FACT SF Reading Group

October 1997

October 11: Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold

Attendees: A. T. Campbell III, Cyndi Dunn, Wes Dunn, John Gibbons, Karen Meschke, Shirley Crossland.

We gathered at ArmadilloCon 19 in Hunt, Texas to discuss Bujold's latest book. Memory is another adventure of her continuing character Miles Vorkosigan, and in this book Miles turns thirty and his life falls apart. He's forced to reevaluate his career and personal relationships and literally reinvent his conception of himself.

Our group contained people who'd read Bujold's complete body of work, plus some who'd never read her before. We all found the prose readable and had no trouble finishing the book.

Opinions of the book were mixed, though generally positive. Many of us found Miles to be a well-developed character and we were sympathetic to his attempts to extricate himself from the situations the plot forced upon him. People with this opinion had all read Bujold before. One person who'd read a previous Miles book and found the writing too "facile" said that Memory was much better.

A couple of people didn't find Miles's characterization realistic, and they weren't too interested in the story. These folks admitted that they don't like space opera or military fiction in general. The person who liked the book least also said that she never likes books that try to mix comedy and drama (as this book does).

Those who liked Memory felt that this was among Bujold's best books. The writing and characterization are more sophisticated than ever, and Miles is forces to undergo real growth. Miles also changes careers in this novel, which we felt was a clever move on Bujold's part. This will allow her to write a wide variety of Miles books in the future -- "young Miles" novels will feature Miles as a soldier, and "older Miles" novels will involve Miles as a ... but that would be telling, wouldn't it?

As usual for a Bujold discussion, at the end of the meeting we segued into a discussed of Bujold's complete body of work and how it all tied together. We had a fun time discussing this book. We wished more folks had braved the Flash Flood warnings to join us.

October 21:Fair Peril by Nancy Springer

Attendees: Cyndi Dunn, Wes Dunn , Shirley Crossland, and Willie Siros.

This book begins with a woman who has just turned forty and is trying to get her life back together after her divorce. Walking through the park one day, she runs across a frog who tries to convince her that a kiss will turn him into a handsome prince. Buffy has had enough of men lately, charming or otherwise, but decides a talking frog would be a good addition to her professional story-telling repertoire. So she takes him home, never thinking that her teenage daughter may be more susceptible to a charming frog's wiles...

Despite rumors that many of the male members of the reading group stayed away on the grounds that this is a "woman's book," the two men who were present seemed to have enjoyed it. Willie commented that it's nice to see someone break out of the Celtic high-fantasy tradition to do something this new and creative. Springer combines some very humorous updating of traditional fairy tales with a nuanced consideration of the main character's personal conflicts about her own life choices and those of her daughter. (Shirley's comment: Where was this book when _I_ was forty?) There are also a lot of strong secondary characters including the teenage daughter, a mother-in-law fairy godmother with a "purse full of guilt", and a very quirky librarian who magically creates exactly the right book for every customer. There was some feeling that the author was overly heavy-handed in explaining Jungian symbolism to the unitiated, but we generally liked the new perspective she provided on some of the traditional themes: Maybe marryng Prince Charming isn't really the best choice for a sixteen-year-old. Perhaps the prince is sometimes as passively trappd by role expectations as the princess. And most of all, the idea that we all have the power to change our own stories.

-- A. T. Campbell, III