A closer look showed that it was some kind of "reimagining" of H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy. I was horrified. I know Piper's work has largely fallen into the public domain, but, really, did it deserve this? "Reimagining" a classic? All the pokes at Internet Fan Fiction, and here's something just like it but published by professionals?

Right now I am trying to decide where to go for the next read, THE YOUNG SAMARAI, by Chris Bradford. Or maybe its time to give in and read,HUNGER GAMES. But then, that darn Harry Dresdin is summoning me again, so maybe I will go that route.

As to Dresden Files... Is that "Changes" or "Ghost Story"?

I am in the middle of "Changes" since I wait for the paperback version and I had some books in front of it so it had to wait it's turn even though it was calling me and may have bumped up a couple of books. And even though my wife has never touched the previous Dresden books she started reading this one... Anyway, Talk about changes, egads and since I had to look up the title of "Ghost Story" I know how "Changes" end.

Hmmm, that's the second hero who has been placed in the same predicament that Butcher places Dresden in. Simon Green has done it recently also. Wonder if they belong to the same Pros club and if there will be any other heros done the same way.

quote:

---

As to Dresden Files... Is that "Changes" or "Ghost Story"?

---

Neither, I am way back there, still old schooling it. GRAVE PERIL, I think its the 3rd. I am so far back, I get to read them in order, space them out, take my time, enjoy them, and yeah, I can say that. I was a little worried about the first, as I said before, the author hides stuff about Harry's past, and when introducing a character does a mini-info dump on them, but he spins a good tale, and that will keep me coming back for more.

There are spoilers in here but I think most are revealed in the first two or three books and any others are not that big.
>
>
>
>
>

But I didn't notice that he hides things about Dresden's past. He may not explain everything in the first couple of books but as far as I can recall we know pretty quickly about how his first mentor tried to kill him and how his first girl friend went along with it. And that certain members of the White Council are out for his blood because of he his mentor was and how Dresden ended up killing the guy. And I believe we know who Dresden's father was and that he raised him for a while. Of course there's something about his mother we don't find out for quite a while but she didn't raise him.

His hiding things started in the first book, he would bring up his girlfriend dying, then say he didn't want to go there and move on, so we never found out how in the first book. He tends to bring up the past, hint at it, then move on, and release a little over the series. It keeps the reader going, and I have come to expect it and accept it. At first I felt it was a very bad breech of the rules. But, since I have relaxed on the rules during reading and enjoying the story, it has made me find the fun in reading again, something I had lost with my internal editor getting in the way.

I'm just guessing there. Or maybe if it turned out Piper was forced by an agent or editor to make some major changes and this is closer to what he wanted. But somehow I think not.

But If I can remember to take the time maybe I will try to find any blogs and/or forums discussing it.

And I yeah Butcher didn't reveal everything about Dresden's past but I think we get the basics. But as to it breaking a rule... I didn't know there was one that said you had to reveal everything or most things in the first book. If so than Butcher isn't the only one to break that rule. I think half of the UF novels I read and one or two others do that.

It could be one of those rules that you can break once you learn how.

My 9 year old, who has read many of the books you've read recently, LOVED the Young Samurai. I haven't read it yet. I read Hunger Games and really enjoyed the series, but warning - they're kind of a downer as you get into books 2 and 3. I waited til the series was complete and read all at once and I was a bit of a crankpot til I finished, lol. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who reflects the emotions of the books I'm reading! I am always a cranky complaining mess while reading Harry Potter 5, lol.)

I'm considering the Bartimaes (don't think I spelled that right...) books next.

I'll finish it, because I have to for a reading group, but I'm not enjoying myself.

quote:

---

I'm reading UGLIES and I am getting very depressed. I guess I just don't like dystopias all that much. And this one, so far, doesn't really make sense. How can this society power itself?

---

I still cant stop laughing, and I read this yesterday. While I did fall hard for the series or at least Tally Youngblood, and had to read them all very quickly, I did find parts depressing and some downright creepy.

I am liking Tally more as I read, and her dilemma is becoming interesting, but the whole dystopia craze in YA fiction is beginning to get to me. I can't begin to name all of them, and they just seem to keep coming. and

quote:

---

Just finished John Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR and quite enjoyed it.

---

As did I. There are actually three more books in this series: THE GHOST BRIGADE, THE LAST COLONY and ZOE'S TALE. Like many series, I enjoyed the first book the most.

Currently reading Iain Bank's AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND, so far I'm only mildly interested in it. I've been having a hard time getting into any science fiction reading lately, and maybe I need to branch back into some fantasy or other speculative sub-genre.

I'm also reading THE SCIENCE OF ALIENS by Clifford Pickover as research for my novel.

I'm totally with you on the YA dystopias, though, which is why I'm consciously trying to avoid that with my MG/YA writing - I'm writing space-opera/family-drama, basically, with some humor and lightness to keep the pace moving and the happy endings coming. I'm really enjoying writing these kinds of books, and it's in part because this is the stuff I wish there were more of out there to read! Austin Kleon, the author of the awesome Steal Like an Artist blog post/speech and soon to be book says "write the book you want to read" (his #3 way to steal like an artist.) I've taken it to heart my whole writing career.

I just finished THE HOUND OF ROWAN (a Tapestry Book) which has a slow start but a neat magical system and school ala Harry Potter/Wizard of Earthsea/Percy Jackson kinds of things that I personally enjoy and find compelling.

I also enjoyed the second book of ADVENTURER'S WANTED, even though the author broke most of the rules around things like adverbs, summarizing instead of showing, etc. I think I might not like the writing style if I were to read a lot of this author's work in a row, but I enjoyed how the stories were complete without the main character having to literally be dragged through the coals each time (another of my YA beefs. Life in reality isn't really that depressing, why is so much YA fiction portraying it as such?)

Not sure about the yoga but I have read about wine drinking vamps. Some books have a few very classy vampires. In story a few vamps were even environmentalists concerned with global warming -- in that story there were werewolves with the same concerns.

I can buy the geekiness, but all the description in first person point of view PLUS the introspection just didn't work for me as coming from any eleven-year-old, male or female.

The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, Andrew Roberts. World War II has been written about a lot, but also a good deal of time has passed to give perspective, nearly all of what was once classified information is now open to historians...and a lot of the older histories in English gave little weight to events on the Eastern Front. A very good book. (Less weight is given here to the war with Japan, though.)

The Kennedy Detail, Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin. This is, again, another "book on..." something, in this case the Kennedy assassination...but a lot of utter nonsense has been written about this subject, and this deals with the facts, as well as with people who were actually involved in the situation. Well worth a look.

Boy Robert you have a varied educational type reading. Not that that is bad. Sometimes I wish I had the time to read more of that type of stuff but I barely have time to read what I do now. Someone even gave me a biographical book too.

But I'm way late with what I am reading... I finished it tonight. I kept forgetting the title when I came to this thread. And it's a very simple one too.

"Spirit Dances" by C. E. Murphy. I mentioned on another thread that she is a wonderful storyteller and I would like to be considered like her, since I've been told by Dean that I am a natural born storyteller. At least for me she weaves a story so well it's hard to explain. I finished the book quicker than I wanted to.

And the ending for this one... egads... The very last sentence is a shock I groaned twice after reading it... and, hmmm, well I just thought of this, I guess I'm in shock and awe over it.

Oh, I should say this is the sixth book in the Murphy's Walker series. She has out five series now, I think. I don't know if she still has a day job but she does more than one book a year.

And she's one that can break rules. One of the Walker books has Walker waking up in the opening. Oh speaking of that-- yes these two are related-- there is one criticism I have of Murphy. Walker has a big emotional scar form something that she did, and what resulted from that act, since high school. It's mentioned in every book but one day it's gone. As far as I can recall with no explanation. well, there might be one but it's not stated as such. So personally I wish Murphy hadn't totally changed it but the way it seemed to be just forgotten made it worse... to my POV.

I'm interested in lots of things, and the odd corners and bits and pieces therein. A general history or specific biography might mention some person or event or something (for example, a biography of Bing Crosby mentions an amateur golfer called "the Mysterious Montague)...then if I see a book involving that subject, I'll pick up a copy (six or seven years after reading that Crosby biography, a book about the Mysterious Montague turned up in stores.)

I have some issues with the writing style, but the story is compelling: a penniless teenage German exchange student comes to the United States, and spends the next thirty years conning people into thinking he's a rich aristocrat.

- Containment, Christian Cantrell
-- SF, very good! (heavily recommended if computers/coding is near your heart)

- Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
-- Okay, didn't like as much as Outliers, but there are interesting bits here. Recommended if you like .. Gladwell

- Zero Sight, Justin Shier
-- Another surprise; Good, modern day fantasy

- Siege of Titan, Michael G. Thomas
-- SF, too clichéd to my taste

- Lamentation, Ken Scholes
-- Fantasy, okay++, feels mostly original, I might read the sequels too

- The 97th step, Steve Perry
-- SF, begins with the traditional "boy in distress", ends a bit more satisfactorily. Okay+. I read The Man Who Never Missed after this, and I liked it a bit better.

- No Cure for Cancer, Denis Leary
-- Stand-up routine, dark humor, couple of pearls but mostly I didn't laugh. Not for sensitive people.

- Sandman Slim: A Novel, Richard Kadrey
-- Modern-day fantasy, revenge/hero-stuff, I liked

But I am reading "Con & Conjure" by Lisa Shearin, Fifth in the Raine Benares series. Raine is a cool lady. Seeker from a notorious pirate family even though she might be the only Benares to have an honest job. Well, non-pirate job, she has stolen things back for people. She has a skill for finding Trouble.

The series is fantasy, obviously, set in a world with maybe 17 century tech. Somewhere around 16 to 18 anyway. I relate it to a sort of Garrett, by Glen Cook, type of fantasy.

Shearin is a very good writer and the world is well thought out. However I must say that even though I have been eagerly waiting to read the book... it's been sitting in a stack for two months calling out to me to read it... it doesn't quite capture me like C.E. Murphy's stuff does and one or two others. I recommend it, I'm reading it too quickly... very good but as I said the storytelling isn't quite as good as Murphy. Which might not be saying much.

Check out Shearin's store. Some great stuff from the books there even though not so much for guys. http://www.lisashearin.com

One of my favorite all-time writers is Jack Vance.
Few, if any, have as great a mastery of world-building and vocabulary (both invented and real) and evocation of mood.

His THE DYING EARTH tales are some of my favorites, and this large volume of master fantasy writers delving into his infamous world of rare and delectable delights as the sun fails are a treat.

THE DYING EARTH sounds like two or four different books I've read, so I'm not sure if I've read that one even though I think so.

Zendegi is about the moral and social implications of A/I and V/R. Before you dismiss it with 'not that old horse, again,' I beg you to pick it up. The second to the last chapter made me weep. Can't remember when I last read a novel with such realism when it comes to characters. That one of the story lines is about the development of artificial intelligence while the author is himself developing artificial people (the characters) so brilliantly gives me a sense of vertigo. I heard a rumor that he'll give us a sequel. In the mean time I'm focusing on getting my hands on everything this man has ever written. And imvho, so should you.

quote:

---

Currently reading Kiersten White's PARANORMALCY. Fun story so far.

---

The title sounds intriguing. Is it another YA book?

And I am also reading.
Simon Green's "From Hell With Love" part of his Secret Histories series. I think the series title is a bit flamboyant for this series but it mostly fits.

I hope that's a girl.

And it sort of sounds like a new TV show. "Alphas" Which sounds like a story I read in the first Jim Baen universe anthology. I'm pretty sure there's a second but probably not a third.

So this series I've heard about that takes place after everything falls apart Dangerous Games or what the actual title is, is part of it I think. Anyway all that was written for girls?

Or since it teen girls or tweens is it writeen for girls ?

Well, the protagonist is a girl. Beyond that, I really can't say. Not that into dystopian.

ETA: Oh, and first person present tense makes me a little nuts, too.

Yeah, that's it.

Oh and dystopian is a new word for me. I'm sure I've heard it before but not as a major genera.

Dystopia is a major trend in YA and children's publishing right now. There have always been dystopian stories (utopias gone wrong, very often) but there is a lot more than usual right now.

I've recently finished book one and two of THE ACADEMY series by YS Lee. FANTASTIC. These are YA stories set in Victorian England about a girl who joins an all-female spy ring. These are mysteries and I think have a classic mystery structure (I don't generally read mysteries though so I'm not sure) but the attention to detail the author gives, and the way she conveys the realities of the era through little details is really interesting. She also is not so enamoured of her research that she over-shares, the details come out in plot-important ways, which I really respected as a writer who tries to do the same.

Very good books. I highly recommend both. The second one is called The Academy: The Body at the Tower. I've blanked on the name of the first.

But I like those type of spy mysteries, so if I can find the books I will take a closer look.

I would like to write an academy story of some type. Probably fantasy--right probably urban fantasy. Maybe a YA UF but not YS's.

I found out from a correspondent awhile back that this outfit called Adventure House has been reprinting some of the old SF pulp magazines. (Apparently the copyrights have lapsed.) Eventually I broke down and ordered five "back issues," more-or-less at random. Three issues of Planet Stories from 1940-1941, a Startling Stories from 1940, and something called Out of This World Fantasy Magazine (I'd seen a picture of the cover in one of the SF picture books and it intrigued me).

I've been reading 'em on and off. I'm impressed by odd things---for instance, the ads tell a story themselves, of a culture long-vanished---and some of the letters-to-the-editor, particularly one by Isaac Asimov that he even mentioned in his memoirs.

But the stories---well, except for being jaw-droppingly astonished by one by Ray Cummings that seemed so badly-written I couldn't believe it was accepted, they're pretty good.