Our reads in September 2018

Another month,another pile of books!

Dusty's TBR for September
SF/F reads
Cherie Priest - Not Flesh Nor Feathers ✔
Simon R Green - The Spy Who Haunted Me ✔
Kim Stanley Robinson - 2312 ✔
James White - The Galactic Gourmet ✔
James White - Tomorrow is Too Far ✔
Roger Zelazny - Night in the Lonesome October ✔
Andre Norton - Moon of Three Rings ✔

from other genres
Noel Streatfeild - Ballet Shoes ✔
E T A Hoffmann - The Nutcracker and the Mouseking ✔
Arthur Upfield - The Mystery of Swordfish Reef ✔
Catriona McPherson - Dandy Gilver and a Most Misleading Habit ✔
Nicci French - Thursday's Children ✔
Margaret Duffy - Stone Cold,Stone Dead ✔
Wilfrid Owen - Selected Poems ✔
Jacqueline Winspear - Elegy for Eddie ✔

Back on Shelfari there were a lot fans of R A Salvatore's Forgotten Realms (Drizzt) books,dont hear much on here about them.Anyway, After a long gap,this month sees the publication of Book 1 in a new trilogy Timeless for any old time fans.
Never mind old time series,look at old timer authors. I see Dave Duncan is still writing and publishing,at 85!He only began writing books after retiring after 31 years as an engineer.
I only ever came across one book in our library,his very first in 1987, A Rose Red City,which I thought was rather cute.

Still reading The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January/February 2018.

>2 dustydigger: I hope you like the Zelazny, Dusty. I bought the hardcover of that one and have made a tradition of reading one chapter per evening each year during the month of October.

Finished up Mistborn (B) yesterday evening; file under "not bad" but I read it more out of a sense of obligation than anything else.

As for the rest of the month the options are:

Deep Roots
The Just City
Rogue Protocol
Witchmark

>5 ScoLgo: I did intend to keep it for late October,but I have a lot of challenges on the go,and I want to finish the one with this book on it this month,so I'll have to find something else for Halloween. Maybe The Halloween Tree again.Or Something Wicked This Way Comes Nothing too long,as I have a host of books,some of them very long,to get through this year.e,g,
Deepness in the Sky
Paladin of Souls
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Windup Girl
Blackout EEK!
plus about 50 other books on my lists
I may give up sleeping alogether.lol. These days my old eyes dont see so well,and I am really reading slowly,barely 25 - 30 pages an hour. Oh for my youth,when I could read double that,and,as books were much shorter then,even manage to read 2 books in a day.....(sigh)....

Huh! Just checked up and there are 2 people on the list for Lonesome October. I have 10 days to read it!

Just started on the last of Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Acceptance.

Finished The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January/February 2018 edited by C. C. Finlay. More good than not.

Next up is Engineering Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Just finished The Berlin Project by Gregory Benford. This is an alternate history version of World War 2 and very specifically, the Manhattan Project. I can't say too much more without spoiling it, but it is part a detailed book about the Manhattan Project and part speculation on what might have happened if the project went just a little bit differently. I really enjoyed it, partly for the puzzle (for me) of figuring out at what point it deviated from actual history. I need to read up on the Manhattan Project more. Good stuff if you enjoy this sort of thing.

dustydigger - Moon of Three Rings was the second science fiction book I ever read. I was 10. I should reread it and see if I still like it. That was the book that got me hooked on Science fiction. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is excellent. Hope you like it!

ScoLgo - I like the idea of reading A Book in the Lonesome October in October. I think I will do that.

I just read Rogue Protocol this weekend. Excellent. I am looking forward to the next Murderbot book.

I also read Record of a Spaceborn Few. It was ok.

I am starting Medusa Uploaded now.

I finished Jo Walton's An Informal History of the Hugos, which was fascinating!

Currently reading Chris Moriarty's Spin Control, the sequel to Spin State. Good hard sf, although the pro-Israeli bits don't sit so well in the current global climate.

Had a great couple of days rereading Zelazny's Night in the Lonesome October,one of my fave Zelaznys,up there with Nine Princes in Amber and This Immortal as pleasure rereads.
Now reading KSR 2312 and James White's Galactic Gourmet and also making heavy weather of Vernor Vinge A Deepness in the Sky I'm finding it rather downbeat. I loved A Fire Upon the Deep but this book is so oppressive so not a fun read. I am in ''medicine mode'',reading about 10 pages with my breakfast porridge each morning,both of them duties rather than pleasures! 213/756 pages read,so I may be some time completing this. lol

I'm zipping through The Cassini Division at about 5 chapters per day. I'll definitely finish it this week, and then I'll need to round up a copy of The Sky Road.

I read Sleeping giants this weekend. I found the format made it a quick, though not very deep, read.

Now for something completely different - Reluctant voyagers by Elisabeth Vonarburg.

Finished reading The Gabble by Neal Asher just as August faded into September, while attending a new science fiction convention in Phoenix AZ. As is often the case with a short story collection, I found some of the stories stronger than others, but all we interesting. Everything was set in his Polity universe. This is my first experience with Asher, and I liked what I read well enough that I will soon pick up more of his work.

While at that convention I made the acquaintance of two authors, Beth Cato and Harry Turtledove. Great people to be on a panel discussion with. The former writes in the steampunk subgenre, and the later alternate history (for the most part.) Not familiar with either author or their specialties, but the interaction left me impressed enough to give them a try. So I now have a copy each of The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato and A Different Flesh by Harry Turtledove in the TBR stack.

However, next in the queue is The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson.

Reading The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore....

Read the graphic novel I Kill Giants on Hoopla and was surprised by heavy thematic currents in the novel. Would never have thought it could be brought off with the stylized illustrations but the novel does that well.

Was happy to locate a James White Sector General novel I hadnt read,The Galactic Gourmet,with a new protagonist instead of Dr Conway. Nice gentle relaxing read. I still enjoy that kind of SF from the Star Trek ethos of galactic co-operation and friendship. OK,critics moan about it being anthropomorphic,aliens should be really alien,but its still nice to read! lol.
Also located 3 more to read,probably on next year's TBR,I'm swamped for now,but nice to look forward to.
Also read The Nutcracker and the Mouseking by E T A Hoffmann.Written in 1816, so the narrator tends to be rather patronising,verbose and at times overelaborates the tale thus slowing the pace,but in there among the sugar plum fairies and all the toyland stuff so prominently told in the ballet,there is a story of hatred and vengeance.And that king of the mice,with his seven - yes,count them,seven - heads struggling out of the wainscotting to whisper threats to the terrified little girl certainly gave me the shivers!
The German authors certainly dont make concessions for kids,no Bowdlerization. Think of the Brothers Grimm collecting those stark fairytales. Anyone come across Struwwelpeter by another Hoffmann? the first appearance in literature of the Scissor Man ......(shudderThat book would give anyone nightmares,never mind tiny kids.

>22 dustydigger: Well, Hoffman was also responsible for two of the stories that inspired Delibes' ballet 'Coppelia'; and whilst the ballet is a fairly harmless and lightweight entertainment, after seeing it live my other half and I realised that there were elements of the plot that had relevance now. After all, it's not every day when you see humans failing the Turing test because they are too stupid to tell an automaton is a clockwork doll, even life-sized, when it fails to respond to interactions because NO-ONE HAS WOUND IT UP...

Dr.Coppelius is ridiculed by the village folk because he is The Mad Scientist, and part of the ballet actually involves villagers breaking into his laboratory for the fun of it. We ended up visualising "Coppelia 2", where, driven mad by the unthinking reactions of the village folk, Dr. Coppelius unleashes the terror of his Clockwork Android Army upon them...

I read the first of Jim White's Sector General omnibuses earlier in the year, Beginning Operations. I enjoyed it despite the very Fifties/Sixties vibe (Conway actually does tell a nurse not to "worry her pretty little head" about something at one point, which made me rather boggle; though I think Jim missed a trick by not having him say that to an alien nurse under the influence of an Educator tape), and I got the impression - though this happens in later books - that Conway's love interest only got promoted so that Jim could keep the two together in later, more involved, stories. But I excused Jim this because the utter "humanity" of the whole premise shone through, that any and all sentient life was worth preserving under any circumstances and that the Hippocratic Oath is the holiest thing that any race can share. Even the Monitor Corps are subordinate to the Medical Service if there's the slightest medical angle to a situation. That makes the Sector General stories superior to the vast amount of space opera of the same era that's out there, IMHO.

I'm reading Head On and so far I'm thinking it may be even better than Lock In. Maybe because the world's already established so it doesn't have to do that work, but the mystery seems a lot tighter this go around.

Just finished re-reading some of Cordwainer Smith's stories in The Best of Cordwainer Smith. He was always a favorite of mine. While they occasionally seemed creakier than I remembered, the worldbuilding, and the vision & passion about human issues, is just as strong. It's a classic body of work by a brilliant, if eccentric, mind.

Since last post I've read The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts and Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. Both were fun, fast reads well worth the time. The Wells I found a little bit too similar to the previous installment, but still interesting enough to make me want to read more.

After that I've taken a bit of time off scifi to catch up with other stuff, from which I'd like to recommend Factfulness by Hans Rosling & co for the nonfiction reader.

Plans for September:
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Semiosis by Sue Burke
and still trying to get to Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.

Then I'll be going back to catch up on some classic scifi I've neglected or not read in 20+ years. I've got unfinished business with Brunner, Niven, Delany and Butler.

>25 rshart3:.For me, there has never been another love story as haunting and poignant as The Lady Who Sailed the Soul.

I'm about 1/4 of the way in to Provenance and I'm hoping that it gets a bit deeper. At this point, it seems extremely YA, and not in a good way.

I just finished reading The Man Who Japed by Philip K. Dick, which was his 3rd published novel. I didn't love it, but it was an enjoyable and quick read. I liked it better than The World Jones Made, which was his 2nd novel. As I am reading his novels in publication order, the next will be The Cosmic Puppets, which I am kind of dreading because I have heard it isn't very good. We will see.

>25 rshart3: Cordwainer Smith is great. I think because he didn't (really) write novels, he doesn't get the traction he ought to these days. "Scanners Live in Vain" is in my top five sf shorts.

>25 rshart3: >29 Stevil2001: My library only has The Best of Cordwainer Smith in audio. Since I cannot do audio, I ordered a paperback copy from Abe Books a few minutes ago. I have been meaning to try CS out for a while now and your posts have nudged me into it.

Recently finished:

- Head On by John Scalzi. 3 stars. The sequel fell a bit flat for me after really enjoying Lock In. The mystery surrounding the Threep-based sport of Hilketa was pretty interesting but the characters didn't develop much from the first book and that reduced my enjoyment somewhat. Still a pretty good book though.

- Sideshow by Sheri S. Tepper. 4 stars. Highly imaginative world-building and an interesting cast of characters made this a rather rousing conclusion to her Arbai Trilogy.

Next up: Taking a break from SF with du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel, and Comey's memoir, A Higher Loyalty.

Reading Colony by Ben Bova....

>30 ScoLgo: Too late now, I guess, but Smith's output was small enough that it actually all fits into one slightly chunky volume, The Rediscovery of Man from NESFA Press. (Confusingly, some editions of The Best of Cordwainer Smith were published under the title "Rediscovery of Man" as well.) Plenty of good stuff, though, no matter the edition.

>32 Stevil2001: Even if you only consider the body of work written under Cordwainer Smith, there's Norstrilia, which is a novel. There are also the two novels published as Felix Forrest, and the novel Atomsk, published as by Carmichael Smith.

I own both Ria and Carola. Quite a progression in both style and story telling from those works, to his later efforts that most are familiar with. Brilliant fellow, and his early death was a terrible loss to us all.

>33 Lyndatrue: Quite right, I meant to say "short fiction output" or something like that. One day I'll get to Nostrilia and then onto his non-Cordwainer output.

>30 ScoLgo: I really enjoyed My Cousin Rachel.

>33 Lyndatrue: I think I knew about the other names once, but had forgotten about them. thanks! I'll keep an eye out for them.

>35 pgmcc: Only 10% in but I'm liking it so far. This is my third du Maurier and she has not yet let me down. She is an absolute master of first-person narration, which, in general, is my favorite viewpoint. Unless done poorly. Then it is my least favorite. No qualms with this one. I feel I am in good hands.

Finished Rogue Protocol this evening (A); a worthy addition to the continuing series.

Started The Synapse Sequence by Daniel Godfrey, a near-future thriller about developing technologies to read the memories of witnesses to build up better pictures of crimes. Not bad so far.

Starting Anathem by Neal Stephenson, fairly strong flavor of A Canticle for Leibowitz here so far.

>40 Jarandel: That observation, also echoed in reviews when Anathem was released was precisely how I discovered A Canticle for Leibowitz.

I am about 200 pages into Gnomon by Nick Harkaway. It is a dense read, but I am honestly loving it so far. It is going to take a while though!

I'm reading Null states, the second volume of a political SF/thriller trilogy. It's good.

Had a very enjoyable time reading Andre Norton Moon of Three RingsExciting and rather unusual. Judith Tarr did a great review on Tor's ''reread'' series.I love Judith Tarr and Jo Walton's reviews,we seem to have similar tastes in many respects.
check out https://www.tor.com/2017/02/27/spaceships-and-magic-andre-nortons-moon-of-three-...

Moderan by David R. Bunch. A forgotten classic. https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics/products/moderan

I was able to get copies of both Ria and Carola to read through the interlibrary loan service.

I read it a while ago but Vladimir Sorokin's Ice Trilogy is also pretty amazing.

Finished Engineering Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan. Mostly OK.

>37 ScoLgo: I share your view on du Maurier. I have not hit a dud yet. Her short stories are very good too.

If you like first-person narration you might like Iain Banks's Complicity. He uses person to distinguish between character in different chapters. In one chapter a character uses first-person. In the next the second-person is used for an other character. In other chapters third-person is used for a third character. I say third character but the book is about a serial killer. In one set of chapters you are reading about the serial killer committing the murders. The mystery is, which of the other two characters is the serial killer.

>42 Dr_Flanders: That was my reaction to Gnomon. It is a very rewarding book but there is no rushing it.

>40 Jarandel: & >41 divinenanny:
I have read Anathem but not A Canticle for Leibowitz. I have heard of it but never come close to reading it. I may have come to it by the same route as divinenanny.

BTW: I loved Anathem.

>48 pgmcc: You seem to have forgot to attribute the replies (">post_nr"). Especially with the second reply, I have no idea who you're replying to.

>50 anglemark: Thanks for that.

BTW will we see you in Dublin in 2019?

I'm reading a Poul Anderson collection, The Horn of Time.

>51 pgmcc: Oh yes. I'm the WSFS Area Head for site selection. No escape for me.

>53 anglemark: We met briefly at eurocon in Dublin. Perhaps this time we will have time share a pint or two of Guinness.

>47 pgmcc: Finished it last night. As I was turning the pages I realized I had read it before - but it had been some strange abridged version. The earlier read was almost a re-write that lacked the signature du Maurier style. It's the same basic story but was significantly changed throughout. This 'real' version was miles better.

Thank you for the recommendation. I have added Complicity to my list. One of these days, I intend to complete his Culture novels too, (I have read the first three so far with Player of Games being a stand-out).

Next up: Back to SF as I have taken Bradbury's The Toynbee Convector collection off the shelf. Also re-reading the short All Systems Red in anticipation of starting Murderbot 2: Artificial Condition. Enjoying book 1 even more this 2nd time around.

>55 ScoLgo: Player of Games would be a favourite of mine. I am of an age that I was able to read his books as they were published.

>54 pgmcc: Indeed we did, I remember it well. I grabbed a copy of Albedo One.

Read a few shorts/novellas on a recent trip:

Down on the farm by Charles Stross. The only things I've read from his Laudry series are the shorts, and I'm kind of meh about them. Perhaps I should pick up a novel -- more space to develop characters and mystery?

Rogue protocol by Martha Wells: Pretty enjoyable! MurderBot is growing on me.

>58 Petroglyph:

I definitely prefer the Laundry novels to the shorts. But don't start with one of the recent ones; they're too dependent on the prior books. Go for one of the first three to start.

>59 paradoxosalpha:
Thanks! I'll keep that in mind!

Just started Obelisk. The first story reads like YA and apparently originally appeared in Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier. Was that a YA anthology?

Started The Obelisk Gate, the second of N K Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy. I'm finding it a bit confusing, it seems to jump around a lot, but that might be because it's so long since I read the first one.

Worldcon site selection eh? I'm trying to stay one step ahead of the DC in 2021 committee only they actually do know where I live!

Speaking of novels I basically finished Deep Roots (A) yesterday. I say basically because, like the previous novel, I wasn't able to devote the time to it that it deserved, but it's another good one.

>62 SChant: I was confused too it seems dislocated from the first volume. I also hated the use of second person narration. Something that shouldn't be used outside of a creative writing class.

>62 SChant: Although I found the structure of The Obelisk Gate to be challenging when I read it, I found it all the more rewarding when it started to come together.

>65 justifiedsinner:, I agree about the use of the second person narration when there is no reason for it. The use of second person narration in The Broken Earth series is a major plot point which I won't spoil here. It was also not used exclusively. I thought it was well done and added interest.

Finally finished Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312,been on with it since mid July.Oh dear,all my usual irritations with KSR were in play. Glacially slow pace. Great wodges of info dumps. He excelled himself this time by actually putting them in extracts and lists.lol.Characters that I couldnt take to,particularly the female protagonist,135 years old and as immature as a 15 year old. I think I was supposed to find her charming,amusing,and utterly delightful,but as I didnt I cant say I was eagerly following her sort of romance with a young man diametrically opposite in all ways.There was supposed to be a mystery and a murder in there,but as ever KSR barely bothers to give details and it all sort of fizzles out.Then there's is plan to ''reanimate'' the earth's environmental dire straits which I found frankly ludicrous and incredible.As usual throughout the book KSR uses his ''why use 20 words when a thousand will do?'' to heavily delineate the varied habitats in space that men have developed,but its nice to see a writer who delights in an optimistic view of the solar system,which has suffered the doldrums in SF
So I forgive him a lot because of his depiction of the space habitats. KSR does seem to have that excitement,joy and wonder in the spaceout there around us,and reminds me of Arthur C Clarke in that regard.
So all in all,I managed to get through it,with a big sigh of relief that I dont have to read New York 2340,since it didnt win any awards. Yay!No more KSR monster tomes. :0)
That makes 48/54 Nebulas read.

Let us know how you really feel! I remember reading Red Mars and liking it. I read Green Mars and sorta liked it. I got eighty pages into Blue Mars and decided that I was sick of these people and skipped to the end. The last of his novels I actually read all the way through was The Years of Rice and Salt, though I might give the forthcoming "Red Moon" a try.

>67 dustydigger: I eagerly await your thoughts on the 54 as a whole.

>67 dustydigger:, >69 lansingsexton:, me too, I hope you're working up some kind of ranking or categorization to share when you're done!

I am having the pleasure of reading Dune for the first time.

>71 pgmcc:, fantastic! I only wish I could do that again. Unlike some readers, I liked all the Dune books by Frank, right through to Chapterhouse.

>72 Cecrow: Though I did make the mistake of reading Dune Messiah first, all the time wondering why it made no sense whatsoever.

>73 RobertDay:, ouch; yes, considering I've read somewhere or other that it's basically comprised of what was meant to be the rest of the first book, that could be a problem.

Oh damn it!.Shrike has reminded me that after I finish the Hugos and Nebulas (9 still to go) I intended to finish the Locus SF award winners too.There will be 13 left to read,and yep Years of Rice and Salt is one.And boy ae there some nightmares ahead eg Stephenson's Cryptonomicon,Anathem and System of the World are enough,given my aversion to massive tomes and the fact that I havent like one of Neal's books yet:0)
I have decided instead to finish off WWEnd's Locus list of best SF pre 1990.6/50 still to read there.

Samuel R Delaney - Dahlgren
Philip K Dick - Ubik
Robert Silverberg - Dying Inside
Olaf Stapleton - Star Maker
Olaf Stapleton - Last and First Men
George R Stewart - Earth Abides

Some heavy stuff there too,but only 6 altogether Beyond that I will read a few of the Locus award winners,and finish off the rest slowly - very slowly later.

James S A Corey - Abaddon's Gate
Ursula K LeGuin - The Telling
Cherie Priest - Boneshaker
Charles Stross - Accelerando

Bye bye KSR for at least 18 months! lol

>75 dustydigger:

I have only read a couple of those. I really enjoy Philip K. Dick's work and Ubik might be my favorite of the novels I have read. When I read The Telling, I was finishing the last of Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish works, and I'd somehow gotten it into my head that it was one of the lesser works in that cycle. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed it almost as much as the more lauded works, like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. I hope you enjoy those novels as much as I did.

I'd like to read some Samuel Delaney but I haven't managed to get around to it yet.

After reading a couple stories a week over lunch since January, I've finally finished The Norton Book of Science Fiction. It was a big one, and even though it had some good and even great stories in it, I don't think it was a good anthology. It's a weirdly elliptical take on the genre, I think.

>71 pgmcc: New Dune movie in the works, might post about it in the film topic.

>67 dustydigger: I fear we will never be in agreement regarding KSR... lol

I read All Systems Red The Murderbot Diaries#1 and really liked it. I read an e-edition and did not realize it was a novella until I was surprised at finishing it a few hours later. I look forward to reading the sequels but they are all on waiting lists at the library.

The bot character reminds me of a robot in the last Star Wars novel I read, a character which I expected to be picked up in the film series but so far has not. Serendipitously, on the same day, I also read about some experiments done, in Japan I think, where robots developed to be friends to the autistic & children {big eyes & other features to elicit bonding} were used in an experiment to have the emotional attachment of the people in the lab to the robots measured. I will have to try to find it again but the people were forced to deactivate or otherwise subject the bot to a negative {for a human} situation. Martha Wells explores this concept in developing her character - in the first book at least.

::edit:: did a search on robot emotional attachments and there are many articles on the topic. Here is one.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-humans-love-robots-like-people

>78 DugsBooks: I will watch out for that.

Finished reading The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson this afternoon. Well-written, as I would expect from this author. A strange tale of a step in social evolution that doesn't go the way anyone expected. The main character (first person narrative) was believable, relatable, and fallible in a way that doesn't really invite blame, just sympathy. I enjoyed it.

>77 Stevil2001: There isn't much discussion of short fiction here. What were some of your favorite stories in The Norton Anthology (Ursula Le Guin again). Could you say a little more about why you were dissatisfied with the book as a whole?

>83 lansingsexton: Well, if we're talking about short fiction here, I just finished all four collections of Kelly Link's stories which are incredible. Also started on Her Body and Other Parties. Machado's story Especially Heinous, an alt. Law and Order SVU, is a brilliant riot.

>83 lansingsexton: I will! I should write up my LT review this weekend.

>83 lansingsexton: So, here are some thoughts on The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990. There are not many familiar names or familiar stories in it. I think this would be okay if it were marketed as Science Fiction Stories Liked by Le Guin and Attebery, however, it's supposedly The Norton Book of Science Fiction, an overview of an entire genre. The back cover trumpets it as suitable for use in schools, but I think you'd be better off with, say, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One if you want a chunky anthology that gives an overview of the genre. I don't think an overview has to be historically comprehensive, it just has to cover the range of subforms the genre can take, so the subtitle of "North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990" isn't necessarily limiting even if it is arbitrary. But this feels to me like a limited slice of what science fiction can do.

I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that Le Guin's taste in sf is literary. That's perfectly fine by me, as I like literary sf, and Le Guin is my joint favorite sf writer. What does surprise me from the author of the Hainish cycle is that it's very Earthbound. Very few stories here take place in space. I think that's what makes it feel limited: sf's ability to imagine other worlds and future times is very underrepresented here. There are times this book feels very insular. It's hard to imagine handing this to a literary sf neophyte and having them come away wowed at the possibilities the genre offers.

Of the sixty-seven stories in the book, I think I'd only read four before. New discoveries I enjoyed included "The Handler" by Damon Knight, "High Weir" by Samuel Delaney, "Schrödinger's Plague" by Greg Bear, "Snow" by John Crowley, "The Brains of Rats" by Michael Blumlein, "And the Angels Sing" by Kate Wilhelm, "When I Was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman Hess, "Stable Strategies for Middle Management" by Eileen Gunn, "(Learning About) Machine Sex" by Candas Jane Dorsey, "Tauf Alef" by Phyllis Gotlieb, "Invaders" by John Kessel, and "Schwarzschild Radius" by Connie Willis. But at sixty-seven stories, this isn't quite the hit rate one would hope for, and I found many of the stories forgettable.

>86 Stevil2001: I've read some of the stories in the book and of those I, like you, especially enjoyed "When I Was Miss Dow", which I had previously read, and two stories that were new to me, Fritz Leiber's "The Winter Flies" and, again like you, John Kessel's "Invaders". I've always had the feeling that authors associated with the New Wave shied away from space travel, and aliens as too close to SF's pulp heyday. Your comments seem to bear that out.

>84 justifiedsinner:, I didn't get Especially Heinous, probably because I have never seen a single episode of Law & Order SVU. But nevertheless, I found "the girls with bells for eyes" still haunt me. I only wish I understood the story better.

For me, the standout in Her Body and Other Parties was the post-apocalyptic story "Inventory," followed closely by "The Husband Stitch."

Over the last several years I've been picking up Ben Bova books at thrift stores - I've only read some of his earlier works (some significant Hugo Award winners and others notsomuch). I've been reading Colony this past week or so to gear up for the entire Grand Tour collection of books - it's a bit dated, published in 1979 or so. I finally managed to find two that are part of the "Reader Order" with Powersat and Moonrise both early enough in the chronology that they've kept me from reading the other 20 or so books that I own. It'll be interesting to see how much I can stand - I somehow managed to plow through all the Jack Reacher books - no mean feat.

>88 vwinsloe: I saw a few episodes of L&O: SVU before becoming disgusted with it. I categorize that show and Criminal Minds as "rape porn" where rape and sexual assault are used for entertainment masquerading as stories of moral outrage. I have also got disgusted with American cop shows' Dirty Harry attitude to law enforcement. The morally righteous cop (Benson or Stabler) is allowed to assault suspects, deny them due process etc. all because they "know" that he's guilty and the rule of law is standing in the way of "Justice". Given the unceasing diet of such shows it's no wonder that police assassinations of black people are so prevalent and a substantial majority of people support Trump's disdain for the Constitution.

Machado's story is a subtle attack on those attitudes where Stabler and Benson are shown to be both vulnerable and disturbed people while their doppelgängers keep up the TV front. It's much more than a satire though, at times funny, tragic and haunting. I had to do so research to find that Machado used the actual episode titles as paragraph headings.

I though the two stories that you mentioned were also brilliant even though I guessed the ending of the Husband Stitch early on.

Finished Six Wakes last night, and it's been a long time since I've changed my mind about a book so often throughout. I usually don't like mysteries as they tend to be predictable and dull, but this started out very good in the first few chapters then moved on to annoying writing and boring flat characters midway through (also marred by some glaring typos that really should have been caught, missing words and the like.) Then it picked up and had some really interesting story lines and and discussion of concepts, and I was ready to accept it being a Hugo nominee, but unfortunately it fell flat on its face in the end with the things at the end. I see how people might like it, but it has too many issues with it for me. A solid 2.5 stars.

Moving on to The Calculating Stars which I have high hopes for.

(Touchstones fubar'ed again? Getting no results on anything.)

>90 justifiedsinner: Thanks for explaining that one. Having not seen a single episode of L&O I had no idea what was going on and skipped it.

>90 justifiedsinner:. Makes sense to me now! Thanks.

>91 pan0ramix: I though Six Wakes had an incredible premise that it completely failed to execute. Like, the opening scene is great, but nothing about how the mystery unfolds is satisfying, and there were a lot of weird leaps.

I finished Gnomon by Nick Harkaway earlier this week. It took a while to get through this large tome, but I thought it was well worth it. I started reading Harkaway earlier this year, and I have become a fan. I thought Gnomon was incredible.

I also continued my pilgrimage through Philip K. Dick's early novels by reading The Cosmic Puppets. I was glad it was short, because I didn't really enjoy it all that much. The premise had kind of an interesting sort of Twilight Zone vibe to it, but the book failed to do much with that, in my opinion. I am a huge fan of PKD, and I realize this was a very early work. It is my least favorite PKD, of those I have read.

>95 Dr_Flanders: Your comments on Gnomon in particular and your reaction to Nick Harkaway's work in general match mine exactly.

I am also keen on PKD but I have found some of his work patchy. His ideas are the strongest part of his stories in many cases.

I haven't read any Harkaway yet, but Gnomon looks like a book I'd really enjoy.

>96 pgmcc: I realize it will probably be a few years away, but I think I'll be lined up at the bookstore to buy Harkaway's next novel as soon as it hits the shelves.

I agree on PKD, but I knew that when I decided to begin reading his stuff from the beginning too, so I can't say I am surprised. He was so prolific and creative that I kind of think the execution had to suffer at times. And if I understand it correctly, he was struggling to pay the bills for most of his life, so he needed to get books sold as opposed to holding onto them and tinkering for months.

>97 paradoxosalpha: I hope you enjoy it if you decide to give it a go. I don't know if Gnomon is the best place to start with Nick Harkaway, but I think it is his best book to date. He has only written 4 novels so far, and most are longish, but read more like thrillers as far as momentum goes. The shortest and probably most accessible is probably Tigerman, though it is also my least favorite of his novels. And I still enjoyed it more than most novels I read, so I am not saying it is bad at all.

The only reason I mention it is that I read a lot of reviews from people saying they didn't finish Gnomon, so I wonder if I would have given up on it, had I not already felt like I trusted Harkaway not to waste my time. Gnomon is great, just be advised that it will take some time and patience to get through it.

>98 Dr_Flanders:

Ah, I'm not intimidated by beefy novels, and I don't even mind a slow start.

Finished Ancillary Mercy, halfway through Moonfall

>99 paradoxosalpha: Then I think you are right. Gnomon might be right up your alley!

>98 Dr_Flanders: Great to see all the love for Harkaway here. I've read and enjoyed all his novels and agree that Gnomon is an absolute tour-de-force but perhaps a bit dense as a start to his work!

Anyway, started Austral by Paul McAuley - genemod people, colonisation of Antarctica, crime and inequality. Looks interesting, though I couldn't finish his The Quiet War - too slow for me.

I'm about done with The Horn of Time. Next up I'm reading Omnivore by Piers Anthony. That is I'm planning to, but it smells a bit funny.

Reading Powersat by Ben Bova....

I am experiencing the great joy of reading Dune for the first time.

Started reading Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross the other day. I was impressed by Singularity Sky and so have high hopes for this one. So far, so good.

I enjoyed Noumenon Infinity, the followup to last year's Noumenon. They are both set on multi-generation exploratory star ships, with many tense scenarios and a thrilling pay-off.

It's emblematic that this is a golden age of SF that some of the best books I read from 2017 didn't even show up on any major lists (Hugo nominees, Locus recommended reading): Noumenon, Black Mad Wheel, Future Home of the Living God.

>107 edgewood: The Erdrich was nominated for the Campbell award

Finished KSR's Blue Mars and happily it wasn't nearly so painful as I'd feared. Beautifully done ending.

Good to know. I didn't see her among the finalists (http://www.thehugoawards.org/campbell-history/).

>110 edgewood:
Not that Campbell, this one: http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/campbell.htm
Finalist in 2018.

Finished The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin. Satisfying end to the trilogy.

>111 divinenanny: Ah, that makes more sense. Of the Kansas University list, I read (and really liked) 8 of the 13 finalists. So that award may reflect my reading tastes more than any other!

I'm about done with Omnivore. Next up I'm re-reading The Last Starship from Earth by John Boyd.

Just finished The fallen sun, by David R. Grigg. The book is self published, and can be acquired at Amazon, Book Depository, Apple iBook store and Kobo among other places. You can find my review attached to my copy of the book on LibraryThing. 4.5 stars from me.

Currently reading European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman.

>114 SFF1928-1973: I read and loved The Last Starship from Earth in the 1970s. I went to the trouble of tracking down a copy a few years ago to have a re-read. I have not gotten round to that yet but your post and its jogging of my memory will improve my chances of getting to it sooner rather than later.

>94 Stevil2001: I agree. I liked some of the flashback parts discussing how cloning affected society, but in the end disappointing.

Undercity (Major Bhaajan)

Fun female warrior and gorgeous men.

Where is the October thread? This happened once before, but I don't know how to recover it.

>120 lansingsexton:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/296904

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