GREETINGS!
Welcome to Omphalos' Science Fiction Book Review Pages. This is my attempt at documenting the merits of the English language's best two thousand or so science fiction stories. In addition to the good old ones, I am also going to try to review some "future masterpieces" as well, so look for two to three reviews of newer books for every ten or so reviews of the classics. Keep in mind though that you will not find a crack team of book reviewers here, like on other web sites. What you see here was written by me and me alone, and I'm generally known for having a few problems with my own mother tongue. All opinions here are mine, so please don't look for objectivity, even if it feels like that was what I was trying to do. If you wish to have the ability to leave a comment, please drop me a note at the address below and . . . then wait until I write something suitable for comments. My brother and I are putting this site together piece by piece. A blog/comment interface is in the works, but is probably a few months away still. Take a look at my SF forum, where you will find more of interest. If you want to drop me a line, my e-mail address is: Omphalos@distantsoil.org.
REVIEW COPIES
I do accept review copies of books, and I thank you immensely for considering me. I accept new publications and older books. I prefer SF books and zombie books, but will on occasion accept other horror and some fantasy titles - nothing else. I prefer novels but will consider anthologies and collections. I also will not accept a book that was published by a vanity publisher - you guys know who you are, and if you do play games with me I will ignore you when you become a real author. Small press books are welcome, of course. Contact me by the e-mail link above and I will send you my postal address. All books will need to be shipped postage paid to California. My acceptance of a book for reading does not guarantee a review. I don't review books unless I am able to read the entire thing. If I don't finish it I will try to get it into the hands of someone who will, but under no circumstances will I ever return it. If I have no takers I will most likely sell the book you sent me, BUT ONLY AFTER INITIAL PUBLICATION. It also may take months to get a review up (ARC's will get priority), so please don't bug me asking when the review will go up. Reviews will be posted here with links at my own Sci-Fi book forum, T(A)U, as well as a few others including Worm's Sci-Fi Haven, Cool Sci-Fi Forums, The Internet Book Database of Fiction, Chronicles Sci-Fi Forums, and others as I best see fit.
STAR RATING SYSTEM
So what do the stars in the rating system mean? First and foremost, I am not one of those people who says that he hates everything he sees or reads just because its not perfect. I personally have trouble reading negative and nonconstructive reviews of movies and books. I also definately do not do a comprehensive review, even though I tend to tear apart books while reading them. I prefer to let my overall feeling of the complete strength of the work guide my hand in determining the tone of the review, even if some parts suck and some parts are fantastic, and I hope that shows in the essays I have posted here.
Here is what I am trying to generally say with the stars:
- 0 Stars: Piece of crap. Don't bother reading the book.
- 1 Star: Below average, trite, or relies on stereotypical views of the genre. Hackwork.
- 2 Stars: There is at least one interesting aspect to the book, but overall, it is not a quality piece.
- 3 Stars: Average quality book. Internally cohesive, and at the very least tries to say something important, even if some elements are lacking.
- 4 Stars: Above average quality book. Worth keeping. All literary elements work well together, but taken as a whole is not a masterpiece of the genre.
- 5 Stars: Singular quality. A masterpiece.
- 5+ Stars: Reserved for very few works. A book with this rating is very rare, in that it surpasses all expectations and lacks in no elements at all. In my opinion books with this rating are worth hunting down immediately.
So, here is what all of this means: Stars 1 - 4 are for the technical aspects of the book, usually and most frequently the way that the author uses the themes he or she has chosen to work with, and also how well that author fits into a literary movement, if applicable. Star 5 is reserved for the books I personally love. I occasionally will give a "+", or even a sixth star, but that is just me gushing about a five-star book. So...we have an objective scale combined with a subjective one. Or rather, as objective as one man who admits that he loves the genre can possibly be.
You should also know that generally the only books I review are those that I personally consider worth keeping and reading again. I am currently going through my book cases and reviewing the books that I love. For that reason you will not usually see any book with less than a three star review. However, I will read and review books upon request (both from publishers and from members of my web forum), or that are parts of series that I generally like even if the individual book blows. I have also decided to pick up new works at random a few times per month from the bookstore.
And a big, fat muchas gracias to my brother Jerry Tidwell who coded most of this board, and Ryan Macklin, a PHP god who helped him get over some big hurdles. They both have given a true 110% That extra 10% is usually for savings, but really, they pretty much held nothing back here.
THE LAST BUNCH OF REVIEWS
One of these days Ill get the reviews tagged for with their upload dates, so that those of you who come by infrequently can tell when I added a review. For now, here are the most recent reviews, generally going back several weeks:
The Carpet Makers, by Andreas Eschbach, translated by Doryl Jensen;
The Poison Belt, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle;
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, by James Tiptree, Jr.;
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell;
Kilimanjaro, by Mike Resnick;
Two-Handed Engine, by Kuttner & Moore;
The Hugo Winners, Vol. 1, edited by Isaac Asimov;
The New Hugo Winners, edited by Isaac Asimov;
Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein;
Under the Fang, edited by Robert McCammon;
Ringworld, by Larry Niven;
A Jury Not of Peers (legal commentary), by Pg Wyal;
The Science Fiction of Mark Clifton, edited by Barry Maltzberg and Larry Greenberg;
Ralph 124C 41+, by Hugo Gernsback;
Way Station, by Cliford Simak;
The Janitor on Mars, by Martin Amis;
China Mountain Zhang, by Maureen McHugh;
The Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov.
LEGAL NOTICE
I now have granted a creative commons license to anyone who wants to use anything I have written here. You are free to copy and share this work, but you must attribute the work to me, Gregory Tidwell, and you must link to the original site. You may also share derivative work, but only under the same license.
INSPIRING QUOTE, RIGHT JUSTIFIED FOR DRAMA
We are for the years. The Omphalos Book Review is for the centuries.
- James Gunn, or...someone pretending to be him.
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