Captive Girl=Facemask

...gives a whole new meaning to "I have no mouth and I must scream"...

Captive Girl

Wow. I don't know how many of you are aware of the SF&F short fiction site Helix. These guys don't accept submissions, and the stories they publish are damned good. The one I just read - just before going to sleep, which I'm pretty sure is a big mistake - was one of the most claustrophobic stories I've ever read, and beautifully written.

I'm not really into horror - and this isn't really a horror story. But the story brings along with it such an incredible frisson, I had my breath catch repeatedly as I read the story. It includes mature themes, not for the easily offended. But it kicks ass and is worth reading.

Try the other stories on that site, too. You won't regret bookmarking it.

Stolen Child Stuff

I ran across a reading guide for January's book. Check it out if you're so inclined. It includes a copy of the William Butler Yeats poem on the theme of the changeling. Interesting. There's also an interview with the author. Since I had some real issues with the book, I'm wondering if reading any of these things will change my impressions of the novel at all. Probably not, but I'll read them anyway.

If you read that wikipedia entry on changelings, you find some entries on novels written by Poul Anderson, Raymond Feist, Michael Swanwick, Roger Zelazny, etc etc.

Also interesting to note that the incomparable Loreena McKennitt put Yeats' poem to music on her album Elemental.

Speaking of changelings, does anyone else remember that very cool 1980 movie The Changeling starring George C. Scott? It took the idea out of the realm of faerie and put it firmly in a suspense/haunted house setting, and it is kind of tame by today's standards. I remember seeing it in the theater when it first came out and the woman sitting right behind me kept screaming at the top of her lungs, especially at the bouncing ball and the kid in the tub. The movie was scary, but she scared the hell out of me. It still holds up well though, even without the screaming. If you haven't seen it, add it to your Netflix list...

Oh, and in case you didn't see it, I left a comment on the previous post about Starfish. (Guess I'll be reading that one in pdf...)

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's wishing you all a safe, fun New Year's

Ho ho ho!

Hope you all have a Merry-Merry Holly-Jolly!

David Weber?

Okay, I know I already threw one suggestion out there for the March book, but I just can't help myself. Ran across this one at work, and it looks pretty good -- and it got a starred review in Pub Weekly:

Weber (At All Costs) launches an epic series with this gripping far-future saga, which springboards off the near-destruction of humanity in a massive war with the alien Gbaba. The survivors of the human race retreat to the planet Safehold, where they sacrifice basic human rights—and an accurate memory of the Gbaba—for the preservation of the species. The colony's founders psychologically program the colonists to prevent the re-emergence of scientific inquiry, higher mathematics or advanced technology, which the Gbaba would detect and destroy. Centuries later, cultural stagnation on this feudal but thriving planet is enforced by the all-powerful Church of God Awaiting. But one kingdom—with the aid of the war's last survivor, a cybernetic avatar that awakens to reinvent itself as a man named Merlin Athrawes—risks committing the ultimate heresy. Shifting effortlessly between battles among warp-speed starships and among oar-powered galleys, Weber brings the political maneuvering, past and future technologies, and vigorous protagonists together for a cohesive, engrossing whole.

Plus, Helge, isn't this the author you mentioned that might be coming to Conduit next year? Anyway, the name looks familiar to me... The book is actually published in January.

Vernor Vinge: Rainbows End

I know, I know, we've already done, what, 2 Vernor Vinge books in the past? But his latest, Rainbows End, just got voted best SF book of the year by the SF Book Club. Maybe for March? Just throwing it out there...

Jan & Feb Selections

January 7th discussion = The Stolen Child

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February 4th discussion = Starfish