The Sword and Laser discussion

About to start the July S&L pick, and also starting The Golem and the Jinni.

What about you?

I just finished Hugo-nominated Parasite and Arrrgh, it was frustrating. And of course the first in a series, which I am going to otherwise skip. I've got Beast waiting in the wings.

Starting the month off with listening to Blood Song and reading Dawn

I'm reading Powersat by Ben Bova, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin and The Children of Húrin on audio, narrated by Christopher Lee.

I finished re-reading Dawn, it's a very quick story and now I'm doing a massive re-reading of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (both book and audio to speed things up) in prep for both the show next month and the latest book.

Jeff wrote: "Starting the month off with listening to Blood Song"

Haha. You too? I just finished and loved it. A few of us are discussing it over in my side reads group if you're interested.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

I am currently reading Grasshopper Jungle and The Talented Mr. Ripley. I've got a lot queued up though. I need to get through my Hugo packet!

Dawn was short so I'm already done. On the last book in The Legend of Eli Monpress omnibus. I mentioned in last month's thread but if you didn't see it-these books are really fun and I totally recommend them. They are kind of a less gritty, more magical Gentleman Bastards. Got Cibola Burn waiting on the nook for next.

I'm reading Fawn, but I think I'll be done with that soon. I may start The Shadowed Sun by NK Jemisin after that.

I meant Dawn! That's what I get for using the app!

I'm reading the pick for July Dawn, and Wool Omnibus.

Still reading my star trek book A Time to Be Born we are going to read the whole series over in the star trek reading group. Trying to get done with The Name of the Wind I don't love it. But I also don't hate it. I just do not care. and of course my side read of Ancient Egypt: Everyday Life in the Land of the Nile is still going its really short but I have just been taking my time with it.

Destiny's Rift by Sam Bowring.

Images of the Past, Experiencing the World's Religions, Lord of Chaos and Clash of Kings. All fantastic. The first two highly informative, Clash of Kings I'm 650 pages into after re-starting it two days ago and a quarter through Lord of Chaos.

I am reading a plethora of comic book volumes-
Avengers, Vol. 1: Avengers World - Jonathan Hickman
Avengers, Vol. 2: The last white event - Jonathan Hickman
Avengers, Vol. 3: Prelude to Infinity - Jonathan Hickman
Avengers, Vol. 4: Infinity - Jonathan Hickman
Wolverine by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection Volume 1 - Jason Aaron
Wolverine by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection Volume 2 - Jason Aaron
Guardians of the Galaxy/All-New X-Men: The Trial of Jean Grey - Brian Michael Bendis

As well as these books-
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story - Sean Howe
The Long Mars: A Novel (Long Earth, #3) - Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes - Amy Yates Wuelfing

*I got all of this from my library

I'm just reading the sci-fi classic, Ender's Game. Almost done with it.

I finished Shift on June 30th and am still listening to The Way of Kings (so glad I started that series - half way through and its pretty great).

Rogues and Cibola Burn both came in at the same time at the library, so I've jumped head first into Rogues yesterday since that has holds on it (and sadly/glady Cibola Burn does not so I can take my time on that).

Going to read those two before I get to this month's S&L though I know I have The Silkworm lurking out there on hold which if it comes in may get moved up in the reading order.

Finished Perdido Street Station! Interesting read. Here's my review

I didn't realize Tower Lord was coming out so early in July, that pretty much threw my reading plans out the window! No complaints. Starting it now.

After Dawn, hoping to finish Cibola Burn, before moving on to Authority and Super Mario Bros. 3: Brick by Brick.

I am reading Dolls Behaving Badly by Cynthia Ritchie. Not necessarily fantasy related, but she's local (if you're in AK :D) and the writing is absolutely hilarious, I promise.

Listening to Dawn.

Just started Help Fund my Robot Army!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects last night, with Sword & Laser Anthology likely to follow.

Morghanna - I'm going to read the first three (my favs) normally then skim/read through the rest - I have favorite characters and storylines that interest me more than others. I dunno if I'll get to the new one by August but only the first book counts for the show :) The trailers and such for the show look amazing btw, Starz has a website if you are interested.

Dammit! I got sucked into A Storm of Swords and didn't finish Promise of Blood in June. At the rate I'm going, I probably won't finish Dawn this month either.

I'm hoping to finish listening to On the Steel Breeze tomorrow before we head off to San Diego for the holiday weekend.

Kristina wrote: "Dawn was short so I'm already done. On the last book in The Legend of Eli Monpress omnibus."

She has an excellent SF series under the name Rachel Bach starting with Fortune's Pawn. I'm more of an SF reader than Fantasy and while I did enjoy Eli Monpress, I thought the Paradox series was better.

I just finished The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (pseudonym of Sarah Monette) and enjoyed it. A gentle read about a downtrodden half-breed who unexpectedly becomes sovereign of his country.

Also read Cibola Burn which was good, but I think after four books we've all worked out that Corporate Psychopaths Are Bad (tm). With at least five more books to come the writers need a new schtick.

After I finish the rest of the Xenogenesis books I have The Enceladus Crisis: Book Two of the Daedalus Series by Michael J. Martinez queued up, because the first book was a great read.

Finished Robin Hobb's The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince
My Review

Sandi wrote: "I'm hoping to finish listening to On the Steel Breeze tomorrow before we head off to San Diego for the holiday weekend. "

No holidays allowed before you finish this.

Lindsay wrote: "She has an excellent SF series under the name Rachel Bach starting with Fortune's Pawn. I'm more of an SF reader than Fantasy and while I did enjoy Eli Monpress, I thought the Paradox series was better."

This was a really great recommendation that I didn't have on my wishlist. Thanks for that! My wishlist is now three books longer. ^_^;

Just finished The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
Starting Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis; trying to catch up with club picks that I missed.

Fight Club audiobook and Don't Know Much About Mythology, which has been a long-term read for me.

Lindsay wrote: "Kristina wrote: "Dawn was short so I'm already done. On the last book in The Legend of Eli Monpress omnibus."

She has an excellent SF series under the name [author:Rachel Bach|6572..."

oh thanks! I will definately check that out.

edit: turns out it was already on my list, but now that I know it's the same author I'm bumping it way up!

Not reading much, I've been using my free time playin a video game. However, I did finish How Music Works by David Byrne. Some interesting ideas on the influence of outside forces on music. I'm still reading Kai Lung's Golden Hours. It's not compelling but interesting enough that I will finish it. The setting in classical China is very foreign to me and the names take some getting used to. I find them harder than the created names in The Silmarillion or real ones in Russian novels. There are several other books about Kai Lung, but I think one is enough for me.

Summers sometimes see me dive into my Russian heritage. This is one of those.
So I'm finally reading Metro 2033, which my teenage son adores.

I just finished Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. My thoughts about was "meh..." Good idea with a poor delivery. I started reading Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney. I liked the first book of The Last Apprentice series, so I'm exited about this one. Next will be Hounded by Kevin Hearne.

This month I'll be reading Dawn which I'm really excited about. I spent a recent vacation devouring Fledgling and I thought it was amazing.

I'm also reading Rogues - I skipped to the end and read the Rothfuss and Martin stories first. Now I'm going back through from the beginning.

Hi everyone!
I'm new to the forum, and my next post will be to the welcome thread. After 5-6 years where I read only sparingly, I decided to pick it up again, and in the past month I read The Thirteenth Tale, The Dante Club, before getting the June pick, Promise of Blood. After hearing the S&L interview with Michael R. Underwood I picked up Geekomancy, which was brilliant. Since I finished June's pick only after the podcast wrap up, I started reading Dawn on the last few days of June, not realizing that I wouldn't be able to set it down, so that I actually finished it already.
Wanting to read some F/SF with a gay protagonist, I picked up Luck in the Shadows, but it was just so bad (in my opinion), that I just lemmed it. Having whet my appetite for fantasy, I picked up the first book of the Iron Druid chronicles, Hounded.
I'm gonna get my dead-tree version of Ancillary Justice in the next few days (I hope). I'd also really like to read Iain M Banks's Consider Phlebas, first of the Culture series. But I'll probably intersperse those two space sagas with a few non-sci-fi choices.

Barak try Swordpoint by Ellen Kushner or Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey for gay male protagonists in fantasy. Both are good, Swordpoint is very good.

Barak Raguan Schneidman wrote: "Wanting to read some F/SF with a gay protagonist"

I'm hearing good things about The Waking Engine by David Edison.

Starting July out with The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. (With any luck, I won't also finish the month with the same book.)

Bryan wrote: "Summers sometimes see me dive into my Russian heritage. This is one of those.
So I'm finally reading Metro 2033, which my teenage son adores."

I'm currently listening to the audiobook.
I'm impressed with the writing.

Casey wrote: "Bryan wrote: "Summers sometimes see me dive into my Russian heritage. This is one of those.
So I'm finally reading Metro 2033, which my teenage son adores."

I'm currently listening to the audio..."

How's the reading?

Bryan wrote: "How's the reading?"

Rupert Degas is the narrator. His reading is damn good! The audiobook is like hearing angels singing the joys and grief of man. Okay, maybe I'm overdoing it, but his reading is pretty near perfect.

I've been kicking myself, trying to remember where I'd heard Degas before, and finally remembered. He read Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase, and turned in a hell of a good reading..

Casey wrote: "Bryan wrote: "How's the reading?"

Rupert Degas is the narrator. His reading is damn good! The audiobook is like hearing angels singing the joys and grief of man. Okay, maybe I'm overdoing it, bu..."
That sounds great. Thanks for the recc!

Just started California Bones

Casey wrote: "Bryan wrote: "How's the reading?"

Rupert Degas is the narrator. His reading is damn good! The audiobook is like hearing angels singing the joys and grief of man. Okay, maybe I'm overdoing it, bu..."

I love Rupert Degas voice, he was the narrator for the first three books of the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy.

Sure thing, Bryan.

@Viola: I'm impressed with Degas's competency and versatility.

Viola wrote: "Casey wrote: "Bryan wrote: "How's the reading?"

Rupert Degas is the narrator. His reading is damn good! The audiobook is like hearing angels singing the joys and grief of man. Okay, maybe I'm ov..."

He also did Skulduggery Pleasant? I like his taste.
(My daughter and I are huge fans of that series. Criminally underappreciated here in the US.)

@Michelle @Lindsay - thank you so much for commenting! I'm adding those books to my "to read" list.

Finished Dawn and Caliban's War. Still wondering who the hell Caliban is. Starting Abaddon's Gate, where I am sure I will be wondering what the hell Abaddon's Gate is, but loving every minute of it.

got the kindle free sample of Half a King and was so hooked that I ran out the next day (when it was released) and bought it. (Or rather I loitered around the book section at work until my shift ended and I was allowed to buy a copy)

Almost done and it is fantastic!