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pjthompsonQuote of the day:
"Nothing to excess. Yet God employed brushstrokes of glory. In the hands of greatness, was excess quite different?"
—Tanith Lee, Saint Fire
Bookiness of the day:
The Company Novels (and stories) by Kage Baker
Kage Baker's Company Novels and the legions of supporting short stories, novelettes, and novellas set in the Company universe are really one vast work. Fortunately for those who didn't subscribe to Asimov's for years in order to get the latest Kage Baker stories (such as certain correspondents who shall remain nameless), most of these wonderful stories have been collected in two Company books: Black Projects, White Knights and the "novel" Children of the Company, which is really a compilation with original bits of writing stitching them together. I can highly recommend both these collections because they contain some of Kage Baker's finest work, layering in the lives of characters like Kalugin, Lewis, and others who thread in and out of the novels. If you want to explore the Company, these two books will bring it home to you, in all its rich absurdity and melancholy.
That's one of the things I love most about Ms. Baker, her ability to make you laugh and cry in the same story. Her books are deeply felt, more than a little jaded about mankind, but ultimately about the triumph of the individual human spirit. Her cyborgs move through time, accumulating wealth and "lost treasures" for the Company coffers, often seeming more human then the mortals they interact with, when they're not being cold-blooded monsters. Mendoza is the Company botanist whose joy and heartbreak through time comprises the heart of the grand story arc. But oh the supporting characters! I've come to love and worry about so many of them.
The novels (unspoiled):
In the Garden of Iden - This is the first Company novel, in which the young girl Mendoza falls into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition and is subsequently recruited by the Company. Young cyborg Mendoza goes on her first mission in England during the rule of Queen Mary during her marriage to Philip of Spain and becomes embroiled, through her Protestant lover Nicholas Harpole, in the religious persecutions of the time. I loved this book, and in many ways I consider it the strongest of the series, a real walk in both sunshine and shadow.
Sky Coyote - The second book follows Joseph, Mendoza's mentor, as he poses as the mythological Coyote in order to achieve his Company mission amongst some California Indians of the 18th century. This books is hilarious, even though it doesn't have quite as much to do with the grand story arc, except obliquely.
Mendoza in Hollywood - Circa 1850, that is. She's on a botanical mission when she wanders through the unpopulated canyons of what will one day be Hollywood. She encounters a number of odd Company types, plus the mysterious English agent, Edward, who is uncannily familiar. This book is slow to get started, but it finishes in grand style and hammers several more nails into Mendoza's story arc.
The Graveyard Game - Rather uneven, I thought, but another strong finish and with absolutely essential grand story arc information. The fire is lit under characters we have come to care for, such as Joseph and Lewis, and things ramp up for the grand finale. Conspiracies within conspiracies, plots within plots.
The Life of the World to Come - Another fine novel, but maybe hard to pick up if you haven't read some of the other stuff. For one thing, I don't think the emotional substrata will make as much sense. Because I've read all the other material, this novel was quite gripping for me as things really come to a head for Mendoza, and the brilliant man-child, Alec Checkerfield—who again is eerily familiar to Mendoza.
And that's what we've got so far. The Machine's Child comes out in September and I sincerely hope it resolves the cliffhanger ending of The Life of the World to Come. But I did note that Amazon has another Company novel listed, Gods and Pawns, set for January 2007. Undoubtedly, I'll be there for that book, too, wherever it leads me. I just enjoy going along for any ride Kage Baker wants to take me on.
I can also recommend her non-Company stories and novels. The Anvil of the World is a splendid serio-comic fantasy.
"Nothing to excess. Yet God employed brushstrokes of glory. In the hands of greatness, was excess quite different?"
—Tanith Lee, Saint Fire
Bookiness of the day:
The Company Novels (and stories) by Kage Baker
Kage Baker's Company Novels and the legions of supporting short stories, novelettes, and novellas set in the Company universe are really one vast work. Fortunately for those who didn't subscribe to Asimov's for years in order to get the latest Kage Baker stories (such as certain correspondents who shall remain nameless), most of these wonderful stories have been collected in two Company books: Black Projects, White Knights and the "novel" Children of the Company, which is really a compilation with original bits of writing stitching them together. I can highly recommend both these collections because they contain some of Kage Baker's finest work, layering in the lives of characters like Kalugin, Lewis, and others who thread in and out of the novels. If you want to explore the Company, these two books will bring it home to you, in all its rich absurdity and melancholy.
That's one of the things I love most about Ms. Baker, her ability to make you laugh and cry in the same story. Her books are deeply felt, more than a little jaded about mankind, but ultimately about the triumph of the individual human spirit. Her cyborgs move through time, accumulating wealth and "lost treasures" for the Company coffers, often seeming more human then the mortals they interact with, when they're not being cold-blooded monsters. Mendoza is the Company botanist whose joy and heartbreak through time comprises the heart of the grand story arc. But oh the supporting characters! I've come to love and worry about so many of them.
The novels (unspoiled):
In the Garden of Iden - This is the first Company novel, in which the young girl Mendoza falls into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition and is subsequently recruited by the Company. Young cyborg Mendoza goes on her first mission in England during the rule of Queen Mary during her marriage to Philip of Spain and becomes embroiled, through her Protestant lover Nicholas Harpole, in the religious persecutions of the time. I loved this book, and in many ways I consider it the strongest of the series, a real walk in both sunshine and shadow.
Sky Coyote - The second book follows Joseph, Mendoza's mentor, as he poses as the mythological Coyote in order to achieve his Company mission amongst some California Indians of the 18th century. This books is hilarious, even though it doesn't have quite as much to do with the grand story arc, except obliquely.
Mendoza in Hollywood - Circa 1850, that is. She's on a botanical mission when she wanders through the unpopulated canyons of what will one day be Hollywood. She encounters a number of odd Company types, plus the mysterious English agent, Edward, who is uncannily familiar. This book is slow to get started, but it finishes in grand style and hammers several more nails into Mendoza's story arc.
The Graveyard Game - Rather uneven, I thought, but another strong finish and with absolutely essential grand story arc information. The fire is lit under characters we have come to care for, such as Joseph and Lewis, and things ramp up for the grand finale. Conspiracies within conspiracies, plots within plots.
The Life of the World to Come - Another fine novel, but maybe hard to pick up if you haven't read some of the other stuff. For one thing, I don't think the emotional substrata will make as much sense. Because I've read all the other material, this novel was quite gripping for me as things really come to a head for Mendoza, and the brilliant man-child, Alec Checkerfield—who again is eerily familiar to Mendoza.
And that's what we've got so far. The Machine's Child comes out in September and I sincerely hope it resolves the cliffhanger ending of The Life of the World to Come. But I did note that Amazon has another Company novel listed, Gods and Pawns, set for January 2007. Undoubtedly, I'll be there for that book, too, wherever it leads me. I just enjoy going along for any ride Kage Baker wants to take me on.
I can also recommend her non-Company stories and novels. The Anvil of the World is a splendid serio-comic fantasy.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 06:34 pm (UTC)