September '14 Book List
Only three free-range short pieces for September. The GOON Squad Summer Special 2014 by Jonathan L. Howard is several short shorts showcasing brief interludes for the main characters of his "GOON Squad" series. Kendare Blake's When Gods & Vampires Roamed Miami has a retired goddess being mistaken for a vampire by would-be child-of-the-night. And finally Lavie Tidhar's Selfie is a quick little horror piece involving a cell-phone haunt...
Of Limited Loyalty is the second of Michael Stackpole's "Crown Colonies" books, an alt history of the American Revolution with magic and dragons and necromantic pre-human races. Well building up to the American Revolution.at least...
Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings and Words of Radiance are the first two of his "Stormlight Archive" books. Where he goes all-out for the Big Epic Fantasy, with these being the first of a ten-book series, as well as having them tie-in to a many worlds "Cosmere" setting that seems to involve the majority of his other fiction. Sanderson delivers perfectly on the Epic Fantasy with a sprawling cast, betrayals, mysteries and of course plenty of Big Damn Hero moments for his leads...
C.M. Priest's Maplecroft takes the Lizzie Borden story drops it into a Call of Cthulu campaign. Let us just say that she had some very defensible reasons for taking an axe to her father and stepmother...
Seanan McGuire continues her "Tobey Daye" series with the Winter Long. Where someone thought dead returns, old alliances and friendships are shaken and beliefs about her enemies motivations are torn down...
It has been many years since I'd last read Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle and I'd forgotten how really, really good it was...
Conservation of Shadow is a collection of scifi and fantasy stories by Yoon Ha Lee. All heavy on the metaphor and stylistic reintirpitation of South Asian history...
Arianne "Tex" Thompson's One NIght in Sixes is another alternate American history. This time with her fantasy setting being the American Old West and a dangerous border town...
Stephen Baxter's Stone Spring has an interesting setting, a lush forested area now under the waters of the North Sea. But his prehistoric peoples can kind of be summed up by saying life was short and often brutal and everything smelled like farts. I just couldn't invest myself in any of his characters...
Orbus is another of Neal Asher's "Polity" books with increased focus on the alien Prador and dangerous secrets revealed on the history of the world of Spatterjay. Plus lots of high end scifi gun fights...
Carla Speed McNeal's latest "Finder" trade is mostly a collection of the shorter pieces she did for Dark Horse Presents. But Finder: Third World includes a few new sections, plus her usual in-depth footnoting and, BONUS, all in color...
Patrick Weekes follows up his delightful fantasy/caper book, the Palace Job, with the Prophecy Con. The sequel also manages to both be a Epic Stakes fantasy story as well as a fast-paced caper story...
Dis Enchanted by Robert Kroese is a moderately entertaining fantasy story that wants to be a boffo fantasy comedy. It was a cheap e-book and a fairly quick read...
Total Books: 14
Of Limited Loyalty is the second of Michael Stackpole's "Crown Colonies" books, an alt history of the American Revolution with magic and dragons and necromantic pre-human races. Well building up to the American Revolution.at least...
Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings and Words of Radiance are the first two of his "Stormlight Archive" books. Where he goes all-out for the Big Epic Fantasy, with these being the first of a ten-book series, as well as having them tie-in to a many worlds "Cosmere" setting that seems to involve the majority of his other fiction. Sanderson delivers perfectly on the Epic Fantasy with a sprawling cast, betrayals, mysteries and of course plenty of Big Damn Hero moments for his leads...
C.M. Priest's Maplecroft takes the Lizzie Borden story drops it into a Call of Cthulu campaign. Let us just say that she had some very defensible reasons for taking an axe to her father and stepmother...
Seanan McGuire continues her "Tobey Daye" series with the Winter Long. Where someone thought dead returns, old alliances and friendships are shaken and beliefs about her enemies motivations are torn down...
It has been many years since I'd last read Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle and I'd forgotten how really, really good it was...
Conservation of Shadow is a collection of scifi and fantasy stories by Yoon Ha Lee. All heavy on the metaphor and stylistic reintirpitation of South Asian history...
Arianne "Tex" Thompson's One NIght in Sixes is another alternate American history. This time with her fantasy setting being the American Old West and a dangerous border town...
Stephen Baxter's Stone Spring has an interesting setting, a lush forested area now under the waters of the North Sea. But his prehistoric peoples can kind of be summed up by saying life was short and often brutal and everything smelled like farts. I just couldn't invest myself in any of his characters...
Orbus is another of Neal Asher's "Polity" books with increased focus on the alien Prador and dangerous secrets revealed on the history of the world of Spatterjay. Plus lots of high end scifi gun fights...
Carla Speed McNeal's latest "Finder" trade is mostly a collection of the shorter pieces she did for Dark Horse Presents. But Finder: Third World includes a few new sections, plus her usual in-depth footnoting and, BONUS, all in color...
Patrick Weekes follows up his delightful fantasy/caper book, the Palace Job, with the Prophecy Con. The sequel also manages to both be a Epic Stakes fantasy story as well as a fast-paced caper story...
Dis Enchanted by Robert Kroese is a moderately entertaining fantasy story that wants to be a boffo fantasy comedy. It was a cheap e-book and a fairly quick read...
Total Books: 14