Trask Industries: Your Future

A great ad for Trask Industries as promotion for X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Books Received in July, 2013

The synopses here are mostly from the Indigo website.  The exceptions are Time Splash, which is from the author's site and Her Ladyship's Curse, which is from Goodreads.

The Goliath Stone by Larry Niven & Matthew Joseph Harrington

Doctor Toby Glyer has effected miracle cures with the use of nanotechnology. But Glyer's controversial nanites are more than just the latest technological advance, they are a new form of life--and they have more uses than just medical. Glyer's nanites also have the potential to make everyone on Earth rich from the wealth of asteroids.

Twenty-five years ago, the Briareus mission took nanomachinery out to divert an Earth-crossing asteroid and bring it back to be mined, only to drop out of contact as soon as it reached its target. The project was shut down and the technology was forcibly suppressed.

Now, a much, much larger asteroid is on a collision course with Earth--and the Briareus nanites may be responsible. While the government scrambles to find a solution, Glyer knows that their only hope of avoiding Armageddon lies in the nanites themselves. On the run, Glyer must track down his old partner, William Connors, and find a way to make contact with their wayward children.

As every parent learns, when you produce a new thinking being, the plans it makes are not necessarily your plans. But with a two-hundred-gigaton asteroid that rivals the rock that felled the dinosaurs hurtling toward Earth, Glyer and Connors don't have time to argue.

Will Glyer's nanites be Earth's salvation or destruction?

Timesplash by Graham Storrs

It started out as something underground, edgy and cool. Then Sniper took it all too far and timesplashing became the ultimate terrorist weapon.

Scarred by their experiences in the time traveling party scene, Jay and Sandra are thrown together in what becomes the biggest manhunt in history: the search for Sniper, Sandra's ex-boyfriend and a would-be mass murderer.

Set in the near future, Timesplash is a fast-paced action thriller. Filled with great characters, a sprinkling of romance, and a new and intriguing take on time travel, Timesplash is ultimately a very human tale about finding bravery through fear, and never giving up.

Storm Riders by Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes.  This is the follow-up to Shadow Raiders.

In a world where magic is intrinsic to the fabric of everyday life, two kingdoms, centuries-long enemies, have long sought a powerful magical weapon that will win them lasting dominance. But neither realm is ready when they are both attacked by the Bottom-Dwellers, a bitter people whose own land was destroyed, and who now live only to take vengeance on those they blame for a wretched life in the storm-tossed abyss they inhabit. Using contramagic strengthened by blood sacrifice to attack the world above, they threaten to bring down whole cities, or even the island kingdoms themselves. Freya and Rosia are forced to put aside their age-old conflict to defend themselves, or risk losing everything.

As the Bottom-Dwellers' contramagic eats away at the magic of the dragons that helps protect the world above, a former dragon-riding hero gathers a ragtag group to form a new dragon brigade, the one desperate hope of the two kingdoms to defeat the fiends who threaten their world. As the effects of contramagic bring the world ever closer to disaster, the new dragon brigade fight the vengeful adversary. Their high-flying heroics will be to no avail, though, unless they can somehow uncover forbidden knowledge, long hidden by the Church, without which they will never be able to prevent the world's destruction.

Her Ladyship's Curse by Lynn Viehl

In a steampunk version of America that lost the Revolutionary War, Charmian (Kit) Kittredge makes her living investigating magic crimes and exposing the frauds behind them. While Kit tries to avoid the nobs of high society, as the proprietor of Disenchanted & Co. she follows mysteries wherever they lead.

Lady Diana Walsh calls on Kit to investigate and dispel the curse she believes responsible for carving hateful words into her own flesh as she sleeps. While Kit doesn’t believe in magic herself, she can’t refuse to help a woman subjected nightly to such vicious assaults. As Kit investigates the Walsh family, she becomes convinced that the attacks on Diana are part of a larger, more ominous plot—one that may involve the lady’s obnoxious husband.

Sleuthing in the city of Rumsen is difficult enough, but soon Kit must also skirt the unwanted attentions of nefarious deathmage Lucien Dredmore and the unwelcome scrutiny of police Chief Inspector Thomas Doyle. Unwilling to surrender to either man’s passion for her, Kit struggles to remain independent as she draws closer to the heart of the mystery. Yet as she learns the truth behind her ladyship’s curse, Kit also uncovers a massive conspiracy that promises to ruin her life—and turn Rumsen into a supernatural battleground from which no one will escape alive.

The World of the End by Ofir Touche Gafla.  I finished this fascinating book dealing with the afterlife earlier this week.  You can read my review of it here.

As an epilogist, Ben Mendelssohn appreciates an unexpected ending. But when that denouement is the untimely demise of his beloved wife, Ben is incapable of coping. Marian was more than his life partner; she was the fiber that held together all that he is. And Ben is willing to do anything, even enter the unknown beyond, if it means a chance to be with her again.

One bullet to the brain later, Ben is in the Other World, where he discovers a vast and curiously secular existence utterly unlike anything he could have imagined: a realm of sprawling cities where the deceased of every age live an eternal second life, and where forests of family trees are tended by mysterious humans who never lived in the previous world. But Ben cannot find Marian.

Desperate for a reunion, he enlists an unconventional afterlife investigator to track her down, little knowing that his search is entangled in events that continue to unfold in the world of the living. It is a search that confronts Ben with one heart-rending shock after another; with the best and worst of human nature; with the resilience and fragility of love; and with truths that will haunt him through eternity.

Short Film: The Final Moments of Karl Brant

I saw a teaser for this film a few days ago on the Nerdest.com website and yesterday the short film went up.  It's a great noir murder mystery with a strong SF slant.

From their youtube listing:

Set in the near future where experimental technology allows two detectives to bring a murder victim back to life in a digital state in order to question him about his final moments.

Written and directed by M. Francis Wilson
Starring Paul Reubens, Janina Gavankar, Fay Masterson, Jon Sklaroff and Pete Chekvala
For more Final Moments of Karl Brant head to:
http://www.finalmomentsmovie.com

Book Review: The World of the End by Ofir Touche Gafla

Translated by: Mitch Ginsburg

Pros: fascinating world of the after life, complex plot, lyrical writing, interesting and diverse characters

Cons: one plot point revolves around assault

Ben Mendelssohn is a righter of endings, an epilogist.  A year after his wife's unexpected death he kills himself, expecting a touching reunion on the other side.  But while he's correct that there's life after death, he's not expecting the complexity or strangeness of the otherworld.  And he's definitely not expecting that his wife is nowhere to be found.

The novel alternates between chapters of Ben's life/afterlife with those of seemingly random side characters.  As the novel progresses and the various side stories merge you start to realize how lives intersect and affect each other in the most bizarre ways.  

The alternating chapters ramp up the suspense as each chapter with Ben ends with him discovering something on his quest to find his wife.  But you don't find out what it is until his next chapter, propelling you through the book at a breakneck pace.

While I liked Ben, some of the side characters were harder to relate to.  For example, while I pitied Ann's childhood, her attitude as an adult, based on adult decisions, was in many ways reprehensible.  And yet, her part of the story was so interesting it was hard to stop reading. 

As a work in translation (from Hebrew no less) word choice becomes important.  There were two decisions that I wondered about.  The first was Ben's career as a righter (as opposed to writer).  I'm not sure if there was meant to be a deeper meaning to the choice that I simply didn't get (which I'm willing to accept as one chapter dealt with the writings of Salmon Rushdie, an author I've not read, and I'm sure it contained allusions I therefore missed).  Along the same lines I'm not sure if the Babel chip the citizens of the Other World get is just a reference to the Biblical story or if I was supposed to think of the Babel fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well.  

The second word choice that surprised me was the use of the term 'midget' as opposed to the more politically correct 'little people' to describe two of the characters.  I do applaud the author for including not one but two little people in important supporting roles.  The only question I had here was that at one point one of them hosts someone at their home and I was left wondering if the furniture was sized for her, thereby potentially harder to use by her guest?

The world of the afterlife was fascinating.  I don't want to spoil anything, as the author slowly brings different aspects of the world into focus, but he really did flesh out the world well.  I did wonder why orientation didn't explain several things - particularly about the aliases - which would have been very helpful for the protagonist (and presumably countless others) to know.

One of the plot points revolves around an assault, which may be triggering for some readers though there is no gratuitous description.  Similarly, one character is revealed as a pedophile, though one who doesn't abuse children.  

I found the ending itself a touch anti-climactic, though it did fit the book perfectly. 

Ultimately this is a great book with a compelling mystery, discourses on death - and what, if anything, it means - some romance and a unique cast of characters.  You'll go through a gambit of emotions reading it as you race to the end.  

Stranger Than Fiction: Columbus and the Globe + Medievalizing the Modern World

I saw this video on Medievalists.net.  The site reports on academic papers, videos, conferences etc.

Both talks, part of a conference at the British Academy, touch on how the 19th century's views of the Middle Ages have warped our own education and thought processes.

Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame and author of Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of the Medieval Mercenary) talks about how the people of the past did not believe the world was flat, and Christopher Columbus was not trying to prove that point when he 'discovered' America.  He also describes more of what Columbus was actually like.

The second talk (starting around the 30 minute mark) is by Patrick Geary, a professor of history at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton and author of The Myth of Nations.  He talks on how modern nations look to a single point in their medieval past in order to create a unified nation in the present, without considering the changes that took place before and after that moment.

Please be aware that there is a minor amount of disturbing imagery in the talks with regards to slavery and war.

The last 20 or so minutes are a Q and A with the audience.  I particularly liked the question that comes at 1:07:41 on how people in the Middle Ages saw themselves with regards to their pieces of land and their political status (vs our own view of nationality).  Geary's answer is fantastic.

Reading Recommendations by Professionals: Introduction

This is the first post of my new series for SF Signal: Reading Recommendations by Professionals!  So if this looks familiar, that's where you saw it.

In this series, I ask various publishing professionals (including authors, bloggers, editors, agents etc.) to recommend 2-3 authors or books they feel haven't received the recognition they deserve.

I'm hoping this series will highlight some under-appreciated authors on a biweekly schedule, dependent of course on the responses I get.  I do have several posts lined up already, but I'm looking for more.  If you're a professional and you'd like to participate, please contact me at jessica (dot) strider (at) gmail.com with "Recommendations" as the subject.

To get us started, here are some of my recommendations:

1. Carol Berg - I normally like one or two series by an author and can't get interested in other things they write.  Not so with Carol Berg.  She's got several series, all different lengths (from a stand alone to a 4 book series) set in different worlds with different magic systems, types of characters, etc.  And despite coming up with new worlds and everything, she still manages to publish a book a year!  I have loved every book by her that I've read (and I've read all but her most recent 3, and that's just because I haven't had time to pick them up and read them all together - because hers are the kinds of books where you NEED to read the next  one immediately).  My only complaint with her work is that by the end of a series she's punished her protagonists so much I'm not sure how they're still alive and optimistic enough to keep going.  My favourite book is Transformation, as it's got just enough humour to make the abuse the protagonist goes through not seem so grim.  But all of her books are fantastic.
2. James Knapp wrote the brilliant Revivors trilogy.  His new novel, under the pseudonym James Decker, Burn Zone, features an asian female protagonist and truly alien aliens.  His writing is tight and fast-paced and you've got to pay attention because things mentioned offhandedly in the novel come back as important clues later on.  If you want to give him a try, I'd start with State of Decay.
3. Violette Malan has written 6 books, two involving contemporary Toronto and the realm of faery (starting with The Mirror Prince), and four secondary world fantasy novels (starting with The Sleeping God).  If you like books with strong paired male and female protagonists, I can't recommend her work enough.

Stay tuned for the next post where we learn who Brandon Sanderson thinks we should be reading more of!

Space Stamps

I've wanted to post this for a while but just got around to doing the footwork for it.  One of my relatives used to collect stamps and my grandmother would buy sets of 500 or more for them, organized either by country or subject.  When she died, my parents brought some of these unwanted - and unopened - stamp sets home and they've recently come into my possession.

One of the stamp sets dealt with space.  It's interesting to see how many different countries created commemorative stamps for space associated achievements.  I do apologize for the upside down stamps. I kept forgetting which way to put them on the scanner.  And for some reason, though the stamps weren't near the edges, the scanner chose to cut off part of the edge of the second picture.