I was on the verge recently of not having anything new to read. I had finished a couple of books which I was looked forward to, while waiting for others which weren’t released yet (or hadn’t made it to my neck of the woods). So, I looked around for a couple new series that I could start from authors whom I hadn’t read previously. This is how I stumbled across James Gardner’s League of People series and read the first book Expendable. Gardner has a setup a wonderful little universe where you can believe there is more going on than just the plot of the book. Let’s go check it out.
Posted in science fiction
Slow Apocalypse by John Varley
John Varley is always an interesting writer. His stories are very reminiscent of Heinlein and other Golden Age masters, but with a contemporary feel. So, I was looking forward to his latest novel, Slow Apocalypse. It starts in a way that is very similar to one of my favorite movies, Miracle Mile, in the slow buildup with one person knowing a disaster is coming and snowballing into madness. Unfortunately, after a good beginning, the book sort of peters out amid the humdrum details of life after the apocalypse. Let’s check out what happened.
Hell to Pay by Matthew Hughes
Matthew Hughes has an interesting take on the superhero story with his To Hell and Back series. He’s combined the superhero tale with an interesting take on religion (specifically Judeo-Christian religion) and made an compelling series. The series comes to a conclusion now with the latest book, Hell to Pay. It finished off Chesney’s journey, but it doesn’t stick the landing. And I’m left wishing for a better book. Let’s check it out.
Continuum Season 2 so far
The first season of Continuum was one of my favorite science fiction TV shows of the last few years. It melded a time travel story with a police procedural that didn’t lean too heavily on the bad guy of the week storyline. And the creators picked a wonderful way to end season 1 to shake things up for season 2. Having said that, I wasn’t thrilled with the first few episodes of season 2. It seemed like it was too disjointed and not really that interesting. That all changed with the latest episode, “Second Skin”. I finally feel like I’m in with season 2 and am excited for future episodes. Let’s see what’s happened so far. *SPOILERS AHEAD* for season 1 and the first few episodes of season 2.
Netflix Rewind: Dr Who: The 9th Doctor
With the recent introduction of Netflix into my household, I now am fully into the 2010s and have the ability to watch prior seasons of shows that, for whatever reason, I had missed in the past. I decided to start with Doctor Who: Series One(aka the Ninth Doctor). I only started watching Dr. Who series 5, so I had missed both the Ninth and Tenth Doctors (technically, since I hadn’ t watched the old series either I missed the first 10 Doctors). This looked like a good starting point and, while the season started off slow, the back half of the season made the whole season worthwhile. Let’s check it out.