Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed*
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Anne
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Jan 14, 2013 06:35AM
I did finish Under the Rushes, her first steampunk book. While I am a fan of Amy Lane, I find this not to be her best book. The world building is interesting and the carachters too, but in my opinion she wasn't able to finish what she started, the ending was very rushed and too blood thirsty. I got the feeling she wanted the book to be both a steampunk book and a romance, and she didn't really have enough pages to do the steampunk part well enough, the solutions were too easy and quick compared to the intricate society and political conflict she had created. I would have loved more details and probably more "realistic" political solutions(which is kind of strange to ask for in a fantasy, but it needs to be real in accordance with its own rules.)
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Josh wrote: "So I was wondering how many of you have tried to hunt down half-remembered favorites from your childhood. Do you have any books like that?"I have quite a few. Little Downy Duckling being one my parents read to me daily when I was a preschooler. I also have a few from Enid Blyton's Famous Five series, such as
. I cut my reading teeth on those books.
But one book that I still think about is The Chrysalids
It's a post apocalyptic sci-fi story that deals with genetic mutation and religious fundamentalism. I wouldn't call it a favorite, yet I often think about that story or more accurately, I think about the themes of the story than the actual plot. It was a powerful read for me at the age of fifteen. That book helped shape some of my personal values. Does that make any sense?
I just re-read It's Not Shakespeare by Amy Lane for the fourth or fifth time. I love the two characters, Rafael and James. Such interesting characters.Now reading The Nothingness of Ben, a first novel, by Brad Boney. So far it is going well.
Listening to "Allan Quatermain," narrated by Bill Homewood. It is super fun. I think it's the first book I'm enjoying listening to more than reading myself. I really feel like Quatermain himself is reading to me, waxing philosophical about human nature, telling me about his restless days in stuffy England, and dreaming about returning to the wilds of Africa. *happy hand claps*(The way Quatermain carries on about one of his best friends, I can't help but think about the slash possibilities. Heh.)
I could swear I saw a comment by Reggie here just a second ago... Must be my eyes playing tricks on me (or I'm in the wrong folder?) ^^
Pender wrote: "...But one book that I still think about is The Chrysalids It's a post apocalyptic sci-fi story that deals with genetic mutation and religious fundamentalism. I wouldn't call it a favorite, yet I often think about that story or more accurately, I think about the themes of the story than the actual plot. It was a powerful read for me at the age of fifteen. That book helped shape some of my personal values. Does that make any sense?"
Yes, Pender, it does make sense - I felt something similar after reading other books by John Wyndham. They're the only science fiction / fantasy I've ever liked, and I frequently think about concepts and possibilities which he explored. Did you ever read his The Seeds of Time? Really thought-provoking short stories about the nature of time and how it might be possible to manipulate it, and the possible effects for humans. And Chocky made me feel most peculiar at the age of 13 or so.
Hj wrote: "Yes, Pender, it does make sense - I felt something similar after reading other books by John Wyndham."I also wanted to answer Pender along these lines ;-)
Anne wrote: "I did finish Under the Rushes, her first steampunk book. While I am a fan of Amy Lane, I find this not to be her best book. The world building is interesting and the carachters too, but in my opini..."THANK YOU, Anne. Was contemplating this one, but was hoping for a steer from one of y'all.
Just finished the first installment of RAH, THE GRAIN GOD (a trilogy); it was GOOD. Long, in the middle a little slow for me, but I did love it. Keeping in mind I'm the one who said she likes to be kept waiting by authors, I'm getting a big kick out of these books. The two leads could have easily been cookie cutter as so often happens when the leads are archetypal. (Is that the right usage?) One is a big, handsome assassin and the other a lovely young slave-god. These and all the characters are three-dimensional, very interesting. You will become invested. The humor works when it occurs and is very appealing.
Will the hero ever win the love of fair young man? I honestly don't know. I'm on the 2nd book, enjoying it thoroughly. Am only frustrated because these 1st two are written in 2011; where is number 3?
I found no web page per se for this author, SUSAN SHEPHERD, and no further info beyond a brief bio.
If anyone knows where number 3 is or when it's coming out, pls let me know.
I just finished The Nothingness of Ben, first novel by Brad Boney. I really enjoyed it. 4.5 stars for me. I really connected with this story.
Mod
This is still a dark book, just like the others, and there is a LOT of sex. Surprisingly, even though the book is a tome, most of it is not boring and repetative. So that's good. And this one gets into the unedited territory, but I found that it didn't bother me so much. Just some of the head hopping that's been going on since the beginning, is what did get to me.
Anyway, good book, and even though I'm going to wait a little bit until I read the last one, I still can't wait!
Candice wrote: "Anne wrote: "I did finish Under the Rushes, her first steampunk book. While I am a fan of Amy Lane, I find this not to be her best book. The world building is interesting and the carachters too, bu..."You know, it is still Amy Lane, so not a bad book compared to so many out there, just lacking in my opinion, but that is on me.
So I'm browsing Amazon to look for something to read, because what I just finished was decidedly "blah". I stumble across the first science fiction book I ever read, The Rolling Stones By Robert A. Heinlein. My mother gave me two of his juveniles (The Star Beast was the other) for Christmas one year. I devoured them and read every other book of his since then.If I get it and read it, will I be nostalgic or disappointed? I'm afraid to find out since it was 35 years ago. My memory of those books are so happy. I'd discovered a genre I read intensely for 20 years or so with Heinlein. It was also a bonding experience with mom and her favorite genre.
The things you'll contemplate reading when getting over an uninspiring book.
Susinok wrote: "So I'm browsing Amazon to look for something to read, because what I just finished was decidedly "blah". I stumble across the first science fiction book I ever read, The Rolling Stones By Robert A...."Oh, my gosh! The Star Beast! I LOVED that book! I still have it! I barely remember it now.
I think I understand your question. I used to LOVE Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland. Watched it every Christmas when I was a kid. Then, watched it one year out of nostalgia...and...nearly fell asleep... It was so...blah. Corny and boring. I wondered how I'd loved it so much when I was younger.
Of course, interested to see it again now, years later. Maybe my opinion will change again and I will find I like it once more. Who knows.
Probably this is: What else are you not yet reading?The latest installment of ''Turbulence'' by JCP is out, but... it is the second last one! So I decided to wait till the end. Here what JCP writes:
The Turbulence series is drawing to a close! The last episode, ''Final Boarding'', will be published February 15. At that time I’ll also release a Turbulence Collection omnibus that will allow the episodes to be read as a novel. The Turbulence Collection will be priced at the JCP Books novel price (which is $5.99 for an ebook of this length.)
For the readers who have been voluntarily purchasing the installments at JCP Books, I will run a spreadsheet to see who’s paid more than $5.99 and get a free copy of the collection in their hands. It’s not my intention to make anyone double-pay for the story. Just to give readers options.
I also plan to release the Turbulence Collection in print...
See more news here:
http://psycop.com/NL/NL60.html
Antonella wrote: "Probably this is: What else are you not yet reading?The latest installment of ''Turbulence'' by JCP is out, but... it is the second last one! So I decided to wait till the end. Here what JCP writ..."
I have every episode/book but I have not read them yet. I think I will also wait for the entire collection in order to read them.
Victor J. Banis is doing a review, at Wave's, of the e-book release ofThe Butcher's Son. It is the first of 12? in the Dick Hardesty Mystery Series by Dorian Grey. http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/201...
Mod
All writers should be reading this book, especially writers just starting out. The thing that's irking me about this book is that it only came out this year, but having a chance to read it like, a year or two ago would have been most helpful in my writing. It's taking me awhile to get through it simply because it's pointint out all the huge (now glaring) mistakes in my previous two manuscripts, and helping me better write the first draft of my current WIP.
Now I'm looking at the other two and seeing how much I need to rewrite both of them from scratch. One of them I'd already tossed on the garbage heap, but now I'm seeing how it can be revived to live a long healthy, happy life. lol. The other just needs extensive life support at the moment, but I can now see how to work on it, improve it, and eventually get it published. Phew! That's a lot of work, but now I have 3 novels to work on for 2013, and I just need to find a short story plot, but there are plenty of those floating around in my brain, so when the time comes I'll just pick one. And voila, four works for this year. Let's just hope I can find the time to get them all done in one year. That would be amazing.
Wow, Jordan! What a gift you've been given! That is so exciting, to be able see the image in the marble. Excellent. ***Snoopy Dance*** for Jordan!
Mod
His Redwall series has over 20 books, and eventually becomes more of the same very quickly. As a kid, I loved them, and he was my favorite author. But when I got into college I began getting bored. And then he had to go and die on me recently, which sent me to the bookstore in a rush to get every book I hadn't already bought and read. So, I'm slowly working my way through the last books. They're still good. He's still a fantastic writer, it's just that the stories are more of the same. REgardless, he will always be my favorite author as a teen.
Jordan wrote: "I'm halfway through Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence, and I'm loving it so much I'm hating it. Or... should that be the other ..."Yay! Glad you are enjoying it! Or, hating it--that's a good thing, right?
For me, it felt like she unveiled the mystery of why stories work...without actually taking the mystery out of them. I find it hard to apply her advice consciously to my writing. Rather, I need to let it guide my intuition. It's the opposite of what I do in school with research and academic writing. So, I'm trying to learn how to let go and feel my way through my stories...but, now with more purpose and less flailing around than before. Anyway. It's been interesting.
Good luck with all those manuscripts! It's such a wonderful feeling to look at something you think doesn't work...and know how to "fix" it! Or, at least, how to begin to revive it. :D
Jordan wrote: "And I'm also catching up on my childhood reading with Voyage of Slaves, which is the last book in the series since the author, Brian Jacques, died. I'm glad to finally be getting around to this boo..."Oh, gosh! Didn't realize he'd died.
Yes, I had that experience with his Redwall books, too. My tolerance for the same burned out after only a handful of books. Funny, almost everyone I talk to who's read his Redwall series has the same complaint about...well, the sameness.
Still, I LOVED Martin the Warrior. One of my favorite books.
And for quite a while on-line, I talked with a mole accent. I bet my friends all wanted to clobber me. ^.^
Mod
LOL... you talked like a MOLE?!?! Gosh, that's, like, the hardest of all the accents to speak in from those books. Wow. I am amazed.
Yeah, he died over a year ago now. I remember I was at work one morning when a friend of mine emailed me his obituary and I think I screamed/cried and just didn't know how to react in a public setting in front of patrons and a co-worker who could have cared less about the author. I've met him three times, have books signed by him, and heard him sing in a folk concert. In short, he's amazing, and even though his books became the same after awhile, it was still awful to learn that he'd died.
Mossflower is my favorite Redwall book. I put it on the summer reading list for the local schools last year. :-)
Just finished a really good book. Five star read for me. Black Hawk Tattoo by Aundrea Singer.The more a book affects me the less coherence I have when I want to tell someone about it.
But check it out. Very good book.
Mod
Well, I'm getting a better handle on how to create believable characters. Granted, I've read really great how-to writing books before, but I like how this one explains the goals a character needs to have. The last book I tried to write, I was too busy plotting to even contemplate the idea that they needed to have goals. Ummmm... right. I'm going to make great use of the check lists at the end of each chapter.
So glad my friend "forced" me to read it. lol.
I have bitched here before that Manna Francis's books were not available in any reasonable e-format, so I was happy to see that they are now available on Amazon. They are $10 each (ouch) so I won't be grabbing them all at once or anything, but I did pick up First Against the Wall, since it is my favorite.http://www.amazon.com/Manna-Francis/e...
Charming wrote: "I have bitched here before that Manna Francis's books were not available in any reasonable e-format, so I was happy to see that they are now available on Amazon. They are $10 each (ouch) so I won'..."So I'll probably buy them for the second time... Thanks Charming, great news!
Jordan wrote: "Christine wrote: "Jordan wrote: "And I'm also catching up on my childhood reading with Voyage of Slaves, which is the last book in the series since the author, Brian Jacques, died. I'm glad to fina..."lol. I didn't say I did a very good job at it! I think I'd die now if I read some of those old things I wrote in mole-speak. *g*
Awww. I think it is wonderful that you have those memories of him. I never had the pleasure to meet him. He does sound like a wonderful person. :)
Jordan wrote: "And I'm also catching up on my childhood reading with Voyage of Slaves, which is the last book in the series since the author, Brian Jacques, died. I'm glad to finally be getting around to this boo..."I agree about the same-y-same-ness of those books. I read Redwall in school in 6th grade, went on to acquire Mossflower & Mattimeo. My sister fell in love & kept buying but I pretty much quit with those three. But then, this summer, I was able to introduce *my* kids, by way of the animated series, "Redwall," which they watched on Netflix. After they were well and truly hooked, I pointed them at the books. Even my 7YO has read them, now! :D
Tracy wrote: "Jordan wrote: "And I'm also catching up on my childhood reading with Voyage of Slaves, which is the last book in the series since the author, Brian Jacques, died. I'm glad to finally be getting aro..."Ooooo! I forgot there was a show! Gonna have to go check it out now...!
Hj wrote: "Yes, Pender, it does make sense - I felt something similar after reading other books by John Wyndham. They're the only science fiction / fantasy I've ever liked, and I frequently think about concepts and possibilities which he explored. Did you ever read his The Seeds of Time? Really thought-provoking short stories about the nature of time and how it might be possible to manipulate it, and the possible effects for humans. And Chocky made me feel most peculiar at the age of 13 or so...."I have! I went through a real John Wyndham stage in my late teens. I've read The Seeds of Time, Village of the Damned, Day of the Triffids, which is also one of my favorite movies ever, and quite a few of his other works. I've never read Chocky, though the premise looks intriguing.
Many of the themes and concepts in his books have stuck with me over the years.
I'll find myself sitting in a meeting at work, mentally contemplating what it would be like to wake up one day as the only sighted person. (Day of the Triffids) How isolating that would feel.
Maybe that's how I feel subconsciously in some of these meetings. :P
Mod
Christmas Codas
I Spy Something Christmas Yum!
Beau and the Beast not Jean Cocteau
My Roommate's a Jock? Well, Crap!
Quid Pro Quo Short, sweet, hot!
You Melted Me
No Apologies
Not His Kiss to Take Finn Marlowe, guilty pleasure. (smile)
Sinner's Gin
Too Stupid to Live Anne is amazing.
The Celestial A lovely Brennessel historical.
+ a fanfic I'm too embarrassed to list
+ a serial yaoi (likewise)
... and The Charioteer
Karen wrote: "+ a fanfic I'm too embarrassed to list+ a serial yaoi (likewise)"
And now I want to know! ;) (Haven't read yaoi in ages, maybe there's something new and good^^)
Mod
+ a serial yaoi (likewise)"
And now I want to know!"
Me too! ;) That part of Karen's list made me chuckle. :)
My The Complete Brandstetter arrived today! A package with book(s) in it always makes the day a shade brighter. It's going to be a perfect day for reading too, because it's really cold (-30 Celsius = -22 Fahrenheit) and I'll definitely spend part of the evening in front of the fireplace. :)
Johanna wrote: "Calathea wrote: "Karen wrote: "+ a fanfic I'm too embarrassed to list+ a serial yaoi (likewise)"
And now I want to know!"
Me too! ;) That part of Karen's list made me chuckle. :)
Enjoy the Brandstetter books, Johanna, they are great. And creep close to the fire :)
My The Complet..."
Johanna wrote: "My The Complete Brandstetter arrived today!"I looked for it everywhere and I couldn't find it at an affordable price (for me and in this period), so I ordered all the used books of the series from around the world and I'm waiting for them to arrive. I have to make room on the shelves... :)
The Brandstetter series is being translated into Italian, by the way. Someone in the Italian group noticed that they translated #1, #2 and now #5. I hate when they do that.
Mod
I looked for it everywhere and I couldn't find it at an affordable price (for me and in this period), so I ordered all the used books o..."
Ooooh, so you are about to receive multiple packages! And those are going to brighten up many days! Clever. ;)
I ordered mine through Amazon.uk. Mine is a former library book, but it's in so good condition that I wonder if anybody has read it at all. :( It looks like maybe someone has once read the first 80 pages (of 1200 pages), but that's about it.
It only cost 52.79 USD, which I thought wasn't too bad at all. Better World Books (the seller) also claims that they "sell books online to raise money for libraries and leading literacy charities. These charities then use the money to build schools, start libraries, provide scholarships and support learning around the world." I don't know if any of that is true (since I'm not familiar with this organization), but I hope so.
There is still another one of The Complete Brandstetters (former library book) for sale from the same seller at Amazon.uk. If that one is nearly in as good shape as the one I got today, that's an excellent purchase. My book's condition was marked "Used — Good" and the one that is still for sale is "Used — Acceptable", but the prize seems to be about the same (62.91 USD). There is also another copy from a different seller (that ships from US), that is in "good condition" and costs 62.90 USD. If anyone is interested, you can find both books here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listin...
Today I got #2, #3, #4, #9 and #12, I hope Fadeout will arrive soon :)
Mod
Yay! :)
Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Today I got #2, #3, #4, #9 and #12, I hope Fadeout will arrive soon :)"Happy reading :)
Mod
I know there are other ways to go about getting her books onto the kindle or other ereaders that are easier, but I took her work, copied and pasted into a word document, blew the size of the font up to at least 20-24 points, and saved it as a PDF. At least I'm not killing my eyes that way.
I like her work, but I'm not sure I like it enough to spend ten dollars on it. Then again, I'm still very close to the beginning of the series, so we'll see what happens as I read it.
I read Dirty Secret by Rhys Ford. Sequel to Dirty Kiss. This one was a very good mystery with a lot of insight into how Koreans view homosexuality.5 stars (I hate ratings!)
Mod
5 stars (I hate ratings!)"
Ooohh, thanks for that rec. I'd definitely be interested in something Korean. It sounds really good.
I've begun One Boy's Shadow, a compelling (and affordable!) first novel. Better yet, "Ross is using the profits from sales of One Boy's Shadow to support LGBTQ youth organizations such as The Youth Project www.youthproject.ns.ca in his home province of Nova Scotia."I'll probably be posting a review of this one.
Pender wrote: "I'll find myself sitting in a meeting at work, mentally contemplating what it would be like to wake up one day as the only sighted person. (Day of the Triffids) How isolating that would feel..."Yes! When there's some interesting astronomical event I'll think of the The Day of the Triffids, or when we hear about ice melting at the poles I'll think of The Kraken Wakes. And I saw some amazing lichen over the Christmas holidays and thought about Trouble With Lichen.
It's amazing how (good) books can permeate your subconscious and affect how you see things for ever, especially those you read at an impressionable age.
K.Z. wrote: "I've begun One Boy's Shadow, a compelling (and affordable!) first novel. Better yet, "Ross is using the profits from sales of One Boy's Shadow to support LGBTQ youth organizations such as The Yout..."Ooh,a fellow Canadian author and supporting a good cause too. Thanks for the rec, K.Z.
Hj wrote: "It's amazing how (good) books can permeate your subconscious and affect how you see things for ever, especially those you read at an impressionable age..."Now you've got me wondering if there are any (bad) books I might have read at an impressionable age that affected my approach to things.
…
Nope, can't think of any. I mean, I can remember reading a few stinkers, but they didn't leave a lasting impression.
K.Z. wrote: "I've begun One Boy's Shadow, a compelling (and affordable!) first novel. Better yet, "Ross is using the profits from sales of One Boy's Shadow to support LGBTQ youth organizations such as The Yout..."Thank you for the rec, it looks like quite a few reliable people fell in love with the book!
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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