Rise from the Grave!

I haven't done as much reading as I would have liked to over the past 2 years. I also haven't done as much writing.

I will remedy both of these problems in 2016.

Joyleg, by War Moore and Avram Davidson

Joyleg is the story of an old bootlegger who has lived on an $11 a month pension for....a couple hundred years. Just who is Joyleg, how old is he, and of what war is he a veteran?

Joyleg is basically a political satire (a "folly" it states inside its pages) with a slight SFF premise to work as a Macguffin - with "slight" being the key word. It also states on the copyright page that the novel was previously published in a magazine as a shorter version, and I have a feeling that the short story version is the one to read. It's all pleasant enough, and some of the folksy charm and comedy is genuinely good, but there just isn't enough there to warrant much of a recommendation.

While reading, I kept waiting for something surprising to happen, but the whole thing plays out exactly how I thought it would, by the numbers. Granted, that in and of itself isn't grounds for dismissal (I'm not one to criticize something just for being predictable), but I expected more great things from two SF greats (Moore and Davidson).

Redbeard, by Michael Resnick

Redbeard takes place in the post-apocalyptic American East Coast, and details the struggles between the mutants born from the atomic fallout, and the Normans (the normal people who survived). The titular character is a hotheaded, savage blowhard too stupid to realize that he's being played by both sides of the conflict, and just street-smart, battle-hardened and lucky enough to survive and somehow rise in the political and social ranks of the ruling lords.

It's not a great book by any stretch, but it is a fun read. It's brash and violent, like a mix between Conan and the Horse Clan books with Groo the Wanderer in the lead role. I wouldn't seek it out, but if you stumble across a copy you could spend your time with worse books.

The Circus of Dr. Lao, by Charles G. Finney

I was just talking about this book last night with my good friend Aaron. Turns out, it was the best book he read in 2013. It was my favorite book the year I read it as well.

Even today Finney's cryptic work of mind-expanding weird fiction is forward thinking and totally, absolutely, to-its-very-core bizarre and wild.

This thing is like an epic force of speculative fiction, one that stands head and shoulders above 99% of genre fiction.

I'm due for a re-read in 2014, and an all-new review. For now, just enjoy this awesome cover, and if you haven't read the book yet do whatever it takes to secure a copy. Just be prepared to have your mind blown.

I think it's time to admit....

I think it's time that I admit to myself and the world that I simply do not dig John Brunner's writing. I've tried - multiple times now - to read his seminal works (Stand on Zanzibar, Sheep Look Up, Jagged Orit), and each time I am faced with a work I find to be devoid of plot, character, and dramatic tension.

In each of these books, Brunner seems to go out of his way to not tell a story, to be purposefully obtuse, and without any strong characterizations it's nearly impossible to remember which name belongs with which person, or what any of the characters are even doing. And this opinion is coming from someone who greatly enjoys experimental fiction and non-traditional story telling.

So maybe I should try some of Brunner's earlier works, some of his more straight-forward SF. Perhaps it's just his new wave stuff that I don't dig. I don't know, and, to tell you the truth, I'm not too keen on the idea of seeking something else out.

If you have any suggestions let me know, and I might try to track something down. But as it stands now, I think I'm done with Brunner.

The Status Civilization, by Robert Sheckley

Robert Sheckley's The Status Civilization is the perfect kind of classic science fiction. It combines an adventurous deathworld/prisonworld setting/plot with an examination of the political and social climate of the time in which it was written. Through his signature use of satire, wit, and bold, direct prose, Sheckley creates a book that is simultaneously hilarious and harrowing, exciting and thought-provoking.

I was surprised by its ending - the final reveal - in that it was both unique and far more positive than what I was expecting. The book was written at a time when science fiction authors still had hopes and dreams that humanity could pull itself out of its self-created quagmire and rise above the social and political nonsense we shackle ourselves with. If the book were written ten years later, during the new wave era, I imagine its ending would have been far more bleak and grim.

3.5 stars - nothing groundbreaking, but thoroughly enjoyable and well-written. An all around solid book.