THREE GREAT SFF BOOKS YOU'LL RECOMMEND TO FRIENDS

This is the season when voting begins for one of the preeminent awards in Canadian speculative fiction, the Aurora Awards. Though I take many of the awards in the entertainment world with a huge grain of salt, literary awards—especially in the science fiction and fantasy genre—do capture my interest. And Canada has some terrific authors, well-deserving of their worldwide recognition. I haven’t read all of the Aurora-nominated works yet, but I’m working my way through them, and while award nominations don’t always guarantee authentic greatness, I felt compelled to recommend three excellent novels published in the past year. Give them a look—you won’t be sorry.

The Quantum Garden   by Derek  Künsken

The Quantum Garden is a sequel to Künsken’s The Quantum Magician and continues the story of the new sub-species of humanity called Homo quantus—humans genetically engineered to have brains that can act like quantum computers. Belisarius Arjona’s con game in the first book has now thrust the Home quantus into the spotlight as potentially valuable military assets, and the key to saving the lives of his whole race lies in the past, where the best of intentions go badly off track.

Künsken’s descriptions of Homo quantus, time travel, and the complex politics of his universe are thorough and fresh. His skilled plotting and crisp writing move the story along quickly. The novel is strikingly ambitious but in Künsken’s capable hands it’s an impressive success. If I have to include any caveat, it’s that quantum physics is mind-bending territory, and while I think Künsken makes it as accessible to non-mathematicians as anyone can, the book will still be a daunting ride for some. But if you’re up to the challenge, I highly recommend it.

The Gossamer Mage  by Julie E. Czerneda

After a long, successful run in science fiction, Julie E. Czerneda has turned her talents to fantasy as well in recent years including The Gossamer Mage, a story of a land steeped in magic now threatened by an evil force that threatens to consume it. The mage Maleonarial, living as a hermit, is forced to confront his own role in the growing peril and try to stop it, but in this world every use of magic bears a high cost to the vitality and lifespan of the mage. Especially when your ultimate goal is the overthrow of the Goddess herself.

As always, Czerneda’s worldbuilding is creative, rich, and detailed. The language and writing are beautiful. This is a book to sink into, enjoy its textures, and recall with pleasure like a favourite myth.

A Brightness Long Ago  by Guy Gavriel Kay

Over many years and many books, Guy Gavriel Kay has created a literary niche of his own, writing fantasy that could be historical fiction—especially medieval history—except the lands his characters inhabit never existed. They are much like real places and times in Earth history, though, and are evoked so richly that you might find yourself jumping on Google to find them.

In A Brightness Long Ago the realm is Batiara where city states compete, and sometimes war against each other using mercenary armies, especially the two led by bitter enemies Folco d’Acorsi and Teobaldo Monticola. The encounters of these two affect every part of the landscape. A cast of memorable and endearing characters weave their way through a complex plot that hinges on many fateful coincidences but scrupulously avoids predictability. Kay is a master at these kinds of stories, and A Brightness Long Ago doesn’t disappoint. If you’re already a fan of Guy Gavriel Kay, you’ll love it, and if you’ve never read his work before, this is an excellent introduction.

SOCIAL SCIENCE ON THE FINAL FRONTIER

Last week I had the pleasure of attending my first-ever academic conference: “Social Science on the Final Frontier” at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Academic types presented scientific papers about subjects relating to SF, from comparisons of stories involving criminal rehabilitation using time travel, to the ins and outs of Community Economic Development in Space. Conference organizer David Robinson proposed that Science Fiction might be considered a true social science, and also analysed the economics of a space mining colony (it doesn’t add up without cheap and very fast transportation, meaning that such colonies would almost certainly result from political policy rather than business interests). Co-organizer Alain Boulay reminded everyone that we do a disservice to science when we portray scientists as stereotypical fanatics and obsessives—science is done by real people, with hard work and dedication.

I found myself drafted (very willingly) into the role of “chauffeur to the stars”, which meant that I got to spend extra time with old acquaintance Robert J. Sawyer and delightful new friends Julie E. Czerneda and her husband Roger. Rob gave an informative talk about an SF Writer’s View of the Social Sciences and an even more informative workshop on “How To Write Science Fiction”. I’ll give more detail on that workshop in a future post. Julie gave convincing proof that SF is a great tool in the classroom, and offered a very informative 2-part workshop with tips and resources for the subject.

Without disparaging anyone’s papers, my favourite part of the conference was the chance to hang out with Rob and Julie as well as the other writers and SF fans in attendance. Networking like that is the highlight of most conferences and scheduling should always provide lots of opportunities for it.

The conference suffered some hiccups from a) being a first effort, and b) taking place in mid-August, but it was still very worthwhile, and I congratulate and thank the organizers for bringing it to life. I hope it’s just the first of many more to come.