#31 Lost Boys by James Miller

Read for review for Strange Horizons.

#32 The Astonishing Life Of Octavian Nothing: Traitor To The Nation by MT Anderson

Hooray for John Scalzi! The fact I was slightly boggled by the idea that Scott Westerfeld was the most significant SF writer at the moment ended up with me going out and buying three Young Adult novels: this, Bunker 10 by JT Henderson and The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter.

I had heard much praise of this novel and it is all richly deserved. As abigail_n said "it is awesome beyond the telling of it." It is a quite extraordinary book: a sustained, varied and compelling act of prose mimicry, a fierce but touching portrait of an introverted and alienated child, a historical science novel in the manner of Morrow or Stephenson, a classical education in its own right.

However, without wanting to get into the whole "it's good so it can't be YA" argument, I can't work out for the life of me what makes Octavian Nothing YA (apart from being published as such.) Whatevs. Despite minor dissent from buymeaclue and secritcrush I think I am going to have to go out and buy Feed.

I am still plodding through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by the way...

Yesterday I went to this symposium at the Royal College of Surgeons. I made a few notes but reading them back they seem to consist entirely of a comparison between post-genre fiction and communism and the remark:

Neal Stephenson = bad guy from Iron Man?

When I heard that one of the proposals for the Ebbsfleet landmark was a crystalline nest I was hoping for something a lot more JG Ballard and a lot less toddler with a box of matches and some glue:

Which is the best design?

My review of What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid is up now at Strange Horizons.

It seems that that Richard Morgan rant has leapt back into life. Of particular note, nihilistic_kid points of that "Why can't we just be like Crime?" might not be the panacea Morgan hopes. I thought I'd look again at the catalyst for this rant though:

But then, finally, at Eastercon 2006, things came to a head; one panel title in particular leapt out of the Glasgow Concussion programme at me, and I realized -- oh, for fuck's sake!!! -- that I'd really, really had it with this shit.

Won't Get Fooled Again, the item in question declaimed. Why don't we just completely trash the whole tired SF genre and try to take the discourse somewhere genuinely new?

What the hell is wrong with us?

it's an act of communication -- there's a problem of despising the readership -- take Hal Duncan's Vellum -- it's a fine novel, sophisticated -- I didn't understand it fully, but it was a fun ride -- but what is not healthy is to lambast the genre and say: "you're all kids -- I'm going to write something you'll hate!" -- that's not an act of communication, it's an act of sulk! -- we don't get panels like this at Crime conventions

Richard Morgan is mad as hell and he isn't going to take this any more. There is presumably meant to be a point in here somewhere but I'm not sure what it is.

It is interesting that Simon Spanton is publicising this rant to blogs though. When is The Steel Remains out again?

coalescent has just told me that he got free fish and chips for lunch because it is St George's Day. What a bastard! I've sort of polled on fish and chips before but I thought I'd give you a few bonus questions:

Poll #1175810
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Battered sausage

Chip butties should be made with:

Do you ask for scraps?

Is beer batter just a great big con?

I went to see Heiner Goebbels's Stifter's Dinge last night, a piece I knew nothing about. Literally nothing because my girlfriend bought the tickets and wouldn't tell me what it was or where we were going. So I was slightly confused when we pitched up at the University of Westminster near Baker Street. I assumed it was a site specific installation but in fact they have converted one of the Department of Engineering's concrete labs into a performance space called P3.

Inspired by the work of Adalbert Stifter (no, me neither) the progamme notes accurately describes it "a composition for five pianos with no pianists, a performance with no performers; a play with noactors.".As always I lack the critical language for this sort of thing - there is a proper review here - but it is beautiful and menacing and you are unlikely to see anything else like it this year. It even made me slightly warm to Claude Lévi-Strauss.

I notice there is a deafening silence regarding The Space Merchants.

#30 The Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

I bought all of Pratchett's novels up until (I think) Interesting Times. I couldn't tell you exactly why I stopped but it was a combination of the repetition and the moralising. However, because Discword novels are the literary equivalent of kibble and turn up everywhere I've kept reading them and I'm only a couple of years behind the curve. The Watch books were always my favourites and The Night Watch is very readable. There is still the problem that the characters are all too Wise and are constantly at pains to tell the reader about the real way in which the world works but you can forgive this for brilliant bits like the red, white and pink dot theory of political intrigue.

Poll #1175728
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Terry Pratchett

All in all, as is usual with the Royal Shakespeare Company, there was far far too much acting going on. The actors attempted to liven up "the boring bits" by unneccessary pieces of business - acting out and literalising every figure of speech. Their accents wandered all over the highlands and lowlands, occasionally taking a short holiday in Brooklyn or Bavaria. Everyone of the usual RSC trademarks was on display: the men doing their stamping-stomping big-balled walks, the women about as feminine as drag queens, the over fussy crowd scenes (each crowd member trying to catch the audience's eye with some little bit of business), the far-past-pensionable actors who think verse speaking means e-nun-ci-ay-TTT, the young actors who think it means treat it all like slangy prose and the messianic middle-agers who, whenever a line comes through as if written in modern English, plant it in the audience like a flagpole: this is why Shakespear is still relevant, why he still speaks to you, why we need more funding.

...

All that remained, finally, was the ultimate ordeal: the curtain call. How many hours - not in actual physical rehearsal, but in mental anticipation - do the actors secretly spend on this minute or two? How may times have they envisaged themselves stepping back to appluad a co-actor, smiling in admiration - behaviour which only says to an audience, "Wasn't she marvellous? And doesn't she just know it?"? Or how often stood in front of the mirror perfecting that businesslike dip, upper body still curty to obedience, which says, "I'm a down-to-earth-fellow, just like you - I have no airs. (But I was good, wasn't I?)" Or how frequently practiced that exhausted flop, hands dangling, which says, "To you, my audience, in this my bravura performance, I have give my absolute all"?

The Guardian is reporting the somewhat unlikely news that Forever Young by Bob Dylan is being made into a children's book:

The 1974 hit will be illustrated by Paul Rogers (the artist, not the new Queen front-man) and be published by Simon and Schuster on October 6. If the book's a success, perhaps there will be other literary forays in Bob Dylan's future. It's not enough to publish memoirs and books of lyrics - let's have a horror page-turner called Mr Tambourine Man. Or maybe a comic book starring Bob Dylan's secret identity, Robert Zimmerman.

The staggering Populararchitecture Super Tower, designed to house 100,000 Londoners. Wow.

(Via this Guardian article about the Burj Dubai and other skyscrapers.)

#27 Pretty Little Things To Fill Up The Void by Simon Logan

Read for review for Vector.

#28 The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and KM Kornbluth

This came second in the poll (the Murakami was too fat but will be started soon.) On the back Kingsley Amis says it "has many claims to being the best science fiction novel so far." Christ. This is a half-arsed satire with very little to recommend it.

What were you lot thinking, eh?

29 The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

This, on the other hand, got precisely zero votes in the poll and was therefore read as the booby prize. This means I have only myself to blame.

It is another entry in the generally appalling "nice hitman" genre, that class of books that are hamstring from conception by the fact that murder is cool but, you know, immoral. Somers hardly even bothers to pay lipservice to this. Basically if you are going to write this sort of book you have to be Richard Morgan, not Jeff Somers. That aside, the prose aspires to the level of being competently written but is only occasionally sucessful and the most charitable thing you can about the plot is that it is stupid. This entry in the generally appalling "nice hitman" genre also has the tedious habit of constantly repeating itself.

There is every sign that before long science fiction will be edging crime off the pavement. In this field few names are better known than that of Tom Broadman. He was the first reviewer in Britain to run a regular column on SF, is literary adviser to three publisers, and helped to found S.F. Horizons.

I've wanted to see Apocalypto since reading this review which describes it as "pathologically brilliant". However since Mel Gibson is an batshit bigot I didn't really want to give him any cash. Problem solved; I borrowed it off my girlfriend's brother and watched it last night. Wow. Apocalypto is literally jaw dropping. You have never seen anything like it.

This is an interesting film in terms of genre as well. This is more of a science fiction film than most science fiction films. We have not one but two alien invasions, both of Outside Context Problem proportions. It also shows up the paucity of imagination of lots of SF cinema because the culture we are presented with is much more vividly alien and alive than the pointy forehead brigade we are usually confronted with. It isn't a science fiction film though, it is an action movie. Who makes an action movie in a dead language? This is the genius of madness.

It is also probably the most violent film I've ever seen so props to the Irish censors for passing it as a 15.

Like I said I am halfway through my arbitary book target. What next then? Below is a list of some of the books on my shelves. Tick as many as you want on whatever basis you want. I will prioritise the high scorers in my reading for the next couple of months.

Poll #1168242
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

what next?

I meant to post this ages ago: Freshly Mixed (via MetaFilter.)

They have got loads of Essential Mixs, Breezeblocks and other radio show mixes to download. I have been listening to sets from Venetian Snares, Chris Morris, DJ Shadow and Mogwai. That last mix starts with the Kid606 remix of Straight Outta Compton, ends with Isis by Bob Dylan and encompasses a down tempo electro version of There Is A light That Never Goes Out. Nice.

#26 Shadow Web by NM Browne

Really enjoyable YA SF alt history where our protagonist, Jessica, steps through a rip in reality into another London. This is heady stuff: fast moving and immersive. Jessica is plunged into a political situation she cannot comprehend and so are we. The POD seems to be a lack of the first world war which means we have a stagnant, facist empire, the 19th Century persisting into the 21st, but refreshingly we don't really get any exposition until Chapter 24.

After that the plot is a little rushed and perfunctory. As with seemingly every YA novel the protagonist's voice is a little too young for her age - she is 16 - but it is nonetheless well done. These are minor quibbles with a very good book though.

So that puts me half way through my 52 books. (52filmchallenge isn't going so well...) Quite a few disappointments but also a lot of good stuff. I think my top five at the moment is House Of Meetings by Martin Amis, On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera and The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay by Michael Chabon.

A Non-Executive List of Top Television Cats in No Particular Order Although There DO Happen to be 10 of Them

Poll #1165768
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Best:

Is Snarf actually a cat?

The Simpsons

Poll #1165689
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Semicolons

Pick:

Alain "The Human Spider" Roberts

#24 The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod

I've never read a MacLeod novel where I didn't like and appreciate his style. However, despite reading everything he publishes it has been many years since I've read a MacLeod novel that I thought was actually any good though. (The Stone Canal maybe?) Finishing The Execution Channel I was pretty sure I'd just read a very bad book.

Perhaps expectations played a part in this. I was expecting a near future political thriller - the cover certainly promises this - so I was less than thrilled to find this hopelessly undermined by yet another nostalgic MacLeod alt history. Half way through reading this novel I remarked to a friend that MacLeod was obviously never going to get over the Seventies. He replied that it was his student days that he was never going to get over. It is six of one, half dozen of the other.

Paul Kincaid quite accurately describes the book as a Cold War thriller. This is exactly what it is (with added spaceships.) Could there be anything more pointless to write in 2007?

I have seen several commentators refer to the book as a black comedy. I'm afraid I missed this entirely. I've also seen it described as audatious which I would agree with but then I take that to mean it was in bad taste. And I could have done without the fucking spaceships as well.

#25 What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid

Read for review for Strange Horizons.

#22 Resistance by Owen Sheers

When the 2008 Clarke Award shortlist was announced there was a bit of a kerfuffle about the fact that two of the shortlisted novels were published by Faber & Faber. In fact, they could have had three books on there because they also published this quietly impressive alt history. It forms a sort of inverted companion piece to The Carhullan Army but I prefer the later novel for its greater fire.

peake reviewed both Resistance and The H-Bomb Girl (as well as In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan) for Strange Horizons.

#23 The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay by Michael Chabon

A recent purchase and I am sort of absolutely amazed to discover this book is four eight years old already. Even the long after the fact discussion on instant_fanzine pre-dates my involvement with that community (although it is mostly just Lal talking rubbish anyway.) Who knows where the time goes?

Anyway, Kavalier And Clay is a big, fat, cuboidal novel. Long time readers will know I am not a great one for fat books and I did have to work up some courage to tackle this book. It turns out to be a real page turner immensely and, like Neal Stephenson, much of its joy is in its digressive bulk. However, the fact that the book is full to bursting does takes its toll eventually. More problematic than this for me is the way the lives of the main characters mimic those fo the characters they created. This is cleverly done but it is too neat and knowing and really strains disbelief. It remains an immensely absorbing read though.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union next maybe?

I'm coming to believe it is time to challenge the way Others See Us, because it is doing us harm. This isn't just weariness on my part with the constant dissing of a genre I've loved all my life, and indeed have devoted my working life too [sic]. I happen to believe we need a vital and alive sf, because in the coming, dangerous century, we will need minds capable of coping with change more than ever before.

Sleek, smart and working in a genre where "feminist" isn't yet a dirty word, Sullivan writes intelligent, zesty and freewheeling novels that are so entertaining they're almost embarrassing. Seriously, when was the last time you read a really smart book that was also fun?... Here is a writer who still seriously examines power relationships between men and women, who cheerfully ignores the boundaries of genre, and who will offer you a great time while she does it.

Culture and football.

Poll #1160214
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Culture, Media & Sport?

Victoria Hoyle has a great post at Eve's Alexandria giving a run down of the Orange Prize longlist.

She also has a much more detailed two part assessment of the William L. Crawford Award shortlist at Strange Horizons.

Both are well worth reading, although it looks like there might be another "books for children are just as good books for adults" argument developing in the comments of the later.

My review of Black Sheep by benpeek is up now at Strange Horizons.

On thecover of the book Jeff Vandermeer says that Ben Peek makes Harlan Ellison look like an ice cream vendor. I'm afraid I'm unable to tell you exactly what he means by this. Presumably it is meant to be a compliment. The gist seems to be that he out Harlans Ellison (which is not at all evident from Black Sheep) but who knows. It was a similar struggle for me to get to grips with Peek's intriguing, meditative, subtle-to-the-point-of-bland book.

Ah well. Thankfully Vandermeer will be along soon to explain the correct way to review a novel but alas this wasn't available in time for my SH review.

Some lengthy, rambling thoughts on reviewing:

I don't have the pretention of being a particularly good book reviewer. I would like to think that I don't suck, but that's for you guys to decide. The Hotlist will receive its 500,000th visitor this week, and its 1,000,000th page will be viewed later this spring. So I guess I must be doing something right... Way back when, SFF book reviews meant high brow, intellectual, pretentious, I-have-a-pole-up-my-ass kind of thing. Most of the time, it wasn't even about the novel or work being put under the microscope. Nope, it felt more like it was about the reviewer himself, pontificating and showing how much he enjoyed hearing themselves talk. Yes, I guess we're back to the mental masturbation argument once again... The problem with a lot of the newer SFF bloggers out there is that they have no voice. You read their stuff, and it feels as though they are afraid to offer their honest opinion... Instead of being forced to read John Clute and his ilk (which we had no choice to do for years and years and years), fans now have the luxury to go where they please. Some come here, while many others visit a panoply of blogs, websites, fanzines, etc... Coverage in print media is on the decline, and I am aware that many of the better known and older book reviewers feel that people like me are responsible for pulling the carpet from under them. If you ask me, their "high brow" approach is the reason why. Provided with a more "user friendly" alternative, fans have left them to follow other reviewers who are as passionate as they are, and who don't talk down to them.

#20 The Steep Approach To Garbadale by Iain Banks

The joy of being a Banks fan who only reads paperbacks is that you are always one book behind. So whilst everyone is reading Matter I have been reading Garbadale, his last non-M book.

Science says that this book is GOOD. I am pretty sure it is not. It is The Crow Road filtered through Dead Air. Draw your own conclusions.

When was his last good non-M novel? Complicity?

#21 Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

This is Miéville's first novel for children. You can tell it is for children because, er, it is only 500 pages long rather than 700 pages and it is full of rotten puns. This is a pretty poor book, a impoverished version of his New Crobuzon novels. Dan Hartland seemed to like it but I just found it one damn thing after another. As Hartland alludes to there is also a slight whiff of condescension.

I did like the illustrations of the binjas though (Miéville does all the nice put pointless illustrations himself.)

I am apparently reviewing Counting Heads by David Marusek for Interzone but I've not seen my copy yet so I think I will read Resistance by Owen Shears next.

Back at my flat this time:

Poll #1155025
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Vampire Weekend

Oxford commas

Campus universities

Cape Cod

Haddock

Beards