Category: Sci-fi

Recursion — Blake Crouch

By 5t4n5

Recursion -- Blake CrouchThe description on Amazon states that Recursion is the follow up to Dark Matter, which, for those of you living under a rock, is another absolutely, definitely, must read, Blake Crouch book.

So, i admit, i was a little dubious as to how this book would hold up when compared against its predecessor.   Dark Matter is, most certainly, a very, very hard act to follow.

But it did hold up, and without a doubt Recursion is very much a worthy book to be proclaimed as Dark Matter’s follow up.

Blake has one incredible imagination.   Genius.   How a writer can conjure up novels like Dark Matter and then follow it up with Recursion is outstanding.   Awesome mind-bending sci-fi that Blake somehow manages to make complete sense out of for all of us readers to enjoy having our minds bent by.

If you haven’t read these two books yet, then stop reading this and go and read them instead.

Blake’s Page

#scifi #blakecrouch

Rendezvous With Rama — Arthur C. Clarke

By 5t4n5

Rendezvous With Rama -- Arthur C. ClarkeWhat’s there to say: proper, good, classic sci-fi.   As with Childhood’s End, it is well deserving of it’s place in the “SF Masterworks” series.

This time, instead of actual aliens coming to Earth and a prophecy of how humanity will eventually evolve, in Rendezvous With Rama we have a large alien vessel entering the solar system on a path that will take it inside the orbit of Mercury, around the Sun, and then, is anyone’s guess.   Will it adjust it’s trajectory, pull a breaking manouvre and find a stable orbit in the solar system, or will it use the Sun and sling shot elsewhere?   Where did it come from, who sent it, who or what is inside, what is it’s purpose?

Set in a time when humans have colonised several planets and moons in the solar system and space flight is quite normal, we have one space ship — the Endeavour, captained by a big fan of James Cook — that is able to get some fuel and rendezvous with this vessel and investigate it.   However, once the vessel has passed inside the orbit of Mercury, the Mercurians decide to take matters into their own hands and ignore what the rest of humanity has to say on the matter.

As i say, this is a proper old school sci-fi first contact story at its best and well deserving of its place as a “SF Masterworks”.

Arthur’s Page

#scifi #sfmasterworks #arthurcclarke

Once Upon A Star — Anthology

By 5t4n5

Once Upon A Star -- AnthologyOooh, sci-fi fairy tales.

Escape: A Liza Roth Adventure — Anthea Sharp
True.Love — Alethea Kontis
Blow Your Planet Down — Shawntelle Madison
The Cyrano Solution: A Gaian Consortium Story — Christine Pope
Once You Wish — Evelyn Snow
By the Light of a Distant Star — Jenna Elizabeth Johnson
Vasilia and the Horse of Power — Jamie Ferguson
Echo — Nikki Jefford
Deadly Dance — Kasey Mackenzie
Through Time and Space: A Little Red Riding Hood Tale — Julia Crane
The Star Dragon’s Curse — Alexia Purdy
Zatarra — Phaedra Weldon
Loxley — Sarra Cannon
Candy House — Kay McSpadden

#scifi #fairytale #antheasharp #aletheakontis #shawntellemadison #christinepope #evelynsnow #jennaelizabethjohnson #jamieferguson #nikkijefford #kaseymackenzie #juliacrane #alexiapurdy #phaedraweldon #sarracannon #kaymcspadden

Five Ways to Forgiveness — Ursula K. Le Guin

By 5t4n5

Five Ways to Forgiveness -- Ursula K. Le GuinAll five “Yeowe and Werel” stories in one collection: at long last.

Yeowe and Werel are planets in the Hainish Universe, and although you can read these five stories as standalones i really feel you’re doing yourself a disservice by not reading through all the Hainish stories while you’re here, or there.   These five stories are some of the last to be written by Ursula in the Hainish Universe.

Betrayals – 1994
Forgiveness Day – 1994
A Man of the People – 1995
A Woman’s Liberation – 1995
Old Music and the Slave Women – 1996

Ursula’s Page

#scifi #ursulakleguin

The Last Broadcast — Christopher Ruz

By 5t4n5

The Last Broadcast -- Christopher RuzAn AI is put in charge of looking after a space ship with thousands of people in hibernation pods.   The journey is to last thousands of years and the AI has no one to talk to …

… and so the AI starts to have a bit of a mental health crisis.

I really enjoy good AI stories and this is certainly a good one.   As machines become more intelligent one can imagine that they will begin to break down due to similar issues: what are we going to do with these machines when we don’t have them crunching data and they can do many years of thinking in a few seconds?

Food for thought.

My only complaint about this is that it is way to short for such a brilliant idea.   I would have loved this very premise to be played out in a novella at least.   But, sadly, us greedy and demanding readers can’t have everything we want.

Also available in Future Tides.

Christopher’s Page

#scifi #christopherruz