October 2021 Reading Discussion

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Finished Artifact Space by Miles Cameron. It might have leveled out a bit at the end but I really did enjoy it and will certainly buy a sequel if one becomes available. My biggest gripe is the price. I no longer easily nor freely pay $10 for an ebook. Petty, I suppose, but I am throughly spoiled by Amazon Unlimited.

Here's my Amazon review.

A wonderful combination of space opera and hard Science Fiction

this book is a fine piece of S. F. It puts together both a space opera and a great deal of hard Science. I'm not sure I know of more than a few books that deal with aliens as well as this one does. One of the best things about this book is that it understands the speed of things and the vastness of the universe. If you like real good science fiction, you will like this book.

Very strong 4 stars.

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I have now started The King's Justice by E.M. Powell. It is a murder mystery set in the late 12th century in England. At about 50% done I was almost ready to give it up because although I thoroughly enjoyed what seemed to me to be a real 12 century view point, the mystery seemed extremely obvious. But, the plot has thickened as they say, so I'm reading again with relish.
 
The Kassa Gambit by M.C Planck
(A space opera from 2013)

Online burb.....

Prudence Falling makes a living on the edges of civilized space, avoiding the prying eyes and stifling rules of imperious planetary governments, traveling the nodes between worlds searching for... something.
Lt. Kyle Dasper, his feet firmly on the ground, works to build a world worth living in. Their paths cross at an unprecedented juncture: first contact with the first alien species humanity has ever encountered. In the wide galaxy, men and women have always been alone, despite hundreds of years of colonization and exploration.
Now it appears there is intelligent life in the Out; but it is hostile. Prudence's latest temporary home planet stands devastated by unprovoked war, while Kyle's world is riven with intrigue, fascist plots, and secret factions.
Can they overcome sabotage, assassinations, and their own suspicious natures to save humanity from its worst threat since the exodus from Earth?
 
Bick said:
The Caves of Steel was a terrific re-read. I had forgotten enough of it to enjoy the plotting considerably. It's more of a whodunnit than I recalled, and also a way for Asimov to explore the problems of overpopulation, and how technology can be either helpful or a hindrance to humanity's progress, depending on how it's employed and the direction it takes.

I'm moving straight on to The Naked Sun, in which Elijah visits Solaria for the first time.
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dask said:
I remember The Naked Sun, even though a sequel, being as good as The Caves Of Steel.
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I agree with you both. I'm a Foundation guy first but I did recall loving the Robot novels, too. I re-read them semi-recently and, if anything, they were even better than I remembered. "Classic" is bandied about a lot but these really are. I babbled about them at length after those re-reads, for what it's worth.

Caves of Steel
Naked Sun
 
Parson said:
Finished Artifact Space by Miles Cameron. It might have leveled out a bit at the end but I really did enjoy it and will certainly buy a sequel if one becomes available. My biggest gripe is the price. I no longer easily nor freely pay $10 for an ebook. Petty, I suppose, but I am throughly spoiled by Amazon Unlimited.

Here's my Amazon review.

A wonderful combination of space opera and hard Science Fiction

this book is a fine piece of S. F. It puts together both a space opera and a great deal of hard Science. I'm not sure I know of more than a few books that deal with aliens as well as this one does. One of the best things about this book is that it understands the speed of things and the vastness of the universe. If you like real good science fiction, you will like this book.

Very strong 4 stars.

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I have now started The King's Justice by E.M. Powell. It is a murder mystery set in the late 12th century in England. At about 50% done I was almost ready to give it up because although I thoroughly enjoyed what seemed to me to be a real 12 century view point, the mystery seemed extremely obvious. But, the plot has thickened as they say, so I'm reading again with relish.
Click to expand...
I see what you mean about the price. I shall probably wait for a while to see if it comes down some. I think it was only published a few months ago so might be worth waiting! At least it looks like a good sized book for the price unlike some I have seen of late!
 
Finished The Grip Of It by Jac Jemc. Ultimately I was slightly disappointed. The set-pieces in this shortish haunted house novel were conveyed decently-enough, and there was a sense of creeping dread rather than all-out terror, but while Jemc's prose seemed to be shooting for a tight, minimalist thriller, it only succeeded in maintaining an arm's length from the characters. The pace and prose was too tight, too awkward and fidgety. There were no passages - at all - that relaxed and let me in, and I struggled to really care that these things were happening. A shame, as the set-ups and ideas were very good.

Started Pullman's The Amber Spyglass.
 
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson, kindly recommended by @BAYLOR ...it's got dinosaurs and a warship so should be good.
 
AE35Unit said:
So...the next story in The Mammoth book of Golden Age SF is The Big and the Little by Asimov. Is this part of the Foundation series?
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Yep. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last story of the first book, called "The Traders" there.
 
AE35Unit said:
So...the next story in The Mammoth book of Golden Age SF is The Big and the Little by Asimov. Is this part of the Foundation series?
Click to expand...

Would recommend the anthology Before the Golden Age edited by Isaac Asimov.
 
AE35Unit said:
Going for some classic 70s sci fi , The Winds of Gath by EC Tubb, an author I don't think I've read yet. I understand there are quite a few books in this Dumarest series...
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If you get that far, the last one is quite hard to find, in physical media at least.
 
AE35Unit said:
Going for some classic 70s sci fi , The Winds of Gath by EC Tubb, an author I don't think I've read yet. I understand there are quite a few books in this Dumarest series...
Click to expand...
That classic 70's SF novel was published in 1967, as it happens. ;)

The reading order of the Dumerest Saga can be found here.
 
J-Sun said:
Yep. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last story of the first book, called "The Traders" there.
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In fact, it was published as "The Merchant Princes", which was the last part of the first book, but was the third story in Astounding. The final two stories were switched in order for book publication.
If anyone's interested, the original Astounding stories that made up the Foundation books are outlined and described in this feature.
 
Bio .JG BALLARD by D.Harlan Wilson. He tries to say that Ballard was always a SF Author.
 
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