A Descent into Dullness

And another year of just getting these under the wire of my own self-imposed time limit.  First finished book of the year was Kate Elliott's Cold Steel, which finished up her alt history/fantasy "Cold Magic" trilogy.  With gods and ghouls and dragons and rebellions...

Did a reread of Snuff after picking up a cheap e-copy.  Still fun but definitely the weakest of the "Vimes/Watch" books of Pratchett's Discworld...

Another new Grantville Gazette e-book, with volume 51 still edited by Paula Goodlett.  And the current cycle of stories continues to really catch hold of me.  I mean I like the polygamous German noble and his family and friends, but not where I want the stories collected or to have full length books like I did with the Sewing Circle/Barbie Consortium, Musicians or Russians...

Then got into a new supers writer, Kevin Hardman.  Sensation introduces his teen hero (from another highly regulated supers setting) Kid Sensation who is trying to have a second attempt at joining the high school hero community.  After a disaster of a first go.  Mutation has Kid Sensation at the supers high school in its own pocket dimension.  And Infiltration has him going undercover with a new super-villain mob.  Enjoyable, but the writer is constantly having to handicap his lead after loading him down with half the super-powers out there...

Six-Gun Snow White is a Western revamp of the classic fairy tale by Catherynne M. Valente.  Full of Valente's rich, evocative descriptions and vibrant setting and heart-breaking characters...

The John Joseph Adams & Douglas Cohen edited Reimagined Oz is a strong collection of new takes on the Oz setting.  I'm glad I'd read more of the original Oz series before though.  Also a lot of dystopian Oz stories in the collection...

Finally got around to On Stranger Tides the Tim Powers novel they loosely adapted into both the first and fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  Great stuff for those wanting pirates and magic and revenge and Blackbeard and sword fights and such...

Francessco Marciuliano's two collections of poetry written by pets, I Could Pee on This and I Could Chew on This are quick, little fun books.  Like poem versions of those voiced-over cat or dog YouTube videos...

A new "Ex" supers vs. zombies book from Peter Clines, Ex-Communication with the heroes of the previous volumes living in a world with neither supers or zombies...

After the disappointing sort of Twin Peaks/Prisoner book from Blake Crouch I was much happier with Sunset Key.  A very noir-ish about a ex-junkie thief who gets hired to seduce and rob a wealthy investment banker type on his private island before he goes to federal prison...

I honestly don't know what prompted me to get the e-book of Tales From the Cobra Wars, a G.I. Joe anthology edited by Max Brooks.  Some of the stories were dumb, some were interesting  and all leave you frustrated with how in a military/espionage series the main terrorist bad guys are uncatchable or kill-able.  Still the bonus story at the end with the Joe's PTSD therapist almost makes it worth the 4 or 5 bucks I probably paid for the book...

You know what is disappointing about Karin Lowachee's Gaslight Dogs?  Not the alt earth/fantasy setting.  Or the characters.  Or the magic.  Or the mysterious church gunslingers hinted at.  No, its that apparently the book wasn't popular enough that the writer thinks she'll ever go back to the series to put out a second book...

Cauldron of Ghosts is the soon to be latest of the Eric Flint/David Weber "Honorverse" books from the super-spy section of that setting.  Good if you're a fan of the series, definitely not the book to introduce or win back someone who isn't though...

Countdown City is Ben H. Winter's sequel to his Last Policeman.  In this one Hank Palace agrees to try and find a missing husband even though he's no longer a cop and the world is set for an apocalyptic asteroid collision in 74 days...

Seanan McGuire into the modern fairy tale style of urban fantasy with Indexing, about a government agency of people afflicted with storybook lives who try to keep the rest of the world safe from same.  Secretly.  My favorite throwaway line was probably how the agency made sure to never make a payday error for the young woman who was Indexed as a Pied Piper...

Chuck Wendig's Under the Empyrean Sky is a dystopian future, where America is a blighted wasteland covered in mutated corn.  With various villages eking out an existence while being overlorded by flying city people...

Mike Shevdon's latest "Feyre" novel the Eighth Court ends up being a Break the Board and Restart the Game kind of book...

And ended the month with Jasper Fforde's the Song of the Quarkbeast, a sequel to his Last Dragonslayer YA book.  Offbeat and very Jasper Ffordery...

Also in January the usual collection of of uncollected short fiction.  Extraction is Kid Sensation story from Hardman, with his lead and friends rescuing some kids from a super-secret government facility.  And Jessica Brody's the Intelligence Director is a similar story, but feels more like the opening chapter to full-length book.  Which always annoys me with a short story.  The Pain of Others by Blake Crouch is a prequel to previously mentioned Sunset Key, with a murder-for-hire story where the actual bad guy changes up during the story.  Ken Liu's Reborn is post-alien invasion story of the benevolent conqueror style.  And the Cartography of Sudden Death by Charlie Jane Anders is future setting time travel adventure...

Total: 21

Started off July with Faerie After, the finale to Janni Lee Simner's post-WW3 vs. the elves trilogy. Much of the book deals with learning to move past grief and loss...

After that was Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night, probably my favorite of his adapted movies, even if this was my first time reading the actual story. One of his best I think...

Got the e-arc of the next "Ring of Fire" book, 1636: the Devil's Opera by Eric Flint and David Carrico. It meshes together several of the ongoing series from the anthologies, the Madeburg Musicians and Madeburg PD. Plus its set during the end part of "Saxon Uprising", which all together gives it a bit of a smooshed together feeling, like the individual pieces weren't enough to hold together a story on their own. Plus I like the original "Symphony For the Devil" title better...

Then the newest Garrett book from Glen Cook, Wicked Bronze Ambition. Which has Garrett dealing with his future in-laws and all their friends. Who are all basically upper class, crazy wizards. I enjoyed seeing that Cook was continuing the Morley Dotes/Belinda Contague relationship as well, though not making it easy for the pair...

I actually thought Sherwood Smith's Banner of the Damned was going to be a prequel to her "Inda" series. Instead its set several centuries after those books...

Ex-Communication is the 3rd in Peter Clines' supers vs. zombies series. This time around the Hollywood survivor community is introduced to an additional supernatural threat. And a new kind of zombie in the form of a strange teenage girl...

Also finally got around to reading the first of Lois McMaster Bujold's "Chalion" books, Curse of Chalion. Which meant, of course, then rereading Paladin of Souls and the Hallowed Hunt...

Constellations is the first collection of "Liaden" short fiction by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I'd read a few of their short pieces but they're scattered all over and there are like a bazillion of them. So this reprint series definitely makes me happy...

Steven Gould's Impulse is the third book in his "Jumper" series. It follows the daughter of the lead characters from the previous two books as she both develops her own teleportation abilities and enters public school for the first time. While I didn't like it as much as Jumper it was a definite improvement over the 2nd book, Reflex...

I picked up the Monster's Corner an anthology of semi-horror edited by Christopher Golden on the cheap somewhere. It only had a few clunkers in it, but also not many memorable or outstanding pieces...

Neal Asher's the Deperature is a near future dystopia/space exploitation book. Parts of it made me wonder if it is meant as a prequel to his "Polity" series. Which I'll probably get a better idea of once I pick up the next two books in the trilogy...

Finished out July rereading David Weber's "Safehold" series, getting to Off Armageddon Reef, By Schism Rent Asunder, By Heresies Distressed and a Mighty Fortress. All of which leaves me impatiently waiting until next February for the next book...

On the free range short fiction, only three for July. Susan Palwick's "Homecoming" is a girl goes to sea disguised as a boy story. Nathan Ballingrud's "the Monsters of Heaven" is a sad story of loss and angels. Well, sort of angels. And Jeffrey Ford's "Rocket Ship to Hell" a bar story about a private enterprise attempt at a spacecraft crewed by artists...
Total Books: 17

Once again just getting the last month done before the current one ends. Starting off with the Kevin Anderson edited Blood Lite III: Aftertaste urban fantasy anthology. Which was pretty lackluster overall. Even old favorites like Jim Butcher have fairly weak offerings in this one. In fact, as far as I can recall, all three volumes of this series have been less than stellar, with none making my 50% or more enjoyable stories test to keep...

Much better was the reprint of Wild Cards with the two new stories added, edited by George R.R. Martin and Dark & Stormy Knights, another urban fantasy anthology, edited by P.N. Elrod. The "Wild Cards" series has long been a favorite, so two new stories was just icing on replacing my worn-down original copy of volume one. And Elrod's anthologies have a high ratio of quality...

I love Baen's offering of election Advance Reader Copies. I mean fifteen bucks is normally about twice my max for an e-book. But I can't resist getting things like the newest "Ring of Fire" novel, 1636: Papal States by Eric Flint & Charles Gannon three months early. This one finishes up the Italy centric arc started previous by Flint & Andrew Dennis...

Got Check Wendig's Dinocalypse Now as part of a Kickstarter drive. Its a fun pulp-adventure story that serves as an introduction to "Spirit of the Century" rpg. The book is full of psychic dinosaurs, jet pack adventurers, talking gorillas and angry cavemen with a cliff-hanger ending...

No Wake Zone is the sequel to C.E. Grundler's Last Exit to New Jersey. You'd think Hazel Moran's friends and family would have figured out that lieing to her for her own good doesn't work. I mean it went really badly the last time...

The roommate got into writers Ilona Andrews from one of their short stories. And I can't blame him since I devoured thru the first five of their "Kate Daniels" books, Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds and Magic Slays over several days. The series is set in a world where technology is failing as magic rises into ascendcy. Kate Daniels, the lead, is a merc and troubleshooter dealing with shapeshifters, vampires and guilds of would be paladins in a altered Atlanta...

In fact I liked them enough to grab up the various short stories and novellas for my Kindle. Magic Dreams and Magic Mourns are regular expand the setting style shorts. Curran and Fathers & Sons retell portions of the previous volumes from the view point of the main romantic interest for Kate...

Also from the Andrews, but unrelated to "Kate Daniels", was the novella Of Swine & Roses, a story about feuding magical Houses, teen romance and a pig related curse...

I'm still not sure about the Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter. Its a good book and I am intrigued enough to want to know what happens next. But something about most Multiple Earth stories just doesn't click with me. I'm not sure why, maybe its something to do with Quantum...

Charles DeLint's Little Grrl Lost is nice YA book which puts a would be punk Little into his Newford setting...

Got to several of my backlog of Kindle Deal of the Day books in July. Starting with Heat Wave by Richard Castle. A decent enough modern mystery/crime book, where I'd be interested in checking out the rest of the series if I find them on the cheap. I do wonder who they have ghost writing them...

Also tv related is the Cold Dish by Craig Johnson, the first in the "Longmire" series the recent A&E show was adapted from. I'm definitely wanting to check out the rest of this series, but $12.99 is well above my normal price limit on an eBook. And I couldn't remember the author's damn name the last time I was at the used book store. Also Lou Diamond Philips captured his character's voice perfectly in the tv show...

I was a bit let down by the other two Deal books. Alison Croggon's the Naming is a pseudo-Gaelic/Celtic fantasy that reminded my a bit of Lloyd Alexander. But man, the book just slogged along at times. Its the first in what is obviously meant to be an epic story, but I can't find myself willing to wade thru the next books. The other book, Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage just failed to connect with me. I found myself giving up about 3/4 of the way thru. The book wasn't helped by the guest introduction basically spoiling the ending in discussing the story...

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi is in the same world as his Ship Breaker, where much of the south-eastern U.S. is devastated marshland. I like the touch, where China attempted a peace keeping mission against the many American warlords...

Mira Grant's Blackout brings her "Newsflesh" trilogy to a close. And its a pretty fucking bad-ass ending, what with the giant conspiracy and the surprise resurrection and all...

From the roommate insists I read this pile, Eric Flint & Dave Freer's Slow Train to Acturus has an alien civilization making first contact with a Terran Generation-type colony ship. Pretty good and interesting directions the various human cultures evolved in. Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle the Mote in God's Eye was a scifi classic I'd never got to. And I own a few of the pair's other books. But I found myself having to constantly remind myself that they wrote this in the 70s to try and get past how antiquated the futuristic culture seemed. Especially given the one non-white character being a underhanded, conniving baddie...

Peter Clines' Ex-Heroes and Ex-Patriots are an enjoyable pair of super-heroes in zombie apocalypse world. I'm hopeful that Clines will put out a third book in the series...

And finally Kitty Steals the Show is Carrie Vaughn's most recent "Kitty Norville" book. With werewolf radio host Kitty going to London and the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies. With Kitty and her family meeting up with various old friends and foes, looking into the vampire's Long Game and helping a ghost have a family reunion...

Total Books: 28

Opened up the month with still more David Weber. This time the 2nd through 5th books of his "Safehold" series, By Schism Rent Asunder, By Heresies Distressed, a Mighty Fortress and How Firm a Foundation. Thats the one where the remnants of humanity escape a genocidal alien race to a secret colony. And then the people running the colony warp the minds of the colonists so that they'll be trapped in a Dark Ages, theocratic controlled group of nation states indefinitely. For our own protection. And then after a few hundred years the cracks in this concept start to show, even before the arrival of "Merlin", an android with the downloaded personality of one the officers who sacrificed themselves so that the last group of colonists could escape. Its a toss-up for me which I enjoy more from Weber, this or his "Honor Harrington" books. But I still wonder if the whole thing isn't some kind of bet he had with friend and fellow writers Eric Flint and S.M.Stirling to top their best known book lines...

Also from Weber are the far future milspec In Fury Born which has a really accurate title which serves as a clue to the major plot twist. And Out of the Dark, which is an expanded version of one of his short stories. One where space Wolf-Men attack the Earth and wipe out huge numbers of humanity before they push things far enough for someone else to come out of retirement to fight them...

After the "Safehold" books I had both a new print Grantville Gazette and a new e-book one. Volume six for the former and thirty-nine for the latter. Mostly they both made me impatient for the next "Ring of Fire" novel due out this summer...

Then I tried out the roommates copies of a newish urban fantasy series by Seanan McGuire. Secret fairy society with a noir-ish female detective half-fairy lead. First Rosemary & Rue and then A Local Habitation. I didn't realize until most of the way thru this series that McGuire also wrote the "Newsflesh" zombie series as Mira Grant...

Then I took a brief break from McGuire to read the second of Eric Flint's "Arkansas War" alternate histories, 1824: the Arkansas War. This one has the young Free Black/Native American nation under threat from pro-Slavery Union forces...

I also read the first of Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander books. Which isn't the one they made a movie out of. Still I couldn't help seeing Russel Crowe when reading it...

Then I finished up McGuire's "October Daye" series with An Artificial Night (which has one of the creepier and nastier bad guys from an urban fantasy series I've come across), Late Eclipse and One Salt Sea...

At that point I was in the mood for some Pratchett (probably from a work shift spent reading tv trops) and so went with a reread of Snuff...

I followed that with a new to me John Scalzi book, Agent to the Stars. About a talent agent who is brought on by an alien species that is essentially a kind of really disgusting and smelly mold with mind control powers to engineer a positive first contact situation...

Then I decided to follow up on one of the roommates suggestions and try out Vernor Vinge. And after a Darkness in the Sky its going to be a while before I try them again. Not because of poor writing. But because the main bad guy for it is such a horrific fucking bastard from a society of horrible fucking bastards. Just the mind-slaver of the Focus alone. *shudder*

I decided to finish off the month with a big fat book, Neal Stephenson's Reamde. But first some brain and palate cleansing rereading with Jim Butcher's Ghost Story and Flint's 1635: the Eastern Front, 1636: the Saxon Uprising and the Ring of Fire III anthology...

But back to Reamde, which is probably the most easily accessible thing I've read by Stephenson since Snow Crash or Zodiac. But at times while reading the globetrotting plot with its large cast that pin-balled off each other I had to wonder. Why did Stephenson glue together two or three Bruce Sterling novels?

Total Books: 23

Followed up April's reading of all the "Ring of Fire" anthologies with rereading the shared world novels for the series in May. Starting with Eric Flint's 1632 and then Flint and David Weber's 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War...

Then a brief break to check out Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot. Which is the start of an urban fantasy series set in London following a rookie half-North African rookie cop slash trainee wizard. The main villain in the debut is a rage-inducing mad ghost...

Then back to RoF with the Flint edited 1634: Ram Rebellion anthology and the Flint/Andrew Dennis Papal States books 1634: the Gallileo Affair and 1635: the Cannon Law...

And then back to Aaronovitch again. His second book Moon Over Soho with jazz-obsessed spirits, vindictive river godlings and a secret magical cabal from the 70s. I'm really digging this series. Very dry British wit combined with some truly horrible violence and horror...

But then more of the Grantville time travelers. Flint and Virginia DeMarce's 1634: the Bavarian Crisis and 1635: the Dreeson Incident, Demarce alone on Tangled Webs and finally Flint soloing 1635: the Eastern Front and 1636: the Saxon Uprising...

After that I got to some ongoing series. The latest from Charlaine Harris', Dead Reckoning. Where one of Sookie's various old foes (or maybe someone new) attempts to burn down Merlotte's. Plus fucked up vampire politics thanks to King of Nevada's take-over of the Louisana territory. Which does lead to a confrontation whose centerpiece is a return of Bubba. Not having brain-damaged Elvis in the tv series is the one change I'm most unhappy with about "True Blood"...

Then more time travel. This time with Connie Willis Blackout. A middle book to the academic time traveler series that started with To Say Nothing of the Dog. Excellent look at the London Blitz from the perspective of three different trapped undercover historians...

And then got to E.E. Knight's Winter Duty. I never understand why the roommate dislikes this series set in a post-apocalypse Earth. Or William Dietz' "Legion of the Dammned". Both have basically evolved into slightly modified milspec fiction. And he enjoys that genre with Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40k stuff or Bernard Cornwell. Oh well, Winter Duty has Valentine struggling to keep his unit of former Quisling troops active after a change in government leaves them out in the cold...

Next I tried out another book of the roommates, from the giant pile of stuff he bought practically blind. Gods of Manhattan by Al Ewing is a pulpish bit of alt history with expies of Doc Savage (Doc Thunder), the Shadow (Blood-Spider) and Zorro (El Sombra). Fairly enjoyable book full of secret Nazi/criminal groups, somewhat steampunk-ish modern trappings and over-the-top heroes and villains. Though I'll admit to be somewhat ashamed at how long it took me to figure out who deceased vigilante the Blue Ghost was an homage to. Especially with his former sidekick, Japanese street kid turned cop Weston East...

I am proud to say that I read Terry Pratchett and Bernard Parson's the Discworld Almanac - the Year of the Prawn as it (and all almanacs) was meant to be read. Over a month, when on the toilet...

Finished up the month with another pair of ongoing urban fantasy series entries. Kat Richardson's Vanished where her Greywalker lead ends up in London dealing with crazy vampire infighting. It is nice to see the occasional series in this genre where the vamps aren't misunderstood angsty dark angels. But just various styling of total fucking bastards...

The other and final book was Mark del Franco's Uncertain Allies. I like the sereis. But I occasionally wonder about the magical groups in the world who aren't based on Celtic or Teutonic folklore. Are they all just smart enough not to get exiled back to the human world or something? I mean given the arrogant idiocy of the leadership of the Celtic Faeries and German Elves I can see not being willing to have anything to do with anything they've touched...

Total books: 20