April '14 Book List
I don't know what it was about that month, but I barely read anything. And its not like I was stuck on some door-stopper of a book. So starting with the free-range short fiction is Kai Ashante Wilson's the Devil in America a depressing look at white-on-black violence. And I mean wiping out entire towns level of violence. Then Something Going Around by Harry Turtledove, which posits a parasitic infection causing unexpected suicides. Sad and creepy. Carrie Vaughn's the Best We Can presents the difficulty of science funding and global cooperation even in the face of potentially world changing opportunities. Cold Wind by NIcola Griffith is old myths in the modern world and the relationship of predator and prey. Finally Dale Bailey's the End of the End of Everything looks at the very concept of art at the end of the world. Which actually ends up being a little hopeful despite all the nihilism...
The Girl Who Would Be King by Kelly Thompson is split between two super-powered women, linked together and forced to fill roles of Good vs. Evil. Got it as part of a kickstarter for another book by Thompson...
Blackcollar is a military scifi story from Timothy Zahn. With the titular group being super-ninja commandos brought out of hiding to continue the fight against mankinds alien conquerors. I do literally mean super-ninjas 'cause their elite combat skills involve bypassing weapons detection using nunchaku and throwing stars. Still enjoyable enough that I'll eventually pick up more of the series...
Daddy's Girl is another of R.J. Ross' "Super High" books. With another super-villain daughter, though this one is definitely more Real Bad Guy than some of the previous bad guy parents. Also time travel...
John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids is an old-school scifi/horror end of the world story. With a disaster that turns much of the world blind and thus easy prey for the killer mutant plants that had been grown everywhere as a fuel source...
Beyond Dinopacalypse by Chuck Wendig is the middle part of the tie-in book trilogy for Evil Hat's "Spirit of the Century" rpg. With the various pulp heroes getting to see the resulting psychic dinosaur overrun world that results of them not stopping the bad guys in the 1st book. But time travel. Because of crystals or something. Meaning another chance to stop it all from happening. Though I was a little sad to learn that Wendig's growing success means he won't be able to finish up the trilogy. He's very positive on his replacement though. Also from the "Spirit of the Century" tie-in is Stephen Blackmoore's Khan of Mars which is basically what if Gorilla Grodd's Hero Son Went to a E.R.Burrough's style Mars to fight a Evil Witch. Or maybe its a more Flash Gordon-esque Mars. Very, very pulpy either way....
Treecat Wars is the next in David Weber and Jane Lindskold's Honor-verse prequels. This one is more teen angst than the first, but still plenty of treecats. Also debates on interactions between researchers and their groups studied and risks and cross-cultural contamination...
Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead is a pretty darn good murder mystery, high fantasy. Looking foward to grabbing more of the series when I've got some extra cash again. Though I read that the number of the titles indicates where in the setting's timeline each individual book is set. Meaning this first novel, chronologically is somewhere in the middle of the series...
And finally Rags & Bones, edited by Melissa Marr and Timothy Pratt, is a collection of short fiction writes a story springing from a Classic story that inspired them. Plus some excellent page-spreads by Charles Vess doing the same, except more visually...
Total Books:10
The Girl Who Would Be King by Kelly Thompson is split between two super-powered women, linked together and forced to fill roles of Good vs. Evil. Got it as part of a kickstarter for another book by Thompson...
Blackcollar is a military scifi story from Timothy Zahn. With the titular group being super-ninja commandos brought out of hiding to continue the fight against mankinds alien conquerors. I do literally mean super-ninjas 'cause their elite combat skills involve bypassing weapons detection using nunchaku and throwing stars. Still enjoyable enough that I'll eventually pick up more of the series...
Daddy's Girl is another of R.J. Ross' "Super High" books. With another super-villain daughter, though this one is definitely more Real Bad Guy than some of the previous bad guy parents. Also time travel...
John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids is an old-school scifi/horror end of the world story. With a disaster that turns much of the world blind and thus easy prey for the killer mutant plants that had been grown everywhere as a fuel source...
Beyond Dinopacalypse by Chuck Wendig is the middle part of the tie-in book trilogy for Evil Hat's "Spirit of the Century" rpg. With the various pulp heroes getting to see the resulting psychic dinosaur overrun world that results of them not stopping the bad guys in the 1st book. But time travel. Because of crystals or something. Meaning another chance to stop it all from happening. Though I was a little sad to learn that Wendig's growing success means he won't be able to finish up the trilogy. He's very positive on his replacement though. Also from the "Spirit of the Century" tie-in is Stephen Blackmoore's Khan of Mars which is basically what if Gorilla Grodd's Hero Son Went to a E.R.Burrough's style Mars to fight a Evil Witch. Or maybe its a more Flash Gordon-esque Mars. Very, very pulpy either way....
Treecat Wars is the next in David Weber and Jane Lindskold's Honor-verse prequels. This one is more teen angst than the first, but still plenty of treecats. Also debates on interactions between researchers and their groups studied and risks and cross-cultural contamination...
Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead is a pretty darn good murder mystery, high fantasy. Looking foward to grabbing more of the series when I've got some extra cash again. Though I read that the number of the titles indicates where in the setting's timeline each individual book is set. Meaning this first novel, chronologically is somewhere in the middle of the series...
And finally Rags & Bones, edited by Melissa Marr and Timothy Pratt, is a collection of short fiction writes a story springing from a Classic story that inspired them. Plus some excellent page-spreads by Charles Vess doing the same, except more visually...
Total Books:10