Im not sure I can give much of a description of this book without spoiling it, so I am going to be very vague. Ramon Espejo is a Mexican immigrant to a frontier planet called Sao Paulo. Life there is fairly hard, and Ramon ekes out an existence as an independent prospector. When he's out in the field, he's fairly happy. When he goes back to the city, he shacks up with his crazy girlfriend, drinks too much, and they fight until she throws him out. He's a complete asshole, a man with no redeeming qualities whatever.
While out prospecting, he finds something he shouldn't, and soon he is in a game of cat and mouse with aliens, simply trying to survive and make it back to civilization. I can't say more without spoiling it.
Hunter's Run is a very compelling read. I gulped it down in an afternoon. It's well written and even enjoyable, despite Ramon's unfortunate personality. It has plenty of action, interesting aliens, and a fairly straightforward plot. It's a stand-alone novel, 300 pages in length, which is just about right for me. I enjoyed it very much, and would recommend it to anyone who likes fast-moving SF adventure.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher
I ordered Shadow of the Scorpion in May when Night Shade books was having a sale, and have been impatiently awaiting its arrival ever since as the publication date kept getting pushed back. It has finally arrived. Hooray!
Asher writes violent space adventure novels. Shadow of the Scorpion is set a few hundred years in the future. Instantaneous space travel is possible through a device called a runcible, which requires an AI to run it, as human brains simply don't have the capacity to understand it. In Asher's future, the AIs and androids (called golems) are definitely superior to human beings, and humans get augmentations in an attempt to keep up a bit. The Polity (a bit like Banks's Culture, except it isn't a utopia and isn't nearly as safe or nice) has been at war with a race of giant cannibalistic space crabs called the Prador for decades. The outbreak of the war was related in Asher's book Prador Moon, which is also published by Night Shade.
Shadow of the Scorpion is set in the youth of Ian Cormac, the tough Agent of the Polity featured in Gridlinked, Brass Man, and other volumes that I haven't managed to get hold of yet. It is set in two timelines, one in Cormac's childhood and the other when he was 23 and an inexperienced young soldier. Cormac has several experiences in his childhood in which he sees a battle drone that looks like a scorpion. Is it following him? And why does it make his mother so nervous?
As a 23-year-old, Cormac has joined the military and is sent to the planet called Hagren. He and his unit are fairly inexperienced, so they know that they are unlikely to be assigned to duty that is too dangerous or beyond their abilities. However it turns out to be much more exciting, and dangerous, than Cormac had expected. He soon finds himself fighting both Prador and humans, and also finds that he wants to track down the scorpion-shaped battle drone to ask it some questions.
I have said here before that I really like Asher's novels, so it's hardly surprising that I enjoyed this one. I read most of it in one sitting, and stayed up too late so that I could finish it. It was a very satisfying violent space adventure, and that's exactly what I wanted. Now I want to pick up Brass Man again for a re-read.
Asher writes violent space adventure novels. Shadow of the Scorpion is set a few hundred years in the future. Instantaneous space travel is possible through a device called a runcible, which requires an AI to run it, as human brains simply don't have the capacity to understand it. In Asher's future, the AIs and androids (called golems) are definitely superior to human beings, and humans get augmentations in an attempt to keep up a bit. The Polity (a bit like Banks's Culture, except it isn't a utopia and isn't nearly as safe or nice) has been at war with a race of giant cannibalistic space crabs called the Prador for decades. The outbreak of the war was related in Asher's book Prador Moon, which is also published by Night Shade.
Shadow of the Scorpion is set in the youth of Ian Cormac, the tough Agent of the Polity featured in Gridlinked, Brass Man, and other volumes that I haven't managed to get hold of yet. It is set in two timelines, one in Cormac's childhood and the other when he was 23 and an inexperienced young soldier. Cormac has several experiences in his childhood in which he sees a battle drone that looks like a scorpion. Is it following him? And why does it make his mother so nervous?
As a 23-year-old, Cormac has joined the military and is sent to the planet called Hagren. He and his unit are fairly inexperienced, so they know that they are unlikely to be assigned to duty that is too dangerous or beyond their abilities. However it turns out to be much more exciting, and dangerous, than Cormac had expected. He soon finds himself fighting both Prador and humans, and also finds that he wants to track down the scorpion-shaped battle drone to ask it some questions.
I have said here before that I really like Asher's novels, so it's hardly surprising that I enjoyed this one. I read most of it in one sitting, and stayed up too late so that I could finish it. It was a very satisfying violent space adventure, and that's exactly what I wanted. Now I want to pick up Brass Man again for a re-read.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink is a nonfiction work of popular science. In it, Gladwell argues that often the unconscious mind is better at absorbing data and making decisions than the conscious mind, and therefore it is often wise to follow your first impression.
An example Gladwell mentions repeatedly through the book is how the Getty Museum purchased a Greek statue after careful research and deliberation, only to have several art historians glance at the statue and pronounce it a fake. They were correct. The people the Getty consulted in deciding to buy the statue were no less knowledgeable than the art historians, but they were too overwhelmed with gathering evidence and data to follow their gut, which should have told them that the statue just didn't look quite right.
In fact, Gladwell argues, studies have shown that the unconscious mind often figures things out before the conscious mind does. He backs this up with study data that I won't repeat here. He also notes that with expensive purchases, buyer satisfaction tends to be lower if the purchaser spends too much time researching and considering options. The customer who looks at a few options and follows their gut is usually happier with their purchase.
Gladwell then spends time demolishing his argument by pointing out many instances in which first instinct serves us badly. So the message of the book is that sometimes it's best to follow your gut. Sometimes you'll be more satisfied and get things right if you follow your instant reaction, but not always. There are times when unconscious biases can cause problems.
For instance, he noted that professional symphonies had very few female players until they began using a screen during the audition process, so that decisions were based solely on the musical performance and not the musician's appearance. It was considered common knowledge that women were just not physically able to play certain instruments as well as men. But when the screen went up, lots of women began winning auditions--they weren't worse players than the men, but the listeners had perceived them to be worse because of (usually) unconscious biases.
Does this have any practical use? Probably not. Blink is a very entertaining book, but doesn't really give you advice to live by. Sometimes your first impulse is the best choice. Sometimes it's not. Still, I enjoyed reading it.
An example Gladwell mentions repeatedly through the book is how the Getty Museum purchased a Greek statue after careful research and deliberation, only to have several art historians glance at the statue and pronounce it a fake. They were correct. The people the Getty consulted in deciding to buy the statue were no less knowledgeable than the art historians, but they were too overwhelmed with gathering evidence and data to follow their gut, which should have told them that the statue just didn't look quite right.
In fact, Gladwell argues, studies have shown that the unconscious mind often figures things out before the conscious mind does. He backs this up with study data that I won't repeat here. He also notes that with expensive purchases, buyer satisfaction tends to be lower if the purchaser spends too much time researching and considering options. The customer who looks at a few options and follows their gut is usually happier with their purchase.
Gladwell then spends time demolishing his argument by pointing out many instances in which first instinct serves us badly. So the message of the book is that sometimes it's best to follow your gut. Sometimes you'll be more satisfied and get things right if you follow your instant reaction, but not always. There are times when unconscious biases can cause problems.
For instance, he noted that professional symphonies had very few female players until they began using a screen during the audition process, so that decisions were based solely on the musical performance and not the musician's appearance. It was considered common knowledge that women were just not physically able to play certain instruments as well as men. But when the screen went up, lots of women began winning auditions--they weren't worse players than the men, but the listeners had perceived them to be worse because of (usually) unconscious biases.
Does this have any practical use? Probably not. Blink is a very entertaining book, but doesn't really give you advice to live by. Sometimes your first impulse is the best choice. Sometimes it's not. Still, I enjoyed reading it.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett is at the top of the list of authors I buy in hardcover. I don't even bother to read reviews or synopses, I just order the book and read it. It's Pratchett, so I'll probably like it. (There have been a few exceptions, but usually even a weak Pratchett is good). Therefore I was rather surprised to open Nation and discover that it didn't take place on Discworld.
Nation is set on a historical Earth or, as the author notes at the end, not exactly Earth but an alternate Earth with a similar but not identical history. It is set in the South Pacific shortly after a tidal wave has wiped out the population of the area. The main characters are two 13-year-olds, one the lone survivor of his island, and the other a shipwrecked English girl. Together they pull together to survive and rebuild some sort of community with other survivors they meet, as well as examining religious belief and how a caring God could allow terrible things to happen, and protecting the island from pirates and headhunters.
Nation is published by HarperCollins Children's Books, which means it's $10 less expensive than if the same book had been published for adults. I'm okay with that. However, I'm not sure it works well as a children's novel or an adult novel. It squats sort of awkwardly across the line. Some of the events and topics pondered strike me as more adult content than children's--and I'm not one of those people who believe that children's books must be happy or simple, but there is a difference in how they are written about depending on who the audience is. It is certainly a book which is written so that adults can enjoy it, and probably pick up on some things that young readers wouldn't. And the best kids entertainment is written toward both audiences.
On the other hand, it has two 13 year olds as protagonists, and has them in leadership roles. They are the ones who figure out things the adults don't, and solve problems the adults can't. This is very typical of kids literature. The ending is easier and happier than it would be in an adult novel. The bad guys are defeated, the bullies are told to shut up, and everyone lived happily ever after.
Nation is not one of Pratchett's stronger novels. I read it in one sitting and it it flows along nicely and kept me reading to find out what happens next, but this isn't a book that I will re-read the way that I do my favorite Pratchetts. Nevertheless, it's a Pratchett, so it's worth reading.
Nation is set on a historical Earth or, as the author notes at the end, not exactly Earth but an alternate Earth with a similar but not identical history. It is set in the South Pacific shortly after a tidal wave has wiped out the population of the area. The main characters are two 13-year-olds, one the lone survivor of his island, and the other a shipwrecked English girl. Together they pull together to survive and rebuild some sort of community with other survivors they meet, as well as examining religious belief and how a caring God could allow terrible things to happen, and protecting the island from pirates and headhunters.
Nation is published by HarperCollins Children's Books, which means it's $10 less expensive than if the same book had been published for adults. I'm okay with that. However, I'm not sure it works well as a children's novel or an adult novel. It squats sort of awkwardly across the line. Some of the events and topics pondered strike me as more adult content than children's--and I'm not one of those people who believe that children's books must be happy or simple, but there is a difference in how they are written about depending on who the audience is. It is certainly a book which is written so that adults can enjoy it, and probably pick up on some things that young readers wouldn't. And the best kids entertainment is written toward both audiences.
On the other hand, it has two 13 year olds as protagonists, and has them in leadership roles. They are the ones who figure out things the adults don't, and solve problems the adults can't. This is very typical of kids literature. The ending is easier and happier than it would be in an adult novel. The bad guys are defeated, the bullies are told to shut up, and everyone lived happily ever after.
Nation is not one of Pratchett's stronger novels. I read it in one sitting and it it flows along nicely and kept me reading to find out what happens next, but this isn't a book that I will re-read the way that I do my favorite Pratchetts. Nevertheless, it's a Pratchett, so it's worth reading.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
Stations of the Tide won the Nebula Award in 1991. Like An Evil Guest, it seems to straddle the line between science fiction and fantasy.
Stations of the Tide takes place, mostly, on the planet Miranda. Miranda is a watery world, and at regular, predictable intervals, the seas rise and flood parts of the continent. Most of the wildlife of Miranda has adapted to survive these changes, but humans are not native to the planet and obviously aren't suited for such conditions. Stations of the Tide takes place just before the seas are due to flood the land, and everyone is being evacuated.
A nameless bureaucrat has been sent there to track down a man who may have prohibited technology brought from offworld. The potential outlaw, Gregorio, claims that he is a wizard and has the power to transform people so that they can live in the sea. He produces a television commercial in which he pushes an old woman off a cliff. She disappears into the water, and a sea creature breaks the surface and swims away. Is it real or fake?
Reason says that it is a fraud, but many of the people of Miranda want to believe in magic. Technology is strictly controlled on the planet, following some tragic misuses, including genocide of the native sentient race. The off-world authorities want to ensure that more Bad Things don't happen; and the people of Miranda, their revolution having been put down and their technological level kept artificially low, harbor a great deal of resentment about it. Witches are fairly common, and belief in magic is rampant.
The bureaucrat finds Gregorio very difficult to track down. Meanwhile he has some very surreal experiences and begins to wonder if some of the magic may be real, and if the native race may still exist in hiding. He is also, through an online interface, wondering about some confusing internal politics back at his office.
I found Stations of the Tide a bit slow to start and rough going in the middle. The story jumps around in place and time without much explanation, and the bureaucrat's surreal, disoriented experiences make for tedious reading. Nevertheless, there's a good payoff at the end. So it was one of those books, like I find sometimes in Arthur C. Clarke's novels, that I liked better after I finished it than I did as I was reading it.
Stations of the Tide takes place, mostly, on the planet Miranda. Miranda is a watery world, and at regular, predictable intervals, the seas rise and flood parts of the continent. Most of the wildlife of Miranda has adapted to survive these changes, but humans are not native to the planet and obviously aren't suited for such conditions. Stations of the Tide takes place just before the seas are due to flood the land, and everyone is being evacuated.
A nameless bureaucrat has been sent there to track down a man who may have prohibited technology brought from offworld. The potential outlaw, Gregorio, claims that he is a wizard and has the power to transform people so that they can live in the sea. He produces a television commercial in which he pushes an old woman off a cliff. She disappears into the water, and a sea creature breaks the surface and swims away. Is it real or fake?
Reason says that it is a fraud, but many of the people of Miranda want to believe in magic. Technology is strictly controlled on the planet, following some tragic misuses, including genocide of the native sentient race. The off-world authorities want to ensure that more Bad Things don't happen; and the people of Miranda, their revolution having been put down and their technological level kept artificially low, harbor a great deal of resentment about it. Witches are fairly common, and belief in magic is rampant.
The bureaucrat finds Gregorio very difficult to track down. Meanwhile he has some very surreal experiences and begins to wonder if some of the magic may be real, and if the native race may still exist in hiding. He is also, through an online interface, wondering about some confusing internal politics back at his office.
I found Stations of the Tide a bit slow to start and rough going in the middle. The story jumps around in place and time without much explanation, and the bureaucrat's surreal, disoriented experiences make for tedious reading. Nevertheless, there's a good payoff at the end. So it was one of those books, like I find sometimes in Arthur C. Clarke's novels, that I liked better after I finished it than I did as I was reading it.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe
I don't know quite what to make of An Evil Guest. It is a book that squats on the line between science fiction and fantasy, and was full of surprises.
Set in a future that probably isn't our own, the main character of An Evil Guest is Cassie Casey, an actress who is offered fame and wealth by the mysterious Dr. Gideon Chase. Chase, born on another planet while his father served there as ambassador, is a very expensive problem solver, who has recently been asked by the government to track down and capture powerful billionaire Bill Reis. Chase hopes to use Cassie as bait to attract and then spy on Reis. In exchange, he pays her a fee and tweaks her natural abilities enough to make her a star--gorgeous, popular, and a better actress than she had been before.
Reis is soon attracted to Cassie, and offers to finance a new musical with her as the star. He quickly proclaims his love for her and gives her expensive gifts. Chase also declares his love for her, and disappears after someone tries to kill him. She seems to be attracted to both men after very short acquaintance. Meanwhile she is being followed, and visited by people who want to learn where Chase is hiding; and bad things happen to her friends and coworkers. It soon seems that everyone involved is a double agent, working for two sides and informing on both. And then the werewolves show up.
If this book had been written by someone other than Gene Wolfe, and especially if it had been written by a certain sort of female writer, the main question of the book would have been which of the powerful, wealthy men of mystery Cassie chose (unless it were Laurell K. Hamilton, in which case she'd take both). This is a Gene Wolfe novel, though, so things don't end happily. And, though I wasn't wild about the last few chapters, it was a more powerful book because it was not predictably happy.
Cassie was a bit of a problem for me. We are told that she's drop-dead beautiful and is tiny, and yet she constantly pisses and moans about how fat she is. She's constantly unplugging her phone when it rings. She goes from fearing and loathing Bill Reis to loving him very abruptly and rather unbelievably. She isn't a likable or particularly real human being, but none of Wolfe's characters ever are. I just get the sense that she was the least interesting of the three major characters, and I'm always a bit disappointed when authors stick us in the point of view of the dullest person of the book.
This reminded me somehow of the fiction of the 1940s, especially early in the book. It also combines spies and intrigue with dark creatures from the vasty deep--which is what Charlie Stross did in The Jennifer Morgue, but they are vastly different books. And I find that interesting. Recommended, for readers who like Wolfe.
Set in a future that probably isn't our own, the main character of An Evil Guest is Cassie Casey, an actress who is offered fame and wealth by the mysterious Dr. Gideon Chase. Chase, born on another planet while his father served there as ambassador, is a very expensive problem solver, who has recently been asked by the government to track down and capture powerful billionaire Bill Reis. Chase hopes to use Cassie as bait to attract and then spy on Reis. In exchange, he pays her a fee and tweaks her natural abilities enough to make her a star--gorgeous, popular, and a better actress than she had been before.
Reis is soon attracted to Cassie, and offers to finance a new musical with her as the star. He quickly proclaims his love for her and gives her expensive gifts. Chase also declares his love for her, and disappears after someone tries to kill him. She seems to be attracted to both men after very short acquaintance. Meanwhile she is being followed, and visited by people who want to learn where Chase is hiding; and bad things happen to her friends and coworkers. It soon seems that everyone involved is a double agent, working for two sides and informing on both. And then the werewolves show up.
If this book had been written by someone other than Gene Wolfe, and especially if it had been written by a certain sort of female writer, the main question of the book would have been which of the powerful, wealthy men of mystery Cassie chose (unless it were Laurell K. Hamilton, in which case she'd take both). This is a Gene Wolfe novel, though, so things don't end happily. And, though I wasn't wild about the last few chapters, it was a more powerful book because it was not predictably happy.
Cassie was a bit of a problem for me. We are told that she's drop-dead beautiful and is tiny, and yet she constantly pisses and moans about how fat she is. She's constantly unplugging her phone when it rings. She goes from fearing and loathing Bill Reis to loving him very abruptly and rather unbelievably. She isn't a likable or particularly real human being, but none of Wolfe's characters ever are. I just get the sense that she was the least interesting of the three major characters, and I'm always a bit disappointed when authors stick us in the point of view of the dullest person of the book.
This reminded me somehow of the fiction of the 1940s, especially early in the book. It also combines spies and intrigue with dark creatures from the vasty deep--which is what Charlie Stross did in The Jennifer Morgue, but they are vastly different books. And I find that interesting. Recommended, for readers who like Wolfe.
Boring Knitting Stuff
Above is a photo of the two socks I am currently knitting. You will note that the sock on the left is smaller than the sock on the right, even though it has more stitches. This is partly due to needle size, as the sock on the left is knit with needles that are .25 mm smaller, but that's not the only reason.
I have made the pattern on the right before, with these same needles, and the result was my favorite pair of handknit socks. They fit better than any of the others I've made, so I decided to make them again. However, I'm using a different kind of yarn, and I find that it's made a tremendous difference. I knit them before in wool, like the sock on the left. The sock on the right is knit with Plymouth Sockotta, which is 45% cotton, 40% wool, and 15% nylon. Not only is less pleasant to knit with, but it lacks the stretchiness of wool, and the result is a looser, bigger sock.
I am going to have to measure my gauge, rip it out, and start over in a smaller size. But I'm actually rather dreading it, because it just isn't as nice to knit with as wool. The sock on the left is Cascade Heritage sock yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon), and after the Sockotta it was like knitting with butter--soft, smooth and forgiving. I just hope I have the will to hack my way through an entire pair of socks with the Sockotta, and I've learned my lesson--don't buy yarn just because it's pretty.
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