What are you reading in 2025?

[Eyes of Nine]

I finished reading Williams' Hardwired. Third time reading it, and I think its influence was even greater than I originally thought. It's pretty much the ur-text for Cyberpunk 2013/2020/Red/2077/Edgerunners, much the same way Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions is for D&D.

Enjoyed Hardwired back in the day, I believe I've got a hard copy around here waiting for a re-read. Agree that it's more cyber punky than most of the other canon (Snowcrash, Sprawl trilogy, Marîd Audran trilogy (When Gravity Fails etc)). Or maybe it's Metropolitan...

Also, there's this: Hardwired: The Sourcebook - Wikipedia
Also also, TIL about this: Heart of Oak: Naval Miniatures for the Age of Fighting Sail - Wikipedia

Now I'm reading John Brunner's The Shockwave Rider.

Another I've got in hard copy - should read someday...

 

[overgeeked]

About halfway done with No-Prep Gamemaster 2E. I liked 1E with a few caveats so wanted to take 2E for a spin. Some of the problems with 1E were fixed, some not. What’s expanded from 1E is mostly good. I like and agree with most of his advice so would recommend the book. The major flaw is despite repeatedly talking about how important player agency is he also suggests the atrocious for player agency quantum ogre as a solution for making sure prep doesn’t go to waste. Ugh.

Also a little bit into Discworld 06 - Wyrd Sisters. I’m not far into my Pratchett journey but he’s already becoming something of a comfort read.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Also a little bit into Discworld 06 - Wyrd Sisters. I’m not far into my Pratchett journey but he’s already becoming something of a comfort read.

You are definitely into the point where it begins hockey sticking up. I love the witches so much.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

About halfway done with No-Perp Gamemaster 2E.

You need to give ex-cons a second chance and let them DM for you.

 

[Autumnal]

 

[Retros_x]

Though I've read plenty of Sanderson's other works, I bounced off of the Stormlight Archive series because of its extreme page count and slow pace. The higher the page count, I think the harder the author needs to work to justify it.

I absolutely agree. A high page count demands a lot of the reader and when it is not justified, I almost get mad because it feels like the author don't respect the readers time. And I have read 400+ page books with slow pacing that I absolutely loved, its definitely possible and I am not generally opposed to it. But after reading Stormlight 1 I only could think "why did you need over 1000 pages to tell this story?" With careful editing this could've been 700 pages or even less.

 

[Mannahnin]

Also a little bit into Discworld 06 - Wyrd Sisters. I’m not far into my Pratchett journey but he’s already becoming something of a comfort read.

You are definitely into the point where it begins hockey sticking up. I love the witches so much.

Wyrd Sisters is the one I started with, way back in 1990. A classic.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Enjoyed Hardwired back in the day, I believe I've got a hard copy around here waiting for a re-read. Agree that it's more cyber punky than most of the other canon (Snowcrash, Sprawl trilogy, Marîd Audran trilogy (When Gravity Fails etc)). Or maybe it's Metropolitan...

Also, there's this: Hardwired: The Sourcebook - Wikipedia

That's Hardwired. Metropolitan is urban fantasy.

The Hardwired sourcebook is fascinating. I wonder how many times an author has been so actively involved in bringing their fiction into the RPG world?

I absolutely agree. A high page count demands a lot of the reader and when it is not justified, I almost get mad because it feels like the author don't respect the readers time. And I have read 400+ page books with slow pacing that I absolutely loved, its definitely possible and I am not generally opposed to it. But after reading Stormlight 1 I only could think "why did you need over 1000 pages to tell this story?" With careful editing this could've been 700 pages or even less.

I think there's a fine line between details that bring the world to life and just faffing around. Yeah, there are some phonebook novels that I love - Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell springs to mind. Clive Barker's Imajica. But increasingly, I've got less and less patience for these overgrown novels that really needed pruning.

 

[prabe]

The big problem I have at this point with longer novels is that I've gotten into the habit of reading a novel in the evening between dinner and bed (on nights when I'm not doing something more social). A really big novel will either need a couple-three nights or I'll have to make special plans for reading it, such as setting aside a Saturday or something.

 

[jian]

Thanks to recommendations here I've now finished Fever Beach, Carl Hiaasen's latest, and it is pretty good, and very up to date (it came out in May and is set in 2026, leading up to the midterms). He's as funny and acerbic as ever, and it's even fairly upbeat at the end.

(Twilly Spree is a slightly annoying overly effective protagonist and in that he's a worthy successor to Clinton Tyree, who at least was never the protagonist, more that GMPC who comes and saves the PCs when they get in over their heads.)