Reviews, Bribes and Misconceptions

I saw this post over at the Emerald City Blog and got a bit pissed off even though it doesn’t really apply to me. It all begins with this passage from a review over at Strange Horizons:

Just like everyone else, I am rather suspicious of hype. As soon as I hear something is the best new thing ever I start to wonder what's wrong with it. Sometimes, as in the case of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, the praise seems warranted. Far more often I want to know how the reviewer was bribed to tell me such lies. Which brings me to The Lies of Locke Lamora, a book awash in buildup. There's a movie deal and already a fair number of foreign rights deals, and the buzz surrounding it seems determined to convince us that it will be a best-selling novel.

Now, on the surface this just seems to be an attempt to be clever in saying that hype is troublesome – not a stance I disagree with. However the bit in the middle about reviewers being bribed and telling lies is the real kicker. First, the implication is that reviewers are unethical and profiting significantly from the reviews they write; then it says that if the opinion of a reviewer differs from their own, it must be a lie (insinuating that there are clear right and wrong opinions about books). Wow, need more be said about how unfortunate and ridiculous this is?

Of course there are probably a few exceptions where these very things are happening. But to be so broad in implicating pretty much every on-line reviewer is disgusting.

I couldn't help but relate this answer in an interview that Scott Bakker gave:

I think the temptation to write for your reviewers is a peril that every author faces. Since reviewers are not typical readers, succumbing to this temptation means writing for people with very specialized expectations. I actually think this is a very profound cultural disease, one which has lead to the degradation of spectacle as a literary category, and thus to the effective segregation of thoughtfulness and mass appeal. Here in North America at least, literary culture trains those with the desire to challenge readers to talk amongst themselves - or in other words, to write for people who have the least to gain from being challenged. They pilfer all the talent, then call popular culture dreck. Then, rather than acknowledge their own institutional role, they blame it all on the evil corporations, even though the human fascination for spectacle predates General Electric by the length of recorded history. After all, something must be preventing the masses from coming to them and to their status-preserving preference for the mundane.

There seems to be a bit of this attitude evident in the statments above.

Now, there is this blog talking about all the money being made when reviewers link/promote books they review with links to Amazon. You may have noticed that the books here at this blog have these links. I have a rather small audience around here and I’m certainly not a well-known reviewer or critic that’s receiving ARC’s and the like (though, I’d like it if I did – hint). So, while I’m not exactly the target of these types of statements, it still grazes me enough to be insulting.

For those curious about the rewards I’m bringing in from all those Amazon links, I’ve had a total of 12 books purchased through those links, of which I bought 11. This works out to just about $11, keeping in mind that most of that money was my own anyway. While I’m sure that other, more popular and respected reviewers out there make more money than this, I’m also confident that they are not exactly breaking the bank on this. In fact, I’d bet that the vast majority don’t even come close to breaking even if you consider how much time and effort they put into create the links and such in the first place.

So, if you think that someone like me is profiting with this blog, keep taking those drugs and consider marketing them to others. If you like a book and plan on buying it, consider clicking on link from here – I just might get enough money out of it to afford half a book this year.

So, now I will quietly wait for my bribe money.

EDIT: The author of the review I mention from Strange Horizons has responded to her word choice here.

EDIT: More and more reactions. And some more.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

Well, the title to this one just about says it all. Christopher Moore is known for his humorous, satirical and off-kilter writing – Lamb, is certainly no exception. It seems that the Bible forgot to mention Christ’s best friend – well, Moore provides us with his story, as only a very funny person can.

The story begins with an angel that can only be described as a bit incompetent. This angel receives instructions to resurrect Biff so that a new Gospel can be written. Our angel is not happy with his assignment, referring to Biff in less than flattering profanity.

Who is this Biff – certainly not someone mentioned in the Gospels as we know them? Biff is Jesus’ best friend from childhood (Jesus is referred to as Josh rather than the Greek version of the name we know so well). How could Josh go through life without ever lying, steeling, sinning, etc – well, his best friend did all these things for him.

Biff relates all the humorous, blasphemous and even mundane events of Josh’s growing up and seeking to achieve his destiny. We are finally told about what he did during those teenage and young adult years (remember most of the Gospels start with Jesus at the ripe old age of 30). The pair sets off for the Far East to track down the three wise men, in this time they receive teaching from many ancient philosophies (such as Buddhism and Taoism) and learn such things as kung fu, jew-do, yoga, alchemy, sarcasm, and how to keep camels regular.

Clearly this is a subject that many consider sacred and controversial; and Moore negotiates a very fine line quite well. The story is humorous, remarkably true to the Gospels, and not offensive (at least in my opinion). In fact, I’d even go as far to say that through all the crass and even silly aspects, the end result is an insightful construction of the possible origins of Jesus’ teachings. One my greatest surprises is that Moore clearly did his homework while writing this one – it’s not just a collection humorous anecdotes and fart jokes.

Moore is not the greatest writer out there, but neither is he a bad writer, and he is certainly a writer that I find quite humorous. He has no fear to tackle controversial and potentially offensive subjects, yet does so with a light heart and an ironic mirror. On my 10-point rating scale (describe here), Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal rates a solid 7. This is the first book written by Moore that I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.

Related Posts: Christopher Moore Book Signing

Eschatology, Knowledge and The Wheel of Time

Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time is one of the most popular epic fantasy series of all time. Just as many people love it as hate it, I’m not going to defend or praise the series in this post, but I will say that I am a fan.

Anyway, I wanted to link up to a couple of essays that have been written about The Wheel of Time and some the thematic elements within. They are really quite fascinating reads. There are No Beginnings or Endings… The Paradox of WoT's Eschatology and The Price and Prize of Knowledge are both found over at wotmania and are authored by linda_sedai and DomA, respectively.

Review: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Sometimes a novel moves through and beyond such trite descriptions as gripping narrative, talented writing, and beautiful prose. Sometimes a novel becomes important. Kafka on the Shore, while encompassing any number of canned descriptions such as those above, is important. I feel that I could read this novel a dozen times and come away with a different understanding each time.

Kafka on the Shore tells the story of 15-year old Kafka Tamura as he runs away from his home in Tokyo and a cold, distant father. Kafka is that silent brooding guy in the back of the class who never says anything, never smiles, and has no friends. He is mature beyond his 15 years, intelligent, conflicted, yet naïve as the typical adolescent male.

Kafka travels to the southerly city of Takamatsu where he searches for something – perhaps the mother who abandoned him at a young age, perhaps the sister lost to him with the mother, perhaps a way out of the world. He discovers a private library and its eccentric staff (or maybe the library discovers him); they take him in.

Mr. Nakata suffered mysterious and terrible accident as a child during World War II. He is now a harmless old man who enjoys conversations cats and predicts unexplainable events – such as fish falling from a cloudless sky. A meeting with a strange entity in the guise of Johnny Walker sets him on a journey to set things right in the world and its relation to other worlds.

For those that love labels, magical realism generally describes the atmosphere created by Murakami. For readers like myself who have limited exposure ‘non-Western’ literature, Kafka on the Shore is a great gateway to the East. This Japanese story cuts across cultures and reminds that humanity has more in common than we often realize.

Kafka on the Shore will speak to different people in different ways, and I’m still working out what was ‘said’ to me. It is a beautiful and meaningful novel that I certainly recommend. On my 10-point rating scale (described here), Kafka on the Shore rates a solid 8.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

I’m a geologist by training who loves to read, but rarely does my scientific training add much to books I read for fun (it’s much more likely to take away from a book due to the clear misunderstanding of science of many authors I’ve read). The books by Kim Stanley Robinson are an exception, and in my opinion are exceptional pieces of scientific fiction. The science in his books tends to be very accurate, realistic, and well described in a fashion that even the scientific illiterate can appreciate. How can I best express how Red Mars fits? My wife is a planetary geologist with a PhD dissertation about the physical properties of the surface of Mars – many of my closest friends are also planetary scientists with expertise on Mars. Red Mars is the most often talked about piece of fiction about that planet among those circles.

I suppose that you can gather from my statements above that I had high expectations about this book – I was not disappointed. Red Mars is the story of the colonization of Mars by humans. The book captures the essence of the true hostility and isolation of this environment in incredible ways and truly expresses the affects on the first humans on Mars. Mars changes everything, yet human nature prevails with all its tragic results.

This is one of those books that has the chance to be prophetic – the US has an initiative to get humans to Mars and a colony on the Moon. With the current trends of the world, the scenario presented in Red Mars is remarkably close to what might happen. I wish and hope that this isn’t how things go.

Red Mars begins in a new settlement on Mars where one of the first hundred colonists gives a speech and then manipulates newer colonists to assassinate one his fellow first hundred. This point of view shows us just that – one point of view.

Next we jump back in time to the initiation of the trip to Mars. We learn of the selection processes and see the group psychology develop on long, confined journey from Earth to Mars. We slowly step through time and point of views as our colonists journey, land, build, are joined by new colonists, argue, debate, love, and die. Human nature is bitterly exposed as we see a clash of cultures, religions, scientific opinion, government, and corporations. This is the tale of the beginning of humans on Mars, the sequels Green Mars and Blue Mars complete the history, and I’m curious to see just how Robinson does this.

As this review shows, Red Mars is more than a story about the colonization of Mars. I could not help but become very introspective while reading and certainly at the conclusion of the novel. I won’t say that the characters are in the ‘gray area’ of neither good nor bad; the more correct statement would be that they are real people. They have passionate beliefs, strong motivation, ambition, emotional problems, and high levels of intelligence. They seem truly real, not characters in a novel – a rare distinction.

On my 10-point rating scale (described here), Red Mars rates an 8.5. This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and strongly recommend.

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

Are you looking for a pure fantasy novel/series – adventure, magic, strange creatures, escapism? Are you not interested in (or need a break from) the ‘new weird’, magical realism, post-modern works of SF literature filled with weighty themes and ideas? The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams might be exactly what you’re looking for.

The Dragonbone Chair is standard fantasy, full of just about all of the clichés. We have an adolescent male of mysterious (and probably ‘special’) origins, guided by a wise old ‘wizard’, who is thrown into harrowing circumstances beyond his control and understanding. We have the death of a loved monarch, the replacement with a lesser leader, and the advice of an evil sorcerer. There is a greater ‘dark lord’ of sorts, and we have elves, trolls, giants, and other fantastical creatures. Yes, the parallels to Tolkien and other fantasy authors are real, but the story is well done and all its own, even if not terribly original in its basic premise.

The above description can be taken as bad or good depending on your point of view. Many people are looking for exactly what Tad Williams offers us with The Dragonbone Chair, which is the first installment of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. This is an adventure story – a tale of magic, journey, coming of age, love, hate, and the fate of a world – or another way to look at it, this is the kind of story that made you fall in love with fantasy in the first place. Yes, this tale could be considered ‘young adult’ (though it’ll be shelved in the SF section at bookstore), but it can easily be enjoyed at more advanced ages.

The Dragonbone Chair is the story of Simon, and orphan scullion-boy working in the castle serving as the center of the Osten Ard kingdom. Simon is apprenticed to the castle’s doctor Morgenes in a time when the old king John dies and is succeeded by his son, Elias. Elias brings along his dark advisor, Pyrates, who has forged an alliance with a greater evil. The land is in turmoil and Simon forced into a journey with great implications in the greater conflict. The end brings little conclusion, as journey continues in The Stone of Farewell and concluded in To the Green Angel Tower, which was divided into parts 1 and 2 for the paperback.

One advantage of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy is that it is finished and has been for some time. So those of us tired of having more and more unfinished series on our reading stacks don’t need to fear yet another addition. Another advantage is the wide-range of audience this book is appropriate for – children through adults can enjoy alike (though the books are quite lengthy for younger readers).

Tad Williams has a reputation for slow starts, and after reading The Dragonbone Chair, I have to agree. The beginning is slow-paced and could easily have been tightened significantly. This will be a hurdle for some readers, though the pace picks up significantly later and becomes the adventure anticipated. The writing is a standard fair, with a few mixed-metaphors and marginal characterization – the main characters are decently well-done, with supporting characters less-so. As with many fantasies of this type, strong female characters are a bit lacking.

Caveats aside, I enjoyed The Dragonbone Chair and look forward to continuing the story to its conclusion. While the story is ‘standard’, it is entertaining and just fun to read. On my 10-point rating scale (described in detail here), The Dragonbone Chair rates a 6.5-7. Fans of standard, epic, sword and sorcery style fantasy will love this book and it’s a great introduction to genre for teens, but readers looking for ‘more’ out of their books and something new will probably prefer to pass it by.

Related Reviews: Stone of Farewell, To Green Angel Tower, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Trilogy

Ahh....That Was Nice!

Well I'm back from the vacation in Maui. It was a wonderfully relaxing trip, needed time off from work, and welcome relief from the scorching summer heat here in Arizona (today's high will be about 110° - 43 C). Now I’ve got quite a work load piled up at work, so I’ll be busy for a while.

I didn’t get quite as much reading done as anticipated, but I did finish The Dragonbone Chair and will try to get a review up shortly. I’ve only got 100 pages left in Red Mars, so I should get a review up for that in the next day or two.

Aloha

Tomorrow I leave on vacation to wonderful Maui. I look forward to much relaxing, some golf, some diving, and more relaxing (I may even have a few drinks with umbrellas rather than my usual beer or wine). Anyway, it's very unlikely I'll post before I get back, so don't worry about a lack of posts for the next week. Look for a few reviews of books I'll read this week sometime around June 5th.

Robert Jordan Update

As many of you know, Robert Jordan is sick with a rare blood disease, amyloidosis. He has recently undergone chemotherapy and is not recovering. Through the process, he has updated his blog periodically and now has a bit of a summary of it all from when he first noticed symptoms of the disease, through diagnosis and treatment, to his current state of recover (hopefully fully).

Anyway, he has a tremendous attitude (I doubt I could be so positive if it were me) and I wish him and his family the best. His latest blog is a good read and it’s nice to see that he has decided to champion amyloidosis and improve diagnosis by general practitioners.

Related Posts: God’s Speed

Interviews

Occasionally I get the opportunity to interview an author, generally working with a message board that I’m active with. Below are the interviews I have conducted.

• David Anthony Durham**
• Steven Erikson**
• Ian C. Esslemont**
• Charlie Huston
• Patrick Rothfuss*
• Brandon Sanderson (A Memory of Light)
• Brandon Sanderson (The Alloy of Law)
• Brandon Sanderson (The Gathering Storm)**
• Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings)**
• Ken Scholes
• Sean Williams

My Evening With Brandon Sanderson
The SFF Literary Pub Crawl
Interviews in the 'Questions Five' series.

• Joe Abercrombie
• Scott Bakker
• John Brown
• Tobias Buckell
• Gail Carriger
• Mark Chadbourn
• Blake Charlton
• Hal Duncan
• David Anthony Durham
• Steven Erikson
• S. L. Farrell
• C.S. (Celia) Friedman
• Alison Goodman
• Daryl Gregory
• Kate Griffin
• Alex Irvine
• Jasper Kent
• Jay Lake
• Ari Marmell
• George R.R. Martin
• Michael Moorcock
• Mark Charan Newton
• Peadar Ó Guilín
• Chris Roberson
• Brian Ruckley
• John Scalzi
• Ken Scholes
• Matthew Stover
• Michael Swanwick
• Sam Sykes
• Jeff VanderMeer
• Brent Weeks

Sometime even I get interviewed:

• SCY-FY
• A Fantastical Librarian: Blogger Query
• Temple Library Reviews: Reviewer Time
• Ubiquitous Absence: Sunday Night Spotlight

*Interview conducted for FantasyBookSpot
**Interview posted at Pat's Fantasy Hotspot and done with a group of interviewers.

City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

Sometimes when reading a book I get feeling that I could be a writer – in other words I’m inspired by thoughts that I could write a book just as good as the one I’m reading. This would be like watching things on TV and thinking similar thoughts – such as someone who hasn’t really played golf thinking that it looks pretty easy after watching the pros. Of course it’s not that easy, but the thoughts come none the less. This is not the feeling I got when reading City of Saints and Madmen. This collection of stories is brilliant work that I could never dream of approaching. I periodically realized that I was in awe of various elements of these stories – an emotion that only the best books and writers can bring out in me. Questions in my mind included ‘how did he come up with that’ and ‘could a sane man write this’. Then VanderMeer takes things to a new level – he actually addresses some of these questions in disturbingly wonderful ways.

City of Saints and Madmen is the exploration of the city of Ambergris, an incredibly realized city of VanderMeer’s creation. The first short story begins with a young and disillusioned missionary, Dradin, searching for a new beginning in the great city. Following stories include the early history of Ambergris as told by a historian, the origin of the city’s greatest artist’s inspiration, an interrogation of a writer, a publication describing the habit of the King Squid, and more. The stories are darkly funny, disturbing, connected in interesting ways, and always more than meets the eye.

This collection of stories can be enjoyed on several different levels – many of which are simply beyond me. Can someone of my background truly appreciate the shifting voice and perspective of these stories? Do I really have a chance of fully realizing the symbolic elements contained within? No – yes this is me admitting that on some level ‘I don’t get it’; but I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy those elements or the stories themselves. VanderMeer’s visual writing echoes our own world to a degree that anyone can relate to – these stories are experienced as a visceral reaction as much as an intellectual one.

City of Saints and Madmen won’t appeal to everybody. This mosaic novel shifts voice, style, and even font without the benefit of a central narrative to bind. Stories range from more traditional modes to fictionalized scientific journals to literary criticisms. The stories are dark reflections of the world we live in, self realizations of a disturbing sort. Ambergris is a fascinatingly horrific city that takes its toll on writers and readers alike. I absolutely loved it, though I suspect I'm developing a phobia of fungus.

On my 10-point scale (described in detail here), City of Saints and Madmen rates an 8.5. Read it so we can discuss the merits of squidology and other oddities – but then I once read The Search for the Giant Squid : The Biology and Mythology of the World's Most Elusive Sea Creature for fun; I found VanderMeer’s squid-centric city to be…captivating.

Graduation, Family, and Curling

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Last week was my wife’s graduation – she now officially has her PhD in the eyes of the entire world, and not just her advisor (now boss) and committee. With all the pomp and circumstance associated with that and several family members in town, it was busy last week. Throw in a 2-day conference I had to attend (and present at) and a big business meeting, I’ve had almost no reading time – which I hate.

Yes, the title really does say curling. This Texan, who’s nearing a decade of residence in Arizona, has joined a curling league. If nothing else, it’s a cool place to spend a few hours now that the temperature is over 100°. In all seriousness, it’s been tons of fun and ‘stacking the brooms’ has become the social event of the week. I’m not yet used to staying out until 2 am (we finish our games around 11:30 pm), but I’m sure my body must remember those college days when I did this all the time. And I can promise you that it's much harder than it looks on TV.

Work is still busy, but things have quitted down enough to give me some reading time again. I’m still reading City of Saints and Madmen and I’m really enjoying it so far. After that, I’ll be rounding out my recommendations for the June Bookclub discussion at Wotmania OF – Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, and The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. In two weeks I’ve got a week's vacation in Hawaii, so I should be getting these read fairly quickly. Beyond those planned reads, I may finish the series I’ll have started by Williams and Robinson and then I’ll be moving on to ‘preparation’ for my next vacation in September. That’ll be a two-week trip to the UK (we plan on covering quite a bit of ground in England, Scotland, and Wales). So I’ll be reading a number of books set in the UK, most will fit into the SF realm, but not all. So, if you have any recs on good books and places, let me know.

Anyway, that’s it for the update. Look for the review of City of Saints and Madmen to be up on Thursday or Friday (like I said, work is still busy).

My (Brief) Adventure at the Nebula Awards Weekend

The 2006 Nebula Awards Weekend is being held in Tempe, Arizona, a virtual stones throw away from where I live. While I wasn’t going to pony up for registration or anything, there was a big autograph session on Friday night that was open to the general public. I’d read about this far enough in advance to get a few books to have signed.

I showed up about 40 minutes before the scheduled beginning of the session and wait outside the room – the previous session is still in progress. There is a large table for purchasing books and quite a few people waiting – mostly people registered for the weekend, with only a couple local ‘geeks’ like me.

The previous session lets out, and everybody pours from the room (I get some brief amusement at the dress of people not used to Arizona’s climate). An old man comes out, kindly asks the woman sitting in a chair next to me near the door if he can use it to get a jump on signing books – this would be Harlan Ellison. He goes on to tell us that he’s signing with a $2000 dollar pen and the story of how he came to buy it. Anyway, he was clearly enjoying himself and I’m almost certain that the ink from his $2000 pen is worth more than the worn book club edition of Again Dangerous Visions that I had him sign – Mr. Ellison was kind enough point out that it is a book club edition. So, I was off to a great start being at the de facto front of the line for Harlan Ellison and he wasn’t running around naked or anything like some of the stories of I’ve read about him led me to believe was a possibility.

The previous session was a bit late in getting out (of course) so it was a bit disorganized setting the room up. Slowly table got in place with place names for the various authors attending; and the bar was brought in (always important). So I proceeded to have my various books signed by various authors. As I’ve come to expect, the authors were quite friendly and genuinely glad to be participating. Though I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for those that are a bit more obscure who had virtually nobody asking them for autographs, while people who were sometimes sitting right next to them had several people in line, sometimes carting (literally) boxes full of books to sign.

Books I had signed include Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, Black Juice by Margo Lanagan (my review), The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (my review), Dreams of the Compass Rose by Vera Nazarian (my review), The Folly of Assumption by Lee Martindale (my review), The Labyrinth Key by Howard Hendrix, From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes, Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright, Inventing Memory by Anne Harris, Tumbling After by Paul Witcover, and the first two books of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

As I’ve said everyone was very nice to speak with, though I’m not of a personality to speak overly long with ‘strangers’ in such a setting. Joe Haldeman was engaged in the sort of political discussion you’d anticipate with an old Vietnam Vet with a box of books to sign when I got there – I didn’t interrupt. John C. Wright happily informed me not to worry that Orphans of Chaos is a trilogy because he just sent off the final book in the trilogy, so I shouldn’t worry that he’d die leaving an unfinished work. Diana Gabaldon was exposing enough cleavage to the world that you’d expect a Harlequin Romance cover on her books. Of course she was very nice and who am I to criticize one’s dress (trust me). Howard Hendrix was extremely personable and happily told me about all his books. While I didn’t have a book to be signed by David Weber, he is one of the amusing people who can dominate a room and conversation.

Well, that’s about it – nothing earth shattering and no actual information about who won the awards, just my little adventure.

Dreams of the Compass Rose by Vera Nazarian

Nazarian realizes a spectacularly fantastic world in Dreams of the Compass Rose, her first novel (she has since published Lords of the Rainbow and several collections of short fiction). In many ways, this novel reads like an epic poem, and the language can only be described as, well, poetic. Descriptions are beautiful and fully realized as the mystique of her world seeps from the pages.

The novel is more of a collection of 14 short stories, yet all are related somehow, with overlapping people and places, if not necessarily time. Time is fluid; Nazarian’s ‘dreams’ leap back and forth through thousands of years of history of this great world. At times it’s hard to determine when and where the story occurred, but the story’s prose quickly entraps you, leaving issues such as these unimportant.

The story opens with a Grandmother telling her granddaughter of the mythical land, Amarantea. The sequence of dreams moves forward (and backward) from their as our granddaughter grows up to seek Amarantea. We follow the eccentric captain of an unsinkable ship on a journey with a young sorcerer. We witness ancient betrayal and slaughter and the birth of a new God. A young child pledges service to a cold princess. The tales are wonderfully told of great deserts, oases, steppes, oceans, devine interventions, and people of the Compass Rose.

Poetic prose aside, Dreams of the Compass Rose suffers at times from the directionless aspect of the tale. There is no central narrative to bind the tales to one another. Her enthralling story telling does not completely abate this.

The stories are strikingly human in nature and dominated by short-comings and illusion. However, weighty thematic play does not rear up in these stories. Their greatest value is in the realization of a skilled wordsmith. Nazarian is sadly overlooked talent and potential – fans of SF should line up to read her work.

So, on my 10-point rating scale (fully described here), Dreams of the Compass Rose rates a 7. Nazarian deserves more attention. Go forth and read.

The Folly of Assumption by Lee Martindale

The full title of this collection of short stores is The Folly of Assumption: The Collected Fat Fantasies of Lee Martindale. As the title implies, what makes these stories stand apart is the role of fat, overweight people. Lee Martindale is unabashedly a large person herself and these stories are clearly an outlet for her own frustrations, encouragement to others like herself, and a message to stick figures of the world. The stories are entertaining, often a satirical, and generally leave the reader with a sense of justice.

This short collection of only about 40 pages contains five stories: “The Folly of Assumption”, “Porter Piedmont and the Office Party Santa”, “Neighborhood Watch”, “Porter Piedmont’s Not-So-Wonderful Life”, and “What Goes Around…”.

"The Folly of Assumption"

This short, entertaining tale is the story of a man who has just survived an assassination attempt. Our would-be assassin is a large woman, often underestimated, who is quite an accomplished assassin. The assassin and her captor speak and come to terms of a new bargain, or not.

"Porter Piedmont and the Office Party Santa"

Porter Piedmont is the stereotypical, disgusting CEO of a large corporation. His company produces various foodstuffs and the like for overweight people and Porter is generally less than kind to his employees. At this Christmas Party, Santa visits with surprises for everyone.

"Neighborhood Watch"

A detective investigates a potential bogus complaint by a neighborhood’s somewhat eccentric ex-cop. He speaks with a relative new comer with the odd habit of being a true night person. She is a unique person, and the witty banter slowly evolves into a horrifying revelation for the detective.

"Porter Piedmont’s Not-So-Wonderful Life"

It’s a year after the infamous Christmas Party above, and things are not going well for Porter. A substitute guardian angel takes him on a journey paralleling the movie alluded to in the title, only the world really would have been better off without Porter Piedmont.

"What Goes Around…"

The title tells you what’s coming. What can only be described as a fitness Notzi dies in her sleep. She wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings being attended to by a fat servant. Slowly it becomes clear just where she has awoken.

The stories are all quick, fun reads that I enjoyed. Martindale risks getting ‘preachy’ about her ideas, but I felt the line was negotiated fairly well in the end. She clearly has strong opinions about world’s treatment of the overweight. On my 10-point scale where 5 is a take-it or leave-it read, and 10 is unsurpassed, The Folly of Assumptions rates a 7. A good fun, read.

Unrelated to the content of the book is an issue that I have with its publisher that I wrote about in this recent post. Come to your own opinions, but perhaps these stories are better read from other sources – I believe most have been published on-line at some time or another.