Oolite Bulletins

I recently read and enjoyed "Remnant Population" by Elizabeth Moon. Here's how "Best Sci-Fi Books" describes it:

Seventy-year-old Ofelia is a population of one on an abandoned colony planet, and she loves it.

She is happily free of the demands, the judgments, and the petty tyrannies of others. But when a reconnaissance ship arrives at her idyllic domain, and its crew is mysteriously slaughtered, Ofelia realizes she is not the sole inhabitant of her paradise after all. And, when the inevitable time of first contact finally arrives, she will find her life changed yet again—in ways she could never have imagined.

I loved it because the hero is someone older, and in the book world is looked upon as excess baggage, but she has far more insight and strength than anyone was willing to give her credit for.

John Brunner's The Wrong End of Time. The ending, the resolution, is so simple, so elegant. It is like the dénouement of a good story: unthinkable before it is revealed, obvious after. Oh, wait... It is the dénouement of a good story.

If we're still on "name your favourite SF novel", with a side serving of "overpopulation stories", did anyone mention Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" which through the usual obscure mechanations of Hollywood became the screenplay for "Soylent Green".
Oh, I hadn't noticed that (per Wiki) it was set in 2022 ... And I didn't notice any celebrations of that.
Odd that, such an important topic being ignored by the publicity machinery. Almost as if it's a scary topic.

Welcome, as Fermi might put it, to the Great Filter.

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Sat Jan 31, 2026 9:23 pm

If we're still on "name your favourite SF novel", with a side serving of "overpopulation stories", did anyone mention Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" which through the usual obscure mechanations of Hollywood became the screenplay for "Soylent Green".
Oh, I hadn't noticed that (per Wiki) it was set in 2022 ... And I didn't notice any celebrations of that.
Odd that, such an important topic being ignored by the publicity machinery. Almost as if it's a scary topic.

Is this where some grumpy, old man with accelerationist tendencies mentions the Limits to Growth?

Summary: What is your favourite SF book. And why?

1) Ffutures: John Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" (1968)

2) Phkb: "Remnant Population" by Elizabeth Moon.

3) Wildeblood: John Brunner's "The Wrong End of Time"

4) Rock Doctor: Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!"

5) Wildeblood: "The Limits to Growth" by the "Club of Rome" (to whit: Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers & William W. Behrens III)

Wildeblood wrote: ↑Sun Feb 01, 2026 8:56 am

A grumpy, old man with accelerationist tendencies

has just been awarded the chalice! Congratulations, Sir!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:12 am

Summary: What is your favourite SF book. And why?

Ohh, sneaky covert submissions.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:12 am

Wildeblood wrote: ↑Sun Feb 01, 2026 8:56 am

A grumpy, old man with accelerationist tendencies

has just been awarded the chalice! Congratulations, Sir!

Phew!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:12 am

A grumpy, old man with accelerationist tendencies has just been awarded the chalice! Congratulations, Sir!

Yeah, nah, I think not.

Your punishment for attempted entrapment and assault with a deadly chalice is to watch these:

https://youtu.be/s2PwhxbZBoo?si=oWeFqylvzOrk4Rus

https://youtu.be/dk99MjYlWZ0?si=ZnT4lKPiQHpfrCHV