Desert Island Books

by Ross Younger

(or, "books we think you might care to read whilst marooned on the Nation or waiting for Terry's next work").

Rachel began the discussion by telling us about the "Laundry" series by Charles Stross (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum to date) and the "Sharing Knife" series by Lois McMaster Bujold (Beguilement, Legacy and more). She went on to pitch the "Jenny Casey" trilogy by Elizabeth Bear and the "Harry Dresden" series by Jim Butcher.

Mole spoke on two themes, worlds like ours (Guy Gavriel Kay - The Fionavar Tapestry, The Sarantine Mosaic and others) and completely alien worlds (Robert Silverberg - Majipoor series, A Time of Changes, Sailing to Byzantium and more).

Judith cited John Forrest's "The History of Morris Dancing" as a particularly good book to have on a desert island - not only for its in-depth coverage of the subject matter, but also a good example of how to research and write up a topic. She pitched "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein and Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" saga before recommending another fascinating reference book, "The Universal History of Numbers" by Georges Ifrah.

Ross concluded the session with three pitches covering past, present and future. He began by returning to Charles Stross, for the present-day (very near future) "Halting State", then journeyed far into the future with Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep". He wrapped up with a brief pitch for the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (first book entitled "Temeraire" or "His Majesty's Dragon" in different editions).