Category Archives: science fiction

Book Review of “A Call to Duty”

call to duty

Cover for the Weber and Zahn novel “A Call to Duty”

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After I returned my previous book to the library, I was wandering the stacks trying to decide if anything looked interesting. I eventually came across A Call to Duty (2016) by David Weber and Timothy Zahn. It’s the first book in the four-part Manticore Ascendant series which, in turn, is part of the much larger Honorverse published by Baen Books.

I should say that I’m particularly fond of Baen, not just because of the quality of titles they publish, but because they are a truly egalitarian science fiction/fantasy publisher. They don’t hold your politics or social views against you if you happen to be a tad bit conservative (as opposed to many other publishing houses and official SciFi organizations).

That said, I haven’t specifically targeted a disproportionate number of novels from Baen for my reading list. I tend to read whatever gets my attention at the moment.

A few years back, I did read and review Weber’s flagship Honorverse novel On Basilisk Station. I had the same issues with Basilisk as with Call to Duty, they tend to drag.

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My Fantasy Adventure Novelette “Ice” has been Reviewed on twitter/X

ice

Cover art for my fantasy novelette “Ice”

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I have exactly one book that is self-published on Amazon; Ice. My short description blurb says:

At the end of time, the world is hot and men travel the vast oceans in merchant sailing ships. Captain Ki-Moon Yong of the Star of Jindo has discovered a new horror at the bottom of the Earth. Can he and the Star escape disaster long enough to warn a disbelieving world?

Ice is set at the end of time when supposedly runaway climate change has melted all or the vast majority of Earth’s ice. Most of the land masses continue to exist (contrary to popular myth) but coastlines are very different and the actual continent of Antarctica is exposed, including it’s terrifying secrets.

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Book Review of “Pushing Ice” (2005)

pushing ice

Photo Credit: James Pyles

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It’s been over five years since I read and reviewed one of Alastair Reynolds’ books so I guess reviewing Pushing Ice is long overdue.

I actually keep a list of books I want to read. Which books I read and when depends somewhat on whether or not I can find them in my local public library system. I mean chances are, I’ll only read the book once (so many books, so little time), so I can hardly afford to buy them all (one wonders how people afford to buy all of the brand new SciFi books being put out just to be able to vote on them for the Hugos, Nebulas, or other much vaunted awards?).

This book started off slowly. I didn’t expect that. After all, in the beginning of the tale, humanity has moved out into the solar system, so much so, that they’re mining comets for ice (water). Then, to everyone’s shock, one of Saturn’s moons Janus breaks orbit and starts accelerating toward interstellar space. Turns out it wasn’t a moon at all but some sort of alien scout or observation post.

The people with all the money, the United Economic Entities (UEE) offers the closest ice mining ship, the Rockhopper, commanded by Bella Lind, a lot of money if it will chase, catch up to, and study Janus for the few days they can before the moon outruns them. After much angst and voting, they agree to. But that’s not the beginning of the story.

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Rewellagans

robot

Image found at the Weight of Thought Facebook page. Attributed to Victor Dimitrov: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qQOaZn

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“Rewellagans,” insisted five-and-a-half year old Joannie Palmer as she pointed up at the machine. She had led me into a glade I’d never visited before, one covered with several varieties of long grasses and surrounded by tall but otherwise unremarkable trees.

“I can see that.” As her Grandpa, I’m expected to understand everything even when I don’t have a clue. “But what is it?” I knew what it was and it was impossible. Joannie’s “Rewellagans” was a six-meter tall humanoid robot, but something out of an old 1950s B-science fiction film. It’s technology that had never existed and could never exist.

Don’t you see it on the machine’s right shoulder. No, on our right. It’s the robot’s left shoulder.”

She kept pointing as if by sheer effort she could make me see it.

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Film Review of “They Live” (1988)

they live

Scene from the 1988 film “They Live”

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I’ve been seeing memes based on this film for years, but last night I finally got around to watching John Carpenter’s They Live (1988) starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster.

This is supposed to be one of those “cult classics” and I can see why. That said, it hardly qualifies as one of Carpenter’s best movies. The plot had holes big enough to drive a truck through, the acting for the most part was pretty flat (especially from Foster, which surprised me), and at best, it was a middle-of-the-road movie.

Actually, Keith David as Frank turned in a good performance as did Peter Jason as Gilbert, and George “Buck” Flower (more on him in a minute) as the Drifter.

The basic story is about a homeless construction worker named Nada played by Piper (the character is never named in the movie) who wanders into L.A. Along the way he encounters a blind Street Preacher (Raymond St. Jacques) who rants less about God and Hell and more about how “they” are taking away our freedom and turning us into slaves.

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Little (Synthetic) Girl Lost

brenda's bus

PHOTO PROMPT © Brenda Cox

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It was illegal for her to be in Shenzhen let alone to time shift into the past. Fortunately, she had enough power left to transmogrify into a western tourist and evade her pursuers. As she boarded the double-decker street bus, she did attract some male attention, but for predictable reasons.

He kept a home in the Bantian district where her transportation was heading. If Dr. Kao didn’t have the technology in 1998 to fix her, she’d have to spend the next thirty years pretending to age to reach her present. Could she warn her former self to avoid the accident?

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Book Review of “Hauser’s Memory” (1968)

hauser

Photo credit: James Pyles

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I finished my re-read of Curt Siodmak’s classic novel Hauser’s Memory a few days ago but this is the first chance I’ve had to write about it. I know I originally read the book some decades ago but remembered very little. I also watched the 1970 made-for-TV movie starring David McCallum and Susan Strasberg, but remember just a little more.

This book wasn’t part of my local public library system so I had to buy a used hardback. The copyright says 1968 so I imagine it could be a first edition, especially since the page stock is so wonderfully thick. I really love old books.

What strikes me about this novel more than anything else is the writing. Normally, when I review a piece of science fiction, I’m assessing (among other things) the quality of the science fiction writing. In Siodmak’s case, his writing is that of a wonderful author and storyteller regardless of genre. Taking out the SciFi aspects, his knowledge of humanity is wonderful. I could read his descriptions of even the most mundane aspects of the lives of his characters and still be fascinated.

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Toxic Fandom and What is “real” Star Trek?

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After the controversial Star Trek Strange New Worlds musical episode and whatever latest mess actor Robert Beltran (who played Chakotay on “Star Trek: Voyager”) stepped in, the question once again comes up, “What is a true Star Trek fan?” We could just rephrase it as “What is real Star Trek?”

I’ll say right now that there’s no one right answer. However, fandom being what it is, every perspective in Star Trek fandom believes it has the one, only, and right answer to those questions.

For instance from Quora:

The five series; TOS, TNG, DS9. Voyager, Enterprise.. plus the first 10 movies.. are what I consider canon, because they are aligned with Gene Roddenberry’s vision of what Star Trek is supposed to be, which is the exploration and development of humanity and its borders, and the conflict that comes with it.

All those that violate this established canon, is not what I’d call “real Star Trek”.. and that includes all the Abrams films and ST Discovery. Now I’m not saying that they are not fine pieces or work.. I am just saying that it is not really Star Trek.

Then from reddit:

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DVD Review of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023)

ant q

DVD cover for the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

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A few days ago, I checked out a DVD of the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) at the public library (so it didn’t cost me a cent) and got around to watching it yesterday.

First of all, I miss the “Wombats” (Michael Peña as “Luis,” David Dastmalchian as “Kurt,” and Tip T.I. Harris as “Dave”). I understand there wasn’t a place in them given the story, and they weren’t as well utilized in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) as they were in the original Ant-Man (2015), but they’re great comedy relief.

Secondly, I miss Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie. I know the MCU blipped ahead five years so the actress (now age 15) would be too young, but she was a lot of fun. I also know that an older daughter for Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) means she can join him on his adventures, but at 26, Kathryn Newton, who replaced Emma Fuhrmann in the role after Avengers: Endgame (2019) might be a little bit too “old” (Fuhrmann is only 21 which is just about right).

Most of the movie seemed to be pretty much in the dark, which made it hard for me to tell what was going on half the time. For instance, in the opening sequence with Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Traveler/Kang (Jonathan Majors), I couldn’t see their faces and had no idea what was going on until later in the film.

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Book Review of Joe Haldeman’s novel “Camouflage” (2004)

cam joe

Photo credit: James Pyles

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I just got done reading Joe Haldeman’s novel Camouflage. I used to read Haldeman a lot back in the day. I loved classics such as The Forever War and All My Sins Remembered. It was after reading his novel The Accidental Time Machine that I said I’d never read him again (more on that later).

But a friend suggested giving him another try, so I found “Camouflage” at my local public library.

It’s generally a good book and a very easy read. I shot through it in just a few days. In spite of the title, the protagonist is an alien being simply called “Changeling.” We find out early on that Changeling came to Earth from over 10,000 light-years away and evolved in a very different environment. Apparently life is rare in the galaxy and Earth is where it found life.

Its ship landed in the Pacific Ocean, specifically the Tonga Trench about a million years ago. The narrative made it seem that Changeling is a subset of the life form in the ship that separated itself to explore. For the vast majority of that million years, Changeling was various forms of sea life swimming around, primarily an Orca and a Great White Shark.

But by-the-by, Changeling started observing human beings on ships and became curious. It came on shore in California in 1931 and superficially imitated a human being.

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