Radiance

by ,

432 pages

English language

Published Oct. 30, 2015

ISBN:
9780765335296
OCLC Number:
908146174

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (1 review)

"Severin Unck's father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father's films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe. But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony's last survivor, Severin will never return"--

3 editions

reviewed Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente

Review of 'Radiance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's uniquely beautiful.

Good:
I liked the mash-up of styles & the film making theme nicely ties them together.
Different story-lines are all interesting, I enjoyed how they each centered on a mystery.
The vision of Solar System / alternate history is stunning.

Bad:
 The callowhale exposition at the end was superfluous & took the magic away.
* It went a little bit over my novelty budget (your millage may vary).

Subjects

  • Independent filmmakers
  • Women motion picture producers and directors
  • Life on other planets
  • Documentary films
  • Interplanetary voyages
  • Fiction

Places

  • Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)