November Reading Thread

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I listened to The Sandman: Part 3 audio dramatization written and narrated by Neil Gaiman. Like the other parts, I find myself wishing there were more stories even after it is finished. As with the other Sandman episodes, this is a series of loosely tied short stories focused around the Endless and the beings who encounter them. It also ties in with American Gods, in that it feels like the same "universe".

Gaiman has a unique style, but which resembles The Twilight Zone or some of Ray Bradbury's stories. I love his approach to mythology and human psychology. The only fault I see in his stories is that descriptions can be unnecessarily gory, but his prose and world-building are his strongest points.
 
I'm presently reading two books going. Stripped Bare (Kate Fox book 1) novel by Shannon Baker. This is a mystery set in the Nebraska sand hills. (Western Neb.). What drew me to this book was the rural setting and the unusual set up of a wife investigating her husband (the sheriff of the county) for murder. It's quite odd in style, I'd say it's a lot like Twenty-Eight and a half Wishes* by Denise Grove Swank but Shannon Baker does not seem to be aiming for humor, while portraying small town life fairly accurately. And the mystery side of Stripped Bare seems much more visceral than Swank's work.

I'm also reading Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. It's an autobiography of a child of immigrant parents in the U.S. It's an award winner and the author in real life is very engaging (he visited my small town) but I'm having trouble getting into it.
 
Finished The Founders and remain unimpressed. They weren't bad, but they weren't great, either. Others may enjoy them more, but they fell flat for me.

Starting The Sky People by S. M. Stirling. Didn't know what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect a Venusian colony on a near Earth Venus, circa 1988. :D We'll see how this goes.
 
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Finished Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by Wilkie Collins. In spite of including a tale like "A Terribly Strange Bed," many of the stories seem more mystery/crime than terror, and there were only three supernatural tales. That said, Collins, like Arthur Conan Doyle later, wrote a fluid prose that propelled his story and remains readable today. Anyone who enjoys Collins or Victorian pleasure reading, would probably want to find these tales.
 
Reread Majestrum by Matthew Hughes, an underappreciated writer who has a good line in Vance-esque SF/Fantasy. Funny, sophisticated far-future private detective story.
 
I finished Stripped Bare by Shannon Baker and in the end it was a slog. There never was any worthwhile detective work. The sleuthing amounted to going to a lot of "suspects" and talking to them expecting one of the them to confess. And eventually one of them does. The underlying story about Kate Fox and her marriage in the end becomes almost as prominent as the mystery itself. As a stand alone this book would be adequate, but at the end I come to find that there's a whole series of her as she "investigates" other crimes. Count me out.

Also, although she lived 20 years in the Sandhills of Nebraska the characters seemed to me to be more charicticture than honest.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed
 
Blender babies by John Athan.

A new street drug is getting widespread - then the addicts learn they can get a much better and longer lasting hit if they render down a baby and extract a chemical that massively boosts the effect.

Cue mass raids on maternity wards and attacks on households with newborns.

Gore fest!
 
I've begun Discretion: Scattered Stars: Evasion Book 2 by Glynn Stewart. So far so good. (18%)
 
alt.human by Keith Brooke.
A far future SF where Earth has been long overrun by a myriad alien races, all living in megacities.
Humans are crowded into indigenous population reservations in the fringes.
 
Judge Dredd: Cursed Earth Asylum.

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