"Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card

This book was written before "Ender's Game" and the previous book was supposed to be just introduction to "Speaker for the Dead" while in reality ended up being more famous. The book is set 3000 years after the event in "Ender's Game". Humanity has settled the 100 worlds that the Buggers left behind and Ender's name is universally reviled as the Xenocider. Andrew Wiggin, traveling under his real name and as Speaker for the Dead, learns about Lusitania, the only planet where a new intelligent race was discovered, the Pecaninos, or the "piggies".

Since this planet has not been known during the Buggers, it is an enigma to the settlers, Brazilian Catholic community, who isolate themselves from the rest of the planet by the means of pain-inducing fence. Ender arrives on the planet after 22 years of space travel, as he has been called to speak the death of one of the Xenologists (Xanador in Portuguese) who was killed by the piggies. Ender brings the dormant Hive Queen as well, who chooses this planet as the future settlement site for the Buggers.

Eventually Ender brings all three communities together, even though provoking a harsh reaction from the other 100 worlds who see the piggies as a threat. It turns out piggies are half-animal/half-plant and they developed that way to adapt to the virus introduced on their planet which destroyed almost all species that couldn't switch to the plant/animal dichotomy. At the end of the book, the Hive Queen awakes and drinks water and eats while laying her first legs and enjoying being free.

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card

One of the seminal books of science fiction and on everybody's top 10 list, this book captivates with the strength of characters described as well as by the fullness of the universe and the story within which it is set, painting the timeless human characteristics and dilemmas with a new brush. Card is a Mormon, and has done missionary works for the Church of the Latter Day Saints in Brazil, however the book is all but devoid of Mormon symbolism, which is uncharacteristic for Mormon writers, though Card lives in North Carolina. The book is a first volume in a series, as all modern authors try to exploit their creations by writing a series of books, recycling the same characters. However, the first volume in the series was initially written, per Card, only as a scene setting for his actual novel, "Speaker for the Dead" which became the second book in the series, with Ender as the main protagonist.

The story is about a 6 year old boy, Andrew or better known as Ender, a name he chose for himself, who is the product of eugenics, as are his older sister Valentine and oldest brother, Peter, a sadistic boy, who is perpetually envious at Ender, and only when Ender is removed from Earth, does he develop into an arguably positive character. Ender is a part of a military program, from the IF, the International Forces, military of the united earth (more or less), created to fight the insectoid alien race "The Buggers", who attacked Earth and the Solar System twice in the last 70 years. The Earthlings are not waiting for a third attack, the Buggers having multiple star systems at their disposal for resources, while the humans barely have explored the inner Solar System.

The most promising kids are collected from the entire planet and sent into a low-orbit staton where they play "The Game" in the Battle Room in zero gravity. Ender makes friends and enemies here, but comes on top at the end, not thanking to any help from the administration, who advance him rapidly only to put him in a more difficult position. After graduating Battle School, Ender is sent to Command School, which trains the future highest strategic commanders of the IF. Ender has shown better than any student in the history of both schools, but at the Command School he is isolated from the rest of the kids and only given access to a "Simulator" which simulates real space battles, which Ender commands, but does personally pilot any of the crafts. Eventually, Ender graduates from Command School and his graduation day is the brightest day for humanity, which turns into the saddest day for Ender some time after, when he discovers the truth about their enemy, which was not supposed to be an enemy at all.

Very refreshingly, Ender wins his final battle with about 50 pages of the book left. The real twist is in the last 20 pages, which set the scene for the next volume, "Speaker for the Dead". An amazing book that anyone should read, whether sci-fi fan or not!

"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac

The manifesto of the Beat Generation, "On the Road" by the French Canadian Jack Kerouac is one amazing book. If you haven't read anything from the modern/post-modern genre, this would probably be a good book to start with. It describes four trips across the USA and Mexico taken by "Salvatore", the main protagonist, a surrogate for the author himself who based the book solely on his own personal experience and the voluminous notebooks which he always carried with him. Sal lives in NYC and his "life on the road" starts when Dean Moriarty enters his life. Dean is what would become the typical Anti-Hero of the age. He drinks, he smokes, he takes any drug he could get his hands on, he is unfaithful to his friends and lover, never kept a steady job and is in a constant flux.

Sal and Dean go to San Francisco, stopping at Denver, both of which cities would become their common starting and ending points. Eventually all trips finish back in NYC, where Sal lives permanently and Dean sometimes. Sal says that when spring arrives in NYC he gets the urge to go somewhere, and when Dean is around, there is always somewhere to go, even if it is nowhere. The second trip goes along the Midwest and includes driving a rich-man's car through the entire country up to Chicago. The third and fourth trips go all the way to Mexico city and many cities in Mexico, where Sal describes the bordellos, the hookers, the life of the people, the atmosphere, etc.

However, the main idea of the book is that true art is like Jazz, whether it is music or the written word. It is living, evolving, unclean, unfinished but always touching and beautiful. Kerouac stated that he tried to write his books as Jazz music is written, spontaneous, with lots of improvisation, and for the most part it works great, however some parts read like a very cursory travel reportage. Although I am not the greatest fan of this writing style, this cult-status book definitely deserves a reading and is refreshing and original.

"Stranger in a Strange Land' by Robert E. Heinlein

A revolutionary book in 1962 when it was published (written through the previous 12 years) today Heinlein's masterpiece strikes as timid and naive. The 'free love' part doesn't come until the final third of the book, and even then it is not terribly provocative. Further more, to rise the ire of the modern readers, the work is written in the spirit of the 1950s, where black people were seen as inferior, women even more (Heinlein writes 9 out of 10 women who get raped had part of the blame), and there are direct references to homosexuality being an illness and unnatural. This makes this book just as difficult to read as are the Asimov's books from the 50s with all his 'atomics' and similar retro sci-fi.

The book is about Valentine Michael Smith, a 20 year old man who was raised on Mars by Martians who do not resemble us but have intelligence and a civilization. Smith was conceived on the ship of the first manned expedition to Mars (all of whom who died on landing). The second manned mission to Mars, after the "Lyle" drive was discovered, and World War 3 finished, brought back smith, who had no idea of the life on earth or humans, but possessed some abilities which, although seen as normal on Mars, would seem supernatural on Earth. Smith was also an owner of the planet Mars, and much other industry, through odd legal loopholes.

Eventually Smith gets out of the hospital, makes peace with the General Secretary of the UN and the World Government, and with the help of an aging intellectual, Jubal Harshaw, an investigative reporter, Ben Caxton, and a sexy nurse Gillian Broadmore, he sets on discovering the world, encountering and experiencing religion, especially in the powerful new sect, the "Fosterites", in whose churches whoring, drinking, gambling and general debauchery was encouraged. He tries to become a stage magician, but his magic is real, and he hasn't realized the secret of laughter yet, which comes to him later, understanding it to be a device for keeping pain at bay.

Smith organizes his own church, called "Church of All Worlds" where Martian language and telepathy are practiced. He builds a temple where his brethren practice nudism, communal living, free sex, paranormal abilities, etc. However, the Fosterites see him as threat and the masses are scared by the new religion and Messiah, so his temple gets burned (everyone teleports safely out) and then, after a long conversation with Jubal Harshaw, the patron saint of the new religion, Smith goes out in the crowd surrounding his hotel trying to pass his message to them, who promptly kill him and tear him to pieces, which he allows, and thus comes to an end all Messiahs come to.

It seems like Heinlein wanted to find his own religion and spirituality, and although was fully aware of the scientific truth which invalidates most of the major religions, he still created Smith, who's his 'Space Age Jesus' preserving the tenets of Christianity in which Heinlein was brought up and which he couldn't get himself to give up, but also mixing it with plenty of science and fiction to create the perfect religion for the modern times (at least the 60s) and embracing the full potential of the human beings. It is hinted at the end of the book that the Martian "Old Ones" (spirits of dead Martians who do all the science and research and governing on Mars) intend to destroy Earth because the humans are 'sick' and Smiths church with its curriculum is the only chance for the humanity to save itself from the faith of the fifth planet which the Martians destroyed eons ago, in which place there is now an asteroid belt (Faeton).

"Conan the Warrior" by Robert E. Howard

Sometimes called the 'Volume 7' of the Conan collected stories (as Howard only wrote short stories), this book contains three interesting Conan stories from his later years (later 30s, early 40s).

The first story 'Red Nails' is quite good, some say among the best Conan stories written by Howard. It includes Valeria, the pirate, as well. It has to do with a forgotten city in the middle of nowhere with two warring tribes inside engaged in genocidal war. Conan and Valeria help one side, only to destroy all at the end.

The second story, "Jewels of Gwahlur" is more difficult to follow, but it is about stealing of the most valuable jewels in the world, which Conan achieves splendidly eventually, and to his own benefit mostly. The third story "Beyond the Black River" has to deal with Conan fighting the Picts, which in reality is another name for the Ancient Scots or Celts, but in Howard's story they are tropical savages with terrible cults.

A very entertaining book with three remarkable Conan stories (sometimes this volume is numbered 7 in the Conan collected stories), a recommended reading for every Conan fan or a casual reader looking for good adventure.

"Foundation's Edge" by Isaac Asimov

This is the fourth book in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and the first after the original trilogy, published several decades later. The Foundation is in its 500th year of the Foundation Era, the Seldon plan is going great, the second foundation is destroyed, and a new empire is to rise in 500 years from the Terminus core. But is it all so great? Trevize, a councilor on Terminus thinks that the second foundation still exists and guides the Seldon plan, and exactly because the plan has been so successful, he shows it as a proof that the second foundation is influencing it. The mayor of Terminus exiles him to act as a bait for the second foundation, along with a historian searching for the mystical Earth, Janov Pelorat. At the same time on Trantor, the traditional seat of the very alive Second Foundation, Gendibal, the youngest but the most ambitious Speaker at the table shocks the council by saying that there is another force that makes sure that the Seldon plan goes as planned and maybe wants it for some own purpose. He shows a changed mind of a Hammish woman, Novi, which was beyond the skill of anyone in the Second Foundation.

Gendibal follows Trevize and Pelorat in their search for Earth, which they think is the planet Gaia, in the Seyshell sector. It turns out Seyshell sector was settled directly from Earth, by humans who hated robots, which were used in all the earlier extraterrestrial settlements. They formed a planet Gaia, by working on their telepathic abilities and becoming one conscious being, together with all the humans on the planet, all the animals, life forms and inanimate objects like the planet itself. Here Travize has to decide a stalemate among the first foundation, second foundation and Gaia, on which will depend who will rule the universe. Travize decides on Gaia, mostly because that was the only reversible choices, the other two including a destruction of Gaia. Towards the end Travize discovers that some of the humans on Gaia may actually be robots from the pre-imperial past of humanity, who, now thousands of years old, are still trying to guide humanity as helpers and teachers.

"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson

This is the first novel by Neal Stephenson, his second being "Diamond Age" which I already reviewed some time ago. "Snow Crash" does the same for virtual environments and language development as "Diamond Age" did for nano-technology and social identity. It is a very in-depth and ingenious follow through of current trends into a possible future. The book is centered around the hacker Hiro Protagonist, half african-american, half japanese, and his sidekick, skateboard courier, the 15 year old Y.T. (yours truly). The world of tomorrow is a world where nation states fell apart and the US government sold most of its property and army, and is only holding on to few buildings with ridiculous bureaucracy. The mafia is a franchise of Pizza parlors and pizza delivery is an extreme job. The world has its virtual meeting place, The Street, a VR world that Hiro helped create, in the center of which is the hacker pub the "Black Sun".

Hiro learns that one of the most powerful people on the planet, owning the main religious franchise is using Summerian technology from 8,000 years ago to give the people knowledge of the universal language that all people spoke, before Enki, Summerian god, created the language virus that created the many different languages in order for other language viruses which could be used to control people don't spread. Add to this surveillance-technology wearing "gargoyles" and an Aleutian native american with low urge control and a nuclear warhead in his motorbike whose fuse is connected to ECG signals from the Aleutian and you have a complex mess that is a pleasure to untangle. Oh, and don't forget the enormous "Raft" anchored by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and consisting of thousands interwoven vessels transporting people from poor Asian countries to the US.