Recent Reading
2016:
67. City of Wolves by Willow Palecek. Intriguing and enjoyable -- I'm hoping for more in that world.
68. Reread of H. P. Lovecraft's "Horror at Red Hook" and Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom.
69. Devils & Realist #10
70. Whitehall by Liz Duffy Adams, Delia Sherman, Barbara Samuel, Mary Robinette Kowal, Madeleine Robins, and Sarah Smith. I am trying to figure out why I like this one. I know the history, and I don't care for most of the actual people. But every other week, I'd gobble down two installments. It worked best for me two at time, for some reason.
71. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. I need to reread this.
72. Bloody Mary #4
73. Alarums & Excursions #491
74. Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire. Oh boy. It's on. When's the next book coming out?
75. Once Broken Faith & Dreams and Slumbers by Seanan McGuire. I'm counting the second as part of the first.
76. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente. Reread. Hey, I had to reread the first four so I could read the fifth. This one's an old friend already. Also, some stuff that surprised me in the third and fourth book is very carefully set up here. Or maybe not, and Valente picked up things she put there by accident, which is just as good.
77. Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Meyer
78. Tales of the Caribbean, a collection of Call of Cthulhu scenarios from Golden Goblin Press. I edited this one, and while I've read all of it several times, I'm only counting the final full read through of the final version of the laid out book.
79. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente. reread. I loved this when I read it and appreciated it even more on the reread as I saw how things were set up.
80. Alarums & Excursions #492
81. Medusa's Web by Tim Powers. It's very much a Tim Powers book. Fortunately, I like Tim Powers books.
82. I am counting Justin Alexander's Alexandrian Remix of Pelgrane Press's Trail of Cthulhu campaign Eternal Lies here. If you have read it, I think you will agree that it counts as a feull book. I am itching to run Eternal Lies again, and if I do, I will be using a substantial amount of Justin's material.
83. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne Valente. Reread. I need to do a review of this one. It's the middle child of the family and the one that I didn't like as much the first time through, so I paid careful attention this time. And it's about time. The book, I mean.
84. Lucifer, vol. 1: Cold Heaven by Holly Black, Lee Garbett, Stephanie Hans, and Antonia Fabela
85. Alarums & Excursions #493
86. The Monsterhearts 2nd edition sneak peak pack by Avery Alder. I'm using this for a Monsterhearts game, with 1st edition for whatever's not in it.
87. The Eiger Sanction by Trevanian. I read this as background material for the first part of the Night's Black Agents scenario "The Carmilla Sanction" and it did what it was supposed to, which was give me a better sense of how dangerous mountain climbing is. The book's a parody of the James Bond stuff, but the section on the mountain is in a class by itself.
88. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne Valente. Reread. This felt like an old friend already.
89. Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee. Bisexual teenage superheroics was what I was expecting. There's also a lot of intriguing worldbuilding. Turns out this is the first of a trilogy, and I'll want to read the next two. I'm annoyed that Barnes & Nobles didn't have it on the shelves. Apparently, it's only print on demand, so I ordered it online. (Yeah, B&N would've special ordered it, but at that point, I'm not Right There to catch the book as it falls off the shelf.)
90. Black Butler #23
91. Devils & Realist #11
92. Occult Crimes Taskforce by Rosario Dawson, David Atchinson, and Tony Shasteen. Yes, that Rosario Dawson.
93. The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman. Some authors do set up you can feel sliding into place. Here, stuff I didn't see slid into place, which isn't so much "ah, yes, I was expecting that" as "oh!... That explains a lot that I didn't realize needed explaining, but it totally did!" or "Yeah, I was sort of wondering about that, but I kind of assumed it was just a thing -- and no, there's actually a reason for it!"
94. The Necessary Deaths by David C. Dawson
95. Alarums & Excursions #494
96: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne Valente, as well as a reread of "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland--For a Little While" (read before this book, but after the first in the series) and "The Beast Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still" (read any time after the first in the series, remembering that, as with Coleridge's "Kubla Khan", the introduction is a part of the work). There are more stories that could be told here, past, present, and future, but this is a fine ending to the series itself.
97. Bloody Mary #5
98. Clover by CLAMP. Oh CLAMP! Sigh. I gather that there were supposed to be 2 more volumes, making this a 6 volume set (well, depending on how you count things -- the existent 4 volumes are collected into a single volume and are in three parts). As with X/1999, which I doubt the work will ever be finished in graphic novel form, I very much want a written summary of where CLAMP was going to go with this. Cyberpunk, dystopic, and all about love. Oh CLAMP.
99. Chobits by CLAMP. Published in 2 large volumes, but I'm considering it one work. Complete, all about love and humanity and some questions that are very good questions and, depending on your point of view, either sidestepped or answered in the only way that counts. Oh CLAMP>
100. The Devourers by Indra Das. Very well done. I'm a sucker for well told stores.
2017
1. Backers' Draft of Dresden Accelerated for Fate. Sweet! I playtested the alpha and beta versions, which were about 96 pages. This is over twice that length, as it has all the material we didn't need for the playtest as well as improvements. We had a blast with the alpha playtest, and documented all our bumps. Moving house happened during the beta, so we didn't have many playtest sessions, which meant we couldn't test the new stuff, but it looked solid and a lot of the bumps were gone. The version I just read looks even better and has a section that was so obviously needed -- and it never occurred to me that this was the case until I read it. At base, the Dresden books are mysteries, so there is a rock solid section on how to use Dresden Accelerated -- and, by extension, Fate in general -- when running mysteries so that things move, rather than stall. And the expansions of Accelerated make me wonder if I should switch my Kerberos Fate game from an Atomic Robo Fate base to a Dresden Accelerated base. Possibly not, but Dresden Accelerated has still taught me a few tricks that will transfer over.
67. City of Wolves by Willow Palecek. Intriguing and enjoyable -- I'm hoping for more in that world.
68. Reread of H. P. Lovecraft's "Horror at Red Hook" and Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom.
69. Devils & Realist #10
70. Whitehall by Liz Duffy Adams, Delia Sherman, Barbara Samuel, Mary Robinette Kowal, Madeleine Robins, and Sarah Smith. I am trying to figure out why I like this one. I know the history, and I don't care for most of the actual people. But every other week, I'd gobble down two installments. It worked best for me two at time, for some reason.
71. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. I need to reread this.
72. Bloody Mary #4
73. Alarums & Excursions #491
74. Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire. Oh boy. It's on. When's the next book coming out?
75. Once Broken Faith & Dreams and Slumbers by Seanan McGuire. I'm counting the second as part of the first.
76. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente. Reread. Hey, I had to reread the first four so I could read the fifth. This one's an old friend already. Also, some stuff that surprised me in the third and fourth book is very carefully set up here. Or maybe not, and Valente picked up things she put there by accident, which is just as good.
77. Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Meyer
78. Tales of the Caribbean, a collection of Call of Cthulhu scenarios from Golden Goblin Press. I edited this one, and while I've read all of it several times, I'm only counting the final full read through of the final version of the laid out book.
79. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente. reread. I loved this when I read it and appreciated it even more on the reread as I saw how things were set up.
80. Alarums & Excursions #492
81. Medusa's Web by Tim Powers. It's very much a Tim Powers book. Fortunately, I like Tim Powers books.
82. I am counting Justin Alexander's Alexandrian Remix of Pelgrane Press's Trail of Cthulhu campaign Eternal Lies here. If you have read it, I think you will agree that it counts as a feull book. I am itching to run Eternal Lies again, and if I do, I will be using a substantial amount of Justin's material.
83. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne Valente. Reread. I need to do a review of this one. It's the middle child of the family and the one that I didn't like as much the first time through, so I paid careful attention this time. And it's about time. The book, I mean.
84. Lucifer, vol. 1: Cold Heaven by Holly Black, Lee Garbett, Stephanie Hans, and Antonia Fabela
85. Alarums & Excursions #493
86. The Monsterhearts 2nd edition sneak peak pack by Avery Alder. I'm using this for a Monsterhearts game, with 1st edition for whatever's not in it.
87. The Eiger Sanction by Trevanian. I read this as background material for the first part of the Night's Black Agents scenario "The Carmilla Sanction" and it did what it was supposed to, which was give me a better sense of how dangerous mountain climbing is. The book's a parody of the James Bond stuff, but the section on the mountain is in a class by itself.
88. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne Valente. Reread. This felt like an old friend already.
89. Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee. Bisexual teenage superheroics was what I was expecting. There's also a lot of intriguing worldbuilding. Turns out this is the first of a trilogy, and I'll want to read the next two. I'm annoyed that Barnes & Nobles didn't have it on the shelves. Apparently, it's only print on demand, so I ordered it online. (Yeah, B&N would've special ordered it, but at that point, I'm not Right There to catch the book as it falls off the shelf.)
90. Black Butler #23
91. Devils & Realist #11
92. Occult Crimes Taskforce by Rosario Dawson, David Atchinson, and Tony Shasteen. Yes, that Rosario Dawson.
93. The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman. Some authors do set up you can feel sliding into place. Here, stuff I didn't see slid into place, which isn't so much "ah, yes, I was expecting that" as "oh!... That explains a lot that I didn't realize needed explaining, but it totally did!" or "Yeah, I was sort of wondering about that, but I kind of assumed it was just a thing -- and no, there's actually a reason for it!"
94. The Necessary Deaths by David C. Dawson
95. Alarums & Excursions #494
96: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne Valente, as well as a reread of "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland--For a Little While" (read before this book, but after the first in the series) and "The Beast Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still" (read any time after the first in the series, remembering that, as with Coleridge's "Kubla Khan", the introduction is a part of the work). There are more stories that could be told here, past, present, and future, but this is a fine ending to the series itself.
97. Bloody Mary #5
98. Clover by CLAMP. Oh CLAMP! Sigh. I gather that there were supposed to be 2 more volumes, making this a 6 volume set (well, depending on how you count things -- the existent 4 volumes are collected into a single volume and are in three parts). As with X/1999, which I doubt the work will ever be finished in graphic novel form, I very much want a written summary of where CLAMP was going to go with this. Cyberpunk, dystopic, and all about love. Oh CLAMP.
99. Chobits by CLAMP. Published in 2 large volumes, but I'm considering it one work. Complete, all about love and humanity and some questions that are very good questions and, depending on your point of view, either sidestepped or answered in the only way that counts. Oh CLAMP>
100. The Devourers by Indra Das. Very well done. I'm a sucker for well told stores.
2017
1. Backers' Draft of Dresden Accelerated for Fate. Sweet! I playtested the alpha and beta versions, which were about 96 pages. This is over twice that length, as it has all the material we didn't need for the playtest as well as improvements. We had a blast with the alpha playtest, and documented all our bumps. Moving house happened during the beta, so we didn't have many playtest sessions, which meant we couldn't test the new stuff, but it looked solid and a lot of the bumps were gone. The version I just read looks even better and has a section that was so obviously needed -- and it never occurred to me that this was the case until I read it. At base, the Dresden books are mysteries, so there is a rock solid section on how to use Dresden Accelerated -- and, by extension, Fate in general -- when running mysteries so that things move, rather than stall. And the expansions of Accelerated make me wonder if I should switch my Kerberos Fate game from an Atomic Robo Fate base to a Dresden Accelerated base. Possibly not, but Dresden Accelerated has still taught me a few tricks that will transfer over.