Conference noted::sf

    re .0
    
    Well, gee, it seems like 6 months since I had time to read a book... )-:

I've been reading all along.  Just not much that is all that new.  
Found Julian May's "Magnificat" in my library.  Started it and decided that
I really needed to go back and review "Surveillance" "MetaConcert" "Jack 
The Bodiless" and "Diamond Mask", so I reread those before starting up
Magnificat again.  Then I found "Infinity's Shore" in the same library,
and since I'd recently read "Brightness Reef" I was pretty much set for
Brin's latest.  Now I have to wait for the end of the trilogy.  Sigh...
Well, at that point I'll probably read the whole trilogy again, so that
will take up some time.  Right now I'm re-reading the classic
"A Canticle for Leibowitz" since I know I've read it before, but it 
has basically entirely escaped from some hole in my memory.  There are some
faint glimmers of recognition, but it basically seems like a new (old) book.

Usually I look at the new SF section in the library and see if there's
anything there that catches my eye.  And then if there's nothing there
I'll search through the shelves for things I might have missed.
Found a good one in Janet Kagan's book "Hellspark".  Great story, lively
characters, and could easily be a starting off point for a whole series
of books, either on the same characters, or just in the same Universe.
So I went searching for others by the same author.  I found she'd written
the Trek novel "Uhuru's Song" and one other book that I couldn't find
the title to, but nothing recently.  Sigh...  But check out "Hellspark"
if you can find it.  (Found the other books title, "Mirabile")
There was another one I recently found in that library that seems to have
come out only in the last year and I rather enjoyed.  But I can't remember
the author or the title!  One of those (the author or the title) reminds 
me of snow, and the cover was mostly white, but I'll have to check
to jog my memory.  I do remember what it was about though.  It was a 
fairly interesting view of the future where virtual reality was done in
a much more humananistic view than Gibson manages.  Five people living 
across the US (2 in Seattle, 2 in New Mexico, one in New Hampshire)
have a company that senses and influences trends.  They meet in virtual 
settings, and wear skin suits that can convey almost all the bodies 
sensations to each other if you tune into it.  It's a bit of a mystery
and a bit corporate intrigue and espionage.  Nicely done.  I'll see
if I can find out the title and author, wait, wait...  Sage Winter? Walker?
Yes!  "Whiteout"  by Sage Walker!    (thanks to 
http://www.cu-online.com/~avonruff/sfdbase.html  found at
http://futfan.com/home.html )

Next up is probably Dragonseye by McCaffery.  I kind of like her Dragon
books, but they're fairly light enjoyment.  Don't follow all of
her series.  Then I'll be looking for the paperback printing of
"Memory"  by Lois McMaster Bujold, the latest in the Miles Vorkosigan
saga.  Hey, and it looks like (searching in the sfdbase mentioned
above) that Terry Bisson is finishing off a nearly completed 
manuscript by Walter M. Miller, JR,  "St. Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman"
Hmmm, I recently read Bisson's collection "Bear's Discover Fire" and 
"Pirates of the Universe" and I know he mentioned someplace about 
working on an unfinished novel from someone else.  Maybe that's why
I unconsciously picked up "A Canticle for Leibowitz" after all these 
years.  

One book I did not like very much, but finished anyway, was
Patricia Anthony's "Cradle of Splendor".  Too mystic/ufo trendy
with a bit too much torture and implied child abuse for my tastes.

But then, these just reflect my own tastes.  I'll probably be looking
for the next few Babylon 5 books as well.  The one that follows
Sinclair to Minbar and beyond by Kathryn Drennan looks promising.

PeterT

    Wasn't "A Canticle for Leibowitz" just a short story first,
    and made into a novel later?
    Maybe that's why parts of it don't seem too familiar.

A Canticle For Leibowitz was indeed, I believe, a short story at first.  In
fact the book is really 3 stories joined together, separated by about
600 years or more in time between them.  With one common character ;-)
They are more novella length than short story length, but the idea is
the same.  But that's not why some of it seems unfamiliar.  I'm reading the
same copy of the paperback that I've owned at least since 1973, since there's
a note in my copy that I can trace back to that date.  It's just my 
memory going.  I've got better retention of some other books that I 
read at the time, but I'm sure sure the details are rather blurry.

PeterT

    Actually I am reading Stranger in a Strange Land for the umpteenth time
    and still enjoying it. Just goes to show the oldies can be the goodies.
    Apart from that I am waiting for the third installment in the
    serpentwar trilogy by Raymond Feist, apparently just released in
    England in hardcover, should be good old Aust. by September.
    Mike N.

    Let me correct that, the third book in the serpentwar Trilogy is
    available in hardcover in Australia. I saw it and held it in my hand
    over the weekend with a very itchy mastercard in my wallet, but
    bills come first. I would be interested  to see opinions from
    others.
    Mike N.

    re .2
    
    Another vote for Janet Kagan - I loved the Kangaroo Rex and the Odders. 
    Cute premise and well executed.
    
    Recent reads :
    
    Burn - Bill Ransom ( wrote the Jesus Incident, etc with Frank Herbert )
    	apparently, it's a continuation of a story started in _ViraVax_,
    	but it was easy enough to jump into, and stands on it's own well.
    
    Demu Trilogy - E.M. Busby - classic...
    
    The Partner ( the new Grisham - I can't read SF *all* the time! )
    
    re-read The Glass Teat and Spider Kiss by Ellison, The Rolling Stones
    by Heinlein, and Gerrold's Chtorr series - *when* is the next book
    coming out??  Anyone hear any rumors?
    
    Cheers,
    Jimbo

The most recent book I read is

Robert Rankin - Nostradamous ate my hamster (which is kinda sci fi)
and
Iain M Banks latest Culture book.  (but that was before xmas).  Excessions it
was called.

Still both good books

Hmmm, started Excessions yesterday.  Looks like it might not make
it back to the library quite on time.  Oh well...

Read McCaffery's Dragonseye recently.  I liked it.  Pern just as all
the technology left over from colonization is finally giving up the 
ghost, and the 2nd pass of thread will be starting.  While dropping this
off back at the library, I picked up  "The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall"
which is a collection of stories regarding Pern, set in the era around 
the First Pass.  Not bad.


But for something completely different, I read within the past few months,
"Door Number Three"  by Patrick O'Leary.  A very good read, but I'll let
you take a look at the author's web page and you can decide for yourself!

http://users.aol.com/patri10629/index.html

PeterT