2015 in Books
2015 was a weak year for books, counting only 18, which is the same number that I read in 2014. The number is a little vague as that included Charles Stross' collections of the Trader Wars series which is like 6 books and soon to be growing. This year I'm already over 18 and the year isn't half over yet.
12/30 Lest Darkness Fall and Other Stories, L. Sprague de Camp
12/19 The Liminal People, Ayize Jama-Everett
12/12 Warrior Women, Edited by Paula Guran
11/27 Clockwork Lives, Kevin J. Anderson & Neil Peart
11/21 Scribe From Shadows, Moira Moore
11/? Brave New Girls anthology
10/2 Knight Moves, Walter Jon Williams
9/22 Forgotten Suns, Judith Tarr
9/11 The Shepherd's Crown, Terry Pratchett
8/28 Starfarers, Vonda McIntyre
8/23 Crossfire, Nancy Kress
8/21 The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Barry Hughart (re-read)
8/8 Clockwork Angels, Kevin J. Anderson & Neil Peart
7/11 The Annihilation Score, Stross
4/17 So, Anyway, John Cleese
4/1 Twinmaker, Sean Williams
3/15 The Revolution Trade, Stross
2/? The Trader's War, Stross
I'm not going to talk about all of them, but a few deserve mention.
The Trader's War series by Stross is interesting. I think it could be argued whether it is science fiction or fantasy. It's sort of contemporary, beginning with a woman who is in modern times, finds a locket with a complicated Celtic-like knot pattern, she stares at the pattern and finds herself in another world with a splitting headache. Turns out it's a mutation that allows her to pop between worlds, and she's part of a noble family and she's also long-thought dead. The problem is that the second world is pretty thoroughly pre-Renaissance (Christianity didn't take hold there) and she's determined to drag them kicking and screaming in to the 21st century. It's a somewhat grim read but still quite interesting, definitely a political intrigue book.
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart are FANTASTIC if you like Chinese historical fantasy. Master Li has a slight flaw to his character and is a private investigator. Number Ten Ox is rather strong and quite fond of Master Li. Their first adventure has them saving the children of Ox's village who have all fallen quite ill and will require divine artifacts to save them. And it gets more weird and fun from there. I read at least the first two of them ages ago and was delighted to find all three collected in one ebook volume. HIGHLY recommended.
The Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives books are quite interesting. Very much YA targeted. It's an alternate world where steam and alchemy is king, and the Clockmaker rules the land. Well, at least one of the lands. Turns out there's lands across the sea that supply necessary alchemical reagents that they must trade with. The second story was quite good: sort of a Canterbury Tales where a woman has to go on a quest to fill a book with traveller's stories. It melds quite well with the first book. But it's the authors that are the interesting bit: Neal Pearte is the drummer for the rock band Rush. Rush worked with Kevin Anderson and produced two books and a Rush CD, Clockwork Angels, that's a lot more interesting when you also have read the books.
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett was a heart-breaking read. Not only was it the end of the Tiffany Aching/Wee Free Men YA series, it was the last Discworld book written by Sir Pterry. I was practically crying all through the book. It was a marvelous finale to Sir Pterry's career, and I am so happy that I got to meet him at a convention in Phoenix a few years ago. A lot of people don't care for the Tiffany stories, but I think they're quite wonderful, and it's a series that I'd love to re-read as the Pictsies are huge amounts of fun.
And John Cleese's authorized autobiography, So, Anyway, is great. It focuses mainly through the early Python years. I particularly enjoyed his education and his early years working for the BBC. I've read other books about Monty Python and his time there, and I have a better understanding of why he left after the third season. In an afterward for the book he talked about the reunion show that Python did a few years ago, and at one point he was waiting in the wings to come on and he thought to himself, “Why am I here? I don't want to do this.” Just like when he left Python, he thought that they were done as the third season was, in his view, highly repetitive of the first two seasons. And I think he was correct. In an interview with him that I heard, he talked about he considers himself a writer/performer, not an actor. He loves performing the things that he writes, but doesn't enjoy working with other people's material so much.
12/30 Lest Darkness Fall and Other Stories, L. Sprague de Camp
12/19 The Liminal People, Ayize Jama-Everett
12/12 Warrior Women, Edited by Paula Guran
11/27 Clockwork Lives, Kevin J. Anderson & Neil Peart
11/21 Scribe From Shadows, Moira Moore
11/? Brave New Girls anthology
10/2 Knight Moves, Walter Jon Williams
9/22 Forgotten Suns, Judith Tarr
9/11 The Shepherd's Crown, Terry Pratchett
8/28 Starfarers, Vonda McIntyre
8/23 Crossfire, Nancy Kress
8/21 The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Barry Hughart (re-read)
8/8 Clockwork Angels, Kevin J. Anderson & Neil Peart
7/11 The Annihilation Score, Stross
4/17 So, Anyway, John Cleese
4/1 Twinmaker, Sean Williams
3/15 The Revolution Trade, Stross
2/? The Trader's War, Stross
I'm not going to talk about all of them, but a few deserve mention.
The Trader's War series by Stross is interesting. I think it could be argued whether it is science fiction or fantasy. It's sort of contemporary, beginning with a woman who is in modern times, finds a locket with a complicated Celtic-like knot pattern, she stares at the pattern and finds herself in another world with a splitting headache. Turns out it's a mutation that allows her to pop between worlds, and she's part of a noble family and she's also long-thought dead. The problem is that the second world is pretty thoroughly pre-Renaissance (Christianity didn't take hold there) and she's determined to drag them kicking and screaming in to the 21st century. It's a somewhat grim read but still quite interesting, definitely a political intrigue book.
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart are FANTASTIC if you like Chinese historical fantasy. Master Li has a slight flaw to his character and is a private investigator. Number Ten Ox is rather strong and quite fond of Master Li. Their first adventure has them saving the children of Ox's village who have all fallen quite ill and will require divine artifacts to save them. And it gets more weird and fun from there. I read at least the first two of them ages ago and was delighted to find all three collected in one ebook volume. HIGHLY recommended.
The Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives books are quite interesting. Very much YA targeted. It's an alternate world where steam and alchemy is king, and the Clockmaker rules the land. Well, at least one of the lands. Turns out there's lands across the sea that supply necessary alchemical reagents that they must trade with. The second story was quite good: sort of a Canterbury Tales where a woman has to go on a quest to fill a book with traveller's stories. It melds quite well with the first book. But it's the authors that are the interesting bit: Neal Pearte is the drummer for the rock band Rush. Rush worked with Kevin Anderson and produced two books and a Rush CD, Clockwork Angels, that's a lot more interesting when you also have read the books.
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett was a heart-breaking read. Not only was it the end of the Tiffany Aching/Wee Free Men YA series, it was the last Discworld book written by Sir Pterry. I was practically crying all through the book. It was a marvelous finale to Sir Pterry's career, and I am so happy that I got to meet him at a convention in Phoenix a few years ago. A lot of people don't care for the Tiffany stories, but I think they're quite wonderful, and it's a series that I'd love to re-read as the Pictsies are huge amounts of fun.
And John Cleese's authorized autobiography, So, Anyway, is great. It focuses mainly through the early Python years. I particularly enjoyed his education and his early years working for the BBC. I've read other books about Monty Python and his time there, and I have a better understanding of why he left after the third season. In an afterward for the book he talked about the reunion show that Python did a few years ago, and at one point he was waiting in the wings to come on and he thought to himself, “Why am I here? I don't want to do this.” Just like when he left Python, he thought that they were done as the third season was, in his view, highly repetitive of the first two seasons. And I think he was correct. In an interview with him that I heard, he talked about he considers himself a writer/performer, not an actor. He loves performing the things that he writes, but doesn't enjoy working with other people's material so much.