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Finished The Defiant Agents and haven't been able to find a copy of Firehand (except for outrageously priced used copies on Amazon, sheesh.) I wonder what the deal is with that one being out of print.

So I've moved on to Home from the Shore by Gordon R. Dickson. It was written in 1978, and features a world where many humans are actually born in the oceans, and the "Sea Born" are just beginning to join the "Landers" in space travel.

Finished The Space Swimmers which was excellent. Now I'm onto J.G. Ballard's novel The Crystal World. It was written in 1966, set in Africa where some strange unknown phenomena is changing the jungle into crystal.

Finished The Crystal World which I found rather reminiscent of Josheph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but in a science fictiony sort of way. Hard to set a novel in Africa with river travel and existential themes without that occuring I suppose.

I am now, at last, on to Andre Norton's Firehand which I managed to track down using the excellent Portland library system. It's co-written by P.M. Griffon, so there's a bit of an odd feel to something picked up some 30 years after it was left off with a new author helping out. Nonetheless, I'm into seeing where it goes.

I heard on NPR that the new Harry Potter sold 5,000,000 copies in one night, marking the first time ever that weekend book sales out priced weekend movie sales.

Finished All Tomorow's Parties which while not as good as Idoru in my estimation was certainly a worthwhile and entertaining read. My biggest beef is that with a title like that you'd expect a more conclusive ending, and instead you get one of those "damn I'm sick of writing this thing, better just make it stop" deals. The storyline builds up something really big that is never actually delivered. That said, the characters are great, and the setting on a Golden Gate bridge converted to residential and business district after an earthquake is quite cool.

Now I'm on to J.G. Ballard's The Drowned world, written in 1962 and prophetically dealing with the consequences of global warming (he blamed it on solar flare rather than ozone depletion, but this was after all '62.) The hardback edition I checked out from the library also contains The Wind from Nowhere written in the same year, so I guess I'll be reading that one next.

Well, I think you put it pretty well before. The feel of Idoru was just right, which is actually also the strong point of All Tomorow's Parties. I just get annoyed with inconclusive mystical endings in cyberpunk (and in general,) and this was one of the worst offenders I've come across. But you do still want to read it, 'cuz it's still damn good.