Paul Di Filippo Fractal Paisleys Four Walls Eight Windows, 1997. I like both Paul and his work, but these stories are so wacky that you probably should read them betwixt other works; read one after another, they seem both too odd and a bit too similar. Overall Strange Trades is the most balanced and interesting… Continue reading Books Read: Paul Di Filippo’s Fractal Paisleys
Category: Books
Book Proof Received:
Little Women and Werewolves
No, really. Louisa May Alcott and Porter Grand’s Little Women and Werewolves Del Rey, 2010, $14.00 I try to create a parody, and instead it comes out as prophecy.
Books Read: Kage Baker’s The Women of Neil Gwynne’s
Kage Baker, The Women of Neil Gwynne’s Subterranean Press, 2009. By now you’ve probably heard that Kage Baker died of a particularly aggressive form of cancer on January 31 of this year. I did not know Baker (I may have said hello in passing one Armadillocon), and thus have no particular insight into her as… Continue reading Books Read: Kage Baker’s The Women of Neil Gwynne’s
Books Read: Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris
I know Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris is regarded as a classic, and the version I read (the U.S. first edition) evidently suffers from being “double-translated” (Polish to French to English), but this is still a bit of a dated slog. The characters combine the flat-effect of stereotyped scientists with the foolish incompetence of a horror-movie protagonist.… Continue reading Books Read: Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris
Books Read: Joe R. Lansdale’s Vanilla Ride
Joe R. Lansdale Vanilla Ride Random House, 2009, $24.95 It had been nearly a decade since the last Hap & Leonard novel, so it was good to catch up with them again. The last one, Captains Outrageous, occasionally suffered from having too many people on stage at the same time, which is why it was… Continue reading Books Read: Joe R. Lansdale’s Vanilla Ride
ABE Books Doesn’t Know Dick
I stopped dealing books on ABE Books eight years ago because it was obvious they wanted to nickle-and-dime dealers to death, as well as force us to sign up for third party re-sale programs that were previously voluntary. Plus the people in charge didn’t strike me as the smartest knives in the toolbox. Speaking of… Continue reading ABE Books Doesn’t Know Dick
Dan Simmons Signing Followup (With Pics)
I’ve been meaning to post about the Dan Simmons signing last Tuesday, but it’s been a busy week. I hadn’t seen Simmons since he came through to sign at Adventures in Crime and Space for (IIRC) The Crook Factory. At the time I did an interview with him for Nova Express, except that I cleverly… Continue reading Dan Simmons Signing Followup (With Pics)
Books Read: John Scalzi’s The God Engines
John Scalzi The God Engines Subterranean Press, 2009 (stated; actually not received until 2010) This novella starts off with a great opening line: “It was time to whip the God.” From there it posits a universe in which humanity’s God has conquered other gods and bound them to servitude, including providing a means of FTL… Continue reading Books Read: John Scalzi’s The God Engines
In Which I Fail to Review Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House
Gene Wolfe The Sorcerer’s House Tor, 2010. $24.99 So, once again I’m faced with the problem of how to review a Gene Wolfe book. This is much akin to explaining to radio listeners what a great dancer Fred Astaire is: For those who have seen him, such an explanation is unnecessary; for those who haven’t,… Continue reading In Which I Fail to Review Gene Wolfe’s The Sorcerer’s House
Dan Simmons Signing at BookPeople, Tuesday, March 2, 7 PM
Yes, that’s today. Signing his new book Black Hills. Only found out recently myself, and have been too busy to put up a link…