[Hobbit]

This is where you tell us what you're reading in SF this month. Good or bad, please let us know what you thought.

Over to the Book Clubs....

The Fantasy Book Club discussion is on a popular book publication: Storm Front, the first Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher. (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21686)

In the SF forums, the book under discussion is an old SF favourite, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21687)

Expect lots of comments about how different it is to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, I think!

Mark

[Ropie]

I am finishing up The Cyberiad by Lem, which I started some years back..

[Singularity101]

Been awhile since I posted in this forum... but hey guys :D.

I read Orphanage this last month and was amazed. So up next is Orphans Destiny.. and probably The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross.

and my regular fill of what ever catches my eye.

[suciul]

I have read parts of all 4 (0! - 3) GUD - Greatest Uncommon Denominator - magazines released so far, Kaolin Fire editor, and they are very innovative, high quality sff mixed with art and poetry

GUD 2 - Spring 08 - is the first issue I finished and there were several stories that stood out for me competing with any sff short story recently read:

Four Torments and a Judgement by E. Williams - mid-level demon in charge of delivering the title items to a priest dabbling in molestation and other less than godly stuff

Painlessness - K. McDermott - very weird story about two women, Faith a goth-scene refugee and Mara her "taking-pain-for-hire" neighbor

Offworld Friends are Best by N. Blaikie - another weird, almost indescribable story with friends, clones and a nightmarish future

The Salivary Reflex by T. Connolly - Allison appreciates men by "tasting" them; Jell-O-like fleshed missionary aliens come in the neighborhood

The art is also superb.

Highly recommended.

[suciul]

I finished GUD 0 too - I did not realize earlier that I was almost done, had only about ten pages to read:

The first issue of GUD - Spring 2007 - starts with a superb cover and some excellent stories, though the last half while still good has only very short stories that are fun but not that memorable.

However:

Sundown by D. Moorhouse - investigator Jack tries to find a missing boy and help his wounded partner Chris in a nightmarish future setting

Painsharing by J. Walters - Humanity's descendants want to express their love for their ancestors

Songs of the Dead by S. Singleton and C. Butler - Victoriana with mad doctors, aspiring painters and much more

are stories that stayed with me for a long time after reading them.

The art is superb and the rest of the stories are good too; all in all an excellent debut issue

[bunny]

I'm reading Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Not sure if I'll finish it this month, as I'm also reading a couple of other books, but Orson Scott Card is one of my favourite authors, and I adore his characterisation and plots.

[suciul]

I finished The Accord by K. Brooke and I made a thread about it because in my opinion it is one of the best sf novels I've read recently, both beautifully written and big idea sf, and depending on your views on consciuosness and the various AI hypothesis (weak, strong, consciousness has non-material components) it could be argued to be hard sf if you believe in the strong AI hypothesis.

I also finished GUD 3 - another fine issue showing that sff magazines can be relevant, 2 novellas that stood out, lots of good very short fiction and outstanding art as usual:

A Song, a Prayer, an Empty Space by Darja Malcolm-Clarke and
Night Bird Soaring by T.L. Morganfield

[AuntiePam]

I posted about this in the Fantasy thread but it's really SF. I'm reading The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. Here's a review (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-goneaway-world-by-nick-harkaway-840983.html) that might whet your interest in this wonderful book.

[Luke_B]

I'm reading and enjoying The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's YA so be warned if that puts you off, but it shouldn't because the book is great and has been reviewed favourably by the likes of Stephen King. The plot is nothing orginal - in the future the US has crumbled and its place an all powerful tyrannical police state has arisen. In order to punish the poorer poulations for a failed rebellion the Government takes two child tributes from each of the 12 Districts and forces them to fight to the death on a televised reality TV show called The Hunger Games. The SFnal qualities aren't particularly sophisticated, but the characters and the action are superb and the themes run deep.

[chitman13]

I finished Earth Ascendant by Sean Williams last week. I'm enjoying the series as a whole, but this book dissapointed, not for the story telling or writing, but because it didn't really do much. What did happen could have been wrapped up in a short story or novella, not nearly 300 pages. I'm looking forward tot he last book as I really would like to see how everything joins up.

Now reading (and nearly finished) Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I can see why it's one of the classics of the genre and how it has influenced many things that have come after it. Full thoughts once I'm done :)