Vagabond Treehouse (2023) [Beware of Chicken 3 - December 4th] Showing 3,001-3,050 of 5,829

[Choko]

Iain, I am up to Ch. 27 in Any Minor World, and you are right, it is old school pulp-noir like and pure fun in that way. I am getting a kick out of it for sure:)))

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Definitely planning to finish it, probably tomorrow...

I love Craig Schaefer... I'd love to get you guys in on a Ghosts of Gotham -> A Time for Witches -> The Hungry Dreaming BR, as it would be a much smaller commitment than the Faustverse...

Speaking of the Faustverse, Any Minor World is feeling like a must-read, for anyone invested in the Harmony Black books... I think we've learned more about the Network in this book, than in any Harmony Black book... the Network has been a nebulous threat over there, that the team has been trying to get a handle on for the past several book, with little success...

[Choko]

I am totally in for the Ghosts of Gotham. This is the only series I have not read even one book in... Would love to read it in FBR!

[Brian]

I’m in as well

[Nirkatze]

Those look shiny! Do you recommend audio or physical for the Shaefer books?

Totally loving St. Mary's too y'all! I was not expecting #5 to end with (view spoiler)[a wedding and wedding present. I also loved Markham's role as runaway catcher/doorman and how the other folk involved in the ceremony also took on humorous roles. And Bairstow giving Max away was super sweet.

Thermopylae was so cool! This was definitely one of the scenes where I was thinking--St. Mary's did it, the historical traitor did it--whodunnit doesn't matter as long as it is done and history remembers the correct person, so who knows if they "changed" history or it was always St. Mary's with the traitor getting the credit/blame? I like Iain's headcannon. :) (hide spoiler)]

And it's Monday again so time for another one!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I always recommend audio, but think the narrator for most Schaefer books is pretty good, especially the Faust series...

Ghosts of Gotham seems to be a mixed bag for reviewers, and it took me some time to get super into it, but I'll always love it for what it gave us with the 2nd book in the series (spoilers)...

I feel like, Schaefer started writing by giving us UF where the MC is fully immersed in the world (Daniel Faust, Harmony Black, Revanche Cycle)... then he started writing UF series where the MC is a normal person thrust into the world and trying to come to grips with it all (Wisdom's Grave, Ghosts of Gotham, the 3rd book that has new MCs in Ghosts of Gotham "saga", and now Midnight Jury)

[Brian]

When are we gonna start Ghosts? No rush , just planning my books out

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Up to the rest of these guys... my schedule is pretty wide open, AFAIK...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Reached 80% in Any Minor World... it's been a wild ride... (view spoiler)[after entering the comic book world and meeting Danielle Faust / Midnight Jury, I had to dig up The Locust Job... I read it so long ago, and barely remember it... but I knew there was some connection, because of Sarah the Formerly Nefarious etc's review mentioning Chapter Tangerine...

It's a chapter in The Locust Job, after Daniel Faust gets a hold of the Argisene Grimoire and learns it's a relic and repository for much of The Enemy's magic and essence (the Big Baddie of the First Story arc... and it's a sentient entity that can alter reality to protect itself... it shunts Daniel into Danielle Faust and the comic book world for a chapter, before his ego proves strong enough to regain a sense of self and return to his body/world... but events escalate and he has to flee and leave the Grimoire behind... but the Grimoire exists in all dimensions of the multiverse simultanously, collecting knowledge/power...

So it's gonna be interesting if/when they ever come in contact with this Grimoire... maybe the Grimoire is mobile because this is a comic book world, and the Grimoire and the First Story / Enemy are all about archetypes: Paladin, Enemy, Witch, Knight, Psychopomp, Thief...

Altho... Lucy has made a good case that this story is more about fixing the Midnight Jury than about her writing new content... altho altho... with comic books... you don't have to fix the Midnight Jury... you just need someone new to take up the Mantle... and Danielle Faust and Roy have alot of similarities, but Roy hasn't quite given up yet... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Re:Craig Schaefer: 90-100% of his books are on Kindle Unlimited... so if you want, you can read that way... or you can use that to get the audiobooks for $7.49 after checking out the ebook with Whispersync pricing...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Finished... it was great... called some elements... and I have no idea what a second book would look like... (view spoiler)[I mean, it could just be another story in the comic book world... but I think it would be more interesting if they had to go back to the real world, or another world entirely...

I feel like there are 2-3 ways of going about that...

1) the Argisene Grimoire...
2) early in the book, Roy ruminated on how all airports seemed like they could be connected by nondescript corridors... do something with that... (and he saw that doppelganger that disappeared?... maybe he was just tired, but still)...
3) Merge #1 and #2 together... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

On the topic of Hungry Dreaming, Midnight Jury, and maybe Ghosts of Gotham since it's linked to Hungry Dreaming... these seem to be the books that Schaefer writes as newsletter serials... so they're not on the release schedule until they're basically done and being edited/prepared for traditional release...

Looks like the current serial is the followup to Hungry Dreaming that I knew was coming... Midnight Jury ranked 2nd in the poll they apparently had... not sure what all was on the poll, since I'm not much of a newletter/serial person, but I assume if Midnight Jury being #2 was notable, there were probably some other options including story ideas Schaefer hasn't started a series for, yet...

The only thing really on Schaefer's official projects list these days, are the ongoing Faust and Harmony Black series... not sure what the plans are for the main Ghosts of Gotham series, or the Charlie McCabe series (this is a non-fantasy series about an ex-military security contractor with family/life troubles... does the right thing, even if she has to use some gray area contacts to do it... kinda like Daniel Faust without the magic, half the time... not sure how successful the series has been)...

[Choko]

Thank you for all of the information, Iain. I love how much I learn here all the time:)))!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

You guys got me Schaefer-excited... looking at blogs and reddit posts and other stuff...

[Brian]

Timelord Iain wrote: "You guys got me Schaefer-excited... looking at blogs and reddit posts and other stuff..."

You got me excited too. Already downloaded Ghosts so ready whenever.

[Choko]

I might start Ghost tomorrow, if you guys want to...

[Brian]

I’m in

[Tonari no Emily]

Just checked the kindle unlimited thing and it actually gave me the audio to listen for free as well! (For Ghosts..)

[Brian]

Me too

[Nirkatze]

I just started St. Mary's #6, but I'm down to start Ghosts as soon as it's done! :)

Also, I want to thank all of you for getting me into audiobooks! I actually just got my mom started on trying out an audiobook for St. Mary's #1, and I have been trying to get my mom to read with me--or read ANYTHING--since I was 6 years old. She is always too busy to read, but she can do audiobooks while she's being busy!!! Best. Day. Ever.

[Tonari no Emily]

Yay! I hope audio works out for her!

[Nirkatze]

St. Mary's #6 What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Through Chapter 6 (view spoiler)[Max as a teacher. What could possibly go wrong? Max newly married. What could possibly go wrong? This is another title, like #1, which seems incredibly apt.

Cupholders! So cool! LOL (hide spoiler)]

So, if you could save some extinct species, what would you choose? I still vote for Dodos.

Through Chapter 9 (view spoiler)[Max is trying to find a traitor who leaked coordinates to Ronan. She's settled on Ms. Lee, it seems, but honestly I've been more suspicious of the trainees. There's no reason Ronan had to have the coordinates BEFORE they jumped to the Great Fire. He could have even seeded a trainee instead of trying to suborn an existing employee. Give them enough time to get established and they could end up having access. And Ms. North reminds me a bit of Bitch-Face Barclay in her attitude. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Most Craig Schaefer books on KU don't have the headphones symbol, from what I've seen... any you can listen to for free, tho, is great...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "St. Mary's #6 What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Through Chapter 6 Max as a teacher. What could possibly go wrong? Max newly married. What could possibly go wrong? This is another title, like #1, which..."

I can't tell is Bird Frogs are real or not... information online is lacking, but there's is talk of them being found in the Caribbean in 1941...

InCryptid, by Seanan McGuire has a version of them, and the fanart is on the cute side...



And I just learned I can take screenshots, post them on the discord app somewhere, and the URL works for posting to goodreads... this makes my life so much easier... I only learned about using discord app as a fast image hosting site a few weeks ago for posting links in-game chat, when prnt.sc / Lightshot started having problems... and this is great, anytime the only place I know to find an image is wiki/fandom... those image URLs are always weird and never work as img srcs...

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/inc...

InCryptid calls them Frog Chickens or Frickens...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started St. Mary's #5: The Markham Ghost Thing is just more proof that there are no rules, except whatever Jodi decides she wants to do, happens, basically... accept it and enjoy the ride...

EDIT, 5 seconds later: (view spoiler)[Is this the one with the time fog I mentioned, for a story where time actually gets messed up and nearly unravels?... it's so hard to remember what books these plots happen in, for the most part... altho I sharply remember the big points of Hope for the Best and Plan for the Worst, because they're basically a duology, for all intents and purposes, right down to the naming... (hide spoiler)]

And on the topic of #4.5: Christmas Present kinda breaks the cardinal rule of short stories... don't expect all your readers to read it, so don't include major plot developments... most readers don't necessarily keep up with short fiction, and/or aren't willing to spend money on shorter stories that won't last as long...

On the other side of it, you risk using up material meant for the main series... Jeaniene Frost made that mistake in the Night Huntress series, when she was first asked to contribute to an anthology and wrote Home for the Holidays for The Bite Before Christmas... she realized her mistake after the fact, and the Night Huntress series was 1 book shorter than expected, as a result... (big example from my Paranormal Romance days)

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Started St. Mary's #5: The Markham Ghost Thing is just more proof that there are no rules, except whatever Jodi decides she wants to do, happens, basically... accept it and enjoy the ride...

EDIT,..."

Hah, good point! Just sit back and enjoy the ride--good advice, that.

re: EDIT (view spoiler)[I don't remember time fog there. Anyone else? (hide spoiler)] I had to do a doubletake on my memory for a minute, until I was like--no, that's the Umbrella Academy, not St. Mary's. Just started watching S3 and enjoying so far.

Interesting notes on shorts--I honestly never thought about that cardinal rule before, but it makes total sense. I'll have to think about those now every time I read a short story...

Which brings me to--I need to read How Long 'til Black Future Month? by the 21st if anyone is interested. :)

Interesting about the flying frogs!! I think I missed that bit.

St. Mary's #6 What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Through Chapter 20. (view spoiler)[The Joan of Arc scene was brutal. When I think of the most tragic characters in history, she's definitely in the top 5. Would you have stepped out of the pod to try to do something? I don't know that I have the fortitude, but I would definitely want to. I'd be worried that I'd be more tempted to try to save her and change history... I mean, they're allowed to remove things if they are about to die, right? Ultimately, removing Helios from the timeline didn't damage anything, and he had a good life (minus the constant stress of discovery) in the future. Can you imagine a group of vigilantes dedicated to staging deaths and saving tragic figures in history? And a refuge somewhere in time for displaced persons!

I did not see the traitor being the security dude, but I like that Taylor made it someone who got cornered, was thinking "it's just one little thing. What can it hurt?" then was dropped in the shit. I was starting to move my suspicions from trainee North to the guy back from the Americas--after all, how did he escape? And why does he look familiar? But then it all got explained already. Idiot! Seriously, why not just wait? Richard III is wicked awesome stuff. There'd be no problem getting it approved. (hide spoiler)]

Edit: Finished the book (view spoiler)[Hah! Max is pregnant again. Thought she might be, when she was feeling off colour at the beginning, and had trouble post wine. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Started Ghosts of Gotham. Interesting so far, not my usual cup of tea. Kind of gives me a noir-feel.

I liked RD's quote: (view spoiler)["The way I see it, money is good for two things: to make things happen, and to make sure things do not happen." Scary lady. (hide spoiler)]

Through chapter 21 (view spoiler)[So, Lionel survived something. Lionel and his mother were on the run from something, and found a coven to keep them safe. One member of the coven (not sure who it was--not his mom, right?) was practicing blood sacrifice which is a big no-no.

Meanwhile, Maddie seems to be coven-related--mention of her "sisters" or something like that, which she is trying to hide from. Bleeding from eyes. Dream magic. There is a possibility that she and her "mother" are the same person, and that she doesn't age. It also makes me think of Morrigan in the Dragon Age games (spoiler tagged if you don't want to know) (view spoiler)[whose mother raised her so she could take over her body and stay young. (hide spoiler)] Is Maddie the "other" agent that the book store owner didn't like? At the very least, she has power and abilities but is still at the mercy of a more powerful protector (RD) to keep off more powerful enemies.

Thoth club also seems to be in to blood sacrifice. Which thread will lead back to Lionel's past, I wonder? (hide spoiler)]

@Choko, I also started Watchmaker of Filigree Street if you were still interested in reading with me! Not sure if you saw the discussion or not. Then planning on finally starting the next WoT book.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Urban Fantasy is a main genre for me, altho it's hard for me to find new stuff to read in the genre, these days, after reading so many of the good ones...

Ghosts of Gotham draws from a variety of places, but doesn't reveal everything until the 2nd book, I'd say, then brings in even more stuff in the "3rd" (not sure if Hungry Dreaming should really be considered the 3rd book, or a spinoff... same world, for sure)...

[Nirkatze]

Ghosts of Gotham, through Chapter 43 (view spoiler)[I'm having a lot of fun guessing at how everything fits together!

And I felt really smart when Maddie finally revealed her identity. The first clues--that she was older than she looked, and Athens, and all the Greek mythology talks... then when she mentioned Hecate... I was like "Hm. Magic. Hecate. I bet she's Medea. Sounds like Maddie." and then Maddie mentioned having a husband who cheated on her, and then she did something unforgivable, and I was like "SHE'S TOTALLY MEDEA!!" and then she was like "My name is Medea." and I was like YES YES I KNEW IT FIST PUMP YES!

Though I wonder why she said she was from Athens? At least in most records, Medea was born on Colchis, the island of the Golden Fleece--though she did flee to Athens and married its king after she had her revenge on Jason.

Does Lionel know enough history/mythology to know what Medea did? That she (view spoiler)[by most accounts killed her brother to help Jason escape with the fleece, then killed her children by Jason when he tried to set her aside for another younger princess? (hide spoiler)] Looking forward to that conversation. I read the play Medea a few years ago with my local book club--we had fun taking parts and reading the play out loud--and much of our conversation centered around how she could possibly do that. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 49 (view spoiler)[And as for J and his employer... and the manuscript... It sounded like he was describing Hades (place, not person). I wonder if something/someone escaped who shouldn't have, and maybe it is trying to cover its tracks? (hide spoiler)]

Having a lot of fun guessing! I also thought it was interesting, listening to the audiobook--that there was at least one conversation where one of the people in the conversation wasn't named, but because of the accent the narrator does, you could figure out who it was. I know TV has this problem too--and had it most recently with the Witcher TV show for a big secret that was revealed a few books early. I just find it interesting how different mediums work like this.

[Choko]

Schaefer's bread and butter is pulp-noir, so I am not surprised it reads noir to you:) I am so glad you are enjoying it:)))

Iain, I absolutely loved Any Minor World, despite it also being a tad horrorish as well as noirish.... As you said, I wonder what a sequel might possibly concentrate on... I am thinking, whatever it is, it should be either exclusively in the one or the other world, but not in both... Now I am excited to start Gotham:)))

Nircatze, I will totally join you for the Watchmaker, let me just finish the book I am reading right now... Thanks for reminding me:)))

[Brian]

@Iain. You (or anyone) want to read The Law by Jim Butcher in the next few weeks ??? Short novella. Miss me some Dresden.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sounds good... can read in the next few days... or weeks... ebook is available on KU... audiobook exists... 3.5hrs

[Nirkatze]

I'm down for some The Law. Been eyeing it. :) Have to decide on physical or audio...

@Choko! Yay! I am excited for Watchmaker! Thank you for always being willing to read everything!

Time to start cleaning the house and jump back into Gotham...

[Tonari no Emily]

Re time fog: I'm not remembering anything like that for #5... Perhaps a later book lol

Re extinct animals... dinosaurs would be cool but impractical... Would probably totally throw off the ecosystem... But Max's first big mission is just so cool and I want to see a live one in person.
But also Dodos :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I keep jumping the gun on this time fog plot… JT also likes to make things sound 100x more dangerous than they end up feeling… this was Ronan planning to paradox to save Annie and probably kill young Bairstow…

[Nirkatze]

Emily wrote: "Re time fog: I'm not remembering anything like that for #5... Perhaps a later book lol

Re extinct animals... dinosaurs would be cool but impractical... Would probably totally throw off the ecosyst..."

Dinosaurs! Maybe we can get mini-dinosaurs? Pygmy dinosaurs! In a terrarium! Darn, now I want to go watch the new Jurrassic World movie...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Emily wrote: "Re time fog: I'm not remembering anything like that for #5... Perhaps a later book lol

Re extinct animals... dinosaurs would be cool but impractical... Would probably totally throw o..."

I was thinking maybe you'd already seen it, given those thoughts... I saw it a week or 2 ago...

[Brian]

@Ghost of Gotham

Chapter 25. Really liking story so far. Good character, definite Noir feel but I think I’d even like the story if it didn’t have a fantasy element to it.

[Choko]

Ghost of Gotham, up to Ch. 9... (view spoiler)[ Regina is absolutely terrifying!

Lionel and his mom were definitely hiding in a coven, but the way I read it, it was his mom who performed the blood sacrifices for protection... Either way, something bad followed and it seems he was the only survivor... Can't wait to find out

The book seller was pathetic and I felt really bad for him, because it is obvious he made a deal with Regina, tried to cross her, and ended up the way he is now... He gave Lionel some good advice! (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Brian wrote: "@Ghost of Gotham

Chapter 25. Really liking story so far. Good character, definite Noir feel but I think I’d even like the story if it didn’t have a fantasy element to it."

I like a good mystery, but I also like this whole skeptic reporter sucked into a magical world story the Ghosts of Gotham series/world has going for it...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Ghost of Gotham, up to Ch. 9... Regina is absolutely terrifying!..."

It's mighty understandable, once you realize/learn who she is... Schaefer seems to like the character... another incarnation of her appears in the Faustverse, connected to the Revanche and Wisdom's Grave series...

EDIT: Nirkatze usually likes to dig into the meaning of things... so...

I know Regina means Queen, ever since the show Once Upon a Time started airing...

Dunkle/Dunkel means dark, and is the name of a german lager...

So (view spoiler)[Dark Queen... and Hekate is the Witch Queen / Dark Mother... no wonder she took the moniker, for when trying to blend into society... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Oooh, way cool Iain! Thank you for that insight!

Choko wrote: "Ghost of Gotham, up to Ch. 9... Regina is absolutely terrifying!..."

I think I missed those impressions! (view spoiler)[I wasn't sure if it was Lionel's mom who they were thinking of, or someone else--wish I had a text copy to refer to! So

I totally didn't get that impression that the bookseller tried to cross Regina! Really interesting interpretation. I wonder if he'll show up again. (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "St. Mary's #6 What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Through Chapter 6 Max as a teacher. What could possibly go wrong? Max newly married. What could possibly go wrong? This is another title, like #1, which..."

The titles are all great! Really add to the whole St. Mary's experience :)

Re traitor (view spoiler)[ I was thinking it was a trainee at this point too! (hide spoiler)]

The jokes about the non-American trainee were great, and how they were all offended about him not liking coffee :,D

[Tonari no Emily]

Re Joan of Arc (view spoiler)[ It's not so much that they're allowed, but that it's physically possible... Time police would probably be all over them if they actually removed a contemporary..
But yeah I would want to try to save her anyway.. Not sure if I actually would have the courage, etc either though (hide spoiler)]

Max (view spoiler)[ I had my suspicions about her being pregnant too! omg and the way she ended up spitting it out to Leon was hilarious... "Dr. Bairstow's going to be a godfather" 😂 (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Ghosts was great! Thoroughly enjoyed it
I really like how there really wasn't really a fantasy element until a good ways in, they kind of slowly trickled in at first and then BAM (view spoiler)[ Lionel is thrown into the world and initiated as a witch! (hide spoiler)]

The mystery bits were good, and I really liked how it all "played" out heh

The audio pronounced Regina so weird.. thought the spelling was "Ragina" because of the hard "g".. I don't know about y'all but I definitely pronounce Regina with a soft "g"...
(view spoiler)[I thought I knew a good bit of Greek mythology but I think I forgot a lot because I couldn't remember who Medea was... I'm wondering if we're gonna get her history next book.. Did this Medea really murder her own kids?? She definitely did something to cause her to punish herself...

Also, did it explain the crying blood thing? I don't remember getting an answer for that... (hide spoiler)]

But yeah this was my first Schaefer and I'm looking forward to more of their work!

[Tonari no Emily]

Oh! Also read the short Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings (which didn't break the short story rule :D) (view spoiler)[ poor Markham! Got WD40 poisoning on top of every bug sting imaginable, honestly the shorts are great for a good laugh

But we're also probably losing Guthrie :( Don't blame him though, Grey was NOT doing well back at St. Mary's... Hope they'll figure something out (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Yes, she did kill (view spoiler)[her kids... And she said that the blood crying thing was nothing particularly weird, just something wrong with her tear ducts from birth... (hide spoiler)]

I am about 85% done with Ghost and I am enjoying it too. Schaefer has a very distinct style and I always enjoy her work:)(view spoiler)[ The necromancer joked that he was Lionel 's father, but was it really a joke? He is truly terrifying and he said he is working to bring over someone from another world... I wonder who and I really hope they figure out a way to stop it... (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Just finished Ghost of Gotham and enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a solid Schaefer book for sure, although, and I know I am in the minority here, for some reason I still love Harmony Black the most... Possibly because she as a character is kind of mediocre, but she makes everyone around her shine... Faust is a bit showy, but I still like him:) The new series, Any Minor World, reads a lot like a life action pulp-noir comic book and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I think I found the witches series to be the strongest of them all, while I thought the one set in the 17th century was least well structured... Iain, what do you think?

[Brian]

I finished Ghosts too. It was pretty fun overall even thought a little slow at times. Again, even without the fantasy (paranormal) element in the story, this would still be a great read. I did find spots in the book that were overly descriptive and took away from the pacing a bit but overall I enjoyed it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Just finished Ghost of Gotham and enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a solid Schaefer book for sure, although, and I know I am in the minority here, for some reason I still love Harmony Black the most....."

Faust is Fun... I like Harmony Black alot too... the witches is kinda my least favorite... I felt forced to read Revanche, for Faust/Black/etc reasons, so the timing was off, and the finale was kinda all over the place... I appreciate the scope Schaefer went for in writing a 18 book, multi-series MCU-scale epic in like 5-6 years... but I'm happy it's now shrunk back down to Faust/Black and this new stuff...

Really liked Any Minor World... enjoy Ghosts of Gotham (like the sequel better)... Schaefer has a distinct style that builds to great finales, and I like all the ingredients she's playing with...