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.

The Soyuz Files - A Podcast Review

This may seem like a bit of a departure but I assure you it really isn't.

I have included audio books mostly because they have been readings of actual books.  But I am also a fan of good story telling and The Soyuz Files is definitely a very good story.

Any good science fiction will try to answer the question, "What if?"

What if the Soviet Union won the race to the moon?

What would that have looked like?  What would the ramifications have been?  How different would the world be?

In this wonderful audio drama the Soviets land on the moon on October 31, 1968.

Through a series of investigative reports from November 1, 1968 to July 18, 1969 (right in the middle of Apollo 11's actual mission, by the way) we learn of a conspiracy surrounding the Soviet landing.

The whole story is told over six episodes.  Podcasts are well suited for serialized stories and I found myslef binging on this one.  The sound quality is terrific and the acting is top notch.

I highly recommend this series.

The official website is here:  http://www.soyuzfiles.com/

You can also find it in iTunes here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-soyuz-files/id1122132725?mt=2

If you are interested in real space adventures you should check out Planetary Radio, also a podcast, there you will learn all about what is happening in space right now.   There is a lot going on.

Planetary Radio can be found here:

http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/

Ad Astra people!

Book Report #99 - Star Trek DTI: Forgotten History by ChristopherL.Bennett

Book 23 of 52
Page count - 346

I recently discovered an entire suite of podcasts dedicated to the Star Trek universe; TREK FM.

Trek Lit has been the one show I started listening to in earnest, it is hosted by Christopher Jones and Matthew Rushing.

In some side comments Rushing mentioned how much he liked the Department of Temporal Investigations series of books. This series tries to link together and explain the consequences of specific time travel events in the Star Trek universe.  I purchased this book on the strength of Rushing's enthusiasm.

I had my first "Oh, cool!" Moment by page 13 when a starship, of Federation design, is discovered drifting within a temporal anomaly.  She was fitted with the original engines of the first variation of the Enterprise.  Remember how the Enterprise was given new engines in the first movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture?  Ever wonder what happened to the old ones?  Me neither, but it's cool to think something had.

Top: original design for the TV show.  Below: from The Motion Picture.

Chapter 3 from page 55 to 81 completely blew my mind!  Which, sadly, means I didn't understand a word of it.

I read the first half of the book the day I started it.  By about the middle, things started to get complicated as we traveled between timelines and alternate realities.  The techno-babble became thick and unavoidable. I put the book down and didn't get back into it until a few days later, by which time I had forgotten some things and was lost.  I kept reading and fell back into it but, I've got to say, give yourself a good block of time to read it, since a continuous read is best for it.

I'm sure my fractured reading of the book played against my enjoyment of it but it WAS a bit confusing; there was so much tech-talk and movement between timelines that I found it overly complex.  The tying up of loose ends was very entertaining but I saw that I missed a lot after reading the acknowledgments where the author listed every source of inspiration for the book.

Obviously I am not the geek I think I am.

Would I recommend the book?  Well, sure...  I had inconsistent reading opportunities and the book required more attention than I gave it.  I'd have to say; if you can give the novel the attention it deserves, then you're going to like it.

Christopher L. Bennett.

Trek FM can be found HERE.

Christopher L. Bennett's website is HERE.

Book Report #60 - Black Jack Justice by Gregg Taylor

Oh, yea, baby! This is what I'm constantly looking for - vintage detective stories with well realized characters, snappy dialog, sassy dames, fedoras and heavy cars with fenders.

Gegg Taylor has been producing the Black Jack Justice podcasts for years and they have always, always been my very favorite audio drama on the internet.  Now Taylor treats us to the origin story of just how Jack Justice and Trixi Dixon - Girl Detective came to form their partnership.

The story starts off as a get-evidence-for-a-divorce case that quickly brings Trixi and Jack together as they uncover corruption in city hall.

This was just a great book and I can't wait for the next one, which Taylor has announced that he will be writing very soon.

Yay!

Book Report #33 - Bimbos of the Death Sun

 Bimbos of the Death Sun

by

Sharyn McCrumb

Wow! What a fun ride. The title is a bit misleading but that's the point of it. This is actually a murder mystery set at a science fiction convention. And believe it or not, this fun little book won the 1988 Edgar Allan Poe award for best paperback original.

Anybody who's been to a con will appreciate this story. What makes it fun is the fact that it's set in the 1980's (the book having been published in 1988.) with all of the "high tech" of the day.  The cast of characters, however are still among us - they are timeless and McCrumb treats the community with respect.

The story is very funny, in a self-deprecation way but the characters jump off the page which made this story a nice bit of fresh air.

I came to this book via a podcast that I recently found.  At some point Seth Harwood made a shout out to the Flash Pulp podcast.  Curious, I found it and started to listen to a few shows.  These people put out original flash (read short) pulp fiction and pepper the podcast with the occasional "behind the scenes" show.  It was during one of these shows that the hosts mentioned the new book club they've created and how Bimbos was to be the first read.

It wasn't easy to find a paper copy that I could get through the mail in time to read before the deadline of the book club.  So on a lark I did a search on the Kobo website and found it as a ebook!  I threw the book on my iPhone and read it in no time. (This ebook thing is really going to open up the back catalogs in a few years.  It's gonna be great!)

For anyone who's even a little bit geeky this book would be fun.  If you've ever been to a con (think the Calgary Comic Expo) and the book will jump right into your imagination.