Arthur C. Clarke died early this morning after a long battle with post-polio syndrome. The New York Times has an interesting summary of his life and major accomplishments. I’m ashamed to say that I still haven’t read 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it is on my ever expanding reading list. Hopefully I can review it some time in the near future. Clark is well known for his laws of prediction, which are as follows:
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
As I sat down to write this review, I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I read an entire physical book. Since 2018, all my novel reading has been on a Kindle Paperwhite. Before that, I used a Kindle Fire but still alternated with physical books. Reading on the Fire was always a bit of a hassle because of the glare. The Paperwhite’s e-paper display is in a completely different league. I like it so much that when I revisited the Foundation novels a few years ago, I borrowed the ebooks from my local library even though I already had the physical copies on my shelf. One nice perk of the Paperwhite is that it’s easier to read while eating because I can flip pages with my knuckle.
Recently I wanted to disconnect from electronics before bed. The best way seemed to be grabbing something from my bookshelf that I hadn’t read yet and didn’t already have digitally. That’s when I noticed Svaha by Charles de Lint. I vaguely remembered seeing a recommendation for it years ago and picking up a copy through Book Mooch, a site where people trade books they’re done with. I’m pretty sure it’s been sitting unread for over ten years.
When I pulled Svaha off the shelf, I could barely remember how or why I got it. The cover, showing a Native American man with a wolf, didn’t ring any bells, and the back-cover description didn’t sound like my usual genre. Most of my reading leans toward science fiction and, more recently, fantasy. Still, I decided to trust my past self and give it a shot.
The story takes place in Canada sometime after 2094. Without spoiling too much, the setup is that in the 1990s a Native American named Daniel Hollow Horn became a music superstar and used his fortune to educate and empower his people. Over time they became world leaders in science, technology, and law, eventually surpassing the rest of the world. After a period of war, they withdrew into self-contained “Enclaves,” kind of like Wakanda from Black Panther, except everyone knows where they are. They managed to protect themselves from the pollution and fallout left behind while the rest of the world fell apart.
I’ve heard rumors of this “Final Cut” of Blade Runner for years. Blade Runner was one of the first movies released on DVD, but was such poor quality I was extremely disappointed. It is definitely one of my favorite movies, and felt a bit cheated that the transfer was so poor. The picture was grainy and the soundtrack was only in Dolby 2.0, not even 5.1 surround sound which was the main advantage to DVD (besides increased resolution) at the time. I’ve been meaning to review the original Director’s Cut DVD (without Rick Deckard’s narration and the happy ending) but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I’m glad to see that Blade Runner is finally getting the love and care it deserves. I have only seen the Director’s Cut, and have watched just a few scenes of the theatrical release with the narration on cable from time to time. I’m excited to see all of the different versions offered together. There are 3 different releases announced with a variety of alternate cuts of the movie. There is a 2 disc Special Edition, 4 disc Collector’s Edition, and 5 disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition (DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray). I plan on getting the 4 disc DVD version and reviewing it here in the near future. Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD 5 disc versions are available without the “Ultimate” briefcase for a lower price, but for some reason that option isn’t available for DVD. Don’t miss this release, check out all of the pre-order options (there are MANY) that are available on Amazon.
This review will most likely contain spoilers for any previous books in the series, read at your own risk.
After escaping from the alien Aranimas, and subsequently the space station that rescued them, Derec and Katherine find themselves miraculously transported to Robot City. They used the Key to Perihelion, a device that somehow allowed them to travel instantly across the galaxy. I like this idea because it is twist on space travel that allows the authors to work out unique plot elements throughout the rest of the series. Derec and Katherine arrive to find themselves the only 2 suspects in the murder of a human in a city full of robots.
It seems they’ve just traded one prison for another. Since they are the only humans on the planet, according to logic the robots think that one of them must have commited the murder, because no robot could have. This book revolves around Derec and Katherine’s investigation into the murder they are accused of at the end of Odyssey. Suspicion reminds me a bit of Elijah Baley’s murder investigations in Asimov’s original Robot Novels. The style is notably different, but the murder-mystery element kept me thinking back to the originals.
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