I have prosopagnosia, Face Blindness. I can’t recognize my face, let alone anyone else. Not being able to remember people makes for a lonely existence. Ever since I was little, I created worlds inside my head. These were places where I could control what happened when the real world felt lonely and out of control. Discovering books that created worlds I could immerse myself in was life-changing for me. It was like finding my lost tribe. Science fiction became a comfortable home, becoming a science fiction writer was a natural progression. I still get excited when I find a book that sucks me into its world.
The world of Pern felt so real to me that I wanted to be a part of it. Everything made sense: The culture, the politics, and the environment. Even the role of dragon and rider felt right to me.
I fell in love with the characters right away and didn’t want the story to end. It made me want to have a dragon of my own and have that inseparable bond of trust and love.
Volume I of The Dragonriders of Pern®, the groundbreaking series by master storyteller Anne McCaffrey
On a beautiful world called Pern, an ancient way of life is about to come under attack from a myth that is all too real. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen—a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. But when an ancient threat to Pern reemerges, Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon with whom she shares a telepathic bond more intimate than any human connection. Together, dragon and rider will fly . . . and…
This book made me ask myself how far I would go for someone I loved. Would time, distance, and beliefs change me, too?
I like the classic hardcore science fiction setting of this story mixed with a culture based on a mystical belief—science meets faith. Which would I choose if I were living in that world? Or can I have both? The answer is bittersweet because there is no perfect solution.
This reissue of a modern classic of science fiction, the Hugo and Locus Award-winning and Nebula-nominated The Snow Queen, marks the first time the book has been reprinted in fifteen years.
The imperious Winter colonists have ruled the planet Tiamat for 150 years, deriving wealth from the slaughter of the sea mers. But soon the galactic stargate will close, isolating Tiamat, and the 150-year reign of the Summer primitives will begin. Their only chance at surviving the change is if Arienrhod, the ageless, corrupt Snow Queen, can destroy destiny with an act of genocide. Arienrhod is not without competition as…
The possibility of terraforming Mars and mankind moving further away from Earth has always intrigued me. Besides the politics, how it affected humanity felt based on reality.
Human nature doesn’t change. We all know that. I am not big on reading mysteries. However, I fell in love with the idea behind the mystery that was the foundation for the whole series and how its discovery affected everyone. Would I make the same hard choices as they had to do? I still don’t have an answer to that.
Humanity has colonized the planets - interstellar travel is still beyond our reach, but the solar system has become a dense network of colonies. But there are tensions - the mineral-rich outer planets resent their dependence on Earth and Mars and the political and military clout they wield over the Belt and beyond. Now, when Captain Jim Holden's ice miner stumbles across a derelict, abandoned ship, he uncovers a secret that threatens to throw the entire system into war. Attacked by a stealth ship belonging to the Mars fleet, Holden must find a way to uncover the motives behind the…
I was a young teenager the first time I read this book. At the time, I didn’t understand all that was going on, but I knew I liked the story and the world. But as an adult, all the underlying tensions and the deeper story touched something deep within me. I think it has to do with the struggle to survive and how to cope in a hostile environment–man and planet alike.
The idea that something so simple as a worm on a seemingly insignificant desert planet affected the whole universe fascinated me. If I had the power Paul Atreides had, would I have made the same difficult choices he had made? Probably. And that’s what scares me the most.
Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.
Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's lifespan to making interstellar travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world of Arrakis.
Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.
This story broke my heart. To make a young person do what Ender did without revealing the truth until it was too late still stirs strong feelings in me. It makes me reflect on our history where genocide was attempted. Are we that cruel a species?
I think that’s why this story is special. Although it’s set in a future Earth, the underlying morals of what is right and wrong remain the same. What makes it hard to swallow is that I can understand both points of view. It truly is a moral dilemma. I think that’s why this story sits uncomfortably with me. That is good writing.
Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut―young Ender is the Wiggin drafted…
This book is about an ordinary person, Sharra Lane, who gets recruited into Vault Agency, a secret organization outside the boundaries of human governments that "fixes" the past for the betterment of the future.
But time travel comes at a steep price, and when Sharra becomes a target, that price might include her life, for there are dark secrets buried inside the Vault that Sharra must confront to save not just herself but the Vault too.
Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks left by browsing deer, predatory weasels, and inquisitive bears, skunks, and raccoons. Master tracker Kim A Cabrera provides photos and illustrations.
Winner of the prestigious John Burroughs Medal, Russell also writes about community, a sense of place, and a renewed connection with the nonhuman world. She explores the health of…
What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs
Did a red fox pass this way? Could that be a bobcat print there in the dirt? Do those tracks belong to a domestic dog or a coyote? Combining lyrical memoir with an introduction to wildlife tracking, What Walks This Way explores the joys of learning to recognize the traces of the creatures with whom we share our world.
The nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife-mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice-near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. With wit and compassion, she guides readers through…
