yendi

As I mentioned last week, the lovely

windswept got me Robert Charles Wilson's Spin for my birthday.

I just finished it last night, and I was just blown away. Much as I adored Old Man's War, I'd definitely have to lean towards Spin as my favorite of the Hugo nominees (although I should note that I haven't read all of Stross's book yet, nor am I likely to read Martin's unless he magically finishes the series this year). Just an incredibly solid, complex sci-fi story with some phenomenal characters. It's not flawless, but it's always engaging, whether the focus is on the overarching sci-fi story or the lives of the three primary characters.

The hook: One night, out of the blue, three pre-teens witness the stars go out. The entire earth soon discovers that the planet has been encased in a bizarre, alien-constructed sphere that lets sunlight in, but otherwise blocks out starlight and space debris. They soon discover that the sphere also contains the planet in a borderline time-stasis, as thousands of years pass in the galaxy during each earth minute. Which means that, within a generation or three, the planet's likely to be engulfed by the expanding sun.

The sci-fi element of the story, alone, is phenomenal. The story of Tyler, Diane, and Jason dealing with that threat (in very different ways) is what sends it over the top.

Other than the occasional short story, I've never read anything else by Wilson. That's going to change.