FF: Business Done

Roary Ears a Good Book

With the copyedit of House of Rough Diamonds turned in, I’ve returned to working on SK5 (the yet-untitled next book in the Star Kingdom series).  I’ve also had some time to read for pleasure.

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.  I love seeing the tapestry of what people choose.

Completed:

Singing the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh.  A nice variation on the “country house” murder mystery, with the setting shifted to a cargo ship.  Another I hadn’t read.

In the Palace of Shadow and Joy by D. J. Butler.  If you like old-fashioned sword and sorcery with lots of action, wild description, and two amiable—if occasionally clueless—protagonists, I think you’ll like this book.

In Progress:

A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Audiobook.  Bujold does an amazing job playing a variety of plotlines off each other.  This novel is as complex and elegant as an elaborate Regency Dance.  And, in case you’re wondering, what I thought of the butter bugs, I only wish they were real and I could have a colony, even if only the ostensibly “ugly” early version..

Between Princesses and Other Jobs by D.J. Butler.  A collection of short stories featuring Indrajit and Fix, the amiable would-be heroes of In the Palace of shadow and Joy.

Also:

“Gorgopotomos Bridge” by Harry Turtledove.  A short story with a very interesting narrator.

“Best Laid Plans” by David Weber.  Honor meets Nimitz.

The most recent Vogue.