The last dangerous visions by Harlan Ellison (2024)

Some of these stories are good; none of them is as "dangerous" or controversial as the critics claim. 3/5 Stars.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton (2024)

It's really wonderful that Peter F Hamilton is writing such fun space opera.  I enjoyed this story. 5/5 Stars.

Into the light by David Weber & Chris Kennedy (2021)

This second book in the series provides a much-needed enhancement to the magic system with the introduction of more awe-and-wonder background mysteries. The characters, events, combat are not that great and the book spent too much time on poorly-written inconsequential details. 2/5 Stars.  I shall finish the series but I am disappointed.

A short stay in hell by Steven L. Peck (2012)

My youngest daughter told me to read this one, so I dropped what I was reading and read it in two days (it's short).  I claim to understand Georg Cantor's infinite orders of infinity and I also claim to understand the set theoretical difference between finite and infinite. I normally don't consider subjectively what it is like to live for a googolplex of years, before going on to a different existence for eternity.  This novella goes into enormous detail of one such experience.  I was obsessed with the story's concepts and even dreamed about the events in the story for a few days after reading it. The writing is not particularly good, but the ideas are well presented. 5/5 Stars.

Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson (2011)

The rich characters in this two-book story are well-developed and compelling. I also like the inscrutable awe-and-wonder magical forces and slow reveal towards the end of the story and the epilogue that wraps everything up with the cosmological end of time of our universe. 5/5 Stars.

Reentry by Eric Berger (2024)

I read Eric's articles and weekly column in Ars Technica. So I had low expectations that much new material would be in his book.  I was therefore thrilled that everything in the book was never published before.  The details of the people and events at SpaceX (not Elon), at Nasa, Spaceforce, and US regulatory bureaucracies are exciting and enlightening.  There are many deep biographical sketches of the real heroes behind the company and their successes. The book is gripping, well-written, extremely interesting for any space nerd, and highly recommended. 5/5 Stars.

Out of the Dark by David Weber (2010)

The story starts out as a standard alien invasion archetypal structure with the usual tropes of the scrappy preppers, the hero's journey, and interesting space aliens. The magic system is a typical David Weber galactic space travel until the end that I did not enjoy.  The ending and abrupt change to the magic system ruins the world building. 2/5 Stars.

Live Suit by James S.A. Corey (Ty Franck & Daniel Abraham) (2024)

I enjoy when successful authors publish  the writing exercises and cutting-room scraps that were left behind when publishing a series of books.  I remember trying to write in the early 1980s and going through an exercise to figure out how one of my characters should react to some event in my story; I wrote a short vignette about her from 10 years in her past to flesh out her personality and sensibilities so that I could understand her well enough to write the section of the story I was working on.  The expanse authors have published some of their writing that was cut from the expanse series and this short novella appears to be another writing exercise or snippet that was cut from their new series.  It's a great stand-alone story. 5/5 Stars.

Deception - The Great Covid Cover-Up by Rand Paul (2023)

The Wuhan Lab's "gain of function," including cover-ups, deception, and the people behind the odd lockdown policies are brightly illuminated in this interesting book.  The silly politics are distracting and boring, but the information about the corruption, censorship, and the conflicts of interest within government funding agencies and EcoHealth Alliance are very good.  4/5 Stars.

Raft by Stephen Baxter (1991)

I am very interested in the Xeelee sequence of books. This first book is an expanded short story with an interesting alternative universe that has a huge gravitational constant. The book is not good. I did not like any of the characters, and the gratuitous deprivations served no purpose. 2/5 Stars.