Kevin's Watch

Thanks! Though I wonder what they mean by 'slight shelf wear'?

In the Eye of Heaven by David Keck and The Tourmaline by Paul Park, the sequel to one of the better books of last year A Princess of Roumania. Next week plan to move on to Naomi Novik's Throne of Jade and Black Powder War, the sequels to His Majesty's Dragon (aka Temeraire in the UK)

I'm also reading Brian K. Vaughn's collected Runaways (comic)

I'm trying to find time to read Geoff Ryman's latest, Kings Last Song.

I ordered two Zindell Ea Cycle (fantasy) books through "used" Amazon UK and their shelf wear was very minimal--in fact it was like buying brand new copies for $10 less apiece

Originally Zindell got screwed over by Bantam Spectra then Harper's Voyager UK classics series published Neverness on a limited run--most of those copies were gobbled up in the UK, Europe and Australia. After Bantam's horribly un-publisized little run in the US in '86/'87 you couldn't find a copy anywhere in the states. It's interesting that there are more Neverness fans in Australia than anywhere else.

Coincidentally, I saw a couple of Zindell books in Borders today. Black Jade, Lord of Lies, and War in Heaven - no Neverness, though.

The bastards at Bantam actually did try to squeeze money out of The Wild & War in Heaven--but it made no sense after they virtually let the 1st two books in the series, Neverness and The Broken God, vanish from sight. Lord of Lies and Black Jade are books 2 & 3 of the Ea Cycle book 4 comes out next year and is called The Diamond Warriors, I think.

Avatar, I'm the one who likes James White so much.

I must have been luckier than I knew to find the whole Neverness series secondhand at Powell's. Then it moved down my tbr stack ... I don't really have any affinity with math, and I'm reading historicals at the moment.

Dragonlily wrote:Avatar, I'm the one who likes James White so much.

He wrote that space hospital book, right?

I am reading The Man in the High Castle.

He did, LM. A whole space hospital series, in fact -- about a myriad of complex alien species he invented. Each story is a medical puzzle. It's one of the series I intend to reread.

Thanks, Joy.

duchess of malfi wrote:

Sorus wrote:Just started Kushiel's Scion, by Jacqueline Carey. Different POV than the original trilogy, but it's good so far.

I did not think that was coming out until June???

June 12th. It's an advance reading copy, but I'm so unused to getting good ARCs that I forgot it was one.

Also rereading Gardens of the Moon and Starship Troopers. Yes, it's a weird combination. I often read 2 or 3 books at once, and they have to be different enough that I don't get them confused.

A Dark and Hungry God Arises, for the first time.

enjoy the ride, Spring, it is a good one.

right now i am reading "Foreigner", the first book in the "Foreigner" series by C.J. Cherryh. i am a HUGE fan of her "Chanur" series and so far "Foreigner" is very good as well.

Troll by Johanna Sinisalo, translated from the original Finnish, and I'm about 2/3s through. Not sure if it's your ordinary or usual SF and F read. A troll enters the life of a gay Finnish photographer and High-jinks follow.

An additional point, I'm a little surprised this book has not been embraced by people of the cryptozoological community. As a parallel Contact by Carl Sagan was embraced by the UFO community. This book treats a cryptozoological phenomenon as a matter of fact and ordinary occurance. (IIRC, Contact treated SETI and extraterrestial communication in a mattter of fact way).

taraswizard wrote:As a parallel Contact by Carl Sagan was embraced by the UFO community. This book treats a cryptozoological phenomenon as a matter of fact and ordinary occurance. (IIRC, Contact treated SETI and extraterrestial communication in a mattter of fact way).

Contact remains as one of my favourite books.

Port Eternity, by C. J. Cherryh

Dragonlily wrote:He did, LM. A whole space hospital series, in fact -- about a myriad of complex alien species he invented. Each story is a medical puzzle. It's one of the series I intend to reread.

Did I say Duchess? Sorry. Yeah, they're great. But there is an unfortunate amount of repitition for people who've read the others. Some descriptions look like they're taken verbatim from previous books.

I still like the concept and "puzzles" though.

I'm busy rereading Jordan's Knife of Dreams, solely because I finally got my own copy of it.

--A

In order to increase my reading list progress, I've started reading Mieville's collection Looking For Jake alongside my current read, Paradise Lost.

dANdeLION wrote:Port Eternity

Whenever I skim down the page, I read this as "Pot Entity" Must be because Avatar's nearby.

Reading City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer is in many ways like visiting Tate Modern in London. Indeed, it's relatively impossible to decide whether what is found within each to be the expressions of unbelievably talented or deeply disturbed minds. Vandermeer certainly appears to enjoy walking the very fine line between the brilliant and the bizarre.

This novel is by far the oddest book I've read in years. And as such, it is not for everyone. The format may put off a number of readers. As a mosaic novel, City of Saints and Madmen is comprised of novellas and short stories. And although characters and events contained in one may appear or be alluded to in another, the book doesn't form a coherent whole. Speaking for myself, that was a bit of a problem. It seems the author doesn't want the reader to get comfortable. Which, ultimately, results in a somewhat constant disorientation.

One thing about Jeff Vandermeer is that he is a gifted writer. His terrific prose creates a living and breathing imagery. His style, at times almost lyrical, jumps off the page. And is dark sense of humor imbues each tale with a unique flavor.

City of Saints and Madmen is not for the average fantasy fan. But for jaded readers who have been around for a long time, Vandermeer's latest could be something special to sink your teeth into.

Check the blog for the full review. . .

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Vandermeer is one of the best fantasy authors in the business and has been been for a few years.

For myself, Making my way through Naomi Novik's Black Powder War (the third book in the Temeraire series out at the end of this month I think), and picked up David Keck's In the Eye of Heaven a debut epic fantasy series that had some pre-publishing hype attached to it that isn't really impressing to this pont. I started this last month, but put it down to move to something else I had to read. His ability to turn a phrase seems absent. Will be moving on to Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson soon.

I recently read an entirely forgetable epic fantasy debut by David Forbes entitled the Amber Wizard. I have read interviews where he states being tired of certain cliches, and then he goes right ahead and uses them. I also recently put up my review of Jeff Vandermeer's Shriek: an Afterword.

I have also been getting some comic book/graphic nobel reading done. I'm reading the epic fantasy graphic novel by Mark Smylie, Artesia, the legendary Osamu Tezuka's Buddah which ahs been collected by Harper Collins, The Surrogates by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele. Really enjoying all three.