What are you reading? September's Septic Septum edition!

[Kramodlog]

Reading Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly. Not too bad, but you sort of know where it is going even if you have no idea where it is going.

 

[Blue]

Reading Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, second book in the Machineries of Empire series. The first was very fresh in worldbuilding which had direct positive impacts on plot, writing was competent, characters where good enough.

Second book is from a different character's PoV (well, both have occasional chapters from others, but one main PoV character), and the main character(s) from the first book is an important but not PoV character, and that leaves you guessing (in a good way) about what exactly is going on. So far the book as been entertaining.

One of the reviewer quotes at the beginning mentioned updating Korean myths to SF, which could be part of the freshness - it was quite different direction of the "tech" and cultures of SF (again, in a good way), and I'm wondering how much of that is just being completely unfamiliar with the source of inspiration.

I enjoyed the first enough to pick up the second, and it was well is proving to be an entertaining read. The ending of the first was a little bit weak but carried through on the strength of what led up to it, I'll let you know with this one.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Just finishing up The Unforsaken Hiero. It’s not as weird and wild as the first one, but is a fast-paced, engrossing tale. It still is pretty gloriously weird, don’t get me wrong.

Next up is April Tucholke’s The Boneless Mercies.

 

[Richards]

I just finished Twisted, a collection of short stories by Jeffery Deaver. And due to my intense newfound appreciation of his Lincoln Rhyme series, I went and ordered books 1, 2, 6, 7, and 9 in the series (which ought to go well with books 3, 4, 5, and 8 that I already own, I'm thinking). My son found I had bought them on-line and complained I was eating up some easy Christmas shopping for him, but I informed him there are also books 10-14 waiting to be purchased on that front. But part of the rush is that I've gotten one of my D&D players hooked on the Lincoln Rhyme series and I don't want to loan her book 8 yet when I think having read at least book 7 first would be beneficial, as there are apparently things going on there that get referenced in book 8. So once they arrive (in a week or so) we'll both pick the series up from the beginning and read the ones we've missed out on thus far in order.

In the meantime, I started a thriller from another author I've never read before: After the Fall by Judith Kelman. I figured with the unbridled success I had giving Deaver a try, why not? This one deals with the aftermath of a nice, normal family whose oldest son gets arrested and in the course of the subsequent investigation all sorts of unexpected things start getting revealed. I'm only a few chapters in but so far everything's looking like it'll be an enjoyable read and I may be adding a new author to my list.

Johnathan

 

[Janx]

I may have to check out Machineries of the Empire.

Last month I'd read Gunman's Peace by Milton Davis, a dystopian future where the heroes don't look like me.

In the meantime, I finished Custard Protocols #4, and because I got tapped to speak on a Sci-Fi/Horror panel, I'm reading Frankenstein for the first time.

It is totally not like any of the movies or TV shows. Not even the "It's alive! It's alive!" bit.

 

[Blue]

I just finished the Near collection by Cat Rambo, and started on her Far collection. (I have a nifty trade paperback with both collections where you flip the book to whatever side you are reading.)

Short stories normally aren't my usual bag, but I enjoyed Near. Some of the stories were uncomplicated, but that just put them more on-point, as opposed to a novel where that would be a negative. In particular, I liked how much setting she was able to imply without verbosity in these short stories.

 

[Blue]

Reading Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, second book in the Machineries of Empire series. The first was very fresh in worldbuilding which had direct positive impacts on plot, writing was competent, characters where good enough.

Finished this up, quite happy with it. Trying to be vague not to spoil anything, but something I wished from the first book but was well established otherwise in the second book came in as a twist, making me do a little bounce-dance in my chair when reading it.

 

[Deset Gled]

I'm re-reading the Mollison Town Quartet, after my first read of it about 8 years ago. If you haven't heard of the series, it's about a fantasy town inhabited by stuffed animals.

I'm just finishing up the first book, Amberville. It's about a bear whose past comes to haunt him when the corrupt casino-owning dove that he worked for as a teen threatens to kill his rabbit wife if he doesn't work one last job - to save the dove's life.

When I'm done with it, I'll be doing Lanceheim next. It's about a walrus composer that is going deaf while trying to complete his last symphony, and ends up trying to hunt down a mysterious cult healer.

I really like the setting and characters of this series. It's ... unique.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Finished up Tucholke's The Boneless Mercies and Lord Dunsany's Fifty-One Tales. The Boneless Mercies is hands-down the best book I've read all year. Beautiful and sad, I loved its Norse-flavored feminist fantasy.

Fifty-One Tales is a collection of super-short tales of fantasy, whimsy, and wit. For all their brevity, they show just how skilled Dunsany was. You can find a free eBook version on Amazon, too.

Now I'm onto Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth.

 

[Blue]

Finished up Tucholke's The Boneless Mercies and Lord Dunsany's Fifty-One Tales. The Boneless Mercies is hands-down the best book I've read all year. Beautiful and sad, I loved its Norse-flavored feminist fantasy.

I went to check out The Boneless Mercies on Amazon, and I'm only showing a Sneak Peak. Do you know where I'd find it?