Author: Tim Scheidler

Marion: I finished Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. It’s an optimistic delight of a book with a great octopus character.  Currently, I’m reading a debut mystery novel by Tracee de Hahn called The Swiss Vendetta. The interiors and descriptions are gorgeous.

Bill:  Since my last update, I’ve read:

• The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez: going on my Best of 22 list
• Neom by Lavie Tidhar: linked stories in the same universe as his great Central Station Neom didn’t hit that same exceedingly high mark,

Marion: Right now I’m beta-reading a friend’s manuscript about a friendship between two women; one a resident of an assisted living facility and the other a volunteer there. I’m also more than halfway through Rosewater, Book One of the WORMWOOD trilogy by Tade Thompson, and wondering why I overlooked this one for so long!

Sandy: Moi? I am currently reading another top-notch supernatural horror novel that is available nowhere else today except Ramble House. The book in question this week is Walter S.

Kat: I’m so busy at the beginning of a new academic year. I’m teaching an extra class this semester, a large freshmen-level general education course, so that’s taking a lot of my time. But since you heard from me last (it’s been a while), I’ve read Octavia Butler’s XENOGENESIS series (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago), three of Terry Pratchett’s DISCWORLD novels (Wyrd Sisters, Wintersmith,

Marion: I finished up Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett with mixed feelings which I shared in the comments of Bill’s excellent review. I needed a palate cleanser, so I reread a couple of things. The Dain Curse, by Dashiell Hammett, reminded me how much I love his world-weary Continental Op, and his dialogue–also unpleasantly reminded me of the racism. Harder to take than I remembered. Continuing the reread trend, I dove into Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Perfectly Fine.

Marion: I read and greatly enjoyed Amongst our Weapons, the latest RIVERS OF LONDON book by Ben Aaronivitch, and now I’ve started Locklands, final book in Robert Jackson Bennett’s FOUNDERS trilogy. I spent some time reading the rough draft of my current WIP with an eye to revision, and continue that process today.

Terry: I continue with my reread of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, noting a lot more detail than I did the first time through,

Marion: Most of this week was spent reaching and completing the final chapter in my draft WIP, which is now… a complete draft. Yay me. I read around in The Lives of Fungi by Britt A Bunyard (research), and finished Book Three in the LIMINAL series by Ayize Jama-Everett. The Liminal War relies on music, family and time travel. To my pleasant surprise, Terry’s review of the first book is blurbed on the back!

Bill:  Since our last update I read:

• Ithaca by Claire North,  

Justin: Just wrapped up Leviathan Wakes by James S.A.Corey. It is Book 1 of THE EXPANSE series. Read this on a dare and couldn’t be happier that I did. Also making some plans for a trip to Gencon in Indianapolis in a  couple weeks. You should expect to see a write-up from me on that adventure. If you plan to be there let me know and I’ll give you a Fanlit book mark and maybe play a board game or something.

Bill: This week I read Tad Wiliams’

Kat: Only three books read in the last two weeks. Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and the only slightly related John Scalzi’s The Android’s Dream, were both very entertaining. The best book, and actually a 5-star book for me, was Jonathan Carroll’s The Land of Laughs. I loved it!

Bill:  

Since my last status report I’ve read:

• The Deep and Shining Dark By Julie Kemp
• The Extractionist by Kimberly Unger
• Stan Lee by Bob Batchelor
• The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte
• Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves by Marlene Zuk
  Whalefall,

Kat: Since you heard from me last, I’ve read The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson, The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke, and (this was my favorite) Gateway by Frederik Pohl.

Marion: I finished Becky Chambers’s A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

Marion: The Select Committee on the January 6 events took up a lot of my time this week, but I managed to finish Nicola Griffiths’s luminous novella Spear, and The Extraordinaries, a fun YA superhero-rom-com by T.J. Klune. Now I’m at the nail-biter ending of Leigh Bardugo’s Crooked Kingdom, the sequel to Six of Crows.

Sandy: Moi? I am currently reading a classic sci-fi novel that I have long wanted to experience,