Insistence of Vision by David Brin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley, I can explore the new Short Story collection from David Brin, one of my favorite authors. Yay!

So after reading a few of the stories, I came to the final conclusion that they're too good, too integrated to talk about except in the most general of terms without giving away practically everything. So I'm going to remain vague. I'll leave a few of my observations from before within a well, and talk, instead of my emotional reactions. :)

I loved this book. I've had the pleasure to read all of Brin's works, including all the short stories that were published in Otherness and before, so I already knew what I was getting into. He's always been a devotee of the need to be original, and I'm very pleased to say he maintains the ideal.

Strange and fascinating societies, are built upon or extrapolated from trends and new ideas, and in the tradition of some of my favorite short stories, they all come with either a clear message or a very nice zinger.

Chrysalis was one of those for me.

The stories with the Coss in them have really been sparking my imagination, too, because by his own admission, Brin has been toying with a new grand epic involving them, and from the three stories here, I am thoroughly impressed and delighted. To say I want more is to oversell understatement.

Something I've noticed before about Brin's writing really stands out in spades in this collection, and anyone who loves the grand SF tradition of conversing with the authors through the stories will know what I mean. He continues the dialogue, but even better, he goes on to name-drop so so many authorial debts, peers, and humorous walk-ons. I've had the pleasure to read almost all of them or know about them, so enjoying this little game has been a particularly nice treat. Brin's very well read in the SF field, and not only his roots are showing, but we should never forget that he has planted tons of his own that we should all remember and admire.

I know I do. Which is why I'm going to send out a call for "MORE!" Please? I've missed my favorite go-to SF author, giving us such breathtakingly real worlds and situations, complicated societies, and breathtaking adventure.

The zingers are always a grand treat, too! Few authors can pull of the kinds of layered plot twists as Brin, and this collection just proves to me that he hasn't lost a speck of his verve.

Please, please, please, give us more! :)


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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Most of this, to be honest, is self-explanatory, but the rest is a fairly comprehensive exploration of how extroversion became a public ideal back in the 1920's, replacing the power of character with personality and the social stigma that has ever since been placed upon people who don't seem vibrant and ebullient.

It shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone that 1/3 to 1/2 of all people are introverts, but because we live in a society that places a premium on everything non-introverted, most of us have to fake it to make it, and with that comes exhaustion and misunderstanding, whether with our bosses, our intimates, or with ourselves and our own natures.

This book tells us to relax. Be ourselves. Value what you value and understand that some people aren't naturally conflict avoidant, that they like to express anger, surround themselves with a bunch of shallow social jostlers, and that we oughtn't judge our extroverted peers when they jump into decision-making strategies that sink ships and endanger the lives of everyone around them just because they couldn't be bothered to think things through before opening their damn mouths.

And please don't judge all the sheep that are impressed by the aggressive blowhards and follow on their every word because they're just so damn charismatic, either.

It's okay to think and spend some time alone from others. Really. It might just be the salvation of the world if enough of us just throw off the yoke of social expectations or the stigma a shyness and just get prepared, build up all our talents and reserves in peace, and strike when the time is perfect. We're not unobservant, after all. We just have little patience for bullshit.

And even if society has taught us to lie our asses off whenever we're expected to be gregarious and social in all those damn shallow ways that others tell us is the only way to make it in this world, don't despair. The High Social Monitoring we do is a coping mechanism that we've had to develop PRECISELY because we're considered social pariahs.

Oh, and GoodReads is a hotbed for a grass-roots introvert revolution. I don't think anyone here will have any real difficulty cultivating contacts and building their networking, because, after all, we're all discussing things that are very important to us and we're diving deep into the material, wallowing in our talents and our passions, and when we rise,

And Oh! We will Rise!

We will rise like the phoenix from the ashes of social scorn and we will scour the world of all those who would ever deny us our right to sit in silence to read our favorite book or sit in silence to write a chapter in our next brilliant novel.

We Will Overcome!





(Aside: Some interpretations of this book are mine only and should not be associated with the author.)

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Orca by Steven Brust
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a solid Sword and Sorcery read, with just enough action to keep things interesting, but it's mostly about unravelling a ponzi scheme and a land swindle orchestrated by the Orca.

Vlad is just being Vlad, paying his debts. If it turns out that he bites off way more than he can chew, then blame it on his character.

If it actually makes him seem like a meddling busybody of an ex-assassin that's racking up the hate of every single empire in the land, then so be it. It's his nature. Or at least, it's the nature of this landless wanderer who seems to think he must atone for something, even if to my eyes he needn't atone for anything.

I keep reading these not because there's an overarching goal or something he must aim for any longer. His friends miss him and at least one can reach him, not including his dragons, so all in all, it's still all about healing his new friend who lost his mind in the previous book.

Interesting? Yes.
Worthwhile? Yes.

Does it still feel like just a meandering path to some unknowable future? Yes.
I don't know how I feel about that, but the character is strong enough, and the actual novel was still interesting, so I don't really see a reason to stop.

But. I still want more. I still remember truly grand things happening and stylistic wonders and brilliant plot. This didn't match my memories, but I can't say it was bad.

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Star Wars on Trial: The Force Awakens Edition: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time by David Brin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley!

I'm not normally a reader of non-fiction unless I'm in a hardcore research mode, but I wanted this solely because I'm a fan of both David Brin and Matthew Woodring Stover. It really had nothing at all to do with the arguments one can fling at the SW universe, whether to attack or defend.

To do so is a very deep rabbit hole, indeed.

Fortunately, it turned out to be rather amusing to hear Stover intimate that Brin was a Sith Lord in disguise and to show that Stover is an unabashed apologist because he got paid for the novelization of Ep 6. (As well as a number of EU novels.)

But that isn't all! I genuinely enjoyed most of the coherent arguments and definitely enjoyed the incoherent ones. I think I'll always enjoy the reading of the movies as the revelation that we live in a real holographic universe and Lucas is just trying to show us the path, and that the Jedi are just exploiting the bugs in the software universe to hack and exploit it. Bingo! I can't enjoy the movies more than THAT interpretation. :)

But really, seeing the movies as a comedy in the old sense, that we enjoy them because it evokes a real sense of JOY? That resonates with me, too.

I couldn't care less that the movies are monsters of science inaccuracy. Even if I understand science, and I do, it doesn't always make for stories that resonate, and often put too much burden on any tale to make anyone want to read it, let alone watch a movie about it. Did anyone see Gravity? Did anyone see anything other than a bunch of action sequences and silence? Yeah, that's because it was scientifically accurate, and to bring anyone's attention to that fact would kill the tension. :)

But when it comes to the argument that women are consistently stripped of agency through the story arcs, I have to agree. Simply. Easily. Leia was treated poorly as a character, but Amadala's treatment was deplorable.

Fortunately for the rest of us who have actually seen the new movie, I rejoice in the new direction, and pray that Rey continues to be badass throughout the next two movies. Prove that the valid complaint had taken root and will grow into something truly marvellous. :)

This book came out right after Ep 6, and was given only a minor update *before* the release of Ep 7, so don't expect an cogent and relevant arguments either way that includes the new movie.

I would have LOVED that, but timing is everything, and this was aimed primarily at the fanboys and fangirls who love to think about the franchise, and the best time to capitalize on that is in the tension before the film.

Of course, now that the new movie is such a success, I hope to see more. :)



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Staked by Kevin Hearne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There's a lot to love here and a small portion of sausage, too.

Or actually, there's a ton of sausage and other massive meat products being consumed in this novel by a certain hound, but more importantly, this novel is practically All Meat.

I mean, aside from a few Doggie BathTime stories, we're inundated with action, action, plot development, a bit more action, and a big hunking slab of action to go down with not a single piece of lettuce. No buildup required or necessary, assuming you've been reading all these novels up to now, and you know that it's WAR.

Of course, it's a one-Druid war against a world of undead because of the mass of interlocking promises and treaties he's been forced to make just to survive all his other misadventures, and of course this little nightmare is spilling over into his old Master's Druid Training Camp and his onetime apprentice is getting into her own messes, but this is a remarkably straightforward and readable adventure with loveable characters and an occasional vamp lord needing a vicious unbinding.

There's really no downtime except at BathTime, and that's fine. The sub-stories are interesting enough, but I was actually pretty damn amazed at the quality of myth research involved in this series. I mean, I can barely keep up with just how many thunder gods are running around, here, and fighting the Aesir was always some of my favorite parts of the previous novels, but it's the depth of the realms and the variety of cameos and established myths/gods/fae-made-real that makes these novels really stand out.

At a few points, I was struck with mute wonder at the complexity and ease with which it all poured out of the page, but it was never so much that I was drowned. Hearne has a particular gift, here.

Aside from making wonderful and snarky characters, of course. Atticus is getting less face time because Granuaile and his old Master Owen and Oberon have almost equal page-space. I can't say I dislike it at all. Granuaile has her own quest motif going on, Atticus is fighting a one-man War, Own is the perpetual "A Druid Walks Into A Bar and Says" joke, and Oberon loves sausage. Even Haggis.

It's quick and fun and easily one of the best crazy UF's out there. I'm actually rather sad that all the plot-lines are getting wrapped up, but not that sad. Nothing's worse than a frayed edge to a great series. :)



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A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have definitely read much worse fantasy, or fiction, for that matter, and I see that subtlety and thoughtfulness is the name of this tune, but honestly, it was slow and not much happens.

It was, on the other hand, quite readable and the characters were very solid, even memorable as far as they go. The society, the empire, is also quite fleshed out and has a character all of its own. I have no complaints with any of that. Indeed, I think it's quite remarkable.

I don't even have a problem with the premise, both literally through the magic that this old poet has, or stylistically, or plot-based, that this old man and the empire are one and the same. Both are old, as are quite a few of the main characters, and you can see that they're wracked with guilt and a bit of senility. Rightly so, I might say. Using magic to forcibly abort children with or without the woman's consent is unconscionable, as is a society that has no qualms with enslaving, whether with economics, force, or the Poet's magic of conception.

It's rotten, and the death of one is the death of all, and I can't really find it in my heart to feel sad for either.

As a novel, it is a beautiful painting, glacially slow and majestic like like the adjective. I think it *IS* beautiful, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good novel.

If you don't mind good character studies and an exploration of culpability, duty, justice, and love rather than a modern fantasy yarn full of death and daring and heroism, then I think you might really enjoy this novel.

Even now that I've finished it with a sigh and a fairly large undercurrent of regret that it didn't live up to some undefinable promise, I want to like it more than I do. I have great respect for Mr. Abraham already, so it's not like I'm giving up the cause. I'm a fanboy of the Expanse, after all.

I know I'll give the other four of this series a shot, but I might not do it right away.

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The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I began the first trilogy knowing nothing and then being blown away. I started the second trilogy going, "Huh?", but eventually warming to the interesting characters and setting. After all, the magic system still rocked and turning the series into a western wasn't *that* far out of the realms of possibility.

I wasn't blown away by book 4. I thought book 5 was a good deal better, enjoying the dialog between Wax and Wayne more and more and thoroughly enjoying the thread of lost love and evil gods (and ineffectual good ones, too. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Harmony.) The new world was one I could respect and like, but I never got to the point where I really loved it.

And then this book came around, and after what I thought was a tiny rough beginning, I was delighted to see just how much I loved Wayne's sequence. There was a lot of real beauty in the writing, like a dance of pure chicanery, and I delighted in it. And then, of course, we got Wax's marriage to the wonderful Steris, who is every bit of a match for him, smart and oh-so-damn-prepared. Can I tell you how endearing this woman is with her damn lists? Well, yeah, I guess I can. :)

What really makes this novel stands out, though, is not the adventure into steampunkland or the straight adventure into finding the Lord Ruler's own metalmind that allows the wearer full access to all 16 metals and ferrochemical attributes, but the fact that it was done well. We got the huge magical sequence that is reminiscent more of the first trilogy than the more modest (and down-to-earth) effects of books 4 and 5. We've got some big things coming, and I that leads me to make one last comment.

I've officially moved from a respect and liking for the second series to a deep and profound love. I've finally warmed to it. The characters really stand out in my mind and they're still talking and quipping, and I'm getting a whole bunch of warm and fuzzies. :)

I can honestly say it's only getting better, and all my so-so feelings about the last two have evaporated like mist. :)

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