Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Only a couple of months left in the year, are you on track for your reading goals?

I finished The Magic of Oz, so I only have Glinda of Oz to complete Complete Stories of Oz, which will be my 1000+ page book. I have started Eulogy Of Planet Earth: TRUMP - ENDGAME POLITICS which is supposedly a satirical, dystopian novella. I'm only in the first chapter, but I feel it has the potential to go wrong in a spectacular fashion.

I'm still working my way through those Kris Longknife books, with this one I'll finish off the last of the books featuring her great-great-grandparents - Rita Longknife: Enemy in Sight by Mike Shepherd

My review of Nether Station by Kevin J. Anderson

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

Andrea wrote: "Only a couple of months left in the year, are you on track for your reading goals?"

Two months ago I'd have said no way but after a (personal) record-setting October who knows?

I'm now reading a true clash of pulpy '80s & '90s Big Bad titans in Knight of the Black Rose!

Finished Enemy in Sight.

Now I have to get through 3 big books before I can get to my biggest one for that 1k BINGO slot, so I'd better get started! The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu is a re-read but I need the refresher before continuing with the rest of the series. This one is a measly 680 pages or so :)

I'm also about to finish the latest Adventure Zone graphic novel - The Adventure Zone, Vol. 6: The Suffering Game - by Clint McElroy. Will have to wait for the next and final book to be published.

I finished Machine Vendetta, third book in the Prefect Dreyfus trilogy, which I found excellent. I am now starting Deep Black by Miles Cameron. I had liked the first book in that series, and I hope that I won't be deceived by this second one.

I finished Eulogy Of Planet Earth: TRUMP - ENDGAME POLITICS, which was really bad. I was close to DNFing it, but it was only 118 pages, so I persevered. And it fills the Written in 2024 Bingo slot.

I also completed the 660-page graphic novel The Complete Cyberforce Vol. 1.

I have started Glinda of Oz, which is the final story in Complete Stories of Oz. This will complete the 1000+ pages Bingo slot.

I loved Someone You Can Build a Nest In . A great mix of horror, humor. social commentary, and love.

I have finished Complete Stories of Oz which, at 1487 pages, easily fills the 1000+ pages Bingo slot. There's no doubt that Baum was an inventive fantasist, but it was pretty clear that he would have preferred to write other stories after the first 6 Oz books.

I have started reading Summon the Keeper. This book will complete my Bingo card for this year.

Tony wrote: "I have started reading Summon the Keeper. This book will complete my Bingo card for this year."

I enjoyed that one, I'll have to make time to read the rest of the books.

Finished reading The Grace of Kings, good thing I re-read it too since other than vague ideas, I didn't remember much, which is weird because its a good book and worth remembering. Anyway I'll be ready to tackle the next three now. Of course it was nearly 10 years since I read it...

But first, to tackle my Asian themed BINGO slot - Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Interesting, in both cases I had won the first book from Goodreads but took me a LONG time to get around to reading the rest. Smoke in the Sun will finish the duology.

Just finished book 3 of the Disco Space Opera Series, Rumor Has It .

I just finished the fourth and final volume of the magisterial ElfQuest series after years and years of dipping in and out of the impressive tomes. Anyone else here go on the full Quest? 🧝🧝‍♂️🧝‍♀️🐺🧌

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen 5 by Hiromi Satō

Robert wrote: "I just finished the fourth and final volume of the magisterial ElfQuest series after years and years of dipping in and out of the impressive tomes. Anyone else here go on the full Q..."

I was a huge fan of Elfquest, and Wendy Pini's work in general, in the late 80s.

I have started reading At the Earth's Core

Finished Smoke in the Sun, I liked the first book better mainly because the setting was more fun but this checks off Asian BINGO slot.

Back to Kris Longknife again. I have come to the conclusion I cannot finish this series before the end of the year so I'll be giving BINGO books priority, but I'll still mix in a few of this to at least make as much progress as I can - Admiral by Mike Shepherd

So, I finished King's 'The Outsider,' which was excellent. Reading almost like a transcript of a true crime podcast at first before morphing into a classic 'page Turner' thriller.

At this time of year (the upcoming 'festering' season as I like to call it) I have a personal tradition of either reading ghost stories or crime stories set in or around Christmas.

With that in mind and not F&SF, I will be reading a crime story anthology called 'Midwinter Mysteries.' No idea what to expect, chosen on a whim and by price :-)

Tony wrote: "I was a huge fan of Elfquest, and Wendy Pini's work in general, in the late 80s."

Interesting, any other titles she worked on you would recommend?

Robert wrote: "Tony wrote: "I was a huge fan of Elfquest, and Wendy Pini's work in general, in the late 80s."

Interesting, any other titles she worked on you would recommend?"

She did do occasional stories for both Marvel and DC, but I think her best known work other than Elfquest, is her graphic novel adaptation of the Poe short story Masque of the Red Death. She has also done a couple of graphic novels based on the Beauty and the Beast TV series, although I haven't read them.

I have finished Summon the Keeper, which was a quite enjoyable, and often funny cross between an urban fantasy and a cozy mystery. It also fills the Features an Animal Bingo slot, and that completes my Bingo for this year. Half way through the year, I would have bet that I wasn't going to make it this year, but I'm done with about 6 weeks to go.

Congratulations, tony!

I have started reading The Last Dark, which will finish my read through of the complete Thomas Covenant series. It has certainly been a slog for the last few books, hopefully the series ends on a brighter note - but I'm not holding my breath.

Tony wrote: "I have started reading The Last Dark, which will finish my read through of the complete Thomas Covenant series. It has certainly been a slog for the last few books, hopefully the se..."

The Thomas Covenant books don't exactly exude lightness and hope :)

Tony wrote: "I have started reading The Last Dark, which will finish my read through of the complete Thomas Covenant series. It has certainly been a slog for the last few books, hopefully the se..."

Slog is a good word, you're lucky if by the end of it you don't get diagnosed with depression or something. It's a tough read when you outright hate the main character (though which main character it was that received the hate would actually change depending on the book). The poster child for Grimdark, before that was probably even a term

Spot-on, Andrea.

Finished Admiral.

Next up is the second book in the Dandelion Dynasty which comes in at about 850 pages, not yet filling my BINGO slot but have to get through this one to get to the 1k monster that's still waiting - The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu

I think, by the 10th book, that Thomas Covenant has actually undergone considerable character growth, and I don't dislike his character nearly as much as I did in the earlier books. Linden Avery, however, seems to get more unlikeable with each appearance.

Stephen Donaldson is clearly a very talented writer. The world-building that he has put into The Land is exceptional, and I quite enjoyed his Power series - no doubt, in some part, because he chose to leave his thesaurus on the shelf when he was writing those books 😆

I finished Deep Black, and unfortunately I was disappointed by this second (and apparently last) book. I could not muster the same interest as I had while reading the first book, Artifact Space. Whether it was the narrative style, the pace of action, the behavior of the various characters, somehow it did not work too well for me.
I will be starting Nexus by Ramez Naam next. Due to an error while ordering the book on my tablet I got the german version of it. It will be an additional challenge for me.

Finished reading Spell Bound (it was free to read on the Simon & Shuster site). A cozy fantasy romance. I didn't love it but there were some nice world building elements and I liked the main character and his boss.

With only a week left of the month I won't be starting any of the other books available on the site though several of them seemed interesting, hopefully they'll pop up again another month.

Started today on The Way Home: Two Novellas from the World of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I read the first one of the two before, its freely available online, but really enjoyed reading it again. Looking forward to the second novella now.

I just finished Dark Queen . It would've been a great end to the series, but I'm glad they negotiated for 3 more!

I'm currently reading Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikowsky


Very interesting Science Fiction!

I read Thunderhead It comes after the first 2 Pendergast stories, although I didn't realize it until I had stated the third book. So I had to go back for this one to meet Nora Kelly and now I can move on to the 3rd Pendergast. I enjoyed it! I love the supernatural and monster-y vibes of these books.

Finished The Way Home. At first I was disappointed there was no unicorn, it just takes place in the same world, but at the same time it made sense, the unicorn had gone back to her forest after all. It was a surprisingly dark and depressing tale, there's rape and despair and the knowledge that perhaps you aren't who you think you are (in fact made even worse to think you might not even be a person but simply an animated log the fae left in place of an actual baby...I've often wondered about that piece of folklore, after all if that log is to trick a human does it have to become a little sentient?)

I enjoyed it more than a Fine and Private Place, there's just this kind of magic that happens when Beagle returns to the setting of The Last Unicorn, even when the unicorn isn't there.

I have finished At the Earths Core, which I found to be a pretty standard Burroughs tale, and quite enjoyable. It's one of the stories in The Ultimate Sci Fi Collection, which is one of the collections of sci fi stories that are in the public domain, that are regularly found on Amazon - I think I paid 99 cents for it.

Jolene I enjoyed this addition to the Elemental Masters series.

I finished The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn, (book 2 of 3), and it was very good. I'm switching to a couple of different genres before I read the last one.

Finished the Wall of Storms yesterday. At first I wasn't so impressed with it, and I'm still thinking the villains are a little too evil, but otherwise its a very fun book. Maybe the engineer in me loves all the problem solving the characters have to do, whether its inventing new weapons or solving supply chains and of course the politics. Very complex books.

Next up is my Arthurian BINGO slot with Mordred, Bastard Son by Douglas Clegg. I've had this book for ages but never got around to it. Turns out its supposed to be a trilogy but looks like the author will never write the remaining two. Guess I'll see if it works standalone and that will determine if its worth keeping or not.

Michelle wrote: "I finished The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn, (book 2 of 3), and it was very good. I'm switching to a couple of different genres before I read the last one."

I still need to read the third one despite enjoying the first two very much.

Forgot to post my books:
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
The Terminal List
Forever Odd
The Winter Queen
Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
The Only One Left
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Robopocalypse

That's a good list, Audrey! I was just looking at what I want to read to finish my 2024 goals, and if I can read 8, I'll just about have it!

Audrey wrote: "Forgot to post my books:"

Ooh Robopocalypse! What did you think of it? I audio-read it back in the times I still had a long commute by car.

Robert wrote: "Audrey wrote: "Forgot to post my books:"

Ooh Robopocalypse! What did you think of it? I audio-read it back in the times I still had a long commute by car."

It's not great literature or anything, but it's not bad and doesn't pretend to be anything but a disaster story.