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 Post Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 10:25 pm 
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In case anyone has, let me start: Phantom of Manhattan, by Frederick Forsyth. He's continued the story of the Phantom of the Opera, and I think it's worth a read. I'm also working my way through Spike Milligan's WWII memoirs; he's one of the original Goon Show trio (if you're unfamiliar, look into it), and they're rather amusing.

Anyone else?

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 Post Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 10:46 pm 
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Not had enough money to buy books and I'm too forgetful to remember to return library books. Mostly I've been reading translated web novels, lately. Everyone Else is a Returnee and Seoul Station Necromancer, both about worlds with RPG mechanics that are being invaded by monsters. Both feature overpowered protagonists. Main difference between them is that Necromancer features a villain protagonist.

Another one I'm reading is I am the Monarch, about a humble spear soldier who wandered the battlefield for 20 years before being slain in combat, only to wake up the day of his enlistment as if nothing had happened. Only now he has all the knowledge of the future. He plans on using that knowledge to try and become a king.

Other web novels I've read are Worm and Pact, both by the author wildbow. They're pretty good, if rather dark.

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 Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 1:33 am 
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I read The Last Halloween. It's really really good. It's a graphic novel though. Not sure if that counts.

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 Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 2:29 am 
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It's been a while, but the last thing I read was "Spirits Abroad" by Zen Cho. It's a collection of Twilight Zone-like short stories about Malaysian folklore monsters living in the present day. Also "The Terracotta Bride" by the same author, which is about a woman stuck in limbo in Chinese hell. Pretty much anything by Zen Cho is good.

"Uprooted" by Naomi Novik is also really good. Fantasy set in a creepy Polish fairy tale universe about a trainee witch and her cantankerous wizard mentor fighting an evil sentient forest.

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 Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 4:30 am 
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Hmm, let's see, this may take a little while.

Stephanie Osborn has a new series out called Division One. So far there's two with more in the pipeline. The first two are "Alpha and Omega" and "Small Medium at Large". It's a different and interesting spin on the whole Men in Black setup.

John Ringo has done a spin off series of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International series called Monster Hunter Memoirs featuring the memoirs of a past hunter, Oliver Chadwick "Chad" Garnier from the eighties. The first two of three are out, they are "Grunge" and "Sinners" covering Chad's time in the Seattle/Washington area and New Orleans respectively, the third "Saints" is due sometime in the future (Larry had to finish MH Siege before he could edit it to bring it in line with stuff that he knows that he hasn't told the rest of us).

Jamie McFarlane hast three different series that are all good, although his most recent book crossed over a couple of them. The one that he's been working with for a while is the Privateer adventures, first book in that is "Rookie Privateer", which follows a young man, Liam Hoffen, and his family and friends (many of whom are like family) as he starts out on a life of trading and privateering in space in the far distant future. The second series is the Wizard series which follows a Wizard, Felix Slade, who turns out to have an interesting family that he didn't remember when he started. And the third is in the same general space as Wizard but it follows the adventures of a trio of kids that are actually from another world/plane which is much more fae than ours.

And those are just the three that I came up with off the top of my head.

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 Post Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 4:51 pm 
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I've been reading a lot of Philip K Dick lately. *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep* (inspiration for *Blade Runner*) was amazing. The others I've read haven't quite lived up to that standard. Same for his short stories and novellas, with the notable exception of "The Days of Perky Pat."

I also read some of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy. Well written and thought provoking, although not as powerful and compelling as her *Kindred*, which should be on every American's must read list.

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 Post Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 5:31 pm 
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Kea wrote:
It's been a while, but the last thing I read was "Spirits Abroad" by Zen Cho. It's a collection of Twilight Zone-like short stories about Malaysian folklore monsters living in the present day. Also "The Terracotta Bride" by the same author, which is about a woman stuck in limbo in Chinese hell. Pretty much anything by Zen Cho is good.

Thanks for the suggestions--they sound interesting!

Kea wrote:
"Uprooted" by Naomi Novik is also really good. Fantasy set in a creepy Polish fairy tale universe about a trainee witch and her cantankerous wizard mentor fighting an evil sentient forest.

I read Uprooted this year as well-- with the exception of one rather explicit scene,I quite liked it.

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 Post Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 5:43 pm 
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I've been doing the 52 book challenge every year for the past 4 years--my goal is simply to read 52 new books in a year.

My most recent books were Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle (author of The Last Unicorn)...I'm not sure what to say without giving a spoiler. It takes place near modern Seattle and there are elements of mythology.

I also read The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. A town sacrifices a child to a witch every year...but actually, it is the witch who rescues the children, and this is the story of one of those children. There are elements of folklore to it. It is fluidly written and engaging.

Otherwise, I am rereading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hayes). Aurelius was emperor of Rome in 161. Very reflective piece of philosophy. I particularly like this one: "Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions."

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 Post Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 7:44 pm 
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Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. The premise is a bizarre future where people are mostly organized by their mindset rather than by nation, and nearly everyone is trackedā€¦ for their convenienceā€¦ riiight. Also, there's this kid with magical powers that freaks out everyone, not the least because trying to convince people to join your religion is a major taboo.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:19 am 
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Oh I forgot to mention I am trying to work my way through Iain Banks' The Algebraist I've enjoyed it thus far but it's hard to find time to read due to life distractions *cough* Breath of the Wild *cough*

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:43 am 
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I've been chewing my way through the New White Sands City cyberpunk series.

Full disclosure, the author is a good friend of mine, but the writing is pretty slick and the action is fast. There's a novella you can get by signing up to the mailing list, so the first hit is free....

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 Post Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 4:16 pm 
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I recently found the first "new" fantasy author I've really enjoyed in a long time --Garth Nix. Normally I'd wouldn't be big on all the undead monsters crawling around his books, but he brings a warmth and a humanity to the topic that reminds me of classic authors I loved, like Wynne-Jones and LeGuin.

I also really enjoyed the new Murakami book. I know not everyone has liked it, but his stuff is really on my wavelength. You just have to accept that you're just getting stuff piped straight from the deepest depths of his subconscious, and deal with all the inconsistencies and loose ends (and just straight ickiness) that result.

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