FACT SF Reading Group

July 2007

July 2: 1632 by Eric Flint

We discussed 1632 at the North Village Library, where we had nine participants, including three first-time attendees. One member had been lobbying for us to discuss this book for at least three years. Four of us had read Flint previously. Eight of us had started 1632, and all eight finished. One additional member submitted comments by email.

In this book, the small mining town of Grantville, West Virginia is whisked from the year 2000 to Germany in the middle of the Hundred Years’ War. The townspeople immediately must defend themselves and figure out how to get food, energy, and other necessities of life. Along the way they make powerful allies and enemies, and they have to fight many battles.

We liked a lot about this book. It fits well into the “go back in time and reinvent technology” tradition of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Lest Darkness Fall, and many others. The historical look at science and industry was fun. The characters of the townspeople and the locals they encounter are well-developed, and we especially liked the strong women. One of our favorite characters was Jeff, the motorcycle-riding nerd hero. We enjoyed the appearance of historical figures like Gustavus Adolphus and Cardinal Richelieu. Several people commented that the fast-moving action and soap opera relationships made the book “popcorn “ or  “beach reading,” but that can be a good thing.

There were issues. One person wished the story had more science fictional elements beyond the time travel sequence at the start of the book. Another simply was not interested in reading detailed description of military battles. Two people mentioned being disturbed by a teenage girl being turned into a “sharpshooting killing machine.”

This led to a discussion of the political issues explored in the book. We liked its examination of church vs. state politics. One person suggested this town represented the Jeffersonian ideal of small town democracy. We had split opinions of the book’s message of “democracy is great no matter where or when.”  When we tried to figure out the author’s own political leanings, one person suggested “Trotskyist.”

A couple of people in the group were big fans of the 1632 world. They spoke enthusiastically about this book's sequels, the published fan fiction, and the unpublished fan fiction available online. They told us about the phenomenal fan community and the cons-within-cons held to celebrate 1632.

Overall this was a good book, and many of us who were initially dubious about it  (myself included), bought the sequel, 1633. After the meeting, we had a nice dinner at Waterloo Ice House.

July 17: When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

We have been reading classic works in the group a bit more lately. We realized that we had never read anything by George Alec Effinger, a onetime ArmadilloCon regular and former Guest of Honor. Since several of his books came back into print recently, we decided to read his Hugo-nominated When Gravity Fails. Eleven people gathered for this discussion at A. T.'s house, and two more submitted comments by email. Nine of us had read Effinger before. Ten people at the meeting started the book, and all ten finished. Both the email participants had finished the book.

This book is a cyberpunk detective novel set in the Middle East. Private detective Marid Audran is forced into an uneasy alliance with a police officer to work on a case for Friedlander Bey, a local crimelord. The book is set a couple of hundred years in the future, where people can have modifications  to improve their brain power and memory, give them new personalities, and provide specific knowledge like foreign languages.

We found it easy to get involved with Marid and his world. We felt that the story and technology hold up well, which is rare for a 20-year-old cyberpunk book. Several of us appreciated Marid’s personal struggle about getting brain modifications for himself. One person’s comment about the Middle East setting was “Effinger wrote about Arabs before they were cool.” The prose style is seamless and effortless to read. Marid is a sympathetic character, and his narration style reminded some of us of the work of Raymond Chandler.  We thought the mystery/sf blend worked well.

Those of us who knew the author felt that the atmosphere in the book derived as much from the author’s experiences in the New Orleans French Quarter as from his research about the Middle East. We appreciated his sympathetic treatment of the troubled people and social misfits who populate the strip clubs and bars where most of the action takes place. One person summed it up as “freaks are people too.”

Our disappointments in the book were minor. One person felt that plot was not as well-developed and memorable as the characters and setting. Another was disappointed that the book was not the hard sf novel she expected from the book’s title. It turns out that the title was a quote from a Bob Dylan song.

It was interesting to see how some of this book’s futuristic speculation held up. The ubiquitous use of cellular phones, which were rare or nonexistent at the time of the book’s writing, was spot-on. Some people felt that recent political developments in the Middle East make it clear that the world of this book can no longer exist in our future.  

Overall, we had a good time reading and discussing this book. Most of those new to Effinger plan to read more of his work. Afterward, we had a nice dinner at Mongolian Grille.

-- A. T. Campbell, III