"Space" Books

John Anealio over at Sci Fi Songs has been doing a series “What is your favorite ‘space’ song?”

"Space Odyssey" has turned up more than once.

But it got me to thinking - how many sci-fi books are out there with 'space' in the title?

The answer? A LOT! See some of the books below:

Space Viking by H. Beam Piper
Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey and Sharon Williams
Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength)
Legends of the Space Marines by Christian Dunn
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Hellsreach (Space Marines) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
The Hunt for Voldorius (Space Marines) by Andy Hoare
Space Wolf: The Second Omnibus (Space Wolves) by William King and Lee Lightner
Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein
Space Wars by Michael J. Coumatos, William B. Scott, and William J. Birnes
Implied Spaces (Singularity) by Walter Jon Williams
Space Wolf Omnibus: Spacewolf / Ragnar's Claw / Grey Hunter (Warhammer 40,000) by William King
The Currents of Space by Isaac Asimov
Manifold: Space by Stephen Baxter
The Skylark of Space by E. E. Smith and Lee Hawkins Garby
The New Space Opera by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Three Books of Known Space by Larry Niven
The Crack in Space: A Novel by Philip K. Dick
Alliance Space by C. J. Cherryh
The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt
The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Never Ending Sacrifice by Una McCormack
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fearful Symmetry by Olivia Woods
and many, many others!

The Space Merchants was the oldest, written in the 50's, and a few aren't even out yet. But that was just the beginning of the 'space' books.

Wow! If I was on a quest to read 'space' books, I'd be woefully behind. I've read six. How many have you read?

Do I dare search for how many contain the word 'star?' Do I really want to know?

My Manuscript - Did I Do Enough?

After working so long on my manuscript, it feels as if there's a void. After a rush to make changes requested by my publisher, I'm in that waiting phase while the editor goes over it with a fine tooth comb. Unfortunately, that gives me time to think.

Did I do enough?

I keep thinking back to the action scenes. Did I make them tense enough? Did I balance the description well enough that the scenes flow without a halt in the action?

I'm not an overly descriptive writer, so while the action scenes might be okay, I wonder about my characters. Was I too skimpy on visual descriptions? Did I make each one unique?

It's tough not to pull up the manuscript on my computer and stare at it. I'm sure I'd want to change some things. Pointless to do that right now.

The contract is for one book, but what if they want a sequel? Crap, I hadn't thought beyond the ending! I'm not crazy about movie sequels, so I didn't plan for a book sequel. And at this point, I have no idea where the story would go, either.

Damn, I bet I'm over-thinking all of this, aren't I?

Review - Serenity Vol 2, Better Days

I'm a big fan of Firefly - it was one of the best damn shows on TV. Serenity wrapped things up for us, but I'll always crave more.

Serenity Vol. 2 - Better Days satisfies that urge.

The story is exactly like an episode of Firefly and takes place between the end of the series and the movie. It was an enjoyable read, hitting all the right notes.

The artwork is pretty good, but not great. A couple shots feature Photoshopped faces, which is actually taken from the back cover. But a few of the other faces don't look like the characters. Overall it worked though.

My only real complaint is the price. This graphic novel was so short, it should've been a comic book instead - and thus at least half the price.

It's also listed as young adult. Um, sure...

But for those of us who miss Firefly, this graphic novel does the trick!

Review - Shutter Island... and an Award

My film of choice this weekend was Shutter Island.

Think Stanley Kubrick meets Alfred Hitchcock and you'll have Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.

Now, I've not read the book, so I can only judge from the movie iteself. But I liked the slow pace and overall mood of the film. There was something odd in the tone, but in a good way, and it kept one uneasy throughout the movie. It was NOT scary or jolting by any means, despite the misleading trailers. (Besides, Scorsese doesn't make that kind of film.) I enjoyed the puzzle, although it was a little frustrating in parts. I was a step ahead of the plot for most of the duration, although I didn't always know exactly what it all meant. I appreciated the ending. Knew it wouldn't be a happy one!

DiCaprio and Ruffalo were great in the film. Both did a fine job of acting. I did feel von Sydow was a little underused in his role, though. He's only in the film maybe 6-7 minutes? Overall, the casting was very good.

If you like a good, slow-paced mystery, then I recommend Shutter Island!

And the award...

I received the You Are My Sunshine Award from Spunk On A Stick. The purpose of it is to acknowledge those that have a blog and spend endless hours ensuring that other bloggers get feedback on their blogs by leaving comments, adding themselves as a follower or dropping by just to let you know there are people out there. Thanks, Spunky!

Hey, you know what? If you visit and comment here, I definitely appreciate you! So rather than name names, this is for all my awesome bloggy friends!