Alphecca

What I'm Reading...

K0 the local used book store for some of their 25-cent paperbacks. I picked-up three that I know nothing about but the monetary investment is small and I won't feel bad if I toss them after a few chapters:

The first is Master of Life and Death by Robert Silverberg, a reliably good sci-fi author although I never heard of this novel -- not always a good sign.

Then, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin. The blurb made it sound like my kind of story.

Lastly, an old Ace Books "science fiction classic" titled The Blind Spot by Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint written in 1921. The cover shouts, "The most famous fantastic novel of all time". Well, okay but I read a LOT of what is often termed "fantastic" literature and I've never heard of it. But for two-bits, what the hell...

At the moment I'm just finishing up Emma Lathen's A Place For Murder, a fine "John Putnam Thatcher" mystery and I've read some of her other ones as well, all good stuff.

Update 10/30: I just finished The Blind Spot and would give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Pretty damn impressive for a book written 85 years ago! The cover quote from 4E Ackerman, "Fabulous!" is correct. The book was serialized in 1921 in Argosy Weekly (from what I've read, a daring publication in it's time) and while the science was -- granted -- from the early part of the last century, it contained glimpses of future topics. It turns the subject of "ether" into a remarkably prescient prediction of the vibration of matter -- at different frequencies -- to create all of the different substances of the universe. Sounds a bit like String Theory is what came to my mind especially with the proposed theory that there could be many parallel universes occupying the same space -- in abundance within a simple atom. There are even hints of (*gasp*) gayness in the alternate world... An early treatment of alternate universes worthy of H. G. Wells.