Monday, July 21, 2025

Book Tasting: The World Swappers by John Brunner

The World Swappers by John Brunner
The World Swappers, Ace Books, copyright 1959, 156 pages


About Book Tastings:
In a book tasting, we read only the opening 25 pages of a book. We’ll tell how the book begins and then say whether those pages inspired us to continue reading the book. A book tasting is not a book review; it doesn’t evaluate the entire book. (For more about Book Tastings, click here)


The World Swappers is science fiction book by John Brunner (1934-1995) who was a British author of science fiction novels and stories.

The first 25 pages are chapters 1 through 3 plus two pages of chapter 4.

Chapter 1 begins with a man, Counce, alone on a boat in the middle of the Pacific awaiting the landing of a starship on the ocean. The starship lands at high speed, comes to a stop less than a half mile away, then disappears using “blanking frequencies.” The deck of Counce’s boat becomes hot and Counce jumps overboard. The starship blows up his boat using a “sonic” weapon.

Counce swims underwater to where the starship was. When he surfaces, he sees two men. One man has a gun; the other man is Bassett. Counce is ordered aboard the starship. Bassett asks Counce what he wants, not who he is. Counce boldly claims that he knows what Bassett wants, which is to rule the galaxy.

Chapter 2 starts with an infodump. It’s the 26th century and human populations exist on Earth plus 31 more planets. Nearly all the colony planets hate Earth. Computers predict Earth will go through a severe crisis in around fifty years. Earthlings who become dissatisfied during this crisis will have no place to escape to because there are no uninhabited, livable worlds within explored space.

Counce and Bassett, who are apparently both men in positions of power, think Earth needs to improve relationships with the colonial planets so that they’ll accept new immigrants from Earth. But they disagree where to start. Counce demands to be allowed to deal with the planet Ymir for Bassett or to be let go to swim to a nearby sub. Bassett orders his starship to jump a couple of miles. Bassett threatens Counce, and his goons unsuccessfully attempt to take Counce prisoner. Counce disappears.

Chapter 3 is set on the planet Regis, the farthest outpost of humanity. At the north pole of Regis, there’s an excavation site where a crew are digging for evidence of a supspected, although not yet encountered, non-human, space-traveling species they call the Others. An empty food container which was not human-made is found. Almost all the crew leave Regis via “transfax” with their proof aliens had been on Regis. They apparently work with Counce. Recent recruit Anty Dreean is ordered to stay behind with another crew member to search for what else the Others left behind. Anty is fascinated when he digs up a broken cathode-ray tube made by aliens.

In the first two pages of chapter 4, back on Earth, Counce arrives via “transfax” on a crowded sub borrowed from Dateline Fisheries near where the starship landed. Counce meets up with two of his probably important allies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not sure where the plot of The World Swappers will eventually go, but the first 25 pages were interesting enough to make me want to read more.

The book features science fictional unreal technology such as the transfax (a teleporter), blanking frequencies (a cloaking field), a sonic weapon (which destroys by finding critical resonance), the Metchnikov drive (a FTL propulsion system), and speculative vibrations in space which spread like wakes from FTL ships.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find either Counce or Bassett to be particularly relatable characters. They are supposedly powerful men, but the author Brunner doesn’t provide any background of who they are, not even their first names. It makes their conflict feel less real. Counce seems set up to be the protagonist and Bassett the antagonist.

Anty Dreean, the young recruit at the polar dig on Regis, is a potentially a more relatable character. He might become important later regarding contact with the alien Others.

The first 25 pages didn’t seem overly dated. That’s good comsidering this was book was published in 1959. Although several details reflected its age: Counce’s small boat was powered by a (nuclear) reactor and it leaked radiation when the boat was blown up and that radioactivity wasn’t depicted as worrisome or harmful; the technological artifact found on Regis was a cathode-ray tube (which is considered old technology now); and Counce and Bassett were depicted as casually smoking cigarettes and cigarillos.

I believe there are story ideas worth exploring in this science fiction book.


Book Tasting post by Amy Peterson

Friday, July 11, 2025

Book Tasting: My Brother’s Keeper by Tim Powers

My Brother's Keeper by Tim Powers
My Brother's Keeper, Baen Books, copyright 2023, 301 pages as trade paperback, cover art by Eric Williams


About Book Tastings:
In a book tasting, we read only the opening 25 pages of a book. We’ll tell how the book begins and then say whether those pages inspired us to continue reading the book. A book tasting is not a book review; it doesn’t evaluate the entire book. (For more about Book Tastings, click here)


My Brother’s Keeper is a fictionalized book featuring English literature’s famous Brontë family in the village of Haworth in West Yorkshire, England.

The prologue takes place in the Brontë children’s past. A young teenage Branwell comes into the kitchen where he tells his younger sisters about his dream where he saw their dead older sister Maria at the crag called Ponden Kirk, which lies beyond the parsonage and into the moors. He then insists that his younger sisters Anne and Emily accompany him there that very day. At Ponden Kirk, the three do a ritual where they slice their hands with a knife and mix their blood on the rock. Branwell believes that act will bring back their dead sister Maria. But it doesn’t, so they go home to tell their older sister Charlotte about their adventure.

Chapter One begins years later with 27-year-old Emily feeling drawn to Ponden Kirk again. She takes her dog Keeper with her. There she finds a wounded man with a patch over one eye who reveals nothing about himself or his serious deadly wounds. Emily runs to the nearest neighbor for help, and a memory from seven years ago crosses her mind. A huge weird looking dog had bitten the back of her hand, leaving a strange scar. When Emily and her neighbors get back to Ponden Kirk, the wounded stranger has gone. But he left without his bloodied double-bladed knife that Emily decides to secretly pick up and put in her pocket.

Emily shows her siblings and father the knife when she returns home, telling them about her adventure. Mr. Brontë knows what the wounded man looked like before Emily could describe him. Branwell remembered the first time he saw a double-bladed knife, when he was coerced into participating in a weird “baptism.”

It was 10 years ago when Branwell was drunk and met a Reverend Farfleece who asked Branwell about the scar on the back of his hand. Branwell’s scar, just like Emily’s, was from the bite a large malformed dog. Rev. Farfleece tells Branwell he must go through a special baptism to protect himself from that evil dog-like creature. Branwell follows Farfleece to a church where he meets a woman holding the double-bladed knife, which Branwell knows must be part of this baptism. All this he keeps secret from his family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m intrigued with this alternate reality novel where Tim Powers pulls historical information about the Brontë family and then recreates storyline around those facts, taking it into a different genre altogether. My only issues with continuing this novel are twofold. First, within the first twenty-five pages the storyline jumps from one age of the characters to other ages, introducing backstory. Emily is around twelve and her brother is one year older. Then we read about Anne being 6, but wait, that was 4 years earlier, which makes her 10? Switch then to an older Emily, but then we read about when she was four years younger than that. Then something happened when Branwell was 18 but now Emily is 27. You get the picture.

The second issue is with Branwell. His character is one of idleness filled with social anxiety, where he worries a lot about what people think of him. His actions have the opposite effect from what he’d like, which makes him look foolish rather than in charge of his life. It’s tough to read his story.

Still, I’m enjoying this book, mostly the storyline that follows Emily. Tim Powers has a way with words that pulls me into the story and vividly lets me visualize in detail. I will continue reading this book, and I’m looking forward to reading about the different elements that might come forth in the next pages. The gothic looking cover art makes me think Tim Powers will enter the horror genre.

Powers usually writes science fiction and fantasy, so I expect more crazy plots and twists for the remaining pages with some weird fantastical or alternate reality elements.


Book Tasting post by Jackie Sachen Turner

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Fantastic Reviews Book Tasting :: The Basics

stack of books
Reading the opening 25 pages of a book can tell you a lot about a book. Those pages build the stage for a story. They usually contain something intended to catch your interest, or at least your attention. It’s enough pages to provide a good sample of the author’s writing. Often, they can tell you if the book is something that you’d like to read, or not.

Years ago, this blog featured something called “Battle of the Books.” It was sort of a March Madness competition bracket for 16 books. In the first round of our "Battle of the Books," the reviewer read the opening 25 pages of two books and then chose which of the books they most wanted to continue reading. It was sometimes like judging between apples and oranges. But we learned then that reading the starting 25 pages of a book can be surprisingly informative.

We're introducing a new feature on this blog called “Book Tasting” posts. These will be based on reading the first 25 pages of content of a book, which can include a prologue. We’ll write our personal opinions and thoughts about only those starting pages, without reading the back cover blurb which may give away details of the plot. We’ll ponder whether that small sample of the book sparked our interest in the book.

We acknowledge that a book is much more than its beginning 25 pages, so we can’t call a “book tasting” truly a book review. It takes more pages than that for a book to develop an interesting plot. Some excellent books start slowly. After reading only 25 pages, we’re unlikely to guess where a book will eventually take us.

A “Book Tasting” is a way for us to try out books that we have sitting unread on our to-be-read stacks and to share our first impressions of them.

Monday, May 05, 2025

Winner 2025 Philip K. Dick Award

The 2025 Philip K. Dick Award, for work published in 2024, was announced at Norwescon 47 on April 20, 2025, along with a special citation. The award is presented annually to a distinguished work of science fiction originally published in paperback form in the United States.

Time's Agent cover
   WINNER
   Time's Agent, Brenda Peynado (Tordotcom)

   with SPECIAL CITATION for
   Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US)

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Finalists for 2025 Hugo Awards for best novel, best novella, best novelette and best short story

Finalists for the 2025 Hugo Awards were announced in April 2025. The winners will be announced at Seattle Worldcon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, on August 16, 2025. Eligibility Year: 2024

NOVEL
Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US; Tor UK)
The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader; Sceptre)
Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom; Tor UK)
Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia UK)
A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscope UK)

NOVELLA
The Brides of High Hill, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom; Titan UK) Navigational Enganglements, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom) The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)
The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)
What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)

NOVELETTE
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video”, Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld May 2024)
“By Salt, by Sea, by Light of Stars”, Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons 9 Jun 2024)
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”, Naomi Kritzer (Asimov's Sep/Oct 2024)
“Lake of Souls”, Ann Leckie (Lake of Souls)
“Loneliness Universe”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny May/Jun 2024)
“Signs of Life”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Jul/Aug 2024)

SHORT STORY
“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus”, Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Jan 2024)
“Marginalia”, Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Jan/Feb 2024)
“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is”, Nghi Vo (Uncanny Jan/Feb 2024)
“Three Faces of a Beheading”, Arkady Martine (Uncanny May/Jun 2024)
“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed May 2024)
“Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole”, Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld Feb 2024)

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Finalists for 2025 Nebula Awards for novel, novella, novelette and short story

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced the finalists for the 60th Annual Nebula Awards. This year's awards recognises works published in 2024. The Nebula Awards will be presented in a ceremony on Saturday, June 7, 2025.

FINALISTS:

NOVEL
Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy)
Rakesfall, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
Asunder, Kerstin Hall (Tordotcom)
A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
The Book of Love, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra UK)
Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia UK)

NOVELLA
The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)
The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)
Lost Ark Dreaming, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Tordotcom)
Countess, Suzan Palumbo (ECW)
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)
The Dragonfly Gambit, A.D. Sui (Neon Hemlock)

NOVELETTE
"The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video", Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 5/24)
"Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka", Christine Hanolsy (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 4/18/24)
"Another Girl Under the Iron Bell", Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/24)
"What Any Dead Thing Wants", Aimee Ogden (Psychopomp 2/24)
"Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being", A.W. Prihandita (Clarkesworld 11/24)
"Joanna’s Bodies", Eugenia Triantafyllou (Psychopomp 7/1/24)
"Loneliness Universe", Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 5-6/24)

SHORT STORY
"The Witch Trap", Jennifer Hudak (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 9/24)
"Five Views of the Planet Tartarus", Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed 1/24)
"Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole", Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld 2/24)
"Evan: A Remainder", Jordan Kurella (Reactor 1/31/24)
"The V*mpire", PH Lee (Reactor 10/23/24)
"We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read", Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 5/24)

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Finalists for 2025 Philip K. Dick Award

Finalists for this year’s Philip K. Dick Award, for best original science fiction paperback published in the US in 2024, have been announced. Winners will be announced at Norwescon 47 on April 18, 2025, in SeaTac WA.

Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US)

City of Dancing Gargoyles, Tara Campbell (Santa Fe Writers Project)

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

Time's Agent, Brenda Peynado (Tordotcom)

Triangulum, Subodhana Wijeyeratne (Rosarium)

Your Utopia: Stories, Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur (Algonquin)

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

2024 Hugo Awards for best novel, best novella, best novelette and best short story

The 2024 Hugo Awards were presented at Glasgow 2024, The 82th World Science Fiction Convention, in Glasgow, Scotland on August 11, 2024

These are only a few of the many award categories, these are the written fiction categories for works published in the eligibilty year of 2023.


NOVEL
Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)

NOVELLA
Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)

NOVELETTE
"The Year Without Sunshine", Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Nov/Dec 2023)

SHORT STORY
"Better Living Through Algorithms", Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023)

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Winners of 2024 Nebula Awards for novel, novella, novelette and short story

The 2024 Nebula Awards were presented by The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) at the Westin Pasadena and online on Saturday, June 8, 2024



BEST NOVEL
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, published by Tordotcom

BEST NOVELLA
"Linghun" by Ai Jiang, published by Dark Matter Ink

BEST NOVELETTE
"The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer, published by Uncanny

BEST SHORT STORY
"Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200" by R. S. A. Garcia, published by Uncanny

Friday, April 05, 2024

Finalists for 2024 Hugo Awards for best novel, best novella, best novelette and best short story

Finalists for the 2024 Hugo Awards were announced in late March 2024. The winners will be announced at Glasgow 2024, the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, in August 2024.

NOVEL
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty, (Harper Voyager)
The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh, (Tordotcom, Orbit)
Starter Villain, John Scalzi (Tor, Tor UK)
Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

NOVELLA
"Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet", He Xi (Adventures in Space)
Mammoths at the Gate, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (Tordotcom)
Rose/House, Arkady Martine (Subterranean)
"Seeds of Mercury", Wang Jinkang (Adventures in Space)
Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)

NOVELETTE
I AM AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
"Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition", Gu Shi (Clarkesworld Feb 2023)
"Ivy, Angelica, Bay", C. L. Polk (Tor.com 8 Dec 2023)
"On the Fox Roads", Nghi Vo (Tor.com 31 Oct 2023)
"One Man's Treasure", Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Jan/Feb 2023)
"The Year Without Sunshine", Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Nov/Dec 2023)

SHORT STORY
"Answerless Journey", Han Song, (Adventures in Space)
"Better Living Through Algorithms", Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023)
"How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub", P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny Jan/Feb 2023)
"The Mausoleum's Children", Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny May/Jun 2023)
"The Sound of Children Screaming", Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare Oct 2023)
"Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times", Baoshu (Galaxy's Edge Vol.13)