Fiction
Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely, WE3: Mechanically and genetically enhanced dog, cat, and rabbit escape the military experiment that’s been running them and try to find home/peace in a world that just wants to kill them. I’m verbally oriented enough that this word-light version of the standard tale didn’t do it for me, especially with all the blown-apart limbs etc. involved in the military tech.
Noelle Stevenson, Nimona: This graphic novel is just delightful. Nimona, a shapeshifting young girl, shows up to become the sidekick of the robot-armed villain Lord Blackheart, whose long struggle against the Institution ruling the city/kingdom is personified in his fight with Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, once his best friend (well, probably something more than that). SF tech and medieval arrangements coexist as Stevenson works some great changes on familiar tropes, not shying from the fact that Nimona deliberately signed up to kill people. Recommended!
Brian K. Vaughn, Marcos Martin, & Muntsa Vicente, The Private Eye: collected version of initially digital comic, about a world in which privacy laws and technology interact so that people are always wearing physical masks, which leads to interesting and convoluted situations, especially if you’re trying to solve (or prevent) crimes. If you’re interested in thinking through the implications of countermeasures against pervasive surveillance, it’s worth a look.
Sharon Shinn, Fortune and Fate: Hardened fighter tries to retire because she feels guilty about not saving the life of the man she was supposed to protect, but gets talked into helping protect a young girl who is the heir to an important region. In the process she rebuilds her self-esteem and also falls in love with the girl’s bookish guardian. Pleasant enough, but I couldn’t get a lot of enthusiasm for it.
Christopher Steinsvold, The Book of Ralph: When enormous letters exhorting people to “Drink Diet Coke” appear on the moon, no one can figure out how Coca-Cola did it. A year later, a giant can of Campbell’s Soup lands on the White House lawn. Inside is an alien, and he has a warning. Or several. This attracted me because of the absurdist premise mixed with a focus on branding, but absurdism has a very delicate tone, and something about the workmanlike prose just failed to work for me-it lacked the lightness I needed to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the ridiculousness; for example, there’s lots of foreshadowing (he was lying, but we didn’t know that until later) that drew me out of the moment.
Sophia McDougall, Space Hostages: Sequel to Mars Evacuees, in which the relevant kids return to space and, well, you read the title. Not quite as exciting as the first book, but the kids continue to develop in plausible and entertaining ways, so anyone who enjoyed the first should enjoy the second.
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Noelle Stevenson, Nimona: This graphic novel is just delightful. Nimona, a shapeshifting young girl, shows up to become the sidekick of the robot-armed villain Lord Blackheart, whose long struggle against the Institution ruling the city/kingdom is personified in his fight with Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, once his best friend (well, probably something more than that). SF tech and medieval arrangements coexist as Stevenson works some great changes on familiar tropes, not shying from the fact that Nimona deliberately signed up to kill people. Recommended!
Brian K. Vaughn, Marcos Martin, & Muntsa Vicente, The Private Eye: collected version of initially digital comic, about a world in which privacy laws and technology interact so that people are always wearing physical masks, which leads to interesting and convoluted situations, especially if you’re trying to solve (or prevent) crimes. If you’re interested in thinking through the implications of countermeasures against pervasive surveillance, it’s worth a look.
Sharon Shinn, Fortune and Fate: Hardened fighter tries to retire because she feels guilty about not saving the life of the man she was supposed to protect, but gets talked into helping protect a young girl who is the heir to an important region. In the process she rebuilds her self-esteem and also falls in love with the girl’s bookish guardian. Pleasant enough, but I couldn’t get a lot of enthusiasm for it.
Christopher Steinsvold, The Book of Ralph: When enormous letters exhorting people to “Drink Diet Coke” appear on the moon, no one can figure out how Coca-Cola did it. A year later, a giant can of Campbell’s Soup lands on the White House lawn. Inside is an alien, and he has a warning. Or several. This attracted me because of the absurdist premise mixed with a focus on branding, but absurdism has a very delicate tone, and something about the workmanlike prose just failed to work for me-it lacked the lightness I needed to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the ridiculousness; for example, there’s lots of foreshadowing (he was lying, but we didn’t know that until later) that drew me out of the moment.
Sophia McDougall, Space Hostages: Sequel to Mars Evacuees, in which the relevant kids return to space and, well, you read the title. Not quite as exciting as the first book, but the kids continue to develop in plausible and entertaining ways, so anyone who enjoyed the first should enjoy the second.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.