That book sounds kind of interesting meg. I've never heard of it before. When was it written?
Looks like it was published in 2005.Quoting Daniel Davis (view post)
Here's the Amazon.com product page.
It's one of those books I picked up really cheap because I thought it had a cool cover
Plus, the description says it's about kids trained to become "a master race of ninja-assassin geniuses" - nothing with that premise could be all bad!
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
The Cosmic Puppets is pretty good. It's minor Dick, to be sure, but really fun. It totally reminds me of a Stephen King story, and I couldn't help but wish that King would have written more novels clocking in at 150 pages.
Imagine waking up and going to work. While driving to work, you begin to notice that things feel slightly different. You get to your work only to discover that your business is gone, it has been replaced with another and nobody around you seems to notice, nor have they ever heard of your work. You get back home to discover that your house key no longer works. You find yourself in a world that is similar to the one you lived in but altogether alien, and, what's more, you find out that you actually died years ago. You then discover that the town you live in is a battleground for the eternal struggle between good and evil, and find yourself caught in the middle trying to change things back to how they were.
This story has more in common with the horror genre than it does the sci-fi genre. It has ghosts, giant eternal ones, rampaging animals, clay golems, and evil little kids. It feels more like a creepy episode of the Twilight Zone or Tales From the Dark Side.
There is not a lot going on below the surface here, but it is a fun, spooky, and entertaining read.
That sounds cool, D.
"Giant eternal ones" - do you mean Lovecraft references??
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
The gods are kind of Lovecraftian. This story reminded me of a mix between Lovecraft and sci-fi. It is far more plot and action driven than most of the Dick I've read.
I started reading some Sturgeon short stories this morning. I finished one called "Derm Fool," and it is really good.
You know the saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Well, when life gives you reptile-like skin that sheds every 24-hours, make belts, jackets, and insanely realistic stuffed mannequins. Yes, a dream come true for a slightly disturbed taxidermist!
This story is awesome. It's got some great humor, too.
At one point, someone knocks on the door of the main character's house. He says, "There is only one animal stupid enough to knock when there's a bell - a policeman."
The cop comes in, and introduces himself to the reptile-skinned man and his girlfriend. He says his name is Brett H. Brett.
The dude's girlfriend winces and asks if the H stand for halitosis.
Good stuff. I can tell Sturgeon was having a lot of fun with this one.
That sounds brilliant.
Which collection is that found in?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
It's in a collection called Starshine.
Which collection is that found in?
Cool, I'll see if the library has that one.
I really enjoy good short fiction. That Lansdale collection "High Cotton" has some absolute gold in it.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Oh yeah - High Cotton is amazing.
Starshine is pretty good. The stories are mostly straight-up, old school, "Astonishing Tales" kind of stories. Just classic little horror and sci-fi stories made to entertain.
I love those.
Not everything we read can expand our minds. Much like movies, some stuff out there is just meant to entertain - it doesn't make it any "lesser", and it can still be very well done...it just has a different goal in mind.
I love those old "Weird Tales" stories. It's like "Tales From the Crypt", but in prose.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Yeah - these stories are totally like Tales From the Crypt, Tales From the Darkside, and The Twilight Zone. Of course, it is stories like these that gave birth to these shows.
Good stuff. Just little gems of creative entertainment.
I started Poul Anderson's The Enemy Stars today. First time I've read Anderson. It's a tiny little book, less than 150 pages. It was nominated for a Hugo in the late 1950s. It's pretty good. Reminds me a little of the film Sunshine. It's a survival sci-fi story. It's about a generations ship that breaks down while en route to a dead star, leaving its small crew stranded. The crew consists of a Japanese pilot and Zen Buddhist, Nakamura; an outer-system colonist and anti-Earth revolutionary, Chang Sverdlov; a rich, eccentric physicist, Terangi Maclaten; and a young man, Ryerson, son of space-faring father, who is afraid of space flight.
The Cosmic Puppets - Philip K. Dick
The Cosmic Puppets is one of the most straightforward, purely entertaining books I've yet to read by Philip K. Dick. It is super short, to the point, and zips along like a bat out of hell. While reading it, I was constantly reminded of Stephen King (oh, if only King could write shorter novels!), H.P. Lovecraft, The Twilight Zone, Tales From the Dark Side, and other “Astonishing Tales.” This is an example of driving plot, and exists only to convey an engaging read.
Even though the premise is purely Dickian, The Cosmic Puppets has more in common with strange horror than it does science fiction. It tells the story of a small town's unwilling participation in the timeless struggle between the very forces of Good and Evil. While on vacation with his wife, Ted Barton finds himself compelled to visit the town of his birth, Millgate, Virginia. Nestled in a secluded valley, Millgate is a town stuck in time, a living anachronism, rarely visited, hardly noticed. But in typical Dick fashion, things are never as simple as they seem.
Barton reluctantly discovers that too much has changed since his exodus nearly eighteen-year ago. For one, nothing is how he remembers it: the streets all have different names, the stores have all been changed, and no one seems to be the wiser. Secondly, Barton discovers that he actually died as a young child! From here, things just get more and more strange. Soon, Ted finds himself caught in the middle of a struggle between two giant gods (think Lovecraft's Elders), Ahriman, the Lord of Evil and Chaos, and Ormazd, the Lord of Order and Truth (both of these gods feature prominently in Zoroastrianism).
While the two gods fight for control in the hyperspace around the Earth, in Millgate a smaller battle is being waged. The spiritual war has cast a field of distortion around the town, and has changed things considerably; it has caused a strange juxtaposition between the real world and another, alien one. Leading the forces in Millgate is Peter, an evil little boy, and Mary, a benevolent little girl. Peter is able to control an army of tiny clay golems, spiders and snakes to do his bidding, while Mary uses bees, moths, and the Wanderers, apparitions from the real pre-changed world who have partially crossed over. As the tension escalates and the battle becomes more ferocious, the two sides clash in melee of magic and fisticuffs.
While the narrative does deal with themes common to Dick, those of identity, reality, and spirituality, the execution of the themes is all together different and lighter. It reminds me of a Dick story translated into an alien language and filtered through the mind of a more horror-orientated author before being committed to the page. That is, it's familiar and I recognize Dick's touch, but it is also strangely alien. It is a slight work, more fluffy than I am used to from good old Phil. It doesn't dive into the cracked psyches of its characters, or examine their depression in light of the absurd situations surrounding them, but, instead, it is far more heroic in nature.
Although The Cosmic Puppets is not on the same level as Dick's great novels, far from it really, I can't help but be compelled to recommend it. It's just too much fun. I tore through it in a matter of hours, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It is a very cinematic book, and if you enjoy envisioning great genre fiction in your mind, The Cosmic Puppets makes for an amazing “theatrical” experience. Just don't expect any of Dick's more subtle explorations of humanity, and don't think that the book represents the author as a whole. As far as a diversion into the realms of pure entertainment goes, it doesn't get much better. It is simple, concise, and heck of a lot of fun.
"Solaris" is one I've (shamedly) avoided, because I adore the Soderbergh film so much.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I've only seen parts of the original film. I've wanted to read this for years, so I am really looking forward to it.
I think I'll check out the Soderbergh film after I'm done with the book.
Cool. I hope it's not a huge disappointment. (The book or the film).
I also love Tarkovsky's film, but it and Soderbergh's are so different that it's like comparing apples and oranges. Same very basic story, executed in totally different ways, and with very different end messages and philosophies.
I prefer Soderbergh's version. It's tighter, freaking gorgeous to look at and listen to (my second favorite musical score of the new millennium, before The Fountain), and George Clooney's performance is just freaking wow.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
If you do decide to tackle the book of the new sun, d, make sure you set aside some time for it. It isn't the sort of text you can pick up and blaze through. To quote: one does not simply walk into Urth.
"Modern weapons can defend freedom, civilization, and life only by annihilating them. Security in military language means the ability to do away with the Earth."
-Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
Yeah, I'm not sure I am in any hurry to pick of Wolfe again. I just don't get along with overly dense, flowery prose.
He intrigues me, and I like his ideas, but there are a lot of books in the stack to get through before his turn comes up again.
So, Solaris totally hits the ground running. The mystery strange atmosphere is established in the first few pages. I am actually a bit surprised. I thought it would feature a much slower build.
So far I love the way Lem is establishing the presence of the sentient ocean. It is beautiful, haunting, and ominous.
I didn't care for this much at all. I love Soderberg's film, but the novel moved at a snail's pace and never really pulled me in. I agree that the beginning establishes the mood nicely, but from there it loses that atmosphere through tiresome descriptions. Every time I'd think it was going to start picking back up, it would detour into another distracting description, curtailing the buildup and ruining the effect of the story.
There is a lot of infodump, that's for sure, but I am loving it so far. I am only about 50 pages in, so I can't say for sure. God knowns I've loved some books only to have them completely peter out by the 200th page.
Lem is an incredible writer though, and so I imagine that even if the story isn't super interesting I will still find a lot to admire in the prose and the way he sets up situations.
I just read one passage that was absolutely brilliant. Lem builds up the tension while Kelvin is searching through another scientist's office. Kelvin reaches out to open a door, opens it, and says that he was staring into a black, empty, abyss...and thats when he realized he should take off his sunglasses. Brilliant! I love the way Lem plays with genre conventions here.
So "Prodigy" is pretty good so far. An admittedly unoriginal plot, but done with style and some interesting twists.
Maybe it's because I've been reading shorter novels lately, but damn does it seem overlong.
Descriptions of details that just don't seem necessary at all. It feels like where I am in the plot I could have been at 50 pages ago if he had just written with more brevity.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Ugh. This is my biggest literary pet peeve.
If I can rip many pages out of a novel and not have the plot or any of the character development hindered, I've got to question the author's ability to tell a story, his editor's ability to edit, and the publishers motives.
The best example I can think of right now is The Ruins by Scott Smith. You could actually rip 2/3 of the book out, throw it away, and not only have the same story, but a better one!
I completely agree.
Though, at the same time, more descriptive - even "flowery" - language can be very appropriate.
It just depends on the story, and the author's ability to use the language to his/her advantage.
"Atonement" by Ian McEwan uses huge shifts between succinct, to-the-point language, and flowery, more descriptive prose in order to evoke changes in tone, time and overall atmosphere in the book.
It's quite brilliant, and uses both styles to great effect.
But generally, I find an author's ability to convey an image effectively and accurately with just a few words is more impressive than being able to write six paragraphs of description.
A great example of this is how you, D. Soler and I all saw the character of Jason in "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" as Cary Grant. PKD never gives a hugely in-depth description of the character's appearance, but through his actions and the small amount of description we get, we all got the same mental picture. I think that is very skillful writing.
Then again, H. P. Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors, and his stories pretty much rely on his ability to describe things in minute detail.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
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