Books – Antartctica

This was  re-read, after I’d read the Science in the City trilogy (Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, Sixty Days and Counting). The first thing that struck me was the repeat of characters between this and both Escape from Kathmandu and the Science in the City trilogy. In fact, this is in some ways a dry run for the trilogy. The politics and the science fit right together, but it’s not quite like the trilogy is a sequel. It’s clear that Robinson made good use of his time at the US Antarctic base as a writer-in-residence. I don’t know all that much about extreme survival, but all the details hang together very well and it has a lot of verisimilitude at the very least. It’s a bit eco-utopian, but then that’s of course one of his ongoing themes.

He’s written better, but there’s lots worse out there.

Current Mood: busy

Current Music: None

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info

Books – Surfing Samurai Robots

When I lived in St Andrews, qidane and tobyaw gave me a birthday present of a pile of cheap SF. It was a fun present including various decent books (and a number not so decent) that I’d probably never have tried otherwise. One of them was the second book in a trilogy and being the way I am I tracked down number one first. I’m glad I did, and I later got the third in the series as well.

These are really fun little SF detective books. They’re very lighthearted, riffing heavily on surf culture, Raymod Chandler (and detective noir generally) with a healthy dollop of Dimension of Miracles.

Aliens on the planet T’toom pick up earth radio broadcasts and a young Toomler called Zoot becomes somewhat obsessed with the early radio adaptations of Chandler’s work and decides to head to Earth to become a PI. Landing in Malibu he is befriended by some surfers (mostly teens/twenties with one older guy).  Being basically humanoid, he manages to pass with various tales about toxic waste nose drops and too many drugs.

Meanwhile his new friends have a classic confrontation with beach bikers resulting in a bet about a surfing competition (surfing in this world is done using telepresece robots, not directly). The surfer’s bots get wrecked, all the parts and replacements are unavailable, and there are various other complications running around.

An engaging story that trips along with a cracking pace, wonderful dry wit, hard boiled dialogue. I particualrly like Mel Gilden’s wonderful in-your-face punning names for characters like Whipper Will, Knighten Daise (and his daughter Stormy) and the like.

These have dated well and exist in a sort of timeless parallel timeline with advanced robots but 80s sensibilities. Strongly recommended for comic relief from life’s vicissitudes.

Current Mood:  tired

Current Music: None

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info

Books – Hawaiian UFO Aliens

So, as mentioned in the review of Surfing Samurai Robots, I was given this book by some friends and tracked down the first one to read in order. Returning to T’toom, Zoot Marlowe finds even his newfound fame on his home planet isn’t enough for him and that trouble being his business, he needs Earth trouble to make his life complete, so he heads bck to Malibu. His arrival coincides with the appearance on the beach of what looks to be a large top hat, following which one of his friends is turned into a stage magician with real magic tricks (indistinguishable from the science of an advanced race, as he hangs a lampshade on).

Once again running into some cracking characters with names like Medium Rare, the Surfing Samurai Robot spritualist (who has had visions of T’toom), Busy Backson and her brother Gone Out, Zoot has a wonderfully surreal adventure that tears along with wit, verve and hard boiled monologuing.

Current Mood:  tired

Current Music: None

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info

Books – Tubular Android Superheroes

The third and so far as I know final Zoot Marlowe book starts once more with his return to his home planet. THis time his grandfather persuades him to bring him along for the ride, giving him an even harder time explaining their physical form. But this being a timeless California 80s, the only people who really look deeply into it don’t take it any further. In this installment we meet Whipper Will’s father Iron (middle name Duke), his landlord Max Toodemax and re-encounter Mr Knighten Daise (transformed from his lobster incarnation to a camel this time).

Whipper’s father’s android business, currently producing Melt-O-Mobiles which get extruded by a dispenser and dissolve into smoke instead of requiring to be parked, has some difficulty with their superhero Androids going stale and he wants Whipper back working for him. Connected or not, someone kidnaps Whipper and Zoot’s surfer friends, Whipper’s girlfriend and Zoot’s grandfather Zamp. Zoot follows the trail with his hard-boiled wit and his idekick Surfing Samurai Robot duck sidekick Bill. The fun lasts all the way through the trilogy and I’d be happy if there were more to discover.

Current Mood:  tired

Current Music: None

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info