I just started anew on a blog I dubbed “Count Zero”, hosted by Fantasybookspot.com so I’d very much appreciate it if everybody who links to me would update his or her blogroll with the appropriate link.

I made the transition mainly because I wasn’t satisfied with the direction this blog was taking. Plus being able to choose your own theme was a big plus as well. So if you want to stay with me (which I would very much appreciate), move with me to the brand new Count Zero. The first welcome post is already up and I expect to add more content to the blog in the next couple of days. One thing, my blogroll has to be manually moved, so it might take a while for all the links to show up there. It is not like I am ignoring you or anything, it’s just that it takes time – no worries!

I hope you’ll take the time to pay the Count a visit. See you there!

In the wake of the New Weird anthology (edited by the VanderMeers), I contacted Alistair Rennie to ask him a few things about his short story in the antho (“The Gutter Sees the Light That Never Shines”) and what followed was a full-blown interview. I posted it yesterday evening on Fantasybookspot. Check it out if you’re interesting in hearing more about New Weird’s newest talents.

For those not familiar with Alistair Rennie, he was born in the North of Scotland and now lives in Italy. He has published short fiction in Electric Velocipede, Shadowed Realms and The New Weird, and has forthcoming work appearing in Weird Tales, Fabulous Whitby (edited by Liz Williams and Sue Thomason) and Electric Velocipede.

I am very pleased how this interview turned out, Alistair Rennie is a great guy to interview – gave my questions the fullest attention. The result was a lengthy, thought-provoking chat. All my three ‘On the Spots’ feature have been fun so far, so I am definitely looking out for more candidates.

Long radio-silence, I know I know. Just been busy with a couple of things, did read a lot in the meantime but did not really have that urge to review. Until yesterday and this morning, when I sat down to write my review of Frank Herbert’s masterwork Dune. Check out the review over at Fantasybookspot.

Up next is probably a review of John Gardner’s Grendel or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I enjoyed reading both of them very much. For now, you’ll have to do with this one.

FBS is (and so am I) proud to present an actual award this year for the winner of the Fantasybookspot 2007 Book Tournament. Yep, just like the Hugo’s, the Nebula’s, the PKD award and every other *official* award show – FBS has one too! I mean, how cool is that?! Certainly looks shiny..

If you want to participate in the upcoming Fantasybookspot tournament (you can!), go here and register an account. See you there on the 9th of March!

The Watchman by Los Angeles based Robert Crais, is the first of his novels focusing on Joe Pike, instead of his usual wisecracking ex-Ranger, Elvis Cole. For those not familiar with the American mystery/crime author, Crais has worked on scripts for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. His Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels are numerous; eleven novels featuring the duo have been published up until date. Throughout these novels, the role of his Joe Pike character has mostly been supportive, a secondary to Elvis Cole.

In this novel, set in modern L.A. (note, write what you know best), Joe Pike is faced with the task of protecting the life of Larkin Connor Barkley. Miss Barkley is a young heiress to a rich, multi billionaire father, who’s more intently focused on strengthening his family’s vast empire. As of a result of her negligence, she has been living the wild life, partying 24/7 in the nightclubs littering the city of Angels. Unfortunately, one night she gets caught up in a “wrong place, at the wrong time” situation and soon after find herself running for her life with cold-blooded killers on her tail. To protect her precious ass, Mister soldier of fortune, Joe Pike is wired in. How does a seemingly unrelated person like Joe gets involved, you may ask. Good question. Money ? No, it’s not the money. In fact, Joe doesn’t even want money – like true Soldier of Fortune. If it is not about the bounty, then what is it about? To explain this ‘plot hole’, we need to go back in time. Years ago a certain boy was kidnapped who needed to be tracked down by Pike and Cole. However, it was fairly impossible to do this on their own, so they decided to hire the help of a guy named Jon Stone. The man price’s was simple, one day he would call Joe for a job and Joe had to say yes. That was the price and Joe paid it. Now, when the tide is rising, Jon Stone calls. Joe says yes and rapidly finds himself battling a South American drug-cartel money launderer and his gang. The Department of Justice seems unable to cope with the problem, so Joe Pike is on his own in this tricky situation. No biggie, for a man of Pike’s caliber:

“I qualified as a scout/sniper and served in Force Recon, mostly on long-range reconnaissance teams, hunter/killer teams, and priority target missions. I’m black belt qualified in tae kwon do, kung fu, wing chun, judo and ubawazi. I like to run and work out. I like to read.” (p. 82)

Or is it?

The reason I am spending so much time outlining the plot and the main characters is to show you how ridiculously this all sounds when you analyze it more carefully. Certainly, with this type of action packed story, you need a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief, but even so, there are limits. Robert Crais went right of the charts with this one. From the bat off, the novel didn’t not work for me and it got progressively worse. I might be in the minority here, judging from the unanimous praise the novel got from the Chicago Sun-Times, New York Times and other major newspapers, but I thought the novel was flawed.

Primarily the novel seems to suffer from an inconsistency in the details. When an author leaves many threads hanging or just plainly contradicts himself, this is cause for frustration. For example, Robert Crais spends a lot of time characterizing Joe Pike as the guy who never smiles or talks. His dialogues with other characters are pointy, with short staccato replies. The character Elvis Cole (among others) references more than once to Joe’s typical style of making phone calls. All good and well. Then at page fifty, we find the following scene:

“Cole was building up the sandwiches when Pike’s cell phone rang and Pike brought the phone out to the deck. Cole layered the vegetables onto whole wheat bread, spread the layers with hummus, then placed the sandwiches back in the grill pan to crisp the bread. The running water suddenly stopped and its absence was loud in the silence. A few minutes later, the girl came down to the hall. Pike was still outside with his phone.” (p. 51)

This is just one of the many irritating inconsistencies I’ve encountered in the narrative. Maybe one shouldn’t be bogged down by minor details, but I cannot shut my eyes for them and pretend they don’t exist. Apart from the inconsistency, some details also seem ridiculously out of place. Details such as Joe being a vegetarian or the way Cole’s cat is described, (“The cat blinked as if it was falling asleep, then abruptly licked its penis. Cats are amazing animals.”) are not tuned with action packed plot. Would readers empathize more with Joe Pike if they know he’s a vegetarian? Of course not, it doesn’t have any importance to the overall story.

Related to this is Robert Crais’ failure to create compelling characters. I would not say I had difficulty empathizing with a character caught up in a life-threatening situation, that’s quite easy – just let yourself be sucked right in. No, what I’m alluding to here is how two dimensional Joe is as a character. For more than ten novels, he has been the sidekick and it shows in Robert Crais’ writing. His non-talkative nature doesn’t sit with the character development, as it is in the interaction with other characters, where a character usually displays personality. The essential life-spark was lacking in the dialogues, resulting in a rather lifeless, flat dialogue. Ultimately, it affected the characterization as well, as one can’t just display character purely based on hit and run action scenes without explaining what drives ‘the man behind the wheel’. Maybe sticking with a first person perspective would have been the more suited point of view here, reckoning it’d probably have forced Crais’s hand on the characterization of his protagonist. The attempts Crais did make to focus on Joe Pike’s more vulnerable side seemed contrived and artificial.

Not to mention that most of the cast seemed to fit the mold perfectly. Larkin exactly behaved the way you would expect from a stereotypical, spoiled teenage girl, say a younger version of Paris Hilton. Elvis Cole, partner in crime, wasn’t particularly innovative either. The few chapters ‘airtime’ the character actually had, didn’t do his characterization any good. Instead, it confirmed my earlier assumptions of the staleness of his characterization.

Another weakness of the book had to with the predictable way the story unfolded. I had seen the manner in which the loose plot lines were tied together, coming from miles ago. Rest assured I won’t spoil the read by revealing the plot, but suffice to say, the antagonist was all but given away in one of the early scenes of the book. Also, the novel contains an astonishing number of ‘revelations’, information important to the plot that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Elvis Cole plucks information of the bad guys right off the internet, John Chen (one of the most atrocious, moronic secondary characters I’ve seen in a while) identifies fingerprints on some guns and then proceed to link the prints to the confidential files of Ecuadorian mobsters, Joe Pike suddenly has some streetwise contact willing to help him out, a guy named Frank Garcia, who happens to be closely connected to the cartels in South-America – just to name a few revelations that completely stopped my suspension of disbelief dead in its tracks. This actually added up to the number of unrealistic, unbelievable details I referred to earlier on.

The only thing I am willing to credit Robert Crais for in this novel, is the pacing. The novel is structured in typical fashion: short hit and run scenes, bursts of dialogue and keeping the action packed chapters down to the minimum length – all to maximize the pace. He did succeed in pulling off a fast read, I clocked it in under four hours (which is quite fast for my standards).

Rounding up this review, I think it is safe to conclude Robert Crais’ The Watchman was an extremely unsatisfying book to read. Even though the pacing was well ‘maximalised’, the rest of the novel fell flat. The novel suffers from countless inconsistencies and small details that are ridiculously out of place in this thriller. Robert Crais also fails to create a compelling protagonist or an interesting cast to go along with. Joe Pike has always been the sidekick and it shows in Robert Crais’ writing. Reading The Watchman is like driving in a Fiat Multipla, you can hit the speed limiter alright but you’ll still be driving in one of the ugliest cars on Earth.

4/10

It almost slipped my mind, but I wanted to let you know the interview with Michael Terry Cisco now up on FBS. Michael Cisco is best known for his first novel, ‘The Divinity Student’, which has won the prestigious of the International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel of 1999. Other works by Michael Cisco include ‘The Tyrant’ (2003), ‘The San Veneficio Canon’ (2004) and two books published in 2007, ‘The Traitor’ and ‘Secret Hours’. I’m extremely pleased how this interview turned out, couple of people seemed to really enjoyed reading – which is always great to hear. Damon even remarked my “interview flow worked well in this interview”. What are you waiting for? Follow the link through the interstellar cyberspace.

On a related note, while you’re at it, be sure to check out this article written my Mr. Cisco as well. Recommended reading for New Weird readers (just read it in Jeff VanderMeer’s excellent anthology).

The hell. For weeks this guy’s quiet, and then all of a sudden three posts pop up in a row. How totally unreliable. Anyway, I thought of some paperback releases I wanted to share with you guys here. Mostly recently purchased material by the Pit too.

For those who have missed it, couple of weeks ago the nominations of this years Philip K. Dick awards were announced. If you missed it, check the list at the usual news source. The list includes a lot of prolific writers like M. John Harrison, Sean Williams, Elizabeth Bear and.. Minister Faust! Well, I had not heard of the latter before so I was eager to find out what his From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain was all about. Turns out it’s essentially a fictional self-help book for Superheroes written by the character Dr. Eva Brain-Silverman a.k.a. Dr. Brain, the world’s leading therapist! Also turns its a science fiction book (no shit — PKD awards), but not really in the usual sense of the word. Insofar as I have gathered from the excerpts posted online of this book, it doesn’t really contain any techno mumble-jumble, that so many (fantasy) fiction fans find hard to grasp. I found the first few scenes to be quite hilarious as well, I must add. The long and the short of it, I bought the book. Couldn’t be any other way.

Another, not entirely mainstream SF/F effort, recently burst unto the scene. I am talking about “The New Weird” anthology published by Tachyon Publications. An brand new anthology edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer, I have high hopes for this. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said of it, “this extremely ambitious anthology will define the New Weird much as Bruce Sterling’s landmark Mirrorshades anthology defined cyberpunk.” Of course, one should take such statements coming from PW with a grain of salt, but I still look forward to reading this. If I recall correctly, Brian mentioned on FBS he had “already written down an entire sheet (front & back) of questions, problems, observations etc.” Looks like there is a lot of stuff in this anthology that can be discussed. Always fun to do.

The Blindsight paperback slated for the fourth of March, is definitely made of Hard SF stuff. Written by Canadian science fiction author and marine-mammal biologist Peter Watts, the book has been described by Charles Stross as “Imagine a neurobiology-obsessed version of Greg Egan writing a first contact with aliens story from the point of view of a zombie posthuman crewman aboard a starship captained by a vampire, with not dying as the boobie prize.” Sounds awesome. On top of that, Blindsight was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel on March 29, 2007. MattD already wrote a lengthy review of it on FBS. I’ll be copping this as soon as it comes out on the streets.

In two days time from now, Del Rey will release the anticipated first volume of their Elric saga collection, Michael Moorcocks famous anti-hero. The first volume, Elric: The Stealer of Souls, will feature the original Elric stories from Science Fantasy magazine, previously published as The Stealer of Souls (1963) and Stormbringer (1977), as well as other material, plus a new introduction and explanatory material. Cover and interior illustrations are provided by John Picacio. Folks over at the westeros.org board have already responded positively.

The third Joe Pitt casebook by Charlie Huston was also published (in the UK that is) about two weeks ago. I am reading Half the Blood of Brooklyn right now and I’m telling you – it’s straight fire. No really, Joe’s back in form, chaining lucky’s, putting bullets in every vampire that stands in his way. Joe has style, Joe has attitude and I’m loving it. If you have not read the book yet, cop this right now or start reading the casebooks by purchasing Already Dead.

That’s it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch to Manhattan.

This almost passed by unnoticed. But I have – or rather you have reached the ultimate round number. Ten thousands unique visitors in little more than 7 months. Normally, I don’t give not two cents about blog stats (the reason why I don’t add a fancy blog stat-o-meter to my sidebar) but this is the exception to the rule. Okay I have done it before, but I promise you not to bother anymore from this point on. I would like thank all who have linked to my blog, thanks for all the comments (123 of them) and thanks for stopping by even if you’re not leaving any messages — you’re still being tracked! Big brother & Inner Party are watching you! *insert maniacal laughter here*

But 10K, damn who would have believed that.. Not me.

I just posted my review of Charles Stross’ techno thriller Halting State on FBS. Halting State is Charles Stross most recent published effort, published by Ace Books (US) in 2007 and by Orbit (UK) in January of this year. The book features, as you would expect from a science fiction work, a number of speculative technologies, including those that can be characterized as ‘speculative computer technology’. Most notably, virtual server networks over mobile phones are part of that equation. Indeed so, with his latest novel Charles Stross seemed to have tapped into a well of technology that’s rapidly expanding and growing. In a time where virtual MMOs (massive multiplayer online games) have greeted their tenth million active player (World of Warcraft anyone?), it was just a matter of time before these virtual realities would become the subject of interest in speculative fiction works.

Halting State is convincing as work speculating on technology and where it will take us. It offers an unique reading experience in the form of a second person perspective, which is unnerving at first but greatly enjoyable once you’ve gotten out the starting blocks. The novel however pretends to much more than “just” a speculative work but doesn’t really convince as techno thriller. Ultimately this is disappointing, because Charles Stross’ can be a visionary writer when his ideas are not undermined by a lack of care for the other aspects of his novels.

I rated it 7/10. If you’re interested, the full review can be found on FBS.

Some interesting stuff over at FBS these days:

- First off, shameless self-advertising. I conducted an interview with Charles Stross about a week ago and posted the result on FBS. We have had him before, way back in 2005, so it was fun to reflect a bit on the times. I specifically asked him some questions on his latest novel ‘Halting State’ (review forthcoming) and his upcoming ode to Heinlein ‘Saturn’s Children’. It was the second real interview I’ve conducted so far, I am pleased with the result. Anyway, check it out.

- Secondly, since you’re at it anyways, be sure to check out Brian’s interview with Allan Guthrie. His (Brian that is) interviews are always a pleasure to read. They have a distinctive conversationalist aspect which is very enjoyable. It was praised by Duane Swierczynski (a “wonderboy” according Mr. Mysterybookspot), describing it as: “The only way to describe Brian Lindenmuth’s recent interview with Al “Sunshine” Guthrie over at FantasyBookSpot.com is that it’s like Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk ‘Til Dawn: it starts out as a sober-minded discussion of noir writing, then about halfway though, all living fuck breaks loose, and you’ve got chainsaws, dead hookers, blowup dolls, and rampant insanity.” I’m telling you, crime is rocking the house. Fo’ sure.

- Thirdly, Craig Gidney reviewed Sacrafice by Sarah Singleton, which was “An edge of the seat y/a fantasy thriller by a supreme prose stylist.” Looking good, I’d have to say.

- Fourthly, Valashain is keeping up the pace with his review of Feist’s Rise of a Merchant Prince. I have never got around reading Feist, nor have I any intention to in the near-future. Feist has always struck me as a mediocre fantasy writer, his work neither very challenging nor groundbreaking. In a period where I’m tackling all the major classics (Animal Farm, Fahrenheid 451, 1984, A Canticle for Leibowitz anyone?) this author just does not interest me much. That is not too say the review is crap, far from it!

- Fifthly and lastly, Sandra Ruttan has a nice review out of Jennifer McMahon’s Promise not to tell. I can’t really comment on it in depth, since I am complete n00b when it comes down to talking mystery (I’m only familiar with Charlie Huston). However, I can recommend you to check it out if you’re not like me. Which is the rest of the world.. Rather nice..

- It appears that I spoke to soon. Lastly, Direach Barimen has a review up of Marcus Sakey’s At the City’s Edge. Like I said, I am a mystery/crime novice (euphemism) but this sounds actually quite good. I am not sure whether I would be bothered as much by the “Sakey seems to enjoy playing with the tried and true plot devices of crime fiction” complaint. Seems like I have yet another title to jolt down on my wishlist. How delightfully frustrating.

* I can’t be accused of doublethink by the telescreens!*

For the full announcement, go here.

Anyone who has frequented FBS around this time of the last year, is no stranger to the annual tournaments held there. Each year the books and, more importantly, those people that have read them, duke it out publicly to see who holds the top honors for the year. The best book of the year should be able to stand tall on a pile of beaten books proudly wearing its bloody nose as a badge of honor. Like last year, FBS will be holding two tournaments. There will be a competition for books released in 2007 with 64 entrants. There will also be a competition for some of the classic books in the field with 32 entrants. Each round of the competition will take place over a designated number of days. At the end of each round in the tournament a winner will be determined with the bruised and bloodied moving to the next round and the broken will be left behind to lick their wounds.

The tournament schedule:

All Time Tournament

3/9 – 3/15 – 1st Round
3/16 – 3/22 – 2nd Round
3/23 – 3/29 – Quarterfinal Round
3/30 – 4/5 – Semifinals
4/6 – 4/12 – Championship

2007 Releases Tournament

3/9 – 3/11 – 1st round
3/12 – 3/15 – 2nd round
3/16 – 3/22 – Sweet 16
3/23 – 3/29 – Elite 8
3/30 – 4/5 – Final Four
4/6 – 4/12 – Championship

Winner announced on 4/13

Nominations include:

2007 Tournament

A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham
Acacia by David Anthony Durham
Axis by Robert Charles Wilson
Black Man/Thirteen by Richard Morgan
Bone Song by John Meaney
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
Butcher Bird by Richard Kadrey
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
Dragon Outcast by EE Knight
Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Empre of Ivory by Naomi Novik
Fatal Revenant by Stephen Donaldson
Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce
Grey by Jon Armstrong
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Ice by Valdimir Sorokin
Ilario by Mary Gentle
Ink by Hal Duncan
Interfictions
Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe
Keeping It Real by Justina Robson
Mainspring by Jay Lake
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Mistborn: Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
Nova Swing by M John Harrison
One for Sorrow by Chris Barzak
Orphans Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente
Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe
Postsingular by Rudy Rucker
Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell
Reaper’s Gale by Steven Erikson
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand
Shadowplay by Tad Williams
Shadowstorm by Paul S Kemp
Silverfish by Dave Lapham
Spaceman Blues: A Love Song by Brian Francis Slattery
Spook Country by William Gibson
Territory by Emma Bull
The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari
The Dark River by John Twelve Hawks
The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
The Electric Church by Jeff Somers
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang
The Metatemporal Detective by Michael Moorcock
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
The Spiral Labyrinth by Matthew Hughes
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Traitor by Michael Cisco
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
Titans of Chaos by John C. Wright
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Under My Roof by Nick Mamatas
White Night by Jim Butcher
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

All-time Tournament

5th Head Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
A Case of Conscience by James Blish
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan
Canticle of Lebowitz by Walter Miller
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Gateway (Heechee) by Frederick Pohl
Golden Compass (His Dark Materials) by Phillip Pullman
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin
Little Big by Jonathan Crowley
Lord of the Light by Roger Zelazny
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien
Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
More Then Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delaney
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford
The Warhound and the Worlds Pain by Michael Moorcock
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind
Worm Ourboros by E R Eddison

So are you up for the challenge? Are you ready to defend your picks? Go sign up here and participate!

Just posted my review of Richard Morgan’s latest, Black Man, on FBS. Check out what I had to say about the book by clicking here or on the picture on the left.

In short, this what I thought of the book:

Black Man confronts the reader with some interesting issues and draws a parallel with the way in which we now struggle with the human consequences of previous centuries of colonialism. It does bring something new to the table compared to the Kovacs novels. The novel actually satisfies on multiple levels. On one end, it satisfies in telling a compelling story that sticks, but on another also satisfies by digging deeper in character and motive. Either way, you are in for a treat! I consider it one of the best efforts released in 2007 and certainly recommended reading it to every fan of the genre.

I rated it 8.5/10

The review actually had a long time coming. I wasn’t really satisfied with my first draft, it was too chaotic. So I used the ‘peer-to-peer review’ system we have in place on FBS to get some feedback on my review. A couple of members (MattD, Maria, Brian) came up with useful suggestions. With those in mind, I went back and revisioned a lot of paragraphs. The result is, in my humble opinion, one of the more accomplished reviews I have managed to write so far. Of course, mileage may vary – but let me know what you think of it! Drop a line here or in the review comments topic on FBS. Much appreciated!

(Title in honor of Valve’s fabulous Portal ending song)

Quick update here, to let you all know I am doing okay – I’ve just been slacking in a bit in the reviewing department lately. Part of this due other commitments like impending tests, homework, all that kind of stuff – part of it due my brain going into stand-by mode when trying to read, it seemed. Since reading Black Man by Richard Morgan (review forthcoming) in the first week of January, I’ve tried to finish reading all kinds of different novels. For example, I read couple of pages of M. John Harrison’s Virconium, I read some Michael Swanwick (The Iron Dragon’s Daughter), some Halting State by Charles Stross (which was cool though – it’s on top of the big ‘ol reading pile now) and I have finally settled with – holds breath – Harry Potter 7. Yeah yeah, I know. It is not high brow literature, it is not even high brow fantasy – but I had to finish it one day. I’m reading it in Dutch translation by the way, for those who are curious it’s titled “Harry Potter en de Relieken van de Dood”.

However, I will not be writing a review about it a) because everybody else has read it already (if one hasn’t, he wasn’t interested to begin with) b) I don’t feel like it. I might drop a few hints here and there though, or I’ll go the comments thread of the review on FBS to moan and bitch there. In the past, I never quite understood why Harry Potter is regarded as YA (youth adult) fiction, but I do now. With the latest comes a lot of crap, in fact more crap than goodness. I don’t necessarily think the seventh and concluding installment is the worst of the pack (so far at least), I think it more has to do with me. While J.K. Rowling worked on completing here series, I have grown a lot – not just in the physical sense (1.91 metres – standing tall) but mentally as well. I have also read a lot more, more frequently than I used to do – and with that has come a certain growth. I like to call it ” a maturing of taste”. Anyhow, at some stage I unnoticeably passed the point where I could unreservedly enjoy reading Harry Potter books. Earlier on I just did not notice the flaws that I’m sure there were — now I do. In a way it’s also a frustrating thing of ‘progress’, because I cannot seem to enjoy reading the books I used to enjoy reading. On the other hand, I do enjoy reading the works now that I might not have liked when I was younger. I think I will always have a soft spot for the Harry Potter books, if only for the fuzzy, good memories of reading all Sunday in the newest one.

Enough of this, the blogosphere hasn’t been less active when I wasn’t around. I’ll throw out a few links here to articles/posts that caught my attention. Or ones I have starred in my Google Reader.

blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/01/the_new_world_of_new_weird.html
Interesting article of the Guardian online on the New Weird.

www.sfsignal.com/archives/006150.html
One of the more thought provoking Mind Meld features of SF Signal; in this one the central question is “Given the rapid pace of advancement in science and technology, are we headed for a technological panopticon or will technology allow the little guy to fight back?”
And I didn’t even know what a panopticon was, so I looked it up in the dictionary. It’s intriguing concept I must admit, one I would like to read some speculative fiction about. What I didn’t realize is they actually apply this concept to some of the prisons out there.

www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw17974.html
Well written review of GRRM/Abraham/Gardner’s forthcoming Hunter’s Run – it got a glowing A. No kidding.

www.fast-forward.tv/video/Show_209.mov
Interview with Michael Swanwick on his latest Dragons of Babel anthology, set in the same universe as the Iron Dragon’s Daughter (mentioned above)

www.locusmag.com/2008/WaldropPerson_Cloverfield.html
Locus online review of Cloverfield, a movie I really want to check out myself.

www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=columns&vol=carol_pinchefsky&article=018
Is there nepotism in SF? A question worth pondering, the article has some takes on it.

www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/05/shaping_the_future.html
Some older post by Charles Stross on where the future is heading, he linked to it in his Mind Melt answer. This was good stuff to read, considering it only made me more curious of what his Halting State would be like.

http://juandahlmann.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/50-book-challenge-met-january-1-january-26-2008/
This is not so much an interesting ‘article’ , as well just an impressive feat. I mean, c’mon the guy has read more in a single month than I have read in a whole year. Larry’s got that rare talent all reviewers would like to have. Apart from being a feat, it’s also a neat little ‘index’ for some of the more thoughtful reviews the guy has thrown out there.

http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2007winter/spaces.html
Good, thoughtful review (I like ‘em that way) of Gardner Dozois anthology The New Space Opera.

http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=275
The SF Feminists take on Orson Scott Card..

http://vectoreditors.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/out-now-or-coming-soon/
The always insightful Niall Harrison comes up with some interesting, more ‘obscure’ (at least for me) titles. Seems like there’s a bunch I’ll have to check out. Speaking of which, I have been reading a lot of blogs of regulars on Strange Horizons lately. I can wholeheartedly recommend Matthew Cheney’s blog the Mumpsimus as well (the guy also just wrote a touching column over at SH). Reading them however, I cannot help but wonder why the speculative fiction community is so fragmented. I mean on one hand you have Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, certainly catering for a certain audience – one the other you have Asking the Wrong Questions, Eve’s Alexandria, Strange Horizons. All those ‘venues’ seem to be catering, or seem to be attracting at the very least, a whole another different kind of audience. Aren’t there speculative fiction readers who read both, like me? It’s a bit of a best of “both worlds” situation really..

I am cleaning up some links today and changing the categories a bit. Instead of grouping each link under a certain category, I’ve listed all the (worthy) ones under the Online SF Sources tag. I threw a couple of links out and included a lot more. Aside from the coutless author blogs I keep track of, these are the sites I have in my google feed-reader. I certainly recommend checking out are Best Fantasy Book and Strange Horizons.

That reminds me, if I’ve somehow forgotten to add your website, drop a line here and I will update the ‘roll. Recently found additions as well!

Just posted my review of The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski on FBS. The Last Wish is a mosaic novel compromising seven short stories alternated with a short scene, which bridges the several short stories. It sort of introduces the reader to the cast and setting. The seven short stories consisting of The Last Wish, vary themselves in tone but not so much in quality. Sapkowski is not a Terry Pratchett in style and does not attempt to be one. Rather he varies the light, ironic tone with a more melancholic one. The Last Wish is not meant as parody on other fantasy novels, there is no comedy for the sake comedy, and it is a novel that –despite the sometimes ironic tone- takes itself seriously.

In a nutshell, I did enjoy reading The Last Wish ; it was a very good introduction to his other works, which will be published by Gollancz in the UK from 2008 onwards. The novel also had some interesting takes on various fantasy clichés. Puzzling how these clichés differed from the usual archetype was quite the enjoyable thing to do when reading this novel I found. Because the writer did succeed into bringing something new to the table, the stories generally had a breath of fresh air to them, a breath of originality. That did make the novel both fun and challenging to read.

My own minor complaints were that setting was not entirely original (although the Slavic mythological elements left me wanting for more) and the translation had some occasional hiccups as well, but not nearly enough to disturb the suspension of disbelief.

In any case, if you’re curious, please check out my review of this novel HERE.

Another year gone by, another 365 days behind me. I have been running this weblog for exactly 6 months and three days now. Some fun statistics for those who are curious how the Gravel Pit is doing in terms of numbers:

Totals

Posts: 51
Comments: 94
Categories: 12
Tags: 4

Blog Stats

Total Views: 7,175 (unique views)
Best Day Ever: 130 — Monday, December 10, 2007
Best Week Ever: 439 – Week 34
Best Month Ever: 1721 – August, 2007

And fitting for the new year, I broke the best day ever record yesterday – or rather you guys did. ;-) So the Gravel Pit is running great, I’m actually quite surprised by that. Hopefully I can step up the level this year, and I’m sure the number will show when I do. That brings me to my New Year resolutions:

• I want to read more books and write more reviews this year. Over the past six months I wrote 23 reviews here and on FBS, which is roughly 4 reviews a month, 1 review a week. At the very least, I am going to make a concerted effort to keep up that pace. That would lead me to writing roughly >52 reviews this year, 75 reviews in total.
• I want more diversity in the books I cover here and in my reviews on FBS. Also, I want to “broaden my horizons”. For example:
• I want to cover more short fiction, I want to read short fiction by authors as Kelly Link, Jeffrey Ford, Jeff VanderMeer, Ted Chiang and others.
• I want to cover more science fiction, I want to read SF by Richard Morgan, Peter F Hamilton, William Gibson, PKD, maybe start on Bank’s Culture novels and others.
• I want to cover more anthologies, a couple of interesting ones will be published, like the Steampunk anthology a few well-known authors will be writing entries for. There are other anthologies out there that deserve attention as well, I imagine. I want to seek them out.
• I want to cover more “classics”, I will cover some efforts that have appeared in the Fantasy/SF Masterworks series.
• I want to make an effort to keep my reviews up to par, keep them juicy and lengthy. Just generally write stuff I would enjoy reading myself. I hope to improve my languistic skills too, to keep my ramblings readable.
• I want to cover the various SFF awards more in depth, that means reading the Hugo, Nebula and the World Fantasy nominees. I think it would be fun to compare my own thoughts to the actual results.

That’s it for now. I do have a few personal resolutions, like finishing up my college/high school education (whatever it’s called across the pond) and actually start studying biology at a University. What have you planned for 2008?

The Gravel Pit is going in reverse, looking back at half a year blogging and reviewing. Despite failing my own “The Seven Days Countdown To New Year” Challenge, an ultimate effort to catch up on the best 2007 releases, I have still read some great books that I wanted to share with you here. In a way it is frustrating, I’ve spent my whole 2007 getting through George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (before I started blogging) and Prince of Nothing (with The Thousandfold Thought next up for 2008) as well as a few other series. I’ve sort of been playing catch-up in reading. Most of the works I have read, was not material that came out this year. Nonetheless, I narrowed this list down to books I rated 8 out of 10 or higher. Better to treat this best of list as a (possible) ’source of recommendations’ than a definite list of the sweetest ‘07 books. Enjoy.

Top Nine of 2007

1. The Warrior Prophet – R. Scott Bakker
The absolute number one this year. A mind blowing read with excellent prose, great world building and an impressing scale to go with that as well. The characterisation is rich and deep, the character really intrigue in their flawed ways. To me discovering an author like Bakker in 2007 was one of the highlights in my miserable life.

2. No Dominion – Charlie Huston
No Dominion is simply a blast. Offering a gritty noir-style with brutal pace combined with a nicely multi-layered plot. Joe Pitt ends up making some interesting choices in this second volume and I would argue that it is even better than its predecessor.

3. Altered Carbon – Richard Morgan
Altered Carbon is great and extremely enjoyable novel. It presents some interesting technological ideas, has a realized, fully fleshed-out protagonist and excellent pacing for most parts. It is gritty and realistic enough to be accessible and thus comes highly recommended to every fan of the genre. Morgan is one of the masters of SF still writing (kind of ironic that he is working on a fantasy effort now). I will be reading this year’s effort Black Man in 2008 for sure.

4. The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch
The Lies of Locke Lamora is exceedingly well written, set in a colorful setting and was the biggest debut of 2006. It has nearly everything a fantasy fan craves for, it is fresh breath through fantasy-land. Guaranteed fun.

5. The Darkness That Comes Before – R. Scott Bakker
Dense writing, packing much information in just a couple of striking sentences. The mark of a truly talented author. If listing the Warrior Prophet as my best read of the year has not already convinced you, this should do. Before I picked up the Prince of Nothing series there was just darkness, now I have seen the light.

6. Red Seas Under Red Skies – Scott Lynch
Red Seas Under Red Skies is, despite some flaws, still an immensely enjoyable novel by a talented author. Scott Lynch managed to improve in some areas, namely the characterization of his protagonists and maintaining a fast pace. I have not figured which work is the better of the two, this one or the 2006 debut of the year listed above. Does it matter? No, do yourself a favor and read them.

7. Already Dead – Charlie Huston
Joe Pitt seriously kicks the asses of most other vampires that I have encountered before in this genre. Forget Anne Rice, matter of fact fuck Interview with the Vampire, Joe Pitt tears it to shreds. Enough said.

8. Twilight Falling – Paul S. Kemp
What? A Forgotten Realms novel listed here? Damn right. Forget R.A. Salvatore, in the hands of Paul S. Kemp resides the true power of the Wizard of the Coasts brand. A plot is packed full of action, more than enough to keep you interested right till the end. An unpretentious but nonetheless exceedingly fun novel. Classic Sword & Sorcery executed very well.

9. Midnight’s Mask – Paul S. Kemp
A final volume that managed to impress me? And another Forgotten Realms novel listed here? By the same author? You’d guessed it right. Midnight’s Mask presents an extremely satisfying ending to the Erevis Cale saga and that alone is worthy of praise. Other than that, it is fun, engaging and entertaining. What more can you ask for?

Other 2007 releases

- The Blade Itself – Joe Abercrombie (‘07 US release)
Strictly speaking a 2006 release (in the UK) but since Joe Abercrombie went on a trip across the pond, this novel managed to sneak into this list. One hell of a naughty novel, it is. The Blade Itself is good summer reading, as it is fairly straight forward told story with enough pace and action to keep you interested. The novel also attempts to ‘tweak’ the fantasy cliches in an interesting manner. You could do much worse than picking this up.

- Ragamuffin – Tobias S. Buckell
an enjoyable novel with memorable characters to whom I look forward meeting again in the next novel Sly Mongoose. The rapid switching from different point of views in the latter parts of the novel does result in a bit awkward pacing, but the solid characterization, the unique Caribbean flavor and the craftly executed space opera setting fully make up for this major drawback. An accomplished second novel by a clearly talented author. If you are looking for something different, well go ahead.

- Reaper’s Gale – Steven Erikson
I was not impressed as much as I hoped with this novel, nonetheless it was a good effort and managed to build up anticipation (once again) for the next one, Toll of Hounds, set in the areas known as Darujhistan and Black Coral. Although Reaper’s Gale disappointed slightly, I’d consider Erikson’s A Malazan Tale of the Fallen still as one of the best epic fantasy series of the millennium.

- Winterbirth – Brian Ruckley (‘07 US release)
Another sneaky novel! Winterbirth is very solid, decent debut by Brian Ruckley. It offers extensive worldbuilding, good characterization of the main character and an interesting view of both sides of the conflict the novel is revolving around. Added as a bonus you get couple of nice maps, a timeline and list of characters. On the flipside, it is a not entirely original piece of work, the characterization other than that of the protagonist was rather weak and the pace was quite slow. I will wait for Bloodheir; the next novel to give my definite thumbs up or down.

- The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
My last review of 2007 and sadly I could not end with a bang. The Name of the Wind was disappointing, left too many threads hanging and was too much hype. Nonetheless, I see potential. Rothfuss handled the flow of the story with the hand of a seasoned writer. He might well surprise me in 2009 when his next novel will be published.

The worst of 2007

- Spaceman Blues: A Love Song – Brian Francis Slattery
Sometimes you encounter these novels you just do not “get”. It was just impossible to discern any interesting ideas in the confusion mess the author (intentionally I presume) created. The novel fell flat on its face because it goes beyond simply telling a story. It tries to be stylistically innovative, to be surreal like a Dalí painting, to be a kaleidoscopic celebration of immigrant life, to play it loose with time and place – but ultimately forgets to simply tell the damned story. Bad.

- The Electric Church – Jeff Somers
The Electric Church is a classic example of trying too hard in terms of plotting resulting in an uneven paced story. If you are looking for action, there is plenty of it but it is hardly believable. The characterization of the characters is rather weak and neither original nor challenging. The lack of description did not manage to raise the quality of the novel to a higher bar. Guess what? I don’t want even talk about this. Worse.

- Armageddon’s Children – Terry Brooks
Aaaaaargh. I want my money back. And my hours of reading wasted on this piece of shit. Now! Lack of originality, resurrecting dogs, shit sliding downhill – going nowhere. The worst of 2007. Hitting rock-bottom with the speed of light.

Novels that I would have read if I was Father Time (but wanted to mention here nonetheless)

- Brasyl – Ian McDonald
- Before They Are Hanged – Joe Abercrombie
- Black Man – Richard Morgan
- Acacia – David Anthony Durham
- The Terror – Dan Simmons

More 2007 goodness; The Gravel Pit loves listmania!

- Adventures in Reading
- The Wertzone
- Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
- The Bodhisattva
- Grasping for the Wind
- Fantasy Book Critic
- Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
- OF blog of the Fallen
- Neth Space
- Fantasy Debut
- Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent
- Fantasy Cafe
- A Slight Apocalypse
- SciFi Chick

Now I can finally leave 2007 behind me. Bring on 2008, it will be great! Big thank you’s to the FBS establishment and folks at the board, particularly Jay for the inspiring Jay 101 reads list and Damon for putting so much effort and money on the line to make FBS bigger. I predict 2008 is going to be the year of Heliotrope! Also thanks to my fellow bloggers, you know who you are, for all the linkage and support I got during my six months of running a blog. Thanks to Ran ( for running a great message board) and the folks at westeros.org for the interesting discussions and thank you’s for everyone I’ve forgotten here (sure I missed a few)!

To another year of blogging & fun!

Cheers,

Lawrence

” I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my satanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.” (p. 52)Thus begins the first person narrative of Patrick Rothfuss’ best-selling debut The Name of the Wind. It was published by DAW books in March of this year in the US and picked up by Gollancz in the UK this fall. Since its publication it has created enormous waves of publicity. This being the time of the year as it is, the novel is also frequently mentioned in various “best-of” lists. No wonder I had to get my hands on a copy before the year was over.

The Name of the Wind is the first of The Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy. Originally the story was written as a single, huge novel but guessing that it grew out of proportions as the plot progressed, the book was split in three. No further effort has been made to make individual volumes stand-alone. It didn’t bother me too much, although it must be noted the narrative just stops mid-stride, which is slighty anti-climatic. Those who favor stand-alones might be advised to steer clear of this effort. Wise Man’s Fear, the second volume of the trilogy is scheduled for publication in 2009 in the US, so it might take Patrick Rothfuss some time to complete this trilogy.

To quickly outline the plot, The Name of the Wind recounts the tale of Kvothe, a young adolescent destined to become the most powerful Arcanist the world has ever witnessed. As you can guess from the ‘introduction’ of Kvothe, he has accomplished many great feats. The first person narrative begins with Kvothe’s childhood years, at first travelling as a member of a troupe of musicians and artists, later as an orphan trying to sustain a living on the brutal streets of Tarbean. As Kvothe matures, he manages to trade his miserable life on the streets for a place at the University, the reknown school of magical arts.

This might sound cliched to some, and damn well it is. Truth to be told, The Name of the Wind is far from being the most original novel I have read. Rather it is another ‘farmboy destined for greatness’- novel in disguise. If you’re looking for ‘grey’ characters, think twice before picking this up. The book has only good, bad, and mysterious ones to offer you. Also, unlike the writers as a Joe Abercrombie or a Scott Lynch, this author is compared to, Rothfuss makes no attempt to re-invent the wheel. Abercrombie tried to take fantasy cliches in a different direction, Lynch had that fresh breath through the fantasy genre but Rothfuss comfortably stays within the boundaries of traditional fantasy.
However what (partly) saves this novel from tumbling down the ranks, is that Rothfuss is a very gifted, natural storyteller. The prose is neither mindblowing nor stylistically inventive, but it manages to support the frame of the story exceptionally well. The novel spans a hefty 660 pages in hardcover format, thus rightfully belonging to the ‘heavy tomes’ category, but does not feel all that long. I attribute this to the ’smoothness’ of the pace, the story gives off an unusual relaxed vibe. Like a small murmuring river in a wide landscape. Rothfuss handles the flow of the story with the hand of a seasoned storyteller, allowing it to unfold at own pace. Unfortunately these are the only positive elements I can mention of this effort.

Where Rothfuss impresses with the smoothness of his pacing, he fails considerably with the characterisation of his characters. As the first person narrative is employed throughout the story, the novel is very character-driven. Kvothe recounts his own ‘coming-of-age’, but as a character himself, he is not terribly challenging nor consistent. Kvothe is almost like a skin-changer, the young Kvothe with the troupers has nothing in common with the beggar Kvothe or the wise-cracking hero Kvothe appears to be at the University. If there would be any character development to speak of, the rate of development would too fast to be realistic in any case. Neither is Kvothe challenging because his actions and moral judgement are predictable in a sort of ‘Harry Potter’-esque way. It can be very tiresome, reading about a brat who gets exactly what he wants and even predicts (for God’s sake) it himself. Not unlike the Harry Potter prodigy type of character, who gets what he wants in the end too even if he’s broken various rules and laws in order to get it. The citation below illustrates that.

“By the time I got back to the fourth floor of the Mews, rumour of my non-expulsion and admission into the Arcanum had spread ahead of me. I was greeted by a smattering of applause of my bunkmates. Hemme was not well loved. Some of my bunkmates offered awed congratulations while Basil made a special point of coming forward to shake my hand. ” (p. 270)

Apart from the characterisation of the protagonist, secondary characters, particularly the ones Kvothe meets after reaching the University, lack real depth and are completely forgettable. One of the major drawbacks of the first person narrative is that if readers tire of the protagonist, they have no supporting cast to fall back to. The protagonist has to carry the weight of the whole story and if he fails as a character then in turn fails the story.

Plotting-wise there’s something is inherently wrong with this effort too. A story needs conflict in order to interest readers, otherwise it would fall flat on its face. True to that, Kvothe is faced with all sorts of conflicts in this story, he has to overcome various obstacles. Yet it is not ‘tuned’ with the impression we got earlier on. Rather, Rothfuss throws up a lot of ‘false’ obstacles on Kvothe’s path, that he’d be able to overcome easily if he was as brilliant as he himself likes to think. The most horrific examples of that, are scenes in which Kvothe fights a herbivorous Draccus (which was ridiculous by the way, a herbivorous dragon – ever heard of that?!). The Draccus, rather than being important to the overall story-line, is just another false obstacle alongside the way. Even worse, the scenes unneccesarily dragged the pace of the story down.

There is also a lot of hype (see first citation) without much showing. Both Rothfuss and Kvothe (in dialogues with the Chronicler) have hyped him up to the level of a demi-God but he does not deliver. For example, the parts of that particular citation that Rothfuss has told us (“burned down the town of Trebon” or “written songs that make minstrels weep”), weren’t not all that impressive when I read about them. In fact, Kvothe actually quenched the fires in the town of Trebon, not ignited them. The herbivorous Draccus has that claim to fame. Nor have we heard these ’songs that make minstrels’ weep as yet, the one brilliant song Kvothe played on his lute was not even composed by himself and while he executed it, he was aided by a singing Denna. The one he did compose was a song mocking Ambrose (another highborn brat, Kvothe’s sworn enemy at the University) but it did not exactly make minstrels weep. Or maybe it did, because the song was that bad. This shows you that some of these ‘prophecies’ ring false and do not deliver. Now, I know it’s the first volume of a trilogy, but it still felt like Rothufss left too many threads hanging.

In the end, I did not really enjoy reading The Name of the Wind. Despite that Rothfuss handles the flow of the story well, he has left too many threads hanging. The characterization was sub-par and did not manage to impress me at all. There was too much hype but not much showing, the things Rothfuss did show us, did not live up to earlier expectations set by Kvothe himself. Overall, disappointing.

6/10

This certainly must be one of the weirdest books I’ve read in 2007. On the back cover of this slim novel published in the US by Tor this August, Jim Knipfel (whoever he may be) describes the experience of reading this book as : “It happens only very rarely – you read a book by a new author, and all you can say is ‘wow’. ” I would like to seize this opportunity to replace that ‘wow’ with three words. What. The. Hell.
Honestly, I have rarely encountered a work before that is so confusing, so profoundly strange – that I can not make any sense of it. There’s neither rhyme nor reason to it. It is, quite frankly, beyond me. Despite everything I tried to find a way to like it, to appreciate it for what it was. I simply could not.

The synopsis of this novel is quite simple, giving you with the false impression the novel’s going to develop in a fairly interesting direction.
“When Manuel Rodrigo de Guzmán González disappears, Wendell Apogee decides to find out where he has gone and why. But in order to figure out what happened to Manuel, Wendell must contend with parties, cockfights, and chases; an underground city whose people live in houses suspended from cavern ceilings; urban weirdos and alien assassins; immigrants, the black market, flight, riots, and religious cults.” Pretty clear, huh? Well, try to understand what kind of story the author is telling when you are reading the book. As soon as you start reading, you’re left with is surreal, hyperbolic, hallucinating non-sense.

The main reason why the novel is inaccessible and falls flat on its face, is the prose. All over the internet in the reviews I’ve read on this book, Slattery is lauded for his musical, jazz-like prose*. Needless to say, I disagree. You might say it has some musicality to it, but you might just as well say that it is damn near unreadable. The prose seems to be some sort of mix of sentences that drag to long combined with too many incoherent impressions buried in it. All at once. You’re literally assaulted with words, thoughts and actions. This citation illustrates my point:

” On the highway across Broad Channel, out to the Rockaways, between the Italian neighborhoods and the closed communities that line the beaches, there is a place where the land becomes skinny, the soil dissolves into marshes, and the city gives way to weather-battered buildings and tackle shops, slanting wooden houses with windsocks nailed to the back that look over the broad expense of Jamaica Bay: flat water spotted with clumps of grass, laced with the wakes of motorboats, the sky above broken by the planes landing at Kennedy. Far away, beyond the water, the skyscrapers of Manhattan spike above the land, silver and gray, unreal.” (p. 30)

Has this guy ever heard of punctuation? I just wrote two sentences, and already this citation proving to be longer in length than the average Harriet Klausner review. Keep in mind, this is just one citation – the book’s filled with them. It was literally a struggle for me to finish this book.

Another citation from the book illustrates the assault you’re about to undergo when picking up this piece of weirdness:

” The buildings twist, their colors change, cars mumble and rock in their places the voices of the people picking through his belongings fade, their bones move, talk to each other. A wave ripples through the street, sets up a beat, long and low, a thrum that brings murmurs out of the curbs, leathery voices from sewer grates, keening calls from the streetlights that bend down and sway over cackling debris. And now the houses move and speak, the panels of the side-way stomp and clatter, and it all spreads outward, washing over the city until everything is alive in a deafening dissonance, a throng of rising cries that make Wendell reel, until Masoud grabs his arms and tells him come on, come on.” (p. 66)

You still follow me? See what I mean?

On top of that, Brian Francis Slattery attempts to portraits the immigrant society of New York by introducing various characters. Playing it loose with time and space, he further adds to the mess and confusion by switching point of views frequently. For example the character Wendell Apogee is developed into some superhero “Spaceman”. He then proceeds to shoot the Four Horsemen with arrows and saw them in sevenfold with circular circle-saws. This shows you how ridiculous some of the scenes are.

In the end, Spaceman Blues: a love song comes down to is this: It is just impossible to discern any interesting ideas in the confusion mess the author (intentionally I presume) created. And maybe if the novel was billed as a satire of brittle, modernist urban fiction I’d be kinder to it. But since it appears to be a piece of fiction that takes itself serious – I won’t. The novel falls flat on its face because it goes beyond simply telling a story. It tries to be stylistically innovative, to be surreal like a Dalí painting, to be a kaleidoscopic celebration of immigrant life, to play it loose with time and place – but ultimately forgets to simply tell the damned story. That it why I picked up the book for in the first place, not because I wanted to revel in surreal imaginary, but because I wanted to know why the hell Manuel Rodrigo de Guzmán González disappears and how Wendell is supposed to find him back. This novel does not present satisfying answers to those questions and thus fails in my opinion.

4/10

* I don’t like Jazz.

Just posted my review of Richard Morgan’s stunning debut Altered Carbon on FBS. Small teaser for you guys here:

In this Takeshi Kovacs casebook, he is resleeved on Earth to solve the mystery of Laurens Bancroft his death. Bancroft is the owner of an influential company on Earth, has connections with the UN Protectorate and is a Meth (someone who is wealthy enough to acquire replacement bodies on continual basis over the centuries). He apparently committed suicide and destroyed his stack in the effort. When he is resleeved from a back up, he has no memories of what happened to him so he calls in Takeshi Kovacs (who is doing some years in a digital prison). The Bay City police have already done research on the event and have confirmed that Bancroft committed suicide, but Bancroft himself does not believe that. Takeshi Kovacs has to discover the truth, but as he edges closer to the true story, things get increasingly more complicated.

Takeshi Kovacs is a great character. The plot unfolds through Kovac’s narrative and it is a good thing because he is a great realized, fully fleshed-out personality. His former teacher and fellow soldier make frequent appearances, giving us some clues on Kovacs’ past. His attitude and behavior bear some resemblances to Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt, same tough-guy indifference, the same ability to rack up a nice body count. The same big-mouthed talk that makes me grin like a madman when reading.

‘You already are involved. You’ve abducted and tortured an Envoy. You got any idea what the Corps will do to you for that. They’ll hunt you down and feed your stacks to the EMP. All of you. Then your families, then your business associates, then their families and then anyone else who gets in the way. By the time they’ve finished you won’t even be a memory. You don’t fuck with the Corps and live to write songs about it. They’ll eradicate you.

It was colossal bluff. ‘ (p. 157)

For most of the novel, the pace was excellent as well, a brisk pace to keep you on the edge of your seat. There is plenty of action, some gratuitous sex scenes and hints are dropped here and there for you to puzzle over. Only in the latter parts of the novel, the parts in which the whole mystery is revealed, I felt that the novel started dragging a bit too much. This may be because of the fact that Morgan wanted the reader to completely understand what was going on. It left me with the impression that he was spelling it out for the reader, but in the end, it was a minor inconvenience compared to the overall quality of the novel. The prose was decent, in a stylistic sense it was not too innovative but it did its job of the supporting the story just fine.

Check out the full review HERE.