It's January. What are you reading?

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I'm reading Tome of the Undergates, while reading 9 Tales Told in the Dark 4 (since I had a story in it, I better read the thing!), and Star Wars Adventures Omnibus Comic, which is quite good. It's my first Star Wars comic I've read.
 
just finished first strike, volume 4 of the slaver wars by Raymond l weil. it's a good series
 
Trying to get stuck into Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs and failing miserably. Might have to put this down and come back to it later.
 
I've finished The Last Queen of England by Steve Robinson and The Lost Empress by Steve Robinson. Both were genealogical mysteries. Good story, and I really liked the main character. He reminded me of me, which means that he was nearly always out of his depth, but found ways to cope. It was also really, really, good to have a male lead character. There hardly seems to be any of them in recent years. (At least in the S.F. that I read so much of and lately in the mysteries as well.) I suppose that comes because a majority of the books I've read in recent years have female authors, and the fact that in my opinion females make up a large majority of the readership. Just to prove my point, my next mystery is No Turning Back by Tiffany Snow (female lead) and my Kindle book is Maude by Donna Mabry, a slightly fictionalized biography.
 
Finally made my way through Willful Child by Erikson. As a piece of postmodern criticism (a re-writing) this might be interesting (though I could not detect even one point being made that hasn't been made countless times before), because - other than your run of the mill critic - the author can write. But as a novel it left me miserably bored. Just too trite and even for dyed in the wool star trek afficionados (I count myself as one, by the way) even the best in-jokes aren't really funny.
 
Just finished Coming Home by Jack McDevitt. I have quite enjoyed his books over the years for a low-key SF fix. The latest is a dull trudge, without any real imagination or narrative sparkle. He seems to have become tired of his formula and is just going through the motions. A pity.
 
In a little bit of an Elizabeth Bear spree; read Blood and Iron and then started on her Eternal Sky trilogy. I read Range of Ghosts, the first, and am halfway through the second, Shattered Pillars. Very interesting setting.

@The Bluestocking I loved Steelheart. I have the second, Firefight, waiting for me on my kindle, but I need to finish the E.Bear books first as they're library loans.
 
I'm reading "The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury. I've always enjoyed his works. This is one of his earliest collections of short stories.

I have read "The Veldt" in a different collection of stories and it has long since been one of my favorite haunting stories. I had not realized it was originally published in "The Illustrated Man".
 
I'm reading 'Agent to the Stars' by John Scalzi. It had an interesting foreword at the start. I guess he wrote this book as a 'practice book' in the late 90's to see if he could write a novel. He put it out there to the world on his website and asked for donations of a dollar from readers. He made about $4000 in 4 years or something and a publisher contacted him and ran a 1500 copy hardcover run which quickly sold out. Once he had a few books under his belt, Agents was picked up in Mass Market by Tor. Kind of a cool story

Im only 50 pages in but I am intrigued by this humorous book
 
just finished rain of the dead of jack higgins. one to tales from the nightside
 
Finished Truth and Fear by Peter Higgins. Has anyone else read this, or its predecessor Wolfhound Century? They're not without their flaws, but they're well-written, contain some genuinely original ideas, and -- possibly alone of all books ever published -- are set in a fantasy version of WWII Russia. They deserve a wider readership.
 
kythe said:
I had never read Burroughs, but I just read "A Princess of Mars" for the first time earlier this month. I wasn't as impressed as I had hoped. I thought it started off okay, but the hero gets more and more full of himself as he goes on. He is way too "perfect". He learns the language in just a few days, and can also read their minds but the can't read his. He has superior strength, skill, and intelligence, and is able to befriend each warring race separately. He is always at the right place at the right time to save the day, etc. And why does no one notice or mind that he is an alien who is actually killing a lot of their people?

Ate least I now know who John Carter is. But he is too much the stereotypical "hero" to hold up today.
Click to expand...

He is almost the original adventure,SFF hero. People have been copying ERB,John Carter for 100 years in books,films so he has become a cliche,stereotypical. There is a reason people still read and enjoy the books,the hero despite he is too old school 100 years later. Most of the writers in his genre today will be not be around in the memory of the readers of 2115. I respected ERB for that even before i read and became fan of John Carter books.

Its like a crime fan of todays writers told me there is nothing new about the PI story of Red Harvest by Hammett and the PI hero Continental Op.
Because he has read so many copies. You can blame the writer for not being up to your standars or taste but you cant blame a writer, character for being the first, pioneer in their field. Sure ERB isnt a brilliant prose writer but i have huge respect for his adventure storytelling. Thats really what i want from A sword and planet novel with green aliens, superhuman hero ;)
 
On my neverending quest to scout out the Space Opera genre* (and see where mine might fit) I am about to start Neal Asher - never having read any of his work - I shall be following @Vertigo's advice and starting with Prador Moon.

I think it is a good sign, that I see from his Wikipedia page, he has he same birthday as me.


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* Or should it be scout out fresh constellations of books in the Galaxy: Space Opera???
 
I'm reading 'Goblin Moon'.

I'm kind of conflicted about admitting it. It almost feels sycophantic.

I honestly would not have known this book had I not started hanging around here, but I am loving it. A lot of my Sci Fi reading over the last few years has been licensed stuff, eg- I am a tabletop gamer so I have read a lot of Warhammer and Warmachine fiction. Or i have read within Series that I was already familiar with, eg- Pratchet, Brust. Thornburg, is entirely new to me, I am loving the feel of Thornburg, which is in my mind like New Orleans transposed to eastern europe, I am loving the absurdity of the upper class fashion and foibles (which remind me a little of Moorcock's 'Dancers at the End of Time' crossed with Regency period Britain, I am loving the originality and the fact that I am discovering something new and don't yet know where this is going.
 
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