Whats everyone reading?

[Mardroid]

Still chugging my way through Varney. (That reads wrong.) I lost my e-reader day before yesterday though*, so decided to start on the new King Dark Tower novel 'The Wind Through the Keyhole'.

Too early to tell if it's any good yet, but so far I'm enjoying it.

*It's been found since then. I left it in Starbucks. Not sure quite how I did that as I didn't even read it in there.

[Syne]

Still chugging my way through Varney...

Is it a Gutenberg ebook? I'm interested in old pulp fiction, so might check it out.

[Hoagy]

Fleshmarket Close, by Ian Rankin.

[Mardroid]

Still chugging my way through Varney...

Is it a Gutenberg ebook? I'm interested in old pulp fiction, so might check it out.

I'm not sure, but I downloaded it free on the Kobo. It's not the full version but it seems pretty hefty just the same. It's not bad, quite intriguing in places. The writing style is somewhat repetitive, but that might be due to the original form of publishing as a penny dreadful.

[M.I.K.]

I've got a physical, (Wordsworth Editions), copy of Varney the Vampire, (no pictures, unfortunately). I was surprised to see how many of the well-worn vampire tropes are in there, right at the start of the story. Probably where a lot of them came from.

[SmallBlueThing]

'Chasm City', by Alastair Reynolds.

I'm fifty pages in, after a pathetic year wherein the only novel I've managed to finish to finish has been an old Dredd one.

Already this has consumed me- completely brilliant and i cannot wait til ten o'clock tonight, when i can continue.

SBT

[Mardroid]

I've got a physical, (Wordsworth Editions), copy of Varney the Vampire, (no pictures, unfortunately). I was surprised to see how many of the well-worn vampire tropes are in there, right at the start of the story. Probably where a lot of them came from.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Varney functions well out and about in the sunlight, but then again Dracula comes out in the sun too (although he uses most of his power during the day). I get the impression that it's the film Nosferatu which brought up the 'sunlight as a killer' concept. (Which still shows it's not as modern as some may think considering how old that film is!)

I think this is the first time I came across the idea that moonlight is restorative to vampires.

[spoiler]Also those that think the idea of vampires as 3 dimensional characters with a conscience is a modern concept may be surprised when reading Varney. As a Vampire novel, I think I prefer Dracula (it's definitely the scarier of the two, and Varney is a very bloated story) but Varney is a much more complex character. (The Count does show some complexity at the start in his interview with Harker, but there's a sense this is a front. He is described later as being intelligent but having a 'child mind'.)  I'm not saying that I prefer that kind over the more one-dimensional blood guzzling fiend, mind, as that is a scary concept. I guess I like both in different ways.[/spoiler]

[HOO-HAA]

Bodycount by Shaun Hutson. So far, it's his best yet: tightly plotted, some solid character development and feels more than ever like you're watching a movie rather than reading a book.

More thriller than horror, but that's the way of latter day Shaun Hutson, I feel.

In fact, he talks about horror and identity in this excellent column:

http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/columns/the-gorefather/has-traditional-horror-lost-its-identity/

[O Lucky Stevie!]

'Chasm City', by Alastair Reynolds.

About 600 pages in Reynolds repeats the same word twice in a paragraph.

Other than that it's flawless.

[ming]

The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman.  I thought I'd probably already read this but it turns out I was wrong.

[I, Cosh]

But his science fiction is amazing. I think he's made a really important contribution to the genre. I particularly love the Player of Games.

Perhaps I owe it to Banks to revisit his work at some point given how well regarded he is here. I've read and superfically enjoyed most of his sci-fi without any of it – other than Excession– ever making much of an impression on me.

Having said that, I do think he's come up with a great backdrop for his fiction. It's like a lovely, fictional toad in the hole, with the unique setting of each story a juicy sausage nestled in the airy, enveloping batter of the Culture. It gives cohesion and a touch of strange familiarity without getting bogged down in pointless continuity beyond a few obligatory mentions of the Idiran war.

Yeah, it's terrific stuff. I thought his last two Culture books, Matter and Surface Detail, were amongst his very best.

Now I just read Matter a few weeks ago. Despite being at least 200 pages too long it's a typically easy read but with an almost formulaic Culture plot. Two separate strands gradually converge over the first two-thirds of the novel. Shortly after they meet, a third element (usually vaguely hinted at up to now) emerges and has to be confronted. In the final 30 or 40 pages, increasingly absurd levels of weaponry are discharged and proven ineffective before the threat is finally overcome and most of the protagonists die.

This all happens here to entertaining effect but the novel is hamstrung by the aforementioned 200 pages. As the action moves up through the levels of the Shellworld and beyond, Banks feels the need to detail the nature, origins and political or social ordering of the denizens of every level for no real gain. As a result, whole sections of the book read more like a Traveller campaign manual than a novel.

The paperback copy I read contains a revealing interview with the author where he discusses his worries at not being able to maintain the same level of invention required for the setting of new sci-fi work and I got the distinct impression this particular was the victim of a man trying to prove to himself he still has what it takes. It might've been better to go for a new collection of short stories and give each creation a purpose beyond simply existing.

[Syne]

The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman.  I thought I'd probably already read this but it turns out I was wrong.

Now that's a good read. I need to reread it myself one day. There are also a couple of sequels I haven't got to yet.

[Syne]

Still chugging my way through Varney...

Is it a Gutenberg ebook? I'm interested in old pulp fiction, so might check it out.

I'm not sure, but I downloaded it free on the Kobo. It's not the full version but it seems pretty hefty just the same. It's not bad, quite intriguing in places. The writing style is somewhat repetitive, but that might be due to the original form of publishing as a penny dreadful.

I've found it on Gutenberg now, it may be the same version - the compilers state that it is abridged though, as you mention, it's still a pretty massive hunk of text. Think I might just read it a chapter a week or so: suspect if I tried to tackle it in one chunk I would burn out pretty quickly.

[Syne]

Read Smith's Cradlegrave last night, very impressive. The ending did seem a little rushed, but that's my only reservation.

Especially good how the 6-page installment format translated seamlessly into a graphic novel. I had to go back afterwards and count the pages in order to see where the weekly breaks had occured, and noticed that, while there did tend to be mini-cliffhangers at those points, they blended easily into the surrounding narrative. A good example of writing for two formats simultaneously.   

[Ancient Otter]

Now that's a good read. I need to reread it myself one day. There are also a couple of sequels I haven't got to yet.

I read The Forever War and the sequel Forever Peace - The Forever War isn't perfect, I like it, but I felt really disappointed reading the sequel. Anyone else read it?