Orbital Decay by Allen Steele - a review

This is the first novel of Allen Steele I have read. Previously I enjoyed his short stories - like "Emperor of Mars" presented in Starship sofa. Orbital Decay is an older book, written in the eighties, when space exploration steel held a promise. There are some lovely anachronisms here and there but not too much. Yet, the MacGuffin - the centerpiece around which plot was constructed has a very current resonance. Orbital Decay is a good, simple story of simple men working in space. It sets up a a theme of rising conflict between new frontier that has to confront the big brother state. What is so unique about the book is that heroes are no Astronauts but everyday Joe's - space plumbers (really a construction workers called beamjacks). This is somewhat uncommon, and I respect and admire an author who can put a perspective on what is so common in SF - Great men doing great deeds. Here they are the bad guys, and a common man prevails.
Orbital decay is a work of someone who clearly loves the SF genre, so references to books, authors and whole SF culture are abound.
The story develops rather slowly, focusing on different aspects of life in space (mostly boredom). This is shown through the eyes of few people living in the "Olympus" space station. The conclusion was well worth going through the slow parts. A hard SF with a bit of poetic ending and a story of redemption. I certainly am glad I picked this book up.
And a little spoiler - the most awesome reentry ever!

Review of "Moonseed" by Stephen Baxter

Not as breathtaking as Titan by the same author, but interesting nevertheless. Humanity brings doom upon itself by bringing a nano-technological gray goo from the Moon that slowly devours the Earth. This is a sad story where there is a very little hope. The first part is especially poignant - destruction of Edinburgh, misery and human stupidity. The interesting thing in Baxter's books is that his characters are full of flaws - not really typical heroes of SF but very much humans troubled by issues. The book is full of technical details regarding space exploration and geology. Large info-dumps are perhaps a nuisance to some but I enjoy them and Baxter certainly makes the subject interesting.
Some issues I had with the book: one particular character behaves in a very unbelievable way - I am taking about a teenager rascal turn into Space Religion Guru, secondly I feel that whole shtick in the end with main character convincing US to give him a nuke, no question asked - that rises some doubts - I understand that it was necessary for a big surprise in the end but still.
In the end - not my favorite Hard SF but certainly memorable. I think I will further my interest into Mr. Baxter's works.

Beneath sands of Egypt by Donald P. Ryan

This book landed in my lap due to interview with the author that I listened to in Groks Science Podcast. I found it interesting and since I want to widen my education and learn something that I can use in GMing roleplaying games (notably Trail of Cthulhu) - I decided to give it a shot. It is a short book dealing with the subject in a rather dry but entertaining manner. I like the fact that it mixes description of history of archeology, descriptions of working procedure and such matters with personal observations on academic world, Egypt and life of scientist in this rather small and competitive field. Although it is not something that will teach you a great deal about Egyptology or history - it will definitely pique your interest in this subject - so much more interesting that clichés from Indiana Jones movies.

The Chronicles of Amber

I have read tomes 1-5 so far. I have mixed feeling toward this book. As it happens I was reading it during first two months of being a father - so I could not put so much attention to the reading experience as I would like. The story is gripping from the start but descriptions of journeys through the shadow worlds are somewhat tiring. On the positive side the five tomes of Corwin story describe a magnificent intrigue which is resolved by the end of the fifth tome. I think, I should probably read it again - my rating is given from the point of view of chronically under slept guy. I have a lot of respect toward Roger Zelazny - and this book is worth reading. Nevertheless I will postpone reading story of Merlin until I have more time.

Gust Front - kicking the horses' ass

A second tome of Posleen series written by John Ringo. It deals with probing force of Posleen horde attacking the Earth - more precisely United States and the military response to it. This is certainly not a great literature - and it does not pretend to be such. On the other hand, Gust Front is a terrific piece of military science fiction/technothriller written by a soldier. The writing is clean and dry, with long description of military tactics and hardware. The story is presented through a wide array of characters – mostly military types with little characterization or character development. I must admit that I was at loss frequently at who is who – chapters are short and locations and characters are changing with a wild pace. The first part of the book deals with preparation to the upcoming invasion – story is slow and concentrates on issues of military units organization and backstabbing among military “Brass” on how the war should be conducted. In a typical way traditionalist believe that might of US Army is enough to crush the invaders even if they sport superior technology. It is a really cool aspect of the story – how the military reacts to the new type of threats and repeats the blunders that occurred each time in the history when more progressive force was attacking one with traditional attitude. Here the military problem is bit ironic – Posleens are masters of Blitzkrieg and Humanity cannot fight a mobile war against them – the proper “modern” response is to fight them using cities as fortresses and attitudes more akin to those presented by generals of World War I.
I felt a little bit tired by the pre invasion part – not too much though. Ringo took a chance to talk a little bit about societal changes imposed by the external threat and I really enjoyed short excursion of the main character cpt. Michel O'Neal to the Florida. Still I have never been to military so the descriptions of problems within military structure left me somewhat confused.
Then the invasion starts and action accelerates to a neck-breaking pace. This part is pure carnage – descriptions of heroic fight, amazing acts of cowardice, sacrifice, stupidity. I have never participated in war and I hope I never have to, but strangely this fictional descriptions feel very real. It is a conflict shown through the eyes of the soldiers – those fully aware that they have to sacrifice their life to protect their homeland. At times touching, at times infuriating. Still – it did not left me indifferent.
I wish there was, perhaps, more character development and more Posleen side of view. Still – characters die like flies, so it feels somewhat fitting.
There are some things that I feel are sub-par – Ringo lays pipe for the future books and hints at secret plots within Federation that on the face of it, supports Humankind. It piques my interest but it never develops in something more than hints. Also, there are some ridiculously unbelievable moments – mainly having to do with 8 year old commando girl Cally. Still, given that in the future she will become master assassin, perhaps it is understandable.
Finally – book is not really ending with a cliffhanger – there will be full scale invasion but main characters stories are for now resolved. I cannot imagine though not picking another tome of Posleen series in the future. I am sucker for military SF. At risk of sounding obvious if you are not into this sort of the things you probably give Gust Front a wide berth. Otherwise “Let their yellow blood run cold...”

A bunch of gaming reviews

Here are my thoughts on couple of RPG materials that I have been reading recently:
GURPS: Espionage - I cannot recommend this book enough. GURPS indeed deserves it's reputation of having well researched materials in a form that can be used for gaming. This particular gem allows putting espionage, counterintelligence and different covert ops in your campaign. Not only it contains usual assortment of gadgets, character templates and such but also incredible amount of real histories of spy rings and operations. I love the section describing different espionage operations and the discussion how you can you can introduce espionage into different campaigns. Again, this being GURPS it is not something ready to play. But if you are willing to come up with scenarios of your own it is excellent!
GURPS: Cliffhangers - A very well written sourcebook full of ideas. Although written for GURPS it can be used for any other system. It contains a time line of thirties, a seizable geographical sections dealing with possible adventure ideas for a given country, there is of course an equipment table, templates of adventurers, chock-full of scenario seeds, a section on scenario design and creation of memorable villains and more. Altogether an excellent supplement for GM. It has characteristic GURPSy "dryness" - i.e. no fluff and no imposed ideas. It is a toolkit for people who want to develop their own ideas. Big thumbs up!
I wreszcie coś po polsku - doskonały dodatek wypuszczony przez wydawnictwo Gramel:
Sensacja i Przygoda - Pulpowy podręcznik, który przeczytałem po GURPS: Cliffhangers, tym razem do mechaniki Savage Worlds. Mam wrażenie, że jest luźniejszy, mniej w nim suchych informacji, więcej klimatu. W jakimś sensie oba te podręczniki się uzupełniają. Szczególnie przypadły mi do gustu sekcje dotyczące Polski, w szczególności wywiadu. Za spory plus uważam generator przygód. Z drugiej strony przeszkadzają literówki i drobne błędy (np w tabelce broni). Ogólnie nie ma się jednak co czepiać. Dobra pozycja i do tego po polsku!

A review of "Adventures" by Mike Resnick

Last week, while I was browsing through an excellent SFsignal webpage I happened to stumble upon a name of Mike Resnick. Few minutes later I was reading his bio on Wikipedia and remembering Kirinyaga and other short stories published in Nowa Fantastyka, years ago when I still subscribed it. I decided I will listen to some interviews with him and afterwards I set my eyes at his book called "Adventures" - a collection of stories about reverend doctor Lucifer Jones and his quest to build tabernacle of Saint Luke. It is a short book taking place in Africa in the 1920-1930 period that is sparse on description but rich in amusing dialogs between Lucifer and people he meets there. "Adventures" is a story about a con-man that somehow always menages to get the short end of the stick and falls on his back, yet always stands up, dusts him self and continuous trudging on through the hardships of life.
I was laughing hard several times while reading and if you want something light, say while traveling, I am sure this book will be worth your time. If you like Terry Prattchet "Discworld" or even better "Three men in the boat" be Jerome K. Jerome - you should give Lucifer Jones a try. See a world through eyes of a man of the cloth (and all this) that tries to convert "godless heathens" in the Dark Continent.

Jennifer Morgue - a review

“Jennifer Morgue” is a loose follow up to the “Atrocity Archive” by Charlie Stross. The main protagonist, Bob Howard, is working for the “Laundry”. A British intelligence branch countering the occult and paranormal threats to the Crown (of mainly a tentacular origin). I loved the first book and I enjoyed this one. The story is entertaining, although it is a pastiche of James Bond flicks and as such it made me less immersed in the story. That is problem with me I guess – I like to believe that the story I read could happen and here I feel too much like author is blinking to me - “See how cleverly I play with the conventions?”. On the other hand, I admire the way Stross handles Cthulhu mythos – especially magic. As I am an avid Cthulhu roleplaying Game Master I am more than happy to steal his ideas of how magic works and what can be achieved with it.
“Jennifer Morgue” has interesting cast of characters, some romance and all around Open-source geekines. A perfect mix. My biggest gripe with the story comes from the fact that the author uses first person, present tense narration – the same as in his short story collection “Accelerando”. For some reason I find this type of narration harder to read than your typical third person, past tense. Over time I got used to this but the reading was a bit of a chore. Overall a worthy read, particularly if you are interested in thrillers, Lovecraft and British sense of humor.

Two new reviews this time

The first one on "The psychopath test" by Jon Ronson:
An excellent read that introduces reader into the creepy world of psychopaths and more importantly research into what exactly is a nature of psychopathy. I cannot stress enough how approachable and interesting this book is. For a topic so disturbing, it has a remarkably light and entertaining, even funny tone. I think the author perhaps overindulges into describing his feelings and thoughts but what it looses in concrete it makes up in strength of the message. Yes, there are psychopaths among as and there is preciously little we can do to change them. On the other hand the psychiatry itself comes out as a science filled with traps. Well, the brain is a complicated thing indeed. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a real page turner and the subject is fascinating. Perhaps a little bit light on the content but fantastically well written and moving. I cannot wait to read some more works by Jon Ronson.
Druga recenzja dotyczy książki Andrzeja Pilipiuka "Wampir z M3":
Książka, którą czyta się szybko i przyjemnie. Z drugiej strony jest dość płytka - składa się w zasadzie z kilku opowiadań - w zabawny i czasem przerażający sposób opisujący realia PRL. Mam wrażenie, że jest to pozycja skierowana bardziej do nastolatków, choć jako osoba, której dzieciństwo upłynęło w czasach opisywanych w książce, nie mogę się powstrzymać przed pewną rozrzewnieniem, które wpływa pozytywnie na odbiór książki. Podsumowując - jest to Pilipiuk znany z kronik Wędrowycza, bardziej niż z 2568 kroków. Z chęcią przeczytał bym kontynuację, ale wolałbym, żeby stanowiła jedna dłuższą i bardziej rozbudowaną historię.

What is a right thing to do?

I have finally seen a “Watchmen” movie – an adaptation of a comic book under a same title created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Prior to that I had also a dubious pleasure of watching Inglorious Basterds created by Quentin Tarantino. I feel this way. Both Watchmen and Basterds are very intense visual experiences. Both are action movies that are more dialogue heavy than one could expect from action flicks. The first movie deals with the problem what world would be like if costumed heroes would really exists? It also deals with the main scare of the cold war epoch – the threat of nuclear annihilation. This motif is mirroring the one presented in “V for Vendetta”, a comic book that describes Nazi-like regime in the world after the nuclear apocalypse. Fortunately, this bleak possibility seems to have disappeared from our consciousness, which perhaps blunts the impact of the “Watchmen” story. In “V for Vendetta” movie adaptation the source of threat is more modern – terrorism and disproportionate response to it. In “Watchmen” the producers stayed true to the original. I think that the chief reason that I was moved by the movie was that characters were so believable. It really is a depiction of the world that could exist. The heroes we follow are not black and white characters we are used to see in this type of summer block busters. What sort of superhero murders his pregnant former lover only because he does not need her “service” anymore? Is he then really a scumbag that we should not feel any pity for? Perhaps he is a tragic figure – a patriot who was able to fulfill an American dream? What about the only “true” superhero – dr. Manhattan? His personality is a consequence of his godlike skills. Does he feel something anymore? Isn't it ironic that his existence warrants the peace, yet at the same time it increases tension between the superpowers?Is Rorschach – the self-rightous crime fighter representing the ultimate justice or just a crazy hateful man that should be stopped at any cost?
During the movie I literally felt hairs on my back rising – the scenes with dr Manhattan and Rorschach were intense. A lot of violence is depicted in the movie. I do not enjoy it particularly – that is one of my gripes with Tarantino. Nevertheless, I felt that in “Watchmen” violence was not in a focus. It served a goal – to shed more light on the characters. Interestingly, the most violent hero was also the most tragic – Rorschach. As for the others – dr Manhattan's deeds felt like acts of god or a nature. There was something primeval in the scene where he single-handedly wins Vietnam war. Manhattan is not human any more – it just causes awe and reverence.
I cannot comment much on the way the movie was shot, on quality of special effects or character portrayal by actors. I do not like to do that because I am not trained nor interested in criticizing art of movie making. I am more interested in the story and characters than in movie craftsmanship. I can just say that “Watchmen” did not seem to be particularly lacking on the technical side of things – not when compared to other blockbusters. As for actors - I could not care less who actually portrayed them but I was very impressed by both Rorschach – especially in unmasked form and dr. Manhattan. The latter mainly for an excellent depiction of an entity that is not human anymore.
I think that people that look for pure entertainment are going to be a little bit disappointed. The intrigue may be a bit hard to follow and there is a lot of talking. If you like interesting story and morally ambiguous characters you may find it really absorbing. After seeing “Watchmen” I feel very much like after “V for Vendetta” - left questioning the choices made by characters in a face of a plausible crisis.
Now let's talk a bit about the “Misspeled Bastards” - or slightly more correctly “Inglourious Basterds“. Yes, I admit I liked “Pulp Fiction” quite a lot. On the other hand, I was not to thrilled by “Kill Bill”. Well what I expected? There seems to be a rule that seeing violence against zombies and movie-type Nazis is ok. I was never to concerned with fate of German soldiers in “Dirty Dozen” or “Where eagles dare”. On the other hand “Saving private Rayan” left me with the sense of horror, depicting war in such a realistic manner. I expected that “Basterds” will go into the first category and I was not far off. There were great scenes in this movie – full of suspense, so that I felt like I was sitting on a needles. I was moved by the interrogation of French farmer by evil gestapo officer Landa. I think that scene in the bar with British agent blowing up his cover by having wrong accent was great. Then there were scenes with Basterds – a Jewish commandos. These were just plain horrible. I know that this was a movie about movies and not history but still sheer stupidity of these scenes was making me cringe. Hej - I started to feel bad about poor Germans. No small feat in a movie about evil Nazis! I cannot fathom why the director went for such a total “revenge fantasy” instead of making a more believable history? At a risk of making a serious spoiler I will say – come on! Killing Hitler in the cinema? It reminds me a first rule of well behaved time traveler - “Do not go to kill Hitler”. And another one - “The first time everyone tries”. Well in this movie nowhere there is a mention of the fact that this is an alternative history. It is more like a bedtime fantasy – “if I was a badass hero and I could kill Hitler - I would totally do that!”.
I guess that my criticism comes from the fact that I am much more into books than into movies. Perhaps the movie is a game of a postmodernist - what obscure movie are we ripping off right now? I would say then that “Shrek” did it much better and the plot was way, way over this lose connection of stupid scenes that is called a movie. Perhaps if I was American I would enjoy myself knowing that my country kick ass. Maybe if I would be a Jew I would feel some sort of katharsis. Unfortunately, I am a Pole that lived in a small village next to a monument erected in memory of dozens of peasants that were burned alive because of resistance offered by partisans to the Germans. It is hard to enjoy this sort of story knowing that in reality killing one German would mean death of many innocent persons – shot, hanged or burned. I would not like to be in a skin of a officer deciding about execution of German officer. I firmly believe that this movie would be much better if it was based in slightest on history. Contemplate this or this. I am sure that there are many more examples.