Stephen R. Donaldson, Roger Zelazny, & L. Frank Baum

Today, Love All Books has a lengthy post for you.

For starters, we have belated birthday wishes to authors Stephen R. Donaldson (Wikipedia) and Roger Zelazny (who share May 13^th birthdays) and some guy named L. Frank Baum (born May 15^th).

So, where've I been the last few days?

Downtime.

My JavaScript class (AKA: Internet Programming - Client Side) at Saint Paul College is finished. Stick a fork in me—I'm done!

Now I pass the time waiting for the results of my final exam and the final projects by getting caught up with all the things I've ignored around the house for the last week or so.

So, on to our birthday celebrants . . . .

Stephen R. Donaldson is the author of a magnificent series of books known as The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. How anyone could make such a disagreeable excuse for a human being into a hero is quite truly amazing.

He also wrote The Gap Cycle and Mordant's Need series.

Roger Zelazny was the Hugo Award winning (six times) and Nebula Award winning (only three times) author of too many excellent books to name, but my favorites must be the Chronicles of Amber series.

L. Frank Baum is, of course, the well-known author of fourteen Oz books and a ton of other non-Oz books.

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Barry B. Longyear

Today, Love All Books wishes the happiest of birthdays to author Barry B. Longyear (Wikipedia).

Barry B. Longyear is the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Award winning author of Enemy Mine (later made into a movie starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr.)

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Gene Wolfe

Today, Love All Books wishes the happiest of birthdays to science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe.

Gene Wolfe is the Nebula, World Fantasy, John W. Campbell Memorial, and Locus award winning author of many great books.

His Soldier of the Mist has long been one of my favorite books. It is the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary that—as the result of a head injury in battle in ancient Greece—forgets everything while he's sleeping, and how he copes with awakening with amnesia each day.

(Think 50 First Dates, just set in ancient times—oh, and not so funny!)

Wolfe is also the author of the extremely popular The Book of the New Sun series.

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E. E. "Doc" Smith

Today, Love All Books wishes the happiest of birthdays to ground-breaking science fiction author E. E. "Doc" Smith.

E. E. "Doc" Smith is the author of Lensman and the Skylark series.

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Larry Niven

Today, Love All Books is, once again, a day late and a dollar short celebrating a birthday, this time the birth of science fiction and fantasy golaith Larry Niven.

Larry Niven is the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula award winning author of countless excellent books.

He is perhaps best known for Ringworld—the book that is quite possibly the jewel in the crown of his Known Space series.

In addition, he has written a number of fine books with Jerry Pournelle (I can personally—and quite strongly—recommend Inferno, Lucifer's Hammer, and Oath of Fealty) and with Steven Barnes (I greatly enjoyed Dream Park). He's also written with a number of other authors (books that I haven't gotten to yet, but I'm willing to bet they are fantastic.)

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Jack Williamson

Today, Love All Books remembers birthday of the author Wikipedia reports is considered by many the "Dean of Science Fiction": Jack Williamson.

Jack Williamson is the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of the Legion of Space Series, the Humanoids Series, the Undersea Trilogy, the Starchild Trilogy (with Frederik Pohl), and many other books.

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Lloyd Biggle Jr.

Today, Love All Books extends birthday wishes to science fiction and mystery author Lloyd Biggle Jr.

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Rudy Rucker: Software [Rating: 6]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have had Rudy Rucker's book Software on my bookshelf forever.

Well shortly after writing that post I pulled it down from there, dusted it off, and read it (I just finished).

The book takes place in the year 2020, and the main character is a retired computer scientist named Cobb Anderson. At the beginning of the book, Cobb is in dread of his "second-hand" heart giving out (and with good reason: he cannot afford another). Then a robot double contacts him with a plan to get him to the Moon, where he will be given immortality—the robot community's "thank you" from enabling them to evolve freewill.

Along the way Cobb pairs up with a young druggie—who has legally changed his name from Stanley Hilary Mooney to Sta-Hi Mooney—and gets him to accompany him to the moon. There the duo find themselves in the midst of a robotic civil war that threatens to seriously affect humanity.

All in all, I'd have to say it was an enjoyable read, but there were parts of it I thought could be better. The ending in particular left a bit to be desired, to the point that if I didn't already have the next book—Wetware—on order I would probably not read it.

On the other hand, what disappointed me about the ending simply might be prelude to some really good stuff, so I am willing to give Wetware a chance.

For some enjoyable reading of a binary kind, take a look at Rudy Rucker's blog sometime!

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Samuel R. Delany & Anne McCaffrey

Today, Love All Books wishes a very happy birthday to a couple of greats among the science fiction field: Samuel R. Delany and Anne McCaffrey.

Samuel R. Delany is the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of Babel-17, The Einstein Intersection, and Driftglass, all of which have graced my bookshelves for many a year.

Anne McCaffrey is likewise a Hugo and Nebula award winning author, perhaps best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, or maybe her The Ship series, or maybe The Crystal Singer series, or perhaps—oh, nevermind, you get the idea!

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Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Today Love All Books wishes a very happy birthday to Jacqueline Lichtenberg, a magnificent science fiction author who created the Sime-Gen Universe and author of Star Trek Lives!.

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Three Genre Authors

Today Love All Books wishes a happy birthday to not one, not two, but three genre authors: James Patterson, Rudy Rucker, and Louis L'Amour.

If you like mysteries, then you don't need me to tell you who James Patterson is!

From his Women's Murder Club (one of Julie's favorites) to his Alex Cross novels (two of which—Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider—have been made into movies), this guy cranks out bestsellers like you wouldn't believe.

I'm ashamed to admit that I have had science fiction author Rudy Rucker's book Wetware Software on my bookshelf since it first came out—almost twenty about twenty-five years ago already—and still haven't gotten around to reading it. [3/25/2007 edit: about the strikeouts I just added, I went looking for Wetware to put it on my pile of what to read next and discovered that I had mispoke—it is Software that I've had forever! I guess I just loved the title of Wetware so much, and the interesting images it conjures up for me, that I just substituted that in my wetware!]

However, after finding his blog—and just reading a tiny bit of it—I see this guy is very cool, and I'm going to elevate his books much further to the top of the heap (and to remind myself, I just tagged this post To Be Read).

Finally, if westerns are your thing, then Louis L'Amour is a name that also requires no introduction.

In fact, I'd hazard a guess that even if westerns truly aren't your thing—as they are not mine—you have heard of this giant in the publishing field or, at the very least, some of his works.

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Pamela Sargent

Today's birthday wishes go out to Nebula Award winning science fiction author, Pamela Sargent.

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William Gibson

Today's birthday greetings go out to one of the originals of the "cyberpunk" subgenre of science fiction: William Gibson.

I think that the first two-thirds of his Sprawl Trilogy—which is, sadly, all I have read so far—was some of the most exciting and talked about science fiction that was happening in the mid-eighties.

It is a no-brainer why the first novel in the series (Neuromancer) is the first novel to win the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick Award.

Given the caliber of his work, I really should be reading more of it, and promise that by the end of the year you'll be seeing reviews of his books here.

I mean, hey, how can you not like a guy quoted as saying something as witty as "The future is already here. It's just not widely distributed yet"?

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Happy Birthday, Harry Harrison

Today's birthday wishes go out to a truly outstanding science fiction author: Harry Harrison.

Harry Harrison is the voice behind a number of noteworthy series (such as the Deathworld trilogy, the Stainless Steel Rat series, the Eden series, and so on).

He also won the 1973 Nebula Award for Best Script for the movie Soylent Green (which was based on his 1966 novella of social commentary, Make Room! Make Room!).

If for no other reason, Soylent Green should be part of everyone's cultural education for its memorable (and often satirized) last line!

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Happy Birthday, Mike Resnick

Today is Mike Resnick's birthday.

I can't believe I've never, to my knowledge, read anything by him. I've got tons of science fiction on my bookshelves, but apparently nothing by him.

This, in itself, is only mildly surprising. Add in that the man has won not one, not two, but five Hugo awards, and it becomes a minor crime.

The situation is elevated, and I mean more than a little bit, to a "sin against humanity" when I realize that two of these Hugos were won when I was a single man (a phrase which here means "back when I was reading more SF than any other kind of book!")

Sins against humanity? Good thing I write this blog under a pseudonym! (What? You thought Techsplorer was my real name?)

All I can say to absolve myself is that the next time I'm wondering what to read next, I know who I'll be reading! (I just counted his Hugo nominations at his Wikipedia entry—he has been nominated an unbelievable 28 times.)

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WWdN:ix (Oct 10, "on the occasion of star trek's fortieth anniversary, some belated comments") [From my "Famous Blogs" blog]

I was ten when ST:TOS (Star Trek: The Original Series) ran. Supposedly, you carry "the way the world looks to you when you're ten" away with you (for the rest of your life) as the way the world should look. Well, ST:TOS was, for me, the way television was supposed to look: striving to entertain, yet making you think at the same time. Shows have come a long way since then, but still too many of them don't even make the effort in this regard.

I just read Wil's October 10th offering, and thoroughly enjoyed it. This boy can really write well, something I haven't mentioned here before in so many words (and a terrible oversight that is, too!)

I enjoyed the way he wrapped up the post, but for me this quote really hit home:

As Battlestar Galactica shows us today, science fiction has a long tradition of holding up a mirror to our modern world, and reflecting it back to us in a way that doesn't beat us over the head with a message, but makes that message easy enough to find for those who want to see it. In the 1960s, Star Trek did this better than any other show except maybe the Twilight Zone, and it did it during an incredibly turbulent time when it was risky even acknowledge that mirror existed, much less hold it up. For that, alone, it deserves all the attention and accolade its been given in the last forty years.

If you're not reading WWdN:ix yet, you ought to give it a go.

Oh yeah, I will say this about the "in a way that doesn't beat us over the head with a message" part of the post—obviously, Wil can't be talking about Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.

Oh, and it's election day. So if you haven't voted yet, let me urge you to do that first, then go read WWdN:ix; I'd have you do it the other way around, but I'm afraid (1) you'll get sucked in and not get around to voting at all, and (2) that I'll get accused of trying to influence you to vote a certain way—which is not the case at all . . . you get to make your own mistakes!

Filed in: MyBlogs Famous.Blogs Famous-Blogs Famous_Blogs FamousBlogs WWdN:ix WWdN WWdN.ix StarTrek Star.Trek Star-Trek

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