Jul

17

Posted by : atcampbell | On : July 17, 2007

When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

We have been reading classic works in the group a bit more lately. We realized that we had never read anything by George Alec Effinger, a onetime ArmadilloCon regular and former Guest of Honor. Since several of his books came back into print recently, we decided to read his Hugo-nominated When Gravity Fails. Eleven people gathered for this discussion at A. T.’s house, and two more submitted comments by email. Nine of us had read Effinger before. Ten people at the meeting started the book, and all ten finished. Both the email participants had finished the book.

This book is a cyberpunk detective novel set in the Middle East. Private detective Marid Audran is forced into an uneasy alliance with a police officer to work on a case for Friedlander Bey, a local crimelord. The book is set a couple of hundred years in the future, where people can have modifications  to improve their brain

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Jul

02

Posted by : atcampbell | On : July 2, 2007

1632 by Eric Flint

We discussed 1632 at the North Village Library, where we had nine participants, including three first-time attendees. One member had been lobbying for us to discuss this book for at least three years. Four of us had read Flint previously. Eight of us had started 1632, and all eight finished. One additional member submitted comments by email.

In this book, the small mining town of Grantville, West Virginia is whisked from the year 2000 to Germany in the middle of the Hundred Years’ War. The townspeople immediately must defend themselves and figure out how to get food,

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