Category: science fiction

fantasy · reading · science fiction

List of Favorite Fathers

Sonia Lal2 Comments

Today is Father’s Day. Which got me thinking about the fathers in the books I read.

If I had to pick three fathers from the books I have read, what would I pick?

After some thought I came up with these:

  1. Aral Vorkosigan from the Miles Vor series by Lois McMaster Bujold. He has his own book and is the father to one of most amazing characters I’ve read. Fathering Miles has to be a difficult task – he was born disabled and is wilful and is hardly ever as careful as he should be.
  2. Saetan Daemon SaDiablo. He is the father of three main characters in the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop – one my favorite series ever.
  3. Moon from the Raksura books by Martha Wells. This is one of the most creative series I’ve ever read and well-written, too. The guy had a few kids when the last book starts and they had been trying for the last couple of books. So that was nice. I would have liked to see more interactions with the kids – but I don’t suppose babies and adventures go together very well.

 

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reading · science fiction

Surprising Tid-Bit In Apprentice in Death

Sonia LalLeave a comment

I finished the latest In Death book, Apprentice in Death. It is the 43rd book in the series and that is pretty cool. I hope they finish the movie soon. Who knows what is going on with it?

There is a high school named after Hillary Rodham Clinton. 

I don’t think she has any high schools named after her in the present, but it’s interesting that she does in the future this book lives in. I mean, lots of famous people have schools named after them. But it gave me quite the jolt to see it in this book.

She may have schools named after her, no matter how this election goes. But I suppose it is more likely if she wins.

It is still sort of surprising to see it there in Apprentice in Death, mentioned all causal-like.

 

 

General · reading · science fiction · Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday: The Left Hand of Darkness

Sonia Lal7 Comments

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.

teaser

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

90u7bm

Yes, indeed the people in it are androgynous, but that doesn’t mean that I’m predicting that in a millennium or so well all be androgynous, or announcing that I think we damned well ought to be androgynous. I’m merely observing, in the peculiar, devious, and thought-experimental manner proper to science fiction, that if you look at us at certain odd times of day in certain weathers, we already are.. I am not predicting, or prescribing. I am describing. I am describing certain aspects of psychological reality in the novelist’s way, which is by inviting elaborately circumstantial lies. 

– from the Introduction in the Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General · science fiction

Real Water in the Holodeck?

Sonia LalLeave a comment

I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the first episode there is a boy (the Dr’s son) who goes into the holodeck, falls into a pool of water, and when he exits the room, he is still wet.

How does that work?

He should be dry, I think. It’s a bit odd for the halodeck to have real water.

 

fantasy · General · reading · science fiction

Best Reads of 2015

Sonia Lal3 Comments

My favorite (new) reads of 2015 are as follows, in no particular order. I didn’t read that much this year – I didn’t have time. But it was still hard to whittle it down to a manageable least. I read a lot of AMAZING books this year. I usually pick just five, but it is so hard. I read a total of 49 books this year.

Two are non-fiction, which is higher than usual, as I don’t read a lot of non-fiction. And one is a classic. So the following is the top ten list:

  1. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
  2. Fairs’ Point by  Melissa Scott
  3. Undercity by Catherine Asaro
  4. The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
  5. Stories of the Raksura, Vol 2, by Martha Wells
  6. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
  7. Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat, by Bee Wilson
  8. Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages by Guy Deutscher
  9. The Color Purple by  Alice Walker
  10. Skyborn by David Dalgish

I have whittled it down to top 5. Like so:

1) Skyborn by David Dalgish    

Skyborn was pretty amazing. People fly and have powers and living on floating islands. There are rules for making war and the description of training of a soldier is very good. Almost the whole story, in fact. Floating all around all the personal angst/difficulty of that are hints of an explosive political situation. I loved it.

2) The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley 

I thought this book was going to a typical grimdark and violent and bloody, with lots of people dying and betrayal. And it is all that. I am not a fan of grimdark, but this one is really good.

3) Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

I was of two minds of putting this in the top 5. It didn’t blow me away like the first one, but it was still good. If I wasn’t comparing it to the first, it wouldn’t have come up wanting and I wouldn’t have thought twice about putting it here. So here it is.

4) Stories of the Raksura, Vol 2, by Martha Wells

Vol 2 wasn’t as good as Vol 1, but still great and still worth many rereads. It is a collection of stories and it explores the world in more depth.

5) Uprooted by Naomi Novik

This was amazing. It is a like a gritty fairy tale and I would love to see a movie made out of this. I think Disney would do good with this one.

 

Best books of 2014: https://storytreasury.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/best-books-of-2014/

Best books of 2013: https://storytreasury.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/best-reads-of-2013/

Best books of 2012: https://storytreasury.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/best-reads-of-2012/

General · reading · science fiction

Have I read this book before?

Sonia Lal2 Comments

This is a question I find myself asking this week.  2zpoccl

I’m reading the first Kris Longknife book: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd. I know I’ve read other Kris Longknife books before. I’m pretty sure I’ve read this first one, too.

It’s just that I don’t actually remember the events in this book. There was a rescue of a kidnapped little girl; she goes to provide food and vaccine to a community over in with a deadly, infectious disease; I don’t remember thing.

I remember the liquid metal and that you could form it into any shape that you wanted. I also remembered that it stopped working after a while, maybe on purpose. I remember her computer’s name.

Nothing else is ringing a bell. Which leads me to ask myself: Have I read this b00k before?

I can’t make up my mind. But if I haven’t read it before, how did I miss the first Kris Longknife book? I don’t know. It seems impossible.

 

General · reading · science fiction

Eve Dallas is mellowing?

Sonia Lal1 Comment

image I finished the new Eve Dallas, Devoted in Death, a few weeks ago and I’ve been thinking: Eve Dallas is a lot mellower in this book. She still kicks ass and takes names, but in a less aggressive way.

Before, she threatened robots and parked right in different of buildings instead of finding a proper parking spot.

In this book she actually parks in parking garage before going up to interview witnesses or suspects or whoever.

It’s just so odd. What does this new, mellower Eve portend? I’m convinced it means something.

science fiction

Science Fiction Flowchart

Sonia Lal6 Comments

While randomly browsing I found a flowchart someone had created on photobucket. I saved the link on tinypic.

This flowchart:

 

I have watched/read some of everything. And I like pretty much all of it. So. But I like space opera best, so there it is.

But if you’re looking for something in particular, this is a handy guide.

science fiction

Star Wars Droids Keep Going and Going and Going

Sonia Lal1 Comment

I was watching Star Wars a few days ago (episodes IV and V) and the droids (C-3PO & R2-D2) just keep going and going and going.

C-3PO at least shuts down sometimes, but I don’t think R2-D2 ever does.

I wish my phone had batteries like that.

And, hey, if electric cars had batteries like that, I bet gas fueled cars would go the way of the dodo. All gas stations would turn into battery stations.

reading · science fiction · Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday: Leviathan Wakes

Sonia Lal22 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

“It’s the beacon we followed. Jesus. The ship’s beacon never even turned on. Someone made a fake one out of that transmitter and hooked it up to a battery,” Holden said quietly, still fighting his panic.

– Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey