To Say Nothing of the Dog

As I said earlier, deciding that I want to figure out how to insert the teeniest bit of humor in my own writing, means I have an excuse to read funny things, and feel like I’m being productive. One of them is To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis.

Re: Love and Death in the Time of Monsters

I have mixed feelings about “Love and Death in the Time of Monsters,” by Frank Wu. It has a great title. The presentation on Escape Pod is fun. But I have to say I preferred the realistic elements to the scifi elements.

Re: Homecoming at the Borderlands Café

While it’s not as graceful as “Family Values,” “Homecoming at the Borderlands Café,” by Carole McDonnell manages to create a world while the narrator, Mike, is sitting in the café eating dinner with his parents. It’s so static, most of the story is in his thoughts. But it takes place in a world where it’s […]

Re: The Cosmic Express

Not so long ago, Beam Me Up dusted off the old hand-crank and sent the wayback machine chugging to 1930 with a reading of “The Cosmic Express,” by Jack Williamson. Mr. Eric Stokes-Harding, a writer of men’s adventure stories, lives in a 25th century completely devoid of adventures. In fact, the world is just as […]

Re: Matter

Usually I enjoy Iain M. Banks, so I was excited to see him return to the Culture with Matter. I was not so excited to see how thick it was. I was even less excited to plow through palace politics with a lost heir, an evil vizier, a naïve prince, and a superhuman warrior sister […]

Re: Family Values

In a wonderful example of graceful worldbuilding,”Family Values“, by Sara Genge plunges you into an alien society without stopping to explain. An alien society where females gain power by bearing children and keeping house, and teachers are high status? That’s different. An alien society where males aim to ingratiate themselves with breeding females? That’s familiar. […]

Re: Journey Between Worlds

Just in case you don’t have enough summer reading, the Rocket Girls Reading Club offers science fiction featuring girls in space. One that draws a vivid portrait of life on Mars is Journey Between Worlds, by Sylvia Engdahl. Unlike most scifi heroes, the last thing Melinda Ashley wants is to leave home. At first, when […]

2008 Hugo Winners Announced

The Hugo winners have been announced, and I’m stunned that 3 out of 4 of my favorites won. Evidently there was a massive attack of good taste. (By which I mean, they agree with me.) But that’s not why I’m happy.

Re: Edward Bear and The Very Long Walk

I seem to be encountering a lot of bears lately. A couple friends of mine are working on stories about bears. I am discovering that I like stories by Elizabeth Bear. And recently I heard a delightful reading on Escape Pod of “Edward Bear and The Very Long Walk,” by Ken Scholes. It begins when […]

Re: The Something-Dreaming Game

The first third of “The Something-Dreaming Game,” by Elizabeth Bear is utterly frank about how young people seek unusual sensations, enough that I can see why some people might be uncomfortable listening to it on Escape Pod. The narrator’s daughter, Tara, developed RSD, after breaking her arm. She gets an implant that keeps the searing […]