I have read various things lately. Here are a few of them:
Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block
Beautiful, sensual and a little disturbing like many of her books. I didn’t feel as beaten in the head with the One True Love theme in this, there was even a momentary glimpse of someone with a polyamorous desire, which is shocking for one of Ms. Block’s books. A rather haunting exploration of some incest themes that I found worth reading.
Alternate Presidents edited by Mike Resnick
Some of these were clever. I liked ‘Tricky Dick’ the acid-dropping talk show host in “Fellow Americans” by Eileen Gunn. Pat Cadigan’s story was quite effective. Laura Resnick’s “We Are Not Amused” led to some fun reading on Victoria Woodhull. Most of the stories had a sort of formula: In X election, the other (guy/girl) wins and as a result the country goes to hell/becomes the awesomely awesome America our founding fathers wanted. Even with the better stories my history was often too lacking to fully appreciate what was being done — but this is my fault, not that of the author or editor.
Tea from an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan
I was disappointed in this. It’s another cyberpunk book that asks the question, what does identity mean in a virtual environment where you can become anyone? I’ve heard this question before, now I am ready to have it answered in some more depth. In fairness, this book is ten years old.
Best Fantastic Erotica edited by Cecilia Tan
Ms. Tan sent me this fine collection of genre erotica some time ago and I fully intended to review it for SF Site or elsewhere. I was reading it and took it on a trip with me to Austin, and left it at my friend Bret’s house. Given the sort of people he hangs out with (i.e. pervs like me) it took him a while to figure out which of his friends had lost it. I’m glad to have it back, enjoyed it a lot, and hope to review it soon (as well as another book Tan sent me).
Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and the Ghost Brigade — really darn fun. Heinlein would be proud. Worth reading at least the first, but the second was a good time too.
John Wright’s Orphans of Chaos — Solid fantasy, a complex mythological background that was satisfying and engaging, and contained one of the hottest spanking scenes I’ve read in some time. This review is short not because the book is not good, but that going into it relatively ignorant was quite rewarding for me, so I would avoid spoilers if I were you.
I read Orphans of Chaos and Old Man’s War as pdf files that I got free from Tor. Giving away free books rocks, especially as I sought out the Ghost Brigades (though in this case from Steve’s bookshelf) and will probably look for the rest of this series by Wright. In both cases I did not know I was starting a series until the end, but I guess that’s how they hook you — the first one is free.
I like how these pdf files encourage me to not only try new authors, but to go into the stories with little to no knowledge of their contents. In a bookstore I will pick up a book and read its back cover, but here I just start reading. I’ve gone and looked at the jacket copy of Orphans of Chaos on Amazon since reading the book, and I am glad I got to uncover the book’s secrets as the characters did rather than having them handed to me by the cover.
