Author: 5t4n5

With a Golden Risha — P. Djèlí Clark

By 5t4n5

With a Golden Risha -- P. Djèlí ClarkAvailable in the periodical, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly — Issue 23.

To begin, a risha is to an Arabian oud as a plectrum is to a guitar.   If you want to know more you can read all about ouds and rishas by clicking here.

So, with that out of the way, let’s get to a review.

Great book.   This is early Djèlí introducing steampunk elements into his fantasy.   Our story begins with our oud player, Saleh, getting rescued by a philosopher pirate (captain who’s not a captain), Usman, and the rest of the crew of the airship The Beggar.   Then we’re off on a 537-kindle-loc-point adventure to find treasure, amongst which is a magical golden risha with which Saleh gets to play his oud.

I really enjoyed this book and hopefully, one fine day in the future, Djèlí might even sit down and write some more stories with Saleh and Usman.   There’s got to be some great stories to be told about a philosopher pirate captain and his side-kick minstrel oud player.

And so, next up in my Djèlí reading list will be The Things My Mother Left Me

P. Djèlí Clark’s Page

#fantasy #steampunk #pdjeliclark

Angels of Ashes — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Angels of Ashes -- Alastair ReynoldsYou’ll find this in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

It’s one of those sci-fi stories that goes on about quantum babble and how there’s a universe for every possible outcome of every possible situation.   To be honest, i think this theory is no different than the theory of god, both total nonsense made up by people who really don’t understand Nature and how it works.

Then Alastair has our protagonists in this book starting a war over whether god is right or quantum babble is right — which is just silly when all intelligent people already know that they’re both utter nonsense, which i hope is the point that Alastair is making in this story?   Although, thinking about it, he has wrote some other really bizarre stuff that makes no sense in other books, like the sheep in Inhibitor Phase; so maybe Alastair really is a die-hard quantum babble-ist and thinks that quantum babble-ists everywhere should rise up and start a war against the god grovellers?   Who knows the true thoughts of fiction writers?

But, whatever, have a read, it’s a fairly good story.

Coming next in the Alastair Reynolds reading list, from the year 2000, will be Merlin’s Gun.

Bye for now.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

What the Sea Wants — P. Djèlí Clark

By 5t4n5

What the Sea Wants -- P. Djèlí ClarkAvailable in Daily Science Fiction – Oct 2012.

This one fits in my Mermaids, Selkies, Sirens and Other Mythical Sea Folk collection.

Although it’s a very short short-story, it’s still a good modern fairy tale about one of those “Other Mythical Sea Folk”.

Beware the sea!

Next up in my Djèlí reading list is With a Golden Risha.

P. Djèlí Clark’s Page

#fantasy #pdjeliclark

Viper — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Viper -- Alastair ReynoldsYou’ll find this in the collection, Deep Navigation.

Super good idea on how we might test future prisoners as to whether or not they’re suitable for parole.

Although we have to be sure that those doing the testing can’t be allowed to fiddle with the test — don’t we?

Enjoyable.

Next in the timeline from Alastair, it’s Angels of Ashes, from 1999.

Bye for now.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Context — Cory Doctorow

By 5t4n5

Context -- Cory DoctorowDownload for free/donation over at Craphound.

Jack and the Interstalk: Why the Computer Is Not a Scary Monster
Teen Sex
Nature’s Daredevils: Writing for Young Audiences
Beyond Censorware: Teaching Web Literacy
Writing in the Age of Distraction
Extreme Geek
How to Stop Your Inbox Exploding
What I Do
When I’m Dead, How Will My Loved Ones Break My Password?
Radical Presentism
A Cosmopolitan Literature for the Cosmopolitan Web
When Love Is Harder to Show Than Hate
Think Like a Dandelion
Digital Licensing: Do It Yourself
New York, Meet Silicon Valley
With a Little Help: The Price Is Right
You Shouldn’t Have to Sell Your Soul Just to Download Some Music
Net Neutrality for Writers: It’s All About the Leverage
Proprietary Interest
“Intellectual Property” Is a Silly Euphemism
Saying Information Wants to Be Free Does More Harm Than Good
Chris Anderson’s Free Adds Much to The Long Tail, but Falls Short
Why Economics Condemns 3D to Be No More Than a Blockbuster Gimmick
Not Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining
Why I Won’t Buy an iPad (and Think You Shouldn’t, Either)
Can You Survive a Benevolent Dictatorship?
Curated Computing Is No Substitute for the Personal and Handmade
Doctorow’s First Law
Reports of Blogging’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Streaming Will Never Stop Downloading
Search Is Too Important to Leave to One Company–Even Google
Copyright Enforcers Should Learn Lessons from the War on Spam
Warning to All Copyright Enforcers: Three Strikes and You’re Out
For Whom the Net Tolls
How Do You Know If Copyright Is Working?
News Corp Kremlinology: What Do the Times Paywall Numbers Mean?
Persistence Pays Parasites
Like Teenagers, Computers Are Built to Hook Up
Promoting Statistical Literacy: A Modest Proposal
Personal Data Is as Hot as Nuclear Waste
Memento Mori
Love the Machine, Hate the Factory
Untouched by Human Hands
Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll

Cory’s Page

#corydoctorow

You Can’t Own Knowledge — Cory Doctorow

By 5t4n5

You Can't Own Knowledge -- Cory DoctorowYou can read for free at FREESOULS.

If the block caps bothers you, you can copy and paste the text into a word program, select all, set font, set size font, and it’ll come out normal for you to read.   I have no idea why someone would block cap their whole website apart from a few letters and make it so impossible to read.   I suppose it’s someone without any sense thinking they’re being really arty and avant-garde or something — well you ain’t, you’re just being a twat.

Cory’s Page

#corydoctorow

Fantasy Pick — P. Djèlí Clark

By 5t4n5

Fantasy Pick -- P. Djèlí ClarkAvailable in Every Day Fiction – Aug 2012.

A good, little, short story which wasn’t the kind of “fantasy pick” i was expecting from Djèlí.

The “fantasy pick” of the title is about sport stars, the GOATs, those greats that we love to stand upon pedestals to cheer and worship, what we expect of them and at what cost.   It also raises some questions as to modern medicine and at what point that will be considered performance enhancing and how far the fans are willing to put up with this.   Will the fans even care about the player’s overall welfare and what it ultimately costs them as long as they are getting entertained?

At least that’s what i got out of it.   Good stuff.

Next in my P. Djèlí Clark reading adventure will be What the Sea Wants.

P. Djèlí Clark’s Page

#fantasy #pdjeliclark