Yeah, right there with ya, ugh no.
I was hoping to be scared, not sad and sickened. If I wanted that, I could read the news! 
It’s still on my mind, and I’ve started a thread here: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (open spoilers)
Dark Orbit Carolyn Ives Gilman
In the far furure when humans have spread into the galaxy, a group of scientists is sent to investigate a mysterious uninhabited planet, where things are not as they seem. They never are, are they?
Has an Ursula K LeGuin vibe, with an enjoyable mix of adventure and philosophy.
Recommended.
Finished David Starr – Space Ranger by Isaac Asimov (writing as Paul French). I’d never read these Asimov juveniles before, and I don’t think I’ll read the others. But i was curious about that whole “Space Ranger” thing. When I was a kid, there was a character in DC comics called “Space Ranger”, whose appearance and style must have caused serious science fiction readers to roll their eyes completely back. He wore a garish red-and-yellow outfit with a bubble-like space helmet that didn’t even cover his head completely, so its purpose was obscure 9if he had to go out in vacuum, he wore another bubble-like helmet that was complete over his partial bubble-like helmet, for no clear reason.) He fought all sorts of alien and human Bad Guys, had a secret asteroid hangout (complete with artificial gravity), and a shape-shifting diminutive alien sidekick named Cryll.
The similarities between Asimov’s hero and the DC one are so close that it seems impossible to believe that plagiarism wasn’t involved. DC’s hero is Rick Starr, Asimov’s was David Starr. Both have diminutive, tough, and loyal sidekicks. Both have enhanced technology to help them out. DC’s hero was created by veteran science fiction authors Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox at the behest of editorial director Irwin Donenfeld by way of editor Jack Schiff. They had to have been aware of author Asimov’s character, created some seven years earlier. I’m amazed Asimov didn’t sue.
In any event, it looks as if Asimov’s “Space Ranger” was the first, with the DC hero copying him, and now Disney/Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear also appropriated the title. I suspect all of these characters got their own inspiration from the Lone Ranger, since they generally work independently (although Buzz is actually part of a team, unlike the other two). The Lone Ranger was called that because he was a lone and secretive Texas Ranger, a team, of course, but practically legendary themselves. There are other important Rangers before them (Rogers Rangers, most notably, who embodied the ideal of the American guerilla fighter), but they were all basically teams.
Oh, so how was the book? – reasonably entertaining. The Future it embodies is basically 1940s culture with a few cosmetic futurisms thrown in, as you’d expect. The story is simple and straightforward. A fun read for an afternoon, but far from Asimov’s usual offerings.
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I finally got my hands on a copy of Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula and am enjoying it immensely. Newman grabs all sorts of characters, historical and fictional, from late Victorian history and literature and mashes them into this fantasy where Dracula has killed his hunters, Van Helsing and Harker, or turned them into vampires (Arthur Holmwood and Mina), and made himself Consort to Queen Victoria. It’s a hoot to see how Newman incorporates these characters into this story, and which ones get to be vampires. The cram-together-Victorian-characters in one all-encompassing fantasy was used a little later by Alan Moore for his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 9with many of the same characters).
I also picked up a copy of J. Hunter Holly’s The Flying Eyes. A reproduction of the cover of this (by artist John Schoenherr (probably best known for his painting for Frank Herbert’s Dune over many years from its original appearance in Analog to the book covers and calendars; the look of Lynch’s movie Dune was inspired by his paintings) appeared in a science fiction calendar about a decade ago, and arrested my attention. Advertising works. There was a copy on the “free bbooks” desk last month at Boskone, but I was too late to grab it. So when I saw a pristine copy at a used book store I immediately picked it up.
The author, J. Holly Hunter, had written The Green Planet, which had been adapted as a comic book when I was a kid. I finally read the novel a couple of months ago. Holly was a minor author who wrote about invasions mostly. I thought she’d been an officer in the SFWA, but none of the internet entries supports that. In any event, a competently written story from what I’ve read. But it’s the cover image that draws you in:
I’ve read several of Asimov’s Space Ranger books, which I enjoyed, although not this one. One scene that sticks out in my memory (I don’t remember from which book) has “Lucky” Starr and his friend exiting their rocket, which is surrounded by the alien villain and his minions. They backflip out, landing on their feet. The villain calls them monkeys.
“Not monkeys, sir. Earthmen, sir.” I thought it was very cool. I hadn’t read any Heinlein juveniles at the time, but when I did, I remembered this scene.
Finished Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape , by Cal Flyn, which is a set of fascinating accounts of what grows when all (or nearly all) people are forced to leave an area. The botanical information is particularly interesting. Highly recommended to anyone interested in science. This is the best non-fiction book I’ve read so far this year, and possibly the best book, period.
Now I’m reading Glorious, by Bernice L. McFadden.
What I’ve read of Islands of Abandonment has been excellent, but I’m only reading it slowly between other books.
Just finished The Outside by Ada Hoffmann. A bit slow going and I doubt I’ll read the sequel. Humanity is ruled by a selection of gods and their archangels,etc. who are all actually super-AIs. But Lovecrafftian chaos keeps trying to break in and a young scientist’s space drive experiments go wrong…
Now torn between reading In the Wet by Nevil Shute about an old man’s ravings of his adventures in the future, or maybe Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert. I really enjoyed her previous book, Folk. This new one’s about Herne the Hunter apparently.
You might like this book, then, which I really enjoyed. Fascinating and thought-provoking: The World Without Us - Wikipedia
This morning I finished an audiobook of Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day, a very interesting account of the D-Day landings in Normandy (although not as good, I thought, as its many rapturous reviews). I’ve now begun For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming, his first 007 short story collection. The first tale, “From a View to a Kill,” has nothing to do with the movie which eventually took its title, but I’m enjoying it so far.
Starting today on The Best Horror of the Year, volume 12. I do and don’t want to read this. I mean, I know a few of the stories will be really worth my time, but it can be a slog finding them sometimes (and I have a couple more anthologies to get through after this). I think I’m going to try skimming through quickly and ditching the tales that don’t grab me fast enough.
Loved that one.
In fact I’ve read most of his books (>40 years ago !) and loved them all.
Highly recommended.
I must try and find them again…
Currently reading Blue Moon - Lee child
Finished Glorious , by Bernice L. McFadden. Powerful.
Started Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, by Nadia Wassef.
The current book pile contains:
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Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now that I’ve finished the Little House series, I’m going back to the draft that started it all.
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The Blithedale Romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne. No idea what to expect yet beyond lots and lots of subordinate clauses.
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The Long Ships, Frans Bengtsson. Viking adventures at their best.
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The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt. About a hundred pages in and so far I’m liking it.
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A Dying Light in Corduba. Marcus Didus Falco, Helena, and their upcoming child go to Hispania.
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The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer. About a hundred pages in and so far I’m liking it. Is there an echo in here?
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The Once and Future King, T.H. White. One of my favorite Arthurian romances.
Finished Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller , by Nadia Wassef. It’s okay, although the chapter about cookbooks, which describes the only time she had trouble with an Egyptian censor (she had ordered copies of Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef) is hilarious.
Now I’m reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
Read The Long Ships, A Dying Light in Corduba, and The Once and Future King (several times). All great. If you get the chance, read White’s The Sword in the Stone. Although it’s the first section of TOAFK, it was originally published as a standalone kids’ book (it served as the basis for the Disney film of the same name), and White changed it a LOT to incorporate it into TOAFK.
Finished Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, which was outstanding. It’s the best novel I’ve read so far this year. I will be posting shortly to the Piranesi thread.
Now I’'m reading Tales of Old Earth, a collection of short stories by Michael Swanwick.
I’m almost finished with Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula. Then on to The Flying Eyes
On audio I just finished Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs’ Agent Pendergast novel Wheel of Darkness. Just like the late Clive Cussler, if Preston and Childs don’t present you with at least one point t which you roll your eyes and say “Oh, come ON, now!” they haven’t done their job. This one has several such moments. It also has by far the highest body count of any of their novels. I’m not sure if it’s their most absurd – it’s up against stiff competition like Beyond the Ice Limit, but it’s certainly in the running.
Read John Scalzi’s new one The Kaiju Preservation Society, a self-admitted “potato chip of a book.” It’s a fun romp of alternate worlds and monsters, but not up to his normal standard. Sounds like from the afterword that he had something much more complex in the works but world events beat him down and he wanted to do a light work. I get it.
I just heard him last night at the Parma, Ohio public library, reading from the novel, and yes, that’s pretty much what he said about its origins. Having told his agent that he couldn’t deliver the dark, dystopic, claustrophobic sf novel he’d been working on, and “drenched in flop sweat,” he went to take a shower. The premise and plot for TKPS dropped into his head in the shower and - hey presto! - he was good to go.
Finished Tales of Old Earth , a collection of short stories by Michael Swanwick. The best SF story is “The Very Pulse of the Machine”, and the best fantasy is “North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy”.
Now I’m reading a YA novel, Juliet Takes a Breath, by Gabby Rivera.
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond by Dave Sim
A 300-plus page illustrated essay disguised as a graphic novel that uses the mysterious car accident that killed Flash Gordon’s creator as a jumping off point for an interesting technical discussion of photorealism in comics (e.g., Hal Foster, Milt Caniff and Raymond) before taking a fatal dive into reflections of reality reverberating through comics (much of it involving Margaret Mitchell!) Sim’s art is great throughout – redrawing panels in the original artist’s styles – but he was forced to withdraw from the project owing to an unexplained wrist malady. The other artist is good, but not up to Sim’s standard. Alas, the combination of a long, rambling narrative, tenuous connections being made and lack of compelling insight offered proved disengaging, making this rather a chore to finish. A great idea lost in the execution, it no doubt would have benefited from tighter editing.