Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Way Station is Clifford D. Simak’s 1964 Hugo Award-winning novel. By many readers it is considered his best, and it features some his favorite themes: a rugged Midwesterner who shuns society, human society flirting with nuclear disaster, a more enlightened galactic society that is wary of letting unruly humans join in, an appeal to common sense and condemnation of man’s penchant for violence.
Having recently read Simak’s 1952 fixer-up novel City,
August 14th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Clifford D. Simak | Audio, Hugo Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
City is a well-loved classic by Clifford D. Simak published back in 1952 and awarded the International Fantasy Award in 1954. It’s actually a collection of linked far-future stories written between 1944 and 1951 about men, mutants, dogs, robots, ants and stranger beings still. It’s told as a series of episodes that trace the evolution of the various species as they reach out to space, but also follows the fates of those groups that remain on Earth.
I would describe Simak’s writing style as “pastoral,” “contemplative,” “philosophical,” and “understated,” and as he was born in rural Wisconsin,
August 11th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Clifford D. Simak | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Yeah, Brian W. Aldiss’ Hothouse (1962) was definitely written with some chemical assistance. Maybe some LSD-spiked vegetable juice? It may have been written as a set of five short stories in 1961, but it’s a timeless and bizarre story of a million years in the future when the plants have completely taken over the planet, which has stopped rotating, and humans are little green creatures hustling to avoid becoming plant food.
There are hundreds of fearsome carnivorous plants that would love to eat human morsels,
July 28th, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 2.5 | Brian W. Aldiss | Hugo Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Armada is the sophomore effort from Ernest Cline, who burst onto the SF scene with the wildly-popular Ready Player One, a fun-filled romp through 80s pop culture via a virtual reality game that managed to skillfully depict a dystopian future and also be a rollicking adventure and coming-of-age tale. The secret to Ready Player One’s success was that you could still enjoy it without catching every obscure geek reference, but many readers who grew up in the 80s absolutely loved it.
July 21st, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Ray McKenzie | Ernest Cline | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 13 comments |
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
It doesn’t get any more New Wave SF than this very slim 1968 Nebula-winning novel (157 pages), and it’s hard to imagine anything like this being written today. The Einstein Intersection is a mythical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story in a far-future Earth populated by the mutated remnants of humanity. Being a Samuel R. Delany book, the writing is disjointed, jazzy, lyrical, playful, and tantalizing. The surface events are fairly obscure, but it’s clear that the real narrative is buried beneath,
July 2nd, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 2 | Samuel R. Delany | Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Nova is Samuel “Chip” Delany‘s 1968 space opera with mythic/Grail Quest overtones. It is packed with different themes, subtexts, allegorical and cultural references, and literary experiments, and the young author (just 25 years old) is clearly a very talented, intelligent, and passionate writer.
But I didn’t enjoy it, sadly. While I thought Babel-17 was a very fast-paced, vivid and engaging space opera that centered on language and identity, Nova felt very turgid and forced.
June 29th, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3 | Samuel R. Delany | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Were you a hard-core nerd or geek in junior high and high school in the 80s? You know, the ones who clustered at the library or at benches far from the jocks and cheerleaders, who thrilled at quoting lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, War Games, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Short Circuit, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Legend, Dark Crystal,
June 16th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4, 5 | Ernest Cline | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 17 comments |
For today’s Book Chat, we’re examining Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. Interestingly, it’s the only one of his novels that Bradbury considered to be “science fiction,” telling the story of Guy Montag, a fireman who starts fires rather than putting them out. In Montag’s world, books and intellectual curiosity are forbidden, with interesting and terrifying consequences.
Bill: Another day, another Bradbury classic. I’ve been a fan of Fahrenheit 451 since I read it the first time way back in late middle or early high school and have remained so through all those re-reads back when I used to teach it in high school as well (most student reactions were positive).
June 12th, 2015. Bill Capossere, Jana Nyman, Ryan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Ray Bradbury | Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I can’t think of any other SF book which is this incredibly funny, in that droll British way that Americans can never emulate. In 5th grade I first read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) and three of its sequels, but it’s this book that stays most in memory. I’ve always wanted to revisit Douglas Adams’ story, even though I was a bit worried it might not be quite as brilliant as I remembered, but I can report that the audiobook narrated by English comedian and actor Stephen Fry is the perfect comic voice to capture the spirit of the book.
June 11th, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Douglas Adams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
“Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”
Like all of Kurt Vonnegut’s books, Cat’s Cradle (1963) is very easy to read but fiendishly difficult to review. It’s basically about two main themes: 1) Some scientists are completely unconcerned with what their research and inventions are used for, as long as they given the opportunity to pursue their own research. 2) Religion is a bunch of lies, but at the same time it can make you happier and less angst-ridden about life.
June 5th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Kurt Vonnegut | Audio, Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess both you guys like Kay.
Geez, guys, a brace of remarkably well-written reviews here. Hat's off!
What a perceptive and beautiful review. You make it clear that Yamada not only knows the story she wants to…
Read together with The Serpent Mage, the series is one of the best works of art out there. The main…
thanks for this really well-written review. You've definitely piqued my interest in this, particularly in how you highlight the still…