/lit/ - Literature

>>20246715
Federations - John Joseph Adams, editor (2009)

Mazer in Prison - Orson Scott Card (2005)
The 50 relativistic years journey of Mazer Rackham preceding Ender's Game that led to the foundation of Battle School. The premise is shaky and hero worship and wish fulfillment is plentiful, but it's fun.
Ok

Carthago Delenda Est - Genevieve Valentine (2009)
A delegation awaits the arrival of an alien species based on a message that almost no one is allowed to hear. There mustn't be any war before their arrival. The delegation has been waiting 400 years. However long it takes, they'll be waiting, to ensure peace.
Meh

Life-Suspension - L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (2009)
A space opera romance filled with Japanese mythology.
Ok

Terra-Exulta - S. L. Gilbow (2009)
A linguist picks a file at random to translate from Galactic Standard to Ancient Planetary English for submission to the Galactic Society of Ancient Languages to show that it can be done. The file is a transmission from a terralogist about their life's work of terraforming and all the neologisms they coined to describe the process. The story becomes something different than what it first seems to be.
Enjoyable

Aftermaths - Lois McMaster Bujold (1986)
A Pilot Officer observes a medtech, in this case basically a mortician, involved with Personnel Retrieval and Identification of those who have died in space. This would've been more meaningful if I had read any of the Vorkosigan Saga. Maybe I'll try again, someday.
Ok

Someone is Stealing the Great Throne Rooms of the Galaxy - Harry Turtledove (2006)
A story overflowing with intentionally groanworthy puns, 4th wall breaks from an omniscient narrator talking to you, and bants about the French and at least one author. Space Cadet Rufus Q. Shupilluliumash, an overgrown hamster, must solve the titular crime.
Ok

Prisons - Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason (1992)
A prison planet overseen by a single AI has been overthrown. The Federation is desperate to reclaim it, as the withdrawal symptoms of the illicit and addictive drug that comes from there are often deadly.
Ok

Different Day - K. Tempest Bradford (2009)
Various aliens use Earth as a competition to see who can trick the humans into giving them the most stuff. Probably also a political allegory.
Meh

Twilight of the Gods - John C. Wright (2009)
The third part of a sequence that retells The Ring of Nibelung in space. Those upon the generation worldship, one of several, have forgotten everything. The implied setting for this story is immense, but takes place in a single location. So, in that regard it will be much more enjoyed by those who can fully appreciate the implications. For me, it's mostly a tease.
Ok

Warship - George R. R. Martin and George Guthridge (1979)
The first SF story that Martin tried to sell, which failed. It was rewritten by Guthridge then sold. Alecto is an invulnerable spaceship, its only weakness being its human crew. Most of the narrative is in devotion to a dead lover.
Meh