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beniowa

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About beniowa

  • Birthday 03/05/1979

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    beniowa79
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    http://thedecklededge.blogspot.com
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  • counting my To Read Pile
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Iowa City, Iowa
  • Interests
    Reading - what else is there? Okay, also computer games, writing, sports, astronomy, history, archaeology.

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  • Name
    Benjamin

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  1. Pebble, you can put me down. Got my room reserved, though I still need to buy the plane tickets.
  2. My Heart is a Chainsaw was okay, but of SGJ's work, I much prefer The Only Good Indian and Mongrels. Earlier this year I read Lone Women by Victor LaValle. Kind of a historical fiction western horror and it was really good. So was The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due. I need to get around to catching up on Slatter. I've also heard good things about Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez.
  3. Like dog-days further up the thread, I read And Put Away Childish Things by Tchaikovsky. Pretty good, though of the author's six novellas for Solaris, this might be my least favorite. The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss, a big collection of the author's short fiction and poetry. I'm a big fan of the author's work so I really enjoyed this. Lastly, I read The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang. This is a science fantasy version of Joan of Arc in the far future. It was quite good, certainly made a lot of points on the dangers of religious fundamentalism. I did wish for more resolution at end where things just kind of peter out.
  4. In April, I'm most looking forward to: The Way Home by Peter S. Beagle In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee Tauhou by Kotuku Titihuia Nuttall
  5. I read The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, a great little fantasy novella from Tordotcom. I really liked this one. Also read a space opera, Loki's Ring by Stina Leicht, about the captain of a salvage ship who gets a call for help from her AI "daughter" and shenanigans ensue. I've been following this author for years so it's not surprising that I enjoyed this latest book.
  6. I've read two YA books since last time. The first one is The Nightland Express by J.M. Lee, a fantasy western about two sixteen year-olds, one a biracial guy and the other a woman pretending to be a man, who take a special job for the Pony Express on the eve of the Civil War. The package and job are not what they expect. They end up dealing with all matter of things from estranged family to fae and other supernatural creatures. It does do a good job of character relationships and characters navigating a world not meant for them. It also lacks almost all the usual tropes of YA fiction so I wasn't constantly rolling my eyes. On the other hand, I never really got into the writing and felt it lacked polish. And, perhaps this is a little unfair, I almost thought the story would have been better without the supernatural elements. The other book was Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi. This is is a feminist retelling of Robin Hood told from the Muslim side of the Third Crusade. The concept actually works surprisingly well. The writing and narrative were very strong. The character relationships between each member of the gang were great. Like the other book, it has very little of the usual YA tropes and those it does have, it handles it well. The thing I would say against it is that it tries too hard to fulfill the Robin Hood mythos to the point of borrowing bits and scenes from previous stories and films. A couple of characters from the Christian side didn't come off too well, but given the events in question, perhaps that's not surprising. I quite enjoyed this one.
  7. Almost the end of March, but besides Dead Country, which I've already read, I'm looking forward to these books this month: Loki's Ring by Stina Leicht Lone Women by Victor LaValle And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Use Utomi
  8. Same. I was already a fan of the author, but this is definitely an eye-catching cover.
  9. I finished The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding, sequel to The Ember Blade. I absolutely loved Ember Blade, and while I didn't like the sequel quite as much, it was still very good. Also read a short novel, The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E. Cooney. This one is a bit hard to describe. It's kind of a wacky, revolutionary little book about saints and angels in a fantastical city ruled by angels. A little weird, but I liked it quite a bit. One of my favorite reads last year!
  10. Keep forgetting to post here so I'll just do the ones I've read so far in March. Read The Terraformers, a new release by Annalee Newitz. This is kind of a hopeful book about people dealing with corporations on a terraformed world in the far future. Felt a little piecemeal, but it did end pretty strongly. Also read Parable of the Talents, second book in the Earthseed Duology. Another dark, powerful book by Octavia Butler. My most recent read was Dead Country by Max Gladstone, seventh book of the Craft Sequence. Hard to believe it's been five years since the last Craft book. This was shorter and more reflective than most in the series, but I really enjoyed it.
  11. I sometimes like to read a short story anthology or collection along with the current novel and this month it was Song of the Mango and Other New Myths by Vida Cruz-Borja. I absolutely adored this. The author is Filipino and many of the stories draw from Filipino culture and folklore. Other stories are more traditional, but often used inverted tropes. For example, "Chosen Mother", takes the trope of the Chosen One and instead tells the story of the woman chosen to be the mother. Really, really good. Also read The House of Always, penultimate book in the five-book Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons. Pretty decent with a lot of development for several of the characters. On the other hand, the series storytelling narrative of telling half the story in flashback didn't completely cover the fact that not much actually happens. Perhaps that's be expected in the bridging volume before the last book. Will be reading the last book later this year.
  12. In January, besides Hell Bent and Children of Memory, I'm also looking forward to The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz and The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai.
  13. Hi folks! Long time no see. Going to try posting regularly here again. We'll see how long I manage it. First read of the year was The City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which came out in the UK last month. This one is a fantasy about a revolution brewing in a city occupied by foreign powers. I always enjoy Tchaikovsky and this was no exception, though at the end it felt like there was little point to anything that happened. This might have been a five star read for me, but that brings it down to four. I made short work of Even Though I Knew the End, a queer historical fantasy by C.L. Polk. This was a Tordotcom novella about sorcerers, souls, and angels in historical Chicago and I quite enjoyed it. Also read The Snack Thief, third book in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series by Andrea Camilleri.
  14. As stated by DaveAx above, I will be there. See you all in a week.
  15. beniowa

    Board Issues 4

    I can't post in Firefox from my laptop, even after clearing the browser history or logging out and back in. Chrome is having issues too. I'm posting this with Explorer.
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