GUEST POST: Is There Such A Thing As A Book That Belongs To Only One Genre? by Peter Higgins

We are thrilled to welcome Peter Higgins, author of the genre-bending novel Wolfhound Century and its sequel, the forthcoming Truth and Fear (published by Orbit Books)! You may recall Jemmy's review of Wolfhound Century, which he called a "fantastic debut" that "defies easy classification." Well, today Peter delves deeper into the subject of classification, problematizing the very assumption that books can or should be placed in neat, tidy categories. Without further ado, then, I present Peter's essay:

Is There Such A Thing As A Book That Belongs To Only One Genre?

My reading hinterland is haunted by lost genres. Kinds of book I once loved to read, whose memory is still warm, but whose moment has passed. The young adult space opera. The Cold War spy story. The epic adventure quest with a largely adult readership where all the characters are talking animals. They sold in millions once, and not so long ago, but they’ve largely fallen out of print. You can still write books like that but publishers rarely touch them. Their time has gone.

When a genre becomes massively popular it seems to prepare the way for its own demise. It booms and multiplies for a while because the unique pleasure it gives strikes a chord at a moment in history. It works again and again, and people go back for more and more of the same, until the formula becomes so well defined, so clear-cut and repeatable, so good at delivering one particular kind of pleasure, that you look for nothing else there. Read one, you’ve read them all. And then the world moves on and readers look for new pleasures.

I wish this didn’t happen, this tendency to put stories into genre boxes which then get more and more constrained until the pleasure they give is suffocated. For me, books aren’t like that, not really. For me, fiction isn’t fractal.

A fractal pattern is always the same: look at it whole, and it’s one thing; magnify a tiny part, and it’s still the same thing. But the way I see it, books aren’t like this: no book belongs so thoroughly to one genre that it’s the same all through and doesn’t draw in other genres as well. Look inside any work of fiction and you'll find lots of genres, shifting and shimmering, nested one inside another, claiming your attention, now one, now another.

The idea of mixing genres is as old as the book. When collections of scrolls of holy scripture were brought out of their chests, put into an agreed and permanent order, and sewn together between covers to make a single aretfact, the idea began to grow that the gathering together of prophecy, song, poem, chronicle, genealogy, parable and vision created a single comprehensive whole. All parts of one larger story, together they made something comprehensively and fully true which no single genre could capture. Later the concept was retrospectively applied to other great works. Homer’s Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid. These towering ancient classics came to be seen as encyclopedias of different genres: it was part of their "all-encompassing-ness." In the Renaissance, writers set out deliberately to repeat the trick, proving their own prowess and the greatness of their national language and literature by absorbing and demonstrating as many genres as possible in their epic poems. They had a term for it, genera mista, and Edmund Spenser wrote one for England, The Faerie Queene.

Ambitious writers have come back to this idea from time to time ever since. T S Eliot in The Waste Land. James Joyce in Ulysses. But now more than ever, in our age of democritized reading and writing, it’s true of all books, not just the ones that overtly make a point of being genre mixes. Stories move from genre to genre, often within a chapter, even within a paragraph, even within a sentence.

Here’s an example of the kind of thing I mean:

A year past her emergence into society, with no suitors in sight, Alise had resigned herself for the role of maiden aunt. She played the harp, tatted excellent lace, was very good at puddings, and even had selected a suitably whimsical hobby.

This reads like something you might find in a 19th century novel. Not Jane Austen – Jane Austen characters aren’t good at puddings – but Little Women, maybe. Yet here’s the next sentence:

Long before Tintaglia had jolted her dreams, she’d become a student of dragon lore, with a strong secondary knowledge of Elderlings.

It’s from Chapter 3 of Robin Hobb’s The Dragon Keeper: Book One of The Rain Wild Chronicles. Alise belongs to a family of Rain Wild Traders: second or third generation pioneers, living on a frontier they’ve only partially made their own, but they’ve been there long enough, and they’ve become secure and prosperous enough, to absorb themselves in petty social hierarchies. By dipping into the language and conventions of a 19th century genre, Robin Hobb brings in a whole set of intuitions about the Rain Wild Traders that she doesn’t need to spend time explaining, because we already understand them. But The Dragon Keeper doesn’t pause long in Alcott land. The dragon is coming.

This is great non-fractal genre writing, but I think all books live like this. In Ark, Stephen Baxter kicks a slow time on the generation starship into new life by shifting into murder mystery mode for a while. In The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch deepens her picture of an isolated aging man’s bizarre rekindling love story by bringing in poltergeists and glimpses of UFOs.

Characters that breathe the air of only one genre struggle to come alive, but let them open windows into other genres - even one-phrase micro-genres - and they're the more vivid for it. If a genre gives a unique pleasure, a unique insight, then letting in other genres enriches the mix. That way, genres can morph and grow, absorbing other ways of writing and new ideas. Robin Hobb takes epic fantasy in one direction, other writers take it into harsher, grittier territories. And when a popular genre’s moment in the sun passes, it gets absorbed back into the inexhaustible well of story possibility, with all the promise and potential it ever had, waiting to be used again.

I think this process of absorption, morphing and re-use is at work everywhere in works of fiction, at every level. I’d go so far as to say that, though some books foreground the technique and others don’t, it’s universal. Look at a page, a paragraph, in any book and, if you want to, you can see flashes of other genres living there: as a turn of phrase, a way of handling point of view, an echo, a single word. They’re open windows. Breaths of different air.

And maybe someone’s out there now, breathing dark and gritty new life into a book with talking animals. Maybe it already exists and I haven’t found it yet. I hope so.

Thursday Morning Superhero

Before moving into the world of comics I feel the need to bring your attention to the upcoming David Lynch art show, "In Dreams", that is going to be opening at the Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco.   The opening reception is this Saturday and you can get more information by checking out the blog here.   Spoke Art hosts some fabulous shows and this one looks to be spectacular.  Too bad I am trapped in Indiana.  Well, at least I have my comics to keep me company!

Pick of the Week:

Magneto #1 - Cullen Bunn has demonstrated his mastery over horror so pairing him with Magneto is a match made in heaven.  Before I review this book, as someone who resides in the Midwest, it pains me to see this title open in Cape Girardean, Missouri.  I can only imagine that it was intended to be Cape Girardeau and was an honest mistake, but I want the good folk who live in Cape Girardeau to feel excited that Magneto had coffee there!  Despite this minor flaw, this title is simply compelling.  Bunn delves into the psyche of this notorious villain and reminds people of how simply vicious this mutant can be.  Magneto is currently investigating crimes against mutants and appears to be living in a world that is a cross between Memento and Bottle Rocket.  It is definitely interesting to see him in the role of detective and I am very excited about where Bunn is going to take this series.  Go buy this title right now!

The Rest:

The Auteur #1 - When I learned the good folks at Oni Press sent advance copies of this book to the Westboro Baptist Church I knew I was in for a treat.  The Twitter account of the "church" sent a reply to Oni Press and told them they could keep their pornography to themselves.  While The Auteur is far from pornography, it is easy to see how one could be offended from such a book.  While I would not recommend this book to all, I quite enjoyed the tale of a struggling Hollywood producer and found it to be like nothing on the market currently.  The gore is over the top and feels like a Garbage Pail Kids card, but it fits the trippy tale of one man's quest to reclaim his career.  Unique series that is worth your time if you are not easily offended.

Secret #6 - Jonathan Hickman's crime noir delivered an action packed sequence straight out of summer blockbuster that was over before I knew it.  Not wanting to spoil anything, things get a little messy as Steadman and company prove to be formidable foes.  We are left with a stressful situation that has me yearning for a quick turnaround on issue #7.  Not sure if I would suggest picking this up now, but would definitely recommend picking up the trade whenever it is released.  This is a phenomenal series.

Quantum and Woody: Goat #0 - The good people at Valiant tricked me into reading a goat's origin story and I am happy they did.  This is a funny, heart-felt tale about two partners and their goat.  As a newcomer to Quantum and Woody, I plan on checking out what the series has to offer after picking up this title.  The writing is fresh and witty, there are references to Dolly the Sheep, and the ending hook left me wanting more of this series.  Valiant is really establishing itself as a strong independent publisher.

Moon Knight #1 - The insane life of Moon Knight has always intrigued me since a friend introduced me to him a few years back.  Marc Spector, Moon Knight, appears to be suffering from multiple personalities and is absolutely bonkers.  Despite this, he is on the side of good and is assisting police in an investigation.  While nothing groundbreaking occurs in this issue, it appears that Moon Knight is in capable hands and that the great Warren Ellis has big plans for Mr. Spector.  I will continue reading this series and hope you do as well.

POSTED BY MIKE N. -- comic guy, proudly raising nerdy kids, and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2012.

Microreview [book]: Honor's Knight, by Rachel Bach

Bach, Rachel. Honor's Knight. Orbit Books, 2014 (last week!).

Buy it here .

Honor's Knight: Or, the Rom-Act Grows a Conscience

The Meat 

Recently I've been rather curmudgeonly about second installments (in trilogies or longer series), pointing out that almost none manage to equal, and astonishingly few surpass, the 'original' work from the first installment. How many Empire Strikes Back-level sequels have there really been, after all? But as various songs would have it, "This is it!" Rachel Bach (a.k.a. Rachel Aaron) charts a thrilling ride for Devi Morris and the reader, bringing her and us several giant steps closer to the clearly apocalyptic denouement looming just over the horizon (in book three if not beyond). She's managed to improve on the already excellent foundations laid in book one, ramping up both action and a sense of emotional engagement between characters (and between the characters and the readers) to dizzying new heights.

Bach also delves deeper into the mechanics, so to speak, of the various races and their physical (and more ethereal) attributes, treating the reader to a fascinating and fully fleshed out rendering of their capabilities. And she's also brought a new level of attention to the possibility of shifting loyalties and alliances, even for Devi (who by her Paradoxian upbringing is a bit of a samurai, "Death before dishonor or betrayal" kind of loyalist). She finds new allies in the unlikeliest of figures, and friends turn into enemies and then into the intermediate limbo of frenemies with breathtaking speed. Yet Bach handles such situations with considerable care, ensuring the reader can follow such rapid changes in alignments without any difficulty accepting their plausibility.

In fact, Bach even raises the philosophical level of her tale from relatively harmless rom-act (romantic action) in book one to a more serious "At what price (individual/species/universe) survival?" It is this greater level of nuance, more than anything, that humanizes both allies and frenemies alike, because as readers we instinctively sympathize on an emotional level with the romantics who insist some prices are too high to be worth paying even as intellectually we are forced to concede the logic of the utilitarians who insist that for the survival of the many, a few must be sacrificed...in short, there are no Voldemorts or Dumbledores, no simple paragons of good and evil, in this tale.

That said, Honor's Knight never risks becoming too gloomy in tone or losing its (or, one might imagine, Devi's own) irrepressible sense of optimism, that classical Hollywood-esque feeling that everything not only might, it surely will turn out all right in the end. Whether you approve of this sunny quality will depend, of course, on whether you think the world is getting better or getting worse (let me just say, for all you committed pessimists out there: what evidence can you possibly have that the world is getting worse? And don't you dare say "because it's more violent/dangerous," because invasion of the Ukraine notwithstanding, humankind has never enjoyed such relative freedom from violence, on such a (nearly total) global scale, in all of recorded history!) And speaking of violence, Devi brings the goods: Honor's Knight contains plenty of good old fashioned awesomeness in the form of Devi using her fancy armor to devastating effect against a host of different enemies.

What isn't there to like about this sequel, in short? I can only think of one thing, and that's the on again, off again romance between now frenemies Devi and Rupert. Naturally we can all appreciate why a man would fall for Devi—she's pretty amazing, after all—but why would she keep doting on this guy (even leaving aside for a second the difficulty I have with the seriously uncool name "Rupert") after all the crap he's put her through, and more importantly, after she figures out his deal? Perhaps the title should be "White Knight", because she's definitely got the syndrome, wanting to save him from his own crappiness...

Be that as it may, however, Bach really delivered in this volume, and she's got at least one reader who can't wait to read book three! Will Devi uncover the mystery of the phantoms? Discover how to restore the Daughters to themselves? Or just die in a blaze of (cool but ultimately ineffectual) glory? Given the inexorability of a happy ending, something tells me it won't be the latter!

The Math

Baseline assessment: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for graying the story and characters up, and rising above a Harry Potter-style simplistic view of good and evil... and +1 for doing so without losing the essential action-packed awesomeness at the heart of book one

Penalties: -1 for still not quite selling the Devi-Rupert "love conquers all" plotline

Nerd coefficient: 8/10 "Well worth your time and attention"

For more info on our scoring system--and thus, why an 8 is a fantastic score--see here!  

Microreview [book]: Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above by Ian Sales

Sales, Ian. Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above [Whippleshield Books, 2013]
Buy: Print or Kindle
File Under: science fiction, hard


Sales four-part alternate history of the Apollo space program is one of my favorite on-going series in SF/F. But I use the term "series" in the most abstract sense possible, given that the novellas do not appear to take place in the same timeline, do not involve the same personnel and are, really, only bound to one another by dint of being alternate histories of a space program Sales clearly loved, albeit with some significant reservations.

Of the three installments published to date, Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above, is the most centered on on those reservations--specifically, the institutional sexism that barred women from space until the 1980s. It explores this theme through (surprise, surprise) an alternate timeline in which the Korean War drags on far longer than the actual one did, creating opportunities for women that wouldn't have been there had the men not been off fighting a war.

The women pilots chosen for the space program, called the Mercury 13, are modeled after actual historical figures who, in the late 1950s and 1960s, were tested as candidates for the space program. The real Mercury 13 were denied their chance, thanks to a combination of institutional sexism within NASA and dogged personal rivalries that undermined the possibility, however slim, that said sexism could be overcome. In Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above, Sales reproduces the personal rivalries, but in the context of women being the only astronauts.

Though Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above is undoubtedly a political story, and specifically a story about sexism, the politics are subtle enough so as not to overwhelm other elements of the narrative, thus broadening its appeal beyond the subset of fellow-travelers who are specifically looking for politically progressive SF. And as it happens, the story about the Mercury 13 pilots only takes up half the real estate in the novella, the other half dedicated to a deep-sea search for a missing cache of film from  a spy satellite, and a rather remarkable discovery made in the process.

As with its predecessors, Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above is decidedly "hard" SF--meticulously researched, pre-singularity SF that would recall Arthur C. Clarke, had Clarke possessed more interest in human subjects. It is both nostalgic and forward-thinking in a way I find deeply appealing, and of the three Apollo Quartet novellas I've read, this was the one that most made me rethink my assumptions about the historical space program.

At the same time, it feels a bit disjointed in comparison to the ultra-tight Adrift on the Sea of Rains and The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself. The two narratives don't lock together as neatly as I had hoped, while the Mercury 13 storyline is, at least to me, significantly more interesting than its deep-sea counterpart. On balance, however, this is an excellent novella and a worthy edition to an eye-opening series.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for this being the most historical of these alternate histories, and for doing it right; +1 for striking a good balance between clarity and subtlety with the politics.

Penalties: -1 for lack of narrative lock; -1 for unevenness of two narratives.

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10. "Well worth your time and attention."


***

POSTED BY: The G--purveyor of nerdliness, genre fanatic and Nerds of a
Feather founder/administrator (2012).

Microreview [book] : The Martian, by Andy Weir

The Martian; Weir, Andy [2014, Random House]

The Meat

This book has been around a while; self-published three years ago, it found a fan base and got picked up by the big leagues, and in the time I've been reading it a poster campaign has hit the London Underground walls. So this is a huge success for Weir, and in many ways deservedly-so. The set-up is great, and ripe for a film adaptation. After an accident during a storm on Mars (in the near-future) a manned mission aborts and heads for home, with one injured member lost and left for dead in the storm. He is however alive and becomes the titular Martian, the only human on an entire planet.

Descriptions of his feelings, or his surroundings are almost entirely absent; too much present-day colloquialisms ("owned", starting statements with "so") to feel right, combined with a casual jocular and slightly jock manner. Feels too samey, too safe. And the admirable technical and scientific details Reid flood the tale with take more in emotion and drama than they bring in vermissitude. I wanted the terror his humour holds at bay to surface. 

Just as I was starting to get bored the narrative switched to third person of mission control back home and then it gets more interesting, however this blessing is a mixed one. When we get back to Mark on Mars's diary, it's twenty days later . The flow and intensity of the situation has been eased even more and he is still hookah about old tv shows like the geeky blogger he is rather than the trained astronaut he should be. And I still couldn't feel what he felt , couldn't get a sense of his environment and what it's like to be alone on a planet. One of the greatest and most chilling endings to a book I've read was the end to Jed mercurio's Ascent, (spoilers) with the cosmonaut stranded forever on the dark side of the moon, alone with no one aware he was there.

The log nature of the telling continued to wind me up the wrong way. When Watney writes things like "Sorry I haven't been keeping the log up to date" I felt relief that I could for once just be told what happened in one chunk. This is largely because Weir knows his stuff. And his stuff is air pressure, water supplies, drill voltage and hydrogen separation. All, literally, vital stuff for our stranded hero, and the issues with equipment, environment and maths are the fibres of his survival suit, but honestly I don't want to know how James Bond's ejector seat gets fixed, I just want to see it work. 

Yet to appreciate a moment of disaster one has to have understood the previous ten pages of science. I'll admit to being a failed student and also admit to enjoying the straightforward and unpretentious way Weir guides us through telemetry or airlock pressurisation. Although I stand by my point that the wads of exposition dragged, there were also several moments where it felt like I finally had the physics teacher I would have wanted at school. However, overall, the lasting effect was for me a drain on my concentration and a further drain on the tension of the situation.

And then (spoilers) he makes contact with Nasa and soon millions are watching the daily news shows centred on his situation, and we as readers are freed from the chain of log entries, introduced to new characters and see a months-long rescue plan kick into gear. During this mid-section of the book, as the people on Earth wrestled with how to resupply, the crew who unknowingly left Watney behind wrestle with their guilt and what to do next and Watney's fate becomes more uncertain, my interest rose again and the returns from others' stories to his log entries made me fonder for them.

Still, though, his unflagging and unflappable optimism held, and no true understanding of what such isolation and fear would do to a mind emerged. This is an inter-planetary tale that remains all surface. 

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 6/10

Bonuses: +1 for amazing detail and research; Reid seems to know and love his science. 

Negatives: -1 for unconvincing emotional journey of main protagonist and failure to put my heart with him on Mars 

Nerd Coefficient: 6/10 good but too many flaws to ignore 

By English Scribbler, starman and Nerds contributor since 2013

Thursday Morning Superhero

So many good comics out this week.  Alyssa Milano continues to impress, Valiant gives us three decades of nostalgia, and we have a new series from Cullen Bunn.  This is the biggest week of this column to date.  Nine, count 'em, nine books have been reviewed and most of them were quite good.  If the wallet would have allowed, I might have reached double digits this week.  There is always next week.

Pick of the Week:
Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps: H.A.R.D. Corps #0 - The fine folk at Valiant sure know how to introduce an event in its universe.  Entitled "Three Decades of Destruction", this issue features different art teams that produced art remnicent of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  When you complete this issue it feels like you have gone on a journey with your old comic books.   The upcoming Valiant event centers around a rouge Bloodshot.  A creation of Project Rising Spirit (a private security contractor), Bloodshot is free of his programming and needs to be stopped.  In an act of desperation, Project Rising Spirit reactivates the H.A.R.D. Corps in one last attempt to stop him.  This issue features the troubling past of the H.A.R.D. Corps project and has me excited to pick up the next issue in this event.  If you are longing for a nostalgic trip down 90s comic memory lane then you owe it to yourself to pick up this issue.

The Rest:
The Remains #1 - This four part mini-series from Cullen Bunn and MonkeyBrain Comics is off to a tremendous start.  At only 99 cents you should stop reading this and simply go out an buy it.  A harrowing tale from a farm that reaches out for help from the wrong individual, the debut issue of this series will leave a lasting impression on you and have you clamoring for issue #2.  Bunn once again delivers the horror goods and the art from A.C. Zamudio is simply spectacular.  I think MonkeyBrain might have figured this whole industry out.  Deliver high quality comics for less than a dollar an issue.  I don't think I have read a bad MonkeyBrain title yet and this one deserves your attention.


Chew #40 - I always knew that John Layman was a little crazy, but as his masterpiece winds its way down to its conclusion he may be an insane genius.  Much is revealed in Chew #40 and I ate it up (I am truly sorry for that one).  Tony and John consume some of the gallasberry cooked in the juices of a psychedelic chog (I told you he was crazy) and have a trippy good time attempting to help the FDA.  I really want to reveal more, but would hate to spoil a fitting conclusion to the Family Recipes arc.  I would be remiss if I didn't give Rob Guillory a pat on the back for another stellar issue.  As this series advances I tend to take the great work he does on this series for granted.  He delivers A+ work each issue.   I can't move on to the next book without enjoying the fact that Layman gave us a ABC toe (already been chewed toe) and a nice shout out to the great Ghosted from Joshua Williamson.  So happy to be back into this series.

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #2 - The action and drama are ramped up in issue #2 of this new series from Dark Horse.  Fans of the original series should be all over this series as Zach Whedon continues to remain faithful to the beloved franchise.  The writing feels like it is a continuation of the television show and this issue really delivered a strong hook that could bring in casual fans like myself.  Zoe is finally transported to get the medical care she desperately needs after giving birth, but this ultimately leads to her capture and puts the Alliance hot on the tail of Serenity.  After the tease of Jayne in the first issue, fans will be pleased to learn that he is featured more prominently in this book.  The tension between Jayne and Mal felt very real and the ending will have you desperately waiting for issue #3.  Even as a casual fan of the series I am hooked on this title.

Tomb Raider #1 - Dark Horse did not mess around when it set out to create a sequel to the most recent Tomb Raider video game.  Dark Horse went out and got Gail Simone to deliver the goods.  As a fan of the game, I was happy with this debut.  Simone did not waste any time setting the scene for the next chapter in Lara's life.  She and the surviving crew are suffering nightmares and it may be connected to the gold they took from the island.  To me what made this title work so well was the art from the team of Nicolas Daniel Selma, Juan Gedeon, and Michael Atiyeh.  Their combination of pencils, ink, and colors create a cell shaded effect that feel like a video game.  Most impressive and looking forward to more.

Mind MGMT #19 - Matt Kindt's latest spy series has reached its midway point and the second chapter looks to be as engrossing and exciting as the first.  In the first installment, Meru, Lyme, and company seek to recruit another Mind MGMT agent to their side.  This time the Magician is at stake and things don't go quite according to plan.  Meru's ability to cancel out an agents powers is turning out to be more of a crutch than a weapon.  Add that to the fact that the Eraser and company have officially formed the second coming of Mind MGMT and Lyme and Meru have their work cut out for them.  This is feeling like a good time to go back and revisit the journey from issue #1.  Love this series.

Hacktivist #2 - It turns out that Alyssa Milano should have begun writing comics quite some time ago.  Hacktivist has been a fun ride and the new twists and turns in issue #2 were unexpected and exciting. Nate and Ed, at the suggestion of Nate, team up with the U.S. government to seemingly aid the Tunisian rebels.  By leveraging coding skills and social media, Nate and Ed understand how to create a movement with technology similar to this.  Ed, aka, ..sve_Urs3lf, doesn't seem fully on board with the agreement.  Not wanting to spoil anything, Milano does a nice job throwing in some surprises and delivering a hook that will bring you back to issue #3.  With a nod to Snowden, Hacktivist feels almost as if it is reporting current events, not merely telling a story via the comic medium.  If you are someone who is into coding and social media then look no further than this title.

The Wraith #4 - This title is such a departure from Locke and Key that I am curious what fans of the series think of this.  While Joe Hill is the master of horror, he always includes so much heart in both his comics and novels (well maybe not The Cape).  The Wraith is pure evil and it can be difficult to stomach at times, but still manages to capture my attention.  If you have not read NOS4A2 I don't know if this title is for you.  As a fan of NOS4A2, this has been a disturbing look at Charles Manx, but if you aren't familiar with the story I don't know how enjoyable this would be.  Highlight this week was the nod to Curious George with the names Punch and Judy.  I am enjoying this, but would be cautious with who to recommend it to.

The Walking Dead #122 - "All out War" is rabidly reaching its conclusion and I am not sure how I am going to cope with the loss of Negan (assuming he is lost).  This vile individual has breathed new life into this series that, while still good, had lost some of its early charm.  This issue is clearly setting the stages for the final issues in this arc.  Can Negan trust everyone in his clan?  Is Rick's plan going to be effective against the relentless Negan?  I really want to spoil how Negan took Lucille to the next level, but that wouldn't be fair.  A seemingly calm issue in what has been an exciting arc.

Thoughts on the Nebula Shortlist

 
Hey, hey! The 2013 Nebula Award Shortlist has been announced. As usual, here it is! When available, I've included links for purchase on all novels and films, for those who are so inclined, and links to !FREE! stories when available for short stories, novellas and novelettes. After presenting each slate of nominees, I offer my thoughts and predict a winner.

Best Novel

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Fire with Fire , Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
Hild, Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Ancillary Justice  Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island)
A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer)
The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker (Harper)

I have to confess that, of this list, I've only read Ancillary Justice, but if you'll recall it did make my Hugo shortlist. It's definitely a good enough book, though I think it better fits the profile of a Hugo than a Nebula winner (it's organized around a simple but striking conceit, it's aspirations are firmly grounded in genre and it is, in a fundamental way, in explicit conversation with genre). Nevertheless, it's probably the front runner.

The Golem and the Jinni is another book I could see winning, as it combines urban fantasy with the kind of "political conflicts dressed up as cultural/civilizational conflicts are stupid and pointless when you consider: a) how much we've got in common; and b) how much everyone would benefit from some cooperation and mutual understanding" type message that I find sensible and appealing. Disclaimer: I haven't read it. But from what I've read about it, the book seems to be very well-written too.

As far as the rest go, I'm happy to see Samatar and Small Beer Press get recognition from what is arguably the institutional voice of the genre. And I'm inclined to support the choice of The Red: First Light, for the simple fact that it demonstrates the SFWA recognizes the changing dynamics of the publishing industry and does not exhibit the kind of reflexive prejudice against self-publishing that is yin to the yang of Hugh Howey's zealotry. (I've also heard the book is very good, so it's not just any self-published novel.)

Hild, however, is the kind of daring choice that underscores my belief that the Nebulas are inherently superior to the Hugos. It's gotten more attention from mainstream literary types than genre insiders; it subverts and inverts a number of questionable assumptions about gender in the Middle Ages, generally transported wholesale into fantasy; and it's barely fantasy, for that matter. I don't expect it to win, but I'm glad it's on the list.

Predicted Winner: Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK) because it's the buzziest SF novel of 2013.


Best Novella

‘‘Wakulla Springs,’’ Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages (Tor.com 10/2/13)
‘‘The Weight of the Sunrise,’’ Vylar Kaftan (Asimov’s 2/13)
‘‘Annabel Lee,” Nancy Kress (New Under the Sun)
‘‘Burning Girls,’’ Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com 6/19/13)
‘‘Trial of the Century,’’ Lawrence M. Schoen (lawrencemschoen.com, 8/13; World Jumping)
"Six-Gun Snow White," Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

 Lawrence Schoen again? I find that hard to explain, unless he happens to be one of a small number of writers the SFWA's "conservative," "progressive" and "I don't care about the politics" wings can agree on. This story just isn't that good, to be frank. Nor, unfortunately, is Valente's--a disappointment, given how good her writing generally is. But maybe I just have "fairly tale retelling fatigue," a condition I blame on Disney and the various abominations that go under the name Once Upon a Time--wretched creatures that murdered this niche genre before my very eyes and then performed wicked and depraved acts upon its corpse.

"Wakulla Springs," by contrast, is a more interesting choice, but if Hild is barely fantasy, this one isn't really SF or fantasy at all. Can't see that winning.

Predicted Winner: ‘‘Trial of the Century,’’ Lawrence M. Schoen (lawrencemschoen.com, 8/13; World Jumping) because other SF/F writers seem to really like his novellas.


Best Novelette

‘‘Paranormal Romance,’’ Christopher Barzak (Lightspeed 6/13)
‘‘The Waiting Stars,’’ Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky)
‘‘They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass,’’ Alaya Dawn Johnson (Asimov’s 1/13)
‘‘Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters,’’ Henry Lien (Asimov’s 12/13)
‘‘The Litigation Master and the Monkey King,’’ Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/13)
‘‘In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind,’’ Sarah Pinsker (Strange Horizons 7/1 – 7/8/13)

This is a decent slate, with quality stories by Liu, Pinsker and de Bodard. ‘‘Paranormal Romance,’’ I'm afraid, didn't do it for me--it's the kind of inward-looking, self-referential genre story that Paul Kincaid associates with SF's "exhaustion" and I generally associate with the Hugos. ‘‘The Waiting Stars’’ by Aliette de Bodard is my favorite of the shortlist, though Liu and Pinsker would also be worthy winners.

Predicted Winner: ‘‘The Litigation Master and the Monkey King,’’ Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/13) because it's good, everyone loves Ken Liu and, well, his stories just feel like award-winners. 


Best Short Story

‘‘The Sounds of Old Earth,’’ Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed 1/13)
‘‘Selkie Stories Are for Losers,’’ Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons 1/7/13)
‘‘Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer,’’ Kenneth Schneyer (Clockwork Phoenix 4)
‘‘If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love,’’ Rachel Swirsky (Apex 3/13)
‘‘Alive, Alive Oh,’’ Sylvia Spruck Wrigley (Lightspeed 6/13)

None of my Hugo nominees made it, which is a horrible stain on the reputation of the SFWA. And boy does the SFWA rank-and-file seem to prefer Lightspeed over Clarkesworld. (No knock on Lightspeed, but where's the love for Clarkesworld?)

But now that I've had a chance to read some of these, I'll concede that ‘‘Selkie Stories Are for Losers’’ by Sofia Samatar; ‘‘The Sounds of Old Earth’’ by Matthew Kressel; and ‘‘Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer’’ by Kenneth Schneyer are all very high-quality. Schneyer's piece is a great example of how to effectively deploy an experimental story structure, but I imagine it will feel a bit too much like a "thought experiment" to some. Samatar's, by contrast, is an emotionally-charged, Clarion-style piece; what's more, it hits hard in the way only short stories can hit hard. 

Predicted Winner: ‘‘Selkie Stories Are for Losers,’’ Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons 1/7/13) because it's the story that leaves the biggest emotional impact on the reader.


Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Doctor Who: ‘‘The Day of the Doctor’’ (Nick Hurran, director) (BBC Wales)
Europa Report (Sebastián Cordero, director) (Start Motion Pictures)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, director) (Warner Bros.)
Her (Spike Jonze, director) (Warner Bros.)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, director) (Lionsgate)
Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, director) (Warner Bros.)

I find the idea of comparing Pacific Rim to Gravity exceedingly strange.

Predicted Winner: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, director; Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, writers) (Warner Bros.) because it is a rare "hard" SF film, because it uses the medium in unique ways and because, in comparison to it, everything other than Europa Report is a complete joke.


Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Indigo)
When We Wake, Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin; Little, Brown)
Sister Mine, Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central)
The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)
Hero (The Woodcutter Sisters), Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
September Girls, Bennett Madison (Harper Teen)
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Levine)

I have read none of these and know very little about any of them. Sorry.

Predicted Winner: Your guess is as good as mine. 

***

POSTED BY: The G--purveyor of nerdliness, genre fanatic and Nerds of a
Feather founder/administrator (2012).