Bernard Assaf's Blog
October 20, 2021
19 Book series I want to finish
I took a look at my "already read" list today. Turns out I'm in the "middle" of more series than I realized. Perhaps I should try to finish some of them. I order them below by "longest amount of time since I read one in the series" to "shortest." Perhaps I'll re-engage some. Perhaps I won't. I'm not counting series where I read only 1 of and don't want to finish it.
1. Dune - May 1995 - I've read 3-1/2 of them. I stopped when I graduated college because I was reading college library copies. Probably should start over.
2. Shannara - January 1998 - I read the first 8. Do I really want to read more? I'd have to find them.
3. Tolkien: October 2006 - I read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Read Unfinished Tales next (maybe)? I have started and never finished it twice.
4. Wool: May 2014 - I read the first 2. Finish the trilogy!
5. The Passage: September 2014 - I read the first. Definitely want to read the rest of the trilogy. P.S. the tv show was... ok.
6. Artemis Fowl: October 2014 - I listened to first two on audio. Read book 3 next (The Eternity Code) but only because my kids ended up with a copy. Probably don't want to read the rest of the series after that.
7. Vorkosigan Saga: February 2015 - I read 5. Read Falling Free next. Love this series, not sure why I abandoned it.
8. Troy Rising: February 2016 - I read 1. Super fun. Read book 2 of 3 next.
9. Kingkiller Chronicles: September 2016 - I read 1. Read book 2 next. I also have the novella to read to tide me over until he actually finishes book 3.
10. Heinlein - April 2018 - I read 7. I have a few more. He wrote too many to try to read them all, but figured I should at least read the ones I have left on my to-be-read shelf.
11. Old Man's War: November 2018 - I read 1. Read the rest! Read It Again SciFi Book club selection!
12. Space Odyssey: April 2020 - I read 2001. Read 2010 next. Mmmmaybe I'll read 2061 and 3001 as well.
13. Prydain Chronicles: March 2021 - I read first 3. Two more to go!
14. Asimov: April 2021 - I listened to or read 2 of them, and listened to the (awful) BBC radio dramatization of Foundation trilogy. I collected all the Robots, Empire and Foundation novels so I could actually read them all one day. Is this day now?
15. Star Trek: April 2021 - I have read 110+. Read "A Time To..." book 5 next.
16. Dragonlance: July 2021 - I have read the first 22 (sort of). I own a few more I haven't read yet, and won't try to read the rest of the 100+ that are out there, but this was my first series love (along with Xanthand I don't think I'll ever be able to say "I'm finally done" with it.
17. Star Wars: July 2021 - I have read 130+. My goal is to read them ALL in publication order (at least through the end of the Legends series). Not sure I have the heart or lifespan to read the New Canon, much less the High Republic series.
18. Chorus of Dragons: September 2021 - Listened to the first two. Mmmmmaybe I will read book 3.... (maybe not). Read It Again SciFi Book club selection!
19. The Expanse: I'm almost done with the first book now (October 2021). ABSOLUTELY love it. I look forward to reading the rest.
So there you have it. 19 series I started and haven't finished (or, finished as much as I'm wanting to). I was thinking I would read one of each of the above in the order listed above, and cycle through them. But... I don't want to. Ha!
P.S. Technically I'm in the "middle" of reading A Song of Ice and Fire, too, but since I'm all caught up, it didn't make the list, although I do have a couple of his other books set in that universe I could read...
P.P.S. I didn't list the Xanth series either, but I really enjoyed the first 11 or 12 of them. And as much as I'll never forget cat-ass-trophy (catastrophe pun) not sure this is a series I'll ever pick back up.
Where to go from here? Because I also read stand alone books. Typically I try to read a scifi book and then an non-scifi book as my rotation, which forces me to read novels without space ships or magic or dragons in them. Now that I've reviewed this list, I will probably tackle Wool book 2 next, just looking at this list and what old friends I have not visited in a while.
In conclusion: it's good to have a plan! Without one, I'd probably just read Star Wars and Star Trek at the exclusion of everything else, heh!
LLAG! (Live Long, and Guacamole!)
1. Dune - May 1995 - I've read 3-1/2 of them. I stopped when I graduated college because I was reading college library copies. Probably should start over.
2. Shannara - January 1998 - I read the first 8. Do I really want to read more? I'd have to find them.
3. Tolkien: October 2006 - I read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Read Unfinished Tales next (maybe)? I have started and never finished it twice.
4. Wool: May 2014 - I read the first 2. Finish the trilogy!
5. The Passage: September 2014 - I read the first. Definitely want to read the rest of the trilogy. P.S. the tv show was... ok.
6. Artemis Fowl: October 2014 - I listened to first two on audio. Read book 3 next (The Eternity Code) but only because my kids ended up with a copy. Probably don't want to read the rest of the series after that.
7. Vorkosigan Saga: February 2015 - I read 5. Read Falling Free next. Love this series, not sure why I abandoned it.
8. Troy Rising: February 2016 - I read 1. Super fun. Read book 2 of 3 next.
9. Kingkiller Chronicles: September 2016 - I read 1. Read book 2 next. I also have the novella to read to tide me over until he actually finishes book 3.
10. Heinlein - April 2018 - I read 7. I have a few more. He wrote too many to try to read them all, but figured I should at least read the ones I have left on my to-be-read shelf.
11. Old Man's War: November 2018 - I read 1. Read the rest! Read It Again SciFi Book club selection!
12. Space Odyssey: April 2020 - I read 2001. Read 2010 next. Mmmmaybe I'll read 2061 and 3001 as well.
13. Prydain Chronicles: March 2021 - I read first 3. Two more to go!
14. Asimov: April 2021 - I listened to or read 2 of them, and listened to the (awful) BBC radio dramatization of Foundation trilogy. I collected all the Robots, Empire and Foundation novels so I could actually read them all one day. Is this day now?
15. Star Trek: April 2021 - I have read 110+. Read "A Time To..." book 5 next.
16. Dragonlance: July 2021 - I have read the first 22 (sort of). I own a few more I haven't read yet, and won't try to read the rest of the 100+ that are out there, but this was my first series love (along with Xanthand I don't think I'll ever be able to say "I'm finally done" with it.
17. Star Wars: July 2021 - I have read 130+. My goal is to read them ALL in publication order (at least through the end of the Legends series). Not sure I have the heart or lifespan to read the New Canon, much less the High Republic series.
18. Chorus of Dragons: September 2021 - Listened to the first two. Mmmmmaybe I will read book 3.... (maybe not). Read It Again SciFi Book club selection!
19. The Expanse: I'm almost done with the first book now (October 2021). ABSOLUTELY love it. I look forward to reading the rest.
So there you have it. 19 series I started and haven't finished (or, finished as much as I'm wanting to). I was thinking I would read one of each of the above in the order listed above, and cycle through them. But... I don't want to. Ha!
P.S. Technically I'm in the "middle" of reading A Song of Ice and Fire, too, but since I'm all caught up, it didn't make the list, although I do have a couple of his other books set in that universe I could read...
P.P.S. I didn't list the Xanth series either, but I really enjoyed the first 11 or 12 of them. And as much as I'll never forget cat-ass-trophy (catastrophe pun) not sure this is a series I'll ever pick back up.
Where to go from here? Because I also read stand alone books. Typically I try to read a scifi book and then an non-scifi book as my rotation, which forces me to read novels without space ships or magic or dragons in them. Now that I've reviewed this list, I will probably tackle Wool book 2 next, just looking at this list and what old friends I have not visited in a while.
In conclusion: it's good to have a plan! Without one, I'd probably just read Star Wars and Star Trek at the exclusion of everything else, heh!
LLAG! (Live Long, and Guacamole!)
June 24, 2021
Uprising at Buzzard's Gulch!
What writing am I doing lately? Apart from the occasional Toastmasters speech, not much. But, I recently accepted a professional editing gig from Peryton Publishing. I'm having a blast editing some Monsters! Monsters! (spin off of Tunnels & Trolls role playing game) game master adventures. I'm excited the first two are available on drivethrurpg.com for PDF and Amazon.com for print. Keep an eye on author Thessaly Chance Tracy's works as the list grows over time. So far she has created, and Peryton Publishing has published, the main campaign setting
Uprising at Buzzard's Gulch
and has published a couple of game master adventures so far! If you like playing the monsters, or ever wanted to try playing them instead of the "good guys," you should check this campaign setting out!
March 24, 2020
BenTime Stories
I've barely been a writer lately but I'm always reading and collecting books even if I'm not making any progress on any of my writing projects. I tried NaNoWriMo in 2018 and just couldn't keep up, but I think it was because I worked myself into a corner trying to write a story set in a short-story universe my brothers and I created when we were kids. I have several other writing projects that are on hold (seems like a permanent hold) at the same time as my creative writing time is mostly spent writing for Calexima the dwarven barbarian in a Tunnels & Trolls play-by-post-style narrative game hosted on Facebook.
But.... I love reading and recently decided to combine that love with my love of reading aloud in fun voices, which turned into a partnership with Read It Again Books in Suwanee, Georgia. It's BenTime Stories! I'm not quite a famous celebrity reading books on YouTube but... well, you can decide if there's actually a but in that sentence.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
New location of BenTime StoryTime: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
But.... I love reading and recently decided to combine that love with my love of reading aloud in fun voices, which turned into a partnership with Read It Again Books in Suwanee, Georgia. It's BenTime Stories! I'm not quite a famous celebrity reading books on YouTube but... well, you can decide if there's actually a but in that sentence.
New location of BenTime StoryTime: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
