Pyramids; Terry Pratchett (HarperTorch, 2001, ISBN 978-0-06-10265-0; cover artist not known).

Pteppic (or Teppic) has a problem. He's escaped from the trap of being part of a dynasty, has spent years training to be an assassin, and had just passed his final exam with the Assassins Guild in the city of Ankh-Morpork when the call comes to return home. His father, the king, has died. He must take his place on the throne!

Back to Djelibeybi (ignore the "D") he goes where he is caught in endless rituals, a life rigidly controlled by the seemingly ageless Dios, high priest of all high priests. There's a handmaiden, Ptraci (or Traci). Or is she his aunt? And how does a camel get involved in higher mathematics?

Toss in a whole string of restless undead, a dimensional accident, pyramid power, and Death (strangely enough, one of the most popular characters in the series) and you have another fun romp on the back of the turtle.

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Fred's Reading Report (March 200

It was the best of times...oh, never mind!

Reading was impacted by a temporary increase in hours worked. So, I feel like I have not done as well as the first two months of the year.

Books read: 7. Bourdain...A Cook's Tour. O'Brian...Master & Commander. Pournelle...The Endless Frontier, Volume 1. Ramsay...Roasting in Hell's Kitchen. Ringo...The Last Centurion. Ringo...Princess of Wands. Whittemore...Quin's Shanghai Circus.

134 short works read. Goal for the year 365; goal for month, to reach 91; goal for next month...121 (so I'm ahead for the year, so far!)

Current reads, on deck, on Mount Toberead...I'm increasingly shuffling the piles, so it is easier just to list what is finished rather than what is being read!

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John's Reading Report (March 200

Over the past month I have finished:

Flashman, George MacDonald Fraser. Not sure I've made up my mind whether I liked this or not. It was a fairly easy read.

The Forever War, Joe Haldeman. An interesting contrast to Heinlein's Starship Troopers or John Scalzi's Old Man's War.

In progress:

Virtual Light, William Gibson. I have neglected Gibson for the last 15 years or so. Time to catch up.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter.

Consciousness Explained, Daniel C. Dennett.

On deck:

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemerovsky.

Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World, Carl Zimmer.

Idoru, William Gibson.

Spook Country, William Gibson.

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Transhuman; edited by Mark L. Van Name and T.K.F. Weisskopf (Baen Books, 2007, ISBN 978-14165-5523-0; cover by Dave Sealy).

(Two background items: Vernor Vinge's now-classic paper on the Singularity. I would also recommend a look at Accelerando by Charles Stross, as the themes explored in that book often dovetail nicely with the themes explored in these stories...or diverge dramatically. Either way, you can get it for free at that link.)

(Several stories have introductions and/or afterwords, this bumps up the overall story count.)

more...

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The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction; George Mann (editor) (Solaris; 2007; ISBN 978-1-84416-448-6; cover by Stephen Martiniere).

I seem to be blessed recently at my local Big Box bookstore. While the science fiction shelves are shrinking, I have noticed that the books being stocked are getting slightly more diverse. I've seen editions from Pyr, Night Shade Books (Clark Ashton Smith, forsooth!) and now Solaris there.

In fact, I spotted several volumes from Solaris and picked up two in an annual series while marking four others for possible future purchase. The author selection in the anthologies seemed decent, a nice mix of names I recognize wtih new or relatively unfamiliar names.

Introduction (George Mann): Hey, he said whilst! Really! Whilst! more...

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Well, it looks like it is going to happen. They've hit forty for the month, NAEB will be sending my a brand-spanking new Bookeen Cybook in the near future.

(What are you babbling about, Fred?)

It's a gadget to read eBooks on. I've been reading electronic books for quite a while now. When I first got the Apple Newton (remember that?), it was around the same time that texts were appearing on the intertubes. Some were self-published works by various "non-professional authors". Others were efforts from groups like Project Gutenberg. As time went by, I eventually acquired a newer Newton. When the Newton was cancelled, I eventually got one of the early Palm Pilots. Then a Handspring Visor. And (most recently) a Sony Clie.

In the course of all this, I continued to download books from Project Gutenberg. Other sites came into being, some free, some paid, some mixed. I happily downloaded from Baen Books, eReader (under various owners), Fictionwise, Manybooks, Memoware, and others. I now have thousands, yes, thousands, of electronic books of various lengths (ranging from short stories to multi-volume novels).

The new reader will handle some, but not all of the formats I have. Alas, one party or the other is being stubborn, so I'll not be able to read in some formats as TomeRaider or eReader. In some cases the eBooks are in multiple formats so I'll just download in another (readable) format. And I'll keep my Sony Clie around for those DRM-locked and crippled eBooks that I was foolish enough to purchase. Who knows, maybe some day publishers will come to their senses.

In the meantime, I'm quite excited. As with a iPod, it'll be nice to be able to carry around tons and tons (so to speak) of titles, able to dip in to something at a whim. Battery life looks nice (a trade-off, in part, to the lack of backlighting as well as the "eInk" technology). Screen size and quality looks nice. Who says you can't read books on a screen? I've read hundreds!

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A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines; Anthony Bourdain (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers; 2002; ISBN 0-06-001278-1).

Following up on my previous Bourdain read, this book is based on Bourdain's limited run television series of the same name. Going around the globe, Bourdain samples the cuisines of places as diverse as Japan, Vietnam, England, France and Morocco. The book feels less like an integrated read than a series of stitched-together short works (hence my tagging it as part of the 2008 Year in Shorts).

The essays vary, between essays and within the essays. It is almost there are two sides to a battle. Inevitably, when Bourdain is conned into doing something for the television show...it seems to flop. Iguana? Bird nest soup? Disasters.

But then there are the culinary jewels. When he strikes out on his own, or when he overcomes the suggestions of his producer, he hits the big time. Vietnam (more than once). Japan (three different excellent meals). Seeing just how far one pig can go.

There's more humorous commentary on the state of the world, the state of other chefs (real and "celebrity"), the state of food, the silliness of various wingnuts when it comes to applying our mostly American views to the rest of the world. And the food. Lots of food. It is mostly due to seeing and reading folks like him or Gordon Ramsay that I've been able to go into a farmer market and appreciate the quality of the poultry or vegetables and realize what unappetizing pap most mega-marts sell. Or to stare at a pile of bones for sale at the butcher and wonder what they'd taste like roasted and make into stock. Or...

Made up of: Dear Nancy; Introduction; Where Food Comes From; Back to the Beach; The Burn; Where the Boys Are/Where the Girls Are; How to Drink Vodka; Something Very Special; Highway to Death; Tokyo Redux; Road to Pailin; Fire Over England; Where Cooks Come From; Can Charlie Surf?; West Coast; Haggis Rules; Very, Very Strong; Perfect.

Counts as 18 entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.

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Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! Collected Essays, 1934-1998; Sir Arthur C. Clarke (St. Martin's Press, 1999; ISBN 0-312-19893-0).

I had previously read this collection in 2004, but, given Sir Arthur's passing, I picked it up again to re-read his shorter works (I'll take up the short stories later in the year). more...

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The State of the Art; Iain M. Banks (Night Shade Books; 2004; ISBN 1-892389-38-X; cover art by Les Edwards).

With the release of the latest novel in the Culture sequence, I figured it was time to start re-reading the earlier books (scattered so far across the years that I can't remember most of the plots!), read the ones I've left tottering on Mount Toberead, and then tackle Matter, the newest addition. For a series that has been running as long as it has there are few short works in the sequence. In fact, as far as I know, this is the only collection that Banks has.

Made up of: Road of Skulls; A Gift from the Culture; Odd Attachment; Descendant; Cleaning Up; Piece; The State of the Art; Scratch; A Few Notes on the Culture.

Counts as one entry in the 2008 Year in Shorts.

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Thanks to an e-mail from the man behind Atomic Rockets, I've found an interesting author. Meet Mike Brotherton. Read about his Hard SF writer's bookshelf, Arthur C. Clarke's predictions, a cheat sheet for space travel and more!

More, you say? How about a free book?

(Free is good. I need to write up a posting showing how many free eBooks have led me to purchase deadtree editions of the same, often in hardcover!)

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Quin's Shanghai Circus; Edward Whittemore (Old Earth Books; 2002; ISBN 1-882968-21-2; cover by Julie Burris). Introduction by John Nichols. Foreword by Tom Wallace. Afterword by Judy Karasik.

I first came across Edward Whittemore when my mother gave me a paperback acquired from a yard sale. It was Jerusalem Poker and featured a rather strange cover. An occult novel? A fantasy novel? A spy novel? I tried it, and put it aside (too many books, too little time) as it did not catch my attention.

Several years later, I read this extensive review of Whittemore by Jaff VanderMeer in Locus, written in conjunction with the Old Earth Books release of his works. Maybe the mindset had changed and evolved as they sounded very interesting. I set out to acquire them as they were published. (Alas, fate and reality intervened and it was not until last year that I read Quin's Shanghai Circus. And read it again this year.) more...

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Weird Tales (still back from the dead) lists the 85 weirdest storytellers of the past 85 years. It is nice to see that they have expanded "storyteller" to go beyond folks who just write books.

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Princess of Wands; John Ringo (Baen Books, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4165-0923-3, cover by Stephen Hickman).

(The entire first section of the book available as a fee read at Baen's site.)

Barbara Everette has a problem. She wants to be a nice soccer mom, life mate to her husband, member of society. But sometimes she feels like she's going to go nuts. Sometimes she needs to get away.

So get away she does. Off for a weekend away. Alas, she ends up in the middle of a case involving a series of serial killers, a manifesting demon, and an outbreak of the likes that hasn't been seen since the Innsmouth incident in the 1920's.

Thank goodness she runs into a detective from New Orleans on the trail of the killer. And happens to be packing her pistol. And finds she can channel power from God. Let the bullets fly!

Another fun read from John Ringo. The book is filled with in-jokes (many of the character's are named after science fiction fans and several are takes on various famous authors), and feeling like a much hyped up episode of the X-Files, or even better, a typical gaming session of the venerable Call of Cthulhu RPG.

The adventure continues with another serial killer who takes victims at science fiction and fantasy conventions. The body count might even be higher here, along with the level of demon power. Buffy? Hah! Wimp compared with Barbara Everette!

An interesting twist is the main character's strong Christian beliefs. Interesting in that most of the seemingly endless vampire detectives, wizard detectives, etc., don't seem to be either particularly Christian (or even religious in many respects). Strange, that...

My only complaints are that he hasn't written a sequel yet. Guess I'll have to pick up something else by Ringo for my next fast read!

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"The Lotus Eaters? Let’s see—what did Tennyson say about them—nobody reads him nowadays. 'There is sweet music here that softer falls...' No, it isn’t that bit. Ah, I have it!

"'Is there any peace
In ever climbing up the climbing wave?'

Well, young man, is there?"

"For some people—yes,” said Hassell. "And perhaps when space flight arrives they’ll all rush off to the planets and leave the Lotus Eaters to their dreams. That should satisfy everybody."

"And the meek shall inherit the Earth, eh?" said his companion, who seemed to have a very literary turn of mind.

"You could put it that way." Hassell smiled. He looked automatically at his watch, determined not to become involved in an argument which could have only one result.

"Dear me, I must be going. Thanks for the talk."

He rose to leave, thinking he’d preserved his incognito rather well. The stranger gave him a curious little smile and said quietly: "Good-by." He waited until Hassell had gone twenty feet, then called after him in a louder voice: "And good luck—Ulysses!" (Prelude to Space)

From the Ocean, From the Stars

This afternoon I received some reports that Sir Arthur C. Clarke had died. This was confirmed a short time later by news reports.

It is hard for me to express how much of an influence he was on me. I first started reading his books (either Islands in the Sky or The Sands of Mars) shortly after I started reading science fiction (and that was very shortly after I started reading). I read through everything that was in print, whether aimed at adults or young adults. 2001: A Space Odyssey was read and re-read multiple times before my parents allowed me to see it on the big screen (heck, I didn't even get an allowance at that point, so it was a major treat). The book and the movie blew me away and both have remained favorites to this day. Fiction and non-fiction, if I saw Clarke's name on it (although I must confess that I wish he had held back on some of those "collaborations"), I bought it and read it. Short stories like Saturn Rising led me to amateur astronomy. Imperial Earth led me to an interest in recreational mathematics. In fact, many of Clarke's afterwords led me into other areas of study. more...

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The Last Centurion; John Ringo (Baen Books, August 200 .

Kumbaya.

I just finished reading this, in eARC (electronic Advanced Reading Copy) form from Baen's Webscription service.

Ringo has been steadily maturing as a writer. He has taken some chances, with Ghost and the other volumes of the Paladin of Shadows series, for example. I think the one thing that has kept him from a wider audience is the "science fiction stigma" and the generally (ahem) right-leaning orientation of the books.

No more. With The Last Centurion, he has moved firmly into the technothriller genre. That should attract more readers, as Ghost and its sequels did.

Kumbaya.

And...well...he pretty much manages to say something to anger just about everybody in the course of this book. Sure, the brunt falls on the Left, but keep reading. Everybody suffers at some point or another.

And maybe that is the point. As there is some stuff in here that ought to make you angry...and then make you think.

I'll give it another read when the final version is released.

Kumbaya.

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A member of The Gunroom community shows off her efforts to build or otherwise acquire (capture, sink or destroy?) miniature versions of items used on the H.M.S. Surprise. Still waiting for somebody to the Lego version of The Canon...

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In his new book, The Last Centurion (out as an eARC), John Ringo has a good description of how much mass, in terms of supplies, a modern army uses. Think a football stadium. Actually a couple of football stadiums. Filled.

So how many vehicles are involved? Here's a good description (continued after the fold, due to one "not-kid-friendly" word):

more...

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The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman; Leigh Brackett (Paizo/Planet Stories, 2007, cover by Andrew Hou, ISBN 978-1-60125-047-6; $12.99).

In which I trod down the back alleys and dark corners of the Golden Age once again!

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It. Has. Arrived.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. You know sf has conquered the world when a net pundit announces that 'Barack Obama is the Democratic Party's Kwisatz Haderach.' (SnarkyBastards.com) [LP]

Wot? Still no mention of the SF fandom marriage of the century? Wot?

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As mentioned previously, I've been re-reading Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander as part of a group read at The Gunroom, the mailing list dedicated to The Canon (as it is called) "...and everything else..."

I found myself wanting to race ahead of my carefully-paced reading and note-taking...so, after resisting for a while, I just gave in and started reading for "fun" while taking notes for the group read.

Just finished the "fun" read, now back to note-taking!

August Update: I pretty much fell off the reading project for the series, due to work and family. So I've jump-started it again with another "fun" read of M&C. I'll push forward with "fun" reads of the series while doing the "in-depth read when I can.

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