Author: 5t4n5

Fresco — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Fresco -- Alastair ReynoldsYou’ll find this in the collection, Deep Navigation.

A rather brief short story about an observatory near Jupiter that listens to broadcasts from other galaxies.

I get the idea that this should be a prequel to something: not sure what the point is being on its own.   Ho hum.

Next in the timeline from Alastair, it’s The Real Story from 2002.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

A Practical Guide to Conquering the World — K. J. Parker

By 5t4n5

A Practical Guide to Conquering the World -- K. J. ParkerThe third instalment in The Siege.   The first two thirds of the trilogy were excellent, this book has a lot to live up to.

As soon as i got a copy of this book i dropped everything else i was reading and jumped straight in: that’s how much i enjoyed the first two books of the trilogy.

Once more, great writing with great characters being forced into corners and having to do whatever it takes just to survive another hour or so, because you only need another hour or so to figure out how you can find a way to survive the next hour or so.   Fortunately for us avid readers our protagonists in these stories always find a way to keep surviving all those next hours or sos and thus the story keeps on rolling along with calamities and shenanigans abounding.

To be honest, i was sold on K. J. Parker’s writing after the first book, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, the second book, How To Rule An Empire and Get Away With It, just confirmed that i wasn’t mistaken in my assessment, and this book now makes me realise that i’ve been missing out on some great writing for over 20 years, but hey, now i can go back and read the complete K. J. Parker back catalogue and really enjoy myself.

So yeah, if you’re looking for a good fun read then do give The Siege trilogy a go, i’m sure most people with even just a tiniest smattering of a sense of humour will enjoy these books.

K. J. Parker’s Page Tom Holt’s Page

#fantasy #kjparker

Prayers to Broken Stones — Dan Simmons

By 5t4n5

Prayers to Broken Stones -- Dan Simmons

Hyperion Cantos

Remembering Siri – 1983
The Death of the Centaur – 1991

Standalones

The River Styx Runs Upstream – 1982
Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams – 1982
Carrion Comfort – 1983   ••••   expanded to novel in 1989
Vexed to Nightmare by a Rocking Cradle – 1985
The Offering – 1987
E-Ticket to ‘Namland – 1987 variant of E-Ticket to Namland
Vanni Fucci Is Alive and Well and Living in Hell – 1988
Metastasis – 1988
Iverson’s Pits – 1988
Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds – 1988
Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites – 1989

Dan’s Page

#scifi #dansimmons

Why Work? — Anthology

By 5t4n5

Why Work? -- Collection

Introductions

Beyond Waged Labour — Nina Power – 2016
In Praise of Idleness — Bertrand Russell – 1932
Useful Work versus Useless Toil — William Morris – 1885

The Problems of Work

The Tyranny of the Clock — George Woodcock – 1944
The Problem of Work — Camillo Berneri – 1938
The Art of Shovelling — Ifan Edwards – 1947
Measuring Misery — John Hewetson – 1954
The Wage System — Peter Kropotkin – 1888
“˜Who will do the Dirty Work?’ — Tony Gibson – 1952
The Dominant Idea — Voltarine de Cleyre – 1910

Alternatives and Futures

Reflections on Utopia — SP – 1962
Collectives in the Spanish Revolution — Gaston Leval – 1975
Significance of the “Self-Build” Movement – 1952
Leisure in America — August Heckscher II – 1961
The Other Economy: The Possibilities of Work Beyond Employment — Denis Pym – 1981
Visions: Six Drawings — Cliff Harper – 1975

Production: Need vs Profit

Editorials from Freedom Newspaper – 1958-1962

Changing Times

Wrinklies and Crumblies Discuss Punks and Joblessness — Colin Ward – 1996
Beyond an Economy of Work and Spend — Juliet Schor – 1997
Dark Satanic Cubicles: It’s Time to Smash the Job Culture! — Claire Wolfe – 2005
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs — David Graeber – 2013
Work — Prole.info – 2005