“If it is stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid. (a Shin’a’in saying)”

— Owlknight, Mercedes Lackey

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn.”

— Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Sleepers by Megg Jensen One of the things I like best about my iPad is reading books on it. And with the proliferation of ebooks there are so many more available to read. I check a lot of books out of the library using Overdrive, but I also like to check out authors I’m not familiar with, especially if they offer inexpensive or free copies of their books. Sleepers was on my list of recommendations from Amazon, and it has the wonderful price of free — hard to beat that. So, I downloaded it, and read it. And honestly, I wish I could get that time back. I realized when I was around 81% through the book that the only reason I was continuing to read it was because I was so close to the end, I wanted to get it finished. Ironically, at that point I decided to go to Amazon.com and write a review of it there. I figured, with only 19-20% of the book left, how much could I be missing? Famous last words. When I wrote the review on Amazon, I disliked it because it was clichéd, boring, the world is fairly undeveloped, and things happen unbelievably quickly (e.g. the main character is in love with one person one day and someone completely different the next). In my Amazon review, I wrote “All I really know is that two countries warred, her country lost, and she was made hostage to the winning country with two child compatriots.” After that review went live, I finished reading the entire book, and realized that that statement is wrong! Oh, it’s correct for the first 80-85% of the book, but at the end the author pops some surprises, and one of the major ones in this story [spoiler alert] is that the “losing” side of the battle was really the winning side. They had used their magic to basically enslave the entire country to prepare it for their invasion. And one of the bits of that magic was to have them all believe that they were the winners in a war. If you are asking yourself, “why would they do that?” Believe me, you’re not alone. This twist seemed somewhat pointless. But there are many other twists that come along in the last 20% of the book, including:

I have fallen in love with my iPad primarily because of the Kindle and iBook apps. I love that I can keep dozens (if not hundreds) of books available for me to read whenever the mood strikes me. I love that I can make comments and notes right inside the book, and not ruin the book itself. I love that I can download samples to see if I really would want to purchase the book. And I love that when a new book comes out that I’ve pre-ordered, it shows up on my desktop right away — no trip to the store required. Because of this, I always have a bunch of books available to read on my iPad. Here are the SciFi and Fantasy books I am currently or soon going to read:

Sometimes it can be difficult to decide what to read, so here I’m posting a list of the NPR Science Fiction and Fantasy Vote for 2011. Which of these books have you read? 1632, by Eric Flint 1984, by George Orwell 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne The Acts Of Caine Series, by Matthew Woodring Stover The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan American Gods, by Neil Gaiman Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman Anathem, by Neal Stephenson Animal Farm, by George Orwell The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers Armor, by John Steakley The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard Beggars In Spain, by Nancy Kress The Belgariad, by David Eddings The Black Company Series, by Glen Cook The Black Jewels Series, by Anne Bishop The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Bridge Of Birds, by Barry Hughart The Callahan’s Series, by Spider Robinson A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, by Robert Heinlein Cat’s Cradle , by Kurt Vonnegut The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov The Change Series, by S.M. Stirling Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke Children Of God, by Mary Doria Russell The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson The City And The City, by China Mieville City And The Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher The Coldfire Trilogy, by C.S. Friedman The Commonwealth Saga, by Peter F. Hamilton The Company Wars, by C.J. Cherryh The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard Contact, by Carl Sagan Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King The Day of Triffids, by John Wyndham Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison The Deed of Paksennarion Trilogy, by Elizabeth Moon The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester The Deverry Cycle, by Katharine Kerr Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson The Difference Engine, by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick Don’t Bite The Sun, by Tanith Lee Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey Dreamsnake, by Vonda McIntyre The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert Earth, by David Brin Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart The Eisenhorn Omnibus, by Dan Abnett The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card Eon, by Greg Bear The Eyes Of The Dragon, by Stephen King The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde The Faded Sun Trilogy, by C.J. Cherryh Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Series, by Fritz Leiber Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb The Female Man, by Joanna Russ The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy, by Guy Gavriel Kay A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge The First Law Trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys The Foreigner Series, by C.J. Cherryh The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley The Gaea Trilogy, by John Varley The Gap Series, by Stephen R. Donaldson The Gate To Women’s Country, by Sheri S. Tepper Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway The Gormenghast Triology, by Mervyn Peake Grass, by Sheri S. Tepper Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of The World, by Haruki Murakami The Heechee Saga, by Frederik Pohl The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams The Hollows Series, by Kim Harrison House Of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury The Incarnations Of Immortality Series, by Piers Anthony The Inheritance Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne Kindred, by Octavia Butler The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss Kraken, by China Mieville The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey Last Call, by Tim Powers The Last Coin, by James P. Blaylock The Last Herald Mage Trilogy, by Mercedes Lackey The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle The Lathe Of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore The Lensman Series, by E.E. Smith The Liaden Universe Series, by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller The Lies Of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch Lilith’s Brood, by Octavia Butler Little, Big, by John Crowley The Liveship Traders Trilogy, by Robin Hobb Lord Of Light, by Roger Zelazny The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien Lord Valentine’s Castle, by Robert Silverberg Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees The Magicians, by Lev Grossman The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson The Man In The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick The Manifold Trilogy, by Stephen Baxter The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury Memory And Dream, by Charles de Lint Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn Trilogy, by Tad Williams Mindkiller, by Spider Robinson The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein Mordant’s Need, by Stephen Donaldson More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle The Naked Sun, by Isaac Asimov The Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy, by Robert J. Sawyer Neuromancer, by William Gibson Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman The Newsflesh Triology, by Mira Grant The Night’s Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith Novels Of The Company, by Kage Baker The Number Of The Beast, by Robert Heinlein Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi On Basilisk Station, by David Weber The Once And Future King, by T.H. White Oryx And Crake, by Margaret Atwood The Otherland Tetralogy, by Tad Williams The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan Parable Of The Sower, by Octavia Butler The Passage, by Justin Cronin Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville The Prestige, by Christopher Priest The Pride Of Chanur, by C.J. Cherryh The Prince Of Nothing Trilogy, by R. Scott Bakker The Princess Bride, by William Goldman Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke Replay, by Ken Grimwood Revelation Space, by Alistair Reynolds Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist Ringworld, by Larry Niven The Riverworld Series, by Philip Jose Farmer The Road, by Cormac McCarthy The Saga Of Pliocene Exile, by Julian May The Saga Of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt Jr. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman The Sarantine Mosaic Series, by Guy Gavriel Kay A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick The Scar, by China Mieville The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks The Shattered Chain Trilogy, by Marion Zimmer Bradley The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien The Sirens Of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury Song for the Basilisk, by Patricia McKillip A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell The Stainless Steel Rat Books, by Harry Harrison Stand On Zanzibar, by John Brunner The Stand, by Stephen King Stardust, by Neil Gaiman The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein Stations Of The Tide, by Michael Swanwick Steel Beach, by John Varley Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein Sunshine, by Robin McKinley The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind The Swordspoint Trilogy, by Ellen Kushner The Tales of Alvin Maker, by Orson Scott Card The Temeraire Series, by Naomi Novik The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn Tigana , by Guy Gavriel Kay Time Enough For Love, by Robert Heinlein The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger To Say Nothing Of The Dog, by Connie Willis The Troy Trilogy, by David Gemmell Ubik, by Philip K. Dick The Uplift Saga, by David Brin The Valdemar Series, by Mercedes Lackey VALIS, by Philip K. Dick Venus On The Half-Shell, by Kilgore Trout/Philip Jose Farmer The Vlad Taltos Series, by Steven Brust The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold The Vurt Trilogy, by Jeff Noon The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells The Watchmen, by Alan Moore Watership Down, by Richard Adams The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger Wicked, by Gregory Maguire Wild Seed, by Octavia Butler The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi World War Z, by Max Brooks The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Edison The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, by Michael Chabon

Gridlinked by Neal Asher This book took me a few more pages than normal to get into. There are a lot of concepts in the book that are left up to the imagination of the reader. This includes things like the reason the main character is “Gridlinked” and who he is and what type of military he is. I felt like I’d missed the first book in the series. But because this is Asher’s first book, I’m not sure how that is. But I didn’t give up on the book, and eventually I got into it. Once I stopped worrying about the aspects of the story that I didn’t understand, it was a lot more fun. The main character, Ian Cormac, is a tough character - a lot like James Bond. Humans have given over most government to AIs and the AIs take better care of the universe than humans ever did. They control a network of “runcibles” that allow for instantaneous transport across the universe. When one of the runcibles explodes, taking out an entire planet, it appears to be sabotage and Ian Cormac is sent in to solve the problem and figure out who caused it. But he’s being chased by a wealthy psychopath who will do anything and kill anyone to get to Cormac. I wish this story were more like cyberpunk - but the main character has been linked for too long, so at the very beginning of the story he is removed from the network. So much for the title…. And the “Dragon” is a bit strange. I’m looking forward to more books by Asher. There are so few books of hard science fiction, and this one, while flawed, was good.

Below is a Science Fiction Book Club list of the most significant SF novels between 1953–2006. The meme part of this works like so: Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star next to the ones you love.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov *
3. Dune, Frank Herbert *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein *
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson *
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene WolfeShadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card *
23. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson *
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

The Tombs of Atuan After reading A Wizard of Earthsea I, of course, picked up The Tombs of Atuan, the second book in the series. Just like the first book, this book did not disappoint me. It has all of the excellent writing and storytelling that I expect of Ursula K. Le Guin. One of the best aspects of this book is the point-of-view. It’s not told from Ged’s viewpoint. In fact, he doesn’t show up in the book until the middle. It’s the point-of-view of Tenar or Arha (The Eaten One) and her job as the Priestess for the Nameless Ones. As the reader, we’ve already been given hints that Ged is going to show up in the Tombs at some point because he is destined to do something with the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, at least we’re told that in A Wizard of Earthsea, but he’s not the focal point. What makes this especially intriguing for me is that in typical fantasy, his would be the obvious focal point. After all, he’s the hero, he’s the one who saves the world, he’s the person with the super powers, and, worst of all, he’s the man. Instead, Le Guin takes us into the mind of Tenar who is, in some senses on the side of the enemy. She’s been raised from age 5 to be the Priestess of the Nameless Ones, the ones who are holding half of the ring. And yet we care about her. In fact, it wasn’t all that clear to me that the Nameless Ones were as horrible as Ged portrays them to her. That is the weakness of the story. The dreaded evil Nameless Ones aren’t really as evil as the other priestesses that Tenar lives with. They were creepy and scary in a way that the lightless tunnels and the labyrinth were not. In fact, one of Tenar’s friends wants to run away from those priestesses. So when Ged shows up and talks her into foresaking her gods and leaving with him, I don’t completely buy it. But it’s okay. The book is very interesting and fun and a new take on the Ged Sparrowhawk character after he’s found his adulthood but before he’s come into all of his powers. If you read A Wizard of Earthsea you should read The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore just for completeness sake. And again, you won’t be disappointed. I liked Tombs, I just wish that the character rationalizations were a bit stronger.

A Wizard of Earthsea I last read this book when I was around 10 years old, and I know I enjoyed it then. But when A Legend of Earthsea came out on the SciFi Channel, I decided I needed to read it again. I wasn’t disappointed.

Ursula K. LeGuin is not a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame because she writes bad books, and A Wizard of Earthsea is just what you would expect from a Hall-of-Famer. In fact, I would say that anyone who wants to know the Fantasy genre should read this entire series, but especially A Wizard of Earthsea. Some things you should note:

Crucible by Nancy Kress When I first picked up this book and read the inside cover, I thought “I haven’t ever read the first book in this series, so I don’t want to read this one yet.” But something made me pick it up anyway, probably that it was by Nancy Kress who’s Beggars in Spain impressed me deeply in the 90s. It turns out that I had read the first book in the series (Crossfire), but the blurb was so different from my memory of the story that it confused me. Crucible was a disturbing story for me, especially in the aftermath of the United States 2004 Presidential election. It is the story of a planet of farmers. They came to their new world in a colony ship with four approximately equal groups: Chinese, Arabs, Quakers, and whites. I’m not going to describe their colonization, that’s the subject of a different book and review, but suffice it to say that they lived in veritable peace and harmony for a long time. There was some relative wealth and relative poverty, but in general the society was fair and egalitarian and it seemed to work. Then the spaceship, The Crucible, arrived from earth. It was carrying, ostensibly, a group of scientists and military who wanted to study the first non-human intelligence that had ever been found and that shared the planet with the colonists. But it turned out to contain a lot more than that. What was disturbing to me was the similarities I saw between the leader of that ship and the elected leaders of the United States. One in particular fell in love with the planet Greentrees, and so did all in his power to protect her. This amounted to declaring martial law, because there was a possibility that the aliens could come back to the planet and destroy all the humans. Of course, this hadn’t happened in decades, but he was able, by increments to convince the populace that what he was proposing was not only necessary, but right and desirable. And the population went along with him and, in general, loved him for it. I’m not going to spoil the end for you, but let me just say that the parallels between the U.S. right now and this book were scary to me. And I hope that the parallels stop short of how Kress ended her story. This is a very strong scifi story with lots of twists and turns. There are aliens and space battles, and even sentient plants. But in the end it is really a story with a commentary about life as we live it today. And as a hint, don’t read the inside cover blurb. While it is essentially accurate, it is very misleading about the true tone of this book.

Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson I don’t generally like books that don’t have clear cut endings. Bad guy is caught, white hats save the day, etc. Forty Signs of Rain isn’t like that. In a way, the white hats fail and the bad guy is mother nature taking back what she gave. It’s not really a story of hope. But then again, it could be. In this election year, I find myself thinking a lot about politics and how we govern ourselves. Clearly, Mr. Robinson had that in mind with this book. He very blatantly discusses the politics of Washington D.C. and the NSF and is not terribly impressed. And as we vote ourselves more bread and circuses, I have to say I don’t particularly blame him. But this isn’t a political novel, not really. It’s set just a few years in the future (“Phone, call Roy” is the most technological advance you see - and that’s around now) and global warming has taken a turn for the worse. The arctic ice pack has broken up and the gulf stream may have stalled causing, possibly, rapid climactic change. This was a fascinating look at the way that politics and science collide. And while it is a disaster novel, it also has suggestions for what we can do about it. I found the references to game theory and “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” interesting, but Frank, the character who brought them up spent 3/4ths of the story a flat, boring character who was only interested in analyzing life rather than living it. Luckily, Frank was not the only character. Charlie, the work-at-home dad who was the environmental adviser for a member of Congress, was by-far, my favorite character. His discussions with his toddler son Joe were humorous and he had very strong beliefs that he was happy to expound upon. His wife, Anna, works at the NSF and is just a little less flat than her co-worker Frank. Then there’s Leo back in California, who seemed to be introduced mostly as a foil to all the rain in Washington, D.C. But we don’t read SciFi for characterizations either. The science is interesting and inventive, the moral is not too heavy-handed, and the destruction is ultimately quite satisfying. This book is not Robinson’s best, but it’s a fun read with some interesting twists and turns throughout. If you find yourself feeling preached at, that’s probably a common feeling, but Robinson didn’t let the preaching get in the way of showcasing how science and government collide.

For Us, the Living by Robert A. Heinlein Heinlein is one of my favorite authors. He has been for years. I would read and re-read his books no matter where I was and always found something to love, whether it was Pixel the cat or the doors that dialate or Friday killing a man in the first paragraph of her book. So, when I saw For Us, the Living available years after his death, I knew I had to buy it. Perhaps Virginia Heinlein had found an old manuscript or maybe this was an unpublished work from his early years. Whatever, I had to have it. If you are a true Heinlein fan, you will recognize many of the subjects that he would cover later in his books and stories like “The Roads Must Roll”, Time Enough for Love, and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and so on. What’s interesting to me is that this book was written before any of them, and before his “juveniles” and other stories. He wasn’t making up the ideas he had about money and society, in fact his ideas and discussion about economy and socialism are based on Social Credit, an economic theory. It’s clear why this book was banned from being published, as it’s very rough. In many spots, Heinlein sounds more like he’s preaching than he sounds like he’s telling a story. But even with that it becomes clear that he’s got a lot to tell in this story. And the fact that many of his later stories seem to come from this book is not surprising, as there’s a lot here. If you’re a Heinlein fan, you should read this book.

Broken Angels by Richard Morgan After I finished Altered Carbon I wanted to read every book I could find by Richard Morgan. While Broken Angels is not the gripping story that Altered Carbon was, it was still interesting and enjoyable, and true Science Fiction, which there seems to be a lack of in US bookstores these days. This is the continuing story of Takeshi Kovacs, a mercenary who can change bodies, or sleeves, when his current sleeve is too damaged. His mind and memories are stored in a computer to be re-downloaded. But this story is less about that, than it is about corporations and how they manipulate people. Kovacs joins a group of archaeologists who have possibly found the ultimate prize that will make any government all-powerful or any corporation who can control it as rich as they wanted to be. But power corrupts, as they say, and ultimate power… But that would be giving things away. This is a surprising book. I thought I had the whole book figured out and then right near the end Morgan changes the rules one final time. It was fun and interesting. But if you’re looking for the clarity and diamond-hardness that Altered Carbon brought, then you should look again. This is not a book so much about science as it is about how people use those discoveries, for good or ill. But it’s set in a war-zone and Kovacs is a mercenary, so expect action and excitement throughout the book. I read it in about 2 days and then turned around and read it again as there is so much to miss the first time through.

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

This is possibly the best pure Science Fiction book I’ve read in a long time. One of my big frustrations at U.S. bookstores right now is the massive preponderance of The Lord of the Rings clones. And if I can avoid those, I’m looking at Harry Potter clones. So, when I had the chance to go to a bookstore in London, I found Altered Carbon a welcome relief.

A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

I first read A Fistful of Sky about two years ago, when it first came out. But they fooled me with the new cover and so I bought and read it again. Luckily, there is nothing to complain about in reading it again, it’s a fun story with a lot to enjoy.

This is the story of Gypsum, middle child in a family of witches who has not come into her powers. By the time she’s 20, everyone assumes that she doesn’t have any powers, and she becomes something of the Cinderella in her household. Because she doesn’t have powers, her siblings (and even her mother sometimes) boss her around and use magic to force her to do what they want her to do.

Survival by Julie Czerneda
There aren’t a lot of SciFi books about biology. So it’s interesting to read one. I first found Czerneda with her book A Thousand Words for Stranger. I was hooked. So of course, when I saw Survival I knew I had to read it. In this story, Mac is a biologist studying salmon in a wilderness preserve in the Pacific Northwest. She is a very insular person, has never been off-world, and has never wanted to. She just wants to study her salmon and be left alone. But she’s not left alone. Instead, she’s dragged into an interstellar war that’s been going on since before Earth knew we were not alone in the universe. The concepts and ideas come thick and fast, as you may expect from better science fiction. And since Czerneda is herself a biologist, she brings the personalities of the scientists in the story to life in a way that only someone who works with them would know. As with all of her stories the aliens in this story are very well thought-out. That makes the whole thing that much more interesting. But unlike her earlier stories, the reason I enjoyed this one so much was because of her human characters. Mac herself is very fun and believable, and the other humans she meets are as well thought out as the aliens. I enjoyed this book so much that when it turned out that my copy was missing something like 30 pages, I didn’t want to stop reading. So I just skipped ahead and kept reading in the car while we headed back to the bookstore to get a more complete copy. I missed some crucial parts, but nothing I couldn’t figure out and the rest of the book was worth it.

Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff This book was not, by any means, a difficult book to read. It took about 2 days (with time off for working) and was fun. However, often throughout the book I got the sense that I was missing something. I thought I had read the other books about these characters, but the main character, Tony Foster, wasn’t familiar to me. Normally, it wouldn’t bother me at all, but there were a lot of references throughout the book to other stories that I wasn’t familiar with. This is the story of Tony Foster, protege of Henry Fitzroy, vampire detective. But really, Henry was nothing more than the hired muscle. Instead, the main action was played by Arra, a reluctant wizard, and Tony, a young production assistant for a third- (no second-) rate production company. When shadows start moving by themselves, Tony is the only one to notice. And when they start killing people, he steps up to the plate to save the day. Why is it that most urban fantasy always seems to be little more than mind-candy? This book is very enjoyable, a fun read, and quick, but there isn’t much substance. Guessing what happens isn’t terribly difficult, and even the quasi- “twist” isn’t all that twisted. The only real morals I got out of this book were that Vampire straight-to-syndication TV shows are not generally very good, most actors are pompous idiots, except for the misunderstood co-star who is “a better actor than anyone gave him credit for”. I spent long segments of the book speculating if Lee was meant to be Spike (from Angel) and wondering if there were a Vampire Slayer in the background somewhere. If you’re looking for something deep, you should keep moving, but if you’re looking for a fun read that is easy on the mind and a good romp, then Ms. Huff delivers the goods. I enjoyed this book, but probably won’t be reading it again any time soon.

Zulu Heart by Steven Barnes Book two in the series, this is a second look into an America where Africa conquered the world, and enslaved the whites. I don’t know enough about African culture to know how much of what I know and what I read is true and how much is just stereotyping. But that didn’t deaden my enjoyment of this story. In this episode, Kai has grown up a little more and has to deal with the death of his uncle, father, and older brother. Aidan has his freedom and has built a home for himself and his family along with a number of other freedmen. But in order to stop a war, Aidan has to go back into slavery to help his childhood friend Kai. That was what I struggled with the most in this book. Why would Aidan, even for the love of a childhood friend, be willing to go back into slavery? Many other characters asked him the same question, often many times. I, along with them was not totally convinced by the answer he gave. A lot of the book felt like it was re-running episodes in US history, only with the skin color changed of the primary participants. It got me very interested in both African history and history from the Civil War era. But the real strength of this book is the way I was sucked into thinking about the characters. After the first few pages, I never gave a thought to the color of the skins and instead was cheering and dismayed for everyone. This is a book that will make anyone take a long look at the US culture and how it was built on slavery and really start questioning it.

The Morgaine Saga by C. J. Cherryh DANG! That’s all I can really say. This book was three books in one, but it took me about as long as it takes me to read like 6 or 8 books. It was very slow reading. It follows a man who has indentured himself to a half-elven woman (okay I’m embellishing, but that’s what she felt like) who’s only goal in life is to close the gates to Elfland in all the worlds she can. Granted, it’s set as SF (so Elfland is incorrect), but her race are taller than humans, paler of skin, wield what appears to be magic, and appear through a portal into worlds of men. What I noticed was that as the main character began to understand his liege more the books became more understandable. It was a slow and often painful process, but by the end I felt like I almost knew what was going on. It’s sad, I think I should have just quit reading it, as it was a lot to comprehend while also studying Negotiations and International Management. But I stuck it out and finally finished it on Monday night.