Currently going back and forth between Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne Valente and bits and pieces of the second volume of Martin's Dreamsongs

Got in the BIG book itself. Though the ARC I got is from Gollancz which is odd as I don't get a whole lot through them when I am in U.S.

What's odd about Cook for me is that I think his early work is actually stronger than his latter work. The Instrumentalities of the Night series is decent and entertaining, but it also is extemely flawed in places and could use tighter editing and re-writing. Same goes for the Black Compnay books. A...

Have read both books for my reading group. They aren't horrible. But they are not great either. Not quite good without being bad. Plenty of bad elements though. Predictable plotting. Characters that are flat indeed. And some very cheap theatrical ploys. Still, for a dual effort, it is not bad. Very ...

That quote made me think that maybe Banks won't be writing any more Culture novels, as it's at the beginning of Consider Phlebas as well. I had thought that they could go on indefinitely, as he can practically come up with any premise and insert Special Circumstances as appropriate, though he might...

Boy do I feel decadent. At the risk of enraging the bookless masses and having them storm the gates of my castle -- right now my piles of unread books that I have been anal enough to track and list has passed 327 as of today. About thirty are ARCs for this year and the rest are a mix of fantasy, sci...

Just got my hands on Bank's Steep Approach to Garbadale as well as The Somnambulist and Liz Williams' Bloodmind. Perfect little stack for the weekend, I hope!

Amazon Marketplace on amazon.co.uk has 7 copies listed. The six from the UK are priced £0.29-£3.50, and the one from the US is priced £76.23. Supply and demand, eh? :roll: That or the sucker born every minute rule. You can get a brand new edition of the hardcover 1988 Dutton edition for $21.95 at A...

Damn this. Neverness is a classic, yet it's out of print. Bookstores will stock shitty Star Trek and Dr Who novels but wont stock Neverness. Well its kind of hard for bookstores to stock a book if its out of print :wink: Try www.abebooks.com The Uk has eight listings that don't seem that pricey and...

HUH? You do mean the one by Steven Erikson, correct? That isn't even available on canadian booksellers! How? I know two people. The first knows Steven rather well and serves as a beta proofer for the manuscript. So when it comes back from final edit he gets a copy with permission to let a few peopl...

Alternating between galleys of Reaper's Gale which I have stored away at work and Shadowplay which I read on my commute and at home. I'm trying to draw out my big reads of the year as much as possible! Next up is possibly Children of Hurin if I get it as promised. Then it will definitely be Cherryh'...

Just finished Jay Lake's Trial of Flowers (a bit meh, though some nice stuff scattered within), devoured Margo Lanagan's Red Spikes as soon as I slid it from the mailer. Now working on K.J. Parker's Evil for Evil and interspersing with bits of Vera Nazarian's Salt of the Air and possibly Murakami's ...

Evil for Evil by K.J. Parker
Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce

Actually every Thanksgiving we have a Guestathon. The movies of Christopher Guest. Thanksgiving Night we watch Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind. Despite the liplock in Best of Show we always view that during the afternoon as the kiddies like the dogs. For those who can still keep ...

Lord of the Silent Kingdom (Instrumentalities of the Night Book II) by Glen Cook

The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan (a pseudonym of Judith Tarr's)

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust

Recently Read: Hinterland by James Clemens. Standard fantasy that is rather well written and some very interesting inventiveness in worldbuilding. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I enjoyed this as well. First time reading anything by the author and I found his style of writing to be very a...

You might want to stick to the next step from Grisham as opposed to trying to find a Fantasy version of Grisham. Particularly as I don't think there actually is one. I hesitate to recommend works by authors that I did not care for. But then Grisham has never been my cup of tea. I thought his best wo...

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

The only books in the series that dipped in quality for me in any way were the last three. And that is because in Winter's Heart I think Jordan made a strong and conscious effort to change the series from "ongoing" to "now we must end things". I think the series needed to go to t...

Despite its flaws, I think Wheel of Time might be something you will like. Many of the people who think it stalls midway attribute that to the expansion of plotlines and characters. Something I actually liked. I hate series that want you to believe a grand world-wide conflict is taking place and con...