What fantasy/science fiction book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

[I'm Murrin]

Hmm. Sounds interesting.

Tell me what it's like. That and Zoo City are on my list of next books to buy.

--A

The Shining Girls was pretty great. It's incredible just how much research Beukes has put into this book - even the one-shot chapters showing a particular victim are very detailed and true to the time period they're set in. The characters all feel real, from the various women Harper kills to Harper himself in his gradual deterioration (which itself is true to the understood psychology of real serial killers). The timelines mess with your head a little, in a good way.

[Avatar]

Thanks, I shall look forward to it.

--A

[Fist and Faith]

Finished Clay's Ark the other day, and finished Patternmaster moments ago. I enjoyed the four books very much. I like her writing style, I like psionics, and I like all things with Patterns. Earthsea, Amber, and now this.

What to start now...

[Menolly]

Finally!

I received the loaned copy of Lynne Cantwell's Annealed I've been waiting for. I hope to begin it tomorrow.

[Avatar]

OSC's The Crystal City.

--A

[danlo]

Yep I need to, suddenly, get the rest of ali's stuff. I'm REALLY enjoying This is Not a Game by Walter Jon Williams from right here in Albuquerque. Some of you have heard me rave about him on the Hangar. He's such a brilliant and underrated writer. From a literary standpoint he's written some of the best stuff out there, like Days of Atonement and Aristoi. His living in space in our solar system books like Angel Station and Voice of the Whirlwind are dreamy and groundbreaking. He's helped bring in new sub-genres: Hardwired was a serious cyberpunk compliment to Nueromancer, Green Eyes and Islands in the Net, and Metropolitan and City of Fire bridge the gap between fantasy and sci-fi (the entire world's a flipping city!). Apparently, when he does his research he really does his research. The Rift is based on the supposition that the New Madrid fault in Missouri causes the same devastation it did pre-Civil War (when the Mississippi ran backwards and church bells rang from it in Boston) in modern day-the breath of the research he put into that book is staggering. He's doing the same thing in This is Not a Game (which I heard (like his The Praxis series) is part of a trilogy-The Praxis may be 4 books...) he must have explored Jakarta from stem to stern--the book is all about gaming, computers and social networking--it's like using the Watch, Elohimfest, facebook, tweets and email to catch a killer-it's almost like it's between right now and the cyberbunk world (which, apparently, isn't to far away, if not here already...). Anyway, straightforward, intriguing, meticulously crafted storytelling-do yourself a favor (it stopped me finishing Leviathan in it's tracks)...I'm only 180 pages in, but I'm, as they say in the book, already "down the rabbit hole".

[wayfriend]

I thought Aristoi was pretty awesome.

[danlo]

It is! I LOVE that book, on of my all time favs (sorry I didn't call you in CT it was very heavy family time and I couldn't peel away...)

[I'm Murrin]

I finally finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. I enjoyed it a lot, but I'm not used to these big fat books.

I'm realising that I was never actually a fast reader; it was just that I used to start a book and then spend every free moment reading until I was done.

[I'm Murrin]

I'll be starting A Shadow in Summer tonight. Fortunately, it's a 300-pager.

[aliantha]

Finally!

I received the loaned copy of Lynne Cantwell's Annealed I've been waiting for. I hope to begin it tomorrow.

Although I guess this is old news by now...

[Menolly]

Finally!

I received the loaned copy of Lynne Cantwell's Annealed I've been waiting for. I hope to begin it tomorrow.

Although I guess this is old news by now...

ayeup

...as you know by the questions regarding it which I've been PMing you, so as not to spoil it for anyone else.

[Savor Dam]

BTW, ali, thanks for the response to that PM. Dam-sel and I also separately had the same question; only Menolly was bold enough to ask.

No surprise there.

[Menolly]

Having gotten through all of the Mercy Thompson novels except the most recent, I'm starting a related series by Briggs called the Alpha and Omega novels. First up is the novella Alpha and Omega from the On the Prowl anthology.

[Wildling]

Life, The Universe, And Everything by Douglas Adams.


I'd forgotten how much I love his books.

[Fist and Faith]

I was just reading Triplanetary, which I guess is a prequel to the Lensman series. It's godawful. I suppose it was good in its day. Maybe very important to the genre's earlier history. But... wow. It's like if you read an episode of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon with Buster Crabbe. Kinda funny, and not entirely unentertaining. But not readable, for me.

So I downloaded Intervention, by Julian May. Prequel to the Galactic Milieu trilogy, and bridge between it and the Pliocene books. I'm sure I'll enjoy it a whole lot more. Lol

Speaking of which, I've always been sad about the whole ebook thing. I guess it's good if it gets people to read who otherwise might not have. Problem is I really like the paper books. But DAMN ebooks are convenient! LOL. I always have my Galaxy Tab with me, so I can always read. Happy to say I seem to retain as much this way as with real books. I actually worried about that. Sure, I can't remember that some particular passage was toward the bottom of a left-side page, or wherever, but it's all good. Now I'll only miss browsing in the bookstores when there aren't any more.

[caamora]

I still do both Nook and book and my favorite thing is to browse a bookstore.

[Avatar]

Rereading Neverwhere.

--A

[ussusimiel]

Reread Fade-Out by Patrick Tilley over the weekend. Quite good. Shows its 70s slip a bit, but builds up to a good conclusion.

u.

[Avatar]

Never read that one, but am huge fan of his Amtrak Wars books.

--A