I have peeked at the endings of "Quake Zone" and "Camouflage", and
that makes two auditions in a row.

Wednesday 8 November 2023

When *will* I learn to date quickly-jotted notes to be developed
later?

I've renewed the book twice, and I'm still not halfway through.

"Guardian Angel", Mike Resnick

A fine example of noir. Most of my recent trips to medical facilities
have precluded reading in the waiting room, so it's been a while since
I read it, but most of the plot and characters came back to me when I
glanced at a couple of pages.

"In the Quake Zone", David Gerrold

Part of the denoument is a discussion of the difficulty
pre-Singularity people would have in understanding a post-Singularity
world. It's the other way around: a lot of pre-Singularity people
regard a lot of the features of the Post world as bugs, but they get
along fine. People born after the Singularity can't grasp life before
at all.

On a re-enactor's mailing list, there was a prolonged discussion of
the "bedgown"; not indecent, but not worn into town. After reading a
few dozen posts, the dime dropped: the bedgown was equivalent to blue
jeans!

And in the same instant, I realized that I'd never be able to explain
the status of blue jeans to people born after they became a fashion
statement.

"The City of Cries", Catherine Asaro
I'm saving this one for last because comparing the novella to the
novel was my main reason for checking the book out.

"Camouflage", Robert Reed

Primary appeal is the gradual revelation of how the world works. I do
hope that we find out what the captain did before the story ends. I
suspect that we need a *lot* of background before we can understand
why it was so awful.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On Fri, 10 Nov 2023 22:20:56 -0500, Joy Beeson
<jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:

>
> "Camouflage", Robert Reed
>
> Primary appeal is the gradual revelation of how the world works. I do
> hope that we find out what the captain did before the story ends. I
> suspect that we need a *lot* of background before we can understand
> why it was so awful.

We didn't.

I'm not seeking out more stories in this world.

During the climactic next-to-the-last scene, I had no idea who was
doing what or why. Of course, I did have drops in my eyes, and was
expecting to get interrupted at any moment.

In retrospect, it's amusing that the doctor asked whether I could see
the computer screen before showing me the results of the tests. The
dentist never does that.

Good news and bad news: I'm not going to go blind, but I have three
appointments to get a needle stuck into my eye. I'm assured that it
is a very fine needle, and will go in through the sclera.

"The Big Downtown", Jack McDavitt, starts out very PI, except that the
distraught client is male.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

Joy Beeson wrote:

>On Fri, 10 Nov 2023 22:20:56 -0500, Joy Beeson
><jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Camouflage", Robert Reed
>>
>> Primary appeal is the gradual revelation of how the world works.
>>I do hope that we find out what the captain did before the story
>>ends. I suspect that we need a lot of background before we can
>>understand why it was so awful.
>
>
>We didn't.
>
>I'm not seeking out more stories in this world.

I generally enjoyed the "Great Ship" stories. I've read pretty much all
of them at one time or another.

Brian