Jules (Gabriel) Verne is a household name throughout the Western world, and a well-known one even outside of it. Versions of his stories have been turned into movies, TV series, video games, anime, and any other form of entertainment imaginable. For me, he was one of the original sources of wonder. I first encountered the work of Jules Verne in a hardcover abridged (probably for children) version of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Even the abridged version was fairly heavy going (I think I was [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: When Worlds Collide/After Worlds Collide
December 19, 2012 By 2 Comments
It is often said that "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12". It is certainly the case that I remember fondly many books that I discovered at that age; that was in the middle of my Junior High career, and I had been introduced the year before to Doc Smith and Christopher Anvil. Subsequently, I decided to start looking for more science fiction, and went into the library of Shaker Junior High to start looking. Having no better idea, I started looking for books that caught my eye starting at the beginning of the alphabet, and [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Brian Daley’s Coramonde
December 17, 2012 By 5 Comments
Brian Daley was a science fiction and fantasy author with a great talent for painting worlds with words – his own worlds, or those of others. He was probably best-known personally as the writer of three Han Solo novels (I believe the first three published, aside from Splinter of the Mind's Eye), and most successful as one-half of Jack McKinney, the author of the Robotech novelizations. He died, unfortunately, in the middle of his career, victim of cancer at the age of 49. I, however, remember him for two original [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Lords of Dûs
December 14, 2012 By 8 Comments
Some years ago, I belonged to a writer's group, one of whose members worked at a bookstore. On occasion he'd bring in a box of stripped (front cover removed) books for people to take home if they wanted. NOTE: This is an illegal practice, though I didn't know it at the time. "Stripped" books are recorded as "returned" by publishers and are supposed to be destroyed. There are aspects of this practice that I'm unsure of in terms of whether it really makes sense, but I just want to make clear I'm not promoting [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Pandora’s Legions
December 5, 2012 By 6 Comments
As I mentioned back in my discussion of Doc Smith, when I was in 6th grade my teacher Mr. Dickinson gave me two SF books to read. One of them, Second-Stage Lensmen by Doc Smith, transformed my world forever. The other was only lesser by comparison with the titanic effect of Doc's work, for it was a truly worthy work by itself: was Pandora's Planet, the earlier edition of the book reissued by Baen as Pandora's Legions. Pandora's Planet was the first story I ever encountered which was told from the point of view of the alien [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Isaac Asimov
December 3, 2012 By 2 Comments
The First Law: A robot may not harm, nor through inaction allow to come to harm, a human being. The Second Law: A robot must obey the orders of a human being, where those orders do not conflict with the First Law. The Third Law: A robot must act to protect its own existence, where this will not conflict with the First or Second Laws. Isaac Asimov was the only one of the Big Three (Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke) that I ever actually saw in person. It was at a talk whose subject I don't even really recall, but I do remember [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Deed of Paksenarrion
November 30, 2012 By 15 Comments
The Paladin: one of the most commonly reviled or mocked character classes in Dungeons and Dragons, a Paladin is a warrior who fights for the sake of their deity, gaining certain mystical abilities from their god in return. Often depicted as the classic Knight in Shining Armor, Paladins in RPGs often were played as either Lawful Stupid (so goody-two-shoes that they could be easily suckered into lethal confrontations), or as arrogant Knights Templar, well-intentioned extremists willing to go to ANY lengths to accomplish what [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Eric Flint
November 28, 2012 By 1 Comment
I've described elsewhere on the site how I managed to end up getting published through the clever strategem of insulting the editing skills and moral choices of Eric Flint in his editing of the James Schmitz reissues. Here, I want to talk about the influence Eric has had on me outside of that specific sequence of events. People who read some of my older postings (in the 90s and before) would likely see, at some point, my mentioning that I wouldn't detail some particular idea because I intended to use it in my [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Ophidian Conspiracy
November 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Written by John F. Carr, The Ophidian Conspiracy is one of the least-known SF novels (from a major publisher) that I've encountered. I have a battered, yellowing copy that I picked up somewhere – don't even know where or when, exactly. I cannot find the book at present, and it is so little known that specifics of the book cannot be found on the internet, so this review will lack specific names. If I find the book again I'll edit this review to have the character names and other appropriate details. Its obscurity is [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian
November 7, 2012 By 3 Comments
Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and [ Continue reading... ]
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