Archive for September 2018
I owe you a review, and I’m soon to owe you lots of reviews!
Here’s the latest that I’ve finished reading, what I am reading, and what I want to read!
I recently finished reading The Guns Above, by Robyn Bennis. Fun read, tons of snarky and sarcastic dialog, great characters. Fans of Bennis’s work are already excited for the sequel!
and speaking of sequels. . .
here’s what I am reading right now:
Noumenon Infinity is Lostetter’s 2nd Noumenon book. My dad liked the first book so much we’re reading the second one together! I’m about 150 pages in so far, and while the story is completely different from the first book in the series, I’m enjoying myself. There are two AIs who don’t know that each other exist, and I am hoping that they’ll meet each other before the book ends. These are two AIs who have always been singular and been completely alone. if they meet each other, it will be a little like a first contact story, but not. and then they won’t have to be alone anymore. You can read my review of the first book, Noumenon, here.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant isn’t a sequel, but it has one that will be out at the end of October. When Traitor Baru Cormorant came out, reading this book just about killed me. Every page is gorgeous writing, i want to protect these characters from pain but i know nothing I do will change anything, because as a reader, I am powerless. I need to know what happens, so I can go into the sequel with fresh wounds, you know?
And as far as Want To Read,
because who doesn’t want to read a Murderbot book? Getting to read this book will be my reward for writing the review for The Guns Above. That 2nd Murderbot book had quite the effect on me, I’m interested to see what this book does to me.
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick
published in 1964
where I got it: purchased used
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You trust your government right? Ok, maybe not 100%, but at least when it comes to defense of the nation and keeping our citizens safe, you trust the head honchos, right?
Nicholas St James and his entire community follow that trust. They remember being shuffled into underground shelters when the bombs fell. They remember being told that it would just be until it was safe to come back to the surface, two years at most. Nick and his family and his community listen to the radio broadcasts, they watch Talbot Yancy speak on TV, they know if they just wait a little longer, that it will be safe to go above ground, and that one day soon their children will see a sunrise and a sunset. One day the war will be over and the citizens of the tanks will be able to stop building and repairing the leadies who fight for the people’s freedom every day. Without trust, there would be chaos and death. They’ve been in these damn tunnels for thirteen years.
Meanwhile, Joseph Adams lives on his estate in California with a phalanx of leadies who are mostly used as house servants and security guards. On a daily basis he flies to his job in New York, where he works as a Yanceman – writing the speeches that will be fed into Talbot Yancy. Who is a robot bolted to an oak desk. Adams and his peers literally write “fake news”. So much so that fake documentaries were even made that all children watch in school, and most adults have nearly memorized, documentaries that convince the people in the shelters that the government did what they did to protect their own people from harm. The Yancemen take their orders from Stanton Brose, who effectively rules as a feared regent. In Brose’s attempts to rule forever, he has had multiple parts of his body replaced with artificial organs, known as artiforgs. There may be half a dozen artificial hearts or artificial livers in existence, but according to Brose, they are all reserved for his use.
Oh, there was a war all right, between West Dem and Pac Peop. And there were bombs that fell. Most of the actual fighting was done by leadies. The American government shoved as many people as they could into underground shelters, and those who survived above ground lived our their sterile lives in park like surroundings, with leadies to do their bidding. It’s so beautiful and empty up here, no dirty workers anywhere. Maybe we’ll wait just a few more years to bring the people from the shelters up, yeah? Because it’s just so nice up here, with only our friends up here. Those filthy people who came up on their own? Oh, they are housed in prison-like apartment complexes, where they have a roof over their head, food, their medical needs are seen to, they’re even given jobs!
Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust
published around 1990
where I got it: purchased used
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After Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory, I needed a unicorn chaser. And by that, I mean I needed a comfort read. Something fun, fast, with witty dialog, a plot that wouldn’t fry my brain, and some sexy romantic scenes wouldn’t hurt either. You know what bookshelf never lets me down? My Steven Brust bookshelf. As my finger went over the spines of Vlad Taltos paperbacks, I hit on a paperback that looked like it didn’t fit: Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille. Thinking I was going to be reading a fantasy novel, somehow I’d landed on straight up futuristic science fiction! Nice!
This little paperback is everything I was looking for in a happy unicorn chaser comfort read: it was a fast read full of snarky and witty dialog, the plot is a slow burn that was distracting enough to keep me from remembering all those scenes in The Wasp Factory, there was some satisfying (although mostly off-page) sex scenes, much of the book was strange to the point of loopy, and overall it was super fun.
When you’re inside Cowboy Feng’s, you’re always in the same place. It’s the outside that changes all the time. You see, nearly TARDIS like, this bar jumps around the galaxy. Always landing on an populated planet, and always jumping just before a nuclear bomb or other disaster hits the block, the trick is to be inside the bar when it jumps. Cowboy Feng’s serves some excellent food, and they have an excellent house Irish band, so any customers (or musicians) who happen to be in the restaurant when it jumps are along for the ride too. If a space-jumping restaurant doesn’t sound like your thing, read this just for the heavenly food and meal descriptions!
Libby the bartender and Fred the de facto manager have been with Feng’s for darn near forever. Along the way, they picked up Rich and Eve. One day, as the restaurant was getting ready to jump, the members of an Irish Band where there too. Billy, Tom, Rose, and Jamie became the house band that night. Even if they wanted to go home, they have no idea how to do that.
The story is told from Billy’s point of view, and starts just as the restaurant lands at a new location. Everyone gets settled, they scout out the neighborhood, open the bar for business, meet some locals, and the musicians even rent an apartment a few blocks away. And then a murder happens in the bar and the police don’t seem to care. By the way, this is the kind of story in which murders don’t randomly happen in random bars, and the kind of book in which it sure looks suspicious that the cops don’t seem to care. Seems even more suspicious that the poor sap who got killed bears a striking resemblance to Billy.
Traditional Irish music, the best food in the galaxy, a murder mystery, and the possible destruction of humanity. Who could ask for anything more?
the Little Red Reviewer 
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