Five years ago, I read World’s Best Science Fiction: 1967, Terry Carr & Donald A. Wollheim editors, 1967 Ace Books, for my Facebook Group, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction. There …| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read Damon Knight’s anthology One Hundred Years of Science Fiction, 1968 Simon & Schuster. It features 21 short stories and novelettes from 1887 to 1968. Functionall…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: Perhaps inspired by James Davis Nicoll and his “five” essays in speculative fiction at Tor.com, here is my list of 5 SF novels by authors I think deserve more recognition. The Long: I like lists, especially fannish lists, as much as anybody. While I don’t read all of them, I do occasionally read, […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy – Short Fiction Group on Facebook is reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, comprised of the Gnome Press collections Foundation, 1951, Foundation and Empire, 1952, and Second Foundation, 1953. I had not reread the whole trilogy in at least 15 to 20 years, and I had never read […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read Talk Like a Man Plus Women of the Doll Plus An Awfully Big Adventure and Much More, Nisi Shawl, 2019 PM Press. My favorite story was the SF short story “Walk Like a Man“, Bahamut #1 June 2015, which I rated “Very good”. Otherwise, I liked Terry Bisson’s interview with […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I am a bicyclist and speculative fiction fan. Thinking about both, here is my link to my list of my favorite speculative fiction stories involving bicycles, with the superlative “…And Then There Were None“, a novella by Eric Frank Russell, Astounding June 1951, my very favorite. The Long: I have been a bicyclist […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I read The First Law of Thermodynamics Plus Someone Else’s Problem Plus Who Owns Cyberpunk? and Much More, a James Patrick Kelly collection, 2021 PM Press (Outspoken Authors) recently. My favorite story was the great title short story “The First Law of Thermodynamics“, from Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology, Richard Butner, John Kessel & Mark […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I read 6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction, Groff Conklin editor, 1954 Dell last year. It’s an early anthology of novella/short novel length science fiction. It’s the first anthology of novella/short novel length science fiction, by a bit. The five novellas and one novelette included are all reprints. Although I found the […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read The Best Fantasy Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science, Edward L. Ferman editor, 1985 Octopus Books. While I was not surprised to find it a bit uneven, my overall average rating for the stories was 3.8/5, or “Great”. My favorites included three stories that I felt were classics, […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems that Shape Our World, by Deb Chachra, 2023 Riverhead Books. While it starts with the more hardware based infrastructure I default to when I think of infrastructure, such as pipelines or highways, it’s about a whole lot more! My library had it, I read […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
I applied to be on the panel “Women Write: An Overview of Women in SFF history” for Seattle Worldcon 2025. I did this because I have an interest in the subject of women in SFF, I had written an essay for my blog “A Fan’s Celebration Of International Women’s Day in Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction” in […]| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
I was selected to moderate a panel on “The Evolution of Comics” at Seattle Worldcon 2025. The panel description was: Early Western comics such as Little Nemo featured meticulously rende…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
Thoughts, ramblings and ruminations| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
9 posts published by Dave Hook during July 2025| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
6 posts published by Dave Hook during May 2025| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
In good weather and good health, I ride my road bike weekly, usually about two hours out from suburban San Jose into the rural back roads of the South end of Santa Clara County. I love being out on…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: The Last Space Ship, a collection by Murray Leinster, 1949 Frederick Fell, includes three Kim Rendell stories. My average rating for the three stories included was an anemic 2.9/5, or &#…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: The Man Who Ate the Phoenix, Lord Dunsany, 1949 Jarrolds, was his 21st collection. It includes 40 short stories and one novella, of fantasy, non-genre fiction, a few that are more horror…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I read or attempted to read, the contents of the first Shirley Jackson collection, The Lottery, or, The Adventures of James Harris, 1949 Farrar, Straus. My favorite is the classic short …| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I just read a Nelson S. Bond collection, The Thirty-First of February, 1949 Gnome Press. My favorite of the 13 stories included is “The Monster from Nowhere”, a science ficti…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: The Fox Woman and Other Stories, A. Merritt, 1949 Avon Publishing Co., is his first collection, published six years after his death in 1943. Although no clear favorites jumped out at me,…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I reread my copy of The Wheels of If, and Other Science Fiction, the second collection by L. Sprague de Camp, 1949 Shasta. It’s a tough choice, but my favorite is the very good …| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I read the Frank Belknap Long collection John Carstairs: Space Detective, 1949 Frederick Fell, for my project of reading 1949 SFF. Frank Belknap Long has written some wonderful science f…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: With John O’Neill’s help, I finished reading The Girl with the Hungry Eyes, and Other Stories, Donald A. Wollheim editor, 1949 Avon. It’s the first anthology of origina…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: The Other Side of the Moon, August Derleth editor, 1949 Pellegrini & Cudahy, includes 20 stories and an introduction by August Derleth. While I think Derleth’s definition of sc…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I read Invasion from Mars: Interplanetary Stories, Orson Welles “editor”, 1949 Dell (there is controversy about the actual editor). Including the 1938 “Invasion from Ma…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read Atomsk: A Novel of Suspense by Cordwainer Smith, 1949 Duell, Sloan and Pearce. It’s not SF, but today it would be called a techno-thriller, with an engaging story o…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read Burning Brightly: 50 Years of Novacon, Ian Whates editor, 2021 NewCon Press. My favorite story is “The Ships of Aleph”, a novelette by Jaine Fenn, rated 4.1/5…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently reread one of my favorite SF anthologies as a much younger person, A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Volume One and Volume Two, Anthony Boucher editor, 1959 Doubleday/1960 …| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
I was thinking about two of my favorite authors of speculative fiction, Cordwainer Smith and James Tiptree, Jr. I have included the cover of Fantasy Book #6 January 1950, where Cordwainer SmithR…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I just finished reading Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams editors, 2023 Random House. I am not typically a fan of horror, but I re…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read “The Experience Arcade and Other Stories” by James Van Pelt, 2017 Fairwood Press. It includes 24 short stories, an Introduction by Patrick Swenson, an Afterwo…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I recently read the Nalo Hopkinson collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015 Tachyon Publications. I loved her Foreword and the story introductions, and most of the stories. While I…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I was recently thinking about co-written, co-authored or collaborative short SFF with more than one author. Here is a direct link to my favorite 10 short speculative fiction works. My fa…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
The Short: I loved Volume 2 (1953-1957) first. This lead me to read “Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963)” (Volume 1), Gideon Marcus managing editor, 2019 Journey Press, wh…| A Deep Look by Dave Hook
