All Reviews by Goldfish Stew
Winning Mars
by Jason Stoddard
Reality TV meets the space race in this story about a TV producer with a dream to make television sexy again in a not-too distant world where online experience is the new preferred entertainment.
Which puts the story on the back foot a little to begin with - the storyline is a bit laboured without a stronger reason for being. It's relatively enjoyable to read, although manages to test your endurance and interest at times.
Zendyne
by Han Li Thorn
Kind of a Philip K. Dick Lite experience - except that Dick would have taken the basic story to quite different places.
Certainly worth a look for anyone interested in modern science fiction. While lacking a bit of thought at times there are some interesting ideas in there.
Planet of the Damned
by Harry Harrison
This book has aged relatively well - apart from the derring do and sexual politics of the 60s looking more than a little dated. The story itself - of a misled people following a suicidal terrorist elite - fits today's environment as well as it fit the Cold War environment it was written for.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
by Cory Doctorow
A colourful "What the?!?" experience
This is a book for those of us who think our family is weird and that our upbringing has made it hard for us to fit in. For anyone who feels disconnected and lacking in identity - meet Alan. Or is it Andrew, Adam or what? His family is not what you would call functional.
The story drifts in and out of two timelines (at one point 3) - there's the story of the present, where Alan arrives in town and tries to settle in, but is confronted by his past. Then we learn (piece by piece) of his past and his bizarre family. What Alan's kind is is never explained, but they are not human - instead a mythic-like species (with a plethora of quirks) desperately wanting to be normal.
Unfortunately it does seem to lose its way a little with the "free speech by WiFi" subplot (which was worthy of its own story - both plots lost out somewhat by being unnaturally married.) I guess this is kind of part of Doctorow's hobby horse - and given that his hobby horse allows me to download and read his books I can't exactly complain.
Doctorow is a great author. This may not be the most accessible of his novels for the Doctorow-virgin to pluck the cherry with (try Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom) but it is a worthy read for anyone prepared to enjoy a bizarre fantasy where angels live in abusive relationships and a mountain can father children.
Star Dragon
by Mike Brotherton
Slow start, but overall a worthy read
Star Dragon tells the tale of a mission to discover an extraordinary life form, caught momentarily on film. The idea of a colossal "Star Dragon" has the crew seeking to discover more about an improbable creature in an inhospitable environment. And that part of the story is done rather well.
What is done less well is the futuristic vision of a world where genetic engineering is done as routinely as having your haircut, and where even basic furnishings are genetically modified creatures allowing personalised environment. It added an unnecessarily grotesqueness that detracted from the rest of the story. One could suspend disbelief in the case of the existence of Star Dragons, but I couldn't stretch it to near instantaneous genetic modification and sympathetic sofas.
It took me a while to get into this book. I think the whole "genetic modification at will for fashionable purposes" had something to do with it. But I'm glad I persevered.
The Galaxy Primes
by E. E. ''Doc'' Smith
Unimpressive Drivel
This story of 4 space travellers with telekinetic abilities is underwhelming. Probably partly due to being a very dated look at the future, it hasn't aged as well as some contemporaries managed.
The 4 travellers - Clee, Belle, James and Lola are sent spaceward in an experimental spaceship that seemly materialises randomly at a destination. They bounce from destination to destination meeting humans at just about every stop, but also meeting guardians of the human race whose role it is to ensure breeding compatibility.
Eventually they realise they can control the space craft (telekinetically) and return to their home galaxy, where they decide that as psychically advanced beings they should give something back to the galaxy.
The characters are abominably two dimensional, and the plot simply wretched. The psychic abilities essentially give them a get out of jail free card at every juncture, thus removing any potential for tension.
It ends up like a handful of possibly reasonable plotlines tossed together and brewed in the worst possible way.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
by Cory Doctorow
Imagine a world where government and society as we know it has gone. A place where money no longer exists - instead people trade in kudos, the amount of kudos someone has determining their status and influence. Imagine the dreams of open source communities and community driven projects (such as Mozilla or Wikipedia) stretching across society - where even businesses like Disney are taken over by adhoc communities running the park for the love of it (and the whuffie.) Where death is curable by simple backup.
Cory Doctorow invites the reader to explore such a world. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is such a story. And as surreal as it may sound, he draws you in. Murder, revenge, underhanded deeds and tiredness with the world dominate this story.
It is at the same time lighthearted and a somewhat dark reflection on life and the human condition. Take the chance and read it, you might be surprised.
doubleZero
by Hamish MacDonald
Look beyond the dates
This is a book set around the Y2k bug - which automatically dates it and makes it feel a tad embarrassing. But if you're able to look beyond that into a "what might have been" scenario there is a not too bad story underneath. Furthermore, although Y2k provides the setting, the real theme of the story (more about economics) is still relevant.
Macdonald writes well, able to draw the reader into the story as it unfolds. Worth a look.
The Willies
by Hamish MacDonald
Interesting biotech story that doesn't take itself too seriously (and thus redeems itself.)
Hugh and Simon are friends with a chequered history that leaves them separated for years, however events are bringing them back together again. On the trail of an elusive geneticist who is experimenting in cloning Hugh discovers more about himself and Simon than he would like to.
The narcissistic twist of falling in love with one's clone is a tad disturbing, perhaps it's meant to be.
Overall a gentle read worth a download.
Invaders from the Infinite
by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Wretched
Having read the earlier stories*, and watched their general demise I decided to give this installment the benefit of the doubt and read it.
The result was underwhelming. With the help of a "time field" the heroes now have unlimited potential and their infallible ability to come up with far-fetched solutions and inventions, moving from theoretical mathematics to extraordinary space ship in a matter of hours.
The result is totally unsatisfying. One generally expects that the good guys will prevail, but typically hopes that they will do so without the aid of a perpetual literary get out of jail free card. Under attack from an advanced race of aliens? Simple, switch on the time field allowing yourself a week to invent a newer better space ship to fight back. It is little more than an assault on the intellect of the reader.
I don't know if there's a fourth book in the series. I don't much care either.
* For those of you playing at home, the series begins with The Black Star Passes, continues in The Islands of Space and it would appear concludes with this tale.
Space Prison
by Tom Godwin
Excellent
I nearly gave up on this one on the first page after some truly shaky prose. I'm glad I didn't.
Space Prison is a story of exile. A race of humans inadequate to be kept as slaves are left by their captors to perish on an barren and harsh planet. As they die from fever, animal attacks, starvation and sheer stress all that is left to keep the remnant going is the desire for an impossible revenge.
The characterisation isn't strong, but given that the tale spans several generations it doesn't need to be. If this story was written today it would probably be 3 or 4 books, each telling the tale of a generation in extra detail. But it loses very little as an epic story packed into a shortish book.
A great scifi story.
The Black Star Passes
by John W. Campbell, Jr.
I was interested to read this, as I had heard a lot about Campbell (being very influential in Asimov's formative years - including helping set the scene for the Robot series.)
These stories (there are 3 linked stories) were all written in 1930 - one must bear that in mind when reading them as they are very dated.
Overall I would say entertaining light SciFi without being anything to rave about.
Islands of Space
by John W. Campbell, Jr.
This story is a continuation from "The Black Star Passes" - but is even weaker than the first installments. It is reduced to a tale of 3 shallow heros (of the 1930's vintage) galavanting through space.
The Escapist
by James Morris
Entertaining Satire
The Escapist is an enjoyable tale set in a future world where technology reigns supreme and the hacker is the ultimate criminal. It's a world where all the stupid ideas from today have found their consummation, and many of the good ideas seem to have slipped away.
The story itself evolves into an elaborate mess of seemingly disconnected agenda that the author skillfully draws together in the close.
If there is a criticism of this story worth making, it is probably restricted to a single scene in which the lead character is "humourously" sexually assaulted with a vegetable. The scene added nothing to the plot and I'm not sure making light of sexual assault is the wisest of approaches.
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Let's face it, the zombie genre is pretty hard territory. It's tough being original when writing about reanimated corpses with no personality and nothing but instinct and an interest in killing anyone not already dead.
You have to take that into account when reading this book, the basics of the storyline are a foregone conclusion and there's not a great deal of scope for originality. (Perhaps someone could try writing from the zombie's point of view, but I suspect "I felt hungry so I staggered around saying 'brains' and trying to catch people so I could eat them" would get a little tedious.)
So how do you write this kind of story? The only way to survive it with any kind of credibility is to focus on the survivers and make it a story about surviving the crisis. Which is what David Moody has tried to do.
The characters are fairly two dimensional - there's an attempt at depth but somewhat of a lack of the language to express it.
All of which leaves us with a book of people running around trying to avoid the zombies and zombies walking around slowly rotting. At least they don't eat brains.
Any Coincidence Is
by Daniel Callahan
A shame about the ending
This story tries to be too clever. The shame of it is that it is actually quite entertaining until the closing moments when it descends into self-referential farce. There are shades of Robert Rankin throughout the weird tale, but the author doesn't quite achieve the level of engagement required to compensate for the disjointed post-modern psychedelia.
Which left me as a reader feeling somewhat frustrated (and that may have been part of the intent...)
Still, reading this is not an awful way to pass the time, and there are some genuinely entertaining moments.