November 2013 reading

Thinking of rereading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for the first time in over 20 years.

I'm joining in the Ancillary Justice love-in at the moment. Only halfway through, but very interesting so far. Looking forward to reading everyone's reviews of it once I'm done.

I'm about to start re-reading Excession which I am remembering more fondly than my previous review would suggest. Of course I am looking forward to catching up with the snarky ships and that wonderfully awful alien species The Affront, rather than the annoying Culture woman who has been in a 40 year long sulk!

>1 richardderus: I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep for the first time last year, Richard, and really enjoyed it. I was glad it was quite different from the Blade Runner movie.

It's a little bit of a stretch from one to the other. Like, a complete brain-bender.

I like them both, though. Like I like True Blood AND Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Yes, me, too. Great movie.

Finishing up Skinner by Neal Asher which I've rather liked...

#7 After reading the descriptions it looks like a good chance for some Moby Dick moments in that book. ;-) I like a good page turner now & then.

I finished Demon by Jon Varley and thus the Titan series. Quite nice, overall. Would be one of those movies I'd love to see given a sprawling Jacksonian treatment. They've probably have to whitewash the Titanide/human love angle, though.

Taking another whack at the Second Thomas Covenant series, starting with The Wounded Land. Think it might have been about ten years since the first try.

After liking Dragon Ship, I decided to read another new Liaden book, Trade Secret.

Started Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Started Dark Eden.

I'm on the downhill slope of Green Mars, with M. John Harrison's Light queued up behind it.

Tully Zetford's (AKA Ken Bulmer) The Boosted Man was terrible hack work. About to start Rapture, the third book of Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy.

#14 as I recall from nearly 30 years later, it was such a fast read, the pain was over quickly.

#15 True. I read it in a couple of hours.

Just finished The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and will soon start last Men in London by Olaf Stapledon

Back to reading The Golden Age by John C. Wright...

I just started Speaker for the Dead. I read Ender's Game for the first time last spring, and saw the movie last weekend, so I figured it was a good time.

I have got onto a Neal Asher jag. Guess a re-entry to the AI's of Ian M Banks

Different, but like both.

Just pried open Dune for the 2nd time. Frank Herbert shows you talent can lurk in the shadows. He paid so many dues early on. You wouldn't think that now seeing as it's such a staple of Sci-Fi legend. I also find the endless sand still thrills my mind. And I think the book is a more complete vision than the movie, but I still love the movie.

#22 There was a discussion some time ago over the versions of Dune in movie form - I think the consensus was that Dune has yet to be put on the screen in a completely satisfactory version that equals the novel.

Last weekend I tore through Player of Games by Iain M. Banks in one single sitting. Or, since I was in bed, a single lying, until just past 6am. I found it enjoyable, despite the preachy part. Cool setup, wonderful delivery.

I agree, today's storytellers seem hesitant to take it on though (fearing nothing more than a cult hit). At some point it will rise from the ashes of the past. Great ideas have a way of doing that. I heard there could be a new version in the works. Hopefully someone will embrace the text and not want to rewrite their own version.

>23 DugsBooks:,25

Haven't the various persons and entities in charge of the Dune IP or various derived rights made things increasingly asinine for any would-be user ? There used to be all manner of series, video games, some RPG projects, etc... but apparently nothing now anymore except those pre/sequels of arguable merit.

It has a revolving door office at the top. Pierre Morel and Peter Berg both bowed out as director (I think their takes on the classic book ran in the face of the studio). Jodorowsky has completed the feature film and shone it at Cannes. Whether it's any good or not is anyone's guess. The Herbert family owns the licensing as far as I know. And they could possibly be gripping the reins a bit too tight (it's very easy to hurt a brand if you're not careful sort of stuff). I need a way thru. I want all of the best Dune products I can get.

Dune 2000 was the bomb.

I thought that Dune 1984 had the best casting of any adaptation of a book that I have really liked. So often that's what ruins film adaptations for me. I develop a fairly detailed picture of a certain character in my mind, and when I see something totally different on the screen, I find it too disconcerting to objectively assess the film. But for some reason, David Lynch had exactly the same picture of the Dune characters that I did, and that probably made the movie seem a lot better to me than it really was.

#29 Except for Sting, of course :-)

> 28: But the 2000 miniseries had P.H. Moriaty playing Gurney Halleck as an East End gangster's enforcer, which a) he played in 'The Long Good Friday', and b) he may well have been in real life....

>#30, I actually loved Sting!

Ack, I misspoke. I meant Dune II (the video game). Dune 2000 was the (lackluster) sequel/remake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_II

How embarrassing.

#32 Heresy! :-)

>34 iansales:. I know. I'm probably the only one!

#35 Sometimes it's good to stand out from the crowd, sometimes it isn't...

>29 vwinsloe:-32

Liked his presence, him and Paul were too old though, and while Sting's appearance was good for visual contrast it wasn't very faithful to Feyd's description, though I guess you could just say he had a hair job at that time.

Another I had more serious quibbles with was Piter de Vries. They cornered the mad tinker aspect fairly well, but the snarky banter with the baron and the big cat on the prowl vibe weren't there, and portraying him as old was a mistake IMO.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Sting-FeydRautha.jpg

Do you see the resemblance to the Aurora, Colorado movie theater killer?

Perfect casting, I tell you.

#35 by @vwinsloe> Nah, I liked Sting just fine. I'm sure it helped not to have read the books first and formed a preconceived notion and then be disappointed when the movie wasn't a literal translation.

Yep, as I have posted before I thought Sting/Feyd was a joyously, thoroughly evil character without apparently realizing it.

I thought that movie was awful. Stilted, unclear. The Paul character (I forget the actor) was wooden and lifeless. The Baron was bouncing around in the air like Mary Poppins' uncle (clearly they misunderstood the antigravity aids he used to counteract his obesity). Actually Sting was one of the better parts of the film, which I hadn't expected.

To me, in spirit if not plot, the Star Wars series has been much closer to Dune than any of the others.

#41 by @rshart3> clearly they misunderstood the antigravity aids he used to counteract his obesity

I've seen this phrased this way multiple times (possibly by you, rshart3, but I'm not sure). It seems to miss that sometimes directors choose a different implementation intentionally because they feel it will be more cinematically effective. If you could actually find some interview where Lynch said he misunderstood it, then I could get on board with such a judgment. But otherwise it's a bit silly to interpret it only this way.

It's also like saying how stupid they were because they forgot robes go over stillsuits without even considering that a bunch of people walking around in robes that have stillsuits under them that you can't see is just not as cinematic.

#39 I agree, and Sting had a presence that was worth his casting. And Gurney as played by Patrick Stewart was outstanding.

#37 Piter de Vries was played by Brad Dourif, he wasn't old. Or are you thinking of Thufir Hawat?

#41 Yes, it was stilted, deliberately so. If you watch the television version, you can get some idea of what Lynch was trying to do - but the studio cut butchered the film and ruined the effect. I don't think Lynch misunderstood the floater thingies, he showed the Baron's evil by displaying it on his body - not just the sores (the Baron in the book doesn't have them) but also his contempt for gravity. Oh, and Paul was played by Kyle MacLachlan.

Yes, both Paul and Feyd-Rautha were much older than in the book (they both begin the story aged 15), but given the plot it's no surprise Lynch chose to up their ages. I thought MacLachlan played Paul quite well - better than the actor in the mini-series, anyway - but Sting just played Feyd as a grinning loon, and not the pampered heir apparent he is in the book.

>41 rshart3:. I thought Kyle MacLachlan was perfect. If you think about it that flat affect is commonly used in portrayals of messianic characters. How do you show them as more than human--if they constantly display normal petty human emotion.

Of course, there is an understandable difficulty in interpreting a character on the screen who grows up in the time line of a book from a child to a young man. I don't think that can be satisfactorily depicted in a few hours.

I'm enjoying Winterfair Gifts, a novella in the Vorkosigan series that I had missed. Good to be spending time with Miles and the crew again.

> 43: A lot of Gurney as played by Patrick Stewart ended up on the cutting room floor. But some of it survived to be put into the TV version that Lynch took his name off of (and justifiably so). It's the only thing that makes that worth watching. It starts with a 30 minute voice-over of drawings depicting the history of the Dune universe up to then.

well I finally finished Ash: A secret history...I suppose I am not much of a fantasy reader so unlike others I did not enjoy this book very much. Mary Gentle is supposed to be an expert in medieval history but it did not really show in the story. The battle scenes were just a confusing melee that lasted a page or so. She sure trotted out the names of virtually any weapon available but did not show how they would be used in battle (with 300 siege machines such as trebuchet, why the bad guys did not just focus them on one wall of the city walls and knock it down over the 6 months or so of the seige, escaped me... the scenes were not painted very well ... about the only thing she did really well was describe female angst and that got tiring for me very quick as I had an ex like that and I was having flashbacks to my life...not pretty :) I also did not like the "real world chatter" via pseudo emails on the "research" into this book....it is fake...so of what benefit is it to the story???...I just skipped over those pages after a while.

Nice premise to the book but it did not hold my attention for more than 20-30 pages at a time

Er, by skipping over the emails, I think you might have missed the whole point of the story...

About a third of the way into The New Women of Wonder, which I will be reviewing on SF Mistressworks.

Reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson...

#50 Ian, Joan Vinge who has a short story in the collection certainly has an interesting career. {Her last name piqued my curiosity }
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_D._Vinge

I'm at just about the midpoint of Light, and the three major plot strands are starting to connect overtly. This is definitely my kind of book.

#49 I suppose there was a point but it escaped me early on and seemed to add nothing to the story, for me anyway. As I said in my review, the novel seemed to be aimed at a female readership...not a generic write....at least that is my impression.

A female readership? What on earth does that mean? The only thing I can think of is chick lit and I doubt Mary Gentle writes chick lit. Please elaborate!

#54

I thought it was a great book and have recommended it to a number of people male and female.

#54 It didn't add anything to the story because you ignored them. The email exchange shows that as the historian reads the document that is Ash's story, so his own world changes such that Ash's story becomes his history. By ignoring the emails, you missed the whole point of the novel.

#54, #57 Indeed. The structure struck me as similar to A. S. Byatt's Possession. Very inventive, very post-modern and very good.

#55 to #58

What can I say?....the book did not appeal to me on many levels...I outlined them in my review of the book....

I stated my views and that is that....I don't doubt that there are books I think are great that many of you dislike... It is no big deal...perhaps I did miss the point of the novel by eliminating the pseudo research emails...but that literary gimmick did not grab me and I purposely disregarded them...I own the book so perhaps in the future I well read it again in total...but not now...I am currently buried in a CS Forester Hornblower series book Lieutenant Hornblower and I am loving it...

#59 Well, reading it is a pretty hefty investment in time, so fair enough :-)

I'm reading The Parable of the Talents.

#60 and your point is well taken...but as you said after spending about 3 weeks trying to like the book, I won't rush into a reread :)

You are reading Rule 34 and you aren't sure what you think of the second person narrative. Do you find it more distancing than first person? Is it like being told about a character that you are playing in a game?

Finished Ancillary Justice last week. Brilliant debut. Loved the use of gender in it.

I am currently reading Shadow Man by Melissa Scott.

Knocked-off Wired (C+), an okay thriller that reminded me of Sixties vintage SF; probably would not have picked it up had my book group not been doing a joint session with another group not focused on SF & fantasy.

Thirty or so pages into Existence (by David Brin). Already a lot of fun.

Edited for punctuation.

I've embarked on another Culture novel: Use of Weapons.

After a bout of history reading, I'm back to science fiction with Jeff Carlson's Plague War.

Fininshed Dark Eden and Revelation Space onto Brasyl.

Just started reading Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon. Has an interesting premise - other dimensions. Anyone read it before?

I've finished Harrison's Light, and I've just started Blish's Doctor Mirabilis. I don't see what (other than the author) justifies the SF imprint for the latter, although I expect to enjoy it a great deal.

#71 I like reading Michio Kaku 's non fiction stuff on the topic of multidimensions. I have heard he is the only author who has been to the underverse {aka Chronicles of Riddick} and returned. ;-)

Now reading Ancillary Justice

About half way through Excession which I've enjoyed so far.

> 72: Certainly, 'Doctor Mirabilis' was marketed as sf in the UK because Blish was identified as an sf writer. The book was packaged as part of a tetralogy called "After such knowledge", which included A Case of Conscience, Black Easter and The Day after Judgement: so although 'Doctor Mirabilis' is really historical fiction, it fits into the overall theme of the four books (Roger Bacon's writings form part of the underpinnings of the two fantasy titles in the series).

As Bacon was a proto-scientist, 'Doctor Mirabilis' could be seen as a novel that might have been sf if it had been published in the twelfth century...

> 76

Yes, I've previously read (and reviewed) all the volumes of "After such knowledge" short of this one. Doctor Mirabilis is "speculative" fiction, I suppose, in the sense that it necessarily imagines many details in order to provide a full narrative in its remote historical setting.

I find it interesting that you class Black Easter and The Day after Judgment (I presume) as "fantasy" books. While there's an argument for labeling them as "rational fantasy" for their handling of the supernatural, they seem to be a better fit for the customary horror genre. They too were issued as "science fiction," of course.

Wrapping up Jeff Carson's nanopacalypse series with Plague Zone. The first two books were quite good.

> 77: VERY long time since I read them. I'll not argue over labels.

Just starting Spin.

I liked Spin quite a bit - the sequel not so much....

I just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman - great read. I didn't care much for some of Gaiman's short stories but Gods is a very clever and entertaining book. I think I may of have started the book before but not finished it. I bought it with a group of paperbacks.

I've just finished reading Rule 34 for my online book club. I liked it but it was initially unpopular with most of the others. However it has sparked more discussions than anything we've read in ages, and people are saying that now they've finished, they keep thinking about it and talking to people about it.

Finished up Only Superhuman (A), which I found to be an entertaining mash-up of comic hero motifs set in milieu where humanity has extensively colonized the Solar System.

Finished The Wounded Land and moving onto The One Tree.

I've Just finished Elizabeth Moon's Marque and Reprisal, the second book in her Vatta's War series. I liked it a little better than the first one, and I'll be moving on to the third installment in the next few weeks.

edited to fix touchstone