Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Welcome to another month. Getting closer to Christmas.

I have started The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood

It's not November yet!

I'm reading the second book in Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series: Fearless.

Audrey wrote: "It's not November yet!"

It is in Australia 😃

Whew, only two months left and I've got huge piles of SF books still to read. Let's see what I've got for this month:

4 Dune books (the 3 Schools of Dune and one collection of novellas)
1 Asimov robot book
1 Card Ender/Shadow book
2 Meyer fairytale retellings
1 SF book from the free book exchange in my neighbourhood
1 Algernon Blackwood e-novella I didn't finish for Halloween
? as may graphic novels I can read from the library before it gets too cold to go


That's a lot! Well, to get started it will be Dune - Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert

Welp, my October reading didn't end up being as exciting as I'd hoped this year but still had some good ones in there.

Now that we're out of "spooky season" I'm moving back into my Stormlight Archives journey (I'd like to finish it this month). I just started reading Oathbringer

Given the size of Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, I'm mainly planning to finish those two in November then anything else will be a bonus. If I have extra time I might throw in some Horus Heresy or Saxon Stories reread.

@Andrea Is it EVER too cold to go to the library?? ha ha! We had a couple of days the winter before last, that almost all of Chicago and suburbs closed down! First time I remember being closed for the cold.

I'm zinging through The Murderbot series, and loving it!

It takes me like six months to read a Stormlight book.

I am continuing Nettle & Bone, starting Mitosis, and finishing up Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a Csi. Then I need to start my ARC for Stranger Sins.

Georgann wrote: "@Andrea Is it EVER too cold to go to the library?? ha ha! We had a couple of days the winter before last, that almost all of Chicago and suburbs closed down! First time I remember being closed for ..."

It is if you have to walk to it :o) It's also uphill on the way there so no fun if its icy. But we're having unseasonably warm weather so I'm taking advantage of it!

Audrey wrote: "It takes me like six months to read a Stormlight book.

I am continuing Nettle & Bone, starting Mitosis, and finishing up [book:Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand: Curious..."

Haha I can see how that could happen. I find it depends on if I get into a good groove. If I get sucked into it I've been able to finish one in a few weeks, especially if I have a decent amount of weekend reading time. That said, I have a few functions to attend during a couple weekends in November, so we'll see if I'm being too ambitious.

Andrea wrote: "But we're having unseasonably warm weather so I'm taking advantage of it!"

So you're the ones who are stealing our heat!! It's less than a month to the official start of summer here, and yesterday places got snow that don't usually get snow in the middle of winter. Plus 3 of the 10 months this year have set all time rainfall records - Australia is not having a good time with the climate this year.

We got 40% of our normal rain in October (which surprised me, fall felt so cloudy and rainy so far), guess you guys are getting all our rain too. Normally I'd say you can keep it, but too little rain is no good either! Honestly I feel that the seasons are actually shifting a little, winter starts a little later, but then so does spring and summer, so its not that one is getting longer, they're just all shifting a bit.

I'm looking forward to the time change this weekend though, getting up in the pitch dark is getting hard.

The weather has shifted forward a whole month here -- April and May used to be much warmer, and September used to be much cooler. It snowed Oct 23, though, when it typically doesn't snow until Christmas.

Finished reading Pilote - Spécial Valérian. I thought it would actually be a little boring, but in fact the interviews and discussions about the origins of SF in France were pretty interesting, but of course the tributes to the Valerian series other graphic novelists did were the best, since they made fun of both that series and a little bit of their own. I have one more Valerian & Laureline book left to go.

Audrey wrote: "The weather has shifted forward a whole month here -- April and May used to be much warmer, and September used to be much cooler. It snowed Oct 23, though, when it typically doesn't snow until Chri..."

I love the snow!! Unfortunately it is 80° today here.

I’m half way through Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I’m enjoying the story so far.

In Progress:
text:

Audible:

==========================================
To start:

Audible:

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Completed:
text:

Audible:

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Authors:
Adam Hamdy, Jodi Picoult
Narrators:
Patti Murin

Finished reading the Siberia 56 trilogy by Christophe Bec. Really nice artwork

Starting on Terres Lointaines, épisode 1 by Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira (Leo) who also wrote that Aldebaran series that I spent a couple months working my way through, this one is only 5 books long so should take me about a week :)

I tore through Courageous last night, and it was terrific!

So far I've read Challenger Deep, which I highly recommend, The Black Cauldron, and A Wizard of Earthsea, which I admit I found underwhelming.

Starting Dawnshard today. The rest of my lineup for this month consists of The Last Unicorn, Nettle & Bone, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Dead Poets Society, The Lie Tree, and The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. And Warcross, if I can fit it in—it was recommended by a friend and doesn't really look like my style, but I figured I'd at least give it a shot.

Particularly looking forward to Nettle & Bone, The Last Unicorn, & The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter.

myla wrote: "Particularly looking forward to Nettle & Bone..."

"On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. "

Ok, I might have to read this one too...

I think the fact that Earthsea was this one guy just wandering about doing mostly nothing was the thing I particularly liked about it, but I can see how it would be underwhelming. The Last Unicorn though, that is one beautiful book.

Oh, Myla!!! I thought I was the only reader on the planet underwhelmed by A Wizard of Earthsea!!

Michelle wrote: "Oh, Myla!!! I thought I was the only reader on the planet underwhelmed by A Wizard of Earthsea!!"

Ikr? I was scrolling through review after review like, "huh. did I miss something?"

Andrea wrote: "myla wrote: "Particularly looking forward to Nettle & Bone..."

"On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by ..."
Yes, that blurb caught my attention immediately! 😂

I guess Earthsea is just a specific type of book that will appeal differently to different people. Thinking of giving the sequels a chance, though.

Very, VERY hopeful about The Last Unicorn—it looks lovely.

I was very underwhelmed by A Wizard of Earthsea too! I keep wondering what I am missing.

I just finished Nettle & Bone, which was fun. Dawnshard was cool.

I read a Marie Lu book once and hated it, so good luck with Warcross. I didn't care much for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. For a supposed mystery, everything was super obvious, and I don't often see twists coming.

I am starting the second Dragonwatch book and pretending I remember everything from the first one.

Audrey wrote: "I was very underwhelmed by A Wizard of Earthsea too! I keep wondering what I am missing..."

We must be reading it incorrectly 😎

Yes, that's it you are reading one of my favourite ever books wrong, all of you... Go back and read it again properly. ☺ I think perhaps it is one of those books that suffers now from having been a huge, huge influence on so many other books and indeed other media such as TV and movies. All of its innovations seem like old hat now but they didn't when it was new. Just as Tolkein set up a much copied template with his lordly elves, greedy dwarves, and wise but whimsical wizards. None of that is new now but it was then. Earthsea was a much loved book of my youth and has been a big influence. Anyway, look, you are talking about Ged, the original boy wizard who went to magic school... Not that young pretender with the glasses... You have got to give some credit here to a foundational book in the fantasy genre even if it looks a little pedestrian to a modern eye. OK that's one of my favourite books defended... Like it, don't like it, I'm not going to fight anybody over it, I'm a pacifist (and a coward). ☺☺☺

Robin wrote: "Yes, that's it you are reading one of my favourite ever books wrong, all of you... Go back and read it again properly. ☺ I think perhaps it is one of those books that suffers now from having been a..."

Robin, please tell us what you really think :)

Michelle, I am always the model of restraint...☺

Except when I go on and on and on about things...

Which is frequently☺☺

We are very happy for you that you can enjoy it, truly.

LOL☺☺

Planetside by Michael Mammay was an excellent military SF thriller/mystery. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jim wrote: "Planetside by Michael Mammay was an excellent military SF thriller/mystery. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Oh good!! I've been considering this.

Michelle wrote: "Robin wrote: "Yes, that's it you are reading one of my favourite ever books wrong, all of you... Go back and read it again properly. ☺ I think perhaps it is one of those books that suffers now from..."

We had a discussion thread somewhere about someone not liking Lord of the Rings, finding big chunks of it kind of boring, and when I looked at it that way...it was kinda true :) I still love it, but then it was one of the earliest fantasy books I read that wasn't one of those skinny 100 page kids books, so I didn't have other books to compare it to. Heck, i enjoyed reading the Similarilion and all that stuff, and that is, well, kind of textbooky, more of a Bible than an adventure story, so I can handle boring pretty well.

It happened again when we read The Riddlemaster of Hed, another classic, I think it also ended up a bit dated now that we have other things to compare it to. But maybe it really was amazing when there was so little else out there, it just happened to be the best of them.

And of course its also what you are looking for in a read, if you want something quick and easy like a Harry Potter, then Lord of the Rings ain't going to be the book for you. And the movies might "trick" people thinking it will be like the movie, but it's closer to a novel written in the 1800's, you have to put in some effort to read it since its more...literate? Not saying modern books are junk language but you can't just skim LotR.

SF suffers from that even more, as our scientific knowledge has grown some of the old stories come off as ridiculous and it's a bit hard to take them seriously. But if you give the author the benefit that he really didn't know any better (and that he was doing the fiction part of science fiction since the science was lacking) then its easier to tolerate them :) Like I still really enjoyed The War of the Worlds by Wells even though I know there isn't a dying civilization of tentacled aliens up there (unless they are living underground...Wells could still be right!)

And then there's the evil https://www.tor.com/2010/09/28/the-su... where you read the book once as a kid, thought it was amazing, then read it as an adult and go huh? A Wrinkle in Time did that for me. The only thing I remembered from the book was Mrs Who explaining the wrinkle with an ant on her skirt...and apparently for good reason since the rest was, well not worth remembering. Hehe.

For what it's worth, out of the series, I liked Earthsea best. But maybe because of that, it will be the reverse for you guys, hope so!

In the end, I think we all agreed that it mattered what order you read a set of books in. If you read the older ones when they first came out they seemed amazing at the time since there was nothing else like it. But if you read them now, after reading a bunch of other stuff, you'll not only feel it's been done before, but done much better.

Whoever is reading alchemists daughter please let me recommend you listen to the audiobook!! There are a LOT of different narrative voices at times and it REALLY enhances the story I think to hear them all differently!

I agree with Andrea most of the way. I was reading the Conan stories the same time as the Lord of the Rings & enjoyed both, but there was something about Tolkien's writing that made me want to remember it verbatim. As much as I admire REH's writing, I never had that urge. Today my tastes have changed. I haven't reread the LOTR in decades, but I still reread REH's stories occasionally.

I read many bricks when I was younger including Gone with the Wind, Atlas Shrugged, The Count of Monte Cristo, & more. I liked them & I'm glad I read them, but I avoid long books now. Instead of becoming immersed in them, I usually just get bored. The same old plots are often just dressed in new clothes.

The Suck Fairy is real, too. I've learned to be really careful of revisiting old favorites. when I get the urge, I'll generally see what some of the younger folks on GR thought of the book. I think that's saved me a few times. I guess years of reading has refined my taste & audiobooks are unforgiving when it comes to repetition or awkward wording. There isn't any skimming as there is with text.

OK, so, I am done with another edition of The Magazine Of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Not quite as strong an edition as some I have read but it still had its moments. Particularly liked a beautifully written, mystical but still quite dark piece set in a kind of alternate old Japan called Taste of Opal by Yukimi Ogawa. Sample sentence: "Yes. The crows slid over the sky, as if they were the first drops of darkness, leading more of their colour in tow." Lovely stuff yes? Anyway, as you might guess, I am now reading, The Magazine Of Fantasy and Science Fiction for November/December 2018 and it has started promisingly with a neat little story by Jeffrey Ford that puts a slick twist on something as mundane as a families annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Interestingly(or not) I am now reading the correct edition for the month I'm in... Albeit for the wrong year. ☺

I have started reading Horus Rising. It will fill the far future slot in my Bingo

I finished Outpost. The world building in that book interested me sufficiently to move me start the next volume in the Donovan series, Abandoned.

Pierre wrote: "I finished Outpost. The world building in that book interested me sufficiently to move me start the next volume in the Donovan series, Abandoned."

I really liked those books. He also wrote another trilogy, something Spider, that I read about 15 years ago. I don't remember the details, but remember liking it a lot. His wife is also an author & they're both anthropologists. I haven't read any of her books, but have wanted to try. Have you?

Thanks for the advice, Jim. When I finish the current trilogy I'll look up for the other one, to add it into my 'to read' list. I'll also enquire about his wife's books.

Finished Sisterhood of Dune, I was looking forward to a book that gets into the inner workings of the Bene Geserit, but it was just a continuation of their Butlerian Jihad trilogy, jumped ahead about 80 years. So yes, it covers the origins of the Bene Gesserit, and the Mentats and the Navigators (this new trilogy is called the Schools of Dune) but at least 50% of the book doesn't really cover any of the schools...it should have been the "Anti-technology Fanatics" or "The Continuing Adventures of Vorian Atreides" or something... And I'm still not convinced that every key element present in the Dune world, which takes place about 10,000 years after this trilogy, was all set up in this period of 100 years. You mean not a single new school or technology or concept came into being in the next 10 millenia? Talk about stagnation, no wonder Paul and Leto II felt they had to shake up the empire a bit! So that makes it hard for me to find these books believable.

Starting on the last robot novel - The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov. I'd already read the short story The Bicentennial Man. After that I'll have one last collection that has a few more Robot stories to wrap things up.

Tony wrote: "I have started reading Horus Rising. It will fill the far future slot in my Bingo"

Awesome, hope you enjoy it! I really love the Horus Heresy series. Is it your first Warhammer book?

Andrea wrote: "...You mean not a single new school or technology or concept came into being in the next 10 millenia?..."

That's been one of my issues with fantasy - the long time periods with no change in technology. A few centuries here & there are OK, but thousands of years doesn't work for me, either.

NekroRider wrote: "Awesome, hope you enjoy it! I really love the Horus Heresy series. Is it your first Warhammer book?"

First 40K novel - yes, although I am pretty familiar with the general histories in the 40K world - running a gaming store for a few years pretty much required that :) I have also read a few short stories set in the 40K universe, and several novels for Warhammer Fantasy.

I debated what I would read on my eReader after I finished Algernon Blackwood's tale The Damned (meant for Halloween but ended up dragging it out even though it was less than 80 pages) when a deal to nab the extended version of Tales of Dune by Brian Herbert for $1.99 came up. I'd already read 3-4 of the stories from other sources (Road to Dune mainly), and I knew The Red Plague was free on Tor.com, and just discovered I own an anthology that had another of the stories (but I didn't know that till I glanced through the first published info for each story a minute ago) but I know my completionist self would go crazy if I couldn't get them all, and there were 2 more I didn't have access to.

I'll use the library for their novella collection...its taking forever to arrive though, I could have just walked over to that branch of the library and picked it up myself (a long walk, but doable), I have to wonder if it got lost in transit or something...

Tony wrote: "NekroRider wrote: "Awesome, hope you enjoy it! I really love the Horus Heresy series. Is it your first Warhammer book?"

First 40K novel - yes, although I am pretty familiar with the general histor..."

Nice. Which Warhammer Fantasy books have you read? I'm hoping to read Malus Darkblade and the Matthias Thulman Witchhunter books next year, myself.

Babylon Red by Kit Sun Cheah