Summer time

[pwalker8]

It's that time of year again, the summer time doldrums when I'm looking for new books and authors to read since most authors don't put out new books in the June/July time frame.

For fun, I went through my Calbre library to see which new authors I've found over the last five years. I was a bit surprised that I normally only find one or two new authors a year, or at least only one or two new authors that I buy more than a few of their books. I actually try a fair number. It's pretty common to buy a book and either not finish it or finish it and have no desire to buy more from that author. It's also common to buy an author, think not bad, buy another and by the second or third book get bored with them.

So far this summer, I haven't run across many new authors that looked interesting and none where I either finished the book or felt like buying more of their works. Hopefully that changes soon. There are a couple of authors that I got and liked, but lost track of (i.e. didn't notice they had new books out), so I'll go back and try to catch up. Both are authors that I "follow" on amazon, but new book notification on amazon seems to be very iffy.

[Sirtel]

My TBR list is several hundred years long. I no longer read as much as I did in my teens and twenties. So I'm not going to have the "what to read" issue in this life, at least.

[Apache]

Have you read any of P. T. Deutermann's books? I especially like his WWII series. Each is a standalone with different characters. The newest one is due to be released July 13th. It is Trial by Fire and is a Historical Novel based on the kamikaze attack and survival of the USS Franklin. The first one, Pacific Glory, is about a destroyer's first office and later Captain and concludes with the Battle Off Samar. The author is a former Destroyer Captain and his father commanded destroyers and destroyer squadrons during WWII.
Apache

[hobnail]

Several years ago I read The Golem and the Jinni and loved it. She's finally released the second one, The Hidden Palace. Her writing just flows off the page.

[BelleZora]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Several years ago I read The Golem and the Jinni and loved it. She's finally released the second one, The Hidden Palace. Her writing just flows off the page.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've read The Golem and the Jinni twice and loved it. I just paid full price for The Hidden Palace. The wait at the library is three months. I couldn't wait that long.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Thanks for the recommendation. I've read The Golem and the Jinni twice and loved it. I just paid full price for The Hidden Palace. The wait at the library is three months. I couldn't wait that long.

I should have re-read The Golem and the Jinni before reading this one; it was so long ago I can't remember everything.

[hobnail]

There's also my all time favorite series, Temeraire by Naomi Novik.

Dave Duncan is another favorite.

[pwalker8]

Actually, I was wanting to have a discussion on how few authors pan out rather than look for recommendations, but I guess when the moderator, for some inexplicable reason, moved the thread from general discussion to recommendations, people thought I was looking for recommendations.

While I always appreciate a good recommendation, that's not where I was going with this thread.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Actually, I was wanting to have a discussion on how few authors pan out rather than look for recommendations, but I guess when the moderator, for some inexplicable reason, moved the thread from general discussion to recommendations, people thought I was looking for recommendations.

While I always appreciate a good recommendation, that's not where I was going with this thread.

Don’t comment on moderation. If you have an issue, report a post or contact a mod. This is not the first time a post of yours has been called for this; let’s make this the last.

However, just once and to be perfectly clear, I’ll point out that far from being “inexplicable”, the General forum is for a discussion of ereading topics that don’t fit in specific device/software forums. A thread about reading that has nothing specifically to do with ereading belongs in Reading Recommendations, which is for discussions of books. It’s not an obscure or difficult distinction. Nor is General suitable just because you want more attention.

If you need help deciding where a thread of yours belongs, the mods will be happy to provide it.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Actually, I was wanting to have a discussion on how few authors pan out rather than look for recommendations, but I guess when the moderator, for some inexplicable reason, moved the thread from general discussion to recommendations, people thought I was looking for recommendations.

While I always appreciate a good recommendation, that's not where I was going with this thread.

I hope this is accepted as a comment about your thread rather than a comment about moderation...

When I read the OP I immediately thought to recommend the trilogy I am reading now (but decided to wait until I was finished the last book). This did strike me as a thread in which recommendations (or condemnations) would happen. I think it's a difficult conversation to have without getting into specifics.

I'm surprised how many new-to-me authors turn out to be at least okay. It seemed to me to be the nature of the beast that only a small number of authors are going to hit that sweet spot of writing a good story in a way that appeals to me. But, of those books that make it past my pre-filters, I am surprised how few end up getting only 1/5 or 2/5 scores, and even that low score is not necessarily a guarantee I won't be back...

Some recently new-to-me read authors that definitely didn't hit that sweet spot include Max Gladstone, Yoon Ha Lee and Guy Gavriel Kay. And yet each write well enough that I will probably give each of them another chance (in fact I have books lined up for this purpose). There others that missed the spot by a wider mark and won't get a second chance.

But in the last six months there have been several that did hit the sweet spot, including H.G. Parry, Alix E. Harrow and S.A. Chakraborty - I'm definitely looking forward to finding more from all these. And I have quite a long list of others that made 4/5 that I'm definitely watching. I guess some of these may not "pan out" in the longer term, but it still a pretty good list to start with, or so it seems to me.

Yes there are many that fall into that grey-land of 3/5 - that were merely okay. Mostly these fall back into the well where they must compete on almost equal terms with everything else trying to get my attention.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by gmw

I hope this is accepted as a comment about your thread rather than a comment about moderation...

When I read the OP I immediately thought to recommend the trilogy I am reading now (but decided to wait until I was finished the last book). This did strike me as a thread in which recommendations (or condemnations) would happen. I think it's a difficult conversation to have without getting into specifics.

I'm surprised how many new-to-me authors turn out to be at least okay. It seemed to me to be the nature of the beast that only a small number of authors are going to hit that sweet spot of writing a good story in a way that appeals to me. But, of those books that make it past my pre-filters, I am surprised how few end up getting only 1/5 or 2/5 scores, and even that low score is not necessarily a guarantee I won't be back...

Some recently new-to-me read authors that definitely didn't hit that sweet spot include Max Gladstone, Yoon Ha Lee and Guy Gavriel Kay. And yet each write well enough that I will probably give each of them another chance (in fact I have books lined up for this purpose). There others that missed the spot by a wider mark and won't get a second chance.

But in the last six months there have been several that did hit the sweet spot, including H.G. Parry, Alix E. Harrow and S.A. Chakraborty - I'm definitely looking forward to finding more from all these. And I have quite a long list of others that made 4/5 that I'm definitely watching. I guess some of these may not "pan out" in the longer term, but it still a pretty good list to start with, or so it seems to me.

Yes there are many that fall into that grey-land of 3/5 - that were merely okay. Mostly these fall back into the well where they must compete on almost equal terms with everything else trying to get my attention.

We all have different taste in authors, one reason that I wasn't really looking for recommendations.

I like a number of Guy Gavriel Kay's books, though not all. I don't really try to rate authors, or rather it's more of a binary thing - do I want to read more books by that author or not. It does seem to me that a lot of authors only have so many good books in them. Some only write one good book, others a handful. A few are simply good story tellers and most of their books are good.

The thing that surprised me was how few new authors I've run across in the last 5 years that I liked. I think it goes back to my long standing issues with discoverability and finding new authors. Way back when, there were a ton of established authors I had never heard of, so I had all those authors and their backlists to read. Then I found a publisher (Baen) who's taste in books was pretty close to mine, so until he died, I had a steady stream of new authors that he found and published. I really had expected by now that we would have all sorts of curated lists of new books, book reviews and the like. Perhaps they are out there, but I haven't found them.

Perhaps, it's simply one of the regular dry periods and in a year or two things will pick up again.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

We all have different taste in authors, one reason that I wasn't really looking for recommendations.

I like a number of Guy Gavriel Kay's books, though not all. I don't really try to rate authors, or rather it's more of a binary thing - do I want to read more books by that author or not. It does seem to me that a lot of authors only have so many good books in them. Some only write one good book, others a handful. A few are simply good story tellers and most of their books are good.

The thing that surprised me was how few new authors I've run across in the last 5 years that I liked. I think it goes back to my long standing issues with discoverability and finding new authors. Way back when, there were a ton of established authors I had never heard of, so I had all those authors and their backlists to read. Then I found a publisher (Baen) who's taste in books was pretty close to mine, so until he died, I had a steady stream of new authors that he found and published. I really had expected by now that we would have all sorts of curated lists of new books, book reviews and the like. Perhaps they are out there, but I haven't found them.

Perhaps, it's simply one of the regular dry periods and in a year or two things will pick up again.

One of the reasons why your OP (with its "looking for new books and authors to read") attracted my attention is that I've always tended to follow authors, so finding new authors that appeal is something I look forward to. For me the "voice" can be almost as important as the rest of it. So while it's true that sometimes the attraction fades, in general I've found that following authors has served me pretty well.

[Pajamaman]

Im reading summer of night by Dan Simmons. It has that hot summer feel to it.

[fathead]

As a librarian who is frequently asked for book recommendations, I would imagine producing a curated list of new books to satisfy an enormous diversity of tastes could be nigh on impossible. If you include self-published ebooks, make that just plain impossible. If you include back catalogues of older works, who in their right mind would undertake such a task? We have a reference book: "Who Else Writes Like..." which was swiftly abandoned by its creators after a few editions because it was just not feasible to keep it up-to-date.
Trial and error is the only way to find new authors.

[John F]

https://www.literature-map.com/