What have you been reading this January, 2022?

[Audrey]

Fantasy books are typically 120K words, so one of the longer genres. I was talking to a writer or publishing employee or somebody who said that with audiobooks, especially Audible with the credit system, people are opting for longer books to get their money's worth -- a credit for a 20-hour book is a better deal than a credit for a 2-hour book.

[Mary]

Rebellion of the Lost by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin

[Sheherazahde]

I read Hag by Kathleen Kaufman.
Now I’m on the Mathew Swift series by Kate Griffin.

I don’t like long books. You should be able to tell a story in 400 pages. If I like it I’ll read the next story in that world, and the next…

[Tony]

I finished So Close: Bravest, craziest, unluckiest defeats in Aussie sport, a sports book with an unusual twist - it focuses on sporting defeats. As the title says, it is stories of Australian teams, some in international contests, some in domestic matches.

[Tony]

Lyndon wrote: "Currently reading Michael Moorcock's "The Jewel in the Skull," the first Hawkmoon novel."

Moorcock has been one of my favourite authors since I was first exposed to his novels in the 70s. While Elric is his best known character, I always preferred the Hawkmoon novels.

[Mary]

War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage by Lawrence H. Keeley

[Andrea]

Finished The Complete Robot, lots of interesting stories there. Also as a software developer I enjoyed how the people tried to "debug" the robots when they started acting strange. Seems those three rules are pretty solid but can still go wrong, I liked how he essentially poked at them, though stories they are maybe useful reading for anyone in the AI industry these days :) I must agree with Asimov, that his best story was The Bicentennial Man...I think that got made into a full length novel but not sure it will work as well at that length, I'll see when I get to it next month.

Starting on another SF classic to fill my Invasion BINGO slot - The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

[Mary]

Sworn to the Light by Denton Salle

[Andrea]

Finished The Accidental Apprentice which is currently free till the end of the month on rivetedlit.com. As a blurb I saw somewhere said, it really is Harry Potter x Pokemon, and I enjoyed it. I've already read all the other free SF/F free reads on the site so I might look for something on OpenLibrary this weekend to start on next. In the meantime will try to finish the other two books I'm reading in parallel...

[Nicky]

I just finished The Gilded Scarab this morning and it was... a mess. #sorrynotsorry

I rated it 1*, because it had no clear plot, it went nowhere at all, and the main character was an arrogant, self-centered ass.

Also, it was labeled as a steampunk book, but there was nothing steampunk about it, I've been betrayed.

[Tony]

I read the graphic novel Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 1, which was the reboot of Superman after Crisis on Infinite Earths, Some good writing and excellent artwork from John Byrne, this series did a good job of returning Superman to his roots.

[Andrea]

Finished War of the Worlds by Wells. I already knew how it ended so I guess what was supposed to be a surprise twist didn't work on me, but overall was pretty good with a decent amount of good science worked into it, given what they didn't know in 1898 that we do now about Mars, etc.

Back to Dune with - Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

[Robin]

I just finished "Awakened - I'm Only Dreaming of Dragons," by KG Duncan. And here is my review...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...I'm Only Dreaming of Dragons Book 1: Awakened

[Tony]

I have finished Savage City, the final novel in The Adventures Of Florin And Lorenzo. It's an enjoyable fantasy series, with the two main characters reminding me of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I would have been happy to see more novels in this series, but it doesn't seem likely the author will write any more about these two, as the last of the books was written in 2005.

[Nicky]

I am now reading Blood of Elves which I don't dislike so far, but damn, there's so many names! I can hardly keep track, if even.

I also started The Crown Conspiracy by one of my favourite authors. I've read the riyria chronicles already, so now i'm embarking on the adventure that is the riyria revelations series.

[Michelle]

That’s a terrific series!

[Kivrin]

Nikki wrote: "I am now reading Blood of Elves which I don't dislike so far, but damn, there's so many names! I can hardly keep track, if even. ."

Stick with it. I also had trouble with all the names (and politics), but the book is one of my favorites in the series. Well worth the struggle!

[Nicky]

Thank you both! I will definitely stick with it. It did take me a minute to get used to the writing style of the translator (Dutch edition), maybe that didn't help.
But I'm beginning to like it more and more!

[Michelle]

I'm reading The Pale Horseman, the second in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales series. I meant to read this in December after I finished the first book, but I got sidetracked. That happens a lot!

[Kivrin]

Currently reading Journal of the Plague Year: An Omnibus of Post-Apocalyptic Tales Picked it up at the Old Book Sale without realizing the three stories are set in an established post plague world that appears in the Afterblight Chronicles which I've never heard of. Really liked the first story set on a space station that is quarantined from the horrors below. Only skimmed the second story after realizing is was about a war lord in Australia killing his way to the top--too dark and amoral for me. Currently reading the last story set in post-Cull Poland which I'm enjoying.

[Pierre]

I finished Absolution Gap. I was somewhat disappointed by the ending. I may read further books by Alastair Reynolds in the future. For now I am starting Leviathan Falls to complete the Expanse series.

[Tony]

have started reading The War Lord Of The Air, the first book in the Oswald Bastable trilogy by Michael Moorcock. While not one of his better known characters, Bastable is a manifestation of the Eternal Champion.

[Audrey]

Nikki wrote: "I am now reading Blood of Elves which I don't dislike so far, but damn, there's so many names! I can hardly keep track, if even.

I also started The Crown Conspiracy ..."

Both series are excellent. That reminds me, Michael J Sullivan is doing a Q&A Zoom meeting tomorrow, focused on Nolyn:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/72177064107...

Meeting ID: 721 7706 4107
Passcode: 103632

[Nicky]

Audrey wrote: "Nikki wrote: "I am now reading Blood of Elves which I don't dislike so far, but damn, there's so many names! I can hardly keep track, if even.

I also started [book:The Crown Conspi..."

Whoa! That's amazing! What time (please indicate time zone)? :D And how did you acquire this information?

[Audrey]

Oops -- 2:00 p.m. Eastern (New York/east coast U.S. time)

It was in the Kickstarter news update.

[Gary]

Finished reading The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower #2) by Stephen King. I am reading The Jekyl Island Club by Brent Monahan. I plan to read The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle next.

[Barbara]

The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield

In this novel, Apollo 18 - America's last planned manned flight to the moon in 1973 - has a lot of surprises.

Good book by former astronaut Chris Hadfield. 4 stars

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

[Andrea]

I discovered that OpenLibrary has the full set of the Deep Space Nine books for kids. I actually have a physical copy of one of them...somewhere... Thought might be some fun light reads between the heavy stuff like Dune. Since I've read the first one before I'll start with Stowaways by Brad Strickland whenever I've nothing better to do and I have access to a computer

[Nicky]

Audrey wrote: "Oops -- 2:00 p.m. Eastern (New York/east coast U.S. time)

It was in the Kickstarter news update."

I had an amazing time, thank you so much for the heads-up. I loved it!

[Mary]

Ghost in the Talisman by Jonathan Moeller

[Audrey]

Nikki wrote: "Audrey wrote: "Oops -- 2:00 p.m. Eastern (New York/east coast U.S. time)

It was in the Kickstarter news update."

I had an amazing time, thank you so much for the heads-up. I loved it!"

I think I saw your name! It was great; I have so much fun at these things.

[Andrea]

Finished Dune Messiah.

Up next is...well...Next by Michael Crichton. Oddly Goodreads was unable to find the book, even though the title was a perfect match, giving me all kinds of other stuff with the word next in it. I sometimes wonder at their search engine, I suspect they tweak it to promote things they want...

This might fill by BINGO for bio/nano tech...but it seems more about the business side than it is about the science.

[Andrea]

Ok, well I felt pretty sick after my COVID booster so I ended up spending most of the day in bed since sitting a computer made me feel woozy (I'm fine today though). That meant I didn't have much else to do all day but read which resulted in my getting through the remaining 220 pages of Next. The stuff Crichton presented was very interesting and I'd want to learn more about some of it...but as a story, there were WAAAAYYY too many characters and storylines to keep track of. So the story itself wasn't what it could have been if he'd been more focused and not jumped between the science, the business, the laws, etc. I liked Gerard though, parrot with attitude!

Starting on another SF classic series - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I also filled my Silkpunk BINGO slot by finishing The Black Tides of Heaven. I thought I would completely adore this novella but somehow found myself not really all that invested in it. I will continue with it eventually, see if it grows on me.

Thus I had to pick what to read next on my eReader. Randy's lists of newly free SF/F allowed me to download a bunch of SF classics over time...so I sorted by author, and ended up picking Ray Cummings of which I had several stories (and found a few more on Project Gutenberg). I've never even heard of the guy before so seemed like a good place to start, after all I'm covering the guys I do know about with my dead-tree books already. First up - Brigands of the Moon by Ray Cummings inside of the collection Beyond the Point of Unknown (Space Travel & Alien Contact Novels): Brigands of the Moon, The Fire People, The White Invaders

[Nicky]

I just finished Blood of Elves and am now (still, lmao) reading The Crown Conspiracy.

I'm not too hyped about the witcher book, mainly because it... didn't go anywhere. There was no clear plotline for me and the whole book just felt like an introduction to an event we didn't get to see. I sincerely hope the next book will be better, because books with too many dangling loose ends irk me.

[Michelle]

I loved The Crown Conspiracy!

[Audrey]

I am getting over Covid (I think) but it hasn't been as bad as the vaccine was.

[Tony]

I finished The War Lord Of The Air, the first book of the Oswald Bastable trilogy. It's proto-steampunk with a bit of alternate history and multiverse thrown in.

I have started The Past Through Tomorrow, which is the collection of Heinlein's Future History short stories, plus the novel Methuselah's Children

[Lynn]

Finished Dune as a re-read. Surprisingly more compressed timeline than I remembered with some characters departing the scene sooner than I recalled! Do I go on with the series? Unsure as yet.
But I have returned to Iain Banks "Culture" series with No 3 Use of Weapons. I have enjoyed books from this series in the past but never visited the whole thing. True to its title this book begins with a bang and much swash and buckle.

[Tony]

Lynn wrote: "Finished Dune as a re-read. Surprisingly more compressed timeline than I remembered with some characters departing the scene sooner than I recalled! Do I go on with the series? Unsure as yet."

Dune Messiah isn't great, but it is relatively short and is worth reading before Children of Dune, which is very good. I wouldn't bother with the second trilogy though.

[Garyjn]

Tony wrote: "Dune Messiah isn't great, but it is relatively short and is worth reading before Children of Dune, which is very good. I wouldn't bother with the second trilogy though."

Agree the 3rd book is better than the 2nd, but I enjoyed both, as well as the 4th, God Emperor of Dune. The 5th & 6th I would recommend to hard core fans.

[Jim]

I recommend "Dune" as a standalone. I never cared much for
'Messiah'. It was originally part of Dune, but Herbert's editor had him break it out. Maybe that's part of the reason I found its size & scope so jarring. 'Children' was pretty good, although I didn't like where it went much. I found 'Emperor' impenetrable. Too much long winded political musings. I tried it several times over the years & gave up. I never attempted to read beyond it. I haven't heard many good things about those that his son, Brian, contributed to, but one friend of mine with similar tastes loved them all. She looked forward to each addition.

[Andrea]

Must admit not a lot happens in Book 2, its more about dealing with the repercussions of Paul being a kind of messiah, and how to avoid all out Jihad. I liked the parts around the ghola where even he doesn't know what his motivations are. And you do get to learn more about the other worlds and the strange peoples in it (Face Dancers, Navigators, etc). But of course Dune is pretty standalone, it was meant to be a standalone. Probably if you continue with the rest you will have to go all the way :) And if I recall, book 6 doesn't have a conclusive ending, but Herbert passed away before he got to a 7.

Will start on the third book in a few days, I only remember bits...I know it gets weird at one point with human/worm hybrids (and hence, my "has a tail" BINGO slot will be filled, hehe). Not sure if that's already in 3 or only in 4.

[Lynn]

Loving all the Dune follow up comments! I'm pretty sure that I read No 2 (Messiah)... but I have no recollection of it. That may be not a good sign.
I do have other books to read first. I managed to get hold of copies of Cherryh's 2 Finisterre novels Rider at the Gate and Cloud's Rider- telepathic horses! which I remember fondly which also may not be a good sign.

[Lynn]

Andrea wrote: "I discovered that OpenLibrary has the full set of the Deep Space Nine books for kids. I actually have a physical copy of one of them...somewhere... Thought might be some fun light reads between the..."
Oh Deep Space Nine! I am deep in the ritual of nightly reruns on UK TV

[Audrey]

I watched about one and a half seasons of Deep Space Nine when it first aired and quit. I heard that was when it started to get good, yet I haven't had the motivation to finish it.

[Andrea]

I must admit there's a bit of a Star Trek overload lately. On Canada's Space channel they play all the older series of Star Trek, each day of the week dedicated to several episodes of a particular series.

I started with Enterprise since I'd never seen it. Then since Deep Space Nine was just reaching the end I went through that one. Next up was Voyager because though I had seen the entire series, I never did see the last episode! I'm about halfway through that one.

Then new shows were started. Discovery, Lower Decks and Picard. There is a new CG one for kids called Prodigy which I figured was a streaming thing so I missed most of it before I realized the Space channel had that one too. And so far the one episode I caught, I only caught half of...

And in May there will be a series about Captain Pike and still in the works is one about Section 13...

So 6 current shows at the same time, plus one I'm rewatching...it's been a little crazy, but then what better time than a year I decide to dedicate to SF :o)

I need to rewatch the movies before I get back to Picard since most of what happens there is set up in the movies, and I didn't remember much from them so was mostly confused as to what was going on. And apparently there are a few novels that also fill in the time between the last of the movies and the start of the series. Just waiting for the weather to warm up so I can go back to the library!

Much as I like to read the occasional Star Trek book, there are hundreds of them, so I'll soon run out of room buying physical copies :) Simon & Shuster actually puts a handful of them on sale for 0.99$ every month so I've been loading up my eReader...not sure when I'll get to them though, so much other SF stuff I've collected there for free (like the Ray Cummings stuff I'm reading now)

So much to read/watch, so little time...

[Audrey]

I never got to finish Enterprise -- saw at least three seasons when it aired. It switched times or channels or something. I don't have any streaming services, so all those are out of reach unless they're also on DVD.

My mom is the biggest Star Trek fan ever, and a big fan of all sci fi, so when I was a kid I thought sci fi was very feminine.

[Tony]

DS9 was interesting, and it had a change in format after the first couple of seasons, largely as a response to the success of Babylon 5 I believe. Next Gen was very much a show that pressed the rest button at the end of every episode - yes there were occasional 2 or 3-parters, usually at season's end - but even they pressed the rest button at the end of the story. That made it far more accessible to the casual viewer. Babylon 5 went down the path of having an ongoing storyline, which led to a dedicated fanbase, but made it a lot harder for the casual viewer. Of course, the ongonig story arc is a very common thing in these days of binging a whole season, but it was radical back in the 90s.

[Audrey]

Babylon 5 was great, and groundbreaking in several ways. I've watched Next Gen the most out of all the Star Treks.

[Robin]

Audrey, IMO Sci-Fi is VERY feminine. ☺