FACT SF Reading Group

November 2000

November 7: Typhon's Children by Toni Anzetti

The discussion of Toni Anzetti's first novel drew a crowd of ten people. Typhon's Children is a science fiction story about a group of humans who have settled on a hostile planet. An expected supply ship is late, and the settlers are running low on necessities. Several key personnel have died, and all of the children born to the settlers have severe birth defects. The book details the colonists' attempts to survive.

We enjoyed several things about this book. It was the first hard science fiction book we'd read in a while, and the writing style was direct and easy to read. Several people said that they read the book in a single reading. The planet's ecosystem seemed well thought out, and we liked the variety of alien lifeforms. We liked the way that the deafness of Dilani, the teenage girl who was one of the book's protagonists, was integrated into the story. The settlers had a lot of neat gadgets, including a really cool submarine.

There were a few problems. The subject of birth defects was a gloomy topic that was off-putting to several members of the group. Several scientific developments near the end of the book seemed almost so unbelievable as to be considered magic. And the book ended rather abruptly, obviously setting up a sequel.

Overall we thought that Typhon's Children was an interesting but flawed first novel, and we think that Toni Anzetti is a writer to watch.

November 21: Dark Cities Underground by Lisa Goldstein

Eleven people attended this meeting, at which we discussed Lisa Goldstein's recent novel and chose new books. Dark Cities Underground is a urban fantasy novel involving trains, Egyptian gods, and children's books and their authors.

Most of us liked this book a lot. We found the characterization of the children's author and her son, who was the protagonist of her books, to be believable. Goldstein's prose was involving and a joy to read, reminding several of us of Jonathan Carroll's work. The book was full of great archetypes and images (dog-headed men, not-so-jolly green giants, a woman made of rain) that appealed to us. The cool imagery reminded us of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass.

Not everyone was thrilled with the book. One person found the writing sloppy and felt that the characters committed unbelievable actions. She liked the basic concept of this book, but thought that a better book could have been written from its outline. A couple of people found the book's villain to be a letdown. And several people admitted that since characters travel all over the world in this book, a map might have been helpful.

In general we concluded that Dark Cities Underground is a thoughtful novel with many rich images and a great sense of wonder.

At the end of the meeting we chose several new books for the reading list: There and Back Again by Pat Murphy, The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, Half Life by Hal Clement, A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll, and The Road to Mars by Eric Idle.

-- A. T. Campbell, III