JackM Science Fiction 2014

[dex]

Read-a-thon

Plans

[Timstar]

Read-a-thon

Plans

 

John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids

The Midwich Cuckoos

 

I'm just about to finish Day of the Triffids, brilliant stuff!

[dex]

I'm looking forward to reading it.

 

Read-a-thon

 

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham , 272 Pages. 4th

 

Friday

1 hr P.37, 1 hr P.73

 

Saturday

1 hr P.122, 1 hr P. 157

 

Sunday

1 hr P. 197, 2 hrs P.272 finish

7hrs

 

It was another open ended story, like the kraken wakes. It had a good start, but it was as if he had a set limit of words for the story. He ended it in about three pages with no conclusion.

Edited April 6, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Read-a-thon

 

Sunday 6th

The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham, 220 Pages

 

Cukoos lay eggs in other birds' nests

The clutch that was fathered on the little village of Midwich, one night in September, proved to possess a monstrous will of its own. It promised to make the human race look as dated as the dinosaur.

 

1 1/2 hrs P.80, 1 1/2 hrs P.153, 1hr to 199, 22 mins to 220.

 

I liked this book, it was a quick read compared to the other books I've read by this author and it had a conclusion.

Edited April 6, 2014 by dex

[Athena]

I'm glad to hear you liked the John Wyndham books you read, though it's a shame about the ending of Day of the Triffids.

[dex]

Thanks Athena, I just prefer a closed ending. Probably because of all the thrillers I've read.

[dex]

Cities In Flight - James Blish Sfm

Originally published in four volumes, explores a future built on two crucial discoveries: Antigravity devices - 'Sindizzies' - which allow whole cities to be lifted from the Earth to become giant spaceships, and Longevity drugs which enable their inhabitants to live for thousands of years. As Earth stagnates, one by one the cities depart to the stars, leading to the establishment of a unique Galactic empire.

 

They Shall Have Stars

The first story is about a company working on a government contract to produce a Longevity drug and are also working on trying to produce a reliable system of anti-gravity. There wasn't really much detail on how these technologies were supposed to work. It was more a story about the relationships of people involved in the project and the politics of government appropriation.

There is a group of people leading the project and most of the story is based around them. Colonel Paige Russell is a spaceman who whilst working his normal job in space collects soil samples from planets he visits. He visits the company to try to find out what they do with them and gets forced to join the project.

 

 

A Life For The Stars

The second story seems to have the tech sorted out so far. A city has taken off to venture into space, making deals along the way to help them survive.

It had a slow start, but I enjoyed it more than the first one. It has a mix of adventure and  plotting. I liked the characters and the story was good.

It still took me five days to read it, but that was because I have been watching Babylon 5 and Hannibal.

Edited April 25, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Earthman, come home - James Blish 7th -11th May

 

It was okay, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other stories. 

Edited May 14, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Grass - Sheri S. Tepper - 540 Pages, 12 May - 4th June, A very slow start and I put it down many times.

 

What could be more commonplace than grass, or a world covered over all it's surface with numberless wind-whipped oceans of grass? But the planet of grass conceals horrifying secrets within it's endless pastures. Grass is a major work of fiction from Sheri S. Tepper.

An incurable plague has spread to all inhabited planets but one. No one knows why the prairie world of Grass is exempt. The imperial power of Earth, a Mormon-like religion called Sanctity, despatches the Yrarier family to snoop around. They are horsey types; the rulers of grass are thought to hunt. And so they do, but not for foxes, and not on horseback. The true nature of things - the hunters, the hunted, and the fields over which they fly - resists unravelling. But slowly, horribly, deliciously, the truth falls out.

 

It started out with the author naming as many characters as possible and them all having long names or titles, but has settled down now P121.

This book hasn't grabbed me and I'm not really bothered about it. If it doesn't pick up a bit, I'll probably put it back on the shelf.

2nd June, I'm enjoying this book more now, because after 200 pages of world building we're getting on with the story.

3rd June, I won't be recommending this book as I haven't got on too well with it. I've got to page 406 now and only have another 134 pages left. I'll try and finish it before friday, when the Readathon starts.

Edited June 4, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Triumph of Time - James Blish - 26th

 

I enjoyed this slightly more than ech and thought the set was a 3 overall.

Edited May 26, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Readathon

 

The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester 250 Pages, 6th - 7th June

 

In a world in which the police have telepathic powers, how do you get away with murder?

Ben Reich heads a huge 24th century business empire, spanning the solar system. He is also an obsessed, driven man determined to murder a rival. To avoid capture, in a society where murderers can be detected even before they commit their crime, is the greatest challenge of his life.

 

1 Hour to P.41

50 mins to P.85

1hr 10 mins to P.130

1hr to P.170

1hr to P.227

23 mins to 250

 

 

I'm enjoying it so far. It was quite good.

Edited June 9, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Blood Music - Greg Bear 262 Pages, 7th - 8th June

 

Vergil Ulam, a brilliant but unorthodox researcher, working to develop biochips, has exceeded the guidlines of genetic research - he's produced intelligent clumps of matter.

With his illegal experiments discovered, he makes one last desperate effort to save his creations, and injects himself with their deadly serum.

Now a billion microbes are throbbing within him, waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world...

 

Saturday

 

1 hr to P.40

 

Sunday

 

1 hr to P. 84

1 hr to P.126

1 hr to P.165

 

 

As I read this after grass, it seemed to be a shorter version of it. I enjoyed it, even though it did get a bit weird at the end.

Edited June 11, 2014 by dex

[dex]

I think I'm going to stick with sci-fi for a bit and read a couple more from:-

gateway, ringworld, lord of light, tau zero or hellstrom's hive. I keep looking at the revelation space trilogy as well.

[Karsa Orlong]

I thought Gateway was pretty decent, dex, but Lord of Light and the 'Revelation Space trilogy' are excellent.  If you go for the latter, I'd suggest reading Chasm City first - it's set in the same universe but it's a stand-alone story and takes place before the trilogy.  Chasm City and House of Suns are his best books that I've read so far 

[dex]

Thanks Karsa.

[dex]

Tau Zero - Poul Anderson

 

During her epic voyage to a planet thirty light-years away, the deceleration system of the Leonora Christine is irreparably damaged. Unable to slow down, she attains light speed, tau zero itself, and the disparity between time for those on board and external time becomes impossibly great. Eons and galaxies hurtle by in the blink of an eye as the crew speeds helpless and alone into the unknown...

This is reminding me of Cities In Flight, there both copyrighted 1970. And I'm finding it a hard read, now. They both could have been part of the same book.

Edited June 18, 2014 by dex

[Karsa Orlong]

I didn't like Tau Zero much, either.  It's short but it's a very laborious read.

[dex]

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny, 26th- June, 20th- 22nd July. 319 Pages

 

I don't think I was ever intended to read science fiction. On hold Page 202.8thJuly.

20th July, I've picked it back up.

 

I did finish it, but I must have missed something at the start,because I just didn't get the background story straight.

Edited July 22, 2014 by dex

[dex]

Gateway - Poul Anderson.

[dex]

Ringworld - Larry Niven

 

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