FACT SF Reading Group

May 2004

May 4: 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 highest ratio of awards to publications of any SF writer.

Most of us enjoyed Chiang's vision of the enormous amount of work that would go into building a gigantic structure to Heaven in "Tower of Babylon," and how people would live on it as they built.

A favorite of many of us was the alien first-contact story "Story of Your Life." Although the basic idea of someone becoming unhooked in time by learning a nonlinear language was not believable, readers did enjoy the physics and its metaphor for life.

Another favorite was "Seventy-two Letters," a Victorian alternate history. Although we groaned at reading our third golem story of the year, we found this one unique due to its mixing of Cabalism and homunculi.

Many of Chiang's stories did contain some weakness, such as stories that dragged on too long, unbelievable science, and distracting story structure. But we could see from his attention to detail and character development, and the thoroughness with which he explores ideas and turns science into metaphors for human life, that Chiang is a writer to watch.

May 18: 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 protagonist Jules fights to save the Haunted Mansion from a similar fate.

In Doctorow's future world, the anarchical Bitchun Society has taken over, and the monetary system has been replaced with a measure of popularity called Whuffie. Nearly everyone has brain implants to connect them on-line, and true death has been eliminated with downloadable brain scans.

Most of us thought the technology, economy, and characters were not developed enough to be convincing. Though the book was hyped as being the "coming thing" and it had some interesting ideas, we didn't see much that was actually new. References to the various rides held little meaning for those who had never visited Disney World or Disney Land, but for Disney fans, they brought back fun memories.

After the discussion ended, the group chose new books.

-- Sandy Kayser