Product Description

Customer Reviews (25)

Can I steal your inner most parts ?
Excellent story in four parts.Each part of the story messes with your view of preconceptions in the book and sets you up for the next part.Steal Across The Sky is a total turnaround from her previous books, story wise.The story is thought provoking and plausible (if there are aliens ).I also liked the additions to the book (the internet advertisement for witnesses from the aliens and the internet stories about the aliens).

The story line is not finished.There was plenty of room left for a sequel or two.Or not as the author pleases.

Original!
The central idea of this book was interesting and original - after reading a good amount of sci-fi I think it becomes common to spend the vast majority of your reading time entertained and delighted by variations of ideas that you have already been exposed to. There are certainly sci-fi books I would recommend before this, but this book gets 5 stars for actually having (to me) an original idea - priceless.

Flat as a pancake ___
It could have been better or even worse.

Better would have been easier. How?Cut out all the unnecessary bits, the song lyrics, the crossword puzzle and the other nonsense that was inserted though out the book.Except for the section listing the names and short bios for each of the witnesses. That should have been moved to the front of the book for easy reference.

When I started reading the book, I was under the assumption that I was reading a science fiction book since it was advertised and sold as science fiction. In my opinion, it fails miserable as a science fiction book but when I started to look at it as a mystery with science fiction elements it made more sense.

Dialogue wasn't bad, neither were the descriptions, no funny lines for the sake of being funny but on the other hand, nothing memorable.

Chemistry between characters was lukewarm at best. The action scenes lacked spark (something was missing) and whenever the book did start moving, the author threw in another page of nonsense, which broke the flow over and over again.

Will I ever read another book by the author? Honestly? Probably not.

Solid idea, falls flat.
The short and and not so sweet of Steal Across the Sky. I have never read Kress, (and after this I doubt I will again), the description sounded intriguing so I bought the book.The story starts out, but not really at the beginning, apparently the aliens have already arrived and gotten on with whatever they had in mind, so the build up to their arrival and or their discovery is lost.

People are chosen to go do something (all a big mystery) but we never get introduced to any aliens or alien technology, and of course the aliens never really talk about what they want from us either... (Alien:"Hey put on this silver suit and step into my oven...Oh,I mean space ship". Human: "Oh, okay, that's totally reasonable, I trust you guys, give me the suit!").

Our intrepid explorers are then, "already at their destination", I think I recall a one sentence description of the journey and the fact that whats-his-name had sex with whats-her-face, but oh well.So our small group arrive at the planets that hold some super secret.As the "witnesses" begin to explore their planets we begin to see how boring sci-fi can be.It's at this point that the story begins to disintegrate.We follow 2 and a half 2 dimensional characters that we care nothing about as they plod their way across 2 boring planets, meeting their boring inhabitants all while nothing is going on.To spice things up lets have the one guy start losing his senses (sight, smell, hearing, etc.) but there won't be any point to it, cool!But what about whats-her-face? how can we make that exciting?Lets suddenly turn her into a homicidal maniac that indiscriminately kills all the natives, yeah, that's about right...

Anyway, if you can make it past this point you are in for more boring.I won't spoil the surprise ending of "why bother?" or the super secret of "who cares?" that the Aliens want you to find out.I'll just finish my review because I am already bored writing about this book.

So yeah, I read the whole book, had to get my monies worth, though I would recommend that you save yours.I only hope that I can reclaim the disk space in my mind and fill it something more interesting.

Metaphysical nonsense.
Picked this up because it had an interesting premise on the side panel and made it through the first 150 pages or so before I tossed it. Seemed interesting at first, but it quickly became far less than I bargained for.Main premise concerns some 6th sense nonsense where aliens turned off humananity's ability to sense the dead shortly after they die and thus proof of an afterlife.IMO characterization wasn't all that good, but the above was enough to kill the book for me.

Pass on this unless you are a closet theist. ... Read more

Product Description

In a world where the slightest edge can mean the difference between success and failure, Leisha Camden is beautiful, extraordinarily intelligent ... and one of an ever-growing number of human beings who have been genetically modified to never require sleep.

Leisha Camden was genetically modified at birth to require no sleep,and her normal twin Alice is the control. Problems and envy between the sistersmirror those in the larger world, as society struggles to adjust to agrowing pool of people who not only have 30 percent more time to work and studythan normal humans, but are also highly intelligent and in perfect health.The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and theirchildren escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society.But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for allhumans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge thatunwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (73)

The lure of independence against the demands of society
The first section of Nancy Kress's four-part novel, "Leisha," is a revision of the 1991 award-winning novella, which like the novel was entitled "Beggars of Spain." In spite of its brevity, the novella was nearly perfect in concept and execution, with a finale that is both open-ended and pleasing (a decidedly hard-to-achieve combination), and it won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novella.

But the author was unable to leave her original character and concept hanging. She (shrewdly, I think) expanded upon her novella about genetically mutated humans who don't need sleep and who live in a society that regards them as nightwalking freaks with unfair advantages: the extra hours they have each day, their ability to focus for extended periods, and (it turns out) the unexpected side effect of never growing old. The Sleepless have become Ageless.

The challenge Kress tackles in this extended remix, as she acknowledges in a foreword, is to address political and economic principles more explicitly, pitting "Ayn Rand's belief that no human being owes anything to any other except what is agreed to in a voluntary contract" against Ursula Le Guin's fictional utopia of a property-free (and thus government-free) society, as depicted in "The Dispossessed." This admission almost kept me from reading the book; I tend to become impatient with novels that bludgeon its readers with faux-academic sermons, rigging their fiction to support some metaphysical position or impossible ideal, but Kress eschews black-and-white worldviews and sees life in a rainbow of nuance. Her characters struggle between the lure of individual independence and the demands of social responsibility; Kress believes that neither extreme is all that human--or humane. She doesn't preach to us with a dogmatic answer but subtly suggests that the solution is to be found somewhere in the middle--an obvious point too often forgotten by extremists of every type.

As for the story itself: the remaining three parts of the novel are exciting, intriguing, and challenging, but they can't help but suffer in comparison to the opening segment. Part of the problem is their episodic nature; what we have here is less a cohesive novel than a tetralogy of novellas of variable quality (with the final two sections linked more strongly than the first two). Each succeeding chapter feels a bit tacked on. In addition, by the middle of the novel, several of the lead characters lose the very quality to be found in Kress's philosophical musings: nuance. All too often, the plot pits a veritable Dragon Lady (like Jennifer Sharifi) against a virtual saint (like Leisha or Miri). And the second generation of Sleepless mutant children, while they certainly provide one final (if far too predictable) plot twist, all suffer from a hyper-caffeinated stutter that is faithfully--and annoyingly--recorded on the page.

Yet, in spite of my quibbles about the last three sections, I must confess that I couldn't stop reading this book, not only because Kress ably enchants the reader with her bizarre and believable mutant dystopia, but especially because of the socio-political underpinnings that made me hesitate to read this book in the first place. In its full-length form, in spite of its disjointedness, "Beggars in Spain" is that rare novel that inspires both imagination and thought.

Both creative and contemplative, in spite of its disjointednss
The first section of Nancy Kress's four-part novel, "Leisha," is a revision of the 1991 award-winning novella, which like the novel was entitled "Beggars of Spain." In spite of its brevity, the novella was nearly perfect in concept and execution, with a finale that is both open-ended and pleasing (a decidedly hard-to-achieve combination), and it won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novella.

But the author was unable to leave her original character and concept hanging. She (shrewdly, I think) expanded upon her novella about genetically mutated humans who don't need sleep and who live in a society that regards them as nightwalking freaks with unfair advantages: the extra hours they have each day, their ability to focus for extended periods, and (it turns out) the unexpected side effect of never growing old. The Sleepless have become Ageless.

The challenge Kress tackles in this extended remix, as she acknowledges in a foreword, is to address political and economic principles more explicitly, pitting "Ayn Rand's belief that no human being owes anything to any other except what is agreed to in a voluntary contract" against Ursula Le Guin's fictional utopia of a property-free (and thus government-free) society, as depicted in "The Dispossessed." This admission almost kept me from reading the book; I tend to become impatient with novels that bludgeon its readers with faux-academic sermons, rigging their fiction to support some metaphysical position or impossible ideal (see: Robert Heinlein's later fiction and a few of Robert Sawyer's recent novels, not to mention Rand herself), but Kress eschews black-and-white worldviews and sees life in a rainbow of nuance. Her characters struggle between the lure of individual independence and the demands of social responsibility; Kress believes that neither extreme is all that human--or humane. She doesn't preach to us with a dogmatic answer but subtly suggests that the solution is to be found somewhere in the middle--an obvious point too often forgotten by extremists of every type.

As for the story itself: the remaining three parts of the novel are exciting, intriguing, and challenging, but they can't help but suffer in comparison to the opening segment. Part of the problem is their episodic nature; what we have here is less a cohesive novel than a tetralogy of novellas of variable quality (with the final two sections linked more strongly than the first two). Each succeeding chapter feels a bit tacked on. In addition, by the middle of the novel, several of the lead characters lose the very quality to be found in Kress's philosophical musings: nuance. All too often, the plot pits a veritable Dragon Lady (like Jennifer Sharifi) against a virtual saint (like Leisha or Miri). And the second generation of Sleepless mutant children, while they certainly provide one final (if far too predictable) plot twist, all suffer from a hyper-caffeinated stutter that is faithfully--and annoyingly--recorded on the page.

Yet, in spite of my quibbles about the last three sections, I must confess that I couldn't stop reading this book, not only because Kress ably enchants the reader with her bizarre and believable mutant dystopia, but especially because of the socio-political underpinnings that made me hesitate to read this book in the first place. In its full-length form, in spite of its disjointedness, "Beggars in Spain" is that rare novel that inspires both imagination and thought.

16+ Years Later A Tour de Force
Published in April 1993 - even earlier in the Hugo and Nebula-winning novella form - BEGGARS IN SPAIN remains a fun provocative read.The key Sci Fi premise is the development of genetic modifications allowing people to live without ever sleeping.

Book I of IV that comprise the novel is set 2008, last year in real time but it doesn't matter because the plot is engaging, political and social observations stayed timely.The writer's extrapolation of computer technology, pre-Web, isn't far off the mark.What's needed of technology to bolster the story is well used.Example - an adolescent Super-Sleepless circa 2085 residing in an orbital community all her life learns about Earth's Sleeper society through broadcast grids.It's not quite surfing the web or video on demand, but it's reasonable and moves the story ahead.

Genetically modified characters are human - villains, heroes, rich and poor, people - is the theme that the book serves well.This novel stays in print and should for the foreseeable future allowing SF readers easy access to a superb story.

Soap Opera, not Sci-Fi
The novel started out okay, but then turned into a sister to sister relationship story. I wanted more sci-fi and less soap opera. I tossed it about half-way through.

Great Idea Marred by Infantile Style
This novel has such a great premise but is unreadable due to the lousy writing. From the critical and reader reviews I thought Beggars in Spain would be the work of a top literary stylist; instead, it's the work of a rank amateur. The dialog is especially bad. Granted, the book starts out from an infant's POV, so I didn't throw it across the room until page 100, at which point the main character was a fully grown woman. Too bad the author's style didn't mature with her character. ... Read more

Product Description
Nancy Kress, one of the leading writers of science fiction today, has written a number of provocative and award-winning stories and novels. But it is with the Beggars trilogy that she has reached the pinnacle of her success.Developed out of her Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella, "Beggars in Spain," the trilogy was launched with Beggars in Spain (1993), also a Nebula nominee for best novel, and continued in Beggars and Choosers (1995). Both received widespread praise and unusual enthusiasm. Locus, for instance, referred to "the joy of reading a work of SF so intelligent, humane, involving, utterly genuine...magnificent," and went on to say, "It is Kress's brilliant achievement in Beggars and Choosers, that scientific progress and human idealism, the driving forces behind some of the best hard SF...,never leave behind the passionate muddle that is life...."

Now the trilogy is completed in Beggars Ride, a compelling novel of science fiction that raises one of the most ambitious and large-scale works of the decade to the status of finished masterpiece. Kress, a writer who had been appropriately compared to H.G. Wells and Aldous Huxley, deals with evolutionary forces, genetic engineering, technological progress, and social and class conflict, confronting enduring issues that face human society in this century and the next.

The Sleepless and the SuperSleepless, two generations of genetically modified superhumans, are now in conflict with each other, and with the spectrum of normal humanity, whose radical division into the rich and poor has made a parody of democracy in the twenty-second century. Human civilization has been transformed. Now it may be destroyed. And if it falls, what kind of world is left, what kind of humanity?

Nancy Kress has written a work of fiction that culminates and brings to new fruition the Wellsian strain of SF invented a century ago.
Amazon.com Review
Nancy Kress ends her Beggars trilogy (which began with thenovella later turned into a novel, Beggars in Spain) almostfull circle from where it began. Against a backdrop where rich humanshave themselves modified to perfection and poor, unmodified "Livers"eke out a nomadic existence, the genetically superior Sleepless havestopped distributing Change. Change is the miracle substance thatprevents disease in all humans.In cutting off Change, the Sleeplesshave ignited a class war that will ultimately be resolved not bytechnology and science, but by the children of technology, who mustlive side-by-side despite their differences. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

pretty bad
wow.very disappointing. I love books, most of my furniture is bookcases, and I read everything dozens of times.I have had these three Nancy Kress books for several years, but have only read them two or three times.I had forgotten why, until I read them again this week.Now I remember.

The series started out interesting, had a bland sequel, and went over a cliff in the finale.No noticeable character development, trite and unbelievable plot with artificial twists, and has nothing to be said that could not be fitted onto the back of a small book jacket.

DOn't waste your money, go get cj cherryh or elizabeth moon instead.

it's not too nerdy, just good sci fi
a sci fi book i borrowed from my friend.it's the last in a trilogy i did not read, but i was able to understand the jist of it. this is a future i actually could imagine, with those beautiful, drugged people being the ruling class. i found all of the characters very interesting, although the main guy was kinda dislikeable because he acted so weak half the time. very good book, you should read it.

Maybe I should have read the other two books?
I picked up Beggar's Ride in a bookstore without noticing that it was book three of a trilogy.I'm usually a stickler for reading an author's books in the order they were written - even when they're unrelated.So, reading the third book in a trilogy without reading the first two is a stretch for me, but I did it. And, boy was I disappointed.

In my experience, you don't read later books first because, in an effort to make sure the reader knows what is going on, authors tend to give away important plot information from the first two books.Not this one!I managed to get through this book without truly understanding the sleepless, the super sleepless or anything about what motivated them.I learned nothing about the Change wars.While I could follow the plot of Beggars Ride reasonably well; without any information about the world it just wasn't very interesting.

The characters in Beggars Ride were, generally, not very interesting.In many cases, their motivations were incomprensible.The plot twists (which I won't reveal for those who still want to read this) felt like real cop-outs and the ending seemed more than a little unrealistic.

Since I didn't read the first two books in the trilogy, I'll give Ms. Kress the benefit of the doubt and give her two stars.But, really, all books should stand on their own.They should be better when read as a series, but comprehensible independently.Next time, if Ms. Kress can't be bothered to work the pertinent details into the story, maybe she should consider providing a written version of "previously on..."

Disappointing
I loved Beggars in Spain and have read it and the sequel, Beggars and Choosers, many times. However, this novel is a bad ending to the trilogy, mainly perhaps because my favorite character, Leisha Camden, was killed off in the second novel. Most of the characters are two-dimensional and unlikable, except for Lizzy, a throwback genius Liver who is doomed to a welfare existence.

DYSTOPIA a la carte
The Beggars Trilogy is a sordid tale depicting a drug addicted U.S. population a century into the future.The bio-engineered, genius tribe called theSleepless decide to play god with the common man.They essentially turn man into plants.They used an injection of nanobots to grow a network embedded in man's skin- enabling him to feed from the soil as roots nourish a tree.Further, man's skin could also use photons like plants do in photosynthesis.How does that sound?The leitmotif reminds me of Eugene O'Neill's LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. If in a century nanotechnology engulfs genetic engineering it appears the result shown in this book will be artificial life, not enriched life.Genius in this tale snuffs out both hope and free will. The Super sleepless had as much fear of innovation as the retarded sleepers.As both sides fought to retain the old and curtail the new, we are led to a total impasse.A snake swallowing its own tail.

This series is quite an undertaking.The craft of writing is mastered, the suspense sustained to the end, and lots of learning was dispensed on how the brain parts work.The question that must havekept cropping up with Ms. Kress was, "What do I do for an encore?" This confrontation with biogenetic engineering took the reader as deeply into dystopia as is inhumanly possible.Some of the characters actually evolved right out of the human race to become the Sleepless Masters who fortunately, it turned out, had an Achilles heel.The Sleepless saw themselves as gods to the unevolved human.When their plan went up in smoke not a tear was shed by the reader.Why not?Because here was a story of sex without joy, intelligence like dead AI,and spirituality without god.The trilogy spanned over a hundred years but where were the holidays, where was Easter and Christmas?It was bleak, bleaker and bleakest. ... Read more

Product Description
Covering the main elements of fiction writing, Beginnings, Middles & Ends demonstrates effective solutions for potential problems, from how to hook the editor in the 1st few paragraphs to building drama and credibililty in prose.' ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

One of the better books out there
As many of the other reviewers have said, this is a really excellent book for beginning writers, or not-so-beginning writers who need some help with what might be going wrong in their process. One of the things that makes this book stand out as a reference for the writing process is how well the author acknowledges that there are many different ways to approach the same end, a finished first draft.Kress also talks about the issues inherent in each step of writing a completed draft and gives several excellent suggestions for how to approach the difficulties a writer might be facing. I recommend this book to the members of my writing group, refer to it often myself for advice or inspiration, and am happy to give it a five star review here on Amazon.

Terrific for the Beginner, So-So for Everyone Else
This book was a very easy read - one that can literally be read in a few hours - which is an impressive feat for an educational book. The author really moved the content along in that she was clear and straight forward and she used lots of examples to drive her points home. She had several good points to keep in mind regarding the author's implicit promise, revisions and how to snag the agent/editor with a stellar opening. She even provides some exercises to help you keep your characters and plot on track from beginning to end. Overall, I found that what she had to say was valid and worth reading. I give this book 3.5 stars.

That being said, don't be disappointed if you find much of this book to be good old common sense. This is not the author's fault, but rather the consequence of the subject matter. True amateurs - the ones who haven't written more than 100,000 words in their lifetime - will probably find this book more useful than intermediate and seasoned writers. I would also be more apt to rate this book higher if it had been cheaper. Don't get me wrong, $10 bucks is pretty cheap. But I paid the same price for Characters & Viewpoint, which is considerably longer and was jam-packed with useful content for writers on all levels.

Bottom Line: If you don't consider yourself an amateur, then you should probably skip this book and buy Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card, which is more informative and covers a lot of the same material touched upon in Beginnings, Middles & Ends.

Beginnings,Middles & Ends.
This is an easy to follow guide. It asks for a little thought but does not get bogged down in the jargon of the critique. Very easy to use.

Great buy, great seller.
I was surprised that I received the book in 3 working days.Great seller, I will buy from them again.

Great Book for Any Aspiring Writer
This is a writing reference book, but I think anyone could read this and get something out of it. One would expect that a writing reference book would be a drag to read, but I just wanted to continue turning the pages in this book. The author breaks down a story into the three parts: beginning, middle, and end, and she discusses on what makes each part good and each part bad. She cites many examples from stories as well as writes her own example for each section. Her techniques and suggestions seem very practical, and I think I will keep this book forever for reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Humanity has expanded out into other solar systems using the remnants of an ancient technology of star gates. But now an alien race has also discovered the gates. In this situation, a new planet is discovered inhabited by a human-like race, and a team of scientists is sent to contact and study them. It isnt long before the killer aliens arrive and the whole powerkeg explodes.Amazon.com Review
Earth is an environmental disaster area when humanity gains new hope: a star gate is discovered in the solar system, built by a long-gone alien race. Earth establishes extrasolar colonies and discovers alien races--including the warlike Fallers, the only spacefaring race besides humans. Mysterious, uncommunicative, and relentlessly bent on humanity's extinction, the Fallers have mastered the star gates, and are closing in on earth.

Dr. Bazargan commands the scientific team sent to a newly discovered world to study its humanoid natives: beings who literally perceive only one reality. To lie is to be unreal--and condemned to death. The humans must flee for their lives across the unknown planet when they and the aliens learn the scientific mission is a lie. It's the cover for a secret military exploration of the moon Tas, which is another artifact of the gate-makers: a superweapon capable of annihilating all life in a star system, and already known to the Fallers.

Nancy Kress has won the Hugo, the Sturgeon, and three Nebula Awards. She is justly acclaimed as a literary SF writer, but receives little acknowledgement that her work is hard SF. Probability Moon should change this, winning her many new readers while pleasing her fans. It's a rare and desirable hybrid: a literary, military, hard-SF novel. Set in the same world as her Nebula- and Sturgeon-winning novelette, "Flowers of Aulit Prison," Probability Moon is the first book of a trilogy, but it has a self-contained story line. The sequel, Probability Sun, will appear in 2001, and the concluding book will be The Fabric of Space. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Great cure for insomnia!
To begin, I'm an avid science fiction reader.This book, however, barely qualifies as science fiction.The author's lack of scientific knowledge is painfully apparent...making this book a work (in the loosest sense of the word) of pure fiction.This is, definitely, the worst science fiction book I've ever read...and quite possibly, is the worst book I've ever read.Basic story elements are continuously repeated throughout and contribute to the impression that the author does not imagine the readers of this book to have much in the way of intelligence or short-term memory.In case you're wondering, I did read the entire book.And the only positive thing I can say is that this book is a sure cure for insomnia.

Disappointing and Dull
Very surprised to see the four and five star reviews for this novel. The best part of it is the alien culture, as other reviewers have noted, but even that element is presented in a confusing and fuzzy way, so that a lot of text is spent talking around just what it is that makes the aliens so unique, rather than showing it clearly, as if the mystery of their odd connections to each other and reality is supposed to draw us in.

Most of the rest of the cutting edge science just didn't come across as very convincing. I'm not one to demand hard science in my speculative fiction, but if it's going to be a major plot element it should be explained clearly and should seem consistent.

The characters tend toward being one dimensional and/or annoying, and the book dragged so slowly in places that I was hard pressed to finish it. As another reviewer noted, the inclusion of the human children on the research team was ludicrous without a stronger explanation.This is odd given that Kress has written guidebooks on both characterization and plot.

Not Free SF Reader
Humans have discovered ancient alien technology, and have also discovered current real live aliens that really don't like them at all.

In the middle of a war that isn't going too well an expedition discovers some possible useful technology.

However, the planet it is on has a strange society, their belief in their consensual reality is what drives them, and outsiders are ostracised and more.

An Almost Great Book
What I like best about Nancy Kress, as an author, is that she knows how to write a science fiction novel that has both good science and good fiction in it. Too often, writers are only good at one side of the equation or the other.

I thought this was a great book, except for one key element. The crisis scene in the middle of the book doesn't make sense and, since it is pivotal to the story as a whole, the second half of the book really suffers for it.

What do I mean by "crisis scene"? I mean the point in the novel where everything chnges for the main characters.

Human scientists have come to World to study the Worlders' society, most notably, their unique ability to exist in a shared reality that every individual participates in. Those few Worlders who cannot or will not share reality are declared "unreal" and are social outcasts. If the crime is considered serious enough, the individual is killed. So, the scientists in the field team have to gather information about this unknown culture without revealing that they themselves do not come from a culture of shared reality.

During the first half of the book, the Worlders treat the humans as honored guests. They are not convinced that the human are "real", but they are also not convinced that the humans are "unreal", so they give them the benefit of the doubt.

In the crisis scene, the rich trader who, until that point, has been playing host to the humans, decides that they must be unreal based on information they disclose to him. The news that the humans are now, officially, "unreal" travels all over the community and the scientists go from being honored guests to hunted fugitives. The second half of the book deals with the discoveries they make while hiding in the mountains, an area the Worlders will not trespass in for religious reasons.

The crisis takes place because the human scientists discover that their anthropological expedition was only a cover for a larger military mission taking place in orbit around World. When they learn of the military mission and learn that the experiments taking place on the ship above might threaten the safety of the Worlders, the team decides that they are morally bound to warn the Worlders of the possible danger, regardless of the personal consequences to them. They disclose the threat to their host, Pek Voratur. They know that, as a powerful businessman, he will be able to mobilize the leaders of World to take precautionary measures. Unfortunately for the field team, Voratur believes, after the disclosure, that all humans are unreal because they didn't know from the start about the military mission. In other words, "real" people wouldn't keep secrets from each other. He concludes that the humans obviously don't share reality the way Worlders do and starts screaming that they are unreal.

Well, no. The problem is that he wouldn't act like that. Shared reality means that the Worlders all have the same outlook on life, the same worldview. It does not mean that they all know the same facts. This is demonstarted many times in the first half of the book. A carpenter doesn't know anything about the job of a cook, or vice versa. More importantly, it is shown that in World culture, the government often acts without the knowledge of the rest of the citizenry.

Only a few pages before his confrontation with the humans, Pek Voratur discovers that the government priests have a certain medication that he had no idea even existed. The priests did not share this information with the general public of World. Voratur is astonished to learn of the medication, but never once thinks the priests are suddenly "unreal" for keeping the information to themselves. So, for that reason, I don't think that the fact that the human "priests" in space kept certain facts back from the field team would be enough to send Voratur's opinion over the edge and declare all humans unreal. He had just experienced the same thing in his own culture. The Worlders are not egalitarian in their social structure. They have leaders and followers, and it is the nature of any hierarchy that the leaders know more than the followers.

I think that Nancy Kress violated her own rules of shared reality for the sake of dramatic effect and plot advancement and, since it occurs at such a pivotal place in the novel, the violation is really glaring and diminishes the whole book. The humans were making so many cultural mistakes, she could easily found a valid way for the Worlders to declare them unreal.

Great character development -- weak ending
Nancy Kress' "Probability Moon" takes a little getting used to at the very beginning. Humans are traversing the stars through space tunnels they discovered, and they're finding humans scattered throughout the universe, apparently seeded by some unknown alien for an unknown purpose. They also found the Fallers, an alien race that wipes out human colonies anywhere they're found. All of this information is a little overwhelming at first and actually only background to the story at the heart of this book.

A team of scientists land on the planet World to study the people on the planet while a military team studies a manufactured moon orbiting World.

The overall plot was intriguing, but I was much more impressed by Kress' character development. She did an outstanding job creating the alien society on World and the science behind their evolution. The main characters are also interesting, well rounded people that I found fascinating to follow.

However, the science gets really deep toward the end of the book, and I found myself skipping sections that just didn't make sense to me. (Which is a little frustrating, because I wanted to know if it was true science or if she made it up for the book.) Plus, the ending (which I will not reveal) is less than satisfying. Oh, it makes sense with the way the book had gone up to that point, but I wanted more resolution. This ending just left the door wide open for the sequel. ... Read more

Product Description
The indispensable Write Great Fiction series continues with an in-depth look at three of the most important tools in the writer's craft: character, emotion and viewpoint. With the tips and techniques in this book, readers will learn how to:

-Create compelling characters that readers believe in-Write scenes that deliver an unforgettable emotional impact -Distinguish among the many different kinds of viewpoint, and choose the one which is right for their story

Each chapter is filled with examples drawn from the work of successful writers and action-and- results exercises that help readers take their lessons to the keyboard. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Great Help!
I found this bookby Kress made me feel as if someone was right there beside me answering all of my questions and even anticipating my questions.She felt like a real helpful friend from the very beginning.I have started to look for other titles in the Fiction Series and hope they are as good.

One of the Best
Like so many (all) writers, I have a bookcase full of writing advice. This book, however, is one of the rarest. It is actually helpful to the writing process. Too often writing exercises are tired and worn. It is hard to imagine creating vibrant prose out of advice like "Think about your best friend as a child." What this book does is to encourage you to look beyond yourself and your experiences to develop new ideas. Most writers, I feel, are already introspective. We definitely become so when blocked. Different viewpoints, in my opinion, are what are most helpful in breaking free of the feeling that you are stuck within your own mind.

And speaking of viewpoint, if you struggle with it, you will find this book is also quite concise in explaining the differences that POV makes. I tend to do POV instinctively, which means I never bothered to truly understand it. It was very helpful to me to have it clearly explained as a tool for shaping my story. This book is alive with insight into the craft and I think, should you purchase it, it would be kept on the desk rather than shoved onto some dusty bookshelf.

The best book on character development and writing I've ever read
As an award-winning author, Nancy Kress has written an absolutely brilliant book on character development in "Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint".Winner of 3 Hugos (congrats! I'm a long-time Asimov/Heinlein/Clarke sci fi fan as well, myself), Nancy's penned the single best book on the mechanics of character development in storytelling I've ever read in my life.

She's a wonderful author as well -- just reading this book showed me a lot about how an accurate, successful "master of the craft" communicates with the written word.It's definitely a book I as an avid reader (and author myself, of technical trading articles) wish I'd been able to read 20+ years ago, because she carefully dissects the science of character and story arcs, how to position character references correctly in stories, and all the nuances to create memorable (vs hack) characters.

This is a really finely-authored book, one of the very best I've read, by an award-winning writer.Thanks, Nancy - for providing both a role model and a complete "writer's workshop in a book" here for those of us who are always learning how to improve our writing skills.

Very insightful and well-written, this is a superb book for not only all fellow authors, but those of us who are avid readers as well. Super workmanship on this... well done!

-Ken

Must have!
I am a beginning writer and found this book based on a recommendation by another author. My writing improved tremendously based on the recommendations in this book.I never realized how uninteresting my characters, and description of the events taking place in the story were, until Ms. Kress gave examples of passages that pointed out the details in how dialogue and descriptions could further take the reader on the journal with the characters.I love to read and I thought I knew how to put my thoughts on paper, but Ms. Kress really helped me add an entirely new dimension to my writing.

I really can't say enough about how useful this book is, especially to a novice writer.

I would recommend it in a heartbeat!

character viewpoints- Nancy Kress
a well structured book that helps a writer to focus on viewpoints. all writers should have this in their library. ... Read more

Product Description
Nancy Kress made her reputation in the early 90s with her multiple award-winning novella, Beggars in Spain, which became the basis for her extremely successful Beggars Trilogy (Beggars in Spain, Beggars and Choosers, and Beggars Ride).Now she brings us Probability Space, the conclusion of the trilogy that began with Probability Moon and Probability Sun. Centered on the same world as Kresss Nebula Award-winning novelette, Flowers of Aulit Prison, the Probability Trilogy has already been recognized as her next great work by critics and readers alike. In Probability Space, humanity is losing the war with the alien Fallers. As the action moves from Earth to Mars to the farthest reaches of known space, four humansarmed with little more than an unproven theorytry to enter the Fallers home star system. Its a desperate gamble, and the fate of the entire universe may hang in the balance.Amazon.com Review
As Probability Space opens, the future looks grim, though humanity has spread across the stars. Humans have gained control of a moon-sized, immensely powerful super-weapon abandoned by a long-gone alien race--an artifact that should protect humanity from its implacable enemy, the Fallers, a ruthlessly xenophobic alien race. Unfortunately, the Fallers have found another of these abandoned super-weapons, and if both are discharged at the highest setting at the same time, then the very fabric of space-time will be shredded, destroying not only all life in the universe, but the universe itself. But for the Fallers, victory may be more important than survival. And a violent military coup has put an insanely ambitious general in command of human space....

A novel of literary hard SF, Probability Space concludes the trilogy that begins with Probability Moon and includes Probability Sun. Author Nancy Kress has received the Hugo Award, the Sturgeon Award, and three Nebula Awards. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Pleasing conclusion to the trilogy
I was sorry to see it end, and wish Ms. Kress would write another so we know what happens to our favorite couple on Mars, not to mention the famous physicist learning to cope with a headstrong fourteen-year-old daughter.

The action really got intense there near the end, and was very imaginatively done. I was worried about that beforehand after encountering some of the padding and the verbatim paragraphs of science explanation from the previous books. A few typos, an incorrect attribution. Don't these things get any proofreading when they're popular? I guess not.

Still a good read and I'd do it again. And probably (!) will with another Kress epic.

A good ending, slightly ill-written, but better than bad reviews say
The storyline was connected, the plot was interesting, the conclusion was satisfying.I read the negative reviews before purchasing the book, and found that discussions about inconsistent plot flow and skipping around, etc. were unfounded.

I gave this book 3 stars because Kress cut some corners in her writing.To save redescribing certain characters or universe characteristics, she copied and pasted paragraphs from the earlier two books.This was just being straight-out lazy.I also felt that some of the plot moves were a little rapid, perhaps forced to be so in order to move the plot through the 350 pages.

Otherwise, I am happy to have read the 3rd book and concluded the saga within the probability universe.If you've read the first 2 books, this is a must - and it is a pleasant read overall.

Interesting but wanted more out of the final book in the series
Interstellar war never was so grim, with humanity posed to lose a war with the Fallers, what is going to keep us from being completely wiped out? Well a coup on earth for one as the Fallers hedge in on the planet and defeat looms in the popular mind. With some predictability, the doomsday scenario card is played in the book that could wipe out the enemy, but with the standard, should we shouldn't we do this argument, the book starts to meander. Ok if you want a good story, and the subject is worth exploring, but like the cold war, we could kill many people, and possibly destroy space time in this book, the impact of that choice is something that we still would have to deal with. Especially when we try to figure out where to actually use the device. This is the last book in the series, and brings about good closure, but would have preferred a more substantial entry to finish this book off, but then having decent closure is important, some readers might find the ending satisfactory. Overall Ok, 3 stars, worth getting and reading.

Who wrote this book?
Probability Space is a very disapponting conclusion to the probability Trilogy. The two first installments definitely had their moments even though they were not up to the best of Nacy Kress' contributions, but this book reads as if it was written be a completely different author. Half of the book is a silly juvenile which could have been skipped completely and the second half doesn't answer most of the interesting questions raised in the first two books. When we leave the book we know next to nothing about those who created the space tunnels. We know next to nothing about the Fallers, and we know nothing about the new society developing on World and about those who remained there.

So who wrote this book? I guess it could be Charles Sheffield stepping in to help his wife (the writing style and the two-dimensional charachterization of persons in Probability Space matches his writing to some extent) or it could be somebody else. But it definitely was not Nancy Kress.

good reading!
I enjoyed the Probability trilogy very much. Interesting, believable characters, exciting story, and a fine, appropriate ending.
The Fallers were wonderfully alien and I would love to learn more about them. World had a fascinating culture , at least before the artifact was removed.
Two minor annoyances. There was some repetition of material from the previous volumes, evidently to allow this book to stand alone. Perhaps that should have been left out or put in a separate section. Also, the physics behind the operation of the artifacts was explained in more detail than I wanted. However, these small defects detract very little from a great trilogy and its fine concluding volume. ... Read more

Product Description
In this guide, award-winning author Nancy Kress explores the crucial relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how vibrant, well-constructed characters act as the driving force behind an exceptional story.

In teaching writers the fundamentals of creating characters that will keep their readers spellbound, Kress utilizes:

* Dozens of excerpts from well-known fiction

* Enlightening exercises to help writers build strong characters starting from the outside-in

* Beginning chapters that focus on the physical elements that comprise a character, providing techniques for using external qualities to reflect personality

Building skill upon skill, writers blend these qualities with emotional and mental characterization, forming multidimensional characters that initiate exciting action, react to tense situations and power the plot from beginning to end. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Must Have Resource!
As an aspiring author, who is too lazy at the moment to spellcheck my review, I have to say that if you're a writer, and there's one book out there that you can not live without on your book shelf, this is it.

Not only does this book clearly spell out character growth and characterization, but it helps you through bits of important style formats, how to progress your plotline through an easy to follow dossier, and all while hitting you with clever banter, and FUNNY lines.It's beyond charming and right into irresistable.Some of the material that is covered is also very educational (I'm an author without much higher education.Deal with it.) and it exposes you to some classic examples as well as original ones, broken down and clearly demonstrating the different ways in which an author can say the exact same thing.And that's important.It's all well and good to say "Don't ever ever EVER do this!!!" - then never telling us what "this" is.

This book doesn't do that.It's clear and in plain english, which is also important.

I found myself smiling my way through the entire book.

I still refer back to it. A great guide!
I bought this copy over a year ago and it's already battered, dirty, and full of my side notes and highlighter markings. I'm a mediocre writer, so I thought I would give this book a try. It is really helpful. It's full of advice on developing your characters and that both experienced and inexperienced authors could use.

One of the best things about this book (mind you, there are many), is it has an entire section called the "Intelligence Dossier" which can be used to keep track of all your character's past, personality, and mannerisms. It is really useful if you have many characters present and wish to make everyone developed completely. Some of the small things it keeps track of are grooming (how they take care of themselves), calm or fidgety, posture, where would she/he like to live, where do they live, how does this impact their decisions, how do they wake up, and fifteen more pages of important things to develop a character. The only downside to this is that you'll have to photocopy it out of the book which may be a bit difficult when considering the spine of the book.

The author, Nancy Kress, also makes sure to include examples when describing something she believes needs elaborating. This is actually really helpful. For example, when discussing the importance of developing secondary characters as well as primary characters, she uses examples from The Great Gatsby.

Even small facts that you wouldn't think of are included. Such as consistency in anti-heroes and unexpected villains, when it's okay to create characters out of living people, and using dialogue to develop characters further.

This is a really helpful book. There is A LOT in here that I can't cover in a simple review. You're pretty much guaranteed to learn at least one fact from this book, and who knows, that one fact could change your career or improve your writing skills. Definitely give this book a shot.

Extremely helpful
Nancy Kress has done it again. She and Steven King has set me straight more than any others.

A must read and a great reference book.

Dynamic Characters
Book in excellent condition. This is a good writers textbook. She really teaches you how to get into your characters head.To know them inside out befor you start forming your story around them.She gives you great insight into why you should know them as well as you know the person you live with...their manners, moods, likes, dislike will all have some sort of affect on how the handle the scene they find themselves in.
I recommend that all writers take time to study this book.

A Must-Have for any Fiction Writer
Drag out the highlighters, get comfortable and go to work.This book is filled with valuable information and instruction on characterization and how to keep a story moving.It explains how your characters can either make or kill a plot and how a character you love can still be a dud.I recommend purchasing this book as opposed to getting it from your local library.There are things in this book that you will refer to again and again.The Intelligent Dossier itself is worth the price of it.

Although it took me a bit of time to get through it (because I was highlighting and re-reading things), it was written with humor and a vast amount of examples.You can put the things you learn to work today.You may not want to finish the book because of the ideas you get but do yourself a favor and finish it.It is so worth it.

... Read more

Product Description
Salvation or Annihilation?

A strange artifact has been discovered on a distant planet, an artifact that may be the key to humanity's salvation. For we at war with the Fallers, an alien race bent on nothing short of genocide, and this is a war we are losing. The artifact is not only a powerful weapon, but possibly the rosetta stone to a lost superscience . . . a superscience that the Fallers may have already decoded. Or it may be a doomsday machine that could destroy the very fabric of space.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

weak characters... distorted science
After having read some of Nancy Kress's short fiction as well as Beggars in Spain and Probability Moon, I was expecting substantially more from this novel than I found.What made Probability Moon an interesting read was the unique alien culture it depicted.The characters may have been two dimensional and her interpretation of modern physics jumbled, but the anthropology of a society in which all ideas and opinions are arrived at by a biologically imperative consensus made up for that.

In Probability Sun we see little of the World culture and more garbled science and scientists.The characterization of the scientists is gratingly two-dimensional.Capelo is one of the most unsympathetic characters I have come across in a good while.In fact, all of the characters appear so narrow and crudely drawn that it is hard to sympathize with their opinions or outlooks because they seem so bizarre and unsupported.The science itself consists of garbled explanations of modern physics.Kress freely spews quantum mechanics buzz words almost totally divorced from any actual understanding of the ideas.The science presented here reads more like name-dropping, she uses the right words but one is highly skeptical as to whether or not she really knows what they mean or would even recognize them in a crowd.

I read this book because I was interested in learning what would happen to the inhabitants of World when the humans returned to meddle further in their culture.Unfortunately, this sequel is overall so garbled and thin that even finding out the answers to questions left over from Probability Moon couldn't make it worth the read.

Good history but confusing at times
The actual idea behind the book is pretty good and is very interesting. The problem is that characters lack certain personality and the just have one or two emotions, also the science parts maybe quite confusing for some (especially me because i'm from Mexico) but still you'll probably be able to understand the most part. You'll probably like this book but it's not an action book and progresses kind of slow in some parts but still it's quite a fun book because of the theories and things like the shared reality.

Another thing is that you should probably read Probablity Moon before but it isn't a necesity to understand this book ( I read this one before not realising it was a triology)

Good hard SF, interesting characters
...Any good SF reader knows Nancy Kress, and knows her writing style well.In Probability Sun, she does not reach the pinnacle of her success (though Moon is pretty close), but she nonetheless writes a decent novel.Particularly interesting are her complex characters, for which she is well known throughout her Beggars in Spain series;(*minor spoilers follow*) you find yourself agreeing with Capelo's desire to murder the Faller, you find yourself sort of surprised at the backbone of Kaufmann, and the dwellers of World continue to hold your interest throughout the book.Not to mention the science, which is great as usual for Kress (whose husband helped out just a bit, according to the author's note =)

So, for real SF readers, the review is in: great characters, interesting science (though nothing spectacular), good plot.Pick it up, and pray Space comes out in paperback soon ... =)

Interesting physics--but need more character development
The human race is losing a war against the 'Fallen' a mysterious race who kills rather than communicating. Now the Fallen have discovered a shield that protects them from anything the humans can throw at them. If they don't do something, the human race is doomed.

In PROBABILITY SUN, a small group of scientists and soldiers travel to a fascinating world of 'shared reality' to uncover an artifact that just might have something to do with the interstellar travel that humans have discovered but don't understand, and just might have something to do with the Fallen shield.

The same mission, for no particular reason, also carries the only Fallen ever captured alive.

I loved author Nancy Kress's depiction of 'The World' and the shared reality system that makes it work. The physics that run through the 'probability' aspect of her work are also interesting.

I found the military situation that two such critical missions (saving the human race and communicating with the only captured member of the attacking species) would be conducted by such a small group of scientists (only one of which had any communication with the Fallen). An even bigger problem was with the characters. Tom Capelo is flat, his emotions ranging from rage to a sort of maudlin love for his children. Colonel Kaufman, more or less the protagonist, doesn't really seem to arc much. He does what he has to, but the reader never sees the change or what it means to him.

PROBABILITY SUN is interesting and well written, but it won't stick with you the way Kress intended, nor the way it almost achieved.

Character-driven dilemmas and suspense
The foundation of this Hugo and Nebula Award winner's latest series is an interstellar war with the mysterious Fallers, a civilization so alien there has never been any communication other than killing. Both sides use a little-understood series of space tunnels left by a vanished race.

The first in the series, "Probability Moon" introduced World, a planet of empaths whose "shared reality" makes lying impossible. While a team of anthropologists established relations with the Worlders, a military team studied the planet's artificial moon, another of the vanished race's artifacts, which they hoped would turn the tide in the war. The story ended in disaster, with the humans declared "unreal" and the moon destroyed.

The sequel, "Probability Sun," neatly telescopes the earlier story as humans prepare for a new mission to study a second artifact hidden in World's sacred caves. The mission includes two characters from the first book, blunt, straightforward geologist Dieter Gruber and his thoughtful wife, xenobiologist Ann Sikorski as well as brilliant, eccentric physicist Tom Capelo, gene-engineered empath Marbet Grant and Major Lyle Kaufman, the mission's reluctant leader, a mild, politic man who doesn't recognize his own strengths.

While the scientists swarm over the artifact and re-establish relations with (and studies of) the Worlders, including Enli, whose previous experience gives her more insight into humans than she wants, the military secretly uses Marbet Grant to study the first Faller ever captured alive.

The character-driven action moves between the ship and the planet, the alien enemy and the enigmatic artifact, military ambitions and scientific goals, building to choices that may destroy Worlder civilization, tip the balance of the war or end the universe as we know it. Kress' story is well organized and well written and her characters multi-dimensional. The story is an engaging blend of military and psychological strategy, speculative science, moral dilemmas and suspense. The ending provides satisfying closure while leaving the door open for a third book. ... Read more

Product Description
t began with Crossfire: a far-future novel of planetary colonization and alien first contact. Jake Holman, a man trying to escape a dark past, brought together a diverse group of thousands to settle on a new world. The humans found themselves caught in the crossfire of a galaxy-spanning war between two disparate species: aggressive, militaristic humanoids known as Furs, and passive, plantlike creatures known as Vines. Having now cast their lot with the peaceful Vines, humanity faces all-out war against the technologically superior Furs. Their only hope? A virus designed by the Vines to remove all aggressiveness from the Furs. Can it spread fast enough to save not only Holman's colony, but the rest of humanity? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Decent Space Opera from Nancy Kress, but....
Nancy Kress's "Crucible", the sequel to her novel "Crossfire", is noteworthy mainly since it has more of her excellent world-building featured in her best novels. Alas her characters are not really all that memorable, with the sole exceptions of Alex Cutler and General Julian Martin, but even they are depicted in scenes that seem all too predictable. Here in "Crucible", the human colonists of the planet Greentrees must contend with yet another battle between the alien civilizations of the Vines and Furs, and the unexpected visit of an Earth warship, Crucible, and its charismatic commander, General Julian Martin. Having enjoyed some of Kress's earlier work, I am surprised that her characters and plot aren't nearly as memorable as those from "Beggars in Spain".

disappointingly unrealistic
I've read 8 books by Nancy Kress but after this one I'm not sure I'll read more.This book degrades into military fiction, and leaves out the development of characters so they are nothing but shells.This book is sorely unrealistic leaving the story unbelievable.I can't explain too much without giving away the story, but basically, the Furs who are supposed to be a very intelligent race are not smart enough to use ceramics and know nothing about quarantines.I thought the setup for this series was interesting but I think Kress is concentrating on a prolific career instead of worrying about plausibility.Let's hope the next series is not about war with aliens.

It's tasty but it's not Arthur Miller
Laborious allegory (after the Patriot Act) which I enjoyed but is better as an action thriller.

Terrific follow-on to "Crossfire"
Nancy Kress continues her space-colonization story with this novel, a sequel to "Crossfire."

In terms of plot, the book opens as the colonists on Greentrees are still caught between the rock of "Furs" and the hard place of "Vines"--alien races at war with each other.The humans are allied with the Vines, who have a plan to eliminate the Fur threat.

If that weren't enough, a ship of humans arrives from Earth, bringing ambitions and prejudices of their own--and a whole new dimension to the conflict.

Without giving away too much, the story unravels a thorny briar patch of conflicts at many levels--among humans, planets, interstellar species, ecologies, technologies, biologies, relativity, and especially philosophies.

It's a massive undertaking on Ms. Kress's part, and she succeeds brilliantly.One of her strengths as a writer is that she has an appreciation for technology without being seduced by it.Better still, she creates very believable characters--the only other writer I can think of who created characters as convincingly was John D. MacDonald.But more than just a character study, she has an intricate, well-paced plot with a resolution that doesn't let anyone off the hook.

Best of all, there's enough threads to support a third entry in the series.

fine outer space cerebral thriller
Four decades ago Jake Holman and thousands of settlers following him were trapped in the middle of an inter-galaxy war between the militaristic humanoid Furs and the serene flora-like Vines.Jake and his followers supported the Vines against the bellicose Furs though the odds heavily favored the latter.The Vines used a last-hope virus to remove the aggressive tendencies of the Furs.

Jake is old and frail, but feels proud of his accomplishments especially the diversity he brought to Greentrees.Still a fierce contention exists between the Chinese in the city Hope of Heaven against the technocrats of Mira City.When the earth ship CRUCIBLE arrives on Greentrees, Captain Julian Martin ruthlessly uses that antagonistic rivalry to further his ambitions to become planetary dictator.He seduces Technology Resources Allocation Officer Alexandra Cutler, a member of the Mira City executive triumvirate, and other key citizens to do his bidding.Off planet the fighting between the Furs and the Vines remains heated.On and off the orb, Jake's dream is turning nightmarish.

The sequel to CROSSFIRE, CRUCIBLE contains plenty of action and intriguing alien species with deeply developed cultures.The story line moves along two paths, off and on the planet, but also is somewhat difficult to follow because of the complex continuous changes as to what is the core of the tale.Most interesting for those who read the first novel is how much Jake has aged from the swashbuckling hero to an elderly statesman ignored by the next generation as being yesterday's news.Fans, as they did with Nancy Kress' previous outer space cerebral thriller, will ponder the author's concept that society needs to defend the right to live alternate .and minority lifestyles.

Harriet Klausner
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Customer Reviews (10)

Inside the Alien City!
This is the first book I read authored by Nancy Kress (1948) and I look forward to read more from her pen!

"An Alien Light" (1988) is a very interesting sci-fi novel with keenly defined characters and powerful argument.
The story is as follows: in far future humankind has expanded thru the universe and collided with intelligent alien species.
The Geds are loosing the war and desperately try to investigate these annoying humans.
They choose Qom a god-forgotten planet, inhabited by humans, to establish their city-laboratory-experimental-place. They lure humans to enter R'Frow and stay there while Geds observe them and try to draw conclusions.
Qom is populated by two confronting communities: Jelites, with a military structure similar to ancient Sparta and Delysians a mainly commercial group with similarities to ancient Phoenicia.

The author sagaciously let loose the antagonistic humans in a closed environment supervised by aliens delivering a griping story.

The novel has an almost rushed ending that do not invalidate its merits, as no loose strings are left, nevertheless I was expecting something more elaborated.
All in all "An Alien Light" is an enjoyable sci-fi novel, with a last warning: it is oriented to adult public.

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Sorry - this book sucked
I bought AN ALIEN LIGHT by Nancy Kress because she mentioned it in one of her How-To-Write books.

I love Sci-Fi, so I thought I would learn a thing or two from this book. Unfortunately, I hated it.

Poorly written through and through is my only comment.

Spotlight
On the distant world of Qom, two distinct human cultures have emerged over many centuries.Delysians are traders; they think and act with a bargain in mind.Jelites are warriors; they think and act with the honor of a warrior, and the battle, in mind.Now a mysterious city has appeared, seemingly overnight, on the veld between the two cities of Delysia and Jela.This city is like no other:it has walls made of an impossible material which can't quite be touched and seems to talk at irregular intervals.Those who control this city present the offer that if people will live in this city for a year, they will be richly rewarded with priceless jewels, astonishing weaponry, and remarkable knowledge of the world around them.Six hundred enter what comes to be known as the city of R'Frow, but those who are admitted within these inconceivable walls will not exit them again the same person; no one who enters the city of R'Frow will ever be the same.

Nancy Kress's An Alien Light presents an interesting character study of people from cultures who have a history of conflict with each other suddenly in a situation where they are forced to get along. (A comparable analogy might be a large group of Israelis and Palestinians suddenly finding themselves trapped in a city the size of an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean with no way off...would the two groups annihilate each other or learn to coexist?)Add into the mix the peculiar alien Ged, who navigate around their environment with three eyes and interact with each other using the smell of pheromones and what you wind up with is an artfully drawn narrative...despite some flaws.

The most interesting plot device in the story had to be the Ged's struggle to understand how humans could be so violent to themselves and others and still manage to not blast themselves into extinction long before they produced something as advanced as a stardrive.Of course what the Ged don't see, but which the author makes completely apparent, is the violence (however benign) with which they are subjecting their six hundred human participants to within the walls of R'Frow.And yet, at least one of the Ged, Grax, genuinely begins to feel, in his own way, for the charges under his tutelage.

Despite a story that has a lot to say about the human condition under a squeezing, suffocating kind of pressure, I found Kress's character development lacking.Perhaps this was, at least in part, due to the fact that the characters did not end up where I wanted them to...but still, I would have liked to have seen a fuller interaction/interplay between several of the primary personae.

An Alien Light is an interesting psychological drama, that despite some flaws, is worth reading.I am looking forward to picking up more of this author's work in the future.

Discovering the Alien City!
This is the first book I read authored by Nancy Kress (1948) and I look forward to read more from her pen!

"An Alien Light" (1988) is a very interesting sci-fi novel with keenly defined characters and powerful argument.
The story is as follows: in far future humankind has expanded thru the universe and collided with intelligent alien species.
The Geds are loosing the war and desperately try to investigate these annoying humans.
They choose Qom a god-forgotten planet, inhabited by humans, to establish their city-laboratory-experimental-place. They lure humans to enter R'Frow and stay there while Geds observe them and try to draw conclusions.
Qom is populated by two confronting communities: Jelites, with a military structure similar to ancient Sparta and Delysians a mainly commercial group with similarities to ancient Phoenicia.

The author sagaciously let loose the antagonistic humans in a closed environment supervised by aliens delivering a griping story.

The novel has an almost rushed ending that do not invalidate its merits, as no loose strings are left, nevertheless I was expecting something more elaborated.
All in all "An Alien Light" is an enjoyable sci-fi novel, with a last warning: it is oriented to adult public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Into the City of the Aliens!
This is the first book I read authored by Nancy Kress (1948) and I look forward to read more from her pen!

"An Alien Light" (1988) is a very interesting sci-fi novel with keenly defined characters and powerful argument.
The story is as follows: in far future humankind has expanded thru the universe and collided with intelligent alien species.
The Geds are loosing the war and desperately try to investigate these annoying humans.
They choose Qom a god-forgotten planet, inhabited by humans, to establish their city-laboratory-experimental-place. They lure humans to enter R'Frow and stay there while Geds observe them and try to draw conclusions.
Qom is populated by two confronting communities: Jelites, with a military structure similar to ancient Sparta and Delysians a mainly commercial group with similarities to ancient Phoenicia.

The author sagaciously let loose the antagonistic humans in a closed environment supervised by aliens delivering a griping story.

The novel has an almost rushed ending that do not invalidate its merits, as no loose strings are left, nevertheless I was expecting something more elaborated.
All in all "An Alien Light" is an enjoyable sci-fi novel, with a last warning: it is oriented to adult public.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
... Read more

Product Description
It is only a few decades into the future. Humanity's ability to conceive children has been severely reduced by pollution and disease. Kids are scarce and desirable, adoption is almost impossible. Three people are entangled in a life-threatening web. A teenaged girl sees something shocking and illegal, but is disciplined and told she is a liar. She goes to an elderly doctor, the only one who suspects she might be telling the truth. And a man wakes up one morning calmed by a drug that helps edit unpleasant memories--but with his testicles gone.Amazon.com Review
In Maximum Light, which takes place in the near future, synthetic chemicals are destroying thefertility of nearly every species on Earth, including humans. Thebirthrate has dropped so low that the human population consists primarilyof people over the age of 50, and children are considered preciousresources. Shana Walders and Cameron Atuli get caught up in a bizarre conspiracy to create hybrid human/animal "substitutes" for couples desperate for a young one to love. But when 75-year-old Congressional advisor Nick Clementi becomes involved, hediscovers that the conspiracy goes far deeper than anyone would believe,and the future of the human race may be at stake. This fast-paced thrillerfrom veteran science fiction author Nancy Kress keeps the plot twists coming,which makes Maximum Light a difficult book to put down once you've started. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Kress at her best
This is a first rate science fiction novel by one of the best writers in the genre.It is set in the near future, about thirty years from now, when chemical contamination of the environment has resulted in a precipitously falling birth rate and a high incidence of birth defects.Three totally different characters work to uncover an illegal business in the growing/manufacturing of human-animal babies.The intricate plot is beautifully constructed with suspenseful and logical twists and turns.Its greatest strength, though, may be its rich and believable character development.The three major characters are a successful young gay dancer, a sexy and wildly manipulative girl from the gutter, and an aging scientist.The chapters rotate between first-person narratives by each of them, and all three narrative styles are totally believable.This is one of the best science fiction novels of recent years, and I recommend it most highly.

Not bad, but not top shlef science fiction.
This was my first book by Nancy Kress. Without knowing anything about else about her writing career, I could tell she is an experienced writer, with a good ability to communicate fairly complex ideas in straight forward fashion. She takes a solid premise - fertility has dropped to the point where the future of the species is threatened - and runs it through the impact on society. Youngsters are a treasured, indulged resource, while old folks litter the parks and streets, and infertile couples yearn for even one child, human or otherwise. That piece of the story is pretty well done.
The science fiction part of the story is a little weak, a danger when writing about the "near" future. The setting isn't that far into the future so there isn't THAT much different from society and technology today. For example, a hooker isn't wearing just a wig. No, this is sci fi, so she's wearing a holo(gram) wig. Kind of a cheap add-on thrown in during the editing process I thought as I read along. However, I have to add that there was a nice, light non-intrusive techno touch late in the book when Shana, the young female hero, rents a car. She pulls into a gas station to use a terminal to print out driving directions. That was nice, and almost here now. Sort of like making MapQuest easily available in public.
I also liked the multiple, first person approach. The story evolves through the eyes of the several main characters, Shana, a young, rough and tumble female soldier, Cameron, the young, gay male dancer and an old, wealthy scientist with political ties in addition to money (I'm forgetting his name right now.)I enjoyed this by the time I got to the end but had doubts as I was reading along. This sort of story is handled much more deftly by writers like Neal Stephanson in Snow Crash and Diamond Age. I would read another novel by Kress but I'm not going to actively chase it down.

worth a read, but she can do better
I love Kress' particular sci-fi "style" which involves biological advances (no spaceships here, sorry) and ethical issues.This is actually one of her older works but it doesn't fail to satisfy.The premise here has to do with societal reaction to mass infertility caused by the huge amount of chemicals induced into the human environment -- and the really scary thing about this one is that, as bizarre as some of the situations seem to be, they could very easily happen.I remember reading a couple years ago that people now have more chemicals in their bodies than ever before (medicine, hygenic products, food...you name it) and I've often wondered just how far the research into the side effects has gone.Kress takes it to a logical conclusion (though admitetdly a worst-case one) and the results are very, very chilling.

I do wish, however, that she'd knock off with the vulgarity and coarse language.Yes, life is vulgar and coarse, and sometimes you do need to include things like that for realism, but not constantly.I also can't help but notice that she's used the same viewpoint-technique (multiple first-person) in a lot of her stories.She's perfectly capable of writing other viewpoints, and sometimes they're more appropriate.

But the story is definitely excellent, and this is one I'd recommend.

A good book from a great writer
"Maximum Light" is very good indeed. It is a great adventure story and a great piece of speculative fiction. If you are interested in the scientific hypothesis behind the endocrine/toxics element of the plot, I highly recommend "Our Stolen Future," by Theo Colburn.

Do NOT read the back of the book
This was somewhat outlandish, but engrossing.But DON'T read the back cover if you don't want a major plot twist spoiled. ... Read more

Product Description
By demonstrating effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of story writing, Nancy Kress helps novice authors write stories with a roaring start and a grand finale. She also helps them hook the editor in the first three paragraphs, make and keep a story's "implicit promise", build drama and credibility by controlling prose, and many other techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

good for putting your writing into perspective as wellas a great homeschool book.
Thi book is great for people who want to write a story. It puts the book into areas that help you write your story. As well as, exercises to help you write your story also. I am using this book to help my daughter to write a novel. I have bought other books in this series and it has exercises at the end of each chapter to reinforce what they learned in that chapter. Great learning tool.

Reasonably Helpful Book on Story Structure
This book gives many good pointers on how to structure your plot and develop your characters as a story progresses.The author has some good advice about the best way to start a story off on a strong foot, and helped me to see that a draft I'm currently working on should probably lose the first few scenes and start closer to the real action (the dropped scenes can be revealed as backstory through efficient use of character dialogue early on so the reader isn't confused).

If you are looking for pointers on the actual craft of writing - how best to use adjectives, verbs, nouns; the best way to structure sentences and paragraphs; tips on making good use of metaphor and symbols, etc., then this is not the book for you.This book focuses exclusively on the overall structure of the story.

It's also a fairly short book - 143 pages @ 6" x 9" with a moderately large font - but thankfully the author refrains from adding filler and sticks to the efficient dispensing of advise.

I would recommend this book to any aspiring authors, particularly anyone who feels that their stories are turning into a quagmire halfway through the first draft, or who are having a hard time deciding the best place to begin.

Helped me complete my first novel...
So there I was, stuck in the dreaded middle of the first draft of my novel. I was really stuck. Then I read this book. It is just exactly what it says, a guide to beginnings, middles and ends. This book helped me get back on track and helped me work my way through the middle and finally to the end.

I've read most of the books in the Writer's Digest Elements of Fiction Writing series - this book is by far the best one and was the only one that gained keeper status on my bookshelf. I highly recommend this book to any aspiring or experienced writer.

A recommended treatise on the art of writing fiction
There are plenty of books offering advice to fiction writers out there. I searched extensively for the top three, basing my selection on the following criteria:

1. Publish date > 1990. America of the 1950s is different from America of the 2000s. What readers want to read is different. You want the current dope. The newer, the better, the more relevant, in general.

2. Recommendations from other writers. If no one cares enough to recommend a book, why bother?

3. The writer offering advice should not be a talented freak, with literary genius, but no knack for teaching or relating to fellow mortals. The writer must come across as likable. Teaching calls on different skill sets than writing. Not every writer is cut out to be a teacher. How do you know who's likable and who's not? Google them, for one. Check their wikipedia entry, if any. Examine other published works.

"Becoming Your Own Critique Partner," by Walters & Toombs, is packed with advice, examples, and information, clearly and concisely explained. I recommend this along with Stephen King's "On Writing" and Nancy Kress's "Beginnings, Middles, and Ends." These books aren't just for writers. A reader can become a more educated reader, a more knowledgeable critic, better able to explain his preferences.

King's book, while immensely enjoyable and, to date, my favorite work by him, when it came to actual advice was rather thin. Also, his advice had a cranky tone, owing possibly to his injuries sustained prior to writing it. His book succeeds at being entertaining, but is not especially elucidating. He prefers to go for the punchline (which more often than not connects) rather than reinforce points he considers obvious. His life in itself is interesting and enlightening, however, and he has wisdom to impart of a higher level than technical mechanics. His stories about his life absolutely must not be missed. Recommended.

Kress's book was excellent, but tends to focus on the big picture (namely, as her title says, "beginnings, middles, and ends"). She is mainly concerned with structure, plot, and scenes. Her examples are rather good. Recommended.

"Becoming Your Own Critique Partner" delves deeply into the gory details. You want the gory details. The little things that mean a lot. Prose style. Not using adverbs, of course (all three books expound upon this cardinal rule), but much more. I found a better explanation of POV (Point of View) in this book than in either Kress's or King's. In fact, every lesson was explained better and more clearly here. This book also has more beef. The others are more on the thin side in regards to advice. Kress's and King's books can serve as needed reinforcements. If you have a team of teachers, that's usually better than just one. My plan is to read each of the three books several times.

Good, but strangely organized
This book is part of the Elements of Fiction Writing series. The purpose of the book is to help you with the actual writing of your story. But, how helpful is it? Well, it's rather hard to say.

In fact, this book is a goldmine of helpful information on writing fiction. The biggest problem with the book, though, is its organization. The sections on planning and designing your story actually come in the middle of the book, under "The Middle." The author assumes that you have a story in your head, and you wish to start writing it immediately. After you have crafted the beginning of the story, then you will realize that you need to rethink your story, and will then wish to actually plan the story out. This is not the way I think, so I found the approach confusing and unhelpful.

But, that said, if you are willing to read the whole book with an open mind, collecting information as you go along, and then read it again so that everything starts to fall into place, then you will be richly rewarded for having read this book. Don't get me wrong, if you write the way this author does, you will no doubt find this to be an excellent book. It's just that I don't, and I didn't.

So, overall I give this book a rather guarded recommendation.
... Read more

Product Description
Here is the ssential index of one year in SF and fantasy, full of winners and nominees of the prestigious Nebula Award. For groundbreaking works in the genre, the Nebula is perhaps the highest honor in the field-and a beacon for readers looking for the best quality science fiction and fantasy around. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not Free SF Reader
A selection from the awards of that year.This includes a short introduction by the editor, and also a complete list of the awards.The last part is an excerpt from the novel by Asaro, the first part, apparently, not the novel itself.

The problem might be the stories themselves, the Park and Kelly aside, award winners should probably do better than a 3.50 overall.

Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 : The Cure for Everything - Severna Park
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 : The Ultimate Earth - Jack Williamson
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 : Louise's Ghost - Kelly Link
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 : Undone - James Patrick Kelly
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 : The Elephants on Neptune - Mike Resnick
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 : The Quantum Rose [short story] - Catherine Asaro

Pharmaceutical breakthroughs rely heavily on the individual.

4 out of 5


Human experiment frailty.

3.5 out of 5


Less one Louise.

3 out of 5


Future escape a problem of many dimensions.

4.5 out of 5


Armed role reversal.

3 out of 5


Lionstar snoozer.

3 out of 5



3.5 out of 5

Introduction to Sci-Fi or Sample of Best Works
The Nebula awards showcase, 2003 edition, actually highlights award winners from the 2001 Nebula awards (which were actually held in 2002), with many of the pieces having year 2000 publication dates.Even with the dramatic events that have occurred in these last three years, the Sci-Fi stories remain as relevant as ever.The book also includes commentary from various Sci-Fi field luminaries on various seemingly un-related topics of their choosing which may serve to introduce the novice Sci-Fi reader to various sub-genres.The anthology (don�t let the word scare you, this book is about 1/6th the size of a Norton�s anthology � with much bigger print!) contains six short stories, the first three chapters of the novel The Quantum Rose and two Sci-Fi poems.As these all are discrete works, unified only by their award or runner-up status, I will look at each separately:

The Cure for Everything

Maria is an administrator at the Xingu forest preserve, a reservation for displaced Amazon natives whose home-lands have been assimilated by civilization.A group of natives arrive from the Hiller project, which Maria learns is a drug-company front, using the native�s unique biology to develop cures for diseases � like Maria�s.Maria learns that with the right husband, called by the author �The Cure for Everything� she can have children.She quickly resolves her ethical dilemma �

The Ultimate Earth

Set in the far-future, The Ultimate Earth presents a utopian society where birth and death are carefully controlled.Since humans never die, only when people leave for colonization can others breed.Most of the story takes place on a moon base which is being restored.The moon base was developed by old humanity (before the genetic modifications) as a refuge from which to re-start the species if the unthinkable happened.Though it appears to have been used once for that purpose in the past, it has since crumbled.Now it remains as the only record of old-humanity.

The children-turned-young-adults are told that there is no place for them now on earth, but sneak to the surface by lying to a shuttle (the ability to deceive has been eliminated by new humanity).They learn first-hand that there really is no place for them there, where they are regarded as savages.When a colony ship surprisingly returns and, due to population control, must leave immediately for another destination, the moon-children leave on it and find a planet where a plague is wiping out new-humanity�

Louise�s Ghost

In a story that illustrates the problem with labeling and shows us how well we can recognize others � not by their name but by what they say and do � Louise�s ghost deals with two women named Louise and one�s daughter Anna

When Louise (the one without the daughter) finds that a ghost of a naked man is haunting her house, Louise (the one with the daughter) brings over her musician friends to try to convince the ghost to inhabit their instruments.Louise (without daughter) accidentally sleeps with Louise�s current love, which causes a feud between them until she dies a Louise finds that she has been designated as Anna�s guardian.Then she wishes that she could be haunted by Louise�s ghost �

Undone

What if you could go back and forward in time on command?What if you could alter your biology on whim?These three fundamental rights are guaranteed to all of the Trueborn:The right to remain individual, the right to manipulate your physical structure and the right to access the timeline.Their foe, the utopians, though seek to provide harmony through homogeny.They have blockaded the planet and placed an identity mine, which strips anyone who travels back in time more than five minute of being able to remember their identity.

To flee the Utopian�s attack, Mada commands her ship to travel forward in time � she just doesn�t specify how far.The ship travels two-tenths of a glactic rotation or about twenty-million years.Her Trueborn society is gone, and the Utopians appear to be as well.What she does find is a new society where attention is the only currency.The only think that is expected of her is to comment on every experience � eating, listening, etc. She meets a poet who writes about death � but like everyone else in this society � suppresses all bad memories by checking them into the library.The two go off to another planet and have children.Mada prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice for them � her identity � but is saved when the ship gains consciousness and creates something of a paradox �

My Wife Returns as She Would Have It and January Fires

These two poems (both under two pages in length) both comment on the human condition.The former discussing the desire for life after death, the latter questioning whether a dream is worth dying for.

The Elephants on Neptune

Men land on Neptune (who knew it was solid!) and meet a pack of Neptunian elephants.They discuss the long-time relationship between men and elephants (who not surprisingly are now extinct on earth).As the men try to convince the elephants (who have not forgotten how their species was eliminated) that they are friendly, they start turning into elephants and the elephants turn into men �

The Quantum Rose

In this full-length novel, of which only the first few chapters are presented here to wet readers appetite, we discover a planet which has evolved far beyond modern earth, but forgotten how to make the technology, thus reverting to the stone age in many ways.The frame work of the present economic system remains, though, but due to a loss of understanding of the language, it has become somewhat perverted, thus forming an odd commentary on the present corporate culture.When Kamoj is forced to marry a man she has never seen (and who remains cloaked at their wedding), we are left in suspense as she goes to remove the cloak while he sleeps �

Overall, if you like Sci-Fi, this book will introduce you to a variety of sub-genres and excellent long-time and new Sci-Fi writers.This is a must-own for any Sci-Fi addict.

for those who appreciate the vastness of the genre
Though interesting and fun to see what is contained inside this volume, there is no question that this anthology is for science fiction diehards.The collection includes the 2001 winners of the Nebulas in four basic categories: Best Novel (an extract from "The Quantum Rose" by Catherine Asaro); Best Novella ("The Ultimate Earth" by Jack Williamson); Best Novelette ("Louise's Ghost" by Kelly Link); and Best Short Story ("The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park).Additionally two runner-ups (Best Short Story: "The Elephants on Neptune" by Mike Resnick; and Best Novelette: "Undone" by James Patrick Kelly).A fifth category, Best Script lists the winners.The five categories are clearly defined with the four print ones based on number of words.Other information about the awards including a complete list of nominees makes for an entertaining time for those who appreciate the vastness of the genre.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Product Description
The widow of a murdered scientist and an unstable FBI agent join forces on a trail of science and death that leads them from a biotech company to a paramilitary splinter group to a religious commune. Reprint. NYT. PW. Amazon.com Review
Judy O'Brien Kozinski has no idea what she'll find as sheinvestigates the death of her husband. A genetic scientist, he wasslain for his refusal to work for a biotech company of dubiousintentions controlled by the mob. As she fights for answers in theoffices of the FBI, witnesses the mass execution of a religious cult,and uncovers the devious motive of the biotech firm--producingcustomized viruses that could be spread like a cold--she realizes thepower and potential of herself as an individual. Her transformation,from unhappy and insecure widow to confident, sleek sleuth is almostas Herculean as her success at exposing this global threat. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Too many characters
Kress tries to pull off four main viewpoint characters in 400 pages and fails.She has a great opening hook, and then the Vegas showgirl we followed for the first 25 pages hardly gets mentioned.Then the reader is alternated between a ex-marine with a drinking problem who wants his kids back, an FBI investigator who is stalking his ex-wife, and the wife of a deceased researcher who just found out he was having an affair.Each of these four 'main' characters come with supporting casts of three to ten minor characters.

On top of all that, Kress is trying to write a science fiction based mystery novel where the bad guys are the mob.Kress needed to pick one story and write it, instead of meandering.

Too many disparate elements jammed together forced the cliches to bubble up to the top.Predictable end.More a dysfunctional screenplay than a novel.

Honestly, the best thing about the book was the title.I think "Oaths and Miracles" is a wonderful title.Bad novel though; not recommended.

My definition of fun!!!
"Oaths and miracles are usually followed by deceptive statements." FBI Manual
* 30 year old English major/ FBI agent stalks his ex-wife with lovely romantic notes and goofy drawings while trying to connect the dots between the Mafia and a biotech firm.
*The widow of a brilliant, philandering, narcissistic geneticist as a only a trained journalist whose father is a retired teacher of Physics and Chemistry and whose hobby is writing a history of the saints. (And they live in Troy, NY.)* A construction worker and ex-Marine who waits to spend to two hours every other week with his kids who live in a religious compound outside Gloversville, NY dedicated to an obscure Celtic saint who may have also been a Franciscan brother hundreds of years later martyred by the Indians.
* A former Las Vegas showgirl now attending University of Michigan whose best friend was murdered, as was her mobbed- up boyfriend saying "Cadoc Verico Cadaverico"
This novel is a thoroughly likeable combination of FBI thriller and mystery with ten minutes into the future genetics and sf and a bit of religious thought.
I thotoughoughly enjoyed Kress' Beggars books and look forward to Stinger, the further adventures of this odd and likeable g-man. (And I hope there's more in the next book about Upstate New York!)

Engrossing techno-thriller
The first book I read by Nancy Kress was "Stinger," which is the sequel to "Oaths and Miracles," and the only unfortunate aspect of that is that I didn't have the opportunity to meet Robert Cavanaugh here first.

"Oaths and Miracles" transcends the genre of thriller fiction by containing characters of real depth and interest.Where most popular fiction of this type is populated by very thin characters, Nancy Kress does an excellent job of drawing the reader into her story by helping us care about the people in it.

In addition to the characterizations, the plot weaves from delicate, disparate strands into a cohesive juncture that leads to a satisfying conclusion.

If there's a weak spot, it's in the pacing of action sequences, but that's a minor quibble, and not enough for me to rate this book lower than five stars.

I read a lot, and it's very rare that I find a book I have trouble putting down, but I could not put this book down until I'd finished it.

Different for sure
I must say that I was amazed to see this book with an average rating of only 3 stars. Gotta have my eyesight checked, I guess, or my memory, because that's actually my favorite Nancy Kress novel. I love her short stories, but usually I find her novels somewhat tedious and predictable (especially the endless Beggars cycle). Here we have some twists, some turns, some unflinching looks at violence - even as a thriller per se, it's really above average. But it's also a nice novel about damaged relationships, and perhaps it was that aspect I liked most. Anyhow, in my opinion this book is great. End of story.

If you like the X-Files...
If you like the X-Files you will enjoy this book.More a mystery with sinister biochemistry overtones than sci-fi, it gives you the creeps and ultimately leaves things unresolved.Our fearless FBI guy keeps trying tomake the pieces fit.It takes 6 months and a lot of coincidences, butfinally it all comes together.I found this an exciting read with lots ofpage turning suspense.The lingering meanace at the end made the premisemore credible.And my hat goes off to anyone who can set a story inNewark, NJ.

I am a Nancy Kress fan and have read several of her booksincluding the Beggars series.This is quite different, no really awesomescience or brave new future world.A good read for someone just startingout in science fiction and not wanting too much sci-tech. ... Read more

Product Description
Told from the perspective of several generations of teenagers, this science fiction novel involves an Earth ravaged by mankind, high-tech manipulative aliens, and advanced genetics. Early in the 21st century, global warming has caused sickness and death among plants, animals, and humans. Suddenly aliens contact and genetically modify a group of 14-year-olds, inviting them to visit their spacecraft. After several months of living among the aliens and studying genetics, the students discover that the aliens have been manipulating them and rebel. Upon their return to Earth, the girls in the group discover that they are pregnant and can only wonder what form their unborn children will take. Generations later, the offspring of these children seek to use their alien knowledge to change their genetic code, to allow them to live and prosper in an environment that is quickly becoming uninhabitable from the dual scourges of global warming and biowarfare. But after all the generations of change, will the genetically modified creatures resemble their ancestors, or will nothing human remain? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I thought this book was great!
I thought this book did everything a good sci-fi book did -- discuss issues and ideas that are important today.Maybe I'm just simple minded, but I thought this book was a lot better then the overall "acceptable" reviews that I've read here.

I also recommend another book (trilogy, actually) that deals with very similar issues in a very similar fashion by Octavia E Butler, the Xenogenesis series, "Dawn"Adulthood Rites," and "Imago".

In fact, the Butler series is so similar in many ways to "Nothing Human" that I can't help but wonder if it wasn't the inspiration for "Nothing Human".

Wahtever, "Nothing Human" was a great read.

Predictable
For the most part, anyone who already reads any noticeable amount of science fiction, or even genre fiction in general, will be able to predict where this plot is going, from the first few pages. There are no surprises, other than a few inconsistencies that leave one surprised when nothing happens to straighten them out.

Kress is a good writer even with a pedestrian plot, so the book is readable, and not a waste of time. It's just not worth saving to re-read or mull over the ideas.

The starting point is test-tube babies from a mysterious clinic who, surprise, turn out to have peculiar mutations. The particular mechanism that results from these mutations is a bit improbable; leaving the unlikelihood aside so that we can accept the notion that aliens can communicate with human children by smell alone, why aliens would choose to use barely-teenage children as their messengers rather than people who would command more respect and attention when speaking to other humans is a question Kress doesn't answer, other than an overall implication in the last third of the book that these particular aliens are rather incompetent. Incidentally, toward the end of the book, when the "new generation" of children is described, I recognized the adaptations that Kress describes as being taken pretty much exactly from an article that appeared in Scientific American a few years ago, on what humans should look like to be well-adapted for our terrestrial, bipedal way of life. Kress adds a couple of unique details, but her characters are nowhere near as original as people who don't read science magazines might think.

If I were going looking for a story about aliens who happen to bring bits of mutation/change to Earth, I'd re-read Larry Niven's "The Green Marauder," for preference. However, that's not to say that people won't like "Nothing Human" and in fact, I suspect that it could well be a read that juvenile humans about the age of our protagonists might enjoy.

Intriguing concepts wrapped in a sputtering plot
As she does in "An Alien Light", Kress explores humanity and what defines it via the lens of an alien microscope.Unfortunately, in this novel, the concepts become less weighty when bogged down in a sluggish plot and superficial characters.In 300 pages, Kress fails to provide the reader with enough background, depth, or empathy to understand the central characters' motives or rationalizations for the actions they take.And the conclusion leaves one unsatisfied and somewhat flat - rather than pondering her central question (what defines humanity), one is left uncaring.

To read about the same concepts in a better package, I recommend you read An Alien Light, or better yet, the Beggars series.

Negative pressure, not positive pressure
Ahem, just a brief comment. In the book, she refers to a bubble type environment, where someone is isolated, for fear that he might infect others. She says it is under positive pressure. Not so. It would actually be negative pressure, where the pressure inside would be less than in the entrance rooms. This is so that any particles would tend to be swept inside the room when the door is open.

Positive pressure is just the opposite, and is used mostly in semiconductor clean rooms and surgical theatres, where you don't care if stuff inside the room leaks out, but you do not want particulates from outside leaking in.

Strong first half meanders in second half 3
Nancy Kress' latest novel, despite its garish cover, deals with a topical issue; genetic manipulation of the unborn. Kress' novel would be little better than an average Michael Crichton thriller if not for her unusual twist; the genetic manipulation being done here is not by humanity but by an alien race called the Pribir.

The Pribir were once like humanity (or so they say)and are preparing humanity for life in an environment full of environmental toxics. Their primary means of communication appears to be through a series of complex smells. The resulting children from their experiment are something more than human but still have the same emotional flaws as their peers.

Kress deals with a lot of complex issues here: the environment and our place in it; the rights of those who have been genetically manipulated; the role of any outside culture in influencing another one--even for their own good. As usual Kress handles the plot, characters and themes deftly. What the novel lacks is any sense that it is building to a powerful conclusion.

Nothing Human isn't disappointing just anti-climatic. It's rare that a Kress novel disappoints and no one can write a classic every time. Kress' latest novel has much to admire but it just isn't in the same league as Beggar's in Spain or Probability Moon. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a brilliant, fascinating tale about the search for God, in which a youngwoman endures sensory deprivation, brain stimulation, and biofeedback; she hassensed something, but not everyone agrees about the nature of the presence. Itmay not be a blessing... Nebula Award Nominee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
A Science Fiction Story

Clone twin teleological trance test.


4.5 out of 5 ... Read more