What are we reading in January 2023?

Happy New Year,people. Any plans for the year,or the month?Hope you got some books for Xmas .

Dusty's TBR for January 2023
SF/Fantasy
Jacqueline Druga - Gone✔
Nalini Singh - Archangel's Light ✔
Nalini Singh - Archangel's Resurrection ✔
Samuel R Delany - Dhalgren ✔
George R R Martin - Nightflyers ✔
Naomi Novik - Uprooted ✔
Clifford D Simak - Destiny Doll ✔
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time ✔
Miles Cameron - Artifact Space ✔
from other genres
Melissa Yi - Terminally Ill ✔

The list looked fairly doable when I was preparig it,then Children of Time turned up,and I have 250 pages of Dhalgren to finish,and those two put a dent in my reading plans,but we'll see how it goes!

For January, planning on:
In the Ocean of Night - Gregory Benford
Hyperion -Dan Simmons
Sufficiently Advanced Magic- Amdrew Roe
Dorsai! - Gordon R Dickson

I plan to start 2023 with a re-read of the Foundation trilogy. This is in preparation for knocking the 4th book, Foundation's Edge off my Hugo winners list.

The hold fairy just let me know I've got a book waiting:
If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe

Other January SF reading plans:
Seven Surrenders (half finished already)
The Will to Battle
Roadside Picnic
Galactic Empires, Volume 2

Other non-SF reading in the queue:
The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is (in progress)
Mysterious and Horrific Stories
A Vision

I just started reading The Female Man by Joanna Russ. I have been meaning to read it for a few years and was prompted to by a post by Samuel Delaney on his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/samuel.delany/posts/pfbid027kGMsKA1m5EVPc52sUsoLSavHS1M...

I already have Djinn City, The Golden Enclaves, and The Untold Story lined up for sure. After that, we'll see; many are the choices, and many are the holds I've placed at various public libraries! As a trend for the coming year there's a lot of books that have been hanging fire with me for awhile, and the time might have come to privilege fiction over non-fiction a bit; I know, First World Problems!

Happy New Year everyone! I just started Provenance today.

>4 majkia: Have you read Hyperion before?

>3 dustydigger: Well, don't miss Someplace to be Flying, one of the best Newford books. Have fun with the Crow Girls and the rest of the human/animal people characters!

>9 Karlstar: i really enjoyed Provenance. And The Hyperion Cantos I think is my favorite novel series/cycle.

>10 rshart3: I have read quite a few Newford books over the years,the ultimate in comfort reads,but somehow missed this one.
Not much of a fan of epic or high fantasy,but love the 80s style of fantasy represented by De Lint,Emma Bull,Mercedes Lackey,Robin McKinley etc. I have never got round to reading Patricia A McKillip,do you think I would enjoy her books?

>9 Karlstar: I once picked up book 2 of the series without realizing it was second in a series. I didn't enjoy it much because I was too lost. So finally going to start from the beginning and see where I go.

I am reading Joy to the Worlds, a holiday-themed anthology of sf&f stories I got from EarlyReviewers many years ago, but never got around to reading. I've read two of the eight stories so far... it's small press, and it could have used a good editor. A lot of awkward dialogue and repetitive narration, and also a bit where some characters are amazed another character took an interplanetary flight "at night." (Is space safer during the day!?)

Happy New Year!!

Currently reading:
SF/F
The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie
Other
Trigonometry for Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
In Bad Company by Viveca Sten

Past the half-way point on Perhaps the Stars.

>12 dustydigger: I have never got round to reading Patricia A McKillip,do you think I would enjoy her books?
I read Forgotten Beasts of Eld and the Riddlemaster books years ago & liked them, but somehow I lost track of her so haven't read many others. I remember her as good but lighter-weight than authors like De Lint and Emma Bull. I guess I should try some of her more recent stuff. I just looked her up and there are an awful lot of awards listed.

>17 rshart3: Hmm,sounds more like just general fantasy,I like a mix of urban magic and folk background. But I am likely to read The Eld book this year,its probably her most famous.

>13 majkia: Oh, you'd definitely be lost picking up book 2 of the Hyperion series! That is not one where any of the books are even vaguely stand-alone.

>18 dustydigger: Yes, McKillip's books are general fantasy, but she's a fantastic writer, one of the absolute best. I would actually put The Book of Atrix Wolfe or Od Magic over The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, but that just might be recency bias.

>11 Neil_Luvs_Books: Thanks for the good word on Provenance, it is off to a bit of a slow start.

Finished non-SF Fred Allen: His Life and Wit, starting the final Expanse novel Leviathan Falls.

I've started Hyperion and almost DNF'd it already. Awfully religious for me. Not sure how long I'll last. Hoping things change as the story goes on.

>21 majkia: It definitely changes. By the last section your whole viewpoint of what's been happening is different.

>21 majkia: I agree with >22 rshart3:... The priest's tale is only the first part. Each of the 'pilgrims' have their own story to tell, and the larger picture comes into sharper focus as each viewpoint unfolds. Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion should really be read together as a single story, (though the 2nd volume does not use the same narrative structure). It's also worth mentioning that it's not strictly necessary to read the two Endymion books. While you won't get a full explanation of everything that has gone before unless you read all four books, the first two volumes tell a fairly complete story on their own.

>21 majkia:, I agree with the comments of >22 rshart3: and >23 ScoLgo:. I regard Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion as a single read and I am considering re-reading them, something I seldom do. I really enjoyed them.

First novel of the year is done, in the form of The Golden Enclaves. Considering that I wasn't THAT impressed with with the opening volume, I wound up being very impressed by the time I was done with the trilogy.

>12 dustydigger: More of a reply to "love the 80s style of fantasy represented by De Lint,Emma Bull,Mercedes Lackey,Robin McKinley etc."
Have you tried James Hetley -- say, The Summer Country; or Nina Kiriki Hoffman -- maybe The Thread That Binds the Bones -- or for that matter some of Neil Gaiman's novels -- American Gods is a perfect blend of modern gritty existence combined with lots of archetypes & mythological characters.
The fact that we like so many of the same genres & authors brings out my reader's advisory streak in the worst way..... :-)

My first SF read of the year was The moonday letters, by a Finnish author. It was strange and lovely, with strong environmental themes.

Saw some road crews working on a culvert on the way over to Abilene on Tuesday and that triggered an itch to reread The Vor Game, for reasons quite understandable for those familiar with the work. Thoroughly enjoyed it, as always.

>25 Shrike58: I liked the way the three different books worked together as a whole. I mean, the books followed through the premises; I appreciated that. Also, it read like three stories tied together, not one huge book split into three parts (or two books plus an extended bridge).

I'm just starting Pimp my airship by Maurice Broaddus. I look forward to seeing where this one goes. I expect that it will be a bit different from Buffalo Soldier, which is the other work of his that I've read. Steampunk, yay.

About to start The Untold Story, but I just knocked off An Informal History of the Hugos. While I enjoy reading Jo Walton holding forth on what what various books mean to her, what really made the enterprise work was how folks such as Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton chimed in with significant input.

I have started The Sparrow.

Finished Provenance, which to me wasn't really a scifi book, more of a political thriller. Next up is Boundless, picking up where I left off in the Jack Campbell Lost Fleet series.

So, due to urgings here, I stuck with Hyperion. Meh. I really disliked the structure of the book, and didn't find any of the characters ones I really cared about. The story behind it didn't resolve either, but I'm doubtful I'll bother with the rest of the Cantos.

Now starting Absolution Gap by an author I love.

>33 majkia: "The story behind it didn't resolve either"

Well, Hyperion is half of a novel really so no surprise in this. If you do not like it, you do not like it :) We all have different tastes. :)

>34 AnnieMod:

Also the structure - basically a reworking of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - is one of the highlights of Hyperion. Of course that means that the tales, having already happened and currently being recounted, give the impression of a certain static-ness to the novel.

IIRC Simmons abandons the Canterbury Tales structure for The Fall of Hyperion but continues primarily as a series of dreams of a reincarnated John Keats with a fair number of literary references.

Unfortunately for me Simmons burned very brightly and then fairly quickly descended into being a right-wing nut-job (in his fiction and his essays). YMMV.

>35 andyl: hmmm… I never thought of Simmons being right wing from what I have read of his: all four of the Hyperion Cantos and the duology Ilium and Olympos. These six are among my all time fav novels. Are his more recent works more revealing of leaning toward right wing thinking?

Just curious.

>36 Neil_Luvs_Books:

Here is an April 2006 message from Dan, courtesy of the Wayback Machine.

>36 Neil_Luvs_Books:

I think there is a definite pattern of anti-Muslim (sometimes moving into Islamophobia) in his novels - even in the ones you have read. Think about Qom-Riyadh and the The Islamic Caliphate stuff in Ilium / Olympos. The odd use of militant revolutionary Islam when looking at extremism in a novel flies under the radar, but when he trots it out regularly for his novels, and writes short-stories as in >37 Petroglyph: then it seems quite clear that there is a strong anti-Muslim (moving into Islamophobic) aspect to the author.

>35 andyl: It didn't help Simmons' standing to bring out what was basically an anti-Obama polemic, Flashback, simultaneously at the same time Pres. Obama had the assassination of Osama bin Laden implemented. My understanding of Simmons is that 9/11 radicalized his outlook and I'm not sure he's ever left that particular hole, because I ceased to care about the man's activities. That book might also have been an exercise in embracing sensationalism to fire up a career that seems to have been moving rapidly onto the downside of success.

Interesting discussion on Dan Simmons. I own his Ilium and Olympos, but seems like I'll be giving them a pass.

Although the structure irritated me, I really didn't find the characters anything to cheer for (except the girl). I'm very much a character kinda girl so if there is little development or the characters don't seem worth worrying about, I'm likely to abandon a book. I'm definitely a Pearl Rule reader any more.

And, if I run into authors who are prejudiced, I'm outta there also.

I think Hyperion is great, properly amazing. I also think it works on its own fine; the bit at the end is cathartic and moving even if it doesn't resolve all the plot elements exactly.

I think Fall of Hyperion is fine. It's good but it seems to me it mostly ignores the interesting aspects of the first book.

Endymion is boring.

Rise of Endymion is dreadful, inexplicably so.

If I ever reread, I will end with book one.

>26 rshart3: thanks for the recommendations,appreciated. I have access to several James Hetley books - Summer Country,Winter Oak,Dragon's Eye,Dragon's Teeth.
As for Gaiman,I've read quite a bit of his stuff, and Neverwhere and Coraline are all time favourites.
Hoffman I am unfamiliar with,they mostly seem to be juveniles,but I do have access to Thresholds,I may try that sometime .
Adding the Hetley books to my TBR list......hmmm,I really do feel a need to reread Gaiman coming on......
Have you read Garth Nix Abhorsen books? I really enjoyed those. I keep eyeing his The Left handed Booksellers of London. That is quite a cool title!.
Dont know when I'll get around to all these,as my TBR for 2023 is already hovering around the 80 level,and its barely the second week of the year!

>42 dustydigger: I read and enjoyed The Left Handed Booksellers of London a while back, so there’s that. Plus Garth Nix is a Canberra boy like me.

I finished The Last Town, which is the concluding book in Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy. I liked it for what it was - a fast-paced thriller with an interesting premise and big twist at the end of book 1. Don't think too much and it is perfectly enjoyable. It's also interesting to see how Crouch has developed over the years. His later books are more polished.

>37 Petroglyph: >38 andyl: >39 Shrike58: I had no idea. Very disappointing.

>37 Petroglyph: >38 andyl: This does explain why Simmons hasn't seemed to have published anything I've been interested in for a long time.

>42 dustydigger: Thanks for the tip about Garth Nix. I've *almost* read them at least a couple of times, but somehow never picked them up. I'll search them out.

>46 Karlstar: Simmons does have a book coming out this year, but my impression is that it's another pot-boiler thriller that I wouldn't care to read.

Speaking of books, I finished up The Untold Story last night, a worthy end to a great series, that was maybe drawn out just a little too long. Next up, Djinn City.

>45 Neil_Luvs_Books:, I've kept hearing that about Simmons but I've read the two Hyperion books and Ilium/Olympos, especially the last two on high alert looking for that prejudice specifically, and I couldn't find it. Might be there but I didn't see it overtly, so it must be the accumulation thing that >38 andyl: mentioned.

>40 majkia:, wouldn't like to see you miss out on Ilium/Olympos, they're actually very good, especially if you're a Homer fan. Also helps if you know Shakespeare's The Tempest.

>42 dustydigger: I also enjoyed the first of the Abhorsen books, Sabriel. It is a little Harry Potter-ish, but still good.

Completed Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. Quite a fun read,though with longueurs when too much time was spent with the humans,when of course readers want more time with the spiders. Some clever ideas. AT skates on thin ice at times but he rushes over any cracks,the speed and sparkle covering any urge to slow down and actually ponder the somewhat handwavium science. Good fun,though. On a reread, I think lots of people would skim the slow sections. But at least the book had some freshness about it,though of course,in this day and age we have to have some gender politics etc.And it did have a satisfying ending. Nice,but slightly overated?Lots of people love it,I thought it was quite a fun read,but not spectacular.
Taking a week off from SF/F to read White Fang and a couple of vintage crime titles for LT challenges,and then I will get back to Dhalgren,the never ending Dhalgren. Took a couple of weeks off for Xmas,but I am determined to finish it this time. Still 250 pages to read........(sigh).....

>50 Cecrow:

Hmmm. Look at the Hyperion Cantos. How the Palestinian-analogue people (I cannot recall if Simmons actually used Palestininan) live in slums and shanties on Mars for 4 centuries. Why? There are no textual hints they are being opressed. Colonel Fedmahn Kassad becomes a hero by rejecting his background. We look at some of Kassad's story and see him dealing with a genocidal Muslim extremist known as the New Prophet and then Bressia.

At the time of first reading I didn't notice all of that. It is only when you read more and see the common theme that you begin to re-examine Simmons's work. For me that became clear to me in Olympos (which I also felt read differently to Ilium which I felt was fine).

>52 dustydigger:

Did you not think the difference in pace of storytelling - the slow sections being the humans, the fast sections the spiders - mirrors the difference in pace of life of the two races? That it was a deliberate device that Tchaikovsky used?

Just finished Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper.

Nicely written kids tale of Arthurian legends. I did get a bit frustrated by the kids doing stupid stuff. I like the kids to be smarter. Other than that, I'm wondering why I hadn't read it already.

>55 majkia:

If you liked that one, keep going! The Dark Is Rising series was a favorite for me as a kid, and I re-read it as an adult with pleasure. (I didn't bother to see the Hollywood version, though.)

>55 majkia:,>56 paradoxosalpha:
The Dark is Rising is still the strongest of that series, but they're all good.

It's interesting how much fantasy content gets posted on this forum, but the fantasy forum sticks more to just fantasy. There's a lot of overlap (people who read both genres), and of course people who read just SF or just fantasy -- but why would one forum consistently get posts about the other genre, and one not get that? I don't think the existence of science fantasy (a favorite of mine) explains it it any way. One of the recent threads, I think, was triggered by a Dusty TBR list, as they often include both, but that doesn't explain the overall tendency either. Maybe the group that reads both genres is more strongly represented on this one?

>58 rshart3: Interesting observation. Personally, although I seldom post my reading here, I read more fantasy than sf, but identify more as an sf fan and generally prefer to hang out in sf groups rather than fantasy groups. Perhaps I'm not atypical?

While an argument could be made on a logical/conceptual level that sf is more "constrained" than fantasy, I think the social/cultural aspect of sf readership tends more to prize innovation and variety to the point where readers are likely to enjoy or at least consider other genres. Fantasy, by contrast, tends toward the exploitation of accustomed tropes to the point where a sort of genre-exclusive readership is more likely. (I'm sure, though, there are sf readers who are perpetually camped in the literature that services their preferred tropes.)

There's also been more reflective argument over genre definition in sf. Does Gravity's Rainbow qualify as sf? (I saw it listed as the "best sf novel" in an SF Eye piece many years ago.) How about Etidorhpa? That sort of discussion affords more elasticity. I don't recall seeing any such arguments about "fantasy." There, it's more a matter of focusing tastes rather than discovering the outer boundaries of the genre.

>60 paradoxosalpha: genre-exclusive? Is that the same as genre non-binary?

>61 justifiedsinner: I wouldn't think so, no.

With regard to the question of why readership in SF groups is different, well, I dislike fantasy groups because they spend too much time on Romantic Fantasy, whereas romance hasn't integrated quite so much into SF as in Fantasy.

I'll not mention fantasy here if that's the group preference. Although sometimes I can't really tell where SF and Fantasy split. Especially with the rise of Science Fantasy, a genre I like a lot.

Dipping my toe into the Adrian Tchaikovsky pool with Elder Race.

Edit: Corrected a touchstone

>64 drmamm: Your touchstones are a bit off.

.I read mostly SF,but do like urban fantasy too,but not high fantasy or epic stuff,or grimdark and the like. Years ago when I first joined this group the whole thing was much more SF,adding any fantasy was a bit not the thing,and indeed the paragraph at the head of the group discussed that very topic in a bit of a severe way.but the last few years we got much more relaxed and I dont think twice about mentioning fantasy reads, I tend to think ''SF'' more as meaning ''spec fic'',much broader in scope.
I left the fantasy groups long ago when my arthritis meant I had to cut down on posting etc,and I found the fantasy groups a bit too big and sprawling. I just happen to like the vibes with this group,and the interesting members who bring up all sorts of discussions,and even feel fine about posting my TBR,even if it has off genre content,eg crime,childrens lit,or whatever. I like to put it at the top of the month's page,for my convenience. Hadnt thought for a long time if it would annoy people. Hope not,I find it convenient.
Also almost every month when I post my reading list,and it covers all sorts of reads,someone always exclaims about some title,and often we get some discussion posts about the list,which I enjoy.Most of my reads are old old classic stuff that many of you have read.
So I'll continue with the lists and the minor fantasy reads if I am not offending anyone too much?

>60 paradoxosalpha: "There's also been more reflective argument over genre definition in sf. Does Gravity's Rainbow qualify as sf? (I saw it listed as the "best sf novel" in an SF Eye piece many years ago.) How about Etidorhpa? That sort of discussion affords more elasticity. I don't recall seeing any such arguments about "fantasy." There, it's more a matter of focusing tastes rather than discovering the outer boundaries of the genre."

Well, there's some of that discussion in the case of magical realism -- at what point does it become fantasy? Your other observation is also interesting. I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea that SF readers prize innovation & variety more than fantasy readers, but I'm not sure. It *feels* like the genre is more repetitive trope infested -- but when I think about it, I can think of lots of derivative SF too. I find that I care more about whether it's well done, than I do about whether it's a trope or pushing the outer boundaries. Pushing the outer boundaries is a bit like mutations in evolution: seeking for something ground-breaking & successful, but the fact is that most of it is a failure. That's why, in ANY genre, the majority of really good books are *old* books. I spent years repeating that point while trying to get library users to go into the stacks, rather than just looking at the new books shelves. (One person's response was to wave at the main stacks containlng tens of thousands of books, & say "oh, I've read all those") But I'm really rambling now....

By the way, I was not suggesting in any way that people not post fantasy content in lists or remarks. I like the mixture.

I read mostly science fiction. I also read a little bit of fantasy, mysteries, Southwest US history, astronomy and anything horse related. I don't mind at all when people post what they read outside of SF. I will often look up the non-genre books and sometimes read one.

I am getting ready to start Needle by Linda Nagata. I have been waiting for this one.

I've finished reading Seven Surrenders and posted my review. I'm going to take a (pretty short) breather before The Will to Battle.

I'm starting in on If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe. In terms of our genre discussion, LT pegs this one as "horror," but still it's still sfnal enough that I think it's worth mentioning in a group like this.

My background includes running Science Fiction conventions in Ireland. At our conventions, while they are described as Science Fiction, you will have found Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. No one objects, or finds it an issue worth discussing. The community is very open, and, I believe that sticking rigidly to genre definitions could lead to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Some of my favourite reads would be difficult to categorise as simply belonging to one genre or another. Do not forget Arthur C. Clarke's comment, paraphrased here (because I am sure, despite my admonition to the contrary, I have forgotten the exact wording) as, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Does this not lump much Science Fiction into Fantasy, and some Fantasy into Science Fiction? Also, how many Science Fiction works involve Horror, and how many Horror stories involve Science Fiction?

dustydigger, I am more of a lurker here than a contributor, but I like your listings of your reading material, and I am not worried that some Fantasy slips into discussions in a thread. In my experience many Science Fiction readers also read Fantasy, in the way anglemark has described his own reading.

It would be different if the threads in the group were taken over by major High Fantasy discussions, but I have not seen that happening.

I think my post is a vote for, "Full steam ahead! Maintain the current heading!" and, "Thank you!"

Just finished Until the Last of Me which doesn't fit any conventional SF. This for me is why SF is the best genre. It can encompass many ideas and writing styles and often isn't "cosy". This is unlike many other genres where there is a convention of style and story. It makes us open to other genres that doesn't happen in reverse.

>70 paradoxosalpha: I gather that If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe is the fourth in the series that began with John Dies at the End. I started on This Book is Full of Spiders and it qualifies as horror by my definition. But if you think it's sfnal enough for you, that's fine by me.

One of my current favorite writers is Saad Z. Hossain, who in his two intertwined series takes up the premise that if any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, then what are the implications when magical beings discover high-tech!?

>74 Shrike58: It strikes me that if you've got magic then you'll never going to bother developing high-tech.

>75 UncleMort: In these books the magical beings have mostly been cooling their heels in a side dimension, while humans created high-tech; much of this is played for satirical affect.

>75 UncleMort: Or, like in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, magic and high-tech cannot be used at the same time (or: magic cannot be used near high-tech devices) because magic breaks high-tech (CPU's). :D

My take: While I would describe myself as a SF reader, I also read some urban fantasy, magical realism and (non-hardcore) horror. In a lot of books these lines are blurry, and I like those books the most. With the premise of advanced tech = magical, another good one to read is Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

With "Clarke's Law" in view, I find that I usually prefer sf stories where the technology is treated as magical (just as many people have magical expectations of today's technology) to "logical fantasy" where there are naturalistic rationales for supernatural powers. I guess I'd offer The Dervish House as a good example of the former and The Compleat Enchanter for the latter.

I think The Laundry Files offers some of the best logical fantasy I've read (especially The Nightmare Stacks), but it justifiably gets shelved with horror due to Yog-Sothothery or sf to keep it with the other Charles Stross books.

>78 paradoxosalpha: The Dervish House is an excellent book. I really enjoyed it.

>50 Cecrow: that’s my take too on Simmons: accumulated references.

>71 pgmcc: Well said!

>81 Karlstar:
Thank you.

Just sticking my oar in to say that I have been thoroughly enjoying this group since I joined a couple of years ago. I like it’s focus on SF but very much appreciate when people bring up what they are reading in other genres, including fantasy.

So I echo >71 pgmcc: Full steam ahead !

Thought I'd be starting the year with some Simak, Out of Their Minds by an old friend's newest book came out in December and since she handed me a copy, I felt obliged to get to it right away. Sword Bearer by Jennifer Roberson. Not science fiction, but that's where I am at the moment.

Finished The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. Enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Added Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees to my rotation.

>86 seitherin: Lud-in-the-Mist is fantasy of course but similar to Little, Big, and that novel is this hard-core SF reader's favorite book, fantasy or no. Hope you enjoy it.

Little, Big is definitely a favorite of mine.

>74 Shrike58: "One of my current favorite writers is Saad Z. Hossain, who in his two intertwined series takes up the premise that if any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, then what are the implications when magical beings discover high-tech!?"

Now that's really interesting. The next poster asked why they'd even be interested if they had magic powers, but I can see it. Say they have specific powers, but are not gods -- wouldn't they maximize the use of their powers, for instance, by utilizing the strong points of computers (speed; number crunching, at least)? Or the other way around: making the computers stronger? It's a common element in some modern fantasy that magic "fries" any kind of technology -- but it doesn't have to be imagined that way.

I am halfway through The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (no clue why it acquired 1/2 for its US release) and I am still not sure if that one will end up being SF or Fantasy or one of the corner genres... It is fun though.

>90 AnnieMod: The US believes bigger is better, so title inflation is hardly surprising...

Finished Leviathan Falls, beginning The Adjacent.

Almost done with The Sparrow, will be starting Manjula Padmanabhan's The Island of Lost Girls next.

>91 rshart3: Now that made me smile :)

I wrapped up If This Book Exists and posted my review. I'm going to finish reading Mysterious and Horrific Stories and tackle Lair of the Crystal Fang to fulfill some other reviewing obligations before I pick up The Will to Battle. Then it's back to Ambergris, I think.

I just finished Absolution Gap and am still gasping for breath. I do love Scorp, and the rest of the crew, not to mention the ship himself.

I'm still reading Dorsai! which is ... odd. It feels more like a series of vignettes rather than a novel. Interesting, different. It's been a long time since I've read such an old milscifi book.

I'm also starting Sufficiently Advanced Magic.

Finished The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton last night. I still cannot tell you if it is SF or fantasy but it does not really matter. Very well done, especially for a debut novel. It is very unconventional though. Review on the work page if someone is curious.

DNF for Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.

>98 seitherin: Badly written? Badly plotted?

Finished Djinn City, and it's an odd book. It has the wit and inventiveness that I admire Hossain for, but in the end the conclusion is akin to a road coming to a dead end. The intention seems to be to offer resolution of the fates of various characters in the succeeding works. I'd recommend reading those succeeding works first, before reading this novel.

Next up, Sea of Tranquility.

On the home stretch with Perhaps the Stars. Hasn't helped that Palmer writes long chapters and rarely puts paragraph breaks in the narrative, whereas I usually only manage 20-30 minute reading sessions, which meant I've had to pause with a character in full philosophical flow way too often. Still, I think I've hit some sort of pay dirt that I've found satisfying right at the end of the book, so I'm happier than I expected to be. More details in the review to follow.

>54 andyl: dustydigger

I never considered that. I'm listening (again) to Children Of Time and will pay attention to the use of pace.

I just finished The Cretaceous Past by Cixin Liu. It's a simple story, basically a fable that uses ants and dinosaurs. His three-body trilogy is one of my favorite stories, and I was hoping for more of something similar, but this wasn't it.

>99 AnnieMod: It is a book of its time, and its time is not one I enjoy.

I just finished Queen of Crows by Myke Cole. Man, this guy is another Robin Hobb, torturing his characters mercilessly. Starting the third and final book of the series, The Killing Light.

Done with The Lost Fleet: Boundless and figured I may as well continue with one of the sub-series, The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield. The Lost Stars part is a little strange as it definitely isn't about lost star systems, unless 'lost' is a political statement.

Just finished The Immortality Thief by Taran Hunt, very enjoyable far future science fiction written and plotted like a fantasy. Has the typical found family trope. I liked the way the immortality theme was handled. I also liked the way the plot was moved forward by flashbacks and just general character conversations. Science Fiction, Found Family, Horror and lots of reflections by our main character Sean.

Now finished Perhaps the Stars and moving on to one of my Christmas presents, Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes. Never forget that Terry started out in British fandom, moved on to writing SF and was One Of Us.

>108 RobertDay: Just read that - it's a nice mix of humour and the down to earth attitudes one would expect from Sir Pterry. And of course the ending made me cry. Enjoy!

Added A Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden to my rotation. Not strictly SF or F, but it does seem to tell a story in fluid time.

I recently finished The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories edited by Ray Bradbury. This is a fun old paperback, published in 1956. As Bradbury makes clear in his introduction, he has put together a collection of stories that are much more appropriately thought of as fantasy rather than science fiction. It's an entertaining set of stories, although somewhat hit or miss. The famous title story, really a novella, is a tour de force of surrealist storytelling. I'd never read it before and was absolutely entranced throughout. That story sets up a standard, however, that none of the other, shorter, entries never come close to matching, except maybe perhaps Shirley Jackson's well-known "The Summer People." Of the rest, Oliver La Farge's "The Resting Place," with it's elements of Native American legends, and Loren Eiseley's subtle "Buzby's Pertified Woman" were my favorites. Also intriguing was "Earth's Holocaust" by none other than Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Well,I did it at last I FINISHED DHALGREN!!!!!!
Only took 4 years in all,three times I got to around 300 pages,then gave up.So in December I made a final,determined effort,because I had finished every other title on the 1998 Locus Best SF Novels of All Time,and I wanted to say I have completed a WWEnd list,having been there for 10 years :0)
The book itself was fascinating,but far too long. 878 pages long! I'm sure Delany wrote this in response to Slaughterhouse Five but Vonnegut's book was less than 250 pages long. Also James Joyce is an obvious influence,but this was a book written by a young man.He started it when he was only 26 and took 7years to complete it. Lots of fine things in it,striking images and mysterious events,but all the literary fiction parts bored me to tears,were just too pretentious IMO,and the relentlessly detailed never ending sex scenes became very boring. Very much of its time. Can you even imagine such a book being published mid 80s in the firestorm of the AIDS epidemic?
I did find the sections on the people living in communes and squatting very striking - Delany has a very sharp ear for the language of these dispossed folks,and the whole milieu depicted must have been an eyeopener,a bombshell to the white readers in the 70s.. It was well over a decade before the movie world really dared to depict that world. Not a nice world,often cruel and vicious,but Delany does at time show some good scenes,strong fellowship ties,even love of a sort. But it has to be found while rooting in dirt and violence,obscurity and obscenity.
So,an interesting read,but not one I love. I wanted more of the science fiction elements found early on,and the lack of them after that wonderful depiction of the massive sun (never explained),plus no closure or ending,just a moebius strip kind of thing was not to my taste.
But its done! And I will post the full Locus list in a few days. Definitely need a good list,and this one is of interest.! :0)

Now on to Simak's Destiny Doll and De Lint's Someplace to be Flying,plus a reread of Uprooted

>112 dustydigger: Woohoo!

>112 dustydigger: I'm a white reader and read Dhalgren in the seventies. All I can remember was that it was a hard read. I've no memory of the plot so I probably skimmed it a bit. I've done a search and having read the plot summary I'm beginning to think that maybe I didn't!

The hold fairy is being dilatory with my anticipated copy of The Will to Battle, so I'm going to get a start on Galactic Empires, Volume 2.

>112 dustydigger: Congratulations!

I started The Consuming Fire, which is John Scalzi's second book of the Interdependency trilogy. I read the first book when it came out a couple of years ago, but decided to wait until the series was finished to read the last two. It's a nice palate cleanser. Not too heavy or dark, but still has some well-developed characters, solid world/universe building and serious overarching themes.

>112 dustydigger: Congrats! I think you've confirmed for me that I will not read that one.

>118 drmamm: I enjoyed that series but I thought Scalzi under-performed a bit.

I finished The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield by Jack Campbell, which in addition to not having Admiral Geary in it, really takes his usual military scifi/space opera in a much more personal and political direction than all of his other books in the series.

>112 dustydigger: Your 4-year battle with Dhalgren resonates with a great Mark Twain quote I read today. He defined a "classic" as something everyone wants to have read, but no one wants to read." :-)

I actually would like to re-read Dhalgren at some point. It's been a couple of decades since I read it last.

>120 rshart3: lol. Good old Mark Twain,always hits the nail on the head.
Though in the unlikely event that I ever reread Dhalgren,I will go into it with different expectations. I wouldnt look upon it as SF. I would be ready for strange abrupt changes in the character and behaviour of the protagonist.I wouldnt expect a resolution of the mysteries.And I would not assume that the narrative is linear at all!. :0)
But I didnt find it gripping or fascinating enough to slog through tedious repetitious sequences. Yesterday's transgressive is today's norm!

>122 dustydigger: “Yesterday's transgressive is today's norm”—true, but of course yesterday’s norm tends to be today’s transgressive. I vaguely remember C S Lewis saying some time late in his life that he was expected by younger audiences to be, shall we say, transgressive—so he trotted out what would have been strict orthodoxy in his mother’s time, and eked it out with a few similar thoughts of his own, and this seemed to the audience to be outrageous, paradoxical stuff. I can’t give a citation though.

Added: it wasn’t too hard to find, after all. From Light on C S Lewis:

“I asked him how he came to be writing for the popular American weekly. How did he know what to write about or what to say? 'Oh...they have somehow got the idea that I am an unaccountably paradoxical dog, and they name the subject on which they want me to write; and they pay generously.' 'And so you set to work and invent a few paradoxes?' Not a bit of it. What I do is to recall, as well as I can, what my mother used to say on the subject, eke it out with a few similar thoughts of my own, and so produce what would have been strict orthodoxy in about 1900. And this seems to them outrageously paradoxical, avant garde stuff.”

Fair to add that Lewis may not have been entirely serious.

>123 haydninvienna:
It is wonderful when you find a younger audience. You can use all your old jokes and they think them tremendously original.

>124 pgmcc: "It is wonderful when you find a younger audience. You can use all your old jokes and they think them tremendously original."

Or in my case, all my father's old jokes.

>125 rocketjk:

I’m pretty sure my dad’s jokes elicited groans of “not again” the very first time they were spoken.

In January 2022, I began reading The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 6, picking up stories from it between other books. Today, almost exactly a year later, I finally finished the last story!

Finally written my review of Perhaps the Stars, though my reactions to the book are incomplete. I shall have to re-read the whole series in quick succession some time - but definitely not yet.

Terry Pratchett: A life with Footnotes is turning out to be the ideal light relief from my immersion in Palmer's world, even if Rob Wilkins' writing is sometimes more Pratchett than Pratchett. A little irritated by him not citing references: his account of Pratchett's time in British fandom in the mid-1960s is well detailed and has to have come from either contemporary fanzine sources, or Rob Hansen's Then; science fiction fandom in the UK or both, but there's no account of the non-Pratchett sources he looked at - which is a shame. He's obviously done his work, so why not show us?

Just finished About Time having also read Saving Time both by Jodi Taylor

I love time travel books and she has got to be one of the best authors in this genre. I recommend this series (Time Police) and her Chronicles of St Mary's series without reservation. Thoughtful and very funny throughout.

Hey people,after finishing the last book on the WWEnd Locus Best Science Fiction Novels of ALL Time,after a 4 year hiatus,I thought I would share the list with you. Most of you will do extremely well as the list is redolent with fantastic titles. And if you havent read them,get going!
This list is really old school. Produced in 1998 with the titles voted on by Locus magazine readers,its cut off point was 1990,but the great majority of titles were pre 1980.Lots of them are still high up on numerous lists.In other cases some authors' reputations have lowered,especially Bob Heinlein.who has no less than 7/52 books on the list. A C Clarke has 4,Asimov 2.,which is probably a fair estimation of the public's view of the Big Three at the time.
Interesting how high C J Cherryh was at the time,2 titles.
So what do you all think of the list? The only one that IMO doesnt deserve to be there Is Schmitz Witches of Karres,very lightweight,enjoyable pulp,but one of the best of all time? Sheesh! :0)
So here's the list

1. Frank Herbert - Dune
2. Robert A Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
3. Ursula K Le Guin - Left Hand of Darkness
4. Isaac Asimov - Foundation trilogy
5. Robert A Heinlein -Stranger in a Strange Land.
6. Alfred Bester - Stars My Destination
7. Walter M Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz
8. Arthur C Clarke - Childhood's End
9. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game
10. Dan Siimmons - Hyperion
11. Frederik Pohl - Gateway
12. Joe Haldeman - Forever War
13. Ted Sturgeon - More Than Human
14. Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light
15. William Gibson - Neuromancer
16. David Brin - Startide Rising
17. H G Wells - Time Machine
18. P K Dick - Man in the High Castle
19.Ursula K Le Guin - Dispossessed
20. John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar
21. George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty Four
22. Alfred Bester - Demolished Man
23. Ray Bradbury - Martian Chronicles
24. Robert A Heinlein - Starship Troopers
25. C J Cherryh - Downbelow Station
26. Larry Niven - Ringworld
27. Arthur C Clarke - 2001
28. H G Wells - War of the Worlds
29. Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
30. Larry Niven - The Mote in God's Eye
31. Clifford D Simak - Way Station
32. Olaf Stapledon - Star Maker
33. Robert Silverberg - Dying Inside
34. Arthur C Clarke - The City and the Stars
35. Samuel R Delaney - Dhalgren
36. Arthur C Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama
37. Hal Clement - Mission of Gravity
38. Clifford D Simak - City
39. C J Cherryh - Cyteen
40. Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
41. Robert A Heinlein - Double Star
42. George R Stewart - Earth Abides
43. Robert A Heinlein - The Door into Summer
44. Olaf Stapledon - Last and First Men
45. P K Dick - Ubik
46. Cordwainer Smith - Norstrilia
47. James M Schmitz - Witches of Karres
48. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
49. Robert A Heinlein - Have Spacesuit Will Travel
50. Robert A Heinlein - Time Enough for Love
51. P K Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
52.Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves
53 Philip Jose Farmer - To Your Scattered Bodies Go

>130 dustydigger: I don't think I had seen this list before although I suspect I had and just filed it somewhere in my faulty memory. The only ones I had not read is Witches of Karres and Dhalgren. From the rest, I've read quite a lot of them in Bulgarian in my teens - in the decade when Bulgarian publishing was catching up to the Western world, we finally got a LOT of classic SF translated but some were translated even earlier. Norstrilia was the very last I read from the list, probably 15 years ago or so... bar the two I had not read of course.

A lot (if not all) of these are worth revisiting... If only I can find the time. :)

>130 dustydigger: There are 7 titles on this list I have not yet read. Of those, the only one I sort of dread attempting is Time Enough For Love.

BTW, over on Worlds Without End, there are 53 titles on the list. Looks like you might've missed #38, Cliff Simak's City?

I finished Sufficiently Advanced Magic which was fun but nothing to write home about. I also finished the trilogy Sacred Throne by Myke Cole which was grimdark and very good.

Now re-reading Ancillary Justice so I can read the entire series. Also reading A Dragon of a Different Color Heartstriker series which is fun.

>132 ScoLgo: Thanks ScoLgo. I copied out the titles in brief in notebook,no authors or numbers,and obviously missed out City when I then did the list in detail. I got a horde of visitor at the time,including 2 year old twin boys who laid waste to the house,and I certainly lost focus. So thanks for checking for me.
Dear me,we couldnt do without City by one of my fave authors,Clifford D Simak,could we?

I've only read about 20 on that Locus list, but I recognize almost all of them and there are at least a half-dozen I'd actively like to read at some point. Still, for sf it seems terrible to be confined to the 20th century (or I guess the 19th for a few of those titles). I've made a point of reading some 21st-century sf in recent years, and it's been very rewarding to do so.

>134 dustydigger: Those pre-teen visitors do ride in like the whirlwind don't they? ;)

I only noticed the missing title because I used the color coordinated list at WWE to quickly see which ones I had not yet read. Oddly enough, City is one of them... go figure.

I've read forty of those, with three on the TBR pile. The Witches of Karres is in neither category, though it was a favourite of a friend of mine some years ago, and oddly enough it seems to keep on getting reprinted in the UK, as well as being available in e-reader formats.

I have only read and finished 21 of the books on the list. I have started and not finished at least another 3. I have 32 of the titles on my shelves.

I've read 13 of the books on the list and wouldn't mind using it as a goalpost at some point. I believe I own about half of them.

Thanks DD,

I own and/or have read all except "The Witches..." and liked that Cordwainer Smith is on the list.
But...But where is Jack Vance?

Guido.

PS. I know that someones favourite author (of that period) will be missing, BUT GRANDMASTER VANCE...

>130 dustydigger: I have read 34 of these with most of the other 20 on my TBR list. The only author who is not in my TBR list is Olaf Stapledon. So I should add him? He just hasn’t been in my radar except for Odd John for some reason. As much as I like RAH I am surprised that Time Enough For Love made this list. I enjoyed it but I know it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

>130 dustydigger: >137 RobertDay: I enjoyed The Witches of Karres but have not yet gotten around to the two sequels. It does seem a bit odd for inclusion on the list but I'm glad Schmitz at least gets some recognition. My favorite from him remains The Demon Breed which I thought was a much tighter tale.

>130 dustydigger:. Congrats on finishing the Locus list!

I have 14 on that list to read. I own 10 of them. I could actually finish this list. Perhaps I will try, as some of the books I haven't read are on my challenges list for this year. I should check out some of the other lists on WWE and see if there is any possibility of finishing others.

I'm sure I own fewer than ten of the books on the Locus list. Unless they are personal favorites likely to be re-read, these all seem better to borrow, and they are very likely to be in public library collections.

130> I've read all but 6 of them, and of those, I have no intention of reading Time Enough for Love. Three of the others are by Philip K. Dick, whom I don't like -- though I did finally buy The Man in the High Castle a couple of months ago since I've always felt i should read it. It's a good list.

I think I’ve read, or in a few cases DNF, 29 of those.

But there are three women on the list! That's weird. Everyone knows that women cannot write good science fiction, or are interested in reading it. I'm disappointed in the readers of Locus. Perhaps some women infiltrated the voters to pad the list with authors who lack that vital Y chromosome?

>130 dustydigger: Read 37 on the list, with another 8 on my TBR list.

>147 anglemark: heh

>130 dustydigger: I've read about three-dozen of these books. And yeah, as charming as Witches of Karres is, it's slight to be sharing this company; that it's doing so probably reflects fans' wish that Schmitz lived long enough to do more with the setting.

An interesting exercise would be to run that poll again with the same ground rules; if I was going to replace Schmitz I'd probably chose Roadside Picnic or Solaris.

As for what I'm reading right now, I've just finished Sea of Tranquility. Once you strip away the impeccable craft of the author, you're left with a pretty typical time-travel story, and I'm generally not a big fan of that sub-genre; This is How You Lose the Time War being a recent exception. Still, if you're looking for something in the vein of Clifford D. Simak, you might be more enthusiastic than I was.

Next up: The House of Binding Thorns.

>147 anglemark: I told you it was a classic list,so what else do you expect? lol.And the latest book was 1988.
Confession time. To this day,my reading is predominantly by WASP guys! The templates are set early. :0
WWEnd has a list of significant female writers books,but it doesnt start till 1984. Ouch
The indefatigable Jim Harris trawled through 65 best of SF lists 1949-2016,and produced a list of female authors ' titles who turned up on at least FOUR lists.Wow! That produced a staggering - wait for it - 98 titles.
The number of titles pre 1980 (personally I date modern SF as starting with Neuromancer) is shockingly small .
Not at all surprised that Le Guin is right at the top. So,a list of famous,well remembered titles pre 1980 :-

Ursula K Le Guin - Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K Le Guin - The Dispossessed
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Joanna Russ - The Female Man
Vonda N Macintyre - Dreamsnake
Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Octavia E Butler - Kindred
Ursula K Le Guin - Lathe of Heaven
Marge Piercy - Woman on the Edge of Time
Suzy McKee Charnas - Walk to the End of the World
Leigh Brackett - The Long Tomorrow
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Herland
Anne McCaffrey - The Ship Who Sang
C L Moore - The Best of C L Moore
Ursula K Le Guin - Wind's 12 Quarters
Andre Norton - Daybreak : 2250 AD
Doris Lessing - Shikasta
Naomi Mitchison - Memoirs of a Spacewoman
Murray Constatine - Swastika Night

Not a lot! And yet to my shame I still havent read 7 of these works!

Also there is another list on WWEnd
The SF Mistressworks is a list created by SF/F writer and blogger our own Ian Sales on his blog ''It Doesn't Have to be Right....
The goal of the Mistressworks list is to highlight great works by women authors that are worthy of the attention given to those books on the SF Masterworks list - which is a bit thin on women authors. The list is restricted to SF works only and one work per author with a cut-off date of 2000. Despite limiting it to one book per author he managed to highlight 34 titles pre 1980
http://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_sf_mistressworks.asp

>152 dustydigger: To add a personal favorite who is overlooked, even on Ian's list: Rebecca Ore with quite a few solid serious novels over many years.

Finished The Adjacent, tentatively going to give a shot at For Us, The Living.

>152 dustydigger:

It might be an idea to include a link direct to SF Mistressworks as Ian does list a number of writers on the right (with reviews on that site). Some of them I haven't read or really heard much about.

>130 dustydigger: That's a good list, I have not read anything by Olaf Stapleton and as I think mentioned here previously, won't be reading Dhalgren. If I had to critique the list, there's too many Heinlein and no Andre Norton or Bujold (too recent?) and not enough Cherryh or LeGuin. Also no Greg Bear or Fred Pohl or Pohl Anderson.

>140 guido47: For me, the most egregious oversight has to be Gene Wolfe. I get that it's a reader's poll but how the fans missed The Book of the New Sun is simply beyond my ability to grok.

>156 Karlstar: Bujold was up for a Hugo in 1989 so could have made this list, but 1990 may have been a little early in her career. Bujold won the Hugo in 1991, which means that The Vor Game was published in time to make the 1990 cutoff - but she probably didn't have the name recognition yet since the Hugo came after.

And yeah, how Pohl's Gateway missed out is also puzzling.

>157 ScoLgo: good point about Gene Wolfe.

>157 ScoLgo:
>156 Karlstar:
Don't I see Pohl's Gateway as # 11?

>130 dustydigger: Without being aware of the list, I've read 37 of the books on it and I have six more of them in my TBR pile.

I just finished The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler, an interesting look at the science of intelligence and culture.

>159 Betelgeuse: "Don't I see Pohl's Gateway as # 11?"

Oops! Yes, you do. Not sure how I missed that... thanks for the catch.

I finished Outcasts of Order by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. and before diving into the third of the sub-trilogy, I am dipping into Heinlein Juveniles, starting with Rocket Ship Galileo (I looked for Have Spacesuit, Will Travel but it is behind the couch)

>163 elorin: "I looked for Have Spacesuit, Will Travel but it is behind the couch"
I suspect only people on a forum like this would understand what you're talking about....

Well into Simak's Out of Their Minds, which is turning into a peculiar, if interesting read.

>163 elorin: I read the first three volumes in the Recluse saga by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. And enjoyed them. How was Outcasts of Order? I suspect I will eventually return to that series.

>159 Betelgeuse: Oops! What >162 ScoLgo: said!

>166 Neil_Luvs_Books: I have been a fan of the Saga of Recluce from book 1. Outcasts of Order is the second book about Beltur the mage (there's three) and it's a transition that is sometimes plodding, I feel. But it explains how Beltur got from here to there and how he ended up with his party for The Mage Fire War which is action packed and worth the build up, I believe.

Just finished Fuzzy Sapiens by H. Beam Piper. I'm a little worried that it was a struggle to finish; it just felt too dated. While I realise that this is hardly a fair criticism of a book that was written in the JFK years, has anyone else found too much dissonance in an old SF work they used to enjoy?

There are definitely some older sf books that I can only enjoy as "period pieces."

Just finished a re-listen to Ancillary Justice. Plan on going on with the series, even though I spent much of the book confused, lol. That's her plan I'm sure.

Starting In The Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford.

>169 spaceowl: I have been totally unable to re-read Foundation for that reason. I've tried twice but get way too worked up about the lack of women of any sort, short of wives off screen.

>172 majkia:

I felt much the same way about the lack of agency that any of Piper's females characters had. I have to cut him some slack for the society that he was writing in but it's very jarring to read.

>172 majkia:
I recently re-read the opening segment of Foundation in Galactic Empires, which used the text first published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1942 (eighty years ago!). Although it had been decades since I read the novel, one difference was obvious: the pulp magazine's Hari Seldon was not the pioneer of psychohistory, but simply "the greatest psychologist of our time" (96). I suspect some actual psychologists set Asimov straight regarding the aims and limitations of their discipline. The absence of women in a text about civilizational change makes the story feel frankly inhuman.

When it comes to Asimov and gender, I always think of his 1970 story "Waterclap," which is set in an undersea base where the only women are explicitly stated to be the wives of the male scientists working there. Even in 1970, Asimov couldn't imagine a woman scientist!

>173 spaceowl: Indeed it is jarring.
>174 paradoxosalpha: Ignoring more than 50% of the population is definitely going to limit any sort of study of civilizations. You'd think he'd have thought of that. Oh well.
>175 Stevil2001: Oi.

>172 majkia: >174 paradoxosalpha: I am currently in the midst of re-reading the original Foundation trilogy. One of the (several) main characters in Foundation and Empire is female. Aside from being the person that Magnifico trusts and attaches to, Bayta's main functions sadly seem to be domestic. For example...

Ebling Mis called out to the pilot room and Toran rose blink-eyed from his charts.

"What's the matter?" Toran stepped down into the small central chamber which Bayta had inevitably devised into a living room.

Mis shook his head. "Bescuppered if I know. The Mule's newsmen are announcing a special bulletin. Thought you might want to get in on it."

"Might as well. Where's Bayta?"

"Setting the table in the diner and picking out a menu - or some such frippery."

So yeah, that's pretty disappointing.

In (a very small) defense of Asimov: Bayta is the character that eventually identifies the true identity of the Mule and kills Mis to prevent Magnifico from acquiring the location of the Second Foundation.

>175 Stevil2001: Despite being married to one!

Obviously, he felt psychiatry wasn't a real science..

>177 ScoLgo: And he still has to further denigrate her. Lovely.

>178 RobertDay: I have a psych degree which is why I love the basic idea of Foundation. Which also is why I'm so disappointed about re-reading it. I've watched an episode or two of the Apple? series Foundation. Anyone else watch it?

Before I get to my next novel I'm currently working on Escape from Earth, an examination of some key players in 1940s American rocketry, some of whom overlapped with SF circles; particularly everyone's favorite bad-boy explosives expert, Jack Parsons (see Alec Nevala-Lee's Astounding). Nevala-Lee's book is also well-worth looking at for a critical examination of how Asimov conducted himself back in the day.

>180 majkia: I've seen a couple of episodes; there's the odd waypoint marking a similarity to the original story, but otherwise it's fairly un-memorable.

>175 Stevil2001: It is certainly jarring when you read it today, but of course "Waterclap" was published the same year that "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" debuted. The MTM Show was hailed as a "groundbreaking series" because it portrayed "a central female character who was neither married nor dependent on a man, (which) was a rarity on American television in the 1970s" (Wikipedia). Apparently in 1970 Asimov wasn't alone when it came to his lack of foresight for female character roles. His "Foundation" was based on stories published even earlier, in the 1940s. A lot has changed since then. I also find it jarring that so many of Asimov's characters in "Foundation" smoke cigarettes and cigars, many millennia in the future. But then, science fiction authors have a spotty history when it comes to accurately predicting the future.

Cliff Simak's Destiny Doll had a mixed reception back in the day,since the hero was not Simak's usual sensitive guy,but much more a rough and tough guy. I liked it a lot,the world building was great,and there were mysteries and fraught situations galore,but it certainly didnt have the style and ambience of aWay Station,but still had much to recommend it.
Now rereading Naomi Novik's Uprooted.

Finished The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie. Liked it well enough. Next up is When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo.

>180 majkia: I watched the first season, really hoping it gets better next season. I like >182 RobertDay:'s description, they really detoured from the novels a lot.

Just started Babel by K F Kuang - 60-odd pages in and finding it so dull. I'm giving it one more chapter and if something interesting doesn't happen by then it's DNF. Plus, calling out the name of every street, college, and library as 2 students wander round Oxford is just an embarassingly clunky way to show you've done your research.

Ending the month by starting Babylon's Ashes by James S. A. Corey.

Spent most of the month reading a fantasy by Clifford D. Simak, Out Of Their Minds. The phrase weirdly inventive comes to mind.

Finished For Us, The Living, about 2/3 through Attack from Atlantis.

Thoroughly enjoyed my reread of Naomi Novik's Uprooted. Loved the echoes of east European folktales,and of course the evil dark forest. I love books with awesome forests - eg Mirkwood,Fangorn,Lothlorien,Mythago Wood etc etc.

>187 SChant: Having finished the book a couple week ago, it doesn't really get that much more interesting. There are parts that make you think, but the whole book is really a thought experiment. It gets into some minutia on etymology and translation and what the impact of the overall book's premise would be in that time, but almost all the action that takes place is off-stage and is only mentioned by the characters as happening. There are one or two chapters where things actually happen, but that's not many from the hundreds of pages for the book.

It would probably be better written as a lost journal that's now been found, but that's not how the author wrote it. As is there are too many asides and footnotes to really make it a fully enjoyable read.

Ugh! The hold fairy is on leave from my local public library because they are closed for methamphetamine decontamination. :(
I think I'll have to go to a neighboring library district to get my hands on The Will to Battle. In the meanwhile, I've got a little momentum in Galactic Empires, Volume 2.

>191 Luke.w: Thanks. The next couple of chapters have livened up a bit but I'm not really finding any discernible story and, as you say, there's a lot of etymology. Will persist a little longer but I've now got Charles Stross's Escape from Yokai Land clamouring for my attention.

I finished the rocketry experience with Doc and the boys and I am picking up The Rolling Stones also by Robert A. Heinlein before I finish Beltur's trilogy in The Mage-Fire War

>187 SChant: & Babel

"... calling out the name of every street, college, and library as 2 students wander round Oxford is just an embarassingly clunky way to show you've done your research." For values of research than involve living there and attending Oxford University, well, yes.

>191 Luke.w: I did like the way that all language is translation, because it's very true. But yeah, not exactly action packed.

>192 paradoxosalpha: Oh no! I saw that mentioned in the news, I think; my sympathies. Being without a working library system was a bad part of lockdown. Glad you can get to another branch.

>195 karenb: Not every book has to be action packed, but this one relied too much on telling instead of showing what was happening for my taste.

Also, for the translation I think it was a very good concept for a magic system, but when you have to explain everything in excruciating detail like a research paper it looses it's storytelling effect. It's like a series of jokes where you have to keep explaining every punchline. I'm sure it reads very differently for people who actively study languages.

>195 karenb:
There's been a rash of these, certainly around here. I think the main Denver library was first in our area, and then other public libraries tested, and fancy that! For most of these (including my local), there have been no reported health impacts. But they are closing down and undertaking costly cleanings to eliminate risk.

>195 karenb: Even if you have lived in the place that the book is set it still feels clunky to spend pages running through a tourist street-guide rather than just let relevant names pop up organically as the story requires.

Finished up The House of Binding Thorns. Probably a little too gothic for my tastes, as while there is action, or at least activity, it's mostly about the atmosphere. I also get the sense that this whole series (there are continuing stories after the trilogy) is basically turning into a form of paranormal romance, which is not really my thing.

Here's the problem with Kuang's books, she tends to use them as a "sink" in which to drown those issues which are aggravating her. The "Poppy War" trilogy dealt with the malign impact of colonialism, and the response in China. Babel was inspired by Kuang's issues with academia. The forthcoming "Yellow Face" is Kuang's venting about the publishing industry. The novel she's writing now, with an apparent working title of "Katabasis," looks like a novel of the plague year, with a dash of paper-chase blues.

>200 Shrike58: I'm still working through Babel - will probably finish it, but don't think I'll chase down any of her other stuff.

>200 Shrike58: et al.

I'm okay with reading the book that's written, usually. I understand that not every book is to everyone's taste much less enjoyment.

I really like Babel, and for me the immersion was a feature not a bug. For the Poppy War trilogy, I enjoyed the first book, but I stopped the second one because I couldn't read that much war at that time. I hope to get back to it some day.

Finished When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo. Liked it but not quite as much as Empress of Salt and Fortune. Added Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg.

I'm reading The kaiju preservation society which is fun.

>203 karenb: The brick-like novel is not my favorite form and I suspect, under other circumstances, I'd have less of a side-ways reaction to Babel.

Taking a break from genre with The Moonstone (or perhaps not such a break, as this book is often touted as the first detective novel).

>207 RobertDay: The Moonstone was our January book club read. Everyone enjoyed it. It was my first time reading it having planned to read it fifty years ago. :-)

I hope you find it a good read.

Started Simak's City and not far along, but a little surprised the opening novella reads so similar to Bradbury. By that I mean: recognisably 1950s U.S. suburban culture, the way Bradbury's Martian Chronicles are, and not so alien a setting as I anticipated. In retrospect, not unexpected given when it was written. We'll see where he takes it, though.

Finished Attack from Atlantis, about halfway through Tool of the Trade.

One observation in the latter, published in 1987, made by a KGB sleeper living in the US, caught my eye: "If there was going to be another American Revolution, it would be to the right. That's where most of the guns were."

>205 Sakerfalcon: That is a fun one.

I just finished A Dragon of a Different Color Heartstriker series #4.

Fun series. Granted it is SFF Romance, which I generally hate, but not so romancy it has turned me off. I love quite a few of the characters, and the series has lots of turns and twists.

Now startin The Stardust Thief

Quantity-wise, January got off to a good start with 11 books completed...

• Fahrenheit 451 (re-read) ★★★★★
  
• Foundation (re-read) ★★★-1/2
  
• Foundation and Empire (re-read) ★★★-1/2
  
• Second Foundation (re-read) ★★★-1/2
  
• Blackout ★★-1/2
  
• The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection ★★-1/2
  
• The Steps of the Sun ★★★
  
• The Courier ★★★
  
• Future Home of the Living God ★★★
  
• John Dies at the End ★★★
  
• The Moonday Letters ★★★