Science Fiction 4+/5

When those in contact with a returning satellite die, Dr. Jeremy Stone must determine if they were infected by a novel micro-organism. I read this book years ago when it first came out and really enjoyed the plot twists and the scientific ideas underlying the story. This book is credited with creating the “Techno-Thriller” genre. I can’t say if the writing or characters stand the test of time.

99k and 11 scenes to write, so maybe it will top out at 110k. Good: cutting 10% shouldn’t be too hard.

Classic 3-/5

Joanna, experiencing the alternate universes of her feminine counterparts, takes matters into her own hands to become a female man: a woman who challenges assumptions about what women can and can’t do and takes on the world with the mindset of a man. This book is an important work of science fiction, as well as an important work of feminism. I found the story hard to follow, though.

But only at the 3/4 mark, so I think the first draft will be a bit long. That’s okay–cutting will improve it!

Classic 5/5

 

Offred, having survived the apocalypse with her reproductive organs intact, is forced to be the handmaid to a high-placed bureaucrat and his wife—meaning she must bear a child for them to raise as their own. Not only is this novel conceptually amazing and prophetic, the tension on every page, from fraught mundanity, kept me on the edge of my seat. The coda at the end says it all.