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Summer fiction: Times Eye (Arthur C. Clarke)  and The Poe Shadow (Matthew Pearl)

Time’s Eye. Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. 2005. ISBN057507647x . What if Genghis Khan met up with Alexander the Great at the height of their powers? And each army had 19th century British and 21st century Russion American, English and Afghan advisors?  This book rocks along with the improbable, with lots of history included to help those poor American who forgot all theirs.  It also includes Rudyard Kipling as an observer.   Good airplane book, if you still go on them.

The Poe Shadow. Matthew Pearl. 2006. ISBN 784655084.  Pearl attempts to solve the mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s death by using Poe’s own characters brought to life to solve the “crime”? He writes in the Victorian style (like reading Arthur Conan Doyle). Despite the absence of violence, sex or improbable situation comedy,  this is an enjoyable book.

The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini. 2003. ISBN 0385660073. What can I say, its been around for quite some time, but I finally got around to read this good one yesterday, fiction being one of the last things I reach for. If you seek insight into the Afghan soul and life, read this book. It is well written, with no respite for those who want an”easy way out”. I can see why it would make a gripping/intense movie. Too real at times, the author has a talent for capturing the reader. It brings home that in every country in every time, ordinary people get involved, and there is always hope.

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Knights of Black & White and Standard of Honour. Books 1 and 2 of the Templar Trilogy. Jack Whyte. 0143017365 and 0670045144. 2007. Alright I will come clean . I am a sucker for a well written historical novel. I have been reading Jack Whyte for years. First, 8 titles around the Arthurian legend, and now his Knights Templar series ( one more to go!) which track the Crusaders. Whyte lives Kelowna and he does a first class job of research and tale telling. Plus the language! You just have to enjoy someone who uses the English language as he does. He makes Dan Brown novels look like the poor excuses for writing that they are, since now you have a real story with real characters! For me, once I pick up one of Whyte’s books, I can not stop. Perfect for a long air flight, at the cabin or on a cruise!

Stand on Zanzibar. John Brunner. 1968 1857988361. Thanks to Steven Forth for pushing me to find this book. Written in ‘68 about the 2010 time frame and what a wonderful read this has been! Brunner has a sense of the future unlike most I have read plus he is a strong and inventive writer. He tries several innovative techniques, including stream of consciousness. which will have the reader going every which way. But it works. The background character Chad Mulligan makes pithy and relevant comments on society in this crowded, paranoid and resource poor world powered by mega corporations. If you can get into this book, i.e. past the first three to four chapters, it is well worth the read. Take that Stephen King!

Spook Country. William Gibson.2007. ISBN 9780399154300. Possibly the easiest book to read that Gibson has written. The first of his stories which has used Vancouver, and that’s cool. I keep trying to locate the characters in what street and building they were talking about. A few characters from Pattern Recognition have returned, which I thnk is also a first for him. Once you understand the various interplays of the characters, the book races right along.  There  truly is a spook country. But you never know what the story is really about until the final pages. If you like his work, this book does not disappoint. I look forward to when locator art is available. Good book for the geek in you.

Pattern Recognition. William Gibson. 2003. ISBN 0425192938. Vancouver’s most famous SF author paints some pretty incredible scenes with this one based in London, Tokyo, and Moscow, not that far in the future, The heroine is a coolhunter, someone who recognizes trends and patterns of behavior before anyone else and sells advice to marketing companies for big bucks. Oh and she has negative reactions to labels so she lives in generic clothes and lodgings. He grabs your attention from behind and before you know it you care about this mystery she is drawn to solve and all the ancillary characters involved. Great summer read and he nails how some companies are trying to manipulate word of mouth marketing.  OK Spook country has been released (And its location is  Vancouver)

All Tomorrow’s Parties. William Gibson. 1999. ISBN 0441007554. Summer reading looks like more Gibson, Vancouvers resident sci fi specialist.. So its not that far into the future after Neuromancer. Those who are in the know are plugged into the Net. Some have taken, a since withdrawn ,drug that greatly improves their discernment powers of major nodal changes in the fabric of the Ne. The action jumps between Tokyo and San Francisco. The Bay bridge has been condemned and a host of homeless people have built homes and businesses on it ala London Bridge in the 1700’s. Fast paced as Gibson does it, the world may or may not end, perhaps change for the good or the worse, but its an entertaining filled chronicle replete with different characters and semi familiar settings. He gives us good guys, bad guys and lots of grey people in between. You may never look at a 7-11 the same again! His new book Spook Country, located in Vancouver, comes out this week.

The Shockwave Rider. John Brunner. 1975. ISBN 0345274725. In my pursuit of prescient authors, I discovered John Brunner, a big hit in the 70s who passed away in ‘95. He invented the term “worm” It was a chore to find this book ( Use thriftybooks.com) but well worth it. Imagine a world where the arms race is replaced by the brain race. Individuals with the promise of high intellect are taken to a special “school” and trained to be the wisest of them all for $3M a year each by the govt. What happens if none of the “brightest” ones breaks out and rebels? This takes place in a society that is increasingly “dumber” and the “Net” /govt is becoming more controlling over individual lives. Plus the population is evermore “on the move” having adopted a “plug in” life style which has led to multiple life style crisis, heavy drug use and teenagers roaming in vicious tribes. This book is 32 yrs old, but it is relevant. The authors style may throw you, but it holds your interest. I recommend it.

Wikipedia says ” His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar won the 1969 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel, and is now considered a classic of the genre. The Jagged Orbit won the British SF Award in 1971. His novel The Sheep Look Up (1972) was a prophetic warning of ecological disaster. Brunner’s best-known work is perhaps 1975’s proto-Cyberpunk The Shockwave Rider, in which he coined the term “worm“, used to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network.”