Category Archives: Musings

All Clear, by Connie Willis

My much anticipated book was great!  I still hate the fact that I had to wait so long for the second half of Connie Willis’s novel, but it lived up to my hopes and anticipation.  Over 1100 pages if you combine the two books(Blackout is the first book).  She probably could have cut some, but the multiple plotlines, timelines, and characters were so intricately woven I doubt cutting would have been easy, if even possible.

I’ve put a long review on my LibraryThing, but in short it is a book about time historians from the future who visit London during WWII – and get stuck.  The science fiction part won’t put off people who don’t tend to like sci-fi and the history is truly of ordinary people and so won’t put off those who don’t like kings & queens & royal intrigues.

Check it (them!) out next time you are in the mood to curl up with a VERY long story.  Note – you can’t read All Clear without having read Blackout – they are two halves.  All Clear is not a sequel.

Last March (7 months ago) I purchased a hardcover copy of Blackout, Connie Willis’s new novel.  Please note – I rarely purchase hardcover books.  I don’t like holding them, and I usually have so much to read that I can wait for the paperback.  (Is this a terrible thing for an aspiring writer to say?)

Anyway.  Seven months ago, I saw the book at Potlach 19, an SF convention in Seattle, and I grabbed it.  I LOVE Connie Willis.  And, I loved the book.  I could not put it down.  When it ended in “TO BE CONTINUED” I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  What?!  What?!  I ran around the house yelling. 

So I have waited, patiently, 7 months.  The rest of the novel will be published tomorrow – and guess what.

I opened my Sony ebook store and there it was, electronic copy for sale today, tonight, right now, and it’s downloading as I type.

Oh happy day – I’m off to read.