finished for now
Well, I actually took the story collections I had here all summer back to the library, largely unread. It's already starting to feel like Fall.
The two main books I read were Joe Haldeman's Marsbound and Starbound. I really enjoyed them; I'm really looking forward to the third one of the trilogy, whose name you suddenly guess at the end of the second book-- very clever. In spite of being all apocalyptic, they're surprisingly undark. As far as I can remember, these are the first of his books that I've read.
I started them as part of the Mars project. Here's a link to raf2a's Mars page. They're not totally Mars-focused, but Mars is central and the starting place for the whole story.
Any other Mars books, please recommend.
I also read Rudy Rucker's Postsingular. This was a novel taking off from the short story "Chu and the Nants," mentioned awhile back. His work is really original, especially in the way it envisions the digital culture infused into all aspects of life. Still, I sometimes have to fight my way through his longer works. I ended up liking Spaceland a lot, but the first third at least was a struggle. This one was a struggle all the way through, despite many wonderful features. I just often feel I can hear him trying to be quirky and "out there." It leaves the characters in the background, rather two-dimensional and unengaging. Despite comparisons to Philip K. Dick, his work has nothing like the integrity of Dick's work. No matter how crazy Dick's universes became, the people were always at the center, and you were interested in them.
Still, I like his work. It just needs to have more at the heart, somehow.
Afterwards I reread Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. Still interesting, although the ending is a ridiculous sell-out. Awhile back I said I was hating Makers. I finished it, and a lot of it was interesting and entertaining, and, as always, informative about Doctorow's issues. Still... what. Maybe he should take a year off to study philosophy, or environmental science.
But in the epilogue to Little Brother, I noticed a recommendation to read Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars, which hadn't caught my eye before. So I ordered it and read it.
This is the one you should read! It's really a classic.