August
22,
2010
Wil McCarthy’s Bloom
is hard SF from the ‘90s, and it reads like it. It’s got all the hallmarks of that era, being set in the interior of an outer-system moon, after the Earth and inner planets have been reduced to gray goo by rogue nanotech. It’s not as grim as the setting makes it sound, and it’s got some clever turns to the plot, but fundamentally, it doesn’t transcend its genre. If you like ‘90s-era hard SF, you’ll like this.
Wil McCarthy’s The Collapsium
, though, is something altogether different. It’s set in the Queendom of Sol, a post-scarcity civilization with all sorts of magic tech and a semi-decadent, mannered culture. The protagonist is Bruno de Towaji, a reclusive and eccentric genius, who has to be summoned from his self-built planetoid to solve puzzles and save the solar system.
This doesn’t quite feel like anything else. It’s sort of like a combination of Asimov’s Wendell Urth stories with Jack Vance, but not really. Do you like technology-oriented SF? Do you like fun stories set in magic-tech settings? Do you like puzzle mysteries where the genius protagonist has to figure everything out and save the day? Do you like slightly arch writing combined with any of the above? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ll probably like this book.
| :::
August
22,
2010
I’m given to understand that the 21st century is when everything changes, and hey, here’s Jim Butcher’s Changes
to apply that maxim to Harry Dresden’s life. Given the title, it’s probably not too spoilery to mention that some things actually do change in this book, which is good, as the reset-to-default aspect of the Dresden Files stories has been getting more untenable as the stakes have continually risen book after book.
This is late Dresden, which means it’s extremely continuity-heavy and that it increasingly is part of a continuing ongoing plot, instead of a self-contained book-length plot. Don’t start reading Dresden here, is I guess what I’m getting at. Also, if you don’t like reading unfinished serieses, Dresden is probably starting to hit your irritation points. I liked the book, but I almost do wish that I could have waited to read it when the next one is available.
| :::
August
22,
2010
So, the characteristics of the Indie Graphic Novel are that it 1) is a black-and-white thing 2) that uses “clever” stylistic tricks to tell a story 3) about a dude who can best be described as not precisely a younger version of the author, and 4) how he meets this girl that changes his life. And sure enough, Dash Shaw’s Bottomless Belly Button
is an Indie Graphic Novel.
And while I began this post intending it to only be about Bottomless Belly Button, it occurs to me that I might as well get maximum value for my effort by noting: Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim vols 1 and 2 are also Indie Graphic Novels. The main difference between O’Malley and Shaw is that the latter would appeal to college-aged art majors and the former to college-aged CS majors. Also, the latter’s protagonist has a frog head, while the former’s has some kind of hideously malformed bobble-head doll head. Other than that, basically the same thing.
| :::