Second Breakfast

Stross is apparently well-regarded for his short fiction. This novel, set in a future 400 years distant, treads familiar “space opera” themes such as the contact between human and alien civilizations, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligences (which quickly outstrip the ability of their human creators to control much less master), and the paradoxes of time travel.

Like many so-called “hard” sci-fi writers, Stross places his emphasis more on plotting and ideas and less on character development, however his protagonists are faceted and believable, and he paces the book well. I particularly enjoyed his satirical look at the failures of communism and super-ideologies. I also enjoy the depth to which Stross works through his ideas to their conclusions. I’ll probably pick up the successor book “Iron Sunrise“, which is also available in paperback.

I’ve been a fan of Crowley’s writing since I found “Little, Big” 1991. In addition to “Little, Big”, Crowley has published three grouped novels: “Aegypt”, “Love and Sleep”, and “Daemonomania”, a collection of short fiction published most recently as “Otherwise”, and a new non-fantasy novel titled “The Translator”, which has been reviewed quite positively. Aegypt is out of print, and my understanding is that the two related books depend somewhat on the first for their context. I’ve been wanting to buy it, but not enough to pay $40 for a used copy.

Therefore I was excited to see “Novelties and Souvenirs - Collected Short Fiction” come out recently in paperback. This is a collection of short stories produced by Crowley over the past twenty-five years. The themes and genres are various, and are connected by Crowley’s excellent prose styling and melancholic tone.

I recently saw “Finding Neverland”, which is the story of J.M. Barrie’s writing of “Peter Pan”. Throughout the film we are given allegorical clues to the elements that ultimately wind up in Peter Pan: Porthos (who was a Newfoundland in real life, but becomes an English Sheepdog in the film), the coat hanger in Emma’s mother’s hand becomes the Captain’s eponymous Hook, and so on. In reading “Novelties and Souvenirs”, I had a similar experience with Crowley’s writing, at least with Little, Big.

In “Her Bounty to the Dead” we find an old farmhouse at the end of a winding driveway filled with old furniture and many rooms, much like Edgewood. In “Novelty” we have a writer who spends his days drinking in The Seventh Saint Bar and Grill, a location that features prominently in Little, Big. And we have similar characters to those in LB — filled with gnawing doubt and uncertainty, struggling with melancholy and regret. Crowley explores other themes as well, including a wonderful retelling of the creation story in “The Nightingale Sings at Night”, and a great time travel story in “The Great Work of Time”. Most of the stories are finely-crafted and successful.

I get the sense that Crowley mines heavily from his own life and personality, as does every writer. I think these stories probably show as much about the man as the themes and ideas he develops in his larger works.

How ignoble.

CNN.com - Lava lamp left on hot stovetop explodes, killing man - Nov 30, 2004

KENT, Washington (AP) — A man who placed a lava lamp on a hot stovetop was killed when it exploded and sent a shard of glass into his heart, police said.

Philip Quinn, 24, was found dead in his trailer home Sunday night by his parents.

“Why on earth he was heating a lava lamp on the stove, we don’t know,” Kent Police spokesman Paul Petersen said Monday.

After the lamp exploded, Quinn apparently stumbled into his bedroom, where he died Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

Police found no evidence of drug or alcohol use.

I have enjoyed Sheri S. Tepper’s writing for a number of years. Ms. Tepper has been writing books of feminist/utopian science fiction that I’ve found quite engaging, and sometimes very memorable. Her novel Raising the Stones is a particularly interesting exploration of gender and identity, and the companion novel Sideshow (set in the same universe at a later time) is well-plotted and satisfying (and a sometimes amusing poke at the academy) [Publisher's Weekly didn't like it -- I did]. Grass is also quite good, and Tepper establishes and sustains an eerie, creepy mood throughout the book.

I have continued to pick up Tepper’s books as they come out in paperback, but I’ve noticed a definite drop off in the quality of her writing. The plotting makes less sense, the digressions seem sometimes quite pointless, and her repertoire of themes has become increasingly limited. Some friends in Indiana who also enjoy sci-fi commented on the same thing (”maybe she’s just getting old…some of her recent books were terrible!”, Jeanette said). I picked up The Companions a few weeks ago hoping the Tepper might have redeemed herself, but alas. This was the worst of the lot — at several points early in the book Tepper bafflingly changes scene in mid-page and the overall narrative is rather tortuous and confused. I have this instictive reluctance to not finish a book once I’ve started it, as it seems intellectually dishonest or at least undisciplined. However life is too short to read bad books, and I’ve started to overcome this reluctance. So I’ve put Tepper’s books aside for now.

I’m disappointed. There are not a lot of women sci-fi writers (more than there used to be, but still not enough), and I used to look forward to Tepper’s releases.

[The Onion usually speaks for itself, but this one is particularly pointed. -bws]

WASHINGTON, DC—The economically disadvantaged segment of the U.S. population provided the decisive factor in another presidential election last Tuesday, handing control of the government to the rich and powerful once again.

“The Republican party—the party of industrial mega-capitalists, corporate financiers, power brokers, and the moneyed elite—would like to thank the undereducated rural poor, the struggling blue-collar workers in Middle America, and the God-fearing underpriviledged minorities who voted George W. Bush back into office,” Karl Rove, senior advisor to Bush, told reporters at a press conference Monday. “You have selflessly sacrificed your well-being and voted against your own economic interest. For this, we humbly thank you.”

Added Rove: “You have acted beyond the call of duty—or, for that matter, good sense.”

[full article]