FACT SF Reading Group

February 2001

February 6: 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 Egyptian magic, and we were pleased when a member of our group who'd studied magic extensively said that the research in the book was "impeccable." We thought the writing style of this book was very involving, and we liked the way Powers handled foreshadowing. When it was mentioned that Tim Powers had a master's degree in romantic poetry, several of us felt that this book was an excellent use of an advanced degree.

No one had anything bad to say about this book. We all thought The Anubis Gates was a compulsively readable book full of interesting ideas, clever writing, and enjoyable characters.

February 20: 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 interaction made us wonder if the author intended this book to provide an etiquette lesson for aspiring scientists.

While we liked Half Life's science, we found its characters were lacking. None of them have any personality, culture, or emotions. One person said they might as well have been "brains in a jar." The many long scenes of highly technical dialogue seemed about as interesting as a verbatim transcript of a NASA interchange between astronauts and mission control. At one point a character told a joke, but since no one else in the book had a sense of humor there was a half-page explanation of what was funny.

We enjoyed reading such a hard SF novel as a change of pace, and we appreciated how much work and research had obviously gone into the writing. We'd only recommend it to people who read SF more for the science than the characters or story.

At the end of the meeting, we picked several new books for the reading list. This new schedule is posted on our web site and will be printed in The FACT Sheet.

-- A. T. Campbell, III