Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Tradition, by Jo Walton

Tradition
Jo Walton
Lone Star Stories: Issue 21

Jo Walton's two and a half page store in Lone Star Stories is a pleasant little diversion. It features a man on a faraway planet who is not entirely part of the planet’s culture because unlike most of the humans, he had been born artificially. He did not have a family tradition of stories and history and things that have been done by tradition. He married a woman with a very large family and at one family gathering he tries to work out exactly why one particular tradition is the way it is.

It's a pleasant story and the ending is one of those endings which makes the reader smile and nod a little bit. It's a familiar feeling story and a semi-predictable ending, but...you know? It was a nice little story which takes a short amount of time to read.

I'm glad I did.

And reading her journal I am reminded that her novel Farthing is nominated for a host of awards. Perhaps I should read it.

6 comments:

Nick said...

Good seeing you read Midnight Tides. Good book. Very funny. Awesome ending.

Nick said...

Awful cover art.

Joe said...

I'm not sure a Malazan novel has had good cover art. You should see the awful cover art for The Bonehunters.

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2007/04/are-you-kidding-me.html

Horrible.

Nick said...

The European one is all right.

http://pubimages.randomhouse.co.uk/getimage.aspx?id=0553813145&issue=1&size=large&class=books

Excepting the first book they've done pretty okay, I think.

http://trashotron.com/agony/images/2003/03-news/10-27-03/erikson-gardens_of_the_moon.jpg

Nick said...

But that American cover for the Bonehunters? Ugh. Still, the cover you got for Gardens makes me want to run away screaming like a little girl.

Joe said...

Our Bonehunters cover is way worse than our Gardens cover (which isn't that good anyway).