REVIEW | Metatropolis Edited by John Scalzi

Metatropolis is one of only a few anthologies I have ever read where it is hard to pick a favorite story as most were superb.  Five of the brightest voices working in Science Fiction today have come together to create a shared future focusing on cities, which was originally envisioned as a audio only piece for audible.com. Included are stories from Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, Karl Schroeder, and John Scalzi who also edited the whole project.

Scalzi has done something I don't think has been done before: created a shared world which all of the contributors helped develop and sometimes working in unison sharing their stories with one another as they were writing so things tied-in together as best as possible. Nearly every story is a winner and stands alone in its own right yet together they build a tapestry world where nations have toppled and communities are organized loosely as city-states with anarchy reigning most other places. Metatropolis is about as Green Punk as it can get with its zero-footprint enclaves and green fanatic cults. It is even more so Green Punk than Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, plus it is a bit more approachable and not so desolate.

Jay Lake starts off the anthology with In the Forest of the Night.  Lake's story is placed in Cascadiopolis, which is a anarchistic closed-collective in the wilds between Seattle and Vancouver. This was the bleakest story of the bunch. Even though this group of people has advanced technology they are still distrusting of outsiders. Two newcomers get into the city and cause havoc. Green leaves you guessing a lot up until the end.  The pacing was very slow and I wanted some more backstory for a few characters, but given the structure I understand why they weren't included.

Tobias Buckell's story Stochastic-City is next placed in a run down Detroit, which gives you a broader view of how the world of Metatropolis came about mixing in some of the events that culminated in the downfall of society. Buckell's story focuses on a future Detroit where a movement to remove cars from the city is taking hold of the populace who are not necessarily for it. Sort of a forced greening of a city. This story easily had my favorite main character who goes to great lengths to get what he thinks he deserves only to find a direction for his life.  This was my first taste of Buckell's writing and it has made me eager to finally crack his novel Crystal Rain, which I hope to get to in the near future.

Elizabeth Bear's contribution is The Red in the Sky is Our Blood, which follows Buckell's setting in Detroit, but takes a very different tact for a similar goal. One running theme in all the stories is people trying to live through each day without thinking about tomorrow and finding a purpose.  I enjoyed Bear's story, but found it difficult to connect with the protagonist Cadie, but that was as designed in many ways.

John Scalzi story is the Latin titled Utere Nihil Non Extra Quiritationem Suis , which if I shared the translation would ruin part of the joke to the funniest story in the anthology. Unlike the other stories Scazli focused on a main character who grew up in a closed cities and who doesn't understand what life was like before society changed and does not appreciate what the world outside safe cities has become. Benji ends up taking a very low level job under threat of expulsion from New St. Louis as everyone must contribute to the betterment of the city in some fashion. Benji is a character drawn to be disliked, but in the end he becomes endearing and finds his place in the world even if it smells funny.

Karl Schroeder finish the book strong with the most meta story in the bunch with To Hie From Far Cilenia. It involves steampunk and a cyber world experience similar to that of Snow Crash, but more enmeshed in reality. Yet it oddly reminds me of The City & The City with worlds beyond worlds and a detective like format of an agent in search of something and finding more than he ever thought existed. Really well done.

My biggest disappointment was it was over before I was ready to leave and that we only saw one story outside of North America.  I give Metatropolis 8 out of 10 hats.  This definitely ranks among the best anthologies of the year now.  Longer works could certainly be made from what they have and there are a lot more cities to visit and stories to tell in the world of Metatropolis.  Sub Press's did the limited edition hardcover release which I read with a trade hardcover recently released from Tor.

It was recently announced that there will be a second Metatropolis volume. This time Jay Lake is taking editing duties with all stories being placed in his Cascadia. It will be called Metatropolis: Cascadia and will contain stories by the returning Jay Lake, Tobias S. Buckell; Elizabeth Bear; Karl Schroeder; and newbies to the world Ken Scholes and Mary Robinette Kowal. Now that is quite a lineup. Also, the audio version will be narrated by various Star Trek cast members. I would have preferred to see another book from different cities around the world again instead of one locale, but the lineup more than makes up for it.


You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
REVIEW | The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
10 "Facts" About John Scalzi
REVIEW | The God Engines by John Scalzi
REVIEW | Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

REVIEW | Is Anybody Out There? ed. by Nick Givers & Marty Halpern

Theme anthologies can go one of two ways. Either they work really well or they end up feeling like the writers had to stretch themselves too much to create a story that worked for the theme. Is Anybody Out There? focused on the Fermi Paradoxes is decidedly in the camp of the former with a couple virtuosos in the short game truly standing out and a few others not working for me as they seemed a bit disorienting.

Paul McAuley starts things off well with an introduction for those not in the know about the Fermi Paradox with a grand overview and a bit of history and known theories. The paradox boils down to "Where are they?" The Universe is so big and that old if there is intelligent life out there why haven't they found us or we found them yet? Quite an intriguing idea for writers to sink their teeth into. This is ground that has been trod on before, but certainly never with such a diverse covering of new, established, and often fringe theories.

Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn, “Report From the Field” A very quirky tale done in field report style from an alien determining if Earth is ready for inclusion in Galactic Community.

This story had me chortling left and right like few other writer can do and the only funny story in the bunch. In many ways humor is more difficult to relay in written form than something dramatic or action oriented. Resnick and Robyn excel at the funny asides as well as the satirical while this particular alien sees us at an skewed angle from viewing our television, movies, and documentaries trying to make sense of what they selected. There are perfect examples of humanity's absurd and violent side, which make me question our place in the cosmos and the fact that if there is life out there we'd probably just screw up first contact.

Jay Lake's “Permanent Fatal Errors” takes us on a space voyage with a crew of altered human immortals who are guinea pigs for longer interstellar missions. Only who among the crew actually wants to achieve the objectives of this mission?

Told from the point of view of the lowest member of the crew who sees himself as a baby next to the rest of the very old and intelligent crew as he tries to make his way through their murky machinations. An astrological anomaly confounds the crew and a conspiracy is afoot, but just who is doing what? Lake certainly shows his suspenseful flair as there is something out there. And it wants to be found. The story definitely felt unfinished though, but some nice turns more than kept my attention.

David Langford's “Graffiti in the Library of Babel” is a most unusual first contact story.  Someone or something has been marking up an important world database with odd notations. What do they want?

An intelligence has downloaded our history and science and are trying to communicate with us through it. This reminded me a lot of a Robert J. Sawyer story in the making with some very nice dialogue. I couldn't connect with any character though, but the situation grabbed me from the first page as the character tries to write back somehow.

In Kristine Kathryn Rusch's “The Dark Man” a shadow shaped like a man shows up every decade or so on the steps of a very old Cathedral in Italy.

Rusch's background as a mystery writer shines through this tale told in a very different tact than the rest as an investigative reporter takes on paranormal events to find out the truth behind them, but she has finally found a case she can't explain away as a hoax. Rusch takes the idea of a classic conspiracy and twists it into Sci-Fi spectacularly. This was my second favorite story of the bunch.

Pat Cadigan, “The Taste of Night” delves into the mental contact aspects of alien communication with people supposedly suffering mental illness and one of my favorite disorders synesthesia. If you don't know what synesthesia is than go read the wiki as I'd love to see more stories working it in.

Synesthesia causes the senses to get crossed and people associate colors with certain numbers, words, or even days of the week. What if people who had this ability were able to be contacted by aliens? Would we believe them or just call them mad? A really well done story all around. Wonderful psychology angle questions the sanity of people and how we could be missing something right in front of us.

Ian Watson's “A Waterfall of Lights” again takes the tact of alien contact through our minds, but gives it a good twist.

If there are aliens they could have died out millions of years ago, but what if they left a legacy behind that was still out there? What would they look like? A surprisingly good story from a writer new to me despite having been around for decades. The story is very similar to the work Robert Charles Wilson has been doing with his Spin books, which is probably why I like it so much.  The ending was left hanging quite a bit, but watch out for those eyes.

James Morrow, “The Vampires of Paradox” put us in present times with a religious order that is keeping a terrible event at bay by contemplating logic paradoxes along the lines of "if a tree falls in the woods with no one around does it make a sound?" The paradoxes mentioned are further reaching though and even more mind-bending.

No one does philosophical conundrums as well as Morrow and his stripes are still more than up to the task but ends up feeling a bit of heavy handed at times.  Still it fits the given setting and style. Morrow is still a master of short fiction and this was by far the strongest story of the lot and was rightly chosen to end the anthology. The inclusion of this story along makes the book worth picking up. This could also be seen as the best paradox lecture you've ever attended. I could definitely see it being referenced in some logic classes.

Is Anybody Out There? is great cross section of Fermi Paradox ideas packed with wonder. Wonders of science. Of confounding mysteries. Of what could be's. Of what should be that is well worth dipping into. A few stories left me indifferent or just plain lost, but the Morrow, Rusch, and Watson's stories more than make this volume worth grabbing. Visit Marty Halpern's blog More Red Ink for serializations of a few short stories from Is Anybody Out There? including Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Sheila Finch, and Jay Lake.

You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
REVIEW | The Clockwork Jungle Book
REVIEW | Diving Into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

REVIEW | The Clockwork Jungle Book (Shimmer 11)

I meant to do a review of Shimmer 11: The Clockwork Jungle Book a few weeks back, but I misplaced my copy during all of the hullabaloo of moving and remodeling. Now that everything is unpacked things should be getting back to normal.

The Clockwork Jungle Book as the name implies is based on the theme of Steampunk animals. This simple theme was carried above and beyond my expectations. Most of the authors were new to me, but some well known names do appear in the volume such as Jay Lake, Chris Roberson, along with the first fiction I've read from Lou Anders the impresario of Pyr. Overall, The Clockwork Jungle Book is a sumptuous feast of all things Steampunk with many stories that I hope are only beginning glimpses inside these wonderful and sometimes weird alternative worlds. Now on to some of the highlights.

Shedding Skin; Or How the World Came to Be by Jay Lake - To start we have Jay Lake's take on a mechanical animal filled Eden. This story sets the tone for the volume well, but they only get better from here, which says quite a bit as Lake is one of the better short stories writers out there.

The Jackdaw’s Wife by Blake Hutchins - This was one of my favorite tales. Hutchins's managed to do a lot with a little, creating an incredible monster from scratch within a few pages. Some of the development happens a bit too quickly though.

The Student and the Rats by Jess Nevins - A nice tale about a man tinkering with creatures to see how they work and make them better. It is almost a Steampunk retelling of the myth of Prometheus only with rats.

Otto’s Elephant, by Vince Pendergast - Stories within a story about what mechanical elephants of the past could do if they existed throughout history. Beautiful telling as if a bard were right there next to you. It felt like this was only the beginning to a much larger book of tales that I hope Pendergast revisits.

The Monkey and the Butterfly by Susannah Mandel - Hands down the cutest story in the bunch. A monkey who falls in love with a cat in a Victorian setting where most animals are highly intelligent, but still give into their animal instincts at times. Great character building in such a scant space.

The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar by Shweta Narayan - Possibly the biggest standout in the collection. This tale could have easily fit in Arabian Nights as it evokes a desert setting as well as a moral beautifully done. It is also another story within a story.

Message in a Bottle by James Maxey - This is a story Jules Verne could almost have written. Maxey’s great adventure tale on the moon goes in unexpected directions.

The Clockwork Cat’s Escape by Gwynne Garfinkle - The shortest tale in the bunch, but most definitely one of the most heartfelt about knowing when to let go of something you love.

The Wolf and the Schoolmaster by James L. Cambias - Cambias needs a contract right now to write a book based off this story as this is clearly only the impetuous to a much longer story with a rich world history at his finger tips. This story is also startling similar in terms of tone and setting to what Scott Westerfeld did with Leviathan, so if you're a fan of that book you'll absolutely love Cambias. That said Cambias does put his own unique spin on this tale in some very good ways.

And How His Audit Stands by Lou Anders - Anders surprised me with one of the most well thoughtout and adventurous stories in the bunch yet the animal theme is a bit lost. He somehow gives a new life to trains with great Western style flair. I recently learned that Mike Resnick upcoming Steampunk themed series Weird West was initially Lou's idea. I now understand where Lou gestated the thought.

The Story In Which Dog Dies by Sara Genge - The anthology starts at the beginning of creation so it was only fitting to include a story about the end of the world with this tale of how the last dog on earth keeps moving.

The Fishbowl by Amal El-Mohtar - A perfect use of the theme in which the world's oceans are now populated by clockwork fish because of the proliferation of steam tech.

His Majesty’s Menagerie by Chris Roberson - A clockwork animal arms race followed by a clockwork animal war. Wonderfully done.

The Emperor’s Gift by Rajan Khanna - With an Asian flare the workings of a clockwork builder come to life.

There was not a clunker in this bunch. I give The Clockwork Jungle Book 9 out of 10 Hats. This is a volume that had it been a little longer could have easily found a home with a large publisher for the mass market. If you are a Steampunk fan go out and order this book or if you've always wondered what keeps me reading this genre it would be a great volume to induct yourselves into the fold. You'll thank me later. Now Shimmer has got me wondering whether every issue is as high quality as this so much that I'll have to check out another.


You Might Also Like:
So Much Steampunk, So Little Time
REVIEW | Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers
REVIEW | The Affinity Bridge by George Mann

Covers Unveiled for Jay Lake's Pinion and Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

Jay Lake's third and final clockpunk novel Pinion is slated for release in March from Tor.  A synopsis has not been released yet, but the cover is quite impressive as have all the rest in the series.  I think it is also my favorite of the series thus far. UPDATE: Stephan Martiniere has been confirmed as the artist.

Alastair Reynolds' US publisher Ace has smartly gone with the same art as his UK publisher for Terminal World.  The art is beautiful, but I'm not too crazy over the yellow type.  It is with great shame I admit to not having read any of Reynolds's novels, but I'll be rectifying that next year with the Steampunk infused Terminal World. 

Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains ...Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability.

You Might Also Like:

LOOKING FORWARD | Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi, & Steampunk to Watch for in 2010
So Much Steampunk, So Little Time
Covers Unveiled for Kraken by China Mieville

Table of Contents for Is There Anybody Out There? Edited by Givers & Halpern

One of my reading goals of 2010 is to get to more short fiction.  Part of that will surely be accomplished with Is There Anybody Out There?, which I mentioned in my 2010 anthology round-up.  I was tipped off to the TOC release from the always helpful Marty Halpern.  As soon as I saw the list I was shocked by the inclusion of James Morrow. That was all I needed to make sure to pick-up a copy. As if I needed another reason.  It is quite a line-up of wonderful short story writers such as Jay Lake, Paul Di Filippo, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch all checking in on the idea of why if there are aliens haven't we heard from them already?

Paul McAuley, “Introduction: Here Comes Everyone”
Michael Arsenault, “Residue”
Pat Cadigan, “The Taste of Night”
Paul Di Filippo, “Galaxy of Mirrors”
Sheila Finch, “Where Two or Three”
Matthew Hughes, “Timmy, Come Home”
Alex Irvine, “The Word He Was Looking for Was Hello”
Jay Lake, “Permanent Fatal Errors”
David Langford, “Graffiti in the Library of Babel”
Yves Meynard, “Good News from Antares”
James Morrow, “The Vampires of Paradox”
Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn, “Report From the Field”
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, “The Dark Man”
Felicity Shoulders & Leslie What, “Rare Earth”
Ray Vukcevich, “One Big Monkey”
Ian Watson, “A Waterfall of Lights”

Halpern has done a long post about the anthology including descriptions of each story that is worth checking out.


You Might Also Like:
INTERVIEW | Paul McAuley author of The Quiet War
INTERVIEW | Kristine Kathryn Ruschauthor of Diving Into the Wreck
OPINION | Science Fiction Where Have You Gone?