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Maria Carey has come out of an ice block apparently to try to maximize her royalties on that Christmas song she released 2 decades ago..so it must be November!

What are you reading this month?

I started The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft, This is the first new book since the Books of Babel series, one of my all-time favorite Fantasy Series. Hope to get to Essex Dogs this month too, It is by Dan Jones one of my favorite British Historian who after many great non-fiction books has written his first Historical Fiction novel,

I finished the classic Science-Fiction novel - the first in the Lensman series, which inspired DC Comics "Green Lantern" among many others


Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith
Rating: 2 stars (but it might be the best two star book I've ever read - haha!)
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the second in the "Robots" series


The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

^ Yeah, IIRC Triplanetary has some early tropes like Atlantis plus the lengthy space battles with vast energy beams pouring into gigantic spaceships. But it's a great setup for what is to come. I liked the bit about the long breeding program resulting in the two humans finally meeting - but when I first read it I didn't know anything about eugenics. Heinlein used the same concept in Methuselah's Children, same thing, done in a beneficial manner in story instead of the repugnant history of actual eugenics.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I finished the classic Science-Fiction novel - the first in the Lensman series, which inspired DC Comics "Green Lantern" among many others


..."

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ Yeah, IIRC Triplanetary has some early tropes like Atlantis plus the lengthy space battles with vast energy beams pouring into gigantic spaceships. But it's a great setup for what is to come. I l..."

I read Triplanetary a few years ago and the whole thing is just bonkers. It reads like a rollercoaster whose brakes have failed. It’s almost as if someone took the best action bits from 12 different sci-fi flicks and cut them together. Throw in some genuinely dumb dialogue, a soupçon of racism, a dollop of sexism and a heaping helping of manifest destiny and you’re in for a ride that’s part breathlessly adventuresome and part painfully cringey.

That said, I actually liked it.

John (Taloni) wrote: "...Heinlein used the same concept in Methuselah's Children..."

Heiney was a big fan of Smith's work. Now that I've read Smith, I can more easily see the dotted line that connects them.

Trike wrote: "I read Triplanetary a few years ago and the whole thing is just bonkers. It reads like a rollercoaster whose brakes have failed. It’s almost as if someone took the best action bits from 12 different sci-fi flicks and cut them together...."

Great analogy. The whole first two "books" could be safely skipped over or held to read later. Just start on page 90. Then fight your way through about 50-70 pages of mostly pulp nonsense until you get to the good part, which is like every Sci-Fi film you've ever seen thrown in a blender on "puree." Like I said, it's the best two-star book I've ever read.

IIRC, and memory is dim, the first two books of "Lensman" were retconned into the series from previous work. Lots to love about the Lensman series, but it has to be understood in historical context.

John (Taloni) wrote: "IIRC, and memory is dim, the first two books of "Lensman" were retconned into the series from previous work. Lots to love about the Lensman series, but it has to be understood in historical context."

I guess my comment wasn't clear. Triplanetary is organized into three parts or "books." Book One is a massive info dump about the Eddorians and the Arisians, how they met, etc. Book Two is kind of the family history of the Kinnison family (no mention of Sam, though) although the Kinnisons don't really come into further play in this book. Book Three is the original Triplanetary story, expanded and revised to fit the Lensman universe. So I meant the first two "books" of Triplanetary could be skipped.

But your point is correct. The Lensman series was originally serialized as four books which now comprise #3-6 in the Lensman series, starting with Galactic Patrol. As mentioned above, Triplanetary was re-worked to act as a prequel to the series, and Smith wrote First Lensman to fit between Triplanetary and Galactic Patrol.

So probably the first two "books" in Triplanetary could be skipped, and the first two books in the Lensman series could be skipped as well (or read later).

Prequels written later - another way George Lucas paid homage to the series... ;-)

I just read a review that compares Grand Central Arena by Ryk. E. Spoor to E E Doc Smith /review/show...

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "IIRC, and memory is dim, the first two books of "Lensman" were retconned into the series from previous work. Lots to love about the Lensman series, but it has to be understood..."

Edit: Apologies: Read things more carefully....the following is repetition of RJ's point.

Correction: The first two books should be skipped and only read by completists after the fact. Galactic Patrol is the true beginning of the Lensmen (kind of like Star Wars which copied the whole prequel stuff).

Galactic Patrol just rips straight into plot and barely catches breath for four books. No mucking around in this story.

Trigger warnings; Eugenics and black and white good versus evil (plus lots of genocide). While not sexist for its day it is really sexist by modern standards.

We should do Galactic Patrol as an alt read paired up with a modern space opera. Not sure I could stomach Skylark again...

In a related note I have just finished Some Desperate Glory which deconstructs a lot of YA and space opera tropes. Timey Wimey and destruction at a grand scale. The main character at the beginning would not be out of place in Kinninson;s Galactic Patrol

I just finished MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. It's quite good. The authors did an admirable job of organizing a wealth of information into a coherent narrative.

Finished the next two books in the Lost Fleet sequel series. Pretty good space exploration stuff. They go to Earth and deal with some local politics, and get introduced to the Big Bad A.I. Meanies And Just How Stupid It Is To Use A.I., Good God Never Do It. So of course it's gonna come up.

In fact that's the most subversively funny part of the series for me. Chekov's Gun? There isn't a single one that goes unfired. It's more like Chekov's Fuse where Blatant Plot Point gets introduced and you know it will go bang within one book of material. (Maybe crossing books but no more than one novel's worth later.) Not just the one above, several such cases.

Some good exploration of...could I call them extraterrestrials when humanity is living off world? Well anyway, aliens. With communication difficulties and honestly different viewpoints and values. Good job here.

There's silly plot contrivances, and some things happen just because it's needed for the plot. Plus ongoing stereotypes where I'm going "just give it a rest" like where the Captain of the flagship where Geary is overall fleet commander regularly refers to a politician as "that woman." Maaaaybe that bit wore out its welcome within two books. Please. Stop.

Anyhoo book 4 ends on a cliffhanger and I'm not into any other pressing reads right now so I went straight on. It opens up with a great crisis that can only be addressed by...software updates. Yeah, someone dealt with Microsoft a few too many times.

The books continue on a solid four stars for me. Nowhere near the inspired prose that Heinlein brought even to his failed works (looking at you, Podkayne) but good, solid, latter day SF.

Iain wrote: "Correction..."

I feel like a lot of what you said is pretty much what I said, right down to the Star Wars prequel comparison. So, I'm wondering which part you're correcting?

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Iain wrote: "Correction..."

I feel like a lot of what you said is pretty much what I said, right down to the Star Wars prequel comparison. So, I'm wondering which part you're correcting?"

Sorry, not sure what I was thinking... Brain off in a galaxy far far away...

Aaand the final book of the Lost Fleet sequel series done. Starts off with a fairly tedious exploration of AI. I felt a bit like I was watching a space version of Santa Clause 3.

It builds nicely from there, all the way to a rollicking series of crescendos at the end. There's Our Heroes facing off an implacable foe and facing certain death. Yep, certain. Lots of heroic facing of battle and attendant oaths of how good it's been to serve with etc etc. It's all tearjerking or would be if I didn't have a shriveled, blackened heart hadn't read a lot of similar endings over the decades.

Book ties up the series loose ends pretty solidly. There's not really an epilogue as the book ends pages after the main action concludes. There's a few things left for a later followup. Which is apparently the Lost Fleet: Outlands trilogy, which I'll get to eventually. Eleven books in two related series' is enough for a while.

As for the four-book Syndic series featuring Midway, sure, at some point. The Syndicated Worlds are a clear analogue to the Soviet Union making Midway...Poland? Yugoslavia? Hungary? Well, something Eastern European anyway.

Of course this means I need a new book since none of the new ones have come in yet. Probably this will be the Harry Harrison book Technicolor Time Machine. That one is one of the "lost to time" books that I barely recalled, and when I was looking through Harry Harrison at LAPL I suddenly recognized it. Mostly silly but with a few memorable bits. It should be a decent nostalgia read.

Iain wrote: "Sorry, not sure what I was thinking... Brain off in a galaxy far far away..."

OK, no worries. And by the way I agree Smith would be an interesting "alt" pick for the group. I do think this group tends to read more "recent" Sci-Fi though, so I'm not sure how many members would be in for that (or who would enjoy it if they did jump in). There are other groups here on GR that cater a little better to "classic Sci-Fi" tastes

Just finished another re-read of Dracula, this time courtesy of the Re:Dracula podcast. Always a spooky delight although Van Helsing’s ramblings are as annoying as ever.

In audio, I’m reading King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, author of our August pick, Ninth House. It’s a sequel to the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology, exploring the aftermath of the deadly civil war and the new ruler’s attempts to rebuild the country. It’s good so far.

On my kindle, I’m reading Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid a (non-SFF) novel about the 70s music scene.

Finished with Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy by Sam J. Miller - a boxer and a magical tattoo artist in 1920s New York. Well, I've always liked the author's works and this one does not disappoint.

Continuing with Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 4 and soon starting The Bruising of Qilwa that many are raving about.

Stephen wrote: "I started The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft, This is the first new book since the Books of Babel series, one of my all-time favorite Fantasy Series. Hope to get to..."

I have this on my TBR, looking forward to your review.

Silvana wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I started The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft, This is the first new book since the Books of Babel series, one of my all-time favorite Fantasy Series..."

Me too. I'm reading the final book in the Babel series right now. Is it true that Hexologists is only 318 pages? I didn't think Bancroft could write a grocery list in less than 400.

@Randy: I have not read any of the Babel series. Do you think I will enjoy it?

I finished the The Hexologists and truly enjoyed it. It has as its Main characters a happily married couple with no kids. Who still love each other. Can't recall a Fantasy book where that combo lasts all the way thru the book. It is a mystery tale at its heart, so that hit my wheelhouse. Started my first of ten SPFBO 9 Finalist The Last Ranger.

Silvana wrote: "@Randy: I have not read any of the Babel series. Do you think I will enjoy it?"

Hey Silvana, I checked out your "FYeahFantasy" shelf (fortunately it turned out to be Safe For Work) for guidance here. The quick answer is Yes. The biggest complaint people have with the series is that Bancroft takes his time and his prose is a little ornate. You've given 5 star reviews to Tolkien, Anne Rice and Mieville, and Bancroft isn't any more oblique than those authors. Also, Bancroft's steampunk-ish world is very well developed, and your reading selections tell me that you will appreicate that. He also writes characters very well and I can see you enjoy that. The first book is a very good litmus test but give it 50-100 pages or so, since he takes his time setting things up. I thought the second book was a very slight step back (this, I think, is where he realized he needed to introduce a lot of characters and locations in order to continue the series once the first book found its audience, so I kind of think of it as the "side-quest" book) but the third was excellent. It's too early to say if he knows how to end a series well but at least he finished the series which is more than I can say for SOME authors. ;-)

If you do read it, let me know what you think.

Ruth wrote: "On my kindle, I’m reading Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid a (non-SFF) novel about the 70s music scene.."

I'm not sure how far you are with the ebook, Ruth, but the audio of this one is excellent. I suspect I would have given the book 3 stars in "black and white," but the performances--Jennifer Beals' in particular--made it an easy 4.

How close does the show follow the book?

Oaken wrote: "How close does the show follow the book?"

Don’t know, I haven’t watched the show. I can see it working really well in audiobook format though, as it’s all done as interviews with the characters. I’m about 70% of the way through the ebook so I’m not going to switch format now, but yeah, I can imagine it being a great audio experience.

I'm just started reading Terry Pratchett collection [P Keane} , A Stroke of the Pen: the Lost Stories. 4% and 39m on audible. Whisper sync.

Currently reading Starter Villain by Scalzi. Just got to the part with the foul-mouthed dolphins. 0.o

Finished the non-fiction The Fourth Turning Is Here:, which everyone should read.

Also started The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu, which didn’t immediately grab me.

Bought a ton of ebooks on sale, which means I’ll never read them. :p

Going to DNF The Victories Omnibus. I’m 10% in of 570 pages and it’s the most ADHD comic I’ve ever read.

Dave Grohl's The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. He writes well and it is an interesting story of his rise from drummer of a band where he toured on a budget of $7.50 a day to a mega rockstar. But it is very white-washed - as I imagine most celebrity autobiographies are - without a mention of some of the more controversial moments that have been bandied about in the news over the years.

I finished the book of the month and kind of nope'd out of last month's pick and then the 7th arrived, along with it The Olympian Affair, Bookshops & Bonedust, and Iron Flame. I've started Bookshops & Bonedust in audio and Olympian Affair with my eyes. I hope to be done with B&B by the time the next Murderbot comes out on the 14th...

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Silvana wrote: "@Randy: I have not read any of the Babel series. Do you think I will enjoy it?"

Hey Silvana, I checked out your "FYeahFantasy" shelf (fortunately it turned out to be Safe For Work)..."

thanks for the elaboration!

Oaken wrote: "Dave Grohl's The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music. He writes well and it is an interesting story of his rise from drummer of a band where he toured on a budget of $7.50 a day to..."

I only recently discovered that Grohl and the other Foo Fighters were promoting HIV denialism back in the early 2000s. I’m going to assume this is one of the “more controversial moments�� you refer to. I’d personally have a lot more respect for him if he addressed this head-on and admitted his mistakes. I think it probably was an honest error of judgment rather than anything deliberate, but it was potentially hugely damaging.

Yeah, that was one of them. Rumours Kurt wanted to kick him out of Nirvana before he died. His feud with Courtney Love. The way he treated his first drummer in Foo Fighters. In the grand scheme of things I think he's behaved a lot better than most rock stars of his stature - looking at you Steve Tyler - but this is a feel-good memoir for sure.

Just finished Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward Lerner. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
It takes place about 200 years before Ringworld and features Nessus from that book as one of the main characters. Apparently this is the first of a 5 book series but it stood on it's own pretty well.
Next up is Oh Myyy! by George Takei.

Didn't really like The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, but I'm pretty happy with Bookshops & Bonedust at the half-way mark (though I'm getting worried that someone nice is gonna die).

I also read Bookshops and Bonedust, finishing last night. It's cozy and mostly low stakes. As for the worry above, (view spoiler)[I am pleased to report that none of the "good guys" die. (hide spoiler)]

Loads of silly fun and life commentary along the way. It's vastly different from the serious SF I usually favor, but if anything could be said to follow in the vein of Gail Carriger, it's these books.

I'm reading The Chalice of the Gods and enjoying it.

A few things I am reading this month. I started:

1. The Dead Sea Scrolls. I am into the first readings and am intrigued by the support and explanations of the passages found in this book. This is helping me to make better sense of the Holy Bible and is fascinating. This will be a slow read, probably 6 pages a day, so I will finish it next year sometime. The concepts are too deep, and there are a lot of incomplete passages that force this to be a contemplative book.

2. The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life by Spurgeon. This is a great companion piece to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the work is well written and moving. Spurgeon has a masterful command of the English language.

3. Between Mountain and Sea by Locke. This is a futuristic novel with Asian concepts. The book starts the characters off in a futuristic Earth and takes the reader on a journey to another life bearing planet that has already started the colonization process. So far, I am 70 plus pages into it, and it isn't overly exciting, but it's too late for my personality to put it down and pick a different book. It is obviously for a young adult audience, which is fine, I am an English major and young adult literature can be interesting. I am just waiting for this book to be interesting.

Maybe the world's not so bad if I can finish up with Bookshops & Bonedust and immediately pick up System Collapse? Also, listened to Senlin Ascends after Stephen was talking about the Books of Babel above - pretty good I thought, so there's another series for me to read.

Haaa, I finished Bookshops and Bonedust and now have System Collapse - both library requests that turned into holds on release and then borrows. System Collapse was unexpected and I had already started Misfit Soldier. Gonna finish that up first, should only be a day or so.

Just finished Oh Myyy! by George Takei. It is a collection of essays about Takei's rise as an internet icon. I found it mildly humorous until about halfway through when it became a detailed description of how the Facebook algorithm works and how he kept his fanbase engaged and he built up his numbers. This part was a little tedious.
This was written about 10 years ago and there was an interesting part where he talks about Donald Trump (George was on the Celebrity Apprentice) for a few pages. I kept imagining how different that chapter would be if written today.
Next up is Futureshocks edited by Lou Anders.

Adversary

I have been waiting for this book for so long. It is one of those "Drop everything and read it" releases.

To put it in context, my flat was flooded in a huge storm, I'm somewhat sleep deprived due to a night of improvised dam building and cloth wringing - yet I'm happy as I get to see what happens next to these characters.

Everyone has their favourites and that's great, because there's very little that's better than a new book from a favourite author.

like

I preordered System Collapse and realized I never got around to reading Exit Strategy. I was looking to see what Spotify had to offer since I had already used my Audible credit on this month’s pick and found it there. So it’s my current listen at painfully slow normal speed. Apparently Spotify is rolling out the ability to increase the speed. *sigh*

Finished Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reidand tbh I was pretty disappointed. The fake-interview transcript style didn't really work for me (it's probably much more effective in audiobook format) and a lot of the motifs felt recycled from the much better The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Funnily enough, despite not enjoying the book that much, I think I might check out the TV show at some point because I could see the story working much better in that format.

I read Misfit Soldier and found it...adequate. It seemed to be two books (modest spoilers for book tone and vague references to plot events) (view spoiler)[It's a rescue mission. Laudable! Except when it turns into a heist that was planned from the start. Except it's for a good cause! But the organizer is only doing the good cause as an afterthought. Which is contradicted shortly thereafter! And it's all PG-13 for violence until heads start getting shot off. (hide spoiler)]

Beyond that, this is now the second military book in a...well, the Lost Fleet is a series, but anyway. Both written by former officers, both of whom went to their service's military academy. As in, insiders who can be expected to be rah rah military. Except they ain't. The military of this book is a clusterfuck of stupidity and self dealing. I'd like to think better of our armed forces but the people who were actually leading it are telling me otherwise. Sigh.

I've finished The Chalice of the Gods, the latest Percy Jackson. Really liked it. Much shorter than recent entries in the series and I think the better for it.

Now onto Iron Flame, sequel to Fourth Wing.

I’m in the middle of On Earth as It Is on Television. It’s silly and fun. The best part: (view spoiler)[ Telepathic cats! (hide spoiler)] Although I find the stream of consciousness style a bit tedious at times, I think I will push on to see how it all ends.

I’m now continuing my Robin Hobb reread with Assassin's Quest. Epic fantasy at its finest.