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Gollancz SF and Fantasy Masterworks list, and SF Collectors' Editions

Highlighted for the books read.

SF MASTERWORKS – I
1      Joe Haldeman, The Forever War, 1974 
2      Richard Matheson, I Am Legend, 1954 
3      James Blish, Cities in Flight, 1955-1962 
4      Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968 
5      Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination, 1956 
6      Samuel R. Delany, Babel-17, 1966 
7      Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light, 1967
8      Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, 1972 
9      Frederik Pohl, Gateway, 1977 
10      Cordwainer Smith, The Rediscovery of Man, 1975 
11      Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men, 1930 
12      George R. Stewart, Earth Abides, 1949
13      Philip K. Dick, Martian Time-Slip, 1964
14      Alfred Bester, The Demolished Man, 1953 
15      John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar, 1968 
16      Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed, 1974
17      J. G. Ballard, The Drowned World, 1962 
18      Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan, 1959 
19      Jack Vance, Emphyrio, 1969
20      Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly, 1977 
21      Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker, 1937 
22      Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man, 1969 
23      Robert Silverberg, The Book of Skulls, 1972
24      H. G. Wells, The Time Machine & The War of the Worlds, 1895 & 1898 
25      Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon, 1959 
26      Philip K. Dick, Ubik, 1969nbsp
27      Gregory Benford, Timescape, 1980
28      Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human, 1953 
29      Frederik Pohl, Man Plus, 1976
30      James Blish, A Case of Conscience, 1958 
31      M. John Harrison, The Centauri Device, 1975 
32      Philip K. Dick, Dr. Bloodmoney, 1965
33      Brian Aldiss, Non-Stop, 1958 
34      Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise, 1979
35      Keith Roberts, Pavane, 1968
36      Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year, 1975
37      Samuel R. Delany, Nova, 1968 
38      H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, 1901
39      Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, 1956
40      Greg Bear, Blood Music, 1985 
41      Frederik Pohl, Jem, 1979
42      Ward Moore, Bring the Jubilee, 1952nbsp
43      Philip K. Dick, VALIS, 1981 
44      Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven, 1971 
45      John Sladek, The Complete Roderick, 1980 & 1983 
46      Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, 1974
47      H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, 1897 
48      Sheri S. Tepper, Grass, 1989
49      Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust, 1961
50      Greg Bear, Eon, 1985 
51      Richard Matheson, The Shrinking Man, 1954 
52      Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, 1964 
53      Michael Moorcock, The Dancers at the End of Time, 1974-1976
54      Frederik Pohl & Cyril M. Kornbluth, The Space Merchants, 1952
55      Philip K. Dick, Time Out of Joint, 1959
56      Robert Silverberg, Downward to the Earth, 1970 
57      Philip K. Dick, The Simulacra, 1964 
58      Philip K. Dick, The Penultimate Truth, 1964
59      Robert Silverberg, Dying Inside, 1972
60      Larry Niven, Ringworld, 1970 
61      Geoff Ryman, The Child Garden, 1989
62      Hal Clement, Mission of Gravity, 1953
63      Philip K. Dick, A Maze of Death, 1970 
64      Poul Anderson, Tau Zero, 1970 
65      Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama, 1973 
66      Lucius Shepard, Life During Wartime, 1987
67      Kate Wilhelm, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, 1976
68      Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic, 1971 
69      Walter M. Miller, Jr., Dark Benediction, 1980 
70      Walter Tevis, Mockingbird, 1980
71      Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965 
72      Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, 1966
73      Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, 1962 

SF MASTERWORKS – II
 Christopher Priest, Inverted World, 1974
 Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, 1963 
 H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau, 1896
 Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End, 1953 
 H.G. Wells, The Time Machine, 1895 
 Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren, 1975 
 Brian Aldiss, Helliconia, 1982–1985
 H.G. Wells, The Food of the Gods, 1904
 Jack Finney, The Body Snatchers, 1955 
 Joanna Russ, The Female Man, 1975 
 M.J. Engh, Arslan, 1976 
 William Gibson & Bruce Sterling, The Difference Engine, 1990
 Christopher Priest, The Prestige, 1995
 Brian Aldiss, Greybeard, 1964 
 Olaf Stapledon, Sirius, 1944
 Dan Simmons, Hyperion, 1989
 Clifford D. Simak, City, 1952 
 Frank Herbert, Hellstrom's Hive, 1973
 William Tenn, Of Men and Monsters, 1968 
 Karel Čapek,  War with the Newts &  R.U.R.  , 1936 & 1921
 Christopher Priest, The Affirmation, 1981 
 Cecelia Holland, Floating Worlds, 1975
 Algys Budrys, Rogue Moon, 1960 
 Harlan Ellison, ed., Dangerous Visions, 1967 
 Olaf Stapledon, Odd John, 1935
 Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, 1990
 Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 1979 
 H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898 
 Pat Cadigan, Synners, 1991
 Nicola Griffith, Ammonite, 1993
 Karen Joy Fowler, Sarah Canary, 1991
 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818
 D.G. Compton, The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe, 1973
 Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker, 1980
 Connie Willis, Doomsday Book, 1992
 David I. Masson, The Caltraps of Time, 1968 
 Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic, 1968  (new translation)
 Rachel Pollack, Unquenchable Fire, 1988  
 Colin Greenland, Take Back Plenty, 1990  
 John Crowley, Engine Summer, 1979  
 Nicola Griffith, Slow River, 1995
 Sheri S. Tepper, The Gate to Women's Country, 1988
 George Turner, The Sea and Summer, 1987
 Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog, 1998
 John Crowley, The Deep, 1975 
 Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, 1980 
 Connie Willis, Time Is the Fire: The Best of Connie Willis, 2013
 Eric Frank Russell, Wasp, 1957 
 Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves, 1972 
 Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space, 2000 
 James Morrow, This Is the Way the World Ends, 1986
 Robert Heinlein, Double Star, 1956 
 Jack Womack, Random Acts of Senseless Violence, 1998 
 Michael Bishop, No Enemy But Time, 1982
 Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, 1982 
 Robert A. Heinlein, The Door Into Summer, 1957
 Michael Bishop, Transfigurations, 1979 
 T.J. Bass, Half Past Human, 1971 
 Leigh Brackett, The Long Tomorrow, 1955  
 T.J. Bass, The Godwhale, 1974
 James Tiptree, Jr., Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, 1990
 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World Is Forest, 1976 
 Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, Hard to Be a God, 1964
 Jack Vance, Night Lamp, 1996
 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wind's Twelve Quarters & The Compass Rose, 1975 & 1982
 George R.R. Martin, Dying of the Light, 1977
 Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep, 1992
 Cordwainer Smith, Norstrilia, 1975
 Bernard Wolfe, Limbo, 1952
 Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, Monday Starts on Saturday, 1965
 Iain M. Banks, Feersum Endjinn, 1994 
 John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, 1951 
 Paul McAuley, Fairyland, 1995
 Walter Tevis, The Man Who Fell to Earth, 1963 
 John Wyndham, The Chrysalids, 1955
 Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky, 1999
 Ursula K. Le Guin, Always Coming Home, 1985
 Murray Constantine, Swastika Night, 1937
 John Wyndham, The Midwich Cuckoos, 1957
 Maureen F. McHugh, China Mountain Zhang, 1992
 Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers, 1959 
 Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, vol. 1: Shadow and Claw, 1980–1981
 Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, vol. 2: Sword and Citadel, 1982–1983
 Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969 
 William Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984
 H.G. Wells, The Shape of Things to Come, 1933
 Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, The Doomed City, 2016
 Sheri S. Tepper, Raising the Stones, 1990
 Ian Watson, The Embedding, 1973 
 Brian Aldiss, Cryptozoic!, 1967
 Joseph O'Neill, Land Under England, 1935
 Stephen Baxter, Raft, 1991
 Tricia Sullivan, Dreaming in Smoke, 1998
 Pat Cadigan, Fools, 1992
 R.A. Lafferty, The Best of R.A. Lafferty, 2019
 M. John Harrison, Light, 2002 
 Suzette Haden Elgin, Native Tongue, 1984 
 Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, The Snail on the Slope, 1968
 John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider, 1975
 Ian McDonald, River of Gods, 2004  (March 2020)
 Gwyneth Jones, Bold As Love, 2001 (August 2020)
 Gwyneth Jones, Castles Made of Sand, 2001 (November 2020)

2001 HARDCOVER SERIES
I         Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965 
II        Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969 
III       Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, 1962 
IV       Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination, 1956 
V        Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz, 1960 
VI       Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End, 1953 
VII      Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, 1966
VIII     Larry Niven, Ringworld, 1970 
IX       Joe Haldeman, The Forever War, 1974 
X        John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, 1951 

FANTASY MASTERWORKS
1     Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, Vol. 1: Shadow and Claw, 1980–1981
2     Lord Dunsany, Time and the Gods, 1906
3     E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, 1922
4     Jack Vance, Tales of the Dying Earth, 1950–1984
5     John Crowley, Little, Big, 1981
6     Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber, 1970–1978
7     M. John Harrison, Viriconium, 1971–1985
8     Robert E. Howard, The Conan Chronicles, Vol. 1: The People of the Black Circle, 1933–1986
9      Jonathan Carroll, The Land of Laughs, 1980 
10     L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt, The Compleat Enchanter, 1987
11     Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist, 1926
12     Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, Vol. 2: Sword and Citadel, 1982–1983
13     George R.R. Martin, Fevre Dream, 1982
14     Sheri S. Tepper, Beauty, 1991
15     Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland's Daughter, 1924
16     Robert E. Howard, The Conan Chronicles, Vol. 2: The Hour of the Dragon, 1933–2000
17     Michael Moorcock, Elric, 1961-1965
18     Fritz Leiber, The First Book of Lankhmar, 1939–1970
19     Patricia A. McKillip, The Riddle-Master's Game, 1976-1979
20     Jack Finney, Time and Again, 1970
21     E.R. Eddison, Mistress of Mistresses, 1935
22     Michael Moorcock, Gloriana or, The Unfulfill'd Queen, 1978
23     Fletcher Pratt, The Well of the Unicorn, 1948
24     Fritz Leiber, The Second Book of Lankhmar, 1968-1988
25     Jonathan Carroll, Voice of Our Shadow, 1983
26     Clark Ashton Smith, The Emperor of Dreams, 1926-1971
27     Jack Vance, Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden, 1983
28     Gene Wolfe, Peace, 1975
29     John M. Ford, The Dragon Waiting, 1983
30     Michael Moorcock, The Chronicles of Corum, 1971
31     C.L. Moore, Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams, 1933-1940
32     Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword, 1954
33     William Hope Hodgson, The House on the Borderland and Other Novels, 1907-1912
34     Tim Powers, The Drawing of the Dark, 1979
35     Jack Vance, Lyonesse II: The Green Pearl and Madouc, 1985-1989
36     Michael Moorcock, The History of the Runestaff, 1967-1969
37     David Lindsay, A Voyage to Arcturus, 1920
38     Jack Williamson, Darker Than You Think, 1948
39     Evangeline Walton, The Mabignogion, 1970-1973
40     Poul Anderson, Three Hearts and Three Lions, 1953
41     John Gardner, Grendel, 1971
42     Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon's Daughter, 1993
43     Geoff Ryman, Was, 1992
44     Dan Simmons, Song of Kali, 1985
45     Ken Grimwood, Replay, 1987
46     Leigh Brackett, Sea Kings of Mars, 1942-1963
47     Tim Powers, The Anubis Gates, 1983
48     Patricia A. McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, 1974
49     Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, 1962
50     Rudyard Kipling, The Mark of the Beast, 1884-1939

FANTASY MASTERWORKS – II
Poul Anderson, Three Hearts and Three Lions, 1961
Avram Davidson, The Phoenix and the Mirror, 1969
Tim Powers, Last Call, 1992
John Crowley, Aegypt, 1987
Lucius Shepard, The Dragon Griaule, 2012
Pat Murphy, The Falling Woman, 1986
Randall Garrett, Lord Darcy, 1983
John James, Votal and Other Novels, 1966–1969
Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood, 1984
Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, vol. 1: Shadow and Claw, 1980–1981
Tim Powers, Expiration Date, 1995
Patricia A. McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, 1974
Robert Holdstock, Lavondyss, 1988
Ellen Kushner, Thomas the Rhymer, 1990
John Gardner, Grendel, 1971
Patricia A. McKillip, The Riddle-Master's Game, 1976–1979
Michael Scott Rohan, The Anvil of Ice, 1986
Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, 1962
Tim Powers, Earthquake Weather, 1997
Jerry Yulsman, Elleander Morning, 1997
Charles G. Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao, 1935

SF COLLECTORS' EDITIONS
[ 1 ]      Hal Clement, Mission of Gravity, 1953
[ 2 ]      Michael Bishop, No Enemy But Time, 1982
[ 3 ]      Eric Frank Russell, Wasp, 1957 
[ 4 ]      Robert Silverberg, Tower of Glass, 1970
[ 5 ]      Bob Shaw, Orbitsville, 1975
[ 6 ]      Samuel R. Delany, The Jewels of Aptor, 1962 
[ 7 ]      James Morrow, This is the Way the World Ends, 1986
[ 8 ]      Poul Anderson, Tau Zero, 1970 
[ 9 ]      Cordwainer Smith, Norstrilia, 1975
[ 10 ]      Joe Haldeman, Mindbridge, 1976 
[ 11 ]      Roger Zelazny, This Immortal, 1966 
[ 12 ]      Fritz Leiber, The Wanderer, 1964
[ 13 ]      Isaac Asimov, The End of Eternity, 1955 
[ 14 ]      John Sladek, The Reproductive System, 1968 
[ 15 ]      Walter M. Miller, Jr., The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr., 1980 
[ 16 ]      Jack Vance, Big Planet, 1957 
[ 17 ]      John Brunner, The Jagged Orbit, 1969
[ 18 ]      Olaf Stapledon, Sirius, 1944
[ 19 ]      Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic, 1977 
[ 20 ]      Robert A. Heinlein, The Door Into Summer, 1957 
[ 21 ]      Pat Cadigan, Mindplayers, 1987
[ 22 ]      Frederik Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth, Wolfbane, 1959
[ 23 ]      Ian Watson, The Embedding, 1973 
[ 24 ]      Harry Harrison, A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!, 1972
[ 25 ]      Daniel F. Galouye, Dark Universe, 1961 
[ 26 ]      Theodore Sturgeon, The Dreaming Jewels, 1950 
[ 27 ]      Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wind's Twelve Quarters, 1975
[ 28 ]      Clifford D. Simak, Way Station, 1963 
[ 29 ]      Cecelia Holland, Floating Worlds, 1976
[ 30 ]      James H. Schmitz, The Witches of Karres, 1966
[ 31 ]      John Crowley, Beasts, 1976 
[ 32 ]      Henry Kuttner, Fury, 1950 
[ 33 ]      Robert Silverberg, Thorns, 1967
[ 34 ]      Octavia E. Butler, Wild Seed, 1980
[ 35 ]      Bob Shaw, A Wreath of Stars, 1976 
[ 36 ]      William Tenn, Of Men and Monsters, 1968 
[ 37 ]      John Sladek, Tik-Tok, 1983
[ 38 ]      Robert A. Heinlein, Orphans of the Sky, 1941 
[ 39 ]      Philip Mann, The Eye of the Queen, 1982 
[ 40 ]      James Blish, The Seedling Stars, 1956 
[ 41 ]      Eric Frank Russell, Next of Kin, 1958 
[ 42 ]      Robert Silverberg, The Stochastic Man, 1975
[ 43 ]      Ian Watson, The Jonah Kit, 1975
[ 44 ]      Joe Haldeman, Worlds, 1981
[ 45 ]      Robert Silverberg, The Masks of Time, 1968
[ 46 ]      Robert Silverberg, Son of Man, 1971
[ 47 ]      Jack Vance, The Blue World, 1966 
[ 48 ]      Ian Watson, Miracle Visitors, 1978
[ 49 ]      John Varley, The Ophiuchi Hotline, 1977
[ 50 ]      Roger Zelazny, Damnation Alley, 1969 
[ 51 ]      Joe Haldeman, All My Sins Remembered, 1977 

Cover art for Delany's 'Dhalgren'

Back in April I mentioned that at Eastercon the SF artist Chris Moore had offered to send me a proof print – absolutely free – of his recent cover for the SF Masterworks edition of Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren.

Well, it's now up on the wall at home in Hua Hin, framed in black, with cream and black mounting boards beneath non-reflective glass. See how the original art compares with its final appearance on the book cover:

 

And yes, Gollancz did insert the missing 'R.' from Delany's name before it went to print.

2010 books

44) Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl, 2009
This is offered less as a review and more as a set of notes and commentary, which I may also add to later. I planned to read both this and Robert Charles Wilson's Julian Comstock before last weekend's Aussiecon but, family life being what it is, I got too far behind and I only finished The Windup Girl a couple of days after the Hugo Awards. Needless to say I was pleased that it shared the 'Best Novel' with my favourite novel of last year (Miéville's The City & The City), not only because it is a very strong novel and worthy winner but also because it's rare to see my adopted country featured so prominently in western SF, and award-winning SF at that – The Windup Girl has grabbed the Nebula, the Compton Crook Award and now the Hugo (and was also one of Time magazine's Notable Books of the Year), while China's novel has bagged the BSFA, the Clarke and now also the Hugo.

The future setting:  In The Windup Girl Thailand in the 23rd century is one of the few successful countries in a world in which so many have succumbed to poverty since the Contraction, the massive scaling down of the world's economy that began with the scarcity of oil, and its success is put down to its independence and bloody-minded refusal to give in to external economic forces that pressure its borders, in much the same way that Bangkok is shored up against the rising waters of the Gulf of Thailand by huge levées that keep the city from drowning. Thailand is resisting any dependence on genetically engineered food created by the same Western conglomerates that have plagued the rest of the world with biological nightmares and botanical disasters, but a series of unconnected events are threatening to compromise that stubborn independence. What shouts louder than most of the themes of The Windup Girl are the socio-economic pressures that influence everything in this future time, filtering all the way down from the large corporations to the fruit sellers and rickshaw drivers of Bangkok's streets.

Look! Zeppelins!  'Biopunk' is not exactly a new portmanteau on the block, but I expect that given time The Windup Girl will eventually be properly separated from that misnomer 'steampunk' – unfortunately I've both seen and heard the novel described as such, and this novel doesn't even come close. Yes, it's a future that necessarily has zeppelins but it neither comes across as a box-ticking exercise on Bacigalupi's part nor an indulgence in a current SFnal obsession. The biological and botanical aspects are far more prominent in respect to the final shape of the novel (and its proper categorisation) than merely a cool method of transport that only appears occasionally.

The politics:  The Windup Girl doesn't present a complete picture of the politics of the time (nor does it have to), but I felt there were some omissions. There are conflicting Ministries shaking Bangkok apart but with little or no controlling hand of a Prime Minister of whatever political stripe, although reference is occasionally made to a 'December 12 incident' which weakened the political foundations of the nation. The Thai Royal Family is still the focus of allegiance in Thai society, figureheaded in the form of a young Queen, and the biggest problem for me of the entire book was how Bacigalupi enables Akkarat, the powerful head of the Trade Ministry, to be able to simply commandeer the Thai military to slap down another Ministry in a very warlike fashion. It's not even a proper civil war, it's a governmental war. Whilst it's true that, even today, there are factions within the military that are a little more vocal with their political affiliations than they strictly ought to be, I felt that with everyone falling over themselves to prove their loyalty to the Queen, it didn't ring true that the Thai military were freely available for the use of whichever government Ministry was in the ascendancy, and particularly for use against another arm of government. With loyalty to their Royal head of state and not the government or any arm of it, I strongly doubt that the military would allow itself to be used in such as partisan way, even given the mistaken reason for which it was done. But I'll give Bacigalupi the benefit of the doubt here as I'm curious if there is an actual precedent in Thailand's political history that has seen ideologically-opposed factions of government battling it out on the capital's streets. Given that this is Thailand, I would not say it's out of the question.

Naming and title conventions:  The liaison between the 23rd century Thai Royal Family and the outside world is conducted by the Queen's protector, a powerful character titled the Somdet Chaopraya. This was a good choice of title. 'Somdej' (with a 'j') today is usually reserved as a title for royalty beneath the rank of King or Queen, but it is also a title that can be applied to buildings with royal connections, such as a hospital, hence carrying the meaning 'by royal appointment'. 'Chao Phraya' is more commonly understood as the modern name of the major river that runs through Bangkok, however the two terms brought together in the form of 'Somdej Chao Phraya' have a much older significance as a now-obsolete title in feudal Thai society, meaning 'Grand Duke'. It was awarded to male commoners only under extraordinary circumstances and only to those with great achievements. There is also a Somdet Chaopraya Road in present day Bangkok, but let's not allow that to confuse matters.

23rd century folklore:  Chapter 24 mentions three real people important to 23rd century Thai folklore: the Ven. Ajahn Chanh ('ajahn' means 'teacher'), a Buddhist monk and teacher of meditation; the writer Chart Korbjitti, who I've been reading, and Seub Nakhasathien, a Thai environmentalist who took his own life in 1990 after his failure to protect a wildlife sanctuary from logging and dam construction.

Are the Thai characters recognisably Thai?  The Thailand of The Windup Girl sometimes felt like Thailand in name and location only: it could be a less-than-wholesome Singapore, or even a believably gritty Hong Kong. Half-way through I had begun to feel that Bacigalupi had lost his feel for the Thai people and how Thais conduct themselves on the everyday level: the Thais in the novel might not be recognisably Thai in the present day, they could in fact be from almost any South East Asian nation. While they've retained their deference and politeness it seems everyone has lost most of their capacity for happiness which, culturally speaking, is actually seen as an important strand in the present-day national character, this being the Land of Smiles. But this is a different Thailand in the 23rd Century, one that (perhaps a little belatedly, in Chapter 30) Bacigalupi acknowledges may be unrecognisable:

Jaidee always insisted that the Kingdom was a happy country, that old story about the Land of Smiles. But Kanya cannot think of a time when she has seen smiles as wide as those in museum photos from before the Contraction. She sometimes wonders if those people in the photos were acting, if perhaps the National Gallery is intending to depress her, or if it is really true that at one point people smiled so totally, so fearlessly.

This is a small paragraph but it's actually a rather necessary one, the like of which I felt the book could not really have done without. It also holds up a mirror of sorts to the lives of just about all the characters in The Windup Girl: they all have those wrenching moments in which the future that they planned for is supplanted by something considerably less promising, even something that they feared. Thais are an optimistic people and usually retain that optimism even in the face of dire poverty, so, given that the Thailand of The Windup Girl is a successful country on its own terms where others have failed badly, I'd say that given the shape the world is in Bacigalupi has extrapolated a possible future for the Thai national character rather well – they have had to pay a high price in everyday happiness, but the rest of the world has generally fared much worse.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix died 40 years ago today in London, age 27. A few recent Hendrix articles:

The real Jimi Hendrix experience.

Hendrix vibe still reverberates at Electric Lady studio.

Jimi Hendrix and his science fiction bookshelf.