Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 23:20:57 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Has anyone read any good books lately?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 10:49 PM 3/24/05 -0500, Ernest Lilley wrote:
>I like a certain amount of the mundane in books. I'm sort of a fan of
>exposition too, handled right...as for food, my favorite parts of Nero Wolfe
>were the dining scenes.
>
>Ernest Lilley

I'm the exact opposite...I like the strange and wonderful in books (and
friends ;-) and if they leave out eating entirely, it's fine with me.

I like the "what if?" kinds of stories, like Niven's teleporter shorts, and
stories that explore potential future possibilities in a plausible way,
wether those possibilities are technological, sociological, psychological,
biological or cosmological.

I also like fantasy, especially if it mixes some reality in, as with the
Doomfarers of Cormond or The Wiz Biz.  The contrast of magic and technology
is fun and opens lots of new possibilities for mixtures.

If something is cleverly done I'll probably like it, as with David Drake's
Horatio Hornblower in space trilogy (Through the Breach, Fireships and
Igniting the Reaches) where he got the feel of old sailing ship stories
while still having it be with interstellar travel and feuding planets
rather than empires.

Drake doesn't live all that far away if I remember right (NC?)...any chance
of him being a GOH at some point?  Or did that happen while I was "away"?

-- Mike B.
--
Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it.