Rip-Off!

#1008
Title: Rip-Off!
Authors: John Scalzi, Jack Campbell, Robert Charles Wilson, Mike Resnick, Elizabeth Bear, Allen Steele, Daryl Gregory, Lavie Tidhar, Mary Robinette Kowal, James Patrick Kelly
Editor: Gardner R. Dozois
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Year: 2012
~360 pages

"Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson
"The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick
"No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear
"The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele
"Begone" by Daryl Gregory
"The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar
"Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi
"Writer's Block" by Nancy Kress
"Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell
"Karin Coxswain or Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
"Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams
"Declaration" by James Patrick Kelly

An amusing but not memorable collection, and given the number of homages, I'm not certain these are "rip-offs." In fact, starting with a text/texte from an admired author is an honored poetic device.

Many of the stories are not science fiction or fantasy, and many are strangely similar to others in the collection. Several, such as Williams's, were funny, but there are no great pieces here. Scalzi's was familiar, though well-written--it's The God Engines writ small.

Annabel

#1007
Title: Annabel
Author:  Kathleen Winter
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Year: 2010/2011
Country: Canada
480 pages

Pretty writing, an interesting story, and good parallels and symbolism (including some subtleties, like the mention of a seam ripper). However, Wayne/Annabel was so understated as to be something of a cypher. I found myself more and more frustrated by this drifting passivity, which isn't really resolved despite action at the level of the plot.

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband

#1006
Title: The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband
Author: David Finch
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 2012
225 pages

An entertaining memoir by a man with high-functioning Asperger's. While I agree with some reviewers that some of what he describes is just human behavior within normal limits (they say man behavior but having lived with men, this seems too sweeping a dismissal), some is quite clearly in the Aspie range. Read with Robison's Look Me in the Eye for comparison.

Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge

#1005
Title: Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge
Author: Mike Resnick
Publisher: Phoenix Pick
Year: 1994/2012
46 pages

A nice idea with poor execution and lackluster writing. I'm surprised that it was an award winner.

The Ramayana

#1004
Title: The Ramayana
Author: Anonymous
Translator?: Bulbul Sharma
Publisher: ? Audible edition
Year: 2012
Country: India
~180 pages

The rating is for this version, not for the Ramayana per se. Though entitled "The Ramayana," this is a gloss of the text into a narrative told at about a middle reader level. While it tells me the story, I have no idea whether the details are accurate. Certainly the structure has been altered and I have no sense of the meter.

The Upanishads

#1003
Title: The Upanishads
Author: Anonymous
Translator: Juan Mascaró
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Year: 500 BCE/1965
Country: India
144 pages

This is unlike most Penguin volumes in that there are no explanatory notes. Instead, there is a rambling religious essay by the translator, the gist of which is that if you're a right-thinking person, you'll understand that the religious views espoused in the text are correct. This perspective is supported by quotes from other religious texts, Shakespeare, and poets. Not impressive and not what I expect from Penguin.

Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon #1)

#1002
Title: Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon #1)
Author: China Miéville
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 2000/2003
640 pages

As always, wonderful world-building, terrific descriptions, great characters, heavy internal parallelism, and a fine narrative voice. There's some unresolved moral ambiguity, and a character or two fades away non-threateningly at the end, but otherwise tightly constructed. Lovecraft plus Stephenson, perhaps, with much invocation of Victorian/steampunk scientific laboratories, both in reality and as envisioned by Stephenson. Miéville does a great deal with the meaning of wings, and sex with bug-ladies.