• (Realized) The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

    From jdnicoll@jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) to rec.arts.sf.written on Tue Feb 24 14:26:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/rumble
    --
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    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
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  • From Lynn McGuire@lynnmcguire5@gmail.com to rec.arts.sf.written on Tue Feb 24 17:15:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    On 2/24/2026 8:26 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
    The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/rumble

    So, did you like the book ?

    I gave it 4 stars out of 5 stars.

    Here is my review: "At the advice of some here, I bought this (used
    since out of print) and finally read it. I thought it was a apocalypse
    story but it is a disaster story (not my favorite). I like the book as
    it spent a LOT of time on building the characters but I did not like the Armageddon preacher clan nor the KKK sheriff. Just seemed a little over
    the top to me."

    Lynn

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  • From Tony Nance@tnusenet17@gmail.com to rec.arts.sf.written on Thu Feb 26 16:38:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    On 2/24/26 6:15 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 2/24/2026 8:26 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
    The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/rumble

    So, did you like the book ?

    I gave it 4 stars out of 5 stars.

    Here is my review: "At the advice of some here, I bought this (used
    since out of print) and finally read it.-a I thought it was a apocalypse story but it is a disaster story (not my favorite).-a I like the book as
    it spent a LOT of time on building the characters but I did not like the Armageddon preacher clan nor the KKK sheriff.-a Just seemed a little over the top to me."

    Lynn


    I have tried 3 times to read this one, and I just lose interest,
    primarily due to the things you allude to. The fact that it's not really
    SF also hurts the cause, as I would never choose to read a non-SF
    disaster novel with so many other things to read out there.

    Tony, who likes all the other WJW he has read, but who has consciously
    let Days of Atonement sit there for over a decade
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  • From Titus G@noone@nowhere.com to rec.arts.sf.written on Fri Feb 27 01:51:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    On 27/02/2026 10:38, Tony Nance wrote:
    On 2/24/26 6:15 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 2/24/2026 8:26 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
    The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/rumble

    So, did you like the book ?

    I gave it 4 stars out of 5 stars.

    Here is my review: "At the advice of some here, I bought this (used
    since out of print) and finally read it.-a I thought it was a
    apocalypse story but it is a disaster story (not my favorite).-a I like
    the book as it spent a LOT of time on building the characters but I
    did not like the Armageddon preacher clan nor the KKK sheriff.-a Just
    seemed a little over the top to me."

    Lynn


    I have tried 3 times to read this one, and I just lose interest,
    primarily due to the things you allude to. The fact that it's not really
    SF also hurts the cause, as I would never choose to read a non-SF
    disaster novel with so many other things to read out there.

    Tony, who likes all the other WJW he has read, but who has consciously
    let Days of Atonement sit there for over a decade

    Why? I haven't read The Rift, but awarded Days of Atonement three stars,
    an enjoyable read. Murder mystery, action adventure, pseudo hard science
    and as you already know, he can tell a great story.
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  • From Tony Nance@tnusenet17@gmail.com to rec.arts.sf.written on Fri Feb 27 17:11:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    On 2/26/26 7:51 AM, Titus G wrote:
    On 27/02/2026 10:38, Tony Nance wrote:
    On 2/24/26 6:15 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 2/24/2026 8:26 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
    The Rift by Walter Jon Williams

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/rumble

    So, did you like the book ?

    I gave it 4 stars out of 5 stars.

    Here is my review: "At the advice of some here, I bought this (used
    since out of print) and finally read it.-a I thought it was a
    apocalypse story but it is a disaster story (not my favorite).-a I like
    the book as it spent a LOT of time on building the characters but I
    did not like the Armageddon preacher clan nor the KKK sheriff.-a Just
    seemed a little over the top to me."

    Lynn


    I have tried 3 times to read this one, and I just lose interest,
    primarily due to the things you allude to. The fact that it's not really
    SF also hurts the cause, as I would never choose to read a non-SF
    disaster novel with so many other things to read out there.

    Tony, who likes all the other WJW he has read, but who has consciously
    let Days of Atonement sit there for over a decade

    Why? I haven't read The Rift, but awarded Days of Atonement three stars,
    an enjoyable read. Murder mystery, action adventure, pseudo hard science
    and as you already know, he can tell a great story.

    My memories are fuzzy. I just grabbed my copy, and apparently I actually
    made it through the first three chapters (though 58 pages) before I put
    it down.

    One of my flaws[1] for reading enjoyment is that I need at least one
    character to be interesting/enjoyable/what-have-you. Flipping through
    the early pages, here, I'm not liking Loren at all. So that might be
    part of it.

    Maybe I'll try it again sometime,
    Tony
    [1] And I do believe it's a flaw, because it gets in my way occasionally
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  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to rec.arts.sf.written on Sat Feb 28 05:45:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:26:12 -0000 (UTC), James Nicoll wrote:

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    But will the lesson last?
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  • From jdnicoll@jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) to rec.arts.sf.written on Sat Feb 28 15:05:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

    In article <10ntvd0$34kco$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:26:12 -0000 (UTC), James Nicoll wrote:

    The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience
    of things.

    But will the lesson last?

    Americans are collectively dumb as shit. Probably the lesson was
    forgotten within five years, and altLynn was breathlessly posting
    articles from PseudoScienceForDumbAssAmericansGoUSA.com claiming
    the quake never happened at all.
    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll
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