My Idle Ramblings

Book Club meeting was this past weekend. It was a lively and engaging discussion about The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. For me, an odd book. I didn’t hate it but didn’t love it either. It kept my interest, but I wasn’t eager to get back to the story. Others had the same sense about it.

One ensuing discussion was about the difference between a multiverse and parallel dimensions. Both entail alternative realities. My perhaps naïve interpretation is parallel dimensions exist on the same Earth or planet whereas the multiverse has many of them. The created world in this story was definitely considered a multiverse. Though it seemed a little less plausible to me. Travel between planets as they did would require faster than light travel, and that’s not the impression I got from the description of “traversing” in the book.

Everyone got a chuckle when I declared that spaceships should look aero-dynamic. I get that there’s no drag in space. No air; therefore, no resistance. But a floating cube like the Borg ship looks unnatural to me. The thought of it traveling through space messes with my logical mind. Perhaps, if it did nothing but orbit a planet, it wouldn’t be so disorientating. Again, faster than light speed is required to move through space, and those huge flat surfaces of a cube don’t seem conducive for such speed. I held my ground that if I ever wrote a space opera, my space ships would be aero-dynamic.

I’m behind with my Sci Fi Book Club reviews, and I added another one now. The monthly selections have been decent. Nine months into the year, and there’s only been a couple that I didn’t like and no DNFs. (In book club parlance, that’s “did not finish” for those who don’t know.) When writing time is scarce, something has to give, and unfortunately, these reviews take a hit since they are time consuming. Though I’m going to make a goodwill effort to knock them out. Perhaps, make them a little shorter, not so nuanced.

Next year’s book nominees are coming up soon, and I’ve start on my list. Suggestions welcome.

Until next time, happy reading and writing.