A Deepness in the Sky is the (only loosely connected) prequel to ‘A Fire Upon the Deep’ byVernor Vinge; it's a complex, emotionally intense, and well executed Large-Scale Space Opera, which deservedly received the Hugo and John W Campbell Memorial Awards. I presume that most of our readers have read this book long ago; so I shall keep this brief… but if you haven’t read this book yet then I would strongly recommend you give it a try!
The story follows a Queng Ho expedition to the On-Off Star. Queng Ho are a family based group of traders between all the worlds within the human sphere (but not an Empire, to the chagrin of their founder/spiritual father, Pham Nuwen), and the On-Off star is exactly that – an oscillating star that is lit 50 years at a time, with 200-year gaps of inactivity in-between. Trigger for the expedition is the fact that radio emissions have been detected during from its only planet during the last On period, and the Queng Ho figure that, by the time the sun re-ignites, the inhabitants (whoever they are) will have developed into a technological society the Queng Ho can trade with – for mutual gain. Too bad that they are not alone in their endeavour. Another group of humans, newly arisen from a fallen civilization (no rarity, it’s part of the lifecycle of planet bound civilaizations) calling themselves the ‘Emergents’ also has sent a fleet.
Jon Courtenay-Grimwood is a British journalist and writer, with, to date, 12 fiction novels to his name (the latest - The Fallen Blade, is the 1st instalment in his Vampire Assassin Trilogy and came out in February 2011). He has won the BSFA award twice now, although neither of these was for redRobe, the standalone novel at hand (his 4th, incidentally).
The story kicks off in Day Effe, Mexico, with Axl O'Higgins Borja going back to his old job as hit-man, as he's got bills to pay. He messes up, and gets caught by the police – not good, as the default penalty for assassination in Mexico is death. But Axl has a history – he once saved the life of the man who is now known as Cardinal Santo Duce, top man in the Catholic Church in Mexico, and a power factor on par with the new Empress. The Cardinal grants Axl a stay of execution (it's the second time he's had to call in this favour...) so he can do a job for him. No, not to kill someone, but to find Pope Joan, or, rather (as Pope Joan is dead, and so far hasn't been re-incarneted by the Catholic Church) her sister, Kate. You see, Pope Joan, instead of nicely playing along with what people wanted her to say and do, gutted the Vatican Bank and spent the money as it always should have been spent. On food for the poor, on medicine, but mostly in airlifting the destitute and starving out of war zones and into transit camps where they could be shipped to Samsara.
Halo is the debut (and, so far, only) novel byTom Maddox, writing partner of William Gibson and friend of Bruce Sterling (the book bears endorsements by both, which is what made me pick it up in the first place!). The book is a Cyberpunk classic, with a story revolving around AI and machine self-awareness, artificial life, immersive spaces, and Zen.
Mikhail Gonzales (‘Gonzales’ to his friends) works as an auditor for SenTrax, a fully global company. He is answerable to Frederick Lewis Traynor, ruthless, ambitious, and a candidate for the SenTrax board, whose members seem to be above the law (and about everything else). Traynor sends Gonzales to Halo, an artificial habitat in space, shaped like a wheel with six spokes. Halo has rotational gravity, and a computer, Aleph, running every function. Aleph is a distributed AI – he’s not just running Halo, he IS Halo, and Halo is him, intertwined, one the expression of the other. Gonzales is sent there to witness an attempt by Dr Diana Haywood to assist the transformation of Jerry Chapman, her former lover, into an artificial being by Aleph.
And now, a few words onInherent Vice, the latest book by Thomas Pynchon, the best writer in the world. Yes, I am biased ;-) 'Latest' is also slightly misleading here – yes it's correct, he hasn't written (or at least announced) another book since Inherent Vice. The fact that I've been savouring my proof copy (thanks to the publisher for that!) in small instalments since August 2009 is neither here nor there, of course...
Larry Sportello, Doc to his friends (and almost anybody else, too) is a PI living and working around Gordita Beach, LA (a thinly disguised Manhattan Beach, apparently). It's the time of Hippies, Surfers, Free Love, ubiquitous Marijuana (especially for Doc), and post-Manson paranoia. When he has a visit, nah, visitation from Shasta Fay Hepworth, aspiring Hollywood Actress and his ex-girlfried, with a request to look into a plot of the wife (and her lover) to abduct (amongst other things) her new boyfriend, the Real Estate Tycoon Mickey Wolfman a convoluted chain of events is set into motion which ends with – no, that would be telling. And you don't need to know to enjoy this book...
A few words on Riverrun, the initial installment in the trilogy of the same name by S P Somtow (aka Somtow Sucharitkul, award-winning author, feted composer/conductor and general busybody), a fascinating escapist 'dark fantasy', starring Vampires, Dragons, and the river that runs through the entire Universe, holding together all worlds – all wrapped up in a King Lear based background scenario. A great book, aimed at the older Adolescent to Adult market.
The story finds Theo Etchison on a family trip through the desert, on their way to bring their moribund mother to yet another cancer clinic (“movies can show everything about death except the smell”, he remarks). When they stop at a Chinese Restaurant in the middle of nowhere Theo is abducted into a parallel world by Peter Cushing Cornelius Huang, the herald of Prince Thorn. To Thorn Theo is not just a boy with an overly active imagination and weird dreams – he calls him ‘Truthsayer’, and worships/fears him as one who can see things as they are, who can read and ride the river which connects all worlds and realities. Thus Theo gets involved in a major fight to save (?) the universe by deciding who controls it, and especially who controls the river. His family also get drawn into the fight between mad King Strang, and his three estranged children, between whom he tried to split up his Kingdom (ring a bell?).