Nancy Kress

Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Average customer rating:

Great Basic Guide
Extraordinary...
Marvelous Short-Cut to Learning to Write Fiction
A must for aspiring authors
Excellent Advice!

Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Writer's Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Rhetoric | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Fiction | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

Writing Skills | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
Description (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint : (Techniques and exercises for crafting dynamic characters and effective viewpoints) (Write Great Fiction)
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile

ASIN: 0898799058

Customer Reviews:

Great Basic Guide.......2007-05-15

This book is terrific for people who are just starting to try to write. It breaks down every initial stumbling block of the craft into small pieces in ways that are easy for inexperienced writers to understand and model. For more experienced writers, it might be useful to see the mechanical process for things one already understands (even innately). However, this is not a stunningly useful book for writers with more than a little experience.

Extraordinary..........2007-05-14

I read "Beginnings, Middles, and Ends" right after reading the (in my opinion) horrid "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card, which seemed to me to be puffed up drivel. Ms. Kress's book was like a breath of fresh air. Her suggestions are helpful, her examples are wonderful without being self-promoting. She has a number of self-guided exercises that were basic and also, as a plus for beginners, build up writing confidence. If you are a beginner, or even intermediate writer, I would suggest not bothering with most of the books on the market on writing and read Ms. Kress's book first. I am a published writer of dark fantasy writing my first novel and found it extremely helpful. Highly recommended.

Marvelous Short-Cut to Learning to Write Fiction.......2007-04-15

John Irving once commented that his experience at writing workshops & conferences taught him things about writing (e.g., voicing) that he would eventually have picked up anyway, but that he saved a lot of time by not having to learn it the hard way. That's the way I feel about Nancy Kress's wonderful Beginnings, Middles and Ends.

First of all -- and this matters -- Kress is a world-class writer of fiction herself. She's famous in the science fiction community, and she deserves to be. So when she, of all people, gives clues about creating good plots, one should listen. She's that marvelous (and rare) combination, a stunning writer who can also teach.

This book uses a very methodical approach, speaking of the different parts of a piece of fiction separately and specifically addressing how they interact. Each chapter really deserves to be read several times, as the attitudes she recommends for writers can solve problems all by themselves. At the end of each chapter is a set of exercises that significantly improve one's ability to interpolate the lessons.

Much of what she says in her book I was beginning to discover on my own, but to see it put into print solidifies and sharpens my view. Personally I was writing several different stories over the time during which I read the book, and I found that it helped instantly. I'm actually stuck on one or two stories right now, and I'm going to dive back into the Kress book to see how she can help me; I know she can.

I'd like to close by mentioning that this book was first recommended to me by a wonderful writer of romantic fan fiction who uses the pen name "st margarets." If you haven't read her stuff, you should; she appears on several online fan fiction archives.

A must for aspiring authors.......2007-04-10

I found this to be a very valuable book! Almost every page got some highlighting. The book is a short, easy read but packed with good information. Kress really breaks it down in terms of what makes a good beginning, how to keep the middle from sagging, and writing an ending that will satisfy readers. The advice is clear and easy to understand. The book also includes lots of info for short-story writers (who often get forgotten in other books). It didn't get 5 stars because there are other books that I feel cover this topic and then some (Plot and Structure, for example). However I have quite a collection of fiction-writing books, so if this was the only one I had, it would have gotten the 5the star. Elements of Fiction Writing is a great series. I recommend it to all aspiring writers, especially Characters by Orson Scott Card.

Excellent Advice!.......2007-02-13

This is a wonderful book to keep around if you're a writer, one of the best in the "Elements of Fiction Writing" series. It helps you plot your story out in a logical manner, in order to make it unified from beginning to end, and as strong and as interesting as it can be. You'll want to read it with a notebook on hand, to take notes for your novel, and you'll probably want to underline and highlight sections, maybe leave Post-It notes on the pages that offer the best advice.

Beginnings: Are you unsure how to start your novel, how to make it intriguing enough that people will keep reading? Do you think you can make your characters interesting and real? What about the style and tone of your writing, can you keep it consistent with the setting and plot? Do you need a prologue?

Middles: Do you have everything plotted out, but somewhere around the middle you lose interest? Are you not sure what should happen next? Are the characters trying to take the story in a different direction than you intended? Or are you just overwhelmed with the idea that you're actually writing a novel?

Ends: Can you make your ending satisfying? Will your climax be logical and realistic, or are you having trouble making it fit with the rest of the story? Can you give the characters closure, or are there too many loose ends? Do you need an epilogue? Are you having trouble with the very last paragraph or sentence of the story?

No matter which part of your novel is giving you trouble, this book will help you set it all straight. It offers excellent advice for beginnings, middles, and ends, as well as unifying your entire novel.

Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint : (Techniques and exercises for crafting dynamic characters and effective viewpoints) (Write Great Fiction)

Average customer rating:

Another great book in a must have series of books
excellent
Great advice and well readable
WELL DONE!
Yet another Home Run

Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint : (Techniques and exercises for crafting dynamic characters and effective viewpoints) (Write Great Fiction)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Writers Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fiction | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
Dialogue: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Effective Dialogue (Write Great Fiction)
Description & Setting (Write Great Fiction)
Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated

ASIN: 1582973164

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

Another great book in a must have series of books.......2007-03-30

I picked up what I thought would be a rehashing of old material covered in other books on the same subject, but The Great Fiction series of books continues to impress and surprise.

So many books on creating characters speak to their physical description, wants, motives and give the character a background. This book goes a step further and tells you how to do those things and hits the key point of showing emotion.

In addition, chapter Eight titled "Talking About Emotion -- Dialogue and Thoughts" was worth the price of the book alone.

Other great topics were "Showing Change in Your Characters" and "Frustration -- The Most Useful Emotion in Fiction."

Like the other books in the series, Appendix A recaps the author's critical points. Thus for the impatient reader, jump to this appendix and read what the book is about. For those of us who enjoy the journey of the reading the previous 200+ pages, the appendix is a nice summary.

Overall, this felt like the first book that brought all the concepts of characterization into one place and provided me with an easy to follow roadmap to creating, deepening and SHOWING my characters off in my story.

My recommended characterization plan:
1) Read this book as a guide on how to breath life into your characters and what you are trying to accomplish with your characters. (Characters are not there by accident!)

2) Pick up The Marshall Plan of Novel Writing by Evan Marshal or First Draft in 30 Days by Karen Weisner. Both of these books take many of the concepts listed in this book and put them into templates and forms you can fill out to plot your novel

3) Write. Write. Write.

Don't do what I did and spend the last ten years reading more on writing than actually writing. Get that first 1 million words written asap!!
While you are doing it, read this book, which has found a permanent place on my book shelf as a handy reference and reminder of what makes a successful cast of characters.

excellent.......2007-02-28

A book to read and re-read with extensive advice for making your characters merit their inclusion. I found each topic to be concisely dealt with and particularly liked the final chapters on writer's block and editing.

Great advice and well readable.......2007-02-14

There are many books on the market on how to write a novel. But I can highly recommend the complete series of Write Great Fiction, simply because I cannot think a writer could ask or want for more information on setting, character, plot etc.Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)Dialogue: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Effective Dialogue (Write Great Fiction)Description & Setting (Write Great Fiction)
I read first 'How to write a damn good novel' of James Frey. This is a great synopsis of the craft of writing, and included roughly all that this 'Write Great Fiction' series explores in much more detail.
I did not realize that actually much of writing theory is more transparant than it seems. We all read stories that seemed fluent, while others we could not seem to finish. The reasons for this are not mysterious. Many aspects make for good, or bad writing, but where can you find works that elaborate on all of them in a clear manner? This 'Write Great Fiction' series splits this seemingly impossible task in just 4 editions that you can read one by one. This book gives many great tips in a clear and fun to read manner. Apart from the content, what I like especially is the setup of the chapter; at the end there is a recap, and a possibility for doing excersises. At the end of the book there is a quick bulletpoint checklist on all the material covered that you could tear out to hang on the wall. Very handy!
Just as the rule in writing often goes: 'show not tell', so does this book. The many examples included the book enhance the credibility of the tips that are given in every chapter, on how it is done, or what makes horribly writing.
I recommend to check out the index of content on the 'search inside' option to see the content of the book yourself. Buy it and read it and at least you will have good advice on how to embark on an emotional deadth-bed scene, or how to portray emotions, to name just a few. Of course, most of us know, at leat intuitively, much of the advice. But it is always better to have them all summed up once more to refresh the memory, and also to realize why things work out or not. But then you might say 'hey, I already have read dozens of books like this'. Well, like James Frey said, there is no shortcut on reading the masters to see how they do their magic. The same is true for 'how to write' books. If you want to give writing all you have got, then I would say for every tip you did not know yet it would be well worth the price of this book! There will be many of those tips, guaranteed! Highly recommended.

WELL DONE!.......2006-12-02

CHARACTERS, EMOTION & VIEWPOINT, by Nancy Kress, covers the three subjects listed in the title as well as any book I've found. Well done, Nancy Kress!

Yet another Home Run.......2006-02-21

Writer's Digest Books stikes gold yet again with this book of the superb Write Great Fiction series. Nancy Kress smoothly covers the three areas of interest and naturally flows from one to the next as they are related.

The characterization section is wonderful. Among other things it suggests complex characters that are revealed through the problems the author brings their way. Ensure they have a backstory and if they change through the book be sure to dramatize it at the end. Also covers different types of characters for different types of fiction.

The emotion section was great. Good examples and more general than the rediculous book "creating character emotions" by hood, there, I won't even capitalize the title or author of that mess. Important emotions are covered in detail such as loving, fighting, and dying with a complete chapter on the most important emotion of all for your lead character. Can you guess what it is? Nancy Kress will tell you.

Finally viewpoint. I have read several books already on this subject yet Nancy Kress sweetens the pot even more. Good advice and examples.

I would like to add, most books I have read on writing, where the author quotes works for examples of good prose, seem to fall flat. Apparently you must read the entire book quoted to fully appreciate the snippit given as an example. Surprisingly, Nancy Kress steps up to the mound and pitches some wonderful examples that STAND ON THEIR OWN. Nice work Nancy.

I bought all but one of the Elements of Fiction Writing. Home runs. However this new series from Writers Digest Books, the Write Great Fiction series with its four books surpasses them. Together the four books are a GRAND SLAM!

Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated

Average customer rating:

Entertaining and Helpful
Helps You Build a Character From the Ground Up
proceed with caution
The writing book that puts all others to shame
The most thorough book about character

Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Writers Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fiction | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint : (Techniques and exercises for crafting dynamic characters and effective viewpoints) (Write Great Fiction)
Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
Dialogue: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Effective Dialogue (Write Great Fiction)
Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)

ASIN: 1582973199

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining and Helpful.......2007-05-14

The reader-as-aspiring-author needs to know a little something on his own about writing dialog and creating characters. But it is a great refresher to return to again and again as you are polishing your story or novel.

Helps You Build a Character From the Ground Up.......2005-09-06

First of all, don't let this book sit on your shelf! Nancy Kress is an amazing author. She has such a feel for words and makes the reader want to keep reading. It flows well from the first page.

She has checklists for characterization that can be found on the internet! She divides the book in three parts: internal, external and plot.

After having followed other articles and books by Ms. Kress in Writer's Digest, I knew I was a huge fan, but this book convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt.
I'm focused right now on the "internal dialogue" chapters which someone else might skip over, but is vital to my thriller.

I think that's what I like so much about this book. You can zero in on what you need and don' have to read the whole book, cover to cover. She isn't chatty, and is not boring.

At the end of each chapter she summarizes what she covered, which is great for me. Sometimes, I go straight to the summary to see if I want to read that chapter.

I feel like I have the benefit of Nancy herself telling me where the "thin spots" are and the "implausibilty in the plot" can be found. The lessons I've learned in the few short weeks since this book arrived are amazing.
If you can only afford one book right now, I seriously recommend this one.
(I also think you should get her book, "Beginnings, Middles and Ends")

proceed with caution.......2005-02-02

This book expands on or pads out what all the other books say about characterization. Part of the padding is in the chatty conversational way the author presents the material. Part of it is in the numerous examples used. And here lies the danger. Kress assumes that if the author is famous, anything the author writes is an example of good writing. She also ignores any distinctions between so-called "literary" authors and popular authors and presents examples from both, so long as they are famous. But most readers are bored by so-called "literary" writing (and with good reason), so using these examples as models of how to do characterization is risky at best.
Also, maybe because the passages are chosen as illustrations, most of the examples of characterization are descriptive passages or other "telling" passages-in other words, they are static. The story stops while this character is being introduced or is being given another coating of "characterization." This is a poor way to do characterization. Some of the examples give you an impression of the character. The question is, would you want to stop your story to do it, or can you find an equally effective way that does not stop the story? And what is most important about characterization anyway? These questions Kress does not address. Instead, she surveys all the possibilities and lets you choose.
Of course, like any book on writing, you can get ideas from this book. So, you might consider buying it, as long as you take care not to be seduced by the examples given and fall into the trap of using these techniques even though you're writing a popular novel.

The writing book that puts all others to shame.......2004-03-27

Nancy Kress believes that writing need not be a mysterious art employed only by a select few; it is something that in large part can be explained and taught and understood. She also has a great sense of irony and humor. These traits make this one of the most enjoyable and accessible writing books I've ever read.

"Dynamic Characters" covers a lot of ground. I was surprised to find so much information on dialogue in here, for example. We can't chisel a character out of the work of fiction it's found in and deal with it as a separate entity; character is intimately tied to the rest of a story. Even while we're writing dialogue, setting, and and plot we should be thinking about how it impacts (and is impacted by) our characters. The author presents a million and one different ways to delve into, think about, and develop wonderful characters.

Ms. Kress tells us what the pitfalls are of various techniques, what risks we're taking, why different things are considered trite or overused (and what we might try to make them fresh again), as well as why we still might want to try some methods in certain circumstances. She tells us how as well as why, so that we can make our own informed decisions.

She's very good about putting her suggestions within the context of all sorts of types of writing: literary fiction, mysteries, romances, science fiction, fantasy, and so on. She uses numerous published examples from sources as disparate as Dickens and Stephen King. This book treats its subject matter extremely thoroughly, is inspiring and enjoyable, and could greatly improve your fiction. The only flaw I found is that it makes other writing books look so much less effective and interesting by comparison.

What are you waiting for? If your fiction could use even the smallest boost, then read Dynamic Characters.

...

The most thorough book about character.......2003-10-20

There are a certain number of people out there who object to the "list method" of creating a character. And on some points I agree with them. You cannot make a character just by figuring out what they like for breakfast and listing what they do all day. However, far too many beginning writers forget to think of their characters as people who do eat breakfast and pee and grew up somewhere and have fears that have nothing to do with the plot.

This books encourages writers to think about all aspects of character and helps them to think about them in fuller, more realized ways.

Amazon.com

Many of us wish we could get by with less sleep. Beggars in Spain extrapolates that wish into a future where some people need no sleep at all. Nancy Kress, an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and columns on writing, has created another thoughtful but dramatic statement on social issues.

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

Book Description

Born in 2008, 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.</p>

Once she and "her kind" were considered interesting anomalies. Now they are outcasts -- victims of blind hatred, political repression and shocking mob violence meant to drive the "Sleepless" from human society . . . and, ultimately, from the Earth itself.</p>

But Leisha Camden has chosen to remain behind in a world that envies and fears her "gift" -- a world marked for destruction in a devastating conspiracy of freedom . . . and revenge.</p>

Download Description

Nancy Kress's landmark genetic engineering story, one of the most critically acclaimed SF novellas of the last decade. A rich financier compels scientists to create for him the perfect daughter--smart, beautiful, and with no need to sleep. Kress masterfully explores the social implications of "Sleepless" people in a novella you will never forget. Hugo Award Winner; Nebula Award Winner; Fictionwise eBook of the Year (2000)

Customer Reviews:

Begging for real characters.......2007-06-18

This book came highly recommended, and of course it has also won a ton of awards, but I wasn't impressed at all. There's very little characterization. The characters seem to exist just to move the plot along, ie "And then THIS happened and I'm going to tell you about it now!"

I was also reminded of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," in which the flat characters exist only as mouthpieces for Rand's philosophy.

As for the plot, it's interesting, but it clanks along kind of relentlessly. I couldn't help wondering if Nancy Kress did extensive outlining of the plot before she wrote this book, because I felt like I was reading a fleshed-out plot outline. As I said above, there was a feeling of, "OK, and now THIS happens. And...wait for it...now THIS happens!"

I have read only this novel, and have not read "Beggars in Spain" in the original, shorter, novella form, but it was pretty easy to discern where the novella ended and the rest of the novel-length book was tacked on.

Maybe it was the hype that set me up for high expectations. I was really disappointed.

Full of Joy and Charity.......2007-05-07

I'm almost speechless. Rarely I have a read a science fiction novel centered around a character as strong or as joyous as Leisha Camden. Her life is full of joy, and she struggles with the question "How many beggars in Spain, who approach you for aid, would you help?" At the end of each major section of the novel, the insightful answers are different as Leisha grows and lives.

This novel is really about a future in which energy is free, but humanity remains the same. It reminded me of objectivism, of idealism, of hope.

One thing I didn't like was Kress never even mentioned singing as a possible solution against stuttering, but that is so minor.

This book deserved to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards (and the original novella did the year it was first published FYI). If you are at all a fan of science fiction philosophy, this book is a must buy. As good as Frank Herbert, Bujold, or Asimov. I could see this being required reading in college level classes of Ethics, English, or Philosophy in the future. Hits on wonderful new ideas, with easy explanations for the science.

A real peek into the future of humanity and human design.......2007-04-02

What a fun book and a thoughful yet entertaining look at the future of body design and its political consequences. I described this book to a friend, as a cross between Star Trek Next Gen with Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. Nancy gets both the potential for scientific advances of embryo modification and its potentially very real socio-economic ramifications. A must read if you like these sort of topics. Thanks for the creativity Nancy!

Genevieve

Thoughtful Science Fiction.......2006-08-20

Beggars in Spain, if you didn't read it when it was published in the '90s, is worth a look. Kress writes sociologically pointed science fiction, and this is one of her best. Leisha and Alice Camden are fraternal twins. Leisha has been genetically engineered to (among other things) live without sleep. Alice is unaltered. At first, Sleeplessness is an unmitigated blessing -- it turns out the Sleepless are effectively immortal. But the rest of humanity isn't as pleased with their good fortune.

Kress's near-future doesn't start out dystopian -- energy is free and genetic engineering is successful. But as the Sleepless begin at first to dominate the global economy and then to isolate themselves as a result of the intense prejudice they face, things take a turn for the worse. Soon, most of humanity is withering away by free resources and lack of opportunities.

Leisha is the perfect protagonist -- Kress's voice is often a bit cold, and Leisha herself is, too. The Sleepless are curiously insensitive to art and imagination, a product (so we are led to believe) of their lack of dreaming.

Is this the way Sleeplessness would work out? For myself, I can't say I would get a whole lot more done if I didn't sleep, though I would be very well-read. And would people turn away from the gifts Sleeplessness could offer their children to spare them prejudice? I doubt it. But it's something to think about.

Economic and class warfare.......2006-07-29

I enjoyed the first book in the sleepless trilogy. The book starts with a genetically engineered fetus - the 20th created in this matter - that does not require sleep. These sleepless children learn quicker and age slower, thereby having inherent skills that propel them beyong their human sleeper peers.

Inevitably class warfare breaks out and prejudicial feelings consume sleepers who want to counteract the economically affluent sleepless clans that number in the thousands now. `We-sleep' movements battle the sleepless economic machine with lowbrow tactics that seem to work with an uneducated populace.

Eventually the sleepless splinter as a group, with the heroine, Leisha, promoting engagement with sleepers and helping them achieve economic success. Whereas, her sleepless nemesis Jennifer supports disengagement and class warfare. Without spoiling, the two fight over the heart of the sleepless and how the economic elite respond to beggars of society

Average customer rating:

Good Collection of Short Stories by Nancy Kress - Hugo Award Winner
Highly Entertaining, Highly Intelligent Writing
Just Finished This Collection
A Great Collection
The well intentioned folly of genetic engineering.

Beaker's Dozen
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Short Stories | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

An Alien Light
Probability Sun (The Probability Trilogy)
Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)

ASIN: 031286843X

Amazon.com

Although you can't judge a book by its cover, sometimes you can make a few good guesses about it based on the title. This is definitely true of Beaker's Dozen, a collection of short stories by renowned SF author Nancy Kress, who writes, "Of the thirteen stories in this book, eight are concerned with what might come out of the beakers and test tubes and gene sequencers of microbiology." What modesty prohibits Kress from adding is that all of the stories are excellent works by one of SF's finest writers. The highlights here are Kress's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning story "Beggars in Spain" (later expanded into an acclaimed novel of the same name), and the Nebula Award-winning story "The Flowers of Aulit Prison." --Craig E. Engler

Book Description

Nancy Kress best short stories of the decade are collected for the first time in Beakers Dozen. This substantial book includes many award nominees, the Nebula Award-winning Flowers of Aulit Prison, and the Hugo and Nebula-winning novella Beggars in Spainthe wellspring of her famous Beggars Trilogy. Over the past decade, Nancy Kress has become one of SFs brightest lights. The Edmonton Journal

Customer Reviews:

Good Collection of Short Stories by Nancy Kress - Hugo Award Winner.......2005-08-30

The novella, Beggars in Spain, the longest story in this collection and the best known, is quite fascinating and warrants reading more than once; Nancy Kress received the Hugo award for this 1991 publication. The others qualify as short stories, ranging from as little as three to about fifty pages. Eight stories explore the world of beakers, test tubes, and DNA sequencing.

Feigenbaum Number offers a creative look at attractors and strange attractors, convergence and divergence, all in the context of iterated function theory as applied to linear and non-linear differential equations. Jack, a post-doc mathematician that studies chaos theory, is immersed simultaneously in two worlds, concretely residing in an imperfect, scarred, damaged reality, but continuously aware of a shimmering, overlapping image that offers worldly perfection.

Ars Longa is an unsettling look at how a dedicated teacher contributed to Walt Disney's success. Flowers of Aulit Prison pictures an alien world that is truly alien; it reminds me of imaginative stories by Ursula Le Guin.

The remaining stories range from good, to interesting, to not so bad. Beaker's Dozen is somewhat uneven in quality, but even the not so bad stories have potential to stimulate the reader's imagination. I give this collection four stars because the best stories - Beggars in Spain, Feigenbaum Number, Ars Longa, and Flowers of Aulit Prison - are really quite good.

Highly Entertaining, Highly Intelligent Writing.......2002-05-07

You don't have to be a science-fiction fan to enjoy the stories of Nancy Kress. In fact, you don't even have to know anything about science-fiction. If you enjoy well written, intelligent writing with remarkably believable characters, Kress is for you.

This collection starts off with a bang. "Beggars in Spain," the Hugo and Nebula winning story deals seriously with genetic engineering and prejudice when a group of "sleepless" children are born. Also outstanding are "Ars Longa" (about what it may have been like to have been Walt Disney's grade-school teacher) and "Flowers of Aulit Prison." All of the stories are very, very good, but these three are my favorites. If you like great characters and great writing, they may be yours also.

Kress has the amazing ability to communicate complex scientific ideas (like genetic engineering, microbiology, and cloning) and make them very understandable. Combine this skill with the ability to create characters that the reader really cares about, and you've got a collection of entertaining and thought-provoking stories.

Just Finished This Collection.......2001-03-10

This collection has been around for awhile, but I just found it. I highly recommend it to all fans of Nancy Kress

A Great Collection.......2000-06-17

"Beaker's Dozen" contains a "baker's dozen", that is 13, short stories, from the author of the award winning "Beggar's Trilogy" (Beggars in Spain, Beggars & Choosers, Beggar's Ride).

The book is primarily concerned with the impact of emerging biotek on day to day life. Written the trademark flair of strong female characters and emphasis the social implication on the "ordinary" citzens.

The collection begins with the Hugo Winning Novella "Beggars in Spain", for those who have read the novel, this piece needs no introduction. For those that haven't: In the near future, Leisha Camden is the beautiful protagonist, intelligent and needs no sleep. A great introduction into the writing style of Ms Kress, her defining work as a SF author.

The collection ends with another novella, "Dancing on Air", again dealing with the possibilities of biotechnologies as applied to ballet dancers.

Other unforgettable pieces are "Margin of Error" and "Unto Daughters" the Garden of Eden story like you have never heard it before.

The well intentioned folly of genetic engineering........1999-03-07

Kress shows that the products of such engineering is good, & yet. It is so difficult to know what's right with human nature as is, imagine how hard it'll be if we change that nature unthinkingly? At the same time her compassion doesn't waver. You can be against unthinking engineering yet still be compassionate, & pro-science. Inspire through hope rather than pander through fear. Someone said it bothered them as a Catholic. If you're that weak in your beliefs don't blame her. A truly great author who deserves all the acclaim for her short work we can give.

Yet sometimes her balance goes awry & she gets preachy or sappy. Still, it's such a hard balancing act I give her credit.

Beggars And Choosers (Beggars Trilogy (also known as Sleepless Trilogy))
Average customer rating:

Doesn't Measure Up

Great Sequel-Also Great Stand Alone Novel

Super! ....sleepless nights after reading this book

Mmmm...great sci fi...

Thoughtful look at issues raised by nanotechnology.

Beggars And Choosers (Beggars Trilogy (also known as Sleepless Trilogy))
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Kress, Nancy | ( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)

Probability Sun (The Probability Trilogy)

Probability Space (The Probability Trilogy)

Crossfire

Crucible

ASIN: 0812550102

Customer Reviews:

Doesn't Measure Up .......2007-05-07

I read this after reading "The Beggars of Spain," and it doesn't measure up to the greatness of the first novel.

None of the main characters measure up to the Leisha Camden, who ends up with a minor role before being written out of the novel. For me, Leisha Camden carried the first novel, and having the direct sequel with her not as main character disappointed me. Of the characters in the new novel, none of them approached the joy or gentle reflectiveness of Leisha.

The philosophical questions raised by first novel, of all the beggars in Spain, are neatly sidestepped and ignored in the second novel. Miranda ends up making the same mistakes her grandmother made, but in a different way. It just struck me a super-genius might learn something from the past? Kress really didn't write the level of super-genius intelligence well, unlike the first novel where she managed to do so by perfectly capturing emotional issues that would grip you regardless of intelligence. I found her super-genius behavior to be emotionally stupid in this book, and it just turned the whole thing to trash for me.

No complaints with the setting, though the dramatic pace was slow, especially in Oleinta, New York. Maybe I'm over-reacting a bit at giving this two stars, but compared with the first novel (which I read on the same day as this one) this book is short-sighted and mediocre.

Great Sequel-Also Great Stand Alone Novel.......2004-06-07

This book picks up about a decade after the end of BEGGARS IN SPAIN and mainly follows the path of the Super Sleepless on Earth, specifically Miranda Sharifi, the brilliant granddaughter of Leisha's nemesis from the first novel. American society has become more stratified than before, where the wealthy working class called "Donkeys" literally buy votes by providing bread and circuses for a large uneducated welfare population called "Livers". Of particular interest is the character of Drew Arlen, a young Liver who wants to raise himself above his birth and be on par with the Super Sleepless. Drew becomes involved with Miranda's plots within plots to remake society as she sees fit.

Super! ....sleepless nights after reading this book.......2000-06-02

The saga continues. The people who do not need to sleep have wrought a profound change on the world in the first book (Beggars in Spain). Now, like the numerical solution of a differential equation spinning away as the computer chugs on further iterations, the story spinds out in myriad directions and ends up creating a society that looks very much like society today or for that matter a thousand years ago. Stratified and seggregated - of course the rules of seggregation are different. Do all stable societal configurations stratify the society? Or does the author's experince with her society guides the book to this conclusion? Thought provoking.

Mmmm...great sci fi..........2000-05-27

This was actually the first Kress book I read (I went out and grabbed 4 more almost immediately afterward, including Beggars in Spain)...so, the book definately stands on its own two feet and I still enjoyed the series tremendously despite not reading them in their intended order. Maybe it's because I read this one first, but it stands out as my favorite - a well-crafted future (usually missing from a lot of sci fi), a compelling plot (again, often absent from a lot of sci fi...no alien invasion/war/global cataclysm/blah/blah here, just a very interesting look at what the advances in our own existing technology may one day bring us), really great lead characters, particularly Diana Covington who I felt I sort of followed through this story in progress, and hey, some actual science! I'm no genetic engineer, but it seems that the material has been very well thought out and is a running theme in the Kress books I've read so far - being central to this book and the others in the series, I like the fact that the concept is used so thoughtfully...genetic engineering didn't destroy the world, but it certainly did change it. I suppose it would...perhaps it will, depending on how far we take it. This book has a ring of realism and science fact mixed in with fiction, as well as the central question 'what will the technological and social advances of the future really mean to us and how will they affect us?' - I just don't seem to find much science fiction like that these days. I was looking for some new material to read, and after picking up four or five complete duds by other authors, I picked this one up initially because the cover intregued me...boy am I glad I did. I have a feeling Kress will keep me in good sci fi for a while.

Thoughtful look at issues raised by nanotechnology........1999-08-31

I join others in recommending that "Beggars in Spain" by Kress be read first in order to fully appreciate this book. It's the best look I have seen so far in fictional form of the issues raised by nanotechnology. For a thorough nonfiction overview of these questions, see "Unbounding the Future" by Eric Drexler et al. (and Drexler's Foresight Institute, which is on the Web). Nanotech offers unparalleled wealth, an end to most environmental problems, cheap space travel--but it won't make Serbs and Albanians friends or solve the population explosion, and it can be abused in horrible ways. Similar issues are explored in James Hogan's SF "Voyage from Yesteryear," also highly recommended.

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Average customer rating:

A recommended treatise on the art of writing fiction
Good, but strangely organized
Do as she says, not as she does

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Writers Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Fiction | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Conflict, Action and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Scene and Structure (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Description (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Dialogue: A Socratic Dialogue on the Art of Writing Dialogue in Fiction (Elements of Fiction Writing)

ASIN: 0898795508

Customer Reviews:

A recommended treatise on the art of writing fiction.......2007-04-23

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.......2004-12-17

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.

Do as she says, not as she does.......2000-10-26

Kress has written a thorough tome on the major sections of novels. Unlike a certain sci fi trilogy she wrote, this manual maintains consistent value to the end. It certainly shines above most of the other Writer's Digest Elements of Fiction series. In a nutshell, the majority of these Elements are poor excuses for writing instruction. But Kress has made her mark, and this one will live long after WD has realized the weak links in its Elements series must be replaced. So ignore the other WD shortcomings, and the implications of the Beggars falterings, and you will be pleased to have purchased an indispensable volume for your reference shelf.

Beggars Ride (Beggars Trilogy (also known as Sleepless Trilogy))

Average customer rating:

Maybe I should have read the other two books?
Disappointing
DYSTOPIA a la carte
Perfunctory writing suits unengaging characters
Best of the Beggars series

Beggars Ride (Beggars Trilogy (also known as Sleepless Trilogy))
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)
Probability Sun (The Probability Trilogy)
Probability Space (The Probability Trilogy)
Crossfire
Crucible

ASIN: 0812544749

Amazon.com

Nancy Kress ends her Beggars trilogy (which began with the novella later turned into a novel, Beggars in Spain) almost full circle from where it began. Against a backdrop where rich humans have themselves modified to perfection and poor, unmodified "Livers" eke out a nomadic existence, the genetically superior Sleepless have stopped distributing Change. Change is the miracle substance that prevents disease in all humans. In cutting off Change, the Sleepless have ignited a class war that will ultimately be resolved not by technology and science, but by the children of technology, who must live side-by-side despite their differences.

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

Maybe I should have read the other two books?.......2004-08-16

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.......2004-06-07

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.......2002-10-03

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 the Sleepless 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 have kept 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.

Perfunctory writing suits unengaging characters.......2002-02-12

It's a credit to Nancy Kress's skill that she got me to read to the end of the book, though I think it might have been more a case of wanting to see the entire train wreck.

The Beggars World series started off with a simple premise that quickly got out of hand: people who don't need to sleep are...well, omnipotent supermen. Eh? Having written herself into a box, Kress keeps the Sleepless offstage for nearly the entire book, then dispenses with the problem entirely through a pair of perfunctory, Sterling-esque plot twists. It kills me that I can't reveal them. Suffice to say that they're logically implausible given the nature of the people they affect, as painstakingly delineated over the preceding hundreds of pages.

Fine. But who are the Emergency Backup Protagonists? We've met them before: whiney milquetoast-with-a-woody Jackson, his daffy sister, quasi-Hellbitch Vicki, and Certified Hellbitch Cazie. Oh, don't forget sooper-genius hacker Lizzie, who reverts to Liver speech, her, when under stress, notices, and then just keeps doing it, her. Gaak.

Well then. Maybe the overarching theme redeems the book. Why yes, it does: Feeling sad? Feeling blue? Turn that frown upside down and just whistle a happy tune! I can't imagine this book actually suggests that one can overcome crippling anxiety and depression by make-believe and goodthink, so I must have misunderstood this part.

Did I mention the whole series is set in one of the most numbingly unpleasant dystopias ever to grace the SF field? If you're going to go that route, you'd better give us characters that make us care, that engage our sympathy or outrage. But all the groups we meet--Livers, donkeys, Sleepless--are so thoroughgoingly repellent that you kind of wish the bad guys *would* win and exterminate the species already, so we can start over with monkeys or penguins or something.

Best of the Beggars series.......2001-11-19

I don't know what my fellow reviewers are smoking --this is definitely the best of the Beggars trilogy. Not that you can really read it apart from the rest of them; you really need all three to see how far Kress got with developing the Beggar-world, which started (in Beggars In Spain) like all good science fiction does, with a simple question: What if people didn't need to sleep anymore? And went on from there, sort of answering that question directly in BIS and more dealing with the ramifications of it in Beggars and Choosers and becoming more of an attempt to tap into the quasi-mystic Answering Big Questions vein of science fiction in Beggar's Ride. Her solution as I understand it is basically sort of a tempered enthusiasm for modern science: look outward, but don't forget to look inward as well. That's the best I can describe it without giving too much away. And I love the way how from book to book Kress has no problem moving on to new characters. The scientific denouement is at the end of BR is not the wow-shocker that concluded BIS and B&C, but I only enjoyed BR more for it, and for Kress's guts in not feeling like she had to blow up the Death Star to get her point across (though that happens too). Within the trilogy we go from a world from where some people can't sleep to one where everyone has to look within themselves for answers, and it's just amazing how we went from good honest hard SF to wonderful philosophical SF within these three books. The changes, and the way things changed, are amazing. Good good stuff.

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)

Average customer rating:

An Almost Great Book
Great character development -- weak ending
A little confusing, but very entertaining
An entertaining read
Not your average predictable SF novel

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Probability Sun (The Probability Trilogy)
Probability Space (The Probability Trilogy)
Crossfire
Crucible
City of Pearl

ASIN: 076534341X

Amazon.com

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

Book Description

Humankind has expanded out into interstellar space using star gates-technological remnants left behind by an ancient, long-vanished race. But the technology comes with a price. Among the stars, humanity encountered the Fallers, a strange alien race bent on nothing short of genocide. It's all-out war, and humanity is losing.In this fragile situation, a new planet is discovered, inhabited by a pre-industrial race who experience "shared reality"-they're literally compelled to share the same worldview. A team of human scientists is dispatched-but what they don't know is that their mission of first contact is actually a covert military operation.For one of the planet's moons is really a huge mysterious artifact of the same origin as the star gates . . . and it just may be the key to winning the war.

Customer Reviews:

An Almost Great Book.......2006-05-31

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.......2006-03-10

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.

A little confusing, but very entertaining.......2005-08-12

Humanity has lucked out and discovered a series of space "tunnels" left by an earlier, more advanced civilization, allowing us to jump right into interstellar travel and exploration without going through all the tedious process of solving our problems here on Earth first. The result is a space program that is highly advanced, far reaching, and not all that concerned with ethics.

Unfortunately, despite our shortcomings, we are still the second-most advanced civilization in the known galaxy, and we're at war with the other one. So when an unknown artifact that might have been created by the same aliens that gave us the space tunnels is found orbiting a nondescript, inhabited planet, humans immediately jump at the opportunity to gain what they hope will be a weapon to use in the war against the Fallers. As a cover to their expedition to study the artifact, a team of scientists is dispatched to the planet, known only as World. The expedition is ostensibly to study a unique society among the Worlders, shaped by what is known as "shared reality" - every Worlder must agree on everything, or they suffer blinding headaches.

What is shared reality? What causes it? Are humans "real"? Are the Worlders - peaceful, agreeable, homogenous, and thus backward and unambitious - better than humans? Just what is the artifact, which the Worlders have always assumed to be a moon? These are some of the questions Kress poses, and on the whole she does a good job answering them. I would have liked more focus spent on just how shared reality shapes Worlder society, but Kress does address this much better in Book 2, so I can't really complain. 90% of the science was completely lost on me - I could still follow what was going on, but considering that the title of the book references the probability physics that Kress spends a lot of time setting up, I wish I had a better grasp on just what the heck that means.

Kress does a great job with her characters; they are each well defined and characterized. (I hate it when you're 2/3 of the way through a book and can't remember whether Smith was the gruff biologist or the spunky physicist.) Her aliens are just foreign enough, while remaining sympathetic. Very different from her "Beggars" series, although very similar to a much earlier book of hers, "An Alien Light." A fun read.

An entertaining read.......2003-09-24

Although the plot of Probability Moon had elements in it that have been done before in science fiction, they were brought together in a way that I found to be fresh and engaging through the different points of view of the various characters --- including the alien characters. Kress' writing style is clear and her prose does not get in the way of the story and the characters, though not all totally three dimensional, were, for the most part, fleshed out nicely. I especially enjoyed the character of Enli, the Worlder who has to spy on the humans in order to atone for her crime and become "real" again so she can again truly be an insider in her culture. I also liked the fact that the plot was driven by a combination of physics and anthropology, a usually uneasy marriage of disciplines. Many previous reviewers obviously did not care for the book, but I liked it and will read more of her work, including the sequel Probability Sun. So there.

Not your average predictable SF novel.......2003-01-18

Not sure why some reviewers wrote so negatively, I think this is a very good book. It has a good and well developed story line that doesn't follow the Science Fiction receipe for the puny hero who defeats the omnipotent/all powerful villian by the virtue of his/her humanity and a lot of luck.

Instead, there are a handful of everyday Joes, each with different strengths and weaknesses, that are basically in over their heads and the ultimate result is... well... failure, but not defeat! That is what is so great about the story! We can't win all the battles, but we never give up the fight! Maybe not the most romantic storyline, but Kress makes it work. I am alway looking for a good SF story that breaks the mold and Kress delivered.

Probability Space (The Probability Trilogy)
Average customer rating:

Who wrote this book?

good reading!

Tedious and poorly crafted

Not a satisfying finish to the trilogy

exciting climax to a strong series

Probability Space (The Probability Trilogy)
Nancy Kress
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
Kress, Nancy | ( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Probability Sun (The Probability Trilogy)

Probability Moon (The Probability Trilogy)

Crossfire

Crucible

Seeker

ASIN: 0765345145
Release Date: 2003-12-30

Amazon.com

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

Book Description

Nancy Kress cemented her reputation in SF with the publication of her multiple-award-winning novella, "Beggars in Spain," which became the basis for her extremely successful Beggars Trilogy (comprising Beggars in Spain, Beggars and Choosers, and Beggars Ride).And now she brings us Probability Space, the conclusion of the trilogy that began with Probability Moon and then Probability Sun, which is centered on the same world as Kress's Nebula Award-winning novelette, "Flowers of Aulit Prison." The Probability Trilogy has already been widely recognized as the next great work by this important SF writer.In Probability Space, humanity's war with the alien Fallers continues, and it is a war we are losing. Our implacable foes ignore all attempts at communication, and they take no prisoners. Our only hope lies with an unlikely coalition: Major Lyle Kaufman, retired warrior; Marbet Grant, the Sensitive who's involved with Kaufman; Amanda, a very confused fourteen-year-old girl; and Magdalena, one of the biggest power brokers in all of human space.As the action moves from Earth to Mars to the farthest reaches of known space, with civil unrest back home and alien war in deep space, four humans--armed with little more than an unproven theory--try to enter the Fallers' home star system. It's a desperate gamble, and the fate of the entire universe may hang in the balance.

Customer Reviews:

Who wrote this book?.......2005-12-27

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!.......2005-03-14

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.

Tedious and poorly crafted.......2005-03-11

I was so enthralled with the previous two Probability books that I read each of them in a single sitting, which is very rare for me. I also really enjoyed "Crossfire". But this book I almost didn't finish at all. The characters in the previous two books were solidly drawn and acted with intelligent and interesting motivations. Here, they seem almost random. The plot is strung together from coincidences and blatant contrivances. Like reviewer Sparks, I too became convinced that the author had no idea what this book was supposed to be about. Furthermore, it seemed to me that key background information about the story was repeated almost verbatim every few chapters, making the author look like a student trying to hit a page count. This is a bad book and wholly unworthy of a writer of Kress's obvious talent.

Not a satisfying finish to the trilogy.......2004-01-22

While I thoroughly enjoyed the previous two books in this trilogy, I feel that the third volume falls somewhat flat. Kress alternates between two main storylines (one following Amanda Capelo, and the other following Lyle Kaufman) both of which are at best reactionary and at worst aimless. The absurdity of the plot devices in the Amanda storyline are only outdone by the impossibility of the plot devices in the Kaufman storyline. Motivations for the characters are often unclear.

Halfway through the book, I was convinced that even the author had no idea where it was going. Somewhat late in the game (about page 200) the book does find its pacing and races to finish things off, but I found the conclusion unsatisfying.

I would only recommend this book to fans of the first two books who are obsessive compulsive completists. Casual fans would be better off reading Kress' short fiction.

exciting climax to a strong series.......2002-09-14

The war between mankind and the Fallers goes unabated as humanity's enemy still ignores any transmissions from their opponents. If anything, the hostilities are turning worse at least for humans as it looks inevitable that the Fallers are going to win. An alien victory means the end of humanity because no one survives a battle let alone a war with the enigmatic Fallers.

The taste of defeat leads to an earthly coup with the new leader apparently willing to use a "not of this earth" doomsday machine (that the Fallers also possess) to annihilate the enemy. However, not everyone agrees with the wisdom of deploying a device not fully understood as to its ramifications and most likely will also rip the space-time continuum. Physicist Capelo, Major Kaufman, and sensitive Grant try a Hail Mary ploy to communicate with the Fallers before the galaxy as it is relatively known is ripped asunder forever.

The final novel in the "Probability" trilogy (see Probability Sun and Probability Moon) is an exciting climax to a strong series. The story line of Probability Space can stand alone yet brings closure that will please fans of the series and coax newcomers to seek out the previous books. Though the probability of some of the events occurring as written seems statistically unreliable, Nancy Kress furbishes a strong climax to a delightfully intelligent triad.

Harriet Klausner

Authors:

Authors

Authors