Category: sf (Page 4 of 5)

I finished Paul McAuley’s latest novel, Gardens of the Sun, his sequel to The Quiet War. I actually liked most of this novel better than the first. McAuley seemed more comfortable with his characters and the events of the story, although several main characters from the first book either died or underwent radical change. Excellent hard sf novel on a grand scale, so for the most part the characters played their parts and drifted off, exit stage left.

I also read Sarah Hoyt’s novel, Darkship Thieves, a book that focused very much on the characters, especially the female protagonist. This character tended to be unsympathetic almost until the end, while her male co-star sulked a great deal throughout the novel. The book was far from unfavorable, and I am planning a longer review in Prometheus, but I have not processed all my thoughts about this book yet.

With a headline like “Anti-Corporate Libertarian Futurism in ‘The Unincorporated Man’” from io9.com, the LFS definitely needs to check out this novel.

From Gauntlet Press, this announcement:

Coming in 2009: New John Shirley Novel
We are pleased to announce we’ll be publishing a new John Shirley
novel in the fall of 2009, Welcome to Freedom. Here is the author’s
description:
“After a disaster wrecks a long section of the California northern coast, the town of FREEDOM, which has attempted to live without federal interference as much as possible, finds it has a little too much chance to go it alone. Vicious human predators take advantage of the situation, waves of brutality roll through the area, and a young man new to town has a coming of age confrontation with what it takes to survive at any cost… The town wants to maximize its freedom from outside help, influence and control. See what happens when you have real freedom day after day, and no rules? Is it heaven–or hell?”

The book is scheduled for a January 2009 release.