[bookshare-discuss] Re: Next Meeting of the Science Fiction Club, Thursday, August 12, 2010
- From: Lelia Struve <leliastruve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:47:27 -0400
hey all, ok here is my reminder, will send another one probably Monday
Original message:
Hi Folks,
We had a good turnout last night at the Science Fiction club meeting,
with most of us liking the book we read, Coyote by Alan M. Steele..
The next meeting will be on Thursday, August 12, 2010.
Place: Book Nook at
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e
<http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e>
Time: 9 PM Eastern, 8 Central, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific.
The book we're reading this month is A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor
Vinge, available from both Bookshare and from the BARD site.
You can get the Bookshare version at:
http://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/34431?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9rZXl3b3JkPSZxdW90O2EgZmlyZSB1cG9uIHRoZSBkZWVwJnF1b3Q7Jg%3D%3D
<http://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/34431?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9rZXl3b3JkPSZxdW90O2EgZmlyZSB1cG9uIHRoZSBkZWVwJnF1b3Q7Jg%3D%3D>
The link to the book on the BARD site is at:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.35758 <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.35758>
Here is the long synopsis from Bookshare's copy, taken from the book jacket.
"Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit the far reaches of space,
from the Transcend where dwell superintelligent entities to the
Unthinking Depths where only simple creatures and technologies can
function. These "regions of thought" are a mystery, but when scientists
in the Straumli Realm discover and release an ancient Transcendent
artifact, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys
thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial
intelligence. Only a single ship escapes, aboard it a family of
scientists with their two children. When they land
on a planet in the Slowness the parents are killed and the children
taken captive by the Tines: aliens of a medieval society locked in a
bitter power struggle. The fate of races, worlds -- interstellar
civilization -- depends on a rescue mounted
by a crew of humans and aliens that is racing toward Tinesworld -- and
a Countermeasure
that, if they can trigger in time, may stop the Blight that will
otherwise bring a new dark age to the galaxy."
Here are a couple editorial reviews from Amazon.
Amazon.com Review
In this Hugo-winning 1991 SF novel, Vernor Vinge gives us a wild new
cosmology, a galaxy-spanning "Net of a Million Lies," some finely
imagined aliens, and much nail-biting suspense. Faster-than-light
travel remains impossible near Earth, deep in the galaxy's Slow
Zone--but physical laws relax in the surrounding Beyond. Outside that
again is the Transcend, full of unguessable, godlike "Powers." When
human meddling wakes an old Power, the Blight, this spreads like a
wildfire mind virus that turns whole civilizations into its unthinking
tools. And the half-mythical Countermeasure, if it exists, is lost with
two human children on primitive Tines World. Serious complications
follow. One paranoid alien alliance blames humanity for the Blight and
launches a genocidal strike. Pham Nuwen, the man who knows about
Countermeasure, escapes this ruin in the spacecraft
Out of Band--heading for more violence and treachery, with 500 warships
soon in hot pursuit. On his destination world, the fascinating Tines
are intelligent only in combination: named "individuals" are small
packs of the doglike aliens. Primitive doesn't mean stupid, and opposed
Tine leaders wheedle the young castaways for information about guns and
radios. Low-tech war looms, with elaborately nested betrayals and schemes
to seize Out of Band if it ever arrives. The tension becomes extreme...
while half the Beyond debates the issues on galactic Usenet.
Vinge's climax is suitably mindboggling. This epic combines the flash
and dazzle of old-style space opera with modern, polished thoughtfulness.
From Publishers Weekly
It has been six years since Vinge's last book ( Marooned in Realtime ),
but the wait proves worthwhile in this stimulating tale filled with
ideas, action and likable, believable characters, both alien and human.
Vinge presents a galaxy divided into Zones--regions where different
physical constraints allow very different technological and mental
possibilities. Earth remains in the "Slowness" zone, where nothing can
travel faster than light and minds are fairly limited. The action of
the book is in the "Beyond," where translight travel and other marvels
exist, and humans are one of many intelligent species. One human colony
has been experimenting with ancient technology in order to find a path
to the "Transcend," where intelligence and power are so great as to
seem godlike. Instead they release the Blight, an evil power, from a
billion-year captivity. As the Blight begins to spread, a few humans
flee with a secret that might destroy it, but they are stranded in a
primitive low-tech world barely in the Beyond. While the Blight
destroys whole races and star systems, a team of two humans and two
aliens races to rescue the others, pursued by the Blight's
agents and other enemies. With uninterrupted pacing, suspense without
contrivance, and deftly drawn aliens who can be pleasantly comical
without becoming cute, Vinge offers heart-pounding, mind-expanding
science fiction at its best.
This is one of my personal all time favorites, and I am eagerly looking
forward to reading it again this summer. It has everything a great
Science Fiction novel should have and more: well drawn characters, both
human and alien, a very well worked out alien race, vast scope, plenty
of action and suspense, a scarier villain would be very hard to
imagine, and sense of wonder galore. Hope lots of you can check it out
and come to the August meeting to talk about it.
Evan
--
Lelia
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