January 2018 Update

I wanted to give everyone a quick update on what’s going on, and what to look forward to at least in the short-term.

Right now it’s Vintage Science Fiction Month! If you’d like to participate choose some vintage science fiction and read along. Blog about it if you blog, tweet about it if you tweet, facebook about it if you facebook, insta if you insta, whatever. There are no hard and fast rules about what qualifies for “vintage” science fiction but I (and others) are using our birth year…if it’s older than you it’s vintage.

If you’d like some more details about Vintage Science Fiction Month check out this post from Andrea at the Little Red Reviewer for background and on Twitter @VintageSciFi_ (with the underscore at the end).

A bunch of us have joined together for a Dune read along on twitter. Each week we read a portion of the text then participate in a group chat. At the end of the month we’re talking about watching the 80’s Dune movie and doing a live chat. Look for #ReadDune on Twitter.

So far I’m really enjoying my second reading of this SF classic. There’s soooooo much I glossed over in my first reading 15 or more years ago. That and age has given me a wider context for things unfortunately.

I’ll probably do some sort of review at the end of the month.

I also managed to read another SF classic last week.

The fact that I’d never read Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War before now is a stain on my honor as a book lover. My post after finishing it was just, “So. Damn. Good.”

The Forever War isn’t just one of the best (if not the best) SF war stories ever written, it’s one of the best war stories ever written. I’ll be posting a review of this classic soon…hopefully this weekend if I don’t get too busy. But man take my advice and read this book. It’s less about actual combat (though there is some of that) and more about the human element of war, about love, loss, and life. Ugh. so good.

I’m not sure if I’m going to get any more vintage science fiction read this month but I’m going to try at least one more book maybe the last week. We’ll see. In the meantime I’ve got a lot of reading to catch up on before new books start coming out!

I spent the weekend pouring over announced book releases for the year and my reading calendar is starting to fill up. There’s a bunch of sequels coming out and I haven’t managed to read book one yet. Slacker.

First up is probably Age Of Assassins by RJ Barker, the first book in The Wounded Kingdom series.

“Girton Club-Foot has no family, a crippled leg, and is apprenticed to the best assassin in the land…He’s learning the art of taking lives, but his latest mission is far mor difficult: save a life. Someone is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it’s up to Girton to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince’s murder – and his own.”

This one was on a ton of blogs in 2017 and was very well received. I’m pretty excited about starting it. Book two, Blood Of Assassins comes out in February so I gotta get reading.

The second read on my list is Melissa Caruso’s The Tethered Mage, another book I saw reviewed a lot in 2017 and one of Orbit’s slew of popular 2017 debuts  (along with Age Of Assassins and others). It’s the first release in the Swords And Fire series.

“In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled – taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon army.”

Book two The Defiant Heir is set to be published in April.

 

(Are ya’ll noticing the fireplace theme? I didn’t meant to do it but my first few pics happened to have it so now it’s a thing. Hey it’s January and cold outside!)

Then there’s this stunning book! Well the cover is stunning I haven’t read it yet. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is the first book of The Ancestor series and published by Ace.

You know how some books have great opening lines? Check this one out…

“It’s important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.”

Damn! That’s a way to start a book! I can’t wait to devour this one either. Book two, Grey Sister is due out in April as well.

As if those three aren’t enough I’ve got another new release from Oribt I’d like to read in January or early February. Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft comes out January 16th. I’ve been seeing a few reviews for it and I’m really intrigued. I don’t have a pic (and I hesitate to use one grabbed off the web) so here’s a link to it on Goodreads. It was actually published by an independent publisher in 2013.

Ok, so yeah…I’m gonna be busy the next few weeks. Hell who am I kidding, I’ve already got my reading schedule booked out through June.

In terms of the actual blog I’m going to try to commit to one post a week. If I do more then great! But after two months with the new blog and work, and family, and sleepy time, I discovered that trying to do two to three posts a week was a bit much for my schedule. And once the kids extra-curricular events get going in the spring I’ll really be pressed for time. So one post a week, usually a review is what to expect. If I can do something more I will.

Happy reading!