3/5 (Average)
Poul Anderson’s Orbit Unlimited is comprised of four short stories linked together chronologically and occasionally by recurrent characters. This structure is essentially a loose-form novel.
The first section describes the persecuted Constitutionalists (think Continue reading
1/5 (Drivel)
First:
Imagine a universe where art has evolved to the point where a single man can utilize images, computers, mythology, drugs, history etc to single handily bring about a monumental shift in a culture’s society––even bringing about a past “culture/realization of past” that had long since dissipated on a planet. Continue reading
3/5 (Average)
The Reefs of Space, by Frederick Pohl and Jack Williamson, is the first novel of the Starchild Trilogy (which includes Starchild and Rogue Star).
The novel follows the brilliant (and amnesia induced) scientist Continue reading
2/5 (bad)
Future Earth uses special ethereal silk (from Mars) to power wood ocean going boats across the sky. The silk is running out and the ocean going boats with canvas are going to be the next big thing. OK.
AGAIN, the draw of the “future crumbling empire fixation” (FCEF) Continue reading
3/5 (Average)
A. E. van Vogt spins a great space opera in this short (157) page volume. Mission to the Stars–as it was later known–was originally published under the name The Mixed Men.
Here is a brief plot summary: Lady Gloria Laurr, Grand Captain Continue reading
3/5 (Average)
Notable as an Early Steampunk/Jules Verne homage….
The Warlord of the Air is the first of a trilogy of steampunk novels (Land Leviathan, The Steel Tsar) by Moorcock collected in the omnibus edition The Nomad of Time and later as The Nomad Continue reading
4/5 (Good)
I was impressed with Poul Anderson’s minor novel, Shield. Many other reviewers point out that the novel is dated. Yes. But so are almost all sci-fi novels written in the 1960s when it came to Continue reading
1.75/5 (Bad)
John Brunner is rightly famous for his dystopic works Stand on Zanzibar (won Hugo for best novel), The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and Shockwave Rider but most of his output Continue reading
A SUSPECT RUMINATION
O the joys of wanna be Victorian Robinson Crusoes…
3/5 (Average)
Douglas Frazar’s ‘Perseverance Island or the Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century’ (1885) is the American Victorian reinterpretation of Robinson Crusoe and it shares shelf space Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 