Whats everyone reading?

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

i strongly suspect that no-one likes modern day john wagner more than me ...
he's god, y'know?
but that's a genuinely horrible and reprehensible moment from his early years.

[Funt Solo]

it is clearly stated that the language present may be offending to some and that it should be seen as an echo of the times.

Yes, like Triumph of the Will. (There: Godwin's Law satisfied.)

[milstar]

Well, the greatest about Darkie's Mob is that it doesn't feel like propaganda piece. Furthermore, the publisher openly denounced themselves from the language present (btw, this is uncut version), I'll attach images that corroborate that.

And


I also attach Garth Ennis rather frank and brutally honest introduction. Sorry for the bad quality of some shots.

[MumboJimbo]

That's an excellently written introduction. I'm tempted to pick this up based on that alone

[milstar]

Yes, Ennis is fairly literate ww2 student.

[Jade Falcon]

At the moment I'm reading Raymond E Feists and Janny Wurts Daughter of the Empire, the first of the 'Empire' trilogy that was a spin off from the Riftwar trilogy by Feist.

I've read it before, quite a few times but it's something I like to reread every so often.

[broodblik]

At the moment I'm reading Raymond E Feists and Janny Wurts Daughter of the Empire, the first of the 'Empire' trilogy that was a spin off from the Riftwar trilogy by Feist.

I've read it before, quite a few times but it's something I like to reread every so often.

A great read. I am systematically reading the whole Riftwar saga book by book

[milstar]

The Invisible Man by HG Wells.

Reading this book felt like a chore to me. Wells' prose feels too mundane, enough to keep me off engaged in the story. And characters are written flat and miserable, without anything that makes them attractive enough to invest yourself in them. That goes for the Invisible Man himself, a character you're forced to hate. I like to think that Wells' ideas are better than their execution, although I have never read any other Wells novel so far, if I merit his work after The Invisible Man, that is.
Although, one thing this novel did to me. I have never thought about it, but the idea behind invisibility actually sounds more plausible than some random gibberish commonly found in other SF novels. It sounds weird, yes, but not without some wisdom.

[broodblik]

Quick question related to Joe Hill's The Cape, is this any good? did anyone read it? is it worthwhile?

[wedgeski]

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin. Rather excellent. Endlessly inventive and unafraid. The various protagonists do meld into each-other somewhat, but that could easily be by design, given the nature of the story.

Quantum by Patricia Cornwell. I'm continuously nagged by loved ones to read Patricia Cornwell, and I thought, finally she's writing in a genre I might enjoy. Turns out, I really don't like her style. I struggled to finish this, much to the disappointment of (it seems) everyone I know!

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. I'm a voracious fantasy/sci-fi consumer and it was downright strange that I hadn't read any Pern books. I decided to fix that and had a very good time with this first installment. It moves at a frenetic pace, mind you, unlike most modern examples of the genre I can think of, and treats a modern sci-fi staple with a casual disdain which I think will be very significant in the story going forward.

Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It *is* The Martian all over again, but in a new bottle and with a new set of problems for our hero to solve. Also, a protagonist who is more complex than it might seem. If you like this style of sci-fi -- and if you liked any of Weir's previous books -- then you're going to like this. I did.

[wedgeski]

Double post.

[Barrington Boots]

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. I'm a voracious fantasy/sci-fi consumer and it was downright strange that I hadn't read any Pern books. I decided to fix that and had a very good time with this first installment. It moves at a frenetic pace, mind you, unlike most modern examples of the genre I can think of, and treats a modern sci-fi staple with a casual disdain which I think will be very significant in the story going forward.

These books are great. Quite 60s in their execution. Hope you read more and enjoy them!

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Old Man's War, by John Scalzi- I'm halfway through and it's reverberating with Starship Troopers echoes, but I guess Military Sci-Fi often does. I don't know, as I've not read an awful lot. It's pleasingly 'hard sf' in parts, and the central conceit- a wish-fulfillment fantasy of aged bodies suddenly becoming vigorous and young again to fight in a war and have lots of sex, is rather lovely. Enjoying it, and my eldest knows me well (he bought it for my birthday).

Also, Judging Dredd- edited by Scott Wratherly, the latest from Sequart Books. A 220 page collection of essays about... well, some old British comic strip. I've only read the first essay so far- by Dr Pritish Chakraborty and entitled 'A Fascist Hero: Rhetoric of Civil Redemption in the Comics or Judge Dredd'. It was very good, and the rest of the book looks similarly impressive. I've loved every other Sequart book I've read, so here's hoping.

SBT

[PsychoGoatee]

Figured I'd put some audiobook thoughts in here, and they do have print versions if preferred. 

Bruce Campbell, that B-movie legend. I just love his audiobooks, every single one rules. His latest bite sized 4 hour or so one, The Cool Side of My Pillow, is good stuff as well. Just more groovy Bruce. The two main "Chin" ones like the recent Hail to the Chin are great, and his "Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way" audio CD production with actors and sound effects is way too good.

Also, for any David Lynch fans, the Room to Dream audiobook is so good. Just incredible. I'm also really liking Rob Halford's audiobook "Confess" so far too. And thematically similar, I'm reading Ozzy's book "I Am Ozzy". And I can't say enough about how good Lemmy's book White Line Fever, and the later book Lemmy are, so good. I think I've mentioned those before, but just gotta spread the Lemmy word.

I also just got the Stephen Fry audiobook of Hitchhiker's Guide, looking forward to that.

On comics, I'm catching up on Savage Dragon at the moment, still wild good stuff.

[Tjm86]

Just finished Reynolds' Pushing Ice.  Still working through his oeuvre and this is not one of his better pieces.  There are some good ideas in it, shades of Rendezvous With Rama (which some on t'Interweb have noted comparisons with the follow up books), it just feels jumbled.  On the plus side it did flip some of the standard conceits about an encounter with an alien artefact but some of the ideas involved have been done better elsewhere.

... and now for something completely different ... Tad Williams' Dragonbone Chair.  Having read this many, many moons ago and strangely never relinquished the books, now feels like as good a time as any to return to it.  A  lot of the standard fantasy tropes are used (medieval / feudal society - check, orphaned protagonist - check, death of old king - check ...) but one thing it shares with Game of Thrones is a rather subdued approach to 'magic'  It's been decades since I last read it but even now I've found myself sucked into it rather quickly.  To me that's always a good sign.

Jade, personally I've always thought that the Daughter's books were a better read than the some of the Riftwar books.  There's something about them that is far more interesting.  Feist is one of those writers that I tend to find not so much 'recycling' plot ideas as transplanting them wholesale.  After a while it becomes just a little too predictable.  Wurtz seems to have reined in some of those habits a bit.