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What's New
Review Features
S - Science Fiction
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
Complete Listing
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Adams, Douglas (S)
Asher, Neal (S)
Aylett, Steve (S)
Banks, Iain M (S)
Barclay, James (F)
Barker, Clive (H)
Baxter, Stephen (S)
Brin, David (S)
Bury, Stephen (S)
Card, Orson Scott (S)
Cherryh, CJ (S/F)
Clute, John (S)
Cockayne, Steve (F)
Cook, Glen (F)
Danielewski, Mark (H)
Dick, Philip K (S)
Egan, Greg (S)
Feist, Raymond (F)
Gaiman, Neil (F)
Gibson, William (S)
Goodkind, Terry (F)
Grimwood, Jon C (S)
Hamilton, Peter (S)
Jeter, K.W. (S)
Jordan, Robert (F)
Lethem, Jonathan (S)
McAuley, Paul (S)
MacLeod, Ken (S)
Martin, George RR (F)
McMullen, Sean (S)
Miéville, China (S)
Moran, Daniel K (S)
Morgan, Richard K (S)
Nagata, Linda (S)
Niven, Larry (S)
Noon, Jeff (S)
Robinson, Kim S. (S)
Rucker, Rudy (S)
Simmons, Dan (S)
Smith, Michael Marshall (S)
Stephenson, Neal (S)
Sterling, Bruce (S)
Vinge, Vernor (S)
Westerfeld, Scott (S)
Williams, Sean (S)
Williams, Tad (S/F)
Collections (S/F)
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| The Classics |
Bradbury, Ray (S/H)
Burgess, Anthony (S)
Tolkien, JRR (F) |
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| Michael Marshall Smith |
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 Our
Ranking I bought this book while I was living
in London about 5 years ago. What caught my attention was a small sign for it
sitting on the book shelf. It described the book as a cross between Blade Runner,
Neuromancer and Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. There was no way I would ignore
that so I grabbed a copy. What I wound up with became one of my favorite books
ever written. This didn't come out in the US until last year, so I wound up lending
out my copy to almost all of my friends and each of them agreed, this book was
incredible. The opening paragraph alone grabs you and you're left just sitting
there saying wow. Smith tells the story from the perspective of Stark, a very
sarcastic, tell it how it is kind of detective with a very special/strange talent.
(I can't tell you it because that would ruin the entire book). He lives in a futuristic
England where the country is divided into very distinct sub-cities, such as Colour
(the town is built around being stylish dressed and color coordinated) or Cat
(where only cats live) or a wide array of very nasty towns or reclusive towns.
Each town is wildly different and wonderfully described by Stark. The character
of Stark is simply amazing. One, he is hysterical. What he describes and the way
he describes it will leave you unable to control your laughter. That combined
with a very warped sense of the future from Smith is just a terrific combo. The
other characters are also very well written. Each one very distinct and you learn
a lot about their issues and relationship with Stark, from his straight talking
dialogue. The plot is one of the most original story lines I've ever written.
It is just very fantastical and you really can see what an imagination Smith has.
I wish I could tell some of the plot but it truly would ruin just the sheer imagination
of it. The only real thing that sort of hit me wrong is that somewhere about halfway
the book takes a sharp left from light hearted but twisted funny to very dark
funny. Smith sort of does it without warning and I wonder if this is just because
this is his first novel and he just steered it off without realizing it. Despite
that, this is one of the best fantasy/sci-fi novels out there. A word of warning,
the ending will completely take you by surprise. It is a must read. |
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 Our
Ranking What You Make It, is Michael Marshall
Smith's latest effort. It is basically a compilation of short stories, most of
them written before and a little after he published amazing his first novel, Only
Forward. If you've read his novels, the book may come as a bit of a surprise to
you at first. While it is certainly still trademark Smith, the stories have a
bit more of a horror angle to them that he doesn't really have in his novels.
Horror is really where he began though, writing these stories for various magazines.
As you read through it, you can sort of see the transition and in places can almost
see where Only Forward and the rest came from. For the most part, I must say this
collection was incredible. As always with Smith, the writing is awesome. He just
has this way to describe ordinary life, and truly flesh out his characters. Very
rarely to I find an author he can get you to relate with his characters as much
as Smith does. He just pays such attention to the little things, and states them
so casually. You find yourself nodding and agreeing, relating with the experience.
From there in you're hooked and begin the descent into Smith's twisted mind. Each
story is so deceptively simple and straight forward at the begin. A computer geek
at a convention in New Orleans having a few beers. A guy shooting pool at a local
bar with his friends while he checks out some women at another table. Three scientists
working on a new form of technology. A typical office contractor, just trying
to fit in to his new workplace. All of them, so basic, so ordinary. But what Smith
does, is pull you through these basic stories and slowly twist them into the surreal.
(or in some cases just flat out rip the rug out from under you) There were at
least 3 or 4 stories where I literally had to sit back and think to myself, "When
did this turn so whacked out?!" The subtly is incredible. In all there are 17
stories in this book. All are very much on the dark brooding (sometimes violent)
side. I'd say of those 13 were flat out incredible. There were only one or two
that I truly did not get into. They weren't horrible, but they really did nothing
for me. My favorite is probably Hell Hath Enlarged Herself. I had to put the book
down and really think about that one for a while. Still, weeks later I find myself
drifting back to it. Basically, if you're a fan of good short stories do yourself
a favor and pick this one up. If you've read anything by Smith, you will more
than likely enjoy this as well. |
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 Our
Ranking Spares start off in an extremely disturbing
yet wonderful fashion. It is set in a dark future, another wonderfully created
setting by Smith. Jack Randall, the narrattor, is an ex-cop who finds himself
a security guard at a spares farm. The farm is basically a place where the wealthy
have themselves cloned at birth. The clones are kept young and healthy, so that
when one of the wealthy need a "spare part" like a liver, kidney, or an arm the
part is removed from the customer's spare. Needless to say the images Smith portrays
of hundreds of these spares, each with a random assortment of limbs, all huddled
together on this farm is disturbing but very well done. Jack decides to rescue
seven of these Spares and flees to a place of his past where he may also still
be wanted for past transgressions when he was an officer. But there is better
than the fate that may be due to him for stealing the Spares. If the book would
have taken this and run with it, I'd probably be declaring this one of the best
books I've ever read. The first 100 pages or so are phenomenal. However, as the
book moves on, the Spares become less and less the driver of the plot, and it
becomes obvious that Smith just liked the idea of them and just used them as a
vehicle to get the other plots moving. (either that or he just became bored with
them) The problem is the other plots are not nearly as interesting, and unfortunately,
one is a blatant take off of Only Forward, his first novel. The book just begins
to get choppy, the plot is no longer as solid as it should be and then suddenly
out of left field, I felt like I was reading Only Forward again. The shame is,
this is what killed what could have been a great book. The characters are incredible,
and the writing is simply superb. The plot just seemed to bounce around way too
much to make this story cohesive. I actually got worried that he might turn into
a one hit wonder writer with Only Forward, but he set those fears aside with his
next book One of Us. All in all this is still not a bad read, but certainly not
his best. |
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 Our
RankingMichael Marshall Smith took a little stumble
after Only Forward with his follow-up novel Spares. I was a bit concerned that
he would turn out to be a one hit wonder, but with One of Us, he's gotten back
on track for the most part. One of Us, once again displays Smith's incredible
imagination. Having bad dreams? Are they keeping you up at night? Hap Thomson,
the main character, can help you. See Hap works for a company that specializes
in preventing nightmares. Hap basically plugs into your head when he sleeps and
has your nightmares for you. Depending on the how bad the nightmare is, Hap will
get commissioned more or less while the other person has a nice dreamless sleep.
Things get a bit worse when the company begins branching out in storing memories
for you as well and Hap is one of their best. Having a weekend getaway and want
to conveniently forget that your married to have some guilt free fun? Things get
a lot worse for Hap when one of the owners of a memory he is holding in
his head refuses to take it back. This is where the book really takes off as Hap
tries to find the anonymous owner of the memory and get it out of his head. The
book is action packed and full of twists and surprises. The biggest surprise of
all involves a bit of Hap's past. The surprise is so big that I found myself wondering
why Smith felt the need to do it and it sort of took away from the book. It almost
felt as if Smith painted himself in a corner and just decided to use the twist
to get him out of it. Either that or he planned it all along and is just more
warped than I thought he was. However, besides that the book is terrific. As with
Smith's previous two books the characters are wonderful and full of dry sarcastic
wit that leaves you laughing and really falling for them. The story is told from
Hap's perspective, and his character is wonderfully developed. Basically all of
the characters are done very well, from Hap right to the talking appliances and
alarm clocks. As with all of Smith's stuff, while futuristic and sci-fi, this
is more fantasy science fiction. Nothing is really explained or grounded. But
if you've read my reviews you know I prefer this kind of fiction. This is certainly
worth the read, while not as good as Only Forward (not much is) it is still an
excellent book. |
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 Our
RankingI suppose The Straw Men is a return to
Smith's beginnings as a horror writer versus a science fiction writer. Don't be
mislead though. This is still vintage Smith through and through. While Smith's
science fiction always had the tinge of the unreal and bizarre, so does his horror:
frighteningly so. The Straw Men is basically set in modern day America. The very
chilling opening scene (which happens to contain one of the best lines I've ever
read in a story) is actually set about 10 years prior to the story, but otherwise
everything else is todayish. In fact, this is one of the things that make the
story all the more chilling. There is nothing different about it then your
normal life right now. From the tiny little details about a dive pool hall, to
sitting in a small suburban McDonald's trying to eat your #2 meal, Smith takes
every day Americana and just begins twisting it into his horror tale. Over and
over through out the book you will find yourself in a scene that you have been
in yourself a few times and this makes it so much creepier. With this very ordinary
setting, Smith creates a plot that if you've read anything of his, you're used
to seeing. A completely ordinary chain of events slowly begins to twist into something
far more extraordinary and bizarre then you ever could have expected. Smith takes
two main plot lines and one sort of side one and brings them together nicely.
To be honest though, this wasn't Smith's greatest plot imagination wise. Some
of the twists were pretty predictable (but I have to give him credit in that the
ones that weren't predictable more or less blew your mind). Now this wasn't a
horror tale in the sense that it was trying to scare you, it was more of just
some fairly heavy viscousness that delivers a major sense of the creeps. And Smith
delivered. There were some pretty gruesome, chilling scenes in here but I did
feel he sort of rushed the end a bit. If he'd taken his time, that could have
been a pretty terrifying ending. As always though, Smith's real strong point is
his characters and he doesn't let down here. Smith manages to create believable
characters that you feel very attached to. Ward, the main character was obviously
created in the mold of Stark from Only Forward, but was still enough of a difference
I can't hold it against Smith. Also, he did a wonderful job with the main teenage
character who was very believable and engaging. Overall, as with all of his stuff
I really enjoyed this book. I am getting a little concerned though that he seems
to be using the same formulas throughout his novels and especially with the main
characters. It's obvious from his short stories that his imagination is endless,
I just wish it would carry a little more to the plot lines of his novels. All
in all though, this is a very creepy book and the writing is as good as ever,
so I can't give it less than four stars. Not my favorite Smith, but no regrets
in reading it. |
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Our Ranking The Upright Man is the sequel
to Smith's return to horror with the Straw Men. Being the huge Smith fan I am,
I grabbed this one as soon as I could, even though the Straw Men was not my favorite
of his. I was still curious to see where he would take this. Well, the book picks
up a few months after the carnage at the end of the Straw Men, with all of the
heroes scattered across the country, on the run, trying to figure out where to
go next. Right from the beginning, Smith shows that he hasn't lost his touch in
creating an utterly chilling scene. He truly has mastered describing a scene that
should be revolting, like someone would describe the casualness of a bird drinking
out of a fountain. As with all of his books, his observations of every day things,
become of thing of beauty as he twists them into something dark and terrifying.
Unfortunately though, The Upright Man's plot comes no where near the level of
the description. Early on, the book seems to wander a bit, and then it just continues
that way as Smith brings you from scene to scene, which really don't seem to tie
together too well. There are two main story lines running, which eventually come
together, but it almost feels more like an accident then any kind of plan. By
the climax, you're left wondering how most of the characters got there and the
"leaps" the characters take to pull the plot together are far fetched, and utterly
impossible for the reader to have figured out. The main "twist" itself is just
bizarre. (Even worse, the little description in the back of the book, seems to
have invented a plot of it's own. The description is way off the mark of what
the book itself is about) That said, I still need to give this three stars believe
it or not. Smith is just too incredible of a writer. Even with a weak plot, I
still found myself unable to put this down. His writing is just that good. I really
hope that Smith is not going to continue along the Straw Men series (there's room
to keep going) because he is too good at the sci-fi, bizarre stuff to be doing
the straight horror/action. I haven't been able to find what his next one is going
to be, but I can hope. |
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