4/5 (Good)
1968, Best Novel Hugo Award Nomination; 1968, Best Novel Nebula Award Nomination
Silverberg’s brooding, post-utopian, rumination has the makings of a great science fiction novel. This horrifically dark Continue reading
3.5/5 (Above Average)
A. E. van Vogt’s The World of Null-A is a frustrating but worthwhile experience. This is in part because of the trite introduction inserted in my edition of the work by A. E. Van Vogt defending his work against the notorious (and career making) critique by the sci-fi writer Continue reading
(Bruce Pennington’s cover for the 1971 edition)
3/5 (Average)
Fresh off reading Brian Aldiss’ wonderful Non-Stop I eagerly picked up a battered copy of The Dark Light-Years (1964) from a local bookstore. I was sorely disappointed. The Dark Light-Years is disjointed, Continue reading
4/5 (Good)
Big Planet is populated by Earth’s misfits. The massive landmass and low human population of the planet results in small settlements populated by drastically different cults/beliefs/social structures isolated from each other. Showboat captains ply Continue reading
(Jerome Podwil’s cover for the 1965 edition)
3.25/5 (Above Average)
A few minutes surfing the inter-webs reveals that this 1950s sci-fi work by Poul Anderson arouses some controversy. People looking for Anderson’s pulp-infused sprawling Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
Barrington J. Bayley’s Collision Course (Collision with Chronos) (1973) is based on a fascinating hard sci-fi premise, the intersection of two time waves, one from the future heading into the past, and the “present”, heading Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
City of the Chasch is the first book of the Tschai, Planet of Adventure series by the famous and well-esteemed sci-fi/fantasy master Jack Vance. Although the novel ultimately fails to break free from the predictable pattern of the princess, the monster (s), the quest (s), City of the Chasch thrives on Vance’s Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
They Shall Have Stars (1956) is the first of James Blish’s famous Cities in Flight novels (note: the series was not released according to its internal chronology — the third volume, Earthman Come Home was published first in 1955). Continue reading
4.75/5 (Very Good)
A generation ship! Science run amok! A brilliant work from the late 50s which must be read! Brian Aldiss’ Non-Stop (published in the U.S. as Starship) is a relentlessly dark science fiction novel written in response to Robert Heinlein’s revolutionary yet ultimately unsatisfying Orphans of Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 