Tillabooks: Will's Book Blog

The Involuntary Human by David Gerrold

2008-07-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

The Involuntary Human by David Gerrold. Framingham, Massechusetts: NESFA Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-886778-68-9

I haven't read much by David Gerrold, to be perfectly honest. The only thing I can remember ever reading by him was The Flying Sorcerers which he co-wrote with Larry Niven, way back in 1971. I'm not sure when I read it, but I don't think it was quite that long ago, but it was many years ago, to be sure. The Flying Sorcerers was quite frankly one of the funniest SciFi novels I've ever read, before or since. If you've never read it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

But this review is supposed to be about Gerrold's collection The Involuntary Human. I must confess I warmed up to one hidden aspect of his personality just from reading his intro. He likes to write limericks! (As do I.) He wants to publish a collection of them someday (as do I) if only he could get a publisher interested in a volume titled The Satanic Limericks. I'm afraid mine might even be worse. The title I came up with was The World's Most Disgusting Limericks, but that's another story.

So do I have anything to say about THIS book? Well, it starts out with a collection of aphorisms attributed to one Solomon Short. Additional collections are scattered through the book hither and yon. Some of them are pretty darn good. Some samples:

A quote is what you say when you don't have anything of our own to say.

Piss happens too.

A man's speech should exceed his grasp, or what's a metaphor?

Ignorance is bliss? It ought to be painful!

Great minds often think alike. But then, so do mediocre minds.

The first place to look for evil is in the mirror.

And those are all from the first batch of them, mostly chosen because they were short and easy to type. So what about the stories? The very first one is still one of my favorites. Titled “The Martian Child,” it appears to be based on the author's real life experience adopting a child. With a little twist, of course. This story definitely reveals Gerrold's humanity. If I hadn't known who wrote it, I might have suspected Orson Scott Card, because like his stories, it's got a heart, a BIG heart. And since the second story pretty much takes up where the first one let off, it's a favorite too. Way to go, Gerrold.

Then come some more Solomon Short aphorisms, three PAGES of them, mind you. I can't resist providing another sampling:

A little ignorance goes a long way.

Hell hath no fury like a pacifist.

Common sense isn't.

Never justify anything. If it needs justification, it's already wrong.

Bad taste is timeless.

You deserve the gods you worship.

Murphy's law is always a good excuse.

Next comes a Star Trek: Next Generation script which never got produced, which caused the author to leave the series. It's OK, but I'm not very good at doing the mental gymnastics necessary to turn it into a real story. I'd have preferred that he rewrite it AS a story. Then a couple of gimmicky stories, “A Shaggy Dog Story,” (literally), and “The Strange Death of Orson Welles.” OK, but not great. Then more Solomon Short aphorisms. But no, I'm not typing any in here, no matter how good or clever they are, because if I do, I'll never get this review finished.

Gerrold is apparently famous for his "War Against the Chtorr" series, which he describes as his “epic seven book trilogy about an ecological infestation of the Earth . . . “ and here he provides a lengthy excerpt that didn't make it into book 5, but will apparently show up in book 6. Not my cup of tea. I don't believe I've ever read any of the Chtorr series, although I'm not 100% positive, since I was at least peripherally aware of them. But I suppose any fan of that series will want to get a hold of this book to read this story before the next volume comes out.

Here's a sample of the so-called Satanic Limericks:

A limerick of proper proportion
should have meter and rhyme and a portion
of humor quite lewd,
and a frightfully crude,
impossible sexual contortion.

Not a bad definition, that!

“Digging in Gehenna” was the next half-way decent story, and once again, it involves a family. The King Kong pieces were boring. For some reason, all of the stories I liked the best were family tales. “Chester” wasn't a very nice story, but I enjoyed it, again because of the family aspects.

BTW, there have been two or three more Solomon Short “Interludes” by now. Frankly, they became tedious after a while. Even when they were good. They weren't stories, and I had to force myself through them. This collection is a decidedly mixed bag. It has some good stuff, some indifferent stuff, and some lousy (read “definitely not my cup of tea”) stuff. If you've never read any David Gerrold, by all means go read The Flying Sorcerers. If you're a Gerrold fan, well, go ahead and read this, I guess. Otherwise, you probably needn't bother.

That's not really fair. If you like family oriented stories with a SciFi twist, or think you might like them, then this book is also worth checking out (from your local library!).

Dreamsongs: Volume 1 by George R.R. Martin

2008-07-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Dreamsongs: Volume 1 by George R.R. Martin. New York: Bantam Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-553-80545-1

Once an author becomes (presumably) rich and famous, and publishers are hanging onto his every word—or so it seems, sooner or later the author feels the need to publish all of his or her work, early, late and middle—good, bad, or indifferent, in a collection. Short stories, and some not so short; anyway, the kind of thing that can be readily anthologized. And for some odd and unknown reason, recently I've been awash in these self-selected collections. I've just finished (look back on the blog!) reading and reviewing collections by Orson Scott Card, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., and Neil Gaiman. And I've already finished reading, but haven't yet gotten around to blogging a similar collection from David Gerrold.

So here's the first of two, not just one, mind you, from master fantasist, George R.R. Martin, whose “Song of Ice and Fire” cycle has all of his fans twitching in anticipation for the next and fifth volume, A Dance with Dragons, due for release in September. Martin must be extremely and exceptionally prolific in the short story genre, since his “Books by” page lists no less than seven (7!) previous short story collections by him.

This is the first that I've read, I must confess, at least so far as I can recall. At least, none appear on my blog, which covers pretty much everything I've read since August of 2003, including Vol. 4 of the “Song of Ice and Fire,” A Feast for Crows.

What makes this volume interesting is how it showcases Martin's work from its earliest feeble beginnings (said with tongue firmly in cheek, since none of them are particularly feeble), on into his maturing in his craft as a writer. His introductions are an essential part of this journey, explaining as they do how he first got started by telling himself stories as a child, reading the “funny books” (comics), and then starting to write for the fanzines of the early sixties.

Interestingly enough, even these very earliest stories, while admittedly somewhat naive in their conception at times, are well written, and entertaining to read. Even when the ideas behind them are a little on the shallow or trivial side, they still keep you turning the pages. What's amazing to me is that by just the second batch of stories, Martin already pens one, “With Morning Comes Mistfall,” that get nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards! It didn't win, but it got nominated. I'll admit it's a good story, but I wouldn't have thought it was THAT good, personally.

By the third batch, he actually DOES win a Hugo, this time with “A Song for Lya,” which, again, was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo, but only won the Hugo. And it IS a darn good story, even if I knew what was going to happen well before it actually came to pass. Can't be helped, I suppose. This section also has “And Seven Times Never Kill Man,” which is a truly disturbing story. Aliens against human religious fanatics, with an ending in this case NOT anticipated, at least not by me. Martin is really catching his stride with stories of alien worlds, alien artifacts, aliens embracing human religions, humans embracing alien religions, and more.

Next comes a section of fantasy stories, and these are very well done also. I think I actually liked them better than the SciFpi stories. Then come the horror stories, and these I don't like quite as well, but I can't deny their power. I'm just not a horror fan, even though these stories can also be considered fantasy, or in the case of the often-anthologized “Sandkings,” science fiction. I think “Sandkings” is the only story that remember reading before, and probably more than once, but then, it's a story that once read, is not likely to be forgotten. The stories in this section are also some of the longest in the book. “Nightflyers” is another SciFi horror tale, involving as it does, interstellar travel, and a most strange alien lifeform.

Well, I've already written way more about this book than I intended, while probably not saying all that much that is really helpful to the potential reader. I definitely recommend this collection for anyone who is a fan of Martin's work, and for that matter, for anyone who wants to read elegant, evocative, slightly twisted tales of wonder and the macabre.

Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card

2008-07-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card. New York: Tor, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7653-0497-1

I am a huge Orson Scott Card fan. I’ll read anything he’s written. This collection of short stories being no exception. This is by far and away the best of the several collections I’ve read recently. By definition, and by experience as well.

Card has divided his collection into five sections, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Literary, Hatrack River and Mormon Stories. The Hatrack River stories are the best, of course. Kind of like eating dessert. Anyone who’s read any of The Tales of Alvin Maker will want to read these two stories. In one of them Alvin and Arthur Stuart run into Davy Crockett a-grinning a bear. That one is quite funny. The ending especially, had me literally really truly LOL (laughing out loud).

In the other one they meet up with Jim Bowie, Stephen Austin, and more importantly, Abe Lincoln. According to Card’s comments about the story, which is titled “The Yazoo Queen,” it is actually the beginning (Chapter Zero, so to speak) of The Crystal City, the penultimate book in the Alvin Maker series. But because it was specifically written for Robert Silverberg’s second Legends anthology, and was under exclusive contract for that collection, it couldn’t even be reprinted as part of Crystal City. So it’s definitely a must read for all Hatrack River/Alvin Maker fans.

But I’ve given you the good stuff first (not really) and there are several other stories worthy of a mention. The very first story in the book, “The Elephants of Poznan,” is a very good post-holocaust kind of story, with a totally new and unexpected variant on why and how mankind is vanishing off the earth.

The next story, “Atlantis,” is one of my all-time favorite Card stories. I’ve read it at least twice before, but that didn’t stop me from reading it again here, once I came across it, nosirree. This story purports to tell the true tale of the original Noah, the person, people, and events that formed the basis for all of the ancient flood tales, from the one in the Bible, to the one in the Gilgamesh epic, not to mention all of the Atlantis legends. And it’s a most persuasive version. If it’s not really true, it SHOULD be. If you’ve not read it yet, you’re in for a treat. For those who read all of Card’s stuff, it is worth mentioning that “Atlantis” is connected to his novel, Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus.

In the fantasy section of the book, “Dust,” is definitely worth a mention. It’s the kind of fantasy story I always enjoy, in which someone stumbles through an unusual doorway, or portal of some kind, and ends up in fairly land, or some other reality. This one is as good as any of them, incorporating elements of the Fisher King or related stories.

“In the Dragon’s House” was another favorite. It involves one of the more unusual dragons you’re ever likely to meet. It’s also a wonderful childhood to adolescence coming of age kind of story, which has always been one of my favorite genres.

There are two “literary” stories, and “Feed the Baby of Love,” is a bona fide winner, another of the truly outstanding stories to be encountered in this collection.

Finally, Card ends the book with four “Mormon” stories. I’m glad he included them, because they help to show the real man, the person who’s at the heart of all of Card’s writing, and it’s a man you can’t help but respect, even though you may not agree with all of his views and opinions about issues. Not that there is really anything in these stories themselves to disagree with, mind you. That’s not what I meant. One of them, “Christmas at Helaman’s House,” is, indeed, a Christmas card kind of story. As is “Dust,” incidentally, back in the fantasy section. Someday, Card may have to put out a collection of “Christmas Card” stories (pun intended), since the one I recently reviewed on this blog makes at least the third one that I’m currently aware of, and I don’t doubt there may be others.

All in all, this book is a treasure house of stories waiting to be unlocked. I’ve mentioned my favorites, but there weren’t any that I aggressively disliked. Highly recommended for all fans of Mr. Orson Scott Card, long may he live and prosper, and continue to give us excellent stories like these.

Viewpoints Critical by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

2008-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. New York: Tor, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1857-2

Here’s another short story collection by an established author much more known for his novels. In fact, as the author tells us in his brief introduction, “this collection has been a long time in coming,” since “the first story in this volume was published more than thirty years ago.” In other words, it’s taken him a long time to come up with enough short stories to fill up a publishable collection.

Modesitt is a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy, but one I have hardly gotten around to reading. I started reading The Spellsong Cycle years ago, and enjoyed the first two volumes very much, but somehow never got around to reading the rest. I don’t know if they had yet to be written and published at the time, or if I just somehow never got around to finding and reading them. Then I reread the first volume recently (link), but my library has no copies of the second volume, so I guess I’ll have to break down and buy a copy. I need to reread it before I go on to the other three volumes.

These are all competently written, more or less entertaining stories. Which is to say that none of them were really that compelling. The best were actually the stories set in the author’s existing universes. “Black Ordermage,” for example, which is set in the Recluse universe, and explains how the character Cassius ended up there. Even though I’ve never read any of the Recluse novels (the more shame on me!), I very much enjoyed this story. Likewise “Sisters of Sarronnyn, Sisters of Westwind” which is another Recluse story.

“Beyond the Obvious Wind” was another story I liked, and it’s the story from which the entire Corean Chronicles originally sprang, even though it goes off in a different direction entirely, according to the author. I have to take his word for it, because, again, I’ve never read any of the novels in question. There are, to misquote that immortal old saw, just too many books, too little time.

So, Modesitt fans will definitely want to read this book, if only for those stories alone. Definitely recommended for his fans; others can take it or leave it, depending on the level of interest and the amount of time available.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

2008-06-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman. New York: William Morrow, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-06-051522-5

I’ve been reading several short story collections recently, and this is just the first of them. Short stories are not my favorite genre, but when the author is someone known to me, particularly someone whose novels I enjoy, and especially in the science fiction and/or fantasy genre, I will generally read their short story collections, not only just to see what their stories are like, but also because they often include some stories based in one or more of their fictional universes that I have already enjoyed.

For example, Neil Gaiman includes a story set in his “American Gods” universe, a story that he originally wrote for one of Robert Silverberg’s justly famous Legends compilations. So anyone who is a fan of American Gods (which I’ve read and reviewed on this blog) or Anansi Boys (which I’ve not yet read or reviewed, but mean to as soon as I get around to it) will want to check out this Fragile Things collection if for no other reason than to read “The Monarch of the Glen,” unless, of course, they’ve already read it in Legends.

As for the rest of the collection, as with nearly every short story collection I read, it’s a mixed bag. Some of the substantial stories, such as “Closing Time,” “Bitter Grounds,” “Goliath,” and “Good Boys Deserve Favors,” I really enjoyed.

Others, not so much. I didn’t particularly appreciate the turn-around ending for “A Study in Emerald,” even though it (the story) won a Hugo award AND got Gaiman inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars. “Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire” was just plain silly, although I suppose that was probably the intent. I could complain about some of the others, but to what point? The point is that anyone reading this collection will like some, dislike others.

Some of my favorites were actually some of the shortest, quickest little stories, the ones you can read out loud to someone you’re with, and it will only take 5 or 10 minutes, short enough that they probably can be persuaded to listen that long. Examples include “Other People,” “Locks,” “Instructions,” “In the End,” and “The Day the Saucers Came.” Several of these, some of my favorites, are actually poems. Or at least, written in verse.

So, if you’ve read and enjoyed any of Neil Gaiman’s work, you’ll probably want to read this short story collection as well. You’re sure to like some of them; you may not like some of the others; some of them may be disturbing, annoying, depressing, or even abhorrent, but that’s the way it is when you read a collection like this.

Oh, don’t overlook the introduction, in which Gaiman explains how each came to be written. You may want to read it after the fact or along with each story, but don’t leave it out altogether. Why? Because he actually embeds a very short story into one of the introductory comments, which you won’t want to miss. I have to say, I would have preferred the introductory materials to have been printed with each individual story, instead of grouping them together at the beginning, as that it would have made it easier to read each one with the associated story.

Definitely recommended for Gaiman fans.

Hunter's Run by Martin, Dozois, and Abraham

2008-06-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hunter's Run by George R.R. Martin, Garner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham. New York: Eos (HarperCollins), 2008. ISBN: 978-0-06-137329-9

This is nitty gritty SciFi at its best. Our protagonist, one Ramón Espejo is an uneducated, roistering, hard-drinking, hard-living, blue collar kind of a guy who finds himself in an untenable situation, and makes the best of it. He's an independent prospector on the lam from the law, after a drunken spree in which he brutally murders a visiting gringo muckety muck, who while out in the wild unexplored reaches of the planet, stumbles onto an alien secret that is definitely too big for him.

Not only that, but he realizes that he is actually a clone of himself, slaved to the aliens he's discovered, and tasked with finding and preventing his real self from getting back to civilization to report what he's found. By killing himself (his other self), if that's what it takes.

The basic scenario is this: human kind finds itself somewhat adrift in a universe where alien races seem to have the best real estate already locked up. These aliens, at least some of them, are happy to use human kind as their worker bees. Espejo, along with an entire mining crew, ships off to a frontier planet to help in its development and exploitation.

While out prospecting, he inadvertently stumbles onto ANOTHER alien civilization, carefully hidden away, and determined to remain so. Apparently humans are mere pawns in a much larger game of high stakes, in which one alien race is trying to wipe out another, for reasons poor Espejo is not equipped to fathom. But he IS willing to play whatever limited cards he has, in hopes of first surviving, then bettering his situation.

“Gritty” is hardly an adequate description of this story. Suspense there is too, in plentiful supply. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys a universe which doesn't assume that humans are always on top, or even remotely NEAR the top in the fight for survival. But still, we humans persist. We struggle on. We refuse to give up, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Influencer by Kerry Patterson, et. al.

2008-06-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-07-148499-2

This book purports to provide a method by which you can change the world, or at least, yourself. It claims to be that lever Archimedes so famously postulated, long enough to shift the entire earth. Is it? I'm not sure. At the end, it all seems to come down still, to talk. Just find the right words, and you can persuade people.

It's a lot more complicated than that, of course. There are six sources of influence which you must master. None of them work alone. All of them are essential to the process. The six elements are presented grid fashion, in two rows of three each.

Motivation

Make the undesirable desirable
Harness peer pressure
Design rewards & demand accountability

Ability

Surpass your limits
Find strength in numbers
Change the environment

The three cross patterns are:

Personal
Social
Structural

In other words, the first item under each of the original two categories, motivation and ability, fits under the personal category, while the next item on each list fits under social, and the final item on each list fits under structural.

The book's many authors tell many stories about masters of this process who have changed entire cultures and made enormous improvements in people's lives. Some examples: eradicating the Guinea worm in Africa (Dr. Donald Hopkins and The Carter Center); helping addicts turn their lives around (Dr. Mimi Silver and the Delancey Street Foundation), preventing HIV infections (Thailand), enhancing literacy in Mexico and elsewhere (TV producer Miguel Sabido), and many more.

Unfortunately, even after reading the book, I had difficulty in seeing how I could (or would) apply its principles to any of the real-world situations in my particular job. I've never been much of a believer in business solution type self-help books, and this one left me unconvinced also. I'm just not much of a “believer,” period. I'm a skeptic. An optimistic skeptic. Now there's a contradiction in terms, for you! But then, I'm also a Libra. A Libra who doesn't believe in astrology. Another contradiction!

The governor of our great state of Washington, Christine Gregoire, was apparently so impressed by this book that she gave out free copies to everyone who attended one of her leadership seminars. That's how I heard about the book, as one of my co-workers attended.

I could also never figure out if this system was supposed to be about changing your own life (like losing weight, or adopting a more healthy lifestyle), or about changing masses of people (like the examples I cited above). Supposedly it's about both, but I never could quite figure out how that works. It may well be that these techniques really do work, but the system is still too complicated for me. Marginally recommended for anyone who needs to change the world. Or themselves.

Touchstone by Laurie King

2008-06-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Touchstone by Laurie King. New York: Bantam Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-553-80355-6

Ah, another novel from one of my favorite contemporary authors, Laurie King! What a pleasure it is to be caught up once again by her inimitable style and perfect touch. Touchstone is another standalone story, not part of her Martinelli or Mary Russell series. That's its only drawback, if drawback there is to be found here. Fortunately for us, a note at the end of the book informs us that Ms. King is currently at work on the next Mary Russel novel, which will be her ninth. I can't wait!

This story takes place in Great Britain, in that transitional period between the two World Wars. The coal miners are about to strike, and a general strike has been called in sympathy. Labour has the government, but could fall. A decisive clash of ideologies and interests is possible. Will England turn communist? Or fascist? Or will some middle ground of rationality be preserved?

Into this volatile mix comes FBI agent Harris Stuyvesant, seeking an itinerant bomber, a Brit who has traveled three times to the U.S. leaving bombs in his wake, one of which killed Stuyvesant's fiancée, giving him a more than slightly personal interest in the case. He has a suspect, Richard Bunsen, currently high in the strikers' council, formerly a demolition expert in the first World War. And now he suspects that Bunsen's American bombs were mere practice for his ultimate target, the top leaders of Britain, in an act intended to foment terror, and topple traditional British society into anarchy.

Tracking Bunsen takes him into the company of Laura Hurleigh, duke's daughter, and the inner circles of British aristocracy. His “in?” Bennett Grey, who grew up with the Hurleigh's, and was even engaged to Laura, until his injuries in the Great War made it impossible for him to associate with people in a normal fashion. He was almost blown up by an artillery shell, should have been killed, but instead, somehow lived, but with a new kind of sense and sensitivity. His entire nervous system and sense of consciousness was somehow turned inside out. People affect him directly and intolerably. He can read their body language, their emotions, their real thoughts behind what they say, in an almost supernatural way. And this sensitivity is like 10,000 times worse than the proverbial fingernail scratching a blackboard. It is absolutely intolerable to him, and forces him to flee to the very tip of England where he lives in virtual solitude.

Grey's sister, Sarah, works with Laura Hurleigh and Richard Bunsen. Sarah is an attractive young woman, and Harris naturally falls in love with her. All of these lines fall a bit too close for reality, but we're willing to suspend our disbelief at least a little, especially for Laurie King. She makes it all seem plausible enough, if not downright inevitable.

The plot hurries along to its dramatic and ever intensifying conclusion, but not without at least one significant twist to the plot that will most likely catch you by surprise. I've left out some of the complications, but I don't have time to list them all; how Stuyvesant gets "in" with Bennett Grey being one of them. But if you care at all for King as an author, you'll be reading the book for yourself!

As usual, highly recommended!

Empire Rising by Sam Barone

2008-06-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Empire Rising by Sam Barone. New York: William Morrow, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-06-089246-3

This is the sequel to Dawn of Empire, which I reviewed back in April of 2007. It's a good read, and if you enjoyed Dawn, you'll probably want to read Rising. But it doesn't have the same compelling drive to it that the original did.

In Dawn of Empire, we read about one of the first cities to raise a wall in its defense. This is a civilization-building effort that truly revolutionized society when it occurred, and to encounter a fictionalized account of how that might have occurred makes for truly compelling reading.

In the sequel, there is lots of backing and filling. The city and its leaders are out restoring order in the surrounding area, making their defenses even stronger, and beginning the building of a dynasty which they hope will extend to their children and grandchildren. All very important activities, no doubt, but just not as compelling as the motive behind the original story. It becomes just another story of ancient people going about their lives.

Sure, the author dreams up another attack on the city, this one launched by stealth from inside, and provides plenty of drama and suspense, but this story could have happened to any ancient town in any ancient time period, and there is nothing to raise it to that level of necessity that propelled its predecessor.

So, definitely recommended, especially if you enjoyed Dawn of Empire, but not essential reading, by any means. And don't read it if you haven't read Dawn. It won't make much sense. The author's web site implies, without providing any specifics, that there will be more to come, and I'll probably read those too, just not expecting the same kind of buzz I got from the first one.

Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove

2008-06-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove. New York: Roc, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-451-46174-2

This is another alternate history novel by Turtledove, the acknowledged master of the genre. He imagines a smallish continent, naturally named Atlantis, out in the middle of the Atlantic, sort of halfway between Europe and North America. He tells us the history of this land, from its initial discovery and settlement by Europeans in the 1450's, on down to about the time of the American Revolution, when the British and French fight for dominance of the island, as an adjunct to their American and European wars.

The story is as well-told as any Turtledove book. If you enjoy his style, you'll undoubtedly enjoy reading this book. But my essential reaction was, what's the point? I need more than just another lackadaisical idea to motivate me into reading Turtledove. When he asks INTERESTING alternate history questions, like “What if the South won the Civil War?” or “What if aliens invaded in the middle of World War II?” then I'm interested enough to follow the story for book after book.

But in this case, there's just a new land mass where there wasn't one before. No magical creatures live there, just different ones (kind of like Australia or Zanzibar). The island is uninhabited when Europeans get there, which is improbable in itself. Surely it would have been previously settled by indigenes from somewhere! People from the Americas, if nowhere else.

So, British, French and Spanish settlers colonize the island. There is an interregnum period in which pirates control the western half of the island, and have to be eradicated. Sad. Pirates are always more fun, if more dangerous, than regular society. And then the war for dominance, which the British win, of course. My ultimate reaction? So what? Why should I care? I don't care. So I won't be bothering with any sequels. Sorry Harry. You struck out with this one, so far as I'm concerned.

The Spiral Labyrinth by Matthew Hughes

2008-05-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Spiral Labyrinth: A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn by Matthew Hughes. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-59780-091-4

This is the second time I've encountered the doughty Henghis Hapthorn, discriminator extraordinaire. I reviewed a collection of short stories by Hughes, several of which featured Hapthorn, back in July of 2007, not quite a year ago.

This tale is quite a bit more satisfactory reading than were those stories. The novel length format provides a more expansive space and time (both literally and figuratively) for the sometimes hapless Hapthorn to operate within, and for me, at least, this gave the character and his adventures more depth and play, making the reading more entertaining.

Hughes is another of those clever writers who has thought up a way to bridge the gap between science fiction and fantasy. This book is definitely written as science fiction, since initially we find ourselves in a far future milieu, in which hundreds, if not thousands of planets are settled, and starships traverse the interstellar byways.

But our intrepid adventurers find themselves unaccountably thrust into an even much farther and further future, in which some great shift in the cosmos has taken place (it being implied that similar shifts may have occurred in previous aeon's) where magic and will power are the dominant factors, having replaced the technology-based period of the past.

Hapthorn and his inimitable companions find themselves in a seemingly almost hopeless battle against an intelligent and symbiotic organism, a fungus which fills many caverns on a distant, desolate planetoid. Will they ever make it back to their own time, place and space? You'll have to read the book to find out. And it's well worth the journey. Recommended for all SciFi and/or fantasy fans.

Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier

2008-05-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier, translated by Ann Goldstein. New York: Crown Publishers (Random House), 2007. ISBN: 978-0-307-34678-0

Now here's an interesting novel! Based on the life of Maria Anna Walpurga Ignatia Mozart, Wolfgang's elder sister, who generally went by the nickname Nannerl, at least within the family circle. Nannerl was a musical prodigy too, though perhaps not quite so precocious as Mozart, although it is hard to know how we'd know for sure. But the earliest travels and concerts featured the two of them, brother and sister.

This novel purports to tell Nannerl's story from her own point of view, starting with a series of letters back and forth between her and a man she loves, but never marries. I found these letters to be a bit too modern and frank in tone, but then, I haven't read the letters between Wolfgang and his father, sister, wife, so I'm hardly in a position to judge. Wolfgang's own letters are notoriously known to be earthy, vulgar, etc. Nannerl's letters as depicted here are hardly that, just frank and forward.

What is more significant is the author's assumption and depiction of Nannerl's reaction to the stifling influence of her father, who will not even admit the possibility of a woman's composing music. No, Nannerl must either find a husband, or teach piano lessons to help support the family's income. She reacts very badly, at times almost retreating from life altogether, and later, turning her back on music completely for many years.

Again, it is hard to know how she really reacted. Was she really torn apart like this? Or was she more a creature of her time, acquiescing to her father's and her society's assumptions about the role of a woman? We have no way to know, but this author's version seems like it is imposing our current values and feelings about the equal rights of women back into an earlier time, where they don't exactly ring true.

Not that I don't completely sympathize with those feelings as they are depicted. I consider myself to be a male feminist, and I find any subordination of women to be appalling and indefensible. So why am I complaining? I don't know. I just know that this book seems to take modern sensibilities and reactions, and force them onto an earlier time, where the reality may have been different. Not that Nannerl wouldn't have resented being forced into her father's version of reality, but I don't think she would have reacted in such a modern way.

All of that quibbling aside, I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject. I only wish that there were more documentation provided to support or authenticate this version of the story. Did Nannerl (as the author insists) act as a supporter and promoter of her brother's music after his death? I don't know. There doesn't appear to be any book length biographies of Nannerl available. So this hypothetical version is seemingly all we have.

Team Chihuly by Dale Chihuly

2008-05-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Team Chihuly by Dale Chihuly. Seattle, Washington: Portland Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-57684-163-1

It has always seemed strange to me that Dale Chihuly, the great master artist of glass blowing, has always worked in teams. And that, in fact, for many years, has done very little actual glass blowing, glass handling, very little of the physical act of creation, himself. With so many others actually doing all of the physical work, why does Chihuly get all the credit? Why is he considered the artist, and all of this, his work?

Well, in this book, Chihuly pays homage to the talented teams who have worked with him to create all of his masterpieces. He lists them by name, describes his relationships with many of them, and presents them in pictures, showing them at work with and for and through him. I still don't understand what it is about him that inspires and motivates so many people to work so hard for HIS reputation. But at least he acknowledges their contributions in this book.

He must indeed be a truly charismatic personality, who projects a compelling vision, so compelling that other people willingly subsume their own creativity and efforts to realize HIS reality, and help to create HIS conceptions.

Not that Chihuly hasn't had occasional defectors. In a well-publicized lawsuit, the master accused one of his former team members of making knock-off imitations of his work, and allowing a third person to sell them under his name. Needless to say, this defecting former team member is not included in the alphabetical listing of Team Chihuly found in the back of this book!

Still, any fan of Chihuly, of which I must number myself as one, will probably want to take a look at this book. My only complaint is that it's more about the team than the work. There ARE pictures of the work, but they are definitely playing second fiddle to the team. And that's undoubtedly as it should be, but still disappointing, since it's the work, the glass, that captivates me, regardless of how it was created or manufactured. Still, the book is definitely recommended for anyone and everyone with an interest in Chihuly or his work.

Spy vs Spy 2 by David Shayne

2008-05-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

Spy vs Spy 2: The Joke and Dagger Files by David Shayne. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2007. ISBN: 978-08230-5035-2

I don't usually read comic books or graphic novels. However, I do avidly read the comic page, “the funnies” as we used to call them, every day in the newspaper. And I used to like Mad Magazine when I was younger, and had more time for such things.

Everybody knows Spy vs. Spy. It's been a mainstay of MAD Magazine forever, pretty much. This is apparently the second book-length collection of Spy vs. Spy cartoons. The original creator of the strip was Antonio Prohias, a Cuban expatriate. The first collection, titled Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook, published in 2001, was devoted to his work.

When Prohias finally retired, after almost 40 years of Spy vs. Spy, various in house writers (Duck Edwing, Russ Cooper, etc.) took over, with first Bob Clark and later Dave Manak responsible for most of the drawings. These strips are featured in the first 100+ pages of the book

Then in 1996, MAD was undergoing a face lift. The editors looked for a new look for Spy along with the rest of the mag, and at some point, offered the job to already established artist, Peter Kuper. Kuper brought a new air-brushed look to Spy, and as both a writer and an artist, brought both halves of the strip back into one brain. His creations take us through page 291.

To close out the book, we have a few pages of Spy vs Spy JR, designed for a pre-teen kids version of MAD, plus a few pages of Spy vs. Spy, The Comic Strip, which actually ran (briefly) in syndication in various newspapers.

I've had this book sitting on the floor next to my computer for the past six or seven weeks. It was my “read while waiting” book. If the computer was taking too long to load a web page, or to process a graphics file, or any of the other interminable things that computers make you wait for, I'd grab the Spy book, and read a strip or too. Great way to pass the otherwise wasted time!

My only complaint? Occasionally the jokes are too arcane, too abstruse, too convoluted, even for me. If you don't get it on first look, it's too much. But even I'll admit those were few and far between. Spy vs. Spy continually reminds us of the futility of war, covert or otherwise.

So there you have it—read this book, and you'll be fully up-to-date on Spy vs. Spy, at least through 2007. And all without buying a single MAD magazine. Thoroughly recommended for all Spy vs Spy fans, MAD Magazine fans, and anyone else who wonders what all the fuss is about.

The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code by Robert Rankin

2008-05-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code by Robert Rankin. London: Gollancz, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-57507-0-110

I picked this book up (off the new fiction shelf at my local library, per usual) because of the seemingly musical aspect to the title, and because, according to the flyleaf, the chief character is, indeed, a musician. I'm always on the lookout for fiction with a musical aspect to it, as reading such stories is one of my hobbies, so to speak.

But, I'm sorry to say that I struck out with this one. I just couldn't stomach it. Apparently Rankin is considered a master of a comic, silly style that many people find hilariously irresistible. Sorry. I found it intolerable. I couldn't make it past the first 10 pages or so. So much for Nancy Pearl's Rule of Fifty.

I found the writing style to be incredibly supercilious and smarmy. Reading it was to me like the proverbial fingernails scratching on the blackboard. Life is too short. There are too many other books out there that I want to read to force myself to read something that I found so viscerally annoying. If a blatantly comic style is your thing, ignore my advice and read this book. Otherwise, not recommended.

Rifkind's Challenge by Lynn Abbey

2008-05-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Rifkind's Challenge by Lynn Abbey. New York: Tor, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-765-31346-1

The entire time I was reading Rifkind's Challenge, it seemed obvious that this couldn't possibly be the first Rifkind book. That's because almost from the beginning, there are echoes of previous deeds, a reputation from before, a traveling back into other lands where Rifkind has had previous experiences.

But you certainly couldn't tell from the front matter in the book itself. There is no listing of any other Rifkind titles. It's annoying the way publishers behave, only listing other Lynn Abbey books, if they are also published under the Tor imprint. So I had to use the ubiquitous Internet to find Abbey's website to learn that there are indeed, two previous Rifkind books, albeit from many years ago, titled Daughter of the Bright Moon (1979) and The Black Flame (1980), both now out of print.

Rifkind is the name of a woman who has special powers as a healer, and perhaps as a devotee of the goddess of the Bright Moon. She is also a master of swordcraft and fighting. Now she's leaving her home of many years among the tribes of the plain, along with the son of the chieftain, and her own son, both grown, and striking out for a new life on their own.

Her own son, Cho, is estranged from her. He feels abandoned, emotionally, and mostly resentful. Resentful that his mother has never spared him any time, attention, or training. She's left him to be raised by the tribal chieftain, as a trusted companion and friend to the chief's son Tyrokon.

And yet the chief's son cannot inherit, because he is partially lame. Rifkind has been working to heal him since he was an infant, but she has only been able to bring him along so far. So now he plans to seek another way of life, to become a caravaner. Rifkind goes along to see him settled, but she is feeling the pull of other lands, other pasts. When the caravaner career turns out to be a false lead, a trap or trick of some kind, the boys decide to follow her.

Adventures ensue. This is a well-written, eminently readable swords and sorcery kind of story, with a diminutive but formidable heroine. I would definitely read the two earlier books if they came into my hands. Recommended for any and all fans of this type of fantasy tale.

Resurrection by Tucker Malarkey

2008-05-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

Resurrection by Tucker Malarkey. New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Group), 2006. ISBN: 1-59448-919-X

I read this book because I'm interested in that alternative branch of religious thought known as gnosticism, and especially in the Christian branches of it. This is a novel based around the original discovery, shortly after World War II, of the Nag Hammadi texts, which included a number of gnostic writings and gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, among others.

This is a fictional version of the story, of course, and as such, has as its major characters, people who never existed. Gemma (what a strange name!) Bastian is an English woman, a nurse who has barely survived the London blitz, and whose father was a researcher in Egypt. When she learns of his unexpected and untimely death, she travels to Egypt to try and discover something of what happened, and to deal with his effects.

In the course of this odyssey, she encounters an interesting family of expatriates with whom she stays. The father had been a friend of her father, but they seem to have become estranged. One son is a bitter and disillusioned RAF pilot, who lost a leg in the war, and who begins to fall in love with Gemma, but whose scarred experience seems to have left him incapable of any genuine emotions.

The other brother is, like Gemma's father, a man on the track of these ancient documents, but he treats Gemma superciliously, trying to keep her at a distance, wanting to protect her from the danger that has perhaps killed her father, and several others. Some of his efforts seem genuine, others patronizing, because of Gemma's sex.

Powerful forces are at work, and some of them are sinister. Not everyone wants these old gospels to come to light. And others are simply motivated by greed, determined to capture whatever value the manuscripts may have in the world marketplace.

Gemma, herself, is on a journey of discovery. She is determined to learn whatever it was that drove her father, and to get to the bottom of what may have caused her death. And she is torn between the two brothers themselves, and their growing relationships with her.

Fortunately for us, author Tucker Malarkey (what a name!) has provided us not only with an introductory note, explaining her motives in writing the book, but with an Epilogue, a Timeline, a “Who Is Real” note, and other brief, but telling accompanimental material as well.

At the root of much of what Gemma discovers, in retracing the intellectual and physical steps of her father, is that the Roman Church has put forward its own version of Christianity, a version in which there is almost no significant role for women. The alternative version(s) show that women had an equally important role in other early traditions, and in the life of Christ himself, if these other texts are to be believed.

While I would not describe this book as a great literary masterpiece, it succeeds in retelling much of this important story in an evocative and compelling manner. Definitely recommended for anyone with any interest in this topic, and especially for those who prefer to learn while being entertained by a story, as opposed to a more scholarly approach.

The Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers

2008-05-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

The Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers. New York: Del Ray (Ballantine Books), 2001, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-345-49319-4

Now this is one of the stranger novels I've read in recent years. About the only thing that surpasses it for strangeness that I can recall reading recently is Hal Duncan's Vellum. Let's see if I can define the premise. It's not easy to do.

One of the angels that fell into darkness has somehow destroyed one of his fellows, and from his very bones, fashioned a set of instruments, not musical, but more like surgical, or psychological. What exactly happened to the angel who did this is not entirely clear, but the instruments themselves seem to have been set loose on earth, and they seem to provide certain magical powers to whoever has control over them.

Much of the story revolves around a couple of the men who have had possession of some or most of these arcane instruments, and some children who get caught up in the transition between owners. It's not entirely clear if the “owners” of these instruments hand them on to someone else, or if they are wrested from them by a successor. Not too much of what happens in this story is entirely clear.

The tale does have its interesting points, and it is not without a certain amount of entertainment value. Certainly the premise is one of the more offbeat concepts I've encountered in fantastical fiction recently. Nevertheless, it's all just a bit too abstruse for my taste. I don't have to have everything handed to me on a platter, but I do appreciate some sense of what's going on, and why.

Marginally recommended for those with a taste for the bizarre and slightly unfathomable.

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

2008-05-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. New York: Viking, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-670-03844-2

If it weren't for the supernatural elements of this book, I probably never would have read it. First, the title, which suggests something Biblical in nature. Then the cover, which has a crude depiction of a devil's head on it. And then the flyleaf plot summary, which describes a Scottish Presbyterian minister, a good man, albeit an atheist, who is thought to have fallen into a chasm and drowned, but is miraculously raised from the dead three days later, and claims to have seen (and been saved by) no less than the devil himself.

This all made for a premise intriguing enough to grab me, for for me to grab the book and bring it home from the local public library. I'm not sorry I did, although the book is ultimately disappointing. So, the man claims to have seen the devil. So what? This is only fiction, after all. This is the kind of story that would be shocking, were it claimed to be true, but since it isn't (true, that is), it isn't (shocking, that is).

Still, the book is interesting enough, for all that, to not disappoint while one is actually reading it. The author is a master of his craft, and the story quite compelling as presented. Recommended for those who like fiction with supernatural elements.

Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey

2008-05-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey. New York: Luna, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-373-80266-1

This is another in Mercedes Lackey's “500 Kingdoms” novels in which she has fun playing with the fairy tale traditions of various countries or ethnic regions. I'm not enough of an expert in this area to analyze all of the traditions she uses, but the primary story takes place in an Eastern European/Russian kind of milieu, with Russalkas, Baba Yaga, and so forth.

Plus we get an undersea kingdom with tritons, mermaids, mermen and sirens (at least mentioned, if not featured). And a nice little side trip diversion to medieval Japan, while the final, culminating episode includes a djinn from the Arabic tradition. All in all, a nice mixture of various traditional cultural folk elements. All woven together into a delightful romance between a princess of the sea kingdom and the seventh prince of the kingdom of Lud Belerus.

One difference between this story and the ones which preceded it (The Fairy Godmother and One Good Knight) is that the rulers of the kingdoms are keenly aware the “the tradition,” the basic law behind this realm of “The 500 Kingdoms,” which attempts to force everything and everyone into the traditional patterns, the archetypical elements of traditional fairy tales, either for good or for ill, for either happy endings, or equally easily into horrific tragedies with truly awful effects on the people who fall into those bad endings.

In the previous books, or so it seemed to me, only fairy godmothers and other high level magical beings were aware of how the tradition wanted to manipulate the lives and stories of the people in the 500 kingdoms, but in this story, the kings of these two kingdoms, at least, are very aware of the tradition; they have deliberately studied it extensively, and work to the best of their ability to manipulate that tradition to the favor of their kingdoms, and those who live in them.

This story involves Ekaterina, “Katya,” the youngest daughter of the Sea King, who, with his court and all of his children, live magically under the sea. The Sea King has carefully groomed each of his children in a role that suits his or her own proclivities, and Katya is his eyes and ears, his intelligence system. She is the only one of his children who can easily switch between land and sea, and so she is often sent on missions to neighboring land-based kingdoms to check on anything unusual or ominous occurring anywhere on the lands that surround their oceanic home.

Interspersed with her story is that of Sasha, the seventh son of the king of Lud Belerus, who because of his seventh son position, has inherited the role of the “fortunate fool.” In addition, he is a “songweaver,” meaning he can influence events magically by singing songs about them. Not big magics, like killing people or healing them, but small magics like better weather, good harvests, good fishing for fishermen, and the like.

Eventually, of course, the two royal children, Sasha and Katya, meet and fall in love. But before they can get on with things in a proper manner, they have to overcome one more monumental challenge. Which they do, bringing together various elements from earlier parts of the story.

Which brings me to the point that in some ways, this novel is a bit of a pastiche of different tales from different cultures, kind of thrown together to create a whole. But each of the individual stories is entertaining enough in its own right, that we don't really mind, especially since the characters are so endearing, and so charmingly portrayed that we are just carried along, happy to be engaged in "The 500 Kingdoms" again for as long as we can. And Lackey DOES bring elements from each previous story into play in the finale, with everything working together for good, as the “good book” says.

Highly recommended for all readers, young and old alike, especially those with a propensity for fairy tales. BTW, you can read the first three chapters online.

Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell

2008-04-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1507-6

When I picked this book up off my local library's new books shelf, and even when I started reading it, I had no idea that it was a sequel to another book, Crystal Rain, which I reviewed back on March 18 of this year. I guess I didn't notice for a couple of reasons. For one, Crystal Rain was Buckell's first novel, so he was an author new to me. When I picked up this book, I knew I'd read something by him recently, but I didn't pay enough attention to realize this was the sequel, even though it's mentioned in the flyleaf blurb.

But more significantly, when I started to read the book, there was nothing initially that seemed to even remotely connect with the previous story. Crystal Rain took place on a single planet, with humankind fighting against inimical alien control, with the assistance of another set of aliens.

Here, instead, we have a whole region of space, a whole array of galactic locations, joined in a complex, but limited web of wormholes. Referred to as the "Benevolent Satrapy" in the star map printed at the front of the book. When the book opens, we find ourselves in a society in which various alien races are treating humans as pets. A clever woman kills one of them, and escapes. She seems to be a hired gun assassin, a physically enhanced fighter, who narrowly escapes capture, and is on a mission of her own.

Meanwhile the so-called Benevolent Satrapy no longer seems entirely benevolent. It seems to have begun turning on humankind, and beginning a policy of genocide against them. About half-way through the book, we're back on New Anegada, the planet where Crystal Rain took place, picking up the lives of the characters where Crystal Rain left off. Things get complicated, but let's just say that various human factions are not only fighting various alien races, but sometimes each other, in an attempt to better the overall position of the human race.

It's a complicated universe, and I can't say as I quite understand it all just yet, but it makes for a good story line, with plenty of action, and plenty to try and twist your mind around. Buckell is a good writer, even if the universe he's created is a bit more complex than would seem to be required. Recommended for most SciFi fans. BTW, you can read a significant portion of the book online, for free. Of course, you can read it for free via your local public library, too.

A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

2008-04-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

A War of Gifts (an Ender Story) by Orson Scott Card. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1282-2

For fans of Orson Scott Card's science fiction, especially his Enders Game (1985) and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead (1986), both of which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, making Card the only author (up to now) to win both awards in successive years, this Ender story will definitely be a "must read." This story will also be of interest to those who enjoy the literary genre of Christmas stories, as it most certainly falls into that category, as well. I have to wonder if he wrote it as a kind of extended Christmas card for someone or other, or for his fans.

Well, anyway, suffice it to say that it's a charmingly sweet story on the one hand, but not without its dark side, on the other. Zeck (short for Zechariah, one assumes), is the 5-year-old son of an ultra-fundamentalist Christian father, who frequently feels the need to purify young Zeck through the means of corporal punishment.

Zeck has a particularly brilliant mind, replete with a perfectly photographic memory, not just for what he reads, but for all words he encounters, spoken or written. He can repeat his father's sermons back, word for word, by the time he's three years old.

When his mother discovers this talent, she cautions him not to tell anyone, because some might think this gift comes from Satan. She tells him that Satan does not give good gifts, so this one comes from God, but that some people look so hard to find Satan, that they see him even where he isn't.

Later, when he's four, his father tells him that there are those who will tell him a thing is from God, when really, it's from Satan. When Zeck asks why they would do this, his father tells him that those people are deceived by their own desires. They want the world to be a better place, so they pretend that polluted things are pure, so they won't have to fear them.

Even at this young age, Zeck understands that each of his parents is warning him about the other. This is part of the terrible conflict that wars inside his young head, and leads him into conflict with his fellow young soldiers, when he is taken to the off-planet Battle School, where the Earth's most brilliant children are in training to fight the Formics, the alien race that has attacked the earth, and against which the entire human race is at war.

Zeck's religious background forces him to become a conscientious objector, and to refuse to participate in the Battle School's mock battles, making him first unpopular, and then a basic nonentity in the society of his fellows. Eventually he subtly attempts to foment a struggle between the various religious elements that still remain in the minds of the child soldiers which are humanity's best and brightest hope for survival.

How this dilemma is eventually resolved naturally involves Ender Wiggen, the most brilliant of all the children. This is a story with real heart at the heart of it. It may make you laugh; it may make you cry; it will definitely touch your heart, if you have one. This is one of the reasons I enjoy Orson Scott Card's writing so much.

Highly recommended, although it will make more sense if you've read Ender's Game. If you haven't, shame on you! Especially if you're a science fiction fan, but even if you aren't, Ender's Game is a book that everyone should read, and that pretty much everyone will probably enjoy. I doubt if you can pick it up without becoming instantly hooked. It's one of those books that if I pick it up even now, years after originally reading it, I'm instantly hooked, and want to read it again.

The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer

2008-04-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer. New York: Random House, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-394-53649-1

The last Norman Mailer novel I tried to read was Ancient Evenings (1983), set in ancient Egypt. For me, it failed the Nancy Pearl rule of 50, though if I remember correctly, I may have made it through 70 or 80 pages before giving up on it. The only thing I really remember, aside from the fact that I hadn't been able to discern any semblance of a storyline, let alone a plot, by the time I stopped, was Mailer's enumeration of the Egyptians' reverence toward, and veneration of the seven (as I recall) bodily fluids, or physical substances which come out of a man. There are urine and feces, of course, and semen. Then there are saliva, tears, and phlegm. So what is the seventh one? If you've not read the book, you'll probably never guess: cerumen (more commonly known as ear wax!)

I don't know why, but that has stuck with me all these years since. But I'm supposed to be writing about The Castle in the Forest, which was supposed to be the first in a trilogy, but Mailer died shortly after this first volume was published this past year. Mailer seems to have reveled in controversial or off-the-wall kinds of topics. He wrote “New Journalism” style biographical treatments of people like Lee Harvey Oswald and Marilyn Monroe, although he gave the Monroe book the title Marilyn: A Novel Biography.

Now, in The Castle in the Forest, he tackles the childhood and antecedents of Adolf Hitler, albeit in avowedly fictional format. You know how most novels have some kind of a disclaimer, often printed in small print on the verso of the title page? Something like

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Well, here's what Mailer prints in THIS book:

The Castle in the Forest is a work of fiction closely based on history. A few of the names and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and in those cases, any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

So which events are which? Who knows? I don't have enough personal knowledge of Hitler's parents, grandparents, siblings, and the events surrounding his childhood, to have the slightest clue as to which might be based on fact, and which are entirely fictitious. Do you?

One of the more interesting facets of the book's narration, is that the protagonist, much of the time, is supernatural. He starts out as a member of the Nazi SS, an officer assigned to research Hitler's background and ancestry, to allow the Nazis to cover up any scandal, should any be found. Is there really a Jewish grandfather in Hitler's family tree? Was Hitler the result of incest on one side or the other (or both) of his family? This SS officer fills us in on aspects of his research.

But soon, suddenly, and without initial warning, the protagonist changes, and becomes an agent of the devil, a fallen angel, if you will, a supernatural being actively engaged in the battle against God, and the unfallen angels for the souls of men (and women, naturally). We spend a lot of time inside this supposedly evil angel's head, as he carefully guides the events of Hitler's youth (ha! that pun wasn't intended, but was irresistable). Only later does he explain that he was a fallen angel who had infiltrated and taken over the mind and body of the human agent, the SS officer.

This is one of those books that reads like it SHOULD or COULD have happened just as the author imagines it, even if in fact we have no proof that it actually DID happen that way. And, unlike his Ancient Evenings, this novel has a story, if not a plot, exactly. The macabre nature of the subject is enough to get us started, and Mailer keeps our interest along the way by imagining things in such a compelling manner that we feel compelled to keep turning the pages.

We, of course, know the outcome. We know that this evil angel will succeed beyond anyone's wildest dreams in creating one of the great human monsters of the ages. Unfortunately, we haven't really yet seen quite how that is going to happen, when the book ends. Young Adolf is 15 years old, just out of the Austrian equivalent of high school, according to Mailer, although the Wikipedia entry on him states that he dropped out without his certificate. In the book, Mailer has the young Adolf defecate on his graduation certificate in a drunken post-graduation revelry.

So, unfortunately, due to Mailer's less than timely demise, we'll never get to know what he had planned for the remaining books in the trilogy, how he planned to tell the rest of the Hitler story. Still, even if the topic appeals to the more prurient side of your nature, this is probably a book worth reading. Recommended for sophisticated readers (or even those who think they are, or ought to be).

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax

2008-04-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc., 2007. ISBN: 978-0-15-101542-9

This novel is loosely, VERY loosely based on the life of Pablo Casals, according to the author's note, printed at the back of the book. In fact, her original thought was to write a nonfiction book about Casals. But she ended up writing this evocative novel instead. Why? You'll have to read her note.

One paragraph in the note definitely spoke to me. So much so, that I feel the need to quote it entire (oops, this is NOT the entire paragraph, but it's the part that counts):

I love collages. (Is it any wonder I found room in this book for Picasso?) I like the look of bits of newspaper and cloth stuck with paint, and violins shaped from torn paper, and familiar items rendered unfamiliar. This book is such a collage.

So why did I have to quote that passage? Because I too, love collages. In fact, I make collages myself. Not very good ones, I'll admit, but it's a lot of fun, whenever I can find the time, which isn't nearly as often as I'd like.

But back to the book. It's about a young boy growing up in Spain who almost accidentally receives an extraordinary gift from his deceased father: a bow. A bow too large for the violin, but perfect for the cello. And so the boy becomes a musician. He later forms an alliance, a partnership of sorts, with a somewhat older pianist, who is only very superficially modeled after the Spanish composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz.

Eventually they add a third member to their performing ensemble, a young Jewish woman, with whom they both more or less fall in love. Events march on, and eventually we inevitably find ourselves in the midst of the Spanish civil war, and all of the madness that it entailed. In one of the more remarkable passages, this now celebrated trio finds itself in the unenviable situation of providing a command performance for a (now famous) meeting between Hitler and Franco.

Unfortunately, things take a tragic turn, as you might expect, and the performance never happens. Neither of them gets the girl, and our cellist ends up exiled in Cuba, from whence he tells his remarkable story.

It's hard to say exactly what this book is about. It's about musicians, more than it's about music. But it's really about friendship and betrayal, love and desire, and being caught up in the sweep of historical events over which one has little or no control. Reading the book is a moving experience, and one that won't soon be forgotten. Definitely recommended, especially for those who enjoy novels with a musical subtext, as I do.

The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley

2008-04-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity by IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman. New York: Doubleday, 2001. ISBN: 0-385-49984-1

I read this book because of an article in American Libraries, one of two general library news publications that I regularly read. It comes as part of my membership in the American Library Association.

The article described the basic innovation strategy, or cycle espoused in the book, and attempted to apply it to libraries, and the projects that libraries undertake to serve their customers, patrons, or users, whatever term you wish to use. Here's that strategy in summary:

Understand
Observe
Visualize
Evaluate and refine
Implement

Each of these steps is fleshed out in the book, with many examples of how IDEO has put that particular aspect of the process into practice. If you're looking for ways to innovate more creatively, to come up with better ways of doing things, to be more innovative in what you and your organization do, and how you do it, this book will give you lots of ideas, lots of things to try, and plenty of suggestions. Recommended if you're interested in, or needing this kind of advice.