Sunday, March 31, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Book Review: The Blue Heron by Gene O'Neill
The Blue Heron by Gene O'Neill
87 pages Bad Moon books (Hardcover limited/Paperback)
Gene O'Neill's novella “Jade” was my number six read of 2010, I wanted another 100 pages. It was a charming post apocalypse story, yep you read that right. O'Neil is a talented story teller through and through and that story set in the ruins that had once been San Diego was emotionally gripping from the first page to the last. I also read and loved his Bram Stoker award winning collection of stories taking place in San Francisco called “The Taste of Tenderloin” So I jumped at a chance to review another novella from him, this one is also Stoker nominated and is called The Blue Heron.
It is the story about the surviving members of a Marine recon unit that were apart of a tramatic attack on a small arms depot in vietnam where they were involved in the killing of innocent pregnant woman. The members of the team begin to die, each one is found with a small blue Origami meant to look like a Blue Heron. This has meaning to the still living members of the team as they saw a Blue Heron out of place in SE asia on the the day of the murder back in 1962.
This is quick excellently paced horror novella that jet sets with with characters as they try to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill them. I certainly can see that O'Neill had enough for a much longer story but it is perfectly paced with no fluff, making it a great read. I am sure I enjoyed Jade more, but I have become a fan of Gene O'Neill whose strongest asset is consistently strong story-telling abilit and pitch perfect pacing and prose.
He is not flashy, but solid and has made a fan out of this reader. I think this strong entry in the Dark Regions novella series should be in any collection that takes horror fiction seriously.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Book Review: The Departure by Neal Asher
The Departure by Neal Asher
390 pages Nightshade books
As an adult political Science Fiction is my favorite kind of Sci-fi novel, when I was younger Del Rey paperbacks with Science Fiction Adventure were often my favorites. One amazing thing Neal Asher has done here is marry those two styles in one fantastic 21st century speculative work of fiction. The first of a new series called the Owner trilogy is not a totally new universe to Asher, there were a few stories about a character called the Owner, but it is the first novel in in this setting and a origin story. The majority of his work take place in the universe of his polity novels. I have reviewed the first two Gridlinked and the amazing novel Skinner on my blog already. If no other reason this novel earns it's title for being a bold Departure from the novels Asher has found so much success with.
The Owner series is set in our solar system only a few centuries ahead on a overpopulated Earth and a fledgling Mars colony. The lazy comparison will be to the Bourne Identity space opera as the main character Alan Saul wakes up without any prior memories of his attempts at a failed revolution. He has the help of an AI implanted in his skull and an engineer named Hannah. Saul has to re-learn quickly why he was at odds with the Committee the one world government, who is dealing with a overpopulated and under resourced world coming with a system to determine which citizens are of value and which should be killed.
Saul augments his brain, so he can interface with the committee's source of power, a mega satellite colony on a asteroid in orbit of earth. Thus begins a a battle for the control of Argus. This is a powerful Science Fiction novel filled with lots of high concepts. I think there has been some disappointment with some Asher fans, but if this was his first novel I think it would rated higher, the problem is Asher has put the bar very high. I can only speak for a couple of novels but there is nothing here that compares to the setting, tone, characters, hardware and quality of writing in Asher's second novel “The Skinner.”
As it is a Neal Asher novel there is all kinds of insane kinds of future tech designed for brutality and warfare. I read this right after the very intellectually strong, action weak and left leaning 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson which shares a similar setting. This novel felt like Cannon films bought the rights to adapt that novel and made a libertarian mega action version. Anyone who knows me knows that is not exactly a turn off as I love Cannon movies.
The majority of Science Fiction novels with a political message are written by left leanings writers (like John Shirley, John Brunner or Kim Stanley Robinson) or straight-up radicals (like Ursala K.Leguin and Norman Spinrad). I would be lying if I didn't admit that I like to agree with my favorite novels. However as a political writer myself I don't want or expect all my readers to agree with me. So in return it is only fair that I read enjoy authors I don't agree with.
That is the thing, this novel feels very Ayn Rand influenced and seems to call for little or no government. Probably the opposite of John Shirley's recent anti-libertarian novel “Everything is Broken.” I don't really agree with a lot of the message but I enjoyed the story throughout.
I spent a lot of time thinking about and considering the message of this book, mostly after it was done. Unlike my bad experience with Dan Simmons novel Flashback I was able to separate my personal feelings and enjoy the story. Simmons may be one of the most brilliant minds working in genre but once he decides to make a point he often forgets to be a genius. Flashback felt like it was written on a soapbox, and that often pulled me out of the story. Asher didn't do that.
I was busy reading about giant space battles, spider gun robots and 23rd century warfare and revolution. It was a fun wild ride and only after it was done did I realize that Asher and I see a lot of the same problems coming in the future we just don't agree on the root cause. In the end I enjoyed The Departure and I am interested enough in the story that I am going to read the second book when it comes out.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Book Review: 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
561 pages (hardcover) Orbit books
Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (2012), British Science Fiction Association Award Nominee for Best Novel (2012)
There are novels that are great entertainment and some novels that are achievements, 2312 is a fine example of Science Fiction literature that is so well written and and composed it transcends the genre ghetto. Since KSR has decades of genre publishing experience it will be marketed as a genre novel. If it was the work of a first time author (think Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow or David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas) it would have been promoted as straight literature. The novel functions on multiple levels, in many ways it is a history of a possible future, a road trip novel but at it's core it is a love story between a person born and raised on Mercury with a person who grew up in the shadow of Saturn.
Set three hundred years in our future humanity has survived some less than pleasant centuries in part by expanding out in the our neighborhood in space. The novel opens in Terminator city a colony on Mercury. As you can imagine the bright side is too hot and and the dark side is too cold. In order to find the goldie locks spot the city of Terminator stays just beyond the horizon by moving on 42 tracks across the planet at 5 KPH. Sure it is a gee-whiz idea but KSR writes about these wonders like a painter with a skill for landscapes.
The landscapes are a strength of this novel but don't think for one minute he has fallen into the sci-fi disease of ignoring the characters for the gee-whiz stuff. At it's heart 2312 is a love story. Spacers in the future don't think about gender in the narrow terms we do. The main characters are Swan who mostly identifies as female and Wahram who identifies as male. KRS however breaks down these gender steroetypes in a couple hundred pages and the reader like the future society pays little attention to he/ she stuff and focuses on the persons and their amazing story.
The Maguffin of the story is the death of an aunt named Alex who leaves Swan instructions to carry on her work designing and terra-forming habitats around the solar system. The mystery comes when someone or something seems intent on destroying their work. The city on Mercury is attacked and almost destroyed. As Wahram and Swan investigate with the help of a 24th century inspector from Titan they begin to believe the suspect is not human at all.
Along the way they spend time on Venus, the moons of Jupiter, surf the magnetic waves of the Saturn rings and of course spend time on the ecologically crushed home world of humans.
Married to a scientist Robinson blends science and narrative about as good as anyone maybe even better than Arthur C.Clarke. He writes beautiful prose and never dumbs it down, some of it will likely go over your head but usually I could figure it out in time.
Being a left coast liberal and radical thinker Robinson explores the nature of capitalism, hierarchy and environmentalism. While he may not get the attention from the crusty punks the way Ursala Leguin and Octavia Butler have gotten recently this is a subtly subversive speculative novel.
I loved it. I think you should check it out.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Book Review: Heaven's War by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
Heaven's War by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
432 pages Ace books
Thanks to the writers strike a few years ago The screenwriting duo behind this novel decided the movie they were developing might make a good novel and they tried their hand at a first novel. That novel Heaven's shadow that fantastic. In 2011 I said “This is an excellent addition to the the Big Dumb Object genre and my favorite Sci-fi novel I have read so far this year. The authors have built groundwork for a trilogy that cannot stay in the same sub-genre. That's great I am excited to see these characters again and the different direction the story will have to go into.”
I really loved the first book, though it operated on full warp drive and I was excited to read the sequel. I wonder if the first book benefited in way the follow-up did not from the writers strike. Were Goyer and Cassutt not as committed to this second book?
The first problem I had was that it seemed like nothing happened until 250 pages into the novel. There were lots of awkward flashback backgrounds of the characters and that didn't feel weaved into the book. They took over the first act of the book and helped to make the plot feel like it was sinking in quicksand. This was a planned trilogy, and that is a difficult part of a narrative how to write the middle book so it doesn't feel like a bridge. And that is sadly what this book feels like a bridge between book one and two.
Book two doesn't always have to suck. The middle part of trilogy is a dangerous business if you don't do it right. Do it right like say “Empire strikes back” or The Strain Trilogy then you can often craft the best entry in the series. Goyer should understand this as he just wrapped up writing a great film trilogy in Batman, that trilogy like Goyer's blade trilogy had strong second entries. What made those middle parts work is they took the tension up and knott left you worried for what was going to happen. (In empire the heroes lost, in the The Strain the world ended)
In this book I am not sure what happened. This is not a complaint you hear out of me about I think they undersolid the concept of the trilogy, but maybe I was just too lost on the book already. I made it through, but it was a boring read altogether. This makes me sad because I LOVED the first book. I greatly respect Goyer and think he is a wonderful story teller. I'll probably read the third book but I might not rush to do so.