When Hidden Figures came out in 2016, it changed my view of science in a lot of ways. In my head scientist – especially rocket scientists are men, unless I am told otherwise. Hidden Figures, helped me see how weird and unhistorical that vision has been. Mary Robinette Kowal takes the world Hidden Figures showed us and plays in it. The story is set in an alternate past where events conspired to make exploration of space move much faster.
The Planetfall series
Emma Newman makes me cry. Or to be more fair, her writing tends to make me cry, because I get so invested in her characters that I get ALL THE FELLS. The crying to go bad with her Split World series, that I had to postpone reading the last few books in the series, they were simply way too hard for me. I meet Emma at Åcon this spring and she very sweetly apologized for making me cry and signed my copies of the Planetfall books. Luckily her Planetfall series, were less hard on my eyes and poor feelings. That is not to say that they didn’t give me deep emotions – just with less weeping.
The three first Planetfall books can be read in any order, according to Emme Newman. I read them in this order: Before Mars, Planetfall and After Atlas, I will however review them in publication order and talk about the series as such.
Con Survival Guide
If you are going to a Con for the first time, it can be hard to know what to pack and perhaps you would like a few tips for how to have an enjoyable convention.
Once again I am going to EasterCon or as it is called this year FollyCon in England. EasterCon is the British national science fiction and fantasy convention, run by fans. I will be on a panel about being new to EasterCon (Introduction to Eastercons), which inspired me to write a blog post about this subject. Continue reading Con Survival Guide
All Systems Red
I don’t read novellas in one sitting, especially not 150 pages novellas – well apparently unless they are All Systems Red. The book was fast paced and funny. I have already pre-ordered the next one and am very much looking forward to May.
Opening sentence :
I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites.
The Lotus Palace
The historical romances I read are mostly set in Victorian/regency England, so I was looking for historicals set outside of this setting. I asked around and was recommended Jeannie Lin’s work. Historical China did sound like fun – though it turned out to be set in a different time period than I thought it was.
The setting made the book quite different from the other historical romances I have read this past year, and I quite enjoyed that.
A Matter of Oaths
I don’t often read books that was published before 2000 – much less books from the 1980’s – not because I necessarily dislike reading older works, though they are often so problematic, but because I am busy reading the new books that come out. I did however pick up “A Matter of Oaths” after a recommendation of it from a trusted source. And boy was I glad that I did!
Opening sentence:
The web is based on a simple concept: a direct link between mind and machine.