Kris’s Comments (group member since Jan 19, 2008)

Kris’s comments from the The Secret Library group.

Jay wrote: "I apologize in advance if anyone decides that this is, in fact, a chick book."

I'm about 100 pages from the end (I have the 500+ page edition with the big "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" seal on the cover) and it's very good. Is it a chick book? I'll let my wife answer that after she's read it.

Jay "The Kingfish" Lynn, Minister of Crackpot Schemes and Unfortunate Synergies, has selected The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. We're very much aware that there's a motion picture adaptation on the way, so we're trying to get the book read and discussed on the show before the movie is released.

Our discussion of Lamb can be found in Episode 0026 of the podcast. There are some spoilers, but nothing too egregious.

What's this? Another book has appeared on the shelves at The Secret Library!

Here we have Lamb The Gospel According to Biff Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore, a book which "presents a funny, lighthearted satire of the life of Christ--from his childhood days up to his crucifixion...This clever novel is surely blasphemy to some, but to others it's a coming-of-age story of the highest order."

Our discussion of The Sky People has just been posted at The Secret Lair. There is a hidden link to that discussion in this very comment.

Hotspur,

You're in luck! Stirling's follow-up to The Sky People is In the Courts of the Crimson Kings , which moves the narrative to Mars.

Be warned: I have finished reading If I Were an Evil Overlord.

Welcome, Hotspur. Your is a story I have heard many times, only the words are different.

It's official: If I Were an Evil Overlord has been added to The Secret Library. At our current pace we should be discussing it sometime in July...of 2012.

Yeah, we're going to try to pick up the pace a bit once things settle down with the expansion of the Lair. What expansion, you ask? Head on over to the Lair and listen to Episode 0012, "Our Holocaust Room", for more details.

Andy Hopp is a strange, strange man.

Actually, I'd kinda like to read that one.

Welcome to the group, Hotspur! I have to say that, after reading your comment, I'm very disappointed with the amount of lesbian softcore porn in The Sky People: because there is none. Is this a complete stylistic overhaul for Stirling? I dunno, but a little wrassling match between Teesa and Cynthia might have gone a long way to spice things up, especially if there were deerskin bikinis involved.

I'll be in my bunk.

As of this writing, the overlords have both finished The Sky People, but our retrieval squads have been unable to locate Mr. Newquist (he has apparently grown somewhat paranoid since we originally interrogated him earlier this year) so the discussion has been delayed.

However, the next book we've selected is Old Man's War by John Scalzi, so if you'd like to get a head start you are hereby authorized to begin reading it.

Seeding the conversation here:

1. Was anyone else a little nonplussed by the events at the Cave of the Mysteries near the end?
2. On the topic of the ending, how likely are you to now read the sequel, In the Courts of the Crimson Kings?

I finished listening to [i]The Sky People[/i] early this week. Interesting book. Once Mr. Miller finishes, we'll record our discussion. Ken, do you want in on that action?

As requested by one of our minions, we have added an official Podiobooks shelf to The Secret Library. There are (at last count) nearly two hundred titles in the Podiobooks catalog, all available as free, serialized downloads delivered to your favorite podcatcher.

Our first Podiobook is The Pocket and The Pendant by Mark Jeffrey.

"WHEN TIME mysteriously stops, young Max Quick must travel across America to find the source of this 'temporal disaster'... Along the way, he and his companions encounter ancient mysteries, quantum Books, and clues to the riddle of stopped Time. But the more Max learns, the more it seems that his own true identity is not what he once believed..."

Alas, I don't own an iPhone or an iTouch. I wouldn't mind trying a Kindle, but my understanding is that it either doesn't have PDF support or has very wonky PDF support.

Tor was giving away PDF copies of Old Man's War early on in their "Watch the Skies" campain, so I've already got this in electronicagizmatic format.

The real trick will be actually reading it on a computer.

Interesting: at the sinkhole, Mark calls Christopher Blair "wing commander". Christopher "Maverick" Blair is the main character of the "Wing Commander" video game series (portrayed by Mark Hamill in WC III and IV).

Well, we do like to select books that our minions can find for free, if they prefer to spend the pittance we pay them on things like food...

Any suggestions? Here's a sampling of Podiobooks I've "read":

Ancestor by Scott Sigler
7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins
The Failed Cities Monologues by Matt Wallace

A couple I'm in the middle of now:

Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood
Brave Men Run by Matthew Wayne Selznick

And a couple I'd like to read someday:

Singularity by Bill DeSmedt
Earthcore by Scott Sigler