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Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
House Of Suns Is A Flawed Far-Future Thrill Ride

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ticktockman
06/27/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
I like the reviews here, too. If I want to know what Tor is putting out then I can look at the Tor website, or at the sci-fi section at the borders down the street. There's no good independent bookstore in town here for sci-fi, so all I see on the big book chain shelves are novels by Bujold--who I like, don't get me wrong--and Mcaffery and stack upon stack of awful licensed books. I'm more interested in reading about books I might not find on my own and in new editions of works by older writers that I might not see sitting on the shelf of a book store (Jack Vance, here I come).
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ticktockman
06/27/09

@ticktockman: It seems my newborn son disagrees. He vomited all over me just as I finished writing that last post.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/27/09

@ticktockman: Your kid won't be a hipster then. WTF are you feeding him?
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secretmission
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
David Hartwell's Year's Best SF 14 is even better than Dozois' anthologies...
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Franknbeans
06/27/09

@secretmission: Nope, wrong. All the best stories of the year are repeated in both anthologies, but Hartwell's unique picks are uniformly sub-par. Plus Dozois has more bang for your buck, more stories equals more enjoyment
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/27/09

@Franknbeans: Exactly. Dozois picks better quality and a wider variety. Always has.
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AileenPaterculus
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
I actually enjoy the way you guys do reviews because book specific sites and forums have always held tons of references for the less "arty" stuff. This site turns me on to stuff I wouldn't normally find that would fall through the cracks, and maybe I am just in tune with your style of hipster sci-fi lit, but your choices seem spot on to me.
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Grey_Area
06/26/09

@AileenPaterculus: "Hipster"? Ouch! well, as long as we are turning you on to stuff you like, cool.
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AlessandroGiraffe
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
The Strain sounds an awful lot like Scott Westerfeld's Peeps, with vampirism portrayed as a parisitic disease that threatens civilization.
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Grey_Area
06/26/09

@AlessandroGiraffe: The vampirisim as disease thing is hardly new and has been done better.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
The Dozois Year's Best anthologies are always, always a delight. Sooo worth picking up and reading. All excellent, across all genres; stuff you already like and a good way to discover authors/genres you wouldn't have given a thought to.

If you can only afford one of these books, get that one.
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EbeneezerSquid
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
You know, I've been lurking here on i09 for quite some time, and these book posts have always seemed odd to me.

It seems that the authors I tend to read never end up here.

No John Ringo, Harry Turteldove, Anne (or Todd) McCaffery, Louis McMaster Bujold.

Thinking about it, most of the Writers that I've started reading over the past few years I got started on by the Baen Free Library (free e-books, usually the first in a series).

Have any Baen Books been mentioned on these "New Books" posts?
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Charlie Jane Anders
06/26/09

@EbeneezerSquid: We make a point of being as inclusive as possible, especially in our monthly roundup of new books. At the same time, it's probably fair to say that none of those authors has put out a book recently that any of us contributing to the site has felt like reading or reviewing, for whatever reason. We only have a limited amount of time to devote to new books, and we pick the ones we're personally most excited about to write about. I love older Anne McCaffrey, especially The Ship Who Sang, but haven't read anything she and Todd have written in the past decade or so. As for Bujold, we've mentioned her work a lot.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/26/09

@Charlie Jane Anders: io9 does tend to go a little arty-er and more "literary". ESquid has a good point.

Maybe you just need more reviewers with wider taste/preferences? Reviewing books that are Ripping Yarns, but not going to be up for awards?

(Perhaps someone who was already adult and going to cons in the 80's and has been a fan since Star Trek was brand new?)
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Klebert L. Hall
06/27/09

@Charlie Jane Anders:

I could swear you reviewed something from Baen last fall, but I can't remember what.

-Kle.
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brentbent: C.O.C.K.R.O.A.C.H. )for all the queer super villians out there(
06/27/09

@Klebert L. Hall: The Baen Free Library definitely got a shout out during the last year as did some of the books on its e-shelves. I do recall the one with the Fast Elves on the cover.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/27/09

@brentbent: I think that was a post making fun of their cover art.

Which is indefensible -- I kinda feel sorry for the authors sometimes.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
Jeez, I got my copy of House of Suns like two months ago, and it barely took a week to arrive. Mmmmm....

Can't wait for The Women of Nell Gwynne's to arrive, though.
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TheHacker
04/17/09

In reply to House Of Suns Is A Flawed Far-Future Thrill Ride
Personally, I think the "Flawed" in the article's title is misplaced, House of Suns certainly is not perfect, but I would not call it flawed. It builds a whole new universe with so many possibilities to explore, action packed, imaginative, dramatic, and its main protagonist(s) are believable. I really think it would make for a fantastic epic film (actually, I can't think of any epic SF film at all right now - have there been any?), with a sort of Contact-esque open ending.

My biggest suprise while reading came when I realized that all shatterlings are clones of one person (which does not become obvious before about 3/4 of the book) which might be hard to keep from the viewer if a movie is made. Oh well. :-)
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Charlie Jane Anders
04/17/09

@TheHacker: I got that they were clones a fair bit earlier than that, but I forget exactly when. I stand by the word "flawed," which I think I explain pretty well in my review. It's not a bad book, in fact it's pretty great in a lot of ways. But there are flaws.
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Grey_Area
04/16/09

In reply to House Of Suns Is A Flawed Far-Future Thrill Ride
I really like Reynolds even though his pacing can be a tad uneven, oh what the hell, downright confusing. His characters also strike me as rather cold, not as bad as Greg Egan, but not exactly folks I would want to hang out with.

So why the heck do I still like Alastair Reynolds? Well, he does have some bitchin' ideas on a cosmological scale nicely balanced with kick-ass action scenes; and although many of his characters are gruesomely unpleasant, it is on a glorious train-wreck scale that makes them difficult to ignore. Glorious bastards, every one.

Charlie hit upon something that I never realized before about Reynold's work. There is a blizzard of WTH just barely compelling enough to keep the reader going until the final chapters when he finally ties it up in a neatish little package. There's a lot to slog through, but I always find it fulfilling, unlike the work of Peter H. Hamilton (there, I said it). The ends justify the means. It is that quality that will make me pick Reynold's books up again and again.
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spiritkittykat
04/16/09

In reply to House Of Suns Is A Flawed Far-Future Thrill Ride
I want this damn book but no one has it for me to buy right now. It's not out until June. Guess I'll just re-read Chasm City and the rest until then...
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crashedpc - Haifisch
04/16/09

@spiritkittykat: Where do you live? I thought it was out everywhere by now... IS MY BOOK A FAKE?? oh noes!!
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Lassus
04/16/09

In reply to House Of Suns Is A Flawed Far-Future Thrill Ride
WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

I need to get the paperback from somewhere reasonable.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
04/16/09

@Lassus: Amazon has it for 11 bucks, pb. I got mine there but for some reason my copy don't have the US dollar amount on it...
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crashedpc - Haifisch
04/16/09

In reply to House Of Suns Is A Flawed Far-Future Thrill Ride
YARGH I'm on page 168. So glad I just skipped to the last paragraph. I'm actually really drawn in by the beginning pages. For some reason the tone is a lot easier to get through than Revelation Space. That one got tiresome after a while.
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