Ray

Kevin Crossley-Holland writes. No really writes. I'm not a one for whether something is “literature” or not. For me does it “read” do I enjoy it, perhaps it fires or engages something in me, imagination, intellect, heart or soul and I find a place for it in my memory and enters a special category. I have yet to read something of his that hasn't hammered on the door to my memory palace.
His prose he gears for the form of his stories. Here telling tales from antiquity, British folk tales, in origin which would have been oral and handed down in oral forms, he tries to invoke the spirit of that oral telling. Does it work. Depends on the ear of the reader and a reverence for the attempt. Like the writings of Alan Garner one “takes” to them or not I suspect.

“One story has haunted me all my life: that of the two green children discovered at Woolpit in Suffolk at the end of the 12th century. I've revisited it several times and, in the version published by OUP, told the story from the viewpoint of the green girl. The way in which one retells a tale is of course crucial, and I have subsequently retold several tales as monologues. These are gathered in Outsiders (Orion), and in this book ‘Sea Tongue' is a kind of sound-story, a fractured narrative spoken by all the different elements in the tale.”

These tales have the theme of the Outsider and are taken I think from an earlier collection of his simply entitled British Folktales.

https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/46-locus-award
“Popular Award voted on by readers of the leading sf news magazine (or Newszine) Locus and presented annually since 1971. Each year's Locus awards normally honour work first published in the previous year. Thanks to their exceptionally wide reader base, these sf awards have come to share the stature of the Hugos (which reflect the preferences of fans and professionals who attend the annual Worldcon) and the Nebulas (which reflect the professional judgment but also sometimes the internal politics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). Where the Hugo and Locus awards differ, it is often thought that the Locus assessment is the more accurate reflection of general reading tastes. The Locus Award is not only good for vanity and sales: it has taken a very attractive form in perspex and metal.”
Here the editors provide their choice of Locus readers' choice for “best of” for 33 years between 1971 and 2003. Possibly the major years when I read mountains of SF and Fantasy, and certainly geek enough to read Locus regularly. I didn't read “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” where many of these stories first appeared. So whilst I read them first here their authors are well known to me, any one is well worth the cost of admission. Short Story, novella, novelette; slight balance in favour of the short story for obvious reasons, 18 in total out of 92. Plenty of room for a volume 2.
I wouldn't have opened with Gene Wolfe, excellent writer that he is, he can be more of an acquired taste, and this piece I found difficult. But can't complain when it's then straight into Le Guin, Ellison, Varley and then Martin. For a survey of the era and its writers, this is a worthwhile anthology particularly if the reader didn't live through it.
Enjoyed it so much may put an in-depth review on my review blog.

Started this with some enthusiasm which sadly wained. Subject area exciting and should have me entranced. Perhaps I'm being very unkind, in that it felt to me like an enlarged Wikipedia article, a collection of fact after fact with humor to leaven the fact... that it was boring. The humor felt forced something inserted to an editorial plan rather than flowing from and with the text. But I did learn so it served a purpose. It was a helicopter view so that's the level I learned at, a sense of landscape with little detail as if each technology was represented by one or two “selfies”. This is probably fine if you know little about the directions of modern science but if you read a science magazine like New Scientist now and then and particularly its excellent collections series, or listen to the many podcasts available, there really is little here for you

Reading this for me was time traveling. A collection published in 1999 of revisits to worlds originally imagined from 1966 to 1998. The original worlds, where I did visit them, where around the year of publication, so everyone was fresh to me at the time and my reaction was time bound or time reflective. I am not now who I was then. Having said that I found my responses to these re-visits to old landscapes interesting.
Le Guin's “Ecumen” is like visiting a different part of a continent, through a tale from an out of the way region that adds some illumination to the whole.
Haldeman “Forever war” read this serialized in Analog before its publication in 1974. Not the same I think as the final print version, which causes me to think worth a re-read particularly as I enjoyed this side story with its happy ever after ending, which I suspect suggesting the sequels are worth a read worth a read.

Orsen Scot Card “Ender” Again read Enders Game as a short story in Analog 1977. Fun space opera, nice moralizing twist. Read the book when published years later and each sequel as published. [Enders Game 1985, Speaker for the dead 1986, Xenocide 1991, Children of the Mind 1996. Why I kept with the series was the development of Ender as a character and the plot development and the fact that Card is a good writer. Have to add I oppose just about everything he stands for in real life so that I like is writing is a surprise to me. The universe is huge with parallel stories of Bean and others [Shadow series which I've also read]. This short story fits in the chronology nicely, simple sweet plot, but Jane does appear like magic which is a bit flimsy.

David Brin “Uplift Universe” The 80's was the Brin decade for me. Read everything I could get my hands on. Uplift series was stellar! I'm still waiting for more and this the last published story was supposed to herald another novel and 1 suspect there are enough plot ideas for a trilogy.

Robert Silverberg “Roma Eterna”. Never read any of this series although Silverberg is an undoubted SF master. An alternative history. This novella reads Ok, pleasant enough and intriguing
if one knows enough history to make links. But not enough to compel me to want to read anymore.
Why as editor he added this is a mystery to me, suspect he had it hanging around as opposed to writing it specifically for this compilation.

Dan Simmons “Hyperion”. Started this but truth to tell I don't remember finishing it. Enjoyed the novella here, in and of itself. Nothing to tempt me back to the series. Some authors just don't work for me theme-wise. possibly its the underlying potential for horror his writing has but is absent here.

Nancy Kress “Sleepless” Read “Beggers in Spain” as a novella in a “Best of” Hugo or Nebula Awards. Enjoyed was Ok, interesting ideas but I never followed up. The synopsis before “sleeping Dogs” interests me and I may make a point of going back to read. Otherwise this again was just an Ok story.

Frederik Pohl “Heechee” Read as they were published. First two excellent but tailed off “Boy” a return to the writing strength of Gateway.

Gregory Benford “Galactic Center” Like Brin an essential 80's read. This novella adds to the understanding of the “Mantis” as a key plot character and allows for some speculation on what it means to be human.

Anne McCaffrey “The Ship” A YA author at best and she often is. Never read this series other than the original short story in an anthology I think. Nice story.

Greg Bear “Way” I like Bear but he often leaves me behind trying to understand the background plot. Remember struggling through Eon and Eternity and only retain a basic memory of the story. Playing with time will do that to one. This novella may draw me back to a re-read.

Overall an essential anthology for me and perhaps a gateway for those new to the genre to pick up a taste for some of the great SF of the recent past.

Enjoyed the read. I would expect no less from a writer of Asimov's caliber. I know it would have rocked my socks off had I read it 25 years ago. His analysis of what we faced then was accurate. His extrapolations into the future credible. If his voice had been listened to back in the 1980's we would probably be in a better condition than we are. He couldn't be expected to have foreseen the detail but he nailed most of the driving forces that have cumulated in the ecological crisis we face. It's value now is in the clear exposition he had advancing an understanding of science and its vital importance to the rest of us. As a collection of essays, nothing could be in depth but I would still happily give this to someone with little knowledge of science despite it being “technically” out of date. They would get a good grounding and I think and enthusiasm to follow up for themselves.

If like me you are addicted to books about “How it all began”, Chickens and Eggs, and whether Albumen, Yolks, and Eggshells were all preconditions, and if so, where did they come from. Then, I guarantee this will not disappoint and will in fact intrigue you. It's big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to this book. [See what I did there?] Or to put it another way it's turtles all the way down with each one examined till..... spoilers he never mentions the butler!
Many will hate it from very early on. Wheres, he going with this will be the cry. A marathon back to the starting line. It's the journey not necessarily the destination. I for one enjoyed it.

Only 3 stars because he's not my favourite science writer in terms of his prose. At times repetitive and leaves a feeling that he's rambling a bit. Much better to listen to him talk. Still the ideas herein well worth thinking about. A lot happened in last 20 years some of which he forecast. Must read more recent of his work on the same subject areas.

Butchers steampunk world lifts off

Second in his new series, this is a rollicking fast paced adventure novel which I enjoyed in my younger years but has I think gone out of vogue except perhaps for what is described as “young adult”.He deserves to be more widely read than he already is simply for the fun of a good yarn well told.

Added this for fun. Told by Michael Morpurgo. Illustrated by Michael Foreman. Both are simply stellar yes supernova brilliant when it comes to their work for children. Morpurgo, not being a scholar of old English quotes his sources as Heaney, Crossley-Holland, and my first reading at about age 9 by Rosemary Sutcliff. He can't go wrong with these three. I was a late teenager when I discovered Foreman and have loved his distinctive style ever since.

If you can find it, this would make a great present for any boy who thinks he likes a bit of gore and blood both in text and illustration. Not that any girl “shouldn't” like it just that it's short on any romance but it does have a heroic combatant saving the world from monsters.

A pivotal Western myth that deserves to be better known than it is being one with deep roots into Celtic [Irish] Myth. Jungian psychology places considerable focus on Myth as a mirror on our souls, often leaving us with an enriched understanding of the myth and perhaps of ourselves. The great Joseph Campell placed much stock in its approach. We, is a very good example whether one is enamoured by Jung or not. It retells the plot of the myth and gives some context and increased understanding of the characters motivations. Added to this, one, [the use of We as a title forces one to be careful how one uses we!], then gets a good analysis of the symbolism that a Jungian review provides. Whether one considers this symbolism to be the bones or an overlay of the myth Johnsons perspective is perceptive and rewarding. If interested his books He and She make for good additional reading.

The theme is that of Romantic Love; our need and desire to be loved, male and female psychology and how one integrates these apparent polar opposites into a whole and healthy psyche. On the surface obsessive, given that it is driven by self-centered needs and so explains how, when it wains, so does love. The suggestion is though that it will occur and be a strong force. How we deal with it and consequently integrate it into our relationship with its object, our lover, requires work and understanding. Something it is suggested here, we are not good at.
No answers to be found here. It's not a self-help book. But perhaps it is, through the exposition of the myth, a guide book to a path and a country that needs exploring. Perhaps as all Myths are meant to be.