Tag: Science Fiction Books

I like military science fiction, and so it was natural to pick up this book, my first by author William C. Dietz. Let me get a couple of things I didn’t really like out of the way first. This is more in the line of an extended history with several story lines followed at the same time. That’s normally OK with me, but it seemed a bit scattered and the various story lines didn’t always mesh all that easily. I also get jarred every time I read an incomplete sentence. Like this one. And Dietz does that quite a bit.

That said, I’m taking my copy back to the library today and I plan to look up another book or so by the same author. I like the military side. Dietz does a great deal less personality and politics than David Weber, for example, and what there is, is not well developed, but you also don’t get as distracted from the military story. I would note, however, that Weber gets the balance at about my favorite point. Those who have complained about excessive or unrealistic politics in Weber’s books should like this one.

I suspect that in as far a future point as is represented by this story the military technology would be more dominant in warfare, with less human individuals involved, but I appreciate some better integration of technology, such as cyborgs.

Dietz doesn’t move to the top of my list, but he will be on it from now on.

OK, having trashed one Terry Pratchett book, with apologies to all his fans including myself, let me just say that this one is up to standard. I actually found it a little less twisted than the average discworld book, but I found the story equally appealing, incredibly funny, and even a bit more suspenseful.

Ankh-Morpork has a new postmaster, who is very motivated to do his job.

The rest is history, provided we can figure out how that works.

This is a young adult book, and I’m not a young adult anymore, but I thought I’d try it. I really, really love Terry Pratchett. I think he’s a brilliant, imaginative, and humorous writer. Who wouldn’t think those things? They’re obvious characteristics of his work.

But I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get into this one. I finally took to skipping pages to see where things went, because I really didn’t enjoy the story, the premise, the way it was worked out, the characters, or pretty much anything about it. It may simply be the audience, though I’m not usually so put off by young adult material. I don’t know.

Try this at your own risk. I note from reading on Amazon.com that there are some people who think it is just as brilliant as the Discworld series. I just don’t get it.

If you have enjoyed the writings of Robert Silverberg, as I have, and if you still occasionally (or more often!) enjoy some of the early action based science fiction, then this book is for you. It’s a collection of 16 short stories by Silverberg from the 1950s, with introductions and commentary.

I really enjoyed this collection. It doesn’t strain one’s mental capacity, but it is exceptionally entertaining. You have to do some additional “suspension of disbelief” when the topic is alien beings from various planets of this solar system (we have folks from Mercury, Venus, Mars, and even Pluto).

I heartily recommend this one for some fine entertainment, light reading, and a little bit of not-too-obtrusive history.

Alan Dean Foster has always provided me with interesting science fiction that was easy to read. It’s the sort of stuff that I read when I don’t want to get too serious, but at the same time my brain is still functioning. Thus far, he has never disappointed me in that. Sometimes lighter fiction is a bit incoherent, the characters less than logical, and the world less than consistent. Foster manages to write consistent worlds, interesting and coherent characters, and still make it just plain fun to read.

I just re-read Drowning World, and I enjoyed visiting with the characters again, and running my imagination through the world of Fluva that he designed here. You won’t get that much time with the Thranx, and really very little time with humans, but the Sakuntala and Deyzara that populate the world and are the key characters are worth spending some time with.

The story is set in the Humanx Commonwealth, though we are not given precise times, and we get to see how the commonwealth deals with primitive worlds and undeveloped species.

Grab a copy from your bookstore or library and enjoy!