Discovered Authors 2013

Interesting Clovis-man, I have Child of the River on my shelves; been sitting there for sometime and I've not got around to it. I'd be interested to hear what you think when you are finished. The only one of his I've read so far was The Quiet War which was okay, but nothing special, which is why I guess I've not been in a hurry to get this one read.
 
The only writer I've truly discovered this year is Andrey Kurkov, whom I'd never heard of before. Of writers whom I've heard of but never read till now: James M Cain and James Thurber. Of writers whom I've read a bit of before, but never that seriously: Richard Matheson (surprisingly) and Joe R Lansdale.

Hoping to discover Penelope Fitzgerald in a wonderfully slim omnibus of three of her most well regarded novellas, Offshore, Human Voices and The Beginning of Spring. Saul Bellow and Don DeLillo to follow.
 
Vertigo said:
Interesting Clovis-man, I have Child of the River on my shelves; been sitting there for sometime and I've not got around to it. I'd be interested to hear what you think when you are finished.
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Will do.
 
Vertigo said:
Interesting Clovis-man, I have Child of the River on my shelves; been sitting there for sometime and I've not got around to it. I'd be interested to hear what you think when you are finished. The only one of his I've read so far was The Quiet War which was okay, but nothing special, which is why I guess I've not been in a hurry to get this one read.
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The whole Confluence trilogy, Child of the River, Ancients of Days and Shrine of Stars is utterly superb, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Gollancz is reissuing it later this year, I believe.
 
Thanks CM and CZ, certainly on my TBR pile.

I have a new author to add: Sheri S Tepper. Having just read and been impressed by Grass I shall probably go on to read more of her work.
 
Vertigo said:
Thanks CM and CZ, certainly on my TBR pile.

I have a new author to add: Sheri S Tepper. Having just read and been impressed by Grass I shall probably go on to read more of her work.
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I was just reading about her work, and the novel The Gate to Women's Country caught my eye so I went to amazon to pick up a copy, where I discovered it's to be a SF Masterwork in March. Sweet! :)
 
I have been reading John Maddox Roberts' series of Ancient Roman mysteries, SPQR. I'm up to XI of XIII :) that the library had donated to them. I've long been a fan of Stephen Saylor's Roman mysteries, and these are based in the same general time period (Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar) but come at it from a different angle. Saylor's Gordianus is an everyday Roman citizen, where Roberts' Decius Caecilius Metellus is a member of a highly placed political family. Both solve murders and such and get in lots of trouble doing so.

I see on the jackets that Roberts writes SF as well, but I have not checked to see exactly what. Anyone know him from there?
 
Vertigo said:
Interesting Clovis-man, I have Child of the River on my shelves; been sitting there for sometime and I've not got around to it. I'd be interested to hear what you think when you are finished.
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Finished the first (Child of the River) and will embark on the two sequels quite soon. The story is quite intriguing. You really want to find out how this world and all its inhabitants came to be. And what happened to its creators. The characters are varied and interesting in their own right. My only complaint is that the story progressed in a somewhat herky-jerky manner now and then.

I found myself thinking of Clarke's The City and the Stars while reading this. Both involve the appearance of a unique person, apparently as part of the design of long vanished creators, into a largely dysfunctional world of the far distant future.
 
Thanks for that clovis-man; I might move them up in my wish list and start looking out for them. No ebooks available so I'll have to try and find them secondhand.
 
Just an update on my new authors this year. The ones in bold are new since the last time I posted in this thread.

Bernard Cornwell - The Winter King
Jacob Berkowitz - The Stardust Revolution
Caleb Scharf - Gravity's Engines
Kate Alcott - The Dressmaker. Not impressed with this one at all.
Mark Bowden - Black Hawk Down. Excellent book.
Ursula K LeGuin - A Wizard of Earthsea. I enjoyed this book and will continue on with her books in the future.
 
Vertigo said:
Thanks for that clovis-man; I might move them up in my wish list and start looking out for them. No ebooks available so I'll have to try and find them secondhand.
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Well, I have to report that I gave up midway through the second novel. Too much trivial detail. Little plot progression. Characters didn't get any more interesting. I really wanted to like this, but it didn't happen for me. Sorry.
 
Just finished the Gone series by Michael Grant. Enjoyed this a lot.

Also read:
Jabin & The Space Pirates by Bev Allen. Really quite a good read.
The Inner Circle by Kevin George. This is the first in the Comet Clement series and was quite good. Have not picked up the rest of the series yet though.
Year of the Dead by Jack Lee. I really was pleasantly surprised by this tale. Again the first in a series and I will be reading more.
Last but certainly not least was Lost Cargo by Hollister Ann Grant which was really a good read despite a few editing issues but they were easily ignored.
 
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clovis-man said:
Well, I have to report that I gave up midway through the second novel. Too much trivial detail. Little plot progression. Characters didn't get any more interesting. I really wanted to like this, but it didn't happen for me. Sorry.
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Sorry, didn't notice your response earlier Clovis. That is rather sad to hear. Well, I still haven't got them yet so, as I've still got a bookshelf full of unread books, I shall probably leave them on the backburner for now. If I see them in a charity shop I'll probably still pick them up.
 
I have unproductive reading year so far having read only 9 books so far. Still happy of having tried 3 important authors.


Homer - read a poem of his completely for the first time in The Illiad.
Sheri S. Tepper
Dorothy B.Hughes
 
Pat Cadigan: Currently reading Synners and its easily getting 4/5 on goodreads, I'll definitely read more of her work and cyberpunk in general!
 
Julian Barnes, Alan Garner, Penelope Fitzgerald, Irene Nemirovsky, David Stacton, A Merritt.
 
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