Books: She-Hulk, Bugs Bunny, Dice, and the Post

[woodwardiocom]

The Post Reader of Fantasy and Science Fiction

The Saturday Evening Post mostly published SF by people who didn't write much SF, for people who didn't read much SF, so a lot of the stories in here are very simple and trite to someone who reads more voraciously in the field. Heinlein's "Green Hills of Earth" is in here, but most of the other writers are names I'm only vaguely familar with (or not at all). Not especially recommended.

The Tritonian Ring by L. Sprague de Camp

An intelligent swords-and-sorcery novel, following in the wake of Conan, but done with more brains and less brawn. Our hero, a prince of a windswept and backward Atlantis, goes on a cross-continent quest to find a ring made of starmetal, the one thing gods fear. He mostly gets out of predicaments through cleverness rather than fighting skill, and he's only occasionally a nice person. Good for those who like Conan-stuff done well, otherwise it's a little too much of its 1950s era.

Of Dice And Men by David M. Ewalt

This book is a history of Dungeons & Dragons and the people who play it, warts and all. It's very readable, not too long, and reasonably informative even for a long-time geek like me. Recommended.

The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross

The latest novel in the Laundry Series once again pits our hero against the forces of Cthulhuesque chaos, this time in the form of American Fundamentalism gone very very bad. Like its predecessors, the ending feels a bit anticlimactic, but that's probably hard to avoid in a genre which is always about Ragnarok averted. Still, recommended.

Bowl of Heaven by Benford and Niven

I got partway into this, and then decided it was too much like Ringworld, and not as good. I'm putting it in the giveaway bin.

That's Not All Folks! by Mel Blanc and Philip Bashe

The is Mel Blanc's autobiography, and it's a fun view into the Golden Ages of animation and radio, when his voice was everywhere. He has many anecdotes about the great comedians of yore. Recommended.

Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson

This is an early novel by Robinson, and reads like a first draft for his epic Mars Trilogy. Politics on Mars, mysteries on the edge of the Solar System, and assorted mildly broken people drift from one version of truth to the next. Mildly recommended.

The She-Hulk Diaries by Marta Acosta

I'm a She-Hulk fan from way back, and this is a fun novel about what it's like being a Single Green Female. Interestingly, the Jennifer Walters bits are written in the first person, and the She-Hulk bits are in the third, with the two personalities being treated as very separate. (In the comics, they're the same person, with fewer inhibitions when green.) Considering that I don't read much (any) chick lit, I can't judge this as an entry in that genre, but I was entertained, and what cliches arose seemed to have good spins on them. Recommended.