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Crystal Rain

Tobias S. Buckell’s debut novel, Crystal Rain, ties together elements of steampunk, hard sf, and fantasy (or religion), all with a distinctive Caribbean flavor.

Set in the far future on another planet, the humans of Crystal Rain have been reduced to non-electronic technology. Flight is possible by blimp, but uncommon. There are a few train lines and telegraphy. The culture of the protagonist’s society reflects a distant Caribbean origin. Over the impossibly high mountains are the Azteca with their bloodthirsty gods, the Teotl.

The emotional momentum of the novel centers on John deBrun, an amnesiac. Through the course of the story, he discovers himself, and we come to understand the context and history of the culture. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to the author’s future efforts.

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An elitist criticises the state of criticism

Via Arts & Letters Daily, I discovered a blog written by board members of the National Book Critics Circle. They have a guest post: Morris Dickstein on the Critical Landscape Today. I like some of the points he makes, and I too lament the falling-away of book reviews in major newspapers. I can’t help thinking it’s a very bad sign for the state of reading in America. But Dickstein betrays a basic elitism that I really can’t agree with:

But book reviews, to be of any value, demand a trained sensibility and real critical expertise; they need to furnish more than rough-hewn consumer guidance and the colorful peeves of the man in the street.

This kind of thinking, in any field, ends up producing reviews (and elevating creations) that speak only to a small coterie of insiders. Hardly the stuff that will save reviews in newspapers, which need to be aimed at a popular audience.

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Teasing out Harry Potter’s Christian elements

I’d love to quote the conclusion of Nancy’s Apology: Harry Potter and the Eerie Silence, but that just wouldn’t be cool. It’s longish for a blog post, and worth every moment spent.

I don’t think it was the pagan or magic aspects of the Potter books that drove the conservatives nutty: I think it was the Christian elements.

Rowling, who is not a professed Christian, took 2000 years of christendom–in the form of symbols, legends, archetypes, allegories, and values–and put it into a new story.

(Hat tip to Johan Maurer and QuakerQuaker.org)

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A tree for Barbara

Yesterday I planted a Korean Mountain Ash (Sorbus alnifolia) in memory of Barbara at Jan and Ken Hoffman’s house in Amherst. It’s in the back pasture, not far from the copse, nicely positioned to get plenty of sun. The Korean Mountain Ash has very pretty leaves (“alnifolia” means alder-like leaves), dark green and serrated, that look like they’re going to be hard and stiff, but are actually rather soft. It has decorative blooms and fruit, as well as nice bark. Ken (the tree enthusiast) was happy with my choice.

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Trollope

No, not trollop! I’m reading Anthony Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire, in a very nice 1950 hardbound pocket edition from The World’s Classics, published by Oxford University Press. The binding is 3/4 red cloth with gold fleur-de-lys, with a cream spine and red title inset on the spine. And there’s a little ribbon bookmark. I have this fantasy of sitting on the T reading and having a church lady ask if I’m reading the Bible, so I can say, “No, Trollope.”

I’ve now finished Dr Thorne and Framley Parsonage. The Framley one finally begins to tie together major characters from the earlier novels (although I’m not sure if that continues). These two, certainly, form a sort of a pair, though not so much as the first two, which definitely have a complete story between them.

Next up: The Small House at Allington.