Jack McDevitt’s Ancient Shores (1996) Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I get into a rut with certain writers. If I see their name on the spine – and I can remember I’ve not read it before, I pick it up. Actually, racing through O’Hare, I’ve been known to pick up a McDevitt or two I know I’ve read before. I hadn’t read this one. I was intrigued by the Octavia Butler cover (black woman, lots of flora) because the organic science fiction […]
Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
Bolt by Dick Francis (1989) Underneath the coffee table in the lobby at the Eagle Point Diving Resort in the Philippines is a library of sorts. It consists of two German novels, two identical Bibles, and a sun-bleached copy of Dick Francis’s Bolt (in English). Having gone through my own personal library over Christmas (two books), I was desperate for something to read, and this was not something I’d pick up at a bookstore. First of all, it wasn’t science fiction. Secondly, it was about […]
Mom, Timmy’s Touching Me with His Tentacle!
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1972) – Well, you can’t get much better than the master for some old-school, classic science fiction. When The Gods started out, it was a pretty mundane concept of an element spontaneously turning into another element and supplying the Earth with unlimited, clean energy. Wrapped around this simple nugget of an idea is the egomaniac scientist who tested the substance and is given credit for creating Earth’s wonderful power source. When a young professor named Lawton comes to interview the […]
The Trouble with Poet is How Do You Know It’s Deceased…
Lucifer’s Hammer – Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven – 1977 When I saw this on a used bookstore shelf, I recalled I hadn’t read it since the seventies. Something about a comet hitting Earth and the struggles of the survivors in California trying to save civilization. Feeling the need for a hard dose of pure science fiction and inspired by the recent news of the European Space Agency’s spacecraft landing on a passing comet, I bought a copy to reread and was surprised how timely […]
She’s Just a Little Old Lady; Who Cares if We Left the Keys in the Helicopter (Said No Terrorist Ever)
Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997) I’ve loved Mrs. P from the beginning (14 books ago!), but I didn’t realize she was married and still having adventures until I picked up Innocent Tourist. Although a little formulaic (I’ve only read the early ones), they are about the most atypical spy hero imaginable. Picture a little old lady in New England who got tired of volunteering for local charities after her husband passed away. What does she do? She goes to the CIA and tells them she’s […]
And Jesus Keeps Exploding at the Most Inconvenient Times
I picked up Melinda Snodgrass’s “The Edge of Reason” (2009) because she wrote one of my favorite Uhura classic Trek pro novels, and I like her writing. The Edge is a little uncomfortable in places but riveting throughout. It has a clever concept. Religions today use magic and Lucifer is using science to help save the world. For that, he needs a broom-up-his-butt cop in New Mexico who accidentally witnesses a battle between the two factions and rescues a young witch. The poor cop, a […]
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