Hi-Five: A Review of Aftermath, Chuck Wendig

It came to pass that this family saw The Force Awakens and peace settled upon the house-hold. Truth be told, the kid really wasn't swayed to the light or dark side of The Force, continuing his love-affair with The Hulk while us, his parental units disassembled the screening with any sentient being that crossed our paths weeks past. Too much has been said about the seventh installment to the franchise that I am reluctant to add my voice to the monster of dialogue. The verdict is perched on a sliding scale of popular culture, fluctuating from liking to loathing dependent fully on the reviewer and whose audience it targets. As for this girl, I had a romping good time but I wasn't looking for anything beyond that. My childhood does not need to be validated by whether the Millennium Falcon could survive a jump to hyperspace so close to a planet's gravitational pull. 

What I prefer to contribute to the on-line mayhem is not my cinematic stance but my hi-five enthusiasm for the newest addition to the Star Wars book franchise, Aftermath by Chuck Wendig. 

A visit to any large bookstore chain's science fiction section will familiarize yourself with the phenomena that are the fan inspired Star Trek and Wars novels. These books seem to breed on the shelves, sadly giving the entire genre a bad name. It should be noted that at no time has this girl actually read a Star Trek novel, hence having no leg to stand on and should be taking accordingly. The little, however, I have read from the Star Wars universe inspired a similar level of annoyance that only the new Dune books have been able to rise in me, thus providing a sliver from a shelf to pontificate on. Timothy Zhan's Thrawn trilogy was a brilliant failure, exemplifying an author's ineffectiveness to see beyond the pre-existing narrative. Most of my reading time was spent equally internally editing the blandness, and pining for proper sentences. 

The war is so very not over in Aftermath. The Empire having lost the Battle of Endor, the death of the Emperor, Darth Vadar, and countless of soldiers and support staff is supposedly limping to it's demise. A new world order struggles to secure through the galaxy as planet after planet begins the slow process of renewed identification. The brilliance of Chuck Wendig's adaptation is the harsh realism he envelopes over pop-culture's beloved G-rated space fairy-tale. This is not the Star Wars we have been weaned on for decades, this is the Star Wars your mother would definitely not let you're 10 year-old self watch. 

Aftermath offers an adult version of our childhood heroes and villains. Power is not Dark nor Light but a reflection of political economics. A holovid of Princess Leia beams across the galaxy proclaiming the destruction of the Death Star over the forest moon of Endor, willing the myriad of local governments to align with the New Republic. Is this the proclamation of peace or well-crafted propaganda? The fall of any great civilization is more than a one-act play. The Battle of Endor is the keystone; of and to what degree is unclear. With power as the novel's theme, it provides the necessary framework for a narrative that moves to the fantastic, offering seemingly impossible feats of luck for the rag-tag protagonists. A novel that could easily become trite is saved by layers of governmental intrigue on both sides of The Force.

If you are looking for a light read, something that dabbles within the Star Wars universe, while managing to expand your imagery of a world already well-defined, Aftermath is your book. 

Putting the SF in SF: A Review of Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Perfection, thy name is a blue-sky day, an empty park bench, and at hand a space book to while the hours away. Reading in the summer months has always been an obsessive period. July/August is when this girl ticks books of her list, either be it a complete retrospective of all that Agatha penned or an intense relationship with Tostoy's horse drawn lanes.

This summer's compulsion sprang from Empire of Dust. It's simplistic space operatic drama triggered a desire to make this summer a science fiction summer, grand master realm science fiction; the science fiction that puts the science fiction in science fiction. 

Without grade 10 English my journey down this space path may never have occurred. It wasn't until Japan that my SF passion developed as I moved from obsessively rereading Dune to exploring the genre. A decade or so ago, living in a small agriculturally Japanese town, English books were a rarity. An English teacher had to either bring her own into the country, share with others, or luck upon a cast away. In the copy room of the small school I taught was a pile of random English novels left behind by past teachers, long gone. Amongst this pile was Foundation, and hence began my second intense relationship with a series that gave birth to the geek I am today.

Sitting with Foundation open before me, I am yet again astounded that I like it as much as I do. It is said that to read the grand-daddies you have to look to the times that they were written. Even on this, my umpteenth reread I continue the futile search for a viewpoint beyond the male perspective, or at the very least a casting of women that does not portray my fellow sistren as nagging, flippant wives, dazzled by jewels, obsessed with the next miracle home appliance. For such a creative mind, how was Asimov unable to stretch his imagination beyond his social confines, explore the concept that the world is larger than the male perspective? Even as I expound on this I realize that Foundation has no place for these enlightened sentiments.

Foundation is based upon the fall of Rome. Hari Seldon a brilliant mathematician/psychiatrist develops the science of psychohistory:  a mathematical algorithm to predict the future of humanity. Seldon calculates the fall of the mighty Galactic Empire, sealing the fate of billions but through those same predictors finds a path through which humanity can grow and flourish once again. Although it is filled with space ships Foundation is at its core an ancient tale and as such should never be expected to be forward looking. 

It is an easy read, Asimov was not a poetic genius able to swirl words together. He was a story teller for the people, making him forever readable. The tone of Foundation is simplified, somewhat the voice of Tomorrowland, if the voice of the old 1960's Disney play-park could speak. It is also space opera at it's purest level, a novel documenting the fall of an empire and the rise of another. This story has touched many a writer, and its legacy can be found in countless plots. 

Without Foundation, I wonder what path science fiction would have taken?

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus: A Review of Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

At a recent dinner party a guest shockingly proclaimed that there was a dinosaur to be had in every room in my house. Pondering on this, I quickly concurred as the owner of those very objects breezed into the dining room donning T-Rex jammies, looking for a goodnight kiss and someone to read him a bedtime story. Many a friend inaccurately assume that because of my personal attachment to Star Wars and Dune that I nourish my child on all things sci-fi.  And while I did have a weak moment at 9 months insisting on dressing him up as Darth Baby for Halloween (yellow duckling won out over the dark lord of the sith) I have allowed him to develop his own weird propensities.

Not all kids are into dinosaurs. My brother and I could care less with our attention solely focused on barbies and action figures. Do not misconstrue, I am enraptured with the three geological ages when these beasts walked the Earth but my interest was more finely honed only when my son started accumulating Tyrannosaurus's faster than my brother used to collect hot rods. This seemingly random tendency came as rather a shock to my husband and I as neither of us were whispering sweet dino tales to him at night.  Like all parents, we quickly rebounded, proceeding to fill up our house with nightmarish clawed and fanged figurines that should have scared the average toddler but in our house were kissed, cuddled and tucked into bed like they were soft puppies instead of ferocious velociraptors.  To this day, we cannot comprehend how dinosaurs became such a large part of our lives. One day our son was a little baby, the next a dino-loving maniac.

To each his own, they say, to each his dino-crazy own.  

And so with dinosaurs constantly on my brain I finally read Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park just this past week. Truth be told, I am not a big film person, even less into reading a book after watching the film adaptation. I will resist the urge to rant on about the poorly executed variations of Dune and say only this, it takes a talented screen writer and thoroughly knowledgeable director to really pull off a good SF adaptation.  Jurassic Park the film comes very close to being not all that bad now that I have experienced both artistic versions of the story. Back in 1993, I was one of the millions sitting in the theatre freaking thoroughly out over the raptor sisters and surprisingly cheering on the T-REX. Even though the movie was awesome it never occurred to me to read the novel. In fact, the idea did not cross my mind until a blogger friend drew my attention to Jurassic Park while I was creating a list of SF books for SF non-readers.

And man, am I glad he did. It is difficult not to compare the book to the film as my reluctance to read the book solely rested with my notion that I already knew the story. How wrong I was and how telling it is of my presumptive nature that two forms of medium could actually portray the same essence of a story-line effectively. Dune television and cinematic interpretations have really jaded me.  As I began to read Jurassic Park, it took four chapters in before I seized to compare the film to the book and started to enjoy myself. I could not get past what was missing or what was exaggerated or what was altered, finding myself writing mini comparative essays in my mind as I moved from page to page.  Gradually the plot enveloped me and I forgot to think and instead became consumed with the action that Crichton was so good at writing.

There is a lot to this book, a lot that if added would have pushed the film into a darker less marketable cinematic money maker. The characters are thankfully more developed and three-dimensional. Alan Grant is not in love with Ellie Satler, nor does he have a fear of children or a school boy infatuation with dinosaurs. John Hammond is not a nice, frumpy, harmless Grandpa wanting to bring dinosaurs back to life to enrich the lives of children everywhere. Muldoon, the safari/animal expert, Genarro, the lawyer and Wu, the chief geneticist play much larger roles in the book, each having a healthy dose of dread for the Park and it's dinosaurs. The software nerd dies a spectacularly disgusting death and the island itself is far more intimidating than the film version depicts. 

Chaos theory is strung through-out the plot which simply would have been impossible for the film to relay. This is the magic of novels, the ability to string an allegory, linking and defining the action without boring the audience or sounding trite.  A little dated at times, scientific discovery stops for no writer, and what was true back in the 90's has theoretically developed and expanded in scope today. All in all though, the novel holds up and would be perfect if you are looking for a quick thriller to pass your time with. 

For Greg's Pop: An Atwood Kind of Life

A friend emailed me inquiring on what to buy his Dad for the holidays. His goal, to introduce and successfully hook his Pop into the wonderful world of SF. Quite a mission and one that I soon jumped on but quickly found myself overwhelmed. After all, this is quite a heady decision; the book I recommend could either successfully draw someone to SF or disastrously push them away. Who am I to hold so much power in my little geek hands? I soon got over myself, realizing who better than a  hard-core self-proclaimed SF nerdlington to decide someone's future reading fate.

Being a proud maple-leaf wearing, 'sorry' expounding, 'eh' dropping Canadian there may be a few facts that might surprise you about my country. While winter does reign over most of this expansive land for a remarkable amount of time, a thawing does occur (sometimes, almost always) resulting in rather pleasant, even scorching summers. 

98% of Canadian fathers are 100% convinced that their child will be the next big hockey star and have either registered that little newborn into skating lessons their second day on Earth or have attempted to contact an NHL recruiter to come look at their child's massive newborn thighs (for those tight corners).  I may (or not) be referencing a husband (maybe mine) who purchased gloves, helmet and stick for a certain 2 year old last year.

You may be familiar with the French/English divide that sometimes exists (on slow news day), even aware of the frequent Quebec threat of divorcing itself from Canada. However what truly separates one Canadian from another is not Tim Horton doughnuts, or who wins the nice award (Nova Scotians, obviously), or whose mayor is more cracked out (really not a contest) but our stance on Atwood, Margaret Atwood. Yes, indeed it comes down to Atwood. She is either loved or despised and since I am one of the former my recommendations will be Atwoodian inspired.

Many a word has been written with regards to Atwood's reluctance to placing her books under the SF genre and while I may have sounded off on this very topic one too many times, I am

laying the debate to rest. Do you hear me world? Whether you wish to call The Handmaid's Tale, SF, speculative fiction, a horse's behind, is of no concern to me.  It is science fiction and it is good. And with this I say, read it for what it is, a truly harrowing tale of a future that may just come to pass, with all the horrors that are contained in a dystopian novel.  It is a classic and with all classics a must read whatever genre you choose to align with. In my opinion, The Handmaid's Tale is the perfect litmus test for Margaret Atwood, not for dipping ones toes into the big sea of science fiction.

If The Handmaid's Tale is more about Atwood's very "Atwoodian" style then what would be the best SF book for a non-SF reader? Why not a diaspora-laced tale of destruction and redemption: Oryx and Crake, book one of the MaddAddam trilogy? After all, if you are going to push someone's reading boundaries, you should at least recommend a writer who is able to weave together a world-developed story-line. I really like Atwood. I should buy some type of shirt or coffee-mug or something. 

It may seem a tad presumptuous to recommend a trilogy. What if the intended reader (Greg's Pop) doesn't like it? The great thing about this book is it can stand alone. If you love it, great, lucky you, there is The Year of the Flood an all-encompassing intense little nightmare that won't ever leave your thoughts (holy crap people it is INTENSE) and from there you can move onto MaddAddam (which I cannot comment on but am hoping I unwrap it under a tree this year). By recommending a trilogy you have a better outcome. If he loves it, then he reads more SF, resulting him wanting to read even MORE SF and then he is hooked, and you have a Dad who reads SF and that really is all you have, isn't it?  

Then again, if he doesn't like it, you have a Dad who didn't like it and well, he most likely will still be your Dad, just a Dad who thinks your choice in books are off the rocker. I realize I am of no help and most definitely not the best person for this insurmountable task. Have him read Dune.

Skirting the Issue: My Top 6 SF Books

The question is what book dazzled me this year.   Sitting here I cannot arrive at a single book deserving of being placed on my top ten.  Skirting the issue of my best read of 2012  I am revealing my Top Ten.  A Top Ten list while informative is really not about the books themselves.  A Top Ten reveals what you as a reader like, duh.  My Top Ten does not even hold ten.  The top 6 are locked down but four others are up for debate.  

A recent addition, Black Out/ All Clear by Connie Willis triumphantly moved into the number 6  position.   Time travel has never looked so good.   And that is saying something considering Kage Baker has locked down the idea of time travel so soundly in her Company books.  Why I love them:  packed with WWII trivia, solid plot development, time travel.  Read: Twice.  

Can a SF reader call themselves a SF reader if they do not embrace something by Isaac Asimov?  A debatable question maybe controversial enough to launch a side blog focusing on the" Foundation Effect".....   The Foundation Series takes spot 5.  Why I love them:  the idea of pyschohistory - prediction of future events through Mathematics, the suspenseful, alien quality while being old-fashioned.  Read:  Thrice. 

 I am a space opera junky.  Therefore my top 6 would be of little relevance if Louis McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga was not to be found on it. Of all the books, and by all I mean  I am too lazy to count them, my favourites are those featuring the Gems from the Cetagandan Empire.  I love secret societies, especially opulent, weird, genetically perfected societies.  But above all it goes back to Miles; SF's most charismatic hero ever written.   The most recent addition to the Saga, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance is a classic Bujold plot filled with love, intrigue, humour and suspense.  Maybe not the best book to pick up if you are new to the Vorkosigan Universe but definitely one of the author's stronger books released in recent years.  Read:  Most books twice, some more depending on how sappy I felt.

In  third  happens to be about a Company.  Dr Zeus Inc. profits by time travelling  from the 24th century into the past to save artefacts deemed valuable to be then retrieved in the future.  The Company employees, once human, were transformed as children into immortals.  I cannot choose one book from the Kage Baker's series so instead claim the entire group to fill one spot.  Why do I love them:  the humour,  the strong characterization that Kage wrote so well, the love stories and finally her concept of time travel.  Read:  4 times maybe more depending on the book.  

Without a doubt my favourite book of all time is Dune by Frank Herbert.  This blog is really an homage to his genius.   It's hold on me is simple.  Being a lover of reading, there is nothing more powerful than discovering an author who has complete control over his vision.   The wacky thing is. Dune ranks 2.  Although it is my favourite SF book, it is not the book that I return to time again to simply lose myself in its pages.  Read:  Over 20 times....i realize by typing this out that  a. I look insane   b. I look awesome.

Top Spot happens to be Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert.  Book 6 in the Herbert's Dune series, Chapterhouse:  Dune has been reviewed by many as weak link in the chain of books.  To me though it is the most fascinating of them all.   A reader is permitted  to go behind the velvet rope.  Walk amongst the Bene Gesserit as it struggles to survive against a foe more all encompassing then the God Emperor's (Leto the II, Paul's son, half man, half sandworm...read the books!) Golden Path.  Please excuse me I got all Dune there on you.  Why I love it: look into the Bene Gesserit, an all women powerhouse, the suspense of what is coming back from the Scattering, the final showdown, the speculation of how Herbert would have closed the series...which is defunct thanks to these.  Read:  More than Dune.  Holy Shit Balls.  

Darth Mouse

I received a call from my husband a couple days ago informing me of some big news. Big in our life can range from I want pizza for dinner to I won 50 grand in Vegas so I was completely open to anything that might be revealed to me.  To my absolute gob-smacking shock it was the news of Lucasflims being sold to Disney for 4 billion gazillion galactic credits.

With the Internet having  exploded in upon itself with this news, at least the part of the interweb that I cruise around in (apparently there was a some type of large rainstorm that hit parts of the north east coast).I debated whether to ignore the large Darth Mouse in the room or jump gleefully into his arms. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

How do I feel about all this hullabaloo?  Frankly, I don't care (Okay, okay, I do care just not CARE care).   I think I have read more articles than there should be speculating on what the new films will be about.  Are they going to follow The Thrawn Trilogy ?  Interesting concept but I can't see Lucas agreeing to follow Zahn's vision.  And yes I do believe Lucas will have a deciding voice in the creation of the next 3 installations,  4 billion dollars or not the guy is Star Wars.  While I am a fan of Grand Admiral Thrawn and would love to see the Noghi come to life, I have issues with Luke's future wife Mara Jade.  Having to sit through three films watching Mara Jade wrestle over her inner struggles to kill Skywalker ranks as cringe level high as having to sit through the Aniken/Padme Amidala love story.  Probably the most far fetched script is the Boba Fett spin-off.   There is no debate that the Bounty Hunter is kick-ass but the allure to his character is the not knowing.  Like Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe these characters are bad ass because they  exist only in the present.  

Personally, I would love to see a revamp of the franchise.  Take Star Wars to the new generation of fans as the release of J.J. Abrams's Star Trek The Movie so successfully did.  Before this film  no one contemplated recasting the iconic roles of Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov.  Who could possible play Spock or that matter dare to walk in the shadow of Shatner?  It's Shatner for heaven's sakes, who would have the guts to do that?   Just imagine recasting for Star Wars. To be truthful the idea of messing with the original IV, V, VI makes me queasy but if done properly what a glorious thing it would be.  

All in all, the point is this.  Who cares!  There is going to be three more films and whatever your level of hatred for I, II, III is, with Lucas out of the director's chair we are bound to have some straight up wicked shit to watch.  MAYBE and I say maybe on this one, whomever successfully produces the new films will decide that  Frank Herbert's vision of Dune should be properly conveyed...if only.  Does anyone have Peter Jackson's direct line?   I have a proposition for him.

Same Old Story: A Review of Sisterhood of Dune, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

 I am deep into Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson and non too pleased to be back revisiting this particular time in the Dune chronicles. Only 80 years have passed since the thinking machines were overthrown in the Battle of Corrin. Humanity struggles to define itself as the universe learns to live free from the bondage of Omnius and the cymeks. Not one to read a book jacket or review before I pick up a book, I had hopes that Sisterhood of Dune would be further into the history of the Bene Gesserit. I wanted to be thrown into the workings of the Sisterhood as successfully as Frank Herbert's Chapterhouse Dune.  

Once again, I am comparing the master at work to his apprentices and wishing they would leave the Dune universe alone. There appears to be a fatal flaw when creating new additions to an otherwise completed series. That flaw is the tendency to stay too close to the characters/themes/plots that marked the original. The best example is the continued exclamation of "I have a bad feeling." originally uttered by Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back that is then adapted by Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. Taking this unique expression into parts I, II, and III stagnates the series, creating a world more one dimensional than Lucas was in all probability aiming for.

This predictability can be said of all the new Dune series. While the original 6 books had well-defined characters that we of the Dune universe embraced, the new series relies on the tried and true of the original. I don't blame Brian and Kevin wanting to take those traits into their books. The Dune universe is a complicated, highly developed world, so all encompassing that I wouldn't dream of fiddling with it. How do you add to such a world?  I feel they are afraid to really allow their creativity to shine through.  As I turn the pages of this book I am continually met with similar themes.  The Atriedes is pure of heart, the Harkonnen siblings on the hunt for revenge, the Emperor Salvador, ineffective, the first Navigator Norma Cevna, powerful but losing touch with humanity.  

What this book needs  is a better editor.  The book is heavy with repetitive descriptors and information. Tell me once why the Harkonnens want revenge on House Atreides.  I am confident I can maintain this piece of information for longer than five pages. Let's hope the next book these two write includes a new thought or character.  The Dune universe is large enough to absorb it.

In the beginning there was Dune

It was 1987. I was in Mrs. Hawe's grade 10 English class and was passed a new book to read by next week. On the cover was a grainy picture of a desert scene and the bold title "Dune". I chucked the book into my purse, headed out for my next class and didn't think about it till I got home that night.

This is when my life changed forever.

Yes, I am Dune Girl. I will fight you in a cage match to defend the honour of Frank's vision whipping out a crysknife at the end to finish you off. Okay, maybe that is little bloody but I am quite mad about the books. If you haven't read Dune then we can't be friends. Okay, we can be friends but I will barely respect you. Harsh?....

If you are hoping for my insight into the series, this isn't the post for you. It isn't that I don't have opinions. This just isn't the time for those rantings. This is a confession.

Let me start things off by stating that I do in fact read the new books, I have even bought some of them. And yes, let me go on the record to say that some of them ( I am talking about you Dune: Butlerian Jihad) were abominable. But let me also state for the record that some of them have been pretty darn good. My copies of Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune are as worn as the original group of six. And I am quite excited to receive my copy of Sisterhood of Dune in the mail.

I don't read these books because I want to. I read them because I have to. The world I was assigned to read for homework in my early teens has a hold on me. It won't let me go and frankly I won't let it. There I feel better.

I am Dune Girl and I have been addicted for over 20 years. Thank the Maker.