Walt Brown IN THE BEGINNING 8th Ed.

Having just attended the three day "The Beginning and End of the Universe" conference here in town I am keen to read some more creation books. Fortuitously the very next book on the HMTP is Russ Humphrey's STARLIGHT AND TIME.

On a related note, Keith informs me that Walt Brown is coming out with a new revision of his creation compendium IN THE BEGINNING. The old 7th edition was 328 pages long. The new 8th edition now runs to 456 pages; 39% longer! This looks to me to be a revision worth reading. I plan to do so on my own. The group should consider doing the same. It is due to be released in August, 2008, and will sell for $29.95 on Amazon. Walt Brown's own site does not yet list the 8th edition for sale.

08/05/08 Update:
1) The CBD (ChristianBook.com) site shows that the 8th edition will be released on 10/22/08. Their price is $24.99.
2) Strangely, Amazon has changed their site to read that, instead of being "to-be-released," this book is "out of print."
3) Walt Brown's own site still does not offer the 8th edition for sale.

08/06/08 Update:
1) I received a reply from Walt Brown's CSC web-site:
Thanks for your email. We expect the 8th edition will be here in
October or November. I suggest you check our web site,
www.creationscience.com in October to see if you can order the book then. The 8th edition will have 120 more pages of material than is in
the 7th edition. It will retail for $29.95; shipping and handling will
be $5.00.

Fictionados Meeting Agenda for August 9th, 2008

The next meeting will be held on August 9th at 5:00 pm Mountain Standard Time. Location to be distributed on a need to know basis, and on a more secure channel.

Agenda:
1) Tim Powers' DECLARE
2) Russell Humphreys STARLIGHT AND TIME
3) Is Powers an "important" author? If so, what next?
4) Preview of the Varley vs. Wolfe head-to-head contest.
5) Report-out on Wolfe's latest novels PIRATE FREEDOM and SOLDIER OF SIDON.
6) Should we try to read all of Wolfe's novels? We are already trying to read all of his story collections. The list of Wolfe novels not read by the group: PIRATE FREEDOM, OPERATION ARES, THE DEVIL IN A FOREST, CASTLEVIEW, FREE LIVE FREE, PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLANDER. Three others, SOLDIER OF THE MIST, SOLDIER OF ARETE and SOLDIER OF SIDON are already on the list.
7) Walt Brown's 8th edition. (see above post)
8) Is it time for Sherlock?
9) There is a dearth of non-fiction books at the top of the HMTP. Thoughts, concerns?
10) Richard K. Morgan's THE STEEL REMAINS is out in the UK. (see above post)

Be there, Aloha.

Gene Wolfe SOLDIER OF SIDON

I have just finished Gene Wolfe's SOLDIER OF SIDON and can now rightly claim to have read all of his published novels. (His next one is due to be released in October). This "Latro" novel, like his recent PIRATE FREEDOM, is simply yet elegantly, told. The memory-lapse condition of the first-person narrator Latro, allows the reader to know more than the protagonist; a neat trick. Latro moves through a world where the ancient gods are real. He has been touched by one such god so that he does not remember as normal men do. Despite this considerable handicap Latro's upright character makes him many friends and even finds him a woman that loves him. I greatly enjoyed this novel. Every sentence streams off the page easily. The clarity of Wolfe's prose is a delight.

OPTCS 76678.

Tim Powers DECLARE

I read through Tim Power's Kim Philby spy novel a second time. His ability to construct a very complicated, but entirely consistent, and bizarre story is vastly entertaining. This is a fine novel and is as much a love story as it is spy story and even more a supernatural mystery with its own unique rules. I have now read four of Powers' novels and all have been an experience I greatly enjoyed. This may qualify him as an important author, and will therefore require that we read more of his stuff. The novels I have read: THE ANUBIS GATES, LAST CALL, ON STRANGER TIDES and DECLARE.

OPTCS 99989