Jun

15

Whole Wide World

Posted by : atcampbell | On : June 15, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Whole Wide World by Paul McAuley

Ten people showed up for this discussion, and one person e-mailed comments. Everyone tried to read the book, but only six finished. Of the five who thought they remembered reading the author before, most liked his previous work better. Whole Wide World is a near-future, police procedural set in London after an InfoWar. Despite the extreme right-wing government’s wide use of surveillance cameras, crime and pornography are rampant.

We found this book lacking as a science fiction and as a murder mystery. Most of us quickly became bored by the mystery. The police detective pegs the killer

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Jun

01

Dread Empire’s Fall: The Praxis

Posted by : atcampbell | On : June 1, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Dread Empire’s Fall: The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams

Ten people attended this discussion on a hot n’ humid evening in central Austin at the home of Willie & Charles Siros. Nine people had started the book, eight finished, and eight had read WJW before.

Part one of a trilogy, The Praxis presents a galaxy of several races “at peace” after being conquered into submission by the Shaa. In place is an empire heavy with any corruption that can flourish between the lines of the Shaa’s ruling compact, the Praxis. After the last Shaa passes away, a rebellion pops up like a

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May

18

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Posted by : atcampbell | On : May 18, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

Of the eleven people who attended this meeting, only one had not read the book, and only eight finished it. Five had read Doctorow’s work previously, and some of them preferred the short story “Craphound.”

This light, easy-to-read, short novel begins with the overhaul of the Hall of the Presidents in Disney World. When the animatronic presidents are discarded and replaced by direct imprinting of experiences on the brains of visitors, the

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May

04

Stories of Your Life and Others

Posted by : atcampbell | On : May 4, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Of the ten people who attended this meeting, only two had read all eight stories (or had read them in previous publications) and six had read some of the stories. Four of the readers had never read Chiang’s stories before.

This book consisted of eight stories, seven of which had been previously published. Of these, so many have won awards that Chiang probably has the

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Apr

20

Pattern Recognition

Posted by : atcampbell | On : April 20, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

Twelve people showed up for this discussion, plus we heard emailed comments from one person. Everyone had read at least part of the book, and of the five who hadn’t finished it, most did plan to finish later. All but one had read Gibson before.

Set one year after September 11 (although that wasn’t clear enough–several of us thought it was set ten years later), this book contains no science fiction elements. However, only a science fiction writer of Gibson’s caliber could have

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Apr

06

Permanence

Posted by : atcampbell | On : April 6, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Permanence by Karl Schroeder

Of the five who attended this discussion, one was new to the group and had not read any of Schroeder’s work. The other four had read the whole book, plus Schroeder’s previous book, Ventus and thought the author had done a much better job this time.

Permanence is a classic space opera set in a completely different universe from Ventus. The main character is a feisty young woman, Rue, who steals her family’s ship and escapes to the nearest brown-dwarf planet. On the way she discovers an unoccupied interstellar cycler ship, which will make her rich if she can claim it

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Mar

16

Schild’s Ladder

Posted by : atcampbell | On : March 16, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Schild’s Ladder by Greg Egan

Of the eight who showed up for this discussion, all had read at least part of the book, but only four finished it. Some of the seven who had read Egan’s work before preferred Diaspora or his short fiction, but others did enjoy this book.

The book begins far in the future when an Earth scientist and several aliens decide to test a space-time theory and create a novo-vacuum. The test goes awry of course and the novo-vacuum begins to expand and take over our universe. The rest of the book is set even further in the future and involves a

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Mar

02

Thraxas

Posted by : atcampbell | On : March 2, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Thraxas by Martin Scott

Ten people attended this discussion and two submitted comments by email. Seven had read part of the book, but only four read the entire Baen volume, which is composed of the original Thraxas (2000 World Fantasy Award winner) plus a second book, Thraxas and the Warrior Monks. No one had read British author Martin Scott before, nor any of the urban fiction under his real name, Martin Millar.

Scott parodies both noir and high fantasy in a way that most of the group found amusing and enjoyable, but nowhere near “hilarious.” We did not think it merited

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Feb

15

Witpunk

Posted by : atcampbell | On : February 15, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

Witpunk edited by Claude Lalumière and Marty Halpern

Eight people attended this discussion, including our founder, A.T. Campbell. Another person phoned in comments from her sickbed. Seven people read some of the book with five people finishing it.

The big question that everyone had but didn’t have a good answer for: what was the purpose of this anthology? Did the editors pitch it under the cute title and then just go out and buy stories they liked? There seemed no theme or connection between the various stories. Few of them seemed very witty and even fewer were punkish. The back blurb promised stories that were sardonic,

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Feb

03

The Alchemist’s Door

Posted by : atcampbell | On : February 3, 2004

Category: Uncategorized

The Alchemist’s Door by Lisa Goldstein

Ten people attended this discussion and two others phoned or emailed comments. Nine people started the book, eight finished it, and six had read the author before.

The collaboration between John Dee and Edward Kelly already seems the stuff of a fantasy novel: Kelly converses with “angels” he sees in a gazing ball owned by Dee. The two curry favor from royalty by offering to predict the future. To this Goldstein mixes in the story of Rabbi Lowe and his creation of the Golem. Plus: demons, insane rulers, a serial killer and a race to prevent the world from being

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