Recent Reading

Infernal Devices by K W Jeter

Enjoying a bit of steampunk as I do I thought it would be edifying to read one of the early examples of the subgenre. Who better to read than the writer who coined the term, little realising (as he says in the introduction of this volume) quite where it would lead.
Infernal Devices is the story of George Dower who has taken on his late father's watchmaking business. However it becomes apparent that Dower Senior was in fact a mechanical genius, creating all manner of advanced and impossible devices. George is dragged into the machinations of his father's former clients and admirers, and is soon exposed to the improper, seedy and dangerous underbelly of London society. Eventually travelling the length of the country, encountering thugs, madmen, fish-people and ladies of easy virtue along the way.
This is an adventure full of odd occurrences, comic characters, and miraculous devices. It is good fun to read. The narrative voice of George is full of character using antiquated but understandable language and it's good to see his limited, proper-Victorian viewpoint expanded and confounded. There were times when the devices of Dower Senior seemed a bit too unlikely, or the changing twists got a little confusing, but overall it's a good read for those who like adventures in Victoriana.

Firecracker by Sean Stewart

I read this because it's by one of the people behind the very interesting Cathy's Book series. This character-driven, dark, adult book very different sort of story, though I caught similarities in the writers 'voice'.
Will Kennedy has always been able to see dead people, ghosts. His cousin AJ used to call him Dead Kennedy, but she was killed in her 20s. As an adult Will's life is a series of low income jobs, a cheap apartment and spending every other Sunday with his biological daughter Megan. He gets a call from a distant cousin who's having a ghost problem, and discovers that the guy murdered the girl who's now haunting him. Will barely escapes from that night and over the next few weeks he faces the mess his life is in and must deal with years of pent up feeling, all the while being haunted by ghosts of his recent and distant past.
This book was not what I expected it to be. At first I was expecting a supernatural detective story, where Will would get out of his financial troubles by investigating ghosts for people, this happens a bit but is not the focus of the story. Instead it is all about Will himself, the choices he's made, the memories and decisions that haunt him and a vengeful ghost that tries to drive him to violence in order to destroy him. The reader is firmly in Will's head from the beginning and there are a lot of flashbacks, creating a very personal and intimate journey with the character.
The setting -urban Texas- is very well described in a grimy but loving way. This a Southern Gothic book, and the sense of place pervades every scene so that my recollections are full of heat and humidity, industrial sprawl and cheap housing. Will himself is left-wing and alternative, a minimum wage anarchist and punk fan, which is very different from the stereotypical idea of a Texan, yet he is so rooted in the environment that it's hard to imagine him elsewhere.

Encounter at Farpoint

Episode: s1, ep1 & 2

This first, double-length episode is exposition-tastic and gets so slow at times that the antagonist literally shows up to nudge the plot along. We see that the set designers are very proud of their work with two separate look-how-shiny-the-bridge-is scenes. There is also a lot of dramatic music to tell us what we should be feeling. 

The episode is trying to do a lot of different things, and introduce a lot of characters, which is ambitious but also loooong.

What Happens

Captain Picard takes his new ship to investigate Farpoint station and collect the rest of the crew. On the way the Enterprise is attacked by a 90s screensaver* that turns out to be a very powerful entity called Q. He condemns humans for savagery whilst wearing a variety of historical costumes and entertaining hats. Picard boldly attempts to run away, when that fails he surrenders the ship (minus saucer-section). This is not a good start to the job.

Q takes Picard, Data, Troi & Tasha Yar to a primitive court and tyrannically tries them for humanity’s crimes. Picard speeches at him until he agrees that what they’re about to face will be a suitable test.

Meanwhile at Farpoint, Riker investigates why the station is so advanced when the people who made it aren’t. The Enterprise arrives, characters meet and yet more exposition is exposited. Q reappears and tells them to get on with it - he is now the voice of the audience.

Further investigations reveal that there is something rotten in Farpoint. A mysterious ship appears and attacks the planet, discussion ensues. An away team beams to the mystery ship and discovers it’s a lifeform. The ship-lifeform is a giant space jellyfish, trying to rescue its mate, which is the station. The Enterprise shoots the station with a sparkly beam of helpfulness. The station turns back into a space jellyfish and zooms away with its partner.

 

Guest Star

DeForest Kelley shows up in old-man-makeup as Admiral Bones. He identifies Data as the new Spock (in case we hadn’t guessed), though I do agree with his assessment of Vulcans as annoying.

He also tells Data to treat the Enterprise like a lady. I’ve never understood it when men say that about vehicles, speaking as a lady we have rather different requirements.

Riker: lover, fighter, middle-management

Picard and Riker’s first meeting involves no warmth and little eye-contact. Riker sees himself as the Captain’s aide and bodyguard. Picard sees Riker as a guy who can help him deal with children. Bachelor Picard is surprised he’s been assigned a ship with children -as we will see over the course of this blog series the only person more surprised by this is me. It’s possible that Picard’s inability to assume a genial Captain-Birdseye-like persona** is one of the reasons Riker grows a beard later.

Apparently Riker and Troi used to be an item, but since they maintain careful blank-face when they meet, we only have a voiceover and music to tell us this. Riker purposely avoids being alone with Troi when the away team splits up.

Does Not Compute

Riker meets Data in a holodeck jungle practicing whistling (as you do). Data demonstrates his superiority to humans, then says he’d give it up to be human, even though he’d just observed that 'prejudice is very human'. Apparently ill-feeling towards others based on their inherent attributes is what’s missing from Data’s life.

Riker calls Data Pinocchio, just in case we hadn’t figured that out.

Awkward Moment

When Riker meets the Crushers young Wesley says 2 truly excruciating things.

1. “If you’re wondering about Mom ... she’s not unfriendly. She’s just shy around men she doesn’t know.”

Woah! He both suggests his mother is a timid spinster, and rebukes her for not being ‘friendly’ enough to her new colleague. I’m surprised she doesn’t clip him round the ear.

2. Riker is obviously keen to hear how the Crushers know Captain Picard. Despite what he just said Beverley indicates that Wesley should answer this simple question.

“When I was little he bought my father’s body home to us.”

WTF? 

I’ve worked in libraries and I’ve worked in a swimming pool and I’ve heard children say some weird stuff. I’ve also heard children say some pretty worrying stuff. I’ve never heard that.

Wesley sounds like he should be speaking from a darkened corner. It’s clear he associates Picard with the death of his father, and is emotionally messed-up.

As well as being creepy it’s also kind of hilarious. I imagine Picard cradling the body of Pa Crusher in his arms and carrying it down the street to the Crusher residence.

No Magic Here

Farpoint station ‘almost magically’ creates what people want, including apples and patterned fabric. It’s like a really convenient replicator. Station Administrator Zorn rebukes the station for this, suggesting that the space jellyfish is a hospitable being, despite its captivity. Geordie says the space jellyfish convert energy to matter, so that’s all explained.

Q is ‘very advanced or very different’. He can alter his appearance and location at a whim, he can freeze/unfreeze people and he whisks 4 people away in space (and possibly time) to play out his created-but-real courtroom scenario. No one actually says magic, but let's face it, that's the best explanation.

Future Fashion

The Federation seems to be suffering a fabric shortage that requires most female crewmembers to wear miniskirts. Troi has only calf-length boots to cover her legs. Dr Crusher and Tasha Yar have clearly obtained trouser requisition forms. 

During the panicked scenes before the saucer separation I was amused to see a male crewmember wearing a miniskirt.

Future History

One of Q’s outfits is that of a soldier from a period when humanity controlled their armies with drugs. The raucous, primitive courtroom scene is set in 2079 during the ‘post-nuclear horror’. So I shouldn’t plan on doing anything nice in my 90s, then?

Future Prejudice

Picard mentions that the Ferengi consume their business partners. At this point we’ve never met the Ferengi, but clearly we’re supposed to think badly of them.

As someone who grew up in the countryside I feel I should point out that this is how racism spreads.

Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?

Whilst retreating from Q, Picard pushes the ship past safe speeds and there is definitely a Vulcan child on board before the saucer separation.

The End

The wonder of seeing a reunited pair of space jellyfish is tempered by Q’s ominous threat to return one day. 

Picard suggests that their future adventures will be even more interesting, which I guess is part apology and part encouragement to keep watching.

* To be fair in 1987 90s-looking stuff actually was futuristic. Of course now it looks like something from over a decade ago.

** I mean the Santa-of-the-Sea version of Captain Birdseye. Not the younger guy with the designer stubble.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

At Eastercon this year I was instructed to blog about Star Trek: The Next Generation by my friend Tom.
This was after a conversation in the bar, during which my thoughts about the series had Tom in stitches. Apparently I'm hilarious, and since that is exactly the kind of compliment that works on me, I'm now blogging about Next Gen.

My geekery doesn't come from a Trek background. I've barely seen 2 episodes of the original series. I remember Next Gen being on BBC2 at teatime as a kid, I watched bits. I prefer Deep Space Nine, with it's character development and politics I'm told it's the least Trek-like Trek series.

This isn't technically a rewatch as there are quite a few episodes I haven't seen. It's me writing what I think as I watch the episodes, with the intention of taking a humorous view.

I'm still going to blog about books, and other stuff that takes my fancy -I'm currently working on a post about scary dolls. I don't intend for this to become a Star Trek blog, but I'll try to write up an episode once a week (depending on my supply of borrowed DVDs).

So stay tuned for my thoughts on 'Encounter at Farpoint'.

Recent Reading

Do the Creepy Thing by Graham Joyce

Caz and her friend Lucy like to break into people's homes at night to do the creepy thing. Doing a Creepy means holding your head just centimetres away from a sleeper's face for 15 seconds. It's a game that's played as a test of skill and for the rush of possibly getting caught. Then Caz wakes up a strange, old lady who claps a silver bracelet on her wrist. Things start going wrong for Caz as she's plagued by bad luck and followed by a terrifying apparition.

This is an excellent story, which defied my initial expectations in an interesting way. It felt very realistic and grounded to me, despite having definite supernatural content. Both the setting and characters felt authentic, like these were things happening to normal people, not characters from a book. This might be because it's a UK book, whereas quite a lot of the YA I read is set in the US, although I think it says more about the authors grasp on his characters and honesty about their lives. There were a few elements in the book that could be described as 'issues', especially involving Caz's mum and her friend Lucy, but they weren't written like that at all. They were dealt with in a present-but-mostly-unmentioned kind of way, which is realistic even if it's not ideal. I thought that part of the ending was a bit too neat, but was happy to be surprised by the direction the story went.

Real Life Update

Various things have been going on.

Race for Life happened. 5km walk around a race course, along a river bank, up a hill and through a bus station in my hometown. I've raised over £70 for Cancer Research so far, and people can still donate online.
Here is a picture of me and my Mum beforehand (she found more pink clothes than me):

This picture is actually the one with the normalest expression.

It was a good event, with over 5000 women entering (the highest race number I saw was 5011). There were all sorts of outfits and costumes, including a woman dressed as a banana, a family of giraffes and some fantastic hats. It was pleasant to walk around, seeing what had changed and what's still the same. I haven't been to my hometown properly in a few years, and it's become a University town since I moved away. It was also nice to do the walk with my Mum and chat a bit.



Work is... well things aren't easy at the moment. There have been changes that we're still getting used to. There are staffing issues we're having to cope with. There will be changes coming in autumn, which apparently will improve things, but I'll wait and see what happens.
I'm actually job hunting at the moment, because though I like the job itself I'm going nowhere at the moment. My employers can't offer me what I need anymore, so I'm being sensible and thinking about the future. Looking for a new job is difficult and confusing, especially as I'm still figuring out what I want to do.Then again I've found some promising vacancies that I'm interested in, so I'm hoping something comes from that.



I will reassure everyone that I am still reading as much as ever (because I'm sure you were so concerned about that), I've just been bad at posting about it. I'm thinking of doing shorter posts about specific books, then doing longer posts on various themes as they occur to me.
I'm planning on doing a blog series about a beloved SF TV show, mostly because a friend demanded that I do so back in April (there may have been wine, or gin). Given how long the show ran it is a project that could take some years, but I don't want it to dominate the blog, so I'll be keeping up with other content too.

Race for Life

On 24th June I'm taking part in Race for Life to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

My mother is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed in 2009 and had to undergo over a year of surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These left her very ill and unable to work or enjoy her usual busy social life.

Now that the worst is behind her (though she's still on medication and has regular tests) we're going to walk 5km together through my hometown.

I'm still looking for sponsors and would be very grateful if you could donate just a little on my JustGiving page.

JustGiving donations are in GBP (£) so check conversion rates if you use another currency, and depending on your bank there may be a charge for an international transaction.



Thank you.

Recent Reading

My Week with Marilyn by Colin Clark

I saw and enjoyed the film and intended to have a look at the book. Within two weeks it was in my hands as I was replacing non-fiction at work. I took this as a sign and issued it to myself that very day.
The book is in two parts, the first is the diary of Colin Clark, a 23 year-old wannabe filmmaker, and 3rd Assistant Director on The Prince and the Showgirl. This part was published in 1995 as The Prince, the Showgirl and Me and gives a lot of insight into the personalities and problems behind the making of the film. The second, eponymous part (first published in 2000) is about a week that he spent as friend and confidante to Marilyn Munroe, the most famous woman in the world.
The film cut quite a lot and swapped some parts around, but it was fairly faithful to the book. It is the diary of an upper class Englishman from a bohemian (for 1950s Britain) background getting his first glimpse of the film industry.

In his preface Clarke says he couldn't be further from the 'country set' that made up his school fellows. Initially I found this statement ridiculous, but I suppose that he probably was as far from that group as any white, wealthy, upper-class, Eaton-educated Englishman could be. I think the point is that Colin had a very different outlook on life than those who would be considered his peers. His father was friends with Sir Laurence Olivier and that was how Colin got his very humble position on the film.
What I did not expect, and therefore found interesting, was what I learned about the 1950s. Nowadays it is a decade much referred to (especially this long weekend in the UK), but often in terms of austerity and restraint. Being a personal diary there were various intimate details and it felt odd to be reading stuff like that (I'm pretty un-voyeuristic) recorded so frankly.
It was also a glimpse of the kind of things that were common enough behind closed doors, but don't represent the modern idea of the 1950s. Not only sexual stuff, though there was some of that, but also swearing, drug taking, and the commonness of marital infidelity. It was also interesting to see the culture clash between the American movie-makers and the British film industry, which had strong links to the theatre (especially this production which was based on a play and involved any stage actors). The world of film is obviously apart from everyday life and not anywhere near as glamorous as the industry would have us believe, then or now.
The differences in tone between the two parts was very striking. I suppose the first was meant as a behind-the-scenes view of the filming, whereas the second is very much a personal account. It does make you wonder how much editing Colin did before publication. The events of the second book were concealed in the first, dates were changed and Colin displays no difference in tone or sympathy towards Munroe despite the changes that must have taken place.
I'm now quite interested to see The Prince and the Showgirl. Having read how difficult it was to make I'm, curious about the finished product.




Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard

This fantasy murder mystery is set in the Aztec Empire. High Priest of the Dead Acatl is called to investigate the death of an ambitious priestess, the main suspect is his brother, an elite warrior. Acatl, an unambitious man who has been thrust into a high-profile role, investigates to prove his estranged brother's innocence, but uncovers other secrets that could tear his family apart.
I very much enjoyed this book. I've read some of the author's short fiction in Interzone and was very impressed by it. I knew it had an Aztec setting and wasn't sure quite what to expect, I did Aztecs in school when I was 10, but it's an area and a period I know little about, so it was interesting to read about. There are all sorts of little details throughout that gave a good idea of how life was lived. The short stories I've read were set in an alternate-future with Aztec and Chinese empires in space, so I think I was initially expecting something more science fictional. I soon got into the historical in setting, and was interested to read about the magic wielded by priests and gods. I don't know Aztec myths, so I can't comment on that side of things, but the rules and magic all seemed consistent and worked with the setting. There was a good bibliography at the back of the book, and I recently got a free book about Mesoamerican art I shall look through.
The book is told from first person point of view by Acatl, who is a dedicated, honest man, but not a go-getter and weighed down with familial regrets and some resentment towards his successful brother. I found him to be mostly sympathetic, though there were occasions when you could see why his sister and deputy were so fed up with him. I found various of his character flaws familiar, so I identified with him more than some of the more action-based characters that can be found in the genre.
The only part of the book I found difficult were the names, which I didn't always know how to pronounce. However this wasn't really a problem as I'm not talking about the book out loud. Although I was curious about the sounds I'm actually glad there wasn't anything like a pronunciation guide. When I've read those in books before (including The Dervish House) I've fond they can be more distracting than helpful.

Wings of Desire

Last week I went to the last event of the International Dance festival Birmingham, having been to nothing else that was going on.
Wings of Desire is a dance, acrobatic and projected performance based on the film of the same name. I have seen both the original 80s Berlin-set film (which was later adapted by Hollywood into City of Angels, I film that seems mundane and ineffective compared to the artistry of the original) and it's 90s sequel Faraway So Close. Both films were good and arty, though the second was less poetic and had more of a definite plot, including Peter Falk (playing himself) providing one of the best distractions I have ever seen on screen.

Anyway the free performance, which ran in Birmingham's Victoria square for 4 nights, was actually quite a reasonable adaption of the film, considering it was a different medium. The story was relocated to Birmingham and had Goldie (an artist and actor with strong links with the city) take on a similar role to the late Peter Falk. He acted as compere and provided explanation.
Some of the angels were actually stood on top of buildings around the square, which was pretty impressive, especially the person on the five storey building. There were also dancers who wove their way through the crowd holding glowing spheres in their hands. These bits were very effective, as it showed the mystical side of things both at a distance and within the audience. The dance and acrobatic sections mostly took place on a large stage. This was the one place where, for me, the performance broke down, mostly because I could barely see what was going on except for on those occasions when the acrobats were standing on top of each other - which happened a fair bit. However if you're using dance and acrobatics to tell a story it helps if the audience can see most of the moves, or the shape of the dance, rather glimpses and shadows.

The big screen behind the stage projected many faces, and different voices were played over the stereo system, to represent the angels' ability to see into the thoughts of the people in the city. A lot of the images were of local people and some of the situations and dialogue were tied with specific locations, which worked well. Obviously Birmingham does not have the historical significance of Berlin, but there are still a huge number of stories, and part of the beauty of both the films and this adaption are their ability to place personal, intimate stories within a busy metropolis.

The biggest spectacle was the architectural projection on the town hall. It was truly amazing. The building appeared to become a weird spectral river, then seemed to crumble and fall and blow away. There were times when it looked almost organic, and when it was full of fireworks and when it seemed to dance with light and spin with colour like a building made of rubiks cubes. There were times when you thought you were looking at the actual columns then they'd move and you'd realise with delight that the illusion had tricked you.
It's particularly fitting because for years the exterior of the town hall was only a drawing on gigantic sheeting that covered the building while it was being worked on, so the idea that it might be illusory and fleeting worked well.
I think this use of the town hall even beats that time it appeared in a webcomic

Recent Reading

The Dervish House by Ian McDonald

I very much enjoyed this book, and I can see why it won a BSFA award. My husband has also read it, although he didn't enjoy it as much as me.
Set in near future Istanbul, it covers a week in the lives of six characters who live/work in an old dervish house on the European side of the city. In many ways the main character is Istanbul itself, various parts and periods of the city are explored in detail, at times it is almost poetical. I have never been to Istanbul and my knowledge of its history is limited to back when it was Constantinople, but the sense of the city and it's history are so strong that I felt I had some understanding of it - this is almost certainly an illusion, but creating powerful illusions is a mark of good fiction.

The main characters are: a old Greek academic who is part of a shrinking community; a secluded 9 year old boy with a heart condition who fancies himself a detective; a religious art dealer from an aristocratic family and her ambitious stock-trader husband; a determined young woman from rural Turkey who wants to prove her worth to her large family by marketing her cousin's revolutionary nanotech company; a troubled man who is being cared for by his religious brother.

The SF elements are mostly nanotechnology and advances in robotics. These allow for swarms of tiny robotic components that can reassemble into a variety of shapes for different uses. Nanotechnology lets people increase the performance of their brains and bodies, and one of the plotlines is about visionary technology that could see humanity altered entirely. There is also a strong vein of history in the book too, which is probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it. There is the recent (from our viewpoint, future) history of Turkey joining the EU. There are bittersweet memories of the 80s, when young love existed against political upheaval. There is the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, its decline and Turkey's liberation. There is plenty of Islamic history and mythology as one character searches for a lost artifact and another has mystical creatures enter their life - this sense of the fantastic is probably another reason I enjoyed the book so much, I do like a bit of Science Fantasy.


An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

This is the third John Green book I've read and it's probably the most amusing. It's about a boy called Colin who has dated and been dumped by 19 girls called Katherine, at first it was a coincidence, then it became a very specific preference (apparently the way I spell the name would not be acceptable). Having been recently dumped by Katherine XIX Colin is taken on a trip by his best friend Hassan and they end up in Gutshot, Tennessee, helping with a local history project. While all this is going on child prodigy Colin (who is afraid that despite his potential hell never be classed a genius) is attempting to come up with a mathematical theorem to explain relationships and predict who will dump who and when.

The book has many things which seem to be John Green staples: a young male protagonist who is confused about his future; a part of the USA that you don't tend to see on TV; a larger-than-life, foul-mouthed best friend; and a lot of random facts that are part of the main character's quirks.

Despite having familiar elements the story was in no way predictable, I honestly wasn't sure how it would finish -especially as previous John Green books I've read have had darker themes than this one. One thing I enjoyed about the book was the footnotes (I read a lot of Pratchett as a teenager, so this is probably unsurprising, plus I can be a rather tangential person myself), which contained both facts that Colin knows and interesting narrative info. A major theme of the book was Colin realising that, despite his impressive brainpower and brilliant academic skills, most of his potential was not necessarily going to be of any help outside of education. This seems like a good message for young people (even those who aren't prodigies).

Recent Reading

I have been a very bad blogger of late, I can only apologise. I have some modest plans for this blog, it's just taking me a while to get things sorted.

In the meantime here is a quick round up of stuff that I've read over the last month.

The Gambler's Fortune - Juliet E. McKenna

The 3rd book in the Tales of Einarinn sees us back with Livak as the first person narrator. The story takes us to the Forest, the Mountains and even into the eastern land of Solura, showing the reader different peoples and their societies. We see a lot of Mountain society as a faction of Mountain folk declare war against the lowlanders.
I think I prefer Livak as narrator to Ryshad - Livak feels a bit more fun to me. This book shows us more of the author's world building skills as we see how the different societies work within themselves and interact with others. This book has less focus on the elemental wizards and more on folklore and aetheric magic, and the hunt for answers that combine the two.

Fables from the Fountain - Ian Whates (ed)

This collection of short stories (which I bought a while ago and only recently finished), is about a group of fannish folk who meet in a pub (the eponymous Fountain) once a week and swap stories - several of which take on a distinctly science fictional tone. With a variety of big names contributing you can be sure that the collection is high quality writing and very entertaining.

The Cosmic Verses - James Muirden Illustrated by David Eccles

This is a book about the history of cosmology, entirely in rhyme, with amusing illustrations. It's genius!
I really liked the ancient bits (shocking, I know) and was interested in medieval and early modern sections, especially about the role that Islamic cultures played in preserving wisdom. The progress of human knowledge is fascinating. The modern sections had formulae in the verse, which I found a bit confusing. Then again towards the end there was a section that described how a star goes supernova to the same meter and rhyming scheme as The Lady of Shalott, which is weirdly brilliant.