Our February 2019 reads

Hope you are all hibernating from the horrendous weather,and have some great books on hand!

Dusty's TBR for February
SF/F reads
Connie Willis - All Clear)✔
Simon R Green - Death Shall Come✔
Ursula K LeGuin - Powers ✔
Charles Stross - The Delirium Brief
Murray Leinster - Med Ship✔
Kevin Hearne - Scourged✔
Bob Shaw - Orbitsville✔

from other genres
Michael Innes - Weight of the Evidence✔
M J Trow - Maxwell's House✔
Genevieve Cogman -The Invisible Library ✔
Charlotte Yue - The Igloo✔
Jayne Castle - Siren's Call✔
Lindsey Davis - Pandora's Boy✔

Just finished Tom Gauld's Mooncop, part of my Christmas stocking, which is a gentle depiction of life on the Moon winding down, illustrated only the way Gauld can. (UK readers will know him from his cartoon in the Guardian and New Scientist.) Now reading one of Iain Banks' non-sf novels, Whit.

>3 RobertDay: I enjoyed Whit. You will enjoy the explanation of the "back-bussing" technique.

There are many of Iain's non-SF books that I thought followed the styles of other authors, e.g. I thought Canal Dreams was his Fredrick Forsythe style book (I have done all this research and by gad Sir, I am going to put it in the book). I considered "Whit" his Agatha Christie style book.

Finishing and reviewing The Psychology of Time Travel for its publication this month. Also NOT going outside.

>5 richardderus: I have looked at that book several times. Did you enjoy it?

>2 dustydigger: a good reminder I should put one of my many unread Michael Innes books into the rotation.

>6 pgmcc: It's okay. I wasn't blown away, but was able to find nice things to say about it.

Still reading The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton.

While I did get started on my read-through of Asimov's Robot Universe books with both I, Robot and The Caves of Steel, I have spent most of January working my way through Robin Hobb's The Liveship Traders and The Tawny Man trilogies. Am just starting Fool's Fate today. It's epic fantasy rather than SF but is still very entertaining.

I will be interviewing Frances Hardinge at a local convention in March, so I am reading what I hadn't already read by her. At the moment that means Twilight Robbery. Yeah, YA fantasy, not SF.

>8 richardderus: Thank you. You have saved me time that I can use to seek out books that will blow me away. If you had to find nice things about it then I shall bypass this book.

>12 pgmcc: ...AND my copy was a DRC so I didn't even have the "I PAID FOR THIS" hill to climb.

Listening to Karen Memory and reading Night Train to Rigel.

>11 anglemark: There's a convention in Uppsala in March?

>15 iansales: No, Stockholm. Ökon. Two-day con, free membership, capped at 100, almost but not quite full. http://ökon.fandom.se

>11 anglemark: The only Hardinge I've read is The Lie Tree and A Skinful of Shadows, but I thought both were truly excellent novels. I read Skinful because it was a not-a-Hugo YA finalist, but it was honestly better than any of the Best Novel finalists last year!

Cruising through Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher. So far it's a fine addition to the Alliance-Union universe, with no noticeable change in style due to the collaboration.

The History of Women in Sci-Fi Isn’t What You Think Interesting article in Wired mag. It has excerpts of an interview with “Lisa Yaszek, who teaches science fiction studies at Georgia Tech “{University USA} who also quotes Judith Merril

https://www.wired.com/2019/02/geeks-guide-history-women-sci-fi/?

>19 DugsBooks: Nice read, thanks. I've seen Lisa Yaszek at conferences; she's nice. I was pretty surprised a couple months ago when I was reading an issue of Green Lantern: Mosaic from the early 1990s and came across a letter from her in the back.

>19 DugsBooks: Thanks for posting that link - great podcast.

>16 anglemark: Ah, that's the weekend I arrive in Sweden. I guess no one will be around in Uppsala that weekend then :-)

>20 Stevil2001: I read her book Galactic Suburbia as research for All That Outer Space Allows, and I have her Sisters of Tomorrow on my TBR.

>7 ChrisRiesbeck: ''a good reminder I should put one of my many unread Michael Innes books into the rotation''
I always enjoy the Inspector Appleby books,and read one whenever I come across them,which isnt so easy these days. I have a soft spot for all the literary detectives of Dorothy Sayers,Edmund Crispin,Ellery Queen and even S S Van Dine. With most of those authors I recognize most of the literary quotes but Michael Innes makes no concessions,and I am lucky to work out about 20% of the fiendishly complicated quotes on a good day! lol
I have just managed to locate Innes' Charles Honeybath series,which I have never come across before,and all of Edmund Crispin's Gervase Fen books,so I have some enjoyable reads for me to work through while hibernating from the cold! :0)

>23 iansales: I have now added
The Future Is Female! 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin
Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women's Science Fiction
Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction
to my Wishlist

>25 SChant: Also definitely worth reading is Daughters of Earth.

>19 DugsBooks:. Interesting, thanks!

I read Ann Leckie's Ancillary sword (second in her Imperial Radch trilogy). Will be reading volume 3 soon.

It was ok, I guess, but a little underwhelming. The book reminded me of Elizabeth Moon's series Vatta's War: for all the warships and military trappings, the main stage is always taken up with interpersonal conflict. Perhaps volume 3 will raise the stakes a little.

>28 Petroglyph: I thought that was the point of them!

I compared the Imperial Radch military to the Austro-Hungarian Army in the 19th century. Their officers sat around a lot, talking about Honour and Duty and the latest scandals and admiring each other's gorgeous uniforms. I sort of got the feeling that the Radch officers did pretty much the same (though with exquisite tea services replacing the gorgeous uniforms) and it takes a downloaded AI to upset all that.

>29 RobertDay:
Oh yes, it's definitely intentional! It's even well done! Leckie just keeps dangling inter-species space war in front of me, and I also want to read about that.

I think it's weird, though, that the prevalence of tea (drink, in food, the ceremonies, the bowls) makes you think of a decadent culture in decline. So far, military personnel, their training and their capabilities have imho been portrayed as more than adequate to their tasks. To me, it reads more like a cultivation of more delicate and higher civilizational values (also a deliberate attempt to make the future more oriental-based rather than USA-based, but not solely that). The Radchaai may be past their initial highs, but, to me at least, their fondness for tea doesn't seem like a harbinger of their downfall.

I thought the stakes in book 2 of the Ancillary series were disappointingly low, and things came too easily for Breq; I thought she adjusted to her new circumstances astoundingly well. I do really like Leckie's attention to the details of colonialism, though. My review is at: https://www.librarything.com/work/14793486/reviews/137309571

>26 iansales: Read that one when it fist came out. Very illuminating.

>30 Petroglyph: I was never in doubt as to the Radchaai's martial abilities, just as I see that the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was more down to the turn of geopolitical events than the abilities of their army on the battlefield.

Austria-Hungary did lose out to Prussia on the battlefield in 1866, but this was down to failings at the command level rather than any cultural failings. Indeed, post-1866, Austria-Hungary was held up as an example of a more refined culture than the highly militaristic Prussians, and Prussia was singled out for trying to bend culture to the service of the state. The view of Austro-Hungary as "decadent" seems to be a judgement of international opinion formers amongst the Allies, political conservatives at home and historians writing after the event and engaging in groupthink. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy after 1919 when the Empire was split up and Austria lost a large segment of its economy and many of its creative minds to the new Czechoslovakia.

If one is looking for a fair-minded examination of the political plight and military potential of the Austro-Hungarian polity in the Great War let me suggest The Fall of the Double Eagle; we now return to your normally scheduled consideration of genre fiction and commentary.

Currently reading Boneland.

>24 dustydigger: Tonight I'm reading the final chapter of A Connoiseur's Case -- the one where everyone is gathered to be told the solution to the mystery. I see I have 3 of the Honeybath books. Maybe I'll put one of them in the queue the next time I'm up for a mystery.

I am almost finished Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft. Interesting series, will be reading the rest.

Finished Hobb's The Tawny Man series last night. Going to take a break with a standalone title or two before proceeding to The Rain Wilds Chronicles.

Hello!! Have you guys read Ender's Game

it is a great series.

Finished The Quantum Thief, up next Manifold: Origin.

Continuing the Radch trilogy with Ancillary Mercy.

Oh boy. I am reading All Clear,a rush job because two people want it and I had only a week to read it it. Absolutely tedious and repetitious. 400/640 pages read,and only 2 days left,because no way do I intend to pay overdue fines for rubbish.lolSo its a grim plod.
I am also,unfortunately struggling through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and I hate it!Still 400 pages to go.
And just to make things really fun,I am reading Ursula K LeGuin's Powers Not a gleam of light,humour or happiness anywhere.Well written,but dark and depressing,oh so earnest and...well,worthy.Passionate about the plight of woman and slavery and so on.Le Guin certainly likes to hammer home the message. Sorry,but apart from probably the first 2 or 3 Hainish books I find her books too dry and earnestly issue based for my tastes. I read her books,about 1 or 2 a year,but as duty reads really.And I have never fancied rereading any of them

So not the most cheerful and delightful reading times at the moment. When I finally finish these books I am going to reward myself with several light fluff and popcorn reads. I deserve it! :0)

>43 dustydigger:
I am just now reading the Annals of the Western Shore because I am reading the Nebula winners this year. Just finished Gifts, started Voices today. But I love LeGuin and read a couple a year because I want to savour them. How different tastes can be :D (I also love Connie Willis and do the same thing with her works too).

Currently reading Regency fantasy Without a Summer which, according to the back cover blurb, is set in "Summer, 1916"...

>43 dustydigger: I know some of UKLG's novels are sometimes dry but you might try some of her short stories. I'm currently reading The Birthday of the World and Other Stories and a lot of the stories are pretty steamy.

Not particularly recent, nor necessarily edifying, but I've just started on Harry Turtledove's Worldwar: in the balance. I do like me a good, juicy alternate history, but I suppose I've put this off for ages because there's just so much of it...

Read Gather the Daughters. Meh. I am half way through Trail of Lightning. It's ok, but monster hunting isn't really my thing. I have Luna Wolf Moon next. And I have read the first few stories in Infinity's End which were pretty good.

>43 dustydigger:
>44 divinenanny:
I love UK Le Guin, but didn't read the Gifts trilogy (or whatever it's called) until 2 or 3 years ago. One thing that interested me was how different in tone & setting each book was.
You're right that humor isn't one of her interests, or strong points. I love that she writes truthfully, vividly, and deceptively simply, about many basic issues in life: not just politics but the ethics of power, personal realization, social & cultural differences, and spirituality (in a broad sense), all infused with myth and a sometimes mystical bent. Lots of anthropological influence, not surprisingly (that "K"). And though she can be dark, often, it's not a despairing darkness.
You will perceive that I'm a fan.... :-)
The only one of her books I did find too dry was The Dispossessed.

Polished off Without a Summer over the weekend. Fun. Now reading Mission Child.

>48 daxxh:. Thanks for the heads up on Trail of Lightning. I am reading Wake of Vultures right now, and in addition to being much more YA than I anticipated, it's also another monster hunting book. Not for me.

Dune! It needed a re-read.

I'm reading Blackfish City, set in a future where the seas have risen and many populations are based on large floating cities. This one is near the Arctic. The setting reminds me somewhat of Company Town but so far the plot is better.

>53 Sakerfalcon: My SF&F Book Group has chosen that for our next read. I'd be interested to hear what you think.
I liked the idea of Company Town but thought the execution was a shambles.

>54 SChant: I had a similar reaction to Company Town.

Finished Karen Memory last night. Pretty good but a bit lighter than I expected after reading Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy a while back.

Next: headed into the Asimov/Silverberg collaboration, The Positronic Man, as I continue this year's reading of the robot stories and novels.

Well I am back to reading a SciFi book and picked up Happy Policeman. I am not sure what to expect from this book, but the title grabbed my attention.

>56 Lynxear: Patricia Anthony was an interesting writer, but then pretty much dropped out of sight. She died in 2013.

I remember Ms. Anthony from when she was guest of honor at a convention I was helping out with; an interesting person whose early death was a loss to the field.

Finished Revenant Gun (A-) yesterday evening and while I miss the pyrotechnics of the first two novels it probably is a worthy ending to the trilogy. More than anything else it's sort of a long appendix exploring the roots of the crimes of the Hexarchate. This is besides being a character study of Shuos Jedao the person, as opposed to Shuos Jedao the bogeyman.

>55 ScoLgo: I really like The Positronic Man; I felt it was the one Asimov/Silverberg collaboration that produced something more worth reading than the original story. One of the better robot stories, though I don't think it quite fits with I, Robot chronologically.

>57 iansales: >58 Shrike58: I am sorry to hear that she has passed. She was only my age when she died... too young as far as I am concerned {sigh}

>60 Stevil2001: I am only a few chapters in but so far, so good. Chronologically, this one seems to fit somewhere between the I, Robot stories and The Caves of Steel. Robots are ubiquitous but not yet developed to the near-human appearance of Daneel Oliwav. Going by the opening chapters, Andrew (NDR-113) appears to be the first step toward that development or, dare I say... evolution.

Finished reading Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher last night. Whatever misgivings I might have had regarding a collaborative effort by these two have been laid to rest. It's of a piece with the rest of the Alliance-Union universe, so if you've enjoyed those books in the past, this one will be worth a look. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this story in the future.

Next read will be fantasy rather than science fiction, Landsend Plateau by Eric T. Knight. I'll return to sci-fi shortly, with Cyan Syd Logsdon.

>63 ThomasWatson: Thank you for the positive note on Alliance Rising. I've bought it.

I'm back to SF for the anthology New Writings in SF-12.

Starting on After Atlas this weekend. I thought Planetfall quite good so am looking forward to this one.

Finished Le Guin's Powers.A bit downbeat most of the time.and the descriptions of the various societies the protagonist passes through are a bit dry,almost anthropological! lol.
Anyhoo,now only 2 books left to complete my Nebula award winners,Paladin of Souls and Windup Girl 52/54 completed :0)
Next up The Delirium Brief and Scourged to relax after some heavy Hugos,and gird up for Jonathan Strange!

>64 seitherin: Hope you enjoy it!

After a LOOOONG detour into high fantasy with the Wheel of Time series (excellent btw), I'm back into (Military) SF with Points of Impact by Marko Kloos. This is supposedly the 6th and last (for now) installment of the "Frontlines" series, which is solid Military SF that doesn't glorify or gloss over the tough parts of a difficult profession.

The third book of that series is in my immediate reading future. Since Kloos comported himself honorably during the Sad/Mad/Dumb Puppies brouhaha I figured the least I could do is give his series a spin and so far I'm enjoying it.

After having polished off Brave new world, which I'd never read before (but which I've reviewed here), I've now embarked on another classic that's new to me: PKD's Ubik. A literature professor at my department considers it one of Dick's best.

>68 ThomasWatson: Thank you. I expect I will, but it's at least a month away from being read. I've got three reads going at the moment and I don't seem to be making much progress on any of them. Hit a slump so I'm filling my time with mindless Netflix/Amazon Prime watching.

I read The Beasts of Valhalla a mystery with Sci-fi themes - a mad scientist, gene splicing the end of the world, etc.

The hero Mongo is a former circus acrobat, karate black belt, detective dwarf.

The cover is very cool - has nothing to do with the book really.

>71 Petroglyph: Let us know how you like it; I too came late to Brave New World, and haven't yet gotten to Ubik despite considering myself a fan of Dick, Philip K.'s work, so I'm curious how you feel about it.

Sci-Fi Author Robert Heinlein Was Basically MacGyver, Link to wired article with {short} interview opinions of Gregory Benford on Heinlein and Phillip K. Dick among other topics.

>71 Petroglyph: It's been years since I read Ubik but I don't think you will be disappointed.

>72 seitherin: Every now and then the brain needs a rest. ;-)

Finished After Atlas last night. Good story and interesting tie-in to Planetfall. I'm interested to see where Newman takes this series next so have added the next two books, Before Mars and Atlas Alone to my TBR list for this year.

Added Alliance Rising by C. J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher to my reading rotation.

Currently reading The Calculating Stars and it seems to be living up to the hype.

By chance I am reading 2 novels about secret service organizations whose job is to deal with the supernatural. Charlie Stross's The Delirium Brieffrom the Laundry series and Daniel O'Malley's The Rook Both are great fun but I am still procrastinating with Strange and Norrell.Still 300/850 mind numbing pages to go.I have set a deadline end of March,as 10 pages a day is all I can stomach.
Much happier trotting around with Bob,the Eater of Souls at the Laundry(100 pages in 3 days)and I have galloped through 120 pages of The Rook in 2 days. Quite a contrast........

Finished New Writings in SF-12. I've been dipping in and out of the series and this is the best so far. No weak stories and James White has contributed a Sector General story. Pick of the bunch though is Colin Kapp's early steampunk outing The Cloudbuilders.

Up next I'm reading A Thunder of Stars by Dan Morgan and John Kippax. It's not quite a re-read. I got it from the library as a small child and quickly decided it was too adult for my taste. Maybe I'll find I've grown into it now.

I put down Happy Policeman after about 75 pages. The story just did not hold my attention. I may pick it up again but not now

I have heard of good things about J.D. Robb which is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts . I had always associated Ms. Roberts with romance novels but I picked up her first novel in her "death" series, Naked by Death and I am very impressed by her writing so far.

This book is set somewhere around 2050 (I keep getting hints of the exact time) and is a serial murder mystery set in the future. I Love reading mysteries and as such this book hooks me every bit as much as Lee Child, Michael Connely or David Baldacci except it is set in the future rather than the past.

Her style seems to be not the Buck Rogers out there science fiction but more reserved with subtle references to futuristic ways of doing things and living.

Finished my first run through The Calculating Stars (B+) and while I enjoyed it I'm not as impressed as some folks seem to be; maybe some the critiques of the science of her global-warming catastrophe put me off a little. Still, that she has essentially created a Campbellian space-opera without all John W.'s cranky hang-ups has to be considered an achievement and I anticipate continuing with the series.

Next up: City of Miracles.

>83 Lynxear: I found a paperback copy of Naked in Death crammed into the corner of the library's crime fiction shelves way back in 1996.Looked like a new debut author but as a former librarian I regularly check the back of the title page for info(yep,a real nerd) so I knew this was a pseudonym of Nora Roberts.I really enjoyed this amalgam of SF,crime fiction and romance,so I waited patiently for book two - and at the moment I am waiting patiently for #48 in the series,Leverage in Death. Robb has skillfully rung enough changes to keep the series fresh enough to hold on to a strongly loyal fan base,without changing the essentials that drew fans in the first place,a very unusual state of affairs.
On the way she has become a very good writer of police procedurals. I'm sure a lot of procedural crime writers are pleased she is off sequestered in the realms of romance and SF,or they would have to look to their laurels.Even so her books regularly achieve the #1 position on the NY bestsellers lists. After 50 or so books that's some achievement

>85 dustydigger: The book is a fast read and wanting a bit in some areas. But overall I am enjoying the book after picking up a couple of clinkers recently.

The first jarring bit was a reference to a small desktop computer and going through the hard drive. I would have thought that computer hardware would have been somewhat more advanced than that in 2050ish.... it was then I looked at when the book was written and saw that it was 1995 and I am reading it 23 years later. As I remember my computer back then I was not much beyond 3.5 inch floppies back then so hard drives were cutting edge back then.

This probably a new genre for her writing back then and I expect her books in the Death series will improve with each new one. I am not disappointed at all so far. I would like to see more SciFi in the story but as a mystery it is pretty decent. Some of her characters could be drawn a bit better too and it is almost a tad too romance for me in places but as I said ... it is the first of a long series so I will follow it and see how it develops.

>54 SChant: I finished Blackfish City and enjoyed it quite a lot. It was much better than Company Town, IMO, with the strengths of the setting but a far better-constructed plot. There are about 4 POV characters and it takes a while for them to come together (although they are linked by secondary characters), but this slow build gives us a thorough picture of life, society and politics on Qaanaaq. It's a typical dystopian scenario of haves and have-nots, with people seeking by various ways to improve their lot. When the plotlines do converge, it does feel as though there are some unlikely coincidences that connect the characters, but it's not overdone. I did wonder where all the food comes from - presumably kelp and other sea products, but an awful lot of noodles are eaten and I wondered how they were made. I hope your book group enjoy the read as much as I did - I hope you'll report back here!

>87 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for that. Will let you know our conclusions. ;)

Just started Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon.

A Thunder of Stars was no more than an annoyance. Generic space opera with a daft story and weak characters. I don't forsee reading any of the sequels.

Next up I'm reading Orbit 4, an anthology edited by Damon Knight.

>90 SFF1928-1973:

I used to read a lot of Damon Knight anthologies when I was in my teens and liked the short stories very much. I am searching for the book(s) that had two particular stories... one about a man who ticks off a water gnome and suffers for it, another about a man who is broke, down to his last five dollar bill and finds a way to duplicate it.

I think these stories were in a Damon Knight Orbit book but I don't know which one.

>90 SFF1928-1973: I apparently did the same as you - read the first book only. And then sold the trilogy to some poor sucker on eBay. Interestingly, one of the writers was better known as a guitar player/teacher.

Continuing to work through my TBR pile with Alfred Bester's Golem 100.

Finished City of Miracles (A+) this afternoon and found it a worthy conclusion to a great trilogy.

>85 dustydigger: I have finished Naked in Death but will not continue the series. It is basically a romance novel with overtones of mystery and less so on the science fiction. I disliked the main male character, Roarke, who cannot control his urges.

As a SciFi novel it is totally lacking in imagination.

>83 Lynxear: & >85 dustydigger:

I owned a used bookstore until a few months ago (sold it, didn't close it -- happy story), and for a period of time I sold a ton of the J.D. Robb books. I have read two of the relatively later ones and found them to be enjoyable, if light, fare. Much more murder mysteries than science fiction, though. The futuristic setting seemed basically a publisher's-whim add-on to me. And at heart, yes, they certainly fit within the "romantic suspense" sub-genre.

>96 rocketjk: I envy your owning a used bookstore. In the early 1980's, My then wife worked in an antique market in Toronto on Queens Quay. I was an industrial salesman so we rarely saw each other at first. We decided to create a used/out of print book space. She would prowl Phillips Ward-Price and Waddington auctions during the week and was quite successful in buying libraries. Furniture/glass &china people did not like books (too heavy and they did not have buyers for them) and they left her alone.

We lived in a small one bedroom 3 story walk up which was covered with boxes of books. It was like Christmas when I would come home from a sales trip, opening the boxes to see the treasures within. I was a scout for books in my spare time on the road...I knew what our Sunday clients wanted and could find books in second hand shops at pretty decent prices.

Back then there was no tax on paper sales, so no requirement to keep detailed sales records. We actually banked our salaries and lived off the proceeds of the book sales. I wondered idly why was I working for a living :) and learned a lot about books from my customers.

I can imagine the success of J.D.Robb books but I think if you think back you would find 90% of the customers for those books were women. Nora Roberts writes for for women...not men in my opinion.

If you look at my library on LT you will find I read a lot of mystery novels and while she must have gotten better at it, Naked by Death is not a well written mystery novel and I agree that the futuristic setting was a minor whim to set her books apart from other writers... but she was not particularly imaginative about writing about the future. She did not really describe life about 80 years from when she wrote the book along with a vague descriptions of flying commuter cars, an auto-chef which seemed more like a Star Trek replicator and computers that had "hard drives" which were just really introduced in the middle 1990's when this book was written.

But I can see how the romance in the book would grab the imagination of women who like romance novels. I don't think most men would enjoy such writing.... or maybe it was just me :)

>97 Lynxear: Most of the folks who bought J.D. Robb books were women, sure. Mostly because Nora Roberts is known as a romance author, I would imagine. At any rate, I can't speak to any of your other points. Regardless of whom she "writes for," while I don't consider them great writing, and, as I said, they seem more mysteries to me than science fiction, I enjoyed both of the "In Death" books I read. I haven't read "Naked in Death." My guess would be that she rounded into the series and the genre--or sub-genre--as she wrote the books. She's been writing them for 25 years. I would hope that I would get better at anything I did for that long. :)

>98 rocketjk: I haven't read any of the 'In Death' books but that is a good point. Just about any long-running series usually does not start off with the best installment, (Dune being an obvious exception).

Certainly the books are predominantly crime/romance/ suspense,with only a few SF like gadgets etc.And the SF elements never increased or developed beyond what was in the first few books.Just fun light popcorn reads really,not for the serious SF fan.But I have enjoyed them enough to keep reading for over 20 years.

I am having a fun time at the moment reading Daniel O'Malley's The Rook and Charlie Stross The Delirium Files. I enjoyed Christopher Brookmyre's comment on the Laundry books - ''proves that world-threatening inter-dimensional terrors are no match for British bureaucracy''
Maybe,but it is a close run thing is this outing for the Laundry,when they are dismantled by their enemies! :0) But such a contingency has been prepared for,thank goodness.:0)

Added The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction May/June 2018 to my reading rotation.

I have a soft spot for the BDO subgenre,the Big Dumb Object or more politely the Alien Mysterious Megastructure.The 70s produced some of the most famous examples,Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama,Larry Niven's Ringworld,John Varley's Titan.
Bob Shaw's Orbitsville certainly depicts one of the biggest.A Dyson metal sphere 300 million kilometres across,built round a single star,equivalent in livable space to 5 billion earths! Now that's big! Inside however is is surprisingly dull,just endless savannah,millions of miles after millions of miles.. I did feel at times that Shaw could have been having a bit of a dig at the genre,especially the way they named the vast megastructure as Orbitsville! lol. But the writing didn't seem slyly satirical,so I had to look upon it as a standard,quite enjoyable adventure novel.It did have a rather bleak premise about the purpose of the BDO in the final chapter.But I couldn't feel much sensawunda,as ithe sphere was just too big to grasp,and yet very boring.

As a rule I am very tolerant of the attitudes to women in old SF,its part of the times,and I just accept it but even I found the wife of the hero TSTL(too stupid to live) I dread to think what our Lola Walser would have to say about this book!.

Still,quite enjoyable,though I'm not sure if

>102 dustydigger: "Orbitsville" - see for yourself. Post 93 in the current thread...

>94 Shrike58: Totally agree with you. Robert Jackson Bennet is a very impressive writer.

>74 igorken:
I've now written up my thoughts on Ubik. I thought it was very underwhelming.

>106 Petroglyph: Thanks for that . Still a solid 4 star average but it wouldn't be the first highly rated classic that feels very dated when I get to it.

>106 Petroglyph:
>107 igorken:

I respectfully disagree about Ubik. I've only read 10 or 11 PKD novels, but I have hit most of the major ones. Ubik might actually be my favorite if I had to choose one. I honestly enjoyed it more than The Man in the High Castle.

I'm with >108 Dr_Flanders:
I do think Ubik is a bit less "literary" than PKD's other top-tier novels. To quote my review: "The characters are unusually clear, lacking the amorphousness that Dick's psychological approach often inflicts on his protagonists, and this feature may well have been a function of his onetime development of this story as a prospective film treatment. In my dream universe, David Cronenberg has already directed a production of Ubik!"