FF: While Brainstorming

Roary is Awake and Mildly Indignant

This last week, I’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming as I move into the second part of my current work in progress.  This also means I tend to read a lot, because it shuts up my forebrain while my hindbrain works.

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Completed:

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Spies, intrigue, and hints of romance in this sideline novel in her popular Barrayar setting/Vorkosigan saga.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie.  Re-read.  Tuppence and Tommy.

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch.  Finally, a resolution to the Faceless Man, but not maybe what most will expect.

In Progress:

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch.  Audiobook.  Novella.  Listed as book 7.5 in the series, it’s a standalone set in Germany.

Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.  The opening few pages are a downer for those of us who remember early 2020 all too well, but don’t worry, Jamie Gray won’t be dumped on the street in the midst of a building pandemic.

Also:

A variety of magazine articles, including American Craft, passed along to me by a friend.  I also went through about two years of Jim’s old photography magazines, because I enjoy journeys into alien worlds.