Teranesia - Greg Egan

Lana and I had our friend Melanie over last week. Melanie is from  Australia and while I have known her for something like 14 years, I  hadn't actually met her in person before. It's a strange experience, you  have to actively remind yourself once in a while that you do actually  know this stranger very well. Melanie knows a thing or two about me too.  She brought me a gift in the form of this book. Egan happens to live in the same city Melanie does. I have heard the name before of course but I  hadn't read anything by him until now so it was definitely a good choice on Melanie's part. Egan writes hard science fiction  and his work generally includes mathematical themes and quantum  physics. He is also interested in genetics and regularly includes  protagonists with sexual orientations other than heterosexual. Teranesia (1999) ticks most of those boxes so if I were to venture a guess I'd say it is reasonably representative of  Egan's oeuvre.

I'm not holding back on spoilers in this review.

Pump Six and Other Stories - Paolo Bacigalupi

My first exposure to Paolo Bacigalupi's work was the story The People of Sand and Slag, which has been included in John Joseph Adams' excellent anthology Wastelands: Stories of th Apocalypse(2008.) Soon after I had the opportunity to read Bacigalupi's first collection for review. Pump Six and Other Stories was published by Night Shade Books and collects ten stories (eleven if you have the limited edition) from the period 1999 till 2008. The title story is original to the collection, the others have been published in various magazines and anthologies over the years. Having read it, I was nut surprised that Bacigalupi's first novel The Windup Girl (2009) turned out to be such a success. This collection displays Bacigalupi's talent. It  must be said that it is a seriously depressing set of stories though.

Many of the themes that would show up in his later novel. There are two stories with Asian settings for instance, not something many American science fiction writers without an Asian background have attempted. His environmental themes also show up in a number of stories. Climate change, scarcity of fossil fuels, genetic engineering, agricultural practices and water shortages all show up in one or more stories. Two pieces are set in the same future as The Windup Girl and one of them even shares a character with the novel. He has been renamed but is still clearly recognizable. If you want to know what his writing is about, Pump Six and Other Stories is the place to start.

The collection opens with A Pocket Full of Dharma (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1999), a story set in  a future China. Wang Jun, a young boy, orphaned and homeless, attempts  to survive in the city of Chengdu by stealing and begging. Fortune seems  to smile on him when he sees a foreigner with an expensive pair of  glasses he intends to steal. Following the foreigner he is witness to  his murder. The killers allow him to take the glasses but only if he will carry a datacube for them. When the person he is supposed to  deliver it to, fails to show up he decides to keep the cube and  unwillingly becomes involved in the political struggles over Tibet. I was struck by Wang's will to survive and the lengths he will go to to fill his belly every evening. On the one hand you want to smack him for not seeing the bigger picture, on the other you fully understand his  instinct for self preservation. There is also an undertone in the story that comments on China's drive to grow and develop and the price its leaders are willing to pay for it. Thematically it is pretty dark but I also felt a sense of wonder about the development project described in the story.

The second story is The Fluted Girl (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 2003). Set in a world where in some places at least, governing seems to have reverted back to a feudal  system, with the subjects of of a fief are little more than property. For the rich, virtual immortality is available but at a high price. To gain financial independence Madame Belari has carefully raised two fluted girls. Girls that literally use each other's body as a musical  instrument. One of the two seems happy to go along with this treatment, expecting to one day become a star, but the other, Lidia, is not content. The death or her only friend has hit her hard and when it is time for Belari to reveal her carefully nurtured girls to the general public, she rebels. The only word I can think of that fits what his being done to the girls is "perverse" really. The disregard for the wellbeing or human rights of the girls is shocking. Ones Lidia's eyes are opened, there is no way back for her, she must find a way to free herself, or failing that, take revenge. It is the bleakest story in the collection and the fact that Bacigalupi leaves the reader with an open ending makes it even more depressing.

The People of Sand and Slag (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 2004) is a very different kind of story. Bacigalupi examines what it means to be human using the point of view of far future trans-human beings and, most unexpectedly, a dog. The nearly invulnerable humans inhabit a completely destroyed world. Having advanced to the point where anything can be a source of energy and body parts can be regrown in hours, the dog seems strangely vulnerable to them. And yet, it triggers something in at least one of these people. The casual brutality and the fragility of the poor dog are what gives this story it's punch. When I first read it I was very impressed with it and it holds up well after a reread.

The next story also has an air of far future science fiction, set after we have managed to wreck Earth. It takes us in another, in some ways more positive direction however. The Pasho (Asimov's September 2004) is something of a generational conflict. A young man from a desert tribe goes to the city of their historical enemy to learn the ways of the Pasho. His grandfather, who once led a raid that destroyed the city his grandson went to study, disapproves of what he has become when he returns.

The story is built on the idea that knowledge can be dangerous, especially when a society is not ready to handle it. An acceleration of knowledge is what ultimately lead to the destruction of the world and the Pasho are dedicated to gradually reintroduce it. A frightfully arrogant position when you think about it. On the surface the reader sympathize with the young man but he has good reasons to doubt himself. Not only is his attitude essentially patronizing, he has also brought change that will accelerate the change, or as some would see it loss, of his culture. It is not so straightforward a conflict as it might first appear.

The Calorie Man (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October/November 2005) is a story set in the same world as The Windup Girl. It is not surprising that Bacigalupi decided to produce more work in this future as it is a remarkably complex scenario for such a short work. Climate change, genetic engineering and peak oil play essential roles in the direction this world has taken. Without cheap oil to burn the world has reverted back to the calorie (interesting that he chose to use this outdated measurement for his story) to power the world. Agriculture is the sector that dominates the energy market and it is cornered by a few large companies. With a mixture of patented genetic material, sterile seeds and genetically engineered diseases they keep tight control over the market and essentially the complete economy. Some people are not ready to accept this corporate dominance however. In secret, scientists are working to create seeds that are both resistent to disease and capable of producing fertile crops.

It is a nightmarish scenario (one of many in this collection) but it borrows a lot from developments in agriculture in particular. Part of this story is a reference to the dubious business models of Monsanto for instance. Their combination of herbicide resistent seed stock and enforcement of their patents has frightening implications for agriculture and the environment. Forcing farmers to buy new seed stock every year and abandoning the practice of storing part of the harvest for next year's crops is probably not a particularly smart thing to do when considering food security. In some parts of the world it would even be a complete disaster. There is an environmental side to the story too. Herbicide resistant varieties make overuse of herbicides likely, threating for instance the local water supply, and there is also some concern that his genetic modifications could end up in wild populations. There is a lot going on in the agricultural industry that is reason for concern. The story is getting a bit dated however. A number of important patents held by Monsanto have expired or will expire soon. How this will affect the situation is anyone's guess.

For me, this story was the one that really got me hooked on Bacigalupi's writing. He hits on an awful lot of things that I encountered during my years in college. I do wonder how much someone without my background in environmental science will get out of it however. He presents a complex arguments with a lot of interlocking environmental problems. It's almost a literary equivalent of environmental systems analysis. There is much food for thought in this story, that is for sure. The Calorie Man is definitely the piece that had the greatest impact on me.

In The Tamarisk Hunter (High Country, June 26th 2006), Bacigalupi tackles another environmental theme: the water supply in the arid west of the US. Water rights in this region are notoriously complex in the legal sense of the world (Kim Stanley Robinson hits on this in his utopian novel Pacific Edge) but in environmental terms it is simple. There is not enough to support the entire population. In this future scenario we follow a Tamarisk hunter. A man who clears Tamarisks, an invasive species capable of taking in and evaporating huge quantities of water, for a bounty. Having seen California, with its legal and financial muscle taking away all the available water form his region, our hunter is not satisfied to support them and see the farmsteads around him empty out. To keep himself in business he reseeds the Tamarisks. A practice that is highly illegal and very risky. Sooner or later, he is bound to be caught.

I liked this story a lot, both for the theme and the plot. When I visited the region myself, I was amazed as some of the unsustainable and outright wasteful ways in which water was used in an area that is partly arid or outright desert. The struggle over water Bacigalupi describes seems almost inevitable. There is also a very nice resolution to the plot. In a way it's obvious but like the main character, I didn't see it coming.

In Pop Squad (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October/November 2006) Bacigalupi takes a different direction, although it could be argued overpopulation is an environmental theme as well. In this future, humanity has found a way to become immortal. The treatment will simply stop the aging process. To prevent a huge population book, an anti conceptive is added to the drug. The price for immortality is not having children. Some people are not willing to pay that price and procreate anyway. The Pop Squad is on the hunt for such rogue mothers. Their method of dealing with them is ruthless but despite the logic behind the ban on having children, one of their agents begins to wonder what drives these people.

There is a sharp contrast between the refined culture the agent is part of when he is off duty and the ugliness and brutality of his job. The way Bacigalupi uses this contrast will probably not be to everyone's liking. While he does work in some humanity into the story, personally I felt he is trying a little too hard to shock the reader. It is a decent story but in this company it doesn't stand out.

The Yellow Card Man (Asimov's, December 2006) is the second story set in the same future as The Windup Girl. In this story we even meet a character who will return in the novel. Bacigalupi has renamed him though. Apparently the name he chose for the character in this story is an unlikely one given his cultural background. The two short stories share a setting but are otherwise unrelated. Where The Calorie Man is set on the Mississippi river, The Yellow Card Man takes us to a future Thailand. The main characters Tranh, an ethnically Chinese man,  is trying to eke out a living there, after the shipping business he owned in Malaya was taken from him in an anti-Chinese pogrom.

The story is not so much concerned with the environmental situation in the world. Like the main character in A Pocket Full of Dharma,  situation of the main character is pretty desperate.He simply doesn't have the luxury of thinking beyond his immediate survival. Being used to a life of luxury and having people around him to do his bidding, he has fallen to the level of a beggar essentially. Hard labour is the only way in which he can make a living. His current life has made him bitter. The discrimination described in the story is absolutely dreadful, but unfortunately not unlike the things many refugees would face. I guess the opportunism, ugly as it might be, at the end of the story was to be expected.

The next story, Softer (Logorrhea, edited by John Klima, 2007), feels like the odd one out. It deals with a man who, in a moment of frustration has murdered his wife. It's a very character driven story without any obvious speculative element. Other than being pretty dark, it doesn't have much to do with the other stories in this collection. It's well written but I got the feeling it didn't quite fit with the rest.

The collection closes with Pump Six, the story that gave the collection its name and the only original it contains. Again, it's a fairly depressing future scenario. A man working on the systems that keep the city's sewage from running along the streets witnesses astounding levels of stupidity around him. The cognitive abilities of humanity seems to have decreased the the level where they can only act to have their most basic needs met. When one of the pumps he is operating breaks down, he tries to find someone who knows how to fix it and finds out the true extent of the problem.

I wonder if this is Bacigalupi commenting on a society that seems to crave  instant gratification as some put it. Society in this story appears to  have completely lost sight of long term planning. Whether or not it is, Pump Six  leaves you with the feeling that the main character is capable of a lot more than  he himself knows and that somehow he will fix things. A hopeful end to  what is a rather pessimistic set of stories.

It is not often you come across a short story collection that manages such consistency. The stories in Pump Six and Other Stories are simply excellent. Most of Bacigalupi's characters seem to feel they are small people,  powerless to change the world around them. He shows the effects of certain  global developments on the level of an individual, taking complex environmental and social problems and presenting in a way that makes the reader feel right in the middle of it. That is quite an achievement, given the fact that at present very few people seem to feel the need to take responsibility for the mess we're making of our planet and take action to try and lessen the impact. By creating so many broken worlds, it is a collection best enjoyed in several servings however. Most of the stories are very dark, showing us terrible visions of the future. I don't think I could swallow this slim volume, my edition weights inn at 239 pages, in less than a week. To make the most of this collection, these stories need to be digested before moving on. This collection is challenging and thought provoking, taking your time to read it will pay off.

Book Details
Title: Pump Six and Other Stories
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 239
Year: 2008
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59780-133-1
First published: 2008

The Healthy Dead - Steven Erikson

The Healthy Dead is the second in a series of novellas on the necromancers Krobal Broach and Bauchelain. The are set in the same world as Erikson's ten volume fantasy series the Malazan Book of the Fallen. So far, Erikson has published four, with a fifth expected later this year. The Healthy Dead is the second in publication order, but the third chronologically, with the third novella, The Lees of Laughters End, set between Blood Follows and this novella. Once again I've read the edition published by Night Shade Books, which has a cover and several interior illustrations by Mike Dringenberg. The Healthy Dead is my favourite of the three I have read so far (I own a copy of Crack'd Pot Trail and hope to read it later this year). It is the finest example of the satirical element in  Erikson's writing.

After the events that forced their premature departure from Lamentable Moll, Korbal Broach and Bauchelain, accompanied by the unfortunate servant Emancipor Rees are still on the run from their pursuers. They have reached the remote city of Quaint, which at first glance offers little the small company may want and Bauchelain is tempted to circle the city and try to gain some more distance between them and their pursuers. Then, one of the city's inhabitants approaches them with a plea for help. A challenge Bauchelain can't resist. The city is ruled by a king who in his desire to do good, has banned just about everything that can kill. A very dangerous development if it were to spread. You see, a desire for goodness leads to the end of civilization.

In this novella Erikson ask the reader the question why so many people seem to prefer regimes that are not actually out for the wellbeing of their subjects. It has been a well known phenomenon that large groups of people long for a return to dictatorial regimes when a democratic political system doesn't turn out to be as perfect as the brochure promised. In this case the city of Quaint have come to realize that their king's ruthless enforcement of healthy living practices, makes life more complicated than they bargained for. The eloquent Bauchelain explains it in Yoda-like fashion early on in the novella, a gimmick that Erikson will repeat a number of times in the text.

"Ah, Mister Reese, I gather you still do not understand the threat this king poses to such creatures as you and I."

"Well, frankly, no, I don't, Master. As you say."

"I must perforce make the linkage plain, of sufficient simplicity to permit your uneducated mind to grasp all manner of significance. Desire for goodness, Mister Reese, leads to earnestness. Earnestness in turn leads to sanctimonious self-righteousness, which breeds intolerance, upon which harsh judgement quickly follows, yielding dire punishment, inflicting general terror an paranoia,eventually culminating in revolt, leading to chaos, then dissolution and thus, the end of civilization."

Bauchelain explaining to Reese why the situation in Quaint is so dangerous.

Quite simple really. And while he's at it, Erikson lampoons political correctness and diet gurus.

Erikson continues the story with a series of bizarre scenes in which the cities cult of healthy living is  examined. It is portrayed as a society where nothing is left to individual responsibility and where infractions are harshly punished. Those who died clean, healthy deaths - usually from ailments of the bowels after their diet has been reduced to mostly grass, excluding everything that could be considered a vice or in any way unhealthy -  are venerated and proudly displayed. Erikson has never been afraid of describing the grisly details of life and death in detail, and in this story he managed to combine the horrific with the comical. Casual acceptance of some horror and outrage at others contrast in strange ways and completely over the top situation occur with frighting regularity. A situation that echoes the relationship between Reese and his masters.

One of the things I like most about these novellas is that it forces Erikson to be more concise. The restrictions in length force him to focus and in this novella it works very well. Where Blood Follows feels a bit rushed at the end, this novella feels exactly long enough. Quite an achievement for a man who also produces sprawling 300,000 words novels almost like clockwork. The Healthy Dead  just ticks all the boxes for me, I think it is a little gem. And the best thing is that you can read these novellas without having the read the ten huge volumes of the main series. It is a great way to sample Erikson's writing. I can't wait to see where Erikson is taking the story of the two necromancers and their unfortunate manservant.

Book Details
Title: The Healthy Dead
Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 128
Year: 2005
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 1-597800-06-6
First published: 2004

Blood Follows - Steven Erikson

Blood Follows (2002) is the first novella in a series of stories centred around the characters of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. These two made their first appearance in Memories of Ice (2001) where, among other things, they have a memorable confrontations with Quick Ben. So far, four novella's has been published and it was recently announced that Erikson has delivered the manuscript for a fifth, titled The Wurms of Blearmouth, to PS Publishing. To my knowledge no publication date has been announced yet. All of the novellas are set well before events in Memories of Ice and can be read independently from the novels. Personally I think have read up to Memories of Ice is a bonus though.

All of these novellas were published in small numbers by PS Publishing in the UK. The first three received a similar treatment in the US from Night Shade Books. I own a copy of the Night Shade Books edition of Blood Follows and it is an absolutely wonderful little hardcover. It was published in 2005 and includes a cover and interior art by Mike Dringenberg. It doesn't look like Night Shade Books will be publishing more of these however. An omnibus edition of the fist three novellas has appeared from Tor books in trade paperback in 2009 and they have published the fourth separately as well. Which is more than a bit unusual for Tor, they tend to prefer longer works. Now if you just want to read the text, you're probably better off with the much more affordable Tor editions but I have fallen in love with these limited editions. I'll be keeping an eye out for the PS edition of The Wurms of Blearmouth for sure.

In the port city of Lamentable Moll, Emancipor 'Mancy' Reese has just met with an stroke of bad luck. His most recent employer joins a line of prematurely deceased masters Mancy has served when he falls victim to a serial killer that has haunted the city for eleven nights. His wife, for whom social status is all important, is less than thrilled with the news. She demands he finds a new job immediately. This, of course, is more easily said than done but a notice of a gentleman looking for a manservant looks promising. Thus Mancy the Luckless makes the acquaintance of Korbal Broach.

Humour has always been an ingredient of Erikson's Malazan books but in these novellas they take the centre stage. Mancy is something of an anti-hero, one of those character where no matter what they try, you'll know they'll end up messing it up. His employers keep dying, his children are most likely not his own, his wife terrorizes him. Luckless doesn't begin to describe his misfortune. All of this he carries with an kind of resignation that adds to the comical effect. The Germans would call is schadenfreude I suppose. On the other hand we have two very competent charters, not used to failure. Sergeant Guld, the man investigating the gruesome murders that have been causing so much unrest in the city and of course Korbal Broach himself. Not surprisingly, Mancy finds himself caught between these intellects soon enough.

These novellas are generally much lighter reading than the enormously complex Malazan novels. I enjoyed this first Bauchelain and Korbal Broach a lot but when you get right down to it, they novella suffers form a problem that many other works of this length encounter as well. The number of words spend on it, don't really seems sufficient to do the story justice. The end is quite abrupt, maybe a little rushed. The introduction of the pursuer of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach could have used a bit more attention too I think. It's lean, dark and humorous. I enjoyed reading it but don't go into this novella expecting the same level of complexity or tragedy the Malazan series has to offer. They are written to highlight an other side of Erikson's writing and as such they are good reading.

Book Details
Title: Blood Follows
Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 121
Year: 2005
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 1-597800-04-X
First published: 2002

Seed - Rob Ziegler

Rob Ziegler is another début novelist being introduced Night Shade Books. The seem to have an eye for new talent there, earlier this year I read Stina Leicht's Of Blood and Honey, which is probably going to make my best of 2011 list. Rob Ziegler's début Seed comes with a bonus recommendation from Paolo Bacigalupi, one of my favourite authors of the past few years. Not a book to pass up on, especially since it deals with subjects of climate change and genetic engineering, always good for drawing me into a story. In their marketing, the publisher leans heavily on the thematic similarities with Bacigalupi's enormously successful novel The Windup Girl. I found Ziegler's style very different from Bacigalupi's but certainly no less interesting.

In the early 22nd century, Earth is suffering from severe and abrupt climate changes. Temperatures reach extremes in both directions, patterns of precipitation shift constantly and stabilization of the planet's climate is a distant dream. On top of that, wars have been fought in the past century over the last oil resources the Earth still hid. Now that these have run out, economic collapse is a reality. In the US, large sections of the populations have been reduced to an existence as nomads. Travelling between the zones where agriculture is still possible, they eke out a living on what little Satori company, the only source of viable seeds of crops that can withstand the extreme climate. Given this monopoly, Satori is the de facto leader of the state. It is keeping tight control over its knowledge of genetic engineering. Until internal disagreement causes one of their top genetic engineers to defect that is.

One of the major environmental issues Ziegler uses in this novel is the use of so-called terminator technology. Crops carrying this particular modification produce sterile second generation seeds, preventing the farmer from saving part of his harvest to sow the following year. A way of farming that is still common in developing nations in particular. It's been criticised for creating a dependence on the company producing the seed that would leave the farmer very few options. The company most closely associated with this discussion is Monsanto (which is actually named in the novel), although other companies have done research in this direction. One of the justifications for its use is that is would help keeping other genetic modifications from spreading to wild populations. Not surprisingly, this does not impress the environmentalist, many of whom are not too keen on genetic engineering to begin with. Some nations have gone so far as to outright ban the use of this technology. There has been so much resistance to the idea that Monsanto, to my knowledge has not marketed this product, which is probably for the best. I think a situation where the production of staple agricultural crops is dependant on one or a mere handful of companies providing seeds is asking for trouble.

Ziegler takes it a step further than scary however. Satori's knowledge of genetics is not limited to just crops. They have created improved versions of humanity, better adapted to their environment than the outmoded wild populations still burdened by their savannah evolutionary heritage, as well as creatures specialized to specific tasks. Organic material can be shaped and manipulated for just about any purpose. It results in a number of chapters, mostly seen through the eyes of the Satori designed Sumedha, that bounce from the comforting warmth experienced in utero, to the disturbing, barely restrained aggression of the predatory advocates, or the grotesque use of living tissue as building material. Satori has created an almost alien community out of the building blocks of life.

The author balances this strangeness with two more conventional points of view. One from a migrant boy, basically an outcast and beggar making a living in a community where theft and murder are facts of life and our hero Brood is certainly not above these things. His chapters show us just how far the once greatest economy in the world has descended. It is a bleak existence, but one that breeds resourceful survivors. The second point of view is that of the ex-ranger Sienna Doss, someone still part of what passes for civilized society. She is one of the most bad-ass women you'll find in science fiction. Very determined but with all the subtlety of a bulldozer. With Satori's predators, Brood's survival instinct and Doss' access to military resources, the finale of the novel can only be called explosive.

Ziegler's style is one that relies on dialogue a lot. He doesn't offer much in the way of explanation for what has happened to the world in other ways, but preferring to let the readers draw their own conclusions. That made it first chapters a bit of a challenge for me. Especially Brood, who uses a lot of Mexican slang in his speech was hard to follow at times. Once I settled into the story it was a blast. Ziegler doesn't offer much in the way of explanations but he also doesn't let details distract him from the story. It is a very tight plot. Some readers might even prefer a bit more world building. How the remnant of the US government works for instance, remains a mystery. As does what is going on in the rest of the world. I didn't think the story needs that additional weight though. It worked fine for me as it is.

Night Shade Books reeled in another talented author with Rob Ziegler. Seed is a convincing début that will no doubt please fans of the post-apocalyptic sub genre. What impressed me most was the way the author combines the Buddhist sense of calm and being part of a greater whole, with the pent up aggression and inevitable, lethal conclusion that follows from their mastery of genetics. Satori is disturbing on many more levels than the environmental issue of producing sterile seed. Seed incorporates a number of themes I like to see in science fiction, for me personally, Ziegler has hit the bullseye. But I think that even for readers who do not share my peculiar preferences, this novel has a lot to offer. It is definitely recommended reading.

Book Details
Title: Seed
Author: Rob Ziegler
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 339
Year: 2011
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59780-323-6
First published: 2011

Of Blood and Honey - Stina Leicht

A while ago Night Shade Books offered the e-book edition of Stina Leicht's novel Of Blood and Honey for free. I must admit, I had no idea what the book was about and who the author is but I took them up on it anyway. The book hasn't received al that much attention on the blogs and review sites I read but sometimes you got to take a chance. As it turns out, Of Blood and Honey is Leicht's début novel and it is one of the better novels I have read this year. It's also a bit out of my comfort zone, something of an urban fantasy really. I guess I am starting to appreciate these a little more as long as I am spared the sparkly vampires. Or maybe I am just biassed because of the author's appreciation of Rory Gallagher's music.

Of Blood and Honey is set in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, during a period euphemistically referred to as The Troubles, as a full scale civil war was waged between Loyalist (to the UK) and Republican factions. The main character, Liam Kelly is born and raised a catholic area in the city of (London)Derry. Liam doesn't know who his father is. His mother became pregnant with him before she was married and after the scandal subsided, married another man. One day, he is unfortunate enough to witness to one of the frequent riots in the city. He is arrested and locked up in one of the more notorious prisons in Northern Ireland. It is an experience that will change the apolitical Liam into someone who embraces The Cause. It also gives him the first hints about the identity of his father, who is not a regular human being. It appears there is more than one war being fought in Northern Ireland and Liam is about to get involved in both.

The conflict in Northern Ireland that is the backdrop of this novel was one of the nastiest civil wars in the history of Europe. It's not easy to write a number of sympathetic characters involved in this dirty war. Leicht also limits herself to one side of the conflict, although seeing war as Catholic versus Protestant is shown to be an oversimplification. The Loyalist and Republican factions are far from unified, even within the IRA there are splits and differences of opinion about how to achieve the ultimate goal of joining the Irish Republic, resulting in various organisations carrying the name. Not surprisingly there is lots of rationalizing quite brutal violence and terrorist activities in this environment, which is something the reader must be prepared for. It also includes a number of vivid depictions of prison life. I'm not sure how much of that is based on real history but from what I have gathered from historical works, the conditions in those prisons were something the UK government ought to have been ashamed of. Northern Ireland was a fertile ground for internal conflict in those days and the novel shows it. There is nothing sparkly or fantastic about this side of the novel, which is one of the things I like about it.

It will come as no surprise that the characters in this story are no heroes. Although Liam is not a political youth, he can't avoid the reality of the situation in Derry and is dragged in anyway. He is not particularly proud of his actions, in fact, when he is forced to kill in order to make a getaway, he is deeply shocked by the event. His whole involvement in The Cause is a drama. A solution for such a conflict cannot be reached by means of violence, as Liam finds out the hard way. I have no idea how someone living in the area would respond to this book but to an outsider it illustrates the tragedy that took place there (and is still simmering under the surface to some extend) quite well.

The supernatural part of the tale is something of a contrast to all this. It is not as fully developed as the Liam's IRA activities which may be something of a let down for the die hard fantasy fans. I'm of the opinion that digging deeper into this part of the story would have ruined the novel. Liam's father is not human but. No matter how many tales people tell about not getting involved with the Fey, some people will fall for their glamour. Liam's mother is one of them. He is not aware of this fact however and the absence of his real father is a source of permanent sorrow for Liam. His father's nature can't be completely suppressed and at some points in the novel Liam's Fey heritage shines through. The way Liam's anger at his father's supposed lack of interest in his son affects Liam's life and behaviour is one of my favourite parts of the novel. It makes his hurt believable, his anger understandable in a way that would have worked if Leicht had made the father more visible.

There's another reason why I think going light on the fantasy element of the book was a good idea. Liam's father is absent for a reason. He is involved in his own struggles and what would be better than to lash out at the father by hurting the son? On top of that the Catholic church is aware of the existence of these supernatural creatures and has a special secret order that keeps an eye on them. They see them as fallen angels, entities to be fought and killed. What would the church think of the son of a fallen angel among it's flock? Better to keep his distance. I don't think there is an organization in the world that has more fictional secret societies attached to it than the Catholic Church. When another one pops up I am usually tempted to move on to something more interesting. I wasn't tempted to do so here.

All in all, Of Blood and Honey is a very character driven, emotionally charged, début novel. Liam is an intriguing character, very well realized and the focus of a story that could easily have gotten lost in further exploration of the historical context or the mythological themes of the novel. Leicht keeps the plot tight, resulting in a novel stands on its own pretty well. It reaches slightly rushed but satisfying conclusion. It leaves quite a few possibilities for more novels. Especially on the Fey side of Liam's family there are more than a few questions unanswered. The position of the church on the Fey seems to be shifting as well, which might well be a topic for a sequel. It will be interesting to see if more stories in this setting appear. I for one, wouldn't mind another.

Book Details
Title: Of Blood and Honey
Author: Stina Leicht
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 311
Year: 2011
Language: English
Format: E-book
ISBN: 978-1-59780-213-0 (paperback)
First published: 2011

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi is the author of Pump Six and Other Stories, one of the best short fiction collections I have ever read. I was very much looking forward to reading his first full length novel, especially after I found out it would be set in the same future as his stories The Calorie Man and The Yellow Card Man. The last story especially has a close connection to the novel. To say I had (unreasonably) high expectations of this novel is probably an understatement. Although I had some quibbles with both the pacing and character development the novel did not disappoint.

The novel is set in a future Thailand, one of the few places on earth that is not totally dependant on a small number of large agricultural/industrial companies. Oil has run out, the sea level has risen considerably and carbon is strictly rationed. Internal combustion engines have all but disappeared because of this, and has largely be replaced by muscle, both human and animal. Where oil once ruled, the calorie is the all important factor in production processes. To make matters even more complicated, various biological weapons have wreaked havoc on the world's ecosystems and food production can only be kept at a sufficient level to feed the population by careful genetic engineering. Keeping one step ahead of the viruses is tricky though. The Thai government has managed to a degree but the big companies are trying to get a foothold in the country.

Against this backdrop Bacigalupi follows a number of characters. A Calorie Man, an agent of one of the big companies, trying to find the secret of Thailand's relative success in keeping food production up. A Yellow Card Man, a Chinese refugee of the Malaysian pogrom in which he lost his family, desperately trying to build a life again. A Windup Girl, a genetically engineered human, trained to be a secretary and translator with benefits for a Japanese business man. Abandoned by her owner, very illegal, almost unconditionally obedient and without rights she has fallen into the hands of a bar owner who does not appreciate her for her intellectual qualities. And finally a White Shirt, an official of the ministry of environment, once all powerful and now slowly losing ground to the ministry of trade. Something he means to put a stop to. Everybody has a price in Thailand but the Tiger of Bangkok cannot be bought. In Bangkok's steaming political climate these seemingly minor players will be essential in the drama that is about to unfold.

I marvel at the detailed picture of this future Thai society Bacigalupi has created in this novel. His environmental themes in this novel, the commentary on the way we produce our food in particular, is something I don't think I came across in any other speculative fiction I have read. It is a bleak future indeed if Bacigalupi's scenario would unfold but unfortunately it is not entirely outside the realm of possibility. The way food is dragged across the globe and what that does to local economies as well as the attempts to patent genetic codes and the lengths to which some companies are prepared to go to protect these patents are pretty disturbing. I also think he has written a very interesting chain of events in Thailand's political arena. I would be a major spoiler to elaborate about that unfortunately.

It has to be said though, at some points in the novel Bacigalupi probably pays a little too much attention to his setting. It slows the novel down in several places, making the pacing a bit uneven. A more serious problem is the character development. Emiko, the Windup Girl is especially problematic. Her character and story depend largely on her breaking the conditioning she received. Bacigalupi approached this by putting her under a lot of psychological pressure but given the misery she has been suffering on a day to day basis for years, this does not entirely convince me. The Yellow Card Man Hock Seng is a more interesting character but ultimately he says stagnant, constantly worried about his survival and fearing for another round of violence against the Chinese.

In a way The Calorie Man Anderson and the White Shirt Jaidee are the most interesting, both striving for their goals without compromise. Or course, given the end of the novel, one could wonder if this was a wise course of action but it certainly makes for interesting reading. I guess it is telling that the true twist in the story eventually comes from neither of these four. Bacigalupi made the events in Bangkok the real focus of the book. There is something to be said for that choice, his attention to detail and the believable scenario he presents make it the novel's strong point. It would have been nice see a little more development in the characters though.

The Windup Girl is a very good novel length expansion of the themes Bacigalupi wield with such success in his shorter work. I didn't think it was quite as good as his short fiction but the novel is certainly among the better ones I have read this year. I very much appreciated the environmental themes in his work, something Bacigalupi handles with an understanding rarely seen in other science fiction novels. The future he describes is bleak but also fascinating and the Thai setting is so well realized it convinced me (granted, I have never been even close to Thailand). The novels has some flaws, a few of which other reviews will no doubt think quite serious. The novel kept me captivated anyway. I think the author can do better, and I certainly hope he will in years to come, but the fact remains is that I thoroughly enjoyed The Windup Girl. As far as I am concerned this is one of the 2009 publications that should be on your reading list.

Book Details
Title: The Windup Girl
Author: Paolo Bacigalupi
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 359
Year: 2009
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59780-157-7
First published: 2009

The Lees of Laughter's End - Steven Erikson

The third of Steven Erikson's Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas. Chronologically it is set between Blood Follows and The Healthy Dead. There is a UK publication that combines there three novellas in one volume and I understand Tor is publishing one for the US market later this year. I kinda like the Night Shade Books version though, even if they are pretty expensive. The Night Shade edition was delayed for something like six months, it was supposed to be released in December. I must say it was worth the wait.

We pick up the story or the unlucky Emancipor Reese, servant to the two necromancers sometime after they left the city of Lamentable Moll by ship. The crew is decidedly uneasy with their passengers, especially after all the ship's rats disappear. After a series of horrific and hilarious events it turns out that the necromancers may not have been able to outrun their pursuers entirely but the real danger to the ship and crew is of an entirely other nature.

I consider these novellas to be Erikson light reads. The stories are brief and very contained compared to his enormous sprawling novels. They do have that same dark atmosphere but focus much more on the humorous side of Erikson's Malazan work. Mind you, even his humour is dark, it is not something that everybody will appreciate. I think it also helps if you have read at least up to A Memory of Ice, where Bauchelain and Korbal Broach play their part in the siege of Capustan, if you want to get the most out of them.

I must admit I liked The Healthy Dead a bit better but the it still made me laugh out loud in several places. Bauchelain's eloquence when discussing hideous matters is absolutely hilarious, as are Reese's attempts to deny he has any idea what is going on. His attitude helps Mancy the Luckless get into the strangest situations aboard the ship.

The novella has a open ending. It is quite clear that whatever it is the necromancers are trying to outrun isn't going to give up. Erikson has announced there will be three more Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas. I am already looking forward to them. Let's hope Night Shade is a bit quicker with their edition next time.

Book Details
Title: The Lees of Laughter's End
Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Pages: 120
Year: 2009
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59780-144-7
First published: 2007