Book Review: The Rhesus Chart, by Charles Stross

Everyone knows that vampires don’t exist, right?

So what happens when you’re Bob Howard, who is a middle manager at the Laundry, the so-secret-it’s-ultraviolet British agency dedicated against defending the masses against Things that go Bump in the Night and find you find that vampires actually do exist?

Of course, our hero Bob is more than just a middle manager; he is also a specialist in Applied Computational Demonology, and an Apprentice Eater of Souls, both of which come in handy over the course of his career, which has been chronicled in Stross’s earlier Laundry Files novels. 

Interesting things always seem to happen to Bob. For example, the start of The Rhesus Chart finds him working through a paper exercise, which accidentally exposes a clan of vampires working in a major bank. Things get even more interesting when he finds out that one of the vampires happens to be an ex-girlfriend (which complicates things with his wife Mo). But by the time is happening, the plot is already unfolding at a breakneck pace to its shattering conclusion.

It’s definitely worthwhile reading.  If you’re not familiar with the Laundry Files series, this is a good place to start and work back. Stross writes with his customary deft mix of Lovecraftian eldritch horror-meets-Len-Dieghton’s Harry Palmer with a dose of dark humour thrown in.  It’s very readable stuff.  

And over the course of the series, and the especially in The Rhesus Chart, Stross has continued the development of his already well fleshed-out characters, most specifically Bob, who is still stinging from the events of the previous novel, The Apocalypse Codex (reviewed earlier in this blog), which in-series, occurred only the month pervious.

Think of this book as a small diversion from the main Laundry Files narrative, the ongoing cold war against the extradimensional horrors who, when the stars are right, will emerge through the walls of our reality to suck on our brains. However, as I just said, it is a small diversion: In this book we get the bad news that the Grand Alignment has begun and the stars have at last become right, setting the stage for CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN, which is the final extinction-level showdown.

Hang on to your brains.

What’s next?
I’m just starting to read Theatre of the Gods, by M. Suddain.  I like it so far. Already I can tell you it comes off as a crazy mash-up of Douglas Adams-meets-William-S. -Burroughs-meets-Jules-Verne.  I hope to have it reviewed for you next month.

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and now The Key to My Heart, also $2.99 (all are free to preview). All books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Sony, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.   (And don't forget me on Twitter @mcnudde!) Thanks. 

Book Review: The Long Mars, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

What can I say: I enjoyed this book. 

Should you read The Long Mars?  Yes. Resoundingly yes.

Once again, Messrs Pratchett and Baxter have woven a worthy addition to the series that began with The Long Earth.  In case you’re a late arrival to the series,  the titular book that started it all dealt with the discovery of a linked series of parallel long earths that run “east” and “west” of our own “datum” earth and could only be reached by “stepping.”

A few people – like the series’ chief protagonists, Joshua Valente and Sally Lindsay are “natural” steppers, while the rest of humanity must rely upon stepper boxes that are powered by – this must be an example of Terry Pratchett’s whimsy at work here – the lowly potato.

I won't say much more, except to say during the intervening years between The Long Earth, its sequel, The Long War, and now, The Long Mars, there have been some serious doings afoot. Drawn by her father with an agenda of his own, Sally is off to explore Mars – which has its own chain of long worlds. Meanwhile, Joshua is also just as much drawn in by a mysterious young man who may be much, much, more than he seems.

So that’s it for The Long Mars. Suffice it to say, you should read it.

Call the Grammar Police!

Now I want to get to something that’s been bugging me since I wrote last month’s review of Taylor Anderson’s Deadly Shores. You know how much I love his Destroyermen series.  And I did like Deadly Shores. So I’m puzzling over what I found repeatedly in his book, such as this admittedly small example:

“But what about me?” Keje demanded. “What of Salissa?” Matt looked at Keje and couldn’t stop a grin from forming. “You, Admiral, will stay the hell out of range of anything they can throw at you from shore and keep your planes in the air.”

Get it?  This is what I saw throughout the novel. I’m no grammar guy, and I know it may seem like a small thing, but each line of dialogue is its own thought as expressed by the character, and needs be treated as its own paragraph.  The exchange should’ve gone like so, with each line of dialogue starting on its own sentence:

“But what about me?” Keje demanded. “What of Salissa?”

Matt looked at Keje and couldn’t stop a grin from forming. “You, Admiral, will stay the hell out of range of anything they can throw at you from shore and keep your planes in the air.”

I write this with the greatest respect for Anderson, who has put together a riveting ten-book series that has so far held my admittedly short attention span.  Was he trying to simulate the give-and-take of an argument? If so, it didn’t work. It merely forced me to re-read the dialogue, which for me slows down the action.

It bugs the hell out of me.

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and now The Key to My Heart, also $2.99 (all are free to preview). All books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Sony, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.   Thanks.

Book Review: Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson

I’ve just finished reading the tenth book in Taylor Anderson’s Destroyermen series, Deadly Shores.  

The long-running series of novels follows the adventures of the elderly “four-stacker” destroyer USS Walker, her skipper, Matthew Reddy her crew, who are stranded on a parallel earth, and their new friends and allies who are fighting a two-front war against the lizard-like Grik, the Holy Dominion, plus the crazed Japanese naval officer Kurokawa and his crew.

If that makes for a very long sentence, it  also makes for an extremely succinct synopsis of a series that has now grown to cover ten novels (eleven, if you count Straits of Hell, available as of this writing in hardcover) and won countless readers.  If you can think of the series as equal parts Edgar Rice Burroughs and World War Two, you kind of get the gist of things. 

Deadly Shores finds Reddy about the launch the much-anticipated “great raid” against the Grik stronghold on Madagascar, ancestral home to Reddy’s Lemurian allies.  Without going too much into detail  – danger: spoilers ahead – personal agendas among the allies cause Reddy’s raid to spiral dangerously out of control, leaving Reddy and the Walker literally high and dry, fighting off the savage Grik hordes.

And there is action. Loads of action to satisfy any fan. There are grand sweeping battle scenes, well crafted by Taylor, who does his usual excellent job of moving the plot along.  New alliances are cemented and new enemies are introduced.  If you’re a fan of the series, like I am, there’s not much to complain about and much to like.  Maybe, there should be a bit more about the fighting on the Dominion front – but I’m willing to give Taylor the benefit of the doubt here.  As to the eventual climax of the series – I keep marveling at Taylor’s ability to keep a handle on both his multiple plots and characters – and I will eagerly watch as things build to a resolution.  

If you’re not familiar with the series, but like your war novels served with a side of the fantastic, I heartily recommend Destroyermen.

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and now The Key to My Heart, also $2.99 (all are free to preview). All books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Sony, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.   Thanks.

Reckless Optimism: Reviewing Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland

I don’t normally do movie reviews in this space.

That’s because first, most SF movies don’t deal with alternate universes and second, most SF movies that are currently in release are relentlessly bleak (think of the latest Mad Max iteration, or any one of the entries in the Hunger Games franchise, or the countless identical mindless zombie movies) as to make oneself run screaming in frustration from the theatre.

Then there’s Disney’s recently released Tomorrowland, directed by Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles) and starring George Clooney.  It manages to discuss parallel universes (okay, in a sideways –pardon the pun –way) and to also say that maybe we can be kinda sorta optimistic about the future.

Okay, a bit – but not too much – about the plot.  Tomorrowland – is city in a universe next door – where humanity’s best and brightest and go think, create, and do, unfettered by all of the traditional restraints. 

George Clooney plays Frank, an exile from this technological utopia, who lives a recluse’s life all the while watching the world around him fall apart.  Enter Casey, played by Britt Robertson, the daughter of a soon to be out of work NASA engineer who has just been arrested for sabotaging the demolition of an Apollo launch pad at Cape Canaveral.  Casey has been given a mysterious pin that transports her to Tomorrowland by a by an equally mysterious –and apparently ageless – young girl, Athena.  It’s Athena’s mission to recruit “dreamers” like Frank and Casey.

The plot moves along nicely, guided by director Bird's sure hand. I found it very entertaining.  Suffice it to say, you should see Tomorrowland. 

However, I want to address the point made in the film – and it is horrors, a “message film” – regarding the fact that we seem to have collectively, as I alluded to in my opening, given up a more optimistic future for a frankly apocalyptic one. It isn’t bad enough that we do face several real and very serious challenges to humanity’s continued survival that we seem to have actually started to anticipate the apocalypse – and dare I say it; cheer it on – in our mass media. 

I know there have always been movies and books on the subject, but these were balanced by some kind of optimism that we would somehow pull through our times, which is one of the reasons why Star Trek initially became so popular.

We as a culture need to be a bit more optimistic about the future and ourselves. Not wildly so, but realistically optimistic.  It beats the alternative.

Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and now The Key to My Heart, also $2.99 (all are free to preview). All books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Sony, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.   Thanks.