Mr. Burke's Reading List

Every now and then, I see posts online, or hear people in real life, talk about favorite books. I really can't say that I have a favorite book any more than I can say I have a favorite movie. And then comes the silly part: they talk about how many times that they've read a particular book. Or that they've lost track of the number of times that they've read them. It's like returning to an old friend. In a similar vein, there are people out there who will reread entire series of books. This becomes a case of triangular numbers as they reread from Book 1 to Book (N - 1) whenever Book N is published. My wife bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the day of its release, and then proceeded to let it sit on the shelf until she had reread the first six books. And, no, no one else was allowed to touch it first. (*) Likewise, some online acquaintances reread every book in A Song of Ice and Fire before A Dance With Dragons came out, and will do so a...

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, March 1971 The third issue in my ANALOG PLUS 50. At some point, I'll stop numbering, but probably not until I do this for at least a year. In this issue: The Editorial: "The Stay-Home Bodies", by John. W. Campbell. Written at the height of the Apollo program, Campbell writes about the opposition toward the manned space program coming from liberal-arts-type folks who don't want to spend the money and from scientists that just don't want to spend so much on that while neglecting their own very special research, when automated drones would suffice and leave the science to scientists and not engineers. There are two basics truths: The Truth of the Universe, and Truth by Consensus. The latter one is as problematic as deciding who is to judge, and what happens if consensus changes. Also, the Universe doesn't care about your consensus. Novelette: "The Missing Man" by Katherine Ma...

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) I've particpated in a bunch of Kickstarters over the past few years. As a result, I wind up with not only a bunch of books to read, but bonus stories and gaming pdfs as nice little extras. These get sorted into folders on my hard drive. So I decided to knock off a few of them while I'm between books. How many is a "peck" of stories? However many it is that I decide will fit into this post. The batch should all be from eSpec Books bonuses and stretch goals. Update: I gave a "peck" is 12 in this particular instance, but these were mostly the shorter stories. In order that I read them: Cold Iron by John L. French was originally published in Here There Be Monsters (2006), which is a Bianca Jones collection. The story begins in Tir no nOg, home of Tuatha de Danann, and quic...

The Literary Handyman: Tips on Writing From Someone Who's Been There by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, with introduction by Ty Drago (2011) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) Why would a published author need tips on writing? Like sharpening the tools in your toolbox, honing one skills is an ongoing process. The Literary Handyman (besides being a woman) provides bite-sized tips for the craft of writing, as well as the business end. And while no book is going to guarantee sales, I did review the sections on good dialogue right before I submitted a piece that was accepted for publication. The middle of the book is filled with writing prompts, with plenty of space to jot down your thougths and ideas... unless you're like me and can't write in a book even if it was made for that purpose. But I can use a journal or a blog beca...

Scythe by Neal Shusterman (2016) (Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.) I almost labeled this one fantasy as well as sci-fi, but it's just a sufficiently adnaced society. There was anything "magical" about it. This was another book recommended by a friend who wants to have a pandemic book club. In the future, the Cloud becomes self-aware and becomes known by humans as The Thunderhead, which becomes the arbiter of all laws and disputes. Soon, diesase and death are eradicated as every human has nanites that will eventual heal them no matter how badly they are hurt. The only exception, it seems, is when the body is burned beyond recognition and cannot be repaired. On the other hand, "splatting" from a tall building dozens of stories high leads to only temporary deadification until you're body is repaired in a ...

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, Feb 1971 The second issue in my ANALOG PLUS 50. I was neither bored nor disappointed by my first foray in the Analog vault, as it were. So I decided to continue with this venture. As a reminder, I read these with an eye toward televising the stories. No, I'm not a producer. I'm a fan that sees so much poorly-written sci-fi developed for TV (particularly anthology shows), when there are so many existing stories that can mined, and, if necesary, updated for the science and technology, or to make the cast more diverse. In this issue: The Editorial: "Traditioanl Values", by John. W. Campbell. It starts with "Any fundamentally sound idea can be carried too far and become a fanaticism -- and the essense of any fanaticism is, simply, that there is One One Right Way and We've Got It." I can hear echoes of current events in the background even though this is 50 years old. Applied to scien...