Pete's Log: I can read, too!
Entry #1263, (Books, Writing, n such)(posted when I was 23 years old.)
I admit it. I've got a problem. I enjoy trash sci-fi. But even more, I enjoy good sci-fi. So let's discuss that first.
Everyone should read H.G. Wells. He's great. In fact, I'm somewhat ashamed that I considered myself a sci-fi fan and hadn't ever read any Wells until last summer. But now I've read four of his novels: The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau and War of the Worlds. His work is fun. First of all, it was written during the late 19th century for the most part, so it's quite different from modern sci-fi. But it's also neat because the stories are somewhat dark. As with most great science fiction, the sci-fi elements of the story, while good, are not its best feature. Instead what is truly great are the observations and statements about human nature, and Wells makes some good statements about some of our worse qualities as humans. Or something like that. Read it!
Let's move on. I finally made my way through "Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy" by Matt Ruff. It was a very fun book. Very strange. I may have to read it again. It took me the better part of this semester to finish it, primarily because I kept leaving the state but leaving the book behind. So I kept losing track of characters and subplots as there were many of each. The story is really quite absurd, but it kept me laughing. Weird futuristic genocidal conspiracies eminating from Disney world and such. And Ayn Rand in a lamp. Ayn Rand gets made fun of. There were many little interesting tidbits, many of them only loosely tied together. Over all, if you like absurd, read this.
And now: trash. I made quick work of "The Planet Wizard" by John Jakes. Definitely trash science fiction. The cover is a picture of a blond woman in some sort of futuristic metal bikini, strapped upside down to the face of some large lizard creature. In the background stands some ominous dude in a cloak. This picture is the only reason I decided to read this book. The plot was forgivable. Nothing notable, but good enough. Some futuristic time on a planet colonized by earthlings. However, scientific knowledge has been lost, yet some technology remains to be used. Of course, the technology is all now thought to run by magic. OK, sure, but how do people do maintenance work if they think stuff works by magic? So the main character is some wizard sort who figures out that it isn't really magic ... Anyway, what made this book true trash were the horrible characters. The single female character was a stereotypical weak female character, completely transparent and uninteresting. All the male characters were unreal, immature and apparently motivated solely by anger, despite the author's efforts to make it seem otherwise. I'm curious how this reflects on Mr. Jakes. His male characters are immature and angry, his female character is weak, he uses the term "wench" when discussing women more than is the norm, and uses phrases such as "he forgave Maya her womanly outburst" and "It's a woman's place to sob when circumstances bedevil her."
Oh well, the book kept me entertained (but not for the reason it thinks) and what more can I ask for?