Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Oops, I'm failing at my self-appointed task of starting this thread every month.

So I've been re-reading a bunch lately -

Daggerspell, Darkspell, and The Bristling Wood

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Also I read Emma Newman's Split Worlds trilogy, which I liked very much Between Two Thorns, Any Other Name, All Is Fair

I read a few more of the Stephanie Plum series, 11-14 - these are just too fun, but mysteries not SF&F

And now, after a couple of false starts with other books, I'm into The Necromancer

Rereading Lord of Chaos, book six in the Wheel of Time.

Rereading Golden Son in preparation for the release of Morning Star . Can't wait!

For those of you interested in what's new in SF&F books in February....

SFSignal has a February’s Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Books Cover Gallery
(Includes re-releases and new editions & formats.)

Tor.com breaks out...
February Releases in Science Fiction
February Releases in Fantasy
Genre-Benders for February

Just starting Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay.

Shaitarn wrote: "Just starting Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay."

Enjoy! That's one of my fave GGK books.

Kivrin wrote: "Shaitarn wrote: "Just starting Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay."

Enjoy! That's one of my fave GGK books."

There should be more Eastern Roman Empire-based fantasy.

For me, I've finished City of Blades (excellent, perfect, go read it) and now starting on Cyteen, which looks lengthy.

Well better late than never but I just started The Fellowship of the Ring. I'm also reading Dune, The War of the Worlds, the Neuromancer, and a few other books.

currently reading Rogue Squadron and plan to read:

The Great Book of Amber and A Fire Upon the Deep

The Great Book of Amber was the best work of fiction I read last year.

I just finished Skyfall by Catherine Asaro and even though I've heard this isn't the greatest entry into the Skolian Empire series, I'm a stickler for following internal chronology. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. I've discovered through reading Bujold's Vorkosigan saga that I actually like romance-centric science fiction quite a bit, and Skyfall was certainly good in that regard. Overall I gave the book 3 stars because at times the characters motivations were a bit jumbled and I never felt like I had a real grasp of the universe. I think I'm getting spoiled through the Vorkosigan books with regards to characters and world building.

Next up I'm going to read the novella Legion by Brandon Sanderson this afternoon and follow it up by continuing the Vorkosigan saga in chronological order with Cetaganda.

Right now I have a few books going. I'm about half way through Battlefield Earth, I'm also working on Blood of Dragons which I'm actually having a hard time getting into. It's surprising since Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. Lastly, I finally got my hands on a copy of Jack Vance's The Complete Lyonesse.

The Civil War, Vol. 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville
Cities in Flight
The Name of the Wind

Finally getting around to reading Aurora. About halfway through and really liking it so far.

Audible is having a $4.99 deal on a bunch of first books in series. I picked up Red Rising and The Three-Body Problem to read next.

Sarah wrote: "Finally getting around to reading Aurora. About halfway through and really liking it so far. "
Some love KSR, some don't - for me, it was a five star read last year.

I've finished Central Station which will appear next month. Great characters, exotic atmosphere, zero action, tiny plot. My review is here.

I'm currently reading Tower of Thorns. Next up is a reread of Darkspell and the The Foundation Trilogy. If I don't get sidetracked, every time I go to the library the list gets reorganized.

Just started reading Mars by Ben Bova, which is about the first manned mission to that planet. So far I've been enjoying it.

Andreas wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Finally getting around to reading Aurora. About halfway through and really liking it so far. "
Some love KSR, some don't - for me, it was a five star read last year.

..."

I agree on 5 stars. An excellent story and thought provoking.

Bryan wrote: "I'm currently reading Tower of Thorns. Next up is a reread of Darkspell and the The Foundation Trilogy. If I don't get sidetracked, every time I go to the..."

Tell me about Tower of Thorns. Saw it in a bookstore and it looked really good. Then I couldn't remember the name of it when I went to add it to my "to read" list.

Pickle wrote: "currently reading Rogue Squadron and plan to read:

The Great Book of Amber and A Fire Upon the Deep"

A Fire Upon the Deep is a personal fav. Awesome book! I also love A Deepness in the Sky and have just bought The Children of the Sky to finish up the trilogy. I moved in mid-2010 and was still a mess in most of 2011 and somehow missed the release of The Children in the Sky.

How is Rogue Squadron?

Just finished reading the three Journey to the Force Awakens YA books {book: Smuggler's Run], Moving Target and Weapon of a Jedi, followed by a rereading of Fahrenheit 451 and then a trip for the first time through The Foundation Trilogy.

I just today abandoned Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell after about 100 pages and am now trying to figure out what I want to read next myself.

I'm still catching up on my 2015 reading, especially short stories. I managed to get current with my stack of magazines.

I found the so-called "2016 edition" of the anthology Twelve Tomorrows (though it was published last September) to be a huge disappointment. Silverberg has gone soft and chosen stories without the hard SF background of previous issues. Generally Meh. I guess I'm glad this wasn't chosen as a group anthology discussion topic.

I'm now working my way through the latest of Strahan's "Infinity" series of anthologies, Meeting Infinity. Had a really cool editor's introduction, BTW, an anecdote about SF authorJack Williamson, who lived almost a century and saw a lot of change. I'm hoping this will be more technology oriented than Technology Review.

Novels I've been catching up on:

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear
Likable enough steampunk from the Alaskan gold Rush featuring a gang of courtesans with hearts of gold, plus the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

Updraft Fran Wilde
Enjoyable enough alternate world fantasy, with people living way up high and traveling around on hang gliders. (Between Butcher & Wilde, 2015 seems to have been a year of spire worlds :)

Enjoyed both of those, though neither cracked my current top 5 of 2015 list. (There were an awful lot of good books last year! :)

I'm just getting started on The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

I finished The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers last night and I greatly enjoyed it. There was just the right mix of character development and worldbuilding in my opinion. I've been so inspired by that book that a space opera tabletop rpg campaign that I've been planning will likely take place in the Wayfarer's universe.

I'm currently reading Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff. It seems like I'm on a serious Space Opera binge, so I'll likely be jumping back into the Vorkosigan series next.

Christopher wrote: "I'm currently reading Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff. It seems like I'm on a serious Space Opera binge..."

I really liked Huff's early Confederation (Valor) novels. Torin Kerr has swagger & wit. (Less enthused with Huff's more recent direction with the character.)

Kivrin wrote: "Tell me about Tower of Thorns. Saw it in a bookstore and it looked really good. Then I couldn't remember the name of it when I went to add it to my "to read" list. "

You should start with Dreamer's Pool. The plot of each book is fairly transparent no big surprises here but what I like about the books is the storytelling and character development.

G33z3r wrote: "Christopher wrote: "I'm currently reading Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff. It seems like I'm on a serious Space Opera binge..."

I really liked Huff's early Confederation (Valor) novels. Torin Kerr ha..."

I found that one on a whim. I really enjoyed it. I've since read Ethan of Athos which I also really liked.

I'm now taking a break from space opera and reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I'm not very far in but this book seems a bit scattershot. I still don't really know what is going on.

Bryan wrote: "Kivrin wrote: "Tell me about Tower of Thorns. Saw it in a bookstore and it looked really good. Then I couldn't remember the name of it when I went to add it to my "to read" list. "

You should star..."

Thanks. I'll put it on my to-read list.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Entertaining, surprisingly enjoyable read. A space opera, in many ways very old-school in that it's set in a multi-species universe with abundant habitable planets & relatively easy interstellar travel. Ten characters of five species crew a work ship (like Vogons, they build hyperspace bypasses) gets a lucrative job that, as the title says, requires a long trip across inhabited space. Along the way, they make time for for shore leave, resupply and visiting families & friends of the crew. Each of the characters gets a backstory and current storyline of some sort, and there's plenty of exposition of the various races and galactic history and politics, too. in many ways it's episodic, like the TV series Star Trek, but better than that sounds. Chambers does a great job developing the personalities of the crew and their foibles and interrelationships through many points of view.

I'm going to have to drop this into my list of Favorite SF&F Novels 2015. Ooops; I see it's a 2014 novel.

I enjoyed The Three-Body Problem and am thinking about reading The Dark Forest Anybody read it? Any opinions?

Finished Morning Star. Brown did an awesome job finishing up this trilogy. I loved it! A real roller coaster of a read with lots of surprises. I shed quite a few tears. I was exhausted but happy when I finished.

Sarah wrote: "I enjoyed The Three-Body Problem and am thinking about reading The Dark Forest Anybody read it? Any opinions?"

I've got that book on my TBR list. The Three Body Problem is a good book and I want to see how the author continues the story. I wonder of this second in the series contains as much "science stuff" as the first or does it focus more on the characters and plot.

I started to read Aliette de Boddard's The House of Shattered Wings, realized it was about fallen angels, thought better of it and put it aside. I liked de Boddard's SciFi Xuya stories, but I'm going to have to psych myself up for a World War I Parisian novel with angels. ( I just don't like that particular UF concept.)

Instead...

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald
I started to listen to Luna: New Moon as an audiobook. I quickly decided that was a bad choice of formats and switched to the e-book. (Luna: New Moon is our upcoming Contemporary Science Fiction Novel discussion topic beginning this Sunday!) Luna starts with a large listing of the cast of characters, and also has a glossary of the Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic words that are part of MacDonald's lunar polyglot. The e-books going to be a lot easier to get into.


I have a dumb question: the last two books I've read have used the single quote (') instead of the double quote (") to delineate character dialogue. Is that a new thing? Or just something I never noticed before? I checked a few other books on my Kindle to make sure I hadn't done something stupid in setting and different font, but it seems to be Luna: New Moon & The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. One is published by Macmillan, one by Harper. One is a British author, the other is an American author living in Iceland. I'm not seeing the common thread.

G33z3r wrote: " The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Entertaining, surprisingly enjoyable read. A spa..."

It was self-released in 2014, but had no wide release until 2015. I agree, though, that it's an amazing book. I greatly enjoyed it.

I just finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and that was one of the weirdest fantasy books I've read in a long while. I think I might need to think about that a bit. I gave it 3 stars but that's mostly just because until the last third or so the story didn't seem to have much direction and distinguishing the different character's individual voices was kind of difficult. The last third convinced me that I need to continue the series, though.

The single quotes is a British thing. Maybe they do it that way in Iceland, or the American had a British editor.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is on my to-read list.

Christopher wrote: "It was self-released in 2014, but had no wide release until 2015. I agree, though, that it's an amazing book. I greatly enjoyed it...."

Yeah, I noticed that. It takes the self published books a little longer to catch on.

Sarah wrote: "The single quotes is a British thing. Maybe they do it that way in Iceland, or the American had a British editor.."

Ah. I wonder why I never noticed before? It's not like I haven't read British authors lately. (E.g. recently, Parker, Atwood, Miéville, Newman & Stross come to mind; I just looked to confirm the editions I have there used double quotes.) Maybe it's a combo of British author and e-book; US distributors have started just using the British e-book? I did notice a couple of typically British words (e.g., "a swingeing price"), but not any Commonwealth spellings (e.g. "colour".)

Well, just coincidence, I suppose, 2 books in a row. Live & learn.

G33z3r wrote: "Christopher wrote: "It was self-released in 2014, but had no wide release until 2015. I agree, though, that it's an amazing book. I greatly enjoyed it...."

Yeah, I noticed that. It takes the self ..."

I notice it's not on Audible yet. Until I finish a couple of home repair projects, it's nothing but audio books for me.

Sarah wrote: "G33z3r wrote: "Christopher wrote: "It was self-released in 2014, but had no wide release until 2015. I agree, though, that it's an amazing book. I greatly enjoyed it...."

Yeah, I noticed that. It ..."

It's not receiving a proper US release until later this year. The writer is American, but it was picked up by a UK publisher first. I think the stateside paperback is set to be released in June or July and I imagine an audiobook would be released around the same time. The only release it's seen in the US so far is an ebook which I managed to get from the library.

I finished Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen last night. I thought it was quite lovely.

I picked out Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler as my newest book this morning. I think I've had this book for about 10 years, so it's certainly time to read it!

About 100 pages into Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. So far a nice easy entertaining read, shouldn't take too long to knock this one off.

I just accepted the role of Thomas More and have a lot to memorize.

Not SF/F, but it's what I'm reading.

currently reading

A Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice #3) by George RR Martin
Zero History by William Gibson (not really sci-fi but worth mentioning given the author's pedigree)

Coming up:
Shadows Puppets (Ender/Shadow series) by Orson Scott Card
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Garyjn wrote: "About 100 pages into Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. So far a nice easy entertaining read, shouldn't take too long to knock this one off."

I love that series. Hope you like it.

Just finished Heir to the Empire, really enjoyed it (was a bit slow to start with), but looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Here's my review for David Wailing's Auto 2 - it's a fascinating and plausible vision of the future and a great read to boot!

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

Christopher wrote: "I just finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and that was one of the weirdest fantasy books I've read in a long while. I think I might need to think about that a bit."

I agree, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was one of those that left me wondering what it was I just read. Not a *bad* book, but just, yeah, weird.

Early this month I finished reading The Bonehunters, book 6 in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. This is the first one in the series that I read on Kindle instead of paperback, and I finished it faster than any of the other five I'd previously read. Holding my Kindle and adjusting the font to something easy to read was a lot easier than wrestling with a 1200 page paperback and peering at that teeny tiny font with my not-so-young-anymore eyes. Loving this series, and looking forward to the rest of the books.

Now I'm reading The Magic Mines of Asharim, standalone epic fantasy (with romantic elements) in Pauline Ross's Brightmoon Annals. Enjoying it very much, as I do all her books. I'm also dipping into some classic westerns by Zane Grey, Max Brand, and others, for research (and because they're fun).

Finished The Sarantine Mosaic and Geist thanks to a couple of long train journeys; just about to continue my current GGK-fest with The Last Light of the Sun. He's currently shooting up my 'authors I admire' list thanks to the power of his prose (not many authors make me cry anymore, but I was tearing up during Lord of Emperors).

I finished up Fledgling the other day. It had a really utilitarian writing style that wasn't very impressive, and yet ended up being pretty addictive reading anyway. I'm still turning it over in my head, trying to figure out why I enjoyed it so much, considering it wasn't terribly impressive on the surface of it.

Right now, I'm reading Resenting the Hero, which I'm really enjoying. It's very fast-paced and fun.