I finally finished Iain M. Banks' series of "Culture" SF novels and thoroughly enjoyed it. There's an overview of the series on my blog at:
https://leejrussell.com/2026/03/22/iain-m-banks-culture-seriesutopia-power-and-moral-complexity/
Highly recommended reading!
Broken Spark, Chapter 10 is now available to read at https://khleedril.org/spark, along with an audio reading for the benefit of blind people.
The crew of Spartacus' Ark are forced through awful circumstances to take ultra-drastic action to save their ship; their morale hits the lowest point, bringing Part I of the book to its conclusion.
Look forward to Part II to see how they manage to recover the situation!
#books #book @bookstodon @books #scifi #scifireading #brokenspark #reading #fiction
Stumbled across this list of 2025 #bookrecommendations from Locus in case anyone is looking for their next book.
Broken Spark, Chapter 9 is now available to read or listen to at https://khleedril.org/spark. Much humble pie is swallowed as the crew of Spartacus' Ark realize they are dealing with a dying ship, and blaming each other is not going to help. Embarrassing situations eerily recur.
#books #book @bookstodon #scifi #scifireading #brokenspark #reading #fiction
I've finished reading Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby today. I liked it very much. It drips of loathing for tech bros, TED conferences, misogyny in the tech industry and so on. The blurb on the back cover says it best: "perfect for fans of Severance, The White Lotus, and Black Mirror".
I think I just read the most pure science-fiction #scifi book I've ever read: Fifth Planet by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle. I loved it.
Brief review WITH SPOILERS:
https://rdmp.org/dale-mellor/bookblog/?review=fifth-planet
Methuselah's Children, Robert Heinlein.
The propensity for old sci-fi to start out intelligent and then fall apart as it expands into an unrealistic universe is very evident here...
SPOILERS: https://rdmp.org/dale-mellor/bookblog/?review=methuselah%CA%BCs-children
#ScribesAndMakers May13. Shameless self-promotion day. Let's boost away.
leej_403
Broken Spark
Dan
Stefan Ihringer
Khleedril
Rebecca M. Senese (she/her)
DeepSkyStories💥🚀