The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

On November 5, eight of us met at the FACT Office to discuss Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Lions of Al-Rassan, a fantasy set in a world patterned much after historical Spain. One of the group’s regular members was unable to attend, but she liked the book enough to e-mail me a set of detailed comments to bring to the discussion. Opinions differed widely on this book, as shown by the following comments from early in the discussion: “I LOVE this book”, “bittersweet but believable”, “Kay’s done better but this is still an above average fantasy”, and “as a reader, I felt consistently cheated by Guy Gavriel Kay”. We all liked the story and found Kay’s writing style readable, but several of us felt that he tried to pull off too much trickery in his use (or misuse) of point of view. The book is basically a historical novel full of heroic deeds, romance, and extremely competent men and women, with only a couple of minor speculative elements

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Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

We gathered at Adventures in Crime and Space to talk about Lois McMaster Bujold’s Cetaganda, a fast-spaced space opera/ mystery featuring Bujold’s best-known character, Miles Naismith Vorkosigan. Our discussion again had seven members, including two newcomers. All but one us had finished the book, and it turned out that most of us had read nearly the complete works of Bujold. That led to an informed and lively discussion, but every few minutes we’d have to steer ourselves from general discussion of Bujold’s ouevre to the specific book in question. We all enjoyed the book, although most felt it was not up to the level of Bujold’s best work (generally acknowledged to be Mirror Dance). Cetaganda successfully depicts a meeting of two distinct alien cultures invented by Bujold. Several striking images are evoked, particularly the “kitten bush”. Notable quotes from our discussion include “began like a mystery, but wasn’t a whodunnit”, “this society is as plausible as any far future”, and “this book should have been either shorter or longer”.

–A. T. Campbell, III

Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint

After an absence of several months, here’s a new installment of the adventures of several FACT members on a quest for good books…

On October 1, seven folks showed up at the FACT Office to discuss Charles de Lint’s Memory and Dream, an urban fantasy involving magic and the visual arts. Due to the intrusion of two factors (ArmadilloCon and Real Life), few of us had read much of the book. Three people were at or past the halfway mark, and the rest had barely started. No one found the book hard to follow, but precious time to read had just not been available. Comments by those who had read significant portions of the book include “sober and adult but not dark”, “de Lint seems to dismiss creativity in areas other than the Fine Arts”, and “interesting take on how things happen and how we remember them”.

–A. T. Campbell, III

Dinner with Bradley Denton

Following the success of last month’s dinner with Bill Spencer, we took Brad Denton out to dinner on July 23. Eleven of us, including Brad and his wife Barbara, gathered at the Shady Grove Cafe for a lovely meal of burgers, sandwiches, and “frings”. The group was so large that Brad had to go back and forth from one side of the table to the other to answer all his fans’ questions. We learned about Brad’s writing process: “I always finish a book before I try to sell it, to lessen the chance of editors screwing it up”, “I wrote the chapters of Lunatics in order but I skipped around a lot on Blackburn“, “I always do at least 8 or 9 drafts”. We had fun visiting with Brad, and we’ll probably do another “meal with a writer” in a couple of months.

Due to conventions and other conflicts, we’ll only have one August meeting. We’ll be discussing Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams on August 20 at Adventures in Crime and Space. For the latest information, check out our web page. Newcomers are always welcome.

–A. T. Campbell, III

Lunatics by Bradley Denton

Six of us got together on July 16 to discuss Bradley Denton’s Lunatics, which has been described as a “coming of middle age” novel. The book, set in Austin, is about how a group of late-thirtiesh friends reacts when one of them claims to be dating a goddess from the moon. The book mixes humor and drama well. We all liked the book. Interestingly, women readers tended to like it more than the men did. Comments included “the women in the book are well-done but not too catty”, “I liked how the goddess had difficulty with high heels”, “…best portrayal of women by a man since Tom Robbins”, and “…even though this is not the type of book I usually read, I loved it”.

–A. T. Campbell, III

The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer

The July Reading Group activities started on July 2 with a splash — a pool party at Elaine Powell’s house. We had lots of fun eating pizza and watermelon, and most of the nine of us got into the pool. In the midst of all the party atmosphere, we actually did spend some time discussing Robert J. Sawyer’s The Terminal Experiment. This novel, a techno-thriller about a medical researcher delving into the nature of human consciousness, recently won the Nebula Award and is a current finalist for the Hugo Award. Our members all appreciated Sawyer’s slick writing style — none of us had any trouble finishing the book. We were divided in how much we liked the premise of the book. The book’s fictional advances in medical technology are used for some controversial purposes that troubled several in our group. We all found it to be a thought-provoking story that prompted interesting discussion, and many of us will be looking forward to reading Sawyer’s next book.

–A. T. Campbell, III

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

On June 18 we met at Adventures in Crime and Space bookstore to discuss Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, a current Hugo nominee. Everyone was favorably inclined toward the book, but opinions ranged from “outstanding but annoying flawed” to “I’m happy he’s finally learned to write a big, complex novel” to “Brilliant! The best thing he’s ever written.” Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish the novel until a couple of days after the discussion, but I think I agree most strongly with one member’s comment: “The middle 80% of the novel is much better than the beginning or ending 10%”.

Our next meeting will be a pool party at the home of one of the discussion group’s members (see elsewhere in The F.A.C.T. Sheet for details). We’ll be discussing Robert J. Sawyer’s The Terminal Experiment, recent Nebula winner and a current Hugo finalist.

–A. T. Campbell, III

Dinner with William Browning Spencer

We had so much fun with Resume with Monsters that we took the author, Bill Spencer, out to dinner. Eight of us met Bill at Senor O’Brien’s, where we devoured their delicious nachos. We learned a lot of secrets about Resume with Monsters: “I wrote it in four months;” “If you think this cover was bad, you should have seen the first one;” “My editor had never heard of Lovecraft or Cthulhu before he read this book;” “My typesetter friends complained about the kerning on the cover.” Talking to the author about his work was fascinating; we’ll likely invite the next local author whose book we discuss (this means you, Brad Denton) to dinner with us.

–A.. T. Campbell, III

Resume with Monsters by William Browning Spencer

We’ve been doing some fun and different stuff with the FACT Reading Group lately. The F.A.C.T. Sheet editor, a participant in the group, asked me to share our recent activities with the rest of FACT.

Eight people showed up at the FACT Office on June 4 to discuss Resume with Monsters by local author William Browning Spencer. We all liked this comic novel about a man who has a succession of terrible jobs at companies invariably owned by monsters from the Cthulhu mythos. We appreciated Bill’s skill in making us sympathize with a character who can’t hold a decent job, spends a lot of time in mental institutions, and has trouble letting go of doomed relationships. One member said it best: “We like this guy because his life is worse than ours.”

–A. T. Campbell, III

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

After discussing a disappointing book at our last meeting, we were happier with Jack McDevitt’s The Engines of God. Despite suddenly relocating the meeting due to bizarre plumbing problems at Adventures in Crime & Space, eight people turned up at the meeting. A representative comment on the McDevitt book was “There ought to be more books like this!”.

The schedule for upcoming books is as follows:

• April 2: Permutation City by Greg Egan (at the FACT Office)
• April 16: Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (at ACS)
• May 7: Jumper by Steven Gould (at the FACT Office)
• May 21: The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter (at ACS)

Meetings take place on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM. Meeting sites alternate between Adventures in Crime & Space bookstore (609-A W Sixth St) and the FACT Office (1204 Nueces). New people are always welcome at the discussions. For more information, please contact A. T. Campbell at atc@arlut.utexas.edu or 833-5269.

–A. T. Campbell, III