Recent reading

Ghost Spin, by Chris Moriarty
I've been saving this up for at least a year, and damn, was it worth it. How are these books so good? If you like science fiction and have not read Spin State and Spin Control which are the first ones in the series, you really should. They feature, among other things:
- futuristic mine strikes and labor conflicts
- interesting and complicated AI characters
- a compelling human/AI romance
- an idealistic entomologist who is a clone
- cool use of quantum mechanics with actual plot relevance
- a queer woman of color as a protagonist
- vivid writing
I don't want to say too much about this one as it's the third in the series, but wow. So good.

Pacific Edge, by Kim Stanley Robinson
I am a huge fan of KSR's Mars books, so I expected to like this. And I really did! It's a utopia, and when writing one of those, you want to show off your utopia but still have a plot, and I think it succeeded in that (although sadly I can't quite believe in the revolutionary potential of legislation). The plot is 1) a love story and 2) a political struggle over whether a particular piece of land in a small California town should be developed or not. I like that there are lots of differing opinions and interests--it is not a homogeneous society. Also, I loved what KSR did with the author-insert sections talking about the writing of the book. At first I took these at face value, but it slowly becomes clear that there's something else going on there. Also there is nature porn in the book, and I am always a fan of that.

( I loved this quote. )

Ficwise, I can recommend Mansfield End by Ione, which is an AU ending of Mansfield Park with Fanny Price/Henry Crawford and Edmund Bertram/Mary Crawford. I like how it really takes its time to develop the relationships. Ha, and of course it's by Ione. I'd downloaded it to my ereader before reveals, and I am now entirely unsurprised to find out who the author is. I always love Ione's stuff.