Reviews - The Knowledge & Premonitions

The knowledge by Lewis Dartnell

Dartnell sets out to outline the knowledge required to rebuild out modern society after an apocalypse. Full of interesting information it kind of fails at its stated aim, in my opinion, because it assumes that the apocalypse is a “nice” one (i.e. doesn’t destroy the infrastructure too much) and that the folk left behind will have a viable population for industrial society. However if you’re ready to take those two assumptions then Dartnell takes a whirlwind tour of restarting electricity, industrial chemistry, medicine, communications and all the rest of the technologies that make the modern world what it is. Along the way you’ll get a great, but brief, overview of all these things. It is, by necessity, brief and perhaps this is the greatest criticism that can be levelled at the book since anyone can tell you that the devil is in the details. There are a few illustrations but if anything it is a primer for the intelligent survivor to know what knowledge he needs to seek out.   

Overall – You’ll need more than this one book to help you restart civilisation, but having this one book will give you a good headstart

Premonitions by Jamie Schultz

Karyn Ames hallucinates the future, she’s the leader of a small crew who procure antiquities and magical gewgaws using her skills to avoid trouble. However her hallucinations are bad, they can take over her life, so she takes a drug called blind, only really available from one fairly creepy drug dealer who lives in a ruin and is overly fond of rats. When the group are approached by a notorious crime boss who wants them to steal a relic from a cult the crew agree because there is a two million  dollar payout for them if they do. Told from a variety of POVs this is a smart, modern supernatural heist novel that is a whole ton of fun. This is the first in a series, with the intro to the second in the back, so could feel a bit unfinished in a lesser writer’s hands, however it has a very satisfying wholeness to the story and yet the world is such that you know you’re not done with the characters.

Schultz will no doubt be compared to Wendig as they both have female protagonists who glimpse the future and both writers have a knack for witty prose and fast moving plots.

Overall – Great start to a series & I’ll definitely be tracking the second book down

Loncon 3, Edinburgh, VanderMeers & FantasyCon

OK a lot of stuff has happened and I've not blogged due to lack of computer access, lack of time and dread lurgy. So now I'm remedying that .. read on for a looong post on what I've been up to

Meatspace review

Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla

Kitab is an author with one book to his name, greeted lukewarmly by the literati. He’s supposed to be working on a second book but is slowly frittering away his inheritance whilst spending so much time on social media his girlfriend dumps him. When he gets a friend request from someone with the same name as him his life takes an odd turn. This is a funny book that makes you think, a hard trick to pull off. Shukla’s voice shines through the prose and he’s a funny guy. It’s a meditation on identity, identity theft and the Facebook generation. But, you know, in a funny way. There’s an extra level of meaning for someone who hangs around the lit scene in the city and frequents readings. It’s often self-referential and finger on the pulse but what Shukla achieves with the core theme is always engaging and the pages just fly by. Interspersed with the main story are extracts from a blog about Kitab’s brother going to New York which is like a shaggy dog story and just as entertaining, if not more so, as the main story.

                                                                                                                                                     

Overall – highly enjoyable second novel about a guy writing his second novel. Recommended 

Art of Forgetting - Review

Art of forgetting: Nomad by Joanne Hall

 

This is the second part of a duology –

First half review: (The art of forgetting: Rider)

Rhodri is a foundling and has a perfect memory. He clearly remembers his father but knows very little about his early childhood. This is an important plot point, which does raise a few questions, no spoilers but he had a pretty famous father who I just thought may have been mentioned once or twice in Rhodri’s hearing before the plot dictated the reveal. However this minor point didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book which is a - 'young lad joins the army, becomes a man' -format, but told in an engaging style which never gets dull. All the usual stuff happens, first battle, first love (with both sexes), first loss, friendships and enemies. Rhodri becomes a rider in the king’s third (As it’s fantasy and is about a cavalry officer there is a lot of horseyness in parts!) who patrol a city called Northpoint (which was instrumental in a civil war that happened in the past but very much informs the events of the book). We see that healers and magic users exist but they don’t have much impact on the lives of the men of the King’s third and in one memorable incident there is a river demon. However it is mostly a low fantasy book concentrating on the lives and loves of Rhodri and his friends as he goes through training and on to a posting at the edge of the country which the second book will explore. This is very much the start of the story and the next instalment is coming soon in which the epic part of the fantasy will probably come more to the fore. The author explores some big themes in this part of the story around identity, gender and sexuality. She does make the characters come alive and I am keen to read the second book.

Second half review –

The book starts where the last one finished in a direct run on, which is a nice touch if you are reading both together but took me a short while to remember what had happened in the first book, although I’m glad the author didn’t spend much time doing the always tedious to read “and this happened in the first book” explanations. However it does make it difficult to discuss the plot without spoilers for the first book. So I won’t. Needless to say there are bigger battles, more death, more magic (of the Shamanic variety) a new culture, and a different part of the map, to explore and lots more love and agst. I think I’d recommend buying & reading both parts together for full effect. The writing is always engaging and easy to read and the characters are mostly fully developed. I’d say that if you enjoy the first one, you’re very likely to enjoy the second one, after all you get to see how things end up. I suspect there will be more books set in this same world as some of the characters didn’t have a neatly tied up ending at the close of the book.

Overall – Enjoyable fantasy

That was the Nine Worlds that was

First off I'd like to jut say wow! OK that's not that erudite or enlightening is it? Well it is appropriate. Nine Worlds last year impressed me a lot, this year was just as good! How difficult is that to pull off?

We went down Thursday night but missed most of the program items so spent our time in the very expensive bar - bottles of wine seemed the way to go and we sold shares in one of the bottles we bought. Yes it was that expensive. I'll not mention it again, except to say that our final bar bill was more expensive than one night's accommodation in the hotel. We spent some time at the nearby pub for food too ...

Anyhow. Panels, lots of them, and fun -

(looking forwards panel with Nick Harkaway, Sarah Lotz, Fabio Fernandez & Lauren Beukes)

Friday we spent mostly dipping into the "All the Books track" which had collected an impressive list of authors and topics. Oh and it also included me, on the "Writing the inhuman" panel (I'd like to thank my amazing panelists - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Laure Eve and Jen Williams) where we explored the meaning of inhumanity, who the true monsters are and writing the inhuman.

We also went to a panel on Time Travel (ably moderated by Paul Cornell) & Looking Forwards but I'm not going to list all the panels/events/cool stuff we went to as that'd take too long. It was lots and it was lots of fun.

I also read at the "New Voices: Class of 2014" my short story Roadkill  - which can be heard on the BristolCon Podcast "Fringe in a flash" here: http://bristolcon.podbean.com/

There was cosply (not me, I don't do the dressing up thing) and lots of catching up with old con acquaintances and meeting new ones.

Oh yeah and we had dropped a bunch of books off with the All the Books bookshop, here's Adele doing a fine job (and you can see Airship Shape on the table)

And then on Saturday we got up and did it all over again, more fabulous panels, more chat, more fun. As a bonus we'd signed up for the Alchemist Dreams liqueur tasting which was great fun, not least because we got to taste the smell of musty books (better than it sounds).

 But perhaps after a late, and full of liquid refreshment evening, on Friday starting the day with a deep discussion on the philosophy of video games wasn't the best choice (fascinating as it was, too much thinking without enough tea).

Oh and we went to "Just a Moment" which was just as mad and entertaining as usual (well done Mr Cornell & all the panelists)

There were also cabarets and discos and music and more time in the bar, where I met a couple of new friends, and the Saturday crop of New Voices where Stark Holborn stole the show by having John Honor Jacobs read out the dialogue. Also worth watching is Pete Newman (the voice of the butler on Tea and Jeopardy).

Sunday felt a little sleepy in comparison, but we were up earlier and at a 10 am panel (The neuroscience of swearing) and, after a massive lunch at the Pheasant pub (recommended for sensibly priced food & drink outside the con) we hung around for a bit, not settling in any one panel, slightly disappointed that the last panel for the All the Books track was cancelled, we grabbed our unsold books and headed home. Tired but enlivened, inspired and happy and ready to buy tickets for next year.