Starship: Rebel, by Mike Resnick

Starship: Rebel
Mike Resnick
Pyr: 2008

After a personal tragedy and a monumental act of evil from the Republic, Wilson Cole turns his small fleet from mercenary work-for-hire to directly target and take on the Republic Navy itself. His fight, as Cole makes clear early on, is not with the Men of the Republic, but with the Navy which has systematically perpetrated acts of genocide from which Cole can no longer look the other way. Cole’s initial goal is to simply remove the Republic’s warships from the Inner Frontier, to make the Frontier a place where the Republic dares not to send ships. Presumably, the Republic’s war with the Teroni will prevent them from sending a massive fleet against Cole and the Theodore Roosevelt. That’s Cole’s hope.

Starship: Rebel is the fourth volume in Mike Resnick’s series about the adventures of Commander Wilson Cole and the ship the Theodore Roosevelt. Cole was a former senior officer in the Republic Navy with a bad habit of allowing his personal morality to cause him to disobey direct orders. His actions generally resulted in great victories for the Republic and prevented other acts of genocide, but Cole did disobey orders. That led to Cole’s mutiny, his subsequent arrest, his crew’s further mutiny in rescuing him, and Cole taking the Theodore Roosevelt away from the Republic.

That is Cole’s backstory, and the premise of Starship: Rebel. Anyone who has read the first three Starship novels has an excellent idea what to expect from Starship: Rebel.

The Starship series, in general, is military science fiction that is written in a very easy and accessible manner. Without any disparagement intended, Starship is the sort of novel one might recommend to a new genre reader looking to get into the space adventure type of science fiction but isn’t ready for the heavy technological explanations of, say, Peter Hamilton. Like John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, Mike Resnick’s Starship series is introductory-level science fiction, and this is meant as a compliment. It’s the stuff that can hook new readers while pleasing long-time readers of the genre.

Starship: Rebel is not notably different than the first three volumes of the series. This is not the place to jump into the series, though Resnick’s storytelling is such that readers will likely be comfortable with this volume as an introduction – but the character connections won’t be nearly as strong as if they start with Starship: Mutiny. All of the standard traits of the series are here: the frequent use of humor, Val’s indestructibility, Cole’s morality, the occasional space battle. There are great similarities here and not much (if any) character growth from one novel to the next.

But that’s not why we read Mike Resnick’s Starship series. We read the books because they are fun to read. If you’re looking for some smart light and easy reading, a sense of adventure and some action, a lead character with a quick wit and who is unequivocally a “good guy”, these are your books. Starship: Rebel satisfies that itch.


Also, it is worth nothing that this series is part of Resnick’s larger Birthright universe and is set very near the end of the Republic era. This tidbit doesn’t spoil anything because the chronology in the appendix is in each of the previous volumes, but knowing where this series seems to be headed, it is likely that Cole’s actions will play into a change of a political era in Man’s history. It’s worth tracking down Resnick’s early collection Birthright – it tracks humanity across the ages with a series of short stories (or vignettes, really) and sets the framework in which Starship is set. It’s not necessary to enjoy the novel, but serves as a counterpoint for the universe.


Previous Reviews
Birthright: The Book of Man
Starship: Pirate (book two)
Starship: Mercenary (book three)

Hugo Award Nominee: "Article of Faith"

“Article of Faith”
Mike Resnick
Nominated for the Hugo Award: Short Story


Mike Resnick's “Article of Faith” is as straightforward and obvious a story as they come. I’m not sure there is a single thing that readers with any familiarity with Christianity or a childhood of churchgoing (or, perhaps of watching movies) would not anticipate.

The new robot servicing the janitorial needs of Reverend Morris’s church is a bit different than the last robot. The new one, named Jackson, asks questions of Morris, questions about God. “Article of Faith” examines the ongoing conversation between Reverend Morris and Jackson about the nature of God. It is elementary stuff, though at the core of the Christian faith. Questions someone unfamiliar with the religion might ask, and Jackson persists with the logical next questions. As the conversation continues over several weeks Morris utilizes Jackson to correct logical issues in his sermons.

Do you see where this is going? Do you see what story Resnick is telling here?

Another pause. “God created everything except me?” he asked at last.

“That's an interesting question, Jackson,” I admitted. “I suppose the answer is that God is indirectly responsible for you, for had He not created Dr. Kalinovsky, Dr. Kalinovsky could not have created you.”

“Then I too am God's creation?”

“This is the House of God,” I said. “Far be it from me to tell anyone, even a robot, that he isn't God's creation.”

This is a world where humans are upset that robots are taking more and more of their jobs. Perhaps a world which is not far off what Asimov might have written about, if he wrote about Robots and Faith (and given how prolific a writer Asimov was, maybe he did).

It is likely the simplicity of “Article of Faith” which caused it to resonate with enough readers to garner a Hugo nomination. It is a very pleasant story, overall. A story about what it means to have a soul, to be “a man”, to be able to know God, to be able to worship God. Simplified.

Mike Resnick’s writing is almost always smooth and easy and “Article of Faith” is no exception. There is a reason Mike Resnick has as many admirers as he does. I can’t really get behind this story, though. I keep using the word “simple”, and simple is not inherently a bad thing. Except, perhaps, in this case. The message of the story is so reduced and parable-ish that “Article of Faith” reads as if Resnick is trying to present a particular message to his readers. That it is a parable, to be used for instruction. Maybe that’s the point. If so, point taken.

As a story nominated for a Hugo Award – it’s not good enough.

Starship: Mercenary, by Mike Resnick

Starship: Mercenary
Mike Resnick
Pyr: 2007

In his third installment of the Starship series, Mike Resnick brings us further adventures of Wilson Cole and the Theodore Roosevelt. Once one of the most decorated Commanders in the Galactic Navy, Wilson Cole was shunted to every crap posting a Commander could have because he valued doing what was morally right over directly obeying the commands of those with higher rank. That he also got the job done did not matter because Cole had a bad habit of embarrassing the upper brass of the Navy while doing his job with precision and competence.

Back in the first novel (Starship: Mutiny) Wilson Cole was imprisoned by his superiors on the charge of mutiny (fact) and was broken out by his crew. He took his ship and crew, and went on the lam. The second novel (Starship: Pirate) featured Cole and his crew in their attempts to make a living on the Frontier and away from the Core Worlds of the Republic. With the start of Starship: Mercenary, Wilson Cole has given up piracy and is now hiring out his ship as a mercenary ship.

This is easy reading military science fiction and like most of Mike Resnick's work, Starship: Mercenary is a compelling read. As I mentioned in my review of Starship: Pirate,

If I called the Starship novels as introductory sci-fi, please do not take that as a knock. It isn't. It is just a statement that a reader who knows nothing about science fiction can pick up one of these books and be equally as entertained as one who has been reading the genre for years. It's a good introduction to what sci-fi can be. It isn't just about the Big Idea. It’s also about the fun story.

This opinion is just as valid now, for Starship: Mercenary, as it was for Starship: Pirate. Resnick tells a tale of high adventure on the lawless Frontier worlds. He visits a giant space station (no jokes about it not being a moon, please), features a Pirate Queen as a prominent character, and brings the reader everything one has come to expect from this series while still delighting in the new.

If one has already read the first two books, then the reader will know exactly what to expect in Starship: Mercenary. If one has not, well, Resnick makes the book easy to pick up and start in without knowing anything of what came before. Oh, sure, it helps to have a familiary with Cole's crew, but it is hardly essential. At the same time, Resnick doesn't spend chapters bringing the reader up to speed.

This may be an odd comparison given the length and success of Mike Resnick's career, but Starship: Mercenary is a fun military science fiction novel that fans of John Scalzi's work will want to jump right into. There is a certain comparison and similarity in style.

The bottom line is that Starship: Mercenary is a fun book to read and bring on Starship: Rebel!

Thoughts on Hugo Nominees 2008: Short Stories

"Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, ed. by George Mann)
"Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's June 2007)
"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?" by Ken MacLeod (The New Space Opera, ed. by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan)
"Distant Replay" by Mike Resnick (Asimov's May-June 2007)
"A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick (Asimov's April/May 2007; The Dog Said Bow-Wow)


I’ll start with one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Bear. Her story “Tideline” is set in what has to be some sort of a post apocalyptic setting because there is a former military robot scavenging on a beach. The robot, named Chalcedony, helps rescue a boy of indeterminate age and she (Chalcedony) feeds the boy and teaches the boy. “Tideline” is, I think, about memory and loss, hope and responsibility. Despite my quite obvious delight in the novels of Elizabeth Bear, “Tideline” is not a story I would have put on this of Nominees. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy that eBear is nominated for major awards and I don’t understand at all why her novel Whiskey and Water hasn’t been nominated for either a Hugo or a Nebula (because it was the best damn thing published in 2007), but “Tideline” is not (I don’t think) a story that worked for me as much as I had hoped it would. Perhaps my expectations were too high, and I hate saying anything negative about Bear’s writing since I want her to have more recognition and not less, but I just can’t get excited about “Tideline”.

I first read “Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359” back in late September 2007 along with the rest of the stories in The New Space Opera. By the time the Hugo nomination came about I couldn’t remember a single thing about the story. So, re-reading the story it is easy to see why it was so difficult to remember. A man (almost a post-human) breaks some arcane law and his punishment is to be sent out to investigate a failed business colony on the planet Wolf 359. Half the story is the man getting to a quarter of the story is the man’s arrest, half the story is his travel to the world, and the final quarter is man on planet and the result. Ken MacLeod packs a whole lot into a little package, and while the story is conceptually interesting, I felt that there was too little actual story for the grander tale that MacLeod sort of told. “Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359” could easily have been expanded to twice its size, but instead we are given an almost deus ex machine conclusion and the story wrapped up rather abruptly. This isn’t a story I would have nominated, but then I don’t have a Worldcon membership so I couldn’t nominate.

Seldom will there be a Mike Resnick story which fails to entertain and delight. “Distant Replay” is no exception. Resnick spins a short story about an elderly man who for several weeks sees a woman who looks exactly like his wife did as a younger woman, down to her taste in clothes and the scent of her perfume. Except this man’s wife has been dead for seven years. When Walter (that’s his name) sees the woman at his favorite restaurant, he finally asks if he could speak with her, and the story unfolds from there. The story does not go the way I expected it to, but at the same time “Distant Replay” felt so familiar, as if Resnick was telling a story we’ve all heard but barely remember. Perhaps he is. I don’t know. What I do know is that “Distant Replay” was a pleasant story and a delight to read. Some will likely argue that “Distant Replay” is too “lightweight” to be award worthy, but I don’t know about that. I just know that it was a story I was glad to have read and one that is likely to age well.

“Last Contact” has to be one of the most mournful stories I have read, and a beautiful one at the same time. The story opens on the ides of March with a strained conversation between a mother and her grown daughter. There is talk about multiple “last contacts” early on, but no explanation of what that means. But then we get a hint. A moment later we realize what it means. Another conversation on June 5, and finally on October 14. Overhanging the entire story is what happens on October 14. Stephen Baxter absolutely nailed this story. It is a quiet story between a mother and a daughter, about the ultimate fate of the universe, and about letting go. By the end I was stunned by how simple and perfect it was.

The story I was least excited about was Michael Swanwick’s “A Small Room in Koboldtown”, another story based off one of his novels and from reading "Lord Weary’s Empire" last year, I wasn’t too thrilled by the idea of another Swanwick. This one was better, though I think if I knew more about the setting I’d have more of a feel for the story. There’s a murder investigation. The murder was possibly committed by a haint (think ghost, but able to interact actively with “solids”) and a haint politician Salem Toussaint has his man, Will le Fey, involved in the investigation. It is the setting which is so fascinating here. I want to know more about the haints, how this city works, what are the underlying issues, and just get in deeper into Koboldtown and the surrounding environs. But Swanwick keeps the story in pretty tight to the investigation, nothing more. Details are revealed in the course of the investigation, but everything came together so quickly, and was resolved so fast that I couldn’t help but feel that “A Small Room in Koboldtown” was simply a small chapter in something larger. So, while the story was decent, I felt empty by the conclusion, like I ate the icing but was never served the cupcake. I want my cupcake!!


My Choice: “Last Contact”, by Stephen Baxter. It’s a small localized story set in the middle of something extraordinarily large and I loved every page of it.

Previous Thoughts:
Novellas
John W. Campbell Award


This leads me to Abigail Nussbaum’s article on these same Hugo nominees. I disagree with pretty much everything she says, even though she does a better job giving her opinions on the fiction. Actually, I only half disagree with her portrait of Mike Resnick’s fiction. I see her point about the simplicity and sameness from his stories, but I’ll be damned if they aren’t a good read. What Abigail seems to be looking for, hoping for, is something (L)iterature, showing intellectual rigor as well as craftsmanship in the prose. Yeah, that’s great, but tell me a good story, a story I care about and want to read again. If the writer can achieve the intellectual rigor while delivering a story that flows, is readable, and is interesting as more than just an intellectual game, that’s a bonus. If not, I want a story that makes me think about what I just read and that “entertains” on some level. The definition of entertainment is up in the air. Some can find intellectual entertainment, others want it on a more visceral level. I think I’m somewhere in between. It is clear to me, though, that what I want from a story is quite different than what Abigail Nussbaum wants. That’s cool. We’re both readers, both want to read a good story. I agree with what she said at the end, that she hopes Elizabeth Bear wins. I just want Bear to win for more personal reasons (i.e. Bear's novels kick ass), and Nussbaum would like to see “Tideline” win on its own merits. Forgetting about the authors, I think “Last Contact” is the one.

Unfinished Books: February 2008

Paradise, by Mike Resnick: I read the first hundred pages or so and I just could not engage. The novel is formatted as a conversation between a younger reporter and an aged former frontier guide / hunter. The reporter asks questions and then the next chapter is a story told by the old guy about when he was a young guy. The setting is a planet which is to serve as Kenya, and Paradise is intended as an allegory of Kenya. There’s nothing really wrong with Paradise, but I could not engage with the story like with I can with other Resnick works.

The only other books I declined to finish were some anthologies I checked out from the library with the sole purpose of reading Nebula Nominated stories. I’ll not count those.

Birthright: The Book of Man, by Mike Resnick

Birthright: The Book of Man
Mike Resnick
1982


Mike Resnick’s second published book in the Birthright Universe chronicles the sum of humanity’s future history of space exploration, contact with alien races, galactic conquest, and decline as the pre-eminent species across the galaxy. Birthright: The Book of Man (1982) spans thousands of years and is broken up into sections covering different aspects of Man’s empire. The galactic government of Man begins with a Republic and over time changes to Democracy, Oligarchy, Monarchy, and Anarchy. Each section has several chapters (or stories), which illustrates the changing relationship of Man versus the Galaxy.

From “The Cartographers” (the power of those who map the galaxy) to “The Olympians” (a sect of Man demonstrating physical superiority) to “The Priests”, Birthright: The Book of Man taken as a whole is a fascinating set up of a species history and provides the backdrop for Resnick’s later fiction. Much of Resnick’s subsequent novels (Ivory, the Starship series, The Widowmaker, Paradise, etc) take place in the various eras introduced here.

Because I have enjoyed pretty much everything I have read from Resnick and because Resnick has such an easy flow to his writing I have to say that Birthright: The Book of Man is something worth checking out. Less a mosaic novel and more a linked short story collection the use of the short story to explore the changing political situation of humanity in relation to itself and to thousands of alien races, Birthright is an interesting and novel (in the other use of the word) concept, and one which is successful in building a setting in which Resnick can place any number of novels and stories.

Quick Takes: Mike Resnick, Oliver LaFarge

The Widowmaker, by Mike Resnick: A aged, disease ridden bounty hunter is near death. A clone is made of him from DNA sampled when he was a young man of 24, before he became sick but before he became experienced. The clone is to take a job which should pay for additional cryo storage for the bounty hunter until a cure can be found. The clone of Jefferson Nighthawk, the Widowmaker, is trained up as much as possible and sent on his way. The clone, however, has his own ideas of who he is and who he wants to be. The Widowmaker is the story of the clone and is told in typical Resnick fast paced style with some interesting side characters along for the ride. Unlike some of Resnick’s other work, for some reason The Widowmaker doesn’t have quite the free flowing kick that his Starship series does, or that some of his earlier novels do. The Widowmaker still has a good emotional wallop to throw at readers, but it is difficult to get emotionally invested with the cloned Nighthawk. That said, at only 300 pages there is little that is truly wrong with The Widowmaker. It is a perfectly average, acceptable, entertaining SF novel. Resnick has done better, though.


Laughing Boy, by Oliver LaFarge: As I have chipped my way through winners of the Pulitzer Price for Fiction (or, for The Novel as it was once labeled), I have found that the earliest winners are the ones I struggle the most with. Not because they are lesser works, but because generally the novels focus on class, and elite society, and the placement of people within that society. That subject almost without exception bores me to tears. Literally, tears. I cry when I read society novels, they are that uninteresting. Which brings me to Laughing Boy. Nothing like those society novels. Laughing Boy is set almost exclusively in Native American culture and tribes, with a native protagonist (title character). Laughing Boy allows himself to be an outsider to his family and tribe when he marries a woman with a bad reputation and who has lived with the white people. I can see how Laughing Boy could have potentially inspired later generations of native writers and white writers who want to deal with the subject (I don’t know if La Farge was Native or not, though like Julia Peterkin, my guess is that he was white). Laughing Boy gets down into Native culture, language, identity, and perception of different tribes and of the whites. I believe this is set pre-Civil War (possibly Post, but it’s in that general timeframe). Because of the subject, Laughing Boy is a refreshing change from all those white upper crusty novels populating the list of the early Pulitzer winners.

Asimov's Preliminary Nebula Nominees!

One thing I appreciate about the SFF magazines is that for the major awards (Hugo and Nebula, not so much World Fantasy), the nominated stories will be posted for free online so everyone has a chance to see what the best of the best are. Even the print zines do this. Fantasy and Science Fiction already has their nominees for the Nebula up and today I found that Asimov’s has posted theirs. And this is only the preliminary ballot.

Novella
Fountain of Age, by Nancy Kress

Novelette
Safeguard, by Nancy Kress
A Flight of Numbers Fantastique Strange, by Beth Bernobich
Alistair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders, by Mike Resnick

Short Story
Always, by Karen Joy Fowler


I am surprised that Analog has not posted their story, considering it would be only one story they would be giving away to the public. Same goes to Realms of Fantasy.

The Other Teddy Roosevelts

From Subterranean Press's product listing:

Theodore Roosevelt: president, naturalist, explorer, author, cowboy, police commissioner, deputy marshal, soldier, taxidermist, ornithologist, and boxer. Everyone knows about that.

But how about vampire hunter?

Or African king?

Or Jack the Ripper's nemesis?

Or World War I doughboy?

Mike Resnick (the most-awarded short story writer in science fiction history, according to Locus) has been the biographer of these other Teddy Roosevelts for almost two decades. Here you will find a familiar Roosevelt, but in unfamiliar surroundings -- stalking a vampire through the streets of New York, or a crazed killer down the back alleys of Whitechapel, coming face-to-face with the devastation of 20th Century warfare, waging an early battle for women's suffrage, applying all his skills to bring American democracy to the untamed African wilderness, or coming face-to-face with one of H. G. Wells' Martian invaders in the swamps of Cuba.

And, as Winston Churchill said of the Arthurian legends if these stories aren't true, then they should have been.

Enjoy.

Subterranean Press just announced the cover to this volume and I say “Ooh!” Wonderful cover by Bob Eggleton. Appropriately creepy and yet stunning.

I MUST read this!

Pyr: Fall / Winter Catalog

Pyr's Fall / Winter Catalog is out and up on their website. It may have been up for a while now, but you can see how up on things I am right about now.


Highlights:
The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie (Sept)
The Metatemporal Detective, by Michael Moorcock (Oct)
Selling Out, by Justina Robson (Oct)
Starship: Mercenary, by Mike Resnick (Dec)


Thoughts:
The Blade Itself has been receiving some very solid buzz from the advance copies, so this should get a shot. Moorcock's Eternal Champion work is hit or miss, but I understand he does not consider it is his Serious Fiction, so I'm curious what how this one will do. Selling Out is the follow up to Keeping It Real, an excellent opening fantasy / science fiction blending with cyborgs and elves and broken heroines. Starship: Mercenary is the third entry in the Starship series by Mike Resnick and thus far has been a pure pleasure to read. I expect no less from Resnick.

I most look forward to the Resnick and the Robson.

Quick Takes: Mike Resnick, Colby Buzzell, Charlaine Harris

Eros Ascending, by Mike Resnick: Science Fiction story set in a barbell shaped brothel / space station. That’s no moon, it’s a brothel! Like any Resnick work I have encountered, Eros Ascending is a highly entertaining novel with some interesting and competent characters, and a joy of storytelling that obviously comes from Resnick himself. He just HAS to enjoy telling these stories. This one is from early in his career and features the villain as the protagonist turning into the hero. And it's set in a spacestation shaped like barbell which happens to be a brothel and the nitty gritty of the brothel really isn’t the point, it just makes an excellent conversation piece. Eros Ascending is the first of four novels (I believe) set on the Velvet Comet.


My War: Killing Time in Iraq, by Colby Buzzell: Buzzell gained notoriety as an Army Blogger posting entries from Iraq giving an honest soldier's account of what life was like on the ground. He compared what really happened to the media's account (or even the official version). Naturally he was pressured to stop writing. My War is mostly memoir of how and why Buzzell joined the Army, his training, and his subsequent deployment to Iraq. While other recent books have covered much the same ground (The Interrogators, Generation Kill, etc), My War is a raw, gritty account told in a conversational style. In many instances My War reads just as if Buzzell was sitting there explaining how things were. Midway through the book we get to the part where Buzzell began his blog and Buzzell includes the full blog entries. Some are Q&A's, others just explanations of what was occurring. At first this was a bit off putting as the inclusion of blog entries really messed with the flow of the narrative and the flow of the writing, but eventually the entries fit better with the book and was interspersed with more recent writing by Buzzell. Overall, My War: Killing Time in Iraq has to be viewed as essential reading for understanding the soldier's experience in Iraq. It's a difficult book because of the content, but very readable. Highly recommended.



Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris: With the first Southern Vampire mystery Charlaine Harris introduces the reader to Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress who can read minds. In small town Louisiana Sookie is considered weird, but when a vampire walks into Sookie's bar and she can't read his mind she sees the possibilities. But then people begin to die and Sookie's new vampire boyfriend is automatically a suspect because vampires have only been public for four years now and the new racism is vampirism. This is a mix of mystery, the supernatural made natural, down south living, romance, and almost horror. Combined it is nothing more than a damn good story told well. Dead Until Dark moves along at a brisk pace and really hits its stride near the end of the book when everything comes together. Dead Until Dark is a fun book to read that you won't want put down and when the book is finished you'll want to grab the next volume in the series.

Quick Takes: Resnick, Cooper, DeLillo

Starship: Pirate, by Mike Resnick: After being imprisoned by his own galactic government for embarrassing the military by being too competent (and unorthodox), Wilson Cole is back. At the end of Starship: Mutiny Cole was broken out of jail by his crew of the Theodore Roosevelt, a decrepit old ship which should not still be in service. At the end of Mutiny, Cole has turned his back on the government which turned its back on him. He, and his crew, would become pirates.

This brings us up to speed. Easy reading and highly entertaining science fiction by Mike Resnick, that's what Starship: Pirate is. Cole attempts to find his way as a humane pirate who does not attack innocent vessels or kill the innocent and yet still make a living and continue to upgrade his ship. It's quite an adventure and Mike Resnick is one heck of a story teller. He keeps things simple, but still well thought out. The Starship novels are both reasonably light hearted (though with a heart and some seriousness), and are well told tales. Science Fiction can get a bit weighty with heavy science explanations and an over abundance of detail. While that weighty SF can be quite good, it can be tough to introduce a reader to. And for that I introduce you to Mike Resnick. Resnick gives just enough detail to get by and spends the rest of the time moving the story along at a brisk clip. Resnick doesn't waste time and his novels are all the better for it. If I called the Starship novels as introductory sci-fi, please do not take that as a knock. It isn't. It is just a statement that a reader who knows nothing about science fiction can pick up one of these books and be equally as entertained as one who has been reading the genre for years. It's a good introduction to what sci-fi can be. It isn't just about the Big Idea. It’s also about the fun story.



Dispatches from the Edge, by Anderson Cooper: In high school I watched Anderson Cooper as the foreign correspondent on Channel One. He was the one always going out to Rwanda, Kosovo, and other war torn places where I could not believe little Channel One could afford to send someone. There was Anderson with his helmet on amongst the rebels with their big guns. I heard he was hired on at ABC as a reporter after he left Channel One. Years later I turn on CNN and there, with his own show, is Anderson Cooper. Cooper was always a solid reporter and a young one despite his silver streaked hair. During Hurricane Katrina he really made his name when he was openly critical about the "relief effort" of the government. Suffice it to say that I've had a soft spot in my heart for Anderson Cooper as a reporter / anchor since his Channel One days. Not that I could ever truly relate to Cooper, but he came across as far more earnest and caring and real than your average reporter. Cooper got down into the action.

The book. Right. Dispatches from the Edge takes two paths: One, a younger Cooper starting his journalistic career and going out to Rwanda and Kosovo trying to sell Channel One his footage. Two, the more mature Cooper working CNN through Iraq, the 2004 Tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina. Mixed in with the two is Cooper talking about his younger years, family history, and his brother's suicide. The first two thirds of the book felt very choppy and uneven. Cooper's story is an interesting one and he gives good glimpses into some of the work he has done and some of the things that he has seen. But, it isn't until Cooper arrives on scene after Hurricane Katrina and sees the devastation and the government is very slow to respond that Dispatches from the Edge truly finds its stride. The first two thirds isn't fluff, but it felt very scattered. Cooper focuses when it comes to Katrina and this is the most compelling part of the book. At only 200 pages it is a quick and interesting read, but disappointing, too. Seems like Dispatches from the Edge could have been so much more. Perhaps that is why the title is "Dispatches", that Cooper is only giving us these glimpses and that’s the point.



Falling Man, by Don DeLillo: After two highly disappointing novels (The Body Artist, Cosmopolis), Don DeLillo makes something of a comeback with Falling Man. Falling Man has been heaped with praise, but while it is a step in the right direction it is not at all comparable to DeLillo's best work (White Noise, The Names, and perhaps Libra). This is DeLillo's Post 9/11 Novel. It was bound to happen. Our narrator is a man who walked out of the ashes of the falling towers and in a daze went to his ex-wife's house rather than his own. This begins something of a relationship again and we see how 9/11 affects the narrator, his wife, and his son and how their lives are changed. I could say more, but it wouldn't make much sense. Without a doubt this is a DeLillo novel, we can tell by the style of the writing. The repetition, the paragraphs which don't really make sense, the tangents, the conversations which also don't make sense. When DeLillo is on his game, it is a beautiful game of language. When he is off his game it is drudge work to read. Falling Man is on the closer to DeLillo being on his game side than not, but during the last third to a quarter of the novel the wheels fall off a bit. I cannot really recommend Falling Man. I would suggest giving White Noise a shot, maybe The Names, and a few others of DeLillo's work and THEN if the novels still please, give Falling Man a go. This isn't the place to begin Don DeLillo.

crazy with that interlibrary loan

I fear I've gone a bit nuts with interlibrary loan. I just finished reading Octavia Butler's Wild Seed, which is from ILL, and I have True Names and Corum: The Coming of Chaos also out from ILL. Three books, no bigggie. Only, with ILL, I can't renew. At least, I don't think so. And the borrowing window is much shorter.

Somehow, I missed that the edition of True Names I linked above is available at my library. Like, as a regular book. With renewals. Figures. The edition I have out is a novella edition only, so much shorter. No trouble finishing that in time.

But, I have an abundance of regular library books out.

Oh...In Transit from ILL: Wild Cards, and Starship: Pirate.

That's not all, o, no no.

Being processed by the lending libraries are the following: Dreams of Steel, Walpurgis III, Clay's Ark, and The Bachman Books (a collection of the first four novels Stephen King wrote as Richard Bachman).

What is wrong with me? Do I not have enough books at home? Has my lending library run out of books? I just think of something ELSE I would like to read, realize that my library doesn't have it, and get all giddy with getting stuff from ILL. And THEN I think of something else. Shoot, I only reserved the Bachman collection because my library doesn't have Rage, and ILL doesn't have it as an individual volume. I'll probably read them all.



Oh...just read why I can't find Rage. King has posted this message on his website on the page for Rage:

NOTE: Because of the sensitive nature of the content of this book and its association with school shootings in the United States, Stephen has decided to prohibit any future printings of this book.

That makes sense, though it is too bad.