lurkerwithout | Entries tagged with jim butcher

Short story wise for back in May we had the Litany of the Earth by Ruthanna Emyrs a CoC mythos story on faith from the perspective of the near human. The Steel Soldiers' Gambit by Ian Thomas Haley, part of reading the remainder of his "Just Cause" supers series, where a robot bluffs a mentalist at a poker game. And then a tale of artistry, obsession and justice with Walking Stick Forest by Anna Tambour...

Decided to start adding in a few of the trade/graphic novels for the month. At least the ones that feel note-worthy. Starting with Andre the Giant: Life & Legend by Box Brown. Excellent biography, well worth getting. Then we've got The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by Gerard Way & Shaun Simon (words) and Becky Cloonan (draws). Which is a story of rebellion and sex robots and humanity vs. safety. And finally Mike Maihack gets a collection of his webcomic Cleopatra in Space. Well, more an expansion then a collection. This (hopefully) first volume covers the origin of the time-plucked space heroine...

John Allyn's 47 Ronin is far from the first adaptation of the Japanese historical folk-tale. But at least his doesn't have Keanu Reeves as a half-breed wizard. Or whatever the movie was about. Ok book though...

I may start putting off getting the Goodlett edited Grantville Gazette's until I can buy them in big blocks once or twice a year. Because once again I can't remember much of anything from this volume without pulling up my copy...

Sparrow Hill Road by Sean McGuire is a ghost story and a collection of road stories and a love story. Also sort-of an "InCryptid" novel, but only a bit...

After reading Neil Gaiman's M is for Magic collection I swear I'd already read it. I've probably just run across several of the stories in other collections. The one about the cat and the devil I've definitely read somewhere else...

Blake Crouch's Grab (though my copy says Snatch) is the third "Letty Dobesh" story. This time recovering addict Letty ends up in Vegas recruited as part of a multi-million job targeting a legendary thief...

I ended up giving up on Chad Leito's the Academy, some kind of dystopian future, super-soldier training, deadly cabal yadda yadda thing. Nothing in the first third managed to really hold my interest...

So after reading the prequel to Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, Stranger to Command, I reread the former. Again. Because I'm always curious to see if more information on the antagonist of the first half of the book makes me want to smack them in the gob less. And because this reread involved the expanded e-edition, which adds several viewpoint changes of pivotal scenes, this actually happened. Mostly because you can know see the character thinking about how he is completely fucking up every encounter he has with book's female lead...

As mentioned earlier, I grabbed up the remainder of Ian Thomas Healy's "Just Cause" supers series. Day of the Destroyer, the Archmage, Just Cause Omnibus and Jackrabbit. I think I liked the last one the most, where a teen has to fight an alien invasion after getting divinely empowered by the god Rabbit. Giving him super-rabbit powers...

Chuck Wendig's psychic heroine "Mirriam Black" takes a visit to the Florida Keys to face another crazy with their own twisted psychic gift in Commorant...

Bonnie Shimko's You Know What You Have to Do left me feeling sad and unsatisfied. Mostly because the ending didn't feel..finished really...

Elizabeth Bear's Shattered Pillars very much scales up the tension and conflict of her "Eternal Sky" series. As a middle book should...

Jim Butcher's latest "Dresden Files" book Skin Game brings back the Denarians, with Harry forced by his service to Winter to work with them on a heist of the vault of Hades...

I sort of feel that Elizabeth Moon's Crown of Renewal shouldn't have quite so many unfinished plot hooks lieing around in it, if its actually meant a finale for her "Paksworld" series...

I'm not sure what lead me to backing Kelly Thompson's Kickstarter for her Storykiller book. Its a good book, one of those All Stories are Real kind of things. Mashed up with some Chosen Girl butt-kickery. Sort of a Fables meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I just wasn't familiar with any of her previous work. Probably did it from a rec from someone whose work I follow more closely...

And finally finished the month with another rereading of Lois McMaster Bujold's Captain Vorpatrill's Alliance. Of the various "Vor" books I'd say I still like A Civil Campaign best, but CVA is the one I've been going back to the most frequently. Flustered Ivan is even better than flustered Miles I guess...

Total Books: 22

Current Mood: accomplished

And once again just beating out the end of the current month to write up the previous month. Started December with the newest "Iron Druid" from Kevin Hearne, Trapped and the final-for-now "Edger" book from Ilona Andrews, Steel's Edge. The former has Atticus attempting to finish up the investment of his Druid apprentice, while dealing with the vengeful and petty Greco-Roman pantheons as well as fufilling the weregild he owes to the Norse gods. The latter finishes up (at least for now) the Andrews' paranormal action/romance series...

Also early in the month was the latest "Stephanie Plum" book from Janet Evanovitch, Notorious Nineteen. This was probably the first time in awhile I didn't binge on a series reread before hand. I thought the previous book was showing a bit of a loss of energy for the series, but this one picked things back up a bit...

After that I started on the free e-version of Elizabeth Moon's Sheepfarmer's Daughter at work, only to find that Baen had trimmed down their free library by a bit when I went to add it to my Kindle the next day. Meaning I had to go with my very beat up paperback copy to finish...

After that was an older Cherie Priest story, Dreadful Skin involving river boats and gun toting nuns and werewolves...

Then I had a Bujold reread binge, brought on by a blog post over on Tor.com. Starting with Shards of Honor, Barrayar, Memory and a Civil Campaign. Then later in the month Cryoburn and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. And towards the end of the moth Diplomatic Immunity. The Ivan book is now tied with Cordelia's books on number of reads I think. Though a Civil Campaign is still slightly ahead...

And in between those two main blocks of Bujold were a few books. Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling's After anthology. Which was a collection of dystopian and post-apocalyptic Young Adult stories. Then the newest "Harry Dresden" book by Jim Butcher, Cold Days. With the newly reborn Harry working as the Knight of Winter. Which ends with some major changes to the status quo. And finally started a "real" world people in a fantasy setting series by Mark Anthony of the roommates. Beyond the Pale introduces the pair of "normal" protagonists and the general set-up. This has been a set-up I thought I'd grown tired with, so I was pleasantly surprised to be drawn into this...

Next up after a Bujold block was Mathew Hughes' Costume Not Included, the second of his "To Hell and Back" books. Which adds several twists to its concept that the world is a Book being written (and occasionally rewritten) by God...

Then it was the e-book edition of Erik Russell's Wasp. A long out of print book I've been trying to track down for ages since seeing it recommended on Pratchett's Fantastic Fiction page. A bit dated, but still a very clever tale of espionage...

And speaking of Pratchett, we've got the annual holiday reading of Hogfather. And then a reread of Thief of Time 'cause I was wanting still more of Susan...

After that was another e-book, with the free edition of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. While there is more than a bit of dated attitudes going on, I was a bit pleasantly surprised to see it have a bi-racial romance and a lead who seemed to have Asperger's or the like...

Then I finally finished up Barry Hughart's The Chronicles of Master Li & Number 10 Ox omnibus. I'd been reading this collection of detective stories mashed-up with mystical ancient Chinese folk tales for quite some time. Excellent stuff, but thick and weighty...

Next was Glory Lane by Alan Dean Foster. It had been literally decades since I last read this one and I hadn't remembered how big a shallow twit both the main leads were. Still some funny bits and some good scifi high concepts...

And finally finished out the month with another dystopian YA anthology, Diverse Energies edited by Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti. The main hook here is in the diversity of the stories and writers; in regards to gender, race, sexuality and so forth...

Total Books: 23

Current Mood: hungry

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

Current Mood: accomplished

Opened the month up with Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn, a mix of near future fall of civilization and ancient myth. And while I enjoyed Vaughn's modern paranormal werewolf call-in radio show host series, this one just didn't work for me. I don't know if it was the set up or the asshole Greek gods, but I just didn't care for it...

I was much more pleased with the second Vaughn book I read in the month, After the Golden Age, a supers book about the non-powered daughter of a super-hero couple. Not a perfect book, but enjoyable...

Got the final Beka Cooper book by Tamora Pierce, Mastiff early in the month as well. A bit more morose in tone than the previous ones, but overall a fine ending to the trilogy with Beka and her law dog partners being brought in to track down a kidnapped prince by a very ruthless and arrogant cabal...

After that I ended up buying a whole mess more of David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series. Flag in Exile, Honor Among Enemies, In Enemy Hands, Echoes of Honor, Ashes of Victory and War of Honor. So books five thru nine in series. I do enjoy Weber, but he's got a some noticeable writing tics. As I mentioned last month, he's got a tendency to do huge info-dumps of expository dialogue or just description. Which I'll admit on a few occasions led to some "don't care, don't care skim skim skim" during bits of world building or tech description. Especially the later. Really I'm more space opera than hard scifi so I don't really care most of the time how the widget works. I'm fine with a bit of Trek techno-babble to hand wave things. Still, I don't doubt there are plenty out there who love getting the details. And another quirk of Weber's is related to that. He can give a seemingly unneeded amount of back-story to minor characters. Many of whom end up very, very dead within pages. Still, I'm within a couple books of being caught up on the main series and I'm tracking down both various side-books, collaborations and anthologies AND dipping into some of his other series so its not like its a huge turn off for me...

And while skimming thru Baen's e-book selection (specifically the free section) I came across the Baen 2011 Free Short Story anthology. A nice collection, including two scifi writers I hadn't heard of before, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller's "Liaden Universe" and Michael Z. Williamson's "Freehold", whose stories intrigued me enough that I'll be checking them out in more detail at some point...

Sadly the same isn't true of Dani & Eyton Kollin's the Unincorporated Man. Borrowed that one from the roommate's collection and its story about a future where every person in a publicly trade corporation and what happens to that society when an unincorporated cryogenic revival is dropped into it didn't work for me. Which means I'll be giving the other two books in the series a pass...

Happily though, my next book was a new "Shadows of the Apt" book by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Heirs of the Blade follows several of the characters in the Dragonfly Commonweal lands. Very enjoyable, though a bit of a bridging book setting things up for the renewal of the threat of the Wasp Empire...

Also got a new Grantville Gazette in November, the 38th. Which reminds me, I really need to get around to transferring all the Baen e-books I bought that month to my computer so I can transfer them to my Kindle...

The roommate also pushed Jim Butcher's Spider-Man novel, the Darkest Hours, on me and I was more than pleasantly surprised by it. Its set sometime during the J.M.S. run on the comic but before Spidey joins up with the Avengers. Though his use of both M.J. and the marriage, as well as a partial face turn by the Rhino, makes me even more annoyed with "One More Day" and parts of "The Gauntlet" all over again. But for Spider-Man fans who have avoiding the comics out of disgust, this is an excellent way to get a Spidey fix...

Finally got around to picking up a copy of the Lois McMaster Bujold novel, Falling Free. Which is an early book by her that serves as something of a prequel to the Vorkosigan books. A bit rough in spots, but nice...

Got the second of Larry Correia's "Grimnoir" series, Spellbound. Which are about magically powered super-humans in the 1920s. Very pulpy and fun, though Correia is a bit of a gun fetishest. Not as much here as in his "Monster Hunter" series, but there is still some of it...

Also on the always meant to get around to reading list is Jane Lindskold's Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls. If only because I love that title. Which made me think this would be a fantasy book. But its actually a dystopian near future one with a bit of psychic powers thrown into the mix...

Then it was Mira Grant's second zombies vs. bloggers "Newsflesh" books, Deadline. Which follows up on the conspiracy exposed in Feed and takes things to a whole new level of Oh Fuck Me. I'm pretty sparing with getting into zombie stuff, because it honestly gives me screwed up dreams, but Grant is a definite keeper...

And then I finished up the month with an early fantasy book by Patricia Briggs, Masque and the sequel to it she wrote much later, Wolfesbane. Even with some re-editing for a new release the first book is very much a first novel. Not a bad book about mercenary/spy/mage girl versus the Giant Evil Wizard, but definitely full of some well-used fantasy tropes and rough first-book-out-of-college edges...

Total books: 20

Current Mood: sleepy

Ok, so lets do this again...

Started off July with the most recent (#36) "Ring of Fire" Grantville Gazette e-book anthology. Which like the Ring of Fire 3 "pro" anthology features more than a bit on airships in the altered past. I'm still hoping for some more Russia updates. I know people are working on them from the occasional foray into the Baen's Bar forum, but none seem to be ready. Pity, Russia and the Barbie Consortium are probably the two side groups I'm most interested in. Oh and the various musicians...

Then I gave Timothy Zahn's far-future espisonage series another chance, trying out the Domino Pattern. They're just not clicking with me. But happily I see he's done another "Star Wars" EU book, so I've got that at least...

After that I went to the roommate's collection and Bernard Cornwell's "Grail Quest" series. Harlequin, Vagabond and Heretic follow an archer in the army of prince Edward III during the Hundred Years War. So in addition to that hunt for the Grail going on in the background, you get the Crecy battle, among others...

Got the new Stephanie Plum, Smokin' Seventeen, that month from Janet Evanovich. Which meant first rereading the previous sixteen over seven days. It looks like I burned through four of them all on the 12th even. Enjoyable series, but it really is like snack food...

Read a couple more anthologies last month as well. First Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow. Urban fantasy with many of the usual suspects. Fun Harry Dresden and the Cub's Curse one by Butcher and a nice vampire one from Patricia Briggs...

Steampunk edited by Ann & Jeff Vandemeer was another of the roommate's. Decent enough in places, though many of the short stories really feel kind of incomplete. And the editorial intro's really kind of grated on me. But it does include a short piece from Michael Moorcock and a follow-up to the Diamond Age from Neal Stephenson...

Got the finale to Jim Hines' "Princess" series, the Snow Queen's Shadow. A bittersweet ending for Cinderella, Snow and Sleeping Beauty, but a good read. Though I do keep dwelling on the probable fate of the poor ship's cat. And just getting so damn angry. I should go over to Hine's journal and yell at him. Poor kitty...

Of course July also saw the long awaited release for George R.R. Martin's Dance of Dragons. Which has more Jon Snow and Tyrion and Daenyrs and even a couple people I thought were dead. And who don't even come back as vengeance zombies. So yay for that...

Though it didn't have the wait time, I was looking forward to Jim Butcher's new "Dresden Files" Ghost Story. Which is full of the usual perfect storm of Heartwarming, Heartbreaking and Awesome. Plus we find out who shot Harry at the end of Changes. And a nice twist at the end...

And I finished the month with the very last "Spenser" book from the late Robert Parker. Sixkill was good and all, and I've still got a pile of unread stuff from his backlist, but dammit I'm gonna miss Parker...

Total books: 28

Current Mood: sad

Jan: 21 + Feb: 15 + March: 23 + Apr: 17 + May: 34 + Jun: 33 + July: 25 + Aug: 23 + Sept: 29 + Oct: 16 + Nov: 19 + Dec: 17 = 272 total

Down a bit from '09. I expect the heavy reading in the summer months is a combination of it being the off season at work and lots of rereading of various series for the nth time...

Looking back over the monthly recaps I'd say that the book I'd recomend to the most people unreservedly would be Charlie Huston's The Mystic Arts of Removing All Signs of Death. Which I need to replace, since I gifted out my copy at Christmas. Favorites from the New-to-me writers for the year would likely be Naomi Novik for her "Temeraire" series, Jim Hines for his "Princess" books and Adrian Tchaikovsky with the "Shadows of the Apt" series. Giant Gut Punch Awards go to the endings of Bujold's Cryoburn and Butcher's Changes. And a giant You're Still Missed to the late Robert Parker who passed on just over year ago...

Past Totals -
'06: 246
'07: 211
'08: 247
'09: 296

Current Mood: awake

This was a bit of a light month for me. Starting with rereading much of my McCaffery Pern books. The Harper Hall of Pern and The Renegades of Pern on the 2nd. All the Weyrs of Pern and The Dolphins of Pern on the 3rd. And The Skies of Pern on the 5th. All of which makes me wish she and her new writing partner would stop with the prequel stuff and revisit the "current" time again. I just don't care about the previous plagues but do want to know what Lord Torric's next scheme is...

On the 6th another reread, First Lord's Fury, the giant climatic finale to Jim Butcher's Aleran Codex series...

Finished the latest Ring of Fire book on the 8th, 1635: the Eastern Front a solo book by series creator Eric Flint. Following the United States of Europe's campaign against Saxony, Bohemia (I think) and then Poland...

Then more rereading on the 12th and 15th. Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies respectively, the first and so far only two books in his Gentlemen Bastards series. Though I see Fantastic Fiction is projecting a February '11 launch for the third book. Fingers crossed on that...

On the 19th I finished the recently reprinted anthology Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi. Definitely worth a read for any fans of cyberpunk, near-future noir genre. "The People of Sand & Slag", "Pump Six" and "Pop Squad" especially stuck with me...

Started rereading Jane Lindskold's Through Wolf's Eyes series on the 21st. I do so enjoy reading about raised-by-wolves Firekeeper and her friends...

Though I paused from that series when I got the latest steampunk WWI book from Paul Westerfeld, Behemoth, finishing it on the 23rd. With girl-disguised-as-a-boy airship crewman Deryn and the incognito missing Hapsburg prince Alek getting drawn into the politics of the Ottoman Empire in the hopes of keeping them out of the war...

Got back to Lindskold and reading Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart on the 26th. Which has Firekeeper and the other's chasing magical artifacts in the magic-crazed land of New Kelvin...

Then more Jim Butcher when I got his short story collection Side Jobs which I was done with on the 27th. I'd read all but a couple of them already of course. But I only owned a few. And one of those is "Backup" which was previously available as an almost criminally over-priced hard cover. Even with the Mike Mignola illustrations. And the last, which is first published here, "Aftermath" takes place almost immediately following Changes. And like "Backup" its one of the few not from Harry's perspective. In this case, being a Karin Murphy eye's view tale...

And on the 30th I finished the first Hunger Games book by Suzanne Collins. Which is a post-society collapse where the current Big Government engages in some truly nasty bread & circus entertainment involving drafted teens and a to the death gladiator contest...

Through the last week of the month I was also beta reading The Triad Society from friend Joe Selby. And as always heres to hoping he finds an agent and publisher so I can add his books to my shelf. The Triad Society is a steampunk setting story, though set right at the beginning of the equivilant to an Industrial Revolution. Which is giving rise to numerous commoner and noble secret societys that could bring about a different kind of revolution. I especially enjoyed the lead character who is more than a bit of a pompous jerk. But who at least does what can be seen as the "right" thing even if its more out of a sense of nobelesse oblige...

Total books: 16

Current Mood: accomplished

August 1 - Terry Pratchett - Guards, Guards
Aug. 2 - Men at Arms
Aug. 3 - Feet of Clay
Aug. 4 - Jingo
Aug. 5 - the Fifth Elephant
- The Truth
Aug. 7 - Nightwatch
- Monstrous Regiment
Aug. 8 - Going Postal
Aug. 9 - Thud
Aug. 10 - Making Money: So I decided to start the month off by rereading the Guards of Ankh-Morpokh Discworld sub-series. And also some that felt like related books in The Truth, Going Postal and Making Money...

Aug. 10 - Stephen King - Blockade Billy: A pair of short stories by King. The titular first story, concerning a major league ball player with a devastating secret. The is a much weaker piece I can't even recall the name of that tries to be about the flexibility of morals that never really comes together...

Aug. 14 - Thomas Mullen - The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers: This was an enjoyable piece of crime fiction, set during the Depression and following a pair of bank robber brothers and their family and enemies. With just a taste of the supernatural to it...

Aug. 15 - Andrew Vachss - Pain Management: While cooling down from his "death" in Portland, Burke hires on to track down a runaway teen girl. Which ends up getting him involved with those who provide illegal pain relief to the terminally ill...

Aug. 17 - Robert B. Parker - Enter Spenser: An omnibus of the first three Spenser novels by the late, great Parker. The Godwulf Manuscript, God Save the Child and Mortal Stakes. Reading these early works after getting into Parker late in his career is odd. Spotting the old familiar characters and writing tics is like panning for gold. And I'm certainly glad Parker managed to drop his tendancy to over-describe a scene or person...

Aug. 18 - Lois McMaster Bujold - Cordelia's Honor: After A Civil Campaign the two novella's (Shards of Honor & Barrayar) that introduce Miles' mother are probably my favorites of the series. Actually they're probably my 2nd favorite of all of Bujold's books...

Aug. 26 - Catherynne M. Valente - In the Night Garden: A series of stories being told to a young prince by an abandoned girl that loop around and back and interweave together. All filled with Valente's lush style...

Aug. 28 - Steven Brust - Jhegaala & Dzur: First you have Vlad attempting to track down his mother's kin in the human lands and then Vlad returning to the Empire help his wife and to again face against his old house. Even by the food heavy Brust standards Dzur has some outstanding bits of meal description...

Aug. 29-30 - Naomi Novik - Tremaire, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War: The Napoleonic Wars. With dragons. How To Train Your Dragon meets Bernard Cornwell or Patrick O'Brian. The first has a British Naval captain capturing a French warship and its cargo a dragon egg. The next has a trip to the Chinese capitol on a diplomatic mission. And the third involves an overland trip from China to Istanbul...

Aug. 31 - Jim Butcher - Changes: Butcher's most recent Dresden Files book probably sets a record for most consecutive CMAs and Hero Spots...

Total books: 23

Current Mood: hungry

*gets to end of book*

Wha..That can't..just...

...

Arghgh!

ARGH ARUGH ARGH ARGH

*potential spoilers in comments*

Current Mood: incoherant

Oct 1st-3rd: Eric Flint (ed) - Grantville Gazette III, Ring of Fire II, Grantville Gazette IV & V: Like I said for last month, I felt like rereading the anthologies for the Ring of Fire series again...

Oct 4th: Robert Parker - Stranger in Paradise: Chief Stone and his officers have a problem. Native American robber and probable-killer Crow has returned to town. And he's brought a family dispute involving a Florida mobster and a local youth gang with him...

Oct 5th: Steve Hamilton - North of Nowhere: Ex-cop and former P.I. Alex McKnight would prefer to be a hermit in his cabin. But his friends keep dragging him out to socialize. In this case to sit in on a poker game. One that turns into a robbery...

Oct 6th: Steven Gould - Helm: I've said this before, but it bears repeating. This is probably my favorite Lost Human Colony story...

Oct 7th - Flint/Virginia DeMarce - 1635: The Dreeson Incident: I mostly like DeMarce's Ring of Fire work. Mostly. I just wish she'd lay off infodumping the family history of her characters...

Terry Pratchett - Unseen Academicals: Like Making Money the latest Discworld really only has one noticeable flaw. Neither book has anything like a real villain. Though otherwise great book...

Oct 8th: Hamilton - Blood is the Sky: Alex and his friend Vinnie end up having to go into Canada to look for Vinnie's brother and a group of missing hunters...

Oct 9th: Hamilton - Ice Run: A romantic night out for McKnight and his new girlfriend, Ontario peace officer Natalie Reynaud turns odd when an old man leaves them a hat full of snow and a threatening note. And after the old man is found froze to death things begin to get ugly as the story of an old murder involving Natalie's father comes to light...

Oct 10th: Janet Evanovich - Finger Lickin' 15: Bounty Hunter Stephanie Plum, a murdered celebrity chef and a series of break-ins at properties under the protection of Ranger's business. Plus the regular oddball mix of Trenton characters...

Hamilton - Stolen Season: Alex and his friends rescue a group of drunken boaters during a fogged over night. The ungrateful group end up having a connection to a gun-runner case in Canada that an undercover Officer Reynaud is working...

Oct 13th: Elmore Leonard - Maximum Bob: Leonard mixes up some back-swamp rednecks, a "hanging" judge and an attractive probation officer...

Oct 14th: Christopher Moore - Island of the Sequined Love Nun: After a spectacularly stupid plane crash, pilot Tucker Case gets co-opted by a crooked religious leader and a WWII ghost/cargo cult demi-god...

Oct 17th: Jane Lindskold - 13 Orphans: College freshman Brenda Morris has just found out she's the latest in a line of Eastern magician's linked to the Rat of the Chinese Zodiac. And that there are others all linked to the other animals, all descended from a group of other world exiles. And someone (or ones) is hunting them and stealing their memories...

Oct 18: Hamilton - Night Work: Joe Trumble has hopes that things might be looking up. After several years of mourning the death of his fiance he's started dating again. But after a great first date he's brought by the police to a murder scene. His date has been killed in a way that eerily resembles his fiance's unsolved murder...

Oct 19th: Jim Butcher - Princep's Fury: Rereading Butcher's latest Codex Alera book while waiting for the finale to come out at the end of November. The parasitic Vord continue their conquest of Alera and nothing seems able to even slow them down, much less stop them...

Oct 20th: Stephen King - Just After Sunset: King's most recent collection of short fiction. Some good pieces, but nothing that stands out really...

Butcher - Dead Beat: Figured if I'm going to reread a bunch of Dresden Files books I might as well start with the one with all the zombies, the Wild Hunt and an undead T-Rex...

Oct 21st: Butcher - Proven Guilty: The story opens with Wizard and Warden Dresden having to sit in on the execution of a teen-age warlock. Always a distasteful job, especially for somewhere he spent years with a similar threat hanging over his head. Which is why it makes perfect ironical sense that he'd discover that the oldest daughter of his friend, and Knight of the Cross, Michael is a burgeoning Wizard who's been dabbling in black magic...

Butcher - White Night: Someone has been murdering female minor magical talents across the country. But when they start in Chicago it brings in Harry Dresden, Wizard. Slight mistake on the killers part...

Oct 22nd: Pratchett - Going Postal: Confidence artist supreme Moist VonLipwig finds himself sitting in a death cell waiting to be hanged. But the Patrician Vetinari hates to waste people with "useful" talents...

Oct 23rd: Butcher - Small Favor: Harry Dresden has a pretty full plate. Chicago's crime boss has gone missing, he's got a headstrong apprentice to try and teach and some big supernatural baddies are making waves in his town and some kind of goat-people just tried to kill him during a snowball fight. So of course Mab, Queen of the Winter Court, decides that NOW would be a good time to call in one of her favors...

Oct 24th: Butcher - Turn Coat: Warden Morgan is probably one of Harry's least favorite people. Morgan had spent years watching Harry, waiting for him to slip up so he could cut his head off as a warlock. So of course Dresden is the one he'd turn to when he's wounded and on the run from the rest of the White Council, accused of murder...

Oct 25th: Julian May - Jack the Bodiless: Being the tale of the early years of Paramount psychic Jack Remillard, the birth of the entity known as Fury and the beginning of the Metapyschic Rebellion...

Oct 26th: May - Diamond Mask: Furthering the tale of the Galatic Millieu and its would be conqueror Fury. As well as the life of Dorothea McDonald, sometimes known as Diamond Mask...

Oct 27th: May - Magnificat: The final chapter of Fury and the Metapsychic Rebellion. With the confrontation of husband and wife, Jack the Bodiless and Diamond Mask and Jack's brother and rebel leader Marc Remillard. Called by enemy and ally alike, Abaddon...

Oct 28th: Brian Jacques - Mattimeo: A sequel to Redwall. As the next generation of Redwall Monastery enjoys their childhood new threats appear. Between the Fox and slaver Slagar the Cruel and would-be conqueror General Ironbeak and his corvid army things look dark for the brave beasts of the monastery...

Oct 29th: Joe Haldeman - The Accidental Time Machine: An enjoyable, if somewhat slight, time travel story. A post-graduate student accidentally creates a device that sends itself forward in time by ever-increasing increments. Devising a way to attach it to a vehicle he goes along, only to find himself wanted for murder. And then taking ever longer leaps forward in the hopes of finding a way back...

Oct 31st: Pratchett/Ian Stewart/Jack Cohen - The Science of Discworld II: The Globe: The second book that combines Discworld fiction with some truly excellent science explanations. This time focusing much on what is needed for a Build-A-Human kit...

Total books: 31

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: The Clash, Death or Glory

I still can't believe the roommate spent $20 for it. I mean, don't get me wrong, its a very nice Dresden Files related short story. Though Thomas' final solution for the bad-guy is..um..bothersome at best. But the "book" is barely 70 pages. And small pages at that. And some of them are full-page illustrations. And yes, those illustrations are Mike Mignola originals. But still. Twenty dollars for a short story...

Though if it were a graphic trade? Written by Butcher and drawn by Mignola? Oh man, I'd be first in line to get ahold of that...

Current Mood: contemplative

"Tiny," Sanya rumbled to Micheal, clenching a demonstrative fist. "But fierce."

I like Sanya. A lot. Even more since he likes Murphy. :)

Current Mood: pleased

Dresden Files: the RPG. The main writer looks to be

chadu of Atomic Sock Monkey, creator of the critically acclaimed Dead Inside and the Zantabulous Zorceror of Zo (a great book, totally worth the 30 bucks I spent for the POD version)...

Current Mood: hopeful

I was really expecting this book to focus on the Winter Court of the Fae. So the focus on the White Court of the Vampires caught me slightly off-guard. Still more Thomas is good. Plus there were several future plot points being set up here. AND more background on what kind of dog Mouse is. Usefull for anyone out there thinking of writing up GURPS Dresden Files. *hint hint*

Current Mood: content
Current Music: AC/DC, Back in black

That was...uninspiring. I can cope with Bob being a sort of ghost hologram that lives in a skull, instead of a disembodied horny Spirit of Intellect. But it would be nice in a show about Harry Dresden, Wizard, if he did some of that whatchacallit. Magic. Or Magik. Or even Majik. This is not a good adaptation. Which is making it difficult to judge its merits as just a show. I'll have to wait for a couple more episodes to see if its worthwhile to continue to watch. But so far, not so much...

EDIT: Also, while Blackstone has some of that "weight of the world on my shoulders"-ness that Harry Dresden has, he had no real sense of humor. Harry's like Spider-Man. Even if a demon's about to eat his head and then blow up the city he still cracks a joke...

Current Mood: disappointed

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A Descent into Dullness

or Fat Boy Mutters to Self

Entries tagged with jim butcher

Reading List May '14

December '12 Book List

January '12 Book List

Book List Meme Nov. '11

July '11 Book List

2010 Book List Meme In Review

October '10 Book List

August 2010 Book List

Changes

October Book List

Backup

Small Favor

Wizard make you go boom

White Night

The Dresden Files