[JPK]

I was looking at Audible's membership options and realized how much one saves when they just go for the full year all credits at once option. I took the dive and suddenly had 27 credits to use and all but 12 would expire in March. Obviously, I did the only reasonable thing I could think of and went on a credit redeeming spree. I focused on completing two series that I've already been working on (MBotF and Bobiverse) and then other series that I've been interested in for quite some time.

• Toll the Hounds
• Dust of Dreams
• The Crippled God
• Fall of Light
• For We Are Many - Dennis E. Taylor
• All These Worlds - Dennis E. Taylor
• Red Sister - Mark Lawrence
• Borne - Jeff VanderMeer
• Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks
• Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks
• The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
• The Vagrant - Peter Newman
• The Malice - Peter Newman
• The Seven - Peter Newman
• The Cloud Roads - Martha Wells
• The Serpent Sea - Martha Wells
• The Siren Depths - Martha Wells
• Everything All at Once - Bill Nye
• Redshirts - John Scalzi
• Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Johannes Cabal The Necromancer - Jonathan L. Howard

[Mentalist]

Mentalist, on 04 February 2018 - 09:10 PM, said:

also ordered 2 more books from Chapters:

1) "Siege Perilous", the last of the ForeWorld novels (so technically the sequel to "Mongoliad"
2) The Lord of the Silent Kingdom by Glen Cook- the second "Instrumentalites of the Night novel, because Cook deserves all the money for this series.

Picked these 2 up today.

Only dead tree "older" book I still need to order right now is Hal Duncan's Ink Beyond that, for the nearest future I'm planning to focus on the existing backlog at home.

[Salt-Man Z]

Found a first edition paperback of Gene Wolfe's first published novel, Operation Ares, for $3 yesterday.

[Resurgence]

I found a copy of Uprooted by Naomi Novik at my local used book store that I picked up

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Solis by A.A. Attanasio (plus two vinyl LPs) for 4$ at a nearby estate sale.

[Mentalist]

Wandered into chapters since I was buying a weekly bus pass.

Apparently they are starting to stock the Alex Verus novels. Grabbed "Fated" to sample this series. It's endorsed by Butcher, so my curiosity is peaked.

[Mentalist]

Ordered Ink by Hal Duncan.

With Kameron Hurley's last Worldbreakers book having its release pushed back to (probably) 2019, the only remaining "must buy" for the year is the paperback edition of Alex Marshall's 3rd "Crimson Empire" book which streets in June. Aside from that, I can wholly dedicate myself to working through the 30-odd books of my TRP that I currently own.

[QuickTidal]

Got my hands on Mark Lawrence’s GREY SISTER, early! Woot woot. Just in time to start it after I finish RED SISTER!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Got a whole bunch of used books today:
They Mostly Come Out At Night by Benedict Patrick
A Closed And Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Excession by Banks
Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (beautiful, beautiful cover)
Little Brother by Doctorow

[QuickTidal]

Ordered a hardcopy of Mark Lawrence's ROAD BROTHERS collection (the most recent version with all 14 stories and the fancy art) from Book Depository just to keep my Lawrence shelf up to date with everything he's published thus far (I missed out on it when it came out). Happy to get my hands on it, and I'll be doing a THORNS re-read after I consume it.

[worry]

Thanks for reminding me that Road Brothers exists! I don't think I bought that one yet.

That also reminds me though: when books get expanded, with extra chapters or short stories etc., does the ebook (specifically Kindle) version get updated? Or do you still have to go buy another copy?

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 02 April 2018 - 08:43 PM, said:

Thanks for reminding me that Road Brothers exists! I don't think I bought that one yet.

That also reminds me though: when books get expanded, with extra chapters or short stories etc., does the ebook (specifically Kindle) version get updated? Or do you still have to go buy another copy?

Good question. I’m not sure. Posit it to Mark in his Ded-thread and se what he says.

[worry]

I can't, I'm too shy!

[Abyss]

ORIGAMY by Rachel Armstrong.

The blurb reads like this:

Quote

A stunningly original science fiction novel from scientist Rachel Armstrong.


Mobius knows she isn't a novice weaver, but it seems she must re-learn the art of manipulating spacetime all over again. Encouraged by her parents, Newton and Shelley, she starts to experiment, and is soon travelling far and wide across the galaxy, encountering a dazzling array of bizarre cultures and races along the way. Yet all is not well, and it soon becomes clear that a dark menace is gathering, one that could threaten the very fabric of time and space and will require all weavers to unite if the universe is to stand any chance of surviving.


Rachel Armstrong is Professor of Experimental Architecture at Newcastle University and a 2010 Senior TED Fellow. A former medical doctor, she now designs experiments that explore the transition between inert and living matter and considers their implications for life beyond our solar system.

...which is fairly uninspiring, except Warren Ellis wrote this:

Quote

So I'm a bunch of the way through Rachel Armstrong's ORIGAMY now, and here's the thing:

There's a field of rogue mutant hair transplants, and the hair field is grazed upon by a trip of transgenic goats, and there's like five pages on the digestive processes of these goats, including shoals of microsquid that live in one of the four stomachs. And it's brilliant.

If you're not up for that: the book is about people who use chopsticks to tie knots in spacetime for travel purposes. And art.

Rachel is a synthetic biologist — I met her at a think-tank in Eindhoven a few years ago — and ORIGAMY is what happens when you let a synthetic biologist write a full work of speculative fiction. Possibly this practice will be banned after ORIGAMY is released.

It's an incredibly dense piece of bizarre fantastika balanced artfully on a very simple structure, a journey of discovery, secrets and ancient threats. Parts feel like they've come from fable, or folk tales about strange circus people. In reading it, I've gotten through about ten pages at a time before having to stop and stare into space and process everything that's just been dumped into my head. It's like she freebased twelve novels into one intense concentrated rock.

ORIGAMY is a magnificent, glittering explosion of a book: a meditation on creation, the poetry of science and the insane beauty of everything. You're going to need this.

It comes out on April 3 2018, and, afterwards, there will only be people who have read ORIGAMY and people who have not, and neither of them will be able to understand the other.

...and THAT made me buy it.

Also, ebook is $5 on amazon.

[Macros]

QuickTidal, on 02 April 2018 - 05:17 PM, said:

Ordered a hardcopy of Mark Lawrence's ROAD BROTHERS collection (the most recent version with all 14 stories and the fancy art) from Book Depository just to keep my Lawrence shelf up to date with everything he's published thus far (I missed out on it when it came out). Happy to get my hands on it, and I'll be doing a THORNS re-read after I consume it.

"Thanks" for reminding me this exists QT

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 03 April 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:

ORIGAMY by Rachel Armstrong.

The blurb reads like this:

Quote

A stunningly original science fiction novel from scientist Rachel Armstrong.


Mobius knows she isn't a novice weaver, but it seems she must re-learn the art of manipulating spacetime all over again. Encouraged by her parents, Newton and Shelley, she starts to experiment, and is soon travelling far and wide across the galaxy, encountering a dazzling array of bizarre cultures and races along the way. Yet all is not well, and it soon becomes clear that a dark menace is gathering, one that could threaten the very fabric of time and space and will require all weavers to unite if the universe is to stand any chance of surviving.


Rachel Armstrong is Professor of Experimental Architecture at Newcastle University and a 2010 Senior TED Fellow. A former medical doctor, she now designs experiments that explore the transition between inert and living matter and considers their implications for life beyond our solar system.

...which is fairly uninspiring, except Warren Ellis wrote this:

Quote

So I'm a bunch of the way through Rachel Armstrong's ORIGAMY now, and here's the thing:

There's a field of rogue mutant hair transplants, and the hair field is grazed upon by a trip of transgenic goats, and there's like five pages on the digestive processes of these goats, including shoals of microsquid that live in one of the four stomachs. And it's brilliant.

If you're not up for that: the book is about people who use chopsticks to tie knots in spacetime for travel purposes. And art.

Rachel is a synthetic biologist — I met her at a think-tank in Eindhoven a few years ago — and ORIGAMY is what happens when you let a synthetic biologist write a full work of speculative fiction. Possibly this practice will be banned after ORIGAMY is released.

It's an incredibly dense piece of bizarre fantastika balanced artfully on a very simple structure, a journey of discovery, secrets and ancient threats. Parts feel like they've come from fable, or folk tales about strange circus people. In reading it, I've gotten through about ten pages at a time before having to stop and stare into space and process everything that's just been dumped into my head. It's like she freebased twelve novels into one intense concentrated rock.

ORIGAMY is a magnificent, glittering explosion of a book: a meditation on creation, the poetry of science and the insane beauty of everything. You're going to need this.

It comes out on April 3 2018, and, afterwards, there will only be people who have read ORIGAMY and people who have not, and neither of them will be able to understand the other.

...and THAT made me buy it.

Also, ebook is $5 on amazon.

For Warren Ellis, who is no stranger to writing weird shit himself, to write this about it...makes me need to read it too. Thanks Abyss.

Macros, on 03 April 2018 - 03:04 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 02 April 2018 - 05:17 PM, said:

Ordered a hardcopy of Mark Lawrence's ROAD BROTHERS collection (the most recent version with all 14 stories and the fancy art) from Book Depository just to keep my Lawrence shelf up to date with everything he's published thus far (I missed out on it when it came out). Happy to get my hands on it, and I'll be doing a THORNS re-read after I consume it.

"Thanks" for reminding me this exists QT

I exist to make peoples wallets lighter.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 03 April 2018 - 03:10 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 03 April 2018 - 03:09 PM, said:

...I exist to make peoples wallets lighter.

This is true.

QuickTidal, on 03 April 2018 - 03:09 PM, said:

Abyss, on 03 April 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:

...Warren Ellis wrote...
...and THAT made me buy it.

Also, ebook is $5 on amazon.

For Warren Ellis, who is no stranger to writing weird shit himself, to write this about it...makes me need to read it too. Thanks Abyss.

[Abyss]

Latest storybundle is 'World SF'.... VERY interesting / tempting ....


Anyone know any of these books?

[QuickTidal]

The only one I know is Ekaterina Sedia, and she's apparently VERY, VERY good.

[Salt-Man Z]

Lots of interesting stuff there. I don't think I can justify spending the full $15, though it's still a fantastic deal.

I've read a short story by Aliette de Bodard, and have a Cassandra Khaw novella TBR. I loved Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Signal to Noise and an anthology she edited (She Walks in Shadows). And the Spanish SFF anthology sounds really intriguing.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 05 April 2018 - 05:14 PM