Fri 21 Apr 2017
SF Stories I’m Reading: CHARLIE JANE ANDERS “A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime.”
Posted by Steve under Science Fiction & Fantasy , Stories I'm Reading[11] Comments
CHARLIE JANE ANDERS “A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime.” First published in Cosmic Powers, edited by John Joseph Adams (Saga Press, trade paperback; 1st printing, April 2017).
Browsing at Barnes & Noble yesterday, a brand new science fiction anthology called Cosmic Powers caught my eye. I bought it almost immediately, brought it home, and I’m already three stories and 70 pages into it. The overall theme, according to the editor, John Joseph Adams, in his introduction are “stories of larger than life heroes battling menacing force, in far-flung galaxies, with the fate of the universe at stake.”
Well, yippee! As long as the authors don’t go all early Edmond Hamilton on us, or E. E. Smith, Ph.D., this is the kind of science fiction I’m always on the lookout for, and so far, I’m happy to tell you, they haven’t. The stories are huge in scope, but up close and personal in scale. (I hope that makes sense.)
The first story in the book, “A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime,” by Hugo award-winner Charlie Jane Anders, is a pretty good example. In fact, compared to the deadly dull military SF being published (what I’ve seen of it), it could be faulted in going too far in the other direction; that is to say, making too light of the affair — which in this case consists entering the realm of a huge blob of existence called The Vastness, escaping with a device called a hypernautic synchrotrix on a spaceship called the Spicy Meatball, one of the two perpetrators thereof (one male and one female) being someone who calls on a pair of gods totally new to me (“Thank Hall and Oates!”), and all this in only the first eight pages, with 26 more to go.
I enjoyed this one. I think the author manages to keep both feet on the right side of fun versus slapstick, but this may very well be one of those situations where simply said, your mileage may vary.
April 21st, 2017 at 11:18 am
I haven’t read any of her fiction yet, but enjoyed her work as a critic for sf website io9.
Steve, have you tried any John Scalzi? His Old Man series began as military sf but quickly grew beyond it. He has a variety of sf titles from my favorite THE ANDROID’S DREAM to REDSHIRTS.
April 21st, 2017 at 12:40 pm
No, I haven’t read anything by Scalzi yet. I have seen his novels in Barnes & Noble, but so far I’ve never gotten one up to the checkout counter. Cam his Old Man series be jumped into at any point along the way, or is it best to start with the first one?
April 21st, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Hey! I like Edmond Hamilton’s world-wrecking stories. Any _one_of them is a fantastic emotional roller coaster of fear and awe. They are a bit cookie-cut when viewed en masse but individually they were outstanding.
April 21st, 2017 at 12:44 pm
I may have been harder on Hamilton’s massive scale space operas than I should have been, given that I haven’t actually read one in a long time. I shouldn’t do that.
Did you read my review of Hamilton’s story “What’s It Like Out There?” I think it’s a better indication of his real writing ability.
Here’s the link: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=47203
April 21st, 2017 at 3:08 pm
Steve, start with Old Man’s War. In Old Man’s War he creates a Universe best enjoyed in order. He successfully did something I don’t know if any writer has done – he wrote the same story in two different books. The first was The Last Colony and then he change the POV to another character and told the story in Zoe’s Tale (which was nominated for a Hugo for best novel).
He has many other non-series books worth trying.
Redshirts tells the story of a crewman on Starship. Star Trek fans know the guys in the redshirts who beamed down with the regulars would be the first to die. Here a crewman becomes aware of his doomed fate. It won the Hugo for Best Novel.
Lock In is a sf police procedural that has a sequel due out someday called Head On.
Since I like him you know he has humor in the books but it is background stuff and never gets in the way of the plot or characters. The Android’s Dream is his funniest.
April 21st, 2017 at 6:18 pm
Thanks for the advice. I’ll look for a used copy of Old Man’s War and give it a try.
As authors who have written the same story i two different books, I wonder if Orsn SCott Card may fit into that category. I’ve read Ender’s Game, and I think that Ender’s Shadow tells at least part of that story from someone else’s point of view. I’m willing to be corrected on that.
April 21st, 2017 at 7:07 pm
Happily, the space opera genre is making a comeback and there are some very exciting new writers out there. Don’t know if you have seen the Syfy series THE EXPANSE (it aired its season finale this week but it will return for another season), but it is one of the best shows on TV today. The show is based on an equally critically acclaimed series of books by James S. A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck).
While I find it hard to find great new writers of mysteries, sf and fantasy has some incredible new talent out there.
April 22nd, 2017 at 1:50 am
I hadn’t heard about THE EXPANSE, so thanks for the tip. It isn’t easy keeping up with what’s on TV anymore.
Except here in Hollywood, where I’m visiting at the moment. Driving down Sunset Blvd, all of the huge signs are advertising new TV shows, not movies, most on channels I’ve barely heard of.
April 22nd, 2017 at 5:43 am
Definitely start with OLD MAN’S WAR and go from there. And REDSHIRTS (standalone) is a lot of fun to anyone who is familiar with STAR TREK.
April 22nd, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Steve, I “hate” you. I am so homesick for Los Angeles. It is nearing the upfronts time when TV networks have a party for the advertisers to announce their new fall schedule. Holidays and Summer are when the big movies take over the city.
One warning about THE EXPANSE. Like any TV series based on a series of books THE EXPANSE is a serial story two seasons old. But you can watch it on DVDs or (now you are a hip bi-coastal guy) try streaming service.
April 22nd, 2017 at 10:08 pm
Jon and I stopped at Iliad Books in North Hollywood this afternoon, the best used book store around for miles in any direction.
I found a couple of reprint paperbacks of early Edmond Hamilton. I didn’t buy them. Sorry, Brian (comment #2), all space battles and not for me.
Stephen Haffner (of Haffner Press) is doing a complete set of Hamilton’s early work for the pulps, as I understand it, quite a few volumes worth so far. I hope they’re doing well, but in terms of SF I’m interested in reading now, that’s not what I’m looking for.
Unfortunately Iliad didn’t have a single copy of any book by John Scalzi, not one. I was looking for OLD MAN’S WAR in particular, but if the price was low enough, I’d have taken anything that looked interesting.
I’ll have to do some browsing in Barnes & Noble, I guess, but when I did when OLD MAN’S WAR came out, I remember passing on it. But that was then. Maybe my taste has improved in the meantime.