I read this book in one sitting on a cold, rainy afternoon/evening, a good bottle of red wine by my side. It's a well-known classic that I'd read years before and only remembered a few vague details about, but it grabbed me straight away all over again.
William Mandela is a reluctant soldier in a future war against an unknown alien enemy. After surviving his first early battles in far-flung space, the nature of relativity means that the world he returns to is not the same as the one he left.
Inspired by the author's own history with the Vietnam War, it's an angry, startling look at the growing separation between those who fight and those they fight for.
The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic-- Featuring a new introduction by John Scalzi
The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time…
Another re-read, this one a lot slower and darker. Written in 1968, it depicts a future where overpopulation is rife; genetic engineering is routine, corporations have taken over democracy, technology controls human relationships, and mass-marketed drugs keep billions docile. Sound familiar?
Despite the grim world-building, it's also one of the funniest classic sci-fi novels.
Now in a Tor Essentials edition, the Hugo Award-winning, uncannily prophetic Stand on Zanizbar is a science fiction novel unlike any before in that remains an insightful look at America’s downfall that allows us to see what has been, what is, and what is to come.
“There are certain things John Brunner achieved, which no one has done before or since.” ― Bruce Sterling
Genetic engineering is routine, corporations have usurped democracy, technology governs human relationship, and mass-marketed psychosomatic drugs keep billions docile. The systems of the United States are universal in reach and out of control. Every citizen is…
Maybe it's a hangover from Covid and what that did to the world around me, but all three of my favorite books this year were re-reads. Something drew me back to works of art that I knew I could rely on in these weirdly shifting times. I suspect I was not alone!
This novel has perhaps the most obvious links to recent times - it describes an intergalactic plague that wreaks havoc across the galaxy. Only one planet, Grass, is left untouched. A seemingly idyllic world, with a strange social structure, it hides a dark secret.
What could be more innocuous than grass? Or more idyllic than a world covered with a wind-whipped ocean of verdant plains?
But the planet Grass conceals horrifying secrets within its endless pastures.
And as an incurable plague attacks all inhabited planets but this one, the prairie-like Grass begins to reveal these secrets - and nothing will ever be the same again ...
Considered to be among one of Sheri S. Tepper's best works, Grass was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus awards. It explores ideas of colonisation, class and sits as part of a rich culture of feminist SF.…
Despite the victory over Cantor Cortis, the dark power still spreads. Nightmare creatures are wiping out villages all along the southern edge of the wild Tangle forest, causing a stream of refugees to flow into the capital of Sontair in the hope of finding protection.
All who helped overthrow the Nine Sisters of Redmondis have been touched by what they experienced and those they lost. Dark visions sap Petron and Daemi’s strength even as they try to heal the rifts within Redmondis and forge a new path for the wielders, crafters, and guards who make up its three main schools.
Wilt must enter the Tangle to seek out the source of the power that calls to him.
