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Month 5 of the Science Fiction Book Project is already here. I'll just jump right into the selections for this month.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury: Early science fiction, understandably, was obsessed with colonizing Mars and Venus. Mars is usually portrayed as a desert inhabited by an ancient race of Martians coping with the collapse of their civilization. Venus, on the other hand, is a swampy, dense place teeming with life. Ray Bradbury, the most poetic of the science fiction masters, uses his barren Mars as a stand-in for the hope of all humanity. This collection of short stories covers the human experience exploring and colonizing Mars. The Martians are unwilling telepaths who become whatever the humans most desire, often to tragic consequence.

Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling: An elderly woman takes her long-awaited rejuvenation treatment in the hope of becoming young again, but she forgets what being young really means. When she leaves the treatment center to travel the world, she joins a community of young artist/scientist and rediscovers the "holy fire" that drives the ambitions of the young. Not only a profound meditation on aging and youth, Bruce Sterling also presents a powerful vision of how technology and social change can be used to produce a sustainable world. I have to admit this book deeply affected my worldview and I wonder what I might have run out to do if I had read it at 18 rather than 28. I still remember my favorite quote:

"What gives you any right to change the way the world works?" "Because we are scientists."
...
"What gives you any right to change the way people think?" "Because we are artists."

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: This is Butler's vision of a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, not destroyed by bombs or war, but simply gradual social and economic collapse. The main character, Lauren Olamina, has developed a new religion/social system which she dubs "Earthseed." She hopes to find a safe place for her new community and to eventually spread her new religion. Butler is unflinching in her portrayal of human depravity. Nearly every sort of evil is afflicted on Olamina's community, but she struggles onward anyway.

The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford: This is an alternate history fantasy in which Christianity never developed but the Western Roman empire nevertheless fell. Druids, mages, and vampires are real. The Byzantines are slowly manipulating the Western nations back under their control. It takes a little while to get into this novel since the main characters all begin in geographically diverse locations. There is also a fantastic twist once you realize which historical characters are involved.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson: I have to admit I was highly skeptical of this novel. “A well-thought out magic system” is not something I'm particularly interested in and is more often a marker of fantasy which reads like a Dungeons and Dragons rulebook rather than an epic story. Combined with Sanderson's appointment to finish the much derided (at least by me) Wheel of Time series, I was not a receptive audience. However, frequent good reviews from sources I trust led me to pick this one up and I was not disappointed. The structure of the story follows the traditional "Hero's Journey" formula, but Sanderson mixes it up with the standard tropes of a heist film. The characters are archetypal (as they would have to be to fit a hero's tale) but are also more complex than you usually see. I'm also happy to see that Sanderson finishes the story in the span of a traditional trilogy rather than dragging it out to 12 or so tedious books. Each book also ends in a surprising but well-plotted twist.