wfzimmerman's review: "Classic sf. Does Will Smith realize what a contribution he is making to the genre? If he keeps up he will have starred in more classic SF novelizations than any other star."
Tor Books (2007), Edition: Reissue, Paperback, 320 pages
tags: science fiction, sf, vampires, Will Smith

Review of: The Execution Channel by MacLeod, Ken

Wow, what a disturbing book ... feels so very true almost up until the last ten pages, when it takes a sudden u-turn into Stalinist fantasy. I admire MacLeod for recognizing that *anyone* can win the Great Game, and that American or British victory is by no means preordained, but at some point we need to start doing some sanity-checking about whether a) China is likely to become the global leader with its repressive, untransparent political system and b) whether we actually want that to happen.



There's a tremendous Scottish Renaissance in science fiction and fantasy these days, with MacLeod, Charles Stross, J. K. Rowling among the brightest lights. It's a pity that it seems such a politically parochial Renaissance, driven by fear of American hegemony rather than by a expansive view of a better world.

wfzimmerman's review: "The title alone makes this a must read for anyone who is interested in science fiction. I'm about a third of the way through and it's really drawing me in. It reads a bit like a thought experiment -- the pace of nanochange will be fast, but not *this* fast... but I like the way Rucker mixes the Big Smart Objects with the human heart in conflict. Strongly recommended so far."
Tor Books (2007), Hardcover, 320 pages
tags: First US edition, science fiction, SF

wfzimmerman's review: "This was rather disappointing. Written with Gibson's usual skill, and full of flashes of genius, but in the end not much happening. Can't really call it science fiction, because at the end of the day the whole plot is aboiut (SPOILER) a complicated prank being played on Iraq looters. As a matter of fact (and this is high praise) the book is actually quite similar to some of the great thrillers by the late [Ross Thomas]. Good stuff for a Gibson fan, but not a crossover book for others."
Putnam Adult (2007), Hardcover, 384 pages

wfzimmerman's review: "I bought this reading copy at a garage sale because it's something that should be in every science fiction library."
Spectra (1991), Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Key

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Forty-eight hours before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Madam Trelawney sat down with me for a Divination session based on the leaked chapter titles.

The Dark Lord Ascending

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Clearly Voldemort, climbing a flight of stairs, perhaps.

Unfortunately, I know better, thanks to my big-mouthed daughter Kelsey, who shared with me a spoiler publicized by The Guardian. Apparently (or apparatently?) the book begins with two wizards Apparting in a moonlit lane and one asking, “Any news?” The other replies, “The best.” Clearly, they are referring to The Guardian.

In Memoriam

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: This chapter must refer to Dumbledore. But wait a minute: didn’t they already have the funeral at The White Tomb?

The Dursleys Departing

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: And not a moment too soon, if you are as sick of the Dursleys as I am. Unfortunately (sound familiar?) Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times spoiled this chapter for me, too, with an aside that even Dudley Dursley has hidden depths. Very hidden.

The Seven Potters

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: What, one’s not enough? We only know about four, as far as I can tell: James, Lily, Petunia, and Harry. It is odd, isn’t it, that we’ve never met Harry’s paternal grandparents (that would be two more Potters) or any of his other relatives.

The book seems to be taking a sudden swerve into movie territory with The Seven Potters being a logical follow-up to The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

Fallen Warrior

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: We haven’t really met any warriors in this series, have we? Many authors would have been inspired by the “war against the Dark Lord” storyline to create vast paramilitary edifices of officers, sergeants, and regiments, but J. K. Rowling’s mind doesn’t seem to work that way. She created schools (Hogwarts, Durmstrang …), bureaucracies (the Ministry of Magic), and vast efflorescences of individual creativity, but no armies. Even the Aurors and the Death Eaters are really just groups of individual wizards, not armies. So a true warrior in the archetypal sense will come as something new in the series.

The Ghoul in Pajamas

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Ghoul school! Pajama party! This sounds pretty silly.

The Will of Albus Dumbledore

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Ok, I definitely want the phoenix, the corner office, and all the super-cool magical objects that Dumbledore has acquired in the course of a full lifetime as the greatest Good magician in the world, or at least in the UK.

Seriously, though, exactly what is it in Dumbledore’s power to bestow? Presumably his will only extends to his own personal possessions, not Hogwarts, which has a Board of Governors.

The Wedding

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Bill and Fleur, what a lovely couple! They’ll be lucky to get through the wedding without a car bomb going off. Oh, wait, this isn’t Iraq.

A Place to Hide

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Sorry, buddy, there’s no place to hide from THE DARK LORD.

Kreacher’s Tale

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Oh, man, what’s this nasty little critter doing in the book? I thought we had seen the last of him in OOTP. Seriously, though, how does Harry get Kreacher to spill?

The Bribe

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Some moola, baksheesh, grub—and, as we all remember, Harry is loaded. Why not use some of his money to get the crucial 411?

Magic Is Might

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Sounds like Voldemort’s campaign slogan.

The Muggle-born Registration Commission

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Another faux bureaucracy from the fertile mind of J.K. Rowling. Scotland must be full of these absurdist leftist vestiges which the United States thankfully extirpated in the 1990s, when my home state of Michigan replaced “Social Services” with the aptly named “Family Independence Agency.” That’s as in “independence from government assistance…”

This doesn’t sound good for Hermione.

The Thief

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Ok, now it’s time for {Argus whatsisname} to justify all the investment Rowling has made in his character.

Although the term “thief” could just as easily be applied to Harry, who, after all these years at Hogwarts, is quite the practiced second-story man.

The Goblin’s Revenge

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: We haven’t met many goblins in the series, but what we have seen, makes it seem quite plausible that a Goblin’s revenge will be not just nasty but quite effectively vindictive. If it is Harry who was the thief, the revenge will be a great loss to him. Hermione or Ron, perhaps?

Godric’s Hollow

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: The home base of Pottermania. The place where it all began. Named after Godric Gryffindor, the founder of a House devoted to courage. Does the Hollow itself have any special powers or properties related to courage? It would be a heck of a place to make a last stand. Did the Potters know that?

Bathilda’s Secret

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Ok, who’s Bathilda? Giantess? House-elf?

The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: What? Lies? Nooooo!!!! Actually, it has been quite obvious throughout the series that J. K. Rowling’s preoccupation is with growing up, maturing, and seeing the world through a more complex (more clouded?) vision. That being the case, it seems inevitable that we will have to adjust our rosy-coloured view of Albus Dumbledore to allow for the possibility that he made mistakes, even selfish ones, and told untruths, not just white lies, but the occasional great big black ugly self-interested stinker.

What could Dumbledore have lied about? Well, the thing that jumps to my mind is that his story about why he accepted Snape simply has never made sense. Maybe Dumbledore had a very good reason to take Snape’s word about his reform because Snape had something on him.

The Silver Doe

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Mom!

We learned in Prisoner of Azkaban that James Potter and Sirius Black taught themselves to become Animaguses. Surely James Potter chose the stag knowing that Lily’s Patronus was a silver doe. Good one! That’s a smooth courtship maneuver, bound to impress even the most hardened young witch.

Xenophilius Lovegood

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: This may sound bizarre to some readers but to science fiction fans the word “xenophile” is familiar territory: someone who loves that which is alien or strange. Let’s hope this is actually a good character and not a perv.

The Tale of the Three Brothers

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: James, Jacob, and Jeremiah Potter?

The Deathly Hallows

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Arrrgh! Thanks to big-mouthed book reviewer Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times, I unfortunately know that the Deathly Hallows are not a place, as many of us thought, but rather are three precious relics that give the power possessor over death. I even know that a crucial plot twist involves Harry’s decision whether to follow Dumbledore’s original instructions (go after the Horcruxes) or take off on a frolic and detour (as lawyers in the first week of {Contracts} learn to call unauthorized expeditions) in search of the Deathly Hallows.

Thanks a lot, New York Times! The only thing that prevents me from excoriating Kakutani is that I’m not sure whether she realized what a big spoiler this was.

Anyway, now that the Fates have revealed to me that there are three deathly hallows, what are they?

Malfoy Manor

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Place I never want to be (n.) I’m guessing that this will be the site of some pretty intense and, alas, ill-fated adolescent rebellion as Draco questions his father’s orders and gets the Cruciatus curse for his pains.

I hope Harry’s not going to try to break into this joint … but if he does, at least he knows from a conversation overheard in Prisoner of Azkaban that the Dark Objects are hidden under the drawing room floor.

The Wandmaker

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Creepy old Ollivander explains how it is possible that Harry and Voldemort have the same wand.

Shell Cottage

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Do I remember this joint from anywhere else in the series? I don’t think so … which leaves it pretty much wide open. It does sound as if it’s by the seashore.

Gringotts

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: What, again? I thought we were at Gringott’s in “The Thief” and “Goblin’s Revenge.”

The Final Hiding Place

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: For Harry, or for the deathly hallows?.

The Missing Mirror

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Ok, if the previous chapter was “The Final Hiding Place”, how is it that there’s a missing mirror? Shouldn’t the previous chapter have been called “Almost The Final Hiding Place”?

The Lost Diadem

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Darn it, I’m always losing my diadems. (Diadems, for those who are rusty on their magical objects, are jewels set in a crown.)

The Sacking of Severus Snape

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Yay! But the brilliance of J. K. Rowling is that Snape might just as easily be fired because he is a secretly Good wizard under a Dark administration at Hogwarts as because he is a slimy, oily, greasy murderer.

The Battle of Hogwarts

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Boom! Now we’re talking. Let’s see some rubble flying. Start by giving me a window view.

The Elder Wand

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Is it possible that Harry’s wand is somehow elder than Tom Riddle’s (even though Riddle’s was made almost fifty years previously?)

The Prince’s Tale

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: I hope this isn’t a whole chapter with that horrible man Snape explaining how he was actually a good guy all along.

The Forest Again

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Again thanks to big-mouthed book reviewer Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times, I unfortunately know that Harry spends quite a bit of time in the dark Forest near Hogwarts. Oddly, the Forest always seemed rather pint-sized to me.

King’s Cross

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: The train station? Another round of first-years entering Hogwarts? Can it be?

The Flaw in the Plan

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Ain’t there always.

Epilogue

My Trelawney-Inspired Predictions: Let’s have a pool on how many years later … if J. K. Rowling wants to forestall any immediate sequels, she’ll give herself a nice long gap of ten or twenty years so that everyone’s unrecognizably grown up.

wfzimmerman's review: "It was easy to decide that the complete works of Christopher Anvil were a "must" for my collection. These were among my favorite stories in the 20-year run of ANALOG that my grandfather Zimmerman kept on his upstairs bookshelves. When I thought about it a bit more deeply, though, I realized that I never once talked with Granddaddy Z about our shared love of science fiction. He died in 1975, when I was 14, and I was scared of him! I wish I had a chance to talk about his ANALOG collection with him today. For those who do not know, Anvil wrote great character-driven science fiction, where the character traits at issue were cleverness, resilience, and ingenuity. The message seems a bit dated, today, perhaps, but not so much ... there will always be a place for the MacGyvers of the world!"
Baen (2006), Mass Market Paperback, 912 pages
tags: science fiction, collecting complete author works, sf

wfzimmerman's review: "One terrific science fiction idea in here: the cloned blue sheep in the form of a woman with curly hair."
Tor Books (2006), Hardcover, 400 pages

A tv producer wrote to me asking my thoughts about what would be in THE SOLOMON KEY. As a starting point, she presented a good list of the “usual suspects” ranging from Masonry to the esoteric history of the U.S. capitol. This is how I responded to her:

think all of the things you list below are fairly probable to be in the book, but my guess is that you are too heavy on the past and too light on the future-connected elements. People don’t usually see it this way, but strictly, speaking, all of Brown’s books belong in the science fiction genre, because they all assume the existence of future technology and are set in the future. Even in “Da Vinci Code”, if I remember correctly, Langdon takes a supersonic plane that does not now exist (not Concorde) to reach France promptly, and the time setting appears to be 2015 or so. ANGELS & DEMONS, of course, has a huge plot strand with CERN and antimatter explosives that do not (fortunately) exist.

Add to that the facts that Brown has probably not been asleep the last six years, while the world has been convulsed in war, and that he has strong commercial instincts, and I feel sure there will be an important element of the plot that is tied to current or near-future events. How can you write a book set in Washington now without some reference to Iraq (Babylon), intelligence, and the Middle East? Brown’s clever, so I expect him to find a new angle on those things.

The obvious bit of “secret architecture” to bet on is the CIA building and the mysterious Kryptos sculpture in it (which–very cool!–makes an explicit reference to the opening of the tomb of King Tut). I provide a VERY concise summary of that controversy in my book, but, believe me, I suppressed a lot of detail in the interests of fairness to the ordinary reader. There is an online community of hundreds of people, including former intelligence officers, who are obsessed with the very high-grade cryptographic challenge. I would start with the person named “Elonka” who has a website about Kryptos — you should be able to find her by Google, let me know if you have trouble. Also the sculptor of Kryptos is alive, very adept at keeping his secret, and I would be surprised if he is not willing to be interviewed by the BBC.

Hope this helps, and feel free to write anytime. When THE SOLOMON KEY comes out, I will be doing a chapter-by-chapter response. In the current book, I play it safe and seek to avoid offending Brown fans, but my thinking has evolved, and in the next book I will be a lot more frank when I think Brown is talking through his hat. Great plotter, clever guy, lots of terrific ideas, but no reason to give him a free pass, either!

wfzimmerman's review: "I love "completre volumes"."
Ace Books (2001), Paperback, 432 pages