Reading Heaven

I've started plunging through my bedside bookstack and was
pleasantly surprised- as always.

Justina Robsons's Keeping it Real Quantum Gravity Book One:
at first I thought " oh no, how is this author going to pull off
combining sf and fantasy in this way?" but I was in for a treat.
Not only are the characters believable, the speculative science
good, but so is the story and I do "indeed- Peter.F.Hamilton"
I too look forward to Book Two.

Then Charles Stross's Accelerando: a Slightly gothic approach,
very fast paced modern look at the "information revolution" and
where it could be heading, fantastic characters, strong females
and I simply loved the lobsters.

Robert Collins's Soul Corporation: I was expecting a rehash of
uhm- that oh yes, that Hollywood movie starring Jim Carrey,
bought and raised by a moviestudio and live online, forgot the
name. I was not far off, although the story of Esh comes at
you from a different angle, this is not really sf, but an expose
on marketing to the masses, how big the market is and how
superstars have ipso facto sold their souls to the subscribers.
-not bad.

Iain M. Banks's Look to Windward: Mr Banks is brilliant, his
characters are people who are real and provoke the reader.
a Perfect vision of a possible future, avatar's, sentient beings
of all shapes, the culture is a place I could only dream of having
been born into, I cannot get enough of Banks - he is godly.

Iain M.Banks's The Player of Games: Hah, a precise and
incredible look into the mind and life of a gamer ( I too am
a gamer of no consequent genius, but I do enjoy it still).
Gurgeh, the leading character not only played for the culture
but for every value I think a sophisticated intelligent human
today would stand for, the conditions on far away Azad are
all to real and a reminder that we are currently still very much
apes.- so very brilliant oh great guru Mr Banks.

Just hot off my head, having finished Geoff Ryman's Air only
hours ago. Like so many good sf books, I had to read Air
in one swift swoop. Such a real story, it could be happening
right now, and is happening right now, putting perspective
on the great gaps between technology in the first world and
tech in the third world. A very humane look at the terrible
consequences high tech can have on the lowtech mind.
The main character Mae is from a peasant village and
her struggles to understand technology and how to
use it for the betterment of her people is profound and her
and the village she comes from's situation is comparable
to conditions in poor countries around the
world right now. Very very well done Mr Ryman !

mmm so what will I be reading next, well I have lying in
my study: Stephen Baxter's Resplendent yumyum and
Best New SF 19 (a bag full of exotic candies) and
Alaistar Reynolds's North Star. I'm still avoiding some
other titles, but I have noticed bookstores stocking a
large range of fantasy books and a few reprints
of old SF classics- where are the new SF books
hiding? (at the printers- I Hope !)

Another autumn has arrived in Cape Town, not
that our summer was without the effects of
global warming with unexpected rains during
our normally dry months. Average people are
so busy strutting and buying that they don't
realise how quickly the future arrives.. is time
subjective to thought and actions? How I
wish I could shake humanity out of this
material gluttony that might just swallow us all,
they are depleting our resources, and by the
time we need it, it's gonna be "bey-bey kansas"
and hello to a garish situation aargh !

sweet regards from the reader - the observant self