Thumbing Through Yesterday

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold is a fun, standalone adventure set in her Vorkosigan Saga universe. It's a story of corporate greed, shady ethics, genetic engineering, and a little moral piracy. A first read for Tony, Tom was delighted to revisit this one!TTYpodcast.comThumbingThroughYesterday.com#loismcmasterbujold #fallingfree #quaddies #piracy #geneticengineering #welding #spacestation #gravity #thumbingthroughyesterday #podcast #books #scifi #scifibooks #vintagebooks #classic

William Gibson's Burning Chrome is a collection of his early cyberpunk short stories, and a favorite of Tony's. Or is it? Does this book, and its revolutionary vision of a tech-impregnated future, survive the passage of the decades? Regardless, there are some gems in its pages.TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle is one of Tom's favorites. In it, Tim Hamner, an amateur astronomer, discovers a new comet! How exciting! Until his comet, "the hammer," actually hits Earth. The story turns survivalist, and then post-apocalyptic. With a wide range of characters and myriad intertwined storylines, Lucifer's Hammer is both a fun and complex read. So how does a story about cometary impact written in 1978 hold up in the 21st century? Let's find out!TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card is Tony's pick, and a first-read for Tom. This is one of those quietly unsettling novels that sneaks up on you. It starts out grounded, domestic, almost ordinary — a young family trying to navigate work, school, faith, and a son who doesn’t quite fit in. But as the pages turn, a slow, uneasy strangeness settles over everything, and the story becomes something far more haunting than it first appears.TTYPodcast.comThumbingThroughYesterday.com

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is pure, distilled classic science fiction — wide-eyed wonder, cool-headed astronauts, and mysteries big enough to swallow a planet. This one looms large in both Tom and Tony’s memories as the benchmark for hard sci-fi done right.A giant alien cylinder drifts into our solar system. Humanity pokes its nose inside. What we find is both awe-inspiring and maddeningly enigmatic. Clarke gives us a story that stops short of first contact… and somehow that makes it even better.And are there parallels to the imaginings of Clarke and the reality of 3I/Atlas, the interstellar visiter even now approaching the Earth IRL? Join us and find out!TTYPodcast.comThumbingThroughYesterday.com

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton is a favorite of both Tom and Tony, and a real page-turner. Dinosaurs run amok in the 20th century... what's not to love? Join as as we scale the heights and plumb the depths of this fantastic story, and of course, poke fun at the things the film definitely got wrong. TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Conan the Barbarian is Robert E. Howard’s iconic swordslinger, the gold standard of sword-and-sorcery heroes. It’s hard to imagine a more quintessentially pulpy world than the one where Conan makes his living with steely thews, panther-like reflexes, and a well-documented appreciation for fair-skinned women in diaphanous gowns. Young Tom kept these books on his shelf—dog-eared, tattered, and worn thin from countless rereadings. But will the tales still enchant young-at-heart Tom the same way today? Let’s find out.TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Among Others by Jo Walton is Tony's pick for this episode. This is the first Walton we've featured, which seems like a terrible oversight. What happens when you're a 15-year-old who lost your twin sister while stopping your insane witch mother from taking over the world? You run away, end up in a boarding school, and lose yourself in science fiction novels. At least, while the fairies don't need you.

In Conquest Born is the first novel by C.S.Friedman, one of Tom's favorite authors, and marks her fantastic appearance in the realm of published sci-fi. There are so many Big Ideas crammed into this book that it's hard to give a meaningful summary, but suffice to say it's mighty fine space opera.

Marooned in Realtime is Tony's pick, and wraps up our Vinge Binge for now. A first read for Tom, this is a direct sequel to The Peace War, set a mere 50 million years after those events. TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft is Tom's choice this time. Mountains is perhaps the most objective look into Lovecraft's universe of cosmic horror. When an Antarctic expedition from Miskatonic University discovers the remains of a sprawling alien civilization from pre-Cambrian times, what horrors will be unearthed? It's best we hope never to find out!TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge is the (pre) sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep, which we visited in episode 91. Although a first read, Tom chose this because he couldn't bear to abandon Vinge's Qeng Ho series. And what a worthy prequel! Typical Vinge, with lots of Big Ideas, compelling plots, and characters he clearly wants you to like.TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg is Tony's pick this time. A lengthy science fantasy tome, it follows the adventures of Valentine, an amnesiac juggler, as he uncovers the mystery of his identity and his destiny. The first novel in the Majipoor series, this was quite a read!TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

The Peace War, by Vernor Vinge, is a favorite that Tom hasn't revisited in decades. Talk about dusting off a long-forgotten classic! Turns out that "forgotten" really applies in this case. Other than bobbles, neither of us remembered much about this book. But what a fun read!TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Podkayne of Mars is one of Robert Heinlein's juvenile series and Tony's pick for this episode. Join us as we explore Heinlein’s take on growing up in the stars, the clash between idealism and cynicism, and whether this “juvenile” novel has more bite than expected. Is Podkayne a proto-feminist hero or a relic of her author’s era? And what’s up with that ending?TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Lord of the Flies, the debut novel of William Golding, is something you probably encoutered in grade school. Tom did, and it stuck with him over the decades. Join us as we visit this iconic vision of youth gone wild! TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis is Tony’s pick this time around, and definitely not Tom’s usual fare. This insider look at the world of 1980s Wall Street is fast-paced, brash, and unapologetically chaotic. Lewis takes us deep into the bond trading boom, where arrogance and ambition collide in a game that’s part strategy, part swagger. Did Tom survive the ride? Tune in and see.TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is Tom’s pick for this episode, and let’s just say… the whale wasn’t the only one dragging. Tony hadn’t read it since his English Lit days and didn’t make it to the end this time, while Tom powered through on deadline. The result? Probably not our most polished review, but a fun and honest one nonetheless. Join us as we harpoon what we can from this literary leviathan.TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is Tony’s pick this time; a long-time favorite of his and a first read for Tom. And wow… mind blown. From galaxy-spanning civilizations to pack-mind aliens and zones of thought, this book throws big ideas at you from page one and never lets up. Join us as we explore one of the most ambitious space operas ever written.TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com

Dream Park by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes is Tom’s pick this time around, a favorite from his high school days. What brought it back to mind? A parody of the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood, of all things. (Yes, he still sings it.) This early blend of LARPing, sci-fi, and mystery takes us into a futuristic amusement park where the games are immersive, the stakes are high, and the lines between play and reality blur fast. Does it hold up? Join us and find out!TTYpodcast.comThumbingthroughyesterday.com