Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Literary Links: Doctor Who

Dr Who The Five Doctors. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/158_2476120/1/158_2476120/cite. Accessed 27 Oct 2017.
On November 23, 1963, Doctor Who debuted on the BBC. And so began the televisual adventure that has kept fans enraptured for over fifty years, through twelve different regenerations of the Doctor. The 13th and first female incarnation, Jodie Whittaker, will take her place in the TARDIS for the upcoming 2017 Christmas Special (some people are disappointed that the Doctor is a woman, and some people are sad that the Doctor is still not ginger - redhead, as we would say stateside).

Since that fateful November day, it has delighted Doctor Who authors and showrunners to make homages in the Whoniverse to that date - characters have been born (most notably Clara Oswald) and died, the Doctor or his companions have had to return to that date to complete a mission, and in 2013 it was the date the special 50th anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor, was broadcast simultaneously in 94 countries.

Who's your favorite Doctor? Let us know in the comments!

November 23, 1963: Doctor Who materializes on BBC [Wired]

First Time Entering the TARDIS - An Unearthly Child - Doctor Who - BBC [YouTube]

Doctor Who classic episode #1: An Unearthly Child [Guardian]

Here’s how Radio Times introduced the first ever episode of Doctor Who [Radio Times]

1963: First Episode of Doctor Who Airs [History Hit]

Wear a Bow Tie Day and Other Wholidays [Geek Mom]

Don't forget to check out our Whoniverse LibGuide, your source for Doctor Who in our library catalog!


Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Literary Links: In the Realms of Fiction

Sign For A Star Trek Science Fiction Landmark; Vulcan, Alberta, Canada. Photograph. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/312_677773/1/312_677773/cite. Accessed 24 Aug 2017.
We just finished watching Game of Thrones and were arguing over which of the Seven Kingdoms we'd like to represent. (The correct answer is THE NORTH.) This got us talking about other fictional lands and peoples - is it better to be a hobbit, elf, or dwarf? What's your Hogwarts house? Star Trek or Star Wars? Who's your favorite character in Firefly? If you'd like to geek out with us, check out some of these links which discuss cool fictional realms, imagined travel, and worldbuilding.

14 Incredible Fictional Worlds You'd Most Want to Visit [HuffPost]

12 Best Fantasy Worlds Ever Created [Screen Rant]

5 of the Weirdest Fantasy Worlds Ever Created [B&N Sci Fi & Fantasy Blog]

Top 10 fantasy fiction universes [Guardian]

5 Crazy Creative Science Fiction Worlds in Books [Bustle]

19 Gorgeous Retro Travel Posters to Fantasy Destinations [Buzzfeed]

7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding [iO9]

How to Build a Fictional World - Kate Messner [TED Talk]

Editor Picks: Top 10 Must-"Visit" Fictional Lands [Encyclopaedia Britannica]

7 Fictional Lands We'd Love to Visit [Mashable]

The 50 Coolest Fictional Cities [Complex]

7 Fictional Lands That Should Have Google Maps [Buzzfeed]

In the library catalog, check under the subject "Literary landmarks."

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Science Fiction for Reluctant Science Fiction Readers

Ringed Planet. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 May 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/139_1964669/1/139_1964669/cite. Accessed 29 Sep 2016.
Science fiction can be an acquired taste. Some readers grew up on it; others never quite saw the appeal of stories involving time travel, alien contact, space exploration, or the ways in which these concepts can be used to explore moral and intellectual debates. But if you’re a reader who’d like to ease their way into the genre, there are a few great places to begin.
~Tobias Carroll, "Science Fiction Books For People Who Don't Read Science Fiction"

Judging by the amount of articles you can find online titled with some variation on "science fiction novels for people who hate science fiction," or "for people who don't usually read science fiction," it seems that this genre can be a bit of a hard sell - kind of funny, considering that big and small screens are dominated by Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the like. But some of science fiction can be daunting - probably you won't want to dive into "hard science fiction" unless you like your science fiction to emphasize the science, for instance, and unless you have someone knowledgeable to guide you, subgenres like "space opera" might be confounding (although "alternate history" and "post-apocalyptic" are pretty straightforward). There are folks out there who think that genre fiction is "lightweight stuff;" there's an argument for cultural differences factoring in for those who are not interested in the genre. Ultimately, though, you could say that "[r]eal science fiction is as close to an intense discussion of philosophy as you can get while still reading fast-paced, page-turning fiction." Science fiction is asking some big questions, after all - "what does it mean to be human? What’s our place in the universe? Do we matter? Are we alone?"

Most of us have asked ourselves these kinds of questions. Why not try some science fiction next time you're at the library? Check out the list below, compiled from several lists "for people who don't read science fiction" - you might have already read one or two (or a book by the same author), and not even realized it. We've included each book's subgenre just to give you an idea of  the plot - "science fiction" with no qualifier usually means literary fiction, although sometimes it indicates a humorous bent.


The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell [social science fiction]

Shards of Honor [eAudiobook] by Lois McMaster Bujold [space opera]

Never Let Me Go by  Kazuo Ishiguro [science fiction]

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [experimental fiction]

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger [time travel]

Slaughterhouse-Five: Or, The Children's Crusade, A Duty-Dance With Death by Kurt Vonnegut [military science fiction]

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes [time travel]

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin [social science fiction]

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy [social science fiction]

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh [science fiction]

The Player of Games by Iain Banks [space opera]

Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem [science fiction]

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood [dystopia]

To Say Nothing of the Dog, Or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump At Last by Connie Willis [science fiction]

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon [alternative history]

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel [apocalyptic fiction]

The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian [apocalyptic fiction]

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi [apocalyptic fiction]

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber [science fiction]

Embassytown by China Miéville [social science fiction]

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson [science fiction]

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Speculative Fiction: Best Series by Women & Must-Read International

What is speculative fiction? One article says:

Speculative fiction is a term, attributed to Robert Heinlein in 1941, that has come to be used to collectively describe works in the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror... Speculative fiction can be a collective term to describe works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and also addresses works that are not science fiction, fantasy, or horror, yet don't rightly belong to the other genres.

Another says:
The term 'Speculative Fiction' was originally a "backronym" for the initials SF; at the time, during the New Wave Science Fiction movement of the 1960's, some writers felt that science fiction, or 'sci-fi,' was equated to flying saucers and rubber monsters, and wanted to distinguish themselves with a new genre label. ...Speculative Fiction can be applied to a work — correctly or incorrectly — in order to help it avoid the Sci Fi Ghetto; it can allow the more pretentious to believe that their favorite work is a proper 'literary' work with no connection to, and thus obvious superiority over that geeky science fiction or fantasy. 

We prefer:
Speculative fiction is a world that writers create, where anything can happen. It is a place beyond reality, a place that could have been, or might have been, if only the rules of the universe were altered just a bit. Speculative fiction goes beyond the horror of everyday life and takes the reader (and writer) into a world of magic, fantasy, science. It is a world where you leave part of yourself behind when you return to the universe as we know it, the so-called real world. Speculative fiction defines the best in humanity: imagination, and the sharing of it with others.

Margaret Atwood prefers the term "speculative fiction" to "science fiction" - you can read her reasoning in her book of essays, In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination. Her friend and fellow writer Ursula K. Le Guin argues for "science fiction" over "speculative". Yet another article has author Juliet McKenna using the term speculative fiction, but turning the debate upside down by making the case for it being "considerably harder to write than literary fiction." You can also see a definition of the genre (with a helpful Venn diagram) on writer Annie Neugebauer's website. Where do you stand on this issue? Let us know in the comments!

You can find some sci-fi and fantasy booklists in our Booklists for Adults and Teens LibGuide, but here are some recommended series by female authors and some must-read titles from around the globe for you!


Best Series Written by Women

Ursula K. Le Guin - Hainish Cycle
Start with: The Dispossessed

Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan Saga
Start with: The Warrior's Apprentice* [eAudioBook]

Octavia E. Butler - Xenogenesis Trilogy (Lilith's Brood)
Start with: Dawn [eBook]

C. J. Cherryh - Chanur series
Start with: The Pride of Chanur

Julie Czerneda - Night's Edge
Start with: A Turn of Light - Marrowdell

Madeleine L'Engle -Time Quintet
Start with: A Wrinkle In Time

Margaret Atwood - Maddaddam Trilogy
Start with: Oryx and Crake

Connie Willis - Oxford Time Travel Series
Start with: Doomsday Book*

*first available in series

Must-Read International Fiction
(mostly in translation)



The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen

The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo

Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau


The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino [eBook]

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abé [eBook]


Dendera by Yuya Sato   

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Ice by Vladimir Sorokin



The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma

Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol

Zig Zag by José Carlos Somoza   

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
 
The Apex Book of World SF edited by Lavie Tidhar 

Links

100 Must Read Works of Speculative Fiction in Translation [Book Riot]

8 Great Sci-Fi Series Written by Women, From Ursula K. LeGuin to Margaret Atwood [Inverse]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

William Shakespeare's Star Wars

It's practically impossible not to know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be in theaters in December 2015. Or are we just nerds? We confess to having downloaded the Star Wars app to our phone (there has been much selfie-taking - all the guys think it's funny to be Princess Leia, and hardly anybody wants to be trapped in carbonite; and the weather in Albuquerque mostly resembles Endor in the early morning and Utapau during the day, but the monsoon season is also bringing up comparisons to Kamino). Also, we were pretty excited about the behind-the-scenes reel from the San Diego Comic-Con and the pictures of Luke, Leia, and Han (um, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford) reunited.

So, you still have a few months to geek out and immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe. You could watch all the movies. You could refresh yourself with the visual dictionaries. You could amuse yourself with the clever cartoons of Jeffrey Brown. How about Star Wars Lego? Or, if you have literary inclinations, why not try William Shakespeare's Star Wars?

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher

A retelling of Star Wars in the style of Shakespeare, in which a wise Jedi knight, an evil Sith lord, a beautiful captive princess, and a young hero coming of age reflect the valor and villainy of the Bard's greatest plays. 
 
William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher ; inspired by the work of George Lucas and William Shakespeare

A follow-up to the best-selling William Shakespeare's Star Wars:Verily, A New Hope returns readers to a galaxy far, far away, where a brooding young hero, a power-mad emperor and their jesting droids match wits, struggle for power and soliloquize in elegant iambic pentameter. 

William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher 

Han Solo entombed in carbonite, the princess taken captive, the Rebel Alliance besieged, and Jabba the Hutt engorged. Now Luke Skywalker and his Rebel band must seek fresh allies in their quest to thwart construction of a new Imperial Death Star.  


William Shakespeare's The Phantom Menace: Star Wars Part the First by Ian Doescher

Join us, good gentles, for a merry reimagining of Star Wars: Episode 1 as only Shakespeare could have written it. The entire saga starts here, with a thrilling tale featuring a disguised queen, a young hero, and two fearless knights facing a hidden, vengeful enemy. ’Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies, and doomed romance . . . all in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations. Hold on to your midi-chlorians: The play’s the thing, wherein you’ll catch the rise of Anakin! 

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Clone Army Attacketh by Ian Doescher  

In time so long ago begins our play, In clash-strewn galaxy far, far away. To Shmi or not to Shmi? Torn between duty to the Jedi, attraction to Paďm, and concern for his beloved mother, yeoman Jedi Anakin Skywalker struggles to be master of his fate. The path he chooses will determine not just his own destiny, but that of the entire Republic. And thereby hangs a tale. Alack the day! A noble lady in danger. A knight and squire in battle. And a forbidden love thats written in the stars. Once again, the quill of William Shakespeare meets the galaxy of George Lucas in an insightful reimagining that sets the Star Wars saga on the Elizabethan stage. The characters are familiar, but the masterful meter, insightful soliloquies, and period illustrations will convince you that the Bard himself penned this epic adventure.  


*all book descriptions are taken from the library catalog 

Friday, March 20, 2015

Life After the End of the World

...[W]e take, admittedly, rather morbid pleasure in presenting a new selection of the best of...postoil, postgrid, post-financial collapse, postpandemic tales by exceptional fiction writers."
~Donna Seaman, "Read-alikes: Life After the Apocalypse"

Writers have a lot of ideas about how the world will be coming to an end. Epidemic? Terrorist plot? The rise of the machines? Nuclear war? However civilization will collapse, the question remains - what will come next? How will humanity survive? Here are a list of books, some new, some old, that take us into the author's vision of the imagined cataclysm, and what life will be like afterwards.

World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler

After the Apocalypse: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh

Ashes of the Earth: A Mystery of Post-Apocalyptic America by Eliot Pattison

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus

Half the Kingdom by Lore Segal

Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez   [eBook]

Snowpiercer: Volume 1, The Escape by Jacques Lob

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.   

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams

There are 179 titles listed in the ABC Library catalog under the subject "End of the world - Fiction". With the current popularity of dystopias, especially in Young Adult fiction, would you expect anything less?

Links

A Practical Fiction List for Surviving After the Apocalypse [Flashlight Worthy]

How to survive the apocalypse [Guardian]

10 Facts About Life After the Apocalypse [Listverse]

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Mind-Bending YA

Pete Hautman’s The Klaatu Terminus completes a trilogy that dares to make a number of narrative and temporal shifts, each of which challenges readers to hold tight—or possibly let go?—of the sensical reins. The forefather of such mind-bending sleight of hand is Kurt Vonnegut, whose Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) has inspired generations of rule breakers. Such experimental works are rare in YA, but recent years have provided a number of worthy heirs.
~Daniel Kraus, "Readalikes: The New Vonneguts" [Booklist]


Books told entirely with images, involving magical science and travel to parallel worlds, starring a girl born with the wings of a bird and a boy who believes he is a character in a novel, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, with an experiment gone terribly wrong, a curiously powerful plant and a black mirror...  Which book's plot are we describing?  All the books on this list!  If you like the strange, the fantastical, the slightly awry, the inscrutable future, this young adult fiction booklist is here to test your grip on reality and introduce you to other realities!


Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony, Rodrigo Corral

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin [eBook] 

Grasshopper Jungle: A History by Andrew Smith

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick   

My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T. Jeschonek

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Flux by Beth Goobie [eBook] 

47 by Walter Mosley    

Monday, December 23, 2013

Celebrate 50 Years of Doctor Who!

November 23rd marked the 50th anniversary of the British TV show, Doctor Who. A special anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor", was aired on that date and was watched by 12.8 million people, including showings in 834 cinemas around the world. "The Day of the Doctor" now holds the record for the largest worldwide TV drama simulcast.

Some of you may have been following Doctor Who since its reboot in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, through David Tennant as the Tenth and Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctors - you probably know there will soon be a regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi.  Many people who grew up in the '70s and '80s remember Tom Baker's tenure as the Fourth Doctor (curly hair, long colorful scarf, fond of Jelly Babies), shown for a time on affiliates of PBS in the United States. Some of you might even have seen more of the show than that!  But, some of you might be wondering what the heck all this Doctor Who business is about, anyway...

Fans can skip to the list below of the the latest Doctor Who items in the library catalog, but for newbies we offer a little back story: the Doctor is a 900 year old Time Lord, a traveler through time and space. His vehicle, called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension In Space), appears as a blue police box, famously "bigger on the inside" and with a degree of sentience. Since 1963, the eleven incarnations of the Doctor - a Time Lord doesn't die but instead regenerates with a new persona - have traveled together with companions ranging from a mechanical dog named K-9 and a Time Lady named Romana to Rose Tyler, a London teenager, and Captain Jack Harkness, a con man from the 51st century (who later got his own spinoff, Torchwood). These intrepid travelers fight adversaries such as the Daleks (who want to exterminate all non-Daleks),  Cybermen (who want to cybernetically augment all humanoids), and The Master (a renegade Time Lord), and have science fiction adventures, sometimes set within a historical context (Pompeii, meeting Queen Victoria) and sometimes set in an imagined future that includes Satellite 5, where reporters are connected to the computer via a special port installed directly into the brain, and the resort planet Midnight, where the Tenth Doctor and then-companion Donna Noble have one of their creepiest adventures.

Since the popularity of Doctor Who in the United States has skyrocketed recently, you can find many more related items in the library catalog, including fiction, non-fiction, downloadables, and now seasons of the TV series!  Here are some of ABC Library's latest offerings for Whovians:

Fiction

Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter

Doctor Who: Shada - The Lost Adventure by Douglas Adams by Gareth Roberts


Non-Fiction 

 Who-ology: Doctor Who - The Official Miscellany by Cavan Scott & Mark Wright

The Essential Guide to Fifty Years of Doctor Who

Doctor Who: The Vault - Treasures From the First Fifty Years by Marcus Hearn

Doctor Who Encyclopedia by Gary Russell


Children & Young Adult

When's the Doctor? illustrations by Jorge Santillan

Heart of Stone: Death Riders by Trevor Baxendale  [eBook]

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Anthology: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories by Neil Gaiman, [et al]... [YA]

 
Downloadables

Doctor Who: Plague of the Cybermen by Justin Richards [eBook]

Destiny of the Doctor: Vengeance of the Stones by Andrew Smith [eAudiobook]

Adventures With the Wife in Space: Life with Doctor Who by Neil Perryman [eBook]

Who is The Doctor: The Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who - The New Series by Graeme Burk & Robert Smith  [eBook]


DVDs

Doctor Who (TV show)
First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Series

Friday, April 5, 2013

Biopunk Fiction

Biopunk is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on unintended consequences of biotechnology.  Characters are often fighting against governments and corporations that espouse genetic manipulation to modify and enhance human performance, although some feature an archetypical "mad scientist", researching for research's sake.  Many biopunk titles have elements of dystopia, steampunk, cyberpunk, and other subgenres of science fiction. Here are some biopunk novels (some adult, some YA) you can find in the library catalog:

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Dawn: Xenogenesis by Octavia Butler 

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

Skinned by Robin Wasserman

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

Altered by Jennifer Rush

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien


Also consider biopunk films:

Jurassic Park

The Fly

Prometheus

Splice


Read more about how science is portrayed in movies! 

Hollywood Science: Movies, Science, and the End of the World by Sidney Perkowitz

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Always Look on the Bright Side of Villains, Evil Stepsisters, & the Zombie Plague

Whether the world is threatened by world domination by dastardly villains or zombies, even if our superheroes have feet of clay and "happily ever after" doesn't exist, despite the fact that your vision is limited to shades of grey, these books offer a humorously skewed version of the world - and the end of it - that will entertain you for hours!


Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
The world is going to end next Saturday, but there are a few problems--the Antichrist has been misplaced, the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles, and the representatives from heaven and hell decide that they like the human race.

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius edited by John Joseph Adams
An anthology of original horror tales featuring "evil genius" archetype characters intent on ruling the world features contributions by such best-selling authors as Diana Gabaldon, Daniel Wilson and Austin Grossman

After the Apocalypse: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
Hired by the owner of an all-night diner to eliminate the zombie problem that is costing her customers, werewolf Duke and vampire Earl tackle an even stickier adversary who is out to take over the diner.

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
Danielle Whiteshore, aka Cinderella, reveals what really happens after the "happily ever after" as she, along with Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, race against time to rescue her husband, Prince Armand, from the clutches of some of fantasyland's most nefarious villains.

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
Forensic accountant Celia West is the powerless and estranged daughter of two of Commerce City's great heroes, Captain Olympus and Spark. When the city prosecutes the evil Destructor for tax evasion, Celia gets pulled in to track down evidence. As a new crime spree creates tension between the city's heroes and the police force, Celia's investigation uncovers long-buried secrets about her family and the city.

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
When Doctor Impossible, an evil genius and ambitious wannabe world dominator, launches a new plot to seize control of the world, Fatale, a woman built by the NSA to be the next generation of weaponry, joins a group of misfit superheroes in their quest to destroy Doctor Impossible.

You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister [Large Print]
While conjuring up a demon in the form of a shaggy Newfoundland, Aisling Grey, the Keeper of the Gates to Hell, searches for the elusive and sexy Drake Vireo, who is responsible for a series of murders in Paris's immortal underworld.

Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde
Welcome to Chromatacia, where for as long as anyone can remember society has been ruled by a Colortocracy. Social hierachy is based upon one's limited color perception. society is dominated by color. In this world, you are what you can see, and Eddie Russett, a better-than-average red perception wants to move up.


Some content was suggested by the eResource NoveList Plus, which can help you find new books based and also can show you all the books in a series, all the books by a certain author, as well as brief biographies of authors. Access to this eResource is free with your valid library card! Visit the Books and Literature subject guide to find links to NoveList Plus and more!




Thursday, March 14, 2013

2012 Nebula Award Nominees: Novel

The Nebula Awards, founded in 1965, are given annually - voted on, and presented by, active members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. The 48th Nebula Awards Weekend is happening in May 2013 - get started now checking out the books nominated for best science fiction or fantasy novel published in English or translated into English and released in the United States or on the internet during the past year! You can find a list of past winners on their website.

 
 
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Three superheroes in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms bound together by a series of magical murders must work together in a race against time to prevent a sorcerer's plot from destroying the world.  For fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Jim Butcher.
 
 
 
Ironskin by Tina Connolly
Connolly borrows freely from Jane Eyre in this compelling fantasy story of fey-cursed Jane Eliot, doomed to wear an iron mask or "ironskin".  Jane becomes governess to Dorie, whom she suspects carries the same curse, and falls in love with her father, Edward Rochart.  For fans of Kate Elliott and Karen Marie Moning.
 
 
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
In a city where Gatherers harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to judge the corrupt, Ehiru, the most famous of the city's Gatherers, learns that he must protect the woman he was sent to kill or watch the city be devoured by forbidden magic.  For fans of Elizabeth Moon and Guy Gavriel Kay.
 
 
 
The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan
India Morgan Phelps-Imp to her friends-is schizophrenic. Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about her encounters with creatures out of myth-or from something far, far stranger. For fans of Patricia A. McKillip and Mercedes Lackey.
 
 
Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
Kowal's sequel to the first Jane Ellsworth novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, is set in a Regency England redolent with magic. Newly married Jane and her husband travel to Belgium on a trip to test Jane's skills as a glamourist, but the return of Napoleon and a hint of espionage get in the way. For fans of Patricia C. Wrede and Susan Krinard.
 
 
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.  For fans of Poul Anderson and Orson Scott Card.
 
 
Some content, including readalikes, were suggested by the eResource NoveList Plus, which can help you find new books based and also can show you all the books in a series, all the books by a certain author, as well as brief biographies of authors. Access to this eResource is free with your valid library card!  Visit the Books and Literature subject guide to find links to NoveList Plus and more!


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Worlds of Cory Doctorow



Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing and the author of young adult novels like Pirate Cinema and Little Brother, nominated for the 2008 Hugo, Nebula, Sunburst and Locus Awards, and novels for adults like Rapture of the Nerds and Makers. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly called him, "The William Gibson of his generation." He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London.
~from his website

Cory Doctorow, who famously allows his novel Little Brother to be downloaded for free, comes to town today, and as a celebration here's a tantalizing glimpse of some of the works from his oeuvre: 

His short stories are featured in several anthologies, including:


For a complete list of Cory Doctorow titles, take a peek at the library catalog!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Orphan's Tales, Prestor John, & Fairyland: Reading Catherynne Valente

“Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency and the throwing of erasers. This is why we must close them up into thick, solid books, so they cannot get out and cause trouble.” 
~Catherynne Valente
 
Catherynne Valente is a New York Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction novels, short stories, and poetry. Her first book was published in 2004.  She has been nominated for the Hugo (2010), Locus (2010 & 2011) and World Fantasy Awards (2007 & 2009), and in 2010 her crowdfunded novel became first self-published work to win a major literary award, winning the Andre Norton Award for YA literature. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with her partner, two dogs, and enormous cat.
 
Here are some of works that you can find in the ABC Library catalog
 
 
Orphan's Tales
 
 
The Orphan's Tales is a fantasy series by Catherynne Valente with illustrations by Michael Kaluta.  There are two books in the series, In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice; each of these books are split into two volumes.  In these stories, a tattooed young woman lives alone in the Sultan's garden.  When a young prince visits her, she tells him the stories that have been inked upon her skin.  Each volume of the books is a story: Book of the Steppe, Book of the Sea, Book of the Storm, Book of the Scald.
 
 
A Dirge for Prestor John
 
 
 In 1165, a letter ostensibly written by the distant Christian king Prester John describing a kingdom of wonders rocked medieval Europe. Catherynne Valente retells this legend, imagining what might have been discovered by Rome's ambassadors if the letter had not been a hoax. The Habitation of the Blessed is the first book in this series.
 
 
Fairyland
 
 
Catherynne Valente's books for younger readers now number two: The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making and The girl who fell beneath Fairyland and led the revels there. They tell the story of 12-year-old September from Omaha and, as you might imagine, her adventures in Fairyland, which includes characters such as a Green Wind, a fickle Marquess, and a book-loving Wyvern.  Full of magic and shadows, these books will appeal to readers of The Golden Compass and Alice in Wonderland.
 
 
 
 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Star Wars Reads Day

Today is Star Wars Reads Day!  We are huge fans here at the blog & hope you will take advantage of the 488 items that are available in our catalog (using a keyword search) to celebrate all things Star Wars today!  We've got you covered in a plethora of formats (eBooks & eAudio; books on CD; graphic novels & print;  DVDs if you don't feel like reading), for ages ranging from J Easy books to novels for grownups.  Here are some mostly new & definitely noteworthy items that might be of interest to Star Wars fans, young & old (because, as NPR has noted, a whole new generation is getting in on the action)...

For kids:

LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia written by Hannah Dolan et al.

 Star Wars: The Secret Life of Droids written by Jason Fry

The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force text and annotations written by Daniel Wallace

The Star Wars Crafts Book by Bonnie Burton

The Star Wars Cook Book: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis


For teens:

 Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Lost Suns by Alexander Freed et al.


For the mature fan (because do we really feel grown-up about Star Wars?):

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

Star Wars Millennium Falcon: Modified YT-1300 Corellian Freighter - Owner's Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham

Star Wars, Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse by Troy Denning


Staff also recommend the New Jedi Order series & Star Wars books by Karen Traviss.


Links:

Star Wars Universe (an ABC Library LibGuide)

The Darth Vader Balloon at the Balloon Fiesta! With stormtroopers!

Stars Wars Reads Day on StarWars.com: Activity kits!  Find an event near you!