science fiction

  • After The Hunger Games

    I just love a good dystopian nightmare.  I’m not sure what this says about me, but some of my favorite books take place in future worlds shattered by environmental apocalypse or ruled by terrifying and mysterious dictators.  What is it about these books that’s so appealing?  I think it might be the fun of seeing bits of our own present in an… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales for 2010.

    Entering its sixth year, the library’s Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups continues to thrill and delight. Last year’s season was our most popular yet, and this year we’ve got a great slate of tales, many from yesteryear. Thrilling Tales takes place in the Microsoft Auditorium on level one of the Central library, on alternating Mondays from 12:05 –… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction for the Rest of Us

    I’ll admit it straight up: I’ve never really liked science fiction.  I’ve never seen a single episode of Star Trek or read a book by Robert Heinlein.  But I’m a librarian, and in order to recommend books to readers of every genre, I have to read outside my comfort zone.  Thanks to a coworker, patrons,… Continue reading

  • What’s Next? David Tennant and Doctor Who

    Oh, David Tennant; you were the only Doctor for me. Over the holidays, the British TV series Doctor Who bid farewell to its 10th Doctor and welcomed a new actor to play the 11th (confused? Think James Bond, but with an explanation for the change). Now that it’s over, how are David Tennant fans to… Continue reading

  • Transhumanism in the bleak midwinter

    At this time of year, when the cold, grey sameness of winter softly wraps us in the bitter knowledge of our own mortality, I find myself squarely in the mood for a little transhumanist science fiction.   What is that, you ask? It’s a highly philosophical body of literature dedicated to the rich question of… Continue reading

  • Further down The Road: Dystopian Fiction

    If Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road – or the movie adaptation hitting theaters October 16 – piques your interest in fictional visions of a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, here are some other books to check out. There’s been a massive flood and only one family, on an ark, has been saved.  Sound familiar?  The Island at the… Continue reading

  • Chris McGrath: Cover artist

    Despite my commitment one of the library’s favorite adages, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” I have learned that following a particular cover artist can lead the way to new and exciting titles in similar genres and sub-genres. For instance, if you’ve read any urban fantasy, you’ve probably run across some seriously cool covers created… Continue reading

  • Watching the Watchmen: The Superhuman Factor.

    Finally: This week is the loooong awaited premiere of the Watchmen movie based on the renowned genre-bending graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The original, together with Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (partial inspiration for the recent hit films), helped usher in a new “dark age” in superhero comics, one that is bleaker,… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Adults

    I can remember attending story hour at the Magnolia branch library when I was a kid, just as thousands of children still do each year at libraries all over the city. I’ve never stopped loving stories, but as I grew older they stopped having a storytime for me. So I started one myself, and every other week for the past… Continue reading

  • Banned Book-of-the-Month Club presents: Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    Each September, libraries observe Banned Books Week, celebrating the freedom to read. How about the rest of the year? Welcome to Shelf Talk’s Banned Book-of-the-Month Club! Our inaugural selection is a novel about banning books: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Why read banned or challenged books? Yes, to affirm your right to read and think as you please,… Continue reading

  • M.T. Anderson at Central Library

    On Thursday at 7 p.m., author M.T. Anderson will be reading from and signing his new book, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol. II, The Kingdom on the Waves, in the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium. Why should you go? For one thing, this event is hosted by University Bookstore, and they often raffle off… Continue reading

  • Staff favorites: Three novels to check out now

    No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay Cynthia is a typical high school student who sneaks out one night to goof around with her boyfriend. She is caught by her angry father and she storms off to bed screaming how much she hates him. She realizes the next morning how horrible she was and she… Continue reading

  • Book review: Madhouse by Rob Thurman

    The boys are back in Rob Thurman’s Madhouse, a story that combines action, sharp humor, and a seriously creepy bad guy. When Niko and Cal Leandros take a job tracking down a few lost artifacts for a museum, they have no idea how dangerous things are going to get. Rob Thurman has a real gift… Continue reading

  • Fantastic librarians, or librarian fantasies?

    In a recent post, I enthused about a few of my favorite fictional librarians, and invited others to share their favorites. The suggestions that followed were many and varied, ranging from Public Librarian Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, to Henry DeTamble from Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, to Garth Nix’s Lirael, who is given a job… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reading: Matt Ruff reads the gamut, from War to Pie.

    Editor’s Note: Matt Ruff will be reading from his 2008 PNBA Book Award-winning book Bad Monkeys, freshly released in paperback, at the Ballard Branch Library this Thursday, August 21at 6:30 p.m, in conjunction with Secret Garden Books.  (Matt will also be reading at Queen Anne books on Tuesday, and coming up in October he will be reading from a new work at the Richard Hugo House). If… Continue reading

  • Author crush: Ted Chiang

    In my tween and teen years, I devoured science fiction like Godzilla devoured Tokyo train cars. I read all the great authors and all the classic titles until I found myself, around age 19, sated. No more science fiction for me. I got it. Space. Aliens. The Future. A year or so ago, I subscribed… Continue reading

  • In space, no one can hear you read…

    So, there you are bobbing along weightlessly — another dull evening orbiting Earth. How do you pass the time? Well, if you’re on the International Space Station, you do have some entertainment options! Thanks to a Freedom of Information request, NASA recently released a list of all the books, movies, and music currently on the… Continue reading

  • Shelf Talk(s) with Cory Doctorow, pt. 2

    Librarians like Cory Doctorow a lot, not least of all because we both tend to think that information wants to be free, and we both get a kick out of giving books away. However, if you want his actual analog pen-and-ink signature on his latest book – Little Brother – Cory will be appearing at the library’s… Continue reading