With the passing of January (“Look! There it went!”) we come to the end of The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience. For those not in the know or who may have simply forgotten, I started setting aside a couple of months a year, several years back, to encourage a group experience of Science Fiction. My hope is always, of course, to impart the love of science fiction to those who have not been bitten by that particular love-bug, but it is also an opportunity to share genre reading time with those who like science fiction and read it all the time as well as those who like it but mix up their reading across genres throughout the year.
Really just a great big geeky SF love-fest!
This year I started it in December, instead of the traditional January start, which makes it all a bit weird to be saying our goodbyes to the event here on February 1st.
As the title implies, this isn’t reaaaaally the end. Not at Stainless Steel Droppings at any rate. You will continue to see science fiction book, film and art reviews throughout the year. Fantasy will begin to creep in again and the occasional mystery, but science fiction is my first love and I am far from ready to leave that experience behind.
Between the beginning of December and the end of January, I managed to get some very enjoyable reading done. You can click on the covers below (with the exception of Abaddon’s Gate which is still in review process) to read the reviews.
It was a treat to participate in this with all of you as well as hosting. All told we ended up with 170 reviews on the Review Site. Well done you!!!
And thanks to all of you who participated in Andrea’s Vintage Science Fiction Month in January as well. I did a poor job of participation on that front, having not yet finished the two classics I’ve been reading during the month. But I will. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the guest posts as well as Andrea’s posts over there this past month.
Thanks again everyone. If you are doing a wrap up of your Experience and/or your Vintage Science Fiction participation, please post that link below. I will be leaving the review site up, so be sure to check it out. Until the next event, Once Upon a Time VIII (beginning March 21st), I hope you’ll keep having great reading experiences and sharing them with the rest of us.
Oooh, what a brilliant selection of reads for this month =D Is it just me, or do science fiction covers just keep getting better and better?
I’m certainly enjoying many of the covers coming out…which of course effects my budget! 🙂
I especially love the cover on Equoid.
It is so perfect for the story too. *brrrrr* makes me shiver!
Covers: I dislike the trend to just use photo models for SF-F covers! These books need quality illustrators’ work!
Are you referring to any cover specifically?
The covers have been awesome. It’s so hard not to buy based on the cover alone.
I know. I suck. I didn’t finish a book at all the last two weeks of January. (Just audios!) For some reason January is never a good reading month for me. I have been reading it, though! I just need to buckle down and finish. 🙁
You read good stuff, though!
You do!…NOT! You’ll get there. And as I’ve said many times, I’ve done the same to you. Look forward to talking about it when you get done. Don’t stress about it though.
Thank you for another great year, Carl. As always, I had a wonderful time.
Thanks for participating! You read some great stuff, I need to catch up with your reviews.
I didn’t read as many reviews as I was hoping too, but I did get through lots of great books… As always, thanks for a great trip through the stars! Looking forward to a trek through Fairyland next…
Me either, but I plan on trying to catch up, slowly. I enjoyed your reading plan for this one, though I’m behind on your reviews too!
The books for Once Upon a Time are already piling up!
a geek you might be.. but you are one of my favorite geeks! I know I don’t comment much during sci fi time but I do check in and find out what you are up to.
I don’t even want to think how close OUaT is…my life, miserable as it’s been for over a year now, is going by too fast!
I hope you have a good Super Bowl Sunday!! (I know I will because Downton Abbey and Sherlock will be on pbs!) LOL…
Awww, thanks! The ol’ fantasy challenge is comin’ up quick, ain’t it? Crazy how time is going so fast. I’m sorry things are still not going very well for you.
I look forward to catching the last Sherlock of the season on Monday night, since I’ll miss watching it on Sunday.
It ended way too fast. Maybe next time, you’ll do it for 3 months, December – February?
I read too little, but on the other hand, got to read more SF again. I’ll do a SF books to read. Like the Czech & Slovakian SF anthology, from the beginning of 20th century to 80s. A thing like this was in “regular” local library. 😀
I’m scared to read the reviews of those books, some might end on my “to read” list and I have too many already. And a lot of books borrowed from library. 😉 Maybe later.
Honestly I wouldn’t mind running it beginning in November, because that is when it gets really cold around here, or starts to, and I get an urge to read nothing but science fiction.
It is very scary to read those book reviews, I agree! Dangerous to the book piles.
November – January is good too. 😉 But it’s a strange thing with reading a single genre depending on the weather. What do you read when it’s hot?
Is it that bad? I’ve checked the climate, and Missouri’s average (nor extrema) temp isn’t too different from Poland.
I know your evil scheming! By agreeing with me you wanted to tempt me into reading the reviews. No, you won’t tempt me! It’s much safer to read reviews of things you already know… 😀
It can get pretty hot and humid in the summer, hovering round 100. This last summer wasn’t nearly that bad, thankfully.
I’m not sure why I got into the weather-related mood reading. It makes sense to me that I feel the urge to read gothic/mysteries around Sept/Oct because that is Autumn/Halloween. Not sure what it is with winter other than that, growing up in Nebraska (with a colder climate) I did more reading in the winter and mostly what I read in those days was science fiction. I read more broadly now, though the last few years I’ve read much more science fiction all year long.
Temptation? You know you want to.
Thanks for the explanation. It’s unusual for me, I don’t read any gothic books because of Haloween etc. And I don’t understand the hype for crime stories in summer. 😀
Temptation? I won over it. 😉
Thank you once again for hosting such an awesome reading event. I didn’t get nearly everything read that I planned. I always tend to wander in my reading, picking up whatever glittered or shined it’s way into my bed….for reading only. 🙂 Anyway, it is always a pleasure to see what everyone picked up, or didn’t, and do the whole SF love fest thing. Thanks!
I can understand the wandering, I did a great deal of that myself.
Thank you so much for participating, it was a pleasure to share this with you as the old year closed and the new year opened.
I apologize for missing out on the experience this year. I did follow, and enjoyed, the many reviews. Good job on hosting another event. And I hope to be back to reviewing soon.
No reason to apologize, Jim, but you were missed. I do hope you are back soon.
I’m terribly fickle and didn’t read nearly as much as I wanted. I seem to have trouble with Januarys… But! I have a ton of reviews to look over on the link-up so I’m pretty sure my year will be wonderfully sprinkled with good SF. Thanks for hosting, Carl!
I can be fickle too, Katherine, so believe me, I understand. I generally get a lot more read in January, but I read some larger books and am very pleased with the quality of what I consumed during the month.
Thank you so much for joining in and being a part of this.
I read the fantasy trilogy The Chaos Knight which I thought was so-so. I started two there SF books which I have yet to finish, one of them the Linden Universe short story collection Constellation.
As you know, I was sorry to read about the issues with the Chaos Knight trilogy.
Glad you are reading the Liaden shorts. I need to work time in for that second volume which just came out. Problem is I’m reading the second Theo Waitley book, the sequel to Fledgling, next (along with Ancillary Justice) as I’m really taken with that character.
Oh, and I did a guest post over on Little Red Reviewer, and that counts.
You did, and it was great. I blew it with my time management and didn’t get one to her this time.
Thanks for hosting. This was the first time I participated and I had a great time reading and submitting my reviews. I read a lot of great books over the two months and discovered (too) many more. I also enjoyed reading the Vintage reviews. A lot of my favourites were featured. I read some John Brunner for the Vintage SF challenge and it was well worth the time spent.
A belated thanks for hosting from me, too. Had a great time, found some great new blogs, and even managed to pace myself properly, too 😉 Keep up the good work, Carl.