Actually, classifying Stasheff's books is not that straightforward. They're right there on the fuzzy line between scifi and fantasy, on the line between science and magic. Stasheff's specialty is taking a man from a scientific world and throwing him into a world where the people, for one reason...
series
Okay, how can you begin to sum up this fantastic series? Well, it's a cliché — like talking about the new Harry Potter — but if anyone deserves the mantle of the "new Tolkien", I think it's Robert Jordan. Except he's a much better writer (no reflection on Tolkien; he was an...
Patricia McKillip has written many books, but this trilogy, beginning with The Riddle-Master of Hed is my favorite. They're magical books, by which I mean the writing, the language, is magical.
A few lines from one of the six books about the Raven — I'm not even going to tell you which one, because it really doesn't matter; I chose them completely at random. Its point is to give you the flavor of the books. There's a lot of fighting, and I think Barclay does it well, with a lot...
It was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away … no, sorry, scrub that. But it was a long time ago that I first heard The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It started life as a radio show, and at the time the only radio I had was the radio in the car. So when the...
I think the Litany against Fear — not simply the Litany, but the whole concept of the Bene Gesserit's instruction in mental control and discipline — was a major reason for my initial attraction to Dune.Very attractive to a teenager, and to an adult too, if it comes to that! Herbert's...
Can I choose a favorite? Pretty difficult. If I'm choosing a one-off, maybe, Pyramids? And Interesting Times. And … oh dear, now I've started it's hard to stop. Let's leave it there for the moment.
And as far as series are concerned, well, I have a fondness for the Guards books (...
I'm not a horror fan, but I make an exception for Barbara Hambly, whose fantasy novels do tend to be touched with horror (more than touched, sometimes). But I enjoy her writing so much — her style, her people — that, well, all I can say is that despite my avoidance of horror, she's...
There is no real connection between Ender's Game and the next three in the series except that Ender and his sister are in them. Ender's Game started simply as a short story, grew to a book, and then, many years later, took off on a completely different tangent. I don't mean there is no story...
Not an inspiring beginning, it might be thought. And yet, somehow, the words reach out and … entrance you. Yes, entrance is the word, I'm sure. I felt quite entranced, the first time I read this book (and, practically unique in my life, I remember exactly where I was when I read these...
