Matthew Henry John Bartlett

Earlier in the week Matthew Baird recommended a trilogy he’s been reading of late by one Kim Stanley Robinson. I wandered down to the library and found only the last of the trilogy was available. Also on the shelf was The Martians, a compendium of short stories by KSR set in the same universe, so I’ve started that, and plan to read the others in reverse order.

KSR is great. The way he talks about human colonies on Mars gives me lots of good ideas for life here. I really appreciate it when an author will give me an appreciation for a whole new aspect of creation that I didn’t have before. In The Martians he’s done this for me for rock climbing, surfing and baseball. Which is pretty nifty for someone working in the science fiction genre. He mentions the book A Pattern Language (whose sequel was recently reviewed in Comment), and seems to have read Schumacher for sure.

It’s rare to find a sci-fi writer who isn’t a dickhead. Thanks Baird.