VintageSciFi around the blogosphere

Posted by: Redhead on: January 29, 2019

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What Vintage scifi posts have been popping up in the blogosphere?  So much good stuff, I can’t even keep track of it all!

 

My VintageSciFi Month co-host Jacob at Red Star Reviews has something to say about Gordon Dickson’s Wolfling.  I agree a million percent on the joy that is sparked by the greenish edges of so many vintage-y paperbacks.

 

In case you missed it a few days ago, I was over at Every Day Should Be Tuesday talking about C.L. Moore’s groundbreaking stories Shambleau and Black God’s Kiss. Hard to believe both of these stories were written in the 30s!   Check out the post just for the photo that Justin posted, I really am little and red in that photo!

 

Tip The Wink‘s Forgotten Book feature is Space Tug by Murray Leinster. I appreciate that Richard mentions that this book is realistic with the knowledge and scientific development of the early 1950s in mind.

 

Jean at Howling Frog had a tough time deciding which titles to read first on her Ace Double.  Good thing she enjoyed both Kar Kaballa by George Henry Smith. Unfortunately The Tower of Medusa by Lin Carter was a disappointment.  Ya’ll, read this blog post just for her entertaining take down of Tower of Medusa!

 

Science Fiction and other Suspect Ruminations (have you seen his cover art gallery? go look at it, right now!) reviews A City in the North by Marta Randall, which takes story telling in the direction of anthropology and relationships between humans and aliens.

 

SFF Book Reviews had a lot to say about Ursula K Le Guin’s quietly powerful The Left Hand of Darkness.  speaking of, I’m due for a reread of this novel that is completely different every time I read it.

 

Dinara Tengra has an excellent summary of Clifford Simak’s titles. If you keep hearing about Simak but don’t know where to start,  start with Dinara’s post!  (My fave is Way Station, btw)

 

And speaking of Way Station,  Kaedrin has an excellent review that talks about the novel’s strengths and weaknesses, along with some commentary about what Way Station was up against that year for the Hugo award. It won against Cat’s Cradle?  WHAT.

 

Beamer Books has a concise and informative article on some Andre Norton titles, and the connection between Andre Norton and Martha Wells.

 

Planetary Defense Command reviews John Brunner’s Secret Agent of Terra, a novel that discusses how higher tech civilizations should interact with lower tech civilizations.  Years before Star Trek, Brunner was discussing The Prime Directive.

 

Galactic Journey discusses The Wonder War by Laurence Janifer, along with some biographical info about the author. Unfortunately, this specific title by Janifer did not impress.

 

I KNOW I missed some excellent Vintage posts from the last 10 days or so.  Leave links in the comments, so the rest of us can find them too!

 

Updated to add:

PC Bushi enjoyed Edgar Rice Burroughs’ At The Earth’s Core, and compares it to A Princess of Mars

 

Howling Frog Books had a great time with A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clark, enjoying the balance between solving scientific problems, and keeping human problems at bay

 

On the other hand, Bookforager did NOT have a good time with Philip Jose Farmer’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go (I’m pretty sure I DNF’d this one)

 

With only a few hours to go in the month of January, yet MORE UPDATES! yay! These updates include reviews that are linked to in the comments below.

Richard at Tip the Wink enjoyed Islands in the Sky by Arthur Clarke, in which a TV quiz show winner gets to visit the Inner Station and experience zero G for a few weeks.  I’m intruiged by the idea of the Inner Station, it is low Earth orbit, and I’m interested to see what future technology Clarke predicts in this book. It’s got some great Vintage cover art too!

 

According to Who’s Dreaming Who, Fritz Leiber’s Hugo award winning The Big Time starts out entertaining if a little basic, and then takes a surprising left turn into Locked-room mystery territory.  I’ve only read a bit of Leiber’s fantasy, I’m interested to see what he does with science fiction!

 

Although dated and lacking in characterization, Mervi thought H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine was worth the time.  Mervi also enjoyed Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth,  where people discuss the scientific ideas of the day, and then manly men go on an adventure complete with imaginative creatures.

 

Dinara Tengri gave John W. Campell’s Who Goes There a try, and found it suffered from death by adjectives, but was able to get past that. Report from Dinara is that John Carpenter’s The Thing is fairly loyal to the source material! (a movie that is loyal to the book? when was the last time that happened?)

 

Tor.com talks about my favorite Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It’s been at least four years since I read this, definitely time for a re-read. Why knot, you know?

 

 

 

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Tags: Vintage SciFi