Science Fiction Reading in February 2017

By the time you have finished the entire collection, you'll be a libertarian polygamist Hobbit :-)
 
Sfinx said:
By the time you have finished the entire collection, you'll be a libertarian polygamist Hobbit
Click to expand...

Well, it is odd, especially as my own personal views are probably as far from libertarian as you can get.

But RAH (and Clarke and Asimov) had such an effect on my interest in SF when I was young that when I was lucky to be able to afford a set I thought I would. (It was also a very reasonable price at the time.)
 
At least it's a nice looking set, Hobbit.

If you had to recommend one Heinlein novel to someone like me who's politically on the left and generally does not like Golden Age SF authors or young adult, which would it be?
 
Last edited:
I've been really enjoying Lavie Tidhar's works lately, and saw that PS Publishing have signed hc copies of The Violent Century for £10 so had to snap it up. I also picked up some other cheap books while I was there, one of which was Polaris by Timothy Brown (for £1 !).

It turned out to be a very intriguing 120-page story - it's post-apocalyptic 2074 and Robert is travelling Death Valley with his smart car (and it's smart fetch-mechanism), trying to find signs of life. What transpires is a funny and at times frightening interaction between the three beings, especially when ulterior motives creep in to the story. A very good read.
 
Last edited:
Av Demeisen said:
At least it's a nice looking set, Hobbit.

If you had to recommend one Heinlein novel to someone like me who's politically on the left and generally does not like Golden Age SF authors or young adult, which would it be?
Click to expand...
I hasten to add that the picture is the publishers, not mine: though mine do look like that!

Tough choice though. Think I would probably go with Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It plays with language, as does Iain M Banks' Feersum Endjinn. It has a fairly tight plot (unlike some of his other later novels), and it deals with revolution. Mike always makes me think of HAL9000. I will qualify my choice that it has been a while since I read it; I'm just hoping that when I get to rereading it it hasn't dated as much as some of the older books.

Bearing in mind that you've said you don't like YA books or Golden Age authors, this might be a tough call, though!
 
Hobbit said:
I hasten to add that the picture is the publishers, not mine: though mine do look like that!

Tough choice though. Think I would probably go with Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It plays with language, as does Iain M Banks' Feersum Endjinn. It has a fairly tight plot (unlike some of his other later novels), and it deals with revolution. Mike always makes me think of HAL9000. I will qualify my choice that it has been a while since I read it; I'm just hoping that when I get to rereading it it hasn't dated as much as some of the older books.

Bearing in mind that you've said you don't like YA books or Golden Age authors, this might be a tough call, though!
Click to expand...
I see it is available in the SF Masterworks series as a hardcover, like Dune. I was going to give Dune another shot in that edition later this year, so I'll add The Moon is a Harsh Mistress to my Amazon shopping cart. Thank you.
 
Finished The Puppet Masters by somebody called Robbie Anson Hinny. Gaah, the best thing I can say about this book was that it was readable ... if you can ignore the blatant sexism, creepy Freudian subplot, and anti-Communist paranoia. This book took me way too long to read because I kept wandering over to other books I'd rather be reading. I'm glad I've read it, even more glad to be finished it, and, as I say, it was readable, but not a new favourite by any stretch of the imagination.
 
416SKqUGvyL.jpg


I just started a "literary" science fiction novel by a new to me author. Ms. Lerman has a number of works I was unaware of, and this particular novel was recommended on a blog where lesser known authors were being discussed. The writing style seems quite good, and the story grips you from the first page. In addition to writing prose, Ms. Lerman is also reportedly a poet. The novel itself is a story of the "aliens among us" variety.
 
Heard of this one last year, I think, PD. Be interested to read what you think.
 
Goldsmith said:
Almost half way through "Long Way to a Small Angry Planet". So far I am disappointed as everything is too nicety-nice with no conflict and very little happening. Hoping it picks up as I was really looking forward to this one. I have been on a trend lately of not finishing books and being disappointed in them.
Click to expand...
I recently finished it and... what a waste of time. If it wasn't for the sexual relationship between a vaguely aquatic/fish-like alien female and a human man, the sexual relationship between a human female and a reptilian alien female and the love story between a human dwarf and an AI, this book wouldn't have gotten anything like the rave reviews from the corporate media it has indeed gotten. All the talk about crazed "speciesists" (rather than racists) didn't do any harm either. Political correctness has infected every layer of society.

Right now I'm reading "The Fifth Season". It seems ok. Certainly much more fantasy than science fiction (thanks for the misleading info Amazon) but I notice it was written by a black female. I wouldn't care if it were written by the aforementioned reptilian female, AI or alien fish but I just hope the corporate media hasn't given it such rave reviews because it was written by a black female.
 
Reyter said:
I just hope the corporate media hasn't given it such rave reviews because it was written by a black female.
Click to expand...

Personally, I think it got the rave reviews because of its outstanding worldbuilding and themes. The identity of the author was just icing on the cake.
 
Contrarius said:
Personally, I think it got the rave reviews because of its outstanding worldbuilding and themes. The identity of the author was just icing on the cake.
Click to expand...
Well I will have to take your word for it because I can't get into fantasy books. I gave up 1/3 of the way through. Having said that, the identity of the author isn't the "icing on the cake". It's of absolutely no importance. She is probably a talented and imaginative author and probably not a capitalist pig or a multi millionaire posing as a "leftist" but I have almost no interest in fantasy novels and absolutely no interest in identity politics.
 
Reyter said:
the identity of the author isn't the "icing on the cake". It's of absolutely no importance.
Click to expand...

I should clarify. In this case it was icing on the cake because this book won the Hugo. And that's relevant because the author, NK Jemisin, is thoroughly despised by and one of the main targets of the leader of the Rabid Puppy group that had tried so hard to influence the Hugo voting over the last two or three years. So it was delicious to see her win despite all his efforts.
 
Contrarius said:
I should clarify. In this case it was icing on the cake because this book won the Hugo. And that's relevant because the author, NK Jemisin, is thoroughly despised by and one of the main targets of the leader of the Rabid Puppy group that had tried so hard to influence the Hugo voting over the last two or three years. So it was delicious to see her win despite all his efforts.
Click to expand...

I see. Well that makes sense especially if the puppies you are talking about targeted her because of her skin color and/or gender. I don't get into literary award politics.
 
Reyter said:
I see. Well that makes sense especially if the puppies you are talking about targeted her because of her skin color and/or gender. I don't get into literary award politics.
Click to expand...
Yes, he did. At one point he called her, amongst other things, a "half-savage" and said that "there is no evidence to be found anywhere on the planet that a society of NK Jemisins is capable of building an advanced civilization, or even successfully maintaining one without significant external support from those white males." In fact, he was eventually thrown out of the SFWA because of his attacks against her. He is not a nice guy.
 
Contrarius said:
Yes, he did. At one point he called her, amongst other things, a "half-savage" and said that "there is no evidence to be found anywhere on the planet that a society of NK Jemisins is capable of building an advanced civilization, or even successfully maintaining one without significant external support from those white males." In fact, he was eventually thrown out of the SFWA because of his attacks against her. He is not a nice guy.
Click to expand...

Who is this idiot? Maybe we could get a collection of Internet Trolls to "toy" with him LOL
 
mylinar said:
Who is this idiot? Maybe we could get a collection of Internet Trolls to "toy" with him LOL
Click to expand...
Contrarius said:
Just Google "Rabid Puppies" and/or "Vox Day", and you'll find more than you ever wanted to know.
Click to expand...
I don't buy it. That anyone so ignorant and backward could be in a position to influence a major literary award. I read 1/3 of that book and couldn't go on. It is absolutely not Hugo Award material even if I didn't finish it. I think it was all an exercise in political correctness. She being a black female being denounced on the basis of being a black female had to win the award.
 
Mediocre books, albums and films win awards more often than not. Awards and all-time-greatest lists mean little to nothing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsors


We try to keep the forum as free of ads as possible, please consider supporting SFFWorld on Patreon


Your ad here.
Back
Top