What are you reading in 2024?

[Autumnal]

I’d say that Scalzi (John, not Robert) has improved as a writer, and continues to. His recent novella “Slow Time Between The Stars”, is truly first-rate, something I recommend without reservation to anyone who might be interested in an AI’s tale of exploring the galaxy at slower-than-light speeds.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Well, maybe I'll give it a shot. I've only read his early work, and the subject matter (STL interstellar travel) is one I'm especially fond of. AI's are more realistic for that than generation ships, and both offer room for character development than sleeper or seedships generally manage.

 

[Autumnal]

I hope you like it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The Kaiju Preservation Society is, to my view, kind of atypical Scalzi though I've liked most of his works I ever read (including that one).

 

[Richards]

I’d say that Scalzi (John, not Robert) has improved as a writer....

Thanks - previous post corrected!

Johnathan

 

[prabe]

The Kaiju Preservation Society, by Robert John Scalzi. [Edit: I'm not sure where I got "Robert: from - thanks, Autumnal!] I bought this one at a Barnes and Noble during the trip, as the second book I bought (on-line) didn't arrive in time, and I had heard good things about it. Having never read Scalzi before, I don't know how it rates with his other novels, but this was a light-hearted read about how nuclear explosions can cause the barriers between alternate worlds to fade, and the "next alternate world over" from ours is an Earth where the dinosaur-killing meteor never hit, allowing dinosaurs to evolve into kaiju: Godzilla-sized creatures who have their own biological nuclear reactors within their bodies and rely upon "parasites" (some of them are actually beneficial to the kaiju) to regulate their body temperatures and so on. The main character is a last-minute addition to a field team, so we get to learn everything through his eyes as he experiences them, and he's a good sort. The worst part about this book was I blew through it in a couple of hours (at the airport, start to finish, before I even got on the plane - bummer!)

Yeah, I went through this in a couple of hours, myself. Enjoyably readable, but not massively deep--though there's some interesting stuff lurking there, I think, and I might reread it while we have it from the library. I don't wildly disagree with @Thomas Shey that it's not exactly typical, but the voice, at least, is pretty typical Scalzi. His voice reminds me some of Christopher Moore, though he's less ... absurdist, I guess. (And I really like Moore, so that's not at all snark.)

 

[Old Fezziwig]

You have to admit, a Brindlewood Bay variant where the crime-solving seniors are actually a secret murder-cult whose "solutions" are designed solely to keep the heat off of themselves would be an interesting twist.

"The greater good!"

I haven't read that one, but I did force myself through some of his Old Man's War series (the first three, I think) and found they were absurdly quick reads as well. Not great fare for a long trip, they run out too quickly. His writing style's very digestible but not memorable

I agree that Scalzi's a quick read and that his style's not entirely memorable, but I found his Interdependency series to be pretty memorable. It's breezy, but very committed to that breeziness, and the fact that he was willing to go all in on that tonally really ends up working out for it — I feel like it's had more staying power for me than the other things I've read by him (some short stories, Old Man's War).

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester: Almost unfathomably good, there are reasons writers still hat-tip Bester

I finished this while I was on vacation, and unfathomably good is almost not strong enough. It's an absolute masterpiece.

 

[prabe]

I finished this while I was on vacation, and unfathomably good is almost not strong enough. It's an absolute masterpiece.

I am happy you liked it--especially if you read it because I liked it so vocally.

 

[overgeeked]

Demolished Man and Stars My Destination are both absolutely amazing sci-fi novels. Some of my favorites. Bester also has an anthology called Virtual Unrealities that has some wonderful shorts and novellas.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I am happy you liked it--especially if you read it because I liked it so vocally.

I did! Since you're well-read and because you were so enthusiastic about it, I thought it was worth a flyer. I probably wouldn't have come to it on my own (at least I can't see a path to discovering Bester in my self-directed reading of the last few years).