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So I'm 44+ hours into the Oathbringer audio book and should finish this weekend. Not sure what I'll listen to next. I should probably figure that out before my Monday commute.

In E-Book I'm still working on The Jack Vance Treasury, but am currently focusing on the copy of The City of Brass which I received in my most recent PageHabit, and have to pick up my hold on To Guard Against the Dark from the library this weekend. So I'll probably be jumping between them, unless I binge read The City of Brass this weekend to finish it out.

^ Remind me of what that code is? Google doesn't auto detect and I can't remember. A quick stroll through last month's didn't turn it up.

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ Remind me of what that code is? Google doesn't auto detect and I can't remember. A quick stroll through last month's didn't turn it up."

In September I got bored of the usual opening post of "tell me what you're reading" so I simply said I am not a robot

To which Tassie Dave responded to me in binary and I replied back in kind.

Each month since, I've encoded my post a different way.

In October it was a rot13 cipher
In November it was Hex encoded

This month is something different. Colin apparently figured it out pretty quickly.

I'm not sure how long I'll keep doing it for. It'll depend on how complicated I want to make the codes, but it's less boring than me just asking you "What are you reading this month?"

Too much work for me. I'm going to continue to assume you're having a stroke every time you make a new thread. *thumbs up*

Oh....well, have fun, everybody! I can't figure it out but no big deal, looks like it is a fun puzzle for some. And we all know what you mean anyway, Rob.

I used to do a *lot* of this kind of puzzle - (view spoiler)[cryptograms (letter substitution puzzles) (hide spoiler)]. It's been awhile.

Rob's post: (view spoiler)[This one might be a little harder. I'm confident some of you non-robots will figure it out though. I mean other people. (hide spoiler)]

Colin's reply: (view spoiler)[Rob's monthly cypher challenge. Nice! (hide spoiler)]

edited to hide the kind of puzzle

Serendi wrote: "I used to do a *lot* of this kind of puzzle - [spoilers removed]. It's been awhile."

(view spoiler)[There are a few variety of substitution ciphers though. This one is a "keyword" ciper. In this case I chose the word sword. (hide spoiler)]

Rob wrote: "Colin apparently figured it out pretty quickly."

I have the advantage of being several time zones ahead of most of you, although Rob must have been up early to get his original post up!

I get up at 4am EST and I'm at work by 530.

Huh. Missed that.

Find myself reminded of Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Dancing Men.

On a different subject, currently reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. And since I am now a retired person (as of December 1), I hope to get more reading in (and maybe a bit more writing as well).

Caliban's War as I prepare for Persepolis Rising which will hit the Kindle in 4 days.

Everyone can relax: I’ve picked my last two books to read for my Alphabet Challenge.

I know you were all desperately waiting to hear, so without further ado...

V will be Valour and Vanity, while

Z will be represented by Zoo City.

Now you can all sleep easily. You’re welcome.

Popped over to the library to pick up Oathbringer and Artemis. Not sure I will finish them in my three week allocation.

Luckily (or not) Aurora Rising is just a renamed reprint of The Prefect which will now go back unread (as I have already read it). Daft idea renaming a published book.

(edited to fix link)

Trike wrote: "Z will be represented by Zoo City.

Now you can all sleep easily. You’re welcome."

As long as you pronounced it Zed, I will ;-)

Have you ever thought of doing a number challenge. Start at 1 and see how high you can get by year's end :-)

Iain wrote: "Luckily (or not) Aurora Rising is just a renamed reprint of The Prefect which will now go back unread (as I have already read it). Daft idea renaming a published book. ..."

Uh.. .what? The link you have for Aurora Rising isn't The Prefect. it's utterly different and by another author. Mislink?

LOL, yeah, Iain had a typo when doing the book-link for his comment.

Here's Reynolds' reasoning for the name change (even if you don't agree with it):

The Prefect wasn't my fave but I'll read this new one when it comes in. Adventure in space habitats, what's not to like?

Reynolds seems to be writing more slowly these days. Maybe he's run out of ideas to crib from Larry Niven! *ducks, runs for cover*

Rick wrote: "Iain wrote: "Luckily (or not) Aurora Rising is just a renamed reprint of The Prefect which will now go back unread (as I have already read it). Daft idea renaming a published book. ..."

Uh.. .what..."

Yeah, I did not proofread my comment. Stupid idea changing the name of the book. It fooled me as I Reynolds is on my reflexive read list.

John (Taloni) wrote: "The Prefect wasn't my fave but I'll read this new one when it comes in. Adventure in space habitats, what's not to like?

Reynolds seems to be writing more slowly these days. Maybe he's run out of ..."

They all seem to copy Smith, Niven and Banks (even Expanse)

This month I'm reading:
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

And I'm trying to finish them all by the end of the month, along with Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.

Iain wrote: "Rick wrote: "Iain wrote: "Luckily (or not) Aurora Rising is just a renamed reprint of The Prefect which will now go back unread (as I have already read it). Daft idea renaming a published book. ......"

Yeah I agree it's silly for him to have done that. At least I wasnt just suffering from lack of coffee..

Just finished Bright Thrones, an interquel novella for Kate Elliott ‘s Court of Fives series. A cool story in its own right and great to see a different PoV.

On audio book it’s Dracula for some classic Gothic horror fun. Spine-tingling listening to it while walking home at twilight...

Now starting Flowers in the Attic for some American Gothic.

Just finished Borne by Jeff VanderMeer and loved it! I loved his Southern Reach Trilogy so had high expectations, which this book met. Highly recommend to anyone who loves new weird or any of VanderMeer's other work.

I had less luck with Grunts by Mary Gentle. I got this as part of my Comic-Con book haul, and the idea of telling a fantasy story from the orcs' point of view intrigued me. The writing wasn't very good though, and I'm not a big fight scene fan, which is the only thing this book really has going for it.

Going to start California Bones now and looking forward to it!

I finished Horizon, finishing off the Bone Universe trilogy. I loved the world she created and I loved 2 of the 3 main characters in this book (one of them I was somewhat ambivalent on). The end was fitting, though seriously sometimes the narrative struck too close to home (politically).

I'm reading The Core on my Kindle. I was going to start Oathbringer in audio (having just finished my other audiobook) but decided that I wanted to listen to Edgedancer first. I didn't realize that it had come out stand-alone, nor that it was directly a part of the Stormlight Archive. So Edgedancer it is, then I'll roll right into Oathbringer. And the possibly Warbreaker, since a friend said it really has ties in Stormlight...(can anyone advise which narrator is better?).

I picked up Lexicon by Max Barry on the weekend on recommendation by a friend. Haven't been able to put it down. This hasn't happened to me with a book for a while. Very happy with that.

Also reading (in dead tree edition) Wool.
The first chapter grabbed my attention, then it seemed to veer into a completely different story and I lost interest a bit, then there was the shock when (view spoiler)[ Mayor Jahns died (hide spoiler)] and now my attention is grabbed again!

I was in Chattanooga for training and when I looked for books set in the city, I came across a book by Cherie Priest. So I read The Family Plot, a salvage ghost story. My sparse review is here.

Ruth wrote: "Also reading (in dead tree edition) Wool.
The first chapter grabbed my attention, then it seemed to veer into a completely different story and I lost interest a bit, then there was ..."

Wool is an excellent story. It inspired no small number of self-publishers (for better or for worse).

Walter wrote: "Wool is an excellent story. It inspired no small number of self-publishers (for better or for worse)."

What I find strange about both Wool (so far) and The Martian is that they're both self-published stories gone big, but I don't really get why they weren't considered suitable for trad publication in the first place. Unlike Captive Prince which I read earlier this year and which reads very fanfic-y (NOT an insult), they both read very much like 'normal' books. I guess it's just a case of sometimes things get (initially) overlooked.

Yesterday I finished The Eternal Champion and made substantial progress on Phoenix in Obsidian, which seems really short based on how long it's taking me to read it. Not that I'm complaining because it's also quite good.

Ruth wrote: "Walter wrote: "Wool is an excellent story. It inspired no small number of self-publishers (for better or for worse)."

What I find strange about both Wool (so far) and The Martian i..."

From my perspective. books are like stocks. It’s hard to predict why one will take off while another languishes, but if you could find an acquiring editor with an infallible eye for best sellers, he or she could name their salary.

As far as self-publishing is concerned (and speaking as one with a bit of experience in this area), it’s a difficult market to break out in. So far as Wool is concerned, I seem to remember it got a lot of attention from the Reddit community (which may explain some degree of its initial popularity), but it also came out at a time when e-readers were more of a novelty, and it was inexpensive compared to most other electronic books, which were at the time frequently more expensive than their physical counterparts, which no doubt encouraged increased sales for Wool.

At the moment, self-published works have flooded the market, and like any business situation where supply vastly exceeds demand, prices drop. Not to mention how difficult it is to stand out from the crowd when the available content is like individual grains of sand in a vast beach. I’ve even heard it suggested that there are parallels between the publishing and diamond industry, with the claim that publishers had a self-imposed limit on how many titles they released, in order to boost demand, and that this is the primary reason why the self-publishing phenomenon has turned the industry on its head.

So I've just finished Jerusalem by Alan Moore which I started in November. Very long but highly recommended and suitably Sword-and-Lasery

I've now moved on to Artemis by Andy Weir

Ruth wrote: "What I find strange about both Wool (so far) and The Martian is that they're both self-published stories gone big, but I don't really get why they weren't considered suitable for trad publication in the first place. Unlike Captive Prince which I read earlier this year and which reads very fanfic-y (NOT an insult), they both read very much like 'normal' books. I guess it's just a case of sometimes things get (initially) overlooked."

Well, both Wool and The Martian were first released in a serialized form, online. It wasn't until The Martian gained a lot of fan attention from the self-published edition/ranking high on Amazon that publishers gave it any attention.

Walter wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Walter wrote: "Wool is an excellent story. It inspired no small number of self-publishers (for better or for worse)."

What I find strange about both Wool (so far) and [book:The Martia..."

Hmm, very interesting! I wonder where self-publishing will go next - whether we'll continue with the current glut of titles or whether things will start to level off.

Ruth wrote: "Walter wrote: "Wool is an excellent story. It inspired no small number of self-publishers (for better or for worse)."

What I find strange about both Wool (so far) and The Martian i..."

I'm pretty sure Andy Weir didn't try to get it published. He posted it online and left it at that, then his audience asked him to make it into an ebook. He did, downloadable from his site, then he was asked to put it on Amazon to make it easier to get on the Kindle. This meant he was charging 99 cents. It took off from there, much to his surprise.

@ruth - I think things will continue as they are. After all, if a book doesn't get interest from a trad publisher it's pretty easy to self-publish and authors who do that don't really risk much. Unlike previous models where the 'publishing house' charged authors to publish books, the author can do the work of converting a manuscript into an ebook themselves pretty easily and there's not the need to print copies ahead of orders.

Also, a book that sells modestly from the publisher point of view might be nice income for a single person. I mean, if you sell $5000 of books in a year it's trivial to a company but that might be a nice vacation or cover the mortgage or something for many authors.

I’ve even heard it suggested that there are parallels between the publishing and diamond industry, with the claim that publishers had a self-imposed limit on how many titles they released, in order to boost demand, and that this is the primary reason why the self-publishing phenomenon has turned the industry on its head.

I doubt that a LOT. There are far more books traditionally published (~100k+ I believe) every year than anyone can read. Supply isn't the issue and we don't need conspiracy theories to explain why most self-pubbed books don't make it in the traditional publication market. That's easy to explain - first, most simply aren't very good. That's something that is hard for an author to hear, but it's true of a sizable chunk of those books. Second, and more importantly, there are only so many books that a publisher can produce in a year - they have X editors/copy editors/etc each of whom can only work through Y books per year. A publisher also needs to try to select the books that they feel fit their market and will succeed since there are sunk costs in producing each book from the overhead of finance, HR, etc to paying editors, printing the book, etc.

I finished California Bones - ★★★☆�� - (My Review)

and The Desert Spear - ★★★★�� - (My Review)

Serendi wrote: "I'm pretty sure Andy Weir didn't try to get it published. He posted it online and left it at that, then his audience asked him to make it into an ebook."

Just checked this and you're right - my bad for assuming he'd tried to get it traditionally published first. These days not everyone has trad publishing as their first port of call.

Rick wrote: "@ruth - I think things will continue as they are. After all, if a book doesn't get interest from a trad publisher it's pretty easy to self-publish and authors who do that don't really risk much. Un..."

You're probably right as the barriers to entry for self-publishing are so low. I've just read a few things recently saying that the typical self-pubbed title sells only a handful of copies, so while there are some authors happily earning their $5,000 or so a year, many more make next to nothing or actually lose money. I wouldn't be surprised if some people who previously thought it was an 'easy' path to selling books have now been disillusioned or put off. I guess at some point we'll find an equilibrium.

I was curious so I looked at the nanowrimo site. Now, consider that some people don't do this because it's a bad month for them, etc.

In 2016...
384,126 participants, including 71,229 students and educators in the Young Writers Program, started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

Holy crap.

Of course, you're right that most selfpubbed authors make nothing or very little. But I think some of them do it because they just need to and this is a way for them to share their work, some harbor delusions of hitting it big like Howey, etc, some start slow and build and of course some drop out with new people taking their place. After all, just in the US we have ~320m people. The Nanowrimo numbers are huge but really only 1/1000 of that population.

I finally finished The Clockwork Dynasty. I thought the ideas were neat but the story and writing not compelling enough to make me want to keep reading on a regular basis. I still love Daniel Wilson though. Overall 3.5 stars.

Right now I am listening to Dawn narrated by the great Tim Gerald Reynalds.

Manga-wise I am catching up on Attack On Titan on Crunchyroll Manga, finished Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Vol. 5 (5 starts), read Boruto, Vol. 1: Naruto Next Generations (4 stars) and am starting Boruto, Vol. 2: Naruto Next Generations

terpkristin wrote: "I was going to start Oathbringer in audio (having just finished my other audiobook) but decided that I wanted to listen to Edgedancer first. "

I'm midway through Oathbringer now, but read Edgedancer immediately before. I'm so glad I did. It's a super fast, fun read and contains some very useful tidbits about the world and its history that are useful for understanding Oathbringer. Plus, the main character, Lift, reminds me of Pippi Longstocking, which for me is a huge plus.

Travis wrote: "Plus, the main character, Lift, reminds me of Pippi Longstocking, which for me is a huge plus."

I love her! Mild spoiler for her personality/what she calls things (view spoiler)[I LOVED LOVED LOVED that she called her ability "being awesome" (hide spoiler)]

Haaaa, I used to love Pippi Longstocking. Totally unphaseable no matter what. Plus the way she'd pretend to find things that she'd planted, just so her friends could join in the fun. I should dig those up again...

And finished Phoenix in Obsidian (it was short) and started the final John Daker book, The Dragon in the Sword: Book 3 of Erekosë Trilogy.

terpkristin wrote: "I love her! Mild spoiler for her personality/what she calls things [spoilers removed]"

Oh, yes. This is the best :)

Finished Villains Pride...I actually liked it better than the first one, it's also very much a novel for other people who are deep into indie stuff on audible. Where it mocks itself and others in a similar vein, complete with the main character just running up and dunking protagonists from similar novels in a few sentences. ★★★☆��

Finished Second Hand Curses and The Fangs of Freelance audiobooks. DREW HAYES!!!! ★★★★�� for both.

Finished The Ibarra Sanction ★★★☆��...I have a hard time rating these because they feel so single episode of a tv show and they are short. Overall this series should be good but this chapter while good and enjoyable is mostly setting things up for an admit-tingly very good reveal at the end which should lead to a really strong next book.

Sky wrote: "finished Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Vol. 5 (5 starts)"

"When you hear the jazz you know I'm coming."