Reading in February 2012

[Luke_B]

I'm well aware of Martin's oeuvre. The point I was trying to make, and obviously not clearly, is that even well respected writers like Martin have moved from novels to scriptwriting and back again. I actually respect writers who can write well in different forms -- I think it shows a lot of talent. I know Mark didn't intend his comment to be dismissive of scriptwriters, but I think it would be a mistake to write off Heaven's Shadow as being written by some genre outsiders from Hollywood. Michael Cassutt has a reasonable sf pedigree.

 

[Loerwyn]

I'd, personally - and just to be pedantic, say Martin never moved from one to the other, but did both simultaneously.

Anyway, I picked up Blood Red Road today and read some whilst waiting for a bus. I think the author has read a little too much of King's The Dark Tower.

 

[Luke_B]

I'd, personally - and just to be pedantic, say Martin never moved from one to the other, but did both simultaneously.

OK, only there was a 13 year gap between the publication of The Armageddon Rag (1983) andA Game of Thrones (1996). His last short story before ASoIaF was "The Skin Trade" in 1988. I'm sure he was working on prose during this time, including the abandoned (for now) Avalon, as well as AGoT for some of this period, but there is clearly a gap where he focussed on screenwriting and TV production. This is known.

 

[Loerwyn]

OK, only there was a 13 year gap between the publication of The Armageddon Rag (1983) andA Game of Thrones (1996). His last short story before ASoIaF was "The Skin Trade" in 1988. I'm sure he was working on prose during this time, including the abandoned (for now) Avalon, as well as AGoT for some of this period, but there is clearly a gap where he focussed on screenwriting and TV production. This is known.

Wild Cards was between The Skin Trade and AGoT, quite a few volumes actually.

 

[Hobbit]

I know Mark didn't intend his comment to be dismissive of scriptwriters, but I think it would be a mistake to write off Heaven's Shadow as being written by some genre outsiders from Hollywood. Michael Cassutt has a reasonable sf pedigree.

Thanks for clearing that up, Luke: apologies if it sounded dismissive, it really wasn't meant to be.

Mark

 

[Danogzilla]

Finished Pushing Ice by Reynolds last night. Really enjoyed it. Big Ideas!

Started rereading Neuromancer today. Read it 18ish years ago, it holds up, still amazing.

 

[Hellions]

I finished S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire and I have absolutely nothing nice to say about it. It took me over a month to plow through this nightmare and I don't want to give it extra time by criticizing it in detail. Run as fast as you can.

And now I'm far too late to tackle the (fantasy) February book of the month.

 

[Rob B]

I've started the third Jon and Lobo novel, Overthrowing Heaven today. I enjoyed the first two and have had this on the reading stack for well over a year.

More folks round here at SFFWorld should be reading Van Name's novels. I'm a little over halfway through the third one and really enjoying it. He does good things with character, interesting SF ideas, very good pacing, and overall, these books are fun and entertaining that get deeper as the series progresses.

 

[suciul]

While I have been mostly rereading (fiction) books like Stealing Fire and A Rising Thunder and advancing only a little in the new ones I want to review for March, today a huge asap novel of mine showed up in my inbox, namely the new Mary Gentle "Black Opera"; an alt history that starts with Napoleon winning at Waterloo and then making peace with his enemies and with a singer in trouble...

Very exciting; will see if it fits the sf or f label better but based on the description it sounds more sfnal.

Also I have on its way the new (5th) Ethan gage adventure by W. Dietrich (this from Amazon Vine of all places) and it looks like another fun adventure with some supernatural (maybe or maybe not) stuff in the Napoleonic era; this time Montezuma's treasure beckons.

 

[chitman13]

Finished The Evolutionary Void last night, so that's Peter F Hamilton's Void Trilogy read once again. I managed to read them all in week, and thoroughly enjoyed reading them back to back knowing what was coming.

I seem to be getting my reading mojo back so looking forward to what else I'll be getting around to. At the moment I've decided to make a start on Wake by Robert J Sawyer, and I'm looking at reading the whole trilogy in one go. See what happens.

 

[suciul]

In addition to the two books mentioned above (Black Opera - Mary gentle - read some 50 pages last night and it's just the awesome book that I expected so far - The Emerald Storm by W. Dietrich which starts with two pages - the only I had time to read since I got it today - that cracked me up as Ethan Gage is feeling a little depressed as he explains to us why instead of retiring rich with his family to America, he has to climb up to a mountainous French prison to spring Toussaint L'Ouverture out of Napoleon's clutches) I started two more books that are sfnal and funny in their own way, Mr. Fox by H. Oyeyemi (as it's been submitted for the Clarke and I think it has a good chance of making the shortlist, it's gotta be sfnal after all ) and Sayonara Gangsters by G. Takahashi which is just crazy

Now if the day would have some extra hours or I could be one of those sfnal people from the famous N. Kress novels that need no sleep...

 

[Danogzilla]

Reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds now. Enjoying it.

My reread of Neuromancer was great fun. I love that book.

 

[chitman13]

Realised that I've started with Watch (the second book of the trilogy) rather than Wake (the first). I'm only 9 chapters in but now have to put it down and go back to Wake. Bugger.

 

[kennychaffin]

Realised that I've started with Watch (the second book of the trilogy) rather than Wake (the first). I'm only 9 chapters in but now have to put it down and go back to Wake. Bugger.

Damn I hate it when they don't make the sequence clear in multi-book series!

..

My reread of Neuromancer was great fun. I love that book.

Wonderful! I've never been able to read that book despite several tries, I have the same reaction to it as to most of James Joyce.

I started John Love's Faith last week which I ran across mentioned somewhere. I'm about halfway though and enjoying it a lot.

Excellent Premier Novel. Love it. 4 of 5 Stars.

Great characters, great story.

 

[Danogzilla]

Wonderful! I've never been able to read that book despite several tries, I have the same reaction to it as to most of James Joyce.

If you want to read some great Gibson but aren't into Neuromancer I recommend giving Pattern Recognition a go!

 

[Rob B]

I've started the third Jon and Lobo novel, Overthrowing Heaven today. I enjoyed the first two and have had this on the reading stack for well over a year.

More folks round here at SFFWorld should be reading Van Name's novels. I'm a little over halfway through the third one and really enjoying it. He does good things with character, interesting SF ideas, very good pacing, and overall, these books are fun and entertaining that get deeper as the series progresses.

I finished Overthrowing Heaven today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I deem Mark L. Van Name's Jon and Lobo the best SF series nobody here at SFFWorld* is reading.

*excluding suciul and me, of course.

 

[kennychaffin]

If you want to read some great Gibson but aren't into Neuromancer I recommend giving Pattern Recognition a go!

Yeah, I read some of his work that I thought was fine. Same with Joyce. Thanks! I'll definitely take a look at Pattern Recognition based on your recommendation.

 

[Westy]

I finished Overthrowing Heaven today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I deem Mark L. Van Name's Jon and Lobo the best SF series nobody here at SFFWorld* is reading.

*excluding suciul and me, of course.

OK, you got my attention! Got the first book (One Jump Ahead) on my soon to read list.