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

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

That sounds very interesting! Adding to my wish list!

I'm adding it, too.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I enjoyed this book also. It really helped me understand the difficulties an autistic individual experiences. What they think is so different than what they express.

If you tend to relate to your protagonists, please don't read Darkly Dreaming, please.

I just wanted to add to the chorus of praise for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I'm usually more into stuff that has fantasy elements or, at least, is historically set but I bought the audiobook of this on iTunes years ago and listened to it multiple times. Great book.

Right now, I'm almost (about 75 pages left) done with Galore, a multi-generational story with some magical realism set in 19th century Newfundland. Great stuff, though not quite as enthralling to me as The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, it is still worth the premium (in terms of eBooks) price I paid. I'd probably say 4.5 stars but give it 5 on Goodreads as I don't think you can do partial stars on there. Among the harsh descriptions of life in that place and time and such, there is ample humor. For example:

The newlywed Paddy Devine: "I love you, Missus."

The blushing bride: "Shut up, Paddy."

[din155]

Finished Hal Spacejock, it was a fun read Thanks to MRBC!
Currently reading Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, interesting read till now. Planning to pick up War of the worlds after this.

Din

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by Iridal

It's funny, because I thought The Crown Conspiracy wasn't that good because there was a lack of wizards and magic But the Riyria Revelations really gets better with every new book.

I finished Changes by Jim Butcher last night, it was really really really good (FYI, it's about wizards, magic and lots of supernatural elements, my kind of thing ). I started Side Jobs this morning, a collection of short stories about Harry Dresden, the main character of the Dresden Files series. The final books (Ghost Story) should be published some time in June ... I can't wait!

Ebook comes out July 26th. Delayed from April. There's a post lost and buried around here somewhere where I turned the air blue about that... LOL.

Just finished Pale Demon by Kim Harrison, and finally finished Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill. Yes, they're both supernatural/vampy. I discovered Kim Harrison at the same time I discovered Dresden, and have loved her ever since. I like the Chloe Neill series because they're set in Chicago. Now reading Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke. I decided I needed a change of pace from supernatural LOL. Hopefully I can finish that one today and start on something else. This is my "free week" with no online classes so I'm indulging my fiction reading .

[ATDrake]

Finished The Arm of the Stone by Victoria Strauss, which is the Phoenix Pick Free Book of the Month for April, and will be buying the sequel for $2.12 during their current 50% off sale with coupon promotion which ends on the 30th.

At first I thought it was a fantasy. But it turns out that it's an sf/fantasy of the Pern & Darkover sort, which kind of grafts fantasy tropes onto sfnal roots. And then I thought it was going to be an angsty destined hero overturns the corrupt world order adventure quest. But it turns out to be a fairly interesting and rather contemplative exploration of the nature of power and responsibility, authority and abuse, betrayal and change which contrasts the system and the people who both work inside it and are excluded due to it.

A much more "thinky" book than I was expecting, and surprisingly compelling. In fact it managed to not-quite-surprise but definitely do the unexpected, by going in rather different but plausible directions than the usual fantasy tropes had set me up for in other more typical fantasy works.

Medium-high recommend for people who like low-key somewhat philosophical sf/fantasy about trying to change the world you live in, while being changed by it yourself. It's a bit of an idiosyncratic story because of the things I mentioned above, and I turned out to like it a lot more than I was expecting going in, but I can see how it's not for everyone.

It is, however, free for the rest of the month, and the sequel is dirt cheap, so definitely worth your time to download and sample and decide. It does start off kind of slow in the first bits, so I'd advocate skipping ahead to part two and reading a chapter or two starting there (won't spoil anything that happens in the first section) to get an idea of where the book actually goes, which the initial opening chapters aren't really all that indicative of.

Now currently on Terence M. Green's Barking Dogs a near-futuristic definitely sf cop-on-the-trail-of-a-killer police not-quite-procedural which is set in Toronto, and apparently written by a Canadian. Again, I'm not quite sure where it's going, but it's pretty decent so far and I've already determined to get the other book in the series, which, happily is also $2.12 during the sale.

[lila55]

Originally Posted by Crusader

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night time. A quick fun read with an interesting glimpse into the autistic mind. What I found troubling is that I have quite a few similar mannerism. Nothing as severe, but still interesting.

I read that a while ago and really enjoyed it as well. Another book that I read (and liked), also dealing with an autistic protagonist, is "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult.

[DiapDealer]

I'll add one more excellent book with an autistic protagonist to the the list: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.

Scifi in the sense that it takes place in a near future where medical technology has a potential impact on autism.

[Ron.]

I actually started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night :P

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by Iridal

Me too!!! Ghost Story will be the last book in this series I think. Doesn't the title say it all?



I read the Furies Series, and I thought they were very very good. Even better than the Dresden Files. I might reread them some time this year.

Nope: According to Jim Butcher's website, the publishers bought at least three more Dresden titles after Ghost Story. So it's not the end...

ETA: Correction - these posts were taken from the forums at Jim-Butcher.com:

It´s been said if I recall correctly that the series originally was planned to be 20 casebooks and an apocalyptic trilogy ending totaling in 23 books, but I seem to remember that Jim said somewhere that the plot diden´t progress as he had thought, he had thought Small Favor (book 10) to be midpoint, or something like that but that got pushed so Changes became the midpoint, which seems logically the events of Changes taken into account, so 25 books total seems more likely. Thats how I recall it, but I am far from sure on this, it´s something I picked up on the forum or in a video recorded interview or something like that. I hope it´s sufficient. Otherwise maybe Priscellie have an answer? I dunno.

No, that's about right; the absolute number has not been set in stone, but the series is approximately halfway done.

The FAQ on the site tallies with the first quoted poster's numbers of 20 casebooks and an "apocalyptic trilogy", but the forum posts are dated later than the FAQ.

[maianhvk]

I'm easily distracted! I was reading The Name of The Wind and yesterday I went into a bookstore and you know what always happens to bookaholics: I brought home a poetry by a famous female author in my country. Really like it though it wasn't cheap at all for a paperback.

Originally Posted by Ron.

I actually started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night :P

I hope it is illustrated by Quentin Blake

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished The Arm of the Stone by Victoria Strauss, which is the Phoenix Pick Free Book of the Month for April, and will be buying the sequel for $2.12 during their current 50% off sale with coupon promotion which ends on the 30th.

Thanks for this. Have downloaded.

Regards
Caleb

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Analog SFF, June 2011

Nearly half the issue was taken up with the first part of a serial by Edward M Lerner. I was put off a bit by what seems to me to be a technical error in the Prologue, but apart from that it's OK, and I'm interested to read the next parts.

None of the shorter works stood out for me. A slight sub-par issue for me (YMMV).

Next was Asimov's SF, June 2011

There were some stories in this issue that I didn't care for, but the issue was above average for me for two stories: the short story Apocalypse Daily by Felicity Shoulders, and the Novella Kiss Me Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal.

And now I'm onto another Agatha Christie, her 12th book, The Murder at the Vicarage.

[DiapDealer]

Just finished up a boatload of free short stories from various ezines. My favorite in this latest batch was easily "Items Found in a Box Belonging to Jonas Connolly" by Laura E. Price from Strange Horizons. A steampunk-ish tale (told through letters and scrap-book clippings) of a legendary airship captain.

My least favorite by far was "A Hunter's Ode to his Bait" by Carrie Vaughn reprinted in Fantasy Magazine. Just an atrocious bit of cheesy harlequin with a touch of "OH, HEY LOOK... A UNICORN!" Blechh

I also enjoyed "Dancing the Warrior" by Marie Brennan. Told in two parts in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issues #66 & #67. I was pleasantly surprised here. This was a short prequel to her urban fantasy novels "Warrior" and "Witch"--that I fully admit I never would have given a fair shake from their descriptions alone. If the writing is similar, I may have to revise my opinion on these and similar urban fantasy novels.

"The House of Gears" by Jonathan L. Howard amused me a bit from Fantasy Magazine (also available as a free podcast). This short story features the character of Johannes Cabal-- the necromancer from his somewhat popular novels. I liked it, but I'm not sure my 'like' would stretch to accommodate a novel-length sampling of a similar style.

Honorable mentions:

"The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from the Great Book)" by Nnedi Okorafor from Clarkesworld #54.

"Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine.

"Suited for Command" by Adam Colston from Raygun Revival (strictly for its cheesy space opera-ish goodness)

The "Send to Kindle" browser addon is my friend.

[ATDrake]

Finished Terence M. Green's Barking Dogs near-futuristic (circa 1988) sf cop thriller set in Toronto, Ontario. This was a previous Free Book of the Month selection from Phoenix Press, and I read it to see if I wanted to pick up the next "Mitch Helwig" book, which is on sale for $2.55 with PP's April 50% off coupon which you can find in the Deals forum.

It was a mildly interesting read to begin with, premised on having a fairly high-tech near-infallible lie detector being developed, but turned into one of those "fed-up law enforcement official turns to unofficial ways to enforce the law, can he step back from the brink in time?"

Only, I'm not sure there was really supposed to be an in-story brink to step back from.

One of the non-cop characters has this internal monologue lamenting how if she publicly expressed her opinion that criminals should be rounded up, sterilized, relocated to remote wilderness ghettos and left to kill each other off/die from the wilderness conditions, she would be given the side-eye by her office colleagues.

Uh, yeah, there's a reason for that. Given Canada's demonstratedly stellar ability to convict supposed criminals on absolutely no solid evidence and repeatedly resist attempts to bring proof of their actual innocence to court, and taser handcuffed people to death for wielding a stapler which they say couldn't distinguish from a gun and try to obfuscate and cover it up, I think I'd have trust issues regarding that, on top of the at the dubious humanity and deliberate dehumanization of the proposal.

Hopefully this is just a retro-futuristic "society is different" character voice thing and I didn't just pay for $2.55 of continued wingnuttery. But if I did, at least it was cheap and supports a fellow Canadian. Even one who might think that "undesirable" people should be rounded up and deported to die in the wilderness.

Now on to select another former Phoenix Press freebie to see if the author's writing is appealing enough to get their other works for half-price while the sale lasts.

[fantasyISbetter]

If you are looking for a similar series to Butcher's Dresden, try Mike Carey- starting with Vicious Circle- it's more serious, and it doesn't have as many weird creatures as Dresden, but at least you have ghosts and demons. Very well written. And it's the start of a good series.