Our hearts cry out
thu21jun2007—25w172d47%—18h17m00s—0utc
When people come to understand how big the universe is and how short a human life is, their hearts cry out. Sometimes it’s a shout of joy: I think that’s what it was for Jason; I think that’s what I didn’t understand about him. He had the gift of awe. But for most of us it’s a cry of terror. The terror of extinction, the terror of meaninglessness. Our hearts cry out. Maybe to God, or maybe just to break the silence.
You gotta read Spin. You gotta read Spin.
Right up there among the two or three Best Novels I’ve Ever Read.
6 Comments
I read this a while ago. Excellent choice. I definitely value it up there with Eon. Have you read The Chronoliths, also by Robert Charles Wilson? I didn’t even realize it was the same author until after I’d read them both.
I approve of your choice eliazar. :DGreg Bear’s Eon? Haven’t read it yet, but will soon on your recommendation. Haven’t read The Chronoliths either, though this one was already on my reading list and it promises to be just as bizarre as Spin (a bizarreness I would have erstwhile thought impossible to pull off). Speaking of Spin, its sequence, Axis, is due for September 18. It is the first book I’m counting the days to.
And speaking of right up there’s, have you read John Varley’s Persistence of Vision novella?Thanks for the approving! ;)
I second the Eon recommendation – great, modern hard sci-fi.
Speaking of sci-fi, have you read China Mieville’s “Perdido Street Station”? It’s the best SF/Fantasy I’ve read in a decade – amazingly engrossing, and quite scary at times. Mieville has a name for his mix of sci-fi, fantasy and horror: he calls it Weird Fiction. Once you have read it, I think you’ll agree it’s a fitting name.BTW, Hyperscript is cool!
Actually another good suggestion if you want a well written, engrossing and yet different plot I found is: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams.
I had no idea Spin was receiving the sequel treatment! Oh I can’t wait elzr! Thank you! :DAxisAM is out!
Finally read Axis. It’s a so-so book, nowhere near as good as Spin (which I’ve reread here and there and which has solidified in my mind as one of the best scifi books ever). Not much happens in Axis, not much is revealed (though I rather liked the explanation of what the Hypotheticals were up to in this novel), and the characters ranged from dull to detestable—there’s not a single heroe in the whole book, no one who is really up to the marvelously strange post-spin universe. But I did end up feeling awe and reverence to the profound strangeness the universe may well hold and that made it all worth it.
There will likely be a next book in the series. I shall wait it with cautious optimism.