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Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works
Science-fiction & fantasy literature: a critical list with discussions.
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This is a brief discussion of Geoff Ryman and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Ryman.
This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Ryman: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn’t think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what’s what.)
I don’t pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Ryman tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Ryman worthy; in sum, to help you rank Geoff Ryman (and the works by Ryman listed here) on your personal literary “to do” list.
A Few Words About Geoff Ryman
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the “Other Resources” section below will lead you to some information about the “Notable Books” listed farther down this page.
There is a surprising paucity of information about Ryman on the web. The Locus Onlinemicrobiography and interview extracts page is probably the least useless. Ryman is especially noted—possibly as much as for his actual fiction—for his leading part in espousing what has come to be called “Mundane” science fiction, which (to perhaps over-simplify) holds that sf should restrict itself to settings based on either what we already believe to be factual scieence or at least to only minor extensions of it. (I disagree violently with that idea, but this is not the place to rehearse the arguments.)
There are quite a few one-off reviews of individual Ryman books (notably Air and The King’s Last Song). As awlays, Google Is Your Friend
There are also numerous interviews with him on line; for those, again, Google Is Your Friend.
And there is a rather bizarre Ryman creation, 253, an “interactive novel”, available on line [archived copy] (and, later, also in print—see the “more possible titles by this author” link below); it is described as “a novel for the Internet about London Underground in seven cars and a crash”.
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