Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I've written to customer service requesting a fixed file or a refund. We'll see what they say.

Fictionwise have still to get back to me about Next of Kin.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Meantime, I'm going on to the next Agatha Christie book, The Hound of Death. Her 17th book

The Hound of Death is a collection of short stories without any of her main characters. Most of the stories involve the supernatural. The weird thing is that in some of the stories the supernatural is real and in some it is not.

This is most confusing. It's as if the puzzle is to work out into which category each story falls. Unfortunately this is, of course, impossible.

I find the real supernatural stories rather unsatisfactory. It's the ones where there's nothing really supernatural going on that are most satisfying. It's rather like the The Mysterious Mr. Quin in that respect.

There is one absolute gem in here. "The Witness for the Prosecution", which was made into a equally splendid film (with a tiny change to the ending).

Next up: The Great Chain of Being and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution by Brian Stableford. Another of my recent fictionwise purchases.

[BearMountainBooks]

Did everyone else know that Mercedes Lackey wrote a new Diane Tregarde mystery? Trio of Sorcery. I think it's a new one. It's expensive so I'll be waiting for a reasonable used copy. Has anyone read it? I need to do more research to make sure it isn't some combo of the other three or a prequel or some such.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Did everyone else know that Mercedes Lackey wrote a new Diane Tregarde mystery? Trio of Sorcery. I think it's a new one. It's expensive so I'll be waiting for a reasonable used copy. Has anyone read it? I need to do more research to make sure it isn't some combo of the other three or a prequel or some such.

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/books/trio.html

It appears to be three new novellas set in that series.

[spiritualtramp]

Just finished Borrowed Time by Keith Hughes.

Time travel as a sci-fi trope is pretty haggard by this point. I got particularly tired of the various Star Trek series attempts at doing interesting things with it, but they aren’t the only culprit. So when I see a book whose central plot line relies on it, I’m skeptical. Enter Borrowed TIme by Keith Hughes.

First, let’s get the science-y bits out of the way. The way that time travel works in this universe, essentially using an app built in to a PDA to harmonize you to a future or past universe’s resonance, seems a little wonky. But then so does slingshotting around the sun or a nuclear powered DeLorean. The interesting twist in this particular tale is the farther forward or back you go, the shorter your stay can be, thus the title.

The requisite dramatic tension is supplied by the men with guns and power that are after the PDA. Very Bad Men want what Relevant has and intend to do Very Bad Things with it. They’re willing to do anything they can to get it and Relevant needs to think fast and use every skill at his disposal in addition to taking advantage of time hopping to get and keep the upper hand. It moves very quickly and kept me anticipating the next chapter.

What’s this story really about though? Is it just a good read or is there more to it? (If you want to honk a writer off, ask them that question.) Not to be corny, as the story never falls in to it that I notice, but it’s really about making the best use of time that you have with the people in your life. That’s reflected in Relevant’s relationship with the professor that invented the device as well as in his failed relationships. Lacking a time machine it’s best for us all to remember that we’re all on borrowed time.

I think this story could stand to be fleshed out a bit. I’d like to get to know the professor and Relevant a little better. I’d also like the Very Bad Men to be fleshed out a little. As it stands they’re kind of two dimensional. It works in the framework of a fast paced sci-fi thriller novella, but I’m a sucker for a well written, complex bad guy. Overall, it’s that that keeps this from being the five star book that this could be. This book is well wroth the price of admission though, and I hope you check it out!

It's available on Amazon and Smashwords.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by spiritualtramp

Just finished Borrowed Time by Keith Hughes.

Time travel as a sci-fi trope is pretty haggard by this point. I got particularly tired of the various Star Trek series attempts at doing interesting things with it, but they aren’t the only culprit. So when I see a book whose central plot line relies on it, I’m skeptical. Enter Borrowed TIme by Keith Hughes.

First, let’s get the science-y bits out of the way. The way that time travel works in this universe, essentially using an app built in to a PDA to harmonize you to a future or past universe’s resonance, seems a little wonky. But then so does slingshotting around the sun or a nuclear powered DeLorean. The interesting twist in this particular tale is the farther forward or back you go, the shorter your stay can be, thus the title.

The requisite dramatic tension is supplied by the men with guns and power that are after the PDA. Very Bad Men want what Relevant has and intend to do Very Bad Things with it. They’re willing to do anything they can to get it and Relevant needs to think fast and use every skill at his disposal in addition to taking advantage of time hopping to get and keep the upper hand. It moves very quickly and kept me anticipating the next chapter.

What’s this story really about though? Is it just a good read or is there more to it? (If you want to honk a writer off, ask them that question.) Not to be corny, as the story never falls in to it that I notice, but it’s really about making the best use of time that you have with the people in your life. That’s reflected in Relevant’s relationship with the professor that invented the device as well as in his failed relationships. Lacking a time machine it’s best for us all to remember that we’re all on borrowed time.

I think this story could stand to be fleshed out a bit. I’d like to get to know the professor and Relevant a little better. I’d also like the Very Bad Men to be fleshed out a little. As it stands they’re kind of two dimensional. It works in the framework of a fast paced sci-fi thriller novella, but I’m a sucker for a well written, complex bad guy. Overall, it’s that that keeps this from being the five star book that this could be. This book is well wroth the price of admission though, and I hope you check it out!

It's available on Amazon and Smashwords.

I'm a sucker for time travel stories. Unlike you, I thought Star Trek did some really fascinating things with time travel, especially STTNG.

I just bought the book from Smashwords based on your recommendation.

[WT Sharpe]

I finally finished Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Has the discussion started yet?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'm a sucker for time travel stories. Unlike you, I thought Star Trek did some really fascinating things with time travel, especially STTNG.

I just bought the book from Smashwords based on your recommendation.

My favourite sci-fi genre (one of my top re-read books is Replay By Ken Grimwood).

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Did everyone else know that Mercedes Lackey wrote a new Diane Tregarde mystery?.

Yes, I read the entire book last year.

It's actually a set of three novellas: one new Diana Tregarde which is a standalone prequel story to her novel-length adventures kind of showing how Diana got into the business to begin with; one new Jennifer Talldeer which is a sequel to her own novel and showing her Further Adventures; and one new novella featuring an entirely new character who's a technomage dealing with problems arising in a gaming environment.

It was okay, and the Talldeer story was the best of the lot (the Tregarde was a little problematic in terms of her established personal timeline and the depiction of one of the characters). I say wait for used or the e-book to drop to less-than-paperback prices if you can't get it at the library.

Worth a read if you liked the characters, but I did not consider the writing quality to be engaging enough to splurge on.

As for me, finished another Fictionwise purchase: Marta Randall's Islands, a philosophical-slice-of-life sf novel about one of the last mortal humans amidst the new generation of genetically engineered Immortals. The author revised it for e-publication and added a little introductory note to the front.

It's told vignette-style, with lots of little flashback scenes interweaving the main action, and lays out the attitudes and contrasts between mortality and immortality in gradually building scenelets.

I'm actually not sure where this one was really supposed to go, as I'd started reading it until about 1/3rd way through, then stopped to finish some other books, and then started again and had forgotten most of what had happened earlier.

But aside from that, it was easy enough to follow what seemed to be the main plotline.

Can't really recommend as not sure if understand, but I liked the writing enough that I'm willing to pick up more of Marta Randall's books on sale, which was the purpose of my buying this first one to begin with.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Yes, I read the entire book last year.

It's actually a set of three novellas: one new Diana Tregarde which is a standalone prequel story to her novel-length adventures kind of showing how Diana got into the business to begin with; one new Jennifer Talldeer which is a sequel to her own novel and showing her Further Adventures; and one new novella featuring an entirely new character who's a technomage dealing with problems arising in a gaming environment.

It was okay, and the Talldeer story was the best of the lot (the Tregarde was a little problematic in terms of her established personal timeline and the depiction of one of the characters). I say wait for used or the e-book to drop to less-than-paperback prices if you can't get it at the library.

Worth a read if you liked the characters, but I did not consider the writing quality to be engaging enough to splurge on.

Thanks PDCurrant and Drake.

It definitely does NOT sound like something I'll splurge on. I'm not huge on novellas unless they just happen to be a continuation of the story ( and why is this rarely the case??? Why???) I've yet to read a prequel that I found necessary or hugely entertaining. This sounds like an odd assortment. If I can get it for very cheap or free, I'll pick it up. I'm sure as heck not paying 12 dollars for it.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

This sounds like an odd assortment. If I can get it for very cheap or free, I'll pick it up. I'm sure as heck not paying 12 dollars for it.

A wise decision. Although I do kind of hope it sells okay in paperback-equivalent pricing, if only so the publisher gets the idea that more Diana Tregarde stories (new novels, even!) are welcome and will sell a decent amount at a decent price.

Anyway, in the meantime you can entertain yourself with the free DT short stories in Lackey's Baen Free Library collection Werehunter, if you haven't already. "Satanic, Versus…" is absolutely hilarious and definitely continues the story (picture Diana and André doing a visit to Die For Love in Elizabeth Peters' Jacqueline Kirby series).

Finished another Fictionwise paid purchase, Castle Perilous, the 1st in the eponymous series by John DeChancie (not to be confused with John DeLancie, who plays Q on Star Trek).

I love magical moving castle/doorway into many spaces and times/people sucked into another world to accomplish stuff stories, so I rather liked the premise of this, which is a sort of crossroads castle between the worlds where strangers fall in by seeming accident and end up having adventures together.

It was a little disjointed to begin with, with lots of different vignette threads following apparently unrelated characters who just happened to wander into the castle. But then their scenes and the story began to all tie together into a reasonably satisfying conclusion for the main plot (something about an invasion of the castle) and the focus character threads.

Mild recommend if you like light comedic (but not completely humorous) real-world-crossover fantasy. This is the start of the series and an okay introduction, but I get the feeling that further books will be better written and more coherent now that the introduction has been gotten out of the way.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I finally finished Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Has the discussion started yet?

I'm still reading and only midway in chapter 5.

Originally Posted by orlok

My favourite sci-fi genre (one of my top re-read books is Replay By Ken Grimwood).

I love that book and have also reread it a few times.

[siraks]

just finished hard magic by larry correia, awesome book and up there with MHI #1 and #2.

started something light and fun, shouldn't take me long to rip through it, 50% done already. not sure why it has me though, maybe because of the way the writing is done, it's as if she's speaking directly to you at a table over cocktails, and because she's a self proclaimed geek

Suck It, Wonder Woman!: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek
by Olivia Munn.

[Namekuseijin]

Olivia Munn is such a hottie with such exquisite beauty. I almost did like Watson when I saw her licking Master Chief's helmet.

[Latinandgreek]

I'm reading "The Dark is Rising" series.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I'm reading "The Dark is Rising" series.

ahh, from that movie "The Seeker"? it was a huge failure IMO. Awful. How is the series?