Hugos and Moving On

So the 2013 Hugo Ceremony was held about 10 days ago. I didn’t end up watching as by the time the stream actually started it was quite late for me and, as I believe I mentioned in my last post, I was less excited about this year’s nominees as a whole. There were three awards I truly felt invested in, Best Novel and the two Dramatic Presentation categories. There were other categories with excellent entries, and I cast votes for most of the categories, but I wasn’t waiting with bated breath to find out who won them.

The big winner of the night, Best Novel, was John Scalzi’s Redshirts. It’s no secret to those who have read my introduction, that I’m a big Scalzi fan, but I didn’t love Redshirts as much as some of his other novels and it did not end up my number one choice this year (that went to Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2312). That having been said, I was pulling for him to win (yes, I know that’s a bit weird – people are complicated!) and I couldn’t be happier for Mr. Scalzi. He’s said himself that there may be an element of “career award” to his win, and he’s certainly deserving of that! In other words, I ain’t mad at ya, Scalzi!

In the past few years, Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form, has been dominated by Doctor Who. This year’s nominees were three Doctor Who episodes, (“Asylum of the Daleks”, “Angels Take Manhattan”, and “The Snowmen”), a Fringe episode (“Letters of Transit”) and a Game of Thrones (“Blackwater”). You may remember that last year the entire season of Game of Thrones was nominated (and won) the long form drama category and the entire world is obsessed with that show, so it didn’t surprise me at all when George R.R. Martin won for his episode. Did I vote for it? No. (Well yes, but it was a low choice.) I voted for “Asylum of the Daleks” but again I’m perfectly happy for Martin to have taken home the prize. I’ve been A Song of Ice and Fire fan for many, many years and while I don’t love the show as much as the rest of world seems to, I do watch and appreciate the time and effort that go into making it. (Also, I pretty much always prefer the movie that plays in my head as I read to whatever ends up on-screen, regardless of anything else, so I’ve learned I have to take my reactions to adaptations with a grain of salt.)

I was also pleased to have Joss Whedon take home the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form, and in this case I actually voted his work my number one choice! He was actually nominated twice, once with Drew Goddard for Cabin in the Woods (which I am never going to watch and therefore did not include in my ballot because scary) and once as writer and director for Marvel’s The Avengers. I could write an entire post on the awesomeness of The Avengers, every time I watch it I catch something new – an Easter Egg for Marvel geeks, a throwaway joke, an unnamed extra doing something badass – all the things that have always made Joss so great are there with my favorite superhero team.

So, while I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the nominees in general this year, three of my favorite writers took home awards and I’m happy about that.

“Moving On” to the second part of this post, I’ve been desperately trying to make it back through Prelude to Foundation and it’s incredibly slow going. I know all the major plot points from reading it before, but I want to read it again before I post on it so I can pick up all the little bits related to the Robot and Empire series before I post on it. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of other books I want to read – many of them past Hugo nominees – and I’m putting them off because of some arbitrary rule I made up myself about reading the old stuff first. So I’m giving myself permission to change. From now on, I will be reading what I want, when I want and I will post about anything I deem appropriate whether it was nominated for a Hugo or not. The end goal will still be to read all the past Hugo nominees at some point – but there’s plenty of good Sci Fi and Fantasy that was never nominated and I’m not going to continue denying myself those reads for no reason beyond my own stubbornness. The occasional movie, graphic novel, or game might sneak in here on occasion too.

Be ready!

2013 Hugos

Well, I’ve just saved my final ballot for the 2013 Hugos. I’m not going to go into my votes just now, I’ll do that after LoneStarCon, but I will say that I was somewhat disappointed after last year. Perhaps it was because the first thing I read last year was Jo Walton’s Among Others, which is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks afterwards. The same thing happened with the Novella, Short Story, and Graphic Novel I voted for. This year, nothing left that kind presence behind. I’d finish reading something and move on to the next with no real desire to sit and digest what I’d just read. That’s not to say that this year’s nominees were bad, the stories just didn’t affect me the way some of last year’s did.

At any rate, now that I’ve gotten through the last couple of months, I’ll be back to my retro reads shortly. Stay tuned!

For Your Enjoyment

I’m not ignoring this blog.

I’m working on a reread and post for Prelude to Foundation but as I already read it, I’m also spending a lot of time trying to remember what the heck my old notes meant!

Also, the Hugo Voters Packet was finally released this week, adding quite a few books to my must read (by the end of July!) list.

In the meantime, enjoy this post from Buzzfeed of 13 Fantasy Novels That Are Good Despite Their Covers. ‘Tis awesome and hilarious. Man I love making fun of book covers!

I hope to have a real post up this weekend…maybe.

 

In the Future, Everyone on Earth will be an A**hole

I first started reading Pebble in the Sky last fall, immediately after finishing Robots and Empire, but I got bored and, as stated in a previous post, moved on to other things. When I finally decided it was time to come back to the Empire series, I was somewhat relieved when I realized that Asimov recommended saving Pebble in the Sky for last, as I hadn’t found the chapters I had already read all that engaging. In fact, I seem to have developed some sort of block about this book. It took me two weeks to finish a 256-page book! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it was that was effecting my desire to read Pebble in the Sky and I think it comes down to the fact that I didn’t like any single character in the book. I truly didn’t give a crap what happened to any of them.

This publication series found an artist who read the books and then chose the most mundane moments to put on the cover. They’re interesting.

Pebble in the Sky opens in Chicago during the late 1940s. The war is over and the Cold War is under way. Retired tailor Joseph Schwartz is walking past a nuclear research lab when they experience a minor (seriously, it’s extremely minor to the scientists involved) accident.  Schwartz is consequently transported tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of years into the future in the course of a footstep. He finds himself on an Earth that has experienced true nuclear disaster. The vast majority of Earth is uninhabitable and off-limits. That’s about as far as I can get providing any sort of cohesive summary. Like the rest of the Empire trilogy, Pebble in the Sky bounces from viewpoint to viewpoint, offering snippets of plot here and there that only come to a whole in the last few chapters of the book. What I can do, is give a basic rundown of each of the major characters we come across (and attempt to put into words just what I don’t like about each of them!)

I imagine this is the Mt. Everest stronghold of the Procurator. Not bad.

Joseph Schwartz: I have already mentioned. Obviously, you’re supposed to easily sympathize with him. A man pulled from (roughly) our own time into a strange world, through no fault of his own, where he can’t even speak the language. I honestly can’t say exactly when I stopped. I think it was around the time he attempted to escape from the Nuclear Research Institute to which he is brought shortly after his arrival. He seems to spend an awful lot of time feeling sorry for himself, and with all the other characters being even more obnoxious to my mind, his wallowing soon became the proverbial straw that broke this camel’s back.

Loa, Arbin, and Grew: Their farmhouse is the first place Schwartz finds after his sudden displacement. They are terrified commoners who want both to make use of Schwartz (they haven’t told the government that Grew can no longer work so that 2 people are trying to do the work of 3) and to get rid of this seeming imbecile who babbles nonsense and grows hair out of his face. It is their fear, distrust, and lack of education that truly sets everything in motion. (I supposed it could be argued that it’s also the catalyst for the ultimate outcome which saves the human race (spoiler? You all know there are more books that take place after this right?).)

There were no floating cities in this book.

Dr. Bel Arvardan: A member of the Empire (not from Earth) and an archaeologist, Arvardan has recently made advances in the field showing that it is likely that all human life evolved from one planet, rather than the more accepted view that humanity evolved simultaneously across the galaxy. He has come to Earth believing it may well be the planet of origin for humanity. Due to the radiation levels of the planet and the subsequent genetic mutations of the people who live there, this is a very unpopular idea in the Empire at large. Arvardan is from the Sirius sector, known to be more anti-Earth than most of the galaxy and he actively fights against his prejudices. Again, this should be noble and ingratiating, however his innate sub-conscience bigotry often makes itself known and perhaps, strikes a little too close to home in our P.C. culture.

 

A bit boring maybe, but at least it makes sense!

Dr. Affret Shekt: A physicist who has developed the Synapsifier, a device to allow the treated to learn faster. The device works, however Shekt has been forced by the “Ancients” to make it seem to the public at large that it is risky and unpredictable. He has asked for human volunteers while the word has simultaneously spread that doing so is tantamount to suicide. In actuality it is only the chosen of the so-called “Ancients” (we’ll get there) who receive the enhancement. Until, that is, Arbin brings Schwartz in to “volunteer”. Shekt is obviously a dupe and remains rather wishy-washy and spineless through much of the book.

I think I know what this is supposed to be, but it’s certainly not anywhere close to what I imagined.

Pola Shekt: Dr. Shekt’s daughter is a student interning with her father. During Schwartz’s escape post-treatment she meets Dr. Arvardan. When she discovers Arvardan is not an Earthman her reaction is extreme. I suppose, given the society she has grown up in, it is not surprising that she should react strongly. I suppose my main objection to her is the way Asimov wrote women in general. Even when strong she shows weakness: “‘Oh, we’re all going to die, and I don’t care any more-but we could stop it, we could stop it-And instead we just sit here and-and-talk-‘ She burst into wild sobs.” (Kindle 4164) Just because I recognize that the book was written in the 1950s, doesn’t mean I can’t feel disheartened about her post-speech breakdown.

I haven’t the foggiest.

Lord Ennius: Ennius is the Procurator of Earth, the Emperor’s representative. Ostensibly in charge, he spends most of his time worrying about a rebellion and then fails to act when confronted with crisis. There’s really nothing much to like about a man more worried about his diplomatic future than the good of the human race.

Secretary Balkis (and the High Minister): The High Minister is the elected head of Earth. A member of the Society of the Ancients, the current ruling party of radical zealots believing not only the Earth is the origin planet for all human life, but that it should and would be again – through force of course (otherwise there would be no plot). Balkis, however, is the true power. It is he who makes the plans that will destroy all life not native to Earth and he who has despotic intentions to rule. He is the most obviously unlikable  character but more than his melodramatic villainy it was his truly insane leaps of logic that rubbed at me.

This whole post seems very complainy doesn’t it? It’s not often that I spend so much of a book detesting all of the characters and though some come through in the end, it was the distaste that stayed with me when I finished the last page. As a whole, it wasn’t much different from the other Empire books, a small group of people put their cultural differences aside and come together to best the true societal threat. Perhaps because this was Asimov’s first novel he hadn’t quite gotten the hang of prolonged characterization yet. I do know that if I reread his books in the future, I will likely skip this one.

I totally saw that coming – and I totally teared up anyway

Whether I read in publication order or Asimov’s preferred order, the middle book of the Empire “trilogy” is the middle book. I can’t screw it up! The Stars, Like Dust is that book. It’s weird.

As is usual with Asimov, the focus is on political and social injustice and the need for change. However, the message is somehow simultaneously more on-the-nose and less prevalent than usual.

The book opens as the sleeping Biron Firrell is wakened from a deep sleep by a call. (The first couple of paragraphs are amazingly true to life today, basically he put his phone on vibrate, but he’s woken up anyway when someone tries to Skype him with a terrible connection.) Once awake, Biron realizes that his lights aren’t working, his “visiplate” will receive but not send, his ventilation system is off, and he can’t get out the door. As a college student ready to graduate in a few short days, he naturally assumes this is a prank, until he discovers the radiation bomb in his closet. He is saved by Sander Jonti, who had realized his peril just in time.

Jonti, it turns out, knows Biron’s father, the Rancher of Widemos, who has just been arrested and is likely to be executed shortly. Jonti suggests to Biron he needs to get off planet and head to the Director of Rhodia for assistance. That’s the first 1 and 1/2 chapters and the names and places are already difficult to keep track of, aren’t they? Things get even more convoluted from there, so I’ll boil it down to this. There are a group of planets on the other side of the Horsehead Nebula called the Nebular Kingdoms. They have been taken over by Tyranni who are (surprise!) tyrannical. Each world maintains a semblance of their former government (Rancher and Director are examples) but are, in fact, ruled by the Khan or Tyran. Their seems to be a group of rebels planning to fight against their rule and Biron’s father is one of them. It’s never clear just how much of this Biron knew, but he had been tasked by his father to find a certain document on Earth before he leaves, which he fails to do. This document will supposedly destroy the Tyranni rule but it is rarely mentioned through the story.

Of course, no one is as they seem. There are so many twists and turns, double- and triple-crossing, lying and spying, it all gets a bit boring after a while. There’s also a surprising amount of violence, most of it hand-to-hand, and a seemingly out-of-place love story. This is not to say The Stars, Like Dust is not worth reading. The first 9 chapters are riveting (and the first, down right scary) and the last 5 chapters create a surprisingly satisfying (the obvious) close.

I’ve now reached a point where I’m both out of things to say and brimming with thoughts I want to express. It seems a fitting way to end my review of a dichotomous novel.

There is no good title for this post – much as there apparently wasn’t a good title for the book itself!

Remember way back when I first started reading the Asimov books and I had that whole post about reading them in the wrong order? I almost did it again. I bought and started Pebble in the Sky ages ago because it was the first of the Empire books written. Luckily, before going back to it, I reread my past posts and saw that Asimov’s suggested reading order is to read the three Empire books in reverse order, starting with The Currents of Space (1952) and ending with Pebble in the Sky (1950). I quickly purchased and downloaded Currents of Space and finished it in short order. That was almost a week ago. Originally I was going to wait a day, as I usually do, before posting, give my thoughts time to settle. Life got in the way and here I am struggling to remember anything I wanted to say!

No actual giant floating heads will be found in this book. Also no green men.

The plot is built around a mystery of sorts. The book opens with two unknown men in conversation. One has information of the utmost importance he is desperate to get to the people who need it, the other is intent on keeping the information out of circulation entirely and therefore drugs and uses a “psychic probe” on the unfortunate man. After the psychic probing, the man’s brain reverts practically to infancy. He not only loses his memory, but also the ability to walk, talk, and process the world around him. “It was a grown human being, nearly naked, chin wet with drool, whimpering and crying feebly, arms and legs moving about aimlessly. Faded blue eyes shifted in random fashion out of a face that was covered with a grown stubble.” (Kindle Location 427) He is dropped in a small village on the planet Florina and adopted by Valona March.

There are spaceships though! Not a lot, but some!

When the story resumes, Rik, as he has come to be called, has begun to retrieve memories from before the psychic probe. He remembers that he analyzed “Nothing”, meaning he was a Spatio-analyst, and that he had important information that constituted a danger to Florina and its inhabitants, though he had no idea what that information may be. The remainder of the novel is the mad dash by multiple characters to find Rik and what he knows, for good or evil depends on the character.

No naked red women or devils in Samurai armor either, but someone should write that book.

As with all Asimov’s works, it’s the socioeconomic elements that are of real interest to me. Florina is a world controlled by the people of Sark. The City consists of two levels, the lower level where native Florinians live and the Upper City, where Sarkites, known as Squires, live. The Florinians of the Lower City literally live in the Squires’ shadow. Some Florinians are chosen at a youngish age, to go to Sark and train to work in Civil Service, some remaining on Sark and others being sent back to Florina as Townmen. This may seem reasonable on the surface, but there is something more sinister behind this policy:

“Further, neither the Townmen nor Sark’s clerical assistants may breed without losing their position. Even with female Florinians, that is. Interbreeding with Sarkites is, of course, out of the question. In this way the best of the Florinian genes are being continually withdrawn from circulation, so that gradually Florina will be composed only of hewers of wood and drawers of water.” (Kindle Location 1048)

This Hebrew edition looks great! Somebody read the book.

This inequality is the crux of the entire conflict through The Currents of Space. Florina is the only planet in the galaxy able to produce kyrt, a cellulose capable of producing the most luxurious fabrics known to man. It is the native Florinians who work the fields and mills, producing the kyrt and performing the necessary steps to transform it into workable material. It is the people of Sark however, five men in particular, who reap all the benefits.

Each character we meet is affected by the Sark/Florina social system in some way or another from Squire Fife, the greatest (richest) of all the men of Sark to Dr. Selim Junz, who has been looking for Rik since his disappearance to Myrlyn Terens, the Townman of the village in which Rik is found. Each character has a unique vision of the social disparity based on their own situation and experience and Asimov’s real accomplishment in this novel is that, whether you agree with them or not, you can truly understand each character’s motivations throughout the story even as you try to unravel the complicated whodunnit within the plot.

I found this story eminently readable and thoroughly enjoyable.

 

 

I’m Alive! Alive!!

So, I haven’t posted in almost 6 months. I didn’t stop reading, I just was reading things that don’t fit in this blog. I guess after reading all the Hugo nominees and then moving directly to the previously blogged books, I needed a break from thinking critically about what I was reading! 

I’m back now, though I may try alternating my reading so that I read a book for the blog and a book for me in an attempt to avoid burnout again. I hope to blog the first “Empire” book soon and the Hugo nominations will be announced this weekend, so there may be a lot of posts this week, but that will slow down quickly.

Hope my readers are well!

Robots Make the World Go Round

Well, that took a lot longer than it should have! It’s weird to me that Robots and Empire isn’t available as an e-book. It’s one of the more recent novels in the grand series, and it’s pretty important in the scheme of things.

Oh good, there’s another one!

When the book opens, we learn that Solaria has been abandoned by its human inhabitants, Elijah Baley has been dead for nearly 200 years, and Daneel and Giskard have passed into the ownership of Gladia Solaria, the last known Solarian. Two trader ships from the Settler worlds have attempted to land on Solaria in order to collect some of the robots left behind and were promptly destroyed, bringing Elijah’s seven times great-grandson, D.G. (Daneel Giskard) Baley to Aurora looking for Gladia’s assistance in uncovering the mystery of what happened to the ships. Gladia (with Giskard’s quiet help) ends up saving the lives of D.G. and his crew, leading to her becoming a hero to the people of Earth and the Settler worlds. She finds that this agrees with her and chooses to devote the remaining decades of her life to working for peace between the Settlers and the Spacers.

This is the copy I read. It doesn’t make much sense either.

Meanwhile, Giskard and Daneel have uncovered a grand scheme by a few Spacers to end the Earth’s galactic expansion. As Giskard reads the emotions of those around him, and Daneel uses the gift of deduction he learned from Elijah, the two robots slowly unravel the dastardly plan to end Earth and its inhabitants. During this time, Daneel comes up with what he terms “The Zeroth Law”, that a robot’s first true loyalty must be to protect humanity. That, in fact, the good of the whole is greater than the good of the one. I suppose that’s what this book boils down to There are many conversations between the two robots as they work toward this realization.

I suppose this makes the most sense, though its a bit generic. All around some pretty disappointing covers.

Unlike the rest of the books I’ve read so far in this series, this book felt quite a bit like filler, which I suppose it is in a way. It’s Asimov’s attempt to connect the Robot and Empire stories (with a bit of a nod to the Foundation series as well) but the theme behind this particular novel feels quite a bit weaker than in previous books. Perhaps because it’s not focusing so much on a quirk of humanity we need to be wary of. Perhaps it’s because the humans all end up feeling completely superfluous. For whatever the reason, Robots and Empire didn’t leave me thinking great thoughts the way great sci-fi should.

Interim Post – Making Lame Excuses

It’s been a long time since I posted, so this is that inevitable post about why I’m not posting. My reasons are twofold:

1. The next book in Asimov’s series, Robots and Empire is NOT available as an ebook. This means that I had to either order it or hunt it down somewhere. I did manage to find it in my library system, and I’m about halfway through now. I also have a harder time reading regular books now. I suppose because it’s not just sitting there on my computer/tablet/smartphone for me to pick up wherever I left off when a have time. Instead, I have to remember to bring the physical book with me to places, which is much harder.

2. I have a job and September is a busy time. By the time I get home from work, I’m not in the mood to do much of anything but veg in front of the television. The thought required to process a book you intend to review is just not there.

So, that’s why there hasn’t been a post in a couple of weeks. I promise I haven’t forgotten you and I am working on it. The book is due back at the library in a week and I’d hate to have to renew it, so a review should be up sometime soon.

 

Sex, Lies, and Robotic Recording Equipment

First things first, The Robots of Dawn is by far the best mystery of the Elijah Baley trilogy. I had absolutely no idea “whodunnit” until about 3 pages before it was officially revealed, (and that only with a gigantic clue that would be hard for anyone to miss) and no idea of the HOW until it was explained to me. Not only that, looking back, all the clues were there in the text to be found, which is always my favorite kind of mystery. Well done, Asimov! However, it is, as always, the political and social implications of the story that provide the real interest.

Imagined statement by this cover artist: “Read the book? Why?! Everything I need to know is in the title. There’s a robot (I made him giant, everyone loves a giant robot!) and Dawn, which told me the background should be yellow. I don’t need to read the book to figure that out.”

I suppose, having said that, I should actually describe the mystery! The Robots of Dawn picks up a couple of years after the events of The Naked Sun. Baley has a small group of people (including his son) interested in colonizing space who spend time Outside, tilling soil and doing the things that robots normally do on Earth. He’s been trying to get permission to go to Aurora and petition the government there for assistance in their colonization plans, specifically they need spaceships. He’s been repeatedly denied this opportunity, and then his old acquaintance Fastolfe, the Auroran roboticist and Daneel’s creator, whom Baley first met in Caves of Steel, requests his assistance with a problem. Jander, Fastolfe’s second humaniform robot, has ceased operation (he’s been killed) and the political implications could destroy Fastolfe, Earth, and Baley himself.

Fastolfe is a supporter of Baley’s ideals. He believes (as we know from Caves of Steel) that it is Earthmen who should populate the galaxy. With their short lives and overcrowded planet, they will bring about an age of Galactic Empire. Fastolfe’s opponents, the Globalist Party, believe that Aurorans should settle the galaxy, using humaniform robots as a kind of advanced guard, to build a civilization the settlers will be able to move into without doing any of the hard work. However, Fastolfe, the only man who knows the secret to building humaniform robots, has refused to share his knowledge, putting a significant wrench into the plans of the Globalists. Jander’s destruction comes into play as a political pawn because Fastolfe is the only man who would know how to cause the positronic problems that killed him, yet insists he didn’t do it and it must have been a spontaneous event. Regardless of whether he’s guilty or not, the Globalists will use his implicit guilt to undermine his position, intimating that he killed his own robot in order to prevent them from learning and turning the Auroran legislature to the Globalist point of view. If they succeed and Earth is denied its opportunity to colonize, it will be only a matter of time before the stagnant Earth falls to inevitable entropy. Almost as a side note, Baley’s superior has made it clear that if he does not succeed, he will be decommissioned and lose all status. In short, the stakes have never been higher.

This book looks BO-RING!

Over the course of two and a half days, Baley infuriates various Aurorans. Further confronts his own fears. Cements his relationship with Daneel. Makes strange, incomprehensible leaps of logic. Complains about everything that is different from Earth. And solves a couple of crimish type things. It’s official, Baley bugs the crap out of me. He’s inconsistent and just generally annoying. Thankfully, his character is not essential to enjoyment of these books!

Within the first few paragraphs of The Robots of Dawn (1983), it’s evident that it was written decades after Caves of Steel (1954) and The Naked Sun (1957). There’s an obvious stylistic difference to the prose as well as a lack of inane ’50s slang from Bentley Baley who’s “Gee!’s” and “Golly!s”  nearly ruined Caves of Steel for me. More than that though, the social content of this book exemplified the decades of change that had occurred in America and the world since the previous stories.

Say, that robot looks like it’s obeying the First Law!

Each of the books has explored the societal differences of the planets they take place on, in addition to exploring the possible directions our society has open to us. In Caves of Steel we saw a world where privacy was non-existent, and therefore prized above almost everything; while at the same time being eschewed for the comfort of ever-present people in the Cities of Earth. For instance, in the communal Men’s Personals (bathrooms) speech of any kind was taboo, and it was customary to ignore your fellows to offer the illusion of privacy, and yet, when Baley gained the right to have running water in his home, he felt odd performing his ablutions away from his community.

What is that robot looking at? If I read the book will I find out? (Answer: No)

The Naked Sun explores Earth’s societal opposite. A sparsely populated world has evolved to the point that personal contact, even between husband and wife, is something to be avoided whenever possible. Marital relations are scheduled (seemingly by the government) and perfunctory. The mere threat of meeting in person, being Seen, is enough to drive one man to suicide!

Perhaps, the societal more most explored in The Robots of Dawn is a natural extension of the two from the previous books, but I have a difficult time believing it would have been nearly as frank or explicit had it been written in the late 1950s or early 1960s. It is, in a word, sex. Aurora turns out to be a society where sex is a simple part of one’s daily interactions with others. While marriage exists, it is short-term and is an expression of two people’s intention to have children together more than a result of love or mutual affection. Meanwhile, Aurorans have ritualized the act of sex to be more like an activity two people might choose to do together to pass the time, much like watching a movie or having a drink. Gladia, the Solarian woman we first met in The Naked Sun has been living on Aurora since the end of that story and speaks frankly of the sexual differences and disappointments she’s experienced on both worlds. While it is an integral part of the plot, would it have been possible prior to the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s? I’m not so sure.

The last chapter also shows the 25 year gap between books as it seeks to set up the events of the Empire and Foundation books, further proving that I made the right decision to go back to the beginning after my reading of Prelude to Foundation showed me just how interwoven the series are.