These videos about scifi books - with a short and informative synopsis on each - have made me read(and wanting to read) more scifi than ever :) Thanks!
-8 degrees Fahrenheit here in N.E. Ohio, USA, so this booktalk was right on time! Thanks for keeping the content coming during these dark, dark days (figuratively speaking)!!! Warm regards...
Cool video, liked that you mentioned the 'oldies', too(newbies always sound a bit 'meh' to my old ears...) Weird watching this in the almost 40° Celsius heat we had today in the sweltering tropics...
Early Riser was the first book I've read recommended by you since I found your channel. I very much enjoyed it, it was very unique. Now if I could only find a comparably fantasy review channel.
Fantastic! There are many many many fantasy review channels out there. I don't read much/any fantasy these days but I like to watch Obsessive Bookseller's channel. Thanks for watching 👀!
Icerigger is a old favorite. Foster was the first writer I made a point of looking for more of his work whenever I was in a bookstore. I bounced off of Helliconia many years ago. I should try again.
The whole duology (The Snow Queen + The Summer Queen ) by J D Vinge is so undeservedly overlooked. Very well thought out world and absolutely amazing storytelling .
Lathe of Heaven is a very good book! Many people feel (myself included) that the Left Hand of Darkness is one of the very best SF novels ever written!!! Enjoy!
Thanks for the shout-out to Icerigger! I'm an old geezer and read this when it came out; even made a diorama of the book for a grade school book report (using clay, toy soldiers doctored to look like the Tran (sp?), and as the crashed human spaceship I used the Aurora-model kit of the UFO from the old sci-fi show The Invaders--all thrown away immediately after grades were given out).
You dressed for the occasion, that could be seen as cosplay, what next, a spacesuit! Nice selection of books to chill with, I might bump up 'The World In Winter' on my TBR list after watching this.
I've got "The Snow" in my TBR piles; I read "Icerigger" years ago and can only remember it's blue/white cover! I will buy a copy of Kavan's "Ice" as it's always in the best of SF lists, so I should read it! I managed to get all the Triad Grafton Helliconia books last year, so I'll read that trilogy too. I've also read the Le Guin and Vinge, but can't remember much about them! It's only a short story, but Arthur C Clark's "The Forgotten Enemy" is a good cold tale.
It's really cold today. 🥶. Appreciate the reviews Jon, of them all, like so many commenting, I've only read Icerigger and the sequels. I love that book. Seriously one of the best by Foster, (and I do recommend Splinter of the Mind's Eye, for an alternate Vader who doesn't seem to act like Anakin Skywalker...🤔) Sorry, I'm just a bit distracted...I just watched the music numbers from Subspace Rhapsody, and the Klingons Breakdancing exploded my brain. 🤯🤯. Where were the dancing Gorn I was promised?! 😡 (TH-cam's recommendations are getting stranger and stranger...)
@ I bounce between needing to read what I’ve got, since it already exceeds my life expectancy, and finding all of these new suggestions. Once I start reading an author I like, I’ll haul most everything anyway, but I really have got to finish off some of my started series (my first two books of the year are both trilogy finales though, so I am on-track for now 🥳). I reckon my book haulage ought to dip markedly this year. “Ought to” are likely to be famous last words, eh!
I read the Helliconia trilogy in my teens and it blew me away. Such a big influence on me. I've never understood why it isn't seen as one the great scifi series.
Intersting list, few folks know anything about Aldiss and Le Quin is so much different from Vinge. Might recommend "Ice World" by Hal Clement, cold from the alien view or maybe "Rings of Ice" from Piers Anthony (not part of Xanth).
I vividly remember having my mind blown by the worldbuilding in both Left Hand and Snow Queen. In fact, all of these sound like great worldbuilding books! Hopefully you weren't too warm in that. I would have been sweating by book two on the list. 😂
Doesn’t THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by LeGuin take place during a freezing season on a winter planet? It’s been a long time since I read it. WHOOPS! You covered it! That’ll teach me to finish the whole video before commenting! ❄️
I read the Snow Queen a few years ago and it was suuuch a slog. If there was ever a book I should have DNFd, it was this one. Looking forward to reading the Heliconia trilogy!
Apart from _Left Hand of Darkness,_ one of my all-time favorites (the best Le Guin's work, IMO, and that is telling something; I just re-read _Five Ways to Forgiveness_ (includes _Old Music and Slave Women,_ written after _Four Ways..._ ), and I still think that _Left Hand..._ is better), I read only _Plutoshine_ and, ages ago, _Snow Queen._ Both are interesting, decently written, and have something to say about us, but reach to about Le Guin's knees. There is a flood (blizzard?) of pulp-ish novels featuring some kind of mysterious artifact (or being - Cthulhu, anyone?) discovered in Antarctica. I recently read a similar attempt placed on Greenland, in abandoned (actually existing) American Fort Century: _Cold Seed: Beneath the Ice,_ a.k.a. _Ice Germ: the Foreign Seed_ (in German original _Eiskeim: Die Fremde Saat_ ) by one Mikael Lundt. Serviceable, but would hardly reach that "nebulous something" category in your tier system.
I remember a good deal of Connie Willis‘ „Doomsday Book“ playing out in a deadly cold winter during the plague years of medieval England. Horrible book, not the least because of the setting. Much nicer are the dreamy, snowy New York nights that supply the background for the romantic time travel story „Time and Again“ by Jack Finney.
oh that's interesting, didn't know that, I haven't read it yet. I really enjoyed her other timey-wimey books, Blackout and All Clear. thanks for watching 👀!
Checking the output of new and not so new British writers, a casual observer might conclude that most, if not all, of their fiction revolves around and inside London. Ice age in London, London eating other cities, aliens invading London, Londoners confronting a world wide plague-- in London. Casual observers might think London is Britain, the absolute vortex, the sine qua non. London. But such casual observers would be wrong, wouldn't they?
@sid1gen centre of gravity, perhaps. Eric Brown's Kethani is set in Yorkshire, Ken MacLeod's Lightspeed trilogy is set in large part in Scotland, Jasper Fforde's Early Riser is set in Wales, Dave Hutchinsons Fractured Europe books are set in central europe. I'm sure there are many other non-London examples. London is an international city, recognisable around the world, decent chunk of the 🇬🇧 population lives in or near it. Not surprised it gets so much airtime. Thanks for watching 👀!
@@SciFiScavenger Hi, SciFiScavenger. Thanks for the response. Undoubtedly London is an international city, but a cursory check of current and past British lit in any genre gives us a London-centric "variety" that borders on monomania. Yes, plenty of British lit visits other places in England and the other nations that form the UK, but if those amount to half, I'll be really surprised. I've seen this happen only in literature from far smaller European countries (Norway-Oslo, Sweden-Stockholm, Greece-Athens, for example), but not in German, Spanish, Italian, or French literature. It also happens in literature from developing nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and with Japan, where, again, the capital city absorbs most of the Japanese writers' attention. You are right, of course: center of gravity. Once upon a time, all roads led to Rome. Nowadays, in Britain at least, almost all books lead to (and happen in) London.
I really enjoyed your “chilly” review. I’ve said before and will repeat, your machine gun summaries are the best in sci-fi TH-cam.
Thanks Steve! And thanks for watching 👀!
These videos about scifi books - with a short and informative synopsis on each - have made me read(and wanting to read) more scifi than ever :) Thanks!
Glad you like them! Thanks for watching 👀!
-8 degrees Fahrenheit here in N.E. Ohio, USA, so this booktalk was right on time! Thanks for keeping the content coming during these dark, dark days (figuratively speaking)!!! Warm regards...
@mikesnyder1788 jeez that is cold! Rather you than me. Take care Mike, thanks for watching 👀!
A thumbs-up for keeping all that winter gear on for the whole video!
Really like the sound of some of these. 'Tis gone a bit chilly up north 😁
It's pretty chilly in my office/library, I wasn't too hot! Cheers, thanks for watching 👀!
Cool video, liked that you mentioned the 'oldies', too(newbies always sound a bit 'meh' to my old ears...) Weird watching this in the almost 40° Celsius heat we had today in the sweltering tropics...
This video was like a few ice cubes in your drink then! Thanks for watching 👀!
Great list. Just started Early Riser. Good to see John Christopher in there. How about Moorcock's 'The Ice Schooner'
Yes that sounds like it would fit the bill. Thanks for watching 👀!
I liked The Ice Schooner. Fun throw back adventure.
Early Riser was the first book I've read recommended by you since I found your channel. I very much enjoyed it, it was very unique. Now if I could only find a comparably fantasy review channel.
Fantastic! There are many many many fantasy review channels out there. I don't read much/any fantasy these days but I like to watch Obsessive Bookseller's channel. Thanks for watching 👀!
Icerigger is a old favorite. Foster was the first writer I made a point of looking for more of his work whenever I was in a bookstore.
I bounced off of Helliconia many years ago. I should try again.
I struggled a bit with Helliconia first time round, although I did persevere. Enjoyed much more 2nd time round, as I recall. Thanks for watching 👀!
Perfect idea for a coffee on a cold day in Canada with the polar vortex outside ☕️
@@TauZeroSF sounds cold!!
Its going to warm up this week!
The whole duology (The Snow Queen + The Summer Queen ) by J D Vinge is so undeservedly overlooked. Very well thought out world and absolutely amazing storytelling .
Yes I'm looking forward to reading them. Thanks for watching 👀!
I've heard a lot of people talk about Left Hand Of Darkness, the only Le Guin I've read is Lathe Of Heaven, which I did enjoy.
I really need to read it myself. Thanks for watching 👀!
@SciFiScavenger BTW, this evening I finished Judas Unchained. Not half bad!
@faldor oh good! I really need to re-read those 2. The Night's Dawn trilogy is well worth a read too. Bonkers.
@@SciFiScavenger well that answers my next question, thanks 🤣
Lathe of Heaven is a very good book! Many people feel (myself included) that the Left Hand of Darkness is one of the very best SF novels ever written!!! Enjoy!
Thanks for the shout-out to Icerigger! I'm an old geezer and read this when it came out; even made a diorama of the book for a grade school book report (using clay, toy soldiers doctored to look like the Tran (sp?), and as the crashed human spaceship I used the Aurora-model kit of the UFO from the old sci-fi show The Invaders--all thrown away immediately after grades were given out).
That sounds fantastic! Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching 👀!
It's pretty cold where I'm at, we're only going to get up to 54*F today. A good day for reading. Glad you mentioned Icerigger. Always liked that one.
"Only" 54°f? That's beach weather! Thanks for watching 👀!
@SciFiScavenger it's California cold.
You dressed for the occasion, that could be seen as cosplay, what next, a spacesuit! Nice selection of books to chill with, I might bump up 'The World In Winter' on my TBR list after watching this.
If I had a spacesuit, I'd definitely find excuses to wear it! 👨🚀 Thanks for watching 👀!
I've got "The Snow" in my TBR piles; I read "Icerigger" years ago and can only remember it's blue/white cover! I will buy a copy of Kavan's "Ice" as it's always in the best of SF lists, so I should read it! I managed to get all the Triad Grafton Helliconia books last year, so I'll read that trilogy too. I've also read the Le Guin and Vinge, but can't remember much about them! It's only a short story, but Arthur C Clark's "The Forgotten Enemy" is a good cold tale.
Great work David! I'd like to re-read Helliconia again this year, if I can fit it in. Thanks for watching 👀!
It's really cold today. 🥶. Appreciate the reviews Jon, of them all, like so many commenting, I've only read Icerigger and the sequels. I love that book. Seriously one of the best by Foster, (and I do recommend Splinter of the Mind's Eye, for an alternate Vader who doesn't seem to act like Anakin Skywalker...🤔)
Sorry, I'm just a bit distracted...I just watched the music numbers from Subspace Rhapsody, and the Klingons Breakdancing exploded my brain. 🤯🤯. Where were the dancing Gorn I was promised?! 😡 (TH-cam's recommendations are getting stranger and stranger...)
Breakdancing Klingons! Interesting....
Thanks for watching 👀!
Only read Icerigger out of these. The one which stands out in this theme for me is 'The Time of the Great Freeze' by Robert Silverberg.
Ooh i dont know that Silverberg, thanks, and thanks for watching 👀!
Terror by Dan Simmons. It's fantastical for sure, not sure if it really counts as SF. But it`s c-c-c-cold and bleak
Yes someone else mentioned that too, sounds cold! Cheers Colin, thanks for watching 👀!
🧣 That looked like it would’ve been warm in there while filming! Lots of great choices here, but I think I’ve only got “Plutoshine” in my Library.
I was pleasantly warm! Sounds like you have some book hunting to do. Thanks for watching!
@ I bounce between needing to read what I’ve got, since it already exceeds my life expectancy, and finding all of these new suggestions. Once I start reading an author I like, I’ll haul most everything anyway, but I really have got to finish off some of my started series (my first two books of the year are both trilogy finales though, so I am on-track for now 🥳). I reckon my book haulage ought to dip markedly this year. “Ought to” are likely to be famous last words, eh!
Very much so! I am clinging on to umberto eco's thinking on the home library.
I read the Helliconia trilogy in my teens and it blew me away. Such a big influence on me. I've never understood why it isn't seen as one the great scifi series.
Yes I read it then too, i really must give it a re-read soon. Thanks for watching 👀!
Intersting list, few folks know anything about Aldiss and Le Quin is so much different from Vinge. Might recommend "Ice World" by Hal Clement, cold from the alien view or maybe "Rings of Ice" from Piers Anthony (not part of Xanth).
Nice, thanks for the suggestions, and thanks for watching 👀!
I vividly remember having my mind blown by the worldbuilding in both Left Hand and Snow Queen. In fact, all of these sound like great worldbuilding books!
Hopefully you weren't too warm in that. I would have been sweating by book two on the list. 😂
I was comfortably warm! Thanks for watching 👀!
The Snow Queen was an enjoyable read. & I'd like to add Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson to the mix as well.😊
Yes Antarctica is a good shout. Thanks for watching 👀!
I live in Canada, it's currently minus-28. Ice and Icerigger sound the most appealing to me.
Brrrr! Cheers Dav, thanks for watching 👀!
Doesn’t THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by LeGuin take place during a freezing season on a winter planet? It’s been a long time since I read it. WHOOPS! You covered it! That’ll teach me to finish the whole video before commenting! ❄️
Ha, yes, and yes! Thanks for watching 👀!
Vonnegut: “Cats Cradle”
On my TBR is Ymir by Rich Larson, a retelling of Beowulf on an icy planet.
Yes someone else mentioned that, sounds interesting. Thanks for watching 👀!
It's 42C today in Perth Australia 🥵
Even in Fahrenheit that's not very chilly! Well, did watching make you feel cooler?🥶❄️😀
Thanks for watching 👀!
Good idea for video ! 😂 Here's some more :
David Zindel: "Neverness "
Rich Larson : " Ymir "
Ah yes, I have Neverness but haven't read it yet. Don't know the other one, thanks. And thanks for watching 👀!
@SciFiScavenger Ymir is recent book, very good post - cyberpunkish, nanotech on icy planet, recommend
Cheers mate ! 👍
I read the Snow Queen a few years ago and it was suuuch a slog. If there was ever a book I should have DNFd, it was this one.
Looking forward to reading the Heliconia trilogy!
Didn't work for you, it seems. Helliconia is fab. Thanks for watching 👀!
When you mentioned "Helliconia Winter," I wondered if it influenced the climate system of "Game of Thrones"?
Yes I was wondering that, although they are on a different scale - 100s or 1000s of years vs years or decades in GoT. Thanks for watching 👀!
I always thought GRRM borrowed the long winters idea from the Helliconia series. Could be wrong, but it's essentially the same concept.
Apart from _Left Hand of Darkness,_ one of my all-time favorites (the best Le Guin's work, IMO, and that is telling something; I just re-read _Five Ways to Forgiveness_ (includes _Old Music and Slave Women,_ written after _Four Ways..._ ), and I still think that _Left Hand..._ is better), I read only _Plutoshine_ and, ages ago, _Snow Queen._ Both are interesting, decently written, and have something to say about us, but reach to about Le Guin's knees.
There is a flood (blizzard?) of pulp-ish novels featuring some kind of mysterious artifact (or being - Cthulhu, anyone?) discovered in Antarctica. I recently read a similar attempt placed on Greenland, in abandoned (actually existing) American Fort Century: _Cold Seed: Beneath the Ice,_ a.k.a. _Ice Germ: the Foreign Seed_ (in German original _Eiskeim: Die Fremde Saat_ ) by one Mikael Lundt. Serviceable, but would hardly reach that "nebulous something" category in your tier system.
Nebulous Narrative! Thanks for watching 👀!
Just finished: Cold People by Tom Rob Smith - could fit in this list :)
Ha, maybe! Thanks for watching 👀!
I remember a good deal of Connie Willis‘ „Doomsday Book“ playing out in a deadly cold winter during the plague years of medieval England. Horrible book, not the least because of the setting. Much nicer are the dreamy, snowy New York nights that supply the background for the romantic time travel story „Time and Again“ by Jack Finney.
oh that's interesting, didn't know that, I haven't read it yet. I really enjoyed her other timey-wimey books, Blackout and All Clear. thanks for watching 👀!
Checking the output of new and not so new British writers, a casual observer might conclude that most, if not all, of their fiction revolves around and inside London. Ice age in London, London eating other cities, aliens invading London, Londoners confronting a world wide plague-- in London. Casual observers might think London is Britain, the absolute vortex, the sine qua non. London. But such casual observers would be wrong, wouldn't they?
@sid1gen centre of gravity, perhaps. Eric Brown's Kethani is set in Yorkshire, Ken MacLeod's Lightspeed trilogy is set in large part in Scotland, Jasper Fforde's Early Riser is set in Wales, Dave Hutchinsons Fractured Europe books are set in central europe. I'm sure there are many other non-London examples. London is an international city, recognisable around the world, decent chunk of the 🇬🇧 population lives in or near it. Not surprised it gets so much airtime. Thanks for watching 👀!
@@SciFiScavenger Hi, SciFiScavenger. Thanks for the response. Undoubtedly London is an international city, but a cursory check of current and past British lit in any genre gives us a London-centric "variety" that borders on monomania. Yes, plenty of British lit visits other places in England and the other nations that form the UK, but if those amount to half, I'll be really surprised. I've seen this happen only in literature from far smaller European countries (Norway-Oslo, Sweden-Stockholm, Greece-Athens, for example), but not in German, Spanish, Italian, or French literature. It also happens in literature from developing nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and with Japan, where, again, the capital city absorbs most of the Japanese writers' attention.
You are right, of course: center of gravity. Once upon a time, all roads led to Rome. Nowadays, in Britain at least, almost all books lead to (and happen in) London.