Tag: book

bookmark_border“The Road to Roswell” by Connie Willis

Posted on by Elliott Evans
An incomplete collection of Connie Willis books, to say nothing of the dog.

Much of Connie Willis‘ novels can be pigeonholed as “romantic comedies”, where two young people thrown together into a difficult situation manage to overcome adversity and wind up falling in love. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it does make me wonder why none of her books have been made into movies. This kind of energetic romp plays very well with general audiences, and Willis’ “difficult situations” are usually sfnal in nature so they appeal to genre audiences as well.

Can two people find love while traveling through time for the History Department of a major university? Can two people find love while being psychically linked to somebody they dislike? Can two people find love while researching death and the possibility of an afterlife? Can two people find love while finding out the truth about interplanetary aliens on Earth and alien abduction?

That last one, of course is the premise of The Road to Roswell. Our main characters are actually abducted by aliens, but it’s not what you think! Everybody is still on Earth, and they really are on the road, and the road does lead to (and from) Roswell. The cast is what you might expect in any Western: a kidnapped damsel, a criminal on the run, a lying conman, a lonesome cowboy, a dishonest gambler, and a religious fanatic. Most are not played by the stereotype you might expect from that description, however. The criminal on the run is a space alien who resembles a tumbleweed. The fanatic follows the ‘religion’ of UFOlogy and quotes from its sacred texts about abduction and history.

This book is also about communication, and how hard it can be to communicate when it’s not just that you don’t share a language, but you don’t share basic concepts. What is alien, anyway? What is love? How do you tell somebody what you’re looking for and where to find it when you can’t describe it and you’re not sure where you are? This is the kind of thing that Connie Willis is really good at. I saw her speak at an SF conference long ago, and she is literally charming. Her unassuming language and subtle presentation style have a lovely way of suggetsing these deeper concepts bit by bit until suddenly your head is in the right place to really “get it”, youknowwhatimean?

I’ve enjoyed previous books from Connie Willis, and I enjoyed this one. I feel it bogs down a little in the middle, though. It’s part of the story, but even the characters start to get confused about what’s going on and what they are doing. This all pays off in the end, and the pace picks up towards the crashing conclusion where they all live happily (?) ever after (?). When’s the movie coming out?

bookmark_border“Polostan” by Neal Stephenson

Posted on by Elliott Evans
A shelf of books by Neal Stephenson

I am pleased that Neal Stephenson has finally convinced his publisher that a series of 300 page volumes is preferable to a single 900 to 1200 page tome. However, since the story contained in the first volume of Stephenson’s new “Bomb Light series” is really just the back story for the main character, it is difficult to review. I will say that this first volume is told with Stephenson’s characteristic flair, and with skillful arrangement. Exposition is accomplished through flashback, and history (and History) combines with forward narrative at a steady pace until we are all caught up and ready for the drama to shift into racing gear. Even when you are expecting the end of the volume to occur, since with physical books it is unavoidable to notice when it is near, the turn that breaks act one from act two is somewhat surprising. Leave it to Stephenson to create characters who surprise even themselves with their sense of dramatic turn!

Anyway, the “Polo” of the title really does refer to the game of Polo, as played on ponies, and the “stan” really does refer to a culturally unified geographic region (a capital-S “State”, if you will). The main character is a Wyoming pony-trainer outlaw communist operative hero of the highest order, and her manipulations bring the State of Polostan into existence just when she needs it to make the leap from state of mind into (fictional) reality.

There’s no way for me to tell where all this is going. Even Stephenson only vaguely refers to the “shape of this thing”. However, the characters are fully aware of Things that are Important, and I expect them to follow through on their personal histories with decision and aplomb.

This is a reasonably quick read, with a good foundation in world history and a strong plot with a relatable main character. Aurora is not a genius, but she is smart and brave. She does what she needs to survive, but she cares for others and tries to limit the harm to the uninvolved. A real hero! I hope she survives.

bookmark_borderYou Are Too Sober for this Book Review

Posted on by Elliott Evans
Shelf of books authored Pargin, Jason

Having just come out in 2022 with a me-lauded new entry in the “John Dies at the End” series, Jason “David Wong” Pargin followed up in 2023 with a new “Zoey Ashe” novel titled Zoey is too Drunk for this Dystopia. I continue to believe that Pargin continues to make himself a better and better writer. I don’t know, maybe he just has better editors, but he knows enough to work with them to make better and better books, so good enough.

Anyway, in the first book of this series, protagonist Zoey Ashe inherits a vast fortune and shady business empire from her father. This inheritance comes with a group of her father’s helpers who are known collectively as “The Suits”. Now, Zoey is not stupid, and she is far from helpless, but she is way out of her depth in the first book, and knows it. The Suits do most of the heavy lifting, and Zoey mostly struggles to keep up while trying to direct the business onto a more noble path.

In this book, the fourth in the series, Zoey is really coming into her own. She is making the plans, and doing some of the heavy lifting. When helpers get sidelined, she knows that the rest of the team is looking to her to pick up the slack and recruit substitutes. She’s going from being the shocked owner of this thing, to being the real boss of this thing. Zoey still makes some mistakes, and some horrible decisions that turn out OK anyway, but she’s getting there, and she never forgets about her family, her cats, and her desire to make the world a slightly better place now that she has the resources to do so.

As a writer, Pargin has learned to subvert the reader’s expectations. It’s not that he’s trying to surprise you, but he’s trying to make you think about people. In the Zoey Ashe novels, protagonists aren’t always good, villains aren’t always bad, and red herrings sometimes turn out to be clues. The gun on the mantel in act 1 might be revealed in act 2 to display a flag that says “BANG!”, then in act 3 the flag is waved to summon help from a Thai sea pirate. You just ever know, but he’s urging you to look. Maybe the villain is really ridiculous and more naive than you. Maybe the protagonist has to do one awful thing to make sure another awful thing doesn’t happen. He’s urging you to look inside the suit and see the real person.

Later this year, Pargin is releasing yet another novel, and I think it is set in yet another series. I applaud whenever an author decides to branch out, but I hope this isn’t the last we read about Zoey. Both Pargin and his creations are still on their way to becoming real heroes, and I want to see what they are like when they get there.