What else are you reading - March 2023

[John (Taloni)]

^ Reminds me of how awful the New York accent was for the "showgirl" in Daleks in New York. Talked to one of my Brit friends at the time and he said it was a stock character for them. Kind of funny, I could accept pig humans more than that accent.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Exactly. I can’t remember the accents in that episode, so they obviously didn’t stand out to me, but I still remember a truly awful ‘Irish’ accent on an episode of the New Adventures of Superman, doubly bad because it was also geographically impossible - he said of his home in Ireland “On a clear day, I can see England from my bedroom window” - how????? From where to where does that make any sense! But I doubt the American audience blinked, and some probably thought the actor was legit Irish.

All this to say, I don’t think the narration of the cities books is bad, far from it. Accents are just hard, especially when native speakers are listening.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ Reminds me of how awful the New York accent was for the "showgirl" in Daleks in New York. Talked to one of my Brit friends at the time and he said it was a stock character for them. Kind of funny..."

Like the Texan uncle in the Are You Being Served? wedding episode, who tried his best but had a hilarious southern accent. Southern Yorkshire, more like. :p

Ah, here he is, at 23:31 - no good ol’ boy ever pronounced ceremony as “seerah-minny”. XD
https://youtu.be/9KQaZgyGBv8

[John (Taloni)]

Yowza. That's a Texan?

Re the "see England" bit: Reminds me of the "see Russia from my house" memes referencing a certain VP candidate. (Not sure she ever actually said it, but then, another VP never said "I invented the Internet" but that's what the memes have.)

[Ruth]

I do remember watching an interview with Rivers of London author Rivers of London and audiobook narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, in which Aaronovitch said he deliberately creates minor characters with a huge variety of accents as a challenge for K H-S. And to be fair, in all the RoL audiobooks I’ve listened to, I’ve never once thought someone’s accent sounded off.

[Misti]

Trike wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Like the Texan uncle in the Are You Being Served? wedding episode, who tried his best but had a hilarious southern accent. Southern Yorkshire, more like. :p"

LOL, and I thought most southern accents in American TV/Movies were terrible (and most of them are).

I love the narrator in the Rivers of London books. I really wish he was the alternate reader in Under Fortunate Stars.

[Trike]

Ruth wrote: "I do remember watching an interview with Rivers of London author Rivers of London and audiobook narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, in which Aaronovitch said he deliberately creates mino..."

Oh, he’s so good!

After listening to that book I looked him up. Turns out he’s the physical therapist in Doctor Strange, and I didn’t even question his American accent.

Now that I think about it, there aren’t any American actors in main roles in Doctor Strange, but I don’t bump up against any accents.

[Joanna]

Finished Dead Country by Max Gladstone, a strong opening of a new trilogy in his Craft universe.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished the estate-authorized sequel to The Time Machine by H.G. Wells


The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up Ultima by Stephen Baxter. It had its moments but ultimately dropped to a three star read for me. Baxter's like a guy at a party who crashes into a conversation saying "We're all going to die, isn't that great?"

Anyhoo. Decent takes on what a modern-day Roman civilization would look like, as well as one based on the Incas. In both cases an unflinching look at brutality and violence of those cultures as based on historical precedence.

The duology is not so much a story as a series of vignettes with a wraparound theme. So there's the "colonizing a tidal-locked planet" one, the Roman one, the Inca one, then a bit of cosmology straight out of "Time" which he wrote four years earlier. The hard SF is interesting when it shows up. It isn't enough to offset the utter nihilism and ongoing depravity of the participants.

[Joanna]

Started Assassin of Reality by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko - a direct sequel to Vita Nostra. I do not expect it to be translated to Polish (at least not soon), and my Russian had atrophied, so an English translation it is.

[Ruth]

I’m reading All Worlds Wayfarer: Prismatic Dreams, an anthology of queer speculative fiction. Full disclosure: one of the stories is written by me!

[Seth]

John (Taloni) wrote: "We're all going to die, isn't that great?"

This reminded me a lot of the book I'm just finishing: The Two of Swords, Volume One. KJ Parker has a lot of books like this one, where people struggle against inexorable bureaucracies or logistical impossibilities and ultimately just succumb. But usually they're a little more fun along the way. This'll be a three-star for me. It reminds me of the author's best work without being really that great.

[Stephen]

Finished Legend by David Gemmell and moved on to Stone of Farewell.

[John (Taloni)]

Ruth wrote: "I’m reading All Worlds Wayfarer: Prismatic Dreams, an anthology of queer speculative fiction. Full disclosure: one of the stories is written by me!"

Needs a Kindle edition! Looks like it's only hardcover.

[Trike]

Joanna wrote: "Started Assassin of Reality by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko - a direct sequel to Vita Nostra. I do not expect it to be translated to Polish (at least not soon), and my Russian had at..."

That’s 3 more languages than I’m fluent in.

[Ruth]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Ruth wrote: "I’m reading All Worlds Wayfarer: Prismatic Dreams, an anthology of queer speculative fiction. Full disclosure: one of the stories is written by me!"

Needs a Kindle edi..."

It’s available on kindle in the UK, dunno why not in the US.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Ruth wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "Ruth wrote: "I’m reading All Worlds Wayfarer: Prismatic Dreams, an anthology of queer speculative fiction. Full disclosure: one of the stories is written by me..."

Seems the link on goodreads leads to the hardcover, but there is a kindle version in the US site too - https://www.amazon.com/Prismatic-Drea...

[Trike]

All my library holds came in at once and I haven’t had time to get to them all. Argh.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Did you not have the option to postpone them? I’m loving my US library for that option.

[Trike]

Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "Did you not have the option to postpone them? I’m loving my US library for that option."

I did! And yet.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Oh, in my US library, you can postpone again and again - super handy.

[Iain]

Ruth wrote: "I do remember watching an interview with Rivers of London author Rivers of London and audiobook narrator Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, in which Aaronovitch said he deliberately creates mino..."

To be fair he has used Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s interpretation of the characters in subsequent books. They enjoy each others work.

[AndrewP]

I just finished #21 of 23 in the books and novellas of Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Only 2 more to go and it will be bittersweet finishing the series.

[John (Nevets)]

AndrewP wrote: "I just finished #21 of 23 in the books and novellas of Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Only 2 more to go and it will be bittersweet finishing the series."

I’m much earlier in the series, only have a couple books under my belt. But I’m continuing through it slowly, and really enjoying it. Guess I have much more to look forward to.

[Ruth]

Started reading The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard. It’s the first full-length novel in the Xuya Universe, a Vietnamese-inspired space opera, and it’s about lesbian space pirates.

[Jessica]

I just read Nettle & Bone (I didn't read it with the group before), and wow, what a lovely fantasy novel! T. Kingfisher is fast becoming one of my new favorites, as I read her What Moves the Dead earlier this year and LOVED it. With that, Leech, and Mexican Gothic, I've learned that Gothic parasite horror is apparently my thing!

[Jonathan]

Reading Red Seas Under Red Skies.

[AndrewP]

John (Nevets) wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "I just finished #21 of 23 in the books and novellas of Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Only 2 more to go and it will be bittersweet finishing the series."

I’m much earlier in the serie..."

I was on the fence about this series after the first few books but once Miles becomes the main character they really take off. FYI I'm reading them in the authors recommended reading order, which is chronological not publishing order.

[John (Nevets)]

AndrewP wrote: "I was on the fence about this series after the first few books but once Miles becomes the main character they really take off. FYI I'm reading them in the authors recommended reading order, which is chronological not publishing order."

Oh, interesting. I think I started in published order, so I get Miles right away, and have been following him.

[AndrewP]

John (Nevets) wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "I was on the fence about this series after the first few books but once Miles becomes the main character they really take off. FYI I'm reading them in the authors recommended readin..."

Look on the authors website, or in the back of some of the books for her info on reading order. Some of the later ones defiantly deserve to be read in the right order.

[Ruth]

Finally finished the audiobook of Hilary Mantel’s chonker historical novel, A Place of Greater Safety. Now starting the Cold War thriller Spy Hook by Len Deighton.

[John (Nevets)]

AndrewP wrote: "Look on the authors website, or in the back of some of the books for her info on reading order. Some of the later ones defiantly deserve to be read in the right order."

Oh, you didn't tell me I'd be entering a time machine when I went to her site. This is crazy. I haven't seen a site set up like this in over a decade. It is awesome that she is still hosting it, but man does it take me back with the tiled backgrounds, and basic (probably hand coded) html. It is how I would view pages back when I first got online at college in 1995. For everyone wanting a look back at the internet that was here is a link. http://www.dendarii.com/ I'm a bit surprised that every link I clicked on (not extensive) was still working. That is a tank of a webpage.

I did find the order you mentioned on there. http://www.dendarii.com/biblio.html I already had screwed up, I started with Warriors Apprentice, than went with The Vor Game, and was going to continue with Cetaganda later this week when a library hold should come due. Is there any reason to pause after that and read the pre Miles books, or should I just keep going (slowly) with the series as I've started?

[Oaken]

Heh. For another example of that look at CJ Cherryh's original homepage:
https://www.cherryh.com/

Unfortunately not all of the links still work and she has since moved to a wordpress site but the old one is still there.

[AndrewP]

John (Nevets) wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "Look on the authors website, or in the back of some of the books for her info on reading order. Some of the later ones defiantly deserve to be read in the right order."

Oh, you did..."

Yeah that's okay, there are a few references to the prequels but it's okay to skip them. You can also skip 'Ethan of Athos" as that's a side story (but does have some characters who pop up in later books). Most of the later ones, chronologically, refer to events in previous books. There are a lot of instances where a minor character introduced in one book becomes a major character in a subsequent book so there would be no background if read out of order.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

AndrewP wrote: "I was on the fence about this series after the first few books but once Miles becomes the main character they really take off. FYI I'm reading them in the authors recommended reading order, which is chronological not publishing order."

Glad to hear that. I hated Cordelia's Honor. I'm not opposed to reading some of the Miles books if they're better.

[Trike]

AndrewP wrote: "I just finished #21 of 23 in the books and novellas of Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Only 2 more to go and it will be bittersweet finishing the series."

I did that 2019 during my cataract months, listening to the audiobooks. Bingeing them all at once in Bujold’s recommended reading order was a delight.

For some of the books I would’ve been somewhat disappointed if I had waited 2-3 years between installments, but burning through them all at once let me cruise over the minor bumps.