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- alan dean foster
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- banned books week
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- nietzsche
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- olaf stapledon
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- philip jose farmer
- philip k dick
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- poul anderson
- primer
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- quarry
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Tag Archives: drugs
The Sheep Look Up, by John Brunner
Not long ago I sang the praises of John Brunner’s large SF novel Stand on Zanzibar, which has maintained a reputation over the years as a classic of dystopian literature. It constructed a detailed world from many speculations about social, political … Continue reading
“The Purple Pileus” by H.G. Wells
A lot of good, even classic, science fiction stories are currently available for free as HTML, PDF or some e-reader format. I decided to feature some of these “freebee” pieces on a semi-regular basis this year. Recently, I was trading … Continue reading
So Nude, So Dead, by Ed McBain
Waking up hung over and next to a naked corpse is not a unique way to begin life as a crime novel protagonist — the premise that begins Ed McBain’s 1952 So Nude, So Dead also started off the Lawrence Block … Continue reading
Slide, by Ken Bruen & Jason Starr
The Ken Bruen and Jason Starr collaboration Bust was at once bizarre and vulgar, but it was a fun read and turned out to be more enjoyable than I expected it to be. That was mostly due to its surprisingly … Continue reading
Now Wait For Last Year, by Philip K. Dick
Fascism should more appropriately called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. – Mussolini Now Wait For Last Year was first published in 1966, and the original manuscript was written about 1962, putting it in the … Continue reading
Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert
Years ago I had a habit of starting well-known philosophy books but not getting anywhere close to finishing them. These included Nietzsche’s famous work Thus Spoke Zarathustra, his mock scripture describing the pronouncements of a fictional prophet.* This was Nietzsche’s … Continue reading
When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger
Science fiction and crime fiction are two genres with largely different traditional audiences, although there are many of examples of writers that have crossed the boundary between them. Asimov, Vance, Silverberg and Moorcock are all giants of SF who have … Continue reading
Posted in books, crime fiction, science fiction
Tagged cyberpunk, drugs, george alec effinger
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A Diet of Treacle by Lawrence Block
For the most part, reading the early books of famed crime writer Lawrence Block have been low-risk, entertaining tasks. I often see prototypes of characters later written into the Matthew Scudder series, but the plots have been consistently clear and … Continue reading
A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick
A Scanner Darkly, a 1977 novel by Philip K. Dick is reviewed. I focus on the theme of self-awareness and intellect. Continue reading