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Dec. 12th, 2022 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42I’m not sure if this post is more appropriate to put here or on Tumblr, because posting it on tumblr might allow me to connect with other people who know what I’m talking about, but it’s also probably going to be very long and rambling so this might be a better place for it.
I am tired of being disappointed by science fiction books. I just finished a book called Space Opera by Cathrynne M. Valente, and this was the third science fiction book that I’ve read this year that I was hyped for, and then it fell short of my expectations. First, I want to quickly discuss what went wrong with that book. It was about aliens invading to potentially destroy the Earth- unless humans can prove their sentience in an intergalactic singing competition. Two out of three members of the washed up “glitterpunk” band, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, were sent to compete, despite the fact that they haven’t worked or even spoken together in years. This should have been right up my alley, right? A goofy sci-fi book about aliens and music? What could be better? Unfortunately, not only was the ending painfully contrived and anticlimactic, but the actual writing was an unfunny, bloated mess. Douglas Adams once told a story about how his nose stopped functioning due to some accident when he was young, and how the only thing that ever tempted him to try cocaine was the promise that it would eat through whatever was causing the blockage. His exact words: “If I thought cocaine could actually find a way through my septum, I would happily shove it up there by the bucketful and let it eat away as much as it liked. I have been put off, however, by the observation that friends who do shove it up their noses by the bucketful have even shorter attention spans than me.” Well, Space Opera read like a book written by Douglas Adams if he had in fact shoved bucketfuls of cocaine up his nose and also somehow started believing himself to be a Great, Acclaimed Writer rather than (as he viewed himself, not how I see his writing) a person who happened to think of funny things sometimes. Because, dear GOD, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at least knew when to get out of its own way in service of the story. This book could not get through a single sentence without trying to slip in a one-liner and proceed to milk it for all it was worth.l, when it wasn’t all that funny in the first place. The descriptions of damn near everything were SO zany and surreal that it took me forever just to picture what was being described, and ultimately what was being described wasn’t even very significant. The only reason I kept reading was that I fell madly in love with Decibel Jones, who deserved a better story. Or at least, a better written version of this one.
But anyway. That’s the second time this year that this has happened to me. The first was when I read Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, the third book in her Wayfarers series, which I love. Record of a Spaceborn Few only fell short of my expectations because there were too many characters and I found it hard to connect with them all. In fact, I also read the next book in the series, The Galaxy and the Ground Within, this year, and I liked it a lot (though it didn’t come close to her first two, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit). Then I read Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, which was described as Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I liked Good Omens and I loved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and the plot description definitely sounded interesting- a romance between a cursed violin teacher who steals the souls of her students in order to recover the ability to perform live, which she lost in a deal with the Devil, and the captain of a starship from another planet, who has come to Earth to give her family a better life and now lives incognito as the owner of a donut shop. If this sounds like a lot of plot to juggle… It certainly was, and I don’t think the author pulled it off very well. Not to mention that I couldn’t get into the romance at all- too much insta-love and “telling” instead of “showing.”
So… now I just want to read a good science fiction book, and I’m looking back and trying to figure out what draws me to science fiction in the first place. I always say I love science fiction more than any other genre, but then I never read science fiction, and when I do, I’m always very selective about it. I’ve figured out that I don’t like anything that’s more focused on the science than fiction. That doesn’t interest me. What interests me are characters and their interactions, which is why I love Becky Chambers so much. Her works are super character-driven. They‘re good stories about interesting people that just happen to take place on other planets (and sometimes the people are extraterrestrials).
I mostly just love aliens (extraterrestrials). I love aliens coming to Earth and being a fish out of water, and would LOVE it if there were more stories of the reverse- humans going to other planets and being a fish out of water. I love the idea of human/extraterrestrial romance, even though I have yet to read a really good one. I love stars and nebulas and galaxies and words like “stellar,” “intergalactic,” “celestial.” I love the thought of traveling through space with a motley crew on a starship. I love the culture clash between humans and aliens and seeing how it gets resolved. I really love the exploration of alien worlds and discovery of new life.
Also I love Douglas Adams and Isaac Asimov. Adams because his characters are so entertaining and because the overall point that H2G2 seems to be making (at least in its first two books) is “no matter where you go, you still have to deal with the same bullshit you thought you left behind at home. Also life is meaningless so just enjoy as much of it as you can, while you can.” Which to me is a funny concept that takes away all the romantic notions about space travel/exploration. And I love Isaac Asimov because… I love ROBOTS. And of course his characters are beloved to me. And I love how he used science fiction stories to point out contemporary social issues (as many science fiction writers do- that’s another reason I love Becky Chambers’ books), and some of his books are MURDER MYSTERIES!! Which I also love but am equally selective about.
Sometimes I feel like I like the aesthetic of science fiction more than actual science fiction, but be that as it may… it’s definitely a genre that still has a great appeal for me.
I am tired of being disappointed by science fiction books. I just finished a book called Space Opera by Cathrynne M. Valente, and this was the third science fiction book that I’ve read this year that I was hyped for, and then it fell short of my expectations. First, I want to quickly discuss what went wrong with that book. It was about aliens invading to potentially destroy the Earth- unless humans can prove their sentience in an intergalactic singing competition. Two out of three members of the washed up “glitterpunk” band, Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, were sent to compete, despite the fact that they haven’t worked or even spoken together in years. This should have been right up my alley, right? A goofy sci-fi book about aliens and music? What could be better? Unfortunately, not only was the ending painfully contrived and anticlimactic, but the actual writing was an unfunny, bloated mess. Douglas Adams once told a story about how his nose stopped functioning due to some accident when he was young, and how the only thing that ever tempted him to try cocaine was the promise that it would eat through whatever was causing the blockage. His exact words: “If I thought cocaine could actually find a way through my septum, I would happily shove it up there by the bucketful and let it eat away as much as it liked. I have been put off, however, by the observation that friends who do shove it up their noses by the bucketful have even shorter attention spans than me.” Well, Space Opera read like a book written by Douglas Adams if he had in fact shoved bucketfuls of cocaine up his nose and also somehow started believing himself to be a Great, Acclaimed Writer rather than (as he viewed himself, not how I see his writing) a person who happened to think of funny things sometimes. Because, dear GOD, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at least knew when to get out of its own way in service of the story. This book could not get through a single sentence without trying to slip in a one-liner and proceed to milk it for all it was worth.l, when it wasn’t all that funny in the first place. The descriptions of damn near everything were SO zany and surreal that it took me forever just to picture what was being described, and ultimately what was being described wasn’t even very significant. The only reason I kept reading was that I fell madly in love with Decibel Jones, who deserved a better story. Or at least, a better written version of this one.
But anyway. That’s the second time this year that this has happened to me. The first was when I read Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, the third book in her Wayfarers series, which I love. Record of a Spaceborn Few only fell short of my expectations because there were too many characters and I found it hard to connect with them all. In fact, I also read the next book in the series, The Galaxy and the Ground Within, this year, and I liked it a lot (though it didn’t come close to her first two, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit). Then I read Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, which was described as Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I liked Good Omens and I loved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and the plot description definitely sounded interesting- a romance between a cursed violin teacher who steals the souls of her students in order to recover the ability to perform live, which she lost in a deal with the Devil, and the captain of a starship from another planet, who has come to Earth to give her family a better life and now lives incognito as the owner of a donut shop. If this sounds like a lot of plot to juggle… It certainly was, and I don’t think the author pulled it off very well. Not to mention that I couldn’t get into the romance at all- too much insta-love and “telling” instead of “showing.”
So… now I just want to read a good science fiction book, and I’m looking back and trying to figure out what draws me to science fiction in the first place. I always say I love science fiction more than any other genre, but then I never read science fiction, and when I do, I’m always very selective about it. I’ve figured out that I don’t like anything that’s more focused on the science than fiction. That doesn’t interest me. What interests me are characters and their interactions, which is why I love Becky Chambers so much. Her works are super character-driven. They‘re good stories about interesting people that just happen to take place on other planets (and sometimes the people are extraterrestrials).
I mostly just love aliens (extraterrestrials). I love aliens coming to Earth and being a fish out of water, and would LOVE it if there were more stories of the reverse- humans going to other planets and being a fish out of water. I love the idea of human/extraterrestrial romance, even though I have yet to read a really good one. I love stars and nebulas and galaxies and words like “stellar,” “intergalactic,” “celestial.” I love the thought of traveling through space with a motley crew on a starship. I love the culture clash between humans and aliens and seeing how it gets resolved. I really love the exploration of alien worlds and discovery of new life.
Also I love Douglas Adams and Isaac Asimov. Adams because his characters are so entertaining and because the overall point that H2G2 seems to be making (at least in its first two books) is “no matter where you go, you still have to deal with the same bullshit you thought you left behind at home. Also life is meaningless so just enjoy as much of it as you can, while you can.” Which to me is a funny concept that takes away all the romantic notions about space travel/exploration. And I love Isaac Asimov because… I love ROBOTS. And of course his characters are beloved to me. And I love how he used science fiction stories to point out contemporary social issues (as many science fiction writers do- that’s another reason I love Becky Chambers’ books), and some of his books are MURDER MYSTERIES!! Which I also love but am equally selective about.
Sometimes I feel like I like the aesthetic of science fiction more than actual science fiction, but be that as it may… it’s definitely a genre that still has a great appeal for me.
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Date: 2022-12-22 09:10 pm (UTC)Going from my own experience, maybe it's not that you don't like science fiction that much, it's just that the Douglas Adams and Isaac Asimovs are really, really rare, and we've read them already, so now we have these high standards of what a good story is, because we're used to the best of the best, and there just aren't that many authors writing good stories. I don't mean that this isn't the Golden Age of science fiction anymore, I just mean that at any given time there are very few really good writers in any given genre. I enjoy John Scalzi, as a fun way to pass the time, but it's definitely not the same as rereading Adams and Asimov. I really need to check out some of the black authors that are being critically acclaimed lately, like N. K. Jemisin, but I'll admit I'm afraid they're too heavy and will leave me depressed. I know the social criticism in them is really important, but I keep waiting for a time when I feel well enough to read something really heavy. Also, because of this general topic we're discussing, I'm afraid to be disappointed in them, like I was when I read Ann Leckie or Kim Stanley Robinson, both of whom I heard such great things about, but whose works just didn't speak to me.
Actually, the only authors I've read for the first time in the past few years that really gave me that sensation of "omg, I need to finish this and know how it ends, but at the same time I don't want it to end, because I'm enjoying it so much" are Alice Oseman and Lucinda Riley (which reminds me, I need to finish that series of posts about the Seven Sisters). I keep trying new authors with premises that sound interesting, and then not finishing the book because it's not as good as it seemed. I miss being a bookworm.
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Date: 2022-12-27 02:03 am (UTC)I definitely recommend Becky Chambers' first two books in the Wayfarers series. A Closed and Common Orbit features a robot protagonist! That was probably my favorite of the entire series, but all of them have their merits, I just like the first two the most.
Oh, that's probably true, we could just have high standards haha. Ah! Your mention of John Scalzi reminded me of when Love, Death, and Robots came out and one of my favorite episodes was based on one of his short stories, and I always meant to read the actual story but I couldn't find it. I should give it another shot now... And I really want to read N.K. Jemisin, I've heard so many good things. I totally get your worries that her works might be too heavy. I hope you do end up enjoying them whenever you feel up to reading them (and I hope the same for myself).
This reminds me, I do want to go back and check out a couple classics... I've always loved Ursula K. Le Guin, but strangely enough, I've never read anything by her that was written for adults. So I need to. And I just read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, and I'm very interested in reading more. Plus, I never did finish the Foundation series...
I'm glad you're smart enough not to finish a book when you're not enjoying it! I've had to do that with a couple this year, and it still feels weird to me. Like, I could have done it with Space Opera, but I felt like I had to finish it even though I didn't like where it was going. I really hope you find that elusive good book one day, or a new author whose work you'll start to love!