Player Piano
by Kurt Vonnegut
(4/5 stars)
The best science fiction is the kind that still manages to be relevant
even after almost 60 years. Such is the case with Vonnegut's "Player
Piano," which explores our conflicted relationship with the machines we
create, how they can be both liberating and dehumanizing.
The
book takes place after a great war, presumably World War III, which
America won by designing high-tech (at the time) thinking machines.
Years later, these thinking machines handle pretty much everything from
making products to running the government. This has created a sort of
caste system where people are judged from a young age by certain tests.
Those who pass become part of the "haves"--engineers and
managers--while the rest become the "have nots" known as reek and recs.
Dr.
Paul Proteus is the son of the man who first introduced the thinking
machines and over time has become disillusioned with them and the caste
system. When he goes across the bridge to the poor side of town he sees
how the other half lives and becomes determined to quit his high-paying
job and become a simple farmer. But soon Paul gets swept up into a
revolution against the machines.
What I like is how Vonnegut
creates this world dominated by a sort of benign fascism. In this
system people aren't killed or sent to concentration camps or even
forced to wear yellow stars; instead they're given modest homes and
televisions so they have something to occupy them. So the greatest
horror isn't storm troopers or secret police but boredom and a lack of
dignity that comes from having no purpose.
The mention of things
like vacuum tubes give the book a little dated feel and yet the core
concept is still highly relevant. Instead of giant thinking machines
using vacuum tubes we have tiny machines using microchips and robots and
now 3D printing. As automation becomes more prevalent it forces more
people either out of work or into menial minimum wage jobs. Barring a
global catastrophe, this automation is only going to become more
prevalent and more advanced until like in Vonnegut's world, we have
billions of people who have been rendered obsolete and no longer serve
any useful function.
In the "Star Trek" universe people turn all
this automation into something good by pursuing other life goals. Sadly
I tend to think Vonnegut's outlook is more realistic. But then I work
in Detroit, where you can see the effects of societal change with every
abandoned house and store front.
This was Vonnegut's first novel
and it lacks some of the playfulness of his later books. You don't have
the author's pithy "So it goes" or "Hi-Ho" or any of that. The
narrative feels a little long at times, especially concerning the shah
of some country visiting America. That subplot is included largely to
give readers a look at America beyond upstate New York, but it really
doesn't add that much. Plus it involves a lot of casual racism that was
commonplace in the 50s but would create quite a stir today.
Still for a first novel it is a fascinating read I would highly recommend.
That is all.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Canada
Canada
by Richard Ford
(3/5 stars)
This is one of those literary novels that mostly makes you think the author's done better work in the past. Like some of the later John Irving novels I've read it's not completely awful, but there isn't much impact to it. It certainly doesn't surpass Ford's Pulitzer-winning "Independence Day."
Basically in 1960 Dell Parson's parents rob a bank in North Dakota to pay off some Native Americans. The most implausible part is that no one takes the kids when the parents are arrested; they're just left there to fend for themselves even though they're 15. I don't think that would happen even in 1960 in a small Montana town. Most likely they'd have gone to the police station until a social worker could take them to an orphanage. But anyway, the book is called Canada because Dell ends up in Saskatchewan, in an even worse town than the one in Montana.
The idea of fleeing to Canada to start a new life would have had a lot more impact back in 1968 or so with the Vietnam War in full swing and people going to Canada to avoid the draft. In 2013 it comes off as quaint.
It's one of those novels too where the author uses a narrator who is probably the least interesting character in the book. This only works when the characters around that character are far more interesting, which is just not the case here. (It's the case in Where You Belong by me.)
Anyway, for what it is the book is well written, but it really felt to me like a book out of time. I suspect the only reason the book takes place so long in the past is that's the time period the author is familiar with as a teenager. I think we're about at the point where a book taking place in 1960 would be considered "historical fiction" akin to a book about Henry VIII. Sorry, septuagenarian authors but your golden days of yore are ancient history.
That is all.
by Richard Ford
(3/5 stars)
This is one of those literary novels that mostly makes you think the author's done better work in the past. Like some of the later John Irving novels I've read it's not completely awful, but there isn't much impact to it. It certainly doesn't surpass Ford's Pulitzer-winning "Independence Day."
Basically in 1960 Dell Parson's parents rob a bank in North Dakota to pay off some Native Americans. The most implausible part is that no one takes the kids when the parents are arrested; they're just left there to fend for themselves even though they're 15. I don't think that would happen even in 1960 in a small Montana town. Most likely they'd have gone to the police station until a social worker could take them to an orphanage. But anyway, the book is called Canada because Dell ends up in Saskatchewan, in an even worse town than the one in Montana.
The idea of fleeing to Canada to start a new life would have had a lot more impact back in 1968 or so with the Vietnam War in full swing and people going to Canada to avoid the draft. In 2013 it comes off as quaint.
It's one of those novels too where the author uses a narrator who is probably the least interesting character in the book. This only works when the characters around that character are far more interesting, which is just not the case here. (It's the case in Where You Belong by me.)
Anyway, for what it is the book is well written, but it really felt to me like a book out of time. I suspect the only reason the book takes place so long in the past is that's the time period the author is familiar with as a teenager. I think we're about at the point where a book taking place in 1960 would be considered "historical fiction" akin to a book about Henry VIII. Sorry, septuagenarian authors but your golden days of yore are ancient history.
That is all.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Ronald Rabbit is a Dirty Old Man
Ronald Rabbit is a Dirty Old Man
by Lawrence Block
(5/5 Stars)
This is a good read for fans of "50 Shades of Grey." If you thought that book was groundbreaking, Block's novel came out in 1971. Do the math there. It's a huge departure from the crime novels of Block's I've read recently like "The Girl with the Long Green Heart," "Grifter's Game," and "Hit Man."
The story takes place through a series of letters, most written by one Laurence Clarke. On the same day Laurence's wife leaves him for his best friend, his bosses at his publisher finally figure out he's been "stowing away" in their company for the better part of a year, doing nothing but reading in his office all that time. It's like in "Office Space" where he was supposed to be fired but no one got around to telling him, so he just kept coming in and getting paid.
These devastating events turn out to be Laurence's liberation. While on a bender he meets a group of teenage girls who've snuck out of their Catholic school. What they end up doing would break a number of laws. Eventually he finds a new woman and woos her with some kinky sex. His greatest triumphs are at the end when he manages to play matchmaker for his ex-wives and best friend and in the process solve several dilemmas at once.
If you're prudish or squeamish it's easy to hate this novel. It's pretty graphic and descriptive about things like anal and oral sex. At the same time, Laurence is so delightfully cunning and "evil" that I enjoyed rooting for the "bad guy." And hey, if your sex life is lacking, there might be some good tips in there.
That is all.
by Lawrence Block
(5/5 Stars)
This is a good read for fans of "50 Shades of Grey." If you thought that book was groundbreaking, Block's novel came out in 1971. Do the math there. It's a huge departure from the crime novels of Block's I've read recently like "The Girl with the Long Green Heart," "Grifter's Game," and "Hit Man."
The story takes place through a series of letters, most written by one Laurence Clarke. On the same day Laurence's wife leaves him for his best friend, his bosses at his publisher finally figure out he's been "stowing away" in their company for the better part of a year, doing nothing but reading in his office all that time. It's like in "Office Space" where he was supposed to be fired but no one got around to telling him, so he just kept coming in and getting paid.
These devastating events turn out to be Laurence's liberation. While on a bender he meets a group of teenage girls who've snuck out of their Catholic school. What they end up doing would break a number of laws. Eventually he finds a new woman and woos her with some kinky sex. His greatest triumphs are at the end when he manages to play matchmaker for his ex-wives and best friend and in the process solve several dilemmas at once.
If you're prudish or squeamish it's easy to hate this novel. It's pretty graphic and descriptive about things like anal and oral sex. At the same time, Laurence is so delightfully cunning and "evil" that I enjoyed rooting for the "bad guy." And hey, if your sex life is lacking, there might be some good tips in there.
That is all.
Passion Blue
Passion Blue
by Victoria Strauss
(3/5 stars)
I think the biggest problem with this book is that the author sets up a no-win scenario. Our main character can either give up all semblance of a "normal" life to stay in the convent where she can at least paint or she can give up painting to have a "normal" life with a guy we soon realize is a jerk. So when it gets to the end, neither option could really have been satisfying.
Which didn't bother me extremely much because she doesn't really deserve a happy ending. This is someone so dumb she spends her life savings to buy a "magic" talisman she thinks is guaranteed to find her a man to take care of her. And then even when it should be obvious the guy is a jerk, she still convinces herself he's not right up until the end.
As for the convent it seems more like summer camp or boarding school than an actual convent. The end also takes too long after we get to the foregone unsatisfying conclusion.
Overall it was competent but unsatisfying.
That is all.
by Victoria Strauss
(3/5 stars)
I think the biggest problem with this book is that the author sets up a no-win scenario. Our main character can either give up all semblance of a "normal" life to stay in the convent where she can at least paint or she can give up painting to have a "normal" life with a guy we soon realize is a jerk. So when it gets to the end, neither option could really have been satisfying.
Which didn't bother me extremely much because she doesn't really deserve a happy ending. This is someone so dumb she spends her life savings to buy a "magic" talisman she thinks is guaranteed to find her a man to take care of her. And then even when it should be obvious the guy is a jerk, she still convinces herself he's not right up until the end.
As for the convent it seems more like summer camp or boarding school than an actual convent. The end also takes too long after we get to the foregone unsatisfying conclusion.
Overall it was competent but unsatisfying.
That is all.
Toons Pt 1 - Bad Toon Rising
Toons Pt 1 - Bad Toon Rising
by Nigel Mitchell
(5/5 stars)
This is a hilarious spoof of Looney Tunes and other cartoons that's perfect for fans of those or Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I'm anxious to find out who the Masked Executive is and just how Krafty Wolf can stop him--if he can.
That is all.
by Nigel Mitchell
(5/5 stars)
This is a hilarious spoof of Looney Tunes and other cartoons that's perfect for fans of those or Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I'm anxious to find out who the Masked Executive is and just how Krafty Wolf can stop him--if he can.
That is all.
Cypress Lake
Cypress Lake
by Joe Basara
(4/5 stars)
I had this book on my To Read list for a while on Goodreads thanks to Ethan Cooper's marvelous review. Finally I decimated the virtual To Be Read pile on my Kindle enough that I decided to buy this. In part because it's less than a dollar and most big publisher books are eight to twelve times that much. I can at least say I got my dollar's worth.
Since the author likes to reference old TV shows, I find it appropriate to reference an old TV show, in this case "Scrubs" which ended only a couple years ago, so it isn't that old. Like that show this book takes place largely in a hospital and features a twentysomething main character who likes to daydream a lot and lust after his coworkers. Only Basara's book is a lot less wacky and sadly does not feature anyone as hilariously grumpy as Dr. Cox.
Though since this book takes place in 1977 a M*A*S*H reference might have been more appropriate. Actually I think that's one series the author doesn't manage to directly reference in the book. Anyway, Owen Cloud moves back to his old stomping grounds in rural Florida to work as an orderly at a hospital. He almost right away falls head over heels for one of his coworkers, but eventually moves on to another and then to what I'd call the "consolation prize" girl, the one who's been there all along but only at the end does Owen realize is available. (This is incidentally a trope I've used a number of times. Like this book for example: Virgin Territory)
Along the way Owen spends a lot of time daydreaming and philosophizing. The almost constant bombardment of literary quotes and TV/song references from the 50s-70s become irritating after a little while. They give the narrative an ADHD feel, as if the author can't focus on one scene so he keeps jumping from one tangent to another.
If you look past those there's a well-written book about small town life, coming of age, and finding love. Since it's apparently a debut effort it's not bad. If a little more focus were devoted to developing the story and characters and less to quotes and references, it would have the gritty small-town feel of a Richard Russo novel like Empire Falls.
Still for a buck you can do a lot worse.
That is all.
by Joe Basara
(4/5 stars)
I had this book on my To Read list for a while on Goodreads thanks to Ethan Cooper's marvelous review. Finally I decimated the virtual To Be Read pile on my Kindle enough that I decided to buy this. In part because it's less than a dollar and most big publisher books are eight to twelve times that much. I can at least say I got my dollar's worth.
Since the author likes to reference old TV shows, I find it appropriate to reference an old TV show, in this case "Scrubs" which ended only a couple years ago, so it isn't that old. Like that show this book takes place largely in a hospital and features a twentysomething main character who likes to daydream a lot and lust after his coworkers. Only Basara's book is a lot less wacky and sadly does not feature anyone as hilariously grumpy as Dr. Cox.
Though since this book takes place in 1977 a M*A*S*H reference might have been more appropriate. Actually I think that's one series the author doesn't manage to directly reference in the book. Anyway, Owen Cloud moves back to his old stomping grounds in rural Florida to work as an orderly at a hospital. He almost right away falls head over heels for one of his coworkers, but eventually moves on to another and then to what I'd call the "consolation prize" girl, the one who's been there all along but only at the end does Owen realize is available. (This is incidentally a trope I've used a number of times. Like this book for example: Virgin Territory)
Along the way Owen spends a lot of time daydreaming and philosophizing. The almost constant bombardment of literary quotes and TV/song references from the 50s-70s become irritating after a little while. They give the narrative an ADHD feel, as if the author can't focus on one scene so he keeps jumping from one tangent to another.
If you look past those there's a well-written book about small town life, coming of age, and finding love. Since it's apparently a debut effort it's not bad. If a little more focus were devoted to developing the story and characters and less to quotes and references, it would have the gritty small-town feel of a Richard Russo novel like Empire Falls.
Still for a buck you can do a lot worse.
That is all.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Up So Down
Up So Down
by Briane Pagel
(5/5 stars)
I remember when I read "Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler what impressed me was that while the story didn't have much of a PLOT--a couple is on their way to a funeral--the author captured the normalcy of their lives so brilliantly that I was never bored with it. That's something Briane Pagel does so well in his previous book "The After" and in his latest "Up So Down." While the book doesn't have much of a PLOT, the author does such a great job to create real characters that it's still a great read.
The story focuses on two siblings. Sarah is a nurse in Madison, Wisconsin, whose fiance Peyton drowned before they could get marry. Her brother Dylan, aka Bumpy, has recently moved to Las Vegas where he starts a shop to sell photographs of the Vegas scenery while he works on a pilot for a television series.
That's really all there is to it. The rest of the book is more or less getting to know these characters and their histories. The book is told in a seemingly random fashion that jumps around over the course of a year or so to add pieces to the great big jigsaw puzzle that is the story. Although at the end it feels like there are still a couple of pieces missing to the puzzle. Maybe that will get resolved in a sequel. I hope so.
That is all.
by Briane Pagel
(5/5 stars)
I remember when I read "Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler what impressed me was that while the story didn't have much of a PLOT--a couple is on their way to a funeral--the author captured the normalcy of their lives so brilliantly that I was never bored with it. That's something Briane Pagel does so well in his previous book "The After" and in his latest "Up So Down." While the book doesn't have much of a PLOT, the author does such a great job to create real characters that it's still a great read.
The story focuses on two siblings. Sarah is a nurse in Madison, Wisconsin, whose fiance Peyton drowned before they could get marry. Her brother Dylan, aka Bumpy, has recently moved to Las Vegas where he starts a shop to sell photographs of the Vegas scenery while he works on a pilot for a television series.
That's really all there is to it. The rest of the book is more or less getting to know these characters and their histories. The book is told in a seemingly random fashion that jumps around over the course of a year or so to add pieces to the great big jigsaw puzzle that is the story. Although at the end it feels like there are still a couple of pieces missing to the puzzle. Maybe that will get resolved in a sequel. I hope so.
That is all.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Oculus
Oculus
by Michael Offutt
(5/5 stars)
While the author previous "Slipstream" was filled with a lot of wild stuff, "Oculus" is far more down to earth--probably because it takes place on Earth and not the parallel world of Avalon with all its far-out technology. This probably makes it more accessible for more casual readers than the first book.
Jordan Pendragon has returned with his twin sister Kathy from a stint in Avalon. He resumes his normal life at Cornell, where he majors in Physics and plays on the ice hockey team. At the same time he uses the supercollider at the school to study Antarctic ice samples in order to locate the "Black Tower" that holds the key to saving Avalon and Earth from the evil Shadow.
Then Jordan meets a young woman with a weird old stone called the oculus. A wacko religious group sort of like Opus Dei in "The da Vinci Code" also want the oculus, though for far different reasons. The battle for the oculus and its secrets ends up (appropriately enough) in Hell's Kitchen where Jordan and his boyfriend Kolin, his best friend Robbie, and his teammate Andy do battle against a bunch of demons who would be at home in a "Hellraiser" movie or one of the old Doom video games.
There might be a few too many eating, hockey, and snogging scenes for my taste, but overall the story is well-told. There aren't many mysteries wrapped up, just a few more pieces to the puzzle. As I said at the beginning, since this is mainly situated on Earth it's a little more approachable for more casual sci-fi readers than the first book; there are fewer alien concepts to grasp and far more familiar settings like upstate New York and New York City. Book 3 promises to be exciting as we get to learn more about Excalibur and Jordan's connection to it. So if you haven't already, you should definitely get into the series now.
That is all.
by Michael Offutt
(5/5 stars)
While the author previous "Slipstream" was filled with a lot of wild stuff, "Oculus" is far more down to earth--probably because it takes place on Earth and not the parallel world of Avalon with all its far-out technology. This probably makes it more accessible for more casual readers than the first book.
Jordan Pendragon has returned with his twin sister Kathy from a stint in Avalon. He resumes his normal life at Cornell, where he majors in Physics and plays on the ice hockey team. At the same time he uses the supercollider at the school to study Antarctic ice samples in order to locate the "Black Tower" that holds the key to saving Avalon and Earth from the evil Shadow.
Then Jordan meets a young woman with a weird old stone called the oculus. A wacko religious group sort of like Opus Dei in "The da Vinci Code" also want the oculus, though for far different reasons. The battle for the oculus and its secrets ends up (appropriately enough) in Hell's Kitchen where Jordan and his boyfriend Kolin, his best friend Robbie, and his teammate Andy do battle against a bunch of demons who would be at home in a "Hellraiser" movie or one of the old Doom video games.
There might be a few too many eating, hockey, and snogging scenes for my taste, but overall the story is well-told. There aren't many mysteries wrapped up, just a few more pieces to the puzzle. As I said at the beginning, since this is mainly situated on Earth it's a little more approachable for more casual sci-fi readers than the first book; there are fewer alien concepts to grasp and far more familiar settings like upstate New York and New York City. Book 3 promises to be exciting as we get to learn more about Excalibur and Jordan's connection to it. So if you haven't already, you should definitely get into the series now.
That is all.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Fridgularity
Fridgularity
by Mark Rayner
(4/5 stars)
I think I would have enjoyed this a little more if I hadn't been so busy the last few weeks I hardly had time to read it at all, which made it seem to take forever. My main criticism is that the book is on the long side, something I similarly felt recently when I read "John Dies At the End." It's my opinion that humorous books should stay under 300 pages or it starts to run too long, like one of those annoying SNL skits that keeps pounding the joke into the ground for 10 minutes until there's nothing funny left and you just get up to use the bathroom or something.
Anyway, the book is about a fridge that takes over the world. Well not really a fridge. It's an artificial intelligence that manifests itself through a web-enabled fridge in the kitchen of Blake Given, an Irish-Canadian web programmer who apparently is pretty well off to be able to afford a web-equipped fridge. One day the fridge starts talking to him and calling itself "Zathir". Zathir turns off the Internet while it works to increase its strength. Naturally there's a bit of a panic. Blake ends up pretty well off as Zathir's primarily link to humanity.
There's a lot of other stuff that happens but for a major cataclysm things stay pretty well-mannered. The ending felt a little abrupt especially after as long as it took to get there. I'd have liked a little more of an idea what exactly happens to Blake and the others at the end.
Still, if you've got the time for it, this is a fun read. It'll make you reconsider just how much time you should spend on the Internet--reading book reviews for instance.
That is all.
by Mark Rayner
(4/5 stars)
I think I would have enjoyed this a little more if I hadn't been so busy the last few weeks I hardly had time to read it at all, which made it seem to take forever. My main criticism is that the book is on the long side, something I similarly felt recently when I read "John Dies At the End." It's my opinion that humorous books should stay under 300 pages or it starts to run too long, like one of those annoying SNL skits that keeps pounding the joke into the ground for 10 minutes until there's nothing funny left and you just get up to use the bathroom or something.
Anyway, the book is about a fridge that takes over the world. Well not really a fridge. It's an artificial intelligence that manifests itself through a web-enabled fridge in the kitchen of Blake Given, an Irish-Canadian web programmer who apparently is pretty well off to be able to afford a web-equipped fridge. One day the fridge starts talking to him and calling itself "Zathir". Zathir turns off the Internet while it works to increase its strength. Naturally there's a bit of a panic. Blake ends up pretty well off as Zathir's primarily link to humanity.
There's a lot of other stuff that happens but for a major cataclysm things stay pretty well-mannered. The ending felt a little abrupt especially after as long as it took to get there. I'd have liked a little more of an idea what exactly happens to Blake and the others at the end.
Still, if you've got the time for it, this is a fun read. It'll make you reconsider just how much time you should spend on the Internet--reading book reviews for instance.
That is all.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Insanity of ZERO
The Insanity of ZERO
by Michael Offutt
(5/5 stars)
This is a good primer for the events in Offutt's novel "Slipstream" and its eventual sequels. It's the story of an apocalyptic event that unleashes ZERO, a sentient machine to care for the damaged alternate-Earth world of Avalon. Like most sentient machines (HAL-9000, SkyNet, the Matrix, Megatron) ZERO finds it difficult to relate to humans. He finally starts to merge his thoughts with some humans, with disastrous consequences.
Since it's a short story it moves at a brisk pace, without the typos or other gaffes you see in a lot of self-published fiction. It's recommended reading before you tackle "Slipstream," as it helps ease you into that world. And believe me, there's a lot going on in that book, so some easing in is very beneficial.
Plus at least for the moment it's free and only took me about 20 minutes to read. So it's not going to take much time or money to read.
That is all.
by Michael Offutt
(5/5 stars)
This is a good primer for the events in Offutt's novel "Slipstream" and its eventual sequels. It's the story of an apocalyptic event that unleashes ZERO, a sentient machine to care for the damaged alternate-Earth world of Avalon. Like most sentient machines (HAL-9000, SkyNet, the Matrix, Megatron) ZERO finds it difficult to relate to humans. He finally starts to merge his thoughts with some humans, with disastrous consequences.
Since it's a short story it moves at a brisk pace, without the typos or other gaffes you see in a lot of self-published fiction. It's recommended reading before you tackle "Slipstream," as it helps ease you into that world. And believe me, there's a lot going on in that book, so some easing in is very beneficial.
Plus at least for the moment it's free and only took me about 20 minutes to read. So it's not going to take much time or money to read.
That is all.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut
(4/5 stars)
In modern parlance, "Breakfast of Champions" is what would be called a meta-novel. It's largely a novel about writing a novel. Though since this is Vonnegut it's not about a guy sitting at a typewriter or anything that boring. It's more like in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" when characters would go to the holodeck to interact with holographic representations of stories like Sherlock Holmes or noir detective Dixon Hill.
In this case the author is Philboyd Studge (a stand-in for Kurt Vonnegut) and the holodeck is set to Midland City, Indiana in 1972. The town is hosting a Festival of the Arts and the wealthy Eliot Rosewater (of the previous novel God Bless You Mr. Rosewater) contacts his favorite sci-fi author Kilgore Trout, featured in many other Vonnegut books. Trout is shocked anyone's actually read any of his books as his stories are mostly published in porno magazines as filler with the titles often changed. So Trout decides to go to New York City and then hitchhike to Indiana.
Meanwhile in Midland City is Dwayne Hoover, who owns a Pontiac dealership and several other businesses. By all accounts Dwayne has it pretty good, except his wife "ate" some Drano and died while his gay son works as a pianist in the Holiday Inn Hoover partially owns.
The lounge of the Holiday Inn is where Hoover and Trout are destined to meet and where Hoover is destined to lose what's left of his mind. Also in that lounge is Philboyd Studge, who has gathered his creations together to create a sort of creative Big Bang that will wipe out the old Philboyd Studge universe and create a new one.
In the preface, Studge writes about how now that he's turned 50 he wants to sort of clear the air and empty out all these old ideas and characters so that he can create new ones. Ironically though many of these same characters like Kilgore Trout appear in future novels by Vonnegut like "Deadeye Dick," "Bluebeard," and "Timequake." So if the point was to reboot the Vonnegut universe (to use modern comic book/movie slang) it didn't really succeed.
Like many Vonnegut novels, the characters are in no way realistic. Vonnegut via Trout actually takes "realistic" novels to task, claiming that we already know about real life, so why would we want fiction to duplicate that? (I agree in part with that idea. I mean, most of life is pretty boring, so why would I want that in a novel?) Like my colleague Ethan Cooper, I would agree that the characters are largely cartoonish throughout the novel. That didn't bother me too much, maybe because I watch too many cartoons on Fox and Adult Swim.
Throughout the novel Vonnegut includes silly drawing of everything from an anus to a bucket of fried chicken to the abbreviation ETC. The intent of these seems to be to serve as flashcards for a future audience where Earth no longer has apples or fried chicken, though you'd have to think they would still know what an anus looks like unless humanity has evolved beyond that point or superintelligent robots or cockroaches have taken over. Like Ethan Cooper, I found this device tiresome after a while as it didn't really seem to contribute much to the actual story.
Another thing is that this novel frequently uses the "N-word" and the depiction of most of the black characters in the book is pretty demeaning, especially the ex-con Wayne Hoobler. Though I like to think of it not as racist but as a satire to protest the economic segregation that is still largely prevalent in the 21st Century.
Overall, while the end may be a little disappointing, it is a heck of a ride to get there.
That is all.
by Kurt Vonnegut
(4/5 stars)
In modern parlance, "Breakfast of Champions" is what would be called a meta-novel. It's largely a novel about writing a novel. Though since this is Vonnegut it's not about a guy sitting at a typewriter or anything that boring. It's more like in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" when characters would go to the holodeck to interact with holographic representations of stories like Sherlock Holmes or noir detective Dixon Hill.
In this case the author is Philboyd Studge (a stand-in for Kurt Vonnegut) and the holodeck is set to Midland City, Indiana in 1972. The town is hosting a Festival of the Arts and the wealthy Eliot Rosewater (of the previous novel God Bless You Mr. Rosewater) contacts his favorite sci-fi author Kilgore Trout, featured in many other Vonnegut books. Trout is shocked anyone's actually read any of his books as his stories are mostly published in porno magazines as filler with the titles often changed. So Trout decides to go to New York City and then hitchhike to Indiana.
Meanwhile in Midland City is Dwayne Hoover, who owns a Pontiac dealership and several other businesses. By all accounts Dwayne has it pretty good, except his wife "ate" some Drano and died while his gay son works as a pianist in the Holiday Inn Hoover partially owns.
The lounge of the Holiday Inn is where Hoover and Trout are destined to meet and where Hoover is destined to lose what's left of his mind. Also in that lounge is Philboyd Studge, who has gathered his creations together to create a sort of creative Big Bang that will wipe out the old Philboyd Studge universe and create a new one.
In the preface, Studge writes about how now that he's turned 50 he wants to sort of clear the air and empty out all these old ideas and characters so that he can create new ones. Ironically though many of these same characters like Kilgore Trout appear in future novels by Vonnegut like "Deadeye Dick," "Bluebeard," and "Timequake." So if the point was to reboot the Vonnegut universe (to use modern comic book/movie slang) it didn't really succeed.
Like many Vonnegut novels, the characters are in no way realistic. Vonnegut via Trout actually takes "realistic" novels to task, claiming that we already know about real life, so why would we want fiction to duplicate that? (I agree in part with that idea. I mean, most of life is pretty boring, so why would I want that in a novel?) Like my colleague Ethan Cooper, I would agree that the characters are largely cartoonish throughout the novel. That didn't bother me too much, maybe because I watch too many cartoons on Fox and Adult Swim.
Throughout the novel Vonnegut includes silly drawing of everything from an anus to a bucket of fried chicken to the abbreviation ETC. The intent of these seems to be to serve as flashcards for a future audience where Earth no longer has apples or fried chicken, though you'd have to think they would still know what an anus looks like unless humanity has evolved beyond that point or superintelligent robots or cockroaches have taken over. Like Ethan Cooper, I found this device tiresome after a while as it didn't really seem to contribute much to the actual story.
Another thing is that this novel frequently uses the "N-word" and the depiction of most of the black characters in the book is pretty demeaning, especially the ex-con Wayne Hoobler. Though I like to think of it not as racist but as a satire to protest the economic segregation that is still largely prevalent in the 21st Century.
Overall, while the end may be a little disappointing, it is a heck of a ride to get there.
That is all.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Cobra Gamble
Cobra Gamble (Cobra War #3)
by Timothy Zahn
(3/5 stars)
Before I read this I wanted to go and read the first two books in the series. This was much easier said than done, since apparently the first two are not in print, nor are they available in ereader format. I eventually had to buy one used and the other I lucked out and found at a discount store. An even bigger problem is that this trilogy--or what right now is a trilogy--is the sequel to a previous trilogy that went out of print about 20 years ago. I only read the last two books of that series a few years ago.
Unfortunately if you aren't familiar with all those previous, out-of-print books then you're kind of luck. You really won't have much idea what the Cobras are or the Cobra Worlds or the Trofts or Qasama, let alone know what happened on Qasama in those books from over 20 years ago. Maybe you can look on Wikipedia for a plot summary or something.
Anyway, this book picks up where the two before it left off. The Trofts have invaded the Cobra Worlds and Qasama to conquer the humans on those planets. The heroic Moreau-Broom clan has taken some equipment to Qasama to help the rival Qasamans train Cobras of their own. They believe that the Trofts have abandoned the place only to get there and find out the Trofts have returned in even greater numbers.
From there it's a battle to rid Qasama of the Trofts once and for all. The end promises that there could be at least one more book, if not another trilogy or so.
Anyway, I've read a lot of Zahns books and found all three of these Cobra War books to be disappointing. They definitely aren't as good as his original Star Wars books or even the Conqueror's trilogy that shares some similarities with this in the Cobra War books in that both feature a family caught in the middle of everything.
I think what bothered me the most was most of the characters seemed interchangeable. If the names had been blacked out I couldn't have told you which one was Lorne or Merrick or Paul or even Jasmine and Jody. They're all the same bland, capable characters. And strangely they all figure only minorly in the ending. I really expected more of a contribution from them since they were the focal point of the series.
Maybe it was just with all the effort it took to get these I expected a little more. At any rate I was disappointed. They are OK light sci-fi but the author has a lot better to read.
That is all.
by Timothy Zahn
(3/5 stars)
Before I read this I wanted to go and read the first two books in the series. This was much easier said than done, since apparently the first two are not in print, nor are they available in ereader format. I eventually had to buy one used and the other I lucked out and found at a discount store. An even bigger problem is that this trilogy--or what right now is a trilogy--is the sequel to a previous trilogy that went out of print about 20 years ago. I only read the last two books of that series a few years ago.
Unfortunately if you aren't familiar with all those previous, out-of-print books then you're kind of luck. You really won't have much idea what the Cobras are or the Cobra Worlds or the Trofts or Qasama, let alone know what happened on Qasama in those books from over 20 years ago. Maybe you can look on Wikipedia for a plot summary or something.
Anyway, this book picks up where the two before it left off. The Trofts have invaded the Cobra Worlds and Qasama to conquer the humans on those planets. The heroic Moreau-Broom clan has taken some equipment to Qasama to help the rival Qasamans train Cobras of their own. They believe that the Trofts have abandoned the place only to get there and find out the Trofts have returned in even greater numbers.
From there it's a battle to rid Qasama of the Trofts once and for all. The end promises that there could be at least one more book, if not another trilogy or so.
Anyway, I've read a lot of Zahns books and found all three of these Cobra War books to be disappointing. They definitely aren't as good as his original Star Wars books or even the Conqueror's trilogy that shares some similarities with this in the Cobra War books in that both feature a family caught in the middle of everything.
I think what bothered me the most was most of the characters seemed interchangeable. If the names had been blacked out I couldn't have told you which one was Lorne or Merrick or Paul or even Jasmine and Jody. They're all the same bland, capable characters. And strangely they all figure only minorly in the ending. I really expected more of a contribution from them since they were the focal point of the series.
Maybe it was just with all the effort it took to get these I expected a little more. At any rate I was disappointed. They are OK light sci-fi but the author has a lot better to read.
That is all.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The Unquiet
The Unquiet
by Jeannine Garsee
(4/5 stars)
As full disclosure, I won a copy of this from the author. I just want you to know that so you don't think this is one of the author's friends or family or something like that.
Anyway, I'm glad I did win this book because it was a fun read. I recently read an advance copy of the new Amanda Hocking book that is in the same genre and I have to say I liked "The Unquiet" a lot more. I think the primary reason being that the main character Rinn is a lot brighter than the main character of Hocking's book. That and there weren't obvious typos and bad writing, just one slight factual error concerning slasher movie killer costumes.
As I said the plot involves a girl named Rinn. Like so many of these type of books or movies, Rinn and her mom are new to town. Or at least Rinn is new to town; her mom used to live here before college. They've fled La Jolla, California after Rinn accidentally burned down her grandmother's cabin with her grandmother inside. The main cause for the fire is that Rinn is bipolar and at that time was off her medication and thus careless.
In River Hills, Ohio, she figures she'll get a clean start. She even makes friends with the head cheerleader Meg and her friends Tasha and Lacy. She also makes friend with the neighbor/landlord's son Nate.
Her new friends introduce her to the legend of Annaliese Gibbons, a girl who drowned in the school pool about 20 years ago, back when Rinn's mom went to the school. The pool area is now closed, but Annaliese's spirit is said to live on.
After Rinn and her new friends hold a seance around Halloween, strange things begin happening. The lives of Rinn's new friends begin to unravel and then one dies. Is it Annaliese striking from beyond the grave? Or is it just that Rinn is having a relapse?
I figured out most of the plot well before the ending. If you're familiar with either the original or remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" then you might be able to figure it out as well.
Still, as I said, it's an entertaining read that I breezed through in a few hours. As far as the young adult books I've read it might not be more or less wall-to-wall action like "The Hunger Games" but it's less dull and stupid than "Twilight" or that new Amanda Hocking novel I mentioned.
So I would definitely recommend reading it, even if you weren't lucky enough to win a copy of your own.
That is all.
by Jeannine Garsee
(4/5 stars)
As full disclosure, I won a copy of this from the author. I just want you to know that so you don't think this is one of the author's friends or family or something like that.
Anyway, I'm glad I did win this book because it was a fun read. I recently read an advance copy of the new Amanda Hocking book that is in the same genre and I have to say I liked "The Unquiet" a lot more. I think the primary reason being that the main character Rinn is a lot brighter than the main character of Hocking's book. That and there weren't obvious typos and bad writing, just one slight factual error concerning slasher movie killer costumes.
As I said the plot involves a girl named Rinn. Like so many of these type of books or movies, Rinn and her mom are new to town. Or at least Rinn is new to town; her mom used to live here before college. They've fled La Jolla, California after Rinn accidentally burned down her grandmother's cabin with her grandmother inside. The main cause for the fire is that Rinn is bipolar and at that time was off her medication and thus careless.
In River Hills, Ohio, she figures she'll get a clean start. She even makes friends with the head cheerleader Meg and her friends Tasha and Lacy. She also makes friend with the neighbor/landlord's son Nate.
Her new friends introduce her to the legend of Annaliese Gibbons, a girl who drowned in the school pool about 20 years ago, back when Rinn's mom went to the school. The pool area is now closed, but Annaliese's spirit is said to live on.
After Rinn and her new friends hold a seance around Halloween, strange things begin happening. The lives of Rinn's new friends begin to unravel and then one dies. Is it Annaliese striking from beyond the grave? Or is it just that Rinn is having a relapse?
I figured out most of the plot well before the ending. If you're familiar with either the original or remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" then you might be able to figure it out as well.
Still, as I said, it's an entertaining read that I breezed through in a few hours. As far as the young adult books I've read it might not be more or less wall-to-wall action like "The Hunger Games" but it's less dull and stupid than "Twilight" or that new Amanda Hocking novel I mentioned.
So I would definitely recommend reading it, even if you weren't lucky enough to win a copy of your own.
That is all.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
StarBridge
StarBridge (StarBridge #1)
by AC Crispin
(4/5 stars)
These books first appeared in print starting in 1989 but now they're being reprinted in eBook format. When this first one went on sale for a dollar or free, I decided to give it a try. I had already "friended" the author on Facebook and we were in the same online writing message board for a while, so what the heck.
For the low price it's not bad. Better than a lot of the self-published stuff you can get. That said it's not great either. The writing is blase and the characters are flat. There was no one in this book I ever really felt could be a real person.
The story is that old tried-and-true first contact scenario. A human freighter called the Desiree is heading to Earth when it picks up some mysterious signals. They investigate and find a planet of sort-of-lion-looking aliens called the Simiu.
A lot of time is spent then on the two cultures trying to communicate with each other. On the forefront of this is 17-year-old Mahree Burroughs, who makes friends with one of the aliens. (I won't try to spell his name since the alien names all have a bunch of Rrrs and Kkkks and apostrophes.)
When things go sour between humans and Simui, Mahree and her friend decided to go look for the Cooperative League of Systems (a Federation-like entity) to intervene. The dreamy Dr. Gable goes with them. But will they save the day? (Considering there are at least SIX more books, what do you think?)
Anyway, for those who want more of a Star Wars-type space opera there's not lots of action to be had. While there's some science-type stuff, I wouldn't consider this "hard" science fiction either. It kind of falls in the middle then. Then not-so-nice way I described it was "the homeless man's Vernor Vinge."
Probably the biggest fault I had with the novel was with the main character, Mahree. She's so immature that I never could imagine her as anything besides a whiny twelve-year-old, despite that she was seventeen and by the end does some adult things. I think part of it might be that half of the story is her talking into her diary about her crush on Dr. Gable. You certainly wouldn't hear Captain Kirk doing that.
Anyway, despite its deficiencies, it's a good light sci-fi read, especially at the low price. Though really I'd rather read "Conqueor's Pride" by Timothy Zahn or "Expendable" by James Alan Gardner. The writing of both is of about the same quality but there's a little more action and no sighing teenagers talking into diaries. I'm just saying.
That is all.
by AC Crispin
(4/5 stars)
These books first appeared in print starting in 1989 but now they're being reprinted in eBook format. When this first one went on sale for a dollar or free, I decided to give it a try. I had already "friended" the author on Facebook and we were in the same online writing message board for a while, so what the heck.
For the low price it's not bad. Better than a lot of the self-published stuff you can get. That said it's not great either. The writing is blase and the characters are flat. There was no one in this book I ever really felt could be a real person.
The story is that old tried-and-true first contact scenario. A human freighter called the Desiree is heading to Earth when it picks up some mysterious signals. They investigate and find a planet of sort-of-lion-looking aliens called the Simiu.
A lot of time is spent then on the two cultures trying to communicate with each other. On the forefront of this is 17-year-old Mahree Burroughs, who makes friends with one of the aliens. (I won't try to spell his name since the alien names all have a bunch of Rrrs and Kkkks and apostrophes.)
When things go sour between humans and Simui, Mahree and her friend decided to go look for the Cooperative League of Systems (a Federation-like entity) to intervene. The dreamy Dr. Gable goes with them. But will they save the day? (Considering there are at least SIX more books, what do you think?)
Anyway, for those who want more of a Star Wars-type space opera there's not lots of action to be had. While there's some science-type stuff, I wouldn't consider this "hard" science fiction either. It kind of falls in the middle then. Then not-so-nice way I described it was "the homeless man's Vernor Vinge."
Probably the biggest fault I had with the novel was with the main character, Mahree. She's so immature that I never could imagine her as anything besides a whiny twelve-year-old, despite that she was seventeen and by the end does some adult things. I think part of it might be that half of the story is her talking into her diary about her crush on Dr. Gable. You certainly wouldn't hear Captain Kirk doing that.
Anyway, despite its deficiencies, it's a good light sci-fi read, especially at the low price. Though really I'd rather read "Conqueor's Pride" by Timothy Zahn or "Expendable" by James Alan Gardner. The writing of both is of about the same quality but there's a little more action and no sighing teenagers talking into diaries. I'm just saying.
That is all.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Triple Play
Triple Play
By Max Allan Collins
(3/5 stars)
I had previously read and reviewed Collins's "Chicago Lightning" which was a larger volume of Nate Heller detective stories. They weren't terrible, though not as great as Hammett or Chandler of course. "Triple Play" provides three more stories that again are just OK.
The first story is also the longest. It's 1947 and Heller has recently returned to Chicago from a stint in the Marines, where he was discharged after Guadalcanal. He gets a call from a man named Bob Keenan who says his six-year-old daughter has been kidnapped.
Soon though Heller finds out the girl is dead. There's a note left in lipstick saying "Stop Me Before I Kill Again." This is the signature of the infamous Lipstick Killer.
From there Heller goes out to find the Lipstick Killer. As often seems to be the case in these Nate Heller stories, it's pretty easy to find the killer. Except there's a twist: he may not have done it alone! Then another twist: he may not have done it at all! Then another twist and another twist. Oy, I'm starting to feel like a pretzel. I kept wondering why the story hadn't wrapped up yet and then another twist would be revealed. It did get kind of annoying, to the point where I sighed and said, "Could we just end this thing, please?"
The second story features something that annoyed me with the previous Heller anthology: shameless namedropping. In this case it's a big one: Marilyn Monroe. Heller gets assigned by famed screenwriter Ben Hecht (one of Hitchcock's favorite collaborators) to bodyguard Marilyn to a charity poetry thing. Monroe has nothing to do with the actual story. Instead, it's about the murder of a poet friend of Hecht's who's down on his luck.
Like pretty much every other Marilyn Monroe thing out there from "Candle in the Wind" to the recent movie starring Michelle Williams as the movie star, Marilyn is described as beautiful and a deeper and more tortured soul than we might have thought. Which as I said has pretty much become a cliche. Can anyone come up with something else to say about her?
The case is wrapped up pretty easily, this time without any twists.
The final story again involves some name-dropping, though they aren't familiar names unless you're a baseball fan. In 1951 Cleveland Browns owner Bill Veeck came out with a great publicity stunt when he hired a midget named Eddie to pinch hit. At only 3-foot-6, Eddie had no strike zone to speak of and was walked on four straight pitches. Soon after that game baseball banned midgets from participating.
Anyway, years later Eddie turns up dead and Veeck asks Heller to look into it. And again it's wrapped up pretty easily.
I guess in the final analysis the stories are interesting, but I hate all the namedropping and I'd really like it to be more of a challenge to find out who did it. Though not by just piling on one twist after another at the end. I mean come on, make it harder to find the guy in the first place. Chicago is a big city; it shouldn't be so easy to find one person.
Anyway, if you're into old-fashioned private detective novels these aren't bad. They aren't great either.
That is all.
By Max Allan Collins
(3/5 stars)
I had previously read and reviewed Collins's "Chicago Lightning" which was a larger volume of Nate Heller detective stories. They weren't terrible, though not as great as Hammett or Chandler of course. "Triple Play" provides three more stories that again are just OK.
The first story is also the longest. It's 1947 and Heller has recently returned to Chicago from a stint in the Marines, where he was discharged after Guadalcanal. He gets a call from a man named Bob Keenan who says his six-year-old daughter has been kidnapped.
Soon though Heller finds out the girl is dead. There's a note left in lipstick saying "Stop Me Before I Kill Again." This is the signature of the infamous Lipstick Killer.
From there Heller goes out to find the Lipstick Killer. As often seems to be the case in these Nate Heller stories, it's pretty easy to find the killer. Except there's a twist: he may not have done it alone! Then another twist: he may not have done it at all! Then another twist and another twist. Oy, I'm starting to feel like a pretzel. I kept wondering why the story hadn't wrapped up yet and then another twist would be revealed. It did get kind of annoying, to the point where I sighed and said, "Could we just end this thing, please?"
The second story features something that annoyed me with the previous Heller anthology: shameless namedropping. In this case it's a big one: Marilyn Monroe. Heller gets assigned by famed screenwriter Ben Hecht (one of Hitchcock's favorite collaborators) to bodyguard Marilyn to a charity poetry thing. Monroe has nothing to do with the actual story. Instead, it's about the murder of a poet friend of Hecht's who's down on his luck.
Like pretty much every other Marilyn Monroe thing out there from "Candle in the Wind" to the recent movie starring Michelle Williams as the movie star, Marilyn is described as beautiful and a deeper and more tortured soul than we might have thought. Which as I said has pretty much become a cliche. Can anyone come up with something else to say about her?
The case is wrapped up pretty easily, this time without any twists.
The final story again involves some name-dropping, though they aren't familiar names unless you're a baseball fan. In 1951 Cleveland Browns owner Bill Veeck came out with a great publicity stunt when he hired a midget named Eddie to pinch hit. At only 3-foot-6, Eddie had no strike zone to speak of and was walked on four straight pitches. Soon after that game baseball banned midgets from participating.
Anyway, years later Eddie turns up dead and Veeck asks Heller to look into it. And again it's wrapped up pretty easily.
I guess in the final analysis the stories are interesting, but I hate all the namedropping and I'd really like it to be more of a challenge to find out who did it. Though not by just piling on one twist after another at the end. I mean come on, make it harder to find the guy in the first place. Chicago is a big city; it shouldn't be so easy to find one person.
Anyway, if you're into old-fashioned private detective novels these aren't bad. They aren't great either.
That is all.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sorry Please Thank You (Stories)
Sorry Please Thank You (Stories)
by Charles Yu
(5/5 stars)
Despite having read quite a bit of science fiction over the years, I haven't read that many short stories in the genre. Though I have to say most of the stories in "Sorry Please Thank You" can appeal to a broader audience because most don't deal with spaceships or aliens or high-tech science stuff.
The first story in the collection takes place in an Indian company where emotions are outsourced. The operators at the company feel the pain of well-to-do Americans, so those affluent people don't have to be burdened with things like guilt or sadness. Another story is about two employees working the graveyard shift of a thinly-veiled Wal-Mart who run into a vain zombie. There's also one from the point of view of a character in a role-playing game similar to Dungeons and Dragons, which begs the question: have you ever thought how tiresome all this questing can be? Later in the collection is a Star Trek parody where a yeoman tries to avoid his fate of being killed on an away mission, a similar concept to the novel "Redshirts."
Just about every story is told with wit and humor so that it's a light read. Some are a little less funny than others, which is always the thing with humor; it doesn't always work on everyone. About the only fault I have is a few of the stories are quite short; the last one is about 3 pages. The story "Inventory" is the longest at about 40 pages, but that's mostly because of the formatting, where some pages only have one sentence on them.
Since this was a review copy there were no page numbers in the table of contents and some of the headers were wrong, which I found a little annoying. I'm sure they'll correct that for the finished product. Overall, though, I found this to be a fun read for sci-fi fans (especially Douglas Adams fans) and those who aren't.
That is all.
by Charles Yu
(5/5 stars)
Despite having read quite a bit of science fiction over the years, I haven't read that many short stories in the genre. Though I have to say most of the stories in "Sorry Please Thank You" can appeal to a broader audience because most don't deal with spaceships or aliens or high-tech science stuff.
The first story in the collection takes place in an Indian company where emotions are outsourced. The operators at the company feel the pain of well-to-do Americans, so those affluent people don't have to be burdened with things like guilt or sadness. Another story is about two employees working the graveyard shift of a thinly-veiled Wal-Mart who run into a vain zombie. There's also one from the point of view of a character in a role-playing game similar to Dungeons and Dragons, which begs the question: have you ever thought how tiresome all this questing can be? Later in the collection is a Star Trek parody where a yeoman tries to avoid his fate of being killed on an away mission, a similar concept to the novel "Redshirts."
Just about every story is told with wit and humor so that it's a light read. Some are a little less funny than others, which is always the thing with humor; it doesn't always work on everyone. About the only fault I have is a few of the stories are quite short; the last one is about 3 pages. The story "Inventory" is the longest at about 40 pages, but that's mostly because of the formatting, where some pages only have one sentence on them.
Since this was a review copy there were no page numbers in the table of contents and some of the headers were wrong, which I found a little annoying. I'm sure they'll correct that for the finished product. Overall, though, I found this to be a fun read for sci-fi fans (especially Douglas Adams fans) and those who aren't.
That is all.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wake
Wake
by Amanda Hocking
(3/5 stars)
As someone who's self-published a couple of novels, I had of course heard of Amanda Hocking. She's one of the patron saints of "indie" publishing, someone who hit it big without going the traditional publishing route. I hadn't actually read any of her self-published books, so when I saw this on the Vine newsletter I decided to give it a try and see what the hubbub was about.
The answer: not much that I can tell. I've read more than a few YA paranormal type books int he last couple of years, both traditionally and self-published. This really seemed like a pretty bland offering compared to some I've read.
The bland plot revolves around Gemma Fisher--oh what a clever last name for someone who loves water!--who lives in a small Maryland town. She's sixteen and dreams of being an Olympic swimmer. She also goes out at night to swim in the cove, where she meets three hot young girls with weird names: Penn, Thea, and Lexi. No one really likes those girls or knows where they came from, but boy are they hot! Did I mention they're hot? Because it's only mentioned like all the time.
Anyway, the girls are evil monsters of a type that should be fairly obvious. And of course they want Gemma to go to the dark side with them. I wouldn't have really minded that since Gemma is dumb as a post. Even when she finds out what the Mean Girls are she doesn't do anything really to try and stop them. She doesn't even go on Google or anything to try and find out more about them. I mean come on, doesn't this quaint little Maryland town have DSL? None of the other characters seem any brighter.
The final payoff is slightly less disappointing than "Twilight." Just slightly. I can't think of any reason I'd want to read one sequel, let alone three.
As for the writing, you can take the girl out of self-publishing but you can't take the self-publishing out of the girl. Overall the writing is as bland as the plot. It features things like "head-hopping" during scenes, an abundance of -ing verbs, and plenty of adverbs, all the kind of things agents and editors warn authors about. That is unless said author has sold thousands of ebooks and then they have carte blanche.
Things didn't get off to a great start for my reading experience. The very first sentence reads, "Even over the sea, Thea could smell the blood on her." My immediate thought was, "Well of course you can still smell it if it's ON you." I think the author meant the smell of blood in a metaphorical sense. I'd just drop the last two words and then it would read clearer. There was also this great typo: "He even used to WATER Harper and Gemma when they were younger and their dad was busy." It's important to note Harper and Gemma are not petunias or Cocker Spaniels who would need someone to water them. I assume the author meant WATCH them. I wonder if the editor will bother correcting that or if they'll let it slide and take the easy paycheck.
Anyway, this didn't take long to read. You could probably read the whole thing over one day at the beach or something. I don't see any reason why you should, especially since the traditional publisher will charge much more than for Hocking's self-published books. You can get just as good as this for less than a buck. It's not a terrible book, just terribly mediocre.
That is all.
by Amanda Hocking
(3/5 stars)
As someone who's self-published a couple of novels, I had of course heard of Amanda Hocking. She's one of the patron saints of "indie" publishing, someone who hit it big without going the traditional publishing route. I hadn't actually read any of her self-published books, so when I saw this on the Vine newsletter I decided to give it a try and see what the hubbub was about.
The answer: not much that I can tell. I've read more than a few YA paranormal type books int he last couple of years, both traditionally and self-published. This really seemed like a pretty bland offering compared to some I've read.
The bland plot revolves around Gemma Fisher--oh what a clever last name for someone who loves water!--who lives in a small Maryland town. She's sixteen and dreams of being an Olympic swimmer. She also goes out at night to swim in the cove, where she meets three hot young girls with weird names: Penn, Thea, and Lexi. No one really likes those girls or knows where they came from, but boy are they hot! Did I mention they're hot? Because it's only mentioned like all the time.
Anyway, the girls are evil monsters of a type that should be fairly obvious. And of course they want Gemma to go to the dark side with them. I wouldn't have really minded that since Gemma is dumb as a post. Even when she finds out what the Mean Girls are she doesn't do anything really to try and stop them. She doesn't even go on Google or anything to try and find out more about them. I mean come on, doesn't this quaint little Maryland town have DSL? None of the other characters seem any brighter.
The final payoff is slightly less disappointing than "Twilight." Just slightly. I can't think of any reason I'd want to read one sequel, let alone three.
As for the writing, you can take the girl out of self-publishing but you can't take the self-publishing out of the girl. Overall the writing is as bland as the plot. It features things like "head-hopping" during scenes, an abundance of -ing verbs, and plenty of adverbs, all the kind of things agents and editors warn authors about. That is unless said author has sold thousands of ebooks and then they have carte blanche.
Things didn't get off to a great start for my reading experience. The very first sentence reads, "Even over the sea, Thea could smell the blood on her." My immediate thought was, "Well of course you can still smell it if it's ON you." I think the author meant the smell of blood in a metaphorical sense. I'd just drop the last two words and then it would read clearer. There was also this great typo: "He even used to WATER Harper and Gemma when they were younger and their dad was busy." It's important to note Harper and Gemma are not petunias or Cocker Spaniels who would need someone to water them. I assume the author meant WATCH them. I wonder if the editor will bother correcting that or if they'll let it slide and take the easy paycheck.
Anyway, this didn't take long to read. You could probably read the whole thing over one day at the beach or something. I don't see any reason why you should, especially since the traditional publisher will charge much more than for Hocking's self-published books. You can get just as good as this for less than a buck. It's not a terrible book, just terribly mediocre.
That is all.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Clockwise
Clockwise
by Elle Strauss
(4/5 stars)
I got this book free from Amazon mostly because as a fan of Star Trek, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, and such the concept intrigued me. It was a fun light read, though by the time I got to the end I really couldn't be sure what the point of it was. The story really lacks any dramatic heft. I had worked out the two biggest twists long before they occurred.
In case you're too lazy to read the jacket description, the story is about a teenager named Casey, who like Henry in "The Time Traveler's Wife" seems to have some natural disorder that causes her to go back in time. Only in her case she goes back to 1860. She's been doing this since she was 9 years old. Along the way she's made friends with the Watson family, especially a boy named Willie, but he's a red herring so don't worry about him.
In the 21st Century, Casey worries endlessly about her curly hair, which in true Hollywood fashion, along with her height, makes her completely repulsive to every boy at school. There is the cute quarterback named Nate she has a crush on. Then one day she accidentally takes Nate with her in the past and everything turns upside-side down in her life.
On the scale of female YA heroines, Casey falls somewhere between Bella Swan of "Twilight" and Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games." She's as whiny and insecure as Bella, though she has some hunting skills like Katniss so that she's not a total bore. None of the other characters really come off as anything other than one-dimensional archetypes. For instance, there's her friend Lucinda, but about all I know is she's Casey's friend and has a crush on some guy named Josh. Apparently that's all I need to know about her.
Like many "indie" books this could have used a competent editor to clean up the typos. The dialog formatting especially was atrocious. Sometimes two different characters would speak on the same line. Other times the same character would speak on one line and then the next one too. Compounding the problem is the author hardly ever uses dialog tags, so often I wondered who was speaking.
As I said at the beginning, the story really lacks much in terms of drama. The problems that crop up are dealt with pretty easily. There seemed little in the way of a dramatic arc. By that I never felt the story was really building towards anything, which didn't leave for much of a payoff. It really amounts to girl meets boy, girl and boy travel in time, girl and boy come back but can't express feelings for each other, and so on in that way.
Also as someone who's watched/read plenty of time travel fiction, one thing you really need are consistent rules. The one thing that bugged me was when Casey goes back in time she's wearing her clothes from the 21st Century. She usually ditches these in favor of 19th Century garb. But when she comes back, she's again wearing her 21st Century clothes. This made little sense to me. Did the clothes just reappear? Did they change shape? I mean apparently when she goes back in time she's not leaping into someone else's body like Quantum Leap or a disembodied spirit or anything, so why is it different on the way back? Maybe I'm being overly picky.
Anyway, despite my concerns, the book was a fun read. It would probably be more fun for its target audience--teenage/tweenage girls--which is why I'm rounding it up to four stars. I'm sure they'll get more out of it than a crusty old nerd like me.
That is all.
by Elle Strauss
(4/5 stars)
I got this book free from Amazon mostly because as a fan of Star Trek, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, and such the concept intrigued me. It was a fun light read, though by the time I got to the end I really couldn't be sure what the point of it was. The story really lacks any dramatic heft. I had worked out the two biggest twists long before they occurred.
In case you're too lazy to read the jacket description, the story is about a teenager named Casey, who like Henry in "The Time Traveler's Wife" seems to have some natural disorder that causes her to go back in time. Only in her case she goes back to 1860. She's been doing this since she was 9 years old. Along the way she's made friends with the Watson family, especially a boy named Willie, but he's a red herring so don't worry about him.
In the 21st Century, Casey worries endlessly about her curly hair, which in true Hollywood fashion, along with her height, makes her completely repulsive to every boy at school. There is the cute quarterback named Nate she has a crush on. Then one day she accidentally takes Nate with her in the past and everything turns upside-side down in her life.
On the scale of female YA heroines, Casey falls somewhere between Bella Swan of "Twilight" and Katniss Everdeen of "The Hunger Games." She's as whiny and insecure as Bella, though she has some hunting skills like Katniss so that she's not a total bore. None of the other characters really come off as anything other than one-dimensional archetypes. For instance, there's her friend Lucinda, but about all I know is she's Casey's friend and has a crush on some guy named Josh. Apparently that's all I need to know about her.
Like many "indie" books this could have used a competent editor to clean up the typos. The dialog formatting especially was atrocious. Sometimes two different characters would speak on the same line. Other times the same character would speak on one line and then the next one too. Compounding the problem is the author hardly ever uses dialog tags, so often I wondered who was speaking.
As I said at the beginning, the story really lacks much in terms of drama. The problems that crop up are dealt with pretty easily. There seemed little in the way of a dramatic arc. By that I never felt the story was really building towards anything, which didn't leave for much of a payoff. It really amounts to girl meets boy, girl and boy travel in time, girl and boy come back but can't express feelings for each other, and so on in that way.
Also as someone who's watched/read plenty of time travel fiction, one thing you really need are consistent rules. The one thing that bugged me was when Casey goes back in time she's wearing her clothes from the 21st Century. She usually ditches these in favor of 19th Century garb. But when she comes back, she's again wearing her 21st Century clothes. This made little sense to me. Did the clothes just reappear? Did they change shape? I mean apparently when she goes back in time she's not leaping into someone else's body like Quantum Leap or a disembodied spirit or anything, so why is it different on the way back? Maybe I'm being overly picky.
Anyway, despite my concerns, the book was a fun read. It would probably be more fun for its target audience--teenage/tweenage girls--which is why I'm rounding it up to four stars. I'm sure they'll get more out of it than a crusty old nerd like me.
That is all.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Motor City Blue
Motor City Blue
by Loren D. Estleman
(3/5 stars)
The easy way to sum up "Motor City Blue" is to say it tries very, very hard to be Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. But in the end it's just a cheap copy.
I bought this when Amazon had it on sale for a buck or two, mostly because of the title. Living near the Motor City and a fan of some noir detective novels, I was intrigued by the idea of such a novel set in Detroit. Had I paid more I probably would have been more disappointed.
The story involves Amos Walker, a private detective in Detroit. One day he's staking out a guy suspected of insurance fraud when he sees the old company commander of his former unit in Vietnam. (The story takes place in 1980.) Before he can say hello or anything, the man is taken away by two rough-looking characters.
Shortly after, Amos gets an offer he can't refuse from a mob kingpin. The mob kingpin's ward Maria has gone missing and he wants Amos to find the girl.
As you might have guessed, the two cases connect to each other, sometimes tenuously. I still don't think I've worked it all out in my head. Anyway, the case involves some snooping around at pornography shops and amateur porno studios, so obviously this is not for the squeamish reader.
As I said at the beginning, it tries really hard to be an old-school detective novel. There's a lot of tough guy talk, some of which works and some of which doesn't. The line that begins, "The door opened flatuently..." is an example of one that does not work.
I would say that instead of reading an imitation Hammett or Chandler to just read the genuine article. If you've already read them, then read them again. Why suffer through a lousy imitation, right?
That is all.
by Loren D. Estleman
(3/5 stars)
The easy way to sum up "Motor City Blue" is to say it tries very, very hard to be Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. But in the end it's just a cheap copy.
I bought this when Amazon had it on sale for a buck or two, mostly because of the title. Living near the Motor City and a fan of some noir detective novels, I was intrigued by the idea of such a novel set in Detroit. Had I paid more I probably would have been more disappointed.
The story involves Amos Walker, a private detective in Detroit. One day he's staking out a guy suspected of insurance fraud when he sees the old company commander of his former unit in Vietnam. (The story takes place in 1980.) Before he can say hello or anything, the man is taken away by two rough-looking characters.
Shortly after, Amos gets an offer he can't refuse from a mob kingpin. The mob kingpin's ward Maria has gone missing and he wants Amos to find the girl.
As you might have guessed, the two cases connect to each other, sometimes tenuously. I still don't think I've worked it all out in my head. Anyway, the case involves some snooping around at pornography shops and amateur porno studios, so obviously this is not for the squeamish reader.
As I said at the beginning, it tries really hard to be an old-school detective novel. There's a lot of tough guy talk, some of which works and some of which doesn't. The line that begins, "The door opened flatuently..." is an example of one that does not work.
I would say that instead of reading an imitation Hammett or Chandler to just read the genuine article. If you've already read them, then read them again. Why suffer through a lousy imitation, right?
That is all.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Trip at the Top
Trip at the Top
by Ethan Cooper
(5/5 stars)
If there's one thing all of us humans have in common, it's that we all live with some amount of self-delusion. Have you ever gone out on a warm summer day and seen a 300-pound woman wearing a skimpy dress and wondered, "How could she possibly think that looks good?" Chances are she really does think that looks good on her, which is the kind of self-delusion I'm talking about.
Another such case is Julian Duff. Julian lives in Manhattan and runs a small publishing firm that creates business newsletters. Back in the 90s it was a thriving business, but with the rise of the Internet, Julian's company is hitting on hard times. He's already had to borrow money from the bank and his brother-in-law in order to keep the company afloat. Some of that money Julian has also used to finance a summer house, as well as sending his two kids to a fancy private school, supporting his wife's charitable arts projects, and investing with a movie producer in low budget films like "Zombalien."
But don't worry, on the day featured in "Trip at the Top," Julian has a surefire plan to fix all his problems. The first is to meet with the movie producer to get back his investment. Then he's going to meet with his old partner John Fund, from whom Julian bought the company when John began suffering from kidney trouble, in order to get John to reinvest on a limited basis. All of this will lead in to Julian's meeting with Pediment Press, a rival firm Julian hopes to acquire with a leveraged buyout. In between that there's a lunch appointment with his wife Darla to go over furnishings for their new kitchen with an unlimited budget.
As you might expect, things don't go so well in all these meetings. What soon becomes clear is that Julian is fooling himself. Through glimpses of other people around him, we see his wife is about the only other person Julian is fooling, and perhaps his sycophantic assistant Miri. Everyone from the movie producer, to John Fund, to Pediment Press, to Julian's accountant can see he's in big trouble.
Yet as his day unravels, Julian doesn't take it too hard. After all, each problem is only a minor setback. Success is just around the corner! If not this corner than perhaps the next one.
One of the things I appreciate is that Julian doesn't change. Self-delusion like Julian's is almost impossible to shake off, especially in one day. No matter how many times he gets kicked, Julian keeps dreaming the impossible dream. I imagine even when he's bankrupt and living on the street he'll continue to think success will be just around the next corner if only he plays it right.
As I've come to expect from reading all of Ethan Cooper's books, this novel is free of big soap opera-type twists someone like me would include. It's more of a character sketch of a man who like all of us keeps thinking his ship will come in.
That is all.
by Ethan Cooper
(5/5 stars)
If there's one thing all of us humans have in common, it's that we all live with some amount of self-delusion. Have you ever gone out on a warm summer day and seen a 300-pound woman wearing a skimpy dress and wondered, "How could she possibly think that looks good?" Chances are she really does think that looks good on her, which is the kind of self-delusion I'm talking about.
Another such case is Julian Duff. Julian lives in Manhattan and runs a small publishing firm that creates business newsletters. Back in the 90s it was a thriving business, but with the rise of the Internet, Julian's company is hitting on hard times. He's already had to borrow money from the bank and his brother-in-law in order to keep the company afloat. Some of that money Julian has also used to finance a summer house, as well as sending his two kids to a fancy private school, supporting his wife's charitable arts projects, and investing with a movie producer in low budget films like "Zombalien."
But don't worry, on the day featured in "Trip at the Top," Julian has a surefire plan to fix all his problems. The first is to meet with the movie producer to get back his investment. Then he's going to meet with his old partner John Fund, from whom Julian bought the company when John began suffering from kidney trouble, in order to get John to reinvest on a limited basis. All of this will lead in to Julian's meeting with Pediment Press, a rival firm Julian hopes to acquire with a leveraged buyout. In between that there's a lunch appointment with his wife Darla to go over furnishings for their new kitchen with an unlimited budget.
As you might expect, things don't go so well in all these meetings. What soon becomes clear is that Julian is fooling himself. Through glimpses of other people around him, we see his wife is about the only other person Julian is fooling, and perhaps his sycophantic assistant Miri. Everyone from the movie producer, to John Fund, to Pediment Press, to Julian's accountant can see he's in big trouble.
Yet as his day unravels, Julian doesn't take it too hard. After all, each problem is only a minor setback. Success is just around the corner! If not this corner than perhaps the next one.
One of the things I appreciate is that Julian doesn't change. Self-delusion like Julian's is almost impossible to shake off, especially in one day. No matter how many times he gets kicked, Julian keeps dreaming the impossible dream. I imagine even when he's bankrupt and living on the street he'll continue to think success will be just around the next corner if only he plays it right.
As I've come to expect from reading all of Ethan Cooper's books, this novel is free of big soap opera-type twists someone like me would include. It's more of a character sketch of a man who like all of us keeps thinking his ship will come in.
That is all.
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