DenebStation SF Book Reviews

 Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky June is going to be very busy. I hope to read Solaris by the end of the month too . 

       The Golden Age of Science Fiction began in July 1939 when the story "The Black Destroyer" by A.E. van Vogt was published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. This story later became part of a fix up novel published in 1950, The Voyage of the Space Beagle.            The Voyage of the Space Beagle follows a crew of 1000 chemically castrated men, on the starship Space Beagle on their five-year mission in inter-galactic space to seek out new life and explore new worlds. It is a reference to Charles Darwin's five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle. The story centers on the scientist, Dr. Elliott Grosvenor and his new science of Nexialism, a multidisciplinary approach to knowledge.       The Space Beagle meets up with four different alien species. The first one is a cat-like alien called the Coeurl that sucks the potassium out of its victims. The second is a bird-like species called the Riim with telepathic ...

             Moon Pool was published in 1919 by the author A. Merritt and inspired later writers like Lovecraft. It is a pulp fiction action novel that takes place in a Lost World under a South Pacific Island. It is considered to be pre-Tolkien fantasy.       The story follows the botanist, Dr. William Goodwin in the South Pacific. There he finds his stranded friend Throckmartin who desperately asks him for help. His wife and friends vanished in a pool in the lost city of Ponape (Pohnpei), (a real abandoned city in Micronesia). On the way to Ponape, they run into a Norwegian sailor named Olaf whose wife and child were kidnapped, a half-Irish/half-American WWI pilot named O'Keefe, and a Red Russian named Marakinoff. They hear stories of a luminous malevolent monster kidnapping people from nearby ships.   After Throckmartin is kidnapped mysteriously in the ruins of Ponape, the rest of the crew find a way to sneak into t...

       Several Star Trek novels are now available on Kindle Unlimited, including Corona by Greg Bear, the author of one of my favorite books, Blood Music .  Corona is a Star Trek    Original Series novel with the crew of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Published in 1984, Corona centers on a group of sentient protostars, dubbed Corona, that threaten Vulcan scientists and a ship carrying their frozen personnel in suspended animation. An emergency message sent by the Vulcans takes ten years to reach the Federation, setting the stage for a rescue mission.      The Enterprise, newly equipped with experimental computer monitors, faces tension as these systems override the decisions of Captain Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy. Kirk clashes with the monitors while seeking a non-violent solution to save the Vulcan crew, while McCoy fights to revive the frozen personnel—declared dead by the monitors—after a decade in stasis. Complicating matters is Rowena M...

 I tried to make a TBR (to be read) list privately and did not do a great job in keeping it. I was planning to read Cities in Flight and  Moon Pool but I kept falling asleep. I tried to get energized by reading a Bobiverse book because they feel like I am playing a video game! It still didn't cure my lethargic mind.  So, I will put Cities in Flight on hold, but I will finish Moon Pool since I am close to the end.  For now, I will challenge myself to at least two books per month and then the rest will be read according to my mood.  So far in  Moon Pool , I think there is an older civilization called the Silent Ones who released the advanced intelligent form of The Shining One so maybe an early story about rogue AI released by an ancient transcendent race. It is interesting to see science fiction tropes being played out before advanced technology. Instead of exploring space, our protagonists explore Lost Worlds on Earth powered by the mystical. I like...

    Last year I read the first book in the Bobiverse series, We Are Legion and after going through a reading slump, decided to read the second book.      The first book introduces Bob Johansson, a 21st-century software engineer who, after a fatal car accident, is cryogenically preserved. In the 22nd century, his consciousness is uploaded into a von Neumann probe, granting him the ability to self-replicate and achieve virtual immortality, barring external threats. Bob and his replicants explore the galaxy, seeking habitable worlds for Earth’s colonization and encountering new life, guided by a Star Trek-inspired philosophy—though they notably reject the Prime Directive.      For We Are Many continues the Bobs’ cosmic adventures, now with greater challenges. Are they the only advanced civilization in the galaxy? Can they tame new worlds? Can Earth be saved? And are the Bobs’ growing powers making them too god-like? These questions drive a narrativ...

     Moon Pool is a pulp lost world novel published in 1919 written by A. Merritt. A scientist tells the story of his adventures in an underground civilization. While traveling on a boat in what is now Papua New Guina, several people are kidnapped. The scientist, Goodwin, and his group of men from around the world seek to find their missing wives and friends in this magical world. One of them is the half Irish/ half American O'Keefe who was a pilot in The World War and another is a Communist Russian. So, there are some interesting historical references. As I was reading, I noticed some occult references and decided to look into it more.       The use of the light from the moon is in itself an occult connection. The light of the full moon bouncing on the sea opens a portal allowing a spiritual entity to pass through. This Shining One kidnaps women and even a child sleeping in boats. There is another portal on island ruins that opens using moon light all...

  I have used Goodreads for over ten years now but some are suggesting the app Fable. I might end up using both. I love Goodreads because it connects to my Kindle account and automatically keeps tracks of books I read on Kindle Unlimited. I also have more friends and family on it and it is fun to see what they are reading. As it is older, there are more reviews, lists and yearly challenges available. There are giveaways as well. I haven't used them but I know my mother loves them. The negatives is that it doesn't seem to be very interactive and it has an old interface.  Fable has more interactive, social media features. I have a feed where I can post reviews and notes that anyone can follow. There are book clubs where you can discuss books by chapter and I noticed some Booktube influencers are migrating towards the app. It is a little more personal and easier to use and follow. The analytics give detailed stats on reading habits and genres. Fable even has a DNF list. (did not ...

  In the fall of 2023, I challenged myself to read 100 science fiction books.  Here are some other great science fiction books I have read before 2023.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - This book is considered to be one of the first science fiction books. It is about the dangers of reckless scientific ambition and the ethical implications of creating life. The book questions science without ethics. What happens when humans, who are flawed and not divine, try to create life? We see the monstrous results. The book is a classic and one I need to read again.  The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man is a collection of short stories framed by the story of a tattooed man whose tattoos come to life and tell each story. Some of these stories are my favorite short stories of any genre. I thought I wasn't going to be able to reread the story "The Veldt", a story about children obsessed with their virtual reality nursery. But I recently reread it and it is even...

 I decided to try winners of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award an award that honors underrated science fiction authors with the hopes that they will be rediscovered. The awards are given out by the Cordwainer Smith Foundation at the Readercon Science Fiction Convention.  This cover features the Frog Woman I read a short story by Cordwainer Smith, The Ballad of Lost C'Mell, already and hope to read Norstrillia. I read a collection of short stories by R. A. Lafferty and loved it! I decided to go down the list and try another author, A Merritt. The book I chose to read is Moon Pool , a Lost World adventure published in 1919! It is full of purple prose, but I am enjoying every page! It is very dramatic and really should be made into a movie.  The next author is neither underrated nor forgotten. I also decided to read another book by James Blish, since I enjoy his writing. I couldn't find Black Easter, but I found Cities in Flight . This has all of the Cities in Flight b...

  A couple of years ago, a Youtuber I love, Bookpilled, mentioned a 100 science fiction book challenge to really explore the genre. There is no time limit.  I decided to try it out in September 2023 and it has been an amazing experience so far.  Here are the books I have read so far: 1. Quantum Radio by A. G. Riddle 2. Q-Squared by Peter David 3. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge 4. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor 5. Blood Music by Greg Bear 6. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke 7. All Systems Red by Martha Wells 8. Blindsight by Peter Watts 9. City by Clifford D. Simak 10. Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg 11. Uller Uprising by H. Beam Piper 12. I Think We.ve Been Here Before by Susy Krause 13. A Case of Conscience by James Blish 14. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson 15. The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson 16. Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre 17. The Best of R.A, Lafferty by R.A. Lafferty 18. Old Man's War by John Scalzi 19. Masters of Eve...

In the fall of 2023, I challenged myself to read 100 science fiction books.  These are the best science fiction books I have read since I started this challenge.    1. Blindsight by Peter Watts  What if consciousness is an evolutionary flaw?         A crew of augmented humans, a biological vampire, and an AI in a not-so-distant future travel to the edge of the solar system to meet a mysterious alien intelligence called the Rorschach. The book asks questions about intelligence, consciousness, and the future of humanity. The book is hard science fiction and dense with scientific ideas and jargon. The characters are all augmented or evolved in various ways, each exploring different aspects of what it is to be human. The story is told from the point of view of Siri, a man who had half of his brain taken out as a child and who feels more like a machine. The ideas and story come together perfectly at the end, each of the characters reach their arcs...