This Girl's Wish List 2015

It must be Christmas. Moments ago I could be found in the storage room, wedged between a bike and a large robotic T-Rex while my toes were nestled alarmingly between the blades of the push lawn mower, all in the fruitless pursuit of Christmas cards. Cards, that as my hip brushed against a pile of old clothes, cascading the lot of size four PJs and underwear down upon me like an unnaturally cute snow storm, I realized that I never actually purchased said items. 

Recuperating from Storage Wars, it is time to gather my thoughts and focus on this girl's wish list. With a library-only policy in perpetual effect the pressure of deciding what books to own has become a quandary. Not only am I not allowed to purchase but any gift arriving under the tree should have an impelling re-reading allure. How does one kindly request possible seasonal gifts to meet that standard? Writing a blog is beyond effective, as is directing the major book patron in my life to this city's premium SF bookstore; a conveniently short walk from this girl's front door. The hubby knows a happy marriage is built on the foundations of solid space operatic adventures and magical tales. Over the years he not only introduced his geeky wife to The Expanse, my personal obsession, but Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and Jo Walton's delightful Among Others. And while I am positive that he does not need This Girl's Wish List, compiling lists are the ideal busy work when one is ignoring the laundry, and maybe the kitchen floors, dinner and the dusting.

Of all my SF reading years, 2015 was my least engaging. I managed to successfully ignore all the hot it books while reading a thoroughly wonderful lump of sci-fi.  Take that internet, I am not your puppet. Okay, not completely accurate as I creep three bloggers, reading everything they recommend. Megan from Couch to Moon, Anton at Genre-Bending and Emma at This space intentionally left blank read well, love science fiction and thoroughly know their geeky stuff. I am perplexed on why we four are all not hanging out, eating popsicles and being awesome together. And so with that little weird fandom crush confession, I give you the books I hope to read  this holiday season, thanks in full to the power three. 

Topping the happy list is Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora. Although 2312 was overall a fail for me, components continue to sing in my imagination. A lover of grandiose ideas that seem to explode with vivid imagery of the universe, 2312 was a winner and my anticipation for what lies within the pages of Aurora finds me rubbing my hands together like a crazy evil scientist. 

Following closely are Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente and A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Shwab both meeting my weird requirements. Radiance is described as a space opera mystery set in Hollywood within the larger framework of an alternative universe. A Darker Shade of Magic is my attempt to full the void that The Rook has left in my heart for fabulous magical mayhem. A Darker Shade of Magic offers four realities of London: Grey, Red, White and the never mentioned Black. Intriguing enough, add Kell, one of the last Travellers, a magician who choses to live between the worlds, and you have my full attention. Sitting here, pondering this book the more I realize I should put it at the top. 

Perpetuating my disturbing desire for the post-apocalyptic is Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace. Wasp is not only a ghost hunter but an Archivist, chosen at birth and with that sentence alone I am in. Simon Ings' Wolves is on the list simply because one of my Power 3 found it to be her favourite book of 2014. I really do read what they recommend, hence the addition of Aftermath from the Star Wars universe. Unable to escape the Star Wars hurricane that has been these past months, Chuck Wendig's offering interests me enough to give this entire fandom genre a go again.

EAST or WEST: A Review of The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

Terry Pratchett's and Stephen Baxter's collaboration, The Long Earth perplexes me.  Having recently stuffed my copy up onto my third floor bookshelf, I am cognizant that I did read it, even liking it.  Why then am I struggling with the review?  My first attempt at describing the plot was a fail on all levels.  My husband, who is not one to shy away from SF, scurried out of the room after asking me to please stop talking.  Somehow during my ill attempt at summarizing the book I freaked him out.  True, husband is terribly sensitive to aliens to the extreme of monitoring their activities for the sole purpose of ensuring we (Dune family unit) are ensconced in the deep woods of Newfoundland before the mass invasion.  He may describe himself as an advertising copy writer to the general public but in reality  he is Alien Tracker/Keeper of the Family Safety. 

While satisfied with the terror I instilled if let's say I was describing The Things by Peter Watts, I doubt mind-numbing horror was what Baxter and Pratchett were going for.  Where did my telling go so wrong?  In all probability it has to do with stepping. Stepping is the ability to move from one "dimension" to another and another and another and....  Thanks in part to the Internet, a potato, some wires and an East, West labelled switch, humanity can step to new virgin Earth.  Earth as we know it is a product of a myriad of chances.  The happenstances of evolution if altered, exaggerated or skipped would have great ramifications to our way of life.  An extreme example and a section of the book that captured my attention is an Earth without the Moon.  A limitless chain of Earths are open for humanity to explore, expand into and per usual,  attempt to tame.  These endless realities is The Long Earth.  

Interesting stuff, and to be frank I felt at times that I needed some Coles Notes to get me through the science.  I am not completely positive that I grasp the full implications of The Long Earth.  As steppers stretch East and West further away from our Earth, they pass through massive groupings of Earths displaying similar characteristics such as grassland or ocean dominance.   Geologically this makes perfect sense, but from an evolutionary perspective it does not feel right.  Would not parallel universes based on chance be more random?  True, there are planets that steppers arrive too that are so dissimilar from one step before and after that they are called Jokers.  As the story crept along I kept hoping that my questions would be answered. Alas, this was not the case.  

This is not the first book I have read in recent months where the plot freezes up.   Hello, 2312.  It is a shame because The Long Earth and 2312 held such promise, showcasing interesting world views, and ideas of who we are in our solar system.   While 2312 was successful in displaying how remarkable space is, The Long Earth fails to capture my imagination.  The book is reminiscent of an experiment gone wrong.  What would humanity do if suddenly there was an abundance of sustainable land, minerals, water and space? 

Great concept, too bad  Baxter and Pratchett lost control of their vision.   Deciding to add "science" into a SF book doesn't automatically make it better.  In fact, the science frustrated me so much  that I am now not willing to admit that I liked the book. And I do, I really do but then again, do I?

Home: A Review of 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson

I am in love.  Maybe not in love but definitely in crush at this moment.  I doubt my husband mind's too much as my object of affection is for once not LL. or even 007 but the solar system.  The solar system, our so-called address in this ridiculously endless universe that we barely comprehend but so vibrantly exist in, is my crush. 

It has been awhile since my last sojourn down the solar system path of useless facts. (Jupiter has 63 known! moons.  Scientists do not know why Neptune is blue.)  My first trip through the planets was grade 4.  Learning, memorizing the order, participating in the class project of displaying the vastness, distance and size of each planet on one long black paper rolled-out down the school hallway is my first memory of how amazing space is but also how frustrating to scale models can be.  Life carried on from there with Recesses filled with the constant debate of who's turn it was to be Muffit in our enactments of Battlestar Galatica. Space was part of my childhood but only in the form of entertainment.  It wasn't until Grade 9 sitting in Science class that I became a science loving nerd whose entire world view was upended having learnt that all those stars out there are really from the past. To date, still my favourite fact.

So what sparked my old flame, SF of course. Patterns surround us, all you have to do is look for them and voilà  everyone is wearing peacock blue to work.  Recently, I clued in that most of the books read these past 9 months have similar thematics: the expansion and settlement of the solar system, and the solar system portrayed as a character upon itself.  


Three quarters finished Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312, I debated whether reviewing this book but decided to just go for it.  Like most books on lists, Locus's Reads for 2012 comes to mind, I never quite agree with the acclaim showered down.  I was all in, ready to love 2312 but as I approach the 300th page I am wondering not only what has happened to the plot but what am I missing that everyone else is so on about?

That being said this post is more about the solar system than a book review so let me give credit where it is due. I have never read a book based on Mercury. Never visited the planets as I have thanks to this book. It is a glorious tale, one of espionage, human foils of living in Space and what the successes of expansion into the moons, asteroids and planets of our solar system has on Earth. These aspects of the book make it a brilliant, hard SF book.  Imagine living on a planet, whose city is a domed, encapsulated bio-bubble that slowly circumnavigates the planet on 12 rail tracks all to avoid the Sun. This is life on Mercury;  living as close to the Sun as possible, living in the shadows, being a Mecca for Sun Worshippers (people who walk Mercury, just fast enough to avoid daybreak, all in the hopes of experiencing the Holy glory that is our sun). Fascinating, highly creative, fact heavy stuff in this book, which had me to where I am now, wishing the plot that Robinson laid down in Chapter One continued to have a resounding pulse. Did I miss a few or 100 pages inadvertently? Am I reading something so avant-garde that it will change the notions of SF?  I doubt it. I think what I hold here is yet another author with too many wonders captured in his/her head that he/she must lay-out on paper not taking into account that too much detail, too much global socio-environmental issues can muddle a great idea. We all can't be Frank.

For me though the true downfall to this book is Snow, the lead human character. Unlike The Unincorporated Series and The Expanse (both more operatic than speculative SF) 2312 does not have people in it that hold your attention. I like this book for it's portrayal of the Solar System. Through it's pages I am able imagine body surfing on the rings of Saturn while contemplating on the effects Earth's gravity has on us not only physically but psychologically. Good characters who I attach to, wanting to like is lacking. Snow, just like the plot in the first chapters has a mystery to her. We want to get to know her, figure out why she grieves so deeply for her Grandma, but as the story moves along I just don't care for her.  She is annoying which is the death to any character. I read on because of the hard SF, hoping things that were laid out are brought back to the fore. It is a shame. I wanted to love this book and still do. Maybe I am missing something?