>>Nostalgia For Infinity

Del.icio.us links for May 10th through May 19th:

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A recent collaboration between new genre imprint Angry Robot and the British Science Fiction Association saw all BSFA members sent a free copy of Colin Harvey’s new novel, Winter Song. Vector (the BSFA’s critical journal) editor Niall Harrison and reviews editor Martin Lewis organised a reading group for the novel, and the end of April saw a swathe of bloggers and reviewers sharing their thoughts on the book. I’ve missed the boat on this one – I’ve missed a fucking  flotilla – but what the hell, I’ve read it so I may as well add my two pence.

Winter Song is set on a partially terraformed human colony that is structured around the emulation of old Icelandic cultures (the novel, in fact, is inspired by the old Icelandic Sagas as well as contemporary Icelandic fiction), with the planet’s scattered population gathered into small clans under the leadership of “Gothis”. The clans exist in a perilous and freezing environment in which scraping out a living is a challenge that occupies every waking moment, to which must be added the danger of local fauna. The terraformers who once oversaw the planet’s development are long gone, political and economic factors leading to abandonment of the colony and its inhabitants. The novel’s protagonist, Karl Allman, is plunged into this world when his starship is ambushed and destroyed by a faction of humanity that opposes modified Radicals like him.

For much of the novel Karl is nursed back to health by the clan that found him. Principally he’s cared for by Bera, the unmarried mother of a dead bastard child, under the watchful eye of the Gothi Ragnar, a harsh and pragmatic man prone to fits of rage. Ragnar is determined that the stranger pay his dues and work off his debt to the clan. Karl is eager only to leave the planet and return home, where his wife is expecting a child. Bera, desperately unhappy among her adoptive clan, first transfers her mothering instincts to the wounded Karl and later develops more complex feelings for him. Ultimately Karl and Bera set out to find a shrine known as Winter Song, a relic of the colony’s murky past that may be the only way Karl can find his way home.

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So here’s a post I wrote half of last October (Hub is now up to #108). The fact that I didn’t find the time or inclination to finish a short and simple review of a short weekly SF e-zine for three months pretty much sums up the creative death that was Q4 2009 for me. Thanks a fucking bunch, my life last year.

But it wasn’t all bad, particularly if you’re not me, because British SF & fantasy e-zine Hub Magazine published its hundredth issue. If you’re not in the know about the general life expectancy of magazines built around genre fiction it may not be clear what an achievement this is, particularly given that Hub boasts 10,000 subscribers (or, at least, is sent to 10,000 email addresses, which is not quite the same thing) and thanks to sponsorship deals with publishers is both solvent and a paying market for writers.

I’ve written about Hub before (#12-18 here, and #35-38 for The Fix Online) and have generally found it an entertaining if hit and miss read since then. So, as a landmark issue what does #100 exemplify about its run to date and what does it indicate for the future?

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I’ve not bought many new SF or fantasy books in the last three or so years and I’m sure there’s a lot of good material I’ve missed. Now, obviously I will be rushing to the bookshops to buy the complete Stephanie Meyer, but what else have I missed that is held in high regard?

Here’s a list of books that have been recommended to me that I can remember…

Older

• Joe Hill – 20th Century Ghosts
• Kelly Link – Magic For Beginners (how have I not read this yet?!)
• David Marusek – Counting Heads
• Ian McDonald – River of Gods
• Geoff Ryman – Air
• Charles Stross – Accelerando
• Peter Watts – Blindsight

2007

• William Gibson – Spook Country
• M. John Harrison – Nova Swing
• Cormac McCarthy – The Road
• China Miéville – Un Lun Dun
• Richard Morgan – Black Man
• Sarah Hall – The Carhullan Army

2008

• Stephen Baxter – Flood
• Nick Harkaway – The Gone-Away World
• Ian R. MacLeod – Song of Time
• Ken MacLeod – The Execution Channel
• Ian McDonald – Brasyl
• Richard Morgan – The Steel Remains
• Alastair Reynolds – House of Suns
• Neal Stephenson – Anathem

2009

• Paolo Bacigalupi – The Wind-Up Girl
• Stephen Baxter – Ark
• Anne Berry – The Hungry Ghosts
• Ursula le Guin – Lavinia
• Jonathan Littell – The Kindly Ones
• China Miéville – The City & the City
• Patrick Ness – The Knife of Never Letting Go
• Adam Roberts  – Yellow Blue Tibia
• Kim Stanley Robinson – Galileo’s Dream
• Ellis Sharp – Dead Iraqis: Selected Short Stories
• Bruce Sterling – The Caryatids
• Conrad Williams – One

More recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

(Though given that I can’t read everything I’d prefer to hear about the novels you thought were great or particularly important rather than merely good. I’d like to try reading some books published in 2010 as well, yes?)

Del.icio.us links for October 5th through October 18th:

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Back at the outset of August I promised to post one of my book reviews for Vector every Saturday, and then repeatedly forgot to queue up the reviews for the rest of the month. Duh. Here’s the first of the two, of an understated and clever space opera by Paul McAuley.

The Overturn, a period of catastrophic political and climatic change which saw the deaths of hundreds of millions throughout the solar system, lies several centuries passed, yet its shadow still hangs over humanity. Earth’s old nations have conglomerated into three international super-states under authoritarian and militaristic systems of rule, pursuing ecological doctrines and endeavouring to restore their planet to some of its former natural glories. Elsewhere in the solar system the loosely affiliated networks of democratic Outer colonies pursue their own agendas, be they posthumanism, scientific research, or the simple pursuit of pleasure.

The conflict and atrocities of the Overturn left many tensions between Earth and the Outers, but tensions also lie between their internal factions. On Earth, the super-states still squabble for power at every level. The most established players uneasily eye the Outer colonies, afraid that as the Outers continue to evolve and expand Earth will lose any ability to exert influence over them. Among the Outers the older and younger generations disagree about their future: the old are conservative, desiring controlled populations on already established colonies, whereas the young argue for change and expansion further out into the unknown.

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Del.icio.us links for May 28th through May 29th (I’m gonna get back to doing these weekly, Sunday-ish):

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Del.icio.us links for March 16th:

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Del.icio.us links for March 10th through March 11th:

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Del.icio.us links for February 27th through March 2nd:

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