Books

But first, there's a new full episode of Shadow Unit out -- at http://www.shadowunit.org, of course.


_Cowboy Angels_, Paul McAuley.

There is an adolescent fascination with being Right, and everyone else (or a large group) being Wrong. It's understandable that this often lingers into adulthood, but using it as a basis for foreign policy is not very useful, and using it as a basis for domestic policy is definitely evil. The CIG -- the CIA's analog in a timeline where WWII was a fizzle -- went through such a period, during which the charismatic Director's hand-picked field agents were called his Cowboy Angels. That's the initial premise for a twisty account of betrayal, cross-universe plotting, and violent maneuvers in the dark. The protagonist isn't likeable, but he is understandable in attitude and motivation. That's good, because almost no other characters in the book are comprehensible until they're dead -- sometimes not even then.

This is the book that Charlie Stross said stole half his ideas for the end of the Merchant Princes series while he was in the middle of writing them. It certainly provides clear evidence of parallel evolution across authors. McAuley has a drier, less personable, less likable style than Stross does -- but note, I'm biased.

Books

But first, there's a new full episode of Shadow Unit out -- at http://www.shadowunit.org, of course.


_Cowboy Angels_, Paul McAuley.

There is an adolescent fascination with being Right, and everyone else (or a large group) being Wrong. It's understandable that this often lingers into adulthood, but using it as a basis for foreign policy is not very useful, and using it as a basis for domestic policy is definitely evil. The CIG -- the CIA's analog in a timeline where WWII was a fizzle -- went through such a period, during which the charismatic Director's hand-picked field agents were called his Cowboy Angels. That's the initial premise for a twisty account of betrayal, cross-universe plotting, and violent maneuvers in the dark. The protagonist isn't likeable, but he is understandable in attitude and motivation. That's good, because almost no other characters in the book are comprehensible until they're dead -- sometimes not even then.

This is the book that Charlie Stross said stole half his ideas for the end of the Merchant Princes series while he was in the middle of writing them. It certainly provides clear evidence of parallel evolution across authors. McAuley has a drier, less personable, less likable style than Stross does -- but note, I'm biased.