Whats everyone reading?

[pictsy]

Virtual Light by William Gibson

I really enjoyed this book.  Best novel I've read all year so far.  The imagery in this book is very evocative and elements from his setting were really unsettling especially right now.  I really liked his lead lady.  From description to characterisation and just how much I bought into the idea of loving to cycle around San Francisco delivering packages.  Clearly Gibson failed to predict Deliveroo.  My second favourite thing is the Kowloon Walled City on the Golden Gate Bridge.  Although my mental picture of Gibson's bridge was brighter than the photos I've seen of the Walled City.  My third favourite thing is everything else.

Next up, Idoru.

[TordelBack]

Yep. Virtual Light is great, one of his best, and for basically all the reasons you cite.

When I read it first, I was reluctantly a fully bike-based person, cycling all over the city and suburbs going between three part-time jobs and post-grad seminars over the autumn/winter, and puttering up and down the hills of Sligo heavily laden with equipment while doing a field survey in the spring and summer: Chevette's narrative gifted me a way into actually enjoying all the thigh-burning and ass-chaphing, which I had previously been viewing as a colossal waste of my time.  Even her living space on the Bridge allowed me to romanticise the series of odd little places I was renting.

Un/Fortunately this new appreciation of pedal-power also meant I wouldn't bother learning to drive for another decade.  May have to give it a re-read myself!

[Bolt-01]

I've just read the second volume of Geis by Alexis Deacon.

I picked up Vol 01 at TB 2017 and the second last year - I cannot recommend them enough.

It 'feels' like a lost chapter of Nausicaa by Miyazaki, largely due to the organic nature of the work.

https://nobrow.net/shop/geis/

No sign of the third volume but it is eagerly awaited by me.

[von Boom]

Virtual Light by William Gibson

I really enjoyed this book.  Best novel I've read all year so far.  The imagery in this book is very evocative and elements from his setting were really unsettling especially right now.  I really liked his lead lady.  From description to characterisation and just how much I bought into the idea of loving to cycle around San Francisco delivering packages.  Clearly Gibson failed to predict Deliveroo.  My second favourite thing is the Kowloon Walled City on the Golden Gate Bridge.  Although my mental picture of Gibson's bridge was brighter than the photos I've seen of the Walled City.  My third favourite thing is everything else.

Next up, Idoru.

It's been a long time since I read Virtual Light, but I remember enjoying very much. I was just finishing uni and it felt as if it was written just for me. The lifestyle felt very close to my own, minus all the tech. I must read it again soon.

[pictsy]

I hope that anyone who decides to re-read enjoys it as much as I did.

I've had a second-hand signed hardback copy on my bookshelf for well over five years.  I did get Idoru in the late 90's and read most of it at the time (thoroughly enjoying it) but never finished it.  The only reason I did end up reading it was because, at the beginning of this year, I decided I wanted to set some time aside everyday to read a book and I have a lot of books I've never read.  My rule is to read at least one chapter (if there are chapters) a day and I'm really glad I'm doing this.

[Colin YNWA]

In lieu of new comics I'll be reading some more Cinebook and also caught up with some recent purchases from an sadly missing previous regular Chris Askham. As well as the Twin Peaks Artzine I got two comics.

Firstly Swtichblade Stories 1. Straight out of engine oil stained streets of Russ Meyer this is a wonderful short story (20 odd pages) of a 50s suburban housewife finding freedom in pills, misadventure and female company. Its so evokative and a glorious read with some fantastic added materials to wrap it all up. The art - for those that know Chris' work is just stunning and its simply a fun story in a lovely product.

Secondly U'Grot Elder God (or is it tuneful Starborn thing) meet girl, girl falls under spell of one eyed octo-monster... oh you know same old same old you heard this one a million times before. But have you heard it told so well? This is just glorious. The thing that stood out amongst so many great things is the way Chris mixes purple prose with moments over silence, particular at the start of the story as a young woman stumbles across an abandoned church. Its so atmospheric. The story is beguling and strangely powerful. Just fantastic.

Two things unite two seeming completely contrasting stories, that is beyond Chris' superb art full of depth, character and atmosphere and that's the fantastic production values. These are printed on lovely paper that makes reading feel luxurious.

Take the risk out of buying small press comics (though to be fair isn't the risk half the fun?) and get yourself over to Chris Askham's website and buy both these comics.

https://chrisaskham.bigcartel.com/category/comics-and-graphic-novels

[wedgeski]

Chomping my way through Alastair Reynolds's oeuvre after reading the Revelation Space series last year. Aurora Rising and Elysium Fire both brilliant; Chasm City a little convoluted but has all the same qualities of world-building and character that I like in his work. Just taking a breath right now, might be time to re-read Donaldson's Gap series, I'm thinking.

[Bolt-01]

Wedgski - Pushing Ice is a personal Fave of mine from Mr Reynolds.

I've got both Permafrost and Bone silence in my read pile of his.

[wedgeski]

Wedgski - Pushing Ice is a personal Fave of mine from Mr Reynolds.

I've got both Permafrost and Bone silence in my read pile of his.

Thanks Bolt, I'll make that the next one.

Have you read any Peter Hamilton? I don't want to burn out on space opera, but he's often mentioned in the same breath as Reynols, Banks, etc.

[von Boom]

Wedgski - Pushing Ice is a personal Fave of mine from Mr Reynolds.

I've got both Permafrost and Bone silence in my read pile of his.

Thanks Bolt, I'll make that the next one.

Have you read any Peter Hamilton? I don't want to burn out on space opera, but he's often mentioned in the same breath as Reynols, Banks, etc.

Hamilton is quite good, but he does a lot of world building. Some people love this, some don't. If you do like it, then Hamilton will be just what you want in space opera.

[TordelBack]

Hamilton doesn't half get bogged down in too many characters, multiple versions of characters and re-runs of events, though. I had to bail out of the Commonwealth sequence around book 6 (?), it was doing my head in.

I'd recommend dipping your toe into the more self-contained end of his ouevre first - Fallen Dragon is a good one-off, and there's a duology at the start of the Commonwealth run in Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained that work perfectly well on their own (violent alien invasion stuff, though). If that works for you you can push on with the Void trilogy in the same timeline, or detour into intergalactic zombie apocalypse of the Night's Dawn trilogy.

[Robin Low]

Hamilton doesn't half get bogged down in too many characters, multiple versions of characters and re-runs of events, though. I had to bail out of the Commonwealth sequence around book 6 (?), it was doing my head in.

I'd recommend dipping your toe into the more self-contained end of his ouevre first - Fallen Dragon is a good one-off, and there's a duology at the start of the Commonwealth run in Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained that work perfectly well on their own (violent alien invasion stuff, though). If that works for you you can push on with the Void trilogy in the same timeline, or detour into intergalactic zombie apocalypse of the Night's Dawn trilogy.

Very much agree with the suggestion of Pandora' Star/Judas Unchained as a starting point. Or, for another one-off Great North Road, although it's a bit of a monster tome. I'm a bit over halfway through.

Loved the Commonwealth stuff (a Paula Myo/Dredd crossover might be amusing), but I may postpone the Chronicle of the Fallers in favour of the Salvation Sequence.

I would argue against going anywhere near Misspent Youth, but that's mainly because I loathed every single fucking character in it.

One of my favourite writers, very readable, which is probably just as well given the size of his books. His big action sequences are superb.

Regards,

Robin

[pictsy]

Idoru

I don't think I enjoyed this quite as much as Virtual Light, but it was still very good.  The commentary on media, celebrity and fandom was appreciated but the characters had to grow on me.  Chia and Laney are no Chevette and Rydell.  It also seemed a lot more condensed.  Getting to the end I think I did actually finish reading it back when I was a kid.  I have had it in my head I never finished the last few chapters, but they did seem familiar.  That ended up being weird as I'm plagued by Deja Vu in general anyway.

Going to start the next book today.  Very interested to see where all this is going.

[pictsy]

All Tomorrow's Parties

As a stand-alone book it's the weakest of the three, but as a part of a trilogy I think it is stronger than Idoru.  The chapters are almost painfully short and Gibson doesn't seem to like long chapters in this trilogy anyway.  I think it impeded the impression of all the threads coming together for the conclusion at the end.  It was great to have Rydel and Chevette on the centre stage again and I did end up enjoying the continuation of their stories.

As a trilogy of books, I don't think it is as good as the Sprawl trilogy.  Nevertheless, it's been many years since I read those books.  Virtual Light was most certainly a joy to read and Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties suffer in comparison, but are entertaining in their own right.  All in all, I liked it.

[pictsy]

Aliens vs Predator: Prey

I don't think I've read a novelisation of a comic before.  I also haven't read the comic this is adapted from.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, however.  It took me by surprise.  I was initially sceptical of the dual perspective, but it ended up being a highlight.  So much better than the movies.

So far it's sequel, Hunter's Planet, is not turning out to quite as well written.

Also, I have started up my big read of 2000AD and Megazine again.  I am currently in '97 era and Nikolai Dante has just started.