The Apolyton Science Fiction Book Club: May Nominations

[JohnT]

Don't forget Aprils book, Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card.

This month's book is Asimov's Foundation. Please join in!

This club doesn't have many rules, but what there are pretty much involve nominations and voting:

1. You must have read the book you are nominating.
2. Please nominate only 1 book, as to allow others' selections to be listed.
3. The books must be science fiction.
4. Last months runner up will automatically be nominated. The person who nominated last months runner up can nominate another book if they desire, without effecting the runner up's nomination.

It would also be appreciated if you could link to a good description (Amazon, sfsite.com, whatever) of the book.

On March 15th (or so), I will post a thread listing the nominations with a multiple-choice poll which will allow you to select up to three (3) books. The poll will be timed to end at the end of the month, and the winner will be the book we read for May. If there is a tie, I make the decision as to which book to read.

My selection this month is going to be Hal Clements Half Life, Tor Books (2000). Usually I post a quip from Amazon.com, but the fact is everybody who has ever read this book has missed the point. Clement is a true hard science fiction writer, far more so than Asimov or Clarke (or even Niven) - this is a man who literally writes novels about gravity and metallurgy.

Half Life is no different. But what everybody misses is that it is also a story about sociology and the impact of a law designed to boost the scientific method. Anyway, the book is set a few centuries in the future, after a long period where the biomass of the entire planet decreases at the rate consistant of a half-life of every 63 years (i.e. after 126 years you had 1/4 of the biomass of year 0). A ship of extremely ill but highly trained people go to Titan to see if they can find out where the life processes on Earth are breaking down.

I do hope this one is selected.

Edit: Added rule four upon advice from St. Leo. I also saw where in last months thread, Slowwhand nominated The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein. So that book is considered a May nominee as well.

Is there any way we can weigh the votes?

[St Leo]

Are we carrying forward April's runner-up into May?

[Static Universe]

Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle.

Blurb from Amazon:

It's America in 1962--where slavery is legal and the few surviving Jews hide anxiously under assumed names. All because some twenty years earlier America lost a war--and is now occupied jointly by Nazi Germany and Japan. This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel set in a parallel universe is the work that established **** as a legendary science fiction author.

This novel was written almost completely under the influence of the I Ching and dexedrine. Very interesting. Not the kind of alternate universe novel you would expect.

[Jon Miller]

Merchanter's luck by cherryh

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

no, make that downbelow station

same author

Jon Miller

[Static Universe]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
no, make that downbelow station

Both great books, but Cyteen is considered her masterpiece, set in the same universe. I think the trilogy is available in one volume now (although it is really one book and the publisher made her break it up).

[Ramo]

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Amazon blurb:

To Say Nothing of the Dog is a comedy of manners, a comedy of errors, time travel, a touch of romance, and Victorian history lessons; all with a wit so sharp it could skewer Oscar Wilde himself.

Connie Willis sets her protagonist Ned Henry on a time-travel induced goose chase through Victorian England for an obscure artifact known as the Bishop's Bird Stump. Originating from the late 21st Century, when the use and laws of time travel are well established, Mr. Henry is nevertheless poorly prepped for the culture shock he experiences. He must interpret a set of instructions he doesn't remember receiving in order to replace something that was taken from its timeline so that history doesn't self-destruct into chaos 60 years later...and do so while never revealing his ignorance of Stilton spoons and the correct way to refer to a pregnant cat in the presence of ladies (that would be never). Along the way are several literary tributes and thoughtful debates on the nature of history: character or unseen forces? ...to say nothing of a plethora of gut-wrenching hilarity.

To Say Nothing of the Dog manages to draw from several literary genres without watering down its verbal potency or losing focus of the essentially sci fi plot. And although it won a Hugo award in 1999, this book will not alienate readers who are not normally into science fiction in general (the publisher persists to this day in classifying it as general fiction). In fact, I will have no trouble recommending To Say Nothing of the Dog to my charmingly '50's mom as well as to a trekker friend.

[korn469]

i nominate the postman, simply because i'm a fan of post apocolytic fiction

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Static23


Both great books, but Cyteen is considered her masterpiece, set in the same universe. I think the trilogy is available in one volume now (although it is really one book and the publisher made her break it up).

cyteen is my favorite also

maybe I shoudl recommend that oen, I just have read it recently, have not read the other two recently

Jon Miller
(I ahve read almost everything she has ever written)

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Ramo
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Amazon blurb:

it was ok (read last summer) but not as strong as the Doomsday Book

Jon Miller

[Ramo]

I haven't read that one. I really ought to get around to it.

[Case]

Originally posted by korn469
i nominate the postman, simply because i'm a fan of post apocolytic fiction

Just about everything by David Brin is worth reading IMO

[Tattila the Hun]

The cat trough the wall, by Heinlein, i believe.

[laurentius]

The Hyperion Saga, by Dan Simmons

[JohnT]

Originally posted by St Leo
Are we carrying forward April's runner-up into May?

You know, I never thought about that, but it is a good idea.

Reread the first post.

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by Jon Miller


it was ok (read last summer) but not as strong as the Doomsday Book

Jon Miller

I really like both. There are many extremely funny pages in the style of Jerome K Jerome.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by laurentius
The Hyperion Saga, by Dan Simmons

This brings us up to a point of discussion: should we, in our discussions, assume that we are going to talk about the specific book only, or the entire series?

This is a very important question, for it involves spoilers and increases the reading requirements for full participation in the threads. I prefer for us to go along the way that we've started, i.e. the emphasis is on the first book, but the sequels can be discussed in spoiler boxes. But I'm welcome to any suggestions!

Anyway, until we discuss and decide laurentius, I'm going to assume just the first book in the series, "Hyperion." (Actually, in this case we can break the series up into two discussions involving 2 books each - "Hyperion Cantos" and "the Saga of Endymion.")

[loinburger]

Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut.

Amazon's book description is pretty short and doesn't really do it justice, but for y'all who've read Vonnegut in the past, it ought to suffice. Just think Slaughterhouse Five only with a sci-fi flare and a bit more depressing.

The richest and most depraved man on Earth takes a wild space journey to distant worlds, learning about the purpose of human life along the way.

[Tuberski]

Armor by John Steakley.

ACK!

[molly bloom]

I should like to nominate 'Babel-17' by Samuel R. Delany:

'The Alliance has been at war with the Invaders for decades. Now a series of damaging sabotages are occurring, each accompanied by a burst of communication in a new uncrackable code, Babel-17. General Forester calls in Rydra Wong, poet, ex-cryptographer and linguist extrordinaire, to help out. She quickly realises Babel-17 is not a code, but a remarkably expressive and powerful new language, and sets out to unravel it and track it down.

I had thought I was slowing down. Back in the 70s I could read three SF books in a day; today I have trouble reading one. But, after reading Babel-17 I realise it's not just me slowing down -- it's also the books getting longer. Without necessarily getting better. Delany crams as many ideas and images into 200 pages here as would fill a modern trilogy -- or worse. The port scenes, the discorporates and the use of Basque, the marvellous chaotic banquet, the aliens with their temperature-based language, the short half chapter with "I" and "you" interchanged -- are just some of the beautifully-crafted jewels in here.

But the main theme of the book is language. True, Babel-17 may be based on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that language determines the way we think, which is currently discredited in its strong form used here. Yet much old SF is based on now-outmoded scientific theories or engineering limitations. What makes good old SF is when this doesn't fact matter, because those (wrong) ideas are nevertheless used in an interesting and consistent way, and the story is still worth telling. As here.'

http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susa...s/d/delany.htm

[St Leo]

Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear

The Ship of Law was made of the fragments of Earth's corpse, a world in itself, cruising massively close to the speed of light, hundreds of years from the dust and rubble of home...

And aboard were 82 mortal exiles sworn to find and punish the Killers who murdered our world.

http://www.twbookmark.com/books/75/0446364037/
http://sfbook.com/modules.php?name=N...rticle&sid=135
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.a...C0E3A7E4855810

I couldn't get into the original at all, but I loved this sequel.

[Rex Little]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun
The cat trough the wall, by Heinlein, i believe.

That's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. And there must be two dozen Heinlein books better than that one.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun
The cat trough the wall, by Heinlein, i believe.

Actually, a Heinlein book has already been nominated. Would you mind selecting another? Thanks!

[JohnT]

Bumping up again.

[Clear Skies]

Empyrion by Stephen Lawhead. I'll find blurb or write one myself tomorrow - bed calls!

[Wraith]

Well, I'm half tempted to renominate Aristoi from last time, but considering that I know who exactly voted for it (both of us) I'm guessing there's not a point.

I am still going to continue my campaign to get some of the lesser-name-but-still-good books involved here.

So I nominate:

In Conquest Born
by C. S. Friedman.

Only real blurb I found for it is:

They were the ultimate enemies, two super-races fighting an endless campaign over a long forgotten cause. And now the final phase of their war is approaching, where they will use every power of the mind and body to claim the vengeance of total conquest.

However, this blurb does very little to set the book up as it deserves. One of the best of the Space Opera style, yet still enough hard-core science-fiction and political intrigue to appeal to others.

And I'll leave off with a short passage from the book:

The Emperor is aghast.

'What did they say?'

Patiently, the messenger repeats himself. 'Braxin forces have taken the Azean colony on Lees,' he recites slowly. 'This constitutes open defiance of the' (he consults his notes) 'nine-hundred and eighty-fifth Comprehensive Peace treaty between Braxi and Azea.'

'Yes, yes, I know all that. What were their grounds - tell me that again.'

The messenger reads it verbatim. 'Kaim'era Vinir, son of Lanat and Kir'la, wishes to give his son the public name of Zatar. Therefore the Kaim'erate considers the current peace treaty invalid and without binding force.'

Slowly the Emperor leans back in his throne. 'Yes. That's what I thought you said.'

Wraith
"An uninspired ruler works to develop those relationships which will be most to his advantage. A great ruler determines the most desirable relationships and assumes them in to being."
-- Harkur ("In Conquest Born")

[JohnT]

Sounds good Wraith.

"I am still going to continue my campaign to get some of the lesser-name-but-still-good books involved here."

It still depends upon the voters. While I'm glad we started with two quality standards (Foundation and Ender's Game), I'm looking forward to when we go with books that aren't "books that everybody has read."

But that might be a while. See, what I think happens (because I do it myself) is a lot of people first vote for their books, then vote for two books that they've read and liked... and, well, most everybody has read Foundation... and Ender's Game... which is why they get a lot of votes and the lesser read books get lost in the dust.

Jon Miller and GP (is he on one of his self-imposed exiles?) have a good idea to combat this - when voting, other than your book vote only for books you haven't read yet. And if it so happens to be a well-worn classic, that's fine.

Anyway, here's why I think why we need to do the Clement: it's a personal thing. I go into detail more here*, but I want to do it because everybody else whom I know that has read this book has entirely missed the freakin' point, and that includes all those people on Amazon's review.

[throws down gauntlet] In short, I want to see if y'all are as perceptive as y'all think y'all are. [/throws down gauntlet]

*This is a rant against my current sci-fi group in Knoxville, particularly against one guy who was particularly foul.

[JohnT]

Here are the books that are nominated so far:

1. Half-Life, Hal Clement, nominated by JohnT
2. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein, nominated by Slowwhand
3. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K ****, nominated by Static23
4. DownBelow Station, C. J. Cherryh, nominated by jon miller (You didn't definitively state that you wanted to change your vote, jon. Let me know before the other thread comes up.)
5. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis, nominated by Ramo
6. The Postman, David Brin, nominated by korn469
7. Hyperion, Dan Simmons, nominated by laurentius
8. Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, nominated by loinburger
9. Armor, John Steakley, nominated by Tuberski
10. Babel-17, Samuel R. Delaney, nominated by molly bloom
11. Anvil of Stars, Greg Bear, nominated by St Leo
12. Empyrion, Stephen Lawhead, nominated by Clear Skies*
13. In Conquest Born, C. S. Friedman, nominated by Wraith
14. Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson, nominated by Chegitz Guevara
15. Neuromancer, William Gibson, nominated by Carolus Rex
16. The Uplift War, David Brin, nominated by GePap

I'd really appreciate it if Tattila would nominate another book, as to not take away votes from the other Heinlein book. If I don't hear from Tattila, I'll go ahead and run the nomination (which gives us 17!)

So far, I see one other book that I would like winning almost as much as Half Life, a large number of other books jockeying for my third book, a couple of books that, well, just don't (or weren't) that interesting, and one book that makes me wish we could cast negative votes.

*Here's a blurb and a link: "In this first book of the Empyrion series, Treet and his oddly-assorted friends try to unscramble the complexities of a new world."

Edit: Added Che's nomination.

[chequita guevara]

I'm renominating Red Mars.

[Carolus Rex]

Neuromancer by William Gibson.

Carolus