Recommending Stross

Writer Charles Stross has really come on strong this past decade with scintillating works of speculative fiction. All of his published novels have been released this decade. So, for readers wanting to find that "current writer" to follow, I highly recommend Stross for those not already on the bandwagon.

For me, it all started with Halting State. Stross had already been recommended to me but had stayed on "the reading list." A glowing review of this recent work persuaded me to make it priority...so, I ordered the hard cover shortly after release and found it a page-turner.

The novel is a near future piece that points out the growing threats inherent in cyber-technologies. Spying, hacking, all the usual privacy and control issues are brought to bare. However, in typical Stross fashion, it's the clever storytelling and personal relationships in it that make it such a joy to read.

After being so pleasantly surprised by the book, I ordered Accelerando. The time span of this book is vast. Unlike the comfortable near future that most of us can imagine to a degree, Stross pushes it far in Accelerando. The story is very well anchored through the characters. The patriarch, Manfred Macx, the women in his life, his child and grandchild provide the common threads that weave through expanses of time and space. It's a fascinating tale with loads of scientific aspects addressed from the singularity to world colonization. But it's not all a geekfest. The personal issues addressed are profound and the story is captivating.

Touted as a sort of sequel, Glasshouse loosely takes off in the same singularity-based universal state as Accelerando. Although there is a backdrop common among both novels, there is no continuation of characters. So, Glasshouse can easily be read without any primer required. The time frames in this book span two eras: a troubling yet murky period of the protagonist's past and the core storyline era which takes place in an archaeologically experimental bio-dome of sorts. The time setting for the experiment runs from late last century through current day. So, it's very interesting to see how future people laugh at our seemingly ludicrous lifestyles.

Common in Glasshouse, Accelerando and Halting State are insights into the human condition. Stross never forgets that common literary goal: help people understand life. He takes all of the technology and future conditions and casts them in a very personal way. It is this deft ability that makes him such a pleasure to read.

More on literary fiction

This post from mediabistro just went online and it ties nicely into a recent blog entry of mine:
An essay on speculative fiction

My post reflects on Jason Sanford's article where he looks to literary fiction writers to lift up speculative fiction via forays into the genre with great works. Cormac McCarthy is cited. Ron Hogan, in the mediabistro post, also refers to McCarthy via his reference to a recent Wired magazine article.

The Wired piece talks about science fiction whereas Sanford focuses on speculative fiction. However, the sentiment is the same...mincing of genres aside. There are many camps in fiction. You could call me "in the speculative fiction camp" and it would be true. However, I don't get lost in semantics. We're talking about fiction set in a different space and time. It may not be that scientific but it's not your everyday fiction either.

Whatever you call it, one thing is certain: great writers are broadening context to comment on society through fiction. In the process, they're writing great stories. Regardless of genre trends or literary acceptance, great books are the result. I'm sure we'd all agree that's what we're after.

McCarthy's The Road

Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road has been called "a triumph." I always pause when marketers describe literary works as triumphant. What, after all, are the lonely writers out there battling against. In the case of The Road, the terms actually fits...a rarity.

Down far too low on my list of must-reads, I finally got to take in this beautiful piece of what can only be called literature. It is a wonderful book of what could be called speculative fiction. But great works like this one remind us that shoehorning a book into categories can sidetrack the attention they deserve. It won a Pulitzer Prize for a reason...it's an achievement by a seasoned writer who has put everything together so well that it can truly be called a masterpiece.

There are two things that I'd like to mention about this book: the style choices and the imagery.

As far as style goes, I learned much from reading this book. Selections McCarthy made like eliminating unnecessary apostrophes and many brief sentences contributed so much to the threadbare world vision he creates in the story. Chapters would have added too much order to the book .... there are none. The creation of a world in chaos translated into a book requires clever style and McCarthy pulled no punches.

On the imagery side, its such a poetic book that I had to stop and reflect a number of times. As I read along, I found myself immersed in a story of brutal events and then calmed by the beauty of a thoughtful passage. The book ends with a paragraph that I will reread many times in my life. It is, simply put, one of the most eloquent closings to a book I've ever read.

For all the writers out there: thank you Cormac McCarthy, you've shown us how it's really done.