SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Neroon
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Finally back onto something skiffy-ish - Down And Out In The Year 2000 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
I've read some KSR-what's this one about?
One novella and a bunch of short stories, basically. Not at all bad, but I don't really think the short story is his medium - I had the same thought when I read The Martians for the first time, which is a companion collection to his Mars trilogy.
Ironic, considering how plotless some of his early novels (especially the California trilogy) are.
You either like him or you don't. I'd certainly never recommend Icehenge or Antarctica to you - sounds like you'd not like them very much.
Actually, I've read Icehenge, and a lot of his earlier stuff. I lost interest after struggling through Pacific Edge. His next novel was the first of the Mars trilogy, and having found the short story "Green Mars" a bit of a slog to get through, I decided to move on to other writers. I've actually been tempted by Antarctica once or twice, because it appears to be a standalone rather than part of a trilogy or series.
I liked it. I also liked the Three Californias 'trilogy', though you've got to read them all to really get the full effect. In fact the only KSR story I've not enjoyed thus far has been The Memory of Whiteness, which ended way waay far out there.
About halfway through Gardens of The Moon. It's not bad so far, though I find I'm dying for even just a hint of exposition or backstory! I can basically follow what's happening in the moment, but it's difficult to remember what happened even in the last chapter sometimes; there's such a huge cast of characters, and such a wide range of events, that seem to have only the vaguest connection to each other. But Steven Erikson's writing is very good, and that combined with a hope that everything will come together is what keeps me interested. Only 350 pages to go!
I finished Storm Front yesterday, and started The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One. I've been reading a lot of Fantasy books, so I felt like going for some Sci-fi.
I'm reading Deepsix by Jack McDevitt.. it's book two in the Academy series.
Finished Gardens of The Moon yesterday.
First, I liked Erikson's writing style. He manages to get emotion across without a lot of words or melodramatic cheesiness. Occasionally however, his action scenes tended to be a little confusing as to who exactly was doing what; I thought there were just two guys attacking him, so where did the third come from?; how did that person get there? And so on. I wish that could have been a little clearer.
And also, I loved the scope of things. I couldn't even tell you what the main storyline was because there seemed to be several. And it's perfectly clear that, although he doesn't hold your hand with exposition, that he really knows exactly what's going on with the Warrens, the gods, and all the other elements that don't get quite a clear explanation in this book. This reassures me that explanations are in fact forthcoming rather than being dangled in front of us to lure us in or to seem "cool". All in all, I think I appreciated what he was trying to do, and I can't wait to get to the next, massive volume (I'm reading other books in between The Malazan Book of The Fallen so I don't get bogged down/overloaded too soon).
First, I liked Erikson's writing style. He manages to get emotion across without a lot of words or melodramatic cheesiness. Occasionally however, his action scenes tended to be a little confusing as to who exactly was doing what; I thought there were just two guys attacking him, so where did the third come from?; how did that person get there? And so on. I wish that could have been a little clearer.
And also, I loved the scope of things. I couldn't even tell you what the main storyline was because there seemed to be several. And it's perfectly clear that, although he doesn't hold your hand with exposition, that he really knows exactly what's going on with the Warrens, the gods, and all the other elements that don't get quite a clear explanation in this book. This reassures me that explanations are in fact forthcoming rather than being dangled in front of us to lure us in or to seem "cool". All in all, I think I appreciated what he was trying to do, and I can't wait to get to the next, massive volume (I'm reading other books in between The Malazan Book of The Fallen so I don't get bogged down/overloaded too soon).
I've just finished The Mirador, the third book in Sarah Monette's The Doctrine of Labyrinths series. It started a bit sluggishly, with a lot of new narrative threads that didn't really move or come together in the first half. But Monette's character study is always rewarding, and the weaving together of all those threads was both devastating (emotionally) and highly satisfying (dramatically). I'm looking forward to the release of the final volume next year.
I'll be reading Margo Lanagan's short story collection White Time next.
I'll be reading Margo Lanagan's short story collection White Time next.
Saga of the Seven Suns book 6 Metal Swarm
I'm a few stories into the Del Rey trade paperback reprint of the 1980s revised version of The Horror in the Museum by H.P. Lovecraft and others.
You don't need to experience the blasphemous horrors of the Necronomicon to go insane, you just have to try to make sense of Lovecraft's publishing history. I bought the Ballantine paperback of The Horror in the Museum, then bought the old Arkham House edition of The Horror in the Museum because the Ballantine edition left a lot of stories out. I finally realized that there were some significant differences between the 1970 Arkham House edition and the revised edition Del Rey reprinted and just bought it. But I believe it drops a couple of stories from the older edition, so that'll still be useful.
You don't need to experience the blasphemous horrors of the Necronomicon to go insane, you just have to try to make sense of Lovecraft's publishing history. I bought the Ballantine paperback of The Horror in the Museum, then bought the old Arkham House edition of The Horror in the Museum because the Ballantine edition left a lot of stories out. I finally realized that there were some significant differences between the 1970 Arkham House edition and the revised edition Del Rey reprinted and just bought it. But I believe it drops a couple of stories from the older edition, so that'll still be useful.
Yeah, the revised Arkham House/Del Rey edition drops Sonia Greene's "Four O'Clock," because S.T. Joshi concluded while preparing it that Lovecraft's role in the story must have been very slight. But he reversed that opinion in H.P. Lovecraft: A Life, so it's good to have the 1970 edition after all.
Reading some Philip K Dick short stories right now (a volume called The Father-Thing). Ugh. Just... ugh.
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