Marvis’s Comments (group member since Mar 22, 2011)

Marvis’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Robert Silverberg's short novel To Open The Sky, from a time - 1967 - when Venus still could have humans on its surface, and having psi-powers wasn't frowned upon.

So far been straying from the usual science fiction - or even traditional fantasy - this year:

#1 Jeff VanderMeer - Annihilation
Suspense horror with hints of weird in what is either a future setting or alternate reality.

#2 Brandon Sanderson - The Alloy of Law
Fantasy blended with western and detective in an early industrial (non-terrestrial) urban setting.

#3 Jasper Polane - Lege steden [Dutch]
Again fantasy in an urban, non-terrestrial - possibly alternate reality - setting: magic as science, technological resource.

Suggested reading if the idea of #3 (urban setting, magic influenced by technology and/or technology influenced by magic) appeals to you:
Walter Jon Williams - Metropolitan

My current job - the noble job of sorting trash from waste paper - has landed me the odd sci fi or fantasy title.
For books marked with an asterisk, I found a translated - into Dutch - edition.
Bold-printed titles I have already read. What say you of the ones I have not yet read?

Fantasy:
Covenants by Lorna Freeman
Dragonquest* by Anne McCaffrey
Perdido Street Station * by China Miéville
The Book of the Dead* by Tanith Lee
The Diviner by Melanie Rawn
The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid/The Golden Apple/Leviathan by Robert Shea and Robert A. Wilson
The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer

Science Fiction:
A Gift from Earth* by Larry Niven
Circuit Breaker by Melinda M. Snodgrass
De dag van Aldebaran by Felix Thijsen
Dune * by Frank Herbert
Makers by Cory Doctorow
The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen Donaldson
The Planet Explorer* by Murray Leinster
Wyst: Alastor 1716* by Jack Vance

Don't have that :-) Must be something you get when signing in from a phone or other portable device.

While I'm not sure what you're referring to with the barcode scanning thing... if you don't find a book on GoodReads by title or ISBN it might not exist on GoodReads yet. Not to worry: any GoodReads member can manually add books:

On all of your book shelves you'll find, at the top, a link "add books" which directs you to the search page, on the search page will be a link "manually add books" (you'll only need title and author to add a book, more info is of course preferable).

I'm reading Claire Corbett's debut When We Have Wings.

"In a world divided into fliers and non-fliers, how far would you go to be able to fly? How much would you sacrifice - perhaps your own child? A beautifully written and compellingly original novel of sacrifice, betrayal and love."

(Reading the back cover of the book of course made my mind instantly jump to that other book where some people can fly, (George. R.R. Martin's) Windhaven, but this book is not like that.)

Nick wrote: "Thernymous calls the first part of the book "the lengthy introduction" to the book -- but to me it was the most enjoyable part of the story. I think it's what made the story feel, as Robert says ab..."

I should have formatted that better, it may appear that the "lengthy intro" is in my dislikes. It isn't, I liked it. :-)

I read it some time ago.

I liked:
Some of the words trid (came of as a very natural way to refer to 3d content), miab, immer (from Dutch and German, meaning always; i.e. the immersers travel through eternity)
The aliens and their language (mindboggling, yes)

Was intrigued by:
The child rearing center with its "shift parents".
The Immer. Notably places being closer together, or farther apart, through the Immer than through space.)

Disliked:
The interplanetary politics.

The lengthy introduction to the protagonist's life didn't bother me as it did some.

Stefan wrote: "I've already sent messages to the winners with instructions on how to claim their prizes. If we don't hear back in 72 hours, the prize will go to a new winner."

Dang.. I did get the message about winning the prize, but didn't know I had to respond in a timely manner. So, did I forfeit the prize now? :-/