January 2019 Reading Thread

[williamjm]

Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson and The 'Geisters by David Nickle. I feel like this is gonna be a horror year. These are the first books I've read by either of these authors and I've already picked up some more.

I don't know much of Matheson's work, but I Am Legend is a great book.

I've been meaning to read Adrian Tchaikovsky for a while. Thanks for the reminder! : )

There a lot of possible places to start with his work, but I think either this or The Children of Time are good choices.

 

[Danny McG]

I've this morning started Blackfish City by Sam J Miller.
It's still doing the world building so I'm waiting for the story to commence

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

A World of Great Stories (1947) edited by Hiram Haydn and John Cournos. My copy is a reprint of unknown vintage. (An handwritten inscription is dated 1978, so it's before that.) This is a big hardcover, with 115 short stories from around the world in 950 small print pages. Lots of good reading, but the book is already falling apart.

 

[biodroid]

The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King. 56% through so far and it's very good. I am glad I went for it, The Gunslinger was a weird book but he did claim he wrote it when he was 19 so he hadn't fully developed his craft yet, he has now!

 

[awesomesauce]

I've this morning started Blackfish City by Sam J Miller.
It's still doing the world building so I'm waiting for the story to commence

Uh-oh. This has been on my list, but I'm not a huge fan of introductory world building. (An understatement.)

 

[awesomesauce]

I don't know much of Matheson's work, but I Am Legend is a great book.

I read Shadow on the Sun (also by Matheson) over the past couple nights. It was hard to put down.

 

[Danny McG]

Uh-oh. This has been on my list, but I'm not a huge fan of introductory world building. (An understatement.)

Don't worry, it wasn't actually too bad ...three or four pages describing the city's octopoid layout and which sections were wealthy or slums etc, (imo half that would have done)

The story's underway big style now and I'm getting drawn in!

 

[Randy M.]

I don't know much of Matheson's work, but I Am Legend is a great book.

Hell House is another of Matheson's novels well worth seeking out and probably more in line with A Stir of Echoes. It's probably prudent, since some readers object to it, to note it has some '70s era sexuality and sexual politics to it. For me, what Matheson does fits the circumstances of his novel.

I'm curious about The 'Geisters. It and a couple of other Nickle novels are sitting on my shelves and I'd be interested in hearing what you thought.

Randy M.

 

[Parson]

It's on sale on Amazon (UK) for Kindle - 99p, and US - $1.28

So, I bopped over to Amazon UK, somewhere some years ago I bought a book (I think, at least I had an account) to buy it. But, I am persona non grata, I may only buy on Amazon for whichever country I live in. So....

Finished Victoria Selman's Blood for Blood an excellent detective novel. Well written and well paced. I liked the main character Ziba Mackenzie a lot.

 

[Paul_C]

So, I bopped over to Amazon UK, somewhere some years ago I bought a book (I think, at least I had an account) to buy it. But, I am persona non grata, I may only buy on Amazon for whichever country I live in. So....

Finished Victoria Selman's Blood for Blood an excellent detective novel. Well written and well paced. I liked the main character Ziba Mackenzie a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XXJ4P9H/?tag=id2100-20

 

[Parson]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XXJ4P9H/?tag=id2100-20

Yes but it was the price (which seems to have changed a slight bit lower $17.58 to 13+ for a paper back!) that I was complaining about.

 

[Paul_C]

I'm puzzled - as far as I can see it says $3.06 for the kindle version, which was what I thought you were after.

 

[Parson]

I'm puzzled - as far as I can see it says $3.06 for the kindle version, which was what I thought you were after.

I am also puzzled. I can't find a Kindle Edition I only find this See all 2 formats and editions which of course is hard cover and paperback. There is not an option for a Kindle version.

?Suppose it could be because you are located in the UK?

 

[Cat's Cradle]

@Parson, I also cannot find Dogs of War at Amazon US in the Kindle format. I find it in paperback and hardcover only. I went to Audible (I know you use Audible), and the book is listed here:

Audible UK | Free Audiobook with 30-Day Trial | Audible.co.uk

but then I backtracked through Audible to Amazon US, and at Amazon it lists only the Audible, and paper-book versions...no Kindle. Strange...

edit - strange...I was at Audible US, and Dogs of Wars is listed, but when I clicked the book's link, it took me to Audible UK, which is the link above (that's never happened to me before). So perhaps Kindle and Audible rights for the book haven' been obtained by Amazon US? Maybe they, as of now, can only sell it as a paper-book? Well, I've exhausted my detective skills here, and am out of ideas, sorry Parson, CC

edit 2 - More detecting! The book doesn't seem to be sold by Amazon US itself...the main seller given on the listing is a company named: Kennys Bookshop & Art Gallery, which appears to be based in Ireland, and mails books to Amazon US customers from Ireland. So, for some reason, it seems Amazon US is not selling this book directly to its US customers. Sherlock Homeless may have solved this one!

 

[dask]

Mistake. Please ignore.

 

[awesomesauce]

I'm curious about The 'Geisters. It and a couple of other Nickle novels are sitting on my shelves and I'd be interested in hearing what you thought.

Randy M.

I liked The 'Geisters. I thought the ending suffered a bit from characters making bad life choices to drive the climax forward, but on the whole I found it pretty solid and entertaining, and the idea was interesting. Like if we were for some reason to use stars to assign a rating to a book, I'd say 3.5 or 4 out of 5. I liked it well enough to pick up Eutopia and Rasputin's Bastards also.

 

[awesomesauce]

So, for some reason, it seems Amazon US is not selling this book directly to its US customers. Sherlock Homeless may have solved this one!

I'm doubtful that even Sherlock Holmes could untangle the arbitrary and byzantine system by which foreign rights are allocated and applied.

 

[janeoreilly]

Read Assassination Classroom 6, then I read a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear which is about how to get out of bad habits (so far, failure rate is 100%), then I read Star Wars Inferno Squad and now I'm reading Slaughterhouse 5.

 

[Paul_C]

I am also puzzled. I can't find a Kindle Edition I only find this See all 2 formats and editions which of course is hard cover and paperback. There is not an option for a Kindle version.

?Suppose it could be because you are located in the UK?

That must be it, very odd.

 

[williamjm]

@Parson, I also cannot find Dogs of War at Amazon US in the Kindle format. I find it in paperback and hardcover only. I went to Audible (I know you use Audible), and the book is listed here:

Audible UK | Free Audiobook with 30-Day Trial | Audible.co.uk

but then I backtracked through Audible to Amazon US, and at Amazon it lists only the Audible, and paper-book versions...no Kindle. Strange...

edit 2 - More detecting! The book doesn't seem to be sold by Amazon US itself...the main seller given on the listing is a company named: Kennys Bookshop & Art Gallery, which appears to be based in Ireland, and mails books to Amazon US customers from Ireland. So, for some reason, it seems Amazon US is not selling this book directly to its US customers. Sherlock Homeless may have solved this one!

Maybe Dogs of War doesn't have a US publisher yet?