Category Archives: science fiction

2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted on February 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

2001: A Space Odyssey© 1986 Arthur C. Clark, Stanley Kubrick316 pgs At the dawn of the twenty-first century, mankind makes an extraordinary discovery: unmistakable evidence of life outside the environs of Earth. An object on the moon makes plain the … Continue reading →

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Ten Stories by Isaac

Posted on February 4, 2016 by smellincoffee

Back in 2007, I discovered Isaac Asimov’s short stories and became a trifle obsessed with him, to the point that I have an entire bookcase devoted to his short stories, essays, novels and books.  Lately I’ve been feeling the itch … Continue reading →

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One Year After

Posted on November 9, 2015 by smellincoffee

One Year After© 2015 William Forstchen304 pages It’s been two years since an EMP blast reduced most of the United States to medieval conditions. After cars and the electrical grid failed, everything went to hell — complete with hordes of … Continue reading →

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A Canticle for Leibowitz

Posted on July 16, 2015 by smellincoffee

 A Canticle for Leibowitz © 1960 Water M. Miller 320 pages A thousand years ago, nuclear war swept the Earth,  rendering to ashes the civilizations which inaugurated it.  In the southwestern desert, however,  there lies an outpost of another civilization … Continue reading →

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Ender’s Game

Posted on May 7, 2015 by smellincoffee

Ender’s Game © 1985 Orson Scott Card384 pages             Andrew Wiggin is only a young boy, but in the eyes of his world’s leaders, he may be humanity’s only hope.  Decades ago, Earth was ravaged by invasions of swarming insect-like creatures … Continue reading →

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Player Piano

Posted on November 6, 2014 by smellincoffee

Player Piano© 1952 Kurt Vonnegut352 pages “I’d be in exile now, but everywhere’s the same…”      Not since the roaring twenties was American society so giddily obsessed with newfangled stuff than in the 1950s.  Americans were awash in material prosperity, … Continue reading →

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One Second After

Posted on September 26, 2014 by smellincoffee

One Second After  © 2011 William R. Forstchen 528 pages When the power blinked, Colonel John Matherson wasn’t alarmed. These things happen. But they don’t happen at the same exact time as failing phones, stalling cars, and falling planes.  As … Continue reading →

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Rise and Fall of KHAAAAAAAAAN! Volume I

Posted on July 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Eugenic Wars: the Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume I© 2001 Greg Cox520 pages Ah, how well I remember the 1990s — neon colored plastic pants, frizzy hair, and that gang of genetically engineered supermen starting … Continue reading →

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Allegiant

Posted on July 19, 2014 by smellincoffee

Allegiant© 2013 Veronica Roth544 pages  “Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that … Continue reading →

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This week at the library; Huck Finn and the British crown

Posted on July 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

            Try as  I might,  none of the French-related books I investigated this week struck my interest, so for the first time since starting the tradition,  my Bastille Day reading is a nonstarter. C’est la vie. … Continue reading →

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