# What are you reading in 2022?



## Blue

A new year, a chance to read books both new and old.  Let us know what you are reading, and how you enjoyed it (or not).  Fiction, non-fiction, gaming tomes or cookbooks - we don't judge, we just want to share.

So, what are YOU reading in 2022?


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## Blue

To kick it off, i just finished Blindsight by Peter Watts.  (And @Eyes of Nine was wondering my reaction.)

It's a beautifully fresh hard-SF take on First Contact, or almost two first contacts in that the humans themselves are different enough from our baseline that discovering them is a co-journey.

It's got a lot of exposition, but handles it well between making it pertinent to the action or as part of flashbacks.  It's a thinky, philosophic novel.

It ends up with an interested premise that I don't personally endorse, but that did not detract from the story to me.

Imagine I am quite entertained.


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## monsmord

I'll be doing a re-read of the main 10-book Malazan arc by Erikson before moving into his latest books in that milieu. I read it previously over quite a span of years, losing threads and continuity in the process. A book or more a month will be like both coming home to the familiar and finding fresh new things to appreciate.

I liked _Blindsight_ quite a bit, but it's another that deserves a re-read before checking out book 2, also part of my 2022 plan.


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## Bedrockgames

Reading a lot of books at once this year. So dipping in one then another, then another. Slower pace, but enjoying myself. Right now reading a book on the witch craze by Brian Levack, some cryptozoology books, and a bunch of religious books. Also reading stuff like Compendium Maleficarium by Francesco Maria Guazzo


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## Ulfgeir

Still reading "Blades in the Dark", as well as an instructors book about archery (mostly deals with Recurce-shooting though).  And I am halways through a "Write Now!"- book with stuff for SF and Fantasy.


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## Cadence

I just finished a year long reread (and hardcopy collecting) of Nero Wolfe...






... and am a bit adrift, with nothing started but a short story collection reread I last picked up almost a year ago.

John Sandford has a new book coming out in April (starring Letty!) so that will happen at some point.

I guess I'll order a copy of the new 1619 book soon.

Might try some fantasy anthologies this year even if they don't have a Glen Cook story in them. (I usually like most of the stories in them at least as much as his recent short fiction).


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## Ximnipot69

Started the year by listening to Here We Go Again: My Life in Television and If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), both written and read by Betty White.

Still haven't figured out my first fantasy and scifi reads for the year yet, nothing on my TBR looks tempting.


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## trappedslider

The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen Kurczy


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## Bedrockgames

Ximnipot69 said:


> Started the year by listening to Here We Go Again: My Life in Television and If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), both written and read by Betty White.




That reminds me that I got Norm MacDonald's book when he died and I still need to sit down and read it.


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## Eyes of Nine

Blue said:


> To kick it off, i just finished Blindsight by Peter Watts.  (And @Eyes of Nine was wondering my reaction.)
> 
> It's a beautifully fresh hard-SF take on First Contact, or almost two first contacts in that the humans themselves are different enough from our baseline that discovering them is a co-journey.
> 
> It's got a lot of exposition, but handles it well between making it pertinent to the action or as part of flashbacks.  It's a thinky, philosophic novel.
> 
> It ends up with an interested premise that I don't personally endorse, but that did not detract from the story to me.
> 
> Imagine I am quite entertained.



Nice review. I really appreciated the book (but didn't want to color your impression).


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## Eyes of Nine

Still reading _Ship of Magic_ by Robin Hobb. I find her books long but ultimately rewarding. But also usually an emotional roller-coaster. I expect I'll be reading for a while.

Finished _The Devotion of Suspect X_, by Keigo Higashino. I was intrigued by the Tokyo setting and the author's popularity in Japan. The novel itself was a very interesting murder mystery. It was an interesting cat and mouse game. It is not a spoiler to say that one is rooting for the murderer - we see the murder happen "on-screen" in the first 30 pages or so. But how the police solve the murder is really fascinating. Recommended.

Also on vacation I was at a thrift store and picked up books 1,3, and 4 in a murder-mystery series also set in Japan. The author won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery for the first book called _The Salaryman's Wife_ by Sujata Massey.

Finally, just signed up for the Goodreads 2022 Reading challenge. Last year I finished 52 books, so that's what I'll do this year. A book a week - that feels doable again.


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## DeviousQuail

Just finished Battle Ground by Jim Butcher last night. It's book 17 in his Dresden Files series. It felt like an Avengers movie in book form. I really like the series and would heartily suggest it to anyone. The only caveat I have is that the books have been written over a long time (21 years and there's still more to come) and while Butcher's writing was never bad, it has certainly improved.

Next up is The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. I have no idea what the book is about as I'm only 10 pages in but the copy I got has some very cool art pieces every 2-3 pages and I'm unsure if that's the standard or not.


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## hedgeknight

I need to update my Goodreads page to reflect what I am currently reading:

Rainbow in the Dark by *Ronnie James Dio* > this is his autobiography and since he's my favorite rock/heavy metal singer, I was excited to get it and I'm about 2/3 done. Ronnie was a voracious reader and read a great deal of fantasy literature and his love of those medieval themes showed through in his songs. His death broke my heart, but hardly a week goes by that I don't think about him or spin one of his albums. RIP \m/
The Wisdom of Crowds by *Joe Abercrombie* > this is the third book of his latest trilogy in the world of his First Law setting. I've had it since it was released in September 2021, but just haven't had time to sit down and give it a good read; but I will when I finished Ronnie's book above. If you want grit and wit and jaw-dropping, goose-bumping action, twists and turns, then you need to read Joe Abercrombie. If you haven't heard of him before, pick up The Blade Itself and get ready for a ride!
The Spirituality of Wine by *Gisela Kreglinger* > (from the blurb on Goodreads...) _In this book Gisela Kreglinger offers a fresh, holistic vision of the Christian life that sees God at work in all created things, including vineyards, the work of vintners, and the beauty of well-crafted wine shared with others around a table._  I'm excited to read this book! I love good wine and within my family (and some friends) there is a barrier about drinking and enjoying a glass with friends. 
I'm looking forward to seeing what others are reading this year!


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## niklinna

I am reading apartment listings.


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## Aeson

I'm reading Outbreak: A Crisis of Faith; How Religion Ruined Our Global Pandemic by Noah Lugeons

Noah is a podcaster. It's his take on how religion played a part in the spreading of the virus and misinformation.


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## KahlessNestor

Eyes of Nine said:


> Finally, just signed up for the Goodreads 2022 Reading challenge. Last year I finished 52 books, so that's what I'll do this year. A book a week - that feels doable again.



I set last year's goal for 45 and read 47, so I set this year for 50. We'll see how it goes!


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## Cadence

After he got the new Fizban book, I mentioned there were Dragonlance novels to my 12 yo.  And so now I have the fun of trying to get him to stop reading his new copy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight so he can get his school work done...


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## Nilbog

Just finished the shadow of the gods by John Gywnne that I received as a Christmas gift. I really really enjoyed it, and eagerly await the second part. I also think it would make an excellent RPG setting.


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## Bagpuss

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmund at the moment.


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## Mad_Jack

monsmord said:


> I'll be doing a re-read of the main 10-book Malazan arc by Erikson before moving into his latest books in that milieu. I read it previously over quite a span of years, losing threads and continuity in the process. A book or more a month will be like both coming home to the familiar and finding fresh new things to appreciate.




 I always recommend that series for anyone doing prison time or long-term hospital stays, lol. Someday when I catch up on the pile of unread books I've got I may reread the whole series.


My plans for 2022 are to try to actually read a book.

The current line-up of things I'll probably never get to includes several of the latest Jack Reacher books from Lee Child (I stalled out not quite halfway through _Past Tense_ and just can't seem to finish it), a book called _Good Me, Bad Me_ by Ali Land which is about the teenaged daughter of an infamous female serial killer wondering if she's going to end up being just like mommy dearest, and the omnibus edition of Lillith Saintcrow's _Bannon and Claire_ series, which will actually be the third time I've read the series.


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## Ralif Redhammer

I also took a while to get through the series originally, taking breaks in between books. It's such a densely woven series, I'm sure it'll reveal new depths that way, but I don't know that I'd have it in me to do a back-to-back re-read.



monsmord said:


> I'll be doing a re-read of the main 10-book Malazan arc by Erikson before moving into his latest books in that milieu. I read it previously over quite a span of years, losing threads and continuity in the process. A book or more a month will be like both coming home to the familiar and finding fresh new things to appreciate.




How cool, I had no idea Dio wrote an autobiography. Will have to check it out!



hedgeknight said:


> I need to update my Goodreads page to reflect what I am currently reading:
> 
> Rainbow in the Dark by *Ronnie James Dio* > this is his autobiography and since he's my favorite rock/heavy metal singer, I was excited to get it and I'm about 2/3 done. Ronnie was a voracious reader and read a great deal of fantasy literature and his love of those medieval themes showed through in his songs. His death broke my heart, but hardly a week goes by that I don't think about him or spin one of his albums. RIP \m/


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## hedgeknight

Yeah man, let me know when you do, Ralif. I'm about a chapter and a half from finishing; it's been really good and has encouraged me to go back through Ronnie's music catalog one more time.


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## Alzrius

While I'm still struggling to finish _30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons_ (I'm currently halfway through it), I'm currently flipping through a copy of _The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities_ that I found at a book sale at my local library yesterday. It's a refreshing change of pace, mostly due to author Matthew White's dry wit.


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## Cadence

I'm about 1/3rd of the way through the "1619 Project" and think it's pretty darn good.  I knew what it was advertised as, but the closest thing I'd read recently was the popular consumption history book "These Truths" and for some reason my brain was expecting it to be similar in how it reads.  It's designed to be essays with lots of history in them (and poems and the like) instead of a history book though.  In one of the Nero Wolfe books a rich character sends 10,000 (iirc) copies of a book out to all kinds of elected officials and the like because she thinks they should read it.   If I thought there was a chance they'd read it, that would be a go fund me I'd support.


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## Eyes of Nine

Cadence said:


> I'm about 1/3rd of the way through the "1619 Project" and think it's pretty darn good.  I knew what it was advertised as, but the closest thing I'd read recently was the popular consumption history book "These Truths" and for some reason my brain was expecting it to be similar in how it reads.  It's designed to be essays with lots of history in them (and poems and the like) instead of a history book though.  In one of the Nero Wolfe books a rich character sends 10,000 (iirc) copies of a book out to all kinds of elected officials and the like because she thinks they should read it.   If I thought there was a chance they'd read it, that would be a go fund me I'd support.



I'm stuck in the prologue, and have been distracted by other "lighter" books. It's one I really want to read though. Maybe I'll commit to getting through half of it in Jan...


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## Cadence

Eyes of Nine said:


> I'm stuck in the prologue, and have been distracted by other "lighter" books. It's one I really want to read though. Maybe I'll commit to getting through half of it in Jan...



It feels like the "chapters" don't need to be read in order, or require the prologue.  So, could jump right into Chapter 2 "Race" or Chapter 3 "Sugar".  I can certainly see being in the mood for something lighter being tough competition!


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## dragoner

Doing Andre Norton's "Star Soldiers" and omnibus of Star Guard and Star Rangers; I dimly remember reading them a long time ago, except forgot what they were about, so I bought a used version, it is effortless before sleep reading.


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## Zaukrie

Finally finished Priest by Matt Colville. I am of many minds about how I feel about the book. On the one hand, I enjoyed it. On the other hand, the ending left me feeling like I didn't get an ending. On the third hand, I didn't like all the explaining near the end. Too much telling / translating, among other things. On the fourth hand, I'm thinking I might read the next book, but I'm not sure yet. 

Anyway, not sure if I can recommend it or not, in the end. I may need more time to process it.


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## KahlessNestor

I enjoyed Priest, and also Thief. He has an interesting, hard boiled style for fantasy. I also like the theme. "You are better than the worst thing you have ever done". It's a theme you get in Brandon Sanderson's Rhythm of War also, though not in those exact words. I'm always a sucker for a redemption arc.


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## Snarf Zagyg

So on my COVID-induced break I've been wrapping up a few shows and books.

The most recent book was kind of a disappointment, unfortunately. _Carthage Must Be Destroyed_, by Richard Miles. I wanted to love this book. I've always been fascinated by Carthage, and, um...


spoiler, I guess....??? Really, who knows any more! 

Yeah, Rome kind of kicked their posterior, burned the city to the ground, and salted the earth- so there's not a whole lot of history we have from their side. 

Any way, this book supposedly told the story of Carthage from the Carthaginian p.o.v. by combining modern archaeological evidence and combing through the ancient histories (which were distorted) to present a more balanced and comprehensive look.

I guess it did the best job possible? The thing is, I didn't learn a whole lot that was brand new to me. It just made me sad ... because it just re-emphasized that so much was lost and will never be fully known.

There was also something about the writing style that didn't quite work for me. The best example is how Miles kept teasing child sacrifice by the Carthaginians, usually in the context of "Oh, the Romans and Greeks always make up slurs against their enemies," and then moved on to something else, and then in what was an aside was like, "Oh yeah, they were totally doing the child sacrifice, even after the Eastern Phoenicians had abandoned it." 

It was just a weird stylistic choice. 


So if you're really into Carthage (um... that's not a euphemism) you should read it. I don't regret reading it. But I wish it was more.


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## dragoner

Snarf Zagyg said:


> So on my COVID-induced break I've been wrapping up a few shows and books.
> 
> The most recent book was kind of a disappointment, unfortunately. _Carthage Must Be Destroyed_, by Richard Miles. I wanted to love this book. I've always been fascinated by Carthage, and, um...
> 
> 
> spoiler, I guess....??? Really, who knows any more!
> 
> Yeah, Rome kind of kicked their posterior, burned the city to the ground, and salted the earth- so there's not a whole lot of history we have from their side.
> 
> Any way, this book supposedly told the story of Carthage from the Carthaginian p.o.v. by combining modern archaeological evidence and combing through the ancient histories (which were distorted) to present a more balanced and comprehensive look.
> 
> I guess it did the best job possible? The thing is, I didn't learn a whole lot that was brand new to me. It just made me sad ... because it just re-emphasized that so much was lost and will never be fully known.
> 
> There was also something about the writing style that didn't quite work for me. The best example is how Miles kept teasing child sacrifice by the Carthaginians, usually in the context of "Oh, the Romans and Greeks always make up slurs against their enemies," and then moved on to something else, and then in what was an aside was like, "Oh yeah, they were totally doing the child sacrifice, even after the Eastern Phoenicians had abandoned it."
> 
> It was just a weird stylistic choice.
> 
> 
> So if you're really into Carthage (um... that's not a euphemism) you should read it. I don't regret reading it. But I wish it was more.



"Dread Tanit, whose love is worse than hate" or some such. Though I have heard the child sacrifice were children interred postmortem, it would not surprise me different as the Romans just had the unwanted baby pile they threw them on too. I always wondered about Carthage also, as I guess it may have been timber that limited them? I mean, the ships Rome used to cross the channel they portaged overland, while supposedly, the Carthaginians made it to South America, and some say even brought back cocaine. Roman roads won out versus using waterways as transport.


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## Zaukrie

Still going thru the omnibus collection of Amber books. Just passed a page with no paragraph breaks. Yuck. I'm beginning to wonder if this is just a long, padded, story. I think I'd feel very different if I read the books as separate books, over long stretches of reading other things?


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## Richards

I'm reading "The Seekers and the Sword" by Michael Jan Friedman, which unfortunately looks to be book two in a series about Norse mythological figures.  The main character is a bastard son of Odin and the bad guy from book one was apparently Odin in disguise, and now everybody's trying to prevent him from getting his hands on a magic sword stashed away somewhere in Alfheim.  It's okay so far - the author does a fairly good job of "catching up" the reader on what's gone on in book one - but it's nothing spectacular.  (I bought it for fifty cents at a library book sale, so I'm getting my money's worth - all I can ask for from a book.)

Johnathan


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## Snarf Zagyg

dragoner said:


> "Dread Tanit, whose love is worse than hate" or some such. Though I have heard the child sacrifice were children interred postmortem, it would not surprise me different as the Romans just had the unwanted baby pile they threw them on too. I always wondered about Carthage also, as I guess it may have been timber that limited them? I mean, the ships Rome used to cross the channel they portaged overland, while supposedly, the Carthaginians made it to South America, and some say even brought back cocaine. Roman roads won out versus using waterways as transport.




So there's a six page stretch discussing the research on tophets (the areas of sacrifice), and what the best understanding of it is right now is this-

1. Child sacrifice was practiced in the Levant (Phoenicians, etc.). This was done in Tyre (specifically, Melquart) and the other Phoenician cities. 

2. However, it also appears that by the founding of Carthage, the practice was dying out and was more nominal- mostly burial of stillborn and those who had reached the age of majority ... sort of substituting for actual child sacrifice.

3. Unfortunately, this can't be the case for Carthage and the western Phoenician cities; it's often said that immigrant communities hold on to the most conservative traditions, and there is ample evidence (both burnt remains in urns and inscriptions on stele) that they continued the practice. Also? The evidence recovered indicates it was mostly the children of the elite, as it was an honor. 

From the books summation-
"The conclusion to be drawn is that during periods of great crisis the Carthaginians and other western Phoenicians did sacrifice their own children for the benefit of their families and their community." 

So yeah, Baal Hammon and Tanit had to get their most important offerings in the form of children.


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## Snarf Zagyg

Zaukrie said:


> Still going thru the omnibus collection of Amber books. Just passed a page with no paragraph breaks. Yuck. I'm beginning to wonder if this is just a long, padded, story. I think I'd feel very different if I read the books as separate books, over long stretches of reading other things?




Huh.

So, Zelazny is not a straight-ahead writer, at all. In fact, I'd say that the first Chronicles of Amber might be his most ... straight-forward and pulp narrative? Maybe ... Call Me Conrad is a little more digestible? 

Anyway, they definitely work better (IMO) when they were divided into the small books. My advice is this- if you aren't compelled by the story and the writing in the first Chronicles, stop. Those are the best in the series- the rest (aka the Merlin Chronicles), while good*, aren't as good as the first Chronicles. 

*Good being used advisedly ... IMO, it started out good, petered out a little, got good again, and didn't end very well.


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## dragoner

Snarf Zagyg said:


> So yeah, Baal Hammon and Tanit had to get their most important offerings in the form of children.



They do sound like monsters, though the Romans were a piece of work themselves, so it is always difficult buying the "Carthago delenda est!" as being more than a power grab on their part.


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## Snarf Zagyg

dragoner said:


> They do sound like monsters, though the Romans were a piece of work themselves, so it is always difficult buying the "Carthago delenda est!" as being more than a power grab on their part.




Well, in fairness the book does provide a lot more context to the rest of the stories- it really does a close reading on everything else and presents Carthage in much much better light. 

That's why the child sacrifice section read so weirdly and stuck out- because it was really "set up" to be another example of "this is just more Roman and Greek BS" but then completely swerved and was like, "Yep, that bit was true" and pretty much ignored it the rest of the book. I know I'm reading it with modern eyes, but given he was writing for a modern audience, I really think he might have wanted to provide some real context to help us understand ... just a bit better ... the whole "burning young children alive" thing? Obviously, if it was sanctioned by the community, and a greta honor, and was done by (and to) the elite, it was viewed very differently. But still ... there's an ENTIRE CHAPTER on the Melqart/Heracles syncretism, and child sacrifice gets a five page weird aside? Eh....


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## dragoner

Snarf Zagyg said:


> But still ... there's an ENTIRE CHAPTER on the Melqart/Heracles syncretism, and child sacrifice gets a five page weird aside? Eh....



It sounds pretty interesting still, just from reading through the wiki on Melqart, I did not know about the relationship between the two, and the whole death-rebirth thing either.


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## Snarf Zagyg

dragoner said:


> It sounds pretty interesting still, just from reading through the wiki on Melqart, I did not know about the relationship between the two, and the whole death-rebirth thing either.




It is interesting! Don't get me wrong- I don't regret reading the book, which is why I said that if you're interested in Carthage (or just like reading about ancient history- and enjoy the slightly more academic "popular works" that assume you know what a stele is or the names of various famous ancient Greeks and Romans without having to spoon-feed it to you), you should definitely pick it up!

I guess my ambivalence was born out of an essential sadness. So much of the book concentrates on "Greater Carthage" (the Western Mediterranean) and the actions and words of others. I know that the author is trying to rescue Carthage, but in the end, it's still absent- Carthage is almost all negative space. Rome was, for the most part, successful. As much as we try to reconstruct what Carthage was, it will always be defined by trying to understand it through what the destroyers of Carthage told us.


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## Blue

Just finished up Sir Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.  While the subject matter is aimed at a younger audience, it treats the audience as a thinking, critical reader and is rather meaty in concept, just like some of his other books like Fifth Elephant are.  I really enjoyed it.  But I think I can say that about any except his earliest works, the main differentiation is if I loved it.  This didn't quite reach that exalted ground.

Currently reading Leviathan Falls, the last Expanse book by James S.A. Corey.  Not far into it yet, enjoying the snarky dialog but outside the prologue there hasn't been much plot advancement yet.  I quite enjoyed the entire series, though I haven't watched the TV show yet.


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## dragoner

Snarf Zagyg said:


> Rome was, for the most part, successful. As much as we try to reconstruct what Carthage was, it will always be defined by trying to understand it through what the destroyers of Carthage told us.



I think yes, the ultimate victory was in their literature, and how we get to know the Romans as people, not just shadowy figures out of history. Its sort of the same historical desire for the Carthaginians, who were they as people? It does sound like a good book, and I will pick it up.


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## Sabathius42

Zaukrie said:


> Still going thru the omnibus collection of Amber books. Just passed a page with no paragraph breaks. Yuck. I'm beginning to wonder if this is just a long, padded, story. I think I'd feel very different if I read the books as separate books, over long stretches of reading other things?



The fist 5 books is one story.  The second five is a different but related story.


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## Snarf Zagyg

Sabathius42 said:


> The fist 5 books is one story.  The second five is a different but related story.




I'd put it more like, "The first five books is one story- one of the most famous and influential stories in fantasy literature. The second five is a related story, which is fine."

That's in contrast to the Chronicles of Covenant/Land Series, which I'd put like this-

The first trilogy is one of the best and most influential trilogies in fantasy, but because of a certain choice at the beginning may not be suitable for all modern readers.
The second trilogy is related, but while controversial at the time, is arguably even better than the first.
The third quadrology wraps everything up, and exists.


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## Sabathius42

I'm finishing up The Last Gentleman of War.  It's the story of the SMS Emden, a German light cruiser that became a commerce raider in the Pacific and Indian oceans in WW1.

I read a lot of historical books, and one almost universal trait of books focused on German soldiers/sailors/tankers seems to be a strangely misguided thought that everybody they victimize loves them and thinks they are great (except Russians).  This book was no exception.


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## Sabathius42

Snarf Zagyg said:


> I'd put it more like, "The first five books is one story- one of the most famous and influential stories in fantasy literature. The second five is a related story, which is fine."
> 
> That's in contrast to the Chronicles of Covenant/Land Series, which I'd put like this-
> 
> The first trilogy is one of the best and most influential trilogies in fantasy, but because of a certain choice at the beginning may not be suitable for all modern readers.
> The second trilogy is related, but while controversial at the time, is arguably even better than the first.
> The third quadrology wraps everything up, and exists.



I can't argue the second story is a couple letter grades below the first.  Either way after book 5/10 one has a natural stopping spot if it's getting to be a drag.


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## Snarf Zagyg

Sabathius42 said:


> I can't argue the second story is a couple letter grades below the first.  Either way after book 5/10 one has a natural stopping spot if it's getting to be a drag.




I brought up the Covenant/Land comparison for a reason. It's the eternal problem of having a super-successful series/character/world.

People always want more of it. 

For example, a someone who loved the Chronicles of Amber, I was thrilled to see that Zelazny returned to them with the second Chronicles (the Merlin Chronicles). And they were ... fine. But they weren't essential. And they weren't as good as the Corwin Chronicles. 

It's that eternal battle- I'm glad that I got to return to a world I loved to read about, I'm glad that Zelazny got to get more checks, but it was also so inessential compared to what had come before. 

It's the same with the Covenant series- although I think that you could almost say that the first two trilogies were the original, seminal work, and the recent quadrology was the belated afterthought. Sure, it was fine, and it was good to return to the place and the characters ... but it was just so monumentally inessential and lesser than what had come before. 

I'm hard pressed to think of a good example of a writer returning to something after a period of time, and having it matter. I know it exists, but usually it's ... you know, fine.


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## Sabathius42

Snarf Zagyg said:


> I brought up the Covenant/Land comparison for a reason. It's the eternal problem of having a super-successful series/character/world.
> 
> People always want more of it.
> 
> For example, a someone who loved the Chronicles of Amber, I was thrilled to see that Zelazny returned to them with the second Chronicles (the Merlin Chronicles). And they were ... fine. But they weren't essential. And they weren't as good as the Corwin Chronicles.
> 
> It's that eternal battle- I'm glad that I got to return to a world I loved to read about, I'm glad that Zelazny got to get more checks, but it was also so inessential compared to what had come before.
> 
> It's the same with the Covenant series- although I think that you could almost say that the first two trilogies were the original, seminal work, and the recent quadrology was the belated afterthought. Sure, it was fine, and it was good to return to the place and the characters ... but it was just so monumentally inessential and lesser than what had come before.
> 
> I'm hard pressed to think of a good example of a writer returning to something after a period of time, and having it matter. I know it exists, but usually it's ... you know, fine.



I'm just trying to help a guy/gal out by telling them they need to get through half the book and then they can stop.  Not critiquing the quality....since I don't know their tastes.

Blade Runner and Mad Max are two rare examples of good quality product after a long pause.  I don't read fiction that much anymore so can't offer a literary suggestion.


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## Snarf Zagyg

Sabathius42 said:


> I'm just trying to help a guy/gal out by telling them they need to get through half the book and then they can stop.  Not critiquing the quality....since I don't know their tastes.
> 
> Blade Runner and Mad Max are two rare examples of good quality product after a long pause.  I don't read fiction that much anymore so can't offer a literary suggestion.




That's an interesting distinction. 

I think the difference with film is (or can be) this-

When a film property is revived (rebooted) after a period of time, you can get something which is as good, or superior. You can have a completely new take (Mad Max) or a visually compelling new chapter (Blade Runner) or even just a story that can now be told in a different fashion due to technology (Dune). More importantly, you almost always have completely different directors or cinematographers or approaches to the work ... Max Max might be a singular exception to that.

With literature, you often have a requirement that the original author complete the work- in the few cases I can think of where a fill-in writer came in later due to the death of the original writer, I can't think of a single example of the new writer being considered the equal, or better, than the original (think Herbert, Jordan for example). And a lot of times, writers just don't want to return ... they said what they wanted to say, and when they do return, it is often from either a feeling of obligation (the fans keep demanding it), money (the publisher keeps demanding it) or both. Regardless, the return is rarely compelling, but occasionally succeeds at being comfortable.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Critical Role: Tal’dorei Campaign Setting_ by Matthew Mercer.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _The Black Ice_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

*Finished reading ReDawn by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson.*

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

*Started reading Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson.

Started reading Defending Elysium by Brandon Sanderson.*


----------



## GreyLord

Deryni Books.

Just on the first trilogy, but man...some of the actions taken by characters (especially the evil ones) are terrible and make no sense.  Theoretically, they should just fail and that is that, but in the book they succeed.

The church is particularly dumb thus far in the first two books.  Politically, the actions make no sense as they risk losing an entire nation and province due to their own stupid actions.  It's like the church purposefully wanting to lose Germany or Spain.

Then again, they DID lose England eventually in history, but it took a LOT MORE than simply just disliking a race that the Nobility was actually part of. 

What's even MORE stupid is that they are on the brink of a Holy War in the 2nd book, and instead of bolstering up the border nation's military and boostering up to defend the faith, instead they seem intent on doing everything they can to lose that nation to the enemy and threaten their holy church itself!

The first book was okay, and I enjoyed it despite the ridiculous maneuvering, but the second book has increased what bothered me in the first book by a LOT and decreased the sensibilities a LOT.  

If I were the Church leadership I'd lay the smackdown on some of the Bishops by declaring them traitors to the faith by trying to ally with the infidels and betray a nation of the Church to the clutches of the enemies of the faith...because that's exactly what all this ridiculous plotting is seeming to do!

Makes me grouse a bit about the plot, at least thus far.  Perhaps the third book strikes me better?


----------



## Blue

Snarf Zagyg said:


> It's the same with the Covenant series- although I think that you could almost say that the first two trilogies were the original, seminal work, and the recent quadrology was the belated afterthought. Sure, it was fine, and it was good to return to the place and the characters ... but it was just so monumentally inessential and lesser than what had come before.



I just found out a year or two ago that there was a third Covenant series.  If I recall, the second series came to a good closure that would need to be undone in order to write more.  Is it worth it to rip up that closure and read the last series?  From your comments, you don't seem particularly happy with them, but do the wrap up the whole series in a overwhelmingly well done way worth discarding the closure at the end of the second trilogy?


----------



## Snarf Zagyg

Blue said:


> I just found out a year or two ago that there was a third Covenant series.  If I recall, the second series came to a good closure that would need to be undone in order to write more.  Is it worth it to rip up that closure and read the last series?  From your comments, you don't seem particularly happy with them, but do the wrap up the whole series in a overwhelmingly well done way worth discarding the closure at the end of the second trilogy?




Oh. Hmmm. Let's see- there are very few things that I actively regret continuing ... one of the few that springs to mind is Dexter (after the Trinity killer season ... it just kept getting worse and worse until the final season, and especially the final episode, just seemed like it was actively trolling the few fans that had remained).

I mean, it's Donaldson. Donaldson is a great writer. The last Covenant series is not bad. I love the setting and the characters, and it was good to re-visit them. I enjoyed reading it. But it was inessential. There's an ending, which wraps things up (again, I guess) which works. Honestly, the best comparator is probably the second Chronicles of Amber (the Merlin ones), where it's just ... fine.

If you love the series, you should read it. It's not like he is writing more books. Parts of it are quite good. Just ... in my opinion ... it's more "Ah, it's nice to come back," than "OMG THESE BOOKS ARE SO AMAZING" like the first two series.

But to answer your question- yeah, he sticks the landing. It's an ending that works and I think you'll be satisfied. It's not Covenant deciding to be a lumberjack.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I've been holding off on the third Covenant series, for fear of being disappointed. One of these days I'll get to it...

I finished reading French's The True Bastards. I've got some mixed feelings on it - on the one hand, it's got compelling characters and a story that, while it could've probably been trimmed down a little, engages the reader. But it's also got some orcish tropes that considering the current dialogue, are particularly rough to read.

Now I'm re-reading Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword.


----------



## trappedslider

trappedslider said:


> The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen Kurczy



I returned this book and got the following which had been on my to read list for a while 

To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 by Bret Baier and Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones.


----------



## KahlessNestor

trappedslider said:


> I returned this book and got the following which had been on my to read list for a while
> 
> To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 by Bret Baier and Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones.



The Dan Jones book is on my list, definitely. Currently reading his War of the Roses and have his Plantagenets and Templars books, but not read them yet.

I haven't read that Grant book, but I read the biography of Grant from a few years ago by Ron Chernow (author of Hamilton, the biography the musical is based on). He's an amazing man, and that election of 1876 is a dicey one! It's one of the elections examined by Tara Ross in her book on the Electoral College. I'll have to take a look at it if it's any good.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I've taken a small break from Brandon Sanderson, and am currently reading two books:

First, Dune, the original, by Frank Herbert. This is my first time reading it, but I have seen the new movie based off of it. 

Second, the fifth (and final) Dragonwatch book by Brandon Mull, which is the sequel series to Fablehaven. The books are intended for a younger audience (middle school to junior high range), but they're a great fantasy series and the last book to the series was released pretty late last year. I started reading the series when I was like 12 (I'm 20 now), and it's finally finished. The world of Fablehaven has some of the most unique and interesting takes on typical fantasy creatures that I've ever read.


----------



## GreyLord

Blue said:


> I just found out a year or two ago that there was a third Covenant series.  If I recall, the second series came to a good closure that would need to be undone in order to write more.  Is it worth it to rip up that closure and read the last series?  From your comments, you don't seem particularly happy with them, but do the wrap up the whole series in a overwhelmingly well done way worth discarding the closure at the end of the second trilogy?




It's okay.  It is not horrible.

The Best book in the entire third quadralogy (it is 4 books, not 3) is the first one.

The Second one is the worst book, and one that you just want to get mad at some characters for stupid choices (I hate it when characters in books make blatant and obviously stupid choices).

The third book is okay.

The fourth book is okay, but I dislike the ending.  I found it a cheap way out.  It is a happy ending, but cheap.  If I told you why it would be a massive spoiler, but I thought it was CHEAP.  The author wrote themselves into a corner and basically couldn't find a good way to get out of it so made the ending they did, at least that's what it seemed to me.

The High mark is the Second Chronicles.  It's all downhill from there.  

That doesn't mean the third set is bad, just gradually declining in how good it is from the peak of the 2nd Chronicles. It is still enjoyable to read though (It's still Donaldson writing).

There are some things that are good and worth reading in it, and some things which if you analyze it more than just a fun read really will strike you in many ways (such as a direct analogy in some ways at the end to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost...though male/female may be somewhat interchangeable in that reading).


----------



## trappedslider

KahlessNestor said:


> The Dan Jones book is on my list, definitely. Currently reading his War of the Roses and have his Plantagenets and Templars books, but not read them yet.
> 
> I haven't read that Grant book, but I read the biography of Grant from a few years ago by Ron Chernow (author of Hamilton, the biography the musical is based on). He's an amazing man, and that election of 1876 is a dicey one! It's one of the elections examined by Tara Ross in her book on the Electoral College. I'll have to take a look at it if it's any good.



Bret Baier does a rehash of Grant's bio while building up to the actual events, He's laying the foundation and giving you insight into how Grant's mind thinks and works. I'm currently in the chapter dealing with his time in the |Civil War. So far it's good. 
Here's a screenshot of a section starting at "As news came"..does it remind you of anything?


Spoiler


----------



## Smackpixi

I’m reading the 5e DMG, cover to cover, it’s a resolution, gonna be the first person to do it if you believe the internet.  yah yah I know you have already.


----------



## Smackpixi

I’m also reading some old Forgotten Realms books, Black Wizards and hopefully Darkwell, the second two books in the Moonshae trilogy started by Darkwalker On Moonshae…cause somewhere around April I’ll be running a Moonshade campaign and getting flavor.


----------



## TarionzCousin

Bagpuss said:


> Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmund



My girlfriend read this and really liked it.


----------



## KahlessNestor

trappedslider said:


> Bret Baier does a rehash of Grant's bio while building up to the actual events, He's laying the foundation and giving you insight into how Grant's mind thinks and works. I'm currently in the chapter dealing with his time in the |Civil War. So far it's good.
> Here's a screenshot of a section starting at "As news came"..does it remind you of anything?
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149773




Yeah, that gives a good sense of Grant. It's an amazing contrast, the pre-Progressive era presidency compared to the post-Progressive era, and especially Wilsonian, presidency. Grant was always reluctant to do anything, because President's weren't supposed to "do" anything. They weren't the party leaders they are now. They didn't set legislative agendas. Yet he did manage to do so much with Reconstruction (he was still Commander in Chief, and the south was under martial law). His is also the first administration to make the first steps toward ending the patronage system, though with the growth of the modern beaurocratic deep state evidenced in the last five years, I'm not sure this system is better. I recently watched the Daniel Day Lewis biopic Lincoln, and the way he used patronage to push passage of the Thirteenth Amendment was genius. The Tommy Lee Jones character summarized it well: "The most historic piece of legislation passed in the 19th century, by the most corrupt means, by the most incorruptible man" or something along those lines.


----------



## Bagpuss

TarionzCousin said:


> My girlfriend read this and really liked it.



I got the wife the second book for Xmas, borrowed the first off my Mum.
But I’d recommend it to anyone nearly finished it, it is a quick but gentle read. Lots of short chapters that makes it easy to pick up and read a bit if you have a free couple of minutes.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Just started to read the graphic novel collections of _Kill Six Billion Demons_. I've got the first 3, and I think there are 4 print volumes so far. Annoyingly, the first two are in PHB size, and then the next two are in standard graphic novel side. I wish they stuck with a form factor... But so far, halfway through book 1, it's pretty darn cool.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Critical Role: Tal’dorei Campaign Setting_ by Matthew Mercer.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _The Black Ice_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Started reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

*Started reading To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 by Brett Baier.*


----------



## Older Beholder

Having enjoyed Star Wars Visions, I decided to order the book that expands on one of the shorts from that series, arrived today...


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished re-reading Anderson's The Broken Sword. Darn good stuff. Though Three Hearts and Three Lions is the more influential work to D&D, I'd say The Broken Sword is by far the better book.

Now I'm reading Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy #1, edited by Lin Carter. Some good old Ballantine Adult Fantasy.


----------



## Bagpuss

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Finished re-reading Anderson's The Broken Sword. Darn good stuff. Though Three Hearts and Three Lions is the more influential work to D&D, I'd say The Broken Sword is by far the better book.




Just finished listening to the audio book of Broken Sword borrowed from the library. It was very enjoyable.


----------



## DeviousQuail

I couldn't bring myself to finish reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It was so boring. How it became such a popular novel I will never know.

After that I decided to read The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith because it was recommended (and free!) on my kindle. It's a pretty good magical murder mystery. The magic leans toward a softer approach but my suspension of disbelief never faltered. It's the first in a series and the next book is coming at the end of 2022 and I'll probably buy it.

Having some extra time on my hands I was going to watch the second season of A Discovery of Witches but it's not on Amazon like the first season. I decided to borrow the first book of the trilogy that the show is based on. It covers pretty much all the same events as season 1 of the show. Turns out, the show is better than the book. Rare but it does happen. The book is better in some regards, particularly in showing off the depth of Diana's (the main character) knowledge and how much her senses of taste, smell, etc impact her view of the world around her. But the show does such a better job of fleshing out the other characters, both major and minor. The show does take its liberties with the story as shows are wont to do but in just about every aspect it did it better than the book. 

I've moved onto John Dies At The End by Jason Pargin. It promises Lovecraft like horror but with a lot more comedy. Not my normal cup of tea but we'll see how it goes.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

At about 200 pages, it wastes little time while not stinting on the prose (or poetry, for that matter).

It's also a great model for cursed magic items, making them something you want to dare the consequences to use, rather than just forcing you to use them until a remove curse spell is available.



Bagpuss said:


> Just finished listening to the audio book of Broken Sword borrowed from the library. It was very enjoyable.


----------



## Richards

DeviousQuail said:


> I've moved onto John Dies At The End by Jason Pargin. It promises Lovecraft like horror but with a lot more comedy. Not my normal cup of tea but we'll see how it goes.



I'd be interested in your thoughts on the book once you've finished it.  I've heard of it (the author used to write for the Cracked.com website) and I've been curious as to if it was worth hunting up a copy.

Johnathan


----------



## Ath-kethin

I'm reading Doctor Strange and Silver Surfer Epic Collections, as they become available.theyfe wonderful inspirational material for D&D.

I also started reading the old Beyond the Moons series, which was the novel series introducing Spelljammer I'm already irritated in the first novel, which takes place largely in Krynn (the Dragonlance setting), because just like every other Dragonlance writer who isn't named Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman, the author seems to have never read anything about Dragonlance except a list of names. And therefore we have scenes like a bunch of low-level mooks dogpiling on a draconian and killing it with no consequences, when it's corpse should have exploded and taken most of them out.

It's draining. But that's been the curse of non-W&H Dragonlance novels for basically as long as they've existed.


----------



## Richards

I'm now reading Gregory Benford's _Eater_, a 2000 novel about a black hole entering the Solar System.  And not just any black hole, mind you, but one that has an intelligence inside it, with a curiosity about Earth and its inhabitants...I'm only a few chapters in but it's already holding my interest.  (This was another library book sale purchase - a whole dollar's investment, given it's a hardback.)

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

I'm about to start reading Hillary Clinton's new novel, mostly written by Louise Penny (called _State of Terror_. I believe it's about a Secretary of State who has to deal with a terrorist plot. Clearly Clinton pulls from her own experience, but only reason I'm reading is because Louise Penny is probably one of my favorite authors I've discovered in the last 5 years. I'll keep y'all posted whether I recommend or not.


----------



## trappedslider

Eyes of Nine said:


> I'm about to start reading Hillary Clinton's new novel, mostly written by Louise Penny (called _State of Terror_. I believe it's about a Secretary of State who has to deal with a terrorist plot. Clearly Clinton pulls from her own experience, but only reason I'm reading is because Louise Penny is probably one of my favorite authors I've discovered in the last 5 years. I'll keep y'all posted whether I recommend or not.



Both of Bill Clinton's collaborations with James Patterson were good IMO. After looking at the description I'm interested to see what you think of it. It's only 7 dollars for the kindle.


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

Starting The Autumn Republic, book 3 of Powder Mage series by Brian McClellan. I plowed through first 2 books pretty quick, fun read and different vibe than usual fantasy.

Trilogy on kindle great deal $8.99

Amazon.ca


----------



## Eyes of Nine

trappedslider said:


> Both of Bill Clinton's collaborations with James Patterson were good IMO. After looking at the description I'm interested to see what you think of it. It's only 7 dollars for the kindle.



Well, if this tells you anything - I read the entire 486 page novel last night. Basically from when I posted that to 2am my time (8 hours later). It was completely unbelievable and throughoughly enjoyable - basically everything I expect from a political thriller. Some of the characters were pretty reminiscent of real world people - as expected.

One thing I learned reading the afterword this morning - Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton are actual real world friends. Which I thought was cool.

Anyway, if you like political thrillers a la James Patterson, I think this would be an enjoyable read.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

The Epic collections are really great. It's interesting to go back and see how many early (and uninspired) villains fell into the categories of "commies," aliens, robots, and underground people. Dr. Strange mostly avoids that, as does Spider-Man (which is probably my favorite Epic collection as of yet - Spider-Man and so many of his villains were perfect and iconic right from the get-go).



Ath-kethin said:


> I'm reading Doctor Strange and Silver Surfer Epic Collections, as they become available.theyfe wonderful inspirational material for D&D.


----------



## DeviousQuail

Richards said:


> I'd be interested in your thoughts on the book once you've finished it.  I've heard of it (the author used to write for the Cracked.com website) and I've been curious as to if it was worth hunting up a copy.
> 
> Johnathan



Finished last night. I think it's a good read. The author does a great job of getting across how unknowable and terrifying the horrors in this book are. The humor is also pretty good and helps relieve the tension. However, this book is VERY graphic, the humor and horror can both get incredibly raunchy, and there are some really racist jokes as well*. If you don't want those things in your leisure reading then skip this book.

*it's kind of like watching The Office. You laugh at jokes that are racist/homophobic/sexist/body shaming not because you find the joke funny. You laugh because those jokes reveal how ignorant the joke teller is and how those around them react in disapproving ways to the teller's ignorance. I'm sure someone could explain that better than me but hopefully my point comes across.


----------



## Zaukrie

Reading The Lies of Locke Lamora again. So. Well. Written.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Critical Role: Tal’dorei Campaign Setting_ by Matthew Mercer.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

*Finished reading The Black Ice by Michael Connelly.*

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

*Finished reading Critical Role: Tal’dorei Campaign Setting by Matthew Mercer. - Didn’t actually finish completely, but I have the new Reborn guide coming, so figured why waste the time.*

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

*Started reading The Essential Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson.

Started reading Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly.

Started reading Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons by Wizards of the Coast.*


----------



## Richards

I'm now reading _Thunder of Time_ by James F. David, another of my library book sale purchases (hardcover for a buck).  The bad news is that it's the second book in a series (and I haven't read the first one, _Footprints of Thunder_), but it seems pretty self-contained and the author did a bit of explanation about what life is like in this world so I think I should be okay going in cold.  And I like the premise: due to atomic testing in the 1950s-1960s, we've accidentally created a "time quilt," where large chunks of land got thrown into other time periods.  For example, Portland Oregon is no longer there and in its place is a chunk of Cretaceous land along with all of the dinosaurs that were on that patch of land when it was jumped forward into our present.  This book looks to take place about 10 years after the first one, so there is now apparently an occupation called "dinosaur ranger" - people who track down the dangerous dinosaurs that have been let loose into our world.  Anyway, so far so good.

Johnathan


----------



## Nellisir

Zaukrie said:


> Reading The Lies of Locke Lamora again. So. Well. Written.



It really is. I (re)read it and the sequels (for the first time) last year, and have not explanation for how I didn't grok its awesomeness the first time. It's possible I never actually read it, and just thought I did....
Bummer that the rest of the series is still stuck in the author's head, though.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Her poetry is quite good. It's astonishing to think how much of her work (nearly all of it!) wasn't published until after her death.



KahlessNestor said:


> *Started reading The Essential Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson.*


----------



## Cadence

Half way through 1619 Project
Rereading the collected Tales of the Dying Earth


----------



## Blue

KahlessNestor said:


> Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.
> 
> Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.
> 
> Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
> 
> Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.
> 
> Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.
> 
> Still reading _Critical Role: Tal’dorei Campaign Setting_ by Matthew Mercer.
> 
> Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.
> 
> Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.
> 
> Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.
> 
> Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.
> 
> Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.
> 
> Still reading _The Black Ice_ by Michael Connelly.
> 
> Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.
> 
> Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.
> 
> Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.
> 
> Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.
> 
> Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.
> 
> Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.
> 
> Started reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.
> 
> Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.
> 
> *Started reading To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876 by Brett Baier.*



Just curious, do you make regular progress on this many?

I have a number of books I am technically reading, but haven't read a page of for more then a month.  At that point I personally consider it more "on hiatus" then currently reading, even though I may return to it.

I usually have at most 3 books going at once, just to keep state straight in my head.


----------



## Blue

Nellisir said:


> It really is. I (re)read it and the sequels (for the first time) last year, and have not explanation for how I didn't grok its awesomeness the first time. It's possible I never actually read it, and just thought I did....
> Bummer that the rest of the series is still stuck in the author's head, though.



Something I read in an interview years back what that the series was supposed to start with the next book, but he realized he needed to tell the story of how they got to where they are.

So Lies of Locke Lamora was almost never written, and you could technically classify it as "backstory".

Lies is such a superior read, and I quite enjoyed the others in the series.  I don't begrudge Scott Lynch the time he needs to write and take care of himself and his life.  But it would definitely bring me joy to see the next book published.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Her poetry is quite good. It's astonishing to think how much of her work (nearly all of it!) wasn't published until after her death.



Yeah. I had liked her when I had to read her in school, and I just finished the series on Apple+, so thought I'd give her a read. Also was surprised to find when I searched for best biographies for her, the first one listed was a professor I knew (unfortunately now deceased) when I was in college. I didn't have him as a professor, but I met him a couple times and had friends that liked him.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Blue said:


> Just curious, do you make regular progress on this many?
> 
> I have a number of books I am technically reading, but haven't read a page of for more then a month.  At that point I personally consider it more "on hiatus" then currently reading, even though I may return to it.
> 
> I usually have at most 3 books going at once, just to keep state straight in my head.



I cycle through the stack, reading in one book a day. Usually can get about 30 pages or more read on that day, depending on the book. On the weekends (which I hadn't really had during the holidays, working every day for a straight month), I tend to stick with one book for the entire weekend. This weekend I got quite a bit of _Concrete Blonde_ read, maybe a fourth of it. And then some days a book will just grab me and instead of watching something on streaming, I'll just stick with reading the book for the day. I do the Goodreads challenge, and I managed 47/45 books for last year, so I made my goal. I bumped it to 50 for this year, and am currently one book ahead. My big problem is "Oh, I want to read that and not wait forever!" so I throw it on the stack. I just ordered _The Last Duel_ for that very reason.

_sigh_ Yes, I have a problem...

I have run into the problem of trying to keep things straight, and a few years ago I did ditch my stack to always read only one book. But then I just got books piling up and piling up and never getting read, and new authors coming out with books I have to read. So I started the new stack trying to keep things more contained by limiting to one book of a genre, so one fantasy book, one history book, etc. Obviously that hasn't stuck... I'm trying to whittle it back down, though.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

Started reading _The Essential Emily Dickinson_ by Emily Dickinson.

Started reading _Concrete Blonde_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons_ by Wizards of the Coast.

*Started reading My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson by Alfred Habegger.*


----------



## Nellisir

Blue said:


> Something I read in an interview years back what that the series was supposed to start with the next book, but he realized he needed to tell the story of how they got to where they are.
> 
> So Lies of Locke Lamora was almost never written, and you could technically classify it as "backstory".
> 
> Lies is such a superior read, and I quite enjoyed the others in the series.  I don't begrudge Scott Lynch the time he needs to write and take care of himself and his life.  But it would definitely bring me joy to see the next book published.



Just to be clear, I'm not begrudging him either. Authors write as they write.   I am the LAST person to point fingers on that score. (_looks nervously at my blog, and my general writing of the last few years, and the RPG writing I meant to do in 2014/2015, and the fact that this is the only active thread I participate in online, and yet I haven't actually posted what I'm reading for about...6 months?_)

(I'm halfway through _The Fall of Koli_, by Mike Carey.)


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I think I didn't discover her until post-college. Somehow, despite briefly spending time as an ill-advised poetry major. 



KahlessNestor said:


> Yeah. I had liked her when I had to read her in school, and I just finished the series on Apple+, so thought I'd give her a read.




In grad school I was assigned reading that was written by my old high school friend's dad. That was wild.


KahlessNestor said:


> Also was surprised to find when I searched for best biographies for her, the first one listed was a professor I knew (unfortunately now deceased) when I was in college. I didn't have him as a professor, but I met him a couple times and had friends that liked him.




I finished reading Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy #1 and half of it immensely. Wall of Serpents, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt was fun reading. The Kingdom of the Dwarfs by Anatole France was by far my favorite. It's also notable for containing very recognizable dwarven tropes, decades before Tolkien. The Maker of Moons by Robert W. Chambers and The Hollow Land by William Morris just bounced off of me. The Maker of Moons especially; The Hollow Land had fever dream feel that I could at least appreciate.

Now I'm finally getting to Jon Peterson's The Game Wizards.


----------



## Blue

Late last night I finished Leviathan Falls, the ninth and final book of the Expanse series.

Initial review:  Dang that was good.

Okay, now that we've level-set that I loved it, I did have a few nitpicks.  I wish I had read it on the heels of the other books, as it didn't even attempt to be a stand-alone.  Even though there was plot, development, and action I didn't really feel like it got up to full speed until about page 200, as before that I was still remembering characters while learning new ones and the like.  But by page 400 I was swearing out-loud,laughing, and otherwise annoying my wife as we both do to each other when we read very enjoyable stories.

Another nitpick, and I'll try to be very respectful not to give spoilers, is that a character we had every right to believe was important didn't really justify the setup in the end.  I think that's vague enough if you haven't read it.

The end - oh the end was satisfying in many ways.  If you love reading about James-f'ing-Holden and company, this is for you.


----------



## Mad_Jack

I've finally managed to actually _read_ something this year. And one of the classics, at that.


I mean, it was a _*comic book*_, but still...   



The 1981 Sprocket Man bicycle safety comic book - a true piece of literary history.
(And yes, it's still my _original copy_ from when they passed them out in grade school...)


----------



## Nellisir

Blue said:


> Late last night I finished Leviathan Falls, the ninth and final book of the Expanse series.
> 
> Initial review:  Dang that was good.



Ditto.


Blue said:


> Okay, now that we've level-set that I loved it, I did have a few nitpicks.  I wish I had read it on the heels of the other books, as it didn't even attempt to be a stand-alone.  Even though there was plot, development, and action I didn't really feel like it got up to full speed until about page 200, as before that I was still remembering characters while learning new ones and the like.  But by page 400 I was swearing out-loud,laughing, and otherwise annoying my wife as we both do to each other when we read very enjoyable stories.



I started on Book 8 (last...year? I dunno. Whenever it came out.) and had NO idea what was going on...so I set it aside and reread books 5-7 again. That helped a lot.


Blue said:


> Another nitpick, and I'll try to be very respectful not to give spoilers, is that a character we had every right to believe was important didn't really justify the setup in the end.  I think that's vague enough if you haven't read it.



Assuming you mean who I think you mean...yeah.


Blue said:


> The end - oh the end was satisfying in many ways.  If you love reading about James-f'ing-Holden and company, this is for you.



So good.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Mad_Jack said:


> I've finally managed to actually _read_ something this year. And one of the classics, at that.
> 
> 
> I mean, it was a _*comic book*_, but still...
> 
> 
> 
> The 1981 Sprocket Man bicycle safety comic book - a true piece of literary history.
> 
> View attachment 150639



Did you find your self humming "Sprocket Man... burning out his fuse up here alone..."?


----------



## Nellisir

So, since about Christmas I've read:

_Leviathan Falls_, by James SA Corey (9/10; so good)
_The Exiled Fleet_, by JS Dewes (5/10?; it's fine, I mean it's book 2 in a series so I spent $$$ on it, but it doesn't break new ground anywhere)
_To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars_, by Christopher Paolini (6/10. Only other book of his I've read is _Eragon_; he's gotten better since then. I didn't expect to enjoy this...but again, doesn't really break new ground)
_A Little Hatred_ by Joe Abercrombie (8/10; I hate how Joe advances the timeline and now I have to go back and reread everything to remember all the names. Ugh. However, it must be noted that I'm WILLING to do this.)
_The Trials of Koli_ and _The Fall of Koli_ by MR Carey (8/10? Darn Mike for making me really like this at the end. It felt like a proper ending.)
_Moon Over Soho_, by Ben Aaronovitch (8/10? This is book 2 of the Rivers of London series. I heard a LOT about them from a lot of different places, and finally took the plunge and read book 1. Very enjoyable. Had to wait a while for the rest of the books to come in, and I'm still waiting on at least one of them, but I've got something to read between other books which is awesome. Except that I just finished Koli and the missing book is book 3, so dagnabit.)

It's worth noting that I've already basically forgotten the Dewes & Paolini books. I had to go back and look at the blurb for Paolini to remember wtf it was about. Fun to read, but not mind-blowing. I actually found Koli kind of annoying for a good chunk of it, but it all came together in the end. Mike Carey is EXTREMELY readable. I read the first book in the trilogy maybe two years ago and still remember quite a bit of it. A definite contrast to Paolini.

I've also been reading the usual comic books and _Tales from the Yawning Portal_ adventure from WotC.


----------



## Mad_Jack

Eyes of Nine said:


> Did you find your self humming "Sprocket Man... burning out his fuse up here alone..."?




Heh... To be honest, I actually found myself humming Kim Wilde's "Kids in America".

The day they passed out those comic books at school, this girl Stacy admitted to me that she'd never learned to ride a bike - which in our town at the time was only slightly less heinous than admitting you were a card-carrying Communist, lol. So the two of us ditched out at recess to head over to a buddy's house (he lived a block from the school) and I borrowed his bike to teach her. That song was playing on a radio in one of the nearby houses at the time.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I finished _Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection_ on Friday, and started reading _Elantris _on Saturday (both by Brandon Sanderson). My favorite novella from Arcanum Unbounded was easily _Edgedancer_, but _The Emperor's Soul_ is a close second. I'm now about 3 chapters into _Elantris_, and though it took awhile to catch my interest, I now am hooked. It seems like Sanderson's weakest book from what little I've read so far, but it was his first book that he ever got published, so I'll try to just appreciate it for what it is.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Mad_Jack said:


> Heh... To be honest, I actually found myself humming Kim Wilde's "Kids in America".
> 
> The day they passed out those comic books at school, this girl Stacy admitted to me that she'd never learned to ride a bike - which in our town at the time was only slightly less heinous than admitting you were a card-carrying Communist, lol. So the two of us ditched out at recess to head over to a buddy's house (he lived a block from the school) and I borrowed his bike to teach her. That song was playing on a radio in one of the nearby houses at the time.



Was it too early to begin humming "Stacy's Mom" after you finished "Kids in America"?


----------



## Eyes of Nine

And on another note, I think I need to go finish the Expanse books...


----------



## KahlessNestor

Mad_Jack said:


> Heh... To be honest, I actually found myself humming Kim Wilde's "Kids in America".
> 
> The day they passed out those comic books at school, this girl Stacy admitted to me that she'd never learned to ride a bike - which in our town at the time was only slightly less heinous than admitting you were a card-carrying Communist, lol. So the two of us ditched out at recess to head over to a buddy's house (he lived a block from the school) and I borrowed his bike to teach her. That song was playing on a radio in one of the nearby houses at the time.



And thus began a great love story. She became your childhood sweetheart, got married, and now have 2.5 kids and a dog and a white picket fence.


----------



## Zaukrie

I almost stayed up all night, but there was just too much Lies left to finish..... Plus I'm old.... But, ya, my opinion of Lies of Locke Lamora is unchanged on another reading, it is great.


----------



## Zaukrie

Just finished rereading Lies of Locke Lamora....so good. Now I need to hunt down the rest, as I gave my copies away when we moved, thinking we'd never buy a house again and space would be limited to new books....


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

Started reading _The Essential Emily Dickinson_ by Emily Dickinson.

Started reading _Concrete Blonde_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons_ by Wizards of the Coast.

Still reading _My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson_ by Alfred Habegger.

*Started reading The Last Duel by Eric Jager.

Started reading Killing Floor by Lee Childs.*


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

_Boy's Life_ - Robert MCammon  I try and read this once a year.

_We ran like young wild furies,
where angels feared to tread.
The woods were dark and deep.
Before us demons fled.
We checked Coke bottle bottoms
to see how far was far.
Our worlds of magic wonder
were never reached by car.
We loved our dogs like brothers,
our bikes like rocket ships.
We were going to the stars,
to Mars we'd make round trips.
We swung on vines like Tarzan,
and flashed Zorro's keen blade.
We were James Bond in his Aston,
we were Hercules unchained.
We looked upon the future
and we saw a distant land,
where our folks were always ageless,
and time was shifting sand.
We filled up life with living,
with grins, scabbed knees, and noise.
In glass I see an older man,
but this book's for the boys._


----------



## Scottius

This year I've made it a point to actually start working my way through my collection of old school fantasy/sci Fi paperbacks I've been building up for the last couple of years. 

So far I've made it through the anthologies Flashing Swords #1, The Years Best Fantasy Stories #2, and a novel Beyond Rejection by Justin Leiber (Fritz Leiber's son). Now I'm a bit past halfway through another anthology from DAW Books named Amazons. 

Gaming book wise I've been reading Mutants In The Now which I discovered via the recent article here on ENWorld. Others include The Sabbat book for Vampire 5e, the Runequest Starter box, and Prowlers & Paragons.


----------



## Mezuka

Sadly, for now, I've lost the taste for novels. I only read rpg books. Maybe it will come back. I have dry spells.


----------



## Scottius

Mezuka said:


> Sadly, for now, I've lost the taste for novels. I only read rpg books. Maybe it will come back. I have dry spells.



I went through that for a while as well. I have slowly been getting back to reading more fiction again and have found short story anthologies a nice way to do it.


----------



## Mezuka

Scottius said:


> I went through that for a while as well. I have slowly been getting back to reading more fiction again and have found short story anthologies a nice way to do it.



Ah! I used to read the annual sci-fi and fantasy anthology by Gardner Dozois. I've fallen behind. I'll look them up. Thanks.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Mezuka said:


> Ah! I used to read the annual sci-fi and fantasy anthology by Gardner Dozois. I've fallen behind. I'll look them up. Thanks.



I am also really liking the novella length stories.


----------



## Richards

So I finished _Thunder of Time_ today and I must have read the previous novel as I distinctly recall a passage referenced in this one, about a woman in an apartment building feeding an iguanodon and treating it like a pet.  But that was decades ago and I don't recall much about it other than that - and I don't own the book, so I must have read it as a library book. Oh well.  In any case, this one was okay but I greatly preferred the dinosaur bits, not so much when it started playing around with other bits of patchwork history.

In any case, next up on my library book sale purchase stack is Frederik Pohl's _All The Lives He Led_, apparently about terrorists, Pompeii, refugee camps after a volcano erupted in Yellowstone in 2062, a murder, and a massive disaster that can wipe out all life on Earth.  Sounds like fun!

Johnathan


----------



## Zaukrie

Should I start The Way of Kings? It's so massive, and so many books in the series....


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Zaukrie said:


> Should I start The Way of Kings? It's so massive, and so many books in the series....



Have you read any other books in the Cosmere yet? If not, I wouldn't start with the Way of Kings. I'd probably start with Warbreaker (which is free on his site) or Mistborn: the Final Empire, and seeing if you like his style. I started with the Way of Kings and enjoyed it, but think that I would have enjoyed it more if I had already read some of his other stuff already. 

If you do start with The Way of Kings, keep in mind that it is written in such a manner that for most of the book you will be confused. Things come together wonderfully towards the end of the book and the rest of the series, and you'll be glad if you do push through the first half or 3/4ths of the book without having much of an idea what's going on, but there will be parts of the book where major parts of the core worldbuilding elements of the story are unclear. 

There's only 4 books out right now (there will be 10, with about a 5 year writing break between book 5 and book 6), but the books are long enough and written well enough that they're worth reading even without the whole series being finished.


----------



## Zaukrie

I liked Mistborn very much.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Yes! Very much! Brandon Sanderson is a wonderful author. As mentioned, much of Way of Kings is a lot of worldbuilding, because the world is very different than your stock fantasy world that is just Earth with dragons. Even gravity on Roshar is different (lighter) than on Earth. Brandon is very good at the slow build with multiple small plot reveals that make your mouth drop open, and then the big "Sanderlanche" at the end of the book.

But as mentioned, the Stormlight Archives are thick, so if you want something smaller, you can try the other books. Warbreaker is a self contained adventure (there is a sequel in the works...sometime?) that has some ties to the Stormlight series. Mistborn: The Final Empire is my favorite. It's a stand alone novel that sets up a trilogy, and there is a small tie to an interlude in Way of Kings. Finally, Elantris is also self-contained, and his first book published, that also has a small tie to Way of Kings.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to _Mistborn: The Final Empire_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

Started reading _The Essential Emily Dickinson_ by Emily Dickinson.

Still reading _Concrete Blonde_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons_ by Wizards of the Coast.

Still reading _My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson_ by Alfred Habegger.

Still reading _The Last Duel_ by Eric Jager.

*Finished reading Killing Floor by Lee Childs.*


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Zaukrie said:


> I liked Mistborn very much.



Okay. In that case, I do think the Stormlight Archive is a good choice for the next series of his to start, but you will want to read _Warbreaker _sometime before starting _The Words of Radiance_ (the second Stormlight book), that is, if you like the first book.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I'd second Elantris. It was my introduction to Sanderson's writing. I gave The Way of Kings a try and at the time it just didn't do it for me. I should give it another try sometime; it's the only Sanderson book so far that I didn't finish.



KahlessNestor said:


> Finally, Elantris is also self-contained, and his first book published, that also has a small tie to Way of Kings.




I finished reading Peterson's The Game Wizards. Well worth reading. Through some exceptional research, it paints a far more nuanced picture of TSR's history and the people involved.

Now I'm re-reading The Hobbit, for the umpteenth time.


----------



## Zaukrie

Looks like there are more Mistborn books than the first trilogy......Now I'm really unsure what to read!

Maybe I'll finish another Amber book while I think about it.


----------



## practicalm

I've finished Day of the Tiffids and Semoisis for the Stellaris book club. We meet on their official discord server.
Trying to read more of my Analog magazines, I'm too many issues behind right now.


----------



## Zardnaar

Just finished the Elenium by David Eddings. Started the Tamuli. 

 Haven't read them since the 90s maybe early 2000's. 

 Not as good as I remember still enjoyed them though.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Zaukrie said:


> Looks like there are more Mistborn books than the first trilogy......Now I'm really unsure what to read!



Mistborn is currently 2 series. Eventually, I believe, it will be 4. The first is the trilogy (The Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages). The second series is called "Era 2" or "Wax and Wayne" after the main characters. It advances the setting established at the end of the first trilogy by 300 years. The final book in this era is out in November. Eventually there will be an Era 3 which I have heard is possibly 1980s-ish cyberpunk inspired (with magic, of course), and then Era 4, which is going to be more "magical sci-fi" future. These later eras will end up meshing with later eras of the Stormlight Archive. All this is inspired by things the author has said are his plans, but it's obviously going to take a while. Mistborn Era 1 is chronologically before Stormlight Archive books 1-5.

Oh, and to add to the intricacies, you could try reading the graphic novel White Sands (it is currently out, but Brandon plans on doing an update of it eventually). You can get the White Sands prose novel for free by signing up for his newsletter, though it isn't the same as the graphic novel, and the graphic novel is the one considered "canon". White Sands has ties to both Mistborn Era 2 and Stormlight Archives.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

*Finished listening to Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.*

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _The Sorcerer of the North_ by John Flanagan.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

Still reading _The Essential Emily Dickinson_ by Emily Dickinson.

Still reading _Concrete Blonde_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons_ by Wizards of the Coast.

Still reading _My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson_ by Alfred Habegger.

Still reading _The Last Duel_ by Eric Jager.

*Started reading Die Trying by Lee Childs.

Started listening to Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson.*


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Ignore this. @KahlessNestor had it right. Era 1 of Mistborn is before Stormlight 1-5. I misread the post.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Ah, okay. Thanks! I'm not always as on top of that kind of stuff. I listen to 17th Shard, but I'm not the super freak fan they all are LOL I love the Cosmere, but I don't track every Word of Brandon. Good to know!


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I first read The Elenium at around the same time. I was just getting back into fantasy and D&D and got three books out from the library. The Diamond Throne, Sheepfarmer's Daughter, and A Game Of Thrones. A few years ago I went back and re-read The Diamond Throne. Likewise, I find it had not aged well. The dialogue was snappy, the action swashbuckle-y, but it all was just too effortless. The risks never seemed to match the stakes.



Zardnaar said:


> Just finished the Elenium by David Eddings. Started the Tamuli.
> 
> Haven't read them since the 90s maybe early 2000's.
> 
> Not as good as I remember still enjoyed them though.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

practicalm said:


> I've finished Day of the Tiffids and Semoisis for the Stellaris book club. We meet on their official discord server.
> Trying to read more of my Analog magazines, I'm too many issues behind right now.



Back when I was a teenager in the stone age, I loved my Analog subscription my grandparents bought for me. But I could never keep up, even with a teenager's free time. Can't imagine trying to keep up now as an adult...


----------



## Cadence

Rereading Tales of the Dying Earth and reading 1619 project myself.

Reading Return of the King to my son.


----------



## Cadence

Listening to my wife read Maus with our 12yo.  We had each read it a few  times over the years, but this is his first time.  Several of my wife's great grandparents and great-great-grandparents were fortunate to arrive in the US from Belarus and Poland in the last decade of the nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth.

Never again.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished re-reading The Hobbit. It will always be a book I love - it's been with me for so long.

I read Leigh Brackett's The Dragon-Queen of Jupiter. It's a short story, but like all her work punchy and enjoyable. Now I'm reading The King Of The Swords, by Michael Moorcock, the third Corum book.


----------



## Richards

I finished _All the Lives He Led_ on a plane trip today, and it was...meh.  I think my biggest problem was the main character was just so bland.  A boring protagonist does not a compelling novel make.  Now I'm about to start up a book called _Cruise of the Undead_ by Lauren A. Hansen, apparently the first book in a "Zombies in Paradise" series.  It's just like it says in the title: a 15-year-old boy is on a cruise liner with his parents when a zombie apocalypse starts and he ends up fighting for his life on a ship full of zombies.  It's only 211 pages so it looks like a quick read.

Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished Moorcock's The King of The Swords. Quite enjoyable and psychedelic. The ending came together really fast, but I think that's indicative of the frenetic pace Moorcock wrote with back then.

Now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar. I only liked the first book, but considering how much I love his Barsoom series, I wanted to give the Pellucidar series a second chance.


----------



## South by Southwest

I'm reading too many books to make it reasonable to list them, but specifically within the fantasy genre I did just at the end of 2021 discover a new-to-me fantasy author whom I admire unreservedly: Susanna Clarke. Her _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ is delightful (but you have to enjoy long books, because this is long): I'm still trying to think up some crazy way of building a usable adventure around that story. Just a few years ago she published another one, _Piranesi_, and that thing is simply extraordinary.

I'm not writing Word One about either novel's subject matter because I don't want to spoil _any_ of it for those who haven't read her yet. Her books are some of the best reads I've had since Jorge Luis Borges or Italo Calvino.


----------



## Zaukrie

I just read Flower's Fang. The creatures being lion people and plant people was a nice change. I'm not sure it is a great book, but it is a good book. I own the second, but did not immediately pick it up.... But will read it.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I've yet to get to Piranesi, but Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is an astonishing work of literary craft. I've read books that might remind me of it in parts, but none that match it. I wish I had had an eReader when I read it, though, because it is _heavy_.



South by Southwest said:


> I'm reading too many books to make it reasonable to list them, but specifically within the fantasy genre I did just at the end of 2021 discover a new-to-me fantasy author whom I admire unreservedly: Susanna Clarke. Her _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ is delightful (but you have to enjoy long books, because this is long): I'm still trying to think up some crazy way of building a usable adventure around that story. Just a few years ago she published another one, _Piranesi_, and that thing is simply extraordinary.
> 
> I'm not writing Word One about either novel's subject matter because I don't want to spoil _any_ of it for those who haven't read her yet. Her books are some of the best reads I've had since Jorge Luis Borges or Italo Calvino.


----------



## Zaukrie

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I've yet to get to Piranesi, but Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is an astonishing work of literary craft. I've read books that might remind me of it in parts, but none that match it. I wish I had had an eReader when I read it, though, because it is _heavy_.



I have the ebook, but have not started it yet. Assuming we go overseas this spring/summer, I'll read it on the plane and other times there isn't stuff to look at. That should get me part way thru....


----------



## South by Southwest

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I've yet to get to Piranesi, but Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is an astonishing work of literary craft. I've read books that might remind me of it in parts, but none that match it. I wish I had had an eReader when I read it, though, because it is _heavy_.



That thing is so, so good. Not one wooden character in it and not one page the reading of which failed to enchant me and transport me to an England I've never seen but wish I could. Ms. Clarke has become my new fave.



Zaukrie said:


> I have the ebook, but have not started it yet. Assuming we go overseas this spring/summer, I'll read it on the plane and other times there isn't stuff to look at. That should get me part way thru....



I don't think you'll be disappointed.


----------



## Zaukrie

South by Southwest said:


> That thing is so, so good. Not one wooden character in it and not one page the reading of which failed to enchant me and transport me to an England I've never seen but wish I could. Ms. Clarke has become my new fave.
> 
> 
> I don't think you'll be disappointed.



I was unable to finish the tv show (though, my wife finding it boring didn't help).


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Couldn't finish Jonathan Strange et al; but Piranesi was a delight.


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

*Finished reading The Sorcerer of the North by John Flanagan.*

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

Still reading _The Essential Emily Dickinson_ by Emily Dickinson.

Still reading _Concrete Blonde_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons_ by Wizards of the Coast.

Still reading _My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson_ by Alfred Habegger.

Still reading _The Last Duel_ by Eric Jager.

Still reading _Die Trying_ by Lee Childs.

Still listening to _Well of Ascension_ by Brandon Sanderson.


----------



## Blue

Eyes of Nine said:


> Couldn't finish Jonathan Strange et al; but Piranesi was a delight.



I thought I was alone.  I've had so many recommendations of that book, and I've started it three times.  Last time I got about half way through and my reading of it just petered out.

I believe folks, it just wasn't engaging for me the same way it was to others.


----------



## Alzrius

Having managed to get through _30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons_ (I found it a lot more interesting in the second half) - and still treating _The Great Big Book of Horrible Things_ as a reference book to thumb through rather than read from beginning to end - I recently finished going through all four hundred ninety-five cards in the 1993 AD&D 2nd Edition Trading Cards factory set. That was the last set of the AD&D trading cards I didn't have (including the sixty rares for the '93 set, which aren't included in the box; I snatched them up at auction a while back), leaving only the eleven promo cards from Gen Con 1992 missing from my collection...for now.

With those done, I'm starting on my copy of _Secret of the Spirit Keeper_, the first of the Knights of the Silver Dragon series. Roughly thirty pages in, it's not holding my interest, but that's not unexpected given that it's a YA novel. I'm mostly reading it simply because it's a D&D series which I don't know much about, which as a self-proclaimed Dungeons & Dragons aficionado doesn't sit well with me.


----------



## Zaukrie

I think I'll start the Riddle Master of Hed, which I just got cheaply for a used copy.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Zaukrie said:


> I think I'll start the Riddle Master of Hed, which I just got cheaply for a used copy.



I loved that series when I read it back in the 80's - soon after its release. I hope it holds up for you!


----------



## KahlessNestor

Still reading _Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr._ by Ron Chernow.

Still reading _The Battle for Spain_ by Antony Beevor.

Still reading _Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading _An Artificial Night _by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors_ by Dan Jones.

Still reading _The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading _Black Widow: Red Vengeance_ by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading _Royal Assassin_ by Robin Hobb.

Still reading _Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story_ by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading _Rise of the King_ by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading _Ghost Story_ by Jim Butcher.

Still reading _Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin_ by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading _Half-Off Ragnarok_ by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading _The Eye of the World_ by Robert Jordan.

Still reading _Cytonic_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _Defending Elysium_ by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading _To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876_ by Brett Baier.

Still reading _The Essential Emily Dickinson_ by Emily Dickinson.

Still reading _Concrete Blonde_ by Michael Connelly.

Still reading _Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons_ by Wizards of the Coast.

Still reading _My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson_ by Alfred Habegger.

Still reading _The Last Duel_ by Eric Jager.

Still reading _Die Trying_ by Lee Childs.

Still listening to _Well of Ascension_ by Brandon Sanderson.

*Started reading The Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan.*


----------



## Nellisir

Eyes of Nine said:


> I loved that series when I read it back in the 80's - soon after its release. I hope it holds up for you!



I read it a few years back; definitely holds its own, IMO.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Patricia McKillip's works are so darn good. I think I'm more partial to The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, but really, everything I've read by her has been amazing.



Zaukrie said:


> I think I'll start the Riddle Master of Hed, which I just got cheaply for a used copy.




I finished Burroughs' Pellucidar. I don't know if it's just where my headspace is right now or that I knew what to expect from the series, but I enjoyed it much more than the first volume.

Now I'm onto something more modern, with Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

That didn't take long. I finished Shadow and Bone, enjoying it quite a bit. It was perforce less complex than the Netflix show, but deeper. And I much preferred the book ending.

Next is Andre Norton's Three Against The Witch World.


----------



## Richards

I was on a business trip this week from Monday through Thursday so I got a bunch of reading done in airports, on the planes, and in the hotel room.  I blew through _Idlewild_ and _Edenborn_, the first two novels by Nick Sagan, son of Carl Sagan, which I had picked up for half a dollar each at a library book sale based mostly on a cover recommendation by Neil Gaiman.  They were good reads, both of them...but they were unfortunately books one and two in a three-book series, and I don't have the third.  Bummer.  I don't want to give away too much about the plot because part of the fun of reading through the books was the frequent charges to genre as things became apparent.  The third book is called _Everfree_ and I'll be keeping an eye out for it, although both books definitely have an ending of sorts while still making you want to see what happens next.

The book I started on the second plane home (and am currently reading) is _After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall_ by Nancy Kress.  It's a weird little setup, dealing with aliens having wiped out all but two dozen or so humans on Earth, said humans now living in an alien enclosure and using the provided alien technology to go back in time 20 years for ten minutes at a time (at random intervals, you never know when the platform is going to activate), during which time they steal whatever they can to bring back to the suck-fest future.  Top items on their "things to steal" list are clothing, blankets, cookware, and kids - because the six remaining adults are sterile and they're going to need to work on repopulating the human race if possible.  Half of the novel deals with these future strugglers, the other half with a present-day detective and a probability analyst trying to make sense of the pattern of child kidnappings and oddball thefts slowly making their way up the coast. 

Johnathan


----------



## Richards

That last book was a quick read and as a result I'm already finished with it and ready to move on to a book I purchased during my business trip last week: _Carnival_ by Una McCormack.  It's the latest in the "Firefly" series of novels that take place after the end of the TV show but before the events of "Serenity."  In this one, a deal goes wrong and a cargo is stolen, and now Mal has one day to come up with the 500 platinum value of the missing cargo or else the hostages Zoe Washburn and Shepherd Book get a bullet in their heads....

Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished Norton's Three Against The Witch World. Enjoyed it as I have most of the series to-date. It both adds a layer of moral complexity and survives transitioning from one set of heroes to the next.

Now I'm reading the Lin Carter-edited Flashing Swords #1 anthology.


----------



## Scottius

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Finished Norton's Three Against The Witch World. Enjoyed it as I have most of the series to-date. It both adds a layer of moral complexity and survives transitioning from one set of heroes to the next.
> 
> Now I'm reading the Lin Carter-edited Flashing Swords #1 anthology.



I've been reading the Flashing Swords anthologies as well. Hope you enjoy #1!


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Ironically I've read the second volume but not the first. Solely because my library had that and not the first!



Scottius said:


> I've been reading the Flashing Swords anthologies as well. Hope you enjoy #1!


----------



## Richards

I'm now starting a sequel to Michael Crichton's _The Andromeda Strain_ by an author named Daniel H. Wilson.  The novel's called _The Andromeda Evolution_ and the marketing folks have apparently decided Crichton's name needs to be plastered across the cover and spine in huge letters, while the real author's name is tucked away at the bottom in small print.  I'd probably be a little miffed if I were Daniel, but then he probably knew that going in when he decided to write a sequel to a dead author's novel.  In any case, as shown at the end of the original book, the Andromeda Strain is mutating and this book will show what all occurs as a result.  I'm going in with cautiously optimistic hopes that it'll be a good read.

Johnathan


----------



## Scruffy nerf herder

The Horus Heresy novels, of course. Right now it's Flight of the Eisenstein.


----------



## Zaukrie

I finished Riddle Master of Hed

Definitely good world building. I like the writing. But, something about it wasn't right for me. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, and I'll read the next two sometime, but it was good, not great, for me.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Flashing Swords #1 was a cracking good set of tales. No surprise when you've got Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, and Lin Carter contributing.

After that I read two short stories - Victor LaValle's "We Travel the Spaceways" and Leigh Brackett's "Thralls of the Endless Night." The former had layers of meaning, and is a different story depending on which angle you look at it from. The latter also had more depth than one would expect from a 40s sci-fi short story.

Now I'm finally reading JRRT's The Book of Lost Tales, Part One. In the past I've generally ignored the History of Middle-Earth series, but after reading The Nature of Middle-Earth, I've come to realize how much insight there is to be had in seeing Tolkien's creative process at work, the ideas as he developed or discarded them.


----------



## Mallus

After watching HBO's take on Station Eleven, I (finally) read the novel. I bought when it first came out and put it down for reasons I can't quite fathom now. Both the book and the show are fantastic, if not quite the same story.

I'm also reading Michelle Zauner's (she's the band Japanese Breakfast) autobiography Crying at the H Mart. Fun fact: the titular H Mart is 3 miles from my house. My wife and I shopped there a few times, prior to the pandemic.


----------



## Scottius

I found a copy of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon on my recent used bookstore trip and am starting it now. I've been interested in it since I first became aware of it via seeing a copy of the GURPS sourcebook about it. A chapter in and I'm intrigued.


----------



## Nellisir

I read _Broken Homes_, #4 of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, and got annoyed because I still didn't have book 3, and so quit reading for a month or so. (I don't get my logic either.) But I got over it, and then then it showed up, so all was good.
I've read

_Whispers Underground_ (#3 RoL) and 
_Broken Homes_ (#4 RoL), by Ben Aaronovitch. Wicked good.
_Bone Silence_, by Alastair Reynolds. Not bad, but the font size & spacing really bothered me initially. It's like YA size, or halfway to Large Print Edition, or something. It's a 400-page book inflated to 630 pages.
_Inhibitor Phase_, also by Alastair Reynolds.

_Bone Silence_ was good; _Inhibitor Space_ was disappointing. Wooden characters and dialogs. It's part of his Revelation Space universe, and can be read independently, but there are a lot of "in" references and feels like a somewhat forced effort to "get the band back together" rather than inventing new characters.

I also read almost all of the 2e Birthright material. I finally got the original boxed set and (just yesterday) _Blood Enemies of Cerilia_. (I've had the regional boxed sets since forever.)


----------



## Richards

I finished _The Andromeda Evolution_ and was surprisingly impressed - it not only read very much like a Michael Crichton novel (which it very obviously wasn't, the book having been written many years after his death), but it was a very logical extrapolation of what came before in the original novel.

So now I'm moving on to a new book and considering I'm going to be spending most of tomorrow on a military aircraft flying between three Air Force Bases, I'm tempting fate just a little by choosing a novel named _Crash & Burn_.  (If anything happens to my plane tomorrow I'll have at least earned an ironic death.)  This is a novel by Lisa Gardner, an author I've read before and was suitably impressed by for her name to have stuck in my memory.  _Crash & Burn_ fortunately doesn't involve military aircraft but rather a wife involved in a car accident leaving her with scrambled memories - and a very good chance that someone out there is trying to kill her.

Johnathan

[Edit:  I survived my day flying around in a military aircraft while reading _Crash & Burn_ - so that's a relief.  The book's pretty good, too - I'm now over halfway through it.]


----------



## Zaukrie

I'm reading Slaughterhouse Five. Which is interesting, given I'm analyzing the writing line crazy....

Edit.... What an awful sentence. Would fit right in....


----------



## Cadence

Still reading the "Songs of the Dying Earth, Stories in honor of Jack Vance" anthology.   Elizabeth Hand's "The Return of the Fire Witch" was awe inspiring (?, terrifying?) in terms of the number of words it has that I don't remember ever seeing before... in spite of this being my second or third time towards the anthology.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I've not read it yet - since this is another re-read for you, I take it it's worth checking out?



Cadence said:


> Still reading the "Songs of the Dying Earth, Stories in honor of Jack Vance" anthology.   Elizabeth Hand's "The Return of the Fire Witch" was awe inspiring (?, terrifying?) in terms of the number of words it has that I don't remember ever seeing before... in spite of this being my second or third time towards the anthology.


----------



## Cadence

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I've not read it yet - since this is another re-read for you, I take it it's worth checking out?




I really like it.  All of the authors express a love for the original Dying Earth in their afterword blurb about how they first encountered it, and it shows in the stories they wrote. No matter which of the original books you like, there are some stories that go with it - sometimes continuing characters from it, sometimes with new ones.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished reading Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales vol. 1. Fascinating stuff. While I wish I had gotten to it sooner, I am glad to now have so much more Tolkien stuff to read. Seeing his developing ideas evolve is a great glimpse into his mind. It's also interesting to see the languages evolving - in early form, they appear to show much more of the Finnish influence.

Now I am reading Abraham Merritt's The Metal Monster.


----------



## Richards

I finished _Crash & Burn_ and have now moved on to another Lisa Gardner thriller, this one called _Love You More_ and written before _Crash & Burn_ - in fact, it deals with events mentioned in the other book, so I already know a bit about what's going to happen.  Oops.  Oh well, it's still a good read with enjoyable characters - a state trooper shoots her husband and her six-year-old daughter is now missing and it's up to grumpy detective D. D. Warren to find the girl and unravel exactly what happened.

Johnathan


----------



## Scottius

I found a copy of Swords Against Darkness III while doing a used bookstore run today. Never seen that one before and judging by the fact that I can't seem to find a copy for sale on Google or eBay after some searching I'm guessing it's pretty rare. Looking forward to diving into it soon.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Speaking of Particia McKillip - got _Tower at Stony Wood _and _Ombria in Shadow_ for my birthday. Not sure when I'll get around to reading them; but they are very pretty books. Also got Kij Johnson's _Fudoki_.

Looks like otherwise, I haven't posted any "what I read lately" updates since Jan 17 or so.



I finished vols 1-3 of _Kill Six Billion Demons_, and it's whacky, sprawling and great. Recommended. Creator had a kid recently though, so expecting his output to decrease, sadly.
_Salvation of a Saint_ and _A Midsummer's Equation_ by Keigo Higashino. I like the Japanese setting and how he unspools the mysteries. Often the killer is well known at the beginning; but even then how it was done and how that's uncovered is interesting in and of itself.
Keeping in the Japanese setting, I read the 2nd volume in the Rei Shimura mystery series, _Zen Attitude_. Protagonist was slightly less annoying this time around. These are only ok; and if I hadn't already bought the first 4, I'd probably set them down.
_Too Like the Lightning_ by Ada Palmer. Wow - a SF novel with philosophy and future science/transhumanism all mixed together. I have the 2nd book waiting for me to read - maybe sometime next week...
_Call us What We Carry_, a poetry collection by Amanda Gorman. You may remember Amanda Gorman from the poem she read at Biden's inauguration. This collection is a powerful set of poems reflecting on the first half of the pandemic. It's a bit jarring as one of the poems is all about the hope and freedom the vaccine will bring us. I think here in the states we know how that turned out...
Currently reading 


Nick Offerman's _Where the Deer and the Antelope Play_, and the voice is very much what I would expect Nick Offerman's literary voice to be - wry, sardonic, but underneath caring and aware. Liking so far.
_The Arbornaut_ by Meg Lowman. Memoir about one of the first people to go up into our tree canopy above us.
_The Genius of Birds_ by Jennifer Ackerman. A friend gave this to me because they know I like to watch birds at my feeder. Ok so far, hoping for some huge "WOWs" so I can share cool facts on how smart birds are.
Taking a crack at _The 1619 Project_ again. It's great writing; but also tough subject matter. I'm taking it slow on purpose.
Going to read up on _The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth_ by some random dude named E Gary Gygax. I think I'm going to run it as a sequel to my Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign...


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Abraham Merritt's The Metal Monster is done, and I'm not sure if it was awful or awesome. Some of the descriptions absolutely pushed the limits of what I could picture in my head. For something that was written so long ago, it's entirely psychedelic, the way it depicts the titular creatures, their dwellings, their society. It's so alien and fantastical, but at the same time it's easy to feel like you're drowning untethered by the descriptions.

I suspect it very much was an influence on the creation of Modrons and Nirvana/Mechanus.

Now I'm reading R.E. Howard Cormac Mac Art. Had this book for ages and always passed it over for other REH characters until now.


----------



## trappedslider

Reading Moonfall by Jack McDevitt unrelated to the recent movie


Spoiler



It's the 21st century, and all is right with the world. Or so it seems.

Vice President Charlie Haskell, who will travel anywhere for a photo op, is about to cut the ribbon for the just-completed American Moonbase. The first Mars voyage is about to leave high orbit, with a woman at the helm. Below, the world is marveling at a rare solar eclipse.

But all that is right is about to go disastrously wrong when an amateur astronomer discovers a new comet. Named for its discover, _Tomiko_ is a "sun-grazer,"an interstellar wanderer with a hundred times the mass and ten times the speed of other comets. And it is headed straight for our moon.

In less than five days, if scientists' predictions are right, _Tomiko_ will crash into the moon, shattering it into a cloud of superheated gas, dust, and huge chunks of rock that will rain down on the earth, causing chaos and killer storms, possibly tidal waves inundating entire cities...or worse: a single apocalyptic worldwide "extinction event."

In the meantime, the population of Moonbase must be evacuated by a hastily assembled fleet of shuttle rockets. There isn't room, or time enough, for everyone. And the vice president, who rashly promised to be last off ("I will lock the door and turn off the lights"), is trying to figure out how to get away without eating his words.


 and the start date for it is April 8th 2024


----------



## Aeson

I'm reading Relax and Enjoy Your Food by Craig Good. He makes the case that you shouldn't worry so much about what you eat. Focus on a variety of foods. For some of you more voracious readers it'll probably take you no time at all to read this one.


----------



## carrot

Just finished The Complete Witcher - an anthology of all the books. While entertaining, it was also a bit of a slog to get through. I probably should just have made do with the Netflix series, and not bothered reading the books…


----------



## Richards

I'm now starting Charles Sheffield's _Dark As Day_, a sequel to both _Cold As Ice_ and _The Ganymede Club_ (both of which I've read before, but it's been decades).  It's a science fiction novel featuring an obese member of the Puzzle Network, Rustum Battachariya, or "Megachirops" as he's known by.  He sticks out the most in my memory of the other two novels; I'll see if I can pick it all back up with this third one.

Johnathan


----------



## Zaukrie

I'm reading a book by one of my favorite baseball (and political) writers....*Craig Calcaterra *

rethinking-fandom-how-to-beat-the-sports-industrial-complex-at-its-own-game


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished R.E. Howard's (with David Drake) Cormac Mac Art. The first story is pretty much all-Drake, and it shows. The tone and style just doesn't fit - it feels more like a Roy Thomas Conan comics tale than anything else. But oddly, when he's finishing a tale started by Howard, it flows better. And the pure REH stories are much stronger, though it's easy to see why Cormac doesn't have the same resonance as his other more famous heroes.

Now I'm reading Zen Cho's The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water.


----------



## Cadence

Re-reading Glen Cook's (1988) Sci-Fi "The Dragon Never Sleeps".

Next morning edit:  Finished that.  My next books for reading Appendix N came in, and I'm reading the Burroughs collection "John Carter of Mars, Vol. One".


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Cho's The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. Quite elegant, but with a sense of humor in spots to balance it out. 

I read The Jewel of Bas by Leigh Brackett. Short and sharp, it's quick, evocative, and cinematic.

Now I'm re-reading Jack Vance's Cugel's Saga.


----------



## Nellisir

I just reread CJ Cherryh's Morgaine trilogy - I definitely have the books, but I must have picked up another set somewhere because they were on the to-be-read shelf, so I did. 

So good. Love them.

Good ol' CJ. Nobody gets any sleep in her books.

I have the 4th book somewhere. Putting up shelves today and hopefully doing a lot of unboxing.


----------



## Cadence

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar. I only liked the first book, but considering how much I love his Barsoom series, I wanted to give the Pellucidar series a second chance.




I'm about finished with Warlord of Mars and thinking of doing the first three Pellucidar next.  Worth getting the collected first three?  Or should I start with just one of them?  (How is the Venus one?)


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I can't speak for the third, but I enjoyed the second one Pellucidar novel more than the first (though admittedly, part of it may have just been a "well, this isn't Barsoom" shock). 

If you have a Kindle or other e-reader, the books are available free through Project Gutenberg.



Cadence said:


> I'm about finished with Warlord of Mars and thinking of doing the first three Pellucidar next.  Worth getting the collected first three?  Or should I start with just one of them?  (How is the Venus one?)


----------



## South by Southwest

Zelazny. Snarf's post convinced me finally to sit down and read him.


----------



## Mallus

South by Southwest said:


> Zelazny. Snarf's post convinced me finally to sit down and read him.



Amber’s fun and Lord of Light is one of the greatest SF novels of all time (also, fun).


----------



## Bedrockgames

Right now I am on "The Practical Renaissance: Information Culture and the Quest for Knowledge in Early Modern England 1500-1640"


----------



## Mallus

I’m almost done with the excellently-named Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark. It’s a pandemic novel that reminds me, in places, of Station Eleven, A Visit From the Good Squad, and George Saunders short stories. Not quite the sum of those parts, but good.

After that I’ll probably try Emily St. John Manuel’s new book, Sea of Tranquility. I think there’s pandemic in it. There may be a theme here…


----------



## Richards

Cadence said:


> I'm about finished with Warlord of Mars and thinking of doing the first three Pellucidar next.  Worth getting the collected first three?  Or should I start with just one of them?  (How is the Venus one?)



Of those three, I enjoyed the Barsoom series more than the Pellucidar series and the Pellucidar series more than the Venus series.  (And I've read all of the novels in each series, although it's been literally decades for the latter two; I did read the first three Barsoom novels to my nephew as bedtime stories in the past few years.)

Johnathan


----------



## beancounter

I'm currently reading the 8th book of "The Expanse" series.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I dig Jack of Shadows quite a bit. I need to read more of Amber at some point, too.



South by Southwest said:


> Zelazny. Snarf's post convinced me finally to sit down and read him.


----------



## Richards

One of my earliest AD&D characters was named Shadowjack after that novel's protagonist.

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Nellisir said:


> I just reread CJ Cherryh's Morgaine trilogy - I definitely have the books, but I must have picked up another set somewhere because they were on the to-be-read shelf, so I did.
> 
> So good. Love them.
> 
> Good ol' CJ. Nobody gets any sleep in her books.



So true. Her books are just the kinetic energy of a ball rolling down a slide


----------



## Nellisir

Eyes of Nine said:


> So true. Her books are just the kinetic energy of a ball rolling down a slide



I found _Exile's Gate_, the 4th book, and at halfway+ through, it's really kicked off. I feel for the horses.

Also, I unpacked at least 20 boxes of books. Are they organized? No. Are they all neat and tidy? No. Are there more boxes? Yes. But OMG people...it's so good. They're finally out and accessible. I can see them.  I found a box of "holy smokes these are really good!" books from when I restarted reading in 2010/2011, and I WANT TO REREAD THEM ALL. 

I've got two more boxes of "to be read", and four boxes of "these are the really really good ones I've been carrying around forever and ever", but I'm temporarily out of shelf space.


----------



## Richards

I finished off _Dark As Day_ this morning, spending an hour and a half getting to the end.  It was a good read, but it's a large, hardback book and as I'll be spending most of the day tomorrow flying across country and back on a C-12, I wanted to be finished with the big book so I could start a paperback.  (Smaller books fit in my travel bag much better.)  So, after hitting the library book sale yesterday, I decided on starting up _The Drowning City_ by Amanda Downum.  It was her first novel from back in 2009 and I hope it's good because I also picked up the sequel, _The Bone Palace_.  They feature a female necromancer named Isyllt Iskaldur (I'm not a big fan of that name), and that alone made it worth the nominal expenditure (one dollar for both books) as I don't believe I've ever read anything with a necromancer protagonist before.  I'm hoping this first novel makes me want to tackle the second one next; if not, I picked up seven other books at the sale (five of them from one author I've never read before - so fingers crossed there - and two others by an author I trust implicitly, but the latter's books are both hardcover so they're not optimal for tomorrow's trip) so I should (hopefully) have enough reading material to keep me busy for a while.

Johnathan


----------



## Richards

I'm really enjoying _The Drowning City_ - I'm over halfway through it after today's lengthy plane ride.  Some interesting worldbuilding and I like how magic works in this world.  And the protagonist is a necromancer, but not of the D&D "raise corpses as undead to do my bidding" sort - she just interacts with dead spirits (at least so far).  Things bode well for my reading through this book and its sequel.

Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

That's been sitting on my Kindle for a while. Glad to hear it's good so far.



Richards said:


> I'm really enjoying _The Drowning City_ - I'm over halfway through it after today's lengthy plane ride.  Some interesting worldbuilding and I like how magic works in this world.  And the protagonist is a necromancer, but not of the D&D "raise corpses as undead to do my bidding" sort - she just interacts with dead spirits (at least so far).  Things bode well for my reading through this book and its sequel.
> 
> Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished re-reading Vance's Cugel's Saga. Loved it. 

Now I'm finally getting to Michael Moorcock's The Final Programme. It's been on my list to read for a while, but I've just passed it by each time prior in favor of other Moorcock.


----------



## trappedslider




----------



## Richards

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I finished re-reading Vance's Cugel's Saga. Loved it.



Cugel the Clever is one of my all-time favorite Vance characters.  Have you read "The Eyes of the Overworld?"


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Yes! Cugel is a classic fantasy scoundrel, to be sure. But he wouldn't be half as fun to read about if just about everyone else wasn't trying to get one over on him at the same time.



Richards said:


> Cugel the Clever is one of my all-time favorite Vance characters.  Have you read "The Eyes of the Overworld?"


----------



## Zaukrie

I must be in the minority, I couldn't finish the collected Vance novels. Not even close.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Zaukrie said:


> I must be in the minority, I couldn't finish the collected Vance novels. Not even close.



Whew, glad someone else had the same experience... I feel the same about Glen Cook's _Black Company_ novels...


----------



## Hex08

Unfortunately, I find my reading time limited, but I am slowing making my way through the Books of Swords trilogy by Fred Saberhagen. I am about four chapters into book two. One I am done with those I will go back to Glen Cook's The Chronicles of the Black Company. I have read the first three and really want to finish the rest.


----------



## Cadence

Just finished Moon Pool by Merritt (from Appendix N).  I really liked the first half  and then it was... okish.  To much tell instead of show? And the cosmology was just ok.

Reading the collected Lord Darcy now.

(First time on both books).


----------



## Nellisir

Eyes of Nine said:


> Whew, glad someone else had the same experience... I feel the same about Glen Cook's _Black Company_ novels...



I'm honestly not sure what sells me on the Black Company, honestly. I love them dearly, but totally understand that other people don't.


----------



## Scottius

Nellisir said:


> I'm honestly not sure what sells me on the Black Company, honestly. I love them dearly, but totally understand that other people don't.



Black Company, at least the first trilogy of books they kind of petered out for me after that, are some of my favorites. I think the viewpoint being that of a morally grey mercenary group makes it stand out. And it has some of my absolute favorite depictions of powerful magic users as well. The original ten who were taken are far more interesting and do so much more than say the ringwraiths. I find them terrifyingly human and inhuman at the same time.


----------



## Nellisir

Scottius said:


> Black Company, at least the first trilogy of books they kind of petered out for me after that, are some of my favorites. I think the viewpoint being that of a morally grey mercenary group makes it stand out. And it has some of my absolute favorite depictions of powerful magic users as well. The original ten who were taken are far more interesting and do so much more than say the ringwraiths. I find them terrifyingly human and inhuman at the same time.



I almost said "the personalities, I guess" in my reply above. I mean, I LOVE the Black Company. I love most of Cook's writing. But I totally understand why people can't get into it, or get fed up with it, or find it unlikable.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I ran into a similar situation with the Moon Pool. The first half was chilling and eerie, the second half vague and misty, hard to imagine. While I loved Creep, Shadow, Creep! I found a similar experience with The Metal Monster. There's something about Merritt's language that can be hard to picture at times. I give him props for not just falling back on "unknowable vistas beyond human imagination" and instead actually trying to describe things, but I find that it can make for difficult reading. 



Cadence said:


> Just finished Moon Pool by Merritt (from Appendix N).  I really liked the first half  and then it was... okish.  To much tell instead of show? And the cosmology was just ok.




I finished Moorcock's The Final Programme. It felt very much like an homage to J.G. Ballard. I dug it, though wouldn't rank it amongst his greats.

Now I'm reading L. Sprague De Camp's The Tritonian Ring.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

I liked the writing. The characters were interesting. However, there wasn't really a single POV character I could hang my hat on - the stories were really not about any individual, but about the company as a whole. I appreciate the risk the author took with that approach - and get why people like it. But for me I guess I need a single protagonist to follow. 



Spoiler: Random swipe at GRRM who hasn't even been brought up until now



And one that doesn't get killed at the end of the first book of an X-length and 2 million word+ mega series... I actually read the first 2 books and 100 pages of the 3rd when I finally said - the only person likeable in this entire series is a girl on the run who only shows up in about 4% of the pages. Buh-bye...


----------



## jdrakeh

Right now, I'm re-reading _The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine_. It's a really great book.


----------



## Richards

I finished _The Drowning City_ last night and am now about to start the sequel, _The Bone Palace_ by Amanda Downum.

Johnathan


----------



## Cadence

Cadence said:


> Just finished Moon Pool by Merritt (from Appendix N).  I really liked the first half  and then it was... okish.  To much tell instead of show? And the cosmology was just ok.
> 
> Reading the collected Lord Darcy now.
> 
> (First time on both books).




"Lord Darcy"  (the collected edition edited by Eric Flint) was spectacular.

Have two more Merritt books to go to next.


----------



## KiloGex 22

Finally getting around to reading UbiquiCity. I've had the book for a year, but just never got around to it. Got it because I was playing in a game based in the world, but then the game ended. Still an incredible setting, so I'm still moving on to it.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished de Camp's The Tritonian Ring. I enjoyed the story, but it's got problems. I read a tone of Appendix N and adjacent works, so I'm used to a certain level of dated, problematic content. But The Tritonian Ring hit my tolerance threshold in a few spots. There's some really egregious, offensive stuff in it. And the offhand way in which it's presented somehow makes it even worse.

Now I'm reading Samuel R. Delany's The Jewels of Aptor.


----------



## South by Southwest

I just finished Zelazny's _Amber Chronicles _(thanks again to Snarf). The first several books I enjoyed very much, though I admit the whole thing did become formulaic after a while: mix in equal portions of Sam Spade, the Three Musketeers, incessant political intrigue (Bond-style explanatory monologues and all) a funny kind of Neoplatonism, and David Lewis' pluralism about possible worlds, and there you have it. Really, though, that's the worst I can say of the books by way of criticism. They were fun, crisply-written, easy reads, and generally a lot more well-thought-out than most stuff I see today. I'm not likely to re-read them, but I do recommend them.


----------



## WayneLigon

Currently reading (and in a few cases, re-reading) the entire Maradaine series by  Marshall Ryan Maresca






						MARSHALL RYAN MARESCA
					






					mrmaresca.com
				




The setting is a low-magic pre-gunpowder world about at 'Age of Sail' levels of sophistication and ingenuity, helped on in places by geniuses like Verci Rynax. Most of the action concerns the huge City of Maradaine. 

Right now, there are four series, and a stand-alone book:
The Maradaine Novels (The Thorn)
The Maradaine Constabulary
The Streets of Maradaine
The Maradaine Elite
Stand alone: An Unintended Voyage

There are overarching plots between all the books, which run in parallel with each others. There are two suggested reading methods:

1) In-world chronological means the first books of each series, in the order above. 

2) Sticking with the same characters reading order is:
The Streets of Maradaine
The Maradaine Novels (The Thorn)
The Maradaine Constabulary
The Maradaine Elite

Both end with 'An Unintended Voyage'

Then Phase Two starts with 'Assassins of Consequence', which is Thorn Book 4


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I enjoyed Delany's The Jewels of Aptor. It reminded me a bit of a more pulpy A Canticle for Leibowitz, though of course Delany infuses it with layers of meaning as he does.

Now I'm back to the Wayward Children series with Seanan McGuire's In an Absent Dream.


----------



## Blue

Haven't been reading for enjoyment as much recently.

I'm in the middle of two books, but I've had urges recently for some short reads based on mood.  One was The Rolling Stones by Robert Heinlein, but I could not find my copy and was denied.  The other was Chess With A Dragon by David Gerrold.  I picked it up after arriving home Sunday night, and finished it in one sitting.

It's a concise read, a novella in length at best, and spends little to none of that on character development.  But that doesn't mean that it doesn't pack quite a story into those few pages.  My favorite chapter is like five paragraphs long, and the next chapter is even shorter.

The pages are yellowing, but except for some touchstones to the USSR as shorthand for descriptions of a side character it has held up well.  Hard to say of a lot of SF of that era.

It's so short I really don't want to say anything about it as basically everything is plot relevant, except that humanity feels correctly portrayed.

It has 3.8/5 on GoodReads, and that's probably where it belongs.  For the effort you put into reading it, you'll get a lot out.  Including, it seems, an urge out of the blue to reread it four or five years later.


----------



## Richards

I finished _The Bone Palace_ on the plane today (it was another courier trip day, this time to the east coast and back) and moved on to a book I picked up at a Half-Price Books I discovered over by the Gamers store where we took my son's Playstation 4 to get fixed a town away: _Destroyer #63: The Sky is Falling_.  Yep, another novel in the series featuring Remo Williams and Chiun, the Master of Sinanju, this time putting a stop to a superweapon that drills holes in the ozone layer and turns pure sunlight into a deadly beam.  Light-hearted fun and almost always worth a read; this one's as entertaining as expected.

Johnathan


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I recently finished _Skyward _and _Starsight _by Brandon Sanderson. I really enjoyed Skyward. Starsight was still enjoyable, but I liked it less than Skyward (don't get me wrong, the books aren't bad, he just took a different direction with the series after the first book than I would have preferred). I started Cytonic, but stopped midway through it because I just wasn't invested enough in it to finish it (for now, at least).

I've now moved on to _The Golden Compass_ by Phillip Pullman. I'm only about 50 pages in, but I'm enjoying it so far. So far it really hasn't explained some of the main elements of the setting necessary to understanding the story, but I've also read _The Way of Kings_, so I'm fairly accustomed to that feeling.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

It's been a while since I've read the Golden Compass, but I seem to recall that it was very much of the "we'll explain these things as we go along" writing style. In any case, it's a lovely series.



AcererakTriple6 said:


> I've now moved on to _The Golden Compass_ by Phillip Pullman. I'm only about 50 pages in, but I'm enjoying it so far. So far it really hasn't explained some of the main elements of the setting necessary to understanding the story, but I've also read _The Way of Kings_, so I'm fairly accustomed to that feeling.




I finished McGuire's In An Absent Dream. The Wayward Children series has yet to let me down - each book is just as magical as the one that came before. 

Now I'm back to old sword & sorcery with the Robert Hoskins edited Swords Against Tomorrow.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Ralif Redhammer said:


> It's been a while since I've read the Golden Compass, but I seem to recall that it was very much of the "we'll explain these things as we go along" writing style. In any case, it's a lovely series.



Nice to get a confirmation on this. Thanks!


----------



## Zaukrie

AcererakTriple6 said:


> Nice to get a confirmation on this. Thanks!



Agreed. It takes time to explain things, and the first book is great, the others good.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Zaukrie said:


> Agreed. It takes time to explain things, and the first book is great, the others good.



Not much to add in terms of value to the Golden Compass theme except to say ditto.

I have also found the sequel trilogy novels to be entertaining; although not as gripping as the first trilogy. However, second book seemed to be leaning more into a creepy spooky vibe that I enjoyed.


----------



## Scottius

I just recently finished reading a couple of my recent Half Price Books finds. Silverglass by J. F. Rifkin was a fun little Sword & Sorcery romp that was basically a road trip story with an odd couple angle where a magic distrusting warrior and a sorcery practicing noble team up despite distrusting each other. Both of the leads are women as well which is nice to see in a S&S story. 

I also finished Calling Dr Patchwork by Ron Goulart. It was an adventure-comedy about a married couple who solve improbable crimes. It was a short and light read but had an interesting setting with people with talents mutant powers like shape shifting, generating electricity, etc. I enjoyed it well enough and am looking forward to checking out some of Mr Goulart's other books I picked up at the same time 

And now I'm starting in on the first book in the S&S anthology series Swords Against Darkness as found in Appendix N of the 1st edition DMG.


----------



## Zaukrie

I miss half price books.....Powell's ain't so cheap....


----------



## Scottius

Zaukrie said:


> I miss half price books.....Powell's ain't so cheap....



They're so good. I'm fortunate to have three within close range.


----------



## Zaukrie

Plus I was in walking distance of HP in St. Louis Park.....sigh.


----------



## Zaukrie

Scottius said:


> They're so good. I'm fortunate to have three within close range.



Before the DnD resurgence, you could buy almost any gaming stuff so cheap. Wish I'd made those investments!


----------



## Cadence

In the middle of Merrit's Dweller's in the Mirage.  

Took a break from that and read John Sandford's novel "The Investigator" featuring Letty.   Except for about two pages, I really liked it.  I typically like his Virgil ones more than his Prey ones.


----------



## Arilyn

I am reading Jon Peterson's books on the history of D&D, and laughing at the part in "The Elusive Shift," where Gygax told a stunned audience the best use of dice are the sounds they make, and DMs are better off using their judgement over dice. Considering the recent heated debates, this just had me laughing out loud. 

Also starting into The Rivers of London series. I believe I have a lot of good reading ahead of me in this series. 

And a science book called "Entangled Life," by Merlin Sheldrake. All about fungi and the amazing ways they communicate.


----------



## Richards

_Destroyer #63: The Sky Is Falling_ was sadly a lesser-quality entry in the series, given some of the best parts of any _Destroyer_ novel is the interplay between Remo and Chiun and in this book they're each off doing their own thing for most of the story.  Add in a plotline where Remo has no idea some crazy lady is blatantly out-and-out lying to him - something he should easily have been able to tell - makes this one a real disappointment.

So on to another Lisa Gardner thriller: _Never Tell_, about a pregnant woman claiming her innocence despite having been found standing over her dead husband's body with a smoking gun in her hand...and after having earlier been implicated in the shooting death of her father.  It's another in the D.D. Warren series that I've enjoyed thus far.

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Arilyn said:


> I am reading Jon Peterson's books on the history of D&D, and laughing at the part in "The Elusive Shift," where Gygax told a stunned audience the best use of dice are the sounds they make, and DMs are better off using their judgement over dice. Considering the recent heated debates, this just had me laughing out loud.
> 
> Also starting into The Rivers of London series. I believe I have a lot of good reading ahead of me in this series.
> 
> And a science book called "Entangled Life," by Merlin Sheldrake. All about fungi and the amazing ways they communicate.



You'll probably like this video:


----------



## Arilyn

Eyes of Nine said:


> You'll probably like this video:



Thank you. I just watched it and enjoyed it very much.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

When I look at some of the price tags on the books I picked up in the 00s, it seems a different world. I picked up a Greyhawk Folio in decent shape for just $20. Judges Guild stuff for $5-$15. Old D&D stuff has skyrocketed - that's like the one drawback to D&D's surge in popularity.



Zaukrie said:


> Before the DnD resurgence, you could buy almost any gaming stuff so cheap. Wish I'd made those investments!




I finished reading the Swords Against Tomorrow anthology. Pretty good stuff, though it's hard to go wrong with the contributing talent.

Now I'm reading Tolkien's The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two.


----------



## Cadence

Finally finished the Ngaio Marsh mystery a friend most recommended (#8 in the Alleyn series Overture to Death.   Stopped reading it twice over the past month or so, but stuck on a plain I plowed through and finally got into it. 

Read a few more pages of Merrit's Dweller's in the Mirage.  It's fine, but...  I just don't have any momentum with it.  Got the first Alleyn book on my kindle and am trying that.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Cadence said:


> Finally finished the Ngaoil Marsh mystery a friend most recommended (#8 in the Alleyn series Overture to Death.   Stopped reading it twice over the past month or so, but stuck on a plain I plowed through and finally got into it.
> 
> Read a few more pages of Merrit's Dweller's in the Mirage.  It's fine, but...  I just don't have any momentum with it.  Got the first Alleyn book on my kindle and am trying that.



I found Marsh's Alleyn books to be more serious and yet also more enjoyable in some ways than Poirot. Alleyn just seemed a more human character.


----------



## Cadence

Eyes of Nine said:


> I found Marsh's Alleyn books to be more serious and yet also more enjoyable in some ways than Poirot. Alleyn just seemed a more human character.



When I was little read Encyclopedia Brown Hardy Boys, And Holmes... but then not much Detective/Mystery since except the Garrett Files fantasy detective series and the Prey/Virgil books by Stafford.

I got into Nero Wolfe a few years ago, but haven't done any of the other classics.  What would you recommend after I finish Marsh?


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Cadence said:


> When I was little read Encyclopedia Brown Hardy Boys, And Holmes... but then not much Detective/Mystery since except the Garrett Files fantasy detective series and the Prey/Virgil books by Stafford.
> 
> I got into Nero Wolfe a few years ago, but haven't done any of the other classics.  What would you recommend after I finish Marsh?



Well, Christie is without question the most popular. I believe at one point the only other book out selling her books was the Christian Bible. 

I would also recommend Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey novels. 

If you can find the Maigret books, they are more what we would call novellas now (most of them), and are translated from the French. If you can read them in their OG french, even better...

If you like locked room mysteries, you might like John Dickson Carr's novels, he is purported to be the master of the form. They were a bit dry for my taste, and neither of his most famous sleuths' personalities appealed to me.

Margery Allingham's Albert Campion series are hard to find in the library - and the character is a bit too... peculiar? for my taste.

If you want to DM me your google email, I can share with you my google sheets list of Classic mysteries. I need to clean it up a bit - but it's a good place to start. You can copy it and modify it to suit your needs.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Tolkien's History of Middle Earth Pt. 2. Fascinating stuff, as before. Seeing the more villainous depiction of dwarves was wild. 

I then read Robert Asprin's Little Myth Marker. If you want an objective review of that series, you can't get one from me. They're so tied up in the beginnings of my love of fantasy that I am incapable of providing one. Loved it, as I have the prior volumes in my re-read.

Now I'm onto John Shirley's Eclipse Penumbra. In between me reading the first one and started the second in the series, 2021 has gone from still being the future to the rearview mirror.


----------



## trappedslider

I ordered Danger on the Silver Screen: 50 Films Celebrating Cinema's Greatest Stunts (Turner Classic Movies) and got it today, I'm going to start reading it. I saw it advertised on TCM and looked at it on amazon and thought I would enjoy it.



Spoiler



Turner Classic Movies presents a heart-racing look into the world of stunt work featuring films that capture the exhilaration of a car chase, the comedy of a well timed prat fall, or the adrenaline rush from a fight scene complete with reviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and hundreds of photographs.

Buckle in and join TCM on a action-packed journey through the history of cinema stunt work in Danger on the Silver Screen. This action-packed guide profiles 50 foundational films with insightful commentary on the history, importance, and evolution of an often overlooked element of film: stunt work. With insightful commentary and additional recommendations to expand your repertoire based on your favorites, Danger on the Silver Screen is a one-of-a-kind guide, perfect for film lovers to learn more about or just brush up on their knowledge of stunt work and includes films such as Ben-Hur (1925 & 1959), The Great K&A Train Robbery (1926), Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), The Thing from Another World (1951), Bullitt (1968), Live and Let Die (1973), The Blues Brothers (1980), Romancing the Stone (1984), The Matrix (1999), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), John Wick (2014), Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (2015), Atomic Blonde (2017), and many more.


----------



## Richards

I'm reading the next in the D.D. Warren series by Lisa Gardner, _When You See Me_.  This time they're finding 15-year-old bodies of women who were buried in the Georgia mountains, which may or may not tie in with D. D. Warren's confidential informant, Flora, who was herself kidnapped and abused for over a year by a truck driver years ago.

Johnathan


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

1/2 way through Rhythm of War, liking it much more this time around. I absolutely blasted through it when it first came out and missed a lot. Not a series you want to hurry through for sure .


----------



## Mallus

I’m still reading Spencer Ackerman’s Reign of Terror. It’s a fantastic account of the post-9/11 War on Terror and its effect on the US political landscape. Written by a national security journalist who is also an expert on the X-Men! I’m on my 3rd renewal from the library. It’s so infuriating I keep putting it down.

Also rereading Bank’s Consider Phlebas. Might give the whole Culture cycle another go.


----------



## Richards

I just started a book called _Queen of Dragons_ by Shana Abé.  It's set in the Carpathian Mountains in the 1770s and details a race of shape-shifting dragons, the drákons, who can apparently take on human form or become mist.  (I suspect there's going to be a tie to the belief of vampirism based on that mist-form, considering the Transylvanian setting.)  So far so good, although I just started it this morning.

Johnathan


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

HawaiiSteveO said:


> 1/2 way through Rhythm of War, liking it much more this time around. I absolutely blasted through it when it first came out and missed a lot. Not a series you want to hurry through for sure .



For some reason, this book in the series took me 3 different times to get through. Which is weird, because I read the first three in one go. All three of them combined only took me two or three weeks to finish, but the Rhythm of War easily took me a month on its own.


----------



## Cadence

Read the first three Inspector Alleyn books by Marsh, and a bit more of Merritt's Dwellers in the Mirage.  1619 is still sitting at about the half-way point.

Picked up a bunch of Josephine Tey and Dashel Hammett (never read any of either, exposed to the later in other media).  Currently reading Tey's first Inspector Grant book.


----------



## trappedslider

trappedslider said:


> I ordered Danger on the Silver Screen: 50 Films Celebrating Cinema's Greatest Stunts (Turner Classic Movies) and got it today, I'm going to start reading it. I saw it advertised on TCM and looked at it on amazon and thought I would enjoy it.



Finished it up and I did enjoy it. It gives a nice view of the history of stunt work in Hollywood and points out that while the Mythbusters' busted the using a knife down a sail, Douglas Fairbanks managed to do it himself.


----------



## jdrakeh

Right now, I'm re-reading _The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine _which is one of the single most fascinating books that I've ever read.


----------



## Nellisir

Just finished _Piranesi_, by Susanna Clarke. A nice, fast read. Enjoyed it. 4/5


----------



## Zaukrie

Finally got back to Slaughterhouse Five 

I'm clearly not smart enough to understand why it is so important. 

Devoured two thirds of A Wizard of Earthsea in no time last night. Guess I need to find the rest of them ....


----------



## Cadence

Zaukrie said:


> Finally got back to Slaughterhouse Five
> 
> I'm clearly not smart enough to understand why it is so important.
> 
> Devoured two thirds of A Wizard of Earthsea in no time last night. Guess I need to find the rest of them ....




The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition is beautiful.


----------



## Zaukrie

Much more likely to try to find used copies of paperbacks at this point I'm my life. But those do look nice


----------



## Cadence

Zaukrie said:


> Much more likely to try to find used copies of paperbacks at this point I'm my life. But those do look nice




I had those of the first three... but then this came out and Charles Vess is one of my favorite artists  
I completely understand the used copies (I'm eternally thankful for my wifes paperback swap account).


----------



## Nellisir

I recently read _The Death of the Necromancer_ (Ile-Rein book 2); _The Wizard Hunters_, and _The Ships of Air_ (Fall of Ile-Rein books 1&2) by Martha Wells. I really love Martha Wells' writing.

I thought I had _The Element of Fire_ (Ile-Rein 1), but apparently I don't; and _Gate of Gods_, book 3 in the Fall trilogy, is EXPENSIVE. I'm probably going to go the library route, though I'd rather have actual copies. Ugh.
So I just found used copies through alibris for reasonable prices, all from the same place. Now to wait 3-13 days. 

I went over to a friend's house, and his wife & I were both talking about how much FUN Murderbot was, and how this reviewer had f'ed up by gendering Murderbot in a review. Good times.


----------



## Zaukrie

Just devoured A Wizard of Earthsea. Good book, And I want to read more. I found the last part a bit uninteresting, though. I miss half price books.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished reading John Shirley's Eclipse Penumbra. It's sometimes shockingly prescient. It's set in 2021 and there's NATO-Russian conflict, the rise of evangelical far-right movements, deepfakes, militarized police forces, even reference to a fascist leader named "Le Pen" in Europe. The space colony was off, and certainly these ideas are all taken to extremes beyond what we actually are seeing. But for a book published in 1988, it's fascinating (and sharply entertaining) stuff.

Now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tanar of Pellucidar.


----------



## Nellisir

I'm reading _Paladin_, by CJ Cherryh. It's...I dunno. There are troubling aspects.


----------



## billd91

I'm reading The Expanse series to my wife at bedtime. We're currently on book 3 - Abaddon's Gate.


----------



## Cadence

Reading Josephine Tey's second Inspector Grant book "A Shilling for Candles".  There are a few spots when reading where it feels like something is missing (a word? a phrase? some connection?), but then there are other times the writing is spectacular.  Sometimes it's a description of the scenery and sometimes a sketch of a personality.  The middle of chapter 8 also stuck out to me:

Any big spoilers are revealed pretty early on in the story, but probably best to skip it if there's a chance you're going to read this classic detective fiction from the mid-1930s:



Spoiler: From the middle of Chapter 8.



_In the below, Grant is from Scotland Yard, Chris Clay is a murdered actress, and the man beside him is the husband (5th child of a duke or somesuch).  There has been no description of the events at the funeral before now:_

As they turned the corner Grant caught sight of the news-sellers' posters. CLAY FUNERAL: UNPRECEDENTED SCENES. TEN WOMEN FAINT. LONDON'S FAREWELL TO CLAY. And (the Sentinel) CLAY'S LAST AUDIENCE.

Grant's foot came down on the accelerator.

"It was unbelievably ghastly," said the man beside him, quietly.

"Yes, I can imagine."

"Those women. I think the end of our greatness as a race must be very near. We came through the war well, but perhaps the effort was too great. It left us--epileptic. Great shocks do, sometimes." He was silent a moment, evidently seeing it all again in his mind's eye. "I've seen machine guns turned on troops in the open--in China--and rebelled against the slaughter. But I would have seen that sub-human mass of hysteria riddled this morning with more joy than I can describe to you. Not because it was--Chris, but because they made me ashamed of being human, of belonging to the same species."

 "I had hoped that at that early hour there would be very little demonstration. I know the police were counting on that."

"We counted on it too. That is why we chose that hour. Now that I've seen with my own eyes, I know that nothing could have prevented it. The people are insane."

He paused, and gave an unamused laugh. "She never did like people much. It was because she found people--disappointing that she left her money as she did. Her fans this morning have vindicated her judgment."


----------



## Cadence

Whatever gaps and slips there were in the first two Inspector Grant books, there weren't any in the third book now credited to Elizabeth MacKintosh's Josephine Tey pseudonym.   It isn't an inspector grant book, but instead is the story of Miss Lucy Pym accepting an old friend's invite to visit a women's college in England in the 1940s to give a talk about her book.   Definitely recommended.   I'm also glad I didn't read the Amazon description (or any other) before picking it up.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I just finished the third book in Brandon Sanderson's _Skyward _series: _Cytonic_. I'll be honest, it was kind of a slog. There were plenty of enjoyable moments . . . but I think that I'm just BrandoSando'd out at the moment. I've read almost all of his books in the past 9 months, and while they're overall really good, the style has started to get old. Especially due to this book being one of his more standard and boring novels and its twist not being that great (in comparison to those of Mistborn, Stormlight, Elantris, and even Steelheart). And the series went in a different direction after the first book than I was expecting and would have preferred. Maybe when I revisit the books sometime in the future I'll be able to appreciate them more. I'm going to put off reading the Skyward Flight Novellas until I've finished something by another author. 

I still really liked and recommend _Skyward_, the first book in the series. It had a great cast, an engaging plot, and interesting twists for what I was going to be a pretty standard Space Opera novel. The series, for me, sadly peaked with the first book. Which is rare for Brandon Sanderson, because I personally enjoyed _The Hero of Ages _more than _The Final Empire, Shadows of Self_ more than _The Alloy of Law,_ and _Words of Radiance_ more than _The Way of Kings_. The only other series of his that I think peaked in quality with its first book was _Steelheart_. 

Now, onto finishing _The Golden Compass_. Maybe I can figure out what the hell is going on soon.


----------



## Zaukrie

Just got Guy Gavriel Kay's new book. Very much looking forward to it.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Still reading that instructors book about archery (mostly deals with Recurce-shooting though). And I am halways through a "Write Now!"- book with stuff for SF and Fantasy.  I really need to finish those, though the archer-book is kind of moot, as it is so much about recurve-archery. Here in Sweden other material is preferred.

I have however finished reading Blades in the Dark. Interesting setting, but I am not sold on the system after a read-through. Would I like to try and play it? Yes. But I do not think I would be a good GM for it.

Also finished *Wasteland King* by Lilith Saintcrow. It was the third and last book in the Gallow and Ragged-series. Urtban fantasy where Fae interacts with humans, and it does not end well. I liked to book. she has a style of writing that is easy to read. And she is very prolific in her writing, so I have many more series to buy if I want them all.  I have previouse read her Bannon & Clare-series, which was steampunk+magic.

Then I finsihed *Reese & Reeves 2: Arpeggio* by Krystine Brown.  It is  direct continuation of her previous book. I bought mine from the kickstarter she had to finance it. It is whimsical kind-of steampunk setting, but it is weird, with a lot of pop-culture references. Like Mad Shelleys disease which turned people into undead monstrosities. Was so-so..

I will now start with an anthology of Cthulhuesque horror-stories by renowned Swedish horror-author Anders Fager, called *Samlade Svenska Kulter*. I have read some stuff from him before, as he had a number of novellas and 2 adventures as part of the kickstarter for the Swedish version of Call of Cthulhu.

I will also need to reread the rules for The Troubleshooters rpg (some stuff was added after I proof-read it), so I can make more adventures for it.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

AcererakTriple6 said:


> I just finished the third book in Brandon Sanderson's _Skyward _series: _Cytonic_. I'll be honest, it was kind of a slog. There were plenty of enjoyable moments . . . but I think that I'm just BrandoSando'd out at the moment. I've read almost all of his books in the past 9 months, and while they're overall really good, the style has started to get old. Especially due to this book being one of his more standard and boring novels and its twist not being that great (in comparison to those of Mistborn, Stormlight, Elantris, and even Steelheart). And the series went in a different direction after the first book than I was expecting and would have preferred. Maybe when I revisit the books sometime in the future I'll be able to appreciate them more. I'm going to put off reading the Skyward Flight Novellas until I've finished something by another author.
> 
> I still really liked and recommend _Skyward_, the first book in the series. It had a great cast, an engaging plot, and interesting twists for what I was going to be a pretty standard Space Opera novel. The series, for me, sadly peaked with the first book. Which is rare for Brandon Sanderson, because I personally enjoyed _The Hero of Ages _more than _The Final Empire, Shadows of Self_ more than _The Alloy of Law,_ and _Words of Radiance_ more than _The Way of Kings_. The only other series of his that I think peaked in quality with its first book was _Steelheart_.
> 
> Now, onto finishing _The Golden Compass_. Maybe I can figure out what the hell is going on soon.



Did you back Sanderson's kickstarter?


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Eyes of Nine said:


> Did you back Sanderson's kickstarter?



No, I didn't have the money for the physical copies when the kickstarter was running (I could have gotten the e-books, but my ADHD makes it really difficult to read digital books). And I'm not sure if I'm going to buy the Frugal Wizard book. I'm just going to wait until they're available to buy individually.


----------



## killerklown

I've finished reading and writing a review of Warpstar!, the neo-clone of WH40k. TLDR: I really liked it. Check on my blog if you wanna know why, if it might be for you too, and why I don't write that i LOVE it ;-)








						[OSR Review] Warpstar!
					

What is "Warpstar!" ? "Warpstar!" is the science fiction counterpart of "Warlock!", which was an RPG implying that they were neocloning Warh...




					osrdread.blogspot.com


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished reading Burroughs' Tanar of Pellucidar. Fast-paced and entertaining, it seemed a bit formulaic though.

Now I'm giving Ernest Bramah's The Wallet of Kai Lung a shot. As old as it is, I'm somewhat hesitant about it, expecting a giant dose of orientalism. But Lin Carter liked the series enough to put the subsequent volumes in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, so I'm giving it a shot.


----------



## Scottius

killerklown said:


> I've finished reading and writing a review of Warpstar!, the neo-clone of WH40k. TLDR: I really liked it. Check on my blog if you wanna know why, if it might be for you too, and why I don't write that i LOVE it ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [OSR Review] Warpstar!
> 
> 
> What is "Warpstar!" ? "Warpstar!" is the science fiction counterpart of "Warlock!", which was an RPG implying that they were neocloning Warh...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> osrdread.blogspot.com



I'm a big fan of Warpstar and it's fantasy sibling Warlock. Glad to see some love for it here.


----------



## South by Southwest

This one is off the fantasy/sci-fi path, but I've recently gotten into _For the Life of the World_ by Alexander Schmemann. For those who get into theology, he is extraordinary.


----------



## Richards

I'm now reading _Dhampir_ by Barb and J. C. Hendee, another library book sale 50-cent investment.  So far it's pretty good: the protagonist is a swordswoman who's really a con artist, who bilks villages by taking advantage of their superstitions to rid the town of "undead forces" - which always takes the form of her half-elf partner in crime, who she "kills" and then "takes the body away to perform a ritual in secret to make sure it doesn't rise again."  Two problems, though: she's been saving her money and bought a tavern where she plans to retire, much to the consternation of her half-elf partner; and there really _are _undead in the area who are interested in this "undead hunter" who claims to be able to take them down.

She knows almost nothing of her absent father; given the book's title I'm willing to bet he was a vampire and she's the dhampir the book's named after.

Johnathan


----------



## trappedslider

Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die by Garrett M. Graff 


Spoiler



A fresh window on American history: the eye-opening truth about the government's secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, even if the rest of us die - a road map that spans from the dawn of the nuclear age to today.

Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold 1st Helicopter Squadron, codenamed MUSSEL, flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They're only half right: While the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves.

For 60 years the US government has been developing secret doomsday plans to protect itself, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms - from its plans to evacuate the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to the plans to launch nuclear missiles from a Boeing-747 jet flying high over Nebraska. In Raven Rock, Garrett M. Graff sheds light on the inner workings of the 650-acre compound (called Raven Rock) just miles from Camp David as well as dozens of other bunkers the government built for its top leaders during the Cold War, from the White House lawn to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to Palm Beach, Florida, and the secret plans that would have kicked in after a Cold War nuclear attack to round up foreigners and dissidents and nationalize industries. Equal parts presidential, military, and cultural history, Raven Rock tracks the evolution of the government plan and the threats of global war from the dawn of the nuclear era through the War on Terror.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

With Ernest Bramah's The Wallet of Kai Lung, I did something I haven't done in years. I put the book down, unfinished. While I had been prepared for the orientalism, the overly-formal dialogue got to be a cudgel taken to my brain again and again after a hundred pages. I just couldn't go on.

So I switched Flashing Swords #4: Barbarians and Black Magic, edited by Lin Carter. Way better...bookended by Jack Vance and Michael Moorcock, it was way more enjoyable.

Now I'm reading Margaret St. Clair's The Dolphins of Altair.


----------



## Nellisir

Finished Paladin by CJ Cherryh, and The Gate of the Gods, by Martha Wells. Started on The Element of Fire (by M. Wells), but misplaced it last night (much annoyance) so I punted and skimmed through Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse. 

(It's...fine. I appreciate having all that stuff in one place. I also think we're going to see WotC pivot away from the recent stuff they've been doing, but I'm not sure towards what yet. Dragonlance & Spelljammer feel like "Ok we've done everything else, lets give them this now."  I don't think D&D is ending; I don't even think it'll be a big edition change. But it doesn't make sense to update Volos & Mord1 and not update the Monster Manual.)

Anyway. Also got Oerth Journal #36 and read through that. Excellent stuff.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Just finished *Samlade Svenska Kulter* av Anders Fager (the name of the book directly translates as Collected Swedish Cults). It is a collection of Lovecraftian/Cthulhuesque short stories that are loosely connected. A bit uneven, but the stuff that is good, is very good. Starting with a story called Furierna från Borås (The Furies from Borås). Borås happens to be my hometown, so it was extra fun to read that one, and have heard the author do a reading from it at a gaming convention. Two people fainted during the reading... From other reasons, but still, it is good PR.  That story also became a graphic novel called Smutsig Svart Sommar (Dirty Black Summer), which both gave a bit of backstory, and some more of things that happened afterwards.  The stories are not for the faint of heart or those that are prudish.

So, it is bit complicated, as he first wrote a book, called Svenska Kulter (this book will be released in English in September by the name Swedish Cults). He then wrote 2 more books, but they were not published in Swedish, but rather all 3 books were added together to form Samlade Svenska Kulter.  Here's a video that explains it..  


And they have also made a Swedish rpg based upon some of these stories. I don't have it unfortunately, and think it is out of print.


----------



## dragoner

I am re-reading the Algebraist by Banks, it is very baroque sf in its own way. I have decided to re-read a lot of my books and then let them go.


----------



## wicked cool

been reading books that come through on facebook recommendation
last ritual-cthulu story. theres a series of books with some that have loose connections to each other. good but not great.
broken heart arellium-monsters in a pit , political intrigue, sort of super powered knights-enjoyable. book 1 of not sure
revenant and the tomb- tomb holds horros with a hero that is a revenant. enjoyable
ventifact  colossus-group of adventurerers recruited to stop an ancient evil. Feels like a D&D group. liked it. Also book 1 of something


anyone have any recent books based on a party of adventurers fighting in a D&D type world. books written within last 5 years


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished St. Clair's The Dolphins of Altair. It's weird and trippy and very 60s, but it all hangs together better than it should.

Now I'm reading Lord Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow.


----------



## Richards

I'm now reading a thriller called _Deserves to Die_, by Lisa Jackson.  It involves a killer who likes taking body parts as trophies from the women he kills, and a victim he thought he killed in the Bayou survived and is hiding out in Montana...where there's another, similar killing (does he know she's still alive and in hiding?) - plus the recent shooting death of the beloved local sheriff which may or not be related.  I've read other books by this author and picked it up (at a library book sale) based on name recognition alone.  I'm 70+ pages in (I started reading it in the doctor's office and pharmacy waiting room this morning) and it's already intriguing, and although this is apparently part of a series with the same female Montana detective main character and I haven't read any others in the series, I'm having no trouble keeping up with the characters.

Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow. Lovely stuff, as usual, full of magic and beauty.

Now I'm reading Alan Burt Akers'/ Kenneth Bulmer's Transit to Scorpio.


----------



## Blue

Recently finished up Ada Palmer's "Perhaps the Stars", the fourth and last book in her Terra Ignota series.

It was a slow but worthwhile read.

First, a slight warning.  It is very much written as the fourth part of a larger work expected to be read as one.  It does not spend time explaining the various factions and characters and intrigues and who is important to whom and why that have been established in the earlier books.  For me I read the third, The Will to Battle, not long after it came out and had a few year gap.  Knowing now, I would have gone back and reread the first books again.

But that doesn't take away from the story.  The story is written on multiple layers, and having knowledge of both various historic philosophers as well as a working knowledge of the Odyssey are helpful in navigating those layers.

This books is more philosophical than the preceding three, and some of the big conflicts from the earlier books dwindle in scope and therefore import in what goes on in this one.

For those looking at the series as a whole, it has a fresh take on human cultural evolution that I enjoyed.  The main character is absolutely a Mary Sue, but that's almost the point - except for a few paragraphs in ~2000 pages, it really espouses the Great Man concept of history that a few movers and shakers guide everything.  And the (majority) PoV character needs to be able to interact with all of them.

I'll put it around a 7 or 8 out of 10.  It's weighty in thoughts and at times the exposition is a bit much.  But if you're going to enjoy the series, I think you'd really enjoy the series.


----------



## Richards

One thing I'm just now noticing about the book I'm reading: by putting the author's name at the top and the title of the book below it, the book's front cover notes, "LISA JACKSON _Deserves to Die_."

Kind of harsh, no?

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Blue said:


> Recently finished up Ada Palmer's "Perhaps the Stars", the fourth and last book in her Terra Ignota series.



I have studiously NOT read your review. I just wanted to comment. My library did not have this novel. So I ordered on ABE books. It showed up and is a *TOME*. It's 800 pages long, sheesh. I look forward to reading it all - maybe while I'm camping next week and traveling the week after. But wow what a doorstop.


----------



## Blue

Eyes of Nine said:


> I have studiously NOT read your review. I just wanted to comment. My library did not have this novel. So I ordered on ABE books. It showed up and is a *TOME*. It's 800 pages long, sheesh. I look forward to reading it all - maybe while I'm camping next week and traveling the week after. But wow what a doorstop.



Spoiler free

It is long.  The one point I need to make is: read the other three first.  This doesn't reintroduce everyone.


----------



## Richards

I'm now 91 pages into a new book (thanks to a lengthy stay in a hospital waiting room while my wife was at an appointment): _No Time Like the Past_ by Greg Cox - a _Star Trek Original Series_ novel wherein Seven of Nine ends up shunted through space and time and ends up on a planet with Captain James Kirk and crew.  They're now working together to get her back to her own place and time before she corrupts the timeline with her knowledge of "the future."  Kind of contrived, but the author does a good job making the characters speak with authenticity - as I read the book I can easily picture the characters saying the lines they're given (which is sadly not always the case and really bugs me when they get it wrong).

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Blue said:


> Spoiler free
> 
> It is long.  The one point I need to make is: read the other three first.  This doesn't reintroduce everyone.



Oh yes, reading the first three: check.


----------



## Cadence

Finished reading all 8 of Josephine Tey's mysteries. Tey is one of Elizabeth MacKintosh's pseudonyms.  She used Gordon Daviot for her plays, the non-mystery novels, short stories and poetry (and originally for the first mystery now commonly listed under Tey).

Tey is sometimes listed as one of the four Queens of Crime with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham - in place of Ngaio Marsh, and some of her books make some "greatest ever lists". (_Daughter of Time_ was #1 on the 1990 list by the British Crime Writers' Association for top crime novel of all time, and _The_ _Franchise Affair_ was number 11.  _The Franchise Affair_ also made the top 101 list for Parade Magazine.  Those two (#4 and #81) and _Brat Farrar_ (#90) show up on the top 100 by the Mystery Writers of America).

I don't know if I've ever read someone who is this much of a wordsmith.  I can't tell you if they are the best plots (although they seemed fine) or best characters (although I found myself liking  many of them), but the words themselves pulled me along and made me want to read.

The first two Inspector Grant novels (_The Man in the Queue_ and _A Shilling for Candles_) would have been super, but there were a couple parts in each where it felt like there was a scene jump, or something odd, or something I missed.  They were still good reads, and those problems didn't happen for the later six.

The next three didn't really have Inspector Grant in them - _Miss Pym Disposes_ and _Brat Farrar_ (not at all) and _The Franchise Affair_ (a cameo or two).  The final three all featured him at the center To _Love and Be Wise_, _The Daughter of Time_, and _The Singing Sands_.

_Miss Pym Disposes_ was a spectacular book set in an English girl's college.   My big reason for not listing the  rest on the same level is that the endings didn't quite live up to the previous parts of the books (they were fine, but I really, really liked what came before).   I guess from those others that _The Franchise Affair_ is my second favorite.  I also wonder if the _Daughter of Tim_e reads better if one has some passing knowledge of the history English monarchy (it's the only one that might have drug for me at a point or two).  _The Daughter of Time_ and the _Singing Sand_ stand out for not having the usual mystery set-up.

Edit: As an aside, I would say don't read the reviews, summaries, or cover blurbs of any of them before jumping in.  Some of them definitely would have changed the natural feel of the books to me for a first read.

Now on to Dasheill Hammet.


----------



## trappedslider

trappedslider said:


> Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die by Garrett M. Graff
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> A fresh window on American history: the eye-opening truth about the government's secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, even if the rest of us die - a road map that spans from the dawn of the nuclear age to today.
> 
> Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold 1st Helicopter Squadron, codenamed MUSSEL, flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They're only half right: While the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves.
> 
> For 60 years the US government has been developing secret doomsday plans to protect itself, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms - from its plans to evacuate the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to the plans to launch nuclear missiles from a Boeing-747 jet flying high over Nebraska. In Raven Rock, Garrett M. Graff sheds light on the inner workings of the 650-acre compound (called Raven Rock) just miles from Camp David as well as dozens of other bunkers the government built for its top leaders during the Cold War, from the White House lawn to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to Palm Beach, Florida, and the secret plans that would have kicked in after a Cold War nuclear attack to round up foreigners and dissidents and nationalize industries. Equal parts presidential, military, and cultural history, Raven Rock tracks the evolution of the government plan and the threats of global war from the dawn of the nuclear era through the War on Terror.



Finished that one up, some really interesting stuff if you're into that.

Also finished up:
Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case 


Spoiler



THE TRUE STORY BEHIND NBC’S MARQUEE MINI-SERIES "THE THING ABOUT PAM" STARRING RENEE ZELLWEGER AS PAM HUPP AND JOSH DUHAMEL AS JOEL SCHWARTZ, PREMIERING FEBRUARY 2022. The explosive, first-ever insider’s account of the case that’s captivated millions – the murder of Betsy Faria and the wrongful conviction of her husband – told by Joel J. Schwartz, the defense attorney who fought for justice on behalf of Russel Faria, and New York Times bestselling author Charles Bosworth Jr.

On December 27th, 2011, Russell Faria returned to his Troy, Missouri, home after his weekly game night with friends to an unthinkable, grisly scene: His wife, Betsy, lay dead, a knife still lodged in her neck. She’d been stabbed fifty-five times.   First responders concluded that Betsy was dead for hours when Russ discovered her. No blood was found implicating Russ, and surveillance video, receipts, and friends’ testimony all supported his alibi. Yet incredibly, police and the prosecuting attorney ignored the evidence. In their minds, Russ was guilty. But prominent defense attorney Joel J. Schwartz quickly recognized the real killer.   The motive was clear. Days before her murder, the terminally ill Betsy replaced her husband with her friend, Pamela Hupp, as her life insurance beneficiary. Still, despite the prosecution’s flimsy case and Hupp’s transparent lies, Russ was convicted—leaving Hupp free to kill again.   Bone Deep takes readers through the perfect storm of miscalculations and missteps that led to an innocent man’s conviction—and recounts Schwartz’s successful battle to have that conviction overturned. Written with Russ Faria’s cooperation, and filled with chilling new revelations and previously undisclosed evidence, this is the story of what can happen when police, prosecutor, judge, and jury all fail in their duty to protect the innocent—and let a killer get away with murder.


 a lot of WTF moments

and finished up
Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars, and Stories of World War II (Turner Classic Movies)



Spoiler



From the Turner Classic Movies Library: Film and history buffs alike will enjoy this engrossing story of Hollywood's involvement in World War II, as it's never before been told.

Remember a time when all of Hollywood—with the expressed encouragement and investment of the government—joined forces to defend the American way of life? It was World War II and the gravest threat faced the nation, and the world at large. Hollywood answered the call to action.

This is the riveting tale of how the film industry enlisted in the Allied effort during the second World War—a story that started with staunch isolationism as studios sought to maintain the European market and eventually erupted into impassioned support in countless ways. Industry output included war films depicting battles and reminding moviegoers what they were fighting for, "home-front" stories designed to boost the morale of troops overseas, and even musicals and comedies that did their bit by promoting the Good Neighbor Policy with American allies to the south. Stars like Carole Lombard—who lost her life returning from a war bond-selling tour—Bob Hope, and Marlene Dietrich enthusiastically joined USO performances and risked their own health and safety by entertaining troops near battlefronts; others like James Stewart and Clark Gable joined the fight themselves in uniform; Bette Davis and John Garfield created a starry haven for soldiers in their founding of the Hollywood Canteen. Filmmakers Orson Welles, Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock, and others took breaks from thriving careers to make films aiming to shore up alliances, boost recruitment, and let the folks back home know what beloved family members were facing overseas. Through it all, a story of once-in-a-century unity—of a collective need to stand up for humanity, even if it means risking everything—comes to life in this engrossing, photo-filled tale of Hollywood Victory.



Goes over a lot of interesting history in Hollywood during WWII, including a whole section about Casablanca (did you know all of the extras were real refugees?) and even has a few paragraphs about Hedy Lemar's work with the Navy (they said no and then classified what she offered them)


----------



## Ulfgeir

Just finished *Rivers of London* (or Midnight Riot as it is also called as far as I gather. No idea why two names) by Ben Aaronovitch. Book on in the series Rivers of London.

It is urban fantasy. A much lighter read than Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, or Charles Stross' Laundry Files.  It is quintessentially a typical Britsh feelgood police series, like the Midsomer murders TV-series. Just that this involves supernatural stuff. Harry Potter meets CSI.

The main character, probationary constable Peter Grant, is "voluntered" to guard the scene of a murder, during the cold and rainy night. A strange witness to the murder appears. Turns out that the witness is a ghost. Thus the main character learns that ghosts are real, as is magic and other supernatural things, and this will affect his future career as he is dragged into strange things.

As it is the first book ín a series (yes, there are novellas that take place prior to this as far as I gather), it does have a lot of world-building to do. Not quite sure the author succeeds though.  As the main chartacter was unaware of the existance of the supernatural, he and the reader gets to discover it at the same time. Will I read more in this series, probably yes. It was a couple of enjoyable hours.

If nothing else, it is worth reading to get a feel for Chaosiums upcoming game based on the series. It has after all been one of the top 10 most anticipated games for 3 years now if I recall correctly.


----------



## Nellisir

Ulfgeir said:


> Just finished *Rivers of London* (or Midnight Riot as it is also called as far as I gather. No idea why two names) by Ben Aaronovitch. Book on in the series Rivers of London.
> 
> It is urban fantasy. A much lighter read than Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, or Charles Stross' Laundry Files.  It is quintessentially a typical Britsh feelgood police series, like the Midsomer murders TV-series. Just that this involves supernatural stuff. Harry Potter meets CSI.
> 
> The main character, probationary constable Peter Grant, is "voluntered" to guard the scene of a murder, during the cold and rainy night. A strange witness to the murder appears. Turns out that the witness is a ghost. Thus the main character learns that ghosts are real, as is magic and other supernatural things, and this will affect his future career as he is dragged into strange things.
> 
> As it is the first book ín a series (yes, there are novellas that take place prior to this as far as I gather), it does have a lot of world-building to do. Not quite sure the author succeeds though.  As the main chartacter was unaware of the existance of the supernatural, he and the reader gets to discover it at the same time. Will I read more in this series, probably yes. It was a couple of enjoyable hours.
> 
> If nothing else, it is worth reading to get a feel for Chaosiums upcoming game based on the series. It has after all been one of the top 10 most anticipated games for 3 years now if I recall correctly.



I read the series and enjoyed it quite a lot. Be aware there are also (several?) short story collections & a graphic novel series, all of which seem to have (msotly) independent stories (not adapted from another format). Somewhere around book 7 they overlap a little, which seems to be him being gleeful about his expanding universe and is mildly annoying (like, ok, you've got an evil car in your garage. I didn't read that yet; I didn't even know WHERE to read about it at the time; so ugh)

Really enjoyed it, though.


----------



## Arawn76

Just finished Michael Moorcocks Corum trilogies and Hawkmoon Quartet. Here comes Count Brass…


----------



## Blue

@Ulfgeir 's recent post put a question in my mind.  What Urban Fantasy would you recommend that isn't "I'm a Mary Sue who fights things that go bump in the night".  There's a lot of good stuff I've read, but I've also seen a decent amount of schlock.

So what should I read next in Urban Fantasy?


----------



## Ulfgeir

Blue said:


> @Ulfgeir 's recent post put a question in my mind.  What Urban Fantasy would you recommend that isn't "I'm a Mary Sue who fights things that go bump in the night".  There's a lot of good stuff I've read, but I've also seen a decent amount of schlock.
> 
> So what should I read next in Urban Fantasy?



I really liked the Gallow and Ragged-trilogy by Lilith Sainthcrow, But yes, the main characters are more powerful than mere mortal humans. Of course their opposition are more powerful, as in the Queen of Summer and Lord Unwinter...


----------



## Mallus

Well I _tried_ to read Nabokov's Ada, or Ardor. I bounced off of it hard, which surprised me a little because when I read Lolita and Pale Fire I didn't find them difficult. Oh wait, I was decades younger! Never mind. I'll try again someday. I had no idea it technically qualifies as sci-fi (by being an alternate history). 

Then to reassure myself that I could read at least some books quickly, I got Adrian Tchaikovsky's Eyes of the Void from the library and finished it in three days. Apparently it's the second book in a planned trilogy, but I had no problem starting there. Rip-roaring space opera that I highly recommend.


----------



## Nellisir

Blue said:


> @Ulfgeir 's recent post put a question in my mind.  What Urban Fantasy would you recommend that isn't "I'm a Mary Sue who fights things that go bump in the night".  There's a lot of good stuff I've read, but I've also seen a decent amount of schlock.
> 
> So what should I read next in Urban Fantasy?



Mike Carey's little series. I forget the name.


----------



## Blue

Nellisir said:


> Mike Carey's little series. I forget the name.



The Felix Castor series?


----------



## Nellisir

Blue said:


> The Felix Castor series?



Yes, that one. I mean, he fights things that go bump in the night, but I'm not sure he's a Mary Sue. I enjoyed it, but it's been a couple years & urban fantasy isn't my norm.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Read the first two series a while ago, and am currently working through the Count Brass follow-up. Great stuff, but really, it's hard to go wrong with Moorcock.



Arawn76 said:


> Just finished Michael Moorcocks Corum trilogies and Hawkmoon Quartet. Here comes Count Brass…




I finished Akers' Transit to Scorpio. While very derivative of ESB's Barsoom stories, it was at least a rollicking bit of light entertainment. When I was a kid, my parents moved to a house that still had a bunch of stuff from the previous residents in it. In a room that also featured a life-size Mark Spitz poster, there were a bunch of books that I was curious about, but didn't touch because they weren't mine (even if the previous owner had left them behind). Years later, I got to thinking about those books again. I didn't know the title or author; all I remembered were the covers, that they would've been published before 1985, and that they were published by DAW Books. Armed with that information, I finally was able to track down the first in the series.

Now I'm reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player Two.


----------



## Scottius

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Read the first two series a while ago, and am currently working through the Count Brass follow-up. Great stuff, but really, it's hard to go wrong with Moorcock.
> 
> 
> 
> I finished Akers' Transit to Scorpio. While very derivative of ESB's Barsoom stories, it was at least a rollicking bit of light entertainment. When I was a kid, my parents moved to a house that still had a bunch of stuff from the previous residents in it. In a room that also featured a life-size Mark Spitz poster, there were a bunch of books that I was curious about, but didn't touch because they weren't mine (even if the previous owner had left them behind). Years later, I got to thinking about those books again. I didn't know the title or author; all I remembered were the covers, that they would've been published before 1985, and that they were published by DAW Books. Armed with that information, I finally was able to track down the first in the series.
> 
> Now I'm reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player Two.



I picked up quite a few of Akers books from that series not that long ago from half price books. It's on my reading list. 

As for my current reading, I just completed a reread of Designers & Dragons the 90s. It's my third time reading the series now and I love revisiting the history of the RPG industry just as much as ever. I really can't wait for Appelcline to finish putting together the 2010s.


----------



## Cadence

Whatever I'm reading probably won't come from the non-text book section of our campus bookstore.  This is all that's left after the last 20+ years of gradual shrinking and the recent remodel.  :-(

Makes me think back to the big wall of sci-fi and fantasy books when I was an undergrad in the midwest.  I wonder if they have much of a selection left either.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

After giving up halfway through the Golden Compass, I started Tamsyn Muir's _Gideon the Ninth_. I finished it in 5 days and loved it. Definitely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. 

Next, I'm starting my first _Discworld _book. I've heard quite a few people say to start with Small Gods, so that's what I'm going to do.


----------



## Richards

I'm reading _Area 51_ by Robert Doherty, apparently the first book in a series of novels that has quite a lot of sequels.  As I just have the one (which I picked up at a library book sale), I'm glad it's the first book and not one in the middle, although I am a bit worried that there might not be a real ending to this one.  (I hate books that end on a cliffhanger.)  I'm 74 pages in and I can see I'm going to like it, at least until the ending (or lack thereof), because the characters are appealing and the action's entertaining.  So we'll see how it goes.

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

AcererakTriple6 said:


> After giving up halfway through the Golden Compass, I started Tamsyn Muir's _Gideon the Ninth_. I finished it in 5 days and loved it. Definitely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.
> 
> Next, I'm starting my first _Discworld _book. I've heard quite a few people say to start with Small Gods, so that's what I'm going to do.



Gideon was awesome, Harrow also awesome in a totally different way.

Discworld actually has 3+ storyines. the Rincewind books, the Mort books, the City Watch books, the Witches books, and probably a couple others I'm forgetting. While there is some overlap (hello Cut-me-own-throat Dibbler!) of characters, if you focus on one set of stories, it's like a couple of parallel series in the same universe. Agree though, _Small Gods_ is a good story to get a sense of the world itself and the world building.

Here's a nice breakdown (the best I've seen tbh) for reading Discworld.





						Reading Order - Discworld Emporium
					






					www.discworldemporium.com


----------



## Eyes of Nine

AcererakTriple6 said:


> After giving up halfway through the Golden Compass, I started Tamsyn Muir's _Gideon the Ninth_. I finished it in 5 days and loved it. Definitely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.
> 
> Next, I'm starting my first _Discworld _book. I've heard quite a few people say to start with Small Gods, so that's what I'm going to do.



(Also, did you change your avatar to a Brandon Sanderson cover? Or something else? It looks so familiar...)


----------



## Jmarso

"Who can hold the sea" by James Hornfischer. (His last book before dying of cancer.  )
"Nimitz at War" by Craig Symonds. 

Both superlative history books that don't read like history books.


----------



## WayneLigon

After_ Parliament of Bodies_, I decided to take a break from the Maradaine books to dive into Maberry's _Kagan The Damned_. (Maberry has several series running; the Joe Ledger series is a fantastic blend of action-thriller and sci-fi/horror - this is his first fantasy book). Good book so far. The Amazon preview stops _just short_ of the huge honking big reveal of just what threat the Silver Empire is really up against, so that's cool. I have a sneaking suspicion of a least two more major plot twists in that same regard as well.


----------



## WayneLigon

Finished up the Maradaine Constabulary books by Marshall Ryan Maresca. Satrine Rainey and Minox Welling are Inspectors Third Class at the Inemar stationhouse of the vast city of Maradaine. There is a seething mass of subplots, much more so than in the Thorn or Holver books, because the Constabulary is not only dealing with the overarching plots from the other series, but with the various problems of a major city as well. The Child Kidnappings subplot and The Parliament Assassinations subplot dovetails into Corruption At The Highest Levels subplot in a tasty stew. Willing and Rainey deal with various high and low crimes, all the while scraping away at the various stratas of subplot that exist throughout all the series.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Eyes of Nine said:


> (Also, did you change your avatar to a Brandon Sanderson cover? Or something else? It looks so familiar...)



Yep. The Way of Kings. I just really like the cover art.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Eyes of Nine said:


> Gideon was awesome, Harrow also awesome in a totally different way.



I haven't read it yet, but I'm glad to hear that it's also good. I was a bit nervous about the way the first book ended. 


Eyes of Nine said:


> Discworld actually has 3+ storyines. the Rincewind books, the Mort books, the City Watch books, the Witches books, and probably a couple others I'm forgetting. While there is some overlap (hello Cut-me-own-throat Dibbler!) of characters, if you focus on one set of stories, it's like a couple of parallel series in the same universe. Agree though, _Small Gods_ is a good story to get a sense of the world itself and the world building.
> 
> Here's a nice breakdown (the best I've seen tbh) for reading Discworld.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Reading Order - Discworld Emporium
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.discworldemporium.com



Yep. I've heard that there's quite a few different series that take place in on Discworld and some standalone books (like Small Gods). I've heard good things about the series that focuses around Death. Would that be a good place to go next if I enjoy Small Gods?


----------



## Blue

I'm reading two different books and getting into them very differently.  I'm about a quarter of the way through each.

I'm reading The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.  It's a Hugo winner and I've been recommended it from several directions, but I'm finding it very hard to care about the main character.  The whole plot so far seems to be more intellectual and not moving me at all on the emotional level.

I'm also reading The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson.  This has had the opposite effect.  I was immediately drawn in by the main character, enjoyed the world building (though it's not particularly fresh, it is flavorful and supports the story well), and I care about what happens.  The main character has strengths and flaws and does things that work and things that don't and others in the book have agency, not just the protagonist and an antagonist.  I'm not sure I can identify a singular antagonist or cabal of them to be told the truth.

The first book is translated, so there might be cultural subtleties and tropes I'm missing.  Both have solid prose, there's no exquisitely crafted wordsmithing from either pulling me in.  (Patrick Rothfuss, get off your backside!)

It really is the emotional connection - caring about the PoV character and the plot.

I'm going to keep soldiering on with Three-Body Problem - it's not bad, just not as engaging.  But it has far to go before I pick it up with as much relish as Baru.


----------



## Mad_Jack

Just finished reading a couple of books...

Finally killed off _Past Tense_, one of the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child - I usually like them, but this one was kind of dull. left off reading it in the middle and it took me a long time before I got motivated to finish it. I've got the next one in the series on the unread pile, and it seems like it'll be more interesting.

I liked _Good Me, Bad Me_ by Ali Land - the author is a career mental health nurse working with troubled teens, so her novel about a teenaged girl whose mother is a notorious serious killer is well-grounded in realism. The main character turns her mother in to the cops after years of abuse, but after being sent to live with a new family, with a new name, and at a new school, she begins to wonder just how much like her mother she really is... By the middle of the book it's fairly obvious how it's going to end, but it's an enjoyable read.

Now going to reread _Thieftaker_ by D. B. Jackson - Boston, ten years before the revolutionary War. Ethan Kaille is a conjurer in a place and time where it's not exactly illegal to use magic but doing something flashy in public can still get you burned as a witch. He makes his living as a thieftaker, hired to retrieve people's stolen goods, but not a very good living - his business rival is a woman who has dozens of men, money and social connections, and she "allows" him to work in her town, letting him take the cases that she can't be bothered with. In some ways, it's kind of your standard noir "down-on-his-luck private eye gets dragged into a high-society mystery" story, but the setting and the addition of magic makes it interesting. Apparently there are other books in the series, so one of these days I'll have to see if I can find them.


----------



## dragoner

Just finished the Algebraist by Banks, I think I might read Destiny's Road by Niven next.


----------



## Mallus

I polished off Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society in 3 days. Charming fluff. I figure I’ll blow through a few more books with named swords or spaceships before I have another go at (a long book by) Nabokov again.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

AcererakTriple6 said:


> I haven't read it yet, but I'm glad to hear that it's also good. I was a bit nervous about the way the first book ended.
> 
> Yep. I've heard that there's quite a few different series that take place in on Discworld and some standalone books (like Small Gods). I've heard good things about the series that focuses around Death. Would that be a good place to go next if I enjoy Small Gods?



I personally like the Mort (Death) books the best; followed by the Rincewind books. But I think I like the Rincewind books because he was the first main character I encountered. I started at the beginning in the early 90's , when there were only a few books out yet. I actually fell off the wagon at some point around book 20; and haven't finished the series. (Same thing happend to me for the Expanse series). I hope to get back and finish them all someday. But it might require I start at the beginning again. If only other author's weren't coming out with new good stuff too!


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Blue said:


> I'm reading two different books and getting into them very differently.  I'm about a quarter of the way through each.
> 
> I'm reading The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.  It's a Hugo winner and I've been recommended it from several directions, but I'm finding it very hard to care about the main character.  The whole plot so far seems to be more intellectual and not moving me at all on the emotional level.
> 
> I'm also reading The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson.  This has had the opposite effect.  I was immediately drawn in by the main character, enjoyed the world building (though it's not particularly fresh, it is flavorful and supports the story well), and I care about what happens.  The main character has strengtcomplehs and flaws and does things that work and things that don't and others in the book have agency, not just the protagonist and an antagonist.  I'm not sure I can identify a singular antagonist or cabal of them to be told the truth.
> 
> The first book is translated, so there might be cultural subtleties and tropes I'm missing.  Both have solid prose, there's no exquisitely crafted wordsmithing from either pulling me in.  (Patrick Rothfuss, get off your backside!)
> 
> It really is the emotional connection - caring about the PoV character and the plot.
> 
> I'm going to keep soldiering on with Three-Body Problem - it's not bad, just not as engaging.  But it has far to go before I pick it up with as much relish as Baru.



Your description of 3Body Problem (3BP) sounds very similar to mine. I finished it, and I can see why people liked it. I'll be interested in your feedback when you're done...


----------



## Nellisir

Eyes of Nine said:


> Your description of 3Body Problem (3BP) sounds very similar to mine. I finished it, and I can see why people liked it. I'll be interested in your feedback when you're done...



I read it a few years back; same reaction. I just didn't care. No interest in revisiting it.


----------



## dragoner

I loved Three Body, though I think it really hits with the third novel; part of it is that Liu is a dry sort of hard SF writer, and that shows. I mean I liked his Ball Lightning as well, but I am sure it might not appeal to a western audience due to the ending is not as clearly good, though sometimes, a lot of times, we have to accept the ambivalence of life.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Gideon the Ninth is so darn good! Harrow the Ninth, likewise. It's perhaps more ambitious and more demanding of its readers. I'd recommend getting to it sooner rather than later. I had to wait for it to come out, and when it did I found myself stumbling in a few locations, because of how long it had been and the central conceit of the story.



AcererakTriple6 said:


> After giving up halfway through the Golden Compass, I started Tamsyn Muir's _Gideon the Ninth_. I finished it in 5 days and loved it. Definitely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.




Discworld is tops in my book. Ask six Discworld fans where the best starting place is and you'll likely get six different answers.



AcererakTriple6 said:


> Next, I'm starting my first _Discworld _book. I've heard quite a few people say to start with Small Gods, so that's what I'm going to do.




I finished reading Cline's Ready Player Two. In some ways, it's more introspective a read than the first. The villain of the first book has a great quote: "Don’t you kids ever get tired of picking through the wreckage of a past generation’s nostalgia?" On the other hand, there are a couple things about the ending that didn't sit right with me.

Now I'm reading R.E. Howard's Lin Carter and L. Sprague De Camp's Conan the Buccaneer.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

And done with Conan the Buccaneer. It was a quick read. While enjoyable, and at times pretty close to feeling like R.E. Howard, at other times it feels like an "uncanny valley Conan." Lines about Conan tearing up, or attributing his strength to the gods, some of his dialogue, just don't feel like the character.

Now I'm reading Frostflower and Thorn by Phyllis Ann Karr.


----------



## Richards

I finished up _Area 51_ and it was very good - action-packed throughout, with interesting characters and a very good understanding of the way the military works (not surprisingly, as the author is an ex-Special Forces guy writing under a pseudonym).  It tied up a lot of UFO stuff - long, cigar-shaped craft, flying saucers, foo fighters - in a sensible way and had a nice backstory about what the aliens were really on about here on Earth.  And while it's very obviously merely the first book in an ongoing series, it at least ties up enough of the present story that if you never read any of the subsequent books in the series it at least has a good ending, with the feeling that there's still plenty more story to come if you want to read more.

In any case, I'm going to be flying on a business trip next week, which means lots of reading on airplanes and at airports, so I'm starting up a fairly short novel and bringing along a much longer one, figuring the two ought to hold me for four days.  The first one is a 1956 novel by John Christopher, _No Blade of Grass_, an eco-disaster science fiction novel of what happens when most of the grass and grain in the world dies out.  As you might imagine, things start to devolve pretty fast when the food starts to run out....  But it's only 190 pages, so I doubt it'll last more than the trip there.

For the nights in the hotel room and the return legs home on Thursday, I'm bringing a 498-page book (with fairly small print) called _Fire Bringer_, by David Clement-Davies, that ought to hold me for a while.  Believe it or not, it's a story about a deer - an anthropomorphic fantasy novel in the manner of _Watership Down_, only with deer instead of bunnies.  It's quite unlike most anything else I've read (although _Raptor Red_ by Robert T. Bakker is the story of a velociraptor's life I bought and read years ago, but who could resist a story with a dinosaur as the main character?), but it looks interesting so I thought I'd give it a try.  And there's a bookstore near the place I'll be staying, so in a pinch I can always see what else is available.  (Most of the _Firefly_ novels I've bought were from that store.)

Johnathan


----------



## Paul Farquhar

AcererakTriple6 said:


> Next, I'm starting my first _Discworld _book. I've heard quite a few people say to start with Small Gods, so that's what I'm going to do.



_Weird Sisters_ and _Guards! Guards! _are also good jumping on points._ Small Gods_ is good for those who like their humour more philosophical.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Karr's Frostflower and Thorn. Without getting into it too much, it was well-written and  a topical read with its exploration of women's rights and places in society versus a patriarchal religion.

Now I'm reading Jack Vance's Emphyrio.


----------



## HaroldTheHobbit

I bought almost all Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e stuff on pdf a while ago and are seriously hooked, so that and a couple of Felix and Gotrek anthologies steals my reading time at the moment.

Besides that and the obligatory stack of unread academia I will try to make room for a rereading of Neal Stephensons earlier works plus the Mongoliad this summer.

Edit: and the Neuromancer trilogy of course, my perennial beach books, but that goes without sayin.


----------



## Richards

So I finished the two books I brought on my business trip.  _No Blade of Grass_ was interesting, if a little outdated.  By holy cow, _Fire Bringer_ was outstanding - which very much worked in my favor, as it was 498 pages long and I had intended it to be my primary entertainment in the hotel room and on the trip back home.  (And in perfect timing, I finished the book about 5 minutes before the last leg of my flight home landed.)  But it was pretty much "Lion Ling" by way of "Animal Farm" with deer as the main characters in medieval Scotland, and it was fascinating.  As an indicator of how well I liked it, I'll be offering it up to one of my players this Wednesday - I generally only recommend her the books I really found to be worthwhile, and this one definitely made the cut.  (Other recommendations have included the "Gentleman Bastards" series, the "Lincoln Rhyme" series, and _Piranesi_.)

Next up is a book I purchased while on my trip: _The Ghost Machine_ by James Lovegrove, the one novel in the "Firefly" series (thus far) I had somehow failed to pick up when it first came out.

Johnathan


----------



## WayneLigon

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I finished Karr's Frostflower and Thorn. Without getting into it too much, it was well-written and  a topical read with its exploration of women's rights and places in society versus a patriarchal religion.
> 
> Now I'm reading Jack Vance's Emphyrio.



There's also _ Frostflower and Windbourne,_ and a handful of short stories with them.


----------



## WayneLigon

Finished Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry. Darn fine book. 






Started on the first Chathrand Voyage book, The Red Wolf Conspiracy  by Robert V.S. Redick





Redick's_ Fire Sacraments _series is one of my favorite fantasy series so far, and this is probably going to be right up there.


----------



## WayneLigon

Also reading Shattered Pillars, by Elizabeth Bear. Second in the Eternal Sky series.  Quasi-steppe-nomads, wizardry, ancient magics - very cool stuff.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I just finished _Small Gods_ by Terry Pratchett. It's easily the weirdest book I've ever read. But also probably the best of the weird books I've read. I enjoyed it, it was certainly an entertaining and mesmerizing book, but I don't think I'll continue reading Discworld for now. I'm sure I'll come back to it some time, I just think I might enjoy another series more at the moment.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Oh cool, I will have to check that out!



WayneLigon said:


> There's also _ Frostflower and Windbourne,_ and a handful of short stories with them.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Currently reading Peace Talks by Jim Butcher. The wizard Harry Dresden is as usual in over his head in problems. Even though most of the books are self-contained, you should really read them in order as they form a long series. The author has hinted about some 20+ books in total.


----------



## dragoner

Read Friday by Heinlein, it was not so good, for some reason I thought I had read it before, except I had not, or I have no memory of it. On the recommendation from another gamer, I am read Crystal Express, for the Swarm initially, though the rest is good. This one I bought and had on the shelf, thinking I had read it, yet evidently I hadn't.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Vance's Emphyrio. Great stuff, with weird people, creatures, and cultures. And a sharp critique of oligarchy and cultural stratification.

Now I'm re-reading Stephen Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. It's been eight years since I last read the series.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Really struggling to finish _Perhaps the Stars_, the final Terra Ignota volume. Maybe because it's 800+ pages, I don't know. Also struggling with the first of the Liveship Traders trilogy, _Ship of Magic._ I think maybe I'll mix it up with a mystery novel.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Just finished Battle Ground, by Jim Butcher.  Book 17 in the series The Dresden Files. This is the climax to the buildup from Peace Talks, and follows directly on the end of Peace Talks (I think it was intended to be just one book from the start, but it grew...). It is basically non-stop action, where Harry Dresden is outmatched almost all the time.  We finally get to see some individuals that has been mentioned before, and we know they will make in impact further on the series. 

We see just how tough some of the supernatural heavy-weights really are (and what happens when their power is not enough). Though some of the things do come across a little bit of a Deus-Ex-Machina, in that not everything is properly set up beforehand. On the other hand the things that have been set up properly (sometimes many books back) have powerful payoffs in most cases. There are a few of those that I would have like to see more off.

The series however need now to stop the power-creep for a while, and throw some other types of problems than those that can be solved by bigger fireballs at Dresden. He has personal problems that need to be dealt with.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Ulfgeir said:


> Just finished Battle Ground, by Jim Butcher.  Book 17 in the series The Dresden Files. This is the climax to the buildup from Peace Talks, and follows directly on the end of Peace Talks (I think it was intended to be just one book from the start, but it grew...). It is basically non-stop action, where Harry Dresden is outmatched almost all the time.  We finally get to see some individuals that has been mentioned before, and we know they will make in impact further on the series.
> 
> We see just how tough some of the supernatural heavy-weights really are (and what happens when their power is not enough). Though some of the things do come across a little bit of a Deus-Ex-Machina, in that not everything is properly set up beforehand. On the other hand the things that have been set up properly (sometimes many books back) have powerful payoffs in most cases. There are a few of those that I would have like to see more off.
> 
> The series however need now to stop the power-creep for a while, and throw some other types of problems than those that can be solved by bigger fireballs at Dresden. He has personal problems that need to be dealt with.



I think there's only 3-5 books left?


----------



## Blue

dragoner said:


> Read Friday by Heinlein, it was not so good, for some reason I thought I had read it before, except I had not, or I have no memory of it. On the recommendation from another gamer, I am read Crystal Express, for the Swarm initially, though the rest is good. This one I bought and had on the shelf, thinking I had read it, yet evidently I hadn't.



Friday suffers from both being a product of it's times, and chock full of references to other people or concepts in the Heinlein Universe and if you're not seeped in that context falls flat at times.  When I first read it back in the 80s I enjoyed it, greatly enjoyed it even, and reread several times over the years.  But some of his writing hasn't aged well, and other of his writing works differently for me as I've matured.


----------



## Blue

Eyes of Nine said:


> Really struggling to finish _Perhaps the Stars_, the final Terra Ignota volume. Maybe because it's 800+ pages, I don't know. Also struggling with the first of the Liveship Traders trilogy, _Ship of Magic._ I think maybe I'll mix it up with a mystery novel.



I've read both of them.  Perhaps the Stars recently, and witht he change of PoV character, de-escalation of so many important points from earlier books, and the more literal mixing in myths and stories, it got cumbersome.  Was still worth finishing.

Liveship Traders I read because of how much I liked the first FitzChivalry trilogy.  It's in the same world.  But it never grabbed me as much, and it's one of the few series that I've bothered to keep but not bothered to reread, butting it sort of right on the edge of my valuation.


----------



## Blue

So last update I was reading The Three-Body Problem which wasn't gripping me and The Traitor Baru Cormorant which was.  These both remain true, but not primary.

I haven't touched Three-Body Problem in over a week.  I think I want to push through eventually, we'll see if that holds.

Quite enjoying The Traitor Baru Comorant.  Solid 8 of 10 so far, including realistically messing up which I enjoy.  Almost at the end, was just readingit a few minutes ago.

But one of my guilty pleasures took me over - teen supers.  I noticed that Arthur Mayor had out books 7-9 in his series that started with Sidekicks on Kindle Unlimited.  And I've been devouring them.  I've gone through 7, 8, and half one 9.  I'm not sure 24 hours has passed.  And it's been almost all action.  As much as I enjoy the exploits of Raven, he needs to sleep at some point.  But still: guilty pleasure.

Next up on kindle when I finish those is a new Dresden novella The Law, also free on Kindle Unlimited.  (And tagging @Ulfgeir , who was just reading some Dresden.)


----------



## dragoner

Blue said:


> Friday suffers from both being a product of it's times, and chock full of references to other people or concepts in the Heinlein Universe and if you're not seeped in that context falls flat at times.  When I first read it back in the 80s I enjoyed it, greatly enjoyed it even, and reread several times over the years.  But some of his writing hasn't aged well, and other of his writing works differently for me as I've matured.



Agreed, and I think the Friday I have is first edition, hardback. After that, I am finishing up a short story collection called Crystal Express by Sterling, another I thought I had read, and didn't. I buy a lot of used books, and sometimes forget to read them all, I am trying to pare down the lot though. Next I want to re-read Surface Detail by Banks.


----------



## Blue

Blue said:


> Quite enjoying The Traitor Baru Comorant.  Solid 8 of 10 so far, including realistically messing up which I enjoy.  Almost at the end, was just readingit a few minutes ago.



The Traitor Baru Cormorant called to me last night as being near the end.  Unfortunately, it wasn't as close to the end as I expected. I finished up at Dark o'clock in the morning.

It nudged up from 8 to about an 8.5.  All I will say is the book is well named, which is obvious at basically every point past the introductory chapter.


----------



## South by Southwest

_Arabian Nights._ The _Al-Qadim_ setting and the 5e _Zakhara_ supplement got me all riled up.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Depending on your translation, the Arabian Nights is a very saucy read. That was a surprise when I picked a copy at random from the library.



South by Southwest said:


> _Arabian Nights._ The _Al-Qadim_ setting and the 5e _Zakhara_ supplement got me all riled up.


----------



## South by Southwest

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Depending on your translation, the Arabian Nights is a very saucy read. That was a surprise when I picked a copy at random from the library.



Saucy indeed! Lusty, bloody, cruelty-ridden and completely casual about it. It is not something I would read to my kids at night.


----------



## Richards

I'm now reading another book by an author I've never read before, Kerry Schafer's _Between_, about an ER worker whose dreams start to come true: she meets people she recalls from her dreams and events she dreams about start to happen.  It turns out the Dreamworlds are real and there may be creatures from them escaping into the "real world."  It was an interesting premise and since my current 3.5 game deals with dreams as a prominent feature I thought I'd give it a shot.  At only a couple chapters in, I can at least report that it's well written and is gripping my interest.

Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished re-reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. When I was younger, I never understood why Thomas Covenant so resisted the truth of the Land. But now, I think I get it. How his very survival was tied to the unflinching reality of his condition and rigid self-discipline. To believe in the land, he felt, would undermine that discipline. A beautiful and complex tale, with beauty offset by some true ugliness.

I read L.D. Lewis' novelette, A Ruin of Shadows. For just under 70 pages, it does a great job at making you feel like you're stepping into a world with history and age.

Now I'm reading Conan the Warrior, by R.E. Howard, edited by L. Sprague De Camp.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Conan the Warrior. The three stories within are visceral, pulse-pounding yarns. Also very racist, and while that comes with the territory, I find how abrasive it is varies from story to story.

Now I'm reading Ben Riggs' Slaying the Dragon.


----------



## Alzrius

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Now I'm reading Ben Riggs' Slaying the Dragon.



Me too. While I've only made modest progress on it over the last week or so (mostly due to work), I've been able to put some real time into it recently, and I'm hoping to finish it off before Gen Con.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I am about 100 pages through Harrow the Ninth. I really didn't expect this book to be written in second person. It's really jarring, and the book is really hard to follow. However, I loved the first book, so I'm going to push through.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Currently reading *The Scorched Sky* by Jon Ford. It is book 1 in a (planned) series called The Femme Fatales. Don't think the rest is written yet. It is however inspired by the old MMO City of Heroes.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

AcererakTriple6 said:


> I am about 100 pages through Harrow the Ninth. I really didn't expect this book to be written in second person. It's really jarring, and the book is really hard to follow. However, I loved the first book, so I'm going to push through.



I'm not sure if it will help to say that I found it worth pushing through to the end, but I'll say it anyway


----------



## Zaukrie

Didn't want to bring a hard copy book to Europe, so I'm reading The Fifth Season, which I accidentally bought a hard copy and ebook of......I can see why it gets awards, and I'm not that far in.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Really digging it so far, and I haven't even gotten to the main focus, the sale of TSR to Wizards.



Alzrius said:


> Me too. While I've only made modest progress on it over the last week or so (mostly due to work), I've been able to put some real time into it recently, and I'm hoping to finish it off before Gen Con.




Harrow the Ninth asks a lot of its readers, challenges them with some deliberately difficult, obfuscating choices of plot and framing. But the pay-off is 100% worth it.



AcererakTriple6 said:


> I am about 100 pages through Harrow the Ninth. I really didn't expect this book to be written in second person. It's really jarring, and the book is really hard to follow. However, I loved the first book, so I'm going to push through.




The Fifth Season is really darn good.

Not going to lie, though, I've got books on Kindle and physical copy too. I try to avoid it, but sometimes it happens - some books I just want to experience in an older paperback format after reading the eBook, like the people that first read it would've experienced.



Zaukrie said:


> Didn't want to bring a hard copy book to Europe, so I'm reading The Fifth Season, which I accidentally bought a hard copy and ebook of......I can see why it gets awards, and I'm not that far in.


----------



## trappedslider

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Not going to lie, though, I've got books on Kindle and physical copy too. I try to avoid it, but sometimes it happens - some books I just want to experience in an older paperback format after reading the eBook, like the people that first read it would've experienced.



I have Ready player one in paperback, kindle, and amusingly Audio. Otherwise, I try not to get a book more than once unless there's a reason like an anniversary edition (Heir to the empire, 13 reasons why) or differences between printed editions (THe original printing of The Stand and the 1990 unabridged edition).


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

The Kindle has saved so much space on my bookshelves. It's got the entire Wheel of Time on it, for example, which alone would eat up plenty of real estate.

I do have multiple editions of the Conan stories on Kindle and physical copy. As far as I'm aware, you just can't get the Ace/Lancer versions digitally.



trappedslider said:


> I have Ready player one in paperback, kindle, and amusingly Audio. Otherwise, I try not to get a book more than once unless there's a reason like an anniversary edition (Heir to the empire, 13 reasons why) or differences between printed editions (THe original printing of The Stand and the 1990 unabridged edition).


----------



## trappedslider

Ralif Redhammer said:


> The Kindle has saved so much space on my bookshelves. It's got the entire Wheel of Time on it, for example, which alone would eat up plenty of real estate.



I have the worldwar tetralogy by Turtledove on the kindle along with a couple of other series, sadly something I noticed is that over time some books that I know i have bought have disappeared from my library despite the book's store page saying I bought it previously


----------



## Zaukrie

trappedslider said:


> I have the worldwar tetralogy by Turtledove on the kindle along with a couple of other series, sadly something I noticed is that over time some books that I know i have bought have disappeared from my library despite the book's store page saying I bought it previously



That's why I try to remember to download them onto my computer. Though I rarely remember.


----------



## Nellisir

Eyes of Nine said:


> I'm not sure if it will help to say that I found it worth pushing through to the end, but I'll say it anyway



I'll echo this. I had a long break between reading Gideon the Ninth & Harrow, so there was quite a bit of WTF, but eventually I figured out it was intentional. I actually stayed up until 2am yesterday finishing it. (oops).

Nona the Ninth is out in September.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Just Finished The Scorched Sky by Jon Ford. 

As I mentioned earlier this is the first in a planned series, and it is inspired by the old MMO City of Heroes. The book can be bought through Amazon.

When the book starts, some people has had weak super powers for a few years, but they are not very common. Now something materializes in the sky in Chicago, and the city is soon under attack by insect-like aliens. We ge to follow a number of different people with powers, in their fight against the alien invaders and to save the city.  Each character has a a distinct viewpoint, and it is generally rather easy to read.

If you like superheroes, this might be something for you. I for one can't wait for the next book.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I've noticed that as well with a few books in my library. So frustrating. What's even more bizarre is that it's been pieces of a series, not the whole thing.



trappedslider said:


> I have the worldwar tetralogy by Turtledove on the kindle along with a couple of other series, sadly something I noticed is that over time some books that I know i have bought have disappeared from my library despite the book's store page saying I bought it previously


----------



## dragoner

Finished Surface Detail by Banks, it isn't his strongest Culture novel, I think I like Excession or Look to Windward better, started to read Matter again before realizing how many times I had read it. Instead I started on Destiny's Road, by Niven, which is good.


----------



## Zaukrie

dragoner said:


> Finished Surface Detail by Banks, it isn't his strongest Culture novel, I think I like Excession or Look to Windward better, started to read Matter again before realizing how many times I had read it. Instead I started on Destiny's Road, by Niven, which is good.



I've only read one, but am interested in reading more for sure, thanks for the "ranking".


----------



## dragoner

Zaukrie said:


> I've only read one, but am interested in reading more for sure, thanks for the "ranking".



Use of Weapons is definitely up there in the ranking as well.


----------



## Blue

Read books 7-9 in the Superpowered Chronicles (what a boring name) by Arthur Mayor.  A bit too heavy on action, still enjoyable.

Started another Kindle Unlimited superhero book called Kill Your Heroes and Writing feels amateur, characters are so far rather two dimensional, and a lot of "sex sells" descriptions.

Reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons for the first time.  Yes yes, I know it won the Hugo back in '89 and I'm a little behind the times.  So far I'm enjoying it.  The science-y aspects have held up well enough for 30+ years of progress, and the framing story + individual stories put me in a Canterbury Tales sort of mood.  Had me crying at one point.  Nearing the end and I'm worried there's not enough pages left.


----------



## Smackpixi

Smackpixi said:


> I’m reading the 5e DMG, cover to cover, it’s a resolution, gonna be the first person to do it if you believe the internet.  yah yah I know you have already.



I know no one actually gives a crap, but a couple weeks ago I finally finished reading the DMG.  The whole thing, eyes over all magic item text and everything.  Omg why is there 20 pages about planes!  How could anyone care.


----------



## trappedslider

Smackpixi said:


> I know no one actually gives a crap, but a couple weeks ago I finally finished reading the DMG.  The whole thing, eyes over all magic item text and everything.  Omg why is there 20 pages about planes!  How could anyone care.








Make a save


----------



## Richards

I finished _Between_, and while it started off strong it lost my interest about halfway through.  It didn't help that it didn't have much of a real ending, merely a setup for the book(s) that come after.  I'm no longer interested.

Now I'm starting up Peter Benchley's _White Shark_.  It'll be interesting to see how he differentiates this from _Jaws_, especially as that was a great white shark and this one, while supposedly is a much more fearsome creature, doesn't even get "great" in its title.  I'm guessing it's a megalodon, beating the "Meg" series by a few years.  (_White Shark_ was published in 1994 and Steve Alten's _Meg_ - which I read and enjoyed - came out in 1997.)  We'll see.

Johnathan


----------



## jdrakeh

All of the negativity surrounding M.A.R. Barker got me interested enough to pick up _The Man of Gold_ at a local used bookstore. I'm not sure it's worth of all the praise I've seen heaped upon it in the past, but it's not bad.


----------



## Blue

Blue said:


> Reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons for the first time.  Yes yes, I know it won the Hugo back in '89 and I'm a little behind the times.  So far I'm enjoying it.  The science-y aspects have held up well enough for 30+ years of progress, and the framing story + individual stories put me in a Canterbury Tales sort of mood.  Had me crying at one point.  Nearing the end and I'm worried there's not enough pages left.



Yes, there were too few pages left.  Reading a note the author said at a different time, Hyperion has ansecond book at is really one big book, split into two because of publishing realities.

I am on the fence about continuing.  Anyone have good (or ill) things to say abotu The Fall of Hyperion?  Or the later two books (also one long book) in the series Endymion / The Rise of Endymion?


----------



## Erekose

Just back from a week on holiday and on a whim bought Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Really didn’t think I was going to like it but he won me round by the end of the story.


----------



## dragoner

Blue said:


> The Fall of Hyperion



Its good, maybe not quite as good as the first.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Blue said:


> Yes, there were too few pages left.  Reading a note the author said at a different time, Hyperion has ansecond book at is really one big book, split into two because of publishing realities.
> 
> I am on the fence about continuing.  Anyone have good (or ill) things to say abotu The Fall of Hyperion?  Or the later two books (also one long book) in the series Endymion / The Rise of Endymion?



I couldn't get past chapter 1 of the sequel to Hyperion.



Erekose said:


> Just back from a week on holiday and on a whim bought Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Really didn’t think I was going to like it but he won me round by the end of the story.



I love Neverwhere, wish there were sequels set in that universe... Sort of an early urban fantasy type novel - so I guess there are lots of other examples out there...


----------



## Erekose

Eyes of Nine said:


> I love Neverwhere, wish there were sequels set in that universe... Sort of an early urban fantasy type novel - so I guess there are lots of other examples out there...



Neil has gone on record to say that Neverwhere is the only novel he’d write a sequel for … and I vaguely remember something about him starting to write Seven Sisters but no sign of it being finished …


----------



## dragoner

Finished Destiny's Road by Niven, started to Re-read Hammer's Slammers by David Drake.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Eyes of Nine said:


> I love Neverwhere, wish there were sequels set in that universe... Sort of an early urban fantasy type novel - so I guess there are lots of other examples out there...



I saw the low-budget BBC TV-series back in 1996, and then read the book later.  If I recall correctly it started as a TV-series, and thus the book has in it some parts that they could not to do in the TV-series.

Edit: If I recall correctly, Gaiman wanted the market to be inside Harrod's, but they were not allowed to film there.


----------



## Nellisir

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I've noticed that as well with a few books in my library. So frustrating. What's even more bizarre is that it's been pieces of a series, not the whole thing.



I have paper books, and have noticed the same thing. But I think it's because I have a lot of books, not enough shelves, and poor organization...


----------



## Nellisir

Blue said:


> Read books 7-9 in the Superpowered Chronicles (what a boring name) by Arthur Mayor.  A bit too heavy on action, still enjoyable.
> 
> Started another Kindle Unlimited superhero book called Kill Your Heroes and Writing feels amateur, characters are so far rather two dimensional, and a lot of "sex sells" descriptions.
> 
> Reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons for the first time.  Yes yes, I know it won the Hugo back in '89 and I'm a little behind the times.  So far I'm enjoying it.  The science-y aspects have held up well enough for 30+ years of progress, and the framing story + individual stories put me in a Canterbury Tales sort of mood.  Had me crying at one point.  Nearing the end and I'm worried there's not enough pages left.



It's one book split into two. Just go ahead and by Fall of Hyperion.

Edit: I was on the fence about Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion while I was reading it, but overall, it was excellent and would absolutely recommend.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Not going to lie, I've totally bought the same book twice, after combing the house and not finding it. Only to find the original copy a few months later. 

The last time I did that, I went on a total purge and reorganization bender. It was traumatic.



Nellisir said:


> I have paper books, and have noticed the same thing. But I think it's because I have a lot of books, not enough shelves, and poor organization...


----------



## HaroldTheHobbit

A bit late on the train, started on 2666 by Bolano, really good so far. 

Also digged into the second Felix & Gotrek anthology - I have become an unashamed Old World fanboy, with The Enemy Within in the starter blocks for this fall.


----------



## Zaukrie

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Not going to lie, I've totally bought the same book twice, after combing the house and not finding it. Only to find the original copy a few months later.
> 
> The last time I did that, I went on a total purge and reorganization bender. It was traumatic.



I've done that several times, though now that we've moved and I sold most of my books, it is less likely to happen....


----------



## Nellisir

Zaukrie said:


> I've done that several times, though now that we've moved and I sold most of my books, it is less likely to happen....



When I was moving in (to my current apartment, which used to be my dad's office in our barn when I was a kid, so...full circle...) my dad watched me carrying boxes up and said "maybe you should get rid of a few books?" I set the boxes down, looked at him, and said "I've done FOUR  PURGES of books in the past THREE years. These are the SURVIVORS!"


----------



## Nellisir

I've been off and on about reading fiction. I have been getting a lot of POD and similar RPG stuff, so I've been reading Dragonlance Adventures, Calimshan, Fiend Folio, Dawn of the Emperors, Hollow World, Monster Mythology, the original AND revised Forgotten Realms Campaign sets (I had the original once; I'd never had or read the revised so that was actually quite good), Demihuman Deities, Nod #35, Creature Cache (5 stars), Codex Germania, Codex Slavorum (2 stars, maybe), Iron Falcon rules, Bards Gate (the PF edition, but it was $19.95 so I absolutely don't care), and a few others I don't recall right now.


----------



## Zaukrie

Nellisir said:


> I've been off and on about reading fiction. I have been getting a lot of POD and similar RPG stuff, so I've been reading Dragonlance Adventures, Calimshan, Fiend Folio, Dawn of the Emperors, Hollow World, Monster Mythology, the original AND revised Forgotten Realms Campaign sets (I had the original once; I'd never had or read the revised so that was actually quite good), Demihuman Deities, Nod #35, Creature Cache (5 stars), Codex Germania, Codex Slavorum (2 stars, maybe), Iron Falcon rules, Bards Gate (the PF edition, but it was $19.95 so I absolutely don't care), and a few others I don't recall right now.



I mean, so much good fiction in those RPG books.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Riggs' Slaying the Dragon. A fascinating read, and no doubt a new pillar in RPG historical works. Tightly researched, the book approaches the subject with a degree of empathy that never forgets that though this all happened decades ago, it happened to real people. And though it doesn't really go into it, I think it provides about as clear a window into what might have happened to D&D if Wizards hadn't bought the whole thing as I've seen.

Now I'm reading Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Deceit.


----------



## Zaukrie

I could have sworn I posted and asked about the sequels to The Fifth Season.... Which I loved.


----------



## Nellisir

Zaukrie said:


> I mean, so much good fiction in those RPG books.



Yes, but not much plot or storyline; characters are introduced and never developed, and locations presented in one book never show up in another one.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Re-reading the SandmanGNs in preparation for binging the TV show... I read them as single issues back upon release. Re-reading them again as one long story, and having the benefit of knowing what is going to happen (roughly), I'm seeing a bunch of the foreshadowing that Gaiman was dropping all over the place that I missed on first read through with 30 days between each 22 pages.

Just read the issue in Doll's House that introduces Hob Gadling. That's still one of my favorite all time issues in all of comics - and I've read a lot of comics. It continues to hold up.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Just re-read the first Sandman graphic novel a few months ago and yeah, they're so dang good. It's a masterclass of storytelling.



Eyes of Nine said:


> Re-reading the SandmanGNs in preparation for binging the TV show... I read them as single issues back upon release. Re-reading them again as one long story, and having the benefit of knowing what is going to happen (roughly), I'm seeing a bunch of the foreshadowing that Gaiman was dropping all over the place that I missed on first read through with 30 days between each 22 pages.
> 
> Just read the issue in Doll's House that introduces Hob Gadling. That's still one of my favorite all time issues in all of comics - and I've read a lot of comics. It continues to hold up.


----------



## Scottius

Currently reading my newly arrived copy of Monster Manual Expanded. Also reading up on Esper Genesis since I'm starting a campaign of that game.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Looks like the Netflix Sandman TV show is Preludes and Nocturnes and Dolls House. So I think I can go watch now safely. Whether I will or not is another question (says the guy who still hasn't watched any Stranger Things yet)


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I just finished _Harrow the Ninth_. It was absolutely worth it. I'm so excited for the sequels. It being written in second person was jarring, but I got used to it, and the book justified that choice. 

Now, onto the first book of the Dresden Files.


----------



## Zaukrie

Eyes of Nine said:


> Looks like the Netflix Sandman TV show is Preludes and Nocturnes and Dolls House. So I think I can go watch now safely. Whether I will or not is another question (says the guy who still hasn't watched any Stranger Things yet)



It's very, very, very, very, well done


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

Aside from DCC rulebook & Lankhmar boxed set, just started Salem’s Lot, never actually read it. Not a big King fan but liked some his earlier works and guess just never got around to it before now.


----------



## Richards

I finished _White Shark_ and it was _not_ a megalodon as I had imagined.  But it was very well done, and I enjoyed it much better than I did _Jaws_ (by the same author).

Next up, I started _Jumper: Griffin's Story_ by Steven Gould.  This is a weird one, because his first novel was _Jumper_, about a boy who realized he could teleport at will, and he did a good job figuring out how that would work and what the consequences would be.  Years later (after several other novels in between), he returned to the world of _Jumper_ and wrote a sequel called _Reflex_ (which wasn't as good, I thought).  And then Hollywood got a hold of his works and fused the two into a movie called _Jumper_, which apparently took ideas from both books but was was way different.  And then Steven Gould decided to write a novel that was based on the movie, so this is kind of a novelization of the movie which was based on his earlier works.  I never saw the movie but at only a couple chapters in I can see this is _way_ different than the original novels.  I'm not expecting much, because I read Gould's first three novels and experienced diminishing returns with each (I still think his best novel was his first; the next two subsequent ones I enjoyed a little less than the previous ones), but I'm interested in seeing just how different this setup is.

Johnathan


----------



## trappedslider

Richards said:


> Next up, I started _Jumper: Griffin's Story_ by Steven Gould.  This is a weird one, because his first novel was _Jumper_, about a boy who realized he could teleport at will, and he did a good job figuring out how that would work and what the consequences would be.  Years later (after several other novels in between), he returned to the world of _Jumper_ and wrote a sequel called _Reflex_ (which wasn't as good, I thought).  And then Hollywood got a hold of his works and fused the two into a movie called _Jumper_, which apparently took ideas from both books but was was way different.  And then Steven Gould decided to write a novel that was based on the movie, so this is kind of a novelization of the movie which was based on his earlier works.  I never saw the movie but at only a couple chapters in I can see this is _way_ different than the original novels.  I'm not expecting much, because I read Gould's first three novels and experienced diminishing returns with each (I still think his best novel was his first; the next two subsequent ones I enjoyed a little less than the previous ones), but I'm interested in seeing just how different this setup is.
> 
> Johnathan



recursive adaptation


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Nona the Ninth, next month! I cannot wait. Harrow the Ninth makes some deliberate choices that challenge the reader, but they absolutely pay off by the end.



AcererakTriple6 said:


> I just finished _Harrow the Ninth_. It was absolutely worth it. I'm so excited for the sequels. It being written in second person was jarring, but I got used to it, and the book justified that choice.




DCC Lankhmar is a joy just to read. They do such a great job of distilling Leiber's world into a concrete text.

As for King, I likewise resisted reading his books for decades and am only now giving him a chance.



HawaiiSteveO said:


> Aside from DCC rulebook & Lankhmar boxed set, just started Salem’s Lot, never actually read it. Not a big King fan but liked some his earlier works and guess just never got around to it before now.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Weis and Hickman's Dragons of Deceit this morning. I'll leave a detailed discussion for that thread, but on the whole I enjoyed it.

Now I'm reading The Immortal of World's End, by Lin Carter. After Dragonlance, it feels all the more gonzo.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished Carter's The Immortal of World's End. It's a gonzo work of mad genius, though there's some stuff that's aged poorly in it. One thing I will say is that I never want to hear anyone say the artificer isn't old school. The Gondwane epic is specifically cited in Appendix N and sure enough, there's a character that clearly would count as an artificer in it. Making gunpowder and everything.

Now I'm reading E.D.E. Bell's Lord's Dome. She was one of the author's alley guests at this year's Origins, and I picked up this book from her there.


----------



## Scottius

I have started reading The Complete Compleat Enchanter by L Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. It's a nice hardcover with slipcover version I picked up on my latest Half Price Books trip. 

And for gaming books, I just got my copy of the Lords of Chaos RPG via DriveThruRPG from a Kickstarter. Looking forward to driving into it.


----------



## Alzrius

Having finished Ben Riggs' _Slaying the Dragon_, I'm now starting on the one book in its bibliography that I haven't read yet: Flint Dille's _The Gamesmaster: Almost Famous in the Geek '80s_.

...or at least, I would be, but my local library just got the copy of Weis and Hickman's _Dragons of Deceit_ that I asked them to hold for me. So I suppose I'll need to finish that one first!


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

That a fun, charming read. Probably the best work by both of them. And perhaps the only fantasy tale with a psychologist for a main character!



Scottius said:


> I have started reading The Complete Compleat Enchanter by L Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. It's a nice hardcover with slipcover version I picked up on my latest Half Price Books trip.




I finished Bell's Lord's Dome. Excellent stuff, with some great world building. At only 175 pages or so, it's a quick and streamlined read that makes the details matter.

Now I'm reading Barbara Hambly's The Time of the Dark. With a cover like this, how could I not?


----------



## Blue

Was doing some traveling for work, and got in some reading time.  Reread Going Postal by Terry Prachett.  Fantastic as always, I think this was the fourth time through it.  If you want a full review, tough.  Just go read it.

Read Charles Stross' Dead Lies Dreaming.  It's a side series set up in the world that his Laundry Files has morphed into.  It was good, but lacked a certain _zing_ to it.  Call it a 7/10.  It did keep the action going and have an interesting cast of characters.  But then again, I quite liked early & mid Laundry Files while I'm only a moderate fan of where everything ended up once they introduced superheroes.  And the characters in this are an outgrowth of that.

I started The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, which I've heard good things about.  But somehow the writing style feels dated and isn't catching me.

On Kindle Unlimited I started We are Legion (We are Bob).  It feels like good fanfiction.  That's not a knock down at all, just an observation.  Worth the time to read so far, but the characters outside the main character are given precious little time to be more than 2D cutouts.


----------



## trappedslider

Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune Hardcover
by Keith Thomson 



Spoiler



The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates—a potent mix of low-life scallywags and a rare breed of gentlemen buccaneers—gather on a remote Caribbean island. The plan: to wreak havoc on the Pacific coastline, raiding cities, mines, and merchant ships. The booty: the bright gleam of Spanish gold and the chance to become legends. So begins one of the greatest piratical adventures of the era—a story not given its full due until now.

Inspired by the intrepid forays of pirate turned Jamaican governor Captain Henry Morgan—yes, that Captain Morgan—the company crosses Panama on foot, slashing its way through the Darien Isthmus, one of the thickest jungles on the planet, and liberating a native princess along the way. After reaching the South Sea, the buccaneers, primarily Englishmen, plunder the Spanish Main in a series of historic assaults, often prevailing against staggering odds and superior firepower. A collective shudder racks the western coastline of South America as the English pirates, waging a kind of proxy war against the Spaniards, gleefully undertake a brief reign over Pacific waters, marauding up and down the continent.

With novelistic prose and a rip-roaring sense of adventure, Keith Thomson guides us through the pirates’ legendary two-year odyssey. We witness the buccaneers evading Indigenous tribes, Spanish conquistadors, and sometimes even their own English countrymen, all with the ever-present threat of the gallows for anyone captured. By fusing contemporaneous accounts with intensive research and previously unknown primary sources, Born to Be Hanged offers a rollicking account of one of the most astonishing pirate expeditions of all time.



The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain: A Handbook for Visitors to 1789–1830 Hardcover  by Ian Mortimer PhD



Spoiler



This is the age of Jane Austen and the Romantic poets; the paintings of John Constable and the gardens of Humphry Repton; the sartorial elegance of Beau Brummell and the poetic license of Lord Byron; Britain's military triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo; the threat of revolution and the Peterloo massacre. In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history: the Regency, or Georgian England.

A time of exuberance, thrills, frills and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition that reflected unprecedented social, economic, and political change. And like all periods in history, it was an age of many contradictions—where Beethoven's thundering Fifth Symphony could premier in the same year that saw Jane Austen craft the delicate sensitivities of Persuasion.

Once more, Ian Mortimer takes us on a thrilling journey to the past, revealing what people ate, drank, and wore; where they shopped and how they amused themselves; what they believed in, and what they feared. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting, physical, visceral—the past not as something to be studied but as lived experience.


----------



## Nellisir

Started travelling for playground builds again, which is usually two days of travel and a week of exhaustion. Read _The Singer and the Sea_ by Michael Scott Rohan, and _Gentlemen of the Road_ by Michael Chabon. Both rereads, and thus by definition ones I enjoy.


----------



## Richards

I'm reading _Swarm and Steel_ by Michael R. Fletcher.  It's an odd sword and sorcery book filled with all kinds of weird religions with German-sounding names.  The two people illustrated on the cover are a living desert culture man and a dead (not that that prevents her from moving around just fine) woman with a severed left hand and a blindfold over her eyes (which covers the fact that she has gaping, empty eye sockets where her eyes used to be, but of course she sees just fine).  I'm of two minds: the numerous various factions are getting really difficult to keep track of and I'm not a big fan of the names, but the characters are just interesting enough for me to want to see how it all plays out.  But truth be told, I'm looking forward to being done with this one and moving on to something else.

Johnathan


----------



## Nellisir

Ended up starting _The Citadel of Winds_, the direct prequel to _The Singer and the Sea_ (characters from Citadel are protagonists in Singer, but otherwise the two are independent). Also just found out *The Winter of the World* (the overarching series) got an RPG adaptation in 2018, so that's on my list.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Hambly's The Time of the Dark. Good stuff. It manages to both embrace fantasy tropes and subvert them at the same the time. And it absolutely delivers on the cover's promise of a wizard sitting in a present-day kitchen cracking open a beer.

Now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan at the Earth's Core.


----------



## Zaukrie

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I finished Hambly's The Time of the Dark. Good stuff. It manages to both embrace fantasy tropes and subvert them at the same the time. And it absolutely delivers on the cover's promise of a wizard sitting in a present-day kitchen cracking open a beer.
> 
> Now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan at the Earth's Core.



That was a good read.


----------



## Nellisir

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I finished Hambly's The Time of the Dark. Good stuff. It manages to both embrace fantasy tropes and subvert them at the same the time. And it absolutely delivers on the cover's promise of a wizard sitting in a present-day kitchen cracking open a beer.
> 
> Now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan at the Earth's Core.



I love Hambley's stuff.


----------



## Cadence

Currently part way through the Maltese Falcon and the short story anthology Keen Edge of Valor.  1619 Project still about 1/3rd of the way done.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Not sure which one you're talking about, but yes!



Zaukrie said:


> That was a good read.




This is only my second Hambly book, but I'm really digging her writing.



Nellisir said:


> I love Hambley's stuff.


----------



## Zaukrie

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Not sure which one you're talking about, but yes!
> 
> 
> 
> This is only my second Hambly book, but I'm really digging her writing.



Hambly.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Yeah, her writing is pretty darn good. Gil, Ingold, and Rudy come to life so vividly. The Dark are terrifying in how it's never 100% clear what they look like exactly, and that makes them all the more fearsome.



Zaukrie said:


> Hambly.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished reading Burroughs' Tarzan at the Earth's Core. Good, though a bit chaotic at times. Burroughs somehow manages to bring it all back together by the end, with one purposefully dangling thread to hook into the next novel.

I also re-read Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron and am now starting Kij Johnson's The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe.


----------



## Richards

I'm about to start _Bloodless_, the latest in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Agent Pendergast series.  This time Agent Pendergast is investigating a series of bodies in Georgia found with every last ounce of blood drained from them - and this, apparently, somehow ties into the D. B. Cooper disappearance.  I look forward to seeing how these two disparate events are connected.

Johnathan


----------



## Zaukrie

Rereading The Hobbit

It's not bad. Not sure it's as great as I recall.


----------



## reelo

Currently reading these 3 books concurrently. Can you see a theme?


----------



## HaroldTheHobbit

Blue said:


> Read Charles Stross' Dead Lies Dreaming.  It's a side series set up in the world that his Laundry Files has morphed into.  It was good, but lacked a certain _zing_ to it.  Call it a 7/10.  It did keep the action going and have an interesting cast of characters.  But then again, I quite liked early & mid Laundry Files while I'm only a moderate fan of where everything ended up once they introduced superheroes.  And the characters in this are an outgrowth of that.



I'm in the same camp re the Laundry Files. The early and mid books was amazing, the later ones is still enjoyable even though I wish the meta plot had taken another direction. And Charles Stross is a solid writer that always deliver.

At the moment I've put my fiction reading on hold. I've been on a semi-uncontrolled shopping spree of WFRP4e/The Enemy Within and Savage Pathfinder/Rise of The Runelords material for two upcoming campaigns this fall, so I read and prep for that.

I still snatch a chapter or two when there's time for my Felix & Gotrek anthologies read through.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

I started reading a series by Charlaine Harris, same author as the Sookie Stackhouse books (adapated as the True Blood TV show).  Post-apocalyptic from the late 1930's I think? WW2 never happened afaik; and FDR was assassinated leading to dissolution of the United States as we know it today. US has split into 4-5 new nations, with west coast (Cali/Oregon/Wash/Idaho) becoming Holy Russian Empire (Tsar fled Russia to San Diego), the eastern seaboard re-aligning with Britain; a nation called Texoma which I guess is Texas and Okhlahoma; Dixie being the south; Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin joined Canada; Hawaii and Alaska stay in their respective Indigenous hands; and "New America" is everything else. Somehow, Rasputin discovered how to do actual magic, so there are these Russian wizards called _grigoris_ running around.

It features a character called Gunnie Rose who is a bodygaurd, ie a "gunnie". Someone who is good with guns. She kills a TON of people through the course of the first novel. She partners (at least in the first 2 books) (and spoilers 



Spoiler



partners in multiple senses of the word



) with one of the grigoris, so there's guns AND magic.

It's pure pap; and I'm here for it. (I've been stuck on the 4th Terra Ignota book for over a month, slowly but surely grinding through it. Recently got to almost the mid-way point). Takes me about 2 days to read the entire novel - refreshing. The plots barely hang together, the relationships are often "wha? why do they like/hate/fear/love that person?", the internal world-building logic doesn't exactly make sense - there's gasoline everywhere but there are also tons of bandits so how does the gasoline get transported to the gas stations? and yet I still find them so far quite enjoyable - especially if I don't squint too hard at them.

Definitely not for everyone, but I expect to see a season one of this series on a streaming service in next few years.






						Gunnie Rose Series by Shawn Speakman
					

This series is based on a short story – The Gunnie – that Harris published in Unfettered II in 2016. Unfettered II: New Tales By Masters of Fantasy (Unfe...



					www.goodreads.com


----------



## Nellisir

Eyes of Nine said:


> It's pure pap; and I'm here for it. (I've been stuck on the 4th Terra Ignota book for over a month, slowly but surely grinding through it. Recently got to almost the mid-way point). Takes me about 2 days to read the entire novel - refreshing. The plots barely hang together, the relationships are often "wha? why do they like/hate/fear/love that person?", the internal world-building logic doesn't exactly make sense - there's gasoline everywhere but there are also tons of bandits so how does the gasoline get transported to the gas stations? and yet I still find them so far quite enjoyable - especially if I don't squint too hard at them.



Absolutely not a damned thing wrong with enjoying a series because it's FUN. Sometimes authors just resonate with us, and we forgive them their sins. That's joy.


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

Oathbringer , Stormlight Archive book 3. 
Second go, listening to audio book at work as well and overlap helps. 
I absolutely blasted through it the first time and missed so much. It’s a slow burn for sure, but characters are so well developed and world building is top notch.
Bridge Four group - Teft, Moash, Rock, etc really fleshed out even more - all terrific charactersl


----------



## Ulfgeir

Just finished reading the graphic novel *H.P. Lovecrafts Beauty and the Beast* by *Trevor Markwart*.  It started as a kickstartrer, but has now been collected as a full graphic novel and is available at a number fo different places.  There was a kickstarter earlier for part 1 of the sequel, which is called *Omorphia and the Moon Pool*.

It is a pulpy story set in the early 1930's New England. Plenty of references to the Cthulhu mythos, and Lovecraft's works. The drawing style is reminiscient of old Flash Gordon and similar things. Lots of text describing things.  The main character is a young woman named Omorphia, who is hunted by nightmares of evil cults. She starts studying archaeology at the Miscatonic University, and is then recruited to work for a strange man named The Beast.

It is an interesting curiosa for those that like the Cthulhu Mythos.


----------



## Arilyn

I'm currently reading "The Book Eaters" by Sunyi Dean. It's a modern dark, gothic fairy tale about Book Eaters. Their nutrition comes from eating books, not food. Occasionally, children are born who eat minds instead. Our heroine's son is one of these mind eaters and the book traces her attempts to save him. It's pretty weird but good so far.


----------



## WayneLigon

Beyond by Mercedes Lackey, Founding of Valdemar Book 1. 

The Empire is so expansive that it doesn't have a name, really. It has no real rivals and it's always been there. The Duchy of Valdemar is a small little area tucked away in the western hinterlands that doesn't have much going for it except the exquisite horses bred by the Duke. The people are quiet and industrious bumpkins that pay their taxes and send their tribute and nobody pays them any attention. This is just what they want, since they are all traitors. 

Kordos's grandfather saw the rot spreading at the heart of the Empire, and decided it was time to get out. But how do you leave when every move is monitored by scrying mages and Gifted? When The Emperor can swoop in at any second and, say, give all your lands to his favorite concubine and leave you in the dirt, or ship you off to the latest expansion front? 

You be very, very, sneaky. 

Pretty darn good book. It was a nice return to the world of Velgarth and shows how absolutely horrific a super-high-magic area can be with the wrong people in charge. It also lays the groundwork for some interesting future bits that happen in other books.


----------



## WayneLigon

Sequel to The Pariah, book Two in the Covenant of Steel series. 

Love, love, love this book so far. I loved the first one and this is just as good or better. 

Alwyn Scribe is one of the inner circle to the Lady Evadine Courlain, Commander of Covenant Company, Aspirant Cleric of the Covenant of Martyrs. He is continually tested in his new position, as he moves from scribe to confidante to the lady as she goes to confirm what she already knows: the she is the first Risen Martyr and so blessed by the divine. 

This sits right in my comfort level of complexity - not too many plot threads, but enough that there is always some concern over one or more lines of narrative at the same time. it seems like a lot and the books seem almost Sanderson-level heavy, but the narrative flows at a brisk pace, and pulls you along with it.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

WayneLigon said:


> View attachment 260242
> 
> Beyond by Mercedes Lackey, Founding of Valdemar Book 1.
> 
> The Empire is so expansive that it doesn't have a name, really. It has no real rivals and it's always been there. The Duchy of Valdemar is a small little area tucked away in the western hinterlands that doesn't have much going for it except the exquisite horses bred by the Duke. The people are quiet and industrious bumpkins that pay their taxes and send their tribute and nobody pays them any attention. This is just what they want, since they are all traitors.
> 
> Kordos's grandfather saw the rot spreading at the heart of the Empire, and decided it was time to get out. But how do you leave when every move is monitored by scrying mages and Gifted? When The Emperor can swoop in at any second and, say, give all your lands to his favorite concubine and leave you in the dirt, or ship you off to the latest expansion front?
> 
> You be very, very, sneaky.
> 
> Pretty darn good book. It was a nice return to the world of Velgarth and shows how absolutely horrific a super-high-magic area can be with the wrong people in charge. It also lays the groundwork for some interesting future bits that happen in other books.



@WayneLigon - funny, the cover person's image looks _a lot_ like your avatar  

But seriously - if I was interested in Mercedes Lackey (I am), what is the best book/series with which to start? I recognize the danger as a completist that I may be launching into a massive oeuvre. But that's ok. I'm willing to try one book; and if I like, I'll keep going; but if I don't, I can stop (no really, I swear, I can stop at just one... or maybe two... definitely at three or four... well now I'm this far in, I might as well finish the whole thing!)


----------



## WayneLigon

Eyes of Nine said:


> @WayneLigon - funny, the cover person's image looks _a lot_ like your avatar
> 
> But seriously - if I was interested in Mercedes Lackey (I am), what is the best book/series with which to start? I recognize the danger as a completist that I may be launching into a massive oeuvre. But that's ok. I'm willing to try one book; and if I like, I'll keep going; but if I don't, I can stop (no really, I swear, I can stop at just one... or maybe two... definitely at three or four... well now I'm this far in, I might as well finish the whole thing!)




I'd suggest starting with the first book series - 

_Arrows of the Queen_ (1987)
_Arrow's Flight_ (1987)
_Arrow's Fall_ (1988)
This is an almost young-adult series, and is her book books in the entire span, so they might be a little rough in places. 

Then go back in time, and things really get nailed down in the Last Herald-Mage series, that lays down the legend of Vanyel. This is really the basis of the entire canon, since it creates or codifies most of the lore and background everything else deals with. The stuff Vanyel does resonates down through the entire rest of the books. 

_Magic's Pawn_ (1989)
_Magic's Promise_ (1990)
_Magic's Price_ (1991)
For a quick intro, I'd suggest the first Vows and Honor book, The Oathbound. This is a book of short stories concerning Tarma and Kethry, two wandering swordswomen. It mainly occurs outside Valdemar, which is where you first get the idea that inside and outside of Valdemar are like two different worlds. 

The two series - like many of the others - twist and twine around each other, and come together in the stand alone book _By The Sword_, which is where you find out the whats and whys of the central mysteries of the entire canon. 

I would say: don't try to be a completist with this series. You can read or not read each series and not know much about the others. If you absolutely need info, it's mentioned in the book you're reading. 









						Books by series
					

The Valdemar books can be broken down into different series, with some standalone novels. This is a summary of the various books and how they fall into each series chronologically, in terms of the overall storyline. The books span approximately 3000 years of history. The year after each title...




					valdemar.fandom.com


----------



## Zaukrie

Finished The Hobbit. Frankly, not as great as I recalled. Also, I remembered Thorin not being great, but he's a real jerk. And the other dwarves aren't really given much personality at all, not in any detail. 

Gandalf? He was lucky the hobbit found the ring, or he'd have been very wrong. And no way he knew the ring was there.....

Still a good book, but not what I recalled in terms of excellence.


----------



## reelo

Zaukrie said:


> Gandalf? He was lucky the hobbit found the ring, or he'd have been very wrong. And no way he knew the ring was there...




But Frodo was _meant_ to find the ring, don't you know?


----------



## Cadence

Moving offices and ran across a library copy of the "Life and Letters of General W.H.L. Wallace", and so am taking a break from the others I'm in the middle of.     

First leader of the Illinois 11th. Hero of Hornet's Nest at Shiloh where he fell.

"July 25th.  Slept upon the ground where Jackson achieved his glory (8th of January, 1815), but felt none of Byron's enthusiasm upon the plains of Marathon, perhaps because I was very tired, probably because I am not Byron."  -W.H.L. Wallace,  July 25, 1846, outside New Orleans


----------



## Mad_Jack

Just picked up two collections of short stories set in the world of the superhero rpg *Silver Age Sentinels*... _Path of the Just _and _Path of the Bold_...

Authors include comic book legend John Ostrander and Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood.

Still in the middle of the first one, but so far the stories have been pretty good.


----------



## Zaukrie

The Forever War. Need some sci-fi since I'm writing that kind of novel.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I read it recently for the first time. It was quite good, and unfortunately its themes remain evergreen.



Zaukrie said:


> The Forever War. Need some sci-fi since I'm writing that kind of novel.


----------



## dragoner

Forever war is great, forever peace not so much. Right now I am re-reading Falkenberg's Legion.


----------



## Richards

I'm just starting _Find Her_ by Lisa Gardner, an author whose novels I enjoy but I've been picking them up at library book sales and thus I've been reading them way out of order.  This is another D. D. Warren novel and it features a side character named Flora Dane who has prominent roles in several other novels that come after (and which I've already read), but this is apparently her "origin story" as it were.  It's not a very pleasant origin story, either, as it starts out with her trapped in a wooden box by a creepy dude who picked her up and is now using her as his personal fetish...the squick factor's pretty high, but I (obviously) know she's going to end up alive and okay enough to appear in subsequent novels....

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Finished reading the Sandman Graphic novels, from 1-10.
Finished reading the 3 Gunnie Rose novels, v4 comes out in November, and if my library gets it, I'll read it.

Now reading _Ironsworn_ RPG - have heard really good things about it.
Also Terra Ignota book 4 (_Perhaps the Stars_) gripped me all of a sudden (halfway through!); and I'm forcing my self to read at least 10 pages [edit to add: per day] before I can read something else. Hopefully I won't have to force myself any more soon.
And just got _A Master of Djinn_ because I haven't finished reading the 2022 Hugo Nominees... (still have _Project Hail Mary_ and _She who Became the Sun_ to read too)


----------



## HawaiiSteveO




----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished Johnson's Dream Quest of Velitt-Boe. Good stuff, and deep.

Read H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. I've got mixed feelings on the story. It's clearly influential, but also clear how, even if there's not any of the more overt racism in it, his repugnant views have clearly informed his worldbuilding.

I read William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder. An amazing read - I haven't read something that gave me goosebumps in a while.

Now I'm reading Tamsyn Muir's Nona the Ninth. Finally!


----------



## Alzrius

Having finally finished Flinte Dille's _The Gamesmaster_, I'm now starting on Michael Tresca's _The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games_, having picked up a copy at Gen Con a few weeks ago. It's been on my list for some time now, since I've been on a years-long kick of nonfiction books about tabletop RPGs, so it'll be good to cross this one off!


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Now I'm reading Tamsyn Muir's Nona the Ninth. Finally!



Can't wait for my copy to show up at library!


----------



## Cadence

In the middle of the Life and Letters of General W.H.L. Wallace, but had the urge to revisit Neverwhere (which I haven't read in ages).


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Digging it so far. If you Harrow the Ninth on hand, I might recommend re-reading the last part of it just to freshen up, if it's been a while for you.



Eyes of Nine said:


> Can't wait for my copy to show up at library!


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Digging it so far. If you Harrow the Ninth on hand, I might recommend re-reading the last part of it just to freshen up, if it's been a while for you.



It's been over a year, read it soon after it came out. Sadly, don't have on hand, as I get them from the library. But same thing happened to me when reading Harrow (AS YOU CAN IMAGINE) where there was a lot of wtf is going on here?!? sort of energy - and I turned out ok lol. I'm trusting same will happen again with Nona


----------



## Cadence

It had been so long since I read Neverwhere that I had completely forgotten everything except the feeling of the book.  Just finished it and now I remember why it is my favorite of his early novels.  (Haven't read the ones since Anansi Bros. yet).

I read the 1st American edition.  I guess at some point I should to the "Author's Preferred Text" and see how much it differs.


----------



## WayneLigon

The Justice of Kings - very good so far. 

The great Sovan Empire, the Empire of the Wolf, is at it's greatest extent and the cracks are beginning to show. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is an Imperial Justice, upholding the great body of common law in the name of the Emperor. To do this, he has the Voice, which can command truth and obedience, and the power of necromancy to compel the dead in certain circumstance. Assisted by his bondsman and his scribe, Volvalt has to deal with heresy and murder in quick order - and he might be seeing the beginning of the end for the rule of law.


----------



## trappedslider

Finished up Heat 2 by Micheal Mann


Spoiler



One day after the end of Heat, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother in arms Neil McCauley (De Niro) in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.

In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven, daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders.

Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.

Heat 2 projects its dimensional and richly drawn men and women into whole new worlds—from the inner sanctums of rival crime syndicates in a South American free-trade zone to transnational criminal enterprises in Southeast Asia. The novel brings you intimately into these lives. In Michael Mann’s Heat universe, they will confront new adversaries in lethal circumstances beyond all boundaries.

Heat 2 is engrossing, moving, and tragic—a masterpiece of crime fiction with the same extraordinary ambitions, scope, and rich characterizations as the epic film.


 It was really good so 5/5


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

At this point, yeah, I trust Muir to make the pay-off for all the WTF-ery worth it. I'm starting to re-orient, and remember the details that were a little patchy at first.



Eyes of Nine said:


> It's been over a year, read it soon after it came out. Sadly, don't have on hand, as I get them from the library. But same thing happened to me when reading Harrow (AS YOU CAN IMAGINE) where there was a lot of wtf is going on here?!? sort of energy - and I turned out ok lol. I'm trusting same will happen again with Nona




Ah, Neverwhere is such a great read. It had one of those perfect endings that leaves you wanting more desperately but at the same time feeling satisfied. 

Still haven't seen the BBC series based on it.



Cadence said:


> It had been so long since I read Neverwhere that I had completely forgotten everything except the feeling of the book.  Just finished it and now I remember why it is my favorite of his early novels.  (Haven't read the ones since Anansi Bros. yet).
> 
> I read the 1st American edition.  I guess at some point I should to the "Authors Preferred Text" and see how much it differs.


----------



## Zaukrie

Forever War ended kind of abruptly! Very good book. Everything about that book is, unfortunately, still true.

Now reading Gideon the Ninth.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Zaukrie said:


> Forever War ended kind of abruptly! Very good book. Everything about that book is, unfortunately, still true.
> 
> Now reading Gideon the Ninth.



Ah, the joy and jealousy of hearing of someone reading a book that you LOVED and they get to read it for the first time, which you'll never get to do again... German folks - is there a word for that feeling in German? There should be...


----------



## Cadence

Finished "Life and Letters of General W.H.L. Wallace" from 1909 by his daughter Isabel.  I'd never read a book like it before (collected letters for someone) and am glad I did.

Wallace was the first commander of the Illinois 11th Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, and won renown at Fort Donelson and the defense of the Hornets' Nest at Pittsburgh Landing/Shiloh.

Starting before the war years, the book has letters and tidbits  beginning with his early life, including: his choice to either practice law with Lincoln or with the man who would become his father in law;  the Mexican-American war; things on Illinois and national politics including the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the various political parties; Lincoln's inauguration; and abolition and casual racism.  It then transitions to the start of secession and the war and the view of the common people and disorganization of the North.  From their it goes to the war in Southern Illinois, Eastern Missouri, and Western Tennessee.

Throughout there are letters between Wallace and his wife, and the end is pretty heart rending.

More on Wallace, the Illinois 11th, and its other commanders such as Ransom, Nevius, and Coates is in Jim Huffstodt's "Hard Dying Men".  (Which I first picked up because my great-... uncle's diary is quoted in it).

Now back to the Maltese Falcon (which isn't doing it anywhere as much for me as the movie did).


----------



## JoshuaHarris

Started reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. I like it, but sometimes it's so complicated for me to read it. Usually I prefer detective books, and it's something new to me


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Finally, FINALLY finished _Perhaps the Stars_, fourth and final book in the *Terra Ignota* series by Ada Palmer. It ended well, and I am glad I got through all 827 pages and the author’s afterword. But I’ve got mixed thoughts, mostly covered by these two reviews. I think the Not Positive is a bit too harsh, which is why I gave it 4 stars. But boy it's long; and dense; and sometimes the florid speech I was like - "can we cut this down to 5 words instead of 8 [or at least that ratio]?"
Not Positive Aden's review of Perhaps the Stars (Terra Ignota, #4)
Positive Henk's review of Perhaps the Stars

Overall, I would recommend it and the series as a whole.

Time to go read some less dense fare, like a few whodunnits and then _A Master of Djinn_; and hopefully after those _Nona_ will have arrived back at the library.


----------



## Alzrius

I find myself taking an unexpected break from Michael Tresca's _The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games_ in favor of _A Personal Demon_, by David Bischoff, Rich Brown, and Linda Richardson. It's proven to be a surprisingly entertaining bit of brain-candy, and I expect to be done with it by tomorrow.

It's basically an infernal take on "I Dream of Jeannie," albeit one that's slightly more risque and mixes some minor adventuring in with the comedy and innuendo. The humor here is low-brow; not crude, but rather self-indulgent in its cleverness, albeit only somewhat. Still, it takes its characters just seriously enough that it never descends into outright farce (the operative word being "outright"), and even allows for some heartfelt moments to shine through from time to time. As far as "magical girlfriend" stories go, this is one of the better ones.


----------



## Cadence

Finally finished "The Maltese Falcon".    The middle was spectacularly well done.   I'm not sure if the beginning wasn't or it was just that Spade's description was neither anything like the Bogart nor handsome enough sounding for just being in the book.  (Effie's description didn't fit the movie or radio version at all either).  The last part of the book was ok, it just seemed a bit plodding compared to the middle. 

Have a copy of Wesley Chu's "The Art of Prophecy" on my kindle for my next one (with a fantasy anthology and the 1619 Project still part way through).


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Muir's Nona the Ninth. Wonderful, sweet, sad, dark, confounding. I am very glad the series has a history of coming out on schedule, quickly.

Now I'm reading Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Just finished a book I got at a huge used book sale (literally 100,000+ books selling over 10 days). Elizabeth George _A Great Deliverance_. Mystery novel, set in England. My favorite type tbh... I'll be reading more - the two main detective types are about as different as one can imagine. One an aristocratic playboy the other a woman from the wrong side of the council estates (whatever those actually are). I look forward to their relationship (non-romantic I  think, but who knows?) developing over the course of the series.

Often the meta plot (to borrow an RPG term) for mystery series is what I like best, with the mysteries serving as reasons for us to get a view into the characters' lives. Good examples of this I like are: Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache novels and Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid/Jemma James novels. Looking for more like these.

Next up either _Silent Parade_ by Higasino Keigo or _A Master of Djinn_ by P Djeli Clark. Still waiting for Nona...


----------



## Blue

I've been reading two different subseries of Discworld physically, and a lightweight series on kindle/my phone.  Well, just phone.

Discworld I've started both the Night Watch and the Moist von Lipwig lines.  Generic for all of them - if you haven't read Discworld series by Sir Terry Pratchett, go do so.  But don't start at the earliest chronologically written - his writing style and the Discworld itself was still maturing.  Read the Witches, or Night Watch, or whatever.  Google Discworld reading order for some entry points.

I've read Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms and in the middle of Feet of Clay.  Definitely see the evolution there.  Later in time in the Discworld are Going Postal, Making Money, and I'm reading Raising Steam.

My "on-phone-for-when-have-some-expected-downtime" series is the Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor.  It's about a man who dies, is later "resurrected" scanned in to a computer as one applicant to run Von Neumann probe (self-replicating spacecraft) that ended up being the only one to launch at the start of another world war.  It's lighter then you might expect, but I'm into the 3rd (short) book and things have gotten heavier starting in the second one.  It's free on Kindle Unlimited, and exceeds the cost of time to read it.  Some of them haven't.


----------



## Blue

Eyes of Nine said:


> Finally, FINALLY finished _Perhaps the Stars_, fourth and final book in the *Terra Ignota* series by Ada Palmer. It ended well, and I am glad I got through all 827 pages and the author’s afterword. But I’ve got mixed thoughts, mostly covered by these two reviews. I think the Not Positive is a bit too harsh, which is why I gave it 4 stars. But boy it's long; and dense; and sometimes the florid speech I was like - "can we cut this down to 5 words instead of 8 [or at least that ratio]?"
> Not Positive Aden's review of Perhaps the Stars (Terra Ignota, #4)
> Positive Henk's review of Perhaps the Stars
> 
> Overall, I would recommend it and the series as a whole.
> 
> Time to go read some less dense fare, like a few whodunnits and then _A Master of Djinn_; and hopefully after those _Nona_ will have arrived back at the library.



The very end of Perhaps the Stars was more ... graceful ... than I expected.  I mean that in a positive way.

Amusingly, I finished that up a few months ago, and I'm just about the start A Master of Djinn.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

The Night Watch subseries is probably my favorite of the Discworld arcs. The Fifth Elephant, for all its humor, is one of the greatest explorations of dwarves and dwarven culture in fiction.



Blue said:


> I've been reading two different subseries of Discworld physically, and a lightweight series on kindle/my phone.  Well, just phone.
> 
> Discworld I've started both the Night Watch and the Moist von Lipwig lines.  Generic for all of them - if you haven't read Discworld series by Sir Terry Pratchett, go do so.  But don't start at the earliest chronologically written - his writing style and the Discworld itself was still maturing.  Read the Witches, or Night Watch, or whatever.  Google Discworld reading order for some entry points.
> 
> I've read Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms and in the middle of Feet of Clay.  Definitely see the evolution there.  Later in time in the Discworld are Going Postal, Making Money, and I'm reading Raising Steam.
> 
> My "on-phone-for-when-have-some-expected-downtime" series is the Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor.  It's about a man who dies, is later "resurrected" scanned in to a computer as one applicant to run Von Neumann probe (self-replicating spacecraft) that ended up being the only one to launch at the start of another world war.  It's lighter then you might expect, but I'm into the 3rd (short) book and things have gotten heavier starting in the second one.  It's free on Kindle Unlimited, and exceeds the cost of time to read it.  Some of them haven't.


----------



## Blue

Ralif Redhammer said:


> The Night Watch subseries is probably my favorite of the Discworld arcs. The Fifth Elephant, for all its humor, is one of the greatest explorations of dwarves and dwarven culture in fiction.



The Fifth Elephant is why the Watch subseries beats out the Witches for me.  It's just. so. good.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Likewise. I think it's that for all the humor in Terry Pratchett's characterizations, it is never cruel. Not even with Nobby. For all the talk of battlebread and whatnot, they're never treated as wearing clownshoes.



Blue said:


> The Fifth Elephant is why the Watch subseries beats out the Witches for me.  It's just. so. good.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

For those of you who are Pratchett fans - I really appreciated this blog post on Scalzi's blog that gives some spotlight to an upcoming authorized biography of Pratchett by his personal assistant.









						The Big Idea: Rob Wilkins
					

Rob Wilkins was close enough to beloved author Terry Pratchett that the two of them shared the same Twitter account. From that vantage point Wilkins was able to see Pratchett as a friend, as a writ…




					whatever.scalzi.com
				




I'm hoping to read this at some point.

[edited to add: Apparently released today according to Goodreads]


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Also, at the risk of going way off topic (but it's humor. about dwarves!) this one's been making the rounds.


----------



## Richards

Knowing I'd be on a business trip from Tuesday through today, I picked up four books in the _Destroyer_ series I hadn't read before:
_Destroyer #60: The End of the Game_ - A bored billionaire sets about manipulating people for his own amusement, leading to a possible nuclear war.​_Destroyer #69: Blood Ties_ - An assassin is using Remo Williams' name - is it his father, despite Remo being raised believing he was an orphan?​_Destroyer #80: Death Sentence_ - Remo is on death row with no memories (just odd dreams) of his time working for CURE - what's going on?​_Destroyer #85: Blood Lust_ - Master Chiun is believed dead and now Remo has to deal with the cult of Kali on his own.​I finished up the first one on Tuesday, the second one on Wednesday, and the third one yesterday.  They're all mindless fun, which is all I was looking for, given a week in a hotel room.  I'm about a third of the way through the last one, and I'll be sad to finish up this batch and move on to other books, although I have some interesting possibilities in my stack of library book sale books to be read.

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Richards said:


> Knowing I'd be on a business trip from Tuesday through today, I picked up four books in the _Destroyer_ series I hadn't read before:
> _Destroyer #60: The End of the Game_ - A bored billionaire sets about manipulating people for his own amusement, leading to a possible nuclear war.​_Destroyer #69: Blood Ties_ - An assassin is using Remo Williams' name - is it his father, despite Remo being raised believing he was an orphan?​_Destroyer #80: Death Sentence_ - Remo is on death row with no memories (just odd dreams) of his time working for CURE - what's going on?​_Destroyer #85: Blood Lust_ - Master Chiun is believed dead and now Remo has to deal with the cult of Kali on his own.​I finished up the first one on Tuesday, the second one on Wednesday, and the third one yesterday.  They're all mindless fun, which is all I was looking for, given a week in a hotel room.  I'm about a third of the way through the last one, and I'll be sad to finish up this batch and move on to other books, although I have some interesting possibilities in my stack of library book sale books to be read.
> 
> Johnathan



Man, I respect you that you can read those out of order. When I think about reading them out of order, and starting them at not-volume-one I start to twitch...


----------



## Richards

Fortunately, for the most part each _Destroyer_ novel is a standalone story, so it doesn't really matter in which order you read them.  The one I'm reading now is a bit of an exception, though, because apparently at the end of #84 it looked like Master Chiun had been killed and Remo's starting out #85 all despondent at the apparent death of his mentor, but I know from other books further down the line that his apparent death was just that - only apparent.  (It's even mentioned that there was no body found, which is a bit of a giveaway to a comic book fan like myself.)  I'm seriously hoping that they get that resolved in this novel, because I'd like to see how Master Chiun escaped his apparent death.

It also helps that I read the first 40-50 or so in the series in order, albeit several decades ago.  The series starts out with Chiun and Remo mostly fighting crime bosses and the like before it takes a turn into the spies and science fiction realms, with later opponents including gene-spliced monsters, robots, and the types of supervillains you'd expect to see in superhero comic books, like a guy who can transform his body into electricity and travel through the phone lines.  And they get into various mythologies as well, as Sinanju myth holds that Remo is the physical embodiment of Shiva, the Destroyer, and in the current novel it looks like he's up against a sort of avatar of Kali, the Hindu Goddess of Death.

Johnathan


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

I recently started _Good Omens_ by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I'm about 50 pages in and loving it so far. I watched the TV show already so I know most of how it goes, but it's still enjoyable.


----------



## trappedslider

Finally getting around to reading the classic "It can't happen here" by Upton Sinclair


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished CAS' Zothique. As always, so dang good. I've read the one story, Empire of the Necromancers many times, and will always read it when it pops up. Now I'm reading Manly Wade Wellman's After Dark.


----------



## Richards

_Destroyer_ #85 turned out to be that rarest of anomalies...a Destroyer book with a cliffhanger ending!  Now I guess I'll need to hunt up _Destroyer_ #86....

In the meantime, I started _Say Goodbye_ by Lisa Gardner.  It deals with a pregnant FBI agent hunting down a serial killer who kills pregnant hookers with - get this - spiders.  That's a new one....

Johnathan


----------



## Cadence

Finished reading Wesley Chu's "The Art of Prophecy".  Very fun read with lots of ideas for someone looking for either east Asian or technological advancements to add to a D&D campaign.  Eagerly awaiting the next one.

And then went back and finished the "Keen Edge of Valor" anthology.  Liked several of the stories enough that I went back and picked up the first volume by these editors (had already read the second).  Got the 2nd and 3rd because they had Glen Cook stories.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

I rescued a bunch of Tom Swift Jr books (published in the 50s). I tried reading the earliest one, and after 20 pages or so, I'm done. Going to donate them away.

Now reading _The Silent Parade_ the newest English translation of Keigo Higashino's Detective Galileo series.

Then I'll switch to graphic novels - the new _Saga_ TP just came out and can't wait to read it. 

Unless my hold at the library for Nona the Ninth comes through - that's going to be a drop everything read.


----------



## Cadence

Eyes of Nine said:


> I rescued a bunch of Tom Swift Jr books (published in the 50s). I tried reading the earliest one, and after 20 pages or so, I'm done. Going to donate them away.




Never read one of those.  What made them so painful?


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Cadence said:


> Never read one of those.  What made them so painful?



They are just geared towards 12yo boys, but without some of the modern angst that YA books have now (which I can't really read anymore either). There's no internal dialog like there is with modern YA books.


----------



## pukunui

I just recently read this book. It's about Charles Upham, a New Zealand soldier who earned the Victoria Cross twice for his actions during World War 2. He was first awarded the VC for his actions during the Allies' ill-fated defense of Crete and then received the second VC (or "bar") for his actions during the North Africa campaign. He was wounded and taken prisoner in North Africa. Because of his many escape attempts from camps in Italy, the Germans sent him to the infamous Colditz Castle. After the war, he hated all the attention he got because of his VC and Bar and mostly led a reclusive life on a farm on the South Island.

His story was first made famous in the 1962 novel, _Mark of the Lion_. _Searching for Charlie _is as much the story of the author's travels around Europe and North Africa in Charlie's footsteps as it is an accounting of his actions during the war and after. It's quite the read if you're into this sort of thing. I highly recommend it.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Wellman's After Dark. Great stuff, and if it falls short of the greatness of the John the Balladeer short stories, that's just a measure of how good those short stories are.

Now I'm reading R.E. Howard's Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors, which seems a somewhat tenuous title. I've had the book for decades and never touched it because of that, so I figured it was time to do so.


----------



## pukunui

Blue said:


> The Fifth Elephant is why the Watch subseries beats out the Witches for me.  It's just. so. good.



This prompted me to give this one another re-read. Definitely one of the best.

_Thud!_ and _I Shall Wear Midnight _are the high watermarks of the Discworld series for me.


----------



## Blue

pukunui said:


> This prompted me to give this one another re-read. Definitely one of the best.
> 
> _Thud!_ and _I Shall Wear Midnight _are the high watermarks of the Discworld series for me.



All of the Tiffany Aching books are really good.  They are like another half  step beyond.

Thud! is in my queue.  Soon to reread!


----------



## pukunui

Blue said:


> All of the Tiffany Aching books are really good.  They are like another half  step beyond.



I didn't like the last one, but the first four are top notch.



Blue said:


> Thud! is in my queue.  Soon to reread!


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

So good, yeah. Like I said, the Watch subseries is my favorite. And the Tiffany Aching series has some deep truths in it, that's for sure.

I am being deliberately slow in making my way through Discworld, and have been since Sir Terry passed. Because that way it'll still be years before I don't have any Discworld novels left to read.



pukunui said:


> This prompted me to give this one another re-read. Definitely one of the best.
> 
> _Thud!_ and _I Shall Wear Midnight _are the high watermarks of the Discworld series for me.


----------



## Mercurius

Just finished _Axiom's End _by Lindsay Ellis. Pretty good First Contact story, with some unique qualities.


----------



## Richards

I picked up some more books at the library book sale, just in time for another week-long business trip.  I'll be starting off with _Most Likely to Die_ by Lisa Jackson, Wendy Corsi Straub, and Beverly Barton.  It's about a high school reunion 20 years after a murder at the school, and the killer (who was never caught for the previous murder) is now after three other women attending the reunion.  It's 453 pages long, but just in case that doesn't hold me (I've got two days in airports and on planes and four nights in a hotel ahead of me), I'm also bringing along _Running Scared_ by Lisa Jackson, about a woman and her son (adopted as a baby under apparently less than legal methods) being hunted down by a madman intent upon killing them.  That one's 512 pages long, so I should be good to go.

Johnathan


----------



## pukunui

I have finished re-reading _The Fifth Elephant_. I picked up on several more plot seeds for later books that I hadn't really noticed previously. There's a bit about the clacks going all the way through to Genua that got made into a major plot point in _Going Postal_, and some other plot points that made it into _Thud!_ and the like.

That reminds me of the time I went and saw Pratchett speak live. _Going Postal _had just come out, and he did spend a bit of time talking about how some of his book ideas came out of seemingly random throwaway lines in previous books.

I've now started re-reading _I Shall Wear Midnight_.


----------



## Zaukrie

pukunui said:


> I have finished re-reading _The Fifth Elephant_. I picked up on several more plot seeds for later books that I hadn't really noticed previously. There's a bit about the clacks going all the way through to Genua that got made into a major plot point in _Going Postal_, and some other plot points that made it into _Thud!_ and the like.
> 
> That reminds me of the time I went and saw Pratchett speak live. _Going Postal _had just come out, and he did spend a bit of time talking about how some of his book ideas came out of seemingly random throwaway lines in previous books.
> 
> I've now started re-reading _I Shall Wear Midnight_.



Great autocorrect on elephants......I haven't read the rest of the books yet, but that first one is great.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Read the first volume of a manga last night, _Alice in Borderland_. Wow, very very reminiscent of the earlier _Gantz_. Not sure how many manga series there are of people getting whisked away from the modern world (Tokyo mostly) to a dystopian/post-apocalyptic hellscape, there to play mysterious games with total strangers - and lots of death, murder and other bad behavior on offer. But I guess that's a genre of fiction? And apparently one I'm into... I'll definitely read V2, but I'll take them one at a time.

This one doesn't have any monsters, at least there weren't any in V1. And maybe there's less s.e.x in it - which is ok for me also. And last but not least the art style is a lot more classically manga than _Gantz_ was. I really like the _Gantz_ art style, but the art in _Alice_ serves fine.









						Alice in Borderland - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## Resayttan13

I finished The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan.
A good start to this trilogy
I'm not a big  fan of crime fiction (which slowed me down a bit in the first half), but I was intrigued by the characters and the story. The plot was well-paced and unpredictable. Another thing is Marvel and his comic books. It's amazing, especially Star Wars. Fantastic artwork and a decent story.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished R.E. Howard's Cthulhu... It's a mixed bag. Worms of the Earth is one of his greatest stories, and there are plenty of great spine-tingling stories aside from that.

There's also The Shadow of the Beast and Pigeons from Hell, both of which are hella racist. While that's part and parcel of many of REH's stories, I find the ones set in his then present-day often feel worse.

Now I'm reading Peter Straub's Shadowland. I bought a used copy of eBay and it makes me happy to see that it was once part of a bookmobile's collection.


----------



## Richards

_Most Likely to Die_ had an interesting twist, in that it was written by three authors, each of which wrote about 150 pages detailing one of the three main characters.  So one author starts the story about Character A, then the second author picks up the story, this time detailing Character B, and then the third author focuses on Character C as she brings the story to a close.  And the three either have very similar writing styles or were purposefully trying to write in a similar fashion so there was no real change in style when the focus switched over to the next character.  On the down side, I figured out who the killer was about halfway through the novel, including what traumatic event had initiated the desire to kill the three main characters.  Oh well, it was still a good read.

Johnathan


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Peter Straub's Shadowland. A relatively simple premise contains a whole lot of depth. It speaks to the fears of youth, the loss of innocence. The contrasting of supernatural horror against that of societal structures, bullying, was effective.

Now I'm reading Brian Staveley's The Emperor's Blades.


----------



## Zaukrie

Finished Gideon the NInth. I had trouble keeping the characters straight at times.....Onto The Three Body Problem, which certainly doesn't start like I expected a SF book to start. 

I enjoyed Gideon, but I'm not sure I loved it. Very well written. Very unique. But something was missing for me to make it great? It might have been that, like I said, I mixed up the characters (not our two protagonists) and had a hard time identifying with them? Also, something about the end seemed rushed, which is NOT how I felt in general (the pacing was too slow in the middle, maybe).


----------



## Alzrius

After some real-life interruptions, I've finished Michael Tresca's _Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games_, turning now to Thom James Carter's _They Came to Slay: The Queer Culture of D&D_. I should note that, while it's likely because of how recently it was published, the only domestic way to get a copy of this (that I'm aware of) is via Amazon Kindle. Those who're interested in acquiring a print copy (as I was) will need to have it imported from England (I recommend Blackwell's).


----------



## Zaukrie

I just devoured The Three Body Problem. Told my wife that hard science science fiction is so hard to recommend. I hated Aurora, where others loved it. If you don't like physics, I'm not sure how you will handle pages and pages of it......I may have to buy the next two.....


----------



## dragoner

Zaukrie said:


> I just devoured The Three Body Problem. Told my wife that hard science science fiction is so hard to recommend. I hated Aurora, where others loved it. If you don't like physics, I'm not sure how you will handle pages and pages of it......I may have to buy the next two.....



I'm reading "To Hold Up The Sky" by Liu right now, a collection of short stories. I really like his work, especially the characters.


----------



## Mad_Jack

Currently most of the way through Seanan Mcguire's _*Sparrow Hill Road*_... Great take on ghost stories/urban legends.

Everyone knows the old stories about the ghostly hitchhikers still trying to find a ride home, the phantom racers haunting the highways, the serial killers stalking the interstates...
_Sparrow Hill Road_ follows what happens to Rose, "The Girl in the Green Dress", after she's run off the road and killed in 1952... Thinking that her boyfriend has ditched her when he doesn't show up to pick her up for the Prom, she borrows her brother's car and heads to the Prom on her own. But she never makes it. Now she's a ghost - a hitcher, wandering the highways of the US in search of a ride, a borrowed coat and a warm meal at a diner, the original inspiration for all the other urban legends and local tales of ghostly teenage passengers.

 She's spent the years since her death traveling America, drawn to impending accidents, sometimes able to save a few people, mostly arriving just in time to guide the ghosts of the victims onward toward their afterlife...
...And still playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the immortal killer who ran her off the road that night in 1952 and wants to finish the job.


----------



## Citizen Mane

Zaukrie said:


> I enjoyed Gideon, but I'm not sure I loved it. Very well written. Very unique. But something was missing for me to make it great? It might have been that, like I said, I mixed up the characters (not our two protagonists) and had a hard time identifying with them? Also, something about the end seemed rushed, which is NOT how I felt in general (the pacing was too slow in the middle, maybe).



I think you're on to something about the pacing.  just finished _Nona the Ninth_, and I feel like it had the same acceleration into and through the ending that you've mentioned here.  I'm not sure I trust my memory, but _Harrow the Ninth_ did the same thing, if I recall correctly.  I've been thinking about it, and I feel like it might be a sense of the endings being rushed more than them actually being rushed (which may amount to the same thing, all told) — Muir spends a lot of time in the build up and pays out on her plot threads pretty aggressively as the books come to a conclusion. 

For me, now, I'm thirty or so pages into John M. Ford's _The Dragon Waiting_ and two chapters into Simon Kuper's _Football against the Enemy_.  (I like to swap between fiction and nonfiction sometimes.)


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Stavely's The Emperor's Blades. While I get why people like it, and there were plenty of parts I liked, there was a lot I didn't like. It takes forever to get going. Maybe I've read too much Appendix N, but anytime a book goes over 400 pages, I feel like it has to work that much harder to justify its length. The other thing is that there's a bunch of baked-in sexism - the way women are described, the fact that of the three POV characters, it's the woman that gets maybe a third the number of chapters of the other two, if that.

Now I'm re-reading The Silmarillion. It's been seven years since my last read-through of it, and after watching Rings of Power, I feel like I need to revisit it.


----------



## Zaukrie

Alloy of Law. Which. Dang. It's pretty good, as you'd expect.


----------



## Zaukrie

Zaukrie said:


> Alloy of Law. Which. Dang. It's pretty good, as you'd expect.



I thought I read the last book fast. Finished this in three sit downs! I might need to reread parts, as in writing a book and want to understand the point of view better.


----------



## Levistus's_Leviathan

Zaukrie said:


> I thought I read the last book fast. Finished this in three sit downs! I might need to reread parts, as in writing a book and want to understand the point of view better.



The books in the Wax and Wayne quadrilogy are shorter than the ones in the first trilogy, so that might be why.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished the Silmarillion, for the umpteenth time. Still a magical read. 

Now I'm onto Michael Moorcock's The Champion of Garathorm. After reading a 600- and 400- page book it's nice to go back to something more compact.


----------



## WayneLigon

Just finished the third book in the Maradaine Elite series, People of The City. This is the twelfth and last book in Phase One of the Maradaine series - and unlike the others it cannot be read in any order. You need to read this series last because People of The City brings every Phase One plot thread to a head, features all seven main characters, and there is a summary of all the other books in the forepart.

So good. Now to take a break and then start on the two books of Phase Two.


----------



## WayneLigon

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I finished Stavely's The Emperor's Blades. While I get why people like it, and there were plenty of parts I liked, there was a lot I didn't like. It takes forever to get going. Maybe I've read too much Appendix N, but anytime a book goes over 400 pages, I feel like it has to work that much harder to justify its length. The other thing is that there's a bunch of baked-in sexism - the way women are described, the fact that of the three POV characters, it's the woman that gets maybe a third the number of chapters of the other two, if that.
> 
> Now I'm re-reading The Silmarillion. It's been seven years since my last read-through of it, and after watching Rings of Power, I feel like I need to revisit it.



I seem to remember that most of Book Two is about her.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I'm glad to hear that the author corrects that imbalance. Is it of a similar measured/slow pace?



WayneLigon said:


> I seem to remember that most of Book Two is about her.


----------



## Richards

I started and finished _The Lives of Tao_ by Wesley Chu this week while on a business trip.  It involves a race of aliens who crash-landed on Earth 65 million years ago (thereby killing off the dinosaurs - their living ship was the asteroid that caused their destruction) and have survived Earth's poisonous (to them) atmosphere by living _inside_ the local life forms.  Fortunately, the race of aliens - the Genjix - are immortal, able to leave a dying or dead host body and leap into another one nearby.  But once inside a living host, there's no way to separate them short of the host's death.

Fast forward to present day, and the Genjix have splintered into two factions, as the core Genjix are manipulating humanity to their own benefit, trying to find a way to get back to their home planet, while a splinter-group, the Prophus, seek to find a way home that doesn't necessarily involve the destruction of the humans as a by-product.  Tao from the book's title is one of these Prophus, whose most current human host was a James Bond type who unfortunately died in a combat mission.  Tao, ejected from his host body and in a desperate search for a new host before the Earth's atmosphere kills him, ends up in the body of an overweight office shlub named Roen Tan.  And now Roen finds himself in the middle of a desperate war the bulk of humanity has no idea is being waged all around them.

I'm now about a third of the way through the sequel, _The Deaths of Tao_.  Those are the only two I picked up at the library book sale, but apparently there's a third one, _The Rebirths of Tao_, that I might have to go hunt down after I finish book two.

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

(Somehow i stopped getting notifications of this thread...) I read the most recent _Saga_ TP, vol 10. It was excellent, as usual.

I read the 2nd book in the Elizabeth George penned Inspector Lynley novel, _Payment in Blood._

Also just finished the _Ironsworn_ RPG and before that _Tomb of Annihilation_ (which I am now running). 

In between I read _Penric's Travels_ by Lois McMaster Bujold. If you haven't read her Penric novels, I would recommend.


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

Finished The Lost Metal by you know who Brandon Sanderson . 
The Wax & Wayne books to date were not my favourite series, but this book was a lot of fun and very well done . Lots revealed , and once it got rolling (which didn’t take long) it was action packed. And … the classic Sander-lanche finale, not many do it better .
Easy read (compared to Stormlight Archive)  , wish I’d read it slower .


----------



## HawaiiSteveO

Short stories are a nice change, been meaning to check this out and not disappointed





						Tales From the Magician’s Skull – No. 8 – PDF|Goodman Games Store
					






					goodman-games.com


----------



## trappedslider

American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild 


Spoiler



The nation was on the brink. Angry mobs burned Black churches to the ground and chased down pacifists and immigrants. Well over a thousand men and women were jailed solely for what they had written or said, even in private. An astonishing 250,000 people joined a nationwide vigilante group—sponsored by the Department of Justice.

This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by torture, censorship, and killings. Adam Hochschild brings to life this troubled period, which stretched from 1917 to 1921, through the interwoven tales of a colorful cast of characters: some well-known, among them the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson and the ambitious young bureaucrat J. Edgar Hoover; others less familiar, such as the fiery antiwar advocate Kate Richards O’Hare and the outspoken Leo Wendell, a labor radical who was frequently arrested and wholly trusted by his comrades—but who was in fact Hoover’s star undercover agent.

A groundbreaking work of narrative history, American Midnight recalls these horrifying yet inspiring four years, when some brave Americans strove to keep their fractured country democratic, while ruthless others stimulated toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law—poisons that feel ominously familiar today.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Moorcock's Champion of Garathorm. Fast and to the point, crackling with energy. Possibly less trippy than usual.

I also finished Poul Anderson's and Mildred Broxon's The Demon of Scattery. It was okay, not great. It was hindered, I think, by not being sure if the Vikings were the villains or the protagonists. 

Now I'm re-reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Rising. I read it about a decade ago and didn't feel it so much. But having read some of Kurtz's Deryni short stories in collections since, I want to reassess it.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Reading the 3rd Elizabeth George novel, Schooled in Blood.

Next up though my library has a Jared Blando book _How to draw fantasy rpg maps_ Looking forward to it!


			https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26107242-how-to-draw-fantasy-art-and-rpg-maps


----------



## dragoner

I just finished "To Hold Up the Sky" by Liu, and now started a Silverberg Anthology.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

Finished re-reading Deryni Rising. I enjoyed it much more the second time. I think it helped that I've read much more contemporary 70s fantasy literature, so I've a better context for it. Either that or my mood was just different this time.

I took a quick detour to read Frank Belknap Long's The Calm Man, which had a much more imaginative and picturesque language than I would've expected.

Now I'm reading ESB's The Swords of Mars.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Finished re-reading Deryni Rising. I enjoyed it much more the second time. I think it helped that I've read much more contemporary 70s fantasy literature, so I've a better context for it. Either that or my mood was just different this time.
> 
> I took a quick detour to read Frank Belknap Long's The Calm Man, which had a much more imaginative and picturesque language than I would've expected.
> 
> Now I'm reading ESB's The Swords of Mars.



The Deryni books are surprisingly hard to find either in my local library system nor at the local used bookstore. But I remember enjoying the first several I read in my 20's.


----------



## Zaukrie

I keep meaning to read that Deryni book....Not sure I still own it.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I got the first two volumes in some gloriously crisp third editions from the 70s from eBay for a good deal. Your local library might be able to get it through interlibrary loan (though I've certainly noticed that most of the Appendix N reading I got from my library all had to be recalled from storage).



Eyes of Nine said:


> The Deryni books are surprisingly hard to find either in my local library system nor at the local used bookstore. But I remember enjoying the first several I read in my 20's.


----------



## Richards

I'm reading a Jeffery Deaver mystery novel, _Death of a Blue Movie Star_, one of his earlier works.  The main character is a wannabe film maker named Rune, who starts out trying to make a documentary about a porn star that more or less goes up in smoke when the building she's in is bombed.  But now Rune is convinced this wasn't a random act of terror but rather a deliberate murder of the porn star, and she's determined to find the killer.

There are apparently two other novels in this series about Rune, which I may have to try to track down.  So far, this has been pretty good.

Johnathan


----------



## trappedslider

Richards said:


> I'm reading a Jeffery Deaver mystery novel,



My dumbass brain initially read that as Jeffrey Dahmer and I was like "He also wrote?"


----------



## Zaukrie

Jamie's Food Revolution

Seems like, nice, easy, recipes so far


----------



## Zaukrie

I just read 
Golf is not a game of perfect
In about two hours. I can see why it is recommended. Like most self help books, you could probably boil it down a bit.... And I have my donuts that terrible players should trust their seeing more... But overall, I found it useful.

Probably going to read the Inheritance Trilogy next.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Reading _Throne of Glass_, the first of many Sarah J Maas books. I was at a con, and there was a young woman there who was raving about Maas's books - so I thought I'd try it out. 

So far sadly I'm "meh" on it. Seems like pretty standard YA romance/fantasy fare with a Mary Sue protagonist who gets mad too much and doesn't listen to anyone. 

I guess I'll finish this volume, since I'm 200+ pages in - but doubt I'll read any more of Maas's work.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I enjoyed Throne of Glass, but didn't think it exceptional. My wife absolutely loves her other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses.



Eyes of Nine said:


> Reading _Throne of Glass_, the first of many Sarah J Maas books. I was at a con, and there was a young woman there who was raving about Maas's books - so I thought I'd try it out.
> 
> So far sadly I'm "meh" on it. Seems like pretty standard YA romance/fantasy fare with a Mary Sue protagonist who gets mad too much and doesn't listen to anyone.
> 
> I guess I'll finish this volume, since I'm 200+ pages in - but doubt I'll read any more of Maas's work.




I finished reading Burroughs The Swords of Mars. Another fun Barsoom tail, with John Carter returning as protagonist to boot! Now I'm re-reading C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I just picked up another edition of it, this one with the iconic cover I remember as a kid:


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I enjoyed Throne of Glass, but didn't think it exceptional. My wife absolutely loves her other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses.
> 
> 
> 
> I finished reading Burroughs The Swords of Mars. Another fun Barsoom tail, with John Carter returning as protagonist to boot! Now I'm re-reading C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I just picked up another edition of it, this one with the iconic cover I remember as a kid:
> 
> View attachment 269036



I loved that cover - that was also the version I read as a young lad. Edmund looks like Ringo Starr  and Peter looks like John Lennon. Wish I still had them.

Also as correctly identified on this cover, LW&W *is Book 1* of the series, not The Magician's Nephew - no matter what Goodreads says. A hill I will gladly die on 

Sheesh, continuing to look at that cover makes me want to go read the series AGAIN - would probably be 4th or 5th time through. Even the problematic depictions of Muslim/Islam in book 7 I might be able to battle through it. And I'd get to enjoy books 1-6 again.

Side topic - any RPGs that feature this type of story? "Normal" people from our world thrust out into a fantastic world?


----------



## Cadence

Just finished rereading the Silmarillion (for the large-nth time) - the new illustrated one.   

Unlike my previous hardcover, I really liked the feel and look of this one (it was comfortable and pretty).  

I also found myself wondering how many people who really didn't like it got derailed in the Ainulindale at the very beginning - and were turned off before making it to the Quenta Silmarillion.  Except for being chock full of names, it feels like it reads at a much quicker pace than either the Hobbit or LotR.   (Granted my old paperback fell apart from rereading, so I'm speaking as a big fan).


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Cadence said:


> I also found myself wondering how many people who really didn't like it got derailed in the Ainulindale at the very beginning - and were turned off before making it to the Quenta Silmarillion.



Me


----------



## Cadence

Eyes of Nine said:


> Me




Which makes me sad because that first part it isn't really needed for the Quenta Silmarillion that is the main part of the book.  The Valaquenta section after the Ainulindale isn't really needed either - it's just a summary of the various gods (Valar) and makes the book feel like its going to be all myth and not about the elves and men.  I wonder how it would have helped if the book just had a page and a half preface like the following and jumped into the main story.

"Preface - The Quenta Silmarillion that follows is a story of what happened in the first age of the world. It summarizes (non-musically) one-strain of the history that can be pulled from the songs of the elves.  The supreme being according to the elves is Eru or Illuvatar.  The elves tell that before time Eru created the Ainur (akin to archangels or gods) and caused them to sing how the world would unfold - including the coming of the elves (the first born) and men (the followers).  But most of the plan was not revealed to the Ainur and each only knew the impact of their individual small part of the song incompletely.  Chief among these Ainur that come into the tales are [two sentences on each].  And so these Ainur came to the world, the greater among them are called the Valar (the powers of the world; Melkor or Morgoth is perhaps the mightiest but is not numbered among them) and the lesser are called the Maiar (including Sauron and the Balrogs who served Melkor, and many more who served the Valar).  The world was land, water, and sky, with the things sung about not yet arrived.   With the coming of the Valar and Maiar, and Morgoth and his servants, the first age began."


----------



## Zaukrie

Apparently instead of reading The Inheritance Trilogy, I have been reading How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. That title may not be an exaggeration! Looking forward to using it.


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I've tried reading the series both ways and I think The Magician's Nephew works best at the end, to preserve the mystery of Narnia when The Pevensies first arrive.

Yeah, there's all sorts of problematic stuff in it, but for me at least, the magic still holds up.



Eyes of Nine said:


> I loved that cover - that was also the version I read as a young lad. Edmund looks like Ringo Starr  and Peter looks like John Lennon. Wish I still had them.
> 
> Also as correctly identified on this cover, LW&W *is Book 1* of the series, not The Magician's Nephew - no matter what Goodreads says. A hill I will gladly die on
> 
> Sheesh, continuing to look at that cover makes me want to go read the series AGAIN - would probably be 4th or 5th time through. Even the problematic depictions of Muslim/Islam in book 7 I might be able to battle through it. And I'd get to enjoy books 1-6 again.




Monte Cook's The Strange is somewhat like that. And apparently there was a Narnia RPG, albeit only published in German.



Eyes of Nine said:


> Side topic - any RPGs that feature this type of story? "Normal" people from our world thrust out into a fantastic world?




That book is a tome, but it's rarely failed me when I needed to know how to cook this or that vegetable.



Zaukrie said:


> Apparently instead of reading The Inheritance Trilogy, I have been reading How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. That title may not be an exaggeration! Looking forward to using it.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Monte Cook's The Strange is somewhat like that. And apparently there was a Narnia RPG, albeit only published in German.



I asked in a different forum and here are some "portal fantasy" RPGs. Note the games listed start going a bit further afield and may be stretches for some definitions of portal fantasy.


Die RPG
Girl Underground
Meridian
Through Ultan's Door (OSR type game)
Many Oz games
Castle Falkenstein (maybe maybe not...)
Magical Land of Yeld
Voidheart Symphony
Lacuna
Heroine
Nest (Fate setting)
Chuubo's Amazing Wish Engine


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Cadence said:


> Which makes me sad because that first part it isn't really needed for the Quenta Silmarillion that is the main part of the book.  The Valaquenta section after the Ainulindale isn't really needed either - it's just a summary of the various gods (Valar) and makes the book feel like its going to be all myth and not about the elves and men.  I wonder how it would have helped if the book just had a page and a half preface like the following and jumped into the main story.
> 
> "Preface - The Quenta Silmarillion that follows is a story of what happened in the first age of the world. It summarizes (non-musically) one-strain of the history that can be pulled from the songs of the elves.  The supreme being according to the elves is Eru or Illuvatar.  The elves tell that before time Eru created the Ainur (akin to archangels or gods) and caused them to sing how the world would unfold - including the coming of the elves (the first born) and men (the followers).  But most of the plan was not revealed to the Ainur and each only knew the impact of their individual small part of the song incompletely.  Chief among these Ainur that come into the tales are [two sentences on each].  And so these Ainur came to the world, the greater among them are called the Valar (the powers of the world; Melkor or Morgoth is perhaps the mightiest but is not numbered among them) and the lesser are called the Maiar (including Sauron and the Balrogs who served Melkor, and many more who served the Valar).  The world was land, water, and sky, with the things sung about not yet arrived.   With the coming of the Valar and Maiar, and Morgoth and his servants, the first age began."



the other reason I didn't get far in the Silmarillion is I have a really hard time with prequels. That's a me thing - but I don't like stories where I know "how it ends"

(for example, I'm one of the few folks who found _Rogue One_ only mildly interesting, and don't get me started on the SW formal prequels)

Probably why I was an English major, not a History major


----------



## Richards

I'm now reading a novella by Daryl Gregory called _We Are All Completely Fine_.  It's about a support group made up of a group of various weird survivors: one is a monster hunter; another is an old man with no hands who was the sole survivor of a group of victims eaten by cannibals; there's a woman who had the flesh surgically separated from her major bones (clavicle, femurs, and humerus) so her tormentor could etch words there like some strange scrimshaw artist (the skin has healed back up and she has no idea what messages he left there on her bones); a man who never removes his glasses because they're part of an ongoing virtual reality zombie apocalypse game (only now he's seeing things that aren't part of the game and shouldn't be part of the real world); and a quiet woman with machine-level precise etchings on her skin.  The psychotherapist who gathered them all together is trying to help them all, but while some of them are just messed up from their experiences, one or more of them might actually be monsters.  It's been pretty good thus far; I'm about a third of the way through it.

Johnathan


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Richards said:


> I'm now reading a novella by Daryl Gregory called _We Are All Completely Fine_.  It's about a support group made up of a group of various weird survivors: one is a monster hunter; another is an old man with no hands who was the sole survivor of a group of victims eaten by cannibals; there's a woman who had the flesh surgically separated from her major bones (clavicle, femurs, and humerus) so her tormentor could etch words there like some strange scrimshaw artist (the skin has healed back up and she has no idea what messages he left there on her bones); a man who never removes his glasses because they're part of an ongoing virtual reality zombie apocalypse game (only now he's seeing things that aren't part of the game and shouldn't be part of the real world); and a quiet woman with machine-level precise etchings on her skin.  The psychotherapist who gathered them all together is trying to help them all, but while some of them are just messed up from their experiences, one or more of them might actually be monsters.  It's been pretty good thus far; I'm about a third of the way through it.
> 
> Johnathan



That totally sounds like my jam...


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Still awesome. Same goes for a re-read of R.E. Howard's Hour of the Dragon I just finished. The pace never lets up, and yet it still finds the time to paint the scenery in such an evocative way.

Now I'm finally reading Karl Edward Wagner's Darkness Weaves. It was the last of the full-length Kane novels I needed.


----------



## Richards

I'm sure you're all aware of Larry Elmore as a prominent D&D artist, but did you know he was also an author?  I sure didn't, until I picked up _Runes of Autumn_, by Larry Elmore and Robert Elmore (his cousin).  It looks to be a standard fantasy novel, not D&D but very much a world that could be portrayed in a D&D campaign, although so far in the small town where this novel starts out, dragons, elves, and dwarves are believed to be creatures that lived long ago but are no longer around; I suspect we'll find out that's not exactly true before too long.  But there are ink drawings by Larry at the beginning of every chapter - a bonus above and beyond the story, which so far is pretty decent (involving the mysterious deaths of people found with their hearts carved out of their chests).

Johnathan


----------



## julllegga

Fire and Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones - it is a work of art


----------



## Ralif Redhammer

I finished Wagner's Darkness Weaves. I've realized why I prefer Kane in full-length novels to short stories. Kane is powerful, strong, intelligent. But he is arrogant and ambitious, and in the span of the novels inevitably sabotages himself and his plans. In the short stories, you rarely get that downfall arc, and that makes for a less interesting character.

Now I'm getting started on some heavier reading for my winter break with Epictetus' Discourses.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

I've been reading the Amulet series of graphic novels. Enjoyable. I'm almost done through vol8, and will then wait with the rest of the world for the final volume...

Also, I guess I'm pushing to get caught up to the present on Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley Sergeant Havers books. Next up is vol 5 (17 more to go!). The second murder mystery that featured a trans character this year. Both set in England. One written in probably 1990 (George's) and the portrayal is forgiveable. The other written during the pandemic, and the portrayal is completely awful - I won't be reading any more of that author's work. (I should have known based on their social media persona  )

Speaking of trans, this book _Sexed Up_ is really eye-opening. It is contemplations written by someone who transitioned from man to woman, and how the world's perspective and treatment of them shifted. The goodreads description contains a lot of dog whistles for the left (proud card carrying member myself); but so far I have found the tone much more like musings and thoughts. I am expecting that it will also contain the conclusions that a smart person taking their own lived experiences and projecting them across modern Western/USican society and uncovering the dangers therein. We'll see. Enjoying so far 50 pps in.


			https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58950971-sexed-up


----------



## Nellisir

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I finished Wagner's Darkness Weaves. I've realized why I prefer Kane in full-length novels to short stories. Kane is powerful, strong, intelligent. But he is arrogant and ambitious, and in the span of the novels inevitably sabotages himself and his plans. In the short stories, you rarely get that downfall arc, and that makes for a less interesting character.



There is a moderately well-known sf/cyberpunk book, the title of which escapes me for the moment, which ended with the protagonist distinctly less well-off than before, and it was a really nice change. Books 2-3 got a lot more traditional and "fixed" things.

I'm blanking on the title. mid-late 90's; author died shortly after finishing the trilogy (cancer?); setting was the mideast, I think; something about a chip in the back of his head. I'm not home and cant check my shelves.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

Nellisir said:


> There is a moderately well-known sf/cyberpunk book, the title of which escapes me for the moment, which ended with the protagonist distinctly less well-off than before, and it was a really nice change. Books 2-3 got a lot more traditional and "fixed" things.
> 
> I'm blanking on the title. mid-late 90's; author died shortly after finishing the trilogy (cancer?); setting was the mideast, I think; something about a chip in the back of his head. I'm not home and cant check my shelves.



George Alec Effinger? When Gravity Fails?


----------



## pukunui

I was given the Strixhaven D&D 5e book for Christmas and have just started reading it.


----------



## Eyes of Nine

To finish off this year's thread, wondering what tool folks use to track their books? I have used Goodreads for quite a while, have 2400 books tracking on there.

That said, I've been considering moving off the Amazon platform, and switching to something like The StoryGraph. 

What do people use to track their books, if anything?


----------



## Zaukrie

Eyes of Nine said:


> To finish off this year's thread, wondering what tool folks use to track their books? I have used Goodreads for quite a while, have 2400 books tracking on there.
> 
> That said, I've been considering moving off the Amazon platform, and switching to something like The StoryGraph.
> 
> What do people use to track their books, if anything?



given the number of times I've re-read or started re-reading a book, perhaps I should do this. Same with the occasional movie....

I started using Goodreads, but found I didn't look at it. It's like tracking beer or wine I like, I just wing it.


----------



## Ulfgeir

Eyes of Nine said:


> To finish off this year's thread, wondering what tool folks use to track their books? I have used Goodreads for quite a while, have 2400 books tracking on there.
> 
> That said, I've been considering moving off the Amazon platform, and switching to something like The StoryGraph.
> 
> What do people use to track their books, if anything?



I write down the author, and title in a notebok. A habit that my mom started when I was a kid and had learned to read at age 5-6, and I have kept doing it since...  And then summarize how many books read that year.


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## Eyes of Nine

Ulfgeir said:


> I write down the author, and title in a notebok. A habit that my mom started when I was a kid and had learned to read at age 5-6, and I have kept doing it since...  And then summarize how many books read that year.



WOW! What a record

What insights have you gleaned about past-Ulfgeir when reviewing your list?


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## Ulfgeir

Eyes of Nine said:


> WOW! What a record
> 
> What insights have you gleaned about past-Ulfgeir when reviewing your list?




Well, the number of books read per year has varied greatly, and nowadays I read mostly English books. But haven't relly analyzed it much.


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## Eyes of Nine

Zaukrie said:


> given the number of times I've re-read or started re-reading a book, perhaps I should do this. Same with the occasional movie....
> 
> I started using Goodreads, but found I didn't look at it. It's like tracking beer or wine I like, I just wing it.



I had the same exact issue. I really had to commit to using Goodreads. 

I recently added a couple of new shelves into my goodreads that help me track my "Want to Read" books. The shelves are  a) already own the book; b) can get the book at the library c) have to buy it (hopefully used or on sale) d) not yet released

Other categories I have are:
Hugo nominees and winners
Nebula nominees and winners
World Fantasy nominees and winners
Graphic Novels
RPGs (of course)
Mysteries
Non-Fiction (which someday i may further break down)

Goodreads doesn't give me a good way to figure out which books are NOT assigned a certain shelf; or which books have no shelf at all...

Anyway, Goodreads allowing me to sort my books I want to buy means it's really useful now


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## Zaukrie

Eyes of Nine said:


> I had the same exact issue. I really had to commit to using Goodreads.
> 
> I recently added a couple of new shelves into my goodreads that help me track my "Want to Read" books. The shelves are  a) already own the book; b) can get the book at the library c) have to buy it (hopefully used or on sale) d) not yet released
> 
> Other categories I have are:
> Hugo nominees and winners
> Nebula nominees and winners
> World Fantasy nominees and winners
> Graphic Novels
> RPGs (of course)
> Mysteries
> Non-Fiction (which someday i may further break down)
> 
> Goodreads doesn't give me a good way to figure out which books are NOT assigned a certain shelf; or which books have no shelf at all...
> 
> Anyway, Goodreads allowing me to sort my books I want to buy means it's really useful now



It would save me time from coming here and searching thru the list of "what books to read" threads over and over!


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## Eyes of Nine

I do have goodreads open on my laptop; as well as have the app on my phone - both so when I hear of a book that looks intriguing, I note it in GR

However, I have a Want to Read list 1300 books long

At roughly 300 pps per book, I've got 390,000 pages of books to read in my future. If I read 100 pages per day (ambitious!); I've got 10+ years of books I want to read. That doesn't count any books that may come in the future

So maybe knowing all this isn't that great lol


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## trappedslider

I also use goodreads and I follow a few friends on it as well


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## Ximnipot69

I use Goodreads too, and my To Be Read is 2800 titles long (can we like add 6 hours to the day so I can read more please?)


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## Ralif Redhammer

If it is When Gravity Fails, that's been sitting on my Kindle for a while. I'll have to get to it.



Nellisir said:


> There is a moderately well-known sf/cyberpunk book, the title of which escapes me for the moment, which ended with the protagonist distinctly less well-off than before, and it was a really nice change. Books 2-3 got a lot more traditional and "fixed" things.
> 
> I'm blanking on the title. mid-late 90's; author died shortly after finishing the trilogy (cancer?); setting was the mideast, I think; something about a chip in the back of his head. I'm not home and cant check my shelves.






Eyes of Nine said:


> George Alec Effinger? When Gravity Fails?




For my to-buy list, I use a book-only Amazon wishlist, though for books that aren't new, I almost exclusively use eBay and used book stores, not Amazon (because frequently, which edition you're buying used on Amazon can be unclear). For books I have read, I use Goodreads. 



Eyes of Nine said:


> To finish off this year's thread, wondering what tool folks use to track their books? I have used Goodreads for quite a while, have 2400 books tracking on there.
> 
> That said, I've been considering moving off the Amazon platform, and switching to something like The StoryGraph.
> 
> What do people use to track their books, if anything?


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## Eyes of Nine

Ralif Redhammer said:


> If it is When Gravity Fails, that's been sitting on my Kindle for a while. I'll have to get to it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For my to-buy list, I use a book-only Amazon wishlist, though for books that aren't new, I almost exclusively use eBay and used book stores, not Amazon (because frequently, which edition you're buying used on Amazon can be unclear). For books I have read, I use Goodreads.



I hadn't thought to use ebay for used books. I typically end up on ABE books; but eBay may be even better...


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## Ralif Redhammer

I've had some really good luck on eBay, and have gotten some great deals. I've really only been burned once (some seller used a stock photo for their listing without identifying it as such).



Eyes of Nine said:


> I hadn't thought to use ebay for used books. I typically end up on ABE books; but eBay may be even better...


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## Nellisir

Ralif Redhammer said:


> If it is When Gravity Fails, that's been sitting on my Kindle for a while. I'll have to get to it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For my to-buy list, I use a book-only Amazon wishlist, though for books that aren't new, I almost exclusively use eBay and used book stores, not Amazon (because frequently, which edition you're buying used on Amazon can be unclear). For books I have read, I use Goodreads.



It is. I really liked that one. The others were fine but not the same. You can read either just that one or the trilogy; as I recall it tied up most of the threads it started.


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## Cadence

Picked up three in the post-Christmas sales - read the anthology Heroic Hearts (edited by Butcher and Hughes), and started Slaying the Dragon and  the anthology Songs of Love and Death (edited by Martin and Dozos).

The last two join the Novels of Dashiell Hammett, 1619 Project, and Dwellers in the Mirage as unfinished for the year.


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## Eyes of Nine

Here's the link to the 2023 "What are you Reading" thread









						What are you reading in 2023?
					

I didn't see a new thread for the new year, so my apologies if I missed it.  I finished reading The Discourses of Epictetus. It's fascinating to read the ideas and advice of centuries past.  Now I'm starting the new year with Hope Mirrlees' Lud-in-the-Mist, something I've been meaning to read...




					www.enworld.org


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