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What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...


Bozimus

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I just finished The Crippled God, 10th of 10 in the epic fantasy series The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I started this series for the first time several years ago, and got to about book 7, which was the most recently available one, then swore off finishing the series until the last book was out, in case Erikson "did a Jordan" and popped his clogs before finishing his oeuvre. I finally got round to starting again a while back, some time after we actually acquired book 10 because I hadn't realised that it was done.

 

Really glad I did. Some of the best sword-and-sorcery fiction I've read. Sufficiently engaging that there was the occasional time that I had to take a break because it was all so intense. Laughter and tears; joy and despair. I have no idea how many characters get dealt with in such fascinating detail. Heroes and villains, and villains who are heroes... I'm a sucker for military fiction, and there's that in spadefuls, along with mystery and intrigue and world-shattering plots.

 

The background was, I'm given to understand, created as the setting for Ericson's GURPS game...

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I recently finished Working for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher. It's a collection of Dresden shorts. The tone in these tends to be on the lighter side, and the stories seem relegated to the sidelines of the Dresden universe, at least for the time being. The price is a bit high for the page count, so might be worth trying to borrow rather than buy unless you're a completionist.

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HEROINE COMPLEX by Sarah Kuhn. I bought it because the cover art jumped out at me in Barnes & Noble and picked it up to look it over (never say cover art can't help sell a book), and the description and skimming a page here and there sold me. It's the story of Evie, an Asian-American young woman, who is the long-time best friend and personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, San Francisco's only superhero (also Asian American). While technically Aveda has a superpower (extremely low-STR telekinesis), it's all but useless, so she fights demons* with her martial arts skills. She's fanatically dedicated to training, and to being a diva.

 

It's a humorous story, told in first person. There are other people with minor superpowers in San Francisco, all acquired--like Aveda's--following the first incursion into San Francisco by demons. It failed, and Aveda has been dealing with the recurring portals ever since. When she's sidelined by an injury, Evie is forced to pretend to be Aveda using a glamor provided by a sorcerous friend, and...things do not go according to plan, naturally. In some ways it's a typical urban fantasy with heavy doses of romance, but it's also explicitly superhero focused (as opposed to "people with superpowers"), and there's a great deal of social media attention paid to Aveda (or "Aveda" when Evie is masquerading as her), which is amusing and which I found entirely realistic in contemporary culture. I enjoyed it. It's billed as the first in a series of books about Asian American heroines, and I will happily buy the next one.

 

*Demonic incursions are the only source of unnatural problems in this universe, and only happen in San Francisco for whatever reason.

I had put this on my list based on this recommendation and finally got around to it. A fun enjoyable story!

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The Moons of Barsoom.  Professional writers write John Carter fanfic.  A couple of them were interesting, particularly for showing how others perceive John Carter.  But the Tarzan versus John Carter one was just obnoxious.  John Carter was not a modern Confederacy apologist.

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Read Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal by Mignola and Sniegoski. Bentley Hawthorne is called on to avenge the deaths of those cut down before their time. As Grim Death, he punishes the guilty to the best of his ability. In the pursuit of his calling, he must avenge a trapeze artist and rescue her true love who is awaiting death in the electric chair.

CES 

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The Moons of Barsoom. Professional writers write John Carter fanfic. A couple of them were interesting, particularly for showing how others perceive John Carter. But the Tarzan versus John Carter one was just obnoxious. John Carter was not a modern Confederacy apologist.

Do you mean Under the Moons of Mars? I picked that one up for a quarter a while back and only made it through four or five stories before I gave up in disgust. The story by Joe Lansdale has some interesting concepts even though it's generally lackluster in execution. The other stories I read are clichéd and horribly written. But there's a story in it by Garth Nix that I'm holding out hopes for because he's one of my favorite writers. So is Tamora Pierce, who I wish had written a story for the anthology rather than just the introduction.

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 Just finished "Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain" by Richard Roberts. Lots of fun about a group of adolescent (middle school I think) kids with super powers who become, sort of by accident, super villains. Some interesting ideas and fun characters and , while I may not read the next book in the series for a while, I quite enjoyed this one.

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 Just finished "Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain" by Richard Roberts. Lots of fun about a group of adolescent (middle school I think) kids with super powers who become, sort of by accident, super villains. Some interesting ideas and fun characters and , while I may not read the next book in the series for a while, I quite enjoyed this one.

Fun series. 2nd book feels like should be third or fourth. Third book is a transition. But well worth reading.

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David Wong's John Dies at the End. Not, I think, as clever and edgy as the author believes it to be, but it was a fun read nonetheless.

This is one of the few cases where I think the movie is better than the book. I loved the movie so I tried to read the book and gave up after a few pages. I might give it another try someday but the movie has Paul Giamatti and you can't beat that.

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I just finished The Crippled God, 10th of 10 in the epic fantasy series The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I started this series for the first time several years ago, and got to about book 7, which was the most recently available one, then swore off finishing the series until the last book was out, in case Erikson "did a Jordan" and popped his clogs before finishing his oeuvre. I finally got round to starting again a while back, some time after we actually acquired book 10 because I hadn't realised that it was done.

 

Really glad I did. Some of the best sword-and-sorcery fiction I've read. Sufficiently engaging that there was the occasional time that I had to take a break because it was all so intense. Laughter and tears; joy and despair. I have no idea how many characters get dealt with in such fascinating detail. Heroes and villains, and villains who are heroes... I'm a sucker for military fiction, and there's that in spadefuls, along with mystery and intrigue and world-shattering plots.

 

The background was, I'm given to understand, created as the setting for Ericson's GURPS game...

I have read a lot of them but I'm not sure exactly how many and I'd probably have to go back and reread the whole series. not that this is a problem but the time, oh the time...

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I have been reading the Dragon's Gift series by Linsey Hall (I am on book one of the Protector). They come across almost as romance style, but never do the details of the "romance" style. The author considers herself a writer and archaeologist, and the books combine some of that. Fun read so far.

I also have been reading the Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski as I am a big fan of the trilogy of games. So far I enjoy them. The 2 books of short stories are interesting, and much like the games, take classic fairy tales and turn them on their heads in some cases. I am most way through the first true novel - Blood of Elves - which starts a series of a 5 book storyline. If you are a fan of the games, I recommend the series.

 

I tend to be reading 2 books at once because I do one as audiobook during drives (I have an hour commute to work) and one on my kindle for lunch and break reading.

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Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield.

 

The book tells three alternate reality stories based on real events.

 

The first is if the planned assassination attempt on President-Elect Kennedy went forward.  Lyndon Johnson becomes President, and the Electoral College unconstitutionally chooses Hubert Humphrey as Vice President.  Bobby Kennedy takes JFK Senate Seat.  The Cuban Missile Crisis causes LBJ to have a heart attack, the Russians nuke Guantanamo Bay, and Hubert Humphrey nukes Sevastopol.

 

The Second Story is if Stephen Smith stopped Sirhan Sirhan from assassinating Bobby Kennedy in Los Angeles, and he goes on to be elected President, wiretaps his political enemies, but gets away with it because the Press never reports it.

 

The Third Story has Gerald Ford not make his "No Soviet Domination of Eastern Europe" statement in the Presidential Debate, wins the election, and somehow Gary Hart (?) wins the 1980 election against Reagan who acts exactly like John McCain.  One of the aides to Vice President Dale Bumpers catches President Hart with an intern, and she calls her husband the Governor of Arkansas with the story.

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The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.

 

Philip Roth as a child lives through the Presidency of Charles Lindbergh.  He makes peace with Germany and Japan, carries out Nazi Policies in America, and then flies off in the Spirit of St. Louis for some reason.  Burton K. Wheeler becomes President and for some reason there is an unconstitutional Presidential Election allowing the re-election of FDR, and the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor right after so nothing the story really effects history.

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On 3/15/2017 at 3:52 AM, Clonus said:

The Moons of Barsoom.  Professional writers write John Carter fanfic.  A couple of them were interesting, particularly for showing how others perceive John Carter.  But the Tarzan versus John Carter one was just obnoxious.  John Carter was not a modern Confederacy apologist.

I think that that is the book I am reading at the moment ,except that my copy is titled "Under The Moons Of Mars" John Joseph Adams (editor). Stories by such writers as Peter S Beagle,S M Stirling and Chris Claremont. I agree with you about the John Carter/Tarzan story.

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Card Sharks edited by George R R Martin. This is a Wildcards anthology book, the overarching theme being a conspiracy to kill all those with the Wildcard virus. It goes back decades and features appearances by Marilyn Monroe and several other virus stalwarts like Mr Crenson.

 I have had the book for a long time but had not read it. Caught up now. And this was the first of a trilogy.

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