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

[CRussel]

What I need is a good MilSF that isn't unbearably right-wing gun-porn, but actually well written. (Something like the Empire of Man series, but I don't think I'm up to re-reading that one again for a few more years. )

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CRussel

What I need is a good MilSF that isn't unbearably right-wing gun-porn, but actually well written. (Something like the Empire of Man series, but I don't think I'm up to re-reading that one again for a few more years. )

Have you read "Soldiers", by John Dalmas, published by Baen? I was, very, very impressed by that one when I read it quite recently. It's a standalone novel, rather than a series, which is a refreshing change these days.

[KyBunnies]

Originally Posted by KyBunnies

Finished Murder Strikes a pose by Tracy Weber. I started Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger. The first in the Knitting Mysteries.

For some strange reason, I cannot get the other two book in the Downward Dog series by Tracy Weber on my Kindle. They were purchased at Kobo not Amazon and I use Calibre to transfer books. I connected using the USB cable but nothing is transferring over. Will need to figure out what's wrong before I can finish this series.

I read the following series Sunny & Shadow Mystery series by Claire Donally. I loved this series. The cat reminded me so much about a cat I recently rescued.

Back to the Downward Dog Mystery series by Tracy Weber. A new USB cable solved my problem.

Then I plan on starting Evil Town by John David Bethel. This book is being added to my challenge list. I saw the cover, read the one-liner on the cover, read the description, read about the author and decided that I really needed to read this book.

I will also start reading the first in The Donovan Family by Margaret Watson.

I also have several cozy mysteries on my TBR list that I hope to finished before the end of April.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Have you read "Soldiers", by John Dalmas, published by Baen? I was, very, very impressed by that one when I read it quite recently. It's a standalone novel, rather than a series, which is a refreshing change these days.

No, I haven't. And standalone would be nice, though I see that Baen lists it as part of the Regiment Series.

Something weird going on with selling it, however. Baen lists it for sale still, at $6.99, the usual paperback price for books sold through Amazon. But Amazon has only a clearly self-published version of it, split into two parts, at $2.99 and $4.99, respectively. Well, I'll buy the Baen version. Primarily because it's a single unit.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CRussel

No, I haven't. And standalone would be nice, though I see that Baen lists it as part of the Regiment Series.

Something weird going on with selling it, however. Baen lists it for sale still, at $6.99, the usual paperback price for books sold through Amazon. But Amazon has only a clearly self-published version of it, split into two parts, at $2.99 and $4.99, respectively. Well, I'll buy the Baen version. Primarily because it's a single unit.

Thanks for the recommendation.

You're right - same on Amazon UK. Very odd! Please do let me know your thoughts on it; as I say, I was very impressed by it. It is a rather long book, but well worth the effort.

[Apache]

How about the Corps by WEB Griffin. I know it is Historical Military Fiction and not MilSF, but they are very well written books. The books are character driven and actually have very little in the way of actual battles.
Apache

[meeera]

Originally Posted by CRussel

What I need is a good MilSF that isn't unbearably right-wing gun-porn, but actually well written. (Something like the Empire of Man series, but I don't think I'm up to re-reading that one again for a few more years. )

Scalzi, Huff, Corey, Haldeman, Stross, Banks, Weber, Bach? (not all strictly MilSF, but might appeal)

[cromag]

Originally Posted by cromag

...
And I've just started reading the first volume of Baen's collection of Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League stories -- The Van Rijn Method. Some of these stories are new to me, but others are old friends from back when I first discovered SF magazines on the rack in the local drug store. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

And, while I remembered the first story in the book -- The Saturn Game -- it wasn't an "old friend." I remembered reading it back when it came out in Analog, in 1982. I didn't like it very much then, and I still don't. But it won a Hugo and a Nebula, so what do I know?

The other stories included Nicholas van Rijn and David Falkayn and were a lot more fun.

Tomorrow's booked up, so I'm not sure what I'll be reading next.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up: American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson to fill in the "book by a comedian" slot for the Something for Everyone challenge.

I am still enjoying Craig Ferguson's autobiography/memoir but forgot my Kindle at home today so I read The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell on my phone. This is an excellent retelling of Sleeping Beauty and won the Locus Award for Best Novelette in 2014. I don't think the illustrations add much to this in ebook format but I suspect they are nice in the paper editions.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by CRussel

What I need is a good MilSF that isn't unbearably right-wing gun-porn, but actually well written. (Something like the Empire of Man series, but I don't think I'm up to re-reading that one again for a few more years. )

Have you read any of David Drake's RCN series? With The Lightnings is still free at Baen:
http://www.baen.com/with-the-lightnings.html

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I've been reading that one interspaced with Dante's Divine Comedy. I don't normally do a lot of re-reading, but this is my third time through the Comedy, although they were all by different translators. The first was by The Rev. H.F. Cary, M.A. (The Harvard Classics edition), the second was the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation, and the one I'm reading now was translated by Anthony S. Kline. This is by far my favorite, as it is a prose translation that is much easier to understand. I've had the book on my TBR list since at least 2010, but after Longfellow and Cary I felt like taking a break from the tale for a few years.

I have quite fond memories of John Ciardi's translation. He retains the poetic form, but takes appropriate liberties to preserve certain linguistic notes. The result was quite readable, faithful to the spirit over the strict text when a decision between the two was required.

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Currently reading Three Days to Dead, by Kelly Meding.
Urban Fantasy, involves various malicious or ambivalent magical races (elves, goblins, were-fill-in-blanks, and of course the mostly-vampires). The main character (part of a group of "troubled youth" forcibly recruited into covert ops/magic police/foot soldiers of humanity) died and was resurrected in the middle of a confusing plot that will undoubtedly spell the end of humanity, etc...
As the title indicates, she has three days until she dies again, and first she has to figure out why she's back anyway. It doesn't help that her own people think she killed her own squad and are hunting her...

I rather enjoyed that series, although my brain insists on mixing Kelly Meding up with Kelly Gay.

I'm about a third of the way through Seanan McGuire's Chaos Choreography at present, fifth in her "InCryptid" series and the third starring Verity Price. There's a peculiar cadence in the epigraph that begins Chapter 4; it's very similar to a refrain from the children's book that she "quotes from" in her "Parasitology" series (as Mira Grant).

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Have you read any of David Drake's RCN series? With The Lightnings is still free at Baen:
http://www.baen.com/with-the-lightnings.html

I seem to recall reading that one a while back. And then starting the next and abandoning it. But I don't any longer know why I abandoned it, so worth a look again. Thanks!

[Apache]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Have you read any of David Drake's RCN series? With The Lightnings is still free at Baen:
http://www.baen.com/with-the-lightnings.html

Originally Posted by CRussel

I seem to recall reading that one a while back. And then starting the next and abandoning it. But I don't any longer know why I abandoned it, so worth a look again. Thanks!

The newest in the series, Death's Bright Day, is to be released June 7th.
Apache

[Dngrsone]

Finished The Gemini effect by Chuck Grossart. It was... okay. The ending wasn't what I expected, which is nice, actually, though for a while I was like, "Really? You're going to do that?" but by the end I was like, "Oh! You bastard... nice!"

So, probably three and a half stars.

Meanwhile, I have started The Games of Supervillainy by C. T. Phipps.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: F&SF, March/April 2016 edited by C. C. Finlay

Which was great. I liked all the stories in it.

Next up: Warbound by Larry Correia. Third of his Grimnoir Chronicles, set in a magical 1930s.