SFNovelist - Library Page

July 1998:
Summer is here. Only five months to go until Christmas. Time to start figuring out what you want Santa to bring you. Here's a few suggestions...

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell [1997, Ballantine]
The Sparrow looks set to become the sf novel of the 1990's. Everybody -- and I mean everybody -- is talking about it. To say that it recounts the first contact between humanity (represented by a team sponsored by the Jesuits) and an alien race is to miss the bulk of the novel. Read it. Then you'll know what everyone is going on about. Sparrow

Reality The Reality Dysfunction, Peter Hamilton [1997, Warner]
This was published as a single humungous book in the UK, but for its US publication it has been split into two: The Reality Dysfunction: Emergence and The Reality Dysfunction: Expansion. It's not hard sf per se, more space opera, with a sideways slide into horror. But it's a real page-turner all the same and certainly worth a go. The second part of the trilogy, The Neutronium Alchemist, has just been published, again in two parts for the US market.

Polymorph, Scott Westerfeld [1997, HarperCollins]
Cyberpunk may be dead, but few people seem to have got the message. Having said that, Westerfeld's Polymorph is more "cyberpunkish" than "cyberpunk". It's a tautly-written tale about a metamorph who finds herself/himself battling another metamorph in order to prevent a monopolistic software mogul from taking over the Western world. Ignore the cliches; it's a good read. Polymorph

Reality Acts Of Conscience, William Barton [1997, Warner]
Acts Of Conscience gets my vote as the best novel of last year. It was shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award, but sadly didn't win it. Gaetan du Cheyne ends up the owner of a prototype FTL spacecraft and uses it to visit a colony world... where he discovers the colonists abusing the indigenous flora and fauna. Well written, intelligent sf from one of the best.

Holy Fire, Bruce Sterling [1997, Bantam]
A beautifully written journey of discovery through 21st Century Europe. Sterling doesn't write science fiction so much as mainstream fiction that happens to be set in the near-future. No other sf writer can put extrapolated technology in the hands of characters quite as believably as this man. Holy Fire

Night Lamp Night Lamp, Jack Vance [1998, Tor]
Vintage Vance. No one invents worlds and societies quite like Vance, and he's on top form in Night Lamp. You just have to love a book that features musical instruments like the 'froghorn', 'tangletones', the 'tudelpipe', and 'needlegongs'. Straight plot, completely skewed planetary societies, great fun.

If you have any recommendations, by all means send them along to: ian.sales@hct.ac.ae

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell [1997, Ballantine] The Sparrow looks set to become the sf novel of the 1990's. Everybody -- and I mean everybody -- is talking about it. To say that it recounts the first contact between humanity (represented by a team sponsored by the Jesuits) and an alien race is to miss the bulk of the novel. Read it. Then you'll know what everyone is going on about.
	The Reality Dysfunction, Peter Hamilton [1997, Warner] This was published as a single humungous book in the UK, but for its US publication it has been split into two: The Reality Dysfunction: Emergence and The Reality Dysfunction: Expansion. It's not hard sf per se, more space opera, with a sideways slide into horror. But it's a real page-turner all the same and certainly worth a go. The second part of the trilogy, The Neutronium Alchemist, has just been published, again in two parts for the US market.
Polymorph, Scott Westerfeld [1997, HarperCollins] Cyberpunk may be dead, but few people seem to have got the message. Having said that, Westerfeld's Polymorph is more "cyberpunkish" than "cyberpunk". It's a tautly-written tale about a metamorph who finds herself/himself battling another metamorph in order to prevent a monopolistic software mogul from taking over the Western world. Ignore the cliches; it's a good read.
	Acts Of Conscience, William Barton [1997, Warner] Acts Of Conscience gets my vote as the best novel of last year. It was shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award, but sadly didn't win it. Gaetan du Cheyne ends up the owner of a prototype FTL spacecraft and uses it to visit a colony world... where he discovers the colonists abusing the indigenous flora and fauna. Well written, intelligent sf from one of the best.
Holy Fire, Bruce Sterling [1997, Bantam] A beautifully written journey of discovery through 21st Century Europe. Sterling doesn't write science fiction so much as mainstream fiction that happens to be set in the near-future. No other sf writer can put extrapolated technology in the hands of characters quite as believably as this man.
	Night Lamp, Jack Vance [1998, Tor] Vintage Vance. No one invents worlds and societies quite like Vance, and he's on top form in Night Lamp. You just have to love a book that features musical instruments like the 'froghorn', 'tangletones', the 'tudelpipe', and 'needlegongs'. Straight plot, completely skewed planetary societies, great fun.