What have you been reading?

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I've been reading Mark Hayden's Urban Fantasy King's Watch series. About an English bloke (who smokes a LOT) who was helicopter pilot in the RAF, now he's been caught up in working for the Watch and dealing with supernatural stuff (which was news to him when he first ran into Odin who offered him a test and a job.) Pretty interesting because he's not a big bad wizard, but solves things mostly with his hard-earned skills (he doesn't have much magic.)
 
The Cú Chulainn cycle, which I've just read off the back of the Mabinogian. Both of these have got me re-evaluating a retroclone I've been working on.

I've just re-read Blood Meridian twice, starting again when I finished the first time.

This weekend I'm going to read Vance's Dying Earth books.
 
Dumarest said:
Got these because real space exploration interests me and fictional "realistic" sci fi RPGing is appealing, though I don't know if I'll ever be able to interest enough players to actually do it.
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And here's the summer reading that led me to these Zozer titles. Really cool books picked up mostly at thrift shops.
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I met Norman Mailer once. He was the single most famous writer I ever worked with, back in the day (Don DeLillo would be the second most). And he was a self-effacing, funny, humble, lovely wee man. Mister DeLillo was all of those things but taller and smilier.
 
File this under "what will I be reading", Titan Books has just announced a series of short stories starring Conan the Barbarian, and other Howardian heroes.

screenrant.com

New Conan The Barbarian Short Stories Coming From Titan Books [EXCLUSIVE]

Conan: Lord of the Mount drops September 26.
screenrant.com screenrant.com

I think the John Hocking and Scott Oden ones are the ones previously serialized in the recent Marvel comics.
 
The power outage all last weekend oddly gave me an opportunity to read, since the iPad provides its own light and we certainly weren't going to be watching TV, doing housework or the laundry, or other things after sundown. So I read Howard's Bran Mak Morn, in the Del Rey edition. I enjoyed it, of course, though one of the strongest stories in the collection shows up in the Kull volume as well, so I'd read it not long ago.

As usual for the Del Rey collections, this one had a fair amount of editorial material, including an in-depth discussion of Howard's views and stories about the Picts. I was slightly surprised to find that he and Lovecraft apparently took seriously the idea that invaders of Britain (the Picts or Celts, in different stories) had driven the original inhabitants underground, where they became a troglodyte people and the source of legends about dwarfs, elfs, etc. I'd run into the theory before of course, but I thought it had been thoroughly debunked by the 1920s.
 
Lofgeornost said:
As usual for the Del Rey collections, this one had a fair amount of editorial material, including an in-depth discussion of Howard's views and stories about the Picts. I was slightly surprised to find that he and Lovecraft apparently took seriously the idea that invaders of Britain (the Picts or Celts, in different stories) had driven the original inhabitants underground, where they became a troglodyte people and the source of legends about dwarfs, elfs, etc. I'd run into the theory before of course, but I thought it had been thoroughly debunked by the 1920s.
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I've been to Britain and the troglodytes are not just found in the Underground. They're on buses and trains as well. Some are even in Parliament.
 
Currently re-reading through Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" Trilogy. Finished book one and about halfway through book two. Still a fun read. I've taken lately to reading three books in a series and then swapping to another series and doing the same before returning to the previous series.
 
Acmegamer said:
Currently re-reading through Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" Trilogy. Finished book one and about halfway through book two. Still a fun read. I've taken lately to reading three books in a series and then swapping to another series and doing the same before returning to the previous series.
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One of the best fantasy writers today in my opinion. I think his play of Warhammer FRP can be seen in the books :smile:
 
I got a bunch of Ace Double sci fi paperbacks at various thrift stores and library sales and what not over the years, but have only read a few of them. On a whim I picked up this one last night and GODDAMMIT how have I not read any Retief stories before? This 1963 collection of stories is terrifically fun.
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Keith Laumer has just rocketed up my list of favorites and the Retief stories must now be integrated into my sci fi RPG ideal. Haven't read the flip side novel yet.
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Finished up the "Bobaverse" books :

Bobiverse Series by Dennis E. Taylor

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1), For We Are Many (Bobiverse, #2), All These Worlds (Bobiverse, #3), Heaven's River (Bobiverse, #4), and The B...
www.goodreads.com

They were pretty good. Everyone I've had read them has enjoyed them so far. It's the story of a man who freezes himself in order to try and achieve immortality but hijinks ensure along the way. ;)
 
Dumarest said:
I got a bunch of Ace Double sci fi paperbacks at various thrift stores and library sales and what not over the years, but have only read a few of them. On a whim I picked up this one last night and GODDAMMIT how have I not read any Retief stories before? This 1963 collection of stories is terrifically fun.
Keith Laumer has just rocketed up my list of favorites and the Retief stories must now be integrated into my sci fi RPG ideal. Haven't read the flip side novel yet.
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Oh wow, I've not read any of the Retief stories in decades. Keith Laumer did some really fun stories. Now I'm going to have to track down some of his work for Kindle. Gee, thanks Dumarest for adding to my reading backlog. lol
 
Another from my collection of Ace Doubles. This one is especially cool because rather than just a random pairing it has a collection of the first published set of Leigh Brackett's Eric John Stark stories in one and then the next published batch in the flipside. I've never read them before so this should be fun.
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Currently making my way through Ballantine’s The Best of Fritz Leiber (1974). It focuses on his sf and “science-fantasy” stories, so no Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, and all but one (the Hugo winner “Gonna Roll the Bones”) new to me. I’m about two-thirds through the book and almost all of the stories are good (the only really weak one was an intended takedown of Mickey Spillane), some of them very good. My favorite so far is “Space-Time for Springers” about Gummitch the genius kitten. It’s a perfect jewel of a story, with a nobly tragic but utterly appropriate finale. It may have displaced “Lean Times in Lankhmar” as my favorite Leiber story.
 
Dumarest said:
I got a bunch of Ace Double sci fi paperbacks at various thrift stores and library sales and what not over the years, but have only read a few of them. On a whim I picked up this one last night and GODDAMMIT how have I not read any Retief stories before? This 1963 collection of stories is terrifically fun.
​
Keith Laumer has just rocketed up my list of favorites and the Retief stories must now be integrated into my sci fi RPG ideal. Haven't read the flip side novel yet.
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I miss the Ace Doubles; I like the idea of a couple of novella-length stories packaged together. A publisher called Armchair Fiction has tried to bring the format back, with o.o.c. SF and fantasy from the 1940s and 1950s, but unfortunately they only do paper books (and generally lesser authors or titles).
Acmegamer said:
Oh wow, I've not read any of the Retief stories in decades. Keith Laumer did some really fun stories. Now I'm going to have to track down some of his work for Kindle. Gee, thanks Dumarest for adding to my reading backlog. lol
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For some reason, only the first volume of Retief stories seems to be available on Kindle in the U.S., although Gollancz's SF Gateway has a lot more in the U.K. I presume it's some sort of rights issue.
 
Lofgeornost said:
I miss the Ace Doubles; I like the idea of a couple of novella-length stories packaged together. A publisher called Armchair Fiction has tried to bring the format back, with o.o.c. SF and fantasy from the 1940s and 1950s, but unfortunately they only do paper books (and generally lesser authors or titles).

For some reason, only the first volume of Retief stories seems to be available on Kindle in the U.S., although Gollancz's SF Gateway has a lot more in the U.K. I presume it's some sort of rights issue.
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I have a truckload of Armchair Fiction books in my Amazon cart. I just don't have the disposable cash to actually buy them now. Have you tried eBay? I've found some real bargains on there from time to time, especially if a book wasn't a rarity and is just old.
 
currently reading After On by Rob Reid (the husband of Morgan Webb) who also wrote Year Zero. Year Zero was about aliens making first contact when they realized that due to copyright infringement of earth music, the Earth was owed roughly 1000% of the universe's money. (only thing earth did better than any other race in the universe was music). After On is about a social media network, think Facebook with rabies, becomes an AI. (although I'm about half way through the book and that hasn't exactly happened yet).
 
Been reading The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman. I'm about halfway through it. Assuming it doesn't fall apart at the end this is one of the best books I've ever read and the guy's character insights are stunning. Highly recommended (so far!).
 
Rob Necronomicon said:
Been reading The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman. I'm about halfway through it. Assuming it doesn't fall apart at the end this is one of the best books I've ever read and the guy's character insights are stunning. Highly recommended (so far!).
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I have his Between Two Fires in my Audible library, heard very good things about him.
 
Voros said:
I have his Between Two Fires in my Audible library, heard very good things about him.
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I've heard good things about that one as well. I really liked Those Across The River. I love audiobooks as well. He's actually narrating The Lesser Dead himself and he's brilliant.

CB is starting to become one of my top authors! :smile:
 
Dumarest said:
Never read any of Isaac Asimov's robot stories but I just got this collection so now's the time.
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The Robot Series is his best IMO. The Logic Puzzles of a Murder Mystery, logic of science fiction, and some of his more interesting characters.
 
Just finished reading Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (yes, the latter being the guy who does the SMBC webcomic). The ten main chapters cover cheap access to space, asteroid mining, fusion power, programmable matter, robotic construction, augmented reality, synthetic biology, precision medicine, bioprinting, and brain-computer interfaces. Informative while retaining a sense of humor, it's a pretty easy read.

And as a bonus, it notes that AD&D 2nd edition is the best edition, confirming it in a footnote. So, obviously, anyone who disagrees with that is scientifically illiterate. :hehe:
 
Finishing a second collection of Retief stories and about to start King David's Spaceship, which I understand includes the inspiration for the "jump drive" of Traveller fame, so that should be interesting to read just for the RPG history aspect. Retief: Diplomat at Arms is lots of fun hidden behind off-puttingly awful cover art. If I hadn't already known the writer and character I doubt I would have even picked up this book.
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Never in a million years would my vision of Retief have looked even remotely like this effeminate putz*. I don't understand why so many sci fi movels have such excruciatingly awful art on the covers. And Rowena can clearly paint so it's even worse: did someone tell her to make Retief look this way?

*No offense intended to the effeminate putzes in this forum. It's fine for you, just not for Retief. :hehe:
 
Voros said:
So much good sf was published with awful covers, a common complaint of the writers themselves!
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Sometimes they're almost as bad as your average RPG cover art.

I'd be effin' annoyed if I wrote a book as good as this and they delivered my author's copies with this simultaneously pretentious and dull cover that looks like an intern whipped it up in some free computer art program in five minutes:
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Too bad they didn't license the far superior (and more accurate to the story) art from its first publication:
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Dumarest said:
Finishing a second collection of Retief stories and about to start King David's Spaceship, which I understand includes the inspiration for the "jump drive" of Traveller fame, so that should be interesting to read just for the RPG history aspect. Retief: Diplomat at Arms is lots of fun hidden behind off-puttingly awful cover art. If I hadn't already known the writer and character I doubt I would have even picked up this book.
Never in a million years would my vision of Retief have looked even remotely like this effeminate putz*. I don't understand why so many sci fi movels have such excruciatingly awful art on the covers. And Rowena can clearly paint so it's even worse: did someone tell her to make Retief look this way?

*No offense intended to the effeminate putzes in this forum. It's fine for you, just not for Retief. :hehe:
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iI love Retief stories. I've got a ton of them on my Kindle. I don't know about the art though, that does seem a big odd.



Me? I'm reading the King's Watch series still (I read several books then I've been reading other things/doing werewolf research) the author has some shortish novella side stories that take place at certain times in the books and that kind of annoys me, if it's important it should have been its own book! I get they may not be long enough or something, just feels weird to mention in text in character. A bit too meta for me. They're otherwise alright.


I did read the werewolf in the book "The Bite," and the Imagineer/Excantation book duo by Honor Raconteur (one of that woman's many nome de plumes) basically teen develops magic, gets adopted kind of thing (Only her parents are alive and just, I am going to use this word 'naf' basically leaving her to raise herself, the magic is just imagining things into being, and it has a few issues that I can't even begin to address. (You can only make things with so many layers, not parts, systems, etc. Just 'layers' )


At least it's something and there is other magic there as well but it's not touched upon much. Almost no violence as well. The most it really gets is her trapping a wendigo, just mostly a found family book and hard work with a magic book.
 
Tulpa Girl said:
And as a bonus, it notes that AD&D 2nd edition is the best edition, confirming it in a footnote. So, obviously, anyone who disagrees with that is scientifically illiterate. :hehe:
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You can tell old scientists from younger/ newer ones. They have not kept up with all the literature on the subject. Then they would of selected v3.5 or 5. I think that piece needs more peer review.
 
Tulpa Girl said:
And as a bonus, it notes that AD&D 2nd edition is the best edition, confirming it in a footnote. So, obviously, anyone who disagrees with that is scientifically illiterate. :hehe:
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It really is the 2nd best AD&D, though, just after Advanced Dungeons & Dragons itself. Plus both have the distinction of being advanced, which weeds out the immature poindexters who can't handle it.
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I
Dumarest said:
It really is the 2nd best AD&D, though, just after Advanced Dungeons & Dragons itself. Plus both have the distinction of being advanced, which weeds out the immature poindexters who can't handle it.
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I really prefer 2E, I like the clean-up they did with classes Mainly the removal of the assassin because in many ways all PCs are that, and if you want one its easy enough to just use the Thief class with proficiencies and it balances better that way. I also agreed with the removal of the monk because it clashed with the Western Medieval aesthetic of the other classes. I like combining class types under one umbrella too. It's fine in later editions who simply went all-out fantasy and ignored the Western Medieval stuff, but I preferred it.

I like kits but think those and later option books should all be aimed at the GM since he's the one building the world, if say wolfriding elves don't fit your world, you can chuck 'em without players demanding them because it's "player's" options (Not that anyone did that to me but I know the player type.)
 
See, for its complexity octave, 2nd ed it good. However, games have developed "gifts and flaws" that would allow you to create characters more in line with the fantasy "literature" stories that inspired them (and the various players as the years progressed). That is why 3.5 works, it is half way to what newer games can do.

But enough this is enough thread drift for two snarky joke. You would think we are in a Fast and Furious thread.
 
I read Next Stop the Stars, a collection of 1950s stories by Robert Silverberg a while back but for some reason didn't turn the Ace Double over to read his 1962 novel The Seed of Earth until now. Starts off intriguingly so we shall see.
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Dumarest said:
I read Next Stop the Stars, a collection of 1950s stories by by Robert Silverberg a while back but for some reason didn't turn the Ace Double over and read his 1962 novel The Seed of Earth until now. Starts off intriguingly so we shall see.
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I love Silverberg but the earliest I've read from him is Thorns, which is worthwhile but a bit clumsy compared to his later books. He often excels at the short story and novella-length (and says so himself!) so I'm interested in checking out his early stories to see how they compare.
 
Voros said:
I love Silverberg but the earliest I've read from him is Thorns, which is worthwhile but a bit clumsy compared to his later books. He often excels at the short story and novella-length (and says so himself!) so I'm interested in checking out his early stories to see how they compare.
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I didn't know anything about him until looking at his Wikipedia entry. He's still alive and kicking. I'm more interested in the early stuff based on the synopses I found.
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Reading Cherryh's Hellburner, its not the best, finished Tangled Up In Blue by Joan Vinge, sort of weird filler for the Snow Queen cycle.
 
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