From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written
Tony Nance <
tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:
On 6/24/24 10:00 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
. . .
Which 1989 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read?
. . .
Surfacing by Walter Jon Williams
. . .
Just the Williams, and I forget what it was about. :(
Spoiler alert!
I just finished reading it - without knowing when it was written
or by whom. Honestly, it felt kind of chaotic, almost like a
writing exercise for beginners where they just threw in every
single random idea without editing anything out.
The dose of forced depth (scientist with character quirks to
make him more interesting), violence and romantic elements felt
predictable, like it was calculated just to give people what
they want to read. Plus, the way the language of the whales
and exowhales was trivialized felt naive.
But at the same time, I couldn't put it down.
It wasn't until after I finished it that I found out it was
actually nominated for a Nebula.
Spoiler alert!
So basically: a scientist is trying to decode the language of some
massive underwater creatures on some exoplanet. He uses a computer
translator to talk to whales. He drinks too much and gets into bar
fights with fishermen. Then, a young female scientist shows up . . .
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