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Book Review: Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)

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Clearly not one of Arthur C. Clarke’s best works. Childhood’s End begins with the presence of aliens Overlords already established, with a human – U.N. Secretary-General Stormgren – as their mouthpiece. The Overlords begin their occupation as a veiled force that thrusts utopia upon humanity at the cost of humanity’s freedom and cultural identities with their human collaborators appearing to be largely trustful of the aliens’ unknown motives. But are the aliens trustworthy; do they have our best interests in mind? Or do they have some other motive for foisting utopia upon humanity? One would think this would be a major theme of the book but it’s actually not. Instead, the book meanders its way to being an occasionally interesting analysis of human purpose. The meandering is the book’s greatest flaw as it reads more like a series of loosely connected, extended vignettes rather than having a univocal message, or at least not an obvious one. For instance, with almost a fifth of the boo...
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Book Review: Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2023)

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Starter Villain  by John Scalzi’s is my follow up read to his lighthearted Kaiju Preservation Society . From beginning to end, Starter Villain is packed full of soft (and sometimes sardonic) humor with a side of social commentary as it follows Charlie, a destitute, down-on-his-luck ex-business journalist turned substitute-teacher. Charlie’s only asset is the house of his late father, which really belongs to his siblings as well who want him to move out so they can sell it. Other than his faithful cat, Hera, life sucks for Charlie. After Charlie’s estranged uncle dies and leaves behind his fortune, allegedly attained from his parking garage empire, Charlie’s contacted by his uncle’s assistant who informs him that it was the final wish of his uncle to purchase his house from the family trust and gift it to Charlie outright, but only if he stands for his uncle at the funeral. And that’s when the fun begins. Charlie soon realizes there was more to his uncle’s life than being a parking...
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For What It's Worth (A True Story, Most Of It, I Think)

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Shortly after my father’s death in 1989, I was happy to leave The States and return to my army unit in Germany since that’s where my guitar was. It was around this time the kindling of a rock band began to smolder after my brother-from-another-mother and I discovered a large, unused room in the attic in the furthest reaches of the barracks. (Actually, I’d already known about it since my girlfriend and I usually held our trysts there, but the prospect of rock stardom outweighed privacy concerns and so I led my friend there to ‘discover’ the room together.) That brother-from-another-mother, Rick (R.I.P.), also played guitar and our ‘styles’ (read: schlocking) meshed well since we grew up on similar rock music. And so, for a while it was just myself and Rick. At some point we’d heard the tall guy in 3 rd platoon, Fred, was a dedicated Rush fan and played drums. Despite the fact our abilities were clearly beneath Fred after we heard him play, we convinced him to join our ensemble without ...
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The Forgetting (Poetry)

The face, in this picture Looks sort, of familiar The eyes I have seen But the name rather distant When was the time, the immeasurable date My thoughts are blurry and mutated           I’ve forgotten it, don’t remember bliss           Too long ago and too far away (it all slipped away)           If we ever kissed, memory’s a ship           That sailed long ago and so far away (it all slipped away) A lover stranger than fiction Dragged by the winds ‘til barely a whisper The years a mausoleum Ancient and inconsistent When was goodbye? It escapes all my guesses The eternal sunshine of repression         I’ve forgotten it, don’t remember bliss         Too long ago and too far away (it all slipped away)         If we ever kissed, memory’s a sh...
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Book Review: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (2009)

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Having only read a short story of two from Murakami which were mundane to say the least, I’m not sure why I undertook the epic length of 1Q84. Yet I did and came to find the book is not without any merit. The prose of the much-ballyhooed novel certainly flows well-enough and I can say that I’ve never come across such an unusual plot before, even having read a good deal of surreal fiction; I love the book’s originality in that regard. I also enjoyed characters that are well-developed. However, I have a number of misgivings preventing me from finding this a satisfying read: For starters, Murakami is a writer for people who like their scenes explained in mind-numbing detail. That’s all well and good for some readers, but for others like myself its entirely frustrating. In 1Q84’s case, it often felt like Murakami was trying to meet a page count, where entire chapters did little – and on occasion – nothing at all to advance the story. There is also a great deal of sex throughout the book ...
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A Vacation in Switzerland (June 2024)

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It had been 23 years since I'd been in Europe. What would it be like to go back to visit a country that had escaped my presence all this time?  What’s Did I Like About Switzerland in General? Outside of the cities, and in the Berner Oberland close to the Alps in particular, Switzerland is an absolutely beautiful country. Full of rolling green pastures, luscious deep valleys, and steep, jagged, majestic mountains, the scenery can’t be beat. We were there in June during an unusual year weather-wise (so we were told by locals) yet despite the rain and clouds and humidity, we found the countryside not lacking natural charm. I can only imagine the beauty of it all during a snowy winter, but being adverse to the cold, I will leave that to my imagination. Personally, I also loved all the cows that traverse the countryside and while there’s the matter of the smell, I reminded myself that’s the price of amazingly rich soil that makes the vegetation vividly green. It made all the challengi...
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End of the Year Summary of Sci-Fi Books

I spent a year reading only sci-fi in an effort to explore new ideas and hopefully enhance my own creativity and writing skills. I certainly learned a lot about what to do and more importantly, what not to do when undertaking the task of writing fiction. I managed to read 12 books which for this slow reader is nothing short of miraculous. To summarize the books I've read in the past year, I've 'awarded' them below:  Best Overall: The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu Most Fun: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Weirdest: Blood Music by Greg Bear Hardest/Strict Sci-fi: The Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle Moodiest/Most Haunting: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Most Riveting: The Martian by Andy Weir Most Unpredictable: All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai Most Over-rated: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin Best for Young Adults: The Loop by Ben Oliver Absolute Worst: The Employees by Olga Ravn
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