Karsa Orlong

The R40 tour finished in LA on Saturday night. I have never seen them take a bow like this at the end of a show before, let alone have Neil come to the front of the stage: I bought my first Rush album when I was 14 years old, and their music has been part of my life ever since. I think it will always be so but, as far as seeing them live goes, this looks like it really is The End ETA: https://youtu.be/KOWBLOuLIDU?t=343

I can guarantee you won't have read anything quite like it before

I finished Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End last night (reviewed it here) and I'm now making a start on Annihilation, the first book in Jeff Vandermeer's 'Southern Reach' trilogy.

It's gone on the wishlist I loved their book The Legacy of Heorot, so high hopes

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge 2006 - Tor paperback - 381 pages Robert Gu is a world-renowned poet and recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a new cure, he discovers that the world has changed. He is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he's starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts. Living with his son's family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access and to see the digital context--through smart contact lenses. With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination. This conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert's son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot . . . This is the last of Vernor Vinge's novels that I had to read, so when I saw it in Indigo in Calgary it was instantly a 'must-buy'. Vinge doesn't write many novels so, for me, the ones that exist are something of an 'event'. A Fire Upon the Deep and its prequel-of-sorts, A Deepness in the Sky, aren't just two of my favourite science fiction novels, but two of my favourite novels full-stop. The belated sequel, The Children of the Sky, wasn't quite on the same level, and his earlier, shorter works didn't have the same epic sweep, but they were all still hugely entertaining. I'd put off reading Rainbows End purely because the reviews I'd read had been so mixed, and I wasn't quite sure where a next-gen, high-tech thriller fitted in with his other work. I shouldn't have worried, really. Vinge is well-known for his envisioning of the 'technological singularity', wherein he posits that the creation of a true artificial intelligence will see the end of the human era. Rainbows End, in its own way, is kind of a poke in the eye for people who have taken his ideas to extremes. In this story, set in 2025, it's the internet and the way it brings us together from all over the world that is the issue. People 'wear'. They use contact lenses with direct access to the internet, controlled by gestures or virtual keyboards. Their clothes are also tuned into this, and they overlay the real world with skins like we change the desktop on our computers. Into this new world emerges Robert Gu. For the past twenty years he has been suffering from Alzheimer's, and for the past four years he has been near death, until a miracle cure came along and saved him, rejuvenated him, and gave him back to his family a changed man. He was, before, a famous poet, whose artistic energies had caused him to abuse and alienate practically all of his friends and family. There are still aspects of this about him and, when he finds that the treatment has deprived him of his creativity, he is drawn to a mysterious stranger, who appears as a virtual presence, and offers him a cure to get his poetic powers back - if he'll help infiltrate the laboratories at the university in San Diego. What's going on at the heart of those laboratories is the kicking-off point for the story (in essence - and this is revealed in the very first chapter, so it's not a spoiler - it's a kind of terrorism using subliminal advertising and mind control) but really, at its heart, the story is about being happy with who we are and what we have. Robert's quest to retrieve his old genius leads him into dark, unpleasant corners where his past lurks and his future crumbles. But, although it sounds like heavy stuff, Vinge's usual brilliance is in never losing sight of the fact that we read to be entertained. Unlike so many science fiction authors, he has the big ideas, and they're there on the page, but there is always a human dilemma at its centre, and the warmth of the characters always shines through. The first two third of this novel are a joy, told with his usual eye for humour whilst conveying his ideas by showing rather than telling. It's kind of a drip-feed of ideas that gradually come together in your mind. On this occasion, though, he doesn't quite see it through to the end, and the final third stumbles across the finishing line. The main plot threads are dealt with in satisfying fashion but he makes one misstep. There is a riot that is instigated for various spoilery reasons and, rather than leave it in the background, he chose to bring it front and centre and spend long-ish chapters focusing on that rather than on the central characters. It's a decision which, I suspect, was largely borne out of a desire to explore what lengths the various skins and the group mentality of the internet could be taken to. On the face of it it might seem like a good idea, but in practice I found it largely an irritation, detracting from the main plot and devolving into what I suspect he thought would be funny - large opposing groups and virtual presences skinned as fluffy animals and monsters - but ends up being a very silly and something of a momentum-killer. Overall, I'd place this as his fourth best novel, behind A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky (obviously!) and Marooned in Realtime. Not the best place to start with his work, but still better than most of the competition. And no, there's no apostrophe. There's a reason for it, and even a chapter called 'The Missing Apostrophe', because - after all, even rainbows come to an end. Plus I've got through all this review and not mentioned Mr Rabbit. Silly me

I may have to buy it again when the new SF Masterworks edition is published next year, just for the cover I've not read that one - I'm guessing you'd recommend it?

I wouldn't mind, but he hasn't even been on here for five years himself

Well I always recommend A Fire Upon the Deep - it's the one I started with. I've read it twice and it's one of my favourite science fiction novels. This is assuming that you like stories set on other worlds and with weird and wonderful aliens Also, the prequel - A Deepness in the Sky - is fabulous. They're only linked by one character - the stories are completely separate, so they can be read in any order (or not at all!). More detail on both of them here I'm about 250 pages into Rainbows End, and it rocks, so far

Ya big wuss Gotta love those Gemmell covers

Hang on, I only bought them the Christmas before last

Great review, Tim. I'll get around to them eventually

Which other ones do you have? I've read all of his novels, apart from Rainbows End (until now, anyway), so may be able to help

Watched the last episode of Wayward Pines last night. At least I hope it's the last episode. Also watched the first episode of Z Nation.

Hard to find any real Londoners in London these days

Don't be silly, they're not from Manchester

Stranger in a Strange Land arrived today

No, I haven't bought it as yet. Some of the reviews have been a bit discouraging so I was waiting in the hope they'd balance out a bit This morning I've made a start on Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End. Forty pages in and hooked already.

HMS Ulysses by Alistair MacLean 1955 - HarperCollins ebook - 485 pages The novel that launched the astonishing career of one of the 20th century’s greatest writers of action and suspense – an acclaimed classic of heroism and the sea in World War II. The story of men who rose to heroism, and then to something greater,HMS Ulysses takes its place alongside The Caine Mutiny and The Cruel Sea as one of the classic novels of the navy at war. It is the compelling story of Convoy FR77 to Murmansk – a voyage that pushes men to the limits of human endurance, crippled by enemy attack and the bitter cold of the Arctic. Waaay back in the early 80s I read a handful of Alistair MacLean's novels (I remember really loving When Eight Bells Toll and The Satan Bug at the time) but this is the first one I've read since then. I picked it up for 99p in a Kindle deal whilst on my quest to find a real edge-of-seat thriller. What I didn't realise at the time was that this was MacLean's debut novel. And it's really good. It's the story of a convoy from Scapa Flow to Murmansk during WWII. HMS Ulysses is one of the fastest and best-equipped ships in the world. At the start of the story its captain, Richard Vallery, is being grilled by his superiors. His crew have been pushed to the limits of their endurance by endless missions in freezing Arctic conditions and, led by a violent ex-con by the name of Riley, have teetered on the edge of outright mutiny. Their punishment? To be once again sent into the Arctic Circle as the leader of an escort for a convoy of thirty two cargo vessels carrying vital fuel and war machines. The writing's very good - a little too verbose in places, and a little rough around the edges, understandably. Patrick O'Brian this ain't. But the characterisation is quite subtle, in that the various members of the crew on which he chose to focus became fully rounded through little quirks of expression or dialogue without me really noticing it. I absolutely loved the relationship between Admiral Tyndall and Carpenter, aka the Kapok Kid, the ship's navigator. It was full of humour, something which was much needed, and that's because, as well as moving along at a relentless pace from start to finish, HMS Ulysses is also relentlessly grim. I can't remember a book where so many characters die. The conditions in which they have to work are horrific, and I think MacLean's biggest success in this book is in creating this all-encompassing atmosphere of the freezing weather. It made me feel cold just reading it. I was going to say that it's a tale of triumph over adversity but - if it can be called a triumph - the price is too high. It's a really good read, and I will definitely read/re-read more of his books. As a slight aside, I have picked up a couple of the books that were recommended in the thread I started asking for thriller recommendations: Running Blind by Desmond Bagley and A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay, so thanks to Sarah and Sari for the recs

That was nice of them We had the picture stunt pulled on us a couple of times in Canada and I think they were trying to charge $35 for each one

Canadian solidarity!

Denny Crane! Watched ep 9 of Wayward Pines last night.

I dread to think how much they stung you for those photos

Looking forward to finding out what you think of it! I've got about 150 pages left to go in HMS Ulysses. Reading it last night, something happened that actually made me gasp and say, out loud, 'Oh no!'. Can't remember the last time that happened

I know that feeling Echoes my feelings almost exactly. They're so immersive, you dive in and you're there for the duration, and it's so hard to surface at the other end. And that prolonged chase/battle with the Waakzaamheid is, for me, the most memorable, exciting, terrifying sequence in all the books I've read in the series so far. That, plus the characters, the focus, the espionage plot - I really wish they'd used this story as the basis for the film. I've got three left to read. At the moment, Desolation Island is still the one I'd hold up and say 'read this one'. Even if, as you say, it doesn't stand on its own, it's the one that really, finally, pulled me in completely - the point where I went from really enjoying the books to absolutely loving the series.