Hey, why not? It's summer, things are kinda slow in the Zone...

Besides: When I moved last month, I wound up nearly next door (three-minute walk) to the city library. So I'm back to devouring the printed word. Last week's stack of three were all pulled from the "New" shelves, though every one of them is (c) 2006.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, I must admit, grabbed me with its title and cover design... and that the library had labeled its spine "Mystery". Hmmm, OK.... Turns out, it's a contemporary coming-of-age story (female version) under very weird circumstances, which are introduced so smoothly that disbelief is most willingly suspended. It's told in the first person, and I dare to say that the right sort of person of either gender will love Blue van Meer from the opening chapter. It is crammed on every page with simile, enough of them so inventive and quirky that I didn't tire of the style (though, if you look it up at Amazon, you'll find that the WashPost's reviewer tired soon). It is also the author's First Novel, and is 514 pages long. And yes, there's a mystery in it, too -- but don't expect it to arrive until more than half-way through.

Blindsight, by Peter Watts: Hard SF (says so on the back cover), by an author new to me (not difficult to do). Hmmm, OK... This one falls into the First Contact genus, species inscrutable aliens. There are a lot of original (to me) facets of the future Earth whence this novel begins than the one we live on: introduced in the main (first person) story line and explained mostly in flashback, using the narrator's experiences to illustrate, rather than by info-dump exposition. Nevertheless, I found this book somewhat polemic about sentience and/or intelligence, especially considering the author has provided an appendix with journal citations for what he uses in the text. I didn't read those, btw...

I'm not certain at this point if I'll read anything else of his. Any of you SF'ers know his other work?

I'm glad I saved this one for last: The Draco Tavern, a thematic collection of short stories by Larry Niven. I've always been a fan of Niven -- in that I've never disliked anything with his name on it, and loved quite a few -- but not a completist by any means, so these stories were new to me. I'm also a huge fan of the short story form itself, which I got directly from SF by way of the major magazines of the '60s (and later, Asimov's). Now, when I read for the 'zines I help edit, my choices are guided more by John W. Campbell, Ed Ferman, Gardner Dozois and the annual "Best Of" anthologists, whose names are legion, than by anything outside the genre. Keep in mind, I've never taken an upper level Lit course.

Anyway, here's a fine combination of both: Niven shorts. I'm not even through the book yet, but it inspired me to post this whole thing. The premise is familiar: a bar with a multi-species clientele. The proprietor, Rick Schumann, tells each story in his own voice. They are pithy little tales, each with a comment to make about humanity -- some may surprise you. They did me. Of those I've read, my favorites are "Storm Front" (p. 209) and "The Slow Ones" (p. 215).

The third Good Thing about short story anthologies is: usually, they're easier to put down, when the imperative to rejoin life-as-we-know-it becomes stronger than "just another couple pages..." Not so, this one. It was an effort to break away and write this post.

OK, who's next?