The majority of the short fiction this time around comes from me finally getting around to putting all of Sean McGuire's free stories on the old Kindle. All pretty good, though a few could have used some extra work going from opening chapter to complete but related story. But still, lot of free stories;
One Hell of a Ride,
No Place Like Home,
Married in Green,
Sweet Poison Wine,
the First Fall,
Loch & Key,
We Both Go Down Together,
Ghosts of Bourbon Street,
Blocked and
Black as Blood. All are part of her
InCryptid series. The latest novel of which,
Half-Off Ragnarok, is what got me jonesing to grab all the tie-in stories I hadn't gotten around to...
R.J. Ross'
Cape High is, not to surprisingly, another supers e-series. And like a lot of them, they start out rocky but improve as the books progress. Each book of teen-age supers branches to a new view point character. I got the first four;
Super-Villain Dad,
America's Grandson,
Hello Kitty and
Don't Know Jack along with the start of a tie-in short story series,
Black Cat Files: the Trial...
And I only read one of Tor.com's free fiction pieces in April,
Anyway Angie by Daniel Jose Older. Very nice near future dystopia/horror story. Manages that whole introduce a potential series thing without just feeling like an overstuffed introductory chapter. I'm hoping Older does put out more of this...
David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt's
Heaven's War continues their trilogy of a mixed group of humans kidnapped during a first contact situation. This second book moves around in focus a lot between the various stolen people from both the American and Indian space centers. And gives up the motivations of the conflicting alien groups...
Maker Space is K.B. Spengler's latest e-novel bridging the time jump gap of her webcomic,
a Girl & Her Fed. More conspiracies, cyborgs and police work. Though still no talking koala...
I've know read enough of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's
Liaden series that I can mostly figure out where the various stories in their second
Constellation omnibus should fit in the greater narrative. Which is a plus, since most of them drop you into their space opera setting pretty cold...
Another ok volume of the
Grantville Gazette edited by Paula Goodlett. But nothing in this 53rd volume that captured my interest like the musicians, Russian, Americas colonies or Sewing Circle/Barbie Consortium series. I was more pleased with the e-arc of
1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies by Eric Flint & Charles Gannon. Lots of pirates and politics and naval battling...
Mur Lafferty's
Ghost Train to New Orleans is an enjoyable second novel in her
Shambling Guide series. Good mix of world-building and character driven drama...
I picked up Ruth Downie's
Persona Non Grata on a whim when it was a Kindle Daily Deal I believe. Its an enjoyable mystery in a Roman Empire setting. I could see picking up more of them if I find them on the cheap. And I didn't have a giant electronic pile of unread books still...
Raising Steam is not one of Pratchett's better Discworld books. But neither is among the least. Like many of the recent in the series it has a feeling that the author wants to get as much down and into the series before he can't write anymore. And while Moist doesn't seem to have the focus of his previous two books, that fits a character whose base motivations have changed so drastically from his original introduction. Andof course even average Pratchett is better than no Pratchett...
Finished up the final part of Debra Doyle and James McDonald's original
MageWorlds trilogy. And while their space opera setting was nice enough I don't think I'll be picking up more of the expanded series. I may eventually take a look at some of their other fiction series...
I very much liked Tad Williams Celestial noir novel
the Dirty Streets of Heaven. And when I have the extra funds its' sequel is definitely on my list of books to pick up. It is a somewhat lengthy list though...
Finished out the month with the most recent door blocker anthology from
editors George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois,
Dangerous Women. Generally good to excellent collection of fiction. And I definitely got thru it faster than I did their Jack Vance tribute anthology...
Total Books: 17
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