(1) THE SICHUAN CHICKEN EMERGENCY. Last year’s Hugo-winning novelist has received a new honor — “Dinosaur relics named after science fiction writer Liu Cixin”.
A new kind of bird-footed dinosaur footprint was discovered in Gulin county, Southwest China’s Sichuan province and named for Chinese science-fiction writer Liu Cixin, to honor his contribution to raising public interest in science.
Liu, who was thrilled to hear the news, said that he has great interest in paleontology.
“It is like a science fiction we’re reading that the dinosaur in Gulin county was preserved so well for billions of years. It helps us travel back in time. I hope the relics could be studied and preserved well.”
(2) SUPERGIRL ADDS W, LEAVES BS BEHIND. Variety makes it official — “’Supergirl’ Lands at the CW for Season 2”.
After nearly two years of rumors, “Supergirl” is heading to the CW for its second season, Variety has learned….
At CBS, “Supergirl” averaged a 2.5 rating in adults 18-49 and 10.03 million viewers overall in Nielsen’s “live plus-7” estimates. It was CBS’ top-rated rookie drama this season in the demo, and was also its youngest-skewing drama with a median age of 55.6 — however, it was down from comedies in the Monday night timeslot last year.
The hotly anticipated crossover with “The Flash” on March 28 was a ratings hit for the CW, prompting the rumors to begin swirling once again that “Supergirl” would head over to the younger-skewing network, in order to nab a renewal. That episode, co-starring “Flash’s” Grant Gustin, averaged a 2.5 rating in 18-49 and 9.6 million total viewers in L+7 — the show’s best numbers in the second half of its run.
(3) KRYPTON. Vulture says Supergirl’s home planet is also going to be on the tube: “Syfy Orders Pilot for Krypton, a Show About Superman’s Grandpa Who Lives on a Planet That Definitely Isn’t Going to Explode Any Time Soon”.
And you thought Batman was the only DC Comics superhero who would get a TV show about what everyone around him was doing before he became interesting: THR reports that SyFy has ordered a pilot for Krypton, a Superman prequel from David S. Goyer set on the eponymous doomed planet. The series will follow Superman’s grandpa as he “fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos,” which is one task at which he is guaranteed to fail (because the world will blow up) and another that is a bit of a moot point (because, again, the world will blow up).
(4) GEMMELL VOTING STARTS TOMORROW. Voting on the longlists for 2016’s David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy (the Legend, Morningstar, and Ravenheart Awards) opens midday on Friday, May 13 and closes at midnight on Friday June 24.
The award’s Facebook page revealed there will be 48 nominations for the Legend Award, 6 for the Morningstar and 39 for the Ravenheart.
Voting on the shortlist opens at midday on Friday July 8 and closes at midnight on Friday August 19.
The presentation takes place at 8pm on Saturday September 24 at Fantasycon in Scarborough.
(5) MIND MELD. SFFWorld threw a lifeline to Rob B, whose Mind Meld installment needed a home after SF Signal went offline. The participants are N. E. White, Jonah Sutton-Morse, Yanni Kuznia, and Summer Brooks.
“MIND MELD: Recent SF/F/H You’ve Read & Enjoyed About Which You Knew Little”
Q: What recent SF/F/H books have you read and enjoyed which you knew little to nothing about beforehand? (For example, you go into a bookstore and picked a book off the shelf based on title and/or cover alone.)
(6) NEW YORK NEW YORK NEW YORK. Pornokitsch compares and contrasts in “Will Eisner and Three Visions of New York”.
Both Eisner and Fantasia 2000 also recognise this aspect of the city: it can grind people down, even to the point of death. Using the darkness of the city in this way all three of these representations show the city itself to be an active force working on their various protagonists. Dark Dark Dark focus more on the elemental aspects of the city while Eisner examines the interaction of the people and their home, but both are aware of the inherent magic of the place. Dark Dark Dark present in their enigmatic lyrics and the swirling otherworldliness of their instrumentals what Eisner recognised in his introduction to ‘The Building’, there is something “unexplained and […] magical” about the city which can affect those that live in it.
(7) NEW DESTINATION. Variety’s article “Winchester Mystery House Movie Attracts Spierig Brothers” discusses the next project by the Spierig Brothers, Winchester, about the famous San Jose, CA haunted house.
Keith Kato writes, “Michael and Peter Spierig, the Spierig Brothers, are favorites of (and members of) The Heinlein Society for their most recent film, Predestination (2014 U.S. release), based on the Robert A. Heinlein short story ‘All You Zombies.’ We have been told by the Brothers that they will be out of the country from July-September, presumably for filming commitments for this project and they regret they will not be able to attend the Kansas City Worldcon.”
(8) FURNITURE. I don’t think we’ll be able to order a park bench from them, though it’s nice to know Sancal’s Futura collection is based on 1960s sci-fi space stations.
Dezeen promotion: Spanish brand Sancal has launched a “retro-futuristic” collection of furniture, featuring tables, chairs and ornaments that reference 1960s science fiction films (+ movie).
The Futura collection, which was exhibited by Sancal during this year’s Milan design week, is modelled on the set designs of movies such as the 1968 epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
(9) NEW AWARDS? Bleeding Cool passed on this rumor about the San Diego Comic-Con.
The word on the street is that we are about to get a brand-new, very well-funded awards show for San Diego Comic Con.
I understand that high level talks are taking place between Jennifer O’Connell, Executive VP of Alternative Programming, Seth Lederman, Executive VP General Manager of the new streaming channel Comic-Con HQ and David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer of Comic-Con International, the people behind San Diego Comic Con.
While the existing Eisner Awards cover the comic book industry, and have been the premier awards at San Diego for some time, this new award show is planned to cover comics, TV, film, games and all manner of fan and genre culture. So expect very big names on hand to host and present awards…..
Lionsgate is said to be interested in producing the show.
(10) YESTERDAY IN HISTORY. Can it be May 11th was National Twilight Zone Day….? And I missed it?
Well…! Then I guess that makes it appropriate to feature a “lost episode”…
(11) STARFLEET TRAINING. “’Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience’ is coming to the USS Intrepid this summer”. MeTV has the story.
The museum exhibit will allow fans to study Starfleet culture as part of “Starfleet Academy’s Career Day.”
Beginning July 9, those lucky enough to get to New York City can visit Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience. The museum exhibit is opening aboard the USS Intrepid, which sits on Pier 86 along the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan. A naval museum might seem like a strange location for a Star Trek exhibit, but what is Star Trek if not a space navy? Besides, NASA’s Space Shuttle Enterprise is on display at the Intrepid Museum.
The Intrepid Museum will be the first venue in the United States to host this immersive “Trek Tech” experience, a sort of quick fantasy camp. The exhibit allows visitors to join Starfleet Academy’s Career Day, which includes orientation and nine zones of study in language, medicine, engineering, navigation, command and science. Tickets cost $18–$35. The exhibit runs through October 31, 2016. (That final day will be a cosplay dream.)
Visit the Intrepid website for more information.
(12) MEMORIES. Here’s a Lou Stathis artifact I never heard of before.
Photo: diskomo: Stalking Ralph by Matt Howarth and Lou Stathis. http://t.co/y8bP1w23fs
— Niels Heemskerk (@MaoSan) June 3, 2015
The cover image comes from here.
(14) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
- Born May 12, 1937 — George Carlin (comedian; first to host Saturday Night Live)
- Born May 12 – Heather Rose Jones
- Born May 12 – David Doering
(15) WILL FANAC FOR CHARITY. Jim C. Hines is back with another example of “SF/F Being Awesome: Lar DeSouza and Sailor Bacon”.
If my math is right, Lar [DeSouza] and his fans have raised around $40,000 in total to fight MS.
There’s even a new Sailor Bacon plush, with a portion of the proceeds going to MS research.
Fighting MS by con light,
Winning breakfast by daylight,
Rainbow beard that is so bright!
It is the one named Sailor Bacon!The MS Walk was May 1 this year, but it looks like you can still donate.
(16) END OF DISNEY DOLLARS. Paleofuture at Gizmodo mourns that gift cards have killed Disney Dollars.
When I was a kid I loved Disney Dollars. For those unfamiliar, they’re Disney’s paper notes that look like real money and feature cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Dumbo on the front. They’re only good at Disney Parks and stores, making them essentially like gift certificates. But Disney will stop printing Disney Dollars on May 14, 2016.
It’s truly the end of an era for Disney nerds. As reported by WDW News Today, the move is being blamed on the rise of gift cards and the general death of paper money. Disney staff were told just a couple of hours ago but the company has yet to make an official statement.
Disney Dollars will continue to be accepted at Disney locations, since they have no expiration date. But unless you have hundreds of notes to unload you should probably just hold on to them for a bit. The resale market for even once-common Disney products can be pretty lucrative after a few years.
John King Tarpinian recalls, “A long time ago when friends would have a kid or a grandkid I would buy one share of Disney stock. (Usually with a $25 premium over the stock price.) The certificates were beautifully framed, not to mention that with even one share it would get an invite to corporate events. Then Disney went electronic and that was gone. Now Disney Dollars. Gift cards are just not the same.”
(17) CAP’S PSA. Jim Burns says, “With all this Captain America chat (my all time favorite super hero, by the way!), a truly rare piece of film: a public service announcement, circa 1980 (or thereabouts)!”
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Keith Kato, Will R., Tom Galloway, Andrew Porter, and James H. Burns for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Doctor Science.]
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I stick to the view that a Mary Sue/Gary Stu* is a character who distorts the story around them. Hence, if the premise of the story, clearly established on page 1, is that a person has exceptional abilities, they are not a MS/GS.
*There is a historical reason why the default form is feminine – that the concept began in the world of media fanfic, where the majority of writers are women, and therefore so are their avatars. Using the feminine form even when discussing male characters, though, is problematic.
@standback
The opening chapter of Quantum Thief could hardly be any more different to the McAuly either. I read a couple of pages of an Abercrombie and an Al Reynolds (Ebooks encourage this behaviour) but QT really seemed to suit my mood more.
I don’t read much fantasy at the moment which also counts against TFS, and after grinding through TWoT I’m wary of any door stopper fantasy that looks like turning into a shelf filling epic.
Male Sues definitely exist and are becoming more remarked on, I’ve mentioned him before but Dirk Pitt from Clive Cussler’s NUMA books is like Bond turned up to eleven. Cussler even named his son Dirk…
From reading tvtropes Sue pages the original meaning had more to do with a character who everyone would love and defer to, who could solve the whole plot with skills or powers on demand (so Superman is a Marty Stu to me, yes). Now it is just often a synonym for “Character I don’t like”
Rey is no more a Sue than Luke or Anakin, and a lot of people didn’t like them either. I’m not one of them. We know so little of Rey’s childhood we can’t know what skills she picked up or how.
Great item titles today, BTW!
(10) seems fitting given the subject.
I don’t actually see how a female lead of an original story can be a Mary Sue. As Andrew M says, a Mary Sue distorts a story about herself, which means the story has to have some pre-existing structure.
Victor Krum is arguably a Gary Stu, turning up in the middle of the series and being hypercompetant. Harry Potter is not. It’s his story.
Similarly Rey. As the central character in the film she can’t be a MS.
Today’s read — The Spider’s War, by Daniel Abraham
This is a 2016 book and I will also be putting it in the 2016 recommendations thread.
The fifth and final book of The Dagger And The Coin sequence is a fitting end to a great fantasy series. An approach to epic war stories which is just as concerned with finance as it is with swords and sorcery, the books toss aside many of the easy-answer approaches to fantasy even as they remain page-turning action-adventure rides. In addition, they have provided the genre with one of its most original and memorable heroes in Cithrin bel Sarcour, as well as a villain terrifying in how readily recognizable he is, and a host of other distinct and well-drawn major characters. This book provides a fitting capstone to the series, presenting the protagonists with the fact that their ultimate problem seems impossible to solve, and then approaching it with the combination of heroics, gritty cynicism, and original thinking which characterizes the books. Thumbs up.
@Shao Ping, @Dana, @Will R.: Thanks for the recommendations!
I have a deep disinterest in Lovecraft and horror, including riffs and deconstructions, so I’m afraid I’ll give that one a miss.
@Dana: I am intrigued by your recommendation! I know Moriarty only through her review columns in F&SF — which really stand out from the pack; she only writes ’em once a year and they’re great. I’m really pleased to hear a recommendation for her wearing a fiction-author hat.
But, I’m not seeing anything from her from 2016, which I’m looking for at the moment. Nonetheless, I’ll take this as a general recommendation, which I definitely hope I’ll pursue 🙂
@Standback I would second Shao Ping’s recommendation of Lovecraft Country. It was recommended here and I want to thank all of the lovely people who suggested it. Its High Concept is “what if the creeping Lovecraftian horror is white supremacy?”
@Kyra: How would you compare “Dagger and Coin” with Abraham’s “Long Price Quartet”?
I love the Long Price. I’m a little unlikely to rip through five novels in one series this year, but…. maybe I will anyway 🙂
@Camestros, re: “Fifth Season”:
((Very vague spoilers, although my contention is basically that there’s not a whole lot to spoil))
The book does pose that question very early in the book. Then it ignores it entirely for the remainder.
The book isn’t about a man’s choice to destroy the world, or the investigation of the catastrophe. It’s about a world which is bleak enough to merit that some people would sincerely, plausibly desire its destruction. The story is bookended by the choice — the destruction at the beginning, the culprit at the end — but the characters through the entirety of the book don’t even know the destruction has occurred.
In other words, “Who did it/why did they do it” isn’t a source of conflict or even of tension throughout the vast majority of the book. If that’s your hook, then tough, because most of the book isn’t actually about that.
Similarly, the daughter-and-husband might have worked as a story goal. That first chapter is harrowing.
But after that, it’s not a chase story. It’s a travel-and-survival story. It’s even made fairly clear right from the start that the chance of finding them is basically nil. It’s kind of a desperate hope that keeps the protagonist moving. And the worst part of it is, as soon as the journey starts, you basically know that nothing on this plotline can possibly move forward until the end of the book. Sure, the protagonist might progress and get farther on the physical road. But, in terms of this specific plotline, it’s fairly evident that we’re not going to be doing anything more than treading water until (at least) the end of the book.
So, no, those plotlines didn’t work for me as a central question or tension 😛
These, ummm, as far as I’m concerned… aren’t actually questions.
I mean, sure, this is a book, so I’m taking it on faith that there’s a reason the author chose the protagonists she did. I assume there will be some connection at some point. But the fact that the author has left a blank to fill in later, doesn’t mean that I’m salivating to find out what goes in the blank.
It’s not like we’ve got any tension around any of those points. I’m sure there will be answers to each of them, but… for most of the story, I have no particular reason to actually care about any of those answers. It’s the narrative version of “What have I got in my pocket” — it’s not a riddle; it’s just an arbitrary question, until the author makes it matter.
Likewise. I know there are stone-eaters. That’s practically all I know. If I tell you “In my story, there exist… foofers,” that doesn’t make you go “Foofers! I don’t know what those are! I must read on and find out the details!”. If I don’t give you a reason to want to learn what Foofers are, you’re going to go, “Oh, ‘foofers.’ That sounds like a word you made up. OK, so?”
Without building up significance, a reason that the answer matters, or at least some supporting details and hints at why the solution is likely to be intriguing or interesting… without those, it’s just an “and then” plot. “And then there were mysterious remains of dead civilizations that nobody knows anything about. And then there were mysterious creatures you know nothing about. And then there was a mysterious thing in the school that nobody knows anything about.” That’s… not actually mysterious. It’s arbitrary.
Standback, I’m sorry. I didn’t read your request carefully enough. You are right; those aren’t new books.
Happy reading anyway!
I, for one associate “Mary Sue” only with obvious author wish-fulfillment stand-in.
@tofu: Well that was an amusing cross-post 😛
Sorry :-/
I’m with @Lowell. The term “Mary Sue” as I originally understood it referred to a useful concept: someone who is so perfect in every way that she achieves all her goals and defeats all her enemies without breaking a sweat.
Once your incredibly powerful character has a worthy antagonist (Buffy/the Master, Superman/Luthor, Frank Underwood/Raymond Tusk), she stops being a Mary Sue.
(Ticky!)
But I’m also weeping a little this morning over the Agent Carter cancellation. Relieved that I get to keep Supergirl–I’ve seen a couple of sources confirming Calista Flockhart is still on board, phew!–so it’s not all bad, but really. Why couldn’t we keep both?
@Will R: I just picked up a copy of Tidhar’s Central Station but haven’t started it yet. I was really impressed by a lot of the individual stories in Interzone, but it got to the point where they were somewhat incomprehensible if you hadn’t read all of the others – and he didn’t publish all of them in Interzone! So I’m really looking forward to reading the complete work.
NickPheas said:
If you define “original” as “not explicitly a fanfic”, I’ve read books which were clearly a popular world with the serial numbers filed off and a heroine getting to sleep with the author’s favorite character from that popular world.
(In a very broad sense, of course, there are no truly original stories…)
Speaking of popular worlds and characters with the serial numbers filed off, I’m ready to strongly recommend My Hero Academia to anyone who wants to wash the taste of Batman v. Superman out. Because it’s basically playing with the Superman legend, but in this case the author actually likes Superman. (And now that the main character is settled into high school, I’ve developed suspicions that the author is a Harry Potter fan too.)
@PhilRM Cool! I didn’t realize they’d been published separately, but it makes a lot of sense. There are definitely a lot of threads woven together, but it feels of a piece.
The Manga or the Anime?
(12): I’ve got a copy of Stalking Ralph around here somewhere. I’m a long-time Howarth fan, from the mid-80s black and white boom. Granted, living in the same city as Nash the Slash did and being friends with the guy who originally designed the Residents’ website probably helps.
Lee, I really enjoyed the Divergent series. The movies follow the general plot of the series while discarding everything that makes the series worthwhile. At least, I thought the first movie was okay but the second one truly missed the point. It was so disappointing that I wouldn’t pay to see the third. Clearly, those adapting the books into movies didn’t understand what they were reading. I feel that this is a better series than Hunger Games but it might be because I found the underlying theme of identity more compelling than HG’s exploration of PTSD. YMMV
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Disney money, but I always wanted a set of Antarctic currency (but not enough to pay a 1:1 US dollar exchange rate for it.)
Speaking of Margaret Cavendish:
from Margaret Cavendish, the long-ignored godmother of science fiction, gets her due in Margaret the First – Vox at http://www.vox.com/2016/5/13/11603946/margaret-first-daniel-dutton-cavendish
Sad news from Darwyn Cooke’s blog: “fuck cancer”.
I haven’t got around to that one yet, either. Just tell me: is it cumin? Or maybe oregano?
Notes on books bein’ discussed —
Margaret the First — Hey, I’m reading that right now! Should have a minireview up in the near future.
Divergent — Really, really liked the first book of this series. But I found the second book less memorable and the third book something of a mess.
The Long Price Quartet — Haven’t read it yet, so I cannot compare it The Dagger And The Coin. But I could go on all day about how much I like The Dagger And The Coin.
The Fifth Season — Very much one of my favorite books of 2015. It’s not just an exploration of the world, it’s about the main character’s experience of and growing understanding of that world, and how it changes her.
My fellow Strange Horizons contributor Ekari Mbvundula is one of 12 finalists (out of more than 3000) in a competition for new African writers sponsored by the Nigerian web site Naked Convos. The contest works reality-show style, with three contestants eliminated each week by a combination of audience votes and judges’ ratings. The links to the stories for the first week are here: if you like her story, which is a mythical romance mixing old Malawi and South African legend, please go give her your support.
In re Katherine Dunn and Geek Love: it’s freaking brilliant. I bought a copy when it came out (including the five-legged Borzoi, wonderful!) and have carefully held onto it. I keep meaning to re-read it, and keep deciding I’m not quite ready to go there again. Sigh, more than a quarter-century and still not quite ready. It’s such an amazing book.
Andrew M: In re Mary Sue, the Wikipedia article on it provides a fine definition in the first paragraph. That paragraph doesn’t mention “a character who distorts the story around them”, and I think rightly so. In the context that Paula Smith originally used it, it was an author’s wish-fulfillment inserted into a mature, pre-existing milieu. As such, the result was distortion to the story. But if there’s no pre-existing milieu, there’s no distortion. Instead it’s just some flavor of bad writing – deus ex machina, competency porn, whatever.
That said, it’s often difficult to tell the difference between competency porn and a Mary Sue, especially if you don’t have good data about the author. And they’re not inseparable. One could argue that The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are both Mary Sues (Dominique Francon, Dagny Taggart) and competency porn (Howard Roark, Taggart/d’Anconia/Rearden/Galt). <mutter>(There, that’ll get me some hate mail.)</mutter>
@Steve Simmons:
Interesting; my father had much the same reaction to Under the Volcano — told me that it was so perfect, and so intense, that he didn’t want to re-read it. I can’t recall a book that I would say the same about myself. But I bet some people here can.
Steve Simmons on May 13, 2016 at 10:29 am said
Fred Clark, at Slacktivist, thinks that the Left Behind books are Marty Stus: the two authors inserted themselves as major characters. It’s inverted competency porn: the characters think they’re highly competent (and are obvious about it at every opportunity), but what outsiders see from them is ineffectiveness and incompetence.
@Standback: Then it ignores it entirely for the remainder.
In my reading of it, the question of why the man chose to destroy the world is not ignored throughout, but is covered in some detail in the middle narrative section. That character is not a point of view character, bu the reasons why he would do what he did are well established as far as I’m concerned.
I understand you don’t like the book, but this claim jumped out at me because I see such a clear sequence of events (and those events are one of the elements that made me see the book as very much in a tradition that includes Toni MOrrison’s Beloved.
The Fifth Season
Re: “three female protagonists”
I’m going into rot13 here because SPOILER but I have to know what other readers think without spoiling everybody else.
V gnhtug gur obbx va zl tenqhngr pbhefr guvf fcevat, naq zbfg bs gur fghqragf qvq abg ernyvmr gung gur “guerr srznyr cebgntbavfgf” jrer gur fnzr jbzna ng qvssrerag gvzrf va ure yvsr (naq nqzvggrqyl haqre qvssrerag anzrf). Fbzr bs gur erivrjf V unq gurz ernq gnyxrq nobhg guerr srznyr cebgntbavfgf, ohg V pbhyq abg qrpvqr jurgure be abg gur erivrjref qvq abg jnag gb fcbvy gur gjvfg gung vf pyrneyl fgngrq ng gur raq — gubhtu V jnf svthevat vg bhg n ovg.
V nyfb fgebatyl fhttrfg gur aneengbe hfvat frpbaq crefba vf Ubn.
Robinareid, they didn’t realize? Really? I suspected fairly early in the third narrative. And was pretty sure of it by halfway through the book. (I’m being deliberately vague to avoid spoiling anyone.) I don’t ascribe to myself any special insight; perhaps I was just looking for it and so had it confirmed in my head early?
(4) I’m disappointed that David Mann’s cover for The Watchmaker of Filigree Street didn’t make the Ravenheart longlist. At least I was able to vote for Uprooted‘s cover as a decent second best choice. (I actually liked its cover more than I liked the book…unlike The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, where I loved both equally.)
On the Fifth Season – the reason for the big bang was, as others have said, pretty convincingly laid out. And as for the other thing about the three, it was pretty clear early on.
Loved it, by the way.
@robinareid:
Thank you for sparing me going all rot13 wall-o-text! Though I’m still going rot13 for a little squee 🙂
V fgnegrq bhg jbaqrevat nobhg gur puebabybtl bs gur guerr crefcrpgvir punenpgref. V fhffrq cerggl dhvpxyl gung gur gjb guveq-crefba punenpgref jrer orsber gur oernxvat bs gur jbeyq.
Vg jnfa’g hagvy bar bs gur pyhrf–Flra guvaxvat bs n “shfgl oynaxrg” jura fcrnxvat bs jung ubzr jnf–gung V ernyvmrq gung Qnzn naq Flra jrer gur fnzr punenpgre. Naq gung bs pbhefr tbg zr gb jbaqrevat vs Rffra jnf nyfb gur fnzr punenpgre. V bayl fcbggrq bar yngr pyhr gb gung bar orsber gur erirny, ohg gung’f orpnhfr V jnf ybbxvat sbe vg ng gur gvzr.
V nyfb nterr gung gur crefba aneengvat gur frpbaq-crefba CBI frpgvba vf Ubn. V gubhtug gung jnf cerggl zhpu rkcyvpvgyl gbyq gb hf va gung svany vagreyhqr.
Okay, maybe more than just a little squee 😉
I will say that my only beef was that I wanted to see more Fulcrum training. I like magical school narratives and often feel a little betrayed when we don’t get much detail of the classes or whatnot. But in this case I can forgive because I simply adore the way this book was put together.
Head and shoulders above Uprooted, imho.
@ Kyra
I felt exactly the same way. The first book reminded me of The Giver somewhat and set up a really interesting society. Unfortunately, the author seemed to change her mind more than once as to what it was all about, and she could not bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
@ Teemu: Given that generally speaking books tend to be better than the movies made from them, I would say that’s very likely the case here. Certainly the first book sucked me in very fast, and kept me turning pages until the end. Furthermore, I haven’t had many “wait, what, how is that supposed to work?” afterthoughts either. My suggestion would be to get the first one from the library and see what you think.
@P J Evans
That sounds pretty plausible from what I’ve heard of the books – but still doesn’t make them sound like anything I want to read.
On the other hand, except for the Mary Sue authorial insertion, it sounds like what C. S. Lewis did with a number of his “competent” non-wizard characters in That Hideous Strength.
Another for the list of Mary Sue/competence porn overlaps: The Turner Files.
That sounds pretty plausible from what I’ve heard of the books – but still doesn’t make them sound like anything I want to read.
They’re not aimed at us. They’re aimed at people who already believe that, and want to feel good about it.
But the fix-fic and flash fiction that shows up there, along with the snark about the writing, makes it worth reading Fred’s analysis of just exactly how bad the books are.
Hmmm . . . anything that’s a Mary Sue combined with bad competence porn is probably Dunning-Kruger syndrome in action.
Someone should write a two-person Mary Sue sendup with protagonists named Mary Dunning and Stu Kruger.
@ NickPheas: One of my definitions for a Mary Sue/Marty Stu is “all the other characters spend inordinate amounts of time talking about how wonderful he/she is instead of doing anything to advance the plot”. And I have seen that happen with original characters — professionally-published ones, yet.
And Now For Something Completely Different: Anybody within reasonable driving distance of Houston interested in a very nice adult cat? We have a rescue that we really can’t keep. Male, looks like between 1 and 2 years old, bullseye tabby and white with green eyes. We’ve had him neutered and gotten him all his shots. He was obviously someone’s pet for a while (I’m betting abandoned when they had to move) — well-socialized to humans, likes being petted, can be picked up easily, gets along well with other cats if they’re not aggressive to him. I’m willing to drive up to 6 hours (each way) to place him with someone who will take proper care of him. If we didn’t already have too many cats (and one who seems to have taken an unreasoning dislike to him) I’d be really tempted to keep him.
What, be positive about something? How would that upset Scalzi or make SJW heads explode?
Self-published books aren’t eligible for the Gemmells, so you’re not likely to see them getting much love from the Mad Genius Club.
@Lee: Contact Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice. The commetariat there has rehomed quite a few pets over the years. Maybe a signal boost there will help.
Kyra/Kaboobie,
I’ve a different take on the Divergent Series. The first book is the best because it sets up the world and the overarching plot, but here is how it breaks down for me thematically. All the books explore the concept of Identity.
The first book explores identity as a social construct – who are you in society?
The second book explores identity as a part of family – are you more than what your parents molded you to be?
The final book explores whether or not our identity is determined solely by our DNA.
I don’t want to be more explicit because of spoilers. But I felt that each book went exactly where the author wanted it to go. Initially, I was a little put off by the third book, but by the time we get to the big reveal about 2/3’s in, I was wholly invested.
Does Castilia sell enough for the Gemmells to count them? I think we’ve plenty of proof that the MGC opinion doesn’t really count for much.
@Lee: One of my definitions for a Mary Sue/Marty Stu is “all the other characters spend inordinate amounts of time talking about how wonderful he/she is instead of doing anything to advance the plot
That actually reminds me of one review of a Mary Sue fic: this anime character who in the canon is a ruthless assassin that doesn’t care about anyone, begins talking to his mortal rival, an equally cold ruthless killer, about the insert character, who is such a wonderful talented person. And the rival agrees that this character, who happens to have the same name as the author, is incredibly sensitive and deep, and everyone can see her artistic talent and beauty…except her family.
And then the reviewer admitted that it just wasn’t so much fun mocking the story any more.
Interesting.
Firstly the world we see is *not* that bleak. Their are awful things in the world (and we discover more and more awful things) but it is a world that has in some ways got better. The world used to be run by a big scary empire and that big scary empire is now less autocratic and more like a modern more benign 20th century state. There are terrible inequalities and terrible ways in which some sections of society are abused and exploited but…well those things aren’t very different from say the USA in 1910. It is somewhat rural society but technology is advancing and there are signs of technological improvement such as proper roads and hydro-electricity.
Really the only thing (aside from the overt sci-fi/fanatsy elements) that is distinctly different from say the USA in the early 20th century is the extreme tectonic activity – yet even that is something that the hegemonic state is bringing under control…
Yet, you are also absolutely right. It *is* bleak. Personally and structurally and it is easy to see why a compassionate and kind person may also act to literally tear the world apart. That is at least one kind of brilliant. Jemisin’s dystopia is, in its dystopian elements, not particularly different from just an ordinary every day world (but with more earthquakes and freaky statue people)
As for the book not being about that…well yes, it isn’t just about that and I remain flabbergasted by quite how many themes and thread a reader can pick up from the book. However, it is very much also about that and why a character (who is introduced with some subtlety) makes the choice he does but importantly WHY it is a personal choice rather than (or as well as) a political choice or a revolutionary urge.
Darn. I’m gushing again! Apologies! 🙂
I thought that early on as well.