Wednesday, March 14
At some point I am really going to write up my trip to DC. Honest I am. But for now, since I'm way behind on this:
Books read: February
Dragons in the Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
This book was given to me by juliarandolph because she said I posted something in my blog that reminded her of it. I'm still not entirely sure what it was, but I'm guessing I went on a "war of Northern aggression" rant. I do those. And, er, yeah. The Civil War was not as simple as the history books make it, let's just say that.
Stopping now.
Anyway, all that aside, I quite enjoyed the book, which was very L'Engle. Great characters, intriguing little mystery, you don't quite notice that the plot's rambling until midway through the book when it stops rambling and starts happening. The ending lost me, but, well, those type of endings often do. I just cannot seem to get into the mystical mood; once things get transcendent I am left standing on the dock waving rather sadly at all the people getting carried off by into ethereal heights. This isn't limited to fantasy, either -- I have the same reaction to hard sf books wherein people transcend humanity.
Just not the transcendent type, I guess.
Dead Man's Ransom and The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters (Reread)
I read these to do some strategic theft for a project I'm worldbuilding right now. Well, that was the excuse, anyway. I adore the Cadfael mysteries, so it doesn't take much of an excuse.
Peters's ability to create a real world continues to fascinate me. I don't know how accurate she is, mind you: my knowledge of life in a 12th century monastery hovers somewhere right above nil, and it's likely to stay there. But it feels real and, as someone who's used to reading fantasy and science fiction, that's much more important.
I did start wondering on this reread whether Peters was romanticizing her world. I think it would appear so to many people. It's not a gritty world, and right now fantasy's on a backswing where anything that's not filthy and corrupt is considered to be romanticized. And certainly Peters does not go into the grotty details much. When I think about it, I remember the leper colony that was in that one book, or the priest who drove a retarded girl to suicide in that other book, or the nun who was raped, or the girl forced into marriage with an older man, or the time the king ordered all the prisoners of war hung... but that's not the overall impression of the world one gets from the books. The impression is of a clean, earthy world, one where terrible things happen, it's true, but a pleasant world overall.
Some people will still argue that this is romanticization, that life in the twelfth century was universally short, brutish, and nasty. But I'm not sure I agree. I think there is a tendency to romanticize in the other direction as well, to heap on the filth, misery, and suffering until it becomes unreal. Unpleasant still, but rather unreal. We're not there yet, in fantasy, but we're rapidly approaching it.
I kinda like Peters's middle ground.
(For people who don't know the series -- I don't recommend starting with either of these books; I recommend starting with A Morbid Taste for Bones. Which is also a good book. One with a fabulous title.)
Idolon by Mark Budz
One of the winners in the WF freebie lotto. I really liked this book. Butz managed to do a near-future setting without it feeling a) dated or b) overly disconnected; as people might have guessed by now, I am not a big fan of antiheroes, acrimony, and angst. I like to have at least one character I can root for.
Budz was remarkably successful in creating a world that was gritty without being depressing, and I liked that. But the really interesting thing about Idolon was the philm. Philm, the book's central conceit, is downloadable imagery which can be displayed on, well, pretty much anything -- your house, your floor, yourself. Budz has a lot of fun talking about the high-tech skin grafts people get, the "casts" of identical philms people join, the various identity issues implied by the need to constantly change your looks, and so on. It's a great conceit. My only complaint is that he doesn't stick with it through the ending and instead goes and visits transcendent-land for a while, which, as we've already established, leaves me sitting on the landing drumming my nails and checking my watch. But it was still a damned good tale overall.
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
This is, at the moment, my favorite Discworld novel. (Not my favorite Discworld character -- that would be Sam Vimes.) I have a real weak spot for con men, I think. This was one of the books where I really thought Pratchett hit pay dirt. One didn't laugh aloud so much as with some of his other books -- but one grinned fiercely. A lot.
Also notable for being the first book I got off of BookMooch, which is a very cool service. If only Dan would let me get rid of more books. *sigh*
Impossible Things by Connie Willis (Reread)
My mother mentioned she wanted more short stories, so I bought her this for Christmas. (And then nicked it to read myself. Yes! Self-serving gifting wins again! And Mom liked it, which was a bonus.)
I read this years ago, my freshman year of college, and I honestly think it's gotten better with rereading. Connie Willis is one of those writers I regard with awe; she has that rare ability to hit all the notes, from poignant to chilling to wonderfully funny. It's like meeting a singer with a six-octave range when you only have one; you can but stand and gape in sheer envy.
She hits pretty much all the notes with this collection. I'm not a short story reader, but this is great stuff.
Starfish by Peter Watts
This is one of those books I nearly didn't read. Dan had been pushing it at me for about a year, waxing enthusiastic about how fabulous it was, but the more he pushed it, the less sure I was that I really wanted to read it. It looked like a concept book, and I have a love/hate relationship with those. It looked depressing, another area where I have trouble. And Dan was pushing it so hard, I figured he and I would both be disappointed when I read it. Nothing could be that good.
But finally I broke down and read the thing.
I was wrong. It was that good.
Starfish is a really, really hard book to describe. It is a concept book -- there is all kind of shininess about ocean vents and marine biology in here -- but it is also a book about fucked-up people and what our society does to them. In the case of Starfish, what we do to them is exile them to the bottom of the ocean, child molesters and abuse survivors and bullies and killers, people who've been so bent up by life that they no longer fit in. Instead, they care for power plants at the bottom of the ocean surrounded by other neurotic people, and they're happier there.
And, despite being a book about broken people, it is not depressing. The characters are broken, but they aren't victims. I have a bit of a problem with the victim mentality, so for me this made them utterly sympathetic.
This book made me think. A lot. About a great many things. Go and read it. I really can't recommend this one highly enough.
The Night Watch by Sean Stewart
This is another of those books that's really hard to describe. It's futuristic fantasy, cyberware and magic combined, and it's one of the few I've seen where the magic feels real. This is not D&D magic; it's real magic, uncontrollable, edgy, and frightening. It's not good; it's not bad. It's just magic.
The book is an extraordinarily diffuse one for me; we jump around from character to character, and there is no great, powerful climax, but rather a series of small epiphanies. It's also a book that... well, I suppose I could best describe it as an anti-romance. Not in the sense that it denies love (quite the contrary) but rather in the sense that it explores the dark side of love. The pain of having to set yourself against a loved one, or of failing someone you love, of not being able to protect them. Of losing them.
An odd book, and, like Starfish, one that made me think. I'm still not sure what I'm thinking about, but I would still recommend it to anyone who's tired of formulaic, comfortable fantasy novels. This one's anything but comfortable.
Wow. Not doin' a whole month of those at once again.
Writing Progress:
Today's Progress: 957 words.
Comments: I have been really struggling with this story lately, partly because of where I am in the story, partly because I write best when I'm on a schedule and lately my schedule has been fucked. So yesterday, which was a day off, I decided that enough was enough. Butt in chair time. I'd break this block if it killed me.
It didn't quite kill me, but I spent four hours painfully scratching out two hundred words. Finally, in chat, I got desperate enough to threaten my characters with skipping the scene I was on entirely and going to the next, something I never do. But I was desperate.
And within a few moments of saying that, I got a sentence. Then another. Then another. Then two hours of frantically typing two thousand words which got me through the problem scene.
Behold! The power of pointy stick. I'm gonna remember that one.
Today was not so spectacular, but I did get to skip the four-hours-blank-staring thing and go right to the Good Words. I can live with that.
Crappy Writing Skill De Jour: Chapter openings? I hate 'em. Hate hate hate. It's worse than transitions. In the end I always type some crappy thing like "Elliot woke up" and figure I'll fix it on the rewrite, but it always bugs me.
Snips: Elliot looked groggily down at his dressing gown. "I have no pants."
... mind you, given that his pacifist not-girlfriend just dragged him out of bed and is holding a gun and telling him to hurry, he may have bigger problems than inadequate dress. Inability to prioritize, for example....
Books read: February
Dragons in the Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
This book was given to me by juliarandolph because she said I posted something in my blog that reminded her of it. I'm still not entirely sure what it was, but I'm guessing I went on a "war of Northern aggression" rant. I do those. And, er, yeah. The Civil War was not as simple as the history books make it, let's just say that.
Stopping now.
Anyway, all that aside, I quite enjoyed the book, which was very L'Engle. Great characters, intriguing little mystery, you don't quite notice that the plot's rambling until midway through the book when it stops rambling and starts happening. The ending lost me, but, well, those type of endings often do. I just cannot seem to get into the mystical mood; once things get transcendent I am left standing on the dock waving rather sadly at all the people getting carried off by into ethereal heights. This isn't limited to fantasy, either -- I have the same reaction to hard sf books wherein people transcend humanity.
Just not the transcendent type, I guess.
Dead Man's Ransom and The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters (Reread)
I read these to do some strategic theft for a project I'm worldbuilding right now. Well, that was the excuse, anyway. I adore the Cadfael mysteries, so it doesn't take much of an excuse.
Peters's ability to create a real world continues to fascinate me. I don't know how accurate she is, mind you: my knowledge of life in a 12th century monastery hovers somewhere right above nil, and it's likely to stay there. But it feels real and, as someone who's used to reading fantasy and science fiction, that's much more important.
I did start wondering on this reread whether Peters was romanticizing her world. I think it would appear so to many people. It's not a gritty world, and right now fantasy's on a backswing where anything that's not filthy and corrupt is considered to be romanticized. And certainly Peters does not go into the grotty details much. When I think about it, I remember the leper colony that was in that one book, or the priest who drove a retarded girl to suicide in that other book, or the nun who was raped, or the girl forced into marriage with an older man, or the time the king ordered all the prisoners of war hung... but that's not the overall impression of the world one gets from the books. The impression is of a clean, earthy world, one where terrible things happen, it's true, but a pleasant world overall.
Some people will still argue that this is romanticization, that life in the twelfth century was universally short, brutish, and nasty. But I'm not sure I agree. I think there is a tendency to romanticize in the other direction as well, to heap on the filth, misery, and suffering until it becomes unreal. Unpleasant still, but rather unreal. We're not there yet, in fantasy, but we're rapidly approaching it.
I kinda like Peters's middle ground.
(For people who don't know the series -- I don't recommend starting with either of these books; I recommend starting with A Morbid Taste for Bones. Which is also a good book. One with a fabulous title.)
Idolon by Mark Budz
One of the winners in the WF freebie lotto. I really liked this book. Butz managed to do a near-future setting without it feeling a) dated or b) overly disconnected; as people might have guessed by now, I am not a big fan of antiheroes, acrimony, and angst. I like to have at least one character I can root for.
Budz was remarkably successful in creating a world that was gritty without being depressing, and I liked that. But the really interesting thing about Idolon was the philm. Philm, the book's central conceit, is downloadable imagery which can be displayed on, well, pretty much anything -- your house, your floor, yourself. Budz has a lot of fun talking about the high-tech skin grafts people get, the "casts" of identical philms people join, the various identity issues implied by the need to constantly change your looks, and so on. It's a great conceit. My only complaint is that he doesn't stick with it through the ending and instead goes and visits transcendent-land for a while, which, as we've already established, leaves me sitting on the landing drumming my nails and checking my watch. But it was still a damned good tale overall.
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
This is, at the moment, my favorite Discworld novel. (Not my favorite Discworld character -- that would be Sam Vimes.) I have a real weak spot for con men, I think. This was one of the books where I really thought Pratchett hit pay dirt. One didn't laugh aloud so much as with some of his other books -- but one grinned fiercely. A lot.
Also notable for being the first book I got off of BookMooch, which is a very cool service. If only Dan would let me get rid of more books. *sigh*
Impossible Things by Connie Willis (Reread)
My mother mentioned she wanted more short stories, so I bought her this for Christmas. (And then nicked it to read myself. Yes! Self-serving gifting wins again! And Mom liked it, which was a bonus.)
I read this years ago, my freshman year of college, and I honestly think it's gotten better with rereading. Connie Willis is one of those writers I regard with awe; she has that rare ability to hit all the notes, from poignant to chilling to wonderfully funny. It's like meeting a singer with a six-octave range when you only have one; you can but stand and gape in sheer envy.
She hits pretty much all the notes with this collection. I'm not a short story reader, but this is great stuff.
Starfish by Peter Watts
This is one of those books I nearly didn't read. Dan had been pushing it at me for about a year, waxing enthusiastic about how fabulous it was, but the more he pushed it, the less sure I was that I really wanted to read it. It looked like a concept book, and I have a love/hate relationship with those. It looked depressing, another area where I have trouble. And Dan was pushing it so hard, I figured he and I would both be disappointed when I read it. Nothing could be that good.
But finally I broke down and read the thing.
I was wrong. It was that good.
Starfish is a really, really hard book to describe. It is a concept book -- there is all kind of shininess about ocean vents and marine biology in here -- but it is also a book about fucked-up people and what our society does to them. In the case of Starfish, what we do to them is exile them to the bottom of the ocean, child molesters and abuse survivors and bullies and killers, people who've been so bent up by life that they no longer fit in. Instead, they care for power plants at the bottom of the ocean surrounded by other neurotic people, and they're happier there.
And, despite being a book about broken people, it is not depressing. The characters are broken, but they aren't victims. I have a bit of a problem with the victim mentality, so for me this made them utterly sympathetic.
This book made me think. A lot. About a great many things. Go and read it. I really can't recommend this one highly enough.
The Night Watch by Sean Stewart
This is another of those books that's really hard to describe. It's futuristic fantasy, cyberware and magic combined, and it's one of the few I've seen where the magic feels real. This is not D&D magic; it's real magic, uncontrollable, edgy, and frightening. It's not good; it's not bad. It's just magic.
The book is an extraordinarily diffuse one for me; we jump around from character to character, and there is no great, powerful climax, but rather a series of small epiphanies. It's also a book that... well, I suppose I could best describe it as an anti-romance. Not in the sense that it denies love (quite the contrary) but rather in the sense that it explores the dark side of love. The pain of having to set yourself against a loved one, or of failing someone you love, of not being able to protect them. Of losing them.
An odd book, and, like Starfish, one that made me think. I'm still not sure what I'm thinking about, but I would still recommend it to anyone who's tired of formulaic, comfortable fantasy novels. This one's anything but comfortable.
Wow. Not doin' a whole month of those at once again.
Writing Progress:
Today's Progress: 957 words.
Comments: I have been really struggling with this story lately, partly because of where I am in the story, partly because I write best when I'm on a schedule and lately my schedule has been fucked. So yesterday, which was a day off, I decided that enough was enough. Butt in chair time. I'd break this block if it killed me.
It didn't quite kill me, but I spent four hours painfully scratching out two hundred words. Finally, in chat, I got desperate enough to threaten my characters with skipping the scene I was on entirely and going to the next, something I never do. But I was desperate.
And within a few moments of saying that, I got a sentence. Then another. Then another. Then two hours of frantically typing two thousand words which got me through the problem scene.
Behold! The power of pointy stick. I'm gonna remember that one.
Today was not so spectacular, but I did get to skip the four-hours-blank-staring thing and go right to the Good Words. I can live with that.
Crappy Writing Skill De Jour: Chapter openings? I hate 'em. Hate hate hate. It's worse than transitions. In the end I always type some crappy thing like "Elliot woke up" and figure I'll fix it on the rewrite, but it always bugs me.
Snips: Elliot looked groggily down at his dressing gown. "I have no pants."
... mind you, given that his pacifist not-girlfriend just dragged him out of bed and is holding a gun and telling him to hurry, he may have bigger problems than inadequate dress. Inability to prioritize, for example....
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