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Dreamed I was the second coming of King Arthur in a post-apocalyptic, 'Alas Babylon' type setting. Convincing neighbors to accept me as a feudal liege lord, being trailed by assassins, marshalling resources, stockpiling guns... being taught the chivalrous arts by an angel, like, with huge white wings and everything... there was a bunch of political ntrigue at a department store that I cannot sensibly parse into episodic narrative, so it wasn't entirely a sensible dream, but still pretty fascinating.
Read Shadows In Flight by Orson Scott Card, because even if I dislike the man I love his earlier characters, and it was... okay? Short, ending unsatisfying, didn't know who its protagonist was, dwelt too long on cerebral details rather than emotional (but given these characters that made sense)... but the characters were creatively imagined in many ways (though in others they were clearly stock types from Uncle Orson's library), the setting and the driving ideas were fascinating, lush in detail and imagination, held together well, and had about the right balance of science, weird detail, and narrative tension. So despite the problems, it was an enjoyable read....
With two major exceptions. There's a blatant potshot taken early on at the very notion of feminism, and it is baldly, obviously, and gratuitously an author-insert into the narrative. It just does not track as a logical thing for the character to say. Likewise, later on, there's a more genuine criticism of the notion of uterine replicators -- while it made sense in context and the criticism was sensible if probably (in my view) mis-aimed, it felt to me like a deliberate snipe at Lois McMaster Bujold's depiction of the same technology. Guess Orson didn't like Ethan of Athos.
Read Shadows In Flight by Orson Scott Card, because even if I dislike the man I love his earlier characters, and it was... okay? Short, ending unsatisfying, didn't know who its protagonist was, dwelt too long on cerebral details rather than emotional (but given these characters that made sense)... but the characters were creatively imagined in many ways (though in others they were clearly stock types from Uncle Orson's library), the setting and the driving ideas were fascinating, lush in detail and imagination, held together well, and had about the right balance of science, weird detail, and narrative tension. So despite the problems, it was an enjoyable read....
With two major exceptions. There's a blatant potshot taken early on at the very notion of feminism, and it is baldly, obviously, and gratuitously an author-insert into the narrative. It just does not track as a logical thing for the character to say. Likewise, later on, there's a more genuine criticism of the notion of uterine replicators -- while it made sense in context and the criticism was sensible if probably (in my view) mis-aimed, it felt to me like a deliberate snipe at Lois McMaster Bujold's depiction of the same technology. Guess Orson didn't like Ethan of Athos.
