Edward Hoornaert's Blog, page 78

Top Ten Tuesday — If you like The Martian, you’ll love …

The Top Ten Tuesday meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme is Top Ten Books to Read if You Like <blank>. For my blank, I’ve chosen a book I haven’t even read, but which is generating massive buzz. As always, my list is in no particular order.

If you like The Martian, by Andy Weir, you’ll love:

 

Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke — This book’s final scene has haunted me not just for years but for decades, probably the most impressive ending I’ve ever read.

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Mission of Gravity, by Hal Clement — In this classic novel of hard science fiction, it’s aliens, not humans, who are stranded and trying to escape a deadly-hostile environment … Earth’s.

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More than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon — A classic of literary-quality science fiction. It is, quite simply, one of the best and most original science fiction novels of all time; it is also one of the more neglected classics in the field.

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The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury — The science is soft and untechnical, but boy does it pack a punch.

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Illegal Alien, by Robert J. Sawyer — Rob is the “un-Bradbury” in that the science is painstakingly researched, though he’s interested  in people, not gadgets.

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The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester — Another of the all-time great science fiction novels.

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The Foundation trilogy, by Isaac Asimov — Will psychology and sociology ever become more than pseudo-sciences, and be capable of predicting people’s behavior? (My degree is in psych, so I’m allowed to be cynical, okay?) Asimov explores what might happen if they do.

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Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Dafoe — Stripped of high-tech trappings and Hollywood hype, The Martian is essentially a Crusoe rip-off. So why not read the original?

What about you? Do you have any suggestions to add to my list?

Be sure to check out other bloggers’ Top Ten lists.

Effing Feline waits, drooling, at the mouse hole

Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior posts on Mr. V’s behalf

In my infinite wisdom, I, Effing Feline, chose another ten sentences from Ed Hoornaert’s The Trial of Tompa Lee. In last week’s snippet, Mr. V’s lowly heroine, Tompa Lee, has been framed for terrorism on an alien planet.

Now the trial-by-combat has begun in a cave. It’s Tompa and one aged, working-class Shon against 300 accusers, without even a cat on her side to even the odds. She found a narrow opening to the sunshine, and she’s going to make a stand there as her pursuers exit the cave in single file.

I figure it’s  like waiting at a mouse hole for 300 mice. Murderous mice, but still … yum!

The black eye of the cave glared at her malevolently and the chant blossomed in volume as her pursuers reached the room near the cave mouth. They wanted a fight, they’d get a damned fight.

Tompa half-ran and half-slid to the bottom of the ravine and picked up a grey branch as thick as her arm. Swinging the club so fast it whistled through the air, she scrambled back up the slope.

“Graceful human possesses grandly both intelligence and courage,” said the old Shon.

The implied comradeship in the compliment almost made her want to cry, but there was no time for that. “Do you have any better ideas? Like, if we run, which direction to go?”

“All paths of life lead equally to death, says wisely old proverb. This one stands suggestionlessly in face of a hostile herd, graceful human.”

Effing Feline here again. I hope you love this snippet as much as I do. Can you hear me purr?

Make sure you read the snippets by other great weekend writing warriors.

Ed Hoornaert here. Thanks, Effing, you bloodthirsty soul.

For these Tompa Lee snippets, I’ve been including info about buying the trilogy, and I’ve gotten a few clicks to Amazon, so thanks to those kind folks who make me feel I’m doing these posts for good reason. But since I hate Buy My Book! posts, no big ads for all three books today.

The first book in the Tompa Lee trilogy is currently free, so click on the book cover at right. End of commercial.

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On September 29, join Mr. V on Bitten by Romance’s Tour of the Universe. Prizes galore! Thrilling reads! Gift certificates! Dancing, shirtless men!  (In truth I’m not sure about that last, but since when does advertising have to be accurate?)

Bookstores I Love, by Venetia Lewis

Is any kind of store more important to a writer than bookstores? That’s why this series on bookstores we love.

Today I’m proud to present a guest post by by friend and fellow Tucson writer, Venetia Lewis, who extols a California bookstore, Dutton’s Books. Take it away, Venetia.

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Two cradles of well-loved paperbacks flanked the entrance to a small, brown, converted bungalow near the corner of Laurel Canyon and Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood, California. Passersby may have been tempted by the aromas wafting from the Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuit restaurant next door, but the paperbacks enticed the loyal booklovers who streamed through the door of Dutton’s Books & Prints.

Inside, Dutton’s was redolent with its own smell – the mustiness of old books that overwhelmed the bookcases narrowly spaced throughout the store’s two or three rooms. Although available for purchase, the new, glossy, unread books never outsold the older, tried and true volumes.

Over the hill in Los Angeles’s pricey Brentwood area was a second Dutton’s location. Set in a modern, U-shaped building with a front courtyard, the bookstore’s floors were polished, the bookcases barren of character, the books set neatly and orderly on the shelves. All the posh and none of the spice. A lovely store, the second Dutton’s failed to win my heart.

When my sister and I moved to California from Texas, we shared an apartment for a time; it was around the corner from Dutton’s in North Hollywood. As both of us are booklovers, when we adopted two tiny, little kittens, we named them after bookstores then in operation – B. Dalton Bookseller and Dutton’s. Dalton was a grey tabby, but Dutton was brown – the same brown as the exterior of Dutton’s Books on Laurel Canyon.

Dave Dutton found chaos at his Dutton’s Books in North Hollywood after the Los Angeles Earthquake of 1994.

Unfortunately, Dutton’s book stores and both cats are gone. But those precious memories of browsing through crammed shelves of books with yellowing pages and the purrs and love received from the cats will remain forever.

Venetia Lewis…

… is a member of the Saguaro Romance Writers in Tucson, Arizona and of the internationally-based Historical Novel Society. In December 2013, her short story “The Laundress” was awarded Honorable Mention in the Art Affair Annual Literary Contests in Western Short Story.

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Check out other Bookstores I Love. What about you? What bookstores do you love? Tell us about it in a comment.

Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Be-Read List

The Top Ten Tuesday meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme is Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR.

This list a real toughie, folks. I don’t have a TBR list.

I’m nowhere near that organized. I yank out a book to reread (I do that a lot), or pull whatever enchants me at the  moment off my massive pile of hardcopies, or flip through my Kindle’s forest of unread titles.  No planning, much whim. I’m sure this reveals something terrible about me, but I assure you, there’s far worse I ain’t admitting here.

Nonetheless, I’ll guess what I may read.  Please, though, no pop quizzes about any of these books come winter.

Chalvaren Rising, by Paula Millhouse

I’m eager to read this debut fantasy novel because I’ve enjoyed the author’s short works. This is perhaps the only book on the list I’m guaranteed to read this fall. In fact, I’ve already started it.

Ties of Power, by Julie Czerneda

To Trade the Stars, ditto

Beholder’s Eye, ditto

I read the first book in Czerneda’s science fiction Trade Pact series but not the other books, for reasons long forgotten. I manned the SFWA booth with Julie at last year’s Toronto book fair, and she was gracious and humble. That’s one good read to read on.

Even more compelling, though, her name keeps cropping up.  Three separate people have mentioned her in the last two weeks–and that, friends, is a sign from on high. I hear and obey, oh Great Reader in the Sky…though I may not get all three books read this fall.

The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer

I haven’t re-read this one, arguably my favorite Heyer tale, in a year or so. It’s probably time to do so. I love characters who aren’t what they seem — and Major Darracott packs far more surprises than most.

Some other Heyer favorites: A Civil Contract, Sylvester, Venetia, Sprig Muslim, and Cotillion. Maybe I’ll re-read one of them, instead. Or all of them.

Red Planet Blues, by Robert J. Sawyer

Another re-read. I love Sawyer’s work, and he’s said marvelous things about my books, even though I’m much less deserving than he. Of course, all that proves is he’s proficient at making stuff up.

Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee

I know I’ll read it eventually. Why not this fall?

One of Jo Beverley’s Malloren historicals

I’ll get through all of them eventually, though not in the correct order.

A fiction craft book or two

I’m always trying to learn how to improve my writing. With my luck, I’ll finally perfect my craft…one hour before I die. With no computer handy. No pen and paper, either. And 227 pages remaining before the big THE END.
Sigh.

Or none of the abov e

Something else, instead.

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Is anything on my list on yours? Do you have a list, or do you read on a whim, like me? Drop a comment and let me know.  And when you have time, check out other people’s top ten lists or join the meme yourself.

Finally, you might be interesting in my Bookstores I Love blog posts. What about you? Do you love any great bookstores?

Effing Feline has something in his eye

Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior posts on Mr. V’s behalf

In my infinite wisdom, I, Effing Feline, chose another ten-sentences from Ed Hoornaert’s The Trial of Tompa Lee.

It follows closely on last week’s snippet. Our lowly heroine, Tompa Lee, has been framed for terrorism on an alien planet, and Dante Roussel, a Space Navy policeman, was ordered to turn her over to cruel Shon justice. In this snippet, she arrives at her courtroom after being pelted by a mob with spit, garbage, and unidentifiable alien filth.

But she has survived her ordeal. Tompa Lee always survives.

Thrown off-balance by the handcuffs, Tompa stumbled and landed in a sprawl, her cheekbone exploding in pain as it smashed the floor.

“Get her off the floor.”

It was a male voice, familiar: Roussel, the flickin’ roach who’d pushed her into the goddamned arms of the maggoty Shons even though the Space Navy never, ever, yeah right, abandoned poor souls to aliens. She fought his two henchmen, flailing and kicking, but they lifted her like an empty garbage can and dumped her on her feet. Something warm and salty dribbled onto her lips. Blood, she hoped, because all other possibilities were too disgusting to contemplate.

“Dear God,” Roussel whispered.  He got out his handkerchief, red initials in old-fashioned embroidery, and dabbed spit and filth from her face.

She went salsa, screaming and jerking her knee toward her tormenter’s balls … but he merely grunted as her knee struck his thigh.

What a time to miss.

Effing Feline again. Tompa has nowhere to go but up right? I hope, I hope? Even I feel sorry for her, and I’m a crusty old cat who really, truly doesn’t give a hairball for any of the silly old characters in Mr. V’s books.

No, that was not a tear. Cats don’t cry!

While I compose myself, go read the snippets by other great weekend writing warriors.

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A WOMAN

Tompa Lee is a homeless ‘street meat’ who has clawed her way up to the bottom-most rung of the Space Navy . . . but her dream job plummets into a nightmare when she’s framed for mass murder on an alien planet.

A MAN

Dante Roussel is the Navy policemen who surrenders Tompa to the Shons . . . but he is horrified to learn that their justice requires trial-by-combat–and Tompa must conquer three hundred accusers.

AN ALIEN

Awmit is an old, lower-class Shon who is the sole witness to Tompa’s innocence . . . but to prove it, he must find the valor and the strength to fight to the death at her side.

AN UNFAIR TRIAL

Can Tompa learn to trust and love not only a member of the alien race that wants to slaughter her . . . but also the policeman who betrayed her to cruel alien justice?

<<  ==  >>

The Trial of Tompa Lee is the first book in The Trilogy of Tompa Lee.

The Trial of Tompa Lee

Only her enemies can save her from alien injustice.

(The book is free, so you can’t go wrong. Click. Buy. Read. Write a review. Rejoice, because there is more!)

The Tribulations of Tompa Lee

Goddess or Madwoman?  Even Tompa isn’t sure any more.

The Triumph of Tompa Lee

Now the prey stalks the hunter — to the death.

Bookstores I loved (past tense)

Is any kind of store more important to a writer than bookstores? That’s why I’m writing this series on bookstores I love.

Today I’m taking a look back at a couple of long-gone bookstores that live on in my memory, one in Chicago and another in Vancouver.  I haunted them (not at the same time, obviously) in my late teens and early twenties.

Kroch and Brentano’s in Chicago

Back when I was an undergrad at the University of Chicago, Kroch and Brentano’s was one of two big reasons to visit the Loop.

My other favorite was the Chicago Symphony, which I eventually stopped going to because it hurt too much. You see, I wanted so badly to play like Ray Still, the symphony’s world-famous oboist. And I suppose I did.  Play so badly, I mean. For years, I’d get in the mood to practice by playing the opening of the old Reiner/CSO recording of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, featuring some of the most divine playing I’ve ever heard.

Back to Kroch’s. Located under the noisy El train tracks, it billed itself as the world’s largest bookstore.  What I remember most was its glorious selection of science-fiction paperbacks, which were my main reading material back then.

Last night I started re-reading a book, now falling apart, that I bought at Kroch’s: Philip Jose Farmer’s The Day of Timestop.

Science fiction was asexual back then, but Farmer had a racy reputation and the lurid book cover really played up his reputation. As I headed back to the dorm, reading my prized new possession on the Illinois Central commuter train, I met and sat with a friend from the university’s orchestra — a clarinetist I had a crush on. When Jan saw the cover, she asked what sort of filth I was reading. End of my hopes!

As I read on later, I discovered that the lurid scene on the cover was an autopsy, not a rape and mutilation murder. Too late, though, to convince Jan of that.

The Book Bin in Vancouver

Less than a week after graduating from UC, I got married and moved to Vancouver, where Judi and I (not, you’ll notice Jan and I) loved a huge used bookstore on Granville Street near the city centre. Would you believe I can’t find a thing about Book Bin on the Web? Sheesh–it’s only been gone thirty years or so!

I was still into science fiction almost exclusively. At one point, we moved up the coast to teach at a one-room school accessed only by float plane; the students came to school on a school boat. Since we were isolated for months at a time, we went to the Book Bin to stock up on reading materials. I still have several of those great old books. Here are a few of them.

As I said, the Book Bin is long gone, except in my memory. With the way Vancouver is growing, I suppose it was inevitable that something like the following monstrosity is slated to be built near the bookstore’s (formerly grungy, now hip) location. (Picture courtesy CBC News.)

Personally, I’d rather have the Book Bin back!

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Check out other Bookstores I Love. What about you? What bookstores do you love?

Top Ten Fictional Heroines

I’m trying out a new group called Top Ten Tuesday. This blog hop (that’s my description; they call it a meme) is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s topic is a freebie; we get to choose our own list.  Mine is “Top ten fictional heroines I love.” Some are from classics, but other are from lesser known books–but all of them are highly recommended reads.


Chani Liet-Kynes, from Dune by Frank Herbert

Although I’ve read Dune more often than any other book (>20 times), I can’t say I adore the hero, Paul; his suffering I can admire but his triumph…meh. Chani, though, is to die for. Before we went to see the abominable 1984 film version, I told my wife that the love story dominates the book–and then Lynch turned it into a war movie. Yuck.
Jenny Cotton, from Again by Kathleen Gilles Seidel

Wonderful, marvelous character! Seidel doesn’t seem to be writing new books, but her romances are all gems, and Jenny is the best of a fantastic lot–a complicated woman who is powerful not because she’s tough or kick-ass or beats men at their own game, but because of her intelligence and imagination.  Although this is a contemporary romance, lovers of Regencies will adore it too.  A soap opera set 200 years ago in England? Why hasn’t someone done this is real life?
Katniss Everdene, from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Funny, although I always remember the name of the books and have read all of them, I always have a hard time remembering Collins’s name.  Why is that, do you suppose?  Anyway, the first two books in the trilogy are great. The third, not so much.
Kylara Vatta, from by the Vatta’s War series by Elizabeth Moon

This series cost me more sleepless nights that any other. The problem? Once I started reading I couldn’t stop, even if I didn’t finish until 6 a.m.  On a work night.  There are five books in the series, each of which I’ve read more than once, so that’s a lot of lost sleep.
Emma Woodhouse, from Emma by Jane Austen

Sure, I could’ve chosen Elizabeth Bennett, but that’s too easy a choice–I bet Elizabeth would be on the top ten of half the people who read this. Emma is the most endearing unreliable narrator ever created. I marvel at how Austen achieved such a difficult feat of making Emma lovable. A tour de force.
Tompa Lee, from The Trilogy of Tompa Lee, by Edward Hoornaert

I know this is cheating, but Tompa is the favorite heroine I’ve ever created, so she goes on the list.  She’s an ultimate underdog and although she’s a kick-ass heroine and kick-ass heroines usually bore me, Tompa does her kicking because of fear for survival rather than some obnoxious sense of invincibility or superiority.
Trilby Elliot, from Finders Keepers, by Linnea Sinclair

Trilby’s another ultimate underdog, and I love underdogs. In fact, there’s quite of bit of Trilby in my own female characters, including of course Tompa but also Catteroon (Catt) Sayer in Escapee , which will be coming out early in the new year. Anything by Sinclair is worth reading, but Finders Keepers is my favorite.
Irene Adler, from “A Scandal in Bohemia” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Any woman who can capture even a bit of Sherlock’s Holmes’s heart is a woman to be remembered and honored.  Would you believe I’ve read the Complete Sherlock Holmes five times?  How did I ever find the time to hold down a day job?
Podkayne, from Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein

Yes, the book is dated. Yes, Heinlein could be a male chauvinist pig at times. Despite this, young Podkayne has remained in my memory since high school, and when I reread the book recently, I was struck by how skillfully Heinlein establishes Podkayne’s character in just the first few pages.  Those pages are a writing clinic, so she makes the list.
Venetia Lanyon, from Venetia by Georgette Heyer

Heyer is something of a guilty pleasure for me.  She’s good but far from great…except sometimes, when everything works just so.  This book is one of her best.  Furthermore, it was one of my mother’s favorite books–and since my mother’s birthday would have been last Friday, I’ll lionize Venetia in her memory.

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Who’s on your top ten list? Tell us in the comments.

After you’ve left a comment, read any of the above books that you haven’t gotten to.  Reread any you have.  And when you have time, check out other people’s top ten lists or join the hop yourself.

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Finally, you might be interesting in my Bookstores I love series of blogs:

Bookman’s in Tucson
Munro’s Books in Victoria
Bakka Phoenix Books in Toronto

Effing Feline spits nicely, by comparison

Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior posts on Mr. V’s behalf

I, Effing Feline, have selected a decidedly unromantic snippet from Ed Hoornaert’s The Trial of Tompa Lee for today’s 10-sentence Sunday. Read it and weep, humans. Sometimes your species acts rather arrogant–I mean, you think you own us cats!–but let this be a reminder that when you meet ETs, you’ll be nothing special.

Our lowly heroine, Tompa Lee, has been framed for terrorism on an alien planet. Dante Roussel, a Space Navy policeman we met last week, must turn her over to cruel Shon justice. In this snippet, she is escorted through an alien city to her courtroom.

The Trilogy of Tompa Lee is set on Zee Shode. It’s inhabitants have a long history, but never achieved space flight. Tompa Lee’s final showdown occurs in the flooded city of Rapree, pictured here

When Tompa’s two burly Navy escorts propelled her into the street, all the Shons stopped going about their business. The air changed, filling with . . . something. It wasn’t a smell or a sound, but it was there nonetheless; a sudden, almost palpable sense of shared malice aimed at her. What had been a hundred individuals became a single entity. A herd. The hair on the back of Tompa’s neck rose and the escorts glanced around nervously as they walked down the alien thoroughfare.

A Shon spat at her, whistling. A second later, another Shon spat, then another and another in a rhythm as precise as a machine gun. They pinched their supple mouths into a funnel shape, leaned their heads back and jumped as they spat, like kids taking jump shots on one of the glass-strewn basketball courts back home.

And they all whistled as they spat.

Effing Feline again. We cats have been accused of spitting, but it’s really more of a hiss. Cats are much more civilized than these nasty Shon creatures.

And now you should go drool over the snippets by other great weekend writing warriors.

<<  ==  >>

A WOMAN

Tompa Lee is a homeless ‘street meat’ who has clawed her way up to the bottom-most rung of the Space Navy . . . but her dream job plummets into a nightmare when she’s framed for mass murder on an alien planet.

A MAN

Dante Roussel is the Navy policemen who surrenders Tompa to the Shons . . . but he is horrified to learn that their justice requires trial-by-combat–and Tompa must conquer three hundred accusers.

AN ALIEN

Awmit is an old, lower-class Shon who is the sole witness to Tompa’s innocence . . . but to prove it, he must find the valor and the strength to fight to the death at her side.

AN UNFAIR TRIAL

Can Tompa learn to trust and love not only a member of the alien race that wants to slaughter her . . . but also the policeman who betrayed her to cruel alien justice?

<<  ==  >>

The Trial of Tompa Lee is the first book in The Trilogy of Tompa Lee.

The Trial of Tompa Lee

Only her enemies can save her from alien injustice.

(The book is free, so you can’t go wrong. Click. Buy. Read. Write a review. Rejoice, because there is more!)

The Tribulations of Tompa Lee

Goddess or Madwoman?  Even Tompa isn’t sure any more.

The Triumph of Tompa Lee

Now the prey stalks the hunter — to the death.

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Finally, next Tuesday I’ll be posting my personal Top Ten List of Heroines. Drop on by; maybe we love some of the same heroines.

Bookstores I love: Bakka Phoenix Books

Is any kind of store more important to a writer than bookstores?

Nope. That’s why every week I’m showcasing one of the bookstores around the world I’ve visited and loved. Today that is Bakka Phoenix Books.

The wife and I get to Toronto once or twice a year because, against all odds, two of our three sons have settled there. Visiting the boys is nice, of course–but wow, this bookstore! (Just kidding, guys. Love you both.)

Hugo and Nebula winner Rob Sawyer, a friend of Mr. V’s, reads from one of his books at Bakka Phoenix

What’s so special about Bakka Phoenix? It’s a science fiction bookstore, and it’s well established,  having opened in 1972. It’s a great place to get recommendations for what’s new and hot in the field. The main problem with that is the airline’s weight limit on my suitcases; I can’t bring home nearly as many books as I’d like.

It’s also a place to meet science fiction writers. For example, I’ve met NYT bestselling fantasy author Michelle Sagara, and Nebula Award winner Cory Doctorow. Just casually, you know–they’re in the store, I’m in the store, we talk. Cool

Cory has written some wild stuff. Perhaps the most memorable to me is Anda’s Game, which  has recently been turned into a comic book. It’s the tale of a young female gamer who learns about wider social issues through a MMORPG  (that’s a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, for those of you from my generation).

Robert J. Sawyer, perhaps the leading writer of hard sf, used to work at Bakka. I’ve been privileged to meet and work with Rob on several occasions, and he has reviewed my books, including The Trial of Tompa Lee. While I attended a week-long workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts, he introduced me to the work of author Julie Czerneda.

Author Julie Czerneda signing books at Bakka Phoenix

Best of all (for me, at least) the store is less than half a block from the dormitory where my youngest son lived while attending the University of Toronto. Brett has moved on to better digs, but it’s still an easy walk from his place.

Next time you’re in  Toronto, make this bookstore one of your must-sees…and tell them I sent you.

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Robert J. Sawyer award winning books

Nebula Award for Best Novel of 1995: The Terminal Experiment
Hugo Award for Best Novel of 2002: Hominids

Julie Czerneda award winning books

Romantic Times 2001 Reviewers’ Choice Winner: Best Science Fiction Novel for In the Company of Others

Cory Doctorow award winning books

2007 Locus Award for Best Novelette for “When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth“

Michelle Sagara award winning books

2013 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award: best Fantasy Adventure for Cast in Sorrow

And for good measure, here’s part of what Rob Sawyer had to say about my own The Trial of Tompa Lee: “Ed Hoornaert is a marvelous writer: a terrific, engrossing storyteller and a consummate stylist.”  Thanks, Rob!

Other bookstores I love:

Bookman’s in Tucson
Munro’s Books in Victoria

Top Ten Tuesday, 9/8/15

I’m trying out a new group called Top Ten Tuesday. This blog hop (that’s my description; they call it a meme) is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s topic is “Ten Series that I haven’t finished reading yet and would like to get back to someday.” I’m afraid I don’t  have ten, but I’ll do my best. Note that the series are listed as I thought of them, not necessarily in order of eagerness:



Cecilia Grant’s Blackshear family.

Regency romance. The series isn’t completely written yet; I’m breathlessly awaiting the next book. I give these the highest recommendation possible!


Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series

Mysteries set in Quebec. I loved the early books but some of the later books, such as The Beautiful Mystery, are awfully dark for my taste. I dislike it intensely, massively, unequivocably and totally when the bad guys win and take down a character I’ve grown to like. Actually, I’m not sure I’ll finish this one.


Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mystery Series

Mystery/historical. I read them as I find them, either at the library or a bookstore.  I’m about half done. Entertaining and, as far as I can tell, historically accurate.


C.S. Forester’s Hornblower books

Regency naval adventure. As an adolescent, I read most of these. I’m going back to reread them from the beginning, and I’m enjoying them as much or more.


Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar series

Science fiction. I started this series and was entranced.  Then book four took awhile to come out, and by then I’d forgotten the details of what was going on. I’ll have to start over at the beginning…which means I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to it, and that would be disappointing.


Gordon R. Dickson’s Childe Cycle

Science fiction. I’ve read most of them, but the later books are heavy slogging. The books in this series are loosely connected by philosophy and theme, rather than by characters.


Jo Beverley’s Malloren books

Historical (Georgian England). I’ve read these in no particular order, and that hasn’t been a problem. They’re an entertaining read, though I’m bothered by historicals that use women with unabashedly modern attitudes and pretend they’re from a different time period.

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Check out other people’s top ten lists or join the hop yourself.

And you might be interesting in my Bookstores I love series, although I haven’t gotten far yet:

Bookman’s in Tucson
Munro’s Books in Victoria, BC