CV Rick's Reviews

Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction by Brian W Aldiss with David Wingrove

As a fan of the genre and as a writer working to break through into its ranks I was looking forward to this volume for the history it contained.  The study of the people and landmark works I thought would help me fill large gaps in my knowledge.  In this I was not disappointed.  Brian Aldiss's knowledge is extensive, his research remarkable and the way he brought the giants in the field to life was nothing short of brilliant. 

It started with the acknowledged core beginning of the genre – Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  The back story and literary criticism of that work shows Aldiss at his best. He also cruises gracefully through such giants as Kafka, Verne, Burroughs, and Wells, bringing their stories to the fore as importantly as their works.

If only the rest of the book had been so richly rewarding.  Once he arrived at the Hugo Gernsback era Aldiss digresses into opinion and subjective accusations.  He presents his view of what was and was not important as fact and in that he diluted the craft he'd so carefully put together.  This habit extended throughout the past century becoming more annoying the closer to the present he delved.  I do wish he'd have realized that peppering his chronicle with ugly dismissals rendered the entire volume less educational and more petty in feeling and value.  I was deeply disappointed – not because I disagreed with him, but because I can make up my own mind about the writers and their works. 

I learned a lot and respect the authors less. 

- CV Rick, May 2008

A Story Doesn't Have to Change the World

I picked up this volume of stories because I'd heard that W Somerset Maugham was the true master of the short story form.  I've read a lot of contemporary writers so I wanted to compare.  I learned a lot from these stories. 

The first thing I learned was subtlety.  These stories weren't filled with action sequences or grand plots, but instead they were filled with intent and slow moving determination.  He lets the story unfold in the actions of his characters and reveals their mind through words, action and narrative.  At first I have to admit that I thought these stories boring and without purpose but then I reread the first stories and realized that every word had purpose and that purpose was the action – the beautiful subtle flowing action of the stories told so well that they seemed effortless and haunting at the same time.  Then I was not bored.

The second thing I learned was theme.  I don't know if Maugham consciously wrote to a theme or whether it developed organically, but however he did it the theme permeated each story with symbolism in elegance.  There was this one story about an island's regent and his assistant.  They didn't get along and eventually that tension built into ill intent, but the scenes were decorated with contrasting imagery – chaos interrupting serenity, just like the main characters.  It works so well to put the reader in the mood for what's to come.  It's kind of magical when you realize that it's working and it's intentional, manipulative even.

The third thing I learned is that a story doesn't have to change the world or reveal great secrets, but that changing a single person in one significant way is enough.  It's enough and sometimes more than just enough for a story – sometimes it's perfect.

- CV Rick, May 2008

A Character Study, Not a Novel.

For the past five years I've finished every book I've started. Even books I don't like I finish because I want to know what makes a book succeed and what makes a book fail.  For me it's a study in the craft and I seek out what other people enjoy, what they see in the literature they read.  This book, Saturday by Ian McEwan, broke that streak.  I couldn't finish it.  I couldn't push myself through to the end. 

It's a novel that tries too hard to wrap itself in the trappings of theme and symbolism that it forgot one important element – plot. Every moment of Henry Perowne's day is described in painful detail. Every decision, every point of a squash game, every item on the shopping list.  Grueling – that's the word that I'd use to describe it. 

Sometimes I've heard people say that their favorite author could write a shopping list that'd be interesting.  It's just a saying people, it isn't true.  In fact there's a lot of stuff that people write for their own notes that the public ought not be subjected to . . . like character study notes.  Maybe Henry Perowne should've been an interesting character in a book with a plot.  Maybe he'd have been sympathetic in such a vehicle. 

This was not that vehicle.  This isn't even a novel.  It's just a long drawn-out, boring, tedious vignette.  Characterization notes. Nothing more. 

- CV Rick, May 2008