Kirkus recommended Archipelago by H R Hawkins, a diplomatic/espionage sci-fi novel, to me - and went I went to Amazon to pick it up for a fight later today I saw it was 0.99$ on the US store. Good reviews, might be worth a grab on random discount if that sounds interesting.
Third Perpetual Book Thread
- Thread starter MonaLisaOverdrive
- Start date
I wrapped up Three Parts Dead on my morning jog. It looks like the rest of The Craft Sequence is available without a wait on Libby.
Do people recommend reading them in publishing or chronological order?
Do people recommend reading them in publishing or chronological order?
Shit.
Shit!
Erik Larson's (The Demon's of Unrest, which is about the five months between election night in November 1860 to the shelling of Fort Sumter five months later) new book came out - I thought it was the end of May, not the end of April!
I'll be picking it up tonight - most definitely the next read. The man writes extraordinarily engaging histories that are incredibly well sourced. I can't wait!
Shit!
Erik Larson's (The Demon's of Unrest, which is about the five months between election night in November 1860 to the shelling of Fort Sumter five months later) new book came out - I thought it was the end of May, not the end of April!
I'll be picking it up tonight - most definitely the next read. The man writes extraordinarily engaging histories that are incredibly well sourced. I can't wait!
I find that publication order is better for the vast majority of series, if only because it fits the way the series itself actually developed and expanded.
There.
Will.
Be.
A Reckoning.
That was another fantastic read. Ann Leckie is now one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait for whatever she decideds to write next.
Up next? Larson's latest (linked a couple of posts up).
Will.
Be.
A Reckoning.
That was another fantastic read. Ann Leckie is now one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait for whatever she decideds to write next.
Up next? Larson's latest (linked a couple of posts up).
So I've been reading more romance books lately.
And I have to say (through I fully understand why they do it) I really dislike the whole X book series where each book follows different characters. I recently read the first of a 5 book series (Looking For It) and it was a great read. But I have 0 desire to read the next book since one of the main characters was a complete asshole through out the whole book.
Like I just want more of the same characters I just read. Is that too much to ask for?
And I have to say (through I fully understand why they do it) I really dislike the whole X book series where each book follows different characters. I recently read the first of a 5 book series (Looking For It) and it was a great read. But I have 0 desire to read the next book since one of the main characters was a complete asshole through out the whole book.
Like I just want more of the same characters I just read. Is that too much to ask for?
I started Nixonland at the end of March. I got to 27% last night, according to the Kindle app. I hope this thing has some huge bibliography or something, or this is going to be most of my summer.
So I just re-read Iain M. Banks's "The Algebraist."
1. It's a fucking amazing book, and every time I read it and see "Hugo nominated" on the cover, I think to myself "Why the fuck didn't this win?" Then I go look up who it was up against "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", which everybody else loved but I didn't really care that much for. I get it, but still...
2. I've completely misread the ending. For some reason I thought it ended with Fassin despondent about having lost everything and just wandering off into Nasqueron (the gas giant) having changed the universe, but not having anything left for himself. Instead, he goes off with the Beyonders and his secret girlfriend, who somehow I remembered her dying when the nominal bad guy (who is just a chump bad guy next to the Mercatoria that Fassin works for) bisects an orbital habitat. Go figure.
1. It's a fucking amazing book, and every time I read it and see "Hugo nominated" on the cover, I think to myself "Why the fuck didn't this win?" Then I go look up who it was up against "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", which everybody else loved but I didn't really care that much for. I get it, but still...
2. I've completely misread the ending. For some reason I thought it ended with Fassin despondent about having lost everything and just wandering off into Nasqueron (the gas giant) having changed the universe, but not having anything left for himself. Instead, he goes off with the Beyonders and his secret girlfriend, who somehow I remembered her dying when the nominal bad guy (who is just a chump bad guy next to the Mercatoria that Fassin works for) bisects an orbital habitat. Go figure.
Like Thegn I have also just re-read Iain M. Bank's The Algebraist. An amazing book indeed, though possibly it might have benefited from some editing. Not that I would ever criticise anything that the late Mr Banks created.
But yep, great book.
But yep, great book.
You can find it on eBay for around $10. There's also more expensive offers, but I'd probably avoid them.
I saw it on Amazon for $30 while looking for an electronic copy and then bought it at Bookshop.org for $20 (both new paperback). I have not read it before so am excited for it to arrive.
I have recently finished books 1 and 2 of the Craft series per the previous thread recommendations. I am enjoying them so far and excited to keep going.
I have recently finished books 1 and 2 of the Craft series per the previous thread recommendations. I am enjoying them so far and excited to keep going.
I just started book 3 and I am also enjoying the world.
I don't know why (probably some stupid rights issue) but a few of Banks' books aren't available electronically.
There's 2 or 3 books in the Culture series which are also impossible to find in ebook format.
The Algebraist isn't one of those-- my library has it via Overdrive (and it's available for $10 on Kindle if you want to purchase).I don't know why (probably some stupid rights issue) but a few of Banks' books aren't available electronically.
There's 2 or 3 books in the Culture series which are also impossible to find in ebook format.
If I were looking to read it and my library didn't have it, I'd put in a request for it-- any decent library system should have a mechanism for that. There's no guarantee that they'll buy it (or that it'll happen quickly), but that helps signal interest in the book and your request could be what pushes it over the edge to be purchased.
Amazon is fucking weird. Depending on what I search I either get the Kindle page where I can buy it or I got a page for the paper edition and a little blurb saying "this is not available in electronic format".
Yeah; Amazon has the new Orbit Books reprint listed as a completely separate book from the original 2005/2006 printing. That's... not how that's supposed to work (should be listed as one so the Kindle edition shows up everywhere and the "see all formats and editions" button works).
I checked and nope, it isn't available on Libby/Overdrive - I see it then get redirected to a help page on how to request titles they don't have. No worries, it will come.
Your library would need to own it (or, well, license it-- Overdrive is kind of a shitty deal for libraries, but it's basically the only game in town now). But it is there if they do.
Only thing you can do at this point is request it. Or buy the book.
Interesting some old friends show up. I thought these would be more stand alone stories.
Well, that came as a bit of a surprise. I had thought The Algebraist was a late novel, closer to his passing date of 2013, but Jonathon has corrected that. My Kindle copy is dated 2015, but I suspect I have a much earlier paper edition somewhere. It's often easier to buy a new, kindle, copy than hunt for a paper version I bought years before.
Max Gladstone's Craft series is outstanding. After reading these posts I am minded to re-read them.
Jim Hines Terminal Alliance. Book 1 of the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse
Disclaimer: if you don’t like the Almighty Janitor trope, poop humor, or sanitation engineering in general, this one may not be your cup oftea.
Backstory is that there was a plague that resulted in mindless feral humans with a lower body temperature. Then the aliens came. They developed a cure, and found a useful, tough-to-kill ally. Enter our plucky group of protagonists serving aboard the EMC Pufferfish, as sanitation technicians. Yeah, EMC ships are named after really dangerous Earth wildlife.
Things happen: anyone not in biohazard suits gets exposed to something, the alien bridge crew dies, and the human crew all go feral. Leaving our protagonists with the task of avoiding violent mindless humans, finding out what caused this, and avoiding being permanently decontaminated.
Along the way, we see the power of fixing things, blackmail with fluid lines, and the adage of the E1 in general
Solid humor science fiction.
Disclaimer: if you don’t like the Almighty Janitor trope, poop humor, or sanitation engineering in general, this one may not be your cup of
Backstory is that there was a plague that resulted in mindless feral humans with a lower body temperature. Then the aliens came. They developed a cure, and found a useful, tough-to-kill ally. Enter our plucky group of protagonists serving aboard the EMC Pufferfish, as sanitation technicians. Yeah, EMC ships are named after really dangerous Earth wildlife.
Things happen: anyone not in biohazard suits gets exposed to something, the alien bridge crew dies, and the human crew all go feral. Leaving our protagonists with the task of avoiding violent mindless humans, finding out what caused this, and avoiding being permanently decontaminated.
Along the way, we see the power of fixing things, blackmail with fluid lines, and the adage of the E1 in general
Solid humor science fiction.
Wrapped up Larson’s The Demon of Unrest.
I both liked and disliked it. Larson’s prose, frankly, wasn’t as on point as it normally is. And he fell into the fairly common trap/trope of restating Lee’s supposed anti-slavery sentiments (when time and time again over the past 30 years this has been shown to be completely false, and a product of Lee’s own attempts at historical rehabilitation and as part of the myth of the Lost Cause), or that the story of Lincoln offering Lee command of the entire federal army is apocryphal at best. Luckily, Lee only shows up a time or two in this tale - that man disgusts me.
But the retelling of Major Anderson, the federal officer in charge of Union forces at Charleston throughout the affair, along with many insights from his men at Sumter? Good stuff. As was the looks into Lincoln and Seward.
What really worked for me, though, was the work Larson puts in to bringing out the secessionist fervor that was sweeping the South for years before hand. YEARS. And yes. These people were just the worst.
Overall? This wasn’t as good as The Splendid and the Vile (Churchill and the Blitz), and not even in the same league as Dead Wake (the sinking of the Lusitania) or Devil in the White City (H.H. Holmes). I’d put it about on par with In The Garden of Beasts and Thunderstruck.
Up next? Hmmmm…
peruses the shelf…
I’m thinking….
Never Whistle At Night (bookshop.org), An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. Featuring works of ghosts and curses and hauntings and monstrous times and tidings and beings from a pretty wide selection of authors.
I both liked and disliked it. Larson’s prose, frankly, wasn’t as on point as it normally is. And he fell into the fairly common trap/trope of restating Lee’s supposed anti-slavery sentiments (when time and time again over the past 30 years this has been shown to be completely false, and a product of Lee’s own attempts at historical rehabilitation and as part of the myth of the Lost Cause), or that the story of Lincoln offering Lee command of the entire federal army is apocryphal at best. Luckily, Lee only shows up a time or two in this tale - that man disgusts me.
But the retelling of Major Anderson, the federal officer in charge of Union forces at Charleston throughout the affair, along with many insights from his men at Sumter? Good stuff. As was the looks into Lincoln and Seward.
What really worked for me, though, was the work Larson puts in to bringing out the secessionist fervor that was sweeping the South for years before hand. YEARS. And yes. These people were just the worst.
Overall? This wasn’t as good as The Splendid and the Vile (Churchill and the Blitz), and not even in the same league as Dead Wake (the sinking of the Lusitania) or Devil in the White City (H.H. Holmes). I’d put it about on par with In The Garden of Beasts and Thunderstruck.
Up next? Hmmmm…
peruses the shelf…
I’m thinking….
Never Whistle At Night (bookshop.org), An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. Featuring works of ghosts and curses and hauntings and monstrous times and tidings and beings from a pretty wide selection of authors.
Thanks to the thread for Arkady Martine recommendations, finished Memory called Empire and Desolation called Peace and enjoyed them both.
I was reading "In whose ruins : power, possession, and the landscapes of American empire" by Alicia Puglionesi (2022) and she mentioned "The Black Gondolier" by Fritz Leiber as a good a horror story about oil as one could find. She is right. I found the book of Leiber's short stories on Hoopla and just read the Black Gondolier and recommend it as well.
www.goodreads.com
In Whose Ruins is also a kind of horror story, in the sense that the history of resource extraction and the impact it had on Native Americans is riddled with horror. One of the slap in the face historical non-fiction I've been drawn to over the last year or so, it seems to fill a need I have to make a true history. Not always pleasant, but with good authors like her, a step closer to our real history. Glad I read it before it gets banned.
You get to meet charming people like Joseph Pew, head of Sun Oil, whence the Pew Charitable Trust's funding comes.
Edit: apostrophes again
The Black Gondolier and Other Stories
Announcing a new collection of stories by Fritz Leiber.…
In Whose Ruins is also a kind of horror story, in the sense that the history of resource extraction and the impact it had on Native Americans is riddled with horror. One of the slap in the face historical non-fiction I've been drawn to over the last year or so, it seems to fill a need I have to make a true history. Not always pleasant, but with good authors like her, a step closer to our real history. Glad I read it before it gets banned.
You get to meet charming people like Joseph Pew, head of Sun Oil, whence the Pew Charitable Trust's funding comes.
Edit: apostrophes again
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I'm debating about holding off on that anthology I posted, because a copy of Annie Jacobsen's Nuclear War: A Scenario just fell into my lap.
I should probably have that wormhole above my couch looked at...
I should probably have that wormhole above my couch looked at...
I decided that nuclear war can wait, and dived into Indigenous dark fiction. The first story is called Kushtuka, by Mathilda Zeller, who is (I believe) of Inuit descent. That was spooky. Surprisingly enough, for having been raised in Alaska? I've not heard or read a lot of stories like this from Alaskan Natives. And I think that I should have put more effort into that when I was younger.
Up next is a tale from Rebecca Roanhorse. Oh boy. (edit: that was… unsettling)
Up next is a tale from Rebecca Roanhorse. Oh boy. (edit: that was… unsettling)
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Finished Never Whistle at Night. That was a fun, mildly terrifying and often disconcerting romp with a bunch of different authors and perspectives. What is kind of neat, is that all of the stories featured in the anthology were first published in the anthology. I’m not sure if they were written specifically for it or not, but it all still worked.
Up next is the aforementioned Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen (bookshop.org). I’ve started it, and am a few chapters in already. It’s very good. And also terrifying and disconcerting.
Up next is the aforementioned Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen (bookshop.org). I’ve started it, and am a few chapters in already. It’s very good. And also terrifying and disconcerting.
I’ve been reading it off an and on, taking several large breaks in the seven hours since I started it to eat and play video games and work on pixel art and parallax animation.
I’m a quarter of the way through it, and I had to make myself put it down.
What an incredibly terrifying and eminently plausible scenario, Jacobsen paints. And good lord is it a page turner.
It’s like if Fred Kaplan’s The Bomb (audible, the way I ‘read’ it) (and also very, VERY good) is the prelude and the deep dive into the history, this is the ‘what if’ you apply with all of that knowledge.
But holy shit is it scary.
I’m a quarter of the way through it, and I had to make myself put it down.
What an incredibly terrifying and eminently plausible scenario, Jacobsen paints. And good lord is it a page turner.
It’s like if Fred Kaplan’s The Bomb (audible, the way I ‘read’ it) (and also very, VERY good) is the prelude and the deep dive into the history, this is the ‘what if’ you apply with all of that knowledge.
But holy shit is it scary.
Last night, in my spelunking in a 1986 local newspaper, is an article about the latest evidence of a nuclear winter at that time. Seems the Dec. 1983 publication in Science stirred up enough controversy to cause the Fed to spend a few millions in research and modeling of the issue at the National Labs. Their 1986 conclusion was slightly less terrible than the 1983 scenario:
Read Ralph Koster’s “A theory of fun” on game design and the psychology of play. Was interesting!
Also had “Lyonesse” / “Suldrun’s Garden” by Jack Vance recommended to me. It sure was a book. Not sure if I enjoyed it, but it’s got a remarkable amount of creativity there.
Also had “Lyonesse” / “Suldrun’s Garden” by Jack Vance recommended to me. It sure was a book. Not sure if I enjoyed it, but it’s got a remarkable amount of creativity there.
I liked Lyonesse and the follow up books.
They are a throwback to the dark and weird origins of fairytales. Think of the bloody variations from the Brother's Grimm folklore.
I recall one variation of Cinderella where the evil step sisters cut parts of their feet off to fit the glass slipper and were later forced to dance at Cinderella's wedding.
I felt like it was trying to be more of a "ancient myths and legends" type thing? It had the digressions about the world, side stories, weird weaving branches. I was quite disappointed by the remarkable iteration of fridging there, and just kinda "meh" on the whole miserable world. Probably will not continue the series.
Just finished The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow. It's the second book (although technically a prequel) in the Martin Hench series (which as far as I know, only is two books long so far) and it was fun popcorn reading. I liked it better than the first one, and I did enjoy the first one for what it was. I did feel like Red Team Blues (the first book) had a little bit of a weird "all the big stuff happens offscreen, and here's a brief interlude into what it's like to be homeless" that, while it made sense, kind of acted as a speed bump for the story just before it ended. The Bezzle doesn't have that problem, and is rather neatly paced and written. Also, he's dumped the entire "Martin Hench is a ladies man" schtick that kind of stuck out in the first book.
The book is rather timely - it dives into SPACs, private prison corruption, and financial audits. It's short, doesn't overstay it's welcome, and an easy read. If you're looking for a deep dive, this isn't it, but it's enjoyable.
The book is rather timely - it dives into SPACs, private prison corruption, and financial audits. It's short, doesn't overstay it's welcome, and an easy read. If you're looking for a deep dive, this isn't it, but it's enjoyable.
Book: Upgrade
Synopsis: In the near term future, the human race is on the brink of extinction. A man receives an illegal upgrade to his genome and has to fight to save humanity.
My thoughts: It's,...not good. Really tropey. All of the main characters are related, it feels like how everything in Star Wars revolves around the Skywalkers. If you were stuck in a bear trap any you chew off the caught limb, or read Upgrade, chew off your own limb.
Synopsis: In the near term future, the human race is on the brink of extinction. A man receives an illegal upgrade to his genome and has to fight to save humanity.
My thoughts: It's,...not good. Really tropey. All of the main characters are related, it feels like how everything in Star Wars revolves around the Skywalkers. If you were stuck in a bear trap any you chew off the caught limb, or read Upgrade, chew off your own limb.
I hate-read it myself. The only point I'll give the author is the alternative he came up with at the end.