April's Anticipated Ascent of Aspiringly Artful Words

[D_Davis]

I finished Orphan Palace, by Joseph Pulver, and it is fantastic. Totally dark, endlessly creative, and unique. The half-prose/half-verse, stream of conscious style totally works in creating a world in which security and familiarity are so rare as to be non-existent. Pulver mixes together elements of hard-boiled crime, horror, travel narrative, and psychological thriller in a way in which each part strengthens the other. Pulver also isn't afraid to get into the mind of his POV character, and totally commits to the character; that we are sympathetic towards the POV character is a testament to Pulver's ability to paint with varying shades of gray. This book comes highly recommended if you want something challenging and inventive. If you're familiar with Ligotti or Cisco, and you like their work, you'll feel at home in the neighborhood.

 

[j d worthington]

Glad to hear you were so impressed with Pulver's work, DD. I would definitely put him in as one of the modern horror writers to keep an eye out for... and, given a fair number of those who have been working in the field of late, that's saying more than it may seem....

Again, sticking with the short and/or familiar for the time being... in this case, revisiting Ellison's first story collection, The Deadly Streets (1958):

http://islets.net/collections/deadlystreets.html

(The edition I have is the revised, expanded 1975 Pyramid edition.)

On the whole, I'd say the comments given in the link are accurate, but a handful of the stories there stand out, such as "Students of the Assassin", "Joy Ride" (also included in Children of the Streets/The Juvies), "The Hippy-Slayer" (which was a later story, from the 1960s), and "The Man With the Golden Tongue"; though several have moments which are quite good to fine. I would, however, class this as probably Ellison's weakest collection of non-sff stories, outdoing even The Juvies in that regard. (His weakest sff is another thing....) It shows him as an often crude but talented young writer learning his craft, showing moments of brilliance which hint at what was to come....

 

[Mangara]

The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, based on a conversation in another thread. Not what I expected, but interesting nonetheless. I think I'm really going to like Vin after she grows past her distrust of people.

Finished book 1 a week ago, waiting for book 2 to come in the library. It is such a good book, I'm jealous you get to read it for the first time! Enjoy it, its the best book I've read for a long time.

 

[Hypnos164]

Im reading The Star Fraction by Ken Macleod because i need more fresh,good modern SF and Hypnos164/Matt's review in Goodreads convinced me try that book.

After 112 pages im starting to enjoy it,easy to read and still alot strong SF ideas,idelogies uses by the author. Im very left wing myself in my ideology and i thought it was cool the author called him self a socialist in the introduction.

If he builds the world well i will enjoy the rest of the book. I like Kohn,Jordan and co.

It has been more than a few years since I read it, but it certainly hooked me on Ken's writing.

I finally managed to slog to the end of A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt – further books need not apply.

Now reading The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle which so far seems nicely evocative of its period with just a hint of/nod to Shakespearian comedy

 

[Mouse]

Decided to shun ADWD (again) and have instead picked up I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan - which arrived in the post today.

 

[D_Davis]

Glad to hear you were so impressed with Pulver's work, DD. I would definitely put him in as one of the modern horror writers to keep an eye out for... and, given a fair number of those who have been working in the field of late, that's saying more than it may seem....

You're totally right. I'm looking forward to checking out his short fiction. My one complaint about Orphan Palace is that it felt a little too long for what it was.

 

[Spade]

I read:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 5/5 - Possibly the best book in the series. I really like Order of the Phonix too, though.

The Loch by Steve Alten - 3/5 - Sigh... it's just pulp fun. There's some boring information dump, some pre-chapter quotes that are FAR too long, annoying Scottish dialect (ken=know, I get it!), and a bunch of characters that act like children. Hmmm... I truthfully don't know how I finished this book.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson is what I'm reading now. It's got some good concepts and some great characters. I'm really loving it so far. I've read The Chronoliths and Darwinia previously, but this is way above and beyond both of those novels.

 

[Mangara]

Just finished Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula le Guin.

An engaging, deep and immersive read, which at times can be as hard to navigate as the planet Winter itself.

The Left Hand of Darkness is a book about balance, gender roles and what it is to be human. The book follows the adventures of Genly Ai, sent down as an Envoy to the planet Winter to recruit the natives into the Ekumen(an 83 World Collective).

The natives of Winter are of of neither sex until a short part of each cycle, where they enter into Kemmer and become male/female for the purposes of reproduction. This creates an interesting point of study for Genly, and Le guin looks at the role gender plays in the actions of humankind. One example is the natives of Winter have no word for War, for the citizens appear to not have the desires and passions of single gender humans. Taking this book in context I can see the issue of gender being an interesting comment on male and female roles, however looking at this book 40 years on these gender issues are less prominent in modern society.

The book is deep with political intrigue, the focus being on two main factions, the rough and ready Karhide, and the structured and controlling Orgoryn, two factions on the brink of war over contested land. The world itself is well imagined, and the book is deep with lore, myth and language which increases the readers immersion into her world.

The story itself is fast paced, and touches on what it is to be human, with many thought provoking points throughout the book. I found it difficult to navigate at times, with re-reading required once the density of alien terminology began to confuse the plot. On the whole I'd give the book 3.5/5, well worth a read for any Sci-Fi fan.

Now on to Red Dust by Phil McAuley.

 

[Connavar]

It has been more than a few years since I read it, but it certainly hooked me on Ken's writing.

I finally managed to slog to the end of A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt – further books need not apply.

Now reading The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle which so far seems nicely evocative of its period with just a hint of/nod to Shakespearian comedy

I checked your ratings for all Ken Macleod books you have read in Goodreads to see which you rated highest and was the first in a series. I was looking his most interesting and most likely to hook me in.

Not many readers i have many authors in common in few genres with like you.

 

[Hypnos164]

I checked your ratings for all Ken Macleod books you have read in Goodreads to see which you rated highest and was the first in a series. I was looking his most interesting and most likely to hook me in.

Not many readers i have many authors in common in few genres with like you.

The Star Fraction is, rather unusually, the start of two series:
- Star Fraction, The Stone Canal, The Cassini Division
- Star Fraction, The Sky Road

Where The Sky Road take the premise that a critical choice made in The Stone Canal differed and presents an "alternate future" based on that.

If you don’t know this in advance The Sky Road is pretty confusing until you catch on...

 

[Vertigo]

Neal Asher's The Voyage of the Sable Keech. I found this another excellent book from Asher. This was actually the first Asher book I read some years ago (from the library) and I'm surprised both by how much I had forgotten and also by the fact that I remembered enjoying it! Looking back now I'm surprised I didn't give up in confusion on that first read not having read the Skinner or any other Polity books previously.

I find it interesting that I found both this and the Skinner quite difficult books to get started into, certainly harder than other Asher books, but by the end of each I would rate these two books as the best Asher books I've read so far. I wonder if it's because the Spatterjay world is so bizarre that the books need quite a lot of heavy world building at the start. But once that's over they are both fascinating and rewarding reads.

 

[D_Davis]

The Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King

3.5 Stars

My second least favorite of the DT books, coming right after Wizard and Glass, which makes a lot of sense.

Basically, The Wind Through the Keyhole is two novellas framed by a short story set between WaG and Calla. I would have preferred if this book was simply a collection of Dark Tower short stories/novellas, without the framing device.

King has created a lot of myth in and around this world, and it could make for a very interesting series of anthologies, maybe even including stories written by other authors.

The two main stories in the book are pretty good, but not great. The story about young Roland is good, and sheds a little light on his eventual-relationship with Jake. The main part, the title story, is a basic fairy tale with some very cool parts, but it takes way too long to get good. It's all built on known tropes and conventions - as are all fairy tales - so there really isn't a reason to set this kind of stuff up in one written today. We - the readers - know all this stuff already, so get to the good parts faster.

Anyhow, it was nice visiting my old friends again. BTW, I think the DT-related short story in Everything's Eventual is better than this book, and that would have been a cool addition to a DT-themed short story collection.

 

[Hypnos164]

Finished The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle highly enjoyable and pleasantly unusual historical fantasy.

Currently reading Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block for a change of genre and a new author to me.

 

[No One]

Finished Mr Campbell's If Chins Could Kill (and am now proud of the fact that I've read exactly two autobiographies - Mary Shelley and Bruce Campbell ).

Now back on the SF Masterworks, with M. John Harrison's The Centauri Device. I've also picked up LeGuins Lathe of Heaven and, outside of the series as far as I know, Heinlein's Job, which I picked up from a Book Cycle in Exeter.

 

[Grunkins]

Starting Iain M Banks' Player of Games tonight. He's a hell of a writer.

 

[Galacticdefender]

Just finished James Swallow's The Flight of the Einstein (Warhammer 40k novel), and I'm now about halfway through Red Mars (for some reason the author's name has suddenly escaped me).

 

[jojajihisc]

I want to try Silverberg with a stand alone SF book.

He has one or two of those I think.

I finished off Rant: An Oral History by Chuck Palahniuk. This was my first foray into Palahniuk's writing and I was very impressed by the off kilter style and intelligent writing.

Interesting I didn't think that was one of his better books, although not his worst either, so I'm curious as to what you'd think of some of his others. Plan on reading any more?

I'm expecting to start Bernard Malamud's The Fixer before long. Anyone here read that? I don't know his writing at all well; aboutthe only thing I'm sure of is a short short story called "The Model."

I read The Assistant in high school and loved it and I think I have a copy of The Fixer but have not yet read it.

Im reading Wise Blood by Flannery O'Conner.

A writer im very interested in, i have heard alot of good things about her from other readers i respect. Plus for some reason when i read general fiction american authors the themes of southern authors interest me much more. Small town mentality,religion,social issues of the stories are more appealing than NYC type stories.

It's the better book, in my opinion, compared to her at least equally famous collection A Good Man is Hard to Find. You may also like Harry Crews.


I read After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress and Mad Amos by Alan Dean Foster recently. Liked both pretty well. The first is an ecological, end-of-the-world, alien story which leaves most of the questions you have unanswered and I tend to favor those. It's novella length and can be read in a day. The second is a Western/Fantasy collection about an easy going old west character who solves problems for people. Problems which usually involve something extraordinary.

 

[dask]

Just finished James Swallow's The Flight of the Einstein (Warhammer 40k novel), and I'm now about halfway through Red Mars (for some reason the author's name has suddenly escaped me).

Kim Stanley Robinson or something?

 

[D_Davis]

Starting The Last Picture Show, by Larry McMurtry.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Just finished The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt. It had been a long time since I last read it, and a very long time since I first read it.

I didn't remember much beyond the first part, but remembered more and more as I read. Anyway, I liked it, and was glad to reread it.