7/11/2008

1. procedural question
   
   jason wants to read french sci-fi/fantasy. many of these books are not
   translated until many years later. for example, a book from 1989 might
   not be translated until 2000. much discussion ensues. verdict: whether
   or not this is against the rules, it is encouraged.
   
   
2. adam: john scalzi. the android's dream.
   
   
   1. verdict: --
      
   2. review:
      
      this is among the worst books he's ever read. "worse than thomas
      covenant." really awkward dialogue, and way too much of it. grabbed
      the book for the obvious philip k dick reference. he relates a
      synopsis, which i will spare you. he felt like an asshole for reading
      the book.
      
   
   
3. jeff: john c wright. orphans of chaos (etc).
   
   
   1. verdict: ++
      
   2. review:
      
      he finished this series, which he began presenting to us back in
      february. the series is three books, the title book as well as
      "fugitives of chaos" and "titans of chaos." kids in an orphanage,
      strange things ensue. the kids eventually discover that they're
      demigods in effective captivity. roughly based on greek mythology and
      some sci/tech stuff, they all discover their powers. predictably, the
      series focuses more on the girls' physical attractiveness than the
      boys'. (we repudiate this.) anyway the synopsis goes on for some
      time. after all, this is three books worth of story, and it seems to
      be quite complex. chad wonders how appropriate this is for high school
      goths. it is appropriate for high school goths. all in all, kind of
      juvenile and goofy, but well written and he really liked the
      series. recommended.
      
   
   
4. jeff: alastair reynolds. revelation space (etc).
   
   
   1. verdict: ++
      
   2. review:
      
      he has now read five books in the revelation space setting, and has
      enjoyed them all. as there's a new one in the series, he wanted to
      report on them now. he describes the setting, sounds like pretty good
      hard sci-fi. the new book is called "the prefect," and jeff has not
      read it, but he thinks probably it could be read independently. highly
      recommended.
      
   
   
5. chad: joe abercrombie. the blade itself and before they are hanged.
   
   
   1. verdict: +++
      
   2. review:
      
      made good use of the library of lore, and read two books that chris
      already presented. POSSIBLY THE FANTASY CLASSICS OF OUR GENERATION. if
      you want to know what good fantasy is, THIS IS IT. "this won't make
      you cry, it'll make you go 'fuck yeah!'" a lot of swearing, a lot of
      violence, some extremely awkward sex. this is a trilogy, and the third
      book has been released in england. recommended absolutely as highly as
      possible.
      
   
   
6. josh: j f lewis. staked.
   
   
   1. verdict: +
      
   2. review:
      
      another debut book. he's never read vampire books before this club
      (read baltimore a few months back and didn't like it a whole
      lot). this was fun! this book spends a lot of time explaining the
      crazy things that vampires can do. josh remembers this from buffy, and
      thinks it's weird how much this genre seems to be obsessed with
      defining exactly what vampires can do. the synopsis seems to involve
      some kind of real estate scam involving werewolves? the writing is ok
      (but josh notes that he has not yet criticized a book for its
      writing), and overall he enjoyed it. if you're looking for a trashy
      novel, recommended.
      
   
   
7. chris: ekaterina sedia. the secret history of moscow.
   
   
   1. verdict: -(-)
      
   2. review:
      
      mentioned it last time, and has now finished. characters from russian
      folklore places into a new setting in a completely flat and lackluster
      way. post-cold war moscow, mid-90s or whatever. chris personally finds
      this to be an interesting setting. "but no." it could have been set
      anywhere. people are turning into birds. it's weird and freaky. a girl
      with a disapproving mother, a cop with his own disapproving mother, a
      homeless street artist, etc etc. they find themselves in the moscow
      underworld. there are people with "maybe some powers," there's a
      cow. honestly, he can't even remember why the people were turning into
      birds. anyway, they figured it out. verdict has been downgraded from +
      to -. bickering about the rating ensues. chris thinks it's worse than
      that, but adam: "you didn't hate yourself as you were reading it."
      chris: "i did toward the end." anyway, he ended up hating it and
      that's all.
      
   
   
8. coda
   
   discussion about whether or not all these vampire novels and stuff
   are really sci-fi/fantasy. matt's argument: there should just be a
   goth section in the bookstore, end of story. chad disagrees. people
   take sides and we argue for awhile.
   
   
9. administrivia
   
   we plan to try for the next meeting in august.
   
   
10. that's all, folks.