Marion: I’ve been re-reading both Greg van Eekhout and Daryl Gregory; The CALIFORNIA BONES series, and Afterparty, which I think would make a great streaming series. Now I’m finally settling in with Simon Singh’s 1999 book The Code Book, which dumbs down a lot of fascinating mathematical information enough that even I can understand it.
Bill: Amidst a lot of final papers/portfolios, since our last update I’ve read
- The Possibility of Life by Jaime Green: a fantastic look at the idea of life beyond Earth
- The Ferryman by Justin Cronin: a well-written sort-of-dystopia
- Deadly Memory by David Walton: a techno-thriller with great dinosaur characters
- The Way Home by Peter Beagle: a lovely duology from one of our best fantasists
- Odin by George O’Connor: as with his OLYMPIANS series, a must-read
- And on audio I finished listening to two more Didius Falco books by Lindsey Davis: Three Hands in the Fountain and Two for the Lions, both of which continue the fun
Sandy: Moi? I recently read a collection of Clifford D. Simak’s shorter work entitled All the Traps of Earth and Other Stories, which originally came out in 1963. I really did love every single one of the tales in this generously sized book. I have also recently read Don Wilcox’ hugely fun outing from 1940, the short novel entitled The Whispering Gorilla, as well as David V. Reed’s 1943 sequel to that book, The Return of the Whispering Gorilla. A gorilla with the transplanted brain of a man fighting Nazis during WW2 … who could possibly resist, right? Last week, I read Elliott O’Donnell’s marvelous novel of Atlantean magic in the early 20th century, The Sorcery Club (1912), which I also hugely enjoyed. And finally, I am currently reading another supernatural affair from 1912, G. Firth Scott’s Possessed, which has really sucked me right in. Anyway, I look forward to sharing some thoughts on all five of these books with you here very shortly….
Terry: I remain entranced by Louise Penny’s THREE PINES mystery series and everything by David Baldacci, but that doesn’t mean I’m not reading science fiction, fantasy and horror. In fact, I have a ridiculous number of books going at the moment. I just finished Steven Brust’s Jhereg, and will be moving on to the next in the series very soon. I read M. Rickert’s Lucky Girl: A Krampus Story, and am very glad I did so when it’s nice and sunny out, because it’s very dark and scary. I’ve started Age of Ash, the first of Daniel Abraham’s KITHIMAR TRILOGY, which has one of the most promising openings I’ve read in a while. I’ve read about the first 50 pages of The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard, a rare self-published read for me, and am finding it charming. I’m about halfway through In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune, who has become a favorite writer, and this Pinnochio-flavored tale is as good as anything else he’s done. I’m still dipping in and out of The Best of Lucius Shepard (Volume I), Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone, Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth, A.K. Mulford’s The High Mountain Court, C.S.E. Cooney’s Saint Death’s Daughter and Owen King’s The Curator. Never a dull moment around here!
I think using my pic as the intro image is just mean! :)
Seriously, though, it’s time to change my profile pic to my newer headshot with the blue hat. I’ll see if I can’t shoot you guys a copy.
Marion, finding a piece of art for this has been on my to-do list, just haven’t had time. Do you want to look for something that’s legal to use? Or we can create something from the dragon art.
The standout read for the week was Marlen Haushofer’s 1963 novel The Wall, about a middle-aged woman who finds she may be the last human alive, with only a dog, a cat, and a cow for company. Very emotionally affecting. I also read Ness Brown’s space horror short novel The Scourge Between Stars, which had lots of excitement but kept me careful not to question the premises and characters’ behaviors too closely. Outside of genre I read Jessica Au’s haunting novella Cold Enough For Snow, about a daughter and mother on a sightseeing trip to Japan, and Willa Cather’s short story collection The Troll Garden. Now halfway through Emperor of Ruin, final book in Django Wexler’s Burningblade and Silvereye fantasy trilogy. Next up is Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Charles Mackay).