Science Fiction 8 - Chapman, Clarke, Compton, Cowper & Crowley

To finish off authors whose names begin with a "c" here is an odd assortment of the above mentioned authors.

First Stepan Chapman's Troika - truly one of the weirdest books I've ever read. It was sent to me by Jeff VanderMeer several years ago. It is one of those rare Ministry of Whimsy books.

Next, the sole copy of an Arthur C Clarke book I have in my possession - The Fountains of Paradise.

Richard Cowper is a British writer and I was very fond of his Road To Corlay trilogy, sort of post apocalypse science fiction/fantasy. The first two books have lovely Don Maitz covers.

This collection of short stories by Cowper also has a terrific cover by Don Maitz.

D G Compton's Synthajoy somehow found its way into my collection. The cover is slightly psychedelic - try scrolling up and down and the circles spin.

And lastly, to wind up the ''c's", John Crowley's early science fiction novels. John Crowley is one of my all time favourite writers and I first discovered his books with the SF novel Beasts in the mid 1970s. From then on I collected pretty well all of his works. I do indeed have a first edition copy of Little, Big on another bookshelf, and have prepaid for a copy of the 25th Anniversary edition, finally due this year, which is sure to be a very fine example of bibliophilic eye candy. For this entry however I will only display mass market paperbacks of The Deep, Beasts, Engine Summer and Great Work of Time.

Next - Phillip K Dick, Samuel Delaney etc.

Science Fiction 7 - Feminist SF Part 2

Sheri S Tepper is one of my favourite SF writers. She writes wonderful eco feminist novels and I always enjoy seeing any new book of hers. I have many of her books, but perhaps her most well known feminist fiction is The Gate to Women's Country, which besides featuring an interesting dystopia is very cleverly written, as are all of her books.

Another of her clever and fascinating books is in fact the Marianne trilogy which I have in an omnibus edition. They are wonderfully bizarre.

Six Moon Dance has an unusual dystopian society where men are forced to wear veils and serve the women who run all aspects of this society. The Family Tree is a lovely eco fantasy with a huge surprise half way through.

Next Grass, Northshore and Gibbons Decline And Fall

I do have several more Tepper novels, but they can wait for another time.

Finally, as far as feminist science fiction goes - Women of Wonder, a collection of stories by women writers including Ursula Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre, Kate Wilhelm among others.

Next - continuing with authors whose names start with "c"

Science Fiction 6 - Feminist SF Part 1

Probably there is more feminist fiction within the Science Fiction genre than in the mainstream. I have always been quite a fan of feminist fiction and have quite a collection of feminist science fiction novels.

Foremost of these is Suzy McKee Charnas' Holdfast Chronicles. I have the first three novels and have yet to acquire the last in the series "The Conqueror's Child".

They are a terrific read, set in a future where women are enslaved, and how one woman, escaping into the the wilderness plots, and eventually carries out her revenge.

Joanna Russ' best known book is The Female Man which I just realised must have been the inspiration for Sheri S Tepper's latest novel "The Margarets". I can't remember anything much about The Female Man, but having just read the wikipedia entry on the book, it suddenly struck me.

The Motherland Chronicles by Canadian writer Elizabeth Vonarburg are another feminist dystopian trilogy which began with The Silent City and also make for a good read.

Yet another trilogy... more lesbian fantasy than feminist science fiction, but quite enjoyable novels all the same.

Elizabeth A Lynn's Chronicles of Tornor

And to finish off this entry - the strange, yet compelling Mutagenisis by Helen Collins

More feminist science fiction to follow - Sheri S Tepper etc.

Science Fiction 5 - Jo Clayton's "Diadem" Series

For some reason or another, I seem to have the complete Diadem series written by Jo Clayton. I obviously followed them from the first volume, published in 1977 to the last, published in 1986. Obviously i must have liked them. Actually I don't mind a bit of space opera, though I haven't read any books in that category for years.

So for your viewing pleasure here is the complete Diadem series, all nine volumes of them.

Next - Feminist Science Fiction for a change

Science Fiction 4 - C. J. Cherryh

I'm going to rush through my collection of this author's books as I can hardly remember anything about them. I do recall first discovering C. J. Cherryh with her book The Gate of Ivrel and being impressed with a space opera she wrote, the title of which I cannot bring to mind. It might even be one of those I will display below.

Cover artists include the usual suspects - MichaeL Whelan, Gino D'Achilles & Don Maitz

Next - a past guilty pleasure - Jo Clayton's Diadem Series