Sunday, November 2, 2014

Requiem.



On Friday, October 31st, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashed during a test flight over the Mojave Desert.  The pilot, Peter Siebold, escaped with severe injuries.  The copilot, Michael Alsbury, died in the crash.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk in the media about the fact that space travel is inherently risky, and that although the death of Michael Alsbury is tragic, this will not deter us from the quest to expand humanity's horizons through the exploration of space.

Blah, blah, blah.

Space travel IS risky, no doubt about that.  People have died before this*, and there is every possibility that people will die in the future.  However, at some very fundamental level, Virgin Galactic's approach to space travel leaves a bad taste in my mouth, a bad taste which has very little to do with the expansion of horizons. The decision to sell tickets to space to the elite few who have a quarter of a million dollars in discretionary funds is like some odd precursor to the society pictured in last year's dystopian film Elysium, where the rich live in orbit and the poor are condemned to the wreckage of Earthbound civilization.

I don't want to diminish his death, but I can't help but feel that Michael Alsbury died so that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie could spend six minutes in space.
- Sid

* Some of those people have died at Virgin Galactic. In 2007, three people died and three were seriously injured when an engine exploded during a test.
 


Saturday, October 25, 2014

De Castell, Dellamonica and Gibson


What’s the difference between fantasy and science fiction? Fantasy can’t happen. Science fiction is something that hasn’t happened, but could.
Probables and Impossibles, 2014 Vancouver Writers Fest
Today I ventured out into the autumn rain to attend a Vancouver Writers Fest event featuring veteran science fiction author William Gibson, and newcomer fantasy authors Sebastien de Castell and A. M. Dellamonica, reading from recent work and discussing topics ranging from world building to the dark trends in contemporary fantasy. 


To be honest, I was there for William Gibson - I've been a fan since reading Neuromancer, his first book, back in 1984, and I have an enormous respect for the unique perspective and superb style that informs his work.  However, I was very impressed by both de Castell and Dellamonica, and found the event to be well rounded and entertaining.

Dellamonica described the process of laying the foundations of her third book, Child of a Hidden Sea, as deciding that she wanted to write something "fun", and proceeding to make a list of things that she thought qualified, like portal fantasy, biodiversity, "pirates!", sword fights, David Attenborough, sailing ships and so on, and finally deciding not to discard any of the ideas and to "write about all of them!"

She defines portal fantasy as "Narnia for grownups - the idea is to go through a wardrobe or you're picked up by a tornado, something that transports you to another world but you're originally from here," and discussed how the origin of characters in our world places their story in the time it's being written, with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe ultimately being about England during World War II, and the impossibility of thinking about Oz without thinking about the Dust Bowl.

In some ways, Gibson was the odd man out on the panel when it came to the discussion of worldbuilding.  As he pointed out, his writing rarely involves the construction of a fully-featured environment: "I start with a character and ... small objects, and the nature of the character and the nature of the small objects expand into an assumed world. I think ... that part of my technique has always been to rely on suggestion." 


He described an encounter early in his career with role playing game developers who were eager to transfer the cyberpunk reality from Neuromancer into a pen and paper game. One of their first questions was, "where does the food come from", part of a list of similar "Marxist" questions that Gibson was unable to answer. Ultimately, the developers gave up, deciding that Gibson's world was "not gameable".

De Castell describes Traitor's Blade, his debut novel, as "The Three Musketeers meets Game of Thrones".  Like Gibson, he also writes from a character-centric position - in Traitor's Blade, he began with the question: "What happens when the ideals that you've believed in for your entire life turn out to not* work?" and created an honourable, heroic character who lives in a corrupt, collapsing society. From that starting point, he "builds the world out based on explanations and questions," explaining that one of the most useful qualities that you can give your narrator is ignorance.

He feels that within a richly textured narrative, the props acquire a deeper level of significance beyond their physical attributes - what it means to a character to use a laser rifle versus a light saber, for example.

One of the topics that came up in the Q and A portion of the event dealt with the question of adaptation, which might well have been a red button topic with William Gibson, given the indifferent response to the film versions of his work and the fact that Neuromancer, his best known novel, has been in development limbo for the last 30 years.** 

However, Gibson handled the question gracefully, and it was amusing to watch the way the other two authors deferred to him because they hadn't been exposed to that particular situation at this point in their careers, whereas he was a seasoned veteran regarding the entire process.

The original question about adaptation mentioned games as well as movies and television.  Ignoring the issues of food production in cyberpunk fiction, I suspect that Neuromancer would probably adapt quite well to the current novelistic, story-driven computer gaming milieu.  Maybe it's time to revisit that idea, Bill.
- Sid
* The split infinitive is Mr. de Castell's, not mine.

** To my surprise, I recently found out that Johnny Mnemonic was not the only Gibson movie out there - his short story New Rose Hotel was also adapted to film in 1999.
 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

28 Days Later.


It still amazes me that a few random conversations could somehow combine with a handful of superheroes that I made up in grade school to create a novel in just a few months.  Let alone a novel someone else would want to read.
Peter Clines
Thanks to a superb group of friends, I'm just now wrapping up my birthday from last month with a final selection of gifts.  (Unwrapping might be a more appropriate verb, now that I think about it.)

When I visited Ontario, my friend Colin wisely presented me with a Chapters/Indigo gift card, which cleverly balances out my love of books with the difficulties of trying to buy me something that I don't already own (and might want to read.) Ill health and a busy schedule (a terrible combination, by the way) kept me from using the card until just last week, when I was finally able to dedicate some time to making a suitable selection of reading material.

Unfortunately, I find the Chapters/Indigo™ web site to be difficult to browse*, so I've adopted the odd technique of actually going to one of their physical stores, looking at the shelves, and e-mailing myself a shopping list for online purchasing.  This isn't as counter-intuitive as it sounds, purchasing online saved me about 20% right across the board. It also balances out the limitations of physical inventory, only two of my choices were available in the store, but looking at the shelves providing me with useful ideas for online searching.

The package from Indigo™ arrived at work today, containing the following selection of science fiction and fantasy novels:
  • Ex-Heroes, by Peter Clines
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
  • Great North Road, by Peter F. Hamilton
  • The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch
I've actually already read Ex-Heroes in bootlegged digital format, and enjoyed it enough that I wanted to back it up with paper, so to speak.  Peter Clines' four book Ex-Heroes series sounds like a catalogue of clichés when it's reduced to its basic elements of superheroes versus zombies, but I've been impressed by the skill and believability with which Clines creates his post-apocalyptic world and the heroes and villains that inhabit it.

For the most part, his superheroes occupy the usual slots:  Saint George, aka the Mighty Dragon, is super strong and invulnerable, Stealth is a obsessive humourless black-clad crime fighter in the style of Batman, Cerberus is a robotic battlesuit operated by the scientist who created it, and so on.  However, Clines brings his characters to life - ironically, in a struggle to protect the last survivors of Los Angeles from the undead.

As an example, Saint George (George Bailey in civilian life) is everything that a hero should be - honourable, honest, fair, and brave - but he never comes across as flat or predictable, but rather as a decent guy who has been given the gift of superpowers and who feels that it is his duty to use them to make people's lives better, no matter what happens.** 

I freely admit that the series doesn't offer any great truths or startling insights, but if you're looking for a solidly written, entertaining and enjoyable reading experience, I strongly recommend the Ex-Heroes.

Neil Gaiman is an obvious choice - has Neil Gaiman ever written a bad book? I think that the worst thing you can manage to say about Neil Gaiman is that some of his writing is not as good as the rest:  there's variation even in excellence. That being said, reviews suggest that The Ocean at the End of the Lane may be one of the better examples of his work, and I look forward to reading it.

I've mentioned Peter F. Hamilton and his Reality Dysfunction series here previously - I can only describe Hamilton's talent as astonishing.  His futures are incredibly rich and detailed, filled with an astounding range of technologies, locations, characters and situations, and his story lines are epic.  Great North Road combines all of that with a murder mystery - and a detective named Sidney, it's rare for me to get that sort of opportunity to identify with a character.

It's far too easy to get into a rut when buying books, so I always try to throw in a wild card.  This time it's The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first in a series of fantasy novels about Locke Lamora, the Thorn of Camorr - confidence man, trickster and thief.  I was intrigued by the concept, we'll see if it lives up to its back-cover advertising.  Thanks for the opportunity, Colin.

I can't finish this posting without thanking my friend Chris for the final item on my birthday list, a TARDIS USB hub, which flashes its roof light and emits the characteristic sounds of phasing in from time travel whenever a device is plugged in.  And it's LOUD - no wonder people seem to be able to hear it from so far away on the show!  Thanks again, Chris - there may well be a video follow up to this posting so you can see - and hear - what it's like in action.
- Sid

*Okay, is there anyone - ANYONE - reading this who shelves their books alphabetically by title?  In their physical stores, Chapters™ displays their books by author, which is pretty much how every bookstore I've ever visited does it.  However, the Chapters™ web site does not offer A-Z By Author as a viewing option - how hard would that be to program, for heaven's sake?

** George is also a Doctor Who fan, which obviously goes a long way with me.  To be more accurate, he views the Doctor as a role model:  "He was just a really smart guy who always tried to do the right thing.  To help people, no matter what."