"I don’t write reviews.

And I’d never fight in a war. Really. I could fight to defend my loved ones, but I doubt I could kill. I don’t have it in me. Now, take that further, and have a government tell me to go kill for themâ€�. Not possible. Yet many people do, for many reasons: patriotism, money, valour, education. How do they turn off their humanity and the humanity of their opponents? Especially, in modern warfare, where it’s the military-industrial-complex readjusting its hold over the people, not man defending his homeland and family. How do veterans turn their humanity back on and return to “civilization?â€� I don’t know. Ask someone wiser than me.

Haldeman made it through. He brought a lot of these questions out with him. The Forever War explored them in a thoughtful, interesting manner. Many people said Mandela didn’t grow as a character throughout the story, but I disagree. He learned some uncomfortable truths and found out the only thing that matters is love.

“But the other voice was obdurate, and said, ‘By that kind of reasoning, a man is only a hank of hair and a piece of bone and some stringy meat. And no matter what kind of a man he is, if you teach him well, you could take a Zen monk and turn him into a slavering, bloodthirsty warrior.â€� ‘Then what the hell are you, we, am I?â€� answered the other side. ‘A peace-loving, vacuum-welding-specialist-cum-physics-teacher, snatched up by the elite conscription act and reprogrammed to be a killing machine.â€� ‘You, I, have killed, and liked it.â€� ‘But that was hypnotism, motivational conditioning,â€� I argued back at myself. ‘They don’t do that anymore.â€� And the only reason I said they don’t do it, is because they think you’ll kill better without it. That’s logic.â€�"

"Ist sehr lange her, damals hab ich nach allem gegriffen, das irgendwie nach Dystopie ausgesehen hat. In diesem Fall war es aber eher ein enttĂ€uschendes Leseerlebnis, schlecht geschrieben, ziemlich hanebĂŒchener Plot, aber immerhin ausreichend spannend um es fertig zu lesen."

"Let me put it this way: This book is excellent value for money if you want a random collection of Anderson's short works, especially (for the prose parts) his older works. It is, however, also quite cheap (at EUR 3.49 for the Kindle version).

Buyer beware: The title The Queen of Air and Darkness is overused. This is not (unlike both Amazon, and at the moment, Ć·±ŠÓéÀÖ, claim) a 144 page book. It's an SF Masterworks re-release of the second volume of the NESFA collected works edition, and the original paper book weights in at a bit over 500 pages. It contains an interesting and somewhat eclectic collection of stories (most seem to be novella length, not typical short stories), poems, essays, and other works.

The extras beyond the collected works are a "publication history" (rather, a list of first publication information), a very short editor's introduction by Rick Katze, and a short bio sketch by Mike Resnik. They really don't add much value. The publication date for the novella that gave the collection its name is wrongly listed as November 1958, but it was really published in spring 1971. It won the 1971 Nebula and both Hugo and Locus awards in 1972.

So what's in it for the reader? I have to say that I'm very insensitive to written poetry, so I cannot comment on the poems. The stories are a mixed bag. Most are from the 1950th and early 1960s, and many reek of old-fashioned gender roles, social mores, and American frontier ethics. Most are also competently written - but often no more than that. Some highlights:
Operation Afreet is hilarious comedy about a Word War 3 (I think) in which magic, djinns, witches and werebeings all play a role. There are "six-broom aircraft", and an army being drenched in rain for weeks by weather sorcery.
Industrial Revolution is quite clever and funny, and deals with the early stages of an independent belter culture.
A World Called Maanerek is quite typical (for Anderson) science fantasy. It's a bit on the moralin-sour side, but the first half is quite intense.
Marque and Reprisal is a real stinker. With its premise it could be brilliantly bad action sf, or a thoughtful comment on interspecies relationships and the value of communication. Instead, it reads like one third of a bad (in the sense of bad) YA sf novel, sold incomplete for fast cash.
Uncleftish Beholding is Anderson showing us how clever he is. It's also good fun for the first few pages, and I can imagine that reading sessions at cons would be an absolute hoot.
The Critique of Impure Reason, on the other hand, is Anderson showing us how clever he thinks he is. It's a bit of a disappointment - there is not much Kant in the story, but a lot of lording it over the modern culture and art scene.

Overall, it was a bit of a slog to finish the book, but, to be fair, I did finish it."

"Ein Klassiker, der immer wieder neu aufgelegt wird und AktualitÀt erhÀlt, zuletzt 2017, als indirekte Reaktion auf den Beginn der ersten PrÀsidentschaft von Donald Trump. Damals war der Titel noch nicht gemeinfrei.
Das Buch beginnt mit der eindrucksvollen Evozierung einer tristen, geradezu heruntergekommenen Großstadtlandschaft. Die Perspektivfigur Winston Smith, Held mit pessimistischen Ahnungen, wohnt in einem Mietshausblock. Der Große Bruder ist allgegenwĂ€rtig durch seine bildliche Darstellung im Flur und an den HauswĂ€nden. Er gehört zum Leben, Winston Smith reagiert nicht mehr, nimmt diese paranoische Warnung und Drohung beinhaltende Parole "Der große Burder sieht dich" zur Kenntnis, scheinbar abgestumpft. Nach einigen Seiten, weiß der Leser jedoch, dass W.S. hinter dieser Fassade einiges verbirgt, und Spannung kommt auf.
Wie die "Partei des Englischen Sozialmismus" und deren Regierungsapparat diesen Staat beherrscht, findet eine architetektonisch-sinnbildliche Darstellung in den wolkenkrtatzerartigen GebĂ€uden der Ministerien. Sie dominieren die Stadt, ĂŒberragen die anderen HochhĂ€user. Die Stadt ist geschichtslos, denn Geschichte ist nur noch ein Instrument der Selbstdarstellung und der Herrschaftssicherung der Machthaber.
Wiewohl W.S. daran beteiligt ist, er arbeitet im Propagandaministerium, ist Parteimitglied und somit ein Wissender, ist er in der inneren Opposition. Er widersteht der staatlichen GehirnwĂ€sche durch widersinnige Parolen und kann sich ein StĂŒck Privatheit in einem Staat, der durch die TV-Bildschirme in die Wohnungen hineinsieht, bewahren, indem er Tagebuch schreibt. Doch als mit dem oppositionellen Untergrund Kontakt aufnehmen will, gerĂ€t er und seine Freundin und Mtverschwörerin Julia in eine Falle und wird letztendlich gebrochen.
Eine sehr eindringliche ErzĂ€hlung, die trotz ihres Pessimismus nicht auf sarkastischem Humor verzichtet. Geschrieben unter dem Eindruck des Totalitarismus, ĂŒberzeichnet der Roman und fĂŒhrt die Methoden der totalitĂ€ren Herrschaft eingĂ€ngig vor. Ich habe die LektĂŒre nicht als deprimierend in Erinnerung, das hat der ErzĂ€hlduktus verhindert, sondern war von dieser Hellsichtigkeit inmitten der DĂŒsternis gefesselt.
"