The Sword and Laser discussion

OK, now I guess I can make my Bon Jovi/halfway there joke..but meh. I need more coffee.

Whatcha reading in July?

I’ve just today started the audiobook of A Head Full of Ghosts which is riveting so far - the only Paul Tremblay I’ve read before is Disappearance at Devil's Rock which I loved, so I have high hopes for this one. Not read anything properly scary for a while (although I did recently read Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle which was super creepy).

My meatspace book group picked The Binding which isn’t marketed as fantasy even though it totally is. It’s essentially an historical queer romance with magic around books and memories, and I loved it.

My other meatspace book group picked Normal People which I... didn’t love and in fact lemmed less than halfway through despite its being quite short. Lots of people seem to love it but for me it was the most annoying kind of litfic- unlikeable self-absorbed characters are obnoxious to each other and the author can’t even be bothered to use punctuation properly. No thanks!

I have about 30 pages left in The Last Unicorn, so that’s a thing. I also found out yesterday that a new Magic 2.0 book came out in June so I bought that in audio and might take a break from On the Shoulders of Titans to quickly knock that out. I’ve got Vessel on Kindle and audio so will read that in whichever form is most convenient/conducive to finishing it. And there’s a new Andy Carpenter book coming soon (light thriller series I’m into) so I’ll divert to that at the right time.

I read a bunch in June (finished To Green Angel Tower by Williams, Spanish Women of Wonder edited by Jurado & Lara, Storm of Locusts by Roanhorse, Finder by Palmer, Kabu Kabu by Okorafor, One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by McKillip, High Aztech by Hogan, How Much for Just the Planet? by Ford, & A Study in Honor by O'Dell, along with 3 nonfiction: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail), The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic, & The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- To Four-Year-Old)

My July plans are to finish Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters Who Ruled Europe, then read The Stars are Legion by Hurley, and then reread/finish the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

July is, of course, Age of Legend on July 9th, plus a new Anthony Ryan series starts with The Wolf's Call July 23rd . Vessel and Limited Wish for the Laser numbers hopefully.

I'm most of the way through Vicious - I'm not enjoying it as much as other work by the same author. Perhaps, I'm just too excited about my hold for Fall, or Dodge in Hell coming available.

Also in the hopper: Cari Mora - I loved Thomas Harris books as a teenager, let's see if I'm still into them.

I read Cari Mora. It's ok. Short and intense ending. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Doing a little retro Thomas Harris reading of Black Sunday, a thriller made into a pretty good movie back in the day.

Finally got to the end of After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley, an audiobook that I got rather bogged down in and nearly abandoned along the way. Can't say I wasn't warned. In the opening chapter you are dared to read all the way to the end and warned that you probably won't make it. That's just the first example of the the author being too clever for his own good. Not recommended.

I would, however, recommend The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which was initially heading for an elusive 5 star rating, but ultimately got just a little over-complicated for my taste and made me work too hard to keep track of just a few too many layers of misdirection.

With those out of the way, I'm getting started on the audiobook for Vessel and on the last Murderbot novella, for now at least, Exit Strategy.

Started Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore since my hold came through. Will pause Heir of Novron for the time being. I'm now back up to 7 in my currently reading so I need to reel it in.

Colin wrote: "Finally got to the end of After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley, an audiobook that I got rather bogged down in and nearly abandoned along the way. Can't say I wasn't warned.
I would, however, recommend The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which was initially heading for an elusive 5 star rating, but ultimately got just a little over-complicated for my taste and made me work too hard to keep track of just a few too many layers of misdirection.


I really enjoyed The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle when I read it earlier this year- a clever and unique concept which was executed well.

Finished Son of the Black Sword in audio. It was my first listen to Tim Gerard Reynolds, and I enjoyed it.

Finished The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man. A really wacky and fun take with alternate history and steampunk. Really enjoying this series.

Now listening to Influx by Daniel Suarez and reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb.

Just finished Wanderers by Chuck Wendig and it was fantastic! For an 800 page book, it really read fast. Highly recommend this one

Finished with Alien Virus Love Disaster (weird book, out of my comfort zone, but rather memorable I guess?).

Now starting a lighter read with Hexarchate Stories. More calendrical rot! Jedao! Awesome ship names!

I just finished The Murders of Molly Southbourne, a free e-book from Tor way back in June. After some debate with myself I put it onto my Laser shelf.

Troy wrote: "I just finished The Murders of Molly Southbourne, a free e-book from Tor way back in June. After some debate with myself I put it onto my Laser shelf."

I’ve still got two free Tor ebooks on the virtual tbr shelf!

Just finished this months read, Vessel. A decent SF thriller marred by some dreadful science but with decent characters. It avoids some of the common pitfalls for these tropes.

Knocked off Too Much Time, a Jack reacher short, before embarking on Cage of Souls which looks like a beast.

Finished up my re-read of The Alloy of Law on audiobook. I love the setting, humor, and action in this series. Listening to Shadows of Self, and still reading Valor. About 25% finished with it and really enjoying it. It takes me a while to read physical books with my busy work and family schedule. I have 6 wonderful children who take up most of my wife's and my energy!

Finished The Calculating Stars and started Spinning Silver.

I finished Foundryside a week or two ago. I loved it. It is an urban fantasy with a very cool magic system and some compelling characters — including a very witty and sarcastic sentient object that communicates telepathically. I’m eagerly awaiting the second volume in this series. Highly recommended.

I finished A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe and it really makes me wonder about the people who are giving it 5 stars. Have you not heard these exact sentences before? Do you not see that it’s just a big Mary Sue convention? Guh.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished my reread of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Now I want to watch the series again. This is shaping up to be a neverending cycle, lol.

Next up is Children of Blood and Bone. I also hope to finish listening to Heir of Novron sometime in the next few days (like Veronica, I don't want this series to end) so I can start listening the this month's pick.

Finished up the Torchship Trilogy. A strange universe broken up into the Fusion, which uses computers (carefully), and the Disconnect, which doesn't. Both are responses to the Betrayers, the AIs that all at once started killing humanity.

Humans being humans the Fusion and the Disconnect regularly have small wars while also both fighting the Betrayers. The entire system is held together by wormholes at the edges of various solar systems, but there during the "Golden Era" before the AIs went nuts.

The MC is an amoral Intel agent determined to help the Disconnect against the Fusion and take revenge for the death of her fiance. It's an updated Heinlein-esque take on books like Citizen of the Galaxy or Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.

It's good space opera all the way through. The three books have distinct stories and conclude decently, that is, they aren't cliffhangers. There's a bit too much humans being stupid and not enough of some really well done AI storylines. A good read throughout nonetheless.

Also finished Vessel but have gone on about it in the month's thread so won't get into detail here. Summary: Good characterization, some puzzling plot points towards the end, science uneven.

I just read The Stars are Legion--very neat book, very neat setting, but lots of unanswered questions, & I'm not sure I buy some of the general plot.

Starting my reread of the first 3 Cemetery of Forgotten Books (starting with The Shadow of the Wind) before I finally tackle the final book.

Finished with Hexarchate Stories and I just can't get enough of Machineries of Empire! There's a novella set after Revenant Gun too, aside from some fun flashfictions.

Continuing my reread of The First Law books with Best Served Cold.

Misti wrote: "Finished my reread of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Now I want to watch the series again. This is shaping up to be a neverending cycle, lol"

You could do worse.

I finished listening to the new Magic 2.0 book, The Vexed Generation. I liked it well enough. A good summer read.

I'm reading/listening 'the rook' - Novel by Daniel O'Malley.
On hoopla digital.

there is a dragon egg.

Today I read If, Then by Kate Hope Day and it was delightful! It's set in the mountains of Oregon and plays with parallel realities. Most of the time books like this annoy me, but between the setting and compelling characters I was completely on board.

Silvana wrote: "Finished with Hexarchate Stories"

Had no idea this existed. Thanks! Now tagged in the LAPL Overdrive app.

Also tagged the latest Neal Stephenson which I saw referenced on this site but apparently not this thread. Thanks, mystery person for the info.

I just finished Blood Song which I really liked, as well as Storm of Locusts, both from my library loans. Storm of Locusts was a great sequel, urban fantasy typically isn't my preferred genre but Rebecca Roanhorse really does a great job. And speaking of urban fantasy, I am now re-reading Jade City in anticipation for Jade War which I have on preorder. That was one of my favorite books I read in 2017 and I can't wait for the follow up.

Listening to The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

It's the first book in a Steampunk mystery series, featuring the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne and the explorer Richard Francis Burton (co-discoverer of the source of the river Nile)
Burton also made the first English translations of the 1001 Nights & the Karma Sutra and is a main character in Riverworld: To Your Scattered Bodies Go/The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer

I've finished The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley, which I found very creative and the "gross"ness level overstated. Highly recommend if you like biotech and worldbuilding.

I've started The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón--not SF/F, but great for any booklover. Rereading the series since I haven't read the final book yet.

TRP wrote: "Listening to The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

It's the first book in a Steampunk mystery series, featuring the poet Algernon Charles Swinburn..."

I've read the first 2 in this series and have enjoyed them immensely.

Finished
Fall, or Dodge in Hell and think I'll have a bit to chew on regarding this one for a bit. I enjoyed the vast majority of it quite a lot. Stephenson is the only author that puts forth characters that I can see a "book crush" on - I don't normally experience that - and I'm interested to see if this is truly the last of some of the storylines.

Cari Mora left me wondering if I liked Thomas Harris books in high school they had shock value or what. It wasn't engrossing as much as it was gross a lot of the time. Not in a gory sense but exploitative in an unnecessary way, if that makes sense.

Magic for Liars turned out a bit more predictable than I'd hoped based on reviews from my fellow library patrons in our "Extreme Reading" group. (Still hate the name. Need something else to call this.)

On to my city's city read for the summer - Tommy Orange's There There.

I'm making very slow progress with Downbelow Station. But managed to finishFran Wilde's The Jewel and Her Lapidary over the 4th (it was only 66 pages...)

In audio I've paused Kill the Farm Boy which I'm rather "meh" about to listen to the just released Age of Legend (I'm almost a third of the way through). I'll probably follow Legend with Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon which was recommended a while back by terpkristen as a good audio listen and just got picked up by the library.

I also made good progress on Fool's Fate over the holiday weekend. We've been doing this series in audio during road trips and finished around 11 more hours. (view spoiler)[Though I really feel like Fitz is the real fool in this series. (hide spoiler)]

Having completed Vessel (fun quick read) in short order, I moved quickly on to Tiamat's Wrath, which I finished in 3 days. I could not stop reading. There is so much happening, I really had to focus to keep track, and much less depressing than Persepolis Rising. (view spoiler)[ So happy to see Laconia & Duarte get their well-deserved rewards. (hide spoiler)]

Now diving into The Bird King, which looks to be good too. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed G. Willow Wilson.

Maclurker wrote: "Now diving into The Bird King, which looks to be good too. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed G. Willow Wilson. "

This book is so underrated. I loved her Alif book too.

David wrote: "I've finished The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley, which I found very creative and the "gross"ness level overstated. Highly recommend if you like biotech and worldbuilding.

I've..."

Second that.

Scott wrote: "I just finished Blood Song which I really liked, "

the next two books in the trilogy were not as good and the third one is particularly bad with a capital B. I suggest to treat Blood Song as a standalone.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Finished with Hexarchate Stories"

Had no idea this existed. Thanks! Now tagged in the LAPL Overdrive app.
"

Let us know what you think after reading it! I loved it a lot.

So, I just finished Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing and if you love her works or want to know why all the fuss about her, this book is good start. My favorite so far* to win the Best Related Work in the Hugos.

*I still have An Informal History of the Hugos to read

Silvana wrote: "So, I just finished Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing and if you love her works or want to know why all the fuss about her, this book is good start. My favorite so far* to..."

I have Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew and really want to start it soon.

Meaghan wrote: "Finished
Fall, or Dodge in Hell and think I'll have a bit to chew on regarding this one for a bit. I enjoyed the vast majority of it quite a lot. Stephenson is the only author that..."

Extreme reading sounds like literary parkour. Also how about Literary Parkour as a name haha

Erik wrote: "Silvana wrote: "So, I just finished Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing and if you love her works or want to know why all the fuss about her, this book is good start. My fav..."

And there goes another book in my TBR! Thanks for the info.

Maclurker wrote: "Tiamat's Wrath...much less depressing..."

Less depressing? Well, I suppose so, except for that (view spoiler)[imminent threat to all life. (hide spoiler)]

Finished Embers of War which I really didn't like.

Because people here have mentioned the books in the series, I picked up Red Sister and am much happier with that.

Erik wrote: "Extreme reading sounds like literary parkour. Also how about Literary Parkour as a name haha ..."

It would certainly be better than Extreme Reader Program which I always read in a 1980's wrestling-announcement voice. Bonesaw may or may not be ready for the number and categories of books we are reading.

Literary Parkour Club it is!

Maclurker wrote: "Tiamat's Wrath...much less depressing..."

John (Taloni) wrote: Less depressing? Well, I suppose so,...

True, however (view spoiler)[ I found the Laconians so annoying that I'm just glad they got their just desserts and that the next book can focus on the whole "aliens destroy all the life" thing that's been out there going on for all 8 books. I really want that wrapped up & all my questions answered. (hide spoiler)]

Seth wrote: "Because people here have mentioned the books in the series, I picked up Red Sister and am much happier with that."

I loved that whole series.

Finished There There and actually wrote blurb with my 2-star rating, which I almost never do. (I learned my lessons about writing reviews on Yelp.) The thing is, I'm not the audience that needs these stories and while I didn't find traction with the story - even though I saw similarities to circumstances I've been in or near - it might be important for someone else. So, I finished it, it was okay, but maybe someone else should read it?

Currently reading an Amazon First book from a few months back while I wait to see if SPL (my 'work' library) can get me off the hold list for Vessel - my home library doesn't even have it but I can suggest it for purchase for two months from now.

Reading: The Frame-Up - so far, a little irritated with the "I'm not like other girls" protagonist.

Next up: Revenant Gun, which might or might not turn out to be the last of the 2019 Hugo-nominated novels I read prior to the voting deadline.

Silvana wrote: the next two books in the trilogy were not as good ...

I may heed your advice on that, I had a very similar experience with the Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab. And anyway, I now have Age of Legend which just arrived so that should occupy my time until Jade War.

Scott wrote: "I may heed your advice on that, I had a very similar experience with the Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab. ..."

I'm having the hardest time getting through the final book, Conjuring of Light. I've theoretically been 'in progress' on that for three months now, but just don't much care any more and keep reading other things instead!