What are you reading in 2022?

[Richards]

I'm now reading Dhampir by Barb and J. C. Hendee, another library book sale 50-cent investment. So far it's pretty good: the protagonist is a swordswoman who's really a con artist, who bilks villages by taking advantage of their superstitions to rid the town of "undead forces" - which always takes the form of her half-elf partner in crime, who she "kills" and then "takes the body away to perform a ritual in secret to make sure it doesn't rise again." Two problems, though: she's been saving her money and bought a tavern where she plans to retire, much to the consternation of her half-elf partner; and there really are undead in the area who are interested in this "undead hunter" who claims to be able to take them down.

She knows almost nothing of her absent father; given the book's title I'm willing to bet he was a vampire and she's the dhampir the book's named after.

Johnathan

 

[trappedslider]

Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die by Garrett M. Graff

Spoiler

A fresh window on American history: the eye-opening truth about the government's secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, even if the rest of us die - a road map that spans from the dawn of the nuclear age to today.

Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold 1st Helicopter Squadron, codenamed MUSSEL, flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They're only half right: While the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves.

For 60 years the US government has been developing secret doomsday plans to protect itself, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms - from its plans to evacuate the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to the plans to launch nuclear missiles from a Boeing-747 jet flying high over Nebraska. In Raven Rock, Garrett M. Graff sheds light on the inner workings of the 650-acre compound (called Raven Rock) just miles from Camp David as well as dozens of other bunkers the government built for its top leaders during the Cold War, from the White House lawn to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to Palm Beach, Florida, and the secret plans that would have kicked in after a Cold War nuclear attack to round up foreigners and dissidents and nationalize industries. Equal parts presidential, military, and cultural history, Raven Rock tracks the evolution of the government plan and the threats of global war from the dawn of the nuclear era through the War on Terror.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

With Ernest Bramah's The Wallet of Kai Lung, I did something I haven't done in years. I put the book down, unfinished. While I had been prepared for the orientalism, the overly-formal dialogue got to be a cudgel taken to my brain again and again after a hundred pages. I just couldn't go on.

So I switched Flashing Swords #4: Barbarians and Black Magic, edited by Lin Carter. Way better...bookended by Jack Vance and Michael Moorcock, it was way more enjoyable.

Now I'm reading Margaret St. Clair's The Dolphins of Altair.

 

[Nellisir]

Finished Paladin by CJ Cherryh, and The Gate of the Gods, by Martha Wells. Started on The Element of Fire (by M. Wells), but misplaced it last night (much annoyance) so I punted and skimmed through Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse.

(It's...fine. I appreciate having all that stuff in one place. I also think we're going to see WotC pivot away from the recent stuff they've been doing, but I'm not sure towards what yet. Dragonlance & Spelljammer feel like "Ok we've done everything else, lets give them this now." I don't think D&D is ending; I don't even think it'll be a big edition change. But it doesn't make sense to update Volos & Mord1 and not update the Monster Manual.)

Anyway. Also got Oerth Journal #36 and read through that. Excellent stuff.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Just finished Samlade Svenska Kulter av Anders Fager (the name of the book directly translates as Collected Swedish Cults). It is a collection of Lovecraftian/Cthulhuesque short stories that are loosely connected. A bit uneven, but the stuff that is good, is very good. Starting with a story called Furierna från Borås (The Furies from Borås). Borås happens to be my hometown, so it was extra fun to read that one, and have heard the author do a reading from it at a gaming convention. Two people fainted during the reading... From other reasons, but still, it is good PR. That story also became a graphic novel called Smutsig Svart Sommar (Dirty Black Summer), which both gave a bit of backstory, and some more of things that happened afterwards. The stories are not for the faint of heart or those that are prudish.

So, it is bit complicated, as he first wrote a book, called Svenska Kulter (this book will be released in English in September by the name Swedish Cults). He then wrote 2 more books, but they were not published in Swedish, but rather all 3 books were added together to form Samlade Svenska Kulter. Here's a video that explains it..


And they have also made a Swedish rpg based upon some of these stories. I don't have it unfortunately, and think it is out of print.

 

[dragoner]

I am re-reading the Algebraist by Banks, it is very baroque sf in its own way. I have decided to re-read a lot of my books and then let them go.

 

[wicked cool]

been reading books that come through on facebook recommendation
last ritual-cthulu story. theres a series of books with some that have loose connections to each other. good but not great.
broken heart arellium-monsters in a pit , political intrigue, sort of super powered knights-enjoyable. book 1 of not sure
revenant and the tomb- tomb holds horros with a hero that is a revenant. enjoyable
ventifact colossus-group of adventurerers recruited to stop an ancient evil. Feels like a D&D group. liked it. Also book 1 of something


anyone have any recent books based on a party of adventurers fighting in a D&D type world. books written within last 5 years

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished St. Clair's The Dolphins of Altair. It's weird and trippy and very 60s, but it all hangs together better than it should.

Now I'm reading Lord Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow.

 

[Richards]

I'm now reading a thriller called Deserves to Die, by Lisa Jackson. It involves a killer who likes taking body parts as trophies from the women he kills, and a victim he thought he killed in the Bayou survived and is hiding out in Montana...where there's another, similar killing (does he know she's still alive and in hiding?) - plus the recent shooting death of the beloved local sheriff which may or not be related. I've read other books by this author and picked it up (at a library book sale) based on name recognition alone. I'm 70+ pages in (I started reading it in the doctor's office and pharmacy waiting room this morning) and it's already intriguing, and although this is apparently part of a series with the same female Montana detective main character and I haven't read any others in the series, I'm having no trouble keeping up with the characters.

Johnathan

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Finished Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow. Lovely stuff, as usual, full of magic and beauty.

Now I'm reading Alan Burt Akers'/ Kenneth Bulmer's Transit to Scorpio.