Category: Books

Yzabel / August 24, 2005

The first time I ever read one of his works, I was in junior high and the book was called Martians, Go Home—where little green men out of the imagination of a failed author appear on Earth, driving everyone crazy by their silly attitude. Weird? Yes, weird, like many of Brown’s stories, from the knee-slapping funny ones to the disturbingly somber atmosphere instillated in the others. Weird, but so pleasant to read.At the time, I probably was a little too young to really appreciate this book. Fast-forward to high-school, when I picked one of his collections of short stories. At the very moment I was putting the book down, I realized that I liked this author, and that what I preferred above all were his endings. Each time I finished reading one of his short stories, I had one of these “I should’ve known it’d end like this!” jolts. They’re surprising, somewhat amusing, somewhat bittersweet, somewhat even more than that.It’s not only about science-fiction (he wrote in the mystery genre, too).. It’s about his writing as a whole, about his way of taking everyday people and situations, wondering “what if?…”, and firing off the pen and paper (today we’d probably say “the laptop”) to give them a much unexpected turn. Granted, not all of his works are of even quality, and the fact that he wrote in two different genres (science-fiction and mystery) may make it a little hard to fully dive into either of them, if one is a “categorizing reader”, that is.For whoever wants to search around, there are plenty of websites describing his life and works more in depth. However, I’m going to primary link to a few of his short stories. They’re indeed very short, not necessarily his most known ones, yet they’re already a good way to familiarize oneself with what is to be expected from his other works.authors, books, stories, science-fiction

Yzabel / July 28, 2005

Today, I changed my “Current Read” in the sidebar, to reflect what I’ve indeed been reading since yesterday evening. This made me realize that in the past few weeks, I’ve read quite often about blogs, blogging, how it all started and evolved… Let’s check: I first started with Rebecca Blood’s The Weblog Handbook, back in June (Rebecca writes theblog What’s in Rebecca’s Pocket). Almost immediately after having finished it, I jumped on Biz Stone’s Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content; I had never read Biz’ blog before that, but it didn’t matter. Now, I’m onto his second book. Among my regular reads, I follow several blogs “about blogging”, in order to keep in touch with what happens in this little world, and because I find these interesting (as long as they’re not the only thing I read). Am I obsessed?

I came to the conclusion that it may, all that simply, be my usual tendency to want to go deeper, to the roots of a phenomenon. Yes, blogging has skyrocketed in the past two or three years, compared to what it was in the beginning. Yes, I am myself quite a “newcomer” to this scene, given that I haven’t really blogged before 2004 (except for some “online diary” on AMV.org that doesn’t present much interest for anyone else than myself). Yes, this may explain why I like knowing more, because it teaches me interesting things, how to behave, what not to do, and what gave birth to all of this. In all of this, there’s a real social analysis; bloggers are, after all, social creatures, in a way (how can one write that much if they never communicate with others — and why would they blog in first place?)Obsession? Perhaps. However, I’m learning a lot regarding internet behaviors, and this remains pretty interesting no matter what. I’ll die a little less stupid, I guess.

Yzabel / July 18, 2005

On the verge of finishing Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Summer Tree, here’s a thought that came to me regarding the concept of “people from our world suddenly transported into another, fantasy world”. A theme that is actually dear to my heart, given that my own current writings is done with this theme in the background (well… in a way, at least).The concept itself, of course, isn’t exactly new. Stephen Donaldson has used it in the Mordant’s Need and Thomas Covenant series. In the Amber cycles, Roger Zelazny’s characters travel through a myriad of worlds (and it is interesting to note that prince Corwin, after all, begins his journey on Earth, while believing himself to be a “normal” man).Read More

Yzabel / July 16, 2005

I’ve pondered writing a few book reviews here and there, so here’s one about the latest read I’ve finished. Unsurprisingly for those who know me enough, it’s fantasy, with some predictable aspects, and some that aren’t that common nor especially conform to the “positive” genre.The Bone Doll’s Twin is the first volume of the Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling, and also the first one I’ve read by this author. The legend has it that in order to be secure and prosperous, the kingdom of Skala must be governed by a Queen descendant of Gherilain; however, the throne is now between the hands of a king, who is working slowly toward getting rid of all female pretendants, whatever their degree of parenthood with the deceased queen, while wanting to secure the throne for his own son.Read More

Yzabel / July 7, 2005

It had been a little while that I wanted to write something about this – however, I was waiting until I had laid my hands on it, and above all read it, or at least a few pages, in order to not be completely clueless about the matter. The way it’s been released now in Second Life gives me one more reason to do so.Cory Doctorow’s third novel Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town (yes, the same Cory who writes at Boing Boing) is available since july 1st not only as paperback, but also as a free e-book and as a very nice prims-made book in Second Life. I say “nice”, because I actually picked up a copy there recently, placed it on the first floor of my home/store there, and finds it pretty and well done. Not the easiest thing to read when in such a shape, but nice nonetheless. There’s more to this – Cory Doctorow himself, as reported by Wagner James Au, will be in Second Life on July 24th for an online discussing and signing of his book.More convenient to read, both for SL residents as well as for those who aren’t interested in this virtual world, the free e-book copy is downloadable in PDF, HTML and text formats on Cory’s website. Of course, said book is also available for purchase, in case the paperback version would look more appealing (which it likely does).I’m not very far yet in my reading of said book; however, it has been interesting, to say the least – in a very bizarre kind of way, where the caregiving son of a mountain and a washing-machine tries to spread a free wireless Internet with a group of cyber-anarchists. Yes, this sounds weird; a weird that is quite enjoyable to read.(Tags: book, cory_doctorow, ebook, second_life)