Don't Forget to Read a Book!

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Patricia A. McKillip's  The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. The Short of It Plot:  A witch lives alone with a menagerie of mythical creatures until a prince is delivered into her care. Page Count: 240 Award:  1975 World Fantasy Award Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  None. Review:  Classic fantasy - a hidden prince, talking animals, powerful magic. Enjoyable prose and a few interesting creatures elevate it beyond standard tropes. Has one of the best/most nuanced female characters so far. Not an exceptional book, but worth a read if you enjoy sword & sorcery fare. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! This is an interesting one. On the one hand, it buys into pretty much every trope of generic fantasy: battling royalty, things responding to true names, falling in love after having one conversation, a dragon who loves gold, and so on. On the other hand, some th...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Joe Haldeman's  The Forever War. The Short of It Plot:  Time dilation means that the world you leave when you go to war is never the one you come back to. Page Count:  278 Award:  1975 Nebula, 1976 Hugo, and 1976 Locus Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Low-Moderate. Review: I really like this book. Manages to be both thrilling millitary SF and a treatise on the futility of war/the military-industrial complex. Nice application of relativistic speeds changing to dynamics of warfare. Chilling depiction of the alienation felt by soldiers returning home. The evolution of Earth is interesting, though Haldeman is a bit indelicate with his approach to homosexuality. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! A note before diving in: it turns out that there are a number of different versions of this book. This seems to happen a lot. I read a more recent edition, whi...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Ursula K. Le Guin's  The Lathe of Heaven. The Short of It Plot: George Orr's dreams have a bad habit of altering reality. Page Count: 175 Award:  1972 Locus Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Minimal. Review:  A surprising treat. Kept going wondering what would change next - and how things would go wrong. Excellent implementation of the Monkey's Paw. Attention to detail is amazing. Story went in all sorts of directions that I did not see coming - but enjoyed the heck out of it all. Highly recommend - packs quite a punch for so short a tale. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! The simplicity of this book is what makes it so remarkable. Some of George Orr's dreams change reality.  That's it. That's the plot. It is executed in a no-frills fashion that keeps pace quick and scenes interesting. Every detail of surroundings becomes noteworthy - was that pictu...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Arthur C. Clarke's  Rendezvous with Rama. The Short of It Plot:  "I wonder if we’ll ever learn the answer to the two mysteries that have been haunting me ever since we got inside; who were they—and what went wrong?” Page Count:  252 Award:  1973 Nebula and 1974 Hugo Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  ( Plot ,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Moderate but plot relevant. Review:  This is just good, classic, easy reading SF. Excellent depiction of an alien spacecraft - enough answers to satisfy without getting ridiculous. Good building of tension. Engaging world - both Rama and the broader universe/human colonies. SF in its purest form. It won't blow your mind, but quite satisfying. And unlike many so far this project, Clarke nails the ending. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! It is a perfect palate cleanser after the last couple of books. It's a classic SF plot - exploring an alien spacec...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Philip José Farmer's  To Your Scattered Bodies Go. The Short of It Plot: After his resurrection in the distant future alongside a significant slice of humanity, Richard Francis Burton sets out to explore their curious new world. Page Count:  220 Award:  1972 Hugo Worth a read : No Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Moderate to high. Review:  Starts strong, good hook, interesting world setup. But a lot of potential is squandered; we don't really get everything the world could offer. Also a lot of exposition via monologue and characterization via info dump. Not sure if it would help or hurt to know more about some of the more obscure historical figures going into this. Also, trying to make Hermann Göring a character we care about is a bold strategy that does not pay off. The Medium of It Spoiler Free!* *Minor spoilers related to the existence of certain historical figur...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Isaac Asimov's  The Gods Themselves. The Short of It Plot:  The Electron Pump connects our reality with another where physics works differently, allowing for unlimited exchange of energy at both ends. Page Count:  288 Award:  1972 Nebula and 1973 Hugo Worth a read : No. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  85% of book... but often plot relevant. Review:  A curious mix of hard science and alien relationship drama - originally serialized and comes off disjointed. As a story, the most engaging part is a POV section for the aliens. They're interesting, engaging, and totally unlike anything I've seen in another book. On the other hand, no human characters are appealing, plot is minimal and mostly about vindictive academics. I can't say that I enjoyed the book as a novel, but I was impressed by it. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! I love the second section of this book. As...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Robert Silverberg's  A Time of Changes. The Short of It Plot:  The far flung colony of Borthan abhors the concept of the self, ostracizing "selfbarers" - those who speak of "I". Page Count:  220 Award:  1971 Nebula Worth a read : No. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  None Review:  Sporadically engaging, this book is extremely focused inward. The premise is decent, and could carry a short story, but wears thin. Elevates "telling instead of showing" to a new level, and feels like Silverberg thinks his readers are a bit slow. Book isn't bad, exactly, just unremarkable. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! Let's kick this off by acknowledging that A Time of Changes  is a comically lazy title, second only to Rite of Passage  in informing the reader of the point of the story. I'm not bringing this up purely to mock the book; this is the style of writing here. Poin...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Larry Niven's Ringworld. The Short of It Plot:  Louis Wu has seen a lot in his 200 years, which makes him a perfect candidate for exploring an unknown world alongside a couple aliens.  Page Count:  342 Award:  1970 Nebula, 1971 Hugo, 1971 Locus Worth a read : Yes. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Moderate Review: Aliens with their own cultures and norms? Check. Compelling protagonist? Check. A completely foreign and fanciful world? Quick and lighthearted? Fun gadgets? Check, check, and check. Sexism? Oh. Oh no. Oh my. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! I feel a bit guilty for having enjoyed this one as much as I did.  Niven begins with an excellent first chapter, which simultaneously showcases some of the wonders of technology in his distant future and introduces Louis Wu as a cool and sympathetic character. Had they realized yet that he had walked out on his ow...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. The Short of It Plot:  A single Envoy is sent to bring the lost colony planet of Winter, where everyone is ambisexual, into the interplanetary federation.  Page Count: 304 Award:  1970 Hugo and 1969 Nebula Worth a read : Yes. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Pass* *This is way above my pay grade  Technobabble:  Minimal Review:  Not every moment of this book is exciting or engaging; obstacles just happen from time to time. However, world building is superb, well considered, and deftly written - remarkable. Character interaction is believable and very human. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! The first time I read this it was assigned reading in high school, and I hated every second of it. I feared having the same response now, to add to the pitchfork- and torch-wielding mob that appeared when I said that I didn't like Stranger in a Strange...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar The Short of It Plot:  2010 is bleak; overpopulation, eugenics, corporate colonialism, racism, and violence abound. Page Count:  650 Award:  1969 Hugo Worth a read : Yes? It's New Wave SF - love it or hate it. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Minimal Review:  Highly experimental in form, this book is a tough read. Detailed world-building depicted in interesting ways. Hated some of it, but felt like it was worth the challenge. Pretty much everything that comes up has a payoff - even if you don't like the book, you have to acknowledge that it's impressive. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! New Wave Science Fiction as explained by Wikipedia:  The New Wave is a movement in science fiction produced in the 1960s and 1970s and characterized by a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, a "literary" or artistic sensibil...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage. The Short of It Plot: Upon turning 14, everyone aboard the ship must survive 30 days unassisted on one of the colony planets. Page Count:  254 Award:  1968 Nebula Worth a read : Yes, but it's YA. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Minimal Review:  A coming-of-age story, a clearly YA entry. Good approach to perspective and prejudice by showing what those living on ships think of on planets and vice versa. A number of themes are told a bit on the nose; this makes sense given the younger target audience.  The Medium of It Spoiler Free! The only fair way to judge this is understanding that it is meant for teens (probably?). Which is to say that I would not recommend this to an adult. With that preface out of the way, let's get into it. We are treated to a first person narrator, Mia. Over the course of the story she ages from 12 to 14, a...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Samuel Delany's The Einstein Intersection. The Short of It Plot:  Kid Death has taken Friza and it's up to Lo Lobey to stop him. Page Count: 142 Award:  1967 Nebula Worth a read : No Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Moderate Review:  A distant post-apocalyptic world (30,000 years in the future) with wildly inconsistent rules is for some reason still referring to the Beatles and Greek myths. Starring an uninteresting first person narrator who stumbles from one event to another. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! Another one that is not remarkably bad but just completely forgettable. Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Checklist: Radiation mutants Scary desert Giant lizards Abandoned talking computer Subterranean tunnels Misunderstanding pop culture references Mercenary capitalism New titles/societal order "We will remake the world better than before" Hero-Goes-On-A-Journey Checklist She...