(I went book shopping in Canberra yesterday). CYearTitleNotes 1987Daughter of the EmpireStored in Australia (Box 1). [bookstore: garagesale] 1990Servant of the EmpireStored in Australia (Box 1). [bookstore: garagesale] 1997Mistress of the Empire
YearTitleNotes Act one: Deverry 1986Daggerspell 1987Darkspell 1989The Bristling Wood - US title; issued in the UK as Dawnspell: The Bristling Wood 1990The Southern Sea - US title; issued in the UK as Dragonspell: The Southern Sea Act two: The Westlands 1991A Time of Exile 1992A Time of Omens 1993Days of Blood and Fire 1994Days of Air and Darkness Act three: The Dragon Mage 1997The Red Wyvern 1998The Black Raven 2000The Fire Dragon Act four: The Silver Wyrm 2006The Gold Falcon 2007The Spirit Stone 2008The Shadow Isle 2009 (not yet released)The Silver Mage
Inferno is the second Asimov universe book written by Roger MacBride Allen. Much like Asimov's Robots and Empire and Caliban, its what I will call an "issue book". In Robots and Empire the issue at hand was that having a long life results in risk adversity and therefore the stagnation of society as a whole. In Caliban the issue was the over protection of humans by robots, and the ultimately corrupting nature of living in a society built on slavery (even of machines), as well as stagnation caused by the risk adversity of the robots themselves. In this second Allen book, the issue is the exploitation of the "new law" robots who ultimately become the new slaves in return for a chance at freedom later. This exploitation is a criminal offence, so of course they end up with a society in which pretty much everyone has dirty hands of some form. Overall this was a good read, and probably a better book than Inferno. I certainly found it easier to read and more enjoyable. I read the majority of the book on a single set of flights between the US and Australia because it was such a good read. Its…
This is a "robot mystery" in the style of Asimov, but actually written by Roger MacBride Allen. Wikipedia assures me that Asimov approved the outline for this book, as well as the other two by Roger: "Shortly before his death in 1992, Asimov approved an outline for three novels (Caliban, Inferno, Utopia) by Roger MacBride Allen, set between Robots and Empire and the Empire series, telling the story of the terraforming of the Spacer world Inferno, and about the robot revolution started by creating a "No Law" Robot, and then New Law Robots." Roger is an interesting author, and appears to have written quite a few books, with a strong tendency for basing them in other author's universes. Its interesting to meet an author who is so seemingly willing to base his work on that of others. This book didn't strike me as well written as Asimov's, but that's a pretty high bar to meet. It should be noted that Amazon reviews disagree with me on this point. Its rendition is certainly competent though, and the story is a good one.
I find the newer Asimovs harder to read for some reason -- I think it might be because they are more inclined to introspection that the earlier ones, but that might not be all of it. Overall I enjoyed this book, although I did find that I lost enthusiasm briefly in the middle. Overall, worth the effort though. You can tell that Asimov was getting old at the time that he wrote this book, as he dwells extensively on the importance of living an interesting and worthwhile life, instead of necessarily a long life. Overall he makes the argument that this is what is wrong with Spacer society -- life is so long that its inconceivable to take risks early in life that might shorten that life. Later in life its too late however, as you are by then trapped in your comfortable rut. Its an interesting concept, and one which bears further consideration. [isbn: 0586062009;0345328949]
This series is a set of parodies of militaristic science fiction, and is excellently bad. 1965: Bill The Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison 1989: Bill, the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Robot Slavesby Harry Harrison 1990: Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Bottled Brains by Robert Sheckley and Harry Harrison 1991: Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Tasteless Pleasure by David Bischoff and Harry Harrison 1991: Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Zombie Vampires by Jack C. Haldeman and Harry Harrison 1991: Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars by David Bischoff and Harry Harrison (was also published under the title: "Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of the Hippies from Hell") 1991: Bill the Galactic Hero: The Final Incoherent Adventure by David Harris and Harry Harrison
A Stainless Steel Rat is born The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1 The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 2 Bill the Galactic Hero I, Robot Caves of Steel Naked Sun Robots of Dawn
This book is the third in the third in the Robot mystery series, and is once again set on a Spacer world. This one was written 30 years after the first two, and Asimov's style has noticeably changed between the 1950s and 1980s. The book starts off slowly, with a lecturing tone which I found quite annoying. For example, devoting an entire page to a discussion of whether the deliberate death of a a robot (even a human shaped on) is murder. Often the first part of the book feels like it is going excessively slowly. However, its only the first third of so of the book which suffers this flaw. Its as if Asimov realized after a while that he also had a story to tell, and got on with it. The book then improves massively and has a good story. So, overall I liked this book, although the first part of the book wasn't as good as the rest of the Asimov I've read. [isbn: 0553299492;0345315715] [award: nominee hugo 1984]
I give you the can bottle, which is clearly the best shape for a coke can, ever. Update: I noticed the image was broken on this post, so I found another.
Panos (a dude I work with) and I got to Tokyo ok last night. The flight left SFO at about 1pm and got into Narita airport at about 4pm. By the time we'd done immigration and collected our bags we only had about a ten minute wait for the limousine bus to the hotel. We're staying in Shibuya, which seems to be a bit of a shopping district. We managed to do the pointing a menu food ordering thing for dinner last night, and then I went to bed. Initial impressions of Tokyo: Its very clean and amazingly well organised. People naturally line up, and customer service is much better than it is in the US. Its not as crowded as I expected. English is very common, but don't expect people on the streets to actually speak it.