I’M READING AS FAST AS I CAN: APRIL 2010 EDITION

Hey kids! Book reports for free on the Internet! Impress yr friends!

JUST FINISHED

Daughter Of Hounds by Caitlin R. Kiernan
This was my first time reading Kiernan's novels, but will also probably be my last. The premise of subterranean ghouls living in New England kidnapping children and raising them as changelings sounded promising, but the basic twin narratives of an eight-year-old girl with unexplained powers and an adult changling named Soldier acting as a sort of hitwoman for the ghouls are dense and convoluted. It doesn’t help that Kiernan writes thick prose with tedious detail and repetitive dialogue (to include key characters always talking in irritating riddles and never bothering to explain what's going on to other characters who really could benefit from at least being told the basics, fer Chrissakes). She also uses flashbacks throughout the entire book to fill in the backstory that, to me, distracts from the main story. Also, Soldier is overdone as a hyper-badass who hates everyone because it's badass. A lot of people dig Kiernan, but I think she’s not for me.

JUST STARTED

A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Never read Burroughs (seriously), but of course I’ve seen most of the movies made from his work. Given my recent interest in Mars via my own writing – and remembering that I used to see the John Carter books in Waldenbooks all the time as a kid – I thought this was a good place to start.

( Even more titles! We call it Value For Money! )

Stop doing that,

This is dF

BOOBQUAKE: IT WORKS

Yr true pseudoscience headline of the day:



Damn. Who knew?

Oh, and thanks for sending that our way, Boobquake.

Shakin’ all over,

This is dF

DON’T TALK TO ALIENS

ITEM: Stephen Hawking says in a new documentary series that there’s certainly other life forms in the universe – and that we should avoid trying to contact them at all costs because, frankly, they might be like us.

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

Which is more or less the backdrop for John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War trilogy, incidentally.

Personally, I partially disagree with this line of thinking. I do agree that it’s a mistake to assume that any intelligent life is friendly by default (see: Mars Attacks!), but I think it’s a mistake to base any policy on fear of the worst-case scenario (see: the George W Bush era). Granted, caution and prudence are part of any informed decision, but I don’t think shutting down SETI is a solution.

That said, considering the SMSs we’ve been spamming out into space, an argument could be made that we’re asking for it.

Company’s coming,

This is is dF

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD PENGWOLF?

Not I.



Mix and match,

This is dF