Sue Perry (5)
Author of Was It a Rat I Saw
For other authors named Sue Perry, see the disambiguation page.
Works by Sue Perry
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- seriously?
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of California-Santa Cruz (BA|Computer Science|Film)
University of Oregon-Eugene (MS|Geological Sciences) - Agent
- Deborah Schneider (Gelfman-Schneider)
- Short biography
- Sue Perry has had many jobs and several careers, so can say with conviction that writing fiction is what matters to her. She has been a motion picture story analyst, a low budget television producer, a geologic consultant, director of a college research internship program, adjunct faculty at a community college, and a disaster scientist. In 1992, her novel WAS IT A RAT I SAW was published by Bantam-Doubleday-Dell in hardcover (and has just returned as an ebook). Sue then stopped writing for nearly 20 years, while she did much of the above, and raised twins. In 2012 she resumed writing and published the literary fiction SCAR JEWELRY. She has published about a book a year since then, including the YA paranormal horror romance series DDSE; stories in all lengths and many genres, DEBUT, A PROSE LP; and multiple, still-multiplying volumes in the speculative detective series FRAMES.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- California, USA
- Places of residence
- California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- California, USA
Members
Reviews
Is writing, as somebody once said to me, the most conservative of the arts? As a teenager I was stopped in my tracks by an early (and very unVancelike) Jack Vance short story, and ever since I've been on the lookout for more of whatever it was that The Men Return did to my mind while reading it. It described a place utterly unlike our own Universe, a zone where even the laws of nature—the very fabric of reality itself—is strange, different...surreal. And it's no accident that I've had to show more use a term from painting to describe it here, because that's the thing: there are painter-explorers galore, but writer-explorers? Even in the supposedly imaginative genres like science fiction and fantasy?
There is originality out there, though; every now and then, among all the galactic empires and books of magic spells, you do come across something different—and Nica of Los Angeles certainly is. Not so much in its plot: a missing-persons case which quickly opens out into something much bigger; nor in its characters: the feisty girl private investigator, the flawed ex-husband, the friendly cop... Or at least, not in its human characters, because the non-human ones are something else again: these include buildings which are, not only alive, but go walkabout and have a nicely offbeat sense of humour; there are sentient (and rather sinister) clouds, books like squadrons of Stuka dive-bombers and, at one point, sitting on a panel of judges, a construction crane—welcome to the world of the Frames!
In fact, these non-humans are as much a part of the setting as actual characters—and it's this setting which is unusual: Frames are other dimensions or parallel universes; and, if you know how, you can navigate your way through them. This isn't travel through space or time, but laterally through parallel versions of the Universe; all the book's action takes place in and around Los Angeles for example, but it's a multi-Los Angeles, of which our Los Angeles is just one of an infinite number. The Frames intersect at points called 'Connectors', and passing through these is one of several methods of travelling from Frame to Frame. Half of the Frames themselves are neutral Frames whose inhabitants—including us—are unaware that they even are living in a Frame. Others though are (to us) very strange, home to the eavesdropping clouds and friendly buildings.
I liked everything else about this book too: Nica, our feisty private eye, is likeable from the start—the down-to-earth human focal point around which all the more surreal furniture (some of that sentient!) is arranged. Then there's the story: that vaster 'something' which her missing-person's case opens out into is a classic cosmic struggle between good and evil; the genocidal minions of a Devil-like entity are attempting to release it from its banishment to, and imprisonment in, a sort of Hell-Frame and unleash it on the Universe once more; Nica and her friends have been recruited into the ranks of the good guys trying to prevent this. And I liked the prose itself too: sharp and fast, laced with humour—thoroughly readable.
Above all, though, it's in that setting where we see a proper imagination at work: this is a glimpse of a Universe in which things don't just look different, they work differently, the laws of nature aren't quite the ones we are used to maybe, or the actual fabric of things has a different feel to it. So why is this sort of novel so unusual? The simple answer, I guess, is because it's just difficult to do—very few authors seem to have either the imagination, or even the inclination, to attempt it. Perhaps writing tends to attract the more conservative-minded artist (or perhaps most with that depth of imagination tend to become surrealist painters instead!)...who knows? Whatever the answer, Nica of Los Angeles didn't just entertain me for a few hours, it got me thinking again—as The Men Return did all those years ago—about imagination, exploration, originality. show less
There is originality out there, though; every now and then, among all the galactic empires and books of magic spells, you do come across something different—and Nica of Los Angeles certainly is. Not so much in its plot: a missing-persons case which quickly opens out into something much bigger; nor in its characters: the feisty girl private investigator, the flawed ex-husband, the friendly cop... Or at least, not in its human characters, because the non-human ones are something else again: these include buildings which are, not only alive, but go walkabout and have a nicely offbeat sense of humour; there are sentient (and rather sinister) clouds, books like squadrons of Stuka dive-bombers and, at one point, sitting on a panel of judges, a construction crane—welcome to the world of the Frames!
In fact, these non-humans are as much a part of the setting as actual characters—and it's this setting which is unusual: Frames are other dimensions or parallel universes; and, if you know how, you can navigate your way through them. This isn't travel through space or time, but laterally through parallel versions of the Universe; all the book's action takes place in and around Los Angeles for example, but it's a multi-Los Angeles, of which our Los Angeles is just one of an infinite number. The Frames intersect at points called 'Connectors', and passing through these is one of several methods of travelling from Frame to Frame. Half of the Frames themselves are neutral Frames whose inhabitants—including us—are unaware that they even are living in a Frame. Others though are (to us) very strange, home to the eavesdropping clouds and friendly buildings.
I liked everything else about this book too: Nica, our feisty private eye, is likeable from the start—the down-to-earth human focal point around which all the more surreal furniture (some of that sentient!) is arranged. Then there's the story: that vaster 'something' which her missing-person's case opens out into is a classic cosmic struggle between good and evil; the genocidal minions of a Devil-like entity are attempting to release it from its banishment to, and imprisonment in, a sort of Hell-Frame and unleash it on the Universe once more; Nica and her friends have been recruited into the ranks of the good guys trying to prevent this. And I liked the prose itself too: sharp and fast, laced with humour—thoroughly readable.
Above all, though, it's in that setting where we see a proper imagination at work: this is a glimpse of a Universe in which things don't just look different, they work differently, the laws of nature aren't quite the ones we are used to maybe, or the actual fabric of things has a different feel to it. So why is this sort of novel so unusual? The simple answer, I guess, is because it's just difficult to do—very few authors seem to have either the imagination, or even the inclination, to attempt it. Perhaps writing tends to attract the more conservative-minded artist (or perhaps most with that depth of imagination tend to become surrealist painters instead!)...who knows? Whatever the answer, Nica of Los Angeles didn't just entertain me for a few hours, it got me thinking again—as The Men Return did all those years ago—about imagination, exploration, originality. show less
At first I had a hard time getting into this book, maybe it was because I had recently just finished reading another book and kept being drawn back to those characters, whatever the reason I had to restart this book a couple of times, but once I got into it there was no stopping. I truly enjoyed the book. I always know when a book is going to be good when I start thinking of the characters as actual people, they become my friends and I am with them. This book did that. I began to think of show more Nica as an old friend who was taking me with her on this adventure. There were times in the book when I would have to back track because I though I might have missed something, then realized that I did not miss anything it was just that part of the book was not as clear. I know that I will be rereading this book in the future, most likely right before I read book 2.
This was the first book I have ever read by Sue Perry but it will not be the last. show less
This was the first book I have ever read by Sue Perry but it will not be the last. show less
At first I had a hard time getting into this book, maybe it was because I had recently just finished reading another book and kept being drawn back to those characters, whatever the reason I had to restart this book a couple of times, but once I got into it there was no stopping. I truly enjoyed the book. I always know when a book is going to be good when I start thinking of the characters as actual people, they become my friends and I am with them. This book did that. I began to think of show more Nica as an old friend who was taking me with her on this adventure. There were times in the book when I would have to back track because I though I might have missed something, then realized that I did not miss anything it was just that part of the book was not as clear. I know that I will be rereading this book in the future, most likely right before I read book 2.
This was the first book I have ever read by Sue Perry but it will not be the last. show less
This was the first book I have ever read by Sue Perry but it will not be the last. show less
Nica, at loose ends, adds her name on the office door of her dead uncle's private detective agency, which gives her both income and a place to sleep. Some new walk-in clients hire her to do run of the mill detective work, but one couple, who say they were referred to her by her building, are strange and curious to Nica. The elegant pair want to hire her but can't explain why in her office and also offer to pay her big bucks for her service. They request, that they must all meet later that show more evening and go to a place where they can talk safely. There, all her questions will be answered. Nica has started to form many questions about her quirky new clients, but they will all have to wait. A new question moves to the top of her growing mountain of questions after she sees them, for a brief moment, at the elevator in the hallway. It is when she gets a glimps as both put in a strange mouthpiece and bite down, then fade away to nothingness as they wave goodbye to her.
I enjoyed how Sue Perry has used words and phrases to describe her characters and find humor in some dark places. Some names sound silly others give insight to what and who they are. As you travel through the layers in FRAMES you come to understand many things aren’t what they seem to be. I look forward to seeing old friends again and meeting new “things” in the forthcoming books in the FRAMES series. show less
I enjoyed how Sue Perry has used words and phrases to describe her characters and find humor in some dark places. Some names sound silly others give insight to what and who they are. As you travel through the layers in FRAMES you come to understand many things aren’t what they seem to be. I look forward to seeing old friends again and meeting new “things” in the forthcoming books in the FRAMES series. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
Statistics
- Works
- 10
- Members
- 50
- Popularity
- #316,247
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 18
- ISBNs
- 14
