Return of the Book Thread

[Soulflame]

New Vlad Taltos book 'Hawk'. Picked it up and I just hope Brust is done with the Alexandre Dumas writing style as that completely wrecked the last book for me.

I really enjoy Brust's Dumas style.  500 Years After is one of my favorite books, and I enjoyed the entire trilogy that became five books about Khaavren, then suddenly it was about his son.

I have Hawk sitting right here next to me.  I'm holding off on reading it for travel time (although I'll probably read it tomorrow, and have nothing to read for the rest of the week when I'm not in seminars.)

I also read Ancillary Justice.  I found it odd, and a tad slow in the beginning.  Then the middle, or perhaps the middle end, the ride picks up speed, and away we went.  I also found the blanket gendering a bit impenetrable, but that's probably on me, not the author.

I've also read Lock In, and also Unlocked.  Enjoyed both, but then again, I very much enjoy Scalzi as an author.  Even things like Redshirts and Fuzzy Nation.

[HaemishM]

I don't think I'm the target audience for Cthulu stuff. I'm not too fond of horror generally

I'm doing a slow burn into the more weird-y Cthulhu parts. It starts more like a thriller murder mystery type thing and builds slowly into a more Twin Peaks-y style of weirdness. My sales would indicate that the target audience for Cthulhu stuff is smaller than one would think. 

[EWSpider]

I've been holding out on reading the new Brandon Sanderson series The Stormlight Archive (just want more books to be published before I start), but I just noticed that Book 1 is free right now on the Kindle as I was looking for a new book to read:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=05B91BV2D1JEYD4Z6EWR

Get it while you can!

[Chimpy]

Those are a good read, just takes a while to get into the workd/vocabulary.

[Rendakor]

I'm trying to hold off on those too; a friend of mine keeps trying to get me to read book 1 but I just can't take another epic fantasy series that takes 15 years to complete.

[dd0029]

Ancillary Sword was good, but not in the same class as the first. The world is fleshed out a slight bit more and the story was kept fairly personal, but at the expense of a whole lot of dangling plot threads. The central theme of the book remains about class and morality in an not terrible just society, but it's much more out in the open. Not only is it out in the open more, the reader gets beaten with it time and time again.


It almost feels like she decided or someone suggested she might be sitting on a gravy train and decided to slow things down.

[Tmon]

I've been holding out on reading the new Brandon Sanderson series The Stormlight Archive (just want more books to be published before I start), but I just noticed that Book 1 is free right now on the Kindle as I was looking for a new book to read:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=05B91BV2D1JEYD4Z6EWR

Get it while you can!

Nice, I read this in hardback when I found it on the new release shelf at the library, I ended up buying the second one for nook.  Since I mostly read on my tablet using the Kindle and nook apps having each book in a different format isn't a problem for me.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, good tip - I picked this up as well.  Have never read any of Sanderson's non-WoT stuff.

[NowhereMan]

He also has one of his early works, Warbreaker, available free on his site. It's one of his earlier works so some of his problems are particularly glaring (the main character constantly making terrible puns everyone inexplicably finds funny being a big one). It's quite fun though. If you enjoy his style definitely get the Mistborn trilogy. It's slated to be three trilogies but stands alone pretty well (hell the first book in it can stand alone pretty well).

[WayAbvPar]

Thanks for the heads up. I like free books, especially from decent authors. Almost through the first Sanderson WoT book. Things feel like they are actually happening now, and I am not sure there has been more than 5 or 6 sniffs in the entire thing. It is wondrous!

[rattran]

I think cthulhu mythos fans are simply gunshy with the large amount of really, really bad mythos stuff that abounds. From August Derleth on there's a lot of crap. Gems are few and far between.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I'm currently in the middle of reading a non-fiction book (I know, I know!) called Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease by Robert Lustig.  The initial chapters have been hard to get into because they go into a lot of the science behind why obesity happens but it's starting to get more interesting now.  Author is a pediatric endocrinologist and starts the different chapters off with small case studies of some of the kids he's treated, which are scary in a lot of ways.

A friend loaned me her copy of the book but I'm thinking I may need to get my own just to have it.

[HaemishM]

I've seen some videos on Lustig's research. It's interesting. He's likely overstating the effects just a bit but it's still something to think about. We do eat a shit load of processed sugar these days even when we don't think we are.

As for Cthulhu Mythos stuff, I agree. Hell, I've only read the Lovecraft stuff and have ignored everything else. I probably shouldn't be surprised if people do the same to my stuff. 

[Shannow]

Garth Nix has a prequel out for the Old Kingdom/Sabriel series: Clariel

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, good tip - I picked this up as well.  Have never read any of Sanderson's non-WoT stuff.

I finished reading this free Way of Kings a couple days ago.  I actually quite like it and was disappointed by the abrupt ending...and doubly so as I saw on Amazon that there is only one more finished book in the series.  If all of his stuff is this good, I will have to check it out.

[NowhereMan]

At the risk of repeating myself in this thread ( ) if you like Sanderson read Mistborn. The first trilogy works very well (and as I said the first book works as a standalone) and he's put out a bridging novel between the first and second trilogies. The overall idea is a trilogy of trilogies with fantasy novels set in the same world in a range of time periods. The first series is a typical fantasy/renaissance era one, followed by an urban fantasy/modern setting and a final trilogy in a future fantasy setting. The briding novel out now (Alloy of Law) is a Western era one.

Also if you thought the first Way of Kings had an abrupt end, learn to love the Sanderson Avalanche (he genuinely has gotten better but his earlier books have way more reveals, plot twists and resolutions in the last 15% of the book than most writers have in a whole novel).

[Salamok]

Finished The Slow Regard of Silent Things, I don't really know how to tell page count on my kindle but other than skipping the forward and multiple afterwards apologizing for selling me this book that was not a book I read it cover to cover in around 3 hours.  I'm guessing the actual story portion is well under 176 pages.  It was a good read that did basically zero to fill in any sort of back story on Auri (it did flesh out her character though).  I don't really feel ripped off since I enjoyed it but they really should have just priced it at $3 and skipped the 40 pages of apologies, it reads like a very well done fanfic piece.

[HaemishM]

For those of you who have been following my writing, I just wanted to let you know, I've finally taken the crowdfunding plunge - I'm on Patreon. I'm going to be writing more Bridge short stories and publishing them on the site for my patrons first, then later for the public.

[lamaros]

Best of luck to you Haem!

[Cyrrex]

How does that even work?  You just need the money for the actual publishing expenses themselves, or is it also for hookers and blow?

And more importantly, do your backers get virtual spaceships?

[HaemishM]

It's like the old medieval concept of patronage - people pay me (well, in theory - someone actually has to sign up to give me money) to keep writing what I'd be writing anyway. It's kind of a cool concept, though I really had to dial down my built-in shame at asking for money. The patrons will get to see the stories early, before they're published publicly on the site and if they pledge certain amounts they get other rewards (one of the levels I promise to design logos for the Five Families from the books and give the patrons wallpapers/forum avatars). Indie publishing pays well per unit but I have to move lots of units if I want to actually make any real money so I asked for patronage. I figured it's not much different than asking for donations to keep a site going (I do actually have to pay a hosting fee though it's not much). I'm also working on a Kickstarter idea. Fuck it, if Chris Roberts can get $50 million and counting for dreams and wishes - I actually have tangible products to sell. 

[Abagadro]

You need a level where you will become a vassal manservant. Then I will definitely pitch in.

[murdoc]

Finished Hawk and liked it quite a bit, but it really didn't move the story forward too much. I had forgotten how much power creep happens to Vlad, it's almost beyond a Dresden level.

Reading American Sniper and I am finding that between the style it's written in and the beliefs expressed in it, it's a tough slog to keep going.

[HaemishM]

You need a level where you will become a vassal manservant. Then I will definitely pitch in.

I will gladly be a kept man, but my price will not be cheap.

[Mattemeo]

Way of Kings and Words of Radiance are by far the best books I've read so far this year, and I've got the fancy American hardcover of the first Mistborn book coming in the mail. I haven't been as taken with a fantasy writer's voice since Scott Lynch; to be fair I think Sanderson is a serious long-haul writer and his world building and character arcs couldn't work in as short a form as Lynch has written so far, but Lies of Locke Lamora remains one of the best debuts I've ever read.

Just started (and am about halfway in) Andy Weir's The Martian; been sitting on my reading pile for a couple of months (again, imported the American hardcover because oh my god the UK cover is fucking abysmal) and I got inspired to read it after watching Interstellar; and it's a surprisingly upbeat and phenomenally well researched bit of situational cabin fever written mainly in a very informal journal tone with occasional interludes from folks back home, so to speak. Good stuff.

[NowhereMan]

As a warning with Sanderson if you've come to him through the Way of Kings, everything else you're reading by him are earlier works and at times it's pretty telling. If there are aspects of his writing that you don't like too much in WoK like  then you're going to get that in spades with his earlier works. Mistborn is awesome though, Alloy of Law (which he wrote basically on a long flight because he was taking a break from writing his other novels) is very fun and an interesting development of the universe.

He's also apparently written some novellas on Dynasty Warriors the Infinity Blade series of games which are quite good and do a good job at tying the gameplay mechanics into the storytelling universe.

[dd0029]

Just finished up Stephen Baxter's Proxima. It's been a while since a book has made me quite so angry. There are a couple of interesting stories going on here. There's a colonization effort designed more like a horrifying sociological experiment. There's the really neat world he builds for that experiment. There's also the interesting extrapolation background about climate change had how it might impact the planet and drive some of this. There's the science mystery of how this whole thing is made possible. Then there's the pants on head "drama" trying to tie all of these together consisting of faceless bureaucrats and moustache twirling evil people being mean and terrible just to be mean and terrible.

The hard science is so neat and the smaller personal stories are really interesting and I loved those parts, but they are weighed down with the drek that is the drama that made no sense. I'd recommend this to anyone, but stop about 3/4 of the way through when people go through the thing. At that point, just assume everyone adventures on and sees more fascinating stuff.

[lamaros]

Started reading Ancillary Sword.

It just jumps right back in where the first left off. Expected I guess, but I don't feel like reading the first again at the moment, and so the assumptions about the reader's familiarity is a little jarring. Hopefully it becomes its own thing pretty soon.

[Pennilenko]

I don't really know where to post this, but I am looking for recommendations for super hero fiction with a more realistic spin, hopefully written with more quality than the stuff floating around tumbler.

[NowhereMan]

So I've started reading Dreadnought after an Amazon Kindle sale. It's about the build up and development of Navies for WW1 but it also goes pretty heavily into the development of Naval competition between Britain and Germany, which is deeply tied into the overall political relations of the period. So far I'm still seeing the political development of Britain from the late 19th century (which is interesting since my A-level studies of Britain ended with Gladstone and Disraeli, completely missing Salisbury). It's done in an engaging way with basically mini-biographies of the leading political figures. Reading about Bismarck and Holstein was good fun.

The whole thing is very well written, it's interesting seeing the power that personal relations had on international relations at the time and also the ability of a small number of people to get long term power to shape the policies and directions of a nation. The choice of biography does stick the whole thing into a bit of a Great Man view of history but the force of social change and movements is acknowledged even if it's more something presented as problems or opportunities for the main players.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I don't really know where to post this, but I am looking for recommendations for super hero fiction with a more realistic spin, hopefully written with more quality than the stuff floating around tumbler.

Well, they might be kind of dated now, but maybe see if you can find the Aces Wild series that was edited by GRRM.  Stories by multiple authors about people gaining powers after an event (it's been a while, I should reread myself) and it's not always "good" powers either. 

[dd0029]

super hero fiction with a more realistic spin

That realistic modifier confuses me, I'm not sure what realistic means in this context.

Anyway, Peter Clines' "Ex" series is not bad and gets progressively better written as it goes along. It was originally self published and then got picked up. It's super heroes after the zombie apocalypse so I don't know how that works with the realistic. It starts with Ex-Heroes.

Then there's Jim Bernheimer's D-List Supervillian. They are lighter fair. I like the story in Confessions of a D-List Supervillain more, but the second Origins of a D-List Supervillain is a much better written book.

Nobody Gets the Girl by James Moxey. It started off strong, but kind of petered out in the end. I still mostly enjoyed it.

How to Succeed in Evil by Patrick McLean. This is a book with a great premise, but it really fizzled in the end. The setup and first half of the book is worth it though. It's about a business consultant for supervillains.

Looking over my goodreads list, I see a couple I'd call more realistic.

Meta by Tom Reynolds. It's fairly well written, but not my favorite.

Invasion by Mercedes Lackey. It's essentially fan fiction for her guild in some superhero MMO, but because she's an established author, they published it. Her communist superheroes are awesome.

The Fire Inside by Raymond Rose. This is self published, but not that bad.

[HaemishM]

I don't really know where to post this, but I am looking for recommendations for super hero fiction with a more realistic spin, hopefully written with more quality than the stuff floating around tumbler.

Well, they might be kind of dated now, but maybe see if you can find the Aces Wild series that was edited by GRRM.  Stories by multiple authors about people gaining powers after an event (it's been a while, I should reread myself) and it's not always "good" powers either. 

I think you mean the Wild Cards series.

[Mazakiel]

super hero fiction with a more realistic spin

That realistic modifier confuses me, I'm not sure what realistic means in this context.

Anyway, Peter Clines' "Ex" series is not bad and gets progressively better written as it goes along. It was originally self published and then got picked up. It's super heroes after the zombie apocalypse so I don't know how that works with the realistic. It starts with Ex-Heroes.

Then there's Jim Bernheimer's D-List Supervillian. They are lighter fair. I like the story in Confessions of a D-List Supervillain more, but the second Origins of a D-List Supervillain is a much better written book.

Nobody Gets the Girl by James Moxey. It started off strong, but kind of petered out in the end. I still mostly enjoyed it.

How to Succeed in Evil by Patrick McLean. This is a book with a great premise, but it really fizzled in the end. The setup and first half of the book is worth it though. It's about a business consultant for supervillains.

Looking over my goodreads list, I see a couple I'd call more realistic.

Meta by Tom Reynolds. It's fairly well written, but not my favorite.

Invasion by Mercedes Lackey. It's essentially fan fiction for her guild in some superhero MMO, but because she's an established author, they published it. Her communist superheroes are awesome.

The Fire Inside by Raymond Rose. This is self published, but not that bad.

One I would recommend is Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman.  You have two POV characters, one villain, one hero, and it puts a humorous spin on some of the traditional superhero tropes. 

[Viin]

I've been reading Gibson's newest book, The Peripheral, which took me a few (ok several) chapters to figure out what the heck was going on. But now that I know, it's pretty darn good. Haven't finished it yet, but I recommend it based on what I've read so far (about 75% of the way through).