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Essential Reading in Science Fiction Paperback – December 15, 2009

by David K Scholes (Author)

24 ratings

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The book contains a huge variety of short science fiction stories running almost the full gamut of the genre. In Battle at Time's End Fate clashes with the successor to Time's Guardian. The child of an alien shapeshifter father and Earth mother is of considerable importance to human history in The Shifter Child. In Star Ravagers impossibly alien life forms seek to consume our Sun, while in Final Revenge the rape of future humanity is avenged. An extradimensional visitor seeks to help an Earth besieged by both aliens and alien gods in A Long Way From Home. While to the advanced inhabitants of Drandor, Visitor 51347 is not at all what he seems to be. And much more.

Print length

248 pages
Language

English
Publication date

December 15, 2009
Dimensions

6 x 0.56 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1449581889
ISBN-13

978-1449581886
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author has written over 140 speculative fiction short stories in the 7 years he has been writing speculative fiction. His publications include seven collections of short stories and two novellas. All of which are on Amazon. For some years he has been a regular contributor to both the Antipodean SF and the Beam Me Up Pod cast sites. In more recent times he has also become a regular contributor to the Farther Stars Than These site. He has also been published on a variety of other sci-fi sites including Bewildering Stories, 365 Tomorrows and the former Golden Visions magazine. He has written three sci-fi series: the 12 part "Alien Hunter" series for then Golden Visions Magazine in 2011/12, the "Trathh" series for the Beam Me Up Pod Cast site in 2012/13, and the "Human Hunter" series also for the Beam Me Up site in 2014/15.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (December 15, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1449581889
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1449581886
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.56 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #19,788,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #24,736 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
- #38,710 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction

Customer Reviews:
24 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		32%
4 star		22%
3 star		16%
2 star		24%
1 star		6%

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Top reviews from the United States

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JLD

Essential Reading in Science Fiction by David Scholes seems to be neither of these.

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2012

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Essential Reading in Science Fiction by David Scholes seems to be neither of these.

I purchased this e-book and I read these all straight through to the very end.

This appears to be a collection of 24 stories that could very well stand alone. Yet there is this convoluted thread that runs through them all to make it look like a disjointed effort to make a novel.

I say this because the first story has a character named Urrle who at one place gets miss named as Earle. Earle seems to be a recurring character through out. And there are threads of Asgard myth's with Odin and Thor in prominence. And there is some almost faceless benevolent but non interfering alien race called the Brell. So, it becomes difficult at best to divorce these from one another. There are some other names recurring but often with disturbing conflicted time lines - such as Chris and Jenny.

This is what creates the rather disjointed whole at best.
It's not that these might not be good stories its just that my limited intelligence kept having me say "Huh" straight through to the end. I tried in my mind to break them up into their separate selves but that was just worse.
Maybe one of the people with glowing recommendations could help me out here.

9 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Fast fun!

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2017

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I enjoyed this collection as it was full of similar and slightly familiar shorts that took only minutes to read in some cases. It is a fast paced read and is great for a break anywhere you might be.

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2013

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I'm sorry the writing just isn't very good. The stories miss some level of detail and gloss over things that would serve the setting well to explain.

It wasn't a fun read.

6 people found this helpful

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Jraussie

Shades of Peter Hamilton

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2013

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If you're a fan of Perter Hamilton then try this collection of short stories. Scholes has the same universe-building talent with the added bonus of short stories that are easier to wrap the mind around and a nice collection of characters to become attached to. A novel in this universe would be great with these stories as its basis. One question...Why was Jenny so important?

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2013

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I managed to get around halfway through before giving up on this book. Early on there were some interesting short stories, but overall the quality was lacking.

8 people found this helpful

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Dr. Johnson C. Philip

I love science fiction

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2014

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I love science fiction. It fascinates me. There were only a few of them to choose from when I started reading them six decades ago. The problem today is an over-abundance of sci fi in an unbelievable range of genres. Thus there is a tendency to get lost. What is more, not even the most voracious reader can keep in touch with all of it.

Essential Reading kind of books are a great help in such cases, though not everyone will agree with everything that was selected or not selected. The same is true of this collection also.

I read the volume without any prejudice as to what ought to be and what not ought to be included -- mostly to get a different perspective. I must say that I enjoyed the book very much because of my perspective. Good selection!!

2 people found this helpful

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Leon Ramakers

Disappointing.

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2015

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Not having read any of David Sholes work before, I was very disappointed in his stories in this book. They mostly had the potential to be good novelettes, but stopped way too early, just as I was starting to get used to the characters and storyline. Very irritating. If David has any full novels, I'd be interested in taking a look at them.

2 people found this helpful

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Kyle Tolman

solid

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2015

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Solid old school sci -fi

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Top reviews from other countries

A. Butler

thor is great, yeah we got that

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2014

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Well, while I read the whole book in a short while it was curiosity rather than en-rapt attention.

There are two basic themes to the series of stories in this book. Thor protecting the Earth and Aliens invading the Earth. The stories use the same character names again and again very few times are they referring to the same actual character though.

The stories revolve around the basic idea that invaders will get their comeuppance and that Thor is truly great and powerful.

I got the book free courtesy of ebooklister.net and it was worth what I paid.

DENNIS

Interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2021

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Very super hero type science fiction and fantasy quite simplistic and short at times the hero always wins some interesting new ideas and well worth reading.

Mike Smith

not good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2014

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A series of vaguely related, not particularly good stories. Some are based on a time-shifting visitor, others on the Asgard mythology. The latter are NOT science fiction.
I would have been v. diappointed if this hadn't been free.

ken

Great reading to take you into others worlds

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2014

Verified Purchase

Great reading to take you into others worlds. I am an avid sci fi reader have been all my life this book is good reading and would recommend it unreservedly

Geoff

Collection of Short Stories. Hard to Grasp

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

Appears to have a central theme of 'the Brell' and advanced beings intervening to earths benefit. Some of these stories are very brief.

One person found this helpful

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Essential Reading in Science Fiction Paperback – December 15, 2009

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

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