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posted by martyb on Thursday November 24 2016, @07:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the turn-the-page dept.

Title: Black Bead
Author: J.D. Lakey
164 pages
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Available in hardcover, paperback, and ePub

I met the book's author and her illustrator at this year's Worldcon [The World Science Fiction Convention -Ed.]. They were raffling off a hardcover copy of Black Bead, so I left my email on the list. A few weeks later the illustrator, Dylan Drake, emailed me, saying I didn't win the hardcover but he attached an ePub version. We've exchanged a few emails.

It's the first book in a series, but like Frank Herbert's Dune or Isaac Asimov's Foundation, it stands by itself. It's the only book in the series I've read so far, as I still have a couple of other books laying around unread.

I liked this book. Some call it "young adult" fiction, probably because someone with an eighth grade education could easily read it, and partly because the main characters are children. But I'm far from young; I'm eligible for Medicare next year, and I enjoyed it. It was what I look for in a book—a fun read.

Dylan said some people saw it as fantasy even though it's intended to be science fiction, probably because the main character has psionic powers. I won't spoil it, but in a later book she has yet to publish, the psi is explained scientifically.

It seems that some SF is fantasy in disguise. Maybe all SF is; I'm at the beginning of Stephen King's 11/22/63, and it's the only time-travel story I've read that has absolutely no science; at least, that I've run across so far (it's a very fat book). Dylan's is science fiction that only feels like fantasy. The writing style reminds me vaguely of Tolkien, and perhaps that's why.

It's a primitive setting in an alien, dangerous world with some very imaginative and often scary flora and fauna, including fruit that causes inebriation, obviously becoming wine on the vine.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be reading more of these books.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by rob_on_earth on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:41AM

    by rob_on_earth (5485) on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:41AM (#432329) Homepage

    Enders game was about children and is not a children's book. I would not judge a book by the age of its characters.

    • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Thursday November 24 2016, @06:46PM

      by vux984 (5045) on Thursday November 24 2016, @06:46PM (#432504)

      Ender's game, the writing, language, and it's themes etc are all very accessible to young readers.

      • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 25 2016, @01:33AM

        by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday November 25 2016, @01:33AM (#432681) Homepage Journal

        O won't judge a book by the age of its characters, like the GP, but I don't agree that because it's accessable to children it's a children's book. That makes it an "all ages" book.

        --
        mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by vux984 on Friday November 25 2016, @02:09AM

          by vux984 (5045) on Friday November 25 2016, @02:09AM (#432699)

          That's fair. I guess an alternative perspective would be to agree that practically ALL good "childrens books" ARE "all ages" books. From 'to kill a mockingbird' to 'Horton Hears a Who' to 'The Silver Chair' to 'Ender's Game'.

          That said, i appreciated Ender's LESS as an adult than I did as a child. I.e. I felt it wasn't as a good re-reading it as an adult. Whereas the other titles I mentioned above I appreciated even more as an adult.

          • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 25 2016, @06:08PM

            by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday November 25 2016, @06:08PM (#432929) Homepage Journal

            I think I'm in agreement. A children's book IMO is one that only appeals to children (e.g., "Horton Hears a Who").

            --
            mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
            • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday November 25 2016, @07:15PM

              by vux984 (5045) on Friday November 25 2016, @07:15PM (#432967)

              A children's book IMO is one that only appeals to children (e.g., "Horton Hears a Who").

              I think you underestimate Horton Hears a Who.

              Reading it again with an adult perspective; as well a sense of historical context and you might find there's more to it. As an allegory for post WW2 occupation of Japan. As an apology for the internment of Japanese americans - internment which he ardently supported during the war. Were you aware of Dr. Seuss' WW2 era political cartoons and propaganda films? Or that he enlisted in '43. Or about the trip he made in '53 to Japan and how the war and how that trip changed his writing and beliefs? That he started writing Horton Hears a Who after that trip, or that he admitted in '53 that Whoville is modeled on Japan, or that the book’s dedication, “For My Great Friend, Mitsugi Nakamura,” refers to a Japanese professor he met in Japan...

              Some have gone further and read "the black bottomed birdie let go and we dropped / We landed so hard that our clocks have all stopped" as a metaphor for the bombings; I tend to be suspect of meaning that is projected onto a authors work after the fact, but Horton Hears a Who is inextricably connected to Japan so it bears at least some consideration.

              Or that in '53 during the cold war even while he's reconciling his feelings for Japan he characterizes the evil black eagle/vulture as "Vlad Vlad-i-koff"... the Russian's were the new villains in the real world after all.

              Read a couple biographies of Seuss and you'll appreciate Horton Hears a Who has quite a few more layers under the surface.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:50AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:50AM (#432334)

    What the fuck is this, fifth grade? You're too young to be on the internet! COPPA! Must be over 13 to read! Get the fuck out kid!!

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Bobs on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:54AM

    by Bobs (1462) on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:54AM (#432335)

    Thanks for taking the time to write up and share your review. I'll try out the author.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 24 2016, @01:40PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 24 2016, @01:40PM (#432378) Journal

    "Reading is thinking with someone else's head instead of one's own."

    I suppose someone intended to denigrate reading as a pastime. Phhhtt. Maybe reading does allow you to think from another person's perspective. But, you are also permitted to continue thinking after you finish the book. Maybe even write a new story that builds on what you just read.

    Anyway - sounds interesting. I'll probably take a look at the Black Bead. Thanks for the review!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24 2016, @08:25PM (#432564)
      Absolutely. It might have been intended to to be negative, but there's no harm in having an open mind. Walking a mile in someone else's shoes, even if they don't fit, might at least give someone an appreciation of why people act like they do. Not always, of course. Some people just aren't rational, like the ideologues, the demagogues and the dogmatists of this world.
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 25 2016, @01:45AM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday November 25 2016, @01:45AM (#432684) Homepage Journal

      That quote sounds kind of like Stephen King's assertion that reading and writing are a form of mind reading (from his book "On Writing", too lazy to look up the exact quote).

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
  • (Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Thursday November 24 2016, @03:08PM

    by AndyTheAbsurd (3958) on Thursday November 24 2016, @03:08PM (#432405) Journal

    Hey mcgrew, are you planning on going to WorldCon (Helsinki, Finland) or NASFiC (North American Science Fiction Convention, San Juan, Puerto Rico) next year?

    --
    Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 25 2016, @01:50AM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday November 25 2016, @01:50AM (#432688) Homepage Journal

      I'd love to, but I can't afford that kind of travel expense. I have to say I can't remember when I had so much fun, though. Wish I could. Maybe some movie mogul will read "Mars Ho" and buy rights to it (ha! It would be rated NC-17, nobody would make a movie of it!). Maybe Pixar or somebody would want "Nobots", and maybe I'll be killed bt a falling asteroid tomorrow. Odds are all about equal.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Friday November 25 2016, @02:55PM

        by AndyTheAbsurd (3958) on Friday November 25 2016, @02:55PM (#432852) Journal

        Travelocity quoted me a price of over $1000 for a ticket to Helsinki last night. Seems a bit much, even for a great event like WorldCon. I could swing it, but not easily, so I'm still up in the air if I'm going to WorldCon or NASFiC or neither.

        --
        Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday November 24 2016, @09:46PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Thursday November 24 2016, @09:46PM (#432611) Homepage

    Less than 50% of the summary is talking about the book. When I read a book review, I don't want to spend more than half my time reading about your convention experiences, about your life story, or your experiences with SF. In fact, the only sentence that talks directly about the book is the second-to-last sentence.

    Taking into consideration how poorly you express yourself and how that reflects on your intellect, your recommendation of this book isn't very trustworthy.

    --
    Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 25 2016, @01:41AM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday November 25 2016, @01:41AM (#432683) Homepage Journal

    I wrote Dylan and asked for permission to post the book on my site, and I obtained it. You can download the epub here. [mcgrewbooks.com] The link is for you guys, It isn't posted on my site. I just bought a paper copy from Amazon and will have it in HTML sitting next to Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (another fun read), and will delete the epub then.

    Kudos to the editor for the link to the world science fiction society, I should have added that.

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org