William_F_Wu – Made by Mikal

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Perihelion

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 1, 2009
Post category:Book

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I haven't previously been impressed with Wu's work, but this book is the best of the Robot City series. The other books suffer from feeling juvenile, whereas this book tells a story without being badly written and boring. Its a shame that you have to wade through the others in the series to get to this one. Interestingly, this book assures me that there another six in the series. They don't sound like the Robot and Aliens series, as these extra books are meant to more fully explain the origin of Robot City. However, as best as I can tell these additional books were never produced. Wikipedia, Amazon and LibraryThing all have no record of these books existing.

Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 13, 2009
Post category:Book

I read this anthology as a child, but when I found a copy on ebay that was cheap I couldn't resist. This is a collection of short stories focusing on what war might be like in the future. It's a good read, although a couple of the stories are out of place compared with the others. Superiority (Arthur C Clarke) Single Combat (Joe Green) Committee of the Whole (Frank Herbert) Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card): a classic, and in some ways I prefer the short story. I've read the extended series of novels a few years ago, but they're probably worth revisiting at some point. Hero (Joe E. Haldeman), later became The Forever War. The Survivor (Walter F. Moudy): I have strong memories of this story from reading this anthology as a child. This is still a good story. The Last Objective (Paul Carter) What Do You Want Me to Do to Prove Im Human Stop (Fred Saberhagen): a Berserker story, also known as "Inhuman Error". Hangman (David Drake): this one is included in Volume 1 of the Complete Hammers Slammers. The Night of the Trolls (Keith Laumer): this was a really good story about Bolos -- good enough to…

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Cyborg

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 26, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the third book in the Robot City series, which is based in Asimov's Foundation universe. This one follows Odyssey and Suspicion, and is a pretty good book. Its also a very fast read. The robot-wandering-the-city subplot is very reminiscent of Caliban, which is yet another Asimov spinoff. The plot lines are different enough that it doesn't feel like a rehash, but there are certainly strikingly similar elements. I liked this book.