Ahira's Hangar

And I've avoided them on your recommendation. Pity, Anderson is a decent writer off his own bat...I've really enjoyed his Seven Suns saga, as far as I've gotten. (Bk3 IIRC.)

--A

I'm glad you found Dune interesting, MsMary.

I've only read up to Heretics of Dune, but all the sequels by Frank Herbert were worth my time. (Indeed I remember Heretics as being an awesome read, with a cool protagonist.) As duchess said, there's a lot of weirdness, but since you made it through the original novel, you ought to be acclimatized to the strangeness of the Dune universe.

I've heeded duchess's warnings myself and ignored those "prequels" by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson.

Thanks for all the input. So what's the next book? Dune Messiah?

Yah, Dune Messiah is next. It's the shortest Dune book, too. Not saying it's a breezy read - no Dune book is - but it is like an interlude: the calm before the storm in Children of Dune. Reading through Messiah is worth it to get to Children of Dune - an epic that, in my opinion, kicks serious butt.

Messiah is my least favourite of them...God Emperor is probably my most favourite.

--A

I've requested Dune Messiah at the library, but if it's that short, maybe I should order Children of Dune, too. I'll keep you posted.

Have been rereading Asimov's Foundation Trilogy for the first time in about thirty years. I am having fun. I am up to about the halfway point in Foundation and Empire - yes, I am about to get to the Mule.

I finished my Foundation trilogy read and really liked it. I was not sure what to expect, as it has been at least thirty years since I last read it and did not know if I would still like it or not. But yes, I did still like it, and can still see why it is considered a classic of the genre.

I'm now reading an ARC of a book called The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, an English publisher turned writer. It is steam punk, and I am unsure of whether it would be considered fantasy or science fiction. It is set in London in about the year 1900. The two main chracters seem to be a scientist from the British Museum who conducts investigations for the Crown and his female assistant. So far they are investigating a serial killer and a zeppelin crash - but with a plague that causes people to become zombies spreading in the London slums, I suspect they will begin investigating that at some point as well. So far it seems to be pretty good, but I am only about seventy pages into the book.

The Affinity Bridge by George Mann

Sir Maurice Newbury is publicly an academic (anthropologist) at the British Museum in London in the year 1901 - but secretly he is also an agent for Queen Victoria who specializes in cases which might involve the paranormal (and even more secretly he is a morphine addict). Along with his assistant, the level headed and beautiful Miss Veronica Hobbes, he is helping to investigate:

* a series of murders that witnesses claim were committed by a glow-in-the-dark policeman
* an mass casualty airship crash where the automaton pilot is missing
* the disappearance of his secretary's brother

Throw in a plague that is causing people in London's slums to become flesh eating zombies, and the agents of the Crown have their hands full!

The book is fast paced and never dull, and the various mysteries/plot lines do all knit together in the end. That said, the bad guys are pretty obvious right from the get go and the two main characters could use a bit more back story and development (such as how Newbury got his fighting skillls and more on the estrangement within the Hobbes family). However, since the ending is open ended enough for sequels, perhaps the back story and further character development are waiting for additional related books.

Reading Herbert's The Godmakers.

--A

A few days back I finished Cyberadad Days by Ian MacDonald. it's a collection of shorter fiction set in his River of Gods universe. I enjoyed it alot. The stories are very pulpy and lots of fun to read. I wonder if this does not set itself very firmly in the accepted texts of colonialist lit (Kipling, Maugham, Karen von Blixen, etc.). FYI, it does adhere to the trope of the white guy goes to a far away place filled with people who don't look like him and comes back with exotic stories.

Am reading Asimov's classic I, Robot for the first time. Am really enjoying it, and wondering why I did not read this years ago. Nothing at all like the Will Smith movie, though.