Collection of Asimov's stories from the first half of the 1950s, also two rather self-indulgent Gilbert and Sullivan pastiches about writing pulp sf. A lot of the stories are extended jokes; a lot of them revolve around intellectually gifted male protagonists in unhappy marriages. The most memorable is possibly "Jokester", in which the source of all humour is revealed. I was surprised to realise that the first story, "The Dead Past", another memorable one about visualising history, is also more than twice as long as any other in the collection; it is set in a near-future world where the government controls and licenses all scientific research, in what seems to be just a world-building detail which becomes vital to the plot. It's all a bit 50s, but generally well done.
July Books 27) Earth is Room Enough
Collection of Asimov's stories from the first half of the 1950s, also two rather self-indulgent Gilbert and Sullivan pastiches about writing pulp sf. A lot of the stories are extended jokes; a lot of them revolve around intellectually gifted male protagonists in unhappy marriages. The most memorable is possibly "Jokester", in which the source of all humour is revealed. I was surprised to realise that the first story, "The Dead Past", another memorable one about visualising history, is also more than twice as long as any other in the collection; it is set in a near-future world where the government controls and licenses all scientific research, in what seems to be just a world-building detail which becomes vital to the plot. It's all a bit 50s, but generally well done.
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A Local Habitation, by Seanan McGuire
Second paragraph of third chapter: Stacy didn’t answer when I called the house. I left a quick message asking her to come by and feed Spike and the…
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The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Series
Last year I had read at least one book in all but one of the series on the final ballot in this category. This year all but one of them were…
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The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Novella
I found it pretty easy to rank these this year, though I am also very well aware that my tastes are very different from those of voters (and indeed…
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