I finished the two books I was reading and I have continued to read CONVERGENCE, a nice little YA book by someone we know and love.

I stated it that way because I read the first couple of chapters when I got the book and now I'm reading on.

Not badly done, definite YA but I wonder why Captain Kirk would come back in time to teach an orientation. I also wonder if something is happening behind the scenes, with the occupations some of the citizens have and how everyone stares at the MC when she does something with the computer. That includes other computer geeks. Are they just being impolite or do they suspect she might discover something? We shall see.

I still want to give a copy as a gift, if I can find anyone who reads e-books. That isn't as easy as expected.

I found some E-books on Barnes and Noble made up of short story sets written way back when, I've thought seriously about buying. Fifty stories for two or three dollars, all written by the original Masters. E.E. Doc Smith, Wells, Burroughs etc.. One of these days I will get around to it.

I like the idea because I don't recall hearing that most of those old Masters did any short stories so reading them would be cool.

Along with the previous book I mentioned, Convergence, I started "Phoenix Rising" A ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novel. A streampunk story that takes place in the later years of the 1800s. I'm not sure which year exactly, in a couple of places there a lot of dates flying around.

And that first sentence is something else. I've warned people away from first sentences like that. But it is a different book.

Still over all it is enjoyable. Kinda a Urban Fantasy- paranormal meets James Bond or the Avengers. For those old enough to have watched either of the two Avengers series. The female MC is kinda of a contradiction though. When handling the bad guys she is brave, resourceful, thinks quickly, out of the box, etc. but when it comes to her boss and new emotional situations-not just affairs of the heart- she is shy and unsure.

If you like something quirky or just something different... pick it up.

Here is a trailer for the book. They did a great job except for perhaps her outfit. You have to read the book to understand that,

http://tinyurl.com/3byv7hd

Well, now I can say that I'm reading Wotf 27. Since I had to order it anyway I decided to download it to my Nook. Cheaper that way too. Started the first story not bad at all even though melancholy so far. And the illustration that goes with it shows melancholy also.

But the opening line of the first story blows my usual comment for Firsts out of the water. The thing is long and a bit on the complicated side. I need to see how the others begin but usually short stories open with short and to the point sentences. And that was a long author's blurb.

Other books I have recently read and would also Recommend:

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME by Mark Haddon. Told from the perspective of an autistic teenager. Pretty well done.

ROOM by Emma Donoghue. Told from the perspective of a five year old. Very well done - you definitely hear it in the voice of a child - even though he doesn't understand some of the stuff he sees, the reader does.

WOTF XXVI - Amazing short stories. Am definitely in awe of those who can think up awesome original ideas and write as well as this.

THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone. Great little novella. Original and compelling.

ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell. Pretty cool little novel from the perspective of farm animals - leaves me not liking pigs very much Very well written - as expected.

LIFE EXPECTANCY by Dean Koontz. I would class this as Good. Quite a light read - easy to breeze through. Not super thought provoking but a nice read nonetheless.

Oh man, I've read more books than I thought I had in the last while.

BATTLEFIELD EARTH: A SAGA OF THE YEAR 3000 by L. Ron Hubbard Not Recommended. I've put not recommended over not impressed for the reason that I wouldn't recommend this to anyone based purely on the length. I have only made it half way through before giving up I'm sorry to say. That is not to say I didn't enjoy the first half - it just got too long and I got a bit bored with it and wanted to move on to something else.

NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm wavering between Good andNot Impressed on this one. Nice idea but the story just seemed to drag a bit.

CONTAINMENT by Chris Cantrell. Good. A light read. Nothing really thought provoking but it was ok. However, computer programming and code is not really my thing.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen Recommend

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak and LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel Highly Recommended. Loved both of these stories.

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip K Dick Highly Recommended Loved it.

STORM FRONT by Jim Butcher, BLUE by Lou Aronica and SWITCHED by Amanda Hocking Good

PATHFINDER by Orson Scott Card Recommended

WISE MANS FEAR by Patrick Rothfuss Highly Recommended

Edited to add:

I suspect Orwell didn't like pigs either.

Boy, a long list and with variety there. Neither of which is bad.

But you have older political novels there, again which isn't bad.

Battlefield though I liked. One reason was the length. I was going through books much faster back when I read it and I was happy it would last a while. The story wasn't bad either even though it seemed to be almost two or three stories in one. Like it should have been a trilogy.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS I've seen all over the place. What is it about?

Water for Elephants is a historical novel, a love story (but not a romance) from the POV of a man who runs away to join the circus. Quite well done, I thought. Interestingly, Sara Gruen wrote it during NaNoWriMo - however, I believe she had done years of research before doing so.

I haven't actually started on the next Dredsen book but when I get time I will! Am focussing on Sci Fi classics at the moment. All books I should have read but haven't!

quote:

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THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME by Mark Haddon. Told from the perspective of an autistic teenager. Pretty well done.

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Not sure how I feel about it. It was sharp and concise. I guess its the 3 paragraph approach that has me concerned. Even more than that but the 3 sentences only for the plot paragraph. Also mentioned comparing your book to another published book or film.

But depending how long they are I would think three paragraphs would be a page, which is how long a query should be.

A three sentence synopses seems a bit short but in a query you wouldn't be able- see above sentence on length- do much more than that anyway.

quote:

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Does he say you absolutely have to do it that way or is that more of a model?

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I got the impression he felt that you had to. Of course there are exceptions but this was the first book I read where it seemed so concrete. Its a different approach then what I have been trying so I think I will give it a try. The entire query letter will come out to about 1/2 a page which is what he feels is ideal.

Three sentences just won't work for speculative fiction where you have at least some world building to explain as well as the plot.

So, that approach may work for mainstream novel queries, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for science fiction and fantasy novel queries.

It may also work for movie pitches, by the way. As I understand it, "high concept" means saying your movie script is "THIS GREAT MOVIE plus THAT GREAT MOVIE" and derivative is not so bad.

*****

Something in passing---way back in 2008 on the first page of this, snapper gives a "Not Recommended" to Robert Conroy's 1901---which I really liked. Not to go into too much detail, but I gather the story is based on actual battle plans made by Imperial Germany.

Matched opens with the main character getting ready for her Match banquet, where she'll learn who her Match will be with all the other 17 year olds from her borough. Unlike the other kids, though, her match is someone she already knows, a boy she grew up with who is already dear to her. Later she looks at her microcard with her match's info, which she doesn't need since she already knows him, and for a brief moment a different boy's face pops up as her match. Problem is, she ALSO knows him.

So the main conflict begins with Cassia's curiosity about the other boy, Ky, growing, all while she's starting to notice the oppressive aspects of her Society, such as the three pills they're all required to carry at all times (red "for emergencies", blue that can provide nutrition for three days, and green to calm down) or the fact that at 80, you die. Everyone does.

A couple years back, I did pick up a book that was a "guide" to the books...it was pleasing enough.

Oh, I saw a book listed in my local paper. I think it's by a local writing but I'm not sure about that. Anyway the title is "The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo".

But I 'm reading "Uncertain Allies" by Mark del Franco. Fifth in a UF series with a bit of a twist. About a hundred years ago most everyone in Fairye was transported to earth. They have no idea how or why and they couldn't get back. So now all Fey are part of human culture even though they have their own laws and lands etc.. And of course there are rich snobs, poor crooks etc just like in human culture. Some are addicted to drugs and such. There is one main skid row for the low life fey. That is where our hero works.

Mark has another series set in the same universe but with different characters and in a different city. I haven't been able to figure out if it's the same time frame or not. So far there's been no references about what happened in the other city even though some events would have made the News.

You probably haven't gotten that far but it's something I'm curious about but not enough to read the whole thing to find out.

They get ensnared in a plot to prevent the Soviets from testing a nuclear bomb (sort of, it's more involved than that.) It's written with a quick pace, nice story, fun and interesting. I think it'll be a hit with kids in the 9-14 yr old range, but is plenty interesting to history buffs who are interested in that post-WWII era.

The illustrations would be interesting too, depending on how they were done.

I wouldn't mind an app that would add illustrations. I say that because there is one that gives details about the book's history and if it is historical some info that goes along with real history at that time. So I thought why not drawings? Of course there could be copyrights to deal with and they would have to choose which books to do. But some classics originally had illustrations.

Have also read recently MATCHED by Ally Condie. It was ok - great ideas but kinda left me hanging a bit too much at the end. I don't mind there being loose ends to tie up in further books but it felt as if this book didn't have much of an ending at all. I'd still rate it Good though.

Also BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by S J Watson. Not a super read I think I'm going to go with Not Impressed. A darker version of the movie 50 FIRST DATES. You can get to end alright though and it's not bad as such. Just kinda one of those books you read when you have nothing else to read. It was so forgettable that I saw the title on my Kindle and had no recollection of reading the book - it was only when I went into the file and started reading the first chapters that I clicked.

Charlaine Harris says reading Strout's stuff is like being caught in a wild pinball game.

This book is phenomenal. I predict great things for it. It's the side-by-side story of Day and June, two teens in a future bleak dystopian police state around LA. It's a solid YA read, but kids who were comfortable reading Hunger Games (at least book 1) would be fine with this book (in my opinion that's 7th-8th grade and up, but I know many 5th graders who have read Hunger Games.) There is quite a lot of brutality/violence, but it's done without glorification, without a lot of gore. It's still an intense read, like HG, the future society seems really unbalanced, really unfair for one of the protags. It's interesting to watch the perspective of the other shift as she learns more about the dark side of the ruling class.

It's a page-turner, lots of action and excitement and tension as the characters meet under false pretenses and begin to trust each other.

But there was one gem among them all, one that stood out from all the others. Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis. This covers the attempts to climb Mount Everest in the early 1920s---but it's much more than that. We get good biographies of a bunch of interesting people, courses on mountaineering and the difficulty of operating where the air gets thing, the political and cultural history of Tibet and India, experiences in World War I---even down to where and when and why George Mallory delivered his famous line, "Because it's there." It's meticulously researched, all the way.

It's a space opera series dealing with a race that seems to control all of space. They like up lift different races but only to a certain point. Humans have reached that point so even though they haven't uplifted humans they want mankind to stay where they are technology. If humans won't submit they will be wiped out which is where we are in the series.

I think Ian is having fun coming up with different types of aliens. None are human like and are as different from humans as they can be. But mankind is still trying to communicate with them for various reasons.

And humans have developed a society and almost world government that is what I think Ian thinks will develop from what we have now. Of course from his point of view it could be more a "what if" scenario than his personal belief.

Oh yes if you like space opera with a lot of personal angst, unique aliens and battles I recommend this series.