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HarryT · 07-16-2017, 11:13 AM

I've been away on a course for two weeks, and read lots of books in that time. Among the SF/Fantasy books were:

"The City and the Ship" by Anne McCaffrey and S.M. Stirling. A Baen omnibus of two novels set in Anne McCaffrey's "Brain Ship" universe: "The City Who Fought" and "The Ship Avenged". Excellent SF. Highly recommended.

"1634: The Galileo Affair" by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis. The fourth novel in the "1632" universe. This one's set in Venice. Enjoyable.

"The Reality Matrix" by John Dalmas. Dalmas never disappoints for me, and this one was no exception. Hard SF with a plot vaguely similar to that of the "Matrix" movies (ie the world is not what it seems to be). Very enjoyable.

"Gods and Androids" by Andre Norton. A Baen omnibus of two novels: "Wraiths of Time" and "Android at Arms". I must admit that I find all Norton's books somewhat tedious, and these were no exception. I keep on reading them as I plough through my Baen backlog hoping that I'll find a gem amongst them, but it hasn't shown up yet. Don't waste your time with this one!

And in between the Baen books I've been reading Dick Francis novels, which I'm enjoying enormously. They're all set in the world of horse-racing, but he manages to find so many different angles to it that they never get dull.

"Bonecrack": A racehorse trainer is threatened by a mobster that his racing stable will be ruined unless he agreed to take on the mobster's son as a jockey. A slightly silly plot, but extremely well-written.

"Smokescreen": A famous actor with a love of racing agrees to travel to South Africa to investigate why the horses owned by his dying aunt are failing to live up to their potential.

"Knockdown": A syndicate of bloodstock agents (the people who buy and sell racehorses on behalf of clients) tries to force agent Jonah Dereham to join their conspiracy to defraud owner, and when he refuses to do so, things get unpleasant. This is absolutely excellent, with a real heart-breaker of an ending. The best I've read in the series so far.

"High Stakes": Steven Scott owns horses but does not know much about them. He sacks his trainer because he suspects underhand dealings going on. He is soon to find out that moneymaking drives some people to manoeuvering and they will go a long way to protect themselves.

"In the Frame": Charles Todd makes a living as a painter of horses. However someone is making a fortune forging paintings by the masters and then selling them to people who usually end up dead. Charles arrives in Australia to investigate and is immediately on the trail of the fraudsters. Another absolutely excellent book.

"Whip Hand": The second book in the Sid Halley series. Sid is now a successful private detective in the racing world, and is asked to investigate why a number of horses who started their racing careers promisingly suddenly performed very poorly in big races. Another excellent read.

07-16-2017, 11:13 AM	#26153
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I've been away on a course for two weeks, and read lots of books in that time. Among the SF/Fantasy books were: "The City and the Ship" by Anne McCaffrey and S.M. Stirling. A Baen omnibus of two novels set in Anne McCaffrey's "Brain Ship" universe: "The City Who Fought" and "The Ship Avenged". Excellent SF. Highly recommended. "1634: The Galileo Affair" by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis. The fourth novel in the "1632" universe. This one's set in Venice. Enjoyable. "The Reality Matrix" by John Dalmas. Dalmas never disappoints for me, and this one was no exception. Hard SF with a plot vaguely similar to that of the "Matrix" movies (ie the world is not what it seems to be). Very enjoyable. "Gods and Androids" by Andre Norton. A Baen omnibus of two novels: "Wraiths of Time" and "Android at Arms". I must admit that I find all Norton's books somewhat tedious, and these were no exception. I keep on reading them as I plough through my Baen backlog hoping that I'll find a gem amongst them, but it hasn't shown up yet. Don't waste your time with this one! And in between the Baen books I've been reading Dick Francis novels, which I'm enjoying enormously. They're all set in the world of horse-racing, but he manages to find so many different angles to it that they never get dull. "Bonecrack": A racehorse trainer is threatened by a mobster that his racing stable will be ruined unless he agreed to take on the mobster's son as a jockey. A slightly silly plot, but extremely well-written. "Smokescreen": A famous actor with a love of racing agrees to travel to South Africa to investigate why the horses owned by his dying aunt are failing to live up to their potential. "Knockdown": A syndicate of bloodstock agents (the people who buy and sell racehorses on behalf of clients) tries to force agent Jonah Dereham to join their conspiracy to defraud owner, and when he refuses to do so, things get unpleasant. This is absolutely excellent, with a real heart-breaker of an ending. The best I've read in the series so far. "High Stakes": Steven Scott owns horses but does not know much about them. He sacks his trainer because he suspects underhand dealings going on. He is soon to find out that moneymaking drives some people to manoeuvering and they will go a long way to protect themselves. "In the Frame": Charles Todd makes a living as a painter of horses. However someone is making a fortune forging paintings by the masters and then selling them to people who usually end up dead. Charles arrives in Australia to investigate and is immediately on the trail of the fraudsters. Another absolutely excellent book. "Whip Hand": The second book in the Sid Halley series. Sid is now a successful private detective in the racing world, and is asked to investigate why a number of horses who started their racing careers promisingly suddenly performed very poorly in big races. Another excellent read. Last edited by HarryT; 07-16-2017 at 12:14 PM.