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ckd5. The Vondish Ambassador, Lawrence Watt-Evans (e-book)
I have a soft spot for the Ethshar books, even though (or because) they tend to run to a formula of "clever young person winds up in a situation where their cleverness is useful, and then rewarded". In this case the CYP is not the titular ambassador but an itinerant dockworker who winds up being hired as his aide, and who then proceeds to be clever as necessary. Light and enjoyable.
All of the Ethshar books (except for the two that wound up at Tor[1]) are available from Fictionwise, which is great for me; they're just about perfect comfort re-read material, and this will fit right in to the rotation.
[1] (Insert obligatory rant about Holtzbrinck's handling of e-book editions here.)
RR15. The Science Fictional Olympics, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh (mmpb)
This was the second in a series of anthologies ("Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction") collecting stories on particular themes. I tend to believe that an anthology can generally either be a themed reprint anthology or an original non-themed anthology; themed original anthologies risk falling into the trap of "well, I have to include this story even though it's not very good, because otherwise I have a hole in the book unless I can find an alternate-history vampire unicorn story on short notice". (This is not an absolute; I've seen consistently-good original theme anthologies, though not a whole lot of them.)
The various "Asimov" reprint anthologies are generally of exceptional quality IMO, and this one is no exception. Despite the title, its theme is actually of "competition" rather than just "sports" or the even more narrow "Olympics events", though two stories (Tom Sullivan's "The Mickey Mouse Olympics" and Nicholas Yermakov's "A Glint of Gold") are both not only "Olympics" stories but "genetically engineered athletes at the Olympics" stories. (Despite this similarity, they're distinctly different stories and both quite good; the editors have also helpfully put them second and second-to-last to help the reader avoid mental clashing.)
Other stories range from Alan Dean Foster's "Why Johnny Can't Speed" (an inspiration for the game Car Wars) and L. Sprague de Camp's classic story from Unknown "Nothing in the Rules" (a mermaid at a swim meet) to contributions from Bob Shaw ("Dream Fighter"), Jack Vance ("The Kokod Warriors"), Arthur C. Clarke ("The Wind from the Sun", which also supplies the inspiration for the cover art), and Piers Anthony ("Getting Through University", which later became part of Prostho Plus). Even the Anthony is pretty good.
The stories mentioned are about half the book; the other half is of equally high quality. This is possibly one of the best anthologies I've ever read, which is why it made it around for yet another re-read. Highly recommended.
RR16. Farmer in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein (mmpb)
Heinlein juveniles are short, familiar, and are even easier to read than RAH's usual prose style. This makes them ideal for reading while fighting off a cold.
RR17. Book of Enchantments, Patricia C. Wrede (mmpb)
Short stories set in various milieus (Liavek, Andre Norton's Witch World, and Wrede's own Enchanted Forest) or that are retellings of ballads or folk tales. "Utensile Strength" (which features the Frying Pan of Doom) is probably the most memorable (especially when combined with the recipe for "Quick After-Battle Triple Chocolate Cake"), but all the stories are quite good. Recommended.
RR18. The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge, Vernor Vinge (e-book)
As previously mentioned, I "picked this up" after the eReader 2.0 upgrade, and figured I may as well re-read it while I had it open. I'm still annoyed by the lack of "True Names", though. (Heck, I'd like to see all of Vinge's output available for purchase as e-books. Where's Marooned in Realtime, other than on the "YOU CAN'T HAVE IT NEENER NEENER"[2] list at Webscriptions?
The older stories included here that were left out of True Names and Other Dangers and Threats and Other Promises ("The Accomplice", "Bomb Scare", and "The Science Fair") might be a bit below the quality of the others, but are still worth reading; the more recent "Win a Nobel Prize!" and "Fast Times at Fairmont High" are more-than-worthy additions.
Highly recommended for those of you who haven't already had a copy for years now.
[2] Insert reprise of the Holtzbrinck rant here.
RR19. Old Man's War, John Scalzi (mmpb)[3]
Well-done Heinlein homage, minus the powered armor. I was looking forward to this immediately after it was described at the Tor "upcoming books" panel at Noreascon 4, and wasn't disappointed. Scalzi's also got some kind of blog thing which isn't too bad. Recommended, though again I suspect most of my readership already knew about it.
[3] Available from Fictionwise as an e-book, but only in Secure Mobipocket format. Insert Mobipocket/Amazon rant here, along with a bonus reprise of the Holtzbrinck reprise. I do have the Tor.com freebie copy I snagged during the time when it was available, but I'd actually be willing to pay for the whole series in a useful e-book format...which I can't.
I have a soft spot for the Ethshar books, even though (or because) they tend to run to a formula of "clever young person winds up in a situation where their cleverness is useful, and then rewarded". In this case the CYP is not the titular ambassador but an itinerant dockworker who winds up being hired as his aide, and who then proceeds to be clever as necessary. Light and enjoyable.
All of the Ethshar books (except for the two that wound up at Tor[1]) are available from Fictionwise, which is great for me; they're just about perfect comfort re-read material, and this will fit right in to the rotation.
[1] (Insert obligatory rant about Holtzbrinck's handling of e-book editions here.)
RR15. The Science Fictional Olympics, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh (mmpb)
This was the second in a series of anthologies ("Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction") collecting stories on particular themes. I tend to believe that an anthology can generally either be a themed reprint anthology or an original non-themed anthology; themed original anthologies risk falling into the trap of "well, I have to include this story even though it's not very good, because otherwise I have a hole in the book unless I can find an alternate-history vampire unicorn story on short notice". (This is not an absolute; I've seen consistently-good original theme anthologies, though not a whole lot of them.)
The various "Asimov" reprint anthologies are generally of exceptional quality IMO, and this one is no exception. Despite the title, its theme is actually of "competition" rather than just "sports" or the even more narrow "Olympics events", though two stories (Tom Sullivan's "The Mickey Mouse Olympics" and Nicholas Yermakov's "A Glint of Gold") are both not only "Olympics" stories but "genetically engineered athletes at the Olympics" stories. (Despite this similarity, they're distinctly different stories and both quite good; the editors have also helpfully put them second and second-to-last to help the reader avoid mental clashing.)
Other stories range from Alan Dean Foster's "Why Johnny Can't Speed" (an inspiration for the game Car Wars) and L. Sprague de Camp's classic story from Unknown "Nothing in the Rules" (a mermaid at a swim meet) to contributions from Bob Shaw ("Dream Fighter"), Jack Vance ("The Kokod Warriors"), Arthur C. Clarke ("The Wind from the Sun", which also supplies the inspiration for the cover art), and Piers Anthony ("Getting Through University", which later became part of Prostho Plus). Even the Anthony is pretty good.
The stories mentioned are about half the book; the other half is of equally high quality. This is possibly one of the best anthologies I've ever read, which is why it made it around for yet another re-read. Highly recommended.
RR16. Farmer in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein (mmpb)
Heinlein juveniles are short, familiar, and are even easier to read than RAH's usual prose style. This makes them ideal for reading while fighting off a cold.
RR17. Book of Enchantments, Patricia C. Wrede (mmpb)
Short stories set in various milieus (Liavek, Andre Norton's Witch World, and Wrede's own Enchanted Forest) or that are retellings of ballads or folk tales. "Utensile Strength" (which features the Frying Pan of Doom) is probably the most memorable (especially when combined with the recipe for "Quick After-Battle Triple Chocolate Cake"), but all the stories are quite good. Recommended.
RR18. The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge, Vernor Vinge (e-book)
As previously mentioned, I "picked this up" after the eReader 2.0 upgrade, and figured I may as well re-read it while I had it open. I'm still annoyed by the lack of "True Names", though. (Heck, I'd like to see all of Vinge's output available for purchase as e-books. Where's Marooned in Realtime, other than on the "YOU CAN'T HAVE IT NEENER NEENER"[2] list at Webscriptions?
The older stories included here that were left out of True Names and Other Dangers and Threats and Other Promises ("The Accomplice", "Bomb Scare", and "The Science Fair") might be a bit below the quality of the others, but are still worth reading; the more recent "Win a Nobel Prize!" and "Fast Times at Fairmont High" are more-than-worthy additions.
Highly recommended for those of you who haven't already had a copy for years now.
[2] Insert reprise of the Holtzbrinck rant here.
RR19. Old Man's War, John Scalzi (mmpb)[3]
Well-done Heinlein homage, minus the powered armor. I was looking forward to this immediately after it was described at the Tor "upcoming books" panel at Noreascon 4, and wasn't disappointed. Scalzi's also got some kind of blog thing which isn't too bad. Recommended, though again I suspect most of my readership already knew about it.
[3] Available from Fictionwise as an e-book, but only in Secure Mobipocket format. Insert Mobipocket/Amazon rant here, along with a bonus reprise of the Holtzbrinck reprise. I do have the Tor.com freebie copy I snagged during the time when it was available, but I'd actually be willing to pay for the whole series in a useful e-book format...which I can't.
