Author Archives: John Walters

Book Review:  The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Libraries have been some of my favorite places on Earth ever since I was a child. When our family lived on lower Capital Hill in Seattle, my mother would drive me and my siblings to the Henry Branch Library on … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Best American Short Stories 2021 Edited by Jesmyn Ward and Heidi Pitlor

This collection is comprised of what is considered by the two editors to be the best “literary” short stories of the year, as opposed to the best genre short stories, which appear in different collections. As usual, though, two of … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Greeks: A Global History by Roderick Beaton

This book is relatively new, having been published in 2021. It was recommended to me by one of my sons; soon afterwards I found out that another of my sons was also reading it. In short, it is a superb … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Fated Sky is a sequel to The Calculating Stars, and they are both part of Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series. The Calculating Stars is a superb novel; it blew me away when I read it a year and … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I saw this book on the library shelves for several weeks before I decided to give it a read. That’s because I was so disappointed by Weir’s second novel, Artemis. Weir’s first novel, the one that catapulted him to international … Continue reading

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The Relocation Blues Is Now Available!

The Relocation Blues: An Inquiry into Transitions, my latest memoir and thirty-first book, is now available in digital and print form. Pick up a copy by clicking on one of the links below. Here’s what it is about: Life is … Continue reading

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Book Review:  One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon by Charles Fishman

I picked up this recently-published book thinking it was an updated history of the Apollo program but as I began to read I soon realized that it is not really that at all. Instead, it is a look behind the … Continue reading

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Staying Alive; or, The Martian as an Allegory of the Human Condition

“Never despair, but if you do, work on in spite of despair.”- paraphrase of Edmund Burke Recently I checked out my various accounts so I could assess my financial situation, and I received a devastating shock. It was much worse … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 Edited by John Joseph Adams and Veronica Roth

This collection has a different tone than the other best of the year collection I recently read and reviewed, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Volume 2 edited by Jonathan Straham, and it’s not just that it includes fantasy. The selection … Continue reading

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“Prodigal” in SFS Stories

My short story “Prodigal” has just appeared in Issue #8 of the magazine SFS Stories. The theme of this issue is “Tales of Time.” You can find a copy on Amazon at this link.

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