Books, Dreams, Other
Feb. 23rd, 2010 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Book Foo..
Finished: Accelerando, by Charles Stross (reread)
Started: Glasshouse, by Charles Stross (reread)
Accelerando's a reread of course, first time, but again, I really enjoyed it, and hope he does some more in this universe. There's just a whizzing of cool ideas, some of which go by too fast to grab. Moved on to Glasshouse which is not as good.
Finished: Old Twentieth, by Joe Haldeman
Started: The Year's Best SF 13, (short stories)
Old Twentieth was... mixed. Like unfortunately a lot of Haldeman's work, he starts telling an interesting, engaging story, which then suddenly goes off the rails at the end. Minor spoilers, but mostly back of the book stuff (with vague hints towards resolution), behind cut.
The basic plot is that most of what's left of humanity is now more or less immortal, thanks to a nanotech process. Death still happens but it's usually suicide or extreme sudden trauma (like being caught in an explosion). A group of immortals are on a very long journey to explore another star system. One of the ways they cope with the boredom of such a long journey is by going into a virtual realiy simulation of the past, specifically the 20th century, and spend time there (most often not even being fully aware they're simulations). Trouble happens when people start dying in the machine, and there are signs something is very wrong.
All fair enough, a decent SF premise, maybe a little overworn, but Haldeman does a good job setting up the community and getting into the minds of the characters, and the trips to the past are interesting enough in that the VR both seems realistic enough (from the standpoint of the observer) to be fun but also with enough flaws that you can actually believe it's possible as a simulation. Some nice work's also done with AI, one of my favorite themes. But then it just feels as though Haldeman gets bored of writing and tacks on almost a Twilight-Zoneish ending which, while not totally divorced from the plot at large, leaves a lot to be desired and very little wrapped up.
So, overall, okay but it didn't really wow me.
Had a dream last night that people I hadn't talked to in a long time were messaging me online to tell me XET had returned. It wasn't a real return but sort of a "let's spin up the database for a night for old times sake and talk about old times" type deal. Still, nostalgia'd.
Another dream too that was pretty cool at the time but I've forgotten it, alas. Yesterday I did have a dream I later mistook for actually happening, but it was terribly mundane. A few days ago I bought some pie on sale. I forgot about it over the weekend (we have 2 freezers in our fridge, one of which I almost never go into, and it was in the other one). Anyway, I didn't know whether my roommates had any any left me my 1/3 or not. But yesterday I was absolutely sure there was 1/3 of it waiting for me to eat, because I'd actually seen it. Only to find when I went to look that it was untouched. Must have dreamed it. See, mundane.
In less mundane food stories, on Friday I had to get new shoes because my current ones were falling apart, and while I was doing so I saw something in a remainder bin... a sandwich maker. You know, one of those triangle shaped ones that heat both sides of the bread and press down and presto, hot sandwich, all sealed in. So yeah, it was pretty cheap and I bought one, and have been enjoying hot sandwiches on a regular basis the last few days. I've never had one before. A sandwich maker, I mean, not a hot sandwich.
Oh, and there should be another post on Thursday, although whether I'll be horribly depressed for it or horribly cheerful about it depends on what exactly happens on Thursday.
Finished: Accelerando, by Charles Stross (reread)
Started: Glasshouse, by Charles Stross (reread)
Accelerando's a reread of course, first time, but again, I really enjoyed it, and hope he does some more in this universe. There's just a whizzing of cool ideas, some of which go by too fast to grab. Moved on to Glasshouse which is not as good.
Finished: Old Twentieth, by Joe Haldeman
Started: The Year's Best SF 13, (short stories)
Old Twentieth was... mixed. Like unfortunately a lot of Haldeman's work, he starts telling an interesting, engaging story, which then suddenly goes off the rails at the end. Minor spoilers, but mostly back of the book stuff (with vague hints towards resolution), behind cut.
The basic plot is that most of what's left of humanity is now more or less immortal, thanks to a nanotech process. Death still happens but it's usually suicide or extreme sudden trauma (like being caught in an explosion). A group of immortals are on a very long journey to explore another star system. One of the ways they cope with the boredom of such a long journey is by going into a virtual realiy simulation of the past, specifically the 20th century, and spend time there (most often not even being fully aware they're simulations). Trouble happens when people start dying in the machine, and there are signs something is very wrong.
All fair enough, a decent SF premise, maybe a little overworn, but Haldeman does a good job setting up the community and getting into the minds of the characters, and the trips to the past are interesting enough in that the VR both seems realistic enough (from the standpoint of the observer) to be fun but also with enough flaws that you can actually believe it's possible as a simulation. Some nice work's also done with AI, one of my favorite themes. But then it just feels as though Haldeman gets bored of writing and tacks on almost a Twilight-Zoneish ending which, while not totally divorced from the plot at large, leaves a lot to be desired and very little wrapped up.
So, overall, okay but it didn't really wow me.
Had a dream last night that people I hadn't talked to in a long time were messaging me online to tell me XET had returned. It wasn't a real return but sort of a "let's spin up the database for a night for old times sake and talk about old times" type deal. Still, nostalgia'd.
Another dream too that was pretty cool at the time but I've forgotten it, alas. Yesterday I did have a dream I later mistook for actually happening, but it was terribly mundane. A few days ago I bought some pie on sale. I forgot about it over the weekend (we have 2 freezers in our fridge, one of which I almost never go into, and it was in the other one). Anyway, I didn't know whether my roommates had any any left me my 1/3 or not. But yesterday I was absolutely sure there was 1/3 of it waiting for me to eat, because I'd actually seen it. Only to find when I went to look that it was untouched. Must have dreamed it. See, mundane.
In less mundane food stories, on Friday I had to get new shoes because my current ones were falling apart, and while I was doing so I saw something in a remainder bin... a sandwich maker. You know, one of those triangle shaped ones that heat both sides of the bread and press down and presto, hot sandwich, all sealed in. So yeah, it was pretty cheap and I bought one, and have been enjoying hot sandwiches on a regular basis the last few days. I've never had one before. A sandwich maker, I mean, not a hot sandwich.
Oh, and there should be another post on Thursday, although whether I'll be horribly depressed for it or horribly cheerful about it depends on what exactly happens on Thursday.
