Whats everyone reading?

[Jared Katooie]

Wow... There's one from the vaults! Where'd you dig that one up, Jared? Scary thought: kids of the original intended age group for The Last Starship are now thirty years old.

I haven't read it in years, so I've no idea if it's any good. I suspect that it's not... It was written before I knew how to write (actually, that's probably true for all of my other books too).

I found it in a charity shop in Malahide actually. It looked prety good, so I thought I'd give it a go, even though I realised it was aimed at a, uh, slightly younger audience.

I really quite enjoyed it too. I liked the characters, and there was plenty of action and excitement. Good stuff.

[Dog Deever]

Been working my way through some old Western comics I got in a charity shop for 10p each- 4 'Sundance Western' from Illustrated World Library Series (2 from 1962 and 2 from 1963) and 2 'Sabre Library-Western Stories in Pictures' from 1971 and 72. There's some really nice artwork in these- they're a bit like Commando style books.

I also bought 3 other Cowboy ones for 10p each, but I didn't flick through before buying and when I got them home I discovered there were NO PICTURES in them AT ALL- all text!
Fuckin' writers...

[JAMESCOR]

Death Day by Sam Hiti, picked up the vey nice prologue. Creepy scifi weirdness, Hiti's arts not everyones cup of tea but he draws rather nice brush pen monsters with clear influences of Paul Pope and Guy Davies it's worth checking out.

[Colin YNWA]

Today, I set about the task of rereading Tour of Duty... In the end, I decided to start back at Origins ... It's a worthwhile endeavour, but I feel slightly lightheaded now.

Finished my reread today and now I can't stop seeing connections and possibilities everywhere. Possible thread to follow.

Funnily enough I read Origins over the weekend and was about to put up a review thread over in that section what I haunts, but if you're doing something I might hang fire?

[locustsofdeath!]

Death Day by Sam Hiti, picked up the vey nice prologue. Creepy scifi weirdness, Hiti's arts not everyones cup of tea but he draws rather nice brush pen monsters with clear influences of Paul Pope and Guy Davies it's worth checking out.

Yep, that stuff is great fun. You can also pre-order the entire Death Day book (or read it for free online).

I git the prologue several months ago and really enjoyed it...doesn't make too much sense, but there are a lot of weird goings on, weird scenery and a sense of epic despite all the indecipherable weirdness.

[JAMESCOR]

Yeah I've got the book on the way, also I've been picking up the weird world of Jack Staff, big fan of Paul Grist and all his takes on all those old British heroes taking a while to go anywhere but it looks great.
Every now and then I actually read a real book you know the ones with no pictures, still working my way through the short stories of JG Ballard "The Drowned Giant" and " a Question of Re entry" being particular favourites. Just picked up Spook Country by William Gibson not read any of his stuff in years so interested to see how that pans out.

[HOO-HAA]

Just picked up Spook Country by William Gibson not read any of his stuff in years so interested to see how that pans out.

I tried Neuromancer a while back and, while I was enjoying the story, the characters and Gibson's imaginative/ gritty style of writing, I was put off by the constant tech talk. I regret not finishing the story but, to be honest, I kind of lost touch with what was actually happening. I've heard that Spook Country is not a techy book so will be keen to see how you enjoy it.

[TordelBack]

The in-laws are moving to a (much) smaller house, and as my father-in-law is a SF/futuristic thriller consumer of vast appetite, I've been landed with a couple of large bags of books of potential interest. Wifey has however noted that our house is much smaller than even her parents new abode, and forty new airport editions are not welcome.  Therefore I have just a few weeks to sort the grain from the chaff and read whatever is worth reading before they hit the charity shop.  Thrill to my mini-reviews as tackle this long-expected boon(?).

First up, weighing in at a hefty one day's light reading to finish, is Bill Napier's Lure.  

Holy crepe this was bad, despite having fullsome cover-mounted endorsements from personal fave New Scientist, smugfest Irish Indepenedent and Arthur C**ting Clarke.  Apparently none of them read it, or possibly the editor spent all his time carefully excerpting their reviews  to make them sound positive, because he certainly didn't have time to give the manuscript even a casual once over.  

How bad is this book?  This bad: the appalling adjectival form 'gun-metal' is used to describe light twice in the frst 20 pages.  Someone comments on the chess-motif of  main character's  t-shirt, to this reader's puzzlement as we haven't been told he's wearing one, for the good reason that he doesn't put it on until two chapters later.  The provost of Trinity College Dublin is one 'Sir' John, and responds rapidly to requests from "the" Prime Minister and agents of GCHQ without anyone passing comment, which is a little odd since it's in the Republic of Ireland.  The high-flying mathematician main character has to have the most basic physics explained to him, because he's so 'otherworldly', working alone on his maths 20 hours a day, but he can recognise a "Balliol tie" and instantly tell that someone hasn't been to Oxford because he misascribes a quote to Seneca instead of Horace (FFS).  He "knows nothing of castles or history", but happily identifies Hapsburg furniture and Belle Epoque design.  Best of all, the author forgets his own character's names, mixing up the US President's with that of his spiritual advisor in the epilogue.  What a bloody mess.

The plot?  It's the first half of Contact, or The Hercules Text, or if you prefer the first five minutes of Species, followed by some national stereotypes incompetently chasing each other around Slovakia while various heads of State ponder the appropriate tactical response to certain values of the Drake Equation.  AVOID.

Next up from the goodie bag, S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire, which so far seems to be The Tower King meets Always Coming Home.  Which, lets face it,  could be good.

[Zarjazzer]

Liked "Space Captain Smith" by Toby Frost-a genuinely amusing read sending up the sci--fi cliches and the British Space Empire. Then "Nemesis" an excellent assassins versus Space Marines book.

Next is "Pax Britannica Blood Royal" by Jonathan Green. I'm really enjoying this steampunkish book with it's fabulous breakneck speed action.

Got a Conan comic book arriving with some Richard Corben art -can hardly wait.  

[Kerrin]

Just finished my reread of "The Book of The New Sun" by Gene Wolfe, God I love those books, and have finally got round to starting "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" by David Mitchell. Excellent so far. I'm about four or five chapters in and whilst the structure is pretty regular by Mitchell's standards his usual skill at language and characterisation are present in aces. It would also appeal to those of you with a more historical bent I reckon.

Another blast from the past which I picked up in my local Sussex Stationers (excellent discount bookstores) is "Heartstone", the latest Shardlake novel from C J Sansom. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into that, the first four were great reads.

[Jared Katooie]

Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser.

[TordelBack]

Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser.

Absolute gold.  I love Flashman, and this first outing is brilliant.  Enjoy!

"Heartstone", the latest Shardlake novel from C J Sansom. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into that, the first four were great reads.

Now this is out I'm allowing myself to (slowly) read the previous book, Revelation.  I like to stay one book behind so the wait doesn't seem so daunting.  I loved Sovereign, the brief torture scene in which was completely unexpected and downright harrowing.  Great stuff - if anyone isn't reading Shardlake, do so immediately!

[Paul faplad Finch]

I've read very litle at all in the past few weeks, other than a bit of Robo-Hunter but over this weekend I made a conscious effort to get back into it and finished off the last Pitt book which had been sitting half read on the coffee table.

It was awesome. A total bloodbath with the cast dropping like flies. Charlie Huston is certainly not sentimental about his ceations. Aside from the cull of supporting castmembers the lead himself is put through some pretty nasty abuse.

I tried to think back to why I set it aside and I can't think what could have possessed me. Thoroughly recommended. I was put onto these books by someone online but I can't for the life of me remember who it was. I owe them a pint whoever it was cos this whole series has been a stonking read. Even if it did take me a while to get used the way the dialogue works.

[JAMESCOR]

Just finished Spook Country by William Gibson, despite the rather run of the mill cover it's a cracking good read not as tech heavy as his earlier stuff but has enough invention and character quirks to set it apart from everyday thrillers. Theres some rather interesting use of i pods and virtual reality( remember that?) as art show. It's the first in a trilogy and is well worth checking out think it will appeal to a lot of boarders.

[Jared Katooie]

Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser.

Absolute gold.  I love Flashman, and this first outing is brilliant.  Enjoy!

Gasp! Surely a true fan would remember that this is Flashy's second adventure! Still, you're right, it's good stuff. We need more heroes like Flashman!