Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Police Procedural in Dystopian Scotland

Rule 34 by Charles Stross

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A Police Procedural in a future (2035), slightly dystopian Scotland. What is “Rule 34”?  Here it is: rule #34: – If it exists there IS porn of it. Our hero – Liz Kavanaugh – is on the “Rule 34 squad” – which investigates crimes of ….uh…unorthodox, fringe and …uh…innovative nature. Her career is a bit on the decline and she has been relegated to rule 34 squad  – not really the prime place to be, but then….some ..uh…”unique” murders occur.    She is pulled into an […]

Too Close to Reality

Grumby by Andy Kessler

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  Found this book on “https://harperreed.com/books”   – which I recommend to you if you are looking for book ideas. Harper Reed is an interesting guy and his taste in books closely mirrors my own – especially in SciFi/fantasy/Spec/Alternate fiction. Grumby is the comic tale of a Silicon Valley company; team of engineers/hackers modify old “Furby” dolls with AI software, cameras, sensors, spy software and a smart ass attitude. They re-name them as “Grumbies”, network them together, sell millions, make millions, lose millions and make […]

Noir-ish Sci Fi Alternate New York

Empire State by Adam Christopher

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Two battling superheroes fight and one of their energy blasts opens a rift into an alternate universe – “Empire State”; A mysterious fog shrouded parallel universe New York City, tied up in an endless war.   Think “noir”,  “steampunk”,  “Gotham” during a parallel “Depression Era Prohibition” with time travel, superheroes and gangsters.  Add private detectives, robots and rocket boots.  “Empire State” Private Detective Rad Bradley has been hired to investigate the disappearance of  a woman.  While doing this, he encounters visitors from “New York”. As his investigation […]

Fair Dinkum Mate…

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

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  Gifted to me by a friend – not my usual SciFi/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction.   But I trust my friends taste and dove into the book with no idea what it was about. It’s Australian and written in “Australian” which takes a bit of adjusting to – a bit like listening to someone speaking Cockney; at first you have no idea what they are saying or even what they are talking about, but after a while…you start to get the lingo, the colloquialisms and you get […]

The Most Bizarre City

The City and the City by China Mieville

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China Mieville is one of the most unique writers you will come across and this book is a prime example. Essentially a police procedural/murder mystery, what makes it very different is the fact that it takes place in the paired cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma. And by paired, I mean overlaid and by overlaid I mean that  if you are in one city, you must not “see” the other city and vice versa. You must “unsee”. If you violate this, you are in “breach”,  a […]

Kid, I’m Gonna Make You a Star!

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

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  What with all the focus on Hollywood, Sony, the Interview….time to revisit an old favorite. “Agent to the Stars”. The premise here is that the alien Yherajk would like to make “first contact” with Humanity. Trouble is, they are hideous and smelly.  Lucky thing they realize the need for a good agent!  Hot young agent Thomas Stein gets the challenge of a lifetime when they contact him and request that he successfully manage Earth’s first alien encounter. They seriously need a makeover, some spin, perhaps a little work […]



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