I first read this 25 years ago in an anthology I still have to this day. I had read a lot of short fiction by that time, as well as a mountain of SF nI first read this 25 years ago in an anthology I still have to this day. I had read a lot of short fiction by that time, as well as a mountain of SF novels.
I'm happy to say that this random little story from over two decades ago has done a better job of immortalizing itself to me than any other. Few have shone as brightly as this one. Indeed, I might say this one is my absolute favorite short SF of all time.
Sure, some older SF authors might have touched on the same overall theme and some later authors will have done the same, but this one has everything I love most.
Back in '98, nanotech was still shiny, but what never goes out of style is a good tale: all the love, immortality, sheer unrestrained originality, time, and memory.
It's a densely crafted tale that sets up the seven days of Solomon Grundy, only hard-SF -- and it's full of heart. It rejects the idea that immortality kills love. There's a lot more going on in it than is obvious in even two reads.
I'll be honest here: if I had any way to immortalize this story, make sure everyone in the universe reads it, gets it under their skin, then I would be a very happy man. If any story should not be forgotten, if it should have many, many reprints, then it ought to be this one.
I'm the sanest man. I clean my basement floor. I've even set up my chair and spend a lot of time in here. I tell you, there is no well in my basement.I'm the sanest man. I clean my basement floor. I've even set up my chair and spend a lot of time in here. I tell you, there is no well in my basement.
Sure, some man told me he was a prince of mars and a great leader of a rebellion and the only way to get back is through the well, but I don't believe him. Really. The universe let him discover a great brick wall.
I don't believe. I don't care who else might believe, like any sci-fi fan or even some fantastical author that might be dreaming me up, I don't believe, and that's fine and good.
So why do I insist on waiting in this damned cellar?
Aside:
This was a pretty cool armchair adventure that felt a little like Edgar Rice Burroughs, except much more concise. The worldbuilding was rather neat for such a short story.
Merged review:
I'm the sanest man. I clean my basement floor. I've even set up my chair and spend a lot of time in here. I tell you, there is no well in my basement.
Sure, some man told me he was a prince of mars and a great leader of a rebellion and the only way to get back is through the well, but I don't believe him. Really. The universe let him discover a great brick wall.
I don't believe. I don't care who else might believe, like any sci-fi fan or even some fantastical author that might be dreaming me up, I don't believe, and that's fine and good.
So why do I insist on waiting in this damned cellar?
Aside:
This was a pretty cool armchair adventure that felt a little like Edgar Rice Burroughs, except much more concise. The worldbuilding was rather neat for such a short story....more
I remember reading this back around 20 years ago and being blown away by the epic-level magic, the mixing of mythologies, and the beautiful core of thI remember reading this back around 20 years ago and being blown away by the epic-level magic, the mixing of mythologies, and the beautiful core of this retelling of the Arthurian legend.
On re-read, I'm no less blown away.
There's so much to love in this. We get the genealogies of angels and demons under a very creative worldbuilding banner, the genealogies of Arthur's ancestors and the world into which he was born, a LOT of the extremely interesting take on Merlin, the demon who lives backwards, and especially Arthur's (or rather, Arthor's) parents and their peaceful mix of the ancient Druidic magics and Christianity.
Every page in this book shows a love of ALL mythologies and the desire to include them all under a single banner, just like the High King did for all the savages. The mirroring is gorgeous.
I look at so many modern epic fantasies and it's hard not to think we've lost something by comparison. I'm not saying the focus on Christianity is the thing that's missing. I'm saying the RICHNESS of it and all the others is what's missing, interwoven in a truly archetypal and gorgeous plethora of storytelling. :)
Granted, I didn't truly fall into the magic of this book until around half-way through, the slow build really aided in my love for the rest.
The magic in this book, even by today's jaded consumption of magic... is still quite amazing. There are always limits, balances, and rules.
This is one of the better short stories, taking place in the '60s and really a nice set piece. Fascinating for what it is but, of course, one needs toThis is one of the better short stories, taking place in the '60s and really a nice set piece. Fascinating for what it is but, of course, one needs to know the rest of the series to really enjoy it. :)
Merged review:
This is one of the better short stories, taking place in the '60s and really a nice set piece. Fascinating for what it is but, of course, one needs to know the rest of the series to really enjoy it. :)...more
This is definitely a case of wanting to like the concept and the tale more than actually enjoying it.
The Three-Body Problem series is one of my all-tiThis is definitely a case of wanting to like the concept and the tale more than actually enjoying it.
The Three-Body Problem series is one of my all-time favorite SFs and I was initially dismayed and then vaguely curious to hear that a lucky fan fiction that had come out days after the release of the third book had taken off so hard that it was later canonized with the originals. The author was quick to point out that that wasn't the intent, however, and it should be read in the spirit it was written: for fun.
So that's what I did. And in some ways, it exceeded many expectations. Think hardcore Stephen Baxter with a scope that not only spans the lifetime of the universe and beyond it, but even multiple iterations and re-dos with vast uber-intelligent entities playing out an ongoing story that attempts to settle the Dark Forest question at last.
I did enjoy the real physics talk and the exploration of living in different dimensions (not nearly as hokey as one might believe) that was explored in the originals. I also loved the grand scheme, the philosophical questions, and even in the inclusion of myths and old tales in the down-to-earth bits. (All irony included)
What I suppose I missed most, however, was the actual grounding of the novel. A love story is good, mind you, and so is an epic battle between very epic forces, but I got to the point where I didn't care EXCEPT for the high-concept bits.
The originals were much better for this.
However, there is quite a bit of good in here and I wouldn't automatically dismiss it. But please, whatever you do, read the originals first. This wouldn't make ANY sense whatsoever without them....more
I can say a lot of good things about this book. Helliconia's worldbuilding is rather vast and interesting and if you're an SF fan that dies over long I can say a lot of good things about this book. Helliconia's worldbuilding is rather vast and interesting and if you're an SF fan that dies over long time-spans, rich planet history, and cultural upheavals on an alien world, then this is for you.
It's made even more complicated when the world had thousands of years of ice ages and warmer periods that affect all the cultures, but it's most interesting when we have the conflicts between the local humans and the indigenous intelligent life. Add the fact that there's a human space station observing all this and sending the feed back to Earth for entertainment, keeping the world quarantined except for a rare lottery that lets the bored go down, and we've got a better setup for a bit of chaos.
This is an epic book. Epic in the sense that it is vast and vastly imagined.
So why do I give it only 4 stars? Because while it is fascinating, intellectually, it's not particularly gripping. I respect it. I simply don't fall off the balcony for it. It's still a good read, though. ...more
This is set in the same zeitgeist as Central Station, of which I absolutely adored for not just its unabashed hard-SF nature, itWow! What a gut punch!
This is set in the same zeitgeist as Central Station, of which I absolutely adored for not just its unabashed hard-SF nature, its robots, its deserts, it's Tel Aviv atmosphere and post-dystopian nightmare, and its DEEP, deep worldbuilding.
I can't overstate the last enough. It's RICH.
And Neom is, too. Overflowing with imagination, references to fascinating events and people (mostly robots), and places all over the Solar System.
What is most surprising is how easy it is to fall into. It never overwhelms us. It starts with a friendly smile and a shared rose and a slice of life in the desert in Neom. I was heavily charmed and just loved the ride for what it was. It was all about living. Just living. And that includes all the robots AND humans, trying to make their way in a time that doesn't want either of them.
But later? Oh my god... I didn't see that coming but it was so gorgeous, so heartwrenching. And I should explain that it isn't the normal kind of heartwrenching. It caught me unawares. It blindsided me.
And now, after reading this, I want to go back and re-read Central Station just for the sheer pleasure of it. (Knowledge of it is not necessary, but it does deepen the effect.)
Alastair Reynold's new standalone novel is a real keeper. At first, I thought it was a homage to Cloud Atlas by way of Dan Simmon's Terror, but after Alastair Reynold's new standalone novel is a real keeper. At first, I thought it was a homage to Cloud Atlas by way of Dan Simmon's Terror, but after getting much farther along, I've got to say that its title gives it all away. And pleasantly so.
Eversion: not to be confused with inversion, is a fancy way of saying "inside-out". After being grounded in several incarnations of exploration ships, having twisted myself up with the great characterizations, I have to say that I came out of this a bit inside-out, as well.
But then there's the whole question of topology. And that's where things get really interesting.
Solid, or quite more than solid SF here. Reynolds is always one of my top to-go guys for the genre and he's proven himself many times over. I'm reminded of some of his very best short fiction in these pages, a huge-concept piece written adroitly, and in the end, he gives us a great psychological knife-twist.
I totally recommend this for lovers of old-and-new-school exploration fiction. The ice-on-the-boat ambiance totally got me going, as did the slow introduction to the mystery.
This one offered up some pretty great SFnal surprises.
From the start, I had some suspicions that this would be something like a culture-shock kind ofThis one offered up some pretty great SFnal surprises.
From the start, I had some suspicions that this would be something like a culture-shock kind of novel in a poor human colony world meeting the long list of truly fascinating alien (ish) races that were serendipitously uplifted in the previous Children of Time novels. (All fantastic, clever, philosophical, and well-explored.)
This one, however, takes a right turn to the others. My expectations had to swerve and were nicely pummeled by Tchaikovsky.
Now, as for the new alien race we get to explore, it's a classic Sentience problem with some great Corvids, as conducted by an actual AI, with lots of opinions carried by a slime mold, octopus, spiders, and some human memories. :) I mean... to say I'm intrigued is to say very little at all.
That being said, the author continues a dialogue with older SF but writes it in a great modern way with lots of attention to detail and description. I still say this series is a must-read for any fan of SF.
Frankly, Jeff Noon cannot be beat. When it comes to outright feats of the imagination, there are VERY few writers who can pull off a truly WEIRD, deliFrankly, Jeff Noon cannot be beat. When it comes to outright feats of the imagination, there are VERY few writers who can pull off a truly WEIRD, delightfully original, and thoroughly quasi-meta fiction with several hard-core levels. And he does it by writing a basic Noir mystery novel in some kind of 1960s.
It's really easy to read but it's insanely difficult to describe.
Jeff Noon somehow re-invents the fantasy genre while couching it within a mystery, throwing us into some VERY detailed and strict worldbuilding rules. (And each Nyquist adventure is in a completely different kind of reality that Nyquist has to figure out, just as we must.) It gets thoroughly wild.
In brief: we travel between the cities of Delirium and Escher. In Delirium, images of a person can be cut or they can escape. A movie star has his extra persona, his image, go missing. This is where Nyquist comes in.
The place is a paranoic dreamland and Nyquist starts hearing voices and falling under the spell of the city, and that's barely the beginning. People's whole identities are caught up in what's within them, the alter ego that sometimes comes out to play. The alters, themselves, are quite independent and rather literary. The alter that went missing is named Oberon. Nyquist's alter just happens to be a certain Gregor Samsa. And if you know who I mean, you can guess a LOT about what will happen here. And yes, it IS that wild.
And all the while, the many mysteries unfold. I cannot recommend these books enough. They're super smart, amazingly original, and freakishly glorious. ...more
Where Tales from the Loop was eerie and smooth and original, The Electric State oozes a barely concealed scream in a Western USA dystopia that's part Where Tales from the Loop was eerie and smooth and original, The Electric State oozes a barely concealed scream in a Western USA dystopia that's part Singularity and part Biological AI-human convergence nightmare. And with the artwork, the effortless brief storytelling, the total immersion in the normal, and the new-normal, it's way too easy to lose oneself in the book.
To say that I'm an utter fanboy of these is to not say enough at all.
This was absolutely gorgeous. Not just the artwork, but the storytelling. I cannot recommend it enough....more
Extremely low-key but eerie and dark science fiction. So minimalist, and it makes us ask far more questions than we'll ever have answers to. It's an aExtremely low-key but eerie and dark science fiction. So minimalist, and it makes us ask far more questions than we'll ever have answers to. It's an art book, mostly, but I got the biggest kick out of the text.
In actual fact, the tiny snippets of text are really short stories that seem to be a slice of coming-of-age-Sweedish life with a handful of experiences while growing up, but the matter-of-fact inclusions of electromagnetic floating machines, precisely balanced robotics, and an enormous super-collider beneath the island that keeps doing weird stuff like FOLDING SPACE AND TIME kinda makes this ominous as all hell.
But for those who grew up in the Eighties in the Loop, it was all pretty normal.
I could lose myself in this forever. I'm really surprised and pleased by this. There are SO many mysteries. :)...more
I may have an unpopular opinion about this book, considering the things I've heard about it, but DAMN this was FINE.
Bear with me a moment and I'll expI may have an unpopular opinion about this book, considering the things I've heard about it, but DAMN this was FINE.
Bear with me a moment and I'll explain.
I identified with it in a big way.
I felt like I was reliving all my experiences as a psychologist, reliving my extensive reading experience, be it non-fiction, mind-related, philological, new-classic literature, or a little heads-up on a little concept known as EMPATHY. And then there was the whole focus and glorious boost of Dune as a piece of culture, of a modern mythology/meme, and I fell in love with the book. Indeed, since I've read Dune over fifteen times and if I'm in a tight spot I even repeat the Fear Mantra to myself in RL, I was seriously in the text.
But when it comes to the novel itself, I was most impressed with how smart it was. This cyberpunk mystery features an investigator who uses empathy to get to where he needs to be rather than muscle or straight hacking. It's something of a flip on the head for normal noir tales and cyberpunk in specific.
Let me say this straight: it's brimming with great, serious ideas about who we are, culturally, biologically, sociologically, and technologically. The core mystery was always fascinating (at least to me, since I AM a psychology freak,) and very satisfying, all the way up to and including the massive blowout we know is coming -- a blowout that will utterly f**k-up humanity good. Drugs? Yes, but not your average cyberpunk drug story. This is pretty wicked.
So why isn't this book getting more love?
Hell if I know.
It's one of the better cyberpunks, period, sending a message that hasn't been butchered to hell and seriously needs a good polish and display. Empathy, people. I'm both impressed with the choice and the execution of the idea.
I mean, it's not like there's an awful lot of it these days. I, for one, would LOVE to see a comeback. ...more
This new book by Reynolds is going to be slightly difficult to review. If you haven't read any of the previous novels in the Revelation Space universeThis new book by Reynolds is going to be slightly difficult to review. If you haven't read any of the previous novels in the Revelation Space universe, or the short stories or novellas, then you might have a perfectly fine time with the read.
It takes us on a long trip through time and space, letting us still feel the horror of the Melding Plague, passing through the time of Chasm City and through the ruins of Yellowstone back when it used to glitter in The Prefect and heads us right through the Wolves and the self-replicating ancient horror that is destroying all sentient life, more than touching on the events in Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap and sending us through Galactic North, as refugees and later as a kind of resistance front.
The writing is tight and the story is nearly perfect.
But. Nearly halfway through, I kept getting this nagging feeling that I had read this before. I was really enjoying everything about Glass, but just seeing Clavain return made me wonder how he was involved in all this. Mind you, I loved him in the earlier books and while I didn't read them when they came out, I did read them almost a decade ago, so maybe I was thinking that my memory was messing with me. That may still be the case, of course, and I would have to re-read the other books I mentioned again, side-by-side with this new one, to see the real differences, but I'm pretty sure that I just read a pretty extensive re-write of Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap. A lot must have been cut out and even more was tightened up, turning Inhibitor Phase into ... dare I say it ... a superior product.
Am I just imagining things? I don't think so. Of course, it could be a combination of all the short stories and novellas and novels wrapped up in my head, re-formed into THIS, a fully coherent, streamlined tale of the extras, and I'm just tripping.
Either way, I enjoyed it. Maybe less than I thought I would because so much of it seemed so damn familiar, but I still enjoyed it. After all, I enjoyed all the others, too.
Even though I spent a lot of time on this issue, I should mention that the Revelation Space series, as a whole, is something REALLY huge and amazingly detailed for any kind of SF comparison. Indeed the complicated and subtle distinctions between what we call people, be they cyborgs, half pig-half human, uploaded minds, ocean intelligences, slugs, or so much more, is perfectly offset by the pitfalls of tech, enhanced by blood-as-physical-weapons, universe-devouring nanotech, and such large-scale constructions that would have sent Niven or Clarke into conniptions.
This SF is on another scale from most. My problems or praise with it are only expressed in a comparison with Reynold's other books.
Homo Quantus return in the Quantum War, providing us fantastically evolving humans five hundred years in the future. This is a mix of space opera, warHomo Quantus return in the Quantum War, providing us fantastically evolving humans five hundred years in the future. This is a mix of space opera, wartime footing action, and deeper characterizations than straight action.
Whereas The Quantum Magician was more of a heist novel and The Quantum Garden was more of a rescue operation, The Quantum War was more of an exploitation/war-readiness moral quandary issue than either of the ones that came before.
The best parts, at least to me, all revolve around the question and use of the Homo Quantus. At certain times they are highly revered, sweet people with Down Syndrome, and at other times, they're cyborged-out savants that think a thousand times faster than normal humans. And they are forced into war. Refugees, the powerful fearful, and the exploited are all forced on a very circuitous path.
As always, I love Künsken's exploration of what it means to be human. Even getting into SEVERAL new branches of humanity: the kind we create or the kind we become and whatever is left behind. Shake all of this up into some wild, often highly high-brow SF possibilities (damn, I love the possibilities of that Iron) and even some timey-wimey stuff that's only possible thanks to this new evolution.
If you are waiting for some great new Hard-SF that doesn't fear to push those boundaries, then definitely read these.
I do recommend reading them in order even if we explore new characters. It's totally possible to read these out of publication order, mind you, but I got a lot more out of this because I was already familiar with so much of the tech, the cool combinations of AI and Human, and the big stuff on the fringes.
For any of the times that I may have complained about the characters or how I may not have loved them as much as the previous volumes, I have three orFor any of the times that I may have complained about the characters or how I may not have loved them as much as the previous volumes, I have three or four OMG moments for everything else about this book.
The sheer scope of future history is one bit. But I'm all about the reveals about the Golden Path and what it meant for the social, political, scientific, even genderizing the future for humanity.
Or perhaps the fact that Leto II Atreides, the son of Paul, with his prolonged life, transforming into a sandworm, with the opening up of both the male and female genetic bloodline memories all the way back to us on Earth, or his ongoing future prescience, was the de facto SAVIOR of the human race.
... of course, he did it by SQUEEZING it, taking over the Bene Gesserit's breeding program, giving everyone a solid, stable life, SQUEEZING humanity until they just couldn't take it anymore.
Nobody hates peace and prosperity more than the people living in it.
This book is a wonderful testament to both imagination and INTELLIGENCE. Herbert never looked down on anyone and never spoon-fed a single idea.
I've always held that it's impossible to compare the Dune sequels to the first book but it would be insane to say that they're anything less than exceI've always held that it's impossible to compare the Dune sequels to the first book but it would be insane to say that they're anything less than excellent in their own right.
It doesn't even matter to me that this particular book was nommed for the Hugo in '77. The fact that we get much more of a look into the hearts and minds of the Fremen, watch the tragedy of Alia unfold with the help of her maternal grandfather, and uncover the secret of the wandering Preacher shouldn't make much of a difference, but it does.
Jessica's transformation is something else. I particularly liked when she became a teacher and when she toyed with her own Gom Jabbar.
But the true stars of this book have got to be the twins. Leto and Ghanima are something special. Almost abominations like their aunt, they both walk a knife's edge and Leto leads the way. She's his rock, but Leto's ultimate choice to follow the Golden Path is ultimately only his to walk.
Mirroring Leto with Paul was amazing in the story. The focus on timelines either forking or narrowing down as more and more choices are made really illustrated how prescience is the ultimate trap. Paul absolutely fell into it, but one could make the argument that Leto's choice is the true tragedy.
A TOTALLY awesome tragedy, mind you, with tons of benefits and an even more explosive benefit for the human race to come -- (this is COMPLETELY debatable) -- but it's still a mind experiment and worldbuilding masterpiece that has continued to haunt me since the first time I read it in the late '80s to this very day.
An excellent SF? Well, to me, it's something of a BENCHMARK....more
Returning to the original world of Dune has a special place in my heart. I seem to recall that Messiah was written before Dune but obviously Dune was Returning to the original world of Dune has a special place in my heart. I seem to recall that Messiah was written before Dune but obviously Dune was published before it.
Of course, a beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every fan of Frank Herbert knows. To begin your study of the life of Dune, then, take care that you first place this in its proper time.
Know then that it is the year 2021 and all the covidiots and Q factions have taken over the universe. What was once an act of glorious revenge against a teetering empire has now become an entrenched tragedy.
Reading Dune Messiah is the tragedy that we deserve. Taken over by religious zealots, icons over careful deliberation, countless dead instead of a stable empire.
But that's where the comparison fails. Paul, unlike any of us, has a much clearer idea of the future, being able to see it, however imperfectly, and he is caught in a web of intrigue and guile and that beautiful sliver of hope hidden in the future that only his eyes see, where only perfidy, assassination, and betrayal seems to be his new bed.
Twelve years after the end of Dune, Alia is a teenager and a bright star. Irulan wants an heir to the Empire, Chani is a devoted but flattened character, as is Paul, as all futures grind down to singular points. The time of crisis comes and tragedy, depression, and horror awaits.
But at least there is a copy of Duncan Idaho. Now a mentat, a tool of assassination -- and a human computer -- his role captures Paul as hardly anything else could have.
Honestly, for years, I thought this one was the worst of the Dune books. But mostly that's because I cared too strongly for Paul, never wanted to see him fall. In actuality, the book is delightfully intellectual and complex, showing us so much more about the Fremen and the pitfalls of a religion-based monarchy and the hellish pitfalls of prescience.
Being a god is not all it's cracked up to be.
And in a moment or two, Paul's son is going to ask his papa to hold his beer....more
Just when you think the whole cold-war worldbuilding was just about enough to fill an entire series full of necromancy and vampires that AREN'T UF butJust when you think the whole cold-war worldbuilding was just about enough to fill an entire series full of necromancy and vampires that AREN'T UF but epic horror/thriller the way it used to be back in the '80s, Brian Lumley goes ahead and doubles down on the imagination.
Let's not just zip about in the Mobius, talking with the ancient and recently dead, teleporting, body-hopping, or utterly annihilating some of the most bad-ass Lovecraftian vampires in novel form. Let's go ahead and worldbuild ANOTHER dimension, an alternate Earth that had been massively geo-engineered to favor these vampires. Then give our OP MC and son a REAL challenge.
Yeeeeesssssssssssssss.
So, yeah. Epic Horror born from thriller roots and fully explored and expanded upon across dimensions. Yeeesssssssssssssss.
The scale never really gets out of hand here. We're always in the mud when we're not traveling the ether. I totally recommend this for anyone who is sick and tired of the UF trope but hasn't lost their love of vampires or Lovecraft.
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