{"id":888,"date":"2007-05-05T23:39:56","date_gmt":"2007-05-06T03:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/05\/saturday-night-with-the-books\/"},"modified":"2007-10-07T22:39:01","modified_gmt":"2007-10-08T02:39:01","slug":"saturday-night-with-the-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/05\/saturday-night-with-the-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday night with the books"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Man, am I in a bad mood right now.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe closing a bunch of book-related tabs will cheer me up.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bermudez-Triangle-Maureen-Johnson\/dp\/1595141553\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/bermudez.jpg\" width=\"168\" height=\"254\" alt=\"Bermudez Triangle\" title=\"Bermudez Triangle\" class=\"alignright\"\/><\/a>Let&#8217;s start with <a href=\"http:\/\/justinelarbalestier.com\">Justine Larbalestier<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/justinelarbalestier.com\/blog\/?p=629\">justified outrage about another recent YA book-banning<\/a>. This kind of shit really pisses me off&#8211;thinking about it probably won&#8217;t help me get out of my pissy mood, actually. If I didn&#8217;t already have a copy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bermudez-Triangle-Maureen-Johnson\/dp\/1595141553\">The Bermudez Triangle<\/a> (yes, I read some &#8220;girl books&#8221;&#8211;want to make something out of it?) it&#8217;d be enough to get me to go buy one. Since I do have a copy I&#8217;ll have to go buy the rest of <a href=\"http:\/\/maureenjohnson.blogspot.com\/\">Maureen<\/a>&#8216;s back catalogue. (I was kind of planning to do that anyway based on how much I enjoyed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Devilish-Maureen-Johnson\/dp\/1595140603\">Devilish<\/a>. And I&#8217;m not the only one&#8211;it made <a href=\"http:\/\/teenlink.nypl.org\/bta5.cfm\">the NYPL set of recommended teen books<\/a>.) The <a href=\"http:\/\/justinelarbalestier.com\/blog\/?p=633\">update<\/a> does cheer me up, though.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\"><a name=\"Hughes\"><\/a>How come nobody told me about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.payseurandschmidt.com\">Payseur and Schmidt<\/a>? Those look like some lovely chapbooks. I&#8217;ve already ordered up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.payseurandschmidt.com\/Farouche.shtml\">the Matt Hughes book<\/a>&#8211;I think I may have mentioned earlier my appreciation for Hughes&#8217; post-Vancean style.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/smithca-sm.jpg\" width=\"125\" height=\"114\" alt=\"CAS\" title=\"CAS\" class=\"alignright\"\/>Speaking of things that should be no surprise for people who&#8217;ve been reading here for a while, we can also talk about my mild fascination with the old school weird fiction. While I did <a href=\"\/blog\/2005\/08\/14\/how-i-spent-my-friday-night\/\">get my poker chips made based on Lovecraft<\/a>, I think <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clark_Ashton_Smith\">Clark Ashton Smith<\/a> is probably my favourite of the original pack. Naturally as a Smith fan, I have a lot of time for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eldritchdark.com\/\">The Eldritch Dark<\/a>, a site dedicated to all things CAS including the text of a large number of his works. However, for some reason I hadn&#8217;t noticed until recently that they have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eldritchdark.com\/writings\/spoken-word\/\">a large bank of spoken work stuff online<\/a>&#8211;several stories and quite a large number of poems (some read by CAS himself.).<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Red-Seas-Under-Skies\/dp\/057507695X\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/redseas.jpg\" width=\"157\" height=\"240\" alt=\"Red Seas Under Red Skies\" title=\"Red Seas Under Red Skies\" class=\"alignright\"\/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Scott-Lynch\/dp\/0575076941\">The Lies Of Locke Lamora<\/a> was pretty good, especially for a first novel. You always wonder, though, &#8220;is he going to improve, or fade?&#8221;. Well, I haven&#8217;t read the second book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Red-Seas-Under-Skies\/dp\/057507695X\">Red Seas Under Red Skies<\/a>, yet, but the kids over at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegenrefiles.com\/\">The Genre Files<\/a> have, and they are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegenrefiles.com\/2007\/04\/12\/very-highly-recommended-reading-red-seas-under-red-skies-by-scott-lynch\/\">pretty relentlessly positive about it<\/a>.<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>If you loved The Lies of Locke Lamora and have been crying out for a second instalment that takes the essence of the first novel and builds on the same sword, sorcery and swashbuckling atmosphere &#8211; of high adventure in the lowest of low fantasy settings &#8211; to create a sequel of equal adrenaline-fuelled excitement and descriptive delight, then your wishes have been answered. Red Seas Under Red Skies is, once again, a caper saga of immense imaginative flair, with a plot that twists and turns at breakneck pace as our heroes hurtle from one sticky situation and death-defying act of derring-do to another.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Don&#8217;t mince words guys, tell us how you really feel. Actually this is probably enough reassurance about the series to push me into picking up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.subterraneanpress.com\/Merchant2\/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&#038;Product_Code=lynch&#038;Category_Code=PRE&#038;Product_Count=17\">the swank Subterranean editions<\/a>&#8211;something I was leery about doing if the work wasn&#8217;t going to improve from the first book. Sounds like we&#8217;re on the good path here, though, and I do enjoy swashing a good buckle.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\">Remember when I was <a href=\"\/blog\/2007\/02\/23\/good-books-free-part-1\/\">recommending you go read Blindsight<\/a>? Well, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Peter_Watts\">Watts<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/rifters.com\/real\/2007\/04\/set-free.html\">now has<\/a> all three (and it&#8217;s three, not four, despite how it was published&#8211;see the link for <a href=\"http:\/\/rifters.com\/real\/2007\/04\/set-free.html\">colour commentary<\/a>) books in his Rifters series up for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rifters.com\/real\/shorts.htm\">free reading<\/a> as well. I own &#8217;em, but if you need a free preview, or don&#8217;t have the dosh, there they are.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Nova-Swing-John-M-Harrison\/dp\/0575070277\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/novaswing.jpg\" width=\"169\" height=\"240\" alt=\"Nova Swing\" title=\"Nova Swing\" class=\"alignright\"\/><\/a>Some quick award news about books I quite liked: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elizabethhand.com\/\">Liz Hand<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/community.livejournal.com\/theinferior4\/35002.html\">reports<\/a> that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mjohnharrison.com\/\">M. John Harrison<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Nova-Swing-John-M-Harrison\/dp\/0575070277\">Nova Swing<\/a> has won the 2007 <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arthur_C._Clarke_Award\">Arthur C. Clarke Award<\/a> for best novel. Excellent and deserved, although it really should have been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Light-M-John-Harrison\/dp\/0575070250\">Light<\/a> in 2002. Also, <a href=\"http:\/\/lcrw.net\/wordpress\/\">Gavin<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/lcrw.net\/wordpress\/?p=198\">reports<\/a> that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ellenkushner.com\/\">Ellen Kushner<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/lcrw.net\/kushner\/\">Privilege of the Sword<\/a> won BEST EPIC FANTASY NOVEL at the Romantic Times 2006 Reviewers\u2019 Choice Award.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\">I see that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iainbanks.net\/\">Iain (M.) Banks<\/a> has <a href=\"http:\/\/bigdumbobject.co.uk\/archives\/001883.html\">a new Culture novel<\/a>, <em>Matter<\/em>, in the pipe. Excellent. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Steep-Approach-Garbadale-Iain-Banks\/dp\/0316731056\">The Steep Approach to Garbadale<\/a> was good, but I feel like a new <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Culture\">Culture<\/a> book is due.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\">On the non-fiction front, I&#8217;ve been digging through a couple of economic historian <a href=\"http:\/\/www.niallferguson.org\/\">Niall Ferguson<\/a>&#8216;s books. If you don&#8217;t know about <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Niall_Ferguson\">Ferguson<\/a>, you might want to start with the relatively <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harvardmagazine.com\/2007\/05\/p-the-global-empire-of-nia.html\">detailed introductory piece Harvard Magazine did on him<\/a> recently. Or, you could download one of his many free talks&#8211;here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/podcast.timesonline.co.uk\/serve.php\/865\/oxfordfestivalnaillferguson.mp3\">one example<\/a>, Google for others&#8211;to get a sense of how he approaches history.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\">I like <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Trickster\">Trickster<\/a> stories, whether they are folk tales, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.comicbookresources.com\/news\/newsitem.cgi?id=5314\">comic books<\/a>, or even <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/o\/ASIN\/0060735430\">fantasy-with-humour<\/a>. So <a href=\"http:\/\/greenmanreview.com\/book\/book_datlow_windling_coyoteroad.html\">this review<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Coyote-Road-Ellen-Datlow\/dp\/0670061948\">the new Datlow\/Windling anthology<\/a> was pretty much enough to make a sale here.<\/li>\n<li style=\"clear: both;\">I&#8217;ve read a stack of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paul-johnston.co.uk\/\">Paul Johnston<\/a> books, both <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paul-johnston.co.uk\/pages\/books\/quint.htm\">his mysteries set in a future (independent) Scotland<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paul-johnston.co.uk\/pages\/books\/greek_page.htm\">the mysteries set in modern day Greece<\/a>. Apparently <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Death-List-Paul-Johnston\/dp\/0778324818\">his latest book is a serial-killer thriller<\/a> that starts <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paul-johnston.co.uk\/pages\/books\/matt_wells.htm\">a new series<\/a>. This <a href=\"http:\/\/therapsheet.blogspot.com\/2007\/05\/devil-made-him-do-it.html\">quick description and interview<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/therapsheet.blogspot.com\">The Rap Sheet<\/a> are the first I&#8217;ve heard of the book&#8211;perhaps not surprising, given the amount of press Johnston has traditionally got here in the Cold North. (See also the older <a href=\"http:\/\/www.januarymagazine.com\/profiles\/pjohnston.html\">profile of, and interview with, Johnston<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.januarymagazine.com\">January magazine<\/a>.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"excerpt\">Man, am I in a bad mood right now. Maybe closing a bunch of book-related tabs will cheer me up. Let&#8217;s start with Justine Larbalestier&#8216;s justified outrage about another recent YA book-banning. This kind of shit really pisses me off&#8211;thinking about it probably won&#8217;t help me get out of my pissy mood, actually. If I didn&#8217;t already have a copy&hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/05\/saturday-night-with-the-books\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5UQvw-ek","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}