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Post by robertlcollins on May 16, 2020 12:14:22 GMT
I finished The Aleph Extraction yesterday. I found it fast-paced and entertaining. The characters are great, too. I hope Dan Moren is able to write & get out the rest of the books in this series. I’m curious as to where his “Galactic Cold War” idea goes.
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Post by kateelizabeth on May 26, 2020 15:19:43 GMT
I read Peter Swanson's Eight Perfect Murders. I guessed one of the things early on, but not some of the others. It was interesting and I'm curious to see how he turns this into a series.
I also read Lady Anne Glenconner's memoir, Lady in Waiting. It was pretty fascinating, her life revolving around Princess Margaret and also her larger-than-life husband.
I'm currently reading Jane Isaac's For Better, For Worse, a British police procedural. It's the 2nd in the DC Beth Chamberlain series. I haven't read the 1st yet, but I have enjoyed this one so far.
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Post by robertlcollins on Jun 13, 2020 12:07:33 GMT
Yesterday I finished Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan. I found an enjoyable fantasy. It‘s about a Princess-turned-healer learning about another culture as part of a peace treaty.
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Post by robertlcollins on Oct 7, 2020 11:57:43 GMT
Oops, another long passage between posts...
Honestly, I have been reading some books, but until recently nothing that I felt was worth mentioning, except for Scaramouche. That classic novel is pretty good.
Over the weekend I read Gail Carriger’s The Heroine’s Journey. It’s great!
In it she compares & contrasts the Hero’s Journey with the Heroine’s Journey. She talks about the narrative beats of the latter, and what writers can add to make such narratives work. It’s written in a more conversational style, which makes it readable. She also talks about the Heroine’s Journey as a consumer of culture, and how audiences can use it to understand their own feelings about how stories end well or not.
Right now it’s ebook only, but the ebook is just $7.
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indie
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by indie on Nov 5, 2020 1:20:26 GMT
Finished Come Closer by Sara Gran on Halloween. It's about a woman that get's possessed by a demon. It was alright, not scary but not an awful read either.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Nov 5, 2020 1:56:33 GMT
Finished Come Closer by Sara Gran on Halloween. It's about a woman that get's possessed by a demon. It was alright, not scary but not an awful read either. Thanks for sharing, indie! Congrats on your first post. I have not read this book, but I enjoy possession and ghost stories.  I've been reading all day on twitter. *haha* |
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Post by robertlcollins on Dec 22, 2020 2:22:51 GMT
Re-read a couple books last month, but have moved onto new stuff. Well, new to me I’ve read three planetary romances by Leigh Brackett: “Enchantress of Venus,” “Queen of the Martian Catacombs,” and “Black Amazon of Mars.” They had exciting plots but were also quite moody. I quite enjoyed them, and I’m planning on reading a few more of her novellas. First, though, I’m going to re-read A Christmas Carol, since I haven’t read that in a number of years. |
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Post by robertlcollins on Jan 6, 2021 14:55:12 GMT
I’ve now read 4 more Leigh Brackett novellas. I started with “Citadel of Lost Ships,” which was okay but not great. Then was “The Jewel of Bas,” which was great. After that was “The Beast-Jewel of Mars,” which was pretty good. And last night I finished “Shannach-The Last.” It was also quite good. All very intriguing planetary romance SF.
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Post by robertlcollins on Jan 20, 2021 20:55:01 GMT
I’ve finished 3 works by H. Beam Piper: Little Fuzzy; Space Viking; and the short story “Omniligual.” Little Fuzzy was great, even if the “future tech” is now outdated. The short story was just okay, and while Space Viking has a good plot, it also has some issues with other characters and views about governments.
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Post by robertlcollins on Feb 15, 2021 21:17:51 GMT
Yesterday I finished Diving into the Wreck. It’s an intriguing SF novel about “divers” going into old spaceships thousands of years in the future to look for treasure and tech. The main character finds one such ship where it shouldn’t be, and uncovers secrets about the ship and about her.
It’s a terse but interesting book full of twists and reveals. The main character is flawed but never gives up, no matter what mistakes she makes. I’m going to try to get the next book in the series soon.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Feb 16, 2021 0:18:17 GMT
I re-read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves," at some point in the past. It was fairly recently-ish. Definitely the funniest grammar book on this planet.
And I took a proofreading course that had lots of PDFs to read, plus a few short stories, and blog posts to practice proofreading. The best one was a short ghost story.
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Post by robertlcollins on Mar 21, 2021 18:26:39 GMT
I finally got back to reading this past week. This morning I finished These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling. It focuses on a teenaged witch and her struggles with both real life and a magical threat. It has some good female characters, a twisty plot, and strong LGBT themes. I quite enjoyed it.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Mar 22, 2021 1:29:11 GMT
I finally got back to reading this past week. This morning I finished These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling. It focuses on a teenaged witch and her struggles with both real life and a magical threat. It has some good female characters, a twisty plot, and strong LGBT themes. I quite enjoyed it. That sounds fun! I've read a few witchy books by Amber Benson (Tara from BTVS), and I enjoyed them. Last week, I tried reading in bed, so I was reading one of the B5 non-canon novelizations, by S.M. Stirling, but it was annoying me that every single time Dr Franklin popped up the author would write in, "his dark face." Like, yes, we know he's black. You don't have to tell us every single time he pops up. Maybe try telling us something else about him? None of the white character's skin color was mentioned at all. We were told Sheridan had blue eyes and blond hair. We got the shape of Garibaldi's face. And then we got very detailed descriptions of the new alien race. Other than the annoying "white as default human" filter of the 90s, the book is okay. |
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Post by robertlcollins on Mar 22, 2021 11:50:48 GMT
Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten all about Amber Benson’s books. I think I’ll try to add one to my TBR list. Thanks for the reminder!
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Post by robertlcollins on Mar 29, 2021 11:54:43 GMT
Saturday evening I finished City of Ruins, the second Diving Universe book, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It was good! Boss and her team are on a planet looking for stealth tech when a ship arrives in an underground base. From the distant past.
There are two parallel storylines. What’s more, one is in first-person while the other is in third-person. It was so eager for the storylines to converge. I plan to keep up with this series. It’s been really good SF so far.
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Post by robertlcollins on Apr 11, 2021 11:57:57 GMT
Yesterday I finished The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. It’s this month’s Sword & Laser pick. It’s about a bureaucrat who takes an inspection trip to an island orphanage for magical children. I found it utterly charming and lovely to read. The stakes are low, yet it carried me along. It’s also a rather optimistic book. Highly recommended!
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Post by robertlcollins on Apr 25, 2021 13:27:07 GMT
Yesterday I finished Boneyards, the third "Diving Universe" book. It follows two storylines, one of searching for more Dignity Vessels and an attempt at sabotage, with the latter having some flashbacks to fill out the present. I liked it, though maybe not as much as the first two books in the series. I do plan to continue with the series.
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Post by robertlcollins on May 5, 2021 11:48:01 GMT
Yesterday I finished Windswept by Kaitlin Bellamy. It's the first book in a series, and tells of a young man discovering that he has strange magical powers. The stakes are low but there's still danger and risk. I like that the main character is trying to be good and heroic, but is also struggling with growing up. I plan to continue with the series once I read the other books I bought recently.
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Post by robertlcollins on May 12, 2021 18:19:00 GMT
Yesterday I finished The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers, the fourth book in her Wayfarers series.
The plot is fairly simple, in that a few aliens arrive on a stopover planet while traveling. There's an accident that forces them to remain at the planetary "rest stop" for a few days. The aliens sometimes try to get along with each other, and sometimes argue with each other. They learn about each other and make important decisions about their lives.
It's all about the characters, which is what I love about these books. The stakes are relatively low, but it's still interesting. It's a wonderful book, and I really enjoyed it!
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Post by robertlcollins on May 26, 2021 11:59:15 GMT
Yesterday I finished Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik. It's a take on the Rumplestiltskin fairytale set in a Slavic fantasy kingdom. While there were three strong female characters, there were a few other viewpoint characters as well, and it just didn't quite work for me. It was good but nowhere near as good as her novel Uprooted.
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Post by robertlcollins on Jun 6, 2021 13:23:19 GMT
Yesterday I finished Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran. It's a fantasy novel about two young women, a Queen trying to undo the corruption of her uncle, the late King, and a minor noblewoman hoping to avenge the murder of her father. I heard about it over on TikTok. The story moves along at a good pace with romance, intrigue, mistakes, and successes. I quite liked it.
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Post by robertlcollins on Jun 12, 2021 13:24:32 GMT
I finished Skirmishes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the fourth "Diving Universe" book. In this there's an exploration of a ship graveyard while a border confrontation boils. Even though there's not that much action, I found the book to be fast-paced. Like the other books in the series, one plot is told in first person while the other is told in third person. I liked it and I plan to continue with the series.
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Post by robertlcollins on Jun 24, 2021 11:52:13 GMT
I finished This Coven Won't Break by Isabel Sterling, the follow-up to These Witches Don't Burn. I still like the main character, and how she's shown suffering with doubt and trauma from the events of the first book. I also like that this one has a happy ending. However, I didn't like that the stakes got too high too quickly. It felt to me as though the accelerating plot crowded out character scenes and growth. It's still good but I didn't think it was as good as the first book.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jun 26, 2021 18:50:50 GMT
Last night, I finally got around to finishing "Betrayals" by S.M. Stirling. It's #6 of the Babylon 5 novelizations, a non-canon one. It was okay. His characterization of Sheridan was off, and some of his descriptions were off-putting.
I'm really glad it's not canon because it puts a whole different spin on the Narn-Centauri conflict/war, and it makes me strongly dislike the Narn. Of course, back at the start of season 2, G'Kar hadn't changed into G'Kar the Prophet yet - but still - Stirling made all of the Narns come off way more violent and evil than they were in the show.
I'm curious whether Stirling invented the T'll, or if they were once part of Straczinski's notes very early on?
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Post by robertlcollins on Jul 2, 2021 16:47:47 GMT
Yesterday I finished Inkspice by Kaitlin Bellamy, the second Mapweaver Chronicles novel. I liked how the main characters continue to grow. The stakes got higher, but it didn't seem to me that the stakes got too high too fast. I'm also enjoying the world-building. I'm looking forward to book three.
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Post by robertlcollins on Jul 8, 2021 13:57:32 GMT
Yesterday I finished The Falls by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the fifth in her Diving Universe series.
A man is walking by a large waterfall on a planet when he sees two pairs of shoes, the a body in the water. This starts an investigation that brings in multiple characters and gradually increases in scope.
This was really good. The characters were diverse, the mystery was intriguing, and it had quite the ending. It could almost be a standalone novel. I'm looking forward to where this series goes next!
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Post by robertlcollins on Aug 1, 2021 13:22:07 GMT
Finally back to reading! Yesterday I finished Wayfinder by Kaitlin Bellamy, the third book in her Mapweaver Chronicles. To help a god recover his lost memories, the heroes have to break a thief out of a prison in another realm. The characters are great, the plot has some fine twists and turns, and there's growth for our main heroes. I enjoyed this, and I plan on reading the fourth book after I finish a few others.
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Post by robertlcollins on Aug 5, 2021 20:32:33 GMT
Yesterday I finished The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard. It's a novella about a sentient ship and a detective in search of a corpse. There's a real Sherlock Holmes vibe to the story, but the background evokes East Asian cultures. I enjoyed reading it.
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Post by robertlcollins on Aug 11, 2021 20:28:50 GMT
Yesterday I finished The Runabout by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It's the sixth book in her Diving Universe series.
Boss and her team are in "The Boneyards," an area of space where there are derelict Fleet starships. While attempting to recover on of those Fleet ships, they spot a runabout with a star drive. However, a ship that small isn't supposed to have such a drive. They take risks in trying to figure out what the runabout is.
It's follows on the fifth book in the series, but also carries on the series overall. It's fast and exciting. I really am liking this series.
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Post by robertlcollins on Sept 1, 2021 19:36:59 GMT
Yesterday I finished Aurora Rising, a SF novel and the first in a trilogy. A student of a space academy, on the most important day of his life, goes for a jaunt in hyperspace. He stumbles onto a starship lost for 200 years. Inside is a young woman in cryo, the only person alive on the ship. This starts an adventure across the galaxy with a squad of humans & aliens. The characters are smart, smart-asses, and diverse. The plot zips along. It’s a good book, and I plan to continue with the trilogy.
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