We Read Science Fiction

I’m still here. I’ve been reading through David Brin’s Earth for the last 3 weeks, and while it was a confusing, circular, slog for the first 130 pages or so, it’s growing on me now. I’ll review it when I finish. Certainly has some powerful coincidences with relation to the whole LHC debate currently happening.

Until then I’ll draw your attention to a free SciFi novel called Hal Spacejock that you might be interested in. I’m reading it while on my lunch at work. I discovered it by reading John Scalzi’s blog whatever a few days ago. I’ll review it here shortly, but if you read it now then we’ll have something to debate together in a few weeks. Does this make us a book club? I hope not.

So far — and I’m only on chapter 6 — it’s a very quick read and my initial take is that it’d be absolutely great for hooking young, male, video-game-addicted new readers on SciFi as a whole. It’s funny in a way that teens could get, quick, action-packed and simple. The plot seems a little bland so far, but it’s just starting. I’ve still got 4/5 of the book to go so who knows.

Get it here, but remember that I don’t endorse it… yet.

I first mentioned this book back in January when I talked about my Christmas reading binge. Since then I’ve lent this book out to two friends and both have had the same reaction I did. Therefore, I thought I’d write a quick review here so that we could take the discussion online and share it with you.

This book is the literary equivalent to a great summer blockbuster. There is very little in the way of new ideas about technology, but classic ideas get recycled in very interesting ways. It’s a very fast read with great characters, an epic-like story and lots of action and humor. If you want fun, this is it. If you want serious, deep and philosophical then read The Forever War instead.

Summary: More time traveling fun from Haldeman. His third take on the topic won’t win him any awards, but it sure is a great read. You’ll have trouble putting it down for very long and the pages will pass by at faster than the speed of light.

Rollback is on the final ballot for best novel in the Hugo awards this year, and it’s going against John Scalzi’s The Last Colony (the end of the Old Man’s War ‘trilogy’). If I had to pick between the two, even though I love Scalzi’s work and the OMW series, Rollback would win, but it’s a very close call.

Maybe I’m being patriotic in picking the Canadian author over the American, but I’d prefer to think that it’s more about the stories themselves. Rollback is really two stories in one, and two really GOOD stories at that.

Summary: An excellent Hugo nomination, and a very good read. Awesome character development, and some recycled ideas made fresh and interesting. Not quite a must read, but worthy of your time and money any day. [Read more →]

Today I finally reveal my #1 all time favorite science fiction novel. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein. Why did it win? Because it’s the first SciFi novel I ever read. It started me on this wonderful journey, introduced me to this new world that some people call “reading” and thus here I am. For that, Mr. Heinlein, I thank you for writing a novel full of sex, magic, interesting ideas about sex, counterculture, and sexual freedom. It really made an impression on my “innocent” 15 year old mind when I was forced to read it for senior English class (well I had a choice between five different books). I think made the right choice. It’s also a Hugo winner and one of the most well recognized titles in the genre.

Summary: Dated & overly political, this novel is both a product of the early hippie culture and an influence on it. Knowing that, the reader MUST suspend more of themselves as well as some of their own morals and values in order to enjoy this novel. If you can do that, then this is a solid piece of science fiction history. [Read more →]

So I’m on a scifi binge again… only this time it’s Robert J Sawyer’s stuff. After reading Calculating God I moved on to FlashForward and am now on the verge of finishing Rollback (review soon… but it’s GOOD). I’ve got more of his books on my shelf that are unread, so this streak may continue for a few more books. We’ll see.

FlashForward however, was disappointing and not nearly on par with his later Hugo wining/nominated works like the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. It was certainly and interesting idea and worth the read time I spent on it, but it wasn’t groundbreaking or really special in any way.

Summary: Don’t buy it, but read it if someone lends it to you. A 2/5. [Read more →]

Some modern science fiction novels have awesome new technologies, some have awesome stories and others have great characters, but as we’ve debated here, rarely are they all combined into one compelling, cohesive and thrilling story. This is that rare book that I use to judge all other “high tech” science fiction novels against.

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge is centered around two rival expeditions to a strange “On/Off” that “goes dark” for 215 of every 250 years. The two groups of humans venture out to witness the star lighting up again and discover a clever, newly technological sentient race of aliens.

Having won the Hugo, the Prometheus, the Campbell and as a top-5 finalist for the Nebula, this novel is one of the most honored works in Science Fiction in the past 20 years. Now it’s also my #2 on my top ten science fiction novels list, which I’m sure Mr. Vinge will prize above all the others :).

Summary: Clever technology, great story, flawed good guys, admirable bad guys, adventure, aliens and war. What more could you want? A truly must-read space opera novel. [Read more →]

Aliens with scientific proof that God exists? What’s the catch? Calculating God by Robert J Sawyer is a novel set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Royal Ontario Museum. That alone makes it cool in my books, so all you Americans can take this review with a grain of salt. I’ve been to the ROM, and now I want to go again. Nostalgia aside however, the premise of the novel was very compelling none the less. It’s a great read even for people who are less than enthusiastic about Science Fiction.

Summary: A very interesting story and premise, and some great character development. Rarely preachy given the content and theme, it made me rethink more than a few of my own beliefs. [Read more →]

Well, we’re finally into the top 3 of my all-time favorite science fiction novels. This is probably the point where you all really start to disagree with me, but c’est la vie.

Earth Abides by George R Stewart tells the story of one solitary man who survives a global, but short-lived plague by pure chance. The novel chronicles his life from that point until his eventual death and is filled with both adventure and introspection. At times the main character, Ish, is hard to like simply because his reactions are so human it’s disturbing. He’s no hero, and in the post-Heinlein flood of heroic SciFi novels you could be forgiven for calling this novel slow.

Earth Abides reaches the lofty height of number 3 despite the fact that it DID NOT win either the Hugo or the Nebula Award, in fact it wasn’t even nominated. Instead I award it this honor because it is the most brilliant example of the post-holocaust theme I’ve ever encountered, and that theme is a huge one in the Speculative Fiction genre. This is THE BAR, and no one has raised it in 50 years.

Summary: Superbly poetic and graceful, Earth Abides is undeniably honest, realistic and human it’s long, diary-like journey from start to finish. I could easily see myself as Ish… which is both a revelation and scary thought at the same time. [Read more →]

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman nearing the top of my all time favourite scifi books at number 4. As is true for most of my list, it won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. It’s been a long time since I last re-read this book — it was one of the first science fiction stories I ever tackled — but I can still remember it vividly. The basic plot is simple: Humanity has discovered a series natural wormholes, and in the process of charting their endpoints stumbles across an alien race and starts a war. Lacking FTL travel (besides the wormholes), both sides develop ships that can travel closer and closer to the speed of light. The natural result of this is time dilation and all of the consequences thereof. Each mission sends the soldiers hundreds of years into the relative future (compared to Earth) which rips relationships apart and returns the soldiers to a strange world each visit “home.”

Summary: Excellent. Faced paced and full of action, Haldeman weaves a very plausible story (almost) within the confines of modern physics. Characters are shaped and destroyed by a war and a universe that is changing faster than they are. [Read more →]

Number 5 on my all-time favourite novels list is Gateway by Frederik Pohl. This is a hard read for many people due to its use of flash-backs, but the fact that it won the Hugo, Nebula and John W Campbell awards means should at least be up for consideration in any top 10 list. The simple premise is that humanity discovers a moon orbiting the sun perpendicular to the normal plane. This moon is an abandoned alien base and has ships docked, fueled and ready to go. The only problem is that humans only know how to push “go” and then they are along for the pre-programmed ride, wherever it goes… and however long it takes. Would YOU go?

Summary: A very unique premise and a story with lots of twists and turns. Novels written in the 30 years since this was published may cover the same ground more elaborately, but few even come close to the power that Pohl incorporates into his story. [Read more →]