What are you reading right now? For 2025

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished Frontier Incursion. Not sure what I want to read next.

[John]

I've just read the John Scalzi short story 3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years because it was free on Amazon - a short, quick read that was OK.

[Betsy]

I just started Hometown Space Pirate, which was free on Amazon US a week or two ago.

Too soon to tell much about it, except the author seems to write well.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m currently rereading I Never Applied for This Job by Mackey Chandler, which is Family Law #8. The author has been posting snippets of Family Law #9 and I want to refresh my memory on a few scenes from #8.

[John]

I'm taking a short break from any SF in order to read a new book by Graeme Macrae Burnet - Benbecula: Darkland Tales, described as a dark psychological thriller. He's a Scottish author whose books I love - I think I've read almost all of them, and I've been waiting patiently for this one to be released at the end of September.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m about 43% through my reread of I Never Applied for This Job. Some of the characters talked about the ridiculous “safety” regulations required on USNA spaceships. It sounds like the government just took airline safety features. “In the event they lose pressure, a soft little plastic face cup drops down to feed them oxygen.” Yes, in hard vacuum.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

And finished. Worth rereading. While Mackey Chandler has been posting snippets of Family Law #9 for a few months, I have no clue when the book will be published. He never does pre-orders and so far he hasn’t put ARCs available either for sale or for reviews.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I have a book hangover. What are YOU reading that’s good?

[Betsy]

I'm about halfway through Hometown Space Pirate and am enjoying it so far. It's quirky, clever, and fun. Not super serious or technical. Some familiar elements -- ordinary guy hooks up with wise-cracking AI -- but some creative ideas, too.

[Brandon]

I'm reading the novelization of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier by J.M. Dillard. It is lightyears ahead of the movie, as it is not hampered by time or budget constraints. It lets you have more time inside the characters' heads, and Sybok's background is given in much more depth. Dillard did six novelizations and about as many non-movie Trek novels, so she knows what she's doing in that universe.

[Audrey]

Gold Dust by Catherine Asaro

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Currently rereading a fantasy series. Not SF but at least I can read!

[John]

It looks like a very varied selection we're reading this month!

[John]

I'm now reading I, Robot: To Protect by Mickey Zucker Reichert. Book 1 of a trilogy that Reichert was apparently asked to write by Asimov's estate. This one is a prequel to Asimov's stories and features a very young Susan Calvin. I only started it yesterday but its an enjoyable and smooth read so far.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I finished rereading that fantasy series, all four books.

Now I’m rereading The Marann by Christie Meierz but don’t plan to binge the series. It’s still a bit of a struggle for me to hold my attention on a book right now. I’ve had spells like this before and they eventually pass.

[John]

I suspect that most of us who read a lot, and I imagine that you read more than most Teresa, have these arid spells. I hope it passes soon - I'm sure you have reading strategies that you follow at these times.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Typically I use intuition to find a likely book. Often switching genres, sometimes rereading a trusted book, sometimes something new by a favorite author. In the really bad spells I could still read nonfiction which normally I don’t read, but it was some particular type of nonfiction that worked. This spell isn’t nearly that bad, but it’s annoying because I have an ARC I promised to review and I had plans to start a month of Kindle Unlimited after finishing the ARC, so that my KU would be over before a book I preordered arrives. So my schedule is all messed up.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished rereading The Marann.

Read most of Great Expectorations by Christie Meierz, which is three unrelated short stories. First story is SF and worth reading once. It gives a bit of background information relevant to small parts of the Tolari Space series, without being set in Tolari Space.

The second story has a vampire, and the third has zombies. I consider these two stories as horror so I won’t be reading them again, and I didn’t finish the zombies story.

[John]

Teresa wrote: "Finished rereading The Marann.

Read most of Great Expectorations by Christie Meierz, which is three unrelated short stories. First story is SF and worth reading on..."

SF, Vampires and Zombies is quite a mixture!

[John]

I'm almost finished To Protect by Mickey Zucker Reichert, and I'll definitely be continuing with the next book in the series.

The main protagonist, Susan Calvin, is one of my favourite Asimov characters and while the book features robotics, it is heavily influenced by the author's role as a US medical doctor.

The author apparently met Asimov when she was about 23, but didn't know him well.

[John]

Finished reading I, Robot: To Protect. Since I've finished our two books for October I'm going to carry on with book 2 of this trilogy - To Obey; I should manage to finish this easily by the end of the month.

[John]

About a third of the way through To Obey I was beginning to think I'd made a mistake about carrying on with this trilogy, as the author - a US medical doctor - seemed determined to turn it into some sort of medical treatise with barely a remote connection to SF. But I'm just about at the halfway stage now, and its just taking an interesting turn and is hopefully about to improve...

[John]

I finished reading To Obey - not quite as good as the previous book, but still worth three stars. I'd planned to read the third and final book before the end of the month, but Amazon are up to their usual tricks with pricing - book 1 was £2.49, book 2 was £2.99 and book 3 is £8.99. So I won't be buying that one until they reduce the price. (There seems little chance of any of the Glasgow Libraries ever getting a copy - none of them has a single book by the author.)

[James]

The next one on my list is Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher — it hasn’t released yet, but I’m ready to jump in as soon as it does. The cover art looks absolutely dope. I also just finished Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith novelization and was blown away by how much emotion and depth he brought to Anakin’s fall. If Master of Evil hits even half that hard, it’s going to be incredible.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m currently reading Civilized Behavior by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. This is a chapbook containing three short stories set on Colemeno (one canon, two not canon) and the text of Sharon’s speech accepting the Heinlein award.

[John]

I've just started reading Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Finished Civilized Behavior. Gave it three stars for overall, but the story Core Values is very good. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Caitlin]

Ooh, I added Where the Axe is Buried to my to-read list instantly, John! I adored Nayler’s debut, The Mountain the Sea, and his novella The Tusks of Extinction was also very good. Excited to hear your thoughts on this one.

[John]

Caitlin wrote: "Ooh, I added Where the Axe is Buried to my to-read list instantly, John! I adored Nayler’s debut, The Mountain the Sea, and his novella The Tusks of Extinction was also very good. Excited to hear y..."

(Amazon Uk have Where the Axe Is Buried on special offer at 99p at the moment).

I loved The Mountain in the Sea too, Caitlin. I haven't read The Tusks of Extinction, but I've now ordered a copy from the library, so thanks for that information. He's also had stories published in a couple of magazines ("Nightmare" and "Clarkesworld") and I'm thinking of ordering those.