2008: my year in reading

As this year draws to a close, I can happily look back and reflect on all the great books I’ve experienced during the last twelve months. In terms of both quantity and quality, this has been a very good year for me. As far as quantity, I can definitely say I’ve read more [...]

More Brunner, and More Things in Heaven

I thought it was time for some more Brunner (and hey, it’s always time for more Brunner), so I picked out More Things in Heaven from my unread books shelf and gave it a go. Published in 1973, this is an expanded and/or revised version of a 1963 work called The Astronauts Must Not [...]

Whole lotta Hyperion

It no longer matters who consider themselves the masters of events. Events no longer obey their masters.
And so it is with the complex skein of events in this hefty pair of books by Dan Simmons. Taken together, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion (published 1989 and 1990) represent 900+ pages of high-quality space [...]

Tenn again — The Wooden Star

The last time I read a story collection by William Tenn (The Square Root of Man), I said I wasn’t exactly wowed, and the author himself admitted those stories were some of his earliest and least impressive. After finishing a second collection, The Wooden Star, I’m happy to say the quality level is quite a [...]

Kress puts us in the crossfire of first contact

Nancy Kress is one of my favorite authors, writing high quality science fiction that adeptly blends well developed characters, absorbing plots, and thought-provoking themes. The latest Kress novel I picked up to read was Crossfire (2003), and as I expected, it did not disappoint. I don’t feel it’s quite in the same league [...]

Star Trek’s computers sadly silent at the loss of their voice, Majel Barrett

Majel Barrett, that familiar voice of the computer in all the Star Trek series and most of the movies, passed away yesterday at the age of 78, surviving husband Gene Roddenberry by 17 years. This is sad news indeed; I’ve been hearing that voice in the various series for nearly my entire life. [...]