Consider Phlebas

Okay, I finally got my hands on a copy of Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks and enjoyed it immensely. The story is great, lots of really cool bits and despite the large size of the volume, it's all very fast paced. I love the ambiguity of it all. My one gripe: Most of the characters are total assholes. I found the snippy little robot to be the most likable character.

House of Suns

Can't read as much as I used to and my book queue is getting longer. I was going to start Consider Phlebas but someone checked it out the second it hit the shelf... Bastards!

I loved Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series so when my library got House of Suns, I jumped on it. I'm so glad I picked this up. What a fantastic read. It is one of my new favorites.

The characters are all interesting, likeable and real people (yeah, even the robots.) and the ideas and adventure are just massive, on insane timescales. I loved it and I want more.

I finished the first draft of my Man-Kzin story and I'm pretty proud of how it came out. What a fun universe to play in.

Exo-Planet found in Habitable Zone

This is amazing (if not totally unexpected) it seems like the first Earth-like planet orbiting within the cushy Goldilocks zone has been spotted. I know that at the moment we have no telescopes that can see it or probes that can make the 20 light year trip over there, but I would love to get a glimpse of Gliese 581g.

Here are some links:

Space.com: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth-like-exoplanet-possibly-habitable-100929.html

msnbc.com: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/29/5202633-alien-planet-looks-just-right-for-life

Discovery.com: http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-like-planet-life.html

updated!

Here's a cool interview with discoverer Steve Vogt:

http://io9.com/5653433/the-astrophysicist-who-discovered-zarmina-describes-life-on-second-earth

General Update

Man, I haven't had time for anything geeky now that Sophie is much more active and demanding 100% of our attention. I haven't been able to see any TV and only 2 movies. I have been able to read though (usually at 6:30 am before she wakes up) because it's quiet and I can do it in short sessions (10 pages here, 5 pages there).

So far I've read: Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, Larry Niven's Legacy of Heorot and I just started Larry Niven's Ringworld.

When I get done with Ringworld I'm going to hunt down and read Iain M. Banks' Consider Phlebas, which I heard was really worth the read.

2010 - 24 Stories Challenge!

At the beginning of the year I set myself the challenge of writing two strange short stories a month and put them on my new blog Ibis Ink. Since this is just a fun exercise and I won't even try to publish, I can crank them out. Don't know if I'm going to be able to keep this up once the baby is born but if all goes according the plan I should have 24 tales at the end of the year.

Patternist Series

I'm a big fan of Octavia Butler and I loved her Xenogenesis Trilogy, which I read reprinted at Lilith's Brood a few years back. So after overdosing on the wonderful Hanish Cycle novels I wanted something different but I was still hankering her good old sci-fi that dealt with social issues. I picked up the Patternist Series (collected in Seed to Harvest) and really enjoyed it, especially the brilliant first half composed of Wild Seed and Mind of My Mind.

If you've never read Octavia Butler, I highly recommend her work. Xenogenesis is just awesome and Wild Seed and Mind of My Mind are must reads. My wife also recommends Kindred and Fledgling.

Anyone read her Parable series? How was it?

Avatar was Awesome

Just saw Avatar and I loved the movie. Sure it may have the plot of FernGully... but it was incredibly fun.

James Cameron was never a brilliant writer. What he is is a brilliant fucking director who uses cutting-edge technology to make mind blowing action movies. We've all seen Avatar before... we've just never seen it like this!

It's Pocahontas and Last of the Mochicans for sure... but it's also Star Wars, and Tarzan, and Braveheart, and Jurassic Park and Battle Tech, and Thundercats!

James Cameron doesn't just borrow from all these stories... he steals them and makes them his own. That's why I loved Avatar because it was all the movies I've ever loved rolled up in one big beautiful package.

Also the science in this sci-fi flick is top notch... Cameron really did his homework.

Hainish Cycle

Recently I've been reading Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish novels and I'm really enjoying them. I don't know what moved me to pick them up, but I had a similar reading frenzy a few years ago where I read all of Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Robot novels in rapid succession.

The novels aren't really a series in that the story doesn't flow seamlessly between them. They're more like separate books set in the same universe. The stories are very sparse on the hard science fiction ideas, but each novel is full of great social commentary, which reminds me of the Star Trek episodes that were supposed to be allegories for the issues of the time. I wish I could say that the issues it deals with (i.e. race, sexuality, politics) are quaint and outdated, but unfortunately they remain current.

So far I've read Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions, and The Dispossessed. I still have The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest, Four Ways to Forgiveness, The Telling and a few short stories to go. Exile and Dispossessed being my favorite so far. I'll post more as I read more.