Over the weekend I finished off the de Camp/Pratt Enchanter stories, followed by Tom Rogers' Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. Today I did a quick reread of Oi, Robot, a collection of contests from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction that I found on a gas station magazine rack about thirty years ago. I decided to get an early start on my October reading project. A few years ago, I picked up one of Barnes & Noble's omnibus editions, specifically the complete poems and stories of Edgar Allan Poe. I've read a number of his stories, but, outside of The Raven and The Bells, I've never read any of Poe's poetry. Since the book starts out with his poems, I'm getting a crash course. I'm going to take this one slow (and, since the book is about 1,100 pages, I'll be at it for a while).
I agree with you, I love the Murderbot books!
My only nitpick is that I hope is that Martha Wells is going to write faster, I want more Murderbot books
Now two short stories into Land of Oz.
Simon R. Green's "The Door to Oz" is the "free sample" that's available online. We find that Dorothy Gale has returned to Kansas, and by selling the rights to her Oz experiences, she's become the founder and CEO of a worldwide charity dedicated to bringing Oz to Earth.
Caitlin Rozakis's "Rose and Emerald" is basically a complete contradiction of The Tin Woodman of Oz. Canonically, Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman had a "brother in tin," Captain Fyter, who also fell in love with the same young Munchkin woman (canonically named "Nimmie Amee"; knowing Baum's love of wordplay, I have little doubt that he intended the name as a multilingual pun for "taker of love") Fyter likewise was cursed to dismember himself, and again, the tinsmith (canonically named Ku-Klip) gradually replaced his entire body in tin. The two tin men met, exchanged their stories, and amicably resolved to seek out Nimmie Amee, and whichever she was still in love with would marry her. They learned that Ku-Klip had discovered a magical "meat glue" among the personal effects of the Wicked Witch of the East, and used it to assemble a composite man, Chopfyt, from their discarded body parts, and that Nimmie Amee (who had grown more than a bit shrewish) was now happily married to Chopfyt. But here, the young Munchkin servant woman (named Rose in the story) was under strict orders to wear literal rose-colored glasses at all times (so she would not see the squalid nature of her life), and went hunting for the Tin Woodman. In the Emerald City, she meets up with the young woman (here named Tourmaline) who had been assigned as Dorothy's maidservant, who had never been outside the Emerald City, and therefore had spent her entire life wearing green spectacles. They both learn to see the world as it is, and the Tin Woodman is portrayed (at least in Rose's eyes) as having completely lost interest in her.
The first story doesn't really contradict the Baum Canon any more than Baum contradicted himself, and while the second is a complete contradiction of canon, it at least doesn't do so out of underestimating the audience (MGM, 1939) or out of a desire to turn Baum's morality inside out (Maguire).
Simon R. Green's "The Door to Oz" is the "free sample" that's available online. We find that Dorothy Gale has returned to Kansas, and by selling the rights to her Oz experiences, she's become the founder and CEO of a worldwide charity dedicated to bringing Oz to Earth.
Caitlin Rozakis's "Rose and Emerald" is basically a complete contradiction of The Tin Woodman of Oz. Canonically, Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman had a "brother in tin," Captain Fyter, who also fell in love with the same young Munchkin woman (canonically named "Nimmie Amee"; knowing Baum's love of wordplay, I have little doubt that he intended the name as a multilingual pun for "taker of love") Fyter likewise was cursed to dismember himself, and again, the tinsmith (canonically named Ku-Klip) gradually replaced his entire body in tin. The two tin men met, exchanged their stories, and amicably resolved to seek out Nimmie Amee, and whichever she was still in love with would marry her. They learned that Ku-Klip had discovered a magical "meat glue" among the personal effects of the Wicked Witch of the East, and used it to assemble a composite man, Chopfyt, from their discarded body parts, and that Nimmie Amee (who had grown more than a bit shrewish) was now happily married to Chopfyt. But here, the young Munchkin servant woman (named Rose in the story) was under strict orders to wear literal rose-colored glasses at all times (so she would not see the squalid nature of her life), and went hunting for the Tin Woodman. In the Emerald City, she meets up with the young woman (here named Tourmaline) who had been assigned as Dorothy's maidservant, who had never been outside the Emerald City, and therefore had spent her entire life wearing green spectacles. They both learn to see the world as it is, and the Tin Woodman is portrayed (at least in Rose's eyes) as having completely lost interest in her.
The first story doesn't really contradict the Baum Canon any more than Baum contradicted himself, and while the second is a complete contradiction of canon, it at least doesn't do so out of underestimating the audience (MGM, 1939) or out of a desire to turn Baum's morality inside out (Maguire).
I thought Oz was already a remote country on Earth. That's how Dorothy got there via tornado, shipwreck, etc.
That's all explained in the story. Besides which, at some point in the Baum Canon, Ozma and Glinda cut off all non-magical access to Oz.
Regarding the Rozakis opus, I get the feeling that she may very well have read Erich Fromm's Escape From Freedom. Or is familiar with the whole "house elf" arc in the Harry Potter franchise. Or both. Because especially towards the end, there is a running theme of freedom being a very scary thing for those who have lived their lives in bondage (especially if it is too much of what Fromm terms "freedom from," and not enough of what he terms "freedom to.") All in all, that story might have been better were it not set in Oz.
Big Murderbot fan here from the first book.
I agree with you, I love the Murderbot books!
My only nitpick is that I hope is that Martha Wells is going to write faster, I want more Murderbot books
According to some interviews she's done recently, it may be a year or two before the next book... and that may be the last Murderbot story. Or at least the last for a few years.
She was at a book festival by me earlier this year, and it sounded like she really wants to write her fantasy. And Muderbot's popularity helped her out.
I bought three of her fantasy novels before she started Murderbot, one a standalone, the other two in a couple different series. Maybe now I'll remember to read them. She wrote a Star Wars novel, too. I don't read a lot of those, but I'm curious about that one.
She's also done fanfic, but it was back in the time when there were fanzines that were mailed out.
Steve,
Wells's Star Wars novel, Razor's Edge, is just okay. You get a little more of the rebel heroes between Episodes IV and V, and they behave consistently with their onscreen appearances, but the plot is not exactly gripping. If you want a Leia-centric novel, Leia: Princess of Alderaan or Bloodline (both by Claudia Gray) are far superior.
Wells's Star Wars novel, Razor's Edge, is just okay. You get a little more of the rebel heroes between Episodes IV and V, and they behave consistently with their onscreen appearances, but the plot is not exactly gripping. If you want a Leia-centric novel, Leia: Princess of Alderaan or Bloodline (both by Claudia Gray) are far superior.
Now three short stories into Land of Oz. I just finished "The Poor Workman," by Louise Carey, which doesn't contradict anything in the Baum Canon, and instead explores what else Dr. Pipt might have been up to with his "Powder of Life." And one major story element reminds me a great deal of the fabricated backstory shared by Soji and Dahj.
Four. "Heartless," by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This one is extremely puzzling: what does a disturbing cyberpunk tale about drones with a distributed AI, in a war zone, have to do with Oz?
Now six, and neither of these two contradict the Baum Canon at all. "The Blue Jay," by Ian Whaites, is a pleasant little palate-cleanser in which the stakes turn out to be much higher than the reader realizes.
And "Final Report on the Rex Rembrandt affair" is another "Scraps the Secret Agent" tale (like daughter, like father, I guess), in which Dr. Pipt sells his Powder of Life to the titular fellow, who's a high-ticket interior decorator and small-time con-artist and art thief. The darkest of dark comedy ensues.
And I'm still completely stumped on the matter of what "Heartless" is doing here (I'd expected something on Nick Chopper, or Captain Fyter, or maybe Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-Tok, the Scarecrow, or the Sawhorse.)
Four. "Heartless," by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This one is extremely puzzling: what does a disturbing cyberpunk tale about drones with a distributed AI, in a war zone, have to do with Oz?
Now six, and neither of these two contradict the Baum Canon at all. "The Blue Jay," by Ian Whaites, is a pleasant little palate-cleanser in which the stakes turn out to be much higher than the reader realizes.
And "Final Report on the Rex Rembrandt affair" is another "Scraps the Secret Agent" tale (like daughter, like father, I guess), in which Dr. Pipt sells his Powder of Life to the titular fellow, who's a high-ticket interior decorator and small-time con-artist and art thief. The darkest of dark comedy ensues.
And I'm still completely stumped on the matter of what "Heartless" is doing here (I'd expected something on Nick Chopper, or Captain Fyter, or maybe Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-Tok, the Scarecrow, or the Sawhorse.)
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I'm just over 40% into The Fifty Year Mission: The First 25 Years. It feels like the sort of documentary material that you would find in a well-produced DVD. In the interviews, you get a mix of opinion, facts, legends, and myths. Truth, as much as it can be found at all, is something that each reader will have to discern for themselves.
Also in the mix is a reread of Star Wars: Heir to the Empire for a book club. Zahn understands the value of good plants and payoffs in storytelling. This comes out in the way schemes are revealed and even in how the ultimate downfall of Thrawn is appropriately set up in the first few chapters of the first book (without being blindingly obvious on a first read).
Also in the mix is a reread of Star Wars: Heir to the Empire for a book club. Zahn understands the value of good plants and payoffs in storytelling. This comes out in the way schemes are revealed and even in how the ultimate downfall of Thrawn is appropriately set up in the first few chapters of the first book (without being blindingly obvious on a first read).
Two more stories in Land of Oz:
"The Wizard of the Bookish Omnibus," by Paul Magrs: the Baum Canon isn't even relevant here, in this story of an unofficial free library built in a derelict Routemaster bus, by a storyteller. But the Oz connection is obvious, because that's been the subject of Storytime for several days. I will note that without anything more than word-choice, the author has created a story where you can hear the characters speaking in British accents. Even more than you can in a non-Americanized edition of a Harry Potter book.
"The Lost Princess of Zo," by Delilah S. Dawson: This is a dark tale in which Dorothy finds herself in a perverted version of Oz, with nods to the 1939 movie, and is in particular a dark alternate version of The Lost Princess of Oz. And instead of ending, it just stops, abruptly, with nothing resolved.
"The Wizard of the Bookish Omnibus," by Paul Magrs: the Baum Canon isn't even relevant here, in this story of an unofficial free library built in a derelict Routemaster bus, by a storyteller. But the Oz connection is obvious, because that's been the subject of Storytime for several days. I will note that without anything more than word-choice, the author has created a story where you can hear the characters speaking in British accents. Even more than you can in a non-Americanized edition of a Harry Potter book.
"The Lost Princess of Zo," by Delilah S. Dawson: This is a dark tale in which Dorothy finds herself in a perverted version of Oz, with nods to the 1939 movie, and is in particular a dark alternate version of The Lost Princess of Oz. And instead of ending, it just stops, abruptly, with nothing resolved.
Just finished Part of Your World by Karen Witemeyer. Historical Christian fiction re-telling of "The Little Mermaid" in Texas featuring a woman who loves to swim saving a rich man who chose to be an architect rather than a businessman from drowning and falling in love. Pet ferrets instead of eels for the Ursula counterpart.
Still working my way through Blood Muse, a few art-related vampire stories a night. We've moved on from Dance to Writing.
And may find time to pick up the concluding issue of Warlords at the comic shop today. That's the Red Sonja/John Carter of Mars/Tarzan/Vampirella crossover series.
Meanwhile, the author of Warlords, David Avallone, is promising to announce an even more unlikely crossover tomorrow.
And may find time to pick up the concluding issue of Warlords at the comic shop today. That's the Red Sonja/John Carter of Mars/Tarzan/Vampirella crossover series.
Meanwhile, the author of Warlords, David Avallone, is promising to announce an even more unlikely crossover tomorrow.
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Finished Fugitive Telemetry, sort of the next Murderbot novel after Network Effect Published after but set before. It's basically standalone so the sequence doesn't matter too much. I've decided to save the others for later.
Now two thirds of the way through Cathi Unsworth's Without the Moon, a mystery novel set during the London Blitz. Prostitutes, gangsters, Canadian and British military personnel, and a few cops mingle during a series of brutal murders. I read her nonfiction book Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth and liked it, so when the ebook of this novel showed up on sale, I thought, why not. The chapter titles are taken from songs of the time, so for background music I've been listening to albums by The Caretaker, who takes samples from old British ballroom tunes and processes and distorts them into a mix of ambient and noise with occasional recognizable bits of music. Fits the story well enough.
Now two thirds of the way through Cathi Unsworth's Without the Moon, a mystery novel set during the London Blitz. Prostitutes, gangsters, Canadian and British military personnel, and a few cops mingle during a series of brutal murders. I read her nonfiction book Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth and liked it, so when the ebook of this novel showed up on sale, I thought, why not. The chapter titles are taken from songs of the time, so for background music I've been listening to albums by The Caretaker, who takes samples from old British ballroom tunes and processes and distorts them into a mix of ambient and noise with occasional recognizable bits of music. Fits the story well enough.
I’m about a third into Stephen Baxter’s World Engines: Destroyer. I’m not entirely sure why I keep reading Baxter’s more recent novels — they tend to balance great stfnal high concepts with absolutely tone-deaf snarky dialogue. Presumably it’s the concepts, because I keep bouncing back and forth between Baxter and Alastair Reynolds (a generally much better writer, but he periodically succumbs to snark as well, just not as badly. (I quite enjoyed Halcyon Years — an apparently resurrected Yuri Gagarin as a private eye on a generation ship!)
I held off on the MurderBot books for a while partially because I found the novel/novella/short story make-up confusing, and had heard vaguely about things being out-of-order. I ended up getting a reprint that had two novellas each in three trade paperbacks, which I felt was streamlining the whole thing (also because I was in a bookstore that had just opened near me and I wanted to make sure Missers Barnes & Nobel felt they'd made a good pick on that location). Imagine my frustration when I found out the first full-length novel went between the two novellas in the third volume, and that the second novel was being published for the first time in hardcover. So much for having a nice unified set.
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