The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

The 1895 classic provides a short trip into the year 802,701, where the human race has apparently evolved into two very different creatures. Expecting to find great advancements, the time traveler spends eight days in this distant future where he is surprised to discover the severe degradation of humanity. The surface dwellers, Eloi, are small, friendly, child-like creatures who all look the same and live together in droves. They fear the nocturnal Morlocks: subterranean ape-like carnivores who surface at night to hunt for food. The time traveler, with his new Eloi friend by his side, has to face the Morlocks in their subterranean atmosphere in order to find his time machine, which they have hidden from him.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and I am not a huge fan of the narrator. A good or not-so-good narrator can make all the difference when listening, and it certainly comes down to personal preference. However, I think it's always a great idea to experience the classics. Though the language and writing styles have changed in the last century, Well's story still offers a relevant caution to the future of the human race.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

The Disc's first female wizard was created nine years ago, accidentally, and now Granny Weatherwax is fighting to get Esk the instruction necessary to control her magic. With untrained magic, anything can (and does) happen.

This one's prime Pratchett, as he knocks tradition sideways with a new world order built around a strong, determined girl wizard and her tenacious witch mentor. Esk also befriends Simon, another wizard-to-be who's also got special talents.

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Death takes an assistant: a bumbling kid from nowheresville with no real talent. When he's given a to-do list and a bit of responsibility, things don't go quite right because Mort falls for the supposed-to-die princess and alters the plan. But destiny isn't joking around.

It's a Shakespearean-style story with lots of twists, and fate, and love (or not). Pratchett is always very funny, but giving Death his own story - and mid-life crisis - allows a special kind of dark comedy.

The Con Artist by Fred Van Lente

You see lots of strange things at Comic-Con, and typically all the blood and gore are stagecraft. When a publishing exec dies dramatically in a bloody slide down the front staircase, however, the San Diego con kicks off like no other.

Our hero, fading comics artist Mike M, is a suspect (although he's innocent) and it looks like if he doesn't try to solve this, he may get railroaded. But he's also interested in networking (drinking) and drawing (making money) while he's in town. There's a lot to do, while avoiding trouble at every turn.

The con's like a circus come to town, and it both amplifies and exacerbates the drama of the story: When everyone's a monster or a hero, who can you trust?

I enjoyed this book - it's a fluffy bit of pop culture with a decent mystery element. There's a fun mix of real and fake comics, and true fans will have fun sorting out which is which.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

What if the fate of humankind rested on the skinny shoulders of a washed-up pop star?

When the rest of the galaxy discovers that Earth exists, we're forced to defend our sentience: Are we people, or are we meat? Based on a horrific past war and its time-tested truce agreement, the pre-ordained litmus test is, of course, an intergalactic singing-and-entertainment contest. Like Eurovision, but weirder.

This book a hilarious pop culture fest in the best kind of way.

It's also written in elaborate similes and Vegas-showgirl feathered headdress adjectives and expressively convoluted sentences that take lux vacations to exotic locales for up to half a page at a time and twist themselves inside out and backwards in a primitive mating ritual before they bleed out fuschia glitter and then expire. You'll either like that or hate it.

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Designer drugs, human slaves as yard art, a returning soldier with anger issues, and an attempted suicide - what a collection of short stories!

After having LOVED Lincoln in the Bardo, I was excited to dip into a bit more of Saunders' oeuvre. I enjoyed this post-modern collection of stories: there's a sci-fi bent, a bit of absurdity for satire, and a very dark look at modern society.

This is another book we read for the library's discussion - and another one I enjoyed that they all hated! Although the more we discussed it, they at least came around a bit on some of it.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In a near-distant future, life on earth sucks. So everybody lives full, rich lives inside "the OASIS" - a virtual reality computer world; you can live, love, work, and play all in the OASIS, only rarely venturing to reality for food or other personal needs.

When the guy who invented the OASIS dies, he reveals he's left an "easter egg" inside, and the first to find it and solve its puzzles will be his heir. Everybody loses their minds, looking for it.

We follow from the perspective of one teen, scraping by and mostly homeless in the real world, and also searching for the egg and attending high school in the virtual world.

I loved, loved, loved this book and I can't stop talking about it! Everybody in the future is obsessed with the 1980s, so the book is futuristic and sci-fi while also reveling in John Hughes movies, electro pop music, and Atari games. There are these parallels of future and past, while also the parallels of real and virtual. It's a lot to keep sorted, and it's done sooo well.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

A preview of the upcoming movie adaptation was enough to finally convince I needed to read this children's classic. The extra bonus in the library catalog was an available unabridged audio version read by the author herself.

An awkward girl and her genius preschool brother are swept into the intergalactic war of good and evil as they try to bring their scientist father back from a prolonged absence. They're joined by a neighborhood teenage boy with his own special talents.

Led by three supernatural creatures who steer their adventure, the children encounter many new and different creatures. They also learn to recognize their own strengths and the good in the world.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit, but reflect that I probably would not have enjoyed it as a child (I hated science fiction). I'm certainly glad that I'll understand the references now, as this book is considered an essential classic in the canon of children's literature.

The Martian by Andy Weir

This is a tale of raw, basic survival in a rough terrain. One man, abandoned on Mars.

We read this for the library's book discussion, and many readers were surprised by how much they liked it. It's more about science than about science-fiction. There aren't ray guns and alien life forms; instead it's about one human surviving because he knows how to do advanced chemistry.

Mark Watney isn't about to give up, despite insurmountable odds. Not enough water? Chemistry! Not enough food? Botany! No communication? Rocks!

I have seen the Matt Damon movie, and it's very good. It's not quite the same, but honestly both stand up pretty well on their own (or even in comparison).

I highly recommend this one, even if you're not into advanced science and especially if you don't enjoy sci-fi. It's a captivating story, and you don't have to understand every formula to understand what a creative thinker the character (hell - the author!) is to persevere in these situations.

Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars by Jessica Abel

Come on, with a title like that you know I had to check it out!

In the future, former Earthlings now are farming Mars for water. Many were contracted into virtual slavery in the process, so contracts have a bad reputation as being exploitive and evil.

Which is why no one's exactly celebrating when Patricia Nupindju rashly signs as a skategirl with the hoverderby league, leaving her farmer family in a lurch without the help - both her labor and her mechanical aptitude.

This volume is an interesting setup - it lays the groundwork for a longer, more detailed story. I especially enjoyed the "wikipedia" entries at the back that give more in-depth explanation of immigration, terraforming, and hoverderby.

I'll be looking for the next volume (fall 2017) to continue the drama.

Every Anxious Wave by Mo Daviau

Karl's a nice enough guy, but maybe a little lonely. When he discovers a wormhole that allows him to drop into and out of the time continuum, he builds a side business transporting people to seminal rock concerts. See Hendrix at Monterey Pop! Watch the Ramones at CBGB!

When he bumbles a date and accidentally sends a friend to 980, Karl is forced to enlist the help of an astrophysicist to work the science end of getting him back. Lena's a socially awkward genius in punk goddess guise. Of course, there are sparks. Of course, there are complications.

It's a fun, light book full of 1990s music references and the kind of characters to whom you can relate. The time travel begins to make things a little sticky - not everybody is as diligent as Karl about not altering the past - but even at its twistiest the story never gets super sci-fi complicated.

I read it in a single sitting, and it was a welcome departure from more serious topics I'd been pondering. Plus, now I keep trying to decide what my ultimate concert experience would be ...

The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire

Working in the sea deep below a Canadian oil rig, welder Jack Joseph knows his job: focus on the weld, hold a steady hand. But one day he sees something from the corner of his mask and everything begins to unravel.

He's brought up to the surface, revived, and sent home early from his stint aboard the rig. Going home should be a blessing because Jack's wife Susie is on the verge of giving birth, but Jack's restless to discover what he saw in the deep water outweighs his impending fatherhood.

This black-and-white graphic novel shows through flashbacks and some time travel trickery how Jack's grief for his missing father is affecting his joy for the birth of his own son. In the introduction there's reference to the TV show the Twilight Zone - which is really how this story feels.

It's bleak and sad, but also told very well.

And Again by Jessica Chiarella

Four end-life patients participate in a clinical trial to transplant part of their brain and all their memories into new, cloned, biologically cleansed versions of their own body.

The point to be made is this: how much of our personality/humanity is in our head and how much is body-centric? Are habits part of your brain or in your muscles? Is love in your limbic system or in your heart?

This was a unique audiobook that utilized four narrators - one for each character. The book is told chronologically, but switches from person to person to give multiple perspectives. Each character struggles with the idea of "self" in their new bodies, and they work through some of their concerns in group-therapy sessions. But each also holds secrets - thoughts or actions they can't even share with these few people who might understand.

It's a fantastic story, mostly about internal struggles of self - the author mercifully leaves the science part rather vague and mostly out of the action. My favorite character is the young painter who can no longer make magic with her hands; when you've defined yourself by a talent, who are you when that's gone? I also enjoyed the way each character weighs out the despoiling of their new body: sex, alcohol, cigarettes, food, tattoos, scars and more.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

In a primitive world changed by a flu pandemic, a band of minstrels and actors wander the American midwest performing Shakespeare to the survivors. As the novel's timeline flashes back and forth - before and after the Georgia Flu - we see the interconnectedness of the survivors, whose stories link back to a celebrity actor, Arthur Leander.

This book was on a lot of best of 2015 lists and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The author went on record saying she doesn't consider it sci-fi because there's no technology and gadgets involved. She says it's literary fiction.

While the "no technology" is technically accurate and the traveling symphony-and-Shakespeare troupe offers a bit of high-brow flair, I think it's cutting a pretty fine line to say this post-apocalypse novel isn't really in the sci-fi genre. The book is at heart a look at the invisible links between people, man's ability to adapt to survive, and a look at what the world could be like without "modern technology."

I enjoyed the book. The shifting perspectives keep the narrative moving along without getting bogged down in the minutia of survival, plus allow some dramatic tension as story threads cut out and return again later. I was pleasantly surprised a couple times as the connections back to Arthur were revealed.

Plus, now I know that living in the airport may be the best option, post-plague.

Strata by Terry Pratchett

It's hard to surprise or shock a person when they've lived more than 200 years; they've really seen and heard it all. But Kin Arad is intrigued by the invisible man who appears suddenly in her office and his news of a flat planet's existence.

This was one of Pratchett's earliest books, and he's setting up the cosmology that his later Discworld books are built upon. It's captivating and imaginative. But also a challenge.

This book moves very quickly and presents some extremely foreign concepts: So much so, in fact, that I concurrently read a paper copy of the book (in the house) and listened to the audiobook (in the car). I have never used this dual approach before, and I found I really enjoyed it. With the audio I got characterization and pronunciation while the book allowed me to take a moment sometimes to reabsorb and wrap my head around a new and complex philosophy.

John Dies @ The End by David Wong

Profane and hilarious, this book is like a mashup of "Ghostbusters" with "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Humanity is in peril as portals to another dimension open and spit through evil beings, and the only ones (maybe) able to save us are a pair of twenty-something slackers.

David works in a movie rental store, and John can't keep a job for more than a couple months. At a summer party where John's (horrible) band plays, a new drug gets passed around. Nearly everybody who takes the "soy sauce" dies in a dramatic and horrific way - except John, who goes comatose.

Turns out the drug turns your brain into a supercomputer able to do astronomical calculations of probability in a split second, and allows you to see horrific and fantastic things invisible to everyone else.

This book is incredibly smart - and also really, really dumb. It's twisty and unpredictable, funny and fun, but not the kind of thing that will last long in your memory. Sometimes you just need a good flight of fancy, and this one has certainly been entertaining for me.

There is a sequel, and I will be looking that one up too.

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

In the second of the Red Rising trilogy, class rebellion is nearer to erupting as red-hiding-as-gold Darrow negotiates the political and social intrigue of the ruling class.

This book is all about tactical planning - political, social, and in battle. There are crosses and double-crosses, friends who turn out to be enemies and enemies who aren't what they seem either, and lots of literal and figurative backstabbing.

While Darrow believes every person should be free, he can't let that be know. And now that he's lived among the ruling class for a few years - and enjoyed the fruits of that class' position on the hierarchy - does he still have the drive his wife Eo's death once lit within him?

I could NOT put this book down. It's all scheming and doing, running and fighting, leading and inspiring - action from start to finish. I'm totally recommending this series to my teenage nephew as his next read (and I cannot wait for Morning Star).

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

A girl is born into a world of hurt and hunger. Shortly, she is strong enough to heal and hunt. But who is she, and where is she? She has no memory - and yet, she seems to know how to survive. She finds a savior in an adult man named Wright and together they attempt to puzzle together her story.

In this fantasy fiction novel, Shori is a creature similar to vampires yet wholly different. She is Ina, a race of blood-drinking creatures who form close-knit communities with their human "symbionts." Her amnesia is a result of a major head injury - Ina heal from injury quickly, but complex brain regeneration can't restore lost memories.

This is a slightly different kind of vampire story with a whole new cosmology, and Shori's total amnesia allows the author leeway to have characters do a lot of lecturing on history and tradition. But the book's not without suspense and action - somebody's out to get Shori, and her amnesia makes it impossible to know who to trust.

And the culture of Ina and of their symbiots leads to a different kind of vampire philosophy - where typically there is an underlying theme of existential angst about God, death, and immortality, in this story characters spend more time pondering connections, family, and kin.

I enjoyed the book, and found it refreshing to see a unique twist on the vampire legend.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Darrow's part of a hard-working clan who spend their difficult, short lives mining underground on Mars in order to make the planet above hospitable for future colonization.

So he's shocked to discover everything he knows is a lie - for one, that Mars aboveground and many, many other planets and moons have been successfully inhabited for a very long time - when he's given an opportunity to join the rebellion and try to change things.

Comparisons to the Hunger Games series is inevitable - a "game" between young people that leads to the victor's eventual success in politics and society. But this book stands on its own - I didn't feel it was reactionary or derivative of Suzanne Collins' series. It's a great action-adventure story, full of strategy and twists, espionage and doubletalk. It's easy to forget (as it is for the competitors) that there's more to life on Mars than what's happening inside the game.

The book ends in a place that made me say "REALLY? Really!" and the countdown for the second in the series has begun ("Golden Son" has a January release date).

Lexicon by Max Barry

As unlikely as it seems, this is a geeky word-nerd action-adventure novel with guns. Seriously!

A secret organization has discovered how to control people simply with language: using the right combination of sounds, and they can instantly hotwire your brain to believe anything or do anything they tell you. They call it "compromising" a person, and the expert practitioners of this art are called poets.

This is a fast-moving, hard to put down book. The story shifts around in time a bit, so you're often uncertain if the events are now, later, or before - which adds to the suspense. What students we meet will eventually become the poets? What on earth did they unleash in Australia? Seriously, a WORD could do that?!?

It's very good, and moves along quickly. Once I finally picked it up, I read it in just 2 days.