Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Plot to Save Socrates by Paul Levinson

Paul Levinson takes a departure from his Phil D'Amato series with his newest book, The Plot to Save Socrates. It's 2042 and Sierra Waters is working on her graduate thesis on the development of the ancient Greek language when one of thesis advisors gives her a copy of what appears to be a lost Socratic dialogue. The dialogue appears to describe a discussion between Socrates and a mysterious visitor just before the philosopher is forced to drink the hemlock. The visitor appears to offer, using words that a person of 400 BC might understand, to take Socrates forward in time and leave a clone behind to die in his place.

Was this dialogue truly written by Plato or is it a clever forgery. Sierra isn't sure, but her advisor mysteriously disappears, leading into a secret society of time travelers. Who is truly behind the plot to save Socrates and what is his true motive? Is it even possible to save him? And, more importantly, does he even want to be saved?

The book is told in a nonlinear fashion that jumps forward and backward in time and from the perspective of character to character in each chapter. Some fans may find this a little confusing to follow, but Dr. Levinson manages to keep things fairly tight. He's also done his research on the period and the subjects. At 266 pages, the book is a short by modern SF standards, but the author crams a lot of information in those pages.

I found The Plot to Save Socrates very satisfying, not too long or pretentious, but also respectful of its subject matter. It neither insults the reader's intelligence nor tries to be above them.

Highly recommended.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Balticon II

I'm pretty wiped. It's the end of day three of Balticon and I'm having a great time.

Most cons, I tend to focus on the small press authors because I can pick up books that usually can't buy at the local Borders or B&N. Sci-Fi and fantasy authors are some of the most accessible writers in the business and the small press authors are even more so. Having gone to Balticon for a few years now, I've gotten to know many of the small press authors fairly well and the best part is just having a chance to just chat them up live on what's going on in their careers.

I have to give special notice to Danielle Ackley-McPhail, who just relaunched her novel, Yesterday's Dreamers this month. Dani, who was also the editor of the anothology, No Longer Dreams, had a great launch party despite the lousy AC that made the room sweltering.

A lot of podcasters came to Balticon this year and I managed to get to several of the podcasting panels. I picked up a lot of tips this weekend as I prepare to start up my own podcast.

My own reading went well. I real my satirical story, Election 2040 and the con's podcaster recorded it, so maybe I'll end in the official Balticon podcast.

More to come after tomorrow's panels.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Balticon

I'll be at Balticon this weekend. Hopefully, I'll post some thoughts about my experiences there.