Review

Review | Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell

By Aidan Moher September 19th, 2007
Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell

Crystal Rain

Author – Tobias Buckell

Paperback
Pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Release Date: Feb 7 2006
ISBN-10: 0765350904
ISBN-13: 978-0765350909

When I first heard of Buckell’s novels, Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, I wasn’t sure quite what to think. They were short (always an oddity in the field of Science Fiction and Fantasy), they had a strong Caribbean flair and, well… I thought the name Ragamuffin was kinda silly.

Still, the more I read about him and his novels, the more interested I became to see just exactly what they were about. So, I got my hands on copies of his two novels and quickly set to work forming an opinion of my own. And its a positive opinion, more or less.

Let me start off by saying this about Crystal Rain: Buckell manages to fit more into this lean novel than most authors do into novels twice as long. I don’t know how he does it, but other authors (and editors) need to take note; this is how you tell a lean, fast paced and frenetic story without any wasted words. Each and every one of Crystal Rain‘s 384 pages burst at the seams with creativity: a vivid world inhabited by real people all wrapped up in a plot that races towards the finish line at full steam ahead.
Read More »

Feature Article

Article | The (multi-volume) Telling of a Story: A Follow Up

By Aidan Moher September 16th, 2007

My original article (HERE) elicited a good response from many of my readers and I felt that instead of writing a gigantic comment in response to them I would craft another official article regarding the main topic being discussed by them, as it is one close to my heart. Terry Brooks is one of my favourite authors and his novels have really helped shape my perspective of the Fantasy Genre.

The topic started when John (of the kickass blog, Grasping for the Wind) responded to my inclusion of Terry Brooks and Raymond E. Feist,

The Blade Itself

“I don’t think Brooks and Feist really fall into this category. They have really written a series of trilogies (ok sometimes four books) or stand alone novels that are set in the same world. Some have the same characters, but not always, and new characters are often introduced. Goodkind and Jordan on the other hand have been following the same characters for twelve weary books. Goodkind has finally got it about what Feist and Brooks have done and is calling the last three books in his series a “trilogy” although I’m inclined to think that is just marketing since the same characters are used.

Anyway, I think that is an unfair comparison. We perhaps need to delineate a line between authors who write in same world, and authors who write about the same characters in a linear fashion.

Perhaps how the books are published might be a factor to take into account as well. If I can read three of Feist’s books and feel that the story is over (ie. Riftwar Legacy) is it fair to say he is lengthy series writer? I can read Brook’s Talismans of Shannara without cracking any of his other books and feel I’ve read a good story.”

Read More »

Comments closed
News

An Aside | The Turkey City Lexicon

By Aidan Moher September 16th, 2007

This terrific article was brought to my attention the other day by one of my creative writing professor at school. The Turkey City Lexicon a hilarious look at the clichés, pitfalls and incongruities of the Science Fiction genre and looks to help writers, new and old alike, avoid them in the future!

Lewis Shiner, the original editor of the article, explains:

“This manual is intended to focus on the special needs of the science fiction workshop. Having an accurate and descriptive critical term for a common SF problem makes it easier to recognize and discuss. This guide is intended to save workshop participants from having to “reinvent the wheel” (see section 3) at every session.

The terms here were generally developed over a period of many years in many workshops. Those identified with a particular writer are acknowledged in parentheses at the end of the entry. Particular help for this project was provided by Bruce Sterling and the other regulars of the Turkey City Workshop in Austin, Texas.”

Here are just a few of my favourite quotes!

“Said” Bookism
‘An artificial verb used to avoid the word “said.” “Said” is one of the few invisible words in the English language and is almost impossible to overuse. It is much less distracting than “he retorted,” “she inquired,” “he ejaculated,” and other oddities. The term “said-book” comes from certain pamphlets, containing hundreds of purple-prose synonyms for the word “said,” which were sold to aspiring authors from tiny ads in American magazines of the pre-WWII era.’

Read More »

Feature Article

Article | The (multi-volume) Telling of a Story

By Aidan Moher September 11th, 2007

Last Argument of Kings by Joe AbercrombieA little over a week ago one of my favourite new authors, Joe Abercrombie wrote an interesting (and wonderfully long) blog post about the trend in the current SF/F markets towards long, drawn out multi-volume stories that seem to lose focus as they trundle ever on *coughrobertjordancough*. Not surprisingly, the ever charming and devilishly clever Mr. Abercrombie managed to get people talking about this very subject. Starting in the Comments section of his blog and eventually making its way to the Westeros Boards (thanks to Adam of The Wertzone and… well, I just couldn’t be left out!
Read More »