Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester

51/150/2016

This one really did not work for me.

At first I just found it confusing as the narrator switched from one character to the next to third person omniscient; switching perspectives, even within one sentence, from the android to it's human owner.

We follow the pair from planet to planet as the human tries to cover up for the actions of the android.

It was all a bit forced and gimmicky.

The Inevitable by Kevin Kelley - Book Report #166

This was an important book to put today's technology and it's underlying trends into focus.

Kelly showed me how the new normal needs to be accepted, maintained and upgraded.

Staying up to date requires a constant willingness to learn and adapt.

What really hit me was chapter 5 - Accessing.  It is here that he laid out why streaming music is such a strong trend.  Without even being conscious of it we are shifting from a society that owns things to one that pays to have access to things.

The "sharing economy" fits into the world of access over ownership.  You don't have to own a car if you have access to Uber.  You don't need to buy a DVD if it is available, on demand, on Netflix.

I paid for Apple Music just to see what the fuss was about but I kept thinking that I didn't OWN the music which plays contrary to how I grew up.  You build a collection, it sits on a shelf, it's something you access and it's something that speaks to others of your tastes.

The difference is, with ACCESS to everything, you can let your imagination run wild.  You hear an old Willie Nelson song in a movie and you look it up.  You can then add the song or the entire album to your virtual collection.  If it is there.

In the fullness of time everything will be available for access.  Today it is kind of lumpy and you might have accounts with more than one service.

Anyways.  The book put the trends into focus and also gave me some idea of where things are going.

Kelley explores such subjects of AI and it's inclusion into everyday objects.  Tracking and surveillance.  How screens are changing the world.

As the subtitle says: Understanding the 12 technological forces that will shape our future.

The future looks pretty cool.

Recommended.

Kevin Kelly's website is here -  http://kk.org/

Rat Catcher's Yellows by Charlie Jane Anders

50/150/2016

This was a sad/hopeful story. 

Or maybe it was hopeful/sad.

Nope.  It was sad then a little bit hopeful in a sad and defeated kind of way.

Shary is suffering from a degenerative mental disease and Grace, her wife, is coping with it as best she can.

Grace introduces her to an immersive video game that she connects to quickly.

Somehow this game connects with others suffering from the same condition.

It was a heart breaking story that will ring true with anybody who has a loved one suffering from dementia.

The collection can surprise in that there is some real depth in the story selections.  I am very impressed with the scope the editors have included in this volume.

Charlie Jane Anders - http://allthebirdsinthesky.tumblr.com/

Desert Walk by S. R. Mastrantone

49/150/2016

This is the first story in the collection that did not work for me.

The focus of it is a long-lost video game where the player is walking in the middle of the desert.  Nothing really happens in the game although the player sometimes runs across an object but mostly there is just the walking.

Somehow it is a very addictive game and our narrator plays it for hours at a time without noticing the passage of time.

He seeks out the game designer and it is there that the story takes a turn into the paranormal that immediately lost my interest.

The ending itself seemed forced and simply silly.

Too bad because it was very good until then.

I usually look for an author's web page after I've written the review.  The paranormal thing about the story should come as no surprise if you are familiar with the author; he seems to write quite a bit of it.  It is a genre I tend to stay away from, just like I do with fantasy.

In any case, you can find the author here:  http://thewrittenabsurd.blogspot.ca/

Respawn by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

48/150/2016

This was a terrific read.

Written by the guy who wrote the novel that became the movie Edge of Tomorrow.

Here Sakurazaka takes the same premise; becoming reborn the instant you die but puts the mind of the narrator in the body of the person who kills his previous self.

It was a mind-twisting notion as the narrator continues to inhabit new bodies he also inherits their lives.

I simply loved the story, however I did not understand the ending.  Since it was such a fun ride to the last sentence I really did not care if the ending did not live up to the rest.

It was wonderfully imaginative.

Hopscotch by Karl Schroeder

47/150/2016

Linda is a researcher who had discovered how to predict the unpredictable.  She tracks down freak storms, UFO sightings and strange disappearances.

Alan is her boyfriend who accompanies her on her quests.

The trouble is that he tries to keep Linda safe but she is a force to be reckoned with.  Poor Alan is in over his head but he does try his best.

The story worked for me because of just how hard Alan was trying to contribute and keep up.

Karl Schroeder - http://www.kschroeder.com/

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

46/150/2016

I was not looking forward to reading this again.

It is so well written and stands the test of time so well that every word filled me with terror.

I've reviewed this once before, see it HERE and I have listened to it in podcast form.  Any way you slice this it is an exceptional example of hard science fiction.

A young girl stows away on an Emergency Dispatch Ship to surprise her brother who is on the same planet as the ship is headed.

Not knowing there are strict limitations to the payload aboard these EDS, when she is discovered the sad, lonely, cold truth of it comes bearing down.

This story is head and shoulders at the peak of the form.


My heart raced the whole time I read it even though I knew what was going to happen next.

This makes me want to search out other stories by Godwin.

NPC by Charles Yu

45/150/2016

This was an interesting story that worked well on a couple levels.

Life of our narrator is "in game," living as a character in a MMORPG.  Having never played a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game I can imagine how a person can become stuck in a rut.

It is an actual rut that gets our hero out of his.

But then the author deepens the story by exploring the emotional consequences of leveling up.

It was a very good read.  Yu obviously has real talent.

Just Like Old Times by Robert J. Sawyer

44/150/2016

This is the strangest method to control the population that I've run across.

Chronotransference is a technology that can send a person's mind back in time to live out the life of a person long dead.  The person's mind cannot control the body he or she is in, only view the life until its conclusion.

The present day body dies and is no longer a burden on society.

Yikes!

In this story, a man convicted of multiple murders, convinces the authorities to transfer his mind into a tyrannosaurus rex.

It was an odd story but imaginative, well written and just plain fun to read.

Robert J. Sawyer - http://sfwriter.com/

It's A Good Life by Jerome Bixby - A Short Story Review

43/150/2016

This read like a Steven King novel.

A creepy little kid has special powers to control any living thing.  He can just "think" his way to another place or to kill anything or anyone that annoys him.

See how the small town, where he lives, deals with his abilities.

Yup, creepy.

Well done.

Jerome Bixby -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Bixby

God Mode by Daniel H. Wilson - A Short Story Review

42/150/2016

This was a trippy little exploration of the interpretation of reality.

A young couple meet and fall for each other.  Meanwhile, strange things are happening all around them.  The stars are winking out, one by one.  Details of the city are turning grey.

And then there is a strange voice.

Nicely done.  I enjoyed my time with this story.

Daniel H. Wilson - http://www.danielhwilson.com/

Daniel H. Wilson

The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke - A Short Story Review

41/150/2016

The high lama of Tibet needs a computer to churn out every possible name of God.

Why?

Well, that doesn't matter when you can sell a new Mark V computer.

It's not long before we find out why and the results are very interesting.

Clarke had a knack.

This anthology continues to delight.

Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large by James Alan Gardner - A Short Story Review

40/150/2016

I really liked this story.

An odd little girl, Muffin, has knowledge of the future and strangers come to the house to get her guidance.

Meanwhile her uncle and brother try to make sense of her.

She is a good girl and has plans for the future.

I was very interested in knowing more about Muffin which kept me reading.

There was also a gentleness to the story that made me feel like everything was going to be all right in the end.

It's not Science Fiction.  Perhaps speculative fiction?  I really don't know what that means.

Urban Fantasy seems to fit.  Let's call it that.  But there's no magic or supernatural elements.

I know, let's just call it a good story.

James Alan Gardner's website - http://www.jamesalangardner.com/Welcome.html

Carpe Diem by Eileen Kernaghan - A Short Story Review

39/150/2016

I am Canadian.

Why am I not reading more stories from Canada?

I dug out this collection from On-Spec magazine.  You know, I've purchased many issues of the magazine and I am sure I haven't read even one.  They are all in a shoe box in my basement.  I think I will have to take a run at them.

This story was an odd one, with a twist ending that left me scratching my head.

We follow a group of senior women who are being monitored for something.  Blood tests, and all kinds of medical checkups are being performed regularly.

We are never told why.

But if you don't make the cut....

Eileen Kernaghan's website - http://www.eileenkernaghan.ca/index.html

How to Become a Mars Overlord by Catherynne M. Valente - Lightspeed Magazine

 38/150/2016

Great title.

But I found this one to be rather odd.

The author has a love of space opera and ancient mythology.

Take those two genres and fold them into a promotional/professional development seminar and you get a feel for how the story is presented.

Don't get me wrong, it was fun and I loved the author's sentences.  There is a real love of grandiose language that I found quite entertaining.

I just don't know how to label it.  Perhaps that is what makes it good.  I have not run into anything quite like it before.

Surface Tension by James Blish - A Short Story Review

37/150/2016

The story begins with a crashed seed-ship on a new world that was meant to be a new human colony.

With the ship smashed and the cargo nearly destroyed the captain an crew come up with an inventive way of completing their mission.

The story then moves a pivotal moment in the history of these new life forms the human created.

I was, at first instantly bored by the story, it was just another "look how strange my aliens are" tale.  But then a very human adventure began and a familiar story of evolution repeated itself on this new world.

In the end I found the story to be very interesting indeed.

I kept reminding my self of what the influential editor, Gardner Dozois once said; "The nice thing about short stories, even the bad ones, is that they are short."  (Or something along those lines.)

This kept me reading and I am happy I did.

It awoke the sense of wonder of how incredibly big this story was.

Terrific.  A highlight of the collection.

Amaryllis by Carrie Vaughn - A Short Story Review

36/150/2016

This was another podcast of one of issue #1 of Lightspeed magazine.

The story was lovely.

Was it post apocalyptic?  Who knows.  Society is certainly different than it is today; much more planned and community centered.

It was a joy to listen to as Gabrielle De Cuir had a wonderful delivery.  She captured the emotion of the piece. 

This was a story about people, their past and letting go of it. 

The future demands it.

Wonderful.

Dinosaur Killers by Chris Kluwe - A Short Story Review

35/150/2016

What would it be like to witness the annihilation of Earth from your perch, in orbit, on a space station?

Here the narrator is trying to make sense of it and decide what he should do next, when a voice from another station asks, "Where are the others?"

The sentences are choppy.  The narration stuttered.  As we try to grasp with what it all means.

It is a unique view of a post apocalyptic world.

I liked it.

It sure makes you think.

The Quest For Saint Aquin by Anthony Boucher - A Short Story Review

34/150/2016

A post apocalyptic story of a priest on a mission to find the tomb of St. Aquin.

It is a strange journey through the fringes of the blasted landscape of the western coast of America.

The role of religion has changed.  Technology has progressed.  Attitudes may not have.

Interesting friends are made and the ultimate discovery needs contemplation.

It's not surprising that there are so many dystopian entries in this volume; we are only five or six years post World War II and the Cold War is dominating public thought.

As I work my way through the pages I find myself sighing whenever I come across this kind of story.

I read them, and they are all excellent, it's just I miss the sense of wonder that I like best about science fiction.

In any case it was a good story and I felt it would have made a damn good novel.  I liked Father Thomas and felt he was good company in this strange environment.

Hard Cover

Paperback

Anthony Boucher

 

I'm Alive, I Love You, I'll See You In Reno by Vylar Kaftan - A Short Story Review

33/150/2015

I decided to go as far back as the Lightspeed podcast archives would allow me.

Right to the beginning, as it turns out.

This was an expression of love as told through physics.

Such an inventive idea.

I liked it.

Vylar Kaftan - https://vylarkaftan.com/

Willful Child: Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson - Book Review #165

16/15/2016

Oh, what fun!

Every once in a while it's good to take a step back and to have a bit of fun with a pillar of the science fiction genre.

I'm talking about Star Trek.  In this book we have a "Federation" and a rogue young captain who has no trouble breaking the rules to accomplish missions to his own satisfaction.

It took me a couple of chapters before I understood the author's voice in this story.  It was a crazy cacophony of geek-speak and twisted references.  Once the plot revealed itself I could sit back and enjoy what Erikson was doing.

Each chapter read like an episode from the series with an over-arching plot line to give it good continuity.

My favourite part of the book was when the crew went back in time old Earth circa 2015, to a comic convention.  This being a complete lift of the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home where that crew went back in time to 1986.

I loved the banter and the observations of life as we know it today.

There is no way to talk about this book without referencing Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Yes.  It's a lot like that.  I really admire how Erikson was able to twist the Star Trek structures, add ridiculous characters and circumstances and have it make sense.

Like Adams he was also able to make a serious statement about how we live our lives and to deliver that while making me laugh.  We are dealing with a very smart author here.

This is the second book in a series.  I believe my struggles with the first couple of chapters had more to do with the author expecting the reader to have been there for the first book.  I respect that; when I am reading a series I find the effort writers make to help the first-time reader to be tedious.

I found myself stealing moments to read a page or two and bringing the book along just in case I had a few minutes to dive back in.  Most books I read do not captivate me like this one did.  I had the book with me as if it was my cell phone.

I want to thank Tor for giving me the opportunity to enjoy something so fresh and fun.

Steven Erikson -  http://www.steven-erikson.com/

Steven Erikson

Shooting Gallery by J. B. Park - A Short Story Review

32/150/2016

My recent dive into the world of audio books has lead me to my other interest - short stories.

Lightspeed Magazine has been in my circle of magazines since it launched in 2010.  John Joseph Adams is the editor and anthologist who has been making quite a splash in the world of short fiction.

The Magazine has always been an interesting hybrid, half the issue is available online for free.  For the complete issue you only have to drop $3.99 which is a real bargain.

They also podcast the free stories which is something I really appreciate.

I have often thought it would be a cool idea to go back into the archives of Analog or some other, now-defunct pulp magazine and podcast the stories.

But what about this story?

It's about a down-on-his-luck undead teenaged boy who is trying to earn a little bit of rent money for his down-on-her-luck mother.

He decides to leverage his "undead-ness" to do so.

It really was an interesting idea.  It was also touching and deeply rooted in humanity.

It was a good read.

Lightspeed Magazine November 2016 issue.

Coming Attraction by Fritz Leiber - A Short Story Review

31/150/2016

Set in a post World War Three United States, we follow a British man visiting what is left of New York city.

While on the street he intervenes to help a young woman from an attempted hit and run.

From that moment on we are treated to a story that reveals how much American society has changed.

It was so strange that it reminded me of the Judge Dredd series.

The protagonist does his best to help the woman but circumstances are much more complicated than first thought.

It was a good story but the open-ended conclusion left me wanting a bit more.

Fritz Leiber

Galaxy Science Fiction - November 1950

Rogue Star by Michael Flynn - Boor Report #164

15/15/2016

I am not sure how I feel about meeting my reading goal for the year.  I goodly chunk of it has been from audio books.  Does that make it wrong?  It's not like I didn't "consume" it, it's just that I didn't do so with my eyes.  It feels a little bit like cheating.

Audio books are certainly trending with the public, it is a real growth area of literature.  Amazon's Audible, and audio books in general, have enjoyed a 20% increase in sales in 2015 over 2014.  So I guess I am on-trend in that regard.

Okay, that said how was the book?

Fantastic!

I must say that Flynn has mastered the "literary" hard science fiction genre.  His characters are brilliantly true-to-life, they feel like real people; driven and flawed like all of us.

The book continues from the first seamlessly even though it skips ahead a bit, with the Far Trip mission nearing its destination and the construction of the LEO space station in full swing.

Throughout the book are the messy, human shenanigans that are so common in life.

I have to say that Flynn's depiction of humanity in space was a far better read than Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy.  But it occupies the same, distinct part of science fiction that cannot be ignored; that of the well-researched and plausible speculation that is so important in sparking the imagination.

Flynn's ability to keep the plot moving is what sets his work above Robinson's as he was able to keep my attention.

This book is nearly 20 years old and the only detail it departs with reality is the level of sub-orbital and low earth orbit activity that takes place.  Nothing in the book is out of the realm of the possible.

I was simply captivated by the story.

I must say something about the narrator, Malcolm Hillgartner.  This guy was terrific, his ability with voices and accents was staggering.  There are so many characters in these books that I was completely impressed with how he was able to keep them straight and to recall them.

He brought the whole thing to life.

Michael Flynn

Malcolm Hillgartner

Born of Man and Woman by Richard Matheson - A Short Story Review

30/150/2016

This was a horrid little tale.

By that I simply mean the writing was crisp and brought me right into that little, terrible basement where the story takes place.

It was stark and unapologetic and brilliantly written.  But, being confronted with the cold hatred of the two antagonists, made me hate being human.

The author had skills to make me feel so strongly in only three and a half pages.

Excellent read.

It will stay with you.