My first exposure to Asimov’s writing was when my father gave me an old worn out copy of I, Robot. I tucked the book away for a few years and eventually got around to reading it. I was so enthralled with the robots that I eventually read every robot book by him and other authors. This naturally led me to read the Foundation series which I also enjoyed, but I’ve always preferred the robot series. The Robot and Foundation books make up the biggest reading project I have ever completed. Aside from those, I’ve read a bit of his autobiography and plan on sampling some of his other writing in the near future.

By the time I discovered Asimov, he had already died. I wonder how much more he could have written had he not contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart surgery. He died of myocardial and renal complications on April 6, 1992, but the true cause of his death wasn’t publicized due to the stigma of HIV/AIDS at the time. His work has greatly influenced my love of Science Fiction, and for that I am thankful.

For more information on the life of Isaac Asimov, please visit the official Wikipedia post

One thing I like to do before I review a book is to look up some Wiki pages and other reviews to get a feel for how others reacted to the book. First of all, the Wikipedia entry for this book was no help at all, so much so that I’m considering updating it myself. I’m glad I took some notes while I was reading. I ran across some very harsh reviews on Amazon that had I read beforehand, I might not have picked up this book. Quite a few of the die-hard fans said to read just the first third of the book and stop. After that point, many of the reviewers pointed out that it is fairly obvious that Lindskold deviated from Zelazny’s quick and witty formula.

I, however, loved Donnerjack. It is probably one of my favorite reads in the past few years. About seven years or so ago I enjoyed reading The Great Book of Amber by Zelazny. It was also one of my first exposures to fantasy along with the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Later on I went on to read Lord of Light, also by Zelazny, which I also loved. I’ve also read This Immortal and finally Lord Demon, which is the other book of Zelany’s that Lindskold helped finish. Lord Demon was good, so I didn’t think twice before grabbing Donnerjack. I’ve also not read any Zelazny in the past 3-4 years, so I can’t say I was as aware of the change in writing style as others were. With that said, there was definitely a noticeable difference between Part I and Part II. Thinking back, I would almost say that they could have been split into two different books.

Anyway, I can best describe this book was a very intriguing blend of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Cyberpunk themes. Since I’ve read all three of these genres recently, this was a very satisfying experience. I need to start out by giving a little background:

Verité (real world): This is much like our world today, with the exception that tourism has almost entirely shifted to visits to Virtù rather than actual physical destination. A decent percentage of jobs revolve around the maintenance of virtual businesses that are needed inside of Virtù.

Virtù (virtual reality): Picture Virtù as a massive World of Warcraft server, but infinitely more complex. The main difference is that this world wasn’t programmed in detail by humans. From what I gather, the groundwork was a vast network of interconnected systems, which at one point “crashed” in what was called the Genesis Scramble. This is essentially the Big Bang but in electronic form. Out of this massive crash and subsequent reorganization, several hierarchies of AI developed.

People interface with Virtù through intricate VR seats equipped with force fields for bio-feedback, feed tubes for nutrition, allowing visits of weeks or more. Think of these stations like the battery pods in The Matrix, but much more comfortable and people actually choose to use them. People can have avatars that look like themselves, or choose from just about any combination of features imaginable.

The main character for the first part of the book is John D’Arcy Donnerjack, one of three pioneers of Virtu. He fell in love with an AI named Aradys that eventually died. AI in Virtù have life cycles, much like real people. They can reproduce and fall in love. Everything that dies in Virtù is destined for the Deep Fields, ruled by Death. Donnerjack travels to Deep Fields to bargain with Death for the return of his beloved Aradys. Donnerjack agrees to design a master palace for Death, and his first born child. Assuming that reproduction with an AI is impossible, Donnerjack doesn’t consider the implications of the last part of the bargain.

This is where the fantasy part comes in. Death reassembles Ayradys from her fragmented code, but she doesn’t appear to remember fully what she once was. Death instructs Donnerjack to take her along a path that at the end will make her whole again. Somehow when they make it to the end, they cross into Verité, and she is transformed into a real person. They don’t consider that they could possible reproduce, and eventually Ayradys becomes pregnant with a sun. Donnerjack then sets out to protect his son from Death.

The bulk of the novel focuses on Donnerjack’s son. Given the circumstances of his conception, he has a very important role to play. The events I’ve described so far are mostly laid out on the back flap summary. I really can’t go into much more detail without spoiling the plot of the book. This was definitely a page turner for me. I normally just read my books on my lunch breaks, but toward the end I had to take this one home to finish up over the weekend. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has interest in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or Cyberpunk. If you like more than one of those genres, you’d most definitely be in for a treat.

In 1992, the year of his death, Isaac Asimov was awarded the Hugo Award for best novella for writing Gold. This story, along with many others was published in 1995. Along with 14 other short stories, there are collections of essays called “On Science Fiction,” and “Writing Science Fiction.” Interestingly enough, I found the essays much more interesting than the stories themselves. I think this is partly because I have read a TON of his fiction, but haven’t got around to reading his non-fiction.  I’ll give a brief overview of the essays, saving the stories for later.

On Science Fiction

Here, Asimov gives us a brief history of the roots of Science Fiction. He also describes the origins of the robot concept, tracing the roots back to the eighteenth book of Homer’s Iliad. Also, he goes over very early books like Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. Asimov also describes the evolution of Science Fiction in media, from the early magazines (of which he was an avid reader), to books, movies, and TV. Some of the names he listed were completely foreign to me. I think at some time in the future, I’ll look up some of his favorite authors of the time and check them out. He also talks about Science Fiction’s effect on technology and gives a couple examples of some technologies that he is attributed to predicting.

Writing Science Fiction

As I was reading the essays, it felt like he was talking to me, and in turn I was getting to know him as a person, not just a writer. His writing style is very smooth and easy to read. I believe it is a testament to his claim that when he writes, he just writes. At several points he congratulates himself on his ability to simply write with very little revision, essentially just correcting grammar and word placement once everything is done. After all, being one of the most prolific writers his time, or any time for that mater, he did have the right to have a strong sense of self-esteem.

One tidbit that I found very interesting is that Asimov had never really made use of outlines when writing stories. He would usually just work out an opening, and an ending, and make everything up along the way. Simply put, his characters would take on a life of their own. Another fact, which I already was aware of, is that he heavily relies on dialogue between characters, and there is very little “action” along the way. His books, at least to me, seem to be more cerebral than many others I have read.

The Stories

The title story, Gold, is an interesting one, especially around these times of economic turmoil. Gold, today in the real world, is topping $1000(US) an ounce while digital money has lost much of its value. A relatively unknown author seeks the help of a world famous director to produce a compu-drama from his book. These compu-dramas were basically movies heavily reliant on technology, interestingly enough much as our current movies are evolving into. I won’t spoil the plot, but the book in the story is very reminiscent of The Gods Themselves. The author admits that he is just an average writer, but wants to be immortalized by having his book made into a compu-drama. The director, on the other hand, is already one of the most famous figures in the entertainment industry. The author has everything to gain, while the director has everything to lose. Why then, should the director take the risk of taking on this new project? Gold was the offer, nearly impossible to find, having an equivalent value in credits, but with the sense of tangibility, not just a number on a computer screen.

Gold was a very interesting story, well worth anyone’s time to check out. As for the other stories, there is a diverse mix of plots present. They include science experiments, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and time travel to name a few. Of these remaining stories, my favorites include Cal (which I’ve read previously), Alexander the God, and Kid Brother.

I highly recommend this book as a must have for any Isaac Asimov fan, or Science Fiction fan for that matter. Also, the final section can serve as a general starting point for those interested in writing.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve read Dune. I found my way to this interesting conceptualization, Sietch Nevada, through my regular StumbleUpon clicking. For those not familiar with Dune by Frank Herbert, please check it out! It is an excellent novel, as described in my review. I find it interesting how many ideas are drawn from Sci-Fi. Everyday technology like cell phones, video conferencing, and robots (well maybe not everyday yet), were hinted to by authors long before they were developed. I find the Sietch concept intriguing because I lived in Phoenix, AZ for many years. A few years after I left, I started hearing about how Lake Powell, fed by the Colorado River, might dry up soon. I thought that it meant there would be no more water, but experts are referring to “dry” as unable to generate hydroelectric power. So, not only will water levels be low, but there could be power shortages as well!

I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies’ stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, aging. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.

He goes on to describe a number of medical advancements that seem unbelievable.  He doesn’t really expand on how many people, or rather WHO will have access to this technology.  We can’t very well have billions of immortal cyborgs running around for eternity, now can we? I think that those denied immortality, or at least extended life-spans, would wage war against those that would keep the technology for themselves.

Credit: Telegraph via Geekologie

Note: For those of you not familiar with Geekolgie, be sure to check that blog out.  I added it to my newsreader about 2 months ago and it keeps me entertained every day!

I’ve been meaning to read Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott for some time now. I’ve seen it lying around the house here and there for many years. My wife actually acquired this book as part of her required reading for a “Sensation and Perception” course in college. I ran across it again when packing up my Asimov collection to bring up to my sister in Minneapolis. It was a short read, which was refreshing after some of the longer books I’ve been tackling recently.

The main character, and narrator, is a Square in a 2D world dubbed Flatland. The basics of Flatland society are laid out in a rather matter-of-fact way that bleeds of satire. Essentially, the higher up in society, the more sides you have. Women of course are just lines (actually just VERY skinny squares), and the leader of Flatland is very nearly, but not quite a perfect Circle. In addition to the number of sides, the symmetry of angles is of utmost importance. It was amusing to read of dangerous operations that parents would subject their children to in order to correct some not so optimal angles, even though they could be fatal. The parents figured it would was best to be dead than “irregular.”

Utilizing humor and social satire, Abbot clearly explains the workings of this odd 2D world. I found myself coming up with questions about how such a world would work, then just a page or two later found them explained. He goes through the Square’s vision/dream of a land called Lineland, and again of Pointland. Soon after this, the Square is approached by a very peculiar circle that calls itself a Sphere from Spaceland. It tries to convince Square that he comes from a land of three dimensions.

It seemed natural that the logical progression of explanation could follow past to the fourth dimension and beyond. Abbot briefly extrapolates from previous explanations to touch on higher dimensions, but it seemed very hard to grasp. I think one of the main points of the book is to demonstrate how easily it is to understand lower dimensions, and also how hard it is to contemplate anything above our current experiences. Overall, I was very pleased with this book. The chapters are very short and well organized. I’d highly recommend this for any reader, especially those that like geometry.

After reading the Cobra Strike Trilogy, I was glad to be getting back to a more recent book by Timothy Zahn. Angelmass is about a small group of human worlds on the edge of the Galaxy dubbed “The Empyrean” that sprouted up near a very peculiar black hole. They eventually discover that this no ordinary black hole, if it is one at all. They named it Angelmass because it emits “angels” that when harvested can affect the behavior of humans that are near them. They make humans act honorably, when otherwise they might have tendencies otherwise. Soon the government requires that all politicians wear an angel around their neck so that everyone knows they will be trustworthy.

The largest human Empire, the Pax, was content to leave the Empyreans alone until they learned about the angels. They started to view the angels as an alien influence that must be stopped. They recruited Jeriko Kosta, an accomplished academic, to infiltrate the well known Angelmass Institute to find out more details on the nature of these angels. The book opens with Kosta boarding the Komitadji, the largest Pax warship in existence. It is the pride of the fleet, much larger than any other ship. I would compare this to the Darth Vader’s Super Star Destroyer, the Executor.

Zahn creates a rather interesting approach to space travel. Ships travel through hyperspace across long distances, but with a twist. He goes into quite a bit more detail than just putting a simple hyperspace drive inside ships. The hyperspace travel in this book is done via “catapults.” They are essentially groupings of space stations that focus a field that envelops a ship and sends it across space. The ship is then pulled out by a similar arrangement of ships at the other end called a “net.”

Kosta is ejected from the Komitadji in a ship disguised as an asteroid. The Komitadji is catapulted to a distant star system by Empyrean defense forces. Kosta’s mission begins and the Pax commander begins preparations for the real invasion. On his way to the Angelmass Institute, Kosta encounters the other main character, Chandris Lelasha. She is a 16 year old girl, and professional con artist, running from a crazy ex-boyfriend from Earth. Jeriko and Chandris part ways when arriving on Seraph, the planet that hosts the Angelmass Institute and the main base of operations for “angel” harvesting. Separately, Arkin Forsythe has been elected as High Senator, but is very skeptical of angels. He arranges to have a fake angel made so his actions aren’t influenced. He is convinced that angels are making humans too passive.

The three main plot lines of Jeriko, Chandris, and Arkin run parallel for the most part, but intersect at various points. I appreciated how Zahn shifts around through the different characters. He doesn’t spend too much time in one place, and the chapters are rather brief. This suited me well because I do most of my reading on my lunch break. I really hate having to stop in the middle of a chapter, so this book was perfect in that respect. Also, it seems that I’m not the only one that feels this book is rather similar to Manta’s Gift. In both books, the main character is thrust into another culture/alien society and finds his allegiances tested. The true nature of his mission is not clear until the end.

I would rate this book about as high as Icarus Hunt and Manta’s Gift. All three were very enjoyable, and in my opinion much better than the Cobra Trilogy. Zhan has definitely improved his writing over the years. I’m considering re-reading the Thrawn Trilogy sometime after I get through the rest of my “new” books waiting on my shelf for me to finish.

The main character in the third and final book of the Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn is Jasmine (Jin) Moreau. Her father is Justin Moreau, the twin son of Johnny Moreau that became a Cobra. Jin hopes to continue this legacy, but there is one major roadblock. She’s a woman. Somewhere around this time the government discovers something odd happening back on Qasama, the world that they invaded back in Cobra Strike. Several blind spots in their satellite surveillance have developed. They are worried that the Qasamans might be trying to develop space flight or some type of weapon to use against the Cobra worlds. When a covert operation is planned, her family pushes for her to be trained as a Cobra. All Cobras that the Qasamans have seen have been men, so she should have an advantage.

The Trofts provide a transport that should allow the Cobra force to land on Qasama undetected. The recon mission almost becomes a total failure when for some reason the transport is detected and shot down. Jin is the only survivor with very serious injuries and no way to contact her superiors. She manages to find a survival pack with Qasaman clothing and eventually finds her way to a Qasaman road where she collapses and is picked up by some locals.

She is slowly nursed back to health by the Sammon family, on of the more powerful ones in a rural town named Milika. The rest of the novel is essentially a Sci-Fi mystery. Jin learns of a town inside the satellite blind spot that is hiring seasonal workers for what seems to be some type of secret manufacturing. Jin’s main goal is to investigate this while maintaining her cover. The eldest son of the Sammon family, Daulo, is very suspicious of Jin, but does not have any evidence to back it up. Jin in turn is amazed at the hospitality that the Sammon family gives a complete stranger. Jin decides to do what she can to protect her hosts while still accomplishing her mission. This turns out to be a good idea, because the Sammon family ends up being vital to Jin’s success.

This book turned out to be my favorite in the Cobra Trilogy. The action is spread out rather evenly from the perspective of the main character, Jin. Zahn also lays out the details of an alien society in a way that he does so well. With that said, I was somewhat disappointed with the trilogy as a whole. Zahn’s writing has definitely improved over time. I think my expectations were set too high after reading Manta’s Gift, The Icarus Hunt, and the Conquerors’ Trilogy. I also thoroughly enjoyed his books in the Star Wars universe as well. I would recommend reading some of Zahn’s later works. You will not be disappointed.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Timothy Zahn after the first book in this series. Johnny, the main character from the first book, now has three sons. The eldest at 27 is involved in politics, just like Johnny. The two other sons are a pair of twins, one which becomes a Cobra. I was hoping that there would be more action, but for the first third of the book I was fairly disappointed. It consisted mostly of political ramblings concerning a very controversial offer that one of the Troft trading partners proposed. They had identified a world near Troft space that was considered a significant threat. If the Cobras could neutralize this threat, the Trofts were willing to give the colony five new worlds.

After about 100 pages of hemming and hawing over ethical dilemmas, the Aventine government finally decided to launch a reconnaissance mission. The mission would be split into two parts. While the researchers determined if the worlds the Trofts were offering are viable, the Cobras would assess the threat on the alien world. What they didn’t expect was that the aliens were actually humans that split off from the Dominion of Man thousands of years ago.

These people named their planet Qasama and have been confined to their world since they lost their star drive technology. They all have these birds on their shoulders called Mojos which act as protectors. Everyone carries guns for defense against the dangerous wildlife, but if any Qasaman threatens another, the Mojos intervene. Because of this, there is virtually no serious fighting between Qasamans as far as war is concerned.

The Qasamans appear to be relatively friendly and willing to show the Aventinians the inner workings of their society. That didn’t last for long, because the Qasamans decided to try and steal the landing ship so they could study it and rediscover star drive technology. They weren’t counting on Cobras to be in the landing party, so had quite a surprise.

After this point, the story picked up quite a bit. The rest of the book was mostly battles between the landing party and the Qasamans. There was quite a bit more action than in the first book, which I appreciated, but it seemed that when the story was starting to get good, it ended. Overall, this book was better than the first one, so if you already have time invested, you might as well read the sequel.

I recently started reading the Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. Cobra, the first book in the series, starts off just after the beginning of the Troft war with the Dominion of Man. At the beginning of the novel, the Trofts have already conquered a two key worlds in the outer systems. The military, in a desperate move, created the Cobra program to train an elite force of enhanced soldiers. One of the first things that came to mind when I came across this series was Starship Troopers, the BOOK, not the movie. I immensely enjoyed the first few chapters of Starship Troopers with the cap troopers in the Mobile Infantry. The main difference is that instead of troopers inside of huge external mech hardware, the Cobras’ enhancements are essentially hidden, yet very deadly. On the outside they look like a normal human, which is one of their advantages.

The main character is Johnny, who wants to join the Army. He wants to out of sincere patriotisim, not just to impress some girl. He tells the recruiter that he wants to get right into the fighting and help the citizens of Adironack and Silvern through guerrilla warfare. Johnny’s father had fought in the previous war against the Minthisti, but aboard a ship in the Star Forces. Johnny ended up getting the assignment he wanted, but with a few unexpected conditions.

After initial selection for the Cobra unit, irreversible surgery to implant the enhancing hardware and software had to take place. Bones were hardened, lasers implanted in his pinkies, servos in his joints, and a combat computer eventually was installed in his head. This, along with other weapons that could be externally equipped, made Johnny one of the most advanced soldiers in the Galaxy.

The first hundred pages or so covered Johnny’s training in the Cobra team and subsequent deployment on Adironack to help the citizen underground resist the Troft occupation forces. The battles were exciting and detailed, which reminded again of Starship Troopers. That is about where the similarities ended. Before I knew it, the war was over and Johnny was back at home trying to readjust to “normal” life. It was only a matter of time before someone tried to screw with Johnny too much and his combat computer kicked in and killed someone.

The book takes a turn towards politics after this. The government had quite a dilemma. They couldn’t remove all of the Cobra hardware without killing the soldiers, and they also couldn’t have soldiers accidentally killing others when they were threatened. Eventually a solution was devised; they would be used to colonize a small group of planets on the other side of Troft space. These were worlds yet to be tamed with plenty of dangerous flora and fauna that the Cobras could be used to protect colonists against.

At this point I kind of felt my interest dissipating. There was some guy jumping through the air with lasers coming out of his hands, kicking some major ass on the cover! I was all psyched up for huge battles and got just a taste of it.  The action slowed down considerably during the colonization and picked up briefly during a small uprising. Overall I was a bit disappointed. Having finished the first book, Cobra, and I’ve decided that I like Zahn’s later work more. Hopefully the next book, Cobra Strike, will live up to the title and offer more action than the first in the Trilogy.

Cobra Timeline:

• 2403 – Trainee
• 2407 – Veteran
• 2414 – Loyalist
• 2421 – Politician
• 2432 – Statesman