Saturday, November 11, 2017

Omega to Alpha: Love with the Perfect Robot, Cai Marshall & Tom Cayler

I'm a sucker for robot stories, particularly the--what would you call it, coming of age?--variety where they contemplate and evolve. Probably the lingering remnants of my philosophy background. This was a fun read about a spunky search-and-rescue robot who gets loose and doesn't want to go back to the lab and the violence-driven scientist who built her.

The concept is there, and the chapter endings have punch that keeps the story moving. I feel like it needed to travel--more locations--one of the things I learned from George Lucas. And the end felt a bit abrupt to me because it doesn't resolve the robot's situation and doesn't give you a final scene to the romance: we know he's there, but she's--how will she react?

There are two particular issues that interest me about robots-on-the-loose stories:

The first is the need for secrecy: People can't know this is a robot. It's a problem of integration, in a way, and not unique to robots (monsters like Frankenstein, aliens like E.T., occasionally superheroes). There's a strong sense throughout that if people knew this 'other' was among them they would capture/study/weaponize/kill it. But how does anything conscious function satisfactorily in isolation or perpetually in disguise? So that's one problem for the story like this to tackle.

The second is the Pinocchio problem: Does the 'other' try to become human? How well does it succeed? Can it succeed? More interestingly, should it?

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Brain Dead, Ellen Dreyer

This is a mystery that grew on me and I ended up really enjoying it. I loved Timmie and Murphy, who are smart, fast-talking, joke cracking can-do people who reminded me of Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare and Russ, even though the romance ends up being secondary to the main story. Dreyer has a background (if I remember correctly) as an ER trauma nurse, and the novel is chock-full of medical thriller detail. The complexity of the main relationships, particularly between Timmie and her aging father with Alzheimer's, was handled with deep insight and sensitivity. I also thought it was brilliant that Timmie (an alcoholic's daughter) and Murphy (a recovering alcoholic himself) walk a fine line: attracted to one another, but wary, and with good cause, of getting involved.

Transience, Stevan Mena

A dying detective tracks a serial killer following a series of clues from a 9-year-old girl who seems to be remembering a past life in which she was murdered. Really enjoyed this. There were several well-placed red herrings and I was surprised by the reveal of the killer. I thought the ending was fantastic. Mena's previous work has been in film, but I hope he'll write more. I've added him to my Amazon Author follow list.

The Forgetting Time, Sharon Guskin



Absolutely searing. That's not a word I use frequently, but the emotion here is SO intense. I've been comparison reading along with the new mystery I'm writing: the topic of reincarnation and children remembering past lives is one that has intrigued me since reading Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker (whom Guskin quotes throughout the book), and I loved how Guskin handles the concept here. The mystery is secondary to the human drama, but all the characters were handled with such sensitivity--well worth reading.

A Watery Grave, Joan Druett



Read this recently for a mystery book club - I thought the premise was brilliant: the protagonist is a half-Maori, half-American linguist named Wiki Coffin aboard an 1836 exploratory mission, trying to solve a series of murders. This is the first in the series.

I loved the setting and concept. Most of Druett's previous work is history, and I felt the book still bore the stamp, which is great if you're into the historical details, but occasionally felt disconnected from the plot. What didn't work for me in the end, besides this question of balance, was that the 'detective' figures out the key to unraveling the initial murder after his side-kick (but in time to rescue him, although the rescue itself was exciting).