*The Sheep Look Up, by John Brunner

1932100016
Benbella Books, 2003
originally published 1972
388 pp

softcover

"We're divorced from reality, in the same way as the Romans went on thinking of themselves as invulnerable and unchallengeable long after it ceased to be true. The most awful warnings are staring us in the face..."  (207)

The Sheep Look Up wins my award for most unique reaction after having finished a book. I felt all covered in grime and hungry for fresh air and water.  This is one of those books that literally get under your skin and I was so happy to be out of Brunner's world it was unreal.   While the novel is set in a dystopian future, James Bell, who wrote the book's "Afterword," states that John Brunner noted that what was most frightening to him about The Sheep Look Up

"with its vision of a world where pollution is out of control...is that I invented literally nothing for it, bar a chemical weapon that made people psychotic. Everything else I took straight out of the papers, and magazines..."

and if you think about that for just a moment, alarm bells should be going off in your head -- this book was first published over 40 years ago.  Despite the grimy, thirsty feeling I was left with,  this book also struck me as being one of the best works of environmentally-based fiction I've ever read. There's just something masterful in the novel's message of a clear and present danger for our future.

With only a few pockets of exception, the United States is a veritable cesspool.  The seas are polluted beyond repair, acid rain in New York eats holes in people's clothing, the air is so bad that filtermasks (sold in vending machines) are required just to be outside, and  "Don't Drink" the water alerts are common. Trash lays out, uncollected, spawning rats and other pests; exterminators are way too busy to come to one's home at short notice.  Health problems are widespread, stds and other diseases normally treated by drugs have developed antibiotic-resistant strains, and parents whose children are born with only minor ailments or physical problems are considered extremely fortunate. The American government is run by a leader known as "Prexy," whose policy is one of blatant denial and blaming all of America's ills on terrorists.  One man, Austin Train, knows the truth -- and he is public enemy number one where the government is concerned so is forced to go underground.  Train is a committed environmentalist whose works have been studied and followed by others who have settled in commune-like places called wats where they put into practice what we'd call today "going green."  Train is a peaceful person but many who have taken up his cause for a cleaner America are not.  The "Trainites,"  as they call themselves, believe in more violent means of trying to "fix" things, something Austin Train would never condone.

from Zimbio, a beach in California

 The story in this novel is related via a number of varying plotlines and narratives that seem choppy at first but actually have a rhythm and a purpose,  all  melding together beautifully as the novel progresses.  It begins with the bizarre death of  Decimus Jones, a friend of Austin Train, on an LA freeway. His strange death becomes an event that will eventually draw together the stories of every character in this novel in a roundabout way, all of whom are caught up in the country's growing state of emergency in their own fashion.  Punctuating their ongoing stories are bits of speeches, news reports, poems, songs, television-show transcripts and scenes from outside the country, where the army is at war with its current enemy in Latin America. While this strange format may seem a bit disconcerting and jarring, once into the story, you are stuck as you eagerly flip pages to see how things are going to end.  As a bit of a warning, don't get too attached to any one character or groups of characters, because things tend to get very bleak here with an unequivocal aura of despair surrounding pretty much everyone. 

Old this book may be, as noted above, published some 40 years ago, but it is still very much worth the read. The author has this way of thoroughly unsettling and disorienting his readers while keeping things moving at a fast pace, all the while making his point about what our future might look like  in the not too-distant future.  Pooh-pooh the didacticism if you so choose, which many people do, but imho, this is a novel that everyone who cares about and doesn't just give lip service to a better future might want to read.  Don't forget the afterword -- the nonfiction, which should scare you even more than the novel did.

11/22/63, by Stephen King

9781451627282
Scribner, 2011
849 pp

"You can change history, Jake. Do you understand that? John Kennedy can live."

 After having been a bit disappointed in Under the Dome, I wasn't so sure I wanted to shell out the $$ for this one, but because  a) I needed a light read at the moment and b) the premise sounded interesting, I coughed up the cash and brought it home.  What I thought this was going to be and what it turned out to be are on opposite ends of the spectrum. I thought I'd be reading an alternative-history/what-ifish kind of thing based on a thwarting of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, and there is a smattering of that, but I got a surprisingly good story, one that kept me flipping pages just to find out how everything turns out.  For a book of sci-fi/escape-type fiction, 11/22/63 is a winner.

The long and short of the basic story is this: English teacher Jake Epping gets a call from Al Templeton, the owner of a small diner in the town of Lisbon, Maine. Al's diner has a unique feature: in the kitchen's pantry, there is a portal through which Al has been traveling back and forth through time.  No matter when he leaves, he's always taken to the same day in September, 1958; no matter how long he stays there, he's only away for two minutes in the present.  Another feature of the portal is that when Al goes back in time, everything he set in motion in his earlier visit is totally reset.  Now  Al is dying of lung cancer, and doesn't have much time left, and he wants Jake to pick up where he left off -- and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy back on 11/22/63.  Al offers Jake "a chance to become a major player not just in American history, but in the history of the world", saying that by preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from shooting the president, Jake can  "save millions of lives."

Of course, Jake isn't so sure about time travel, and has two main concerns about it.  First, there's his concern about the idea of paradox. For example, when he asks what if he goes back and kills his grandfather, Al's response is "Why the fuck would you do that?" Second, Jake worries about the "butterfly effect," the idea that when the past is changed, there may be serious consequences in the present.  So he decides to take a test drive into the past, to undo a particularly horrific crime.  The trip reveals two things to Jake: first, Eisenhower-era America is a kinder, gentler place and second, time travel may indeed have repercussions. The first trip leads him to a second outing into the past, and Jake becomes more entranced by the last years of the 1950s, but he's still not quite sure that he wants to do what Al is asking of him.   After all, Jake admits that "most of his knowledge of the Kennedy assassination came from an Oliver Stone movie," but circumstances ultimately make him feel he has no choice.  Armed with Al's copious notes on Oswald, the people and events leading up to the fateful day, off he goes.  And this departure is where Jake's story ultimately begins, as he begins to acquaint himself with the early 1960s and begins to find a place for himself in the past as George Amberson; it is Jake's time in Texas that ultimately provides the core of this novel.

A complete suspension of disbelief is required, but isn't that the case in all of King's novels? Even though this novel falls within the realm of science fiction with the time travel element, King doesn't get into a lot sciencespeak about the mechanics of time travel; nor does he get all caught up in discussions about the "hoary old time-travel paradox." While the lack of explanation of the existence of a portal and the means by which it works may be a drawback for some diehard sci-fi readers, others will find it to be a very human story, based largely on King's characterizations.

In this novel, as in all of this author's books, there are some really bad guys, and there are some mysterious figures as well, but his best work is obvious in the very sad, flawed human beings who nonetheless have a huge capacity for goodness -- the reader can't help but be moved by their stories and become caught up in their lives. But what also makes this book work and work well is the author's use of fiction interspersed with real events and real people -- allowing the reader to easily identify with the story.   Oswald, for example, is so well portrayed that you'd think King had met the guy himself.  He comes off as a pathetic little man who wants to do something really big to compensate for his nothingness.  The scenes featuring Oswald and his wife Marina are believeable, as are the scenes where Oswald's overbearing mother steamrolls into their lives. It's very obvious that King has done an immense amount of research.   Beyond the characters, the late 50s/early 60s setting is well evoked with his capture of the music, food, fashions, TV shows, cars, and attitudes of the time; King's reconstruction of this time is incredibly realistic. 11/22/63 never really gets dull or overbearing, considering its size, and there are some exciting moments as well, especially as Jake is pitted against forces he doesn't quite understand on his way to the final showdown. 

One of the ideas in this book that I particularly liked is that every individual act of violence, every act of malice or brutality is "harmonized" with every other act, and that there is a "dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life."  The novel also brings home the fact that what we've lost will remain with us and stay a part of us forever.  My only niggle with the book is that the explanations behind the ultimate consequences of Jake's actions are sort of quickly glossed over, but the overall story is so good and so well written that it just didn't matter in the long run.

I can definitely recommend this novel. This is one of King's best works in recent years, and although at 849 pages it may seem overwhelming, the story and time go by quickly as you read.  While snooty-poot readers may thumb their noses at the book, don't listen to them. It's definitely worth the time, and turns out to be a great escape for a few hours.

Kraken, by China Mieville

034549749X

Del Rey

June 2010

528 pp.

On a normal day in an alternative London, it's Darwin Centre curator Billy Harrow's turn to do the public tour. The Darwin Centre is part of the Natural History Museum, but Billy knows why these people are really there: it's in anticipation of seeing the Architeuthis dux, or as it's more commonly known, the giant squid. The museum's specimen is 8.62 meters long, found in 2004 off the Falkland Islands.  But when the crowning moment arrives, and Billy opens the exhibit room door,  the squid, complete with its 9 meter brine-formalin filled tank, has vanished. It is totally, impossibly just gone.  And with it went any semblance of normalcy in the life of Billy Harrow, who sets out to find the missing architeuthis.  Along the way he learns that finding the squid is of utmost importance, not just so it might be returned to the museum, but because the squidnapping has triggered a series of events that are destined to lead to the end of the world, for real this time.

It is from this juncture that  Kraken takes off as the race is on to find the squid. Billy finds himself smack in the middle of a war  happening in the secret and magic London.  That city is the home of rival gods, whose cult members can be found duking it out from time to time (for example, the Brood, who worship a wargod polecat ferret),  Londonmancers, memory angels who guard old London in the face of the new, Chaos Nazis, familiars who go on strike in accordance with their union, a crime boss named the Tattoo whose face was imprisoned in the back of an innocent man and who runs a pair of psychopathic assassins, as well as a host of thug types like the Knuckleheads, who have men's bodies but fists for heads.  Overseeing crimes in this fantastical London is the Fundamentalist and Sect-Related Crime Unit (the FSRC), a branch of the police, complete with informants.  Billy has the tremendous task of sorting out who can be trusted and who can't as events head toward a final cataclysm.

While the last few chapters slow down the screaming pace of the rest of the novel, Kraken is one of the better works of speculative fiction I've read in a long time. There are parts that are laugh-out-loud funny, for example, with riffs on Star Trek and old police television shows. It's also filled with tongue-in-cheek satire focusing on religious differences and conflicts. Good speculative fiction demands that the writer's alternate world is believable, and Mieville goes above and beyond with his creativity and imagination. He gets the message through quite clearly that London is a very magical and special place -- and that there is definitely a bridge somewhere between reality and fantasy.

I can definitely recommend this novel to readers of speculative fiction, to those people who enjoy novels such as Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or even Simon R. Green's Nightside series, and to anyone looking for something incredibly imaginative and different.  It's fun, appeals to my quirky, snarky and sarcastic sides, and although it turns out to be over 500 pages long,  goes by incredibly quickly. My first Mieville novel, but definitely not my last. 

fiction from England

Blackout, by Connie Willis

9780553803198
Ballantine Books/Spectra
February 2010
491 pp

Two things before I get to the review:

First, let me skip all the way to the very last lines of the book (don't worry...no spoilers here):

 For the riveting conclusion to Blackout, be sure not to miss Connie Willis's All Clear. Coming from Spectra in Fall 2010.

 Yes, that's correct. When you get to the ending, pumped up on adrenaline because you just have to know how things come out, there's a sucker punch waiting for you -- to find out what happens and to see if the three main characters can resolve their dilemmas, you have to wait until October. So you might wish to fight the urge to read the book now and wait until you have both volumes safely in hand so as not to have to wait. I bought this book at the airport to read on the plane, and had no idea is was a two-parter, so imagine my surprise. However, as soon as I finished this one, I immediately preordered my copy of  the second book, All Clear, due out in October. Although this is perfectly timed for me,  other people may not be so happy for the wait. Oh well...what can you do?

Second, I liked this book -- didn't love it, but I have been a huge fan of Connie Willis for years since I read Doomsday, her first Oxford time-travel novel.


The year is 2060, and at Oxford a time travel project allows history graduate students to go back to a specific time and place to further supplement their learning experience. By this time, these historians are able to have specific and essential knowledge of the period implanted for immediate use, and then off they go into the Net, which leaves them at a specific place at a specific time, and this spot becomes "the drop" through which they can return to Oxford either at the end of their time or when they need additional information or props for the period.  There's also a safety net: if something goes wrong (which it's not supposed to because of the rules of time travel), the drop serves as a portal through which a "retrieval team" can effect a rescue if necessary. As the story opens, a handful of historians are preparing to go back in time to the World War II era -- Merope (who uses the name Eileen) is studying the evacuation of children from the cities to the countryside, Polly is going to London during the Blitz, and Michael is off to Dover to witness the rescue of soldiers from Dunkirk. But all is not well at Oxford, it seems -- drop schedules are being changed and no one understands why, no one can get in touch with the elusive Dunworthy, the head of the program -- things are in a word, chaotic. But eventually, each student gets to their appointed place and time, but it's not long until things begin to go wrong -- most notably, with Michael.  He is not supposed to actually be at Dunkirk, but is shanghaied into going there -- and things happen that make him wonder if he has actually changed the course of history.  Each of the historians have his/her own stories, and the author alternates the action among the three.

Willis obviously spent hours upon hours upon hours researching this part of Britain's history.  In fact, she notes in her acknowledgments that one group she had to thank was

...the marvelous group of ladies at the Imperial War Museum...women, who it turned out, had been rescue workers and ambulance drivers and air-raid wardens during the Blitz, and who told me story after story that proved invaluable to the book and to my understanding of the bravery, determination, and humor of the British people as they faced down Hitler.

 She has turned those interviews, along with the rest of her incredible research, into a portrait of life in 1940s Britain that is rich in detail as well as interesting to read from an historical point of view, so much so that at times you may forget you're reading a novel about time travel. Aside from the history of it all, the narrative is often funny, lifting the reader out of the darkness of war-time Britain for a short period of time.  The characters, for the most part, are well drawn and the author is also able to build suspense throughout the novel to create an interesting mystery that keeps you reading until the end for the solution (but as I noted above, the revelations must wait until October). 

While the story is compelling and unputdownable,  Blackout does have some minor niggling distractions, such as storylines or scenes that tend to drone on when they could have been shortened (for example, in Eileen's time at the manor with two rambunctious children) with no loss to the overall story itself. There's also nearly an entire chapter in which one of the characters tours St. Paul's cathedral, which survived the Blitz due to the diligent efforts of many, which also could have been gone with no problem in terms of plot or even character development. Finally, there's the cliffhanger ending: this may be my fault, for not knowing beforehand that the book came as a two-volume set, but when you've read 491 pages, and the last words let you know that there's no resolution for a few months, that's just wrong. 

On the whole, Blackout is quite good for what it is, and is a reading experience that should be enjoyed by fans of speculative fiction, time travel, historical fiction (if you don't mind some sci-fi to go along with it), and fans of Connie Willis' previous works.  Don't expect fine literature, but it's a great book for a few hours of relaxing entertainment.

*Seeker, by Jack McDevitt

Penguin
ISBN: 0441013295
 
Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for best novel. Its competition that year was

1. The Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen Kushner
2. The Girl in the Glass, by Jeffrey Ford
3. Farthing, by Jo Walton
4. From the Files of the Time Rangers, by Richard Bowes
5. To Crush the Moon, by Wil McCarthy

Of those, only The Girl in the Glass  ever ended up on my shelves because I love Jeffrey Ford's work.

Seeker is a book of speculative fiction that will appeal to you if you're not into hard-core science fiction, and if you are a reader of mysteries. McDevitt has combined both into a story that begins with the discovery of a cup bearing some "English" letters, which antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his partner Chase Kolpath trace back to a long-lost ship called Seeker.  To be very blunt, Benedict and Kolpath plunder what we would consider archaeological sites and sell what relics they come across. Today that's illegal, but somehow in the future, there's no problem with this practice and there's a huge market, although a movement is afoot to stop the plundering.

What's special about this particular cup is that the ship Seeker, thousands of years earlier, took a group of about a thousand people away from earth, destined for a new world, Margolia. Since the ship left, no one ever heard from these people again, and legends began to flourish about the hidden colony -- rising to the level of our own fascination with say, Atlantis. But with the cup found, Alex and Chase now have evidence that someone out there knows something about the Seeker and quite possibly Margolia, and they begin a long journey to discover all they can, with the hope of picking up more relics and making a fortune. Along the way Alex thinks they can also solve the mystery of what happened to the Seeker and its passengers. But there are others out there who don't want Alex and Chase to succeed.

How the judges passed up Ford's Girl in the Glass to give the award to this book is one of those mysteries I'll carry with me into my next life. It's not that it's a bad novel, au contraire.  While parts of the plot and some of the characters (aside from Alex and Chase) are often just so-so, there are some good scenes.  McDevitt's best writing shows itself when Chase ventures off into the home world of the physically repugnant Mutes (The Ashyyur -- a telepathic race with whom humans have a tentative peace), following a lead. McDevitt poses some strong moral questions in this novel while telling a good story.

I think I'll look for the other books in this series now. The combination of sci-fi and mystery appeals to me when I'm in the "I need to relax my brain" mode. I would recommend it to readers of speculative fiction, and for mystery readers who don't mind leaving Earth for the duration of the read.

--off to paperback swap

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman

I have this sort of fondness for books like this one, where the world of magic crosses over into our world and vice versa.  This book does set up two worlds that cross over back and forth, but at its core, underneath all of the elements of the fantastical, it's a story about a group of bored teens who become bored young adults who seek an escape from the mundane.

Structured in three parts, The Magicians follows the life of Quentin Coldwater, who, when we meet him, is on his way to interview for a place at one of the ivies. He's talented, an overachiever, with parents who are way too interested in themselves and their lifestyle. He grew up reading a series of books that are strangely reminiscent of the Narnia series, and he's interested in magic. He's also arrogant and always looking for something better, which he thinks will satisfy his need for happiness. When things go awry and he finds the interviewer dead, he receives a mysterious invitation, which turns out to be a chance to sit for an exam at a Hogwarts-like institution (complete with secret entry), passes and finds himself enrolled. The first part of the book examines his time at this place (Brakebills), the second part covers life in Manhattan after he graduates from there, and the third part covers his life after Quentin realizes that there's got to be more than taking drugs, having sex and being steeped in total ennui and lackluster living, none of which makes him happy at all. Can we say Bret Easton Ellis?

While the author did manage to get his message across and this he did well, I was rather disappointed in the overall whole.Here comes the niggling: I didn't like any of the characters at all, because frankly, they're just not likable people. In fact, most of the time, they're odious. My favorite character wasn't even human. This book just didn't come together well --- moving through each section sometimes felt choppy and while the story moved along, sometimes the pace was just off.  And I could forgive all of that, because there were a few very well-written scenes in this book -- (especially in part three), and a really good story line involving a Narnia-like adventure of children finding themselves in an alternative and magical world called Fillory -- if it weren't for the fact that I felt like I was reading a rehashed Harry Potter novel much of the time. I wanted something original, something, well, magical, and didn't get it. Plus, there were a few unresolved plot holes that I kept hoping the author would pick up and never did. Arrgh!

However, each person brings something different to the table whenever they pick up a book, so although it wasn't exactly my cup of tea, many people gave this book four- and five-star ratings.  I love speculative fiction, and I'd recommend The Magicians to people who also read in that genre, with the caveat that you've probably seen most of this in other books.

*Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest

Guilty pleasures -- we all have them. Once in a blue moon I crave Kraft macaroni and cheese out of a box, or a huge heaping pile of homemade mashed potatoes with chicken gravy made from fried chicken.  Or a Marie Callender's pot pie, even though they're like 600 calories and almost as many grams of fat. Well, I have them in books, too, and my favorite guilty pleasures are steampunk and pulp.  I just finished Boneshaker and it is the equivalent of hot comfort food between two covers.

my edition

 I knew when I saw this book I had to have it.  So buy it I did, and as soon as I picked it up and started reading, I fell in love.  It's so quirky that it instantly appealed. And when I was finished with it, I wanted more.  So I'm particularly grateful that there are rumors of more books set in this alternate-history world, and hopefully they'll be this good.

The author has managed to create a world that the reader can actually believe in, the mark of a good steampunk, sci-fi, or alternate history writer.  For example, to be really honest, I don't normally like books (or movies) featuring flesh-eating zombies, but here in this world it  works, because they are an after effect of the blight. They are a constant danger, and the book wouldn't be the same without them. Gas masks are essential for life in this world, and she never eases up on this point.   Priest set her novel during the time of the Civil War, complete with airships and hot-air balloons, and she has included some real people and real places so the reader feels a bit more grounded while reading the novel. The atmosphere is dark and gloomy, and people spend a lot of time underground, and I never lost track that this was Seattle (one of my favorite cities), albeit some time ago. And then there's the lemon sap, the drug of choice which a lot of people are making money on. Even the book's print is unique, giving you a feel that you're reading something from that era.  And at its core, this book is really about a mom searching for her son, a storyline that is wholly believable.

The characters are also awesome; the villain of this book is one Dr. Minnericht, who tinkers with technology and holds the residents of downtown Seattle in his clutches.  One of my favorite characters is Lucy, who has a robotic arm and runs an underground saloon called Maynard's.  Then there's Swakhammer, who wears full body armor as protection against the Rotters (zombies). Even the characters you don't meet in person are great: Maynard Wilkes, for example, is a lawman who is revered both inside and outside of the gates, and there's Leviticus Blue, husband of Briar and father to Zeke  (Briar and Zeke both tell the story from their alternating points of view) , who started the whole mess in the first place.

Cherie Priest has written an outstanding book here, and I can't wait for the new additions to the series to start rolling off the presses.  Highly recommended for people who enjoy alternate history, or science fiction or steampunk.  Or, if you're like me, and you just like quirky things very much away from the norm, you'll love this one.