Dynamic Subspace

Tag: Review

  • Paul Kincaid’s What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction

    Before a week’s long vacation, I finished reading and writing a review of Paul Kincaid’s What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction.  This is a great collection of Kincaid’s essays on a variety of topics centered around SF and the fantastic.  

    In his introductory essay, from which the title of the book is taken, he tackles one of the major concerns of SF scholarship, which is the definition of SF.  He skillfully manages to create a pragmatic definition that draws on Samuel R. Delany’s idea of a SF language, or what Damien Broderick calls the SF “mega-text.”  

    The collection is broken down into these sections:  Theory, Practice, Christopher Priest, Britain, the World, Gene Wolfe, and 1 April 1984.  The Priest section is very strong, and there are many other insightful and enthusiastically written pieces throughout the thirty-two essays and reviews in the book.

    Keep an eye out for my full review in an upcoming issue of Foundation:  The International Review of Science Fiction.

    Discover more of Paul Kincaid’s scholarship online here, and read about his current work on his blog here.

  • Jamie Barras’ “Winter”

    Jamie Barras’ “Winter” is another story in the 25th Anniversary Issue of Interzone. Barras’ story is a tight, one-two punch, with a nice twist at the end that shares similarities with Iain M. Bank’s Use of Weapons.

    “Winter” is an alternative history following WWII that’s about humanity dealing with a virus of the story’s title, initially assumed to be of extraterrestrial origin, that increases’ one’s mental abilities to “the level of supermen,” (26). These “patients,” including men and women, are known as “Wintermen” and they are a threat to the world wide nation state hegemony. The story follows Christian, one of the scientists involved in creating these supermen to question a captured woman who is an escaped Winterman.

    Interestingly, the work of early enhanced Wintermen is eagerly accepted by society, such as viral memory storage, “electromagnetics,” and longevity (24). However, the hypocrisy of the situation isn’t fully explored, but rather connected to the conflict within Christian and is tied to the twist at the end.

    “Winter” is an enjoyable short story that contains neatly packaged surprises for the reader. You can read it in Interzone #209, April 2007.