In honor of new and upcoming releases: Books!

[Fargull]

Picked up a Ravnica Bundle this past weekend and included was Ravnica : City of Guilds and suprising the novel was an interesting read.  Some of the plot is way the hell to contrived, but overall I like how the world was presented.  Enjoy the damn cards too, which is an addiction I don't need to restart.

[Xilren's Twin]

Hmm,  2/3 of the way through it.  No spoilers.

Did you pickup on the name of the guard who found Tywin Lannister dead in the privy?


Lum

Seemed a poetic comentary on something somehow. :-p

Xilren

[Toast]

I am now putting "A Feast..." down and re-reading the prior book. Martin does not do fluffy exposition of the last book, and I am having a very hard time remember just who the hell all these people are.

[Johny Cee]

Hmm,  2/3 of the way through it.  No spoilers.

Did you pickup on the name of the guard who found Tywin Lannister dead in the privy?


Lum

Seemed a poetic comentary on something somehow. :-p

Xilren

Heh,  I missed that at the time and only caught it from the Corp thread.

Finished last night.

My no spoiler opinions:

I liked it more than either of the first two books.  The fact that most of the psychopaths are either dead or out of the way now helped.  Never had much use for most of the Starks other than Arya.  I didn't like Catelyn at all,  and Robb was just uninteresting.

The Cersei viewpoint was great.  She's a vain, nasty, arrogant retard.  And you can tell she's going to reap a whole lot of personal and family pain from it.

I still have a problem with the way Martin portrays so many of the non-main characters.  They just come off as arrogant, overopinionated morons.

This book redeemed Sansa for me.  The whole plot thread with her and Littlefinger in the Vale is pretty good.

[Triforcer]

Cersei is definitely crusing for a bruising.  The minor figure I find most intriguing is Qyburn...that is one sick fuck.  SPOILER AHEAD....

























































The part of the book I am most intrigued about is Cersei and Qyburn's "unbeatable champion".  There was only that one reference plus the reference to the armor "too large for anyone to wear".  Even if Balon Swann did get sent to Dorne with Ser Gregor's head, I'm laying even money that Gregor is still "alive" 

[shiznitz]

I am now putting "A Feast..." down and re-reading the prior book. Martin does not do fluffy exposition of the last book, and I am having a very hard time remember just who the hell all these people are.

Don't need to to that. I found a great site that has chapter summaries of all the previous books.

http://members.aol.com/vbkorik27/summary/AGOTspoilerfree.htm

Clikcing "return to summaries homepage" will lead you to the other books. Took me less than 2 hours to "re-read" the whole series enough to feel back up to speed.

[Johny Cee]

I'll be throwing up a list of release dates for new books over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Some good stuff now has release dates,  including new Erikson, Brust (weee, new Vlad!), Bakker's "Prince of Nothing" series, and others.

The Warrior Prophet,  by Bakker, is now available in trade paperback.  Good series,  Dune meets Crusades,  with an underlying plot about an ancient evil.


Next Tuesday,  the next trade paperback collection of Conan short stories hits books stores.  Stray and Margalis should both pickup,  or they are no true Conan fans. 

Right now,  I'm reading a non-fiction book drawing a link between H.P. Lovecraft and the "alien astronaut"/other wacky exterestial theories/conspirices.  A pretty good debunking of the Chariots of the Gods crowd,  and intesting reading.

That,  and reading the Bernard Cornwell "Sharpe" historical fiction.  It's okay;  not really in the same league as the Hornblower or Maturin stuff.

[stray]

Right now, I'm reading a non-fiction book drawing a link between H.P. Lovecraft and the "alien astronaut"/other wacky exterestial theories/conspirices. A pretty good debunking of the Chariots of the Gods crowd, and intesting reading.

Who wrote the book and what it's name?

Next Tuesday, the next trade paperback collection of Conan short stories hits books stores. Stray and Margalis should both pickup, or they are no true Conan fans.

Is it another Howard collection or something else?

I've also noticed a new (well, new to me) series of Conan books titled "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures". Here's one.. It's not even about Conan, but various other characters.

I suppose that whoever holds the license to Conan/REH properties is going all out with trying to make a franchise out of it. First these new books about Hyboria, and as we know.....An MMO on the way.

I know it isn't fair to judge something before reading it, but it all sounds kind of lame to me.

[Margalis]

At home we have all the Conan stories written by Howard. I think they are all first printings as well, though I may be wrong.

[Johny Cee]

Right now, I'm reading a non-fiction book drawing a link between H.P. Lovecraft and the "alien astronaut"/other wacky exterestial theories/conspirices. A pretty good debunking of the Chariots of the Gods crowd, and intesting reading.

Who wrote the book and what it's name?

Next Tuesday, the next trade paperback collection of Conan short stories hits books stores. Stray and Margalis should both pickup, or they are no true Conan fans.

Is it another Howard collection or something else?

1. The non-fiction book connecting Lovecraft as a cultural inspiration to the Chariots of the Gods/extraterristrial genesis folks:  The Cult of Alien Gods, H.P. Lovecraft, and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture by Jason Colavito. 

The author has some biases of his own (Western world/culture in decline, stuff like that),  but it's pretty interesting.  Touches on the Heaven's Gate people, the Raelians (the guys who claimed to clone a human a few years ago), the whole "aliens built the pyramids" crowd,  and most of the popular New Agey books from the 70s to the present.

2.  On Tuesday,  it's the third collection of Howard's original Conan stories.  Not sure which,  but one of the publishing companies appears to be trying to get all of Howard's stuff back in print.

[Johny Cee]

Alright,  a little late but....   Here's release dates for some authors or series I find interesting:

Steven Brust, Dzur;  August 8, 2006 --  A new Vlad Taltos novel,  in hardcover.  The author has been having some health issues,  so this is his first novel in a while.

Glen Cook, A Cruel Wind:  A Chronicle of the Dread Empire; no release date --  !!!!.  This is showing on Amazon,  and I'm not sure if this will be a reprint of Cook's 80's fantasy series (more or less the direct inspiration for Martin's "Song of Fire & Ice",  Erikson's "Malazan" books,  and most other realist fantasy) or if it's a new novel.

E.E. Knight, Valantine's Rising;  December 6, 2005 -- The latest in a decent pulpy-fun series.  Post-apoctalyptic future,  where you have superscience indistinquishable from magic and trans-dimensional aliens/vampires that have enslaved humanity.

The same author has a new book, Dragon Champion, released the same date.  Fantasy, in trade paperback, and I have no comments.

R. Scott Bakker, The Thousandfold Thought; January 16, 2006 -- The third in the Prince of Nothing series.  Damn good realist/gritty fantasy,  taking place in a setting reminiscent of the First Crusade.  It's fantasy that shows alot of Dune influences:  politics, intrigue, bizarre mental/physical powers.  There's an undercurrent of some ancient evil threat in the background,  that is chortling away as it's two biggest rivals massacre each other.

The Warrior Prophet is now out in trade paperback.

Micheal Stackpole, Cartomancy;  February 28, 2006 -- Second book in a fairly entertaining fantasy series with asian flavors.  I enjoyed the first book.

And....

Steven Erikson, The Bonehunters; April 25, 2006 --  Latest book in the Malazan series.  Very, very good stuff.  Often compared to Martin and Cook.  That's the Canadian release date,  not sure if the Brits have a different one.

Erikson's books are just seeing print in the U.S. now.

All I have for now.  Most of my present reading is a little bizarre.  Non-fiction,  fair amount of Classical Period history. 

[Samwise]

I finished Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid  last weekend. 

I may be the first person on Earth to do so - of the three people I've talked to that have picked it up, none have made it more than halfway through.  It's not light reading by any stretch.

[Raph]

For the SF/fantasy fans who want release dates, I assume you know about this:

http://www.locusmag.com/

And most specifically, these sorts of pages within the site:

http://www.locusmag.com/ForthcomingBooks.html

http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Monitor/NewInPaperback11.html

http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Monitor/ClassicReprints10.html

[Pococurante]

Nice resource.  Thx Raph.

[Johny Cee]

For the SF/fantasy fans who want release dates, I assume you know about this:

http://www.locusmag.com/

And most specifically, these sorts of pages within the site:

http://www.locusmag.com/ForthcomingBooks.html

http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Monitor/NewInPaperback11.html

http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Monitor/ClassicReprints10.html

Bah....

With such a resource as common knowledge,  I cannot continue to wax on ponderously on a bunch of books no one else will ever bother to read while pretending that people care.

I'll just haunt Religion threads now.

[Hoax]

Stray that Conan book you linked to seems to be an obvious ramping up for the Funcom game.  The title + font is the same as for the game, and Coleman is a freelancer who did allot of hit/miss beer & pretzel sci-fi for the Battletech universe under FASA and Wizkids.

[WayAbvPar]

Finally finished A Feast For Crows. I really enjoyed it, even though it felt very different from the other books. Maybe it was meta-knowledge at work, but I felt like I was only seeing part of the picture, especially with characters allegedly dying 'offscreen'. The note at the end was encouraging though- be nice to see another book at this time next year if possible.

Now reading "One of a Kind"- a biography about Stuey Ungar, who may very well be the best card player (gin, poker, pinochle, you name it) that ever lived. Fascinating and deeply flawed dude.

[Toast]

http://asoiaf.westeros.org

The forums here have a lot of interesting discussion/spoilers/predictions about the R.R. Martin books.

I really enjoyed reading through the Feast for Crows forum picking up on lots of plot points I missed the first time around.

[Pococurante]

I'll just haunt Religion threads now.

"So you have to ask yourself, 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya punk?"  ;)

[Margalis]

Hey, that's my line. (Look left)

[Pococurante]

When I die I want to be reborn as Dirty Harry.  Or was it Deborah Harry.  Dammit...

[Hoax]

So Xmas has passed and I'm sure I'm not the only one who picks about just under 10 books around this time of year.

I'm currently reading (it was the only soft cover, which is nice for the bus, and from a sibling so who knows how good it is) Ian MacLeod The Light Ages steampunk is nice, but I'm still mired in setting up the world and the main character so no idea where this is going.

But I also got a book I can already tell I'm going to love.

George Packer The Assassin Gate: America in Iraq I found the start where he set up the historical backrounds of neo-conservatives to be worth the book's price by itself.  But I'm not very well educated these days and I loved Black Hawk Down so much I cried when Clinton released all the prisoners at the end so YMMV.

Anyways, wondering what else people got.  Now that I'm suddenly single I think I'll have much more reading time.

[Sky]

I got a new cookbook: The Gourmet Cookbook. I'm no gourmet cook, but it's a cool book.

[WayAbvPar]

I was gifted with a copy of Freakonomics. I have heard and seen it referenced so often I figured it was time I read it.

[Bunk]

Just finished reading Gaiman's American Gods, my first book by him. Not really sure what to say - it's a bit of a sureal read in places, but I enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed mythology tie ins like that though.

On the cookbook front - just gave my Mom Rob Feenie's new book, brilliantly titled "Feenie's". Some damn fine looking stuff in there, and he's been nice enough to tone down recipies so that they don't include too many $400/lb ingredients.

Also includes all five crab recipies he used to kick Morimoto's ass.

[HaemishM]

Just started reading Bob Woodward's (yes, that one) Veil, a book about the secret and not so secret CIA covert wars from 1981-1987. It's a damn good book, and it makes me like my government even less.

[Johny Cee]

Hoax:

What are your particular likes in fiction?  Give me some specifics, and maybe a couple authors you like, and I should be able to give you some decent recommendations.

Bunk:

I like Gaiman.  Slightly surrealist, fablish quality to his story-telling.  Try Neverwhere,  or one of his books of short stories.

An interesting thing about Gaiman is how he can deal with social/cultural observations without ever drawing attention to it.  I didn't realize the amount of material in Anansi Boys really dealing with racism/ethnocentrism until I finished the book, sat back,  and thought about the ethnic/cultural backgrounds of the characters.

Gaiman isn't one to hit you with a hammer when he makes a point on society.  He also tends to deal with homosexuality well,  without writing stereotypes.

Way:

Freakonomics is great.  One of those accessable books that derive most of it's material from solid theory application and regression work on studies.  It's a great read if you only can grab 10 or 15 minutes here and there.

The economics of drug-dealers and the chapter on abortion and crime are very thought provoking.


For myself,  I've been alternating between fun pulp reading (William King's Warhammer 40k books) as a stress reliever and a bunch of non-fiction on mysticism, superstition, the formations of religion, and the interconnection with science.  Working on Arcana Mundi now.

Was reading Cromwell's "Sharpe" books but find myself mildly burned out on them.  Good and very gritty historical fiction.

I'm not sure how you people can read any of the political books.  Either left or right,  it's usually someone with their mind made up distorting events to suit their poliitical position.

Black Hawk Down was good, though.  The afterword the author added some years later that takes Clinton to task a bit has been justly criticized for flying in the face of the first couple of chapters laying out the situation.

The real moral of the Somalian story,  from the originally written material, as I remember it: 

You can't have peace unless both sides choose to stop, or an outside force is prepared to impose peace at great cost to themselves.  In Somalia,  both ethno-political factions were locked in a power struggle and wouldn't back down.  And the US cared more about a score or two dead soldiers then it did about imposing order and saving the lives of thousands.

Please, I see the parallels with present situations,  but take it to politics if you feel you must debate.  Or else I'll zombify the dreaded Religion Thread (TM).

[Murgos]

The next big thing I think I am going to tackle book-wise is Winston Churchills biography of the Duke of Marlborough.

I leafed through a copy at Borders the other day and got sucked in.  I think that instead of buying it (90 bucks or sommat) I'll go check it out from the library.

Otherwise I am finishing up a re-read of Cook's last one (the Tyranny of the Night?) and will probably re-read A Feast For Crows.

[Sky]

I'm also finishing up Dawkin's Unweaving the Rainbow which got buried under a pile of crap. I love Dawkins. Another on the current shelf is an annoying version of Ben Franklin's autobiography, the annoying coming from the notations. About 10% are useful, and I find myself checking them all the time for that 10% and being annoyed by the 90% of "His father told him this" garbage. My girlfriend snagged the copy of The World is Flat my father is begging me to read...and then she got to reading Generation Rx instead. Dern librarians.

[Hoax]

Just finished reading Gaiman's American Gods, my first book by him. Not really sure what to say - it's a bit of a sureal read in places, but I enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed mythology tie ins like that though.

One of the xmas presents was the Anansi Boys referenced later in the thread glad to hear the author has some fans around these parts.  I'll put that 2nd or 3rd in the queue.  :-D

[Johny Cee]

The next big thing I think I am going to tackle book-wise is Winston Churchills biography of the Duke of Marlborough.

I leafed through a copy at Borders the other day and got sucked in.  I think that instead of buying it (90 bucks or sommat) I'll go check it out from the library.

Otherwise I am finishing up a re-read of Cook's last one (the Tyranny of the Night?) and will probably re-read A Feast For Crows.

Have read Cook's "Dread Empire" books yet Murgos?

According to Amazon,  A Cruel Wind is due out July 6.  I'm not sure if this is a reprint/collection of earlier Dread Empire books, or a new book in the series.  The last published book in the series was left on a cliffhanger, but discontinued due to poor readership numbers.

Cook didn't really peak until well after the series saw print.

I'd recommend Erikson's "Malazan Books of the Fallen" too.  Erikson draws alot from Cook and Martin to churn out an interesting world,  and very interesting characters.  Gardens of the Moon is the first book,  and Deadhouse Gates (which is amazing) the second.  Try out those two to see if it's your style.

[Hoax]

Finished Anansi Boys last week it was quite funny at times although how the book was going to end was obvious from a long way off.  Overall I enjoyed but it was nothing fantastic.

I started Flights which is a fantasy anthology from the guy who put together Redshift which I'm fairly certain I read a year or two ago and enjoyed.  So far there has only been one great story and one good one out of the first 4-5 and the first story was just terrible but all short story collections are a mixed bag so what can you do?  I left that book at a bar by my work though so I just started another book because I need something to read on MUNI.  I'll pick up the short stories again on Monday which is my typical bar right after work day.

DAM! by John Warfield Simpson this book interests me but I dont imagine it would be that intriguing to most.  It is about the whole Hetch Hetchy situation and the history behind what happened.  For those that dont know Hetch Hetchy was basically a second Yosemite but it is now buried under a shitton of water so the people of the Bay Area have something to drink.  Some attribute John Muir's death in part to the heartbreak and stress caused by loosing the fight to save the valley.  Being born and raised in San Francisco this is a nifty read for me or at least it should be.

[WayAbvPar]

Finished Freakonomics. Really enjoyed it, but it was far too short. It needed another 500 pages.

Next up is Next Man Up- Feinstein's book about the NFL. Should be arriving today from Amazon. After that is Stackpole's new series (A Secret Atlas, or something).

[|3o3dha]

I'd recommend Erikson's "Malazan Books of the Fallen" too.  Erikson draws alot from Cook and Martin to churn out an interesting world,  and very interesting characters.  Gardens of the Moon is the first book,  and Deadhouse Gates (which is amazing) the second.  Try out those two to see if it's your style.

If Deadhouse Gates is the one with the Chain of Dogs in it, then yes is fantastic. Erikson is currently working in his 5th book: The Bonehunters, and all the previous ones were definatly worth reading. I like how his books are never direct follow ups and found the sheer scope of the world he creates quite astonnishing.

[Johny Cee]

I'd recommend Erikson's "Malazan Books of the Fallen" too.  Erikson draws alot from Cook and Martin to churn out an interesting world,  and very interesting characters.  Gardens of the Moon is the first book,  and Deadhouse Gates (which is amazing) the second.  Try out those two to see if it's your style.

If Deadhouse Gates is the one with the Chain of Dogs in it, then yes is fantastic. Erikson is currently working in his 5th book: The Bonehunters, and all the previous ones were definatly worth reading. I like how his books are never direct follow ups and found the sheer scope of the world he creates quite astonnishing.

The standouts in the series were books 2 and 3.  The Chain of Dogs is a fucking experience.  The ending of Memories of Ice is a thing of beauty.

The other books are a good read, and very good fiction.  But they don't reach the level of books 2 & 3.  Had to do some speed reading to get through the those two and go to bed at a decent hour.