I’ve been wracking my brain on this one. It hasn’t been a big reading week for me, at least when it comes to new books. First week of school, and all that. And looking at upcoming books on Amazon reminds me that all the stuff I’m waiting for, I’ve already done.
So… you tell me. And everybody else, too.
#commissionearned
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
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.
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
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
Latest 1632 & Beyond is out! …And it’s on the TBR pile, alas. It’s been that kind of week. Still, I’m looking forward to it. Maybe this week.
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.
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
I’m going to be brutally honest, here: Harry Turtledove’s recent dive into undisguised commentary on contemporary politics and mores has aged incredibly badly. I used to buy his books in hardcover; I didn’t even bother picking up the last couple. That being said… I’ll give him one last chance with Twice as Dead. I fully understand it if other people don’t feel obligated to give him that chance, but I hate just the thought of a final break with the author who gave me Videssos and Ruled Britannia. If that makes me a sap, so be it. I will own the moniker.
#commissionearned
