Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were writing in Soviet era Russia, and the environment in which they worked gives their books an added nuance, knowing the societal constraints under which they were working, and what they managed to achieve. This is the second book I have read by these authors, and I have enjoyed it just…
In a town I’ve never visited before I go exploring and walking down a quiet street I see a sign proclaiming ‘Antique Books’ In an antique store, I think examining the faded lettering the thick leadlight windows the heavy wooden shutters I am intrigued so I enter it is everything it ought to be and…
(First published 1963.) Vonnegut is not for everyone, and I suspect many would find him far too cynical to truly enjoy. His world view has always seemed to me to be without illusion, though sometimes lacking in joy or hope. That being said, his books are always interesting and thought-provoking. “Cat’s Cradle” starts with the…
Recently I finished reading a children’s book called “The Night of the Solstice” by Lisa Smith, which contained the idea of mirrors being used as gateways to another world. So this got me thinking about magic mirrors and how they have featured in legends and fiction over the ages. In ancient times mirrors could be…
Theodore Geisel used the pen name Dr Seuss to write his books, mainly children’s books. However Geisel was known also for his illustrations, cartoon work and animation. He was not a doctor, his pen name being purely fictitious, and his books have become famous over the last century, even being adapted (with mixed success) to…
First published in 1980, “Timescape” won the Nebula Award that year. It is a science fiction novel, dealing with ecological disaster in the year 1998. There seems to be no way to resolve what is happening, but technology that uses tachyons allow researchers to attempt communication with the past. In 1962, a scientist starts to…
Ostensibly a sequel to ‘The Moon of Gomrath’ and the ‘Weirdstone of Brisingamen’, though written fifty years later, “Boneland” is a problematic read. To anyone who has read the first two books, I would caution not to expect any kind of continuation or resolution here. I find I cannot really discuss this without straying into…
This is a children’s fantasy, published in 1963, which is a sequel to “The Weirdstone of Brisingamen”. It deals with the adventures of brother and sister Colin and Susan, who discover that beings regarded as fairy tales exist right along side human beings, and that magic really does exist. I first read this as a…
Land of dreams, dream realm, dream world, dreamscape, etc. These are all imaginative ways of referring to the images we see when asleep. From ancient times, dreams have been a source of mystery and magic. They have been considered as prophetic. Their occurrence has been ascribed to gods or spirits. Cultures world-wide have myths and…
“The Ship who sang” is an early novel for McCaffrey which was published in 1969. It depicts the story of a young female who is born with severe birth defects rendering her body useless, who is trained and then installed into a spaceship, with the ship essentially becoming her body. The story depicts the various…
