I keep forgetting to mention I settled on re-reading Guy Gavriel Kay's River of Stars and am now on page 250 of 632. It is something of a followup to his Under Heaven, which I re-read not long ago. Occurring hundreds of years apart, River of Stars can be read stand-alone, but you do miss out on a good many references to the earlier title. Both are fiction (published as fantasy) based on ancient China. Under Heaven focuses on an alternative 8th century Tang Dynasty and events leading up to and the beginnings of the An Shi Rebellion. River of Stars focuses on an alternative 12th century Song Dynasty and events around the Jin-Song Wars. Both are excellent.

Speaking of Kay, he snuck one in on me. I just found out he has a new title scheduled for release this spring!, Children of Earth and Sky, set in a fictionalized Renaissance Europe not long after the fall of Byzantium. I will almost assuredly buy it at release, funds permitting.

At 2038 this evening I finished my second reading Guy Gavriel Kay's River of Stars. Not yet sure how I'll spend my reading time until the release of his new novel later this month.

I am in the midst of reading Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son, the first book in his The Tales of Alvin Maker series. It's been a my library for many years. Never bothered to read it before. Not sure why, except that I'm not a big Card fan. Then again I can say the same about a good many authors I've read, to one degree or other. I quite like one of his very early fantasy works, the 1983 Hart's Hope, or did during all previous reads. Ender's Game, despite being Sci-fi, a literary genre I normally have little sympathy for, was enjoyable enough that I bought its followup. Couldn't get beyond a few chapters in that book. Seventh Son being fantasy, I figured it might be worth a try but, as mentioned, couldn't bring myself to read it . . . until now.

I goofed big time yesterday. Saw that Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky is a last in print and available at our (semi) local Barnes and Noble, for 30% off! Or so I thought. Very unlike me, I made a special trip into town to buy it. Only, once in the store I found out that the 30% discount is online only. Needless to say I drove home empty handed. Ordered it off Amazon. Had I dug a little deeper while online that morning I could have discovered the truth of the discount and saved myself a couple of bucks in gas money.

(The good thing about ordering through Amazon, aside from the book being discounted as much as at online B&N, is that combined with two items already in my Amazon Cart, I qualified for free shipping.)

At 2241 yesterday evening, 12 May 2016, I concluded my initial reading of Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son, book one of his The Tales of Alvin Maker series. Not expecting Children of Earth and Sky to arrived from Amazon until mid next week, I will move on to volume two, Red Prophet.

I enjoyed Seventh Son, which resided unread in my library for decades, more so than anticipated. Don't believe I currently own any volumes beyond Red Prophet.

ADDENDUM: To my surprise I do indeed own book three, and oddly a second copy of book two. (One copy of book two has water damage from when my hot water heater went bad some years ago, damages around ten books at the bottom of a cardboard box on the floor in the patch of escaping heater water. But . . . I had to have acquired the second copy years before then.)

I finished The Sea Wolves: A History Of The Vikings by Lars Brownworth. Much of it I already knew. But he puts everything together in one place, which is nice. There were also things I was unaware of, such as Ivar the Boneless' Irish conquests (he was probably the most powerful Viking warlord to ever live). All in all a good read if you are interesting in viking history.

Just read Gardens of the Moon the first book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

I'd picked it up cheap a while back, along with the second book in the series. And if that's anything like the first is, it's pretty much a given that I'm going to be picking up the rest of the series. Gardens of the Moon was fantastic, from start to finish.

At 0938 this morning I finished my first reading of Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet, volume II of The Tales of Alvin Maker. I'll likely begin volume III, Prentice Alvin, during lunch.

At 0747 this morning I concluded my initial reading of Orson Scott Card's Prentice Alvin, volume III of The Tales of Alvin Maker. By modern standards I read it incredibly fast, faster than I've read a book in some years. Well, no, that's not quite right. It's not so much that I was reading any more quickly than I normally do. Rather I was able to retain focus for long stretches of time, an ability I was beginning to suspect lost forever.

As I do not currently own any of further volumes in the series I'll next read Guy Gavriel Kay's newly published Children of Earth and Sky, which I had already made a small dent in before deciding to continue on with the Alvin Maker books.

To my delight, I discovered that "The Prophet of Lamath" is now available on the Kindle. I owned the paperback when it first came out, and intended to get the next books in the series, but was never able to do so.

(Back in those days, I would buy the first book in a series, hoping to find a sustained string of good reads- but money was tight, so the tiny bookstore's stock could get rotated before I got back to some of them....)

So far, it is living up to memory of an enjoyable experience- what with the "identity crisis" of the 2-headed dragon, Vicia-Heinox and the introduction of Pelmen (who will eventually become the Powershaper).

I'm continuing to work my way through the Malazan series, currently on book 8. Up until this book, I've found them all to be great, but book 8 is different. The style changes, and while there's still the big buildup to events that I know I'll get to sooner or later, unlike the previous books there just isn't any real information about it being dished out. I'm more than 70% of the way through the book, and I'm still wondering mostly the same things I did after the first hundred pages.

It seems that Erikson has stopped giving answers that would enhance the buildup in favour of near endless philosophy and introspection, with a few gratuitously melodramatic deaths thrown in. The latest of those was a character from one of the early books, and while I know it's significant to the plot that he's dead, not really knowing what's going on(beyond that it's a convergence) means that it doesn't have the impact it should. I know that it will trigger a couple of minor details in the plot, but since I've no idea what those details are actually contributing to, it just comes off as meaningless.

This is the first of the Malazan series that I've been disappointed with, because the author just doesn't seem too inclined to let me know whats really going on. With the previous books there always seemed to be enough information to understand what was going on. This book strikes me as being like a murder mystery where you're not sure if there's even been a murder, if it's being investigated, or if it's even a mystery to any of the characters.

Rather than resuming Kay's Children of Earth and Sky, I decided on a change of pace and read Thorarinn Gunnarsson's Song of the Dwarves for the third time, finishing it at 1045 this morning. I'll either continue on with the second installment in the series, The Valkyrie, or read a book recently purchased through Amazon, Beethoven for a Later Age, Living with the String Quartets, written by the first violinist of the Takacs Quartet.

At 2222 yesterday evening I finished Thorarinn Gunnarsson's Revenge of the Valkyrie, second and, so far as I know, concluding volume of his Song of the Dwarves series. I find both books enjoyable interpretations of the Nordic myths that inspired Wagner's "Ring Cycle" of operas. I find the earlier chapters of book one especially intriguing, where Gunnarsson details the origin and travels of the beings who eventually came to be the Nordic gods. My only real problem with the series as that it ends too soon, with Brunhilde placed in enchanted sleep atop a flame-protected mound. Surely the tale should have continued on with the story of Siegfried.

The Sanctuary Seeker by Bernard Knight...Good book so far... ...

I've bailed on the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, pretty much brunt out on it with book 8. I'll get around to reading them all from the start again sooner or later.

With them on hold I've been working my way the the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. And if I'm honest, I'm not particularly impressed. Too many instances of characters knowing things they shouldn't. So far the worst was a character discerning exactly a particular occurrence from a letter which provided no details, involving items the character in question couldn't possibly have known existing. I actually went back to reread the letter in question, and I couldn't see anything that could have lead the character to this deduction.

And I really don't like some of the characters. Characterisation seems to become irrelevant whenever the plot demands it, no matter how clumsy the resulting scenario. I've got no problem with an honourable character, but when he refuses the throne because he only wants it for personal ambition(which is at no point actually portrayed) in favour of someone motivated solely by personal ambition, you've missed honourable and hit stupid. And then he makes the same decision a second time, knowing full well that the character he's giving the crown to won't be a good ruler.

And then there're the damsels in distress, who are far too numerous, and typically saved by a Gary Stu-ish main character. I don't mind the main character, in all honesty, I just wish they weren't queuing up three deep around him while he's busy rushing off to safe just about everyone at any given moment.

At 1541 this afternoon I finished Beethoven for a Later Age: Living with the String Quartets by Edward Dusinberre, first violinist with the Takacs Quartet. A good read, though it reinforces my long held self-realization that though I was a practicing musician for some years I was in truth much more a music lover and listener and lacked the temperament and dedication to perfection of a full-fledge pro-level performing musician. (Being a flawed mediocrity didn't help matters.)

I struggled through the first book of this series, Gardens of the Moon, back in 2008 and had absolutely no interest in continuing on. I know the series is (or was) quite popular but just couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. Can't tell you what I found so dissatisfying, as nothing about the book stuck in my mind.

I had a nice spring pilgrimage to visit Acadian Sr and help him celebrate surviving his 95th winter. One thing that made the journey more pleasant is that I dusted off The Clan of the Cave Bear from last reading it a couple decades ago and thoroughly enjoyed giving it a nice leisurely reread. I read the first four books of the series many years ago and have always been conscious of the impact that the series had on influencing several aspects of Buffy and Buffy Fiction.

It felt different reading it this time – better. Having now written so much myself now, it gave me a much greater appreciation for what Jean Auel was trying to do as she wrote the series. It all just seemed more vivid this time around and I was, again, struck by how much her books influence Buffy. It is, after all, about a young blond orphan who takes a path that is rife with hardship to gradually develop into a strong and capable young woman.

I also enjoyed how the author unapologetically lingered to lavish attention of the flora, fauna and setting of the northern tundra type setting. The book is quite character-driven and focused more on the journey than the destination - features that are integral to Buffy Fiction.

Heh, being SubRosa trained, I also notice that despite the author’s impressive talent, she is not perfect. I noted a few misspellings or typos during the 500 pages and was quite struck as the author changed perspective/PoV as often as sometimes two or three times on the same page. It quite felt like she chose almost an omniscient third person view. I couldn’t help feeling that SubRosa and I would have taken her to task for excessive head hopping were she posting here.

I have seen the same thing with many professional writers, especially when you go back decades or centuries. Jane Austen was really bad with it when I read Pride and Prejudice.

SubRosa trained me too; I never would have noticed something like that before either; but since her training it became glaringly noticeable, and shockingly enough did also find it in published works of some of my favorite authors as well

I remember you telling me about the strong influence that story had on Buffy fiction, so glad you got a chance to read it again!

...Me three!...(Or is it four?)...I spotted something like that in this book I'm reading now...It was, "How could he know that?"...

I thank you all for your training... ...(Especially Trey though...I have to admit... ....)... ...

McB, it is so nice to see you hanging around here again! I think we all gain from each other. As you have seen, I stole your wonderful concept of null iron to still the magicks of captive mages. Another inspiration I have taken from you (and ghastley) is the concept that immortals (Divines / Daedra Lords) can act like people with quirks, personalities, imperfections and emotions.

I just read through the Children of Hurin and .... yeah. What a damn tragedy.

At 1221 today I finished The Claw of the Conciliator, volume two of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. This was its fourth reading, the first having ended Sep 1988, the most recent Apr 2002. I find it interesting that this series' main character, Severian, claims to forget absolutely nothing, while another of his series centers on a fellow who, due to a head wound, forgets pretty much everything after a brief span of time. (This wound also lets him see and communicate with gods and other supernatural beings.) I think Wolfe's handling of the man's forgetfulness very well executed. That said, I feel the meat of the story is contained in volume one, Soldier of the Mist, while volume two is more "The continued adventures of . . . ". (Wolfe wrote a third volume many years after publication of the first two. I never bothered with it.)

I will continue on with volume three of The Book of The New Sun, The Sword of the Lictor. Gotta love those Wolfe titles.

I started reading Imajica, but I've given up on it. According to my Kindle I'm 15% of the way through the book, and thus far everything's moving forwards by chance. There are hints being dropped that something major is going to happen, but at this point it looks as though the author has resolved to have the characters stumble blindly into it, because no-one seems to have any intent connected to it.

I don't mind a book having a slow buildup, but without the impression that someone's actually trying to accomplish something, the whole thing just falls flat for me.

At 2037 this evening I finished my fourth reading of volume three of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, The Sword of the Lictor. I'll begin volume four, The Citadel of the Autarch, either later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

At 0742 this morning I finished my fourth reading of The Citadel of the Autarch, fourth and concluding volume of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. I at first thought to forgo Wolfe's sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, but am reconsidering.

My grandmother gave me her old kindle for my Birthday before I bought one of my own so I gonna start reading more.

I have just started The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

At 0309 this morning, almost an hour after waking for the day, I concluded my second reading of John E. Klapproth's Beethoven's Only Beloved: Josephine! This was its second reading, the first occurring little over a year ago. It is, in fact, the last book I read prior to joining this forum.

Why reread it so soon? I was having trouble settling on a book to read. I'd started at least three only to lose interest not far in. Being keen to all things Beethoven, I figured the Klapproth might tide me over until my reading block faded. I was right in that Josephine kept my interest start to finish. We shall see about the rest.

The book champions Josephine von Brunsvik as the intended recipient of Beethoven's (supposedly unsent) 'Immortal Beloved' letter, found among his possessions after death. There are of course other candidates. I have for some years felt that the preponderance of evidence points to von Brunsvik.

Here's Wikipedia's article on the subject.

I've been reading The Monuments Men, by Robert M. Edsel.

I've also seen the film, which is almost criminally inferior to the book.

I'm about to finish the Dark Half, a King's novel from 1989. I had this book at my parents' house for years but never got around to reading it because when my brother bought it years ago, my English wasn't good enough to fully understand it. Then, as time was passing, the book got lost somewhere, I knew it had to be stored somewhere but never really bothered to find it. When we were moving to our new condo in 2015, I found it again and now I'm about to finish it for the 1st time. It easily became one of my favorite King's novels.

There is an evil criminal in that book called Alexis Machine, which partially served as an inspiration for Rattler, my evil character from FO3.

Yog Sothoth Rules!

Does that mean Rattler is a high-toned son of a bitch?

At 1236 this afternoon I finished my third reading of The Lost Prince, volume one of Paul Edwin Zimmer's The Dark Border. Not, in my opinion, great fantasy, but not bad and worth an occasional read. A problem; for some reason I never acquired volume three. I notice Amazon sells used copies absolutely dirt cheap. Will prolly order it sometime these next few days. In the meantime I'll begin volume two, King Chondos' Ride.

I read that one a long time ago, and King Chondos' Ride as well. I liked them both. I had no idea there was a third one in the series. Unless you mean Ingulf the Mad? I read that one too, but it's not really part of the same story as the other two.

Odd that you too lack the concluding volume, which is titled A Gathering of Heroes. I ordered it a while ago through Amazon, a used copy in supposedly good shape for $0.01US plus $3.99 shipping.

(I'm pretty sure I read Ingulf the Mad too.)

I just looked at my bookshelf, and I do have A Gathering of Heroes, as well as Ingulf the Mad. I had confused the two when I was writing the last time.

Gathering of Heroes and Ingulf are set in the same world as the first two books, but completely different stories. Gathering does include Istvan DiVega, when he was younger, as well as a gathering of other heroes, including elves. The character of Ingulf the Mad is introduced in it. I don't remember the plot of Ingulf the Mad at all. It has probably been over twenty years since I read it.



On a completely different note I read Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire by Robin Waterfield. It was very good. It is the history of Alexander's successors, following them through their first generation (all the men who rode with Alexander) and the eventual creation of the three main stable Successor States - Macedon, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Seleucid Empire.

There has a been a plethora of histories about Alexander, but usually his successors get glossed over in a few paragraphs about how they all fought with one another, and how Antignous One Eye and his son Demetrios Policrates (City-Taker), nearly took over the whole bunch, until the rest ganged up on them and wiped them out. This book goes into all the details. It is not just about battles, but about how the Hellenistic Age created by Alexander's conquests changed not only the East, but also Greece itself, in the way that people thought and acted.

I started Empires and Barbarians by Peter Heather. But it is just too dense, and too filled with examinations of and arguments about historical texts vs. archaeological finds. I think it is aimed more at scholars than 'regular' people, and he often seems to be making a case for how he believes things happened rather than just telling the story - because history is a story. I just wanted a straight-forward telling of how Rome fell and the barbarians laid the foundations of modern Europe in the aftermath. It has a wealth of information about Germanic political and social institutions and their evolution from the 1st through 4th Centuries (as far as I got). But it is written in such clinical fashion that it just hard to keep slogging through it.

Tonight I bought the first four e-books in the Chronicles Of The Last Emperor Of Melnibone. It is a six part series that repackages Michael Moorcock's Elric novellas, plus some other Eternal Champion stories. Unfortunately it puts the stories in the order that they were written, rather than in their actual chronology. So they are scattered all over Elric's history, because that is the way Moorcock wrote them. He didn't have a grand overall vision when he started writing. Instead he just knocked out a story when he needed to pay the rent. Daw did it much better when they put them out on paperback back in the 70s. They put them all in the right reading order.

I did find a handy list of the Elric stories, listing them in their correct order. Maybe soon I will start reading them. It is too bad I couldn't find Tales of the White Wolf in electronic format though.

At 1653 this afternoon I finished Shadows of the Storm, volume one of The Image of War 1861-1865. As might be suspected, it's a massive collection of well documented photos from the American Civil War. I own the entire set, buying individual volumes as they were released. They predate my practice of logging completion times and date. I therefore do not know when and how often I read their extensive commentary cover-to-cover in the past. I've certainly ogled the photos a great many time over the years.

(I'm still reading King Chondos' Ride. Shadows... was my "dinner table" read.)


Moorcock and I go way back, to almost the beginning of my love-affair with modern written fantasy. I've read and reread a great many of his Eternal Champion based novels, none recently. I even started a thread on the Moorcock/Elder Scrolls connection on the official Bethesda forum several years ago. Here's what I said back then:

I most recently reread Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time series, which I'm quite fond of.

I did start reading Elric of Melnibone, the first in the Elric chronology. Like most books these days, I read it at work over my lunch breaks. I am loving it, in spite of its issues (most notably telling instead of showing, and head-hopping). I first read these books when I was in high school, and I think it is probably where I got my attraction for pale-skinned, white-haired protagonists. I especially liked that unlike all the other fantasy heroes around then, Elric was not a muscle-bound barbarian. In fact, he was often physically very weak. He has a conscience. He grapples with the question of whether or not he should use his power, rather than just doing whatever he wants, simply because he can.

Plus I love the Michael Whelan book covers from the Daw books, especially the Sailor on the Seas of Fate cover

I'm currently reading the second book of the Night's Dawn Trilogy. It's not a bad trilogy, but a little heavy on Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters. And Hamilton seems to have something of an obsession with sex that comes on pretty heavily in his books, prompting all kinds of peculiarities. But I do like the story, in spite of that.

Mary Sue/Gary Stu = "Meh...urk." Hot perverse sex =

BWAAHAA l!!!!!!!

Heh, to be honest, I'm not really sure which of the two traits is more obnoxious

(hence my use of the "eye-rolling" emote, - they didn't have a gagging maggot emote, BWAAHAA!)

It gets really weird in places. You've got the dead possessing the living, stealing planets, a big mystery of alien history, and an all but imprisoned scientist with the keys to the galaxy's most dangerous superweapon. Oh, and Al Capone's back. And then you've got the hero character bonking any willing woman he comes across(which is nearly all of them, by the way), and some stupid girl who's fallen in love with him wandering off into space looking for him/chasing the villain, with people tripping over themselves left and right to help her.

I love the story, I just wish some of the characters would stop interrupting it with their shenanigans

Geez, that actually sounds like a story I might like, Give me shenanigans or give me death! BWAAHAA!

Obligatory image from the internet

At 2315 yesterday evening I finished my third reading of Paul Edwin Zimmer's King Chondos' Ride. A good read, though in my opinion it lacks a satisfying ending, leaving much of interest unresolved. I had hoped A Gathering of Heroes would address this but, as SubRosa says, that book is not a continuation of The Dark Border series but rather a separate novel set in the same world, spotlighting one of Dark Border's main characters.

Speaking of A Gathering of Heroes, it arrived with yesterday's mail. In an clear plastic envelop from the Post Office apologizing for any shipping damage. The sender's package was indeed pretty banged up, and soggy to boot. Sogginess was thankfully confined to the outside. The book itself is fine. I read its first few pages before nodding off for the night.

Wohohohoho. Just finished reading L.A Confidential and I gotta say; I literally cut my hand just turning the pages. That book was THAT sharp and cutting. Going to digest what I've seen from that book and incorporate some of the things I like into my own repertoire. As much as I like writing, I still haven't found my own .... *way* of writing things. I think I'm spread out in my techniques, if that makes sense. I like Elroy's style well enough that I'm going to order the other parts of the Quartet. In fact, I liked L.A Confidential so much that I'm currently poisoned with an obsession about the crime genre. I'm going to have to find me some more of them. In the meantime I'll satisfy myself by re-reading The Red Dragon up to Hannibal.

Haven't seen anything new you've written except your RP's; but you sure used to have an Awesome voice writing. To this day I can remember some of your early works, they were that powerful and effective; inspiring. And even when you hadn't written anything at this site ln years; when you entered that anonymous writing contest here I recognized your style instantly.

At 1552 this afternoon I finished my second reading of Samuel R. Delany's Tales of Neveryon. The book consists of five novellas (?) tied together by a shared "world" and characters, with Preface and Appendix. I recall nothing of my first reading other than the gist of the first subsection of the first novella. If not for a completion date of 5 Dec 1997 written on the inside of the front cover I would suspect that I'd not read beyond that subsection. Indeed this time round the Preface put me off a bit so that I questioned whether to continue on. I persevered and am glad I did, having ended up enjoying the book very much. Though I've no conscious memory supporting this, my mind tells me I liked Neveryon appreciably better this reading than the first.

Tales is the first of a four book series. I own it and the next two but find no evidence of the final volume in my library. If further searches fail to unearth book four I'll attempt to order it through Amazon.

That said, my brother just loaned my a book by John Cleese. I might well read that before resuming the Neveryon series.

I read a couple of Heinlein books yesterday: Starship Troopers and The Puppet Masters.

Starship Troopers was pretty solid. Though it got a little tiresome the way he'd wander off to spend three or four pages of unnecessary detail about something that wasn't really relevant. This is one of those books that I prefer the movie of.

The Puppet Masters I thought was better. No rambling diatribes, better flow, and more funkiness really. Those aliens just rate better than the ones in Starship Troopers in my opinion. The only real criticism I have of the book is the character Mary, who's just all kinds of screwed up, and isn't really a character so much as a plot device.

At 1339 this afternoon I finished my first reading of John Cleese's So, Anyway... (the Making of a Python). This was a loan from my brother. I am not normally much interested in the lives of modern-day pop culture "celebrities" (or celebrity itself) unless the person or persons in question is in some capacity an extraordinary individual in their own right and/or has lived through interesting times and experiences. The Cleese book is possibly the only such bio in bro's library I actually asked to borrow, rather than having been loaned unsolicitedly. me being a great fan of the Python series and movie spinoffs as well as his non-Python film A Fish Called Wanda.

I enjoyed it.

Not sure which of several reading options I'll next tackle.