Beyond Reality discussion

Please tell us what you are reading in January of 2018!

I am posting this thread a couple of days early. The welcome to 2018 may not be up until Jan. 2, but we want to be sure that you have the opportunity to tell us what you are reading.

In the meantime, please keep using the "What are you reading in December 2017?" thread.

And Happy New Year everyone!

I'm reading:
- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
- Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Working on Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void and The Novels of the Jaran: Jaran / An Earthly Crown / His Conquering Sword / The Law of Becoming (I've finished book 1 and am well into book 2 at this point).

Hoping to finish those two and squeeze in 1-2 more. January is usually a good reading month for me.

Technically I'm also in the middle of On War but I haven't made any progress there for awhile.

I am reading The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy.

I also started rereading Altered Carbon. Maybe I will read Broken Angels and Woken Furies next.

I have been collecting paperbacks for decades, many of which I have never read. I think I should spend the year mostly working my way through my physical to read shelf. I have had the Richard Morgan books for a few years so now is the time to read them before the netflix series starts.

I want to read Nemesis Games. I would also like to read Entanglement : The Greatest Mystery in Physics, which is another book that I have had for years and it is also the book chosen for the monthly read in a group where I am co-moderator.

Reading Deep Navigation by Alastair Reynolds

Bill wrote: “I have had the Richard Morgan books for a few years so now is the time to read them before the netflix series starts."

I read those 3 books a few years ago. When is the Netflix series starting? I didn’t know there was going to be one.

Lindsey wrote: "Working on Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void and [book:The Novels of the Jaran: Jaran / An Earthly Crown / His Conquering Sword / The Law of Becoming|19027615..."

I have the Jaran series unread on my shelf. I’ll be interested in your opinion since I liked her Crown of Stars series.

Scroll down on the Altered Carbon page to find links to the trailers. It says Feb 2 for the Netflix series.

Bill wrote: "Scroll down on the Altered Carbon page to find links to the trailers. It says Feb 2 for the Netflix series."

Thanks! I’ll make a note of it!

I am reading The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett as part of a series read for another group. Then I will return to Bending the Boyne: A Novel of Ancient Ireland before looking at the other books I want to read this month.

I'm currently reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Should finish it in the next day or two and here's my stack from the library to read next:

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison for this group, plus the sequel The Book of Etta (assuming I enjoy the first)
The Blue Fox by Sjón
Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire

I also want to read Persepolis Rising from The Expanse series, but I've been trying not to get too far ahead of my partner on that one and he's been dragging his feet on it, so it might not be finished this month. :P

I finished The Dry another off-topic mystery and highly reommend it to those who like this genre. I tried reading The Leavers, but the language got in the way so I've moved on to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Finished my first book for the year City of Stairs and loved it. Here is my review for it.

Kathi wrote: "Lindsey wrote: "Working on Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void and The Novels of the Jaran"

I have the Jaran series unread on my shelf. I’ll be interested in your opinion since I liked her Crown of Stars series.

I'm about half way through now (books 1 & 2 done) and it's... interesting. I really liked the hyper focused approach to Book 1. Book 2 broadened out to more characters but not really more of the "world" here, so that's been a bit odd (I want to know more about the bigger sf conflict and less about the local, fantasy conflict!). I'm definitely glad I've got the omnibus ebook so I can more from one into the next. On the whole I like it but I'm reserving judgment a bit until I've read the entire thing!

Starting Paladin of Souls today.

Kathi wrote: "Lindsey wrote: "Working on Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void and [book:The Novels of the Jaran: Jaran / An Earthly Crown / His Conquering Sword / The Law of B..."

I also have the first Jaran book unread. I might nominate it for our group read sometimes this year.

I finished Emergence by CJ Cherryh book 19 in the unique Foreigner series. I love the dense political Sci-Fi and am amazed I remember so much including Ragi and all the various characters. Having a new volume a year really helps.

I am starting a reread of The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, an epic fantasy I am sure most are familiar with. I last read these when they first came out 1989-1991.

Bill wrote: "I finished Emergence by CJ Cherryh book 19 in the unique Foreigner series. I love the dense political Sci-Fi and am amazed I remember so much including Ragi and all the various characters. Having a new volume a year really helps."

I have been accumulating those books for a while now, but am reluctant to start them because I hate reading a series that is unfinished! I have done it a few times because of group discussions, but I really, really try to avoid it. Is there any clue when Cherryh might complete the Foreigner series?

I am starting a reread of The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, an epic fantasy I am sure most are familiar with. I last read these when they first came out 1989-1991.

I love that trilogy, and pretty much the whole Valdemar series. I reread it once when I returned to Valdemar to read some of the newer books. (Rereading is another thing I try to avoid--you know, too many books, too little time.)

I know what you mean by unfinished series, Kathi, but this I started when the first 3 or so books were out. I had no idea it would go on so long. I'm looking forward to reading the entire series at one go when it's finished. I just hope Ms Cherryh and I last long enough to see the end.

About re-reading: I understand your reluctance. I've figured I need to live till I'm 96 to read all the books I already have. It's just I have some favorite novels, series that I love and do need to revisit at intervals. I think I'll also read Downbelow Station and Cyteen again this year and perhaps some of Pern.

I FINALLY got caught up enough on my schoolwork that I felt like I could afford to get lost in a book, so I started Meddling Kids. So far it's a ton of fun.

Finished with the fantastic pre-apocalyptic detective story The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters and finally can continue reading Yoon Ha Lee's Raven Stratagem after a miscalculated scheduling last year. Jedao FTW 😍

I just finished Coyote by Allen Steele. I thought I was reading the source material for the film Passengers, but, according to the various blurbs, there were other better candidates for source material for that movie. This book does not include the Jennifer Lawrence character, for instance; the midsection is simply about a lone man who wakes up early on a spaceship bound for a world of human colonization.

I finished my first 5 books, which gets me ahead of my schedule for my 50 book goal for the year, but there are some big ones in my next stack, so I'll probably need the buffer. Picked these ones up from the library yesterday:

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
The H. P. Lovecraft Collection: Classic Tales of Cosmic Horror

And I also got my preorder of The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor in the mail a few days ago.

So far I've only read the intro and the first story of the Lovecraft Collection out of the bunch, and I'll probably be starting the Golem and the Jinni today, so I've got quite a lot of reading ahead of me!

I just started Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

Aster wrote: "So far I've only read the intro and the first story of the Lovecraft Collection out of the bunch, and I'll probably be starting the Golem and the Jinni today, so I've got quite a lot of reading ahead of me!"

I LOVED The Golem and the Jinni! Enjoy it!

I recently finished Meddling Kids, which was a lot of fun. Not sure what's up next.

My last three books were The Graveyard Game (excellent!!), Three Days for Emeralds (ugh), Streams of Silver (standard quest fantasy, but enjoyable).

Now reading a dark Celtic fantasy, Cromm. So far it’s OK. I have read and liked several of Kenneth C. Flint’s retellings of Irish myths. This is a little different.

I'm reading The Father of Lies by K J Parker. It's the second short stories collection from the Saloninus universe. The first being Academic Exercises from what I can tell. I finished Paradox Bound which was not fun to me.

Shel wrote: "I LOVED The Golem and the Jinni! Enjoy it!

I recently finished Meddling Kids, which was a lot of fun. Not sure what's up next."

I read the first chapter of The Golem and the Jinni last night and it hooked me right away! I also have Meddling Kids on my TBR list for sometime this year and am looking forward to it. :)

Finished up Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (my short review: good for the layman, not as interesting for people in the field) and did a quick read of a new edition of Eat That Frog!. Still making progress on The Novels of the Jaran (well into Book 4 and still greatly enjoying it!).

I also started The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, which is my first book by Sagan. Very much enjoying it... a little ramble-y at first but it's definitely getting better as it goes.

I just finished Company Town which I enjoyed althoujgh i was confused about the ending until I found the spoiler at the head of the reviews here. Now reading Latin@ Rising: An Anthology of Latin@ Science Fiction and Fantasy. Not sure what's up next

Starting The City and the City by China Mieville.

Here is my review for Storeys from the Old Hotel.

Silvana wrote: "Starting The City and the City by China Mieville."

Me, too. I started last night and am hooked. This is my first China Miéville book.

I recently finished Walkaway by {author:Cory Doctorow] which follows up on his "Little Brother" and "Homeland". It's very current politically. His solution is SciFi. #DumpTrump and the #Plutocrats.

I started a current, dystopian Sci-Fi called Gnomon by Nick Harkaway last night. It is excellent on many levels.

jOvian veiL - Menticide (Novella) — Free eBook, looking for reviews

jOvian veiL is a multifaceted project that intertwines the creative writing of a Science Fiction Novella series with the raw emotion and energy of a Hard Rock Album. Each chapter has an associated track that expresses a certain emotion, mood or setting from the story. Drawing inspiration from a multitude of artists that span across a diverse range of projects (Stephen King’s ‘The Gunslinger’, ‘Fighting Fantasy’ Series of books, Nirvana, Tool, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age), jOvian veiL crafts their own unique story (and sound) while creating both the story and music in unison.

‘jOvian veiL – Menticide’ is the first book (and album) in a series where the reader can immerse themselves in not only the storytelling of the Science Fiction series but they can also experience the story from the author’s musical perspective.

Free download!!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

‘All wiLL bE ReveAled”

I just finished The Prey of Gods which I enjoyed and recommend. On my shelf are the following three books: Zeroboxer, Autonomous, A Skinful of Shadows. I need to decide which one to read first

Today I'll also start Children of Time audiobook. Hopefully can catch up with the discussion.

Christine wrote: "I just finished The Prey of Gods which I enjoyed and recommend. On my shelf are the following three books: Zeroboxer, Autonomous, [book:A Skinful of ..."

I am really interested with Prey of Gods. And Autonomous.