Howling Frog Books

Yep, she's good with an axe. Black Amazon of Mars, by Leigh Brackett Leigh Brackett was apparently a fairly big name in the pulp SF magazines; in fact she was called the Queen of Space Opera!  She wrote a whole lot of short stories and novellas, plus some screenplays (she helped with Empire Strikes Back just before her death).  One of her planetary-conquest series was about Eric John Stark (formerly N'Chaka of Mercury), a human man who is really something of a barbarian.  I was strongly reminded of Conan or Tarzan, only on Mars. Stark is traveling with a friend to the fortified border city of Kushat, but the friend dies on the way, entrusting Stark with a relic that is supposed to protect the city.  Stark tries to return it, but first the barbarian hordes capture him!  After an interview with a mysterious masked black-clad warlord and some torture, he escapes and reaches Kushat, warning the city that invasion is imminent.  Lord Ciaran wants the ci...

Time and Again , by Clifford D. Simak This book has been on our SF shelf for I don't even know how long, but I'd never gotten around to reading it, though I like Simak just fine.  It turned out to be quite fun, although I saw the end coming from a mile away.  Simak's books aren't huge or terribly complex; they're more like YA science fiction, relatively short and easy to digest. 6,000 years in the future, mankind is spreading through the galaxy, but very thinly.  The population of humans does not seem large at all.  Instead, they swell their ranks with robots and androids--chemically-grown, human DNA, in all ways identical to human beings except that they are sterile.  Androids do most of the work and fill a lot of bureaucratic offices, but they are slaves.  And now, Asher Sutton has come back, 20 years after he disappeared, to find himself a target for assassination so that he won't produce the book he plans to write.  He is chased through time ...

Voyage to Arcturus , by David Lindsay It doesn't get much more Vintage SF than this--Lindsay published this weird novel in 1920.  It made a splash at the time; lots of people like Tolkien thought it was great stuff, and it was a large influence on C. S. Lewis, who was inspired to write his Space Trilogy. Maskull is looking for adventure, and he teams up with two shady characters--Krag and Nightspore--who promise to take him to a different planet.  He ends up alone on Tormance, a planet orbiting the double star of Arcturus.*  He finds that he has grown some new organs on his neck, forehead, and chest, and these change throughout the story.  Maskull travels over Tormance, meeting one or two new people in every area.  Each new land is the expression of a philosophy, such as stoicism or Nietzschean will to power or pacifism.  Maskull disrupts most of these places; despite his intentions to purify himself inspired by the peaceful people he first meets, he ...

My Childhood, by Maxim Gorky I've always meant to read Gorky's autobiographical trilogy.  I have all three, and I did read My Childhood once years and years ago, but I stopped there and had forgotten all.  So one goal of mine this year is to read all three. Maxim Gorky's real name was Alexei Maximovich Peshkov.  He called himself Maxim after his father, and gorky means bitter , which he was.  Born in 1868, he had a lifelong concern for the plight of the Russian working class poor.  He got into Marxism, but he also founded a socialist publication that attacked Kerensky and Lenin (while living outside Russia; he spent time in the US and Europe).  Upon returning to Russia in 1928, he became an enthusiastic Soviet, and died in 1936--rumor had it that he was poisoned by political enemies. My Childhood starts at age 5, at the death of little Alexei's father.  His mother goes home to her parents, but spends less and less time there, until she kind of...

I LOVE this cover.  SO awesome. Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech?  by Mick Hume It's a book on free speech issues, so you know I've got to read it, but this time it's by a British guy!  Mick Hume is the editor of Spiked, writes newspaper columns, and is a Marxist which I don't really get but OK.  The back cover says he "was described as Britain's only libertarian Marxist newspaper columnist" so that makes it really confusing.  And here is his free speech opinion. It's kind of a screed and definitely a polemic.  Hume is not happy and he's going to let you know it.  It gets a bit repetitive at times.  And, even from my "free speech is pretty much a religious tenet with me" perspective, I think he goes a bit too far.  I agreed with a lot of it, though, and there's some great analysis in there.  It's very worth reading; not as necessary as Kindly Inquisitors (I'd like every citizen to...

Roadside Picnic , by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky I first read this book a few years ago when Ekaterina recommended it on her blog. But the edition I read was the old translation from the 70's, and I wanted to read the newer translation from a couple of years ago. It said it fixed some errors and put in more material, and it also had an afterword explaining the history of the novel's publication in Russia (which is pretty fascinating all on its own). Red Schuhart is your average schmo. He's a stalker-- he ventures into the Zone to retrieve artifacts. It's a very dangerous occupation; the Zone is an area filled with random alien objects. There are five of them on the earth,  rather as though somebody had thrown some trash out of the car window on their way to somewhere else. The purposes of the different artifacts are unknown, and they are often extremely dangerous. Those who venture into the Zone and survive are somehow changed; their children are not quite human. ...

The Story of Layla and Majnun , by Nizami Layla and Majnun is one of the world's great love stories, akin to Romeo and Juliet or...Aeneas and Dido, maybe.  The story dates from around the 7th century AD, and various versions of it were floating around until Nizami, a Persian poet, collected and shaped the material into one long marrative poem in 1188.  After that, the story's popularity spread across a couple of continents and is still influential today.  The introduction in my copy speculates that the lovers may have been real people who became legendary. Layla and Qays know each other from childhood; both are Bedouin, though belonging to different tribes.  They fall in love as children, but when they grow older and Layla's parents realize that she is already attracting boys, they keep her sequestered in the family tent.  Layla, imprisoned, must act as though all is well.  Qays, however, starts reciting poetry in public and acting like a madman, whi...

the cover of my dopey copy Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein Here's a Vintage Sci-Fi month title that really took me a while to get around to.  I've had it for a year, but I'm not big on military SF so it was hard to get started. Starship Troopers turns out to have almost identically the same plot as Space Cadet did, except that it's for an older audience and plays with a different political system. Here, we have Juan Rico, a wealthy young son of industry who decides, almost on a whim, to enlist in the military after graduating from high school. This is a couple hundred years in the future--humanity has spread out to many planets--and only veterans are allowed to vote and be full citizens. Anyone can serve a term in the military; they will find a job for you no matter what your capabilities are, but only a fairly small percentage of the population joins up to serve the two-year term. Juan joins up during peacetime, but humanity soon finds itself in a war ...

The Kojiki: an Account of Ancient Matters, by Ō no Yasumaro Here we have Japan's earliest chronicle, giving the descent of the Yamato dynasty.  It dates from the 8th century, and was written by a courtier at the request of the Empress Gemmei.   The chronicle is in three parts, and roughly they are myth, legend, and history.  The first section deals with the creation of the world and with kami --translated here as 'spirits.'  These are the stories that became part of the Shinto religion.  (It's very much like Hesiod's Theogony , being a genealogy of divinities.)  The story of Amaterasu is found here, and the ancient beginnings of the Yamato line. The second, legendary part sounds a lot like the first, except that we've mostly moved into the world of people by now.  It becomes a kingship chronicle, with interesting legends attached.  These kings, however, are too far back to be able to confirm much about their existence.  And the thi...

The Umbrella Man and Other Stories, by Roald Dahl Thirteen short stories by Roald Dahl--you can't go much wrong with that.  One or two of these were stories that I recognized from having read them many years ago, but most were new to me.  Several were creepy as all get-out, others were funny in that signature Dahl fashion, and one was a memoir piece from the war.  A few have O. Henry style twist endings.  All are great stuff and it's a wonderful collection that made for a happy few evenings.

Cromartie v. the God Shiva Acting Through the Government of India , by Rumer Godden You might call this a quirky little novel.  It's rather nice and I liked it, but it's pretty odd.  It's inspired by an actual event that occurred in 1988, but the details of the novel are not like the event; just the headline was the inspiration. An exquisite 11th-century nataraja has gone missing; it was replaced by a modern copy.  The real thing surfaced in Canada, where the antique dealer Mr. Cromartie insists he bought it fair and square.  The government of India is unconvinced, and Cromartie brings a suit to prove his case.  Young Matthew Dean, QC, heads off to India to investigate and act on behalf of the Indian government.  He meets all these different very nice people who love the Shiva statue but do not want him poking around to find out what happened. A nataraja--dancing Shiva The ending was very unexpected for me, and the novel was pretty good. ...

Daphnis and Chloe , by Longus Longus was a Greek, living under the Roman Empire sometime in the second or third centuries AD.  Virtually nothing else is known of him, but he might have been from Lesbos, where he sets his story.  This is an early Greek romance, a sentimental little story written for amusement and even as a sort of cheer-up therapy for the melancholy, and the very archetype of a pastoral. Daphnis is 15 and Chloe 13, and they are island shepherds.  Every day, they care for their flocks, pray to the local nymphs, and play music.  They fall in love, but are too innocent to know what love is, so they are just kind of tormented.  The story is sprinkled with dramatic incidents; Daphnis is captured by pirates (and saved by divine intervention), Chloe is captured by a different set of bad guys and saved, a terrible winter separates the two, and finally the shepherds' wealthy master arrives and it is time for all to be revealed and the happy ending. ...

Rose City Reader hosts the Book Beginnings meme.  Here's my latest book: At Or ș ova, there was the Danube again. It was nearly a mile broad now, but immediately west it swirled and boiled through the narrow mountain defile of the Kazan - the Cauldron - which is only 162 yards across. Since I had turned my back on it at Budapest, this insatiable river had gorged itself with the Sava, the Drava, the Tisza, the Maros and the Morava, and a score of lesser-known tributaries. A little way downstream from Or ș ova, in the middle of the river, the small island of Ada Kaleh divided the current. Plumed with poplars and mulberries, the line of the wooden roofs was suddenly broken by a shallow dome and a minaret. This is from The Broken Road , by Patrick Leigh Fermor.  It's the third in his memoir trilogy about his walking tour across Europe in 1933/34.  At this point, he's entering Bulgaria and will spend the book there, in Romania, and in Greece.  The book is unfin...

I know that you, my adoring public, are all wondering how I did on the radio.  I did fine.  The interviewer is amazingly good at what she does, and we had some nice conversation.  I'll post the link when it airs in a couple of weeks, though it turned out to be about librarianing, not blogging.  No matter, it was all about books. :) And now let us get down to some business!  For Vintage SF Month, I read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin.   I found it sitting on a random bookshelf; I was unaware that I owned it, but obviously at some point I meant to read it.  I never got into LeGuin when I was younger, though just about all my other favorite fantasy/SF writers talked about her a lot.  I've only read one other of her books.  So probably everyone else has read this but me... Genly Ai is an Envoy, an ambassador to the planet of Gethen from the rest of the galaxy.  The Ekumen, a multi-planet association to encourage trade and...

I have six books to write up for you, but instead tonight I am studying my own blog.  I have homework!  I need to prepare, because tomorrow I'm being interviewed for a local radio show about books, and I'm supposed to talk about my reading and my blog.  I am a bit nervous!  Wish me luck.

Let's peek into my current vintage SF title, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic :   AN EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH DR VALENTINE PILLMAN BY A CORRESPONDENT FROM HARMONT RADIO, AFTER THE FORMER RECEIVED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS. INTERVIEWER: … I suppose that your first important discovery, Dr Pillman, was the celebrated Pillman radiant? DR. PILLMAN: I wouldn’t say so. The Pillman radiant wasn’t my first discovery, it wasn’t important, and, strictly speaking, it wasn’t a discovery. It’s not entirely mine either. Roadside Picnic is a great SF novel, originally published in the Soviet Union in 1972.  It has cult status and inspired a movie, the series of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video games, and the slightly foolhardy Russian pastime of sneaking into abandoned buildings to take pictures. The story is about Red, an average schmo who works as a stalker--he sneaks into the cordoned-off Zone to retrieve alien artifacts.  The Zone is extremely dangerous, but stuffed f...

Brit-Think, Ameri-Think: A Transatlantic Survival Guide, by Jane Walmsley Jane Walmsley is an American who moved to the UK in the 70s and married a British person there.  As such, she is well-placed to write this little book that pokes fun at the cultural differences between the US and the UK, and which purports to explain us to each other.  It probably does no such thing, but it's fun to read. What both sides really fail to understand are the basics--the cultural themes, the habits of mind which determine the way the other guys behave.  In order that I may never again have to explain why Brits form orderly queues, or why Yanks insist that you 'have a nice day' whether you want one or not, I have written Brit-think, Ameri-think. There are the usual sections on food, TV, children, homes, and so on.  It's all fun and lighthearted, and since my edition dates from 2003, a bit outdated.  The world has changed quickly!

The Symmetry Teacher , by Andrei Bitov I'd been looking forward to this book for some time, but I wanted to save it for December for Fanda's reading challenge.  I just barely finished this in 2015, so it counts, but I failed the challenge anyway.  Bitov's novel is supposedly his foggy recollection of a book of stories written in a language he didn't really understand too well at the time, but which he translated into a notebook that he then lost.  Here, he recreates the stories, giving them new titles.  The original book was called The Teacher of Symmetry, and the author is forgotten (or may have been one A. Tired-Boffin).  This set-up is what hooked me; I can't resist that kind of thing. The protagonist is Urbino Vanoski, who might be dead.  The chapters don't necessarily connect up, though sometimes they do.  It's all very surreal and chaotic, and the point is unclear, but the journey is enjoyable.  I'll read it again sometime, and I plan...

Space Cadet, by Robert Heinlein Well, it's about time I started telling you about some of the books I've been reading, because I've been reading quite a bit!  Let's kick off the year with my first vintage SF title for Little Red Reviewer's event.  It's from 1948 and must have thrilled many a kid with dreams of going to space. Matt (from Des Moines) arrives for the Space Patrol entrance exams.  He wants nothing more than a career in space!  It's 2075 and there are human settlements all over the solar system, so he befriends  boys born on Ganymede and Venus.  Being a cadet is extremely hard work and Matt has difficulty with some of the advanced math courses; he even thinks about leaving.  His friends are stock school-story characters: the troublemaker best friend, the quiet buddy with unsuspected talents, the spoiled brat nemesis. Halfway through the story, Matt shifts to being a cadet on a working ship.  He helps out with an asteroid fie...

Gillion at the Rose City Reader blog (home of the European Reading Challenge, which I enjoyed in 2014) has a weekly event on Fridays where you post the first line of your current book and something about it.  I figure I'll try to keep up, but notice--I'm already late. Yesterday I started a book from my TBR pile!  It's Rumer Godden's novel, Cromartie v. the God Shiva Acting Through the Government of India. "Cromartie versus the God Shiva.  No, thank you," said Sir George.  "Walter, I really don't think I can take this case."  A priceless 11th century Shiva statue has gone missing and turned up in the hands of an antique dealer, who insists he got it fair and square.  Young Michael Dean, QC, is taking the case on behalf of the Indian government, and that's as far as I've gotten.  It looks to be a nice little novel though, and I'm looking forward to the rest.