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Visions of Paradise (Free subscription) | yesterday
This is the fifth time I’ve picked my favorite books of the preceding decade, and I cannot help but wonder how many more chances I will have to do so in the future? Twice more? Three times perhaps? Scary thoughts. Before I begin, here is a brief review of my selections from past decades: The 1960s: Best Novel : Lord of Light / Roger Zelazny Best Short Fiction : The Star Pit / Samuel R. Delany...
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Books,
C. J. Cherryh,
Clifford D. Simak,
Elmer Kelton,
Fine Arts,
Frederik Pohl,
George R. R. Martin,
John Varley,
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Marion Zimmer Bradley,
Michael Bishop,
Michael Bishop,
Michael Chabon,
Orson Scott Card,
Robert Silverberg,
Roger Zelazny,
Samuel R. Delany,
Sports,
Toni Morrison,
Ursula Hegi
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Subterranean Press (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
Locus magazine has just graced Jack Vance’s memoir, This is Me, Jack Vance! with a lengthy, complimentary review: “For all his desire to fade more into his work, Jack Vance is anything but an invisible man. This book tells more than was told before, but reveals less than some would like. All the more reason [...]
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G D Townshende (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
I've got a Jack Vance itch. Care to scratch it? If so, then please scratch here and here.Included in those sets are books that were 'stolen' from me (I know of no other way to describe it) when the pastor of a church and a former storage facility owner behaved irresponsibly. The amazing part of this — or perhaps it's not so amazing considering human-freakin'-nature — is that both refuse...
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Visions of Paradise (Free subscription) | 10/25/2009
Last week I discussed Empire Star , the centerpiece of Samuel R. Delany’s collection Distant Stars . Since then I have read the rest of the book, and it holds up very well indeed nearly thirty years after its publication. Two of the short stories particularly impressed me. “Corona” starts out like typical Delany: Buddy is a mixed-up kid who works at the Kennedy space station, while...
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dispatches from TJICistan (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009
Just last night I was reading Songs of the Dying Earth, and was thinking “it’s too bad that you can’t use the OED to find synonyms”. Today I learn: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotl… World’s largest thesaurus debuts The world’s largest thesaurus is being published after more than 40 years of work by the English Language department of [...]
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Pat's Fantasy Hotlist (Free subscription) | 10/22/2009
Many people have complained about the scoring system over the years, yet the majority of people seems to feel that it's the only way to really differentiate which works I enjoyed the most out of all the books I've read. Having said that, no scoring system is perfect, and the same goes for mine. But I think (and I may be wrong) that overall it works reasonably well. Unless you're new around here, or...
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Babel Clash (Free subscription) | 10/19/2009
My apologies to people of A Certain Age for that earworm. But Matt’s essay on politics and Heinlein got me thinking about another writer I’m fond of, apart from or even in spite of politics. 2009 was the year when lots of people stood up to say, “Jack Vance is a great writer, but Nobody [...]
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Visions of Paradise (Free subscription) | 10/18/2009
The late 1960s were my “Golden Age” of science fiction, and I discovered most of my favorite writers during that era: Robert Silverberg, Clifford D. Simak, Roger Zelazny, Jack Vance, Ursula K Le Guin, and the subject of this review, Samuel R. Delany. Delany has published the least f&sf of anybody on this list, but because of that his average quality has probably been higher than any...
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Larvatus Prodeo (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
The latest installment in an occasional series on speculative fiction by guest poster patrickg: Distant Suns: Nuncupatory questions. Any other writer with Jack Vance’s bibliography (well over fifty novels), and his years of activity, would be a legend in the SF/F field. But Vance, whilst certainly hailed by many as a great writer, is not the kind [...]
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SF Signal (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why. Books shown here: The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton (Limited Edition from Subterranean Press; Artist: Tomislav Tikulin ) Heretics by S. Andrew Swann (Artist: Stephan Martiniere ) The Kragen by Jack Vance (Artist: Unknown) NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or...
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Pat's Fantasy Hotlist (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009
Thanks to the nice folks at Voyager, our five winners will receive a complimentary copy of Songs of the Dying Earth , a Jack Vance tribute anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. For more info about this title: Europe . The winners are: - Simon Holland, from Mottram, Hyde, Cheshire, England - Guenduez Sahintuerk, from Munich, Germany (WhiteHaven on asoiaf.westeros.org) - Jana Langerova,...
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Subterranean Press (Free subscription) | 10/10/2009
We’ve just put in reprint orders for two of our Jack Vance titles, one very recent, one from a couple of years ago. The Kragen is the rare novella that Jack eventually reworked into his full length novel Blue World. As this was the smallest print run we’ve done for a Vance title, we’ve received [...]
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SF Signal (Free subscription) | 10/02/2009
Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of the spectacular QuasarDragon ] @Book View Cafe: " Commuting " by Nancy Jane Moore. @Manybooks: " Gone Fishing " by James H. Schmitz (1961). Astounding Stories February, 1931. @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: " The Mathematics of Faith " by Jonathan Wood. " Of Shifting Skin and Certainty " by Justin Howe. @Clarkesworld: " Spar...
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The Eternal Golden Braid (Free subscription) | 10/01/2009
Fred's Reading Report (September 2009) On with the show, this is it! Books read, year to date? 244! My eyes are melting! My brain is bleeding! Brrrraaaaaaiiiinnnzzzzz..... Books read in September included... Glen Cook: The Black Company , Shadows Linger , The White Rose . All included in a Tor Books omnibus edition, the first of three (so far). Good stuff. Why Cook isn't on more "good fantasy...
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Pat's Fantasy Hotlist (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
Thanks to the kind folks at Voyager, I have five copies of Songs of the Dying Earth , a Jack Vance tribute anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, up for grabs. For more info about this title: Europe . Here's the blurb: Jack Vance was a seminal figure in the development of modern fantasy, so much so that it’s nearly impossible to imagine the genre as we know it today existing...
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