LA Times Review of a Steamy Subject

The LA Times has published my review of a history of steampower by William Rosen. They asked me to integrate some aspects of Steampunk perspective on it, so I did. Not sure if it's a chemical or physical reaction, but go check it out.

A young Steampunk's dream, William Rosen's "The Most Powerful Idea in the World" manages to make sense of the many threads that together tell the story of the origins and applications of steam power. The book has a crackling energy to it, often as riveting as it is educational. Rosen, in pursuit of evidence, makes interesting, even exciting, such subjects as patent law from the Roman Tiberius on, technological innovation in ancient China and the role of practice in separating out accomplished performers from the "merely good." If Rosen at times seems too hell-bent on single-minded pursuit of his enthusiasms, at least that's better than a dull book.

In other news, SF Site published a review of Finch that makes no sense to me. Maybe my head is just too cotton-candy-and-nails from this damned cold, but just a couple of points. (1) Somebody pretty clearly skimmed parts of the book to come up with this sentence: "The problem is that by the time the book lets us in on the hows and whys, they have become largely academic." Um, not true. Like, not true in any objective way. And, um, the inclusion of same is a powerful counter-example anyway to the thin characterization claim, which I'm not going to bother with anyway. I can't get any closer in on a character's thoughts, inside of their head, than in Finch, so phhhpt. And (2) I'm going to have to do a blog post on the idea of "constraint" when it comes to characterization, because the problem isn't that John Finch is too constrained--and, indeed, despite his constraints, he *does* plenty of things--but that characters in most fantasy novels are *not constrained enough*. Plot devices and authorial intervention tend to smooth the path. Thus endeth the rant. I'm going back to bed. Heh. Maybe I'm the third bear. Yes, I'm sure that's it. Good night all.