Hotspur’s Comments (group member since May 22, 2008)

Hotspur’s comments from the The Secret Library group.

MY review...

The Sky People by S.M. Stirling


My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Imagine the Cold War transposed over Edgar Rice Burroughs, Larry Niven and a little bit H.G. Wells, and you have the milieu of the SKY PEOPLE. I'll be honest, I have never been very impressed with Stirling's work in the past-- they start off well, for the most part, but he has (historically, in my experience) dove into some fairly cheesy directions, possibly because he thought that was what his (mostly male) audience wanted (start a Draka novel some time, you'll see.. you'lllll seeeeeeeee). Still, SKY PEOPLE was on my book club list for the Secret Library, so I found it and read it. And was pleasantly surprised. Stirling delivered a pretty good setting and a pretty good story here-- NOT laden with tons of surprises. The Sky People reads like a good fantasy/SF crossover written in the 80s, and that's not such a bad thing.



In the 1980s The Soviets and the American "bloc" have discovered life on Venus AND on Mars, and it's (suspiciously) human looking. Venus, where this novel takes place, is a riot of mixed biology that would give an anthropologist and biologist fits-- mammals coexisting with dinosaurs, suspiciously Human looking Homo Sapiens existing with Neanderthals, and a lot more. The setting is grand, the plot, decent. In my humble opinion, it's Stirling's best novel yet (although my sample data is somewhat limited).


View all my reviews.

I picked up THE SKY PEOPLE about a month ago or so and am about done. I rather liked it. Not anything epic, but quite entertaining. Is there another story written in this universe?

H

Nebula Report:

For those, especially non-members, who are interested to see which books&stories are on the NAR.

Preliminary Qualifiers
http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

Novels
http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

Novellas
http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

Novelettes
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Short stories
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Scripts
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Andre Norton YA novels
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Interviews:
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Vera Nazarian
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Jack McDevitt
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Blogs:

Confessions of a SF curator
The introductory to what will be a series of posts by Lynne Thomas, on the archiving and preservation of SF collections in academic libraries.

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

Of Myth and Memory
A personal exploration of the poetic elements in the prose of Ray Bradbury and Dylan Thomas, by Sheila Finch

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

Author Emerita announcement

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

What do you recommend?
http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...

An Open invitation to everyone to come and talk up their favourites -- books, stories, movies, comics, etc.

Well, snikies, I've been done quite a while. Did you like it?

Speaking of Infected, how many chapters have been released to podiobooks? I'm somewhere near 33-35 without checking, and there doesn't appear to be any more out there at the moment.

I'm loving this one, btw.

Right-o! This is one I can actually find in a store!

If I were an Evil Overlord seemed obvious, I'm glad you all like the idea.

My next recommendation is a, erm, "beach read", if you catch my drift. THE AUTOMATIC DETECTIVE, by A. Lee Martinez. The story examines a sub genre we've all read before-- "tough PI with heart of gold helping out the little guy and getting mixed up in big, big trouble".

Sure, the detective is an android. We've all seen this too. What makes THE AUTOMATIC DETECTIVE interesting is the wildly improbable retro-futuristic setting and cast of characters, as well as the "robots-eye view" that Martinez gives the lead character, Mack Megaton.

It reads fast and breezy, like a comic, and I was done with it quickly. This is no ground-breaker, but it is a FUN read, and what's wrong with that?

My Review: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

hmmm... I was in a third world cantina, trying to leverage Our Side's position by wining and dining a consortium of sugar plantation owners. Suddenly, the waiter pitched over dead in front of me on the table, a kris knife buried in his shoulder blades. pinned by the knife to his back was a bloody piece of parchment. Scrawled on the parchment was the phrase: THE FIRST RULE OF THE SECRET LIBRARY IS, WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THE SECRET LIBRARY. After the protests were lodged and carrion carried away, I revisted the scrap of parchment, which I had hastily palmed during the uproar.

My colleagues in the Firm did some research for me, and here I am.

/me eyes the others with cold suspicion..

Thanks, Kris. I've been lurking for a bit, but am glad to be here and glad to participate. I used to attend a SF book club discussion at the local bookstore, alas, the store was done in by the ravages of market capitalism and is no more. I'm glad this club is around.

BTW, love the podcast so far. After a job change last year I had to get used to driving to work again (after years of sleeping on the commuter train). I hate morning drive radio in this burg (Wash DC) and have turned to podcasts as a way to keep my extra peppy and alert. Keep up the good work, fellers.

H.

PS: Oh, and if you think I'm stretching things a bit with the lesbian softcore, read a Draka book some time, or try to.

I finished it, and I have to say I'd recommend it. There's always a danger of lapsing into self-mocking parody with thematic short story collections-- that's hard to avoid. I have to give Greenburg and Davis a lot of credit-- they selected stories that were humorous, but not smarmy. After reading the first three I was under the impression the entire collection was going to be a collection of humor stories. I'm pleased to say it wasn't. There's some nuggets in this one. I recommend THE FORTUNE COOKIE TYRANT and HOW TO BE THE ULTIMATE OVERLORD (I think), in particular.

H.

I admit to being a bit tentative about buying this one. After finishing novels one and two in the Draka-verse, my judgment on Stirling was something along the lines of: "That SM Stirling, he sure likes a lesbian scene!".. which is hardly a recommendation to explore other works in his oeuvre.

Mind you, I did enjoy books one and two in the ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME series-- simply because the idea of placing Nantucket in a time period before most of recorded history is very intriguing. However, it does get a bit repetitive about midway through the second book, so I kind of dropped it for a yawner..

So, will THE SKY PEOPLE make me see the hidden merits of Mr. Stirling, beyond the realms of soft-core porn? It's perhaps too late to buy and read, but I am interested-- Stirling can definitely build on ideas, and when he isn't being uber-macho, he can deliver on occasion. So, yeah, I'm intrigued.

Well, sometimes an obvious answer is the right answer. I, for one, can't believe this little gem hasn't been put up on the reading list yet.

IF I WERE AN EVIL OVERLORD
by Martin H. Greenburg
DAW BOOKS, 2007
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Russell Davis



Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0756403847
ISBN-13: 978-0756403843

Blurb: "FOURTEEN ORIGINAL SHORT STORIES THAT ARE PERFECT FOR EVERYONE.

BECAUSE LET'S FACE IT:

Who hasn't dreamed of being an evil overlord?

Today's finest fantasy authors have delivered fourteen tales that run the gamut from humorous to serious, fantasy to science fiction. Certain to appeal to role-playing gamers, fantasy lovers, and megalomaniacs who want to rule the world."

I admit, I'm phoning this one in...