Book Foo and a Meme!
Nov. 27th, 2010 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Start off with a book foo:
Finished: Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower Book IV), by Stephen King (reread)
Started: The Wolves of the Calla (Dark Tower Book V), by Stephen King (reread)
Wizard and Glass is probably my least favorite of the Dark Tower books. I can also imagine it must have been somewhat unsatisfying for readers who read them as they cam out. (spoilers behind the cut, but only for up to this book)
The previous book, the Waste Lands, was published in 1991, and ended on a cliffhanger, with Roland's ka-tet on a murderous train. 6 years pass before Wizard and Glass comes out, where they do get a resolution in the first hundred or so pages, and then get, mostly, a long story about Roland's tragic first love.
Then, in 2003, they finally more or less get a full book about Roland and Eddie and Susannah and Jake. So, basically 12 years before the quest for the Dark Tower actually resumes.
Lucky for me, I only started reading the books shortly after Wolves of the Calla came out. So I didn't have years of waiting, but I still felt the story dragged. Not that I wasn't interested in Roland's past and more of his world, but I didn't want it in one huge lump that took most of a book away from the people I actually wanted to read about. I'd have preferred it if they used the style of, say, Lost, where the flashback was intertwined in an ongoing narrative. Of course, that would have made the book even longer. Pace has always been a bit weird in the Dark Tower books though.
I also felt, resolution of the cliffhanger aside, the book felt very much like a... filler episode. They're on the beam, they defeat the train, but find they're no longer on the Beam any more, they're in the world of The Stand. So Roland tells them all a long story of his past, and they go into a weird emerald city castle and confront a wizard from his past and Roland's own regrets, and the book ends with them back on the beam again. It feels like one of those episodes where the main character spends the whole time in a dream, that has some relevance to his history or character but really it's an episode away from the Main Plot.
I hate those episodes. Maybe that's part of why I didn't like this one as much as the others.
Finished: Tesseracts 4 (short story collection)
Started: Tesseracts 5 (short story collection)
Yes, more Canadian short stories. This one's a bit amusing because it contains two stories by people I've interacted with. Karl Schroeder (who I met for the library's Writer-In-Residence thing back in February) co-wrote a short story "The Toy Mill", about a little girl and an evil Santa (I believe they later turned it into a novel/novella), and Allan Weiss, who writes a story called "Ants", taught a class I took in "Apocalyptic Science Fiction". At the time I'd never read anything of his (that I can recall), though I was aware he was a SF writer.
Those two stories were among the better ones in the anthology, which is a little on the uninspiring side. Another writer who I've been exposed to mostly through the Tesseracts series that I'm becoming rather fond of is Elisabeth Vonarburg, a Quebec-based writer who writes in French (her stories are translated, of course, for I read very little french). They're a bit hard to describe, but there are some neat ideas and images in the ones I've read so far and unlike a lot of other-language translations, they don't feel especially stilted or awkward. Actually lately I've become more interested in SF in translation from other languages and cultures, just to see what ideas they have that I can steal... err, I mean, that might be missing in more mainstream works. (I suppose steal, too, but only in the sense that, particularly in SF, writers are frequently inspired by ideas of others, not stealing the story directly but one idea and going in a completely different way with it). Unfortunately I'm not QUITE interested in it enough to want to buy a new anthology or translated novel (though there are a couple of translated Japanese SF novelsreleased lately that sound interesting, they're all in hardcover or overpriced oversized TPB format. Publish in normal paperback, then we'll talk) , but I do try to keep an eye on used bookstores for things like it.
Now, off of books for a moment and to a meme: (although if you want to do it on a book character, you can!)
Name a character from one of my fandoms/shows/anything and I'll give you:
(a) Three facts about them from my personal fanon.
(b) A reason he/she sucks.
(c) A reason he/she is amazing.
(d) Five things that I'd like to see happen to them.
(e) Five people that I can't ship that character with and why.
Since I doubt I'll get many different people participating, and it seems like a kind of fun thing to do, if you WANT, you can ask me more than one.
And finally, I believe I'll be going to my work's XMas party next weekend. Yay for me being slightly less than a total hermit with no social life. Although I don't expect anything other than an awkward lonely experience in a bigger crowd than my usual solitary lonely experiences, at least there'll be a free meal thrown intp the deal.
Finished: Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower Book IV), by Stephen King (reread)
Started: The Wolves of the Calla (Dark Tower Book V), by Stephen King (reread)
Wizard and Glass is probably my least favorite of the Dark Tower books. I can also imagine it must have been somewhat unsatisfying for readers who read them as they cam out. (spoilers behind the cut, but only for up to this book)
The previous book, the Waste Lands, was published in 1991, and ended on a cliffhanger, with Roland's ka-tet on a murderous train. 6 years pass before Wizard and Glass comes out, where they do get a resolution in the first hundred or so pages, and then get, mostly, a long story about Roland's tragic first love.
Then, in 2003, they finally more or less get a full book about Roland and Eddie and Susannah and Jake. So, basically 12 years before the quest for the Dark Tower actually resumes.
Lucky for me, I only started reading the books shortly after Wolves of the Calla came out. So I didn't have years of waiting, but I still felt the story dragged. Not that I wasn't interested in Roland's past and more of his world, but I didn't want it in one huge lump that took most of a book away from the people I actually wanted to read about. I'd have preferred it if they used the style of, say, Lost, where the flashback was intertwined in an ongoing narrative. Of course, that would have made the book even longer. Pace has always been a bit weird in the Dark Tower books though.
I also felt, resolution of the cliffhanger aside, the book felt very much like a... filler episode. They're on the beam, they defeat the train, but find they're no longer on the Beam any more, they're in the world of The Stand. So Roland tells them all a long story of his past, and they go into a weird emerald city castle and confront a wizard from his past and Roland's own regrets, and the book ends with them back on the beam again. It feels like one of those episodes where the main character spends the whole time in a dream, that has some relevance to his history or character but really it's an episode away from the Main Plot.
I hate those episodes. Maybe that's part of why I didn't like this one as much as the others.
Finished: Tesseracts 4 (short story collection)
Started: Tesseracts 5 (short story collection)
Yes, more Canadian short stories. This one's a bit amusing because it contains two stories by people I've interacted with. Karl Schroeder (who I met for the library's Writer-In-Residence thing back in February) co-wrote a short story "The Toy Mill", about a little girl and an evil Santa (I believe they later turned it into a novel/novella), and Allan Weiss, who writes a story called "Ants", taught a class I took in "Apocalyptic Science Fiction". At the time I'd never read anything of his (that I can recall), though I was aware he was a SF writer.
Those two stories were among the better ones in the anthology, which is a little on the uninspiring side. Another writer who I've been exposed to mostly through the Tesseracts series that I'm becoming rather fond of is Elisabeth Vonarburg, a Quebec-based writer who writes in French (her stories are translated, of course, for I read very little french). They're a bit hard to describe, but there are some neat ideas and images in the ones I've read so far and unlike a lot of other-language translations, they don't feel especially stilted or awkward. Actually lately I've become more interested in SF in translation from other languages and cultures, just to see what ideas they have that I can steal... err, I mean, that might be missing in more mainstream works. (I suppose steal, too, but only in the sense that, particularly in SF, writers are frequently inspired by ideas of others, not stealing the story directly but one idea and going in a completely different way with it). Unfortunately I'm not QUITE interested in it enough to want to buy a new anthology or translated novel (though there are a couple of translated Japanese SF novelsreleased lately that sound interesting, they're all in hardcover or overpriced oversized TPB format. Publish in normal paperback, then we'll talk) , but I do try to keep an eye on used bookstores for things like it.
Now, off of books for a moment and to a meme: (although if you want to do it on a book character, you can!)
Name a character from one of my fandoms/shows/anything and I'll give you:
(a) Three facts about them from my personal fanon.
(b) A reason he/she sucks.
(c) A reason he/she is amazing.
(d) Five things that I'd like to see happen to them.
(e) Five people that I can't ship that character with and why.
Since I doubt I'll get many different people participating, and it seems like a kind of fun thing to do, if you WANT, you can ask me more than one.
And finally, I believe I'll be going to my work's XMas party next weekend. Yay for me being slightly less than a total hermit with no social life. Although I don't expect anything other than an awkward lonely experience in a bigger crowd than my usual solitary lonely experiences, at least there'll be a free meal thrown intp the deal.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 03:44 am (UTC)Admiral Chaison Fanning (from the Virga Series)
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Date: 2010-11-29 11:28 pm (UTC)(a) Three facts about them from my personal fanon.
1) Although a (relatively) loyal Admiral, when he was a kid, he played pirates in zero gravity games with his friends, he liked playing the pirates best and usually won.
2) He looks a lot like Nathan Fillion, except dressed in far more elaborate and formal attire than Mal would ever wear.
3) Chaison did at one time suspect his wife was cheating on him, possibly with Carrier, but soon realized that if he had her investigated she would not only find out but if she was guilty would be able to cover it up so thoroughly he'd be convinced anyway, so decided he might as well just trust her.
(b) A reason he/she sucks.
No lasers. HE NEEDS LASERS.
(c) A reason he/she is amazing.
Going on a secret mission against orders to destroy a threat to your country, and then when it's the only way to win, ramming the other ship with your own in a suicide run? That's pretty amazing.
(d) Five things that I'd like to see happen to them.
(some of this might happen in Pirate Sun, I guess)
1) Reunite with his wife Venera
2) Taking over Slipstream from the Pilot
3) Meet Hayden Griffin again
4) Leave Virga entirely and react to the society of Artificial Nature
5) Get a pet.
(e) Five people that I can't ship that character with and why.
This one I can't enumerate because at least in the stories I've read of his, there really aren't very Ship-Worthy relationships. I mean, I suppose someone, somewhere ships him and Griffin or Carrier, or Mallahan, but I just don't see it. Mostly I stick with the canon ship of him and Venera. It is a quite intriguing relationship, in that I'm not 100% sure that they work, but they seem to be so convinced that they do that it reduces my doubts. Also I do like the dynamic of him being somewhat the stalwart, "does the right thing even at the cost of his own life" while she's the more practical schemer who'll do what needs to be done, ruthlessly even but not heartlessly.
Maybe once I finish the Chaison-centered book I'll come back and try it again.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-01 05:36 pm (UTC)Weirdly though, it wraps up all the character arcs started in book one, so I'm not sure what the next two books are about. I've got book four, but I've been too busy to read it.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-01 05:50 pm (UTC)