What Else Are You Reading - February 2019

[Shad]

I finished Ninefox Gambit and The Calculating Stars. Starting Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars because The Calculating Stars made me curious about the actual computers.

[Eric]

Finished Skipped Parts. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

30% Through Strange Dogs (Expanse 6.5) and REALLY enjoying it. Kindle app said it would only take 1.5 hours to read and I wanted to stay up last night to finish, but I'm trying to be good to my body.

[John (Taloni)]

^ There's only so much short fiction for The Expanse, no need to rush. Strange Dogs is pretty, well, strange. Take time to savor it.

[Eric]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ There's only so much short fiction for The Expanse, no need to rush. Strange Dogs is pretty, well, strange. Take time to savor it."

I know, but I'm loving the story too much.

On the other hand, finished the Apollo Quartet and did not like: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Colin]

Finished listening to Cibola Burn. I thought that the plot was a bit simpler than previous volumes, but I really enjoyed it. Binged it surprisingly quickly, in fact.

Going to give Audiobooks a rest for a week or two and try to make an impact on my podcast backlog. Loads of short stories to listen to.

[Eric]

Colin wrote: "Finished listening to Cibola Burn. I thought that the plot was a bit simpler than previous volumes, but I really enjoyed it. Binged it surprisingly quickly, in fact.

Going to give ..."

Are you a podcaster on The SF Diner?

[Iain]

Knocked off From Potter's Field where Scarpetta finally gets the big bad guy.

Also finished Raven Stratagem and have launched myself onto the final book in the series Revenant Gun.

Half way through listening to The Merchants' War which is strangely enjoyable and is definitely SF.

Looking back Charles Stross is the only straight white male author I have read this year. Doing well at my goal of reading more books by women and non-white backgrounds.

Also binged on some GN, The Planetary, Volume 1: All Over the World and Other Stories and the rest of the series, Akira, Vol. 1, and The Doll's House as some light relief.

[Silvana]

Finished Many Are the Dead: A Raven's Shadow Novella (nice addition to that world) and Monstress, Vol. 3: Haven (awesome).
Took a sudden decision to read Trail of Lightning but sorely disappointed with its lack of female agency and many, many romantic cliches, despite the interesting worldbuilding and #ownvoice nature.

Not sure what to read now. Maybe The Vela. Has some familiar names collaborating for it: Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, SL Huang and Rivers Solomon. Should be cool.

[Mark]

Got distracted in the middle of The Fated Sky when the library texted me that my hold on Artificial Condition was available, so now I'm reading this installment of the Murderbot tales. I put in a request that my local library purchase the other Murderbot titles. They aren't available from Overdrive for some reason.

[John (Taloni)]

Had a bit of a lull while waiting for Revenant Gun to come in so went back to one of my tagged "wish list" books at LA Library. Read "The Time Travel Megapack" edited by Ed Lerner, with a story by him.

I wasn't sure what to make of the Megapack series. After reading this one I found it true to advertising as there was a lot to read. None of it was particularly good though. Completely missing were classics like "All You Zombies," "The Sound of Thunder" (Bradbury's Time Safari story), or even Niven's crosstime shorts. Given Lerner's many collaborations with Niven I would have thought he could have gotten a story. Rather than a collection of the best time travel stories, this seems to be a collection of the best time travel stories that could be licensed cheaply.

We start with Lerner's contribution, a fairly pedestrian "help your past self" story. The story seems right out of a writing workshop with textbook "interesting characters" that weren't very interesting.

Lerner's a flip/flop subject with me. On the one hand he's made a later in life transition from IT executive to writer. He convinced Niven to let him play with Known Space, and not the fringe stuff like the Man Kzin wars, but the heart of those works. And along the way Lerner turned in...well, kind of pedestrian writing. I want to cheer him for his many accomplishments, but am not all that interested in reading his work. It lacks Niven's sense of wonder. Niven had Phssthpok seeking a reason to live so much that he went on a 30,000 light year journey, only to realize within days of reaching his objective that he had to be killed to protect those he came to find, then arranged that slaying. Lerner has Pak developing emotion when the whole point of the Protectors was to protect their bloodline instinctively. His Pak use Ramships, but in the ship space sequences don't get near to lightspeed or any interesting cosmic effects.

So it was Lerner that pulled me in to this particular book. I wanted to see what he could do as editor / story selector.

If the stories in this collection are considered classics, I missed out on them growing up. There's an H. Beam Piper story that's a fairly good discussion of how a consciousness could go back 30 years, but not much action in that story. A "Sword and Planet" story where the MC doesn't go to another planet but rather the future, where the first woman he meets falls in love with him and the leader eventually abdicates and puts him in charge. Bleah.

On the plus side I finally know what a "Feghoot" is as I've heard the term but not the context. (It's a short SF story ending in a pun.)

Many of these stories don't so much have a beginning / middle / end as a theme which ends when the discussion is over. It's the story equivalent of ending with "and then they all went out for a cheeseburger." I suppose that's what Lerner was selecting for, but it left me cold. I find this collection on the low side of readable.

This reminded me that I wanted to read the rest of the Keith Laumer crosstime series "Worlds of the Imperium" which is available for a good price from Baen. Off to make a purchase....

[Ruth]

Finally finished Les Misérables! A marathon read with lots of waffling about the sewer layout of Paris and the battle of Waterloo, but a great story at the core.

Now onto Sins of Empire which I discovered via Brian McClellan’s appearance on S&L.

[Colin]

Eric wrote: "

Are you a podcaster on The SF Diner?..."

Errrr .... no.

You've lost me there, I'm afraid. 🤔

[Eric]

Colin wrote: "Eric wrote: "

Are you a podcaster on The SF Diner?..."

Errrr .... no.

You've lost me there, I'm afraid. 🤔"

Ah, I was just listening to that podcast and someone on there said they were going to listen to Cibola Burn. And I thought one of the presenters had the name Colin, but I was cleaning while listening so maybe things got mixed up in my head.

[Quasar]

Finished the latest audiobook of the Succubus series by A.J. Markam, Succubus 4 (Gnome Place Like Home): A LitRPG Series. Continues to keep me entertained. Book ends in tragedy, though knowing its a continuing series kind of blunts that.

[Gary]

I finished reading The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi and The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. I am reading Origin by Dan Brown. I plan to read The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks next.

[Scott]

Scott wrote: "Now I'm reading Chapelwood by Cherie Priest..."

I finished Chapelwood yesterday. While I didn't quite enjoy it as much as Maplecroft, it was still really good.

Now, I'm on to European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

[Joseph]

Finished Alliance Space (Company Wars #2) and am moving on to Rimrunners, which I have to read as words printed on paper like an animal because there are irritating gaps in which parts of C.J. Cherryh's back catalog are available as eBook.

But it'll be entirely worth it.

[Brendan]

Joseph wrote: "Finished Alliance Space (Company Wars #2) and am moving on to Rimrunners, which I have to read as words printed on paper like an animal because there are irritating gaps..."

I loved 40,000 in Gehenna. I just finished Alliance Rising which, i guess is a prequel to alliance space? i don't know my Cherryh chronology. The internet must have the cyteen-alliance-downbelow chronology somewhere but i havent bothered to look for it.

Currently reading: Black Leopard, Red Wolf

[Joseph]

Brendan wrote: "Joseph wrote: "I loved 40,000 in Gehenna. I just finished Alliance Rising which, i guess is a prequel to alliance space? i don't know my Cherryh chronology. The internet must have the cyteen-alliance-downbelow chronology somewhere but i havent bothered to look for it. ..."

Yes, Alliance Rising takes place earliest in the setting -- I don't recall if it gives an exact date, but it's a few generations prior to Downbelow Station. After Alliance Rising but before Downbelow Station comes Devil to the Belt, which is set when the Company fleet (Mazian's fleet) is first being built. Then, obviously, Downbelow Station, followed closely by Merchanter's Luck. Forty Thousand in Gehenna also begins shortly after the end of Downbelow Station.

Then there are the three other Company Wars/Merchanter books -- Rimrunners, Tripoint and Finity's End. I don't remember if those have exact dates, so I'm just going to read them in publication order (as listed). Then Cyteen, which I think actually overlaps the earlier books -- I know that at one point it makes reference to establishing the colony on Gehenna, and it also mentions the events of The Pride of Chanur and its sequels. For the most part, though, they can be read in pretty much any order.

I know there are chronologies out there, including a very detailed one that Cherryh put together that actually gives arrival & departure dates for the sublight pusher ships in the era prior to any of the books, but I'm not sure how current they are.

[Joseph]

And I finished Rimrunners, so next up is Tripoint.

[Erik]

Finished They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us which was 6 stars.

Finished The Visible Filth which I was enjoying for most of it but not in love with how it all played out. Maybe it just wasn't for me.

Also read Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters for an epistolary novel on a friend's recommendation. I thought this was a great, quirky, fun read. Being written in letters it goes extremely quickly too. Good option for anyone who needs an epistolary for a challenge.

Started reading The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays. It's an essay collection about mental illness, her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, etc. Finished the first essay on diagnosis and am immediately hooked. It also just released this month. Also picked up 2 other essay collections that released this month in The Book of Delights and Hard to Love: Essays and Confessions which I will be starting this month as well (most likely)

[Silvana]

Finished with The Vela. I've never heard of Serial Box until they offered me with this eARC, but it was a great collaborative work between Lee, Chambers, Huang and Solomon. Recommended for space opera fans.

Starting Nine Last Days on Planet Earth and The Gods Themselves.

[Felipe]

I’m reading Chasm City, my first Alastair Reynolds book.

[Colin]

I finished reading The Fated Sky at the weekend. I thought it was a much better executed book than The Calculating Stars.

Moved on to Revenant Gun which has a lot to live up to after the first two books in that series. Fingers crossed that it is just as good!

[Rick]

So far? Autonomous, Afterparty, some re-reads etc (Bujold's early Miles books), Smoke & Summons, The Killer Collective and almost half of the March selection.

Oh and most of this month's selection of course.

[Rob, Roberator]

I took a break from SFF to listen to Bruce Lee: A Life. I liked it, but it dragged a bit in places. Overall a pretty interesting book though. - ★★★★☆ - (My Review)

Next I listed to Ship of Smoke and Steel and after a bit of a slow start Django Wexler showed why he's become one of my favorite fantasy writers. It's not quite as good as the last few Shadow Campaign books, but it's awfully close. - ★★★★½ - (My Review)

[Misti]

I just finished Dodger. It's quite different from the Discworld series but I enjoyed it very much.

I think I'll read Cloudbound next.

[Jennifer]

Joseph wrote: "Continuing in Alliance/Union, I finished Downbelow Station and started Alliance Space (Company Wars #2)."

I just finished The Complete Morgaine. I love it. I have reread it so many times. I have not tried this yet and have been thinking now is the time. Obviously you enjoyed it.

[Joseph]

Jennifer wrote: "I just finished The Complete Morgaine. I love it. I have reread it so many times. I have not tried this yet and have been thinking now is the time. Obviously you enjoyed it..."

Yes, I did! And Morgaine is also one of my favorites -- I reread those a few years back.

[TRP]

Just listened to The Illiad and The Odyssey read by Anton Lesser (translator Ian Johnston, published by Naxos). Highly recommended

There are lots of descriptions of food and drink as well as lists of noble Greeks & Trojans with their lineages. George R R Martin almost certainly used the books for inspsiration/style.

[Dara]

I finished The Magician King by Lev Grossman. I loved it. My review. The Magicians world has quickly become on of my all-time favorite places to spend my mental and emotional time.

Taking a break before the final book and reading The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin. Henry VIII and his wives done modern Mean Girls style? Sign me up.

[Iain]

Just finished listening to The Merchants' War which has almost tipped all the way over into hard SF (view spoiler)[Artificial insemination and test tube world walkers, wheeee (hide spoiler)]. Stross loves his cliff hangers, looking forward to listening to the last two books in the series.

Started listening to Furyborn which appears to start in a cliched manner but runs off the rails quickly and drags you in. Just started this yesterday and am already four hours in. Great fun.

[Elizabeth]

I just noped so hard out of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, which I started after Brandon Sanderson's Skyward (which was excellent for the younger-end-of-YA that it is). So now my current listen is Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky, in tandem with reading Kay's A Song for Arbonne.

[Erik]

Wanted a lighter audiobook and was intrigued from the March Madness recommendations so I started NPCs and am about 60% through it. This has so far been exactly what I was expecting it to be and will be my first more conventional sword finish of the year (other books I've finished were fantasy but none swordy).

To pair along with The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays I also began The Book of Delights. This is a collection of essayettes by poet Ross Gay who tried to write a few pages each day appreciating mundane and commonplace beauty in the world. Sometimes it's a little TOO happy for me but then I try to wane my curmudgeonliness and just be obeisant to a process specifically meant to be nothing but positive *smile with sweat bead dripping down forehead emoji*

[Anne]

I'm reading Witchmark by C.L. Polk and I'm loving it. The world building is gorgeous, great characters, good and gripping story.

[Sheila Jean]

I just finished The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi in audio, which is a way-back S&L pick. Overall I found it bleak and depressing and not very likable.

Over the weekend I finished up The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty from the library which I loved, and started on River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams. Hopefully I can figure out what's going on, because it's been a few years since I read the first volume and I don't plan to go back and reread those many hundreds of pages.

I've now started To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis on audio, and was just notified that Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard is available for me to checkout from the library - so I might read that quick before getting too far back into Otherland.

[Ruth]

Anne wrote: "I'm reading Witchmark by C.L. Polk and I'm loving it. The world building is gorgeous, great characters, good and gripping story."

I’ve just picked this up but haven’t started reading it yet. Good to hear a recommendation!

In other news, I had to give up on European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman because it was soooo slooow.
And I’m currently on Sins of Empire by former S&L guest Brian McClellan

[Fredrik]

Ruth wrote: "Anne wrote: "I'm reading Witchmark by C.L. Polk and I'm loving it. The world building is gorgeous, great characters, good and gripping story."

I’ve just picked th..."
How is the Brian McClellan series?

[Jessica]

I personally thought Witchmark was just okay - better in theory than in execution.

I recently read Vengeful. I didn't love it as much as Vicious, but it's still good. Schwab is such a masterful storycrafter.

I am currently reading Once Upon a River which is AMAZING. I've been having a lot of trouble putting it down when it's time to go to bed :p

[Jessica]

Dara wrote: "I finished The Magician King by Lev Grossman. I loved it. My review. The Magicians world has quickly become on of my all-time favorite places to spend my mental and ..."

That was my favorite Magicians book :)

[Carrie]

Jessica wrote: "I personally thought Witchmark was just okay - better in theory than in execution.

I recently read Vengeful. I didn't love it as much as Vicious, but it's still good. Schwab is suc..."

I finished Once Upon a River the other day and it was wonderful.

[Julie]

Anne wrote: "I'm reading Witchmark by C.L. Polk and I'm loving it. The world building is gorgeous, great characters, good and gripping story."

I listened to this earlier in the year and really liked it. Turns out "murder mystery in a unique setting" is my jam.

Rereading Crooked Kingdom in anticipation of King of Scars and I just started the audiobook of Stories of Your Life and Others.

[Joel]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in audio.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson for the second time.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend.

[Ruth]

Fredrik wrote: "How is the Brian McClellan series?”

I’m about 40% through Sins of Empire and tbh it’s kinda... generic. The writing is very readable, and the characters are appealing, but so far the world feels very much like every other fantasy book I’ve ever read. There isn’t anything that stands out as “Whoa, that’s cool!” It’s just, yeah, slightly renaissance feel city, mysterious ancient artifact, secret police type organisation which likes torturing people, old war veteran, plucky orphan yadda yadda. The story is moving along at a reasonable pace and it may yet surprise me so I am withholding full judgment until I finish it.

[Jonathan]

Just finished Malice on audio. Really liked it! I also finished Wrath of Empire. I love series! I am now reading Skyward by Brandon Sanderson and listening to House of Assassins by Larry Correia.

I wish that audible would find a way to solve the issue with Geographic Restrictions. I cannot get the rest of the series by John Gwynne on Audible U.S. Even though Audible U.K. has the entire series, I cannot get access to it because I live in the U.S.

[Stephen]

Do not let that stop you from the rest of John Gwynne fabulous series, Each book gets stronger. And it is finished, and another series has been born and book two is coming mid- April .

[Allison]

I'm having a very exciting February.

I read:

Preludes & Nocturnes - finally! This is the medium I think is best suited to Gaiman's work.

Witches Abroad - utterly delightful.

All Systems Red - great fun! Except I listened to it and that was a mistake. From now I I shall eye-read these.

Brown Girl in the Ring - Nalo's first. It's "easier" to read than Midnight Robber was, but my God she's talented. A sort of UF dystopic horror?

Check, Please!: #Hockey, Vol. 1 - a super sweet palate cleanser. If you're into slice of life graphic novels, this one was adorable.

Halfway to the Grave - *rubs face.* I just...don't like romances. I don't like them. I need to stop reading them.

So I did, and read three pieces of "contemporary fiction."

Ntozake Shange is quickly becoming a favorite author. Read For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (a sort of poem/play) and Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo (a slice of life book about sisters and womanhood.) Both were flipping excellent.

And also Valeria Luiselli's "Faces in the Crowd" which for some reason I can't link to but was too uh...experimental for me, let's say.

Now trying to finish Deadhouse Gates and Reaper Man. Hoping to start Black Leopard, Red Wolf and A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe this month, too.

[Fredrik]

Ruth wrote: "Fredrik wrote: "How is the Brian McClellan series?”

I’m about 40% through Sins of Empire and tbh it’s kinda... generic."
I see, thanks. I was a bit curious about the "fantasy with guns" aspect, but I didnt get a clear impression if there was anything more to it than that. From your description it seems not.
And besides, fantasy fiction has done a lot to branch out from the medieval style age lately; guns and magic is a much less distinctive combination than it was only a few years ago.

[Ruth]

Fredrik wrote: “I was a bit curious about the "fantasy with guns" aspect”

Tbh I hadn’t even consciously noticed the presence of guns! If you’re interested in fantasy with guns, I suggest Guns of the Dawn.

[Silvana]

Finished with The Gods Themselves - loved the most of it. Part II was particularly great.

Now working through some (free) short stories and novelettes in the Nebula and Locus lists. Today I read A Witch’s Guide To Escape: A Practical Compendium Of Portal Fantasies and it's really fun. The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections is also recommended.