David Brin has been turning out award-winning books since Startide Rising in 1983. Yet there is still something youthful and fresh about his latest novel, Kiln People. When most sf writers let their future speculations fall into either cyberpunk or galactic exploration standards, he found a completely new idea for a technology that could transform human society. In Kiln People, ordinary citizens can make short term copies of themselves, send them on errands for a day, and then choose whether or not to collect the memories when the copies' animating force expires. The result: society-wide transformation, based on a technology no one else had even imagined coming.

Kiln People's protagonist gives us a tour of some of the fascinating results of this technology as he pursues a mystery. Soon, his original self is at risk, as copy after copy disappears. It's a great story, featuring page-turning suspense, competent and likable characters, and highly original speculation. What more could you ask?

The most celebrated of Brin's novels fall into the Uplift sequence: Sundiver, Startide Rising, The Uplift War, Brightness Reef, Heaven's Shore, and Infinity's Reach -- two trilogies, in that order. Uplift is the process of bringing a species to civilized intelligence. Nearly intelligent species are the five galaxies' most precious resource. A species uplifted by another has a duty to their uplifter, called their patron. Humans, on leaving our planetary system, find themselves in a byzantine, five galaxies-wide civilization, where lines of patronage create alliances and rivalries, and our lack of a patron inflames the more belligerent faction against us. Galactic extremists would like us annihilated before our independence gives their client races ideas. Fortunately, as we have already uplifted chimps and dolphins, the moderates think we show worthwhile promise. Unfortunately, the extremists seem to be better armed...

The novels each focus on a few characters within this wider conflict. Brin's characters are largely optimistic and competent. The dolphins are particularly enjoyable -- bringing their singing and playfulness along as they use their enhanced speaking and manipulating abilities to work beside human. And their three-dimensional navigation abilities are very helpful as they pilot starships from water-filled rooms with careful air/water lock passages to the human quarters.

So, David Brin gives us a galaxy where some are for us, some are against us, and some may even be our friends. He offers the tantalizing possibility that we could enjoy and profit from meeting alien diversity. And the tales are great, adventurous fun.

His other books include Earth, a big near-future novel, Glory Season, a look at relations between the sexes under changed political forms, The Practice Effect, an alternate universe story where inanimate tools improve as they are used, and The Postman, a post-apocalyptic novel that was made into a not very faithful movie. I enjoyed them all.

Where to start? The Postman, Kiln People, and Startide Rising all make accessible entry points.

Behind all his novels is a belief that we can create a better future -- currently being discussed at length in his blog. This fascinating, wide-ranging discussion is further proving Brin to be one of our most important futurists. He's not willing to stop at cataloging our problems. He takes a good look at them, and still finds ways to tread the complexities of modern life on a line leading to ever better futures. I highly recommend this discussion as well.

 
Onward!

Since I began this overview of my favorite writers, they've all put out more books! Imagine! Complete novels finished while I stagnated on the review!

The purpose of this overview is to set a ground line for what I like. That way, you, my prospective reader, can easily judge if our tastes will coincide. The previous post serves that purpose. It was accurate as of its publication date.

So, let's look at Neil Gaiman, Neil Stephenson, and David Brin.

All of them have a strong profile in the online world. Neil Gaiman maintains a prolific blog at neilgaiman.com. This warm and wise conversation with his fans covers a wide range of topics. Frequently humourous, consistently generous, and read by over one hundred thousand at last count, the journal itself is an ongoing work of public art.

The books are good, too. And amazingly varied. Gaiman likes to try something different every time he starts a major project. His first surge of fame came from the Sandman comics -- an epic in 75 issues, covering, as a novel should, the most important life crisis of its main character, Dream. As Dream is far more than human -- having existed for aeons as the personification and controller of the collective dreams of many sentient beings -- his story is wide as well as deep. Many other stories fall within the series, as we learn who he is, and why he came to this crisis. There are stories of dreams and of dreamers, sibling rivalries and stories about stories, all adding up to a gorgeous whole, complex as a tapestry and structured as a cathedral. The writing is good on all levels -- as close observation of action and events, as compelling plot, as reflection on other pieces of writing, as implied philosophy.

The series is collected in graphic novels, which can be read in any sequence. My favorite is The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives. The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House may make the best introduction.

Neil Gaiman has also written movie scripts, including A Short Film about John Bolton, the translation of Princess Mononoke, and the upcoming Mirror Mask. His novels include the eerie Neverwhere, developed from his script for a British miniseries, Coraline, which is fast rising into the ranks of children's classics, and the best-selling American Gods.

At his best, Gaiman is a collaborative genius -- possibly no other writer brings as much excellence and as much freedom to their cocreators. There's a delicious paradox in his ability to create a fresh, closely observed world and yet not dictate minutiae to his illustrators and coauthors. It seems to move almost beyond writing skill to virtue.

So far, I have not found any of his solo writings quite as profoundly excellent as the collaborations. They are merely very good. In Neverwhere, and to some degree in American Gods, I felt as though there was a certain space left for someone to come along and fill in more details. I am not quite a creative enough reader to abundantly color the narrative. It remains a little spare. And so, in American Gods, after crossing the continent, meeting archetypes, testing to extreme and resolving a war on a road trip with the main character, I still felt there should have been something more. Also, the war itself is a little anticlimactic -- it means something different than at first I expected it would. I like that, thematically. Structurally, it may contribute to the book feeling a little unfinished.

So American Gods -- Gaiman's largest solo effort to date -- is a very good book, an epic and archetypal tale -- while Sandman is a watershed, a towering landmark in its form, and forever changed the expectations and widened the boundaries of what a graphic novel can do.

And very possibly, Neil Gaiman's journal also is cutting a new channel in literary forms.

OMG, look at the time! I shall continue with David Brin and Neal Stephenson at my very earliest convenience. Onward!

You are all stars.

 
Recently, a writer friend asked me who was my favorite author. Yikes! After a few moments stuttering, I managed to gasp out this list of authors whose books I read as soon as they come out:
Terry Pratchett
Laurell K. Hamilton
Lois McMaster Bujold
David Brin
and I think there was one more, whose name escapes me at the moment. Which points out the difficulty of the question.

Ah, yes. It was Neal Stephenson. Jotted down between Bujold and Brin.

[In another category, we have Neil Gaiman -- who I read _before_ his books come out, since I follow his web journal.]

There is no doubt these are excellent authors. At first glance, they don't have too much in common.

Terry Pratchett created Discworld, a flat planet of magic that reflects our own in wise and hilarious ways. With twenty-seven novels, plus maps, a cookbook, an illustrated book, plays and videos, Discworld is a bestselling multimedia phenomenon. It has none of the shallowness sometimes imputed to popular works. I laugh, and I think, and I look forward eagerly to the next one. Good places to start include Wyrd Sisters, Reaper Man and Guards! Guards!.

Terry Pratchett is perfectly acceptable for young adult readers, and he has written some for younger audiences -- Diggers from around 4th grade, Only You Can Save Mankind from around 6th grade. Laurell K. Hamilton, on the other hand, colors her books with death and sex. Her strong female leads live in worlds where vampires and werewolves or the sidhe coexist and cohabit with homo sapiens. The gore and the bed arrangements both work to press back previous limits in every book. This is strong adult material, visceral and anchored in riveting characters. The Anita Blake series begins with Guilty Pleasures and contains eleven books so far. There are two Merry Gentry books so far, A Kiss of Shadows and A Caress of Twilight. Most of the books fall into a mystery format, with relationship and political complications. These are page-turners, and Anita and Merry are people I want to know more about.

Lois McMaster Bujold's novels mostly fall into the Vorkosigan Saga. After two novels focusing on Cordelia, an astonishingly competent space captain caught in first an interstellar war, then a civil war, the following books trace the career of her son, Miles. Miles starts with unlimited ambition, a military education, and physical disabilities on a planet where those disabilities bring strong social stigma. Book by book, he builds first a career and then a life out of these materials. The earlier books are captivating adventures. Mirror Dance turns darker and more thoughtful. In Memory, he must reconsider his values. Komarr catches him in a mystery that turns nastily political. A Civil Campaign is a humorous romance with homages to Jane Austen.

In the interests of actually getting this on the web, I'm going to stop here and continue another day. After something of a lapse, I find myself voracious for fiction again. With luck, I'll post weekly here for the next few months.

 
Origami to Astonish and Amuse, by Jeremy Shafer

I own around three dozen origami books -- modest by comparison with some enthusiasts. I sometimes forget which book a model is in.

That is unlikely to happen with this one. The projects in Origami to Astonish and Amuse are united, not by subject matter or difficulty level, but by a creative and wacky point of view.

If you are already a fan of Jeremy Shafer, perhaps from the Bay Area Rapid Folders newsletter, his live unicycle, juggling and flaming origami performances, or his website, you know what I mean. If not, the website is a good place to see if the style suits you, and offers a preview of the book.

But, you say, you want the Paradox World lowdown? This is an outstanding origami book. Diagrams are clear, attractive, and well annotated. The choice of models offers a little of every difficulty level, and treats experienced folders to models new not only in execution, but in subject matter. Consider the Unfortunate Suitor, a flattened man on the sole of a high heeled shoe. Or a variety of Flashers, models collapsed along labyrinthine lines, and spinning open to reveal the center when pulled on.

Another unusual and inspiring feature is the boxed "Thoughts behind the folds" comments near many of the models. These notes tell a little about the genesis of the models, and frequently include challenges to use the technique to create other models of your own.

With plenty of diagrams, many of them challenging, Origami to Astonish and Amuse provides plenty of bang for the buck.

My only qualification is that this might offer too steep a learning curve as your first origami book. Working through a more traditional book or one designed for beginners first may reduce frustration. Dozens of the hundreds of origami books out there cover more or less the same territory. This one makes its own territory, and I appreciate this book's addition of humor-filled and challenging country to the origami continent.

 
A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket. Book 1, The Bad Beginning.

You are reading the Lemony Snicket books, aren't you?

Good. Read them to someone else.

 
Almost Famous, a film written and directed by Cameron Crowe.

Almost Famous is like being in love. It's like the moment when your whole body flows into a song and you become part of the great current of rock and roll. It's every time you felt part of something greater, and it danced you.

It's also about a very particular place and time. Crowe labored to fill in the right details -- so we see albums and miniskirts and curtains from 1973. Almost Famous knows the words and the music.

And, it's about finding your right place in the world, and love sliding on glances from eye to eye, and how very flawed an artist can be and still produce something sublime.

I'm sorry I missed it in the theater. I devoured all the dvd extras the first time I rented it -- even reading the articles on my low resolution tv screen -- and I was as transported this evening on the second viewing. Feeling music like a river of electricity replacing my bones -- feeling young and devoted -- better than satisfied, I felt renewed. And Almost Famous rings of truth, too -- not the empty calories of feel-good formulas, but the living infusion of another's vision.

And one more thing -- let me get in print what I've been saying for some time -- Jason Lee will be a star.

 
Testing

 
Proof, by Dick Francis

I have read all the Dick Francis novels -- he never delivers less than a good read. Proof is one of my favorites. It has an involving story, plenty of action, and a wounded hero who heals. Interesting details about the wine, liquor and catering business add to the usual horse racing milieu. The prose and structure here are among his most graceful, with parallel examples of the appearance and reality of courage. Proof makes great action story summer reading.

As a sidenote -- Dick Francis's strongest books came mostly in the eighties. Proof came out in 1985. I wonder if mysteries set around horse racing accorded better with that materialistic decade than with our own less certain time. My other favorites among his books include Straight, Hot Money, Break In, Come to Grief, Wild Horses and To the Hilt -- the last two are more contemplative and less active than the earlier books. His Odds Against and Whip Hand, I believe, were adapted as British miniseries.