Historia cultural de los ovnis en España 1950-1990 de Ignacio Cabria

Excelente trabajo sobre el fenómeno OVNI, analizado desde un enfoque socio/antropológico. Tirando a momentos de ironía, y de escepticismo durante todo el libro, el autor consigue una magnífica crónica sobre la evolución de este mito moderno en nuestro país. 

Por estas páginas vemos pasar los primeros sucesos de platillos volantes (via importación cultural de los EEUU, tanto de sus propios “casos reales” como de las películas de ciencia ficción) hacia una posterior evolución del objeto de estudio: de los ovnis de Marte a los astronautas antiguos y después a las abducciones. De ahí a la aparición de las sectas milenaristas que reciben mensajes celestiales (mezclando visitantes y religión, incluyendo sectas) y finalmente a una ufología más crítica o escéptica que es la que acaba suscribiendo el autor, en una evolución personal coincidente con la de muchos otros investigadores. En el caso de la ufología española a destacar el escándalo que supuso el caso "Ummo". 

El libro es también un homenaje a todas las personas que dedicaron talento, tiempo y esfuerzos en un campo de estudio en el que creían firmemente. Como suele suceder, unas pocas lograron dedicarse profesionalmente a este tema, como escritores o periodistas divulgadores la mayoría.

Hoy en día oímos hablar mucho menos de ovnis, parece cosa del siglo pasado, pero la ufología sigue activa, diluida entre las otras denominadas paraciencias. De hecho, en mi opinión ni de lejos es la más descabellada de las actuales creencias metafísicas (por no mencionar el terraplanismo).

Un libro muy recomendable para entender como una sociedad moderna en la que vivimos, la cual se presupone ilustrada, continúa necesitando de estos mitos; y a su vez de cómo los mass media -actualmente deberíamos añadir Internet y las redes sociales- actúan como agentes de propagación de estas creencias.

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton

Even though the main plot looks like a clone sitcom (here you can see the synopsis of the book, but it is a bit spoileous), I almost found more interesting the worldbuilding. That is, for example, when the story explains how the various beachheads -the other colonizing starships- have been able to establish themselves, or have failed to colonize other potentially worlds. The implications that cloning technology has for humanity in general and particularly for the main character in relation to the contract as an expendable person have also seemed well thought out to me. And the planet ecology is well thought out.

That said, it does not mean that the main plot is not entertaining enough to make it worth reading, but at least for me this tone of tragicomedy suits it only partially; specifically in the comedy part, providing some hilarious situations but about the tragic I don't empathize enough with the Mickeys.

So the reading was good enough. With more free time I would read the sequel, but unfortunately this is not the case. 

Our Lady of Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith

Very good! Our Lady of Artilects is one of the most enjoyable reads so far this year, which for me it is more than enough.

Since it gives the impression that it is a first work of an amateur writer and also an edition of few means, automatically I started looking for flaws (it is like one of these fascinating conditioning via neural implants of the book). And flaws it has: the future that is described has some inconsistencies and is outlined in a somewhat simplistic way, and I am not referring to the political situation (captivating but of which it only shows an outline, if you read it you will already understand). Regarding this shocking political situation of the future, at some point the novel evokes the fascinating Too Like the Lightning.

Since I have mentioned Ada Palmer’s novel, I must clarify that Our Lady of Artilects is situated at the antipodes of that one and while the former gets lost in thoughtful disquisitions, this one only tries to tell a story that captivates you and in this undoubtedly it succeeds. I would describe Our Lady of Artilects as a thriller from a more or less distant future (100 years from now approximately), with an original and well-thought-out worldbuilding, but its best quality is that it is highly entertaining. So, I think that the reading should be approached as an action movie of those in which you have a great time, with the logical limitations of a script for this type of cinema.

If you are curious to see how the author manages to combine religion in a more or less distant future and at the same time robots and exorcism, you should read this novel.

Mr. Gillsmith, write more stories please!