Really enjoyed Dark Eden by Chris Beckett. Listened to it on audiobook and did not know anything about it before starting it. Lots of interesting questions raised and while there were some predictable plot tropes, I was engaged on the outcome throughout. Another Clarke winner that landed well.

Picked up the final book in @premeemohamed.com post-apocalyptic series. Think I may need to go back and read all three of them in one go to wade back into the world she created. Looking forward to it.

Wrapped up The Long Walk movie. Overall pretty solid but a pretty weak ending. Still enjoyed it.

Just wrapped up 'The End Of The World As We Know It'. For fans of The Stand its a fantastic romp back into the world Stephen King created. There is something for everyone I would imagine, including some stuff for those who go deep into King's worlds in other books. Quite enjoyed it!

Good advice from Beckett's 'Dark Eden'. "There was no point in feelings just then. So I made up my mind not to feel anything at all."

Yesterday at a local Art and Music Festival here in Edmonton (Strathearn Art Walk was amazing) there was a lone author selling her book. The book is titled 'The Head' and it's by Robyn Braun.

Check out Andy's podcast. Appetizer length episodes that can give you a great idea of whether a particular Classic SF book will be for you or not. His latest episode gets you quickly up to speed with a well known (possibly? still?) classic.

Wrapped up Emily Tesh's 'Some Desperate Glory' on audiobook this morning. I knew very little, heading into it. It was more YA than I was expecting. It banged along at a pretty good pace overall, and there were some well-done thoughtful moments on brainwashing and gender roles.

Oh boy. Just started The End Of The World as We Know It and this is going to suck me in, I just know it.

The Fountains of Paradise was not one of my favourite Clarke books. I didn't find the space elevator an exciting venture, and the "rescue" felt a little too contrived. That being said, I worked through this one pretty quickly as even a less exciting Clarke book is quite readable.

I love it when I run across ideas in older books that have been made popular again in newer books. Today, it's the microfiber wire in Clarke's 'The Fountains of Paradise' brought back in Lou Cixin's 'Three Body Problem'

Hey Brits. This Canadian loves Only Connect. One of the few shows I try and catch every episode of.

Very little time to read physical books this month but have managed to finish off three audiobooks so far with Altered Carbon (there are moments in this book where audio was ... uh ... less than ideal) and the final two books in NK Jemisin's Fifth Season series (quite good!) Annie Bot is next up.

It's my birthday today, the only time I'll straight up ask you to share my site (*). Dozens of articles/podcast eps on classic science fiction, mainly from the 1950s to the 1990s. I'd love to discuss these books with new readers/listeners. * May be a lie

Introduced my son to Marble Madness. He is not impressed but keeps playing it.

Today I learned that McDonalds (at least here) does not give out mustard packages - for free or for a fee. They just no longer carry them. Weird

Today's life lesson. Someone who plays very few video games probably shouldn't try and tackle Dark Souls 2.

Wrapped up The Obelisk Gate on audiobook today (I know, late to the party) Book one was ok but I enjoyed this one a lot more and I am really looking forward to finishing the trilogy when it lands on my Libby app. Fantasy is not typically my jam but this series does a lot that I like.

The likely final book of July is Footfall by Niven and Pournelle. A fun alien invasion tale that asks the reader to ignore the absurdity of how it is written and just embrace it for the Hollywood style adventure that it is. Elephant aliens throwing giant rocks at earth. Bring it on.

Ultra training is ramping up which means I am burning through the audiobooks and podcasts now. I am very thankful for all of the free audiobooks I can pickup from my local library using the Libby app!

You shall not pass! Today's run had some scary obstacles.

This is some of the most astute writing on LLMs I've seen. "The intelligence illusion seems to be based on the same mechanism as that of a psychic’s con, often called cold reading. It looks like an accidental automation of the same basic tactic."

Always fun to hit up the local arcade with the family! 2 floors of arcade and pinball machines. Such a good time.

Mail day! I exchange books with someone on the other side of Canada from time to time and this lot arrived in the mail today. A nice addition to my post-apocalyptic and disaster collection!

Finished up Rosewater by Tade Thompson this morning on audiobook. A pretty intriguing book with a very human central character and a concept that I thought was well done. I have only read a handful of Arthur C Clarke winners but I have yet to read one that I have not at least somewhat enjoyed.

Mail day! I exchange books with someone on the other side of Canada from time to time and this lot arrived in the mail today. A nice addition to my post-apocalyptic and disaster collection!

The newest season of Foundation is my treadmill companion. Enjoyed episode 1. Just need to embrace it for what it is rather than compare it too closely to the books (which I read quite a long time ago anyways)

While amateur youtube creators can certainly do whatever they like, I am unsure how I feel about selectively turning off comments only on videos you know you will get pushback on because you're going to say inflammatory things.

Downloaded Civilization VI as it was available for free on the Epic Game store. Decided to watch a youtube video on how to play it. It was a 40 minute video on how to just PLAY the game. I doubt I'll ever get around to making time to actually play the game but hey, FREE!

Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon started slowly but by the end of the became one of the best books I read this year. Really loved it. The back and forth between the main story and the side story was a little jarring at first but made a lot of sense for me by the end. Highly recommended.

Theodore Sturgeon in Venus Plus X in 1960 about us humans. "Given a man who, among his fellows, has no real superiority, you are faced with a bedevilled madman who, if superiority is denied him, and he cannot learn one or earn on, will turn on something weaker than himself and make it inferior." Oof

Gave The Female Man by Joanna Russ a read. Must admit I am a little too daft to keep up with her style in this one and I did my best to appreciate what she was doing in it. I probably failed, but not her fault. Still need to track down We Who Are About To at some point.

Awakened by @tinywriterlaura.bsky.social hooked me with its premise of a world fallen apart due to a scientific breakthrough involving sleeplessness. Pitched as a horror novel I found it to be more of a look at what makes us human served up by long discussions between characters.

Finished up the @suyidavies.com novella, Lost Ark Dreaming. It was a well paced post-climate disaster story mixed in with some myth and poetry. Overall, I enjoyed it, though I felt as though it may have been better suited as a longer book. There was so much I wanted to know about the world.

My daughter lived up to her end of the book swap. I read a book of her choice, and she read The Day of the Triffids. She said that she learned a lot of new words, and it was interesting even if it was not one she would have chosen to read. The ending confused her and wasn't clear.

Wrapped up Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad on audiobook. A haunting story that I am surprised was eligible for the Arthur C Clarke award but I am glad it was as it exposed me to the book. It's well deserving of the praise and awards it received in my opinion.

I have come to terms with never really understanding PKD books. Some I quite enjoy (like Ubik) but Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said is one of those that had a decent reading experience but was just a weird book. Needed to check off another John W Campbell winner.

Another pickup from @audreysbooksyeg.bsky.social to increase my post-apocalyptic collection. The Way by Cary Groner, Awakened by @tinywriterlaura.bsky.social and Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen. Excited to dig in!

While at times Alternate Worlds was a little rambling, at other times it had some interesting insights into the history of Science Fiction. Written in 1975, I would have loved to have heard Gunn's thoughts on the next 50 years of Science Fiction. Some great magazine art inside as well.

Love getting audiobooks from my library but with wait times so long on some books I have a bit of a queue. Generally not a problem but then at times (like today) they come rip roaring off of the queue at the same time. Guess my next few weeks are a LOT of audiobook time!

Today I learned about the Battle of Dorking - and SF story from 1872 about the Germany army invading and defeating the English army. It made such an impression that Prime Minister Gladstone weighed in on it to defend England's honour.

How do people who work as full time book reviewers find the books that they eventually nominate for awards etc? How do we know that there are not excellent books that not only dont win awards (certainly the case) but also dont even find their way to those who review books?

Today I learned that shortly after the release of Frankenstein there were multiple burlesque versions rolled out for audiences.

Does anyone know where the idea of the literary ghetto (I am familiar with the idea of the science fiction ghetto) began or with who? Is there an earliest known reference to this phrase being associated with either science fiction writers or possibly other genre writers?

I stumbled across these Perry Rhodan books in a lot I purchased a long while ago. Anyone a fan of these? Are they worth reading? I've got over 30 of the series but not all in a row sadly. I do like the covers.

A pretty enjoyable month of reading with a book swap with my daughter, some non-fiction, and a good mix of older and newer SF. Hard to pick a best book of the month but probably All the Water in the World, or The Gods Themselves. Ask me tomorrow and the answer might be different!

Today's lawnmowing listen was a new to me podcast called A Meal of Thorns which was a discussion between @byzantienne.bsky.social and @casella.bsky.social about CJ Cherryh's book 40,000 in Gehenna. The only one of her books I have read is DownBelow Station but this encouraged me to read more!

Wrapped up June's book club selection one day late. The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by @sarahbrooks.bsky.social I enjoyed the read, even if fantasy is not my favourite genre. The pacing starts slow but builds nicely and I enjoyed the range of characters.

Older article (I only just heard of this) but incredible nonetheless. Having read Donovan's Brain not so long ago, let's hope this is used only for good! health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlin...

I do collect post-apocalyptic and disaster fiction but I do have my limits...