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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I did say I wasnt going to bother with a thread this year since I had little time to run it,but of course in the end I couldn't resist,so here we are.Once again I look forward to comments on your reads,and browsing through our very eclectic reading lists.Have a great year!
I am steadily continuing reading through the Hugos and Nebulas,and am on to the 90s now,which co-incides beautifully with the last stage of Doc Nefario's Defining Books challenge. As a notoriously avid fan of older SF, I should hang my head in shame at my poor showing of 90s SF.On re-entering the SF arena after several decades away I have been rather reluctant to even make forays into the 90s,and huge swathes of it remain untouched,but this year I must fill in some gaps.Another thing is that I am SO not a fan of big tomes,and the 90s seem to be teeming with them.Have you SEEN the size of Neal Stephenson's Anathem,for instance? 
This month I will be making a (reluctant) start on KSRs Green Mars and also Greg Bear's Moving Mars and people from Librarything will be well aware of my lack of enthusiasm for martian politics.My pet peeve is about the disappointing way authors seem to obsess with conspiracies,politics and revolutions in books about Mars,and here are two back to back....sigh...... 
Oh for the good old days of riding the dead sea bottoms of Barsoom with John Carter.Much more to my tastes that red rocks and boring politics!
I expect you to divert me with some rattling good reads from every part of science fiction.
And here is my proposed TBR for January;
Kim Stanley Robinson - Green Mars
Greg Bear - Moving Mars
Lois McMaster Bujold - Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
John Wyndham - Chocky
Roger Zelazny - Sign of Chaos
Anton Strout - Dead Matter
some good stuff there to divert me from the red rocks.
Edited by dustydigger 2017-01-01 11:19 PM
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Uber User
Posts: 613
Location: New Zealand | Welcome back Dusty. Looking forward to the Pick & Mix again. I love this challenge because I don't have to try and fit the books to a theme, just go with what I really want to read. | |
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Regular
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Location: USA | Thanks, dustydigger! I have mine all set up, except for the book that hasn't been released yet. New C.J. Cherryh set in the "Foreigner" universe. I've been grabbing each of those as they came out since she started the series, so it makes sense to leave a space open. | |
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Member
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Location: Niceville, FL | Dusty, good luck with Green Mars. I confess I DNF Red Mars because of the petty politics stuff. Boring!
I've started two books that will fit the challenge. Elantris and Elizabeth Moon's Trading in Danger, which i keep thinking I read because the opening situation seems so familiar some how. Yet I'm sure I haven't read it. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 116
Location: Sheffield, UK | Hi Dusty, and thanks for keeping the Pick'n'Mix challenge alive. :-)
I've started my year off to a good start, with Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (a holdover from last year's Triumvirate challenge), and thoroughly enjoyed it. While I wait for book two to be delivered I've moved on to West of Eden by Harry Harrison, because dinosaurs!
Good luck to everyone else. :-)
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Regular
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Location: USA | I actually found the so-called politics in Robinson's Mars trilogy interesting. That I read a lot of narrative history may in part explain that.
Starting the year with Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | I think Thomas i went into it with the wrong idea,thinking the terraforming would have a much bigger part in the story. only to find cospiracies and revolutions much to the fore The fact that the we were informed early on that the most likable character was going to die ruined the book for me,as I couldnt fully commit to him since I was waiting for the bad news! lol.Disliked many of the female characters in particular and some improbable plot points irritated me.Didnt like the multi POVs,especially since I disliked the characters,so all in all it wasnt not a very happy experience. Wonder if its a gender thing. Quite a few female SF fans agree with me,whereas the guys love the book.
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I have finished Lois McMaster Bujold's final book in the Vorkosigan saga Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen which was a book that sent shock waves through her enormous fan base. On GR we see the extraordinary sight of lots of people giving the book 4 or 5 stars,which is quite normal for her books,while others are giving it 1 star! Huge hidden plot details stretching back over decades,including a menage a trois,have seriously upset many fans.Never take Bujold for granted,she loves to unsettle the fans 
I girded up my loins,so to speak,and plunged in,accepting the new points uneasily at first,but within a few pages the usual LMB magic enfolded me,and the warmth,charm and humour were the same as ever.We also saw more of Miles this time,and were treated to lots of little anecdotes about Aral,Cordelia and the young Miles,which we fans always lap up andalso little about the newest Vorkosigan generation too. There is very little plot here,its all character driven,wrapping up the future of the charactersand it certainly grabbed my attention even at this unhappy time and I read through it steadily. LMB is one of the few authors I read where I am looking at the page count unhappy that the end is coming far too soon,the book is never long enough, but you do know already you are going to reread it,probably several times,so you take comfort from that.Even more than usual I got the urge to go back and reread the book at once,then the whole series! lol.(very rare that,very few authors over the years have been worthy of immediate reread,but LMB sits there with C J Cherryh,Dick Francis,and Georgette Heyer)
I havent bothered with a proper review since Sable Aradia and Nymeria posted excellent reviews on WWEnd,,not much I can add. Will LMB write more on the Vorkosigan universe? Oh I would love it,but this book seems valedictory. Never mind,we have the whole saga there for comfort.Not many authors can manage to invoke challenging genetic features,romance,space opera and gender issues seamlessly and with enormous skill.Good stuff.
Edited by dustydigger 2017-01-06 5:15 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | I finished John Wyndham's short novel, Chocky,and found it quite pleasant,though very low key indeed. I also completed Greg Bear's Moving Mars,making it 36/52 Nebula winners read.I found it a bit of an oddity really,with the first section being a young adult romance,with a whiney perverse heroine who irritated the life out of me ,so that I never really had enough empathy with her throughout the whole book. The next section followed her into a life of martian politics,small plucky underdogs against terran transnationals determined to have their way(you all know how much I LURVE martian politics as I slog through KSR!),and the final part is how Mars uses some very odd(slightly risible IMO) future science to move Mars to safety in another part of the galaxy.I think some ''handwavium'' may have featured in the lab! Bear might have good ideas,but his writing skills didnt live up to them in my view.Oh well,what do I know,it won the Nebula and was Hugo,Locus,and Campbell nominated.
It was at least fast paced and I did like the world setting,and the 460 pages went by quickly..
Will keep on with Green Mars,and also have Terry Bisson's Voyage to the Red Planet at hand. I seem to be overwhelmed with books about Mars this month | |
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Member
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Location: Niceville, FL | I finished Elizabeth Moon's Trading in Danger and enjoyed it a lot. I especially liked the fact the heroine, believe it or not, thought through her options rather than just jumping into things without considering options no matter how bad those options might be. Also, I thought the book did a very good job of presenting military sorts of thinking, and contrasting it with civilian approaches to tactical situations. I spent 20 years in the Air Force so was happy to see this in a mil Sci Fi novel. I look forward to reading more of the series. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | I really enjoy Moon's work.Speed of Dark and Remnant Poulation are excellent standalones,and Its a long while since I read the Vatta War series,I could do with a reread - if I ever had time! lol. Moon's characters are always attractive and the books are quite immersive,a bit like Anne McCaffrey in style (indeed they collaborated on the Sassinak series). I am determined next year to finally get round to the Paksennarian series.
I really enjoyed her Heris Serrano series which I compared favourably with David Weber's Honor Harrington books,which after a promising start became enormous books about political conspiracies etc,which I dont enjoy.Poor Honor seemed to get lost between the interminable secret meetings of her enemies,so I gave up on the series.But I still do an occasional reread of the first and best,On Basilisk Station.
I particularly liked Moon's Once a Hero,which I class as a top grade comfort read. I think I've read it about 5 times and my paperback copy is getting really tatty.
Oh,just checked and book 6 of the Vatta's War series is coming out in 2017,after a 9 year gap! Wonder if I can squeeze in the 1-5 rereads this year.....sigh......so many books so little time. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| Thanks for starting Pick & Mix this year, too, dustydigger.
I've read Red Mars from Robinson and I have to admit that while I finished it, I don't have any plans to continue with the rest. Like you, I prefer Barsoom. But I'm interested in hearing what you think of the next book.
I'm also a long-time fan of Bujold. GJ&RQ was at first difficult for me because Aral was my favorite character. I can see that people who expected GJ&RQ to be a usual Miles romp through space, were disappointed with it. But I'm on the Bujold mailing list and so I understood that it isn't an adventure book. So, I ended up thoroughly enjoying it.
My P&M challenge starts this year with some Star Trek: TNG books. First up is six book series Double Helix where a mysterious General is using a genetically engineered virus to wreak havoc on several planets. The first two books were okay although the second one was set on Terok Nor - DS9 while it's still under Cardassian control so it was more like a Deep Space 9 book with Doctor Pulaski as the main character. | |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I truly enjoyed Tery Bisson's Voyage to the Red Planet,a fun romp about a film crew on the first manned space flight to Mars to make a blockbuster film. Lots o digs at the movie industry,but the characters are interesting,there is humour,suspense and even pathos to keep it moving along. The best thing about the book was its wonderful descriptions of Mars from both space and on the planet,a sense of the wonder,beauty and utter alienness of that world. Quite a contrast to the massive infodumps of heavy science in KSRs Green Mars. Amazing how someone can really obliterate any sense of wonder with dullness.True,Leyra'an,our Thomas and I have totally opposed views on the books. He actually admitted to me that he REREADS the series,voluntarily! 
I'll let him off this time,because mostly we have similar views on books,and seem to have lots of books in common. WWEnds lists have something to do with this,I imagine.
Next up are Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather for the 90s Defining book challenge,and I am waiting for several books at the library for that challenge including Octavia R Butler and David Brin. Plus on the list for Charles Stross's Singularity Sky,which so very much impressed Thomas.As a writerhimself he was in awe of this debut by Stross. Hope I enjoy it,as I have had mixed results with Stross. I really liked the first in his Merchant Prince series,which seemed fairly standard UF,but I didnt like the plot developments,nor the characters so I gave part way through book 3. I was not too keen either on Halting State.The Laundry Files might be OK though,I'll try them next year.
But the science looks a bit too advanced for my poor ignorance. Any fans here? | |
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Member
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Location: Niceville, FL | I finished The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein. What a great find! Intelligent and well drawn characters, a complex world and science in the midst of sword and sorcery. And, two main characters are both women. | |
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Veteran
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| I listend Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "the Falls" and enjoyed it a lot, which isn't a great shock because Rusch is one my favorite authors. The Falls is the fifth book in Diving universe series but it's set on a different planet with different characters. It has lots of POV characters, both male and female. It's essentially a murder mystery set on a city which grew around the base of operations for a space fleet. The characters are all professionals in their own field, for example a doctor, a space ship captain, an engineer, but they all want things done on their own way. So they don't always work well together. Anyway, a good mystery tale. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Dear me,end of the first month of the challenge already,where does time go?
25 participants have read a respectable 75 books so far.,across a very wide area,which I love to see. Keep it up,Pick N' Mixers | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I read Emmi Itranta's City of Woven street (The Weaver in US). It's her second book and this time fantasy. The book is set on an island where parts of it flood frequently. The main character is a weaver who has two secrets: she can read and she can dream. Dreaming is illegal and only men who are in the House of Words should be able to read. Itranta uses very beautiful prose and the plot moves rather slowly. Still, I liked it but not as much as her first book, The Memory of Water.
I also listened Jim C. Hines' Unbound. It's the third in his Magic Ex Libirs series and the stakes just keep getting higher. I really enjoyed all the science fiction and fantasy (books, movies, tv-shows) references. The main character Isaac Vainio is a librarian and also a Libriomancer who can pull objects out of books. Yes, that includes magic items. In this book, Isaac is trying to correct things that went wrong in the previous book, Codex Born. Hes in a very bad place, emotionally and perhaps financially as well. The people around him fear that hes becoming depressed which makes him reckless not only with his own life and wellbeing but with the people he cares about. I'm really enjoying this series.
Edited by Mervi2012 2017-02-02 6:18 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Finished Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather and am now reading Octavia E Butler's Parable of the Sower,which is unrelentingly dark,downbeat and very disturbing. Only reading about 10 pages a day its so hard to take! For light relief I am reading some light UF and romantic suspense,while STILL plodding along with KSRs Green Mars.Still around 200 pages to go,but I hope to finish it this month. | |
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Member
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Location: Niceville, FL | Finished [Sorcerer's Legacy] an early book by Janny Wurts. You can already see her ability to weave a story, even if I had a few problems with the plot, mainly people doing stupid stuff.
Still, enjoyed it very much. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | I managed to finish Octavia E Butler's harrowing Parable of the Sower,so dark and brutal.Well written and gripping,but dystopia is perhaps my least favourite genre. I will take a long break before reading the sequel,Parable of the Talents. Apart from the unrelenting violence ,unfortunately I didnt find the heroine's philosophy/religion very convincing at all!
On a much lighter note,I finally completed Roger Zelazny's Prince of Chaos,the final volume of the Amber chronicles.Very sad that Zelazny died before writing his planned two more Amber trilogies.Ten books were not enough!.John Gregory Betancourt did a few books after Zelazny's death,but I could only find one of them in the library,and the rest are too expensive to buy.Oh well,I can always reread! lol.
To cheer myself up from the Butler horrors,and from the slow and heavy Green Mars - down to 100 pages left there - I had a fun time reading John Scalzi's reboot of H Beam Piper's Fuzzy stories,Fuzzy Nation.Fast paced,it certainly was a worthy companion to the original tales. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Completed Charlie Stross's debut novel,the exuberant Singularity Sky,fizzing with extravagant ideas and very dark humour. Good stuff. Also finished James White's Sector General,much of which,confusingly was not set in the Sector General space hospital,but on an ambulance ship,but who cares.lol.Thsi time our Dr Conway had to help a kilometres long wormlike creature! White is never lost for inventive aliens.
A mere 60 pages left of the interminable Green Mars,so the end is finally in sight.
Edited by dustydigger 2017-02-20 4:53 AM
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I read two of Bujold's new novellas: "Penric and the Shaman" and "Penric's Mission". I really enjoyed the first Penric story, "Penric and the Demon" and these two are similar, beautifully written fantasy tales with great characters. "Penric's Mission" ends rather abrubtly but the next one "Mira's Last Dance" is coming soon.
Also, I've read Genevive Cogman's "The Masked City" and "The Burning Page". The main characters Irene is a librarian, working for an interdimensional Library... stealing books from various alternate realities! Great fun!
Last but certainly not least I read Becky Chambers' "A Closed and Common Orbit". It's an indirect sequel to her "Long Way to Small, Angry Planet" which I throughly enjoyed. This one is very different but just as enjoyable. It has two alternating POV characters and one of them is an artificial intelligence in a sythetic human body. | |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Wow,Mervi,you are certainly having fun those books sound interesting. I have a soft spot about alien libraries,going all the way back to H Beam Piper's classic Omnilingual.
I FINALLY,with great relief,completed the interminable Green Mars,which I found dull and flat ,not my cup of tea at all,and it took me the best part of two months as I could only read a dozen pages at a time.But I compensated with David Brin's Brightness Reef which was as long as Green Mars,but only took a week to read. I love the whole Uplift universe,so though there were some faults it was a fun,fast paced read,with multiple POV ,detailed descriptions of half a dozen alien races,and just a fizz of fun and plottwists.Much more my cup of tea! | |
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Veteran
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| Yes, I've been really lucky (and picky) with my reading. Also, my computer apparently suffers from a Windows 10 problem which limits my internet time severly. So I had more time to read.
Too bad Green Mars wasn't good.  I've been thinking about trying it but it sounds like I wouldn't like it at all, either. I haven't read anything from Brin but Brightenss Reef sounds very nice. | |
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Regular
Posts: 53
Location: USA | Life went through another of those chaotic episodes, and reading time was nonexistent. I finished Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey a while back. Very well done, and highly recommended, especially if you love space opera. And today I finished a reread of Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama. It's held up well, over the years, and I enjoyed revisiting it.
While putting together a list for this year, I discovered that I'd never actually read Hunter of Worlds by C.J. Cherryh. And so, without further delay... | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Thomas,I will certainly keep Leviathan Wakes in mind,since I certainly enjoyed your last recommendation,Charlie Stross's Singularity Sky,,even if it was totally bonkers! lol. I particularly liked the heroine's luggage! Reminded me somewhat of Terry Pratchett's Luggage in Discworld
This morning I finally received my latest C J Cherryh acquisition,Cuckoo's Egg and Serpent's Reach in one volume.I have so many books that I need to read soon so as to return to the library,but I am eyeing up the Cherryh already,my fingers twitching.I have wanted to read these for years but the prices here in UK are plain ridiculous,so this edition sent from USA for the princely total sum of $3.46 is a wonderful find. My Cherryh books are now spilling onto a second bookshelf. I've now read 35 of her books,and have only about 6 more of her SF to read. Not sure if I will ever read her fantasy novels,that genre isnt really a favourite of mine.
I suppose you are waiting for Convergence to come out in a few weeks. I of course am waiting for the paperback Visitor. You know how I always grumble at being a year behind you! Cant afford the hardback price,so I always have to wait for the paperback a year later | |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Finished another in Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series,Archangel's Heart.,very enjoyable and a bit different from the rest of the series which usually have a wide scope about the angelic wars with Lijuan,but this time was focused on a msmaller problem,which left lots of time for interesting info on the characters' history and backstories.
Next up are Snow Crash and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson,not really my sort of thing,but I am reading for the Defining Books of the 90s challenge,
Staus of the challenge. 26 participants have now read 145 books. | |
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Regular
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Location: USA | "Totally bonkers!" It certainly was!
I have pre-ordered Convergence. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Finished Neal stephenson's Snow Crash. My first attempt back in 2012 was not a happy one,but this time,with a much greater knowledge of the development of SF I found it much more understandable,though still bonkers! lol Still think its one for the boys,but I quite enjoyed the very dark humour and the offbeat characters,even reading about the ancient Sumerian myths,though I was irritated by the rather ridiculous linguistic/computer theory underlying the story,very unbelievable,and the info dumps were rather clunky and awkward.The book took a very long time to take off,and the ending was a bit abrupt,but it was an OK read,considering I dislike dytopian set books as a rule.Always depressing that mankind is always getting much worse in the future,especially in books written in the 90s.Dooma nd gloom everywhere
Edited by dustydigger 2017-03-06 3:19 AM
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I read two science fiction books which are somewhat similar but also different: Ada Palmer's "Too Like the Lightning" and Yoon Ha Yee's "Ninefox Gambit". They're both set far in the future and have very different societies than ours. They both also drop the reader right in but Palmer starts to offer explanation fairly soon while Yee doesn't explain anything and doesn't much describe anything, either. I struggled with both at first but ended up enjoying both, although Palmer's book more than Yee's. It could well be because Palmer's book for print versin, so I ended up going back and rereading more than a few times. But Yee's book was audio so no way of going back. Both were fascianting books, though, and I'm going to continue with them. Both are also first in a series.
"Ninefox Gambit" is set in a space-fearing culture which has spread to several planets. The main character is an army captain Kel Charis who win a significant fight but in the wrong way and is so taken away from her soldiers. She's given a chance to play host to the digital ghost of a long-dead general. Unfortuantely, the general is also insane and a mass-murderer. But Charis takes the chance.
"Too Like the Lighting" is set on our Earth without nation-states but instead Hives where people can voluntarily join, or not join. The main character is Mycroft Canner, a convict who is paying back as a servitor who can't own anything. There are other narrators, tough. The writing style is archaic and Mycroft addresses the reader from time to time. Mycroft and his friends are protecting a 13-year-old boy who can make anything come alive with a touch. | |
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Extreme Veteran
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Location: Great Lakes, USA | So far, I've read four books for this challenge.
Fifteen Dogs - Andre Alexis. This book is excellent. Dogs are given the intellect of humans by a couple of Greek gods sitting in a bar. The dogs all react to this sudden consciousness in different ways. There is a lot in this book to think about and discuss.
The Thing Itself - Adam Roberts. I suspect this is a book that you either love or hate. I, not having any background in Kantian philosophy and not liking philosophy class in college, found this book dry and a very slow read.
Cold-Forged Flame - Marie Brennan. A woman finds herself compelled to go on a quest to find blood from the cauldron of Lihan. She has no idea what this is or who she is. Her quest through a land of magical inconsistency leads her on a journey of self discovery which is by no means complete in this novella. I am looking forward to the next chapter in this saga.
Meeting Infinity - Jonathan Strahan. This collection of short stories has some excellent stories and some ok stories. I really enjoyed Gregory Benford's "Aspects." which puts reading the Galactic Center series higher on my list. An Owomoyela's "Outsider" was also one I enjoyed and would like to see continue.
Edited by daxxh 2017-03-12 1:55 PM
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Veteran
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| I read "Revisionary" by Jim C. Hines. It's the final book in the four book series about Libriomancers: people who can use magic through books. I just love that idea and the series was pretty good urban fantasy, too. This final book wraps up the storylines well although I'll miss the characters. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Sorry,havent had time to post on here,family and medical matters intervening.
It took forever to read Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age,which I liked even less than Snow Crash. I found the writing style awkward,full of infodumps,and unnecessarily complex and obtuse,with a rather silly plot. Sorry NS fans,he's just not my cup of tea!
More enjoyable was the unusual blend of murder mystery/philosophical/future tech mix of Robert J Sawyer's Terminal Experiment,fast paced but with sympathetic characters and some thought provoking themes
Dan Simmons Endymion was fun and exciting,though of course not equal with Hyperion(but what is?)
Loved Clifford D Simak's Time is the Simplest Thing.,yet another great book by this author who could effortlessly marry plot,sympathetic characters and serious themes - in only about 200 pages! lol. SF fans should make real efforts to keep such authors in the public's regard.. Highly recommended
Books in progress include Jack McDevitt's Starhawk,and Greg Bear's Dinosaur Summer - and A A Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories for relaxation! | |
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Location: USA | Just finished Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I've been meaning to read this one for a long time, and I'm sorry I waited. Pretty strong stuff, and not a book for people who crave HEA endings, but realistic and believable in the way it did end. I don't think I'll wait too long to read another by this author. | |
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| dustydigger - 2017-02-16 1:51 AM
I managed to finish Octavia E Butler's harrowing Parable of the Sower,so dark and brutal.Well written and gripping,but dystopia is perhaps my least favourite genre. I will take a long break before reading the sequel,Parable of the Talents. Apart from the unrelenting violence ,unfortunately I didnt find the heroine's philosophy/religion very convincing at all!
I finished Parable of the Sower tonight, which I was reading for this challenge. Though I agree it has been a dark and brutal read, I will dive right into the sequel next.
I ran across an online interview recently where Butler said she had to stop writing this series because she found the story too depressing to stick with - so she took a break to write Fledgling. Sadly, she died before returning to complete the rest of the Earthseed books. I think she had at least four books planned for the series. | |
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Veteran
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| I finished the six book Star Trek: the Next Generation series "Double Helix". They were different from what I expected because most of the books barely had any Next Gen characters at all. The third book, "Red Sector" was actually quite well written but the main character was a new, original guy, Ensign Eric Styles who is captured by a hostile race during his first serious mission. Spock and McCoy are called in to rescue him.
The next book "Quarantine" didn't have any of the regular TNG cast. Instead, it focused on Thomas Riker, who is Will Riker's "twin" through a transporter accident. Thomas and a small Marqui crew (Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres, and Tuvok) try to help a planet on the Demilitarized Zone. The planet is suffering from a more virulent version of the previous plague.
In "Double or Nothing" William Riker and the crew of Excalibur (from Peter David's New Frontier books) are trying to find a secret Romulan base outside Federation space. Meanwhile, Excalibur's captain Mac Calhoun is sent undercover to try to find who is behing the recurring disease.
In the final book, "First Virtue" we're shown how the conflict started years before the TNG era. Picard and the crew of Stargazer try to stop two interstellar societies from going to war.
The books were interesting and some of them better written than I expected. Unfortunately, they didn't give me TNG fix I was looking for, so I'm going to read some more TNG books at some point. Next, however, I'll try a book which was described as "three musketeers with dragons", Pierre Paval's Cardinal's Swords.
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Location: USA | Just finished New York 2140 by Robinson. Interesting idea of what the near future may hold. Completely enjoyed it.
Haven't exactly been burning through the list, this year. Convergence by C.J. Cherryh is next. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Oops! Nearly 2 months since I posted here,too many real life interruptions to the reading. So,what have I read?
Read the first two of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy,Annihilation and Authority,which were OK reads,but nothing really special IMO.May read Acceptance this month
V E Scwab's A Darker Shade of Magic was an excellent YA novel.Different realities overlap in London,the characters are well done,the dialogue sharp and witty,and the action often brutal.Highly recommended
David Brin's Infinity's Shore was an engaging followup to Brightness Reef,where we saw eight Uplifted races getting along well on an obscure world,till the universe crashes into their peaceful life. I am attempting to read book 3,Heaven's Reach,where we are back in space with our old friends on the starship Streaker,but I am a bit disappointed on Brin dropping all those interesting threads on the planet,and I'm finding the book a bit stodgy and slow moving. Far too many bitty POVs for my taste.
Loved C J Cherryh's Cuckoo's Egg,and enjoyed her 17th Foreigner book,Visitor,though the shrugging off of the Kyo strand was disconcerting to say the least! We waited through 10 books for the continuation of book 6,Explorer,and it was gone in the blink of an eye,despite a most intriguing plot development..Maybe Cherryh will come back to it later,hope so.
Enjoyed James White's hospital in space story,Star Healer. The previous couple of books in the series were rather dull,but this one,back in the hospital setting saw our Dr Conway making his first steps as a Diagonostician
I have been on a nostalgia kick in May,rereading after many years,indeed many decades,some of Bob Heinlein's excellent short stories,including All You Zombies,By His Bootstraps,and He Built a Crooked House. Think my brain has finally stopped bleeding after all the time travel shenanigans! lol..Of course all that diverted me from my proper WWEnd challenges. I need to get back into the Defining Books of the 1990s challenge. For 1997 I have Haldeman's Forever Peace and James Patrick Kelly's Think Like a Dinosaur, a well regarded selection of his short stories.
I had forgotten just how satisfying a top quality AF short story is,it packs such a punch and can stay in the memory for decades.
Hope you are all doing well with your Pick N Mix challenge. I have achieved 43/80 of my challenge. And the whole group of 22 active participants have read no less than 368 books. Good work | |
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Regular
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Location: USA | Since my last post I've read Convergence by C.J. Cherryh, and made a start on Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The latest installment in the "Foreigner" series was, no surprise to me, very good. Both the title and the plot leave me thinking that the close of this long story arc is in view. I hope it's not TOO close, however. I'm enjoying this story too much to want it over and done anytime soon.
The bit I've read of Cloud Atlas is encouraging. I picked it up after watching the movie not to long ago. The film version blew my mind. Hope I at least enjoy the book. ;-)
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Veteran
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| Unfortunately, Pierre Paval's "Cardinal's Blades" wasn't as absorbing as I expected. It had interesting elements but it just didn't gel together for me. But it had quite a twist at the end so I might continue with the series at some point.
Sadly, Michael Flynn's sci-fi book "the January Dancer" was similar in that regard: lots of interesting ideas and I really liked the frame story structure but the characters just didn't grab me.
On the other hand, I throughly enjoyed Mercedes Lackey's "the Fairy Godmother" and Seanan McGuire's "Reflections". Both have characters who are trying to stop fairy tales from happening because fairy tales aren't healthy for most people. Lackey's book is set in a secondary fantasy world with plenty of fantasy and magical elements. It also has a single main character, Elena, who is essentially a Cinderella until she becomes a fairy godmother's apprentice. It's a Luna imprint so there's a romance, too, but the inevitable prince doesn't appear until about half-way through the book. This is my first Lackey book and I can see why people love her books.
"Reflections" is a sequel to McGuire's "Indexing" which is set mostly in our real world. Henrietta and her team of agents work for a Bureau. It's an urban fantasy with an X-Files feel. No prominent romance (which is the way I like my UF ).
Edited by Mervi2012 2017-06-21 5:45 AM
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Regular
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Location: USA | Definitely enjoyed Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Quite a feat he pulled off with that one.
Not exactly burning through the list this year. Next up is Cobra by Timothy Zahn. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| Great to hear that you enjoyed Cloud Atlas. I also enjoyed both film and book. I read Zahn's Cobra last year and enjoyed it, too, because it was quite different from what I expected.
I read Jemisin's "Fifth Season" and it's sequel "Obelisk Gate". I enjoyed both and was really impressed by the world-building. It's epic fantasy but the setting definitely isn't Middle ages. The first book has three POV characters, all women. Both books end in a cliffhanger so this is a larger story told in several parts.
Next up is Charlie Jane Anders' All the Birds in the Sky. | |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK |
Ihave had a hectic time lately,so I havent read all that much,and got behind with the posts againI
Whe I tried Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace last year,and as the early part seemed to a war book,dark and downbeat,and I had been very lukewarm about the other Forever War books,I abandoned it. Reading it now for my Defining Books of the 90s challenge over on WWEnd I persevered and was a bit surprised and relieved when after about 100 pages it veered off into a tale about group trying to to prevent a Doomsday weapon getting into the hands of a religious fanatic,and a method of turning humankind into pacifists! Fast paced action,but as ever with Haldeman I dont find his plot scenarios very credible. But at least it was a fast moving adventure,and a mere 350 pages. That is very small among most 90s books. lol.
I found Nicola Griffith's Slow River absorbing and interesting stuff. Never read a book before where the heroine works in a futuristic sewage works! lol. Griffith deftly interweaves three different time frames by a variety of tenses and POV,which took a while to get used to,and there was a lot of lesbian sex(it seemed that almost every character was a lesbian!) which was a little uncomfortable for my tastes,but it was an excellent read with a sympathetic flawed heroine..
Finished Theodore Sturgeon's famous short story ,Microcosmic God.A brilliant scientist/engineer,Kidder has developed an amazing array of useful inventions and cures(including a cure for the common cold!) and while he devotes all his time to science on his private island his venal banker has become immensely rich producing all the useful things Kidder so carelessly invents. But he greedily wants even more,and the scientist Kidder's latest invention could make its owner ruler of the world - and the banker wants that power for himself.Unbeknownst to anyone, Kidder has developed a synthetic life form, which he calls "neoterics." These creatures live at a greatly accelerated rate, and therefore have a very short lifespan and produce many generations over a short period of time. This allows Kidder, by presenting them with a frequently changing environment, to "evolve" them quickly into highly intelligent lifeforms who fear Kidder and worship him like a god. Kidder can control his neoterics' environment, and thus force them into developing technology far beyond that of humans. While earlier inventions had been his own, Kidder created the neoterics with the intention that they would become the source of many newer and greater inventions.
What makes such a strong impression on me in this story is the cold scientific inhumanity of Kidder,much more shocking than the venality of the banker.The story was written in 1941,years before the horrific experiments of Mengele etc were revealed,but we today cant escape the thought of scientists shaking off all ethics to focus on their thirst for knowledge and power.I wont soon forget Kidder poring over his little creatures,devising callous experiments on them,while accepting their worship.
Gene Wolfe said this was the first SF story he ever read,and claims''it all was pretty much downhill from there''.
Finished,FINALLY, Jeff VanderMeer's Acceptance. a reasonable end to the Southern Reach trilogy I suppose,though not very cheery to say the least! I only liked one character in the whole series,the lighthouse keeper,never got fully engaged with the series at all,and was irritated by the style,(mentioning an important point,going on without comment while looking into the rambling thoughts of bland characters I didntcare about,then returning with a little more detail pages,chapters or even in another book later!)Interesting premise,but not written in a style I enjoyed,or at least was willing to invest thought and effort into following very carefully.It took an awful lot of slow close reading,so its a relief to have finished :0)
I am now reading Ken McLeod's The Cassini Division,Zelazny's Madwand,and Randall Garrett's Too Many Magicians,a Lord Darcy book
That makes 53/80 titles read for the Pick N Mix challenge,and 474 for the gang as a whole. Excellent! Wonder if we can reach 800 for the year?
Edited by dustydigger 2017-07-14 5:25 AM
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Veteran
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| Too bad you didn't like VanderMeer's trilogy, dustydigger, but I guess it would a boring world if we all liked the same things. I hope you enjoy Garrett's book. I've read all the Lord Darcy short stories and really enjoyed them.
I haven't read Zelazny's Madwand so I'm curious to know what you'll think of it. I've enjoyed most of Zelazny's work.
I finished Anders' All the Birds in the Sky. I really enjoyed the quirky opening with the six-year old main characters who are both already social outcasts, but disliked some of the choices around 3/4 of the book and didn't like the ending. On the other hand, I listened the second book in Mercedes Lackey's Five hundred kingdoms series, One Good Knight, and enjoyed that a lot. This one is a riff on various dragonslayer fantasy stories. The romance was very understated. | |
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Uber User
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Location: New Zealand | Finally finished this challenge. Another good challenge, another good bunch of books.
If I were to pick my favourite reads from this years Pick & Mix, I would say:
Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell
The Brotherhood of the Wheel by RS Belcher
Fragment by Craig Russell
The Grief Hole by Kaaron Warren
The Hike by Drew Magary
The Hunter From the Woods by Robert McCammon
Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
The Radleys by Matt Haig
Lots of good reads there. I think the absolute standout for me was probably The Hike. | |
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Veteran
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| I just finished Elizabeth Moon's Trading in Danger. It's the first book in a space opera series. The main character is Kylara Vatta, the youngest child of Vatta family who owns an interstellar shipping company. At the start of the Ky is kicked out a the military academy. Her family gives her a job as the captain of a very old merchant space ship which Ky has to sell for scrap. However, Ky decides to take a trading contract. It's an ok read and I intend to continue with the series.
I realized that I've had Babylon 5 books on my shelves fro many years so I'm going to read most of them. I read the first book some years back. The next one was Accusations by Lois Tilton. Ivanova is accused of keeping in contact with a suspected terrorist. She and Garibaldi investigate. It was surprisingly good and I think it could have made an exciting episode. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Once again I have neglected this thread,so many real life problems
Finished Roger Zelazny's Madwand,a late work,not one of his best,but still with flashes of imagination and interesting world setting.He had intended a third book in the seriesto wrap up the tale, but sadly died before writing it
Ken McLeod's The Cassini Division was a post Singularity tale which didnt grab my attention. Didnt like the humans in the story,and there was too much political stuff(socialism against capitalism etc) Cant say it encouraged me to read any more McLeod.
Much more enjoyable was a nostalgic reread of some of Edward Lear's nonsense verse for a challenge,and found them as fresh, amusing,and poetic as ever,though I have never been too fond of his limericks.
Finished Randall Garret's Too Many Magicians and Kate Griffin's The Neon Court.
Randall Garrett's Too Many Magicians is a mixture of alternate history (Richard the Lionheart survived,John never became king,the Anglo-French empire survived to this day) institutionalised magic,and a locked room mystery solved by Lord Darcy,suspiciously similar to Sherlock Holmes. Light fluff but fairly enjoyable. A bit dry for mytastes,but I may enjoy the Lord Darcy short stories better'
Not sure whether to call Griffin's work urban fantasy,weird fiction,or even horror to some extent,but I really enjoy the Matthew Swift series. In fact I thoroughly enjoy that whole sub genre of mages etc living in London,where London itself is often almost a character in its own right. Mike Carey's Felix Castor,Ben Aaronovich's Peter Grant,Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus probably were all created in honour of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden,but this making London itself an integral part of the story seems to be a mostly British thing. Harry is in Chicago,but I dont feel that the city is integral to the stories. | |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | August was a mixed bag'
Hooray! With relief I finished Terry Goodkind's rather peculiar Wizard's First Rule. Started off your typical standard fantasy, a young man,the Seeker, sets off with the Mother Confessor and a wizard to locate a magic box and protect it from an evil wizard who needs it to rule the world. Cue a long dangerous journey and many adventures. So far so normal. Then after 500 pages of this it turns into sado-masochism,long descriptions of torture and cruelty - even from the heroes! Ick.Not at all my cup of tea. 800 pages of this book was ample time for me to decide NOT to read anymore Goodkind. :0(
It was with relief and great pleasure I turned to the excellent War for the Oaks,the 1988 Locus Best First Novel award winner.It was written by Emma Bull at a time when the modern urban fantasy sub genre was starting out. That was the time when Charles De Lint and Mercedes Lackey were producing works linking the faerie world with ours,especially in connection with music.Good stuff.
I wonder why, when I find standard high fantasy a somewhat boring turn off, I should like UF so much? I just really like the whole premise,the ''what if the worlds of fantasy were really true,and came to interact with our own? Would we love them,hate them,maybe be eaten or destroyed by them?''.I tend to lean to the tough side,nasty vamps, weres,demons,tricksy fae et al being faced by kick butt humans,not the paranormal romance side.
Sorry to say I struggled with Octavia E Butler's Parable of the Talents. I put off continuing straight on from Parable of the Sower which was quite harrowing with its pretty tough dystopic setting. After three months break I have pushed myself to read this sequel,and its even darker than the first one. Rape, slavery and torture are the norm,with child molestation and murder for variety.I was not enamoured of the protagonist in the first outing,and I find her very very irritating. Plus I find the Earthseed philosophy/religion barely credible,and her as a saviour/prophet type frankly risible. I gritted my teeth to drag myself through over 450 pages of cruelty and viciousness without any leavening of hope or humour,and was glad to finish with it. Are ALL of Butler's books about slavery and cruelty?Will be taking a break from anymore of her books for the rest of the year.
Hal Clement's Needle was about an alien blob of matter which has invaded a young schoolboy and together they are searching for another blob ,an alien criminal also infesting a human. It is hiding in one of the boys friends and neighbours,but which one? Good fun but not meant to be serious or portentous! Light relief after Earthseed!
Finished Vonda MacIntyre's The Moon and the Sun,Louis XIVs glittering Versailles - with sea monsters. Historical fiction is one of my least enjoyable genres so I may be a little unfair to the book.Yet another quirky Nebula winner,you never know what you are going to get! lol
It was an OK read,but I found all the intrigue of the glittering court etc a bit too detailed,but McIntyre has an engaging style,strong storytelling skills and she always gives credible motivations to her characters.I always enjoyed her Star Trek stuff,about the only books in that arena I have read.and I loved her Dreamsnake too.
Good job there was a a dramatis personae at the beginning,all those princes and their complicated names and titles meant constantly returning to it for about the first couple of hundred pages. The heroine was totally unrealistic of course for the time.A scientist,brilliant artist,excellent composer,mathematician all rolled in one,though she has been confined to a convent school for years so I dont know how she developed all these skills in that repressive environment.Then her being completely innocent and uncomprehending of the often sordid society around her seemed more than a tad naive.But it was still an absorbing read. Just different from MacIntyre's other works.
Right now I am nearing the end of Dan Simmons Rise of Endymion,alternately fast paced adventure,hair-raising horror and heavy duty philosophy and science,which are a bit over my head. Its several years since I read Hyperion,and probably a reread of that work would have made for an easier read. About 150 pages to go.Also in progress Robert Holdstock's Lavondyss,and N K Jemisin's Broken Kingdoms. Another case of several years since reading the first book,A Hundred Thousand Kingdomsand so its proving a bit difficult getting up to speed,I've forgotten so much and the names are bewildering me! lol.
Hope you are all doing well with the challenge,Pick N' Mixers. I've now completed 67/80 for the challenge,and altogether we have read 563 books . Excellent! | |
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Extreme Veteran
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Location: Great Lakes, USA | Thanks, Dusty, for reminding me to update my Pick&Mix books. For this challenge, I have been reading books that I randomly come across that don't really fit with any of the other challenges that I am doing.
The Autobiography of James T. Kirk - David Goodman. I had a hard time believing that Capt. Kirk was so politically correct and touchy-feely. Id prefer to think of him as the get it done, I am totally in love with the Enterprise, adventurous guy portrayed in TOS. This more touchy-feely version was not really to my liking.
The Battle of Candle Arc - Yoon Ha Lee. This short story is a prequel to Ninefox Gambit. It is very helpful in understanding the world of Lees novels. Id recommend reading this.
Dear Cyborg - Eugene Lim. I snagged this from the new book shelf in the library because of the title. Anything with cyborg in the title is going to catch my attention. I did not like this one at all. No real plot. How can something with cyborg in the title be such drivel? I kept reading in hope that it would get better. It didnt. At least it was relatively short. Not recommended.
Fragment - Craig Russell. A good tale of climate fiction. A huge chunk of Antarctic ice falls into the ocean and the seas are going to rise. I love that one of the main characters is a blue whale! This is a good story and I would recommend this one.
The Ghost Line - A.N. Gray and J.S. Herbison. An enjoyable read about a crew sent to salvage an abandoned luxury ship abandoned by its original makers, but not entirely abandoned
Meeting Inifinity - Jonathan Strahan, ed. This collection of short stories was good. Between this book and Bridging Infinity, I have started liking short fiction again. This is worth a read.
The Scarlet Plague - Jack London. Short, apocalyptic tale narrated by an old man who lived through the plague and remembers the old days. I see the interaction between the old man and his grandsons as similar to when I have to explain something technical to non-technical people who really dont care because they are going to believe whatever they want to believe. Interesting and well written.
Three Days in April - Edward Ashton. I really liked this one. Quirky and edgy. All this surveillance stuff could be going on now. I was surprised by this one and would definitely recommend it.
Edited by daxxh 2017-08-31 3:26 PM
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| dustydigger - 2017-08-31 10:32 AM
.Not at all my cup of tea. 800 pages of this book was ample time for me to decide NOT to read anymore Goodkind. :0(
We had very similar experiences with Goodkind. I'm also staying away from his books.
It was with relief and great pleasure I turned to the excellent War for the Oaks,the 1988 Locus Best First Novel award winner.It was written by Emma Bull at a time when the modern urban fantasy sub genre was starting out. That was the time when Charles De Lint and Mercedes Lackey were producing works linking the faerie world with ours,especially in connection with music.Good stuff..
I also really enjoyed "War for the Oaks" a few years back but I haven't read De Lint. Maybe I should try him at some point?
Are ALL of Butler's books about slavery and cruelty?
I haven't read her Parable books but I've heard enough about them to know I wouldn't like them. I have read her Xenogenesis books ("Dawn", "Adulthood Rites", and "Imago") and those are pretty solid science fiction. Humans are almost extinct and an alien race, the Oankali, want to try to rebuild them. I don't remember any slavery elements but Lilith, the first (and for a long time only) human, is completely dependent on the Oankali for survival. But the Oankali aren't cruel at all, they're just different. Maybe you could check out some reviews to see if you'd like them?
Finished Vonda MacIntyre's The Moon and the Sun,Louis XIVs glittering Versailles - with sea monsters. Historical fiction is one of my least enjoyable genres so I may be a little unfair to the book.Yet another quirky Nebula winner,you never know what you are going to get! lol
I liked that book better but I like historical fiction a lot and the Sun King is one of my favorite historical people. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I finished a couple of more Babylon 5 books: Blood Oath by John Vornholt and Clark's Law by Jim Mortimore.
Neither of them were as good as Tilton's book. Blood Oath centeres of G'Kar: an old enemy's daughter swears the blood oath against him and G'Kar is so afraid that he fakes his own death. Garibaldi and Ivanova investigate. This book invents G'Kar's wife and takes us to the Narn Homeworld.
Clark's Law introduces a new alien race. One of them goes insane and kills a human. Earthgov is determined to put that alien on trial and species tensions run high on the station. The new alien race was very interesting but the book wasn't canon at all for the show.
I also finished Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brosky which is a sequel to her Immortals which I really enjoyed last year. I enjoyed this book just as much. The main character is Selene deSilva, the former goddess Artemis. This book is also a murder mystery. Selene and her new boyfriend investigate the murder of one of the Greek gods. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | I had a very varied month this September,as I am working hard to get through my WWEnd challenges,early before all the December mayhem begins!
Phew!!! Battled my way through the final book of Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos,The Rise of Endymion. Lots of very slow bits,massive infodumps,and a protagonist who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer,plus plenty of religion bashing,par for the course in a lot of SF. Also time travel,teleportation,lots of space battles,cool tech,lots of space travel,and a truly wondrous version of a Dyson sphere,and a very satisfying tying up of all the threads tossed up over 4 books.Romance,horror,melodrama, plus several SF subgenres. Everything but the kitchen sink,tossed like a salad,but somehow it all sorted itself out in the end.Not a patch on Hyperion of course,but what is?
And the Shrike became a sort of good guy,at least in contrast with the truly horrific Nemes Rhadamanth. That lady is one scary creature!!!
I finished Charlaine Harris's Midnight Crossroad,a quietly enjoyable UF tale,no gore or the gratuitous sex that ruined the early promise of her Sookie Stackhouse series,once the TV series arrived.Its much more in her Harper Connelly style.
I plodded through Robert Holdstock's Lavondyss which disappointed and irritated me,because it was overcomplex,very slow and downbeat. I was really disappointed in this book which seemed to be trying too hard to be mysterious,ending up merely tediously obfuscated,and far too long.Annoying that it didnt follow the story and characters of Mythago Wood. Also I didnt care at all about the rather cardboard characters,so bye bye Holdstock.
I really enjoyed N K Jemisin's The Broken Kingdoms. You all know I get VERY bored with standard fantasy,but Jemisin is such a good writer.Her world building is very interesting,her plotting skilful,but where I give her top marks is the characters,definitely non stereotypical.Even small cameo characters are well delineated.I was of course disappointed that,like Lavondyss the major characters of the first book in the series The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms barely appeared,a mere handful of pages.Jemisin makes you think of her characters well after you finish the books and its,you so want to see more of them.An intriguing author,I will try to fit in The Fifth Season this year,ifpossible.
Also enjoyable is the Abraham Merritt Megapack from Wildside. I read Through the Dragon Glass and The People of the Pit,and intend to dip in and out as and when I have the spare time. I do love the ornate prose of weird fiction! At the time these stories were written it was still possible for authors to write about secret peoples in the Arctic,or hidden away on mysterious islands in the South Seas.Today satellite pics would have exposed the Pit to the world,and the people in the South Seas would be doing hula hula dancing for the tourists. Pity!
Cant believe that Wildside Press,via Amazon, are able to publish 5 novels and 10 short stories by Merritt for a mere 79 cents! Now thats what I call value.lol.
Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven was a poignant,elegantly written musing on the fragility of the modern world, the unpredictability of memory,and the decision as to whether it is more important to rebuild the past,or go forward shaking off the baggage of the past entirely. Made me think I had better savour the benefits of civilization while I can - and start stocking up for the coming apocalypse,whatever form it takes.lol.
Next up is Jane Yolen's Cards of Grief,Larry Niven's The Smoke Ring,and Damon Knight's Mind Switch.
I have now completed 74/80 of my Pick N Mix challenge,and in all we have read 619 books. Awesome! I still have hope that we can reach 800 books read by the end of the year. Keep it up Pick N Mixers! | |
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Veteran
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| Lots of people have loved Marie Brennan's "A Natural History of Dragons" so I finally succumed to its lure and read it. It's written in a memoir style and starts from the main character's childhood. Isabella is a woman in a pseudo Victorian culture who has a passion to scientifically study dragons. I liked it a lot. Fortunately, the rest of the series is available in Finnish libraries so I intend to read them all.
"The Brightest Fell" is the 11th book in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy series and I loved it just as much as the previous books and I'm looking forward to the next ones.
Pip Ballantine's and Tee Morris' third book in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences steampunk series unfortunately didn't work for me as well as the previous books. In "Dawn's Early Light" our heroes Eliza Braun and Wellington Books travel to America to consult in a case of disappearing sea and air ships. However, they stumble into a plot to create a horrifying scientific weapon. Unfortunately, the book also has two romance triangles, which was two too much for me.
I just finished Mercedes Lackey's "Fortune's Fool" which is the third book in her Five hundred kingdoms fantasy series. Instead of focusing on just one fairy tale and twisting it, this book borrows from a variety of different fairy tales from Japan, Russia, and Arabian Nights. I really enjoyed the main romance between Katya who is a mermaid and a spy for her father and Sasha the seventh son of a king and therefore the fortunate fool. Really fluffy and light fantasy.
I'm going to read the next book, too, which seems to be a mashup between Sleeping Beauty and Snow white. | |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I managed to crack on with my challenge reads this month.
Jane Yolen's Mythopoeic Award winner of 1985 Cards of Grief was a fascinating look at earth anthropologists making a study of a First Contact world,earnestly confident that they will make a minimal effect on that world.Well depicted world setting but little characterization.Well,after all it was only 144 pages long,amazing how much interesting stuff was packed in there! lol. Ah,the good old days,when books were short but packed with ideas....
In Damon Knight's Mind Switch (aka The Other Foot) a reporter visiting the Berlin Zoo to view a new alien inmate finds their minds swapped Mostly we follow the culturally naive alien in the human's body as he battles to cope with our bewildering culture.Ase cute deeply ironic ending is a final twist in an amiable rainy afternoon read. That makes 25/27 Grand Masters of Science Fiction read in my WWEnd challenge. I only need to read a Michael Moorcock and a James E Gunn to complete that list. Not looking forward to the Moorcock,havent got more than 30 pages in on any of his works! James E Gunn will be more fun I think......next year.......
Really enjoyed Amanda Steven's follow up to The Restorer,The Kingdom. The heroine can see ghosts,and we learn much more about her background while she battles against witches.Nicely spooky at times. I have acquired book 3,The Prophet,and will read it near the end of the month for my Halloween Spooky Read challenge.
Also read Larry Niven's The Smoke Ring,the follow up to The Integral Trees,pleasant enough but often difficult to follow exactly.
Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon,a short story collection set in an Irish bar where various aliens from thegalaxy a well as aliens from American sciety come to tell their tales.Under that guise Spider is obviously working out his difficult emotions in connection with the Vietnam war,and the dire straits of American society in the 70s.A few too many puns for my tastes,and the rather sentimental and would be hopeful thoughts on the futureof the book at the tail end sat uneasily with the bleak tone of the rest of the book under the humour. But a amiable enough read for this female Brit. Probably a whole lot more resonant for US males I should imagine.
C J Cherryh's Serpent's Reach had that bleak,dark sort of tone that much of her hard edged early fiction,like The Faded Sun trilogy, I wish I had read this many years ago,before I read much of the Alliance -Union cycle,because this tale really gives an understanding of just why the Alliance abhorred the whole idea of programmed humans,the azi. Good stuff. Last year I read 40,000 in Gehenna,which gave us glimpses of the azi,and now I think I really need to reread Cyteen,which I read early on back in the late 80s,before I had read more than the Chanur saga. I am sure it will make much more sense now. There's one book already on next year's list! lol.
Well,I am FINALLY finished my Pick N' Mix for 2017,80/80 read.!! Its been an interesting year,I've got closer to my plan to read all the Hugos (two more on the agenda for this year,then the remaining dozen for next year). I am down to ten Nebulas left so maybe next year I will complete them all!Some awfully big tomes there,the books get thicker by the decade.
Well done to those who have finished the challenge - Abalone,daxxh, Elizabeth R, - and of course our glorious Weesam an awesome lady indeed! lol
Some others are very close indeed,like Ann Walker,39/40,ScoLgo 37/40,and sushicat 19/20 .Several other Pick N Mixers have only 5 or 6 books to read,so here's hoping they finish! Keep it up
WE have read 668 books between us this year,excellent.two moremonths to go!
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Regular
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| Nicely done, Dusty! I will definitely finish this year. I only have ~2.5 books to go - but they are The Book of the Short Sun trilogy by Gene Wolfe so the going is rather dense. I have also become distracted with several Hallowe'en reads this month but expect to get back to Pick & Mix in November.
I read quite a bit of Cherryh this year. Mostly as part of the Grand Mistresses of Genre Fiction challenge. Hestia, Wave Without a Shore, 40,000 in Gehenna, Cyteen, Regenesis, Heavy Time, and Hellburner. I was really glad I read 40K in Gehenna before Cyteen since the references, while not necessary to the Cyteen story, still gave me a fair amount of relevant background. Regenesis is a direct sequel to Cyteen so that might make two for your 2018 list?!?
Thanks for mentioning Serpent's Reach. I'm going to have to read that soon as I didn't realize it ties in so much with Alliance-Union. I also loved The Faded Sun trilogy, which I read for Pick & Mix in 2016. If Serpent's Reach is in that wheelhouse, I am sure to like it. | |
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Veteran
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| Well, Lackey's "Sleeping Beauty" wasn't as interesting to me as some of the other books in the series but I liked it well enough. Once again, it has a quite capable heroine, especially for 16-year-old. The two male leads and their friendship was also very nice.
I just finished the newest book in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Diving series "The Runabout". It's the sixth in the series and still going strong. Boss and her crew are now investigating a starship graveyard and they come across one very interesting one. It's shorter book than the others but just right for the story. Eagerly waiting for the next one. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Mervi,I have never read any of Rusch's books,but I just looked at the Diving series and it looks my kind of thing. So the first book,Diving Into The Wreck has the honour of being my first book on the TBR for 2018.One down and only 79 other titles to sort for next year's Pick N' Mix! lol.
I always have great fun preparing my reading list each year. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| dustydigger - 2017-11-24 7:05 PM
Mervi,I have never read any of Rusch's books,but I just looked at the Diving series and it looks my kind of thing. So the first book,Diving Into The Wreck has the honour of being my first book on the TBR for 2018.
I hope you like it! Boss seems to be a character readers either love or hate.
I always have great fun preparing my reading list each year.
I like that, too, but end up often reading quite other books, as mood takes me. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | One month left of the challenge.Congrats to,Abalone,Anne Walker,daxxh,ElizabethR,piebald and Weesam for finishing,
.Diane,Mervi and ScoLgo have one more book,and several others have a chance of completing if they crack on. We've read 702 books.Brilliant! | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| I finished the challenge! My two last books were Rusch's "Runabout" which is a novella in the Diving universe. It focuses on the captain of starship Geneva. I enjoyed it a lot.
The last book was Lois McMaster Bujold's "Mira's Last Dance". It another novella set in the Chalion/Five Gods universe. The main character is Penric a young divine and sorcerer in the Bastard's order. It's a sequel to "Penric's Mission" and it seems that the story will continue in the future. It's light reading with a strong romantic element. I liked the first two Penric novellas somewhat more than these later ones. Patiently waiting for the continuation. | |
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Uber User
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Location: UK | Is that not The Prisoner of Limnos, which is already out? (I haven't read any of them yet, myself) | |
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| DrNefario - 2017-12-05 7:55 AM
Is that not The Prisoner of Limnos, which is already out? (I haven't read any of them yet, myself)
Yes, it seems to. Thanks! | |
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Uber User
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| Hi Dusty! Like last year, I've used this challenge to show my 10 favorite reads of the year - some great stuff this year!
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | @ Mervi,well done!!.
I just acquired LMBs Paladin of Souls for next year's challenge - and it is HUGE!!! lol
@Engelbrecht. Thanks for doing the challenge. Interesting that you chose Ninefox Gambit. Opinion seems rather divided on this one.some people found it a bit disappointing. I havent even heard of many of your choices .
I'm still working my way through Hugos and Nebulas,at a rate of about one a month.(read 54/66 and 43/53 respectively) and usually read 50s and 60s stuff,and this year Defining books of the 90s,so I havent a clue about the wider world of SF/F and books of the day. You are so close to finishing all the major SF award winners. Think you'll finish them in 2018?.
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Veteran
Posts: 100
| dustydigger - 2017-12-10 4:16 AM
@ Mervi,well done!!.
I just acquired LMBs Paladin of Souls for next year's challenge - and it is HUGE!!! lol
Thanks, Dustydigger!
I hope you like Paladin of Souls. | |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| With Return to the Whorl, I finished my 40 books for this challenge a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to picking titles for 2018!
Edited by ScoLgo 2017-12-26 5:22 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: UK | Good for you ScoLgo!
And well done all the 24 Pick N Mixers who read a magnificent 727 books this year.
I am going to do the challenge again this year - cant believe this will be the fifth year! - but I think the discussion thread will be barely a token thread. I used to keep it up well,but now have very limited time to spend running the thread,and there is little response anyway.We'll see! But many thanks to those who have posted on the thread in the past. Much appreciated.
See you all in the New Year when we Pick N Mix once more! | |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| dustydigger - 2017-12-28 1:16 PM
Good for you ScoLgo!
And well done all the 24 Pick N Mixers who read a magnificent 727 books this year.
I am going to do the challenge again this year - cant believe this will be the fifth year! - but I think the discussion thread will be barely a token thread. I used to keep it up well,but now have very limited time to spend running the thread,and there is little response anyway.We'll see! But many thanks to those who have posted on the thread in the past. Much appreciated.
See you all in the New Year when we Pick N Mix once more!
Dusty, thank you for all you do!
It's true I don't post much here. I don't even post all that much on LibraryThing, which is my main hangout now that Shelfari & Leafmarks are gone. The 'conversations' just don't have the same feel.
I do still read the challenge threads here and post occasionally so, should you decide to create a 2018 thread, I'll do my best to participate. | |
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Regular
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Location: USA | Well, 2017 didn't turn out well for me as a reader. Too many conflicting priorities getting in the way of reading and writing time, and when push comes to shove writing is always the higher priority. Made it through 12 of 20.
Since I stink at predicting the future (obviously) I'm reluctant to set up a list of more than 10 titles for 2018. Being an incurable optimist, I'll probably make it 20 and be embarrassed again this time next year. lol | |
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The Pick & Mix in 2017