[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

917.0. "Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand" by REEBOK::MCAFEE (Steve McAfee) Mon Sep 17 1990 18:44

    
    I just started an interesting novel by what appears to be a new author.
    The book is Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand.  I bought the paperback
    version so it must have been out for a while.  The cover says it is her
    first SF novel.  I was wondering if anyone is aware of anything else
    she might have written.  Her name does sound familiar to me...
    
    Anyhow how the book is set in the distant future.  Civilization has
    gone through several major upheavals.  The book so far is sort of a
    Science Fiction horror novel.  Her style seems new to me in a
    refreshing way I haven't felt since I read Gibson's Neuromancer.
    
    A general description follows the form feed for those of you who
    don't mind.
    
    The first section of the book is about a girl who was autistic but has
    been transformed into a sort of empathic whiteboard.  By exposing
    disturbed individuals to her "abilities" the patients problems may be
    removed from their minds.  She encounters something startling in
    someone's mind which appears to be more than just an imaginary horror.
    
    The second part (which I've just started) is about her twin brother who
    was not autistic but separated from her as a child...
    
    There are several other sections which I haven't gotten to yet.
    
    Been a good read so far.
    
    -steve
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
917.1ELMST::MCAFEESteve McAfeeMon Sep 24 1990 18:0510
    
    I finished Winterlong last week.  I'd rate it overall about a 7.5 out
    of 10.  Has anyone else read it yet?
    
    - steve
    
    BTW  I just picked up the full length version (~900 pages in paperback)
    of Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons.  It was in the horror section of the
    bookstore and just released (October 1990).  Thanks for the tip whoever
    mentioned the novella...
917.2An excellent first novelTECRUS::REDFORDSun Jan 05 1992 20:2623
    I've just finished "Winterlong" as well.  It's a striking novel,
    full of vivid characters:  the chimpanzee-actress Miss Scarlet,
    the literally skeletal Dr. Silverthorn, the mad Aviator, the
    empath Anna/Andrew, and of course the principals: Wendy, Raphael,
    and the Boy in the Tree.  It's great to see this kind of
    character development in SF.  Wendy starts out as a blank, a girl
    so devoid of emotion that she is used to absorb the emotions
    around her.  Raphael is her opposite, a boy whose whole life (and
    business!) is intrigue and romance.  He longs for something else,
    somthing more substantial, and so starts his journey into
    knowledge.  Wendy doesn't even know she's missing anything, until
    she's ripped away from the Institute that was experimenting upon
    her by an enemy attack.  She and Raphael must inevitably cross
    paths, and their emotional development crosses as well.  I'm
    looking forward to more of them in Hand's next novel, "Aestival Tide".
    
    /jlr
    
    PS SF cover art is rarely as apt as it is here.  The cover
    shows a mask in the shape of a butterfly and made of a circuit
    board.  It's being held over a black marble face with bright blue
    eyes.  The painting is by Will Cormier - I hope to see more of
    his work as well.