What Else Are You Reading - October 2019

[Rob, Roberator]

October means Halloween. Anyone planning on reading some spooky/scary books this month? If so, what? If not, what are you reading instead?

[Ruth]

For some spooky scary fun, I’m joining the SF&F group day-by-day buddy read of A Night in the Lonesome October . You can join the discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[TRP]

Just started Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin.
I am not constantly muttering "IRespectYourRightToWriteAtYourOwnPaceButWhereTheHeckIsWindsOfWinter" under my breath but I might be thinking it

[Iain]

I haven't updated for a while:

I hard bounced off The Dragon Republic which is an awful blend of YA adult and storylines that make Joe Abercrombie books seem like light reads. The tone was just wrong for a book about the rise of a monster.

Refreshed my palette listening to Percepliquis which finishes off the adventure started in The Crown Conspiracy in fine style. An old fashioned fantasy romp, which is just what I needed.

I have also listened to two Doctor Who stories. Doctor Who: Molten Heart in which I could almost hear the scenery creak (a typically bad Doctor Who episode). A Terrance Dicks novelisation Doctor Who: The Space Pirates which was tightly plotted and a nice reminder of the 2nd Doctor.

In print I nipped through The Slow Regard of Silent Things which is a little gem and helps with the endless wait for the last of the Kingkiller chronicles. (I want Doors of Stone now!!!).

Could not get through Dawn. Beautifully written, just not what I needed at the moment. I will pick it up again in a few weeks when my brain has settled down.

Enjoying our October read Seven Blades in Black.

I have just started listening to Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey which is Michael Collins account of the Moon landings. Just finished the prologue which was written by Charles Lindbergh, this sounds great. Perfect read on the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing.

[John (Nevets)]

So with more driving last month I went through another Audiobook that has been on my backlog for quite a while Artemis I liked it. I won't pretend it is a great book, but it's the type of story I very much enjoy, the very competent protagonist story. I know others don't like this type of story as much, and that's cool too. But I've always liked this type of story, weather it is Neal Stephenson, or Robert Heinlein, or apparentlyAndy Weir. I think this is part of the reason I've always liked Heist movies in general. Smart, multi-talented people doing cool things in a creative way. Just think what those engineers in the back room of "Apollo 13" could do, if they decided to pull a heist.

I do wish an editor had had a bit stronger hand it this, I think there were a couple of things that could have been deleted and made a few instances less cringe worthy. And despite all the research he did there was one science moment that pulled me out, and made me say, I don't think so, or at least you better tell me you considered this. (view spoiler)[When Jazz is cutting through the refinery hall and they made a big deal about not raising the pressure in the air space in the wall, yet they are using a cutting torch that generates a lot of heat, this is probably going to heat up the air in this space, and thus raise the pressure, PV=nRT after all. (hide spoiler)]But overall I enjoyed the ride. He has said he has more stories to tell in this community, and I wouldn't mind reading those either.

[Misti]

Well, I tried to listen to this month’s pick but wasn’t enjoying it at all. So I exchanged it for Reticence. I’ve been wanting to read it but putting it off because it’s the last in the series. I wish it didn’t have to end.

[John (Taloni)]

I'm about two thirds of the way through my full Pern reread. Well, "Full" meaning main sequence written by Anne McCaffrey up through All the Weyrs of Pern, then going back for side items. Not including later stuff from Todd McCaffrey.

First, All the Weyrs of Pern: It's a capstone where they finally get rid of the menace of Thread. This should make it a raving five star, but I can really only give it four. Good use of previously introduced material, but it's just too fast. The Deus Ex Machina of an awakening AI force-feeding the Pernese space age knowledge made me hurl the first time I read it and it's only a little more palatable now. Plus there's this weird conspiracy between the AI and Jaxom to keep Lessa grounded because they need to time travel and...can't tell F'lar and Lessa? Weak.

Anyhoo, all's well that ends well. Or does it? (view spoiler)[Thread will no longer follow the Red Star to Pern, but the Oort cloud is revealed as an ancient bioweapon that likely harbors malevolent intelligences. Aivas arranges the death of the entire Oort cloud's life forms, but that feels more like war than genocide. (hide spoiler)]

Then on to Chronicles of Pern: First Fall. This is a series of "stories" that are really just data dumps. If you've read the entire series to this point you may enjoy the data being dumped. Even then it's a stretch. There's the first survey of Pern, and a final look by Earth that picks up some holed-up survivors but misses the tens of thousands of people on the Northern continent because they're living in cave systems and don't use electricity. Pern is then interdicted due to Thread. Also a snoozeworthy sea trip during the frenzied migration to the Northern continent that seems to exist mainly to tee up Dolphins of Pern. Then the creation of Benden Weyr, in which Anne goes out of her way to justify the Dragon-influenced rough sex of Dragonflight. My thought: Don't! That was written during a different day and doesn't hold up, so don't try. We can read it in context and make our own decisions.

[Ruth]

Finished listening to Jade War today, just in time for my preorder of The Secret Commonwealth which arrives in my ears tomorrow!
Jade War was a bit slow in parts but it really picked up towards the end and at this point I’m just very over invested in the whole of the No Peak clan and the Kaul family.

Also, just about to start the sequel to one of my favourite ever books, Carry On. It’s called... Wayward Son, a title choice which brings joy to my little fangirl heart .

[Iain]

Ruth wrote: "Finished listening to Jade War today, just in time for my preorder of The Secret Commonwealth which arrives in my ears tomorrow!..."

Off to book shop in the morning... Mine, my precious mine....

[Rebecca]

Ruth wrote: "For some spooky scary fun, I’m joining the SF&F group day-by-day buddy read of A Night in the Lonesome October . You can join the discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

This is going to be my third year reading that day-by-day in October after this book was kind of super unofficially a suggestion to also read a couple years ago. It would be fun to go through it with others!

[Colin]

Ruth wrote: "... just in time for my preorder of The Secret Commonwealth which arrives in my ears tomorrow!"

Ah yes! It's been Kindle pre-ordered for months, but I'm going to be sensible about it and finish off one of my current books before diving in.

I had mixed feelings about the previous volume, but have invested so much time in the series over the years that it's still a no-questions-asked automatic read for me!

[Dara]

I am working my way through Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity by Felicia Day.

[Kelli]

Dara wrote: "I am working my way through Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity by Felicia Day."

I just got my copy in the mail yesterday! Can't wait to dig in.

[Aaron]

Misti wrote: "Well, I tried to listen to this month’s pick but wasn’t enjoying it at all. So I exchanged it for Reticence. I’ve been wanting to read it but putting it off because it’s the last in the series. I wish it didn’t have to end"

But what an end! I dropped other reads when it came out and it's my favorite in the series.

[Sheila Jean]

Reading Wanderers and listening to The Hanging Tree.

[Stephen]

Started October with The October Man, Ben Aaronovitch's sideline into the German side of the plot about rogue magicians reeking havoc. The True Bastards hits my Kindle app next week, the follow up to The Grey Bastards which I really liked. Downbelow Station in my attempt to read the past books of the month list. This month's BOM . The final volume of the Paper Girls, Vol. 6 is out. Plus I get a week off at the end of the month so a deep dive into the Best Short Stories so far this year. Lastly, on the cover alone, plus the title and the price The Black Hawks. Looks promising.

[Joseph]

Finished Sorcery in Shad and started Lin Carter's Simrana Cycle, a collection of very Dunsanian short stories by, yes, Lin Carter and various others (including, at the end, a whole passel of stories by Lord Dunsany himself, which may or may not have proven to be a mistake; but I'll say that Carter's Dunsanian pastiche is surprisingly effective).

[Silvana]

Finished with The Dragon Republic, liked it a bit better than The Poppy War, still have issues, but overall an entertaining read.

Starting A Little Hatred. Back to First Law world! Super high expectation!

[terpkristin]

Hmm, it's been awhile. I lem'd last month's pick (Trail of Lightning. I was disappointed, it just wasn't for me, though I really liked the author interview.

I started this month's pick, Seven Blades in Black in audio, but it's not working for me in audio, so I'm going to switch to Kindle version...once I finish reading...

The Testaments. I've read a lot of things saying that people are let down by the book, but I still wanted to see where Atwood was going. Nerdette Podcast has done a 3-part "readalong" for it, so I'm listening to those as I get to the relevant points.

I also just finished what I can only call a rom-stery (romantic mystery?), The Frame-Up. It was geeky and fun and I guess was probably an Audible daily deal awhile back that I listened to when I realized that SBIB wasn't working for me in audio.

Next up in audio is TBD. I have a YA book, some biographies/autobiographies, and some other non-fiction books, in addition to The Bird King and The City of Brass. So many options!!

[Trike]

Just finished Richard Matheson’s story collection Steel: And Other Stories. There’s a reason he was a master of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. Story-by-story breakdown with spoilers tagged: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Silvana]

Finished with A Little Hatred - which is the best fantasy book I read this year. Entertainment at its best.

Starting Un Lun Dun and a short story How to Move Spheres and Influence People

[Silvana]

Dara wrote: "I am working my way through Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity by Felicia Day."

Would love to know your thoughts about this one.

[Brad]

On Kindle I just finished The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle which was so-so, not as good as Lovecraft Country which is more what I was expecting. Now I’m on to Alice by Christina Henry which so far seems pretty interesting and has me hooked. I’m still going back to Night Shift by Stephen King and reading stories here and there.

On audiobook I’ve been going back and forth between The Elementals by Michael McDowell and Strange Weather by Joe Hill. The Elementals I’m unsure of so far, I’m really disliking basically every character. So far in Strange Weather the real standout is the skydiving story but that’s all I’ve really liked so far. I have 1 story left there. Lastly I’ve been listening to The Fisherman by John Langan with a co-worker and that book has so far been excellent, great narrator too.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished reading:


For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


We Can Build You by Philip K. Dick

[Christos]

I’m reading a lot of horror novels in October.

Christine by Stephen King
Let the right one in
Newsflesh Feed
Call of Cthulhu
Girl with all the gifts
Final girls
Red Dragon (Hannibal Lector #1)
Heart shaped box
Something wicked this way comes
Graveyard book
Rosemarys baby
We have always lived in a castle
House of leaves

[Trike]

At 20% in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Is there any, you know, *fantasy* in this Fantasy novel? So far it’s mostly accounting porn. Ooh, unbalance those books, you bad girl you.

[Keith]

I am celebrating October by working my way through E. Hoffmann Price's "Pierre D'Artois, Occult Detective" series. I'm also reading The Canterville Ghost, which you'd think I would have done before, but nope!

My "selected by random number generator" golden-age sci-fi short read for the month is "The World of the Crystal Cities" by George Griffith. I know nothing about it, other than, in his day, Griffith was as big or bigger than HG Wells,so I'm excited. It's in the "Weird Tales, vol 4" ebook collection, and a bunch of other places.

[Trike]

Keith wrote: "I am celebrating October by working my way through E. Hoffmann Price's "Pierre D'Artois, Occult Detective" series. I'm also reading The Canterville Ghost, which you'd t..."

Oh man, I’d totally forgotten about Price. I tried one of his books back in the 80s when I was still under the mistaken impression that “Del Rey” equated with “books I will like.” Operation Longlife, ostensibly about something sci-fi, was really about cooking. I remembered thinking it sounded like the old folks my grandma knew, who only talked about the weather and food and which one of their friends had died that month. Turns out he was born the same year as she, 1898.

Good for him for still cranking out work at 85, but it tasted like mothballs.

[Ruth]

Trike wrote: "At 20% in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Is there any, you know, *fantasy* in this Fantasy novel? So far it’s mostly accounting porn. Ooh, unbalance those books, you bad girl you."

Well I can’t answer your question but you did make me giggle so props for that!

[Dara]

Silvana wrote: "Dara wrote: "I am working my way through Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity by Felicia Day."

Would love to know your thoughts about this one."

So far so good! I'm enjoying it a lot and the exercises are fun even when it's a little harrowing to be introspective. Also it's just plain old fun to scribble in a book. It's so naughty.

Trike wrote: "At 20% in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Is there any, you know, *fantasy* in this Fantasy novel? So far it’s mostly accounting porn. Ooh, unbalance those books, you bad girl you."

From what I recall, no. I really did not like that book, though.

[Jonathan]

I am currently listening to The Shadow of What Was Lost, and reading Ruin

[Mark]

Trike wrote: "At 20% in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Is there any, you know, *fantasy* in this Fantasy novel? So far it’s mostly accounting porn. Ooh, unbalance those books, you bad girl you."

I made it about about 80% thru the book, when it was a S+L pick four years ago. Grimdark accounting? Kinda, sorta.

[Jessica]

Trike wrote: "At 20% in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Is there any, you know, *fantasy* in this Fantasy novel? So far it’s mostly accounting porn. Ooh, unbalance those books, you bad girl you."

I don't think it ever gets more "capital f" Fantasy, no. Overall I thought that book got kind of boring for a while, but then finished strong.

I'm almost done with Chuck Wendig's Wanderers, which has an interesting premise, but dude wrote it soooooo unnecessarily loooooong. I can't wait to just get to the end of the story already.

[Joseph]

Finished Lin Carter's Simrana Cycle and moved onto another Lin Carter -- Tower of the Medusa. Which is a 2011 reprint of a novella that formed half of an Ace Double and which has some really dire photoshopped cover art:



but I was greatly amused when I actually recognized the spaceship as an AMT Star Trek model kit I owned back when I was young.



It was cool because the model actually glowed in the dark!

(And my understanding is that it was an entirely unrelated generic spaceship model that AMT repurposed into their Star Trek line.)

[Trike]

Jessica wrote: "I'm almost done with Chuck Wendig's Wanderers, which has an interesting premise, but dude wrote it soooooo unnecessarily loooooong. I can't wait to just get to the end of the story already."

I long for the days when authors had the talent to actually tell a complete story in 250 pages.

[Trike]

Joseph wrote: "Finished Lin Carter's Simrana Cycle and moved onto another Lin Carter -- Tower of the Medusa. Which is a 2011 reprint of a novella that formed half of an Ace Double and which has some really dire photoshopped cover art:..."

Kind of appropriate since Lin Carter’s writing is a dire pastiche of other authors, like Robert E. Howard and C.L. Moore. :p

[Trike]

Mark wrote: "Trike wrote: "At 20% in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Is there any, you know, *fantasy* in this Fantasy novel? So far it’s mostly accounting porn. Ooh, unbalance those books, you bad ...

I made it about about 80% thru the book, when it was a S+L pick four years ago. Grimdark accounting? Kinda, sorta."

I can only hope this has a twist ending, because so far it’s been obvious point after obvious point. Baru is a Chosen One in all but name. She’s smarter than everyone else, she’s more dedicated than everyone else, she has a more severe case of monomania than anyone else.

Given the duality of the narrative and Baru herself, I’m going out on a limb (warning: incoming pun) and she will get her hand cut off as moral punishment for collaborating. Or lose an eye. That’s good, too. As the collaboratin’ Chosen One she’ll be a good teenage Pirate Queen.

If she *does* become One-Eyed Teenage Pirate Queen, I’m going to sock the author in the nose.

[Erik]

Finished Vessel. Loved the first two thirds or so and then it seemed as though her term paper due date got pushed up and it just kind of got slapped to a close. Haven't looked at the discussion yet but I vaguely remember people saying something along those lines.

Besides The October Country I'm definitely going to read some other Halloween vibes selections. I downloaded The Troop on Libro and a buddy picked it up as well (reads with friends also push pick ups past the hoard of unread estate sale books in my closet (speaking of, I bought 10 more estate sale books this weekend but you guys it was only $10 and two are these tiny antique Emerson essay collections and they are gorgeous)). I haven't been healthy enough to read or watch horror (more parentheses but for a month or so I couldn't get my heart rate up without getting light headed. Literally almost fainted once when my cat startled me) and am back to 100% in that regard and ready for some creepy reads.

Also started Heart Berries which is very poetically written for a memoir yet also very abrupt and harsh. The second essay really started getting it's hooks in and being only 120~ pages this book will fly by.

[Sheila Jean]

Well, I finished Wanderers, which I liked well enough and managed to read pretty quickly despite the number of pages. If anyone's finished (view spoiler)[Did Black Swan take a page from Benji's book and just manufacture the whole thing to get the result they thought was needed? That's the way my brain interpreted it: Black Swan's actions were a variation on what got Benji kicked out of the CDC. (hide spoiler)]

Back to reading the The Dragon Republic - about a third of the way through, and listening to another Ben Aaronovitch (Lies Sleeping).

[Joseph]

Trike wrote: "Kind of appropriate since Lin Carter’s writing is a dire pastiche of other authors, like Robert E. Howard and C.L. Moore. :p ..."

Indeed. Although ironically, his Dunsanian pastiche is better than a lot of his other stuff. And while he was no great shakes as an author, he was a magnificent editor and anthologist.

[John (Taloni)]

Continuing on with the Pern reread. First up, Dolphins of Pern. Like most later Pern books, this one continues the ongoing soap opera of Pernese life, this one using the Dolphins that came with the original settlers as a wraparound device. We've got a kid that wants to interact with the newly rediscovered "shipfish" and parents that forbid him to do so. If this all seems fairly obivous, well, it is. McCaffrey has a heavy romance streak in her Pern works and this time it's a boy and his dolphins.

We get some of what is going on just before Aivas leads the dragonriders to finally push the Red Star away from Pern, leading to no more Thread. Then the aftermath of that, with both technological advances and resistance to change from some of the population.

Of course there has to be an HFN, so the kid of the wraparound story Assumes his Power, Struggles Mightily, and then has his happy ending. It involves the entirety of the power structure of Pern giving him what he wants. Sappy, but if you're interested in Reading as Tourism, this one fits the bill.

[John (Taloni)]

Then, Masterharper of Pern. Robinton is one of the best loved characters of Pern and this book shows him from birth through his assumption of the Master Harper position, to his exercise of that role.

This book has both a serious and an extremely silly side. On the serious portion, Robinton has a strained relationship with a distant, controlling father. That's interesting as a character study. It's expressed in music which McCaffrey studied extensively, so this part is also a window into a world of music described in great detail.

The silly part is where Robinton gets inserted Forrest Gump style into all the major events of 50 or so years leading up to Dragonflight. He even comments on the birth of Lessa and mourns her presumed death. Young Robinton interacts with teens who will turn into major figures in Dragonflight and Dragonquest.

There's also a long sequence where Robinton opposes the dictator Fax, who is the villain of Weyr Search, the novelette that kicked the whole thing off. Most of the events so poorly fit existing Pern books that I just had to laugh it off. It reminded me obliquely of the Deep Space Nine episode where they time travel to the Trouble with Tribbles episode and shoehorn in a bunch of retcon history, eventually ending with Sisko cut into an interaction with Kirk that originally had a miniskirted yeoman, where Kirk makes comments that really don't fit the interaction.

Robinton winds up witnessing the knife fight that is the main action of Weyr Search (first quarter or so of Dragonflight) but doesn't really do anything. And then, mercifully, it closes. The coda sets up Dragonsong, in a way that feels inauthentic and doesn't match that book's backstory. Well, it's still a visit to Pern. I don't begrudge McCaffrey doing fan service here, but unlike Dragonsdawn I couldn't buy in. Lots of Pern fans love this book. I found it a passable inclusion in the full reread.

[BookishBenny]

I’m currently working my way through Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant series. I’m on book 3, Whispers Underground.

I also bought The Institute by Stephen King earlier today so might give that a go to tie in with Halloween.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Continuing on with the Pern reread. First up, Dolphins of Pern. Like most later Pern books, this one continues the ongoing soap opera of Pernese life, this one using the Dolphins that came with the..."

I remember when one of McCaffrey’s books was published in the mid-80s, probably Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, and some wag snarked, “With all these Pern books coming out, how long before we see dolphins on Pern?” McCaffrey was like, “Challenge accepted.” 😂

[Trike]

Erik wrote: "Finished Vessel. Loved the first two thirds or so and then it seemed as though her term paper due date got pushed up and it just kind of got slapped to a close. Haven't looked at th..."

Yeah, it just ends. I thought it was predictable and boring.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[John (Taloni)]

^^ Haaa, that's great! I didn't hear that bit but I believe it. McCaffrey's put just about everything possible into her books. "How could a late-medieval society affect the orbit of a planet?" *Anne cracks knuckles* "I'll have to introduce a deus ex machina, but by the end the dragons and their riders will solve it and you'll totally go along with the premise."

We were spoiled, I lived in Brookline just outside of Boston and McCaffrey would do events from time to time. Saw her in the Boston Public Library as a teenager, and IIRC another time at a bookstore signing. At one of the events someone wagged that McCaffrey was going to coauthor a book with Samuel R. Delaney titled "Dragonlust." With those dragon-inspired sex scenes I thought it was an actual possibility for a minute or two.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "We were spoiled, I lived in Brookline just outside of Boston and McCaffrey would do events from time to time. Saw her in the Boston Public Library as a teenager, and IIRC another time at a bookstore signing."

One of her sons worked with my brother at Mead Data in Dayton, so she would do appearances there, too. She was feisty.

[Rob, Roberator]

FYI img tags support the width and height options. Please make liberal use of them. Posting large images is not great.

If you really want people to see the full size you can provide the link as well.

If you really want to get fancy wrap the image tag instead of an href and the image when clicked will take you to the full version. Like so:

[Joseph]

Sorry -- I'll scale it down next time.

In the meantime, I finished Tower of the Medusa (as I said, it was a novella) and started The Black Star, also by Lin Carter.

[Erik]

Got my preorder of False Knees: An Illustrated Guide to Animal Behavior. Glancing through most of the comics are ones that I've seen before but I just love having the book. I have the homemade first book he put out a few years ago and it's awesome to see him work his way up. Seems like a genuinely awesome guy.