The Reading Corner.

[Geo]

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. The same story composition as the first two novels I read in the Vorkosigan series: the main persona attempts to go "off the grid" to solve the puzzle.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction  Fourth Series Edited by Anthony Boucher.

-And a mid-50s first paperback edition, at that.  Too many stories I'd read before, but they were still a small minority.  Thumbs up, at least if you fancy 50s SF.

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Year's Best SF 15  edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

[Lord Avalon]

Cold City: A Repairman Jack Novel, The Early Years Trilogy Book One - by F. Paul Wilson

[Valka]

I've been rereading Chekov's Enterprise (Walter Koenig's account of filming Star Trek: The Motion Picture).

[Buster's Uncle]

Year's Best SF 15  edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

First-rate stories, all of them.

...

Hot And Steamy:  Tales of Steampunk Romance  edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenburg.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hot And Steamy:  Tales of Steampunk Romance  edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenburg.

Disappointing.  Tough to put a finger on why, but many of the stories seem to just stop instead of come to an ending.

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Narabedla LTD. by Frederik Pohl.

[Lord Avalon]

Treasure of Khan by Clive & Dirk Cussler

[Buster's Uncle]

I've fallen over ten books behind in my posting here, so I need to skip 'em, or I'll never get caught up...


The Future of War  VOL III Orion's Sword Edited by Reginald Bretnor.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Future of War  VOL III Orion's Sword Edited by Reginald Bretnor.

Some non-fiction essays, some of which were a bit tedious, but the majority fictional SF was good.

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Other Worlds, Other Times Edited by Sam Maskowitz and Roger Elwood.

[Buster's Uncle]

Other Worlds, Other Times Edited by Sam Maskowitz and Roger Elwood.

Decent selection of golden age stuff.  -Depending on how well you like golden age stuff, of course.

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Dr. McCoy's least favorite novel, Spock, Messiah! by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano Jr.

[Buster's Uncle]

Dr. McCoy's least favorite novel, Spock, Messiah! by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano Jr.

I don't think I'd re-read this one since the 70's.  Not good, but by no means terrible.  Possibly worth your time if you like Star Trek fanfic.

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In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove.

[Buster's Uncle]

In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove.

Turtledove characters sometimes have a quality that their thoughts and actions are explained so carefully and their conversation is so plodding that they seem a bit dim.  Turtledove also has a weakness for transplanting bits of real history into his alternates in a different time and place, but way too obviously.  This book, about Jews hiding in a 2009 Germany where the Nazis won, is guilty of both.

However, bad Turtledove is rather like bad sex; still pretty good.  I burned through an over 600 page book since Thursday reading only a while at bedtime each night.  I get sleepy much faster when the book sucks, but here I kept wanting to see what happened next.

Recommended.

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Dr. McCoy's favorite Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die! by James Blish.

[Buster's Uncle]

Dr. McCoy's favorite Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die! by James Blish.

Another one I hadn't reread in decades.  Aside from annoying bits like Kirk calling McCoy "Doc" and the author thinking Uhura handled the sensors, the book's barely over 100 pages, yet took me four nights to read - I stayed awake through half again that much of a middlin' Turtledove novel the book before.  He DID get the science right -there's zero point energy in there over a decade before people even started calling it that- to an impressive degree, but the narrative just wasn't immersive as it needed to be.  Not recommended unless you're WAY into ST novels, to be a completest.

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Alternate Generals edited by Harry Turtledove.

[Buster's Uncle]

Alternate Generals edited by Harry Turtledove.

Strongly recommended, at least to Rusty, who would love, love, LOVE all the excellent military battle yarns - many naval battles in a rather Hornbloweresque style.

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The New Space Opera Edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan.

[Valka]

I'm re-reading Young Rissa and Rissa and Tregare by F.M. Busby, in preparation for writing some Hulzein Saga fanfic. Camp NaNoWriMo (sorta NaNoWriMo-lite) is coming up in April, and I've set myself a more modest goal of 10,000 words. Since I made 21,000 words in November, this time I should actually meet/exceed the word count.