Our reads May2019

CharlasScience Fiction Fans

Únete a LibraryThing para publicar.

Our reads May2019

Este tema está marcado actualmente como "inactivo"—el último mensaje es de hace más de 90 días. Puedes reactivarlo escribiendo una respuesta.

1dustydigger
mayo 1, 2019, 4:21 am

Another month,another pile of books. What are your plans in May?

2guido47
mayo 1, 2019, 4:27 am

Perhaps try and read my TBR - PILE (sub section fiction, sub sub section SF) Much of which is populated with Authors I don't really know.

Looking forward to those new authors :-)

3dustydigger
Editado: mayo 12, 2019, 6:32 am

SF/F reads
Vernor Vinge - Rainbow's End
Andre Norton - Star Hunter
James S A Corey - Leviathan Wakes
Ann McCaffrey - Maelstrom

other genres
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
Enid Blyton - Five On Finniston Farm
Joyce +Jim Lavene - A Touch of Gold
Franklin W Dixon - The Tower Treasure
Michelle Knudsen - The Library Lion

much diminished TBR this month.So much to do as I am crossing the Pond to Roanoke Virginia on 16th to see my stepson's daughters graduate. One is finishing her first degree and wants to study medicine. She wants to be a neuro surgeon.
Younger granddaughter is graduating high school. She's class valedictorian,has won a leadership award presented by the state governor,and heads so many clubs etc.She is so brilliant,has been accepted at Harvard,Stanford,Duke,but decided on Yale,who are giving her a partial scholarship. She wants to study International Relations,Economics and Politics. I am expecting her to end up head of the IMF,,something high up in the UN,or an American ambassador.lol. Me,my daughter and a granddaughter are going there to represent the British branch of the family at the celebrations. We are all so proud of the girls. My stepson needs to rob a bank,3 girls all at top universities for the next few years. Ouch!
So much to do,reading is a bit down the list. :0)

4Shrike58
mayo 1, 2019, 7:24 am

Congratulations on the success of your family!

5Shrike58
mayo 1, 2019, 7:26 am

As for myself my bookgroup's selection of the month is The City of Brass and I have Moderan & Ashes of Candesce in hand.

6RobertDay
mayo 1, 2019, 7:47 am

I've just started something quite retro, Wilson Tucker's The Lincoln Hunters.

7ScoLgo
mayo 1, 2019, 12:39 pm

Just finished The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco a couple of days ago. A very good book but so dense it took me 2 weeks to get through, (maybe I'm the dense one?).

Now back to chipping away at WWE challenge reads with War of the Worlds, an SF classic that I have somehow managed to not read before.

Also, continuing my re-read of Asimov's Robot Series with Robots and Empire.

>3 dustydigger: Wow! Congratulations! Your stepson's situation reminds me of this old joke:

"I've just developed a new business plan and it's going to be great! I'm so excited for my meeting at the bank later that I can hardly manage to put on my ski mask!" ;)

8Lynxear
Editado: mayo 1, 2019, 12:57 pm

>3 dustydigger: I see you have Tower Treasure by F.W.Dixon on your list. I suppose you know this "author" is not a real person but a blanket name for a number of authors who wrote the Hardy Boys series.

Here is a bit of an experience I had as a book seller.

In the 1980's I ran a used/out-of-print book flea market stall. I did it for 4 years and met many interesting people. I displayed about 1000 books every Sunday in a 10'x10' stall at the Harbour Front Antique flea market on Queen's Quay in Toronto. I dealt in only hard cover books from libraries bought by my then wife from Philips-Ward Price and Waddington's auction houses during the week.

It was quite successful for us.... it was a hit with men since most were dragged down there by wives and they were tired of looking at glass/china and furniture... then they found my stall full of great books on a variety of subjects at very reasonable prices.

One day a gentleman walked up to my stall and asked me about books written by hockey players. As it happened I had one and signed by the author!. But according to him it was quite ordinary....hmmmm. He looked at me and said "You don't recognize me, do you?" No... I didn't. He revealed that he was Brian McFarlane, a very popular hockey TV commentator on "Hockey Night in Canada" at the time. Well he looked a lot different without TV makeup but yes, he looked/sounded like him, now he mentioned it.

He saw that I had Hardy Boy books in my stall. It turned out that his father was the original "F.W.Dixon" for the first 5 books. I think he said his father was paid about $200 with no residuals for each book. Sounds like a paltry sum but bear in mind this was in the 1920's.

He then told me that there was a difference between the brown and blue colored covered books. Apparently the brown books were originally targeted to the older teen reader whereas in the 1950's the blue books were rewritten in simpler language to appeal to a young teen reader. He, of course, was interested only in the older brown books.

If you compare the same book in their blue/brown editions you will see the difference immediately as there are fewer pages in the blue version... the story is essentially the same but simpler language. Collectors of Hardy Boy books want the older versions as a result.

I enjoyed reading the series when I was young and this meeting made my day back then.

9Cecrow
mayo 1, 2019, 1:38 pm

>8 Lynxear: the whole story behind Franklin W. Dixon and the Stratemeyer Syndicate in general can be found in a few places online now. Brian McFarlane's father was Leslie McFarlane, who warrants his own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_McFarlane

I accidentally encountered an earlier edition of one of the Hardy Boys mysteries from prior to rewrites, but I don't remember the detail about brown versus blue cover; to my young eyes it looked much the same, but that could be something I've forgotten. In any case, yes, the content of the earlier version was far different. More violent, was what stood out to me. I was far from being a teen reader, only in third grade.

It saddens me that the original Hardy Boys novels have been removed from our local libraries (to the benefit of my private collection, I snapped those up), although the Hardy Boys as a brand still continues. Now Frank and Joe know what the Internet and a cellphone is, etc. and the style has shed its nostalgic flavour.

10seitherin
mayo 1, 2019, 5:48 pm

Still working on The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton.

11Petroglyph
mayo 1, 2019, 6:51 pm

I finished A second chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton earlier today. I liked it quite a bit! It was a pretty diverse story bundle with very few duds. I'm interested in reading some of his longer works.

12drmamm
mayo 1, 2019, 7:52 pm

Finished Persepolis Rising (good continuation of the Expanse series) and am staying with the Expanse reading Tiamat's Wrath.

13Lynxear
mayo 1, 2019, 11:03 pm

9> The time when I had the encounter with Brian McFarlane was in the early 1980's .... long before the internet and at the time I thought FW Dixon was an actual person... so that meeting was exceptional for me. Not only did I meet a rather popular hockey TV personality (if you are Canadian you would understand my awe at the time) but he turned out to be a pretty regular guy with an interesting story about his father and the Hardy Boy series

"More violent, was what stood out to me. I was far from being a teen reader, only in third grade."

As I said, the earlier books were target for a more mature audience of late teens/early 20's....the rewrites were dummied down.

14daxxh
mayo 2, 2019, 1:32 am

I have been reading nonfiction lately, but have started The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (not sure how this is genre, but I am reading it for a WWE challenge) and The Atlantis Gene. I also have A Memory Called Empire to read. I want to read some of my TBR backlog, like Leviathan Wakes, Revenger and Shadow Captain, Elysium Fire and The Children of the Company. We will see if I get to them. I need to move soon and those may end up in boxes.

15Stevil2001
mayo 2, 2019, 7:10 am

I'm planning on voting in the Hugos, so I've started Space Opera, one of four Best Novel finalists I haven't already read. Not sure what I think of the narrative voice yet.

>14 daxxh: Arthur Gordon Pym isn't genre is the sense that the genre just didn't exist yet, but it definitely has speculative elements. It's also weird and fascinating!

16dustydigger
mayo 4, 2019, 9:17 pm

Andre Norton's Star Hunter was an typically enjoyable young man's rite of passage novel,fast paced and exciting.Its always a great satisfaction when her young heroes finally end up happy and secure in the end,as she isn't afraid to place her usually orphaned youngsters in pretty dire and desperate circumstances at the beginning of the books.
I just got some Kindle Megapacks for the usual ridiculously low price.7 Andre Norton novels,complete works of Edgar Allan Poe,complete H P Lovecraft,11 Doc Smith novels,50 classic gothic novels,all for £2.50!!!! .
I am now starting Leviathan Wakes and Brideshead Revisited

-

17justifiedsinner
mayo 5, 2019, 8:33 am

>16 dustydigger: In which Sebastian Flyte gets infected by the proto-molecule and tries to convert Charles Ryder.

Not getting much time to read (boating season has commenced). Did start Waking the Moon my first Elizabeth Hand. Good stuff so far. She quotes Cavafy, no less!

18RobertDay
mayo 5, 2019, 11:23 am

Finished off The Lincoln Hunters in fairly quick order. Now started Ken Macleod's Cosmonaut Keep.

19Sakerfalcon
mayo 7, 2019, 4:45 am

I'm nearing the end of A memory called Empire. It's been a really good read so far.

20Petroglyph
mayo 7, 2019, 5:39 am

I'm about two thirds through As on a darkling plain by Ben Bova. Nice ideas so far (I like the idea of Neanderthals in space) but I'm unimpressed by the writing -- it's so perfunctory.

21Stevil2001
mayo 7, 2019, 6:35 am

I finally finished Space Opera. I think this would have been a great novelette, or a good novella, but instead it's a mediocre novel. A fun premise, but there are about 30 pages of actual story in its 200+ pages, and the narrative voice quickly begins to grate.

22iansales
mayo 7, 2019, 4:50 pm

>20 Petroglyph: Calling Bova's writing "perfunctory" is over-praising it.

23Shrike58
Editado: mayo 8, 2019, 7:23 am

Finished Moderan (B+) yesterday evening and while I think that these stories/fables are more period pieces than Jeff VanderMeer argues in his introduction to this collection there is no denying that David Bunch had a knack for acid satire that mostly remains relevant.

24Shrike58
Editado: mayo 8, 2019, 7:28 am

Burn! Though I've always wondered how Bova could be such a successful editor and so pedestrian an author.

25RobertDay
mayo 8, 2019, 7:50 am

>24 Shrike58: Being able to recognise talent in others is no guarantee of possessing that talent yourself. Editing and authoring are two very different skills.

26Shrike58
mayo 8, 2019, 8:05 am

True enough...

27iansales
mayo 8, 2019, 9:20 am

Just started Embers of War. Unreasonably annoyed by the use of "momentarily" in its US sense. But a couple of chapters later, we have "fortnight"...

28anglemark
mayo 8, 2019, 3:44 pm

>24 Shrike58:, >25 RobertDay: Lin Carter is an even more striking example.

29RobertDay
mayo 10, 2019, 7:51 am

>22 iansales: Just read all of Petroglyph's review. Is "turgidly perfunctory" better (for you)? :-)

30seitherin
mayo 10, 2019, 10:35 am

Finished The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton. Overall, I enjoyed the trilogy.

31SFF1928-1973
mayo 11, 2019, 4:29 pm

Lately I've been reading The Time Hoppers by Robert Silverberg. Silverberg's over-populated future dystopia and flawed protagonist remind me a lot of similar novels by Philip K. Dick.

Next up I'm re-reading John Sladek's hilarious satire The Reproductive System.

32Petroglyph
mayo 11, 2019, 5:09 pm

Finished Poul Anderson's Orbit Unlimited. It was okay, just too American. I don't think I'll be reading more in this series ("History of Rustum"). Even though it was a lot better, writing-wise, than Bova.

33seitherin
mayo 11, 2019, 8:45 pm

Finished The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction July/August 2018 edited by C. C. Finlay. Overall, I liked this issue.

34drmamm
mayo 12, 2019, 9:57 am

Just started Look to Windward, which completes all of the Culture books for me.

35pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 10:11 am

>5 Shrike58: I loved The City of Brass. The Kingdom of Copper is sitting on my shelf waiting for me to finish my current read.

36pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 10:13 am

>7 ScoLgo: I loved The Name of the Rose when I read it "x" years ago. The film was the first film I saw that stuck very closely to the book. There was a slight change at the end but nothing that affected the story.

37pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 10:15 am

>10 seitherin: I read and enjoyed The Reality Dysfunction some years ago. I am working myself up to trying the second book and it will be a while before I get to The Naked God.

38pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 10:20 am

>18 RobertDay: I loved the Engines of Light trilogy. I found each of the books good but found the trilogy to be more than the sum of the parts.

I have fond memories of when I started reading Cosmonaut Keep. I was visiting my daughter in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival in 2003. In preparation for my visit to Edinburgh I had been studying maps to get myself familiar with the layout of the city. As I started reading Cosmonaut Keep I found Ken was describing places I had become familiar with but he was talking about them some time in the future. That added to the colour and the enjoyment for me.

39pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 10:22 am

>34 drmamm:
Look to Windward is one of my favour Iain M. Banks novels.

40pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 10:36 am

I normally look at this thread and find myself totally out of touch with the books being read. Today is a red-letter day with my reading having overlapped with that of five people. I must run out and buy a lottery ticket; this must mean something. :-)

41Stevil2001
mayo 12, 2019, 11:38 am

I'm continuing my reading of Hugo finalists with Trail of Lightning. I'm sure it's good if you like this kind of thing (urban fantasy, except without the urb), but... it turns out I don't like this kind of thing.

42iansales
mayo 12, 2019, 4:03 pm

Finished Embers of War. Surprised it won the BSFA Award.

43RobertDay
mayo 12, 2019, 5:44 pm

>38 pgmcc: Sense of place is quite important in both Banks' and Macleod's work, though I don't know Edinburgh very well. I do know the West Coast and Glasgow rather better, and when (usually) Banks has a literary excursion out that way, I find it works quite well for me.

I've now finished CK and enjoyed it, though the structure and content was so much in tune with the Fall Revolution series, I kept wondering if this was actually an extension - the reference to the Fourth World War sort of set me thinking along those lines. I also wondered what anyone who didn't know much about Leftist politics would make of his work.

44pgmcc
mayo 12, 2019, 6:01 pm

>43 RobertDay: I had an interesting conversation with Ken about the Engines of Light trilogy at Worldcon in Glasgow in 2005 and would like to share his comments with you after you have finished it. Perhaps we can have a pint at Worldcon in August and discuss it.

45Shrike58
mayo 13, 2019, 7:16 am

Just starting Chakraborty today.

46Shrike58
mayo 13, 2019, 7:17 am

You're one with the zeitgeist!

47pgmcc
mayo 13, 2019, 7:31 am

>46 Shrike58: There's a first time for everything.

48dustydigger
mayo 14, 2019, 5:54 am

Frantically shopping and packing for my trip to USA on Thursday.I'm taking Leviathan Wakes on my Kindle,but am taking a break from Rainbow's End. I feel the same way about this as I did about Snow Crash,(some of you may remember my aversion to Stephenson!),its just not my genre,one for the boys I think.
Vinge has been all downhill for me. Really loved A Fire Upon the Deep,disliked almost everyone and the plot in Deepness in the Sky and now Rainbow is boring me to tears. lol.
I am going to revisit Lovecraft and Poe as my ''beach reads'' (mountain reads? I'm going to the Blue Ridge montains of Virginia:doubt if I'll see a lonesome pine,its a very thickly wooded are )and maybe some SF lite,but nothing taxing,I'm switching off my brain for a fortnight.
See you all beginning of June! :0)

49anglemark
mayo 14, 2019, 6:11 am

>48 dustydigger: Enjoy your trip stateside, Dusty! And add the book I'm currently reading to your TBR pile, Kij Johnson's The river bank : a sequel to Kenneth Grahame's The wind in the willows!

50pgmcc
mayo 14, 2019, 6:15 am

>48 dustydigger: Bon voyage.

You cannot go wrong with Poe and Lovecraft.

51Petroglyph
mayo 14, 2019, 6:33 am

>48 dustydigger:
Take care travelling those country roads, dustydigger! And enjoy your trip!

52seitherin
mayo 14, 2019, 9:07 am

>48 dustydigger: Safe journey.

53Stevil2001
mayo 14, 2019, 10:26 am

Started my next Hugo book last night, the Calculating Stars. So far I'm finding it very well written; I don't think I've read anything by Kowal before.

54paradoxosalpha
mayo 14, 2019, 11:44 am

>49 anglemark: Kij Johnson's The river bank : a sequel to Kenneth Grahame's The wind in the willows!

Ooh, I didn't know about that one. Johnson's Vellit Boe was a good read that I've handed off to my daughter.

55ScoLgo
mayo 14, 2019, 1:52 pm

>48 dustydigger: Happy trails, dusty! Hope you fully enjoy your visit across the pond.

56rshart3
Editado: mayo 15, 2019, 11:18 am

>48 dustydigger:
Going to the Appalachians to read Lovecraft! Watch out for strange cults, and the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. :-)
edit Which reminds me: if you like Poe & Lovecraft, and are going to the Appalachians, another good read would be the Silver John stories by Manly Wade Wellman -- the best known collection is Who Fears the Devil. The story "O Ugly Bird" is a classic. They feature a wandering minstrel in the Appalachians who encounters various eerie or supernatural situations.

57Shrike58
Editado: mayo 15, 2019, 3:29 pm

I basically finished The City of Brass (A-) on the way home from work today. I was impressed but maybe not quite as much as the people who love it to death (being rushed to get it done admittedly didn't help). There were maybe a few too many conversations that mostly existed to be data dumps and I have a certain sense that the real story is only starting at the end of the book, as the main character spends a lot of time being a "fish out of water" when she gets to the city of the title having been rescued after inadvertently releasing dark forces in Cairo. I certainly look forward to continuing with the next novel in the series though.

58SChant
mayo 16, 2019, 3:03 am

Just raced through Tiamat's Wrath, the most recent Expanse novel, and wow - that's the way to write Space Opera! From the first shocking line it's a thrill-ride of plots and plans, action and re-action, joy and sorrow. Can't wait for the next one.

59pgmcc
mayo 16, 2019, 3:50 am

>57 Shrike58: I agree that it looks like only part of the story. The City of Brass contains a number of Chekov's guns which were not used and that I believe are in place for later events.

I have The Kingdom of Copper and am itching to start it, but have a couple of things happening that prevent my starting it immediately.

60SFF1928-1973
Editado: mayo 16, 2019, 5:38 am

My re-read of The Reproductive System was a bit disappointing. While the satirical barbs about 60s counter-culture and the military-industrial complex are all there it doesn't quite work as a cohesive novel, more a series of absurd incidents. I'm beginning to think Sladek's real forte was short fiction (see his excellent collection The Steam-Driven Boy).

Next up I'm reading Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn.

61RobertDay
mayo 16, 2019, 8:40 am

Made a start on Redshirts. A bit underwhelmed, TBH; it reads like fan fiction, though I suppose that's not inappropriate.

62SChant
mayo 17, 2019, 9:04 am

Started Jim Al-Khalili's Sunfall - as I anticipated the science/technology is excellent but the characterization not so much!

63RobertDay
mayo 23, 2019, 7:59 am

Finished Redshirts; I thought it was going to be a one-trick pony, but once the characters actually begin challenging their reality, things pick up. In the end, though, I feel it's a novel about modern Hollywood first and foremost.

Coincidentally, I shall tonight be starting on another Scalzi, Lock In.

64SChant
mayo 24, 2019, 8:04 am

Just started Look to Windward, the only Iain M. Banks I have yet to read.

65pgmcc
mayo 24, 2019, 8:16 am

>64 SChant:

That is one I like a lot. I look forward to reading what you think about it.

66ChrisRiesbeck
mayo 24, 2019, 2:50 pm

Finished Four past Midnight, halfway through The Million Cities

67iansales
mayo 24, 2019, 4:16 pm

Just started The Bitter Twins. Not a big fan of fantasy, and these don't strike me as especially better-written than is typical but they do have some interesting world-building.

68daxxh
mayo 25, 2019, 12:20 am

Read a couple of novellas - Beneath the Sugar Sky and Vigilance (wrong touchstone showing up for this one). I am not much for Young Adult books, so I didn't really like Beneath the Sugar Sky. Vigilance was kind of too close to reality. The way people watch reality shows and the way people behave now - anything for ratings and attention, made this one a little disturbing.

I am halfway through A Memory Called Empire. I am liking it so far.

69dwhatson
mayo 25, 2019, 7:44 am

Hi, I'm currently reading 'Summerland' by Hannu Rajaniemi and 'Barbary Station' by R.E. Stearns. I've read Rajaniemi before and really enjoyed his work, even if it is a little out there. Stearns is new to me. Barbary Station is, so far, a bit of a standard space station/pirates/rogue A.I. sci-fi romp. Nothing extraordinary but a fun read. 'Vox' by Christina Dalcher is next on the list.

70drmamm
mayo 25, 2019, 9:50 am

>64 SChant: I'm about halfway through Look to Windward right now. (And it also completes the Culture books for me!)

71ThomasWatson
mayo 25, 2019, 8:48 pm

It's been quite a while since I've been able to log on here. Chronic computer and internet connectivity issues - long and boring story. Last time I checked in, I was about to read Imago by Octavia Butler. Strange, unsettling, beautiful, with an ending that made sense in the context of all that had gone before.

After that, read Glowgems for Profit by Bruce Davis. One of those awkward experiences that crops up now and then when you know an author. The book really didn't do anything for me. YMMV

Children of the Atom by Wilmar H. Shiras was an altogether different matter. While clearly a book of its times in terms of writing style, it was very readable, and in fact, hard to put down. It also seems relevant to modern times, but its basic theme of the cost of being "different" is surely one that has not gone away. The first chapter, "In Hiding" is a piece of short fiction I've read in a number of anthologies over the years, but until now, I'd never tracked down the "fix up" novel that ties it and other stories into one narrative. If you can find a copy, it's worth a read.

Currently reading Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which so far proven a different and interesting book.

72iansales
mayo 26, 2019, 3:55 am

Read Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach, one of the novellas on the Hugo shortlist. Not bad. Feels like an episode set in a world used in other stories, however. Not sure if it belongs on the shortlist.

73SFF1928-1973
Editado: mayo 31, 2019, 6:09 pm

So I finished Of Men & Monsters, which I found enjoyable and different, even despite a rather off-the-wall final twist. I won't be reading any more William Tenn novels though, because - there aren't any!

Next up I'm reading The Palace of Love by Jack Vance. Sounds romantic!

74seitherin
mayo 27, 2019, 3:16 pm

About to start a review copy of Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe.

75bnielsen
mayo 28, 2019, 4:23 am

>73 SFF1928-1973: I think the touchstone has gone wrong. (I'm currently looking at some of my Tenn books too, since I became aware that Amazon had supplied the "information" that they had a weight of 0.5 kg :-)

76Sakerfalcon
mayo 28, 2019, 10:45 am

I read The space between the stars at the weekend, which was pretty good. It's more literary than hard SF, with more character growth than plot (although there is a dramatic climax at the end). The premise is that a virus has wiped out 99% of humanity throughout the settled universe. The protagonist wakes alone and goes in search of other survivors. It's very well written and nice to read something of this ilk by a British author.

Now I've started City of pearl by Karen Traviss.

77Shrike58
mayo 28, 2019, 9:22 pm

Finished Ashes of Candesce (B+) this evening and while I'm not sure that Karl Schroeder needed five books to tell this story he does wrap it up in an epic and convincing fashion.

78dwhatson
mayo 29, 2019, 4:16 am

Hi SFF1928-1973, I'd be interested to know what you thought of Tik-Tok?

79andyl
mayo 30, 2019, 4:01 am

>72 iansales:

Yep pleasant enough. I think the episode in a wider world, a wider narrative, must have been something that Robson was aiming for as it was so obvious. And yes, I agree, for me it doesn't do enough for me to win and I don't think I nominated it either (and I had read it before nominations closed).

80dustydigger
mayo 30, 2019, 5:59 pm

>56 rshart3: Well,I returned safely from the ancient hills and empty forests which swallowed a colony.leaving behind only the enigmatic word CROATOAN.
I was staying in a house on top of a hill one mile from the main road. A winding narrow road,no street lights, with precipitous drops inches from the road, led to a house standing alone,with a little lawn around it then dense forest tree tops level with the upper rooms of the house. Nothing to see anywhere but trees and looming rough mountains far above,which certainly looked like suitable settings for evil sacrifices!. lol. Loved it. Apart from finishing Leviathan Wakes and an urban fantasy novel I did indeed read Lovecraft,though not Poe,rereading old favourite tales,and filling in a few stories not previously read.
I had lots of time to read because I hid in the house (thankfully airconditioned) as the temp never dropped below 90F,and indeed they were expecting a record 99F the day after we left! lol.Too, too, much for this British lass. Came back to pouring rain and a rather low 55F much more tolerable to me. I had heatstroke once in Africa and it was awful,I take a lot of care now. I just go red then peel. Came back home without even a trace of a tan! :0)
I am continuing on rereading HPL in June,and MUST finish the last 100 pages of Vinge's Rainbows End,not my cup of tea at all
Thanks for the tip on Wellman. I see Open Library have several John the Balladeer books,i will take a look later.I wasnt familiar with this author at all,so thanks!

81RobertDay
mayo 30, 2019, 6:36 pm

Welcome home, dusty!

And now you need to check out Ken Macleod's 'Engines of Light' trilogy (Cosmonaut Keep, Dark Light and Engine City) as they involve, amongst other places, a human-settled world called Croatoan...

I remember Dave Langford once saying that the first time he went to the East Coast of the USA, he ended up looking for the words "air conditioning" the way he looked for the words "real ale" at home.

82rshart3
mayo 30, 2019, 10:54 pm

>80 dustydigger:
Glad you had the experience. I love reading stuff in especially suitable settings. One of my traditions is that during power outages I light a bunch of candles & read horror or ghost stories, but your setting outdoes that by far. Of course you're on the opposite end of the temperature-preference spectrum from HPL; as you may know, he had a horror of cold temperatures (though I doubt even he liked 90-some degrees & humid).

83Sakerfalcon
mayo 31, 2019, 4:25 am

>80 dustydigger: That sounds like a terrific location, apart from the heat. But at least staying in the aircon gave you plenty of time to read.

84SFF1928-1973
mayo 31, 2019, 6:13 pm

>78 dwhatson: Loved it! It was a long time ago that I read it but I seem to recall it being both funny and accessible.

85Petroglyph
Jun 1, 2019, 2:31 am

On the last day of May I read The flying saucer by Dede Kamkondo: A pseudo-mythological short story that was recommended to me as SF (see cover image), but which really is some sort of mythological fantasy -- the cover has nothing at all to do with the actual story. It's apparently fondly remembered by many in Malawi.

86iansales
Jun 1, 2019, 3:49 am

>79 andyl: have now read Artificial Condition and Binti: The Night Masquerade. The first was fun but far too light to deserve to be on the shortlist. The Okorafor is terrible. She cannot write at all. Everything by her I've read reads like it was written by a semi-literate teenager.

87vwinsloe
Editado: Jun 1, 2019, 7:18 am

>86 iansales:. I've only read Who Fears Death and did not really get on with it myself. I think that I am not her intended audience. Perhaps her audience is semi-literate teenagers?

I found this article about her to be of interest: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ae-nnedi-okorafor-sci-fi-0526-st...

Clearly, others with far more discerning taste than mine recognize her talent.

Únete para publicar