That Old Black Magic Has Me In Its Spell....
Recent reading: Leviathan Wakes, book 1 of the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey; the Haunts and Horrors megapack from Wildside Press; What If? by Randall Munroe of xkcd fame.
Leviathan Wakes is a case of me catching up with the "in" crowd, as we are several volumes into the Expanse series by now, and the execrably-named SyFy Channel is putting out a TV adaptation. Well, nobody ever said I was quick off the mark. Anyway. This is comfort reading for skiffy fans of a certain vintage, such as me. It is an absolutely unashamed space opera, with explosions and spaceships and asteroid bases and dastardly plots; the hero is a square-jawed omni-competent idiot (the book does, in fact, point out that his habit of reliably doing the high-minded and morally-correct thing results in a body count well into seven digits); the situations are amazing and based on wild scientific speculation... and I've seen it all before. Seriously. I went through the book with a satisfying sense of familiarity, picking out the various influences and identifying the originals. There's elements from all the classics - Heinlein, Niven, Pohl-and-Kornbluth, Arthur Clarke, even John W. Campbell himself, in an oblique sort of a way - mixed in with ingredients more modern readers might recognize from the Alien franchise, and with maybe a hint of William Gibson's noir-esque stylings....
I'm not accusing the two authors who compose "James S.A. Corey" of plagiarism, or even of unoriginality, particularly. They've very skilfully put together a story which is based on the familiar tropes of space opera. It's a thundering good read, and it's an enormously comfortable read for someone like me. The high concepts on display are all old friends, and it's good to catch up with them and see that they're doing all right these days. Took me all the way back to the Golden Age of SF, this did. (And, well, we all know that the Golden Age of SF is about fourteen, right?)
So, old-fashioned reading that still kept me safely enthralled in its narrative spell (and a good thing too, you wouldn't want me running loose and endangering the general public, would you?) The same might be said for the Haunts and Horrors book, a collection of horror stories from a wide range of authors - "The Monkey's Paw" is in this one, and one by M.R. James, and some purple prose by Lovecraft, as well as a bunch of more modern writers. These big dirt-cheap grab-bag anthologies are always a mixed bunch - some of the old ones were over-familiar, some of the new ones didn't work so well (a couple felt more like sketches or notes for stories than actual finished stories themselves). But there are always a few duds in any anthology, and there were several others that were more than adequately creepy and provided that frisson of fear that gets me reading horror. (Some day I must look around and see if there's anything approaching a definitive Nina Kiriki Hoffman collection out there, by the way.)
Meanwhile, What If? is xkcd's Munroe answering daft questions with appropriate scientific seriousness, and providing a lot of laughs in the process. If you have ever planned to drain the Earth's oceans or drop a steak to the ground from outer space, Munroe talks through the process and the likely results with... admirable patience. (Mind you, I remember from George O. Smith's "Venus Equilateral" stories that stacking the elements of the periodic table next to each other is a bad idea... though, in the Smith stories, this only results in a wrecked lab and one injured researcher; Munroe's description of the consequences is much more alarming.) Anyway, it's funny and informative, and caused me no pain (although if I actually tried any of the experiments described, I suspect I'd suffer more pain than the human mind can conceive. Briefly.)
I suppose I should get back to potentially Hugo-eligible stuff at some point. I have a bunch of things cued up, most recently Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Blades, which I am trying not to gloat about as the Americans don't get to read it until January 26th. Should be good, anyway.
Leviathan Wakes is a case of me catching up with the "in" crowd, as we are several volumes into the Expanse series by now, and the execrably-named SyFy Channel is putting out a TV adaptation. Well, nobody ever said I was quick off the mark. Anyway. This is comfort reading for skiffy fans of a certain vintage, such as me. It is an absolutely unashamed space opera, with explosions and spaceships and asteroid bases and dastardly plots; the hero is a square-jawed omni-competent idiot (the book does, in fact, point out that his habit of reliably doing the high-minded and morally-correct thing results in a body count well into seven digits); the situations are amazing and based on wild scientific speculation... and I've seen it all before. Seriously. I went through the book with a satisfying sense of familiarity, picking out the various influences and identifying the originals. There's elements from all the classics - Heinlein, Niven, Pohl-and-Kornbluth, Arthur Clarke, even John W. Campbell himself, in an oblique sort of a way - mixed in with ingredients more modern readers might recognize from the Alien franchise, and with maybe a hint of William Gibson's noir-esque stylings....
I'm not accusing the two authors who compose "James S.A. Corey" of plagiarism, or even of unoriginality, particularly. They've very skilfully put together a story which is based on the familiar tropes of space opera. It's a thundering good read, and it's an enormously comfortable read for someone like me. The high concepts on display are all old friends, and it's good to catch up with them and see that they're doing all right these days. Took me all the way back to the Golden Age of SF, this did. (And, well, we all know that the Golden Age of SF is about fourteen, right?)
So, old-fashioned reading that still kept me safely enthralled in its narrative spell (and a good thing too, you wouldn't want me running loose and endangering the general public, would you?) The same might be said for the Haunts and Horrors book, a collection of horror stories from a wide range of authors - "The Monkey's Paw" is in this one, and one by M.R. James, and some purple prose by Lovecraft, as well as a bunch of more modern writers. These big dirt-cheap grab-bag anthologies are always a mixed bunch - some of the old ones were over-familiar, some of the new ones didn't work so well (a couple felt more like sketches or notes for stories than actual finished stories themselves). But there are always a few duds in any anthology, and there were several others that were more than adequately creepy and provided that frisson of fear that gets me reading horror. (Some day I must look around and see if there's anything approaching a definitive Nina Kiriki Hoffman collection out there, by the way.)
Meanwhile, What If? is xkcd's Munroe answering daft questions with appropriate scientific seriousness, and providing a lot of laughs in the process. If you have ever planned to drain the Earth's oceans or drop a steak to the ground from outer space, Munroe talks through the process and the likely results with... admirable patience. (Mind you, I remember from George O. Smith's "Venus Equilateral" stories that stacking the elements of the periodic table next to each other is a bad idea... though, in the Smith stories, this only results in a wrecked lab and one injured researcher; Munroe's description of the consequences is much more alarming.) Anyway, it's funny and informative, and caused me no pain (although if I actually tried any of the experiments described, I suspect I'd suffer more pain than the human mind can conceive. Briefly.)
I suppose I should get back to potentially Hugo-eligible stuff at some point. I have a bunch of things cued up, most recently Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Blades, which I am trying not to gloat about as the Americans don't get to read it until January 26th. Should be good, anyway.