129,864,880! to samo do nedelje...

[PTY]

I na kirkusu, jos jedna gomila otkupljenih prava za ekranizacije:

[PTY]

The joy of literary destruction: Writers who broke all the rules





The pantheon of literature is full of authors who gleefully tore down everything that came before them





Excerpted from "Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books" - Wendy Lesser

[PTY]

I, kako to vec ponead biva - ne cesto, pa otud valja vise to i ceniti - prvenac Anne Charnok je zapazen, i to bas tamo gde treba: nominovan je za Philip. K. Dick Award.




Anne Charnock on Dystopian Influences on the Philip K. Dick Nominated A CALCULATED LIFE



Anne Charnock's first novel A Calculated Life (47North) is one of seven nominated works for the Philip K. Dick Award 2013. It was originally self-published. Anne's journalism has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, International Herald Tribune, and Geographical. She was educated at the University of East Anglia, where she studied environmental sciences, and at the Manchester School of Art. She travelled widely as a freelance foreign correspondent and spent a year overlanding through Egypt, Sudan and Kenya. In her fine art practice, she tried to answer the questions, What is it to be human? What is it to be a machine? Ultimately she decided to write fiction as another route to finding answers.



Dystopian Influences on the Philip K. Dick Nominated A CALCULATED LIFE
by Anne Charnock


Among the books I've read and films I've watched, I can pinpoint one dystopian encounter that set the course for much of my reading and writing life. I guess I was around 10 years old when I watched the film animation of George Orwell's satirical story, Animal Farm. I doubt I knew the word 'satire' at the time but my child's mind recognised this film as a story about bullying. And I was terrified!

Animal Farm set an early pattern for me; film adaptations of dystopian fiction prompted me to search out the original novels: Nineteen Eighty-Four – a British television adaptation of the Orwell's' novel (starring Peter Cushing and Yvonne Mitchell). Then Fahrenheit 451, a film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel (written and directed by François Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner and Julie Christie). And Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott, based on Philip K. Dick's brilliantly titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (The film stars Harrison Ford, Sean Young and Rutger Hauer).

The first dystopian novel I read by a female author was, not surprisingly, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and subsequent stand-out narratives for me were Doris Lessing's Memoirs of A Survivor, Ayn Rand's Anthem, and Maggie Gee's The Flood.

However, the title of my first novel, A Calculated Life, refers to a much earlier example of dystopian literature – We, by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin. This novel is the diary of mathematician D-503 who discovers love – an emotion long-forgotten in the rule-bound world of One State. Beyond the glass boundary walls of One State lies the 'irrational, chaotic world of trees, birds, animals' and savage humans.

When I first read We, my own novel was in draft form and I was still searching for a title. I had simply typed 'JAYNA' at the top of the manuscript – the name of my main character. I trusted that inspiration would come sooner or later. Here is the sentence in We that snagged my attention and instantly gave me the title I needed:


But a thought swarmed in me; what if he, this yellow-eyed being-in his ridiculous, dirty bundle of trees, in his uncalculated life-is happier than us?

My main character Jayna represented the opposite extreme to this 'yellow-eyed being' so the title, A Calculated Life, was perfect.

We is a satire on totalitarian regimes and it only appeared in a full Russian edition during the glasnost era. Earlier, however, it was translated into English (1924) and although difficult to find, George Orwell managed to get hold of a copy. He wrote a review for Tribune in 1946, and came to the conclusion that We was a better novel than Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Controversial stuff.

Of course, dystopian literature comes in many guises. I like post-apocalyptic tales as much as the next reader. To name a few favourites: Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Blindness by José Saramago, World War Z – An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (if I'm allowed to include a zombie novel), and Wool by Hugh Howey.

Specifically for my writing, however, I've been drawn to those dystopian novels depicting dysfunctional or totalitarian regimes, and those near-future dystopias that depict how political shifts or technological change might impact our society. And I have a definite preference for Earth-based stories. I'm won over by beautifully written novels such as Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, with its unreliable narrator Cathy, Chris Beckett's The Holy Machine and Maggie Gee's witty, character-driven novel, The Flood, which I re-read this year.

I decided to set my own novel in a late 21st Century corporate world. At first sight, I've created a fictional society that might seem utopian, but the story reveals the 'dystopia within'. It's an exploration of where we might find ourselves if we adopt advances in genetic engineering and take opportunities to enhance our intelligence. And I present this world through the eyes of Jayna, a genius, who gradually comes to realize that her charmed corporate life isn't such a good deal.

And I feel a weird sense of completion that my novel's title nods to the political satire We. This seems to reconnect me, back through the years, to that terrifying childhood encounter with Orwell's political satire, Animal Farm.

(If you would like to investigate the origins of dystopian writing there's a fabulous anthology I can recommend: The Faber Book of Utopias edited by John Carey.)

[PTY]

•Publisher: Solaris (May 13, 2014)


1."Some Desperado" by Joe Abercrombie (Dangerous Women)
2."Zero for Conduct" by Greg Egan (Twelve Tomorrows)
3."Effigy Nights" by Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld)
4."Rosary and Goldenstar" by Geoff Ryman (F&SF)
5."The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman (Rags and Bones)
6."Cave and Julia" by M. John Harrison (Kindle Singles)
7."The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest" by M Bennardo (Lightspeed)
8."Water" by Ramez Naam (An Aura of Familiarity)
9."The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
10."The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com)
11."Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls" by Richard Parks (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
12."Rag and Bone" by Priya Sharma (Tor.com)
13."The Book Seller" by Lavie Tidhar (Interzone)
14."The Sun and I" by K.J. Parker (Subterranean)
15."The Promise of Space" by James Patrick Kelly (Clarkesworld)
16."The Master Conjurer" by Charlie Jane Anders (Lightspeed)
17."The Pilgrim and the Angel" by E. Lily Yu (McSweeney's 45)
18."Entangled" by Ian R. Macleod (Asimov's)
19."Fade to Gold" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (End of the Road)
20."Selkie Stories are for Losers" by Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons)
21."In Metal, In Bone" by An Owomoyela (Eclipse Online)
22."Kormack the Lucky" by Eleanor Arnason (F&SF)
23."Sing" by Karin Tidbeck (Tor.com)
24."Social Services" by Madeline Ashby (An Aura of Familiarity)
25."The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R Kiernan (Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales)
26."Mystic Falls" by Robert Reed (Clarkesworld)
27."The Queen of Night's Aria" by Ian McDonald (Old Mars)
28."The Irish Astronaut" by Val Nolan (Electric Velocipede)

[PTY]

Hm, hm...





Writing Science Fiction at the End of the Genre

by J.M. McDermott

The end of genre is at hand. It did not die in a massive burst, and there was no single moment to point to that nails the coffin shut. No, it is the way things die when the demographics shift. The radios that play that song dwindle into the AM bands, go out like little lights, with a few hanging on a while, for old time's sake. This is happening. This is our future. Genre existed to create a space for the marginalized dreamers, the outsiders, and the strange. But, everyone is strange now. Our biggest movies are genre. Our biggest musical acts are bisexual aliens. Everyone loves comic books, now. The conventions make the front page news all over the world. Like all good, American things, our young people love it more when it comes back to us made strange by a foreign culture. It's not the Beatles, this time. It's Anime.

Writing a book in this climate, a genre book, is a grand shrug against the tides of time.

Maze is my first science fiction novel. I thought I should write science fiction because I hadn't done it before and I thought it would be interesting to make a fundamentally fantasy idea truly a work of science fiction. There's that old cliché that science far enough removed from the technology of the culture present is indistinguishable from magic. Well, biology is strange enough that it can easily be a kind of magic when looked at too closely. How do the Mitochondria know when to split, for instance? Why, exactly, did some people catch the Spanish flu and get wiped away like the world was sneezing souls, and others barely flinched? It is only called science, not magic, because it can be tested in a laboratory. Laboratories are an exceedingly young invention. Calculus is not as old as Christianity.

The chips are falling all over. We have been subsumed into the mainstream culture and that means our little spaces will all be devoured by marketing machinery of media entities that look at us not as passionate fans, but as wallets with legs and eyeballs. In the mainstream, there is no room for things that cannot be explained on the back of an envelope. "Jesus had a secret baby with Mary Magdalene" is about the limits of the collective consciousness when it comes to complexity. Ergo, the role of the fan becomes the cultivation of the best of things. The role of the writer, outside the mainstream, is to make the best work, regardless of market forces.

Maze is a book that you might like. It is science fiction. It does not read like science fiction most of the time, because the landscape is alive and hungry and you have no tools that you do not peel from tree bark and fallen stones in this place.

I tried to imagine Henson's Labyrinth in a realist, science fictional mode. This pocket universe Sarah encounters, populated by alien mutant people – imagine the kind of dwarfism that comes from island evolution – and alien mutant things. How old is everything that it has become this? The walls that speak, possessed of ancient AIs that have not worn down from their codes and programs, run a master plan directed by a master programmer. The destruction of the space was the virus that converted the native defenses against the code itself. Affection may be the source of the decay, but by the end the whole amazing universe had imploded into fake glass wipes like a digital toaster effect.

My Maze is no Labyrinth. It is no idyll for the young and young at heart. It is a place that will strip you naked and eat your skin. It will slurp up all the water in you, for it is thirsty for water all over. Fight if you wish to live. Hunt if you wish to live. Eat maggots and strips of boiled leather. Eat insects spread over hardtack. Feel the real monster of the maze reach over you, and press her fingers into your stomach and squeeze: winter famine.

Also, remember, the stone walls and winding pathways are a maze that makes every colony an island locked in the ground. Live, and evolve.

This is what we're doing too, now that our whole island is flooded and driven our group back from the tide of comic book films and urban fantasy television shows and another movie based on Philip K. Dick's short stories. Now we climb back deeper into the halls, hunt the best things wherever they are made, and consume them, and we change or die.

Maze is out now, and I don't think it's quite like any science fiction novel you've read, ever. If you like that sort of thing.

[PTY]

The world of big pharma is one of the strangest phenomena in modern world. I suspect that just a casual glance at books like Ben Goldacre's "Bad Pharma" will be a sobering experience for everyone. Reading it's anecdotes often feels like everyone's worst paranoias suddenly came true at once. The way the whole industry works is slightly unreal and hard to grasp. In "Happy Mutant Baby Pills" l'enfant terrible of contemporary American literature, Jerry Stahl decided to explore certain aspects of this world through Lloyd. Lloyd has a strange occupation. His job is to make list of possible side effects for certain prescription drug, marital aid or incontinence product as incomprehensible to the customer as possible. He does this by using many ingenious methods such as reciting them as fast as possible or playing around with language. You've seen the ads so you know how it works.

Lloyd is also a heroin addict so when he takes a job copywriting for online dating service for the faithful Christian Swingles, his life instantly changes. On the bus he meets and subsequently falls is love with Nora, a disturbed woman with an insane plan to revenge to big pharmaceutical companies using the same methods they use to amorally push their products around. Suddenly it's two of them against the world.

"Happy Mutant Baby Pills" is incredibly current and despite how insane everyone sounds, you quickly get to realize that in fact they're very often making a lot of sense. Most of their craziness is the result of various side effects from the drugs they've been taking. It's a frightening and sobering concept, one that is perfectly compatible with Jerry Stahl's razor sharp writing. However, it's not a book that will appeal to everyone. There's plenty of truly horrific scenes that would best be avoided if you have a weak stomach. If you can handle it, "Happy Mutant Baby Pills" is an uncomfortable but socially relevant look at the battle between a couple and a modern life's big bad wolf.

[PTY]

With the lyricism of Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, and the world building brilliance of Atwood, Emmi Itäranta's effortless and poignant debut novel is a coming of age story full of emotional drama and wonderment. Some secrets demand betrayal.

'You're seventeen, and of age now, and therefore old enough to understand what I'm going to tell you,' my father said. 'This place doesn't exist. This spring dried a long time ago. So the stories tell, and so believe even those who know other stories of a spring in the fell that once provided water for the whole village. Remember. This spring doesn't exist.' 'I'll remember,' I told him, but didn't realise until later what kind of a promise I had made.'

[PTY]

Najstarija a ujedno i najsuštinskija i najpreciznija definicija SFa je da je to žanr koji proučava uticaj tehnologije na čoveka, a u tom smislu Love minus 80 je svakako jedna od najžanrovskijih knjiga izdatih prošle godine. U današnjoj poplavi razularenih ali ujedno i estetski ne-odviše-privlačnih hibrida i krosover mutanata, Love -80 prosto pleni samopouzdanjem i stabilnošću svog identiteta: Love-80 zna šta jeste i ne želi da bude ništa drugo, a to je  već samo po sebi ogroman uspeh u današnjem knjiškom defileu jeftinog gugl-filozofiranja i pragmatičnog kvazi-angažmana.

Rob je 25 godina star i upravo je doživeo ponižavajući raskid veze sa devojkom koja je povod iskoristila da ga maksimalno javno ponizi preko društvene mreže:  Winter je pet godina starija i njen isto takav emotivni fijasko bar nije poslužio za uveseljavanje šire javnosti, hvala bogu na sitnim darovima. U tom mračnom stanju rastrojstva, Rob seda za volan a Winter prelazi ulicu do parka, i naravno, u tom trenutku obostrane nepažnje, Rob usmrti Winter na mestu.
Enter Cryomed. Dovoljno bogati ljudi plaćaju Cryomed osiguranje da ih posmrtno zamrzne dok se ne steknu uslovi za adekvatno oživljavanje. Naravno, Winter je isuviše siromašna da bi imala to osiguranje, ali Cryomed je dovoljno marketinški orjentisan da tu uslugu besplatno osigura izuzetno lepim ženama, dajući im tako šansu da ih izuzetno bogati muškarci vrate u život, to u uslovima aranžmana koji je samo formalno bračni, a u suštinski čisto robovlasnički. Rob, naravno, nema tu finansijsku mogućnost niti će je ikada u životu imati, stoga njegov život postaje istinski emotivni pakao u kom njegova odgovornost za nehotični zločin nikada ne prestaje, a nada za iskupljenjem postaje samo niz prilika da se počine dalja i hotimična nedela.

Distopija u Love -80 nije ni izbliza fantastična koliko to ovaj siže insinuira. Naprotiv, u svojim osnovnim aspektima Love -80 analizira u kojoj to meri sofisticirana tehnologija uslovljava naš moral i međuljudske odnose - to romantične i ine jednako - a tu je Love -80 ponekad čak i preterano optimističan, to gledano čak i iz današnje perspektive, a kamoli ma kakve futurističke.  Komunikacijski fenomen društvenih mreža čak i danas jasno pokazuje kako čovek za sofisticiranom tehnologijom isprva možda i poseže isključivo u nadi da je to alat koji omogućuje veću potpunost življenja, ali negde usput taj alat postane sam sebi svrha, i pretvori se u neku vrst kvazi-identiteta u koji čak i sam vlasnik lako poveruje.  Imidž koji čovek stvara o sebi preko društvenih mreža postaje toliko radikalan i toliko dominantan, da neka vrst adaptacije u stvarnom životu postaje neminovna: lako je stvoriti imidž sveznajućeg na fejsbuku ili vrcavo duhovitog na tviteru, ali daleko je teže ostvariti taj profil u stvarnom životu. Postoje samo dva izlaza: prvi je da čovek radi (i to mukotrpno!) na svom RL identitetu da ga prilagodi svom već izgrađenom virtuelnom imidžu, a drugi (a taj zahteva znatno manje napora)  je neka vrst dobrovoljne kolektivne psihoze u kojoj se svi pretvaraju da su svesni samo i isključivo virtuelnih identiteta.  Love -80 nudi sofisticiraniju verziju današnje Google Glass tehnologije u kojoj profesionalni treneri "hrane" ljude vrcavim opaskama i dosetkama u RL komunikacijama, što uspešno kreira paradoks u kom visoka komunikacijska tehnologija zapravo spečava potpunije razumevanje mežu ljudima, i to kroz svoj prilično originalan koncept varijacije "kineske sobe".  Iz današnje perspektive, alas, ta premisa skoro da nije više ni fantastična u svojoj istinitoj suštini.

Aspekt tehnološkog pomeranja moralnih granica u Love -80 je daleko impresivniji: Rob nije kažnjen za ubistvo Winter, prosto zato što je ona zamrznuta, dakle tehnički je ne-mrtva. Njegov lični osećaj za pravično nalaže mu da nekako pribavi finansije dovoljne za njen povratak u život, ali jedini način da to postigne je da privoli nekog da za to plati. Po zakonu, onaj ko za to plati, imaće ne samo bračno, nego gotovo robovlasničko pravo na Winter, što u suštini podrazumeva da Rob zapravo "prodaje" Winter onome ko je voljan da za to plati. I mada to iz Robove perspektive možda i izgleda kao neka vrst iskupljivanja sopstvenog zlodela (žena koju je ubio postaće opet živa i zdrava), Winter to svakako ne može tako da doživi, pošto će ostatak života provesti kao lično vlasništvo i obespravljena kurtizana jednog starog čoveka čija familija gleda na Winter kao na neku vrst kućnog ljubimca. Svejedno, kad bude prisiljena da izabere, Winter će svojevoljno pristati na tu soluciju, jer to je za nju ipak izbor između primarno života i smrti. Taj aspekt u romanu je ostao prilično neistražen, ne samo zato što McIntosh svesno bira palpičnu formu zapleta, već i zato što nudi intenzivno romantičnu vizuru koja prosto nameće srećan završetak na mestu gde ga naprosto ne može biti, to bar ne na generalnom nivou. Ali to mu se može oprostiti, jer u tome i jeste najveća draž palpa, da nam fokus vrati na individualne sudbine, iako je očigledno da one ne mogu biti reprezentativne za sam koncept. Kao da je i sam pomalo uplašen ubedljivošću distopije koju nudi, McIntosh poseže za romantičnim završetkom koji nam svakako nudi tračak topline i optimizma, ali je ujedno i veštački taman koliko i lažni virtuelni profili onih nesrećnih protagonista koji toliko vremena ulažu u kreiranje virtuelnog imidža pametnih i duhovitih ljudi, da im naprosto ne preostaje dovoljno sati u danu da takvi zaista i postanu.     

[Mica Milovanovic]

Ha. Slabo pratim SF. Pa to je onaj što je imao sjajnu priču Bridesicle o zamrznutoj lezbijki koja mora da se folira da je zaljubljena u muškarca koji ju je oživeo da bi je ovaj oženio i vratio u život... Ovaj roman očito ima sličnu premisu...

[PTY]

Da, to jeste razrada te Hjugo nagrađene priče, i Mira tu gravitira kao za zaplet relativno sporedni protagonista, više kao neka vrst omaža matičnoj ideji.    Lepo je to on skombinovao, ali, isto kao i sa njegovim prvencem, Mekintoš je nepopravljivi romantik, njegov svet je podložan kodeksu koji je ponekad kontraproduktivan, naime - Mekintoš je skoro pa panja od čoveka, a ovakvim distopijama treba surov i okrutan autor, cinik i mizantrop prevashodno, recimo neko sličan Dišu. To bi onda bila maestralna distopija, ovako je ostala prilično kontaminirana njegovim nepokolebljivim čovekoljubljem. Ali dobro, treba nam i takvih ljudi, makar da nas uvek iznova jalovo ubeđuju kako ljudi možda i jesu vredni truda a svet jeste vredan borbe za boljitak.




a sad par reči o romanu koji predstavlja suštu suprotnost:









dakle, ovo je debi roman sa sledećim sadržajem:




Change is inevitable. It's heading for Earth at twelve thousand miles per hour...and it will land virtually undetected. For Jack McAllister, a young writer who has finally launched a career for himself, it begins tragically: his estranged father, a former NASA engineer, dies suddenly at his home in Merriweather, Indiana, leaving Jack's Alzheimer's-stricken mother a widow. But in the wake of personal heartbreak, he's confronted by an even more astonishing event--the covert landing of an alien machine in the forest just a few miles outside of town.

Now Jack must unmask the true purpose of the otherworldly device that has begun a detailed environmental survey of the woods. Aided by the town's young and resilient female deputy sheriff, he soon discovers that the alien scout is only one small part of a much larger operation, and the countdown to a terrifying global catastrophe is about to take place. Drawing deeply from his father's scientific influence, all while attempting to avoid the snares of a sexy, seductive and scheming local TV reporter, Jack uncovers—and ultimately finds himself an unwilling component of—an alien plan set to terminate life on Earth as we know it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Eric Tozzi is an award winning film director (Ray Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope"), and a former NASA/JPL documentary producer for Mars planetary exploration. Eric and his wife live in Phoenix along with their very sweet kitty cat. Visit Eric online at www.erictozzi.com


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Gotovo da ne postoji negativni aspekt žanrovskog romana (a i dobre literature uopšte) koji se ovde ne može naći, to od obilnog trpanja žanrovskih klišea pa do papirnate i izuzetno banalne karakterizacije, a sve to preko krajnje prozaičnih napora u cilju oživljavanja belosvesnog i izraubovanog zapleta. Beskrajni unutrašnji monolozi, pompezni i nevešti + didaktičko sumarizovanje očiglednog + užasavajuća nesposobnost autora da (i pored ogromnog i bolno vidljivog napora) najzad uspešno zamanipuliše čitalačkom emocijom + impotentno insistiranje na nepostojećoj višedimenzionalnosti samog ubertrivijalnog  zapleta = roman koji može da vas posluži, ako ne već kao udžbenik, a ono bar kao vanredno duhoviti priručnik za autore koji pošto-poto hoće da napišu knjigu iako nemaju ama baš ništa suvislog da kažu. Fenomen mi nije nepoznat, ali sa stranim autorima nekako uvek mogu da lakše izaberem kad dođe do onog stani-pani  "da li da se smejem ili da plačem" izbora, pa zato te i takve knjige rado čitam u trenucima neumne dokolice. 

[PTY]

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against





Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can't believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this, but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself.

Suppressing those dreams during daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters.

In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which. . . .

The first novel in a two-part series, Archetype heralds the arrival of a truly memorable character—and the talented author who created her.




"Henning Koch is a writer who gets your attention and keeps it. His stories are written in language so beautiful that the reader finds himself reading aloud to hear it."?Irene Zion

The Maggot People are just that?people that have had maggots take over their bodies, working in unison to allow the bodies to continue to function and appear human. Reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive, Henning Koch looks at religion as much as he does politics and the state of living in today's world.




Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.
     This is the twelfth expedition.
     Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
     They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.
     Annihilation is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, which will be published throughout 2014: volume two (Authority) in June, and volume three (Acceptance) in September.




An ambitious SF novel that is at once post-cyberpunk and post-modern. Complex, multi-layered, it combines hard science, tarot and images of late 20th-century Europe to make something utterly original. And introduces a memorable new heroine to the genre...Malise has a problem. She's come downwell to Earth, but years of space combat have ruined her: her muscles have wasted away, her past is a confused torture of events and her brain is wired to addictive military hardware that's illegal on Earth. But with an AI mining probe returning to Earth, having bred and grown until it is hundreds of miles across, Malise is in the firing line again. The probe is indestructible and it is insatiable for more metals. No one knows how to stop it. Malise doesn't know she has a blueprint for humanity's survival wired into her head.




Contrary to popular wisdom, death is not the end, nor is it a passage to some transcendent afterlife. Those who die merely awake as themselves on one of a million worlds, where they are fated to live until they die again, and wake up somewhere new. All are born only once, but die many times . . . until they come at last to the City Unspoken, where the gateway to True Death can be found.

Wayfarers and pilgrims are drawn to the City, which is home to murderous aristocrats, disguised gods and goddesses, a sadistic faerie princess, immortal prostitutes and queens, a captive angel, gangs of feral Death Boys and Charnel Girls . . . and one very confused New Yorker.

Late of Manhattan, Cooper finds himself in a City that is not what it once was. The gateway to True Death is failing, so that the City is becoming overrun by the Dying, who clot its byzantine streets and alleys . . . and a spreading madness threatens to engulf the entire metaverse.

Richly imaginative, David Edison's The Waking Engine is a stunning debut by a major new talent.






Somewhere in Alaska a locked house full of ripped apart bodies and one teacup poodle covered in blood. Somewhere in Alaska, the voice of a dead woman speaks through a car radio. And somewhere in Alaska, the last surviving descendant of one of John Charming's only friends is being pursued by nightmare hounds. The dog days have begun.

[PTY]

kaze Simons:

Last night I e-mailed off the final draft of my new novel THE FIFTH HEART to my literary agent, editor, and publisher. It was weird to go to sleep last night without writing the next morning's pages in my mind and weirder still to awaken today and not have that world -- Sherlock Holmes and Henry James together in America and at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair -- to go back into. It's been a long, serious, fun project.

[PTY]

     Elem, ulaskom u četrnaestu godinu smo dobrano zagrizli u deceniju, pa su i neki obrisi stvari koja nam se približava postali uvelike jasniji. SF je lepši no ikada i sa puno entuzijazma prčka po skoroj nam budućnosti, a to je aktivnost koja ga je svojevremeno uspešno odvojila od neracionalne fantastike i postavila na pijedestal ekstremno kritički raspoloženog izviđača koji vazda gvirka u pravcu kojim mahnito srljamo. I dobro sad, odrasli smo i porasli, pa nam ni distopije nisu što su nekad bile: odavno je minulo doba impresivnih orvelijana, pa su i mračne perspektive futurističkih strahovlada danas uvelike pacifirane. Čak ni konzervativci poput Simonsa više ne zastupaju onu dobru staru ultradrčnu tezu da će nas sopstvene vlade odvesti pravo u mrak državnog terora: čak i on danas smatra da, ako tamo ikad slučajno i završimo, to neće biti zato što nas je sopstvena vladajuća garnitura tamo namerno odvela svojom strahovladom, nego više svojom nekompetencijom i impotentnim izbegavanjem bolne (ali za naše buduće zdravlje neophodne) upravljačke čvrstine. Distopije u formi orvelijanskog tlačenja i neznanja koje proizvodi masovnu pokornost su zanavek smeštene u ropotarnicu istorije: umesto toga, savremene distopije se bave daleko važnijim pitanjem, a ono glasi - šta je, zapravo, danas naša distopija?

Naravno, povratak tako korenitom pitanju podrazumeva i povratak nekim osnovnim književnim i idejnim parametrima, a to opet podrazumeva i nedvosmislenu regeneraciju samog žanra. Krećemo iznova. Budućnost u koju sada žanrovski gvirkamo je nova i isključivo je naša, verovatno zato što je sami usput stvaramo. A kad je o savremenim žanrovskim distopijama reč, najočiglednije se izdvajaju dve idejne (ideološke?) struje.

Jedna se priklanja distopiji visokog pritiska, distopiji čiji su sastavni delovi: a) obavezna katastrofa (ekološka / tehnološka, a najčešće njena najpodatnija kombinacija),  b) obavezan kapitalni događaj, (često prezentovan otvorenom populističkom agresijom, bilo lokalnog ili globalnog karaktera), c) državno nesankcionisana zbivanja (dakle, praktično ilegalna zbivanja, to uglavnom tehnološki kiberpankovske provincijencije), koji obavezno podrazumevaju pasivno učešće populacije (dakle, nije da ih se jadnike drži u neznanju, nego ih jednostavno nije briga).

Druga struja preferiše distopiju čiji su uzroci skoro pravilno politički, društveno i ekonomski raspsoređeni, preferiše sitne subverzije sistema koje originalno možda i jesu benevolentne, ali subverzivno zaobilaze širu glasačku javnost (dakle, uglavnom predstavljaju suštinsku netransparetnost same vlasti), preferišu spore i trajne korozivne degradacije nekad zdravog sistema i podrazumevaju aktivno učešće najširepopulacije (dakle, nije da ih se jadnike drži u neznanju, nego im se dozvoljava da biraju percepcije (a time i podržavaju aktivnosti) koje im trenutačno najviše prijaju.

Prva varijanta je uglavnom crna, zato što uglavnom kulminira nekakvim događajem apokaliptičnih razmera (9/11 sindrom, to bilo lokalno ili globalno), a druga je nekako više siva, uglavnom zato što izbegava da precizira pomenuti apokaliptični događaj, mada ga neretko insinuira. Najzanimljiviji momenat je u oba slučaja isti: obe struje barataju suštinski istim elementima, i neretko ih otvoreno prezentuju kao savršeno identične, pa se zato razlikuju samo po svojoj finalnoj konstrukciji: "crna" struja forsira nedvosmisleni krah sistema, dok "siva" struja forsira letargiju tranzicije, ili nedefinisanog prelaznog perioda koji u suštini predstavlja zamrznut pre-apokaliptični momenat.

Naravno, "crni" talas je tu daleko radikalniji, pa se otud ponekad doima i kao pošteniji, dok "sivi" idejni pravac neretko ostaje pomalo nedorečen, i zbog toga se ponekad doima kao više optimističan, ali ujedno i kalkulisano dvosmislen.

Ali i pre tog konkretno razgraničenja, savremeni SF postavlja kompleksnije i daleko važnije pitanje: šta je, zapravo, nama danas distopija?

Sa orvelijanama nam je bilo lako, tu smo bili "mi" protiv "njih", dakle, bili smo sužnji represivnog režima, bili smo potlačeni u pokornost i manipulisani u neznanje, bili smo nemušti pioni na šahovskoj tabli sistema, bili smo nedužni i nemoćni pojedinsci u rukama Velikog Brata.   

Danas nema mesta za tu bajku, nema mesta za tu iluziju: kakve god da jesu, današnje distopije su naših ruku delo i savremeni kritički SF nam ne dozvoljava da to zaboravimo.

Kao što je i red. 

[Mica Milovanovic]

Možeš li ovu lepu analizu da malo propratiš primerima, za nas koji više ne uspevamo da pratimo sve što se događa na svetskoj sceni?
Ponešto od ovoga mogu da povežem pre svega sa nekim delima koje si analizirala na ovom topiku, ali ne baš sve...

[PTY]

     pa, meni neće biti teško da napišem, kad već tebi nije teško da to i pročitaš.

elem, evo nekih od meni najimpresivnijih distopija objavljenih u poslednjih nekoliko godina, pa još provučenih kroz moj lični filter kojim donekle preciziram njihove najbitnije (ili najočiglednije) aspekte, to sortirajući ih na političke, tehnološke, društvene i/ili  kulturne.
Prva distopija neka bude Simonsov Flashback (2011):


1. Vrsta distopije:

Simons je konzervativac, pa stoga i prilično dragocen kad se uzme u obzir današnja pomama za kvazi-ideološkom političkom korektnošću. Otud je relativna retkost da nam se tu nudi distopija čisto kulturne provicijencije - u Simonsovom žanrovskom svetu, za sve su krivi ilegalni imigranti, koji su do te mere iscrpli državni budžet da je to proizvelo finansijski kolaps osnovnih društvenih struktura.
(da, da, znam kako to ksenofobično zvuči, ali ne znači da je to neuverljivo kao premisa, pošto Simons lukavo svaljuje krivicu uglavnom na inertni i neefikasni postojeći državni aparat, a po tom pitanju ga se ne može opovrći.)


2. Glavni krivac:

Paradoks je da taj i takav otvoreno desničarski Flashback ipak uspeva da bude jedna od poštenijih savremenih distopija, pošto krivicu nedvosmisleno polaže na pleća vaskolikog plebsa, koji preferiše eskapizam droge nauštrb poštenog angažmana po pitanju učešća u svakodnevnom životu društva i nacije. Naravno, ne ulazimo u to kakav to angažman Simons zapravo priželjkuje, ali fakt ostaje da je njegova primedba validna: ljudi u njegovom romanu žive u distopiji kakvu zaslužuju, jer su je sami kreirali.


3. Status širih narodnih masa:

Recimo da su ostali bez življenja vredne perspektive, ali tu su završili uglavnom sopstvenim izborom, pa dakle i sopstvenom krivicom. Teško da ćeš tokom čitanja biti satrven empatijom.


4. status apokalipse:

Simons se priklanja fenomenu balkanizacije, pa smatra da je izlaz u povratku na minimalne održive sisteme: po njemu, bolje je biti krupna riba u malom ribnjaku, nego sitna u velikom, pa otud i vidi izlaz jedino u suverenoj i samostalnoj državi Teksas, koja ce biti u stanju da se relativno dobro brine o svom građanstvu, dok ostatak Amerike i sveta može slobodno da ode u... gde god već. Taj svetonazor nam nije nepoznat, otud je toliko i prozno uverljiv, pošto je u pitanju veoma ubedljiva ekstrapolacija, zapravo eskalacija prilično trulog stanja stvari u današnjici. Simons je sravnio sa zemljom Izrael i to je apokaliptični momenat čije posledice svrstavaju ovaj roman u "crnu" distopiju.

[PTY]

Drugi primer neka bude Intrusion, Ken MacLeod (2012)




1. Vrsta distopije:


Primarno politička, bar po meni. Macleod nudi svet koji se u distopiju strmeknuo ne zakonskom obespravljenošću, nego naprotiv, ekstrapolacijom današnje pomame zakonskog regulisanja svega i svačega. Žene u Macleodovoj distopiji su u svoj pakao dospele širokom avenijom popločanom raznoraznim regulisanjima za njihovo dobro, pa je kapitalizam reagovao onako kako inače i reaguje: ignoriše ih kao radnu snagu, naprosto zato što mu se ne daju pare da im obezbedi radno okruženje koje zakonske regulative zahtevaju i propisuju. To je ekstrapolacija današnjeg favorizovanja jeftine radne snage koja ne zahteva preko sindikata skupe uslove proizvodnje.



2. Glavni krivac:

Opet društvo u celini, bolje rečeno lako manipulisana društvena svest koja silno voli izborne parole ali ne razmišlja o njihovim dugoročnim posledicama. Za razliku od Simonsa, Macleod svoju distopiju limitira na samo jedan deo populacije - žene. Otud je njegova distopija još tragičnija, pošto Hope (glavni lik u romanu) doživljava da joj eventualni poslodavci kažu "ja bih te rado zaposlio ali ne mogu da te priuštim, čisto finansijski", a taj mračni aspekt u romanu nudi veoma savremenu dimenziju suptilne manipulacije u kojoj žrtva zapravo i nije svesna svog inferiornog položaja.




3. Status širih narodnih masa:

Jos jedan odličan aspekt suptilne savremene distopije - široke mase nisu kompaktne, nikako, pa čak ni u očima zakona. Manjina (u ovom slučaju ogromna manjina, jer su u pitnaju žene) je obespravljena, ali većina, bar nominalno, apsolutno nije. Otud i nema populističkih buna i previranja, sa stanovišta većine nema ni distopije. Čak i većina žena koje Macleod pominje nisu svesne da žive u distopiji, naprotiv, one su najvatreniji zagovornici sistema protiv kog se Hope bori. Predivna manipulacija, vrlo relevantna, kao uostalom i većina savremenih UK distopija.




4. Status apokalipse:

Naravno, mi možemo da špekulišemo tokom čitanja romana da će takvo stanje stvari eventualno dovesti do neke vrste otvorene katastrofe, ali Macleodova distopija ne nudi nikakve dokaze za tako optimističnu pretpostavku. Naprotiv, ako išta, tok radnje upućuje da je reč o konstrukciji koja podrazumeva egzistencijalno tavorenje, nešto u fazonu laganog grejanja vode e da žaba nam ne iskoči iz lonca pre no što se u potpunosti skuva. maestrano urađeno, ovo je vrlo imresivan primer "sive" distopije.

[PTY]

Još jedan primer "sive" distopije je Mekintošev prvenac Soft Apocalypse:




1. Vrsta distopije:


najsveobuhvatniji zajednički nazivnik bi bio - iscrpljenje. Iscrpljenje svega: industrijskih zaliha, fosilnih goriva, ekonomske ravnoteže, ideoloških stremljenja i ljudskog strpljenja uopšte. U tihoj apokalipsi, ljudi proizvode dizajnirane viruse iz istih poriva iz kojih danas proizvode kompjuterske viruse - uglavnom iz dosade i nedefinirane sveopšte mizantropije. Ovu distopiju nije krerao nikakav prasak, niti ekonomski niti ideoločki, pa se otud i neće završiti uz prasak, nego jednostavno u tišini sveopšteg iscrpljenja. Čak su i agresije u ovom romanu kontaminirane sveopštim beznađem, ljudi ubijaju jednu druge bez suštinske strasti za taj čin, maltene kao da sebi i njima čine uslugu.




2. Glavni krivac:


Isto kao i kod Simonsa - ljudska nezainteresovanost. kad ti se sve političke partije učine jednako bezvredne a svi ljudi oko tebe jednako bezbnačajni, onda se jednostavno prestaneš brinuti šta će se desiti i tebi i drugima. Mekintoš je nepopravljivi romantik pa tu uvodi motivaciju ljubavne veze, ali u sivilu ostatka distopije to jednostavno ne dopire do nivoa na kom bi opisani pojedinac bio predstavnik tipa, nego više odskače kao anomalija u sveopštem sivilu.




3. Status širih narodnih masa:


Bez spoljapnjeg i jasno definisanog neprijatelja, uglavnom tavore ubijajući jedni druge, u isključivo kratkoročnim planovima. Distopija pomalo nalik na opium den atmosferu, u kojoj svi znaju gde su, svi znaju zašto su tu gde su i svi znaju da su upravo i hteli da budu baš tu gde su.




4. Status apokalipse:


Mekintoš je najavljuje, ali to je isuviše suicidalno po karakteru da bi se okvalifikovalo kao apokalipsa. Recimo da je u pitanju "siva" distopija koja prati ljudsku vrstu do skoro pa prirodnog kraja njenog roka trajanja. 

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[PTY]

     Jo jedan lep primer "sive" distopije dolazi kao prvenac iz pera vrlo artikulisane Anne Charnock, A Calculated Life (2013):


1. Vrsta distopije:

Anne razlaže i redefiniše silne koncepte koje smo navikli da prihvatamo kao samopodrazumevajuće: šta nas to definiše, šta nas to čini srećnim i ispunjenim ljudskim bićima. Vrlo često odgovor na to pitanje će biti "posao", ali naravno, time se ne podrazumeva mundano otaljavanje rabote nadničara, nego se podrazumeva ona lična industrija koja čoveka čini zadovoljnim i kompletnim, to na način na koji je činila kompletnim jednog Betovena, Mocarta, Mikelanđela, Pikasa, Džojsa i Hemingveja. Anne podrazumeva tu i takvu vrst čovekove industrije, pa zbog toga i poseže za genetskom manipulacijom koja bi od ljudske jedinke učinila savršeno produktivan (a time i savršeno ispunjen) entitet. Naravno, mi smo pomalo trenirani da u tome vidimo isključivo manipulaciju, a time i relevantnu distopiju, i tu se opet postavlja pitanje ugla gledanja, jer distopija koju Ann pominje definitivno nije tako lako vidljiva i iz naše opšte, generalne perspektive. Ako išta, svet koji Anne opisuje je više utopija po današnjim merilima: naša budućnost je tu maksimalno produktivna i minimalno disruptivna po pitanju nelegalnih, dakle društveno neprihvatljivih i kriminanih fenomena.


2. Glavni krivac:

Anne nudi pogodbeni svet kojim dominiraju korporacije, svet u kom nema kriminala i u kom je egzistencija osigurana i stabilna. Naravno, to važi samo za produktivne članove društva koji su svesni pravila tog sveta i koji su voljni ih se pridržavaju, dok ostatak sveta živi kako zna i ume, u skladu sa svojim htenjima i mogućnostima. Distopija je tu svedena na striktno individualnu percepciju: ako i ima ljudi u romanu koji taj pogodbeni svet percipiraju kao distopiju, to je uglavnom zbog njihovih ličnih, individualnih hendikepa. Naravno, i čitaoc može da percipira taj pogodbeni svet kao distopiju, ali, u isto vreme, biće mu malko teže da upre prstom po čemu je to taj svet gori od ovog konkretno sveta. Da li je za nas, kao pojedince, dovoljno da budemo nezadovoljni konkretnim društvenim i političkim ustrojstvom sveta u kom živimo da ga automatski proglasimo za distopiju? ako je tako, onda smo svi mi oduvek i živeli isključivo u nekakvim distopijama, otkako je sveta i veka.


3. Status širih narodnih masa:

Ljudi većinom žive u miru, uglavnom rade poslove koje vole i za koje imaju afiniteta, i uglavnom uživaju u plodovima svog rada. To važi čak i za Jaynu, sve dok ne padne u čisto intelektualno iskušenje da pretpostavi kako bi možda bila srećnija da je drugačija. Naravno, u ovom konkretno slučaju, Jayna zapravo ne želi da bude drugačija (ona to već jeste), nego zapravo želi da bude sličnija ljudima sa kojima dolazi u dodir. U tom smislu, Jayna je anomalija i njena percepcija distopije se zasigurno ne pokapa sa statusom širih narodnih masa, koje su ipak relativno zadovoljne, to bar u suštini.

4. Status apokalipse:   

nije na vidiku, bar u istoj meri u kojoj nije na vidiku ni danas, dok milioni ljudi dirinče svoju svakodnevicu u poslovima koje suštinski možda i mrze, pa stoga tek otaljavaju da plate kiriju. Otud ova "siva" distopija čeprka po moralnim i etičkim pitanjima naše budućnosti kao produktivnih jedinki u svetu u kom čovek postaje sve otuđeniji od sopstvene intelektualne i duhovne industrije. Ne tvrdim da je sama tema bog zna kako savremena per se, ali sam pristup nedvojbeno jeste.

[PTY]

     Idući primer "crne" distopije je roman Seed (Robert Zeigler, 2011)


1. Vrsta distopije:

Recimo da je ovo veoma drska ekstrapolacija Monsanto kontroverze, koja biotehnologiju podiže na nivo najpodatnijeg bauka koji jednostavno ne može da omane. A još kad je uparena sa svojim trenutnim ekološkim bauk-pandanom globalnog zagrevanja, onda je to zaista dobitna kombinacija koja maltene definiše savremeni distopični okvir.


2. Glavni krivac:

Isto tako zdravom ekstrapolacijom, Zeigler ravnomerno raspoređuje krah civilizacije na sve krivce koje danas možemo kao takve prepoznati, to počevši do svetskih vlada pa sve do njihovih glasača.


3. Status širih narodnih masa:

Zeigler je jedan od poštenijih distopičara, mada zbog toga ipak ne zastranjuje u mizantropiju: njegov pogodbeni svet je samopodrazumevajuće benevolentan, pošto ga nudi u najiskrenijoj mogućoj verziji, a ta podrazumeva da široke narodne mase umiru od gladi, pa je samim time i bespredmetno insistirati na bilo kakvoj njihovoj krivici. Umesto toga, on za narativne potrebe krivicu svaljuje na vojsku i na ostatke korporativne kulture koja još uvek poseduje tehnološku sposobnost proizvodnje hrane, to makar i genetski modifikovane. Zeiglerov pogodbeni svet je stoga beskompromisno hrabar u svojoj neobuzdanoj imaginaciji, iako formalno prilično stabilno prati žanrovske ekstrapolacijske smernice, a pošto je to ujedno i njegov prvenac, i sad ga smatram jednim od istinski važnih žanrovskih percepcija ove decenije.

4. Status apokalipse:

Seed je u suštini postapokaliptična distopija, ali sa tendencijom daljih apokaliptičnih zbivanja. Od svih dosadašnjih "crnih" distopija, ova će svakako ostati pri vrhu mog eventualnog izbora za najcrnju.

[PTY]

     Dalje, čak i Mekintošev Love -80 nominalno predstavlja distopiju, i to od one najzanimljivije vrste, one koja preispituje šta je danas nama zapravo distopija.

1. Vrsta distopije:

Okej, recimo da je u pitanju čisto društvena distopija, kad već imamo zaplet u kom lepe mrtve žene postaju skoro pa privatno vlasništvo onoga ko je spreman da plati njihov povratak u život - to je svakako distopija. Logično. Nema sumnje. žene su tu vrsta privatne svojine koliko i nameštaj, a to je svakako distopija.


Ali: zaplet ovde drži naš fokus na minornom uzorku od svega stotinjak žena u veoma, veoma specifičnoj situaciji. Ostatak ženskog roda u pogodbenom svetu apsolutno nije obespravljen, ni na koji način. Moram to da podvučem, tek da bude jasno o kakvoj je (to ako je) distopiji reč. Isto tako, Mekintoš pošteno precizira tu kontroverzu kad kroz jednog svog protagonistu pita "a zašto u Bridesicle odeljenju nema mladih i lepih muškaraca, koje bi "otkupio" neki stari gej (tu mi smesta pada na pamet Ian Mckellen, pošto je roman ionako strašno filmičan ) i dobija iskren odgovor - zato što je gej populacija isuviše mala da bi se takva konkretno Bridesicle investicija isplatila. dakle, gej populacija nije obespravljena, daleko bilo: samo je brojčano zanemariva. I žene koje će preko Bridesicle programa završiti kao kurtuzane su brojčano zanemarive. A ako je tako, šta onda ostaje da nam pomogne da prepoznamo distopiju? ništa. Love -80 ne nudi niti jedan jedini fenomen, niti jednu jedinu anomaliju koja bi ukazala na društveni i politički kolaps vrednosti kakve se nadamo da će naša budućnost negovati. I okej sad, možeš da kažeš "pa i Bridesicle je dosta, kud ti treba više?" ali... da li je zaista dosta? šta to danas nama podrazumeva distopiju? gde je granica preko koje nam sistem i društvo budućnosti postaje distopično?



2. Glavni krivac:

Samo i isključivo društvo, koje je ipak samo prost zbir pojedinaca. Love -80 ne nudi nikakve opresije, nikakve strahovlade, zapravo - ne nudi ama baš nikakav državni ili zakonski autoritet. I ne mislim samo da nam te autoritete ne nudi kao eventualne krivce, mislim zaista da ih ne nudi uopšte, kao da ih ni nema. Moguće da ih ni nema.


3.  Status širih narodnih masa:

ako izuzmemo status istinski nesretne Winter, u Love -80 sva ljudska nesreća potiče od samih protagonista, i to je nanose uglavnom sami sebi, a tek onda i drugima. Za svaku pojedinačnu ljudsku mizeriju moguće je ne samo ustanoviti tačan uzrok, nego je i moguće ustanoviti tačno poreklo, a time ga i eliminisati. Kao što Mekintoš eventualno i radi, sa svojim čovekoljubivim hepiend svetonazorom. Otud moram priznati da je status širih narodnih masa poprilično fin, ili barem toliko fin koliko svaki pojedini član te mase želi da mu bude.



4. Status apokalipse:

apokalipse nema niti će je biti. Mekintoš u svoje junake beskompromisno uliva (samo)svest zbog koje oni rađe biraju azil nego borbu protiv sistema ( a ima i alternativu, sličnu onoj koju nudi i Anne Charnock, dakle polusvet u kom žive ljudi koji odbijaju da prihvate život u tom i takvom sistemu). Otud je i distopija diskutabilna, jer opcija ne samo da postoji, nego je i sami protagoniste preferišu. I svi su na kraju sretni i zadovoljni, i svako živi tamo gde hoće. Otud je ovo "siva" distopija koja ni sama nije načisto sa definicijom distopije.

[PTY]

... samo da ti ilustrujem zašto je Simonsova ksenofobična distopija tako uverljiva (sam zaplet sad ustranu, govorim o pozadini koja je maltene besprekorna u svojoj ekstrapolaciji):



A Florida County Spent Over $5 Million Jailing Homeless People. It Could've Spent Less On Shelter




A Florida county has spent more than $5 million over the past nine years throwing chronically homeless people in jail, when it could have spent considerably less finding them shelter.
In its annual report on the state of homelessness in Osceola County, Fla., Impact Homelessness -- a local advocacy group -- found that the county continues to spend a pretty penny on imprisoning people who live on the streets, instead of helping to rehabilitate them.
The county has at least 300 homeless people sleeping on the streets every night. Most of those people have physical disabilities and/or mental illnesses. Many of them are veterans.
Impact Homelessness investigated the number of people who have been put in prison because of "crimes" related to homelessness, including panhandling, sleeping outside and trespassing. One section of the report focused on the "frequent flyers" -- people who have been arrested over and over again for homeless-related crimes.
The group identified 37 such individuals who, collectively, were arrested 1,250 times from 2004 to 2013. It cost the county $140 to book each person and an average of $80 per day to keep them jail. These figures only take into account arrest and incarceration. They don't begin to touch upon special services, such as appearing before a judge, medical care or counseling.
The "frequent flyers" cost the county a total of $5,081,680, according to the report. That's about $15,000 per person, per year.
"These are people who are disabled and mentally ill. They need their country and their community to help them," Andrae Bailey, CEO of Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, told The Huffington Post. "It makes no financial sense not to help them."
Part of what makes "no sense" is the fact that the county could spend considerably less money on finding housing for the homeless instead of temporarily sending them to jail.
Providing permanent supportive housing and ongoing case management for one person would come to $9,602 annually, according to the report. That's 35 percent less than what it costs to put homeless people in jail.
Not only is providing housing more cost-effective, it has also proven to work.
The Obama administration has pledged to put an end to veteran homelessness by 2015 and Salt Lake City, Utah, and Phoenix, Ariz., have already succeeded in doing so, The New York Times reported.
Two years ago, Phoenix, Ariz., identified 222 homeless veterans and the remaining 56were placed in housing last December -- an accomplishment officials attribute to a collaboration between the city council and key state and federal partners, azfamily.com reported.
Phoenix used more than $6.5 million in federal grants to fight homelessness last year and the city council kicked in an additional $1.8 million in general funds.
Robert Stone, 56, was one such veteran in Phoenix who was homeless on and off for 15 years. Stone moved into an apartment last March and credits that with changing his life, The New York Times reported.
"I'm coming up on nine months sober, and a big part of it is because I have a roof over my head," he told the newspaper.
Phoenix hopes that its approach will serve as a guide for other cities struggling to get people off of the streets.
"We set about this challenge ... with a united purpose, and, as a result, Phoenix can take its place as role model city for gratitude and care towards veterans," Mayor Greg Stanton said in a statement.
Advocates are hoping that the policies demonstrated in Phoenix and Salt Lake City will be the ones that are replicated, instead of policies that prioritize criminalizing homelessness.
In July, activists were dismayed when Tampa, Fla., decided to criminalize homelessness.
"It costs roughly $50 a day to incarcerate one homeless person," Amanda Mole, editor of the Tampa Epoch, told HuffPost Live. "[During] the last homeless count that took place, we had 356 homeless people in jail."
That would cost Tampa more than $6 million a year.
"It always cost more [to keep someone in jail]. Sometimes it's just astronomically more," Bailey said.
Advocates say in addition to hurting taxpayers, it's also grossly unfair to lock someone up because they need help.
"Shooing panhandlers away from major intersections might improve appearances, but it is expensive, inefficient and not a solution," The Tampa Bay Times wrote in an editorial. "Commissioners need to focus on more than aesthetics in considering how to address homelessness."

[Mica Milovanovic]

Ma, kakvi teško da čitam. Pravo zadovoljstvo. Nadam se da i tebi ovo koristi da pripremiš neki celovitiji članak.


Imaš i onu dobru koju si mi preporučila o totalitarnom društvu na teritoriji Albanije - slabo više pamtim naslove i imena.

[PTY]

Ma kakav crni članak, ovo nema skoro nikakvu upotrebnu vrednost, više je zanimacija koja čoveka čini zadovoljnim pa otud i kompletnim.    A totalitarno društvo na teritoriji Albanije mi ne priziva u sećanje ama baš ništa u formi romana, tako da je to najverovatnije bila opaska po pitanju jedne priče Goffa Rymana...  a kad smo već kod strahovlada, na njih sad vrlo retko nailazim u žanru, a I kad ih bude, to je uglavnom iz pera starije garde, a oni prilično vešto zaobilaze Evropu, to čak i njene periferne i zaostale okrajke: Mekoli sa Brazilom, Egan sa Iranom a i Baćigalupi je sa prvencem rađe svrnuo na egzotični istok nego što se petljao sa starim kontinentom.

Dalje, ostaju nam vrlo angažovane "sive" distopije poput Doktorovljevog Malog Brata, ali one istinski najcrnje među apokaliptičnim "crnima" kao da preferišu konstrukciju koja se lakše može analizirati u serijalima, tojest barem trilogijama: Barnsov Daybreak i Atvudova sa Maddaddamom, recimo. A pošto ja preferišem samostalne romane, dosta me toga mimoilazi u serijalima. Za potpuniji angažman po pitanju strahovlada i netransparentnih demokratija čini mi se da je tu danas više atraktivan sam mejnstrim, pa se isplati držati oko na užoj listi za Bukera, recimo. Uostalom, jedan od mojih naj-filmova 2013 je Closed Circuit a naj-mejnstrim knjiga The Orphan Master's Son, pa ti vidi. 

[Mica Milovanovic]

I ti si zaboravna, teraš me da googlam. The Holy Machine. Čit'o na tvoju preporuku. Solidno.


A potcenjuješ sebe. Ovo može da bude osnova za dobar članak...

[PTY]

ahhhh, ti si mislio na Iliriju!! gubim klikere pa to ti je. 

[PTY]

elem, dakle, u poplavi recentnih horor-trešina o Marsu (šablonskih zombie-trešina bez makar i natruha inteligencije, trešina koje adekvatno reprezentuje upravo njihov najsvežiji predstavnik - tupavi i glupavi The last days on Mars), uspeli smo da najzad vratimo dragi crveni planet u okrilje rodnog mu žanra.  I mada se ovaj debi roman ionako nalazio na mojoj listi čitanja, preskočio je red za čekanje nakon najdirektnijih mogućih preporuka meni bitnih žanrovskih faca, to prevashodno Brina i Simonsa. Nema ništa lepše nego kad stara garda hajpuje debi roman, i to hajpuje bez ikakvog kalkulisanja: na primer, Simons je na fbu izjavio ovo:

An Unsolicited Blurb from Dan Simmons for --

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir, Crown books, just released two days ago. (See cover below)

Publishers and other writers who know me are aware that I do very, very few blurbs for new books. Most of the reason is selfishness -- since I'm working almost every day of the year to meet my own novel deadlines, reading almost every day to add to the research, then... having only bedtimie to read the books of my own choice, I simply don't do many blurbs.

This doesn't qualify as a blurb because the book is already out and I received it from Amazon yesterday. I finished it this morning.

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir (whom I've never heard of until I read this novel) is by far the finest SCIENCE-science-fiction novel I've ever read. It is -- and I've never said this about any book -- almost literally an un-put-downable book.

Its plot seems simple: a 6-person crew on the third successful Mars-landing mission, after only two days of a projected two-month stay on the Red Planet, are hit by a duststorm with 175 kph winds, tearing away their Hab's paraboloic antenna for contacting earth and ripping apart another receiving antenna. Their MAV -- Mars Ascent Vehicle -- is in serious danger or being blown over. Houston aborts the mission. But in getting to the MAV, one crewman -- the botanist and general handyman Mark Watney -- is impaled by a flying antenna and blown out of sight down a hill. Telemetry from the suit show decompression and zero life signs. The captain of the crew tries finding him in the terrible dust storm, even as the MAV tilts further and has to righted by MOS thrusters never meant to be used in atmosphere. Finally the captain gets into the MAV and they leave Mars, dock with the Hermes mother ship in orbit, and leave Martian orbit for the long 1-year ion-drive trip home.

But Mark Watney has survived. Turns out that a lot of vacuum-congealed blood makes a pretty good seal for a Mars EVA suit. When he gets back to the Hab, he has air and water -- but not nearly enough food to last until the next planned manned landing on Mars in four years,

His fight to survive and the hard science ingrained in every page and paragraph of Andy Weir's THE MARTIAN makes it, in my opinion, a novel that transcends the SF genre and if it is considered as SF, the best "hard science fiction" novel since Hal Clement's MISSION OF GRAVITY many years ago.

I recommend THE MARTIAN by young Andy Weir to anyone who loves the manned space program, or who loves science, or who loves a brilliantly written novel of unrelenting suspense and intelligence.

I eto, čoveku odmah bude toplije oko srca i smesta se maši knjige.

I sve što je rečeno o ovoj knjizi stoji. 





Ali najlepše od svega – ova knjiga meni najavljuje nekakav maleni, možda sasvim sićušni prevrat tipa prve laste u solidnoj i ničim uzdrmanoj distopičnosti savremenog SF futurizma, koja nam se već godinama preliva iz crne u dublju crnju nijansu. Ova knjiga je tako puna dobrostivog optimizma da jednostavno odudara od svega što je žanr ponudio o nama na Marsu, čak i od uberrealistične KSRove kolonizacije. Ne znam kako će taj optimizam biti eventualno prihvaćen od strane širih masa sf poklonika koji već odavno takvu vrst optimizma smatraju apsolutno sinonimnu sa anahronom naivnošću, ali... roman je odlično napisan, autor (i protagonist, naravno) je dobrostivo duhovit, gikasto vickast, nerdasto genijalan, dražesno profan, maestralno tehnofiličan a nadasve iskreno odan onim osnovnim (i za mnoge od nas još uvek relativno neuzdrmanim) vrednostima žanrovskom optimizma i generalnog čovekoljublja zbog kog se, eto, čak i danas mogu praviti žanrovski planovi u kojima smo kao ljudi ujedinjeni makar u želji da zajedno kročimo na druge svetove. Odličan roman i odličan debi autora kome želim ogroman uspeh i basnoslovnu gomilu para, samo da neometano nastavi da (mi) piše upravo ovakve knjige.

[PTY]

A fast-moving cyberpunk thriller set in a world of thinking cities, ruthless corporations and mad orbital AIs. A novel that links the groundbreaking works of William Gibson to the new generation of writers such as Charlie Stross and Hannu Rajaniemi. Ajay had a future once, birthing intelligent cities for the Haag Agency. First Delhi, then Milan. But then he is seduced into betraying his employers and finds himself working for a city that wishes to become human. Ajay must steal some rare technology from a long-dead wetware expert, a new Frankenstein called Snow, a man now alive in an AI. A man who wants a new toy for his manufactured daughter...




When the Internet suddenly stops working, society reels from the loss of flowing data and streaming entertainment. Addicts wander the streets talking to themselves in 140 characters or forcing cats to perform tricks for their amusement, while the truly desperate pin their requests for casual encounters on public bulletin boards. The economy tumbles and the government passes the draconian NET Recovery Act.

For Gladstone, the Net's disappearance comes particularly hard, following the loss of his wife, leaving his flask of Jamesons and grandfather's fedora as the only comforts in his Brooklyn apartment.　But there are rumors that someone in New York is still online. Someone set apart from this new world where Facebook flirters "poke" each other in real life and members of Anonymous trade memes at secret parties. Where a former librarian can sell information as a human search engine and the perverted fulfill their secret fetishes at the blossoming Rule 34 club. With the help of his friends---a blogger and a webcam girl, both now out of work---Gladstone sets off to find the Internet. But is he the right man to save humanity from this Apocalypse?

For those of you wondering if you have WiFi right now, Wayne Gladstone's Notes from the Internet Apocalypse examines the question "What is life without the Web?"







Reviews for Eileen Gunn's stories:

"Corporate satire and Kafkaesque metamorphoses gleefully collide."—Seattle Times

"Reading this book is like getting to wear the eyeballs of a madwoman in your own sockets for a day."—Warren Ellis

Stories from Eileen Gunn are always a cause for celebration. Where will she lead us? "Up the Fire Road" to a slightly alternate world. Into steampunk's heart. Never where we might expect.

Eileen Gunn is the author of the collection Stable Strategies and Others. She has received the Nebula and the (Japanese) Sense of Gender awards. She lives in Seattle, Washington.




Attentive readers of Lady Trent's earlier memoir, A Natural History of Dragons, are already familiar with how a bookish and determined young woman named Isabella first set out on the historic course that would one day lead her to becoming the world's premier dragon naturalist. Now, in this remarkably candid second volume, Lady Trent looks back at the next stage of her illustrious (and occasionally scandalous) career.

Three years after her fateful journeys through the forbidding mountains of Vystrana, Mrs. Camherst defies family and convention to embark on an expedition to the war-torn continent of Eriga, home of such exotic draconian species as the grass-dwelling snakes of the savannah, arboreal tree snakes, and, most elusive of all, the legendary swamp-wyrms of the tropics.

The expedition is not an easy one. Accompanied by both an old associate and a runaway heiress, Isabella must brave oppressive heat, merciless fevers, palace intrigues, gossip, and other hazards in order to satisfy her boundless fascination with all things draconian, even if it means venturing deep into the forbidden jungle known as the Green Hell . . . where her courage, resourcefulness, and scientific curiosity will be tested as never before.





The Time Traveler's Almanac is the largest and most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled. Gathered into one volume by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, this book compiles more than a century's worth of literary travels into the past and the future that will serve to reacquaint readers with beloved classics of the time travel genre and introduce them to thrilling contemporary innovations.

This marvelous volume includes nearly seventy journeys through time from authors such as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, H. G. Wells, and Connie Willis, as well as helpful non-fiction articles original to this volume (such as Charles Yu's "Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers").

In fact, this book is like a time machine of its very own, covering millions of years of Earth's history from the age of the dinosaurs through to strange and fascinating futures, spanning the ages from the beginning of time to its very end. The Time Traveler's Almanac is the ultimate anthology for the time traveler in your life.





SPLANX - the ultimate electronic tablet of the space-oriented future, where humanity becomes one with a god-power beyond belief... Science-fiction meets horror in this novel about a paranormal investigator in Holland who becomes involved in a search for a mysterious "supernatural" digital tablet.




Insomnia has claimed everyone Biggs knows.  Even his beloved wife, Carolyn, has succumbed to the telltale red-rimmed eyes, slurred speech and cloudy mind before disappearing into the quickly collapsing world.  Yet Biggs can still sleep, and dream, so he sets out to find her.

He ventures out into a world ransacked by mass confusion and desperation, where he meets others struggling against the tide of sleeplessness.  Chase and his buddy Jordan are devising a scheme to live off their drug-store lootings; Lila is a high school student wandering the streets in an owl mask, no longer safe with her insomniac parents; Felicia abandons the sanctuary of a sleep research center to try to protect her family and perhaps reunite with Chase, an ex-boyfriend.  All around, sleep has become an infinitely precious commodity. Money can't buy it, no drug can touch it, and there are those who would kill to have it. However, Biggs persists in his quest for Carolyn, finding a resolve and inner strength that he never knew he had.

Kenneth Calhoun has written a brilliantly realized and utterly riveting depiction of a world gripped by madness, one that is vivid, strange, and profoundly moving.

[PTY]

http://youtu.be/gMfuLtjgzA8
Here's the author at a recent talk at Google HQ. It starts with a 11 minute reading from the first chapter, then he discusses the realistic science that went into the novel. Beware! There's a slight story spoiler when Weir discusses the software he wrote to calculate some of the orbital mechanics used in the novel.

[Anomander Rejk]

http://www.laguna.rs/_img/korice/2346/pajns-blejk_krauc_v.jpg
Dakle, roman od koga sam poprilično očekivao, i koji me razočarao na gotovo svakom nivou.
Pošto je prevodilac Skrobonja, nema razloga da sumnjam u kvalitet prevoda, te sve nedostatke pripisujem autoru, koji  kako shvatam ima strašno prodavana izdanja.


Autor je barem bio toliko pošten da navodi kako njegovo delo, iako inspirisano Tvin Piksom, nije ni blizu toga-i zaista nije. Nije mu uspelo da probudi osećaj tajanstva, misterije, čuđenja. Pajns je prikazan hladno, mehanički, gotovo beživotno, nedostatak ,,atmosfere'' grada, pokušava se prikriti konstantnim jurcanjem glavnog junaka Itana, iz bolnice, beg kroz grad, preko litica grada. Ja volim dinamičnu radnju, ali ovde je čini mi se ona sama sebi svrha, kao da je cilj da se roman strmoglavi što pre kroz tih 350 strana. Nije se uspelo u onom glavnom-da Vajvarnd Pajns doživimo s ushićenjem, strahom, čuđenjem.


Već na pola romana sam prokljuvio o čemu se radi, o svojevrsnoj besmrtnosti, ukidanju starenja i putovanja kroz vreme na neki način. Koje nam je sve informacije autor nagruvao na brzinu nešto pre kraja. A valjda je ta misterija trebalo da bude bitna, i drži do samog kraja ?


Objašnjenje surovog obračuna ,,lokalaca'' sa odmetnutima iz tog veštačkog raja, krajnje mi je bledo i uverljivo.


Na kraju, najveća mana ovog romana-likovi. Tj.nedostatak karakterizacije istih. 


Likovi nisu ni klišeizirani, već su totalno neživotni, bledi, plastični. Neuverljivi. Oni faktički i nemaju svoju ličnost, ponašaju se mehanički, jednodimenzionalno, bez ikakve živosti. Tu su isključivo radi pomoći, ili odmoći glavnom junaku.
Jedini koji je koliko toliko izgrađen je glavni junak, Itan. On je agent tajne službe( na dva mesta autor koristi potpuno isti ,,štos'' kad ga pitaju-a jeste vi oni što čuvate predsednika? , junak iz iračkog rata, voli svoju ženu, doduše prevario je ali to ga naravno jako grize. Flešbekovi njegove prošlosti, odvode nas u Faludžu, gde je zarobljen visio u lancima. I onda kad naiđem na rečenicu tipa ,,Uživao je u mučenju, verovatno je bio neki pripadnik AlKaide'', dođe mi da zavrištim ili mlatnem autora knjigom po glavudži. Shvatam ja da je to pisano za englesko govorno područje, za Amerikance, moguće da sam ja previše antiamerički nastrojen i da mi to struže po ganglijama, ali stvarno dokle više Irak, talibani, AlKaida, 11.septembar, zli opaki Arapi, i hrabri bledoliki junak koga kući čeka smerna i ljubavlju ispunjena američka djeva. Nije više ni maštovito ni zabavno, vrćenje tog pogleda na svet postaje iritirajuće do te mere da ću ostavljati knjige čim ubuduće naletim na nešto slično.


Ukratko, roman me je mnogo razočarao.

[PTY]

Elem, u naporu da sjurimo neke drevne i značajne žanrovske romane, stigli smo do ovoga:













Predivan roman, pisan u vreme kad je angažovanost pisca zaista nešto značila, dakle 1959te, u vreme nuklearnog straha i duboke političke i društvene svesti, u vreme kad su ljudi zaista i iskreno verovali da je svet prost zbir njegovih jedinki, da snaga jeste i u brojevima, da se vlade, režimi i ideologije mogu rušiti i srušiti, samo ako se dovoljan broj ljudi angažuje.


Otud je roman sračunato dvosmislen: oficir X-127, bezimeni vojnik u službi neimenovane nuklearne sile, protiv svoje volje i znanja završi u doboko podzemnom nuklearnom skloništu a ujedno i vojnoj bazi iz koje je zadužen da vodi nuklearni armagedon protiv isto tako bezličnog i neimenovanog neprijatelja, i to krajnje bezazlenim pritiskanjem dugmića koji koordiniraju sinhronizovane napade nuklearnog naoružanja. U tom svetu bez sunca i meseca i savesti i posledica, oficir X-127 vodi dnevnik za nas, baš tu generaciju koja je nekako propala u rascep između političkog radikalizma i društvenog fanatizma na smeni generacija 60tih.


E sad, mi koji smo odrasli na angažovanom SFu modelisanom na The Day After konceptima, mi u takvim romanima vidimo znatno više od kratkoročnog hladnoratovskog angažmana, recimo da vidimo neku vrst fosilizovanih dokaza da je ne samo žanr kao takav, nego i populistička pisana reč uopšte nekad imala svoju supstancu i težinu i efekat o kakvom se danas može samo nostalgično sanjariti. Bilo je to vreme u kom su ljudi zaista verovali da su značajni, to na nivou svakog pojedinca jednako, a otud je i žanr smatrao da ta njegova straobalna mogućnost da izjavljuje značajne stvari ujedno i obavezuje autora da... pa eto, da govori ono što smatra da  treba biti izrečeno.


Dakle, bio je to taj famozni iskorak iz i od eskapizma žanrovskih povoja, korak dalje u samosvest koja je žanr eventualno zauvek odvojila od iracionalne mu fantastičarske sabraće koja se i dan danas obraćaju deci i onima koji preferišu da to ostanu.


Dragulj. 

[PTY]

i sad, pošto je danas čak i slepcu jasno da se Hjugo temeljito sunovratio u ambis iz kojeg teško da ima oporavka u dogledno vreme, nema druge nego zasukati rukave i curkati produkciju kroz sito i rešeto, ne bi li bolje saznali čega sve u žanru ima. Jer bogami bi se malo togla znalo kad bi se samo nominacije gledale, i to ne samo Hjugove, sakloni nas bože.
Dakle, knjige koje zalužuju pažnju arila 2014:




















http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/057513089X/sfsi0c-20









http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0804138680/sfsi0c-20







http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590212614/sfsi0c-20









http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590211936/sfsi0c-20







http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00FUZQY7I/sfsi0c-20

[PTY]

a sprema se ovo:







A criminal mastermind creates violent tableaus in abandoned Detroit warehouses in Lauren Beukes's new genre-bending novel of suspense.
A criminal mastermind creates violent tableaus in abandoned Detroit warehouses in Lauren Beukes's new genre-bending novel of suspense.
Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams?
If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story. If you're Thomas Keen, known on the street as TK, you'll do what you can to keep your homeless family safe–and find the monster who is possessed by the dream of violently remaking the world.
If Lauren Beukes's internationally bestselling The Shining Girls was a time-jumping thrill ride through the past, her Broken Monsters is a genre-redefining thriller about broken cities, broken dreams, and broken people trying to put themselves back together again.

[PTY]

... i novi Jumper:









Cent can teleport. So can her parents, but they are the only people in the world who can. This is not as great as you might think it would be—sure, you can go shopping in Japan and then have tea in London, but it's hard to keep a secret like that. And there are people, dangerous people, who work for governments and have guns, who want to make you do just this one thing for them. And when you're a teenage girl things get even more complicated. High school. Boys. Global climate change, refugees, and genocide. Orbital mechanics.
But Cent isn't easily daunted, and neither are Davy and Millie, her parents. She's going to make some changes in the world.

[PTY]

ali najbolja novost stiže sa kirkusa: najavljuje se ekranizacija ovog fenomenalnog romana! 









(Za sad se pominje Drew Goddard, ali dobro, bože moj, nije da mi žanrovci možemo mnogo da biramo...  )


i još se planira ekranizacija ovih romana:

[PTY]

uh, dugujem disklejmer:


malko sam pobrkala linkove oko Edena, to je zapravo trebala biti najava za nastavak Dark Edena, tj. roman u pripremi, koji će biti objavljen za par meseci - Mother of Eden:









više infoa o tome imate na njegovom sajtu, www.chris-beckett.com

[PTY]

I šta nas to zanimljivoga čeka u maju:









http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1936196336/sfsi0c-20

















http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00IIVFKSA/sfsi0c-20
(pošto sam pročitala prvenac Arhetip, računam da i nastavak vredi overe, mada nije u pitanju nikakva preporuka naslepo....)











http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1770530606/sfsi0c-20

[PTY]

dakle, pošto je kopipejst sad već sasvim onemogućen, mogu samo da stavim linkove:


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1936196336/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00IIVFKSA/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1770530606/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/057513139X/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031621776X/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307907961/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765332655/sfsi0c-20

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00JCXK3PS/sfsi0c-20

[PTY]

Ovih dana malko šrvljamo po najaktualnijim nominacijama, pa evo i prvog naslova:











Suareza se često pominje u veoma pozitivnom kontekstu, a pošto ništa njegovog do sada nisam čitala, rešila sam da probijem led sa upravo ovim romanom. I zanimljiv je to kiber-triler, nema zbora.


Suarez kreće od uvek zabavne žanrovske premise o postojanju tajne organizacije koja nas nadgleda i ujedno odlučuje šta je dobro za nas i šta to mi možemo podneti a šta ne. Nešto kao Men in Black varijanta - dakle, državno sankcionisana agencija koja se bavi predupređivanjem i saniranjem posledica koje bi radikalni tehnološki izumi proizveli u našoj svakodnevici. Premisa dalje podrazumeva (to u svima dragom formatu teorije zavera) da se tehnološki napredak drži pod strogom kontrolom i da se svi izumi filtriraju pre no što se puste u širi opticaj koji doseže javnost, znači, nas sitne miševe koji mislimo da je tačskrin najveći tehnološki izum otkako smo sleteli na Mesec. Glavni protagonista, Jon Grady, saznaje o postojanju te agencije upravo na dan kada uspešnim eksperimentom dokaže funkcionalnost svog izuma, primenjivog antigravitacionog polja, čija bi široka primena zasigurno zauvek promenila našu svakodnevicu. Naravno, Jon smatra da bi je promenila na bolje, ali agencija ima očekivano drugačiji stav po tom pitanju. Jon je stoga kidnapovan, i nakon toga počinje njegov život u zarobljeništvu, tokom kog on otkiva da agencija ne samo poseduje nego i aktivno koristi mnoge izume iza kojih stoje genijalci poput njega, i to ih koriste ne baš u skladu sa brigom za dobrobit ljudskog roda. Jon uskoro otkriva da u svom zatočeništvu nije sam, i da njegov genijalni kolege-sapatnici planiraju da pobegnu iz zatvora i doakaju agenciji jednom za svagda.


  Simpatično i zabavno, nema spora, ali ipak - suštinski namenjeno tinejdžerima ili čak i mlađem od toga uzrastu. Nije mi baš najjasnije silno oduševljenje oko ovog romana, mada, priznajem da bi roman mogao da iznedri vrlo intrigantan predložak za film, to uz diskretnu dozu humora. Upravo kao i Men in Black.















Drugi roman je Arhetip, dobro osmišljen prvenac o kontroverzi kloniranja i vlasništva nad tuđim sećanjem i telom. Također impresivno, po distopičnosti negde na liniji Atvudove The Handmaid's Tale, uparene sa ne odviše ekstrapolacijski opravdanom bizarnošću iz Išigurovog Never let me go. Naravno, Arhetip nije ni blizu Atvudovoj kad je o seciranju moralnih i društvenih kontroverzi reč, daleko bilo: recimo da je tu više u pitanju pop-kulturna prezentacija najkontroveznijih aspekata, ali poprilično lišena dubine i ne odviše zanimljivo plasirana u narativnom smislu. Na momente čak i dosadnjikava, s obzirom na silne i čitaocu sasvim očigledne mogućnosti koje do samog kraja uporno ostaju neiskorištene. Ali pošto je u pitanju tek prva knjiga u serijalu, možda su namerno ostavljene za kasnije.


Obe knjige su tu negde, solidne trojke.

[PTY]

Novi Baćigalupijev roman izlazi tek u oktobru, i svi mi koje je navukao sa svojim prvencem još uvek se nadamo da će njime izaći iz te YA faze, ma kako bila lukrativna (a jeste). Doduše, sinopsis ne nudi ništa što bi takve nade ohrabrilo, ali... šta da se radi, navika je gadna stvar.









In this page-turning contemporary thriller, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Paolo Bacigalupi explores the timely issue of how public information is distorted for monetary gain, and how those who exploit it must be stopped.


Everything Alix knows about her life is a lie. At least that's what a mysterious young man who's stalking her keeps saying. But then she begins investigating the disturbing claims he makes against her father. Could her dad really be at the helm of a firm that distorts the truth and covers up wrongdoing by hugely profitable corporations that have allowed innocent victims to die? Is it possible that her father is the bad guy, and that the undeniably alluring criminal who calls himself Moses--and his radical band of teen activists--is right? Alix has to make a choice, and time is running out, but can she truly risk everything and blow the whistle on the man who loves her and raised her?

[PTY]

... a novi Mekintošev roman je sebi obezbedio ekranizaciju i pre no što je objavljen:











Defenders by Will McIntoshIt's rare that a book gets optioned for film before the book itself even hits bookshelves. The science fiction thrillerDefenders by Will McIntosh is one of those rare books. How did Hollywood know about the story before it was published?

The novel Defenders is actually based on the author's short story of the same name which first appeared inLightspeed Magazine in August 2011. Based on the strength of that short story, Warner Bros. studios scooped up the film rights. The film will be written by screenwriter Will Simmons ("Murder City").

You may recall Defenders from last week's roundup of best speculative fiction picks of the month. Defenders is a different kind of alien invasion story. The invaders in this case are the Luyten, an alien race determined to rid the Earth of humans, who they see as inferior. The Luyten have not only a technological advantage, but they can also read human minds as well, making any strategy we come up with to defeat them essentially ineffective. That is, until mankind genetically-engineers a race of 17-foot-tall humanoids called the Defenders that are immune to telepathy. The problem? What is a race of beings created for war supposed to do once the war is over?

[PTY]

Screen Daily is reporting that author Patrick ness has adapted his novel A Monster Calls into a screenplay for Focus Features, who will distribute the fantasy/drama in the U.S. in October 2016.
The story is about thirteen-year-old Conor O'Malley who, in addition to being bullied at school, has nightmare's about his mother's failing health. But the monster he sees outside his bedroom window is real. It's an ancient tree come to life, who tells Conor stories and asks him to tell the truth. Conor's relationship with the tree monster helps him come to terms with his mother's illness. The idea for the book came from award-winning author Siobhan Dowd– whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself.
The film is being directed by J.A. Bayona, the director of The Impossible and the just-announced World War Z 2 (according to IMDB). Stars attached to the project include Felicity Jones (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) as the boy's mother and Liam Neeson as the monster.

[PTY]

... a Daryl Gregory je svojim novim romanom prevazišao sve prethodne:









Ima tu i dalje svih začina zbog kojih je poznat - neobuzdana imaginacija i vrlovrlo tanka linija koja u njegovim romanima deli racionalnu od iracionalne fantastike, da nabrojim samo dva - ali je jasno uočljiv (i veoma dobrodošao) pomak po pitanju zrelosti i kontrole nad materijalom, što u velikoj meri utiče na životnost i plastičnost likova i zapleta. Daryl se najzad odmakao od karikaturizacije, bez da je time izgubio makar i mrvu zabavnosti samog štiva. Prijatno iznenađenje i pun pogodak iz četvrtog puta. Što i nije samo po sebi tako strašno, pošto su i prva tri romana imala sasvim dovoljno materijala za pamćenje i zdrav kredit za autora. Preporuka za sve one kojima se makar jedan njegov prethodni roman iole dopao. 

[PTY]

 



Rock veteran Neil Young is expanding his writing resume by penning a science fiction novel. The Like a Hurricane hitmaker is due to release his second memoir, the follow-up to 2012's Waging Heavy Peace, later this year (14) and he also has a second literary project in the pipeline. He has declined to give a possible release date or any further details about the novel but has described it as "f**king weird", reports Uncut magazine.


.. ali ovo bi svakako vredelo kupiti:






Description:

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." Gibson's literary agent's copy of the actual Xerox corrected typescript used to publish the first UK & first hardcover edition of Neuromancer with his name [Christopher Priest] & contact information sticker on the first page. 8vo., 8 1/2" x 11" white bond, 303pp. Bound in a blue business 'Joca' file binder with a plain typed label on the upper cover. In addition, 42 non-sequential pages [Xerox] with additional
corrections inserted loosely at the back of the binder. A rare state of this breakthrough defining novel & Nebula, Hugo and Philip K. Dick Award winner. Gunn, The New Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction. Pringle. 100 Best Science Fiction Novels. Of the three or four modern cornerstone SF novels of the 20th century that will stay top-of-mind for the foreseeable future, Neuromancer along with Dune, Stranger In A Strange Land & Do Androids Dream lead the way.  Bookseller Inventory # 29584




I fascinantnije od svega toga:





Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A.Heinlein's

Stranger in a Strange Land

and the Church of All Worlds




Carole M. Cusack

[Mica Milovanovic]

... a Daryl Gregory je svojim novim romanom prevazišao sve prethodne:









Ima tu i dalje svih začina zbog kojih je poznat - neobuzdana imaginacija i vrlovrlo tanka linija koja u njegovim romanima deli racionalnu od iracionalne fantastike, da nabrojim samo dva - ali je jasno uočljiv (i veoma dobrodošao) pomak po pitanju zrelosti i kontrole nad materijalom, što u velikoj meri utiče na životnost i plastičnost likova i zapleta. Daryl se najzad odmakao od karikaturizacije, bez da je time izgubio makar i mrvu zabavnosti samog štiva. Prijatno iznenađenje i pun pogodak iz četvrtog puta. Što i nije samo po sebi tako strašno, pošto su i prva tri romana imala sasvim dovoljno materijala za pamćenje i zdrav kredit za autora. Preporuka za sve one kojima se makar jedan njegov prethodni roman iole dopao. 

Pre dve nedelje, od svih knjiga koje sam mogao kupiti u jedinoj knjižari koju nađoh u LA-u, odabrao sam baš ovu... delovalo mi nekako zanimljivo... Jedva čekam da odem na odmor za nekoliko meseci da je se do'vatim..

[Mica Milovanovic]

Tja... 


Cijena prava sitnica...

[PTY]

Dakle, ležerno se švrćkaš po gradu anđela i brstiš cakum ispod čekića esef palp... buraz, pa ti se danas žešće provodiš nego onomad kad smo bili upola mlađi! 

[PTY]

Fino pojašnjenje jednog skoro pa klasičnog terminološkog zbuna:





Dystopia, Anti-Utopia, and the End of the World

by Gerry Canavan

One of my great frustrations as a teacher of science fiction is the imprecision with which we use the word "dystopia." We typically speak as if "dystopia" is the negation of utopia, but this is not quite right. Dystopian speculation more properly describes the opposite of utopia: utopia is the good place (eu-topia) that is not a place (ou-topia), while dystopia is the bad place (dys-topia). But the bad place of the dystopia still has something to teach us: it is the warning of the bad times that will come if we refuse to act, the reflection of our own bad times that we must work to change. This is why the typical plot of a dystopian narrative is actually pretty hopeful: the story of the heroic revolution that overthrows a corrupt regime, or the time traveler who changes history to prevent it, or the story of how our heroes might run fast enough and far enough to break out of the confinement of the nightmare city altogether and escape into the free and open country outside.

Dystopia is about oppressive social conditions that might be altered, evaded, or averted, and so it still contains hidden within itself the same hope for a better world that drives utopian speculation. The true negation of utopia is therefore the literary form of the anti-utopia, which is a disproof of utopia, rather than simply a negative one. Here the revolution in which we were placing our hopes turns out to be just another agency of the corrupt regime, or the time traveler manages to bring about the very nightmare he was sent back to prevent; in an anti-utopian narrative there's nowhere left for us to run. Similarly, where dystopian thinking locates unhappiness in our bad social institutions, anti-utopian thinking locates it instead in human nature: we're just built wrong, either biologically (we're bad monkeys, with evolutionarily imprinted impulses that will always cause us to turn on each other in the end) or theologically (we're fallen, wicked souls). In this sense the quintessential anti-utopia is really the failed utopia, the ugly horrors we bring into existence whenever we foolishly try to make the world a better place.

In a fourth position on the chart we find a perhaps even more chilling possibility: the anti-dystopia, the opposite of anti-utopia and the negation of dystopia. Here utopia is not impossible, and in fact it is already here; in the anti-dystopian narrative we discover we are already living in the best of all possible worlds and we need do nothing but enjoy it. This is the consumerist end of history of the 1990s, or the market utopia of neoliberals today; in the reactionary anti-dystopia any change to the coordinates of our contemporary institutions is not only unnecessary, but utterly irrational; why would we intentionally destroy paradise?

When we read science fictional narratives we can see all four of these interpretive moods overlaying each other, fighting for control. Consider Star Trek, which plainly positions itself as a utopian future for the human race, freed from hatred, freed from want, freed from violence of any kind. On the Earth of this happy cosmopolitan future everyone is free to rise to their level of excellence outside economic constraint or the bad luck of their birth. From the perspective of the Federation it is Earth's history-our present-that is the dystopian nightmare: an era of pointless, brutal exploitation and endless wars that culminates in the atomic World War III that nearly ended civilization forever. But over the larger run of the series the utopian fantasy never quite holds; in fact the Enterprise's mission of peaceful exploration constantly collapses into the very violence the utopian reading nominally disavows. A heavily armed warship inevitably blundering into murderous conflicts with the many alien species it encounters, the Enterprise from this perspective becomes the anti-utopian proof that horrific violence is actually inevitable; no amount of progress can prevent it. The dystopian gaze of the series on our present can be similarly twisted into anti-dystopia; not only does the teleology of its future history promise that paradise will come to us if we only wait, both the characters' frequent trips to our time and the larger allegorical stakes of the series insist that we do nothing but wait. Characters like Edith Keeler who actually believe in the ideals of the Federation and who seek to enact them in our era are presented as fools who (in her sad case) must literally be removed from history in order to prevent their influence from taking hold; in their present, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer are all repeatedly forced to betray their high ideals in the name of temporary contingencies. The moment of utopia's actual fulfillment is thus perpetually delayed; the Nazis or the Russians or the Viet Cong or the terrorists or the Klingons or the Borg or the Dominion or the Xindi always arrive just in time to prevent us from ever having to live up to the dream.

In apocalyptic zombie fantasy we can identify the same pattern. Zombie fictions typically present themselves with an anti-dystopian internal logic: they are a dire threat about what would happen in the absence of contemporary institutions like supermarkets and the state. What we have now is good; something different from this would be horrible. Relatedly, zombie fantasies typically have an anti-utopian moral character: the real threat in such stories usually turns out not to be the zombies but other living humans, towards whom we must always assume a preemptively violent posture lest we be taken advantage of, hurt, or killed. But in such stories there is always that kernel of utopia as well: the dystopian situation of the zombies' rise turns out to obscure what is actually often a utopian fantasy about the end of work, where people who were oppressed or unhappy in our time can start over (as if on a new frontier) and build a better, more meaningful life for themselves after the end of the world. At the far end of this the zombies become the unconscious inaugurators of a strange kind of zombietopia, a social order where no one hurts each other, no one is ever excluded, and no one is ever lonely, as we see in Kelly Link's wonderful story "Some Zombie Contigency Plans":


Zombies didn't discriminate. Everyone tasted equally good as far as zombies were concerned. And anyone could be a zombie. You didn't have to be special, or good at sports, or good-looking. You didn't have to smell good, or wear the right kind of clothes, or listen to the right kind of music. You just had to be slow.

Soap liked this about zombies.

There is never just one zombie.

Even the zombie's bite, which kills you and thereby turns you into a zombie, from their (non-)perspective has a weird utopian flavor; for zombies, violence is not a casting out, but rather a drawing in, a welcoming home. That's how they bring you into the fold.

In the eco-apocalypses we study in Green Planets, the same pattern recurs. What is the political charge of an eco-apocalypse like climate change, or ocean acidification, or Peak Oil? How are we to understand these visions of bad futures as they come to us from scientific projections and risk calculation spreadsheets? Is the coming catastrophe the dystopian clarion that warns us we must change-or is it the anti-utopian proof that we will refuse to change, even at the cost of civilization, or the planet itself?




In the introduction to the book I talk a bit about the fantasy of the Quiet Earth, the future version of the planet that is devoid of human life entirely. The anti-utopian version of the Quiet Earth is the elegiac fantasy of an entirely dead planet-a murdered planet-in which the human species has left behind nothing but ruin before finally killing even itself. Margaret Atwood captures this spirit of the Quiet Earth in a flash fiction written for the Guardian during the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit called "Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet," which finds a human race whose apex of development was the twentieth-century creations of deserts and death. In a spirit of mourning and loss, the speaker of the piece addresses him- or herself to the unknown aliens who have come, millennia hence, to bear witness to our vanishing: "You who have come here from some distant world, to this dry lakeshore and this cairn, and to this cylinder of brass, in which on the last day of all our recorded days I place our final words: Pray for us, who once, too, thought we could fly."

The positive side of the Quiet Earth-its utopian/dystopian aspect, such as it is-retains at least some small sense of hope, though for other life forms, not for us. Such texts frequently suggest that the elimination of human beings can itself be thought of as a kind of misanthrophic eco-paradise; without us, at least, the dogs and the trees and the birds and the bees can go on living. In the wonderful Kenyan short SF film Pumzi (2010), directed by Wanuri Kahiu and available on Netflix, the allegorical stakes are these explicitly; after a devastating series of water wars and droughts, the human race has been driven underground, clinging to every drop of water that can be wrung from sweaty T-shirts or recovered from the condensation on bathroom mirrors. The world outside the bunker is totally dead. But our scientist hero, Asha (meaning "hope" in Sanskrit, "life" in Swahili), discovers a plant seed that she believes can still germinate; stealing into the forbidden world outside, Asha sacrifices first her meager water ration and ultimately her own life to nourish the world's last, and first, tree. A shift to the sublime, God's-eye perspective of time-lapse photography shows the slow return of life to the desert after years, decades, centuries-Asha's corpse nourishing its roots. If it's us or them, the film suggests, perhaps we should choose them.

But the real hope, of course, the one we can barely bring ourselves to imagine any more, would be to solve the problems, cancel the apocalypses, and never let the Earth grow Quiet in the first place. In the interview that concludes Green Planets, Kim Stanley Robinson lays out his plan:


What I wanted to suggest is that because we have the ability to do better, our situation eventually will get so dangerous it will force us to do better. The desire will be there, and the tools are there (science and politics and culture), so the struggle is on, starting now and going on for some centuries at least. We don't have to wait until the year 2312 to act, obviously, and it would be terrible if we did. Since we know now that we can greatly improve the situation by what we do, we should start now, and shoulder the frustrations of how long it will take without too much whining or quitting.

That's the dynamic, work-a-day definition of utopia Robinson offers up in his 1988 novel Pacific Edge: not some static happy end-state, not a prize, but hard work, "struggle forever." It sounds exhausting! But I suppose we should get started.


(Gerry Canavan is an assistant professor in the English department at
Marquette University
, teaching 20th and 21st century literature. His current research projects include Science Fiction and Totality and Modern Masters of Science Fiction: Octavia E. Butler, as well as co-editing The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction. His edited collection of critical essays, Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction, is out now from Wesleyan University Press. You can follow Gerry on Twitter as @GerryCanavan.)

[PTY]

Nije DeNardo uzalud jedan od mojih favorita među žanrovskim rivjuistima... 





BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In a totalitarian, Soviet-like state, a police investigator tracks down a terrorist and discovers his links to a living angel that is poisoning the world.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Lyrical writing; fascinating world-building that mixes Russian/Soviet history with folklore and fantasy.
CONS: Abrupt ending; characters tend towards thinness.
BOTTOM LINE: While it doesn't feel like a complete story itself, Wolfhound Century is an intriguing first volume, with a promising setting and some exciting plot threads.


Peter Higgins's debut novel Wolfhound Century is an ambitious, lyrical, and occasionally messy mix of police thriller, Russian/Soviet history, and fantasy that lends itself to at least two drinking games.


DRINKING GAME #1: Take a shot–preferably vodka–for each time the book crosses a genre boundary:

In Wolfhound Century, our hero (arguably) is Investigator Vissarion Lom, an honest cop in a corrupt system. As is traditional with honest cops, Lom has made enemies in his provincial hometown. So it's probably good both for his career and his health when Lom is summoned to the capital city of Mirgorod by the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Security. The Under Secretary has a problem in the form of a bank-robbing terrorist named Josef Kantor; and since Kantor may have friends inside the Ministry, the Under Secretary needs a disposable outsider who can investigate both the criminal underworld and the bureaucratic overworld of Mirgorod. Enter Lom, the perfect outsider.

So far, so Martin Cruz Smith. (Or... well, who else wrote police procedural mysteries set in Soviet Russia?) But for all that the Vlast resembles Stalinist Russia and the city of Mirgorod resembles St. Petersburg/Leningrad, we're reminded that it isn't, since this is a city where giants walk the streets (usually pulling wagons); where occasionally monsters from Russian/Slavic folklore like rusalka and vyrdalak pop up; and where dead angels have fallen from the sky due to a heavenly war. Dead angels might sound inconvenient, but the government of the Vlast has found some uses for the dead angel's stony flesh, such as crafting interrogation tools and semi-sentient golems called mudjhik. Lom himself has a piece of angel flesh shoved into his skull which he occasionally uses as a symbol of authority. (A badge might be simpler, but lacks that totalitarian flair.)

In his investigation, Lom gets tangled up with security agents and militia, striking workers, "degenerate" (i.e., politically unfavored) artists, and, most importantly, the mysterious daughter of Kantor, Maroussia Shaumian. Maroussia Shaumian and her mother lived out by the giant forest near the political prison Kantor was held in for years. And now, while Maroussia tries to figure out her relationship with Kantor, the forest sends out emissaries to the Shaumians telling them of the epic quest they must undertake to save the forest, a quest that will bring them into conflict both with Kantor and with the still-living angel that is both poisoning the forest and motivating Kantor's terrorism.

So, how many genres do you count in that premise?

Higgins might call this genre collage "disreputable," but I prefer to think of it as "messy"–and that sense of messiness is one of the strengths of this book. On one level, the messiness of Mirgorod gives the city a lived-in, realist feel, as we see fragments of the city from multiple points-of-view without ever getting a clear narrative map of the city. But I especially enjoyed the messiness of the fantastic elements of the world. How do Lom's magic powers relate to the fallen angels? How do the giants fit into the world with the other fantastic aspects? For me, this first volume doesn't clearly lay out the true nature of the world–and that's a strength. While we hear the official story about the fallen angels, we get hints both of unofficial stories, and of other, older magic. That underlying sense of uncertainty seems perfect for a book where the official state history smoothly paves over a thorny reality–though never perfectly.

That said, while that messiness fits thematically, the plot and pacing present a less positive messiness. As other reviews have noted, the book ends somewhat abruptly, with this first volume in no way serving as a standalone novel. There's something slightly unbalanced about Part I being 223 pages and Part II being only 80 pages–as if Part II ended in the middle of its arc, just when the quest was picking up steam.

While the plot may be messy, the characters are almost too neat: they fit too perfectly into their assigned roles and so seem a little thin when accomplishing their plot-mandated tasks. So, for instance, disgraced scholar and Lom's childhood friend Raku Vishnik has been given the unrewarding position of historian of Mirgorod; this is useful both to Lom and to us, as Vishnik can lead us all around the city and report on various subcultures, from former royalty to an artists' cabaret. And yet, I'm not sure I could tell you much about his character.

Similarly, Lom verges on the typological–or if we're being ungenerous, the cliche: the last honest cop on a bad beat, a man willing to go against the corrupt system... at certain points, where the plot demands it. So when a childhood benefactor is denounced and taken away by the police, Lom doesn't seem too bothered by his potential complicity; but when love interest and heroine Maroussia Shaumian looks down on him for being a cop, Lom starts to have more serious second thoughts about his career. While that helps to move the plot forward, it doesn't absolutely feel organic to his character.

However, I give Higgins points for best use of "dialectic" in summing up a character's motivation, when speaking of terrorist conspirator Josef Kantor: "Kantor's life had been shaped by the dialectic of fear and killing: if you feared something, you studied it, learned all you could from it, and then you killed it." Not much to say about a character after that.

And characters like secret police commander Lavrentina Chazia... wait, why does that sound familiar? Oh, right, because it seems like a clear allusion to Stalin's secret police commander, Lavrentiy Beria. Which brings us to...

DRINKING GAME #2: Take a shot for each element from our history that Higgins absorbs into his work–and double shots for all the terrible real-world atrocities of the 20th century: the mass shooting and burial of an internal ethnic group, the jailing and murder of political dissidents, state-sponsored torture, etc.

I don't know a lot about Russian/Soviet history, but even I could catch some allusions that Higgins mixes into his book. Besides the Lavrentina Chazia/Lavrentiy Beria connection, there's also several literary allusions, as when Josef Kantor's thoughts on revolution–


"The revolutionary is doomed. [...] The revolutionary has no personal interest. No emotions. No attachments. The revolutionary owns nothing and has no name. ... There is only the revolution" (9)

–echo Sergey Nechaev's 1869 manifesto, "Catechism of the Revolutionary"–


"The revolutionary is a doomed man. He has no private interests, no affairs, sentiments, ties, property nor even a name of his own. His entire being is devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion–the revolution."

Now, in some cases, this might just be me over-identifying allusions. When you read about how an angel-flesh golem has a dog's brain grafted in, do you think of Mikhail Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog? Or when Higgins describes the sun as tumbling like a severed head, how can I not hear an echo of Isaac Babel's Red Cavalry stories? (Confession: I've had Red Cavalry on my shelf for years now and still haven't gotten around to reading it, but even I know Babel's famous line about the sun "rolling across the sky like a severed head.") And though Higgins's description of the angel's gaze as "vast and cool and inhuman" seems to echo H.G. Wells's description of the Martian intellect in War of the Worlds as "vast and cool and unsympathetic," I have no idea what to do with that–but I'm still going to take a shot.

Wolfhound Century isn't just an extended (drinking) game of spot the reference. Or if it is, I've lost because I know I've missed many, many references. (Also, to be clear, on his website, Higgins showcases a shelf of reading that in some ways informed this work, so he's not trying to hide his references.) In its own way, these allusions contribute to the air of intriguing uncertainty in this book.

That is, usually when reading alternate history, we just have to find the point of divergence–or usually get lectured on it by some character in the book. (Even Philip K. Dick's Man in the High Castle has one person discussing how things would've been different if FDR hadn't been assassinated in Miami.) But in Higgins's "disreputable" fantasy of Soviet history, while we're clearly in a fantasy world with falling angels and its own history, we get little hints of these allusions to our world history. It's unsettling in the best way and a reminder of a strong undercurrent in the story, that the opportunities lost to history may not be completely lost.

Besides being thought-provoking, Higgins's Wolfhound Century is also entertaining and enjoyable, a poetically and lushly described conspiracy/magical thriller in an original, enthralling world.

[PTY]

     Elem, evo jednog indie romana koji je uspeo da i pored svih manjkavosti (krajnje očekivanih za samoukog pisca) proizvede dovoljno oduševljenja među čitaocima da ga ohrabri u proizvodnji nastavka. Objektivno govoreći, roman ima toliko mana da bi njihova lista mogla da odbije potencijalnog čitaoca, ali uprkos svemu, roman itekako funkcioniše, pošto je većina nedostataka uspešno nadomeštena autorovim očiglednim entuzijazmom i posvećenošću.











     
Dobar edit bi skratio roman najmanje za trećinu: Anson je čovek koji svakom lansiranju i prizemljavanju svemirskog broda posveti najmanje tri-četiri strane tehnikalija. Ali njegov entuzijazam ya te tehnikalije je toliko očigledan i toliko zarazan, da ih čitaoc revnosno isprati u svim obilnim detaljima. Isto tako, Ansonova proza je krajnje prozaična, jezik je funkcionalan i to je otrilike sve što se o njemu može reći ali Anson to nadoknađuje informacijom koja je toliko obilna i toliko detaljna, da jednostavno ne možete a da je ne cenite. Tu su i grafikoni i skice i objašnjavanja terena na Merkuru, tu su tehnikalije koje podrazumevaju toliku strast za materijal i sve to zajedno toliko utiče na čitanje da se naprosto ne usuđujete da skrolujete čak ni očigledno prazan hod. Jednostavno, ovo je knjiga čoveka koji je očigledno duboko zaljubljen u žanrovsku staru gardu, i iz svakog slova ovog obilnog romana prosto možete da namirišete kojilo je Anston oblikovan Asimovom i Brinom, Hajnlajnom i Benfordom. Taj njegov zarazni entuzijazam sprečava vas da roman vidite kao zastareo (iako on to sigurno jeste, objektivno govoreći), nego ga naprosto vidite kao retro omaž fascinacijama na kojima se odraslo. Ume to da razgali, zaista, izgleda ne samo mene, pošto roman nosi visoku ocenu na gudridsu, da naprosto nemam srca da mu lupim išta manje od četvorke, iako sam svesna svih manjkavosti kojima bi i solidna trojka činila poveliku uslugu. Ali hej, nek ide život, nek se Mark srećno i zadovoljno posveti pisanju nastavka! 

[PTY]

Dakle, Australija je oduvek bila priča za sebe po pitanju sf-a, to sa svojom unikatno izoliranom žanrovskom evolucijom, valjda, pa sve i ako njeni autori i nisu bog zna kako brojni, bogami su izgleda poprilično lako pamtljivi. Ovogodišnji Kempbel ima u užem izboru čak dvojicu from "down under", Phillip Mann sa The Disestablishment of Paradise, i Max Barry sa svojim romanom Lexicon. A pošto je Barry skoro pa nepoznat mlad autor, krenula sam sa njime i wow! kako je to impresivan roman!





Premisa kreće od stare filozofske, da ne kažem biblijske "u početku biješe Riječ" postavke, izrezbarene u najfinijem palp maniru čiste psihodelične i paranoidne dikovštine koja prosto sa nogu obara nespremnog i zatečenog čitaoca. Jer, naravno, reči nisu samo zvuci koje proizvodimo, reči imaju značenja, i to vrlo specifična značenja. Reči proizvode vrlo merljive neurohemijske reakcije, pa otud i imaju moć da nas u tren oka razbesne i ražaloste i razgale i umire i uteše... znati moć reči, znači biti u stanju upravljati neurohemijskim reakcijama sagovornika, a to, opet, dalje znači i imati u rukama oružje kojim se sagovornikovom percepcijom - a otud i samim njime, naravno - upravlja. Naravno, to jednom kada znate kojim to leksikonom sagovornik barata, i koje to tačno reči imaju odogvarajuću moć u tom leksikonu. 

Mind-boggling proza! a pri tom i apsolutno superiorno isporučen roman, proračunato nedefinisan žanrovski, pa otud i jednako impresivan iz ugla svakog od njih jednako. Osim dikovski razuzdane imaginacije koju nosi sama premisa, tu je i psiho-triler šmek teorije zavera i tajnih organizacija, a još sve to čvrsto spakovanu u oblandu čisto stivenkingovski linearnog zapleta... ukratko, mnogi najcenjeniji žanrovski sastojci isporučeni u krajnje egzotičnom pakovanju. Veoma impresivno, i, naravno, skoro pa nezapaženo (bolje reći, udavljeno silnom gomilom generičkih žanrovskih osrednjosti prošlogodišnje produkcije), sem u ovom Kembelovom izboru. Preporuka svima, a pogotovo filološki nastrojenim žanroljupcima.