Books: Rockets, Rayguns, Pretties, and Overlords

R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury

Despite this book's important role in my formative years, I didn't actually own a copy until this past Arisia. A classic collection of short SF, highly recommended.

GURPS Ultra-Tech for Fourth Edition (RPG)

Another big book of technology and numbers for GURPS. Some nifty ideas, but it didn't stir me, possibly because it's the fourth or fifth GURPS book I've bought with "ultra-tech" on the cover . . .

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Sequel to Uglies, with less of the sociological commentary, and more setting up of the society so we can decide whether it deserves to fall in book 3 of the trilogy. The situations Tally faced in book 1 were, broadly, extrapalations of current social forces into a potential future, while in this book Westerfeld takes the setup of book 1, and extrapolates from that. Very recommended.

If I Were an Evil Overlord, edited by Greenberg, Davis

A fun anthology, explictly inspired by the Evil Overlord List, and indeed quoting it in at least one of the stories. "If Looks Could Kill," "The Life & Death of Fortune Cookie Tyrant," "Daddy's Little Girl," "Advisors at Naptime," "A Woman's Work," and "To Sit In Darkness Here," were particularly fun. "Art Therapy" and "The Man Who Would Be Overlord" seemed a bit pointless, in contrast. Definitely recommended.