After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall

written by Nancy Kress

To be released in April 2012

Tachyon Publications

192 pages

8/10 stars

Thought-provoking, relevant, engaging story. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down.

The year is 2013 and Julie Kahn is working with the FBI, creating and tracking a complex algorithm to help explain and hopefully stop a series of odd burglaries and unexplainable child abductions.

The year is 2014 and just below the surface of the earth various microbes are combining and dividing to form something new, and something not quite right.

The year is 2035 and the last surviving members of the human race are living inside a protective shell, captives of a group of aliens the humans have named the “Tesslies”, the long-ago destroyers of the surface of Earth.

Author Nancy Kress has created a generation-spanning tale of near-future calamity and rebirth that starts out strong and builds steadily to a satisfying climax. In less than 200 pages Kress proves that a science fiction novel need not be dense to contain fascinating and relevant scientific concepts, intriguing mystery, and characters that compel you to keep the pages turning.

Continue reading After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall ~Nancy Kress →

My how time flies!

It is nearly the halfway point of The 2012 Science Fiction Experience and it is time for the first of our two-part discussion of the second book in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, Foundation and Empire. The questions below are merely to act as discussion points and the various participants may or may not choose to answer them all. Please understand that there are potential spoilers in my answers as well as those of the other participating members. And as always, please feel free to join in on the discussion regardless of whether you are reading along with us or not. If you do, please restrict your comments to the part of the story we’ve already read and do not spoil anything for those who are reading this book for the first time.

Continue reading Foundation and Empire, Group Read Part 1 →

(Cover for Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, image by Michael Whelan)

Last week we started a rousing, multi-site discussion of Isaac Asimov’s novel, Foundation, which demonstrated that over half a century after its original publication his galaxy-spanning story continues to spark conversation. Today we continue with the discussion covering the second half of Foundation. Please feel free to join in on the conversation regardless of whether you participated in this group read or not.

For my part, this return four years later to a novel I spent much of my life assuming would be too inaccessible to enjoy was a real pleasure. Although I recall the overall arc of events that occurs in the Foundation trilogy, it had been long enough that the specific story elements had alluded my memory and thus the series of vignettes felt fresh. Having just read a few Asimov novels and short story collections I am impressed with the fact that Asimov can tell sweeping, idea driven stories like Foundation and can also tell more intimate stories focused on more humanity-centered issues like he does in stories like The Currents of Space or the stories in I, Robot and that both types are equally effective.

When last we left the stories of the Foundation, Mayor Salvador Hardin was about to take an ill-advised trip to Anacreon, the place most-threatening to the Foundation. A lot happened on that trip and afterwards and it is that part of the story that we discuss below.

Continue reading Foundation Group Read, the Conclusion →