Hugo PR

Over on John Scalzi's blog they're discussing the announcement of the 2008 Hugo nominees. This is not a post about the nominees instead it is about PR. The list was embargoed until 12:PM Eastern on Good Friday [as it turns out it leaked Thursday night]. In the post comments I asked admittedly without much tact if they were trying to release the list in a way to avoid press from outside the science fiction community. Mary Kay Kare the Hugo coordinator replied that actually Good Friday was an excellent time considering all of the conventions held over the weekend.

That's fine as far as getting the word out inside the community goes however it strikes me as being rather problematic when considering getting the word out outside the community. One of the more popular ways of burying something in the news cycle is to announce it before a long weekend or late on Friday, in this case they've actually gone one better by doing it on the holiday.

Maybe it wouldn't make a difference when they announced it but it probably wouldn't hurt. I realize that this year's list ended up leaking so holding on to the information any longer wouldn't have worked anyway. However it's something that should be considered for the future.

We are being constantly told that the community is slowly shrinking. Magazine subscriptions are down. The community is graying. We need to take every opportunity we can to get the word out about what were doing. One of the top North American awards should be used in a way to help this. It strikes me as a lost opportunity.

Unknown Shore: The Lost History of England's Arctic Colony by Robert Ruby

Unknown Shore: The Lost History of England's Arctic Colony by Robert Ruby is a popular history of British Arctic expiration. There are three narrative threads. The first is a discussion of Martin Frobisher's three voyages. The second is the story of a 19th-century American journalists attempt to find the Franklin expedition. The third is the authors own journey to the Arctic. There actually isn't all that much here about the supposed colony and considering they didn't try to inhabit it when the ships were not present I think it's a little bit of a stretch to call it a colony. The author has obviously done quite a bit of research in UK archives.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Red Moon by Michael Cassutt

Red Moon by Michael Cassutt this is a novel about the Soviet space program. the hero an engineer becomes a cosmonaut. His uncle a KGB official facilitates his career but naturally wants something in return. There are family secrets, love triangles and political machinations. Cassutt evidently did quite a bit of research he manages to weave into the narrative a great deal of history and technical data. The characters don't seem real somehow but it's still enjoyable.

Recommended.

DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Iraq War by Christopher Meyer

DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Iraq War by Christopher Meyer now that's a long title. Unfortunately there's also some hyperbole in it as well 9/11 and the decision to go to war are dealt with in the last third of the book before that is a discussion of day-to-day operations of the British Embassy and a autobiography of Meyer. I'm not too sure why this is considered controversial by the publisher. Meyer does go out of his way to explain Tony Blair and George W. Bush's actions which I suppose are controversial in the sense that Meyer defends them. He thinks that if the two governments had more time to lay out the humanitarian reasons for invasion they would have received approval. I rather doubt this personally. There are some charming anecdotes here but nothing profound. I don't think it's terribly controversial that he thinks his second wife has great legs or the KGB once tried to ensnare him with homosexual ballet dancers. The most critical section of the book talks about his belief that 10 Downing Street attempted to meddle in foreign office affairs. This is interesting from a public policy perspective but isn't worthy of the title.

Mildly recommended for the anecdotes.

Is available through Abebooks.

Russia: War, Peace & Diplomacy: Essays in Honour of John Erickson edited by Mark and Ljubica Erickson

Russia War, Peace & Diplomacy: Essays in Honour of John Erickson edited by Mark and Ljubica Erickson. Essays include Scottish links with Czarist Russia,signals intelligence in the Russo-Japanese War, Soviet foreign policy after the revolution, women tractor drivers, forgotten operations in World War II, women in combat in the siege of Stalingrad, Clausewitz and Jomini and the SS-20 missile. There are 19 in total. Some of the contributors are Norman Stone, Robert Service,Antony Beevor, David Glantz. This is a nice collection the essays for the most part are easy to understand even for the nonexpert. There are some limitations. It is quite short. Some are more like executive summaries than anything else. I understand that they wanted to get as many contributors as possible but it is still slightly frustrating. That being said this is an excellent book and I found a few new authors to look up.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Arthur C. Clarke dead at 90

Another one of the Golden age masters is gone.

The Hundred Years War Volume 1: Trial by Battle by Jonathan Sumption

The Hundred Years War Volume 1: Trial by Battle by Jonathan Sumption reading through this I couldn't help being reminded of Shelby Foote's massive three volume history of the American Civil War. Both are narratives without much analysis, they both try to avoid historical debates and they both are a pleasure to read. Sumption views the hundred years war as being essentially a civil war inside France. The reasons for the war are described in excruciating detail. Most interesting was the discussion of how all sides attempted to fund the war. Military history's don't usually touch upon this. There's also coverage not only of the interactions between the French and the English but also the Papacy and holy Roman Emperor. The military operations are dealt with in a slightly abbreviated manner. I would've enjoyed more.

Considering this was published in 1989 and the second volume was published at the turn of the century and it's been estimated that we might be looking at six volumes in total the question has to be asked as to whether it will be completed. Even if it's not this is an excellent start and if you're willing to invest the time well worth it.

Highly recommended!

The Whites of Their Eyes: Close-Quarter Combat by Roger Ford

The Whites of Their Eyes: Close-Quarter Combat by Roger Ford. This is a history of hand to hand fighting in the 20th century. The wars covered are, WWI, Spanish Civil War,WWII [with extensive coverage of special forces mostly British], Malayan emergency, Korean War, Oman insurgency,Vietnam War, Falklands, Gulf War, Yugoslavia and finally Chechnya. There are discussions of tactics, training and the development of specialized weapons. An excellent look at this often bloody form of fighting. For just about every action described there's an excerpt from an eyewitness account.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Master Plan:Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust by Heather Pringle

Master Plan:Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust by Heather Pringle this is a history of the SS Department [the Ahnenerbe] responsible for the creation of pseudoscience and pseudohistory that supported Nazi goals and ideals. There's quite a bit here about the Holocaust including the attempts to rationalize race based distinctions. Perhaps the most interesting section was a discussion of museum looting in Poland. Before the war archaeological and anthropological teams were sent out into the Middle East they also happen to do some spying. Pringle is a science writer so there are few historically inaccurate statements but nothing to infuriating. The book contains endnotes in the bibliography.

Recommended!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. The 4th in the Poirot series. This is considered to be a classic. A local wealthy member of the community is murdered and it's up to Poirot to solve the case. The narrator a local doctor becomes involved in the investigation. There are some quite funny scenes such as the doctor's sister sounding like an obsessed mystery reader. The solution is rather unorthodox. It's one of those things that you could easily see Christie coming up with as an interesting thought experiment but it falls slightly flat considering the amount of time we've invested in the character. Perhaps I've given away too much.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie is a violent and funny thriller about the arms trade. Laurie is probably best known in North America for starring in the the Fox series House.. Are hero is blackmailed into infiltrating a terrorist cell. Terrorist attacks will be used to create a market for a new kind of attack helicopter. The narrator takes some getting used to. Seemingly every action or dialogue has some sort of comment attached to it. At first I was irritated but after a while I became used to it and many of them are quite funny.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

Everyone wave goodbye to the governor

Spitzer resigns. World is shocked it took this long..

The Pueblo Revolt: The Secret Rebellion that Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest by David Roberts

The Pueblo Revolt: The Secret Rebellion that Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest by David Roberts. This is a history of the 1680 guerrilla campaign against the Spanish settlers of modern New Mexico. Roberts criticizes earlier historical work as being biased in favor of the Spanish he quite unashamedly says that he is writing an account from the perspective of the Pueblo. Unfortunately the Pueblo apparently don't want the story told and do what they can to thwart his efforts. Half the book is taken up with his various attempts to get information very few of which actually succeed. What he does get is oral history. Spanish records are constantly criticized for being biased however apparently oral history isn't? Reference is made to archaeological sites. He had some differing interpretations than experts I don't know enough about the topic to comment on how reasonable they are.

Not recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

AD 1000: Living on the Brink of Apocalypse by Richard Erdoes

AD 1000: Living on the Brink of Apocalypse by Richard Erdoes is a melodramatic history of the 10th and 11th century. There seems to be something about this topic that brings out hyperbole as well as an uncontrollable urge to throw in as much color as possible. The narrative follows the life of Gerbert d'Aurillac who became Pope [Sylvester II]. Whenever Gerbert deals with a new situation the narrative stops to give background. Sometimes this takes us away from the major narrative for 20 or 30 pages. There is coverage of the medieval Church, Muslim Spain, Hungary, Russia, France and Germany. I suppose this works as popular history but it's rather unsatisfying if like me a reader expects something more sophisticated.

Not recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Barry Trotter and the Dead Horse by Michael Gerber

Barry Trotter and the Dead Horse by Michael Gerber is the third and presumably last book in this series of parodies of Harry Potter. The storyline such as it is directly follows from the last book. Barry is trying to get rid of a curse. To do this he must revisit his teenage years. The laughs are a little thinner on the ground in this compared to the others but it's still quite enjoyable. I could point out some seeming inconsistencies between the timeline described in book 1 and this book but there really doesn't seem to be much point. Then I'd actually be taking it seriously. It's rather hard to do that with a book that makes fun of the copyright notice and informs us the author needed to write this book because he lost all his money from the first two to a mouse. The humor is quite juvenile those easily offended should avoid. All and all a decent enough conclusion to this trilogy.

Highly recommended!