The Sword and Laser discussion

I’m halfway through Piranesi and it’s starting to go all House of Leaves. I hope it doesn’t continue like this for long. I was really enjoying it.

Trike wrote: "The Apollo Murders by astronaut Chris Hadfield. Solid thriller so far."

Oh, good to know. I'm Lem'ing Pandora's Star imminently, I think, so I've been looking for something else. This is in my queue, so I'll give it a go.

Tonight is the finale of Around the World in Eighty Days on PBS. I don't recall ever reading the book so I've just started.

After deciding to Lem Pandora’s Star (it seems I’m in good company!) I felt in the mood for some non-fiction so I’m reading a history book: The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria by Max Adams

Mark wrote: "Tonight is the finale of Around the World in Eighty Days on PBS. I don't recall ever reading the book so I've just started."

I’m starting it, too!

Finished up Clarke's "Songs of Distant Earth" which is good for what it is, a science-heavy tale as focused on realistic physical principles as possible.

I say "as possible" because Clarke makes it clear in the foreword (quoted above) that he is avoiding science-fantasy concepts like warp drive. Yet the book contains several completely ridiculous elements.

First the basics: The sun has gone nova for reasons that were at least plausible in 1958 when the short story the book is based on were written. That got disproven before the novel came out but Clarke kept it and even stuck his nose out about how scientifically literate his book is. Oooo...kay.

During the two or so millennia between the discovery of the sun's soon to be nova status and the actual explosion, Earth sends out seedships to nearby stars, carrying embryos and little else. Some small percentage of them report in. Many other never do.

The problem with interstellar travel is that dust and gas cause friction. Propellant is also an issue. So the seedships go out with limited fuel and small payloads. BUT THEN: Hark, zero point energy is engineered and Earth has essentially unlimited energy. So what do they do? Nope, they DON'T establish habitats along the outer solar system to survive the nova, they send a single ship with hibernating humans.

Hibernation is, for a book so haughtily declared to be science, SCIENCE! is rather lightly explored. The mechanism isn't even described until the end when cooling is shown to be involved. Er, okay. Clarke doesn't even say if they're frozen or just cooled to a very low metabolic rate.

It's Rama-lite. The ship from Earth isn't going to stay at the established colony. They are there just to build up their ice shield again and head on to their final destination. The island world they stop at couldn't accommodate them anyway, at least not without completely destroying their existing colony.

There's shoehorned-in love stories to give the book some plot instead of leaving it an engineering description. The love stories actually aren't bad, credit to Clarke here. And of course Clarke works in a space elevator, but if anyone is allowed that, it's him. Of course there has to be some tragedy around the space elevator because plot, but the story elements are really a light overlay on the engineering.

It's all just fine as science-heavy SF, but not one of Clarke's best. A good enough insomnia read.

I recall the accident on the elevator. Rather graphic.

The album inspired by the book by Mike Oldfield is one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/5_ASRdg8Giw

John (Taloni) wrote: "Finished up Clarke's "Songs of Distant Earth" which is good for what it is, a science-heavy tale as focused on realistic physical principles as possible.

I say "as possible" because Clarke makes i..."

“ A good enough insomnia read” has to be one of the best examples of damning with faint praise I’ve ever seen!

My preorder of Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather has arrived on my kindle. I loved Sisters of the Vast Black which I read free from Tor, and now I’ve gone and bought the sequel- it’s almost like Tor does these book giveaways to tempt you into buying sequels rather than from the goodness of their hearts!

I finished A Second Chance - another in the Chronicles of St Mary’s series. I was all set to give it a high rating, pre-writing the review in my head - ‘best yet’ - and then the ending happened. Safe to say that I am, at the moment, not onboard with the narrative choices the author has made for the series. But, since I’ve already got about 3 more of the books in my Audible library, I suppose I’ll carry on at some point and see if she knows best after all!

In the meantime, I’ve started on Charles Stross’ latest, Quantum of Nightmares: Book 2 of the New Management, a series set in the world of the Laundry Files. Stross rarely disappoints, as far as I’m concerned, so I’m hoping this one will dull the memory of my last couple of reads.

I finished reading Piranesi. I thought the first half was really good. It was original and imaginative. After it started to read like House of Leaves (which I did not like) my enjoyment really dropped. Then after that section it became kind of pedestrian.

Next I’m on to The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu.

Colin wrote: "I finished A Second Chance - another in the Chronicles of St Mary’s series. "

I've read all 12 plus the three Time Police books so it's fair to say they get past that. IIRC that's the one with the jarring (view spoiler)[universe reset (hide spoiler)] at the end. They never do explain that so you just have to accept it as part of the price of entry.

Colin wrote: "I finished A Second Chance - another in the Chronicles of St Mary’s series. I was all set to give it a high rating, pre-writing the review in my head - ‘best yet’ - and then the end..."

have you read Dead Lies Dreaming? Quantum... is basically a branch off the main series and is the 2nd book in that branch. I don't know that it will make sense without having read Dead Lies Dreaming.

Also, both but especially Quantum are Stross at his most, um, descriptive. It's weird, out there and still sadly believable.

I'm almost done with Jade Legacy and will probably be doing Age of Ash next.

John (Taloni) wrote: "IIRC that's the one with the jarring [spoiler removed] at the end."

That's the one! (view spoiler)[I've never been fond of Max and Leon's relationship and thought that it was over for good. Even more so once he died! Apparently not. (hide spoiler)]

Rick wrote: "have you read Dead Lies Dreaming? Quantum... is basically a branch off the main series and is the 2nd book in that branch. I don't know that it will make sense without having read Dead Lies Dreaming. "

Oh yes. Well aware of what I'm getting into. I found Dead Lies Dreaming a little slow to get going because of the lack of familiar characters, so I'm hoping this will be a little easier to get into now that we have an established cast to work with.

Finished The Swords of Lankhmar, read Garth Nix's Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures (it's short; a collection of three short stories) and started some in-the-spirit-of-old-school sword & sorcery with William King's Defiler of Tombs, second in his series of self-published novels about Kormak the Guardian.

Colin - Quantum is.. not slow. A couple of new characters but Eve and the crew are all there.

Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.

A wild Dara appears!

Joseph wrote: "...Garth Nix's Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures..."

I really enjoyed those stories. I wish there were more! Or a novel?

Finished The Lesson which I liked - it's about human relationships and colonization with a background of aliens arriving on Earth.

Enjoying A Practical Guide to Conquering the World - I really like these books, which began with Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City.

Just finished Mythago Wood, which was my haphazard pick for MM. The story was fascinating, but I didn't really enjoy reading it.
On to The Republic of Thieves.

Geoff wrote: "Joseph wrote: "...Garth Nix's Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures..."

I really enjoyed those stories. I wish there were more! Or a novel?"

Apparently, there are another three or four stories out there -- I know I've read at least one (the one in The Book of Swords).

https://twitter.com/garthnix/status/9...

Recently read Making History by Stephen Fry
The third of his four (possibly cocained fueled) novels of the mid-to-late 90s.
Pretty good science fiction very Stephen Fry

What would happen if you stopped Hitler from being born and ended up with someone much better at being an evil Nazi dictator?

Finished This Woven Kingdom which had plenty of promise but the execution felt a bit half-cooked.

Next up, my Discworld fest continues with The Light Fantastic

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "A wild Dara appears!"

I'm like a ninja!

Dara wrote: "Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "A wild Dara appears!"

I'm like a ninja!"

Not if we see you 😉

I finally read S. Andrew Swann's Forests of the Night, the one with the tiger holding a gun on the cover. It's a quick read. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Library holds came in:

Undeath and Taxes - book 2 of the funny vampire account series

Goliath - no recollection what this is about, I just liked the other Onyebuchi books I read

The Maleficent Seven - I assume it is what it says on the cover: a magical version of The Magnificent Seven

Continuing the gigantic Termination Shock by Stephenson. It’s a slog, switching to audio.

The Maleficent Seven was superb!

Is Angelina Jolie in it?

I finished reading the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and found it even less funny than the first one:


The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading this anthology that is a tribute to Jack Vance and his Tales of the Dying Earth series:


Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

Finished The Return of Sherlock Holmes and continuing my Holmes a thon with The Valley of Fear

I finished the sequel to Relic, both of which have some sci-fi or fantasy elements, depending on how broad your interpretation is:


Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading a novella that I've had my eye on for a while:


The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

Started Soleri, the first of a two-book series by Michael Johnston.

This month I finished When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain which was lovely and had a simpler narrative structure than its predecessor which made it easier to enjoy.

Then it was onto Brimstone Angels which is a by the numbers D&D story which is both really scratching my sword itch and taking me back to my roots for this genre. This was prompted by me watching a "show" in which the author, Erin M. Evans is playing one of the titular characters from the book. Which is every bit as fun as it sounds :-)

I finally finished Judas Unchained and felt like I had finished an ultra marathon. Worthwhile but way way too long. I just spent 78 hours or so listening to the complete series or two books!!!

Following up with Invisible Sun because you can never have enough 'splodey cross universe capers with aliens and scenes that could be set to the march of the Valkyries. When you get to include Project Orion and namedrop Freeman Dyson your taking the right stuff.

I’m 25% into The Three Body Problem and now it’s going into interminable descriptions of a fictional game. There’s nothing in a book that I find less interesting than descriptions of fictional games, movies, TV, whatever. I hope it doesn’t continue for long. Up until this point I’ve been enjoying the content of the book, though the writing style not so much. I can’t really put my finger on what exactly it is I find off-putting but I wonder if it’s just a poor translation.

Hold on until you get to the proton, then decide. FWIW I found the game a little dull at first too. Gets a lot more interesting tho.

Brad wrote: "I’m 25% into The Three Body Problem..."

I'd urge you to stick with it. I felt similarly about the game stuff but it pays off soon and I think the second book is amazing.

I'm currently reading The Ministry for the Future after recommendations from further up this discussion. I just meant to dip my toe in while I was getting through Pandora's Star but that has since fallen on the backburner. I hope the speculation of how f*d the world is is at least a little exaggerated because it's very scary.

Sadly a lot of that speculation is backed up by some pretty solid science. How bad it gets will depend on how quickly the world can make some big changes.