Science-Fiction Books

Songs of Earth and Power

by Greg Bear
This is an excellent fantasy book written by an otherwise science fiction author. The main character is a boy who must become a man and save two worlds by learning who he is. He grows and learns throughout the book, making some mistakes but eventually growing up.

The Gap Cycle

by Stephen R. Donaldson
While I did not particularly like the Thomas Covenant stories, I really enjoyed this series. The characters develop and change throughout the action while the aliens are truly alien. It's fascinating to watch the relatively weak anti-heroes wind their way through the power struggles going on around them. As they learn more and more about what's going on, they become more able to affect the outcome. I love the many levels where evil turns to good which turns to evil and then back to good.
May 14, 2000

Past Imperative, Round One of the Great Game

by Dave Duncan
An interesting story which starts out in our world and ends up in a fantasy world. Dave Duncan does a good job of revealing the world to you piece by piece as the main character learns of it. I must not forget the second book in this series...
May 14, 2000

Camelot 30K

By Robert L. Forward
Robert L. Forward really deserves his own page. I've read several of his books recently, and all have been very good. He likes to work on the extremes of physics, ranging from life on the surface of a nuetron star to a world which consists of two planets orbiting tens of miles apart to a man who discovers space and time travel. This book is about life on an iceball at 30K, hence the name. It's very interesting with a bit of a surprise ending. A good book for someone who likes to know the technical details of what happened. All of his books have afterwords which explain the science he used.

The Man Who Folded Himself

by David Gerrold
This is an interesting book about time travel which deals more with the intrapersonal effects of living with oneself many times over. The technical aspects of time travel are only touched on, though the issue of paradox is addressed.

Forever Peace

By Joe Haldeman
I know that I read The Forever War a long time ago and this is not a sequal, though apparently it deals with some of the same issues. This is an interesting book about war and its demise. A good read.

Deepdrive

by Alexander Jablokov
This story is set in our solar system in the future. Many different alien races have settled here but no human has managed to leave. The plot revolves around an attempt to recover a working "deepdrive" which would allow humans to leave the system. The aliens are truly alien and the entire system has been transformed by the presence of aliens.
May 14, 2000

Metaphase

by Vonda N. McIntyre
This book is the sequel to Transition, which I haven't read. It's the story of a starhips of humans traveling an alien universe. They encounter a Squidmoth, a huge alien who lives in space. The story details their interactions with the Moth and with each other. The ship left on its trip under unusual circumastances and not all the crew are willing travelers.
May 14, 2000

A Canticle for Leibowitz

by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
This is a fascinating book. I almost wish it had been longer and gone into more detail, but then it probably would not have been as good. This book was written during the height of the Cold War, when nuclear war seemed imminent. It details the story of mankind after a nuclear holocaust. It's not your usual post-holocaust story, though. In fact, it's not really "post-holocaust" at all. The characters are all interesting but nothing is sacred. It's not a light read but fascinating. I had to start it twice. The first time, I couldn't get past the first couple of pages. I'm glad I tried again, though.
The story centers around the Monastary of Saint Leibowitz, a man who helped develop the weapons that were used to end the world and who tried to save what he could of the culture he'd helped destroy. Humanity eventually does rebuild, but I won't give away any more of the story. The story manages to deal with priests and their lives without really making any value judgements about religion. The men all stand on their own merits.
June 11, 2001

Contact

By Carl Sagan
Wow. What a book. After seeing parts of the movie, I expected a thinly disguised slam of religion and faith. In fact, the book is quite fair and really makes you think about what you believe. It also shows an optimistic view of how the world would react to a clear sign of intelligent life out there. I remember growing up watching Cosmos with Carl Sagan and laughing at how he said "Billions and Billions." Now I understand much more clearly what he was talking about.

Me

By Thomas T. Thomas
This book reminds me of a book I read a long time ago, The Adolescence of P1 and makes me want to go back and read it. Actually, though, the two books are fairly different. Me is a military AI which is used for intelligence gathering. It takes a life of its own, though, and this is its story. Worth a read and I'm looking for more by Mr. Thomas.

Aristoi

By Walter Jon Williams
Walter Jon Williams is either new or I just wasn't paying attention. This is the second book of his that I've read and both are very good. This book starts with a man living in a society beyond the singularity where technology has totally changed the way humans live. His society is so totally beyond anything we could possibly experience and yet he is a character you can empathise with.

In Death Ground

by David Weber
This is the third of three books in this series. This is essentially a science fiction space naval battle series. In this books, the humans are fighting aliens who seem bent on their destruction. FTL travel is through wormholes which act as choke points. I really like the portrayal of space battle in these books.
May 14, 2000

The Infinity Box

by Kate Wilhelm
Pocket Book, 1977. New York
This is a book of short stories, all of which are fascinating. There are intense psychodramas as well as bizarre congruences.
May 14, 2000

Spinneret

by Timothy Zahn
This is an interesting story of a found technology and the people who are trying to make use of it. A group of humans must learn how to use the technology and keep various alien races from siezing it.
May 14, 2000