Past Performance
Most of you will probably finish that headline in your head with the toothless warning from banks and brokerages: “Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.” So too with authors. We often pick up books by authors we’ve liked in the past, only to be disappointed. Or sometimes, surprised.
The example I always trot out is Neal Stephenson. I loved Cryptonomicon and Anathem. But then came the train wreck of Reamde. (Tell me if you have different opinions, but I thought that one just degenerated into the most unbelievable set of coincidences to ever tie up a novel.) Or his Seveneves, which started with one of the most memorable first lines (“The Moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.”) The first two-thirds are a decent sci-fi thriller, but the last third just took a left turn into a strange land.
I had examples in both directions this month. I started with The I Inside by Alan Dean Foster, who I’ve liked in the past. This was written in 1984 and should have stayed there. It hasn’t aged well at all. I picked up the David Brin book Earth (reviewed below), and found I didn’t like it nearly as much as other Brin books I’ve read in the past, but ultimately it was good enough for me to include as a recommendation. And then something convinced me to read Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I hadn’t cared for his previous books for reasons that I can’t quite put my finger on. However, this one hit all the right notes for me, including snarky humor, literary allusions, and skillful use of absurdity. It will probably entice me to try some other novels by Tchaikovsky.
Right now, I’m about halfway through The Algebraist by Iain Banks. So far, I predict a very pleased review next month. It’s on sale right now for only $2.99, so grab it if you like Banks.
Our Books
Sellenria: The Starship and the Citadel
Chuck Boeheim, Daniel Elswit
Believing in the impossible may be my only chance of survival.
As a professor of archaeology at the University of Trondhjem, my life revolved around telepresence digs and simspace classroom lectures—stable and predictable, exactly as I preferred. But the discovery of a peculiar artifact — a gem owned by my ancestor — upended everything. Now I’m in a dire situation, stranded on a pre-technological planet hundreds of light-years from civilization. A fey swordswoman has made me her apprentice after saving me from a creature that couldn’t possibly exist. I became advisor to the king. And now all three of us are fleeing an assassination plot. It’s mad enough to be a fantasy simspace, but it’s deadly real.
The most confounding part is that these people think my ancestor was an ancient warlock and that I’ve returned with his gem to wield his magical powers in the fight against the Blight. I’m a man of science, of order, of logic; I don’t believe in magic.
But that’s not the way this world works.
Of Gods and Globes III
Lancelot Schaubert
The authors of this anthology were challenged to write a story connecting our ancient mythology of the cosmos to a science fiction setting that incorporates elements of that mythology. These 23 stories explore everything from Venus out to Castor and Pollux and everything in between, including a few non-Western mythologies.
My own contribution, Charon, is a poignant tale of loss and reconciliation. It follows Simon Aeneas Kost on his solitary voyage to Pluto and its moon, Charon. He confronts his deepest fears as he encounters our first interstellar visitor while far from human company, wandering the desolate banks of the river Styx.
What We‘re Reading
Visit our archive of reviews and recommendations on the Books We Like page of our website. You‘ll find over one hundred recommendations in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Non Fiction.
Service Model
Adrian Tchaikovsky
In a future that doesn’t seem all that far away, a personal valet robot named Charles realizes that his master is no longer functioning. With no one to serve, he has no purpose. He sets out to find a new purpose, which his programming renders as “someone to serve.” He has nothing, not even his name, which belonged to his position at the manor. So he calls himself Uncharles.
Uncharles soon finds that most of humanity is no longer functioning as well, though it takes him most of the book to find out why. Most robots he meets aren’t capable of even this amount of initiative and are locked into following the last orders they were given. One very odd robot named the Wonk does question why things are so broken and accompanies Uncharles as his conscience and muse as he seeks (and fails to find) answers in the robot administration, a historical preserve for humans, a library of all knowledge, and more. When he finally seeks justice, it’s not what anyone expected.
The blurb on Amazon says, “Murderbot meets Redshirts,” but I just don’t see that. To me, it was more like Gulliver’s Travels meets Dante’s Inferno. The Monty Pythonesque commentary on the inanity of institutions and the inability of functionaries to see beyond the end of their nose is wryly funny. I clipped and saved more snarky quotes from this book than I have in a long time.
Uncharles saw a vast and complex reading device, studded with a thousand different sockets, slots, arms, jacks, and ports, a true testament to humanity’s utter refusal to ever consider cross-medium compatibility.
“Ignorance is bliss, hey?” “I cannot experience bliss, but I am able to model the benefits of ignorance.”
Buy on Amazon
Earth: A Novel
David Brin
This is a sprawling novel of an Earth that is burdened by overpopulation, resource depletion, climate change, and pollution. Into this mix, a young scientist attempting to find a clean source of energy accidentally releases a micro black hole that falls into the center of the earth where it begins consuming the planet. As he and a small group attempt to use gravity wave sensors to find, and possibly eject, the black hole, forces are set in motion around the globe to help, hinder, commandeer, or subvert his efforts. In the style of disaster novels, the narrative follows a wide swath of people from the physics team, astronauts, street gangs, floating refugee cities, and environmentalists creating arks to preserve biosystems to reboot the planet (without humans if possible, many of them feel). It’s not just the physical disaster of the black hole, it’s also a disaster of the ecology, the climate, society, and information systems. The scope serves to showcase the worldwide scope of the disaster, though at the cost of any degree of characterization of the people involved.
This book was written at the end of the 80s, before the Web, before climate change was on most people’s minds. It’s worth reading this book just to see what Brin got right in so many ways about the next thirty or forty years. We just haven’t turned a black hole on ourselves — yet.
Buy on Amazon
Featured Promotions
You may also enjoy…
The Survivors
Richard Rimington
In this tale of space opera and cosmic adventure, the Ambassador of a mysterious and ancient family must forge a path through chaos to overcome the terrible enemies that desire humanity’s destruction.
Her plan to avert galactic catastrophe will unite a band of survivors who have faced every imaginable danger and disaster.
Free via StoryOrigin
The Void
Luna Fox
Ludovic Stone was the arms-bearer and right-hand of Archmage Alastor an Ulbrecht and Sorceress Lianna; protecting them throughout the years from political threats and standing by their side through the hardships they faced due to their stature.
A failed assassination attempt against Lianna prompted Alastor to act and perform a grievous ritual to tap onto the power of the Void, the dark forces beyond the universe. Has he betrayed his friends and family to gain power? Can Lianna stop Alastor before it’s too late? Will she and Ludovic be able to save the world from the evil warlock he has become? What if it was all just a lie?
Free via StoryOrigin
Mythic: Shadow of the Spark
Adrian Santiago
Newly-appointed Detective Migdalia Vandersey’s first murder case was supposed to be open-and-shut. Wishful thinking. Armed with the latest technology she unravels the mysteries of the victims, the killer, and The Spark itself. The complex web of crime and corruption entangles her professionally, and romantically, with a bounty hunter seeking redemption (Llyr Varyan) and a witch exploring the depths of her power (Faye Noelani). At the center of all the sex, drugs, secrets, magic, and violence waits a prolific killer who hunts the streets with impunity. This murderer works to cover his tracks and stay ahead of Detective Vandersey, and her partners, as they race against the clock to stop him from taking his next victim, and tying off his final loose end. Will the help of Llyr and Faye be enough, or will Migdalia’s career end before she even closes her first case?
Buy via StoryOrigin
Falcon's Call
Mike Waller
In a race against time, Earth and Mars race to claim a derelict alien ship as it enters the Solar System, both aware that whichever planet succeeds might in so doing achieve technological advantage over the other. But who should they send? Joe Falcon, an unlikely candidate, never saw himself as the “right” person. Accompanied by a crew of misfits, each fleeing their own personal demons, he questions why he should be the chosen one. But destiny calls, and he can’t ignore it.
When Joe’s survey vessel, Butterball, rendezvous with the mysterious visitor, he encounters a ship so colossal that exploring its vast expanse is impossible. The alien craft responds to his presence in awe-inspiring and unsettling ways, yet no signs of its inhabitants can be found. Everything Joe and his team witness defies explanation, shrouded in deception and uncertainty. Joe soon realizes he and his crew are expendable and cannot take anything or anyone at face value, including the alien ship’s owners. Unbeknownst to Joe, their every move is being scrutinized and analyzed.
But the true threat to humanity isn’t the awe-inspiring spacecraft—it’s something far more perilous. Unbeknownst to Joe, he holds the power to determine the destiny of two worlds, launching humankind into a glorious future or hurtling them towards oblivion.
Buy via StoryOrigin
Gravity Girl
V.R. Friesen
When you know your life has a deadline, why play it safe?
Grav-walker Jasper Pine ekes out a risky livelihood as a scavenger in a city full of treacherous and unpredictable gravity zones. But she has a secret, an alien infection that will soon shatter gravity again. This time it could endanger the whole planet.
Without a workable cure, Jasper’s only plan is to die before her infection matures. She lives her life fast, wild, and reckless, with no hope for her future. Until one day she meets a feral boy with a secret that might save her. But even if the boy trusted her—which he doesn’t—he’s been captured by a ruthless military cult. In desperation Jasper turns to Ryan Latrans for help, a charming ex-soldier whose mission threatens her life and freedom. She should definitely avoid him. But if she’s not careful, he might end up reminding her of why life is worth fighting for.
In the zones, trust can be as deadly as hope, but Jasper’s time is running out. What will she risk for a chance to live?
Buy via StoryOrigin
Kenai
Dave Dobson
Jess Amiko is long past her days as a space marine, with all the glory of that time tarnished beyond repair by what came after. Trying to rebuild from the ashes, she’s taken a job as a security guard on Kenai, a lonely world far from the Council systems. It’s supposed to be easy duty – quiet and peaceful, on a docile world with no real threats, watching over an archeological dig at a site built by a race long vanished.
Betrayed and attacked by forces unknown, and finding that nothing on Kenai makes sense, Jess is plunged into a desperate fight for survival that leads her deep into the mysteries of Kenai’s past, and deep into the hardship and paradox the planet imposes on all who call it home.
Buy via StoryOrigin
