Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Joe Haldeman and Jack C. Haldeman II’s There is No Darkness (1983)

From the back cover: “The universe is not interested in fair play. The universe is interested in survival. That is lesson number one aboard the giant advance-training ship called ‘Starschool.’ Those who fail to learn lesson one very rarely have cause to worry about what comes next…”

Initial Thoughts: Even at his worst, I find Joe Haldeman a polished author. I’ve only read a few of his brother’s short stories. I’ve hear this volume is a bit on the juvenile SF side of things. We shall see.

2. Zenna Henderson’s Pilgrimage (1961)

From the back cover: “These are The People. Marooned on this planet by the crash of their interstellar vehicle in the distant past, The People are never free of a sense of strangeness in this world and a yearning for the home they have half-forgotten.

These are the chronicles of their arrival on this world, their estrangement from it, and their ultimate acceptance of their poignant exile.”

Contents: “Ararat” (1952), “Gilead” (1954), Pottage” (1955), “Wilderness” (1957), “Captivity” (1958), and “Jordan” (1959)

Initial Thoughts: I’ve read quite a bit of scholarship about Zenna Henderson. I have not read any of the stories in her best-known sequence, yet. I will. I will. This is a fix-up of six previously published The People stories.

3. Thomas Burnett Swann’s The Weirwoods (1967)

From the back cover: “”Legends of humanoid races have always persisted in the lore of humanity and these other manlike species have been given such names as gnome and sprite and centaur. Superstition has invested them with magic and mystery. Mystery, yes, but there’s so much smoke, was there not fire? And perhaps such no-quite-human races did exist at the dawn of human history!

The marvel-tipped pen of Thomas Burnett Swann presents a brilliant, fantastic novel of such races and their impact upon humanity. In the time of the Etruscans, the half-forgotten civilization that preceded Rome, did there still swell such creatures as the Weir Folk of THE WEIRWOODS? This new novel spins an unforgettable tale of the weir-man Vel, his captor, the Etrurian princess Tanaquil, the human adventurer, Arnth, and the web-footed weird witch Vegoia–a novel of the clash of alien minds at the world’s awakening.”

Initial Thoughts: Sean Guynes posted an exhaustive–and I highly appreciated–review series of 18 Thomas Burnett Swann novels and a handful of short fictions. If I remember correctly, The Weirwoods was one of his least recommended volumes but…. it cost me a $1 in a clearance pile. I couldn’t resist.

4. Edwin Corley’s Siege (1969)

From the back cover: “THE BIG ONE! THE ONLY ONE THAT TELLS IT LIKE IT MIGHT BE! SIEGE

One of the most hotly discussed and widely reviewed novels of this terrifying decade, SIEGE reveals the fears of both black and white Americans in a gripping, shocking, unforgettable story of what could happen here–now!”

Initial Thoughts: I am profoundly interested in SF–as historical sources charting response and reaction–that engage with 1960s social unrest of all forms. This novel fits the bill. I know little more than that!

---

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX