February's Fastidious Foraging For Fabulous Fiction

[j d worthington]

I don't know. My 13 year old read Call of the Wild a few months ago - by choice, not as a school assignment. She loved the story. I'm not sure where she heard of it, but she does read a lot of animal stories. She wants to be a veterinarian, and she seems to have a pretty good handle on the fact that working with animals does not equal puppy and kitty cuddling, etc.

If you think about it, Black Beauty can be pretty gritty as well. Also fiction, it too reflects a time when animals were not always treated well and laws did not protect them.

This is true of the majority of "animal stories" -- think of Old Yeller, The Yearling, etc., even Albert Payson Terhune's books (I remember how, when reading Lad, a Dog, I was in disbelief that he could have Lad actually bitten by a venomous snake and might have him die). Very few of these things are just "cuddly" stories -- they often came from people who passionately cared about animals, and abhorred the state they saw them in...

 

[Ice fyre]

I am reading Book two in the Moontide quartet, by David Hair.

A gripping fantasy set in a world with two continents separated by a violent sea impassible except by air ship. An interesting take on Crusading and culture clashing. Have read the first book and the story is quite gripping!

 

[BigBadBob141]

Have just finished "Drakas!" ed by S.M.Stirling, this is a collection of stories by various authors based in S.M.Sterling's Draka universe.
The Darak come from a european colony in an alternate South Africa, they are very warlike, eventually conquering the whole world.
They enslave or cull anyone who is not Draka, and through genetic engineering become superhuman, they make the Nazis look like boy scouts.
The only thorn in there side is New America, a colony on Alpha Centauri made up of the last humans to escape before the fall of America.
All the stories are worth a read, some of course are better then others, but they are all to a pretty good standard.
One of my favorites is "The Tradesmen" by David Drake, be warned, this has a very, very dark twist at the end.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm reading The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson. In some ways I am reminded of E. R. Eddison.

 

[kythe]

I just started reading "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov. My first impression was that it reminded me of the world of Star Wars, with the jump to hyperspace, a galaxy full of humans, and a Galactic Empire. But the first chapter is the only similarity.

Foundation is more politically oriented than most of what I read. But the idea that human history on a mass scale can be predicted is actually believable, and there have been several interesting twists so far.

 

[monsterchic]

Currently reading 1984. Not a huge fan, to be honest.

 

[GOLLUM]

The March reading thread will be opened shortly...

 

[HareBrain]

I'm reading The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson. In some ways I am reminded of E. R. Eddison.

Coincidentally, I first heard of Davidson last week in a lecture on American fantasy. I've just seen Phoenix and the Mirror in the local bookshop. The first page was promising. Would you recommend it?