Oct
24
Aug
23
Embassytown, by China Miéville
I am in awe of China Miéville’s world-building talents. His SF presents concepts and ideas that are thought-provoking, engaging, and just plain impressive (in the “I wish I could have come up with this” category). However, I wish he would put as much effort and ingenuity into his story and character motivations. More on that [...]
Aug
12
What’s the current state of the SF/F genre?
What’s the current state of the SF/F genre? Where’s it going? My answer: nobody knows. However, I hope to get some insight into this next week at Renovation, the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention. Lately, I’ve been feeling my genre “presents” like a case of Multiple Personality Disorder (to use House diagnosis-speak). The publishers appear [...]
Jun
01
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
I’ve had a few people recommend this book to me over the years. Then, after my husband read Anathem, by Neal Stephenson, I figured I should read something by this giant of SF. But, after I’ve finished, all I can say is, “Meh.” That’s it. Everything averaged out to… average. Any opinions?Illuminating (0) Interesting (3) Useful (1) Ho-Hum (2)
Aug
05
Deliverer, by C. J. Cherryh
This is the final book of the third series of C. J. Cherryh’s "Foreigner" saga (see my entry on Pretender, the second book). I’ve already talked about Ms. Cherryh’s wonderful ability to create mindsets, as told through the human ambassador Bren Cameron, called the paidhi by the atevi. Bren Cameron, the latest paidhi, has helped [...]
