Golly, that's a Christmas Present I wasn't expecting.

[andrewducker]

In May 2004 I bumped into Charlie Stross, drunk in a bar, at the delightful Plokta Con, and he transmitted his novel-in-progress Accelerando to me. I read it over the new few weeks, emailed him some thoughts (nothing major, just a couple of bits that felt unclear to me) and was delighted to get an advanced read of something so overwhelmingly fantastic.

I didn't pick up a copy when it came out - I couldn't really justify spending hardback money on a book I already had a copy of - but stuck it on the Amazon Wish-List instead. Which meant that los parentes picked it up for me this Christmas, and I finally got around to cracking it open this afternoon, to see if it was as good as I remembered.

At which point I hit the acknowledgements page, skimmed my eyes over it, and noticed, sandwiched after Cory Doctorow, and before Warren Ellis, my own name.

I may, just may, have run round the house showing it to people with a great big grin on my face.

Comments

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

You know, I have -no- idea who he is, except I know you mention his name every now and then.....

I'm fairly sure of who Warren Ellis is, though.

[andrewducker]

I have -no- idea who he is

Cory Doctorow or Charlie Stross?

The former works for the EFF and writes fiction on the side.

The latter's an old-time computer journalist who became a full-time fiction writer a few years ago. What I've read so far has been mostly sub-Banks space-opera - fun but fairly forgettable, with a few nice ideas. Apart from Accellerando, which starts off reading a bit like someone read their entire back issue collection of Wired in one go, but turns into a fantastic near-future history of mankind moving through the Singularity. I'll throw my copy at you when I'm done with it :->

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I know who the former is. I've heard the name mentioned on various livejournals. Sometimes positively, often negatively.

Sub-Banks space opera? You can keep it. Even if it was on-par Banks space opera, you could keep it.

if "Acellerando" is good, and not just some kind of shoddy Spanish-language remake of "Speed" then sure.

[andrewducker]

Doctorow has some nice ideas, but his short stories have worked better for me than his novels. Very variable.

I'll re-read Accelerando before I give it to you, just to make sure it still grabs me :->

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

If you don't like it this time, I'll be more enthused.....

[autopope.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Stross's space operas are outrunning Banks two to one on the Hugo nonination front. And he does other, very different stuff, as well.

[andrewducker]

True, yes - I keep meaning to pick up the Cthulhu-Spy stuff, and give that a go.

And he has a great beard :->

Oh - any idea _why_ Banks hasn't been nominated for more of his SF stuff? Is it because he's never really broken the US? I would have thought that Player of Games would have got a lot of votes...

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Banks is small-press territory in the US -- three bad publishers in a row screwed his sales track record and the result is that the distributors won't buy his stuff so the bookstores can't get it to sell it. Luckily he's now with a competent small press (Nightshade, IIRC), and structural changes in the way the US book trade work means he has some hope of building back sales over the next decade or so (if he wants to).

Given how well he sells in the UK, arguably he doesn't need to succeed in the US.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

*finally notices the giddy heights of geekery and friends-list backslapping going on*

Never trust a man with a beard, that's what I say.

[moniqueleigh]

*watches your cool-factor soar*

Yeah, I'd be totally geeking over that myself.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

Dude, can I borrow a cup of wuffie?

[andrewducker]

:->

Incidentally, Wuffie always sounds to me like the name of a small dog.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

Or the sound it makes as you inadvertently suck it into your vacuum cleaner.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

What's neat is that it's also published online under a CC license. Including the acknowledgements:

This book took me five years to write – a personal record – and would not exist without the support and encouragement of a host of friends, and several friendly editors. Among the many people who read and commented on the early drafts are: Andrew J. Wilson, Stef Pearson, Gav Inglis, Andrew Ferguson, Jack Deighton, Jane McKie, Hannu Rajaniemi, Martin Page, Stephen Christian, Simon Bisson, Paul Fraser, Dave Clements, Ken MacLeod, Damien Broderick, Damon Sicore, Cory Doctorow, Emmet O'Brien, Andrew Ducker, Warren Ellis, and Peter Hollo. (If your name isn't on this list, blame my memory – my neural prostheses are off-line.)

[diotina.livejournal.com]

That's pretty damn awesome. *belated happy day hugs*

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Fantastic, what a brilliant thing to find out