Nancy E. Shaffer's Blog, page 2

The Girl Who Got A New Author To Tell Her Story

There was reason to be skeptical. Steig Larssen was a card-carrying feminist who could make his point about violence against women without dropping anvils and write an unforgettable, complex female lead while still having a non-misogynist-pig ...

Heaven’s River

This book had a lot of interesting developments in it, especially in regards to the divergence of the Bobs into separate subcultures over time, and philosophical questions about identity. I also was intrigued by the fresh take on the O’Neil Cylinder concept and the fashionable BDO of the hour in sci-fi stories these days, the Matrioshka brain.

However, a lot of time was spent mucking about in the Ringworld O’Neil Cylinder just traveling f...

Middle-class in the age of COVID19

There has been a lot of talk lately about White privilege and its blinders, but I’d like to talk about Middle class privilege. In mid-March, the CEO of my employer sent home all employees not already working remotely. At the time, I found the move ridiculous and a little paranoid. I was barely following the COVID19 news. I barely follow the news. The news gives me anxiety at worst and bores me at best. And most of the time, I can do that without consequence—ignore it.

After we all got set up at ...

On Pluto

4 of 5 stars

I am a 100% Pluto “demotion” supporter. The reclassification of Pluto was based on a new understanding of how the solar system real estate is divided up; it has little to do with the size of Pluto or the fact that it hasn’t “dominated the mass in its orbit.”

I get why children and former children want to cling to Pluto is a planet. It was the smallest planet and kids could relate to it....

Star Maker

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a stunning tour-de-force that I took on and was half way through before I realized HOW dated it was. I figured it was written in the mid-1960’s, given the level of knowledge the author possessed about the possibilities of the nature of alien life and the different species of astronomical objects he describes. I was staggered to find out it was published in 1937.

Does it read a little dated? Sure. The language is flowery and peppered...

Red and Green

Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s said that you can know a lot about a few things, or a little about a lot of things. Well, Kim Stanley Robinson is one of those rare people who knows A LOT about a lot of things. He can shift from any science to engineering to politics to deep psychology to philosophy in a few sentences. And string words together like poetry. IMO, Red Mars is a work of astonishing genius. Probably there are many readers out there who believe this...

The discipline of writing not-“hard science fiction”

Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first time I read this, I found the title disappointingly misleading. There was very little exploration or “stars uncharted.”

I just got done re-reading in preparation for the next book in the series. Once expectations can be set aside, the experience is very different. I have been reading a LOT of so-called “hard science fiction” in the interim between now and the previous time I read this book, and was struck this time by how much...

Stars!

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hesitated to read this book because it alone of all its genre popping up in my recommendations had over 20,000 5-star ratings–this for a book published in 2018–when most did well to hit the three figures. It all seemed a little suspicious to me, and that put me off. Now that I’ve read it, I’m still suspicious. It was an entertaining enough book, as these things go, but hardly a five-star jaw-dropper. It leaves me wondering how much it...

How hard sci-fi fails

Return to Enceladus: Hard Science Fiction by Brandon Q. Morris
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Boy, did this book suck. I am wary now of any writer who claims to be writing “hard science fiction,” especially someone who feels compelled to put that in the title of their novel. It usually means they did their homework in regards to physics, chemistry, and astronomy, and everything else is FAIL. Their story world and characters show they have little grasp of sociology and psychology, their biology...

911

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Garrett M. Graff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book. Despite the title, it shows a broad range of points of view of the events of 9/11–not just Air Force One, but workers in the twin towers and in the Pentagon, along with first responders, families of those who survived and those who didn’t, and airline employees and families of the plane passenger sand crew who got a glimpse of what what going on inside the...