Monthly Archives: January 2017

My Vintage SciFi Month 2017 Reads

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This #VintageSciFiMonth was a little busy for me so I didn’t get as much reading in as I would have liked to, but I did enjoy 2/3rds of the books I read! 


This year I started off with a group read of DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson. This was my third time reading this classic SciFi tale of a young man who stood outside of humanity and eventually takes the lead of our species. It was interesting reading this one with other folks. Their perspectives added to my experience with the book! 


Sighhhh….. I got the wrong book! The Silver Warriors is a sequel to an earlier Moorcock book: The Eternal Champion. I quickly changed my plans and downloaded The Eternal Champion to my Kindle Fire and devoured it! I truly enjoy his writing style. This book was a lot of fun to read. 


Titan by John Varley was NOT fun to read. It was an awkward descent into the author’s sexual focus. When you tell a tale of First Contact NORMALLY there is some form of excitement in the humans…. but nope! None in Varley’s characters. That just interrupts their sex lives, but not really. They still focus more on that than contact with the aliens. The majority of their contact with aliens is spent marveling at the genitals of the aliens or trying to figure out which aliens they can kill and eat. Basically this is an awkward book and I hope you skip it. 


Tactics Of Mistake is the fourth book in Dickson’s Childe Cycle and I’ll be reading this in February as this month got away from me. I’m looking forward to it!

Did you enjoy your Vintage SciFi Month reads? What books did you read? What authors did you try? Will you be joining in next year? We hope you will!

A Word From The Father: The Invisible Man

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A special guest post from my Father! In honor of #VintageSciFiMonth he chose to read and review The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. My parents were my primary inspiration to read so it is with great joy that I share this review from my Dad with y’all:
It’s always good to find one’s roots, whether that is in life or in a chosen genre of literature. The roots of Sci-Fi can be traced to H. G. Wells and one of his classics “The Invisible Man.” Sci-Fi or fantasy literature works when a reader can “suspend belief” or have a “plausible impossible” story line. 


In “The Invisible Man” Wells provides such a story line through a scientist who discovers the ability to render objects invisible. After a few experiments the protagonist turns himself invisible. The crux of the story then becomes his struggles and mad obsession of establishing a “reign of terror” and being able to use his exceptional situation to establish himself as the leader (and benefactor) of his reign. He soon finds that he is ill equipped to survive his invisibility without assistance. Once his secret is out, he struggles to continue and ultimately falls victim to his own avarice and unstable mental condition. As the story unfolds, the reader can see and understand how Wells has crafted a theme that is now a classic in Science Fiction writing. “The Invisible Man” is well written and should be read by all lovers of Science Fiction.

DORSAI! Group Read Part Four (The End)

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Caution! Spoilers ahead! We’re reading DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson for #VintageSciFiMonth and in this post we’ll cover Protector III through Donal (the end of the book)


DORSAI! will always be a favorite book for me. Yet even with this third read through I still feel this book is hurried. I wish the author had taken more time exploring Donal’s new abilities, his brother’s actions, the surrounding cast, and respected the female characters more instead of just using them to show off some aspect of Donal. 


Questions for you: Did the ending events surprise you? Or were you expecting a planetary invasion after all the foreshadowing? Did you guess who Donal was kidnapping in Commander In Chief? What are your overall feelings on the book now that you’ve reached the end? Would you consider reading on in the series?


The next book in the series is Necromancer (formerly No Room For Man). It takes place long before DORSAI! and it sets the stage for the universe of The Childe Cycle. Soldier, Ask Not (one of my favorite titles ever) takes place parallel to DORSAI! and is quite intriguing. Tactic Of Mistakes is the fourth book and is a prequel to DORSAI! and follows Donal’s parents (I think). It is what I’m picking up to read next!


Thank you so much for joining in on this group read! I hope you enjoyed your meeting with Donal and are willing to give Gordon R Dickson a chance to win some space on your bookshelf!

DORSAI! Group Read Part Three

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Caution! Spoilers ahead! 
We’re reading DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson for #VintageSciFiMonth and in this post we’ll cover Hero through Protector.


Our hero, Donal Graeme, has gone and made himself into a full fledged once in a lifetime hero! But what side effects will the constant Shifting in space have upon his body, mind, and soul? He obviously has something special within himself, a gift from his diverse genetics combined with the unknown affects of the Shifting. 


(Side question: What’s your favorite drink to enjoy while reading?)

Donal now faces the results of being a hero: greater responsibility. What seems confusing is why did he choose to work with such zealots? I think it is because he knew he could manipulate them. Are you surprised by they way he left the job? Did you expect him to take the mercenaries with him? 

Now to me the really interesting part of this section is his interaction with Sayona the Bond. You don’t have to tell me what it is, but do you have a personal philosophy? Do you think that we all do inside of ourselves? And what is this about Donal walking on air? 

One other question: Which of the characters that Donal has pulled into his orbit do you find most interesting?

This Saturday we will post the final Group Read Post for DORSAI! Can’t wait to hear your final thoughts on this book! 

Making Time For Reading

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Life is busy. Life is distracting. Life is full of urgent things that pull you in every which direction! So how do you find or make time for your passions? For those things that bring you peace and joy? 


No for real, I’m asking you that question! That’s the dilemma that faces us all. If you have suggestions on how to make time for your personal pursuits please feel free to share them. And yes; I’m about to share a few too.


As y’all know I love reading. I love my books and my book collecting! Reading is one of my heart’s greatest joys, and a day feels incomplete without the turning of a few pages. Yet it can be difficult to find the time to read (and review) with life vying for your attention. I haven’t figured out the proper budgeting of time yet but I do have a few suggestions of what works for me. 


1)   Make sure you always have access to a book! This might sound silly but when the time comes to read and you left your book at work then what can you do? Well there is one thing…

2) Read more than one book at a time! I know people tell me all the time that reading multiple books is impossible or too distracting etc… but then those same people tend to watch multiple tv shows without an issue soooooo…. it’s all in what you allow yourself to do I think. I normally have between 5-10 books I’m working on at a time and I love it. 😊

3) Speaking of tv shows…. well you have to give up time consuming things to make time for other things! I made a conscious decision to watch less tv so that I can read more. It means I miss out on some of the pop culture discussions BUT I get to enjoy more book discussions! 

4) Find a book community that encourages reading! If you haven’t joined the Bookstagram Community on Instagram you should create a profile and join! Or join GoodReads! You’ll find people who love reading and sharing about the books they post! Doing something like an IG account is less time consuming than blogging but if you’re reallllllly serious about making books a priority….

5) Start a book reading blog! I use WordPress to host my site and I enjoy it. Having this helps remind me that I need to be blogging about books and how can I do that if I don’t read? That helps hold me accountable to reading. 

6) Create a To Read bookshelf or list. That way you have reading goals. Setting goals can really help!

7) Lists with seven points seem more legit than lists without seven points so I’ve added a seventh point!

8) Read books that you enjoy! Let me say that louder for those in the back: READ BOOKS YOU ENJOY! Reading time shouldn’t be wasted on books you don’t like just because everyone says you MUST read them. 

9) Don’t be afraid to quit a book (or series) and move on if you aren’t connecting to it. I thought I had to finish every book and series I started and if I wasn’t enjoying a popular book it was my fault and I had to make myself like or at least finish it. I can’t tell you how free I felt when I realized I didn’t have to finish every book! That I could walk away from it and find a book I connected with! FREEDOM!!!!!!

10) Plan a group read! You don’t have to get together, you can discuss it online! 

11) Give up on sleep. There is only reading now. 

12) But for real stop and examine your daily routines, keep a book close, make reading a priority, find friends you can share this joy with, set some reading goals, and decide what matters to you timewise. 

That’s all I have for now! I’m sure there’s other ways to make more time for reading, so I might add a part two one day, but I need to be reading now! AND I want to hear your suggestions and ideas! 

DORSAI! Group Read Part Two

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Caution! Spoilers ahead! 

We’re reading DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson for #VintageSciFiMonth and in this post we’ll cover Veteran through Sub-Patrol Chief II


Ok was anyone shocked at the revelation that Donal had Hugh executed? Seems a very Dorsai thing to do so it keeps with his character. I’m honestly not sure he truly realized all the benefits it gave to his side plans or not, but it really did benefit him! And now he has William as a true enemy… or William at least realizes Donal isn’t a common pawn!

As Empress8411 pointed out in our last discussion there is a lack of female representation in the series and it is a little frustrating. It would be so cool to see badass female Dorsai merecenaries fighting in this universe. Anea doesn’t progress much in this section. But at least she refuses to be Donal’s ego salve. I was excited to see a female first officer at first, but then war happened. 

Are you the sort of reader that focuses on the description of the spacecraft? Or are you (like me) the sort that just quickly reads over that part and pictures something straight out of Star Wars and moves on?

Do you feel that Lee’s character has shifted unexpectedly? Does this line up with what we already knew of him? 

Is the story compelling? Do you still feel like turning the pages? 🙂 

DORSAI! Group Read Part One

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For those participating in the #VintageSciFiMonth Group Read of DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson I hope you’ve been enjoying it! Hopefully you’ve had a chance to start reading and are ready to discuss! 

Caution! Possible Spoilers!


This discussion covers Cadet through Force Leader II. I’m really interested in your thoughts! One question I have when reading a Vintage SciFi Book is do you see this as a possible future for humanity? In this case how homogenous do you think colonized planets would be? It seems in this future they are taking such different paths that they’ve started to evolve differently. 

In the case of Donal what are your first impressions? Do you think he is odd? Would we realize that if the author didn’t tell us he was? I think we would. His interactions and the way he carries himself set him apart. Do you think he should have given that contract to William or destroyed it?

Are you enjoying the pacing? To me it feels like quick glimpses and that keeps it moving fast. It seems to make it accessible for me. 

Any initial thoughts? How do you think this book will turn out? Observations? Looking forward to your input! 🙂

Vintage SciFi Month Giveaway!

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Announcing the first ever giveaway for Vintage SciFi Month! LittleRedReviewer and I are happy and honored to host Vintage SciFi Month which is now entering its sixth year! In honor of that we are holding a special giveaway this year! In order to fit with the theme of the month the prize will be:


The Book Of Frank Herbert! A collection of ten short stories by Frank Herbert that was published in 1973 


It is one of the yellow spine Daw books!


We are super excited that this book will soon be in the hands of a Vintage SciFi Fan!


How do you enter and win the giveaway? Very simple: Use the hashtag: #VintageSciFiMonth on any Tweet or Instagram post or (public) FaceBook post and you’ll have your name put into the drawing! With each unique post you use the hashtag we’ll put your name into the drawing again! So the more often you post/tweet about Vintage SciFi Month the more opportunities you have to win!

We are limiting the giveaway to North America at this time due to cost. Sorry international readers! 


We are so excited to be able to host this giveaway and this wonderful month of reading! Thank you all for joining in! Now let’s start reading, posting, and talking about all of those amazing Vintage SciFi Books! 🚀💫

The DORSAI! Group Reading Plans For Vintage SciFi Month

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Happy Vintage SciFi Month! The most wonderful reading time of the year! 😊😍📚🚀👏💫 

For those who want to join in on the Group Read of DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson here is the handy reading schedule and planned discussion points! Please keep in mind that as GRD didn’t number his chapters and the various printings of the book make limiting it to page numbers difficult. Also feel free to read ahead! Or even more slowly! Read at your own pace. This is just a suggested guideline for the group so when we talk we know we aren’t spoiling anything. That said here we go:

Jan 1-4 Cadet through Force Leader II

Jan 5-7 Veteran through Sub-Patrol Cheif II

Jan 8-11 Hero through Protector

Jan 12-14 Protector II through Donal (end of the book)

On each Wednesday evening and Saturday Evening I’ll post a discussion post here on my website, link to it on both Twitter and Facebook, and I’ll post a reminder on Instagram. Feel free to join in on the discussion at any of these places that you like! This will be the central hub for everyone reading it, but I’ll gladly discuss it anywhere that works for you. 

DORSAI! Is an excellent entry point into the world of Vintage SciFi! It’s a military SciFi that’s written in an accessible fashion and also shows the fascination SciFi writers had with evolution and The New (or next) Man. While it adds in philosophy it also keeps the story moving along. This will be my third reading of it so I obviously think it’s a worthwhile read! You can purchase it for kindle HERE.


Welcome to #VintageSciFiMonth and welcome to #DORSAI!