June 2014 reading

Starting the month with a classic, 2001. I've read the first two books in this series many many years ago and own the third, but never read it or the fourth.

Just started re-reading Voyage From Yesteryear by James P. Hogan.

Have been reading Extreme Planets for review for Interzone. It will not be a positive review...

Still working on The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell.

Just got my e-copy of Lightspeed Magazine's Women Destroy Science Fiction issue (June 2014). This was from a kickstarter project. I've got the hard copy version coming later this month, but I'll get started on a couple stories today. It's got an amazing lineup of authors.

Finished Who Goes There?, which I liked a lot - a tense, riveting read.

Currently working on Science Fiction 101: Where to Start Reading and Writing Science Fiction (aka Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder) - I hadn't intended to read it but ended up getting sucked in by the introductory essay - and Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, Vol. 1, which collects the first ten issues of the famous Jack Kirby/Stan Lee run of the comic (it's superhero rather than SF, true, but it certainly trots out its share of SF tropes; actually, the first few issues read like the creators were not entirely sure whether they were creating a superhero, SF, or monster comic).

My blog about Jay Lake's death. His fantastical and creative spirit meant a lot to me as a reader, and his creations live on. It makes me sad that, a scant five days before his 50th birthday, cancer finished its long and terrible tormenting of him.

In my memorial Iain Banks Culture re-read, finished The State of the Art and just started on Excession.

In my memorial Iain Banks Culture re-read, finished The State of the Art and just started on Excession. I cannot but help hear the character from the Affront in the voice of Brian Blessed...

(Sorry - tried editing touchstones and ended up with a duplicate message...)

Reading book 2 of the Circle of Magic Tris's Book by Tamora Pierce...

I started reading Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro and I'm hooked!

Just started Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey.

Afterparty by Daryl Gregory - very trippy, loved it.

Finished 2001. It's still a very enjoyable book.
Next is a re-read of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Working through my own LonCon3 reading list (which consists of works all authors who will/might attend that I own). I started this month with 2312 and I am loving it so far.

Started Lord Tophet, the follow-up to Shadowbridge, and Robots of Dawn- a Lije Baley/R. Daneel Olivaw whodunnit.

I just finished The Golden Sword and changed gears enormously to pick up Arrive at Easterwine.

Just finished re-reading Voyage From Yesteryear published in 1982 by James P. Hogan. In the twenty-first century, with war and senseless destruction taking place on Earth, a colony ship is sent to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, where it finds a planet suitable for colonization. The DNA collected and placed aboard the ship is used to generate the population necessary for colonization. The first generation is created and reared with robotic assistance, and it comes to adulthood without the phobias and mind-sets prevalent on Earth. By this time Earth has recovered enough from its wars to send a followup ship to check on the colony, and it arrives hoping to indoctrinate it's progeny to the more organized civilization it expects to export from Earth. However, indoctrination can work both ways, and trouble ensues from the elements of the arriving population who cannot understand or adjust to the revolutionary way of life prevalent on its colony.

This is an in-depth probe into human psychology as what-we-are clashes with what-we-might-be. The prologue is a little longer and more detailed than it needed to be, and much of the descriptions of the technical workings of the ship are more detailed than necessary, but what evolves is a remarkable insight into how humans might react when confronted with new and strange ways of thinking. When I read it back in 1982 it seemed very original and groundbreaking in its premise, and I enjoyed re-reading it as much as I enjoyed reading it then. It's well written, and should be considered a Science Fiction classic. I rate it at five out of five stars.

Now reading Daja's Book by Tamora Pierce...

I've just finished reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.

Next up is Authority by Jeff Vandermeer.

I've been enjoying the hell out of Kim Stanley Robinson's "Three Californias" trilogy, which consists of, roughly & respectively, a post-apocalyptic, a dystopian, and a utopian imagining of future Orange County, California. I'm nearing the conclusion of the third novel, Pacific Edge, and not wanting it to end.

Have just read Sylo and Storm by D.J. MacHale (author Pendragon series). Quite a rollicking story. We start out on an island where people are dying from some weird substance, the military steps in and declares there's some deadly virus. Well, hey, everyone on the island comes to realize that's a lie and things get really hairy. Oh, I forgot to tell you - there's these saucer like UFOs that can do the strangest things. Has that piqued your interest? Do you want me to tell you more?

Just finished "Triplanetary" by E. E. Smith. Whoa--where to start. According to some of the other reviews of this book, the story presented here is not part of the "Lensman" series. I've never read E. E. Smith, so I'm no expert on his other writings; this book, however, is below par even for its time. The book I read was published in the late 1940s; I understand that some of the stories might have been published in magazines during the 1930s. I compare any book of this period to John W. Campbell's writing, which had little characterization and lots of action. This one had even more action, but none of it was compelling, with characterization that was almost non-existent, and nowhere near the attraction of any of Campbell's stories. At no time did I care about any of the characters, or feel that the main three characters of the latter part of the story were ever in any real danger. The writing was far more archaic than the time in which it was written, and in places juvenile. It read like the quick draft of an enthusiastic young man who plans to flesh it out and make a real story of it, but never did, and ended up publishing it long before it was ready. On the other hand, it was brimming with imagination. I know that E. E. Smith has many devoted fans who love his writing, but this book cannot be a shining example of it. I rate it at slightly more than 3 stars for imagination, and less than 1 star for the writing, coming up with 2 stars out of 5 overall.

I'm a library puppy due to limited funds, but I just ordered California: A Novel by Edan Lepucki from Powell's Book Store, because Stephen Colbert suggested it (it's a rude but positive gesture to Amazon regarding its anti-Hachette campaign). Hope it's good. If not, or maybe even if it is, I can always donate it to my wonderful local library.

#23
I agree on all counts: pulp writing at its worst. I actually like some pulp writing (e.g., fond of Abraham Merritt). I read two or three Smiths when I was a teenager (50 plus years ago!) and even with my lower standards then, I didn't bother to read any more. I think Triplanetary was one of them. They were awful. Even the imagination wasn't the kind of world or atmosphere-building type I like. They were the book equivalent of those early Buck Rogers TV shows. Maybe I'm slandering the shows, at that; I don't remember them too well.

#25 rshart3
No, you got it right. It was a lot like Buck Rogers and the original Flash Gordon, but those were more fun because they were visual. Triplanetary was hard to visualize.

>23 KenDoggett:, >25 rshart3:, >26 KenDoggett: So glad I'm not the only one. Apparently Triplanetary was written ~1938.

Worth noting is this capsule from Wikipedia:

Edward Elmer Smith PhD (also E. E. Smith, E. E. "Doc" Smith, Doc Smith, "Skylark" Smith, or—to his family—Ted) (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965) was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and early science fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera.

Emphasis added to what I consider the most amusing fact: A donut scientist writing bland, flavorless pap makes me smile.

I have the disturbing notion that he might have invented the Twinkie.

One question, richardderus: I hate to appear stupid but I've never been able to get people's names to show up as links when I reply to them. How do you do that? I know how to highlight a book, like Triplanetary, but names are a problem.

>29 KenDoggett:. I can answer that one as someone kindly did for me previously. It is the > sign and then the number of the post that you are responding to. Nice feature, isn't it? I love the LT programming.

>30 vwinsloe:. Thanks. I do appreciate it.

>30 vwinsloe:, >31 KenDoggett: Ta-da! I love the hive mind, most of the time anyway.

Finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Next, another comedy Red Dwarf.

If you haven't yet, I recommend reading Ken Scholes' story on Tor.com. It's in honor of the recent passing of Jay Lake.

just started Kate Atkinson's Life after Life

>35 RBeffa: It's good.

Finished Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey and started The Shadow of the Torturer (Shadow & Claw) by Gene Wolfe.

Now reading Briar's Book by Tamora Pierce...

Just finished Binary by Stephanie Saulter. A very satisfying followup to last year's Gemsigns

I'm reading an ARC of Prototype, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of except that I didn't think I could fairly judge Archetype without it.

I read my first Star Trek book in a long time--Enterprise: The First Adventure and it was a lot of fun. Having finished that, I am on to Who Fears Death.

Have just finished The Lost Steersman by Rosemary Kirstein and I am now in the middle of Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux which won the Campbell Award this year.

Slightly oblique, but I bought an old aviation book yesterday which turned out to have some of Bob Shaw's aviation journalism in it!

I didn't know he wrote on aviation as well. Seriously scientifically, I assume.

Decided to return to Sci Fi for my next book...found Berserker by Fred Saberhagen at my local used bookstore.

>44 anglemark:: After Bob stopped helping to design aircraft, he took to writing about them for the publicity departments of (firstly) Shorts (the article I came across was from that period), and later for Vickers.

Finished The Shadow of the Torturer and started The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe.

Just started Conquest by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard . Interesting start. Hope it continues.

Reading Path into the Unknown and wondering why publishers must spoil these stories by translating them into US vernacular.

Reading Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks...

{sigh} put down Berserker for now...very juvenile but I might pick it up again. I wish I could find Sci Fi books that are written as good as some of the Historical fiction I have been reading.

>51 Lynxear:

Well I thought everyone knew that Berserker was pulpy. TBH I don't think I have found any of Saberhagen's stuff particularly good.

What kind of stuff are you looking for? I'm sure there is enough collected wisdom to find something a little more suited to your tastes.

>52 andyl: well first I don't know Saberhagen as an author, second I got sucked in by a glitz cover, then I liked the premise on the jacket summary, finally I flipped to several pages and the book seemed readable...

But then, considering it was the first of a series, there was no build-up to a battle...you are sort of thrown into it and the mind control aspect and weird alien-type dog from the get-go...then after that chapter it zips to something different....there was no development or flow to the story.

I had just read a 700 page historical fiction novel Physician in 5 days where you started when the guy was a young boy in a family in the early 2nd century whose mother/father, is orphaned, at 10 years old is apprenticed to a barber/surgeon who travels England in a medical show where he learns the trade (the master really did understand limited cures besides selling liquored cure-alls). You understood the perils of that profession where if you were perceived as using magic you could be hung/waterboarded or worse. That occupies 200 pages of the book...then when the master dies, he decides he REALLY wants to be a physician and the seat of such knowledge is in Persia...so as a young man he travels (working his craft)across Europe, through Constantinople into Persia mostly in a caravan...and associated adventures...takes 150 pages. Then he has to fake being a Jew (learns this in the caravan trip) as Christians are not allowed into a Muslim learning facility...then you follow his life as a student in a Muslim country another 250 pages...then you follow his return journey to England as a married man in his 20's and the perils of being a real physician in a quack society of London medicine...

This is a super story which makes you really understand what it was like to live in those times....

Then I pick up this story with no story line, no character development, no story flow...Bit of a letdown....so now I am back in history reading Assyrian by a little read author (on LT anyway) and am completely engrossed in the life of a young boy, son of the king (one of many) and concubine who has now reached an age at 9 years old where he has left the sanctuary of the harem, avoided being a eunuch by luck and courage and now is being trained to be a warrior and that is about 100 pages into 600 page story.

If you look at my library you will see some Sci-fi that I have liked but it is tough finding a good read...for me anyway :)

If like the historical fiction approach to novels, have you tried Cecilia Holland's Floating Worlds ?

And there's always Asimov's trilogy, Foundation.

Enjoyed Christopher Priest's The adjacent which seems his most 'warm' effort to date. Now reading Michael Flynn's In the lion's mouth, in his Spiral Arm series.

> 55 I have read most of Asimov long before I started this library .... I liked his robotic series with Robots of Dawn being a favourite

>53 Lynxear:

Berserker is also a collection of previously published short stories which probably didn't help.

I don't think Physician can be set in the 2nd century. That is over 400 years before before Muhammad. It sounds more like very late Anglo-Saxon or early Norman from your description.

As to SF. Have you tried Kim Stanley Robinson? The Mars Trilogy or the Science In The Capital series would seem to have some of what you are looking for. What about Cyteen by Cherryh?

>58 andyl: the Physician starts in 1031...Sorry it is the 11th century...my bad

I think I have seen Red Mars in the bookstore I patronize...it looks like that series is worth a look....thanks

I have been looking around and I think The Forever War by Joe Haldeman looks like a possible too

>59 Lynxear:

The Forever War is very episodic though so that might count against it for you. It also has its problems. Overall it does surpass them but it is a 40 year old book and in parts shows it.

>59 Lynxear:. I also highly recommend The Mars Trilogy. It is one of those seminal works whose ideas are referenced in many later ones. Some of the fictional events in that series, imagined by Kim Stanley Robinson, have become "given" historical events in the back story of other fictional works. It is that good.

I've just finished American elsewhere, which is a blend of SF, contemporary fantasy, noir and Lovecraftian horror. I really enjoyed it.

Now I'm reading Burning Bright by Melissa Scott.

We're currently (off-and-on) re-reading Chris Claremont and John Byrne's 'X-Men: Days of Future Past.' A classic.

Not only still working on 'Excession', but also made a start on Ancillary justice.

ENDER'S GAME, Orson Scott Card.
I was prepared to not like this book. Most of it's main characters are children--with the primary one being age 6--and I'm not all that fond of stories about children. This one surprised me, I was hooked early on, and wanted to know more about these gifted children who have to grow up fast. As the story begins our Solar System has been invaded twice by aliens, and the second time was almost a rout, with Earth being saved by one very intelligent person who had the aliens figured out. Now, years later, a third invasion is expected, and Earth wants to develop a leader who is intelligent and effective enough to win. Toward that end, the authorities recruit candidates almost from childbirth, and eventually find a very gifted child whose nickname is Ender. He is selected for the "games," and has to learn to take care of himself very quickly, including defending himself from very real physical threats--all from other very aggressive and competitive children--also gifted--who are part of the same program. They participate in mock battles, and advance by their own wits. Of course, as Ender gets more and more experience with the battles, he quickly excels, and becomes the primary choice. The book keeps you guessing until the end, and at times is very moving as Ender goes through not only physical and mental hardship, but emotional trauma as well. This is an intelligent story, very well thought out, and shows children in a far different light from what we usually see. This is a classic, and for good reason. I rate it at 5 out of 5 stars.

>55 KenDoggett: To be honest, that's far too slight for what Lynxear seems to be looking for, for the same reasons as why Berserker dissatisfied: it had its origins in the pulp magazines, written at short story length and stitched together later, so there's little room for characterisation or subtlety.

>66 MartinWisse: It's been a few years since I read it, but I don't recall thinking of it as pulp at the time, and he did say he liked Asimov. As I remember it, Foundation was written as a future history, with well developed characters.

I just finished reading Numb by John W. Otte. Here's my review:

What if you are numb to pain and feelings for a good portion of your life? And all of sudden you begin to feel again and are not numb anymore?

Those two questions were answered in Numb by John W. Otte. Numb is the story of Crusader, an assassin trained by the Ministrix to kill heretics and others who come against the church and Isolda Westin, a woman whom the Ministrix wants dead.

It was considered an easy job for Crusader to hunt down Isolda and fulfill his duty for the church. However, when he saw her face-to-face for the first time everything changed. I will not give away anymore than that. I liked how the author developed these two characters and stayed away from becoming too sentimental and stereotypical in a science-fiction thriller like this one.

The author did a soild job in showing the uneasy truce between the two societies that are a part of the world of the novel. The aforementioned Ministrix and the atheist society of the Praesidium both were vying for power in order to get the people of this world under control. Otte gave an honest portrayal of how religion and ideology can corrupt both societies whether you believed in a higher power or not.

It seemed that the author wanted to highlight the theme of grace in the novel. While reading Numb, I thought of these words by Paul: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.” {1 Corinthians 15:10} This first sentence of that verse of scripture from 1 Corinthians in the New Testament was something that both Crusader and Isolda would have to face in the story.

Do you give grace to those who have hurt you? Do you give grace to those who have gained power and manipulated those underneath them? The author answered those questions in Numb and revealed the need for grace in our lives.

Numb is a Christian Science Fiction novel and it doesn’t shy away from that worldview in the story. However, I would recommend it to science fiction fans who wants to read a solid, page-turning novel.

>67 KenDoggett: Well developed characters in Foundation? You mean the one by Asimov? The one with the cardboard cut-out characters? Men in hats sf? Asimov can be praised for several things, but his characterisation wasn't one of them. Nor was his prose. Or his world-building, for that matter...

>69 iansales: As I said, it was a loooong time ago...

>70 KenDoggett: The Golden Age of science fiction is thirteen years old :-)

Finished Burning bright which was an excellent read. I think it deserves to be back in print; at least it seems readily available on kindle.

Now I've started Terra by Mitch Benn, which is delightful so far.

>72 Sakerfalcon:

What a coincidence I am in the middle of Trouble And Her Friends at the moment.

Finished The Claw of the Conciliator (Shadow & Claw) by Gene Wolfe. Started Rogues edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Duzois.

>73 andyl:

Trouble And Her Friends is also quite good!

>63 Graham_and_Wolf:

I love the Chris Claremont - John Byrne - Terry Austin run on X-Men - probably the best American superhero comic of its era. 8)

>69 iansales:: Actually I like Asimov's lack of character and world building. For some reason I don't mind that stuff in fantasy novels, but I find it annoying in SF. I like SF to be built on an idea and too much of that stuff usually just feels like padding. There are exceptions though. Spin comes to mind.
As for Asimov's prose, I once saw an interview where he described his own writing style as quaint.

Just finished The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. It's a fantasy novel set in Malaya in 1893. Li Lan is the daughter of "a genteel but bankrupt" ethnic Chinese family. Li Lan's mother died young in a smallpox epidemic, leaving her father emotionally devastated, physically disfigured, and increasingly lost in a haze of opium. Then there's an inquiry from a wealthy family: perhaps Li Lan might marry, as a ghost bride, the family's recently deceased young heir. And then it gets strange: ghost, spirits, ancient traditions and superstitions, and Li Lan finds herself on an odyssey into the afterlife with only the most tenuous thread back to the world of the living. It's actually hypnotic, romantic, vivid and kind of fun.

Just started a re-read of Again, Dangerous Visions which I read when it first came out in the early '70s - will be interesting to see if the stories stand the test of time. Also vN by Madeline Ashby.

Started Nina Allan's Microcosmos this morning, though I read a copule of the stories in it when they were originally published.

>73 andyl:, 75 Trouble and her friends is on my tbr pile. It has moved up a few notches on the strength of Burning bright.

I finished Terra and really enjoyed it. It has the feel of a fable in the way the story is told, but I really liked the slightly naive insecure aliens and the character of Terra herself.

>79 SChant:

Please let us know what you think of Again, Dangerous Visions. I picked up a copy of it on the cheap a year or two ago and have been thinking about reading it soon (although I am more intimidated by its 800+ pp. girth than its age).

In the middle of Orbital Resonance, and a brief non-SF side trip through The Red House Mystery

I am about to finish Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, I picked near pristine paperback copies of that book , Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice and Her Majesty's Service {for $.15 each}. Tense, exciting with a gathering momentum. My first time reading the novels - saw the flicks.

I included this in the SF section because of a fantastical machine mentioned called a Belinograph that purportedly sends photos over a wire!

>69 iansales: Ian what do you like about Asimov? It's the first inkling I've had that there was anything. On another topic, your assessment of human accomplishment so far made me think of Edmond Hamilton's story Exile.

>70 KenDoggett: Well, he was a good populariser of science...

I was never a big Asimov fan. Growing up, I read Clarke the most, but now even Clarke's works seem a little empty because of lack of real characterization. However, for the time in which they wrote a lot of their works (1950s), a really flamboyant character could destroy the credibility of a story that was already stretching it thin (that Sci-Fi stuff). I think Clarke has the best ideas, though. Keep in mind that they were pioneers, and what's accepted today just wouldn't fly then. The same goes for music. Rock 'n' Roll was just crazy.

In my memorial Culture re-read, have finished Excession and now started on Inversions. Of course, having read that book once and knowing what it's about, my re-read is of what is essentially now for me an entirely different book!

>84 DugsBooks:: A Belinograph? Why, whatever other wonders await us in the distant worlds of futurity? Might we someday have moving pictures from the other side of the world brought into our very living rooms?

>88 RobertDay: Inversions was the first Culture book I read, so rereading it last month was quite eye-opening!

SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD, BY ORSON SCOTT CARD--BOOK REVIEW
Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card, is the sequel to his novel, Ender's Game. I didn't like this book as well as the first one; it isn't the kind of story I usually like to read. The beginning was slow, even pedantic at times, and I was well into the book before the story really began moving. However, the author does build a detailed world, with a newly discovered intelligent alien species, and a colony of humans that must share the planet while being restricted by law from having any impact on this developing species. Both the alien and human cultures are made real, almost too real in some cases, and the humans in this book have very realistic threats, heartaches, and aspirations of their own. Although I thought the first book was better for my tastes, I know that this one is an award-winning classic that is well loved by many readers. Because of that, and the author's astonishing skill in presenting the story, I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars. If you like a story with real characters, coupled with a novel idea and profound depth of writing, I recommend this one to you.

>87 KenDoggett: I think it's a matter of what sort of sci-fi you like. Dr Who or Star trek, fun and idea's in space or relationships and character development in space.

Taking a look at Heinlein's Double Star

>93 RandyStafford: I don't think I ever read that. Let us know how it looks.

>93 RandyStafford: It suddenly came to me that I did read that book a couple of years ago, and didn't like it. You would think, with Heinlein being an SF author that the title Double Star would refer to a celestial object, but it's actually about an actor who's hired to be a double for high-ranking political leader. As I recall, the Science Fiction element is actually superfluous; the setting could have been in any place, any time. Some readers might like it, though; I didn't. Here's the blurb:
"Lorenzo, an out of work actor in the year 2100, finds himself agreeing to play the most difficult role of his life--posing as a double for a missing political leader whose presence is necessary to prevent interplanetary war. Winner of the Hugo Award."

>95 KenDoggett: Well, I'm enjoying it so far. In this one, Heinlein's Competent Man is a conceited actor.

As usual, when I'm done, I'll post a review.

Oddly enough I have Kurosawa's movie Kagemusha in mind as a I read it since that's another story with an imposter.

So far, though, I'm seeing little similarity.

Double Star is included in the Library of America's collection of 1950s' science fiction, but I'm reading a paperback.

Finished up Wearing the Cape (B); a good first novel in the superhero sub-genre.

About to start Cyclonopedia.

>93 RandyStafford: I remember finding it fun as a variation on Prisoner of Zenda.

Currently reading Xisle by Steve Augarde

Reading Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell...

Currently reading Surface Detail and The Last Man. If I manage to finish the terminally tedious book by Mary Shelley, it will only be because it is my latest challenge from the Go Review That Book! group.

I just finished The Windup Girl, which won a Hugo and a Nebula. It is an eco-post apocalyptic novel set in Bangkok. The envisioned future world seemed particularly creative to me, but the plot/characters didn't blow me away as much, perhaps because I didn't really connect with/like any of the characters?

Just finished The Remnant, by Paul B. Spence. The book begins with the mystery of how a ship can be overtaken and boarded in hyperspace, with the culprits disappearing and leaving only one nearly dead survivor. The story then follows this survivor, a special agent, to his next duty after he recuperates. The author is a great tale-spinner, and keeps you interested to the last page, but the book itself has a few problems. The formatting of the ebook is well done and pretty consistent; the first couple of chapters are the best written, and really pull you in. But after chapter 3 or 4 you start running into typos, and a somewhat lower quality of writing. In fact, the quality of the writing varies throughout the book. This doesn't mean that the writing is illiterate or hard to understand; it just means that the author should go through it again and produce a more finished product. There are consistent grammatical errors throughout, mostly the common mis-use of the word "like," which is distracting. In addition, the entire book needs to be edited to trim down the numerous redundant words and phrases, especially in the dialog, and the constant over-explaining of things that are obvious. These make this a far longer story than it needed to be. Also, the dialog itself often seems stilted and clumsy. At other times it's very good. Overall, the book reads more like a second or third draft, not the finished product, and if the author went through it a couple of more times he could probably fix some of these and end up with a much better book--perhaps even at the 4 or 5-star level. As it is, the story is fine, and it's certainly rewarding enough for the time spent reading it. If you like a worthy Science Fiction thriller, and don't mind a few problems, I recommend this book.

Finished Heinlein's Double Star and posted the review.

As a follow up to a story she did did in 2013 Asimov's, I'm reading Kristine Kathryn Rusch/Kris DeLake's Spy to Die For. I suspect my hope it goes more into the political details of this universe will not be met since it's marketed as a romance.

>104 KenDoggett: What is the common mis-use of the word like?

Read Paintwork on the train to Leeds and back yesterday, then today I started Worlds for the Grabbing, which I'll be reviewing for SF Mistressworks. Almost finished James Tiptree Jr: The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon.

>104 KenDoggett: I suspect that the reference to the misuse of "like" is the substitution of "like" when the writer means "as" instead. Unfortunately, it's become so common that I doubt most people are aware that it's wrong. Grammar Girl has a good explanation of this:

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/like-versus-as

Every time I hear someone say "like I said" (instead of "as I said") it hurts, but I seldom see it in print. This is not because it is rare in print, but rather that most of what I prefer to read is older even than I.

So it goes.

I'm in a World of Trouble.

>109 Unreachableshelf: hahaha aren't we all. As to the book itself, this is the last of a series totaling 3 books. Last Policeman, Countdown city and this one. Have you read these other two as well? I like apocalyptic type books these have good ratings and seem worth hunting down.

>108 Lyndatrue: Huh, I never knew about that. I have no idea if I ever did it wrong, and I don't remember if it was ever given any attention in school. Thanks, Lyndatrue!

>106 zjakkelien: Like this: http://lanediamond.blogspot.com/2009/11/proper-use-of-word-like.html
It marks the writer as an amateur. You may speak that way, and these days many do, but you don't write that way unless you're using a narrator who speaks colloquially. This author wasn't.

>108 Lyndatrue: I remember those Winston ads (yes I'm that old), and the controversy at the time. Winston wouldn't change their slogan, though; it was too perfect. It rhymed, and it was catchy.

Finished Orbital Resonance and decided to continue the Heinlein tradition with Citizen of the Galaxy, which I last read over 40 years ago. I liked it best of his juveniles then and so far definitely prefer it now to Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.

Finished Rogues and started The Sword of the Lictor (Sword & Citadel) by Gene Wolfe.

>110 Lynxear: Yes, I've read them all and I highly recommend them to anybody into apocalyptic type fiction.

>113 KenDoggett: "Tiny Tim's roast hot, like a chestnut ought!" --Stan Freberg, "Green Christmas"

Just about to start reading Vortex, the last book in the Spin series by Robert Charles Wilson.

Reading Invincible by Jack Campbell...

>82 artturnerjr: Again, Dangerous Visions is holding up well after a 40-year gap! Some stories are a bit dated but most are still very readable.

>121 SChant:

Thanks for that! I'll have to squeeze it onto the TBR list sometime in the next couple of years. :)