{"id":488,"date":"2009-11-08T22:31:05","date_gmt":"2009-11-08T22:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:18:47","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:18:47","slug":"books-received-11809-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Books received 11\/8\/09 Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41ZikD2EDOL._SL500_AA240_.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Things-We-Didnt-See-Coming\/dp\/0307378500\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1257716462&amp;amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"postlink\"><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Things We Didn&#8217;t See Coming<\/span><\/a> by Steven Amsterdam<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A dazzling debut collection: nine connected stories set in a not-too-distant dystopian future in a landscape at once utterly fantastic and strangely familiar.<\/p>\n<p>Richly imagined, dark, and darkly comic, these stories follow the narrator over three decades as he tries to survive in a world that is becoming more savage as cataclysmic events unfold one after another. In the first story\u2013set on the eve of the millennium, when the world as we know it is still recognizable\u2013we meet the then nine-year-old narrator fleeing the city with his parents, just ahead of a Y2K breakdown of the grid, signaling the world\u2019s transformation and decline. The remaining stories capture the strange\u2013 sometimes horrific, sometimes unexpectedly funny\u2013circumstances he encounters in the no-longerso- simple act of survival: trying to protect squatters against floods in a place where the rains never stop; harassed (and possibly infected) by a man sick with plague; functioning as a salaried embezzler of \u201cthe state\u201d; escorting the gravely ill on adventure trips. Yet, in each story, we see that despite the violence and brutality of his days, the narrator retains a hold on his essential humanity.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Things We Didn\u2019t See Coming<\/span> is haunting, restrained, beautifully crafted\u2013a stunning debut. <\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51RQmuVcI2L._SL500_AA240_.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Three-Days-Dead-Kelly-Meding\/dp\/0553592866\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1257715814&amp;amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"postlink\"><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Three Days to Dead<\/span><\/a> by Kelly Meding<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\nThey\u2019ll never see her coming&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>When Evangeline Stone wakes up naked and bruised on a cold slab at the morgue\u2014in a stranger\u2019s body, with no memory of who she is and how she got there\u2014her troubles are only just beginning. Before that night she and the two other members of her Triad were the city\u2019s star bounty hunters, mercilessly cleansing the city of the murderous creatures living in the shadows, from vampires to shape-shifters to trolls. Then something terrible happened that not only cost all three of them their lives but also convinced the city\u2019s other Hunters that Evy was a traitor\u2014and she can\u2019t even remember what it was.<\/p>\n<p>Now she\u2019s a fugitive, piecing together her memory, trying to deal some serious justice\u2014and discovering that she has only three days to solve her own murder before the reincarnation spell wears off. Because in three days Evy will die again\u2014but this time there\u2019s no second chance&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51oBZBxMSML._SL500_AA240_.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Geosynchron-Book-Three-Jump-Trilogy\/dp\/1591027926\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1257716023&amp;amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"postlink\"><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Geosynchron (Book Three of the Jump 225 Trilogy)<\/span><\/a> by David Louis Edelman<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\nThe conclusion to the &quot;Landmark Series&quot;! The Defense and Wellness Council is enmeshed in full-scale civil war between Len Borda and the mysterious Magan Kai Lee. Quell has escaped from prison and is stirring up rebellion in the Islands with the aid of a brash young leader named Josiah. Jara and the apprentices of the Surina\/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp still find themselves fighting off legal attacks from their competitors and from Margaret Surina&#8217;s unscrupulous heirs &#8211; even though MultiReal has completely vanished. The quest for the truth will lead to the edges of civilisation, from the tumultuous society of the Pacific Islands to the lawless orbital colony of 49th Heaven; and through the deeps of time, from the hidden agenda of the Surina family to the real truth behind the Autonomous Revolt that devastated humanity hundreds of years ago. Meanwhile, Natch has awakened in a windowless prison with nothing but a haze of memory to clue him in as to how he got there. He&#8217;s still receiving strange hallucinatory messages from Margaret Surina and the nature of reality is buckling all around him. When the smoke clears, Natch must make the ultimate decision &#8211; whether to save a world that has scorned and discarded him, or to save the only person he has ever loved: himself. <\/p>\n<p>\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold\">More in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/bb\/weblog_entry.php?e=2164\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"postlink\">Part II<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound. Things We Didn&#8217;t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam Promo copy: A dazzling debut collection: nine connected stories set in a not-too-distant dystopian future &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Books received 11\/8\/09 Part I - The Geek Curmudgeon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound. Things We Didn&#8217;t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam Promo copy: A dazzling debut collection: nine connected stories set in a not-too-distant dystopian future &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Geek Curmudgeon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-08T22:31:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-17T05:18:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41ZikD2EDOL._SL500_AA240_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rickklaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Geek Curmudgeon\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/\",\"name\":\"The Geek Curmudgeon\",\"description\":\"Where opinionated geek Rick Klaw expresses his views\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41ZikD2EDOL._SL500_AA240_.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/\",\"name\":\"Books received 11\/8\/09 Part I - The Geek Curmudgeon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-08T22:31:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-17T05:18:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/#\/schema\/person\/5aff9b51d7f4ac07b16a90e522e59e87\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2009\/11\/08\/books-received-11809-part-i\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/#\/schema\/person\/5aff9b51d7f4ac07b16a90e522e59e87\",\"name\":\"The Geek Curmudgeon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8fef42bf3bfaecca46077e79bc05d3c47c12cd563bfc6f2de4e29467f85f832?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Geek Curmudgeon\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rickklaw\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1343,"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}