Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Welcome to September. I have started Time Burrito

In Another World, I Must Defeat the Demon King by Miles English

I'm in the middle of my reread of the historical fiction series, Sharpe. I'm halfway through #12, Sharpe's Battle. I've been alternating each book with Marko Kloos' military scifi Frontlines series. I just finished Points of Impact last night.

I finished The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie, and enjoyed it very much - I don't think that I have ever been disappointed by that author. I note that it took me over a month to read the book; I ascribe this to much time spent in outside activities to take advantage of the good summer weather.
I am now starting The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr., based on the many recommandations about that series.

I finished reading the Aurora Cycle (Aurora Rising, Aurora Burning, and Aurora's End) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. A pretty good sci-fi story with a twisty plot, some fun heists, and a really creepy alien. It's YA which means there's too much eye rolling romance and juvenile banter, but Kristoff always brings the snark which I love. My son recommended it to me so I enjoyed discussing with him.

Got yet another ambitious month ahead of me

My core must reads:
- 3 Brian/Anderson Dunes (Sandworms of Dune started)
- 1 Card Ender series (Ender in Exile)
- 1 Asimov Robot series (Robots and Empire)

Then:
- 1 book to fill my fairy tale slot in BINGO (Cinder)
- 1 book which I'm supposed to read so I can pass it along to a friend (Altar of Eden)
- 1 free book on rivetedlit.com (Dealing in Dreams)
- 2 Starfleet Academy little kids book (yay for OpenLibrary have all kinds of hard to find stuff)

And as many graphic novels from the library I can cram in. And there's always the temptation to borrow a novel that catches my eye...I need to finish that French cat world domination trilogy LOL


Kivrin - that trilogy was something on my sorta-to-read list since I found it in my library, guess I won't have time for it this year, too little time, too much to read, but if I do another SF year I'll know that it's a decent series worth checking out :)

Andrea wrote: "Kivrin - that trilogy was something on my sorta-to-read list since I found it in my library, guess I won't have time for it this year, too little time, too much to read, but if I do another SF year I'll know that it's a decent series worth checking out :)"

It was a pretty fast read...but I do read really fast according to my kids. A good story, some really good characters, and some pretty exciting twists and turns. YA all the way but worth the read when you get the chance.

Completed:
text:

Audible:

==========================================
Authors:
Sarah Addison Allen, Michael Connelly, J.S. Dewes, Jamie Ford, Ann Leckie, Sunya Mara, Mary McMyne, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Marianne Wiggins
Narrators:
Adjoa Andoh, Titus Welliver

I am reading #7 in the Frontlines series, Orders of Battle.

I finished Time Burrito. A slow start, but ok in the end. Amusing, but not really funny. It does fill the time travel slot in my Bingo.

Finished the 6 book graphic novel version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep...the art was good but not sure why they chose to represent every single word of the novel, meaning there would be a bubble with some speech, then a bubble "he said" and then more speech bubble. It was kind of weird, what with the fact it being, well, graphical, so I could see who was talking...

Continuing with the Aldebaran series with one final trilogy - Retour sur Aldébaran, Épisode 1 by Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira (Leo). I got into this series because someone in the group mentioned it and I got hooked! After these three there's the start of another subseries but there is only 1 book so far, will have to wait for the rest to be published :) Annoying when that happens LOL

“Crisscross” by F Paul Wilson. One of the many books in the “Repairman Jack” series.

Ten Low -- sort of a Firefly meets Mad Max sci fi.

I have started The Arabian Nights. Like most editions of this book, it doesn't have all the tales, just a selection. It is beautifully illustrated and does includes classics such as Sinbad, Ali Baba, and Aladdin. It will fill either the Fairy Tales or pre-20th century slot in my Bingo.

I was considering reading some version of The Arabian Nights. I just finished a book about Richard Burton (the explorer not the actor), and he apparently wrote a highly controversial translation of the tales in the late 1800's. He had no qualms about including the sexual antics from the original tales which didn't go over well in Victorian England.

Hi Kivrin, he did indeed. The tales had been sanitised to fit in with Victorian trends towards turning folk lore and mythology into cosy parlour tales for well to do ladies and their children. Burton's version was very much warts and all. However, he was a strange man in many ways and later research has shown that some of this material was actually invented by Burton himself. The tales were originally oral tradition, with some of the stories being centuries old. They were essentially the repertoire of the travelling storytellers who would set up shop in the marketplace and spin yarns for money or food. As such they were hugely varied, since the teller of tales needed a story for every occasion and every kind of audience. So there was political satire, knockabout comedy, the equivalent of the blockbuster movie, horror and yes, a little soft porn. Interestingly there were also tales of journeys to celestial realms and mechanical men, that might lay claim to being an early form of sci-fi. And yes, this is another of my hobby horses... Hence the long post. The next bit is not self promotion, just an observation. I know all this stuff because I researched the nights for my story 'Omar, the Teller of Tales.' I wanted to write something that reflected the original nature of the tales, which I love, something that used the same clever, story in a story, Russian doll construction as the original Alf Layla wa Layla and the more adult themes. It is a pity that the Thousand and One Nights are considered just fairy stories by most and here in the UK as the basis for Pantomime stage shows starring a couple of soap actors and a well known comedian of a certain age. They are so much more than that and I definitely say put them on your reading list.☺ OK, I went off on one again didn't I? I will be blathering about Theremins again next. I will shut up and go away now.☺

Robin wrote: "Hi Kivrin, he did indeed. The tales had been sanitised to fit in with Victorian trends towards turning folk lore and mythology into cosy parlour tales for well to do ladies and their children. Burt..."

Blather on! Interesting the various iterations truly ancient tales have gone through. We would probably recognize nothing of the tales if we heard them as they were first told. I know I had a slim copy of the stories when I was a child (must check the attic to see if it is up there), but I'd like to read a version that is less sanitized and more "historic" if you will. Yes, Burton was quite a character. If you haven't read "River of the Gods" by Candice Millard, it's quite interesting. To be honest, I knew nothing about Burton until I read it.

Oh, and have you read In The Night Garden by Catherynne Valente? It gave me a very "Arabian Nights" feel.

Hi Kivrin, I haven't read either book sadly. I did see the movie 'Mountains of the Moon,' with Patrick Bergen as Burton. I believe it was based on a book by a guy called William Harrison and covers a lot of the same territory as 'River of the Gods.' I already knew a little about Burton having looked into him because of the Arabian Nights translation that you mentioned.

I just checked out the Catherynne Valente and it looks great. I have a feeling I will like that, so I added it to my 'wants to read.' Though sadly it will be next year before I will be buying books again. (Touch wood).

The way stories mutate over time really is fascinating yeah. The one I like best is the 'reattributing' thing. You get it a lot in Arthurian Mythos. Back to those wandering storytellers again. If you are a storyteller and there is a new fad going around, let's say Robin Hood is flavour of the month but you only know two Robin Hood stories and your regulars have heard them both, what do you do? You go back to some old stories you used to tell years ago that people will have forgotten and you recast all the characters. So, you can turn Arthur and the Knights of the round table into Robin Hood and his merry men and tell the same story with a couple of tweeks. That same story though might already have been a story of Lugh or Cuchulain repurposed as a King Arthur story. And on and on it goes... I keep meaning to do something based on that but never seen to get around to it.☺

Anyway, Michelle has warned people before about not encouraging me, you obviously didn't get the memo. LOL ☺.

More than enough from me I think, hobby horses have had plenty of exercise. I blather no more but thank you for the opportunity to go on and on and on... And for the excellent recommendation.

I'm on the last book in the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos, Centers of Gravity. I'll be sorry to see this series end!

Ps: the Richard Burton is definitely the on to get.☺

Or even 'the one to get.' My old friend autocorrect stuck his own in again.☺

Or even 'stuck his oar in' I have to go now and throw my tablet out of the window whilst swearing loudly...

Robin wrote: "Or even 'the one to get.' My old friend autocorrect stuck his own in again.☺"

Oh Robin, do you know what auto-correct did to me yesterday?! I was trying to message, and the sentence had these two words "put in". Of course my Kindle changed it to Putin!

I guess kindles must be up on current affairs :)

I wish GR allowed the ROFL emoji Michelle, there would be a row of about six of them just now.☺

Ginseng and Borderland: Territorial Boundaries and Political Relations Between Qing China and Choson Korea, 1636-1912 by Seonmin Kim

Babylon Blues: A Cyberpunk Military Horror Collection by Kit Sun Cheah

Kivrin wrote: "I was considering reading some version of The Arabian Nights. I just finished a book about Richard Burton (the explorer not the actor), and he apparently wrote a highly controversial translation of..."

The Burton translation is the only currently available English translation of the "full tales". Published in 1885, it is 10 volumes, with a further 7 supplemental volumes published between 1886 and 1888.

The Burton Club rereleased all 17 volumes with slight changes (both from the original and from each other between editions) in the early part of the 20th Century.

Both series are available as free downloads from Project Gutenberg.

Finished both volumes of We Only Find Them When They're Dead, Vol. 1: The Seeker though I'll have to wait for the rest of the series to be published, I didn't know at the time they weren't the full set. I had to admit it was the title that pulled me in, but the artwork was weirdly blurry, unique, but not sure I liked it.

Also finished Sandworms of Dune, which means I've technically finished the original series I started back in January. I wonder how it would have turned out had Frank written it? Hunters of Dune was good, but Sandworms sort of ended with me rolling my eyes a bit, but maybe it was all in the original outline and it's just the writing style that would have been different had Frank Herbert been the one to finish it rather than his son. On the whole, happy to have the mystery at the end of book 6 solved though. The only flaw was that it would have been impossible to guess the Enemy having only read the first 6 books, but then Frank had plans to write the missing piece as well.

Now to Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov and the Deep Space Nine graphic novel Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Too Long a Sacrifice. That's the last dead-tree graphic novel my library has...but I made the mistake of checking what they had in ebook form...and they have a LOT more. Guess when it gets too cold to physically walk to the library I'll switch to the non-physical books :)

I finished What Song the Sirens Sang by Simon R Green


Very entertaining! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Tony wrote: "Kivrin wrote: "I was considering reading some version of The Arabian Nights. I just finished a book about Richard Burton (the explorer not the actor), and he apparently wrote a highly controversial..."

Okay, I don't want to read THAT many Nights! LOL! I'm looking over different versions trying to decide what I want to read. Burton's edition is not at the top of my list right now.

Hi from Manila! Currently reading John Gwynne 's The Shadow of the Gods and Junji Ito's Deserter

Hi Kivrin, I don't know if it is still in print but I can recommend 'Tales from the Arabian Nights - selected from the book of the Thousand Nights and a Night translated and annotated by Richard F Burton and edited by David Shumaker from the edition privately printed by the Burton Club.'

It contains all of the 'greatest hits,' around fifty stories in total that cover the various styles of story pretty well and keep a good feel for the general Arabian Nights atmosphere. It has loads of b/w illustrations taken from the 1859 EW lane translation that really fit and enhance the text.

Sorry I couldn't just link it in but I am on the mobile app.☺

Jay wrote: "Hi from Manila! Currently reading John Gwynne 's The Shadow of the Gods and Junji Ito's Deserter"

Hello Jay from Manila :)

@Jay from Manila, Hello!! @Andrea, I also am planning to read Cinder for my YA Bingo slot. My DIL's father was here to visit over Labor Day, and he recommended it so highly, I thought I'd choose it. He's read it multiple times, so I have high hopes. I have an audio book of The Time Machine to listen to tomorrow for my Published Pre 20th Century. That will be my last 2 slots. I have so enjoyed playing bingo this year!

I am currently reading Dark Matter for another group. It has me captivated and I stayed up too late reading it last night! I can't wait to see what happens next.

@Kivrin, I read the first of the Aurora books, but when I finally got started on book 2, I had waited so long I couldn't remember any of the characters! So I plan to wait until I have time to read both the last 2 back-to-back.

Georgann wrote: @Kivrin, I read the first of the Aurora books, but when I finally got started on book 2, I had waited so long I couldn't remember any of the characters! So I plan to wait until I have time to read both the last 2 back-to-back.."

I hate it when I do that. I have James Islington's last Licanius triology book, but I haven't started it because I know I have to go back and reread the first two. Luckily, my son had all three of the Aurora books so I sort of binged them.

Jay wrote: "Hi from Manila! Currently reading John Gwynne 's The Shadow of the Gods and Junji Ito's Deserter"

Hi Jay,

I expect the weather in Manila is more pleasant than the weather in Sydney 😃

Kivrin wrote: "Georgann wrote: @Kivrin, I read the first of the Aurora books, but when I finally got started on book 2, I had waited so long I couldn't remember any of the characters! So I plan to wait until I ha..."

I'm in the same scenario for the Temeraire series, I left it for so long now I feel I need to start over if I am to finish it. And it's a lot more than just 3 books :)

There was a version of Arabian Nights free on Kindle; that's what I read.

Dawn of the Broken Sword by Kit Sun Cheah

I have finished The Arabian Nights. It is a nice selection of tales but, at 200 pages, it is far from a complete collection. The artwork is lovely. This book fills the Fairy Tales slot in my Bingo.

I am about a third of the way through Dead and Breakfast.

Hi Tony, did the Arabian Nights that you have preserve the story within a story thing? Scheherazade is obviously telling the story but then you get someone within her story telling a story and the protagonist of that story in turn tells a story like dropping through a trap door. Then as each story resolves itself you climb back out to Scheherazade's own situation and she starts a new series of tales with cliff hanger endings. It's such a clever structure but a lot of the "selected stories from" collections just ignore it in favour of picking out random stories and presenting them without nesting them. Did that make sense? Sorry, blathering again ... Arabian Nights is one of my "things," like Dr Who, Theremins and the X-Files... I get boring about it... OK, going away now.... Almost gone... Not here anymore...

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets came up on TV and it reminded me that it was based on a French comic book series. Since I just finished the epic Aldebaran graphic novel series thought I'd give this one a try, especially as it was written in the 60's so I can compare the old school style with the new. I like how the artists assumed we'd still be dressed like hippies in the "future" (ok, the 1980's) :)

Valérian et Laureline l'Intégrale, volume 1

The Arabian Nights I read was filled with story-within-a-story-within-a-story stories.

I haven't been reading a ton of sci fi and fantasy this month, mostly focusing on the library's read-vote-win nominations, which cover multiple genres: The Moonlight School, The Unkindness of Ravens, Miss Lattimore's Letter. Also The Tell-Tale Start and Fatemarked.

Robin wrote: "Hi Tony, did the Arabian Nights that you have preserve the story within a story thing? Scheherazade is obviously telling the story but then you get someone within her story telling a story and the ..."

Yes, it maintained that format, at least to some extent.

I finished The Magic of Recluce. I found it ok but for now I am not continuing with the next book in the series. Switching again to science-fiction I am starting Artifact Space by Miles Cameron.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross

Finished Robots and Empire, was interesting to have the two robots, rather than a human, as the protagonists of the novel. It ended kind of cliffhangerish, but I'm guess that's because it's supposed to tie into the Foundation series, or maybe the Empire trilogy. I still have a few more short stories to go, as well as the standalone The Positronic Man, so not done with Asimov just yet.

Starting on La Planète des chats by Bernard Werber to wrap up the trilogy.

I have finished Dead and Breakfast. It's fun, as cozy mysteries usually are, but not exceptional. It fills the Station or Inn slot in my Bingo.

I have read Restless. This is a short story (about 20 pages) which is the prequel to the Aurora Rising trilogy and is probably better read after the trilogy as it does little other than introduce a few characters - none of whom mean anything to me at this stage. It does, however, fill the Prequel slot for Bingo.

I have started reading The Galaxy Primes

So, I finished the Magazine Of Fantasy and Science Fiction for May/June 2018 which was a good one. Particularly pleased it featured another Of Mathew Hughes 'Baldemar' stories. I have enjoyed the 'Raffalon the Thief,' and 'Baldemar the Wizards Henchman,' stories that have been appearing regularly in F & SF for some time now. They are pleasingly old school, with a strong flavour Of Jack Vance, maybe a soupcon of Leiber and the tiniest hint of Pratchett.

So, on I go now with The Magazine Of Fantasy and Science Fiction for July/August 2018.

Who said time travel isn't possible? ☺☺