![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The nominees for this year's Hugo awards have been announced. I've kind of fallen behind on current F/SF, so I don't recognize most of them. I do note, though, that two of the stories from Ted Chiang's _Exhalation_ were nominated: "Omphalos" for Best Novelette, and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" for Best Novella. Both are, I think, worthy nominees.
I am, in general, less fond of the Vorkosiverse books post-_ACC_ Nonetheless, I just finished rereading _Cryoburn_. I found my reading speed drastically slowing when I hit Chapter 20 - I really didn't want to read the end of that chapter. Needs must, though...
One thing occurred to me as I finished the book. One of the pallbearers at Aral Vorkosigan's funeral was the nephew of one of the victims of the Solstice Massacre. That, friends, is a Statement. (I do wonder what the Komarran-on-the-street thinks of Duv, if they've heard of him at all.)
One thing occurred to me as I finished the book. One of the pallbearers at Aral Vorkosigan's funeral was the nephew of one of the victims of the Solstice Massacre. That, friends, is a Statement. (I do wonder what the Komarran-on-the-street thinks of Duv, if they've heard of him at all.)
Connections
Mar. 28th, 2020 11:13 amI mentioned that I was rereading the half-dozen Discworld novels that followed _The Fifth Elephant_, and that I felt they were connected. I just finished _Night Watch_, and noticed two internal connections I hadn't realized before.
The event that threw Vimes and Carcer back in time almost has to be the catastrophe at the center of _Thief of Time_. So here's a plot connection between books belonging to different subseries.
Also, there's a discussion of foreign affairs early on involving Vimes and, I think, Vetinari, concerning the possibility of war between a couple of small countries - the same two countries that actually did go to war in _Monstrous Regiment_ - a standalone, though Vimes and some other Watchmen, and also William de Worde (from _Truth_), put in cameos.
These aren't tight connections, but plot connections between different subseries or standalones are pretty rare in Pratchett, so these interested me.
The event that threw Vimes and Carcer back in time almost has to be the catastrophe at the center of _Thief of Time_. So here's a plot connection between books belonging to different subseries.
Also, there's a discussion of foreign affairs early on involving Vimes and, I think, Vetinari, concerning the possibility of war between a couple of small countries - the same two countries that actually did go to war in _Monstrous Regiment_ - a standalone, though Vimes and some other Watchmen, and also William de Worde (from _Truth_), put in cameos.
These aren't tight connections, but plot connections between different subseries or standalones are pretty rare in Pratchett, so these interested me.
Late Pterry
Mar. 17th, 2020 06:24 pmI've been on a Pratchett kick lately, specifically his late Discworld books. Not the very last of them - _Snuff_, _Unseen Academicals_, etc. - which, frankly, weren't all that good by Pratchettian standards. I'm talking about the books that followed _The Fifth Elephant_: _The Truth_, _Night Watch_, _Thief of Time_, _Going Postal_, _Making Money_, and _Monstrous Regiment_.
They're tied together, it seems to me: though most have humor in them, they are overall a good deal more serious than any of his earlier works. Most of them are not part of the earlier subseries; _Night Watch_ is a Watch book, of course, and _Thief of Time_ belongs to the Death subseries, but the old-line characters - except for Vetinari - don't get much more than cameos in the others.
It works. I don't enjoy these books as much as _Men at Arms_, or _The Fifth Elephant_, or _Lords and Ladies_, but they're pretty substantial. I'll have to remember to come back to these books from time to time.
They're tied together, it seems to me: though most have humor in them, they are overall a good deal more serious than any of his earlier works. Most of them are not part of the earlier subseries; _Night Watch_ is a Watch book, of course, and _Thief of Time_ belongs to the Death subseries, but the old-line characters - except for Vetinari - don't get much more than cameos in the others.
It works. I don't enjoy these books as much as _Men at Arms_, or _The Fifth Elephant_, or _Lords and Ladies_, but they're pretty substantial. I'll have to remember to come back to these books from time to time.
A Question
Jan. 17th, 2020 05:28 pmDoes anyone know of an alternate-history story in which Andrew Johnson was removed from office and the fire-eating Radical Republican Benjamin Wade became president?
_Exhalation_
Dec. 21st, 2019 04:26 pm_Exhalation_ is Ted Chiang's second collection of short F/SF pieces, and is as much a delight as the previous one, _Stories of Your Life and Others_, which I discussed previously. I was going to list a few of my favorites, but most of the stories fall into that category. These are the stories (five out of nine) that impressed me most.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a story of time travel, set within a world of unchanging fate, and reconciles the two in entertaining fashion. The word I want is "neat".
"Exhalation", like many of Chiang's stories, is set in a world whose scientific underpinnings are quite different from our own, but some things are inevitable. (It's not too much of a stretch to speak of "death and taxes"...)
"The Lifecycle of Software Objects" won the Hugo in its year, and deservedly so. The subject is right there in the title; the "objects" are virtual creatures, and their sentience and even sapience is the main topic. "And sometimes one loves them..."
"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" deals with revolutions in time-binding - the development of writing, and of another mechanism fully as radical in nature - and its effect on people, individually and collectively. There are two story-lines, one set in West Africa around the time of WWII and the other in the not-too-distant future.
"Omphalos" is set in a world in which a variant of young-Earth creationism is provably true, and involves a disquieting astronomical discovery. It's cleverly and sympathetically done.
The other four stories didn't impress me quite as much, but I should probably think about the stories "What's Expected of Us" and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom". They both deal with questions of determinism and free will, but in different ways; the second story is much the stronger, I think.
Anyway, Chiang continues to hold his position in my mind, as probably the best writer of short F/SF currently in the business. I've enjoyed both collections.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a story of time travel, set within a world of unchanging fate, and reconciles the two in entertaining fashion. The word I want is "neat".
"Exhalation", like many of Chiang's stories, is set in a world whose scientific underpinnings are quite different from our own, but some things are inevitable. (It's not too much of a stretch to speak of "death and taxes"...)
"The Lifecycle of Software Objects" won the Hugo in its year, and deservedly so. The subject is right there in the title; the "objects" are virtual creatures, and their sentience and even sapience is the main topic. "And sometimes one loves them..."
"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" deals with revolutions in time-binding - the development of writing, and of another mechanism fully as radical in nature - and its effect on people, individually and collectively. There are two story-lines, one set in West Africa around the time of WWII and the other in the not-too-distant future.
"Omphalos" is set in a world in which a variant of young-Earth creationism is provably true, and involves a disquieting astronomical discovery. It's cleverly and sympathetically done.
The other four stories didn't impress me quite as much, but I should probably think about the stories "What's Expected of Us" and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom". They both deal with questions of determinism and free will, but in different ways; the second story is much the stronger, I think.
Anyway, Chiang continues to hold his position in my mind, as probably the best writer of short F/SF currently in the business. I've enjoyed both collections.
An Odd Coincidence
Dec. 16th, 2019 04:37 pmI'm currently reading _No Name_, a novel by the 19th century author Wilkie Collins (better known for _The Moonstone_ and _The Woman in White_). One of the characters has come to the bedside of a gravely ill friend, and is trying to comfort her, reassuring her that he is here to protect and revive her. In his boastful speech to that effect, he cries, "Dum vivimus, vivamus". (He immediately apologies for his pedantry.)
What's odd is that I've encountered that saying ("While we live, let us live!") exactly once before, in Robert Heinlein's rather odd fantasy/science fiction novel _Glory Road_. There, the hero used it to propose to his lady-love. (Also oddly, this was in midbook; much happened afterward, to the detriment of their marriage.)
Collins and Heinlein are not two authors I would think of in the same breath, but there you are.
What's odd is that I've encountered that saying ("While we live, let us live!") exactly once before, in Robert Heinlein's rather odd fantasy/science fiction novel _Glory Road_. There, the hero used it to propose to his lady-love. (Also oddly, this was in midbook; much happened afterward, to the detriment of their marriage.)
Collins and Heinlein are not two authors I would think of in the same breath, but there you are.
We've lost Rene Auberjonois.
I remember him mostly in his role as Odo, one of the most interesting (to me) characters on "Deep Space 9", but I also saw him play Clayton Endicott on "Benson", a show that I didn't see enough of. (It took place during my TV-less period in college.)
I remain astonished at the emotional range he could convey under the heavy makeup he wore on DS9.
He will be missed.
I remember him mostly in his role as Odo, one of the most interesting (to me) characters on "Deep Space 9", but I also saw him play Clayton Endicott on "Benson", a show that I didn't see enough of. (It took place during my TV-less period in college.)
I remain astonished at the emotional range he could convey under the heavy makeup he wore on DS9.
He will be missed.
I've enjoyed the Harry Dresden novels (and a couple of short stories) by Jim Butcher quite a bit. (I do wish he'd get back to them and stop futzing around with other universes; he promised us an *ending* that should be only a few volumes away.)
One thing in particular I've liked is the alternating power of the Winter and Summer Courts, and the revelation of Winter's true role. But... my Willing Suspension of Disbelief on this point keeps getting put under stress. *The world is round and axially tilted.* Northern winter is southern summer, and that puts Butcher's whole scheme awry.
It's not as bad as some of, e.g., Rowling's solecisms, but the issue is more central to the series, and the flaw is therefore more irritating.
One thing in particular I've liked is the alternating power of the Winter and Summer Courts, and the revelation of Winter's true role. But... my Willing Suspension of Disbelief on this point keeps getting put under stress. *The world is round and axially tilted.* Northern winter is southern summer, and that puts Butcher's whole scheme awry.
It's not as bad as some of, e.g., Rowling's solecisms, but the issue is more central to the series, and the flaw is therefore more irritating.
I love O. Westin's MicroSFF tweets. This is the latest:
"I hear rustling as I am about to open my bedroom door. I freeze.
It finally happened, as I was warned it would. I kept them waiting too long, ignored them too long. They have gone feral, wild.
They call for me.
As is their right.
I open the door, and all my unread books swarm me."
(They can be found at MicroSFF; a compendium of them can be purchased at Amazon.)
"I hear rustling as I am about to open my bedroom door. I freeze.
It finally happened, as I was warned it would. I kept them waiting too long, ignored them too long. They have gone feral, wild.
They call for me.
As is their right.
I open the door, and all my unread books swarm me."
(They can be found at MicroSFF; a compendium of them can be purchased at Amazon.)
Exhalation
Oct. 12th, 2019 09:40 amI've begun reading Ted Chiang's short story collection _Exhalation_, and I'm finding it, as expected, to be a delight. I'm currently midway through "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", which I've read before; it was, justly, the Hugo winner for Best Novella in 2011. I'll probably give a full review after I'm done with the collection, but I thought I'd mention "What's Expected of Us", a short and somber reflection on the question of free will. By chance, I'm also grinding my way through Hilary Bok's _Freedom and Responsibility_, a full-scale philosophical treatise on the subject, and the device which Chiang uses in his story is (probably by coincidence) a simplified version of a thought-experiment Bok uses in her book. (Bok is a professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins, and the daughter of former Harvard president Derek Bok and philosopher Sissela Bok - I also have two of *her* books in my library - but she was also, for a long time, one of the front-pagers at Obsidian Wings under the handle of "hilzoy"; I still follow her Twitter feed.)
Chanur's Heir
Oct. 6th, 2019 06:12 pmI'm nearing the end of _Chanur's Legacy_, and have realized a couple of things.
1. Thanks to a video pointed out by the redoubtable filkferengi, I see that I have been mispronouncing "Chanur" for lo these many years: the "ch" is a French "ch", not an English one, and the stress is on the second syllable. (Also, the hani "r" is strongly trilled.)
2. I have wondered about the future of the Compact. Pyanfar Chanur's remarkable domination - mekt-hakkikt, Personage of Personages, President, Director, and who knows what the methane breathers call her - can't last forever. What happens when she dies? I have just realized that Hilfy is in line to the succession, not by blood but by talent and skill. Thanks in particular to the events of _Legacy_, she understands stsho better than any non-stsho alive; she is fluent in main-kifish, and understands their psychology better than any non-kif other than her aunt; and she's rubbed shoulders often enough with the mahe as well. Her gift for languages and her experience on the Pride make her a plausible successor. (I should have known _Legacy_ was deeper than I had perceived it to be!)
1. Thanks to a video pointed out by the redoubtable filkferengi, I see that I have been mispronouncing "Chanur" for lo these many years: the "ch" is a French "ch", not an English one, and the stress is on the second syllable. (Also, the hani "r" is strongly trilled.)
2. I have wondered about the future of the Compact. Pyanfar Chanur's remarkable domination - mekt-hakkikt, Personage of Personages, President, Director, and who knows what the methane breathers call her - can't last forever. What happens when she dies? I have just realized that Hilfy is in line to the succession, not by blood but by talent and skill. Thanks in particular to the events of _Legacy_, she understands stsho better than any non-stsho alive; she is fluent in main-kifish, and understands their psychology better than any non-kif other than her aunt; and she's rubbed shoulders often enough with the mahe as well. Her gift for languages and her experience on the Pride make her a plausible successor. (I should have known _Legacy_ was deeper than I had perceived it to be!)
Cherryh-picking
Oct. 3rd, 2019 08:35 amI've been rereading C. J. Cherryh's Chanur series. I'm just about done, maybe a third of the way into _Chanur's Legacy_.
Cherryh's work is almost always serious in tone; some of the Foreigner books display a bit of humor ("Salad!"), but stark horror is more her style. But _Chanur's Legacy_ is suffused with understated humor. Poor hapless Hallan Meras, Hilfy's fastidious stsho passenger, and the whole sequence with the mahen miner and his exploding rocks (which I haven't gotten to - they're still at Urtur Station)... It's not laugh-out-loud stuff, more shake-my-head-and-chuckle, but this book remains one of my comfort reads.
Cherryh's work is almost always serious in tone; some of the Foreigner books display a bit of humor ("Salad!"), but stark horror is more her style. But _Chanur's Legacy_ is suffused with understated humor. Poor hapless Hallan Meras, Hilfy's fastidious stsho passenger, and the whole sequence with the mahen miner and his exploding rocks (which I haven't gotten to - they're still at Urtur Station)... It's not laugh-out-loud stuff, more shake-my-head-and-chuckle, but this book remains one of my comfort reads.
The latest Library of America volume arrived yesterday. It's volume one of Hainish Novels & Stories, by Le Guin. It includes The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, which I already had, but also Planet of Exile, Rocannon's World, and City of Illusions, which I didn't. There are also four shorter pieces, including "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow". (I read it in, I think, a Judith Merrill anthology when I was a kid, and was impressed by it, though I don't remember the story. I'm pretty sure the title was my first encounter with Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress", which I sought out and read soon after.)
So, I'm still waiting for the volume of 1960s SF, and apparently also for the second volume of Hainish stories.
Mount TBR continues to grow...
So, I'm still waiting for the volume of 1960s SF, and apparently also for the second volume of Hainish stories.
Mount TBR continues to grow...
Sooo, I went shopping today. I hadn't planned an Amazon run until I officially am back on the payroll, but LMB had to put out a new Penric story...
E-books: LMB, "The Orphans of Raspay"; Michael Collins, "Carrying the Fire (50th Anniversary Edition)"; Ben Aaronovitch, "Broken Homes"; Genevieve Cogman, "The Invisible Library"; Elizabeth Peters, "Crocodile on the Sandbank" (yes, I'm finally starting on the Amelia Peabody series); James A. Corey, "Abaddon's Gate".
Dead trees: Alice R. Gaby, "A Grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre" (my semi-annual dose of linguistics); Brian Vaughan, "Saga, Vol. 3"; Bill Willingham, "Rose Red (Fables Vol. 15)".
Music: Neil Diamond, "The Bang Years 1966-1968", Londonbeat, "Greatest Hits"
Should be fun.
E-books: LMB, "The Orphans of Raspay"; Michael Collins, "Carrying the Fire (50th Anniversary Edition)"; Ben Aaronovitch, "Broken Homes"; Genevieve Cogman, "The Invisible Library"; Elizabeth Peters, "Crocodile on the Sandbank" (yes, I'm finally starting on the Amelia Peabody series); James A. Corey, "Abaddon's Gate".
Dead trees: Alice R. Gaby, "A Grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre" (my semi-annual dose of linguistics); Brian Vaughan, "Saga, Vol. 3"; Bill Willingham, "Rose Red (Fables Vol. 15)".
Music: Neil Diamond, "The Bang Years 1966-1968", Londonbeat, "Greatest Hits"
Should be fun.
The only books by Stephen King I've ever read are the first few Dark Tower books; I lost interest before finishing the series. Still, I'm contemplating taking the plunge into some of his other works. _The Stand_ sounds like it might be appealing; _Cujo_ does not.
Any thoughts, from those who've sampled King's writing?
Any thoughts, from those who've sampled King's writing?
What's Her Name?
Jun. 1st, 2019 10:06 amGeorge R. Stewart wrote one of the finest post-apocalyptic novels, Earth Abides. It was his only work of science fiction, and it holds up very well, even after seventy-plus years. (Stephen King identifies it as one of the inspirations for his The Stand.) He also wrote a number of other works, fiction and nonfiction. One of the former was Storm, which had as protagonist a giant hurricane, which he dubbed Maria.
I did not know this: it was that novel which prompted the National Weather Service to begin naming hurricanes, and it also inspired the Lerner and Loewe song "They Call the Wind Maria", from Paint Your Wagon.
I've had Earth Abides in my library for a long time, but I think I'm going to scout around for some of his other works.
I did not know this: it was that novel which prompted the National Weather Service to begin naming hurricanes, and it also inspired the Lerner and Loewe song "They Call the Wind Maria", from Paint Your Wagon.
I've had Earth Abides in my library for a long time, but I think I'm going to scout around for some of his other works.
Up the River
May. 21st, 2019 01:48 pmWell, the item I wanted to buy for my brother seems only to be available used. I have reason to suspect a new edition will come out next year; if so, I'll grab a couple of copies then.
In the meantime, I bought: 1637: The Polish Maelstrom, the latest Ring of Fire volume; Exhalation: Stories, the new collection of Ted Chiang stories; From Fabletown with Love, another entry in the Fables sequence; Saga, Vol. 2; a hardcover edition of the first four years of Pogo; and albums by Reba McEntire ("Stronger Than The Truth"), Willie Nelson ("Legend"), and Brandy Clark ("Big Day in a Small Town"). The first two I downloaded to Kindle; the rest will arrive in a week or so.
As if I needed more excuses to goof off...
In the meantime, I bought: 1637: The Polish Maelstrom, the latest Ring of Fire volume; Exhalation: Stories, the new collection of Ted Chiang stories; From Fabletown with Love, another entry in the Fables sequence; Saga, Vol. 2; a hardcover edition of the first four years of Pogo; and albums by Reba McEntire ("Stronger Than The Truth"), Willie Nelson ("Legend"), and Brandy Clark ("Big Day in a Small Town"). The first two I downloaded to Kindle; the rest will arrive in a week or so.
As if I needed more excuses to goof off...
