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The early (first 3?) short stories collections are amazing. I'm still waiting for an adaptation of "Mrs Todd's Shortcut", and while I haven't read "Ladyfingers" for 30 years, it regularly creeps me the heck out. I've read very few of his newer books, but all of his earlier stuff when I was younger.

Finished the CAS thing. The extensive notes were helpful; my critiques were not in any sense new ones. CAS himself knew plots were not his strength, and he basically liked writing ornately elegant little word-pictures that masqueraded as stories. Went to book sale; bought books. Pic below...

I'm not sure I've seen Shadow Captain, and I like Alistair Reynolds a lot. I'll look for it. Oooo...sequel to Revenger. Cool.

I also read Locksley, by Nicholas Chase. A Robin Hood book that tweaks things quite a bit. Not bad.

Finished Bait of Dreams by Jo Clayton. Pretty decent. Nice worldbuilding, which I've realized is definitely a metric of mine. Read Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, by John Crowley. Good book. Kinda...meditative? Reflective? I'm of the opinion that any "best fantasy list" without Little, Big is...

Finished Faery in Shadow, by CJ Cherryh...same comments as always with her; my head hurt, the writing is convoluted, the characters need to get some f*ing sleep. Nothing memorable about this one; dunno if it was done to fill a contract or what. Started Bait of Dreams by Jo Clayton - it's...

Finished Walkers On The Sky, by David J Lake. (pub. 1976). An interesting bit of world-building, otherwise unremarkable.

I have to admit, I thought The Da Vinci Code was an excellent example of write-by-numbers. Paragraph A, exposition. Paragraph B&C, location description. Paragraph D, action event. Repeat. That said, it's a bestseller and I'm all for anything that gets people reading. :)

I've read almost all of her sci-fi (I eventually quit the Foreigner series after it started on the 19th trilogy or whatever), and most of her fantasy. The SF I can handle but my brain hurts. The fantasy is generally just...confusing. I read the first book of the Fortress series and didn't bother...

Just reread CJ Cherryh's The Goblin Mirror. Like all her fantasy stuff, it kinda gives me a headache, but I did better than I have in the past. It's a decent enough book. Nice little micro setting.

Just read Raum, by Carl Sherrell (pub. 1977). Not groundbreaking, but much more enjoyable than I expected.

Just read Maze of Stars by John Brunner. Man, was that a slog.

For comparison purposes. I dug out Three Hearts and Three Lions. Overall, I preferred The Broken Sword. It's more original, and there's more world-building. Aside from trolls, 3H3L is a good book but not very outstanding or distinctive, and has the annoying conceit of the protagonist trying to...

I read The Day of Atonement, by David Liss (part of his Benjamin Weaver series, though not featuring Benjamin Weaver as the protagonist). Good book. And I read The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson. I feel like Poul Anderson might not get enough credit for his influence on D&D. He's certainly...

Got, and read, and finished, Network Effect, the most recent Murderbot book. Had a conversation with my gf about it, and the difference between a great book and a book that just...pushes all your buttons in the BEST way. Honestly, I can't tell how good these books are, except that a) many other...

I read The Lacquer Screen (a Judge Dee mystery) and Otto of the Silver Hand (by Howard Pyle). Both good/interesting.

Just call it Baahubali. English language don't care. 😁. I learned a new word today!

I'm just going to say that I've found assertions that authors or publishers should get someone from "X" culture to sign off on a fantasy representation of "X" culture very rarely reflect a realistic goal, or a realistic understanding of how many cultures work. I'm an American, but I'm not expert...

Thats... Well. I get what you're going for, and I never doubted the good intent behind it. If you're comfortable sticking with it, so be it.