Transhuman; edited by Mark L. Van Name and T.K.F. Weisskopf (Baen Books, 2007, ISBN 978-14165-5523-0; cover by Dave Sealy).

(Two background items: Vernor Vinge's now-classic paper on the Singularity. I would also recommend a look at Accelerando by Charles Stross, as the themes explored in that book often dovetail nicely with the themes explored in these stories...or diverge dramatically. Either way, you can get it for free at that link.)

(Several stories have introductions and/or afterwords, this bumps up the overall story count.)

more...

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The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction; George Mann (editor) (Solaris; 2007; ISBN 978-1-84416-448-6; cover by Stephen Martiniere).

I seem to be blessed recently at my local Big Box bookstore. While the science fiction shelves are shrinking, I have noticed that the books being stocked are getting slightly more diverse. I've seen editions from Pyr, Night Shade Books (Clark Ashton Smith, forsooth!) and now Solaris there.

In fact, I spotted several volumes from Solaris and picked up two in an annual series while marking four others for possible future purchase. The author selection in the anthologies seemed decent, a nice mix of names I recognize wtih new or relatively unfamiliar names.

Introduction (George Mann): Hey, he said whilst! Really! Whilst! more...

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Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! Collected Essays, 1934-1998; Sir Arthur C. Clarke (St. Martin's Press, 1999; ISBN 0-312-19893-0).

I had previously read this collection in 2004, but, given Sir Arthur's passing, I picked it up again to re-read his shorter works (I'll take up the short stories later in the year). more...

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The State of the Art; Iain M. Banks (Night Shade Books; 2004; ISBN 1-892389-38-X; cover art by Les Edwards).

With the release of the latest novel in the Culture sequence, I figured it was time to start re-reading the earlier books (scattered so far across the years that I can't remember most of the plots!), read the ones I've left tottering on Mount Toberead, and then tackle Matter, the newest addition. For a series that has been running as long as it has there are few short works in the sequence. In fact, as far as I know, this is the only collection that Banks has.

Made up of: Road of Skulls; A Gift from the Culture; Odd Attachment; Descendant; Cleaning Up; Piece; The State of the Art; Scratch; A Few Notes on the Culture.

Counts as one entry in the 2008 Year in Shorts.

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Thanks to an e-mail from the man behind Atomic Rockets, I've found an interesting author. Meet Mike Brotherton. Read about his Hard SF writer's bookshelf, Arthur C. Clarke's predictions, a cheat sheet for space travel and more!

More, you say? How about a free book?

(Free is good. I need to write up a posting showing how many free eBooks have led me to purchase deadtree editions of the same, often in hardcover!)

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There is nothing quite like being humbled by a master.

I used to have this regular feature around here, an SF Babe poll every Tuesday. I was actually pretty proud of it, and thought I did a pretty good job making it entertaining and easy on the eyes.

Well, I've been kind of meaning to revive it, just to find something to engage me on this blog. But I doubt that will ever happen, since published writer E.E. Knight has created the most perfect SF Babe poll you will ever witness, in honor of the great Shat's birthday.

Feast your eyes, for this is as good as it gets. That will be a very tough act to follow...

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Princess of Wands; John Ringo (Baen Books, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4165-0923-3, cover by Stephen Hickman).

(The entire first section of the book available as a fee read at Baen's site.)

Barbara Everette has a problem. She wants to be a nice soccer mom, life mate to her husband, member of society. But sometimes she feels like she's going to go nuts. Sometimes she needs to get away.

So get away she does. Off for a weekend away. Alas, she ends up in the middle of a case involving a series of serial killers, a manifesting demon, and an outbreak of the likes that hasn't been seen since the Innsmouth incident in the 1920's.

Thank goodness she runs into a detective from New Orleans on the trail of the killer. And happens to be packing her pistol. And finds she can channel power from God. Let the bullets fly!

Another fun read from John Ringo. The book is filled with in-jokes (many of the character's are named after science fiction fans and several are takes on various famous authors), and feeling like a much hyped up episode of the X-Files, or even better, a typical gaming session of the venerable Call of Cthulhu RPG.

The adventure continues with another serial killer who takes victims at science fiction and fantasy conventions. The body count might even be higher here, along with the level of demon power. Buffy? Hah! Wimp compared with Barbara Everette!

An interesting twist is the main character's strong Christian beliefs. Interesting in that most of the seemingly endless vampire detectives, wizard detectives, etc., don't seem to be either particularly Christian (or even religious in many respects). Strange, that...

My only complaints are that he hasn't written a sequel yet. Guess I'll have to pick up something else by Ringo for my next fast read!

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"The Lotus Eaters? Let’s see—what did Tennyson say about them—nobody reads him nowadays. 'There is sweet music here that softer falls...' No, it isn’t that bit. Ah, I have it!

"'Is there any peace
In ever climbing up the climbing wave?'

Well, young man, is there?"

"For some people—yes,” said Hassell. "And perhaps when space flight arrives they’ll all rush off to the planets and leave the Lotus Eaters to their dreams. That should satisfy everybody."

"And the meek shall inherit the Earth, eh?" said his companion, who seemed to have a very literary turn of mind.

"You could put it that way." Hassell smiled. He looked automatically at his watch, determined not to become involved in an argument which could have only one result.

"Dear me, I must be going. Thanks for the talk."

He rose to leave, thinking he’d preserved his incognito rather well. The stranger gave him a curious little smile and said quietly: "Good-by." He waited until Hassell had gone twenty feet, then called after him in a louder voice: "And good luck—Ulysses!" (Prelude to Space)

From the Ocean, From the Stars

This afternoon I received some reports that Sir Arthur C. Clarke had died. This was confirmed a short time later by news reports.

It is hard for me to express how much of an influence he was on me. I first started reading his books (either Islands in the Sky or The Sands of Mars) shortly after I started reading science fiction (and that was very shortly after I started reading). I read through everything that was in print, whether aimed at adults or young adults. 2001: A Space Odyssey was read and re-read multiple times before my parents allowed me to see it on the big screen (heck, I didn't even get an allowance at that point, so it was a major treat). The book and the movie blew me away and both have remained favorites to this day. Fiction and non-fiction, if I saw Clarke's name on it (although I must confess that I wish he had held back on some of those "collaborations"), I bought it and read it. Short stories like Saturn Rising led me to amateur astronomy. Imperial Earth led me to an interest in recreational mathematics. In fact, many of Clarke's afterwords led me into other areas of study. more...

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A couple of famous science fiction items rendered in Lego bricks.

(O.K., technically the third is not science fiction. But...build a couple more and stick it on a Lego version of the Valley Forge...) more...

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The Last Centurion; John Ringo (Baen Books, August 200 .

Kumbaya.

I just finished reading this, in eARC (electronic Advanced Reading Copy) form from Baen's Webscription service.

Ringo has been steadily maturing as a writer. He has taken some chances, with Ghost and the other volumes of the Paladin of Shadows series, for example. I think the one thing that has kept him from a wider audience is the "science fiction stigma" and the generally (ahem) right-leaning orientation of the books.

No more. With The Last Centurion, he has moved firmly into the technothriller genre. That should attract more readers, as Ghost and its sequels did.

Kumbaya.

And...well...he pretty much manages to say something to anger just about everybody in the course of this book. Sure, the brunt falls on the Left, but keep reading. Everybody suffers at some point or another.

And maybe that is the point. As there is some stuff in here that ought to make you angry...and then make you think.

I'll give it another read when the final version is released.

Kumbaya.

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The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman; Leigh Brackett (Paizo/Planet Stories, 2007, cover by Andrew Hou, ISBN 978-1-60125-047-6; $12.99).

In which I trod down the back alleys and dark corners of the Golden Age once again!

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It. Has. Arrived.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. You know sf has conquered the world when a net pundit announces that 'Barack Obama is the Democratic Party's Kwisatz Haderach.' (SnarkyBastards.com) [LP]

Wot? Still no mention of the SF fandom marriage of the century? Wot?

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Fred's Reading Report (February 200

Leap Year! An extra day of reading! Nope, just an increased number of hours at work, alas...

Books? 11, year-to-date.

Short works? 74, year-to-date.

Currently being read:

Poul Anderson: The Earth Book of Stormgate. Trader to the Stars. The Trouble Twisters. more...

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