Has anybody ever read anything by {place author name here}

[Mohawk Mary]

I started reading McDevitt books this year after someone gave me a book from Ancient Shores. I read both of those books and Time Travelers Never Die so far. I liked the "Time Travelers..." book better. The Academy series is sitting on my shelf ready to read next. A coworker highly recommended it.

[Allan]

Stop distracting me! Well crap, now Chindi is calling me to read it. Guess Embassytown will wait a week, lol.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I will probably read all of McDevitt before all is said and done. But when can this group get around to it? After the Neuromancer series, perhaps?

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "I will probably read all of McDevitt before all is said and done. But when can this group get around to it? After the Neuromancer series, perhaps?"

As a possible scenario... More likely IMHO to have one of his books nominated for monthly reads

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Well, if they are standalones, ok, but if they are in a series, probably a time period to read the series, not?

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

With a new author I always prefer to read just one book before committing to the series. However, if other members wish, I have no problems with it except that William Gibson trilogy was planned for this year plus a birthday challenge... we should not drown in books ;)

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I was thinking next year for one of the McDevitt series.

Hey, Scott or someone else who has read McDevitt--can they actually be read as standalone?

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

So read the first book of either series and then skip to any other book? That doesn't sound too onerous!

[Allan]

Agreed. I read the first two Academy books then flipped to Alex Benedict and read the first three. I'd prefer to read them in order, and really, why wouldn't you want to?

[Allan]

Right, you can jump back and forth if you like, they are not connected.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

So I was thinking of getting a group read together on these at some point in the future. But you guys are possibly out, having already read them. Is anyone up for starting these next year and reading them at a rate of one a month?

[Allan]

I'd be ok with that and I'd just pick up where I am.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I'm ok with that. I don;'t know if we constitute a quorum, though.

But we can't start it until we do the Neuromancer series that we promised you, Allan--when do you think we should start that? Or would you rather do these first?

[Allan]

The Gibson challenge was for tribute for him being named a Grand Master this year. So I'd start the three Sprawl reads in October. They're all less than 300 pages I think, so not overly long. I'd start McDevitt-ing in January.

[Allan]

Although I've pushed for the Gibson challenge, I think one of the moderators originally brought it up. I just jumped on the train enthusiastically as I've always wanted to read more of his stuff.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I'm good with all of this. Someone (Z?) said something about the Gibson challenge starting Oct1 and lasting 3 months. We will set it up nearer time and after I learn how to do that. Bryan sets up challenges and I think Art has, but I am not sure how to. They'll be around within the next couple of days. They are just really busy right now.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Starfish (Rifters Trilogy Book 1) by Peter Watts is on sale today for $2.99 today (putting the link just in case you are interested, it is NOT on our list. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

One of this guy's books is on our list Blindsight

Basically, I have never heard of the guy. What is Peter Watt's writing like? You guys know me--am I going to complain about how complicated his stuff is and that there are too many characters?

Also, I note that people are liking each book LESS in the series that this book starts. Can this book be read alone?

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Damn! I just realized that I HAVE read something of his--The Freeze-Frame Revolution! And I liked it pretty well, but I would still like a discussion of whether I should read this guy. The library doesn't have much by him, just Freeze-Frame and Blindsight.

[Antti]

Peter Watts has written my favourite SF book, Blindsight, but his books are not all equally good. Rifters trilogy is a good example: Starfish was great, Maelstrom was.. ok, and I didn't finish Behemoth because I got bored with it. Starfish can be read as stand-alone, though.

Be warned, though: Watts' books are dark, even depressing. He has an extremely cynical view on humanity: he makes Dr. House look like Pollyanna. His books are pretty similar in theme as Three-Body Problem: people are horrible and everything goes from bad to worse.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Peter Watts is a modern master of hard SF, so there is less character development or romance and more 'what if' ideas. His texts are often quite dense - for example I may listen most audiobooks at 1.5 speed, but not him. To some extent he is similar to Greg Egan.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I think I may go ahead and wait until we read Blindsight together. Although the library does not have this book, I have have too many other books to read. From your descriptions, I am not sure he will be to my taste, as a general rule.

Thanks! You saved me 3 bucks

[Allan]

I'm interested by Blindsight as well but I've got to wait for a group read. Too many books.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Speaking of reading preferences across the globe: Watts is extremely popular among SF fans from ex-USSR, but it seems not so much even in his native Canada

[Victor]

It certainly seems as though Peter Watts has been nominated more for awards elsewhere, than here in Canada. Also, if you check out his website, you'll find a lot of his back catalog for free, including several short stories - if you want a quick taste of his stuff before ordering a full meal.

[Bryan, Village Idiot]

Has anyone read Watership Down? It's on sale with Audible and it looks interesting. Should I get it?

[Bryan, Village Idiot]

Scott wrote: "Bryan wrote: "Has anyone read Watership Down? It's on sale with Audible and it looks interesting. Should I get it?"

Yes! I loved it!"

lol Alright, but I'm blaming you if my wife finds out I'm spending more money on books!

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Yes, I loved it! I have read it over several times. The Netflix series was ok, but couldn't really do it justice.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Question for Z==You know I just read Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko in another group. I loved it. But now a group member from Finland, (I think) has said there are two more books to read because it is a series and she is thinking she's going to have to learn Russian.

So, you seem to always be up on eastern European literature. Do you know
1) are there more books in this series and
2) do you know anything about them coming out in English?

Thanks

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "Question for Z==You know I just read Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko in another group."

There is a trilogy that consists of Vita Nostra, Цифровой, или Brevis est and Мигрант, или Brevi finietur. The other two volumes are considered weaker than the first. Like Becky Chambers Wayfarers, books are roughly in the same universe but with different protagonists. The second can be seen as an attempt at cyberpunk, a young boy is a great warrior in VR but next to nothing in real life

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Thanks, Z, I will pass that on!

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

A website recommended Stephen Baxter's Xeelee series to me.

Tell me about your experiences with Stephen Baxter, please.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Kateblue wrote: "Tell me about your experiences with Stephen Baxter, please."

He is assumed a hard SF guy I guess, I only read The Massacre of Mankind by him, an authorised sequel to The War of the Worlds. I liked what he have done (see my review)

[Allan]

There is of course Baxter's The Time Ships, the official sequel to The Time Machine. I have not read it but it is on my shelf. Hugo nominee.

[Antti]

I've read some Baxter: Manifold: Time, which is not part of the Xeelee sequence. I was reminded a bit of M:T when we were reading Seveneves: it starts with a billionaire going asteroid-hunting in order to set up mining operations, and the orbital mechanics are described in Stephenson-like detail. But soon the plot gets... more complicated. I don't really recall the details, but I do remember I wasn't in any rush to read other books in the Manifold series and indeed never did.

I also read Vacuum Diagrams, which is a short story collection, and it is a part of the Xeelee cycle. I was not very impressed. The stories spanned millions of years, but the plots seemed a bit simplistic or just afterthoughts in order to showcase the worldbuilding.

Baxter is not bad, from what I've read, but not good enough to really hold my interest. If I had to read more of his books, I wouldn't dread it, but I wouldn't be very enthusiastic, either. Solid three-star material.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Thanks so much for your input, guys. I think I have better series to read than Xeelee. But I will keep the other suggestions of standalones on the back burner.

For one thing, it appears that the early Xeelee have not been Kindled, which is a downtick for me as I prefer big fonts.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Has anybody ever read anything by David Quantick? His ratings seem to be really low, but his subject matter looks as if it would be a hoot. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

I see he's a comedic British TV writer . . .

[Allan]

His co-written book about The Clash looks like it might be interesting, and it looks like he guided Eddie Izzard through putting Dress to Kill into book form. His book on The White Album has been done many times, so meh. None of them seem highly rated though.

By the way, if you’ve never watched the video version of Dress to Kill, it is Eddie Izzard’s best show in my opinion, and it’s freakin’ hilarious. He’s a unique comedian/actor and we finally got the chance to see him live last year.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Ah, well I will look out for the David Quantick TV shows, but I was really more wondering about his fiction. It looks from the descriptions as if it should be good, but it is not rated very highly here on GR

All My Colors
by David Quantick
3.53 avg rating — 456 ratings — published 2019

Sparks
by David Quantick
3.42 avg rating — 113 ratings — published 2012

The Mule
by David Quantick
3.19 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 2016

Go West
by David Quantick
3.58 avg rating — 66 ratings

Some are pretty cheap, actually.

[Gabi]

I would never go for the rating if a book sounds interesting. Some of my 5 star books have 3something ratings here and some of the 4 and a half star ratings were complete clunkers. Just shows that folks have no taste ;D (Joke!!)

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Agree about the taste thing. One of my favorite books of all times, The Magicians, is rated at 3.5, about. And I like the second book even better. I wish he would write more of these.

[TomK2]

Kateblue wrote: "Has anyone ever read anything by Paul Di Filippo? I see his The Steampunk Trilogy is on sale for 1.99 today (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KHE3A0G?...)

He's nebul..."
edit: Oooops. just noticed the age of the post I am responding to.

I tracked down a copy of Di Fillippo's "A mouthful of Tongues...." on ABE books, based on an internet review, a long time ago. It was the worst sci fi book I ever read. Bad enough I threw it in the garbage can. So bad, I even tore it up before throwing it away, just to make sure it couldn't be read again by mistake if it fell off the garbage truck on the way to the dump.

[TomK2]

Anthony wrote: "I haven’t read anything by Jack Williamson or Jack Vance or Fritz Leiber or Roger Zelazny. Among other major SFF award-winning writers, I haven’t read any..."

Tau Zero was an OK read by Poul Anderson. Despite his lengthy bibliography, that is all I have ever read of his.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

thanks, Gabi. I will put a couple on my list.--

and good warning, Tom, about Di Fillippo!

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I rarely liked the Anderson ones I attempted to read years ago. My recollection is "dry and boring." I had several from the Science Fiction Book Club, I recall.

I did read Tau Zero with this group, and it was ok. Not one of my faves. There was a lot of discussion between the characters early, but at the end it was more of a "tell, not show" about what was happening. Interesting concept, though.

There was one I liked, but I think it was actually his wife's work (they wrote it together) because it was so different stylistically than what he usually wrote. It was called Operation Chaos It was about a husband and wife team, fantasy, not SF

[Nooilforpacifists]

Anthony:

Jack Vance wrote two spectacular novellas: “The Last Castle” and “Moon Moth”. Both get high praise for what Kateblue calls “world building.” And although each are 75 years old, the transport you into the borderline of fantasy backed by hard-science.

Each are among my favorites.

[Art, Stay home, stay safe.]

TomK2 wrote: "Tau Zero was an OK read by Poul Anderson"

Feel free to check out and add to our older discussions: Tau Zero by Poul Anderson (No Spoilers / Spoilers).

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

I enjoyed Poul Anderson's Time Police series, but partially because it was my first meeting with the sub-genre, where alt-history meets time travel

[Allan]

The first entry in this author thread was Joe Abercrombie. I was looking for a book that won multiple awards other than Hugo and Nebula, for a WWE winning book challenge. I found Best Served Cold from 2009, which won the Legend, BFA & Red Tentacle awards. Has anyone read it? My library had it, so I checked it out and started it the other day. So far it’s been a very solid fantasy with sort of a “Hang ‘Em High” kind of plot (obviously revenge, from the title). 600 pages, but they are peeling off quickly.

[Eva]

I haven't read Abercrombie, but concerning Peter Watts: at least over here, Blindsight is now included in Kindle Unlimited (under the name Firefall, which combines both books of the duology).

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Allan wrote: "The first entry in this author thread was Joe Abercrombie. ... Best Served Cold from 2009, ...Has anyone read it?."

I haven't, but I know this is a continuation of his series, starting with The Blade Itself, which I've read and found it ok but not awesome