In Kim Stanley Robinson’s most recent novel, he takes us to the moon as he once did to Mars, and it seems likely we’re witnessing the start of a new series.
The moon, it seems, is a harsh-ish mistress.
Category Archives: Books
Novel Review: Fall by Neal Stephenson
A sequel of sorts to both Cryptonomicon and Reamde, Stephenson’s most recent novel, released at the start of summer, 2019, begins like his best.
That proves a challenging thing to maintain when writing a book of Stephensonian lengths.
Summer Reading: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The small beam of white light shone steadily into the left eye of Rachael Rosen, and against her cheek the wire-mesh disk adhered. She seemed calm.
We find ourselves a week into August and we haven’t run a Summer Review of a classic SF novel. So, if you’re heading out to do some sunlit reading and you’ve never scoped the novel that inspired Blade Runner (a movie set in 2019!), consider, between Pan-Galactic sips from a plastic cup, trying to answer Philip K. Dick’s lingering question, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Novel Review: Black Leopard, Red Wolf
If you encounter any discussion of Man Booker1 prize-winner Marlon James’s recent fantasy novel, you will hear two things: one, that it’s a sort of Game of Thrones set in Africa, and two, that the description doesn’t really do justice to it. In any case, the noteworthy novel represents the first part of The Dark Star Trilogy.
It’s a very dark start, with frequent graphic violence, sex, and sexual violence.
Book Review: The Only Harmless Great Thing
This 2019 novelette, published by Tor, relates the tale of early-twentieth workers exposed to radioactive material—as it might have transpired if elephants were sentient.
It won the Nebula, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Shirley Jackson, Locus, and Theodore T. Sturgeon Awards.
So, is it a musth-read?
Novel Review: The Fated Sky
The first sequel to Mary Robinette Kowal’s Hugo-nominated novel, The Calculating Stars takes us to Mars—in the early 1960s.
Novel Review: The Calculating Stars
Do you remember the first time you saw the stars again?
We follow up Brian’s entertaining 1950s SF Movie podcast with a review of a current Hugo nomination, set in an alternate version of the mid-twentieth century.
A large meteor strikes earth, initiating what may be an extinction event. The space program hits the fast-track, as do certain elements of social progress. Neither movement goes smoothly.
Novel Review: Space Opera
Catherynne M. Valente has penned a range of works and won numerous awards and accolades. Her 2018 novel, Space Opera, channels some version of Douglas Adams in a twisted tale of an interstellar song competition—with the future of humanity in the balance.
Universal has purchased the movie rights, and the book has been nominated for a 2019 Hugo.
Does it measure up to the hype?
“Bedtime in the Public Domain” – announcing book 10
Novel Review: The Hazards of Time Travel
In her lengthy literary career, now-octogenarian Joyce Carol Oates has wandered into genre, most notably horror. Her most recent novel, started in 2011 but not published until late last year, begins as something akin to a YA dystopia before quickly time-traveling into other genres.