Ursula K. Le Guin is the queen of short stories,* yo. Nobody does it better. The first six stories in the book are part of Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle,** the seventh may be, and the eighth isn’t. In the first story, Le Guin returns to the world of her novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. It is a planet populated by androgynes, who only have gender once a month, when they go into kemmer and can become either female or male. They spend a couple […]
This book will chew you up and spit you out
What the fuck did I just read? I think I liked it? It definitely kept me guessing, that’s for sure. This book isn’t for the faint hearted. There’s lots of gore, violence, and even a little horror. I wouldn’t say it was a scary book per se, but a lot of crazy shit happens in The Library at Mount Char. The narrative flits back and forth between the main character, Carolyn, as an adult and as a child. As a child her parents were killed […]
And the ending resembles a fart
Hyperion is a very, very good book. The sequel might have been equally good if Dan Simmons would have not whiffed the ending. It so lacks in imagination that it made me angry. But let start at the top. Disappointments all around We left our band of intrepid pilgrims before they stepped down into the Valley of the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. They expected to meet the Shrike and die, except for one who – according to legend – would be offered a […]
This is only the beginning
This is another classic science-fiction novel, and the one with which I started my ‘quest’ for an expanded horizon in literature. Because I recently acquired The Fall of Hyperion, I felt that I had to re-read the first book of the Hyperion Cantos. It was worth it. Not only had I mostly forgotten the plot, the book is a joy to read, even if is unusually structured. Step out into the galaxy Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos is set in the 28th century. Mankind has expanded […]
It’s mighty morphin’ dolphin time.
The Message is our first Cassie book, and that means it’s time to question the morality of our actions. Hurray. In all honesty, when I was a kid, sometimes Cassie’s books frustrated me a little bit. I thought she was a wet blanket and her hair was boring. I could never understand why she was always questioning everything, like, shouldn’t it just be obvious what’s right and wrong? Why are you so upset all the time, girl? Calm down and just enjoy turning into a […]
Apocalyptic!
Science fiction writer Connie Willis is the winner of numerous Hugo and Nebula awards, including one of each for The Doomsday Book. This novel is an ingenious combination of themes such as time travel, pandemics, and faith. Her characters, whether Oxford University researchers in 2054 or English villagers in the 14th century, are fully realized individuals, with responsibilities, fears, jealousies, and loves. They will all be put to the test when tragedy strikes, and we see that, despite a 700 year time divide, people are […]
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