Toasted Internet

I have no idea why anybody would honestly need one of these, never mind coming up with the idea in the first place.

Vote Palin…Michael that is

It’s just a pity that the ex-Python and globetrotter isn’t eligible to stand for US president. The world would be a much better place with him in charge. For more on why he’s the best non-candidate for the job, go here.

(Link via Charlie Stross)

Reading Update 21/09/08

Pirate King: Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty – Johnathan Clements – 2004 – Sutton

A fascinating and educational trip to the South China Seas in the early 17^th Century, set against the backdrop of the Manchu invasion of China. Coxinga himself doesn’t actually feature much for the first half of the book, which instead centres on his father Nicholas Iquan (as he was known by the Portuguese) who at the time became the richest man in China due to his domination of the various trading routes, legal and otherwise, of the area. As this book is very much aimed at the armchair historian, rather than scholars, it’s very readable, not at all dry; Mr Clements admits he has taken some liberties with peoples names – Chinese naming conventions can get very confusing for the western lay reader, so the author sticks to the same names throughout to make things easy for us. There is plenty of accreditation and cross-referencing of sources, including original Chinese ones, to back up his narrative, which would otherwise make some of the events seem quite far-fetched. A very interesting book on a quite possibly little known slice of history, I enjoyed this a lot.
 

The Situation – Jeff VanderMeer – 2008 – PS Publishing

A very short offering from PS, at fewer than 50 pages, this was (and may still be) originally offered for free on the net, which is how I obtained my copy. It’s brevity makes for a quick read, took me less than an hour. It is, however, a very strange read which will no doubt not surprise regular readers of Mr VanderMeer’s work. I don’t count myself in that group, I’ve read a few of his short stories but I can’t decide if I like what he does enough to actively seek it out. But I certainly won’t ignore anything by him that happens to come my way; some writers just take that wee bit more time to fully appreciate.

 
Another Santana Morning – Mike Dolan – 2008 – Elastic Press

A greatly expanded reissue of a short story collection originally published in 1970, but disappearing very soon afterwards, from an author praised by the likes of Ray Bradbury. As a Bradbury fan this was enough to prompt me to pick up a copy. However, I found it a patchy anthology, with the previously unpublished work the stronger offerings. Still, there are some excellent stories in it which makes one wonder how the author’s career might have gone if past events had been different.

 

Train the Jedi Way

I had to check I hadn’t missed a few months and April 1st hadn’t rolled round again, but according to the telegraph.co.uk site Queens University, Belfast are to offer a 1 day course in November entitled “Feel The Force: How To Train In The Jedi Way”. Will I be enrolling? Em…..no! I can think of plenty of other things to spend £23 on.

Reading Update 06/09/08

Our Friends From Frolix 8 – Philip K Dick – 1970 – Gollancz

Considering how prolific a writer Philip K Dick was it’s inevitable that some of his novels won’t be as good as others and I felt this is one of the weaker ones. Dealing with political oppression of the “weaker” masses in a future police state, it’s more grounded in reality than a lot of his work, but it didn’t grip me that much. On the plus side, Dick novels tend to average about 200 pages so even the poor ones don’t take long to get through.

 

The Execution Channel – Ken MacLeod – 2007 – Orbit

So after nine novels of far future epic space opera SF Ken MacLeod has decided to take a break and set his next few books closer in time to our own. I’ll admit I approached this first one with a bit of trepidation, but I needn’t have been concerned. Ken demonstrates that he’s perfectly capable of writing an engrossing novel even when working within the relative technological constraints of the near future, even if it’s just not quite our own. It’s written in his usual snappy prose, the well-structured story flows quickly and kept my attention for the relatively short time it took me to read it. My only very minor complaint is I felt the ending, which I had no problem with as a conclusion to the story, seemed slightly rushed; everything seemed to get resolved just a wee bit too quickly. Still, it won’t put me off reading the next one, The Night Sessions.

 

Wastelands – ed. John Joseph Adams – 2008 – Night Shade

A collection of 22 post-apocalypse stories from the last 35 years, this sets out to be a reasonably comprehensive study of the sub-genre, which seems to be enjoying a recent resurgence in popularity; although as Mr Adams mentions in his intro Wastelands deliberately excludes the zombie uprising and alien invasion aspects (these are reserved for further anthologies). The stories also tend to avoid the actual disaster, war or whatever leading up to the devastation, but instead deal with events afterwards. There is a good cross-section of styles, apocalyptic settings and authors featured, from well-known names like Stephen King and George RR Martin to relative newcomers such as Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell. Not all the stories appealed to me, more a case of the settings and approach rather than the standard of writing (especially the overt religious preaching of the Card piece), but these were very much the minority; and I now have several more new authors to check out more stuff by – made easier by the handy further reading list at the back.
I’m already looking forward to the follow up zombie one, The Living Dead.

 

Reading Update 01/09/08

Deadhouse Gates – Steven Erikson – 2000 – Bantam

The second in Erikson’s ambitious Malazan Book Of The Fallen sequence this is not a sequel to the first book Gardens Of The Moon (that role is filled by book 3, Memories of Ice), being set on a different continent, but it does feature a return of a couple of the characters. Epic in scale and page count, I found it a stronger book than its predecessor. The multiple plot threads in Gardens I found at times difficult to keep track of, but no such problems with this one, even when there’s five of them running simultaneously. It’s a violent tale, full of death and destruction on a grand scale as cultures clash and the innocent flee.
My only criticism is the length of these books; this one weighs in at 900+ pages and the later volumes are even longer. I could read 2 or 3 other books in the time spent on just one of these tomes. Having said that I’ve enjoyed the first two, and I look forward to reading the next ones; just not quite yet.

 

Conscientious Inconsistencies – Nancy Jane Moore – 2008 – PS Publishing

The second in the recently launched PS Writers Showcases, Nancy is certainly a versatile writer. The inconsistencies of the title refers more accurately to the varied subject matter and styles on offer, rather than any variation in the quality of the writing which is of a high standard throughout. An interesting collection and I’d certainly read more of her work, although to be honest I wouldn’t specifically search it out.

 

A Writer’s Life – Eric Brown – 2001 – PS Publishing

Regular browsers here may just be aware that I’m a bit of a fan of Eric Brown’s SF writing. I was therefore intrigued to see how he’d fare stepping out of the genre with this novella. And I have to say he copes admirably. The investigative element gradually unfolds at a perfect pace, as Daniel gets deeper into the mystery of Vaughn Edwards’ disappearance, with a great wee twist at the end. If Eric gets bored writing SF he should have a great future in the thriller genre.