The Sword and Laser discussion

I hope everyone is doing well and safe and enjoying some good books as we start into April.

Currently reading The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, the fourth Lord Peter Wimsey novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. Which isn't really what you'd consider S&L fodder, but I thought it was worth mentioning for this throwaway line...

Rob wrote: "I hope everyone is doing well and safe and enjoying some good books as we start into April."

We apparently have the coronavirus here at Trike HQ, so we’re in quarantine. Symptoms are mild so far, so neither of us is eligible to get tested, but after going through the questionnaire with the viral specialist we have a tentative diagnosis of “presumed COVID-19.”

(I have a whole rant about the testing, which I will save for Facebook.)

My neighbors are amazing, and everyone has offered help, but we’re stocked up on food and such. Basically right now it’s like having a combination flu and bad cold.

Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Stay at home.

No one is immune.

Listened to Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch to finish out March. I read the paperback years ago. The narrator, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, does a sensational job of bringing the story to life. Now listening to the next Rivers of London tale, Moon Over Soho.

Trike wrote: "We apparently have the coronavirus here at Trike HQ, so we’re in quarantine. Symptoms are m..."

Take care of yourself and your family. Keep us updated.

House of Earth and Blood Has started out very good, but it feels like a YA book no matter what the publisher says.

Trike wrote: "We apparently have the coronavirus here at Trike HQ, so we’re in quarantine."

Sorry to hear that Trike. Hopefully things stay on the mild side and you recover quickly.

Yowza, Trike! Crossing fingers for your recovery. HMU on Messages if you feel the need.

Of course Trike would get sick on 'April Fool's Day'

All jokes aside, you and your better half get well soon buddy :-)

At least it's a chance to knock over some of that Tsundoku Jenga tower you have created ;-)

Literally or figuratively

Thanks, guys.

So far it seems the C in COVID stands for “cat”, as I’ve been sleeping for 14 hours a day.

Get well, Trike.

Get better soon, Trike.

Yikes! I hope you feel better soon, Trike!

After the too-realness of The Light Brigade, I've pivoted hardcore to the light and fluffy realm of historical romance. I'm giving The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics a whirl.

Good luck Trike.

Just finished Hounded which was a 99p purchase last year. I found the book a bit too clean and the lead character came across as a bit of a creep. Not sure I will bother hunting out the other books.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Trike.

We are in the middle of so many people coming down with the corona virus that I decided to read The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. It is heavy on the technical details, but that is crucial to understanding the story. A retrieving team is sent to search for a satellite that has fallen near a small Arizona town. Instead, they find dead bodies...

When that gets too spooky, I turn to another book I'm currently reading, Red Tile Style. This is a beautiful book packed full of photos of Spanish Revival architecture. It begins with Junipero Serra's history founding missions in California that worked for what he needed at that time and place. Or, it's just fun to flip through and drool over Scotty's Castle in Death Valley, California!

I've never read the Andromeda Strain, but I remember enjoying the movie adaptation. If I remember correctly, the couple of times I've tried reading Crichton I've bumped on his style. It's not the science, I can read Isaac Asimov, or Arthur C. Clarke without issue, it just is his prose I think. But if you're digging it, that's great.

I'll join in the chorus Trike, and hope you kick this thing quick.

Best of luck, Trike.

elizabeth • paper ghosts wrote: "I'm giving The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics a whirl."

I read that recently, it would be a sweet palate cleanser after TLB.

Excited that my library hold on the audiobook of The City We Became came in so quickly, so I’ve been listening to that. About to start Parable of the Sower.

I finished:


All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Wishing Trike a speedy and full recovery!

Read Starfarers by Poul Anderson. This is a later in life book that reflects on time and history. The mechanism is spaceship based time dilation, which both Anderson and Niven have used so well. The Starfarers are a group of space travelers who embark on a 10,000 year mission to find the source of other spaceship trails that humanity has detected.

It's told in an anthology format, with chapters functioning as short stories within an overarching narrative. The travelers see enough of the galaxy to become concerned over what space travel does both to the universe itself and the beings living within in. That's countered by an overarching optimism. Not all of humanity wants to travel in space, but enough do to keep the dream alive.

The vast cosmic reach of the time-dilated travel works well in the first part of the book. By the middle that's substantially fallen apart as the book turns into a series of barely related anecdotes. The book ends up decently enough but doesn't live up to its early promise.

After this I went directly to Harvest of Stars, another Anderson novel. It was amusing to see Anderson reuse names, although as I think about it, he reused them in Starfarers since Harvest of Stars predates that book by 15 years. Harvest seems to be decent enough near-earth Libertarian SF.

I say "seems to" because the third book in Alastair Reynolds' YA trilogy, Bone Silence, came in off library hold. I decided to switch out so that I could read and return for the next person. Bone Silence is good on world, or should I say solar system building. It's a decent enough if silly take on teen pirates using solar sails as they go around the liveable space of a far future Sol where the planets have been broken up for space habitat.

I got grossed out at the 20% mark though. Not enough to drop the book but enough to put a big downer on what was turning out to be a fairly decent read. There's an unnecessary limb mutilation there, as stupidly done as the arm amputation in the first book. I find myself wondering why Reynolds has a fetish with mutilating teen girls. Blech.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Read Starfarers by Poul Anderson. This is a later in life book that reflects on time and history. The mechanism is spaceship based time dilation, which both Anderson and Niven have us..."

Bone Silence is also about 100 pages too long for the plot

I've read all the comics I had from the library before they closed, so now I am reading some SF paperbacks I've had on my shelf for years. Most of these were from my fascination with "generational ship" stories.

Currently reading- Captive Universe by Harry Harrison


(click to embiggen)

Ah, Rite of Passage. The first book I ever read. I was eight! Thought those early teenagers were horribly old.

elizabeth • paper ghosts wrote: "I've pivoted hardcore to the light and fluffy realm of historical romance. I'm giving The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics a whirl. "

I really liked that book, and in fact the ALA Over the Rainbow Committee that I'm currently chairing put it in our top ten last year. But another writer of similar genre and time period wrote this review that put some of the historical details in perspective for me. She doesn't slam the book as a whole, but it turns out that there *were* female astronomers during this time period, and I thought it was cool to learn about.

ETA: May it pass quickly, Trike!

Julie (3x5Books) wrote: "I read that recently, it would be a sweet palate cleanser after TLB."

That's good to hear!

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: I really liked that book, and in fact the ALA Over the Rainbow...

Ooh, I'm going to have to remember to check that review out after I've finished it. So far the astronomy bits have been my favorites, and I definitely want to learn more!

John (Nevets) wrote: "I've never read the Andromeda Strain, but I remember enjoying the movie adaptation. If I remember correctly, the couple of times I've tried reading Crichton I've bumped on his style. It's not the s..."

Thank you for sharing. This is the first Michael Crichton book I've ever read. I find the science comforting during our time in quarantine from Covid-19. Speaking of viruses, bacteria are sometimes crummy, little beasties, too. They were the subject of a non-fiction book by Steven Johnson called The Ghost Map. This is the story of the cholera outbreak in London in 1854. It's an historical account of how two men solved this killer problem. I won't tell you how they did it. Nevertheless, I will say that Mr. Johnson leaves all of us here in 2020 with an encouraging thought. "However profound the threats are that confront us today, they are solvable..."

Donna wrote: "This is the first Michael Crichton book I've ever read."

I went through a Crichton binge in high school. Mostly the books that were made into movies, which was a lot of them, to be fair. The Andromeda Strain being one of my favorites.

I’m reading N. K. Jemisin’s new book, The City We Became. It’s my first NKJ novel. I’m really enjoying its characters.

Trike wrote: "Thanks, guys.

So far it seems the C in COVID stands for “cat”, as I’ve been sleeping for 14 hours a day."

Get well soon, Trike!

Besides the BOM, I will continue the Dresden File with Ghost Story . My Overdrive loan had John Glover as the narrator so had to use Audible to get the James Marsters version. Finally the last book from SPFBO 5 contest A Tale of Stars and Shadow . Hope to finish it before the official winner is announced on Mark Lawrence's Blog. I nominated Mark Lawrence for Best Fan Writer as his blog posts on the ins and outs of the publishing world are very informative plus getting the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) started had exposed me to new writers and inexpensive e-books. April 7th A Time of Courage hits my phone . My Favorite new Epic Fantasy writer and winner of Best Use of Dogs and Weapons in an Author Photo award, if you are a fan of Epic fantasy you need to read John Gwynne

Louie wrote: "Donna wrote: "Donna wrote: "This is the first Michael Crichton book I've ever read."

I went through a Crichton binge in high school. Mostly the books that were made into movies, which was a lot of them, to be fair. The Andromeda Strain being one of my favorites."

Anyone planning to read the sequel to Andromeda Strain? The Andromeda Evolution

Finished with Phoenix Extravagant. It was alright, though not on par with The Machineries of Empire.

Struggling with This Is How You Lose the Time War - aside from those nice letters, this one does not have much plot, does it?

Starting Soul Music to cheer me up.

RJ from the LBC wrote: "Anyone planning to read the sequel to Andromeda Strain? The Andromeda Evolution"

I was, eventually. Then the libraries closed. :/

Silvana wrote: "Struggling with This Is How You Lose the Time War - aside from those nice letters, this one does not have much plot, does it?"

It picks up eventually. It's not the most plot-heavy thing in the universe though, no.

Thanks for the well-wishes, it is much appreciated.

Very fatigued and dehydrated, although I seem to be better off than my wife. Our friend’s father passed from COVID-19 yesterday. His symptoms were mild until suddenly they weren’t. They can’t have a funeral.

Edit: my friend Chris has been on a voyage from hell, trapped on her cruise ship for weeks as they’ve been turned away from numerous ports. They left before coronavirus was a pandemic, sailing down to Antarctica. Fortunately she’s not sick and Florida has let them dock, but 2 people on the boat died and dozens are ill.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/20...

Thanks and I also hope all are well.

Reading Rejoice by Steven Erikson. I'm finding it interesting and entertaining. It is the most nakedly didactic/polemic work of fiction I've read in a long time, and though it gets generally high marks in its Goodreads reviews (3.86 avg as of this writing), its reviews reflect a rather emphatic dislike of the work among certain readers.

Time for The Lord of the Rings.

Finished with Soul Music and so does my Death arc adventure. So.....maybe time (again) for The Witches? I read the first book of that arc Equal Rites but was not impressed, though.

Starting another fun book: Firefly: The Magnificent Nine. Jayne is the main POV, should be shiny.

I just finished A Little Hatred. I'm kind of on to the Joe Abercrombie schtick by now, but I like it!

Next up I'm going to read Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee. I loved the main series, so I'm excited to read this collection of short stories in the same universe.

Also, I'm reading it in real book form, because I'm trying to support our local bookstore that just opened a few months ago. What timing! They've got online ordering up though, so I can get books from them while still maintaining social distancing.

Felipe wrote: "I’m reading N. K. Jemisin’s new book, The City We Became. It’s my first NKJ novel. I’m really enjoying its characters."

I just picked up this one too - and it's also my first Jemisin book. I own the Broken Earth series, but haven't been in the mood for the world ending in the year since I bought them. This one, after 25 pages or so, seems more a match for what I want to read now. The start is excellent.

Edited to add: Just finished The Unspoken Name and really enjoyed it. Lots of adventure, orc-ish main character makes a refreshing change, and fairly satisfying conclusion for the opening book in a series.

Finished listening to The Ten Thousand Doors of January this morning. I really enjoyed this book. Next, I'm digging into the S&L archives and listening to The Once and Future King.

Finished Bone Silence by Alastair Reynolds. Well, that was terrible.

The world building was okay if a little silly. Usually Reynolds at least has some hard SF goodness but I didn't relate to this one. The "piracy transcribed to solar sails" bit is silly to start and the idea of breaking up planets for space habitat ridiculous when there's so much available in the outer system.

We have a new character introduced to be the evil side, and yep, he's unredeemable evil. Nothing complex at all. Le yawn.

There's answers to the trilogy's questions promised and there is a sop to that. It's late and too little but there is something.

This book was a push. I didn't love the first two but figured why not finish the trilogy.

What really grossed me out was the focus on dismemberment. Reynolds has some weird fetish for hacking limbs off teen girls. It comes up repeatedly and is used for a grotesque bonding moment at the end. I told myself I would finish the book, and did, but that aspect was beyond the pale. I don't know if Reynolds is trying to be "edgy," but if he is, this isn't the way. If he did it on an editor's urging to be "authentic" to pirate tropes, then he needs another editor. I'm left to think that Reynolds has some truly disturbing fetishes.

Yesterday, I finished The Fortress by S.A. Jones - it's like an homage to early feminist science fiction (planets of women, men who only are there as servants or for reproduction or women have figured out how to bypass them) but in the #metoo era and with present day, or maybe 80s/90s culture - I read it in a day and was uncomfortable and delighted simultaneously. The Vaik are a memorable people group, presented in the book as an indigenous culture but read as alien....

Misti wrote: "Finished listening to The Ten Thousand Doors of January this morning. I really enjoyed this book. Next, I'm digging into the S&L archives and listening to [book:The Once and Future ..."

I have just started The Ten Thousand Doors in hardback. Enjoying it so far!

Recently started A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher in audio and House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas in hardback.

Wasn't making much headway on The Pursuit of William Abbey, so have switched to the Audible version of that to see if having Peter Kenny read it to me helps.

Did, however, whizz through The October Man. I think that Rivers of London is now my official literary comfort food! Enjoyed the story, although the new protagonist, Tobias, was maybe too much of a carbon copy of Peter Grant from the main novels? Carried straight on into the most recent novel, False Value.

I am enjoying The House in the Cerulean Sea which is like ministry of magic meets umbrella academy. (the book cover says 1984 meets umbrella academy but I don't find the comparison to 1984 exactly....)

Found an ARC of Network Effect by Martha Wells. \(^-^)/

The Winter of the Witch the third book in the Winternight Trilogy. A beautiful written fantasy set in medieval Russia and uses a lot of Russian folk lore.

Viola wrote: "The Winter of the Witch the third book in the Winternight Trilogy. A beautiful written fantasy set in medieval Russia and uses a lot of Russian folk lore."

That series is one of my absolute favorites. The writing is so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

Mark wrote: "Found an ARC of Network Effect by Martha Wells. \(^-^)/"

{grabby hands} Gimme!