Book of the Week 2 (also belated)
Okay second choice for 2009 is a novella. I like novellas, it's my absolute favourite length for fiction. I find far too many modern novels to be padded into mighty tomes when their plots have less strength than some of the greats of sf's golden age...
I grew up reading Asimov, Bradbury, del Rey, Heinlein, Clarke, Moorcock, Edmund Cooper and many others from the 1930s through to the 1960s. Science fiction from this period was dominated by the short story. Novels when they did exist were short, often no more than 140 pages.
Anyway I like short books and one of the best publishers of such books is British genre specialist PS Publishing. At the end of last year they published a wonderful, wonderful sf novella by Joe Hill called Gunpowder.
The book is a little like Ender's Game in its concept - a group of kids are set up in a controlled environment to help better mankind. Instead of battle simulations though these kids are here to help terraform a planet - helped by a series of mutant like powers they possess.
Brilliant!
Anyway - here's the link
http://store.pspublishing.co.uk/acatalog/info_291.html
I grew up reading Asimov, Bradbury, del Rey, Heinlein, Clarke, Moorcock, Edmund Cooper and many others from the 1930s through to the 1960s. Science fiction from this period was dominated by the short story. Novels when they did exist were short, often no more than 140 pages.
Anyway I like short books and one of the best publishers of such books is British genre specialist PS Publishing. At the end of last year they published a wonderful, wonderful sf novella by Joe Hill called Gunpowder.
The book is a little like Ender's Game in its concept - a group of kids are set up in a controlled environment to help better mankind. Instead of battle simulations though these kids are here to help terraform a planet - helped by a series of mutant like powers they possess.
Brilliant!
Anyway - here's the link
http://store.pspublishing.co.uk/acatalog/info_291.html
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