World, Writing, Wealth discussion

An action-packed thriller with a whole host of characters and our monthly book read.
'Bot War


Gotta love a badass cyborg girl!
Battle Angel Alita, Volume 02: Tears of an Angel


My daughter's pick for me (sci-fi):
What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World


Listening to the precursor to Stoker's Dracula: Carmilla


This weekend I'm going to start for the Japanese Novel and Light Novel Book Club group:
Brave Story


Gotta finish Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World for the Japanese Literature group, so I can go onto this month's group read.

Best Served Cold

Tara wrote: "Best Served Cold"

that is a really exquisite blurb. lots of writers ask for feedback on their blurb. i'll just point them to this one.

Alex G wrote: "Tara wrote: "Best Served Cold"

that is a really exquisite blurb. lots of writers ask for feedback on their blurb. i'll just point them to this one."

That, along with the reviews, reeled me in. Nearly done...review coming soon lol.

I'm reading Gorky Park. Given a recent poll, an increased number of Republicans think Trump's buddy Putin is 'ok.' Scary. This will remind them of the KGB. Great book; fantastic writer.

At work, I have book 2 of The Dresden Files Fool Moon on my desk and I'm streaming 80"s hair band music on my pc via http://181fm80s.radio.net/

Love me some free online streaming radio!

I just finished reading When Breath Becomes Air. Super touching book...it actually made me cry at the end!

-Nihar
www.niharsuthar.com

I finished Martians, Go Home, and it is not as dumb as I first thought. The "invasion" is not using spaceships and laser-gun or any military power, but something worse. A fun read.

Now I am still reading The Devil You Know. The revelation that K. J. Parker is a pen name of Tom Holt costs me a portion of fun when reading K. J. Parker works. With the revelation, it is easy to see TDYK has some resemblance with Djinn Rummy.

I'm reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins for my 19th century British fiction class, and listening to Ryan Adams back catalogue....especially 29. Beautiful sad bastard music

I"m currently listening to The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks. I'm also reading Grave Peril by Jim Butcher.

Audiobooks for exercise, others for leisure.

I'm re-reading the SF classic Dune by Frank Herbert and really enjoying it.

I'm about half way through reading Simon Sebag Montefiore's One Night in Winter https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... - and thoroughly enjoying it.

Very close to finishing Can You Keep a Secret?, it's just the book I needed right when I needed it. Haven't turned any tunes on yet.

Reading 'India's railway man: A biography of E. Sreedharan'.

Michael Crichton's State of Fear. A novel with footnotes, charts, and end notes supporting the thesis that global warming is not a result of human activity and has no connection to fossil fuel emissions.

I got about a third of the way through this novel and did some looking on the Internet. The novel was panned by environmentalists and even some of those whose research he used.

I decided to go on a binge to broaden my exposure to other authors. I've read one romance novel (The One and Only) which wasn't that well written and had major flaws - one of her main characters, not named Tony Romo, was starting QB for the Dallas Cowboys. The big problem was that the author failed to capitalize on some promising situations that she developed and as a result her main character ends up unchanged at the end of the book.
The second novel was one of a series of mystery novels featuring a female detective. Reviews, many of them by fans of the series. panned this installment as overly long and poorly edited. I like the author's writing but I think the book could have been improved without too much more work.
I am currently reading "Honeymoon" by James Patterson because he uses it in an on-line course. I am not thrilled but I am trying to learn how a successful author does so....

James Patterson is kind of interesting. A while back, he donated tons of books to a high school to encourage them to read, but they were all his own books. I guess that's ok. :) Also though, I wonder how much of his own writing is in his books these days because he shares authorship byline with other authors.

M.L. Roberts wrote: "Also though, I wonder how much of his own writing is in his books these days because he shares authorship byline with other authors.
"
That's a good question. I like Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross but I haven't read any of the Alex Cross mysteries. I am not sure I ever will. I have gone through his outline of "Honeymoon" which was included in the course material. So now I know the story and I think the core of the story is going to be good but his opening is a turn off for me. I don't find the characters or the situation interesting.
I listened to his lesson on Plot again tonight and I think I got the point this time. For my first two novels, I got along okay with a fuzzy idea in the back of my mind. The third novel is going to require more craftsmanship.

I don't read James Patterson any more because he seems to be more focused on using his name to make money than on writing excellent fiction.

I just listened to a podcast on Pseudopod, which I thought was really good:

Drift Right. Great psychological horror! https://itun.es/us/PXtUk.c?i=10003824...

At work, listening to online radio ( http://kclc2.radio.net/ ) and making progress with Nine Kinds of Naked

Scout wrote: "I don't read James Patterson any more because he seems to be more focused on using his name to make money than on writing excellent fiction."
I am about a third of the way through the book that is sort of a supplement for the course I am taking. I doubt that James Patterson wrote the book. My guess is that the other guy wrote it and Patterson stuck his name on it to boost sales. But one of the benefits of this course is the opportunity to co-author a book with Patterson. I am going to give it a try and if I win, people may be reading one of my books and complaining about how Patterson's writing skills have gone to pot.

Joe wrote: "I doubt that James Patterson wrote the book. My guess is that the other guy wrote it and Patterson stuck his name on it to boost sales...."

Wonder how to get Patterson to stick his name on one of mine? -:) Who's done his masterclass?

I have taken his Masterclass. For $90 it's a fair deal. And quite a good deal if you want to be a Patterson co-author ( I don't) because after you complete the Masterclass you get the chance to submit the first chapter of your novel for consideration as a co-author.

Joanna wrote: "I have taken his Masterclass. For $90 it's a fair deal. And quite a good deal if you want to be a Patterson co-author ( I don't) because after you complete the Masterclass you get the chance to sub..."

Thanks, Joanna. I see how it works now. That's an interesting franchise business scheme-:)

If anyone is interested in reading the highlights of a talk and some pointers given by Patterson's first co-author, Andy Gross, at a lunch I attended yesterday, it's here : www.joannaelm.com/james-patterson-co-...

Thanks, Joanna, read with interest and shared !

Nice, Joanna, I read and shared as well! Gross is quite an outliner :)

Joanna wrote: "If anyone is interested in reading the highlights of a talk and some pointers given by Patterson's first co-author, Andy Gross, at a lunch I attended yesterday, it's here : www.joannaelm.com/james-..."

retweeted. i hadn't thought about using multiple POVs.

A great example of POV changes is GRRM's A Game of Thrones. It's masterfully done.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... by Ted Allbeury.

I'm really enjoying this - right from the first sentence.

I'm reading The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum.

Trying something outside my usual tastes and started The Lone Star Ranger by American Western author Zane Grey...

Reading Barkskins by Annie Proulx.

The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths. Light reading, but engaging.

Scout wrote: "Reading Barkskins by Annie Proulx."

I read her short story Brokeback Mountain.

Reading The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson.

Just starting to read "Dereliction of Duty" by H. R. McMaster our brand new Head of National Security.

Nearly finished A Woman of Courage by J.H. Fletcher https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2.... Very good story about a woman who comes from nothing and makes it by herself and includes the lives of her two daughters. I find it hard to believe that J.H. Fletcher is a man!

Hi everyone, but in particular Nik, M.L. Roberts, Alex G. Only just noticed your comments on my post here on James Patterson co-author. So sorry did not see before. Did not come up in my notifications on Home Page or I totally missed through my own fault. Thank you so much for reading the post and retweeting. I'll pay better attention in future

And while on the subject of Andrew Gross (the Patterson co-author I posted about) I just finished reading his historical thriller The One Man. It was a truly "unputdownable" read, and a bit of a departure for him from his usual "suburban" thrillers.

Joanna wrote: "Thank you so much for reading the post and retweeting...."

Welcome, Joanna! -:)

Nik wrote: "Joanna wrote: "Thank you so much for reading the post and retweeting...."

Welcome, Joanna! -:)"

It was a well-written and informative article!

Joanna wrote: "Hi everyone, but in particular Nik, M.L. Roberts, Alex G. Only just noticed your comments on my post here on James Patterson co-author. So sorry did not see before. Did not come up in my notificati..."

My pleasure, Joanna! Thanks for such a well-written in-depth article. :)

I'm enjoying a science fiction novel The Wanderers by Meg Howrey. It's an interesting psychological study of astronauts preparing to go to Mars. I'm only a little past the halfway mark, but I'm really enjoying it.

I am over half-way through Patricia Cornwell's "Dust". It took me a while to get into the book but it does present an interesting puzzle - multiple crimes that are connected by one or more of the characters but may not be related. She is slowly revealing how she is going to have the sicko serial killer do in his victims. Not that Cornwell has a sick mind. She just knows a lot about the human body and she is a pretty good writer.

I've read and enjoyed many of her novels, but she lost me for a while there with the way Scarpetta seemed to use and abuse Marino's crush on her. Except for Marino, the characters seemed cold and self-centered. I'll try this new one, though, as it's been a while since I checked in with these characters.

At present, I'm reading Homo Deus. I find it's what I've been saying all along. Man will create himself into a demigod. I'm not through with it, but my curiosity wants to know what will man expect and do with his god self. He will conquer his social conditions, illnesses and diseases, and replicate himself to live ever-after, but will he be more wiser? I want to know what the author Yuval Noah Harari has to say.

Scout wrote: "I've read and enjoyed many of her novels, but she lost me for a while there with the way Scarpetta seemed to use and abuse Marino's crush on her. Except for Marino, the characters seemed cold and s..."
You'll get a heavy dose of Marino abuse. I like Benson. He is withdrawn but comes from the way he relates to the world.
I am really getting into the way Cornwell is doling out the clues. I find myself yelling, "Nooo. Your missing the point." I believe that is suspense. Waiting for that "aha" moment.