Category: Books
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Harry Potter and the Invasion of the Fan-Fic
Another feaure of Harry Potter is the tuly amazing volume of fan fiction (fanfic for short) that have been written.[^1] It’s getting close to overtaking Star Trek… [One site alone](http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com/) has over 42,000 stories, written by over 20,000 different authors. Some of it is very, very good. But that’s not any fun… A few highlights…
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Harry Potter and the Surfeit of Blog Posts
The final book in the *Harry Potter* series will be released world wide this coming weekend. In the leadup (and afterwards) I’d expect a few thousand million posts on Harry Potter and related issues. Never let it be said that this blog is afraid of a bandwagon… I’ll put up a few posts on various…
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Hugo Best Novel Reviews 2007: The Final Chapter
To finish the unofficial [Hugo](http://www.nippon2007.us/hugo_nominees.php)-week on this blog, a recap of my thoughts on the five nominees for [Best Novel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel). The five nominees (with a link to my review) are: * [*Temeraire*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2007/03/hugo-review-temeraire/) by Naomi Novik * [*Glasshouse*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2007/04/hugo-review-glasshouse/) by Charles Stross * [*Rainbows End*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2007/05/hugo-review-rainbows-end-by-vernor-vinge/) by Vernor Vinge * [*Eifelheim*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2007/07/hugo-review-eifelheim/) by Michael Flynn * [*Blindsight*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2007/07/hugo-review-blindsight/) by Peter…
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The best novels Hugo never liked
The [Hugo award](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel) has been around for 54 years now. In that time it’s generally been about the most reliable indicator of the best novels around. But there are still a few instances where everything fell over a little bit: 1959: *A Case of Conscience* (James Blish) beat *Have Space Suit – Will Travel* (Robert…
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Hugo review: Blindsight
The final entry in my Hugo best novel review series for this year is *Blindsight* by Peter Watts. In the late 21st century humanity has reached almost incomprehensible levels of achievement. Those on the bleeding edge may be stable multiple personalities, or have mechanical prosthetics replacing almost their entire body. To help the majority of…
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Heinlein & 100 years
[One hundred years ago](http://www.heinleincentennial.com/) today (July 7 1907) the greatest science fiction writer of all time was born. [Robert A. Heinlein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein) was a brilliant, controversial and innovative writer. But between 1939 and 1941 he wrote a set of twelve short stories that quickly established him as one of the masters of Science Fiction, with his…
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Hugo Review: Eifelheim
Four hugo books down, one to go… The penultimate Hugo review for this year is *Eifelheim*, by Michael Flynn. This is a complex story, told in two time periods and with three main characters… * Sharon Nagy is a physicist, on the brink of fundamental breakthroughs that could revolutionise physics. * Tom Schwoerin is a…
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Book Review: The Last Colony, John Scalzi
I took a quick break from my Hugo review series to read the latest from [John Scalzi](http://www.scalzi.com/). *The Last Colony* is a sequel to *Old Man’s War* and *Ghost Brigades*. The plot follows on from the past two books. John Perry and Jane Sagan are now retired from the Colonial Military, and have become colonists…
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Hugo review: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
Here’s the third in my series of Hugo reviews for this year. I’m well on track to review them all before the 31 July deadline for voting. So here’s *Rainbows End* by Vernor Vinge. I’ve read two other Vernor Vinge novels before, *A Fire Upon The Deep* and *A Deepness in the Sky*. Neither of…
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Hugo Review: Glasshouse
The second in my series of Hugo nominated book reviews for this year, *Glasshouse*, by Charles Stross Robin doesn’t know a lot about his past. That’s partly because he just had a lot of it erased, and partly because of the Curious Yellow virus that had infected the teleport gates and wiped a lot of…