science fiction

So about a week ago, on my booklog, I wrote the following about Nicola Griffith’s Slow River:

What I only noticed about a quarter of the way in is that these three interwoven stories are actually written in three different viewpoints. There’s the first person point of view for the present, tight second person focus for the years with Spanner, while the chapters focusing on her family are in a much looser second person focus. The difference is that in the first form of second person focus we’re still inside Lore’s head most of the time, with the text refering her as “she”, while the second form, we see her from the outside, as “Lore”. It is of course symbolic for her growing up, maturing, going from what others see her as, to what she sees herself as. A coming of age story that is not nearly as obvious as most such are in science fiction.

I also wrote that it had been first published in 1991 rather 1995, which prompted Nicola herself to correct me in order to be polite and in passing she also explained about how Slow River is arranged (all quoted by permission, natch):

The three narrative layers/POVs (I think of them as points-of-view lacquered on top of each other so that the imagery and emotion bleed through) are formally arranged in an ABA C ABA C ABA pattern:
– C = Lore age 5 to 18 in third person, past tense
– B = Lore age 18 to 21 in third person, past tense
– A = Lore age 21 and up in first person, present tense

I’ve talked in various places (I really should pull it all together at some point, but haven’t yet) about why I chose the POV and tenses. Short version: present tense is an indicator of a dream-like state, which is what childhood is; third person, like past tense, is the traditional POV and tense; first person is my way of signifying that this is the narrative present, this is the Now of the book, telling the reader “You are here.” At the same time, I really wanted the emotions to form an easy narrative through-line so the reader never feels confused.

It worked for me and I’m not the only one who noticed this structure; so did Russ Allberry for example. What struck me about it is that this works even if you don’t notice it consciously, which is the hallmark of a good writer.

If you want to read more about how Slow River was written, the essay layered cities about the city at the heart of the story, as well as writing Slow River, an interview, are highly recommended. Nicola Griffith’s latest novel is the historical novel Hild, which won’t come out until next year unfortunately.

It’s been a while since we’ve done a booklist meme, but the recent publication of Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010, as determined by Damien Broderick and Paul DiFilipo gives a good excuse. Which one of those below have you read (italics), do you own bold or dislike (struck through)?

• The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
• Ender’s Game (1985)
• Radio Free Albemuth (1985)
• Always Coming Home (1985)
• This Is the Way the World Ends (1985)
• Galápagos (1985)
• The Falling Woman (1986)
• The Shore of Women (1986)
• A Door Into Ocean (1986)
• Soldiers of Paradise (1987)
• Life During Wartime (1987)
• The Sea and Summer (1987)
• Cyteen (1988)
• Neverness (1988)
• The Steerswoman (1989)
• Grass (1989)
• Use of Weapons (1990)
• Queen of Angels (1990)
• Barrayar (1991)
• Synners (1991)
• Sarah Canary (1991)
• White Queen (1991)
• Eternal Light (1991)
• Stations of the Tide (1991)
• Timelike Infinity (1992)
• Dead Girls (1992)
• Jumper (1992)
• China Mountain Zhang (1992)
• Red Mars (1992)
• A Fire Upon the Deep (1992)
• Aristoi (1992)
• Doomsday Book (1992)
• Parable of the Sower (1993)
• Ammonite (1993)
• Chimera (1993)
• Nightside the Long Sun (1993)
• Brittle Innings (1994)
• Permutation City (1994)
• Blood (1994)
• Mother of Storms (1995)
• Sailing Bright Eternity (1995)
• Galatea 2.2 (1995)
• The Diamond Age (1995)
• The Transmigration of Souls (1996)
• The Fortunate Fall (1996)
• The Sparrow/Children of God (1996/1998)
• Holy Fire (1996)
• Night Lamp (1996)
• In the Garden of Iden (1997)
• Forever Peace (1997)
• Glimmering (1997)
• As She Climbed Across the Table (1997)
• The Cassini Division (1998)
• Bloom (1998)
• Vast (1998)
• The Golden Globe (1998)
• Headlong (1999)
• Cave of Stars (1999)
• Genesis (2000)
• Super-Cannes (2000)
• Under the Skin (2000)
• Perdido Street Station (2000)
• Distance Haze (2000)
• Revelation Space trilogy (2000)
• Salt (2000)
• Ventus (2001)
• The Cassandra Complex (2001)
• Light (2002)
• Altered Carbon (2002)
• The Separation (2002)
• The Golden Age (2002)
• The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003)
• Natural History (2003)
• The Labyrinth Key / Spears of God
• River of Gods (2004)
• The Plot Against America (2004)
• Never Let Me Go (2005)
• The House of Storms (2005)
• Counting Heads (2005)
• Air (Or, Have Not Have) (2005)
• Accelerando (2005)
• Spin (2005)
• My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time (2006)
• The Road (2006)
• Temeraire /His Majesty’s Dragon (2006)
• Blindsight (2006)
• HARM (2007)
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007)
• The Secret City (2007)
• In War Times (2007)
• Postsingular (2007)
• Shadow of the Scorpion (2008)
• The Hunger Games trilogy (2008-2010)
• Little Brother (2008)
• The Alchemy of Stone (2008)
• The Windup Girl (2009)
• Steal Across the Sky(2009)
• Boneshaker (2009)
• Zoo City (2010)
• Zero History (2010)
• The Quantum Thief (2010)

A decent enough list, with only two books I hate. There are the usual sort of problems with any such list, in that the more recent choices are also more debatable as not enough time has passed since they were published. The Quantum Thief was enjoyable, but one of the best books of the last twentyfive years, or even one of the best books of 2010, I’m not sure. It also overrates decent efforts by mainstream novelists when similar efforts by science fiction writers would not have been included. Some choices are also strange: Barrayar instead of e.g. Komarr or A Civil Campaign? But still, a decent enough list on the whole.