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SFF Masterworks: SF Masterworks #83: Joanna Russ, The Female Man
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Saturday, July 2, 2011. SF Masterworks #83: Joanna Russ, The Female Man. When Janet Evason returned to the New Forest and the experimenters at the Pole Station were laughing their heads off (for it was not a dream) I sat in a cocktail party in mid-Manhattan. I had just changed into a man, me, Joanna. I mean a female man, of course; my body and soul were exactly the same. So there's me also. (p. 5). Joanna Russ' 1975 novel, The Female Man. But O how I relish my victuals! And O how I fuck! This quote, alon...
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SFF Masterworks: Fantasy Masterworks #43: Geoff Ryman, WAS
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Saturday, June 11, 2011. Fantasy Masterworks #43: Geoff Ryman, WAS. Hell was full of the souls of children. They were made to sing merry school songs, chained to desks. They were drilled by tormenting demons in gray clothes with spectacles and fangs and rulers that beat wrists until hands dropped off. Is perhaps the black sheep of the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks list. Unlike every other book that was republished under this banner, WAS. Worthy of being called a "Fantasy Masterwork? Posted by Larry Nolen.
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SFF Masterworks: December 2010
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Monday, December 27, 2010. SF Masterworks #18: The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. At its core "Sirens of Titan" is a concept novel with its primary mission being to force the reader in personal re-examination. Telling the story is second to the theme. Perhaps why both plot and characters are sacrificed as means for Vonnegut to get his point across. It's a strength and a weakness, when re-evaluating "Sirens of Titan" and its status as a classic. Yes Do I think it's still a classic? It all depends on fu...
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SFF Masterworks: March 2011
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Fantasy Masterworks #32: Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword. Imric locked the door anew and hastened up the stairs. He had no liking for making changelings, but the chance of getting a human baby was too rare to lose. (p. 13). Although I had heard of Poul Anderson and had seen his second novel, The Broken Sword. 1954), praised by authors such as Michael Moorcock, I never got around to buying a copy of this book until a few weeks ago, after I read Richard Morgan's Suvudu article.
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SFF Masterworks: SF Masterworks #93: Karel Čapek, R.U.R. and War with the Newts
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Saturday, July 2, 2011. SF Masterworks #93: Karel Čapek, R.U.R. and War with the Newts. That the descriptor "roboti" morphed into the noun "robot" and spread far and wide from its Czech roots, altering in meaning along the way. Čapek was one of the leading Central European writers in the aftermath of World War I. His fiction, the most prominent of which were R.U.R. And the 1936 novel The War with the Newts. May be the technically better work of the two, R.U.R. What sort of worker do you think is the best...
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SFF Masterworks: Fantasy Masterworks #8: Robert E. Howard, The Conan Chronicles Volume I: The People of the Black Circle
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Sunday, June 5, 2011. Fantasy Masterworks #8: Robert E. Howard, The Conan Chronicles Volume I: The People of the Black Circle. Conan went up the stairs and halted at the door he knew well of old. It was fastened within, but his blade passed between the door and the jamb and lifted the bar. he stepped inside, closing the door after him, and faced the girl who had betrayed him to the police. After finishing this first volume, my reservations still remain. Posted by Larry Nolen. Robert E. Howard. Walter M&#...
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SFF Masterworks: May 2011
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Monday, May 30, 2011. SF Masterworks #28: Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human. What am I doing? What am I doing? He thought wildly. Trying and trying like this to find out what I am and what I belong to.Is this another aspect of being outcast, monstrous, different. Ask Baby what kind of people are all the time trying to find out what they are and what they belong to.". He says, every. What kind," Lone whispered, "am I, then? A full minute later he yelled, " What kind? The head, silly.". Was an influential...
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SFF Masterworks: October 2010
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Monday, October 4, 2010. SF Masterworks II: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness. How does one review a true masterpiece? Clearly when reading and reviewing a series of books that calls itself ‘Masterworks’, this is in an important question. Ask someone who knows what they are talking about to name the 10 best classic science fiction works. The Left Hand of Darkness. Is probably number one. The Left Hand of Darkness. Should this review become a simple book report? Is a first contact book. The...
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SFF Masterworks: SF Masterworks #90: Clifford D. Simak, City
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Sunday, July 3, 2011. SF Masterworks #90: Clifford D. Simak, City. American writer Clifford D. Simak's City. Is a notable example of the "fix-up novel": a series of formerly independent, although similar in some aspects to the others, narratives that are meshed together by some sort of framing element to make a quasi-novel out of short fictions. At times, these "fix-ups" work well: Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz. Unfortunately is less than the sum of its part. Posted by Larry Nolen.
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