As long time readers of the blog might remember, even though Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite writers, I was less than enamored with his last book (Terminal World). So I approached Reynolds new book (Blue Remembered Earth) with some trepidation as to whether I would like it. And, to cut off all suspense, I did enjoy it quite a bit. Which is good, since it’s the first book in a trilogy. And this is probably the closest to current time that Reynolds has set a book (the alternate world in Century Rain notwithstanding). So, let’s check out the first volume of the Poseidon’s Children trilogy.
Category Archives: science fiction
Redshirts by John Scalzi
The Internet has been going crazy the last few weeks for the latest John Scalzi book Redshirts. Set in a fictional Star Trek universe, the book explores the the flipside of the TV show and shows what life is like when you’re wearing the deadly red shirt. While many other reviewers have found it side-splittingly hilarious, I found it decent with a few chuckles and the best part was the last of the three codas. Let’s see what happens when you’re given a red shirt.
Hitchers by Will McIntosh
I’d heard of Will McIntosh from his award winning debut novel Soft Apocalypse, but I never got around to reading it. So, when I saw his new novel, Hitchers, in the library, I decide that I should check it out. And I am so glad that I did. McIntosh has created a funny, thoughtful, exciting story that makes me want to check out everything that McIntosh has written.The story has a great premise, wonderful characters and a plot that keeps you wanting to turn the page. So, let’s check out why there are hitchers.
The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski
In David Kowalski’s debut novel, The Company of the Dead, you have the Titanic, time travel as well as future Kennedy and Lightholler* families. The book juggles between the original Titanic story and a future caused by a change to the Titanic’s fate. The future looks a lot like Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle with America split between the Germans and the Japanese.
For those of you not familiar with Titanic history, Charles Lightholler was the second officer and the highest ranked officer to survive and tell his story (including how due to his late demotion from first officer to second officer, the original second officer was no longer on the ship and had the only keys to the binocular case on the Titanic).
While the book spends a little too much time in the future (and gets bogged down in places), it’s still a fun read and as fast-paced as a 750+ page novel can be. So, let’s see what happens when you let the Titanic’s watch have high-tech binoculars before the crash.
RIP Ray Bradbury
My introduction to Ray Bradbury was the Martian Chronicles TV series in 1980 starting Rock Hudson, Nicholas (Spude-Man) Hammond and Roddy McDowall. From that introduction, I had to read the book and then Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Ray Bradbury was a poet who wrote science fiction. He never went for the science side of things, but delved underneath for the soul of the people inhabiting his stories. In this way, he touched several generations of readers and writers.
Goodbye Mr. Bradbury. The world has lost a master storyteller.
New Project Itoh boook
The late, celebrated Japanese science-fiction writer Satoshi Itō (who went by Project Itoh) is finally having his first book, Genocidal Organ, translated into English and will be published in August. His other book, Harmony (my review), was interesting and full of great ideas, so I’m looking forward to this book.
David Brin’s Kiln People
I love science fiction detective novels. They are a mashup of two of my favorite genres. Most stories try to put a noir feel into the science fiction setting, but there are some that aim for a straight forward detective story. And that is close to what Kiln People is. David Brin has brought us a detective story that is the setting for a wonderful novel full of ideas. The ideas don’t come fast and furious, but fall into the story in logical places and the impacts of the ideas are discussed along with the story. So, let’s see what Kiln people is all about.
Count to a Trillion by John C. Wright
I enjoyed John C. Wright’s Golden Age trilogy and was excited to see that he had a new book coming out, Count to a Trillion. Unfortunately it was bland, padded and not very well done. The Golden Age Trilogy was full of big ideas and wondrous characters and, while Count to a Trillion has interesting characters and big ideas, it never pulls them together in an interesting way. The characters are too broadly drawn and the ideas are interesting, but barely relate to the story at times. Let’s see what went wrong.
New Syfy shows
Just a few weeks ago, I was wondering if The Science Channel was better for science fiction than Syfy. Well, it looks like Syfy is striking back with a huge slate of new shows (official presentation will be next week) which include aliens, time travel, space ships as well as a few ghost shows. So, let’s look at a couple of the highlights.
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Ever since the John Carter movie came out last summer, I’ve had an urge to read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoon series. I hadn’t read it previously, so I thought this would be a decent time to start. I picked up A Princess of Mars and, while you could tell that parts of it were definitely dated, it was still a fun action-adventure read. It’s hard to believe that the book (collecting the first of the Barsoon short stories) was the first things that Burroughs had ever published. It is, for the most part, well told and there are only a few rough spots. So, let’s find out more about our princess.