SF 4-/5

When John Perry’s wife dies, he joins a futuristic army that values the wisdom of old people, but puts them into enhanced bodies in order to fight aliens on other planets. I was really looking forward to this book,  but when I started it, I was a bit disappointed that the characters and underlying assumptions were clichéd. Then I learned from my daughter (with a PhD in creative writing) that the expectations of this genre (military science fiction) are that the central character must be a perfect cog in the machine while also being an outstanding uber-cog—if this doesn’t occur, the book doesn’t fit its genre expectations. Once I understood this and stopped being so judgmental, I really enjoyed the book!

I’m working on a couple of videos to release with the launch of Gathering of Ghosts, Book 3 of my series–my publisher has given me a soft launch date of early October. YAY!!!

Science Fiction 3-/5

Zan wakes with amnesia into a fleet of fleshy worlds/space craft governed by a dictator trying to hold competing political forces at bay. This novel is highly creative in its setting, relationships, and politics, but I found the plot unfocussed and never really bonded with the central character.

 

The new novel is going really well. I’m making my word-count goals each day easily. Tons of fun!

 

Classic 3-/5

Smith comes to Earth and must learn how we navigate our worlds, and in the process, transforms his role multiple times. Reading this book is a part of becoming aware of the science fiction canon; however, I read it when I was very young so maybe didn’t get as much out of it as I would today. At that time, I found it didn’t engage me.