Our reads in February 2026

Another month another tottering TBR. Share you reading life with us all!

Dusty's TBR for February
Jim Butcher - Twelve Months✔
Poul Anderson - Tau Zero
Alexei Panshin - Rites of Passage
Robert J Sawyer - Starplex✔
LOis McMaster Bujold - Flowers of Vashnoi✔
Nnedi Okorafor - Binti✔
Nnedi Okorafor - Binti Home✔
Nnedi Okorafor -Binti Night Masquerade

Completed
The Best of Lester del Rey
Manhounds of Antares by Kenneth Bulmer

Currently Reading
In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
The Erstwhile by Brian Catling

On Deck
The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Ordered/Requested
BLAME!, Vol. 1

Currently reading The Death of Sleep by Nye and McCaffrey, next up is Generation Warriors by Moon and McCaffrey.

Current:
• Red Mars
• To Charles Fort, With Love

On Deck:
• Green Mars
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January
• Next Anthology: Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild

I am currently reading In Ascension and have The Mimicking of Known Successes and And Put Away Childish Things on deck.

Genre-wise, I have in hand The Book of Doors, Outlaw Planet, Automatic Noodle, A Mouthful of Dust, and Queen Demon.

My planned SF&F books for February are:

Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist
Raft by Stephen Baxter
The Prestige by Christopher Priest

I'm rereading Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear , the first volume in her White Space trilogy. I read it back when it was newer, but now I have all three volumes, so am reading this to prep for the second two. I'm finding that I remember very little from the first reading, except the nifty modification of some spacer bodies to have hands on all four limbs (since they live mostly in zero or low gravity and rarely walk in gravity, four hands are more useful). As usual with Bear, a fun read with good characters and lots of action & ideas.

I’m currently reading Steinbeck’s Cannery Row which I should finish this weekend - I’ve never read it before and I am greatly enjoying it. It is better than his The Moon is Down which I finished last week. After Row is Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Then I get back to KSR’s Mars Trilogy with Blue Mars. That will likely take me to the middle of February. Not sure yet what I will close out February with.

Will be alternating between Twelve Months and Starplex for the next 2 weeks or so.
Wow! We here in North East England can ACTUALLY SEE THE SUN. And NO WIND !We had had the wettest January since records began. That was back in 1776 I think.
So new month,better weather and interesting books to read. Cool!!!

Finished Death of the author and loved it. Although I own several books by Okorafor this is the first one I've read. Now I need to try one of the others. I believe they are more directly SFnal than this one.

Plans for this month:
Kalpa Imperial
A Deepness in the Sky
Rereading A Stranger in Olondria in preparation for The Winged Histories
Then The Winged Histories

Of course that's not counting the comics volumes and fantasy romance novel I want to get through this month. All of this should get me down to a reasonable TBR in preparation for March, which has three new releases in it I want.

Currently reading: Dracula by Bram Soker
Next on deck: either Death's End by Liu Cixin OR Termush by Sven Holm
Last reads: All 9 of the Wings of Fire graphic novels, at the INSISTANCE of my 11-year-old niece...I enjoyed them.

Also... continuing to work my way through the anthology His Share of Glory by Kornbluth. That dude was prolific.

Finished La Belle Sauvage off fairly quickly. I was quite blown away by this, though my critical hat didn't blow away in the storm. Slightly more fantastical elements in this book than in the earlier trilogy, but there's more than enough world-building going on to engage my interest. My review is attached.

Now I'm on to Paul McAuley's War of the Maps.

>8 ChrisG1: Ooh, The Prestige! I need to re-read that one soon.

Finished reading Cannery Row It was an excellent short read. Now on to Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.

>15 RobertDay: You read that fast! I have a few more books ahead before I can get to La Belle Sauvage. Your review is compelling.

>14 AWalkerScott: Both Dracula and Frankenstein have been on my TBR list for many years.

>16 ScoLgo: >8 ChrisG1:
Today is the second anniversary of Priest's death. The Prestige is terrific.

>15 RobertDay: >18 Neil_Luvs_Books:
I still haven't read His Dark Materials; maybe this new series will finally prod me to do so. Its reputation as an Anti-Narnia is certainly attractive.

>21 paradoxosalpha:

I've been mulling a re-read of His Dark Materials, I found it impressive enough the first time through. I'm undecided whether to re-read in preparation for the The Book of Dust, or perhaps to read as part of a chronological read of the two trilogies. I'd not realised the second two books in the prequel trilogy occur after the events of the original trilogy, which introduces a new consideration. Hum.

>22 elenchus: Recently I did the whole series. I read it in internal chronological order, which worked well. So, La Belle Sauvage first, then the original trilogy, and then the second two new ones. I enjoyed all the parts as much as before. My one quibble was being left at the end with an inconclusive ending, which made me suspect that he'll be producing more. I don't really like being ambushed by long, open-ended series (if that's what this is).

>21 paradoxosalpha: I love the Narnia books despite the sometimes jarring Christian proselytizing. And I find Pullman's banging of the anti-religion drum at least as tedious as anything in the Narnia books. Both of them are great stories with striking mythical elements (they share a talent for using mythical archetypes), so I enjoy those elements and disregard the relentless grinding of axes.

>24 rshart3: thank heavens at least some people hasvesimilar views to me on Dark Materials.
Narnia did have religious elements but gotta say when I first read the books at age 7 all that went over my head didnt have a clue,just wept buckets when Aslan died and loved it when he came back to life.Anyway as a reader of classic childrens' fiction from over two centuries the religious or moral underpinnings' sometimes quite subtle other times blatant were just an accepted feature of the literature and frankly kids were quite adept at skimming that stuff while enjoying the exciting story.lol.
I found Dark Materials even more didactic and pushing Pullman's philosophy than Lewis. Still dont see why his pushing an agenda is fine and Lewis deserves reproof and criticism.
I get the same feeling of irritation when modern SF readers moan and get irate about the lack of female characters or protest they are weak and useless etc.It is what it is folks. If it offends you ust read something else.
OK rant over,once again Dusty galloped off in all directions!lol.

>24 rshart3:, >25 dustydigger:
I don't mind fantasy authors who "have an agenda." In fact, I enjoy that. For example, I liked Kuang's Babel (though not as much as I had hoped I would). And for a closer comparison to Narnia, I'm a fan of Comfort's Tetrarch. Of the Inklings, I might best like Charles Williams, whose fantasies are arguably the most didactic of the crew.

I just disagree with Lewis' particular agenda. I thought his Mere Christianity was awful. At the same time, I do find some things in Narnia to admire; I thought The Screwtape Letters was clever; and I recently picked up a copy of Till We Have Faces with every intent of enjoying it one way or another.

Screwtape has been on my Recon list and that bumps it over to my Wishlist. I think Babel already was promoted but if not, I think it will do now.

>23 rshart3: Appreciate your validation of the chronological approach, I'm leaning toward that if only for the novelty of it.

>23 rshart3: You're making me wonder if Pullman's motivation for La Belle Sauvage was "Here's stuff I ought to have put somewhere in the first trilogy." Though if he'd written LBS first, he'd have to have worked out what to do with Malcolm. Perhaps it was a bottom drawer book.

Pullman's attitude towards religion appears to be critical of the organizational bodies rather than an issue with belief. But then again, I haven't read The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ yet.

I would contend that portal fantasies in particular always have some sort of ideological underpinning, whether it's the Theosophy of Baum's The Wizard of Oz, the Christianism of The Chronicles of Narnia, the analytical psychology of Valente's Fairyland, or the neopagan nostalgia of Colonna's Hypnerotomachia. There's a sort of metaphysical release involved in creating highly subjective worlds that leads to that sort of hypostasis.

The Chronicles of Narnia have a special place in my heart. These are the books that got me to get over the hurdle of learning to read to myself. I was a slow learner in primary school. Almost failed grade 1 and 2. Me and my siblings were given the Narnia books as a Xmas gift from my maternal grandparents and I remember my older sister, who was very bright and learned to read early for her age, started reading them right away and described to me what was happening in the story. I was so intrigued that I forced myself to attempt to read them to myself. This would have been grade 3.

Sometimes you need a tantalizing carrot to get you to do something that you initially find impossible. Currently, for me, that is learning French!

Anyways, I read His Dark Materials just a few years ago and thought they were just as fantastic as Narnia - I love them both. As for the proselytizing in both sets, I honestly didn’t really notice until I read reviews and criticisms later after I had completed reading them. I just accepted it as part of the fictional culture that the author was creating like any good SFF novel. Every author will have an agenda whether that is conscious or unconscious. Everyone tells their story from their own experiences and set of beliefs. This is what makes reading for me so enriching and enjoyable. I get to enter other people’s universes for awhile and try them out.

>30 Neil_Luvs_Books: I was only saying to someone earlier today that I get a bit tired of reading reviews where the reader decides that they don't like a book because they "can't relate" to some or all of the characters. I don't know about you, but one reason I read fiction is to give me insights into other people's thoughts, ideas and motivations. Sometimes I can identify with them - or parts of them - and sometimes not. To me, that's a big part of what it's all about.

>31 RobertDay: Sounds like real life. Some people you can relate to and some you cannot. I had a younger brother who drove me nuts! Could not understand his politics or faith beliefs.

But I loved him dearly.

>26 paradoxosalpha: Another Charles Williams person! I love how he handles supernatural elements, and also I'm intrigued with his saintly/enlightened characters, like Sybil (sp?) in The Greater Trumps. Definitely in a category of his own.

I agree with your opinion of Mere Christianity, which I disliked even in adolescence when I was still Christian. His main arguments are either disingenuous or dishonest. It's hard to believe that someone trained in logic and academic disputes could have advanced them. Screwtape Letters is very insightful about human nature. It's a fun read, despite a creepy feeling that he really believes in the tempter devil premise.

Til We Have Faces is one of my favorites, especially since I'm very fond of the "classics reimagined" genre (I did a library booklist of that a few years back -- Wide Sargasso Sea, Grendel, etc.) I hope you enjoy it.

>29 paradoxosalpha: That's very interesting. I've never noticed that, but now that I consider a number of fantasies, it applies to most of the ones i can think of right off. It's a useful strategy for a genre so given to good-vs-evil scenarios and personal development issues.
Thanks!

Post WWII Nietzsche's famous ''God is Dead and we killed him'' really took hold. I can distinctly remember as an 11 year old in 1959 being shocked hearing that and it was a regular topic on talk/discussion shows for the intelligentsia.But for the ordinary folks the dreadful events of the war ,the camps,the holocaust etc had an harrowing effect on their faith. Lewis' 1952 simple straightforward primer on Christianity was immensely comforting for huge numbers of people. Lewis' talks on the radio were hugely popular drawing large audiences unusual for such topics.It was of its time,though it did hold a revered place for several decades.probably till that generation faded away. Then the backlash started. A different world entirely.and one that is less tolerant of religion and often brutal in its criticism of it.Apologias are way out of fashion for good or ill.

Over Christmas break, I read a new critical edition of arguably the first work of sf, Frankenstein, Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds, and I just posted a review of it... though my review more focuses on the annotations than the text itself!

>36 Stevil2001: Excellent review.

You say: "if we want to prevent the misuse of science, we don't need an edition annotated for "scientists, engineers, and creators of all kinds," we need an edition annotated for the military-industrial complex and venture capitalists. I'm guessing they'd be even less likely to read it, though."

Worse: they would most likely read it as a source of inspiration for a new generation of research into cloning and genetic manipulation aimed at creating armies of compliant worker drones who don't criticise corporate policy and don't need inconvenient things like wage packets.

>37 RobertDay: RobertDay: I'd even add in techbros, who can be particularly bad about reading Don't Create the Torment Nexus and then creating the Torment Nexus. See Palantir--that thing drove Denethor mad.

>37 RobertDay:, >38 Watry: Ha, that's true! I end up talking about the Torment Nexus in almost every sf class I teach.

>36 Stevil2001: This is a great review. Touches on issues of what science is and how the scientific process works that I used to teach in my History & Theory of Biology course. I used one of Jane Maienschein’s essays as on of the readings. I got to meet her once at an ISHPSSB conference many years ago. Very thoughtful person.

And I like Cory Doctorow’s analysis in general of technology and its impact on our culture. He has a great podcast series he released a couple of years ago called “Who Broke the Internet” that I greatly enjoyed. You can listen or read the episodes at this URL:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/who-broke-the-internet-understood-transcrip...

>40 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thanks for posting the link to that podcast. I'm an admirer of Cory Doctorow, although I admit that he is sometimes over my head.

Finished Automatic Noodle, a perfectly acceptable snapshot of our post-dystopian future, which is short enough to that you can overlook some of the hand-waving needed to make this story work.

Finished The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Is it science fiction? Goodreads categories show "fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, science fiction, mystery" and I agree there are elements of all of these. I thought it was a terrific novel - cleverly conceived, split into 5 parts from 5 different POVs & 2 time periods. I enjoyed the inclusion of Nicola Tesla. I didn't see the twist at the end coming, but it was thoroughly appropriate. Highly recommended.

>43 ChrisG1: It won the World Fantasy award and was shortlisted for the Clarke (which is strictly science fiction) in its year so you are not the only one confused by its genre. :)

>17 Neil_Luvs_Books: I read Cannery Row not that long ago and I thought it was great.

I finished The Death of Sleep, the 4th book in the 'Dinosaur Planet' series or 3rd book in the 'Planet Pirates' series. It wasn't good. I'm still moving on to the last book in the series, The Generation Warriors. The Moon/McCaffrey team seems like a better combination than Nye/McCaffrey.

I finished Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. I realized that I had read this book before when the Electric Monk is introduced. Clearly the idea of having a robot to outsource your ability to believe in things made an impression on me when I read it the first time. But the novel itself did not make a sufficient impression on me that I remembered how it ended. So I had to finish it. There were interesting parts but it is certainly not Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It ended up being a little… meh for me. I found the ending to be a little weak. Though I did appreciate how JS Bach was woven into it.

On to Blue Mars.

>46 Neil_Luvs_Books:

I've never read Dirk Gently, but I enjoyed the television series--not a direct adaptation, from what I understand.

Finished the final volume of a LItRPG trilogy Kenny King's How to Succeed at Monster Farming after being rejected by the Hero Guild vol 3 utterly ridiculous fluff , relaxing stuff to alternate with Twelve Months where our Harry Dresden is having a tough depressed year after the death of his beloved. Now I'll alternate with Robert J Sawyer's Starplex

Like >6 daxxh:, working on The mimicking of known successes (for next week's book group). I'd read the first one but not this one, yet.

>48 dustydigger: I love some utterly ridiculous fluff at times. It has a place in the world.

> Which one? Steve Mangan in 2010-2012 or Samuel Barnett in 2016?

>47 paradoxosalpha: yes, surprisingly for me, I preferred the TV series to the Dirk Gently book. They are very different but equally absurd. I know there is a 2nd Holistic Gently book that I have never read. I wonder if the TV series is more similar to that second book: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul?

I've finished The Best of Lester Del Rey and put a bow on it. Now I'm one chapter in to Manhounds of Antares, and wondering if the second arc of Bulmer's impressively protracted sword and planet series will offer anything remarkable.

>51 Neil_Luvs_Books: I wonder if the TV series is more similar to that second book

Could be. I should clarify that I watched the 2016 series written by Max Landis, and not the 2012 BBC series that evidently had a pilot adapting some of the original novel's plot. An irony of the television success of Dirk Gently is that Adams supposedly wrote the book in order to make use of ideas he had originally developed for the discarded Doctor Who serial Shada (at least, according to wikipedia).

>48 dustydigger: I'll take ridiculous fluff if it's done with real flair; it's kind of what manga does best! Which sound like what the author is riffing off of.

The first novel in the Amber Chronicles series published in 1970.

>55 baswood: I re-read the first two Chronicles of Amber back in '23, I enjoyed the re-read but didn't go further with the series.

I have fond memories of the Chronicles of Amber (up through The Courts of Chaos) from when I was a teenager, and as I recall they are quite speedy to read. I've never read the second series, and I've entertained the idea of a reread-and-continue. I've had great success on that model with both Wolfe's Solar Cycle and Herbert's Dune, although I doubt Amber would quite measure up to either of those.

>55 baswood: The Chronicles of Amber has long been a favorite of mine since I first read them in college in the late 70's. The Corwyn Cycle (first 5 books) is superior to the Merlyn cycle (next 5), but both are well worth reading.

>55 baswood: I’m pretty sure Amber was the first fantasy series I ever read. :)

I did a reread of all 10 Amber books a couple of years ago.Quick light reads perfect to relax with. Reread several other Zelaznys last year,including Lord of Light in November. and will reread 3 or 4 others for my Year of the Rereads challenge.
Another author I will be revisiting is Alistair Reynolds. Revelation Space. I also have a couple of his books new to me,Pushing Ice and House of Suns Hope I like them.

>60 dustydigger:

I liked House of Suns, but not so much that it sent me off in search of more Reynolds. It's the only one of his I've read.

>60 dustydigger: Just started Revelation Space last night. I read Chasm City a while back, which apparently chronologically precedes it, but I'll probably need a cheat sheet to get the connections.

Finished The Other Side of Nowhere.

>62 ChrisRiesbeck: Chasm City is set in the same universe, but it isn't part of the narrative sequence of Revelation Space.

>60 dustydigger: I found Pushing Ice slow to begin with, though interesting, but when it took off in the latter part it rocketed.

Finished War of the Maps fairly quickly. It started out as a spaghetti western, but ended up as Heart of Darkness, played out on the outer surface of a Dyson sphere. There are clues hidden in the text telling you where we really are. I enjoyed it, even if I sound a bit critical. My review:

>64 RobertDay: Thanks. That led me to scroll down on the the Revelation Space entry to the helpful Description.

Finished Queen Demon, which might be my least favorite Martha Wells' book in awhile; it's far from bad but I have a hard time making any sort of recommendation. Still mulling over it.

Finished Jim Butcher's latest Dresden Files outing Twelve Months I did enjoy it but thought the first half showing his massive depression after the loss of his beloved belaboured that fact a bit too much,and a bit too long.Another point was that with each book Harry seems to be aiming a little more for sainthood ! lol. But I did find the descriptions of a badly devastated Chicago interesting and realistic in that even after a full year there is still so much to put right. Then we have so many old friends,and enemies,to catch up on.
And most of all we see a lot of the terrifying Mab,Queen of Air and Darkness.Things always have a sharp uneasy edge whenever she is on stage.Good stuff.
Am now reading Robert J Sawyer's Starplex,a mixture of space opera and hard SF,and an off genre romantic suspense ,but must confess I am doing very little reading as I am glued to the TV 6 hours a day watching the Winter Olympics

Have been reading Zero Point Awakening books by ZZ Adams, have so far finished Splice, Wunderkind, and now Shadow War. Looking forward to Ascension. The main characters are an evolving "super hero", The Arthur Fortune, and a young man with the ability to "fuzz" in and out and travel through things while fuzzed out, Elliot Goshawk. Elliot can also teleport. Together they are taking on a mega-corporation trying to take over the UK and the US (and presumably the rest of the world).

I just wrapped up a speedy sword-and-planet read.

I've begun my first Cherryh after a happy encounter with Voyager in Night in a recent used bookshop visit.

While my chief interest in Cherryh is her treatment of alien life (biological and cultural), this may not be her best example for that. The opening chapter nevertheless piques my anticipation with what seems to be an intelligence akin to the Ship Minds of Banks's Culture.

>72 elenchus: my fav CJ Cherryh is still Downbelow Station. I keep returning to it every few years. I really like the character of Captain Mallory.

>73 Neil_Luvs_Books: Freely admit that the posts in this group are what nudged me from mild curiosity about Cherryh to actively looking for specific titles from her vast ouvre.

The sheer volume of her output is daunting and would have been an easy excuse for just passing on, but I was won over by repeated suggestions her conception of alien cultures was much more than humanoid-with-odd-appendages-or-complexion.

I am a longtime Cherryh fan,at least her SF output,not so much her fantasy stuff.A theme I enjoy is that her protagonists are often outsiders and the books are about finding their niche,a sort of family.I love the way in the Alliance series we get an indepth immersed examination of distinct cultures,seen entirely from the protagonists view. Its only by reading the whole saga that the pieces fit together as a whole.
I like it too in the contact with aliens series,like Foreigner or the Chanur books its the humans who are weaker or alien and are struggling to fit in a strange world instead of being patronising or would be superior to the natives sort of narrative.
Hope Cherryh can complete the Foreigner series,she's getting a bit long in the tooth now. She's 84!

I haven't been following Cherryh for awhile, but it always struck me that the "Foreigner" cycle should end with whatever Human polity the original lost ship came from making contact.

One of the things I found interesting in some of Cherryh’s novels is how she is able to paint a picture of how normal most of life is but that significant events happen in the blink of an eye. For me Rimrunners, Merchanter’s Luck, Heavy Time, and Hellburner do that very well. Downbelow Station, The Faded Sun, and Cyteen are different with regard to that. Unlike others, I didn’t enjoy Faded Sun or Cyteen as much as the Company Wars novels. I have yet to read one of her Foreigner novels: a couple have been sitting on my bookshelves for years.

>77 Neil_Luvs_Books: "I have yet to read one of her Foreigner novels: a couple have been sitting on my bookshelves for years."

That's a relief - I thought it was just me.

>77 Neil_Luvs_Books: >78 RobertDay:

When (if) you decide to read them, plan to read the first 3 very close to each other (same applies for novels 4-6). While they technically function as novels on their own, they really work much better as a trio of novels than with a lot of time between them. And unlike her other cycle, this one really cannot be read out of order. :)

>77 Neil_Luvs_Books: and >78 RobertDay:

I remember the first time I read Foreigner I bounced off it hard. I came back to it years later reread it, then had to get the rest of the series.

>76 Shrike58:

Hmm that is rather human focused - most of the series has focused on the Atevi. So I would guess the death of Ilisidi and the rise of Cajeiri to adulthood.

*quietly moves Pride of Chanur up the wishlist*

>81 andyl: Would still work: Cajeiri gets to deal with a bigger universe.

I just finished Blue Mars. It was excellent. I enjoyed the changes that happened to some of the characters as a result of their terraforming of Mars. Becoming Martian changes the original 101 Terran settlers. It is a good consideration of how environment changes people even as people work to change their environment. I wonder if the biologist/geneticist, Richard Lewontin ever read this novel? I wonder if KSR ever read Lewontin’s Biology as Ideology? They would have agreed with each other that there is a dialectic between organisms and environment and that with humans’ ability to think ahead and plan, we can change our environment which in turn changes us.

So, can we plan our own evolution? Or is it still impossible to direct our own evolution because of the complexity of all of the factors involved as environment and organism and even development interpenetrate each other? I suspect we will always be surprised by what the future has in store for us despite our best intentions. This is the take home message as I understand it as the Mars Trilogy comes to a close.

Next up, something far lighter: Redshirts.

>80 andyl: I had a similar experience with Downbelow Station; on my second attempt, I found it rewarded close attention. Equally, I remember Judy Blish raving about The Pride of Chanur yet I wasn't as blown away by it as I expected to be. I read the rest of the sequence and branded it "Wish fulfilment cat fantasy - with politics", but it is on the To Be Re-Read pile because I suspect that book will also repay a second, more careful reading.

>85 RobertDay:

Not having read Cherryh in my youth, from what I've read of her preparation as well as halfway through one book, I certainly can see that her stories might not pack a punch superficially yet stand up to scrutiny on a number of impressive levels: hard science, cultural sophistication, psychological nuance, emotional depth. I think I'm pleased not to have read her before now, for what I would have lacked in my appreciation for her narrative achievement.

>84 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thanks for that Lewontin reference. I don't doubt KSR and him would've had some interesting conversations if they'd have ever met. I haven't read much on those subjects since my student days (which happens to be when I read the Mars trilogy...), but it got me in a little bit of a rabbit hole. And this, folks, is why my sf reading is down ....
I'd welcome interesting podcast suggestions on that topic - that's a medium less likely to compete with my TBR pile.

As far as sf, goes, the cartoons in ¡Universo! 2 are about the only sf I've been reading this month. Not the typical fare discussed here, but it's sf, it's hilarious, and I get to practice my Spanish, so I'll take it.

Finished The Book of Doors. Not bad, but felt more like a work of general fiction with fantastic elements than a fully-fledged fantasy story like The Society of Unknowable Objects.

>87 igorken: Have you listened to the CBC podcast series “How to Think about Science”? It is about 10 years old or more now, but it is philosophy of science so it has aged well IMHO.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-to-think-about-science-part-1-24-1.2953274

I really enjoyed it. Sort of a short course on science studies.

Currently reading (and very much enjoying) Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki.

Edit -- I've finished the book and it was magnificent.

Knocked off A Mouthful of Dust, the most recent Cleric Chih & Almost Brilliant novella, and I think it's the best one in the series since The Empress of Salt and Fortune. Poignant and ghastly at the same time.

I finished Generation Warriors, by Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey and it was a decent ending to the series. A bit rushed at the end.

I moved on to an old favorite, The Masters of Solitude, which was still good, though now that I think about the title, it made the ending a bit obvious.

>90 WiseBadger: I liked that book too!

I've now finished the second part of Philip Pullman's Book of Dust, The Secret Commonwealth. There's nothing all that unexpected for those of us used to fantastic literature; Lyra Silvertongue's quest for the source of rosewater and its significance to Dust and the interest of the Magisterium feels rather like a McGuffin. But I found more than enough to get my teeth into, and I shall look forward to finishing the trilogy with The Rose Field.

>94 RobertDay: Interesting to see that he kept going in that universe. That's quite a summary!

I should start my next Vorkosigan book tonight, Dreamweaver's Dilemma. This is a collection of short stories and essays by Bujold; I think just two are set in the "Vorkosiverse," but one I have read before, as The Mountains of Mourning was collected in Borders of Infinity as well. The one new-to-me story is the title story, which is set in the distant past compared to the Miles books.

Now made a start on the final part of Philip Pullman's Book of Dust, The Rose Field.

I have no scientific background at all so could not assess the future science etc of Robert JSawyer's Starplex as to credibility or importance and indeed skipped some of the info dumps but there was plenty of adventure in the Uplift/Star Trek type of milieu to keep my interest piqued. As ever I dont feel Sawyers prose up to the standard of the big ideas fizzing around,its a bit clunky IMO. but I much preferred it to Hominids
Have a couple of novellas next,including LMBs Flowers of Vashnoi

>89 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thanks, I'll check it out.

After a long break from SF (fantasy, non-fiction) I downloaded The Warrior's Apprentice to continue the Vorkosigan Saga.

Enjoyed my reread of Flowers of Vashnoia Vorkosigan novella. Always a delight to return to Barrayar and in this one we return to Miles home district with its terrible devastation from the nuclear strikes of 80 years ago. Nice too to meet up again with the glorious butterbugs,and great to find they have a new role in removing the radiation damage,so the district will have prosperity some day.Good stuff

Enjoyed my reread of LoisMcMaster Bujold novella Flowers of Vashnoi. It was nice to visit Miles Vorkosigin's home province,so devastated by nuclear weapons 80 years before,and find that the glorious butterbugs have a new fantastic use !.
LMB is one of my comfort read authors,its always a pleasure to return to Barrayar..
Now I am reading Nnedi Okarofor's Binti trilogy

Finished Revelation Space, started Thrilling Tales.