Sci Fi
For those friends and loved ones who love Science Fiction, try getting these books/book-like items:

- Old Man’s War or any other book by John Scalzi 
I reviewed Old Man’s Wara while back and now I’m getting it for several of my guy friends. Though it’s about seventy five year olds, I have to warn you there are blood, guts, sex and emotional trauma in this book. It is, after all, a book about war. Withthat said, I think this book is set at a wonderful pace and it really allows you to empathize with the characters and their strange circumstances.

- 7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins
I admit I have not read the published version of Seventh Son: Descent, but I listened to the podiobookand I love J.C. Hutchins’ writing and his style. This is an extremely fast paced and violent sci-fi thriller. You’re welcome.

- The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I got this book one year for Christmas and I love it. It’s got all the Hitchhicker’s books in one big fat book, plus a fun short about Zaphod Beeblebrox. Guaranteed to put a smile on Hitchhiker’s fans everywhere.

- I Will Fear No Evil or any other books by Robert Heinlein
I Will Fear No Evil is the first Heinlein book I ever read and is still my favorite to this day. As is normal for Heinlein, there is lots of free love in this book, but it’s also got some neat spiritual issues it addresses. Basically, if you were ever leery about the idea of a brain transplant, this book is for you.

- The Adoration of Jenna Fox (which I reviewed) by Mary Pearson
I reviewed this book sans spoilers. So, this is your spoiler alert. Don’t read on if you don’t want a spoiler. The Adoration of Jenna Fox is about a teen who wakes up after a year long coma to find that she not only doesn’t remember what simple words mean, but her body is over 50% synthetic. She has to overcome the normal emotional issues one would have a) being a teen and b) having been in a coma for a year. She also has to figure out for herself if she is, in fact, human.

- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a classic. It’s a bit like George Orwell’s 1984 set in the future. It involves a society which has banned history, books and bearing children (all babies are made in a bottle and – depending on where they go in society – their growth is aided or retarded). Also, the society refuses to allow its denizens to be unhappy by providing constant access to a pleasant, mostly side effect free drug so the citizens may forget their troubles. But, when a human from the “wild reservations” comes into this new, carefree society, how does he cope? Does he adapt, or reject this new society? This book is a very real look into human misery and the tendency for people to simply hide their problems, rather than deal with them openly. Spoiler is: this book does not have a happy ending.

- The Halo Books by Eric Nylund
If your kid or friend are into the wildly popular Halo video games, get them hooked on the book series. I actually did this with my ex-boyfriend who didn’t read and he really liked them – so much so that I picked up the book I bought him and read it myself. They are actually pretty darned good!

- The Immortals by Tracy HickmanThe Immortals is a book about the 10 second decision making society opting to put disease victims into massive concentration camps for them to die off in while a cure is being searched for. However, what the people of the short attention span don’t realize is there’s something much deeper going on, something which shows the world why politics and religion don’t mix and why some decisions need thought and research put into them. 

- Look Into the Sun by James Patrick Kelly
A wonderful Sci Fi story ultimately about a young man who has to go to another planet to come into his own and truly belong. If you want to get a taste of the story – check out Jim Kelly’s Free Reads podcast, wherein he reads the whole book to you in several episodes. This book is actually out of print, but the author (and humble Nebula and two time Hugo award winner), Jim Kelly, bought out the overstock of the book and is offering to sell a signed copy to you direct. Email him at Jim (@) JimKelly (dot) net to get your book, or contact me at JuliaScottDouglas (@) Gmail (dot) com and I’ll get you two in touch. I’m going to order one just for me – I love signed books.

-Escape Pod CDs
No Sci Fi fan’s collection of books would be complete without a subscription to Escape Pod(which is free). Barring that, get them one of the cds of this fantastic podcast of short fiction. I happen to love all three of the podcasts in the Escape Pod/Pseudopod/Pod Castle network, but Escape Pod is what any sci fi fan needs to accompany them through thier journey through short fiction. (I don’t get paid to recommend these guys, I just love them and the short stories they provide really are awesome.)

I hope these books/book-like items cover all bases on your friends and family who are sci fi fans! 

If you have any suggestions of books I should read or recommend, let me know!

Also, remember that if you shop at Amazonfrom the links I provide, I get a little commission if you buy something, so help a sister out!

Anyone have an idea on why these statistics are so awful?

I can understand when it comes to marketing books that it’s better to get the product’s (in this case. the author’s) face out there as much as possible. However, when it comes to any art, it seems weird to me to put a deadline on it.

I mean, if you write a book, then let it sit, it rises like yeast. New ideas form, problems work out. Once the book has been placed in a dark, cool place and been allowed to rise, it must then be put in the oven and baked. The baking process takes different lengths of time for different bakers.

Okay, maybe I took it a little far with the baking metaphor… but you get what I mean.

What do you think, is it better to pressure an author into getting a book out each year, getting them more exposure, but by the same means allowing fewer new authors into the “cool club”? or, should authors be allowed to write at their own pace, some fast and others slow, and the in-between time is spent on acquiring new faces? I can see both sides of the spectrum – the publishers want to concentrate on the talent they have and not spend the time, money and resources on new talent that may not do well, while there are lots of writers out there who do not produce a book a year, but still want their chance. What do you, fine readers, believe should be done?

I also do know a lot of people who play old school video games, and they also seem to love books. The one “gamer” type that I know who doesn’t read often (and this is only in my experience, so let me know if I’m wrong) is the video game player who plays games like Halo II, Grand Theft Auto and similar games almost exclusively. I had a friend (I won’t name any names here) who played these kinds of games only and he was almost illiterate. BUT, I did get him to start reading the books written about Halo. To me, those books were insufferable, but he really liked them. So, I think it’s great that books are coming out based on video games. These books catch the attention of an audience that rarely reads and gets them to join the enormous community of readers we have in this world.

What do you think? Have I missed anything? Have I got it wrong? Let me know.

Now that I’ve tsk tsk’d the American people, how much do you read in a year? I’m setting up a new poll to ask everyone this question, so check it out.