The Science Fiction Book Club Reviews Revisited: July 2000

[james_davis_nicoll]

Lists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.

Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/


SUMMER


SATURN'S RACE by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

I missed this. Well, had gone off Niven by this point, really.



BRIGHTLY BURNING by Mercedes Lackey

Missed this.



STAR WARS: THE NEW JEDI ORDER: DARK TIDE (2-in-1 of ONSLAUGHT and FURY) by Michael A. Stackpole (Alternate)

And this.

[I've seen enough SW books and noted the similarities to wonder if the similarities are compelled by editorial management or if everyone just likes having e.g. spaceships be easy to sneak on and off of)


Year's Best SF 5 ed. David G. Hartwell (HarperCollins/Eos
0-06-102054-0, Jun 2000, $6.99, xv + 494pp, pb); "Year's Best"
anthology of 25 stories from 1998, all strictly SF (no
fantasy). Hartwell discusses the year in his introduction.

+ xiii o Introduction o David G. Hartwell o in
+ 1 o Everywhere o Geoff Ryman o ss Interzone Feb '99
+ 14 o Evolution Never Sleeps o Elisabeth Malartre o ss
Asimov's Jul '99
+ 36 o Sexual Dimorphism o Kim Stanley Robinson o ss The
Martians, Voyager, 1999
+ 57 o Game of the Century o Robert Reed o nv F&SF May '99
+ 94 o Secrets of the Alien Reliquary o Michael Bishop o pm
Time Pieces, Edgewood Press, 1998
+ 97 o Kinds of Strangers o Sarah Zettel o nv Analog Oct '99
+ 124 o Visit the Sins o Cory Doctorow o ss Asimov's Jun '99
+ 145 o Border Guards o Greg Egan o nv Interzone Oct '99
+ 174 o macs o Terry Bisson o ss F&SF Oct/Nov '99
+ 186 o Written in Blood o Chris Lawson o ss Asimov's Jun '99
+ 204 o Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon? o Gene Wolfe o ss Moon
Shots, ed. Peter Crowther & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW, 1999
+ 222 o The Blue Planet ["Mars Reacts!"] o Robert J. Sawyer o
ss Toronto Globe and Mail Dec 11 '99
+ 229 o Lifework o Mary Soon Lee o ss Interzone Jun '99
+ 238 o Rosetta Stone o Fred Lerner o ss Artemis Spr, 2000
+ 255 o An Apollo Asteroid o Brian Aldiss o ss Moon Shots, ed.
Peter Crowther & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW, 1999
+ 271 o 100 Candles o Curt Wohleber o ss TransVersions #10 '99
+ 288 o Democritus' Violin o G. David Nordley o ss Analog Apr
'99
+ 311 o Fossil Games o Tom Purdom o nv Asimov's Feb '99
+ 362 o Valour o Chris Beckett o ss Interzone Mar '99
+ 379 o Huddle [Manifold] o Stephen Baxter o nv F&SF May '99
+ 404 o Ashes and Tombstones o Brian M. Stableford o ss Moon
Shots, ed. Peter Crowther & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW, 1999
+ 422 o Ancient Engines o Michael Swanwick o ss Asimov's Feb
'99
+ 433 o Freckled Figure [1992] o Hiroe Suga; trans. by Dana
Lewis & Stephen Baxter o ss Interzone Mar '99
+ 457 o Shiva o Barry N. Malzberg o ss Science Fiction Age May
'99
+ 466 o The Queen of Erewhon o Lucy Sussex o nv F&SF Sep '99
1632 by Eric Flint (Alternate)


No comment. Keep an eye on the Aldiss, as it will show up again under a different title in Year's Best SF 7, also edited by David Hartwell. He must have really liked it.


SUBURBAN GODS (2-in-1 of HOW LIKE A GOD and DOORS OF DEATH AND LIFE) by Brenda W. Clough (Alternate)

With great power comes the first novel in this series. With consequences comes the second novel.

Recommended.


HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J.K. Rowling (Alternate)

On the plus side, it got tens of millions of kids to read a massive tome. On the minus side, some of the Big Bad's plot didn't seem entirely necessary. OTOH, when your head is made of ectoplasm it may be harder to scheme effectively.


SPINDLE'S END by Robin McKinley (Alternate)

I missed this.



JULY



The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventeenth Annual Collection ed.
Gardner Dozois (St. Martin's Griffin 0-312-26417-8, Jul 2000,
$17.95, 625pp, tp, cover by Michael Carroll)

+ xi o Summation: 1999 o Gardner Dozois o ar
+ 1 o The Wedding Album [Cathy] o David Marusek o na Asimov's
Jun '99
+ 41 o Ten16 to 1 o James Patrick Kelly o nv Asimov's Jun '99
+ 59 o Winemaster o Robert Reed o nv F&SF Jul '99
+ 78 o Galactic North o Alastair Reynolds o nv Interzone Jul
'99
+ 106 o Dapple: A Hwarhath Historical Romance [Hwarhath] o
Eleanor Arnason o na Asimov's Sep '99
+ 139 o People Came from Earth o Stephen Baxter o ss Moon
Shots, ed. Peter Crowther & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW, 1999
+ 149 o Green Tea [Orlando Coria] o Richard Wadholm o nv
Asimov's Oct/Nov '99
+ 170 o The Dragon of Pripyat o Karl Schroeder o nv Tesseracts
8, ed. John Clute & Candas Jane Dorsey, Edmonton: Tesseract
Books, 1999
+ 203 o Written in Blood o Chris Lawson o ss Asimov's Jun '99
+ 215 o Hatching the Phoenix [Heechee (Robinette Broadhead)] o
Frederik Pohl o nv Amazing Fll '99 (+1)
+ 255 o Suicide Coast o M. John Harrison o ss F&SF Jul '99
+ 270 o Hunting Mother o Sage Walker o nv Not of Woman Born,
ed. Constance Ash, Roc, 1999
+ 285 o Mount Olympus [Return to Mars] o Ben Bova o nv Analog
Feb '99; an excerpt from the novel Return to Mars.
+ 318 o Border Guards o Greg Egan o nv Interzone Oct '99
+ 337 o Scherzo with Tyrannosaur o Michael Swanwick o ss
Asimov's Jul '99
+ 347 o A Hero of the Empire [Roma Eterna] o Robert Silverberg
o nv F&SF Oct/Nov '99
+ 371 o How We Lost the Moon. A True Story by Frank W. Allen o
Paul J. McAuley o ss Moon Shots, ed. Peter Crowther & Martin
H. Greenberg, DAW, 1999
+ 383 o Phallicide o Charles Sheffield o nv Science Fiction Age
Sep '99
+ 411 o Daddy's World o Walter Jon Williams o nv Not of Woman
Born, ed. Constance Ash, Roc, 1999
+ 433 o A Martian Romance [Mars] o Kim Stanley Robinson o nv
The Martians, Voyager, 1999
+ 448 o The Sky-Green Blues o Tanith Lee o nv Interzone Apr '99
+ 472 o Exchange Rate o Hal Clement o na Absolute Magnitude Win
'99
+ 518 o Everywhere o Geoff Ryman o ss Interzone Feb '99
+ 526 o Hothouse Flowers o Mike Resnick o ss Asimov's Oct/Nov
'99
+ 539 o Evermore o Sean Williams o nv Altair #4 '99
+ 560 o Of Scorned Women and Causal Loops o Robert Grossbach o
ss F&SF Jan '99
+ 572 o Son Observe the Time [The Company] o Kage Baker o na
Asimov's May '99
+ 619 o Honorable Mentions: 1999 o Misc. Material o bi

I missed this.



PROPHECY by Elizabeth Haydon

Missed this.



ASIMOV'S MIRAGE by Mark W. Tiedemann (Alternate)

I just found a copy of this (The Canadian supply of Tiedemann's work is very small). I have not yet read it.


STAR TREK(r): PRESERVER by William Shatner (Alternate)

I missed this.



Bangs & Whimpers: Stories About the End of the World ed. James Frenkel
(Lowell House/Roxbury Park Books 0-7373-0271-2, Oct '99 [Sep
'99], $15.95, 219pp, tp, cover by Ron Walotsky)

+ ix o Introduction o James Frenkel o in
+ 1 o The Nine Billion Names of God o Arthur C. Clarke o ss
Star Science Fiction Stories #1, ed. Frederik Pohl,
Ballantine, 1953
+ 9 o Killing the Morrow o Robert Reed o ss Starlight 1, ed.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tor, 1996
+ 25 o We Can Get Them For You Wholesale o Neil Gaiman o ss
Knave (UK) v16 #7 '89
+ 37 o Fire Catcher o Richard Kadrey o ss Interzone #12 '85
+ 45 o Not with a Bang o Howard Fast o ss A Touch of Infinity,
Morrow, 1973
+ 49 o Lost and Found o Connie Willis o ss Twilight Zone Jan
'82
+ 65 o The Wind and the Rain o Robert Silverberg o ss Saving
Worlds, ed. Roger Elwood & Virginia Kidd, Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, 1973
+ 77 o The Year of the Jackpot o Robert A. Heinlein o nv Galaxy
Mar '52
+ 115 o Expendable o Philip K. Dick o ss F&SF Jul '53
+ 123 o Finis o Frank L. Pollock o ss Argosy Jun '06
+ 135 o A Guide to Virtual Death o J. G. Ballard o vi Interzone
Feb '92
+ 139 o Emissary from a Green and Yellow World o Robert
Sheckley o ss F&SF Oct/Nov '98
+ 149 o The Portable Phonograph o Walter Van Tilburg Clark o ss
The Yale Review Spr '41
+ 157 o Fermi and Frost o Frederik Pohl o ss IASFM Jan '85
+ 175 o Ultimate Construction o C. C. Shackleton o vi Tit-Bits
May 6 '67
+ 177 o The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged) o John Varley o ss
Westercon Program Book #37 '84
+ 183 o The Man Who Walked Home o James Tiptree, Jr. o ss
Amazing May '72
+ 201 o Interview with a Lemming o James Thurber o vi PM Mar 3
'41
+ 205 o The Last Question o Isaac Asimov o ss Science Fiction
Quarterly Nov '56

Most of these I have not read but the quality of the ones I have read makes me think I should hunt this book down.



THE SHATTERED GODDESS by Darrell Schweitzer (Alternate)

I missed this.



WHEEL OF THE INFINITE by Martha Wells (Alternate)

And this.



MORTALIS by R.A. Salvatore (Alternate)

And this.


X-MEN by Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith (Altiverse)

And this.


GRENDEL: PAST PRIME by Greg Rucka; illustrated by Matt Wagner (Altiverse)

A comic whose creator seems far more impressed by than I am.



THE DARK ELF TRILOGY by R.A. Salvatore (Altiverse)

I missed this.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I remember reading "macs" but cannot remember anything about it other than that I could not figure out what was going on.

Then again, I seem to be missing the "comprehends Terry Bisson" module. I tried about four of his stories out of curiosity to see what the fuss was, then gave up in bafflement. :-]

On a more positive note, I really loved "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)" when someone pointed it out.

[(Anonymous)]

"macs" has an unusual format - it's a series of interviews with various people about the unusual execution of the Oklahoma City bomber (McVeigh), but we don't see the questions, just the answers. Gradually, it becomes clear that the interviewer has a secret agenda as well.

"Manhattan Phone Book" is great; if you saw a link to it on James livejournal, it was probably when I posted the link - here it is again http://www.varley.net/Pages/Manhattan.htm

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

This Dozois collection was OK.

Marusek's "The Wedding Album" fast-forwards through an era in history in which sentient AIs can be casually created and mistreated in various ways, from the POV of some beings created as a living wedding album and periodically revived so that people can gawk at them. A lot of people seem to have a hate-on for Marusek; I can't say I've read much of his work, but I liked this story. I can't help but think that if sentient AIs do become easy to create we'll do this kind of crap to them for many years.

Kelly's "10^16 to 1" is a gloomy story about, I think, somebody who has been tasked by time travelers with assassinating Adlai Stevenson (?) to start a nuclear war, because if he doesn't, there will with certain probability be a bigger nuclear war in the time of YOU, THE READER that will destroy all life on Earth. He can't go ahead with it, and the story ends with a tract telling you to vote for the Green Party.

"Galactic North" is a characteristically Reynoldsian interstellar chase.

Arnason's "Dapple," intended to literally be a historical romance as written by aliens, had a clever concept but I couldn't make myself pay attention to the execution. Probably just not my thing.

Wadholm's "Green Tea" is a story of an unnecessarily elaborate revenge set in a baroque space-opera world full of lengthily described bogophysics. It frustrated me a little in that I felt as if I was supposed to find all the super-science clever but none of it made any sense.

Egan's "Border Guards" is a meditation on how much better Egan's posthumans have it than we do; in this version of his future, it's possible to create artificial universes at will. Mostly an excuse to introduce Egan's "quantum soccer" game and musings on what it would be like to live in various manifolds. I did enjoy the setting.

"How We Lost The Moon" is a description of an artificial black hole eating the Moon. I don't think there was much else to it.

Clement's "Exchange Rate" is a story about an expedition to a planet based on real-world extrasolar planet discoveries, and an encounter with somebody who lives there. It made me happy, just because it demonstrated that Hal Clement lived long enough to see the wave of extrasolar planet observations start to happen and write about it. So many of the planets we've found are basically Hal Clement planets.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...Oh, yeah, and KSR's "A Martian Romance" is set in an AU of the RGB Mars universe in which the terraforming failed and Mars is settling into an ice age. I don't remember much else about it.

[sanskritabelt.livejournal.com]

WHEEL OF THE INFINITE is a good solid book of the kind we need a lot more of filling out the backlist of the genre.

That came out a lot more damning than I intended, but I'm rolling with it, and y'all should read WHEEL OF THE INFINITE on a spare afternoon or weekend or w/ever you got handy.

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

I'd go along with that. I'm envisioning a sign reading "Your narrative must be at least this solid to inhabit the genre."

Certainly, comparing Wells' career to those of the more famous doorstopper-generators is frustrating.

[sanskritabelt.livejournal.com]

The Raksura books aren't my favorite of hers, but I'm glad she's apparently found a dead tree publisher for them (else wise that might have pushed me over the edge ebook-wise)

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

The Lackey was a rarity, a one-off non-series novel set in Valdemar. About that really strong fire-mage guy who self-fatally defended a pass from enemies, who gets mentioned once in a while as an example of something or other in the main serieses.

Prophecy was book 2 in the trilogy that started with Rhapsody, then later extended feelers into further books showcasing What They Were Doing Afterwards, book 7 is currently out in hardback.

--Dave