SugarFree

I am about halfway done with Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson. Although published in novel form in 1971, it is actually a fix-up of four short stories that appeared in various magazines between 1956 and 1969 that are held together by a thin frame story.

I’ve been hunting down reading antecedents of Charles Stross’ Laundry series and Operation Chaos is fairly interesting so far. Unlike the Laundry universe, the use of magic is a widespread and civilian-led affair rather than the province of secret government agencies. (The same setup explored briefly by Robert A. Heinlein in 1940’s “Magic, Inc.“) In Anderson’s world, magic is studied as just another branch of science and is increasingly seen as working on scientific principles. The leads are a werewolf and a witch that meet in an alternative World War II where the continental United States is invaded and occupied by a jihadist Caliphate–weirdly similar to ISIS but with afreets and magic carpets at their command. The novel moves along at the brisk pace of 1950s magazine science fiction. Although Anderson published a sequel in 1999, Operation Luna, I wish he had spent more of his prime years in the Operation Chaos universe. There is a lot of potential in his world-building that I would have like to see him explore.

Closer to the Laundry universe in both tone and style was Tim Powers’ 2001 Declare, which is so similar that Stross talks about it in the afterword to The Atrocity Archives.

Declare follows an operative of a secretive branch of the British secret services that are focused on occult threats that was created (or maybe just revealed itself) during World War II and was thought to be disbanded after the cessation of overt hostilities. In 1963, an agent of the service is reactivated and sent to Mount Ararat to relive a disastrous mission from 1948 that may or may not involve Noah’s Ark.

I finished Declare a couple of weeks ago and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It mined a more esoteric vein of welding together Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Elder Gods than the Laundry series but it was somewhat unsatisfying. There was an elusiveness to the text about exactly what was going on that left me unfulfilled. But it is something that I have experienced in Powers’ other novels, so it wasn’t surprising.

 

jesse.in.mb

I’m currently chipping away at three books:

  • Arturo Islas’ The Rain God, a bildungsroman and family drama about three generations of a family set on both sides of the US/Mexican border. I first came to this novella in high school when I borrowed a copy from my English Lit teacher with all of his college notes in it, which I kind of miss in the current copy I have. I was distracted enough by the book the first time I read it to have to be pulled out of a swarm of bees;
  • Palm Trees in the Snow by Luz Gabás is another trans-generational and cross-cultural family drama consisting of twinned narratives about a Spanish family’s experiences in colonial Guinea and a daughter’s attempts to figure out what was left behind when the family was driven out in a post colonial revolution;
  • Dan Simmons The Terror is the SugarFree recommendation on my list. If you like monsters dismembering mid-19th century British arctic explorers (and I know you do), you might enjoy this epistolary novel. I’ve enjoyed the action and personal drama so far, but while there’s been plenty of rum there has been very little sodomy and the lash, but I’m only about half way through, so there’s still hope.

 

Riven

I used to be a huge reader when I was younger. As I’ve gotten older, I find that my reading is very seasonal–unless I’m laying out on our deck working on my tan with a tropical drink and a smoke, it just doesn’t happen as often as I would like. That said, I do have three books on my reading list right now that I mean to read…soon…ish. SugarFree gave me a copy of Dead Witch Walking, which is apparently part of a huge series called The Hollows. Definitely looking forward to the whole set if the first is worthwhile, and I have it on good authority that it is. Additionally, my sister gave me two collected works for my birthday: an H.G. Wells anthology and a collection of Sherlock Holmes capers. Everything in both of those books is new content for me, so that should be a good time, too.

 

 

JW

Bullshit IT service delivery certification, invented by the British. Tedious, unnecessary and dull, dull, dull.  Eyes started bleeding from the dull walls of text. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me.

 

Old Man With Candy

I can only dream of having as much reading time as SugarFree. Nonetheless, I still have a few on the burner. I’m nearly finished Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, an alternative history novel premised on Charles Lindbergh defeating Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, and keeping the US out of World War II by reaching an understanding with Hitler. It is creatively told from the POV of a young (((Philip Roth))), who knows that everything around him is changing and not in a good way, but doesn’t really comprehend why and where things are headed. If it were just released, you’d think it was a tired allegory about Trump, but it’s a bit more prescient than that. Assuming he doesn’t piss me off at the end, it’s a wonderful novel.

I have a childlike fascination with magic, and Corinda’s 13 Steps To Mentalism is a classic text. As with most magic tricks, once you understand the basics of mentalism and the repertoire of classic illusions, you’ll be simultaneously struck at how simple the tricks are and awed by how wonderfully they’re performed by the masters.

 

Brett L

E. William Brown’s first foray into Sci-Fantasy, Perilous Waif. If you’ve never heard of Brown, he’s a self-published guy in the kindle unlimited sphere. I find his stories fascinating even though his main characters all suffer from what I call the Dresden effect. In order to fight tougher and tougher opponents, your main character essentially becomes a god. I first encountered it in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, and I know Charlie Stross is actively trying to avoid it in his Laundry Files — and more failing than not, honestly. So there it is, I’m outed as a total Sci-Fantasy geek. Brown’s Daniel Black series isn’t bad either, although there are times you can see why it wasn’t picked up by one of the big houses.

 

 

 

 

sloopyinca

Working on The Neverending Story. I’ll report back when I’m finished.