Wednesday 26 August 2015

My asshole is doing as much to keep me alive as my brain*


 Just got time for a quick update of books read since the last book post.


  38. The Martian, by Andy Weir

 This was a fantastic read! Thrilling, gripping, emotional, and believable. I actually choked up in a couple of places because I was so engrossed and invested in the plight of the only man on Mars.

 I can't wait for the film, now.


* Post title from page 14.

 39. The Long War, by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

 This is the second book in this series about the discovery and exploration of parallel Earths. It continues the adventures of Joshua Valiente "the Hero of Step Day", Monica Jansson, Sally Linsay, and Lobsang the Tibetan motorcycle mechanic reincarnated as an Artificial Intelligence. New characters include Maggie Kauffman, captain of a twain (airship); and Nelson Azikiwe, a former vicar. 

 40. Wilde Stories 2015 (the year's best speculative gay fiction), edited by Steve Berman

 I think I saw a review on io9 for this anthology, but I can't find it to link to just now, so may be I saw it somewhere else?
 Anyway, this book collects 13 short stories in which one of the main characters happens to be gay, or at least have some sort of homosexual experience but which isn't the focus of the tale!
 There are some weird, dark stories amongst this collection, some of which I didn't much care for, but a few I found to be quite fascinating: The Oily Man by Alex Jeffers - a period piece about a man in a foreign land who is visited by a local "monster"; A Gift In Time by Maggie Clark - a tale of a man capable of time-travel who is infatuated by his boss's assistant; and Werewolves of Northland by Patrick Pink - a very sweet story of the only werewolf in a small town discovering another like him. 


 41. Long Shot (Star Trek: Seekers 3), by David Mack

  The third in the Seekers series was a non-stop action and adventure story about the USS Sagittarius crew's discovery of a world where the laws of probability have been shot to Hell! The writing (as always from David Mack) is excellent, and there's some great character work, but I just couldn't believe in the premise.


 42. The Long Mars, by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

 This was by far a more interesting read than The Long War - The story was neither here nor there for me, but the discoveries that Captain Kauffman and her crew make while traversing the Long Earths, plus the discoveries made by Sally Linsay throughout the Long Mars were riveting.  



 

9 comments:

  1. This endorsement of The Martian convinces me to see the movie. Thanks!

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    1. If the movie is even half as good as the book, it'll be fantastic!

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    2. It seems to be about gardening.

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  2. I didn't know what to expect from this blog title, except what did DeVice get into now. The Wilde Stories sounds interesting.

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    1. If I'd come up with the title myself, it would have been "arse" not "ass", but hey: potayto, potahto!

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  3. Potartoo...
    I love Star Trek films and TV, but I've never read any of the books... maybe I ought to?
    Sx

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    1. Star Trek? Really? I mean, I know we had those Cusp Trek adventures a while back, but I never had you pegged as a Trekkie/er. Fancy! What are your favourite films/TV shows - Perhaps I could recommend a particular book?

      'tay'uh...?

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  4. I have all the Star Trek Voyager videos... I used to have a dedicated cupboard. I liked Next Generation, but really Voyager was my favourite. Borg. All our gadgets that talk to each other... well, I see this as the first step to becoming Borg :-)
    Sx

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Tickle my fancy, why don't you?