Archive for May 2014
Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert
Posted on: May 31, 2014
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert
- 15 Comments
I’m working to get through all the Dune books this year. Since I know the first book by heart, I started with Dune Messiah.
Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert
published in 1976
where I got it: have owned forever. My paperback is falling apart. Heh heh, the cover art says “The Climax of the Dune Trilogy“.
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Children of Dune is the third book in Frank Herberts Dune saga. Throughout Dune and Dune Messiah, we saw a build up of court politics, religious fervor, ythology, and genetic manipulation. All of this and more comes to a boiling point in Children of Dune. This review has taken me about a week to write. I’ve some history with this series, I came to it at a very impressionable age and it was my biggest step towards my love of science fiction. So it is very hard for me to distill fifteen years of experiencing this particular novel into a thousand words.
It’s been less than ten years since a blinded Paul Muad-Dib walked into the desert without water or stillsuit. His sister Alia has sat as regent while the Empire waits for his nine year old twin children, Leto II and Ghanima to come of age. Arrakis has become the capitol of the Empire, and modernity has come to Arrakeen. Young Fremen no longer learn stillsuit discipline, they have no use for the desert traditions of their parents. Liet Kynes’ 50 generation plan is speedily coming to fruition – the desert is greening. Homes are built without strict water seals, grasses are planted to hold the shifting dunes in place, trees are planted anywhere and everywhere. The planet is changing an the traditional tribes are horrified.
Ecological changes aside, Alia is no normal regent, and her niece and nephew are not normal children. Their dying mother opted for a spice overdose to save the lives of her children, and Leto II and Ghanima came to consciousness while still in the womb. Steeped in the spice for their entire life, neither child is a singular being, but instead the multitude of all the memories, all the lives of their descendents who live in the background of their consciousness. Not multiple personalities per se, but if they let their guard down, they could be possessed by the powerful voices within. Alia, Leto, and Ghanima all yearn for the prescience that Paul experienced, but to do so they would have to risk the spice trance that would only empower their other memories. Alia, already teetering on the edge of possession can’t risk allowing the voices in the head to become any louder.
My heart breaks for Alia her every time I read this book. Demonized as a child, seen as an abomination for something she had no control over, Alia has no one to turn to, no one she can talk to. Everywhere she turns she is judged and looked down upon. Everywhere that is, but her inner voices. And one voice is so soothing, so seductive. One voice promises to quiet all the other warring voices, if only she takes his very helpful advice from time to time.
Portal Cake (with recipe!), Klava, Stackfalter Sturton cheese, Romulan Ale* and more. Have you got a favorite food or drink from a scifi or fantasy? Check out the latest Mind Meld on SFSignal on our avorite science fiction foods and drinks to see who suggested which!
*Who provided the answer Romulan Ale? Vic Mignogna. The name might not ring a bell, but I bet you know who he is:
He’s the voice of Edward Elric. I spent about five years being more than a little obsessed with this manga and the first anime series. Would still love to crossplay Edward sometime.
He plays Capt Kirk on Star Trek Continues. This project is just buckets of fun.
I muppet flailed when he e-mailed me back.
Shhhhh!!! No one tell John at SFSignal that sometimes I invite people to MindMeld that I am totally fangirl crushing on.
Wild and Wishful, Dark and Dreaming, by Alethea Kontis
published Oct 2013
where I got it: received review copy from the publisher (Thanks Alliteration Ink!)
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Before last week, I’d only read a few Alethea Kontis stories, mostly what had been published in Apex Magazine. But I’d like what I’d read, and was interested in reading more. Kontis is a writer known for everything from fairy tale retellings, to secret history, to horror stories. She doesn’t let genre boundaries limit what she writes, and many of these stories were inspired by events from her life or her friend’s lives. She lives with one foot in a magical world, where anything is possible.
Her collection, Wild and Wishful, Dark and Dreaming, contains everything mentioned in the title and more. These eighteen short stories and two poems range from dark horror to science fiction, to coming of age, to revenge, often returning to themes of facing our fears, traps and escape, and that we ultimately don’t have to go it alone. Many of these pieces are perfect for reading out loud, and some of them were even designed that way.
What’s nice about single author collections is that the author’s voice can be heard as a constant note through the entire book. And Kontis’s voice is here, loud and strong. this is a woman who wants to take you new place and show you paths you didn’t see before.
Ultimately, Kontis is a woman who knows she’s got a story you want to hear.
Show me your Hachettes!
Posted on: May 24, 2014
I tweeted this earlier today:
You should totally go through your house and find all your Hachette books and post a photo! On your blog, on twitter, on facebook, on tumblr, anywhere! I was hoping my stack would be as tall as I am, but alas, it wasn’t. Means I need more Orbit books!
- In: Kage Baker
- 3 Comments
Mendoza in Hollywood, by Kage Baker
published in 2000
where i got it: purchased used
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This is the third book in the company series, and it’s my third favorite. Some quick non-spoilery background on the The Company for those of you that don’t know: 350 years from now, time travel is possible. But you can only go back in time, you can’t bring anything back to your “home” time, and history can’t be changed. Ok, so how to get rich quick if artifacts can’t be brought back? Easy. Send some crews and technology into the past, have them build safehouses and a staff of employees who will set aside your artifacts, and wait, patiently, nearly forever. Company operatives are cybernetically immortal, given an education about everything that will happen, ever (because this is the past for their instructors and doctors, who are from the future), and programmed to be fanatically loyal to the company.
Thus, we get science fiction/historical fiction. Which, if you ask me, is one of the best genre combos EVER.
Anyways, in the first the book in the series, we met Mendoza, who is rescued from the Spanish inquisition by a company operative. She’s raised and educated within the Company, and completely bombs her first assignment. The second book follows different characters with Mendoza as a very minor character, and in this third book, we are back with Mendoza. She’s gotten over the raw, raging anger of what happened all those years, but she’s far from healed.
Mendoza has been by herself for a very, very long time, and I get it, she hates people, I’m ok with that (some days I hate people too). So she’s used to very quiet days, very little interactions, not much going on, just being one with nature. Introvert, indeed. Her new assignment is to a post in the Cahuenga Pass in Southern California in 1862, with the mission of collection valuable plant specimens before the drought (and grazing animals) kills (and eats) everything. Mostly unaffected by the Civil War, it’s an interesting time to be in Hollywood’s backyard. Mendoza has no choice but to take the assignment, and besides, maybe some conversation would be good for her.
Robot Uprisings edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams
published April 2014
Where I got it: purchased new
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Robots are supposed to help us, right? they’re supposed to do the jobs that humans don’t want to or can’t do, right? and thanks to Asimov’s three (four!) laws, there’s nothing to worry about.
right?
wrong. Leave it to folks like Alan Dean Foster, Seanan McGuire, Charles Yu, Cory Doctorow, Ernest Cline, Nnedi Oforakor and others to remind me that robots do exactly what we program them to do, and in many cases this is fucking terrifying.
I just about every story in this anthology, we played God. We created something, typically in our own image, that would be able to do things we couldn’t. Our creations raise and teach our children, solve our computer programming issues, clean up radiation, do jobs that are too dangerous for humans to do, protect company assets, keep us healthy, etc. When we’re so sure our inventions will help us towards a better world, what could possibly go wrong?
But lets say we succeed. the computer programming issue has been solved, the kids are grown up, the asset has been protected, diseases have been cured, the radiation has been cleaned up. What do we do when our problem is fixed and our shiny tools are no longer needed? Robots are designs to work. they are not designed to stop.
Another (manga review)
Posted on: May 18, 2014
- In: Hiro Kiyohara | Manga | Yukito Ayatsuji
- 5 Comments
Another, by Yukito Ayatsuji (story) and Hiro Kiyohara (artwork)
first English printing October 2013
where I got it: purchased new
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To help him recover from a lung disorder, Sakakibara moves in with his maternal grandparents in a quiet idyllic town. His Aunt Reiko lives with them too. Raised by his travelling salesman father, Sakakibara is thankful for the quiet stability, but wishes his father would call him more often. This is the town Sakakibara’s mother grew up in, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to learn more about her, as she passed away shortly after he was born. His Mom and Aunt even attended the same school he has transferred into, and Aunt Reiko tells him, among other things, that the most important thing at this school is to go along with whatever his class decides. If one ever wanted to go it alone, or be a square peg in a round hole, this is not the time.
Due to his breathing disorder, Sakakibara has to spend a few days in the hospital. He’s visited by some new classmates, who ask him some very strange questions, and he sees another girl from his school, Misaki Mei, wandering around the basement. The conversation he has with Misaki is so odd that he wonders if he’s met a ghost. School begins, and Misaki is in his class. She’s got to be some kind of ghost, as no one else but him can see her.
Sakakibara makes new friends quickly, and they all seem to want to tell him something, but no one can seem to find the right moment, or get the words out when they do.
And then people start dying, in horrible, gruesome ways. One student trips down a flight of stairs while carrying an umbrella, and lands face down on the tip of the umbrella. the sister of another student is killed when the elevator she’s in plummets to the ground. Car accidents, heart attacks, drownings. You’d think they were just natural accidents, except they are happening constantly. And only to the families of students in Class 3.
I’ve been busy elsewhere.
Posted on: May 15, 2014
I’ve been all over the place this week. Internet = awesomesauce. warning: clickbait has been shown to make some people’s TBR’s explode.
Head over to the Apex Publications blog for a nice little column I wrote about International Speculative Fiction that’s been translated into English (you know, Murakami, Lem, Tidbeck, etc). Whole bunch of links at the bottom to free translated short stories.
I was involved in a super fun Mind Meld over at SFSignal on our dream anthologies. This one was really fun to think about and play around with! Man, James comes up with the best damn MM ideas. Some fabulous other bloggers on the panel as well, including My Bookish Ways, Dab of Darkness, Not Yet Read, and The Galaxy Express.
oh, and I was on TV.
Today Public Access tv, tomorrow the WORLD!
I was invited onto a local television show, Monday Night Live, to talk about historical fiction. Certainly not my area of expertise….. but I think I held my own pretty decently. I totes name dropped Stephanie Saulter and Will McIntosh, whose last names I’m sure I mispronounced. I may have also nearly given Keith, the show’s host, a near heart attack with all my talk of genetically modified people and psychic aliens. Which of course have tons to do with historical fiction. 😉
Show is about an hour, click here to view.
Defenders by Will McIntosh
Posted on: May 13, 2014
Defenders by Will McIntosh
published May 13 2014
where I got it: received review copy from the publisher (Thanks Orbit!)
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Can my entire review just consist of “holy fuck this book completely shattered me”? Because really, that’s all you need to know. But a seven word review? boring!
It’s 2029 and our first contact with an alien species is an invasion. The Luyten look like giant six or seven legged starfish, and they fell from the sky. We attacked them, they fought back. They seemed to always know where our troops were, what our plan was. The Luyten could read our minds. They knew every thought going through every human’s mind, our dreams, our fears, everything.
And they were winning.
Homeless, hungry, and freezing to death, Kai helps a Luyten who claims to be an unarmed and wounded scout. A tenuous trust grows, and the Luyten begs Kai to keep silent about it’s hiding spot. How is a starving teen supposed to say no to a human soldier who promises food and a warm bed? The Luyten is captured and tortured.
But still, the Luyten were winning. There was nowhere we could hide, nothing we could hide from them. If a Luyten were within eight miles of a human, the entire Luyten population knew what that human was planning. We needed to come up with something, and fast.
Are you scared yet? You should be. And this is only the beginning.
The other day I reviewed the second issue of a brand new short fiction magazine, Bastion Magazine. I was impressed by the quality of the short stories, but what was most remarkable was the sheer quantity of fiction the editor and staff insist on in each issue. Most of the stories are short, 5,000 words or less, but still, eight or nine in each issue? Great for the reader for sure, but that is a ton of work for any editorial team! I wanted to learn more about the magazine, and lucky for me, R. Leigh offered to tell me a bit about himself and answer a few of my questions!
R. Leigh Hennig recently moved with his wife and three young children from Rura Penthe, er, Rochester, NY to Seattle. Leigh works as a network engineer by day, and when he’s not working on Bastion in the night, he’s writing his own short stories as well. He’s also an avid soccer fanatic (center back for his Tuesday night team — a defensive rock, and about as fast as one as well) and is probably more dedicated to Arsenal than the Pope is to Jesus.
And as I just learned, Leigh and I are fellow beer snobs. But he lives within walking distance of the Diamond Knot brewpub. What a spoiled guy! But let’s get to the important stuff, shall we?
LRR: I have to ask. What possessed you to start you own genre fiction magazine?
RLH: I wanted to do something that mattered to people — both to writers, and readers. I love science fiction, and short stories in particular. As a reader, I could never seem to get my hands on enough decent short stories. I’d heard similar sentiments echoed from others. It seemed to me like there was room for another market. I think there’s probably room for even more. I also know a lot of writers who are putting out amazing stories, but for some strange reason they’re not getting published. It seemed reasonable that I could do my own small part to help out both parties: deliver fantastic new stories to the readers that crave them, and provide opportunities for talented authors, especially those who haven’t been published before, to get their work out in front of people. I’m passionate about the short story format. The publication only seemed natural.
LRR:What are your goals for the magazine?
RLH: In the short term, I’d like the magazine to be self-sustaining. Right now, I personally fund everything. Site maintenance, payments to authors, cover art, advertising, you name it. It would be nice if the magazine could stand on its own. Looking toward the future, I want to become a qualifying market in the Science Fiction Writer’s Association, and I’d like to be able to pay authors a decent rate. I’d also like to be known for putting out quality stories, where an author can be proud to have their story published. All of this I’m hoping we can do, and more, without losing focus on how we started: contributor oriented, providing meaningful feedback within a reasonable amount of time.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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