BooksOfTheMoon

Warm Worlds and Otherwise

By James Tiptree Jr.

Rating: 4 stars

This is a collection of short stories by an author that Robert Silverberg in the introduction couldn’t believe was female, claiming that there was “something ineluctably masculine about Tiptreeā€™s writing”. It’s easy to mock with hindsight, but although James Tiptree Jr is the pen name of Alice Sheldon and there was a degree of feminist tones to some stories here, most notably in The Women Men Don’t See, I see little to suggest gender in these stories.

Of the collection, a few didn’t do anything for me at all. The comic story All the Kinds of Yes about an alien who comes to Earth and ends up with a group of hippies was mildly amusing but no more. Amberjack just confused me and On the Last Afternoon was awfully bleak. But in here, we’ve got the aforementioned The Women Men Don’t See, the wonderful Hugo-winning The Girl Who Was Plugged In, about a girl who ends up “driving” a beautiful meat-puppet into the world of the rich and famous. Love is the Plan the Plan is Death is a great piece of writing that gets us inside the heads of an alien and Fault is a nice little story about a man forced to experience time at a different rate to the rest of us.

There were definitely more hits than misses here and I’ll definitely look out for more Tiptree.

Book details

ISBN: 9780345243805
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year of publication: 1975

N or M?

By Agatha Christie

Rating: 4 stars

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford are having a hard time sitting out the Second World War, as they aren’t wanted. But into their gloom comes an opportunity to hunt out enemies from within. An agent has been murdered while on the track of two German master spies, known only by the code names ‘N’ and ‘M’. Tommy and Tuppence are sent off to the least likely of spots, a guest house in a sleepy town on the English south coast to try and root out the fifth columnists.

This was a pretty gripping story made even more interesting for me knowing that it was written just when it was set. At that point, Britain was in the nadir of its war, everything really did look bleak, so this was part propaganda and part encouragement to keep a stiff upper lip. That it has these agendas and still manages to be a great read is testament to Christie’s skill as a writer.

Book details

ISBN: 9780006163015
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year of publication: 1941

Lucifer, Vol. 10: Morningstar

By Mike Carey

Rating: 5 stars

This is the volume where Lucifer’s story reaches its climax. Lilith leads her children in a bitter war against Heaven which, without God, can no longer stand against them. Lucifer finds himself fighting at the gate of the Silver City once again, this time on the side of the Angels. Noema, the daughter of the Basanos’ is born and immediately comes into conflict with Lucifer before taking him and Elaine to see the new state of affairs in Hell and possibly to get Rudd’s help in the war.

There’s also a comic interlude in the middle with Gaudium and Spera, the fallen Cherubim. This shouldn’t work in the middle of such a big story, but it really does. It both breaks and holds the tension, letting you wind down a bit between large-scale stories. From his early appearance as (not very good) guardian to Elaine, I’ve really enjoyed wise-cracking Gaudium and his smarter sister.

This is a suitably epic conclusion for such a large-scale story, and the art doesn’t let it down. It finishes with Lilith and Elaine stepping outside Creation to argue for its preservation or destruction in front of God himself. And even without being there, Lucifer has to stick his oar into things and his influence is felt.

Oh, and this book also confirms what I always knew: God is an English gentleman :).

Book details

ISBN: 9781401210069
Publisher: DC Comics
Year of publication: 2006

Lucifer, Vol. 11: Evensong

By Mike Carey

Rating: 5 stars

God is dead has left! Long live Elaine! This epilogue volume ties up most of the loose ends of Lucifer’s story as well as those of the people who have crossed the Lightbringer’s path. Lucifer must cross the path of Izanami of the afterlife one more time to retrieve a portion of the letter of passage given to him way back in volume 1 that she took from him. His parting with Mazikeen is bittersweet, and she, once again, proves her worth in that meeting. In a series with so many outstanding characters (and outstanding female characters), she’s one of the brightest burning.

Elaine, the new God of the three merged creations, has some tidying up of her own to deal with. For the first, she sends Gaudium and Spera in their own little adventure, meeting with an old enemy, and the cutest Cerberus rendered in ink. For the second, she gathers some of her companions for one final girly night on the town before she leaves to become part of everything. This is an oddly moving story and one that I really enjoyed.

The not-quite-final part of the volume shows us Lucifer’s final encounter with his father once he passes out of Creation into the void. He is made a rather amazing offer and reacts in typical Lucifer style. A fabulous finale to an epic story.

Which makes the actual final segment (“Nirvana”) all the odder. This is an odd coda, telling a story set somewhere in the middle of the arc, chronologically. The painted art is amazing, but the story just seems really odd, and a weird way to end the story.

Looking over the series as a whole, I very much enjoyed it, but both my science-fictional and atheist senses were tingling. For the latter, I have the same issue with predestination as Lucifer and the whole literal Bible (Creation was just 6000 years ago etc) interpretation in places annoyed me. And for the former, why is it so anthropocentric? Surely there’s more to “Creation” than one little planet? There’s a whole universe out there, why does everything of import happen on Earth? But these are minor niggles in an otherwise marvellously epic story.

Book details

ISBN: 9781401212001
Publisher: Vertigo
Year of publication: 2007

Lucifer, Vol. 9: Crux

By Mike Carey

Rating: 4 stars

This book starts with the unexpected sight of a demon offering a drink of water to one of the damned, much to the horror of its peers. Hauled up before Remiel, ruler of Hell, it seems that there is a new creed being preached and Christopher Rudd, once one of the damned liberated to be the plaything for a Lady is the preacher. This story is short (if ending on one heck of a punchline), and I liked the story a lot, but I really didn’t like the art. It felt far too cartoony and didn’t seem to suit the tale at all.

The core of the book, though, is taken up with Lilith and her preparations for war against Heaven, taking the head of her army of children, the Lilim, they prepare to assault the Silver City. This story also shows how Elaine gets on having being given the creative power by her dying father, Michael and I enjoyed her attempts to get to grips with this power by creating her own Creation.

We end the volume returning to Jill Presto and her trying to come to terms with the fact that she still caries a child of the Basanos. This is a very interesting story, as it’s about a woman who has no desire to be a mother, especially not to this sort of child.

Lilith’s conversations with Mazikeen and Mazikeen’s actions are one of the highlights of this book, showing just how far that Mazikeen has come from the start. From simply being Lucifer’s consort she is now a keen warrior and major player in her own right.

Book details

ISBN: 9781401210052
Publisher: Vertigo
Year of publication: 2006

Lucifer, Vol. 8: The Wolf Beneath the Tree

By Mike Carey

Rating: 4 stars

It’s the end of the world and I feel fine. With God gone and his Name no longer holding everything together, the wolf Fenris emerges to destroy Yggdrasil while Michael journeys to take advice from Destiny of the Endless.

The first part of this book tells the story of Lilith, Adam’s first consort, and her liaisons with both Michael and Lucifer before the Fall as well as her part in it. This is an interesting story in fleshing out a character who has previously only existed as mother to the Lilim. It also features a young Mazikeen (in her only appearance in this book, much to its detriment) who’s just as awesome as she would grow up to be.

The second part is an oddity, and one that didn’t really work for me. Neutral ground is found for a conclave of demons, deciding what to do now that God is gone. The organiser, bored with the whole affair, goes to have some fun with their “host”. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what happened here. Did Lucifer trap the conclave? Or was it all just a diversion?

The final part brings us to Fenris and Yggdrasil and the ultimate trick played on Lucifer – for once not in control of the situation. Fenris is a manipulator worthy of the Lightbringer himself, and his use of the human madman to achieve his ends is creepy and totally fitting for this mythos. I’m not too sure about the final pages though, which seem to introduce yet another element into this already bulging story. I’ll just have to read the next volume to find out more.

Book details

ISBN: 9781401205027
Publisher: Vertigo
Year of publication: 2005

Lucifer, Vol. 7: Exodus

By Mike Carey

Rating: 4 stars

God has left his creation, possibly forever. Two Titans spot that there is a vacuum at the heart of Creation and attempt to usurp his power for themselves. Lucifer and his brother Michael must combine their forces and join with that of the Host of the Silver City to try and defeat them. Later, for reasons not yet explained, Lucifer decides to purge all immortal beings from his own Creation, and dispatches the Elaine Belloc of the Sisters of Mercy to ensure that it is done. This second part of the book tells the story of some of the encounters that Elaine and her team have while carrying out the Maker’s commands.

This is very much a book of two halves. The first is epic on a grand scale, with the fate of Creation at stake, while the second is much more personal and, for me, the better half of the book. That is narrated by one of the immortal creatures to be evicted and his story, along with that of the Human boy that be befriends, is poignant and moving. And the cliffhanger at the end of the book is certainly one that I wasn’t expecting.

After a slow start, the Lucifer books have become fast-paced and gripping with a deep internal mythology that draws not only on the Judeo-Christian tradition, but that of other cultures as well. They make for great reading.

Book details

ISBN: 9781401204914
Publisher: Vertigo
Year of publication: 2005

Lucifer, Vol. 6: Mansions of the Silence

By Mike Carey

Rating: 4 stars

The sixth volume of Lucifer’s story sees him commissioning a vessel to sail to the Mansions of the Silence, with a hand-picked crew to retrieve the soul of Elaine Belloc, the girl who, unwittingly, gave up her life to retrieve him from the unlife where he was trapped. That story is interwoven with those of the crew, including the half-angel Cal, Jill Presto, unwilling mother-to-be of the child of sentient tarot deck, the Basanos, a giant, a ghost and two fallen Cherubim.

At least as interesting as that story is the one going on in parallel with Lucifer’s discussions with his brother Michael and their view of the mind of God, along with the consequences of that. It’s a compelling story and one that had me turning the pages rapidly. The mythology of the series is really starting to build up and the relationships between characters taking on new meanings. And at the centre, there’s always Lucifer, standing ever apart, always one step ahead of everybody else. Roll on volume 7.

Book details

ISBN: 9781401202491
Publisher: Vertigo
Year of publication: 2004

Accelerando

By Charles Stross

Rating: 5 stars

It’s taken me a while to finish this book because I’ve been reading it in short snippets. I took the opportunity of being on holiday to finish it off in a burst. I really enjoyed this book, especially the first half, as we are introduced to Manfred Macx, a very early 21st century entrepreneur, who lives off his social capital while giving away his ideas and making other people very rich. He’s got a pet robot cat at his side, an angry dominatrix after him and life is good. This book follows Manfred and his descendants into the 21st century, through the Singularity and out the other side.

I’m not sure why, but Macx very much reminded me of Stross’s fellow SF author Cory Doctorow (although, without, I assume, the dominatrix).

The build-up of the book is great, so that before you know it, we’ve moved from smartphones and AR to uploading minds into starwisps to investigate alien routers and it seems like a perfectly natural technological development.

Stross’s imagining of the future and the Singularity is immense. He goes from the usual sort of “rapture of the nerds” gushing, to imagining what the consequences of that would be like, and suddenly I’m not so keen on the whole idea. If I want to stay remotely human, that is. Highly recommended.

Book details

ISBN: 9781841493893
Publisher: Orbit
Year of publication: 2005

Lucifer Vol. 5: Inferno (Lucifer, #5)

By Mike Carey

Rating: 4 stars

Despite having lost most of his power, Lucifer has a meeting to attend in Hell, and he prides himself on always keeping his word. He has been challenged to a duel by the angel Amenadiel and the time has come to fulfil that obligation. Meanwhile, his consort, and war-leader of the Lilim, Mazikeen, is on the track of the god who has the two feathers that contain this power.

I found this story pretty riveting, with Lucifer’s pride in never going back on his word being shown as a major weakness, but he has enough intelligence and generally sneakiness that you always hope and feel that he’ll come out on top.

As well as the main story of Lucifer’s duel, at the end, there is a short story at the end about the parents of Elaine Belloc, who died in the previous volume, and the detective who will anger angels to find out the truth. Also, the fallen cherubim who hang around with Michael are awfully cute.

Although I’ve found earlier volumes in this series to be quite slow, the pace really picked up from the last volume and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the rest of the series now.

Book details

ISBN: 9781840238273
Publisher: Titan Books (UK)
Year of publication: 2004

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