Friday, February 23, 2007

Pulp Fiction

I was a little bit early getting into into the city last night to go to the Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music. So, given that I don't get to hang out in the city that much any more (now that I work in Parramatta) and it was late night shopping and all, I thought I'd swing by Galaxy Bookshop and see what's new. I've always read quite a lot of science fiction, maybe a bit less as an adult, but still a fair amount.

I love it when you find an author and a series of books that you like, but I hate it when you catch up to the author's latest work and then have to wait for what feels like ages for the next book to be released. About 5 years ago I found a couple of novels by Kristine Katherine Rusch under the "Retrieval Artist" banner. They're a blend between detective stories and science fiction novels, with a heavy tilt towards forensics and police work. Think CSI meets science fiction. They're classier than you might think, sure they're kinda pulpy sci-fi, but Rusch creates believable scenarios and smart characters. It's the CSI type angle that gets me in and makes them something different.

Well, I caught up to Kristine and I've been drumming my fingers between books ever since. Every time I go into Galaxy I check, just to see if there's a new one.



Score. Number 5 "Paloma" was sitting there singing it's siren call. I cracked it open before bed last night and had to make myself put it down and go to sleep. Now that's the best you can ask for.

4 comments:

Therin of Andor said...

On MIX radio this week, comedian Subby Valentine was relating his adventures as the original braces-and-leather-shorts-wearing warm-up guy and compere at the "Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music" screenings. Hilarious!

Hey, did you realise Kristine Katherine Rusch was also a Star Trek novelist? Galaxy would have several of her ST titles in stock, I would think.

Anonymous said...

The cover alone has sparked my interest. I'm always looking for the next good read. Thanks for recommendation.

The Other Andrew said...

Jason, this is #5 in the series, so you might want to seek out the others first. They're all good.

Tehrin, I didn't realise that she wrote Trek fiction - I'll have to check it out!

Therin of Andor said...

Kristine Katherine Rusch is married to Dean Wesley Smith, and although they're not my favourite ST author team, they've done a few interesting ones.

They write SF together - and separately - under their own names, but also together as pseudonym "Sandy Schofield". Rusch's only solo ST writing so far has been a short story, "First Steps" (about Lela Dax) in "The Lives of Dax" anthology.

"TOS: The Rings of Tautee"
"TOS: Day of Honor: Treaty's Law"
"TNG: Invasion!: The Soldiers of Fear"
"TNG: Double Helix: Vectors"
"ST Klingon" (game novelization)
"DS9: The Big Game" (as Schofield)
"DS9: The Long Night"
"DS9: Captain's Table: The Mist"
"TOS: New Earth: Thin Air"
"VOY: The Escape"
"VOY: Echoes" (with Nina Kiriki Hoffman)
"VOY: Section 31: Shadow"
"ENT: By the Book".

Out of all those, I particularly enjoyed "Day of Honor: Treaty's Law" (with Kor) - and "By the Book", although other diehard fans didn't care for that one, being the first ever "Enterprise" novel, and written from "the bible" before the premiere episode had actually aired, focusing on some minor recurring ENT characters playing a roleplaying board game between real landing party assignments.