Archive for the 'Reading Recommendations' Category
Reading (and Hugo) Recommendation(s)
Odd title, I know. I listened to Starship Sofa 121, which has Paolo Bacigalupi’s “the Gambler” in it.
Loved the story. I will include it on my Hugo ballot (which I’m still working on). Paolo is one of the best people we have writing sf right now – and are we lucky!
It was also a great [...]
Nebula Noms and Hugo Podcasts?
The Nebula short list is out. I’m really quite pleased with what is on the list (although – as always – slightly disappointed that some works which I nominated didn’t make it). In addition to some short stories like Kij Johnson’s “Spar” that I loved, two of my novel reading recommendations made the final ballot: [...]
Reading recommendation: The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver
Fair warning – this is not a genre book, not fast paced, not adventure, almost but not quite devoid of plot twists.
But there are other things for books to do. One of those is to comment on who we are, to use story as a way to teach.
I have been in awe of Barbara Kingsolver’s [...]
Reading Recommendation: Podcasts
I don’t know how many of you out there are listening to science fiction podcasts. I’ve been listening to audiobooks for years, particularly on long drives. or long weekends in the garden. When the narration is done well, it’s great entertainment. So podcasts wasn’t much of a jump. Here are the ones I listen to:
Escape [...]
Reading Recommendation: Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
Sometimes old favorites need to be revisited. I won’t tell you how long ago I first read Siddhartha, but it was published in 1922, which is before I was published.
At any rate, I chose to listen to it on my way down to Orycon (the drive is from Seattle to Portland, or 3 hours and [...]
Reading Recommendation: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
At World Fantasy, they give you a ton of books. I had brought one with me (Ken Scholes’ Canticle) which I finished there. I also bought a new book, Ekaterina Sedia’s “The Alchemy of Stone.” Besides an art book (and art) by John Picacio, and a collection by my friend Tobias Buckell, that’s all [...]
Reading Recommendation: Canticle, by Ken Scholes
I finished Canticle at the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, sitting in my twelfth-story room while morning light washed the night out of the sky. This is book two of The Psalms of Isaak, which is planned to be five books (the first book is Lamentation).
This series is an engaging for me as the George [...]
Reading Recommendation: Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest
What’s with the goggles anyway?
I just finished Boneshaker last night. Cherie Priest did a lovely job of characterization, and fully brought Briar Wilkes Blue and Ezekial Blue to life on the page. What she did to Seattle was fairly terrible, but interesting in an alternate fantasy historical fashion. And she answered my question: she gave us [...]
Reading Recommendation: Neil Gaiman’s “The GraveYard Book”
I really do love Gaiman’s work. I also love his voice. I tend to get his work in audio, largely because he reads it himself. This is not something I recommend for most authors, but in this case, there’s magic in the way he nuances his work. The Graveyard Book feels like it’s designed for [...]
Reading Recommendation: Magic in the Blood, by Devon Monk
This is a nice recommendation to make for two reasons. The book is good, and a long time ago in a writing workshop a long time away, Devon Monk and I spent two weeks in the same writing workshop, up at three in the morning, finishing downright daunting writing assignments while dreaming of having our own [...]
