Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Another month. Two-thirds of the way through 2022.

Haha, only 4 in the afternoon for me, still getting some more July reading in, but since I've already got my books piled up for next month I've got:
- 2 Herbert/Anderson Dune
- 2 Asimov Robot (since I missed one in July)
- 1 Card Ender's Shadow
- 1 Werber post-apocalyptic cat tale
- 4 LEO Antares graphic novels, will also start the next set, Les Survivants
- 2 Star Trek graphic novels (the library is running out, aww)
- I should start Meyer's Cinder, need it for the BINGO
- My eReader has The Girl in the Gold Atom by Cummings
- And couple others...

Whew...will see if in another 31 days I can fit all those in

I finished All the Murmuring Bones this morning when I woke up early in the morning and couldn't fall asleep again. Later I will be starting Ring Shout.

My review of The Clockwork Man by E.V. Odle

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Victorious Century: The United Kingdom, 1800-1906 by David Cannadine

And now... The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for Jan/Feb 2018. Is it me? Or was I ever so slightly quicker this time? You know, without in any way claiming to be properly 'reading more.' :-)

Robin, you flew through that issue!

Sarcasm doesn't suit you Michelle LOL :-)

Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb. Excellent continuation of a series.

It is, Yrret!

I re-read Hawk a couple of nights ago, and it was highly enjoyable. After that, I read a short book, kind of like book 2.5 in the Mennik Thorn series: Strange Cargo, and that was fun. Last night I finished re- reading book 4 of Bernard Cornwell's series, Sharpe's Trafalgar, and it was of course, excellent!!! Now I'm continuing the Frontlines military sci-fi series with #3 Angles of Attack.

I started The Dying Earth on a recommendation that Vance's series was a major source of the original Dungeons and Dragons magic. Ran into "Prismatic Spray" in the first few pages!

My review of Upgrade by Blake Crouch

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm still working through Fatal Revenant. It's too long and Donaldson has returned to requiring his readers to have a thesaurus handy, but it is strangely compelling, and better than the first book in the final Thomas Covenant series. I'm a bit over half-way.

Finished Zelazny's "The Changeling". I picked this up at the old book sale, and it was one I'd never heard of. I love Zelazny, but I found this one to be more of an old time pulpy sci fi than anything else. I liked the changeling story idea, but it wasn't well done.

Finished The Robots of Dawn, the series is growing on me, I didn't much care for Caves of Steel but this one was pretty good.

Debating what I'll start next, guess it should be a Dune one so I don't fall behind, in which case I get to jump to the future and see where Frank Herbert left off - Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert

Kivrin wrote: "Finished Zelazny's "The Changeling". I picked this up at the old book sale, and it was one I'd never heard of. I love Zelazny, but I found this one to be more of an old time pulpy sci fi than anyth..."

I liked it as a standalone. I don't think it's as good as some of his others, though. He explored the differences & similarities of science & magic throughout his career. This one lacked any subtlety, not really up to par. I had high hopes for the sequel, Madwand, but it wasn't as good & it ends on a cliff hanger, so don't buy Wizard's World which is just the two of them together under one cover. There was supposed to be a third book (each is dedicated to one of his kids) but he died before writing it. I guess there wasn't even enough notes for Jane to finish it.

Jim wrote: "Kivrin wrote: "Finished Zelazny's "The Changeling". I picked this up at the old book sale, and it was one I'd never heard of. I love Zelazny, but I found this one to be more of an old time pulpy sc..."

Exactly, there was no subtlety. It was very much cut and dried. I did find it interesting that the people were just as terrified of science as they were of magic. There was no winning with them.

This week I finished Angles of Attack, and it's not looking good for Mother Earth. The aliens are a-coming. Then I re-read the last in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, Vallista. I'm all caught up and ready for the new one to be published in the spring. Yay! Now I'm rereading #5 in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, Sharpe's Prey that deals with the Second Battle of Copenhagen. My goal is to read all 22 before #23 comes out in December. Double YAY!!!
And Robin, my Kindle autocorrect keeps substituting Glad for Vlad, and Burst for Brust. It's making me want to toss my Kindle like a frisbee!!

Ahh yes... Glad the impaler the chirpy vampire.☺ And that well known film, Burster's millions.

On yes, and don't confuse Glad the impaler with Glad the Impala. Glad the Impala is also very chirpy and cheerful but there the resemblance ends. Confusing the two might have unfortunate consequences.☺

Look at John Hurt. They said you are all seated around the dinner table and next thing you know, there's a chest burster. Is that alright? Yes he said, thinking it was just autocorrect and he was going to get a nice American ice cream for desert... Well we all know how that ended... Damn you autocorrect you can't be trusted.☺

Robin wrote: "Look at John Hurt. They said you are all seated around the dinner table and next thing you know, there's a chest burster. Is that alright? Yes he said, thinking it was just autocorrect and he was g..."

😂

Finished Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction - good for putting together yet another Goodreads shelf, if you don't mind filling it with a lot of old obscure stuff :) On the positive most of his references would now be free if you can even find a copy. Definitely would not recommend to anyone starting to read SF, only good if you wanted to know who was the very VERY first person to write an SF story of with a certain element (whether or not the story is any good is moot), and if you weren't concerned about the accuracy overall (Kim Newman is not interchangeable with Kim Stanley Robinson, for all that they are both non-asian male SFF writers with a feminine first name)

Also finished the next section of the Aldebaran series called Antares, will be starting Survivants next.

And instead of reading Dune the past couple days like I claimed above I've been reading Sa majesté des chats by Bernard Werber, the sequel to the other French cat book I read.

Just completed Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks,the only novel of his that I haven't enjoyed yet.

Anish wrote: "Just completed Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks,the only novel of his that I haven't enjoyed yet."

I was about to say I just picked up an Ian M Banks book today from this book box someone set up in their front yard where people can drop off books they don't want (there's at least one other SFF person around here, got some good stuff from that box!) but it was Ian Rankin actually :) Keep mixing them up even though one is SF and the other mystery.

Maybe I shouldn't laugh at that Introduction book mixing up the two Kims ;)

Finished Miles Cameron's Artifact Space and absolutely loved it! Fun space opera with a gutsy heroine who has to fight her way up from an orphanage to the space navy! Great characters, exciting space battles, and cool aliens. Yes, I had some nit picking issues here and there (one of the bad guys was totally telegraphed early on, and there were a few too many times that our heroine saved the day), but I was enjoying myself so much I chose to overlook all that. I love an intelligent heroine, and while there's a little romance, it's an aside not front and center (looking at you YA books). Cameron is one of my fave authors, and I'm happy to see he can write sci fi as well as fantasy! More than ready for the sequel.

Finished Sa Majeste des Chats, it got a little ridiculous as it went around (like finding a cockatoo that could speak various animal languages to they could get pigs/cats/dogs/etc to all work together and fight the rats) but I guess if I got through 2 out of 3 books, I might as well find out how it ends, will get that from the library after I finish a few other things

Now I really am going to start Hunters of Dune

I finished reading It by Stephen Kingand Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman. Black Sun Rising is the first novel of a trilogy. The novel has an interesting mixture of science fiction and fantasy. I’m looking forward to reading the other two novels in the series. I am reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. I’m also watching the TV series it was based on. It’s interesting comparing the changes the TV series made to the novel. I plan to read Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson next. The novel is the second book in the Mars trilogy, and it won the Hugo award in 1994. I’m looking forward to reading it.

Gary wrote: " I am reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. I’m also watching the TV series it was based on. It’s interesting comparing the changes the TV series made to the novel."

I enjoyed the book, but fair warning: I think the best way to enjoy the TV show is to just embrace the characters' stupidity and the plot and dialog's inanity, and enjoy the nonsense. I have fond memories of reading hilarious episode reviews on tv.com, unfortunately the 3rd season was not even "good" in this way and a slog to get through.

Sparrow Rising by Jessica Khoury

And now for The Magazine Of Fantasy and Science Fiction March/April 2018 ☺ This one has started well, the first story is a follow up to a novella that impressed me in a previous edition. By Charlotte Ashley, it features her character La Heron, an otherworldly dualist and her sidekick Alexandrine the 'lapsed nun '. The wandering dualist, adventures through an alternative 18th century Europe, where magical creatures are an everyday fact of life. I think the character/concept would make a really good novel but as far as I know Ashley has no plans to write one.

Robin, I guess you read His Majesty's Dragon & the rest? If not, you may want to look at them. I think I quit reading after the third book, but the first book was excellent.

Thanks for the recommendation Jim. I had not heard of this book/series but checking if out just now, it looks like my sort of thing. I have added it to my 'want to read' shelf.

Super. My wife read them all, I think. She agreed they went downhill somewhat, but she still liked them.

I also felt it went downhill, but it picked up towards the end though I still haven't read the last couple books. I plan to restart from scratch at some point.

I have been meaning to try that series for years.

I've only read the first, His Majesty's Dragon. It's well done; it really captures the feel of the early 1800s.

E.E. Knight wrote the Vampire Earth series which I really liked. It's a gritty look at the earth devastated by other species moving in from another dimension, not the typical Vlad type of vampire, & the guerrilla war being waged to keep the earth by the remaining humans. He heard kids were reading the series & didn't like the idea, so he wrote a YA series about dragons from their perspective. I've only read the first one Dragon Champion, but liked it.

I enjoyed the Vampire Earth series back when it first came out. I've forgotten all about it!

Jim wrote: "E.E. Knight wrote the Vampire Earth series which I really liked. It's a gritty look at the earth devastated by other species moving in from another dimension, not the typical Vlad t..."

There was a time when vampires were associated with horror rather than YA romance :) I've never read this series. I was about to read Dragon Champion my "dragon theme" year but didn't get around to it.

Andrea wrote: "There was a time when vampires were associated with horror rather than YA romance :)..."

Agreed. I read "Dracula" & was a fan of the Universal Studio movies, but I liked the change with The Dracula Tape, the first book of Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series. It's "Dracula" told from Vlad's point of view in which he makes it seem like it was mostly Van Helsing & Harker's hysterical take on things that caused all the trouble.

Vlad squares off with Sherlock Holmes in the next one. My favorite is Thorn, the 4th book of the series. In another, Vlad gets jerked around by the magician Merlin. All very well done with some great attention to the details of the stories he's weaving into.

He started these before Anne Rice wrote her first one, too. He's always been the start of the less horrible vampire for me. I read his book when it came out in 1975 & I've tried Rice's books several times. Never could get into then, though. I just don't care for her style.

I was given a great graphic novel adaptation of Dracula the Christmas before last. It adapts Bram Stoker's Dracula pretty faithfully but visually casts Bela Lugosi in the lead. As you know, the version of Dracula that Lugosi filmed was very heavily rewritten and abridged. This imagines how it might have looked if that hadn't been the case. It is very well done and cleverly the older Lugosi plays the count when we first meet him and he gradually gets younger as the book progresses until at the end is Bella Lugosi in his prime, as he was when he made the movie. Just as Stoker de-aged the character as the count got stronger.If I have a quibble with it, it would be in how the female characters are rendered. They don't have the 'Universal' look, they are more akin to the 'Hammer,' cleavage and corset thing. If I wasn't on the mobile app I would drop in a link to it but it is .... ' Bram Stoker's Dracula Starring Bela Lugosi,' by El Garing, Kerry Gammil, Richard Starkings and Robert Napton. It's a hardback from Legendary. As an aside, you wouldn't believe how hard it was to type this with autocorrect turned on. Anyone want to read a book by Bran Sticker? Come to think of it, there are ' Sticker books' I have sent my nieces sticker books...☺

Autocorrect is just out to get us, Robin.

Yes, autocorrect had massive fun with the names... Do Faring - Kerry Hammock - Richard Starlings - Robert Barton... And for Bela Lugosi meet Bell Lugosu.

What, where or who is a 'Lugosu?'

Jim, I enjoyed 'Interview With a Vampire,' very much but not the follow up and so did not read anymore in the series.

Sheridan Le Fanu anyone?

R Chetwynd Hayes for the less serious vampire?

I read a lot , Started by the grit and the grit for kids. in addition to a marathon reading the Foundation series.