Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. The Saliva Tree and Other Strange Growths, Brian W. Aldiss (1966)
Contents: “The Saliva Tree” (1965), “Danger: Religion!” (1962), “The Source” (1965), “The Lonely Habit” (1962), “One Role with Relish” (1966), “Legends of Smith’s Burst” (1959), “Day of the Doomed King” (1965), “Paternal Care” (1966), “Girl and Robot with Flowers” (1965)
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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this weekend?
Every Saturday for more than a year, I’ve asked this question on Twitter (and since February on Mastodon) with a photo of books I’ve read and reviewed on my website from my shelves. Due to the painful implosion of Twitter and the confused and frustrating “what platform do we go to next” panic, I’ve decided to move my weekly question and photo to my site. This community is always first and foremost in my mind. Thank you commenters and lurkers!
Continue readingI’ve returned from my expedition abroad. It’s time to get back to writing about science fiction! But first, there are always new books that have accumulated at my doorstep…
Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. The Productions of Time, John Brunner (serialized 1966)
From the back cover: “Murray Douglas had been a theatrical star until he’d hit the bottle once too often. But now he had broken the habit, and, handsome and fit, was ready for a comeback. The most challenging opening available was an avant-garde play where the actors themselves would make up the drama as they went along.
But out at an isolated country estate where the rehearsals were going on, Murray found himself trapped on a real-life day-and-night stage in which nothing was as it seemed, in which inexplicable devices monitored everything and eerie lures attracted each actor’s psychological weakness.
Who then was the real sponsor of this terrifying play–and to what alien audience was it to be presented?
By the Hugo-winning author of STAND ON ZANZIBAR, this is the first unabridged American edition of this John Brunner classic.”
Continue readingWhich books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. The City in the Sea, Wilson Tucker (1951)
From the inside flap: “Who knows whether the strange events of this story might not one day occur?
This is the story of an expedition—a strange and exciting expedition of one man and an army of women.
He had come into the land of the women suddenly—and without warning. Tall, bronzed, muscular, he stood out among their pale skins and meek spirits. And when they learned of the land from which he had come–the land they hadn’t even known existed—they had to follow him to it.
Continue readingWhich books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. Pulling Through, Dean Ing (1983)
From the back cover: “DOOMSDAY. ARE YOU READY?
HARE RACKHAM, bounty hunter, race-car driver. His best friend is a hunting cheetah. Harve has turned his California home into a survival shelter. He intends to pull through.
SHAR MCKAY, Harve’s little sister. Shar’s latest fad is nuclear survival. She intends for her husband and kids to all pull through.
ERNEST MCKAY, engineer. He has the knowledge and skills to save his family. With his help they’ll all pull through.
KATE GALLOW, runaway, forger, a tough street survival. She’s trouble–but when real troubles come down, Kate will always pull through.
Dean Ing has thought a lot about survival, and he wants as many of you as possible to pull through inevitable disaster of nuclear war. That’s why he’s written this more-than-a-novel. Dean Ing lays all the cards on the table in this one. The story tells why. The articles and blue-prints tell how. PULLING THROUGH won’t save your hide all by itself, but it sure will give you a head start on pulling through by yourself.”
Continue readingWhich books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. The Wild Shore, Kim Stanley Robinson (1984)
From the back cover: “Seventeen-year-old Henry wanted to help make America great again, like it had been sixty years ago, before all the bombs went off. But for the people of Onofre Valley, just surviving was challenge enough. Then one day the world came to Henry, in the shape of two men who said they represented the American Resistance…”
Continue readingWhich books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. Somewhere A Voice, Eric Frank Russell (1965)
From the back cover: “A band of shipwrecked spacemen making their way across a world so fierce that all Earth’s jungles tame by comparison…
A future euthanasia agency with a double-barreled scientific secret…
The unexpected problem of a lone astronaut with an entire ocean world to himself…
Continue readingWhich books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. My Name is Legion, Roger Zelazny (1976)
From the back cover: “HE DID NOT EXIST… OR DID HE? He had destroyed his punch cards and changed his face. There was no credit card, birth record, or passport for him in the International Data Bank.
His names were many… any he chose.
His occupation was taking megarisks in the service of a vast global detective agency.
His interworld assignments were highly lucrative, incalculably vital, and terrifyingly deadly.
And more often than not, his life was a living hell!”
Contents: “The Eve of RUMOKO” (1969),” “‘Kjwalll’kje’k’koothaïlll’kje’k” (1973), “Home Is the Hangman” (1975)
Initial Thoughts: In the early days of my site read I reviewed the first in the Nemo sequence–“The Eve of RUMOKO” (1969). At the time I did not care for it. However, I recently read F. Brett Cox’s monography Roger Zelazny (2021) and retrospectively I’m not sure that I understood the character or what Zelazny was trying to accomplish with the story sequence. Often after I read a monograph, I end up making a few impulsive purchases and this is one of them! I hope, at the very least, it gives me a deeper understanding of Zelazny’s SF project. And “Home Is the Hangman” (1975) is a Hugo and Nebula-winning novella that I have not read.
Continue readingWhich books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. 200 Years to Christmas, J. T. McIntosh (1959)
From the inside flap: “For almost two centuries the huge spaceship had speared its way through the stars, bound for another two hundred years of travel before it would put down on a new planet, a new home for the Earth people.
On board the metal-enclosed worldlet were four hundred people; the last survivors of Earth. It was up to them to start life anew, to correct the mistakes their ancestors had made.
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Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 