February 2012

February 2012: Stuff I’ve Been Reading

1. The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth
2. Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
3. True Grit by Charles Portis
4. The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
5. Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip
6. Harpist in the Wind by Patricia A. McKillip
7. Shadow by K. J. Parker
8. Pattern by K. J. Parker
9. Digging to America by Anne Tyler
10. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
11. Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
12. Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
13. Memory by K. J. Parker

Since January, I’ve read four trilogies, if you interpret the term loosely. I read three mystery novels by Rennie Airth set in WWI and WWII England. I read the first three books of the science fiction Dune saga. I read the Riddle-Master trilogy by high fantasy author Patricia A. McKillip, and I read the Scavenger trilogy by tragic fantasy author K. J. Parker. The trilogy I liked best as a whole was probably K. J. Parker’s simply because I’m a fan, although Parker’s Engineer trilogy, beginning with Devices and Desires, is still my favorite.

I also read a few stand-alone novels: True Grit is the best Western I’ve read to date; Digging to America has long held the place of favorite novel by one of my favorite authors; classic science fiction The Stars My Destination I picked up on a lark but it pleasantly surprised me. Cherie Priest’s Dreadnought is a relatively stand-alone sequel to her steampunk Boneshaker, though I’m glad I read them in publication order. And Master and Commander is the first of a twenty-odd-book naval series that’s something I might continue reading if the mood strikes me.

Favorite read of the month: Digging to America, because of Maryam.

Sad news: Since July 2011, I’ve now read all eleven books by K. J. Parker. Now where will I get my beautifully described combat and moral nihilism until Sharps comes out in July 2012? *Parker withdrawal*

The Stars My Destination

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

First sentence: He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead.

Gully Foyle is the Count of Monte Cristo in space. An ignorant brute of a man, he vows revenge when the S.S. Vesta ignores his plea for rescue from the derelict ship on which he is the only survivor. When he returns to Terra, at war with the Outer Satellites, he undertakes a scheme to figure out who is to blame, a plan that takes him to prison, to space, and to high society. Along the way, he runs into some of the richest men of the twenty-fifth century, men who have secrets they want kept, secrets that Gully Foyle doesn’t realize he knows.

This book, serialized in 1956, and sometimes called the greatest SF novel ever written, is a pulp classic. It’s got it all: sex, violence, tattoos, poverty and riches, radioactive hit men, telepathy and teleportation, circuses and freaks, femme fatales, and a tragic hero. (And an introduction by Neil Gaiman.) Though certainly a product of its time in its portrayal of some characters, it definitely merits inclusion on any true SF fan’s shelf. Because, frankly, while Gully Foyle isn’t always a hero to emulate, he does some fantastically cool stuff.