That was some HARD Science fiction!

I just finished Gregory Benford's 1980 Nebula Winner Timescape. I will review it over at Jupiter Three, but let me just say, it definitely qualifies as Hard Sci Fi.

The author is a physicist, and his handling of the physics of time and space was deep enough to boggle my mind. OK, maybe not a stretch, but still.

The end of the copy I have has an excellent essay by Susan Stone Blackburn entitled Science Meets Literature, which I found to be just as interesting as the book. The essay was published in 1988, and helped me to understand the book after I read it. (Warning - the essay includes spoilers, so don't read it first, no matter how helpful it would be!)

Enough said here; but if you are looking for a good example of Hard Science Fiction, this is an excellent sample!

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It's in the Air

OK, so my year of Sci Fi only is over, with only minor transgressions along the way. As I was writing my 'novel' for 2009 NaNoWriMO, I realized I had never read a romance. So last month I did, just to get a feel for what (some) woman read. Interesting reading. I chose Nora Roberts (Dance Upon the Air), and I must say, I enjoyed the quality for the writing. The only real difference that jumped out at me in terms of the writing was the plot - it just wasn't the sort of thing I was into. I liked the characters OK, but the conflict wasn't the sort of thing I enjoy. Which is what I should have expected. There was no reason to expect the writing would be a lower quality. I really did like the characters. It was just not my flavor of story. The learning continues.

What is a Space Opera?

I ask because I am reading Alastair Reynolds' 2000 novel Revelation Space , and that is how it is being touted. Apparently that label was not originally a positive one. Wikipedia states that it was originally applied to "the hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn space-ship yarn, or world-saving [story]". It is more generally applied to stories where "settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale". OK, I assume the second is the reason it is applied to Revelation Space . It's taking me some time to read it, and it was a little slow to get into, but now that I am, I want to see what happens. I will be reviewing it at jupiterthree.com when I finish it.

Hmmmm

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