In Personal Library

• Retro Planets Series
  • 0001 anthology "old venus":
    • frogheads, allen m steele: maybe a five out of nine. falls a bit too far into the hole of "venusian native sapients as savages" and as well "fuckin soviets man. always worse than americans". fun comeuppances, though.
    • the drowned celestial, lavie tidhar: four out of nine. there's a little bit of needless cruelty, and it ends badly
    • planet of fear, paul mcauley: six or seven out of nine. also falls prey to "soviets are always more paranoid than americans", but it's a very fun if mystery.
    • greeves and the evening star, matthew hughes: three out of nine. funny in some points, infuriatingly unreadable (the main character has a butler) in others.
    • a planet called desire, gwyneth jones: seven out of nine. fun science, a few weird missteps, a bit horny... but otherwise fun and kinda thought-provoking.
    • living hell, joe haldeman: five out of nine. fun to read, if gory and horny.
    • bones of air, bones of stone: eight out of nine. a fun semi-mystery, venusian natives who manage to also form part of the human world, hubris, and rock-tumblers.
    • ruins, eleanor arnason: seven out of nine. especially fun to read, what of the "damn soviets" is more in the way of anarchist-leninist rivalry, but fiction where a character has dubious or "below"-human sapience is very :/ to me
    • the tumbledowns of cleopatra abyss, david brin: six out of nine. alright to read, but... concerning, i think is the best word.
    • by frogsled and lizardback to outcast venusian lepers, garth nix: seven out of nine. really fun, and the worldbuilding is fun too- but interminably gory and a character i like gets killed in what i think is a useless way.
    • the sunset of time, michael cassutt: five out of nine. nice, but feels... off. also kinda silly in the bad way.
    • pale blue memories, tobias s buckell: seven out of nine. a bit Fucked, in a half-dozen ways. i don't like the setting.
    • the heart's filthy lesson, elizabeth bear: five out of nine. feels a bit meaningless, tech is just... weird in a "no" way.
    • the wizard of the trees, joe r lansdale: three out of nine. very thirties, in the bad way.
    • the godstone of venus, mike resnick: seven out of nine. is fun, ends in a weird way. kinda ehh bits.
    • botanica veneris, thirteen papercuts by ida countess rathangan, ian mcdonald: eight out of nine. very fun, a few weird bits.
  • 0004 anthology "old mars":
    • martian blood, allen m steele: five out of nine. somewhat tired moral, uncomfortable characterization of Martian Natives
    • the ugly duckling, matthew hughes: four out of nine. immediately starts off with "the humans killed martians by disease", and evolves to "it's okay to pillage dead mars because it's dead". i am being uncharitable on purpose
    • the wreck of the mars adventure, david d. levine: seven out of nine. a fun romp of a story, with relations with the martians not being so fucky as a bonus
    • swords of zar-tu-kan, s. m. stirling: six out of nine. also fun, but i think martian culture is unrealistically weird esp its language
    • shoals, mary rosenblum: seven out of nine. fun, with rather unique martians. has the r-slur in it though
    • in the tombs of the martian kings, mike resnick: eight out of nine. very fun, if a little silly... which is likely the point so
    • out of scarlight, liz williams: seven out of nine. fun, but there are confusing bits
    • the dead sea-bottom scrolls, howard waldrop: six out of nine. nice, but not much to it
    • a man without honor, james s. a. corey: seven out of nine. it's very fun but kinda dry
    • written in dust, melinda m. snodgrass: eight out of nine. nice!
    • the lost canal, michael moorcock: four out of nine. overdetailed, but in a boring way
    • the sunstone, phyllis eisenstein: eight out of nine. VERY nice ending!!
    • king of the cheap romance, joe r. lansdale: nine out of nine. very very enjoyable, with fun martian life.
    • mariner, chris roberson: eight out of nine. satisfying ending! sandships are fun.
    • the queen of the night's aria, ian mcdonald: nine out of nine. marvelous descriptions, occasionally very funny, action-packed in a nice way.
• 0002 anthology "a science fiction omnibus" (not including all stories):
  • and i awoke and found me here on the cold hill side, james tiptree jr: six out of nine. tiptree is an amazing writer, of course, but her stories are very rarely not grim....
  • nightfall, isaac asimov: nine out of nine. nightfall is a classic for good reason, and it's deeply engrossing despite the world in the story being so different from our own.
  • the snowball effect, katherine maclean: seven out of nine. extremely funny, and perhaps a bit sobering too.
  • swarm, bruce sterling: seven out of nine. gory, but very nice and thought-provoking.
  • blood music, greg bear: five out of nine. not super objectionable, but gory, drags, and gets incomprehensible.
  • the liberation of earth, william tenn: eight out of nine. likewise a classic for good reason, if somewhat gory.
  • sexual dimorphism, kim stanley robinson: zero out of nine. don't read if you otherwise had respect for kim stanley robinson.
  • the tunnel under the world, frederik pohl: seven out of nine. fun and harrowing
  • friends in need, eliza blair: seven out of nine. very fun to read, but some bits are grating and some make me uncomfortable- then, that's probably the aim....
  • the store of the worlds, robert sheckley: seven out of nine. likewise a fun read, with an simply-packaged twist.
  • jokester, isaac asimov: eight out of nine. despite his stories being old enough to mention mile-long multivacs, they're still funny and immersive.
  • night watch, james inglish: six out of nine. good, but lacking....
  • story of your life, ted chiang. five out of nine. not sure if i like this one really
  • protected city, h. b. fyfe. eight out of nine, intensely funny
  • the rescuer, arthur porges: four out of nine. it's a christian story about time travel
  • i made you, walter m. miller jr: nine out of nine. instant favorite, both in science fiction and in horror.
  • the country of the kind, damon knight: zero out of nine, mostly notable in that i'm suvprised that i'm supposed to feel sympathy for the main character cuz in a world of kind people he's the only person who likes to torture people
  • the cage, bertram chandler: six out of nine. very funny twist, not much else
  • fulfilment, a.e. van vogt: four out of nine. just didn't like this one
  • common time, james blish: eight out of nine. weird, but very fun.
• 0003 anthology "the best science fiction and fantasy of the year, volume seven":
  • the contrary gardener, christopher rowe: seven out of nine. good in some points, tolerable in others
  • the woman who fooled death five times, eleanor arnason: seven out of nine. pretty good
  • close encounters, andy duncan: seven out of nine. good and weird
  • great-grandmother in the cellar, peter s. beagle: eight out of nine, intensely fun and a bit weird
  • bricks, sticks, straw; gwyneth jones: eight out of nine. very fun read with some very fun concepts, but i don't understand the end.
  • a bead of jasper, four small stones; genevive valentine: seven out of nine. good, but ngl i'm tired of lack-of-hope stories
  • macy minnot's last christmas on dione, ring racing, fiddler's green, the potter's garden; paul mcauley: six out of nine. good
  • what did tessimond tell you?, adam roberts: five out of nine. not bad, but quite a downer and a little terrifying
  • adventure story, neil gaiman: two out of nine. the point of this story is just "le funny juxtaposition", but it falls flat
  • katabasis, robert reed: seven out of nine. nice and with marvelous worldbuilding, but gory and with a very ??? ending.
  • troll blood, peter dickinson: five out of nine. pretty good, but it gets... not good i guess
  • the color least used by nature, ted kosmatka: seven out of nine. great, if depressing
  • jack shade in the forest of souls, rachel pollack: six out of nine. okay, but sad
  • two houses, kelly link: eight out of nine. very, very good; kinda scary and confusing
  • blood drive, jerry ford: three out of nine. eh. allegory for how conservativism kills, but...
  • mantis wives, kij johnson: six out of nine. extremely good, but far too gory and nauseating for me.
  • immersion, aliette de bodard: eight out of nine. confusing in points, but very good
  • about fairies, pat murphy: nine out of nine. very, very good, if bittersweetly sad
  • let maps to others, kj parker: nine out of nine. extremely good quasihistorical fiction, and the ending is closed enough that it's not an annoying one.
  • joke in four panels, robert shearman: two out of nine. don't get it, but the premise is itself a bit too weird to go with.
  • reindeer mountain, karin tidbeck: five out of nine. it's fairy story
  • domestic magic, steve rasnic tem and melanie tem: three out of nine. what
  • swift brutal retaliation, meghan mccarron: three out of nine. what
  • nahiku west, linda nagata: six out of nine. kinda goodcoppian.
  • fade to white, catherynne m. valente: six out of nine. ehhhhh, lays on the "look! survival in an unjust world!" a little too thick
  • significant dust, margo lanagan: three out of nine. i am so tired of "person does bad thing and regrets it" stories
  • mono no aware, ken liu: nine out of nine. a marvelous, poignant work.
• Culture Series, Iain M. Banks
  • 0521 consider phlebas: eight out of nine. banks is marvelous at description, scale, making you root for people... all around a good book, but i just don't like it when all the main characters are dead or profoundly broken by the end of a book.
  • 0524 the player of games: nine out of nine. extremely captivating. features a SPECTACULAR portrayal of the evils of empire, and i do believe of privelige too- shocks the reader (and the viewpoint character) out of complacency. can be gory, but it's a very good book
  • 0527 use of weapons: seven out of nine. got interrupted for months in the middle of reading this and don't have much to say about it because of that.
• Star Trek Strange New Worlds series:
  • 0778 anthology "star trek strange new worlds I" (not including all stories):
    • the last tribble, keith l davis: seven out of nine. i genuinely tried to hate this one, but it didn't work.
    • the lights in the sky, phaedra m weldon: five out of nine. i am missing the context for this.
    • reflections, dayton ward: six out of nine. i dont really like how sad this one is.
    • what went through data's mind 0.68 seconds before the satellite hit, dylan otto krider: four out of nine. does data pretty well, but the mistakes are awful.
    • the naked truth, jerry m wolfe: four out of nine. it's okay but i don't like barclay
    • see spot run, kathy oltion: seven out of nine. funny story about cats being cats
    • together again, for the first time; bobby benton hull: five out of nine. i don't like this characterization of guinan, but there is a need for stories about her.
    • civil disobedience, alara rogers: eight of nine. very good q story!
    • of cabbages and kings, franklin thatcher: six out of nine. i came to this story for sapient ships. it has one, the enterprise! unfortunately, the story proper is... lacking. interesting concepts abound, though
    • life's lessons, christina f. york: four out of nine. "horny ferengi kid" is not a thing i enjoy! has a cute ending though
    • where i fell before my enemy, vince bonasso: six out of nine. this one is kinda sweet, though i haven't watched ds9 so i dont get it well
    • good night, voyager; patrick gumby: five out of nine. feels like an actual voyager episode, condensed to a few pages. take that as you will
    • ambassador at large, j.a. resales: four out of nine. cute and ties into the corbomite maneuver, but is otherwise just kinda boring
    • fiction, jaq andrews: five out of nine. well-written, but deeply out of character for starfleet.
    • i, voyager; jackee c.: seven out of nine. fun concepts, and sort of a sapient ship. i like the fairy
    • the man who sold the sky, john j. ordover: five out of nine. it's well written, but "gene roddenberry is saved by his creations on his deathbed" makes me oddly uncomfortable.
• Quantum Thief Series, Hannu Rajaniemi
  • 0797 the quantum thief: six out of nine. fascinating concepts, good writing, fun main characters... a huge amount of hard sf jargon, mostly shown uncritically. despite transhumanism, character genders are binary. weird about judaism, idk why. the sapient ship doesn't get enough screentime
  • 0798 the fractal prince: five out of nine. a little better than the previous book, i think! however, it takes a super long time to get good and SPOILERS kills off my favorite character
  • 0799 the causal angel: seven out of nine. kind of annoyingly anachronistic, even moreso than the others... includes an awful joke about minecraft, but gets very cool near the end.
• 0814 all the way to the gallows, david drake:
  • mom and the kids: seven out of nine. chilling story about von neumann machines
• Thunder And Lightning Series, John Varley
  • 0819 red thunder: three out of nine. varley's writing is a little... okay, a lot... white straight guy, i think; and his "idiot savant" style portrayal of one of the characters leaves much to be desired. still, it's a fun book if you read it as a kid
  • 0820 red lightning: two out of nine. the racism is martians hating earthers this time (until you're a few chapters in)! but wait, there's more- it's fatphobia! the author very obviously Loves America, with all the awfulness that implies. includes chuck wendig-style sex metaphors, but in space and involving 17 year olds.
  • 0821 rolling thunder: two out of nine. main character's a member of the martian military responsible for immigration, and i'm barely even speaking on extratextual evidence of the evils of the military when i say she's evil. i guess "millions died, but howcome my country has to have these stinky refugees" is a somewhat realistic response to a horrific disaster, but g-d this character sucks
  • 0822 dark lightning: two out of nine. the "why am i inconvenienced by the same event that hurt these people and how can we make those people go away" gang leaves for another star! story is boring at best.
• 833 engineering infinity (infinity project 1):
• 835 edge of infinity (infinity project 2):
• 834 reach for infinity (infinity project 3):
• 836 meeting infinity (infinity project 4):
• 867 valuable humans in transit and other stories, by qntm:
  • lena: nine out of nine. incredibly disturbing, raises fascinating questions, and pretty clearly anticapitalist. helped me realize that a paperclip maximizer is just capitalism.
  • if you are reading this: eight out of nine. a distressing story that ends on an almost hopeful note, and reads as extremely realistic to boot
  • the frame-by-frame: six out of nine. darkly funny isn't really my style most of the time
  • the difference: six out of nine. has an interesting and good point, but i just never really liked this one
  • gorge: seven out of nine. something about the topic just doesn't hold as much stock for me, but otherwise this is a fun story
  • cripes does anyone remember google people: seven out of nine. fun, but just doesn't really hold together imo
  • driver: eight out of nine. i didn't expect a sequel to lena to well, work, but this really does: an eloquent expansion of the 'this already existed' horror that lena delivered
  • i don't know, timmy, being god is a big responsibility: seven out of nine. i really like stories set just before society becomes nigh-incomprehensibly different from our own
  • a powerful culture: nine out of nine. debout, les damnés de les terres! among my favorites
  • valuable humans in transit: six out of nine. very fun
• nameless future anthology review:
• nameless future anthology review:
• absolute favorite stories:
  • sun's up, a.a. jackson iv and howard waldrop: eight out of nine. one of the first stories about an ai starship that i really remember. i like it a lot
  • three bodies at mitanni, seth dickinson: eight out of nine. profoundly terrifying and very good

Not In Personal Library

• constitution, nick webb: two out of nine. readable, sort of- the obvious battlestar galactica comparisons are obvious, the politics are laughable, the plot is also obvious... but it's kinda readable.
• works of jamie wahls:
  • utopia, LOL?: nine out of nine. probably my favorite work about transhumanism.
  • truth plus: eight out of nine. exactly as sad as it should be (which is very).
  • eater of worlds: six out of nine. fun take on weirdweaponry, though.
  • the little gods: four out of nine. ambivalent on the concepts in this one, and i feel they're handled rather uncritically.
  • for the children: eight out of nine. also a pretty damn good take on transhumanism.
• miscellaneous short stories
  • a modest proposal, todd a drashner: one out of nine. even knowing the setting it's from, it's just kind of... a rambling incoherent first chapter.
• nameless future anthology review:

Current Gaps In Reading List: 0005-0520, 0522-0523, 0525-0526, 0528-0777, 0779-0796, 0800-0813, 0821-0822