Connie Willis

 Imaginary Interviewer: What's next on the list?

Me: Oh, it's a good one. This is 'Doomsday Book', by Connie Willis. 

II: What's it about?

Me: It's a time travel book. It's set in the near future when time travel has been created but is only used for research purposes by Oxford University. Historians travel back so that they can blend in with earlier eras and report on how people lived back then. In this book, a young woman travels to England in the 1300's, a rough time to be sure. Unfortunately for her, an epidemic has hit her modern time and everything is bad. 

II: Has she written other books?

Me: Yes. Several. The first thing I read from her was the pair of books, 'Blackout' and 'All Clear', which tells of historians going to the Blitz of London. She has written short stories and other novels that also work from this same framework. 

II: Is it a series?

Me: Not really. Or, if you want to call it that, then it's a very loose series. There are recurring characters, especially the professor Dunworthy. But each piece of it reads independently. You don't need to have read earlier works. Having said that, 'Doomsday Book' is the first novel in this "series", so if you're interested, you can just look at the publishing timeline and take them in order. The novels have all won Hugo and Locus Awards. Two of the three won the Nebula awards. These are all very good works.

II: What else should we know?

Me: 'Doomsday Book' was written in the early 90's. It's set in 2050 (I think) but it isn't quite a future that is realistic to us. There are no cell phones and the internet is not around, or at least is much more limited than it would be to us. When you watch old sit-coms set in the 80's and 90's, many of the plot problems could be solved if everyone had smart-phones. This has that same limitation. So think of it as an alternate history, if that bothers you.

II: Anything else?

Me: It has wonderful humor. Not as in your face as Adams or Pratchett but subtle and continuous. I read this with a smile on my face. Having said that, the book works as a thriller. Problems mount and you'll want to see how (and if!) they are resolved. 

II: What about the author?

Me: Connie Willis is hugely acclaimed. Wikipedia says that she has won more major SF awards than any other author. This includes 11 Hugos and 7 Nebulas. She's an excellent writer. 

Kurt Vonnegut

 Imaginary Interviewer: What book are you tackling next?

Me: Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughter-house Five'.

II: Have you read this before?

Me: Yes, but only once and that was only a few years ago.

II: What did you think?

Me: Vonnegut has a wonderful writing style. A great "voice", if you will. It's easy to read one page and then another and so on. This book is a fairly quick read.

II: What should we know about him?

Me: I'd say that Vonnegut is one of the more 'literary' authors on our list. At least, he's one of the authors that most literary readers would have read. He's a science fiction writer, I guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if most bookstores had him in their general fiction category. Several of his novels were nominated for Hugo awards, including S-5, and he was put into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2015. One of his other books, 'Cat's Cradle' is also on our list.

II: What's 'Slaughter-House Five' about?

Me: At it's heart, the book is about the fire-bombing of Dresden late in World War II. Vonnegut was a POW in Dresden and lived through the ordeal. This part of S-5 is auto-biographical or at least semi-autobiographical. The whole experience was wildly traumatic and this novel is in part his way of working through that trauma. 

II: Is it an anti-war book?

Me: It's listed that way and many people have taken it that way. I think that's a reasonable take but...it's also more complicated than that. The science fiction element of the book casts it all in a strange light and I'm not sure exactly what message to take from it. I can easily say that it isn't a pro-war book, but I think treating it as a binary operation isn't quite right.

II: Do you recommend it?

Me: Yes, very much so.

Raymond Feist"

 II: Who is next on the booklist?

Me: Next up is Raymond Feist and the Riftwar Cycle.

II: Is this an author that you know?

Me: No. To be completely honest, I'd never heard of him or the series before this booklist.

II: What should we know?

Me: The first book came out in 1982. It was later republished in two parts in 1986. The first book, the one that we are working with is called 'Magician: Apprentice'. This launched what is now known as the 'Riftwar Cycle'. Wikipedia lists 30 books in the series as well as some short stories. This is absolutely a 3S work.

II: Remind us what 3S means, please.

Me: It stands for Swords, Sorcery and Series. It's my own mental tagging of a genre of books. 

II: One of your favorites?

Me: Uh, not really. It's something that I've avoided in the past but I've been mostly pleased with the 3S books that we've read so far. 

II: Anything we should know about the series?

Me: Wikipedia says "Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds." Beyond that, I couldn't tell you anything.

Stephen King

Imaginary Interviewer: Who's next on your list?

Me: Stephen King and, what might be his masterpiece, 'The Stand'.

II: And for those who don't know Mr King, what should they know?

Me: I don't know who that would be. King is one of the most famous authors of the 20th century. He's well known as a horror writer. Also, he writes a crazy amount of material. Per Wikipedia, he has published more than 65 novels/novellas and more than 200 short stories. The only author on our list who can compete with that is Isaac Asimov.

II: Is he good?

Me: I think he's very good. His stories can be described as "gripping". As in, "I picked up this 500 page book yesterday and I'm nearly done with it now", gripping. 

II: And this book? 

Me: 'The Stand' is considered by many to be his masterpiece. In it, an experimental super-flu has created a lethal pandemic. It causes a fatality rate of something like 99.6% of all that catch it. As it spreads, there is a complete breakdown of the social order. This leads to an epic contest between good and evil. 

II: Have you read many of his other works?

Me: Yeah, a couple dozen of them. Some of my favorites are 'Misery', 'Eye of the Dragon' and 'The Long Walk'. I also love the novellas that became the movies 'The Stand' and 'Shawshank Redemption'.  I'm not a completest by any stretch, but I'm a big fan of his work.  

Richard Matheson

 II: And what's next on the reading list?

Me: For July, we are reading Richard Matheson's 'I Am Legend'. 

II: And what can you tell us about him?

Me: Without looking him up, very little, actually. Let's see... [opens Wikipedia] ...it seems that he was very successful at writing things that would be easily adapted for TV and the movies. The man wrote for The Twilight Zone (natch) and had 11 different stories go on to become motion pictures. The story that we're reading, 'I Am Legend' has three different adaptations alone.

II: Three?

Me: Yes. The most recent is a 2004 movie by Will Smith but earlier there was 'The Last Man on Earth' and Charlton Heston's 'Omega Man'. I've only seen the most recent, but they all sound similar to each other. The basic premise is something like 'what if all of society disappeared except for one man who was facing a threat'. 

II: Is that how you'd describe 'I Am Legend'? 

Me: At its most basic, yes. The man, named Robert Neville, is all alone during the day. At night he is besieged by vampires. It's a horrible situation, of course, but it really is interesting how he spends his days. He has provisions and has to keep his small fortress safe. So his days must be productive or he risks his life. 

II: Sounds lonely.

Me: Oh, terribly lonely. I think that the 2004 movie represents the main themes of the book pretty well. It moves the action from California to New York City but that's a rather small detail. 

II: Had you read this before?

Me: No. I knew of the movie but had no idea it was based on a book. I'd never heard of Matheson before this. Now that I've read it, I can highly recommend it. A very good read!

Philip K Dick

 Another month, another author! For June we are doing 'Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep' by Philip K Dick. 

II: What should we know about him? 

He was a master of what is often called 'paranoid fiction'. This book, 'Androids', fits that bill perfectly. The main character is quickly thrown into a situation where he comes to doubt everyone around him. He doesn't know who to believe. He may not even be able to believe his own memories. It's very much a head trip.

This book is also interesting because it is one of a small number of books that are less famous than the movies that they inspired. 'Bladerunner' came out in 1982 and quickly became a legend in sci-fi circles. 'Androids' had come out 14 years earlier. It received a Hugo nomination but didn't really become part of the larger social consciousnesses. 

II: Have you read much of his other works?

Prior to this, my only experience was reading 'The Man in the High Castle', which won the Hugo award in 1962. It's an alternate history of the world where the Nazis and Japan have won World War II. The book is interesting in part because Dick used the I Ching to guide the plot of the book. 

II: That was also adapted, right?

Yes. Amazon had a series of that a few years back. I didn't watch it but I gather it was popular. Dick is also responsible for the stories that inspired the movies 'Total Recall' and 'Minority Report'. These movies (and 'Bladerunner') all have a similar element of distrust in reality and authority. 

II: Anything else?

This is my first reading of 'Androids' and it's really good! The story has a lot of heat to it. We can see that Deckard is in a crazy difficult situation and it's hard not to empathize with him. I'd only known the movie before this and I can tell you, knowing how the movie goes is no help in figuring out where the book will go. Highly recommended. 

Neil Gaiman

 What's the next book?

For April, we're reading 'Stardust', by Neil Gaiman. 

Is he any good?

He's *incredibly* good. 

Okay, tell me about him.

Gaiman got his breakthrough with comic books. He wrote 'The Sandman' series (#29 on the NPR list) for DC comics. His writing attracted lots of good attention for its balance of humor and clever plotting. He co-wrote a book with Terry Pratchett (who wrote 'Small Gods' and the discworld series). This book is 'Good Omens' and Amazon has made a mini series of it. 

Has he done other works that have been made into TV and movies?

Oh, yes. 'Stardust', the book we're reading now, was published in 1999 and made into a movie in 2007. Everything that we're reading of his has been adapted into either movie or TV form. In addition, he's been a prolific guest writer for different series. He is well loved by the media and fans. The list of awards on his Wikipedia page requires you to scroll down a couple of times to get it all in. 

Do you have a favorite of his?

The very first Gaiman work that I read was 'American Gods' (#10 on the NPR list). It's fantastic. Just superb writing. I've since read half a dozen of his other works and enjoyed them all. I picked up 'Stardust' a couple of months ago when I had a gap in my reading schedule and finished it in about three days. As soon as I was done I wanted to put it in other people's hands so they could read it too. 

What can you say about it?

It's a fairy tale story, told in a fairy tale style. I've seen it described as a 'hot' story, in the same way that 'The Princess Bride' is and I think that's fair. While I don't think it would be bad to put this in the hands of a young reader, it's meant for adults. I don't want to get into details, because I don't want to spoil anything but I'll say that it's a lot of fun and I enjoyed it immensely. 

Terry Pratchett

 Imaginary Interviewer: What's up next for the reading list?

Me: Next up is 'Small Gods' by Terry Pratchett. 

II: What should we know about Pratchett? 

Me: Well, he's best known for the Discworld series. He published a couple of books a year and (per Wikipedia) the UK's best selling author of the 90's. The Discworld series consists of 41 different novels, of which our book, 'Small Gods' is one of them. 

II: Tell me about the Discworld. 

Me: Discworld is a flat earth style planet. It is on the back of a gigantic, cosmic turtle. It is a world with different lands and different cultures. Magic works there and gods exist. Also, the personification of Death appears in most every story, including this one. 

II: Is it a 3S book?

Me: It most certainly is. 3S (for any that don't know) stands for Swords Sorcery and Series. The Discworld books fit all three qualifications. On the plus side, my understanding is that most of the books can be read by themselves. In other words you can dip in and out and not feel like picking one up commits you to the other 40 titles. 

II: Have you read any others in the series? 

Me: A very long time ago I read 'Mort', which deals with Death. I don't remember any of the specifics but I enjoyed it. I also read 'Good Omens' which isn't a Discworld book but was written by Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Enjoyed that as well. 

II: How would you describe the style?

Me: Pratchett is a very witty writer. Not quite on Douglas Adams' level but close. You'll frequently crack a smile while reading his books and might laugh out loud a couple of times. One other thing you should know, he doesn't write in traditional chapters. If you say to yourself "I'll just finish this chapter up", you'll be there until the end of the book. In short, enjoyable and hard to put down.