Our reads August 2019

Another month,another pile of books. Share your thoughts on what you are reading.

Dusty's TBR for August
SF/F reads
Paolo Bacigalupi - Windup Girl✔
Chad Oliver - Shadows in the Sun ✔
Andre Norton - Postmarked the Stars ✔
Charles Stross - Annihilation Score ✔
Andre Norton - People of the Crater✔
Jack Dann (ed) - Timegates ✔
Simon R Green - Into the Thinnest of Air ✔
Andre Norton - Galactic Derelict ✔

from other genres
Donna Leon - Death at La Fenice ✔
Judy Blume - Are You There God? It's Me,Margaret ✔
Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway✔
Blake Pierce - Once Taken ✔
Dr Seuss - Horton Hears a Who ✔
Dr Seuss - Horton Hatches the Egg ✔
Dr Seuss - Beyond Zebra ✔
C S Lewis - Voyage of the Dawn Treader✔
Judith Cutler - Head Wound✔

John Wyndham - The Kraken Wakes - The English version after having read a Danish version of a shorter (American?) version "Out of the Deep".

I'm reading Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick. So far it's pretty funny and sexy.

This month's slate of novels consists of The Lost Plot, Trail of Lightning and Quantum Night.

Still reading Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milan...

I have 50 pages left in Relic by Alan Dean Foster. I have The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian Walker and Edges by Linda Nagata on the top of the TBR pile.

>2 dustydigger: Postmarked the Stars! I did so love Dane Thorsen and the Solar Queen crew.

Still moving along in Exhalation: Stories and "Exhalation" is as good a read as "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" wasn't for me.

>5 Shrike58: Trail of Lightning has been getting a massive push even though it looks like bog-standard urban fantasy.

Just finished Valis by PKD - hughely entertaining drug-addled ramblings about metaphysics, gods and the universe. Now starting Life by Gwyneth Jones, the theme of which seems to be gender and science. I think it won a Tiptree award?

Finished Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence. Liked it.

We've had some discussion of the Hugo shortlist, especially for short fiction, this year, so I thought people might be interested in my ballot rankings/commentary: https://lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com/2019/08/2019-hugo-awards-ballot-bes...

Still carrying on with Red moon.

Also now that I'm done with reading Hugo finalists, I'm reading some old-school award winners in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Three. I would say it's not as good as volumes one and two-B, but better than volume two-A. Has a number of good stories I've never read before, like "Repent, Harlequin!" said the Ticktockman and Aye, and Gomorrah.

We'll see how it goes!

The book I expect to be underwhelmed by is Sawyer's but my book group wanted to read something by one of the guests of honor at our local convention. I probably wouldn't have chosen it otherwise.

>12 Stevil2001: I never heard of any of these authors. Is there nothing new by Asimov this year?

I am currently reading Borne by Jeff VanderMeer. I'm only about 100 pages in but enjoying it so far.

I'm enjoying Charlie Stross' Singularity Sky; it's a sort of space-opera version of The Prisoner of Zenda (in setting, though not plot), with a strong Ken Macleod influence. The Ruritanian Space Navy is just about replicating the events of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 (and they are taking the roles of the Russians; this did not end well for them). So that's a number of my boxes ticked, then.

>16 SFF1928-1973: Several have won Hugos and/or Nebulas, so they're not nobodies, though it does seem as though there are more early-career than late-career finalists this year.

>9 iansales: I would hardly call Trail of Lightning bog-standard unless there is a whole raft of indigenous fantasy books that I am unaware of. I thought it was great and I'm not usually smitten by fantasy.

>20 gypsysmom: Not saying the indigenous aspects are bog-standard, just the urban fantasy aspects.

>12 Stevil2001: Hmm, your ballots are pretty much the opposite of mine

>20 gypsysmom:, >21 iansales: I don't read much urban fantasy, but Trail of Lightning read like a pretty straightforward example of the genre except for the setting. (So technically it's not even urban!)

>22 iansales: I had that feeling based on your comments in these threads!

>2 dustydigger:
Tsk, tsk -- you're late for the Woolf: Dalloway Day was in June. :-)

I like Chad Oliver; an underappreciated author.

>24 rshart3: I wasnt aware of a ''Dalloway Day'',but I doubt I would have celebrated it,as Mrs Dalloway is leaving me cold. All that intricate,allusive style isnt my cup of tea.
Apparently Woolf,whilst recognizing James Joyce's major influence on the modern novel, found Ulysses,written 3 years before Mrs D, too coarse and flashy. Its fun comparing and contrasting the two works,as they both follow 24 hours in the life of their protagonist. I love Ulysses,and have read it 3 times,whereas this is my third attempt at Woolf,and I usually dont get further in than about 10 pages before wanting to doze off,but I am grimly determined to finish it this time,and actually reached page 30 today! lol.

>20 gypsysmom: >21 iansales: >23 Stevil2001:
I thought that Trail of Lightning was pretty standard in how it used plot, characterization of the protagonist, and setting for an urban fantasy, but that it was considerably defter at using mythological elements. In particular, setting aside its representation, I thought that it did a better job of depicting interactions between gods and humans than I'm used to seeing.

Added In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns by Elizabeth Bear to my rotation.

>25 dustydigger: Have you read Orlando: A Biography ? It's the only fiction by Woolf's I like. Her essays are great though.

>25 dustydigger: Not read Orlando yet,but its definitely on my radar

Just finished Andre Norton's People of the Crater.It was her first published work and is a lively little tale in the lost peoples living underground - this time in Antarctica - genre. At least it was more enjoyable than the Abraham Merritt book,The Moon Pool which I trudged through a couple of months ago! lol.

>25 dustydigger:
Have all 3 of your Woolf attempts been Dalloway? Perhaps To the Lighthouse would work better, or one of her more "normal" novels like The Voyage Out or The Years? I love all her novels (except maybe Orlando), but somehow Mrs. Dalloway has never grabbed me as much.

I also have read Ulysses 3 times, and have a love/hate relationship with it. It's clever, wide & deep, and very lyrical at times; but I think I know what Woolf meant about "flashy". He overdoes the intellectual pyrotechnics. Reading Ulysses sometimes makes me feel like I'm trapped in a room with a non-stop talker who's determined to show me how brilliant he is, over & over & over. And any book where one needs endless footnotes in order to catch more of the references, is doubtful to me. Well, it won't stop me from reading it again, I'm sure.

Between the Acts is my favorite Woolf. It covers one day in a country town (where a play is being put on) but also somehow captures the world in itself.

Finished In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns vy Elizabeth Bear. Odd little story.

>31 rshart3:. a couple of attempts at Dalloway,and one attempt each at To the Lighthouse and The Waves. I am doing a monthly challenge elsewhere to read a book that I have had around for eons,and I agreed to read this one for August. Other months books included Brideshead Revisited and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I managed those OK,but obviously Mrs D and I are having a sticky relationship.
I forgive Joyce for any hubris etc because of the sheer fun I get from his verbal pyrotechnics,and of course the Everyman character Bloom.And as for Molly's monologue,though I have NOT had a host of ''suitors'' like this blowsy cut price Penelope,I always feel like searching the wardrobe to see if Joyce is hiding there,he hits the nail on the head so many times on the way my rather muddled female mind works! lol.
By comparison Woolf seems a bit tame,and I feel little to no connection with her. I find myself reading Woolf with my ''critic's hat'' on,dutifully noting the themes etc,but with little emotional attachment.In contrast, with Ulysses I have never bothered with annotations,except for the greek mythology connection. I have a pretty deep knowledge of the myths,and the Odyssey,and that provides a big enough clue for me to enjoy picking things up as I go along,but I couldnt bear to read along with footnotes. Joyce provides enough brilliance wit and interesting things to keep us involved despite any ignorance

I finished Red moon. It was fine, better than Aurora which was a DNF for me, but not so engaging as 2312. I liked the three main characters in RM well enough that I wanted to find out what happened to them.

Now I've started The outside by Ada Hoffman which is really good so far.

Finished Postmarked the Stars one of Andre Norton's Solar Queen series,easy,enjoyable reading as ever. Now starting Chad Oliver's Shadows in in the Sun

Loved loved loved Dr Seuss's Horton Hears a Who. Fantastic book! Why am I posting it here? Well,its the tale of a society living at peace on a ball of dust when they are ripped away through space over huge distances. They send out cries for help,which are so faint to the much larger creatures far far away that only one person hears the cry for help,and is discredited,ridiculed,abused and hated for his beliefs.He perseveres searching through millions of locations to find the inhabited miniature world. Eventually the inhabitants find a way to amplify their signal strongly enough to reach other sceptics,just in time to save the poor beaten up rescuer from prison or even a mental home.Okay,so Horton is an elephant,and the inhabitants of the speck of dust are tiny Whos,but the morals are still telling.Hooray for Horton.
I think parents in 1954 must have felt cold shudders down the spine as they read of the mindless hatred and cruelty displayed by Horton's society. There is a really vicious kangeroo who instigates the hatred,with a baby in the pouch which seems to mindlessly reiterate the views of its parent.
I would classify this as a fantasy,because the sudden conversion of haters by logic,facts and evidence are unfortunately not true to life,as we see all too clearly around us today....(sigh)....
I rate this as a 4 1/2 star book. Cant give it five because Horton should probably not have interfered,but left the Whos safely hidden in among the 3 million other plants! Of course then we wouldnt have urged on our valiant principled, kind and resolute hero to win through.
Lovely book,fine lessons to learn and brilliantly illustrated. Why did I not discover this till I was 71? lol.

>38 dustydigger:, lol, I had exactly the same thought when it became lost in the field of 3 million other plants. But I guess Horton felt too personally responsible and alarmed by possible injury to the Whos to just let it be.

Just started a collection of Nalo Hopkinson's short fiction Falling in Love with Hominids.

I'm currently reading Always Coming Home: Author's Expanded Edition from the Library of America. Interesting, but I think I admire what Le Guin is doing here more than I actually enjoy reading it.

>41 Stevil2001:, I'm curious about that one since discovering it was at least partially inspired by Islandia.

I finished Other Worlds Than These at the end of July (it was OK) and started The Weird, which may not focus on but certainly contains a lot of scifi.

Also recently read the comic collection / graphic novel Barrier by Vaughan, Brian K. et al., which was excellent (if you like that sort of thing).

That's about it for sf.

>40 SChant: That Nalo Hopkinson collection has been hovering near my "read soon"ever since I acquired it in an ebook bundle a few years ago. One day!

Does anyone remember the details of the occupation of Kim Stanley Robinson's main character in New York 2140 ? I just saw a quick video interview today on CNBC of a guy who has a tech start up company that evaluates the risk of climate change on coastal properties for large corporations, cities, states, insurance companies etc. Wasn't that what the guy in Kim's book did? - maybe Kim should file a law suit, the new tech company is getting huge $$$ from "angel investors". Can't find the clip on CNBC but it is there somewhere I bet.

>43 igorken: One of 10 World SF books I picked up for $20 last week as a download from storybundle.com. Also contains works by Lavie Tidhar and Lauren Beukes, as well ad a couple of unknown-to-me authors - well worth the price so far!

>44 DugsBooks: I'm unsure that you can copyright an idea for a future profession in an sf novel and then claim infringement because someone's done it in real life. After all, how many Golden Age sf authors could have sued NASA for plagiarism for sending a mission to the Moon?

It would have been much easier if some film-maker had just ripped off the setting of the KSR novel and put in an entrepreneur character "...who has a tech start up company that evaluates the risk of climate change on coastal properties for large corporations, cities, states, insurance companies etc.". That would have been easy; and probably cheaper to litigate on.

Finished Singularity Sky, which I enjoyed, once I got my head around its "Ruritanians in space" thing and its echoes of all sorts of stuff from The Good Soldier Svejk to the (mis-)fortunes of the Tsarist Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.

Having a little pre-Worldcon break with a book on women soldiers in the Great Patriotic War before picking up KSR's Galileo's Dream.

>47 RobertDay: I loved The Good Soldier Svejk. I also amazed a Serbian friend who was amazed I had even heard of it let alone had read it.

>48 pgmcc: Dontcha just lurve it when that happens? :-)

>49 RobertDay: Dontcha just! ;-)

Hope to see you in Dublin next week. I am planning what I want to go to in the 153 page programme and when I see my vacant spots I will suggest a meet up time and place at the Con.

>45 SChant: Hah, neat - I got that too, but I already had the Hopkinson.

I picked up the bundle mainly for the Tidhar, Lavie book and a couple of authors/editors I'd been somewhat interested in and can now check out on the cheap. Glad you're liking it so far!

>44 DugsBooks:
>46 RobertDay:
Yeah, I was trying to be "tongue in cheek" about the event - I was just startled at the prescience of KSR. The descriptive video of the start up company read like an excerpt from NY 2140 according to my tired old memory.

>41 Stevil2001:, >42 Cecrow: I very much enjoyed Always Coming Home, and had heard LeGuin mention Islandia, a lifetime-of-joy read for me, as part of its history. Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy, the way reading connects readers and writers.

I finished and quite enjoyed The Dispatcher. Scalzi's reliably entertaining, and this time has delivered the best TV pilot I've read this year.

>52 DugsBooks: I know we all say "Science fiction does not aim to predict the future!!" but sometimes it certainly does get it stunningly right.

I've been reading The Beast That Shouted Love At the Heart of the World, a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison. It's a mixed bag: the later stories are what you would expect from Ellison but some of the older stories are indifferent or worse.

Next up I'm re-reading The Black Corridor by Michael Moorcock.

Finally finished Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl.As a female,sections of the book about Emiko's ordeals at the hands of brutal men were very very hard to take,and the whole book was a grim tough read. Bacigalupi punches us with brutally graphic depictions of a dystopian setting where we have ruined our world but the rich corporatians are even more greedy, grasping,ruthless and pitiless than they are now,just more overt. I certainly was a lot more scrupulous with my recycling this week,dont want to hasten that horrific future! lol

That brings me to the end of my Hugo and Nebula winners challenge.99 books in all,so varied,sometimes beautiful.sometimes frightening or shocking,a great snapshot of the zeitgeist of the times of the books.
Ending there with Windup Girl. Our library system has been starved of cash for books,and little is being added to stock,things are deteriorating year by year. Last year only one of the Hugo nominees was added to stock,and this year NONE of the books are available.
Hey,I'll wait 4 or 5 years,when the secondhand copies prices drop! lol.
Now I will turn my attention to the Locus award winners,which unlike the Hugos and Nebulas,are nearly all available 12 books there to get to 2018,but some of them are HUGE

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon
Ursula K LeGuin - The Telling
Connie Willis - Passage
Kim Stanley Robinson - Years of Rice and Salt
Dan Simmons - Ilium
Neal Stephenson - The System of the World
Charles Stross - Accelerando
Neal Stephenson - Anathem
Cherie Priest - Boneshaker
James S A Corey - Abaddon's Gate
Cixin Liu - Death's End
John Scalzi - The Collapsing Empire

Yep,and note some of my fave authors,(not) - Stephenson,KSR,Willis! :0)
I will be reading Boneshaker,Abaddon's Gate,Death's End and The Collapsing Empire this year,and expect the rest will take all of next year. Oh joy.......Anathem AND Ilium. Eek ;0)

>56 dustydigger: ...some of them are HUGE.

:-) I think you mean, "...most of them are HUGE."

>56 dustydigger:
Dusty "Our library system has been starved of cash for books,and little is being added to stock,things are deteriorating year by year. Last year only one of the Hugo nominees was added to stock,and this year NONE of the books are available. "
Rick No interlibrary loan?

>38 dustydigger: & >39 Cecrow:

My mother introduced me to Horton when I was a little boy. Horton Hears the Who is great, but I have always been more of a Horton Hatches the Egg fan. When I was about seven, I could recite that whole book by memory. A lesser known, and in my view grandly subversive, Dr. Seuss book is On Beyond Zebra, which is about the wonders of the letters that come after Z in the alphabet:

"I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends, but my alphabet starts where your alphabet ends."

and

"If you stop at the Z, then you're stuck in a rut. But on beyond zebra, you're anything but."

If my mother had realized how I was going to take to that message, she might have stuck to Horton!

>59 rocketjk: the Danish alphabet ends in ...xyzæøå, so æøå most be beyond zebra :-) I never knew.

>58 rshart3: Rick, our inter-library loan system is now a fairly well-kept secret. Since the financial crisis, many of our libraries have been sold off or are now run by volunteers; I don't know how much they know about the ILL system. In the days when I used it a lot, it was free: those UK authorities that publicise it nowadays also list charges, ranging from £2 in Cambridgeshire (if the book can be located within their regional inter-library loan scheme) to £8 in Cornwall. Cornwall also charge £13.80 for a loan from the British Library, whereas Cambridge start at £15 to get a book from the BL, plus various other carriage charges.

The ILL system seems more widespread amongst academic libraries - most of the hits I got when Googling the subject were for university libraries.

>62 RobertDay: I don't know book prices in England, but aren't you approaching or passing new paperback prices with those higher loan charges?

>59 rocketjk:
"I meant what I said and I said what I meant,
An elephant's faithful 100 per cent!"

>62 RobertDay:
Too bad -- another important govt service takes a hit. That's happening in the U.S. too; except it's not because of a financial crisis, it's to give the multi-millionaires in the top 1% enormous tax breaks.

>60 bnielsen: & >61 supercell: Interesting info about those alphabets, past Z-wise. Obviously, you understand that Dr. Seuss' point was about thinking yourself past the last letter of whatever alphabet you've been taught, whatever that letter might be! :)

>64 rshart3: Yep!

>66 rocketjk: If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. :-)

>63 pjfarm: Exactly! I wanted a rather obscure book,and the library said it would cost £12. I got a secondhand copy online,£5 including postage!
The most popular genres are still supported,but SF,fantasy and the like seem to be easy targets for cuts. No less than five series I used to enjoy were abruptly cut off. Very annoying when you have read 5-8 previous entries in the series!

I have great faith that at least one and possibly both of my grandfathers left the Austrian realms to dodge the draft pre-1914 so this is a book I need to break down and read sometime.

"Cryptonomicon" and "Years of Rice and Salt" were the last novels by those respective authors that I really enjoyed.

>56 dustydigger: I'm not sure I dare mention that The system of the world is the third volume in a trilogy of similarly-sized books ....

The Black Corridor was both better and worse than I remember. The description of a fractured and declining Britain is almost prescient in its' foreshadowing of the country post-EU referendum. On the other hand the ending was more lame than I remembered. Incidentally it's also one of the shortest SF novels I've ever read.

Next up another re-read: Ubik by Philip K. Dick.

''I'm not sure I dare mention that The system of the world is the third volume in a trilogy of similarly-sized books ....''

Hush Sakerfalcon! It nearly killed me to read Snow Crash,took about 6 weeks and it wasnt too long so no way will I read two doorstoppers just to prepare for a third That will probably be the final one of this challenge. I will take it easy though,will take months if necessary..
I wont be reading the first and second Baroque cycle books. And as for Anathem1100pages of miniscule text. The first time I saw it on the library shelf I nearly died,and ended up putting it back and scuttling away as if the devil was behind me.lol.
Cryptonomicon is a mere 900pages long (!) but the print is tiny and blurred and awful to read.Snow Crash wasnt wellpresented either,and with my failing eyesight I expect to have a myriad of short sessions.....(sigh)......

an ''O'' author
In Chad Oliver' Shadows in the Sun,a young anthropologist comes to realize that the small Texan town (pop.6000) he is surveying is actually occupied by alien settlers,who flawlessly imitate humans in every way.Wryly he realizes that to the aliens he is like an aborigine before the white bossman,the cave dweller gawking at the gleaming glass skyscraper,the neanderthal before the wisest modern scientific genius.They offer him the chance to travel to the stars if he becomes one of them.
I really enjoyed this 1954 novel of ''Uplift'',where humans are the ones to be uplifted. Amazing how in barely 200 pages the author can deal with all sorts of themes of culture and identity,and still tell a cracking good story with a sympathetic hero.Most modern books would have barely set out the premise in 200 pages :0) A great read.
The only previous Chad Oliver book I had read was a cute little juvenile SF book,Mists of Dawn,but I see 2 more of his books on Open Library,so I will search them out.
The warmly humanistic tone reminded me of Clifford D Simaks work in someways.managed to get hold of Simak's very first book,Cosmic Engineers,and am waiting for the delivery of More Than Human.Must be 30 years or more since I read it,but I still have a fond vibe about it,so its about time I reread it.

>73 dustydigger: Even though you are already not a Stephenson fan, reading the final three books (there are 8 contained in three volumes), will have you coming into the story mid-stream. And it is very much one long story that is spread out across multiple books & volumes. It would be a bit like reading The Return of the King without first experiencing The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.

Either way, it's best to read Cryptonomicon first. The entire Baroque Cycle is a prequel to that novel so, if you (somehow, against all odds), end up enjoying it, you may change your mind on reading all three preceding volumes. Also, the storyline in The Baroque Cycle will absolutely spoil the ending of Cryptonomicon.

Hi ScoLgo,good to see you! Ok,I'll read Crypto first and see if I can face 3 LOOOOONG books.lol.

>76 dustydigger: I would not want to put you off the idea of reading them all but... allow me to present The Original Baroque Cycle Manuscript.

If the thought of reading these giant tomes, (I think the total page count of the pictured hardcovers is somewhere north of 2,600 pages), is daunting to you, just imagine Stephenson writing the story using nothing but a fountain pen!

Speaking of long novels my agenda for next year is to get up to date with the works of N.K. Jemisin and "The Expanse" series!

As for the novel of the moment I just finished up The Lost Plot (B+) and wound up liking it more than I thought I would at points in the action; that Cogman has apparently contracted to write at least nine of these books does make me wonder how much longer she can stretch out her material. This is what usually kills most urban fantasy series for me; they simply go on too long for their own good.

Finally finished The Great Hunt. Like the first book, it was dull for much of its length, then shitloads happened in the last 50 pages or so. The writing is no better, and the various characters' quirks are still annoying. Rand still acts like a 13-year- old too. But the characters who do speak like this all the time, they do be most bloody irritating.

Finished The outside which was a great read. Strong characters, interesting worldbuilding and lots to think about.

Now I've started Velocity weapon which has got off to a good start.

Added Autonomous by Annalee Newitz to my reading rotation.

>77 ScoLgo: Thanks for that awesome picture!

The Baroque Cycle is perhaps my favourite series ever, but from what I've learned of dustydigger's preferences in these threads, I very much agree with your advise in post 75.

I once made the mistake of gifting the entire series to a friend (because he'd enjoyed Cryptonomicon) and I don't think he ever opened volumes 2 and 3, so while great, it's not for everyone.

>83 igorken: Thanks. It is quite the display and I have been lucky enough to see it in person - although I am not the photographer that took that photo.

I read the trilogy about 3 years ago. The books had been sitting on my shelf for a long time until I finally decided to dive in. Ended up really enjoying it. Kinda wish I had re-read Cryptonomicon first to refresh but I figure I can always do a re-read of the entire thing in the future. I agree that Stephenson is not for everyone - but I like most of his stuff that I've read.

I just started and finished Double Star, zipping through the whole book in a day. Wow! Unpretentious, but fun, and inspirational in parts, and kind of moving at the end. I read some of the big Heinleins back in the day, but this was my first early one, and I can see why Heinlein was the guy for so many.

Finished my re-reading of Ubik, which impressed me even more the second time around. It's amazing to me how such a far-out narrative can be made to hang together in a logical way, indeed that seems to be something of a lost art in fiction. Having said that I'm not going to add much more about a classic SF novel that you will all have an opinion on (assuming you've read it). And if you haven't you definitely should.

Finished Mrs Dalloway. Interesting variant of stream of consciousness,slivers of thoughts,memories,actions that form a sort of verbal thicket around the inner isolated characters.We are expected to peer in,but I didnt find the glimpses of these people very interesting!lol,
Well,at least I can now affirm that I have actually completed a Woolf novel.lol.
And I classed it as limbering up for Ted Sturgeon's More Than Human next month. More verbal thickets,and perhaps not very pleasant characters!
For now its The Annihilation Score and a reread of Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Just in time for tomorrow's Hugo ceremony, here's my comments/rankings of the finalists for Best Novel, Best Related Work, and Best Young Adult Book: https://lessaccurategrandmother.blogspot.com/2019/08/2019-hugo-awards-ballot-bes...

Added Pandemic by A. G. Riddle to my rotation.

Knocked off Quantum Night (C-) this evening. I don't think the science that it's built on is very good, the plot wasn't very appealing and I suspect that this is simply a gentler, kinder version of The Marching Morons. Sawyer has done better and I hope he does better in the future.

Slightly SF-related, I've been reading Blown by Philip Jose Farmer. I won't bother non-furry group members with details but I left a micro-review on the relevant page. Suffice it to say that it foreshadows the same author's use of real life people in fiction that he continued to mine throughout the inexplicably famous Riverworld series.

Next up I'm into Dick of another kind (Philip K.) represented by We Can Build You.

I really disliked Leviathan Wakes the first time I read it; it was on sale for the Kindle recently; since I really, really like the show The Expanse I decided to try the novel again, and so far it's much much much more successful for me this time.

I am very happy about this.

On the way to Dublin, I made a start on KSR's Galileo's Dream. Quite dense reading, mixing a pen portrait of Galileo during the years of his major astronomical discoveries (the mountains on the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn), his consequent support for the Copernican worldview, and the trouble that got him into, with an sfnal story of Galileo being pulled through time to bring a different perspective to the discovery of life in the Jovian system a thousand years from now.

Not quite sure what to make of it; the book is thick enough for either story to make a substantial novel on its own, and I'm uncertain what the juxtaposition of the two is supposed to achieve.

Thanks to Star Trek: Voyager, I'm visualising Galileo as John Rhys-Davies. This works but I feel I may be victim of a little typecasting. Still, the penportrait stuff is quite engaging and there are moments of levity.

>92 richardderus: I found Leviathan Wakes an OK read,but nothing too special. I then read Caliban's War,same sort of reaction,though I liked it a little more ,probably getting used to the characters,and they did get rid of the annoying detective Miller,though it seems he is back in Abaddon's Gate,somehow,though dead,.....(sigh).....
I only read them as preludes to the Locus award winning Abaddon's Gate,which I intend to read next month. But they are rather duty reads for me,and I will only progress to Cibola Burn if Abaddon impresses me. I tend to go back farther in the past for my space opera reads. I used to love the oldtimers from E Doc Smith onwards.
The male authors tend to be more prominent and applauded,but there are some really awesome females who have worked in the genre,who can produce likable,empathetic characters,etc,that female slant that so adds warmth and empathy to the genre IMO..

mmm...... I feel one of Dusty's famous (infamous?) lists coming on......female space opera authors......Iwouldnt say these authors were anything to be sniffed at!
C J Cherryh
Lois McMaster Bujold
Barbara Hambly*
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Vonda N McIntyre
Nancy Kress*
Joanna Russ*
Melissa Scott*
Elizabeth Moon
Ann Leckie
Ursula Le Guin
Becky Chambers
Anne McCaffrey
Cathrine Asaro
Elizabeth Bear*
Leigh Brackett
Andre Norton
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Joan D Vinge
Julian May

etc etc etc! Now thats some list,isnt it? I have read something by most of these authors,some of them like Bujold and Cherryh dozens of their books.Odd that when asked about space opera authors,men mostly spring to mind! :0)
I am already thinking of next year's sf reading themes,and since I feel rather guilty that a huge proportion of my read authors are white anglo- saxon males,predominantly pre 1980 authors, I need to redress the balance a little! Back in the 60s when I started reading SF,the women were very sparse on the ground,to say the least,and tended to hide their identities with alphabetical names or male pseudonyms,or ambiguous names eg
Andre Norton,James Tiptree Jnr, C J Cherryh, C L Moore,Leigh Brackett,even J K Rowling in the 90s!!!.

So,people,I am liking the look of doing female space opera authors as a sub genre next year,and have some great authors there to choose from(* = authors I have never read before,looking forward to them!)
Most of these are older authors,any fabulous tips for newer authors for me to sample? Answers on a post please! :0)
I always like getting posts from you all. Since I tend to read really old authors,or famous books,or award winners from the past, I always get several posts a month commenting on my reads,which I love,and which highlight some great old books for younger less well read members! And often they lead to several people participating on the thread,which is great. Just a sterile list of books we have read each month would be dire,to say the least. Keep up the comments please.:0)The more the merrier.
I really feel that its a duty, if of course pleasurable,to highlight the signficant books in the genre for other members.Vital if we are to keep the past alive. Actually,SF does quite well in keeping old books alive,whether through Gateway,Amazon,Project Gutenberg or Wildside Megapacks,Open Library etc.
I know that it is infinitely easier to locate old SF books online than older crime fiction,for example. There are lists of famous vintage crime books where many are just not available free or cheap. Very discouraging! :0(

>94 dustydigger: CL Moore's Judgment Night is an excellent space opera. Of the more recent ones, Kameron Hurley is worth a go, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding stuff to read as there are quite a few out there now. For books prior to 2000, check out https://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com/

Finished New Suns, an anthology of sf by people of colour. Not a bad anthology. Now reading Europe at Dawn.

>94 dustydigger: A couple of my recent reads would be good additions to your list - Ada Hoffman's The outside and Megan O'Keefe's Velocity weapon. This sounds like a fun reading project for next year!

I just finished Circe by Madeline Miller. Meh. I am in the middle of The Atlantis Gene by A. G. Riddle and am finally going to start Edges by Linda Nagata.

>94 dustydigger: I love your list! I have read at least one book by everyone except Barbara Hambly. I am not really into vampires. I didn't know she wrote Space Opera, although I did see some Star Trek books when I looked her up. I have them! I just need to read them.

I might recommend C. S. Friedman for your list (haven't read anything by her yet, so I don't know if I like her enough to really recommend her books). I have In Conquest Born and This Alien Shore on my TBR pile. They are classified as Space Opera. Maybe next year's WWE Space Opera challenge will be Space Opera by women authors just to change it a bit.

>94 dustydigger: Heckuva list! And I second >95 iansales:'s recommendation.

>96 iansales: I really enjoyed Hutchinson's Fractured Europe sequence.

I am reading The Fated Sky now that I'm done with Hugo voting. So far it seems like more of the same from Calculating Stars.

>98 daxxh: In Conquest Born is terrible :-)

>99 richardderus: Yes, it's very good.

Finished Autonomous by Annalee Newitz. It liked it better than I was expecting.

Next up is The Necessary Beggar by Susan Palwick.

I DNF'd Holy Fire whose characters were rather 2D and which was very dated. Started Cuckoo Song which is pretty good so far.

Reread the short story seed for 2001 Space Odyssey,Arthur C Clarke's The Sentinel. It stands up very well, considering it was written in 1951. I forgot how pretty the pyramid was,and that,typical humans,we smashed it with an atomic bomb.Liked the thought that now the signal has stopped someone/something is on the way to check up. Its still a huge trope of SF today.
The pyramid is prettybut the rather imposing monolith of the film has a lot going for it too.
I always felt a real gratitude to Clarke for his novelisation of the film,I wouldnt really had much of a clue about what was going on in last part of the film without it! lol.

>98 daxxh: I like C. S. Friedman as a writer but In Conquest Born is my least favorite of her books. To me it's the Spartans and Athenians in space. This Alien Shore was the first book of hers that I read and I really liked it.

>105 pjfarm: >101 iansales: I think I will move In Conquest Born down on the TBR pile. (Size of a triple stacked bookcase) Thanks for the info.

Read The Trouble With Tycho this morning on my day off. I love Simak. I need to read more of his work.

Started Edges by Linda Nagata. Wondering why I waited so long to start it. It is really good so far.

I'm done with We Can Build You. It made me so angry I actually posted a short review on the relevant page.

Next up I'm reading something called The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. The title sounds familiar but I have no idea what it could be about.

Finished Pandemic by A. G. Riddle. Enjoyed it.

Currently reading The Underground Railroad. I was on a panel about the book at last year's Swecon. Thought it was about time I actually read it.

While about a third of the way into Trail of Lightning, which I'm liking, despite my suspicions that it was over-hyped, I'll make mention of The Planet Factory as a worthy read if you're interested in real planetary science. We now return to your regular contemplation of genre-related fiction.

Finished Galileo's Dream; very impressive, but I still wonder why KSR did it that way. Now reading Ken Macleod's Dark Light. So far, not getting too much "trilogy middle book" syndrome, which is good.

>110 Shrike58: Definitely over-hyped. The author won the Campbell for best new writer with only a single publishing credit to her name (short story in Lightspeed). But she apparently has a Star Wars novel due out soon...

>111 RobertDay: I found each of the books in Ken's Engines of Light trilogy to be individually good. When taken as a whole I found the trilogy great.

There's been a raft of these new writers who have been highly touted out of the gates as a whole new wave in and to themselves and while I wish them all interesting and productive careers I do think that there should be some tempering of enthusiasm.

>111 RobertDay:, >113 pgmcc:

Yes, great stuff. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite volume among the three Engines of Light books.

I am at last reading Parable of the sower and loving it.

Finished The Necessary Beggar by Susan Palwick. Definitely a niche book. Loved it.

Next up is Walkaway by Cory Doctorow.

I'm re-reading Captive Universe by Harry Harrison. It's mix of ancient culture and modern technology impressed me enormously when I was a teenager but it's not a great book to re-read because it depends heavily on suspense and not knowing what happens next.

>118 SFF1928-1973:, I've wondered about it, ever since I found it featured in the art book Alien Landscapes. It's one of the few from that collection that I never got to pursuing, but its ending is spoiled for me too and you're reflecting my concern about it.

The Annihilation Score was another fun read from the Laundry files. Just located an early one I missed,The Fuller Memorandum but I will have to wait a while,I have a massive TBR to finish for this year's challenges. I am doing a Century of Reading challenge,read one book for each of the 100 years from 1920-2019..66 down,34 to go,about 2 a week apart from all my other challenges. Going to be tight!
Now starting Simon R Green's Drinking Midnight Wine

Okay, I admit it. I was wrong about Leviathan Wakes. It's a solid 3-plus star read. Not quite a four, there are a few focus issues...extended time spent in Eros's casino level, f/ex...where the point gets made a bit harder than is good for the story. But my dismissive early review is wrong.

Continuing the Demon Princes series with book 4 The Face by Jack Vance. This has been the most entertaining in the series thus far....

Finished Trail of Lightning (B+) and on the whole I liked it. We'll see if Roanhorse can keep up the momentum with the dreaded second novel. I could say that I was skeptical that it was good enough to merit a Hugo nomination but when you look at some of the ho-hum works that got on the final ballot so far in this century I feel less critical!

Ah,dear old Andre Norton,deservedly a Grand Master of SF. Galactic Derelict the second of the Time Traders series is a typically exciting adventure tale,plus first contact and time travel. Fast paced,with lots of exciting adventures and plot twists,it is a rattling good read,and,rare for 1955,has a native American hero.But Norton always was on the cutting edge with female/minority/ socially disadvantaged protagonists. Now off to find #3 in the Time Traders series,The Defiant Agents.
A bit surprised I have ony 16 Norton reads listed on my shelf,I think I read more years ago. Always a pleasure.
Grr,was just going to start More Than Humanbut someone wants Bob Sheckley's Immortality, Inc,and I only have a week left to finish before it disappears into cyberspace,so that is a priority read. For some obscure reason I have Total Recall in mind as I read this story of a man who dies in a car crash and awakes in a new body in the future.Similarity of theme,perhaps,not of plot? I think PKD was the origin of the Total Recall scenario.
Also on the agenda are Raymond F Jones Planet of Light one of the engaging Winston juvenile classics,and the short story,The Martian Way by Isaac Asimov.I'm trying to fit in the odd classic short story as and when I can,but I really think I need to read more shorter classics next year.
I have my eye on Ben Bova's iconic anthology Science Fiction Hall of Fame vol 2 but apart from Mars I have never read any of his works! He seems to be a great anthologist,whatever his personal writing skills,so he will be on the agenda for next year.
Have you noticed,fellow LTers,that I am always looking ahead to the future?I am sure that looking ahead to future fantastic reads in the year ahead keeps this 71 year old woman lively and alert. Even though 90% of my reads are pre 2000! Yep.I'm a dinosaur fictionally speaking about modern SF fiction - and rather proud of it. I intend to read the Locus award winners next year 2020,but actually nearly all my reads are decades old. Living in the past and loving it! ;0)

>124 dustydigger:, fantastic series of articles/reviews for Andre Norton over at tor.com https://www.tor.com/tag/andre-norton-reread/

Galactic Derelict is covered here: https://www.tor.com/2018/10/15/adventures-in-space-and-time-andre-nortons-galact...

Thanks Cecrow for your link. :0) I really love Tor's agenda of rereading classic SF,I love browsing the site. In particular I feel a great affinity to Jo Walton. Hey,she not only LOVES old SF,but she also loves Georgette Heyer,Lois McMaster Bujoldand C J Cherryh. That makes us soul sisters! ;0)
And Judith Tarr on Norton is wonderful I am quite familiar with Norton's SF,but not at all familiar with her more fantasy based stuff,which may be an area to explore in the future. Many thanks for bringing these Norton books to my attention....maybe next year,or the year after? Planning my reads ahead in the future often seems a bit weird to some people,but I love it :0)

>123 Shrike58: I found Storm of Locusts good fun and particularly enjoyed some of the new supporting characters.

>124 dustydigger: Gutenberg is your friend on this one: The Defiant Agents

>124 dustydigger: For whatever reason (mood maybe), I sort of bounced off volume 2A, but volume 2B is exceptional, a really standout set of sf novellas. (I haven't read much of Bova's writing, just short fiction, but what I have read makes me think him a much better editor than a writer.)

Tossed Walkaway by Cory Doctorow by the wayside. Complete drudgery. Doctorow is hit or miss for me. This one was such a complete miss I couldn't even see the barn he was aiming for.

Added In Hero Years... I'm Dead by Michael A. Stackpole to my rotation instead.

Finished Edges by Linda Nagata - excellent. Can't wait for the sequel.
Still reading The Atlantis Gene - that is my ebook that I read at lunch or while waiting for something. Started The Last Dog on Earth.

I am trying to read more short fiction, which is easy to find online. I am finding that I like the older stuff better than the new.

I just got a copy of The Incarceration of Captain Nebula by Mike Resnick. I am very disappointed in my local library. They had a copy and got rid of it. Not the first book I have tried to borrow that they have removed from circulation. Also acquired copies of A Matter of Oaths and Judgment Night.

I went to Half Priced Books and picked up some Andre Norton - The Beast Master, The Last Planet and Key Out of Time. I buy books much faster than I read them...

Finished (on the last day of August) Ken Macleod's Dark Light. Definitely not a "middle book" even though it is the middle book of a trilogy. Stuff definitely happens and people's lives get changed; on the way there are interesting musings on gender roles and assignation. Will have to muse a bit more before producing a review.

I'm now reading some psychology from a Nobel Prize-winning economist before starting on Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince.

I just started reading Swordsman of Mars by Otis Adelbert Kline. Publisher's blurbs and secondary literature led me to have rather low expectations and to expect nothing not derivative of ERB. But so far it's good pulpy fantasy fare.

Currently finishing up The Book of Dreams by Jack Vance, the final book in the Demon Princes series....

Please stop posting to the August thread. Pretty please?

*hugging SUMMER close to chest* nnnnoooooo noooooo noooooo don't goooo

SEPTEMBER THREAD: https://www.librarything.com/topic/310749