Beauty: A Review of Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel

The heat has trespassed the air space over southern Ontario claiming this land it's demon own. Green branches bow to it's intense gaze, while fluffy, waterless clouds mock animals and humans inability to find sufficient shade. The pure weight of summer's golden epoch has Toronto flailing in its attempt to be cool. Amidst the temperature induced slothfulness I read, all the while half-intently listening to the child discuss his current little boy passions. 

How many words can one 6 year old proclaim over the span of 24 hrs; all of the words, all of them, much to a parent's great alarm, chagrin and wonder. With a proclivity to dinosaurs since a mere babe, the son continues on his quest to study every creature that has lived on this blue orb. Current fashion has snakes, with the subspecies of pythons and boas the highlight of July. Hot, sweaty trips to the local library occur bi-weekly to fuel his overwhelming curiosity, with me, the Momma happily acting as local librarian, Sherpa and translator.  The sheer volume of knowledge I personally have gained regarding anacondas would surely warrant me a fellowship. As these days melt into each other, I marvel at my ability and his wiliness for me to weave into his world. Summer actualizes my joy of motherhood. 

Thus, as we all make summer into a substantive, memory-inspired season, I recommend the highly acclaimed dystopian masterwork Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Yet again, my timing is greatly off, as the world's enthusiasm for this SF book is a year behind. I read what I read, unfortunately not always on par with the rolling tides of popularity, nor in agreement with the very awards that may have risen a novel to the heights it has achieved. This time, however, the pure beauty bound within the covers of Station Eleven awoke the reader in me. You know the reader, the one who slumbers deep within, hungry for a Tolstoy, a Herbert or an Atwood, yearning for a novel to swim within as the images created line by line, slip you further into a world more real than reality. Not many a book wakes the reader, but when she stirs, my creativity detonates as my soul sings. A good book is drank with your eyes, lives forever in your heart, and it is this that Emily St. John Mandel has written: a cherished moment of reading beauty.

A flu epidemic ravishes Earth, killing 90% of humanity. The world stops, regroups, internet, jet planes, electricity is a distance memory even a myth for many of the post-epidemic generation. Station Eleven juxtaposes those last days in Toronto before the outbreak with the meanderings of a group of musicians/actors who travel the lower Great Lakes as the Symphony. In an apocalypse, the fabrics that a cultured society wore have been tattered, even razed. And yet as I walked with the Symphony as they subsisted off the land, creating music, offering Shakespeare to the small communities that weathered the nightmarish fall of humanities golden age, I experienced wonder, a pure sense of joy. Peppered by images from Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, and Jose Saramago's haunting triumph Blindness, I am seasoned to the dystopian world-view. Yet with Station Eleven, the images of death, destruction and cruelty are less the story. This is a novel of fortitude, a willingness not only to survive but create beauty along the way.

Station Eleven is your book of the summer, as it is now mine. 

The Rantings of a Bookless Reader

Thanks John Scalzi for your essay  "The 10 SF/F Works that Meant the Most to Me"; my feelings of dread and despair are dissipating! 

In the event that you were unable to unlock the mystery to my gaps on my blog, I have been stuck in the mire of a reading slump (Can you read the horror in those words I just typed? Because I tried to type in a horrific manner to allude to it, and then realized that no one can actually see my facial expressions and then thought, might as well just keep on with one long bracketed clause to over explain my intent because a bookless me equates a time on my hands me, #let'spiddleawaythehours). 

Writers love to go on about "the block" while I am sure it is face rip-off frustrating, I  propose the reader without a book, is even more aggravating and most definitely more annoying, especially to those dear ones living with us bookaholic types. NOTHING TO READ, think on that because obviously I have in fact numerous books to read, even have a library down the street and the entire web at my disposal but for one month and two days, I have not had a book, not a short story, not a hint of a plot that has peaked my interest. It has been so bad I have actually thought about leaving SF and hanging out with my old buddy, the Mystery Novel. Was that a collective gasp? For goodness sake people, I started watching TV with my husband again...(side note, this may have nothing or everything to do with Survivor being back on). 

And so it is with thanks to John (we are in no way on a first name basis but what the hey...)for listing his personal top 10 which in tern has given me a purpose in life again. To be fair, I posted a similarly themed list way back, so avoiding the awkwardness of it all, (way to go John) let me release to you my list of  4 books that I highly recommend but have not a speck of desire to read again, which in no way takes away from how awesome these books really are.  

1. Blindness, Jose Saramago - Sweet blessed scary as shit, wish I could erase scenes from

my brain, Blindness. A masterful piece of literature written originally in Portuguese, with kudos out to not only the author but the translator who so successfully gave this gift of a novel to the English reading world, Blindness is the tale of humanities quick descent into anarchy. A highly contagious, air-borne (no one really knows) infection causes an epidemic of white blindness. Unable to see, unable to find their way home, or at home, unable to care for their personal needs the city falls into the blackness of hell on Earth.  Funny how hell always ends up being created by mankind. If only we could be nice to one another and it is with this little seed that this dark story is brought back into the light.  Most probably the best written and controlled little masterpiece in the past 30 years, Blindness threw me so completely into it's clutches that I seem to be haunted by it to this day. I don't need to revisit it, I am still gripped by Saramago's brilliance.


2. Lilith's Brood, Octavia Butler- Anyone with a penchant for SF must read Octavia or they are simply not SF readers. The master of the post-apocalyptic, American dream she is able to weave up such a despairing picture of America while still holding true to it's core belief in freedom and self preservation that a reader is exhausted at the end. Best known for her Parable series (depressing as shit but amazing all at the same time), it is her alien series, Lilith's Brood that truly blew me away. To this date, I have yet to pick up a book that so completely allows me to explore and love an alien race. And when you truly fall for an alien as I did hers, what is left for me to explore? As with Blindness, Lilith's Brood took a hold of me resulting in me not needing to dive back in because I am still caught in its prose.

3. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card - Shocking is a mild adjective considering the extensive hype that continues to swirl around this novel. Considered by many the best SF book ever written, which I find a bit of a stretch, and would  more accurately describe Ender's Game as the most successful SF book that is so very SF but so very digestible to the general public. Just in case you have been trekking along the Appalachian Trail, they are making a movie of it. Glee...not really, I have a general distrust of any movie director believing they can do justice to a dearly loved book.  Don't misjudge me, I dearly love this book.  I tore through it's pages like the Tasmanian Devil has want to do in the Bugs Bunny Cartoons. It is exciting, it is thrilling, it is thought-provoking but the best, ever written not so much. What we have here is the perfect plot. Most likely because of its plot strength, once having arrived at the denouement  there was nothing left for me to re-investigate. 

4. Doomsday, Connie Willis - As a huge fan of Connie's it pains me to admit that her Hugo Award winner Doomsday is not one that I return to. Unlike Black Out/ All Clear that continues to knock my socks off even after my third read through, Doomsday sits quietly on my bookshelf. When it comes to historical fiction/alternative universe plots and house buying, it is all about location, location, location. There is history that grabs me more than others and the fourteen century,  Black Plague days of merry-old England, go figure, is not high on my 'to visit' list. That being said, smash me down into the muck of WWI or the bombings of WWII and I am all yours baby, all yours. I have no idea what that reveals about me and frankly not keen to find out. All said, Doomsday is a stellar novel, showcasing Willis's time traveling historians who through the means of amazing tech go back in time to discover the world as it truly (?!) was. 

Doomsday: A Review of Parable of the Sower, The Canticle of Leibowitz, Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America

Once again another list has not only occupied my time and imagination but made me wish I had thought of it.  Googling Armageddon calls up some startling sites:  For example the now defunct site Countdown to Armageddon.  As my alarm bells start ringing in my head for fear of inadvertently clicking into some dark, religious nightmare,  I see this

Site last updated on September 13th

Our apologies for the lack of recent updates. This site is run by volunteers who haven't had time to invest recently.

It is hard to maintain full scale panic when you rely on volunteers.

That being said, the Apocalypse or Armageddon or my personal favourite "All Hell Is About to Break Lose"  sub-genre is a thriving, varied plot element that most SF authors use.  Looking for some type of crisis for your main character? Why not chuck in the complete destruction of his/her world.  Actually the only person I have met who takes this destruction pretty well is Princess Leigh.  The Death Star blows up Alderaan before her eyes and all she does is screams "No" and then proceeds to jump down a garbage chute with a Wookie, and two handsome blocks with blasters.  (kinda went off the rails there, but I think I have made my point.  If I was Princes Leigh, which trust me I have, also Boba Fett ((come on, he is awesome)) and saw my planet get obliterated I most likely would pull my face off.  Yes, my entire face.  I also probably would jump into a garbage chute with two handsome blocks as well, you know I think I will just stop here...).

As you are aware I lightly touched on Armageddon in Ladies First confessing that I overdosed on it a couple years back. So much so that until I read this list I thought I was done with the genre but soon realized that I have been reading it the entire time.  WTH!   The great thing about SF is that it is a huge category allowing for a great amount of flexibility.  If you would like to go completely berserk you can.  If you would rather step back from insanity and showcase something less violent that is also open to you.  With this in mind here are three great Armageddon-laced books ranging from full on nightmare to mild anarchy.

Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler - Full on Nightmare
Since reading this book I am unable to look at U.S interstates without visualizing the highways overrun with mobs of people making their way on foot to Alaska while trying to avoid being murdered, beaten or eaten.  (now that is a sentence)  If you are into full scale Apocalyptic insanity this series is for you.

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Stephen M. Davis - Mid-level panic
600 years have passed since the world was devastated by nuclear war.  Not surprisingly, those left to rise from the ashes decided to turn their backs on technology and jump blindly back into the dark ages.  If you could read, you were killed.  Isaac Edward Leibowitz, survives the murderous hoards and founds a monastic order whose mission is dedicated to preserving  knowledge.  A true SF classic and a must read for all you new SF readers out there.

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America, Robert Charles Wilson - Mild Anarchy
Great fun book to read for the summer.  Not too heavy on the berserk quality but enough to create a mild level of panic.  It reminds me of A Canticle for Leibowitz in that good ole' America has imploded upon itself and reverts to a neo-Victorian oligarchy ( NO idea what that means).   The books has an old west flavour to it, with great, extremely likable characters.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  Wilson is a true story teller.

Ladies First

With International Women's Day on Thursday, I would like to highlight a few of favourite authors who so happen to be to be women; each with extensive catalogue of works. Before Before diving into my little fandom crushes I would like to dedicate this post to Kage Baker.

It was a very sad day in 2010 when the news of her passing was announced. The literary world lost not just a great story teller, but a very talented, uniquely hilarious lady.  So Kage, here is to you, dear. Thanks for entertaining me, (continuing to) and inspiring me to write.  





Kage Baker: The Company Series

The basic premise involves The Company:  a 24th century company that is in the treasure business.  They recruit children from various points in the past to become immortals. These immortals are then sent back in time with each one specializing in one very specific theme.  For example, Mendoza was saved from the Spanish Inquisition trained as a biologist whose passion is for maize.  Okay, okay sounds boring right, but it is not, trust me on this.  You want to take a wild ride into the past, follow believable characters and grieve with them as they fall in love and out of, these books are for you.  

Connie Willis:  Black Out/All Clear
I cannot gush over these two books enough. Masterfully written, Willis takes us back in time to document the Blitzkrieg of London during World War II.  These two books are probably the easiest of all the science fiction books I am going to present to you.  Yes, you will have to take a leap of faith over the fact that there is time travel and that historians in the future use this device as their research tool; honestly, is that not fascinating?!  I beg of you, read these books. You will not be disappointed.     


Octavia Butler:  Lilith's Brood  (First Contact)
Octavia is probably better known for her Parable Series but I am really tired of the Armageddon theme.  From 2003-2006 I gorged on  "end of the world, mankind implodes on itself" literature and am done with it.  If you are familiar with the movie "Dawn of the Dead" or the book Blindness by Fernando Meirelles (brilliant piece of work) then you know what I am talking about. Lilith's Brood introduces us to the Oankali: biological traders whose main purpose is to share their genes with other species. Through this series, Octavia explores the story of Lilith, Adam's first wife by following the genetically altered children of Lilith ( one of the few humans saved by the Oankali after, you guessed it, Armageddon.) I am not going to lie to you, it is pretty out there as far as sci-fi goes. You going to have to read about aliens. The good thing is you end up loving them.

Margaret Atwood:  Oryx and Crake
I find it rather annoying that Margaret refuses to categorize some of her works as Science Fiction.  It is as if she is embarrassed of the genre. I don't know what she is thinking, you cannot get any more sci-fi than Hand's Maid Tale or or for that matter Oryx and Crake.  I know I just said that I was over, "Armageddon, all hell breaks lose" books but being an Atwood fan, I have to add this. The book is what you think it is about, society has imploded, all shit breaks lose.  

Lois McMaster Bujold:  Vorkosigan Saga
I end this very short list with another cherished series of mine. The Vorkosigan Saga follows Miles Vorkosigan, a physically impaired interstellar spy and mercenary admiral from the planet Barrayar. If you are interested in reading a good ole' space opera, filled with likeable characters this is for you. You won't be bored, trust me on this.  Bujold has full control of the world she has created. She takes her readers on a fantastically emotional ride filled with all those good things:  mystery, love, humour and passion. Miles Vorkosigan is probably the most debonair character in sci-fi. You cannot but fall helplessly in love with him. (or maybe that is just me, but I doubt it).