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Luke reviews The Claw of the Conciliator, the second in the Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

Luke reviews The Evolutionary Void, the third book in the Void Trilogy, avoiding as much of the story as possible so not to spoil the events in the other books by Peter F. Hamilton. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

I’ve been in New York for 4 weeks. SFBRP book reading has taken a hit! However, while in New York I recorded 5 podcast interviews, 1 SFBRP and 2 SFFaudio podcasts. Here’s the latest SFFaudio with me, Jesse, Greg and Julie. I must admit I hadn’t finished the book when I recorded this, but I won’t be doing an SFBRP episode about it when I do. This is it! Talked about on today’s show: Blackstone Audiobooks audiobook edition of Mindswap by Robert Sheckley, The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley, Rick Jackson’s Wonder Audio version of The Status Civilization, Marvin, existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, Søren Kierkegaard and Martin Heidegger, Mars, swapping minds vs. swapping bodies, xenophiles, “metaphoric deformation”, one of the greatest scenes of comedy ever in a novel, mind vs. body, mind vs. brain, consciousnesses and memories, Mindswap is “a subversive ontological satire,” Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, extracting sunlight from a cucumber, “theory of searches”, existentialism for a Science Fiction audience, Voltaire’s Candide, Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, balance is superfluous, “contemplation is the most direct form of involvement (and so it is avoided by everyone)”, Bertrand Russell, New York, solipsism, cognitive dissonance, Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, Future Shock by Alvin Toffler, Chekhov’s gun, comedic soliloquies, speaking with a lisp, the twisted world, the interventionist fallacy, the authorial sting, “the ripe greenness of her ovipositors”, Luke defends the honour of the name Kathy, Marvin The Paranoid Android vs. Marvin The Martian, Roland Barthes, absurdity is funny, a pseudo-Gulliver’s Travels, the mechanics of the humor, Gregg’s top five written objects, Laputa, “the pinnacle of satire”, A Modest Proposal, “everything is bullshit”, Dr. Jeykll And Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (our next readalong), Dracula, Lair Of The White Worm, Ken Russell, Gothic, On The Buses, Africa, “Africa? Where do you mean in Africa?”, Namibia vs. South Africa, Kilimanjaro vs. Everest, a set can’t be a member of itself, “it’s all a big giant steaming pile of absurdity” vs. “the glory and excitement of being alive”, monsignors vs. bishops, “you’re just not in our target market”, “I don’t believe what someone believes has to be true or not”, spiritual experiences vs. explanations of them, there’s a helmet for that (spiritual experiences), the charismatic formula, true vs. honest, Luke’s blog post on spiritual experiences and atheism, Thomas Aquinas, “truth is relative”, Gregg has big sets!, Julie is completely talk-able, Margaret Atwood history denier, the Apollo missions, making stupid easier, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is a great aggregator , Glenn Beck’s snakedance, smart people are making the universe complex, “the enemy of nuance” vs. “the enemy of history”, rejecting reality, why they argued with Jefferson, their totally alienable, “this is why I watch 30 Rock“, Kids In The Hall, you have the potential of niche markets, ‘the United States is the greatest country in the world (with the greatest failures and great achievements)’, nobody cares about Africa (or South America), not knowing the Prime Minister of Canada vs. not knowing the Governor of Guam, Peter F. Hamilton’s latest book, a bunch of fun loving existentialists, Sheckley’s short stories, City by Clifford D. Simak (it has conflict), Sheckley at his best is Voltaire and soda (or Voltaire and tonic), Flannery O’Connor, the keyword game, Earth Abides by George R. Stewart, art and craft are the same thing, craftsmen aren’t artists, I Hate Music, “I[...]

Luke replies to some feedback, then reviews Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

Jesse Willis, Luke Burrage and Gregg Margarite discuss Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki Talked about on today’s show: Earth Abides by George R. Stewart, New York City, Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the best post-apocalyptic novel, a lost classic, a calm method of exposition, a student of history, Isherwood Williams, very vivid and deeply imagined, how do you define Science Fiction?, Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, philosophical nuts and bolts, the central crisis is left unexplained, the science in Earth Abides, “I understand people better after reading this book”, breeding cycles, Hard Biological Science Fiction, the disappearance of lice, overpopulation of the Earth, is it the author speaking or is it the main character?, ecology, there was no will to power, only a will to live, Baruch Spinoza, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, I can’t believe how long it took the guy to get to the library!, “how to render game”, “there’s lots of library love in this book”, “we’re not going to be the people that we were”, “the characters had to be ignorant out of laziness”, 1947, going to university, mediocrity is well loved, “why is dumb so cool?”, only people who are intelligent enough to ask the question…, does genius beget genius?, is intelligence particularly related to genetics?, nature/nurture, eugenics, is intelligence a particular interest rather than something in the brain?, superior interest vs. superior brainpower, Evie, finding the test, the IQ test, the observer’s position in the universe, “do you think what the government did to Alan Turing was wrong?”, the Apple logo inspired by Alan Turning’s suicide?, snopes.com, I knew I wanted to be friends with Gregg Margarite, LibriVox.org, the San Fransisco tribe, you cannot spoil this book, WWII, cargo cults, “would you ever be a member of a cargo cult?”, Montezuma and Quetzalcoatl, The Gods Must Be Crazy, religion, superstition, pinch your God, if God lived on earth people would break his windows, tribal sociological phenomena, the role of chiefs, the most interesting book about pinching I’ve ever read, “heartwarming pinching”, reading, despondence and acceptance, what does it really matter if humanity is dead?, The Star by Arthur C. Clarke, intellectual arguments vs. emotional arguments, it’s very rare to be emotionally affected (to tears) by a book, narrator Jonathan Davis, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, one of the best narrations that I’ve heard, Mike Resnick’s Starship series, Star Wars, Connie Willis‘ introduction to Earth Abides, Deep Six by Jack McDevitt, “always skip over the introduction”, where does Isherwood’s name come from?, forgetting your own name, the character of Jack, I don’t read for characters, Isherwood thinks he’s an intellectual, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe, The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, “I would have taken out Electromechanical Engineering“, Emm and Ezra, Charlie, George (the carpenter/plumber), “even his dog (Princess)”, a friend’s quiz, people are not just what they know or what they read, The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, “society is all the different bits and humanity is all the different bits”, adopting leaves as a currency, maybe the whole of Douglas Adams should be treated like a religious text, Th[...]

Luke reviews Deepsix by Jack Mcdevitt. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

Luke reviews House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

Luke reviews The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

Luke reviews The Alchemist and the Executioness by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S Buckell. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

Luke reviews Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

It’s episode 100! I decided to do a special episode. I don’t talk about a specific book, but instead I explain, in looong self-indulgent detail, the reasons WHY I do what I do, from podcasting to writing to juggling to photography and all my other creative pursuits.

It’s episode 100! I decided to do a special episode. I don’t talk about a specific book, but instead I explain, in looong self-indulgent detail, the reasons WHY I do what I do, from podcasting to writing to juggling to photography and all my other creative pursuits.

Luke reviews The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki

The SFFaudio Podcast #064 – Scott and Jesse talk to with Julie Davis and Luke Burrage about The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester! Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki Talked about on today’s show: Forgotten Classics, Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, Richard K. Morgan’s The Steel Remains, The Invisible Man, Robert Sheckley’s The Status Civilization, exploding volcanoes, Gulliver Foyle, jaunting as teleporting, BAMF, The Uncanny X-Men, Jumper by Steven Gould, Charles Fort Jaunte (is a reference to Charles Fort), Fortean Times, The Tyger by William Blake,Tā moko (Maori facial tattoo), religion, swearing, tabernac, future swearing, Louis Wu in Larry Niven’s Ringworld, the frivolity of the wealthy, satire, sailing as conspicuous consumption, telepathy, Paul Williams, The Stars My Destination as a “pyrotechnic novel”, the power of the narrative imagery, the audiobook (a Library of Congress Book for the Blind version), the heirs of Alfred Bester are fighting over the rights, transformation, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, “Most scientific!”, Alfred Bester’s years writing comics, WWII, the Wikipedia entry for The Stars My Destination, synesthesia, the long forgotten histories of synesthesia, Of Time, And Gully Foyle by Neil Gaiman, cyberpunk, a hard-boiled Philip K. Dick novel, passive schlubs, The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Pyrenees, the induction scene in William Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, a shotgun approach to transformation, The Stars My Destination as meta book, Peter F. Hamilton, the renaissance man, Classics Illustrated #3 The Count Of Monte Cristo, Fourmyle of Ceres, PyrE, (the inspiration for Pyr Books?), Napoleon Bonaparte, thought turning into action, our overcrowded future, Second Life, Surrogates, only in a cyberpunk future, retroactive foreshadowing, the 1991 BBC Radio Drama version of Alfred Bester’s Tiger Tiger, the old language, Hyperion by Dan Simmons, The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Pyrene, cyborgs, wired nerves, bullet time, you can’t spoil a book like this.

Luke reviews The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein. Luke blogs at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog Follow Luke on twitter: http://twitter.com/lukeburrage Luke writes his own novels, “Minding Tomorrow”, “Combat”, and “The Monster Story Conference”, so download them for free at: http://www.lukeburrage.com/fiction.html Check out listener recommended books: http://www.goodreads.com/lukeburrage More information on the SFBRP Wiki