Inevitably, when someone hears that I am an SF writer, they immediately mentioned whatever SF things they happen to know about or like, expecting I, too, will like it. This is awkward because I usually rather hate their favorite book, TV show, or movie. Not all SF fans, or SF authors, like all SF. It’s a simple thing to say. But it’s another thing to explain it, and they usually seem to find the fact so unbelievable that an explanation seems wanted. My explanation almost never satisfies them, but maybe that’s because I haven’t rehearsed my sound bite. After all, …
Category: REVIEWS
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Every novel I read by Vinge seems to me to be better than the last. Maybe it’s because I started with earlier work, or maybe it’s just the impression that each of his books gives me. But one thing is for certain: A Deepness in the Sky certainly is a hell of a novel, space opera or not. I finished it last night, on the couch, very late into the night, and found myself in an odd position for such a time: I was excited about it, and wanted to talk about it. But it was the middle of the …
What I Learned From the Edward S. Curtis Showing at the Sejong Center
So, look. I’m, like, bright enough to know that colonization sucks. It’s bad. It can be (and has been) a force for great evil and pain in the lives of untold millions. But the way we talk about this, and think about this, can be a strange thing. Last night, Miss Jiwaku and I went to see a display of Edward Curtis photographs. If you don’t know who Curtis is, well, he was a photographer who made a compendium of images of Native Americans living in what he called a “primitive” state — that is, those who has not yet …
The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad
The Iron Dream is notorious, or at least it was at some point in the past. Those who know of it almost surely know the schtick, and those who don’t probably wouldn’t be interested, but the short version is: imagine a world where Hitler, after being rejected from art school, decided to immigrate to the United States. Imagine him falling in with the pulp sci-fi scene, first as an illustrator and, soon enough, as an author of clunky, horrid, and unfailingly popular schlock. Imagine him enjoying a long career as a pro-writer and illustrator, an important role in fandom as …
Deus X by Norman Spinrad
For those looking for the short version: I actually liked this novel, a fact which surprised me slightly. It’s not game-changing, but it is fun and hits on some interesting technosocial questions, as well as asking how the Catholic Church might respond (and struggle to formulate a response) to those technosocial questions. I was happy I read it. This is particularly notable since I read it right after finishing Little Heroes (which I gave a pretty negative review posted about here). It’s a funny thing, going into a book that way: when, say, you disliked an earlier work by the author, but feel …
Little Heroes by Norman Spinrad
The first time I saw a video of the band The Clash, I laughed out loud. “This is ‘punk’?” I said. “This is radical?” I don’t know if I thought, or said aloud, These guys wouldn’t know radical if it smashed their guitars. Give me Ornette Coleman any day. I know the friend who was introducing their music to me was somewhat surprised, and took the time to explain to me why, in context, the band and their music was seen as radical. I still wasn’t feeling it, even after the explanation: it just made people in the 1970s look way …
Invasion of Alien Bikini, or, I Feel Sick
So, I mentioned the Korean SF film Invasion of Alien Bikini a few weeks ago. Miss Jiwaku and I saw it tonight, and, well, to say it ruined out evening would be an understatement. I am going to tell you the whole plot here, so that you don’t have to see it, and know why you should not, in fact, spend a single won on it. The thing is, the film really didn’t have to suck. The opening section was actually really interesting: I felt like I was seeing Seoul represented in a film in a way I’d never seen …
The Cat’s Pajamas & Other Stories by James Morrow
I’ve been a fan of James Morrow’s work since 1995, when, in a small Edmonton bookstore on Whyte Avenue (this one) I stumbled upon a copy of the novel Only Begotten Daughter. At the time, I was just starting to become comfortable with having left the religion I’d been raised in, and admitted that, yes, indeed, I was an atheist. Morrow’s book reminded me that atheists still live in a world filled with people who are theists, and whose myths and beliefs (and fantasies) affect us all profoundly — but also that atheists could have something to say about those …
Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Yatsutaka Tsutsui
I’ll start off by saying I picked this book out simply because I was looking for something to read while pumping my legs on the stationary recumbent bike at the gym the other day. I figured it looked like a light read, and thought I might even be able to finish it in a one-hour cardio session. I was right. However, I may have been a little distracted while reading the book. That said, I found it enjoyable and compelling enough to keep reading, but I’m not sure I would have if I’d been at home, where tons of other …
Persepolis (the film)
Miss Jiwaku and I just watched the animated version of Persepolis last night, and I have to say, it was really very impressed. I’ve read only the first book — my friend Jean-Louis recommended it to me, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, even reading it in French. (Which was not so hard.) I haven’t managed to read the other volumes, but I am curious. I have Volume 2, and figure I can check out Volume 3 next time I’m in Canada. But the way the film was put together — using Satrapi’s characteristic style, but with a wonderful audio …