This book is easily the best in the series.
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Category Archives: Books
Book Review – “Ringworld Throne”
I finally reread this. Now I can start reading the
latest sequel.
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Hugo-Nominated Shorter Fiction
I’ve reviewed the short stories and all but one of the novels, and I had good intentions regarding the novellas and novelettes. Unfortunately, a busy schedule and the recent, unexpected death of a friend means that you’ll have to discuss this year’s Hugo-nominated shorter fiction on your own.
Below you will find links. The 2004 Hugos will be awarded this weekend in Boston.
Girls Who Bite Back
Girls Who Bite Back examines turn-of-the-millennium pop culture, particularly superhero and comic-related pop culture, as it relates to females. The anthology defies any other description, and Pohl-Weary has gathered essays, articles, short fiction, and comix between the covers. The book even features “Crisis Girl in ‘Springrolls,'” a recipe presented in the form of a superhero strip. It’s a mixed smorgasbord, and the quality of the pieces being dished out varies significantly. Developing a list of useful categories by which to rank this work would have been impossible. Still, the best make this a book worth biting into.
Book Review – “Gardens of the Moon”
It’s a day later than I predicted,
but this review is finally here. Read on to see if
reading the entire book is worth your time.
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Singularity Sky
The day war was declared, a rain of telephones fell clattering to the cobblestones from the skies above Novy Petrograd. Some of them had half-melted from the heat of re-entry; others pinged and ticked, cooling rapidly in the postdawn chill. An inquisitive pigeon hopped close, head cocked to one side; it pecked at the shiny case of one such device, then fluttered away in alarm when it beeped. A tinny voice spoke: “Hello? Will you entertain us?”(1)
Charles Stross’ reputation for excellent short stories has made his first novel one of the most anticipated of the year. Singularity Sky has been nominated for a Hugo, and both James Patrick Kelly and Gardner Dozois (Asimov’s) place Stross on the “cutting edge of science fiction.”< So, how good is it? Continue reading →
Blind Lake
Of this year’s Hugo nominees, Robert Charles Wilson’s Blind Lake has the greatest crossover appeal, a fact which will draw in some readers and (possibly) alienate others. An SF thriller set in a community under pressure, Blind Lake features a Stephen King-esque small community and a plausible extra-terrestrial– but who the heck is Nerissa Iverson?
Ilium
Dan Simmons’ Ilium packs a lot of story into 570 pages– but you’ll have to wait for Olympos (to be released next Spring) to learns how it ends.
Ilium won the 2004 Locus Readers Poll Award for best novel, and is a finalist for this year’s Hugo, to be awarded in August.
Hugo-Nominated Short Fiction
The Hugos will be given out, once again, at the World SF Con, which will be in Boston this year. I hope to review more of the Hugo-nominated novels, and the shorter fiction, over the course of the summer.
Five short stories have been nominated. They are ranked and linked here (read them online), with my thoughts.
Quicksilver
Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver, part one of The Baroque Cycle, runs a scant 927 pages. Part 2, The Confusion is already available, so you can take both with you to the beach or cottage!
Judging from Quicksilver, these books, even more than Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, form a coherent whole. My review must be read with the understanding that nearly 2000 pages remain, and the story, at present, is incomplete.