SF Masterworks (2010- series) #38:, I have been mightily unimpressed with the women writers featured by SF Masterworks, until this piece of wonderfulnSF Masterworks (2010- series) #38:, I have been mightily unimpressed with the women writers featured by SF Masterworks, until this piece of wonderfulness! Time travel is the norm, but only to the safer centuries; when Kivrin Engle elects to be a pioneer in the 14th Century she gets caught up in the Black Death Plague... no problem right? Wrong. In the present an unknown mysterious virus has crippled Oxford and the team need to call her back. Time is running out... for everyone! [image] Kivin's time in the Fourteenth Century is recorded in her own personal Doomsday Book, and this is where the book excels, a real lot at the smelly, unclean, barbaric Fourteenth Century from a modern perspective. Both timelines are pretty compelling and well built by Willis. First published in 1992, decades before the Coronavirus Pandemic. This reality has so much on offer with realistic portrayals of times past, so there's no question that I must read more of Willis' work. A hearty and well deserved 8 out of 12, Four Stars from me, for this one, I want some more! [image] 2024 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #79: A satirical look a soviet research and development as seen through the tale of an outsider who is drawn in SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #79: A satirical look a soviet research and development as seen through the tale of an outsider who is drawn in to the fictionalised mysterious world of the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy where research into magic is a real thing! As ever with a Strugatsky brothers' book I just couldn't get into it, and found it aimless and repetitive. 2 out of 12, Two Star read. [image] 2023 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010- series) #48: In 2100 it has been decades since the discovery of a parallel universe that led to sustainable, clean, 'free' enerSF Masterworks (2010- series) #48: In 2100 it has been decades since the discovery of a parallel universe that led to sustainable, clean, 'free' energy for both realities. An outlier scientist discovery that if the Electron Pump technology continues to be used it will lead to an extinction event, but nobody believes because he can't provide any scientific proof! [image] Asimov breaks this book into three chronologically overlapping parts; the first part on Earth follows the rogue scientist trying to get buy-in to his theory; the second half is in the parallel universe which is what made this book an Hugo Award winner 1972, Locus Award winner 1973 and Nebula Award winner 1973, as he goes completely left-field with his non-humanoid alien race with so much detail, like family make-ups, reproduction, child development, classes/levels and all this while keeping up the main story about the energy tech. The final part set on the Moon is another masterpiece as we not only get an admirable hard-science approach to identifying and possible solving the issue, we get all the dynamics of a Lunar community that lives in one sixth of Earth's gravity and is slowly becoming a human offshoot and the politicking that comes out of this. Asimov's favourite book, was what he said of this one. Read it and enjoy peak Twentieth Century sci-fi, a well deserved Masterwork edition. Four Star, 8 out of 12 read. [image] 2023 read ...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #20: A speculative fiction treat first published in a sense shattering 1944! Sirius, thanks to extensive experimSF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #20: A speculative fiction treat first published in a sense shattering 1944! Sirius, thanks to extensive experimenting with biochemistry and breeding, is essentially a dog with the intelligence of a human being. Narrated by a romantic interest of the woman that Sirius was raised with like a foster-brother, but even closer(!), this is Sirius's life story. Although on the face of things the concept felt like an American B movie from the 190s, what makes this book standout is not only how unbelievably well it has aged, but how Stapledon really envisions how a dog with an human intellect would not only feel and do, but struggle with the physical limits put upon him from both his physical make-up and humanity's uncomfortableness with his existence. Good read! 7.5 out of 12. [image] 2022 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010- series) #100: Towards the end of the 21st century humankind has sort of run adrift as most of its greatest minds, smartest peoplSF Masterworks (2010- series) #100: Towards the end of the 21st century humankind has sort of run adrift as most of its greatest minds, smartest people and anyone looking for adventure, are off and away… travelling in time! Artist Edward Bush returns after almost three years of time travelling to find democracy has been replaced with a authoritarian regime (in the UK) and thence is entrusted to return to time travelling in a mission to assassinate the primary scientific foe of the regime. Being an artist though, Bush has a few questions... [image] In the UK this book was called An Age. Despite being one of the greatest and most conceivable ideas of how time travel could work that I've ever read, I feel adding in a dystopia and indeed an entirely new way of looking at humankind's existence, may show off Aldiss's intelligence and creativity, but at the expense of story? And don't get me started on the cop-out / ambiguous ending! A strong 3.5 Stars, 5 out of 12 for this Masterwork :) [image] 2022 read...more
SF Masterworks 39 - a full reworking of his first novella/novel Against the Fall of Night, is an astounding piece of future fiction reality building sSF Masterworks 39 - a full reworking of his first novella/novel Against the Fall of Night, is an astounding piece of future fiction reality building set aeons in the future where man has conquered and then lost space and resides in a massive automated city, where people essentially live forever with every need and want at hand. So why just Two Stars from me? Clarke's later great work was astounding because it had reality building + tension and/or mystery bound issue that needed to be resolved; in this we have an outlier resident of the City looking to get outside of the City and ultimately try and find out the truth about what lies outside The City and the Stars and how mankind came to rest there. The world building was astounding, the story was not worthy of it! 5 out of 12, Two Star read. [image] 2022 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010- series) #9: A hugely overpopulated human race is fully focused on the Gateway, an alien (a race that is now apparently extinct)SF Masterworks (2010- series) #9: A hugely overpopulated human race is fully focused on the Gateway, an alien (a race that is now apparently extinct) spaceport with 1,000s of interstellar space craft, however they have no idea how they work, and no idea where they are programmed to go; they could go anywhere from an Earth-like planet to the middle of black hole! Now super wealthy Robinette in therapy recounts his time at the Gateway. [image] The basic concept around the Gateway is so compelling, in regards to 'prospectors' (Robin is one) having to pay for board, air, water etc. and the only real way of earning money is to get in one of the interstellar aircraft and see where it goes, and get rewarded for any data (or artefacts) on the destination and/or the extinct alien race that they can retrieve. Robin is a delightfully unreliable narrator with a number of neurosis, and also living in denial of not only maybe his sexuality but also his borderline unpleasant character. Seriously this is truly Masterwork science-fiction! 8.5 out of 12. [image] Easily the best Pohl book I've read which has aged really well, having multi-facetted gay, non-white and female characters, and a very inclusive (=realistic) approach to how homosexuality would be perceived in the future. [image] 2021 read...more
SF Masterworks 64 - an unflinchingly hard science fiction story about a group of highly trained scientists and planet colonisers stranded in space in SF Masterworks 64 - an unflinchingly hard science fiction story about a group of highly trained scientists and planet colonisers stranded in space in a craft that is steadily approaching light speed, know as Tau Zero in this reality; there's some focus on the crew dynamics, but this is mostly all hard science fiction looking at the (theoretical) science of near light speed travel. Not being a big fan of hard sci-fi, this was a bit of a chore for, also I couldn't but help think of a later, and very similar, but far more fascinating spin on this concept - Star Trek Voyager :D. 5 out of 12 for this, just OK read. [image]...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #88: a scientist that escaped a devastating World War III has been using lobotomy to control aggression in the rSF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #88: a scientist that escaped a devastating World War III has been using lobotomy to control aggression in the remote African village he has lived in for almost two decades, when he is drawn back to the post apocalyptic world, only to find that his actions and writings before he deserted the War, have been used as the foundation for a pacifist ideology that sees many formerly able bodied men in the West and East volunteer for limb amputations and replacement cybernetics as a way of ensuring peace. And yes, this book reads as absurdist as it sounds! And now a cybernetic limb GIF that makes me laugh every single time [image] Despite being very early in the post apocalyptic Earth sub genre, as well as in cybernetics, computer managed war and more, this book is securely set around the issues of the 1950s with significant and detailed talking points around the East-West divide, race inequality, gender divides, history, modern mythology, monism and more. Wolfe's Yale educated background bleeds through as it feels more like a literary polemic against the cultural norms of the 1950s that Wolfe wanted to question. And even though I struggled to stay enthused enough to get through this, I can see why it featured in many of the Top 100 sci-fi books of all time in the 20th century. I would strongly recommend this for 'serious readers' with little love of science fiction, as well as lovers of the absurd! 4 out of 12. [image] 2021 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #30: the book from which the term Homo Superior comes from. A family friend recounts the strange birth, challeSF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #30: the book from which the term Homo Superior comes from. A family friend recounts the strange birth, challenges and life of 'Odd John' Wainwright, one of a minuscule number of beings of extraordinary intelligence around after the First World war. [image] First published in 1935 it was one of the first 'seeing the world from a mutant's point of view' books, it is subtitled 'A Story Between Jest and Earnest, and although it pulls no punches on how the Übermensch would treat humans; and takes no prisoners when pointing out human failures, there's an underlying tongue-in-cheekiness about it that at times is both interesting and annoying. 7 out of 12. [image] 2021 read...more
SF Masterworks #41 - Pohl was one of the key Science Fiction magazine editors of the 20th century and was known for spotting a good story, which indeeSF Masterworks #41 - Pohl was one of the key Science Fiction magazine editors of the 20th century and was known for spotting a good story, which indeed this is one. It's a future reality where the Earth is divided into 3 blocs, when a habitable planet, Jem is discovered and provides another area where these blocs can compete. [image] Pohl takes this space race and competitive planet colonisation unusually from the viewpoint of 2 couples who paths cross in Sofia, Bulgaria when they were young adults and uses them and some of their contacts as viewpoints to tell the ensuing tale. It's a smart book, pretty much showing how damaging and tunnel visioned mankind is as we export are behaviour, wants and views to the sentient races on Jem. As things escalate on Earth, we're asked how that will impact on Jem's attempted colonisers? Some of the personal viewpoints feel very dated, but overall this an interesting and thought provoking book that allows us to bring a mirror up to how we the human race behave. 7 out of 12 Frederik Phol (centre) in 1938 [image]...more
SF Masterworks #10, The Rediscovery of Man is a truncated version of the collected (short story) works of Cordwainer Smith, (Paul Myron Anthony LinebaSF Masterworks #10, The Rediscovery of Man is a truncated version of the collected (short story) works of Cordwainer Smith, (Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger use of this pen name remained a secret throughout his life!). These 12 stories feature his trademark strange very far-future Lords of the Instrumentality constructed reality. [image] The scope of his imagination is pretty awesome as he takes the reader from a future humankind utopia with a dark underbelly (genetically modified human-animal hybrid slave class) to the Rediscovery of Man. The stories are set in chronological order of when they took place in his timeline. Some of the concepts used are still his, and his alone, and yet to repeated; an amazing creator! At least 8 of the 12 stories are pretty good. 8 out of 12. 2020 read...more
SF Masterworks #34 - Clarke does it again! This is the third SFmasterworks by him I have read, and once again I was totally immersed in a future realiSF Masterworks #34 - Clarke does it again! This is the third SFmasterworks by him I have read, and once again I was totally immersed in a future reality that was so complete, so real, so well thought out.. so good! [image] Visionary engineer Vannevar Morgan wants to build a 'space elevator' that would enable very affordable transport of cargo into space and beyond. For any normal writer that's enough of a story, but Clarke adds in complications of political considerations, a historic site, religion and personal differences. He turns a future story of an innovative engineer into the story of a 22nd visionary pushing at, and test the status quo of his 22nd century reality Smashing! Super! 9 out of 12. [image] 2020 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series - reprint) #number unknown!: A post climate change event sub-tropical London is the setting for this 'she doesn't SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series - reprint) #number unknown!: A post climate change event sub-tropical London is the setting for this 'she doesn't fit in with the status quo' story of Milena, who's biochemistry, sexual preferences and creativity don't fit into the almost artificially created norms of the day. But... although published in 1989, this tale left me completely cold, with insufficient reality building, weak character development and awful story telling / narration. Although an award winning boom, this is easily the weakest SF Masterworks I've read to date - 1 out of 12. a 36 day reading struggle to finish, as I don't want to DNF any book in this series. [image]...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #6: A deceptively short book that feels like a bit of a saga, and I mean that in a good way. In a far future whSF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #6: A deceptively short book that feels like a bit of a saga, and I mean that in a good way. In a far future when man alongside a few other races is spread all over the universe, a universe where a number of these races, include the humans have been at war for decades. An alien communication, Babel-17 is picked up and adventurer poet, Rhyda Wong has to put together a space crew and investigate. [image] Delany exploded on to the sci-fi scene with this fabulous far future tale where humans have held free reign over how they look and are for centuries, and come in thousands of difference shapes and sizes, where some people are brought back to life as zombies to do difficult jobs, where there are aliens but the differences in communication, let alone sustenance sees them rarely directly engage, and there's plenty more imaginative future world building; but what Delany utterly nails is showing the power of language itself. I could guess the book was written in 1960s, but it still shines thanks to his idea of language itself being an organism, an entity, dare I say, a weapon? [image] Also huge plus points for super diverse cast, for a book written in the 1960s! ... so let's call it 7 out of 12....more
SF Masterworks #7 - such a highly rated and liked book... but this was pure mumbo jumbo for me. A far far future where the Eastern gods reign over theSF Masterworks #7 - such a highly rated and liked book... but this was pure mumbo jumbo for me. A far far future where the Eastern gods reign over their worshippers whilst forever going through their own power struggles. Maybe if I knew something about Eastern / Indian religions I would have enjoyed this more? I really struggled to read this, which I did because I refuse to DNF an SF Masterworks, but, on the flip side force reading probably lead me to having a very negative experience with this book. 2 out of 12. [image] 2020 read...more
SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #63: A science fiction which lives more comfortably on the horror shelf like most of Matheson's work I've read iSF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #63: A science fiction which lives more comfortably on the horror shelf like most of Matheson's work I've read it. One of those stories that you think you've either read or seen an adaptation of, until you actually read it, and realise you haven't. Essentially the trials, tribulations, shock and horror of the very slow shrinking of Scott Carey from a 6 foot 2 plus man. What makes the book (published in 1956) stand out is Matheson focuses just as much on the mental, psychological, ego and status issues that Carey goes through as his size diminishes. 6 out of 12. [image]...more
SF Masterworks #27 - On the face of it, a tale of two time-scapes - 1998, where a climate disaster is about to likely destroy the human food chains amSF Masterworks #27 - On the face of it, a tale of two time-scapes - 1998, where a climate disaster is about to likely destroy the human food chains amongst other things; so a group of Cambridge UK based physicists think they found a way of sending a warning message back in the past ...to - 1962, in an America of Martin Luther King and JFK, a group of scientists are surprised when they start to get, what appears to be messages, turning up in one of their experiments. And if the message is somehow deciphered, won't there become a time paradox? [image] Reading this is 2020, this reads as a speculative fiction tale that has aged OK, but the real story is the use of Benford's own experience as a scientist for a perfect time capsule capture of what science was like for the privileged men, for women and for the scientists that tried to push the envelope in anyway. A surprisingly revealing look at the 1960s from the viewpoints of the science elite, and a not too bad story either, in both timescapes. 7.5 out of 12. [image]...more
SF Masterworks #14. Another eerily almost-surreal futurist tale from Bester; this one's a detective story focusing on the wrong-doer in a world that sSF Masterworks #14. Another eerily almost-surreal futurist tale from Bester; this one's a detective story focusing on the wrong-doer in a world that strongly relies on people with extra sensory perception in all the key businesses and industries. Shaping Freudian thought, Agatha Christie whodunnit and sci-fi galaxy world-building around a very much character driven dive into the possible dangers of profit/power driven free thinking, this was the first book to receive a Hugo Award! [image] Another Bester jam whose descent into my surreal story mapping kind of lost me; despite that it's also another Bester jam, where he goes beyond the norm to detail how a future world/galaxy would be impacted at every level if ESP was a thing. 6 out of 12, for this alright read, but sadly ageing (plot wise) read. [image]...more
SF Masterworks (2010- series) #75: In a well thought out constructed macroverse many aeons in the future mankind is all over the universe, and pretty SF Masterworks (2010- series) #75: In a well thought out constructed macroverse many aeons in the future mankind is all over the universe, and pretty much a war-less and peace abiding race with very few exceptions. Dirk t'Larien thinks he'sm been summoned to rogue Planet Worlorn by a former lover to make to rekindle what they had, but instead finds himself caught up in the internal struggles of one of the last violent and homicidal peoples! Mr 'Game of Thrones' had this, his first published novel released back in 1977, and it's pretty pretty pretty good! [image] Quite daring for the 1970s, there's mainstream bisexuality being undertaken by men, men that are also some of the last remaining war-like peoples in the universe. As seems his constant themes, there's a lo of violence against women historically and within this tale. There's zero faux-science and really this is about the reluctance of people to progress with the status quo... hint hint American Republicans. I feel this would have blown mine mine in the 1970s when it was first released, a pretty stand-out read. 7 out of 12. [image]...more
Loading...
