What are you reading?

[armourking]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Apparently his latest, "The Dreaming Void", the first of the "Void Trilogy" is out - will be hunting today for it if I get a chance.

Been looking for it, but so far I've only found it on Amazon.co.uk...

[chubby]

"Accelerando" charles stross.

from dust-cover "like being caught in an exploding ideas factory without a helmet".
totally true. great fun.

[caffiend]

Currently into the second book in the Emperor series: The Death of Kings, by Conn Iggulden. Like a book version of Gladiator or Rome the TV series.

Liking it.

[Mabd]

Advance copy of "The Dreaming Void", Peter F. Hamilton.

[[fe]]

Berlin: The downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor.

Crushing.

And rereading the Invisibles by Grant Morrison. Mind bleed.

[Kryten]

I've been prompted to start Steven Erikson's Malazan series so am about 1/4 the way through Gardens of the Moon - I'm loving the epic, manic nature of the story so I'm definitely a fan. And zomg the amount of death is just staggering.

[LordP]

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - liked American Gods, and this is an unofficial follow up

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson - a 'prequel' of sorts to Spook Country.

After those, and when they've been released to the unwashed masses -
Dreaming Void (Peter F Hamilton) and
Spook Country (William Gibson)

[Savage]

Just finished Darkness at Sethanon, then admitted defeat; went out and bought Game of Thrones. Enjoying it so far

[Lykaios]

Originally Posted by LordP

Dreaming Void (Peter F Hamilton)

Release date is March 2008

[Savage]

... oh and wtb Wheel of Time book 12

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by Mabd

Advance copy of "The Dreaming Void", Peter F. Hamilton.

is it as addictive as his other stuff? based on the same worlds? any of his books to avoid?

[reac]

Just finished:

David Lange - My Life
Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old men

Have run out of Dresden Files titles to read, so currently:

Jim Butcher - Furies of Calderon [Codex Alera]

[Kryten]

Originally Posted by Savage

Just finished Darkness at Sethanon, then admitted defeat; went out and bought Game of Thrones. Enjoying it so far

That's certainly......a transition

I just finished the first of Steven Erikson's Malazan books, Gardens of the Moon. Certainly epic, I left feeling a little confused but that's an indictment of me as a reader - I don't remember any of the Bridgeburner's dying, but there's a mention of it at the end.

I'll be grabbing the rest as I can, however. For now it's onto "The Blade Itself", by Joe Abercrombie.

[Draco T Bastard]

Originally Posted by Savage

... oh and wtb Wheel of Time book 12

Is that still going?
I gave up reading it at book 10. Finally got sick of it just dragging on and on and on and...

[Stilgar]

The Songs of Distant Earth - Arthur C Clark

To borrow a phrase, 'the writing is rather flacid' but enjoyable nonetheless. And there are several references to NZ, which is the last thing I expected to see in a SF novel.

[Nemises]

Originally Posted by Kryten

That's certainly......a transition

I just finished the first of Steven Erikson's Malazan books, Gardens of the Moon. Certainly epic, I left feeling a little confused but that's an indictment of me as a reader - I don't remember any of the Bridgeburner's dying, but there's a mention of it at the end.

Yeah, I read gardens of the moon and the 3rd one..Ice something..

I also found them quite confusing, and I'm a pretty confident reader...started to loose track of characters and reasons...the 3rd one is an "easier" read in terms of following the story, and was pretty enjoyable though, but I don't feel compelled to keep reading the series...just don't have any attachment to any of the characters or hapennings

Am re-reading PFH's commonwealth series (Pandora's star and the 2nd one) which I really enjoyed first time round last year.

I have "Dreaming Void" waiting on the floor for when I finish, and am looking forward to getting into it.

Also better get around to reading the 3rd Soldiers Son book by Hobb, but aren't that driven to do so at this stage.

got the first volume of "Judge Dredd: the complete case files" which is a good laugh, allthough to be honest, the early stuff is no where near as cool as the stuff from the late 80's as far as I can remember...guess I'll just haveto get the other 10 volumes to find out!

[badlieutenant]

Just read Darwins Children - Greg Bear (sequel to darwins children)
good book but really just there to "end the story" for the reader.

now onto
Biggest Brother - Larry Alexander, The Life of Major Dick Winters, "The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers"


would be interested if PFH void series is on par with the "Nights Dawn Trilogy".
I enjoyed the NDT but have to confess that a little speed reading occurred when ol peter starts getting way to descriptive with some scenes.

[Nemises]

Originally Posted by badlieutenant

would be interested if PFH void series is on par with the "Nights Dawn Trilogy".
I enjoyed the NDT but have to confess that a little speed reading occurred when ol peter starts getting way to descriptive with some scenes.

Have you Read the Commonwealth books?...much better the NDT in my opinion (not that NDT was bad or anything..just had a non-ending, and dragged in places)..definately a good read...books are "Pandoras star" and "Judas Unchained" .. very similar to NDT in all the right ways, whilst having a much more satisfactory story arc IMHO.

[badlieutenant]

Originally Posted by badlieutenant

Just read Darwins Children - Greg Bear (sequel to darwins children)

eeerrr ooops Darwins Radio is the first book, my bad

I do remember reading pandoras start and judas unchained.

*puts hand up to be taken to the place you first go after rejuv that no-one talks about later*

one book Ive read several times and recommend is Excession by Iain M. Banks (Iain Banks). the name the ships give themselves is fun and the whole escape of a droid bit is awesome.

Attitude Adjuster (Killer class LOU)
Attitude Adjuster (Killer class LOU)
Gray Area, but everyone else calls it meatfucker

[[Malks] Pixie]

Originally Posted by Stilgar

And there are several references to NZ, which is the last thing I expected to see in a SF novel.

Really? I see references to NZ all the time in a lot of popular science fiction. Hell for some of the books I've read NZ is actually one of the main locations (Jennifer Government by Max Barry - quite an amusing read actually). We do get mentioned quite a lot - I've spotted mentions by Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Jeff Noon, Jack Womack, Greg Bear... and the list goes on..

Of course you can go back further to some of the classics of sci-fi / horror and still find mentions to New Zealand - theres a couple in various HP Lovecraft stories (describing Dunedin as a haven for unreputable types involved in cult rituals - must have forseen Otago Uni!).

Pixie

[LordP]

Originally Posted by Lykaios

Release date is March 2008

Hrm, according to Borders (in Welly), they're expecting copies in early September...

[Lykaios]

Originally Posted by LordP

Hrm, according to Borders (in Welly), they're expecting copies in early September...

Shrug, maybe the release date on Amazon is out of date... hope so, because the sooner it comes out the better

[Rince]

re-reading the Burning Shore trilogy by Wilbur Smith

[Ab]

Every few years or so I read Speer's "Inside the Third Reich". Just started again.

[cycodamo]

Malinche by Laura Esquivel

[xus]

Nothing - all of the libraries are out of A Feast for Crow's currently :[

[armourking]

Originally Posted by LordP

Hrm, according to Borders (in Welly), they're expecting copies in early September...

I asked my local bookstore, and they in turn asked their supplier, and they said they'll have them, in store, on the 10th of September.

[badlieutenant]

Originally Posted by [Malks] Pixie

Really? I see references to NZ all the time in a lot of popular science fiction. Hell for some of the books I've read NZ is actually one of the main locations (Jennifer Government by Max Barry - quite an amusing read actually). We do get mentioned quite a lot
Pixie

................


The Chrysalids - John Wyndham, "Later, the existence of geographic areas far less affected by the nuclear exchange and fallout is established, particularly Sealand (New Zealand). Sealand is home to a socially and technologically advanced society where telepathy is the norm and is encouraged and developed as a survival advantage" thats sci-fi from 52 years ago (same author as Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos)

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Draco T Bastard

Is that still going?
I gave up reading it at book 10. Finally got sick of it just dragging on and on and on and...

Heh, yep still going. I started the series 11 years ago, found a couple of the books towards the middle of the series a bit harder to get through than the later ones tbh. Enjoyed book 11 as it picked up a lot, and am keen to see the end of the series (which apparently will end with book 12, but I'll believe that once I've read it :P).

[EvilLumpy]

I've finished the latest piece of Hobbs work and felt a little cheated by it. I feel like she rushed it after writing herself into a corner. Maybe I shouldn't compare it to her previous masterpieces but I can't help it!

I'm now onto Shout For the Dead by James Barclay and it's doing itself pretty well.

I've got a long que ahead though including the 'graphic novel' for Laurel K Hamilton's Anita Blake stories.

So many books so little time.

[Sp0nge]

Roget's Thesaurus

...I've been meaning to finish this for as long as i can remember
but I always seem to get sidetracked:

I get to an interesting word and
my mind wanders and wonders

escapism at its best

[Mabd]

Originally Posted by Nemises

Have you Read the Commonwealth books?...much better the NDT in my opinion (not that NDT was bad or anything..just had a non-ending, and dragged in places)..definately a good read...books are "Pandoras star" and "Judas Unchained" .. very similar to NDT in all the right ways, whilst having a much more satisfactory story arc IMHO.

I loved Night's Dawn, right up to the almost cop-out deus ex machina ending. Left me a little dissatisfied. However, I also enjoy the Greg Mandel series very much and Commonwealth Saga just as much (Ozzie rocks).

I am enjoying Dreaming Void, Madmax, it's set in the same universe as The Commonwealth Saga with some familiar names. And apparently we will get to find out what the High Angel really is in this series.

[Axident]

I've just finished Charles Stross' The Jennifer Morgue. James Bond meets chthulu on a real British Civil servant's budget Smartcars instead of Audis, brain-sucking Powerpoint presentations, and the evils of matrix management.
It's the sequel to The Atrocity Archives and Concrete Jungle and perhaps not quite as good in some respects, IMHO, but still a good read. Hell, most of Stross' stuff is damn good.

[Ab]

Who can forget Heinlein's depiction of Christchurch as a beautiful, quiet city of gardens and churches, populated by middle-class white racists who hate Pacific Islanders?

Totally fictional of course, I mean, who could imagine it...

[Nemises]

I like how we got Neptune in Piers Anthonys Bio of a space Tyrant...GO THE NZ!!!

[chiQ]

Originally Posted by EvilLumpy

I've got a long que ahead though including the 'graphic novel' for Laurel K Hamilton's Anita Blake stories.

That'll just be soft porn from cover to cover

[Stilgar]

Originally Posted by [Malks] Pixie

Really? I see references to NZ all the time in a lot of popular science fiction. Hell for some of the books I've read NZ is actually one of the main locations (Jennifer Government by Max Barry - quite an amusing read actually). We do get mentioned quite a lot - I've spotted mentions by Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Jeff Noon, Jack Womack, Greg Bear... and the list goes on..

Of course you can go back further to some of the classics of sci-fi / horror and still find mentions to New Zealand - theres a couple in various HP Lovecraft stories (describing Dunedin as a haven for unreputable types involved in cult rituals - must have forseen Otago Uni!).

Pixie

*Shrug*

Must be what I read. In TSODE the planet Thalassa consists of a North Island, a South Island, some volcanic regions, and water. They run a form of democracy first realised in NZ in '2011', and the presidential ferry is called, I shit you not, the Inter-Islander.

[Rangoon Attack]

just started reading hyperion - dan simmons

[Native]

Originally Posted by EvilLumpy

I've finished the latest piece of Hobbs work and felt a little cheated by it. I feel like she rushed it after writing herself into a corner.

Yep. Definite let down. Really disappointed. Half the anticipation was how old Nev could get back. It was really lame how she wrote it back in. There's even plot holes which are never explained :/

[Native]

Double Post