What are you reading in 2024?

[prabe]

Definitely seemed to evolve that way to me, which suggests at least some contributors were collaborating more closely as time went by. Seems like a natural development when you've all agreed to share a world, although I'm not enough of a writer to know if that's really true.

There have been other shared worlds that didn't really have shared stories, and--as someone who's written fiction both alone and with collaborators--sharing setting stuff isn't necessarily in the same headspace as sharing a story. It can be, I guess, but the thinking is kinda at different levels, if not at different times--at least, IME.

 

[Autumnal]

Horror readers may want to know about a nest ongoing event in Reddit’s r/LairdBarron - they’re reading his works to date, and discussing in an intelligent and enjoyable way.


Right now they’re just into Barron’s third short story collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, commenting on a story every three days or so. They provide amazingly useful and thought-provoking introductions for each story, noting recurring characters and locale, identifying recurring symbols, the whole deal. I learn something they helps me more fully appreciate story as we go.

Folks are welcome to follow along and to join in. The subreddit is one of those full of people with an interest in conversation rather than argument. And who know how to spell and punctuate.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Definitely seemed to evolve that way to me, which suggests at least some contributors were collaborating more closely as time went by. Seems like a natural development when you've all agreed to share a world, although I'm not enough of a writer to know if that's really true.

The collaboration of Thieves World, pre-Internet and pre-text messaging, is an amazing feat. That sort of achievement is sure to forge friendships and closer working relationships between the authors.

Coincidentally, that's the last ERB I re-read after randomly finding a copy at a library sale - late last year IIRC. I think I'm happy it was that one, and am inclined to agree with folks who say the stories were some deliberate (albeit mild) self-parody by Burroughs. It certainly takes itself less seriously than some of the earlier books in the and turns the dial up on absurd coincidences, the wry humor and sheer weirdness a fair bit. The ending's a bit unsatisfactory, but considering the whole thing's effectively a fixup novel built out of four short stories that's not too shocking. Serialized the same year as Pearl Harbor, and the last completed Barsoom story arc before ERB died, since Skeleton Men is just the first part of a larger unfinished story.

Still has some memorable bits of worldbuilding for all its age. The whole setting of Horz (and the catacombs beneath it) would be at home in a non-Barsoomian weird horror or swords & sorcery tale,

Spoiler: and later spoilers.

Panar's cryogenically-preserved army is an interesting if utterly implausible touch, and the Invak/Onvak situation is both strange and farcical enough to feel like something from the Dying Earth.

It makes me a little sad that my time experiencing all the works of Barsoom for the first time is drawing to a close. Though, certainly, there's plenty more Burroughs to read. And I can always go back to Barsoom with a re-read.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

It makes me a little sad that my time experiencing all the works of Barsoom for the first time is drawing to a close. Though, certainly, there's plenty more Burroughs to read. And I can always go back to Barsoom with a re-read.

I grok that. Held off on reading the 24th book in the Tarzan series for so long that I wound up reading that "Lost Adventure" thing Dark Horse paid to have finished from ERB's partial draft first. Probably would have been better off reading Castaways in grade school like I did with the rest, my appreciation for the series had dropped off by the Nineties. Still, there's something really sad about reading the very last thing from a beloved series or author. Really good pastiche writers are very rare - Michael Kurland's continuation of the Lord Darcy stories from Randall Garrett is the only one I can think of who managed a really seamless job of it.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

I finished Rivers of London last night. Where it was good, it was very good. But mostly the sense I got was that it was a first novel and that writing something funny is really hard, especially if it's only supposed to be funny sometimes. (I know Aaronovitch had a screenwriting background, and my sense is, giving him the benefit of the doubt, writing jokes for television fiction and writing jokes for prose fiction are different skills.) I am intrigued enough to see if the series pays off the promising parts, but I'll take a detour into my backlog before digging into the next book.

I discovered this late last year and have torn through the series in the last few months. I'm due to check out Amongst Our Weapons (book 9) this weekend from the local library. I found it fun, immensely readable, and the voice and some of the "misses" in the language improve as it goes on. Although I felt like it peaked at the first four; Foxglove Summer has some interesting worldbuilding, but the story felt overloaded and rushed. And then I didn't find Lies Sleeping and False Value QUITE as engaging as some of the earlier books.

 

[prabe]

I discovered this late last year and have torn through the series in the last few months. I'm due to check out Amongst Our Weapons (book 9) this weekend from the local library. I found it fun, immensely readable, and the voice and some of the "misses" in the language improve as it goes on. Although I felt like it peaked at the first four; Foxglove Summer has some interesting worldbuilding, but the story felt overloaded and rushed. And then I didn't find Lies Sleeping and False Value QUITE as engaging as some of the earlier books.

My wife has torn through the series, I'm not super-interested in the premise so I haven't read any of it--but I'm looking at running a riff on Chaosium's Rivers of London TRPG--I'm tentatively calling the campaign Rivers of St. Louis.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I discovered this late last year and have torn through the series in the last few months. I'm due to check out Amongst Our Weapons (book 9) this weekend from the local library. I found it fun, immensely readable, and the voice and some of the "misses" in the language improve as it goes on. Although I felt like it peaked at the first four; Foxglove Summer has some interesting worldbuilding, but the story felt overloaded and rushed. And then I didn't find Lies Sleeping and False Value QUITE as engaging as some of the earlier books.

I liked the novels when they appeared to be mostly standalone mysteries. The world and characters he created are great and worth spending time with. I've been disheartened about how serialized they've gotten -- more like comic books without the pictures nowadays. Still, enjoyable fun, even if I'd rather they were structured more like the Easy Rawlins novels, which is the other mystery series I'm working my way through.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

the Easy Rawlins novels, which is the other mystery series I'm working my way through.

On my long term mystery list, but plan to read Judge Dee and Maigret first (maybe, going to give them each 2 more books). I read Mosely's recent SF novella (Touched) and it was interesting; but I didn't quite connect with it. It actually felt like a lot of the SF New Wave books that I bounce off of these days

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Easy Rawlins books are very good, but I'm not sure I could read them all consecutively. A lot of bad times in his life, but it's a really fascinating picture of his life and (mostly) Los Angeles over the decades.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I grok that. Held off on reading the 24th book in the Tarzan series for so long that I wound up reading that "Lost Adventure" thing Dark Horse paid to have finished from ERB's partial draft first. Probably would have been better off reading Castaways in grade school like I did with the rest, my appreciation for the series had dropped off by the Nineties. Still, there's something really sad about reading the very last thing from a beloved series or author. Really good pastiche writers are very rare - Michael Kurland's continuation of the Lord Darcy stories from Randall Garrett is the only one I can think of who managed a really seamless job of it.

Grade school would've absolutely been the wrong time for me to discover Barsoom. Back then I was still very much a purist, a "keep my fantasy and science-fiction separate" opinion. Thankfully, I got better.