Slow Beginning

This book's progression is kind of slow, not Stephen King slow thankfully but still pretty sluggish. I rather liked Matt Cairns' side of the story better since his had some more action to it earlier on, and who doesn't love reading about an outlaw rebelling against a corrupt government? That, and Jadey seems to be hot too LOL. Earlier I mentioned that dinosaurs should not smoke pot because we don't want them to be more hungry, but now I see another problem with that as well. Okay sure, it would be a bit much to expect Cheech and Chong level of comedy there but the pot-smoking aspect of this story doesn't bring any laughs to the table at all, and that's so wrong. I hope things pick up soon, introducing a new antagonist to the story would help. We already have the commies but that's not original, they've always been the bad guys. Also, in regard to Gregor falling in love with Lydia, I must add that he appears to be totally whipped and that's funny, LMAO!

The stories converge

Cosmonaut Keep's two story-lines converge over the course of the last two thirds of the book, concluding with the last chapter of the book remaining in Matt Cairns first person perspective instead of switching to the third person perspective that the far future chapters have always been written in up to that point. The path that the convergence takes is interesting because it covers why the crew of the Bright Star showed up at Mingulay and explains much more about the culture of the saurs. I think that the deeper insight into saur and kraken cultures that the book provides as it gets closer to the end is important for understanding how everything fits together but is also partly to maintain the balance between the near and far future aspects. The book definitely has a much faster pace for the last two thirds but at the same time seems to scramble for things to keep it going. If the author (Ken Macleod) wanted to provide fewer details the book could have easily been 100 or so pages shorter. Another aspect that fewer details would have provided is that the mystery and imagination that is persistent for the first eight chapters would have remained. To put it simply, there is less material that encourages enthusiastic discussion in the last two thirds of the book.

This book made me dream that Denver was invaded by Communists.

I think the most poignant, yet the most subtle thing about Cosmonaut Keep has to be the idea of contrast that Macleod weaves into, well, everything. In Matt's chapters there are multitudes of "x vs. y" all over the place; in one of the previous blog posts someone mentioned Yanks vs. Communists, but there's also old vs. new - specifically pertaining to the geeks (who I loved, but more later). The nature of information is cleverly hidden away in the Microsoft vs. Linux jokes (the boot up screen with Tux was awesome and exactly what I'd want from an author from the UK: cheeky snark) and though this idea starts out light hearted in those chapters, it does evolve gradually and carry over into Gregor's story in a very important way. 

The problems that are posed by the lapsing of time during space travel or what have you are present in equally subtle ways; Elizabeth's hunt for a dress and inner reflection about the history presented by the available options was a wonderful way to illustrate the ways that the future culture has both fallen behind and advanced, equally. 

Also, Macleod's take on how information and technology are going to change culture, in the nearer future portions of the book, is well done and believable. So much of the literature commonly accepted to be the great stuff is grounded on information or idea revolutions and given that science fiction as a genre, typically at least, is based on grand interpretations of what those shake-ups will involve, it is surprising that more science fiction works are not viewed with a bit more respect. Macleod crafts his version(s) of what is in store for us as a race rather well. 

Ending could have been better

Compaired to the first 100 and more pages, the book didn't turn out half bad, infact it did get better the deeper I got into the book, unfortantly the ending could have been alot better, and I wouldn't have minded to read 100 more pages for it to make more sense. The ending just happened and that was it, it was kind of like the Golden Compass movie...it just stopped. Which is the dumbest thing since sliced bread that people can actually get away with a half ass ending.
at the same time, I know there are more books, but I am not planning on reading them, and I think it is really retarded to read one book from a series and not read the rest.
But it is all good, I can just forget I ever read the book once we start a new one.

The End,

Well, I have to say I enjoyed the rest of this book, it was able to draw me into it to wonder what was going on with every single one of the characters, after I figured out that Gregor and Matt were distant relatives it was also much more enjoyable.

I actually found myself rooting for Gregor and Elizabeth, which is not something I usually do, since the romance is sort of secondary to me usually; this time I was able to follow it. One thing I still don't really get is how the Krakens piloted the spaceships? Would anyone care to explain? I mean the picture on the cover seems sort of interesting but that was a bit confusing for me.

The whole political issue was true to life in my opinion, the Commies vs. Yanks is a sad but true reality even in that future. I also liked the quiet tension that build up while Salasso was in trouble; it was almost too civilized for saurs, I almost expected to see some fighting, but it would have gone against their own quiet nature, even so I appreciated that the author also had them insulting humans, they're not perfect after all.

I would actually like to know more of what happened in Matt's life and it would have been nice to see how they actually managed to survive after the jump; regardless, I enjoyed the book better than the first hundred pages, I am not sure what that translates to, if it's "hey the beginning sucked but the end was decent" or something along those lines, I think the first third was bad but the other two-thirds made up for it.

And those are my opinions, it's not Ender's Game or The Foundation, but it was new and I like reading new things :D.

Let's Define Terms!!

Steve has made an excellent point - not all of us are wholly familiar with some of the terms that we have used in class (ie: space opera, cyber punk) so let's see if we can make a group effort to define some of those terms. Please comment with further definitions, and what said definitions mean to you, especially if your view differs from the wikipedia definition.

Wikipedia defines "space opera" as: "a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale."

Wikipedia defines "cyber punk" as: "a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is derived from cybernetics and punk and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983, although the style was popularized well before its publication by editor Gardner Dozois. It features advanced science, such as informational technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order."

Cosmonaut's Keep OR "At Least It's Not an Anne Rice Inspired Vampire Love Story."

I know that what I'm about to say I say entirely from personal prejudices and, essentially, for no good reason. But I really hate romance stories woven into sci-fi. It feels so damned nerdy. Even in Hyperion, the first scifi I read with an arguably fleshed out romantic story (several romances actually [with surprise sex scenes and turgid members ambushing you at the flanks. I thought I was reading scifi! Surprise! It's really a story about swollen and throbbing orifices and accessories!]), but even then I kind of had to look away and prepare myself to shut and hide the book at a moment's notice if someone were to walk in the room, so that I wouldn't have to explain to them what I was really doing. I mean, I doubt I'm the only person that can't not help but think of Kirk and Moon Babe 5 whenever the topic of romance pops up in scifi.

Unless of course the story is built around love, such as the Fountain, where the entire thing would not happen if it weren't for love. And I don't get that feeling with Cosmonaut's Keep. Maybe it really is, and I'll find out that she has the missing half of the golden amulet (not really in the story), or that she's secretly a robot squid sent to deliver Ultimate Illumination to all the poor slovenly human folk. But I don't really get that feeling.

So, that's not really all of the book. In fact, it's split in twain, as it were. One half in the year 2050ish (estimating to the nearest ish) where some slick, and no doubt sexy, hacker types are up their asses in uncovering a government cover up involving aliens and the such. There's a kind of love story here. It makes me feel less embarrassed to read, mostly because it doesn't have some (maybe?) hard and grizzled sailor (kind of?) guy gently caressing the small of a girl's back, and then the narration waxing poetically about the duality of feeling safe on a cliff's edge ad nausea. But the hacker one is pretty interesting. And I always feel happy when I get to read a chapter of it.

Then there's the whole Mingulay thing. Fuck (I'm ensuring I earn this R rating) if I know what's happening there. I think I could only as of page 100, and because of page 100 exclusively, give you a coherent idea of what's happening: this guy and his grandpa (I think. Might be an uncle) are SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! charting a course from their planet to... some... other... place (end spoiler? I guess.)? Using maybe like, a kind of old spaceship that's just been, you know, hanging out. I don't really know. At first I thought the main character was James in this story, and his wife Margaret, mainly because the book opened with them. And then there's something about krakens and clinging tenaciously to their cephalopodal bosoms like barnacles as a substitute for space travel. And then there's pot smoking dinosaurs. The pot thing is all the rage and oh so funny, but I think it's pretty dumb. Sure, you could argue that the pot makes them self reflective, and that's one of their favorite states, but it still seems like there's really no good reason to include pot specifically. It mostly just seems the author thought he would be clever and risqué by including it in his book. He might as well of had them smoke babies.

To get back on track, all of a sudden, fuck off James! Don't give two pisses about you! Now it's all about your grandson Gregor and his consuming drive to... meander. And hit on chicks at parties. Well, mostly just one.

So, I understand that as an author you don't want to tip your hand all at once. You don't want to open up the big with a big lengthy monologue that explains all of why everything is, because then there's nothing left for the big reveal, when I as the reader go, “oh, I get it! It was the nanny!” and the big reveal is really important. But at the same time, going out of your way to not mention stuff is pretty lame, and hella confusing. Also, love story = dumb. But thankfully there has been nothing turgid. Yet.

I also imagine that as this guy (Macleod) starts to actually flesh out the things he's been vaguely not telling us, I'll like the far future stuff as much as the cyber hacker stuff. But until then, this guy's on some thin ice.

Sincerely,
Cuyler