Ursula K LeGuin

 Imaginary Interviewer: What's up next?

Me: Well, we're going to go in a different direction. We're going to try a book where a prosperous planet and its resource poor Moon are in some level of conflict. This book will discuss economics and politics. It won the Hugo award and is considered one of the greats of the genre. This is Ursula K Leguin's 'The Dispossesed'. 

II: And what should we know about LeGuin? 

Me: She's one of the most highly respected authors in science fiction. LeGuin is also one of the 'breakout' authors, whose work was respected even outside of the genre. We read one of her books during the Humanities reread. That book was the wonderful 'Lathe of Heaven'. We will get back to her sometime further down the list with 'The Left Hand of Darkness'.

II: You made a contrast with her and 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'.

Me: Yes. I hadn't thought of it before but the two books are a wonderful compare and contrast. They both have similar settings in a large sense and a number of similar elements. But they are very different in tone and message. Heinlein is very libertarian and right of center in our current political climate. LeGuin is left of center. Wikipedia describes 'The Dispossesed' as an 'anarcho-utopia'. That's not an unfair description.

II: Is it good?

Me: I think so, yes. It's extremely well regarded. 'The Dispossesed' is an internal book, with discussion of feelings and emotions. (By this measure 'Moon' is obviously an 'external' book. That's another difference.) I hope you'll enjoy it!

Robert A Heinlein

 Imaginary Interviewer: Another month, another book. What are you reading next?

Me: We are finally getting to my very favorite author, Robert Heinlein. The book is 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'. And yes, I'm excited.

II: Tell me about Heinlein, please.

Me: Heinlein (RAH) is a very interesting cat. He was born in 1907, so he isn't modern. He served in the Navy, worked in left-wing politics in California and eventually started writing because it looked like an easy way to make money. RAH became very successful. With the use of pseudonyms, he was several of the most popular writers in science fiction during the late 30's and 40's.

II: Did that continue?

Me: Yes. He was often placed as a member of the Big Three, along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke. RAH won four Hugo awards for best novel. Three of them are on our list, but I want to say that the fourth one, 'Double Star', is a great read as well. He was popular, but also controversial.

II: Why is that? 

Me: The three books that we're reading all have strong appeal to different groups of people. 

• Starship Troopers (1959) - appeals to those within the military community
• Stranger in a Strange Land (1962) - made a huge impact on the hippie / "free love" communities
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1967) - beloved by libertarians

If you made a Venn diagram of those groups, you'd find very little overlap at all. Somehow RAH spoke to each of them.

II: And he's your favorite?

Me: Oh, yes! His writing is simply fantastic. You'll hear lots of people talk about his "voice" and I guess that's as good a way as ever to describe it. He is always interesting. Even when he's writing about philosophical things, he's difficult to dismiss. You can disagree with him, but you should at least engage! He frequently said that he wasn't trying to give people answers. He was trying to ask questions and hoped that his readers would do the work of trying to answer them.

II: Anything else we should know?

Me: Uh, yeah. I'll write a specific intro to 'Moon' as well. If I add that in here, it will be so long that no one will read the whole thing. Consider this your intro to Robert Heinlein.

Susanna Clarke

 Imaginary Interviewer: We're back! Year four already, which seems somehow impossible. What's up first?

Me: First up is Susanna Clarke's 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'. This is a book that I am totally unfamiliar with. I know that it won the Hugo award in 2004 but that's about it. 

II: Well. Do some research then.

Me: Fine. [opens up Wikipedia] It seems that this was Clarke's debut novel, which is very impressive. It says that she was working on the story for a decade or so before she collected everything into a novel. She has also written a number of short stories that take place in the same universe as JS&N. 

II: Anything else we should know?

Me: Sure. I started the book early because it's a big one. My copy is about 850 pages. I'm about half way through so I can tell you some things by direct knowledge. 

II: Okay, go ahead.

Me: This is a story that takes place in the early 1800s. Wikipedia describes it as an alternate history and that seems fair to me. It takes place while England is fighting Napoleon and it is about the emergence of a pair of magicians in England. Not theatrical magicians but men that are capable of changing the world with magic. 

II: Interesting. 

Me: It really is. The story is written in a 19th century style. I thought it reminded me of Dickens but Wikipedia tells me that it should also remind me of Jane Austen. Fair enough. 

II: Is it good?

Me: It's very good. I can see why it won a Hugo award. The characters are interesting. The writing has a light humor to it that it is *very* English. The plot continues to go in directions that I don't expect. I'm nearly halfway through and I literally have no idea how the story will continue. I highly recommend this book. 

Marion Zimmer Bradley

 Imaginary Interviewer: Another month, another book! What are you reading for June?

Me: Next up is 'The Mists of Avalon', a fantasy novel about the Arthurian story by Marion Zimmer Bradley. 

II: What can you tell us about it?

Me: To be completely honest, I knew nothing about this book before we started with the list. I'm not sure I'd ever heard of it before. If I saw it in a bookstore, I scanned past it. As I said, though, it's King Arthur time in Great Britain but told differently than before.

II: How so?

Me: It's told through the perspective of the various women in the story. This means that it is a feminist telling. (I'm sure this is true through one of the early waves of feminism but I'm not fluent enough in them to know if modern feminists care for the story.) But whatever the lens, it's incredibly good.

II: You hadn't read it before?

Me: No. I usually start the books early so that I can be prepared before the month starts. Because of the size of this one, I started earlier than usual. I have found the story to be engrossing and an absolute pleasure to read. But it is a big book. According to my spreadsheet, it's the sixth biggest one on the list. In addition to page count, I'm not finding it to be a fast read. But I don't want to push people away from it. This has been a great reading experience.

II: That's good. What do you know about the author?

Me: Um, this is usually the place where I talk about literary awards and the like but MZB has something that overshadows the boring biography bits. The timeline is something like this:

1983: 'Mists of Avalon' is published. Big success, lot of sales and a TV mini-series.

1999: MZB dies.

2014: MZB's daughter alleges child sex abuse and assistance in child sex abuse. The allegations seem credible. 

II: Wow!

Me: I know! Her daughter said that she didn't speak out earlier because she knew that her mom's work meant so much to so many women. I can completely understand that point. 

II: Will you still read her?

Me: I'm a strong believer in focusing on the art, not the artist. Despite the awful secret in her life, MZB has written a wonderful book. I hope everyone will give it a shot.

William Gibson

 Imaginary Interviewer: What's next on the list?

Me: A little book by William Gibson, name of 'Neuromancer'.

II: What should we know about it? 

Me: It was Gibson's first novel. It came out in 1984 and was something of a sensation. It won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. It also won the Philip K Dick award. 'Neuromancer' put "cyberpunk" on the map in a big way. 

II: What is "cyberpunk"?

Me: I think there are lots of definitions but the tone of the genre is something like "low status people living in a high tech world". Think of the movie 'Bladerunner' and the aesthetic it presented. In fact, according to Wikipedia, after Gibson saw the movie, he panicked because he was afraid people would think he had ripped it off. 

II: And it popularized cyberpunk?

Me: Well, it broke out of the normal boundaries of science fiction and gained mainstream acclaim. 'Neuromancer' is regularly listed as one of the best / most important books of the 20th century. If a magazine, like 'Time', does a top 100 list, it will be on it.

II: Have you read it before?

Me: Yes, I read it back in the 80's but didn't remember it. Then I read it again maybe 15 years ago and again didn't remember much about it. 

II: That's not exactly high praise. 

Me: No, I guess it's not. I feel like 'Neuromancer' deserves a lot of praise for the path that it showed but others have done better with the territory since. 

II: Is it worth reading? 

Me: Oh, very much so! I don't want to sound like I'm down on the novel. It *is* well done. Do read this.

 

Dan Simmons

 Imaginary Interviewer: What books is next on the list?

Me: Next up is 'Hyperion' by Dan Simmons. This was a Hugo winner in 1990. 

II: Have you read it?

Me: I have. This book was in prominent places in bookstores when I was growing up. I saw the cover many times but didn't read it until 10-15 years ago. It's a great book.

II: What can you tell us about it?

Me: It has a very interesting structure. It is put together much like Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'. Chaucer's work is notable because it features:

1) Stories told by people of very different positions in society. Each is labeled by the their profession.

2) Each story is different in tone and approach.

3) The stories, taken as a whole, give a broad picture of a full society.

Simmons uses them in this same exact way for 'Hyperion'. The stories are all very good and it does an exceptional job of world-building. 

II: So it's much like 'Canterbury Tales'? Would a reader need to be familiar with them before reading this? 

Me: No, not at all. (Though they are legitimately great and I want to broadly encourage people to read them.) 'Hyperion' is very different from 'Canterbury Tales' not least of all because it includes a Predator type being called the Shrike. (On the cover of the book, he is the spiky dude.) I won't say much about him, because I'll leave that to the book. But there is a blend of science fiction and horror in this book. 

II: What else do we need to know?

Me: Unfortunately, it matches 'The Canterbury Tales' in another way. It leaves the story unfinished. This is book one of a series. It sets up various mysteries but doesn't resolve them. I've read the next book, 'The Fall of Hyperion' but not the others. But it's still a great read! Well worth its spot on the list.

Anthony Burgess

Imaginary Interviewer: Welcome back from the month off. What book is next on the reading list? 

Me: Next up is 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess. I've seen the movie version, but have never read this before. 

II: What's it about?

Me: It's about juvenile delinquency and crime. It's about free will and, interestingly enough, a love of art.

II: Is the book good? 

Me: It's very well regarded. Well, now it is. It came out in 1962 to mixed reviews. Most of the glowing acclaim happened after the movie version in 1971. I think it's an open question as to whether or not it would have gotten on lists like this without Kubrick's film.

II: What else should we know?

Me: It's written in first person dialect and that takes some getting used to. In the introduction to the version that I read, it said that readers might find the first couple of chapters to be a challenge, but if you got through those then you'd have trouble putting the book down. I don't normally care for books written in a strong dialect but I adapted here. (I found myself thinking in "nadsat" terms while reading it.)

Also, this is a very violent book. It's casually violent in a way that I don't think we've approached yet. I mean, more violence happened in other books, like 'The Stand', but the first person approach here makes it seem like tearing other people up is just something that some people do as hobbies. 

II: What should we know about the author?

Me: I don't much about him past what's on his Wikipedia page. If other people here want to tell us about him, that would be great. 

II: Is the book worth reading?

Me: Oh yes. Very much so. 

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. 

Piers Anthony

 Imaginary Interviewer: And on to the next book. Who are we reading now?

Humble Writer: We're reading something by Piers Anthony. The selection is for the Xanth Series of books. The first one, which is our sole target, is called 'A Spell for Chameleon'. 

II: What should we know about Anthony?

HW: Prior to 1977 he had published a dozen or so books. In '77 he started the Xanth series and that's almost exclusively what he's been writing. Wikipedia has a quote where he says that this is all that his publishers have wanted from him. 

II: Does it constitute a lot of books?

HW: Oh yes. per Wikipedia there are now 46 books in the series with two more announced. 

II: 46?

HW: Yes. If each one is around 300 pages (a guess on my part), then the series is just short of 14,000 pages long. 

II: Wow. Any good?

HW: Well, I haven't read any of the Xanth books until this project. I've seen a huge number of them in used bookstores over the years, so I'm sure collecting a large number of them would be easy enough. So they're obviously very popular and have a dedicated fan base. That speaks to some level of quality. 

II: But what do you think?

HW: Having dipped my toe in only, I can tell you that I'm pretty pleased with what I've read. The Xanth region is one where (most) everyone has some level of magic. Anthony plays with this premise in a joyful way. He's obviously having fun with this writing and that makes the reading easier. 

II: Hard magic or soft magic?

HW: Oh, very much driven by rules so hard magic. 

II: Anything else we should know? 

HW: In the print edition, the book starts out with a map (as the best ones do.) The area for Xanth is clearly modeled after the state of Florida. I got a kick out of this and I'm sure Anthony did too. 

II: Recommended?

HW: Yes. At least try the first 100 or so pages. 

Terry Goodkind

 Imaginary Interviewer: It's that time again, or, well, actually a day late, but you know what we mean. Who are we reading for November?

Humble Writer: This month we're doing 'Wizard's First Rule' by Terry Goodkind. I winced when this book came up but I'm really enjoying it.

II: Why did you wince?

HW: I've got this book mentally tagged as a "3S" book. That stands for Swords, Sorcery and Series. This isn't my favorite genre. 

II: Why not? 

HW: It's the third S that gets me. 'Wizard's First Rule' is the first book in the 'Sword of Truth' series. According to Wikipedia the series spans 21 novels and 6 novellas. The first book is over 800 pages. The entire series is probably close to 20,000 pages. If you read 100 pages a day, this would take you nearly 7 months to read. That's a lot.

II: Have you read anything by Goodkind before this?

HW: I had not. I'm sure I saw the books in bookstores but they look very 3S so I avoided them. Looking at Wikipedia, I don't see much to his career outside of the 'Sword of Truth' books. Not that he needed a lot more than them. More than 25 million copies have been sold in the series and it's been translated into more than 20 languages. That alone is a pretty meaty career. 

II: And you're enjoying it?

HW: I am! My personal rule is to give a book at least 100 pages before giving up on it and I'm afraid that the 3S doorstops might hit that rule frequently. But I'm currently about 600 pages into 'Wizard's First Rule' and still going. The story is interesting, the writing is fine (if plain). What really gets me, though, are the characters. The main character is Richard Cypher and he's fascinating. Time and time again, the book puts him in a difficult position where he must untie some knotty problem and he keeps navigating them in surprising and virtuous ways! It's good stuff!

II: So you'd recommend it. 

HW: I very much would. I'd certainly try giving it 100 pages and see if it catches you.

II: And the rest of the series?

HW: Yeah, that's the rub. Absent someone paying me to do it, I can't envision what would compel me to happily commit to 20,000 pages. But the first one, at least, is good and worth your time!

Peter Beagle

 Imaginary Interviewer: Another month, another new book! What are we reading this time?

Humble Writer: We're reading 'The Last Unicorn' by Peter Beagle. 

II: Was a movie made from this book?

HW: Yes. I watched it recently on Tubi. The movie was also written by Beagle and stays very faithfully to the book.

II: What do you know about Beagle?

HW: Nothing, really. I remembered the title of the movie from the early 80s. That's all.

II: So, you haven't read 'The Last Unicorn' before?

HW: I haven't. I've started it already, though, and I can tell you that it's very good.

II: What else is Beagle known for?

HW: Scanning his Wikipedia page, I see some praise for a book called 'A Fine and Private Place' but I haven't heard of it before. Apparently he did some screenwriting for the Bakshi animated version of 'The Lord of the Rings' and did some writing for Star Trek:TNG. 

II: What can you tell us about 'The Last Unicorn'?

HW: It came out in 1968 and it feels absolutely like fantasy that was written in the 60s or 70s. By which I mean that it is clever and unexpected but not mean or cynical. It has some darkness and some joy. I recommend it.

II: Anything else?

HW: The book isn't that long. Only a couple of hundred pages. Pick it up and give it a try!

Salman Rushdie

 We're on to a new year in the Science Fiction/Fantasy reading. By request we're going to detour just a bit and read some Salman Rushdie. Given the horrific attack on him, this seems appropriate. 

Imaginary Interviewer: What should we know about Salman Rushdie?

Me: He's a very accomplished writer. That's the first thing you should know. His overall story is bigger than his writing, but we shouldn't let that overshadow his writing talent. 

II: And the overall story?

Me: In the late 80's he wrote 'The Satanic Verses'. Some people read parts of the book as an attack on Islam. A price was put on his head and some extremists wanted him dead. As a result, he went into hiding for many years. I'm not familiar enough with Islam to judge the anti-Islam criticism. I strongly feel that authors should be able to punish work that criticizes large subjects such as religion, sex, politics, etc. 

II: Have you read it?

Me: It was the first Rushdie that I read and it was some years back. My memory of it is favorable. 

II: Have you read any of his other books?

Me: Yes, six or eight of them. My favorite is 'Midnight's Children', which I've read three or four times. When it came out it was awarded the Booker Prize and then later judged as the best of the Booker Prize winners. 

II: And what are you reading this month?

Me: We're reading 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories'. It's a little easier than some of his other works and it's a pure fantasy novel, so it fits better with what we're reading. 

II: Anything you'd like to say about it?

Me: Sure. In some ways the book reminds me of 'The Phantom Tollbooth' where a young boy goes to a fantasy world and has to understand it in all of its allegorical wonder. The book is about stories and storytelling. It's about where stories come from and *most importantly* what threatens good storytelling. I highly recommend it. 

Neal Stephenson

 Imaginary Interviewer: What's the next book?

Humble Writer: It's a book by Neal Stephenson, 'The Diamond Age, or 'A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'. 

II: Have you read it before?

HW: Several times. It's one of my all time favorites. A genuine classic. This book won both the Hugo and Locus awards when it came out in 1995. 

II: What can you tell us about the author?

HW: Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite living authors. His writing is incredibly intelligent. As a reader, I often have to stop and think about the setting and circumstances that he has put together. He's a tremendous world-builder. His futuristic works seem very possible and his historical works feel like he understood the period better than those inside of it.

II: Historical works?

HW: I first came to Stephenson through a trilogy that he wrote called 'The Baroque Cycle'. The books take place in the late 1600s and early 1700s. They involve everything from the workings of England's natural philosophers, the beginnings of modern finance, cryptography, royal politics and a lovable rogue named Half Cocked Jack. I'm a huge fan. A word of caution though, each book is nearly 1000 pages. 

II: That's a lot. How big is 'The Diamond Age'?

HW: Only about 500 pages. My rule of thumb for books is that I give them 100 pages to hook me. If they fail in that span, then I set them down. I've easily passed that mark in all of Stephenson's works. 

II: Is Stephenson well regarded? 

HW: Uh yes, but he does have his detractors. His last few books have criticized both sides of the culture wars, which I'm guessing did not make him many friends. To go along with that, not everyone appreciates the doorstop size of his works. And to top all of that, several of his books end without a climax. The story stops at a point when it absolutely could have gone forward. This isn't a way to make fans happy. 

II: Anything else we should know?

HW: Yes. The man is an absolute master at writing info-dumps. These happen when an author needs to explain something to the reader. A new concept, a technology, a crucial bit of history, that kind of thing. Stephenson is better at this than virtually any other author that I know of. I've heard it said that reading a different book of his, 'Cryptonomicon', makes you the smartest person in your vicinity. There is something to that. I hope you enjoy 'The Diamond Age'!