In July we have seven books, though five of them are in two separate series compilations put out by the Science Fiction Book Club. These kinds of volumes are the best thing the SFBC does, and I've pretty much reduced my purchases from them to these sorts of compilations. This is mostly because single volume books from them are more expensive than mass market paperbacks, and they take up too much space. So, if you are listening SFBC people, more multi-volume compilations, please!
The Audran Sequence -- George Alec Effinger: 7/7/09 - 7/18/09
This is a SFBC compilation of three excellent novels originally published in the mid 80s - early 90s: When Gravity Fails; A Fire in the Sun; and The Exile Kiss. I read them when they first came out, and jumped at the chance to own them in a nicer format. They're sort of Arabic-cyberpunk-hardboiled crime-soap opera novels.
Virga 1.2 -- Karl Schroeder: 7/19/09 - 7/26/09
Another SFBC compilation, this time of two novels: Sun of Suns; and Queen of Candesce. The world is a gigantic gasbag where people sail around on currents generated by hot air. Sort of like Congress... Awesome adventure tales filled with cool SFnal ideas.
The Vondish Ambassador -- Lawrence Watt-Evans: 7/26/09 - 7/26/09
A naive ambassador from an obscure land comes to the court of the ruler of the world's most important city with a secret mission. Coming off the boat, he hires the first dude he sees as his assistant. The world's most incompetent spies try to stop him. Hijinks ensue.
Star Dragon -- Mike Brotherton: 7/30/09 - 8/3/09
Oh, hey, we just found the only known life forms outside of our solar system living on the surface of a nearby star! Let's send a crew of psychopaths on a nuclear armed spacecraft to go see if these unique beings are worth exploiting commerically. Oh yeah, the trip takes years (sorry, no FTL here!) and the only forms of recreation for the crew are boning each other and extreme cosmetic body modifications. Ugh, stay away from this book.
So, seven books, 5 as SFBC multi-volume compilations, and two on the Kindle (the last two onthe list, in case you weren't keeping track). A good month for reading books in alternatee formats.
Sidereal
Showing posts with label book log. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book log. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Books I Read in June
Okay, so July was pretty much a loss as far as blogging goes. But at least I was active in ways that were financially rewarding. And I managed to do a lot of reading. But first I need to cover June's reading list, so here goes, along with the usual comments of varying degrees of snark:
Poison Sleep -- T.A. Pratt: 6/3/09 - 6/4/09
Good book. Bad dreams become real as living nightmares walk the streets. The Forces of Good must stand together to defeat Evil once and for all. No, wait a minute, that sounds like our world, from January 2001 to January 2009.... At least in our world the Forces of Good finally triumphed.
Dead Reign -- T.A. Pratt: 6/5/09 - 6/6/09
Death comes calling, literally. And what's worse, he wants Marla Mason to return his magic Swiss Army Knife of Doooooom! But without it she can't be the top dog sorceress anymore. Plot ensues.
Spell Games -- T.A. Pratt: 6/7/09 - 6/8/09
Marla's dead beat brother comes looking her up wanting to patch up their bad relationship. And the fact that she's now fabulously wealthy has nothing to do with it, no sirree. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the fungus god of the Pacific Northwest (ahh, that explains Starbucks.....) decides to invade Marla's city in search of magic mushroom spores.
Daemons are Forever -- Simon R. Green: 6/9/09 - 6/11/09
Number two in Green's series about Eddie Drood, magical secret agent whose family has been protecting us from Lovecraftian horrors for centuries, while also exploiting us lesser mortals. Despite the fact that all the entries in this series so far have been puns on the titles of James Bond novels, they have absolutely none of the feel of Bond, at least the movie version.
The Sharing Knife: Passage -- Lois McMaster Bujold: 6/12/09 - 6/15/09
I get the feeling that I read this book back in third grade, when we covered settling of the Midwest USA, only back then it didn't have a 60 year old guy shacking up with an underage girl.
If you liked the first two, you'll probably like this one.
Ragamuffin -- Tobias Buckell: 6/19/09 - 6/22/09
More good space Jamaicans only this time they are versus fewer evil space Aztecs, but have some eeevil space Chinese to be versus against. It is a follow-up to Crystal Rain, and has some of the same characters, but they show up only about halfway through the book. Ragamuffin really expands Buckell's future history, and it has a pretty unique feel to it. Recommended.
Sideways in Crime -- ed. Lou Anders: 6/25/09 - 7/6/09
An anthology of mostly good alternate history crime stories. In some cases the term "crime story" is pretty loosely defined, but that's okay. I heard somewhere that the publishers went ahead with this book only after shooting down the companion book: Sideways in Dentistry.
So, seven books in June. Not bad. Of the seven, the first four were read on my Kindle. The first three of those were purchased directly as a result of reading the first book in the series as a free e-book. Ragamuffin was also bought because I enjoyed the first book for free. Sadly in the case of Ragamuffin, books 1 and 3 can be had in e-book form, but not book 2. But four sales made directly as a result of free e-books, in June alone. I hope all your marketing people are taking notes.....
Sidereal
Poison Sleep -- T.A. Pratt: 6/3/09 - 6/4/09
Good book. Bad dreams become real as living nightmares walk the streets. The Forces of Good must stand together to defeat Evil once and for all. No, wait a minute, that sounds like our world, from January 2001 to January 2009.... At least in our world the Forces of Good finally triumphed.
Dead Reign -- T.A. Pratt: 6/5/09 - 6/6/09
Death comes calling, literally. And what's worse, he wants Marla Mason to return his magic Swiss Army Knife of Doooooom! But without it she can't be the top dog sorceress anymore. Plot ensues.
Spell Games -- T.A. Pratt: 6/7/09 - 6/8/09
Marla's dead beat brother comes looking her up wanting to patch up their bad relationship. And the fact that she's now fabulously wealthy has nothing to do with it, no sirree. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the fungus god of the Pacific Northwest (ahh, that explains Starbucks.....) decides to invade Marla's city in search of magic mushroom spores.
Daemons are Forever -- Simon R. Green: 6/9/09 - 6/11/09
Number two in Green's series about Eddie Drood, magical secret agent whose family has been protecting us from Lovecraftian horrors for centuries, while also exploiting us lesser mortals. Despite the fact that all the entries in this series so far have been puns on the titles of James Bond novels, they have absolutely none of the feel of Bond, at least the movie version.
The Sharing Knife: Passage -- Lois McMaster Bujold: 6/12/09 - 6/15/09
I get the feeling that I read this book back in third grade, when we covered settling of the Midwest USA, only back then it didn't have a 60 year old guy shacking up with an underage girl.
If you liked the first two, you'll probably like this one.
Ragamuffin -- Tobias Buckell: 6/19/09 - 6/22/09
More good space Jamaicans only this time they are versus fewer evil space Aztecs, but have some eeevil space Chinese to be versus against. It is a follow-up to Crystal Rain, and has some of the same characters, but they show up only about halfway through the book. Ragamuffin really expands Buckell's future history, and it has a pretty unique feel to it. Recommended.
Sideways in Crime -- ed. Lou Anders: 6/25/09 - 7/6/09
An anthology of mostly good alternate history crime stories. In some cases the term "crime story" is pretty loosely defined, but that's okay. I heard somewhere that the publishers went ahead with this book only after shooting down the companion book: Sideways in Dentistry.
So, seven books in June. Not bad. Of the seven, the first four were read on my Kindle. The first three of those were purchased directly as a result of reading the first book in the series as a free e-book. Ragamuffin was also bought because I enjoyed the first book for free. Sadly in the case of Ragamuffin, books 1 and 3 can be had in e-book form, but not book 2. But four sales made directly as a result of free e-books, in June alone. I hope all your marketing people are taking notes.....
Sidereal
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Books I read in May
The books I read in May, along with some comments. The lateness of this entry is strongly correlated with the timing of Finals Week at the Major Regional University where I am engaged as a professor.
Fast Ships, Black Sails -- eds. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer: 5/1/09 - 5/10/09
An anthology of SF/F stories about pirates, with lots of stories about wannabe pirates, ex-pirates and people who live in pirate infested waters, but surprisingly few stories about pirates and acts of piracy. The few that there are tend to be really good.
Sunborn -- Jeffrey Carver: 5/11/09 - 5/17/09
John Bandicut and his team of crack interspecies commandos promptly escape into.... no, wait.... John Bandicut, a loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the powerless.... no, that's not it either. Oh, the heck with it. John and his alien pals are whisked across the Galaxy yet again to stop a terrible disaster from happening, and to save the sentient stars inhabiting the Orion Nebula.
The Element of Fire -- Martha Wells: 5/17/09 - 5/23/09
Treachery has weakened the magic holding back the powers of the fae from the city of Vienne. They mount an invasion and put the royal palace under siege, primarily because no one thought to lay in a supply of grape-shot for the cannons.
The Alchemist's Apprentice -- Dave Duncan: 5/23/09 - 5/25/09
The Alchemist's Code -- Dave Duncan: 5/26/09 - 5/29/09
Imagine the Hollywood pitch: "It's just like Nero Wolfe, only Nostradamus is Nero Wolfe, and he collects rare books instead of orchids. And Archie is this Italian dude (has to be, they live in Venice) who is best friends, with privileges, with the hot courtesan who lives across the street from them. Oh yeah, and magic works!" I can see the HBO series already!
Blood Engines -- T. A. Pratt: 5/30/09 - 6/2/09
Sorcerers are real, and they secretly run the world in an organization amazingly like how you think the Mafia works if you haven't even read The Godfather or seen the movie. But this is a parallel Earth, because the entire population has had a nice-ectomy.
Despite my purposefully snarky descriptions, all these books are good, and definitely worth reading. Note for e-book aficionados, The Element of Fire is available for free on ManyBooks.net, and Blood Engines is free from the publisher at the Suvudu Free Library. The latter was an especially good tactic, since as soon as I finished Blood Engines, I immediately bought the other three books in the series on my Kindle. I didn't do that for The Element of Fire because I already own all of Martha Wells' non-tie-in novels, and they are all highly recommended.
Sideral
Fast Ships, Black Sails -- eds. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer: 5/1/09 - 5/10/09
An anthology of SF/F stories about pirates, with lots of stories about wannabe pirates, ex-pirates and people who live in pirate infested waters, but surprisingly few stories about pirates and acts of piracy. The few that there are tend to be really good.
Sunborn -- Jeffrey Carver: 5/11/09 - 5/17/09
John Bandicut and his team of crack interspecies commandos promptly escape into.... no, wait.... John Bandicut, a loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the powerless.... no, that's not it either. Oh, the heck with it. John and his alien pals are whisked across the Galaxy yet again to stop a terrible disaster from happening, and to save the sentient stars inhabiting the Orion Nebula.
The Element of Fire -- Martha Wells: 5/17/09 - 5/23/09
Treachery has weakened the magic holding back the powers of the fae from the city of Vienne. They mount an invasion and put the royal palace under siege, primarily because no one thought to lay in a supply of grape-shot for the cannons.
The Alchemist's Apprentice -- Dave Duncan: 5/23/09 - 5/25/09
The Alchemist's Code -- Dave Duncan: 5/26/09 - 5/29/09
Imagine the Hollywood pitch: "It's just like Nero Wolfe, only Nostradamus is Nero Wolfe, and he collects rare books instead of orchids. And Archie is this Italian dude (has to be, they live in Venice) who is best friends, with privileges, with the hot courtesan who lives across the street from them. Oh yeah, and magic works!" I can see the HBO series already!
Blood Engines -- T. A. Pratt: 5/30/09 - 6/2/09
Sorcerers are real, and they secretly run the world in an organization amazingly like how you think the Mafia works if you haven't even read The Godfather or seen the movie. But this is a parallel Earth, because the entire population has had a nice-ectomy.
Despite my purposefully snarky descriptions, all these books are good, and definitely worth reading. Note for e-book aficionados, The Element of Fire is available for free on ManyBooks.net, and Blood Engines is free from the publisher at the Suvudu Free Library. The latter was an especially good tactic, since as soon as I finished Blood Engines, I immediately bought the other three books in the series on my Kindle. I didn't do that for The Element of Fire because I already own all of Martha Wells' non-tie-in novels, and they are all highly recommended.
Sideral
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Books I Read in April 2009
The books I read in April 2009, along with some comments. The number is sadly reduced from previous months, an indication of two books that slowed me down, along with an excessive amount of interference from The Job.
Small Favor -- Jim Butcher: 4/1/09 - 4/2/09
Harry Dresden gets in over his head in dealings with supernatural beings and gets lots of help from his friends in extracting himself from between the rock and the hard place. Hmm.... Sounds familiar....
Ingenious Pursuits -- Lisa Jardine: 4/3/09 - 4/9/09
The book that ate a week of my life. Scientists in the late seventeenth century were cool! But weird!
A Cavern of Black Ice -- J. V. Jones: 4/10/09 - 4/16/09
A Fortress of Grey Ice -- J.V. Jones: 4/17/09 - 4/26/09
A Sword From Red Ice -- J.V. Jones: 4/27/09 - 4/30/09
And from this experience I learned that I am no longer so happy to reread books, even if I need to in order to understand the most recent entry in a series. Summary: Pseudo-Scots clansmen fight each other instead of uniting to fight the evil city dwellers intent on stealing their marginally inhabitable clanholds. Evil city dwellers try to steal only marginally inhabitable land from pseudo-Scots clansmen and from mystical race of pseudo-Elves. Pseudo-Elves engage in ritualistic self-mutilation instead of warning other races about impending invasion by undead army ruled by evil gods from the dark realms of Death.
I like the world building, but it often seems as though the plot depends on every single person involved in a given situation acting in the least intelligent way possible. If I didn't already know that the next book is to be named Watcher of the Dead, I'd suggest: A Taste of Yellow Ice.
Sidereal
Small Favor -- Jim Butcher: 4/1/09 - 4/2/09
Harry Dresden gets in over his head in dealings with supernatural beings and gets lots of help from his friends in extracting himself from between the rock and the hard place. Hmm.... Sounds familiar....
Ingenious Pursuits -- Lisa Jardine: 4/3/09 - 4/9/09
The book that ate a week of my life. Scientists in the late seventeenth century were cool! But weird!
A Cavern of Black Ice -- J. V. Jones: 4/10/09 - 4/16/09
A Fortress of Grey Ice -- J.V. Jones: 4/17/09 - 4/26/09
A Sword From Red Ice -- J.V. Jones: 4/27/09 - 4/30/09
And from this experience I learned that I am no longer so happy to reread books, even if I need to in order to understand the most recent entry in a series. Summary: Pseudo-Scots clansmen fight each other instead of uniting to fight the evil city dwellers intent on stealing their marginally inhabitable clanholds. Evil city dwellers try to steal only marginally inhabitable land from pseudo-Scots clansmen and from mystical race of pseudo-Elves. Pseudo-Elves engage in ritualistic self-mutilation instead of warning other races about impending invasion by undead army ruled by evil gods from the dark realms of Death.
I like the world building, but it often seems as though the plot depends on every single person involved in a given situation acting in the least intelligent way possible. If I didn't already know that the next book is to be named Watcher of the Dead, I'd suggest: A Taste of Yellow Ice.
Sidereal
Friday, April 3, 2009
Books I read in March 2009
These are the books I managed to read in March 2009, along with some comments. Most of these comments tend to be smart-ass, which is perhaps an indicator of my personality.
Shadow Unit, Season 1 -- Emma Bull et al.: 2/27/09 - 3/06/09
A cross between the X-Files and Criminal Minds, only in this, Mulder is an alien, and Scully has a sense of humor.
Good reading, especially at the price, which is free. Though donations are accepted. I read this on my Kindle using the Kindle compatible file put together by Arachne Jericho, and available through her website and blog. Lots of good e-book stuff there, both Kindle specific and other formats.
Reaper's Gale -- Steven Erikson: 3/08/09 - 3/20/09
The book that ate New York, and New Jersey, and didn't even get indigestion! Seventh in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, weighing in at 1,260 pages. In one book. A good entry in an excellent series, but the extreme length and plot complexity defy my attempts to wise-crack it.
Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology -- Ed. Nick Gevers: 3/22/09 - 3/28/09
Steam powerd robotz R kool! Blah, skip this book. Will be reviewed in this blog later.
Crystal Rain -- Tobias S. Buckell: 3/28/09 - 3/30/09
Good space Jamaicans vs. eeevvvilll space Aztecs, only everyone has forgotten how to build spaceships and are all reduced to fighting with blimps, swords and spears. I read this one on the Kindle too, and will review it ASAP. Good book.
The Ghost Brigades -- John Scalzi: 3/30/09 - 3/31/09
Superpowered one year olds inhabiting vat grown bodies defend Truth, Justice and the Colonial Way against eeevvvilll aliens who want to eat our children. Good book, building upon and improving upon Old Man's War.
Five books, not a good showing. But in my own defense, I did get injured carrying the Erikson book home from the store and lost a week in a coma.
Sidereal
Shadow Unit, Season 1 -- Emma Bull et al.: 2/27/09 - 3/06/09
A cross between the X-Files and Criminal Minds, only in this, Mulder is an alien, and Scully has a sense of humor.
Good reading, especially at the price, which is free. Though donations are accepted. I read this on my Kindle using the Kindle compatible file put together by Arachne Jericho, and available through her website and blog. Lots of good e-book stuff there, both Kindle specific and other formats.
Reaper's Gale -- Steven Erikson: 3/08/09 - 3/20/09
The book that ate New York, and New Jersey, and didn't even get indigestion! Seventh in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, weighing in at 1,260 pages. In one book. A good entry in an excellent series, but the extreme length and plot complexity defy my attempts to wise-crack it.
Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology -- Ed. Nick Gevers: 3/22/09 - 3/28/09
Steam powerd robotz R kool! Blah, skip this book. Will be reviewed in this blog later.
Crystal Rain -- Tobias S. Buckell: 3/28/09 - 3/30/09
Good space Jamaicans vs. eeevvvilll space Aztecs, only everyone has forgotten how to build spaceships and are all reduced to fighting with blimps, swords and spears. I read this one on the Kindle too, and will review it ASAP. Good book.
The Ghost Brigades -- John Scalzi: 3/30/09 - 3/31/09
Superpowered one year olds inhabiting vat grown bodies defend Truth, Justice and the Colonial Way against eeevvvilll aliens who want to eat our children. Good book, building upon and improving upon Old Man's War.
Five books, not a good showing. But in my own defense, I did get injured carrying the Erikson book home from the store and lost a week in a coma.
Sidereal
Monday, March 2, 2009
Books I read in February 2009
Books I read in February 2009, in chronological order, with comments, snide, snarky, or otherwise.
In the Court of the Crimson Kings -- S.M. Stirling: 2/1/09 - 2/2/09
Good book, in a retro 30's sort of way.
A Talent for War -- Jack McDevitt: 2/4/09 - 2/6/09
Indiana Jones crossed with The Da Vinci Code, in spaaace!
Firearms -- Roger Pauly: 2/6/09 - 2/8/09
A brief history of the technology used by people to shoot other people. Oh, and to shoot animals too, but not as often.
The Riddle Master of Hed trilogy -- Patricia McKillip: 2/9/09 - 2/15/09
If you are a farm-boy, even a princely farm-boy, and you have three stars emblazoned on your forehead, then beware! People are out to get you!
Old Man's War -- John Scalzi: 2/18/09 - 2/19/09
Getting old sucks, but it's better than the alternative, in spaaace! (to be reviewed soon, read on the Kindle).
The Merchant's War -- Charles Stross: 2/20/09 - 2/23/09
You think your family sucks; these guys will literally go Amber all over your ass, drag you kicking and screaming back for Thanksgiving dinner, and then make you marry your cousin as part of a forced breeding program.
Eight books for the month, not bad considering it's a school month.
Sidereal
In the Court of the Crimson Kings -- S.M. Stirling: 2/1/09 - 2/2/09
Good book, in a retro 30's sort of way.
A Talent for War -- Jack McDevitt: 2/4/09 - 2/6/09
Indiana Jones crossed with The Da Vinci Code, in spaaace!
Firearms -- Roger Pauly: 2/6/09 - 2/8/09
A brief history of the technology used by people to shoot other people. Oh, and to shoot animals too, but not as often.
The Riddle Master of Hed trilogy -- Patricia McKillip: 2/9/09 - 2/15/09
If you are a farm-boy, even a princely farm-boy, and you have three stars emblazoned on your forehead, then beware! People are out to get you!
Old Man's War -- John Scalzi: 2/18/09 - 2/19/09
Getting old sucks, but it's better than the alternative, in spaaace! (to be reviewed soon, read on the Kindle).
The Merchant's War -- Charles Stross: 2/20/09 - 2/23/09
You think your family sucks; these guys will literally go Amber all over your ass, drag you kicking and screaming back for Thanksgiving dinner, and then make you marry your cousin as part of a forced breeding program.
Eight books for the month, not bad considering it's a school month.
Sidereal
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