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

[fantasyISbetter]

Originally Posted by bfisher

I recently finished "Foxglove Summer" by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London), and aside from the deus ex machina ending, found it at least as good as the earlier books - no mean feat at number 5. My problem right now is that I would like more of the same, without waiting a year or two for the next Peter Grant instalment. Any suggestions for something in a similar vein?

I liked the Peter Grant books too, the following authors might appeal to you if you are looking for either a police or PI or amateur investigative book with supernatural elements (besides Jim Butcher of course):
Mario Acevedo (Nymphos of Rocky Flats)
Benedict Jacka (Fated)
Tanya Huff (Blood series)
David Devereux (Hunter's Moon)
MLN Hanover (Clean Spirits)
Ilona Andrews (Magic series)
Steve Bein (book alternates b/t present day and feudal Japan, female police tec)

For just plain great books with supernatural elements or SF;
Daniel O'Malley (The Rook) magic
Daryl Gregory (Raising Stony Mayhall) zombie, FANTASTIC
Harry Connolly (Child of Fire)
Kim Newman (Anno Dracula) vamps/alt history
Meaney, John (Blood Song)
Bacigalupi, Paolo The Windup Girl
Barry, Max (Lexicon)
Hurley, Kameron God's War
Tregillis Ian Bitter Seeds, The Mechanical
Williams Liz Snake Agent
Willis, Connie To Say Nothing of the Dog
Ruff, Matt The Mirage (turns 911 on its head; Christian fundamentalists bomb Iraq)
Baker, Kage In the Garden of Iden (a 25th cent corp rescues children and turns them into time traveling cyborgs- long series- FANTASTIC
David, James F Thunder of Time (portal opens and out come dinosaurs)
Sakey, Marcus Brilliance (sleepless)
Kress, Nancy Beggars in Spain (more sleepless)
Suarez, Daniel Daemon (really good thriller about computer "virus" with wide reaching impact)

So much for pimping out some of my favorites.

[Pulpmeister]

I've been looking back to the 1950s and 60s, and even earlier:

Compulsion: Meyer Levin. A psychological crime novel based in the infamous Loeb-Leopold case in 1920s Chicago.

The Ninth Wave: Eugene Burdick. A 1956 novel, Burdick's first, covering about 15 years from 1939 to so to 1954 or so, following the career of an amoral and manipulative but charming young man from college-boy surfer to political wheeler-dealer in Southern California.

The Prize, Irving Wallace. A very long (300,000 word) tour through the world of Nobel prizes, with a soupcon of cold war. Filmed with Paul Newman and Elke Sommer. A huge best-seller in its day.

And seriously vintage:

The Memoirs of M Blowitz, by M. Henry de Blowitz. (1903, public domain).

De Blowitz is forgotten now, but loomed large in the world of European politics and journalism in the second half of the 19th century. He was born near Pilsen, Bohemia, in 1825, of impoverished petty aristocracy, and with his unique combination of ebullient charm and self-confidence, phenomenal memory, and fluency in several languages (at least Czech, German, French and English) became the Paris correspondent of the London Times. His most amazing feat was providing the complete text of the Treat of Berlin (1875) to the Times before it was even signed! He was the first to interview the newly appointed King Alfonso XII of Spain, went to Istanbul on the maiden trip of the just-introduced Orient Express, interviewed the Sultan of Turkey (a first), and numerous other feats. His Memoirs are engagingly self-appreciative, and in parts one suspects slightly fictitious, reading like something out of E Philips Oppenheim; but his contemporaries in journalism held him in the highest esteem. Good fun.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Asimov's SF for July 2015.

Another good issue.

Next up: The Fortress of Glass by David Drake. The first in his "Crown of the Isles" trilogy which follows on from his "Lord of the Isles" series. It's been alomst ten years since I read the "Lord of the Isles" series, and I bought this one back in 2006, but didn't get the last in the series until this month, so I don't think I've read it. I think I've enjoyed every book I've ever read by David Drake, so I don't expect to be disappointed with this one.

[samhy]

I've been reading some short novels by Steinbeck lately and while I enjoy them in a way, I'm stalling in my reading. To get out of this slump I've started a novella by Maia Sepp. I really liked her book The Sock Wars, so now I'm reading An Etiquette Guide to the End Times. It's a nice change before going back to the next Steinbeck short story

[HarryT]

Finished "The Falcon at the Portal", by Elizabeth Peter, the 11th book in the "Amelia Peabody" series of Egyptological mysteries. The series skips forward several years from the previous book in the series. From Wikipedia:

The 1911 season finds the Emersons planning to excavate at Zawyet el'Aryan, south of the great pyramids of Giza. David Todros has just been married to Lia, the daughter of Walter and Evelyn Emerson, and the happy couple will be joining the expedition after their honeymoon. The family's happiness is dimmed, however, by allegations that David has been making and selling fake antiquities under the guise of his late grandfather Abdullah's legacy. Ramses and Nefret take on the task of ferreting out the source of the rumors - and the fakes - with fears that the Master Criminal is behind it.

Very good indeed, as always with this series.

[Apache]

A few I have read recently worth mentioning:
Terry Mixon's three book Empire of Bones Series. A Sci Fi series by an Indie author worth reading. Four stars.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...rry%20m%20ixon

The new Walt Longmire book, Dry Bones by Craig Johnson. Another excellent book in the series.
http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Bones-Long...ords=dry+bones

The Mule Soldiers by Blair Howard. This is a fictionalized account of a true story of the Civil War. It is well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

http://www.amazon.com/Mule-Soldiers-...+mule+soldiers

The Marines of Autumn b y James Brady. A story about the Chosin Reservoir Retreat of the US Marines in the Korean War.

http://www.amazon.com/Marines-Autumn...ines+of+autumn

1882 Custer in Chains by Robert Conroy. A what if about Custer surviving his last stand, going on the become President and starting a war with Spain. Enjoyable.

http://www.amazon.com/1882-Custer-Ch...ds=1882+custer

Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles by Bernard Cornwell. I am about a third of the way through this book and would rate it excellent. Cornwell makes you feel like you are there observing the battle. He also takes care to explain terms and tactics for people who would not know their meanings. Five stars and highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Waterloo-Histo...=waterloo+four

Apache

[Teknikal]

Probably going to sound a bit childish but I started reading "The Wardstone Chronicles" by Joseph Delaney after watching the film the seventh son (The books are a lot better).

I really enjoyed them in the same way I enjoy other series like The Dresden Files as an example I flew through the whole lot of them quite quickly and I'm actually a little sad I'm at the end of that road.

He does have a continuation series but so far there is only one book which I'm about to start.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Fortress of Glass by David Drake.

An excellent start to the new trilogy. I found no difficulty in remembering the characters from the previous volumes, even though I read them about ten years ago. Highly recommended.

It seems that sometime in May I read the May/June issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, although I didn't note it here at the time. Clearly neither wonderful nor dreadful.

And now I'm reading Moon Base by E. C. Tubb, who is much better known for his Dumarest series. One of my 2006 purchases from Fictionwise.

[HarryT]

Just finished "The Triumphant", the third anthology in Baen's collected "Bolo" stories originally created by Keith Laumer. The book contains stories by several authors, most of "novella" length, and is excellent. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys military SF. I did ignore the length "fake history" info-dump which comprises the last 15% of the book, though. I'm sure there must be people who are interested in the precise difference between a Mark XXIII and XXIV Bolo and what their respective weapons capabilities are, but I'm not one of them .

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Apache

Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles by Bernard Cornwell. I am about a third of the way through this book and would rate it excellent. Cornwell makes you feel like you are there observing the battle. He also takes care to explain terms and tactics for people who would not know their meanings. Five stars and highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Waterloo-Histo...=waterloo+four

Apache

I finished this last night and I rate it 5 stars. An excellent book on The Battle of Waterloo. If you want to know how it felt to be on the battlefield, to experience the horror and confusion then this is the book for you. Cornwell is great at explaining the military terms and tactics used at Waterloo, for those who have little understanding. An example is the Column used by Napoleonic Battalions during an assault.

"There were 18,000 infantrymen marching in the four columns, and again it is worth remembering that 'column' is a misleading word. It suggests an elongated formation with the narrow end aimed like a spear at the enemy's line, while in truth it was much more like a brick advancing sideways.,"

I highly recommend this book.
Apache

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm reading Moon Base by E. C. Tubb, who is much better known for his Dumarest series. One of my 2006 purchases from Fictionwise.

It was OK. A little dated.

Next up was : The Nightmare People by Lawrence Watt-Evans. A rather good fantasy horror story which went very quickly.

And now: Lightspeed Magazine #61 for June 2015, a special "Queers Destroy Science Fiction" issue.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Just finished a re-read of the first of Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series, Quarter Share. Frankly, I just wanted a comfortable old slipper, and this series is certainly that. I'm going to read the next, at least, which is Half Share. These are "coming of age" stories, or Trader stories, or Science Fiction, or all of the above. IAC, they're good reading, and the antithesis of MilSF. Sort of a YA SF Cozy.

Well, once started on the Solar Clipper series, I just blew through the entire 6 volume series. And I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it once again. Nathan Lowell's strength is that he knows how to tell a good story, and these are good examples of that. Recommended. One hopes that someday he's able to give us more adventures of Ishmael Wang, but even if he doesn't, these are well worth the read.

Next up: Marjorie Allingham's More Work for the Undertaker, which is #13 in the Albert Campion series.

Meanwhile, listening to Sharpe's Prey, by Bernard Cornwell, and read by Patrick Tull.

[covingtoncat73]

Dietland by Sarai Walker! I read over 60% in one day, which is a lot for me in my old age here in the digital age. When I was younger, I could read multiple books in a day (no job, Mom did the grocery shopping and cooking, and I didn't have the Internet).

Anyway, this book is great so far! It is highly entertaining and a novel, yet it shows how the diet, fashion/magazine, and porn industries oppress women and how they are connected.

[Dngrsone]

Finished Defiantly, She Advanced: Legends of Future Resistance; in between books right now.

Maybe I will do a little writing of my own before starting something new.

[Shopaholic]

I've just recently finished reading American Sniper and am now reading Still Alice. I've got Hope and The Lost Girls lined up to go. The book authored by two of the girls held hostage in Cleveland. I read Michelle's book a while ago. The Lost Girls is the background story of their kidnap and rescue.

My hubby thinks I'm morbid when I choose such subject matter. Maybe. I don't know. I don't think so. I know that it took a hell of a lot for those girls to make it through that ordeal without giving up and allowing themselves to die or dying by their own hand. I wanted to know how they got through that. What made them strong. The poor things. How incredibly horrific.

And then after all that darkness, I need a fluff piece. The Blossom Street series from Debbie Macomber.