Thumbing Through Yesterday

Tony has repeatedly claimed that Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang is "the best collection of single-author shorts ever." We decided to put that claim to the test! Chiang has an amazing collection here, replete with Big Ideas, each of which gets explored in depth. All eight stories are remarkable, and neither of us could decide on a single favorite. Maybe you can help us choo...

The Adolescence of P-1 by Thomas J. Ryan is Tom's pick. This was a hard book to find! It's a fantastic early look at the idea of a sentient AI, and the first ever written at a time when such a thing was plausible. Ryan effectively invents the idea of a computer virus years before the term was ever used, and his exploration of the costs and consequences of sharing our world with an emergent...

A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori is Tony's choice this time, and our first venture into manga. We read the first two volumes, and to say the artwork is breathtaking is an understatement. The story is delightful, the characters are charming, and the whole experience is something special. Join us as we journey into this remarkable tale. TTYpodcast.com ThumbingThroughYesterday.com

Reave the Just and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson is Tom's pick. Donaldson has given us two collections of "short" stories so far, this being the 2nd. The book gathers 8 novellas, mostly fantasy, that showcase Donaldson's range and formidable worldbuilding. Not that either is in doubt! Join us as we explore the volume that won the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection in 2...

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar is Tony's pick this week and continues his recent theme of stories with unexpected turns. A first read for Tom, the story follows 17-year-old Alton Richards as he assists his blind uncle in competetive bridge tournaments. There's a lot of family intrigue, some incredibly exciting bridge play, and a surprising helping of the supernatural involved. TTYpodcast.c...

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert Heinlein is Tom's pick this week. A Heinlein that, perhaps, has not held up as well as we would have liked. Tom picked it because it’s about as close as Heinlein ever came to writing a sequel to The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. TTYpodcast.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.com

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells is Tony's pick, and a first read for Tom. What happens when John Cleaver, a troubled teen determined not to yield to his dark impulses, stumbles across a serial killer operating in his neighborhood? Let's just say that this one takes a pretty radical left turn partway through! TTYpodcast.com ThumbingThroughYesterday.com

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.com ThumbingThroughYesterday.com

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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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...

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...

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 madd...

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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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...

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...

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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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.com Thumbin...

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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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.com Thumbingthroug...

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.com Thumbingthroughyesterday.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.com Thumbin...

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....