June 2017: What are you reading

[Danny McG]

I'll be interested to see what you think. Scalzi tends to run either hot or cold for me; his Old Man's War series started well but then went steadily down hill. Is this one a full novel rather than a serialized one like the last couple of OMW books?

Well it set off with almost a trope. Galactic Empire connected by a network of wormholes (The Flow as Scalzi calls it) which are ready to close down.
Good bit of world building and characters etc but it all suddenly mid story, a load of plotlines open, it finished!
I've looked online and apparently book two hasn't been written yet.
This is one of my absolute hates, nowhere does it state anywhere on this book that it is the first in a series. I am raging at the publishers.
£16.99 I paid for half a story

 

[ratsy]

@dannymcg I've been a solid reader of Scalzi, reading most of his books. I did get this one from the library, and didn't have time to get to it, but I did feel it was quite 'telly' instead of 'showy' at the start. I did assume it was a series, but wasn't sure of it.

I did start Lifeboat by Felix Savage, the follow up to Freefall. It is such a great series! I devoured the first 10% last night.

I'm also now reading A Brief History of Time by Hawking. I want to understand our universe a bit more, specifically some space and time stuff for a short I have to write using wormholes. Considering the subject matter, I was really getting into it! The book is laid out in a non-scientist format, and a treat to read. I'm hoping I get along with it, and read the rest of his books too.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I've finished Tarzan of the Apes: Review Here

And next (I'm getting as tired of typing this as people are reading it, probably) another 25 comics.

 

[Dave]

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, parts I & II.
Book of the play (which appears to be quite complex dramatically as there are multiple special effects and split stages.) I won't spoil but it involves a great deal of time-travelling with alternate realities and so the range of the story is huge. As a play, it is far too long, and it is split into two parts performed over two days. As a book, it is rather short compared what Rowling usually produces. I liked it though. I didn't really like the ending of the book series so this solves that.

 

[anno]

Beware with that Hawking book,my reading went like this - yes,yes,yep,erm kind of,owww,owww,owe and then my mind bent...
Just a warning from a friend...
Actually one of Brian Cox's book gave me a migraine!

 

[Paul_C]

Beware with that Hawking book,my reading went like this - yes,yes,yep,erm kind of,owww,owww,owe and then my mind bent...
Just a warning from a friend...
Actually one of Brian Cox's book gave me a migraine!

I've got a copy of the first version (it was apparently made "easier" to understand at some point) and I probably reached about the same point before giving up.

Something like "Ooh, I understand this! Yes, that makes sense. This surprisingly easy to read. Er. . . nope, you've lost me . . ."

 

[Danny McG]

After my disappointment with Scalzi's 'Collapsing Empire' I've started in on 'A Darkling Sea' by James L Cambias.
Terrans are studying giant lobster-like (intelligent but blind) aliens living undersea in a permanently dark icecap world.
Then different aliens arrive in a starship to study both the Earthies and the blind lobster aliens.
That's as far as I've got

 

[Vertigo]

Well it set off with almost a trope. Galactic Empire connected by a network of wormholes (The Flow as Scalzi calls it) which are ready to close down.
Good bit of world building and characters etc but it all suddenly mid story, a load of plotlines open, it finished!
I've looked online and apparently book two hasn't been written yet.
This is one of my absolute hates, nowhere does it state anywhere on this book that it is the first in a series. I am raging at the publishers.
£16.99 I paid for half a story

Ouch I hate when an authors ends a book like that. My recent read of McDonald's New Moon ended like that; infuriating!!! I'll leave it for now I think.

@dannymcg
I'm also now reading A Brief History of Time by Hawking. I want to understand our universe a bit more, specifically some space and time stuff for a short I have to write using wormholes. Considering the subject matter, I was really getting into it! The book is laid out in a non-scientist format, and a treat to read. I'm hoping I get along with it, and read the rest of his books too.

I've been meaning to read that for ages but now I keep wondering if it has been... superseded by more recent discoveries. Any thoughts on that anyone?

 

[ratsy]

I've been meaning to read that for ages but now I keep wondering if it has been... superseded by more recent discoveries. Any thoughts on that anyone?

The version I have is the 10th anniversary, which still means it's 20 years old. I think it probably does have some outdated stuff, but most of its theory, and terminology. My main point was to understand the science behind a wormhole, and the whole possibility of space and time, since I have a short I've outlined that deals with a scientist trying to separate time from space in a wormhole. It's a nice read so far, but I haven't read enough to hurt my brain so far.

 

[Lucien21]

Off Rock - Kieran Shea

Jimmy Vik works for a galactic mining company, with his ex-flame as his boss. When he discovers a significant gold pocket during a routine shaft demolition procedure he feels his luck has changed- though smuggling the gold off rock won t be easy. With the help of a scrounger and gambler and his sidekick, Jimmy puts together a plan.

It was dreadful. Pretty thin heist story set on an asteroid.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Vertigo, that sounds similar to how I feel when a videogame finishes the story through DLC. If I pay for the damned thing I expect it to include the whole story.

On books: it can be tricky, in a series, ensuring you have both ongoing series' plot threads whilst also wrapping up intra-book story arcs. However, simply not saying it's part of a series is a glaring omission and really rather odd [lots of people like series].

 

[sci-fi girl]

Just finished "Visitor" by C.J. Cherryh and "Kushiel's scion" by Jacqueline Carey. I'm currently reading "Les nefs de Pangée" by Christian Chavassieux.

 

[Vertigo]

Vertigo, that sounds similar to how I feel when a videogame finishes the story through DLC. If I pay for the damned thing I expect it to include the whole story.

On books: it can be tricky, in a series, ensuring you have both ongoing series' plot threads whilst also wrapping up intra-book story arcs. However, simply not saying it's part of a series is a glaring omission and really rather odd [lots of people like series].

The thing is series are good, I like series, however each book should come to some logical conclusion; if it just chops off then, in my humble opinion, it should have been larger book. However the cynic in me figures that in terms of cash return per word the author (and publisher) will make more from two shorter books than from one larger book. But to end a book in a series with no real resolution to the events depicted in that book is just plain wrong.

 

[TWErvin2]

I am reading Brimstone, by Cherie Priest.

It's not what I would normally read, but it is the selected novel of a fantasy/SF group I will be meeting with after an author event next month, and figured it would be good to be up on what they're reading so I can join the conversation.

It is intriguing in some aspects, the development of the storyline from two POVs that do have a tenuous connection before they meet (he through dreams and she as a medium of sorts who sees his dreams, among other things). The pacing is much slower than I am used to, but I can see why the author is working that way--for greater emotional impact as things progress--or at least that's how I read it.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Finished Jack of Thorns by Amelia Faulkner and thought it was excellent. A kind of Urban Fantasy, it was intelligent and managed to deal with mature themes without being gratuitous. Enjoyed the characters, and thought the relationship-building was wonderfully and sensitively done. Will write a review soon.

Now reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It's interesting, has good conflict, and the setting is intriguing. However, there's a lack of depth I tend to find in YA titles, so I feel less immersed in the world as much as skimming through it. Happy to continue reading, though.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Cat Sense by John Bradshaw.
lots of cat material.

 

[Randy M.]

I'm still at IT.


Randy M.

 

[soulsinging]

Now reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It's interesting, has good conflict, and the setting is intriguing. However, there's a lack of depth I tend to find in YA titles, so I feel less immersed in the world as much as skimming through it. Happy to continue reading, though.

I wanted to love this but felt much the same. It was entertaining enough, but in the end felt like a macho version of the hunger games.

I'm still crawling through Monte Cristo, but loving it. Slow going, but so rich.

 

[Danny McG]

Fun fact: are you aware that the Pentagon oficially believes in Magic and zombies?

Hiya @tobl is there a source or link for your fun fact?
Thanks
Danny

 

[tobl]

Hiya @tobl is there a source or link for your fun fact?
Thanks
Danny

so it's like this:
apparently the pentagon as a plan called CONOP8888 that comprises the response to a zombie apocalipse.
And the Pentagon says there's a reasonable explanation.
"The document is identified as a training tool used in an in-house training exercise where students learn about the basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training scenario," Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze, a spokeswoman for U.S. Strategic Command, told CNN. "This document is not a U.S. Strategic Command plan."
Nevertheless, the preparation and thoroughness exhibited by the Pentagon for how to prepare for a scenario in which Americans are about to be overrun by flesh-eating invaders is quite impressive.

and the thing is that they are taught not only to deal with zombies from medical sources so to speak but also:
Zombie life forms "created via some form of occult experimentation in what might otherwise be referred to as 'evil magic,' to vegetarian zombies that pose no threat to humans due to their exclusive consumption of vegetation, to zombie life forms created after an organism is infected with a high dose of radiation are among the invaders the document outlines.


Now i know this is suppose to be a fictional training scenario... but... I mean couldn't they learn the basic concepts of military plans in a realistic training scenario?
Unless of course, somehow someone in the Pentagon believes magic is a realistic training scenario...

for those in the USA here's the link to cnn: Pentagon document lays out battle plan against zombies - CNNPolitics.com

for those in uk : Pentagon's zombie apocalypse 'CONOP 8888' guide outlined by US military | Daily Mail Online


sohave fun with the document. i did