Becky Chambers, Record of a Spaceborn Few

This is the third in a series (but not necessarily a sequence) of novels about humans who fled a dying Earth and lived for centuries in their spaceships, looking for a new home. The first novel, The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet, takes place on a spaceship, and the second, A Closed and … Continue reading Becky Chambers, Record of a Spaceborn Few →

Becky Chambers space happiness

I bought the second Becky Chambers novel first - A Closed and Common Orbit - and that was a mistake, because the first page was so fascinating, yet so obviously needing the back story before I could continue, that I had to find the first novel - The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet … Continue reading Becky Chambers space happiness →

Body and mind enhancement in Samuel Delaney’s Babel-17

I loved this novel. It was an impulse purchase although I was looking for a Delaney. I’d read that he was a close friend of James Tiptree jr, whom the world now knows was Alice Sheldon, and wrote feminist sf, so I wanted to find out more. Babel-17 (1966) is certainly feminist, but in a breathtakingly audacious … Continue reading Body and mind enhancement in Samuel Delaney’s Babel-17 →

Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Mercy

In the third and (so far) last part of her series about Breq, the last ancillary fragment of a battleship taking on the genderless Radchaai empire, Ann Leckie changes focus again. The first part (Ancillary Justice) was about plotting revenge and heading towards her target (see my review here); the second part (Ancillary Sword, reviewed … Continue reading Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Mercy →

The joy of genderless space opera: Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword

Some time ago I reviewed Ann Leckie’s debut and multiple-prize-winning sf novel Ancillary Justice. I loved it, and was highly impressed by what I still think is an immense technical achievement: writing fiction in which gender is simply of no importance at all. Leckie has invented a culture in whose language all pronouns are female … Continue reading The joy of genderless space opera: Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword →