The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

On August 15, 2006 the FACT reading group discussed The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, which consists of novels The Atrocity Archive and The Concrete Jungle. Everybody but one person in the group finished the book, and the one person who had not was planning to finish it. Everybody has read Charles Stross before. Most people in the group loved The Atrocity Archives. Like “Family Trade”, and unlike some of Charles Stross’ Singularity-themed science fiction, this book is a crowd pleaser. People described it as clever, loads of fun, and (to borrow a word occasionally used to characterize good space opera), rollicking. (The Atrocity Archives is not space opera, but it’s rollicking nonetheless.)

Somebody took an informal survey on which genre did people think this book

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Dinner with Julie E. Czerneda and James P. Hogan

Since two authors our group had read and enjoyed were in Austin to be major guests at ArmadilloCon, the Reading Group took them out to dinner. There were seventeen of us at Kerbey Lane North. Dinner topics included spicy food, Texas history, international politics, and artificial intelligence. Our guests, Julie and James, wandered up and down the table and made sure they talked to everyone. The food was good, service was fine, and everyone had a good time.

— A. T. Campbell, III

Stables Strategies and Others by Eileen Gunn

This meeting at Charles and Willie’s home drew an attendance of nine. Our subject was a collection of Eileen Gunn’s entire body of fiction published over the course of a 20 year career. Ms. Gunn is not a prolific writer, and this book contains barely 200 pages. All of us started the book, with five finishing it.

This volume contains several noteworthy tales. The title story, “Stable Strategies for Middle Management,” is a cautionary tale about working for a large corporation. “Fellow Americans,” an alternative history that deviated from our

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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard

Eight people attended this discussion at Jeff and Judy’s home. Our topic was a collection of stories featuring Robert E. Howard’s iconic barbarian character. These stories were presented in the order written, with the full original text restored wherever possible. This book was chosen largely to get ourselves acquainted with the REH theme of the upcoming Austin World Fantasy Convention. All of us read at least half the book, and five had finished it.

Conan kept getting involved in dangerous situations in exotic locales, and it was fun to see him get out of them. He used his brain and sometimes his sword, but

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Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

On June 20th, 2006, the FACT Reading Group discussed Robert Charles Wilson’s novel Spin. Most of the people in the group finished the book, and most of the group read Robert Charles Wilson before.

The protagonist and other characters

Most readers did not like the protagonist, Tyler. They found him hard to identify with. Several readers observed that Wilson deliberately distances the reader from the main character; perhaps it is to illustrate how Tyler does not let anyone get close to him, which is something several secondary characters in the book pointed out to him. Some group members also found him a strange choice for the

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His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

Six people attended, five started and finished the book. In addition, two sent in comments.

The book explores the concept of having dragons under military command during the Napoleonic wars, as told from the British point of view. Other than the existence of dragons with extraordinary lifting capacity and special attack forms, the world of the novel works much as we would expect 18th century Europe. As

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The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem

In May of 2006 the FACT reading group discussed Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. Most people who were present at the discussion (~ 6-7 of them) liked the book. A few of them had read Lem before, mostly his novel Solaris.

It was noted how well Cyberiad held up from the technological standpoint. Cyberiad was written 40 years ago, but its scientific / technical ideas don’t appear obsolete. It is about computers and machines but doesn’t have specific technology that dates it. One reader compared it to White Light by Rudy Rucker,

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Survival by Julie Czerneda

Nine people attended and eight started the book, but only five finished the book. Two had read Julie Czerneda before. Those who finished were generally favorable with some criticisms. Recommended for those not put off by the criticisms. Positive comments included “good storytelling”, “well paced”, a good read, and first rate writing. One reader got a “yellow submarine vibe” in that it provided a completely non-human environment as a well developed strange surreal alien environment. That reader can’t wait for book 2 (Migration, now available in paperback).

The book was variously characterized as space opera, with lots of character development, a travelogue, action, mystery, and (for one reader) a bit too much

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Magic Casement by Dave Duncan

Nine people attended and eight both started and finished the book. About half had read Duncan before. Magic Casement is the first book in a four volume collection known as “A Man of His Word”. The readers opinions were generally favorable, with some criticisms. Highly recommended by most readers. Dave Duncan is one of the Guests of Honor at the World Fantasy Convention coming to Austin in November 2006.

The readers generally considered the book to be well written with no bumps or shaky places. Another reader thought it had great craftsmanship. There was a dislike by some of the stereotype start, with a princess being displaced from her inheritance and the assumption that she was entitled to get it back, but others accepted that as necessary to setup the action. Duncan did take shortcuts to

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Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

Seven people attended this session and all had read all the book. All enjoyed it. Highly recommend the book, even for those who might have tried Pratchett before or who don’t normally read fantasy.

Going Postal is another of Pratchett’s Discworld series, set in Ankh-Morpork. There were several comments that those who might have tried Pratchett in early works should give him a fresh try. The writing has matured, the plots are more complex, the humor is more subtle. While it is part of the Discworld series, it can

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