Category: News/Misc. Page 90 of 229

Saturday Miscellany—12/10/2022

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On December 10, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

It’s that magical time of the year…the Goodreads Choice Award Winners have been named and everyone is griping about it. Haven’t read any of the winners, but this year’s crop looks better than the last few, IMHO.

Running late today, so that’s all the introduction you get (I can hear the cheers now). On with the links!
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet ‘I want to savour every word’: the joy of reading slowly—Sounds great. I honestly don’t think I’m physically capable of it.
bullet I’m sure most of you saw this tweet where a disappointed author vented about the small showing at a reading and then got all sorts of encouragement from all sorts of authors—it’s a great thread and then it got picked up a whole lot of news outlets (like NPR).
bullet Now You Too Can Bake Like Emily Dickinson This Holiday Season—I’m not sure why anyone would want to, but…
bullet The gift that actually does keep on giving.
bullet How Edgar Allan Poe Reinvented American Literature – and Science Writing
bullet Don’t Kill the Dog—an author reflects on that cardinal rule
bullet 10 of the Best Gifts for Book Enthusiasts (That Aren’t Books)
bullet #R3COMM3ND3D2022 The After Show Party #BookBlogger—a quick recap and look back at this great series
bullet It’s December, which means it’s time for Best Of lists…where people tell you about all the books that you heard great things about but didn’t get around to:
bullet Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2022
bullet The Best Crime Novels of the Year: 2022 from CrimeReads
bullet My Top 10 Reads of 2022! from Out of This World SFF
bullet Everything Counts As Reading
bullet I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie: Six Alternative Uses for Shelf Bending Novels—Paul Goat Allen has some great tips
bullet Here’s how I view negative reviews
bullet Quotables: Words that Stuck with Me in 2022—Witty & Sarcastic Book Blogs shares great lines from this year’s reading

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Blood Brothers Podcast Episode 114 with Andrew Child—this great conversation makes me wish I liked his contributions to the Reacher canon more.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (and one from last week I thoughtlessly overlooked):
bullet The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington—a comic collection of interviews with various Fantasy heroes that looks like a lot of fun. Check out this here review for a better (and informed) take on it.
bullet Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate by Jonathan Fesmire—the third installment in this Steampunk/Western/Zombie Adventure series is out and looks like a good ‘un
bullet My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby—Cosby’s first book has been reissued and I’m kicking myself for not hunting it down after Blacktop Wasteland.
bullet Gone edited by Stephen J. Golds—30 pieces of short crime fiction from a great-looking lineup of writers
bullet The Perception Of Dolls: The Fantoccini Street Reports by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day—I’m not even going to try to summarize this. Just click the link. It’s Russell Day and Fahrenheit Press, ’nuff said.
bullet Grit, Black, Blood by Ashley Erwin—another one I don’t think I can summarize in a sentence or two (without reading, anyway).

Bookish Problem 186 Thinking about characters long after you've finished a book and wondering what's become of them

The Friday 56 for 12/9/22: Radio Radio by Ian Shane

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On December 9, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Radio Radio

Radio Radio by Ian Shane

He picks up the box to indicate that his ten years at this company could barely fill a cardboard box. “My last bit of advice that you’re going to ignore is to not give these bastards a reason.”

This is the best bit of advice he’s given me. It doesn’t sound so stupid when it comes from someone who’s not in an authoritative position. “Yeah,” I say softly. “Thanks.”

Tony makes his move to the door. “Hey, Tony,” I say, stopping him at the threshold.

“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna miss you, man.” Tony chuckles a bit. “No, you won’t.” He smiles at my seemingly transparent attempt at comfort. “But thanks for saying so.”

I walk to the doorframe to watch him walk away from the station for the last time. I felt a subtle sense of loss as I saw him turn the corner. It’s the sort of loss an FBI agent might feel after putting away a mob boss that was the subject of a three-year probe. He was a worthy adversary. We were like Eliot Ness and Al Capone, Dr. Richard Kimble and the one-armed man, Batman and The Joker.

LITERARY LOCALS: Introducing a New Series of Posts About Writing in Idaho and Books Created Here

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On December 8, 2022

In Literary Locals, News/Misc.

Literary Locals
Idaho is not known for being home to many authors—we’ve produced Carol Ryrie Brink and Marilynne Summers Robinson (although both moved away), and Anthony Doerr resides here. But really, our greatest claim to literary fame is that Hemingway shot himself here.

This is a shame in many ways.

Now, I do know that Idaho has a good number of independent authors toiling away—either self-publishing or putting out their work through independent presses. And it occurred to me this summer, that I’ve done a lousy job of promoting them. I’ve blogged about the books of Devri Walls, J.C. Jackson, and Jeremy Billups, but that’s pretty much it. But I knew there are others out there.

Sure, my talking about their works isn’t going to turn them into best sellers or anything, but every little bit helps, right?

So, I started working on a little project that I’ve decided to call Literary Locals. I’ll be reading and posting about works from local authors I spot (and the works that I think I’ll like), I’ll be spotlighting some titles, and doing some Q&As with these authors—both about their own works and being a writer in Idaho. I’ve got a few authors who’ve graciously agreed to take part in this, and I think it’ll be fun.

Before I realized that I should attach a label to this project, I started with Danielle Higley, the author of The Stories Behind the Stories: The Remarkable True Tales Behind Your Favorite Kid’s Books, posting about her book and the first of the two Q&As I hope to do with her.

Then I did something that really shows I didn’t think much before proceeding, and sent Q&As to a bunch of independent authors less than a week before November. Also known to many as NaNoWriMo. “Hey, would you interrupt the big time-consuming event that you’ve been gearing up for to spend some time on my project?” is really not a great move. Thankfully, I’ve gotten some responses and I’m going to be able to really get things underway next week.

So stay tuned and get to know some of the people in my neighborhood.

I should add that if any Idaho writer stumbles across this post and wants to get in on the action, let me know! The more, the merrier!

My Brain Trust (wife and kids) put some work into this series, too, and I’d like to thank them. But really, we could’ve saved our effort and turned to my friends. After we’d struck out at a logo, I asked Micah Burke if he would help us brainstorm some ideas—instead, he produced a handful of images that led to the above logo. I’m telling you, every blogger needs a friend like him—or better, should hire him. And then Jodie from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club spent 10 minutes thinking before coming up with a much better series title than we had after three months of bouncing ideas off of each other. The day before a hurricane made landfall in her home state—again, my gift of bad timing shines forth.

Book Blogger Hop: Rereading Before Reading a Sequel

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On December 7, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

 

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you go back and reread the previous book before starting the sequel?

In my pre-book blogger days, yes. Almost 100% of the time—or if it was part of a multi-book ARC, I’d read everything leading up to it. Sure, that led to some imbalance—I’d know the beginning of a trilogy really well, the middle part so-so, and then the third would just get one reading (unless I got the hankering to read the whole thing in one bite).

It really helped to get some minor details refreshed, remember the character names (especially in bigger fantasy tomes), and just “prime” my mind in general for what was coming. Also, I clearly enjoyed the previous book—that’s why I was coming back for the next, and it worked as an excuse to revisit the series/author.

But that really went away once I really got into blogging, and I’d have a hard time letting myself enjoy the luxury of a re-read. That’s a whole ‘nother story, though, and not something anyone but my therapist should pretend to care about.

Over the last couple of years, however—this is largely thanks to my local library really beefing up their collections—I’ve taken to listening to a book a week or two before the sequel/next in the series releases. I get all the benefits, and since I don’t make a point of writing about every audiobook I listen to, there’s no guilt or internal pressure. I probably do this for 50% or so of the books in a series that I read, time (and availability) permitting right now.

What about you? Do you go into a sequel cold or do you need a refresher?

WWW Wednesday, December 7, 2022

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On December 7, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

It’s time for this week’s WWW Wednesday!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I just started Radio Radio by Ian Shane and am listening to Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry on audiobook.

Radio RadioBlank SpaceFriends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man, and have already started recommending it to everyone. I also finished the satisfying Stone Cold by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) on audio.

The Spare ManBlank SpaceStone Cold

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Her Name Is Knight by Yasmin Angoe (and yeah, I said this last week, but other library deadlines reared their head) and my next audiobook should be the trilogy ending Junkyard War by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator).

Her Name Is KnightBlank SpaceJunkyard War

What about you?

Saturday Miscellany—12/3/22

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On December 3, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I really don’t have much in the way of introduction today (or content, really). I’ve spent the last couple of days pondering something that maybe you have insight into/experience with: With less than a month left, and certain goals left unfinished–why do I keep going to the Library, and reading things that aren’t going to help me get to those goals? (Sure, I’ve been on the list for some of these books for weeks/months, but…)

You may note the absence of any New Releases this week–as usual, I assume that just means I missed seeing something. Clue me in.

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet What Is “I Have No Idea,” Ken? I owe my recent “Jeopardy!” appearance — and spectacular flame-out — to books.—If I’m just going to talk about all the benefits and joys of reading here, I’m going to have to talk about the downsides here, too. I enjoyed this former contestant’s appearance—even if she underperformed. This little essay was just as fun.
bullet How to Succeed in Publishing by Really, Really Trying and Getting Lucky—this is primarily advice for writers, but A. Lee Martinez also gives a pretty good perspective on a career from years in the trenches (which is more of my thing to share)
bullet As a Sequel to a Recent Post: One Kay for The Flood Circle—a quick update from Harry Connolly (and hey, if I share an earlier post, I should share the sequel)
bullet Where to start reading grimdark, no matter the genre you prefer—A handy “listicle of listicles” to guide a reader into Grimdark.
bullet Purposely Reading Bad Books—It’s a fun video, but mostly I’m sharing this in solidarity with the thinking behind her recent reads. If I prepped my year-end lists this early, I’d be compelled to pick the same kind of reads myself.
bullet FFA’S Most Anticipated Titles of 2023
bullet As with all good things, Damppebbles’s annual recommendation-fest, #R3COMM3ND3D has come to an end for this year. These last few are just as enticing as those that have come before.
bullet …with #BookBlogger Patricia B.
bullet …with #BookBlogger Sue Bavey
bullet …with #BookBlogger David
bullet …with #BookBlogger Emma—our host closes out the month.
bullet Can Any Book Truly Be Timeless?
bullet Two Sided Coins and Seeing Story Weaknesses As Strengths—Peat’s focus is on the writing side, but thinking along these lines can be a real help when we’re thinking/talking/writing about what we read.


November 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

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On December 2, 2022

In Books, Calendar Items, Currently Reading, News/Misc.

In November, I managed to wrap up 22 books with a total of 6,940 pages (or the equivalent). With one exception, I really liked them, giving them an average 3.8 stars (including 4 books that are strong contenders for my year-end lists). All in all, it was a great month for what I read—even if the numbers were on the low end for me. I’ll take that trade off.

On the production side, I’m less happy. But regular readers can count on me saying that regularly, so I won’t dwell on it. But I got to do a Q&A with Marshall Karp this month—so honestly, I’m more than fine with that side of things.

Anyway, here’s what happened here in November:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

The Veiled Edge of Contact Discount Armageddon Kestral's Dance
4 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
Gardens Terry's Crew Less
4 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Screwed NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority Desert Star
4 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
All These Worlds Theft of Swords Missing Pieces
3.5 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Druid Vices and a Vodka A Hard Day for a Hangover The Excellencies of God
3 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Dead Lions The Mututal Friend Bully Pulpit
5 Stars 2 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Wistful Ascending The World Record Book of Racist Stories Little Ghost
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Aether Powered
3 Stars

Still Reading

Faith & Life In the Fullness of Time Low Anthropology
Bookish People

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 3 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 11 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 3 1 Star 0
3 Stars 3
Average = 3.8

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021		 9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month		 7 46 45 147
Added 3 2 6 1
Read/
Listened		 3 1 9 0
Current Total 7 50 42 148

The math on that e-book column doesn’t work right, even I can tell that, but I’m not going to find the time to figure out where I went wrong.

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 13
Self-/Independent Published: 9

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 4 (1%)
Fantasy 9 (9%) 26 (10%)
General Fiction/ Literature 3 (14%) 19 (8%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 7 (32%) 105 (42%)
Non-Fiction 1 (5%) 25 (10%)
Science Fiction 4 (18%) 27 (11%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (9%) 40 (16%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (14%) 42 (13%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 2 (1%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th), I also wrote:

 

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

November Calendar

The Friday 56 for 12/2/22: Aether Powered by James T. Lambert

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On December 2, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Aether Powered

Aether Powered by James T. Lambert

…if I figured it out myself, I could make even more. Build flying cars. Hell, sell conversion kits to make regular cars fly! Airplanes without wings, no airports, and a lot less fuel. Replace Boeing. Why think small? Replace NASA and build ships that go to the moon without fuel. Mars in days instead of months. And no weight limits.

Carol must have seen my eyes glaze over. “Snap out of it! You aren’t Henry Ford. Hell, you’re not Ford Fairlane! You know nothing about manufacturing, venture capital, entrepreneurship, or even patent law. Yeah, someone could turn this into a multi-billion-dollar industry, but you are not that guy. Take the money and run.”

WWW Wednesday, November 30, 2022

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On November 30, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

It’s time for WWW Wednesday. Which is a relief—none of what was on my full (but easily fulfilled) checklist last night was able to be checked off. So at least I can get something that’s not a rerun up today, right? Who knows, I might be able to get something else wrapped up, but I’m not counting on it at this point.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading Aether Powered by James T. Lambert and am listening to Bookish People by Susan Coll, Alexa Morden (Narrator) on audiobook. I’m intrigued by and am enjoying one of them. I’m tolerating the other (sunk cost fallacy beats me again). Time will tell if that changes.

Aether PoweredBlank SpaceBookish People

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Chris McDonald’s Little Ghost, his newest series debut, and The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar on audio, which gave me pretty much exactly what I expected.

Little GhostBlank SpaceThe World Record Book of Racist Stories

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Her Name Is Knight by Yasmin Angoe, the first in a series I’ve been curious about for a bit. My next audiobook should be Stone Cold by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator), because it’s been too long since I spent time with Joe Pickett.

Her Name Is KnightBlank SpaceStone Cold

Are you reading anything promising right now?

Spelling the Month in Books: November

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On November 28, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Uncategorized

Spelling the Month in Books: November
I’m getting this one in under the wire, but hey, it’s here. I did manage to get seven books in that I hadn’t blogged about here (all but one from before I started this project) and one I didn’t have much to say about due to time. I think I said this last month (or the one before), but a string of months ending in “ember” or just “ber” adds a level of challenge to this series I didn’t anticipate (but clearly, should’ve).

N No Hero

No Hero

Jonathan Wood’s Urban Fantasy debut was one of those books that really got me into the genre. It’s the story of a British police officer (I want to say a Detective of some sort, but I could be wrong—it’s been a decade) who sees something he shouldn’t and ends up being recruited for MI37. That particular branch deals with things like tentacled monsters from another reality. The action and humor both make you think of 80s Action flicks.
O Oath of Gold

Oath of Gold

The conclusion to Elizabeth Moon’s The Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy (that I really should read again) brings Paks to the brink in so many ways. I remember really enjoying the portrayal of the mercenary company and the other non-epic adventure kind of things. Paks goes through harrowing ordeal after ordeal in the way only the best fantasy protagonists do. This was a heckuva feat.
V Voices of Dragons

Voices of Dragons

Carrie Vaughn stuck her toe into YA Fantasy here. Kay’s a human teen who lives on the border of a very 21st Century America and the realm of dragons. Of course, she slips over the border and gets in trouble. The dragon Artegal saves her and the two become friends as relations between their two races erode. There’s a lot of heart in this charming read.
E Eighty Days

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World

Nellie Bly is one of those historical people I should know more about—this book did a good job of giving me the essentials (following up on the highlights that Abbey Bartlet gave us). It provides a good sketch of her life and career—ditto for Elizabeth Bisland’s. But the focus was on their race around the world—Bly starting in NYC and moving East, and Bisland moving West—both of these trailblazing female journalists are out to beat the (admittedly fictional) pace of Phineas Fogg, and each other. Matthew Goodman’s text—and Käthe Mazur’s narration for me—captured a little of the flavor of their exciting (mostly) adventures.
M Marathon Man

Marathon Man

William Goldman’s list of accomplishments is pretty daunting, and so is this thriller. I encountered it in High School, and while I knew it was going to be very different from the other novel of his I’d read (The Princess Bride), I really wasn’t prepared for it. It’s been (mumble, mumble) decades since I read this book, but there’s a scene or two from it (and the sequel) that I still remember. I really remember the tension I felt through most of the book. Goldman knows how to tell a story and this book demonstrates is as well as almost anything else he did.
B A Bad Day for Sorry

A Bad Day for Sorry

Sophie Littlefield’s protagonist is Stella Hardesty. She runs a sewing shop in rural Missouri—but her real calling is helping women escape from abusive husbands and boyfriends. She doesn’t limit her services to helping them relocate and hide—she’s tough when she has to be. This book involves one of those men kidnapping their child. Stella’s one of the more unlikely vigilantes I’ve come across, but when push comes to shove, she’s a good one to have at your back. I really wish I’d made my way back to this series.
E Eddie and the Cruisers

Eddie and the Cruisers

I’ve never gotten around to seeing this movie, but who doesn’t know “On the Dark Side” from the soundtrack? I admit I listened to a John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band songs while I read the book to help me get the feel. P.F. Kluge’s book hit all the typical Band Novel beats and did so in an effective and entertaining way. I don’t know that this was a great read, but it was a lot of fun.
R The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project

Graeme Simsion’s debut really got under my skin—I’ve read it three times. And it led to me reading three other books by him (and I’m glad about two of them). This is the story of Don Tillman, a genetics professor who has set out to find the perfect wife for him—he has charts, tables, and all sorts of plans to help him find her. Along the way he finds someone who meets precisely zero of his requirements and agrees to help her with a project of her own—she figures a geneticist might be able to help her track down her biological father. And, as you’d expect, along the way Don’s project takes a turn he couldn’t have predicted. It’s funny, it’s sweet, and both Don and Rosie will make you want to read the next two books about them.

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