Well, let's see. I'd better get this done now as Clyde and I are going to the vets later to see how his dental work came out and if the cream has cleaned up his feet. He's going to be thrilled. Not!
I finished a book this morning and have started a new one. I'll also continue with my look at the Sci-Fi novel.
Just Finished
"C.S. Forester is my focus author for March. I have enjoyed his Horatio Hornblower series very much and also many of his standalone novels. I want to concentrate on a few of his standalones, that I've not read, this month. Death to the French, originally published in 1933, is the first of these.
The novel is set during the Napoleonic wars, as is his Hornblower stories, in a setting very popular with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. The story is set in Portugal and we find Rifleman Matthew Dodd separated from his separated from his infantry regiment behind French lines. He must now fend for himself, trying to disrupt French activities and also try to get back to his regiment, which is hiding in the mountains with the rest of the English army.
Dodd will find allies in Portuguese citizens who are basically trying to survive the French atrocities; neither the French nor the Portuguese have food as the English have followed a bare earth policy to make the French suffer.
The story also follows a French Sgt. Godinot, in charge of a small group of recruits who have been sent to the front. Godinot must deal with Dodd's activities that slowly whittle down his men. In many ways it's a terrifying story. Death and starvation are the norm. The French are merciless and the Portuguese respond in kind.
It is a fascinating look at the history of this war, even in its small sampling of the people involved. Dodd is a reliable, imaginative soldier and uses his wits to survive and disrupt the French activities. At the same time the story is a grim reminder of the destructive capabilities of war, especially to the civilians who suffer the most. And I don't think it matters what war in what century, war is vicious. Still an excellent read and well - written and described by Forester. (3 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Described as a 'riveting read' by Sarah Waters and acclaimed by crime writers such as Andrew Taylor, The Pursued is a dark, gripping 1930s psychological thriller by C. S. Forester, the author of Hornblower.
The story begins when Marjorie, a young woman, arrives home one summer evening and finds her sister, dead, with her head in the oven. She looks peaceful, as if she is asleep. Their mother suspects, however, that Dot's death was far from natural - and that she knows who the killer is. So, slowly and meticulously, she plots her terrible revenge.
C. S. Forester's 1935 thriller The Pursued, lost for decades, rewrote the traditions of crime fiction to create a dark, twisted portrayal of obsession and retribution."
The Science Fiction Novel - China Mieville
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| China Mieville |
All of his works describe fantastical or supernatural worlds or scenarios. He has described many authors as influences for his writing, among them such authors as Michael de Larrabeiti (Borribles books), J.G. Ballard (these are literary heroes) and others such as Ursula K. Leguin and Gene Wolfe as influences.
His first published novel was King Rat (1998), which I have but have not yet read. I have so far read one of his stories, the first book in the Bas-Lag series, Perdido Street Station (2000), which I thought was fantastic. I have a few of his books now on my shelf and will highlight those for you.
"In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak.
Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.
When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her."
"Wow! My first exposure to China Miévielle's writing and I'm so very impressed. Call it a combination science fiction/ fantasy. China has created such a unique world in New Crobuzon and wonderfully described and written characters and species.
New Crobuzon is a city that is built beneath the ribs of some ancient creature. It is filled with humans, other species and also remade creatures (a form of punishment) and also mechanical creatures. It's basically a dictatorship masked as a democracy. Crime is rife, the city is a maze of districts and it's all so interesting.
The story is a slow - burn at first; rebel scientist Isaac is asked by a garuda (a flying creature) to help him get his wings back, as they had been removed as a punishment. Isaac's girlfriend, a khedri (an insectoid - type creature) is an artist who has been commissioned by the city's biggest criminal, to do a statue of him/ her (he is a remade to the extreme). Isaac, while exploring theories of flight, has a petty thief, find him specimens of as many flying creatures as he can, including eggs, so he can explore flight and see how he can help the Garuda. Unfortunately, one of the eggs contains a slake moth (one of the most horrific fictional beasts you will ever read about, I think) and when it hatches, it escapes and sets in motion the rest of the story.
For the City governors have had 4 other adult slake moths as prisoners. When they all escape, the whole city is in danger. This leads to the 2nd half of the story, a fascinating chase by Isaac, Derkhan, another friend and my favourite character and the Garuda to try and stop the Slake Moths. I hope I haven't told too much of the story; just suffice to say it's fascinating and worth the read. 5 stars (I've since ordered the next book about the New Crobuzon world, Scar (although it's supposedly not necessarily a sequel). I can't wait!!"
"The second Bas-Lag novel form the author of Perdido Street Station, an epic and breathtaking fantasy of extraordinary imagination.
A human cargo bound for servitude in exile.
A pirate city hauled across the ocean.
A hidden miracle about be revealed.
This is the story of a prisoner's journey. The search for the island of a forgotten people, for the most astonishing beast in the seas, and ultimately for a fabled place - a massive wound in reality, a source of unthinkable power and danger...
The Scar."
"Something is stirring in London's dark, stamping out its territory in brickdust and blood. Something has murdered Saul Garamond's father, and left Saul to pay for the crime.
But a shadow from the urban waste breaks into Saul's prison cell and leads him to freedom. A shadow called King Rat, who reveals Saul's royal heritage, a heritage that opens a new world to Saul, the world below London's streets--a heritage that also drags Saul into King Rat's plan for revenge against his ancient enemy,. With drum 'n' bass pounding the backstreets, Saul must confront the forces that would use him, the forces that would destroy him, and the forces that shape his own bizarre identity"
"What is Un Lun Dun?
It is London through the looking glass, an urban Wonderland of strange delights where all the lost and broken things of London end up . . . and some of its lost and broken people, too–including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas; Obaday Fing, a tailor whose head is an enormous pin-cushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle. Un Lun Dun is a place where words are alive, a jungle lurks behind the door of an ordinary house, carnivorous giraffes stalk the streets, and a dark cloud dreams of burning the world. It is a city awaiting its hero, whose coming was prophesied long ago, set down for all time in the pages of a talking book.
When twelve-year-old Zanna and her friend Deeba find a secret entrance leading out of London and into this strange city, it seems that the ancient prophecy is coming true at last. But then things begin to go shockingly wrong."
I hope these books are as good as my first exposure to his writing. His complete works can be found at this link.
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