October 2009
2 tags
Dragonfly Falling - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Dragonfly Falling picks up the story after the first book and the successful derailing of the Wasp train plan.
The focus is on the students of Stenwold’s who have to grow up fast in all the violence, while he continues to try and make some of the other cities and geographical areas inhabited by other Kinden see the Wasps as a threat.
Totho and Salma get caught in the siege of Tark, where...
2 tags
Fortitude - David Brin
Galactic genealogy slumming.
3 out of 5
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/starshipsofa/StarShipSofa_No_217_David_Brin_Lewis_Shiner.mp3
Original Article
2 tags
Bubbles - David Brin
I thought there was nothing outside Galaxies.
3.5 out of 5
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/bubbles/
Original Article
2 tags
The Moon That Vanished - Leigh Brackett
“Few men have ever reached the Moonfire,” the Venusian said. “They were the strong ones, the men without fear.”
4 out of 5
Original Article
2 tags
Domovoi - M. K. Hobson
Ghost beating.
3 out of 5
http://www.demimonde.com/short-stories/domovoi/
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/domovoi/
Original Article
September 2009
2 tags
Mirkheim 7 - Poul Anderson
“Instruments accumulated ever better data, computers analyzed, until it was clear that the strange craft was approximately the size of Alpha, surely as well armed. At last the captain’s face reappeared. He was pale. “Madame, we’ve received a vocal communication. It goes … goes … quote, ‘You will come no nearer, but will match hypervelocity to ours and...
2 tags
Mirkheim 6 - Poul Anderson
“”I don’t know everything,” Wyler admitted. “Goddamn, this planet’s got eight times the surface of Earth, most of it land surface. Why shouldn’t the Imperial Band feel confident?” He thrust out his jaw. “And that will be the last question you get to ask, Falkayn. I’m starting now.”
Chee’s restlessness had brought her near the...
2 tags
Mirkheim 5 - Poul Anderson
“Nobody paid attention until too late, Falkayn thought. Not to hydrogen breathers, who are alien, who can offer us oxygen breathers very little in the way of markets or resources, and by the same token should find nothing to quarrel with us about. There were too many planets which did lure us with treasure, with homesteads, with native beings not hopelessly unlike ourselves. We scarcely...
2 tags
Mirkheim 4 - Poul Anderson
“David Falkayn, Chee Lan, Adzel, and Muddlehead were in the saloon playing poker. Rather, the first three were. The computer was represented by an audiovisual sensor and a pair of metal arms. It was an advanced model, functioning at consciousness level, very little of its capability needed en route to maintain the systems of the ship. The live travelers had even less to do.
...
2 tags
Mirkheim 3 - Poul Anderson
“”Well,” she said. “What do you have in mind?”
“We should see if we can compromise, or if not that, map out our areas of disagreement. Right?” Story supplied.
“Also horse-trade information,” van Rijn said.
“That can be a mighty valuable commodity, especially when it’s in short supply,” Story observed.
“I hope you...
2 tags
Mirkheim 2 - Poul Anderson
“The room where they met was intended for confidential conferences: long, darkly wood-paneled, its windows open on a lawn where a mastiff kept watch. She had made it her own with souvenirs of her youthful offplanet travels: pictures of exotic scenes, odd little bits of art, weapons intended for nonhuman hands racked on the wall. Entering some minutes in advance of appointment time, she found...
2 tags
Mirkheim 1 - Poul Anderson
“I wish this could go on forever,” Coya Falkayn murmured.
Her husband attempted a chuckle. “No, you don’t, sweetheart. I never knew a girl who has less tolerance of monotony than you, or more talent for driving it off.”
“Oh, I wish a lot of things would be eternal—but concurrently, you understand,” she said. He could hear how she, too, strove for...
