The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer

Since I don’t blog much anymore in a general sense, I’ve decided I should fill some of that gap by posting my reviews of science fiction and fantasy books by other authors. And what better place to start than the latest offering from Canada’s most successful science fiction writer (and one of my favourites) Robert J. Sawyer? I give it Five Stars.

Robert J. Sawyer writes my favourite kind of science fiction: the concepts are thought-provoking, sometimes disturbing, and the themes are rich and important, but the stories are always about the people. Fully-fleshed people, too—equal parts warts, wit, and wisdom. But whether it’s an astronaut with all the “right stuff’ or a convicted murderer, you can relate to each one. And that’s how stories have emotional impact.

The title The Downloaded refers to human consciousnesses that have been ‘uploaded’ into digital storage, and then returned to their original bodies which have been cryogenically frozen. Some of these frozen and revived characters are convicts who’ve been offered a chance to serve their sentences in computer simulations at sped-up time, so they experience a years-long incarceration, but only lose several months of real time before being released back into society. The others are astronauts meant to take a long space journey to colonize the planets of another star. But when disaster strikes the Earth, both groups are downloaded into physical bodies again and have to face a drastically changed world.

Is it intellectually stimulating? Sure! In The Downloaded Sawyer skilfully combines the concepts of cryogenically preserving humans while they await future medical cures or travel to distant stars, uploading consciousness into digital storage, adapting human biology to conditions on other planets, and more. Yet, what keeps us reading isn’t just the ideas, it’s caring about what happens to Captain Letitia Garvey, murderer Roscoe Koudoulian, even robot Penolong.

The Downloaded is different in structure from other Sawyer books, written in a kind of interview format that reflects how it was first published as an audiobook. But all the qualities we’ve come to expect are there, the ones that keep us seeking out Robert J. Sawyer’s books time and time again.

POWERFUL SCIENCE AND SCIENCE FICTION

From time to time I like to offer a look at what other people are writing about science and science fiction. So here are my impressions of a couple of books I urge you to read. They’re completely different, and worthwhile for very different reasons, but both offer lots to think about.

The Power  by Naomi Alderman  (5 stars out of 5)

In The Power young women suddenly begin to discover that they have the power to concentrate electrical energy with a new, or previously dormant, organ in their bodies. They can awaken the power in older women too. They can use it as a plaything, or they can use it as a weapon. But it’s here to stay, and the world—religion, politics, relationships—will never be the same. The main characters Allie, Roxy, Margot, and Tunde (a man) are deeply flawed but relatable and real. There aren’t stereotype black hats and white hats here, though another writer might easily have taken this premise in that direction.

I was afraid this book might be anti-men. It isn't. In fact, it's extremely well-balanced. It depicts a shift in the gender power balance of the world, but doesn't portray the new as a shining improvement over the old. That would have made it a shallow book--instead it has real depth.

This novel could have been just a taut thriller or a clever science fiction tale, but Alderman makes the right decisions to make it much more: a modern classic.

18 Miles: The Epic Drama of Our Atmosphere and Its Weather  by Christopher Dewdney  (4 stars out of 5)

 When I had the pleasure of meeting Christopher, I’d just begun to read this book—I hadn’t read enough to talk meaningfully about it to him. But he’s a poet as well as a non-fiction writer, and a former book editor. You can easily see the evidence of both in this book.

Dewdney covers a lot of territory here, from the outer limits of our atmosphere to the Earth's core, from ancient myth to modern battles whose outcome was influenced by weather. And, of course, the challenges of our current climate change situation, though 18 Miles isn't heavily focused on that. Dewdney’s lifelong fascination with storms is easy to relate to, and his personal experience of Hurricane Katrina makes the details even more compelling. There are scientific explanations of clouds, wind patterns, precipitation and more, but served up in palatable portions, and accompanied by tales like the harrowing story of U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin who bailed out of his crippled fighter jet straight into a colossal thunderstorm.

We Canadians get every kind of weather, and if you'd like to understand where it comes from instead of just complaining about it, this is a great book for you.

A Book Review

You're a writer. You want to sell your work, preferably to a mass market. So the big question is: Do you need to have an agent?

The title of Richard Curtis' book "How To Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published" seems to suggest that the answer is, "No". But by page 11 he is unabashedly making the case for getting an agent, reasoning that (and he has the numbers to back it up), "…an editor will read the most dismal piece of junk faster and maybe even more attentively than he will a good book that comes in on the slush pile." Curtis himself is a literary agent, and has been for over forty years. He's also an author, with more than fifty books to his credit. So what gives?

His purpose in writing this book is really to help authors understand the publishing business and how it works, so as to have a relationship with their agent and their publisher that will be a well-informed one. That can only be a good thing.

With chapters like "Negotiation", "The Basic Deal", "Termination and Reversion of Rights", "Royalty Statements", "Movie and Television Deals" and many more, he walks the reader through the whole process, from seeking an agent to well past publication, and he does it with many contract samples and other excellent illustrative examples. His writing is always accessible, often self-deprecating, and frequently entertaining, so the chore of slogging through this vast legal 'briar patch' isn't as daunting as you would think.

Curtis also recognizes the paradox we authors face, namely that, "You can't get published without an agent, and you can't get an agent until you've been published." He even offers a possible solution, but for that you'll have to get the book -- there's no room to get into it here!

This is not a book you can read and retain. There's just too much information. You'll need to get a copy and keep it as a resource. Parts of it you'll want to re-read with each new work you try to sell. If you can't find it at Chapters or other bookstores, you can order it (new or used) from Amazon.com, and it's not very expensive. The direct link can be found on Curtis' website at http://www.curtisagency.com/about.html .

Personally, I consider this book a 'must-have' for the author who is serious about being published for large markets. It teaches us about the 'dark side' of our beloved work: that it is a business! We don't have to embrace that, but we do have to know enough to get over our squeamishness. This is a book with the right mix of medicine and mirth to make that pill a little less bitter to swallow.

"How To Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published" by Richard Curtis. Published by Houghton Mifflin 2003