Read Recently -- April (At long last!)
Why Atheism? by George H. Smith
What seem to me like obvious answers to the book's title, such as, "Why not?" and "Because" don't seem to work for Mr. Smith. On the other hand, he's less interested in being a smartarse and more interested in writing philosophy, as well as being, "more concerned with the credibility of atheism than its justification." That is to say, he wishes to make it clear that atheism is an argument that the theist must take seriously, and not simply dismiss as unthinkable and/or nonsense. Whether he succeeds in that aim I cannot say, not being a theist, but I can say that I find this book (and his earlier book, Atheism: the case against God") a clear and easy read, with the chapter on the Ontological argument being particularely useful. All told, highly recommended.
Swordspoint: a melodrama of manners by Ellen Kushner
In a city whose name I do not think we are ever told (at least, I can't find the name if it's there), the local noblemen hire swordsmen to fight their duels for them (if a nobleman is unable to hire a swordsman to fight for him, either due to being surprised by the challenge or just being too unlikable for a swordsman to agree, he must fight for himself. This is usually a bad idea, as the swordsmen are better fighters than the nobles are (else, of course, the hiring would go the other way)). The best of these swordsmen, bar none, is Richard St. Vier, who lives in the slum district of Riverside, in a building owned by a laundress (whom he trusts to get the blood out of his shirts). He lives with a young ex-student, one Alec, who never speaks about his past. Alec likes to wander around Riverside, picking fights which St. Vier has to finish (Alec can't fight). Meanwhile, young Lord Michael Godwin wants to learn to become a swordsman. St. Vier refuses to teach him, so he finds another teacher. And Lord Ferris schemes with the beautiful but aging Duchess Tremontaine in a convoluted plot whose aim is not necessarely what it seems to be.
The tale woven from these different threads is surprisingly complex to describe, though to read it is easy enough to follow (at least in hindsight; I spent a lot of time saying to myself, "Oh, so that's why that happened that way!"). No character or event is superfluous. The language and style are modern, thus dealing with the central problems many people found with works like Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell and The Phoenix Guards (and its sequels), while still giving a similar (and appropriate) atmosphere. And the characters are all real, complex people with real, complex motives. ST. Vier, in particular, is a romantic hero with real flaws, while Alec has the sort of "mad, bad and dangerous to know" atmosphere that made Byron so fascinating (something which is explored more thoroughly in one of the sequels).
This being the expanded director's cut edition, it contains an interactive menu and theatrical trailer several short stories set in the same milieu, most featuring the same characters.
Do I have to say that this is highly recommended?
Again I want to draw attention to the polls in the entries for the 8th of this month. A definite trend is emerging, but surely nine entries cannot be a representative sample, can it?