Tag: book of the week

Book of the Week (re-upped): The Seventh Veil of Salome.

I’m reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Seventh Veil of Salome right now. It has the regrettable lack of any kind of supernatural elements thus far, but I guess that sometimes an author just wants to try an experiment. And, to be fair: there’s nothing inherently wrong with quote-unquote ‘mainstream literature.’ It just doesn’t usually attract the very best writers, that’s all.

…Oh, yes, I’m salty today. Dust inhalation after doing shelf construction this afternoon, coupled with an over-long nap. I’ll be fine.

#commissionearned

Book of the Week: SS-GB.

Picked because I am begging mainstream writers, once again: please stop assuming that you can write alternate history novels simply because you can write regular ones. The genre has conventions. These conventions exist for a reason. You actually have to justify your change points. Len Deighton’s SS-GB is one of the few times where a mainstream author managed to make it all work, and ‘Nazis win WWII’ is easy mode. Don’t think you can just call it in.

(No, I’m not going to tell you what book set me off. It’s actually not a bad book, as long as you can turn off your knowledge of recent history. I don’t want to shame it, or the author.)

#commissionearned

Book of the Week: In Our Stars.

I was happy to finally get down to finishing Jack Campbell’s time-travel-second-chance novel In Our Stars. It’s just that it was under very unfortunate circumstances (the con is going poorly). Oh, well. At least it was a good distraction.

…Oh. I did it already. Yeah, it’s been that kind of day.

Book of the Week: A CONVENTIONAL BOY.

I know, I know. But Charles Stross is just so entertaining when he’s being terrified over nothing! A CONVENTIONAL BOY will be his latest Laundry novel, and this one’s going to be over, God help us all, D&D. It’ll almost certainly be highly distressed over precisely the wrong things, but Stross is a legitimately good writer and I don’t really consider these books to be horror novels anymore. I know, they’re supposed to be, and if they are for other people? Well, you know. It’s no skin off my nose if others find them appealing for more conventional reasons.

#commissionearned

Book of the Week: The Halley Traveler: The Children of Mars, Book One.

The Halley Traveler: The Children of Mars, Book One came out only yesterday, so it’s now on my TBR pile. You may remember the author (Mike Mollman) as the guy who did that indy USO library thing last year, and the podcast I did a little while back. Good dude: I look forward to reading the book.

#commissionearned

Book of the Week: Monster Hunter Fantom.

Monster Hunter Fantom isn’t going to be available in paperback until January, but you can get the e-book for it now on Baen. Basically, it’s Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International series, with all the stories set in the Czech Republic. Good stuff, particularly if you like Monsters vs. All The Guns In The World.

Book of the Week: Not Some Random Clown: A Youth Football Coaching Legend’s Rise to Glory.

Ahem. From my own review:

He is, indeed, not some random clown.

This book is — ah. Let us simply say that is a reflection of the terror and the glory that is 3 Year Letterman on Twitter (NOT ‘X’). If a man is known by the quality of his enemies, then Coach has a rogues’ gallery unmatched in human history. You will marvel at this story narrating his origin, and the heights to which he has reached… so far. This is merely the first steps in Coach’s journey. I expect there will be more tales to come.

Not Some Random Clown: A Youth Football Coaching Legend’s Rise to Glory.

#commissionearned