We had to go to Windsor this morning, our first trip there in quite some time. Our modem died on Sunday, and with no internet life was less fun. We also needed some fresh fruit and vegetables. The MNSi office is closed, but the tech dude left a new modem for us outside the employee door. So we are back in business. The old one was years and years old, and certainly served us well. As for shopping, Deb had planned to remain inside the car while I went to get the food. But the store was nearly empty, so we both went in. The place was jammed with food, so we stocked up. They even had toilet paper, though we are still good for a few more weeks. Next trip out will be for birdseed, possibly tomorrow. That place is very close by, and never busy.
Flightrader24 now shows less than 5,000 planes in the air at any one time. Most are still in the USA, which doesn't really seem to be getting the full message. The flight count is down worldwide by 2/3rds so far, with more to come. It is beginning to sink in how strange and unreal all of this is becoming, and reading daily about how many businesses are closing permanently makes one wonder what will become of main street. And oil is selling at just above $20 per barrel. As I said, it is unreal. Even so, it is amazing at how little our own lives have changed. We are happy to stay home, with an unlimited amount of things to do here. Practicing is going well, and so is the reading and writing. I am lamenting the 9-day streak of cloudy days and nights, however, especially as new moon has now come and gone. Sigh.
Flightrader24 now shows less than 5,000 planes in the air at any one time. Most are still in the USA, which doesn't really seem to be getting the full message. The flight count is down worldwide by 2/3rds so far, with more to come. It is beginning to sink in how strange and unreal all of this is becoming, and reading daily about how many businesses are closing permanently makes one wonder what will become of main street. And oil is selling at just above $20 per barrel. As I said, it is unreal. Even so, it is amazing at how little our own lives have changed. We are happy to stay home, with an unlimited amount of things to do here. Practicing is going well, and so is the reading and writing. I am lamenting the 9-day streak of cloudy days and nights, however, especially as new moon has now come and gone. Sigh.
I can safely relate my completed March reading list, as I am in the early stages of another epic novel by Spinrad, called Mexica. That one will take 7-8 days to read. For the month I read 10 books related to my Avon/Equinox authors, as well as 2 books that aren't related. I also read the first part of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island. It runs nearly 800 pages, but is divided into 3 parts, so next month I will read part 2. It is quite amazing how much my PC game follows the story, with a more recently shipwrecked young woman landing and finding the remains of the previous inhabitants, including you-know-who. I have also started on Richard Burton's first volume of Tales of the Arabian Nights, and am enjoying that, too. That could learn into a life long project.
March began with Kenneth Bulmer's The Wizards of Senchuria, another good entry in his Keys to the Dimensions series. Each book is set in a different world (or three), and introduces new main characters. but some of the old places are also visited, and previous characters do reappear. It is a unique series, and I am happy to be reading it in sequence. This one is a solid entry in the series, though very short. On the flip side was Cradle Of The Sun, Brian Stableford's (a new name for me) first novel. Here is a quote from my recent review, which I hope will pique your curiosity:
"Imagine if Lord of the Rings had been 140 pages long, and at the end the Ring had been thrown into Mt. Doom. However, all the Fellowship died along the way, or at the very end. And Sauron lived, and Saruman. And Rivendell was destroyed and everyone there killed. It would still be a very good book, but it would be a bit devastating to read. Welcome to Cradle of the Sun."
March began with Kenneth Bulmer's The Wizards of Senchuria, another good entry in his Keys to the Dimensions series. Each book is set in a different world (or three), and introduces new main characters. but some of the old places are also visited, and previous characters do reappear. It is a unique series, and I am happy to be reading it in sequence. This one is a solid entry in the series, though very short. On the flip side was Cradle Of The Sun, Brian Stableford's (a new name for me) first novel. Here is a quote from my recent review, which I hope will pique your curiosity:
"Imagine if Lord of the Rings had been 140 pages long, and at the end the Ring had been thrown into Mt. Doom. However, all the Fellowship died along the way, or at the very end. And Sauron lived, and Saruman. And Rivendell was destroyed and everyone there killed. It would still be a very good book, but it would be a bit devastating to read. Welcome to Cradle of the Sun."
March continued with The Primitive, by E. C. Tubb. It is a tale of revenge, as a man from an outer colony is saved and taken home by rich human tourists, only to turn against him as he is not true family. I am always amazed at how epic some of these short novels are; writing few pages, the best of them can make the novel seem as if it were 3x longer, with all that happens. I really liked this story, and where it leads the reader. Next came Undersea Quest, a collaboration between Jack Williamson (Avon/Equinox author I have been reading) and Frederik Pohl. It is the first of a trilogy from the authors, and seems aimed at high school boys. A good read, but literally filled to the brim with cliches.
Sweet Sister Seduced was my final book to read by S. B. Hough, alias Rex Gordon. One of his excellent mystery stories featuring chief inspector Brentford, the whole book takes place in the 24 hours that the detective is called in to investigate a possible murder. Every book by Hough/Gordon is worth seeking out and reading, and his mysteries are so different from any other such books I have read. Nary a word is wasted, and the ending is not only a surprise, but one of a kind. I will certainly miss this fabulous author.
Hal Clement's later novels can be confusing if you are new to his work. He tends to introduce many characters right at the start, and most of them are alien! It usually takes a few chapters before the reader becomes oriented. But his earlier works, even the very earliest, are quite approachable and very much enjoyed by this reader. This past month I read The Green World, a no nonsense novella that is a classic of Clement's best style, namely that of scientists exploring an alien world. Part of a double novel, the flip side was a very mediocre tale by John W. Campbell, Jr (the noted pulp publisher), called The Moon Is Hell. A group of stranded astronauts have to survive on the Moon. It reads like a Jules Verne novel, and can also be considered kin to Gordon's First on Mars, as well as Andy Weir's The Martian. Survival at all costs. That part is quite good, but the whole reason they are stranded in the first place is totally ridiculous. That was the 2nd of two books read this month not directly affiliated with my main reading project (not counting the unfinished Verne and Burton). But I always read both sides of double novels, regardless.
I had the pleasure of reading two fine works by Robert Silverberg. He didn't write much SF during the later 60s, at least compared to his earlier output. I read a juvenile called The Mask of Akhnaten, about a young boy who visits Egypt one summer with his uncle, around the time the Aswan Dam was just beginning to floor the upper reaches of the Nile. Much of the book is fact based, and I actually learned a lot about Egypt during this time, and had fun visiting the temples and pyramids. Not a great read, but it would still hold up today someone in their mid-teens. The book becomes a bit Hardy Boys-ish by the end. The second novel by Silverberg (he is represented twice in the 27-volume Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series, so I read two of his works per cycle) was called Gate of Worlds. It is an alternate history novel (of which Jubilee, by Ward Moore, is the finest I have ever read), and much alter John Christopher more or less copied much of it for one of his Fireball Trilogy novels for young readers. Silverberg's story mostly takes place in the New World, which is considerably different, as the medieval plague in Europe ended up taking 80% of the population with it. Thus we are left with a vastly different Europe, which came under the rule of the Turks (Shakespeare wrote his plays in Turkish!). This is a really, really good novel, and quite suitable for young adult readers, too.
Next up was Moorcock's 2nd Hawkmoon novel, called The Mad God's Amulet. This Sword and Sorcery epic (4 novels) is also set in an alternate history, or at least one far into the future, where Britain has degraded into less than human conquerors of Europe and Asia. Great adventure telling, though very little that is really outstanding or different from many other sword and sorcery tales (for me, the best of that bunch are the Fafhrd and Mouser tales by Fritz Leiber, which have never been equalled).
J. G. Ballard's Day Of Creation is another must-read novel by this very unusual writer. making a little more sense than some of his earlier novels, but following a similar theme, we head to Africa, somewhere near the border of civilization and the Sahara, and journey along with a doctor who lets loose a flow of water. As his madness develops, he journeys upriver to find the source, and to attempt to destroy it. The journey is remarkable in many ways, and he is aided by a young African girl, and a film maker. Not to be missed. I would love to see a mini series based on this one (along with most of his other works).
Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg certainly makes one take a deep breath and try to carry on. The story is about a failed Venus mission undertaken by two astronauts. One was slightly mad before lift-off, then goes completely bonkers. The other goes stark raving mad several weeks into the journey. Definitely a keeper! Malzberg is one of the best authors out there, and severely overlooked and misunderstood. To me, reading him is almost as good as going home.
I finished up with Warriors of Day, an early novel by James Blish (his earliest?). Though fully in the pulp tradition, it demonstrates how high an art form this can become when handled by such a master writer. One of the best, and much copied by later writers, such as Farmer.
As I said earlier, I am at the beginning of Norman Spinrad's epic take on the conquering of Mexico by a small band of Spaniards. I wasn't too thrilled initially by this project, but I am getting into it now. The author is making the Spanish victory seem much more believable than anything I have ever read about it before. 80% of this very long novel still awaits me. Come back next month to see whether or not it was worth the effort to read.
Mapman Mike
I finished up with Warriors of Day, an early novel by James Blish (his earliest?). Though fully in the pulp tradition, it demonstrates how high an art form this can become when handled by such a master writer. One of the best, and much copied by later writers, such as Farmer.
As I said earlier, I am at the beginning of Norman Spinrad's epic take on the conquering of Mexico by a small band of Spaniards. I wasn't too thrilled initially by this project, but I am getting into it now. The author is making the Spanish victory seem much more believable than anything I have ever read about it before. 80% of this very long novel still awaits me. Come back next month to see whether or not it was worth the effort to read.
Mapman Mike
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