- Almost entirely random comments on whatever it is I am reading at the moment -noreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 13 Apr 2026 05:52:47 +0200Blogger http://www.blogger.com632125http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/en-usno- Almost entirely random comments on whatever it is I am reading at the moment -noreply@blogger.comhttp://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/06/raven-stratagem-yoon-ha-lee.htmlreviewSolarisYoon Ha Leenoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Thu, 22 Jun 2017 22:36:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-8735285826325292840 One of the most exciting novels I read last year was Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit. It offered fast-paced space opera combined with a strange mathematical system that governs space travel, and society. Between the action, Lee has a thing or two to say about totalitarian states and oppression as well. Ninefox Gambit is the opening volume in his Machineries of Empire trilogy. The second book, 1http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/06/tempo-steph-swainston.htmlQuasisreviewSteph SwainstonTranslationnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 12 Jun 2017 20:55:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-975628755336915636Note: this text is only available in Dutch translation. I am not aware of any plans to publish it in English. In September 2016, I read Het Rad van Fortuin, the first story written by Steph Swainston of the Splinters series. Splinters are thin paperbacks published by Dutch publisher Quasis one can read in an hour or so. Most of them are written by local talent but some are translations. They 2http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/06/after-atlas-emma-newman.htmlEmma NewmanreviewRocnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 5 Jun 2017 22:53:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-2871846799236175056 Emma Newman's After Atlas (2016) is set in the same universe as Planetfall (2015). That book turned out to be one of the top reads of 2016 (I got to it late) and so the sequel jumped right to the top of my to read list. A position it held for an unreasonable length of time. Once again I am late in reading this book. The novel is set in the same universe, but the connection with the first book 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-neutronium-alchemist-peter-f.htmlPANPeter F. Hamiltonreviewnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 21 May 2017 22:23:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-7032955914082655085 Last October I read Peter F. Hamilton's The Reality Dysfunction on a trip to my girlfriend's family in Norway. These books are ideal for travel. Huge but not taking up too much space in the suitcase. Although I was not overly impressed with the first novel in the Night's Dawn trilogy, my compulsion not to leave series unfinished kicked in so I decided to give him another shot. The Neutronium 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-house-of-binding-thorns-aliette-de.htmlAce BooksAliette de Bodardreviewnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 30 Apr 2017 18:55:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-7214714363569613290 The House of Binding Thorns is the second novel in Aliette de Bodard's Dominion of the Fallen setting. It is not a sequel exactly. Both books can be read independently from each other. Madeleine and Philippe, two major characters from the previous novel The House of Shattered Wings, play an important role in this novel though. You will definitely get more out of the book if you have read them 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-york-2140-kim-stanley-robinson.htmlKim Stanley RobinsonOrbitreviewnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:59:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-6301653114401290589 In his previous novel Aurora (2015) Robinson tackled a well known science fiction trope, that of a sub-lightspeed generational space ship, designed to hold enough people and supplies to survive a voyage of centuries and establish a colony on a new planet. His conclusion is sobering. Taking a human out of the environment they evolved in, Robinson claims, will almost certainly lead to extinction.2http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/04/some-strange-desire-ian-mcdonald.htmlIan McDonaldreviewShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 16 Apr 2017 19:32:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-2004104233569100159 There are a couple of pretty big novels on my to read list and at the moment I can't seem to manage to read them in a week. To fill the gap I sampled another story from The Best of Ian McDonald, a collection published by PS Publishing last year. Originally published in an Ellen Datlow anthology in 1993, it is a story from fairly early in McDonald's career, and definitely one that attracted 3http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-wall-of-storms-ken-liu.htmlHead of ZeusKen Liureviewnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 3 Apr 2017 18:50:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-8470192594203458928 The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu is the second volume his Dandileon Dynasty series. It weighs in at nearly 860 pages in hardcover, driving home once again how insanely productive Ken Liu is. This book appeared a year and a half after the first volume. In that space of time Liu also produced a number of translations and short stories. Besides his family and day job of course. I wonder if the man 1http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-brains-of-rats-michael-blumlein.htmlInterzoneLightspeedMichael BlumleinShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 26 Mar 2017 21:22:00 +0200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-1643394863572841882 This is a review of the short story that originally appeared in Interzone in 1986, the same title was later used for a collection, which came out in 1990. The story is included in the enormous anthology The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, which is where I read it. The story is available to read online at Lightspeed, which published in in the March 2015 1http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/03/lord-of-emperors-guy-gavriel-kay.htmlEosGuy Gavriel Kayreviewnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 19 Mar 2017 21:59:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-397025266332896944 Lord of Emperors, the second book in Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic duology, is pretty much required reading for people who have read the first volume Sailing to Sarantium. These two books are one long novel rather than two. The first volume leaves the reader with many unanswered questions and dangling plot lines. After rereading this second volume I can't help but wonder what this duology 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-birthgrave-tanith-lee.htmlDAW BooksreviewTanith Leenoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 5 Mar 2017 22:13:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-4861897427233797624 In January I read Crying in the Rain (1987), a short story by Tanith Lee. It was the first story I read by her and it made me curious about her other work. Since her death in 2015, new editions of her books have appeared in a steady stream, so I decided to pick up The Birthgrave (1975), the  novel that launched her career. Although she had been publishing stories and a children's novel 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/02/loosed-upon-world-john-joseph-adams.htmlJohn Joseph AdamsreviewSaga PressShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:07:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-21754695542979451 Last year I read Drowned Worlds (2016), a Jonathan Strahan's anthology of climate change fiction. It had a few good stories in it, but over all it turned out to be a mild disappointment. Climate change is a much used theme in science fiction however, and soon after I came across another fairly recent anthology on the subject. Loosed Upon the World, edited by John Joseph Adams, takes a broader 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-peoples-police-norman-spinrad.htmlNorman SpinradreviewTornoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 19 Feb 2017 22:15:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-5454447063132529960 Norman Spinrad made his name as part of the New Wave in the 1960s. It is the period in science fiction where things start to get interesting to me. I am not that much of a fan of Pulp or Golden Age material. It is somewhat surprising that I never actually read anything by him before. When Tor offered me a review copy I figured it was time to do something about that. The People's Police is his 2http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/02/high-stakes-george-r-r-martin-and.htmlGeorge R.R. MartinMelinda M. SnodgrassreviewTorWild Cardsnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 12 Feb 2017 18:50:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-5796538140461915191 High Stakes is the 23rd book in the shared world series Wild Cards, and the final book in what has become known as the Mean Streets Triad. The triad started with Fort Freak (2011), which combines a police procedural with comic book heroes inspired characters. This final volume is quite a different beast though. It takes us far from the streets of Joker Town in New York and pits an unlikely 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/wrapping-up-short-fiction-month.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Tue, 31 Jan 2017 21:14:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-2422049239058975917And that completes short fiction month. I managed to read 31 stories this month and write about 30 of them. I didn't think I would manage quite that many so in that respect I am pleased with the result. I have noticed that it is much harder to write one after a long day at work though. The quality of some reviews are not what I hoped for. I did enjoy sampling work by so many authors, many of the 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-long-chase-geoffrey-landis.htmlAsimov'sGeoffrey A. LandisLightspeedreviewShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Tue, 31 Jan 2017 20:55:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-4065229246725418897 For the final story in Short Fiction Month, I picked The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis. His work is primarily short fiction of which I have read exactly nothing. This particular story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2002 and was later reprinted in Lightspeed, September 2010. In a way, this story brings us back to the start of the month. It is a far future science 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/reikos-universe-box-shinji-kajio.htmlreviewShinji KajioShort FictionTranslationnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 30 Jan 2017 22:39:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-1784206289584831060 Reiko's Universe Box by Shinji Kajio is one of the many translations in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's enormous anthology The Big Book of Science Fiction. The Japanese original was published in 1981 but not until 2007 did it appear in English translation. It is one of very few stories that have been translated. The introduction states that Kajio often writes humorous stories. This one must be 1http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/old-paint-megan-lindholm.htmlAsimov'sClarkeswordMegan LindholmreviewShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 29 Jan 2017 18:07:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-1008861228875304533 These days, pretty much everything that is being published by this author, appears under the pseudonym Robin Hobb. Once in a while a story under the name Megan Lindholm appears. It doesn't seem likely that we'll ever see another Lindholm novel again, but some of the short fiction she writes just doesn't fit the epic fantasy Hobb is associated with. Old Paint appeared in Asimov's in July 2012. 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/elliot-wrote-nancy-kress.htmlLightspeedNancy KressreviewShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sat, 28 Jan 2017 23:30:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-3669289017284827384 I have read quite a few pieces of short fiction by Nancy Kress. She seems most comfortable writing novella length pieces (to the point where many of her novels are three novellas put together) but there are quite a few short stories and novelettes as well. She regularly ends up on award shortlists with her shot work. This particular story did not get nominated and I can see why. It did not have0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/blood-music-greg-bear.htmlGreg BearreviewShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Fri, 27 Jan 2017 23:44:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-5263766886647459930 Blood Music is probably Greg Bear's best known story. It appeared in Analogue in June 1983 and won both the Hugo and Nebula Award for best novelette the next year. Bear expanded the story to a full novel, which appeared under the same title in 1985. The novel attracted quite a bit of attention too, and was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell and BSFA. The novel is regarded as a classic of 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/walking-awake-n-k-jemisin.htmlLightspeedN.K. JemisinreviewShort Fictionnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Thu, 26 Jan 2017 22:31:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-2873132733321719311 Walking Awake is one of the original stories in Lightspeed's special edition Women Destroy Science Fiction. Jemisin is very successful with her novels at the moment, picking up a Hugo and a whole lot of nominations for other awards for her novel The Fifth Season last year. She is one of the voices calling for more diversity in the genre, something that has brought her in open conflict with Vox 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/in-fall-ted-kosmatka.htmlLightspeedreviewShort FictionTed Kosmatkanoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Wed, 25 Jan 2017 22:59:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-28954326432148522 Ted Kosmatka is not a prolific short story writer. Only fifteen or so short stories appeared in the last decade, along with three novels. After The N-Word and The Divining Light, In-Fall is the third one I read. It originally appeared in Lightspeed in December 2010. The story is a brief tale that explores both the implications of Einstein's theory of general relativity, as well as those of 4http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/crying-in-rain-tanith-lee.htmlreviewShort FictionTanith Leenoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Tue, 24 Jan 2017 22:49:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-1320734065279504510 Tanith Lee was a prolific British author of novels that moved all over fantasy, science fiction and horror. When she passed away in 2015, I looked into her bibliography for WWend.com and added a lot of her work. Until now I have never read any of it though. Her most prolific and commercially successful period was in the 1970s and first half of the 1980s. Crying in the Rain appeared at the tail 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/faster-gun-elizabeth-bear.htmlElizabeth BearreviewShort FictionTor.comnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Mon, 23 Jan 2017 20:34:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-6958295065367308819 Elizabeth Bear's interest in the old American West did clearly not begin with her novel Karen Memory (2015). The novelette Faster Gun appeared in 2012 on Tor.com and can still be found there. In it, she describes events around Tombstone, Arizona in the fall of 1880. As is usual with Bear's writing, it is a mix of genres. Apart from the obvious western setting, there's a science fictional 0http://valsrandomcomments.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-fish-of-lijiang-chen-qiufan.htmlChen QiufanClarkeswordreviewShort FictionTranslationnoreply@blogger.com (Valashain)Sun, 22 Jan 2017 23:16:00 +0100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9181327480848828236.post-6688346845819390987 The Fish of Lijiang by Chen Qiufan is another of the forty or so short stories listed on his website that Ken  Liu has translated from Chinese. It is one of the earlier ones. The English translation first appeared in Clarkesworld in August of 2011. The original is a few years older, it appeared in 2006. Liu included it in his anthology of Chinese science fiction Invisible Worlds, which is 0