Old
Bridge Public
Library Science Fiction Discussion Group
--Upcoming Discussion Schedule--
Note: We
meet bi-monthly.
Be reminded that this information is on-line for easy access.
It is at
<http://leepers.us/ob_discussion_sf.html>.
The general book discussion group has a similar site at <http://leepers.us/ob_discussion_gen.html>.
**REMINDER**: With the new electronic catalog (<http://librarycatalog.lmxac.org/>,
which will redirect you to where
you can request your own inter-library loans. So even if the
other libraries
don't respond to the Old Bridge Library's request for copies, you can
order a copy for yourself.
5/24/12--William Tenn's OF MEN AND MONSTERS
pages: 251
copies in LMxAC catalog: 1
(There is only
one copy in the LMxAC (in a Tenn collection), but it is available in Paperback Swap and cheaply elsewhere.)
"In science fiction circles, the work of William Tenn is noted, oddly
enough, for its scarcity. (Among other things, we hasten to add.)
Perhaps this has been because each succeeding story was hailed with
such rare delight that the legend of scarcity became self-reinforcing.
In fact, over the years, Mr. Tenn has been reasonably prolific,
consequently we are able to bring a group of five volumes containing
the best of his published works -- a remarkable and happy occasion all
by itself. But in addition, and in delighted triumph, Ballantine books
presents this six volume, completely original, and so far only
full-length science fiction work by William Tenn. In Of Men and
Monsters, he manages to weave a fine sense of the dramatic into an
overall theme which exemplifies Tenn at his ironic best -- a clear eyed
tribute to the audacity, shrewdness, stupidity, courage and ultimate
ineradicability of the human pest."
-- Amazon Book Description
7/19/12--Greg Egan's SCHILD'S LADDER
pages: 352
copies in LMxAC catalog: 7
This was recommended as one of the easier of Egan's books to start
with. There are seven copies in LMxAC and it is available cheaply
elsewhere. (Of the other recommended books, we have already done
DIASPORA, and INCANDESCENCE and DISTRESS are less available.)
"The Age of Death ended countless millennia ago. No longer burdened by
limited lifespans, the immortal humans who populate inhabited space now
have the luxury to travel vast distances effortlessly and to tinker
with the intricate mechanics of spacetime. But one such experiment in
quantum physics has had a catastrophic and unanticipated result,
creating an enormous, rapidly expanding vacuum -- a region of new
physics -- with the frightening potential to devour countless inhabited
solar systems.
"Tchicaya abandoned his homeworld four thousand years ago to travel the
universe, freely choosing, as have others of his bent, to endure the
hardships of distance and loneliness for the sake of knowledge and
experience. Aboard the Rindler, a starship trawling the border of the
allconsuming novo-vacuum, he feels his endless life has new purpose.
For the Rindler is the center for the scientific study the phenomenon
-- a common ground for Preservationists and Yielders alike, those
working to halt and destroy the encroaching worlds-eater ... and those
determinedto investigate its marvels while allowing its growth to
continue unchecked. Tchicaya has allied himself firmly with the latter
camp."
-- Amazon Book Description
9/27/12: Stanislaw Lem's CYBERIAD
pages: 312
copies in LMxAC catalog: 1
There is one copy of this in LMxAC, but it is available cheaply elsewhere.
"A brilliantly crafted collection of stories from celebrated science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem
"Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each
other. Over the course of their adventures in The Cyberiad, they travel
to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving
jobs, with dire consequences for their unsuspecting employers.
Playfully written, and ranging from the prophetic to the surreal, these
stories demonstrate Stanislaw Lem's vast talent and remarkable ability
to blend meaning and magic into a wholly entertaining and captivating
work."
-- Amazon Book Description
11/15/12--Robert J. Sawyer's TRIGGERS
pages: 352
copies in LMxAC catalog: 1
"On the eve of a
secret military operation, an assassin's bullet strikes President Seth
Jerrison. He is rushed to the hospital, where surgeons struggle to save
his life. At the same hospital, researcher Dr. Ranjip Singh is
experimenting with a device that can erase traumatic memories.
Then a terrorist bomb detonates. In the operating room, the
president suffers cardiac arrest. He has a near-death experience-but
the memories that flash through Jerrison's mind are not his memories.
It quickly becomes clear that the electromagnetic pulse generated
by the bomb amplified and scrambled Dr. Singh's equipment, allowing a
random group of people to access one another's minds. And now one
of those people has access to the president's memories- including
classified information regarding the upcoming military mission, which,
if revealed, could cost countless lives. But the task of determining
who has switched memories with whom is a daunting one- particularly
when some of the people involved have reason to lie..."
-- Amazon Book Descriptions
The information above is on-line for easy access. It is at
<http://leepers.us/ob_discussion_sf.html>
Previous selections:
2003:
02--Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
03--The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
04--Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
05--Time and Again by Jack Finney
06--Ringworld by Larry Niven
07--A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
08--Acorna by Anne McCaffrey
09--Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
10--Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer
11--[postponed]
12--Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
2004:
01--American Gods by Neil Gaiman
02--Contact by Carl Sagan
03--A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
04--The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
05--I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
06--Slan by A. E. Van Vogt
07--The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
08--Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
09--Time Patrol by Poul Anderson
10--Adventures in Time and Space by Raymond Healy & J. Francis
McComas
11--The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
12--[cancelled]
2005:
01--The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
02--[postponed]
03--The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem
04--Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
05--Adventures in Time and Space by Raymond Healy & J. Francis
McComas
06--The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
07--[postponed]
08--Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
09--Software by Rudy Rucker
10--SF Hall of Fame I ed. Robert Silverberg
11--Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
12--Ubik by Philip K. Dick
2006:
01--The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem
02--Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
03--Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
04--Bellwether by Connie Willis
05--The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
06--The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
07--The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
08--Coyote by Allen Steele
09--Remake by Connie Willis
10--A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
11--The Woman and the Ape by Peter H›eg
12--[canceled]
2007:
01--The Lincoln Hunters by Wilson Tucker
02--Blood Music by Greg Bear
03--Eden by Stanislaw Lem
04--Frameshift by Robert Sawyer
05--Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
06--Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling
07--Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
08--Bios by Robert Charles Wilson
09--The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
10--The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
11--King and Joker by Peter Dickinson
12--[canceled]
2008:
01--Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
02--Diaspora by Greg Egan
03--Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
04--City of Truth by James Morrow
05--Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
06--Old Man's War by John Scalzi
07--"With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson
08--"The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick
09--"The Upside-Down Revolution" by a.k.a. "Weapon Systems of the
Twenty First Century or the Upside-Down Evolution" by Stanislaw Lem
10--SF stories by H. P. Lovecraft
11--Fatherland by Robert Harris
12--[canceled]
2009:
01--Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
02--The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson
03--Worlds of Wonder edited by Robert Silverberg
04--Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
05--The Way the Future Was by Frederik Pohl
06--Return from the Stars by Stanislaw Lem
07--[canceled]
08--The Best of Frederik Pohl
09--Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein
10--stories by Edgar Allan Poe
11--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
12--[canceled]
2010:
01--True Names by Vernor Vinge
02--[canceled]
03--Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
05--A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn
07--The Prestige by Chistopher Priest
09--The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
11--Idoru by William Gibson
2011:
01--The Philip K. Dick Reader
03--The Philip K. Dick Reader
05--Citizen in Space by Robert Sheckley
07--Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
