Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Done with all the spooky stories or maybe you just like reading them all year long? What are you reading while we're all stuck at home hiding from the second wave of Covid?

Since I've recorded the TV series and didn't want to watch it till I read the book, I starting the month off with Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Seems this year I'm reading those classic dystopias, started with Fahrenheit 451, and planned to end with 1984, both of those are re-reads but this is my first time for A Brave New World. Maybe I should try to squeeze in We as well...

Also went through the free books on Rivetedlit.com and I'll start with one that is a standalone and not available at my library - The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett. It's got a Dracula connection so I guess my October reading isn't completely done yet...

And to wrap up my start of November, I've got Kabumpo in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson on my eReader if I get around to it, those Simon and Shuster freebies get priority since they expire at the end of the month :)

I finally read the last book in the Donovan Trilogy, Pariah. It wasn't quite as good as the rest, but still well worth reading. W. Michael Gear is an anthropologist so his SF stories of future worlds & cultures have a lot of factual roots. This is the second trilogy of his that I've read & I'm impressed again. Good characters in an amazing world.. I highly recommend both the Spider & Donovan's World trilogies. His wife is also an anthropologist & they've written a lot of books together set in the native American past. I haven't read any of those, though.

Sinister Magic by Lindsay Buroker

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Completed:

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Authors:
P. Djèlí Clark, Ken Follett, Tana French, Hank Green, Micaiah Johnson, N.K. Jemisin, Stephen Graham Jones, Alex North, Karen Osborne, K.J. Parker, V.E. Schwab
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Finished reading Provenance by Ann Leckie. I am reading No One's Home by D.M. Pulley. I plan to read On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser next.

Finished Brave New World, maybe because I didn't read it in high school and was hand held by the teacher to explore the issues explored, I didn't like it as much as Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 (maybe it doesn't have a number in the title...). Still, some interesting ideas and a lot of Shakespeare (one of these days I must read The Tempest and King Lear...was supposed to read Lear in school but we ran out of time after Othello/Macbeth/Hamlet)

Now something light, The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

Parable of the Sower
The King of Attolia
Home Before Dark

I finished the Star Trek graphic novel The Modala Imperative. It was a fun story. I thought the relationship between Spock and Bones was very accurate to the TV show, and I was quite aware of the irony in having Kirk be such a strong defender of the Prime Directive.

My review of The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

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

I'm reading Unconquerable Sun so far.

Just finished Jagganath - short stories by Amatka author Karin Tidbeck

Also ear reading Moon of the Crusted Snow -

The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans by Eben Kirksey

In this book anthropologist Eben Kirksey updates us on cutting edge genetic manipulation that could change the human race.

Lots of interesting information presented in an interesting format. 3.5 stars

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

Last night I finished reading Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, which, while still enjoyable, I found not quite up to par with earlier volumes. Without pause I started the next book, CryoBurn, penultimate in the saga in chronological order.

Decided I couldn't just leave it hanging, even if it meant braving the library, I picked up the last 6 Bleach manga books. I'd already read 68 of them and didn't want to end the year with just 6 left unread :)

I just finished CryoBurn and I am starting the last book in the saga, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. I am already starting to wonder about what I shall read after finsihing with the Vorkosigan books.

Pierre, have you read her Vorkosigan short stories? I think one collection is called "Borders of Infinity" .

Thanks for your question, Michelle. Yes, I have read the 3 short stories included in "Borders of Infinity". There are a few other short stories, some of them, as advised by Ms. Bujold herself, not required if one reads the main books. I'll check this again when I finish the current volume,

Finished Rocannon's World, you can tell it was the first book in the Hainish Cycle since it is more an adventure tale than it was a social examination but still enjoyed the mix of different humanoid races on a single world.

Now on to a historical novel, but since everything Arthurian is more or less made up, no matter how much research went into it, it's kind of a fantasy too :) Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey

Andrea wrote: "Finished Rocannon's World, you can tell it was the first book in the Hainish Cycle since it is more an adventure tale than it was a social examination but still enjoyed the mix of different humanoi..."

This was the sort of thing that led to her being hailed as the next Leigh Brackett. . . .

I have been reading by R. Curtis Venture and I've been thoroughly enjoying it!

Oh and I've also been listening to a rather old book, The Last Command by Timothy Zahn

It's the third and last of his trilogy.

I have finished Prelude to Foundation. It's not horrible, but it's much longer than it needed to be, and I'm not convinced it really adds much to the overall Foundation story. It seems as though it was written to fill in a chronological gap, without there being a story gap that needed filling. 2 1/2 / 5

Finished Black Horses for the King, McCaffrey's love of horses really comes through here, and I liked that though she said she'd never write an Arthurian tale, at least not without trying to be as historically accurate about it as possible, she picked a perfect topic which takes place in a perfect point in Arthur's story such that she didn't have to get into love triangles and incestuous relationships. So while tied to the Arthurian mythos, that's just an aside, it's really about horseshoes...and gorgeous black horses.

Next up, and by coincidence, another horse tale as I continue with my journeys through Narnia - The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

I'm also down to the last two Bleach books. I counted and there are at least 9 storylines/battles still ongoing. Will be interesting to see if they all get wrapped up, gonna really have to cram them in. Would be a bit of a disappointment if the final battle has to be squeezed into a couple pages. It was what disappointed me in Eragon, after all the long drawn out battles along the way, the climax was a page or two at most, or at least felt that way (and also the longest denouement ever)

I have started reading Manners and Monsters, which will fill in the Fantasy of Manners Bingo slot.

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

In this sci-fi novel, one of Saturn's moons leaves orbit and heads for outer space. A mining spaceship follows the departing moon with unexpected consequences.

Good story. 3.5 stars

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

Finished two books last night. The first was The Horse and His Boy, I remember writing a book report about it back in elementary school but I didn't remember much else :) The other was I finally got through Kabumpo in Oz, I had so much else to read I didn't pick up my eReader often so took a while. Started on the next book The Cowardly Lion of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

For my dead tree reading decided to get another Star Trek book in this year - Bloodletter by K.W. Jeter

I have finally come to !
It was a great ride, I enjoyed the various themes mixed in there and liked the characters. I wonder if King added the coda because he feared backlash or if he intended to write it anyway; for me I'm glad he wrote it because while I agree that it's the journey not the destination (view spoiler)[(which is why I don't mind the letdown that is the confrontation with the Crimson king) (hide spoiler)] I also believe that it's the author's job to have an idea of how things end so I don't like endings which are too open and which explain nothing.

It's probably the most meta series you can ever write, (view spoiler)[as King was pushed to finish it after the accident that almost killed him, and that accident happens in the series and characters save him... so he can write the series (hide spoiler)].

Also I'll remember Stephen King as the only writer to call himself a "miserable excuse for a man" with a "yellow, lazy ass" in his own works of fiction (:

I also watched the movie, and in fact I didn't need to put it off until I'd read the books, because as it turns out you can watch the movie and still not have a clue as to what the books are about, so no spoilers there.

Yet my quest in not over as I still need to read The Wind Through the Keyhole; also while reading the series I wished I had read Salem's lot and re-read Insomnia as those books are strongly tied with the series so I'll probably read the former next year.

I am now reading which will allow me to (again) mark this series as completed until next year, and then I'll tackle Piranesi (unclear whether it is a continuation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell or not and apparently it's better not to know much about this book before reading it; either way it will fit with my other reading theme, "more books by authors whose works I really liked").
Given the size of those books I don't expect I'll finish both this year.

Bryan wrote: "I have finally come to !
It was a great ride, I enjoyed the various themes mixed in there and liked the characters. I wonder if King added the coda because he feared..."

My reactions were very similar, though I had the benefit of having read 'Salem's Lot twice, and I'd read The Stand (which connects in one scene but not as important as 'Salem's). I had not read Insomnia though, heard it had connections with the Crimson King which I thought might be good since (view spoiler)[ the Crimson King is poorly fleshed out in The Dark Tower (hide spoiler)]

I'm still working my way through Hearts in Atlantis, but I think the only story that actually ties in with The Dark Tower is "Low Men in Yellow Coats". I looked it up after having read the last book and there was that mentioned but unexplained bit regarding Ted Brautigan's adventures in our world.

Oh, and my understanding is that Piranesi is not connected to Johnathan Strange but I could be wrong.

Back to Narnia now with The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

I have finished Manners and Monsters, a series starter set in Regency England. A light-hearted enjoyable read. For those looking for something to fill in the Fantasy of Manners slot in their Bingo card, this fits the bill nicely

I have started Mission to Horatius. It's a Star Trek original series story, but not based on any of the TV episodes. Originally written in 1968, this edition is a hardcover reprint from 1999. So far (about 20% in), the characters are written pretty much as I would expect, although Kirk hasn't broken the Prime Directive ... yet :)