Category: Booklog

I’m very angry with David G. Hartwell. Hartwell, for those who don’t know his name, is a very distinguished editor of science fiction, with a long list of anthologies and scholarly essays to his credit, not to mention fabulous taste in clothes. He’s also an editor for Tor Books, where he appears to be the… Continue reading John C. Wright, The War of the Dreaming [Library of Babel]

I actually read this months ago, but I’m only just getting around to booklogging it. Which is a problem, because I no longer remember it all that clearly… Elizabeth Bear’s previous books were a trilogy of competent neo-Heinlein adventure stories, so it’s perfectly logical that her next book, Blood and Iron, should be a fantasy… Continue reading Elizabeth Bear, Blood and Iron [Library of Babel]

Not long ago, I booklogged Odyssey, the latest of Jack McDevitt’s Archeologists in Spaaaace books. When I picked that up, I also grabbed a paperback copy of Seeker, the latest in his other series of novels, these ones about, well, antiquities dealers in spaaaace. I don’t believe I’ve booklogged the previous volumes, A Talent for… Continue reading Antiquities Dealers in Spaaaace!!! [Library of Babel]

I’ve been thinking about doing some best-of-the-year posts this week, and trying to come up with a reasonable list of best books. Frank Portman’s piss-take on Catcher in the Rye, the much-praised-by-Bookslut King Dork is one of the books that might well figure in a “best books of 206” post, which made me realize that… Continue reading Frank Portman, King Dork [Library of Babel]

Charlie Stross is one of the current Hot Authors in SF, but he’s been pretty uneven for me. I liked Iron Sunrise quite a bit, but thought the highly-regarded Accelerando was actually pretty bad, and I didn’t care much for The Hidden Family, the second volume in the Amber-with-Usenet-economics series. The cover copy of Glasshouse… Continue reading Charles Stross, The Jennifer Morgue [Library of Babel]

That’s Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, authors of the Mageworlds series of space opera novels, and a host of other books– they’re shorted on their first names, because I don’t really want to test the character limit for titles in Movable Type. Land of Mist and Snow has been in progress for some time–… Continue reading Doyle and Macdonald, Land of Mist and Snow [Library of Babel]

The latest step in John “BaconCat” Scalzi’s project of world domination (or, at least, domination of the SF corner of the literary world), The Android’s Dream is set in an entirely different world than his Old Man’s War and sequels. It’s still very much a Scalzi book, though, insofar as the third published book by… Continue reading John Scalzi, The Android’s Dream [Library of Babel]

Speaking of weirdly compelling reads (as I was at the end of the previous entry), Jack McDevitt has a new book out in what I think of as the “Archeologists in Spaaaace!!!” series (which starts with The Engines of God, and includes Chindi, Deepsix and Omega). Odyssey doesn’t include any archeologists, but it has a… Continue reading Jack McDevitt, Odyssey [Library of Babel]

Wellspring of Chaos is the umpteenth book in the Recluce saga by L.E. Modesitt (who, amusingly, turns out to be a Williams alumn), and even more than the Hodgell book, is not something I would ordinarily give a high priority to in catching up on the book log. If you’ve read pretty much any of… Continue reading L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Wellspring of Chaos [Library of Babel]

To Ride a Rathorn is the fourth book in P.C. Hodgell’s Kencyrath series (the previous three are God Stalk, Dark of the Moon and Seeker’s Mask), and as such probably wouldn’t get to the top of the booklog queue– there’s just too much backstory, and the book wouldn’t make any sense to a new reader.… Continue reading P.C. Hodgell, To Ride a Rathorn [Library of Babel]