Lunar Logic by Adeena Mignogna (2024)

I met Adeena two years ago at Balticon. She gave an interesting talk on “Space Junk”.  At the end she quickly promoted her books and I took note.  I first read her “Crazy Robots” series, which had some interesting concepts in it.  Lunar Logic is a standalone story, and I just got around to reading it.

I felt that the story started slowly, and the robots all being named “Ai-something” was cumbersome to the reader, but it makes sense within the world she’s created.  The book really took off after the initial world-setting and groundwork laid, becoming more readable and with a bit more action.

It’s a very timely book with ‘AI this’ and ‘AI that’ all in our news and science speculation.  This book is the best kind of “speculative fiction”.

I recommend Adeena’s work.  I have been getting her newsletter this year and she’s been writing some ‘flash fiction’ that I hope gets developed into full stories.

The Diplomat S1-S3 (Netflix)

I gave this show a try because many of my friends said how good it was.  They were not wrong!  Surprisingly, this is the first show I’ve ever watched with Keri Russell in it. She’s a very compelling actress, and while she’s beautiful, I love that this show isn’t afraid to show her imperfections as well.

I binged the entire run so far in less than two weeks, and while comparisons are being made to The West Wing, there is a key difference.  West Wing was all about the decency and honor of the main characters.  This show seems to embody “The End justifies the Means.” Usually the End is something that is humanitarian or towards keeping peace, but not always.

I was struck by the frantic pace of much of the first two seasons–it seems to occur in about a week of real time.  In S2 we get a skip of, I think, five months.

Most shows that hook me have a good ensemble cast and this show is no exception.  Until the Penns showed up the only actress I recognized from something else I’d watched was the actress who plays Eidra (CIA chief). She had a good part in Agatha All Along.

In S3 one of the main supporting characters has a crisis of conscience, and it felt very much a parallel commentary on the 47th presidency and the abuse of the civil service. Possibly I am reading my own experience in there, but it’s definitely a reference point. I will be curious to see if that develops any more in S4.

Since much of the show is set in the UK, there are some amazing exterior and interior shots and sets.  Every other scene seems to be some kind of formal dinner or cocktail reception in someplace older than the U.S. Great eye candy for all of the machinations going on.

I’m glad I watched this and now I’m waiting with the rest of you for season four.

War Year (1972) and 1968 (1994) by Joe Haldeman

I don’t normally post dual reviews, but I think this one lends well to a comparison.

War Year was Joe Haldeman’s first published novel.  It is not in the science fiction genre he is a Grand Master of.  I believe it is a thinly-veiled account of much of his Viet Nam service as a combat engineer.  1968, however, takes his experience and allows him to paint a broader picture of the time, with a main character who is at home.

War Year is not a long work; easy-to-read and in the vernacular of soldiers in the thick of it, but with enough explanation for those who haven’t served.  1968 uses an omniscient narrator at times with a 1990s perspective and multiple points-of-view that no one character could know.

For War Year, I  read the Kindle version keeping the paperback version in print. Doing a little research the original hardcover had a different (apparently longer) ending.  What I read was powerful.  Since I’m an acquaintance of Mr. Haldeman, I wrote and asked him why it was changed.  He said that the paperback (preferred ending) was “deemed too sad [by the editor]…too grim….too authentic.” (Haldeman’s emphasis.)  I’m probably not going to be able to read the hardcover version, but I recommend War Year.

I have always been fascinated by the Viet Nam War.  I was too young to really understand, but grew up in the time after it ended when America had to grapple with its place in history.

Haldeman covers this well in 1968.  The characters that stay at home (with Beverly being the lead one) deal with civil rights, free love, and violent demonstrations.  The main character, “Spider” Spiedel is a draftee who serves as a combat engineer (as Haldeman did). Where the book diverges from his own experience (I assume) is that Spider suffers from intense PTSD in making his way stateside after his discharge.  There are some intense sections of both the combat experience and life back in the states.  My biggest complaint is that the book glosses over Spider’s adjustment time, not giving it the same depth as the combat experience.  Maybe that’s because of the constraint of titling the book as one year’s experience, but the book just….ends.  I am curious what happened to Spider and to his ex-girlfriend Beverly.