October 2011 Reading

What, two days into October and still no October thread?

I'm reading The World Thinker and other stories by Jack Vance. It's time for me to start making my way through the Vance Integral Edition. I'm thinking I will read one VIE volume a month or something like that.

Current reading (some SF, some not):

- "The Dreams in the Witch-House" by H.P. Lovecraft for the reading group I'm in in the Weird Tradition group (http://www.librarything.com/groups/theweirdtradition)

- The Machine Stops, a eerily prescient dystopian science fiction novella by E.M. Forster

- various stories from The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy

- Modern Fantasy Writers, a non-fiction survey of the genre edited by Harold Bloom

- Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which I actually haven't picked up for a week or two

Whew! That's too many books to have going at once! I need to consolidate. :P

>1 anglemark:

1st I'd heard of the Vance Integral Edition. Googled it and found the official website - sounds very cool. What a dedicated fan base!

Now reading Embassytown, which has gotten good reviews.

>3 artturnerjr:

My wife was part of the project, did proofreading against the original manuscripts and things like that. We even travelled to Boston so she could work in the Mugar Library, where Vance has deposited his papers. Myself, I'm not a dedicated fan of Vance's, but I love his writing style.

>4 edgewood:

I read it last week. A solid work of SF on a philosophical ground. Too few of those around.

I am starting Forever War this afternoon.

Reading War of Honor by David Weber...

7 johnnyapollo

Let us know what you think. I thought it was a horrible book, even though I liked the earlier Harrington books.

Boring my way through Peter Hamilton's The Night's Dawn Trilogy (currently at The Neutronium Alchemist).
I'm not sure I'm going to finish it, I think I'm too old for way too longish zombie plots.
As one review put it: "Has more plots than pages". Something I can confirm so far...

>4 edgewood: edgewood I thought Embassytown was one of his best. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.

I finished Anathem at last! Loved it, and will definitely be rereading it in the future. Hopefully Reamde won't take me quite as long to get through.

So Bright the Vision by Clifford D. Simak

About halfway through A Fire Upon the Deep. I'm having a hard time staying engaged. I think that my brain is doing too much work trying to imagine the different types of aliens (especially the "tines") to allow my emotions to latch onto the plot. I'll definitely finish it, though - it's still a good story with an interesting universe and solid plot.

>9 fichtennadel: I really liked the Night's Dawn Trilogy, but Hamilton could have cut the second book completely without losing too much continuity. The Naked God is much better, IMHO.

>5 anglemark:

That's wonderful. I have been meaning to read Vance's Dying Earth stories for forever and a day, but, as they say, so many books, so little time.

Agreed on the bloated Night's Dawn. To top it all off, the ending is a bit of a letdown.

>13 drmamm: Loved A Fire Upon the Deep - I'm totally hooked on anything by Vernor Vinge...

Ready Player One was quite a fun ride, and likely would appeal to videogamers in particular.

Just started the Heris Serrano trilogy by Elizabeth Moon -- Hunting Party . I really liked the Vatta series she did; this seems (from the first 30 pages) to be quite similar.
I'm not a military SF fan for the most part, but she does the characters, the worldbuilding, and the action so well I can't resist. Besides, in both series the main protagonist is more an ex-military figure who gets involved in violent conflict, so it tends to have less of a spirit-of-the-corps, rah rah tone. The Chanur series by C.J. Cherryh is similar that way; lots of action including firefights, but not strictly military.

This has that same compelling quality as the others. I've only read a few pages but already am being pulled in.

I am currently reading The Clockwork Rocket by Greg Egan. Who else would put so many graphs into his novels?

Well, you know what I say about Egan - not just 'hard sf', more like 'bloody difficult sf'....

20> I'll second that!

I once read a short story by Benford that included several graphs.

I'm currently reading Survival by Julie Czerneda. First book by her. A bit of a slow start, but it seems to be picking up about a third of the way in.

Finished Regenesis by C. J. Cherryh, overall felt a little "softer" than Cyteen. That may be a reflection of the differences between the first Ari and the second Ari.

Starting In Enemy Hands by David Weber.

18> I really enjoy Elizabeth Moon's books, but it sometimes feels like you can switch her primary female protagonists from series to series and have them read pretty much the same.

After giving up on the Radix Tetrad after the first book, I decided to read the Sprawl books, which I hadn't gotten to yet. I've enjoyed them and appreciate their place in SF history but wouldn't call them 5 star books. I should finish Mona Lisa Overdrive tonight or tomorrow. I plan on attempting Anathem next. At almost 1,000 pages I'm confident I won't get to anything else before the end of the month.

My schedule gets horrible for the next six or eight weeks. Here's the last four books I read, (or get to read for a while. :-( )

Search: A Novel of Forbidden History byJudith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. A near future SF-ish thriller, I liked it a lot, at least partly because there were several groups and several individuals in each group operating independently and no one, including the reader, knew exactly who was doing what until the end of the novel.

Apparently I've been on a Fantasy kick recently.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. I thought it was good especially for a first time effort. I'll probably get around to the sequels at some point.

Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey. After nine books in the series, it's still a really weird (but interesting) world.

Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn. This is book nine in this series too, and I still like it a lot. What I found interesting, was the comparison to the way TV series are plotted. Quite often in new series, after several episodes to establish the world, the plot point is introduced that will carry the series for the rest of the season (or even the rest of the show.) This is what I felt happened at the end of this book. It makes me wonder just how many more books Vaughn is planning in this world. :-)

#23 18> I really enjoy Elizabeth Moon's books, but it sometimes feels like you can switch her primary female protagonists from series to series and have them read pretty much the same.

I know what you mean -- this series (Serrano) is a lot like the Vatta books and the protagonist feels the same. Luckily I read the Vatta books a while back. I wouldn't want to go right from one series to the other. Even the premise of the older rich aristocrat who seems pampered but is tougher than she seems, is repeated. Still, when I like a writer (or a type of food) I don't mind similarity -- I just don't read (eat, whatever) them every day.

I read the Paksennarion books so long ago I can't remember how similar they were -- certainly the protagonist (I think) had the same feeling. But I really liked them too.

>22 brightcopy:: Survival is on my tbr pile. I just read A thousand words for stranger, which was my first book by Czerneda (hers too, I believe!). It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did it was a good read. I didn't feel I wanted to go on to the sequels but I'm looking forward to Survival. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it when you've finished.

26> I read the Paksennarion books so long ago I can't remember how similar they were -- certainly the protagonist (I think) had the same feeling. But I really liked them too.

The Deed of Paksennarion is probably my favorite of Elizabeth Moon's books. While there's some similarities between Paks and Serrano/Vatta/other space opera heroines, I thought Paks was a more unique character. Although I don't know how much of that is the fantasy vs sci-fi setting.

Have also been reading The Lifecycle of Software Objects off an on.

Just finished Jay Lake's Mainspring steampunk trilogy, which ends with Pinion. It is a magnificent piece of bizarre world building and would make a great film. Now tackling Andrew Crumey's Sputnik Caledonia which so far is all about growing up in the 60s, which I can identify with :-) and Scottish socialism, which is also ok as I live there now...So far nothing science-fictional has happened but I am only a quarter of the way in.

Finished reading The Eternity Artifact. It was...well...meh. Readable, but left me wanting (3/5 and that's a stretch).

Starting Troika.

Still listening to various anthologies on audio.

I like The Eternity Artifact, however I thought the editing was horrible - plus there were a lot of typos and grammatical errors.

I finished The Lifecycle of Software Objects. It was a bit more expository than I preferred, without a really gripping plot. I also thought the ending was a little ho hum as well. Not terrible, just not a story that's going to make me run out and seek more Chiang right away.

I didn't think The Lifecycle of Software Objects was worthy of winning the Hugo, either.

32 johnnyapollo: Yeah. I think I've never read a book with more typos. I was amazed how my brain would read the typos as complete logical words and then notice the mistakes. I just felt the story could have been more powerful given the subject. Great subject but without the innovative follow-through it deserved.

Finished reading Troika a novella by Alastair Reynolds. I thought it was pretty friggin good (4/5). The only less than good thing I've read by Reynolds has been Terminal World which was pretty mediocre.

> #33

I found Lifecycle to be a rather weak effort for Chiang. The shorts in his collection Stories of My Life and Others are much better.

I am reading an oldie now, The Eyes of Heisenberg by Frank Herbert.

Now reading The Ganymede Club.

I loved The Lifecycle of Software Objects and thought it was head and shoulders above the other Hugo nominees this year. It did lead me to go out and pick up his short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others. I'd really be interested to see him try his hand at a longer novel.

Finished Echoes of Honor and moving on to Ashes of Victory

Reading At All Costs by David Weber. As others have commented, these most recent novels are quite a slog - the action is buried in way too much prose and politics. This is the last I own in paperback so I'll be happy to get to something else (plan on the latest George R.R. Martin A Dance With Dragons)...

So far this month I've read The Book of Skulls, which I hated, and Solitaire, which I loved. Next up will be Reamde.

I just finished Ready Player One and I had a great time reading it - lots of memories there. Thanks to all who mentioned it!

about to dive into Reamde. Wish me luck!

Good lukc!

I recently finished Brasyl. It was enjoyable but I enjoyed The Dervish House much more.

> 47

Thanks for the tip. I've really liked all the McDonald I've read so far. Ares Express is next on my list, but after that it was a toss-up between the two you mention.

I read Brasyl some time ago. I keep fantasizing about having one of those nano dimensioned sharp blades - especially in bad traffic. I enjoyed the book.

Yea! The Q-Blade was fun; also the Q-arrows.

I enjoyed Andrew Crumey's Sputnik Caledonia especially for the family scenes set in the 60s and the old couple in the present. It uses the alternate worlds idea but fails to fully realise it in science fictional terms. Am ending another trilogy with Elizabeth Bear's Grail

Just finished The Machine Stops, an amazing dystopian SF novella by E.M. Forster. One of those where I wish I had a big box full of copies that I could walk around with and hand out to people in the street.

>52 artturnerjr:

You can hand it out as it is freely available, since the copyright has expired.

For some reason the LT record for this work has been given the DDC number for American fiction, 813, which it is not. Is there any way to fix this?

#53

Well technically that copyright expiration only applies in the US.

EM Forster died in 1970. So in Britain that story is protected until 2040.

As for the DDC quite a lot of books have it wrong. I've seen books by Stephen Gallagher, Tony Ballantyne and others with 813. If you have the book in your library you can change the DDC/MDC for your copy. However I guess that wrong data is coming from somewhere, and the aggregate may still show 813.

Library of Congress Classification is also a little odd at times. Many Canadian authors are classified as PR rather than PS8. Stephen Baxter's Raft is classified as PS. Charles Sheffield's works are classified as PS (he is English although he lived and worked in the US).

Basically classifying on nationality seems to me a poor decision for modern fiction.

"Basically classifying on nationality seems to me a poor decision for modern fiction." = agreed!

>53 AlanPoulter:

Yes, and the lovely folks at Wikisource will even let you create it in book form:

http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator...

Just finished The Ganymede Club. Pretty entertaining, but nothing profound (3.5/5)

Not sure what I'm reading next; either The Engineer Reconditioned or The Ethos Effect.

52:artturnerjr: You seem to have a revolutionary spirit to want to get the info or message to the populace they need to be aware of. Welcome brother. Its time to turn the tide. Just a few books have affected me so strongly, 1984 among them. I've put The Machine Stops on my wishlist.

Just started The Recollection by Gareth L. Powell.

Bailed on The Engineer Reconditioned. I recall reading the first two stories and the third started off with swords and ray guns and that stuff just annoys me so I gave up on it. I don't seem to be able to enjoy a story more than once.

So I decided to have a go with The Ethos Effect. Seems set in the same universe as The Eternity Artifact which I enjoyed. I love it when an author "universe builds" across stories, especially when its done across unrelated stories.

On the audio front: Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke vol. 3. I had no idea the man was so funny. The readers did a great job generally as well.

>57 randalhoctor:

Yeah, THE MACHINE STOPS is pretty powerful stuff - easily on the level of a 1984 or a Brave New World. I remember seeing the film WALL-E a year or two & thinking to myself, "Yeah, those guys really hit the nail on the head". Turns out Forster beat Andrew Stanton to the punch by about 100 years.

PS Nice Bad Religion clip. I have never really explored that band's work, but am definitely down with bands that came out of the 1970s California punk scene, with Black Flag and Dead Kennedys being a couple of my particular favorites.

PSS Link to audio version(s) of THE MACHINE STOPS at LibriVox, since I know you like that sort of thing ;) :

http://librivox.org/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster/

>60 artturnerjr: Yeah Dead Kennedy's not so much Black Flag. How bout Misfits?

>61 randalhoctor:

Yeah, Misfits, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Clash (especially their 1st album), Buzzcocks, Minutemen... all that stuff.

Ilium by Dan Simmons. I've been on a bit of a Simmons binge and this story so far very entertaining.

Having took notice of the discussion, I snagged The Machine Stops from one of numerous places on the web (though apparently even though the book was written in 1907 there's a question of whether or not it's in public domain - such silliness).

Powerful stuff, indeed.

Finished At All Costs by David Weber - I'm happy to say that it's not as ponderous a read as the prior book War of Honor. Now reading Reflex by Steven Gould...

65 johnnyapollo

Good to know that At All Costs was better.

>64 brightcopy:

Glad you liked it, brightcopy. :)

Finished off Ashes of Victory, War of Honor and At All Costs and moving on to Mission of Honor. I'm definitely feeling like I need to pick up some of the other books in the Honorverse to get some background on the introduced side characters. The whole genetic slavery plot-line seemed to come out of virtually nowhere based upon the main series itself.

68 romula

Crown of Slaves was great. All of the Honorverse short story collections contain at least some decent stories.

69> I've read Worlds of Honor which had a few interesting stories. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for Crown of Slaves and the others next time I'm out book shopping.

Reading Mieville's Embassytown. The author makes reading feel like work. He throws stuff at you page after page to keep you off balance. My brain hurts.

@68
I just read what, the first 12 or 13 Honorverse books and the genetic slavery plot came out of nowhere for me too! Sounds like its roots are in ancillary books or stories...

Read Melissa Scott's Shadow Man - review here.

Finished Survival: Species Imperative #1 by Julie Czerneda. As mentioned above, it took a while to really get started. And I was already prepared for the book-one-of-three-ness of it. Still, I did enjoy it and the story still interests me. Now I really wish I had bought the other two at Half-Price Books when I had the chance!

>74 brightcopy:
Or you could brave the chaos of Uncle Hugos. Half Price is for the faint of heart.

I'm cursing myself because I was just there about a month ago! Alas, that was before I finally got around to reading the first volume...

Oh, and I suppose I'll note that I'm now reading Cold Hands and Other Stories by Jeff Duntemann. One of the few exceptions to "there's a reason they had to self-publish" rule.

Now reading Jumper: Griffin's Story by Steven Gould...

I just started Ares Express, as forecast in #48.

> 71: I just finished Embassytown and really enjoyed it. I guess my brain likes his sense of weirdness :-) I thought some of his ideas (the effects of linguistics on understanding, and the multi-voiced typography) owed quite a bit to Delany's Babel-17 and Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand.

Started Ringworld's Children by Larry Niven...

I'm reading Limit by Frank Schätzing. It's huge but I allready love it, the story and the characters are interesting and it's a similar page-turner like The Swarm.

>81 Stampfigang:, Glad to hear that, I really liked The Swarm, and I still have Limit on my TBR pile...

>83 Stampfigang:, I'm glad too. ;) I started reading Lautlos by the same author and I didn't even finish it. Which was a bit a surprise for me considering how much I enjoyed The Swarm and the non-fiction book about the life in the sea.

Finished Mission of Honor, moving on to Australia with Tongues of Serpents

>79 edgewood: Referencing Delany makes this good recommendation, a great recommendation. And I was already saving up to buy myself a copy!

Taking a break from Ringworld's Children to read A Dance with Dragons.. back shortly...

Reading Wyst from the Alastor omnibus by Jack Vance.

I just finished Carnelians by Catherine Asaro and it made me want to read more space opera, so I'll be reading Balance of Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller after I finish The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff.

Off adventuring with Raul Endymion.

Just started By Light Alone by Adam Roberts.

Am about 50 pages into Eric Brown's The Kings of Eternity.

About half way through The Children of the Sky.

Finished Tongues of Serpents, now I have to check what's still on the bookshelf at home.

Just read Rendezvous with Rama and I really don't get why it is so highly thought of. The concepts were interesting I suppose but that was about it for me. The characters could have been completely left out and I wouldn't have noticed a difference. It seems like little more than a plot synopsis and a description of Rama.

I'm trying to read some of the Hugo and Nebula winners that I missed when I went through my classic sci-fi phase as an undergrad and this one was a big disappointment. I've moved on to Red Mars and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. Robinson has had more character development in the first 30 pages than Clarke had in the entirety of RwR.

#94 by @FlaPack> A big reason why RwR has probably lost a lot of the coolness factor is that it was one of the earliest (though definitely not THE earliest) and most influential Big Dumb Object stories. Since then, there have been plenty of others and so you lose a lot of what makes the story so special. And the lack of much in the way of answers feels a bit like LOST in book form.

I enjoyed it, though. There's something about how Clarke writes books without the standard antagonist/protagonist model that can be quite satisfying.

I liked RwR. One of the reasons I was enamored with it was that it seemed to be passing through like someone's space junk. I'll avoid *SPOILERS* but need to mention that the "spiders" as described are actually muppets ;-)

Also, regarding the series; the first and the fourth were pretty cool, but the 2nd and 3rd were at times brutally plodding. I didn't pursue the Gentry Lee extensions for the reason that I heard they sucked. I may hit them anyway if I get desperate.

They're ALL Gentry Lee extensions.

Say it with me: There is only Rendezvous. There were no sequels. Do not feed the Gentry Lee.

Reading the RwR sequels by Gentry Lee was like trying to run through wet cement. I read one of his solo works Bright Messengers which was just as bad.

97> When it says: "authors Clarke and Gentry Lee"; does that mean Clarke provided the outline and Lee ghost wrote it?

Do not make eye contact with the Gentry Lee. It would take it as a challenge and become agitated.

From what I've gathered, Clarke's contribution to the books was signing the contract. There is absolutely no trace of Clarke's voice in those books.

--

Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Gentry Lee.

Caution: Gentry Lee may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

Gentry Lee contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

Do not use Gentry Lee on concrete.

Discontinue use of Gentry Lee if any of the following occurs:

* itching
* vertigo
* dizziness
* tingling in extremities
* loss of balance or coordination
* slurred speech
* temporary blindness
* profuse sweating
* or heart palpitations.

If Gentry Lee begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.

Gentry Lee may stick to certain types of skin.

When not in use, Gentry Lee should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of Gentry Lee, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.

Ingredients of Gentry Lee include an unknown glowing green substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.

Gentry Lee has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt Gentry Lee.

Gentry Lee comes with a lifetime warranty.

You guys are cracking me up!

100 Gentry Lee may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

I would question the possibility of this happening. All evidence on the subject suggests sluggish movement with no indication of moving faster than a crawl.

I do have an open mind, however, so I would not argue for the removal of this line from your warning. I just wanted to mentioned that it is probably a low likelihood event.

If it did happen, however, it might add something a bit more interesting to his writing.

It didn't say "high" speeds, just "dangerous" ones. Possibly however fast it takes him to write...

I see what you mean.

Perhaps it would be best for all concerned if he just didn't.

Thanks for the heads up on Gentry Lee. I just got the second Rama for a few cents, but now I know not to expect too much...

In SF reading, I just started The left hand of darkness.

Save the receipt.

#105 I really enjoyed The Left Hand of Darkness. It was the first Le Guin I read.

#105 ditto what pgmcc said. I like Le Guin's The Dispossessed as well.

Gentry Lee has been shown to cause liquefaction of the brain and does not provide protection against STDs.

Scifi Teleportation Devices?

>100 brightcopy:

I'm wishing this was Facebook right now because I miss the "like" button.

Friends, this is clean-up time and we're discounting all our silent, electric Gentry Lees by this much money.

The best way to ask for beer is to sing out Gentry Lee.

Instant Gentry Lee has all the fresh flavor of just-brewed drip coffee. Safe when taken as directed.

Remember: Gentry Lee is only seconds away. Avoid prolonged use.

Perk up pouting household surfaces with new miracle Gentry Lee.

Safe when used as directed in a conscientious program of body hygiene.

(From 'Rendezvous with Ubik' by Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick)

I had a bit of a shock - I found I was actually sympathizing with the characters in the RwR sequels, which rather took me by surprise. OTOH, my LT review of "Garden of Rama" was four words - "Get on with it."

Reading Touched by Venom by Janine Cross that I saw mentioned in "Erotica" on LT under erotic sf, just to see what "erotic sf" is.

About half way through and it is not really that erotic and is actually magic/fantasy type stuff so far. Most of what I have read is taken up by the world/society describing "exposition" and fleshing out the main character. It is interesting enough but I doubt I will read the other books in the trilogy. At just over 300 pages it is taking longer than I expected to read although it is easy to set aside and then pick up again later - nothing lost.

Have just started Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway and am enjoying it.

Just started William Gibson's Idoru. Very telegraphic so far.

#113 interesting. you must have a really early copy. Gone-Away World was certainly different. I can't say I loved it but parts of it have stuck in my head. One of the wackier books I've read in recent years. One I will probably re-read at some point though I wouldn't have thought so the first time I read it.

Finished Embassytown last night. Really came away disappointed. Just not the book for me I think. Too much work up front for too little payoff. I really never got vested in the characters, particularly the narrator. I'd almost say that the book tried too hard. There were also way too many stretches that I just found boring. Anyway, it is done. Need something fun and light now.

Finished reading Touched by Venom by Janine Cross and the second half of the book was better than the first. The book is set in fantasy but describes the life of a women akin to that of one in a feudal third world country where females have no rights. Her heroine is depressingly on the bottom of the social ladder. She likes dragons - a lot.

#115 I felt the same way about Embassytown. Though I did enjoy it and it was hard to put down, it was hard for me to appreciate the magnitude of the story. Same with City and the City. I'm wondering if it is because it was my first novel about linguistics and maybe I just couldn't appreciate it or if it was because I was listening to an audiobook of Xenocide at the same time which was far and away a better story about political conflict between humans and the aliens they live among. And I get this feeling about Mieville's characters, that there's some point he's trying to make about them and that's why they behave so rationally all the time. It just isn't sympathetic or engaging. Maybe he just doesn't like to exaggerate his characters to make them interesting.

>101 johnnyapollo:

Ditto. I was laughing so hard my neighbors were probably wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

I picked up a used copy of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Language of the Night last week and on a whim picked it up with the intention of reading a couple of pages to see what it was like. Before I knew it, I was on page 50 or so. As someone who writes occasionally (and, unfortunately, non-professionally) about speculative fiction, I am completely jealous. Le Guin hits her points bang-on more often than any mere mortal should be able to and is a superb stylist; she's also funny as hell. I'm stopping for now as I am into the part where she's talking about her own fiction, and, well, I haven't read any of it - but The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are on my TBR list for 2012.

Haven of Darkness (Dumarest of terra #16) by E. C. Tubb

Just started the third Heris Serrano book by Elizabeth Moon -- Winning Colors. Very engaging series.

The Terra Data (Dumarest of Terra #22) by E. C. Tubb

Finished First Among Sequels, now onto Pratchett's Snuff

Just started Reamde

Just finished Divine Misfortune (B-).

The Coming Event (Dumarest of Terra #26) by E. C. Tubb

Stayed up until silly o'clock finishing Gibson's Idoru. I thought the preceding one, Virtual Light was OK but a bit lightweight; this was different. The style was more telegraphic - very short chapters - but a more involving story with more interesting characters. For a novel written in 1996, extremely prescient and Gibson gets vey little "wrong". Back to Al Reynolds next...

>126 RobertDay: I'm glad you enjoyed Idoru, Robert. It's one of my favorites of his.

Just finished Cold Hands and Other Stories by Jeff Duntemann. Enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the drumlin stories and Whale Meat. Going to start the next Czerneda book if I can ever remember to go to the library and pick it up...

Earth is Heaven (Dumarest of Terra #27) by E.C. Tubb

FINALLY finished A Fire Upon the Deep. It was a "good" book and i'm glad I read it, but I wasn't "wowed" by it. I almost feel bad about my lukewarm reaction to it, given the critical acclaim and positive feedback from readers on this site. It is undoubtedly a great "idea" book. I couldn't really bond with the characters, though. I'm going to read a bunch of other stuff (thinking about Reamde), but I might read Children of the Sky sometime down the road.

>130 drmamm: I had a similar reaction to A Fire Upon the Deep. Part of it may have been that I read A Deepness in the Sky first and that is one of my top 10 all time favorite books, so Fire was going to suffer by comparison.

Started Migration: Species Imperative #2 by Julie E. Czerneda.

> 52 thanks for mentioning this! love sf, love Forster, but never knew of this work! on my list now...

>130 drmamm:, 131...interesting - I tore through all of the Zones books, and read them in published order, and of course it's hard to know how much that affected my take, but I think Fire is clearly the strongest, and that Deepness resolved some things in too pat a way. But both of these books truly excelled in the fascinating way the world building was revealed to us. I'm currently reading The Peace War.

it won't, Reamde just a contemporary thriller so you won't have to work out to many strange words or fantastic platonic worlds

I just started The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem. I'm through the first 25 pages and I'm allready hooked.

What do you guys think of Gene Wolfe? Is his stuff hard SF?

I love Gene Wolfe's work, but I've never read anything by him that I'd call "hard SF."

I've only two of Wolfe's books (someone gave me Free Live Free decades ago, and I bought Shadow and Claw recently...well, OK, the latter is two books, so I've read three); I have a hard time seeing why either of them would be called "science fiction".

I think of hard SF as being SF with a strong emphasis on ideas about the physical sciences, and Wolfe doesn't fit that at all. But certainly most of his stuff is SF, though some of it is off into the "science fantasy" mode. Even those, though, are more science fiction than fantasy. Remember the old truism that any science can look like magic to someone who doesn't understand it (I just looked it up & it seems to be Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”). And the Book of the New Sun (starting with Shadow and Claw mentioned in #138) has a fantasy style, but turns out to be all about aliens and galactic travel in the end.
I love much of his stuff (not all; I thought the Book of the Long Sun series was awful), but it wouldn't do for someone who's most interested in how the technology works and whether it seems possible given our current knowledge.

Wolfe is more interested in the nature of reality as perceived by different individuals, or by one person at different times. I think a lot of his themes were already showing in the early (& wonderful) work, The Fifth Head of Cerberus -- did the human colonists exterminate the original species, who were perfect chameleons? -- or are some of the aboriginal species living amongst the humans? -- or did they replace the humans entirely, but are still imitating them? Mirrors and endless series of doorways are common images in his fiction. Plenty of weird technology, but no attempt to make it fit anything we know now. In short, Wolfe is great for mind puzzles, but not tech ones.

And the Book of the New Sun (starting with Shadow and Claw mentioned in #138) has a fantasy style, but turns out to be all about aliens and galactic travel in the end.

That must be in the later books; there was something about teleporting through mirrors at end of book 2, but I lost interest...

Just finished The Collected Stories of Greg Bear. Lots of really good stories in there.

The Moon Moth, Dodkin's Job, two of my favorites by Vance.

#140

All four books are in the same style without any mirrors of teleporting to get to tech-laden wonderlands. But it is clear that it is SF right from the beginning. In the first book there is a description of space-ships, a description of a picture of the moon landing, and a few others to help you notice.

As a novel, it may not be for you (either because of the fantasy style, or the unreliable narrator, or just not being action-y enough), but it is clearly SF. Not hard SF though.

Free Live Free is a fantasy.