The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

The Land of Painted Caves is the sixth and final volume in Jean M. Auel's EARTH'S CHILDREN series. It has taken her more than three decades to complete the series. The previous volume, The Shelters of Stone, appeared in 2002. Auel has sold millions of books in the past thirty years, and The Land of Painted Caves was definitely one of the big releases of 2011. The publisher even pushed back the publication date so that it could be released in a number of different languages at the same time. Although her first novel, The Clan of the Cave Bear, is highly regarded, the rest of the series is not as well thought of. And with reason: Ayla's story is taken far beyond what could be considered realistic, with human technological and social development making huge jumps... Read More

Litany of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe

Though not essential, it wouldn’t hurt to do some homework before reading Litany of the Long Sun, Gene Wolfe’s omnibus edition of two novels: Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun. Litany and its companion omnibus Epiphany of the Long Sun make up the Book of the Long Sun series, which is itself an independent part of Gene Wolfe’s Solar Cycle.

There’s more.

Wolfe’s “Solar” novels are all set in a universe where the earth’s sun is dying. For humanity to survive this astronomical apocalypse, a generation ship is sent to colonize distant planets. The ship is large and the voyage long, s... Read More