| Title: | Arcana Caelestia |
| Notice: | Directory listings are in topic 2 |
| Moderator: | NETRIX::thomas |
| Created: | Thu Dec 08 1983 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1300 |
| Total number of notes: | 18728 |
I just started an interesting novel by what appears to be a new author.
The book is Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand. I bought the paperback
version so it must have been out for a while. The cover says it is her
first SF novel. I was wondering if anyone is aware of anything else
she might have written. Her name does sound familiar to me...
Anyhow how the book is set in the distant future. Civilization has
gone through several major upheavals. The book so far is sort of a
Science Fiction horror novel. Her style seems new to me in a
refreshing way I haven't felt since I read Gibson's Neuromancer.
A general description follows the form feed for those of you who
don't mind.
The first section of the book is about a girl who was autistic but has
been transformed into a sort of empathic whiteboard. By exposing
disturbed individuals to her "abilities" the patients problems may be
removed from their minds. She encounters something startling in
someone's mind which appears to be more than just an imaginary horror.
The second part (which I've just started) is about her twin brother who
was not autistic but separated from her as a child...
There are several other sections which I haven't gotten to yet.
Been a good read so far.
-steve
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 917.1 | ELMST::MCAFEE | Steve McAfee | Mon Sep 24 1990 15:05 | 10 | |
I finished Winterlong last week. I'd rate it overall about a 7.5 out
of 10. Has anyone else read it yet?
- steve
BTW I just picked up the full length version (~900 pages in paperback)
of Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. It was in the horror section of the
bookstore and just released (October 1990). Thanks for the tip whoever
mentioned the novella...
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| 917.2 | An excellent first novel | TECRUS::REDFORD | Sun Jan 05 1992 18:26 | 23 | |
I've just finished "Winterlong" as well. It's a striking novel,
full of vivid characters: the chimpanzee-actress Miss Scarlet,
the literally skeletal Dr. Silverthorn, the mad Aviator, the
empath Anna/Andrew, and of course the principals: Wendy, Raphael,
and the Boy in the Tree. It's great to see this kind of
character development in SF. Wendy starts out as a blank, a girl
so devoid of emotion that she is used to absorb the emotions
around her. Raphael is her opposite, a boy whose whole life (and
business!) is intrigue and romance. He longs for something else,
somthing more substantial, and so starts his journey into
knowledge. Wendy doesn't even know she's missing anything, until
she's ripped away from the Institute that was experimenting upon
her by an enemy attack. She and Raphael must inevitably cross
paths, and their emotional development crosses as well. I'm
looking forward to more of them in Hand's next novel, "Aestival Tide".
/jlr
PS SF cover art is rarely as apt as it is here. The cover
shows a mask in the shape of a butterfly and made of a circuit
board. It's being held over a black marble face with bright blue
eyes. The painting is by Will Cormier - I hope to see more of
his work as well.
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