Wild Cards I - Voume One edited by George R R Martin - Book Report #313

 

Apologies for the lack of posts.  There has been a pandemic going on and I've been busy building my own personal blog at eric-hebert.ca

It was the cover that drew me in.  It looked steampunk to me but I've heard the series described as dieselpunk  which is similar in that it's "retro futuristic" but instead of being informed by the Victorian era it takes its technology cues and attitudes from the 1930's to 1950's.  

I've always been drawn to the aesthetics and technology of the WWII era and the rest of the 1940's.  So this looked like fun.

The series has been around since the 1980's and continues on today.  This particular book was in a mini hardcover format that I also found interesting and prompted me to buy it.  I only wish the other two books in the first cycle were available in the same format, they would look very nice on my bookshelf.

The stories are all loosely connected around a singular event, that of an alien virus spreading throughout the world killing many and giving others "powers" that could be described as super or meh.  Some survivors were made heroic, others villains and still others merely shlubs. 

Think of the X-Men to get a feel of the super-powers folks develop.

Each story was a delight to read and did not just tell the story of some conflict but also delved into the consequences of being changed by the Wildcard Virus.  There is a humanity, humour and pulpy fun to the stories.

I found this book a delight to read as it offered a timely subject (the virus) but also charged the stories with fun.  I felt that we can get through this fight with COVID-19 in much the same way as the characters deal with their virus, by coping and adjusting to it.

Recommended for a bit of escapism in a comic book way that does not take itself too seriously. 

Identity Theft and other stories by Robert J Sawyer - Book Report #261

I enjoyed this book very much.  Not every story worked for me but that's okay.

The real joy of this anthology was the opportunity to read stories that would be very difficult to find today given the publication history.

Below is a list of links of the stories I reviewed from this book.

Enjoy!

I highly recommend the book, it was one of my reading highlights of 2018.

~~~

Identity Theft - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/identity-theft-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Come All Ye Faithful - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/come-all-ye-faithful-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Immortality - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/immortality-by-robert-j-sawer.html

Shed Skin - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/shed-skin-by-robert-j-sawer.html

The Stanley Cup Caper - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-stanley-cup-caper-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

On The Surface - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/10/on-surface-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

The Eagle Has Landed - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-eagle-has-landed-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Mikeys - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/mikeys-by-robert-j-sawer.html

The Good Doctor - I didn't review this flash fiction, well, because I just didn't get it.  I read it twice and tried to get the joke but it escaped me completely.

Ineluctable - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/ineluctable-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

The Right's Tough - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-rights-tough-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Kata Bindu - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/kata-bindu-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Driving a Bargain - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/driving-bargain-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Flashes - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/flashes-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Relativity - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/relativity-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Biding Time - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/biding-time-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

Postscript: E-Mails from the Future - https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/11/biding-time-by-robert-j-sawyer.html

The Big Downtown by Jack McDevitt

Oooh!

Murder and mayhem in the wake of a hurricane make for a compelling mystery.

To be honest, this story barely qualifies as SF, not that it's a bad thing, but if you take away the flying cars and holograms you've simply got a straight-up mystery here.

It was a good mystery too.  The author kept the plot moving along with some complicated relationships and motivations.

I liked this one very much.

Jack McDevitt's website - https://www.jackmcdevitt.com/

Jack McDevitt

Camouflage by Robert Reed

This was a 61-page story, by page 28 I had had enough.

It was a slow-moving affair set on a gigantic ark ship.

The story dragged on with seemingly endless exposition and descriptions of alien species. Every time Reed brought me someplace interesting, like a giant library or scene of a crime, he’d move back into explaining things to me.

I found it tedious so I left the story unfinished.

It’s funny how I find it a personal failing when I give up on a book or story, but life is short, and not every story will connect.

On we go!

Rober Reed's website - https://www.robertreedwriter.com/

Robert Reed

The Resident by Carmen Maria Machado

A writer goes off to a lakeside retreat to work on her novel among other artists in residence.

It was well written but was not my cup of - anything.

This was straight up literary fiction, where a broken person goes off to continue being broken and returns home just as broken as before. Nothing happens to the character, she doesn't grow or learn much.

Which is just fine.  But when I read, I am looking for an adventure, I want to read about a place or situation that is outside my daily life.  I want to be moved by a character overcoming something. To read about somebody’s navel-gazing self-doubt is not inspiring or interesting to me.

We can all get stuck in our own inadequacies and roll around in it to the culmination of nothing.  What good does that do?  Isn’t life better when we are working to a goal?  When we grow?


I hate being so negative about the story, it seems to me that it was a disservice to the author to include it in a Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology when it is nothing of the sort

I felt cheated of my time with this story.

Carmen Maria Machado's website - https://carmenmariamachado.com/

Carmen Maria Machado

You Will Always Have a Family : A Triptych by Kathleen Kayembe

This was an interesting story about love, betrayal, revenge and discovery.

It revolved around a complicated family relationship after the mother dies.  The father blames a son and betrays his love.

Choices are made that only require forgiveness or contrition to resolve.

It was at once a horrifying story that changed with each perspective switch.  Highly original and well told.  I was glad it was so much more than just a ghost story.

There is a lot to unpack here.  Let yourself take a breath at the end of each section and trust the author to bring you to an original conclusion.

Well told.

Kathleen Kayembe's website - https://www.kathleenkayembe.com/

Kathleen Kayembe

Destroy the City with Me Tonight by Kate Alice Marshall

Honestly, I just didn’t get it.

The story drifts in and out of reality, the protagonist gets some kind of disease where she becomes a city and a city becomes her while she becomes invisible to people in it.

Sorry, it was just overly strange and made no sense to me.

On to the next story,

Kate Alice Marshall's website - http://katemarshallbooks.com/

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 edited by N. K. Jemisin & John Joseph Adams - Book Report #250

I have avoided previous editions of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy because of the title.  You see, I am not much of a Fantasy fan and I believed I'd only enjoy about half the offerings.  With this opportunity, I was exposed to stories outside my comfort zone.  And isn’t that what reading should be all about?

Many stories in this collection are so broad that, to be squeezed into a Fantasy or Science Fiction label, is a bit constricting.  But then I was left wondering; if the editors wanted to increase awareness of these authors, where else could they have showcased them?  Of all the genres out there F&SF are the most accommodating.

In all cases, the quality of the writing was so good that I found myself transported into the stories.  There is something here to appeal to just about everybody but that doesn't mean I enjoyed each one.  Some genres simply do not appeal to me.  Each story had an interesting twist that pushed the boundaries and created something unexpected and interesting.

The deeper I got into the collection, I began to suspect that the fiction selected was geared more to introducing the curious to genre fiction than to entertaining the entrenched reader.  However, the skill of the editors was evident whenever I found myself sighing, wondering when I would return to a science fiction story.  The pacing and placement of the stories rewarded me for reading through the stuff I found challenging.

Some of the standouts were penned by Charles Payseur, Jaymee Goh, A. Merc Rustad and Rachael K. Jones.

I wouldn't say that the book was an easy read because some stories either frustrated or disturbed me in some way.  I will say that it was a rewarding experience; I did not plow through the anthology but let each story sit with me for a while before moving on to the next one.  Some of the more challenging ones stayed in my mind for days, they gave me something valuable to think about.  There was often more going on between the words than the story that lived on the surface of the text.

And that would be my advice to readers of this book - take your time with it, read only one story a day.  Believe in the editors, they saw something in each tale that was worthy of them being collected here.  I have been constantly impressed with how some stories expanded in my mind over a day or two to make me feel that I had read a novel.

In the coming days and weeks, I will review each story in the collection individually.

Full Disclosure - I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

N. K. Jemisin's website - http://nkjemisin.com/

John Joseph Adams' website - http://www.johnjosephadams.com/

N. K. Jemisin

John Joseph Adams

Escape Plus, A Short Story Collection by Ben Bova - Book Review #245

I've always had trouble dealing with collections.  I review each story individually thinking that if a reader of this blog wants to know more about the anthology itself he or she would find the label of the title, click on it and - voila! the entire book reviewed on one page.

But that seems like a lot of trouble and not always very intuitive.  So I've decided that with this book and going forward, once I've reviewed every story, I will publish a collection of links.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all this was a very enjoyable read.  Most of the stories worked for me and I am glad I spent time with it.

I am always thankful for collections like this, as it is often difficult to follow an author's work in the short story field.

Escape! -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/03/escape-by-ben-bova.html

A Slight Miscalculation -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/03/a-slight-miscalculation-by-ben-bova.html

Vince's Dragon -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/vinces-dragon-by-ben-bova.html

The Last Decision -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/the-last-decision-by-ben-bova.html

Men of Goodwill -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/men-of-good-will-by-ben-bova.html

Blood of Tyrants -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/blood-of-tyrants-by-ben-bova.html

The Next Logical Step -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-next-logical-step-by-ben-bova.html

The Shining Ones -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-shining-ones-by-ben-bova.html

Sword Play -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/sword-play-by-ben-bova.html

A Long Way Back -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-long-way-back-by-ben-bova.html

Stars, Won't You Hide Me?

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/stars-wont-you-hide-me-by-ben-bova.html

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume I edited by Robert Silverberg - Book Report #167

I've decided to collect all the reviews of each individual story from this anthology into one post.

This may make it easier to read my thought on the book instead of trying to search out each story from the blog.

Fun fact:  I started to read this book in August of 2012.  That's right, it took me nearly five years to get through it.

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum

Twilight by John W. Campbell

Helen O'Loy by Lester del Rey

The Roads Must Roll by Robert A. Heinlein

Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov

The Weapon Shop by A. E. van Vogt

Mimsy Were the Borogoves by Lewis Padgett

Huddling Place by Clifford D. Simak

Arena by Fredric Brown

First Contact by Murray Leinster

That Only A Mother by Judith Merril

Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith

Mars is Heaven! by Ray Bradbury

The Little Black Bag

Born of Man and Woman by Richard Matheson

Coming Attraction by Fritz Leiber

The Quest For Saint Aquin by Anthony Boucher

Surface Tension by James Blish

The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke

It's A Good Life by Jerome Bixby

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester

The Country of the Kind by Damon Knight

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

A Rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazny

Book Report #17 of 26

Boston Noir

edited by

Dennis Lehane

This is my first brush with Mr. Lehane and I was very interested in what he considered to be noir.

Of the 11 stories I liked every one but one.  These were interesting, taught, dark and thrilling to read.

Lehane had a story in it as well and I liked it as well.  If his novels have the same kind of tone as this collection then I'll be very happy indeed to read his books.

I may be the only person who has never read him nor have I seen any of the movies that have been adapted from his books.  I am a luck reader to be in such a position.

Once I finished the book I quickly picked up A Drink Before the War and so far I'm loving it.  The two detectives are wonderful and there is enough drama all around them that I feel a person can just lose himself in Lehane's world.  It's no all dark and there is humor and some crackling dialogue between the covers.  I feel that I am in very good hands while reading.