Not only is this Book Friday, this is my test post from the Squarespace app on my iPod. As far as soft keyboards go, I actually like this keyboard in landscape mode, I think it works quite well. So to the matters at hand.
I enjoyed Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper a great deal. There were some strange, almost anachronistic aspects to it (maybe the wrong word, but I think it conveys what I mean). For example, rather than sending an audio file, if someone wanted to transmit a recording to someone else wirelessly, they would play it for them at "60 speed" and the other person would record it and play it back at a normal rate later. This seems to be product of sixties tech combined with an author whose focus is on character interactions and plot rather than gadgets.
Piper also portrays the characters as having very "Colonial" attitudes towards other sapient races. This felt very much at odds with the contemporary paradigm surrounding First Contact scenarios and interspecies relations.
Another interesting note is that Piper seems to take a different approach to conflict than most of our modern stories. While today the heroes of our stories generally struggle and fight their way through the plot, the protagonists in Little Fuzzy seam to steamroll their way over the antagonists with only relatively minor inconveniences. It resulted in the protagonists eventual victory seeming a little less triumphant.
Despite these issues, and maybe sometimes because of them, I felt that Little Fuzzy is worth the read, especially since you can get it for free from the Amazon Kindle store. Sure there are plot issues and character issues and setting issues, but it's a fun book andfanboy can be (auto-correct correction) thought provoking if you come to it in the right mindset.
Next Friday should be a mini-review of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's been captivating so far. I'll add links to this post later.
Andrew
Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. Page 247/676
I enjoyed Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper a great deal. There were some strange, almost anachronistic aspects to it (maybe the wrong word, but I think it conveys what I mean). For example, rather than sending an audio file, if someone wanted to transmit a recording to someone else wirelessly, they would play it for them at "60 speed" and the other person would record it and play it back at a normal rate later. This seems to be product of sixties tech combined with an author whose focus is on character interactions and plot rather than gadgets.
Piper also portrays the characters as having very "Colonial" attitudes towards other sapient races. This felt very much at odds with the contemporary paradigm surrounding First Contact scenarios and interspecies relations.
Another interesting note is that Piper seems to take a different approach to conflict than most of our modern stories. While today the heroes of our stories generally struggle and fight their way through the plot, the protagonists in Little Fuzzy seam to steamroll their way over the antagonists with only relatively minor inconveniences. It resulted in the protagonists eventual victory seeming a little less triumphant.
Despite these issues, and maybe sometimes because of them, I felt that Little Fuzzy is worth the read, especially since you can get it for free from the Amazon Kindle store. Sure there are plot issues and character issues and setting issues, but it's a fun book and
Next Friday should be a mini-review of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's been captivating so far. I'll add links to this post later.
Andrew
Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. Page 247/676
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