Whats everyone reading?

[Richmond Clements]

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. Very very good.

Have my eye on that one, good to hear.

Apaert from the sheer scope of his imagination, every now and then he'll use a phrase or description that makes me wonder why I bother trying to write at all!

[TordelBack]

Apaert from the sheer scope of his imagination, every now and then he'll use a phrase or description that makes me wonder why I bother trying to write at all!

I have that problem with my idol Tim Robinson - almost every time I pick up one of his books for a re-read, I come across a sentence or an observation that makes me want to give up even thinking about landscape history, never mind writing about it. 

But it's a good problem to have all the same!

[Ancient Otter]

Dorohedoro is a proper bit of messed up comic writing but after only the first volume i'm still none the wise as to what it's all about! If nothing it's a gory bit of ultra violence with a hilarious counter culture to all the fan service baiting so sadly prevalent in Japan. Spoilers: The main female character is so obscenely buff (and obscured in biker leathers) she can punch a mans head clean off.

Thanks for reminding me about this, I've a couple of collections of it but just lost track of it for a while.

[Daveycandlish]

Jaunt. An episode guide on 70s tv show The Tomorrow People. I now want the dvd boxset!

[I, Cosh]

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. Very very good.

Have my eye on that one, good to hear.

Apaert from the sheer scope of his imagination, every now and then he'll use a phrase or description that makes me wonder why I bother trying to write at all!

I'm not usually one to rush out and buy yer hardback literary novels but the Clements and Le Guin recommendations are compelling.

Mitchell does have an extraordinary way with a phrase. There's a bit in Number9Dream where the lad's sister is sitting in a tree and he describes the way the light dapples across her: "Parts of Anju are too bright to look at. Parts of Anju are too dark to see."

[Fungus]

I have 2 favourite writers, and as people have said, they are often so frighteningly good it makes you want to go and live in a shoe box. David Mitchell and Peter Carey for me. Chemistry Of Tears has been unread for a while now and I didn't know Mitchell had another book out...

Damn you, prog slog and other diversions.

[Theblazeuk]

Just picked up both issues of the Abnett & Culbard droid's Dark Ages

Apocalyptically good. I don't know what's going on yet exactly but it's not looking good for this band of weary soldiers. 

Also picked up the first issue of Wild's End, from the same droid duo (Culbard seems to be hitting his deadlines!). One of my favourite things about this is that Culbard gets to draw things other than humans as the main characters, turns out he is pretty grand at the ol' anthropomorphising. And of course, as Brass Sun has shown, he does a fine job of strange things killing people in strange ways. I'm not sure yet whether this will have quite the same sinister charm as Dark Ages but I'm more than happy if it only turns out to be War Of the Wind in the Willows.

[Mardroid]

Requiem: Vampire Knight: Volume 2

Interesting as always. Some heavy handed stuff I could have done without. I haven't done the suggested search Pat Mills suggests on the person Mother Terror is based on but the fact that in his foreword he suggests a specific paper/magazine to use in the Google search leaves me sceptical. I learned a while back that just because something is reported in the papers doesn't make it true. And even if it is... well I prefer my fiction not to go down that preachy route, but anyway. Created food for thought. This was a more disturbing volume than the previous.

I'm not entirely sure I like that, but I'm still intrigued. Luscious art. I've already downloaded volume 3.

I finished the ABC Warriors Mek Files 1. I hoped it would cover more territory than it did. I realise I've read both The Meknificent Seven and The Black Hole in other formats - thank you library - but there was a lot I had forgotten. I like the different writing style of Black hole. A bleaker story all in all, and interesting.

I'm looking forward to Mek Files 2 as I think I'll be in new territory (for me) then.

I prerdered vol 1 of Zenith Phase 1. Curious to see that even including postage it works out cheaper ordering from the States (Amazon.com) than the UK (Amazon.co.uk.) The later volumes are much cheaper to pre-order though.

I was stated that an import tax charge might be included but it wasn't shown in checkout. I've ordered books from the States before with no extra charge, so I'll see.

[Ancient Otter]

I was stated that an import tax charge might be included but it wasn't shown in checkout. I've ordered books from the States before with no extra charge, so I'll see.

Is there VAT on books in the U.K.? If not, you shouldn't be charged for it.

[Link Prime]

Just picked up both issues of the Abnett & Culbard droid's Dark Ages

Apocalyptically good. I don't know what's going on yet exactly but it's not looking good for this band of weary soldiers. 

Also picked up the first issue of Wild's End, from the same droid duo (Culbard seems to be hitting his deadlines!).

1st issue of Dark Ages impressed me too, intriguing enough to keep reading, and the on-forum praise for Wilds End has also been noted- I'll have to try it.

Two US series and 2000AD; Culbard's no Droid- he's a machine.

[TordelBack]

Terminal World, in which Alastair Reynolds channels Vernor Vinge and Stephen Baxter - very successfully, so far.

[Colin YNWA]

Just read another batch of Cinebooks stuff and boy oh boy I do sometimes wonder why I don't just jack in my obsession with American comics* and just spend all my money on these things instead.

Chimpanzee Complex 1 - 3)- which I got for a great price of this here board - was really good.

The Spooks (1 and 2) was absolutely fantastic, even if it played very closely with some genre tropes verging on cliche.

BUT of course best of the bunch was the second of Leo's Aldebaran series Betelgeuse (1-3) which was just fantastic. The dialogue may be clunky as hell at times, probably due to translation, and sometimes the art can be a bit static but my God is it well plotted, a compelling story and the world building and design just breath-taking.

Just wonderful comics.

[Hawkmumbler]

Can't speak for World of Aldebaran series (yet...) or Chimpanzee Complex but I was extremely happy with SPOOKS 1 and 2, so much so that i'll be picking up the next two volumes at TB. Very entertaining indeed, makes me wish more Dorrison was available in English (Both Long John Silver and Crusade or on my pull list but not quite yet. Also, please can we have Les Sentinels, Cinebooks?!)

[TordelBack]

James Patterson's  Toys.  What the hell did I just read.  Seeing as my father passed it to me with a glowing recommendation, should I look into getting him into sheltered accommodation? 

[Dandontdare]

just googled that - I wondered how that guy was so prolific, turns out he doesn't actually write most of his books, just sticks his name on as 'co-author'. One online reviewer said that it "reminds me of a comic book written by someone with only a cursory knowledge of comic books. "