The Pages I Turn

Next on the 23 Things hit list is Library Thing.

I found this site extremely user friendly, very easy to search and add books and authors to your favourites list.

I must confess, I am not a fan of the classics, they do absolutely nothing for me, I much prefer contemporary authors. My genre of choice is actually a sub genre, alternate history; basically stories where a key historical fact has been changed which impacts on the following time line. For me the king of alternate history is Harry Turtledove, especially his epic 11 book series that covers two world wars where the South won the American Civil War.

Also, I am a big fan of science fiction, but science fiction that has one foot in reality or something that I can connect with. The best example of this for me, actually combines alternate history with science fiction, the World at War series by Harry Turtledove (yes, him again), where aliens arrive on earth in the early stages of World War Two. I love alien invasion or alien contact stories, the first book of this genre that intrigued me as a teenager was "Footfall" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Another classic alien contact story that glued me to this genre, also by the preceeding authors, is "The Mote in God's Eye", where a space faring humanity has its first encounter with an alien civilization.

I must make special mention of John Birmingham, an Australian author, who presents the scenario of time travel (yes another favourite of mine) where a task force from the 21st century lands in the middle of World War Two. Not only is the clash of technology fascinating, but also the clash between modern man and the ethical, moral, and societal strictures of a 1940's world.

Anyway, enough of me jabbering on about "nonsensical" science fiction and alternate history, heres the link to my Library Thing catalog.