Rosemary Kirstein

In reply to my “Kindle Greed” post, David said:

Glad to see someone else is experiencing the Robert Charles Wilson love! It was Spin that put me onto him too. And, like you, I then had to tear through his catalog.

To which I replied:

I’ve been trying to turn on all my pals to Robert Charles Wilson — I hope I actually have time to read Bios and Axis. Just the other day I finished the audiobook version of Julian Comstock, which I thoroughly loved.

Usually stories in which the protagonist is a writer turn out shaky at best. But Wilson has such a graceful hand with the point-of-view, letting Adam Hazzard use his very best 19th century styled prose to describe the events both carefully and eloquently — and at the same time allowing the reader to see straight through to everything that Adam is missing! This careful observativeness combined with obliviousness, still including all the information that we need to see what’s really going on — what a tour de force!

Plus: got all misty-eyed at more than a few passages.

Also: laughed right out loud sometimes.

Geez, what more can you ask of a story?

Well, yeah, sense of wonder… but in this book poignant longing for lost glory stood in its stead.   Worked for me.

(Oh, and I must say — the audiobook narrator, Scott Brick, did a stunning job. Adam Hazzard’s voice in my mind is now the voice of Scott Brick. Hazzard’s sometimes over-eloquent prose was delivered with such gentle sincerity that I could not help but love him and his innocent striving for what he viewed as excellence as a writer.)

In other news: I started reading The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, Volume One and I’ve already fallen in love with Catherynne M. Valente’s amazing prose — again. I’ll say more when I’m done, but so far, prospects are good!

Ooh, yeah. Books for less then 10 bucks each? What’s not to like?

Recent purchases:

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson — okay, that one was more than 10 bucks…

Bios and Axis both by Robert Charles Wilson, whose work I have been loving recently. After I read his Spin I went on a rampage reading everything I could find of his. But I’d missed these two, and now I’ve got ’em!

This is My Letter to the World: The Omikuji Project and The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, Volume One both by Catherynne M. Valente. What I’ve read so far by Ms. Valente (Palimpsest and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, two books which are very different from each other), makes me want to read much more — plus, as you know, I’m a follower of her blog.

And as it turns out, due to a publishing glitch, the Kindle version of Prester John is out weeks before the print version. Ms.Valente points out that someone could read and review it before the physical book is even available… Can I possibly manage it?

Over at Chad Orzel’s Uncertain Principles blog, he’s asked for book recommendations.  Here’s what I said:

Robert Charles Wilson’s SPIN. If you haven’t already, that is, as it’s not a new book. (Actually, I’d be interested in a scientist’s take on the science in it…) You can follow it up with everything else ever written by Robert Charles Wilson.

On the absolutely opposite end of the spectrum: Catherynne M. Valente’s THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING. (I haven’t quite finished reading it yet, so I hope that after recommending it, I don’t watch it flip around and prove me wrong!) That one’s online, and can be read for free, although the author politely requests donations (which I shall, even should it flip; the pleasure I’ve got from it so far is already worth the bucks). http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/fairyland/ In a certain mood, I’m ready to read things that are clearly shaped as fairy-tales, and I’m finding Valente’s take on the form both charming and moving.

And for something smack-dab in the middle, how about PANDEMONIUM by Daryl Gregory? I came across this book when I was a judge for the Phil K. Dick award (a strictly-SF award, so the book was disqualified by some of the judges as not being SF, in their opinion). I found it fun, and poignant, and clever and deep. (Don’t read the cover blurb, however — I feel it gives too much away.)

Right after I posted it, I had a vague memory of actually having said those things to Orzel in person.   If so, I now look like a dope.

Ah, well.   At least the readers of his blog will now have heard of those books, and might read them.  Pass on the good stuff whenever you  can, say I.