Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

June is here, the year is nearly halfway through, and winter has arrived in Australia - later this week the overnight temp will be down to 6 degrees. Not cold for some, but way colder than I like.

I finished the short story - almost a novella - Twelve Times Zero by Howard Carleton Browne. An excellent story, although I didn't think the ending was great, that reads like a pulp crime novel for the first half, before getting into the SF elements. It will fill the Genre Blender slot in my Bingo.

Wonder what it says when in Canada, its only 8 degrees here but we're supposed to be heading into summer. Well, that should be fixed by end of next week at least!

The change between months caught me halfway through 3 books
- Nights with a Cat, Vol. 2
- Clockwork Twist : Home
- The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, Volume 2: The Queen of Air and Darkness

Andrea wrote: "Wonder what it says when in Canada, its only 8 degrees here but we're supposed to be heading into summer. Well, that should be fixed by end of next week at least! ..."

Sadly not the case here in southern Ontario! We had some unseasonably warm whether here lately, unfortunately. In the 20s which used to not be common in May years ago but happens more and more now.

I am starting June off by finishing The Revenge of the Rose by Michael Moorcock. Chronologically, the 6th book in the Elric of Melnibone series, but 8th in publication order. It was a great book! Like Fortress of the Pearl, it doesn't get as much love from the many fans. Both are a bit more pensive than the others, which is one of the things I really like about them!

I am now beginning The Bane of the Black Sword, which is book 7 chronologically and 5 by publication order. So far a great start! Kind of a nice change of pace too, we are back to the morally grey, adventurous Elric with a quicker pacing.

In May, at the last minute before going for a 2 weeks vacation I finished Gridlinked, then downloaded and started the next book, The Line of Polity, but I forgot to post about it then. Today I decided to dnf The Line of Polity, at 2/3 of the book, I don't enjoy it, it bores me. For a change and going to an author whose books I have liked sofar, I am starting Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.

First the weather report from the UK...

We had a nice dry sunny spell/mini heat wave hear in mid May with highs up to 25 degrees C that has broken now and the weather is changeable and temperatures are down to 16 - 18 degrees C.

And in book news...

I finished my little side foray into crime/thriller territory. Kim Fleet's 'Paternoster' was a good quick read. I very much like her writing style and the character of Eden Grey. I only give it four stars however because despite being a dual time line thriller I successfully deduced pretty much what was going to happen in both time lines much earlier than I would have liked. Plus, there was a character that unexpectedly turned up to save the day not once but twice... once is fine, twice is a bit deus ex machina.

I did enjoy it though and will likely pick up another in the series reasonably soon.

And now...

It's back to F&SF. I have just started book one of John Scalzi's 'Old Man's War' series. So far so intriguing. looks like it will be good on first impressions.😊

industrial strength magic 3 Rival .exe by Macronomicon book 2 was slow but this is back to monster hunting and superheroing
also trying to finish some other books i put down for a bit

Loom saga by elise Kova book 2 (steampunk and dragon people an interesting combo) and

Raven Heart (Rune Heart Book 4) by Baxendell, Celeste more ya fantasy so you might not like it

Two more short stories - All Day Wednesday by Richard Olin and Blind Spot by Bascom Jones. All Day Wednesday was a bit of a forerunner to Groundhog Day and Blind Spot was very short (only about 5 pages) but with a sharp anti-colonisation message.

Finish Clockwork Twist: Home, a cozy fantasy which I still really enjoy, though one disturbing scene where they have to kill a villain character, which normally you don't really think twice about in a fantasy but here because its a cozy and none of the characters are warriors, it was like watching your neighbours get together to vigilante a local criminal. Interesting effect.

Next up is book three in a faerie based YA series, definitely not cozy - A Grim and Sunken Vow by Ashley Shuttleworth

My review of The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch

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

Faith wrote: "My review of The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch

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

I enjoyed this one too. The audiobook was great. 😊

I read and reviewed "Remembrance of Earth's Past' science fiction trilogy a few years ago, and now I'm listening to the audiobooks.

The second book in the series:

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin

Earth is preparing for a life-or-death battle with the Trisolaran aliens, who are going to arrive in four centuries.

A bit over-written, but it's a good book. 4 stars

My review (tweaked a bit): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished The Collected Short Stories of Poul Anderson volume 2. Either he wrote a lot of similar stories about Earth creating colonies on other planets or the collection intentionally picked that theme :) As usual, when reading about future societies I'm always disappointed when the author couldn't get past his current day view of women and what they'd be capable of, not a single female lead and the ones that were in say the military, had desk jobs. All needed men to help them out. Anyway, that aside most of the stories were pretty interesting.

Not starting another anthology to replace it just yet (though I still need an anthology for my BINGO, this one was a collection), I planned to start A Grimm and Sunken Vow a few days ago but haven't read a single word from it yet :)

Some more short stories - Double Take by Richard Wilson, Field Trip by Gene Hunter, and Larson's Luck by Gerald Vance. The first two were fairly forgettable, but Larson's Luck was fun. It was very much a light space opera - reminiscent of Perry Rhodan, Asimov's Space Ranger series, and Heinlein's juveniles.

I have started Faster Than Light, Volume 1: First Steps, which collects the first 5 issues (there were 10 in total) of the Image comic from 2015-16.

I finished The Bane of the Black Sword by Moorcock, Elric book 7. Loved it, one of my favourites in the series for sure.

Just started Stormbringer tonight.

I finished Half a King. I liked it. It is unprententious, fast-paced and easy to read. I am starting the second book in the series, Half the World.

Pierre wrote: "I finished Half a King. I liked it. It is unprententious, fast-paced and easy to read. I am starting the second book in the series, Half the World."

I've considered this one for a while now.

Robin wrote: "And now...

It's back to F&SF. I have just started book one of John Scalzi's 'Old Man's War' series. So far so intriguing. looks like it will be good on first impressions.😊"

I love Old Man's War.

I finally finished Crystal Keepers and started Undead and Unappreciated. I need to finish Queen Mother before it comes out Tuesday.

On audio, I finished the Stephen Fry narration of Harry Potter 3, which was delightful. I started The Berry Pickers, which is a Very Serious Drama, so I haven't decided whether to stick with it yet.

Audrey wrote: "...I started The Berry Pickers, which is a Very Serious Drama, so I haven't decided whether to stick with it yet..."

Maybe you could periodically read a light comedic book when it gets too serious. I've done that before.

Such books tend to bore me is all. I've had too many cozy books lately, so I need some blood and guts, and I have a Jonathan Maberry book checked out that should work well.

I finished reading A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Miles’s latest mission is his most difficult yet. He’s in love and wants to court the next Lady Vorkosigan, but everyone conspires against him, including her. I am reading The Waste Lands (Book three of the Dark Tower Series) by Stephen King. Roland continues his journey to the Dark Tower. We learn more about his universe, but I’m not loving it so far. I am also reading The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. A dangerous mismatched group is sent on an impossible mission by the Pope in this alternate world fantasy. It’s fun and crazy for sure. I’m planning to read An Autumn War (Long Price Quartet Book #3) by Daniel Abraham next.

Gary wrote: "I finished reading A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Miles’s latest mission is his most difficult yet. He’s in love and wants to court the next Lady Vorkosigan, ..."

That's my favorite one :) I'm rereading the series and just finished Memory.

We just returned from a 10 day trip to visit family, so it should not surprise me (but it does) that I didn't read even one of 5 books I took along! We did listen to three as we drove many, many hours: Friday Night Bites ( we both gave it 4 stars), Excavation (4 stars for him and 3 for me) and Hardcovers, Homicides and Hairballs Hardcovers, Homicides and Hairballs (3 stars for him and 4 for me). They made the miles less long, for sure.

Finished reading The Dreaming Vol. 4: Waking Hours. Since I really enjoyed Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels I continued with the ones written by other authors. I volumes 1-3 not being the best, but I really liked this one. I like how the nightmare was always sad because he was scary and he just wanted to love someone and be loved in return, it was sweet. Of course lots of other dark stuff are covered along the way but I still enjoyed it and the artwork.

I'm going on a road trip next week, so I have lots of audiobooks ready. I don't expect much actual reading to happen.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

The premise of this book is that Max Brooks - an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission - interviews survivors of 'The Zombie War' to provide a historical record of the devastating horror.

Interesting format for a zombie novel....and a rollicking good story. 4 stars

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

I finished Faster Than Light, Volume 1: First Steps, which puts me halfway through the series. The artwork was good, but the story jumped around a bit.

Audrey wrote: "I'm going on a road trip next week, so I have lots of audiobooks ready. I don't expect much actual reading to happen."

If you're doing the BINGO, one of those can be alternate form :)

Barbara wrote: "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

The premise of this book is that Max Brooks -..."

I was surprised myself, I'm not a huge fan of zombie apocalypse stories but the way this one was formatted, I actually enjoyed it too. The movie though, terrible. That's just a regular plain old zombie movie, nothing special, and often ridiculous, and nothing to do with the book.

I also love how this book covered so many parts of the world and the reactions of such different cultures.

I have started reading Faster Than Light Vol. 2, which collects issues 6-10 of the original series, which was all that was created.

I have finished Star Wars: Choices Of One, which I quite enjoyed. Also, as Luke is one of the characters, it will fill the Features a Son Bingo slot. I have now filled 15 of the 25 slots, but haven't completed a row or a column, although several have 4 slots filled.

Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn't Know You Could Eat by Ellen Zachos

I have started reading Spores: A Sci-Fi Horror Novel, which will fill the 2025 slot in my Bingo.

I like how above me there's a book on plants that are safe, and one about fungi that...aren't.

Alright so I FINALLY finished reading Indomitable by Mike Shepherd. The problem is, since I don't commute to work anymore I rarely use my eReader except maybe if I'm sitting in a doctor's office. Took me 4 months. But this series works ok with that, it just more of the same and I've more or less lost interest.

But I'm so close to the end I'm gonna finish what I started, though I seriously suspect there is no end, that the author just stopped writing them, because he talks about all the books he's going to write in the next year, and I can tell from being in the future and all that, they never got written. Anyway, next is Stalwart by Mike Shepherd

I should be done by September or so :o)

I have finished reading Faster Than Light Vol. 2, which collects the final 5 issues of the comic. It's a pity that this didn't develop into an ongoing series - it had the potential to be an excellent SF comic story.

Recently finished A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish. Currently reading A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. Ballad is so good I almost forgot to hand in an assignment. Dance of Cloaks was also really good, I’m onto the second book.

I finished Stormbringer by Moorcock yesterday and loved it, one of my favourites of the year for sure. I've now finished the main/original Elric saga, but at some point later I will be continuing on with the Elric At the End of Time collection of essays/stories, as well as his post-2000 Elric-related books: Dreamthief's Daughter, Skrayling Tree, White Wolf's Son, and Citadel of Forgotten Myths.

I have since jumped into some horror with Come with Me by Ronald Malfi. It's about a grieving husband whose wife was recently killed. But as a couple months go by he starts to realise she was hiding some dark from him. I'm around halfway through and definitely glued to it. Where the last book I read by him (Bone White) didn't really elicit much of a reaction from me, this one is spine tingling, emotional (in the way it deals with grief), and is very much a page-turner. We will see how it ends!

Finished House of Whispers, Vol. 1: The Power Divided trilogy. Learned a lot about the voodoo mythology and their gods and creatures. It takes place in the Sandman universe and has various characters show up like the Corinthian.

I reread The Haunting of Hill House for our library's Grim Readers book club. I've seen both the movies, but I was captured for the reread! Totally sucked me in this time!

I read An Echo of Things to Come! You may (or may not) want to do the same =)

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

Robert wrote: "I read An Echo of Things to Come! You may (or may not) want to do the same =)

My review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Well now I need to go read your review after that statement...

im currently reading
Cataclysm.EXE (Industrial Strength Magic #4) by Macronomicon superhero litrpg

The Enigma Strain: A Fast-Paced Action Thriller by Thacker, Nick ( trying a new genre on a whim , and its about a mystery virus that causes things to explode, shows up in yellowstone and the park ranger gets caught up in solving the case . only a few chapters in and its good)

Dragon-Ridden (Dragon Ridden Chronicles, #1) by White, T.A.
classic fantasy: A girl with long amnesia is found up in the empty north of the empire alone by a pirate ship and is conscripted by the captain . she has a mysterious dragon tattoo and enough odd occurrences around her that she is accused of witchcraft. not inherently bad here but enough of the crew are jealous of her that she decides to leave the crew obn pain of death at the next port

Tony wrote: "I have started reading Spores: A Sci-Fi Horror Novel, which will fill the 2025 slot in my Bingo."

that sounds interesting please share review when done :)

I have finished Spores: A Sci-Fi Horror Novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a sci-fi medical horror in the same vein as a number of books that dealt with the scenario of a pandemic with a more deadly virus, only this uses the nightmare fuel fungus cordyceps. It was also released this year, so it fills the 2025 slot in my Bingo.

I finished another short story - Navy Day by Harry Harrison. It was pretty silly and far from his best work.

I have started reading Swordsmistress of Chaos, or rather re-reading - I have read this series several times over the nearly 50 years since they were first published. It will fill the Features a Swordsman (or Swordswoman in this case) slot in my Bingo

I finished Half the World, which I did not find as good as the first volume. I am starting the third book, Half a War.

Quiet weekend, people. Did you all melt in this heat? Using my fun bookmark "Beat the Heat, Read," I stayed in the AC and finished the last book of the Jane Yellowrock series, Final Heir . Terrific ending to the series!

Georgann wrote: "Quiet weekend, people. Did you all melt in this heat? Using my fun bookmark "Beat the Heat, Read," I stayed in the AC and finished the last book of the Jane Yellowrock series, [book:Final Heir|5978..."

I miss winter 😁