mylescorcoran: (Default)

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posted by [personal profile] mylescorcoran at 01:01am on 15/10/2004
Oh yes. I'm hoping that it will come out in a slightly less expensive format than the one currently available on Amazon. I read 'A Colder War' in one of the Dozois Best SF anthologies and really enjoyed it; The Atrocity Archives sounds like it has much the same fun mash-up of Cthuloid goodness with the spy genre.

Have you read Tim Powers' Declare? It's another SF/F take on the Le Carre and Deighton world of cold war spies. Highly recommended.

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posted by [identity profile] purplecthulhu.livejournal.com at 01:18am on 15/10/2004
Yes - I have read Declare... Its another book that Charlie couldn't have read before TAA.

While Declare was fun, I didn't think it was as good as Powers has done in the past. It seemed to be a bit confused between all its different influences.
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mylescorcoran: (Default)

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posted by [personal profile] mylescorcoran at 02:40am on 16/10/2004
Okay, I'll agree that Declare wasn't as good as Last Call, it was better than his last two, Expiration Date and Earthquake Weather. I thought he did a good job of getting the spy novel style right, and the mix of mysticism and paranoia I found perfectly convincing. It did flag a bit towards the middle, perhaps because he had too much back story to wedge in once he'd established the premise, but it ended well.



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posted by [identity profile] purplecthulhu.livejournal.com at 02:55am on 16/10/2004
I've not read much (any?) Powers since On Stranger Tides. The one after that turned me right off.

I'm with you about the middle flagging. He seemed to be wanting to demonstrate he'd done all this research on Philby and wanted to make it absolutley certain that the reader knew that, and that he had lots of cross linkages and explainations in his own back mythology. That seemed a little ham fisted to me, and definitely not what I'd expected of Powers in the past.

It was fun, but was over long and at times over laboured.

TAA is much better, though rather different, IMHO.
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mylescorcoran: (Default)

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posted by [personal profile] mylescorcoran at 04:46am on 17/10/2004
Aha, does that mean you haven't read Last Call? I'm pretty well convinced that it's Powers' best book. I'd strongly recommend it. It's the Fisher King story set in the USA, with Las Vegas, Bugsy Seigel and poker (with Tarot decks) featuring heavily, and Powers doesn't parade his research in your face in this one.

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