It's been a while, so now I'm back on my blogging bullshit let's have a book haul update. The shelves have seen more acquisitions than this since June, but keeping to modest cuts down means a) more posts, and b) less writing-in-one-sitting. As always, these were picked up out and about in book shops, charity shops, and wherever you find second hand skiffy.
We'll start with the B formats at the bottom, and holding up this pillar of literature is M John Harrison's Empty Space. As it happens, I'm reading Light, the first in his Kefahuci Tract trilogy at the moment. And this is also the first time I've read his fiction - having polished off a book of his criticism ealier in the year. Half way in and I am enjoying Light, so will no doubt warmly encounter Empty Space when I finally get there. Atop this is another chonker. From the ridiculously over-productive Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shards of Earth also kicks off a space opera trilogy. Having finished another AT title recently, Children of Ruin, the excellent sequel to Children of Time, I have a good idea what to expect. Above that are two acknowledged science fiction classics. Kingsley Amis, who I've got very fond of in recent years, published The Alteration in the mid-1970s. An alternate history novel where the Reformation never took place, this is about a choir boy destined for castration to preserve his voice. I had been after this book for ages, and spying it on the charity shop's shelves was the first time I'd seen it anywhere. And perched above it is George R Stewart's classic, The Earth Abides. Apparently, Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven, which was much appreciated around these parts, bears something of a resemblance not only in premise but in tone. Very much looking forward to it.
On to the classic A formats, and Greg Bear kicks us off with Queen of Angels. I always need literary rehab after reading one of his, as hard sf always gives my sensibility a right kicking. Cyber- and biopunk noir seems to be the vibe, but show me a story in the sub genre that isn't? James White's All Judgment [sic] Fled is about the appearance of an unknown spaceship in the solar system, and six astronauts are dispatched to check it out. White was particularly know for detesting violence, so we'll see how our heroes manage in a dangerous alien environment without their peashooters. Anne McCaffrey's Dinosaur Planet was apparently conceived with younger readers in mind. But giant alien lizards? What's not to like? Next is a Robert A Heinlein. Space Family Stone, originally The Rolling Stones in the United States, is another juvenile. This time a bunch of kids on the Moon find a spaceship, repair it, and tear-arse around the solar system for japes. I found the one book he wrote for young readers, Citizen of the Galaxy, more entertaining than the four "adult" works of his I've read, so this comes with reasonably high hopes. And last is Jack Vance's The Dragon Masters. His Dying Earth quartet is great, especially the middle two Cugel books, and though this is a short one, which he probably cranked out in a lunch hour, this also arrives on my shelf with "expectations" attached.
And there ends the third haul. Have you picked up anything interesting lately?
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