Category Archives: Science fiction

Everything is connected

Posted on August 28, 2019 by

Another post in my continuing salute to Herman Melville, on the occasion of his 200th birthday. For today, I’ve selected an unlikely book, Julian Barnes’ 1989 novel, The History of the World in 10½ Chapters (Borzoi/Knopf). This was the book … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Science fiction, Seafaring | Tagged | 2 Comments

NBN Time

Posted on November 11, 2018 by

NBN = Nothing But NaNoWriMo, and that’s what I’m doing this month. Although “nothing” isn’t strictly true. I’m still reading like a fiend, still working crossword puzzles (addiction #2), still getting outside to museums (this week to the Armenian exhibit … Continue reading →

Posted in Am writing, NaNoWriMo, Science fiction | 4 Comments

Amuse bouche: SF version

Posted on October 26, 2018 by

Guys Read: Other Worlds, ed. Jon Scieszka (2013, Harper Collins; Vol 4 of a series) Next week starts the main event of Witch Week, so I thought I’d lead you gently into it with a couple of quick reviews — … Continue reading →

Posted in Humorous, School setting, Science fiction | Leave a comment

Early Le Guin

Posted on September 5, 2018 by

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (1975) (read as an e-book from the NYPL) This collection of seventeen short stories and novellas, all published before 1975, includes several that Le Guin considers “germinal”, that is, leading to two … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Science fiction | Tagged | 4 Comments

The enchanted world

Posted on September 19, 2015 by

Another category for the 2015 Reading Challenge is *a book set in the future*, for which I chose a book that has long been sitting on my shelf: Sylvia Louise Engdahl’s Enchantress from the Stars (1970), a Newbery Honor Book. My … Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 Reading Challenge, Adventure, Dystopia, Science fiction, Utopia | Tagged , | Leave a comment

You have to give it time

Posted on February 3, 2015 by

The Wells Bequest (2013), Polly Shulman. In an unplanned tag-team review, I’m following up on a book Calmgrove reviewed last fall, Polly Shulman’s The Grimm Legacy (the review of which you can read here). That novel introduced us to the New-York Circulating Material … Continue reading →

Posted in Science fiction, Time travel, Travel book, YA Lit | Tagged | Leave a comment

Update on Mr. Hopkins

Posted on February 28, 2014 by

For this post I have to prep you with some math, and then a bit of probability. Fact: there are just under 2.6 million seconds in a 30-day month. Thus, if an improbable event has a one-in-a-million chance of happening, … Continue reading →

Posted in Probability, Science fiction | Tagged | 5 Comments