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Author Topic: What I'm Reading Now Thread
Denevius
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recently finished reading "Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is the only really good new book i read in the last two years. highly recommend.
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LDWriter2
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I'm reading "Geist" by Philippa Ballantine. A fantasy with a different idea on magic. Quite well written, Phillippa keeps her main characters in trouble, hardly giving them time to rest and catch their breaths, it has plenty of suspense. For me personally-being a helpless romantic- there is one element of the plot I'm not crazy about but the whole thing is written well enough that I'm reading it faster than I want to.


I came to add something I couldn't last time... I was interrupted.

This is a series and I think the next one is out already. I recall something about it anyway.

And I know I have seen her name on other books even though I can't recall which ones. But she has won an award or two so has at least two others out. [Smile]

This is fantasy even though the time period is moved up a bit then usual for they have guns. Plus there are no elves, dwarves, dragons unicorns etc. Still if you like that type I recommend it fully.

[ November 10, 2011, 11:35 PM: Message edited by: LDWriter2 ]

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EVOC
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I am reading "Black Prism" by Brent Weeks. I have not read a Fantasy Novel in some time, so when I saw this on the book shelves of the grocery store I picked it up. I am only about 200 pages in, and it is a thick one, so there is plenty more to go.

Thus far I enjoy the book and look forward to picking it up again.

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JenniferHicks
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I just finished "Kitty and the Midnight Hour" by Carrie Vaughn. This is the second of Vaughn's books I've read (the first was "After the Golden Age") and I very much like her writing style. There's not a lot of ponderous description, so it's a fast read and a lot of fun. Kitty is werewolf radio show host who gives out advice on paranormal problems. I recommend it.
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LDWriter2
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I believe the Kitty book is part of a series. But at the same time it almost seems like there are two sets of Kitty books.


But I am reading "The Sorceress of Karres" by Eric Flint and Dave Freer. One of the sequels to a book by James H. Schmitz.

Not a bad story even though I have the feeling a couple of you may not like some of the dialogue especially concerning a certain character. But it's written like the dialogue in the original book, which I enjoyed a lot way back when.

And unlike some writers who put the MC is so much danger he-she-it doesn't have time to catch their breath these two do give the two MCs time to rest a bit between dangers, sometimes. And I find that both at times have it pretty easy time escaping the danger but then at other times not so easy time. There are still plenty of life and death situations though and it is a up and down ride. [Smile]

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Foste
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Reading Gardens of the Moon.

I love Erikson's style. His descriptions are just so lyrical and drab at the same type.

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Uley Bone
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I am reading Pagan Babies, Elmore Leonard.
also reading The Darker Side, ed. John Pelan (book of shorts for when I haven't the time to get into the novel.

Uley

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Robert Nowall
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Two books in recent weeks, each in some way a disappointment.

December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World, Craig Shirley. This month needs a good book covering it---but this isn't it. At first I kept noticing small errors, names spelled wrong---then there was a whopping great error that reflects on the relationship between two of the principal characters. The book seems largely culled from news stories of the period. A big disappointment---especially so as his books on Ronald Reagan were so much better.

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life, Charles J. Shields. This was a much more interesting experience, but its problems arise where it deals with Vonneguts connection with the SF world. A lot of familiar faces from SF pass through the narrative---much as Vonnegut passed through SF on his way to the literary field, I admit---but the biographer seems to take SF much too lightly, lighter than Vonnegut did. I don't think the biographer read past the jacket copy of anything Philip Jose Farmer wrote besides the infamous Vonnegut parody Venus on the Half-Shell. And he misses completely the nasty joke about a well-known SF editor in Vonnegut's Mother Night. Vonnegut had a good deal of contact with these guys---it would've been nice to see some more of it in a biography.

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LDWriter2
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I was going to say that I am also reading Laura Resnick's "Unsympathetic Magic" but I finished the other book by the time I got to this. [Smile]


Anyway, Nice light hearted UF tale. It's the third in a series but the first one is hard to get until Laura can get it republished.

Laura does a great job with her descriptions, not to mention the unusual messed her MC gets into-chuckle- as usual it seems I am reading it faster than I want to.

In this series the MC isn't a magical person but just an innocent who got caught in a bad situation and was rescued. Now she seems to be in a habit of doing that except sometimes she can rescue herself. Her friend is a wizard and now he has a dog that helps fight evil-yes evil- also. Sometimes that is, sometimes he just acts like a huge friendly dog.

If you like light hearted UF tales with some romance--not between the MC and wizard-- I recommend this one. Entertaining it is.

But I must say Laura blows a hole in my theory about opening sentences should be short. She starts this one with one so long I wouldn't be able to quote it.

I was hoping to find an excerpt from the book on her web site, but even though I found it, the excerpt isn't from the first chapter. But I did remember that I learned some interesting things in the book. Like New York has watchtowers form a pervious age. NY age that is not eon age. And how vodou works. She goes into great detail about how it is a religion not a way to do evil to people. You can do evil with it but it isn't evil by nature. She also did some research on Harlem: stories, restaurants etc. even though I think the one institute in the book is made up.

So this could be a lesson on how to do research on real places and to mix real with fictional landmarks.

And I forgot something else. Her titles in this series are interesting. "Doppelgangster" and an up coming book... "Polterheist" She has a way titles. [Smile]

[ December 03, 2011, 09:06 PM: Message edited by: LDWriter2 ]

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Robert Nowall
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Another book recommend, and kinda a continuation of comments as last posted above.

I picked up a new collection of the old comic strip "Pogo" (Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Wonder, The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Volume 1, Walt Kelly.) I've been a big fan since earlier reprints in the late 1970s. I'd recommend this for any fan of comics. Seems to be an ongoing project similar to that of "Peanuts," so I look forward to more volumes as well.

But the comics were published 1948 through 1950, over sixty years ago, and the editors provide a few comments about a few things said in the strips. Well and good---except now I'm cursed with knowing more than the guys who put this volume together. There's a comment on the phrase "ETAOIN SHRDLU," which the commentator not only spells wrong but gets the explanation for wrong. Also in the introduction, the writer seems to have no idea that Walt Kelly is parodying another famous phrase with his "We have met the enemy and he is us."

A couple of things like this can add up. A year or so ago there was a first volume of collected "Bloom County" books, where Berke Breathed provided some commentary---which I found so condescending that I never picked up another volume. This isn't the case here, but being wrong is nearly as bad.

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LDWriter2
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Reading "Naked City" edited by Ellen Datlow.

Nice Urban Fantasy anthology--mostly UF that is. Datlow has an interesting definition of UF in her Introduction but I question if a couple stories are truly UF. One takes place in a city but they fight with swords and use lanterns and I'm not sure where the magic was.

Anyway, so far, about half into it, Patricia's Briggs story is my favorite. Even better than Jim Butcher's. Jim's is even more Noir than usual for Dresden and more light hearted than usual for him.

One is well written but it has a family in that lived in the Berlin wall, as far as I can understand. But no explanation of how they did that or what they were. Some form of Fae or some special humans?

But most are good stories so far.

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LDWriter2
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I am also reading "Daring" by Mike Shepherd .

It's the latest in the Kris Longfollow series. A Space Opera tale about a lady navel officer working her way up. I say Lady on purpose She comes from a rich political family with heros on both sides, and now her Grandpa is a King. He wasn't when she was born.

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Treamayne
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Currently reading:

Seed to Harvest - the collected Patternist Quartet by Octavia Butler. Starts with Wild Seed. I just started book 2 - Mind of my Mind. First book was good and her prose is wonderful. Definitely a character story and very well developed.

Dragon Fate: Book 6 of E.E. Knights' Age of Fire series. An interesting Fantasy tale. Books 1-3 are told from the POV of each of 3 Dragon hatchlings that survive the murder of their parents by raiding Dwarves. Books 4-6 is when the three re-unite and dragons begin making a resurgance in the world. Highly recommended.

Storm of Swords: Slowly making my way though this one on my Nook (which I can't take to work which is why I read multiple books at the same time). GRRM reminds me of Victor Hugo - Good stories wrapped in prose about twice as long as needed to actually tell the tale. They aren't bad, but they do seem long-winded to me. This is interesting enough to finish, but not so much that I can read more than 1-2 chapters without needing a brake to do something else.

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LDWriter2
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Started "Gods & Monsters" by Lyn Benedict.


Third in a Dark UF series... are there any other types? I think some aren't quite as dark as others. This is a Darker one. A bit different. This is not one of my favorite series but still worth the reading. Lyn has her MC get "irritated to the bones" too much. Seems like almost anything gets under her skin of course she is an angry person-- partly because of her emotional baggage and partly because she is that type of person. And I'm not that crazy about what is going on with her little sister--in this book it takes up very little space so far, or that must magic workers don't like the MC.

But as I said it's worth a read- I'm reading it very quickly-- when not writing like crazy during this vacation I'm reading.. Lyn is a great storyteller. I would want to be like her in that respect. And I add that this series is one of the main reasons I came up with my angel kin novel.

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JenniferHicks
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quote:
Storm of Swords: Slowly making my way though this one on my Nook (which I can't take to work which is why I read multiple books at the same time). GRRM reminds me of Victor Hugo - Good stories wrapped in prose about twice as long as needed to actually tell the tale. They aren't bad, but they do seem long-winded to me. This is interesting enough to finish, but not so much that I can read more than 1-2 chapters without needing a brake to do something else.
I agree. I like the story but I have a hard time wading through the long-windedness. It's the same problem I have with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. I find Martin's books easier to get through if I listen to the audio versions in the car while driving back and forth to work.
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Robert Nowall
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The best book I read this month came right at the end, finishing it just yesterday: Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942, Ian W. Toll. I'd reread his Six Frigates a few months ago (maybe I mentioned it above somewhere), and also just rewatched the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, so this one, covering the war in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Midway, was right up my alley. It fills in a lot of details (but doesn't drown the reader in them), examines the background and character and behavior of a lot of the names from the history books, and reveals a good deal that would be lost in, say, the books that cover the war from beginning to end, or just focus in on one battle. If you want to know what happened between Pearh Harbor and Midway, this is the book for you.
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LDWriter2
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Reading Jack McDevitt's book "Polaris" second in a series.

It's a mystery but about what caused the disappearance of eight people from a starship sixty years previously. Which is all I will say about it. And that the book takes place way in the future.

I noticed in the first book in the series and in this one that McDevitt doesn't put his characters in continual peril. They do get into dangerous situations at times but it's more rare than normal.

I think some readers here would get bored with the book for the above reason and that some of it at least is more tell than normal also. But it is in First Person after all. I'm not sure if I want to say this book is more intellectual than action oriented but that's the closest I can think of.

McDevit does made up history pretty good even to writing out a page or two of arguments made by someone now dead. In the book that is, even the historical figures and events are all made up.

One thing I don't like is that he isn't always clear if a character is from another planet or from another area of the planet the action takes place on. Which isn't Earth.

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Meredith
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I'm currently reading MEMORY, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Almost finished and loving it. Miles is finally growing up (about time, he's thirty).

I'm also reading Pamela Freeman's BLOOD TIES. Not making nearly as good progress on this one. In fact, I'm stalled. It's frustrating. I'm about 125 pages in and I still don't know what the story is about. There are three pov characters, currently spread out across the continent. Two of them don't seem to have any particular goal or problem/conflict at the moment, just drifting. The third definitely has a goal, but as I only get glimpses of him, I don't know what it is. The story is told in approximately 10 to 12 page chapters of each of the non-goal-oriented characters. Between or after these chapters, the story is brought to a crashing halt for a five page story about some side character that I don't care about. Then we get one or two pages about the single goal-oriented character, just enough to know he's trying to do something without getting any hint of why or even a clear picture of what. It's very frustrating and there's a good chance that I'll just give up. May be a good object lession in what not to do, though.

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LDWriter2
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Started-- finally-- I don't have to hold out anymore-- reading "One Salt Sea" by Seanan McGuire. Yippy.

And I got here earlier than usual I just started it today. I usually don't get to this until I'm at least half way through a book.

McGuire is one of my top favorite writers. I want to be a story teller-and I have been told I am a storyteller-- on her level. And this series is one of my favorites of all I am reading. Well, there's one small thing McGuire introduced last book that took the series down a quarter notch. But still it's up there.

If you like mysteries in an UF adventure setting with twists where you never know what will happen next, you will love this series. Sometimes not so happy endings for everyone too.

Well, again there is one thing I wasn't sure why McGuire introduced at the beginning that I'm not sure about the why of, she doesn't really do much with it so far. I know one reason why it is there but still as a helpless old romantic I wish it wasn't and as I said it is used very little. But I can overlook it.

Oh yes, McGuire has made it clear what city the MC lives in. I guess she has before but sometimes in a way that you would know only if you lived there. I mean by mentioning areas, museums etc., usually not talked about. It's not usually that big a deal actually because most of the action takes place elsewhere and I may have missed a couple of references I should have known but it's nice to be sure. [Smile]

[ January 23, 2012, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: LDWriter2 ]

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Merlion-Emrys
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I'm reading Gormenghast. It's a little slow going in some ways, but I really like the atmosphere, and I just LOVE Dr. Prune, by all that's medical.

I purchased "House of Leaves" and plan on reading that next.

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Meredith
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Aside from a couple of books for research (you don't really want to know about TWILIGHT OF THE MAMMOTHS or ICELANDERS IN THE VIKING AGE, do you?).

I'm reading Lois McMaster Bujold's A CIVIL CAMPAIGN. What a comedy of errors for poor Miles (the Master of Chaos, usually, but maybe not this time.)

I'm also technically reading Pamela Freeman's BLOOD TIES, although I haven't touched it in over a week. I'm more than 200 pages in and I still don't know what it's supposed to be about. Interesting characters and a somewhat interesting setting will only carry a book so far. It's losing me fast. May have already lost me, actually.

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Merlion-Emrys
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That actually sounds a little like the Gormenghast books in some ways...it doesn't have the clearest or most focused of plotlines and the place itself and the strangeness of it's people are really the main elements. I'm enjoying it, but my reading of it is in a sort of machine gun burst fashion, often while watching a movie because the writing is quite dense, even for me who tends to lean in that sort of direction taste wise.
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KayTi
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Steve Job's biography, which is a REALLY good read. I'm enjoying the intrigue and twists and turns and learning about the backstory. I'm a tech geek, so I love thinking back to what things were like back then (I was a kid and my parents were early tech adopters so we had loads of computers before most people had them.) Very good read, though, even if you're not a geek. My husband, who is not a huge reader nor much of a geek, is ripping through it at lightening speed.
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History
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Three epic fantasies:

THE WAY OF KINGS--Brandon Sanderson. Very long (1008 pages!), and it is mostly world-building and character-development with only intimations of a major conflict yet to come. Even so, I was caught up in the soap opera-like story and the rischness and depth of his invented world and cultures.
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1327511428&sr=1-1

BLOOD OF THE LAND--by our own Martin Davey (Wonderbus). 166K fantasy similar (though shorter and far cheaper [Wink] ) to THE WAY OF KINGS. A very impressive first novel, and the first of a planned trilogy, I believe.
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Land-Sea-Earth-ebook/dp/B006V0DJHE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327511397&sr=1-1

THE SILMARILLION--by JRR Tolkien. I read this(or listen on the wonderful Martin Shaw audio CD) every half-decade or so. Though often belittled by the layman for not being written in the common story style of the LOTR, I find THE SILMARILLION a brilliant and rich imaginative work that still inspires awe and wonder every time I read it.
http://www.amazon.com/Silmarillion-J-R-Tolkien/dp/0553456067

Respectfully,
History

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LDWriter2
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Need to get "Blood" and I read half of the Silmarillion when it first came out. I forget for sure why I didn't finish it but it could either I decided I didn't like it enough to finish of I lost the book.
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EVOC
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I read (in one day) "Shadows in Flight" today. One overwhelming factor in this book: It is incredibly short. I really felt like the story just got started and then bam... over.

However, the truth is it is still OSC, which for me means a good read. I certainly enjoyed it.

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Robert Nowall
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Well, it took me, oh, maybe ten years, maybe longer, before I "got" The Silmarillion...though I appreciated its relationship with the legends of The Lord of the Rings right off, the prose was somewhat more difficult, and I had to grow and learn some before it worked for me...those who start in on it expecting another "LOTR" will definitely be disappointed...
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JenniferHicks
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I've recently finished a couple of books.

KITTY TAKES A HOLIDAY by Carrie Vaughn, the third book in the Kitty series. It's not as good as the previous two. There's a well-done twist in Kitty's love life, but the scene I would expect to be the climax comes two-thirds of the way through the book. The last third is, as you might expect, anti-climactic.

UTTERLY CHARMING by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (writing as Kristine Grayson). It's a fairy tale romance and is quite a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.

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LDWriter2
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I want to add something to my kinda critique of "One Salt Sea".


McGuire includes little things that add to the story telling. Such as there is a fea who is half human and half octopi like the sea witch in "The Little Mermaid". McGuire has the MC describe how this person moves in a dry building. A short scene within a scene but still neat.

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Robert Nowall
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Not much in the book department...I read another book about the war in the Pacific right after the one I mentioned above...The Battle of Midway, Craig L. Symonds...which had a few more interesting facts in it (some extremely interesting), but didn't quite "grab" me as much as the first one.

Science fiction? Well, I picked up a reprint of Heinlein's Sixth Column...which is not "good" Heinlein...it's dated badly and the unavoidable racial aspects make it rough reading for someone in 2012...it's also early Heinlein, first published in Campbell's Astounding, and Heinlein got much better fairly quickly. Pick it up---but after you've picked up other, better Heinlein, and are hooked on him.

I've been reading (and rereading) a fair amount of Internet Fan Fiction, mine own and others...but I won't bother detailing that here.

*****

Not a read, but a recent DVD acquisition---Barney Miller: The Complete Series. This is probably my all-time favorite TV show, above-and-beyond even the one I wrote Internet Fan Fiction for. I'd already had the first three seasons on DVD (duplicated here---duplicated precisely on the DVDs issued with this set), but that's a small price to pay for getting the remaining previously-unissued five seasons. I've been going through them, one at a time, for the last week or so.

As for the show itself...it broke the mold for cop shows, both comedy and serious, portraying them like the ones you knew (except for the lack of swearing). It was well-written, usually extremely funny, created great and interesting characters, and paved the way for numerous shows in the next thirty-some years.

I'd recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen it before...or those who have and would like to renew their acquaintance...

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LDWriter2
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Not sure if that is one of his I read. I think I got most of Heinlein's read something like thirty years ago.


And as far as I can recall my favorite scene form Barney Miller is the werewolf scene.

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Robert Nowall
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You might know Sixth Column under the title The Day After Tomorrow, chosen for the first paperback release and persisting, oh, about thirty-five years.

One footnote...Heinlein got the plot from John W. Campbell...it was a finished novelette he'd written, but, due to restrictions from becoming editor of Astounding, one Campbell couldn't sell to himself or anyone else...Heinlein reportedly never saw Campbell's version when he wrote his.

The thing that bothers me...I've seen several writeups that said this story of Campbell's, titled "All," was never published...the thing is, it was published, in the 1970s in a paperback collecting it and two other Campbell stories. I know this 'cause I've got a copy.

[edited just to add an apostrophe]

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Foste
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Lemme see... Here's what I read this week:

Jim Butcher - Grave Peril & Summer Knight

Good popcorn literature. Butcher knows how to build a suspenseful story and Harry remains a lovable rogue. Can't wait to see how all the tiny clues add up to the bigger picture of the series.

RECOMMENDED


Ernest Cline - Ready Player One

What a romp! A trip down retro-memory lane which delighted every geeky fiber in my body. Don't miss out on this one - virtual reality, suspense and a lot of Easter Eggs!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Ilona Andrews - Magic Bites

A rather lackluster effort. Mediocre UF fare and I'd be fine with that, but the heroine is just... bland.


Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451

Okay, don't stone me! I know I missed out on this one and I repent. Lovely writing (at times convoluted), great story and most of all - thought provoking.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 by 谷川 流
(The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Tanigawa Nagaru)

I was really psyched when this appeared in my mailbox. It's an unusual YA-ish SF story about girl that can bend reality to her will. A must, if you are an anime aficionado. I think most volumes of the series have been translated into English.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Dan Wells - I am not a Serial Killer

The autobiography of Dan Wells. Kidding. A YA thriller/horror. A quick read, serviceable prose and a likeable anti-hero. Good stuff.

RECOMMENDED

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bagicalupi

Man, I really tried hard to like this one. Love the writing and the world, but it moves at a sluggish pace.

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LDWriter2
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Foste In one week you read all those? Or just the first two? In either case wow.


Second, About Butcher. You're a bit behind but sounds like you be catching up soon. I won't give away anything but I think Butcher's writing improves along the way and Are you going to be in for a wild ride... 'nugh said.

Third, "Magic Bites" I've seen that one. Isn't it part of a series?

Fourth, I haven't read "Fahrenheit 451".

Fifth, I have seen "The Wind Up Girl" and there's a sequel. They mentioned it in a blurb in my local paper. I've seen the sequel but didn't realize what it was.

Sixth. If you like UF try "Play Dead" by John Levitt. It's the first of a series with kinda like the same magic as Dresden Files. A completely different character and partner though. And it is a series that ends, at least for now.

http://www.jlevitt.com

And check out Levitt's band if you like American pop, rock, RB, Alternative. Actually it's more pop- rock but that's the category for them. [Smile]

http://www.myspace.com/theprocrastinistas

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Foste
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Those were all pretty short books, so I pretty much plowed through them.

I am always up for a good UF series! If you have more please post them or send me an email. [Smile]

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LDWriter2
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Took me a while to get to this even though I keep thinking about it.

I decided to post it here since I have read these books and someone else might be interested.

No order here, just however they come to mind. Writer's names first.

Mark Del Franco-- two series in the same universe but different cities and I'm not sure about the time element.

Laura Anne Gillman.-- Again two series. But in this case they take place during the same time, in the same city. In fact the MC in the second series was a minor character in the first series. The first one is the Retriever series and I think it's the better one. I think Gillman with this series is partially responsible for the current UF rage. The second series is the P.U.P.I. series.

Lyn Benedict-- Shadows Inquiries series. A bit darker than most of the others.

C.E. Murphy -- The Walker Papers. Murphy has out I think five different series.. I'm not sure but I think this one and a new one are the only UF. The others are more regular fantasies. Again though I'm not sure since I have read only the Walker Papers. But Murphy along with Seanan McGuire are my two favorite writers. Great storytellers and I wish to be as good as they are.

Margaret Ronald-- Evie Scelan or Hound series. Another darker than usual one.

If you like lighthearted UF

Anoton Strout -- Simon Canderous series. Only thing is that as the series goes on it seems to be leaving the lightheartedness behind.

Laura Resnick.-- Esther Diamond series. It has some Romance mixed in and is from a different POV. In this one the MC isn't the wizard but a young woman who keeps getting caught up in the paranormal. This one keeps up the lightheartedness.

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Craley
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Hi guys,
Have just finished the second book of a trilogy:

Joe Abercrombie - The First Law :
I am enjoying it, not quite as dark as it is made out to be and to be honest each book doesn't really stand by itself as there is not much resolution by the end. I assume this is all going to build to a massive climax in bk. 3.

I also realised that it is actually a very formulaic seris: the incapable prince leading armies to war, the group searching for some powerful artifact (said group being made up of a wizard, babarian, knight, mysterious woman), etc. Still worth a read.

I also recently read Kraken, Perdido Street Station, and The Scar by China Mieville. I would definitely recommend the PSS but am ambivalent to the other two.

Also reading 'The Years Best SF 16' anthology as a bit of homework on what makes a good short story. I now realise how incredibly subjective it is. They are all well written of course but some I just can't get into.

So there's hope for all! As long as you can write well, there will always be someone who likes your story!

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Merlion-Emrys
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Just finished "Gormenghast." Although it, and its predecessor were slightly slow reads-Peake's style is very dense and heavy, but I have a taste for such things-I definitely recommend it. I think Anthony Burgess was right when he said, in the Introduction to "Titus Groan", that Gormenghast is not quite like anything else in a way much similar to how Lovecraft's work is not quite like anything else. I also agree with C. S. Lewis's comment that the story actually adds to life, expanding your conceptions and adding totally new experiences.

I will probably read "Titus Alone" eventually, but not right now...both as a break from the density, and because based on what I've heard it's very different from the other two and to some extent less interesting to me.

I have a fresh copy of "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski that I will start on soon.

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Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
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TITUS ALONE happens away from the castle, so it wasn't as interesting to me.
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Merlion-Emrys
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My understanding is also that not only is it away from Gormenghast, it's in "the real world" and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

So yeah...someday but not a priority. I guess Peake had planned like 7 novels altogether...it would have been interesting to see where it all ended up had he lived long enough.

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Robert Nowall
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I wouldn't say Titus Alone was out in the real world...but I would say it's inferior to Titus Groan and Gormenghast, simply because, by all reports, Mervyn Peake was fantastically seriously ill while he worked on it. "Lesser" is the word, I guess. Still, it has its moments...

I heard that a fourth book, completed by (I think) his widow before her death, was recently published---but I haven't seen a copy and haven't been motivated enough to seek one out online.

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LDWriter2
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Reading "The Truth of Valor" by Tanya Huff. A space opera series.

I figured the one before this one would be the last in the series because the adventure ended, all the loose ends were taken care of and the war was over etc.. But I guess the fans and/or Huff didn't want it to end.


Oh by the way Huff has started at least two series with the waking up cliche. I mean total cliche, waking up in the morning in a bed. This was one of them.

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angel011
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Started "Terror" by Dan Simmons, a bunch of explorers trapped in the ice which just refuses to melt and let their ships on their way. Pretty good so far.
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Robert Nowall
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Nothing much new grabbed me this month...a couple of oddities here and there, a couple of rereads (among others, Lindbergh, by A. Scott Berg---I'll recommend that if you can still find a copy.)

Just yesterday, I finished reading Jules Verne's Voyage au Centre de la Terre---that's Journey to the Center of the Earth for those of you who don't read these things in the original French.

Yes, I was reading it in French. It was an attempt to revive my high school French (I took it for six years and flunked it in three of them). I've talked about getting Verne in the French editions, but for this, I got a cheap copy on my Nook Color, and, for the past few months, I've been reading it, a little at a time, usually before I went to bed.

A humbling experience, all the way round. I found I had a pretty good grasp of what was going on, understanding or deducing the meaning of the words---but I was also guided quite a bit by having read the book some thirty years ago in an abridged translation. About two-thirds of the way through, I broke down and bought a modern translation paperback: that helped some more.

I should try something in French I haven't read in English...one of these days...

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History
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Day 9 of 10 of work without a break. Writing going slow so emersing myslef in a little Fable/Epic (literally) Fairytale reading:

"The Silmarillion" again (JRR Tolkien)
"The Children of Hurin" (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Tolkien sources:
Translations of the Norse/Icelandic "Elder Edda" and "Prose Edda", "The Legend Sigurd and Gudran" (JRR Tolkien), "The Story of Sigurd" (William Morris).

Finnish "Kalevala", Let's see if I can finish it this time. [Smile]

"The King of Elfland's Daughter" again (Lord Dunsany)

While inspired by the cultural and artistic impact of these works to complete my current project, I don't think they may be that helpful for me as a would-be writer circa 2012 seeking publication. Not much of an audience except, perhaps, a few old Norse or Finns or English history professors who may expect me to sing the tale. [Wink]

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob

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angel011
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Hey, I'd be an audience for that!

Not that you could survive from that...

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History
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You're an angel.
Need to restring my lute.

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MattLeo
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Dr. Bob -- I recommend the Grimm tales "The Glass Coffin" #163 and "The Water of Life" #97 if you're looking to get into the mythopoetic groove.
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LDWriter2
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Went through Truth kinda fast and now I'm deep in another one

"The Sweet Scent of Blood" by Suzanne McLeod. It says it's a Spellcracker novel. Since I can't find a list of books I assume it's the first one.

Not badly written and the MC is not bad. She has one annoying habit though. She tends to panic when faced with a vampire. I mean face to face. Of course she has reason. But over all I like her and wouldn't mind reading more. But I dislike the world McLeod came up with. Vampires and fea live mixed in with humans, which isn't so bad but vamps have three bites. One just takes blood, one adds something a virus or something. I think that one makes a blood slave, Then there the third one or V3 (Small 3 but not sure how to do that) it can turn a person into a vamp. And vamps have legal rights.

According to the back of the book the MC has her own dark secrets and one is hinted at almost immediately. A very strong hint, followed by a couple more in the next few pages. Easy to figure out even before it is confirmed. I guess I won't say it here but as I said very easy to figure out.

So even though I will finish the book as of right now I don't think I will get the next one. I say it that way because it is subject to change. I'm only maybe a fourth of the way into the novel so the rest of the tale might change my mind. We shall see.

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History
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Continuiing my sudden re-emersion into JRRT with listening to unabridged UK audio CDs narrated by Robert Ingliss of THE HOBBIT and (to follow) THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Interesting to see how he engages in anachronisms and near parody in THE HOBBIT. (If submitted today, would modern editors/publishers ever have looked favorably at such writing?)

Just received Steven King's newest Dark Tower novel, THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE. Guess the Finnish Kalevela will have to wait. [Smile]

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob
(who should get back to writing ... some day)

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