Beasts - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Beasts [Amazon, Local Library] by John Crowley. (n.b. included in Otherwise: Three Novels [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library]) When I started reading John Crowley’s 1976 novel Beasts, I felt inadequately informed by the manimal vein of science fiction. I have not read Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau nor […]
The Diamond Age - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Neal Stephenson It’s hard to believe that this book is now nearly thirty years old! The “Diamond Age” is a relatively near future–the late 21st century?–in which nanofabrication has made diamond cheaper than glass. […]
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Robert A Heinlein Robert A. Heinlein’s Hugo-winning novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is politically-oriented “hard” sf from the 1960s. Even if we are still fifty years short of the date of the story, being […]
Titanium Noir - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Titanium Noir [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Nick Harkaway I easily fell into the fun of reading Nick Harkaway’s 2023 novel Titanium Noir–his first to be written for the post-lockdown world. While not “morally disimproving” (his phrase) like the Aiden Truhen books, it has the same rapid […]
Veniss Underground - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Veniss Underground [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Jeff VanderMeer. (n.b. As I post this, there is a bundle on special offer that includes this and 10 other books, with 5 days to go, for you to consider.) Veniss Underground was VanderMeer’s first novel, written after some of […]
John Griogair Bell
