[July] What are you reading?

[Mallus]

The Conclave of Shadows series so far (Talon is Book One) has less of a grand scale than the previous two series and focuses much more exclusively on the main character than the opening novels of Riftwar and the SerpentWar.

Really? I know its only the first book in the series, but isn't only major bad guy left in Feist's mythos the great vast unnameable uber Ctulhu-esque god mentioned in Shards of a Broken Crown? The guy you can't even think about without drawing his ire?

I kinda though his next major series would feature him... oh wait, maybe it does, but none of the characters will actually know what their fighting...

 

[Sirius_Black]

I kinda though his next major series would feature him... oh wait, maybe it does, but none of the characters will actually know what their fighting...

The series does focus on the battle between the Conclave and the villian you mentioned. However, your quote above is somewhat correct. Not everyone fighting the good fight is fully aware of who they are fighting including our title character.

The series shows great promise and I really like how this book has even more intrigue than the other two series.

 

[TiQuinn]

I'm just past the halfway mark on A Clash of Kings.

I'm seriously loving this series, but I think I'll take a breather before jumping into A Storm of Swords.

 

[Welverin]

It came out the first of July. I had to check online last week since I knew it would be out somtime soon...

That's the problem, for whatever reason I was expecting it to be out later, at least August.

 

[Hand of Evil]

The science fiction club amigo. I'd been looking for these for a while after reading one of his short stories in the Tales of the White Wolf book and enjoying the character. I'd done some research and found out about the novels but could never find them.

This has the three novels, Bloodstone, Dark Crusade and Darkness Weaves.

Apparently they have a regular bookstore version now:

http://www.pricefarmer.com/cgi-bin/farm?isbn=189238924X

They've also apparently collecte the Kane short stories.

http://www.pricefarmer.com/cgi-bin/farm?isbn=1892389517

Thank you. About time they reprinted them!

 

[Uzumaki]

The Enemy Papers by Barry Longyear.
After that, probably Neverwhere or American Gods.

 

[theburningman]

I finally finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. That was one fantastic (and fantastically long) book. I'll definitely be checking out Quicksilver when it comes out.

Right now I'm dipping into several books: Watership Down by Richard Adams, Painted Desert by Frederick Barthelme, The Devil in the Dust by Chaz Brenchley, Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik (it was a free advance copy from when I was a bookseller, honest!), and The Dark Tide by Dennis McKiernan.

 

[Gizzard]

The Code Book by Simon Singh

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I'd read other books, including some that were important in the field, but none reads as easily and is as much fun as The Code Book. I picked it up after reading Cryptonomicon:

I finally finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

Also a fun book. Its huge and I know a couple people who couldn't get through it, but really enjoyed Stephenson's view of the world. I complained bitterly about the digressions in KSRs The Years of Rice and Salt, but the digressions in Crytonomicon were some of my favorite parts. I do think that it might have been an even better book if the author had sacrificed one of the three parallel plots and tightened up the remaining two.

As for me, I just finished Paul di Fillipio's A Year in the Linear City which I enjoyed. Its a different kettle of fish than Coraline which is one of its competitors in the Novella catagory this year. I probably give the nod to Coraline because thats got a strong thread of plot, whereas A Year... is much more a meandering visit to a very strange place.

On a practical note, A Year... comes from a small press publisher and, AFAIK, only 800 were printed. So don't expect to find it at your local B&N. I have no idea how it made the ballot with such a small print run.

-edit-

Next up: The Light Ages, Ian MacLeod

I really like MacLeod's stuff. I didn't know he had a novel out, I'll have to go look for it.

 

[Panthanas]

About 3/4 of the way through Issola by Steven Brust. I'm pretty sure that it is the lastest Vlad Taltos novel, which are all pretty good.

Issola is good as well...in case you were wondering

 

[WayneLigon]

I've had a lot of time to read, lately...

Joust by Mercedes Lackey. Original setting, self-contained novel. I enjoyed it quite a lot. Two cultures are at war, and a young boy from the north is made a serf (lower than a slave) in the desert southlands. Both cultures use mounted warriors on dragons as scouts and combatants, though the southlands have many many more. The boy is taken by a dragon rider to serve as his 'dragon boy', the person who looks after the dragon. The youth comes to like both the dragon and her rider, but can't forget that they are essencially enemies.

Very much an egyptian-like setting, with interesting bits about the dragons, their raising and training, and the life of the lowborn.

The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. Newford setting, self-contained novel. Jilly Coppercorn has been struck by a car and lies partially paralysed in the hospital, comforted only by the fact that she can dream herself to the Otherworld and interact with the animal people and her friends Jack and Sophia. Who tried to kill her, and why would someone sneal into her studio and destroy all her fairie paintings? Jilly's backstory.

Tapping the Dream Tree Charles de Lint. Newford setting, short story collection. More Newford stories, some featuring the normal group of characters, some not. All good. Long novella at the end, Seven Wild Sisters.

Someplace To Be Flying Charles de Lint. Newford setting, self-contained novel. When someone asked Raven why he created the sky, he just said that he needed someplace to be flying. War comes to Newford when Cody, Old Man Coyote, decides he wants Raven's pot... the pot that created the world. He's tried before to undo that first mistake, the one that created humans, but he only keeps screwing it up. So he's come up with a different idea: use it to destroy everything and start all over again...

Crows and Cuckoos go to war, a girl looks for her not-so-imaginary playmate, the Crow Girls gallivant, and the down-and-outs of the Tombs can only hope to keep their heads.