Aftermath: Expeditionary Force 16 by Craig Alanson (2023)

Fantastic resurrection to this fun series.  Hilarious, mindless entertainment. 5/5 Stars

starter villain by John Scalzi (2023)

The author suffered terribly from the lockdowns in 2020 and his writing suffered.  This book is not among his best work but it is still very good. The dialog and characters are fun but the plot is a little discombobulated, 4/5 Stars.

Discovery by B. V. Larson (2023)

I probably would have enjoyed this book in 1963 but my tastes have changed.  2/5 Stars, not good.

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023)

Drop what you are doing and read this book.  It is the best murderbot book yet. 5/5 Stars. If the judges have teenaged children Martha Wells will win all of the awards again for this one.

Redshirts: A novel with three Codas by John Scalzi (2012)

Funny, clever, fourth-wall breaking book that becomes "meta" as bizarre metaphysical paradoxes intermingle.  Fun stories, good characters, very entertaining, 5/5 Stars.

Going Dark by Linda Nagata (2015)

I enjoyed the ending of this trilogy, despite all of the ambiguity and continued mystery of "The Red." It is a good story.  I hope Ms. Nagata picks up the story line and writes more stories or books in this world (after she recovers from the fires in Maui, of course).

The Trials by Linda Nagata (2015)

The ongoing story has some more interesting twists, as more clues emerge about the mysterious awe-and-wonder AI ("The Red").  Melodramatic, fun. 5/5 Stars.

The Coming by Joe Haldeman (2001)

In some ways Joe Haldeman correctly predicted a global reaction to first extraterrestrial contact, as military leaders and fearful politicians react with "It's a threat! Destroy it!" As they did in 2022 with Chinese surveillance balloons and several unidentified smaller objects.  In other ways, Haldeman's predictions are completely wrong and very odd.  The EU in a civil war?  Cuba emerging as a significant economic power?  Really?  The story is interesting; the characters are great but this book is not among the best Haldeman stories; 3/5 Stars.

The Far Reaches Collection by various authors (2023)

Most of the stories in this collection are good; recommended. 4/5 Stars.

Maître du monde de Jules Verne (1904)

I used to read more French books and I am a fan of Jules Verne.  It takes me a while to get back into the language but Verne's vocabulary and style are not hard.  The story is interesting because of the Trillion dollar Tech giants today and the rise of leaders such as Putin. I do not recommend the book. 3/5 Stars.

The Apocalypse Troll by David Weber (1998)

I enjoyed the Honor Harrington series; so I sometimes dip into David Weber's other books.  This one was fun, 3/5 Stars.

The Red by Linda Nagata (2015)

The plot and mystery are well-executed.  And the characters are wonderful.  The characterization of political power, relative military capabilities, and oligarchical powers is not very believable, unfortunately.  But the good writing enabled me to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story. 4/5 Stars.  I'll read the rest of the series now.

Star Trek Strange New Worlds

Best-ever Star Trek episode, ever. 5/5 Stars. Watch the series.

Behind the Throne by K B Wagers (2016)

I don't remember how this book appeared in my queue.  The setting, politics, and characters are interesting, but I really didn't care about them so I was never drawn in to the politics. 3/5 Stars.

Never Shall I Fail by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole (2022)

I am enjoying the series and look forward to each new volume; I particularly liked the ending of this book, 5/5 Stars.

Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf (2019)

I am always hunting for good, hard science fiction space opera and this series received good reviews.  The celestial mechanics are all wrong and the magic system is inconsistent. The odd power struggles & tension among the crew are inconsistent and unmotivated. The plot is interesting. 2/5 Stars.

Freefall (Expeditionary Force Mavericks) #2 by Craig Alanson

Fun story; next time I start a series I shall read the books in publication order. 4/5 Stars.

Death Trap by Craig Alanson (2019)

Taking a break from deep, dense fact books that are popping up in my stack, I took a break with some light reading and went back to read the last two Craig Alanson books in his "Expeditionary Force" universe.  I think one should read them in publication order because the last two books in the main "Expeditionary Force" series have some spoilers and assume you have read these two "Mavericks" books.  But this one was still fun; the characters and dialogue are in many ways funnier than the main series. 4/5 Stars. Entertaining.

Where the Ships Die by William C Dietz (2014)

I was looking for the 1996 book and got this one.  This 2014 book is terrible. 1/5 Stars.

Stones of Significance by David Brin (1998)

My former-neighbor, the physicist and science fiction author David Brin has published a lot of prescient fiction and futurism essays that have eerily anticipated geopolitics, society, and scientific discoveries.  In this short story, that I first read in 1998 in Analog magazine, the author looks at layers of post-singularity human + AI hybrid entities and their approaches to the metaphysics of their own existence. I revisited the story because, as the author points out, it is very relevant to our discussions of AI regulation.  The story is short and a lot of fun, 5/5 Stars.