Musings of a Babylon Lurker

More Books I Intend to Read

Thursday, January 20th, 2011 | books, science, scifi, space | 4 Comments

I just started reading Dan Simmon’s book “Hyperion”, and I still have along way to go. I think it is interesting enough for me to read all the way through, though I am going at a slow and steady pace.

Listening to the podcast ‘Dragonpage Cover to Cover‘ I was listening to their Library segment. This is one of the few cases where I felt the enthusiasm for a book so contagious that I went to order it immediately.

The book in question is Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Galileo’s Dream”. The theme of Galileo having a peep into the future he, along with other great scientists created the basis for, is intriguing to me.

As a final note, here is a quote attributed to Galileo Galilei :

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”

Tags: Galileo, Hyperion

More Audio Books : Tolkien

Thursday, January 20th, 2011 | books, fantasy | No Comments

During some more long rides to Denmark I started listening to “The Hobbit” and got through the first volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

All read by Rob Ingliss, I find him an excellent reader who renders voices and accents for the characters very nicely. I find his reading gives me the feeling of an epic story – well, I already know the epic scope of the story having read it several times. Very enjoyable, rendering the poetic parts as well as the terror parts of the story very well. Powerful reading.

Tolkiens reinvention of the mythical story is, of course, another part of the attraction for me. In my view he is one of the great story tellers of the 20th century.

On later travels, I look forward to listening to the two final volumes – again. Oh, the joys of having an MP3 player in the car, since I find the radio channels on the way either boring or unnerving.

Tags: audio book, Tolkien

After the Hugo’s, some updates

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010 | authors, awards, books, scifi | No Comments

After reading what I could before the voting for the Hugo Awards I have been a bit away from the blog.

However, the scifi has not been dormant. This is the harvest of the last few months :

Been to a small Convention in Copenhagen, the “Fantasticon”

- reading a few of Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” books, good fun, but I think it is time for a break after the first three.

- on some long trips I have been listening to audio .
A. The Leviathan Chronicles (podcast audio play)
B. The audio books of the 6 “main series” books of Anne McCaffreys Dragonriders of Pern. I started reading the series when a friend recommended it some 7 years ago, and found them solid pieces of storytelling on an epic scale. The 6 books are :
1. Dragonflight
2. Dragonquest
3. The White Dragon (won the Hugo Award for best novel)
4. Renegades of Pern
5. All the Weyrs of Pern
6. The Skies of Pern
C. Lots of podcasts , Babylon Podcast, Slice of SciFi, Dragonpage cover to cover, Starship Sofa, Escape Pod, and several others.

- watching this years Hugo Award winner for best dramatic presentation, long form : The film “Moon”, very good

- watching the first season of Eureka : Quite enjoyable, not in the heavy weight category

- watching the second season of Fringe : I enjoyed it quite a bit, even if the mid season was a bit light on the story arc. This seems to conform my idea that shorter seasons generally work better than the +20 episode seasons.

- watching the mini series from Steven Moffat : “Sherlock” very enjoyable

I will be writing a bit more on some of the above stuff, so watch this space.

Tags: film and tv, Hugo Awards

Hugo Awards Novellette : “It takes Two” by Nicola Griffith

Sunday, June 27th, 2010 | awards, books, scifi | No Comments

A very well chosen title for a cautionary tale. Nicely ambiguous. Are we talking about Richard and Cody, or about Cody and Susana.

Going deep into the question of how reliable our memories are, and how we could be influenced to do things we would not otherwise do.

While the idea could be said to be lifted from the “Red Pill/Blue Pill” choice in “The Matrix”, this story has a quite different take on the concepts of memory and reality.

8/10

Tags: Hugo Awards, scifi

Hugo Awards Novellette : “Eros, Phillia, Agape” by Rachel Swirsky

Sunday, June 27th, 2010 | awards, books, scifi | No Comments

Interesting take on the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence evolving into consciousness. In this case involving a robot, or should I say android.

I found the story a bit longer than I would prefer for this relatively simple plot, on the other hand I found the writing itself interesting and somewhat captivating.

Also the relationship between robots/androids takes an interesting turn when the robot is set free to evolve. Maybe a good example why most robot stories abide Asimov’s rules.

8/10

Tags: Hugo Awards, scifi

Hugo 2010 Novelette : “One of our Bastards is Missing” by Paul Cornell

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | awards, books, fantasy, scifi | No Comments

I have mainly known Paul Cornell from his stories in the Doctor Who universe (“Father’s Day” and “Human Nature/Family of Blood”). his is my first Cornell story outside that.

Nice to see that he is nominated in two categories this story is best Novelette and also in the graphic story category – mor about the graphic story later.

This one starts nicely out, the protagonist, a security officer is confronted with a mystery at the wedding of the princess.

The story has a slight surreal feel, but at the end it is quite consistent. So we have got mystery, betrayal and a good wrap-up.

Two more novelettes to go, and for now my choice is between this one and the Eugie Foster one

8/10

Hugo2010 : Novellette : “Sinner, ….” by Eugie Foster

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | awards, books, scifi | No Comments

Full title :
“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest : Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast”

I listened to that one last year on the Escape Pod podcast.

The question is wether this is science Fiction, Fantasy or what . Genre really does not matter .

This is one of those wonderful small stories that I like.
The choices and consequences of people. Which mask should I wear today, in essence which identity do I choose for today, and the consequences of those choices.

On top of that, the question of your true identity (the “Who are You” question to which there is, it seems, no right answer.

This story has a chilling end when the protagonist reveals his true nature.

8/10

Tags: Hugo Awards

Meta : A look at the “After Hugo2010″ activities.

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | Babylon 5, blog, books, comic, Doctor Who, film and tv, podcast, scifi, star trek | No Comments

When I have finished the reading/watching and voting for the Hugo Awards – some time in Early August I have a few things in mind that I would like to do, SciFi wise.

Audio stories :

Catching up on some podcasts – they all have some absolutely marvelous stories (even if not all will be to my liking, there wil be many I like :
- early Escape Pod
- Podcastle
- Starhip Sofa
and other audio drama/audio book podcasts

- Doctor Who (Big Finish) stories – there is a lot, some very good, some ok-ish

Video :

- All of Lost – whenever the last season DVD set is out – it will be an all new one for me long term
- Older Doctor Who , long term project
- Detailed rewatch of Babylon 5 with lots of comment on this blog – will take a lot of time, probably with watching almost every episode twice, so please be patient. Also some comparison to Star Trek DS9 – probably an episode every one or two weeks on average, yes, it will be a long term project
Since I have seen B5 a few times by now, each episode review will probably be a relatively spoiler free post, followed by a review in the context of the whole story – possibly with some extra comments on issues of special interest to me (and hopefully others)
- Rewatch of (more or less) all Star Trek, with blog comments on the episodes I enjoy – another long term project
- Supernatural (first watch) – it comes recommended
- Second seasons of Dollhouse and Fringe
– Chuck – that is a fun one

All this will be a bit at a time, no great marathons, except when I visit a good scifi friend

Dexter – not scifi, but good TV drama, *very dark*

… and much more

Books :

- All of George RR. Martin’s Son of Ice and Fire – well, what is out there, since he will be Guest of Honor at the Eastercon/Olympus2012 in London – I got through the first volume Game of thrones by now
More Dresden Files books – they are fun and I got through the first two for now
- Dan Simmons’ Hyperion series
- Babylon 5 books, including the script books series – partly in conjunction with re-watching the series

- Some graphic novels and comics, especially ones written by J. Michael Straczynski, but others, too

…and much more reading of scifi/fantasy old and new that I cannot yet specify

If this looks like a lot …. well, it is, and I am probably not going to get any of it done fast, but here we go, and I will see how much will be achieved

Lately I have re-entered into building electronics equipment, and this will take some time from the scifi stuff – yes , I am prioritizing, so some scifi stuff will be done

For now, until the end of July, the Hugo awards’ stuff has high priority

Hugo Awards 2010 : Novellette : “Overtime” by Charles Stross

Sunday, June 13th, 2010 | awards, books, fantasy, scifi | No Comments

The story uses the premise of an office/organisation for eliminating the “supernatural”. even if the “magic” they perform is done with mathematics and logic.

The build-up in this story felt long drawn and the conclusion too short, and not as surprising as I had expected.

OK story for me

7/10

Hugo Awards 2010 Novellette : “The Island” by Peter Watts

Monday, June 7th, 2010 | awards, books, scifi | No Comments

A massive ship building Wormholes (Stargates ?) for billions of years. People who are in suspended animation for most of their lives. An AI that wants full control.

Finally, they meet an intelligence massively more intelligent than humans. Truly alien. I am, in a small amount reminded of Fred Hoyle’s novel “The Black Cloud” from the 1950′s, but the twist at the end of the story is good. Maybe not quite as alien as first thought.

This is clearly better than any of the short stories I have read for this year.

Lurker’s rating : 8/10

Tags: Hugo Awards