I finished my sixth book of January this morning, the first book in my 12 + 4 Reading Group Challenge - my aim being to finish off a number of series this year. I will update that and also let you know the next book I'll be reading in that challenge. I'll also continue with my look at the Sci-Fi novel, this time looking at British author, John Brunner.
So I'll be right back and we'll get started.. 😏
Just Finished
"Time Quake by Linda Buckley-Archer is the third and final book in her Gideon trilogy. I read the first two books back in 2011ish so it took me a while to get back into the flow of this trilogy. The basic premise is that two young people Kate and Peter play with her father's anti-gravity machine and it is in fact a time travelling device. In this final chapter, Kate and Peter are stuck in London of 1793. 18th Century autocrat, Lord Luxon is using the device and is in present day New York, associating with a young historian and trying to discover a way of defeating George Washington to keep America in English hands. Kate's parents and friends are trying to devise a new machine to get Kate and Peter back to the present. Gideon, the Cut Purse, once their enemy is now helping the two try to find his brother, the Tar Man, as he has another machine, but works for Lord Luxon.
Phew, that's the briefest of incomplete summaries of this story. Kate is greatly affected by her various time travels. She is beginning to fade from existence and can only keep in her present by holding on to Peter. Whenever she lets go, she jumps forward in time losing track of herself. All of the time travelling also is causing time quakes, mixing up the various time frames of earth. Also parallel worlds are being created, which adds to the confusion.
So there you go. It's a very tense story and suitable finale to the events of the first two books. Things look very dire for the 'good' guys and Lord Luxon seems to have the upper hand and threatens to destroy the future (present?). I did enjoy this story but probably would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it sooner than later, and that's not the fault of the book, that's my fault. All in all, the three stories are well written, filled with action and neat ideas about time travel and peopled with great characters, both good and bad. Please check this book out, but read the first two before you do. (3.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"In the fifth novel in the John Madden mystery series, Inspector Madden is called upon to assist Scotland Yard on a notorious decade-old murder case.
On a hot summer day in 1938, a beautiful actress is murdered on the grand Kent estate of Sir Jack Jessup, close friend of the Prince of Wales. An instant headline in the papers, the confession of a local troublemaker swiftly brings the case to a close, but in 1949, the reappearance of a jade necklace raises questions about the murder. Was the man convicted and executed the decade before truly guilty, or had he wrongly been sent to the gallows?
Inspector Madden is summoned out of retirement at the request of former Chief Inspector Angus Sinclair to re-open the case at Scotland Yard. Set in the aftermath of World War II, The Death of Kings is an atmospheric and captivating police procedural, and is a story of honor and justice that takes Madden through the idyllic English countryside, post-war streets of London, and into the criminal underworld of the Chinese Triads."
The Science Fiction Novel - John Brunner
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| John Brunner |
Brunner wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at the age of 17, published under the name Gill Hunt. He did not start writing full-time until after his military service, 1953 - 1955. Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers who thought his stories were too American in style and setting. Before his death most of his books had fallen out of print.
After writing his first space opera style Sci-Fi story, Brunner began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel, Stand on Zanzibar, is a case in point as it can be read in various ways (see my later comments). Some of his novels dealt with nuclear proliferation and others ecological disaster. Brunner is credited with coming up with the term 'worm' and predicting computer viruses.
Over his life, John Brunner published 50+ Science Fiction / Fantasy novels. He also wrote in other genres. I have read 7 of his novels and have another on my book shelf to read. I'll take a look at some of my favorites and also provide the synopsis for the one TBR book.
Synopsis - "Donald Hogan was a mild-mannered student, a dilettante intellectual, at least that's what everyone was supposed to think he was.
But Donald knew otherwise.
He knew he was a spy.
But what Donald didn't know was that in a world overpopulated by the billions - in a society squeezed into hive-living madness by megabrain computers, mass-marketed psychedelics, and eugenics - where everyone was struggling for life …. he himself was programmed for death." (5 stars)
"Garbageman / Savior
He rejoiced at the sight of flies in a world where everything was dying out...
He had six hundred thousand dollars in the bank, but worked as a garbageman, and lived in a slum tenement in the heart of a dying city...
He had started a movement that could save the Earth... but was forced to go into hiding to save his own life!" (3 stars)
"One man has made it his mission to liberate the mental prisoners. to restore their freedom in a world run mad.
Nickie Halflinger, the only person to escape from Tarnover- where they raise hyper-intelligent children to maintain the political dominance of the USA in the 21st century – is on the run, dodging from loophole to crevice to crack in the computerised data-net that binds the continent like chains.
After years of flight and constant changes of identity, at the strange small town called Precipice he discovers he is not alone in his quest. But can his new allies save him when he falls again into the sinister grasp of Tarnover...? (3 stars)
"I've enjoyed many of John Brunner's science fiction stories. Stand on Zanzibar stands as one of my favourites of all time and is a true classic of the genre. The Super Barbarians was published in 1962 and comes relatively early in his writing career. It's an entertaining, eminently readable story about Earth fighting to overthrow the Vorra, an alien race that defeated them many years ago in a space battle.
Gareth Snow is an Earthman, living on Qualavarra, serving as a major domo of sorts in the household of one of the powerful families on the planet. He also has a secret embedded in his memory that makes him a powerful enemy and a hope of Earth in their planned uprising against the Vorra. On Qualavarra is an area known as The Acre, where Earthlings are allowed to live in relative freedom. The meeting of Snow and the leaders of the city brings about the events that will commence this uprising.
I think I'll leave the story at that as it is a relatively short, but action packed and quick moving tale. I enjoyed my further reading into John Brunner's writing and found the story to be a pleasure to read. It reminds me of many of the stories I read as a teenager when I could delve into another world, another adventure that held my attention and let me enjoy these great imaginations as they create new worlds, new peoples, new adventures. (3.5 stars)"
5. Players at the Game of People (1980).
"War hero, jet-setter, gourmet - Godwin Harpinshield was all of those and more; his life was a game played among the Beautiful People whose fame, wealth and power set them above the law, and beyond the laws of nature. Because of a simple bargain that all the Beautiful People made, Godwin's every desire was his for the asking. Seduced by luxury, Godwin never doubted his fortune, never wondered about his mysterious patrons.
Then the game turned ugly.
Suddenly, the ante was raised and the game was real. The stakes were his future, his sanity and, possibly, his very soul. All Godwin Harpinshield had to discover was: What were the rules of the game? And who - or what - were the other players?"
So there you go, a few of Brunner's works for your consideration. The complete list of Brunner's works are available at this link.
Have a great weekend!
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