Beyond the Burn Line by Paul McAuley
In a far future post-apocylptic world. there is a quest for understanding of the past. There was a bear civilization and a human civilization. Something caused them to stop. A scholar is trying to find answers. What happened? Was there something from afar that destroyed the civilization? The novel felt like it had some interesting points to explore, but the premise was just a bit too remote to make them well.
Around the World in 80 Days adapted by Jules Verne, adapted by Anna Lea
I had a bit of trouble figuring out what this actually was. It credits an "adaptor", but not a translator. I'm assuming that this was adapted from some English translation of the original French. There were multiple characters and the pace was perfect.
Phileas Fogg is an eccentric British aristocrat. He places a bet that he can get around the world in the unheard time of 80 days. A new assistant, Jean Passepartout, happened to join him just before he makes this bet. They journey together to complete the quest. They have to deal with steamers, trains, and even elephant travel. Fogg is willing to throw vast sums at solutions due to the money that he has at stake. His assistant gets into a bit of trouble (for things such as not taking his shoes off at an Indian temple). They are also chased by police who mistake Fogg for a thief. They have many adventures, including the rescue of a woman from ritual suicide. They make it back in what they think is just a bit too late. Later they realize they forgot to take into account the date change and rush to make it back just in time. It is a fun adventure that has been well adapted to movies and other media.
They Shall Have Stars by James Blish
In a not too distant future, the west has "won", but they have become more authoritarian like the communists, thus giving the communists what is akin to a real victory. The book centers on some researchers out in Jupiter. They have built a giant bridge to do research. Part of the public face is in anti-age research. They think they can find something that will stop aging. However, what they have really found is magnetic research. This allows traveling great distances at super fast speed with minimal power usage. The flying will enable people to travel across the galaxy and export the western culture via ships. The book was written in the 1950s and had a very different view of our future. Some areas like magnetic propulsion The magnetic propulsion and anti-aging research still seem to be just around the corner. Authoritarianism does seem to be coming back into vogue. Despite getting many details "wrong" about today, it did seem to get a lot right.
A boy goes from Florida to live with his grandma in rural Washington State. He learns that his grandma operates a Bed and Breakfast for Aliens. They arrive via a special teleporter. She makes sure they look like humans and then let them explore the area. The boy is a little freaked out with this and does not want other people to know. A nearby girl tries to connect with him, but he tries to keep her away so she won't find out.
There are some close calls. An aquatic alien accidentally appears. He takes him to the river in an aquarium, but runs into people on the way, and has to make excuses. Later, a family of extra-large aliens that look like trees alive. They are too big to disguise. However, the ruckus kids may be small enough. They could also disguise themselves as trees. The boy agrees to take them out. There is a close call with the boy scout troop. The girl is also there. Her dad, the sheriff, is the scout leader. He leaves the aliens alone to visit the girl. Alas, the aliens pull a prank on the scouts and the sheriff is convinced they are aliens. He then leads a mob to attack the aliens in the bed and breakfast. To prevent the attack, the boy pranks an alien sighting. This eliminates the sheriff's credibility and causes him to lose his job. The Bed and Breakfast's teleporters are also shut down due to the conflict.
The girl and her father are all set to leave for a guard job near Bothell. The Bed and Breakfast is shut down due to lack of business. The girl comes by to tell the boy they are leaving and gives him a book of photos of aliens that she had taken. She knew about them all along. Then the intergalactic police force shows up. They mention that a security officer is required for places with teleporters and will delay the process of reactivating them. Then they ask for everyone's name. They know of the sheriff based on a UFO sighting he had reported a long time ago. This helped them apprehend some difficult to find criminals. They offer him a position in the intergalactic police force with a job as security at the bed and breakfast. This ends up making everyone happy and providing a happy ending.
The book has lots of fun with aliens while having a coming of age story hidden within.
The Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker
The four books of the series are available as a free download. They explore a near future world, but have different approaches. There are various cyborgs and androids. There are conflicts between the various degrees of artificial. Scientists are exploring new things. One drug is "merge" that allows beings to merge together. These can be different species or two of the same. In some cases they briefly go together before separating. In others they can be made more permanent. Regardless of these changes, people seem obsessed by sex from a very masculine, mechanical point of view. I guess this is male vs. female authorship.
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle translated by William Gardiner
This book is a mixture of science and science fiction. It explores the various bits of astronomy that were known in the 17th century, and then speculates on the other species that inhabit planets and moons. The author suspects that the moon and other planets have inhabitants. They observe the earth in a way similar to how we observe the moon and other planets. It may have been written as pure science, but could easily read as a modern science fiction book.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky, translated by Olena Bormashenko
"Stalkers" go exploring the waste zone after an alien invasion. They can get into trouble, but there is some value in those. The people keep going back, even though government officials offer them a chance to live elsewhere. At first I thought the book was talking about a nuclear disaster area, but I realized this was just something assume by those exploring the Chernobyl region. At the end, there is an afterward discussing the publication process during Soviet Russia. He does brush much of it off as not relevant anymore, but it is an interesting look into the history.
The Man in the Moone by Francis Godwin
According to Wikipedia, the original title was The Man in the Moone or A Discourse of a Voyage Thither by Domingo Gonsales. That is quite a mouthful. The book is a very early utopian science fiction. A man runs into trouble in Spain and goes to another land. After various adventures he is on a remote island, and communicating with a bird. He learns to travel on it and eventually escapes a conflict by going up to the moon. On the moon, he encounters a civilization. Their civilization is a Utopian version of earth civilization. Life on the moon is similar to earth, but they speak an odd language see earth in the sky somewhat like we see the moon and food is a bit different. They also have some special "magic stones" with various properties. He later goes back to earth with some of these and lands in China. Today, the science feels all out of whack. However, back in these days, it must feel plausible. If you can sail around the world to find strange but human civilizations, why not fly on a bird to see the same on the moon? The book is fairly short and an interesting mixture of exploration and science fiction.
Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
I had earlier read the second and third books in the Lunar Chronicles series and did not care for them much. This one did seem much better. It is a "Cinderella" story, set in a futuristic earth. Lunar people have special powers, but also carry a disease to which they have immunity that is deadly for earthlings. Cinder is the Cinderella character who lives with her cruel guardian and her daughters. She is a cyborg human who had suffered a bad accident when she was long and had many parts replaced. She can't remember any pre-Cyborg life. She works in android repair. The prince comes in to have one of his androids repaired. She does a great job and the prince falls for her, but she rejects his overtures. Her guardian mother has no desire to support her and is glad to enroll her in a trial to help cure the disease. There she discovers that she has immunity and later learns more - she is actually Lunarian. The prince's dad has died and the prince is set to be ruler. The Lunar queen has come to take his hand in marriage. However, he really likes Cinder. Meanwhile Cinder escapes from her family, but discovers the Queen's evil plot and saves the kingdom, but has to spill her state has a Lunar Cyborg to the prince. She also later finds that she is royalty. The story is told in a quick moving, light tone.
Steelstriker by Marie Lu
The protagonist works as a bodyguard for the ruler. She has special super-engineered powers. She does not like her job, but whenever she does poorly, her mom suffers. The ruler has mom as a prisoner and moves her every 2 weeks. Mom's conditions depend on how well daughter does her job. There are inklings of a rebellion. Then the bad imperial overlords are overthrown and boy and girl fall in love. I did not care much for the book.
Wildcard: Warcross Series, Book 2 by Marie Lu
The previous book ended on a cliffhanger. Was Emika helping the right side? This book takes that and runs with a number of twists and turns. The new technology has lead to criminals turning themselves in or committing suicide. However, it may be going too far. Some people are inundating the police for guilt of past parking tickets and the like. The creator of the tech (Hideo) is doing it to try to find the people that had abducted his brother. Emika eventually discovers that Hideo's opponent, "Zero" is actually the AI versions of his deceased brother. This boy was part of big project that took kids out with fatal diseases as the guinea pigs. It was their mom who had brought him out. However, now he had become part of a group lead by a quiet women that was trying to take Hideo's tech for their own benefit. Eventually all comes to a positive conclusion. The tech is initially shut down. However, since most of it is so important to society Emika is brought in to help restore it in a positive way.
Clockwork Destiny by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart
The final book in the Clockwork Angels series was clearly influenced by the music of Rush and the lyrics of Neil Peart. By Tor the Snow Dog plays a key role. There is the Dreamline campus, freewill and many parts related to Rush songs that move along the plot. Anderson and Peart had been working through ideas for the book before Peart passed away. Anderson then finished it after Peart's death.
In this book, a group is going on a quest to find the magic substance that would restore vitality to the Watchmaker and order to the universe. They find it, but instead of giving it to the Watchmaker they give it to Grandfather. The watchmaker does not seem disappointed.
In the quest, they meet many people in the clockwork world. It is a steampunk world with carnivals and power. The watchmaker has organized everything and made detailed plans. They run into people that had known they would be coming for years - however, they did not know complete details. For example, when the party talks to an outfitter for their quest to the cold realms, the outfitter knew they would be coming and stayed open for that, even without much other business. The quest involves finding more about the anarchists and getting the potion that can help restore order. The anarchists are trying to spread disorder in the world. University students are especially drawn to anarchy without knowing truly what it is. Some of the anarchy was first spread by the Watchmaker himself, but later revivals have spread out of hand. There are also stories that can be told by a prick of blood. However, some of the stories end up being super simple. Many people are interested in continuing their bureaucratic life, even when the underpinning structure is under risk.
This book was well written, though I wish I could find a premade playlist of all the Rush songs mentioned.
2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush by John McFetridge - editor (Author), Kevin J. Anderson - editor (Author), Paul Boehmer (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)
These are stories that were inspired by (or inspired) Rush songs. For some, it was easy to feel the Rush song through the story. The story that inspired "Red Barchetta" stuck the most. In it, the government made safety regulations requiring cars to withstand 10 mph collisions. This lead to people being more dangerous in their driving. It further endangered old cars, as they do not have the same protections. A few of these new drivers try to impact a driver of an old car. In the end, the drivers of hte new cars are destroyed when they get in a high speed crash. This results in a new regulation for 70 MPH safety.
The other stories range in quality, style and song connection. (Subdivision is fairy close to the points of the song. Tom Sawyer barely touches the song.)
Contents
Introduction: "Imaginations on Fire"
On the Fringes of the Fractal. -- [GREG VAN EEKHOUT] Inspired by "Subdivisions"
A Patch of Blue. -- [RON COLUNS] Inspired by "Natural Science"
The Burning Times v2.0. -- [BRIAN HODGE] Inspired by "Witch Hunt"
The Digital Kid. -- [MICHAEL Z. WILUAMSON] Inspired by "The Analog Kid" and "Digital Man"
A Nice Morning Drive. -- [RICHARD S. FOSTER] Inspired "Red Barchetta"
Players. -- [DAVID FARLAND] Inspired by "Tom Sawyer"
Some Are Born to Save the World. -- [MARK LESLIE] Inspired by "Losing It"
Random Access Memory. -- [JOHN MCFETRIDGE] Inspired by "Lakeside Park"
Race Human. -- [LARRY DIXON] Inspired by "Marathon"
Hollywood Dreams of Death. -- [TIM IASIUTA] Inspired by "I Think I'm Going Bald"
A Prayer for "0443." -- [DAVID NIALL WILSON] Inspired by "The Trees"
Gonna Roll the Bones. -- [FRITZ LEIBER] Inspired "Roll the Bones"
Spirits with Visions. -- [BRAD R. TORGERSEN] Inspired by "Mission"
Into the Night. -- [MERCEDES LACKEY] Inspired by "Freeze"
Day to Day. -- [DAYTON WARD] Inspired by "Red Sector A"
Our Possible Pasts. -- [DAVID MACK] Inspired by "Show Don't Tell"
Last Light. -- [STEVEN SAVILE] Inspired by "The Spirit of Radio"
2113. -- [KEVIN J. ANDERSON] Inspired by "2112"
Warcross by Marie Lu
Warcross is a super popular game that everyone loves to play and watch. The billionaire creator had lost his brother when he was young. Now he has a grand plan that nobody knows about.
The protagonist is a young woman who is struggling to make ends meet. She is secretly a great game player and hacker. She gets her chance to participate in the big game tournament after she hacks into the opening ceremony. The game creator recruits her as a type of "bounty hunter" to find people that may be trying to undermine him. She has a lot of success and learns a lot about the creator and enters into a small romantic relationship with him. However, one of the underworld guys she is tracking is her match.
The story goes well, but the end gets trite. The game creator wants to eliminate crime and provide full historical access to memories. She feels that this could get people a loss of control. Maybe she should have partnered with the underworld people. But they were also mean.
The book feels a lot like Ready Player One.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
The sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory takes the story on a science fiction trip. The glass elevator goes a bit too far and ends up in orbit. There it runs into the space hotel. At first they are seen as enemies to the US. After they scare off bad aliens, they are ready to be awarded a medal. There is also experience of specials substances that let people take years off their age or add years on. Alas, people take too many and find themselves babies - or multiple centuries old. The book seems a mishmash of interesting concepts, but other than the characters does not relate much to the previous book.
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
In a futuristic world, 99.9% of people that are intentionally killed reappear alive at home. This has lead to the position of "dispatcher". These licensed professionals will "dispatch" people that are about to die via surgery or other situations. However, there are some quirks. People can still die of natural causes. To murder somebody, you would need to slowly kill them (such as via starvation) so they cannot be dispatched. People dispatched also come back at a place that they think of as "home". However, this may not be their actual home if they no longer love that. This story deals with a case involving some of those situations. It is something interesting to explore. However, the original "murder" premise is a bit bizarre.
Randomize: Forward collection by Andy Weir
Quantum computing has made casino's random numbers predictable. The only solution is to install a quantum computer. However, the wife of the installation tech has entangled the long term storage, allowing her to know the values the casino uses. She plans to make off with a fortune. Alas, the casino checks her background and plans to arrest her. She tries to talk her way out of it by offering to partner to sell tech to other casinos. It ends with her getting escorted to her room. Was she really set free? Or is there more to come. Quantum computing can really cause issues with the security we currently rely on.
How to Buy a Planet: The Cleremont Conjectures, Book 1 by D.A. Holdsworth
People wake up to find that the earth was sold for a few quadrillions of an alien currency. At the time it maps to quadrillions of British pounds. Debts and other things are forgiven. Alas, people later discover that the aliens plan on turning earth into a tropical resort. The aliens also like lots of daylight, so they are melting the ice caps and accelerating global warming. Earthlings consider buying the planet back. However, the payment the received is in a fiat currency that is now valued at closer to a pound. (The currency had not been used for trading, and was most closely tied to the value of ice in the earth's ice cap - which is now melted away.) And to make matters worse, earthlings are now being charged rent. They must borrow money at usurious rates to pay the rent. There is one earthling that is serving as a middleman and making a fortune. And he stands to make even more as earth is IPOd on some intergalactic markets. The earth seems doomed. Luckily, some people fake a disease outbreak, scare off the investors and manage to get the earth back.
The book is a social critique of the excesses of capitalism. The actions performed by aliens are similar to those done by bankers. At the end, they proclaim a modern utopia. The book does get a bit long. At times it ventures off into "pure science fiction" as it deals with extra-terrestrial communication and long range transport, and then switches back to a social commentary focus.
Arthur Dent is not having a good day. He is hungover and sees his house about to be destroyed to make way for a highway bypass. He meets his friend, Ford Prefect who takes him to a pub and tells him the earth is about to be destroyed to make way for an interplanetary bypass. (Shortly after it is destroyed, these become no longer needed.)
Things get crazier. They hitchhike a ride on a Vogon construction ship that is building the bypass. They don't like hitchhikers, but their help does. They are using the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to make their way around. Earth's entry is just "Harmless" (though will be updated to "mostly harmless".) They are tortured with poetry and try to talk their way out of punishment, but end up being shot out of the ship into space.
They get picked up by zaphod beeblebrox on the Heart of Gold ship. This ship is powered by the improbability drive. It was almost impossible for them to be picked up, and thus the ship's improbability picked them up. Many other "improbable" things happen. (For example, Dent knew Beeblebrox from his time picking up a girl he liked at a pub - and the girl is here.) They end up in a place that makes custom planets. They are about to get nuked before the missiles turn into a sperm whale. They have a babelfish that translates any language to be understood (and just happens to have evolved that way.) They also learn that answer to life the universe and everything was 42 and earth was created to find the question - but it was destroyed just a bit too soon. Mice were the most intelligent creatures. Dolphins were trying to tell people that the earth would be destroyed, but people just saw it as tricks.
The book is filled with memes and humor. It goes quickly, but is zanily entertaining, while also providing witty societal commentary.
The Fourth Consort: A Novel by Edward Ashton
A mission to space gets stranded as they encounter an alien species. They are also not the only foreigners there, as another alien race is also on a mission there. One human man becomes the fourth consort to the alien "first among equals". He also learns of domestic conflict among these creatures. There are some fights with the humans and near deaths on all sides. Eventually the man is challenged to a duel by one of the aliens. They have "spears" as weapons. He throws the spear and kills the alien. This was scene as unconventional, but no illegal. He then meets with the other alien species and decides to join them. It is an interesting exploration of alien contact as well as relationships and morals.
