Monday, December 16, 2019

Boksläpp: HOTET UNDER HAVET - Staden under jorden del 3

Nu har den äntligen kommit ut i nätbokhandlarna:
HOTET UNDER HAVET - Staden under jorden del 3

En spännande lättläst bok för mellanåldern, med högaktuellt tema.
KG Johansson har skrivit texten, och jag har illustrerat boken med över 40 bilder.

Presentation av boken på Bokus.com:

I en dröm får Fia en vision av en jordbävning. Det är i själva verket vännen Jim från staden Salvo långt under jordytan som kontaktar henne med hjälp av robothunden Robban. Datorerna som styr Salvo har fastnat i ett inbördes gräl, när ett beslut omedelbart måste fattas för att rädda livet på elva tusen människor.

Staden under jorden är en lättläst bokserie för barn på ett mycket gammalt tema: en hemlig värld under jorden. I seriens nya tredje del, Hotet från havet, tas samma tema upp men nu får också klimatkrisen en plats tillsammans med robotar och avancerad teknik. Boken är skriven och tecknad med glimten i ögat - och vem tycker inte om hemliga världar, dinosaurier, talande apor och datorer med mycket mänskliga personligheter?


Fråga efter de här böckerna på biblioteket!

Här är några exempel på illustrationer från de tidigare böckerna i serien:



Thursday, December 12, 2019

Book review: THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON by H. G. Wells

THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1901) by H. G. Wells

A novel that's over 100 years old...about a visit to the Moon... depicting lunar life on a Moon with an atmosphere. Is it really still worth reading?

The answer is yes. In fact this novel is imaginative, humorous, lighthearted and even satirical.

It also contains interesting surprises:

- The characters make a direct reference to Jules Verne's novel FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON -- a "meta-commentary."

- The narrative, written as a firsthand account of "true events," mixes fantastic events with mundane details of life in the 1890s.

- The narrator is a greedy opportunist - he tags along on the expedition to the Moon only to strike it rich. In one scene, he gets intoxicated and babbles about the duty to seize control of the Moon as "the White Man's Burden." This is obviously Wells making fun of British imperialism.

- The depiction of life on the Moon, even though it is outdated, is still impressive and imaginative. It has been an influence on later stories about aliens.

- There are several ironic twists in the story to keep the excitement up.


(For example: the two men who travel to the Moon bring lots of provisions and prepare for various difficulties they might face... but once they land on the Moon, it becomes obvious that they forgot to bring a map.)

- Wells even considered the psychological effects of space travel - in a wonderful scene he depicts a kind of "space madness"!

I enjoyed THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, a surprisingly entertaining adventure. Recommended as a classic.

NOTE: The book has been filmed several times. The 2010 BBC adaptation received mostly good reviews.


You can listen to the free Librivox audiobook version HERE.


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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Kommer snart: HOTET UNDER HAVET (mellanåldersbok)

STADEN UNDER JORDEN och fortsättningen UNDER UNDERJORDEN är skrivna av KG Johansson och illustrade av mig.

De här lättlästa, spännande mellanåldersböckerna finns på biblioteket och på Bokus.com .

Den tredje boken i serien, HOTET UNDER HAVET, kommer snart ut!
För mer information, se förlagets webbsida:
www.welaforlag.se


Friday, December 06, 2019

Book review: HYPERION by Dan Simmons

HYPERION (1989) by Dan Simmons

This one took some time to finish - because it's really not one story but several interconnected tales, set in the same world.

The setting is a future interstellar empire called The Hegemony of Man. It is beset by war, corruption, power struggles - and a mysterious, murderous being called the Shrike.

A group of diverse characters travel to the planet Hyperion to find the Shrike, in the desperate hope that it might somehow resolve the crises that threaten the Hegemony. (A very slim hope, partly based on a future religion.)

On their journey, each of the travelers tell their tale of how and why they joined this "pilgrimage" to Hyperion. These tales make up the main body of the book.

As I came to the end of HYPERION, I realized that it wasn't a complete novel but actually the very long Prologue to a novel. But now the author has got me hooked, so I guess I'll have to plow through the whole series to see how it ends. (Damn you, Simmons!)

Despite a few flaws (you'll notice them), and the fact that it's not a complete novel, HYPERION is an excellent first part of an epic space opera series. It builds and builds to a tense climax - and then abruptly ends just before the anticipated climax can occur.

If this had been a badly written book, the author couldn't have gotten away with that.

It also contains some very graphic scenes of sex and gruesome violence. I recommend HYPERION for adult, patient readers who enjoy big books with great amounts of plot, characters, worldbuilding - and sequels.


Fans of DUNE should find a lot to like here.

(Disclaimer: I haven't read the sequels yet, so I cannot say anything about them or what they add to/subtract from this first book.)

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