Posts Tagged ‘reading’

Books Read in 2010

Posted on: by Jeremiah Tolbert

I read more books in 2010 than I prob­a­bly did in the three years prior.   I don’t regret read­ing any of the books on this list.  Here are some quick thought son each.

1. Transition by Iain M Banks

I picked this up because I’m a huge fan of Zelazny’s Amber series, and the cover copy reminded me of it, with the trav­el­ing between worlds.  Parts of this book worked well for me, and parts did not (most notably, the unre­li­able nar­ra­tor aspect).  I would read fur­ther books in the milieu if they are published.

2. The Blade Itself, 3. Before They Are Hanged, 4. Last Argument of of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

It’s nice once and a while to read an entire series back to back.  The strong char­ac­ter­i­za­tions and rapid plot­ting worked well for me. 

5. Photographing Nature by Ralph A. Clevenger

I learned a lit­tle here, but not much.  Wet-​​belly pho­tog­ra­phy being the strongest con­cept I took away (macro pho­tog­ra­phy, taken at ground level, using a trash com­pactor bag to keep your­self dry).

6. Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

Weird fan­tasy noir.  Very much enjoyed it, and will read Jeff’s books from now on.

7. Paragaea by Chris Roberson

This took me back to what it was like to be 13 and read­ing the John Carter series.  I didn’t want it to end.

8. Monster by A. Lee Martinez

I enjoyed the pro­tag­o­nist quite a bit here, espe­cially his voice.

9. Linchpin by Seth Godin

This book will influ­ence my think­ing about cre­ative work for decades to come. Highly rec­om­mended for all artists and writers.

10. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

Now I know what all the fuss was about.  Temeraire is a really mem­o­rable and lik­able character.

11. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

More Temeraire can only be a good thing.

12. Rework by the 47 Signals Guys

Another very influ­en­tial book on my think­ing regard­ing cre­ative work.  I didn’t find it quite so con­tro­ver­sial as some did.

13. Dead Mens Boots by Mike Carey

Every day read­ing a new Carey book is like Christmas.

14. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik

Novik’s China was fas­ci­nat­ing, and Temeraire is com­ing along nicely in his evo­lu­tion as a character.

15. Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Jungle City by Greg Grandin

I learned a lot about Henry Ford and his ethics and prin­ci­ples here,  and while at times he was quite repug­nant, there was some­thing fas­ci­nat­ing about his drive and deter­mi­na­tion.  Even his fail­ures, doc­u­mented so well, are inter­est­ing lessons.  I hope to write some space col­o­niza­tion sto­ries that take lessons from Fordlandia.

16. A Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik

That dragon is just awesome.

17. For the Win by Cory Doctorow

I’m still try­ing to learn how to write about the inter­net in an inter­est­ing way from Cory.  I gath­ered a hand­ful of lessons from this one.

18. Kraken by China Mieville 

China Mieville spoofs urban fan­tasy.  This was a wild ride.

19. Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

I read this as a meaty hard-​​cover.  Wonderful line work by Rodriguez and Hill sets the stage with fas­ci­nat­ing world build­ing for what I hope con­tin­ues to be a com­pelling series.

20. Mice Templar by Brian J. L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming

Epic, in the true sense.  The art­work is breathtaking.

21. Scott Pilgrim Volume 6

A very sat­is­fy­ing con­clu­sion to one of the best graphic novel series in a decade.  Although I liked the end­ing of the movie better.

22. Ghostopolis by Doug Ten Napel

No one does whimsy in graphic nov­els like Napel.  Tackling the after­life was a bold choice here that I thought paid off pretty well.

23. Transhuman, The Sword, DV8, Wasteland, Victorian Undead, Pax Romana, and more comics

DV8 is espe­cially great as a med­i­ta­tion on super­pow­ers and gods.  Pax Romana was the usual aston­ish­ing work by Hickman.

24. Writing for Comics & Graphic Novels by Peter David

Valuable lessons I’ll prob­a­bly never put to use, but I’m glad I read it.

25. The Elephantmen by Richard Starkings with art by Moritat

Lush art­work, detailed world build­ing, and really fan­tas­tic char­ac­ter in the form of Hieronymus (Hip) Flask. I hope they make a movie.

26. Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual, edited by Gardner Dozois

The usual astound­ing col­lec­tion of short fiction.

27. Dark Reflections by Samuel R. Delany

Recommended by Nick Mamatas—this is my first Delany and cer­tainly won’t be my last. 

28. About Writing by Samuel R. Delany

Fantastic lessons about plot­ting and struc­ture to be learned here.  Must read for writers.

29. Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor

I read an ARC of this and devoured it in a sin­gle sit­ting.  That Geillor nailed the voice and the genre, syn­the­siz­ing some­thing supris­ingly fresh.

30. Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim is back!  I am a huge fan of Kadrey’s super­nat­ural noir style.

31. The Bookman by Lavie Tidar

Nobody writes like Lavie Tidar. I never had any clue where this book was going.  I’m really look­ing for­ward to pick­ing up the next one. 

32. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

More super­nat­ural noir, set in South Africa with really, really good world build­ing and an inter­est­ing sys­tem of magic.

33. Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo writes the future not as we want it to be, but as it will prob­a­bly turn out, and it breaks your heart.  Anything he writes is a must-​​read for me.

34. Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

The world build­ing here is just amaz­ing.  We have less of the awe­some biotech from the first, but more giant robot awe­some.  I can’t wait for more.

35. The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry

I lis­tened to this on my road trip to Ohio for World Fantasy, and I was utterly enthralled.  Stephen is not just a national trea­sure of Britain—he’s a trea­sure for all of us.

I’m happy to dis­cuss any of these fur­ther in the com­ments.  Just prompt me!

Eight Less Known Websites for SF Readers and Fans

Posted on: by Jeremiah Tolbert

Everyone knows a dozen author web­sites to read, and the indus­try blogs that tell you about the lat­est movies and TV shows. But what if you’re inter­ested in hear­ing about out­landish ideas you might pil­fer for a story? Or maybe you just want a quick kick of reality-​​based sen­sawunda. What web­sites to do you turn to for that? Try this list for starters.

1. Futurismic

Almost solely the hard work of Paul Graham Raven, Futurismic picks up on the near-​​future sci­ence news faster than any­one else I read at the moment. More impor­tantly, Futurismic is not afraid to con­tem­plate the ram­i­fi­ca­tions and impli­ca­tions of new tech devel­op­ments. Paul has the mind of a great sci­ence fic­tion writer in the mak­ing, I think. I some­times wish he’d spend less time on Futurismic and more time writ­ing short stories.

Futurismic also fea­tures reg­u­lar guest columns–one of which is by Brenda Cooper on trends in futur­ism. Those are well worth a read as well.

2. Curious Expeditions

For a lapsed world trav­eler such as myself, Curious Expeditions is a real treat. Written by Michelle Enemark and Dylan Thuras , the site doc­u­ments weird and obscure loca­tions around the globe. Their fix­a­tion on cab­i­nets of curiosi­ties have given me many ideas for the Dr. Roundbottom project.

Their pho­tos are always visu­ally rich and unlike any­thing else you will find else­where. It’s a source of his­tor­i­cal sensawunda.

3. Post Secret

Post Secret is a project in which peo­ple mail anony­mous post cards with secrets in to the project cre­ator. Each week, he posts a new batch of cards.

This one has almost noth­ing to do with spec­u­la­tive fic­tion exactly, but for a writer, it’s an amaz­ing insight into the inner lives of other human beings. I always come away from the Sunday posts of secrets feel­ing a lit­tle more wise and a lit­tle changed by the expe­ri­ence. I can’t say that I’ve used any of the secrets directly in my work, but read­ing the site is def­i­nitely fur­ther­ing my under­stand­ing of how peo­ple work in a more gen­eral sense.

4. Sentient Developments

The project of Canadian futur­ist George Dvorsky, this site brings me buck­ets of news about robot­ics and research in arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence. It does take a bit of a cred­i­bil­ity hit by pay­ing lip-​​service to the dis­cred­ited “aquatic ape” the­ory in my opin­ion, but I can under­stand the appeal of such wacky the­o­ries. Regardless, it’s a great source of sci­ence news.

5. Douglas Rushkoff

Here’s another blog by an eclec­tic and inter­est­ing thinker. Douglas leans left polit­i­cally, so you may not be inter­ested in his cur­rent fix­a­tion about tak­ing the world back from cor­po­ra­tions, but he’s been a great source for me of off-​​the-​​beaten-​​path eco­nomic news. About every­thing else, Ruskoff is inter­ested, it seems to me, in the future of human­ity. This can be a lit­tle pub­lic­ity heavy at times, as he is sell­ing a book, but when he shares an arti­cle, it’s almost always worth a read.

6. Strange Maps

There have been a lot of very, very strange maps drawn through­out his­tory. This blog brings you scans of the some of the stranger ones. Not much else to it, and that’s why I love it.

7. Street Use

This is another sim­ple site. It doc­u­ments with pho­tographs the unusual inven­tions and mod­i­fi­ca­tions of off-​​the-​​shelf tech in 3rd world coun­tries. They quote William Gibson in their expla­na­tion: “The street finds its own use for things.”

Possibly a great web­site if you’re writ­ing post-​​apocalyptic SF.

8. Centauri Dreams

Interested in space explo­ration? This blog by the Tau Zero Foundation is all about that, and tan­gen­tially often about the notion of alien life. I some­times find it an odd read, but it’s def­i­nitely rich with SF mate­r­ial for the writer and afficionado.

So, what are some sites that you think are good brain fod­der for the SF type?

Nine Reasons I Read Science Fiction

Posted on: by Jeremiah Tolbert

Nine Reasons I Read Science Fiction

1. Neophilia.

Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea intro­duced the idea of neophilia to me in their great con­spir­acy the­ory mag­num opus, The Illuminatus Trilogy. Hagbard Celine, the half-​​Atlantian Discordian sub­ma­rine cap­tain describes the world as being divided into two types of peo­ple– neophiles and neo­phobes; those who are attracted by the new, and those who are repelled by it. I read this book when I was six­teen. I imme­di­ately rec­og­nized myself as a neophile. Science fic­tion writ­ers gen­er­ally attempt to show things that have never been seen before in their work. There is a tra­di­tion of the orig­i­nal within it. If there is a genre of fic­tion that can be described as neophillic, it is sci­ence fic­tion.

2. To chal­lenge my preconceptions.

I grew up in Kansas, which if you read the news at all, is a state where peo­ple are gen­er­ally very con­ser­v­a­tive. Racism is ram­pant. Homophobia was, at least when I was a child, the gen­eral rule. And if you weren’t Christian, then you were going to Hell. It is easy to accept all of these beliefs as fact when you are immersed in them. Even if you don’t agree with them, they find a way to seep into your mind. In that envi­ron­ment, sci­ence fic­tion, with it’s unusual and pro­gres­sive views about gen­der, race, sex, and reli­gion pro­vides an escape, and an alter­nate view point. Ursula K. LeGuin alone chal­lenged much of my pre­con­cep­tions in her work. Whether it was the peo­ple of color in the Earthsea books, or chal­leng­ing the idea of gen­der in The Left Hand of Darkness, her work opened up my mind to a world where cul­tural ideas are not hegemonic.

3. To travel to exotic places with­out leav­ing the house.

Science fic­tion is often set in places that no human being has ever vis­ited before. I love to travel, and with enough time, I could one day see much of what Earth has to offer. And I don’t think there is any sub­sti­tute for get­ting up and actu­ally going to the places. But some places are beyond the reach of a jet plane. Without sci­ence fic­tion, I would never know or imag­ine what the skies of Venus are like, never feel the breeze of an alien wind across my skin, or feel the dread as a small alien space­craft full of humans slips over the event hori­zon of a black hole. Science fic­tion inspires us to push this bound­ary of the lim­its of travel. I know more now about the sur­face of Mars than I could have expected to, ten years ago. I would bet that it was partly sci­ence fic­tion that inspired the NASA sci­en­tists to build the Mars rovers that gave me this knowledge.

4. To be pre­pared for pos­si­ble future.

1984. Fahrenheit 451. These are no longer fic­tion, they’re prac­ti­cally mod­ern day sur­vival guides. Science fic­tion pre­pares us for the “what ifs” of the future. Science fic­tion read­ers as a group are more pre­pared for what comes. We’ve been con­sid­er­ing the chal­lenges and moral dilem­mas of stem cells and cloning long before any­one else. The Singularity may be com­ing, and if any­one will be pre­pared for it, it will be the read­ers and writ­ers of sci­ence fiction.

5. To escape the mundane.

Because I need adven­ture and excite­ment and stim­u­la­tion! I work a desk job. I spend 48+ weeks a year in the same 100 mile square area. I see the same peo­ple, do the same tasks, and walk or drive the same streets day in, day out. Life is repet­i­tive. Science fic­tion allows me to escape that. I don’t want to read about peo­ple who have bor­ing jobs and rela­tion­ship prob­lems with their spouses. I want to read about things that stir sur­prise and amaze­ment in me–what we call sen­sawunda. I don’t get sen­sawunda from my day to day life very often. When I do, it’s a bless­ing. But I know that if I turn to my book shelf, I can get a hefty dose of it any time I want.

6. Because I care about plot.

Science fic­tion sto­ries often deal with Big Things. Saving the world. Saving the uni­verse, even. Plot seems to be more empha­sized in sci­ence fic­tion than it is in other gen­res, and it tends to have a larger scope. The stakes are higher. In the pro­to­typ­i­cal lit­er­ary story, the stakes are a col­lege professor’s mar­riage. Yawn. I want some­thing big on the line. I want schemes from my vil­lains, where the stake is noth­ing less than every­thing the pro­tag­o­nists hold dear. Little sto­ries are nice, from time to time, but its the big sto­ries that hold my atten­tion the best. And sci­ence fic­tion offers those.

7. To learn science.

Reading isn’t just about fun. I like it best when I read fic­tion that teaches me some­thing use­ful along with enter­tain­ing me. I find two gen­res par­tic­u­larly excel at this; his­tor­i­cal fic­tion and sci­ence fic­tion. I love sci­ence for the way it makes sense of the world in a log­i­cal man­ner. And you could argue that some sci­ence fic­tion is really just his­tor­i­cal fic­tion about the future. Both can occa­sion­ally pro­vide life lessons. One is from pre­vi­ous exam­ples and the other from theoretical.

8. Because it’s dan­ger­ous to like it.

Everybody has their way of being dif­fer­ent. For me, it’s being a SF nut. This got me picked on more than a few times in my child­hood. It gets me sneered upon by lit­er­ary writ­ers who hang out at the cof­fee shops around town. To some peo­ple, being a sci­ence fic­tion writer means I am lower on the totem pole than a garbage man. I like that. I don’t have much rebel in me, but I like tak­ing plea­sure in things that those kinds of peo­ple hate.

9. Because it offers hope.

Not all sci­ence fic­tion, but a great deal of it, has offered hope. Hope that the future can be bet­ter than the present. At times, it has fetishized the idea of progress, but when it is at its best, it can give hope to the lowli­est soul that their life, or their children’s lives could be bet­ter than it is today. Yes, there is a great tra­di­tion of dystopia fic­tion in the genre, but I would argue that dystopias are writ­ten from a posi­tion of optimism–that per­haps, if the author lays out their dystopian vision, the world can avoid it. Dystopian writ­ers see some­thing that could go wrong and warn against it. Even this is opti­mistic to me and offers hope.

I am not usu­ally a cheer­leader for sci­ence fic­tion. I think there can be some very bad things about it and its fan­dom. I do not believe that sci­ence fic­tion fans are bet­ter than any­one else. That is not what this post is about. It is about why I per­son­ally con­tinue to read sci­ence fic­tion today, twenty years after I dis­cov­ered my first Anne McCaffery book. I encour­age you to think about why you read sci­ence fic­tion too. Sometimes, we all need a reminder. I know that I did.