I just recently finished reading One of Us. I chose this book as it’s by Michael Marshall Smith who also wrote Only Forward which I read a few months back and mostly enjoyed.

Smith’s writing in both stories is similar, and some of the concepts illustrated throughout carry across from one story to another (such as machines/objects having personalities).

Sometime in the near future, dreams are capable of being ‘transferred’ from one person to another; this is deemed only slightly illegal as it’s invasion of privacy, but illegal nonetheless. An underground exists for people who wish to have their dreams ‘dumped’; they must, however, have somewhere to go. People such as Hap Thompson receive dreams from others to give them a good night’s sleep, and get well paid in the process.

Hap is offered to have memories transferred for him (a highly illegal practice) — for a few days only — so people do not have to deal with them. People may get rid of memories to have a few day’s peace (from, perhaps, accidentally killing someone) or to assist in the removal of guilt (when cheating on a partner, for instance).

The major theme (transferral of memories) in the book is, strangely enough, the centrepiece for the most recent Stargate SG-1 episode aired in the US though this show deals with the memories in a ‘what is real?’ scenario.

The plot surrounds Hap as he receives a memory of murdering someone, but is unable to determine who the murderer is. He must track down the murderer and then determine not only how to get the memory removed (it’s not an easy process) but who is chasing him, and why.

It’s told in the same film noir style as Only Forward, and Smith’s style of writing seems to be a style of writing I enjoy reading. As with Only Forward, I found the ending to be slightly weak (though One of Us’ is stronger than Only Forward’s).

Highly recommended. There is now a slight problem, in that my local library has no more copies of Smith’s other books. I have since decided to read The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson as it was recommended to me a few years back.

As suggested to me by Trav, I picked up Only Forward from the local library and gave it a whirl.

Very briefly, the story revolves around a guy in the future who has to find someone who’s been kidnapped. The interesting thing about the city in which he lives is that it’s divided into “Neighbourhoods” (it’s spelled correctly, by the way; the author’s British). Each Neighbourhood is like a small, self-contained city focused on one specific thing. “Sound”, for instance, is completely devoid of sound; no one is allowed to make noise except for one hour a day. “Colour” has walls that change colour to compliment whatever gaudy outfit you’re wearing; again, it has an hour a day where everything’s black.

There is a major change to the story around halfway through the book when it begins to focus in the character’s adventures in “Jeamland” (a dream land) which I didn’t find as compelling as the first half — I kept wanting the story to switch back to the city, which I found more engaging.

The way in which the story is told is great, however. It’s told as if you were sitting at a bar with the guy telling you the story in a casual manner.

Ultimately, I found the big switch to be a bit of a letdown. I think there was probably enough ideas, imagination and storytelling that it could have been two separate novels. In the end, I still enjoyed it but can only think of what may have been.

Next up is Jack Faust, which is based on the German Faust tale; there are a lot of works based on Faust and this one sounds interesting. I also have One of Us up next, which is by the same author as Only Forward.

Since it’s been a couple of slow news months, I thought I might talk about a few books I’ve read recently. I mentioned the other week that I’d read Fahrenheit 451 on the plane over to Perth, so I’ll start with that.

Fahrenheit 451 revolves around “Guy Montag”, who is a fireman sometime in the future. Firemen in the future don’t put out fires, however, they start them! The premise of the story is that books have been banned and anyone found hiding books will have them burned by the firemen. A major part of the story is that everyone is being told how to think, what to buy, what they should like, and so on. By the end of the (rather short) book, Guy realises that he wants to have his own free will and attempts to go about making it a reality. Doesn’t take long to read; the story wasn’t particularly exciting but it was an interesting commentary on consumerism and possible removal of free will.

A few months back I read Ender’s Game. It seems a lot of people are divided on whether this book’s good or bad. The main reason for the division, I think, is that it centres around a number of young children (6 or 7) who seem to have incredible intelligence. The story is about one particular young kid, Ender Wiggin. Ender is taken to an orbiting space station which is a school for brilliant young children and forced to learn at a pretty rapid pace. I’d say many people don’t like the book simply because it is quite a stretch to believe that a child so young would have the abilities Ender is given throughout the course of the story. He is constantly outsmarting many adults and beating up children twice his age and I found it quite tough to believe this would be possible; I think good sci-fi has some believability, no matter how “out there” the premise. The story, however, is the main reason I did like the book. There’s a pretty good twist right near the end of the book which I didn’t see coming. I’d recommend the book with the caveat that you might need to take a few large leaps of faith with some of the story’s aspects.

Next up is Ender’s Shadow. This book is a “sequel” to Ender’s Game, insofar as it was written after the first book. The story, however, is a “parellel story” which means it revolves around a different character during the same course of events as the first book. The main character — Bean — is basically another Ender Wiggin, except a bit younger and he comes into the story a bit later than Ender. I didn’t find Ender’s Shadow as good as Ender’s Game, but I think that it’s a worthwhile read if you enjoyed Ender’s Game.

Last one for now is I Am Legend, which I finished reading last night. The story was written in the mid-50s, and is set in the near-future (well, the past now, as it’s set in the late 70s). People have come down with vampirism, and Robert Nevill is the only (at least as far as he knows) person left “alive”. He’s barricaded his house and hides every night while the vampires attempt to enter his house (they’re not particularly smart in this book; I kept imagining a cross between zombies and vampires). During the day he drives stakes into any vampires he finds, while trying to keep his house setup to keep the vampires away. I really liked this book and was a bit disappointed that it was so short. The isolation of the main character is portrayed quite well and it makes you wonder what you’d do in a similar situation.

Next in the list to read is Only Forward, recommended to me by Trav.