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Book Foo + news from Comicon weekend
Jul. 26th, 2011 04:27 pmAs usual, anything spoilery will be behind cuts, but mostly it'll be 'back of the book' type things, or very vague, unless otherwise warned.
Finished: Helm, by Steven Gould
I'm a big fan of Steven Gould's Jumper and its sequel Reflex, and, to a bit of a lesser extent, Wildside. So, I figured I'd pick up this book, give it
a try. In short... I liked it, but not nearly as much as his other work. ( Read more... )
Finished: Designated Targets, by John Birmingham
This is book two of the "Axis of Time" trilogy, about a multinational combat fleet from 2029 that was sent back in time to the middle of WWII, with no way back and their mere presence having changed history.
I loved the idea of the first book, but the book itself left me a little cold, mostly because many of the characters fell a little flat. This one was slightly better, although some of the similar problems existed, I felt a little more connected to what was going on, although my eyes still sort of glazed over a bit during some points, battles in particular. I did like ( Read more... )
Finished: Newton's Wake, by Ken Macleod
My first book by this author, but since he often deals with some of the ideas that I'm particularly into recently (Singularity type stuff, AIs, post-humans, etc), I figured it was about time I gave him a try, and first with this stand-alone novel before I delved into his serieses. In short: I did quite like it, although it's not without a few problems. The book's set in the far future, after a Singularity, but ( Read more... ) I don't think based on this, he's in danger of immediately becoming one of my favorite authors, but he's certainly someone I'll be reading more of.
Finished: The Witling, by Vernor Vinge
Early Vinge is a little hit and miss, and this is early Vinge. This one deals with some Earthlings who come across a planet of people with the ability to teleport (and a few other psychic abilities). The characters are a little flat, but Vinge really thought about how the teleportation worked and what the implications were for the society. For
example, speed and direction is conserved, so you can't teleport to the other side of the planet, because you'd come out flying at a speed that would be impossible to survive.
As I said it's a bit on the light end of characterization, but I did like it more than the last early-Vinge I read, Tatja Grimm's World. ( Read more... )
Not deep, not great literature, but good enough for a diversion.
Started:
The Jennifer Morgue, by Charles Stross
Cosmonaut Keep, by Ken Macleod
TV's been relatively quiet (I continue to watch Falling Skies but it continues to not wow me, just mildly entertain), but we do have a date for the rest of the Doctor Who season... August 27th... earlier than I expected (oh, and trailer, here, if you haven't seen it)- I figured it'd be early September at the earliest.
In comics I'm still alternatively eyerolling or headdesking at the news out of DC, confirming my decision to not buy them again. And, at this point... I know it's not the best thing for the industry, but I'm actively hoping it fails. A kind of "New Coke" failure (which, by the way, is one that failed and produced a lot of dissatisfaction, but led to spectacular success for Coke when they reversed themselves and brought back classic Coke that people didn't know they missed... by the end of that year they were outselling Pepsi, who they were losing to before the change to New Coke), hopefully, but one that sends a message about what a bad idea it was, not necessarily conceptually, but in execution.
Whatever, I won't be reading it until they make some serious reversals on a few decisions they've made.
Other recent comic news is the announcement of Brian K. Vaughn's new comic series, Saga. It's described as a SF epic but very few details about the plot exist, at least that I've found. So far I'm not super excited about it (for me, comics are for superheroes, for SF, I'd much prefer to read a novel), but I'll probably check it out at least, because he's one of the few writers for whom I'd be willing to go outside superheroes.
So, for me, the biggest squee-inducing thing to come out of Comicon?
Avatar: The Legend of Korra!!!! (I'm sorry, I know the official title is "The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra", but that's a stupid title caused by James Cameron, and I will not use it). They released the official trailer, and you can watch it here. Looks awesome to me. If you want some info on some of the characters and setup (some spoilers, I guess), including character designs, you can look here.
Finished: Helm, by Steven Gould
I'm a big fan of Steven Gould's Jumper and its sequel Reflex, and, to a bit of a lesser extent, Wildside. So, I figured I'd pick up this book, give it
a try. In short... I liked it, but not nearly as much as his other work. ( Read more... )
Finished: Designated Targets, by John Birmingham
This is book two of the "Axis of Time" trilogy, about a multinational combat fleet from 2029 that was sent back in time to the middle of WWII, with no way back and their mere presence having changed history.
I loved the idea of the first book, but the book itself left me a little cold, mostly because many of the characters fell a little flat. This one was slightly better, although some of the similar problems existed, I felt a little more connected to what was going on, although my eyes still sort of glazed over a bit during some points, battles in particular. I did like ( Read more... )
Finished: Newton's Wake, by Ken Macleod
My first book by this author, but since he often deals with some of the ideas that I'm particularly into recently (Singularity type stuff, AIs, post-humans, etc), I figured it was about time I gave him a try, and first with this stand-alone novel before I delved into his serieses. In short: I did quite like it, although it's not without a few problems. The book's set in the far future, after a Singularity, but ( Read more... ) I don't think based on this, he's in danger of immediately becoming one of my favorite authors, but he's certainly someone I'll be reading more of.
Finished: The Witling, by Vernor Vinge
Early Vinge is a little hit and miss, and this is early Vinge. This one deals with some Earthlings who come across a planet of people with the ability to teleport (and a few other psychic abilities). The characters are a little flat, but Vinge really thought about how the teleportation worked and what the implications were for the society. For
example, speed and direction is conserved, so you can't teleport to the other side of the planet, because you'd come out flying at a speed that would be impossible to survive.
As I said it's a bit on the light end of characterization, but I did like it more than the last early-Vinge I read, Tatja Grimm's World. ( Read more... )
Not deep, not great literature, but good enough for a diversion.
Started:
The Jennifer Morgue, by Charles Stross
Cosmonaut Keep, by Ken Macleod
TV's been relatively quiet (I continue to watch Falling Skies but it continues to not wow me, just mildly entertain), but we do have a date for the rest of the Doctor Who season... August 27th... earlier than I expected (oh, and trailer, here, if you haven't seen it)- I figured it'd be early September at the earliest.
In comics I'm still alternatively eyerolling or headdesking at the news out of DC, confirming my decision to not buy them again. And, at this point... I know it's not the best thing for the industry, but I'm actively hoping it fails. A kind of "New Coke" failure (which, by the way, is one that failed and produced a lot of dissatisfaction, but led to spectacular success for Coke when they reversed themselves and brought back classic Coke that people didn't know they missed... by the end of that year they were outselling Pepsi, who they were losing to before the change to New Coke), hopefully, but one that sends a message about what a bad idea it was, not necessarily conceptually, but in execution.
Whatever, I won't be reading it until they make some serious reversals on a few decisions they've made.
Other recent comic news is the announcement of Brian K. Vaughn's new comic series, Saga. It's described as a SF epic but very few details about the plot exist, at least that I've found. So far I'm not super excited about it (for me, comics are for superheroes, for SF, I'd much prefer to read a novel), but I'll probably check it out at least, because he's one of the few writers for whom I'd be willing to go outside superheroes.
So, for me, the biggest squee-inducing thing to come out of Comicon?
Avatar: The Legend of Korra!!!! (I'm sorry, I know the official title is "The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra", but that's a stupid title caused by James Cameron, and I will not use it). They released the official trailer, and you can watch it here. Looks awesome to me. If you want some info on some of the characters and setup (some spoilers, I guess), including character designs, you can look here.
