July Status check

July Status Check

We are half way through the year and time for a flight status check.  How are you all doing on your voyages.   I've discovered some interesting things - that the same books I loved when I was 25, I don't so much when I'm 50.   Have my tastes changed or just more discerning.    I'm kind of winging it at this point and my original list has been retired.  When I last checked in had finished 5 books:

The Demolished Man (review) by Alfred Bester (1953 Hugo Winner)

Dune by Frank Herbert  (review)  (1966 Hugo winner)

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (review) (2006 Hugo Winner) 

Under the Dome (review) by Stephen King (side trip)

Eye of the World (review) by Robert Jordan (side trip)

Since then I've completed 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - 1954 Hugo and soon to be reviewed

www.wake by Robert J. Saywer -  2010 hugo nominee and soon to be reviewed.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller  - 1961 Hugo  Started and couldn't finish

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer  1972 Hugo Started and couldn't finish.

I'm currently reading 1967 Hugo winner "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein.  My Moon voyage is basically complete.   During July I plan on reading the other 2010 hugo nominees:  Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, The City & The City by China Miéville, Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson, Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.   The rest of the time I'll be floating through the atmosphere reading whatever across my radar.

For the remainder of the year, I'm going to post a monthly Mr. Linky to link to our reviews instead of continuing with the one major link.  Links to the posts will be put in the sidebar so can be found easily.   

How many of you are still with me and what have you been reading?

Beginnings: 1967 winner The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

That Dinkum Thinkum

"I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect--and tax---public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure. I see also is to be mass meeting tonight to organize "Sons of Revolution" talk-talk.

My old man taught me two things: "Mind own business" and "Always cut cards."  Politics never tempted me.  But on Monday 13 May 2075 I was in computer room of Lunar Authority Complex, visiting with computer boss Mike while other machines whispered among themselves.  Mike was not official name; I had nicknamed him for Mycroft Holmes, in a story written by Dr. Watson before he founded IBM.  This story character would just sit and think--and that's what Mike did.  Mike was a fair dinkum, thinkum, sharpest computer you'll ever meet.

Not fastest.  At Bell Labs, Bueno Aires, down Earthside, they've got a thinkum a tenth his size which can answer almost before you ask.  But matters whether you get answer in microsecond rather than millisecond as long as correct?

Not that Mike would necessarily give right answer; he wasn't completely honest.

When Mike was installed in Luna, he was pure thinkum, a flexible logic--"High-Optical, Logical Multi Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L."--a HOLMES FOUR.  He computed ballistics for pilotless freighters and controlled their catapult.  This kept him busy less than one percent of the time and Luna Authority never believed in idle hands.  They keep hooking hardware into him--decision action boxes to let him boss other computer, bank on bank of additional memories, more banks of associational neural nets, another tubful of twelve-digit random numbers, a greatly augmented temporary memory.  Human brain has around ten-to-the-tenth neurons.  By third year Mike had better than one and a half times that number of neuristors.

And woke up."

Excerpt: Chapter one pg 11 - 12

Science Fiction and Fantasy Masterworks

I've recently become involved in a new reading project which will begin July 1st.  Put together by Patrick of Stomping on Yeti, a group of us will be reading the SF and Fantasy Masterworks.  The Masterworks are a series of science fiction and fantasy books published by Orion publishing group through its imprints Millennium and Gollancz.   Many of the books included are written by Hugo authors. The books are in series order instead of publication date order.   Each one of us will be reading one book a month and reviewing them on a group blog  (to be announced soon) until all the books on both lists have been read. The links lead to SF.com where you will find descriptions and pictures of their cool new covers. 



SF Masterworks

1   The Forever War**- Joe Haldeman
2   I Am Legend -  Richard Matheson
3   Cities in Flight - James Blish
4   Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -  Philip K. Dick
5   The Stars My Destination** - Alfred Bester
6   Babel-17 - Samuel R. Delany
7   Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
8   The Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe
9   Gateway - Frederik Pohl
10 The Rediscovery of Man - Cordwainer Smith
11 Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon
12 Earth Abides -  George R. Stewart
13 Martian Time-Slip -  Philip K. Dick
14 The Demolished Man -  Alfred Bester
15 Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
16 The Dispossessed -  Ursula K. Le Guin
17 The Drowned World -  J. G. Ballard
18 The Sirens of Titan -  Kurt Vonnegut
19 Emphyrio -  Jack Vance
20 A Scanner Darkly- Philip K. Dick
21 Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
22 Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock
23 The Book of Skulls - Robert Silverberg
24 The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
25 Flowers for Algernon -  Daniel Keyes
26 Ubik - Philip K. Dick
27 Timescape - Gregory Benford
28 More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon
29 Man Plus - Frederik Pohl
30 A Case of Conscience - James Blish
31 The Centauri Device - M. John Harrison
32 Dr. Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick
33 Non-Stop - Brian Aldiss
34 The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke
35 Pavane - Keith Roberts
36 Now Wait for Last Year - Philip K. Dick
37 Nova - Samuel R. Delany
38 The First Men in the Moon - H. G. Wells
39 The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
40 Blood Music - Greg Bear
41 Jem - Frederik Pohl
42 Bring the Jubilee - Ward Moore
43 VALIS - Philip K. Dick
44 The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin
45 The Complete Roderick - John Sladek
46 Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick
47 The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells
48 Grass - Sheri S. Tepper
49 A Fall of Moondust - Arthur C. Clarke
50 Eon - Greg Bear
51 The Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson
52 The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
53 The Dancers at the End of Time - Michael Moorcock
54 The Space Merchants - Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
55 Time Out of Joint - Philip K. Dick
56 Downward to the Earth - Robert Silverberg
57 The Simulacra - Philip K. Dick
58 The Penultimate Truth - Philip K. Dick
59 Dying Inside - Robert Silverberg
60 Ringworld** - Larry Niven
61 The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman
62 Mission of Gravity  - Hal Clement
63 A Maze of Death - Philip K. Dick
64 Tau Zero - Poul Anderson
65 Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
66 Life During Wartime - Lucius Shepard
67 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
68 Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
69 Dark Benediction - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
70 Mockingbird - Walter Tevis
71 Dune** - Frank Herbert
72 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress**  - Robert A. Heinlein
73*** The Man in the High Castle** -  Philip K. Dick

** Also printed in hardback
***Due to printing error has 72 on it



Fantasy Masterworks


1 The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw - Gene Wolfe
2 Time and the Gods - Lord Dunsany
3 The Worm Ouroboros - E.R. Eddison
4 Tales of the Dying Earth - Jack Vance
5 Little, Big - John Crowley
6 The Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
7 Viriconium - M. John Harrison
8 The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle - Robert E. Howard
9 The Land of Laughs - Jonathan Carroll
10 The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea - L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
11 Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees
12 The Book of the New Sun, Volume 2: Sword and Citadel - Gene Wolfe
13 Fevre Dream- George R. R. Martin
14 Beauty - Sheri S. Tepper
15 The King of Elfland's Daughter - Lord Dunsany
16 The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon - Robert E. Howard
17 Elric - Michael Moorcock
18 The First Book of Lankhmar - Fritz Leiber
19 Riddle-Master-  Patricia A. McKillip
20 Time and Again - Jack Finney
21 Mistress of Mistresses - E.R. Eddison
22 Gloriana or the Unfulfill'd Queen - Michael Moorcock
23 The Well of the Unicorn - Fletcher Pratt
24 The Second Book of Lankhmar - Fritz Leiber
25 Voice of Our Shadow - Jonathan Carroll
26 The Emperor of Dreams - Clark Ashton Smith
27 Lyonesse I: Suldrun's Garden - Jack Vance
28 Peace - Gene Wolfe
29 The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford
30 Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe - Michael Moorcock
31 Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams - C.L. Moore
32 The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson
33 The House on the Borderland and Other Novels - William Hope Hodgson
34 The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers
35 Lyonesse II and III: The Green Pearl and Madouc - Jack Vance
36 The History of Runestaff - Michael Moorcock
37 A Voyage to Arcturus - David Lindsay
38 Darker Than You Think - Jack Williamson
39 The Mabinogion - Evangeline Walton
40 Three Hearts & Three Lions -  Poul Anderson
41 Grendel - John Gardner
42 The Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick
43 WAS - Geoff Ryman
44 Song of Kali - Dan Simmons
45 Replay - Ken Grimwood
46 Sea Kings of Mars and Other Worldly Stories - Leigh Brackett
47 The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
48 The Forgotten Beasts of Eld - Patricia A. McKillip
49 Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
50 The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales - Rudyard Kipling


How many of these books have you already read?  

Whatever!!!! Unicorn Pegasus Kitten fan fiction contest

Unicorn Pegasus Kitten

Featuring

Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi

Artist Jeff Zugale

What's it all about!

The Unicorn Pegasus Kitten Painting was unveiled at the Phoenix Comicon over the weekend and   John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton, along with Subterranean Press introduced  in a contest to benefit the Lupus Alliance of America.

"Write a 400 to 2,000 word story describing the picture above. Any form of fan fiction is acceptable except slash. The winner of the contest will be paid for their story (10 cents a word), win a prize pack of books from Subterranean Press, and will have their story published in a special electronic chapbook featuring stories about the painting, written by Scalzi, Wheaton, Catherynne Valente and Patrick Rothfuss, to be published later this year, with profits to benefit the Lupus Foundation of America. E-mail the stories with the text in the e-mail to fanfic@scalzi.com by 11:59pm Eastern, June 30, 2010. One entry per person."

Go to Whatever for more information where you'll also find some amazing video of John and Wil performing "Don't Stop Believing."