Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
ARCHIVE (General Topics)
>
What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed*
Be aware that Spine Intact, Some Creases (Spine Intact, Some Creases: Remembrances Of A Paperback Writer) is a non-fiction book about his life, mm writing and gay history. It is told with humor and candor. I am looking forward to it! =D
Johanna wrote: "Reggie wrote: "Just finished First You Fall. I really enjoyed it. I'm hesitant to recommend it because of the humor. Humor is so subjective, so be careful. The book is a mixture of cliche and very ..."I also enjoyed them. They are fun to read, and yes cliche. I never take fiction very serious, as long as the story is captivating and the writing is good, anything goes.
Reggie wrote: "Just finished First You Fall. I really enjoyed it. I'm hesitant to recommend it because of the humor. Humor is so subjective, so be careful. The book is a mixture of cliche and very insightful pith..."All three of those books were great fun. I love Connor's crazy mother.
Yes, the mom was great fun. I loved the mom living with him for awhile, in the first book. It was hilarious.
I finished Downtime by Tamara Allen yesterday. Very good writing and wonderful romance. I had some problems with the paranormal aspects, but I enjoyed the book. I got it for free a few months ago, lucky me!
Johanna wrote: "Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "I think GR should study this group to see how recommendations REALLY work :)"LOL. :)
And thank you for everyone who recommended the Regularly Scheduled Life for ..."
There's quite a bit of miscommunication, but I liked how the author was able to decline all the shades of it. I used to recommend this book, but a few of my GR friends HATED it because of the characters, so I stopped recommening it. It's true that characters go a long way in making me like a book, but sometimes the story is enough, even if the characters are not perfectly likable.
Mod
As for First You Fall, I loved that book. The humor was great and so were the characters. I bought the second one, but have yet to read it. Maybe some point soon I'll get around to it.
Calathea wrote: "Have you read L.A. Heat by P.A. Brown? If not, you might want to try. :DOr maybe Amor En Retrogrado, Death by Misfortune or The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley."
Hey Calathea, I'm reading Amor En Retrogrado now and liking it so thanks again for the rec :)
Meep wrote: "Calathea wrote: "Have you read L.A. Heat by P.A. Brown? If not, you might want to try. :DOr maybe Amor En Retrogrado, Death by Misfortune or The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley."
Hey Calathea, I'm r..."
I think Death by Misfortune is even better. I like A.M. Riley a lot, I wish she wrote more...
I am reading Lauderdale Hearts by Johnny Miles. So far it is good. Very good description of a type-A personality having a heart attack and recovery.He just got to Florida and met the hot masseuse. We'll see how it goes from here.
I could use a dose of palm trees right about now.
Meep wrote: "Calathea wrote: "Have you read L.A. Heat by P.A. Brown? If not, you might want to try. :DOr maybe Amor En Retrogrado, Death by Misfortune or The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley."
Hey Calathea, I'm r..."
Glad, you like it!
Like Manu I thought Death by Misfortune even better. Happy Reading! :D
Those A.M. Riley mysteries were great. I want another in the Bill Turner series.
I just finished HALF MOON CHAMBER by HARPER FOX. I know it's not news anymore how terrific she is, but BOY, was that good. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor...
Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "I finished Downtime by Tamara Allen yesterday. Very good writing and wonderful romance. I had some problems with the paranormal aspects, but I enjoyed the book. I got it for free a few months ago, ..."Thanks for reminding me of this book. I've tried to get it several times but it either wasn't available, or it was only available for the Kindle. This time when I searched for it I was able to buy it for my Nook. I'm really looking forward to it!
Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Meep wrote: "Calathea wrote: "Have you read L.A. Heat by P.A. Brown? If not, you might want to try. :DOr maybe Amor En Retrogrado, Death by Misfortune or The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley."
Hey Ca..."
I like these books too, although my favorite is The elegant corpse.
I really, really loved that one.
Darkm wrote: "I like these books too, although my favorite is The elegant corpse.I really, really loved that one."
Me too. I wanted to write the same since this discussion started!
Mod
Spine Intact, Some Creases by Victor J. Banis went down in price!
The kindle edition is now $4.39 USA and 2.55 pounds UK amazon!"
Thank you for the tip, Reggie! Bought it. :)
Mod
I really, really loved that one."
Me too. I wanted to write the same since this discussion started!"
*nod nod* Me three (or four or five?). I liked her Adam & Peter books and her Bill Turner books a lot. Very entertaining. :)
Antonella wrote: "Darkm wrote: "I like these books too, although my favorite is The elegant corpse.I really, really loved that one."
Me too. I wanted to write the same since this discussion started!"
That's the first ebook I ever read. Josh's Don't Look Back was the second. When I think of all the books I could have read as my intro to ebooks, I know I lucked out.
Mod
I meant to mention, I finished BLESS US WITH CONTENT by TINNEAN. It seems to me I read a less than enthusiastic review in this forum, some time ago.Anyway, I liked it very much and, personally, thought it was much better than his "Spook" stories.
I just read Ethan, Who Loved Carter by Ryan Loveless. It was 5 stars for me. Emotional and wonderful with no cliches and no author angst manipulation.
I loved Ethan, Who Loved Carter. This is part of why I love MM. So much variety. I guess I don't read enough to get bored. This is a very well done portrayal of a person after a brain injury, and a person with Turrets. FYI, the intro/preface is important to read. It is still romance, very sweet. It's nice to see happy endings and supportive families. They really exist in RL too. ;p
Susinok wrote: "I just read Ethan, Who Loved Carter by Ryan Loveless. It was 5 stars for me. Emotional and wonderful with no cliches and no author angst manipulation."I liked this book a lot, and more than this, I liked how the author explained at the beginning of the book that the characters reflect some traits one might have, but everyone is different.
It helps avoiding stereotypes I think.
Darkm wrote: "I like these books too, although my favorite is The elegant corpse.I really, really loved that one. ..."
That's the standalone book?
I was wary of the D/s warning. But I loved Amor.. and have just started the second book so I'm tempted.
The Elegant Corpse is a stand alone and it does have D/s in it. It is not related to Amor or Misfortune. I thought the D/s part was a bit out of place. I didn't read the warning and it took me by surprise.
Hello! My Kindle and I have returned from my family's annual holiday trip to Disney. Thank you for all your recommendations earlier this month. I only scratched the surface of the TBR list, but had a lot of fun, and am making my way through more of it now that I am back. :)I started with Chase in Shadow, to see what all the fuss was about. It was...an interesting experience. I spent 7 years in a relationship with someone whose life was full of the kind of painful drama in Chase's life, complete with a parent who committed suicide in front of him when he was a child, so I didn't think the "angst" in this story was over the top. In fact, it seemed pretty realistic (especially for early twenty-something MCs) and I thought Amy handled it well. Unfortunately, I never really connected with Tommy. Every time I began to warm up to him, he'd do or say something that struck me as...eh, selfish. I mean, I understood him (which is why I didn't outright dislike him), but...still didn't approve. I also got a little confused with all the time jumps. There were flashbacks within flashbacks, which kind of threw me off now and then. But only now and then; for the most part, I thought she handled the time jumps deftly. Must have been a fun book to edit. *g*
I'm not sure what possessed me to follow Chase in Shadow up with Life After Joe, but I did. Good grief. What's with all these books reminding me of a relationship I've been out of (and had out of my head) for over a year? The MC's hardcore self-destructive drinking and drugging made it a bit hard for me to connect with him, mostly because I (finally) burned out on my compassion for that sort of thing. But all in all, I enjoyed the story, and I have a bit of a crush on Aaron. ;) Oh, and that helicopter ride was scary. 0.o
(Mind you, I was reading all of these...cheerful...stories while strolling around Disney with my family. What a contrast. *lopsided grin*)
I read Incursion next. Echoes of this one are still haunting my thoughts--in a good way. I know a book's really affected me when it just...stays in my head. (And here's another one that brought up old memories--good GRIEF!--but happy ones this time. There are a few things in Incursion that reminded me of the Star Wars D6 games my ex used to run--so much so that I found myself barking out in laughter.)
Then, The Cranberry Hush. WHAT IS WITH ALL OF THESE CHEERFUL BOOKS YOU RECOMMENDED ME, PEOPLE? I found this one melancholy and slow, but beautiful. Author scored major points with me by writing a bisexual MC. I hardly see the word "bisexual" in M/M fiction, and usually it is mentioned only in passing. (Like, Chase in Shadow doesn't mention it once, from what I recall. The porn models were either gay pretending to be straight, straight pretending to be gay on camera, outright gay, or possibly confused...but not bi. Seriously? I found this hard to believe--probably because I know a good number of men who are no-questions-about-it bi.) Also, the author scored major points with me for geek references. ^_^
Funny, when reading Cranberry Hush, I kept thinking, "Well, I never experienced a post-college void..." Then, I realized: "Oh, wait. I'm basically still in college." -_-
I also just finished Nine Lights Over Edinburgh. I thought that one was lovely. I felt for all of the characters and just really enjoyed being in icy Scotland. (I have a natural weakness for men in skirts. Er, kilts.) I also read the coda that Harper wrote on her blog, but am going to pretend that didn't happen... It was nicely written, but I like the HEA ending in my head. :-/
Pardon me for the large post... Guess I am making up for lost time... Thank you again for all the recs! :D
Candice wrote: "I meant to mention, I finished BLESS US WITH CONTENT by TINNEAN. It seems to me I read a less than enthusiastic review in this forum, some time ago.Anyway, I liked it very much and, personally, ..."
I agree with you. I liked it a lot as well and a book I can read again.
Susinok wrote: "I just finished Xylophone by K.Z. Snow. I really liked it."I kept forgetting I wanted to mention it here (well, in fact in the ''General News''), especially after I read this enthusiastic review by Val Kovalin: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Congratulations, K.Z.!
I wish all who celebrate it, a very merry Christmas. It is a tradition in our family to gather at Christmas eve, with a visit from Santa himself. We migrated to Australia in 73, so for many years it was just us. My Husband and I, and our 4 kids. But now, the extended family and friends join in as well and it is always a great evening.
ED wrote: "I wish all who celebrate it, a very merry Christmas. It is a tradition in our family to gather at Christmas eve, with a visit from Santa himself. We migrated to Australia in 73, so for many years..."
Sounds lovely, Ed. Have a wonderful Christmas.
I'm reading The Trust by Shira Anthony. It's a bit slow going still. I'm just at the halfway mark.
Meep wrote: "Darkm wrote: "I like these books too, although my favorite is The elegant corpse.I really, really loved that one. ..."
That's the standalone book?
I was wary of the D/s warning. But I loved Amor...."
It's a stand-alone.
It does have D/s parts, I loved those but I'm not sure of what you may/may not, like.
I wanted to wish Merry Christmas to everyone here who celebrates it as well :)
Mod
This is free on fictionpress.com And I HIGHLY recommend it. Like others, I'm thinking this should be published for real. I'd pay for it in an instant.
Mod
Thank you for reminding us of this one, Jordan. I've had it on my iPad for ages, but I haven't read it yet. After your recommendation I will. :)
I've read A Midwinter Prince and All Roads Lead To You by Harper Fox. I can wholeheartedly recommend both of them. I also read I Spy Something Christmas which I loved.
I read Aiden's Luck by Con Riley. I really enjoyed it. Some reviews said it was boring, but it was not. It was a well thought out emotional journey, and well done.Oh I hate the word boring! I really do.
The Christmas holidays is when I catch up on more serious reading – the sorts of books I’m not awake enough to concentrate on during term time. So I’m reading Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad. It's good but not really a Christmassy readand I've picked up Glyn Maxwell’s wonderful On Poetry which sent me back to my own poems today and not before time as I need to get the next draft finished for 28th December.
I just finished As Meat Loves Salt. I'm torn about the book. It's beautifully written, I dislike the main character, skimmed at least 70-80 pages, was ready to give up a few times and still kinda glad I encountered it. And even THEN I'm handing it in at the charity shop.
I'm reading Sinner's Gin by Rhys Ford. It is a pretty good mystery and I'm very engaged with the two main characters. There was a 4-5 page masturbation scene I sort of skimmed over after the second paragraph...
Mod
That was a very hard read. I did give up about a quarter of the way through. Then about a year later or more I picked it up again and read to the end. It was beautifully written, but oh so tragic.
Yep. I'm weird, or maybe spoilt by m/m, but I really struggle with tragic endings. And I know how ironic that is with my own track record of killing main characters.
Mod
There is an international book giveaway (Dec 24 - Dec 31) for this one on its GR page: Sinner's Gin. I've never read Rhys Ford and I've never taken part in GR giveaways, but this one sounds interesting, so I'll give it a try. :)
I finally read Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov yesterday and it's as good as everyone here has said it to be. I'm not a big sci-fi fan, but the setting, characters and the story itself managed to captivate me effectively.
I've started to read Not Knowing Jack by K.A. Mitchell and to listen to The Marrying Kind by Ken O'Neill. I'm not sure what to think about the latter one yet (only about 15% through), but it seems very light read. We've got A LOT of snow last night and today, and The Marrying Kind made the shoveling bearable, even fun. The cover of the book looks a lot like a m/f romance cover, don't you think?
Mod
lol, me too. I've killed my fair share of slash characters in the past, but this one, maybe because it was historical or something, I just wanted everything to work out for them in the end. And with books like this, yeah, MM is definitely a spoiler. Once you've read enough happy endings, it's hard to go back sometimes.
I'm reading E.M. Forster's biography and it's interesting how he insisted on a happy ending for Maurice, I'll post something when I get home
Jordan wrote: "Aleksandr wrote: "I just finished As Meat Loves Salt. I'm torn about the book. It's beautifully written, I dislike the main character, skimmed at least 70-80 pages, was ready to give up a few times..."This keeps turning up in my GR recommends list. I'm half tempted but I had to write a dissertation on the English Civil War as an undergrad so Maria McCann had better have done her research.
Oh, she has. If you want it, I can post it to you rather than put it in the charity shop.
Just finished Wired for Story by Lisa Cron
. Hands down, this is the best book on story writing I've read. I'm struggling to find the right words to describe it (and give it justice!). Cron looks at why humans are "wired" to communicate through stories and how to use this information to craft sound, riveting fiction. She cites modern neuroscience. It's not a bunch of scientific jargon, though--her "voice" is friendly and fun, as if she's talking to you over a cup of coffee. Very accessible. She gives you the meat and potatoes of how and why stories work, backs herself up with plenty of useful examples, and gives you practical advice on how to harness this knowledge in your own story writing. And she does most of this by talking about how stories work from the point of view of the reader, which I found really helpful.
Highly recommended!
Christine wrote: "Just finished Wired for Story by Lisa Cron . Hands down, this is the be..."
That book looks very interesting. I always thought there was a difference between writing well and writing a good story. Stories take you on a journey. Writing is craft and how the words are strung together. Magic happens when a person is good at both.
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
Chained Melody (other topics)The Far Pavilions (other topics)
Death in Kashmir (other topics)
The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood (other topics)
Mistress of the Art of Death (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
M.M. Kaye (other topics)Elspeth Huxley (other topics)
Lauren Willig (other topics)
Charlie Cochet (other topics)
Damon Suede (other topics)
More...
Spine Intact, Some Creases by Victor J. Banis went down in price!
The kindle edition is now $4.39 USA and 2.55 pounds UK amazon!
So I of course bought mine! yay...."
OH awesome! I snagged it to. I loved his mystery series and hope he adds to it.
I wonder why he changes publishers.