What else are you reading - June 2020

[Tamahome]

I heard Timothy Zahn say once he didn't use the threat of death to build suspense, but did it some other way.

[elizabeth • paper ghosts]

Sheila Jean wrote: "Non-SFF I'm 85% through A Murderous Relation in audio which I'm enjoying, but feel like it misses something from the earlier Veronica Speedwell novels."

I ended up feeling the same way! I love the Veronica Speedwell series, but the latest one was my least favorite so far. You aren't wrong that it felt like something was missing. It just felt lower quality overall compared to the rest of the series for me.

I just finished The Kingdom of Copper, and am so ready for The Empire of Gold at the end of the month. I honestly have no idea where Chakraborty is going with the story after the conclusion of Copper, but I'm so excited to see what happens.

I started A Memory Called Empire and I'm about halfway through with it. I'm liking it way more than I thought I would.

I have a few non-SFF titles on loan from the library, but I have no idea if I'm going to get to them in time before they expire. They all came in at once and I'm a terribly slow reader. But I'm hoping to get to Beach Read and Sharks in the Time of Saviors this month.

[Trike]

Ruth wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Finished my Hugo best novel category with Middlegame. I did not enjoy it.
...
Yeah, I don’t click with Seanan McGuire either. I read Every Heart a Doorway recently and I got through it all right, but I’m glad it wasn’t longer!"

Same. I don’t get the hype.

Every Heart a Doorway has a cool premise but absolutely wretched execution. Although I did think it needed to be a bit longer to fill out the characters. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Her writing as Mira Grant is inexplicably worse. My review of the mermaid book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Geoff]

I just finished All Systems Red. The hype was justified, it was really good.

Moving on in the series, Artificial Condition.

I hadn't really noticed Martha Wells before, and was astonished to see she was nominated for a Nebula award, best novel, over 20 years ago! The Death of the Necromancer. I'm intrigued.

[Rick]

Trike wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Finished my Hugo best novel category with Middlegame. I did not enjoy it.
...
Yeah, I don’t click with Seanan McGuire eithe..."

Honestly, Trike, I think your reviews are more entertaining than the books reviewed. :)

Geoff - Wells is good. The Raksura series is interesting too. In fact, one of my peeves with most groups (this one included) is that they too often skip past such authors and do known or hyped names as selections. I'd love to see writers like Wells who are doing very good work but under the radar get more notice.

[Joseph]

Moved on to The Prophecy Con, the third of Patrick Weekes' Rogues of the Republic trilogy.

[Geoff]

Finished Artificial Condition. Excellent. On to the next in the series, Rogue Protocol.

[Tamahome]

I finished the first Murderbot. It was short and fun. I actually thought these novellas were murder mysteries and the bot was a detective somehow, lol.

[Trike]

Tamahome wrote: "I finished the first Murderbot. It was short and fun. I actually thought these novellas were murder mysteries and the bot was a detective somehow, lol."

Interesting, veddy inneristing. Do you know what gave you that impression?

[Tamahome]

I don't know. Maybe subconsciously from "[series:The Murderbot Diaries]"? Or I got it mixed up with The Beekeeper's Apprentice somehow. I should reread Caves of Steel.

[Silvana]

Tamahome wrote: "I don't know. Maybe subconsciously from "[series:The Murderbot Diaries]"? Or I got it mixed up with The Beekeeper's Apprentice somehow. I should reread Caves of Steel."

I think I said somewhere that I'd love for Daneel to meet with Murderbot.

[Trike]

Silvana wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I don't know. Maybe subconsciously from "[series:The Murderbot Diaries]"? Or I got it mixed up with The Beekeeper's Apprentice somehow. I should reread [book:Caves of ...

I think I said somewhere that I'd love for Daneel to meet with Murderbot."

Daneel would constantly want to engage in conversation while the naturally reticent Murderbot would give reluctant answers.

[John (Taloni)]

Reading Caves of Steel is always a good choice. Naked Sun is one of my faves. A great book by itself, also a commentary on New England snobbery as well as prescient of the internet era.

Murderbot kinda is a mystery. Not a detective mystery sort, but its investigations into its own past represent an unfolding mystery.

[Tamahome]

Yeah maybe someone on a podcast said Murderbot had a mystery in it.

[Tamahome]

Here's a Zoom with Martha Wells from March. No surprise that the last sf she read was Ann Leckie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llu2n...

[Trike]

Tamahome wrote: "Here's a Zoom with Martha Wells from March. No surprise that the last sf she read was Ann Leckie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llu2n..."

That was tremendously fascinating, thanks. She almost killed off Murderbot in the first story! What?!

[John (Taloni)]

That would have been as bad as the original ending of Clerks!

[Silvana]

Reading a non fiction but it's so darn good and might be relevant for the folks here: Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood a memoir of a veteran scifi writer, creator of Babylon 5, Sense8, and so on.

elizabeth • paper ghosts wrote: "But I'm hoping to get to Beach Read and Sharks in the Time of Saviors this month.

..."

I loved Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Hawaiian magical realism.

[Silvana]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Reading Caves of Steel is always a good choice. Naked Sun is one of my faves. A great book by itself, also a commentary on New England snobbery as well as prescient of the internet era.

Murderbot ..."

Does the fourth book any good: Robots and Empire? Hard to find the Kindle version.

[John (Taloni)]

^ I find any Asimov written after his hiatus to be pap. I have read it and found it mostly silly plot extensions that degrade the original work. That said, I did read a large percentage of his later works just to see what he would do. It's still Asimov, although it's lesser Asimov.

[Silvana]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ I find any Asimov written after his hiatus to be pap. I have read it and found it mostly silly plot extensions that degrade the original work. That said, I did read a large percentage of his late..."

Thanks!
I actually enjoyed Robots of Dawn and looks like it's written after the hiatus. But since it's too difficult to procure Robots and Empire, I think I'll try the Foundation novels again.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ I find any Asimov written after his hiatus to be pap. I have read it and found it mostly silly plot extensions that degrade the original work. That said, I did read a large percentage of his late..."

Asimov was always more about the ideas than anything else. He was not a great stylist and his dialogue and characters are wooden bordering on petrified. His attempts to merge his books into one universe in his later years was hit or miss. I read them but I honestly can’t remember much about them, other than the fact he retconned psychohistory as being created by R. Daneel Olivaw rather than Hari Seldon.

A lot of the failed attempts by movie studios to create their own shared universes like the MCU are in the same vein for me, where it all feels forced and clunky. Maybe that’s why I have a hard time recalling the details: my brain is rejecting the awkward shoehorning the way our immune system attacks invading disease.

[Trike]

As for what I’m reading, I just started The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter and I’m already closing in on the 1/4 point.

So far it’s a pretty basic Epic Fantasy setup except set in an analogue to sub-Saharan Africa or maybe sorta-Mediterranean with a couple cliched phrases (“he moved faster than someone that size should” and “Tau let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding”, etc.) but — BUT — it has some of the best-written action scenes I’ve ever read. They’re just effortless.

[Erik]

Haven't posted in months (weird how being out of work affected my goodreads usage) but here's some recent reads!

Loved The Night Circus. Great breezy read. Delivers what you want from it (well at least what I wanted tbf).

Recently finished Consider the Lobster and Other Essays after starting it a year and a half ago. Absolutely loved all of what I consider the relevant to me essays. Also felt like adult homework but enjoyed it.

Listened to Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness and read Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me and highly recommend both. Health/mental health memoirs have been high on my list recently.

Listened to Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You and Jason Reynolds is a top notch reader.

Listened to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and honestly was a bit disappointed. Just didn't really do anything for me which was surprising.

[Iain]

Had a pretty dreadful June so buried myself in Childhood favourites. Reread The Hobbit, or There and Back Again and Galactic Patrol and onwards in the lensmen series...

Now back on a more even keel and am reading Miranda in Milan and listening to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

[Joseph]

I just started NADA the Lily by H. Rider Haggard on what, by coincidence, turns out to be his 164th birthday (06/22/1856).

[Ruth]

Just finished Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race which was very well-written and accessible, although I suspect that the people who most need it won’t read it.

Starting The Starless Sea

[Colin]

A few to catch up on:

Like several around here I read Network Effect. Everything I could really have expected from a novel length Murderbot story. Looking forward, as ever, to the next one! If Martha Wells gets tired of writing these, I would totally be up for some spin-off "Sanctuary Moon" novellas. You can tell she's already given some thought to how the stories would go.

Finished A Memory Called Empire. Enjoyed it overall. Will probably weigh in on the dedicated threads for that one.

Continuing my somewhat delayed read of the Expanse series, read The Vital Abyss. Didn't care for it much. The weakest of the novellas so far, as far as I'm concerned. Coming off the back of giving 5 stars to Nemesis Games it was a bit of a let down. Will still, of course, carry on to the next main series book before too long.

Have started on Planetfall by Emma Newman.

[Mark]

Colin wrote: "If Martha Wells gets tired of writing these, I would totally be up for some spin-off "Sanctuary Moon" novellas. You can tell she's already given some thought to how the stories would go."



ok, not a real book, but I was surprised to learn from an interview with Martha Wells that Sanctuary Moon is based on How to Get Away with Murder

[John (Taloni)]

Colin wrote: "I would totally be up for some spin-off "Sanctuary Moon" novellas."

Seconded! Could come wrapped by a Murderbot short as intro/outro.

[Geoff]

On the MurderBot theme, just finished Exit Strategy. Maybe my favorite of the series yet. Looking forward to Network Effect.

However, next to read is Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World, for my non-fiction book club.

[Marti]

Another happy Murderbot fan. I'd preorder the next, but I had preordered Network effect as an ebook, and then was disappointed by the offer of a short story exclusive to the Hardback buyers. So I may not preorder at all. Did anyone buy the hardback and read the story? What did you think?
Partway through Golden State , but the main character is about to get a big reveal that I think he won't like at all, so I'm reading Dewey Lambdin Golden age of sail British Navy series and really enjoying it.
I was listening to JMS's biography too, but I needed to take a break halfway through as he had a perfectly horrible family. It's a real wonder that he grew up to become the literate humanist he is.

[Trike]

Marti wrote: "Another happy Murderbot fan. I'd preorder the next, but I had preordered Network effect as an ebook, and then was disappointed by the offer of a short story exclusive to the Hardback buyers. So I m..."

I bought the hardback but I have no idea what short story you’re referring to.

[Marti]

Trike wrote: "Marti wrote: "Another happy Murderbot fan. I'd preorder the next, but I had preordered Network effect as an ebook, and then was disappointed by the offer of a short story exclusive to the Hardback ..."
Check the publisher's page or Martha Well's Martha Wellsgoodreads blog. You input a receipt and you get the story I think. Since I didn't want to go to all the bother of cancelling the ebook and then ordering the hardback, I didn't investigate further.

[Mark]

Hmmm. I pre-ordered the ebook of Network Effect, submitted my receipt to the publisher, and they sent me the Murderbot short story, Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory. There was no indication that the hardback had to be ordered, but I did this when it was first announced. I suppose they could have changed the rules.

Like the books, the short is about SecUnit fitting in, trying to find a home.

The link was in Quick Burns. The publisher page doesn't mention hardcover.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Mitch]

A memory called empire
Triplanetary
janissaries, clan and crown, storms of victory by Jerry Purnell
Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini
Storm front, fool moon By Jim Butcher
The stainless steel rat by Henry Harrison
The wandering Inn by pirate Aba

The wandering inn was by far my most favorite book this month and in recent memory… Simple but oh so satisfying… Transitioning from that to black leopard Red wolf was… Jarring to say the least, and may have contributed to my decision to not finish BLRW

[Mark]

In need of some comfort reading, I've revisited All Systems Red and Artificial Condition and will continue rereading the rest of the Murderbot diaries.

[Silvana]

Lemming The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein for now and starting Planetfall.

[Silvana]

Louie wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Starting graphic novels Paper Girls, Vol. 1 and sequels, Mooncakes, LaGuardia, Die, Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act and sequels."

I did..."

I liked Papergirls though some volumes have convoluted stories.
I was disappointed with WicDiv, cool concept, great artwork, meh story.

[Rick]

Was in the mood for some fairly old school SF so I read Whipping Star finally and re-read The Dosadi Experiment both by Frank Herbert.

[Misti]

Finished Unseen Academicals last night. It was a lot of fun. Now it’s on to Dune, which I technically started earlier in the week because I was bored at work and wanted something to read.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up my third read of Dune recently. The book was even more impressive than I remembered.

I suppose I'll spoiler protect for anyone who hasn't read Dune at least once yet. Does that person exist here at S&L? Well, just in case...
(view spoiler)[
Some context: I first read the book while in elementary school. I recall my sixth grade teacher freaking out when I casually mentioned reading it. What I recall getting from that read was the truly strange parts of Dune: The weird ecology, Paul's growing powers, the sandworms, the freaky Bene Geserit. I didn't get much of the subtext if at all. Fun read tho even at that age.

Second read was in college and I took it mostly as an adventure novel. Herbert's worldbuilding skill came through and I enjoyed it fine. I read the rest of the trilogy but by the end of Children of Dune, tossed that book away puzzled and said "yep, this has gone to trash."

Now in my 50s, I am getting a lot more of the interwoven layers. Dune as the middle east, spice as oil, delicate ecologies, the Bene Gesserit less than they are fronting to be, the interplay of royal houses as in European history.

The first part is solid but not particularly exceptional. Were that the end of it, Dune would have been good enough to make some Top 100 lists but not more. Where the book truly takes off is when Paul becomes unstuck in time. Then the weirdness of Herbert's worldbuilding takes off and we get the culmination of the mind blowing potential that he's been building for 300 pages. And it just keeps getting better from there. I love the child/adult Alia, that's a plot point I remember clearly from first read.

Some things are just odd though. Why were the Bene Gesserit so determined to make a male version of themselves? If they could breed for power, how about taking it for themselves? There's some unexamined sexism there, an artifact of an earlier age. As the book was written in the early 1960s I'll just roll with it.

Herbert sets up plot points and resolves them hundreds of pages later. You get the "Muad'Dib" intros and only know later why they are important, or who Princess Irulan is or why we would care. Okay, on reread I already knew, but this was well done. Paul's mother as only concubine, never wife, but at the end it is the concubines that are important.

In the storytelling, what matters is the small events in interplay against the bigger tapestry. When the Fremen storm Arrakeen, we see Paul's reaction rather than the huge sandworms assaulting the city. A different author might have done fifty pages of the carnage. We see Paul's feelings.

I was amused at the Cone of Silence. Dune "feels" newer so I thought perhaps he stole it from Get Smart. Nope, Get Smart started taping the year Dune came out, so it's likely they took it from him.

And lastly, I am so glad the appendices were in this version. I recall reading them in first read, but for some reason they weren't in the version I read in college. It's implied that there's a group manipulating the Bene Gesserit to bring Paul as Kwisatz Haderach a generation early. A group we never meet in the novel. Not sure if this is developed later but it was my favorite part of the book. The quote: "In the face of these facts, one is led to the inescapable conclusion tha tthe inefficient Bene Gesserit behavior in this affair was a product of an even higher plan of which they were completely unaware!" (hide spoiler)]

[Louie]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I suppose I'll spoiler protect for anyone who hasn't read Dune at least once yet. Does that person exist here at S&L?"

Yup. Here I am. o/ — But that did not stop me from watching the Nerdist Book Club when they read it last month.

[Tamahome]

Rick wrote: "Was in the mood for some fairly old school SF so I read Whipping Star finally and re-read The Dosadi Experiment both by Frank Herbert."

I didn't realize Frank Herbert wrote all those.

[Joseph]

Finished NADA the Lily and decided to keep on with Haggard, so started another historical, Montezuma's Daughter, set in the waning days of the Aztec Empire.

[Silvana]

Finished Planetfall. Liked it enough to continue with the series. Moving to some anthologies and zines, Mission: Critical included. Though I might try something lighter in between since most short stories I read these days could be depressing.

[Trike]

Silvana wrote: "Moving to some anthologies and zines, Mission: Critical included."

I bought that when it came out and got about a third of the way through. It felt like most of the stories weren’t the “Apollo 13-like” overcoming mishaps the cover promised. Speaking of the cover, it’s weird that it has a Star Wars ship on it. Not sure how that got past so many people.

https://images.app.goo.gl/sj39X2gUxpL...
https://images.app.goo.gl/SxCi5VWjnpW...

[Trike]

My copy of The Rage of Dragons was returned automatically to the library but I still had 50 pages to go. Now I have to wait 3 weeks to get it back. My bad for reading too many books at once and not paying attention.

But now I’m reading Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth and I’m enjoying it. Part Two really threw in an unexpected twist.

[Tamahome]

Trike wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Moving to some anthologies and zines, Mission: Critical included."

I bought that when it came out and got about a third of the way through. It felt like most of the..."

Covers are lies.

[Geoff]

Finished Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World, for my non-fiction book club. Definitely worth a read.

Currently I'm reading Neverwhere, which I got on Kindle sale fairly recently. Somehow I've never read it before. I believe it will complete my reading of major Neil Gaiman works.

I'm tempted to dive back into Dune and sequels sometime soon, with all of the discussion here (plus the movie coming out). It's been at least 25 years since I read them.