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The People of the Crater
Andrew North 1947 (CreateSpace ?)



"A million years ago, the ancient ones fled from their nova sun to the earth. They created a scientific utopia in a crater in Antarctica, where through bio-genetic engineering they brought several native animal species to sentience. But some of the ancient ones turned to evil, and after millenia have destroyed most of their remaining descendants. Only a human hero can rescue their princess from the Dark Ones and return peace to the land." (from ISFD)

Andrew North was a pen name of Alice Norton who became well known as the author Andre Norton. I read a lot of her juvenile science fiction and fantasy novels as a youngster and I fancied having another look at some of them. The trouble is that, apart from a couple, I couldn't remember which ones I'd read so I decided to start with the earliest. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database gives this as her first genre story and I found this stand-alone printing of it.
It's actually pretty awful. The whole thing is the epitome of pulp magazine daftness but it's only 23 pages (of very small writing) so I didn't have to do a Barker on it.
As far as I can tell, CreateSpace seems to be a print on demand outfit mostly used by self published authors and that would explain why there's no publication year, although it does have an ISBN.

Vets Might Fly
James Herriot 1976 (Pan 1977)



"A few months of married bliss, a lovers' nest in Darrowby and the wonders of home cooking are rudely interrupted for James Herriot by the Second World War. James Herriot's fifth volume of memoirs relocates him to a training camp somewhere in England. And in between square pounding and digging for victory, he dreams of the people and livestock he left behind him." (from goodreads)

The square bashing and potato peeling are not very enthralling but Herriot uses his RAF basic training experiences as a framing device for more stories about the people and animals of the Yorkshire Dales. The tales may have been tweaked and embellished to enhance the narrative but that's alright, it's an entertainment not a history book and Herriot is a very good storyteller. I'm thoroughly enjoying this series and I'll be sad when It's finished.

The Book of General Ignorance
John Lloyd & John Mitchinson 2006 (Faber & Faber 2006)



"The Book of General Ignorance is the first in a series of books based on the final round in the intellectual British panel game QI, written by series-creator John Lloyd and head-researcher John Mitchinson, to help spread the QI philosophy of curiosity to the reading public. It is a trivia book, aiming to address and address many of the misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings in 'common knowledge'—it is therefore known not as a 'General Knowledge' book, but as 'General Ignorance'.
As well as correcting these "all-too-common" mistakes, the book(s) attempt to explain how the errors have been perpetuated, and why people believe incorrect 'facts' to be true." (from wikipedia)

Not a book I would have bought, I think it was a Xmas present.
A couple of pub bores metropolitan media luvvies put their name to a bunch of factoids rustled up by a team of researchers for the tv show QI. The intention is to demonstrate that the reader knows fuck all and is as thick as Alan Davies.
Some of the entries are interesting, always assuming that they are true. I mean there are no references so it could all be a load of cobblers and what they are debunking could be correct all along. There's other stuff like the fact that lemmings don't belong to a gravity worshipping suicide cult. Not even Alan Davies believed that.
There are 230 short entries so it filled the niche of ten minute reads before lights out.

The Tragedy of the Moon
Isaac Asimov 1973 (Coronet 1975)



"Science fact-in this fascinating volume one of the greatest imaginative writers in the world of science fiction turns his attention to science fact. Far from the drabness of scientific textbooks, here is a mind bending trip into the world as it is-and as it might have been. What would life on earth be like if we didn't have a moon?
Why don't we follow the clear logic of a seasonal calender? Must we computerize the world because we have grown too lazy to run it in any other way? Scientist or non scientist, layman or specialist, asimov invites you to join him on a trip back into the past and forward into the future." (from goodreads)

This is the collection of Asimov's F&SF essays from 1972 and 1973. One of the best is the account of the discovery of nucleic acids and how it took more than seventy years before it was proven that DNA and not protein was the molecule of heredity. Another one is about how in 1675 the Danish astronomer Olaus Roemer used observations of Jupiter's satellites to calculate the first decent estimate of the speed of light. Even the non-scientific ones such as the analysis of the book of Ruth in the bible and the two autobiographical ones are interesting and amusing.
One bonus is that Isaac never mentions overpopulation although one essay is about how the world would be a much better place if everything was computerised and in which he anticipates the cashless society and internet banking.
Another thirteen of this series to go.

Hadrian and the Geordie Waall
Scott Dobson 1970 (Frank Graham 1970)



More Northumbrian whimsy from Scott Dobson in Geordie Beuk No. 4.
Each one ends with a vocabulary section with entries such as this:
Geordie - Hezanyonye anyonye?
English - Could you oblige me old chap? I appear to have left my cigarettes in the vestry.

The Best Science Fiction of the Year #11
Terry Carr (editor) 1982 (Timescape 1982)



"The Best Science Fiction of the Year #11 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Terry Carr, the eleventh volume in a series of sixteen. It was first published in paperback by Pocket Books in July 1982, and in hardcover by Gollancz in the same year.

The book collects seventeen novellas, novelettes and short stories by various science fiction authors, with an introduction, notes and concluding essays by Carr and Charles N. Brown. The stories were previously published in 1981 in the magazines Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Omni, and Science Fiction Digest, the collection A Rhapsody in Amber, and the anthologies Universe 11 and New Dimensions 12." (wikipedia)

Someone said that science fiction was in the doldrums betwen the mid seventies and mid eighties between the new wave and cyberpunk eras. I don't know if that's true but this anthology would tend to support the thesis. None of the stories fall into the excellent, might read again category and all but two are in the ok to quite good but mostly forgettable group.
The book opens with the novella "The Saturn Game" which is so bad it annoyed me reading it. It's about a mission of exploration to Iapetus in which most of the scientists are involved in a sword and scorcery role playing game to help pass the time. They live in this make believe construct even when working, which leads to disaster. The basic premise is moronic and it's badly written as well with exposition by conversation in the pulp magazine style.
"Was this story by veteran SF writer Poul Anderson well received skipper?" said "cookie" the ship's cook. "Yes, it won the Nebula and Hugo for best novella of the year" replied the Captain. "Fuck me, you must be joking" came the shocked reply.

The Elusive Grasshopper
Malcolm Saville 1951 (Girls Gone By 2008)



Another cosy little mystery in the Lone Pine series. This one (the sixth) is set in Rye and Romney Marsh where our teenage sleuths help to foil a cross channel smuglling operation, although as this is 1950 the contraband is expensive watches not potential suicide bombers. God knows what a twelve year old would make of it today. Why do none of the children have gender dysphoria? Why does Mrs Warrender not have tattoos and piercings? Why are the police investigating crimes? Being of a certain age and a nostalgic frame of mind I thoroghly enjoyed it, creaky plot and all.
Already looking forward to number seven.

Mons 1914
David Lomas 1997 (Osprey 1997)



"The first major clash of the Great War, Mons came as a nasty shock to the Imperial German Army. Assured by their command that they would sweep through the French and their British allies in the BEF - 'that contemptible little army', into the sea in a matter of weeks; they were stopped in their tracks at Mons by a numerically inferior British force. Eventually forced to fall back by overwhelming German numbers, the British carried out a masterful fighting retreat across Belgium and northern France." (from Biblio)

I'm reading John Keegan's The First World War and I've got some of the Osprey Campaign series so that I can read about the specific battles and operations in more detail. I think Mons was the first battle fought by the British army in Europe for 99 years since Waterloo. The tactics hadn't changed much but the muskets had been replaced by rifles and machine guns and the result was brutal. The book does a pretty good job on the mechanics of the battle and also on the incredible bravery exhibited by the soldiers on both sides.

The Secret Adversary
Agatha Christie 1922 (Pan 1963)



"The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie is a spine-tingling mix of mystery, international intrigue, and spy thriller. It begins with the sinking of the Lusitania when a mysterious man gives a girl he does not even know a package with instructions not to let it fall into enemy hands. The story then moves forward four years to 1919 when a pair of friends, Tommy and Tuppence, set out to help a rich man find his long-missing cousin. Quickly, though, the pair are swept up in an intrigue far beyond what they could have ever imagined and with consequences that could change their entire world. Like most Agatha Christie mysteries, the culprit is kept a secret until the very end, which turns what might be a typical spy story into an engaging mystery." (from ppld)

As a Christie virgin I had a sudden irrational urge to break my duck. I found a site which ranks all 66 novels and arbitrarily picked number 20. It's her second novel and I was a bit disappointed to see it was a "Tommy and Tuppence" tale. I had a vague impression that they were not as good as the others and I was probably put off by seeing a bit of a tv adaptation with the creepy David Walliams. It turned out I needn't have worried. It has an interesting, complex plot. The two protagonists are not at all annoying and the writing was better than anticipated. I'd be quite happy to read some more ACs, preferably as sixties paperbacks like this one.

Life and Time
Isaac Asimov 1978 (Discus 1979)



Twenty six essays (mostly) from the seventies and originally published in a variety of places including TV Guide magazine and Penthouse. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction essays were all published seperately and were the author's passion and where he was given the freedom to write about any subject he liked. The rest, like these ones, were usually commissioned with Asimov as the pen for hire and are a much more mixed bag. One (The Discovery of Argon) is in the F&SF style and is a little gem but many of the others are attempts to predict the future and are pretty dull. Apparently by now we would all end up with our own personal communication gadgets which would allow us to access the sum total of human knowledge in text and video form. Pull the other one Isaac. Roads will not be needed as we'll be pootling around in our own personal hovercrafts. Renewable energy won't be used to power electric cars but would be used to synthesize petrol because all the oil would have run out. No mention of sardine tins having ring pulls and not those keys to unwind the metal strip.
The next one's an F&SF collection so I'm looking forward to that.