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Dragonsbane

Barbara Hambly ”Dragonsbane”, 1986 Del Rey The books storyline is about a reluctant dragonkiller (dragonsbane) and his wife who are deceived to make company with the kings son to travel to the kingdom where a dragon is spreading fright and destruction. The Dragonbane´s wife is the lead character and also a magician or witch. They badly injure the dragon but she becomes friend with the dragon and the book describes her fightning with her inner urge of herself becoming a dragon and win eternity and freedom or staying on with her husband and family. Any idea could be brought into a story, the matter is if the writer describes any essential to us about ourselves or the other, and if the literary craftmanship is well done. I have become mostly interested in books and authors that have an eye and an ability to describe human relations in vivid sparkling images, as for example Jonas Gardell or Dostovejski for that matter. This isn´t Barbara Hambly up to. But she disposes of her talent with some eloquence and has her own twists about the fantasygallery. Her description of the dragon however is interesting as she makes a strong effort to make us understand the dragons point of view. As we in class have understood the point of ”showing not telling” I think she does more of the latter and less of showing. Although she makes considerable effort to paint her text with pictures that have poetic quality, and I think she from time to time achieves phrases that are more than the usual watery pictures. Sometimes I got the feeling she is writing a script for a movie, the story is a sort of Hollywood adventure narration and the roomdescription is nearly stage-instructions even the feelings, doings and lookings of all characters is down to that minimae...

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The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Philip K Dick ”The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch” The story describes how Barney Mayerson loses his job, gets drafted to the colonies in Mars, experiencies the effects of the drug Can-D and the rival Chew-Z. He is divorced from his wife, which he bitterly regrets. But the leadplot is about the effects of the new drug Chew-Z, anyone using it could encounter the title character Palmer Eldritch in his own delusions. There is some difficulties in describing the plot in a book by Philip K Dick since it´s wrapped around paralell subplots and he shifts point of view between the characters. If some writers wants to invite you in a story and build it in you with care, Dick just kicks you right on and you get the feeling that you should have remembered to safeten your seatbelt before leaving... He´s rather cynical in his world view but with humouros a twitch to it. Although he let´s female characters have high positions and act on their own, he describes them from the male objectview. His dialogue is well done, but as I remembered it, there is a uneven quality in some other books he has written, or maybe I should blame that memory on bad translators. In this book however it floats on. He has vivid images, ”..waited like some hog-tied animal..” or ”A man blocked his way, a peculiar round specimen mounted on spindly legs.”. If you must have clearly defined or happy endings as a reader, then Dick hasn´t much to offer. When he has served his obscure tabloids, he leaves us to go on with our lives as we please. But if he has kept us amazed and amused while exhibiting his tale, you can´t escape a feeling of being deprived of real characterization that gets in where it hurts most, but just sometimes you feel good about not being bitten... ©Seppo Laine

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Snowcrash

”Snowcrash” Neal Stephenson Bantam Books 1993 This is a book that credits the sf-genre´s ability to make decent forecasts about the future. Although written originally 1991 when internet only existed for scientists and the US military Stephenson describes a worldwideweb in his book. But it wouldn´t be sf if he didn´t predict also. Because his www, which is called metaverse, is filled with avatars that are fictions of the real persons surfing into the metaverse. The avatars walk along in a fictitious world that looks something like the real one. And that is truely a nice idea, being able to walk along in the Internet in 3D. The action in the book is merciless, swift and blooddripping reminding about a typical Marvelcomics storyline... So are the leadcharacters, a fiftenyear old girl who is a courier, delivering messages by forced hitchhikes on bypassing vehicles rolling on her pad. The other leadcharacter is a young hacker equipped with japanese fightning swords which he handles just as well as his computer. Stephenson reveals an inclusion to peculiar naming in a Philip K Dickian tradition, what could one else say about ”Hiro Protagonist” as a name? I liked this swift action book with it´s great vivid description of a near maredream future. Those rat things are just wonderful and in the end they are used to show that love wins... A very nice twist. I think it´s dialogue is well mastered and that Stephenson shows a good ability to enchance his text with just about a exact level of slang expressions that´s not disturbing the readers ability to have a grip on what is said or how things happen. Although several important issues are arisen in the book you have to ask yourself if this is really great literature? I´m not inclined to compare this book with the great classics but it surely beats lot of the mainstream stuff on the selfes. The main issue here as I see it, is where will a society entirely built on corporative owning lead us? We are already seeing the big conglomerates building up and as I see it no one has yeet invented anything practical to avoid a future somewhere very near the cyperpunk description of it. 99-03-31 Seppo Laine

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Remnant population

”Remnant population” Elizabeth Moon Baen 1997 What do you say about that, a granny as a sciencefictionbook-hero? Ofelia decides to be left behind when the other colonists leaves the planet, thereby fulfilling a kind of childhood dream I belive everyone has had, about a whole world just to yourself. But as it turns out, she isn´t as lonely as she thought... It´s a unique point-of-view, on a old theme. It has been written thousands of human encounters alien life stories before. But you can always enjoy a tale if it´s told with a new twist. Although Moon is only skindeep as a charactizer, she doing it well enough for the book to be profoundly enjoyable for the most of the time. I think the last part describing the arrival of a earthcrew is little weaker because the characters introduced then are a little stereotypical only cooked together to fit the story. Her writing is also quite enjoyable, although not going to any poetical heights, it´s a kind of economical narrative telling that floats on with a nice swing to it. I was told that Elizabeth Moon has a rather unusual background for a female writer. She was a soldier in the US marine corps before making her careeer as a author. This has lead to that her descriptions of any military activieties in her books are very acute to the detail. Those who want´s their stories to be filled with hardcore action from start to ending hav´nt much from this book, but if you are interested in a human point of view and unusual scope in ideas this is very much a book for you. Seppo Laine 99-05-14

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