Beyond Reality discussion

Please let us know what other SF&F books you're reading! It's a fun way to pick up recommendations and discover new authors and titles.

I'm currently reading God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell. Next up will be The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

My tentative reading plan for July is here: http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/4...

I didn't quite make my goal of ten books in June, but I got close: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

I am reading Gale Force by Rachel Caine. It's more UF than SF&F but a wonderful series, probably one of my favorites.

I've also just started Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist. A Fantasy/Horror story that caught my eye.

I am waiting for my copy of Naamah's Kiss to come.

I'm finally reading City of Saints and Madmen. I have a copy of Dying Inside but it's home on my bookshelf and I am 15,000 miles away in Australia. I'm looking forward to reading it when I get back. I would love to read The Steel Remains but unless I find it at the library, it will have to wait until paperback.

I am starting In the Hall of the Dragon King by Stephen R. Lawhead. It's one of his early books, the start of a trilogy, and (I think) sort of a YA book. It's been on my shelf forever, so I thought I'd give it a go. I've read several of his other books, and like most of them.

I'm currently reading Halting State and The Winds of Change and Other Stories.

I plan to start Dying Inside in the next few days (as soon as I finish Halting State).

Shanon wrote: "I am reading Gale Force by Rachel Caine. It's more UF than SF&F but a wonderful series, probably one of my favorites.

I've also just started Faerie Tale by Raymond F..."

I think this book is one of Feist's finest, though it's far less widely recognized than his Midkemia/riftwar works. It was also ahead of its time, with respect to the urban fantasy/supernatural encounter bent going now. It deserves to be rediscovered.

I mentioned above that I am currently reading Halting State & I know it was a book of the month here a while ago--so I thought this was an interesting article:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/pl...

Gamer steals from virtual world to pay real debts

A bit OT but I wonder if he was charged with any real crime. Sure he was banded from the game and I don't see any remorse wit his I would do the same thing again comment

Finished God Stalk yesterday - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Started The Forever War last last night but didn't get very far. Strange to be reading it on Independence Day.

I finished The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, which started out okay but was very disappointing in the end.

Right now I'm about 200 pages into The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. It's excellent so far.

I finished The Strain a few days ago and was also extremely disappointed.

I'm hoping to finish The Steel Remains tonight. I am also reading Norse Code.

Kathryn wrote: "I finished The Strain a few days ago and was also extremely disappointed.

I'm hoping to finish The Steel Remains tonight. I am also reading Norse Code."

I can't wait to hear about Norse Code. It looks intriguing.

Sandi wrote: "I can't wait to hear about Norse Code. It looks intriguing."

I just read that; it was pretty good, a quick read with some flair. I'd recommend it.

Say, whoever it was who recommended Thunderer by Felix Gilman, I owe you one! That book was great, the best fantasy I've read this year. Highly recommended.

It's quiet here lately! What's everyone reading?

I just finished The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts, which was just excellent. I'll be posting a review once I get the chance to process everything. Next up I'll be re-reading Barrayar for the series discussion.

I was going to jump right into The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan for this club.

But after the WOW-ending of The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts, I am going to have to tackle something lighter and less epic for a few days....

So, it's a re-read of Thinner by Stephen King. Quick, easy, not a lot of depth. Just what my brain needs while Mistwraith settles in....then it's on to Steel Remains......

I'm currently reading Bridge of Birds A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was. I'm waiting for my Sci-Fi book club edition of the first two Bujold novels to come. Then I'll read that.

I finished Dying Inside yesterday and The Thin Man last Friday. I'm still reading Warbreakear at home in the evenings and started Lost in a Good Book today during lunch.

I'm reading Dying Inside, The Curse of the Mistwraith, Eve of Darkness, and Cordelia's Honor. I really need to get my actively-reading books back down to two.

Ditto on reading only 2 books at a time Sandi. I'm not counting graphic novels or my audiobook, so I guess I'm only reading Grave Sight. I'm listening to Neverwhere A Novel and hoping to start Barrayar next.

Also, I cannot recommend Norse Code.

Kathryn wrote: "Ditto on reading only 2 books at a time Sandi. I'm not counting graphic novels or my audiobook, so I guess I'm only reading Grave Sight..."

Have you read any of her other series? If so, please let me know what you think of Harper compared to Sookie or Aurora. I didn't like this series as much. Harper was just too whiny & depressing. Very interesting premise/power she has though. The limitations & abilities it gives her make for interesting, twisted situations.

Kathryn wrote: "Ditto on reading only 2 books at a time Sandi. I'm not counting graphic novels or my audiobook, so I guess I'm only reading Grave Sight. I'm listening to [book:Neverwhere A Novel|1449..."

I usually only have 2 books going at a time: one novel, and one short story collection. The short story collections can sometimes take me months to complete, because I only read a story here and there, between novels.

I just finished Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro, which I received when she asked if anyone wanted a copy. I will be posting a review shortly.

Next up is Barrayar and book 2 in a trilogy by Stephen Lawhead, but the name of the book escapes me right now.

I only read one book at a time. I usually do some periodical reading, too, but I can't follow 2 books at once. My brain just isn't that agile, I guess.

So far, I am enjoying Grave Sight and hoping to finish tonight. I have only otherwise read Harris' Sookie books, which I love. And I try to keep a short story book going as well Stefan but The Essential Ellison A 50 Year Retrospective, which I am working on, is still packed since I recently moved. I need to find it. If I were to list all of the books I am in the middle of, as in picked up, started, and set aside for any number of reasons, it would be over ten. I do not have a problem keeping plots straight in my head, except with audiobooks. I had to restart Neverwhere.

Stefan wrote: "Please let us know what other SF&F books you're reading! It's a fun way to pick up recommendations and discover new authors and titles."

Currently getting into TOOTH AND CLAW by Jo Walton, after an unsuccessful stint trying to reconnect with Flinx and Alan Dean Foster. I probably should have guessed that I'd outgrown something I was reading back in 1995...

Just starting Paul Melko's "Singularity's Ring", and so far it's pretty good. Remember the telepathic canines from Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep"? Separately they were only about as smart as dogs, but when several got together the IQs shot up and personalities emerged? Now imagine if humans were something like that, functioning best not as individuals but as groups of three, four or five, each member with a special talent or endowment.
Cool idea, and he's making it work so far.

I'm reading The Chronlith's by Robert Charles Wilson. It's pretty good so far.

Ron wrote: "Just starting Paul Melko's "Singularity's Ring", and so far it's pretty good. Remember the telepathic canines from Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep"? Separately they were only about as smart as dogs,..."

Oooo, that sounds really good! Let us know what you think when finished!

Kathryn wrote: "Ron wrote: "Just starting Paul Melko's "Singularity's Ring", and so far it's pretty good. Remember the telepathic canines from Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep"? Separately they were only about as smart as dogs,..."

Oooo, that sounds really good! Let us know what you think when finished!


Okay, I quite liked it. Particularly for a first novel, it's very good. Melko writes well, the characters, especially the 'pods' (group personalities) and the people who make them up, are engaging and believeable, the villains are villains for good reasons rather than just because they don't like folks, the action is fast-paced and sustained (although there are a few cases of "Suddenly we found the very thing we were looking for...") and the ending is pretty good too. I would certainly read more of his work, even a sequel to this.

Thanks for the feedback Ron! I know I'll try to find it.

I'm reading Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle. It's written like a hard sf novel but the core concept is that the science of the ancient Greeks is true. There are spontaneous creation farms for creating cows, space has air in it, and the ultimate goal of the main character is to steal a piece of the sun and drop it on an enemy city.

I'm currently trying to clean up the books lying around my living room. Three months ago I was "challenged" to separate the books into categories and read one from each category. One of the "categories" I had was "mystery" -- but then I found that I could further subdivide the "mystery" category and come up with four more categories of pretty substantial numbers. So THIS month my "challenge" is to read one from each of the four categories of mystery. So far I've accomplished:

1) Gothic/Horror: "Vampyres of Hollywood" by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott. I hat to say it wasn't a great book, because I love Adrenne Barbeau as an actress, but it wasn't a great book. It did have its comical moments, though.

2) Detective: "In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead" by James Burke is a much better book, and to be a hard-boiled noir thriller it achieves some genuine chill-up-the-spine tingles.

I have picked out, but yet to read 3)non-fiction: "The Lost City of Z' currently on the NYTimes bestseller list, and 4) "To Each His Own" by Leonardo Sciascia -- for some reason I have collected quite a few Italian novels in translation over the past years, and quite a few of them are mysteries; Sciascia is said to be one of the better of the Italian mystery writers, but I've not tried him out yet.

Naturally I would join a science fiction club in the middle of all this.

Nice, Nick! Well, maybe we'll be able to offer some suggestions when you get to the SF category...

I just read the first 40 or so pages of Zadayi Red by Caleb Fox. It looks like a prehistoric novel a la Jean M. Auel, but set in a native American setting. That genre is not my thing at all so I won't be reading on, but I wanted to mention it here in case some of you do like that style. It seemed very well written, especially for a debut, and I could see this author taking off quickly if the right people find his books.

Next up, I have SO many good books to chose from...

- The City & the City by China Miéville

- Mistborn The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson for next month's discussion

- To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts

... and it's hard to pick one!

I just finished Dying Inside and started reading Stardust. I have had the movie Stardust on my DVR for a while and I like to read books before I see the movies based on them!

I loved Stardust! Excellent fantasy! I'm in the middle of a Gaiman stint. I just finished Neverwhere, which was fun, and I started Fragile Things Short Fictions and Wonders and Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, which is also my first Pratchett.

I enjoyed Good Omens and thought Fragile Things Short Fictions and Wonders was amazing!!!

Smoke and Mirrors Short Fictions and Illusions is also amazing. (Check out this YouTube video of Neil Gaiman reading Babycakes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6HxI3...#

I also really enjoyed Coraline & am looking forward to seeing the movie version.

Ahh, what a creepy story! Thanks for sharing Barb, now I've got the chills! And I think I'm hearing his voice in my sleep as I listened to the audiobook of Neverwhere, which I am also doing with Fragile Things.

I finished Warbreaker last night - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... I'm still working my way through Lost in a Good Book.

There is a graphic novel version of Coraline as well as a musical. I think it's off Broadway. The New Yorker didn't like it. Apparently it's an all male cast.

Barb wrote: "I enjoyed Good Omens and thought Fragile Things Short Fictions and Wonders was amazing!!!

Smoke and Mirrors Short Fictions and Illusions is also amazing. (Check o..."

I just finished reading Dwarves by Markus Heitz. It was a quick read, I read it over the course of a day, and a refreshing change! I have a friend who teases me because I'm always looking for books with dwarves. I love their hard working, down to earth, and somewhat stubborn demeanor. However, I'm often sad that they are either under used or a comic relief caricature. This book was different. They were treated with respect and allowed to be proud characters. I also was immediately drawn into the history Heitz created for the dwarven culture. I'm looking forward to the sequel, and may pick up anything Heitz writes in the future. Highly recommended!

Reading the final Dune book, Sandworms of Dune. So far soo good. Been in Vegas for the last week so not much reading except on the Plane.

Re-reading "King Rat", China Miéville's first novel. The parallel city, theme of "Un Lun Dun" and "The City & the City" is at work in his first book too.

Finished Barrayar last night--review to be posted later.

Next up is The Warlords of Nin and then, Pulse, a book I received via the FirstReads giveaways.

Kathi wrote: "Finished Barrayar last night--review to be posted later.

Next up is The Warlords of Nin and then, Pulse, a book I received via the FirstReads giveaways."

I just finished a book that I won through FirstReads too. It was really good and I ended up comparing it to Dying Inside because it meshed so well with my "Is it Science Fiction?" question. The book was The Rapture by Liz Jensen.

I started The City & the City by China Miéville this afternoon. About 100 pages in, it's nothing short of excellent.

Stefan wrote: "I started The City & the City by China Miéville this afternoon. About 100 pages in, it's nothing short of excellent. "

I picked a copy up at the library, but I haven't read it yet. It's pretty short, so maybe I'll take it to the gym tomorrow.

I've read the first chapter of The City & The City by China Mieville. It grabs you with a lot of interesting ideas, perhaps it is "nothing short of excellent" as noted above. I've also started Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. I've read two of his thrillers, The Wasp Factory and Complicity, very hard edged psychological stuff, and one sci-fi, The Bridge. The sci-fi was a lot more kaleidoscopic, trying to throw in everything including the kitchen sink. Consider Phlebas appears to be that way also, plopping us down in the middle of a space opera right from the beginning.

Reading something non genre, Rocket Men The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson in celebration of Man's first visit to the Moon.