ALTERNATE HISTORY MYSTERY
As I mentioned yesterday, I just finished reading Sideways In Crime after two plus weeks. Released during the summer, this Lou Anders-edited anthology features crime fiction set in alternate histories by a wide range of writers. I really enjoyed the Anders-edited Fast Forward (and yes, there is a second volume out that I've not gotten around to yet) and I'm a fan of alternate history SF so I thought I'd give this one a shot.
Before I talk about any of the stories, I need to take a moment to talk about the cover. It has a great design, with the title running along the side (sideways, get it?) and some awesome Bob Eggleton artwork. It's a book I love as an object first and foremost - it pulls you in, makes you to a peek between the covers for what wonders may await you.
In my opinion, you can't have an anthology like this and not have a story from Paul Di Filippo. Fortunately, Lou Anders is a smart man and we are treated to "Murder in Geektopia," set in an alternate reality where geeks are the norm. The story is full of savvy pop culture references and jokes and a woman our detective can't resist. It even ends with a nice twist and is one of the standouts of the book.
My other favorite story in the book was the last one, "Murder on the Crosstime Express" by Chris Roberson. Of course, I'm a sucker for stories about multitudes of realities and worlds and for Chris Roberson. The fact that story is a nifty little locked room mystery on a zeppelin that travels through underspace and ties into his novels about the Carmody-Bonaventure clan is just icing on the cake. Plus, it makes me want his new novel (End of the Century) to arrive in stories now. Great stuff.
There are many other good stories here, from the 60s style death of J. Edgar Hoover in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "G-Men" to the future pastoral setting of S.M. Stirling's "Murder in Eddsford" to the murder surrounding the brand-new series of Sherlock Holmes stories in Jack McDevitt's "The Adventure of the Southsea Trunk." Of course, that doesn't begin to cover all of the solid work. In fact, there were only 2 stories I didn't care for, which is a great percentage when you have 15 in the book. Lou Anders does it again.
Showing posts with label Chris Roberson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Roberson. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
PROJECTS
I have plenty of things to occupy my time but I'm always thinking about what I can do next. Over the past few days, I've decided to embark on a couple new projects.
The final volume of Y: The Last Man will be published on June 18, which is 8 weeks from today. The series has been one of the best comics of this decade and I have been reading it in trade format from the start. I am eagerly awaiting the last book and I thought it would be good to go back and reread the series up to this point. I did it for Harry Potter and this is just as meaningful. The only problem with this project is I have only 8 weeks to read 9 trades. Ah well, I'm going to give it a shot.
There was a post of Chris Roberson's blog (I really need to update my links, by the way) the other day about Kage Baker's series of novels and story collections in her Company series. I've read a number of the stories in the pages of Asimov's over the years and always meant to get around to the books. Well, Roberson's enthusiasm for the series has inspired me to finally get to the series. This project probably won't start right away but I hope to have many of the books read by the end of the year (if not all).
On the lighter (and easier) side, I think it's well past time for me to do a new mix CD to give out to friends. I believe the last one I did was way back in June (!). That's a long, long time for me to go without doing one. The good news is I have a ton of songs I could put on it. I hope to accomplish this by the end of next week, if not sooner.
I have plenty of things to occupy my time but I'm always thinking about what I can do next. Over the past few days, I've decided to embark on a couple new projects.
The final volume of Y: The Last Man will be published on June 18, which is 8 weeks from today. The series has been one of the best comics of this decade and I have been reading it in trade format from the start. I am eagerly awaiting the last book and I thought it would be good to go back and reread the series up to this point. I did it for Harry Potter and this is just as meaningful. The only problem with this project is I have only 8 weeks to read 9 trades. Ah well, I'm going to give it a shot.
There was a post of Chris Roberson's blog (I really need to update my links, by the way) the other day about Kage Baker's series of novels and story collections in her Company series. I've read a number of the stories in the pages of Asimov's over the years and always meant to get around to the books. Well, Roberson's enthusiasm for the series has inspired me to finally get to the series. This project probably won't start right away but I hope to have many of the books read by the end of the year (if not all).
On the lighter (and easier) side, I think it's well past time for me to do a new mix CD to give out to friends. I believe the last one I did was way back in June (!). That's a long, long time for me to go without doing one. The good news is I have a ton of songs I could put on it. I hope to accomplish this by the end of next week, if not sooner.
Friday, December 28, 2007
BOOKS 2007
With only four days left to go in 2007, I am officially done with reading books for the year. On Dec. 2 I finished my 40th book of the year, meeting my goal for the year. Since then I've read an additional 4 books for a grand total of 44 (I also abandoned 2 books during the year). As usual I read a wide variety of books, from short story collections to literary fiction to SF to fantasy to horror to non-fiction; I read many books that came out this year, many from past years, and even reread books for the first time since I started with a goal for the year. Here's a list of the ten books that I enjoyed the most in 2007...
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
2. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
3. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
4. Here, There & Everywhere by Chris Roberson
5. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
6. Halting State by Charles Stross
7. I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
8. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
9. Brasyl by Ian McDonald
10. You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
With only four days left to go in 2007, I am officially done with reading books for the year. On Dec. 2 I finished my 40th book of the year, meeting my goal for the year. Since then I've read an additional 4 books for a grand total of 44 (I also abandoned 2 books during the year). As usual I read a wide variety of books, from short story collections to literary fiction to SF to fantasy to horror to non-fiction; I read many books that came out this year, many from past years, and even reread books for the first time since I started with a goal for the year. Here's a list of the ten books that I enjoyed the most in 2007...
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
2. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
3. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
4. Here, There & Everywhere by Chris Roberson
5. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
6. Halting State by Charles Stross
7. I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
8. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
9. Brasyl by Ian McDonald
10. You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
Sunday, October 28, 2007
READING RAINBOW
Over the past two months, I've made a substantial change in how I read books. I haven't bought any of the books I've read; instead, I've been checking them out of the library.
It's been years since I've checked anything out of the library, probably since my summers home from college. I allowed my OCD tendencies to rule how I read books and would only read ones that I'd bought or that I was loaned from a trusted source (and those times were very rare). I've bought and read a lot of books over the years (208 from 2001 to 2006 alone, minus a handful that I didn't buy) but that reading has also overflowed my shelves and cost quite a bit of money. That money has brought about this change; we are trying to cut down on our entertainment spending and that's been working.
One of my fears about library books - the fact that other people have handled the books - has turned out to be not such a big deal. I've checked out books that no one has read yet, books that few people have, and books that more than a few have. I've survived. I've been happy to just be reading the book and most of them have been in good condition.
There have been a number of positives. One is that poking around the library is a joy, looking at all the possibilities. I would get that same feeling in a bookstore as well. The difference is that I don't have to worry about what I can afford or justify to myself. Along those lines, I can now read more books. Before I would force myself to read more slowly or try to read other things in between books so I didn't overextend myself monetarily. I don't have that problem anymore.
On Aug. 27, I started reading the first book I checked out of the library (Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff, which I never could have bought myself - $20 for a oddly-shaped paperback). Today is Oct. 28, two months later, and I finished reading my 10th library book (more on which in a bit). That's 10 books read in two months! I think I'd have to go back to my teenage years to get to such a prolific reading period.
Obviously, I'm enjoying the freedom of the library. I used to go in there only to donate books to the library sale when I had to pare down my shelves or to take Grant over to check out some books but now I look forward to my trips. I should be doing another one in a few days. And all of this is not to say I won't buy books anymore. I will. But I have a whole lot more reading freedom now.
So, what have I read lately?
After Mister Pip, I dove into the Oct./Nov. issue of Asimov's. It's the annual double issue (well, now there are two but this is the traditional one that I've been reading for 10 years or so) and chock full of stories. I won't go into every one like I usually do; instead, I'll mention the highlights. Greg Egan's "Dark Integers" is a sequel to his 1995 story "Luminous," which I remembered somewhat during the reading of this story. It's a story of select group of people who are in contact with an alien intelligence and can patrol a borderland between worlds through use of high level math. I'm oversimplifying here but it's a very effective story that loses me a little with the hard SF math element. That's okay, though, I like being challenged. Robert Reed gives us an homage to the classic Isaac Asimov story "Nightfall" with his "Night Calls." For comparison, we get the original right after, which I've never read. Both were good reads. I enjoyed the hunt for an experimental creature in Michael Cassutt's "Skull Valley" and the unusual setting of Chris Butler's "The Turn." Finally, Allen M. Steele is back with another story about Coyote; actually, he's back with a new novel, of which "Down and Out on Coyote" is the first part. The rest will be serialized over the next three issue (one of which is waiting to be read by me). One of these days, I need to read all the Coyote novels - I've read much of them in pieces in the pages of Asimov's but it would be good to put the whole thing together in my head. Sounds like a job for the library. Anyway, all of the stories in this issue were worth reading but those were my standouts.
I've been meaning to read Douglas Coupland for years and years, way back to when he published Generation X (of which I am a member by age). Never got around to it, though...until now. He's just come out with a new novel, The Gum Thief. It's the story of Roger, a depressed forty-something, and Bethany, a young adult Goth girl. Both of them work at Staples but they don't talk; rather, they write each other letters or leave writings for the other. Roger is working on a novel with the horrible title of Glove Pond, which reflects the characters and events in the book. Bethany loves the novel. Both of them do a creative writing exercise where the main character is a piece of toast about to be buttered. We meet their families and unspool some mysteries. It's a depressing book and a funny one. It can be bitter. But it's full of humanity and told in a very entertaining way. I liked it quite a bit.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned how I planned on getting around to Chris Roberson's Here, There & Everywhere in the near future. The future is now the past, as I galloped through the book the last three days. It's the story of Roxanne Bonaventure, who is giving a device at the age of 11 that allows her to travel in time and space and is able to explore the many worlds of the Myriad. Those concepts are right up my alley and Roberson delivers. The book is told in an episodic manner and covers a wide variety of situations and characters. The mosiac adds up to a very appealing whole and comes to a very satisfying end. High quality SF.
That's the reading over the last ten days or so. Where does the rainbow come in? I still haven't had enough of the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows...but that's a post for another day.
Over the past two months, I've made a substantial change in how I read books. I haven't bought any of the books I've read; instead, I've been checking them out of the library.
It's been years since I've checked anything out of the library, probably since my summers home from college. I allowed my OCD tendencies to rule how I read books and would only read ones that I'd bought or that I was loaned from a trusted source (and those times were very rare). I've bought and read a lot of books over the years (208 from 2001 to 2006 alone, minus a handful that I didn't buy) but that reading has also overflowed my shelves and cost quite a bit of money. That money has brought about this change; we are trying to cut down on our entertainment spending and that's been working.
One of my fears about library books - the fact that other people have handled the books - has turned out to be not such a big deal. I've checked out books that no one has read yet, books that few people have, and books that more than a few have. I've survived. I've been happy to just be reading the book and most of them have been in good condition.
There have been a number of positives. One is that poking around the library is a joy, looking at all the possibilities. I would get that same feeling in a bookstore as well. The difference is that I don't have to worry about what I can afford or justify to myself. Along those lines, I can now read more books. Before I would force myself to read more slowly or try to read other things in between books so I didn't overextend myself monetarily. I don't have that problem anymore.
On Aug. 27, I started reading the first book I checked out of the library (Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff, which I never could have bought myself - $20 for a oddly-shaped paperback). Today is Oct. 28, two months later, and I finished reading my 10th library book (more on which in a bit). That's 10 books read in two months! I think I'd have to go back to my teenage years to get to such a prolific reading period.
Obviously, I'm enjoying the freedom of the library. I used to go in there only to donate books to the library sale when I had to pare down my shelves or to take Grant over to check out some books but now I look forward to my trips. I should be doing another one in a few days. And all of this is not to say I won't buy books anymore. I will. But I have a whole lot more reading freedom now.
So, what have I read lately?
After Mister Pip, I dove into the Oct./Nov. issue of Asimov's. It's the annual double issue (well, now there are two but this is the traditional one that I've been reading for 10 years or so) and chock full of stories. I won't go into every one like I usually do; instead, I'll mention the highlights. Greg Egan's "Dark Integers" is a sequel to his 1995 story "Luminous," which I remembered somewhat during the reading of this story. It's a story of select group of people who are in contact with an alien intelligence and can patrol a borderland between worlds through use of high level math. I'm oversimplifying here but it's a very effective story that loses me a little with the hard SF math element. That's okay, though, I like being challenged. Robert Reed gives us an homage to the classic Isaac Asimov story "Nightfall" with his "Night Calls." For comparison, we get the original right after, which I've never read. Both were good reads. I enjoyed the hunt for an experimental creature in Michael Cassutt's "Skull Valley" and the unusual setting of Chris Butler's "The Turn." Finally, Allen M. Steele is back with another story about Coyote; actually, he's back with a new novel, of which "Down and Out on Coyote" is the first part. The rest will be serialized over the next three issue (one of which is waiting to be read by me). One of these days, I need to read all the Coyote novels - I've read much of them in pieces in the pages of Asimov's but it would be good to put the whole thing together in my head. Sounds like a job for the library. Anyway, all of the stories in this issue were worth reading but those were my standouts.
I've been meaning to read Douglas Coupland for years and years, way back to when he published Generation X (of which I am a member by age). Never got around to it, though...until now. He's just come out with a new novel, The Gum Thief. It's the story of Roger, a depressed forty-something, and Bethany, a young adult Goth girl. Both of them work at Staples but they don't talk; rather, they write each other letters or leave writings for the other. Roger is working on a novel with the horrible title of Glove Pond, which reflects the characters and events in the book. Bethany loves the novel. Both of them do a creative writing exercise where the main character is a piece of toast about to be buttered. We meet their families and unspool some mysteries. It's a depressing book and a funny one. It can be bitter. But it's full of humanity and told in a very entertaining way. I liked it quite a bit.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned how I planned on getting around to Chris Roberson's Here, There & Everywhere in the near future. The future is now the past, as I galloped through the book the last three days. It's the story of Roxanne Bonaventure, who is giving a device at the age of 11 that allows her to travel in time and space and is able to explore the many worlds of the Myriad. Those concepts are right up my alley and Roberson delivers. The book is told in an episodic manner and covers a wide variety of situations and characters. The mosiac adds up to a very appealing whole and comes to a very satisfying end. High quality SF.
That's the reading over the last ten days or so. Where does the rainbow come in? I still haven't had enough of the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows...but that's a post for another day.
Monday, July 23, 2007
FAIR TALES
Today we went to the Porter County Fair and by "we" I mean Jill, Grant, my dad, and me. Grant had a ticket from the library so that he could go on rides for free from 11-2. Ride tickets were also available for the rest of us for only $7 during that time period, which isn't too bad. We got there a bit before noon and were able to go on 8 rides. Grant was unsure of himself at first, describing himself as "cautious." But he really relaxed into it and enjoyed most of the rides we went on - the Tilt-A-Whirl, Hang Glider, Matterhorn, Spider, and more. I was proud of how he went with it. He strangely wanted to ride next to me the whole time too; I guess today he felt safer with me than with Jill...sometimes you need your dad. I saw tons of kids that I've taught at the Y and got hugs from many of them. We also ran into some close family friends at lunchtime. We split two giant elephant ears among us for dessert, plus Jill and Grant had cotton candy. We also looked at old tractors and lots of animals. It was a fun afternoon.
Last night I went to bed around 11:15 and Jill was out on the porch reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I woke up around 3:15 this morning and noticed the light was still on the living room and there was no sign of Jill. I got up and discovered her still sitting in her spot on the porch, getting ever closer to the end. She stayed up and finished it...I told her she was completely mental (as Ron Weasley would say). Anyway, the book is mine now and I'm up to pg. 445. Jill said I'm at the point where you can't stop but I put it down to do the dishes and type this post. Tomorrow I will finish - only work and cooking will get in my way. I want to be able to give it to Dad on Wednesday, so hopefully it will all work out.
You can check out John Vanderslice's new album, Emerald City, on his MySpace page. Sounds pretty good. I'll have to order it at some point, since Barsuk isn't on eMusic and I'm sure Best Buy won't carry it. Still no option to download the new Jason Isbell or Buffalo Tom yet.
Oh, and Chris Roberson linked to my short review of his short story from the other day. Looking forward to the next one, Chris!
Today we went to the Porter County Fair and by "we" I mean Jill, Grant, my dad, and me. Grant had a ticket from the library so that he could go on rides for free from 11-2. Ride tickets were also available for the rest of us for only $7 during that time period, which isn't too bad. We got there a bit before noon and were able to go on 8 rides. Grant was unsure of himself at first, describing himself as "cautious." But he really relaxed into it and enjoyed most of the rides we went on - the Tilt-A-Whirl, Hang Glider, Matterhorn, Spider, and more. I was proud of how he went with it. He strangely wanted to ride next to me the whole time too; I guess today he felt safer with me than with Jill...sometimes you need your dad. I saw tons of kids that I've taught at the Y and got hugs from many of them. We also ran into some close family friends at lunchtime. We split two giant elephant ears among us for dessert, plus Jill and Grant had cotton candy. We also looked at old tractors and lots of animals. It was a fun afternoon.
Last night I went to bed around 11:15 and Jill was out on the porch reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I woke up around 3:15 this morning and noticed the light was still on the living room and there was no sign of Jill. I got up and discovered her still sitting in her spot on the porch, getting ever closer to the end. She stayed up and finished it...I told her she was completely mental (as Ron Weasley would say). Anyway, the book is mine now and I'm up to pg. 445. Jill said I'm at the point where you can't stop but I put it down to do the dishes and type this post. Tomorrow I will finish - only work and cooking will get in my way. I want to be able to give it to Dad on Wednesday, so hopefully it will all work out.
You can check out John Vanderslice's new album, Emerald City, on his MySpace page. Sounds pretty good. I'll have to order it at some point, since Barsuk isn't on eMusic and I'm sure Best Buy won't carry it. Still no option to download the new Jason Isbell or Buffalo Tom yet.
Oh, and Chris Roberson linked to my short review of his short story from the other day. Looking forward to the next one, Chris!
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