SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?

[Steve Roby]

A short story collection by Murray Leinster (whom I had never heard of before) headlined by The Runaway Skyscraper.

I've read a few things by Leinster. He does seem to be virtually forgotten these days, which is a shame. He is, after all, the guy who coined the phrase "first contact" in a short story of the same name in 1945. He also wrote one of the first parallel universe stories, "Sidewise in Time," in 1934.

 

[DanTheGrey]

I just finished "Greater than the Sum" and it was a good read. Now I'm about a third of the way into "Gods of Night" from the Destiny trilogy.

After that and before book 2 will be the new Mirror Universe anthology and possibly True Blood since my wife just finished it. After that it's just going to be bouncing a book at a time between the latest Star Wars, Destiny books 2 and 3, Sookie Stackhouse stories and Dresden. I am not short of reading material.

Oh and I'm leafing my way through the God Delusion too on the side.

 

[DBR]

I'll probably be done reading Star Wars: Death Star[i/] today. It is a pretty good book. I've been enjoying part 2 more than the first. It is neat to see the Death Star as something more than a prop that destroyes planets and gets blown up. There were hundreds of thousands of people on the death star, and I'd never really stopped to think that all of those people probably weren't stormtroopers and guys who wear those funny looking black helmets.

I just finished "Greater than the Sum" and it was a good read. Now I'm about a third of the way into "Gods of Night" from the Destiny trilogy.

Good to hear. After the dreadfulness that was Resistance, Q&A and Before Dishonour, I had to take a break from Star Trek fiction. But I was planning on picking up with the TNG relaunch again this weekend.

 

[DanTheGrey]

I'll probably be done reading Star Wars: Death Star[i/] today. It is a pretty good book. I've been enjoying part 2 more than the first. It is neat to see the Death Star as something more than a prop that destroyes planets and gets blown up. There were hundreds of thousands of people on the death star, and I'd never really stopped to think that all of those people probably weren't stormtroopers and guys who wear those funny looking black helmets.

I just finished "Greater than the Sum" and it was a good read. Now I'm about a third of the way into "Gods of Night" from the Destiny trilogy.

Good to hear. After the dreadfulness that was Resistance, Q&A and Before Dishonour, I had to take a break from Star Trek fiction. But I was planning on picking up with the TNG relaunch again this weekend.

I never read Q&A, but I did feel it fired on more cylinders than Resistance for sure and I do think it was better than Before Dishonour. I think this was the first one that really brought in some old style Trek stuff in terms of mystery/phenomenon.

I'm only a peripheral Trek novel reader only having gotten back in in the last year or two, mostly due to borrowing SCE stories from a coworker and getting in on the 'ground floor' with Vanguard and Titan series. The 3 books set during the Bajoran Occupation really brought me back into reading Trek books consistently.

 

[S. Gomez]

She by H. Rider Haggard, and then I think a break from fantasy and adventure to study some political history.

 

[Neopeius]

A short story collection by Murray Leinster (whom I had never heard of before) headlined by The Runaway Skyscraper.

I've read a few things by Leinster. He does seem to be virtually forgotten these days, which is a shame. He is, after all, the guy who coined the phrase "first contact" in a short story of the same name in 1945. He also wrote one of the first parallel universe stories, "Sidewise in Time," in 1934.

I really like Leinster. His Med series is lots of fun. I want my own tormal.

I am currently reading the Feb 1954 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Actually, I've embarked on a rather ambitious journey. I'm reading all of my science fiction collection, month by month, 55 years later. So every month, I read an Astounding, an F&SF, and a Galaxy magazine.

It's fun!

 

[Steve Roby]

That sounds like fun. A lot of work, but fun. I read some of the SF mags regularly through the late 1970s and 1980s but got a special kick out of finding the occasional older issue of Galaxy or whatever.

Just read the Trek novel A Singular Destiny, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and may go back to some SCE reading.

 

[Klaus]

I have some special things in my run of F&SF from the 70s to the early 90s... like Lord Valentine's Castle serialized and all the parts of the first Dark Tower book's original version... and the all-Ellison issue with "Jeffty is Five".

...and a very battered set of Asimov's Currents of Space in Astounding.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I've started the Mission Gamma series again, and decided to try the Discworld books again, so I've started with The Light Fantastic, since I already read The Colour of Magic.

 

[Steve Roby]

Currently rereading Moore and Gibbons's The Watchmen to prepare for the movie. Last time I read it was when I bought it in trade paperback, probably twenty years or so ago, so I definitely needed a refresher. Boy, it's good stuff. And I do think it's possible that a good and reasonably faithful movie could be made without losing too much, so I'll be cautiously optimistic.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Jack McDevitt: Seeker

 

[Dr_Daystrom]

Daemon by Daniel Suarez

 

[Mistral]

Currently rereading Moore and Gibbons's The Watchmen to prepare for the movie. Last time I read it was when I bought it in trade paperback, probably twenty years or so ago, so I definitely needed a refresher. Boy, it's good stuff. And I do think it's possible that a good and reasonably faithful movie could be made without losing too much, so I'll be cautiously optimistic.

I just finished it last night-I'd forgotten what an amazing tale it is. Should be great at the movies-only how do they convey the pirate story?

Jack McDevitt: Seeker

Great series! I've read almost everything by him. I rec The Engines of God when you finish that series-its book one of several and they're all really cool.

 

[S. Gomez]

Currently rereading Moore and Gibbons's The Watchmen to prepare for the movie. Last time I read it was when I bought it in trade paperback, probably twenty years or so ago, so I definitely needed a refresher. Boy, it's good stuff. And I do think it's possible that a good and reasonably faithful movie could be made without losing too much, so I'll be cautiously optimistic.

I just finished it last night-I'd forgotten what an amazing tale it is. Should be great at the movies-only how do they convey the pirate story?

There's going to be a DVD release around the time the movie comes out which will include the Tales From The Black Freighter storyline in animation. Apparently Snyder had intended to put it in the movie proper, but it got cut for time; there have been some rumblings about a future director's cut but those could easily be insubstantial rumours.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Jack McDevitt: Seeker

Great series! I've read almost everything by him. I rec The Engines of God when you finish that series-its book one of several and they're all really cool.

Yeah, I already read most of the Priscilla Hutchins books, including Engines of God.

"Seeker" is my first Alex Benedict novel though... yes, I know, that's kind of out of order.

 

[Mistral]

Just finished Cauldron recently. Wish there were more.

 

[Kelso]

I'm reading H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction (Library of Essential Writers) from Barnes and Noble.

1120 pages of Lovecraftian goodness!

 

[BrotherBenny]

I'm reading Diane Carey's VOY: Flashback.

 

[Maestro]

OK, gang, I highly recommend Scott Westerfeld's Succession duology. It was supposed to be one book, but the publisher chopped it in two. The first is The Risen Empire, the second is The Killing of Worlds.

I read TRE this past summer, and just completed TKoW. Great stuff. Hard sci-fi, but good space opera. All the info on the tech is there, but not overwhelming like the Honor Harrington info-dumps. Good twist at the end.

Westerfeld gives us a take on the Borg in this series called the Rix. I won't tell you how they turn out, but they're much scarier than the Borg, and I do believe that the Rix could take the Borg without a second thought. Well, the Rix would have a second thought, and then the Borg would be spacepizza.

Just finished Scalzi's Old Man's War. Read the first three books, Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, and the Last Colony. Still have to track down Zoe's Tale.

Good stuff, often compared with Heinlein, won the best new author award. Light and quick but still inventive and with a good techical base. Recommended to anyone who likes military scifi.

I'd say that with respect to hard sci-fi, it's Heinlein-lite, but Scalzi does so many other things, especially with a sardonic wit, that it's good to have it be Heinlein-lite.

Now, I just need to find something new to read. I have Patrick by Lawhead on the shelf, I'm a third in to Raymond Benson's mediocre James Bond Union Trilogy, Tuck, the finale of Lawhead's Cymru-ization of Robin Hood is on the way from Amazon, I have Spin Drift, but I've never read any of the other books in that universe. Plus, Michner's Poland, Lundlum's Bourne Identity, Wilson's RJ quickie The Last Rakosh, and we're planning a field trip to Borders today.

Any of the Torchwood media-tie ins good? Anyone have any other recommendations?

 

[DanTheGrey]

Well in the last week I basically read the entire Destiny Trilogy and got a start into the latest Mirror Universe anthology.

I'll finish that up and go into Coruscant Nights III and probably end up getting Singular Destiny in there as well. Then it's more of a fantasy vein with Dresden/Sookie Stackhouse books for the next couple of months.