2023 summary of Genre (and Genre adjacent) reading

Spent a good amount of time working at Balticon 57, first helping to unload the truck, then mostly at Registration. Worked many hours Thursday evening through Saturday, but I hit the wall Sunday morning and had to retire. Am I getting too old?

Also made a first visit to the BSFS clubhouse in December. Friendly folks, a massive SF library, and a very impressive and well-maintained space. Attend two monthly meetings, pay $45, and you can become a BSFS member.

My main interest in Sci-Fi is in the written word. Not precisely "Literary", because I also enjoy older, Pulpy stuff, like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Leigh Brackett. I didn't keep current on upcoming writers after about 1993, being busy with other interests, but since retiring I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to find writers who've broken into the scene since then. This year, I've found two relatively new, although hardly young, writers -- James Cambias and D. J. Butler. I will be dipping into more of their work. I'll keep trying new writers (this year's disappointments noted below) and will resume dipping my nose into the periodicals once again.

But remember, Old Guy, I pick up a lot of stuff in used book and thrift stores, and really enjoy reading mass-market paperbacks with garish covers, which seem to have attained Dinosaur status. But, looking backwards, there are great writers that I've passed over before, waiting to be discovered. A couple of those are mentioned below. Thank goodness, the well will never run dry.

The following is the list of Genre (and a few Genre-related) books I've read in 2023, listed in the order I read them. Some outstanding books this year, and not too many Turkeys!

Uhura's Song -- Janet Kagan -- 1985 

I've probably read most of what Janet Kagan published in her too short career. A fine writer who truly excelled at short fiction. Only two published novels: the standout Hellspark, and this Star Trek novel. As a media tie-in, it has unavoidable flaws. It's written as a juvenile, with stock characters, and an annoying standard of using phonetic speech for Scotty and McCoy. I've never before read a Star Trek novel. This one is substantial at 370 pages, and the first two-thirds resembles a not particularly outstanding Star Trek episode (and gee, that's a low bar, isn't it?) The last third is quite good though, rising above the strictures of the Series Bible. It's Janet Kagan, so the central character is a hyper-competent Heroine perpetually smart-mouthing Kirk and teasing Spock. A central mystery is blatantly left hanging at the end; don't know if it was resolved in a future novel.

Warfare in Neolithic Europe -- Julian Heath -- 2017 

Subtitled "An Archaeological and Anthropological Analysis." Studies the contention that the Neolithic era in Europe was a conflict land of peace and plenty. Most of the evidence is compiled by analyzing period skeletons and the architectural remains of fortified settlements. Preponderance of evidence suggests that armed conflict was not uncommon, making a pretty strong case that the Robert Graves fantasy of a female-dominated pre-historic utopia was not very likely. Lots (lots!) of typos, and the writing is undergraduate thesis level. But well-reasoned and argued; I found it a worthwhile read.

In the Palace of Shadow and Joy -- D. J. Butler -- 2020 

A pair of heroes bond as partners after being hired to protect the protege of the city's powerful ruler. If you dig Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, or the Gentlemen Bastards novels, you'll love this one. Many races of strange creatures populate this low-tech world, with strange powers and abilities, but are all considered human. The residents believe in magic, but there's nothing that can't be explained by inherent biology (in this universe, I can't say that some of that jazz lies within the mundane realm of biological posibility). It's implied that this is the product of evolutionary development from a common human stock.  Are they all stranded populations from a long-ago interstellar dispersion of humankind? Much of the tale involves dialogue between our two heroes, each distinctly voiced, spiced with plenty of humor, and interspersed with running battles against varied antagonists. Our heroes seek to unravel who are their enemies, and who are their allies, at least in a particular moment in time. My first time reading D. J. Butler, and this was one of the year's highlights.

Otherlands -- Thomas Halliday -- 2022 

Subtitled "A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds". Speaking of evolutionary development, this factual book presents a series of chapters tripping back in time to focus on the biospheres of Earth's past. I learned many new and interesting things, and the text seems pretty up to date on the latest discoveries. Examines how evolution often depends on luck. When the climate changes, when the asteroid hits, when the Earth moves again -- an obscure species with a minor presence will find itself well-adapted (or maybe best-adaptable) to the post-catastrophe world. The author often references somewhat obscure elements of art and literature, and often uses flowery-to-the-point-of-purple language, I guess to show how smart he is. He's British, 'nuff said. It's a very good book though, recommended, especially for Sci-Fi writers attempting to craft strange alien species. As detailed here, there are plenty of crazy Earther species in the paleontological record to serve as examples, and how.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars -- Chistopher Paolini -- 2020 

Space Opera, non-stop action at 1000+ pages. Seems to be first in a series. The author can write action (here mostly concerned with a thinly disguised "Firefly" crew), but it's often not clear exactly what is happening. Paolini was first published, to great fanfare (and a Hollywood film!) as a teenager. That would suggest that his life experience is fairly limited, and there's a certain adolescent quality to the characters and their inter-relationships. Didn't enjoy reading. Note to self: Please try not to read any sequels!

Eternity Road -- Jack McDevitt -- 1997 

An excellent post-apocalyptic novel, set near Memphis, Tennessee 1000 years after a plague wipes out most of humanity circa 2075. Explorers set out to follow the route of a past, failed mission seeking the semi-mythical Haven, where they expect to find a colony protecting the secrets of the ancient "Roadbuilder" civilization. Well-written with believable characters, who have differing motivations, but bond to overcome the difficulties they meet as they cross the continent, while bewildered by the artifacts and mighty cities left abandoned.

Stolen Skies -- Tim Powers - 2022

The third Vickery and Castine novel, but this one is not a ghost story. Here, multi-dimensional alien beings threaten to destroy the Earth. Another Los Angeles based narrative, with the beginning and end set in the Nevada desert. As expected from Tim Powers, a superior genre novel.

Empire of Silence -- Christopher Ruocchio -- 2018

A planet-bound Space Opera set in a feudal empire that fights using swords and body shields. Indeed, the first chapter is a virtual re-write of the beginning of Dune. Ruocchio is a very good and erudite writer, but, a terrible plotter. Shining prose, but the novel drags on. Tends to the verbose; a short, single line of dialogue might turn into a long paragraph of reflection, followed again by another short, single line of dialogue and ... well, you get it. Only in the last 75 (of 600) pages did it really take off -- after I had decided I wouldn't read further volumes in the continuing series. The Author was twenty-two when publishing this, I think. His youth is apparent -- in the early going there's lots of Mary Jane-ish "Oh, I'm so smart and everyone else is so stupid." Not to mention the way our hero wistfully and unsuccessfully follows the girl of his dreams throughout the novel.

Sword and Planet -- Christopher Ruocchio (Ed.) -- 2023 

My e-book version of this themed anthology of multiple authors can't seem to go back to the Table of Contents, so I have to rely on memory for the best stories. Promoted as harkening back to C. L. Moore / NW Smith kind of stuff, but not really. Mostly standard fantasy tales with a bit of Sci-Fi thrown in to shoehorn the tale into the anthology. There's a fabulous Indrajit and Fix tale by D. J. Butler, and a very good tale by Tim Akers. The Ruocchio story is set in the Sun Eater sequence, well-written, but tedious (see above.) Wish I could navigate the book to see if I neglected to mention anything good!

Hellboy Seed of Destruction (Omnibus Vol. 1) -- Mike Mignola and John Byrne -- 2018 

I loved the two Ron Perlman Hellboy movies, and finally picked up an omnibus edition of the original comic, which began publishing in 1993. I've read very little in Comics, but this is great stuff. The characters are not as developed as in the movies and, excepting the origin of Hellboy, there is no overlap in the book's stories.

There Will Be Dragons -- John Ringo -- 2003 

First in the series (I inadvertently read the second, Emerald Sea, first.) An ultra high-tech society from thousands of years in the future collapses. The novel focuses on the development of a pre-modern society in a particular town. Ends with a battle vs. forces of evil. Well written, enjoyable -- typical Ringo -- with most of the action packed into the very end.

The Initiate -- James L. Cambias -- 2020 

Fabulous urban fantasy novel, reminiscent of the best of Tim Powers. A secret group of wizards (tending to evil) have been controlling human history for thousands of years. Our hero, a newly awakened middle-aged adept, pledges to bring them down. My only (minor!) complaint is that the climax is a bit rushed and unsatisfying, with no denouement.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip K. Dick -- 1968 

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is my pick as the greatest science fiction film. I have not read much Dick, and never this novel. A well-structured, well-written novel, it's Weird, vaguely in the William S. Burroughs style, but much more coherent. Somewhat orthogonal to the movie, but many elements, including character names, are identical. But the Nexus-6 androids are not superman killers. It's not an action-based novel, but a novel focusing on Deckard's struggles with his personal life, the ethics of his profession, and the nature of reality. I'll be reading more P. K. Dick.

Dhalgren -- Samuel Delany -- 1974 

At 12 years-old, sometime after coming out of the Children's Room of my local Public Library, I picked Delany's The Einstein Intersection out of a spinner rack. I was blown away, and my life changed ... or at least my reading habits did. Then read, and greatly enjoyed, his novels Babel-17 and Nova. In 1975, I eagerly bought the paperback release of his long-awaited next novel, Dhalgren. Hoo-boy, this almost 900-page opus just never won me over. Over the years, and several attempts, I never made it much more than halfway through. This past summer, after a long slog, I finally read through that same paperback copy I bought back almost 50 years ago. A tedious, boring, and self-indulgent steam-of-consciousness novel where nothing really happens. Is the novel a comment on the creative process of the writer? Indeed, some passages might have been lifted from Delany's journals. Does it present a vision of the world as distorted by the mind of the mentally ill? Delany did have issues in his youth, IIRC. Or is it merely a pretentious Mary Jane story? Maybe an SFnal version of Delaney's experiences during the wild lifestyle experimentation of the 1960s.

The Best of Cordwainer Smith -- ed. J. J. Pierce -- 1975 

Another great writer who I had passed over, another book I've had on my shelf for many years. This is a collection of wonderfully and fabulously weird stories, the last of which published in 1966. Better than Dick, and just forget about Burroughs. Need to read Norstrilia soon!

Exhalation -- Ted Chiang -- 2019 

Collection of short fiction, from 2005 to 2019. These are very good stories by a fine writer. But ... read in succession, I often felt I was reading a series of articles from an academic journal. The characters tended to be somewhat bloodless and disconnected, all drawn from the upper middle class, and the type of person that would consider life's greatest catastrophe to not be accepted by a "good college."

Cyteen -- Carolyn Cherryh -- 1988 

A particularly good novel that would have been great at 75% of its length. A genius genetic scientist / psychological programmer is cloned; most of the novel concerns the life of that genius clone after the original's murder. It's marvelous how the story progresses almost entirely through dialogue; very well done. There's a bit of action, but almost all is compressed into the end of the novel.

Mirrorshades -- Bruce Sterling (ed.) -- 1986 

A re-read of the classic Cyberpunk anthology. All good stuff, and most of the stories hold up pretty well, except ... most assume the Soviet Union (teetering at collapse in 1986) would exist to the present time, and Japan would become the world's pre-eminent nation. So much for the predictive ability of SF!

The Coming Wave -- Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar -- 2023 

The author, an AI technologist, fears that it's almost inevitable that cheap and widely available advances in AI and biotechnology will allow bad actors anywhere in the world to produce catastrophic and existential damage to the world. An informative book, if a bit dry. Mostly a long, hand-waving argument for devising a system of containment mechanisms for these emerging technologies. The author is even-handed and non-partisan in his arguments, but seems naive. How can our present thoroughly venal political and academic classes be anywhere near up to the task? As an example, he mentions how a council of experts he was gathering, consciously drawn from the entire political spectrum, fell apart when the minions of Google (the sponsor) rose in ire when one member of the council had expressed some right-of-center opinions. This made me wonder how knowledgeable the author is outside his narrow (if brainy) field of AI. Not a bad source for any Sci-Fi writer considering the many possible avenues to a future dystopia.

The Broken Lands -- Fred Saberhagen -- 1968 

Picked up this this little (originally priced) 50 cent novel in a used book store quite a long time ago, and finally got around to reading it. Unlike much of that ilk from those days, it's readable and engaging, and features a snazzy cover. Sword and Sorcery adventure in a far-future medieval Earth, where evil overlords from beyond the mountains have raised tyrants over the peaceful locals. But our heroes have discovered an ancient artifact (from our own future) that may lead to their liberation. The nature of the remote threat and the presence of magic in (presumably) our future Earth is left unexplained.

Harpy's Flight -- Megan Lindholm -- 1983 

A short novel, first of four in the Ki and Vandien series. A young woman whose family has been slain by harpies avenges their deaths and is pursued by the harpy Daddy bent for vengeance. She partners with a roguish gentleman to escape her pursuer. Like the Robin Hobb novels, a well-written fantasy adventure with well-fleshed characters -- and is, as typical of Lindholm/Hobb, pretty dark.

Witchy Eye -- D. J. Butler -- 2017 

An alternate USA where magic exists, set in the early 19th century. Somehow, important characters in our timeline (e.g., George Washington and Andrew Jackson) were major players in this world, though offscreen and prior to the events in the novel. Emperors, Queens, Undead Sorcerers, Backwoodsmen, Bishops, Disgraced Cavaliers, Titanic Nature Spirits, and the Rightful Heir to the Throne battle in an epic struggle crisscrossing the Mississippi Basin. Who will win the search for the McGuffin? A great, rollicking adventure. Really enjoyed this one, and will pick up the sequels.

Coming up in 2024: Tim Powers' My Brother's Keeper (for which I've read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre in preparation), James Cambias' The Scarab Mission, D. J. Butler's Between Princesses and Other Jobs, and more of Megan Lindholm's Ki and Vandien series.