Techie, software developer, hobbyist photographer, sci-fi/fantasy and comics fan in the Los Angeles area. He/him.
Mostly reading science fiction these days, mixing in some fantasy and some non-fiction (mostly tech and science), occasionally other stuff. As far as books go, anyway. (I read more random articles than I probably should.)
Delightful parody of every English countryside murder mystery trope
5 stars
Presented as a guidebook to a village that has them all. Written wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, illustrated like something out of Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies. A short, quick read. Funny if you're slightly familiar with the genre, more so if you've seen every trope in the book. (Cross-posted at my website)
On the isolated Kolohe Atoll in the middle of the Pacific ocean, a charismatic billionaire …
Nightmare fuel, but a compelling read.
4 stars
This isn't the kind of book I'd usually read: I'm not big on thrillers or horror, and it's sort of (but not really) a sequel to another book I haven't read, but it stands on its own, and the characters are intriguing.
I always appreciate characters who suffer from chronic general anxiety but manage to function anyway, and Dr. Hannah Stander does both in spades.
The private Hawaiian island research facility where much of the book takes place is a perfect intersection of James Bond villain, Elon Musk, and Larry Ellison (who actually has bought most of Lānaʻi).
And I know just enough about ant biology and society that the swarms of killer ants are frighteningly plausible. The chapters where they inevitably get loose are...intense.
Interesting sequel exploring how the colony and human/fuzzy relations change
4 stars
When I first heard of Little Fuzzy, long before I read the first book, I had no idea there were any sequels. I think I may have also gotten them mixed up with the Hokas (with perhaps good reason). After reading Piper's original and Scalzi's reboot, I got curious about how Piper continued the original story.
There's a loose plot following a kidnapping investigation, but it's mostly there as a framework to explore the human/fuzzy relationship and how the colony is changing. With the question of sapience established, it gets into the politics of shifting from a company town to an eventual democracy, the ethics of human colonization and native relations with the Fuzzies, and biology, considering where the Fuzzies fit in the planet's food web and why they're so fond of a particular prey animal and a particular brand of human-made emergency rations.
Many of the …
When I first heard of Little Fuzzy, long before I read the first book, I had no idea there were any sequels. I think I may have also gotten them mixed up with the Hokas (with perhaps good reason). After reading Piper's original and Scalzi's reboot, I got curious about how Piper continued the original story.
There's a loose plot following a kidnapping investigation, but it's mostly there as a framework to explore the human/fuzzy relationship and how the colony is changing. With the question of sapience established, it gets into the politics of shifting from a company town to an eventual democracy, the ethics of human colonization and native relations with the Fuzzies, and biology, considering where the Fuzzies fit in the planet's food web and why they're so fond of a particular prey animal and a particular brand of human-made emergency rations.
Many of the original characters return, but shifted into new roles and new alliances. Jack Holloway is an official liaison between humans and Fuzzies. Victor Grego, the corporate boss who fought so hard to keep the Fuzzies from being recognized as people, has adapted to the new normal and discovered that he actually quite likes their newly-contacted neighbors. People of both species are picking up the others' language, and factories are gearing up to mass-produce devices to shift the Fuzzies' voices into human-audible range.
It's still very much the Mad Men approach to ecological space colonization: All the humans smoke, cocktail hour is a sacrosanct ritual, most of the active, in-charge people are men, and even the good guys treat the Fuzzies like children. But at least they're trying to work on the Fuzzies' behalf, unlike the traffickers and opportunists. And there's a female scientist who shows up her egotistical boss quite well. But within that context, it's an interesting read.
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away - …
Accessible and intricately researched
5 stars
Accessible and intricately researched, with scattered humor to keep the reader's interest.
Getting to space is the easy part. Staying there is going to be a lot more complicated than anyone wants to believe. There are plenty of established tropes in science-fiction and among serious space enthusiasts, but a lot of them have major gaps in them when you start pressing for details. What happens to a fetus in microgravity? Can you scrape together enough soil nutrients to supply agriculture for a whole Mars city, or do you need to constantly import fertilizer from Earth? How do you make sure you have enough medical supplies on-hand?
The authors wanted to write about what we know about space settlement. But it turns out it's a really good primer for what we don't know and need to research before we can get serious.
Accessible and intricately researched, with scattered humor to keep the reader's interest.
Getting to space is the easy part. Staying there is going to be a lot more complicated than anyone wants to believe. There are plenty of established tropes in science-fiction and among serious space enthusiasts, but a lot of them have major gaps in them when you start pressing for details. What happens to a fetus in microgravity? Can you scrape together enough soil nutrients to supply agriculture for a whole Mars city, or do you need to constantly import fertilizer from Earth? How do you make sure you have enough medical supplies on-hand?
The authors wanted to write about what we know about space settlement. But it turns out it's a really good primer for what we don't know and need to research before we can get serious.
It's also an interesting companion to Under Alien Skies, which takes the approach of "assuming we're able to work out the details, this is what it would be like there." And, well, we have a lot more details to work out.