Dinara Tengri

January is (finally) over, so how about a quick recap of all the bookish stuff I've done this past month?  Just a couple of days ago I had the pleasure of attending a book release party at the Science Fiction Bookhandeln in Malmö. Novellix is a Swedish publishing house that specializes on publishing short stories. This is their first venture into science fiction, with four of the biggest names in the genre. A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury The New Atlantis by Ursula Le Guin The Defenders by Philip K. Dick The Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells I'm always happy to see science fiction get the love it deserves, and I really dig the choices Novellix made. Coincidentally, A Sound of Thunder is one of my favourite short stories. You can either buy individual stories, or a whole box set. I bought the box set (of course).  The book store also had a quiz about all these authors, and I came in third! Now I need to go back there and collect my prize. Speaking...

Title: The End of Eternity Author: Isaac Asimov First published in 1955 I read the 2000 re-issue by Voyager His name is Andrew Harlan. He is an Eternal: a member of a highly exclusive organisation. He is a Technician, and his job is to range through past and future centuries, monitoring and even altering Time's myriad cause-and-effect relationships. The Reality Changes Harlan initiates may affect the lives of up to fifty billion people. Above all, therefore, a Technician must be dispassionate. An emotional make-up is a distinct handicap.  But when he meets Noÿs, Harlan falls victim to a phenomenon older than Time itself- love. It is then that he realizes that years of self-discipline must be cast aside. He must use the awesome technique of the Eternals to twist Time so that he and Noÿs might survive - together.  Would you kill Baby Hitler to prevent World War II? It's a classic example of questions that philosophers like to ask to illustrate the issues of morality ...

One thing I don't review too often on this blog is short stories. In fact, it seems to me that short story is the most unappreciated form of literature, especially on book blogs. Which is kind of sad, considering how rich and diverse it really is.  So to rectify the situation (sort of), I decided to review a short story by one my favourite authors - Isaac Asimov. It's titled The Last Question and it was first published in an issue of Science Fiction Quarterly in 1956. The reason I chose this story is because it was Asimov's own personal favourite. In this story, humanity becomes dependant on a super intelligent computer called Multivac. Our friend Multivac has made interstellar travel possible, allowing humanity to leave Earth and spread out across the Universe. But there is a threat that our fictionalised descendants may eventually come face to face with. And that is the heat death of the Universe . What will happen t...