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[Feb. 12th, 2006|06:04 pm] |
Some recent reads...
3. Moondust -- Andrew Smith
We didnt have a telly at home when i was growing up. I think it was about 1972 or 3 when we finally got one. I was 7 or maybe 8. Before that it was a treat to go to my grandparents to watch TV and stay for tea. My earliest memory of Television is of watching one of the Apollo missions, possibly 14, at their house. James Burke and Raymond Burr I think, were the BBC presenters. I was hooked.
Andrew Smith is about the same age as me, slightly older, and he shares the memories of those lunar missions. So he sought out the nine remaining moonwalkers for interview and this book is the result. It is revelatory, the near disasters that every mission suffered, the personality battles, the rebellious nature of Bean and Aldrin, the reclusive Armstrong, the osessive fan following they have. And it is touching, the human cost in realtionships, in alcoholism and depression, matched in spiritual growth for some.
14. Wildlife -- James Patrick Kelly
James Patrick Kelly is one of those hard to define authors. Friend and collaborator with John Kessel, and a part of the Kessel-centred group Swanwick called The Humanists, yet he had a story in Mirrorshades. This novel, half of which appeared as two novellas in Asimov's ('The Prisoner Of Chillon' and 'Mr Boy') owes a great deal to both sides.
Wynne Cage is a journalist reporting on a daring raid to steal a computer program called 'Wildlife' before finding herself in the Castle Of Chillon with a dying genius who calls himself Bonivard but who may be a legendary computer hacker believed dead.
Tony Cage is a 'flash' drug designer obsessive. Wynne is his clone-daughter and lover, until he has himself put into cryosleep.
Peter Cage is Wynne's clone-son, who has his genes 'twanked' ever few years to keep him as a 14 year old. His best friends are a designer dinosaur, and a semi-sentient organic robot or 'wiseguy'.
By this time Wynne has 'twanked' herself into a living 3/4 replica of the Statue Of Liberty.
From there Kelly explores the nature of human existence. More than anything this novel resembles a post-cyberpunk take on the mid 70s Heinlein novels such as I Will Fear No Evil and Friday. The last section in particular finds several different 'versions' of Wynne uploaded using a descendant of the original 'Wildlife' program.
And therein lies a key to much of Kelly's fiction. In a manner that M John Harrison would be dismayed at, Kelly is frequently and explicitly in dialogue with genre SF. Wildlife is his reaction both to Heinlein and to Cyberpunk, inspired by and commenting on both.
It doesn't quite work in the way that his short stories do, the sections don't link up so well and there is a lot of explicatory text. Despite its flaws it is an enjoyable novel, and its about time Kelly wrote another. |
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| Comments: |
There are days when it seems like I have nothing in common with the rest of my species, even the minorities. For example I have a memory of various classes at school being put in front of a black and white television to watch men walk on the Moon. I'd guess I was probably about 6 or 7 when this happend so it was one of the later Apollo missions. Anyway, while the rest of them sat and watched I wandered off to the back of the room and completly ignored the event on the basis that it was totally boring. I am yet to find anything remotely interesting about the real life exploration of space. | |
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