War of the Gyro reviewed at 0.333

James at 0.333 published a very good review of War of the Gyro. Not only does he like it, but he rates me favorably in the same review with Cory Doctorow. I can't help but being a little puffed up by that.

He isn't a graduate of Columbia's MFA program nor did he attend a Clarion Writer's Workshop, as far as I know.

It's true. I don't have any special writer's cred in that way (though I did get a rejection slip from Wizards of the Coast yesterday). I did, however, "waste" my schooling years studying philosophy, so I'm nearly as low on the usefulness scale.

I'm somewhat embarrassed that I still haven't read Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, as I really enjoyed Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, but maybe I'll get to it soon. I've been on a huge paperback science fiction kick lately. The reason is as simple as the discovery of a used bookstore behind the place where I buy my groceries. Now, thanks to a bunch of replies to a thread I posted on Attacks of Opportunity, I've got a even more recommendations to sift through.

Recently Read:

• Trekmaster by James Johnson - a totally random choice that turned out quite well. A world degenerated to feudalism has been reunited by a powerful leader who hopes to reintegrate it with the galactic union.


• Solar Lottery by Phillip K Dick - In the future, Von Neuman's game theory is the basis for a system of government, and someone's trying to kick over the game board.


• The Crack in Space by Phillip K Dick - A fascinating political sci-fi that can summarizedied in the following sentence: A helluva lot of strange stuff has to happen before an African American can get elected president.


• The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove - Lee's army accepts miraculous new weapons from a group of mysterious strangers but find that winning independence comes at a great cost. This novel presents a much more optimistic view of the South than Turtledove's other "south wins the war" alternate histories.