July's Jubilant Joust At New Books

[Connavar]

Aren't those books about a detective but in the future?

Nah this is another and a stand alone book.

Agent Cormac is the one you are talking about. He has his own series.

Not that i know much about Neal Asher books just reading my first work of him. Didnt read too much of the book, i wanted to be fresh and open minded to the book when i read it.

 

[AE35Unit]

Ah i was thinking of a totally different author,Jeffrey Thomas. There's a advertisement for his new book Deadstock on the back of a collection i have. My collection contains his story In His Sights. And also there's a Neal Asher story called Bioship.

 

[hammerhead]

Night of Knives = Ian C. Esslemont
Hell Hath No Fury = David Weber & Linda Evans
Beyond the Dark Portal = Aaron Rosenburg & Christie Golden
ShadowPlay= Tad Willams

 

[AE35Unit]

Well i finished Way Station,and yes it was miles better that The Visitors,tho you can tell its the same author. Full of purple prose about the countryside which was ok cos i like the countryside.(he is known as a pastoralist)
Did Simak ever write anything approaching space opera or even not involving Earth? I did once have a collection called Off Planet come to think of it.
Next i want some space based stuff,something like 2001 but i don't have any,hmmm. Could re read the Alan Dean Foster's Thranx books...

 

[AE35Unit]

Well as I've been on about it all day I'm gonna read Where Time Winds Blow by Robert Holdstock next.
And I emailed Fantastic Fiction concerning their erroneous listing.

 

[elvet]

Just started book 1 of Mordant's Need (Donaldson). I'm not sure how this one passed under my radar, but I found out about it via a friend who loaned me the books. So far it's right up my alley. I love the 'modern person transported to fantasy land' plots.

 

[Switchback]

well, decided on the williams re-read. and devil in the white city by larson. fascinating stuff already, and reads like a novel. comfortably situated within the truth is stranger than fiction department...

 

[AE35Unit]

Just started book 1 of Mordant's Need (Donaldson). I'm not sure how this one passed under my radar, but I found out about it via a friend who loaned me the books. So far it's right up my alley. I love the 'modern person transported to fantasy land' plots.

Hmmm that sounds good to me actually. Makes me think of the fantasy duo by Greg Bear,The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage,magical stories that i MUST re visit some day

 

[Culhwch]

I finished Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and now I have nothing at hand to read!

 

[ravenus]

I read Clive Barker's Coldheart Canyon, which is a kind of Dracula meets Dorian Gray in Hollywood, mixed with Barker's now-patented brand of "orgies and S&M as indications of diabolism". The major characters are quite cliched and, at nearly 700 pages and stretched out with extended climaxes and unreasonable epilogues, it wasn't exactly pithy but all the same entertaining enough to justify reading through, and Barker quite shines in parts here. This was a much better Horror in Hollywood book than Ramsey Campbell's Hungry Moon.


Also read Making Money by Pratchett which is another efficiently funny installment to the now teetering Discworld pile.

 

[murphy]

Just finished Strip Tease which another look at the wild, whacky, wonderful world of Carl Hiaasen. It wasn't as funny as some of his other books. Now reading the Grantville Gazette III, an anthology of the world of 1632.

 

[GOLLUM]

What kind of SFF writer is Ryman ? I have stories of him in my Mammoth book of Best fantasy. The guy is in great company with REH,Vance,Leiber,Meritt,George Macdonald etc

I also saw a book of his in Fantasy Masterworks.

I've got some of Ryman's work including Was (Masterwork) a kind of homage to Wizard Of Oz but very movingly written. I also have a copy of King's Last Song set in Cambodia. Not read it yet but sounds good. He writes SF and Fantasy.

 

[Durandal]

Still working my way through Lankhmar. Since last I posted in this thread, I've finished off Swords in the Mist and Swords Against Wizardry, and am on to Swords of Lankhmar.

It's been a mostly fun ride, though there are definitely ups and downs in terms of my enjoyment, as one would expect with a series of stories, novellas and such written over a 40-year period.

The one I'm reading now is actually the only full-length novel in the series. I'm liking it quite a bit. However, the best story I've read so far is "Ill Met in Lankhmar," back in the first book...

 

[murphy]

Now reading Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's a medieval mystery and caught me up right from the start. Very, very good.

 

[Pyan]

Well, I finally got to the end of Robin Hobb's Fitz/Fool/Liveships trilogies...Good stuff.

Felt I needed a break from fantasy , so I've started State of Fear, by Michael Crichton.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Fair enough, Pyan, but remember, Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing is also very good.

 

[Pyan]

Oh, I don't doubt it...but I always try to take a short rest after reading a long story like that, sort of to digest it properly, if you know what I mean....

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Actually, I know exactly what you mean. Definitely requires a break.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Well, I finally got to the end of Robin Hobb's Fitz/Fool/Liveships trilogies...Good stuff.

Felt I needed a break from fantasy , so I've started State of Fear, by Michael Crichton.

Not all in one lump I hope. If so, let me shake you by the hand Gunga Din.

(that'll test 'em)