SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading in 2018?
Anthony wrote: "Where would I find the past years’ archived discussions?"They're way down at the bottom, grouped by year.
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No, but since I have to find things more often, I have some tr..."
You mean the "see what others are saying?"
One of the delightful glitches of GR is that it likes to un-link books in our threads for reasons I can't glean, meaning it won't tie back to discussions we've had on the book. I usually start with either Google or the "search discussion posts" feature, and then tell it I only want it to look in titles of the thread, not all posts.
Otherwise, yeah, keep scrolling, we archive by year.
Oh right, I wasn't paying attention, just assuming Anthony meant the Discussions link at the top right of each page. Didn't read properly, I blame the flu!Right now the search box does work, but going into the yearly folders is an option for desperate times.
Anna wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane today and am enjoying it very much in the early going. Something struck me as being a bit of plagiarism, though"The book..."
Thank you for these, Anna! Gathering up my own thoughts about the book along the reading process; it's great to get to see what others have thought of it.
I finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane today and liked but didn’t love it. It’s so up my alley in so many ways but just didn’t move me in the way that I thought it could or should. On to some short fiction before taking on our official monthly reads, both of which I’m *very* much looking forward to.
So in the huge omnibus anthology The Big Book of Science Fiction (aptly named) there’s a short story I read tonight by the famous civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois that was incredibly powerful. Did anyone know that he apparently wrote quite a lot of speculative fiction? The story in question, “The Comet,” was written in 1920 and feels all too relevant today.
I did know, but only because of an amazing essay Nisi Shawl wrote a couple years ago on the history of black sci-fi. I can't find the original essay anymore, but in looking I discovered that Tor.com is publishing a series of her essays about the books/stories she mentioned, including "The Comet." Here's the essay on "The Comet" and here's the entire collection of essays. It looks like there should be a new one in the next few days. Another story that was included is The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany, which I recently finished, and I found her reflections really interesting and illuminating.
Anyway, lots of good reading suggestions - Midnight Robber is on the list as well.
Anthony wrote: "So in the huge omnibus anthology The Big Book of Science Fiction (aptly named) there’s a short story I read tonight by the famous civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois..."Wow, I had no idea. I have a degree in Sociology, and Du Bois was discussed in my classes many times. He was a very smart man and a lot of his ideas were still relevant at the time I read them 40 to 60 years later.
I still think about some of his quotes and works I've read, so I would definitely love to read some fiction by him. Do you know if he did only short stories, or did he have novels too?
Anthony wrote: "Did anyone know that he apparently wrote quite a lot of speculative fiction?."Yes! That's one of the many, many things I love about Du Bois. Another sci-fi story of his, "The Princess Steel," was recently rediscovered. It brings in his Marxism to the foreground even more than "The Comet" does.
Anthony wrote: "So in the huge omnibus anthology The Big Book of Science Fiction (aptly named) there’s a short story I read tonight by the famous civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois..."That story was also in Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, which came out about 20 years ago. I want to say it was the second or third oldest story in the collection.
@Kaa thanks so much for linking to that essay, I found it very invigorating to read a full-throated, vigorous celebration and exploration of this important work. @Bobby I’m not sure, but I don’t think he had any SFF novels in his oeuvre. Please someone correct me if I’m wrong.
@Travis where might I find that story?
Anthony wrote: "@Travis where might I find that story? "I'm not sure it's been reprinted anywhere yet except for in PMLA (Vol. 130, No. 3). (It's old enough to be public domain, though, so I'm not sure why they're keeping it behind the paywall.)
Travis wrote: "Anthony wrote: "@Travis where might I find that story? "I'm not sure it's been reprinted anywhere yet except for in PMLA (Vol. 130, No. 3). (It's old enough to be public domain, though, so I'm no..."
Got it, thanks!
Started reading The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. About 12% in. The stories are interesting so far. I like the first one. Reminded me a bit of Space Opera.
@WEB Dubois: I did not know Dubois wrote fantasy fiction, Anthony.
Thank you for sharing that.
ALLEN wrote: "I did not know that, Anthony. Thank you for sharing it."You’re very welcome. It’s a spectacular piece.
YouKneeK wrote: "Really most of the difficulties I’m having with it are more format-based than anything else. I’m not a very visual person, which is one reason why I’ve never bothered to try graphic novels before. I was confused as heck for the first few page."Always behind on the digests. Here's a response to a post from several days ago...
As somebody who's been reading comics since they could read--and, honestly, if not for trying hard not to be an ignoramus who reads nothing but comics, would likely be an ignoramus who reads nothing but comics--I love posts from folks who are new to them, like YouKneeK's, here.
For those who have any interest in comics at all, I suggest Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. It had new things to teach even this decades-long comics reader!
ETA oh and if called on to recommend a GN I'd say the first volume of Rat Queens. It's hard to say how easy it is to read "as a comic" but the characters are distinctive enough from each other that they probably wouldn't be confused. It's a bratty, funny, very adult take on the typical fantasy/D&D party.
Just finished After the Golden Age and it was really good. Right up my alley as a lover of superhero fiction. I had a couple nitpicks here and there, but for the most part it was a fun read with a protagonist who I almost instantly cared about.I had just enough time to read the prologue to Redshirts and I like the humor so far.
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I just read Rat Queens! I was a liiiittle harder to follow than webcomic-based GNs, like Nimona, but not prohibitive at all. Way easier than Watchmen, which I started years ago, wilted under, and gave up. Hoping to build up my confidence with a few other good series before trying again!
Beth wrote: "For those who have any interest in comics at all, I suggest Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art."Thanks Beth! I will definitely be checking this out. Ever since I read The Sandman Companion I've been interested in the many layers of storytelling a graphic novel can tell.
Beth wrote: "ETA oh and if called on to recommend a GN I'd say the first volume of Rat Queens."Thank you Beth for the recommendations!
I don’t normally post here about what I’ve read in such a timely manner but, since I’m posting anyway, I might as well take this time to “announce” that I did finish Watchmen the other day. My excessively long review is here.
I started A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan on Wednesday evening. I’m a little under halfway through and so far I’m really enjoying it.
I just read “Press Enter,” The Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella by John Varley, as my last piece of (long) short fiction before diving into The Calculating Stars. I thought it was very well written, and an interesting glimpse into some of the concerns that were percolating in the early days of computer networks. His writing was strong and subtle, and subtlety went a long way for me in a story that involved a police investigation and nefarious, shadowy people. The writing was so strong, especially regarding the very believable main characters, that it made me wonder whether anyone around here had read any of his novels. He’s not on our bookshelf, so maybe he could be a candidate for a poll of “neglected” authors (if that will indeed be a poll), or some other poll that comes up?
I was going to start The Calculating Stars or Artificial Condition but ended up picking Ancillary Justice off my shelves as I was heading to bed last night. The others are on my iPad and I decided I wanted to read a paperback because of my dislike of screens and the fact that they exhaust me and I’ve been reading a lot from my iPad recently and not making a dent in my real books I’ve bought. I’m 107 pages in and it’s definitely holding my attention.
YouKneeK wrote: "I started A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan on Wednesday evening. I’m a little under halfway through and so far I’m really enjoying it. "That series gets better as it goes, too.
Anthony wrote: "I just read “Press Enter,” The Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella by John Varley, as my last piece of (long) short fiction before diving into The Calculating Stars. I t..."It’s hard to find someone better than Varley. Sometimes his older stories are unintentionally hilarious now (punch card programmers on the moon!) but so much of what he wrote was amazingly prescient. And every story is top shelf in terms of writing.
I got his The Persistence of Vision collection (a steal at only $3.99) but are there any novels you’d recommend? I gather the Gaea trilogy is a bit love-it-or-hate-it.
Anthony wrote: "I got his The Persistence of Vision collection (a steal at only $3.99) but are there any novels you’d recommend? I gather the Gaea trilogy is a bit love-it-or-hate-it."Steel Beach and The Golden Globe are him at his best. Peak Varley. The opening line for Steel Beach is one of the greatest of all time: “In five years the penis will be obsolete.”
Mammoth is Varley basically saying, “Hey look, I can do fun time travel adventure, too!” With one hand tied behind his back just for funsies.
Trike wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I got his The Persistence of Vision collection (a steal at only $3.99) but are there any novels you’d recommend? I gather the Gaea trilogy is a bit love-it-or-hate-it...."I see that The Ophiuchi Hotline precedes Steel Beach in a series. Are they not linked?
Imagine a cocktail of Sanderson and Rothfuss' magic systems and top it up with some Brent Weeks style badassery and voila, you get Foundryside !!!Quite a different tone from The Divine Cities, lets see whether Bennett manages to pull it off.
@anthony you are in for a treat with Varley’s Persistence of Vision. The only author who I think approaches Barley in terms of the sheer volume and quality of startling ideas in his short fiction is P.K. Dick.Sadly, in both cases their longer fiction doesn’t enthrall as effectively. I’m not sure why. There’s no Varley book I would say is a classic but the Demon-Titan-Wizard is at least competent. Not sure I can say the same about his “Red Thunder” series, though to be fair, it is YA.
I haven’t read STEEL BEACH so maybe I missed his magnum opus but I doubt it.
All that being said, his short fiction is INCREDIBLE.
Trike wrote: "That series gets better as it goes, too."[Re: A Natural History of Dragons] That’s great to hear; I haven’t seen many comments about the series past the first book. I plan to keep reading straight through until I either don’t enjoy it any more or reach the end.
I found the audiobook of Nimona on Storytel (Nordic subscription service), and I had to try it out. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's kind of fun. I can't imagine listening to it without having (read or on hand) the graphic novel, but it's a fun way to do yet another Nimona reread!
Well Then Youkneek - I’ll add that I really enjoyed the series and it does keep getting better - and such a nice change - a scientific/nature writing style fantasy.
Thanks, Rachel! I just finished the first book a few minutes ago and really enjoyed it. I’m even more excited now to jump straight into the second book. :)
I stepped away from science fiction for the month. I read a few Great American Read books, an IRL book club book, and a horror novel.I read two relevant (and highly enjoyable) books in August:
The Graveyard Book, Gaiman's reimagining of The Jungle Book in a dark fantasy setting.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Ruins, a horror novel set in the Mexican jungle with dangerous plants and great psychological tension.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Anthony wrote: "I see that The Ophiuchi Hotline precedes Steel Beach in a series. Are they not linked? "They’re sort of set in the same universe. It’s a future where humanity has been kicked off of Earth by super-powerful aliens and have been forced to colonize the rest of the solar system. It’s called The Eight Worlds universe. Varley has changed some things over time, so they’re quasi-linked.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight...
Trike wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I see that The Ophiuchi Hotline precedes Steel Beach in a series. Are they not linked? "They’re sort of set in the same universe. It’s a future where humanity has been kicked off ..."
But would you not recommend starting with it?
Anthony wrote: "Trike wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I see that The Ophiuchi Hotline precedes Steel Beach in a series. Are they not linked? "They’re sort of set in the same universe. It’s a future where humanity has be..
But would you not recommend starting with it?."
It’s not necessary because it’s not a direct precursor, but sure. It’s been 40 years since I read it but I still recall quite a few details, which tells me it was really good. But then pretty much all Varley is good.
The Eight Worlds are like Niven’s Known Space, Banks’ Culture or Chambers’ Wayfarers series — they’re all set in the same fictional future but most of them are standalone stories. Some characters make repeat appearances, but there’s no strict sequence of events.
I finished Home by Nightfall by Charles Finch yesterday. I've also been reading Friends in High Places by Donna Leon and listening to The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Trike wrote: "Anthony wrote: "Trike wrote: "Anthony wrote: "I see that The Ophiuchi Hotline precedes Steel Beach in a series. Are they not linked? "They’re sort of set in the same universe. It’s a future where..."
Thank so much for your insight, it’s very helpful.
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Just finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I did enjoy it heaps. There was a lot of drinking tea and Worrying about wearing gloves in it though.....
I finished Children of Time and mostly liked it. At times I felt it got bogged down but overall it was a strong read.I'm listening to Paradox Bound and REALLY enjoying it! It's read by Ray Porter who did a brilliant job with the We Are Bob series.
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Karen, glad you're finding things to enjoy and maybe have moved on to a better track!
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I then read Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery as a palate cleanser, and it was perfect for my mood. Just pure fun.
Finished The Poppy War and reviewed it, but I'll hold commenting for the spoiler thread, just in case!
Reading Ammonite as part of a buddy read and enjoying it quite a bit but I am feeling a few things that disorient me. Still have a ways to go, excited to see what happens next. It's another space book with mythology! I keep getting presents this year!
Starting our other monthly selection today and really looking forward to it after reading The Lady Astronaut of Mars.
Jacqueline wrote: "Just finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I did enjoy it heaps. There was a lot of drinking tea and Worrying about wearing gloves in it though....."It’s very reminiscent of the mannered society in The Age of Innocence.
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SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
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No, but since I have to find things more often, I have some tricks up my sl..."
Actually, I clicked on the discussions link from within the group’s bookshelf, and came up with no results. I thought for sure that would be a safe way to do so.
Where would I find the past years’ archived discussions?