Reading, 2

The project continues.

Next up was Chasm City by Alistair Reynolds, published in 2001. “A hardboiled pursuit/revenge thriller set in the RS universe,” from the author’s website. RS = Revelation Space, which I don’t know anything about other than what I’ve just read. Thriller? Nah.

An eight-day read, worked at diligently. Dense and detail rich. According to my research after reading it, this is Reynolds’ second published novel. And also second in reading order, it’s a ‘stand-alone’ as the Reddit experts tell it, but which surprised me as there seemed quite a bit of bloat. Stuff, that for the sake of the pace, readers could’ve done without. Stuff that I wanted to skim, but ended up plodding through because of not knowing what was essential to the plot.
There goes my theory that editors don’t look as closely at authors with a lot of books already published.

At times I thought I was reading about Mars. I think it was a case of stories bleeding into one another due to proximity. In this case, me watching The Expanse Series by James S A Corey on television. I think probably due to the sheer size of the chasm. Very Martian. Though in this case, it’s a planet called Yellowstone and a large part of the chasm is domed over.

Life in the chasm is very interesting, regional. As can be expected the upper classes live in the Canopy, the slums are in the Compost. Travel is by semi sentient vehicles that claw their way up and down and along hanging vegetation and cables. The slum dwellers are all about making a living. The rich play at turkey shoots, where they free a prisoner and force them to run for their lives.

The two main characters, with at first separate stories, eventually seem to meld into one another. The POV character keeps changing identities, and is as slippery as an eel to keep hold of. I found that quite disconcerting as the story is complex and I found it easy to get lost in. I did a lot of re-reading.

Why didn’t this turn into a DNF read? (Did Not Finish for those of us at war with acronyms). It could’ve, to be honest. But Reynolds also wrote the Revenger trilogy… Revenger, Shadow Captain, and Bone Silence. Three of my favorite modern science fiction reads.

Fantastic worldbuilding, great characters, piracy and treasure hunting, a gripping plot, a steampunk flavor. Rave, rave, rave.

Reading Chasm City I kept wanting to give Reynolds more time to come good, to tell the story with as much verve and vitality he’d shown in Revenger. I think now, knowing the Chasm City was only his second novel, that he was still learning.

Mongrel, 33 & 34

These look a bit like the kind of roots growing from Tardi’s heels and elbows … minus the washing pegs marking out root regions. This photo from IAP – Institute for Applied Plant Biology

Rita de Heer, Mongrel, 33 Download

Rita de Heer, Mongrel, 34 Download

Mongrel, 32

Photo by Emily Miranda, featuring Cairns wetlands (North Queensland, Australia), not the kind of mangroves I imagined for this chapter … here, in the photo, the trees are taller. Down in Northern New South Wales, the mangroves are about half the size. And here, there will be crocodiles.

32. Rita de Heer, Mongrel Download

Mongrel, 31

Three punt pole shoes of cast aluminium, with a screw into the wooden pole, swallow tail in varying states of wear By Cmglee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50325485

“The basic technique of punting is to shove the boat along with a pole by pushing directly on the bed of the river or lake. In the 1870s, when punting for pleasure first became popular, the normal approach was for the passengers to sit at the stern on cushions placed against the till, and for the punter to have the run of the rest of the boat. The punter started at the bow, planted the pole, and then walked towards the stern, shoving the punt forwards. This is known as “running” the punt. It was the normal technique used to move heavy fishing punts. As pleasure punts became lighter, it became more usual for the punter to stand still – normally towards the stern – while shoving. This is called “pricking” the punt. Pricking has the advantages that the punter is less likely to walk off the end of the punt inadvertently, and that more of the punt can be used to carry passengers.^[6 from Wikipedia.

31. Rita de Heer, Mongrel Download

Mongrel, 30

The bamboo grove I was thinking of when I wrote this chapter, looks just like this … though I did shift it a bit. There’s that bit of land by the creek near Azalea Bridge, across the water from Mullum High School. A lovely sunny spot in the afternoon. …

30. Rita de Heer, Mongrel, 30 Download

Mongrel, 29

Opening a can of worms here, I think. Or I should say I’m opening a kennel of cyber and or robotic dogs? There’s more of the latter in the real world than the former who still appear to be creatures of fantasy.

This image from a site selling actual, friendly, robotic dogs. https://keyirobot.com/blogs/buying-guide/top-5-electronic-dogs-that-are-just-like-the-real-thing? Anyway, they don’t call them robotic dogs, these are electronic dogs.

That’s to distinguish them from the nasty headless robotic dogs that shoot people, the so-called cyber dogs clearing mines, and all the other industrial type jobs they’ve been applied to. Dogs in name and that’s all.

I told you, a can of worms. But the pack below is how I imagined the cyber dogs in this chapter. And they definitely cannot be classed with electronic dogs.

29. Rita de Heer, Mongrel Download

Mongrel, 25 & 26

I’ve been searching a long time for an image that would give me an impression of Silver’s and Argie’s cyber fur. This bit of glass is the closest I’ve come yet. Especially the patch in the lower left corner. Tell me what you think?