Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

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Paul J. McAuley's new novel Fairyland instead. Don't let the title fool you. This is no sweetly icky novel. It isn't even a fantasy, it is hard science fiction of the best sort. Genetically engineered "dolls" are the new servant class, the playthings of the first world bourgeoisie. Alex Sharkey is a designer of psychoactive viruses, the new designer drugs. In collaboration with the super smart young Milena he genetically alters some dolls, turning them into the first of what come to be called fairies. The newly awakened folk, far from being the fey creatures of legend, quickly develop their own agenda. The battles that follow are cruel in the extreme as each side uses the other in cynical furtherance of their own ends. This is a gloomy, bitter book which makes telling points about nanotechnology and genetic dabblings. You may not enjoy it, but you will certainly appreciate it. I like spy novels too (I think the word you want is "eclectic"). John Le Carré's latest is Our Game and it is a masterpiece. The new post-communist atmosphere has caused a shake up in the intelligence services and Tim Cranmer, the book's narrator, has been forcibly retired along with Larry Pettifer his long time double agent inside Russia. Somewhat late in life Pettifer appears to have discovered morals and a sense of social awareness. These manifest themselves in a seemingly hopeless crusade on behalf of the rebelling Caucasian states (Chechnya, Ingushetya et al). He becomes involved in a massive fraud yielding 37 million pounds which he uses to finance the revolution. Cranmer seems to be implicated in this -- he isn't, but few are convinced. Propelled by the pressure of these suspicions he pursues Larry forward into the future and backwards into the past, a voyage of discovery that attempts to understand and illuminate both the man and his motivations. Old episodes are analysed with a new insight and new episode are explained (and predicted) by what has gone before. The truths we learn about each of them from this analysis are bittersweet ones. This is a masterful novel and it works on every possible level. It is writing of genius. One of my favourite authors is Jack Vance. His elegant, mannered prose is always a delight and I wallow in it. He has written quite a lot outside of the SF/Fantasy field and recently I picked up a copy of The Mad Man Theory by Ellery Queen, a house name that Vance used on two detective stories in the mid 1960s (the other was called A Room To Die In and I have that as well). Both are actually rather disappointing, being merely routine thrillers with nothing to mark them from the pack. There are occasional Vancian touches (meals are very sensuously described) but they are few and far between. The commercial formula that was "Ellery Queen" seems to have overwhelmed Vance's original voice. Definitely for completists only. Charles de Lint is one of the few serious fantasy writers that I can stomach. Normally I don't like fantasy very much and I avoid it. However I actively seek out de Lint's books. The Ivory and the Horn is another collection of his magical-realistic contemporary fables set in the city of Newford. As always, though many of the pieces are slight, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and the overall effect is a delight. The Newford stories are invariably artfully crafted pieces. Svaha, on the other hand was something of a disappointment. It is more of an SF novel than a fantasy. It is set in the twenty first century. The native American tribes have taken the American government to court and won a landmark decision. Granted tribal lands in perpetuity, they have retreated there behind "enclaves", technological barriers that keep the outside world at bay. There they live according the old traditions (and superstitions) mingled with the high technology which only they now seem to posses (they have satellites and skyhooks). Meanwhile the rest of the world goes to hell in a handbasket as the environmental factors we currently worry about peak and effectively destroy the outside society. Life for the have nots is nasty, brutish and short. The uneasy juxtaposition of native American lifestyles and high technology contrasted with the moral and physical decay of the outside simply fails to convince. I think perhaps de Lint's voice is too loud. The book bogs down as it goes through the politically correct motions. For many years I have admired the mannered Chinese detective novels written by the late Robert van Gulik. Told in the traditional Chinese manner (van Gulik was a Chinese scholar of note), they concern one Judge Dee, an actual historical person who lived from AD 630 to 700. For a long time I was convinced
that only five of the novels existed -- mainly because in an essay appended to The Chinese Nail Murders van Gulik himself says exactly that. Imagine my surprise and glee when I found another called The Haunted Monastery. Imagine also my anger to note that the small print at the front refers to a novel called The Lacquer Screen WHICH I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYWHERE!!! Grump. The books are traditional whodunits and were they set in contemporary surroundings they probably wouldn't amount to much. It is the alien atmosphere of medieval China evoked so skilfully by van Gulik that gives them their charm and attraction. In many ways, reading these books is a science fictional experience. The evocation of alien surroundings is part of what science fiction is all about and van Gulik is a master of the technique. Finally this month we have the first instalment of Stephen King's new episodic novel The Green Mile. An episode will be published monthly as a slim paperback from now until August. We have lots of cliff hangers to anticipate. The book is set in an American prison in 1932, on death row and King declares it is an attempt to get inside the feeling of what it means to be condemned to be executed. What is it like to take that last walk to the execution chamber? The first episode (called Two Dead Girls) is, of course, just a teaser for events yet to come. Sufficient horrible hints have been that I for one will continue reading with enormous eagerness. The only question that concerns me is whether or not my blood pressure will withstand my current enormous need to know! This could well be one of King's more memorable books. Connie Willis Bellwether Bantam Christopher Moore Bloodsucking Fiends Black Swan Patrick O'Brian The Unknown Shore Norton Robert Asprin and Linda Evans Time Scout Baen Eric Brown Blue Shifting Pan Alan Dean Foster & Eric Frank Russell Design for Great-Day Tor Barry Crump Crumpy's Campfire Companion Hodder Moa Beckett Bob Jones Prancing Pavonine Charlatans Inprint Steven Levy Insanely Great Viking Mike Resnick A Miracle of Rare Design Tor
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Trimmings From The Triffid's Beard
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Foreword Unlike most holics, (if, a
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Buster Keaton and the lateral mind
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Movie Go Round Phlogiston Thirty-Fi
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crisps and a most revolting orange
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Lingua Frankly Phlogiston Thirty-Si
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tranquil islands of San Serif as th
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linguistic analysis. It is a theme
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up is laughable (feudalism across t
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perhaps over six feet." or "The per
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A Dozen Drabbles Phlogiston Thirty-
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This sort of thing had been going o
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In the story Jack Connie Willis cho
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(assuming the author describes them
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You should also consider whether or
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The Lesser Spotted Science Fiction
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. . . She peered at the cracked man
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stick. He hit the bed, and it was s
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Funny Business Phlogiston Forty-One
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...A large bottle. And in the bottl
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His wit and wisdom are highly prais
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16 novels, a Companion and a Mappe,
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weekends, many fine fictional works
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Zelazny brought Corwin's struggle t
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ordinary). He has also written some
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Page 71 and 72: press in recent years about people
Page 74 and 75: John Kilian Houston Brunner (1934-1
Page 77 and 78: In the Beginning Phoenixine Seventy
Page 80 and 81: It's Only Words Phoenixine Seventy-
Page 82: Alan Dean Foster Montezuma Strip As
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Page 88 and 89: There's a Pigeon in the Hole Phlogi
Page 90 and 91: detective story. Currently, under t
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Page 103 and 104: To Be Continued Phoenixine Seventy-
Page 105: searching out and nullifying sabote
Page 108 and 109: various acquaintances. Most of the
Page 112 and 113: The Mixture As Before Phoenixine Ei
Page 116: John Barnes Kaleidoscope Century Mi
Page 119 and 120: and move hastily on. It is also qui
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Page 127 and 128: Genre? Phoenixine Eighty-Two, July
Page 129: example, it is genuinely moving. On
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Page 135 and 136: Living in an SF Novel Phoenixine Ei
Page 137 and 138: Robyn Gossett is an entertaining wr
Page 140 and 141: Youthful Vices Phoenixine Eighty-Fi
Page 142 and 143: story is ever continued, I will be
Page 145 and 146: Connections Phoenixine Eighty-Six,
Page 147 and 148: have worried. She is on the top of
Page 150 and 151: New Things Phoenixine Eighty-Eight,
Page 152 and 153: novel with a lot of libertarian pre
Page 155 and 156: Oh Frabjous Day Phoenixine Eighty-N
Page 157: Falco, the detective in Vespasian's
Page 160 and 161: autobiography and several smaller a
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It sounded good and I dived into it
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Real Hols Phoenixine Ninety-One, Ma
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few months ago and complained that
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I Can't Lift up My Book Phoenixine
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There was a time, many years ago, w
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Moronicity Phoenixine Ninety-Three,
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my body opening in anticipation of
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Cats Phoenixine Ninety-Four, June 1
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With Higher Education, Sheffield an
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Food Phoenixine Ninety-Five, July 1
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through. His books pull you up with
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Snot Phoenixine Ninety-Six, August
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I have no hesitation in recommendin
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Tower Blocks and Graffiti Phoenixin
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picture had appeared on the wall an
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As I collected my luggage, the clou
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the Kay Scarpetta stories. Other th
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Ah -- so now I was having earthquak
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went back to the dentist. "Oh yes,
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Tony Phoenixine One-Hundred, Decemb
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ut when she puts her mind to it she
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Bouncy Phoenixine One-Hundred and O
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slammed shut as the wind screamed p
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A series of bizarre murders is shak
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The Universe Hates Me Phoenixine On
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humour with which this farrago of n
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Diatribe on Language Phoenixine One
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unless your school principle says s
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with large gaps in his memory and a
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Toilets Phoenixine One-Hundred and
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wall rather than recessed into it.
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Richard Matheson I am Legend Orb Ro
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almost a reprise of the war of 1812
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McConnell's book Code Complete proc
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Fiji Phoenixine One-Hundred and Six
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Every night the resident trio of mu
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The next day I flew home and the vi
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Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

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