Good afternoon, folks!
Just a quick update to point you to some stuff I have up over at Nerds of a Feather.
1. Reading Deryni: Saint Camber - The second in my series of essays on Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels.
2. Reading Deverry: Act One - Likewise, the first of my series of essays on Katharine Kerr's Deverry novels (this one covers the first four books - read more Deverry)
3. My Favorite Stories Don't Get Nominated: A Hugo Love Story - a meditation on why I love the Hugo Awards even though, as the essay title states, my favorite stories don't get nominated.
I've been busy.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
NoaF: Black Wolves, Black Sword, and Resolutions
Hey kids!
I'd like to point you to two recent reviews I've done over at Nerds of a Feather. The first is Kate Elliott's excellent Black Wolves. The second is Larry Correia's fairly disappointing Son of the Black Sword.
For extra Star Wars nerdery, Dean and I have a conversation about Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
For the sake of being amusing, I also collected a much delayed list of New Year's Resolutions from the flock.
Forthcoming, I have my next Deryni essay coming next week on Saint Camber, a Deverry essay on the four books comprising the first Act of the series, something on the Hugo Awards, and a bit farther out - a review of Emily Foster's The Drowning Eyes. That's just what I have written and scheduled for this month.
I'm still "working" on reviews of Central Station, Meeting Infinity, Forest of Memory, Runtime, and probably Lightless. By "working", I mean I need to read these. But, if I keep talking about it, maybe I'll actually do something about it.
I'd like to point you to two recent reviews I've done over at Nerds of a Feather. The first is Kate Elliott's excellent Black Wolves. The second is Larry Correia's fairly disappointing Son of the Black Sword.
For extra Star Wars nerdery, Dean and I have a conversation about Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
For the sake of being amusing, I also collected a much delayed list of New Year's Resolutions from the flock.
Forthcoming, I have my next Deryni essay coming next week on Saint Camber, a Deverry essay on the four books comprising the first Act of the series, something on the Hugo Awards, and a bit farther out - a review of Emily Foster's The Drowning Eyes. That's just what I have written and scheduled for this month.
I'm still "working" on reviews of Central Station, Meeting Infinity, Forest of Memory, Runtime, and probably Lightless. By "working", I mean I need to read these. But, if I keep talking about it, maybe I'll actually do something about it.
Books Read: February 2016
With February having come to a close, let's take a look at the books I read last month.
1. The Survivor, by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills
2. Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott
3. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
4. Hunter's Oath, by Michelle West
5. 1634: The Baltic War, by David Weber and Eric Flint
6. This Census-Taker, by China Mieville (unfinished)
7. The Force Awakens, by Alan Dean Foster
8. The New World, by Chris Adrian and Eli Horowitz
9. Grantville Gazette: Volume I, by Eric Flint (editor)
10. Step Aside, Pops, by Kate Beaton
11. Oreo, by Fran Ross (unfinished)
12. The Book of Aron, by Jim Shepard (unfinished)
13. The Drowning Eyes, by Emily Foster
14. City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett
15. Lightless, by C.A. Higgins
Best Book of the Month: Black Wolves was a standout. See the review over at Nerds of a Feather. This is also a virtual tie with City of Blades as to which book was the best I read in February.
Disappointment of the Month: I always count the unfinished books in my tally because I still want a record of what I've attempted, even if I elected to not finish the book. This was a rare month when I decided I didn't want to finish three books. Some years I don't hit three, but I attempted the Ross and Shepard because I'm trying to read my way through the Tournament of Books and sometimes that means I hit books I just bounce off of and probably wouldn't have read otherwise. I bounced off of Oreo and The Book of Aron for very different reasons, but bounce I did. As well as with the Mieville.
Discovery of the Month: Emily Foster's The Drowning Eyes was amazingly good. I must read more from Foster, in that particular setting if possible. So, so good.
Worth Noting: I loved City of Stairs. City of Blades was even better.
Gender Breakdown: My gender breakdown for February was a bit weaker, with only 6 out of 15 books this month being written by women. This drops my overall percentage down to 53.12%. While I do not a have specific goal this year to read more books written by women than those written by men, I would like to at least keep the breakdown near a 50/50 split. Thus far I am on track to accomplish that.
Previous Reads
January
1. The Survivor, by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills
2. Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott
3. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
4. Hunter's Oath, by Michelle West
5. 1634: The Baltic War, by David Weber and Eric Flint
6. This Census-Taker, by China Mieville (unfinished)
7. The Force Awakens, by Alan Dean Foster
8. The New World, by Chris Adrian and Eli Horowitz
9. Grantville Gazette: Volume I, by Eric Flint (editor)
10. Step Aside, Pops, by Kate Beaton
11. Oreo, by Fran Ross (unfinished)
12. The Book of Aron, by Jim Shepard (unfinished)
13. The Drowning Eyes, by Emily Foster
14. City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett
15. Lightless, by C.A. Higgins
Best Book of the Month: Black Wolves was a standout. See the review over at Nerds of a Feather. This is also a virtual tie with City of Blades as to which book was the best I read in February.
Disappointment of the Month: I always count the unfinished books in my tally because I still want a record of what I've attempted, even if I elected to not finish the book. This was a rare month when I decided I didn't want to finish three books. Some years I don't hit three, but I attempted the Ross and Shepard because I'm trying to read my way through the Tournament of Books and sometimes that means I hit books I just bounce off of and probably wouldn't have read otherwise. I bounced off of Oreo and The Book of Aron for very different reasons, but bounce I did. As well as with the Mieville.
Discovery of the Month: Emily Foster's The Drowning Eyes was amazingly good. I must read more from Foster, in that particular setting if possible. So, so good.
Worth Noting: I loved City of Stairs. City of Blades was even better.
Gender Breakdown: My gender breakdown for February was a bit weaker, with only 6 out of 15 books this month being written by women. This drops my overall percentage down to 53.12%. While I do not a have specific goal this year to read more books written by women than those written by men, I would like to at least keep the breakdown near a 50/50 split. Thus far I am on track to accomplish that.
Previous Reads
January
Saturday, February 20, 2016
2015 Nebula Award Nominees
Picked this up from Tor.com: Below are the nominees for the 2015 Nebula Awards (presented in 2016). I'll probably have some initial thoughts on the nominees this coming week. I will provide links to as many of the stories as become freely available online.
Congratulations to all the nominees.
Novel
Raising Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga)
Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, Lawrence M. Schoen (Tor)
Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)
Novella
Wings of Sorrow and Bone, Beth Cato (Harper Voyager Impulse)
‘‘The Bone Swans of Amandale’’, C.S.E. Cooney (Bone Swans)
‘‘The New Mother’’, Eugene Fischer (Asimov’s 4-5/15)
‘‘The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn’’, Usman T. Malik (Tor.com 4/22/15)
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
‘‘Waters of Versailles’’, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 6/10/15)
Novelette
‘‘Rattlesnakes and Men’’, Michael Bishop (Asimov’s 2/15)
‘‘And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead’’, Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed 2/15)
‘‘Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds’’, Rose Lemberg (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 6/11/15)
‘‘The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society’’, Henry Lien (Asimov’s 6/15)
‘‘The Deepwater Bride’’, Tamsyn Muir (F&SF 7-8/15)
‘‘Our Lady of the Open Road’’, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 6/15)
Short Story
‘‘Madeleine’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Lightspeed 6/15)
‘‘Cat Pictures Please’’, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Damage’’, David D. Levine (Tor.com 1/21/15)
‘‘When Your Child Strays From God’’, Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld 7/15)
‘‘Today I Am Paul’’, Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld 8/15)
‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Ex Machina
Jessica Jones: AKA Smile
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Seriously Wicked, Tina Connolly (Tor Teen)
Court of Fives, Kate Elliott (Little, Brown)
Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan UK 5/14; Amulet)
Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace (Big Mouth House)
Zeroboxer, Fonda Lee (Flux)
Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
Bone Gap, Laura Ruby (Balzer + Bray)
Nimona, Noelle Stevenson (HarperTeen)
Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)
Congratulations to all the nominees.
Novel
Raising Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga)
Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, Lawrence M. Schoen (Tor)
Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)
Novella
Wings of Sorrow and Bone, Beth Cato (Harper Voyager Impulse)
‘‘The Bone Swans of Amandale’’, C.S.E. Cooney (Bone Swans)
‘‘The New Mother’’, Eugene Fischer (Asimov’s 4-5/15)
‘‘The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn’’, Usman T. Malik (Tor.com 4/22/15)
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
‘‘Waters of Versailles’’, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 6/10/15)
Novelette
‘‘Rattlesnakes and Men’’, Michael Bishop (Asimov’s 2/15)
‘‘And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead’’, Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed 2/15)
‘‘Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds’’, Rose Lemberg (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 6/11/15)
‘‘The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society’’, Henry Lien (Asimov’s 6/15)
‘‘The Deepwater Bride’’, Tamsyn Muir (F&SF 7-8/15)
‘‘Our Lady of the Open Road’’, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 6/15)
Short Story
‘‘Madeleine’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Lightspeed 6/15)
‘‘Cat Pictures Please’’, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Damage’’, David D. Levine (Tor.com 1/21/15)
‘‘When Your Child Strays From God’’, Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld 7/15)
‘‘Today I Am Paul’’, Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld 8/15)
‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Ex Machina
Jessica Jones: AKA Smile
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Seriously Wicked, Tina Connolly (Tor Teen)
Court of Fives, Kate Elliott (Little, Brown)
Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan UK 5/14; Amulet)
Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace (Big Mouth House)
Zeroboxer, Fonda Lee (Flux)
Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
Bone Gap, Laura Ruby (Balzer + Bray)
Nimona, Noelle Stevenson (HarperTeen)
Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
1634: The Baltic War, by David Weber and Eric Flint
1634: The Baltic War
David Weber and Eric Flint
Baen: 2007
1634: The Baltic War is the direct sequel to Eric Flint and David Weber's novel 1633, which should make it the third novel in Flint's 1632 Universe except between the publication of 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War, Flint published three additional novels as well as an anthology set in this universe. This could complicate things, and though we are certainly never wrong to read in publication order, Eric Flint has a very handy "recommended reading order" on his website which he helpfully updated this year. That's the reading order which I am following.
As a brief re-introduction to the series, the 1632 novels posit an alternate history where a small West Virginia mining town from the year 2000 is sent back and sideways in time to the year 1631 and moved geographically to a region in central Germany in the midst of the Thirty Years War. With no way home, this community of hard working, blue collar twentieth century Americans intends to survive, adapt, and perhaps kickstart the American Revolution just a little bit earlier than in our universe.
Despite being fairly early in both the internal chronology as well as in the overall publication order, it is easy to see why so many offshoot novels have been published outside of the "main line" of the series. 1634: The Baltic War sees story threads taking place in London, Copenhagen, central Germany, and on the ironclad ships working their way from Madgeburg into the Baltic Sea. It would be somewhat of a mistake to describe the novel as "unfocused", but as the various characters begin to move around Europe and work on behalf of the United States of Europe, the separate storylines do not necessarily come together or build together.
This works, because if you're reading 1634: The Baltic War, you've at least read 1632, 1633, the Ring of Fire anthology and possibly / probably the other novels published before this one due to the delays of Flint and Weber coordinating their schedules to get this book done. If you're reading 1634: The Baltic War, you're invested in the characters and the world and are looking to see how the political situation develops, how the ironclads will crush everything they come across, if the captives get out of the tower, and everything else surrounding the novel.
The pacing may be a bit slower than the two previous novels, but whether it is the larger moments of actually seeing the ironclads in action or the smaller moments of Thorsten Engler trying to figure out how to propose to Caroline Platzer, Weber and Flint do a heck of a job in nailing all of the beats of the story, mixing in humor, action, drama, and anything else you might want, and telling a story you don't quite want to end after 700+ pages. Good thing there are still another dozen or so novels to keep this going.
Readers of 1632 and 1633 know exactly what they are getting with 1634: The Baltic War. I'm not sure this is the novel to introduce the series to new readers as it directly picks up story threads from the previous novels, but it will satisfy readers who are still along for the ride.
One of the most interesting (to me) things that Weber and Flint accomplished in 1634: The Baltic War is that they have made John Simpson not only a sympathetic character, but a likeable one. Simpson was introduced in the first novel, 1632, as an autocratic CEO who seemed to exist to contrast the leadership of Union Leader Mike Stearns. Simpson was set up as a minor villain, an out of touch "suit" compared to the workboots on the ground miners and union shop workers and one who quickly lost the first power struggle in Grantville. However, because Simpson had not only served as a Naval officer in Vietnam, but also had great success in running a large corporation, Mike Stearns appointed Simpson to create Grantville's Navy.
It would be very easy to argue that the primary reason Simpson has become likeable is that he is coming to appreciate the leadership of Mike Stearns - and while that is true, what is also happening is that over the course of several years in universe, the reader is seeing a very competent man do absolutely stellar work in building the Navy, building the ironclads, and running the Navy. We see John Simpson's positive qualities, and yes, it is tempered by the softening relationship with Mike Stearns. But, that relationship goes both ways, and overall the two men grow to appreciate what the other does well. It's the overall growth of John Simpson that is one of the many things Weber and Flint do so well in 1634: The Baltic War.
Though many of the characters in the series have a large amount of American idealism, they become tempered by the reality of the new situation they find themselves, though this does not cause them (yet) to stop striving to quite literally change the world. I continue to be fascinated by what Eric Flint is doing with this series and I so very much want to see how he changes the history of Europe (and the world?). I am curious, though, if there is an end point plotted out for the series and if there is a plan to see what and how these changes wrought by dropping modern Americans into the 1600's will impact the next two three hundred years. What does the world look like the late 1700's with Grantville's influence? What about in 1942? It doesn't matter for my enjoyment of these novels, but I'd love to know what happens over the course of the rest of this world's history.
Previous Reviews
1632
David Weber and Eric Flint
Baen: 2007
1634: The Baltic War is the direct sequel to Eric Flint and David Weber's novel 1633, which should make it the third novel in Flint's 1632 Universe except between the publication of 1633 and 1634: The Baltic War, Flint published three additional novels as well as an anthology set in this universe. This could complicate things, and though we are certainly never wrong to read in publication order, Eric Flint has a very handy "recommended reading order" on his website which he helpfully updated this year. That's the reading order which I am following.
As a brief re-introduction to the series, the 1632 novels posit an alternate history where a small West Virginia mining town from the year 2000 is sent back and sideways in time to the year 1631 and moved geographically to a region in central Germany in the midst of the Thirty Years War. With no way home, this community of hard working, blue collar twentieth century Americans intends to survive, adapt, and perhaps kickstart the American Revolution just a little bit earlier than in our universe.
Despite being fairly early in both the internal chronology as well as in the overall publication order, it is easy to see why so many offshoot novels have been published outside of the "main line" of the series. 1634: The Baltic War sees story threads taking place in London, Copenhagen, central Germany, and on the ironclad ships working their way from Madgeburg into the Baltic Sea. It would be somewhat of a mistake to describe the novel as "unfocused", but as the various characters begin to move around Europe and work on behalf of the United States of Europe, the separate storylines do not necessarily come together or build together.
This works, because if you're reading 1634: The Baltic War, you've at least read 1632, 1633, the Ring of Fire anthology and possibly / probably the other novels published before this one due to the delays of Flint and Weber coordinating their schedules to get this book done. If you're reading 1634: The Baltic War, you're invested in the characters and the world and are looking to see how the political situation develops, how the ironclads will crush everything they come across, if the captives get out of the tower, and everything else surrounding the novel.
The pacing may be a bit slower than the two previous novels, but whether it is the larger moments of actually seeing the ironclads in action or the smaller moments of Thorsten Engler trying to figure out how to propose to Caroline Platzer, Weber and Flint do a heck of a job in nailing all of the beats of the story, mixing in humor, action, drama, and anything else you might want, and telling a story you don't quite want to end after 700+ pages. Good thing there are still another dozen or so novels to keep this going.
Readers of 1632 and 1633 know exactly what they are getting with 1634: The Baltic War. I'm not sure this is the novel to introduce the series to new readers as it directly picks up story threads from the previous novels, but it will satisfy readers who are still along for the ride.
One of the most interesting (to me) things that Weber and Flint accomplished in 1634: The Baltic War is that they have made John Simpson not only a sympathetic character, but a likeable one. Simpson was introduced in the first novel, 1632, as an autocratic CEO who seemed to exist to contrast the leadership of Union Leader Mike Stearns. Simpson was set up as a minor villain, an out of touch "suit" compared to the workboots on the ground miners and union shop workers and one who quickly lost the first power struggle in Grantville. However, because Simpson had not only served as a Naval officer in Vietnam, but also had great success in running a large corporation, Mike Stearns appointed Simpson to create Grantville's Navy.
It would be very easy to argue that the primary reason Simpson has become likeable is that he is coming to appreciate the leadership of Mike Stearns - and while that is true, what is also happening is that over the course of several years in universe, the reader is seeing a very competent man do absolutely stellar work in building the Navy, building the ironclads, and running the Navy. We see John Simpson's positive qualities, and yes, it is tempered by the softening relationship with Mike Stearns. But, that relationship goes both ways, and overall the two men grow to appreciate what the other does well. It's the overall growth of John Simpson that is one of the many things Weber and Flint do so well in 1634: The Baltic War.
Though many of the characters in the series have a large amount of American idealism, they become tempered by the reality of the new situation they find themselves, though this does not cause them (yet) to stop striving to quite literally change the world. I continue to be fascinated by what Eric Flint is doing with this series and I so very much want to see how he changes the history of Europe (and the world?). I am curious, though, if there is an end point plotted out for the series and if there is a plan to see what and how these changes wrought by dropping modern Americans into the 1600's will impact the next two three hundred years. What does the world look like the late 1700's with Grantville's influence? What about in 1942? It doesn't matter for my enjoyment of these novels, but I'd love to know what happens over the course of the rest of this world's history.
Previous Reviews
1632
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds
Slow Bullets
Alastair Reynolds
Tachyon: 2015
Slow Bullets opens with a soldier (Scur) being captured and tortured at the tail end of a war, after a cease fire is declared. When she wakes, she finds herself in a pod on a ship and doesn't know how or why she got there. By this point, things have already gone very wrong and they're about to get worse. The ship is populated by soldiers from both sides of the war, not much crew, and the various systems on the ship are gradually failing. Oh, and everyone has been asleep for much longer than they could have imagined.
Once the initial conflict of Scur and her torturer (also on the ship) is mostly resolved, Reynolds gets us to the heart of the real conflict: what happens when civilization breaks down? We're talking about the ship, but we're also not because the ship is orbiting a planet that has seen better days. So has that corner of the galaxy, for that matter. Whether on the micro scale of the ship or the macro scale of the galaxy, Slow Bullets is a story of survival. There is a looming sense of dread that pervades the novella, with the very real chance that what is left will be a derelict husk of a ship orbiting a dead planet waiting for someone else to come by and benefit from the information left behind. This works and it works very well.
After the groan inducing realization of "of course Scur's torturer is on the ship!", Reynolds settles down and ratchets up the tension bit by bit as the survivors choose which memories and personal and cultural knowledge they might need to give up to serve the greater good, to allow for the greatest chance of survival. It's fantastic.
The novella's title comes from the idea of "slow bullets" that are capsules containing a wealth of knowledge and information and memory that can be inserted into an individual's leg and it will then ever so slowly travel painlessly through the body until it comes to rest in that person's chest, which is a fascinating concept.
Recommended.
Alastair Reynolds
Tachyon: 2015
Slow Bullets opens with a soldier (Scur) being captured and tortured at the tail end of a war, after a cease fire is declared. When she wakes, she finds herself in a pod on a ship and doesn't know how or why she got there. By this point, things have already gone very wrong and they're about to get worse. The ship is populated by soldiers from both sides of the war, not much crew, and the various systems on the ship are gradually failing. Oh, and everyone has been asleep for much longer than they could have imagined.Once the initial conflict of Scur and her torturer (also on the ship) is mostly resolved, Reynolds gets us to the heart of the real conflict: what happens when civilization breaks down? We're talking about the ship, but we're also not because the ship is orbiting a planet that has seen better days. So has that corner of the galaxy, for that matter. Whether on the micro scale of the ship or the macro scale of the galaxy, Slow Bullets is a story of survival. There is a looming sense of dread that pervades the novella, with the very real chance that what is left will be a derelict husk of a ship orbiting a dead planet waiting for someone else to come by and benefit from the information left behind. This works and it works very well.
After the groan inducing realization of "of course Scur's torturer is on the ship!", Reynolds settles down and ratchets up the tension bit by bit as the survivors choose which memories and personal and cultural knowledge they might need to give up to serve the greater good, to allow for the greatest chance of survival. It's fantastic.
The novella's title comes from the idea of "slow bullets" that are capsules containing a wealth of knowledge and information and memory that can be inserted into an individual's leg and it will then ever so slowly travel painlessly through the body until it comes to rest in that person's chest, which is a fascinating concept.
Recommended.
Wednesday, February 03, 2016
NoaF: The Fifth Season and Other Stuff
Hey kids!
I'd like to point you to another review that I did (!!!) over at Nerds of a Feather. This time, I've reviewed N. K. Jemisin's phenomenally good The Fifth Season. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more I like the book. If had read it last year, it would be the top book on my 2015 list. It's that good.
In other news, I contributed to the collected Nerds of a Feather Hugo Recommendation Longlists and even did the work compiling / formatting two of them!. Here are the links to parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Even more exciting (and I'm really excited about this), I set up two mini interviews in the 6 Books Series with authors Charlie Jane Anders and Lois McMaster Bujold. Pretty awesome, y'all.
Coming up, I have a review of Larry Correia's Son of the Black Sword, my next entry in my Reading Deryni Series, a joint conversation what we might expect to see in Star Wars VIII next year, a potential post on reading resolutions, a Hugo Awards essay, and the first entry in a four part Reading Deverry series that could take several years to finish. I haven't been this busy blogging in years, nor had this much fun doing it.
I'm also working on reviews of Black Wolves, Meeting Infinity, and Central Station. By "working on", I mean I'm still reading the books / have to start, so they'll be a while. I have some other ideas on more authors to include in the 6 Books series, and eventually, a new entry in the Nerd Music series. We'll see when I get back to that, though.
Until next time!
I'd like to point you to another review that I did (!!!) over at Nerds of a Feather. This time, I've reviewed N. K. Jemisin's phenomenally good The Fifth Season. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more I like the book. If had read it last year, it would be the top book on my 2015 list. It's that good.
In other news, I contributed to the collected Nerds of a Feather Hugo Recommendation Longlists and even did the work compiling / formatting two of them!. Here are the links to parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Even more exciting (and I'm really excited about this), I set up two mini interviews in the 6 Books Series with authors Charlie Jane Anders and Lois McMaster Bujold. Pretty awesome, y'all.
Coming up, I have a review of Larry Correia's Son of the Black Sword, my next entry in my Reading Deryni Series, a joint conversation what we might expect to see in Star Wars VIII next year, a potential post on reading resolutions, a Hugo Awards essay, and the first entry in a four part Reading Deverry series that could take several years to finish. I haven't been this busy blogging in years, nor had this much fun doing it.
I'm also working on reviews of Black Wolves, Meeting Infinity, and Central Station. By "working on", I mean I'm still reading the books / have to start, so they'll be a while. I have some other ideas on more authors to include in the 6 Books series, and eventually, a new entry in the Nerd Music series. We'll see when I get back to that, though.
Until next time!
Tuesday, February 02, 2016
Books Read: January 2016
Now that we've completed the first month of the year, we can take a look at the books I read during January. It's a doozy, even by my standards.
1. Chimera, by Mira Grant
2. The Dragon Revenant, by Katharine Kerr
3. The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin
4. Rules of Conflict, by Kristine Smith
5. Son of the Black Sword, by Larry Correia
6. Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, by Michael Klastorin
7. Going Dark, by Linda Nagata
8. Future Visions, by Jennifer Henshaw and Allison Linn (editors)
9. The Shootout Solution, by Michael R. Underwood
10. The Invaders, by Karolina Waclawiak
11. The Complete Peanuts: 1997-1998, by Charles M. Schulz
12. Saint Camber, by Katherine Kurtz
13. Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf
14. A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler (unfinished)
15. The Whites, by Harry Brandt
16. Planetfall, by Emma Newman
17. Court of Fives, by Kate Elliott
Best Book of the Month: The Fifth Season. This book is so good I am actually mad I haven't read any of Jemisin's other novels and it moves The Obelisk Gate to my #1 must read novel of 2016, no matter what else comes out (and yes, this includes *that* book)
Disappointment of the Month: While I mostly read science fiction and fantasy, I'm following along with the short list for the Tournament of Books and will try to read as much of that as I can before the tournament begins in March. I wouldn't say that A Spool of Blue Thread is bad, and I will still read at least one more Anne Tyler novel (the Pulitzer Prize winning Breathing Lessons), but I was disinterested. So, why continue if I don't care?
Discovery of the Month: Planetfall. This could well have been The Fifth Season, because I have no idea how I've gotten by in life without having read Nora Jemisin's novels. But - The Fifth Season was also the best book of the month by a solid margin and I don't like to double up here. Emma Newman's Planetfall is likewise one of the top novels of the month and of 2015 and I wish I had read it last year.
Worth Noting: I'd have to do some digging, but I feel that 17 books in January my strongest month of reading in a long time. I'm not quite sure how that happened.
Gender Breakdown: Having finished 17 books this month, I'm happy to report that 11 of them were written by women. My year in reading opens with a 64.70% percentage. While I do not a have specific goal this year to read more books written by women than those written by men, I would like to at least keep the breakdown near a 50/50 split.
1. Chimera, by Mira Grant
2. The Dragon Revenant, by Katharine Kerr
3. The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin
4. Rules of Conflict, by Kristine Smith
5. Son of the Black Sword, by Larry Correia
6. Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, by Michael Klastorin
7. Going Dark, by Linda Nagata
8. Future Visions, by Jennifer Henshaw and Allison Linn (editors)
9. The Shootout Solution, by Michael R. Underwood
10. The Invaders, by Karolina Waclawiak
11. The Complete Peanuts: 1997-1998, by Charles M. Schulz
12. Saint Camber, by Katherine Kurtz
13. Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf
14. A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler (unfinished)
15. The Whites, by Harry Brandt
16. Planetfall, by Emma Newman
17. Court of Fives, by Kate Elliott
Best Book of the Month: The Fifth Season. This book is so good I am actually mad I haven't read any of Jemisin's other novels and it moves The Obelisk Gate to my #1 must read novel of 2016, no matter what else comes out (and yes, this includes *that* book)
Disappointment of the Month: While I mostly read science fiction and fantasy, I'm following along with the short list for the Tournament of Books and will try to read as much of that as I can before the tournament begins in March. I wouldn't say that A Spool of Blue Thread is bad, and I will still read at least one more Anne Tyler novel (the Pulitzer Prize winning Breathing Lessons), but I was disinterested. So, why continue if I don't care?
Discovery of the Month: Planetfall. This could well have been The Fifth Season, because I have no idea how I've gotten by in life without having read Nora Jemisin's novels. But - The Fifth Season was also the best book of the month by a solid margin and I don't like to double up here. Emma Newman's Planetfall is likewise one of the top novels of the month and of 2015 and I wish I had read it last year.
Worth Noting: I'd have to do some digging, but I feel that 17 books in January my strongest month of reading in a long time. I'm not quite sure how that happened.
Gender Breakdown: Having finished 17 books this month, I'm happy to report that 11 of them were written by women. My year in reading opens with a 64.70% percentage. While I do not a have specific goal this year to read more books written by women than those written by men, I would like to at least keep the breakdown near a 50/50 split.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
My 2016 Hugo Awards Longlist Recommendations
After somewhat of an exhausting year of awards, especially with everything that went down with the Hugo Awards in 2015, it's time to restart that entire cycle this year. But, here at Adventures in Reading, we're going to do things just a little bit differently. In past years I would piece together my ballot over a series of posts beginning in late January.
That's not going to happen this year. Even though I have never viewed how I worked out my nomination ballot as anything other than doing my thinking in public with little expectation of having an audience or influencing anyone beyond maybe a potential "hey, this is awesome, you should read this and think about it" - because that's all that a recommendation list really is - I'm not going to do it this time. Not like I have in the past where I would end up with my final ballot posted before the nomination period closed.
With all of the shenanigans regarding groups putting together slates to directly influence what gets on the final ballot, what I'm going to do instead is post a growing long list of stuff I thought was awesome in 2015. This list will likely grow and change as I continue to discover stuff published in 2015 that I likewise think is awesome.
I'm listing everything alphabetically either by title or author, so don't view anything listed at the top of a category as being my ranked order. It's not.
It is also worth nothing that several individuals are already recusing themselves from this year's Hugo Awards. I will still list them as part of my long list recommendations (and may even nominate them anyway), but these individuals have publicly stated they will not accept a Hugo Award nomination. I will note this as they appear on my list.
Novel
Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho (Ace)
The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard (Roc)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson (Tor)
Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Orbit)
Court of Fives, by Kate Elliott (Little, Brown)
Fool’s Quest, by Robin Hobb (Del Rey)
Empire Ascendant, by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot)
The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
Signal to Noise, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (Solaris)
Planetfall, by Emma Newman (Roc)
Uprooted, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
The End of All Things, by John Scalzi (Tor) (will not accept a nomination)
Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
Novella
The Witches of Lychford, by Paul Cornell (Tor.com Publishing)
“Ur”, by Stephen King (Bazaar of Bad Dreams)*
Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
The Builders, by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com Publishing)
Sunset Mantle, by Alter S. Reiss (Tor.com Publishing)
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing)
*King notes that "Ur" is "considerably revised" from its original 2009 publication on Amazon.com
Novelette
“And the Balance in Blood”, by Elizabeth Bear (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 7, November 2015)
“The Heart’s Filthy Lesson”, by Elizabeth Bear (Old Venus)
“The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss”, by David Brin (Old Venus)
“Obits”, by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams)
"Another Word for World", by Ann Leckie (Future Visions)
“Our Lady of the Open Road”, by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s, June 2015)
Short Story
“In Libres”, by Elizabeth Bear (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 4, May 2015)
"Elephants and Corpses”, by Kameron Hurley (Tor.com, May 13, 2015)
“The Light Brigade”, by Kameron Hurley (Lightspeed, November 2015) – published on Patreon 2015 “Cat Pictures Please”, by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)
“Points of Origin”, by Marissa Lingen (Tor.com, November 4, 2015)
"Hello, Hello", by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions)
“Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams”, by Sunny Moraine (Cyborgology, June 2, 2015)
“Tear Tracks”, by Malka Older (Tor.com, October 21, 2015)
“The Merger”, by Sunil Patel (The Book Smugglers, June 23, 2015)
“Oral Argument”, by Kim Stanley Robinson (Tor.com, December 7, 2015)
Graphic Story
Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine (Vol 1), by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Lazarus: Conclave (Vol 3), by Greg Rucka
Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy (Vol 1), by Noelle Stevenson*
Lumberjanes: Friendship to the Max (Vol 2), by Noelle Stevenson
Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson*
Rat Queens: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N’Rygoth (Vol 2), by Kurtis S. Wiebe
Saga, Volume 5, by Brian K. Vaughan.
The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud
Stand Still. Stay Silent: Book One, by Minna Sundberg
*The first collection of Lumberjanes was published in 2015, but the issues were all from 2014. I am unsure of its eligibility. The collected edition of Nimona was also published in 2015, but the webcomic is from 2012. Is it eligible?
Related Work
A History of Epic Fantasy, by Adam Whitehead
Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, by Michael Klastorin
Prune – iOS game from Joel McDonald
Rocket Talk Podcast
Speculative Fiction 2014, by Renay Williams and Shaun Duke (editors)*
The Wheel of Time Companion
You’re Never Weird on the Internet, by Felicia Day
*I have an essay in the Speculative Fiction 2014 anthology
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Game of Thrones: “Hardhome”
Editor, Short Form
John Joseph Adams (Lightspeed, Nightmare, everything)
Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld)*
Lee Harris (Tor.com Publishing)
Jonathan Strahan (Meeting Infinity)
Lynne M. Thomas (Uncanny)
Michael Damien Thomas (Uncanny)
Sean Wallace (Clarkesworld)
*Sean Wallace suggests recognizing Neil Clarke rather than himself
Editor, Long Form
Anne Lesley Groell (Uprooted, Fool's Quest - US)
Jane Johnson (Fool's Quest - UK, Liar's Key, Half a World)
Beth Meacham (Karen Memory)
Bella Pagan (Sorcerer to the Crown)
Marco Palmieri (Traitor Baru Cormorant)
Jessica Wade (House of Shattered Wings)
Professional Artist
Richard Anderson (Empire Ascendant)
Daniel Dociu (Nemesis Games)
Shan Jiang (Illustrated Man in the High Castle)
Stephan Martiniere (The Dark Forest, Dragondrums)
Victor Mosquera (Luna: New Moon)
David Palumbo (Binti)
Cynthia Sheppard (Karen Memory)
Sam Weber (Illustrated Dune)
Stephen Youll (Navigators of Dune)
Fan Artist
Ariel / Orisoni
Megan Lara
Gabriel Picolo
Sarah Webb
Semiprozine
Uncanny Magazine
Fanzine
Chaos Horizon (will not accept a nomination)
File 770
Lady Business
Nerds of a feather, flock together*
SF Mistressworks
*I am a contributor to Nerds of a Feather
Fan Writer
Rob Bedford
Brandon Kempner (will not accept a nomination)
Abigail Nussbaum
Paul Weimer
Adam Whitehead
Renay Williams*
*Renay is the co-editor of Speculative Fiction 2014, which contains one of my essays
Fancast
Cabbages and Kings
Fan Girl Happy Hour*
Speculate!
*One half of FGHH is Renay, co-editor of Speculative Fiction 2014
John W. Campbell Award
Lou Anders
Becky Chambers
Malka Older
Kelly Robson
Andy Weir
Alyssa Wong
Isabel Yap
That's not going to happen this year. Even though I have never viewed how I worked out my nomination ballot as anything other than doing my thinking in public with little expectation of having an audience or influencing anyone beyond maybe a potential "hey, this is awesome, you should read this and think about it" - because that's all that a recommendation list really is - I'm not going to do it this time. Not like I have in the past where I would end up with my final ballot posted before the nomination period closed.
With all of the shenanigans regarding groups putting together slates to directly influence what gets on the final ballot, what I'm going to do instead is post a growing long list of stuff I thought was awesome in 2015. This list will likely grow and change as I continue to discover stuff published in 2015 that I likewise think is awesome.
I'm listing everything alphabetically either by title or author, so don't view anything listed at the top of a category as being my ranked order. It's not.
It is also worth nothing that several individuals are already recusing themselves from this year's Hugo Awards. I will still list them as part of my long list recommendations (and may even nominate them anyway), but these individuals have publicly stated they will not accept a Hugo Award nomination. I will note this as they appear on my list.
Novel
Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho (Ace)
The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard (Roc)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson (Tor)
Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Orbit)
Court of Fives, by Kate Elliott (Little, Brown)
Fool’s Quest, by Robin Hobb (Del Rey)
Empire Ascendant, by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot)
The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
Signal to Noise, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (Solaris)
Planetfall, by Emma Newman (Roc)
Uprooted, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
The End of All Things, by John Scalzi (Tor) (will not accept a nomination)
Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
Novella
The Witches of Lychford, by Paul Cornell (Tor.com Publishing)
“Ur”, by Stephen King (Bazaar of Bad Dreams)*
Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
The Builders, by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com Publishing)
Sunset Mantle, by Alter S. Reiss (Tor.com Publishing)
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing)
*King notes that "Ur" is "considerably revised" from its original 2009 publication on Amazon.com
Novelette
“And the Balance in Blood”, by Elizabeth Bear (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 7, November 2015)
“The Heart’s Filthy Lesson”, by Elizabeth Bear (Old Venus)
“The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss”, by David Brin (Old Venus)
“Obits”, by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams)
"Another Word for World", by Ann Leckie (Future Visions)
“Our Lady of the Open Road”, by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s, June 2015)
Short Story
“In Libres”, by Elizabeth Bear (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 4, May 2015)
"Elephants and Corpses”, by Kameron Hurley (Tor.com, May 13, 2015)
“The Light Brigade”, by Kameron Hurley (Lightspeed, November 2015) – published on Patreon 2015 “Cat Pictures Please”, by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)
“Points of Origin”, by Marissa Lingen (Tor.com, November 4, 2015)
"Hello, Hello", by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions)
“Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams”, by Sunny Moraine (Cyborgology, June 2, 2015)
“Tear Tracks”, by Malka Older (Tor.com, October 21, 2015)
“The Merger”, by Sunil Patel (The Book Smugglers, June 23, 2015)
“Oral Argument”, by Kim Stanley Robinson (Tor.com, December 7, 2015)
Graphic Story
Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine (Vol 1), by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Lazarus: Conclave (Vol 3), by Greg Rucka
Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy (Vol 1), by Noelle Stevenson*
Lumberjanes: Friendship to the Max (Vol 2), by Noelle Stevenson
Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson*
Rat Queens: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N’Rygoth (Vol 2), by Kurtis S. Wiebe
Saga, Volume 5, by Brian K. Vaughan.
The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud
Stand Still. Stay Silent: Book One, by Minna Sundberg
*The first collection of Lumberjanes was published in 2015, but the issues were all from 2014. I am unsure of its eligibility. The collected edition of Nimona was also published in 2015, but the webcomic is from 2012. Is it eligible?
Related Work
A History of Epic Fantasy, by Adam Whitehead
Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, by Michael Klastorin
Prune – iOS game from Joel McDonald
Rocket Talk Podcast
Speculative Fiction 2014, by Renay Williams and Shaun Duke (editors)*
The Wheel of Time Companion
You’re Never Weird on the Internet, by Felicia Day
*I have an essay in the Speculative Fiction 2014 anthology
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Game of Thrones: “Hardhome”
Editor, Short Form
John Joseph Adams (Lightspeed, Nightmare, everything)
Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld)*
Lee Harris (Tor.com Publishing)
Jonathan Strahan (Meeting Infinity)
Lynne M. Thomas (Uncanny)
Michael Damien Thomas (Uncanny)
Sean Wallace (Clarkesworld)
*Sean Wallace suggests recognizing Neil Clarke rather than himself
Editor, Long Form
Anne Lesley Groell (Uprooted, Fool's Quest - US)
Jane Johnson (Fool's Quest - UK, Liar's Key, Half a World)
Beth Meacham (Karen Memory)
Bella Pagan (Sorcerer to the Crown)
Marco Palmieri (Traitor Baru Cormorant)
Jessica Wade (House of Shattered Wings)
Professional Artist
Richard Anderson (Empire Ascendant)
Daniel Dociu (Nemesis Games)
Shan Jiang (Illustrated Man in the High Castle)
Stephan Martiniere (The Dark Forest, Dragondrums)
Victor Mosquera (Luna: New Moon)
David Palumbo (Binti)
Cynthia Sheppard (Karen Memory)
Sam Weber (Illustrated Dune)
Stephen Youll (Navigators of Dune)
Fan Artist
Ariel / Orisoni
Megan Lara
Gabriel Picolo
Sarah Webb
Semiprozine
Uncanny Magazine
Fanzine
Chaos Horizon (will not accept a nomination)
File 770
Lady Business
Nerds of a feather, flock together*
SF Mistressworks
*I am a contributor to Nerds of a Feather
Fan Writer
Rob Bedford
Brandon Kempner (will not accept a nomination)
Abigail Nussbaum
Paul Weimer
Adam Whitehead
Renay Williams*
*Renay is the co-editor of Speculative Fiction 2014, which contains one of my essays
Fancast
Cabbages and Kings
Fan Girl Happy Hour*
Speculate!
*One half of FGHH is Renay, co-editor of Speculative Fiction 2014
John W. Campbell Award
Lou Anders
Becky Chambers
Malka Older
Kelly Robson
Andy Weir
Alyssa Wong
Isabel Yap
Monday, January 04, 2016
NoaF: Uprooted
Hey all! I have a couple of new articles up on Nerds of a Feather. The most recent is my review of Naomi Novik's Uprooted, which you can check out here.
Second, we've got a series going over there called Nerd Music. Guess what it is about. My contribution is on Tori Amos.
Second, we've got a series going over there called Nerd Music. Guess what it is about. My contribution is on Tori Amos.
Books Read: December 2015
The beginning of a new month brings with it the opportunity to look back
at the month gone by and to give one last glance at what I most
recently read. The below listed books are what I read during the month
of December. Let's see how I closed out the year, shall we?
1. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie
2. Dear Mr. You, by Mary Louise Parker
3. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
4. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb
5. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik
6. Gemini Cell, by Myke Cole
7. Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds
8. Extremes, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
9. The Wheel of Time Companion, by Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, Maria Simons
Best Book of the Month: I am so happy all of the hype over Uprooted was justified, because after 7+ months of folks talking about it, I was nervous. Uprooted is so good, people. It plays with fairy tale tropes, while feeling both like a fairy tale and a novel for adults.
Disappointment of the Month: The Wheel of Time Companion had such an opportunity to be something truly special for fans of The Wheel of Time, and after The World of Ice and Fire last year showing how to make a high quality fantasy "guide / compendium", I think our expectations were high. Turns out that this is a very comprehensive encyclopedia, but it contains very little that was not already included in the books themselves. I would have preferred and expected some glimpses into the future (what happened with Mat in Seanchan, what about Elayne and Aviendha and their children?). This was dry and frequently dull.
Discovery of the Month: If I hadn't read Uprooted this month, The Fifth Season would have easily been my #1 book and even here, it's so damn close. The Fifth Season was a revelation and I was surprised each time one of the three storylines finally merged with others.
Worth Noting: Slow Bullets. Reynolds has written an excellent novella. One worth remembering at awards time.
Gender Breakdown: I'm not sure how to quantify The Wheel of Time Companion but I am categorizing it as male authored since Robert Jordan's name is first on the cover (though there is an even split of credited authors).So, with that, 6 of the 9 books I read in December were written by women. This brings my final total to 75 out of 128, or 58.59% of the books I read in 2015 were female authored. I'll have a lot more to say about this in a future article, but suffice it to say for now that my goal was achieved. Hurrah.
Previous Months:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
1. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie
2. Dear Mr. You, by Mary Louise Parker
3. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
4. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb
5. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik
6. Gemini Cell, by Myke Cole
7. Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds
8. Extremes, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
9. The Wheel of Time Companion, by Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, Maria Simons
Best Book of the Month: I am so happy all of the hype over Uprooted was justified, because after 7+ months of folks talking about it, I was nervous. Uprooted is so good, people. It plays with fairy tale tropes, while feeling both like a fairy tale and a novel for adults.
Disappointment of the Month: The Wheel of Time Companion had such an opportunity to be something truly special for fans of The Wheel of Time, and after The World of Ice and Fire last year showing how to make a high quality fantasy "guide / compendium", I think our expectations were high. Turns out that this is a very comprehensive encyclopedia, but it contains very little that was not already included in the books themselves. I would have preferred and expected some glimpses into the future (what happened with Mat in Seanchan, what about Elayne and Aviendha and their children?). This was dry and frequently dull.
Discovery of the Month: If I hadn't read Uprooted this month, The Fifth Season would have easily been my #1 book and even here, it's so damn close. The Fifth Season was a revelation and I was surprised each time one of the three storylines finally merged with others.
Worth Noting: Slow Bullets. Reynolds has written an excellent novella. One worth remembering at awards time.
Gender Breakdown: I'm not sure how to quantify The Wheel of Time Companion but I am categorizing it as male authored since Robert Jordan's name is first on the cover (though there is an even split of credited authors).So, with that, 6 of the 9 books I read in December were written by women. This brings my final total to 75 out of 128, or 58.59% of the books I read in 2015 were female authored. I'll have a lot more to say about this in a future article, but suffice it to say for now that my goal was achieved. Hurrah.
Previous Months:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Friday, January 01, 2016
29 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2016
Let's start the year off right, shall we? I gave a quick look through the LocusForthcoming List as well as a nice list from Barnes and Nobles, did a quick search on stuff I have saved on Goodreads, and voila!
We have list!
January (4): This is an exciting month. City of Stairs was my top read of 2015, a new China Mieville demands to be read, of course I'm going to read new Sanderson, and I've been excited to read Charlie Jane Anders' debut since discovering her short fiction.
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Census Taker, by China Mieville
Bands of Mourning, by Brandon Sanderson
February (2): I am so behind on Bujold, but this is a Cordelia story and the two Bujold's I've read have focused on Cordelia. A Criminal Magic imagines a Roaring Twenties where Prohibition passed, but the Prohibition was on magic. Bootlegging sorcerers! Count me in!
Gentleman Jolie and the Red Queen, by Lois McMaster Bujold
A Criminal Magic, by Lee Kelly
March (1): Quiet month, I think, but we've got an MRK novella from Tor.com Publishing.
Forest of Memory, by Mary Robinette Kowal
April (2): A Joe Abercombie First Law short story collection AND Valentine's sequel to Persona. Have I mentioned that I'm a big fan of Valentine's fiction?
Sharp Ends, by Joe Abercrombie
Icon, by Genevieve Valentine
May (2): A new Joe Hill novel should be considered an event. He's one hell of a writer. While the last two books from Terry Brooks have taken a step back (after the improved Dark Legacy trilogy), I don't think I can step away from Brooks at this point. I've been reading him for far too long.
The Sorcerer's Daughter, by Terry Brooks
The Fireman, by Joe Hill
June (5): The biggest month of the year. New King, new Expanse. Exciting debuts from Yoon Ha Lee and Malka Older, and a new Strahan anthology. Can't miss this month!
Babylon's Ashes, by James S. A. Corey
End of Watch, by Stephen King
Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee
Infomacracy, by Malka Older
Drowned Worlds, by Jonathan Strahan
July (3): I have a copy of Chu's Time Salvager sitting at home. I loved his Tao novels, so I really should pick read Time Salvager so I'm ready for Time Siege. Likewise, I've had Republic of Thieves sitting on my shelf for at least a year. At this point, do I re-read the first two books or just jump right in with The Thorn of Emberlain dropping this year? Ghost Talkers is the first in a new series from MRK.
Time Siege, by Wesley Chu
Ghost Talkers, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch
August (3): It's like this: I assume I'm going to love the first books in the respective series from Elliott and Jemisin. If so, I will jump right in to the next.
Poisoned Blade, by Kate Elliott
The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin
The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville
September (1): KKR brings us an anthology of classic science fiction stories written by women. Here's a chance to dip into some of the fiction that helped shape the genre.
Women of Futures Past, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
October (2): By now, you all know how much I love the White Trash Zombie series, so the announced publication of a new volume is a cause for joy and celebration. As is the second novel from Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (Signal to Noise was her excellent debut).
Certain Dark Things, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
White Trash Zombie Unchained, by Diana Rowland
Unknown (4): The trouble with doing this list at the beginning of the year is that except for the hugely major releases, we don't have many announced publication dates for late in the year and the farther away we are from publication, the greater the chance that dates will shift. So, I know that the Hurley, Bear, and Hobb are tentatively scheduled for 2016. I hope to see them. George R. R. Martin will always be on this list, even without announcing that the book is finished. The publisher will probably be insanely happy to rush the production schedule if he finishes early enough in the year. I could probably put another half dozen books in this section of the list, but I think there is enough uncertainty on those books being finished.
The Winds of Winter, by George R. R. Martin
The Stars are Legion, by Kameron Hurley
Ancestral Night, by Elizabeth Bear
Assassin's Fate, by Robin Hobb
As such, this isn’t exhaustive or authoritative. While this list is far larger than any I've put out in the past, this is still just a list of 29 books, in presumed
publication followed by alphabetical order, that I’d like to read this year. I’m sure I missed something awesome. Maybe many somethings awesome. I probably did.
January (4): This is an exciting month. City of Stairs was my top read of 2015, a new China Mieville demands to be read, of course I'm going to read new Sanderson, and I've been excited to read Charlie Jane Anders' debut since discovering her short fiction.
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Census Taker, by China Mieville
Bands of Mourning, by Brandon Sanderson
February (2): I am so behind on Bujold, but this is a Cordelia story and the two Bujold's I've read have focused on Cordelia. A Criminal Magic imagines a Roaring Twenties where Prohibition passed, but the Prohibition was on magic. Bootlegging sorcerers! Count me in!
Gentleman Jolie and the Red Queen, by Lois McMaster Bujold
A Criminal Magic, by Lee Kelly
March (1): Quiet month, I think, but we've got an MRK novella from Tor.com Publishing.
Forest of Memory, by Mary Robinette Kowal
April (2): A Joe Abercombie First Law short story collection AND Valentine's sequel to Persona. Have I mentioned that I'm a big fan of Valentine's fiction?
Sharp Ends, by Joe Abercrombie
Icon, by Genevieve Valentine
May (2): A new Joe Hill novel should be considered an event. He's one hell of a writer. While the last two books from Terry Brooks have taken a step back (after the improved Dark Legacy trilogy), I don't think I can step away from Brooks at this point. I've been reading him for far too long.
The Sorcerer's Daughter, by Terry Brooks
The Fireman, by Joe Hill
June (5): The biggest month of the year. New King, new Expanse. Exciting debuts from Yoon Ha Lee and Malka Older, and a new Strahan anthology. Can't miss this month!
Babylon's Ashes, by James S. A. Corey
End of Watch, by Stephen King
Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee
Infomacracy, by Malka Older
Drowned Worlds, by Jonathan Strahan
July (3): I have a copy of Chu's Time Salvager sitting at home. I loved his Tao novels, so I really should pick read Time Salvager so I'm ready for Time Siege. Likewise, I've had Republic of Thieves sitting on my shelf for at least a year. At this point, do I re-read the first two books or just jump right in with The Thorn of Emberlain dropping this year? Ghost Talkers is the first in a new series from MRK.
Time Siege, by Wesley Chu
Ghost Talkers, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch
August (3): It's like this: I assume I'm going to love the first books in the respective series from Elliott and Jemisin. If so, I will jump right in to the next.
Poisoned Blade, by Kate Elliott
The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin
The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville
September (1): KKR brings us an anthology of classic science fiction stories written by women. Here's a chance to dip into some of the fiction that helped shape the genre.
Women of Futures Past, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
October (2): By now, you all know how much I love the White Trash Zombie series, so the announced publication of a new volume is a cause for joy and celebration. As is the second novel from Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (Signal to Noise was her excellent debut).
Certain Dark Things, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
White Trash Zombie Unchained, by Diana Rowland
Unknown (4): The trouble with doing this list at the beginning of the year is that except for the hugely major releases, we don't have many announced publication dates for late in the year and the farther away we are from publication, the greater the chance that dates will shift. So, I know that the Hurley, Bear, and Hobb are tentatively scheduled for 2016. I hope to see them. George R. R. Martin will always be on this list, even without announcing that the book is finished. The publisher will probably be insanely happy to rush the production schedule if he finishes early enough in the year. I could probably put another half dozen books in this section of the list, but I think there is enough uncertainty on those books being finished.
The Winds of Winter, by George R. R. Martin
The Stars are Legion, by Kameron Hurley
Ancestral Night, by Elizabeth Bear
Assassin's Fate, by Robin Hobb
Thursday, December 31, 2015
The Missing: 2015
I posted a similar list last year,
and I think it is worth posting a number of the books I didn't read in
2015. Now, the actual list is absurdly long, but this is a decent
representation of books I would have liked to have read and, for various
reasons, never did.
For the sake of keeping this list manageable, I limited it to genre books. If I browsed through listings of LitFic and Nonfiction, well, the list would be absurd. Even strictly genre, I could probably grow triple this list with ease. Let's just say that reading more than 120 books in a year doesn't get you as far as you might think, even if all you read were books published that year (which I didn't). This still doesn't even scratch the list of SFF works that I missed this year. Heck, this only scratches the surface of the "notable" books that were half on my radar that I missed. I'll probably find another dozen in a few months.
I have put stars by the books that I currently own / have at home. I'm halfway through The Fifth Season right now, but am unlikely to finish it today (but if I did - I'm pretty sure it would have been near the top of my Best Of lists)
Half the World, by Joe Abercrombie
Half a War, by Joe Abercrombie
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, by Bradley P. Beaulieu
The Skull Throne, by Peter V. Brett
The Aeronaut's Windlass, by Jim Butcher
Corsair, by James Cambais
Prudence, by Gail Carriger
Armada, by Ernest Cline
Nemesis Game, by James S. A. Corey
*Time Salvager, by Wesley Chu
*Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott
The Court of Fives, by Kate Elliott
Last First Snow, by Max Gladstone
Harrison Squared, by Daryl Gregory
The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins
*The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin
Of Noble Family, by Mary Robinette Kowal
Cold Iron, by Stina Leicht
Day Four, by Sarah Lotz
The Autumn Republic, by Brian McClellan
Planetfall, by Emma Newman
Half Resurrection Blues, by Daniel Jose Older
Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Darker Shade of Magic, by V. E. Schwab
Meeting Infinity, by Jonathan Strahan
The Mechanical, by Ian Tregellis
*Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente
*Sisters of the Revolution, by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
The Just City, by Jo Walton
For the sake of keeping this list manageable, I limited it to genre books. If I browsed through listings of LitFic and Nonfiction, well, the list would be absurd. Even strictly genre, I could probably grow triple this list with ease. Let's just say that reading more than 120 books in a year doesn't get you as far as you might think, even if all you read were books published that year (which I didn't). This still doesn't even scratch the list of SFF works that I missed this year. Heck, this only scratches the surface of the "notable" books that were half on my radar that I missed. I'll probably find another dozen in a few months.
I have put stars by the books that I currently own / have at home. I'm halfway through The Fifth Season right now, but am unlikely to finish it today (but if I did - I'm pretty sure it would have been near the top of my Best Of lists)
Half the World, by Joe Abercrombie
Half a War, by Joe Abercrombie
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, by Bradley P. Beaulieu
The Skull Throne, by Peter V. Brett
The Aeronaut's Windlass, by Jim Butcher
Corsair, by James Cambais
Prudence, by Gail Carriger
Armada, by Ernest Cline
Nemesis Game, by James S. A. Corey
*Time Salvager, by Wesley Chu
*Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott
The Court of Fives, by Kate Elliott
Last First Snow, by Max Gladstone
Harrison Squared, by Daryl Gregory
The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins
*The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin
Of Noble Family, by Mary Robinette Kowal
Cold Iron, by Stina Leicht
Day Four, by Sarah Lotz
The Autumn Republic, by Brian McClellan
Planetfall, by Emma Newman
Half Resurrection Blues, by Daniel Jose Older
Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Darker Shade of Magic, by V. E. Schwab
Meeting Infinity, by Jonathan Strahan
The Mechanical, by Ian Tregellis
*Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente
*Sisters of the Revolution, by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
The Just City, by Jo Walton
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
My Nine Favorite Reads of 2015
As I've mentioned elsewhere: Some people do a top ten list, others do a
top eleven, yet others may only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why?
Partly to be a little bit different and partly because I want the tenth
spot on my list to be reserved for that really great book which I simply
did not get the chance to read during 2015. That really great book may
also be something I have only heard whispers about and I may not
discover for several more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m
holding a spot for it on my list.
Unlike my list of the top books published in 2015, this list is for the top books I read in 2015, no matter when the book was published. I'm also going to cheat a little and where a book overlaps with the previous list, I'm going to use most of the same text. Because I'm lazy.
1. City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett: The sole reason this was not at the top of last year's list is that I didn't read it until the beginning of January and it just missed out. An investigation into the murder of a historian turns into a quest into the central nature of whether all of the gods were really killed and holy shit, this is good. This is epic fantasy, this is a mystery, this is an awesomely fantastic book that you need to read right freaking now.
2. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie: Tonally different from the previous two volumes, Ancillary Mercy is a crushingly good book that closes out Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. I was in awe of just how much I loved this book, the characters, the setting. While I always wanted to know just a little bit more about what was going on in other places of the universe, the story kept me rooted and grounded and focused. I loved it.
3. The Martian, by Andy Weir: At this point I believe everyone in the world has heard of The Martian, and that includes my 74 year old mother who doesn't watch much tv beyond Dancing with the Stars or read fiction. I suspect even people who actually live under a rock will say "The Martian? Yeah, that's the one where that guy sciences the shit out of something." Well, Mark Watney does science the shit out of Mars and the voice and the science and the story here is damned good and fun and tense and thrilling and yeah - The Martian is great.
4. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik: I finished Uprooted as I began work on this list and it immediately shot nearly to the top. After all the hype and build up as I somehow didn't read this earlier, I was concerned that Uprooted would ultimately be a let down. It was not. It was oh so good. There is something to be said for a great standalone fantasy novel (see last year's The Goblin Emperor, but damn, they always leave you wanting more).
5. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson: Destroy the moon with the first sentence of the book, see how quickly I want to read your book. "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." This was my first Neal Stephenson novel. It will not be the last.
6. Daughters of the North, by Sarah Hall: I'm not sure I can do this short novel justice in only a few sentences, so what I'd like for you to do is read the first three paragraphs of the co-review over at Lady Business (stop at the second Renay section if you don't want extensive story details). Then come back for the rest of this list. Daughters of the North (or, The Carhullan Army, as it was originally published as) is a novel that has stuck with me for most of 2015 and is one that I'm actively looking forward to revisiting.
7. Signal to Noise, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: Described as a "literary fantasy about love, music, and sorcery, set against the backdrop of Mexico City." Flipping between 1988 and 2009, Moreno-Garcia has written a beautiful novel that caught me up in its spell.
8. The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson: A comment from Dickinson on Goodreads mentions that there will be a sequel, though preferably only one. I would love to see Baru's story continued and wrapped up - to see if she's able to get her revenge on the Masquerade by destroying herself in the process. Brutal. Wonderful.
9. Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: Though the novel is technically the story of Zacharias Wythe, the titular character in Victorian England, the beating heart of the story is that of Prunella Gentleman, a wonderful character and a bit of a force of nature. Sorcerer to the Crown is set in Victorian London, so we've got "vicious politeness", as Amal El-Mohtar so eloquently put it. I highly recommend this.
Previous Best Reads
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2013
2014
Unlike my list of the top books published in 2015, this list is for the top books I read in 2015, no matter when the book was published. I'm also going to cheat a little and where a book overlaps with the previous list, I'm going to use most of the same text. Because I'm lazy.
1. City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett: The sole reason this was not at the top of last year's list is that I didn't read it until the beginning of January and it just missed out. An investigation into the murder of a historian turns into a quest into the central nature of whether all of the gods were really killed and holy shit, this is good. This is epic fantasy, this is a mystery, this is an awesomely fantastic book that you need to read right freaking now.
2. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie: Tonally different from the previous two volumes, Ancillary Mercy is a crushingly good book that closes out Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. I was in awe of just how much I loved this book, the characters, the setting. While I always wanted to know just a little bit more about what was going on in other places of the universe, the story kept me rooted and grounded and focused. I loved it.
3. The Martian, by Andy Weir: At this point I believe everyone in the world has heard of The Martian, and that includes my 74 year old mother who doesn't watch much tv beyond Dancing with the Stars or read fiction. I suspect even people who actually live under a rock will say "The Martian? Yeah, that's the one where that guy sciences the shit out of something." Well, Mark Watney does science the shit out of Mars and the voice and the science and the story here is damned good and fun and tense and thrilling and yeah - The Martian is great.
4. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik: I finished Uprooted as I began work on this list and it immediately shot nearly to the top. After all the hype and build up as I somehow didn't read this earlier, I was concerned that Uprooted would ultimately be a let down. It was not. It was oh so good. There is something to be said for a great standalone fantasy novel (see last year's The Goblin Emperor, but damn, they always leave you wanting more).
5. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson: Destroy the moon with the first sentence of the book, see how quickly I want to read your book. "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." This was my first Neal Stephenson novel. It will not be the last.
6. Daughters of the North, by Sarah Hall: I'm not sure I can do this short novel justice in only a few sentences, so what I'd like for you to do is read the first three paragraphs of the co-review over at Lady Business (stop at the second Renay section if you don't want extensive story details). Then come back for the rest of this list. Daughters of the North (or, The Carhullan Army, as it was originally published as) is a novel that has stuck with me for most of 2015 and is one that I'm actively looking forward to revisiting.
7. Signal to Noise, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: Described as a "literary fantasy about love, music, and sorcery, set against the backdrop of Mexico City." Flipping between 1988 and 2009, Moreno-Garcia has written a beautiful novel that caught me up in its spell.
8. The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson: A comment from Dickinson on Goodreads mentions that there will be a sequel, though preferably only one. I would love to see Baru's story continued and wrapped up - to see if she's able to get her revenge on the Masquerade by destroying herself in the process. Brutal. Wonderful.
9. Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: Though the novel is technically the story of Zacharias Wythe, the titular character in Victorian England, the beating heart of the story is that of Prunella Gentleman, a wonderful character and a bit of a force of nature. Sorcerer to the Crown is set in Victorian London, so we've got "vicious politeness", as Amal El-Mohtar so eloquently put it. I highly recommend this.
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2013
2014
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The Top Nine Books Published in 2015
Some people do a top ten list, others do a top eleven, yet others may
only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why? Partly to be a little bit
different and partly because I want the tenth spot on my list to be
reserved for that really great book which I simply did not get the
chance to read during 2015. That really great book may also be something
I have only heard whispers about and I may not discover for several
more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m holding a spot for it
on my list.
This Top Nine List is more or less in order. Ask me tomorrow and some titles may shift around a little bit. Whichever order the list is in, these are the nine novels published in 2015 which I feel were the strongest titles of the year, popularity be damned.
1. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie: Tonally different from the previous two volumes, Ancillary Mercy is a crushingly good book that closes out Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. I was in awe of just how much I loved this book, the characters, the setting. While I always wanted to know just a little bit more about what was going on in other places of the universe, the story kept me rooted and grounded and focused. I loved it.
2. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik: I finished Uprooted as I began work on this list and it immediately shot nearly to the top. After all the hype and build up as I somehow didn't read this earlier, I was concerned that Uprooted would ultimately be a let down. It was not. It was oh so good. There is something to be said for a great standalone fantasy novel (see last year's The Goblin Emperor, but damn, they always leave you wanting more).
3. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson: Destroy the moon with the first sentence of the book, see how quickly I want to read your book. "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." This was my first Neal Stephenson novel. It will not be the last.
4. Signal to Noise, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: Described as a "literary fantasy about love, music, and sorcery, set against the backdrop of Mexico City." Flipping between 1988 and 2009, Moreno-Garcia has written a beautiful novel that caught me up in its spell.
5. The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson: A comment from Dickinson on Goodreads mentions that there will be a sequel, though preferably only one. I would love to see Baru's story continued and wrapped up - to see if she's able to get her revenge on the Masquerade by destroying herself in the process. Brutal. Wonderful.
6. Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: Though the novel is technically the story of Zacharias Wythe, the titular character in Victorian England, the beating heart of the story is that of Prunella Gentleman, a wonderful character and a bit of a force of nature. Sorcerer to the Crown is set in Victorian London, so we've got "vicious politeness", as Amal El-Mohtar so eloquently put it. I highly recommend this.
7. Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear: Bear can write pretty much anything she damn well pleases and the remarkable thing is, it's going to be one of the best things you read that year. That's one of her many super powers, and Karen Memory is no different. I could tell you that this is the story of a late 1800's era "seamstress" having one hell of an adventure in a steampunk western, with an appearance by real life Marshall Bass Reeves and a distinctive narrative voice - and that should be enough to convince you to read the book. But all I really should have to say is "written by Elizabeth Bear."
8. The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard: Imagine for a moment that angels fell from heaven and that they essentially took over Paris, setting up competing Houses and the brutal tension that would entail. Imagine, then, the humans that live under them, some serving and binding themselves to a house - some addicted to the angel's magic. Set up a curse and some murders, mix in de Bodard's fantastic storytelling, and you've got a recipe for one of the year's best novels.
9. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb: This is the fifteenth novel set in the Realm of the Elderlings and the eighth to feature FitzChivalry Farseer, and somehow, with all of those books and all of those pages, Robin Hobb manages to make this world feel both fresh and familiar and deeply necessary all at the same time. The story here isn't just the getting the characters to the next event, the story is actually the characters themselves - their journey, their relationships to each other, the brief joys and bitterest disappointments.
Previous Best Ofs
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2014
This Top Nine List is more or less in order. Ask me tomorrow and some titles may shift around a little bit. Whichever order the list is in, these are the nine novels published in 2015 which I feel were the strongest titles of the year, popularity be damned.
1. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie: Tonally different from the previous two volumes, Ancillary Mercy is a crushingly good book that closes out Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. I was in awe of just how much I loved this book, the characters, the setting. While I always wanted to know just a little bit more about what was going on in other places of the universe, the story kept me rooted and grounded and focused. I loved it.
2. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik: I finished Uprooted as I began work on this list and it immediately shot nearly to the top. After all the hype and build up as I somehow didn't read this earlier, I was concerned that Uprooted would ultimately be a let down. It was not. It was oh so good. There is something to be said for a great standalone fantasy novel (see last year's The Goblin Emperor, but damn, they always leave you wanting more).
3. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson: Destroy the moon with the first sentence of the book, see how quickly I want to read your book. "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." This was my first Neal Stephenson novel. It will not be the last.
4. Signal to Noise, by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: Described as a "literary fantasy about love, music, and sorcery, set against the backdrop of Mexico City." Flipping between 1988 and 2009, Moreno-Garcia has written a beautiful novel that caught me up in its spell.
5. The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson: A comment from Dickinson on Goodreads mentions that there will be a sequel, though preferably only one. I would love to see Baru's story continued and wrapped up - to see if she's able to get her revenge on the Masquerade by destroying herself in the process. Brutal. Wonderful.
6. Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: Though the novel is technically the story of Zacharias Wythe, the titular character in Victorian England, the beating heart of the story is that of Prunella Gentleman, a wonderful character and a bit of a force of nature. Sorcerer to the Crown is set in Victorian London, so we've got "vicious politeness", as Amal El-Mohtar so eloquently put it. I highly recommend this.
7. Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear: Bear can write pretty much anything she damn well pleases and the remarkable thing is, it's going to be one of the best things you read that year. That's one of her many super powers, and Karen Memory is no different. I could tell you that this is the story of a late 1800's era "seamstress" having one hell of an adventure in a steampunk western, with an appearance by real life Marshall Bass Reeves and a distinctive narrative voice - and that should be enough to convince you to read the book. But all I really should have to say is "written by Elizabeth Bear."
8. The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard: Imagine for a moment that angels fell from heaven and that they essentially took over Paris, setting up competing Houses and the brutal tension that would entail. Imagine, then, the humans that live under them, some serving and binding themselves to a house - some addicted to the angel's magic. Set up a curse and some murders, mix in de Bodard's fantastic storytelling, and you've got a recipe for one of the year's best novels.
9. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb: This is the fifteenth novel set in the Realm of the Elderlings and the eighth to feature FitzChivalry Farseer, and somehow, with all of those books and all of those pages, Robin Hobb manages to make this world feel both fresh and familiar and deeply necessary all at the same time. The story here isn't just the getting the characters to the next event, the story is actually the characters themselves - their journey, their relationships to each other, the brief joys and bitterest disappointments.
Previous Best Ofs
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2014
Monday, December 28, 2015
The Top Nine Author Discoveries of 2015
We are coming to the end of another year and it is time to start
reflecting on all of the awesome stuff that I've read throughout the
year.
Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2015, in no particular order except alphabetical. In the spirit of acknowledging that there is always something or someone I’ve missed, either by a slip of memory or just lack of opportunity, the traditional tenth spot on my list remains blank.
1. Rachel Bach: I pretty well devoured Bach's space opera Paradox trilogy featuring Devi Morris. She has written a number of fantasy novels as Rachel Aaron, but I'd love to see more SF from her.r
2. Robert Jackson Bennett: Bennett has been on my radar for a number of years, and I've always meant to pick up American Elsewhere. But then he wrote City of Stairs. And I read it. I loved it. City of Blades will be published in January and I shall read that, too. I plan to go back and read his other stuff.
3. Jim Butcher: Until Skin Game was nominated for a Hugo Award in 2015, I had never read Jim Butcher. Now, I understand that it was the 15th book in a series, but it held up fairly well on its own and has me interested enough to go give the rest of the series a shot. I haven't yet, but now I actually want to.
4. Gail Carriger: I was charmed and delighted by Soulless, a novel of manners and vampires and werewolves in Victorian London. I really shouldn't wait much longer to read Changless
5. Becky Chambers: I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and I firmly believe that universe is such that she could write a number of books in it - preferably a couple more with the crew of the Wayfarer, but it's a rich enough universe to support a whole lot of fiction. I hope she writes it.
6. Eric Flint: Flint is the author of some 8000 novels with another twenty coming each month. Or something like that. That's how it feels. He is possibly most notable for his semi-shared world 1632, featuring a mining town up and thrown back into the year 1632 in Germany. Changes to history ensue. I've only read a couple of the 1632 books but have enjoyed seeing how stuff is playing out and have every intention to read more. One of those authors I should have read a long time ago.
7. Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: Her debut novel, Signal to Noise, was fantastic and is one of the year's best. I will read anything else she writes.
8. Diana Rowland: I am an avowed fan of her White Trash Zombie novels featuring Angel Crawford. They're so good, I read all five of them this year. Rowland has suggested that #6 is forthcoming in 2016. I can't wait.
9. Neal Stephenson: Yes, it is thoroughly possible that Seveneves was the first novel I've read of Stephenson, despite his giant reputation and landmark novels. Destroy the moon in the first sentence, I'll read your book.
Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2014.
Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2015, in no particular order except alphabetical. In the spirit of acknowledging that there is always something or someone I’ve missed, either by a slip of memory or just lack of opportunity, the traditional tenth spot on my list remains blank.
1. Rachel Bach: I pretty well devoured Bach's space opera Paradox trilogy featuring Devi Morris. She has written a number of fantasy novels as Rachel Aaron, but I'd love to see more SF from her.r
2. Robert Jackson Bennett: Bennett has been on my radar for a number of years, and I've always meant to pick up American Elsewhere. But then he wrote City of Stairs. And I read it. I loved it. City of Blades will be published in January and I shall read that, too. I plan to go back and read his other stuff.
3. Jim Butcher: Until Skin Game was nominated for a Hugo Award in 2015, I had never read Jim Butcher. Now, I understand that it was the 15th book in a series, but it held up fairly well on its own and has me interested enough to go give the rest of the series a shot. I haven't yet, but now I actually want to.
4. Gail Carriger: I was charmed and delighted by Soulless, a novel of manners and vampires and werewolves in Victorian London. I really shouldn't wait much longer to read Changless
5. Becky Chambers: I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and I firmly believe that universe is such that she could write a number of books in it - preferably a couple more with the crew of the Wayfarer, but it's a rich enough universe to support a whole lot of fiction. I hope she writes it.
6. Eric Flint: Flint is the author of some 8000 novels with another twenty coming each month. Or something like that. That's how it feels. He is possibly most notable for his semi-shared world 1632, featuring a mining town up and thrown back into the year 1632 in Germany. Changes to history ensue. I've only read a couple of the 1632 books but have enjoyed seeing how stuff is playing out and have every intention to read more. One of those authors I should have read a long time ago.
7. Sylvia Moreno-Garcia: Her debut novel, Signal to Noise, was fantastic and is one of the year's best. I will read anything else she writes.
8. Diana Rowland: I am an avowed fan of her White Trash Zombie novels featuring Angel Crawford. They're so good, I read all five of them this year. Rowland has suggested that #6 is forthcoming in 2016. I can't wait.
9. Neal Stephenson: Yes, it is thoroughly possible that Seveneves was the first novel I've read of Stephenson, despite his giant reputation and landmark novels. Destroy the moon in the first sentence, I'll read your book.
Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2014.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Catching Up with the 2015 To Read List
Back in January I posted a list of 14 books I wanted to read in 2015. It was not meant to be an exhaustive list, and I knew that my son was due to be born three weeks later, so I really had no idea how this was going to go.
He was born the next day.
So things go.
Somewhat surprisingly, the amount of reading I have done this year is not drastically different than what I did last year (135 books). We still have a couple of weeks left in the month, but I'm confident I'm not going to quite hit that number. I will be in the 120's, though.
Two of the books on this list were not published in 2015. I can't say that I really expected to see The Winds of Winter, but because I put a GRRM book on the list every year no matter if it has a schedule or not, here it was. Scott Lynch's The Thorn of Emberlain has been pushed to 2016, which is good because it means I have more time to finally read Republic of Thieves. I just have to decide if I should re-read the first two books or just dive in. I'm mixed.
I have copies of The Black Wolves and Radiance sitting at home. Black Wolves is slated for a review, so I needed to clear some mental space off and finish up the Public Speaking course I took at the local community college (last day of class was yesterday). Now I can ready myself for the book. I do plan / want to read Radiance still, but it also won't be finished this year. Probably won't start this year.
Which leaves The Just City. I never got to it and it is pretty far down my list if I'm being honest.
Still, 9/14 isn't too bad. It's really 9/12 if you consider books that were actually published.
2. Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear (Feb)
3. Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse, by John Joseph Adams (editor) (Feb)
4. Persona, by Genevieve Valentine (Mar)
5. The Rebirths of Tao, by Wesley Chu (Apr)
6. The Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Jul)
7. The End of All Things, by John Scalzi (Aug)
9. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb (Aug)
10. The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch (Sep)
11. The Empire Ascendent,
by Kameron Hurley (Oct)
12. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Oct)
13: Mistborn: Shadows of Self, by Brandon Sanderson (Oct)
He was born the next day.
So things go.
Somewhat surprisingly, the amount of reading I have done this year is not drastically different than what I did last year (135 books). We still have a couple of weeks left in the month, but I'm confident I'm not going to quite hit that number. I will be in the 120's, though.
Two of the books on this list were not published in 2015. I can't say that I really expected to see The Winds of Winter, but because I put a GRRM book on the list every year no matter if it has a schedule or not, here it was. Scott Lynch's The Thorn of Emberlain has been pushed to 2016, which is good because it means I have more time to finally read Republic of Thieves. I just have to decide if I should re-read the first two books or just dive in. I'm mixed.
I have copies of The Black Wolves and Radiance sitting at home. Black Wolves is slated for a review, so I needed to clear some mental space off and finish up the Public Speaking course I took at the local community college (last day of class was yesterday). Now I can ready myself for the book. I do plan / want to read Radiance still, but it also won't be finished this year. Probably won't start this year.
Which leaves The Just City. I never got to it and it is pretty far down my list if I'm being honest.
Still, 9/14 isn't too bad. It's really 9/12 if you consider books that were actually published.
1. The Just City, by Jo Walton (Jan)
3. Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse, by John Joseph Adams (editor) (Feb)
4. Persona, by Genevieve Valentine (Mar)
5. The Rebirths of Tao, by Wesley Chu (Apr)
6. The Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Jul)
8. Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente (Aug)
12. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Oct)
14. The Winds of Winter, by George R. R. Martin (???)
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
NoaF: Camber of Culdi
My first essay for Nerds of a Feather is live as of today. I've started a series of essays on the Camber Era Deryni novels. Find the Camber of Culdi essay here. I'm excited to continue to this series through the six earliest set novels.
Go on and take a look.
Go on and take a look.
Monday, December 07, 2015
Nerds of a Feather
Now that the announcement is official, let's talk about the big news I've been sitting on for a month or so now:
I have joined the team over at Nerds of a Feather. I'll be blogging there a handful of times each month as part of their regular rotation of writers.
"But Joe", you ask me, "you barely post anything over here. Why should we expect that you'll be writing any more over there?"
Well, because I told The G that I would.
"You've also told us that you would be blogging on a more regular basis and look how that ended up."
That's true, and I'll own up to the fact that I've struggled with my motivation to write about much of anything that wasn't the Hugo Awards and now that we're in the off season my productivity has dropped. But it's like this - I'm really excited for the chance to be writing for someone else and being part of something a bit bigger than this little blog I've been running for the past eleven years.
"So, you're leaving us. Is that it?"
Not exactly. I expect to still do some writing here.
"Like, as much....excuse us, as little as you've been doing already."
Pretty much.
"Thanks."
You're welcome.
"That was sarcastic."
I know, but there's no need for me to be rude. Listen - this is going to be awesome because you're going to get overall MORE writing from me AND you might just get exposed to some other awesome writers if you're not already following Nerds of a Feather - which you should be.
"Okay"
Are we good?"
"I guess, but it's just that I'm a little lonely over here."
Oh, lone reader, I'm sorry! I promise I'll link to most of my stuff over there so you don't miss any of it! And! You can join the community over there, too! I'll still post some stuff here anyway. It's been eleven years, we can't say goodbye yet, can we?
"I guess not."
That's the spirit! Let's do this thing! I've got a great essay coming up in just a couple of days. You'll love it, Lone Reader!
I have joined the team over at Nerds of a Feather. I'll be blogging there a handful of times each month as part of their regular rotation of writers.
"But Joe", you ask me, "you barely post anything over here. Why should we expect that you'll be writing any more over there?"
Well, because I told The G that I would.
"You've also told us that you would be blogging on a more regular basis and look how that ended up."
That's true, and I'll own up to the fact that I've struggled with my motivation to write about much of anything that wasn't the Hugo Awards and now that we're in the off season my productivity has dropped. But it's like this - I'm really excited for the chance to be writing for someone else and being part of something a bit bigger than this little blog I've been running for the past eleven years.
"So, you're leaving us. Is that it?"
Not exactly. I expect to still do some writing here.
"Like, as much....excuse us, as little as you've been doing already."
Pretty much.
"Thanks."
You're welcome.
"That was sarcastic."
I know, but there's no need for me to be rude. Listen - this is going to be awesome because you're going to get overall MORE writing from me AND you might just get exposed to some other awesome writers if you're not already following Nerds of a Feather - which you should be.
"Okay"
Are we good?"
"I guess, but it's just that I'm a little lonely over here."
Oh, lone reader, I'm sorry! I promise I'll link to most of my stuff over there so you don't miss any of it! And! You can join the community over there, too! I'll still post some stuff here anyway. It's been eleven years, we can't say goodbye yet, can we?
"I guess not."
That's the spirit! Let's do this thing! I've got a great essay coming up in just a couple of days. You'll love it, Lone Reader!
Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Books Read: November 2015
The beginning of a new month brings with it the opportunity to look back
at the month gone by and to give one last glance at what I most
recently read. The below listed books are what I read during the month
of November.
1. Camber of Culdi, by Katherine Kurtz
2. The Sorcerer of the Wildeep, by Kai Ashante Wilson
3. Empire Ascendant, by Kameron Hurley
4. Shadow of Self, by Brandon Sanderson
5. Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor
6. White Trash Zombies Gone Wild, by Diana Rowland
7. Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith
8. Sunset Mantle, by Alter S. Reiss
9. Bazaar of Bad Dreams, by Stephen King
Best Book of the Month: This month it is surprisingly difficult to pick a single best because almost everything I read was good to very good, but there might not have been a true standout. So - let's go with Empire Ascendant, Binti, and Career of Evil. With bonus points to Camber of Culdi just because I love it so much.
Disappointment of the Month: This would probably be the first Stephen King collection I can remember reading that I wasn't excited and engaged the whole way through. There were some standout stories like "Ur" and "Obits", with "Drunken Fireworks worth a mention. But as a whole, I was a bit disappointed.
Discovery of the Month: I read two of Tor.com Publishing's novellas last month and another three this month. The more I read from them the more excited I am to read everything they put out. Long live the novella!
Worth Noting: You should all read more Deryni from Katherine Kurtz and I highly recommend starting with Camber of Culdi because I find this era of the series to be far more interesting, engaging, and emotionally wrenching than the later Kelson novels.
Gender Breakdown: 5 out of the 9 books I read in November were woman authored (remember, Robert Galbraith is the pen name for J. K. Rowling). This brings me to 69/119 and continues to slide my percentage down just a smidge to 57.98% (from 58.18%). Goal remains on track. I'd like to slide that up over 60%, but I'm still nailing the goal so I'm happy.
Previous Months:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
1. Camber of Culdi, by Katherine Kurtz
2. The Sorcerer of the Wildeep, by Kai Ashante Wilson
3. Empire Ascendant, by Kameron Hurley
4. Shadow of Self, by Brandon Sanderson
5. Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor
6. White Trash Zombies Gone Wild, by Diana Rowland
7. Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith
8. Sunset Mantle, by Alter S. Reiss
9. Bazaar of Bad Dreams, by Stephen King
Best Book of the Month: This month it is surprisingly difficult to pick a single best because almost everything I read was good to very good, but there might not have been a true standout. So - let's go with Empire Ascendant, Binti, and Career of Evil. With bonus points to Camber of Culdi just because I love it so much.
Disappointment of the Month: This would probably be the first Stephen King collection I can remember reading that I wasn't excited and engaged the whole way through. There were some standout stories like "Ur" and "Obits", with "Drunken Fireworks worth a mention. But as a whole, I was a bit disappointed.
Discovery of the Month: I read two of Tor.com Publishing's novellas last month and another three this month. The more I read from them the more excited I am to read everything they put out. Long live the novella!
Worth Noting: You should all read more Deryni from Katherine Kurtz and I highly recommend starting with Camber of Culdi because I find this era of the series to be far more interesting, engaging, and emotionally wrenching than the later Kelson novels.
Gender Breakdown: 5 out of the 9 books I read in November were woman authored (remember, Robert Galbraith is the pen name for J. K. Rowling). This brings me to 69/119 and continues to slide my percentage down just a smidge to 57.98% (from 58.18%). Goal remains on track. I'd like to slide that up over 60%, but I'm still nailing the goal so I'm happy.
Previous Months:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
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