Planetfall: The Joy Of A Good Book

Living in the age of social media and various streaming services, I haven't been much of a book reader lately. Yes I maintain a comic book habit but even that has dwindled in recent times. Being editor of Irish Comic News has at least kept me somewhat up to date on Irish books. Recently, I decided I needed to tackle my to-read pile, a decision that was reinforced by Michael Carroll's recent panel at Octocon where he urged aspiring writers to read more in order to become better writers. He also suggested reading a broad range of books so I decided to alternate between science fiction and something from another genre.  I have a lot of sci-fi books in my to-read pile so I decided to start with that genre. When trying to settle on what book to begin with, I decided I wanted to try a modern sci-fi. I have read some H.G. Wells and Philip K. Dick (a novelist I will be returning too) but I hadn't read any recent stuff so I decided to put Planetfall on top of the pile.

I first became aware of Emma Newman when she was guest of honour at Octocon in 2015. I learnt a bit about her issues around socialising and anxiety and, seeing as I suffer from similar issues, I felt somewhat of a connection with her. After listening to her Tea & Jeopardy podcast (which she does with husband, Peter), I became a fan of her writing too (she has an excellent sense of humour). Looking at the publishing date, Planetfall, which was her first venture into science fiction, came along around this time. I picked up a copy when it first came out but, as with many of my book purchases, I started it and got sidetracked. "Life is what happens when you're busy doing other things". Delving back into it, I was reminded of the comfort books have given over the years. The writing style is such that I found myself devouring numerous chapters at a time. I am not going to go the plot as I want people to discover things for themselves. What I will do is tell you a few things that, to me, makes this a great novel.  Firstly, the technology has a level of believability. Sure the alien technology is strange but the human technology feels like a logical step to the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Facebook, social media in general. Secondly, it may be on an alien world but it is all about humanity and what makes us tick. Finally, I really connected with the main character's point of view. She is dealing with issues and I felt her anxiety and emotions along with her. The pacing of the writing seemed to pick up with her anxiety levels which resulted in a book that had me on an emotional rollercoaster and absorbed me from start to finish. I highly recommend that people pick this book up. Emma Newman's next book set in the same universe, After Atlas, is already on my read pile. In fact it is the next one after my current non science fiction one.

Writing lessons: believable characters, grounding your story.