Sci-Fi – Geek Book

Space Vulture

Posted on 4 May, 2009 by bookGeek

In 1953 John Myers brought his friend Gary Wolf a book he had just read, Space Hawk by Anthony Gilmore. The two were already avid readers but this would be their introduction to an entire genre, Science Fiction. They both say that it was Space Hawk that sparked a life long love of all things Sci-Fi. According to both of them, they had an opportunity to re-read Space Hawk as adults and found that it had not weathered the years well. They decided they would write their own science fiction adventure in the same style, but do a better job. The result is their book Space Vulture. Continue reading “Space Vulture” →

FLURB, a Webzine of Astonishing Tales

Posted on 5 March, 2009 by bookGeek

FLURB is not new. Issue number 7 is now up. But it is new to me. What I’ve read so far is different, but good. The text is mixed with illustrations. You can check it out and it wont cost you more than bandwidth and time.

Suvudu Free Book Library

Posted on 4 March, 2009 by bookGeek

Random House seems to be hopping into the “give the first one away free” game. The Suvudu Free Book Library is your new place to pick up the first book from some of their Scifi/Fantasy series. I saw Red Mars over there – you can’t go wrong with stuff that solid. Just be prepared to fork over the cash when you want to keep going, and with the line up they have it’s a slim chance you wont want to.

Diamonds In The Sky

Posted on 21 February, 2009 by bookGeek

What do you get when you team up an astronomer/sci-fi author and the National Science Foundation? An anthology of free Astronomy Science Fiction stories. There are 14 stories in the collection that has been edited by Mike Brotherton They say, “The purpose of the anthology is to provide stories with ample and accurate astronomy spanning a range of topics covered in introductory courses.” and “Fans of science fiction with good science should also enjoy these stories.”

Right now the stories are all available to read on-line. There is a download tab that promises “Downloadable versions of the anthology coming soon.” I hope so, this kind of thing would be perfect to have on my phone.

Top Sci-Fi of 2008 According to io9

Posted on 18 February, 2009 by bookGeek

This list was actually done the end of last year, but I just ran across it via a blog post I spotted on reddit. io9s top sci-fi books of 2008 This is a good list for anyone looking for some good reading. I’ll list the books below, but it’s worth hopping over there to read the comments and slivers from their reviews. One of them is by Doctorow. So you know what that means – you can read it as quickly as you can go to his site and download it. Another is by Tobias Buckell – which means I’ll be reading that for sure. (It also reminds me I have never posted a review of his last book I read – gotta do that.) Anyway, here they are.

Liberation, by Brian Francis Slattery
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
Nano Comes to Clifford Falls, by Nancy Kress
The Alchemy of Stone, by Ekaterina Sedia
Sly Mongoose, by Tobias Buckell
The Night Sessions, by Ken MacLeod
Postsingular, by Rudy Rucker
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
Matter, by Iain M. Banks
Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Multireal, by David Louis Edelman

Zoe’s Tale

Posted on 12 December, 2008 by bookGeek

John Scalzi the author of Hugo Award nominated science fiction novel Old Man’s War has built what started as a story serialized in his blog into a series of full novels and short stories. The latest installment in the OMW universe, Zoe’s Tale is quite a departure from the previous three books. It is the first of Scalzi’s sci-fi novels written intentionally as young adult fiction. In a move that I am sure will continue to fuel Scalzi/Heinlein comparisons, Zoe is a precocious young woman thrust into a world of adventure and danger. In just three years Scalzi has built an impressive resume as an author of fiction and Zoe’s Tale will be no small part of what looks to be an influential and outstanding career.

Continue reading “Zoe’s Tale” →

Ender in Exile

Posted on 17 November, 2008 by bookGeek

Orson Scott Card’s work Ender’s Game began as a novelette, that he says he wrote as a means of leading up to the full story he had developed, Speaker for the Dead. Ender’s Game was published as a full novel in 1985, won the Hugo and Nebula awards (as did Speaker for the Dead in ’86 and ’87). I think it is safe to say that Ender’s Game is ensconced in its position as a science fiction classic. Now, 23 years later, Card has finished the first direct sequel to Ender’s Game in his new novel Ender in Exile.

Continue reading “Ender in Exile” →

The Last Colony

Posted on 5 November, 2008 by bookGeek

John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe now spans four novels, The Last Colony is the third. Of those initial three this is the one that is most a sequel. The first, Old Man’s War and the second, The Ghost Brigades each stand alone. And I think that The Last Colony actually can do so as well, but this is the first where the main characters are both from the previous books. That said, this is still a complete story and may even appeal to readers who may have not been crazy about the previous books.

Continue reading “The Last Colony” →

Shroud – Short Story

Posted on 10 October, 2008 by bookGeek

This is a little outside the norm for me – but a friend of mine from slashdot won a short story contest and it is a pretty great story in my estimation. So if you would like to enjoy a quick but well done read – head on over and check out Shroud. I guess I am a bit biased by the fact that my nick over at the dot is stoolpigeon – and this story has a lot of pigeons in it. But it really is very well written.

New Tor Site – Free E-books

Posted on 20 July, 2008 by bookGeek

Tor has launched their new social, sci-fi, fantasy and much more, blogging, new fiction, super duper site. Right now there are 2 short stories up and available to read/download. They are “After The Coup” by John Scalzi, and “Down On The Farm” by Charles Stross. Both in worlds developed by the authors in full novels. Scalzi’s story is in the Old Man’s War universe and is a great read. Stross’s story is from his “Laundry” stories, which I don’t know but I liked this story. Nice mix of magic, math and computing.

On top of all that, for a limited time every ebook and piece of art they made available during their promotional period leading up to the launch of the site are all available right here. Every book is available in multiple drm free formats. I’ve read 3 so far and loved all 3. I’m working on my fourth now. There are over 20 total and so I’ll have lots of fun stuff to read for some time.

If they stick with what it says in the post – all this will no longer be available 7 days from now. They will shut it all down after the 27th. The artwork is also amazing and available in a wide number of sizes. This is when the Down Them All plugin for firefox really comes in handy. Right-Click, Save As just wont cut it for this much awesome stuff.