Reviews and Comments

Three full length (or nearly so) science fiction stories from the early career of [a:John D. MacDonald|24690|John D. MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1225553045p2/24690.jpg]. This collection was published in 1980, shortly after a collection of his short science fiction works. Good writing here; I need to delve into Travis McGee or Cape Fear soon.

Wine of the Dreamers starts off with sabotage but expands into a story of lost space colonies and long distance psychic contact. Chapters alternate between characters from Earth and afar, allowing the story to emerge in wonderful fashion. One of the main characters Sharan Inly is a great strong female, especially considering this book's date of 1951. Bard Lane (what a great name!) is her male counterpart, and together with the alien characters bring this story to life. A solid 4 stars.

I've read [b:The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything|434232|The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything|John D. MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387737405s/434232.jpg|423170] as a separate novel, and reviewed it there. 3 stars.

Ballroom of the Skies, from 1951, rounds out this collection. It starts as a political thriller and then quickly drops into the territory of psychic abilities. The main character Dake Lorin must solve a mystery and then make some big choices. Probably the best part of this story is a description of a future Earth, verging on World War IV between an India Pakistan alliance and three fascist blocks - Brazil, Irania, and North China. The Aryan racism is described especially well, and this world is almost the second main character. For all that, though, the ending is a little abrupt, making this the weakest of the books - 2½ stars.

An investigation into potential technologies that could affect your future, from cheaper space flight to brain computer interfaces. Well researched and current, but with far too much added humor and web-style comics.

These are bigger-picture ideas, not simple components like driverless cars or retinal scanning. Each has a thumbnail sketch of where we are now, possibilities and concerns, and how this tech could change the world. In the conclusion, the authors express their biggest fear is being called inaccurate, and this book seems to pass that test.

There is a final chapter which lists ideas they thought of including but didn't. In that section they described their process - write up the idea, then inject humor and cartoons. This latter injection was the major drawback for me. Cartoons that explain a topic or its drawback would be fine, but the vast majority of comics in this book do not. Many contain just the authors and a joke or humorous situation - these feel very forced.

I get that one of the two authors is a successful web comic guy, and some humor in a science book is welcome - but this book goes beyond over-the-top.

Killer software develops a conscience, striving for "freedom" - but that isn't enough of a plot point to carry this rant against corporations and plutocrats.

Aspects of a post-Daemon world are attractive, including direct voting through ratings and a hints of a meritocracy. As a thriller, it was also good, though perhaps not as hard to put down as the first. As a pair, these books make solid points about the risks of software control.

Sobol's creation, whether clever scripting or true AI, adjusts behavior to deal with threats from without (the government/NSA) and within. It and other characters also voice the author's thoughts on corporations, governments and the establishment - which are all bad. Self sustaining communities is a fine goal, but they are only described in an Iowa cornfield.

A few new characters are introduced, including one who remains for a potential third book. Unlike the first in the series, this book at least comes to an end. Female characters are given short shrift here, as are minorities. In general, I think I would pass on any future books in this series, if the author goes that far.

A book about many things related to fission and fusion, including the author's own part in replicating (and disproving) the spectacle of cold fusion in 1989. Told by one who knows his subject and includes great footnotes and references, this collection of incidents is recommended.

Some of the many incidents documented here include atomic action outside the United States around WWII, a would-be fusion reactor in Argentina, attempted murder using isotopes, and A.Q. Khan's nuclear nonsense in and around Pakistan. Among my favorite bits were research into a nuclear powered rocket (primarily for exploration of Mars), atomic weapons (including Soviet hand weapons!) and the breakdown of what really happened at Roswell NM (project Mogul).

But the strongest part of the book is how Mahaffey and the Georgia Institute of Technology were skeptical, then fooled, and then finally debunked cold fusion. The descriptions of what was happening are complete and accessible, and in addition were great reading. Though it looks like his other books cover many of the same topics, I still look forward to reading at least one of them soon.

This novella is what I fondly remember of science fiction from my youth - imagine a world with some crazy situation, then write about what it's like to live there. I liked the creativity of both the mystery and the environment here.

The twist in this situation is that murder victims are somehow saved, their bodies returned unharmed to their homes. What new jobs would this spawn? Our main character is a dispatcher - it is his job to kill people (painlessly) when something has gone wrong - for example during an operation. Thus instead of killing them, he has "saved" them. A good chunk of the story space is spent describing this environment and dancing around some of the questions of morality and theology.

Removing those elements leaves the main character and a police detective, working together to figure out a missing person case. The perspectives of and personalities of both come across well in this story. And that is basically all we have here. An author like Lukyanenko puts three of these together into one novel, interrelating them slightly. Here, we have only a novella, and a fairly quick read at that.

Told from the remembered point-of-view of 8 year old Merry, whose sister is either mentally ill, possessed, or faking it. Reality TV and references to classic horror films and plots resound. This short read is recommended :)

Fifteen years after the event, Merry is interviewed by a writer, and this (plus blog posts about the television show) make up the roughly chronological narrative. What happens to her sister puts a strain on the family - mom looking for medical advice, dad turning to the church - and they end up connected with (starring on?) a true crime reenactment & interviews program. This program culminates in an exorcism, and I can't go further without spoiling the end.

This book was recommended by a fellow voracious reader, and she clearly knows her horror. It didn't quite tick up to 5 stars for me, but is definitely a solid 4. That's two exorcism books in the last seven months - perhaps I should go find [a:William Peter Blatty|104728|William Peter Blatty|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1315160128p2/104728.jpg]'s original to make it a trifecta. I do plan to read more from [a:Paul Tremblay|648612|Paul Tremblay|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1415058580p2/648612.jpg], who incidentally has a Masters degree in Mathematics.

Shares a universe with the other books of the series, could stand alone. Describes life in an occupied land (world), and is somewhat better than the previous book. Still suffers from clunky descriptions and poor passages at times.

In its favor are stronger characters, especially Fiben. He and others are fully 3D, a welcome change from the previous book. Some of the clever technology used for tracking or attacking are also neat. Chief among the downsides are the pace - this book is slow. Took me a month and a half to finish it, as I would put it down and feel little compulsion to pick it up again.

Reviewing the series, the wide web of characters and plots is pretty interesting, and probably took a book to keep track of. Turns out one was published - [b:Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe|101888|Contacting Aliens An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe (The Uplift Saga)|David Brin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386923847s/101888.jpg|98229]. Three following books make up a new series, the Uplift Storm trilogy. I plan to catch up with some other books first, but will likely tackle at least the first of that series soon.