Books & bits

Sideblog mainly about books I enjoy, and other things and bits of interest.

[geoderocks]

This book is pure poetry, and at the same time full of characters that are alive, complex, and human. So much is said in remarkably few words. This is a story that takes unexpected turns whenever it seems to follow well-known paths. Very moving, sometimes also very funny. An absolute gem.

The famous cover paintings by Kinuko Y. Craft, used for many of McKillip’s books in the 90s, are really beautiful and I am very fond of the copies I have. But there is also an ‘earthiness’ to McKillip’s writing, a sense of wilderness and realism even among her most poetic descriptions, that is far from ornate. Song for the Basilisk, in particular, strikes this balance extremely well.

[geoderocks]

‘Let’s go into the haunted death-garden ship. Why not?’

Also featuring: giant mantis-shrimp with ptsd

Come for the space beasties, stay for the genuinely thought-provoking big ideas ranging from hard scifi to ethics and consciousness

I really love this series 🕷️🦑🦐🚀📚

[geoderocks]

✏️ Made some old-school pencil sketches of two favourite characters: Fitz and the Fool, aka the Catalyst and the White Prophet.

[geoderocks]

Made a sketch of ‘Green Hannah’ from Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce (2001).

Such a lovely story, mixing a feel of woodland fairy tales with elements from a Greek myth, but still really original on its own. It’s a quick read but it lingers. 🌿🦊🦡🐦‍⬛

[geoderocks]

These are some of my favourite ‘older’ High Fantasties. They might be considered slow-paced by most standards now, but the atmosphere, characters, philosophical riddles and metaphors fill me with a sense of warmth and wonder.

There may not be a lot of the battlefield clashes (often a staple of the fantasy genre), but there’s peril aplenty, and often of a far more intimate kind.

These three titles/trilogies are very different from each other, but my fondness for them is very similar. Not just escapism or comfort reading (although they can certainly be that, too), these books have things to say. And I love the way in which they say them.

Earthsea trilogy, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968-73)

Riddle-Master trilogy, by Patricia A. McKillip (1976-79)

Fortress in the Eye of Time, by C.J. Cherryh (1994)

[geoderocks]

Oh my goodness Prodigy season 2 is incredible! Fantastic writing and character development, and also stunning art (these are the kinds of planets I always hoped to see in Star Trek!)

This show is making me feel again how I did when I first fell in love with Trek, decades ago. (It inspired me to become a scientist, and Janeway never stopped being a role model for me.)

Thank you to all involved, @aaronwaltke and cast and crew! 🖖🏼❤️

[geoderocks]

Iain M. Banks was incredibly ahead of the times. The Player of Games was published in 1988, and introduces the Culture as a post-scarcity society, with no currency, or any hierarchal power structure of any kind, where everyone freely changes sex whenever they want - everyone is quite simply considered a person, regardless of gender/sex, race/species, status or physiology. This includes the human(oid)s as well as the (extremy advanced) machine intelligences.

When encountering totalitarian empires, Culture citizens find the lack of logic in these societies very confusing and are genuinely apalled by the concepts of conquering, oppressing, and (ecological and societal) destruction. But it never gets generalised/simplified or in any way ‘preachy’. Banks’ social commentary is razor-sharp and uncompromising, and his writing is of a literary level (while immensely readable). And at times, brutal. When there’s violence, he writes it as the truly horrific thing it is.

But there’s also brilliant wit and humour, incredible/insane levels of imagination, and Ship names such as ‘Youthful Indiscretion’ and ‘Just Read the Instructions’. The result is something unparalleled. Rereading this again in 2024, it all feels more relevant than ever. And I think I love these books more everytime I revisit them.

[geoderocks]

At first sight, C.J. Cherryh’s Chanur series might look like ‘lion-cats in space with a stray human’. And, well, it is that.

But is also about breaking linguistic and cognitive barriers, overcoming otherness and gender biases, and setting aside selfish interests to unite a galaxy.

🚀🦁🦁🦁🧔🏼‍♀️🦁

[geoderocks]

Star Trek Prodigy is excellent! And the animation is gorgeous! And Janeway!

I’m hoping for seven seasons at least 🖖🏼

[geoderocks]

Grunt is an orange cat.

[theaceace]

I hope preservation and PUMNT start matching freed SecUnits with their hyper intelligent ship AIs like those anxious cheetahs that get service dogs

[geoderocks]

This is so incredibly accurate 🤖🚀

[geoderocks]

New Murderbot! [Incoherent squeal] 🤖📖❤️

I love these books a rather ridiculous amount. This one is imho turning out to be one of the best entries so far.

[geoderocks]

🕷️🐙🐦🚀📖✨

[cherriielle]

the idols 🌿🩸

[geoderocks]

This is so beautiful!! Love the High Republic books, and ‘Into the Dark’ by Claudia Gray is a favourite. Cohmac and Orla are such brilliant characters ✨

[geoderocks]

Currently re-reading the Discworld City Watch books. ‘Jingo’ remains one of the sharpest, spot-on takes on war/multiculturalism/colonialism/diplomacy. (And some bits are so hilarious it’ll make you spit out your coffee too). These books just get better the more often you read them. I love them quite a ridiculous amount, and the Watch were always my favourites (Carrot! Angua! Detritus! Vetinari!) And now I’m close to *cough* middle age myself, I ‘get’ Vimes in a way I just didn’t as a twenty-something.

GNU Terry Pratchett 🌍🐘🐢✨