Seriously? WTF, I’ve been looking for something new to read for cheap. I’ve finally finished my free Baen library and reread the ones I really liked already. Though I need to find the Vorksigan books again somewhere on a hard drive in my house.
Just started re-reading Speaker for the Dead since I just finished re-reading Ender’s Game.
I’m sorry.
(IMO that’s a lot like saying “I just started eating a cardboard box because I just finished the delicious pizza it contained.”)
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I actually liked Speaker the first time I read it. We’ll see if it holds true for the second reading.
I liked both Speaker For The Dead and Xenocide, but in a very different way to Ender’s Game.
Without question, Ender’s game is a much better book (no matter how many times I read it it’s still one of my favourite books ever), but that cardboard box has a lot of the oils and aromas of the delicious pizza and still tastes pretty good.
LMAO, sounds like it would still be damn tough to chew through, though.
I just liked the pizza box analogy. Honestly, I’ve never read the series, so have no useful comment. It was once recommended to me by someone that I thought was a total, er, by someone I didn’t think very highly of. They named their kid “Ender” for Pete’s sake. I saw the movie, and it was OK, but in my head it was still tainted by the association with that acquaintance. If it had been someone else who recommended the book, or if I just happened across it, I would probably have read and enjoyed it, but as it stands, I’m not likely to pick it up.
Oddly enough there are a lot of people who feel the exact same way about the author.
Speaking of which, anyone following the drama in the Worldcon/Hugo world and SFWA worlds? It’s a microcosm of real life in there. I follow John Scalzi and Larry Corriea’s blogs and the arguments follow almost textbook form. Scalzi talks about privilege, feelings, and equality through policy; Corriea talks about freedom, prejudice of low expectations, and tolerance not equaling celebration.
I would like to think, even if I didn’t agree politically with Larry that I would gravitate to the side that states they would include the other, rather than the side that tries to turn their opponents into the “other”.
Actually, Ender is a nickname. His actual name was Andrew Wiggin. He just stuck with Ender because that’s what he ended up doing most of the time…ending things.
Edit: Aaaaand now I probably realize that you’re not speaking of the character, but of some person’s actual child. I’m a doofus.
Yep, you are correct. I didn’t realize it was a nickname until you mentioned it. So, they named an actual person based on a fictional character’s nickname. Lovely.
Just finished: Sebastian Jung’s War. If you want to understand what combat is like for the people who do it, I recommend this book. You probably don’t want to know.
Finally finished Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku. Holy crap was there alot of information. I described it to my mother as the most info-packed book I had ever read. Each and every sentence had a purpose and information in it. No filler. Which is awesome, but after about 20 pages my brain would want to explode and I’d have to take a break to digest it all. I highly recommend it.
And I can’t wait to read the rest of his books!
Working on ‘Welcome to the Multiverse’ by friend and local author Ira Nayman. It’s a hoot - reminds me a bit of Robert Asprin before he got weird.
I just started “The Crimson Campaign” by Brian Mclellan. I really enjoyed “Promise of Blood” and the sequel has started off fairly strong.
Lately I’ve been on a historical fiction kick and reading Conn Igguldens “Emperor” series. I’ve enjoyed them greatly, and the way he personifies Caesar and Brutus is really good.
+1 on Promise of Blood
Fun book, did you read the short stories? $.99 each I wasn’t sure about getting them.
Been travelling a fair bit with work lately, so in the last week and a bit I’ve read…
- Born of Ashes - book 11 of Ryk Brown’s Frontiers Saga
- By Other Means by Evan Currie - follow on from the Hayden War Cycle
- The Hot Gate by John Ringo, again
- All 8 of the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
- Books one and 2 of the Pax Humana Saga by Endi Webb
Just finished Meljean Brook’s serialize The Kraken King. She never lets me down. It’s the only steampunk I will read. No one else makes it as interesting.
Kris Straub is a Seattle-area artist who works on quite a few things, such as items published through Penny Arcade, and his own Starslip and chainsawsuit web comics. About two years ago, he started Broodhollow, which takes some of the horror stories he started under the “Ichor Falls” banner and expands on them.
He made the Ichor Falls: A Visitor’s Guide book available for a free download. It’s been interesting seeing the different pieces of Ichor Falls scattered through the stories. I also found a website that collected other IF stories, but I haven’t figured out if they’re fan additions or if they’re by Kris.
I have a description of the contents and how to get the PDF on the Broodhollow Wikia. If you’ve ever heard of “Candle Cove”, Kris included that story in the Guide also.
I just read all three books in the Hunger Games series.
And yes, Cover Girl banking their marketing on the movies is beyond stupid.
I used to read Kris, but his giving up on Starslip kind of put me off, especially after just giving up on chainsaw.
I think his joining the Penny Arcade collective might have hurt him some, or his time with Kurtz changed him. Kurtz being someone I read until somehow I just wasn’t entertained anymore.
As far as the topic goes, I’m reading Tom Kratman’s Carrara books. It’s a hugely anti-progressive series of books. Some of it is a bit offensive, and I think he carries everything too far, but I suppose that’s the point.
I need to break out Not a Fan for small group on Thursday.
Book 5 (Dances with Dragons, or whatever the latest one is called) of the Game of Thrones series.
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