Fantasy & Science Fiction worth Reading/Re-reading

Vivian--

Amelia Peabody and I are birds of a feather, twin hen turkey vultures in the Valley of the Kings.

I've been reading and procrastinating and reading and procrastinating.

Now, Clearing the Decks before the stacks topple:

No Humans Allowed by Kelley Armstrong.

http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/365.html

This is Kelley Armstrong's sixth book and all her books feature smart, sexy women of the Otherworld. Armstrong is good at characterization that the jacket blurb isn't an empty boast.

Personally, I could do with a little less sweaty love, but the thoughtful exploration of the implications of communicating with ghosts carries the story.

The Science Fiction Book Club has come out with a 3-in-1 collection by Carrie Vaughn: Long-Time Listener, First-Time Werwolf. I found the first novel Kitty and the Midnight Hour the most entertaining, but all three novels offered pleasant reads and interesting glimpses into the backstage working of radio studios, congressional committees and Native American shapeshifters.

Once again, I could have done without some of the sweaty sex, but then I'm just a sweet, old-fashioned crone.

I've mentioned Joe Haldeman before. Guardian was deservedly well-reviewed by the N.Y. Times. Halderman tells a good story and this one includes glimpses of northwestern Native American mythology.

http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/guardian.htm

I really didn't mean submit, but I do dumb things at the end of a day.

A YA novel which should not be limited to the teenaged audience is The Dead Father's Club by Matt Haig. The hero is not Prince Hamlet, but the echos of Hamlet's predicament are both intentional and real.

http://www.matthaig.com/thedeadfathersclub.htm

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/matt-haig/

Finally, Patricia Wrightson's children's book the Nargun and the Stars is an Australian classic and deserves its reputation--even if the first half dozen Google entries are study guides and lesson plans.

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

I have already been enthusiastic about the first volume of Dave Duncan's duology, The Dodec Books: Children of Chaos and the second volume The Dodec Books: Mother of Lies is equally diverting.

"The Mother of Lies" is Xaran, goddess of death--and hence assumed to be a goddess of evil--aka known as Womb of the World, The Mother and the Old One. In addition to presenting interesting characters and an action filled plot, Duncan speculates on the nature of divinity.

I also finished The Last Colony, the third volume of a trilogy that includes Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. Once again a cliff-hanging adventure story is given considerable depth by considering a broader idea, the responsibilities of a government to its people and a people to their government.

I generally read several books at one time. My current "anchor" book--a story I know well enough to read in dribs and drabs--is John Brunner's
Stand on Zanzibar, first published in 1968 and a Hugo Winner for that year.

The action is set c. 1210. Brunner didn't incorporate either computers or cell phones in his dystopian universe, but lunacy he created isn't dated at all.

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

Could be really hard to find, but "Sea of Glass" by Barry B. Longyear is something special. Can't rave about it enough. Wish I could remember who I lent it to.

. . . In the time called winter the world smells like burning wood. The world is both dark and light, full of love and fear.

The fear.

The windows are dark. Painted black and nailed shut. If they weren't, things from Outside might see us and get in. We must never let the Thing from Outside see in.

The light is the fireplace. It is red. And the light is the electric lamp beside my bed, my mother's face, my father's arms. There, too, is the warmth and the love.

The world is the house.

Daddy says that the house is in a city called Peterborough, which is in a province called Ontario. Ontario belongs to a national district Called Canada, which belongs to the Compact of Nations. They are curious words, but they are like Earth and Sun: only words.

I only see the house, so the house is the world.

Daddy says that Peterborough is also called Petertown, but not to call it Petertown because
Mommy doesn't like the name.



The world is fear.

The fear comes from the men in black. Daddy says it again and again: "Tommy,

"Never open a window.

"Never move the downstairs shades.

"Never talk, laugh, or cry loudly.

"Never answer the door.

"Never answer the telephone.

"Never never go Outside.

"If anyone comes to the house, hide in your attic room and be very, very still. And you must obey this. If you disobey about this like you do sometimes when you should clean up your room, and give me that little smile and that twinkle in your eye, it won't be like when you should clean up your room.

"I won't get cross for a moment and then laugh. I will die.

"Your mommy will die.

"And the men in black will come and take you away forever."

I ask my daddy "Why?"

"Because. Just because."

Because must be a terrible monster. I imagine Because as it hovers over the world flapping its leathery wings, waiting with its great hooked beak and sharp talons to fall in swift horror upon those foolish children who venture Outside. . . .

Erol--

People who don't return books have a special circle in hell reserved for them.

Amazon (U.S.) has a number of copies Sea of Glass for as low as $.01 (plus $3.99 P&H).

On your recommendation, I'm going to gamble.

A great compliment indeed. Thankyou Noddy!

(Apparently, he is the only writer to win the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Campbell in the same year...for a short story exploring xenophobia called "Enemy Mine" which was turned into an OK-ish B-grade film of the same name.)

...and while I'm on a roll...

Did you ever read Doris Lessing's "Canopus in Argos" series? On the surface, it is sci-fi, but it's really allegorical literature with an exotic setting.

I read a lot of Doris Lessing in the 60's and 70's--I'll have to acquaint myself with her recent work.

One doesn't like to assume, but I suspected you may have.

Is this pithy sentiment best classified as "Cryptic" or "Confusing"?

Oh, I see.

What I meant was, I suspected you may have read some earlier Doris Lessing, but to assume as much would be somewhat presumptious of me.

Erol--

Never overestimate the wisdom of your elders.

Last night--before violent local turbulence took out our power--I finished Kim Harrison's latest Urban Fantasy, All Together Dead. Her heroine Sukey Stackhouse can read human minds--but not vampire minds or were minds. All Together Dead is the sixth book in the series. Kim Harrison does a lot of series--and does them very well with wry southern humor and southern practicality.



Quirky. I'm partial to quirky.

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

I've finished re-reading the first two books of Walter Jon William's trilogy
Dread Empire's Fall and read the third volume.

All three books, The Praxis, The Sundering and Conventions of War are well-written, fast-moving space operas. As is frequently the case for me with "hard" science fiction, I tend to skim the mathematical theory.

I'd guess that Williams has actual battle experience or has spent a great deal of time absorbing battlefield atmosphere second-hand. Both the hero, Martinez, and the heroine, Sula, are fully-realized characters with a realistic share of quirks and flaws.

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dread_Empire's_Fall

I've mentioned Kate Elliot before. I've just finished her Crown of Stars sequence, a novel in seven volumes. Since each volume is between 600 and 900 pages Crown of Stars demands a great deal of reading time. Elliot's Alternate Universe is both complete and dense. Her very human, believable characters cope with the politics of heresy and dynasty and the nature of good and evil without becoming windy mouthpieces for assigned points of view.

http://www.sff.net/people/Kate.Elliott/crown_series.html

I also recommend Charles de Lint's Widdershins which is both a stand alone novel and the lastest installment in his Newford sequence.
De Lint is an accomplished and imaginative author in the field of urban fantasy. Recently he's been exploring the contacts and clashes between Olde Worlde Good Folk and the Native American Mythical Beings.

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

http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/

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

After days and days of immersion in a Kate Elliot Fictional World, I've been indulging in lighter reading.

I've written about Peter David before on this thread. At present I'm enjoying his Arthurian Trilogy set in present-day NYC. The first volume, Knight Life features Arthur (assisted by Merlin) winning his campaign for mayor despite the machinations of Mordred and Morgan le Fey and the soft-hearted confusion contributed by Guinevere.

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

Another piece of light literature--although the background of Cherokee myth is detailed and well-researched-- is Tom Deitz's Ghostcountry's Wrath one of a series of adventure novels set in contemporary Georgia.

http://www.sfbookcase.com/author.asp?forename=Tom&surname=Deitz

The Name of the Wind, is Patrick Rothfuss's first novel and the first volume of a fantasy trilogy. Like many of the fat fantasies I've been reading lately the book is long (670 pages), but there are few unnecessary words and no unnecessary episodes.

At first look, the Bones of the Plot seem tediously conventional: A Hero of Humble Origins Masters Magic and Discovers Love Despite Supernatural Opposition and Nasty Jealous Noble Classmates--mostly told in the first person.

The Bones are conventional, but the flesh draped around the bones is built of highly individual DNA and the first-person narration is handled with great skill.

Definitely worth a read.


http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/index.asp

http://ofblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/interview-with-patrick-rothfuss-part-i.html

Last night I quickly re-read another excellent first novel, Melusine by Sarah Monette. This is the first volume of a tetralogy and the volumes are appearing one by one, a year apart.

Writing of decadence without descending into sordidness isn't easy, but Monette manages very well. Her plot alternates points of view between two half-brothers, one a sophisticated gay wizard and the other a barely literate straight criminal. Each brother is believable.

I'm looking forward to reading the second volume tonight and come August I may order the third installment in hardback instead of waiting for a second hand copy.






http://www.sarahmonette.com/

http://www.writertopia.com/profiles/SarahMonette