Liz Williams

[Connavar]

I didnt see a thread for this author when i searched.

I know some here have read her and like her. But which works ? Her SF or her fantasy ?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I did an interview with Liz Williams, which I hope gives some insight into her writing:

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/foru...view-with-sf-fantasy-writer-liz-williams.html

I very much liked the books I read in preparation for the interview:

Poison Master
Banner of Souls
Empire of Bones
Snake Agent

They were all different and they were all good. Hard to classify them in terms of SF or Fantasy, since her books tend to combine a bit of both.

 

[Connavar]

That does sound even more interesting, i thought her so called SF sounded wierd. Authors that combine SFF are special to me when they are good.

Im more of SF reader so im interested in her work in that vien even if Snake Agent seems like fantasy,mystery so far. I didnt even know about it crossing SF too until i saw the cover mentioning that.

 

[GeoffNelder]

Banner of Souls has many magical moments and ideas I wish I'd thought of first. However, I love her most because she sells my Exit, Pursued by a Bee in her witchcraft shop in Glastonbury

Geoff

 

[Ian Whates]

Liz is a wonderful lady with a very unique voice. She does write things which are unquestionably science fiction, but she's a very spiritual person and this comes through in her work, which, as Teresa mentions, lends an extra, fantastical dimension to her SF, leaving you with a sense that it has a foot in both SF and fantasy. While her fantasy is invariably imbued with a style that hints of science fiction...

I mean, come on, anyone with degrees in artificial intelligence and philosophy, whose first job was tarot reading on Brighton Pier, who went to troubled Kazakhstan to teach only to be caught up in a military coup, and who now runs a witchcraft shop in Glastonbury, has to have something interesting to say!

And Liz certainly does. Can not speak highly enough of either the lady or her work; both deserve every bit of praise they receive.

 

[Connavar]

Man it took me more than little of a year to read Snake Agent.

First i must give credit to the writer for writing about such a different setting,mythology,people than in most urban fantasy.

Also i enjoyed the different worlds,all of the characters who felt more genuine than in the other books in this subgenre. The fantastic part of the story was well written,calm and not too much action that solves everything.

I was pleasently surprised by her writing,world building. Now i'm excited to read more as soon as possible. Demon and the City was a given but i have also ordered Banner of Souls.

Cant wait to read her SF.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

...and who now runs a witchcraft shop in Glastonbury, has to have something interesting to say!

OMG, I never realised that was her!

Must say "hello" next time I'm there...

 

[Montero]

Just read Darkland, the first one of hers that I've read. For at least the first half of the book, there are two threads which seem to be completely separate - they take place on different planets. They are written in alternate chapters. One follows Vali Hallsdottir, who has mind powers referred to as seith and starts with her carrying out an assasination, then the action moves back to her home planet. Her homeworld is a cold climate and populated originally by people from the Scottish isles and Ireland. There are seriously complicated politics and problems on her homeworld.
The other thread follows Ruan, who is on a planet with far less advanced technology than Vali's world, but is more advanced in the mind powers.
Mentioning any more of the plot would be a spoiler. The book is definitely an adventure and a story of growth. It is also an examination of different ways in which humanity might evolve.
Just ordered Bloodmind, the sequel, as I want to know what comes next.

 

[Montero]

Now just read Banner of Souls - which is sf - but part of the technology is called "haunt tech" and seems to have ghosts in it.

Impressed by the way she controls the locations, threads and characters. Could very easily have been confusing.

It starts with a warrior woman on Mars, who is to be sent as bodyguard to a specially engineered child on earth. Then the action switches to Earth, bringing the warrior and the child together.
Then a thread starts on Nightshade, on the edge of the solar system and the origin point of the haunt tech. The main character from there travels to Mars, and thence to Earth. And the complexities build from there.

All the worlds are on the grim side. Mars is full of dangerous predators and warriors, earth is nearly drowned and very socially divided, Nightside is only seen briefly but is no kinder.

 

[Connavar]

Good to hear you were impressed but i didnt read too much of your post since i just picked up this book from the bookstore

I hope its very good book i was impressed enough by her urban fantasy and i have hopes that she becomes a fav writer in SF. I need more serious sf to read and more quality,different writers like she sound.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I was fascinated by haunt tech and the armor. I agree that the story is grim, and I don't usually like grim, but she's one of those authors who can win me over when she captures my imagination so completely.

 

[Montero]

Theresa - In one of the other threads you mentioned re-reading a book in order to see things you didn't the first time. I'm considering that with this book, even though it is grimmer than I usually read.

SPOILER - CONNAVAR LOOK AWAY

Fascinated by how the characters develop. You have the grim Martian warrior Dreams-of-War who has her "softer" emotions restored so she can love the child and be a more devoted protector. The ultimate in character emotional development.
Then you have Yskatarina, the girl from Nightshade - not exactly well treated by her aunt, who has her emotions slaved to be devoted to her horrible aunt, but who works to free herself from that.

The warrior has the haunt tech armour, Yskatarina has her animus. At the start, of the two, Yskatarina is by far the more sympathetic character. Almost is paired with young Lunae, the girl that Dreams-of-War the warrior is protecting. There are points where you could expect Yskatarina to become one of the key "good" characters.

I think the turning point of all that, or the definite end of that, for the reader is what Dreams-of-War sees Yskatarina and the animus getting up to in the cabin on the ship. Up until then the pairing had innocence, and hints of childhood friend and pet. The completely different viewpoint is as sudden as walking into a brick wall.

I did also like Dreams-of-War getting her armour to form separately and having a conversation with its spirit inhabitant.

 

[shevdon]

Note that Liz Williams is one of the GoH at EasterCon - Odyssey 2010 this coming weekend 2 - 5 April 2010 at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London, UK.

If you can get there you could get your book signed.

 

[Connavar]

I think Banner of Souls is too slow in the first 150 pages. Nothing happened except seeing how Mars plains,towers looked. Word building wise it was weaker than i thought i couldn't see much of the world she described,how earth was like in this far future.

Dreams-of-War, Yskatarina are very interesting character that saved me from the slow parts of the book. Lunae is a typical wonder child though.

I wish she had focused more on the weird haunt science,the changed etc

Story wise Williams was better from the start in The Snake Agent now that i have read 250 pages of the 400 pages of Banner of Souls.

 

[Montero]

Just finished Winterstrike, which is set some centuries later in the same world as Banner of Souls.
Same style - every chapter headed with which character and their location. Near the end, as two characters finished in the same location by different routes I did get slightly confused.
It struck me as more polished than Banner of Souls - though I wouldn't have called Banner of Souls unpolished when I read it. It might just be the effect of being familiar with the world - the matriarchy of Mars, vat grown children, men as remnants and so on.
It starts in the city of Winterstrike - formal, large grand houses, canals, winter most of the year. Put me in mind of St Petersburg.
It is an interesting and complex story, beautiful impressive world building again, though for me without the odd wow moment I got from Banner of Souls when haunt tech was introduced.

As far as I can see there should be another book to follow it as it ended abruptly. Or, as I am rather tired at the moment and maybe shouldn't have been reading a complex book, I have missed a key plot element and it is a very clever, ironic ending.
Can anyone enlighten me on that?

 

[Fried Egg]

I'm just reading her NewCon press collection "A Glass of Shadow". I'd always imagined she was more SF but the stories so far blend quite effectively elements of weird horror.

Very good so far...

 

[Fried Egg]

Finished the collection. Here are my thoughts:

I came to this not really knowing what to expect, with no particular expectations, and came away pleasantly surprised.

In this collection Liz Williams effortlessly blends themes from Fantasy, SF and Weird Horror in a variety of different ways to form an eclectic array of stories. She is equally comfortable with both female or male protagonists, constructing convincing characters that the reader has no trouble believing in. Her stories often begin enigmatically, drawing you in quick although I didn't always find the endings as satisfying. Her prose is very accessible though not lacking in eloquence when needed.

A theme running throughout many of the stories was that often men were made the victims of women, either in the form of supernatural beings such as succubi, water elementals, vengeful ghosts, etc., or from women in general such as the two stories set on a distant future Mars in which the dominating matriarchal societies have genetically eliminated men out of existence. However I don't detect a feminist agenda here, this is no attempt to turn the tables on men to put the boot on the other foot. I sense she sympathises with men and their weaknesses that are all too easy to exploit.

For me this was a good introduction to Liz Williams but I wonder how representative this is of her other work? I don't doubt I shall read another of her books before long.

 

[The Judge]

I've only read Winterstrike -- my review is around somewhere -- which is set on Mars with the matriarchal societies, but your thoughts are very similar to my own on her style etc. I didn't think she was writing from a bash-the-men viewpoint, either, quite the reverse -- to me the point she was making was how wronged the men and the other dispossessed were by the matriarchies, as they were forced to live on the margins of society.

 

[Connavar]

Finished the collection. Here are my thoughts:

I came to this not really knowing what to expect, with no particular expectations, and came away pleasantly surprised.

In this collection Liz Williams effortlessly blends themes from Fantasy, SF and Weird Horror in a variety of different ways to form an eclectic array of stories. She is equally comfortable with both female or male protagonists, constructing convincing characters that the reader has no trouble believing in. Her stories often begin enigmatically, drawing you in quick although I didn't always find the endings as satisfying. Her prose is very accessible though not lacking in eloquence when needed.

A theme running throughout many of the stories was that often men were made the victims of women, either in the form of supernatural beings such as succubi, water elementals, vengeful ghosts, etc., or from women in general such as the two stories set on a distant future Mars in which the dominating matriarchal societies have genetically eliminated men out of existence. However I don't detect a feminist agenda here, this is no attempt to turn the tables on men to put the boot on the other foot. I sense she sympathises with men and their weaknesses that are all too easy to exploit.

For me this was a good introduction to Liz Williams but I wonder how representative this is of her other work? I don't doubt I shall read another of her books before long.

It sounds like her Snake Agent book,that following series that i thought was a nice blend of fantasy,SF,mystery. Mostly SF,Fantasy blend using well Chinese Mythology, with supernatural being like Succubus,elementals,ghost etc

There were no feminist agenda in that book it is a series Detective Chen dealing with supernatural world. A sort clever,different urban fantasy. I think you would like it if you saw any good in this collection. I was impressed and only too much school work has delayed me reading book 2.