Think Galactic- When the Moon was Ours

For the August meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore. A YA story in a fairy-tale or magical-realist mode, it's the love story of a girl who grows roses from her wrists and a trans boy who paints magical moons. When the Moon was Ours is also the most recent Tiptree Award winner, so we were pretty jazzed to read it. Brief notes and possible spoilers below:

Think Galactic- Kelly Sue DeConnick & Amal El-Mohtar

For the May meeting of Think Galactic, we read selections from the Guests of Honor at the upcoming Wiscon: Kelly Sue DeConnick and Amal El-Mohtar. For DeConnick, we read Bitch Planet, and for El-Mohtar we read a selection of short stories and poems.

Think Galactic's original formation was inspired by Wiscon, and there's usually a good number of us in attendance, and these two creators have a lot of interesting work.

Brief notes and discussion below:

Think Galactic- A Taste of Honey

For the April meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson.

Set in the same sci-fantasy world as Wilson's Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, the novella follows a young man, minor nobility in the kingdom of Olorumi, as he has an affair with a soldier from a distant land. These chapters alternate with scenes from Aqib's life years and decades later, as he lives out a very different life than he would have had if he'd fled with his lover.

We generally quite liked this! Brief notes and possible spoilers below:

Think Galactic- Too Like The Lightning

For the March meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed Too Like the Lightning (2016) by Ada Palmer.

Too Like The Lightning's been getting a lot of attention (we reviewed it pretty glowingly just a few months ago), with the added bonus that Dr. Palmer is Chicago-based, teaching history at the University of Chicago. She'd actually given a talk at 57th Street Books the day before our meeting, speaking about Too Like The Lightning and its just-released sequel, and a couple of us were able to make that.

In brief! Too Like the Lightning is set in the 25th century, with a few big science-fictional ideas (flying cars, non-geographic political bodies) and jammed to the gills with sociological & philosophical ideas, including doing some really cool things with gender and narrative style.

We really dug this! It was a small group, however, due to unexpected schedule conflicts, and we may be working in some brief Palmer discussion at our April meeting—so I'll keep the notes below extremely brief! Spoilers unlikely but possible:

Weird & Wonderful- The Left Hand of Darkness

Art by Ratvis

January was one of those fortuitous months where some book-clubs synchronized for me: City Lit Books' Weird & Wonderful club discussed The Left Hand of Darkness, shorlty after the Chicago Nerds discussion. Winter is a good time to read "Left Hand", and it's pretty much always a good time to read Le Guin, regardless.

Well: if you're not familiar, The Left Hand of Darkness is a bedrock work of modern science fiction, exploring deep questions of gender and much beside. Set on a world where all humans are "cyclic hermaphrodites"--neuter most of the month, then briefly sexually active--the novel has as its Big Issue the question of what a truly sexually-equal human society might look like. But, as one might expect from Le Guin, it dives into tons of other ideas as well, and it's issues of betrayal and friendship that stick with me, at least, even more than the gender investigation.

Also, it's set in a society adapted for an ice age, which feels appropriate for a Chicago January read. I was so into the conversation that I didn't take the most comprehensive of notes, but you may find them, and possibly spoilers, below:

Think Galactic- Lizard Radio

For January's Think Galactic meeting, we discussed Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz.

One of our YA picks, Lizard Radio takes place in a vaguely dystopian world that seems like it might be a alternate Earth (not clearly a near-future or otherwise tied to the our timeline). The story follows Kevali, aka Lizard, who is a 15 year-old sent to "Camp", a kind of vocational-training-slash-indoctrination facility. While there, Lizard learns a bit more about this world's system of control, sparks some localized acts of rebellion, and explores the mysterious "lizard radio" (and other mysterious phenomena).

Brief notes and possible spoilers below:

Chicago Nerds- The Left Hand of Darkness

For the first 2017 meeting of the Chicago Nerds' book club, we met to discuss Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (1969).

A modern science fiction classic whose influence is hard to overstate, Le Guin's novel is set in her Hainish future, in which different branches of humanity are reconnecting after millennia spent developing on different planets. The Left Hand of Darkness follows the first official contact between the Ekumen—a loose government of many worlds—and the people of Gethen. Gethenians have developed on a world in the grip of an ice age, and differ from the rest of the Ekumen in their social and biological sexual natures.

Sex and gender exploration is kind of the big-ticket draw of The Left Hand, but it's also brilliantly-written, packed full of profundity, and unusual (for science fiction) in how much it comes down to a deeply-drawn relationship between two people.

Also, it's very appropriate for a January Chicago reading, involving as it does great treks across the ice and snow. Notes and possible spoilers below:

Review: A Closed and Common Orbit

In reviewing Becky Chambers' new novel, I find myself in the strange position of having to write a negative review of a book I very much wanted to like, that I do like in many ways, and which I don't necessarily want to discourage people from reading.

The good news is, whether or not you should read A Closed and Common Orbit (2016) is easily determined if you've read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (2014), the novel which precedes this. While structurally a bit different—Common Orbit has barely more than two characters, braids time-lines, and is essentially linear, where The Long Way is a meandering ensemble tale—the tone and intention of the two are very close. I find it very unlikely that one's reception of Common Orbit will vary much from The Long Way, with the possible exception that some might like (or dislike) that more time is spent with fewer characters.

Also, I should note that, although A Closed and Common Orbit follows immediately on the heels of The Long Way, plot-wise, it's by no means a sequel in the conventional sense. It could easily be read first, or as a standalone novel, with the caveat that having some of The Long Way's worldbuilding under your belt will make Common Orbit a little easier, albeit in a very minimal way. In her first novel, Chambers usually drops a lot of factoids about her alien species very quickly on meeting them, but the absence of this up-fronting of exposition in Common Orbit is hardly a weakness.

Plenty to love here; unfortunately, I find that to be outweighed by the novel's shortcomings. Possible spoilers, and many comparisons between the two novels, below:

Review- Too Like the Lightning

Usually, when people describe a work as ambitious, it's a kind of unintentionally back-handed compliment: its successes aren't substantial enough to comment on, but we'll award it consolation points for the scope of its intentions. One hears it of concept albums, of political agendas that are laudable but unlikely; one uses it for novels whose elevator pitch is in the clouds, even if the execution stumbles badly.

And then, occasionally, one happens on a work that achieves its lofty goals, whose very scope is its prime recommendation. Here, we may use "ambitious" as unqualified praise, as a straightforward descriptor.

And such a work is Ada Palmer's "Too Like The Lightning", her first novel, released earlier this year.

Possible spoilers below:

Megatext 2: Octavia Butler

Megatext 2: Octavia Butler

Thursday, August 25th, 7pm

Open Books, 651 W. Lake St.
(Facebook Event Page)

For our second Megatext discussion, we're going to be talking about Octavia E. Butler (1946-2008), who's had a powerful impact on the genre. This discussion is being supported by Open Books, who are hosting, and by Think Galactic.

The idea behind the "Megatext" book club is that we talk about an author as a whole, rather than one specific book. Feel free to come if you've read everything Butler's written, if you've only read one book, or if you're just interested!

photo via Joshua Trujillo

Think Galactic- The Fifth Season

For our first post-Wiscon gathering, Think Galactic once more filed into the Upper Chambers of Myopic, this time to discuss N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season".

Jemisin's novel has been getting a lot of well-deserved recognition (shortlisted for the Nebula & Hugo awards, among others). It's set on a world beset by cycles of cataclysmic natural events, where humanity has only survived by a combination of "prepper" culture and the magical abilities of "orogenes", who can control seismic events. Through three different storylines, "The Fifth Season" explores this world and the way the orogenes have been oppressed. Spoilers below!

Classic Sci-Fi Meetup- Children of Men

For the last meeting of the Classic Sci-Fi Meetup, we read and discussed "Children of Men" (1992) by P.D. James. More known for her crime and mystery novels, James' foray into science fiction has become more known since Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 film adaption, which is a pretty big departure in terms of tone and theme, while still hewing to the basic thrust of the novel.

"Children of Men" is set in a kind of slow apocalypse. For unknown reasons, the human race has become infertile, and thus the entire population is aging and looking towards their eventual extinction. Set in England, it follows our mild-mannered protagonist as he is drawn into a kind of bumbling revolutionary conspiracy with an unexpected secret. Spoilers below!

Classic Sci-Fi- Her Smoke Rose Up Forever

We had a first for the April's Classic Sci-Fi Meetup, discussing a short story collection instead of a novel. And a truly classic selection: "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever", collecting many of the best short works of James Tiptree, Jr.

While published in 1990, it collects work originally printed between 1969 & 1980; something we commented on for many of the stories was how ahead of their time they feel.

Much talk of sex, gender, and death surrounding these stories. Spoilers below!

Think Galactic- Elysium

For the March convocation of Think Galactic, we discussed "Elysium" by Jennifer Marie Brissett.

This novel is *really* difficult to describe without spoiling. And also just difficult to describe...The key feature that strikes one first is the gender-swapping of all the main characters, from chapter to chapter, sometimes from sentence to sentence. As it goes on, there are elements of dystopia, alien invasion, and AI.

Spoilerific and intriguing discussion points below:

Think Galactic: The Girl in the Road

Meeting once again amidst the erudite shelves and, if our cellular devices are to be believed, Faraday-cage-lined walls of Myopic Books, the ornately robed members of Think Galactic cast back their cowls, exchanged a few cryptic, sweeping gestures, then sat at the circle to discuss Monica Byrne's 2014 novel "The Girl in the Road".

Girls and roads plural both, as it turns out. Byrne's novel weaves together two different stories. Mariama is a refugee girl whose travels take her to Ethiopia, while Meena is a young Indian woman who, fleeing violence, decides to walk "The Trail"--an ocean-spanning tidal generator that stretches from Mumbai to Djibouti.

We none of us quite knew how to summarize our reaction to this book. It's well written--with the caveat that neither narrator is completely reliable. And the characters are well-drawn--but we found it a little hard to sympathize with them nonetheless.

It's definitely a powerful book, and--one doesn't want to say haunting, but definitely a little hard to get out of the mind. One can easily see why it was awarded the Tiptree. More of our thoughts and, most definitely, SPOILERS, below.

Classic Sci-Fi: Woman on the Edge of Time

The era of the Mad River Grille meetings of the Classic Sci-Fi Meetup appears to have passed--another private event forced us to relocate again, this time just a building or two over to Vaughan's Pub, and we'll be trying out a new (hopefully good, long-lasting location) next time.

Still, a lovely patio on a Chicago summer, and a nice discussion of Marge Piercy's "Woman on the Edge of Time" (1976): definitely a bit of classic SF, this one particularly in the feminist SF tradition of the 60s/70s, often mentioned alongside work by Le Guin, Russ, or Atwood. The novel follows Consuelo Ramos, a woman who is (seemingly wrongfully) placed in a mental institution, and who is having (seemingly real, albeit psychic) visits to and from the future.

A couple points that we all agreed on: this is a hard book to read. Partially because it takes a while to really pick up, partially because it is about 30% utopia with attendant infodump-itis, but primarily because, emotionally, it's grim. Connie's experience being held against her will, misdiagnosed as an act of oppression, and the way that sexism, racism, and classism are magnified by being institutionalized all make for a rough read.

Think Galactic: Ancillary Justice

Much overdue on this one: Wiscon etc. happened right after. Apologies in advance, have a handful of writeups to knock out before we're caught up.

Also this has been a much-discussed book, including a number of discussions at clubs I didn't attend or before Positron started.

But! Ancillary Justice! Ann Leckie! Think Galactic!

This Hugo-winning novel certainly created a lot of buzz; it's one of those books that an unusually high percentage of SF/F folks have read and have opinions about. Which is cool! Canons are problematic, but having a set of touchstones in common is, I would opine, extremely valuable for any community, and helps to prevent some of the cultural balkanization that can otherwise occur.

But I digress! Possible spoilers below:

Think Galactic: The Summer Prince

Alaya Dawn Johnson's "The Summer Prince" (2013) is set a few centuries after some nigh-apocalyptic events: a "Y plague" that wiped out greater than two thirds of the male population, some kind of massive nuclear exchange that has left large swathes of the planet radioactive, and the resulting nuclear winter that seems to have made most of the temperate zones too cold for dense human civilization. Oh, and it's a YA work, set in a utopian (or is it DYSTOPIAN?! DUN DUN DUN) mega-city-structure in Brazil, where elected kings (I'm not sure that's what king means but whatever) reign for one year before being ritually sacrificed as they select the queen, who's the real ruler.

Yep, that's the gist of it. Oh and also there's a lot of stuff about art and art-as-politics and fame and fame-as-politics. I found myself enjoying the book quite a bit, as long as I remembered to do some eye-ball stretching so as not to strain anything with occasional YA-induced rolling. And we had a pretty delightful discussion of it at Think Galactic. Possible spoilers below!

Chi-SF: Distress

It's always a bit of a mystery to me why Greg Egan isn't more known to SF enthusiasts. He's consistently written work that combines the massive scope and radical reimagining of the very hardest science fiction, the technology-drenched energy and occasional body-horror of the cyberpunks, and a sometimes brutal incorporation of modern cognitive science. Despite the brilliance of his writing, his work has been sometimes hard to find. That situation might be improving, as Night Shade Books is reprinting them for US audiences (see Patrick Lohier's Boing Boing article for more on that deal, and more on how Egan is awesome).

So, it was with some delight that I heard that the Chicago Speculative Fiction Community had selected Egan's 1995 novel "Distress". "Distress" is a near-future story, told from the perspective of a journalist--a kind of science documentarian, really. Burnt out from a project covering some horrific weirdness, Andrew Worth opts to report on a physics conference--which rapidly turns into a story about the Theory of Everything and the fate of all humanity/the universe. The main plot idea is big, heady, and maybe ultimately pretty silly, but it's packed into a world rich in other fascinating ideas--particularly on gender, neurodiversity, and rationality/belief.  There may be SPOILERS BELOW:

Think Galactic: 40,000 in Gehenna

Perhaps the least-bad
of the cover illustrations.

So it's no secret: C.J. Cherryh is one of my favorite authors, and I've read, re-read, and written about her work pretty extensively. Thus, I felt a little trepidation leading up to the last Think Galactic meeting-- not everyone is a fan of Cherryh's style, and as the book-suggester (and lover) I was worried about how the group would receive it. Then, I started reading "40,000 in Gehenna" (1983) for the nth time, and forgot all my fears, because it's really an excellent novel, rich in themes and ideas. We had a great discussion about it, ranging all over the place.

"Gehenna" is a great example of "future history SF". Rather than following a particular character or plot, the novel instead explores a place and situation over a good deal of time--in this case, the founding, foundering, and evolution of the Gehenna colony over about three centuries. It's set within Cherryh's large, consistent, but not very series-based "Alliance-Union" universe. Union's settlement of Gehenna, composed primarily of the cloned "azi" workers, is designed to fail--but Union doesn't account for the intrusion of the supposedly non-intelligent native life, the pseudo-reptilian calibans. When the planet is ceded to the Alliance government, they find human cultures that have developed in strange directions. That's just a rough synopsis, and there are likely to be SPOILERS BELOW:

Classic SF Meetup: Kindred

I can't often attend the Classic SF Meetup, as it's usually scheduled for the same time as Think Galactic. (And the Forest Park Speculative Fiction group. And the Suburban Fantasy Meetup. 2nd Thursdays are over-booked!)

However, once in a while the schedules diverge, as happened last week, so I got to attend the discussion of Octavia Butler's 1979 novel "Kindred". Possible spoilers below!

Blackstone F & SF: Ancillary Justice

Ann Leckie's “Ancillary Justice”, whatever else it is, is certainly turning into a touchstone for the SF community—I can't think of a book in recent years that so many people are reading and discussing, regardless of their usual tastes in the genre. Last night the Blackstone Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club took a crack at it. Spoilers and nitpicks below!

Chi-SF: Lock-in

Yesterday was the Chicago Speculative Fiction Community's discussion of John Scalzi's new novel, "Lock In" (2014). The unanimous consensus was that we liked it: an enjoyable read. However, that caveat out of the way, we had some pretty in-depth criticisms. Gripes and spoilers below!

TG: Beyond Binary

Last night Think Galactic discussed "Beyond Binary", a collection of genderqueer/sexually-fluid SF/F edited by Brit Mandelo.

We liked the collection, particularly the 4 stories John selected for us to focus on (“Fisherman” by Nalo Hopkinson, "A Wild and Wicked Youth”‘ by Ellen Kushner, “Spoiling Veena” by Keyan Bowes, and “The Metamorphosis Bud” by Liu Wen Zhuang).

TG: Rupetta

This last Thursday Think Galactic discussed Nike Sulway's 2013 novel "Rupetta", which is the most recent winner of the Tiptree award. A good read, and a good discussion!