Sep
02
Posted by : | On : September 2, 2008
Nine people gathered at A. T.’s house to discuss Babel-17, Delany’s classic New Wave novel. Additionally, two submitted commented by email. All of us had read the author before. Eight started the book, and five finished.
We like the book’s examination of language theory. A strong element was the development of the idea of language as shaping the mind and worldview of the person. One person commented that he enjoyed reading a rare novel that
Aug
17
Posted by : | On : August 17, 2008
This special meeting was held at ArmadilloCon. Our topic was The Automatic Detective, a robot mystery novel written by A. Lee Martinez, one of the authors attending the con. We had a dozen attendees, including the ArmadilloCon Fan Guest of Honor and one visitor from Dallas. Six of us had read Martinez before. Ten started the book, and eight finished.
We enjoyed the narrator, Mike Megaton, who was built to be a warrior robot but developed the “free will glitch” and turned on his creator. Some commented that his narration and adventures (particularly getting beat up often) are reminiscent of
Aug
04
Posted by : | On : August 4, 2008
Nine people attended a discussion of Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. Everybody in the group had read a book, most of them decades ago, and most of those people had not reread it recently. A few of them did not remember much about the book except that it was underwhelming. “For me there wasn’t much “there” there, even though I had friends who died in the war,” said a reader. Another reader, who generally doesn’t enjoy war novels (with exception of Ender’s Game) didn’t like this book because he happened to pick it up when he wanted to read something with the sense of wonder, but this was too depressing. He also saw no reason why the guy who survives the war should be the only one to do so, when he is nothing special.
Most people agreed that it was rather depressing. Some thought the only thing
Jul
22
Posted by : | On : July 22, 2008
This meeting was held at A. T.’s home in north Austin. Eleven people attended. Our topic, Magic for Beginners, was a World Fantasy Award-nominated collection by Kelly Link. Three us had read Kelly Link previously. Nine started the book, and four finished.
One person had only read two stories: “Magic for Beginners” and “The Faery
Jul
07
Posted by : | On : July 7, 2008
Nine of us gathered at the North Village Library to discuss The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, the recent Nebula-winner by Michael Chabon. The book is set in an alternate world where a large Jewish population settled in Alaska instead of Israel after World War II. The plot, set roughly in our present, is a police procedural mystery. Four of us had read Chabon’s earlier work. All of us started the book, with five finishing. Also, four of us had met the author when he’d been in Austin earlier this year.
One person described the protagonist, Meyer Landsman, as “Sam Spade as a Yiddish Cop.” She’d read the book twice and felt it was better on a second reading.
Another felt the story had a fascinating concept. The sliver of history that served
Jun
17
Posted by : | On : June 17, 2008
12 people attended the discussion of China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun. 8 people had read China Miéville before. Everybody but one person started the book. 6 people finished it.
Un Lun Dun is a story of two young girls’ adventures in an alternative London, called Un Lun Dun. It is inhabited by all sorts of strange and magical creatures,
Jun
02
Posted by : | On : June 2, 2008
Ten people attended the discussion of Jay Lake’s Mainspring. Everybody except 2 people started the book. 6 people finished it, 2 more were planning to finish. 8 people had read something by Jay Lake before.
Mainspring is set on a world that looks a lot like our Earth, except it’s literally a clockwork mechanism. The gears along the Earth’s equatorial wall mesh with those of the Earth’s orbital track as the planet travels around the Sun. Inside the
May
20
Posted by : | On : May 20, 2008
Eleven people attended this discussion at A.T. Campbell’s home. Our topic was Water Rites by former ArmadilloCon Guest of Honor Mary Rosenblum. This is a new book that contains the novel Drylands and several related stories, all set in a near future where the Pacific Northwest has gone dry. Seven of us had read Rosenblum before. Eight people started and finished Water Rites.
Many of us read Drylands it when it came out in the early 90s. We feel that the book is more relevant now, and we found the stories filled in some gaps. We
May
05
Posted by : | On : May 5, 2008
Thirteen people attended this discussion at the North Village Library, including one first-time attendee. Our topic was Bridge of Birds, a World Fantasy Award-winning humorous fantasy novel set in ancient China. In this book, the children of a village are all struck with a mysterious illness, and a young man named Number Ten Ox is sent out to find a wise scholar to heal them. Four of us had read Hughart before. Everyone at the meeting had started and finished Bridge of Birds.
One reader commented that she had such a good time with this book’s protagonists, the young and strong Number Ten Ox and his wise older companion, Master Li. She loved the flaw in Master Li’s character. Early in the book, she was
Apr
22
Posted by : | On : April 22, 2008
This discussion at A. T.’s house drew twelve attendees. Our topic was The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, an adventure story featuring famous writers of the Pulp Era. An obscure writer named H. P. Lovecraft dies under mysterious circumstances, and his friends Lester Dent, Walter Gibson, and L. Ron Hubbard look into it. They are drawn into a wild adventure reminiscent of the stuff they write. As this book is Malmont’s first published work, none of us had read him before. All of us started the book, and nine finished.
The group member who originally recommended this book said that he was initially intrigued by the title and main characters. He felt the story took off
