Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations

Reviews of Vintage Science Fiction (pre-1985)

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Book Review: Planet of Exile, Ursula K. Le Guin, (1966)

June 11, 2010June 24, 2026 / Joachim Boaz / 7 Comments
  • Josh Kirby’s cover for the 1971 edition

4.5/5 (very good)

Planet of Exile (1966) is a masterful piece of fantasy/science fiction world building for Ursula Le Guin spins her story, worlds, cultures, and each race’s animosities in flawless fashion.  This novel is part of Le Guin’s Hainish

Continue reading →

Book Review: Merchanter’s Luck, C. J. Cherryh, (1982)

June 10, 2010February 6, 2017 / Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

MRCHNTRSLB0000.jpg

4/5 (Good)

C. J. Cherryh’s Merchanter’s Luck is a heady brew of redemption, paranoia, fear, endless suspicion, and more paranoia. However, this work has markedly less of the seemingly-endless (and often unjustified) political manipulation that bogs down Cherryh’s more famous novels Cyteen and Downbelow Continue reading →

Book Review: The Pillars of Eternity, Barrington J. Bayley (1982)

June 8, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 12 Comments

4/5 (Good)

Barrington J. Bayley, an English sci-fi writer and a member of the Science Fiction New Wave, is considered a lost great — if not for his novels as novels, but for his well of bizarre/extraordinary/ Continue reading →

A Film Rumination: Vertical Features Remake, Peter Greenaway (1978)

June 7, 2010July 15, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / Leave a comment

9/10 (Masterpiece)

Peter Greenaway’s early short concerns (in faux-documentary style with narration) a gaggle of intellectuals reconstructing a film  based on fragmentary footage and virtually incomprehensible notes Continue reading →

Book Review: The Rebel Worlds, Poul Anderson (1969)

June 5, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / Leave a comment

https://i0.wp.com/farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/658679608_feaf3879a8.jpg

3/5 (Average)

This was the first Poul Anderson book I managed to finish (I got bogged down in one of his later novels a few years ago). The Rebel Worlds is part of a series of books by Anderson about his main character Dominic Flandry and the failing Terran Empire. The series includes Ensign Flandry (1966), A Circus of Continue reading →

Book Review: Orbit Unlimited, Poul Anderson (1961)

June 3, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 3 Comments

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 →

Book Review: The Dramaturges of Yan, John Brunner (1982)

June 2, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / Leave a comment

https://i0.wp.com/img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n0/n3719.jpg

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 →

A Film Rumination: Europa (released as Zentropa in the US), Lars von Trier, (1991)

June 2, 2010January 17, 2021 / Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion_images/current/img_current_1138_fg.png

9/10 (Masterpiece)

Notable Awards received: Nominated for the Palm d’Or Cannes, Won Best Artistic Contribution Cannes, Won Jury Prize Cannes, Won Technical Grand Prize

For some reason despite my obsession with European cinema Continue reading →

Book Review: The Reefs of Space, Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson (1964)

June 2, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 3 Comments

book cover of   The Reefs of Space    (Starchild, book 1)  by  Frederik Pohl and   Jack Williamson

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 →

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