Friday, January 04, 2008

Back in the Saddle

ho ho ho It was a very merry Festivus around my house. New Year's eve is my wife's birthday, too, so that was fun. We had two four-day weekends in a row, filled with video games, movies and great food.

I am nearing the end of The Scar, by China Mieville, though I did not get much reading done over the weekend. Scott Sigler's Nocturnal is still kicking major ass. There were two new episodes of Escape Pod over the holidays.

EP137: Citytalkers by Mur Lafferty
This was a very interesting story. Mur really knows how to get to the emotional core. This one started off a bit strange. I think the opening could have been stronger. I think the details about the bar patron dressed as an elf were a distraction. Why was the MC drinking by herself in a bar? Other than her job as a TV newscaster, I didn't have a strong understanding of the character. Also, when the odd guy shows up and gives her a gun, it felt like some transition was missing. The story just jolted into overdrive. However, Mur really knows how to close a story, and by the end this one totally had me. I love stories of personal transformation.

EP138: In the Late December by By Greg van Eekhout
This was a very cool, slightly disturbing story. It felt almost like a secular allegory. Instead of souls, the story talks about consciousness clusters. I like that. The whole thing was very existential. For me it was about the quest for meaning in a mechanical world. I love the way Santa infused meaning and therefore reality into the universe. Mecha Rudolph was cool, too.

1 comment:

Scott Sigler said...

Wow, I'm "kicking major ass?" Well, my story NOCTURNAL is kicking ass, anyway. Hey, as long as you're entertained, that's all I care about.