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Bernice Summerfield Novels #10
The Weather on Versimmon
Inveigled into a survey of botanical art on Versimmon, Bernice is disappointed
to get bogged down in an unseasonal cold spell – and to discover that Ruth has
some radical ideas about how the living archive should be managed.
Why is a hailstorm bringing back memories of a war two generations gone?
Where are Versimmon’s first animals appearing from? And who can Bernice
trust on a planetfull of budding artists? As the forest world is bombarded by
ice and the collection’s guards start disappearing, the archaeologists and
themselves getting back to their roots and branching out into local politics.
All the time, the weather on Versimmon is changing, and its inhabitants will
and that revolutionary times demand revolutionary works of art…
to get bogged down in an unseasonal cold spell – and to discover that Ruth has
some radical ideas about how the living archive should be managed.
Why is a hailstorm bringing back memories of a war two generations gone?
Where are Versimmon’s first animals appearing from? And who can Bernice
trust on a planetfull of budding artists? As the forest world is bombarded by
ice and the collection’s guards start disappearing, the archaeologists and
themselves getting back to their roots and branching out into local politics.
All the time, the weather on Versimmon is changing, and its inhabitants will
and that revolutionary times demand revolutionary works of art…
148 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 9, 2012
39 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Griffiths
26 books1 followerMatthew Griffiths was born in Birmingham, and worked in London as an editor for ten years before moving to Durham, where he completed a PhD on climate change and modernist poetics.
His poems have appeared in small press magazines, and his stories in Doctor Who: Short Trips anthologies. A science fiction novel, The Weather on Versimmon, was published by Big Finish in 2012.
Adapted from : http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/HowTo... and http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
His poems have appeared in small press magazines, and his stories in Doctor Who: Short Trips anthologies. A science fiction novel, The Weather on Versimmon, was published by Big Finish in 2012.
Adapted from : http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/HowTo... and http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 20, 2015
Several of my friends are seriously into Doctor Who and its universe, whilst I'm simply a casual viewer of some of the TV series who knows obscure bits and bobs via others' fannish posts. My background to Bernice Summerfield before The Weather on Versimmon was simply a wiki page - most people reading this spin-off novel will be familiar with previous books about her.
It reminded me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch books, (the first two thirds especially of Ancillary Sword, published two years later than this), only this book isn't politically heavy-handed and is a faster read, not going for a ponderous, humourless literary style. Four female protagonists – archaeologist and space adventurer Bernice and her assistant Ruth, and on another ship, government minister Clell Hordenza and pilot Merla – arrive on the planet Versimmon within a few days of each other, and are representatives of a colonising power; much of the time their personalities feel gender-neutral. (Male characters are local soldiers and technicians. And there is, quite refreshingly, no romance plot.) Some characters are incidentally described as dark-skinned, and Versimmon society doesn't seem to attach any status implication to that. As in Leckie, there's a lot of walking and talking, and a bit more in the way of action adventure scenes towards the end.
Rather than the slavery topic of Ancillary Sword, the colonialist threats at issue here are ostensibly environmental damage and art theft, although the situation turns out to be more complex than it first appeared - perhaps because I knew nothing about Palastor before - and unlike Leckie's very direct analogies to recent Earth history, it's its own story with moments of wonder. (Although right at the end there's a pointed comment on UK government policy .) Early on, Bernice says ”we're not talking the Elgin Marbles here” – the years she spent in late C20th England are evidently a way to work in references to British culture that, I'd guess, may be a distinctive part of Doctor Who fiction that sets it apart from some other SF. There's even a Dad's Army catchphrase. (And how long since I heard the word 'crosspatch', which now sounds just too cute for its meaning, like a good name for an unsociable pet.)
Whilst there are no Time Lords here (Bernice takes a similar place in the plot, but is human), and it's less childish than many TV episodes, there are recognisable Whovian features: capering about chasing, looking for, or running away from others, unmaskings, and a cartoon villain who wouldn't be out of place cackling 'mwa-ha-ha-ha'.
As I said, this isn't an obviously literary novel, it's simply one of those where the writing's a touch better than expected for typical genre fiction. However, there is the odd literary reference, lines from poems especially. Others might just be me... Scenes in which recalled a short story by Hassan Blasim, which itself might have been inspired by a fable; the minister's name always made me think of Hal Incandenza from Infinite Jest although, whilst I'm sure the author has read DFW, there isn't an obvious connection between the characters. The punning names for aspects of Versimmon's tree and plant focused culture weren't quite my thing (e.g. the communication system 'nestwork', and ranks 'lignint', 'carpel' and 'canoptin') however, I did enjoy the wordplay of most chapter titles (e.g. 'Splinter Movement', 'Root & Branch Reform').
I daresay there's a small subgenre of SF in which worlds are organic – high technology made of wood, for example, but I've hardly ever read it before; the environment of Versimmon was novel, intriguing and often rather beautiful.
I'm usually hesitant to read books by people I know slightly, in case they turn out similar to some previous disappointments; I'd expected not to want to review this after reading it, but was pleasantly surprised.
It reminded me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch books, (the first two thirds especially of Ancillary Sword, published two years later than this), only this book isn't politically heavy-handed and is a faster read, not going for a ponderous, humourless literary style. Four female protagonists – archaeologist and space adventurer Bernice and her assistant Ruth, and on another ship, government minister Clell Hordenza and pilot Merla – arrive on the planet Versimmon within a few days of each other, and are representatives of a colonising power; much of the time their personalities feel gender-neutral. (Male characters are local soldiers and technicians. And there is, quite refreshingly, no romance plot.) Some characters are incidentally described as dark-skinned, and Versimmon society doesn't seem to attach any status implication to that. As in Leckie, there's a lot of walking and talking, and a bit more in the way of action adventure scenes towards the end.
Rather than the slavery topic of Ancillary Sword, the colonialist threats at issue here are ostensibly environmental damage and art theft, although the situation turns out to be more complex than it first appeared - perhaps because I knew nothing about Palastor before - and unlike Leckie's very direct analogies to recent Earth history, it's its own story with moments of wonder. (Although right at the end there's a pointed comment on UK government policy .) Early on, Bernice says ”we're not talking the Elgin Marbles here” – the years she spent in late C20th England are evidently a way to work in references to British culture that, I'd guess, may be a distinctive part of Doctor Who fiction that sets it apart from some other SF. There's even a Dad's Army catchphrase. (And how long since I heard the word 'crosspatch', which now sounds just too cute for its meaning, like a good name for an unsociable pet.)
Whilst there are no Time Lords here (Bernice takes a similar place in the plot, but is human), and it's less childish than many TV episodes, there are recognisable Whovian features: capering about chasing, looking for, or running away from others, unmaskings, and a cartoon villain who wouldn't be out of place cackling 'mwa-ha-ha-ha'.
As I said, this isn't an obviously literary novel, it's simply one of those where the writing's a touch better than expected for typical genre fiction. However, there is the odd literary reference, lines from poems especially. Others might just be me... Scenes in which recalled a short story by Hassan Blasim, which itself might have been inspired by a fable; the minister's name always made me think of Hal Incandenza from Infinite Jest although, whilst I'm sure the author has read DFW, there isn't an obvious connection between the characters. The punning names for aspects of Versimmon's tree and plant focused culture weren't quite my thing (e.g. the communication system 'nestwork', and ranks 'lignint', 'carpel' and 'canoptin') however, I did enjoy the wordplay of most chapter titles (e.g. 'Splinter Movement', 'Root & Branch Reform').
I daresay there's a small subgenre of SF in which worlds are organic – high technology made of wood, for example, but I've hardly ever read it before; the environment of Versimmon was novel, intriguing and often rather beautiful.
I'm usually hesitant to read books by people I know slightly, in case they turn out similar to some previous disappointments; I'd expected not to want to review this after reading it, but was pleasantly surprised.
October 26, 2021
Mi sono impantanata ben più del previsto in questo libro che, benché corto, scorre con una lentezza improponibile.
L'inizio è in media-res, con Ruth che scappa da Benny e dalle guardie in una sorta di missione che solo lei conosce. Anche se di solito apprezzo questo tipo di incipit, per la quantità di azione e mistero che portano, in questo caso è molto difficile da seguire, sia per lo stile con cui è scritto (il POV di Ruth è un misto di terza persona intercalato da parentesi in cui i suoi pensieri sono scritti come un flusso di coscienza in prima persona), sia perché le risposte ai quesiti che sorgono vengono centellinati con il contagocce, e bisogna aspettare ben oltre la metà del libro per riuscire a capirci qualcosa.
Ci ritroviamo su un pianeta così alieno che, con così poche informazioni date, è difficilissimo seguire cosa sta succedendo, nonostante a posteriori la trama sia estremamente semplice. L'ambientazione di per sé è molto affascinante: un piccolo pianeta colonia usato per archiviare i tesori di una civiltà in tempo di guerra, in cui gli alberi sono così immensi da essere usati come città. Lo sparuto numero di guardie e tecnici vivono all'interno di questi alberi, con tanto di stanze, ascensori, piattaforme di atterraggio, tanto che tutta la loro cultura e tecnologia è legata ad essi. Ma questa manciata di informazioni viene data così tardi che è come costruire un puzzle senza aver visto l'immagine sulla confezione (ho impiegato ¼ del libro solo a capire che chiamano gli anni “anelli”, perché in un albero un anello corrisponde ad un anno. Ma anche l'orbita intorno al pianeta è chiamata “anello”. Molta confusione quindi).
Non aiuta neanche che le scene siano brevissime (due o tre di pagine) e alternate tra loro. In un POV, un paio di persone si sposta da A a B in tre o quattro scene separate (in corridoio, dentro l'ascensore, fuori dall'ascensore...) condite di dialoghi che forniscono informazioni marginali, mentre contemporaneamente abbiamo un altro POV, diviso in altrettante scenette, in cui succede qualcosa di completamente diverso. Per quando abbiamo finito, ci siamo completamente scordati di dove dovessero andare le persone nel primo POV.
Altra fonte di confusione è il linguaggio: è molto interessante che una cultura abbia i propri termini per indicare qualcosa, e in questo caso molti sono legati alla vegetazione e agli alberi, ma spesso rendono le frasi incomprensibili. Inoltre, sono presenti molti refusi, in cui spesso manca una parola o viene ripetuta.
Per finire, sia Benny sia Ruth non hanno moltissimo da fare: la prima rimane in stato confusionale per la prima metà del libro, la seconda resta intrappolata dentro l'archivio fin da subito e viene trascinata dagli eventi. Benny inoltre manca della sua caratteristica spigliatezza, e anche se l'autore tenta di fare delle battute, spesso cadono a vuoto o hanno poco senso.
In generale, sento che sia successo ben poco in tutto il libro: i personaggi girano in tondo tutto il tempo, e l'azione viene allungata il più possibile con scene che potrebbero essere tagliate. La trama e la risoluzione finale sono molto semplici, ma vengono raccontate nel modo più complesso possibile in modo da confondere il lettore.
Spulciando la bibliografia dell'autore, noto che ha scritto, oltre a questo libro, solo qualche storia breve. La sensazione che mi dà “The Weather on Versimmon” è proprio quella di essere un racconto che è stato allungato a dismisura fino ad ottenere la lunghezza di un romanzo, il che è un peccato perché come concetto sarebbe stato anche carino, se fosse stato di una ventina di pagine invece che duecento.
L'inizio è in media-res, con Ruth che scappa da Benny e dalle guardie in una sorta di missione che solo lei conosce. Anche se di solito apprezzo questo tipo di incipit, per la quantità di azione e mistero che portano, in questo caso è molto difficile da seguire, sia per lo stile con cui è scritto (il POV di Ruth è un misto di terza persona intercalato da parentesi in cui i suoi pensieri sono scritti come un flusso di coscienza in prima persona), sia perché le risposte ai quesiti che sorgono vengono centellinati con il contagocce, e bisogna aspettare ben oltre la metà del libro per riuscire a capirci qualcosa.
Ci ritroviamo su un pianeta così alieno che, con così poche informazioni date, è difficilissimo seguire cosa sta succedendo, nonostante a posteriori la trama sia estremamente semplice. L'ambientazione di per sé è molto affascinante: un piccolo pianeta colonia usato per archiviare i tesori di una civiltà in tempo di guerra, in cui gli alberi sono così immensi da essere usati come città. Lo sparuto numero di guardie e tecnici vivono all'interno di questi alberi, con tanto di stanze, ascensori, piattaforme di atterraggio, tanto che tutta la loro cultura e tecnologia è legata ad essi. Ma questa manciata di informazioni viene data così tardi che è come costruire un puzzle senza aver visto l'immagine sulla confezione (ho impiegato ¼ del libro solo a capire che chiamano gli anni “anelli”, perché in un albero un anello corrisponde ad un anno. Ma anche l'orbita intorno al pianeta è chiamata “anello”. Molta confusione quindi).
Non aiuta neanche che le scene siano brevissime (due o tre di pagine) e alternate tra loro. In un POV, un paio di persone si sposta da A a B in tre o quattro scene separate (in corridoio, dentro l'ascensore, fuori dall'ascensore...) condite di dialoghi che forniscono informazioni marginali, mentre contemporaneamente abbiamo un altro POV, diviso in altrettante scenette, in cui succede qualcosa di completamente diverso. Per quando abbiamo finito, ci siamo completamente scordati di dove dovessero andare le persone nel primo POV.
Altra fonte di confusione è il linguaggio: è molto interessante che una cultura abbia i propri termini per indicare qualcosa, e in questo caso molti sono legati alla vegetazione e agli alberi, ma spesso rendono le frasi incomprensibili. Inoltre, sono presenti molti refusi, in cui spesso manca una parola o viene ripetuta.
Per finire, sia Benny sia Ruth non hanno moltissimo da fare: la prima rimane in stato confusionale per la prima metà del libro, la seconda resta intrappolata dentro l'archivio fin da subito e viene trascinata dagli eventi. Benny inoltre manca della sua caratteristica spigliatezza, e anche se l'autore tenta di fare delle battute, spesso cadono a vuoto o hanno poco senso.
In generale, sento che sia successo ben poco in tutto il libro: i personaggi girano in tondo tutto il tempo, e l'azione viene allungata il più possibile con scene che potrebbero essere tagliate. La trama e la risoluzione finale sono molto semplici, ma vengono raccontate nel modo più complesso possibile in modo da confondere il lettore.
Spulciando la bibliografia dell'autore, noto che ha scritto, oltre a questo libro, solo qualche storia breve. La sensazione che mi dà “The Weather on Versimmon” è proprio quella di essere un racconto che è stato allungato a dismisura fino ad ottenere la lunghezza di un romanzo, il che è un peccato perché come concetto sarebbe stato anche carino, se fosse stato di una ventina di pagine invece che duecento.
January 12, 2022
As The Two Jasons was brought forward from its initial January 2022 to October 2021, Big Finish Productions commissioned two further Bernice Summerfield audiobooks to replace that slot plus an additional slot for February 2022. The January slot was taken by The Weather on Versimmon by Matthew Griffiths, a novel released during the box set era of the Bernice Summerfield range to coincide with the release of Road Trip, the second box set. Luckily, unlike the initial five Bernice Summerfield novels, while plot points are referenced, but not integral to understanding that box set or the events of this book. This is essential as I have not heard any of the box sets yet. The plot sees Benny with Ruth searching for her son Peter who has gone missing. They find themselves on the planet Versimmon which is essentially a world of ecological artists, but the weather seems to be going haywire. There’s a hailstorm as climate change begins to ravage the planet for reasons that nobody is entirely sure of why as fauna has begun to join the flora.
This is an intriguing premise for Matthew Griffiths to hang a novel on, and the release being only six hours put me in the mindset of looking at a short, snappy audiobook, but sadly this is not really the pace. Griffiths’ writing style is more apt for short stories and novellas, some of which he has written in The Christmas Collection and True Stories, both contributions to those being enjoyable. Despite being short, this novel feels like it has been stretched incredibly thin, mainly due to having a supporting cast who all fall down to one note characters you would expect in a story like this. Even the villain, something that most writers will generally rise above the rest due to their place in the plot, feels incredibly flat. It partially feels like this was meant to be a book with just Benny affecting the plot as Ruth has a plot that while eventually tying back to the main narrative with Benny, is one that feels like it doesn’t exist when she isn’t there. Benny is the only character who feels like there is a distinctive character voice from her perspective. Now, Griffiths does an excellent job in putting several topics together at interesting intersections, art and environmentalism connect in some very interesting ways. There is some potential for more exploration of Versimmon as a society into what it generally means with an art driven society and some of the art heist elements of the novel are a lot of fun. What brings it down is a plot that needs either some tightening or more in depth characterisation.
The production of the audiobook version of The Weather on Versimmon is, as always, a top quality audiobook, boosted by being back in studio for the first time since The Glass Prison, and it shows. While home recording is great and all, for an audiobook there is a slight limitation on how expressive the narrator can be due to the size of the at home studio space. Lisa Bowerman narrating while always great, here feels more freeing from having that in person connection and ability to play off the presence of the director. There’s just a slight increase in the energy in the narration and the way the sound editing turns out because of the in person presence which is excellent. Overall, The Weather on Versimmon is clearly a first novel from Matthew Griffiths and with that brings quite a few problems. It still manages to be an overall great production with narration from Lisa Bowerman bringing things to life incredibly well. 6/10.
This is an intriguing premise for Matthew Griffiths to hang a novel on, and the release being only six hours put me in the mindset of looking at a short, snappy audiobook, but sadly this is not really the pace. Griffiths’ writing style is more apt for short stories and novellas, some of which he has written in The Christmas Collection and True Stories, both contributions to those being enjoyable. Despite being short, this novel feels like it has been stretched incredibly thin, mainly due to having a supporting cast who all fall down to one note characters you would expect in a story like this. Even the villain, something that most writers will generally rise above the rest due to their place in the plot, feels incredibly flat. It partially feels like this was meant to be a book with just Benny affecting the plot as Ruth has a plot that while eventually tying back to the main narrative with Benny, is one that feels like it doesn’t exist when she isn’t there. Benny is the only character who feels like there is a distinctive character voice from her perspective. Now, Griffiths does an excellent job in putting several topics together at interesting intersections, art and environmentalism connect in some very interesting ways. There is some potential for more exploration of Versimmon as a society into what it generally means with an art driven society and some of the art heist elements of the novel are a lot of fun. What brings it down is a plot that needs either some tightening or more in depth characterisation.
The production of the audiobook version of The Weather on Versimmon is, as always, a top quality audiobook, boosted by being back in studio for the first time since The Glass Prison, and it shows. While home recording is great and all, for an audiobook there is a slight limitation on how expressive the narrator can be due to the size of the at home studio space. Lisa Bowerman narrating while always great, here feels more freeing from having that in person connection and ability to play off the presence of the director. There’s just a slight increase in the energy in the narration and the way the sound editing turns out because of the in person presence which is excellent. Overall, The Weather on Versimmon is clearly a first novel from Matthew Griffiths and with that brings quite a few problems. It still manages to be an overall great production with narration from Lisa Bowerman bringing things to life incredibly well. 6/10.
July 14, 2019
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3198861.html
This is a novel in the Bernice Summerfield continuity, set during the Road Trip audio sequence (not that you'd really notice). It's a short book set on a world with no native animals, entirely ruled by trees; Bernice and three other women from the human colonising power have to make sense of it all. Another reviewer compared it favourably with Ann Leckie; I wouldn't go that far, but I thought the setting and language were a lot more original and imaginative than I'm used to from this series, and although the action was a bit confusing to begin with, it resolves reasonably quickly and anyway does not go on too long. Unusually, I think it would be a satisfactory read for someone who was not familiar with Benny's wider story.
This is a novel in the Bernice Summerfield continuity, set during the Road Trip audio sequence (not that you'd really notice). It's a short book set on a world with no native animals, entirely ruled by trees; Bernice and three other women from the human colonising power have to make sense of it all. Another reviewer compared it favourably with Ann Leckie; I wouldn't go that far, but I thought the setting and language were a lot more original and imaginative than I'm used to from this series, and although the action was a bit confusing to begin with, it resolves reasonably quickly and anyway does not go on too long. Unusually, I think it would be a satisfactory read for someone who was not familiar with Benny's wider story.
November 24, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. It did feel a bit more like an extended audio as opposed to a normal Bernice book but that wasn't such a bad thing. Set firmly in Season 2 of the New Benny adventures (actually Season 13) it was a nice story. It did takes me two attempts to read it. Back when it came out Ruth was still relatively new a companion for Benny and it didn't really read right for me as they weren't close enough friends for the separation to mean as much but now, after ten audio adventures together it read superbly well.
March 2, 2016
It's been a while since I read a Benny book - and I'd somehow forgotten I'd bought these. An enjoyable read, once I got used to some stylistic quirks essential to the narrative. I'm obviously missing a lot of continuity so need to go back and listen to some of the more recent audios to fill in some of the gaps.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews