Science Fiction and Fantasy – Page 18

Posted on March 19, 2015March 16, 2015 by the coffee philosopher · 1 Comment

‘Space Mercenaries’ By A. Bertram Chandler

This is one of those old Ace doubles, which means two books in one. One side has one cover and you flip it around and on the other side is the cover for a different book. This was used a lot for sci fi (and probably mysteries, too). You could take two books of less than 150 pages each and package them together. The flip side is a novel called The Caves of Mars, but I have so far only read Space Mercenaries.

I started with that one because… c’mon, space mercenaries. How cool is that?

It’s apparently the second in a sort of trilogy known as the Empress Irene books, but this one is fine as an episodic, standalone novel (it’s the second of the three). A former empress, now private citizen has taken a top class warship and become a trader and her first job is blockade running. There’s some cool stuff with Chandler’s version of hyperspace/hyperdrive/warp speed – which actually seems more like Dune style ‘folding space’ (they’re outside of space-time and there’s stuff about synchronizing and the like but… I mean, it’s all just hyperdrives, really). A lot of stuff about figuring out legal ways to open fire while smuggling and without violating space law.

The book is a fast an enjoyable read. Style-wise, it reminded me of a less didactic Gordon Dickson (though I’m basing that on a single novel by Dickson, None But Man) and it’s a decent example of silver age sci fi. If you like that stuff and you see it in a used bookstore, pick it up. If you don’t, then you’re probably not browsing the science fiction stacks anyway, so I don’t imagine that it will come up.

Myself, I found this in an awesome little bookstore in Dunedin, Florida called Back in the Day Books that is well stocked in cool little semi-rarities like this (I’ve also gotten a ton of old pulp magazines from them, as well).

Posted on March 12, 2015March 10, 2015 by the coffee philosopher · 1 Comment

‘The Riddle-Master Of Hed’

This book is very much in the style of Ursula K. LeGuin. Like LeGuin, even when the main character is male (and the titular Riddle-Master, Morgon the Prince of Hed, is a man), the book is insistently feminine – and that is in a good way.

There is a gentle style to it – definitely, high fantasy, but different than what you would expect from most. Knights, sword fights, magical explosions, etc, are almost entirely absent.

I had read this book years and was seized with a desire to read it again. I almost bought another book by this author at John K King’s Used Books in Detroit, but didn’t.

While visiting my parents, I found this – my original copy – on a shelf. I stuck it in my bag, but forgot to take it and brought that same bag on a trip to Chicago where I read it over the course of the weekend.

Like most fantasy, it’s a trilogy, so I’m going to have to seek out book two.

Posted on March 11, 2015March 10, 2015 by the coffee philosopher

‘Dæmonomania’ By John Crowley

This is the third book in his Ægypt Sequence, a… fantasy? Not really. Realist? Perversely, yes, but also no.

The fantasy aspects may or may not be real, but I have always interpreted them as being parts of a novel by Julian Fellowes, a dead, fictional author of historical fantasy from the series.

I was trying to figure out what makes these books good. And they most certainly are. At first, I thought it was to make the mundane more than it is, but actually, many of the things happening to the (more or less) contemporary characters are actually quite important and dramatic, yet Crowley keeps an even, slow paced tone that almost deemphasizes them. Things happen like the (kind of) main character’s girlfriend joining a religious cult and a dramatic custody dispute between another character and her ex-husband over their daughter.

For all of them, it’s a spiritual quest for meaning that the world refuses to release to them, or, if it does, slowly and with great difficulty and resistance. But really, I couldn’t even begin to describe what it’s about. A search for meaning by looking to a world that may or may not have really existed (a pre-modern world when magic worked – the land of, not Egpyt, but Ægypt) and a simultaneous account of magical practitioners in a world where magic is vanishing (real life characters like John Dee and Giordano Bruno).

Posted on March 9, 2015March 2, 2015 by the coffee philosopher

I Have Given Up Comic Books

For something like two years now, I have been regularly buying several series of comic books from my local comic book store (Aquaman, Batman, Action Comics, Moon Knight, and Deathstroke).

I think I’m done. I’m not sure I can justify the money. Also, I recently fell behind and that feels… ok. I’m not distraught about not knowing how story arcs will end. I’m okay with things. But I have enjoyed this particular interlude – my return to a portion of my misspent youth – and don’t regret it. And I’m sure I’ll find something else to spend the money on.

Posted on March 4, 2015March 2, 2015 by the coffee philosopher

Nimoy

Someone once said to me that she would break down and cry when (and if – modern medicine can do miracles, I hear) Patrick Stewart were to pass away. Of course, she wasn’t thinking of his masterful performances on stage as Lear and Prospero, but rather as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

I love Patrick Stewart, but she was obviously younger than me, because my Star Trek memories are of the original series in syndication and the original movies (especially Wrath of Khan). As good at Stewart was, the others are only pretenders to the throne. Of the original duo, Kirk and Spock… Spock, aka Leonard Nimoy, has shuffled off his mortal coil.

He did more than Spock, of course (remember In Search Of?), but it is because he was Spock that I am reminded of a certain cultural mortality.

If I have children, they will never really know who Spock was and if I try to show them, they will merely mock an old man for watching something with such shoddy production values.

And one day, Kirk will be gone, too. And after that, there will soon be little memory of my Star Trek. Which, I suppose, is really just saying that one day, I will be dead and there will be a day, some time after – maybe years, maybe decades, maybe more, but there will be a day – when there will no longer be any memory of me or my world.

Happy hump day, folks.

Posted on February 14, 2015January 30, 2015 by the coffee philosopher

Posted on February 6, 2015February 4, 2015 by the coffee philosopher

What Is Best In Life?

Posted on January 24, 2015January 23, 2015 by the coffee philosopher

How To Tell If You Are In A High Fantasy Novel

The Elders would like a word with you.

The Ritual is about to begin.

Something that has not happened in a thousand years is happening.

You are going to the City. There is only one City. It is only said with a capital C. No one needs to bother saying the name of the City. It is the City.

Certain members of the Council are displeased with your family’s recent actions.

A bard is providing occasional comic relief; no one hired or invited him and his method of earning a living is unclear.

The High Priest is not to be trusted.

Someone is eating an apple mockingly.

There is one body of water. It is called the Sea. The Great Sea, if you are feeling fancy.

You live in a region with no major exports, no centralized government, no banking system, a mysteriously maintained network of roads, and little to no job training for anyone who is not a farmer.

You have red hair. You wear it in a braid. Your father was a simple man, and you don’t remember much about him – he died when you were so young – but you remember his strong hands, as he fished or carpentered or whatever it was that he used to do with them.

You’re going to have to hurry, or you’re going to miss the Fair – and you never miss the Fair.

There is trouble at the Citadel.

Your full name has at least one apostrophe in it.

It is the first page, and you are already late for something. Your mother affectionately chides you as you gulp down a few spoonfuls of porridge; she will be dead by page forty-two.

There are two religions in your entire universe. One is a thinly veiled version of Islam. It is only practiced by villains. The other is “being a Viking.” You are a Viking.

There are new ways in the land that threaten the Old Way. Your grandmother secretly practices the Old Way, as do all of the people of the hills.

The real trouble began the day you arrived at court. Every last nobleman hides a viper in his smile. How you long for the purity of life in your village, which is currently on fire or something.