Tony’s Comments (group member since Dec 19, 2018)

Tony’s comments from the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

I have finished The Difference Engine. I had been looking forward to it, but it was too long and ultimately a bit disappointing. It does, however, fill the Steampunk slot in my Bingo.

Humble Bundle has just listed a bundle of Cory Doctorow books.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/co...

18 books for what looks to be about $20 USD (I'm not certain of the price, as the site lists the price for me in AUD - $27.68, which I think is about $20 USD.

I have finished The Boys, Vol. 8: Highland Laddie, which is the second mini-series associated with the main title. This series tells Hughie's story after the breakup with Annie.

Next up is The Boys, Vol. 9: The Big Ride

I saw that as well. It has pushed it up my TBR list so that I can read it before I watch the show.

After a quick break from The Boys to read the Star Trek / Planet of the Apes crossover, I have returned to my readthrough of The Boys with The Boys, Vol. 8: Highland Laddie

I have finished reading Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive which was an interesting, but not an obvious, idea for a crossover. The artwork was nice and the authors captured the characters well (from both franchises) but the story was disjointed. A bit disappointing, and I would recommend it only to hardcore fans of either (or both) universes.

Andrea wrote: "Mary wrote: "A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman"

What a coincidence, in The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, due t..."

Oddly enough, The Difference Engine, which I'm currently reading, has the United States, the Confederate States, and the independent republics of Texas and California. And it's set in 1855, so well before the Civil War.

Yeah, there's not a lot of good triumphing in the Elric stories - it's pretty hard to be a hero when your sword sucks the souls of its victims. Pretty much all of Moorcock's protagonists are flawed, often very flawed, heroes.

Robin wrote: "He would turn up at Hawkwind gigs out of the blue and read poetry, or an extract from his latest work in progress while the band improvised around him."

Moorcock was quite well known for his collaborations with Hawkwind - it was one of the things that got me interested in the band. They did a whole concert show together called "The Chronicles of the Black Sword" - I have a copy on VHS, but I have no idea what sort of condition the tape would be in - I haven't played it for ages.

Michael Moorcock was one of my must read authors during my teenage years (the 70s) and I read all the Eternal Champion books I could find. I think for most people, Elric was their favourite Moorcock character - certainly the best known. I enjoyed the Elric stories, but I preferred the Hawkmoon and Corum stories. Jerry Cornelius, not so much 😁

Ela wrote: "Currently reading Ringworld by Larry Niven"

A genuine classic of SF.

Very sad news, but at least it seems he was happy with his life.

I have started The Difference Engine and I'm continuing to read The Boys, now up to The Boys, Volume 7: The Innocents.

I have finished The Ottoman Secret, which I had originally thought to use as the alternate history in my Bingo, but it also has time travel, so I will fill that slot instead. I found it a very enjoyable book, and it (as good sci-fi should do) presented several questions about the state of the world.

NekroRider wrote: "I have also been considering reading his Galactic Empire books. I think the only thing that makes me hesitant is I often hear they aren't particularly good. But I'm also kind of curious even just for lore reasons, to be honest."

All three were written before the Robot books or the Foundation books, I believe. I don't think they're brilliant, but they are all good examples of both early Asimov, and 1950s science fiction.

NekroRider wrote: "I was originally going to wait to dive into Foundation but with all the happenings in these last two Robot books, I'm going to commit to grabbing Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation sooner rather than later."

It's not essential - as they were kind of shoehorned in later - but Asimov's Galactic Empire books do cover the period between the Robot series and the Foundation series, and the later Foundation books (those written after the first trilogy) strengthen that tie-in.

I am continuing my read-through of The Boys with The Boys, Volume 6: The Self-Preservation Society

I have found the same with the book I am currently reading - The Ottoman Secret. It is an alternate history, but it also has a time-travelling character, and it is written by an author I haven't read before. I am likely to use it for the Time Travel Bingo slot, as I have several other Alt History books. Although I do have a number of Doctor Who novels I could use for Time Travel.

With only a couple of hours left in January (in east coast Australia anyway), I finished another of the reprint collections of The Boys comic series. This was volume 5, which reprints the Herogasm mini-series, which is even more NSFW than the regular comic

Andrea wrote: "Finished reading the Forever Knight book, ah, that was fun :) I will be starting another OpenLibrary book soon, but that will wait till next weekend."

Is that the book that the TV series from the 90s was based on?

"well I don't want to give away more than we already have"

Hehe, I'm not sure how much we should worry about spoilers on a 50+ year old book 😄

Georgann wrote: "I also just read The Andromeda Evolution! I really liked it and loved the ending!!"

The ending of The Andromeda Strain did kind of just fizzle out, whereas The Andromeda Evolution was more eventful - and did leave it open for another sequel if Crichton's estate decides to licence any continuation of the story.