I haven’t previously read any Mike Resnick book, but I was in the mood to read some space opera and came across the first book in Resnick’s Starship series, Starship: Mutiny. The book is a fun, fast paced military space opera full of ships fighting, military adventures and our rogue hero who the people love (and the bureaucracy hates). So, let’s see what’s happened.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins by Randolph Lalonde
Every now and then, I like taking a look at some self-published science fiction books (especially if they’re recommended to me) and see what’s out there. This time I happened upon Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins. The book is basic space opera with ship battles and fairly straightforward good guy and bad guys. But, I don’t mean that in a bad way. The book is a fun, action packed read with some decent characterization. So, let’s check it out.
The Human Division – Chapter 1 by John Scalzi
John Scalzi is known mainly for his blog Whatever and his Old Man’s War book series. I truly enjoyed the first book(my review), but the sequels had diminishing returns. The sequels were decent to mediocre and I mostly lost interest in that series. But Scalzi and his publisher have decided to do something different for this newest sequel, The Human Division. They are going to release chapters weekly (starting January 15th, 2013) and then, after they are all released, they will release the full book. The big question is: How is the story? Well, having read the first chapter (The Human Division #1: The B-Team), it’s not bad. Not great, but not bad. Continue to see more.
This Is 40 by Judd Apatow
I usually have mixed reactions to Judd Apatow movies. The setup and the beginning is usually very funny and then the second half the of movie is plot heavy and loses almost all humor. The exception, of course, is Funny People, which wasn’t funny at all. So, it was with some trepidation that I went to go see Apatow’s newest film This Is 40. I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Let’s see what happened.
The Dangerous Animals Club by Stephen Tobolowsky
I’ve mentioned previously about the wonderful podcast series by Stephen Tobolowsky. In the podcast series, Stephen Tobolowsky shares stories of his life, his career and his family. The stories span from his childhood to his recent open heart surgery and run the gamut from funny to touching. Now, he has translated his podcasts to a new book: The Dangerous Animals Club. The book covers the same territory as the some of the podcasts (I believe I read somewhere that there will be a total of 3 books assuming sales hold up), but it’s interesting to see it in a different format. Let’s check it out.
2012 Best Movies and TV shows
With the end of the year comes all the best of lists. Since I’ve already done my 2012 Best Books list, that means that it’s now time for the 2012 Best Movies and TV shows.
This list, in some ways, harder to do than the books list. There are very few science fiction shows on TV and very few science fiction movies. And many of these TV shows or movies don’t actually do that well, as you can tell by the fact that two of my TV shows were canceled this year. And the biggest name science fiction movie of the year, Prometheus (my review) looked good, but had huge plot holes that left many people shaking their head. But, the show must go on, so I present my 2012 Best Movies and TV shows.
2012 Best Books
It’s that time of year again for the 2012 best books columns. I have a love/hate relationship with best of columns. They are a wonderful source for finding books that I might have overlooked. However, they are also so genre specific, that I often read the best of columns without seeing a single book I’d be interested in. But I do love writing these columns to make sure that books which I loved this year are given one last push to recommend for people.
So, with that intro out of the way. here are my candidates for the 2012 best books (with an added bonus for a 2011 book that I read in 2012). It wasn’t a great year for books and several of the ones I picked probably wouldn’t have made the top books for other years.
The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey review
While I was unable to get to see first movie of The Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, during the first weekend. I was finally able to make the time to see it this past weekend. It’s a long move (clocking in at 2:45) and it was hard to imagine how the slight tale of The Hobbit will be extended to a full trilogy. Since it was directed by Peter Jackson, I knew that it would at least look good. So let’s check out what happens.
MM9 by Hiroshi Yamamoto
Known mainly for his work in Japanese, this is the first English translated book of Hiroshi Yamamoto which I have read. MM9 is the set of semi related stories about the Monsterological Measures Department (MMD). They track and handle all the kaiju (giant monsters) which are present in Japan. The title refers to the monster magnitude (MM), which is a scale similar to the natural disaster scales we use (earthquake, hurricanes, etc) that is based of the size and destructive capability of the the kaiju being tracked. The stories are all stand-alone with a repeating cast and different monsters. Except the final story builds on a couple previous stories and is easily the best one of the bunch. Let’s check out what happens.
Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by G.J. Koch
One quibble I need to get out-of-the-way first. Despite the name Alexander Outland: Space Pirate, Captain Outland is not a Space Pirate. The book does have a Space Pirate in it (just in case you were worried), but Captain Outland and his crew are there to fight them (eventually), not turn into Space Pirates themselves. I’ve seen this book compared to the Stainless Steel Rat books and that makes a good comparison for tone and basic plot. Although not nearly as good as Harry Harrison, it is a fun read with a decent story. So, let’s see what happens.