October 2008 Reads

[kcf]

[quote name='AprilFool' post='1572498' date='Oct 30 2008, 10.11']Can anyone comment on some of her other books, especially the Company books?[/quote]

I haven't read the Company books, but I enjoyed [i]The Anvil of the World[/i]. It's a nice, satirical mosaic novel set in the same world as [i]The House of the Stag[/i].

[Arlingzen Bill]

I tried to read [u]Expiration Date[/u] by Tim Powers. I failed. I got about 100 pages in and wasn't enjoying the story. The story revolved around several people in So Cal that have some relationship with the paranormal and in some cases they [i]snort[/i] ghosts. Tim is the GOH at Philcon and i try to read something by the GOH of any cons I plan to attend.

I did enjoy Brandon Sanderson's [u]Elantris[/u].

Edited for forgotten content.

[Ser Bryon]

I just finished [i]Anansi Boys[/i] by Neil Gaiman, which I had never got around to reading for one reason or another. Definitely a good read. It easily made it into my "favorites list".

[Mexal]

[quote name='arlington bill' post='1573260' date='Oct 31 2008, 09.01']I tried to read [u]Expiration Date[/u] by Tim Powers. I failed. I got about 100 pages in and wasn't enjoying the story. The story revolved around several people in So Cal that have some relationship with the paranormal and in some cases they [i]snort[/i] ghosts. Tim is the GOH at Philcon and i try to read something by the GOH of any cons I plan to attend.

I did enjoy Brandon Sanderson's [u]Elantris[/u].

Edited for forgotten content.[/quote]

I enjoyed [b]Declare[/b] and[b] Last Cal[/b]l by Tim Powers quite a bit. I've heard really great things about [b]Anubis Gates[/b] which I have and will read at some point. Just figured I'd give you a few other options if you wanted to give him another try.

[Bellis]

[b]The Giver[/b] by Lois Lowry, one of those YA SFs that I somehow hadn't come across back when I was reading all that Monica Hughes.

[b]Secret History of Moscow[/b] by Ekaterina Sedia. I had been looking forward to this, and felt somewhat let down, in that I had a hard time really caring about the storyline, and the writing was fluid but un-special. But I do love Russian fairy tales and folklore, so that aspect was pretty cool.

Stella Gibbon's [b]Cold Comfort Farm[/b] is delightful from start to finish. It's more a parody than a pastiche, and although the main character is a Mary Sue, it's quite obvious that is the point.

[Arlingzen Bill]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1573398' date='Oct 31 2008, 12.18']I enjoyed [b]Declare[/b] and[b] Last Cal[/b]l by Tim Powers quite a bit. I've heard really great things about [b]Anubis Gates[/b] which I have and will read at some point. Just figured I'd give you a few other options if you wanted to give him another try.[/quote]


Were [b]Declare[/b] and[b] Last Call[/b] supernatural stories, or something else?

[Mexal]

[quote name='arlington bill' post='1573421' date='Oct 31 2008, 11.41']Were [b]Declare[/b] and[b] Last Call[/b] supernatural stories, or something else?[/quote]

Well, all of his books delve into supernatural of some kind...at least I think all of them do.

You should check out the blurbs and see if it interests you at all. I found them pretty fascinating/entertaining.

[Cuchulain]

Finished Ciaran Carson's translation of [i]The Táin[/i] today. I found this version very accessible and easy to read. The explanatory notes and short pronunciation guide were also quite useful. Recommended if you're interested in Irish legends.

[Arlingzen Bill]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1573426' date='Oct 31 2008, 12.44']Well, all of his books delve into supernatural of some kind...at least I think all of them do.

You should check out the blurbs and see if it interests you at all. I found them pretty fascinating/entertaining.[/quote]

I may just pass. I just don't find these stories compelling. Maybe my mood wasn't right for his stories. Then again he may still be a cool guy. I have liked authors and not their stories in the past.

[williamjm]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1573426' date='Oct 31 2008, 16.44']Well, all of his books delve into supernatural of some kind...at least I think all of them do.[/quote]

He has written three Science Fiction novels as well, but most of his work is Fantasy. I've read all of his fantasy novels, I'd say either Expiration Date or its sequel Earthquake Weather were the weakest of them. I thought The Anubis Gates, Declare, On Stranger Tides and Last Call were better, I'd definitely recommend any of them.

[quote]I may just pass. I just don't find these stories compelling. Maybe my mood wasn't right for his stories.[/quote]

Whether you'd like Powers' other books probably depends what you didn't like about it. They do all have a supernatural element but the other books do have a variety of settings (most of them are set in various historical periods rather than the contemporary California of Expiration Date) and some of them do involve other genres - Drawing of the Dark is more of an Epic Fantasy, The Anubis Gates is a time travel story, On Stranger Tides is about pirates in the Caribbean (and has a suspiciously similar plot in some respects to the later Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), Declare is as much a John Le Carre-style Cold War espionage novel as it is historical fantasy etc.

[Werthead]

Reading [b][i]Patient Zero[/i] [/b]by Jonathan Maberry. Al-Qaeda (or an affiliate thereof) creates zombies using prions to devastate the USA.

Brainlessly enjoyable hokum of the highest order.

[Quarterman]

Through A Glass, Darkly by Bill Hussey. A new Briton horror writer. He instantly swept me away into his book. An Amazon.com UK based bookseller sent this out to me in about a weeks span.

Excerpt:

Jack Trent stared into the bathroom mirror.

He could not fight it. [i]The dreaming[/i] reached out and pulled him through the glass. Alone, always alone, he tried to scream but his cries were smothered beneath layers of darkness. On the other side of the looking-glass, the shadows around him began to define themselves into shapes, solid and tangible: tree-shaded meadow grass, dank earth, dripping hollows. Jack waited until the vision had settled. Then he stepped onto the path that cut through the dream-forest and strode out into the night.

Knowing that the environment through which he moved existed only in his mind did not slow the jackhammer beat of his heart. The fact that the thorns scratching his skin were not real, that his skin itself was a fabrication, was immaterial. Every step through [i]the dreaming[/i] his fear quickened.

A chaos of birds taking flight broke the stillness. The beat of their wings passed overhead, and Jack felt a selfish desperation to move with them. Quickly, without guilt, out of the forest, abandoning the boy to his fate. But heroes do not leave children to die alone. He walked on, his torch illuminating the trembling leaves that overran the path.

At last, he reached the clearing. He tapped the torch against his palm to steady its light and began to search. Mist cordonedthe glade, banking in a wall around its perimeter. There were no stars or moon overhead, no rustle of night-time predators, no forest scent. Jack soon became used to the sensory vacuum, so that when a whiff of smouldering charcoal stung his nostrils, the leaden coarseness of it was somehow shocking. He paced out the entire area. Empty. He had been certain the boy would be here. The screams had rung out, calling to him between the boughs of the denuded oaks. He peered into the darkness. There was no shade to it, just a wall of uniform black. About to draw himself out of [i]the dreaming[/i], Jack paused. A dusky red light had crept over the crenellation of treetops and, by its glare, he saw them.


Backcover:

When a young man goes missing from the Fen village of Crow Haven, Inspector Jack Trent is sent to investigate. He finds an isolated, insular community which harbours a shocking secret. A secret he has already glimpsed in his dreams. Now, in a race against time, Jack must piece together the mystery surrounding Dr Elijah Mendicant and the ancient Darkness of Crow Haven. He must save the life of an innocent child and stop an ageless evil from rising once more.

But doubt remains. Can Jack overcome the demons from his past? And what will he make of the Doctor's final, devastating revelation?

The Doctor will see you now...

EDIT: Here is Bill's official website [url="http://www.billhussey.co.uk/"]http://www.billhussey.co.uk/[/url]

[Wik]

This month has been the entire Bakker series "Prince of Nothing" Just previous to that I finished Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksenarrion", Guy Gavriel Kay's "Lions of Al-Rassan" and made it about 70% of the way through two books dealing with the eastern front of World War II, specifically from the German military perspectives.

They have all had varying styles of writing but I can say without a doubt I have enjoyed all of them very much.

[Isis]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1573691' date='Oct 31 2008, 20.11']Reading [b][i]Patient Zero[/i] [/b]by Jonathan Maberry. Al-Qaeda (or an affiliate thereof) creates zombies using prions to devastate the USA.[/quote]Prions are so scary. You'd think that they'd make a good agent for transmissible zombie-ism. Except that all the prion diseases I ever heard of have ridiculously long incubation periods. I'm sure a zombie story could be arranged to incorporate the long IP but I'll believe it when I see it. Ergo, I think I need to read this. :)

I'm having another slump in my reading... I'm about 150 pages into Infoquake... it's alright, but it isn't really grabbing me.