Highlights and Lowlights - Mar&Apr 2021

In appreciation of how I've benefitted from SF recs & info here over the years, I have a low-level goal to add more on-topic content. I’m aiming to do this type of post every month or two, with this being the second one. (The first covered Jan & Feb).

I think there are no spoilers this time, not even minor ones.

Below is a slightly augmented list of what I read in Mar&Apr, with a very primitive rating system:
“+” are good, and more “+” are better
“-“ are not good, and more “-“ are worse

If ratings seem overrepresented on the + side overall, it’s because I’m pretty fortunate at avoiding unenjoyable books - this group helps a lot with that (helping to inspire my low-level goal).

I’m happy to answer questions about anything on the list.

Structure this time:
One highlight & one lowlight, then the full list (reverse chronological order), then what I’m currently reading - usually one novel-length work and one collection/anthology that I read 1-2 selections from between longer works.

Highlight - Babylon’s Ashes - Corey [Expanse #6 - I believe #9 is supposed to be the final entry, and #9 is planned to be released later this year] - This series is really enjoyable - the characters are really well developed, they learn and grow, and there are some great conversations; the plots and arcs are pretty heavy duty in terms of danger and consequences; initially takes place only in our solar system, but later books also include some non-solar system; very much looking forward to 7-8-9.

Lowlight - Monster Hunters International: Guardian - Correia & Hoyt [MHI #7 - the most recent one in the main series] I’m not sure why I’ve enjoyed this series (but I have!). I don’t even remember why I read the first one (but I did!). Anyhow, the first 6 are fun and slight and are good for easy reading that requires very little thinking - they're basically about a clandestine/non-public organization devoted to killing monsters, with some longer term arcs weaved in; the general public does not know monsters exist; enjoyable characters, enjoyable dialogue, enjoyable moments, etc. And every single one of those things was missing here in #7; lazy plotting (e.g. maybe 90-95% of the book is about a new mom trying to rescue her kidnapped kid), predictable and cliched; most of the main characters were off-screen in this one, and the one main character (the protagonist here) was nothing like herself, etc etc etc. If this was the first MHI book I ever read, it would be the last. I’ll certainly investigate #8 pretty deeply before I decide to read it or not.

April
++ The Hugo Winners Vol 4 (1976-1979) ed. by Asimov (I read this off and on between the previous novels) As you’d expect, there are some really enjoyable stories here: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?41810 , including some re-reads, of course. The Zelazny is one of my all time favorites, and the Leiber didn’t age well. This volume also includes my very first Spider Robinson story “By Any Other Name” which I enjoyed; and my second, “Stardance” which I didn’t; looking forward to reading Vol 5 some time in the next few months.

++ - Redemption Ark - Reynolds Good continuation of the goings on in the wonderful first volume, Revelation Space; very much looking forward to the next one; the minus is for the “chase through space” that took up about 100000 repetitive pages in the middle of the book - way unnecessarily long, and the characters did nothing but devolve into caricatures throughout this segment, to the point where I was surprised the antagonist didn’t instruct her genes to grow a handlebar mustache that would be appropriately twirled by AI-savvy nanobots.

+ False Value - Aaronovitch [Peter Grant #8 - the most recent one] - Another nice competent entertaining entry in this nice competent entertaining series; it’s not gosh-wow, but it’s dependable and enjoyable - characters evolve, plots progress, and the overall arc does both.

- - - Monster Hunter International: Guardian - Correia & Hoyt [MHI #7] This entry’s Lowlight - see above

+++ Babylon’s Ashes - Corey [Expanse #6] This entry’s Highlight - see above

+ - - Stations of the Tide - Swanwick An interesting effort that just didn’t work for me - reminded me of some combination of Wolfe, Dick, Marquez, and Joyce, but he grabbed their exact traits that don’t work for me instead of the ones that do - or maybe he glued them together in ways that didn’t work; whatever - it didn’t work for me, and I doubt I’ll read anything else by him.

March
+++ Euler: The Master of Us All - Dunham [non-fiction] - 8 chapters on Euler’s contributions to 8 different areas of mathematics; each chapter focuses on showing Euler’s own approaches to 1-2 specific problems, including the historical motivations and contexts

+ Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen - Bujold [Vorkosiverse] The most recent entry in the Vorkosigan universe; Kinda good, or maybe even just okay with some very good bits sprinkled in; but given how much I enjoyed the rest of the series, surprising/disappointing that I didn’t like this more.

+ Singularity Sky - Stross A mix of different environments and tech levels; nice interplay and evolution between the two protagonists; the Rochard’s World stuff was pretty uninteresting to me, but the concepts of the Festival and Critics were interesting; I’ll read the second one since it makes up the second half of the same omnibus/volume.

+ - Past Times - Poul Anderson (I read this off and on between the previous novels) Collection of time-travel-themed Anderson stories - kind of a mixed bag; “Flight to Forever” sort of pre-sages Tau Zero.

+ - Forge of the Titans - White This was ok - Military personnel with psionic abilities; plot ends up tying to the Titans vs the Greek Gods, both on Earth and far far from Earth.

+ - Property of a Lady Faire - Green [Droods/Secret Histories #8] I don’t know what I’ll do about this series - after it had gotten stale & same-y through #5-6, #7 was an appreciated different turn in an appreciated different direction; but #8 went back to #5-6

++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more

Now reading:
Long work - Carrying the Fire - Michael Collins (RIP) [a “best parts” re-read, non-fiction]
Collection - The Best of CL Moore [just for the few I haven’t read before]

Tony

On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonynance17@gmail.com> wrote:
> ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
> ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more

Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the rest of the
stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the stories pick
up in later eras.

-dsr-

In article <slrns90h8a.du2.dsr-usenet@randomstring.org>,
-dsr- <dsr-usenet@randomstring.org> wrote:
>On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonynance17@gmail.com> wrote:
>> ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
>> ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very
>enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more
>
>Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the
>rest of the
>stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the
>stories pick
>up in later eras.
>
>-dsr-

There is obviously more to Jela's story as well, but I don't think it has
yet been told.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Tony Nance <tonynance17@gmail.com> wrote:
> Highlights and Lowlights - Mar&Apr 2021

<snip>

> April
> ++ The Hugo Winners Vol 4 (1976-1979) ed. by Asimov (I read this off
> and on between the previous novels) As you’d expect, there are some
> really enjoyable stories here: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?41810
> , including some re-reads, of course. The Zelazny is one of my all time
> favorites, and the Leiber didn’t age well. This volume also includes my
> very first Spider Robinson story “By Any Other Name” which I enjoyed;
> and my second, “Stardance” which I didn’t; looking forward to reading
> Vol 5 some time in the next few months.

In my Golden Age, Hugo (and Nebula) awards didn't mean much to me. (And
they still don't.) Awards always seemed better suited for the adults in
the room. A ritual best avoided by mere escapist fen, such as me.
The Zelazny's also one of my favorites. Probably because this audio
book often played in the background on road trips:

https://archive.org/details/Sci-fiRadio/Sci-fiRadio2324-HomeIsTheHangmanByRogerZelaznyplay.mp3

"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" and "The Bicentennial Man" are the only
other stories already known to me. Hmmm. "Bicentennial" may deserve a
re-read, given it's novelette length.

<snip>

> March
> +++ Euler: The Master of Us All - Dunham [non-fiction] - 8 chapters on
> Euler’s contributions to 8 different areas of mathematics; each chapter
> focuses on showing Euler’s own approaches to 1-2 specific problems,
> including the historical motivations and contexts

Seems an excellent choice! It's a pity
_Introductory Applied Quantum and Statistical Mechanics_ (Hagelstein)
already captivated me.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 2:52:06 PM UTC-4, -dsr- wrote:
> On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
> > ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more
> Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the rest of the
> stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the stories pick
> up in later eras.
>

I've been more or less reading them in publications order, and so far
I've read...let's see...Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Conflict of Honors,
Plan B, I Dare, Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Mouse & Dragon, and
the two above.

I think I've decided to read Balance of Trade and Trade Secret as the
next two - unless something else makes more sense?

Tony

In article <3e699151-e198-4eab-b0f2-dd8b0772ab9bn@googlegroups.com>,
Tony Nance <tonynance17@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 2:52:06 PM UTC-4, -dsr- wrote:
>> On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
>> > ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very
>enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more
>> Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the
>rest of the
>> stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the
>stories pick
>> up in later eras.
>>
>
>I've been more or less reading them in publications order, and so far
>I've read...let's see...Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Conflict of Honors,
>Plan B, I Dare, Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Mouse & Dragon, and
>the two above.
>
>I think I've decided to read Balance of Trade and Trade Secret as the
>next two - unless something else makes more sense?
>
>Tony

I think publication order is as good as anything. The two "Trade" books
had a very Norton feel to me, which is not a bad thing. They are well after
the Crystal duology and well before the Plan B era.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 3:23:49 PM UTC-4, Don wrote:
> Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Highlights and Lowlights - Mar&Apr 2021
> <snip>
> > April
> > ++ The Hugo Winners Vol 4 (1976-1979) ed. by Asimov (I read this off
> > and on between the previous novels) As you’d expect, there are some
> > really enjoyable stories here: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?41810
> > , including some re-reads, of course. The Zelazny is one of my all time
> > favorites, and the Leiber didn’t age well. This volume also includes my
> > very first Spider Robinson story “By Any Other Name” which I enjoyed;
> > and my second, “Stardance” which I didn’t; looking forward to reading
> > Vol 5 some time in the next few months.
>
> In my Golden Age, Hugo (and Nebula) awards didn't mean much to me. (And
> they still don't.) Awards always seemed better suited for the adults in
> the room. A ritual best avoided by mere escapist fen, such as me.

Yeah - awards in general don't mean much to me, but I had a pretty
non-standard entry to speculative fiction, and I felt I wanted to
catch up and become conversant on the "classics" in the field.
So many years ago, largely via SFBC and used book stores, I picked
up a bunch of older stuff - and I'm still mixing them in to my
current reading.

> The Zelazny's also one of my favorites. Probably because this audio
> book often played in the background on road trips:
>
> https://archive.org/details/Sci-fiRadio/Sci-fiRadio2324-HomeIsTheHangmanByRogerZelaznyplay.mp3
>
> "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" and "The Bicentennial Man" are the only
> other stories already known to me. Hmmm. "Bicentennial" may deserve a
> re-read, given it's novelette length.
>
> <snip>
> > March
> > +++ Euler: The Master of Us All - Dunham [non-fiction] - 8 chapters on
> > Euler’s contributions to 8 different areas of mathematics; each chapter
> > focuses on showing Euler’s own approaches to 1-2 specific problems,
> > including the historical motivations and contexts
>
> Seems an excellent choice!

Oh it was , it was.

> It's a pity _Introductory Applied Quantum and Statistical Mechanics_ (Hagelstein)
> already captivated me.
>

Awesome - I wish I understood that stuff better - what level is this
book aimed at?

Tony

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 8:28:09 AM UTC-4, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <3e699151-e198-4eab...@googlegroups.com>,
> Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 2:52:06 PM UTC-4, -dsr- wrote:
> >> On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
> >> > ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very
> >enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more
> >> Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the
> >rest of the
> >> stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the
> >stories pick
> >> up in later eras.
> >>
> >
> >I've been more or less reading them in publications order, and so far
> >I've read...let's see...Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Conflict of Honors,
> >Plan B, I Dare, Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Mouse & Dragon, and
> >the two above.
> >
> >I think I've decided to read Balance of Trade and Trade Secret as the
> >next two - unless something else makes more sense?
> >
> >Tony
>
> I think publication order is as good as anything. The two "Trade" books
> had a very Norton feel to me, which is not a bad thing. They are well after
> the Crystal duology and well before the Plan B era.
>

Pub order has been working for me, with minor modifications. Years ago
when I was trying to figure out how to approach this series, there were
many threads - and even a wikipedia article I think - on the many ways
to do it.

At that point, I just figured something close to pub order must be fine
because that's how all the folks who caught on early had been doing it!

Tony

On 05/05/2021 07.23, Tony Nance wrote:
> On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 2:52:06 PM UTC-4, -dsr- wrote:
>> On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
>>> ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more
>> Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the rest of the
>> stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the stories pick
>> up in later eras.

> I've been more or less reading them in publications order, and so far
> I've read...let's see...Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Conflict of Honors,
> Plan B, I Dare, Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Mouse & Dragon, and
> the two above.

I've read _Agent of Change_ and _Conflict of Honors_, but not recently.
All that I can remember is some turtle-like sapient and maybe a night
club.

_Carpe Diem_ is in my input queue. Would it repay me to reread Agent?
I get the impression from your post that inter-story linkages are
loose at best. Is this right?

--
Michael F. Stemper
Psalm 94:3-6

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 9:35:40 AM UTC-4, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 05/05/2021 07.23, Tony Nance wrote:
> > On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 2:52:06 PM UTC-4, -dsr- wrote:
> >> On 2021-05-03, Tony Nance <tonyn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> ++ Crystal Dragon - Lee & Miller [Liaden]
> >>> ++ Crystal Soldier - Lee & Miller [Liaden] These two were very enjoyable; definitely looking forward to reading more
> >> Note that those two represent the (very relevant) deep history of the rest of the
> >> stories in that universe. You'll see the Tree a fair bit more, but the stories pick
> >> up in later eras.
>
> > I've been more or less reading them in publications order, and so far
> > I've read...let's see...Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Conflict of Honors,
> > Plan B, I Dare, Local Custom, Scout's Progress, Mouse & Dragon, and
> > the two above.
> I've read _Agent of Change_ and _Conflict of Honors_, but not recently.
> All that I can remember is some turtle-like sapient and maybe a night
> club.
>
> _Carpe Diem_ is in my input queue. Would it repay me to reread Agent?
> I get the impression from your post that inter-story linkages are
> loose at best. Is this right?
>

It's more that the books are written in cohesive but separate groups.
There's a colored chart here that gives a pretty good idea:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaden_universe

As such, Carpe Diem follows Agent pretty closely, but I don't think
you'll need to do a full re-read if you check out enough pertinent
reviews here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/288771.Agent_of_Change
At the time I write this, the first review is a very good reminder/summary
from "Stephen" from 2009 (and the second one is by Lois Bujold!).
If you skim down the page and catch a few more that add, you probably
won't need to re-read Agent.

Tony

Tony Nance wrote:
> Don wrote:
>> Tony Nance wrote:

>> <snip>
>> > March
>> > +++ Euler: The Master of Us All - Dunham [non-fiction] - 8 chapters on
>> > Euler’s contributions to 8 different areas of mathematics; each chapter
>> > focuses on showing Euler’s own approaches to 1-2 specific problems,
>> > including the historical motivations and contexts
>>
>> Seems an excellent choice!
>
> Oh it was , it was.
>
>> It's a pity _Introductory Applied Quantum and Statistical Mechanics_
>> (Hagelstein) already captivated me.
>>
>
> Awesome - I wish I understood that stuff better - what level is this
> book aimed at?

Graduate level. Physics (lite) is one of my pastimes. Similar in nature
to how some people work crossword puzzles.
Everything's ad-hoc. Whatever catches my eye and piques my interest
gets a look-see to discern whether it's relevant to any of my current
projects. (BTW, one of my projects concerns the practical application of
a Least-Mean-Squares adaptive filter, in case anyone wants to share any
insight.)

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:58:09 AM UTC-4, Don wrote:
> Tony Nance wrote:
> > Don wrote:
> >> Tony Nance wrote:
>
> >> <snip>
> >> > March
> >> > +++ Euler: The Master of Us All - Dunham [non-fiction] - 8 chapters on
> >> > Euler’s contributions to 8 different areas of mathematics; each chapter
> >> > focuses on showing Euler’s own approaches to 1-2 specific problems,
> >> > including the historical motivations and contexts
> >>
> >> Seems an excellent choice!
> >
> > Oh it was , it was.
> >
> >> It's a pity _Introductory Applied Quantum and Statistical Mechanics_
> >> (Hagelstein) already captivated me.
> >>
> >
> > Awesome - I wish I understood that stuff better - what level is this
> > book aimed at?
>
> Graduate level.
>

Ok - thanks. I may check this out some time- most of what I know
about physics has also been ad hoc over the years, and hence
patchy, not too deep, and not super cohesive -- and much of it
stumbled upon via math, or even mathematical biology.

>Physics (lite) is one of my pastimes. Similar in nature
> to how some people work crossword puzzles.
> Everything's ad-hoc. Whatever catches my eye and piques my interest
> gets a look-see to discern whether it's relevant to any of my current
> projects. (BTW, one of my projects concerns the practical application of
> a Least-Mean-Squares adaptive filter, in case anyone wants to share any
> insight.)
>

I'm just a math guy with peripheral/secondary experience with LMS
algorithms and other filters (mostly via talks that used it or touched
on it), so it seems unlikely I'd be of help here. Still, there's a lot of
experience and knowledge in this group - there may be some that
helps you out.

Tony