Due to the Ozone Red Alert Warning for today, I’m staying inside and at home today. This leaves me no excuse but to tackle projects I’ve neglected for weeks if not months. Overnight I received a BookMooch request to send a book to a Californian, so it got me thinking about my physical book inventory. Once I found the book requested for BookMooch, I packaged it and addressed it sitting in my new library. I grabbed a stack of books I’d set aside as abandoned and started adding them to my GoodReads swap site. And now that I own a Nook Color, I want to see less physical books on my physical book shelves to make room for the more ephemeral ebooks on my virtual shelves.
Category: Reading
eBook Bargains via the Cheap!
Excellent blog, including Twitter feed and several Facebook pages to supply any avid ereader with serendipitous and abundant ebook freebies and bargains.
Newly Released eBook Edition of SF Classic – The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Ridan Publishing released late last week an ebook edition of Joe Haldeman’s classic award winning science fiction novel The Forever War. A must read for any die-hard fan of science fiction, especially the military scifi subgenre.
My review, written two years ago during the Summer of 2009, follows:
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars
If I had been born in the 50s and also been born male, I’m positive I would have loved this story. All the pain, confusion and futility of Vietnam but strung out and extrapolated over three thousand years (or about three years relatively speaking). The last fourth of the book salvaged the first three parts.
I didn’t have any trouble grasping the science, the physics or the technology. Haldeman did an excellent job conveying them without making me take a course in quantum physics or string theory.
But again, similar to The Accidental Time Machine, character development suffers, even though we spend months bored in transit. I personally didn’t care for or agree with his predictions for societal changes on Earth and elsewhere that occurred while Mandella travelled at relativistic speeds. I did agree with the morale of his story, which is similar to Ender’s Game in philosophy.
I’ve now read most of the classic (and one neo-classic) military science fiction novels. My personal favorite seems to be Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, followed closely by Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Haldeman’s Forever War follows and the distant finisher remains Armor by John Steakley.
And the Winner Is . . .
Honor Harrington
The poll closed Saturday midnight and, despite close voting, Honor edged out Harry. In mid-August, Beyond Reality will commence their third series group read. Join us in the Honorverse next month!
Read Stefan’s introductory post for more information.
Honor v. Harry (Not the Harry Your Thinking Of)
-v- 
The Beyond Reality group at GoodReads posted a run-off poll this week to decide our next series group read, pitting space opera legend Honor Harrington, created by David Weber, against urban fantasy gumshoe wizard Harry Dresden (no, he’s not a graduate of Hogwarts and doesn’t have a lightning bolt scar on his forehead), created by local Kansas Citian Jim Butcher.
The Honor Harrington series barely hangs onto a narrow lead by her fingernails over the Dresden Files in this last day of voting. Both series offer a full year’s worth of reading with a dozen novels published in each (assuming we read one book a month).
So if you’ve been looking for an excuse to read either one of these series, come join the party! Cast your vote before the stroke of midnight tomorrow.
Beyond Reality Series Selection Poll
SERIES DISCUSSION: This run-off poll decides which series will be the topic of our third Beyond Reality Series Discussion!
Book Review: The Summer Tree by Kay (4 Stars)
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
Read in June 2011
I took quite some time to warm-up to this earliest novel of Guy Gavriel Kay. I just couldn’t get excited about five Canadian college students agreeing (with the exception of one malcontent … but there’s always got to be one rebel) to be whisked or warped or rifted or transported (take your pick) to the world of Fionavar just to attend the king’s jubilee. Thrust into a seemingly medieval setting, complete with court politics, royal succession quandaries, manipulative magicians, kingdom-wide drought and blight and an approaching storm of vengeful evil, these young men and women adapt readily and a bit unbelievably. Even the initial loss of one in the crossing barely causes a blip of concern once the remaining four become embroiled in the avalanche of events bearing down on the kingdom.
Of all the characters, both from our world and Finovar, I respected Dave the most as well as Sharra (and I hope to learn more about her in the rest of the series). Paul seemed to excel at doing the right things for all the wrong reasons. Kimberly went native almost before leaving Earth, but Kevin remains an enigma to me. I barely glimpsed Jennifer’s tribulations and fear for her fate.
I saw the influence of Celtic mythology throughout Kay’s worldbuilding and drew parallels with other epic fantasies prevalent and popular in the late 70s and early 80s (Tolkien, Lewis and to a lesser extent Brooks).
I suspect I missed reading the Fionavar Tapestry in high school and early college because I had to rely on what I saw at the grocery store book/magazine aisle, since I didn’t have access to a library or a book store and GoodReads wasn’t even a gleam on the Internet’s nascent horizon. Had I read this series then, I am confident I would have added it to my permanent re-read collection. While The Summer Tree and the rest of the Fionavar Tapestry will remain on my shelves besides Kay’s other later great novels, I doubt I’ll be tempted to re-read it. Not with Tigana or the Lions of Al-Rassan enticing me to return and relive the wonder and the glory.
For further insights, please visit the discussion threads at the GoodReads Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club held in June 2011.
The Beyond Reality group at GoodReads started reading the entire series, The Fionavar Tapestry in mid-January 2014.
Book Review: A Shot in the Dark by Stewart
A Shot in the Dark by K.A. Stewart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars
A Shot in the Dark continues a few months after A Devil in the Details, with Jesse James Dawson mostly recovered from his last demon death-dance and tornado tango, but still suffering from nightmares of an earlier near-fatal demon fight. His annual Colorado camping trip with his buddies should provide ample opportunity for rejuvenation and recreation… What should have been a relaxing retreat quickly turns into a siege reminiscent of the Alamo . . .
A Shot in the Dark provides a good mystery, a few thrills, a new take on zombies, MacGyver-esque innovations in demon fighting and a peek into the true identity of Jesse’s favorite demon sidekick, Axel (hint: read To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust or Milton’s Paradise Lost). This is a strong sequel to last year’s A Devil in the Details and a great summer vacation read. Just don’t forget the holy water, mirrors and swords.
Summer Reads – Second Third
I met all my reading goals for the first month of summer. I loaded up the first of the month with the authors I knew would delivery excellent stories, leaving the unknown frontier of my book club selections for the middle and end of June. I devoted the last week of the month to reading the first in a relatively new fantasy series by Kevin J. Anderson that I’ve been surprised and engrossed in for days. The third book in his Terra Incognita series releases in a couple of weeks, so I’m all fired up to read the second book as soon as possible.
For July, my GoodReads book clubs are hit and miss:
Over at Fantasy Book Club Series, we’re continuing in the Empire Triology with Servant of the Empire. I’m looking forward to reading what Mara plots next for the Game of Counsel on Kelewan.
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club selected The Snow Queen for our July scifi reading pleasure. I’ve had this book on my shelves for years and finally have no excuse not to read it.
Neither selection at Beyond Reality for July appeals to me, but we are accepting nominations for our next series read and will probably have the poll up for voting by the time this blog post publishes.
The Fantasy Book Club decided to read the ever-popular Wizard of Earthsea in July. Since I’ve read this classic by Le Guinn several times already, including recently when the Syfy channel aired a mini-series based on the trilogy, I’m going to skip another re-read this time around.
For Fantasy Literature, I need to read and review Sorcery Rising and listen to Dragongirl.
I’ll round out July by continuing in the Fionavar Tapestry with The Wandering Fire. And, if I can acquire a copy of the second novel in Terra Incognita, I’ll continue exploring and searching for the lost continent of Terravitae in The Map of All Things.
Friday Morning Update: I actually finished The Edge of the World a couple of days ago (but with the holiday weekend I won’t get a review written for a few days). As filler to round out the last couple of days of June, I started reading one of Barnes & Nobles ‘free Friday‘ Nook Books from a couple of weeks ago entitled Stupid History. Aptly titled and I should whip through it in record time, leaving my intelligence intact (I hope). The best surprise I got this morning, though, was the companion progressive rock CD released by Rosswell Six called Beyond the Horizaon. I listened to the first four tracks on the drive in to work today and I felt transported back to the glory days of the 70s and rock bands I grew up with (and savored) like Kansas, Rush and Styx. Click on the CD cover icon to listen to excerpts of the songs:
Book Review: In the Garden of Iden by Baker (2.5 Stars)
In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
My first exposure to Kage Baker’s writing and to her Company series. In our future (about two centuries ahead of us), both time travel and immortality are discovered. As with most time travel scenarios in science fiction, history can’t be rewritten, so said travel is of limited use to the plot and the science is foggy at best. Time travel then becomes a means to transport the reader to a different point in our past. Equally useless to the entrepreneurs of the 24th century is immortality, which can only be applied to very young children and requires extensive cybernetic enhancement.
The Company (aka Dr. Suess) still finds a way to make a buck, sending scientists back to the distant past, recruiting young children from the native population, installing immortality, and putting them to work by scavenging and salvaging priceless art, books, plants, etc. for re-discovery and re-sale (by the Company of course) in the 24th century.
Mendoza is an orphan from the Spanish Inquisition rescued and then recruited by the Company at the very edge of the Pit. After several years of operations and education, she receives her first field assignment, not in the New World (as she desired to be as far as possible away from ‘the monkeys’), but in dreary damp England. While collecting rare specimens from the Garden of Iden, she falls in love with one of the manor’s servants, a fiercely fanatical Protestant young man adrift in a resurgence of Catholicism courtesy of Queen Mary and Prince Phillip of Spain.
I enjoyed the historical aspects of the novel, especially England during the Counter-Reformation. Kage Baker did a good job of immersing me in both Spain and England. I still prefer Connie Willis’ writing style as evidenced in The Doomsday Book and her other Oxford time travel novels and stories.
I’m not a fan of romance, especially teenage romance (and Mendoza is in her late teens while on this first assignment), so I struggled through about half of this book. I also missed some of the humor (or failed to register it as such) exhibited by her fellow agents and their reactions to the ‘monkeys’ (the cyborg agents’ derogatory term for mere mortal men). The predictably tragic ending arrived to my great relief and the novel finally moved back to the original mission – preserving plants.
Perhaps I took the fear and loathing of the immortal agents towards human beings too much to heart. It concerned me that these agents of the Company felt such disdain and dread towards their former brothers and sisters. Commerce and computers seized the day, while the monkeys scampered about and threw bananas at each other. I got the distinct impression that the Company and civilization of the 24th century felt humans were irredeemably inclined to violence and destruction, in a constantly repeating cycle.
I read this novel as part of the Beyond Reality June 2011 book of the month selection for science fiction. To follow or join in the discussion, please stop by our site.
Book Review: A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets by Pasachoff/Menzel
A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets by Jay M. Pasachoff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I checked this dense compact field guide out from my local library in the hopes of using it in the field with my telescope. Due to its size and weight, I found it nearly useless to use in the dark with my red flashlight at my telescope. The atlases were too small, requiring my reading glasses, and the binding too stiff and tight to allow the field guide to be laid flat and free up a hand to adjust the telescope.
The information provided in the guide appears current as of a dozen years ago (circa 1998). I’ll run through the table of contents with some observations below:
1. A First Look at the Sky – How to differentiate between a star and a planet. Includes a pair of sky maps showing the brightest stars with arrows showing the pathways that help observers find them.
2. A Tour of the Sky – Highlights of the seasonal skies for both hemispheres and a bit on solar observing.
3. The Monthly Sky Maps – Maps are drawn to minimize distortions in regions of the sky most studied, using 45 degrees altitude (halway up the sky to the zenith).
4. The Constellations – History and origins of the constellations and where they can be found in the night sky.
5. Stars, Nebulae and Galaxies – Descriptions of stars, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies (including our own) and quasars. Includes color photographs of the most familiar objects.
6. Double and Variable Stars – Includes graphs and charts.
7. Atlas of the Sky – Fifty-two charts, each accompanied by a half-page (three or four paragraphs) detailing the best tourist destinations for the observer (like a travelogue for your vacation to the stars). This was the main reason I checked out this field guide but, as I mentioned above, the binding prevented me from effectively using this guide while out on my star safari.
8. The Moon – I read this chapter several times and used the excellent maps of the moon during an extended observing period (over several days) in April 2011.
9. Finding the Planets – Tips and timetables for tracking the planets (mostly the easily observed planets like Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
10. Observing the Planets – A tour of all the planets (including the recently demoted Pluto), with lots of color photos.
11. Comets – Description, observing and photographing tips.
12. Asteroids – Only two pages long, includes a table of the brightest asteroids.
13. Meteors and Meteor Showers – Table of major meteor showers and how to observe them.
14. Observing the Sun – Concise breakdown of the sun’s composition, but the majority of the chapter deals with solar eclipses and how to observe them.
15. Coordinates, Time and Calendars – Definitions of right ascension and declination and an analemma graph and photograph.
After reading this field guide, and being disappointed in its field usefulness, I decided upon the Sky & Telescope’s Pocket Sky Atlas for use on my observing nights. While the Pocket Sky Atlas lacks the travelogue features of this Field Guide, it makes up for that in ease-of-use and weightlessness.