I finished up listening to 7th Son this morning on my way to work, and it was a little like what I imagine it must feel like to come down off a high.  Three novels’ worth of hard-hitting, gut-wrenching action ends with a bittersweet goodbye to our heroes and a feeling of loss that says, Oh, great.  What am I supposed to listen to now_?_ I just wanted to keep on listening, to stay with these characters that I’ve come to love so well.  J.C. has certainly done a fabulous job of weaving his tale of science fiction, horror, and intrigue, and I hope that he is successful in getting the trilogy into print.  I know I’ll have a copy of the set on my bookshelf as soon as he does.

And the man is just sick in the way he doesn’t let up on you.  Even in the final chapter, he doesn’t let you find complete resolution.  It’s close, but not close enough.  And the epilogue, of course, just leaves the lid off of that can of worms ever so slightly.  Leaving your foot in the door for a possible follow-up are we, J.C.?  Hm?  Man, that would be a joyride of undoubtedly epic proportions.

If you haven’t checked out 7th Son, then you’re missing out.  Go click on the link above and start downloading and listening.  Or grab J.C.’s iTunes feed from his website and pull it directly into your iPod.  It’s good stuff – just like shooting up on heroin.  (I’m guessing…)

For those of you who aren’t familiar with 7th Son, the trilogy follows the story of seven clones as they attempt to track and capture their predecessor.  John Smith Alpha, the original, is a nefarious villain with devious plans.  It’s up to the John Smith Betas to stop Alpha before he can wreak havoc across the globe.

J.C. has written a powerful trilogy of books and has graciously recorded them for consumption by the masses.  One of the things that I love about J.C.’s writing is that literally no one is safe.  I don’t generally like predictable fiction, so it’s always a pleasure to come across an author who isn’t afraid to mix things up and take chances that keep the reader guessing about what’s going to happen next.  J.C. does this consistently with 7th Son.  It’s speculative fiction at its finest, and I’m looking forward to seeing where things go from here.  I still have a ways to go before I’m completely caught up, but I’m looking forward to the ride.

If you could pick any technology of the future to adopt right now (assuming, of course, such a thing was possible), what would you choose?

For me, I’ve always loved the notion of neural implants, particularly the neural nanonics in Peter F. Hamilton’s Emberverse series.  The idea of having a computer embedded right into my brain so that I could do everything I love to do so much more quickly and easily just makes me giddy with delight.

What would you choose?

The series is maddening in two ways.  The first is in the style of storytelling that Douglass employs.  The series is built on a cryptic prophecy foretelling the rise of the evil Gorgrael and the powerful Starman, the latter of whom will find it his destiny to defeat the former (if he can) and reunite the three races – the Acharties, the Icarii, and the Avar – into one land once again.  As a result of the prophetic foundation of the series, there are numerous mysteries to be unwrapped and pieced together.  It’s almost frustrating to read through a passage and have it make almost no sense whatsoever – Douglass really likes to use foreshadowing without giving away too much of the actual story – only to have to wait while things occur to finally place that passage into context, but it’s also really fun to watch as those cryptic sections are made clear in subsequent chapters.  I have to admit to being captivated by her choice of technique, even if it does drive me nuts at points.  Almost every chapter has something new to add to the mysteries of the Prophecy, so the plot never seems to get bogged down.

I don’t know if The Wayfarer Redemption is Douglass’ debut novel or what, but it takes a little while to gain its momentum.  In my experience, it seems that authors have the most trouble getting the backstory set in place while also keeping it interesting.  The opening pages of the series are interesting enough in their own right – they certainly contain the promise of more exciting things to come – but they are a bit difficult to get through initially.  I also had a little trouble getting around some of Douglass’ syntactical structures and writing techniques in the first book.  A lot of the dialogue felt wooden and forced, very unlike the way anyone in real life would speak.  A number of behaviors seemed rather false, as well, and more than a little too convenient for the sake of plot development.  Some of these things can be attributed to Australian speech, I’m sure, but some can’t be quite so easily written off.  The story itself is solid, though, and highly enjoyable, despite the rough execution.

Enchanter is the second book in the series, and where Wayfarer slips up, Enchanter more than makes up for.  Where dialogue and storytelling in the first book fell short of sounding natural, they flow smoothly and elegantly in the second to make a much more enjoyable and fast-paced story.  More riddles, more questions, and more mysteries surface, while many others are resolved.  And all through it, Douglass still manages to leave the actual intentions and motives of the influence behind Gorgrael in question.  She also further develops her characters’ believability by demonstrating their flaws and weaknesses in addition to each of their great strengths.

I’ve only just begun Starman, the third installment of the series, and again I’m actually finding it somewhat hard to get into.  For starters, there are a lot of typos throughout the opening pages, and for this literature and English buff, they’re quite distracting.  The focus in the third book has shifted slightly, though – in Enchanter the hero Axis must face his human half-brother before he can think about facing Gorgrael.  That conflict resolves itself in the final pages of that book, and Starman must pick up from there and develop the setting and context for the battle with Gorgrael.  Characters have separated ways and new ones are introduced, and as a result the overall pace has slowed down.  I fully expect it to pick back up again soon, but for now Douglass must set the tone for the next segment of her series.  The storytelling is still enchanting, but it is still maddening in its teasing questions.

Douglass favors a shifting viewpoint approach to her storytelling.  In any given section, the viewpoint will move through an entire array of characters.  This can sometimes be a little difficult to follow.  I’ve surmised, though, that she seems to be following a third-person omniscient point-of-view with this.  Not only do we find out what most of the characters in the scene are thinking in a given moment, but she also takes many opportunities to tease the reader with foreshadowing by telling how one action, usually small and insignificant at the time, will prove to have a certain kind of effect on other characters in the future.  I’m not sure I’m overly thrilled with the technique, but as I said before I really like the story she tells so I can live with a certain level of distracting writing.  Douglass does tell a good story, despite the things I’ve pointed out, and I think that just about anyone who enjoys fantasy fiction will probably also like this series.

Of course, the solution proposed in the article linked above is certainly viable – just wait for Heroes to come out on DVD and watch it all en masse.  Works for me.

Old Man’s War was wildly entertaining, riddled with wit and humor that kept me laughing all the way through while opening a window into a possible future where humanity has to fight in order to live and expand.  The chronicles the experiences of John Perry as he leaves Earth at the ripe age of 75 to enlist in the Colonial Defense Forces and travels the universe fighting battles on numerous planets, battles which will help ensure that humanity will continue to survive in the universe.

OMW is a quick read – it’s done almost before you realize it.  It’s a simple read – light on deep philosophical ponderings² with a smattering of hard sci-fi throughout (see, skip drives).  The sarcasm and humor will keep you chuckling with almost every page turn, and the descriptions of technology and events will keep you entranced.

This was a very fun read and much more light-natured than I expected.³ I’m already eager to get my hands on a copy of The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony, as well as a copy of The Sagan Diary.  I think I’ve just become a Scalzi fan.

Upcoming Reviews: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

1. The book actually felt like a cross between Starship Troopers and I Will Fear No Evil.
2. Unlike a number of other science fiction novels I’ve read recently.
3. In hindsight, shouldn’t have been such a huge surprise; I have, after all, been reading Scalzi’s blog for quite some time now and have become fairly well-acquainted with his particular brand of humor.

Elantris

This is the tale of three people whose separate stories interweave intimately with one another as they struggle to bring order out of chaos.  The story is filled with political intrigue and magic, dead men and demons, noblemen and traitors.  You come to love Raoden and Sarene and to hate Hrathen and his follower Dilaf.  Yet, in all cases you empathize with the characters, sympathizing with their dilemmas.  Sanderson has built rich characters in this book that drive the story onward to a climax and resolution that leaves you breathless.  This is by far one of the best and most enjoyable fantasy novels I’ve read.

While Elantris stands alone as a single, self-contained novel, this reader hopes that Sanderson will return to the land of Arelon again.  Many questions remain to be explored an answered – the origins of the Aons, the tying of the Aons to Arelon, the origin of the lake, and the origins of the Seons, to name just a few – as well as potential conflicts to be faced – Dakhor Monastery, Wyrn.  Sanderson has said that a return to Arelon is not necessarily out of the question.  In the meantime, I know that I’ll be collecting his other books and keeping him at the top of my reading list.

Upcoming Book Reviews: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Apparently, Kring ran out of philosophical ideas for his chapter bookends.  ‘Tis a pity.

FoS could use a little promotion, as well.  If you’re a contributing author or a reader of the site (or simply a speculative fiction fan), I would be most appreciative if you could promote FoS on your blogs, websites, etc.  Also, if someone has a little Photoshop mojo and time to spare, I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to banner and button graphics that people can put on their websites to link back to FoS.  If anyone’s interesting in doing something like this, you can use my Contact page to let me know.

How about some general observations and comments after this week’s episode?

First of all, I really don’t get this whole Nikki/Jessica character.  And to be honest, I’m not sure that Kring does either.  Out of all the heroes, this one seems to be the most stagnant.  She is making no progress, either in discovering or mastering her abilities, whatever they are.  All we have is a woman with dual personalities – one is weak and simpering, the other is cruel and ruthless.  The only thing that Nikki and Jessica share in common is a desire to protect Micah and herself.  And is she good or evil?  It all depends on which personality is dominant at any given time.  Personally, I think Kring would serve this character far better to allow Nikki to find a way to unite her two halves into a whole and allow her to tap into her superhuman strength and precision at will, rather than being kept at the whim of her evil half.  Maybe that sort of thing is still in the cards for Nikki, but the way Kring is playing things with his show right now, that doesn’t seem likely.  It almost appears that Nikki/Jessica exists for the sole purpose of plot advancement, such as it is.

Speaking of which, Kring made a colossal plot blunder last night.  Apparently he forgot that Linderman hired Jessica to kill Nathan Petrelli because Linderman didn’t seem at all surprised to see Nathan in front of him.  There are two other possibilities, however – 1) that it was someone else who hired Jessica to kill Nathan (not likely, given how intimately aware Nikki was of Linderman’s plans) or 2) Jessica receding to the background so Nikki could tell Nathan what to expect when he met with Linderman was all part of the master plan; after all, Linderman does seem to know just about everything that is happening with all our heroes.

Hiro finally acquires his coveted sword, but he still can’t seem to control his powers quite yet.  He jumped both himself and Ando across the country and forward in time – but Hiro doesn’t seem to realize this fact yet.  Whether or not he’ll realize it in time remains to be seen.

Sylar obviously has no idea what he’s found in Peter Petrelli.  He thinks he’s found someone just like himself, but what he doesn’t realize is that Peter is far more powerful than him.  Peter’s been exposed to far more specials than Sylar has and can, in all likelihood, absorb all of Sylar’s abilities, as well.  The previews for the next episode promise an epic battle between this hero and this super-villian, and I can’t wait to see it.

Kring is doing a relatively good job at developing characters with whom we can sympathize.  I shivered with empathy as Sylar began to do his thing to Peter, and I shuddered to see what he’d done to Mohinder (though I’m pleased to see, at least, that he was still alive).  And as usual, Kring has raised as many new questions as he’s answered, generating interesting plot points.

I have a bad feeling, though, that the destruction of New York may boil down to a fizzling climax.  If Peter really is allegedly going to be the cause of the destruction, then that will be terribly anti-climactic.  But I’m hoping that Kring is going for a bit of clever redirection, placing the brunt of the focus and emphasis on Peter, only to reveal a villain (Ted? Sylar? Mystery person?) who will, in actuality, be the one to stop in order to save the city.  We’ve only four more chapters to go before we find out.

Heroes is still a great show, even with the problem points, and I know it’s one that I’ll be looking to grab on DVD once it comes out.  I just hope that Kring doesn’t let us down.

Hamilton’s opening 2-volume novel, broken down into The Reality Dysfunction Part I: Emergence and The Reality Dysfunction Part 2: Expansion, introduces many of the pivotal characters in this series (though not, by any stretch of the imagination, all of them).  We pay witness to a humanity that has spread throughout over 800 planets across the galaxy.  There is also a group of humans who have branched off from the main body of humanity and have embraced biotechnology to become the Edenist culture.  They dwell in living habitats, each of which has its own personality.

In these two volumes, humanity is forced, through a chance accident, to face the fact that each human being has an immortal as the souls of billions of those who have died begin to invade and possess the bodies of the living.  The possessed spread like wildfire and begin taking entire planets out of the universe.  Humanity is faced with a crisis, though none yet know just how dire the situation actually is.

In The Neutronium Alchemist Part 1: Consolidation and The Neutronium Alchemist Part 2: Conflict, humanity and the possessed alike rush headlong in search of a rumored doomsday weapon.  The possessed want to use it against the humans, and the humans simply wish to destroy it.  All the while, the possessed gain a stronger foothold and one possessed in particular wishes to bring about the complete destruction of all – human and possessed alike – for the sake of his bloodthirsty lord. 

Meanwhile, the records of one alien race make mention of an all-powerful entity that may provide the solution to the possession crisis, and a handful of individuals gather together in preparation to seek out this god.  Events heat up and the action starts to kick into high gear in Part 2 of The Neutronium Alchemist.

The last book in the trilogy, The Naked God Part 1: Flight – Part 1 and The Naked God Part 2: Faith, proves to be the most exciting and breakneck book of the three.  A small bands of non-possessed humans go in search of the Tyrathca god, hoping that it will be able to shed some enlightenment or help on the crisis.  In the meantime, the rest of humanity wages war against the possessed, at great cost to both sides.

The back cover of The Naked God Part 2 provides a hint to the conclusion of this series: deus ex machina.  Joshua Calvert and company find a being powerful enough to provide resolution to the crisis, giving humanity a reprieve from the possessed and sending the lost souls on into what afterlife awaits.  Deus ex machina is appropriate both in the literary mechanic of a being that provides a solution to an insoluble difficulty as well as in the literal translation, god from the machine – in this case, god is the machine and provides the only solution that will save humanity from utter destruction.

This trilogy requires some patience to read through.  As stated above, it starts out rather slowly as Hamilton introduces multiple story arcs and develops the backstory for each of his main characters.  The plot trudges along for the book three volumes and doesn’t really start to really get rolling until the beginning of The Naked God.  But then, the ending is so breathtaking that it makes the long wait well worth it, as Hamilton piles more action, intensity, and plot twists into that last book than in the first two combined.  If you can hold on through that first half, you will greatly enjoy the series as a whole.

Hamilton’s universe is a fascinating one of technology and cultures, as several alien races interact with one another and with humanity.  It is a broad, comprehensive look at a possible future, dire in its predictions yet hopeful in its conclusions.  This series has seemingly religious undertones to it at points, but ultimately, nearly every facet of the story is explained in some sort of scientific terms.  The hard sci-fi adherent will probably take Hamilton to task for some his creative liberties, but for the sci-fi fan who simply desires good fiction, this trilogy comes well-recommended.²

1. It’s so big that the three books had to be further subdivided into six volumes.
2. I still think Hamilton wrote too much sex into the books, though nothing overly graphic, but that’s almost par for the course with science fiction.

But when Ted gets shot and begins to lose control, I was disappointed that Kring gave a couple of his characters a complete pass.  Mr. Bennett and Matt Parkman were both exposed to enough high-level, lethal amounts of radiation to give them severe burns and cause the beginning effects of radiation poisoning.  Claire gets by easily enough by her ability to heal, but when a guy is giving off enough radiation to scorch the inside of a house, you expect the others to come away with more than what looks like a few hours in the sun.  You would also expect them to be immediately sick and vomiting as their insides should have been boiled into sludge from that exposure.  But of course, Kring isn’t done with these characters, and the previews for next week suggest that Mr. Bennett isn’t even out of the picture completely yet.

Like I said, I’m willing to suspend disbelief a fairly long ways in order to enjoy something, and I like Heroes enough to give it a fair chance.² But Kring is going to have to stop being quite this sloppy in his writing and play by a consistent set of rules.

1. It also sets his behavior toward Hiro a couple of episodes prior in an entirely different light.
2. Even despite it’s obvious knockoff to X-men.

And yes, there is a point to this.

One of the claims often made about speculative fiction is that people immerse themselves in it as a way to escape from the realities of life for a little while.  I’m comfortable with the notion that at least some people who read speculative fiction do, indeed, read it for this exact purpose.  But I’d like to explore the question of why do people read this genre.  Surely not everyone who enjoys speculative fiction seeks to escape real life, right?  Because wouldn’t that mean that people were so ill-adjusted to real life that they can’t cope with reality?

An anecdote to provide a counter-example:

I’ve always enjoyed speculative fiction.  I remember that some of my first real writing assignments in grade school were typically science fictional in nature.  I also remember that most of my peers really enjoyed those stories, so I would often read them aloud in front of the whole class. 

In writing those stories, I wasn’t trying to escape real life – I simply had a very active imagination.  I spent hours with some of my best friends re-enacting episodes from the cartoons Silverhawks and Thundercats.  I loved anything that involved advanced technology and travel through space, new worlds, alien races.  I even had, for a while, an imaginary world of mice and cats, where the mice had very fast vehicles that raced through tunnels and where the cats constantly tried to capture the mice when and where they periodically emerged from one tunnel section to speed toward the next.  I would tear through the neighborhood on my bike, imagining myself as one of these mice who was continually able to outwit the cats, albeit always by a slim margin.  It wasn’t escapism – it was merely an imaginative kid having fun.

As I’ve grown up, though, my imagination has gotten no less active.  I still find advanced technologies and magic to be endlessly fascinating.  I think it revolves around natural human curiosity and ambition to see new things and do even more than we can currently.  To some extent, I almost think that a fascination with speculative fiction encompasses the hopes and dreams of a better, more productive future.  Could be I’m all wet, too, but I think I’m at least partially right. 

Sure, I suppose there’s a bit of escapism involved in even my interest in speculative fiction, but it’s certainly not my primary attraction to the genre (I don’t even think it’s particularly high on the list).  Mostly, for me, it’s just fun and enjoyable and brings the kid in me out to the surface – and I suspect I’m not alone in this.

So, what is it about speculative fiction that most attracts you to the genre?  What do you love about it?  And is there anything you hate about it?