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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Dead Air has commented on (8) products
Elric To Rescue Tanelorn Elric 02
by
Moorcock, Michael
Dead Air
, October 19, 2008
Something needs to be said immediately about the packaging of this compendium of Michael Moorcock stories: the byline Elric - Chronicles of the Last Emporer of Melnibone #2 is essentially not true. Not quite a lie, but a stretch of the truth, as there are Elric stories contained in the volume, just not necessarily more than other Eternal Champion themed tales. Elric is the star of Moorcock's creations, and deservedly so. However, the first two stories "The Eternal Champion" and "To Rescue Tanelorn" feature entirely different protagonists and not even a mention of the melancholic albino prince. Don't, however, let that stop you from reading this amazing collection of short fantastic ficiton. This is vintage Moorcock at his creative best. While claiming it is solely an Elric collection must have seemed as necessary to the publishers as the obligatory Tolkein name drops on the cover (which given how much Moorcock dislikes Tolkein's work is surely aggravating for the author!) in fact you get to travel the Multiverse with the likes of Erokse, Rakhir the Red Archer, and Count Renark von Bek. Moorcock's prose is engaging while being mystical simultaneously. This is well worth owning and reading, just know ahead of time what you will be owning and reading!
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Brasyl
by
McDonald, Ian
Dead Air
, October 02, 2008
British Science Fiction Award winning and Hugo nominated Brasyl is a riveting read as Ian McDonald does for this South American nation in a near future vision what he did for India in River of Gods. At least it is in part a "near future" vision, there's also a contemporary timeline and an 19th century historical one. In fact it reads like three separate novels of three different Brazils until near the end of the book. One warning, the ending is not only left very open, but is downright incomplete. It seems likely McDonald has a sequel in mind.
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Our Band Could Be Your Life Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981 1991
by
Michael Azerrad
Dead Air
, October 01, 2008
The author did an amazing job picking the bands to cover, and his research and interviews are extensive and well done. This is a major document of a time when underground rock musicians figured out how to create their own national and even global network without agreeing to take part in the larger mass media one. There is much to be learned from this experience. I have a beef about some of the accuracy regarding some of the NW bands (the worst two being referring to Tacoma's legendary Girl Trouble as from Olympia, and claiming that Seattle's avant-garage punks the U-men were the first to mix punk with metal when the real U-men had not a trace of metal in their Sonics meets Birthday Party sound whatsoever!) Nonetheless, I know quite a bit more about this scene than most people do. It just indicates that books such as this one should be taken as a representation of things, not necessarily the absolute truth.
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White Wolfs Son The Albino In The Middle
by
Michael Moorcock
Dead Air
, October 01, 2008
Moorcock claims this will be not only the last novel he writes in the Elric Saga, but it will be the last Eternal Champion novel period. Of course David Bowie has been claiming he won't sing "Ziggy Stardust" anymore since the '70s as well... In any case, it's a good novel, if definitely more of an EC story than specifically an Elric one. In fact, it reads on some levels a bit more like one of the Jerry Cornelius novels than an Elric one. But then how can you end an "eternal cylce" without writing from a post-modern perspective? Despite that, there's also a major sub-plot with a child protagonist in the person of Oonagh von Bek traveling through the Moonbeam Roads in a decidedly Alicesque manner. Her companion, Reynard the talking fox is an absolutely wonderful character as well, who really comes into his own in this book.
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Un Lun Dun
by
China Miéville
Dead Air
, October 01, 2008
China Mieville's first foray into young adult literature is one part Oz, one part Neverwhere, one part Monty Python's Holy Grail and one part Gulliver's Travels for the cell phone generation. If you are expecting a kids' version of his Bas Lag novels, this is not even remotely similar to that. If you've read King Rat and some of his more horror tinged stories set in London, that's getting closer, but don't expect that level of edgy darkness. This is satire and often rather whimsical, though not without Mieville's decidedly leftist political agenda as an undercurrent. He takes a swipe at some of the mythical cliches of the very type of story he's telling too. The "chosen one" may not be the hero(iene) in the end when China's spinning the yarn. Does this stand up as a read for adults as well? Certainly if you're willing to ride with China through a very different world from his other works.
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Prefect Uk Edition
by
Alastair Reynolds
Dead Air
, September 15, 2008
Alastair Reynolds gets better and better with each new book, and this one has him at the top of his game. I've heard it said that prequels always fail, and The Prefect exists to be the undeniable exception to that rule. What pulls us in as a simple space detective story is actually anything but simple (though never so complicated as to be hard to follow). Warring Artificial Intelligences try to prepare for a doomed future and humans in all of their natural and transhuman forms are for the most part just caught in the crossfire. Still there seems to be a message about ethical people having real inner strength that gives us a glimmer of hope even though his long term readers know the Glitter Band is more than doomed!
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In War Times
by
Kathleen Ann Goonan
Dead Air
, September 09, 2008
This American Library Association recommended novel has it all: alternate history based upon the author's father's actual WWII memoirs, Jazz jams with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, secret technology, multiversal physics, very likable characters, and a chance to save the world from the mess we're in today. You'll wish the "Hadnzt Device" weren't science fiction, and that Ms. Goonan's visions of history and potential futures were the one guiding us in the real world - rather than the one imposed on us by political "leaders" instead. I loved Kathleen Ann Goonan's Nanotech Quartet immensely, so it's great to see her succeed at a new book that's something completely different from that!
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Queen City Jazz
by
Kathleen Ann Goonan
Dead Air
, September 07, 2008
This is simply put one of the best science fiction books I a have ever read. An incredible debut. A bit like post-apocalypse, but the apocalypse wasn't nuclear, it was nanotech. Verity is one of the most likeable protagonists ever too. Read it!
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(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
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