Reading SF in June 2026

[Hobbit]

Welcome to June!


Cover of "Astounding", June 1936: 90 years ago this month!)

(Last month's discussion of Science Fiction books is HERE. )

It is the usual message here - this thread is where you tell us about what you've been reading in Science Fiction this month.

Remember, good or bad, we still want to know what you think.

Hobbit/Mark

 

[Fryan]

I decided to give Rogue Moon a go, since I already had a copy of it on my kindle. I started it last night. Only about 30 pages in and so far it is all set up. I appreciate how Budrys has dropped the reader straight into the world with no preamble. I really appreciate the economy of older SF. I’m also reading a contemporary fiction novel at the same time, and there’s a lot of bloat in that one that is totally superfluous to the story.

 

[Raf]

Finished Book 2 of Bobby Akart's Black Swan series. The 3 POV suite continues with the Pickett family.

Emily racing to present data that the comet is not natural and is some sort of construct. With mainstream academia refusing to believe it.

Daniel delving deeper and deeper into the secretive company (Project Preserve Destiny) he has taken a job with. Finding the beginnings of some sort of decades old eugenics project that involves his entire family.

And their father Bud Pickett, Sheriff of Liberty County, Texas. As he attempts to hold the town and county together as the comet approaches and begins to show it's true nature. Bombarding the surface with debris and eventually an EMP event that shuts down all circuit-based technology worldwide.

There are a lot of references to data analysis which in the first novel supported the storyline. But it is unceasing in the 2nd book and even into the 3rd which I'm reading right now. Almost to the point of seeming like filler. How many times can you type and cross reference inquiries and read about it in text? I guess I'm finding out.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to lose interest too.

 

[Fryan]

I finished Rogue Moon earlier today. I can’t say that I was a fan of it. Mostly because the characters were really not fun people to read about.

I also am finding that Physcological SF from the 60s reads very cringe and dated now. Reading about these horrid emotionally closed off men who think they are superior to everyone because they are winning some sort of mental chess match is not my kind of thing.

Moving on to My Real Children by Jo Walton…but not sure yet if it is SF or Fantasy?

 

[mylinar]

I finished listening to ‘The Prestige’ by Christopher Priest today. A very interesting book, an enjoyable read. Two great stage magicians and a feud that lasted more than a century and crossed generations.
The book read like a collaborative work by, had such a thing been possible, Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne, and by that I am being complementary. Without a doubt I will be reading other works by Mr Priest.
On to the next book in one of my currently open series’.

 

[Prairie_Dog]

I just finished reading Platform Decay which is the eighth installment in Martha Wells Murderbot Diaries series. Like many of the previous installments, this is a novella, albeit a long one.

Our favorite SecUnit has been living with its humans from Preservation. Here, it is more than property. People keep acting as if it is an actual person, and this is beginning to be more and more the case. Interacting with people cause it all kinds of emotions. Emotions aren’t its strong suit, but it is learning to deal with them. What’s new is that it has installed a mental health module. This leads to all sorts of humorous self reflection and enhanced sarcastic internal monologue.

In this novel, Murderbot and the new rouge SecUnit, Three, are setting off to extract some humans from Preservation who are being held on a huge corporate station that actually forms a ring around a planet they are strip mining for resources. This station is a multi-corporate jurisdiction, and will be challenging to get into much less get out of with humans intact.

This novella was sort of a self contained adventure. It involves some of the cast of characters from the novel Network Effect which preceded it. As always, the story is another great installment in the Murderbot Diaries.

 

[Fryan]

I finished listening to ‘The Prestige’ by Christopher Priest today. A very interesting book, an enjoyable read. Two great stage magicians and a feud that lasted more than a century and crossed generations.
The book read like a collaborative work by, had such a thing been possible, Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne, and by that I am being complementary. Without a doubt I will be reading other works by Mr Priest.
On to the next book in one of my currently open series’.

So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Priest is one of my favorite writers and The Prestige was my gateway to his work as well.

You have a lot of great reading ahead of you!

 

[Raf]

Finished Book 2 of Bobby Akart's Black Swan series. The 3 POV suite continues with the Pickett family.

Emily racing to present data that the comet is not natural and is some sort of construct. With mainstream academia refusing to believe it.

Daniel delving deeper and deeper into the secretive company (Project Preserve Destiny) he has taken a job with. Finding the beginnings of some sort of decades old eugenics project that involves his entire family.

And their father Bud Pickett, Sheriff of Liberty County, Texas. As he attempts to hold the town and county together as the comet approaches and begins to show it's true nature. Bombarding the surface with debris and eventually an EMP event that shuts down all circuit-based technology worldwide.

There are a lot of references to data analysis which in the first novel supported the storyline. But it is unceasing in the 2nd book and even into the 3rd which I'm reading right now. Almost to the point of seeming like filler. How many times can you type and cross reference inquiries and read about it in text? I guess I'm finding out.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to lose interest too.

75% into Bobby Akart's "Black Swan, Book 3" and I'm calling it a DNF. Just can't analyze any more data.

 

[dannymcg]

Like many of the previous installments, this is a novella, albeit a long one

I've seen in other forums that readers complain because they're paying a full book price for what are basically novellas, the consensus being it's not worth it.

 

[ArtNJ]

I've seen in other forums that readers complain because they're paying a full book price for what are basically novellas, the consensus being it's not worth it.

I've always felt that way about the series. Its kind of weird though, since I'm a middle aged middle class dude without expensive vices that could easily just not think about how much books cost. I don't think of myself as generally cheap . . . rather its more like it offends me somehow?

 

[Raf]

I've always felt that way about the series. Its kind of weird though, since I'm a middle aged middle class dude without expensive vices that could easily just not think about how much books cost. I don't think of myself as generally cheap . . . rather its more like it offends me somehow?

I refuse to pay full book price ($12) for 178 pages. Had this happen yesterday when I was looking at re-reading an old favorite series.

 

[Everonn]

I just finished The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee today, and I thought it was really good. 4/5 stars. I will say that the first half of it was just decent. Good enough. But even though I never read her before, I decided to trust that it would be worth it by the end. I didn't have to wait until the end, though, it got really good with a somewhat chance-y decision in story structure. Something that I don't think many writers can pull off. But it was my favorite chunk of the book! So basically the second half is 5 stars and the first half is 3.

Time to go back to Vorkosigan Saga with Ethan of Athos.

 

[chitman13]

Finished a few recently while on a little break away:

God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines - really enjoyed this one that started as a seemingly time-travel novel into the past and then became something more.

Until the Last of Me by Sylvain Neuvel (book 2 of Take Them to the Stars) - difficult for me to say much more than @Hobbit did in his review. I'll certainly be gettign to book three soon.

Causes of Separation by Travis Corcoran (book 2 of Aristillus) - concluding the story started in The Powers of the Earth with some more interesting ideas, some of which I get, others perhaps not quite for me, but generally okay.