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| openly gay Sir Ian McKellen, 71 |
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At a local used bookstore in Glendale I finally got my hands on a copy of Vonda McIntyre's Dreamsnake, one of the rare works of speculative fiction to have won the Nebula, Hugo and Locust award. I often read these books and Dreamsnake is one of the few books that is double Hugo-Nebula winner that I have not read yet. The others are Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin of Souls and Arthur C. Clarke's Fountains of Paradise.
I discovered Peter V. Brett's The Warded Man thanks to the Marc Chitty's Walker of Worlds blog. It is one of the best fantasy novels that I have read since the amazing, near-perfect The Name of the Wind (read my A+ review) by Patrick Rothfuss.
Jason Momoa, who played Ronon on Stargate: Atlantis has been cast as the lead in the new version of Conan The Barbarian. He will also appear in the new HBO miniseries version of Game of Thrones, the first of George R.R. Martin's classic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.
The list of nominations for the 2010 Hugo Awards has been announced and the nominees for best science fiction novel are:
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is a hugely ambitious novel that has been widely celebrated. In fact, it made it to the #6 position on my favorite books of the decade 2000-2009. It was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize as well as a nominee for the Nebula award.PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A-.
The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Nightshade, Sep09)The only one of these that I have even heard of is China Miéville's The City & The City, which I recently reviewed. Last year's winner was Ursula K. LeGuin's Powers (which I have also previously reviewed). The top awards in science fiction writing are the Hugo Awards (voted on by fans) and the Nebula Awards (voted on by authors).
The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak (Bantam, Nov08)
Flesh and Fire, Laura Anne Gilman (Pocket, Oct09)
The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey, May09)
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor, Sep09)
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland Press, Oct09)
China Miéville, brilliant author of The Scar and Perdido Street Station is back on the top of the critics lists with his latest work, The City & The City.PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B.
WRITING: B+.
Iain M. Banks has been on my list of science fiction authors to try for quite awhile since his name is often mentioned in the same breath as my favorite, British master of space opera Peter F. Hamilton.
Thanks to the book review blog Walker of Worlds, I have discovered some new fantasy and science-fiction authors from looking at Mark Chitty's This Year's Top Reads: Peter V. Brett, Neal Asher, Eric Brown and Alastair Reynolds.The world that Peter V Brett has created here is wide in scope and full of character. From the vivid descriptions of the small towns on the outskirts of the cities, where night is always a dangerous time, to the cities themselves - huge and strongly warded against the corelings - there is much to admire. These places felt real, the rundown and ruined houses always a constant reminder of what can happen when wards fail. The cities have their big, luxurious houses while the images of despair that are brought to mind when the lowly shared shelters are mentioned add to the clear distinction of class. Despite all of this and how much I enjoyed the world every time I opened the book, the characters steal the show - and quite rightly too.The corelings are demons that emerge once night falls and take different forms: sand demons, wind demons, wood demons and (the most dangerous) flame demons and rock demons. They are a fantastic invention, but I did have a quibble with Brett in that I don't think he did as good a job as he could have to make it clear what the demons were. First, I thought they were intangible spirits but by the end he makes it clear that they are completely physical beings that eat, bleed and defecate but somehow are magically prevented from violating an area with a ward (a special symbol) on it. I suppose this lack of information in the reader's mind about the nature of the corelings is meant to mimic the characters' ignorance about the demons; the fact that most people have no interest in even fighting the demons or finding out anything more than how to avoid them is a key plot point. However, I found it slightly frustrating that the demons could be both described as ghostly figures that materialized from under the ground as soon as the sunlight faded and solid enough creatures that with sharp teeth and talons and ichor for blood.
We follow our three main characters - Arlen, Leesha and Rojer - from a young age. This allows us to grow with them, feel their fear and desires and aspirations. What is good about these characters is their individuality, the way each one feels completely different from the others, yet there is a strong and wilful element that will not just lie down or continue on the road expected of them.
PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A+.
Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep is an instant classic science fiction novel. It won the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction novel of 1992 and is considered one of the finest examples of its genre.
10. Fledgling. The final work from one of my favorite science-fiction authors who unfortunately died during this decade, in 2006. Octavia Butler was one of the very few African-American women to write in this genre, and she was quite successful, with her writing winning both of the highest accolades in the field, the Hugo and Nebula awards. Fledgling is Butler's re-imagining of the vampire myth, with the lead character being a genetically modified member of the Ina race, who appears to be a 13-year-old black girl but who is actually a 53-year-old creature who feeds on humans in symbiotic, mutually pleasurable relationships. As usual, Butler's work deals provocatively with issues of race, power, Author: Octavia Butler. Released: 2005.Honorable Mentions: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin, The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.
9. Anathem. One of the most highly regarded science fiction books of 2009 gets on the list for its sheer inventiveness. Neal Stephenson is well-known for his genre-busting works such as Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon and his New York Times best-selling works of historical fiction that make up the Baroque Cycle. His books are generally huge and Anathem is no exception. This time Stephenson is playing with several different speculative fiction forms: alien first-contact, potboiler set in an insular academic/religious community, and road trip/quest. The story is told as a first-person narrative by a Fraa Erasmas who appears to be some kind of monk in an order devoted to the contemplation of mathematics and science. In fact, a slightly skewed look at mathematics and science play an integral role in the book, because Stephenson uses an encyclopedia of neologisms in the text to describe topics familiar to any college math/science major--half the fun of the book is trying to figure out what basic mathematical concept he is referring to using faux ancient terminology. The plot is a delightful romp and one is sad but satisfied when the book comes to an exciting conclusion. Author: Neal Stephenson. Released: 2009.
8. The Nine. The only work of nonfiction on my list of favorite books of the decade. Generally, I prefer fiction, and speculative fiction, at that, when I read. However, I am intensely interested in United States constitutional law, and so the Supreme Court is a hobby of mine. One of my all-time favorite books is Edward Lazarus' Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall and Future of the Modern Supreme Court. Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine is an updated version of this insiders look at the inner workings of the SCOTUS. It is an absolutely fascinating read for anyone who has ever cursed the name of Antonin Scalia. Author: Jeffrey Toobin. Released: 2007.
7. Southland. An absolutely brilliant book which combines many of my favorite things: Los Angeles, law, mystery, history, openly gay characters, and an intellectually interesting analysis of race and gender. Southland is set in three different times: the 1930s south Los Angeles, the 1965 Watts riots, and post-Rodney King uprising West Los Angeles. The main character is Jackie Ishida, a Japanese-American lesbian law student, who together with an African-American guy named James Lanier attempts to figure out why her grandfather bequeathed nearly $40,000 in cash to a black guy named Curtis Martindale that she had never heard him mention before. It is a family drama, murder-mystery and historical fiction, all tied together with excellent plotting and well-crafted writing. I wish all mystery novels were as engrossing and meaningful as Southland. Author: Nina Revoyr. Released: 2003.
6. Cloud Atlas. This book was given to me by a friend who thought I might like it without telling me anything about it. It's a perfect way to encounter David Mitchell's brilliant onion of a novel. It was only after I finished reading it that I discovered how well-regarded and highly celebrated Cloud Atlas is. There is a brilliant conceit to the novel which I do not want to reveal, but suffice it to say that whatever your favorite genre is, you will not be disappointed. (I should warn you that Cloud Atlas still gets this high a ranking in my favorite books of the decade despite the fact that there were probably 50 pages in the middle of the book that I skipped unread without any loss of enjoyment in the novel, and without substantially detracting from my overall evaluation of the book as a masterpiece.) Author: David Mitchell. Released: 2004.
5. Perdido Street Station and/or The Scar. Hello, Hollywood? Miéville writes the most imaginative and terrifying "weird fiction" (as he himself calls it) of anyone writing in speculative fiction today (that I have read). Unfortunately for Hollywood, the books are probably unadaptable even in these post-Avatar days. I discovered Perdido Street Station by looking for sci-fi/fantasy novels that had won multiple awards at AwardAnnals.com and China Miéville was the only author at the time who had two books in the Top 20 whom I had never heard of! Lots of people either hate or love his work, but I was completely blown away by both Perdido Street Station and its "sequel" The Scar. I put both books on the list of my favorites for the decade because they are both excellent and I didn't want to choose one over the other. Both books are set in the city-state of New Crobuzon on the planet of Bas-Lag, one of the most intriguing and well-imagined locales in all of speculative fiction. However, I found the third book set in New Crobuzon, Iron Council, almost unreadable. It has sat by my bedside for nearly 6 months, untouched past the third chapter. Interestingly, there are almost no characters shared between the three books except New Crobuzon itself. That, and the fertile imagination of the author, are the real attraction here. It is a place you will not soon forget. Author: China Miéville. Released: 2000 and 2002.
4. Unaccomplished Earth. When people ask me who my favorite author is, I almost always immediately reply "Jhumpa Lahiri." She writes about the immigrant experience of Bengali (South Asian) people trying to assimilate, acclimate and accomodate "American" values. Although, I am not Bengali, since I am an immigrant from the Caribbean I think the universal nature of her description of the experience of how outsiders become insiders resonates deeply with me and any other group of people who feel marginalized in this culture. Plus her prose is simply beautiful and her plotting is generally surprising and realistic. In the past decade Lahiri also released her first novel, The Namesake, which was made into a well-regarded film starring Irfan Khan and Kal Penn, but I think it is in her short stories that Lahiri gets the reader to spend just the right amount of time with her characters, instead of the extended commitment of a full novel. Accustomed Earth is her second collection of short stories, her first (in my opinion, inferior) collection, Interpreter of Maladies won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000. Author: Jhumpa Lahiri. Released: 2008.
3. The Name of the Wind. The best fantasy novel I have ever read, and that probably includes The Lord of the Rings. What makes The Name of the Wind so compelling is that it blends multiple genres. It is a coming-of-age tale, a mystery, a orphan-makes-good story and a memoir. For good measure, it is also set in a school of magic, like the esteemed Hogwarts in the Harry Potter novels! This is just the first book in what the author calls The Kingkiller Chronicles. It is hard to imagine that the next book (The Wise Man's Fear) can live up to the first, but even if it is only half as good, it will be a remarkable achievement by this first-time author. Author: Patrick Rothfuss. Released: 2007.
2. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. A heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008. A stunning melange of sci-fi/fantasy geekdom and Dominican Republic history and folklore, wrapped around an immigrant story and an impossible love story. Although this is one of the few books in my Top 10 that I have not re-read, I think it is because the memory of how shattered I was by reading the ending the first time still haunts me. Author: Junot Diaz. Date Released: 2007.
1. Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained. Although not as overwhelming as his reputation-ensuring Night's Dawn trilogy, Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained (sometimes called The Commonwealth Saga) are a monumental work in their own right. I disagree with critics who think that what the author begins in the first book he fails to bring to a satisfying conclusion in the second book. In all honesty, they are really one huge masterwork which the economics of modern publishing required to be split into two parts. Clearly, the author must be enamored of the vibrant, complex, exciting universe that he created in these books because he has returned to them in his next huge work, the excellent Void Trilogy, whose first two books The Dreaming Void and The Temporal Void have been released already, to mostly ecstatic reviews. I believe that the enthusiasm with which the Void Trilogy books have been greeted with is animated by residual good feeling from those who have read and enjoyed the Commonwealth Saga. It should be noted that these new books are an interesting departure for Hamilton since they feature a well-written and engaging plot thread which is almost entirely fantasy-based instead of the military space opera hard sci-fi for which he is most well-known and appreciated. I have re-read all four books Hamilton has published this decade and can honestly say they have given me the most enjoyment of anything that I have read since 2000. Author: Peter F. Hamilton. Released: 2005 & 2006.
Here is my Top 10 list of my favorite films seen in the last decade, from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009.And since I couldn't just mention only 10, here are ten more (not in any order) that should not be forgotten.
- The Lord of the Rings. The pure cinematic achievement of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings is absolutely stunning. The films were box-office blockbusters and universally critically acclaimed, even by people who had never read the book(s). I first read the book(s) at the age of 9 and loved these perfect filmic realizations even more than the original(s). Director: Peter Jackson. Released: 2001, 2002, 2003.
- Memento. I still remember the sense of wonder and amazement I felt during and after watching Christopher Nolan's debut feature film. My mind was blown but I knew that I wanted to see it again, and that I would make sure to see everything this director would ever release in the future (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Returns, Insomnia). Director: Christopher Nolan. Released: 2001.
- Avatar. Yes, believe the hype! James Cameron confounded all the doubters who refused to believe that the director of Aliens and Titanic could (again!) reinvent the cinematic experience with an(other) original story. I saw the film twice in the first weekend of release and know that I will see it again several times. This is the current generation's Star Wars: a film which restores the sense of wonder to cinema. Director: James Cameron. Released: 2009.
- The Incredibles. From the director of the instant classic The Iron Giant and the wizards at Pixar came this incredibly poignant and action-filled story of a family of superheroes. The Incredibles, like Finding Nemo, Up, WALL-E and Ratatouille demonstrate that animation can be as emotionally powerful as live-action. Whenever I see this film on TV I must stop what I'm doing and watch it all the way to the end. If I believed in God, I'd pray for a sequel! Director: Brad Bird. Released: 2004.
- Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Personne). An innocuous little French thriller that grabs your attention from the first scene and leaves you breathless at its satisfying conclusion. The story is adapted from Harlan Coben's thriller "Tell No One." It also does a very good job of illustrating contemporary life in Paris, subtly challenging preconceptions that ideal living standards must be American. Director: Guillaume Canet. Released: 2006 (France), 2008 (United States).
- House of Flying Daggers. Although Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was more widely acclaimed (winning the 2000 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and being nominated for Best Picture) I think that this film is the more amazing cinematic achievement, although this is admittedly a very close and somewhat arbitrary call. Together with this director's Hero, this trio of films (all featuring the incredible Zhang Ziyi) are must watching for anyone who likes martial arts and gorgeous spectacle. Director: Zhang Yimou. Released: 2005.
- Dreamgirls. Who said the musical was dead? Openly gay writer-director Bill Condon achieved the impossible by adapting the thinly veiled 80s-era musical about the 60s supergroup The Supremes and finding someone who could handle the tsunami posing as a song "(And I'm Telling You) I'm Not Going." Jennifer Hudson won a well-deserved Oscar in her debut movie role and Beyoncé showed that she was born to inhabit the role of Miss Diana Ross. Director: Bill Condon. Released: 2006.
- Spirited Away. This is not a Disney cartoon! Any serious student of film in general and animation in particular knows the name of Miyazaki. The Japanese filmmaker makes emotionally resonant films with curious stories that contain heart-stoppingly strange and beautiful images that are hard tp forget. In Spirited Away Miyazaki is at the top of his game and we are all the richer for it. Director: Hayao Miyazaki. Released: 2004.
- Far From Heaven. Written and directed by Todd Haynes but animated by Julianne Moore's heart-wrenching performance as a 1950s-era wife married to a man with a secret played by a surprisingly good Dennis Quaid, this film is like a nearly perfect confection: short and sweet and leaves you wanting more. Director: Todd Haynes. Released: 2002.
- Brokeback Mountain. The first film to have millions of gay men leave the theater shattered at finally seeing an emotionally true depiction of homosexuality in a major motion film. The relationship between Heath Ledger's Ennis Delmar and Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist is the core of the film but it is the story and beautiful direction that really twists the knife. And, yes, I'm still bitter it didn't win Best Picture! Director: Ang Lee. Released: 2005.
Peter F. Hamilton's The Temporal Void is Book 2 in his Void Trilogy. Hamilton is one of my favorite authors, primarily for his Night's Dawn series and the Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained). The first book in the Void Trilogy was The Dreaming Void and was released in the United States in March 2008. This second book was released in March 2009. The third (and final) book, The Evolutionary Void is expected to be released August 31, 2010.
China Miéville's The Scar is another incredible work of fiction by this little-known, but award-winning author of speculative fiction.PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A+.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.
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PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A-.
PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A-.
China Miéville's Perdido Street Station is an incredible work of speculative fiction. It won the Arthur C. Clarke award and was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards, the two most prestigious awards in science fiction and fantasy books.PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A+.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.
