[Abyss]

The Incredible Kitsu, on 31 July 2013 - 03:18 AM, said:

...Next up for me is The Summer Tree and my first taste of G.G.K.

Just a note on this point... the FIONAVAR TAPESTRY isn't a bad entry point for GGK, but it's far from his best work and very different in tone and approach from what he does later. If you like, the entire trilo is worth reading. If you don't, I'd say grab LIONS, SARANTINE or ARBONNE for a second try. And half the forums swears by TIGANA and the other half doesn't.

QuickTidal, on 31 July 2013 - 01:01 PM, said:

In bits and chunks between fiction books I've been slowly making my way through THE NEW AGE OF ADVENTURE: TEN YEARS OF GREAT WRITING, which is an anthology of essays ...

AMONG THE MAN-EATERS - Philip Caputo - Basically the true story of the two lions called The Ghost and The Darkness who ate many people during the construction of a railway in Tsavo (yes, the one that the fictional account in the movie named after the two lions with Kilmer and Douglas). Riveting account of strange behaviour by the lions.
...

I've only read this one (was repub'd somewhere when the movie came out) and it was brilliant. The movie was... ok enough, i suppose... but the essay really gives the story a level of depth the movie couldn't touch.
Will track down this book.



Am midway thru RIYRIA bk 5... was expecting move of an uptick in pace after events in bk 4 but Sullivan still has a slow-build pattern he seems to stick with.
Also jumping to the MAD SCIENTISTS' GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION intermittently because i am so enjoying those short stories. A few have been standard anthology-fare but most have been awesome. Mad Scientists are scary. Mad Psychiatrists are REALLY scary. And don't even get me started on the Mad Scientist Telepathic Gorilla...

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 31 July 2013 - 01:25 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 31 July 2013 - 01:01 PM, said:

In bits and chunks between fiction books I've been slowly making my way through THE NEW AGE OF ADVENTURE: TEN YEARS OF GREAT WRITING, which is an anthology of essays ...

AMONG THE MAN-EATERS - Philip Caputo - Basically the true story of the two lions called The Ghost and The Darkness who ate many people during the construction of a railway in Tsavo (yes, the one that the fictional account in the movie named after the two lions with Kilmer and Douglas). Riveting account of strange behaviour by the lions.
...

I've only read this one (was repub'd somewhere when the movie came out) and it was brilliant. The movie was... ok enough, i suppose... but the essay really gives the story a level of depth the movie couldn't touch.
Will track down this book.

If it helps, my brother-in-law (who loaned me the book) apparently found it used online for $6. So it can be found cheaply as well.

[JPK]

Abyss, I have both Sarantine and Lions on my trp as well. Got all of them as xmas gifts about two years ago right after I started lurking here. I chose Fionavar cause it sounded the most like a classic fantasy and that is exactly what I'm in the mood for. Which also happens to be why The Hobbit is slotted up for as soon as I finish The Summer Tree.

[Ukjent]

Just buy Under Heaven and River of star asap. They will fit perfectly for autumn.

[Puck]

Currently reading My Brother's Keeper by Stanislaus Joyce, which is an account of how childhood with a brother like James Joyce was.. It's reading for uni but I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

[QuickTidal]

Reading ALIF THE UNSEEN by G. Willow Wilson finally.

Hacktivism by way of an unnamed city in the Persian Gulf, featuring a half Indian, half Arab hacker who keeps people off the grid on the net...who then runs afoul of the state police, and an angry nobleman who's betrothed he'd slept with...and he finds himself in the possession of an ancient book that shouldn't exist and ends up involved with shape-changing desert djinn and fantastical mysticism.

If I had to categorize it....Urban Fantasy fused through Islam mingled with cyberpunk.

And it's compelling as hell. Started it last night and I'm already round page 120 this morning.

[amphibian]

There's far less SF involved in this and it's set in future Turkey, but Ian McDonald's The Dervish House will probably beat the pants off whatever you read in the "filtered through Middle Eastern cyberpunk" genre.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 01 August 2013 - 02:45 PM

[T77]

Finished The One Tree by Donaldson. Good, but after reading now 5 of his Covenant books, I am putting Donaldson in the good but not great category. He has great prose, good world-building, good characters. But, it is very grim - Covenant gets put through a meat-grinder in every book - and there is nothing really outstanding about it. I will finish the series as I do like it.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 01 August 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

There's far less SF involved in this and it's set in future Turkey, but Ian McDonald's The Dervish House will probably beat the pants off whatever you read in the "filtered through Middle Eastern cyberpunk" genre.

I'll certainly check him out.

... but seeing as Willow Wilson is a muslim who lived in Egypt for most of her twenties, my guess is she has at least a handle on the culture she now belongs to. She's not just some western christian attempting to write "exotic". She's kinda the real deal, and I'd highly recommend her work at this point.

[Serenity]

^^ That's good to know - I've thought about buying Alif the Unseen a few times.

I'm 30% of the way through Weber's On Basilisk Station and bored out of my skull so far.

[Stalker]

I agree with Amphibian, The Dervish House is a phenomenal book.

I'm currently on Hollow World by Michael J Sullivan. I backed his kickstarter for it, so now I have it much earlier than it can be released for real due to exclusivity stuff with Orbit. Not far into it yet, but so far it is time travel science talk, feels like The Time Machine.

[Abyss]

Serenity, on 01 August 2013 - 03:50 PM, said:

...
I'm 30% of the way through Weber's On Basilisk Station and bored out of my skull so far.

This is the main reason that i have yet to read the Honor Harrington series, notwithstanding that i genuinely enjoy most things Weber. I got BASILISK STATION for free, years ago, have started and dropped it easily six times.

I suspect part of the problem is that most Weber i read was written years later and his style and pacing seriously improved. BASILISK starts slooooooooow and has a bunch of milsf tropes so overplayed i can't quite manage to move along past them.

[QuickTidal]

Stalker, on 01 August 2013 - 04:12 PM, said:

I'm currently on Hollow World by Michael J Sullivan. I backed his kickstarter for it, so now I have it much earlier than it can be released for real due to exclusivity stuff with Orbit. Not far into it yet, but so far it is time travel science talk, feels like The Time Machine.

I was a backer too, but I've decided to await the print version to ship to me (I assume you're reading the ebook version). Looking fwd to reading it though.

[Stalker]

QuickTidal said:

1375377219[/url]' post='1075576']

Stalker said:

1375373536[/url]' post='1075555']
I'm currently on Hollow World by Michael J Sullivan. I backed his kickstarter for it, so now I have it much earlier than it can be released for real due to exclusivity stuff with Orbit. Not far into it yet, but so far it is time travel science talk, feels like The Time Machine.

I was a backer too, but I've decided to await the print version to ship to me (I assume you're reading the ebook version). Looking fwd to reading it though.

Yup. I've got the print version coming too, but I needed something to read and I wasn't about to turn down a book showing up in my email.

[James Hutton]

James Hutton, on 28 July 2013 - 08:51 PM, said:

Next: FURIES OF CALDERON by Jim Butcher.

Finished it yesterday, couldn't put it down. I'm officially on the Butcher train now!

Onto CORVUS by Paul Kearney. I'm a couple of chapters in and quite like it.

This post has been edited by James Hutton: 01 August 2013 - 06:29 PM

[End of Disc One]

James Hutton, on 01 August 2013 - 06:28 PM, said:

James Hutton, on 28 July 2013 - 08:51 PM, said:

Next: FURIES OF CALDERON by Jim Butcher.

Finished it yesterday, couldn't put it down. I'm officially on the Butcher train now!

Finished the second one recently. I thought it was a more interesting story but had a less epic finish. Quite enjoyable but still not a top tier series yet for me.

[JPK]

Graablick, on 31 July 2013 - 06:59 PM, said:

Just buy Under Heaven and River of star asap. They will fit perfectly for autumn.

So, about fifty pages into The Summer Tree and I'm absolutely enjoying it. Needless to say, I took your advice and grabbed Under Heaven. Going to wait just a little longer for River of Stars though. That one's still a little expensive.

This post has been edited by The Incredible Kitsu: 01 August 2013 - 07:00 PM

[James Hutton]

End of Disc One, on 01 August 2013 - 06:50 PM, said:

James Hutton, on 01 August 2013 - 06:28 PM, said:

James Hutton, on 28 July 2013 - 08:51 PM, said:

Next: FURIES OF CALDERON by Jim Butcher.

Finished it yesterday, couldn't put it down. I'm officially on the Butcher train now!

Finished the second one recently. I thought it was a more interesting story but had a less epic finish. Quite enjoyable but still not a top tier series yet for me.

I see Butcher as a great light read inbetween more heavy stuff (would that be top tier?) like for instance SE or Gene Wolff. Like I said, I couldn't stop reading Furies just like the last book by Butcher I read (Dead Beat). That may not be top tier necessarily, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable!

[amphibian]

http://www.infinityp...es/quietwar.htm

Very fun short story that's a futuristic sci-fi soldier come home to a small town western setting. Tony Daniel wrote the bleep out of that story.

[Serenity]

Abyss, on 01 August 2013 - 05:02 PM, said:

Serenity, on 01 August 2013 - 03:50 PM, said:

...
I'm 30% of the way through Weber's On Basilisk Station and bored out of my skull so far.

This is the main reason that i have yet to read the Honor Harrington series, notwithstanding that i genuinely enjoy most things Weber. I got BASILISK STATION for free, years ago, have started and dropped it easily six times.

I suspect part of the problem is that most Weber i read was written years later and his style and pacing seriously improved. BASILISK starts slooooooooow and has a bunch of milsf tropes so overplayed i can't quite manage to move along past them.

Yeah, that's it exactly. I'm finding it very dry and uninvolving. I've decided to push through it, though - up to 51% now.