The Silk Code by Paul Levinson

Fourteen people attended this meeting, including one first-time participant. The topic of this meeting was Paul Levinson’s first novel, The Silk Code. Levinson is well known in the SF community as (now former) President of the Science Fiction Writers of America. The Silk Code is a near-future SF police novel featuring a New York forensic detective, Phil D’Amato, who was the protagonist of several stories published in Analog. In this book, D’Amato investigates a series of murders and gets wrapped up in a complicated conspiracy involving Amish scientists and a hidden society of Neanderthals. Nine of us had read the book.

This book starts off well with a fast-paced first section, in which D’Amato has his initial encounter with the scientific Amish. He faces weird scientific threats including incendiary fireflies. We enjoyed how he applies logic and scientific knowledge to get himself out of trouble. Levinson’s clean prose style, combined

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Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

Fourteen people attended this meeting. Confessions of a Ugly Stepsister is a retelling of Cinderella from the point of view of one of her stepsisters. The story in Confessions starts earlier and ends later than the traditional story, so we learn more about the history of Cinderella’s step-family and what happens to them after she marries the prince. The author, Gregory Maguire, is best known for his previous novel Wicked, which was the biography of the Witch of the West fromThe Wizard of Oz. Twelve of us had finished the book, one had read half, and the other did not start it.

Several of us loved this book for its premise and Maguire’s execution of it. Comments included “This book kicks butt!” and “Great book! I was hooked by the third paragraph.” We liked how the author set the story in a specific time and place (17^th century Holland) and worked historical details and characters into the story. The family develops friendships with several Dutch painters, which allows

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The Road to Mars by Eric Idle

We had a wide variety of participation in this meeting. Ten people showed up at Adventures in Crime & Space to attend the discussion. One regular member of the group submitted comments by e-mail. Another person telephoned the bookstore and gave Willie comments to pass on. And finally, one person visited the store earlier in the day and gave Lori a handwritten note to be read aloud at the meeting. Seven of us had finished the book, four had read half or less, and two had not read the book at all but were just present to socialize.

The topic of discussion was The Road to Mars, a first SF novel by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. The book is a fast-paced futuristic space adventure involving a comedy team, Alex and Lewis. Alex and Lewis have a few robot servants including Carlton, who’s trying to understand the nature of humor and use it as a topic for his Ph.D. dissertation. The comedians and robots get

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The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll

This meeting had fourteen attendees. Eight had read the book, and the rest were there to socialize. Additionally, one person had e-mailed in comments. The subject of this discussion was Jonathan Carroll’s The Marriage of Sticks. Several people in the group were longtime fans of Carroll’s prior work (including The Land of Laughs and Outside the Dog Museum) and had been trying for years to get one of his books on our reading list. The mainstream packaging of his books, combined with their tendency to go out of print quickly, had thwarted those efforts until now. The Marriage of Sticks is an urban fantasy novel about Miranda Romanac, a young woman who owns a used bookstore in New York City. The book starts out reading like a mainstream novel, but gradually some weird stuff happens and Miranda discovers disturbing truths about herself.

Many of us liked Carroll’s evocative prose and the quirky, surreal world he depicted. We liked one of the supporting characters, an offbeat small-town sheriff. A couple of people in the group who’d read Carroll’s previous book (Kissing the Beehive) and next book (The Wooden Sea) said that this book provided some

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A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold

Fifteen people turned up for this meeting, including one first-time attendee. All but one of us had read the book. The topic of this discussion, A Civil Campaign, is the latest in Bujold’s science fiction series about the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, a nobleman of the planet Barrayar. The previous books in the series have been military/spy adventures, but this volume tells a different type of story. The thirty-ish Miles has become smitten with a young widow named Ekaterin, and he’s trying to win her affections. His attempt at courtship takes place against a backdrop of court intrigue, a strange business venture by Miles’s not-so-evil clone, and preparations for Emperor Gregor’s wedding.

We had a lot of fun with this book. The emphasis of the story is romantic comedy, but the plot has several unquestionably SF elements including cloning and space travel. Miles gets himself into a series of increasingly strange and

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Half Life by Hal Clement

This discussion had fourteen participants. Only six had read the book, and the others were present to vote on books at the end of the meeting. This meeting’s topic, Half Life, is the most recent novel by SFWA Grandmaster Hal Clement. It involves an expedition of scientists in the near future to Saturn’s moon Titan, where they hope to find clues about the origins of life.

We liked getting to read a traditional hard SF novel, where people solve “problems in space.” This book is full of interesting facts about chemistry, biology, and physics, and none of us found any technical errors. The level of detail presented as the scientists explore Titan gave us almost the feel of a travelogue. The extreme discipline of the scientists and their rigid set of rules for

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The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

Eighteen people showed up for this discussion, which made it our largest crowd ever. One person was a first-time participant. The book discussed, The Anubis Gates, is a complicated fantasy featuring time travel, classical poets, ancient Egypt, werewolves, body swapping, and Beatles music. Although it was originally published in 1983, this novel had been out of print for several years until recently, making it a new book to many of us. Our attendees included several folks who read the book when it first came out, and we also had a person who was born the year the book was published.

Every one of us finished the book, and we found a lot of different things to like about it. Many people liked the complex, involving story with its many plot threads. One person empathized with the protagonist, a college English professor, so much that she reported jumping up and down and yelling at him to “watch out” at particularly tense moments. Many of us liked the cool Medieval and

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There and Back Again by Pat Murphy

Our discussion of There and Back Again drew twelve participants. The book is a light, humorous space opera by Pat Murphy. Since Murphy is best known for serious “slipstream fiction” such as The Falling Woman, this book represents a substantial change of pace for her work. The plot of There and Back Again follows a mild-mannered man named Bailey Beldon, who joins up with a group of adventurers on a quest for the center of the galaxy.

We all found this book to be a lot of fun to read. The unlikely hero Bailey is clever at avoiding capture by slavers and pirates, even on occasion resorting to yodeling. We liked reading about a hero who was not in great shape and who

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Starfish by Peter Watts

We had a large crowd of fifteen for this discussion, including two first-time visitors. The book under consideration, Starfish, was a first novel by Peter Watts. It involves an undersea scientific experiment being conducted by a large corporation. The team living underwater and doing the work is mostly composed of criminals who are doing this dangerous job instead of going to prison.

The details of living and working underwater seemed believable. One member of our group is a scuba diver, and he found no technical problems. We were not surprised to learn that the author is an ocean scientist.

The heart of the novel is an examination of how people work together on this dangerous mission. The team members are not simple thieves and swindlers, but

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

The discussion of J. K. Rowling’s second novel drew twelve participants. Unlike our discussion of the first book in the series, no one under fifteen was in attendance. This book follows the adventures of Harry and his friends during their second year at wizard school, in which they encounter a ghost who haunts a girls’ restroom.

We liked seeing Harry again and learning more about his supporting cast and the world they inhabit. It was impressive how Rowling told a story that works on multiple levels for readers of different ages. The book is filled with several striking

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