February's Febrile Focus For Finding Fulfilling Fiction

[j d worthington]

Even though, due to time constraints, it is taking a lot longer than I like, I'm getting close to finishing off the first volume of the Heinlein biography -- which simply becomes more and more fascinating the deeper I delve into it. An interesting and complex man and one who appears to have been, even with his flaws, well deserving of the admiration and affection given him by so many....

 

[Mangara]

Just finished Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollak. Despite winning the Arthur C Clarke award and being a member of the SF Masterworks I don't feel it to be a SF book, it maybe has a tenuous link as a piece of speculative fiction. Here is what I thought:


Despite being a SF Masterwork, Unquenchable Fire is very much a piece of speculative fiction. Set in an America following a spiritual revolution, science is the last thing on their mind when surrounded by miracles and spirits.

Immensely imaginative the story follows Jenny, a young woman chosen for great things who just wants to live a regular life. The main theme of the book is how losing control affects Jenny who is trapped in a world where ritual and religion is the only thing holding society together.

The imagery in the stories of the founders is rich, and the stories will stay with you a while after reading them. I can’t help but feel that there is a lot of the spiritual aspect of the book which went straight over my head, due to lack of familiarity with subjects such as Tarot, a subject the author is an expert on.

I found this book to be a challenge, by taking a location familiar to the reader but changing the rules of society so completely led to a disorientating feel to much of the book. A bit too abstract at times I found it difficult to follow, but the narrative is rewarding enough if you can manage to stick with it.

Picked up The Day of the Triffids, which I'm already 70 pages into.

 

[Southern Geologist]

Even though, due to time constraints, it is taking a lot longer than I like, I'm getting close to finishing off the first volume of the Heinlein biography -- which simply becomes more and more fascinating the deeper I delve into it. An interesting and complex man and one who appears to have been, even with his flaws, well deserving of the admiration and affection given him by so many....

I was pretty impressed with that work. I expected it to be a bit of a slog because I assumed that Heinlein's life would be much more interesting post-'48 when most of his well known writing occurred. Boy was I wrong!

 

[Grunkins]

I'll be finishing the second book of Stephen R Donaldson's Gap Cycle soon, and then moving right on to the third, A Dark and Hungry God Arises. The story got much bigger in the second book and looks like it's about to explode in the third. He's a fantastic writer on lots of levels. I'm very impressed. Because of his evolving shades of grey approach to his characters I find myself rooting for no one and everyone at once (go cyborg Angus!).

This makes me really interested to read his Thomas Covenant books.

 

[Vertigo]

I haven't read the Gap Cycle but the only problem with Thomas Covenant is his incessant whining. His character eventually became just too depressing for me and, I believe, many others.

 

[Vertigo]

Apologies for the double posting but I was too late with the second to do an edit!

Finished Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and 'Round the Moon. An excellent and seminal pair of books (let down a little by some writing flaws). They really should be treated as just one book (I can't believe Verne made his readers wait 7 years between the two publications especially when you know how the first one ends - call that an ending!). On the surface this is a great Victorian Buck Rogers story. You want Steampunk? This is the real thing! More of my thoughts are here.

Now it's on to Roberto Bolano's By Night In Chile. Looking forward to this one!

 

[AE35Unit]

Apologies for the double posting but I was too late with the second to do an edit!

Finished Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and 'Round the Moon. An excellent and seminal pair of books (let down a little by some writing flaws). They really should be treated as just one book (I can't believe Verne made his readers wait 7 years between the two publications especially when you know how the first one ends - call that an ending!). On the surface this is a great Victorian Buck Rogers story. You want Steampunk? This is the real thing! More of my thoughts are here.!

Interesting, I read From the Earth to the Moon and didnt realise it was needing a second book!
My take on it:

http://sfaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/shoot-moon.html?m=0

 

[Grunkins]

I haven't read the Gap Cycle but the only problem with Thomas Covenant is his incessant whining. His character eventually became just too depressing for me and, I believe, many others.

Plenty to dislike in the characters in the Gap Cycle. As of yet really none of the are likable, but the books are compelling.

My only problem with the books so far is Donaldson's interchanging of "speed" and "velocity." I don't think he knows they mean two different things. At one point he says, "not at our present velocity and heading" - which is a little distracting.

 

[Vertigo]

Ouch, yes, nothing like a few redundant words is there?

I don't mind unlikeable characters; I just hate whinging, whining ones! It's the same thing that put me off Fitz in Hobb's books and Axel in Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

 

[Southern Geologist]

I spent a couple of days reading a novel for review purposes and then went back to Stapledon's First Men and Last Men. I gave up halfway through. The subject is simply of no interest to me. Hopefully Star Maker will be more to my tastes. Now I'm going to get back to the Foundation trilogy with Foundation and Empire.

 

[Lord Captain Woden]

Since my last visit:

Lord Of Light - Great story, interesting and unique world but I did find the character dialogue tiring at times. Although this isn't really a criticism, while reading it, it felt more like fantasy than science fiction.

The Fifth Head Of Cerberus - First story was excellent, really enjoyed the world and Wolfe's writing style. Second one for whatever reason I really hated, gave up after 30 pages. It just felt like a slog from page 1. Third one I gave up after a few pages but this is probably because the second one soured it for me. I'll try them again in the future.

Gateway - When I first started reading this I thought it was just going to be a run of the mill science fiction story but no, one of my favourite so far in the series. Is it worth picking up the other novels in this saga?

Now I'm about 100 pages into Flowers For Algernon and I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Vertigo]

I spent a couple of days reading a novel for review purposes and then went back to Stapledon's First Men and Last Men. I gave up halfway through. The subject is simply of no interest to me. Hopefully Star Maker will be more to my tastes. Now I'm going to get back to the Foundation trilogy with Foundation and Empire.

I almost commented on your rating of Last and First men on GR. I keep looking at that book intending to read it (as I would like to read all the SF Masterworks) but I keep thinking from the descriptions of it that it just doesn't appeal to me.

Since my last visit:

Lord Of Light - Great story, interesting and unique world but I did find the character dialogue tiring at times. Although this isn't really a criticism, while reading it, it felt more like fantasy than science fiction.

The Fifth Head Of Cerberus - First story was excellent, really enjoyed the world and Wolfe's writing style. Second one for whatever reason I really hated, gave up after 30 pages. It just felt like a slog from page 1. Third one I gave up after a few pages but this is probably because the second one soured it for me. I'll try them again in the future.

Gateway - When I first started reading this I thought it was just going to be a run of the mill science fiction story but no, one of my favourite so far in the series. Is it worth picking up the other novels in this saga?

Now I'm about 100 pages into Flowers For Algernon and I'm really enjoying it.

I struggled with the Fifth Head of Cerberus as well, couldn't quite decide whether it was just me not understanding the book or whether it was over-rated. I figured it was probably down to me since I also felt The Stars My Destination to be over-rated; not bad, just over-rated.

With regard to the Heechee novels; I too loved Gateway and went on to the second - Beyond the Blue Event Horison - which I disliked (almost hated) and have since heard a number of people say they only get worse. I haven't gone on to the remaining books.

 

[AE35Unit]

I struggled with the Fifth Head of Cerberus as well, couldn't quite decide whether it was just me not understanding the book or whether it was over-rated. I figured it was probably down to me since I also felt The Stars My Destination to be over-rated; not bad, just over-rated.s.

Wait, Fifth Head is a collection of stories?

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I finished The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters. The Amelia Peabody books are fun little mysteries, but nothing special. I have an interest in Ancient Egypt, so that's probably why I pick them up.

Now I'm reading Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. I'm only a couple chapters in, but its great so far. I've heard really good things about it, so I'm hoping that rings true.

 

[Lord Captain Woden]

Wait, Fifth Head is a collection of stories?

The SF masterworks version is a collection of 3 Novella's.

 

[Lord Captain Woden]

With regard to the Heechee novels; I too loved Gateway and went on to the second - Beyond the Blue Event Horison - which I disliked (almost hated) and have since heard a number of people say they only get worse. I haven't gone on to the remaining books.

Ah probably won't bother then, cheers for the heads up.

 

[Vertigo]

Well I wouldn't reject just on my opinion . I just did a quick check on GR ratings and Gateway got an average rating of 4.03 and the rest of the Heechee books seemed to be between 3.5 and 3.7. Based on the usual averages appearing on GR (with a lot of ratings) 4.03 is pretty good and the others are pretty low. Also noticed that no1 (Gateway) had 11483 ratings, no2 had 3771 and they continue to fall from there to no6 having just 343 ratings which does sort of suggest that a lot of people haven't continued with the series.

AE as LCW says they are three interconnected novellas. And if I recall correctly the protagionist of one of them (the third?) is meant to be the narrator/author of one of the others (the second?).

 

[J-Sun]

Since my last visit:

Lord Of Light - Great story, interesting and unique world but I did find the character dialogue tiring at times. Although this isn't really a criticism, while reading it, it felt more like fantasy than science fiction.

The Fifth Head Of Cerberus - First story was excellent, really enjoyed the world and Wolfe's writing style. Second one for whatever reason I really hated, gave up after 30 pages. It just felt like a slog from page 1. Third one I gave up after a few pages but this is probably because the second one soured it for me. I'll try them again in the future.

Gateway - When I first started reading this I thought it was just going to be a run of the mill science fiction story but no, one of my favourite so far in the series. Is it worth picking up the other novels in this saga?

Now I'm about 100 pages into Flowers For Algernon and I'm really enjoying it.

For more (or less, from a certain perspective) on the Heechee, this has come up before in the December 2011 reading thread with most of #109-116, starting with Vertigo himself. And you two have some downright freaky synchronicity going on as Vertigo's post includes Lord of Light, Cerberus, and Gateway as well (but not Flowers).

There may be another extended discussion on the topic somewhere but this is the one I found and is probably the one I remember. Basically, the consensus always everywhere seems to be "the first is great; the rest not so much".

 

[Mangara]

Since my last visit:

Lord Of Light - Great story, interesting and unique world but I did find the character dialogue tiring at times. Although this isn't really a criticism, while reading it, it felt more like fantasy than science fiction.

The Fifth Head Of Cerberus - First story was excellent, really enjoyed the world and Wolfe's writing style. Second one for whatever reason I really hated, gave up after 30 pages. It just felt like a slog from page 1. Third one I gave up after a few pages but this is probably because the second one soured it for me. I'll try them again in the future.

Gateway - When I first started reading this I thought it was just going to be a run of the mill science fiction story but no, one of my favourite so far in the series. Is it worth picking up the other novels in this saga?

Now I'm about 100 pages into Flowers For Algernon and I'm really enjoying it.

Flowers for Algernon is the first SF book I read. Such a good read.

 

[Vertigo]

For more (or less, from a certain perspective) on the Heechee, this has come up before in the December 2011 reading thread with most of #109-116, starting with Vertigo himself. And you two have some downright freaky synchronicity going on as Vertigo's post includes Lord of Light, Cerberus, and Gateway as well (but not Flowers).

There may be another extended discussion on the topic somewhere but this is the one I found and is probably the one I remember. Basically, the consensus always everywhere seems to be "the first is great; the rest not so much".

Ah yes I remember that conversation. Those three are numbers 7, 8 & 9 in the SF Masterworks list and at that time I was sort of reading them in order (given up with the order now as I find myself jumping around the list all over the place). My guess is that LCW is also tending to read in that order. But yes a bit spooky!

And it has actually reminded me that I never got around to putting Wolfe's Book of the New Sun on my wish list. *scuttles off to do it now*