October Reading Thread

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I'm not sure if this counts, but I went to a Forbidden Planet shop for the first time in years and found several large books of SF art/design in their sale section. I got two issues of Battle Milk, which seems to be a showcase for artists who previously worked together, and contains a wide range of art, from the realistic to the kitschy. I also acquired a book called Alien Race, which appears to be artwork for a pitch for an animated film, about a "horse" race on another planet. The designs for wacky beings and their steeds are great.

They would have cost about £80 new, and I got them for a total of £5. I assume that none of these projects are going anywhere now, as the books were published in the 2010s. It seems sad that so much work and talent could go into a book that is sold for so little money. Anyhow, I have already been using them as inspiration for modelmaking designs, so I guess I'm putting them to use. A real find (if you're me).
 
I've been away in the Baltic states but am home now and have just begun Greg Bear's Eternity, book II in his 'The Way' series. The story pretty much picks up from Eon, after a lapse of some decades, and already it's clear that that he intends to re-invoke several of the original characters (or their gholas or descendants).
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This pleases me, as I found them interesting, convincing and engaging. However, it's also apparent that some unpleasant aliens are about to appear and this is less welcome, as I'm not really a fan of space wars. We shall see!
 
The Judge said:
I'm hoping this month to (finally!) finish off Tad William's Shadowmarch which has been hanging around since the spring.

As a break from novels, I might also start to make inroads into my non-fiction reading pile. One I read back in August was The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives 1660-1900 by Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux, which was -- surprise, surprise -- a book about women's pockets, ie the type which were separate from garments and affixed on long ties around a woman's waist and accessed through splits in her skirt seams.
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In the 1990s I actually made a selection of pockets, when I was given a treadle sewing machine for my 40th birthday. I didn't embroider them but they were made of a variety of fabrics including silk, batik and linen, according to the skirt I planned to wear them with. All these fabrics were in my mending box and using them to good effect made it a double pleasure. I tended to wear the pocket on the outside of my skirt, as a 'feature', though I did have one that I reached through a seam, as you descibe.
 
Orcadian said:
I've been away in the Baltic states but am home now and have just begun Greg Bear's Eternity, book II in his 'The Way' series. The story pretty much picks up from Eon, after a lapse of some decades, and already it's clear that that he intends to re-invoke several of the original characters (or their gholas or descendants).
View attachment 125381
This pleases me, as I found them interesting, convincing and engaging. However, it's also apparent that some unpleasant aliens are about to appear and this is less welcome, as I'm not really a fan of space wars. We shall see!
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I need to read that trilogy, its on my tbr pile
 
Orcadian said:
In the 1990s I actually made a selection of pockets, when I was given a treadle sewing machine for my 40th birthday. I didn't embroider them but they were made of a variety of fabrics including silk, batik and linen, according to the skirt I planned to wear them with. All these fabrics were in my mending box and using them to good effect made it a double pleasure. I tended to wear the pocket on the outside of my skirt, as a 'feature', though I did have one that I reached through a seam, as you descibe.
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I do hope you've got photographs you can share!

Some of the paintings/illustrations in the Pockets book show them being worn on the outside of skirts, but for working women, eg at markets, using them as an easily accessible money pouch, but wearing them outside as a visible accessory is something I've not come across before. Good for you!
 
The Judge said:
I do hope you've got photographs you can share!

Some of the paintings/illustrations in the Pockets book show them being worn on the outside of skirts, but for working women, eg at markets, using them as an easily accessible money pouch, but wearing them outside as a visible accessory is something I've not come across before. Good for you!
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I'm afraid I do not have accessible photos! This was in the days of 'wet' photography and my entire photo collection before 2003 is in the attic somewhere. However, here is a sketch. They were not the shape of a Victorian pocket, which were top-opening bags without a draw-cord. Mine were 'pocket shaped' pockets, i.e. the shape of the fabric pouch that is sewn into the seam of properly-tailored trousers. (Most such are men's, alas.) They closed at the side with press-studs or velcro. I remember that getting the shape right was tricky; it depended on she figure of the person wearing it and I had a model made of interfacing that could be pinned & tacked. The pocket looked best when it was small (keys, money, hanky) and sat in the natural depression between belly and thigh, suspended from a ribbon off the waist. I particularly liked the look of a plain skirt with a patterned pocket in a contrasting colour.

pocket.jpg


Thank you for your interest; it has been a pleasure to remember this. :)
 
I am now 5 deep into the Imperium series by Travis Starnes. This is the best of the "man from the future finds himself trapped in the (or in this case an alternate) past and makes the best of it" genre of books. The set up is that Ky is a soldier scheduled to fly a second test mission of a FTL fighter. The first mission simply disappears, hence the need for a second mission. His mission also disappears but he finds himself in an alternate history in about 200 AD. Rome has been defeated by the Carthaginians and have been slowly beaten back to their last outpost which is on today's Britain. This book is strong on how ancient warfare was conducted, has good insight into the ways people respond to change, and has characters to root for. But the really great thing is that there is no obvious deterioration of the story as the books move on. If this is the kind of story that you like, as I do, you'll find yourself enjoying the series. I have book 6 queued and ready.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

But before I go there. I am already started on The Darkening Hills by our own Kerry Buchanan. The first three books were excellent in this detective series.
 
Finished the Ngaio Marsh Alleyn books, and am torn between rereading Margery Allingham's Campion series, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Chronicles...
 
I'm now over half way through Wizard and Glass (Stephen King - Dark Tower IV) and I just wanted to say how good the back story of the teenage Roland and Susan is, that takes up the vast majority of this long book. Much, much better than The Waste Land or anything in the earlier Dark Tower books. If King had forgotten about having to write this epic saga of apocalyptic doom, or connecting together his other novels, and if he had just concentrated on this one part of the story as a standalone book, then I think it would have been the best thing he had written. Obviously, I do want to know the solution to all the puzzles about the Black Tower and that world, but I'm not looking forward to Roland finishing up the telling of his tale, and a return to the talking trains, mechanical bears and underground mutant survivors, etc., because that kind of story has been written many times before.
 
I’m busy working my way through Planet Stories Super Pack No 2
A couple of authors I recognise but mostly unknowns to me. Some interesting stories and some not so. Still. Can’t complain. It was nice and cheap:)
 
mosaix said:
Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith - The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life.
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I read this book a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

DeltaV said:
I read the final novel, Land of the Dead by Thomas Harlan, in his Time of the Sixth Sun trilogy.

A massive artifact is discovered outside of Imperial space: a black hole, surrounded by three brown dwarfs, in turn surrounded by a Dyson sphere of force shields that shred any ship that ventures too close.

The Imperial Mirror has been studying the artifact, trying to determine what it is and what secrets it may hold. Now, however, the Imperial Judge Hummingbird has decided that this is too important to leave in the hands of the Mirror. Recruiting once again the archeologist Gretchen Anderssen, the pair make their way to the system aboard a mysterious freighter.

At the same time, the Empire dispatches a fleet to guard the artifact under the direction of an Imperial prince. One of the ships in the fleet is the battlecruiser Naniwa under the command of Susan Kosho. Finally, other sinister forces are also on their way, making for, you guessed it, some serious space battles.

I found the second part of this novel confusing. There are a lot of actors in play, and their motivations are not always clear. It gets very difficult sorting out the various conspiracies, especially as several of the characters seem to be very 'fluid' in their allegiances. As well, plot points developed in the previous novel, House of Reeds, appear to have been dropped.

We do learn that this alternate history stems from one point: the Mongols conquer Japan in the thirteenth century, and Japanese refugees flee to the North American west coast. There they trade with the Aztecs, and both begin their world conquests (with the Japanese being the minor partner of the two).

I'll put more comments in a spoiler:

I'm still somewhat confused about the purpose of the rebellion in House of Reeds. In Land of the Dead, we learn that all the Imperial agents involved were either reprimanded, or dispatched to forgotten corners of the Empire. Captain Hadeishi is reduced to playing music in a bar on Earth ... a fate worse than death for a fighting captain (but, don't worry, Hummingbird has plans for him).

Neither the mysterious agent of the Imperial flower nor the shape-shifting alien that compromised the 'rebellion' are mentioned in Land of the Dead. Odd.

Instead, new elements are introduced. We learn that the Empire, far from being a strong independent entity, is at the beck and call of a powerful alien species called the Hjogadim. These aliens refer to humans as 'dogs', 'apes' and 'toys', and the Emperor is shown almost groveling in the presence of their ambassador.

There is also a very powerful planet, New Malta, that is populated by a military order (Templars of Malta) with technology beyond that of the Imperial fleet. While apparently loyal to the Empire, they also play their own games.

Finally, there is a mortal threat to the Empire which is the motivation for discovering the secrets of the artifact, as a means of saving the Imperium. But this threat is never explained.

There are also a few parts that don't seem very rational.

In one part of the novel, the New Malta spaceship carrying Captain Hadeishi to the artifact is easily captured by the alien Khaid. Yet later we learn this ship is equipped with advanced cloaking technology and is crewed by Maltese super soldiers. I did not understand the point of this narrative at all, except that it adds more fighting to the novel.

In an odd coincidence, we learn that Captain Kosho and the Imperial Prince were schoolmates (!?). She speaks to him in a familiar tone that, based on previous novels, should have cost her her head. As well, at one point she refuses to rescue the prince who is in an escape pod, stating that pickup only happens after the battle is over. But then she spots a former crewman from the cruiser Cornuelle in the pod and, not wanting to abandon him, does stop to pick everyone up....

Anyway, I could go on to list further nitpicks ... how did Gretchen survive being shot, did her motives for killing Hummingbird make sense, what was Hummingbird's ultimate motive, etc, etc, but I'll stop now :).



One plot device was Captain Hadeishi thinking of the stories of the Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Although in Land of the Dead Musashi obviously does things that did not occur in our timeline, it was interesting to do a bit of follow-up reading about him.

I wonder if the five year delay between House of Reeds and Land of the Dead was partially responsible for the difference in writing. I realize that I am in the minority when I look at the ratings on Amazon and Goodreads, but I was disappointed with this novel. There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of Land of the Dead that I gather were to be answered in the next proposed novel River of Ash. But this was never written and fifteen years later, I doubt it ever will be.

Such a pity because I thought that Wasteland of Flint and the context of the stories had a lot of promise.

So my recommendation is to read the first novel, Wasteland of Flint, and let your imagination carry you along ...
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I also found this book to be worse than the first and second books in this trilogy. However, Wasteland of Flint and House of Reeds are so good that I forgive the author for some of the oddities of the third book. :sneaky:
As for me, I've only read a few historical studies and biographies recently. The last two books were Japan's Early Female Emperors by Patricia Tsurumi and Slavery After Rome by Alice Rio. I found both of these books very interesting and informative.
 
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