FACT SF Reading Group

September 2007

September 4: The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction edited by George Mann

This meeting drew ten people to A. T.’s home. Our topic was an anthology of original fantasy stories, the first book from new publisher Solaris. Most of the authors represented in the book are relatively new and seem to have books forthcoming from Solaris. Seven of us had started the book, with only two finishing.

The stories in this anthology do not have a common theme, but we found that many of them were memorable. We enjoyed “C-Rock City” by Jay Lake and Greg van Eekhout, which explores futuristic history on an asteroid colony. Several of us were entertained by “Jellyfish”, Mike Resnick and David Gerrold’s humorous riff on a famous 60s science fiction writer. The imagery of Ian Watson’s “Cages” was striking, although most of us could not figure out the plot. Stephen Baxter’s “Last Contact,” a touching character story about two women facing the end of the world, has a classic sf feel, although some of us found flaws in the story’s physics. Paul Di Filippo’s “Personal Jesus” cleverly explores issues with religion and iPods.  Peter F. Hamilton’s “If At First…” is a well-executed, though predictable, time travel story. James Lovegrove’s “The Bowdler Strain”, about a virus that affects language, was hilarious to some of us but left others cold. We were disturbed by Simon Ings’s horror story “The Wedding Party.” “Third Person” by Tony Ballantyne, a military sf story that plays games with point of view, was confusing at first but ultimately interesting and satisfying.

This was an unusual anthology. Usually the first and last stories in an anthology are its best, but we found neither the opening “In His Sights” by Jeffrey Thomas nor the closing “The Farewell Party” by Eric Brown to be anything special. None of the book’s stories had stereotypical American happy endings, which we attributed to the editor and many of the authors being British. In general we thought many of these stories were good, but we don’t expect to see any of them nominated for a major award.

After the meeting, several of us had a nice dinner at Mongolian Grille.

September 17: In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez

Eight of us of us gathered at the North Village library for this meeting. Our topic was In the Company of Ogres, the second novel by new Texas writer A. Lee Martinez. The story is a humorous military fantasy about a problem group of supernatural soldiers (amazons, trolls, ogres, etc.) commanded by a former bookkeeper named Ned, who keeps dying and getting resurrected. None of us had read any of Martinez’s prior work. Seven of us started and finished the book. Our eighth member said it looked like a “silly book” so she did not even try to read it.

We liked many things about this book. Several of us commented that it was fun and stupid. The blind oracle who sees and hears the future was a clever idea. One person found the names of the characters to be particularly amusing. We thought the eventual explanation for Ned’s never-ending resurrections was clever and original. Martinez writes female characters and their interactions well. We appreciated the scene where two women get in a big fight and then wash dishes together afterward. The amazon getting romantic advice and makeup tips from other women was priceless.

There were some problems. A couple of us found the prose was rough in places and needed better editing. One person got tired of Ned dying so much.

Overall we enjoyed this book. Several of us compared it favorably to early works of Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, and John Moore. We think A. Lee Martinez is an entertaining writer with a lot of talent, and many of us plan to read more of his books in the future.

After the meeting, a few of us had a nice dinner at Houston’s.

-- A. T. Campbell, III