unless they are of the kind that "don't do anything".

More often, though, pirates and their lifestyle represent the most romantic environment that a writer can possibly come up with. Problem is, NONE of the great space piracy stories were properly reprinted, or marketed, and so they are virtually unknown as a result. Have you read (or even heard about) Edwin K. Sloat's "Beyond the Planetoids" (1932)? Or Edmond Hamilton's "The Three Planeteers"? I bet you have not... but now you can at least read this little "potboiler" to get a good taste of what "piracy of the spaceways" adventure is all about.

A perfectly simple storyline is all that is needed here: bravery, thrilling battles, testing of the corsair's wits and space engines, with an added exotic (though not really romantic) interest and a geeky fascination with huge unfathomable space drives - all very straight-forward and cute. Very pleasurable narrative from a writer who's not afraid to enter forbidden (even if deemed to be "cheesy") territories and to bring out cool cinematic adventures.
(review by Avi Abrams)

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Charles Stross
"Missile Gap"
© Subterranean Press, 2006
--novella : 2007 Locus Award
--/ third place time sf novel
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award: Cold War exploration in an infinite world.
--/ awesome scale

There is a deep primal fear in all of us - of a totalitarian state, waging perpetual inhuman war. We've seen other great treatments of this theme, such as the third part "Cannon Fodder" of the "Memories" anime masterpiece, various dark dystopias of brothers Arkady & Boris Strugatski, and Cold War paranoias of Phillip K. Dick. It has become a marketable fictional environment, almost a sub-genre. Make our skin crawl with subliminal intimations of a "low-flying heavy bomber" kind, or invoke our deeply-ingrained dread of totalitarian shabby lifestyle - and we are hooked to consume another slice of commercialized paranoia. In this case, though, the writer is Stross (in his cool-hat mode), so we are bound to expect some surprises. And we are not disappointed. Stross goes beyond simple Cold War extrapolation into a deep, dark and cosmologically mysterious territory.

(one of the concept drawings for "Cannon Fodder")

Even though I classified "Missile Gap" as a "time-themed" novella, technically it's not about time-travel, or alternate histories. The concept is significantly more twisted, almost as wild as "The Inverted World" by Christopher Priest - a bizarre piece of world-building that cries out to be animated by Hayao Miyazaki. The story is far from complete, however, and the novella is just too short to give justice to Stross' brave world-building: it reads like a rough script, a promotional piece for some movie producer, it lacks depth, emotional and character muscle, perhaps it even lacks SOUL. As such, it might've been relegated to the comic or manga pile, but still... still... the idea of that story speaks to me on so many levels that all other shortcomings are forgotten. Besides, as someone noted in the comments on Stross' site: "No! No sequels! A sequel implies a future, and a future implies hope, and hope is not consistent with the Missile Gap message."

"It's 1976 again. Abba are on the charts, the Cold War is in full swing — and the Earth is flat. It’s been flat ever since the eve of the Cuban war of 1962; and the constellations overhead are all wrong. Beyond the Boreal ocean, strange new continents loom above tropical seas, offering a new start to colonists like newly-weds Maddy and Bob, and the hope of further glory to explorers like ex-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin: but nobody knows why they exist, and outside the circle of exploration the universe is inexplicably warped."

I am surprised that this mind-trip did not win any major awards the moment critics sunk their teeth into it. It's somehow unthinkable that any work of Stross or Gibson would languish without awards. I mean they must mint these awards in advance with "Charles Stross" already engraved on them. (OK, it's just wishful thinking, the Universe can not be that spontaneously cool, yet). Get that book just for the pleasure of reading how the first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin sets to explore the infinite ocean (every planet in the Universe turned flat, you see) inside a giant "ekranoplan" ground-effect vehicle. (a larger version of this)

review: 15-Jan-08 (read in 2007)
Read more reviews for this writer

You can also read the whole novella online here

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Will Elliott
"The Pilo Family Circus" (nv)
© 2006, Allen & Unwin
--horror novel : 2007 Aurealis W (tie)
--novel : 2007 Ditmar W
--novel : 2007 Int. Horror Guild

Clowns, madness and mayhem - but we saw all this in the "Dark Knight" already, didn't we? I've had enough psychotic clowns rammed down my throat this year, thank you. Critics are quite happy about this book - "an entertaining mixture of Palahnuik and David Lynch" - but I found out that I am allergic to demonic clowns and black comedy of this sort is largely lost on me (too obvious?).

In Australia this book co-won the Aurealis for best horror, won the Golden Aurealis for best novel, the Australian Shadows Award, the Ditmar, the ABC fiction award and the Sydney Morning Herald 'Best Young Novelist of the Year' Award, was also short-listed for the 2007 International Horror Guild Award - the consensus is overwhelmingly positive, even though the clowns are intensely gaudy and disturbing, and there is no escaping them.

"Jamie is plunged into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between hell and earth from which humankind's greatest tragedies have been perpetrated. Yet in this place peopled by the gruesome, grotesque and monstrous, where violence and savagery are the norm, Jamie finds that his worst enemy is himself-for when he applies the white face paint, he is transformed into JJ, the most vicious clown of all. And JJ wants Jamie dead...."

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ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE, JUNE 2006
- Read the full story-by-story review! Click here

James Patrick Kelly
"The Leila Torn Show"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ cool media sf story
--/ idea award: sentient TV shows

Hmm... the future of show-business is "TV shows with personalities of their own", who bargain with actors and higher powers for better plot lines and ratings - I must admit it is an entirely possible development, as the computer simulated realities might (just might) develop their own artificial intelligences and character types, and set out to conquer virtual (and real) worlds. One of the most original ideas to come by in a long while, but overall impression from this story is marred by an ambitious and "over-the-top" writing.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Jack Skillingstead
"Life on the Preservation"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ cool time sf story

One of the few survivors of post-apocalyptic world is sent on a mission to destroy Seattle, which is nicely preserved in the past, but can not quite bring herself to do it, tasting sublime pleasures of the Pacific Northwest, San Juan Islands and overall ambience of the "Emerald City". I would totally agree with her, as Seattle area is one of my most favorite places to visit. Joking aside, I thought the story is mediocre; it did not do anything for me.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Scott William Carter
"The Tiger in the Garden"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ cool sf story

"A constable on a poor, out-of-the-way planet, is expecting a government Agent, an alien with unpleasant appearance and even worse personality. He is there to apprehend a terrorist..." Well, this story left me cold.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Matthew Johnson
"The Ninth Part of Desire"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ cool sf story

This is "Astounding / Analog" idea-type story, which tells about simulating emotions by chemical and computer means.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Ian Creasey
"The Edge of the Map"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award

In a world overrun with computerized nano-cameras, recording the whole sum of Earth events for the benefit of blogging crowds and news industry, only ONE place has been left out - not covered by the cameras. As you might expect, soon all mysterious and fantasy elements of our world are taking refuge there, and on top of that, the whole spot (called "The Weird") disappears with an act of observation, like a quantum entity governed by "uncertainty principle". I loved this idea - one could make a glorious fantasy adventure out of it; but it gets under-developed and unexciting treatment in this story. It's really too bad. Michael Swanwick should collaborate on this idea with his stylistic flair, and a ghost of Henry Kuttner should supply an exciting plot.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Robert Reed
"Eight Episodes"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ cool sf story

A curious story, written as a critic's evaluation of little-known TV series, which lasted only eight episodes - but the last episode reveals that the series is a message from an "almost-microscopic" alien spaceship to humankind. There is also some discussion about validity of exploring other worlds, and rarity of intelligent life in the Universe. Overall, this story had a minimal effect on me, which is surprising, considering Robert Reed's standards.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Rudy Rucker
"Chu and the Nants"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ third place apocalyptic sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ awesome scale

Profoundly wild story, starting in subdued "trans-real" (read Dick' paranoidal) mode, and growing into one of the most visually mind-blowing stories in years. It even includes a current political commentary (kind of a farce, taking "right-wing" stereotypes to the extreme) - the story swims in a black humour like a sugared plum in a Black Russian cocktail, very stylish and ripe with all kinds of possibilities. Take this: nanobots are disassembling Mars into super- giga- computer (while Earth's dumb government is hoping to retain control over it when it's finished and make it to broadcast giant (orbit-wide) ads across the sky, among other things.) The orbit-sized computer soon stops doing that and transforms into a higher being, hungering for more real-estate, namely Earth. Splendid nano-cataclysm ensues, with haunting images of disintegrating reality - saved by an idiot-savant and an unknown variable of a character. This story could have easily been written by Philip K. Dick himself, I enjoyed it tremendously.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Beth Bernobich
"A Flight of Numbers Fantastique Strange"
© IASFM, Jun 2006
--/ fourth place time sf novella
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award

Very original novella, with wildly imaginative premise (numbers have a certain characteristics beyond "just mathematics", prime numbers especially approach personality-like complexity and are able to affect the flow of alternative time streams - an idea similar to numerology, but combined with speculation on time/space fabric' properties). An interesting Victorian background, lyrical prose and a deceptively quiet mystery plot add to reader's enjoyment of this stand-out and truly original SF story in recent years.
review: 23-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Overall strong issue, with emphasis on multi-media and mathematics. Good variety, and of course an unexpected "nutty" tale of Rudy Rucker which (predictably) made my day.

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2005 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:17:00.007-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
2005: January
Read other issues here

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Alastair Reynolds
"Pushing Ice" (nv)
(Spican Structure # 1)
© Gollanz, 2005
--novel : 2005 Arthur Clarke Award
--/ second place space sf novel
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ idea award: cosmic structure
--/ awesome scale

A major space adventure that I've been hungering for. All the classic wonder and meta-galactic scale, all the tension and beauty of space exploration are here, plus believable human characters, and drama. Not ideal writing, mind you (a little dry - could welcome more polished, soaring style), but adequate enough to keep me enthralled for some time.

My review of this would be biased, I suppose, as most of the book's action unfolded inside my head, enhancing the prose (I am happened to be blessed with a vivid imagination), and the boundless vistas from this book will easily give Hollywood a run for its money. But first, it all starts as a gritty, tough adventure story, claustrophobic even: most action happens inside the ship chasing a runaway planet, while its crew feels trapped and entangled in their own petty fights. Then the book focuses solely on human conflict, and the evil corporate types start springing to life with astonishing clarity (perhaps Reynolds drew on his own experiences in a cubicle "Office Space" phase of his career?)

The perspectives and the landscapes begin to widen again, once our tough miners land on the artificial alien planet (which turns out to be Janus, the ice-clad moon of Saturn). And then the plot shifts into overdrive after this moon does not stop at the expected destination, but accelerates on, and on... to finally enter... a cosmological structure, which description would twist a human mind into painful knots, which only Reynolds can safely to unravel.

It is all on a grand scale, folks, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series (if it is planned, of course)
(review by Avi Abrams)

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Marc Laidlaw
"Jane"
© Sci Fiction, Jan 2005
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ style award
--/ shock value

Solid story from a great writer. I always enjoy Laidlaw's creations, as he subtly sinks a screwdriver into your head and then pulls it out with a gleeful twist, when the cumulative mass of the story's details explodes like green jelly all over your mind, spiking your life functions and sinking a wicked olive of an idea into your long-term memory. :) Well, maybe this is an exaggeration, but... This is a wolf-in-a-sheep's-clothing type of a story. It only hints of atrocities in a strange and post-apocalyptic (perhaps) world, where our troubled protagonist girl roams and runs, but then brings them home with a familiar "I am your father, Luke, like-it-or-not" feel of some hidden family horror and oppression. Themes of blindness and "returning falcons" are prominent, and it all sinks in a murky, lush, deliciously crazy and paranoid narrative, which is a joy in itself. Recommended.
review: 18-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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Eric Schaller
"The Five Cigars Of Abu Ali"
© Sci Fiction, Jan 2005
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ idea award

This story is really fun. You might not laugh out loud, but you will have a few amusing minutes, contemplating the predicament of the central character, who messes around with a genuine Genie and his ambiguous present. This is a modern-day adaptation of a centuries-old myth of Aladdin, and it is every bit as fresh and interesting as a Disney version. "Abu Ali is a traveling rug dealer with a penchant for cigars. On one of his rug acquisition trips, he discovers a strange Coca-Cola bottle in a tiny shop, and when he uncaps it, a djinn, in classic storybook tradition, emerges. The djinn presents his rescuer with a gift, in this instance a magical cigar, which will impart untold riches when smoked. But djinn-kind are known to be tricksy and wicked. What cost to smoke the cigar?" (Tangent reviews) Eric Schaller is definitely a writer to watch, as he has a visual, engaging style, filling the narrative with a "Richness of Detail" rarely seen nowadays, without boring the reader. In other words, he is the next Steven Spielberg of the genre, if only he would put himself to it with true abandon. (unfortunately, he holds some other jobs which may stump his output... did I made myself clear enough that I can't wait to read more of his stories?)
review: 9-Oct-06 (read in 2004)

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"CONSTELLATIONS", edited by Peter Crowther

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE ->

Reviews by Avi Abrams:

Excellent original anthology of all British writers, with quite a few mind-boggling stories.

All the writers in this anthology are British, so you might think that "new space opera" and "high-concept science fiction" are only flourishing in the UK, while American writers are leaning more toward fantasy and away from "solid science fiction" (of the kind that's sprinkled with sheer cosmic grandeur) Well, in 2005 when this anthology came out, it might've seemed this way - but in the last couple of years the field has leveled somewhat: great science fiction stories are written on both sides of the Atlantic, and stand up quite well against the current blight of paranormal romance.

"Constellation" is fascinating, bejewelled collection, shimmering with ideas and wonder: a singular read.

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Adam Roberts
"The Order of Things"
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
--/ third place sf story
--/ idea award
--/ style award

This is one of those reading experiences where every word seems to fall into place and resonate perfectly with your worldview, almost ridiculously so - you catch yourself thinking you could've written the story, and in fact, Adam Roberts must've sneaked into the chambers of your mind and plucked it from there... You nod and smile with every paragraph, and wish the story would unroll into a novel, breaking the boundaries of the book, streaming in gaudy tapestries, out through the door and into the blue wide yonder - to the place where awards are distributed and happy critics fall over themselves to lavish praise (this story did not win any awards, by the way) Why am I so excited about this? Because it brings organized and repressive religion to its knees, with little effort - just a neat little "what if" premise.

This is a perfect "thought-variant" story, that would make the editor of the Golden Age of "Astounding" proud: one weird idea taken to the extreme - I am not going to spoil your reading pleasure, the surprises start from page one and never slow down - turning the story into a passionate statement against cast-in-stones rules and religions, bizarre traditions which take over people minds (traditions just as vicious and hard to exterminate as alien slugs or zombies). This story is intense and wonderful on plenty of levels, including unique world-building. Adam Roberts skyrockets to the top of my reading list (although, I hear that some off his books are quite obtuse and uneven). This story should be a required reading in every church, perhaps even preached from the pulpit.

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Alastair Reynolds
"Beyond the Aquila Rift"
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
Zima Blue & Other Stories, 2006
--novelette : 2006 Locus award
--/ third place space sf novella
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ awesome scale

The mind-boggling scale of vacuous space is compounded here by a sense of being totally lost - the pilot in this story is certainly lost in space, but he's also lost in more ways than one; and Reynolds unveils these "degrees of separation" with the skill of a master magician. A few times the story would pirouette on its tail, sending you reeling into further categories of "lost" that you've thought were possible - but let me tell you, this particular happy reader welcomed every such jolt of disorientation with a grin of joy.

This is one of the most s-p-a-c-i-o-u-s novellas in Reynolds' portfolio, a great thing of wonder, and a sort of literary equivalent to "a mournful note ghastly ringing in the dark-lit halls of outer space".

"Beyond the Aquila Rift" is set in a future where interstellar flight is facilitated through a barely-understood (and long abandoned) system built by aliens: predictably, the system is plagued by occasional errors, sending ships far from their intended destinations, or utterly lost in space.

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Eric Brown
"Heritage of Stars"
(Kethani series)
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
Kethani, 2008
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ emotion award
--/ style award

Immortality is considered and emotionally re-charged here with a lyrical treatment, reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's "The Door Into Summer", or Vance's "To Live Forever". Eric Brown deftly sets up the scene with elements of wonder, danger and loss - adding a dash of sorrow and bittersweet human reflection. All these ingredients play well in this precisely-told story of one couple's romance heavily burdened (but not sagging!) with cold concepts of immortality and infinity.

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Paul McAuley
"Rats of the System"
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award

"A two person ship - manned by its captain and a scientist - try to escape an alien ship of the Transcendent. Very good mini-space-opera with lots of action, narrow-escapes and grand ideas. The alien backdrop concerns the Transcendent (AIs that have achieved a higher state of being) and their plan to maneuver stars for some grander (yet unrevealed) scheme as well as the Fanatics who worship them. As per a mid-story analogy, the "rats" of the title are the humans who, like the rodents, have the propensity to survive." via

All that is good and well, but two years after reading this story I've totally forgotten what's it about, of even if I enjoyed it or not. That tells you something about this particular adventure's originality and depth. It is certainly a competent piece of work, though.

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Brian Aldiss
"Ten Million of Them"
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
--/ cool sf story
--/ awesome scale

"...Provides a Very Big Picture, as a deity on a galactic scale views, in a detached manner, humanity's struggle to survive. As Sol expands, all manner of life take to the seas of the Earth, evolving into aquatic forms. Others have fled to the Kuiper Belt (the ten billion rocks in that Belt accounting for the title), but it is a much smaller being (the humble flu virus) which makes its escape. " via

Again, something that did not impress me all that much - but Aldiss can be vastly original and intense... read his short story collections to achieve that sort of reader's gestalt: swimming in the seas of his outrageous concepts and styles, and loving it.

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Tony Ballantyne
"Star!"
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea award

When teens say they want to become "a star" they don't usually mean it in a literal sense. In this story (reminiscent of Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund's "If The Stars Are Gods" from 1974 Terry Carr's Universe) stars are alive... a teen can turn into one, for example. This weird, preposterous idea gets an appropriately tongue-in-cheek treatment, enough said.

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Stephen Baxter
"Lakes of Light"
(Xeelee series)
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
Resplendent, 2006
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ awesome scale

"A star has been sheathed in a thin but impermeable substance; this is rotating at such a speed that the centrifugal force cancels out just enough of the sun's enormous gravity to permit people to live on the surface. Holes in the sheath provide the titular lakes, from which the inhabitants harvest their energy and (via a network of giant mirrors) their light. It's a splendid concept, with all sorts of narrative possibilities..." - via

Living on a surface of a star... Resplendent! (this was a fitting title for Baxter's collection, in which this story appeared later). It is of the same caliber as Larry Niven's super-space fiction, only slightly lacking in color and action. Still, a clear winner for its sheer originality.

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Ian Watson
"The Navigator's Children"
(also as "The Navigator's Tale")
© Constellations, ed. by Peter Crowther, 2005
The Butterflies of Memory, 2006
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ awesome scale

I loved this story for its epic feel and a baroque atmosphere, plus the interesting premise of a Universe where you can only travel by certain rules and connected constellations. If the constellations change, it affects the very fabric of world events and geography. There is a lot of depth in this idea; much of it stems from Kaballah, and would've been technically fantasy, not science fiction, if not for the additional "world in a tea-cup" twist in the end... Seek out this story and enjoy having your brains cosmologically wrecked, and your worldview turned on fire. Didn't I say, this was an epic story? There is a Neal Stephenson trilogy hidden in there somewhere, and you know it.

===============================================

Return to the Wonder Timeline

2004 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:16:00.004-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
2004: October
Read other issues here

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Neal Asher
"Cowl" (nv)
© 2004, Tor Books
--novel: 2005 British SF Award
--/ cool sf novel
--/ wonder award

Those of you who are interested in what this novel is all about, I refer to the multitude of reviews on the web ("... hunting throughout time and the alternates, Cowl’s pet, the torbeast, grows vast and dangerous. It sheds its scales where its master orders. They are tors – organic time machines to bring human samples to Cowl. And the beast feeds…" You get the idea). Or those who want to know quickly if they should read it, the answer is "yes". Now for the fun part: how should I describe the experience of reading Asher? A muddy, confused, drunk frog trying to figure out the buttons on super-hyper-electronic-accelerator-weapon, while croaking alternative punk tunes with a cigarette hanging from a corner of it's... mouth? or muzzle? Suddenly a cellphone rings, the frog drops the weapon in water (causing spontaneous extinction of some species and an eternal shell-shock to the others). As the frog finds itself drowning, the plot of a new Asher novel (in all of it's inventive and violent glory) flashes before its eyes, and it dies peacefully, glad it had an enlightening experience. If none of this makes sense, don't worry - it was not intended to. Just like all Asher novels, this one is intended to be consumed fast, furious and not very clear on the plot. Personally, I could only get through a third of the book, then things just got incomprehensible, though "grungy" enough to maintain the said frog's curiousity.
review: 10-Aug-06 (read in 2005)

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David Mitchell
"Cloud Atlas" (nv)
© 2004, Hodder & Stoughton / Random House
--novel : 2004 Nebula r-up
--novel : 2005 Arthur Clarke Award r-up
--Locus Poll Award, Best SF Novel (Place: 10)
--/ second place sf novel
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ emotion award
--/ awesome scale

A novel of this scope and magnitude cannot be read and reviewed as a piece of literature, but rather as a piece of the Universe (think of some rough-hewn blocks of reality, unprocessed), with time, higher powers, human misery and angelic beauty intertwined into one bewildering whole - possible to untangle only by degrees, and not always to one's complete satisfaction. But such incompleteness, perhaps, is part of the book's charm. It does not really have a beginning or end, and could've been written on a far bigger scale, eventually swallowing all the space available in all the world's libraries.

In other words, dear reader, you will be entertained on a highly subliminal level - the language, the wordplay will reach deep inside your soul, the virtuoso (almost Mandelbrodt-like in its complexity) plot will thread your heart though many glorious loops, and the unifying idea behind the book - the Cloud Atlas itself - will be unveiled only in the act of "flipping the proverbial rug" upside-down and gazing on the revealed celestial pattern (instead of random tangle of knots underneath).

This book is about the arrow of human destiny pointed at the vague but glorious destination; it is about victory over time and entropy (to a certain degree); it is about pre-meditated blessings and casual cataclysms; it is a tapestry woven from only the finest literary and science-fictional ingredients. Something that Sir Arthur Clarke would dream up in his sleep but be powerless to remember in the morning. A package and a marvel to be forever entrenched in your imagination. A Cloud Atlas, indeed.

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Howard Waldrop
"The Wolf-man of Alcatraz"
© Sci Fiction, Oct 2004
--short fiction : 2004 British SF
--short story : 2005 Locus Poll
--/ cool f story

Another werewolf story? Yawn... Another Howard Waldrop story? Well, let me get out a cigar and let's discuss it at length, gentlemen. His stories are an acquired taste, but they are truly "his own" creations, much like R. A. Lafferty stories are. As Chris Barnes puts it: "That solidity doesn't lie just in the voice of the story, but in the details. The cell door isn't just a door, it's a Diebold vault door with a chrome-steel lock. The wolf-man, Bob Howlin (great name!), doesn’t just chew gum, he chews Beeman's Black Jack. Howlin's fascination with lunar astronomy is a masterful touch, and the reference to 17th Century fantasies about lunar voyagers is pure Waldrop. As is the unexpected and poignant ending." Link to story: here
review: 9-Oct-06 (read in 2004)

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Kim Newman
"Soho Golem"
(Jeperson series)
© Sci Fiction, Oct 2004
--novella: 2005 World Fantasy Award
--/ cool f novella

Like a modern-day Michael Moorcock extravaganza, spiced up with various popular culture references, and wrapped up into a "devil-may-care" narrative not unlike the Cornelius Chronicles on steroids... or on Hollywood juice... or simply on a DJ's stash of energy-drinks. Like a loud disco night in an era of sophisticated "Electric Light Orchestra" arrangements, this novella stands out in a lurid, brash way, with curiously slurred dialogue and even a touch of "Clockwork Orange-wannabe" self-invented slang. It was nominated for World Fantasy Award, but did not do much for me except kept me wondering what the "noise" is all about. A Victorian steampunk mystery populated with tripping Hippies, time-warping Nazi demons, ancient spirits and dreadlocked Rasta zombies. Sounds like fun, but takes an effort to wade through.
review: 12-Oct-06 (read in 2005)

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Tom Piccirilli
"Ice On Heated Steel Script"
© Chiaroscuro # 19, 2004
--/ fourth place dark f story
--/ shock value
--/ rare find

Tom Piccirilli went on to win bigger battles in the literary world (he is a best-selling novelist right now), leaving behind this wretched, miserable, and yet strangely adorable hunchback of a tale, almost like a "your favorite idiot you love to hate": a nuclear tooth-paste to pollute your literary sensibilities, to warn you what to sink your teeth into and what to avoid. Certainly, like ungainly swamp-roots poetry, this lunatic tale shimmers with unexpected brilliance in the murky waters, revealing nuggets of style, however well concealed by bizarre violence. Recommended.
review: 18-Jul-06 (read in 2006)

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2003 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:15:00.004-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
Read other issues here

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Michael Chabon
"The Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance"
© McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, No.10, 2003
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ style award

I will describe my experience of discovering fiction by Michael Chabon: at first bite it does not seem to be that intense, or delicious. You get into the story for a couple of pages, then you realize that the characters are too bizarre, the world-view does not fit, the plot does not compute, and even the words themselves that author uses are baroque, esoteric, obtuse... in other words, if you approach it lightly, Chabon's prose is not going to make much sense. But now you are too intrigued. You go back a couple of pages, read it again with more attention and respect - and BAM! you are hooked (or doomed) to read the whole story, with rewards piling up in every paragraph.

A Planetary Romance? Yes, but not in a conventional way. Subtle. Subdued. Emotional undercurrents require a careful appreciation of how characters speak, think and (rarely) behave. This is more of a meditative piece, and yet it's not lacking in adventure. If this is your first taste of Michael Chabon's fiction, I envy you. Now you will have to go and get more... more...

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Brian Evenson
"Last Days" (nv)
(based on "The Bortherhood of Mutilation")
© 2009, Underland Press
original novella: 2003, Earthling Publications

Brian Evenson can be effective in shorter form, and I suspect the original novella was more intense - but this exploration of dark religious waters is not the best of its kind (maybe because I was spoiled by reading Norman Spinrad's magnum opus "The Process" back in 1983)

"After losing a hand in a sting operation, Kline, a detective, finds himself unwillingly dragged into a secret amputation cult... a grim, darkly hilarious riff on blind obedience and pointless self-sacrifice". Brian Evenson's past involvement with Mormonism gives this creepy story an even creepier sense of becoming reality, and slaps a gut-wrenching indictment on cults of all sorts - but again, I found this effort a bit heavy-handed and lacking in subtlety.

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William Gibson
"Pattern Recognition" (nv)
© 2003, Putnam
--shortlist : 2004 Clarke
--novel : 2004 British SF
--/ third place sf novel
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ idea award

London, Tokyo, Moscow (all present time), graphic design, branding (or the absence of branding), bits of geekology and tech-fetishes at every turn, introspective, splintered tone (emotions shattered by September 11 events, pulled together by cynicism, and fractured again by the inevitability of change)... the jumping, neurotic pace of the story and Gibson's trademark layered writing... All this makes it a complex candy, a book to chew on, a bit tiring at times. You would not want to swallow it in one sitting (which is a good thing, of course).

Subliminal angst diluted with brilliant observations, commentaries on symbolism, advertising, internet culture and shorter attention spans, viral ideas born and discarded with a stroke of a pen... streams of details that seem to curve onto themselves like Mandelbrot elements.... Economic and political doomsdays are sampled and considered, crazy commas and grammar are introduced, characters evolve only to fall back into their older selves. The book never really ends, but do you want it to, really?

And then there is the character of Hubertus Bigend - at first seen as the charismatic founder of the "viral advertising" agency Blue Ant, but then getting more sinister - even compared at one point to actor Tom Cruise "on a diet of virgins' blood and truffled chocolates". It is Hubertus Bigend that is so "larger than life, heaven and hell combined" (at least in his own eyes) that sticks in memory long after the book is finished. William Gibson brings him back in a sequel "Spook Country", and it's only proper that his character lives on, sort of like Heinlein's Lazarus Long, or Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius. We might see him again, in other novels, by other writers - a sort of "Deus ex machina" for various opinions and rants. Perhaps an improbable character, but as irresistible to watch as a train wreck.

In my mind, this book more easily classifies as hipster poetry and /or non-fiction essay than a cohesive thriller - in any way, it is a contemplation. A glue to piece together your fractured erratic self - which may fall apart again, but this is what sequels are for, aren't they?
Review by Avi Abrams

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Vernor Vinge
"The Cookie Monster"
© Analog, Oct 2003
--novella : 2004 Hugo Winner
--novella : 2004 Locus Winner
--novella : 2004 AnLab /3
--/ second place sf novella
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ awesome scale

Just like Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation", this haunting novella contains images of corporate hell worthy of Dilbert's worst. It certainly puts a stop to dreams of a cozy desk job in sunny California, grazing around the campus of some hip computer corporation. Instead of perks, freedom and stability the employees here get something quite different... and you get a sinking feeling from the moment the first email arrives in the story.

This is a classic novella about the manipulation of reality; engaging, hilarious and deceptively simple: most of it happens inside a generic industrial park, with the main characters having a reckless adventure... by walking from one building to the other. Soon, however, the daily grind turns into a nightmare (and/or conspiracy) worthy of Kafka and Philip K. Dick. As our characters realize that they have become part of the biggest reality scam since "The Truman Show", they have nothing left to do but to shuffle around in a zombie-like fashion, hoping to "cool off" their thought processes, or trying to figure out the implications of the plot.

A few years back, Vinge popularized the "singularity" concept, in which he predicted that humanity will be left in the dust in the wake of self-evolving software. This writer knows how to handle the vastness of concept, how to tighten the plot with the velvet gloves of the reader's own fears and paranoias. It all starts with an email (just like the good old "Matrix" starts with a call on Neo's phone) ... but soon the workplace transforms into something else, and time itself is bending out of shape.

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2001 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:14:00.003-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
Read other issues here

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Alastair Reynolds
"Chasm City" (nv)
(Revelation Space series: 2)
© 2001, Gollancz /Ace
--sf novel : 2002 Locus /9
--novel : 2002 British SF W
--/ third place space sf novel DRB top lists
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ awesome scale
--/ shock value

This novel is quite a different beast from "Revelation Space": it's darker in tone, unapologetic (and often unjustified) in plot twists, baroque in its structure and towering ambition. A reader might get in turn bored, shocked, confused, astounded, and perplexed... it is, however, a black obelisk of a novel, a vast achievement, a master work nevertheless. Think of it as a Dashiell Hammett hard-boiled mystery set to steampunk gears and the brooding lustre of China Mieville's novels, with an added layer (somewhere deep down) of vintage Philip K. Dick's angst. Its pacing and sudden plot twists reminded me of A. E. Van Vogt's approach to writing (which can be summarized as "a new revelation, or a new plot twist, every few paragraphs"). The first half the story tended to drag, however, and I almost wished for action to speed up, and for prose to display (maybe) a little more emotion. Still, it ended up to be an all-out cinematic trip, certainly worth the admission.

I have to say, many people will find the tone and setting of this novel somewhat depressing. Even with the occasional display Chasm City's extraordinary glamor and glitz, and plethora of unmistakable steampunk- and cyberpunk- wonders and references, still - the overall effect of doom and sheer cold-bloodedness of main characters would get to anybody (there is not a single good-nature human being in the story, for a long time). But guess what, all this turns out to be just an appropriate build-up to the final sentiments that Reynolds masterfully hides in the ending. There is Grace in this universe after all! And a deep yearning for things pure and innocent... While these things are hinted - only hinted! - in the novel, they work underneath to shape the characters and to usher in an acceptable (though still pretty convoluted) outcome.

The novel opens (literally) with a bang: the explosive destruction of an enormous space elevator structure, and a subsequent voyage to Yellowstone/Chasm City (which brings to mind some of the Jack Vance's baroque destinations), interspersed with flashbacks of a "Generation Ship" odyssey to another star. I was deeply impressed by Alastair Reynolds' development of his anti-hero, Sky Hausmann, in this part of the story: he is a tyrant in the making, a ruthless figure, a peek into dark souls of the likes of Stalin and Hitler. His is a fascinating progression of evil that's being justified in the name of an idea, in the end revealed as sheer lust for power. Many will find this character hard to stomach (there is even an appearance of a much-maligned Joker figure) - and yet... yet... there is a sort of the redemption lurking just outside the view, a possibility for a transcending change that cannot be explained, and can be only felt. I applaud Reynolds for not stating these things clearly, and for the subtle emotional nuances that break through the cold facade of this book's gritty plot... Well done.

There is much to be said about the Pandora's Box of visual delights in this novel, and I attach some works of art that (barely) touch on that splendor. One word of caution, though: nothing in this novel is what it seems from the start, so prepare to be astounded... after enduring the long, meticulous exposition in the beginning. Chasm City will grow on you... and then you will wander in the twisted jungles of its buildings looking for, and not finding the happy-ending, unless you can uncover a certain happy-ending inside of you. And that seems to be exactly what Reynolds was intending.
(review by Avi Abrams)

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Alastair Reynolds
"Glacial"
(Revelation Space series)
© Spectrum SF #5, 2001
--novella : 2002 Locus /15
--/ fourth place space sf novella
--/ adventure award
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award

What a perfect title for a murder mystery concoction! Chilly in a most intriguing way, slightly morbid, it glimmers with Alastair Reynolds's barely hidden joy at writing such an orderly, distinguished space investigation story (as someone noted, Reynolds likes mysteries). While not as maniacally spectacular as other entries in this collection, this story is indeed a solid, competent example of the "sf mystery" sub-genre, much better than similar (and rather more famous) stories by Isaac Asimov.

The plot revolves around various mysteries inside a deserted human colony (of a period before events in "Revelation Space" novels, approximately around the same time as "The Great Wall of Mars"). Other reviewers noted that "The Great Wall of Mars" and "Glacial" are best read after "Revelation Space" and before "Redemption Ark", as they give a gripping account of Clavain's early years.
(review by Avi Abrams)

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Also in June, 2001:

Andy Duncan
"The Chief Designer"
© IASFM, Jun 2001
The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories, 2012
--novella : 2002 Hugo
--winner : 2002 Sturgeon W
--novella : 2002 Locus /3
--short fiction : 2002 SE SF Award W
--novella : 2002 Asimov's Reader Poll /4
--novella : 2003 Nebula
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ style award
--/ emotion award

A lovely paen to the sheer idea of "relentless space exploration" - and to famous Russian rocket designer Sergei Korolev (who sent off Yury Gagarin into space). Here is a quote from an excellent review by Norman Spinrad (IASFM, March 2002) that illuminates the heart of the story, while shedding light on some interesting qualities of a Russian soul:

"...From my own occasional personal contact with cosmonauts and with Russians and Russia in general, there is something in the Russian soul that allows them to be unashamed and unabashed romantics. I'm no expert, but somehow I doubt that there is an exact translation in Russian for “corny.”

Perhaps this up-front and unapologetic romanticism is also what attracts the culture to ideologies, from pre-revolutionary Pan-Slavism to Marxist utopianism, and now, with its demise, to the renaissance of the always nationalistic Russian Orthodox Church.

Russia, it seems, abhors an ideological vacuum... and it's not that far from the visionary idealism that is the more sophisticated and complexly adult version of the gosh-wow sense of wonder that drew generations of kids to those simple-minded SF pulps.

From the very beginning, indeed from before the beginning, going back to Tsiolkovski's nineteenth century speculations, the true goal of the Russian space program — of the engineers and cosmonauts and of its guiding light Korolov, if not all of the bureaucrats and politicians above them — was the exploration of the solar system and beyond by humans, the expansion of the species out into the great wide universal yonder.

Why?

As a famous jazz musician once said in a somewhat different context, if you have to ask, you're never gonna get it."
--Norman Spinrad, 2012

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2000 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:11:00.006-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
Read other issues here

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(left image: space art by A. Sokolov, Russia, 1970s)

Alastair Reynolds
"Revelation Space" (nv)
(Revelation Space series: 1)
© 2000, Gollancz / Ace
--shortlist : 2001 Clarke
--first novel : 2001 Locus Award /2
--sf novel : 2001 Locus Award /22
--novel : 2001 British SF Award
--/ FIRST place sf series
--/ second place space sf novel DRB top lists
--/ adventure award
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ awesome scale

The vistas here are wide and gorgeous, the ending is pure joy, the canvas is colorful and satisfying. This novel starts in intriguing, if somewhat slow-paced way, showing us an archaeological dig on the other planet - but once we learn what kind of immensity this particular archaeological dig uncovers, the action picks up speed and the marvelous adventure gets underway. Various planetary environments are introduced and a weirdly twisted space-faring cyber-culture is described, getting a different treatment from Bruce Sterling's similar "Schismatrix" series. Lack of the hyperdrive - instantaneous FTL travel - in "Revelation Space" universe makes for a truly mind-boggling contemplation of stellar distances and unforgiving time spans, and it also introduces certain harshness in how the characters would live and function... faced with huge gaps of traveling through the void. Thus, the full flavor of "Generation Ship" epics from classic 1940s science fiction stories can be felt once again (this time mixed with edgy cyberpunk philosophies). In a word: this novel is a trip.

And it makes sense, too, when you combine it with imaginary sensory experiences. One can almost see oneself boarding a colossal and beautiful spaceship, armed to the brim with deadly weapons (capable of destroying whole star systems), battling the ghosts, mysteries and conspiracies along the way and arriving at the weirdest destination possible (the novel does end with a bang, I'm not going to spoil it for you). This is a grand space adventure that will stay with you for years, an ice-cold thrilling vehicle... And yet, this is my only complaint: that the novel feels cold to the heart like a surgical instrument, devoid of any particular warmth. One might argue that the detached tone of the narrative perfectly fits the immensity of space and the life/death decisions that characters will face there. Think of it as an epic story machine, covered in chrome, with tangled spikes of brooding menace sticking out here and there - launched upon a grand voyage with not much thought given to side sentiments (though you'd wish it lasted longer than the 500 pages alotted to it).

There are plenty of other influences here: certainly Iain M. Banks, William Gibson, even early Heinlein (seen in the epic sweep of its story) - and also a striking similarity to Larry Niven's stories in its mind-bending finale. Yes, it could have been paced more engagingly, with fewer chunks of exposition, but the reader knows he is in competent hands: Alastair Reynolds is capable of delivering hard science and plot twists with equal flamboyance.

As a side note, I find it hard to forget the mental image of a vast weapons bay inside the Ultra's spaceship (which comes complete with a ghost captain, by the way), where the dread star-destroying guns darkly loom and sleep... waiting for a senseless command to wake them. You can tell, this is the stuff the best classic space operas are made of, stuff that never gets out-of-date. Awe-inspiring.
(review by Avi Abrams)

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Alastair Reynolds
"Great Wall of Mars"
(Revelation Space series)
(prequel to "Glacial")
© 2000, Spectrum SF #1
--novella : 2001 Locus Award /14
--/ fourth place space sf novella
--/ adventure award
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award

This is something very epic, as though written by Robert A. Heinlein in his Golden Period, but with a new gleam and shine; plus it has a huge dose of Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist ideas thrown into it for good measure.

Exciting action and thrilling visuals are a given, as we have come to expect from Alastair Reynolds. This novella is the starting point for the whole "Revelation Space" series, so its scale is still pretty small, confined only to the Solar System, but the initial conflict between Conjoiners/Demarchists (or are they Shapers/Mechanists ??) is already revealed in a very concise manner, introducing all the key characters (Clavain, Galiana, Remontoire...) - and starting them on a four-novel, thousand-page odyssey. Isn't it a great feeling, when you can gaze on a whole bookshelf of "Revelation Space" novels and know that even if you spend your whole time reading Reynolds, there is always going to be some more stuff to read?

The embattled walled City of Mars also reminded me of the Venusian City from Henry Kuttner's "Fury" series - with similar subdued militaristic drive and laconic writing. Good taste, good reading times - cheers, let's read some more!
(review by Avi Abrams)

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Ted Chiang
"Seventy-Two Letters"
© Vanishing Acts, ed. E. Datlow, 2000
Stories Of Your Life And Others, 2002
--novella : 2001 Hugo
--novella : 2001 World Fantasy
--shortlist : 2001 Sturgeon
--novella : 2001 Locus /4
--short form : 2001 Sidewise W
--foreign short story : 2001 Hayakawa W
--translated short story : 2002 Seiun W
--/ third place sf story
--/ idea award
--/ wonder award
--/ style award

I found this story a bit long and tedious, but these are probably the only faults in what turned out to be intriguing and entirely unique tale. The concept here is that Names (words) are truly powerful tools capable of creating or modifying reality – this is an important idea in ancient Hebrew culture, starting from Adam, who named (defined, co-created) all the animals in the Garden of Eden. In this story we have some ultimate "incantations" helping robots to achieve their peak performance, but of course, meddling with these building blocks of the Universe leads to the deeply disturbing results. If you remember, a similar idea was the basis for Arthur Clarke's "Nine Billion Names of God", but Chiang gives it a highly sophisticated and learned makeover, creating another classic tale from the Genesis-old spiritual know-how.

Very impressive mixture of high-flight science fiction and meta-physical and meta-spiritual conjecture, which is really hard to do without overdoing it... but Chiang succeeds spectacularly (and garners a plethora of awards in the process).

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Joe R. Lansdale
"The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down: A Dime Novel"
© 2000, The Long Ones
Mad Dog Summer and Other Stories, 2004
--/ fourth place f novella
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ shock value

"Dime Novel" it very well may be, but if it had appeared for sale some hundred years ago (unrated and unabridged), it could've caused a few fatalities among unprepared Victorian readers, through sheer shock and utter, disgusted disbelief. It is an entirely wicked novella, and is meant to be just that. I daresay it's even more offensive than Lansdale's "Zeppelins West" - but for all that hype and coarse sensationalism, it is a gorgeous example of no-holds-barred Wild West Steampunk Blockbuster. It is a blast, like many, many works of Joe R. Lansdale in his screwed-up version of the Wild West (think "cow-punk" plus a few "Saw" movies)

It is one heck of a ride, and it has everything a dime novel should have - mystery, wonder, adventure and crazed horror mixed with deeply dark atmosphere. You've been warned, but by all means, if you just watched, say, "Crank 2: High Voltage" and came out unaffected, then you'll see no problem with this novella either.

This sort of ferocious entertainment in literature reminds me of some wild and crazed Clark Ashton Smith stories in the 1930s "Weird Tales" pulp.

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1999 - Year in SF&F: Reviews

2021-04-08T00:09:00.003-07:00

THE WONDER TIMELINE: SF&F RETROSPECTIVE
Read other issues here

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"Galactic North"
(Revelation Space series)
© Interzone, Jul 1999
--fiction : 2000 Interzone Poll /9
--short story : 2002 Seiun
--novelette : 2000 Locus Poll
--/ second place space sf story
--/ adventure award
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ awesome scale

The Greenfly Machines - terraforming gone bad - routinely devour the bigger part of our Galaxy, while a group of unlikely survivors observes the event with little interest: they are more compelled to chase each other across millennia, driven by all-consuming lust for revenge. The characters are superficial, shallow to the point of being shadows, immaterial players in a larger cosmological farce: a tragedy of Ultimate Futility played on a huge "space opera" stage. The sense of time/space progression is simply vast, imparted unto a reader with the vacuum-cold, neutron-heavy touch of a sure writer.

The reeling vistas in this story are comparable to Isaac Asimov's "Last Question", or to Olaf Stapledon's visions of phantom stellar civilizations. Reynolds pulls out all the stops here and achieves mind-boggling results, which are nevertheless nested deeply in his "Revelation Space" universe ("Galactic North" thus provides a much-needed sense of perspective to the whole series). The bit about space piracy in the beginning of the story is pretty dramatic in itself, and it serves the same purpose: to inflame some very powerful emotions that will burn their carnal fires through multitude of incarnations, across limitless time and space. Like someone said, "Reynolds is gazing into Infinity here". Yes, he does, and he does not flinch for a bit - but then again, this is purely imagined infinity, a tame fictional thing - which looms large as perhaps the only real "hero" of this story.

All in all, this is awesome sci-fi entertainment, sure to delight all space adventure geeks like me.

review by Avi Abrams: 24-Sep-06 (read in 2002)

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