In honor of new and upcoming releases: Books!

[Luxor]

Just got my hand on the new Erikson, 'The Bonehunters' an hour or so ago. From the cover sleeve its following Apsalar, Cutter and Karsa Orlong in this book although i'm sure there will be a load of cameos as per the usual.

[Johny Cee]

Just got my hand on the new Erikson, 'The Bonehunters' an hour or so ago. From the cover sleeve its following Apsalar, Cutter and Karsa Orlong in this book although i'm sure there will be a load of cameos as per the usual.

Damn you.

[Johny Cee]

A further word about Erikson and the Malazan Books of the Fallen:

He's writing epic fantasy, heavily influenced by Cook and Martin.  So it's got that gritty brutalness about it.

The series is slated to be 10 books.  The twist is that he has multiple plot lines going,  with many many major characters,  with an overarching background theme.  On average,  major characters appear in 3 books so you aren't following a couple guys around constantly. 

Basically, the plots are broken up by geography with three plotlines on three separate continents.

Genabeckis campaign:  Gardens of the Moon and Memories of Ice

Seven cities sub-continent:  Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains, Bonehunters

Letherii: Midnight Tides

There is no one main character.  Major characters regularly get killed,  and the plot is moving along at a good clip with noticeable major action.  Each book has a different theme,  which the story told relates to.

Other things I've been reading....

Been burning through Heinlein's catalog.  Good,  but you do tend to notice repeated themes and catchphrases (that become annoying) when you go through too many books in close proximity.

Stopped to reread some Zelazny, because he was amazing.

Moderately enjoyed Asimov's Foundation trilogy.  Read one of his followups,  and was bored to tears.  I also felt like I had my intelligence insulted.

Read a shitload of the Pratchett novels.  Love the "Guards" books.

Read Michelle West's book Sunsword, at someone's recommendation (shower elf?).  Thought it was alright,  but not inclined to chase around for more.  The plot was a little slow.

HIGH recommendation for The Dark Chamber,  now in reprint.  It's from 1927,  Lovecraft thought highly of it.  It's horror,  with some mysticism/social psychology, but no supernatural.  Literally,  it's like watching a house full of people go insane or drive each other insane.

The writing comes of as very contempory,  except for some minor things with the clothing.

[schild]

Not a book per se. Not an audio book either. But today at work I listened to all 7+ hours of I love Bees.

Yes, the Halo marketing tool. Anyway, it was one of the most well crafted things I've ever experienced. It makes the HALO games look like total shit. I mean complete and total shit. I want to give everyone at 4orty2wo presents for crafting that thing. Fuck I would pay so much to see a movie of that made.

[WayAbvPar]

I am reading Michael Stackpole's latest series- first book is A Secret Atlas. So far I like it- it has a strange pacing to it, but the world seems pretty interesting. Have the 2nd book (Cartomancy) enroute from B&N Online, as well as Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, and Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey. How is that for diverse reading?  :-D

[Soln]

Pushing through Jared Diamond's "Germs, Guns & Steel" and looking forward to his "Collapse".  Very well written and accessible and yes, important.

[HaemishM]

Just finished reading some pulpy stuff, a Warhammer 40k book, the first in the Ciaphas Cain series. I liked it well enough for what it was. I started reading Frederick Pohl's A Year in the City, which is interesting, but dry reading. It seems to be Pohl's experiment in writing a fictional essay: how to "fix" the city of New York from an early 80's perspective.

[WayAbvPar]

Pushing through Jared Diamond's "Germs, Guns & Steel" and looking forward to his "Collapse".  Very well written and accessible and yes, important.

I thought the subject matter was interesting, but the prose got a bit dry for me in spots. It was very much like reading a textbook.

[Murgos]

Pushing through Jared Diamond's "Germs, Guns & Steel" and looking forward to his "Collapse".  Very well written and accessible and yes, important.

He gave a lecture last night at the local U on Collapse.  I really wanted to go but prior commitments prevented me.  The guy is 70, probably not going to get a chance to see him in person again.

[Samwise]

I just recently discovered Vernor Vinge (Fire on the Deep, Deepness in the Sky).  He's a bit longwinded but that doesn't tend to bother me.

Most recent nonfiction I read was Hillaire Belloc's Path to Rome, which was sufficiently good that I'm reading it a second time.  It also happens to be on Project Gutenberg due to its US copyright having expired.

My discovery of the Nero Wolfe Mysteries TV series on DVD has led me back to my old habit of prowling the library for Rex Stout books and devouring them in single sittings.  Very satisfactory.

And Something from the Nightside would have been really good if the author didn't feel compelled to end every other sentence with "...in the Nightside".  Those of you who have read it know what I'm talking about.

[Johny Cee]

Pushing through Jared Diamond's "Germs, Guns & Steel" and looking forward to his "Collapse".  Very well written and accessible and yes, important.

Check out The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.  Looks at the development of civilization,  but from a more economic/institutional perspective.

Haven't read Collapse yet.  My problem with Germs was the emphasis Diamond put on natural resource allocation, while minimizing institutions. 

Edit:  Has anyone checked out the new Jeffrey Sachs book yet?  I've got alot of respect for the man, so have thought about picking it up.

[Johny Cee]

And Something from the Nightside would have been really good if the author didn't feel compelled to end every other sentence with "...in the Nightside".  Those of you who have read it know what I'm talking about.

I forgot I read through the Nightside books (Simon R Green) a few weeks ago until you mentioned it...

It's basically modern serial pulp writing,  broken up into novellas.  Green will repeat lines, as you say,  but it's not bad if you treat it like you would Lovecraft and cyclopean, Stygian, or any of his other buzzwords.  (Robert E Howard and thews, another good example.)

I thought it was pretty enjoyable.  Lot of imagination in some of it.  Something from the Nightside is the weakest of the lot, I think,  because of how poorly it got started.  Some of the names/character set ups are brillant.  Jessica Sorrow, the Unbeliever?  Madman?  Razor Eddie,  Punk God of the Straight Razor?  The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter?  And, of course, Suzie Shooter, better know as Shotgun Suzie or oh Christ, it's her, run!

Martin Scott has been getting a fair amount of awards nominations (World Fantasy Award nominated a few years ago) for his Thraxus books.  It's noir in a magical Greek/Roman city state.  It's also vastly inferior to other authors doing supernatural noir (Butcher's Dresden, Cook's Garret).  I read most of them because I was running out of material.....

[Murgos]

I just recently discovered Vernor Vinge (Fire on the Deep, Deepness in the Sky).  He's a bit longwinded but that doesn't tend to bother me.

The man doesn't write very much which is too bad because he has a lot of imagination; of course if he still believes in his singularity prediction he may be off partying before having to bow to our new AI overlords.

[Johny Cee]

Finished Bonehunters last night.  Fucking 800 page hardcovers during tax season....

Good.  Not at the same level as books 2 & 3,  but very enjoyable.  Liked it better than Midnight Tides.

Less stand-alone then the other books have been.  Plot threads from the separate continents are starting to come together.

Two major characters die.  A swathe of minor characters.  Alot of major characters take some serious physical and emotional damage.  A few more major characters take so much damage,  they seem like they'll be out of the picture for a while. 

We get to see Icarium in action.

Many of the cities/regions we're used to get seriously fucked up.  Seriously, seroiusly fucked up.  Prepare for Doomsday fucked up.

There's another heartbreaking city siege in this one.

[Sky]

I'm in the middle of Martin's Storm of Swords. Thanks for the heads-up, it's a nice diversion from all the nonfic I read.

Also reading an interesting book on guitar, called...Guitar (An American Life) by Tim Brookes, my current cookbook selection is a pair by Jacques Pepin (my new favorite chef). I also have the Culinary Institute's book on the desk and I've cracked it a few times, it's so loaded with info.

[Johny Cee]

I am reading Michael Stackpole's latest series- first book is A Secret Atlas. So far I like it- it has a strange pacing to it, but the world seems pretty interesting. Have the 2nd book (Cartomancy) enroute from B&N Online, as well as Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, and Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey. How is that for diverse reading?  :-D

Read Cartomancy last week,  and A Secret Atlas back when it was released.

Stackpole is a fun read.  He puts enough imagination in that it's not "generic fantasy world 243",  and has an engaging writing style.  Check out his Dark Glory War.  Great ending.

Gemmel writes some similar stuff.  Fun,  more hack and slash.

[WayAbvPar]

I have read DGW and the series after it. I also enjoyed Talion: Revenant. Like you said, Stackpole's worlds aren't just Middle Earth ripoffs- they are at interesting.

[Yegolev]

O'Reilly has re-released Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules as Intermediate Perl.  It should do a better job of bridging the gap between Learning Perl and Programming Perl.

I only read technical books.

[Telemediocrity]

I'm about 1/3rd of the way through Collapse.  Enjoying it thus far.

If there's one "big think" work that I'd recommend to you all as absolutely incredible, it'd be The Discoverers, by Daniel Boorstein.  He was the former head of the library of congress, and it was his magnum opus - "A brief recounting of man's journey to know his world and himself", covering everything from geographic to scientific to philosophic discovery through the ages.  Just plain incredible.

Also quite good is Felipe Arnandez-Armesto's Millenium.

And if you'd like a corrective to some of the more Western-centric pap out there (Without any moral relativism bullshit to sort through), Hobson's The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization is incredible.  It makes the case that up until the mid-1800s or so, the West was behind other major centers of the world in every single way, from standard of living to institutions of government to technology.  In fact, it makes the case that the West was so barren by comparison to the East that nearly all of the technologies it used (and eventually dominated with) were created in the East.

Fun fact: Blonde hair?  The reason it evolved only in the West was because Europe was such a comparatively barren place.  Women couldn't subsist based on limited forms of agriculture and herbal lore alone as in other lands, and so they were more dependent on men who had to go on long, arduous hunting trips for scarce game.  As a result, to keep their mate from wandering off, they evolved blonde (and red) hair as a way of making themselves the New Shiny.  Due to today's relative abundance, blonde hair is becoming more scarce, and the last natural blonde ever born will probably come around 200 years from now (Assuming we're not using designer genes by then - in which case, anime haircolors yay!).  Europe's been sucking for a while, now!

Oh, and I noticed singularity predictions mentioned:  If you're interested in Singularity stuff, Ray Kurzweil is the way to go (from a very pro-singularity perspective).

By the way, hilarity ensuing:  Ann Coulter has a new book coming out.  The topic of it is being kept completely under wraps until when it's about to be released.  She promises it'll be the 'single most explosive thing she's ever written'.  The release date? 6/06/06.

If I had to guess the topic, I'd say it'll be entitled "Liberals Hate God And God Hates Liberals".

[Sky]

As a result, to keep their mate from wandering off, they evolved blonde (and red) hair as a way of making themselves the New Shiny.

That's sloppy science. Dawkins would kick you.

[Telemediocrity]

As a result, to keep their mate from wandering off, they evolved blonde (and red) hair as a way of making themselves the New Shiny.

That's sloppy science. Dawkins would kick you.

Sorry if I summed it up poorly.  I dug up an article: here.

(The WHO has issued a correction since I first read the article; they are not, in fact, reporting that blondes will be extinct in 200 years.)

[Fargull]

Okay.  Just got through reading Dhampir and Thief of Lives.  I would have to say that I really enjoyed both books.  Probably because of both the world and characters provided by the authors.  Anyway, if you can catch the first on cheap, give it a look over.

[Polysorbate80]

Pushing through Jared Diamond's "Germs, Guns & Steel" and looking forward to his "Collapse".  Very well written and accessible and yes, important.

He gave a lecture last night at the local U on Collapse.  I really wanted to go but prior commitments prevented me.  The guy is 70, probably not going to get a chance to see him in person again.

Gave one here too last week; if yours was anything like ours, it was SRO so if you didn't get there early you didn't get in.  Streaming video available here if you don't mind a 150kbps RealMedia file.

[Sky]

Realplayer is satan's media format.

GRR Martin needs to wrap up the new book STAT, just finished Crows over the weekend. He split Crows into 2 (as he says at the end with his teaser about "Meanwhile at the Wall...", so it should be quick, and his website backs that up. Woot and whatnot. That could be a tavern, the Woot and Whatnot. I just need some fiction.

Reading some Jacques Pepin cookbooks and his La Methode, which has some cool techniques (he also wrote La Technique...). His old stuff is funny, cucumber turtles and apple swans, but he's much more down to earth now. Great ingredients, simple recipes.

Reading an interesting book about a guy who had a custom guitar built after his was destroyed in shipping. Guitar - An American Story by Tim Brookes. He wends between the tale of the Vermont luthier building the guitar and the history of guitar in the New World. Some fascinating stuff, and it resounds when reading about the pre-gold rush west juxtaposed over congress making tunnels into the us illegal.

[Mazakiel]

Apparently the new Vlad Taltos book, Dzur, is out tomorrow for any Steven Brust fans out there.  I know I'll be getting it as soon as I can. 

[WayAbvPar]

Apparently the new Vlad Taltos book, Dzur, is out tomorrow for any Steven Brust fans out there.  I know I'll be getting it as soon as I can. 

Oooh thanks for the heads up! Time to make a pitstop at Bn.com.

[Johny Cee]

Apparently the new Vlad Taltos book, Dzur, is out tomorrow for any Steven Brust fans out there.  I know I'll be getting it as soon as I can. 

Oooh thanks for the heads up! Time to make a pitstop at Bn.com.

No.  New Brust on August 8th.  As in this summer.  Direct sequal to Issola.  Please.....  would I really let the due date of new Brust pass without informing you all?

New Butcher "Dresden Files" in May, though.

[Mazakiel]

Damn, and I had my hopes up.  That'll teach me to not doublecheck. 

[WayAbvPar]

Now I can't remember if I have read Issola. Arrgh.

[Morfiend]

Im currently reading the Jim Butcher wizard detective series. Its not great, but light, enjoyable readying. Im also reading some of Tom Clancy's books. His stuff makes me laugh some times, just cause he is so crazy. I mean, I read "Rainbow Six" and, I kid you not, the badguys are hippies. You can really tell clancy is a war guy. Right now im reading "Without Remorse" I doubt I will finish it, but I couldnt find anything I liked better. I cant wait for the next RR Martin book, his stuff just captivates me, very good writing IMO.

I was reading the latest book in the "Prince of Nothing" series, but the second half of his latest book is SOOO depressing, and its very hard to relate to any of his characters. I want to take the wizard guy and slap him "STOP YOUR FUCKING MOPING ALREADY" and I want that harlot to die already.

Anything new or upcoming you guys want to recomend?

[WayAbvPar]

I think Without Remorse was my favorite Clancy book. Mr. Clark is just kinda scary.

[Murgos]

The only really good Clancy book is Red Storm Rising.  A few of the first couple Jack Ryan books are ok, Hunt for Red October for instance, everything since the early 90's though has been crap.  I actually think the vast majority of his stuff has been ghost written for a long time now.

Oh, except for the pure histories, the one where he looked at the regional commander of the first Gulf War was excellent.

[Abagadro]

The only really good Clancy book is Red Storm Rising.  A few of the first couple Jack Ryan books are ok, Hunt for Red October for instance, everything since the early 90's though has been crap.  I actually think the vast majority of his stuff has been ghost written for a long time now.

He co-wrote RSR with Larry Bond and if you read Bond's other stuff from the same period you will see that it is more similar to Bond's stuff than Clancy's subsequent stuff. I agree with you on the rest of it as I think everything since Sum of All Fears has been pretty bad.  I think it all went really bad when he started licensing his name so that any book with an 's on the end of his name was written by someone else but looks like it is one of his ont he cover art.  I guess when you are that successful and rich it doesn't really matter any more.

Switching gears, since he has been mentioned a couple of times and I like his stuff too, I thought I would put this in here also as Vernor Vinge is releasing a rare new novel in a couple of weeks:

Rainbow's End

It's another Zones of Thought book but is only 20 years in the future. Kinda odd.

[jason]

Just finished reading A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore.  Like his other books, its clever and funny.  Its about a guy who becomes Death (sort of).

Before that I read/reread all of Chris Moore's books (I had read Lamb and The Stupidest Angel before, those two still remain my favorites of his).  All good books.

Just cracked open Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman.  Novel based on the 1985 comic but told largely from the point of view of Barry Allen.