Archive for the ‘Mark Geston’ Category
Lords of the Starship by Mark Geston (book 1 in the Books of the Wars omnibus)
first published in 1967
where I got it: purchased omnibus new (published in 2009)
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This trilogy came highly recommended by a friend who described the novels as “grim and bleak”, so I went in expecting some kind of Abercrombie-esque grimdark violence. What the story actually has couldn’t be further from what I expected, but I still can’t think of any better words for it than “grim” and “bleak”. The Books of the Wars trilogy includes the novels The Lords of the Starship, Out of the Mouth of the Dragon, and The Siege of Wonder. So far, I have only read the first book in the series.
Written in 1967, The Lords of the Starship was Geston’s first published novel, and hit bookstore shelves when he was only 20 years old. In his introduction, Geston mentions this was written against the background of the Civil Rights struggle, the Vietnam War and the growing Cold War, and many critics have mentioned that these books reflect the feelings of hopelessness and futility they experienced during these times. It’s a connection I can never have with these books, a separation. Something interesting to think about when I read older fiction – that I am reading it out of, and with no context. I imagine something similar would happen when someone who was born in 2014 grows up and reads something “older” that was written as a reaction to 9/11.
New Goodies
Posted on: December 13, 2014
As usual, I have attempted to not bring more books into the house and failed miserably. It might sound counter intuitive, but the more books that are piled up on the coffee table (and under the coffee table, and on the corner of the kitchen table, and on the table next to the bed), the less inclined I am to want to purchase more.
But, sometimes I can’t help myself. And then beautiful books show up in the mail, and before I know it I am surrounded by the happiness that is new books that have come to live in my house and be loved by me.
Here are my newest babies:
From Del Rey/Randomhouse comes a gorgeous edition of The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord. this is her follow up to The Best Of All Possible Worlds, but they can both be read as stand alones. Stay tuned for January, when I’ll have not one, but two articles about her new novel. I’m more than a little excited!
From Orbit (you know, the folks who spoil me rotten?) comes The Mechanical from Ian Tregillis. I had no idea he had a new novel coming out! But I sure was excited to pull this ARC out of it’s envelope. The Mechanical comes out in March, and so far the only thing I know about it is that since it has Tregillis’s name on it, I want to read it.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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