Well, one other tale, really. After reading Fuzzy Nation on narfna’s suggestion, I quickly delved into the other Scalzi books that I had access to. The first, The Collapsing Empire, was just recently released and is the first in a trilogy (and his first book under a 10 year, 13 book contract that includes a sequel to Lock In and a new book in the Old Man’s War series). The second, Agent to the Stars, is his first novel, self published on his website in […]
In which I show once again that I’m probably better suited to popular fiction
I knew a Holly Golightly once. We met in an art class in high school, and went on to be friends in college, before I fell in love with someone else. We would spend time together after class: she taught me that putting my loofah in with the laundry extended its life and kept it cleaner. I accompanied her on a modeling gig, where the artist she posed for belittled me for pronouncing Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s name without a proper French accent. She ended […]
I’ll take a smartass over a grim anti-hero any day of the week
John Scalzi can do no wrong. I’ve read eight of his books so far, and the worst among them was Zoe’s Tale, which in and of itself isn’t a bad book – I just found it wholly unnecessary, and was disappointed in the fact that it retells a story from a previous book, only from a different perspective. I haven’t read all of his books, but he’s made the shortlist of writers whom I will faithfully give a chance to any new publication. So when […]
After early promise, kind of a let down
Sisterland is about identical twin sisters, both with psychic abilities, but with diverging ideas on what that means for them. One, Violet, embraces her gift while the other, Daisy, rejects them in favor of living a “normal life”. This disharmony is at the center of the book, and, as such, was a delight to read. Sittenfeld was a bit of a darling around these parts thanks to Eligible (and the fact that one of us knew her at one time), so I knew that I’d give […]
Finally, an unreliable narrator who isn’t horrible
I’ve written fairly extensively about how much I dislike unreliable narrators, and how books written to damage the psyche are, I think, grotesque and antithetical to everything I want in a book. The narrator here is struggling through a fairly difficult time in her life, and therefore can’t always be relied on to objectively perceive her reality – but I think it’s handled in a way that is fair to the characters, and it’s done in service to the story, not as some cheap ploy […]
So much yawn
I got my degree in archaeology. Despite this, the Indiana Jones franchise has two of my favorite movies of all time. So, clearly, I’m not much of a stickler for authenticity in my fiction. Stretching the bounds of what happens in the real world is perfectly acceptable for me. Spin me a good yarn, and I’ll forgive the shortcuts. But I absolutely detest the expert who is equally well-versed in all things. You know the type. CSI popularized this, with their forensics experts engaging in […]
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