Don't Forget to Read a Book!

Hello, Stranger. And an extra hello and thank you to the person who donated money a couple days ago! You are awesome. Let's talk about Ursula K. Le Guin's  Earthsea Trilogy. The Short of It Plot: Ged's journey from a young man through to a powerful wizard. Page Count:      A Wizard of Earthsea: 205     The Tombs of Atuan: 180     The Farthest Shore: 259 Award: Books four and five won awards Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Some fantasy babble Review:  A remarkable trilogy. Each short book packs a punch. Excellent character development over all three books. Short enough that pacing is quick but thoughtful. World is intriguing and a careful balance is found of showing enough to inform but not so much that things are not mysterious. Le Guin is an excellent writer, and it shows. Superb atmosphere woven through an intriguing world. Somehow all three book...

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...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light The Short of It Plot:  The Hindu gods have kept the world in the Dark Ages: it is time for them to die. Page Count:  319 Award:  1968 Hugo Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Minimal Review: A fascinating depiction of religion and reincarnation supported by technology. Multiple stories (7) of varying quality come together well, though pacing can be a bit all over. Superb world-building and novel use of Hindu myths.  The Medium of It Spoiler Free! There are a handful of quotes in this part of the review. They all come from the first ten pages, so fear not that all shall be spoilt. It shall be alright. The opening scene of Lord of Light is an excellent hook. His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a g...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The Short of It Plot:  The Moon is ready for a revolution, and only a supercomputer with a sense of humor is smart enough to lead it. Page Count:  380 Award:  1967 Hugo Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Moderate Review:  Mike may be a computer, but he is one of Heinlein's most human characters. Snappy dialogue and good characters keep you rooting for Luna every step of the way. Upbeat and fun. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! “Jokes?” he asked. “Let’s hear one.” “Why is a laser beam like a goldfish?” Mike knew about lasers but where would he have seen goldfish? Oh, he had undoubtedly seen flicks of them and, were I foolish enough to ask, could spew forth thousands of words. “I give up.” His lights rippled. “Because neither one can whistle.” Alright, so maybe Mike's sense of humor is not perfect. Le...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Samuel R. Delaney's Babel-17. The Short of It Plot:  A series of attacks by the invaders have only one thing in common: the mysterious language Babel-17 Page Count: 173 Award:  1966 Nebula. You read that right. This tied with Flowers for Algernon. Worth a read : No Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabel-17:  Go big or go home.  Review: Boring. Very boring. Just so boring. Is the idea that language dictates thought interesting? Sure. Is it enough to carry a story? Nope. Dull story, tepid characters, belabored central concept. Handful of neat ideas that don't make up for the rest. Nap time in book form.  The Medium of It Spoiler Free! This is probably the longest book I've ever read that was less than 200 pages. There are a few concepts in this book that are fun. There are living tattoos, intense body modifications that allow people to take on all sorts of forms, and the use o...

Hello, Stranger.  Let's talk about Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon. The Short of It Plot:  An experimental procedure takes Charlie Gordon from mentally handicapped to genius. Page Count: 270 Award:  1966 Nebula Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Minimal Review:  Superb writing, absolutely heartrending plot. Story told exclusively through Charlie's progress reports; shifts in tone and style throughout the book convey as much as the text itself. Takes a difficult subject and addresses it with tact and grace. All the tears. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! progris riport 1—martch 5, 1965 Dr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on. I dont know why but he says its importint so they will see if they will use me. I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart. My name is Charlie Gordon. I am 37 yea...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Roger Zelazny's  This Immortal. The Short of It Plot: A (somewhat) immortal man guides a group (including an alien) on a tour of post-nuclear-war Earth. Page Count: 174 Award:  1966 Hugo Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail Technobabble:  Minimal Review:  This was originally serialized and you can feel it while reading; it does not have a plot so much as a series of events. Narrator is hilarious without being unbearable - worth reading for his excellent commentary. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! This short book is carried entirely by the charisma and humor of Conrad, the first-person narrator. He pushes right up to the line of obnoxious without crossing it, and his dry zingers and one liners had me do a few spit-takes. I do not wish to ruin them, so I'll only provide one example: Crossing a room can be a ticklish and time-consuming business: if it's full of people, if th...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Frank Herbert's Dune. The Short of It Plot: The desert planet of Arrakis holds many secrets, possibly enough to shift the outcomes of  interplanetary war and political intrigue.  Page Count: 610 Award:  1966 Hugo and 1965 Nebula Worth a read : Yes, of course. Primary Driver:  ( Plot ,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Moderate Review:  Excellent and epic. Intrigue, cool characters, action. A slow burn at times, and the spice ex machina is a bit overdone. Switching perspectives and characters ramps up tension to superb effect.  The Medium of It Spoiler Free! If you have not yet heard of Dune , welcome. One of the best selling science fiction books of all time, it has earned its place among the greats. I was shocked to learn that this came out in the 1960s. The book has hardly aged, which is downright remarkable. Dune is a book of political intrigue more than anything else. This is not...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Fritz Leiber's The Wanderer. The Short of It Plot:  A mysterious planet appears out of hyperspace, high jinks ensue. Page Count:  320 Award:  1965 Hugo Worth a read : For the love of all you hold dear, No. Primary Driver:  (No) Bechdel Test : Pass (Surprising!) Technobabble:  Plenty Review:  How do you take a book about a planet of freedom fighting space cats appearing out of hyperspace to devour the moon and make it so boring? So many characters, none of them have personalities except for racial stereotypes. Silly to include multiple comic relief characters when the book itself is a joke. I think I understand book burning now. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! We're not doing this, Stranger. The only reason to read this book is to tell other people how bad it was. I haven't decided if that makes it so-bad-it's-good. I'm inclined to say it's so-bad-it's-bad. Do...