#142. A FIRE UPON THE DEEP By Vernor Vinge

Published : 1991
Pages : 579
Overall Mark : 6/10

Millennia hence, an unknown force has partitioned space into ‘zones of thought’, which dictate a mind’s potential – from superintelligence in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths. When an ancient Transcendent artefact is used as a weapon, an awesome destructive power is unleashed. Fleeing this threat, a family of scientists is captured by an alien race with a harsh medieval culture. A rescue party is assembled to retrieve them – and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.

VERNOR VINGE (1944-)
Vernor Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, a computer scientist and science fiction author. He is best known for his two epic space operas A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) and A Deepness in the Sky (1999), both of which won the Hugo Award and were shortlisted for the Nebula. He is the winner of 5 Hugos, 4 Prometheus Awards and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, among many others.

VERDICT
Although I whizzed through this at a reasonable speed, and at no point was bored, I found it hard to understand what exactly was going on. I got the kidnapping parts and the dog creatures, and this was all fun and thoughtful, but the whole Blight attack felt like it went over my head and I didn’t really get to grips with it until close to the end of the book. Perhaps I hadn’t gotten into it at the beginning, and because of this I missed much of the important setup, but this didn’t stop me from enjoying the dramatic conclusion to an imaginative work.

#141. DYING OF THE LIGHT By George R R Martin

Published : 1977
Pages : 350
Overall Mark : 8/10

Dirk t’Larien has been summoned back to Worlorn, and a love he thinks he lost. But Worlorn is a dying world, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, a barbarian, and needs Dirk’s protection. He will do anything to keep her safe, but an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, making allies indistinguishable from enemies. In this dangerous triangle, one is hurtling toward escape, another toward revenge, and the last toward a brutal, untimely demise.

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN (1948-)
George R. R. Martin published his first story in 1971 and won four Hugo and two Nebula Awards in quick succession before turning his attention to fantasy. He has won every major award in the field and his bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series is redefining epic fantasy for a new generation, and is the basis for the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. He lives in New Mexico.

VERDICT
This was the first George R. R. Martin book I’d ever read, and also the first he wrote, and I was instantly drawn in by his characterisations. That being said, the plot of this story is almost non-existent, which shows what a fine writer he is to keep me engrossed in a story that amounts to nothing. He manages to create a world of characters who have their own cultures and diversity, and a story filled with love and hate on a world that is hurtling to its doom, yet it is the very idea that from the start we know the characters are dying that makes the tale as a whole so effective, and the events of the story so inconsequential.

#140. THE WIND’S TWELVE QUARTERS & THE COMPASS ROSE By Ursula K Le Guin

Published : 1975 & 1982
Pages : 561
Overall Mark : 8/10

Ursula K. Le Guin has been recognised for almost fifty years as one of the most important writers in the SF field – and beyond. These two collections bring together some of her finest short fiction, including Award-winners ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’, ‘The Day Before the Revolution’. ‘Sur’ and the Hugo-nominated ‘Winter’s King’, which gave readers their first glimpse of the world later made famous in her Hugo- and Nebula-winning masterpiece The Left Hand of Darkness.

URSULA K. LE GUIN (1929-)
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the finest writers of our time. Her books have attracted millions of devoted readers and won many awards, including the National Book Award, the Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honour. Among her novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and the six books of Earthsea have already attained undisputed classic status. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

VERDICT
THE WIND’S TWELVE QUARTERS
The majority of the stories in this collection are easily worthy of five stars and well worth reading, but there are a handful that simply aren't very good. Fans of Earthsea and The Hainish Cycle will enjoy some of the short stories related to the series, and even those unfamiliar with them should get some enjoyment out of them.

THE COMPASS ROSE
This could have been a five star collection if not for one or two subpar stories. The remainder are so imaginative and take the reader on a short journey of wonder that differs between pages at such a varying rate it just goes to prove what an imagination Le Guin truly has.

#139. NIGHT LAMP By Jack Vance

Published : 1996
Pages : 380
Overall Mark : 8/10

Jaro Fath’s past is lost – and his future is in peril.

Found as a child with no memory of his past, adopted by a scholarly couple who raise him as their own, Jaro never quite fit into the rigidly defined society of Thanet. When his foster parents are killed in am mysterious bombing, Jaro Fath sets out to discover the truth of his origins – a quest that will take him across light years and into the depths of the past...

JACK VANCE (1916-2013)
Jack Vance served in the merchant navy during World War II. He published his first story in 1945 and his first major work, The Dying Earth, in 1950. He has won the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards, among others, and in 1997 was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

VERDICT
Vance takes what could have been a simple story of revenge and twists it into a satirical look at how society compartmentalises people into strict groups that they can never escape from. The characterisation of Jaro is fun, and the supporting characters expertly assist him through his journey to discover what happened to his family and, indeed, who they were. Filled with witty rejoinders and sideways looks at the world, this is an entertaining and multi-layered read.

#138. HARD TO BE A GOD By Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Published : 1964
Pages : 231
Overall Mark : 6/10

Anton is an undercover operative from future Earth, who travels to an alien world whose culture has not progressed beyond the Middle Ages. Although in possession of far more advanced knowledge than the society around him, he is forbidden to interfere with the natural progress of history. His place is to observe rather than interfere – but can he remain aloof in the face of so much cruelty and injustice...?

ARKADY STRUGATSKY (1925-1991)
BORIS STRUGATSKY (1931-2012)
The Strugatsky brothers began to collaborate in the early 1950s. Arkady worked as a technical translator and editor, and Boris was a computer mathematician at Pulkova astronomical observatory. Their work includes Hard To Be A God, Definitely Maybe, The Snail On The Slope and Monday Starts On Saturday. Andrei Tarkovsky's much admired film, Stalker, was based on their most famous work, Roadside Picnic.

VERDICT
This story is a fun concept, and I like the idea of a story about humans observing aliens whilst disguising themselves to fit in with their society, but at times this element of the story was so subtle I almost completely missed it. The characters are both dark and fun, and some of the scenes made me laugh out loud (the sex scene in particular), but it's possible that many of the subtleties have gotten lost in translation somewhere along the line, which is a real shame.

#137. THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST By Ursula K Le Guin

Published : 1976
Pages : 128
Overall Mark : 7/10

When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, they find themselves forced into servitude, at the mercy of their brutal masters. Eventually, desperation causes them to abandon their strictures against violence and rebel against their captors. But in doing so, they have endangered the very foundation of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.

URSULA K. LE GUIN (1929-)
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the finest writers of our time. Her books have attracted millions of devoted readers and won many awards, including the National Book Award, the Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honour. Among her novels The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and the six books of Earthsea have already attained undisputed classic status. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

VERDICT
Le Guin is an expert when it comes to turns of phrase, and this short book is filled with wonderful examples of her expertise. It is interesting to make comparisons between the treatment of the aliens in this book and the treatment of the Vietnamese people, as this book first came to light during the Vietnam War. The story starts off slowly, but gets much better towards the end of the book. Fans of James Cameron’s Avatar may be interested in reading this, as many comparisons can be made between the two.

#136. HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER By James Tiptree Jr

Published : 1990
Pages : 508
Overall Mark : 8/10

For a decade Alice Sheldon produced an extraordinary body of work under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr, until her identity was exposed in 1977. This volume presents the finest of these stories and contains the Nebula Award-winning 'Love Is the Plan, The Plan Is Death'. Hugo Award-winning novella 'The Girl Who Was Plugged In', 'Houston, Houston, Do You Read?' – winner of both the Hugo and Nebula – and, of course, the story for which she is best known: 'The Woman Men Don’t See'.

JAMES TIPTREE JR (1915-1987)
One of science fiction’s most important feminist voices, Alice Sheldon wrote most of her fiction as James Tiptree, Jr – making a point about sexist assumptions and also keeping her US government employers from knowing her business. Most of her books are collections of short stories, of which Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is considered to be her best. She died tragically in 1987.

VERDICT
It's incredibly difficult to judge a short story collection, as some stories will be great and others will be weak. On the whole the bulk of this collection is enjoyable, mainly due to the fact that the standout stories for me, 'A Momentary Taste of Being' and 'Houston, Houston, Do You Read?' are also two of the longest, though the subject matter for many of the stories are incredibly similar, focussing on sexuality more often than not. The stories towards the end of the book are probably the weakest, and it's sad when a collection actually becomes less enjoyable as you progress, but by no means let me put you off reading this thoroughly fascinating collection.