Wesley Chu Announces Sale on The Lives of Tao

Remember when I said following authors on social media was a good way to find deals on their books? Well it paid off today. Wesley Chu posted to Facebook today that The Lives of Tao is on sale for only $2.99 for the Kindle on Amazon. This is a book I've praised in the past and still do. It's also on Reddit's list of underrated fantasy books, which I thought was tragic. So if you've never read the book take this opportunity to go get a great story from an up and coming author. Leave me a comment if you buy it and what you think of it.

Anthem's Fall, The Debut Novel by S.L. Dunn

Cover from Goodreads

Anthem's Fall is the debut novel from S.L. Dunn, and it's a pretty good debut. This isn't a straight sci-fi book. It's not set in the future and it's not about a technologically superior, space faring race. In fact, when I started reading it I forgot it was sci-fi at all. 

The story starts in New York City with a young woman named Kristen Jordan, an incredibly brilliant geneticist and a student at Columbia. She's working on a new technology that allows us to create synthetic cells that are exact copies of biological templates. The science is a little over my head, but you don't really have to follow it and Dunn doesn't spend whole chapters hashing out the science behind it like some authors do. 

The book then takes us to the planet Anthem, home to the Primus race. While they do have superior technology, that isn't really the thing this race focuses on. The Primus, you see, are vastly superior to us in strength. Dunn has created a race of people that don't need technological weapons, because none can hurt them. The only thing that can is their own prodigious strength, given to them by the Sejero genes they inherited 2000 years previously. This has led to the creation of a culture where might makes right. The strongest of their number advance the highest. Interestingly, the highest order of the Primus, the Royal blood lines, look just like humans. Humans with the strength to level cities. 

I thought the story was good. I was interested and engaged the whole time. Dunn wrote good action scenes, and the fights between the Primus are visceral and super human. It's a little hard to visualize clashes between people that are stronger than tanks, but the fights are described very well to help with that visualization. I also think Dunn hit the nail on the head when he described the way the population would react to what was happening. The total bedlam he described seems to me to be an accurate guess. 

There are a couple things I didn't like about the book. I wish Dunn would have explained Sejero genetics more fully. I wanted to know where it came from, what it meant, and what happened during the war with the Zergos in the distant past. I also wanted to know more about the link between the Primus and humanity and how Pral Nerol knew about Earth. I'm hoping those questions will be explained more fully in the later books. In term's of the writing, I had trouble believing the dialog between the two Primus soldiers on Earth. I just don't think that two people from a society so different from ours would speak in such a normal manner with each other.

Anthem's Fall is a genre bending book. There's aliens, but the fact that they fly around in space ships is minimized. No one uses technology too far ahead of what we have now, and the Vatruvian Cell technology the book focuses on seems plausible right now. The genre of the book isn't as important as the values the story is espousing. At it's core Anthem's Fall is a book about the morality of the strong dominating the weak because they can. It's a conflict between a society where the strongest dominate because no one and no technology could stop them and a protector who feels the strong have a duty to protect those at a disadvantage. It was a great debut novel, and I can't wait for the next one. Anthem's Fall is set to publish in July, so look for it soon.

What is a reader to do?

I've been thinking about books a lot lately. I've always loved reading as much as I could, but since I started this blog books have been on my mind more than normal. I'm connected with a few authors and my favorite publishers on social media and I get emails from a few about new releases. And I just don't know where to go next.

For those of you who don't know me, which is all of you since this is the internet and I'm not a celebrity blogger yet, I'm 28. I'm also an accountant so you'll have to bear with me here on the annoying math bits of this post. So I have 2,148 books right now. I know because I have a spread sheet that keeps track of them all, including books I have, related books that I still need, and (rarely) the disposition of books I've disliked, such as sold to half price books or donated to my local library. I also have a spreadsheet tracking books that I've read so I know where I am in series and don't read a book over unless I want to. This sheet contains metrics such as the number of books I've read so far this year, the total page count, the average time to read a book, and the number I've read since starting the spreadsheet. Did I mention the accountant thing? We're not all this square, I promise. Anyway, I read about 55 books per year right now, a number I can only assume will go down after I have kids. Simple math tells me that I will be done with my collection in just over 39 years.  I will be in my late 60's. Not that old in this day and age, but getting there.

The problem is that doesn't include any new books added to my collection. That number also doesn't count the nice number of ARCs I'm getting to read for this site, including the one I'm currently reading (check out the cool feature on the right of the screen). So do you see my dilemma? How do I pick which books to read and which to let go before I die? I'm constantly bombarded with new stuff I want to read. Orbit's advertising an Orbital Drop on facbook? Great, just what I needed. What's that? Dayton Ward posts to Facebook about a book that looks pretty awesome? Thanks Dayton, like catching up on Vanguard and reading Star Trek: Seekers wasn't enough from you. And of course my own room betrays me. I thought I had mapped out a strategy on what to read next, but sitting here writing this I see the whole Terry Brooks Shannara series looking at me forlornly because I've never read one yet. (You wouldn't believe how accusing a book can look)

So my question to you folks is, what's a reader to do? How do I decide what to read before I leave this mortal coil and my relatives build the Tavern at the End of the Universe Memorial Science Fiction and Fantasy Library, or drop a whole moving van of books off at Good Will? Since I'm a glutton for punishment, why don't you drop me a comment with something I should read soon? If I have it, or it looks good enough to add to the collection, I'll feature it on here too.

Review of Words of Radiance

If Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson was a marathon read, I definitely have a runner's high. I think. Anyone who knows me would know I'd be more likely to have a runner's heart attack than a runner's high. And those people should stop ruining my metaphors. Anyway, I loved this book. That's not a surprise, since I've liked everything Sanderson has written, but I am going to try to be a little critical here instead of being another fanboy.

Words of Radiance is the second book of a planned 10 in The Stormlight Archive series. It feels like this was the second book in a trilogy though, with a nice set up at the end for a final book to wrap up. I think Sanderson is planning to have smaller story arcs within the 10 book set. I have a couple of complaints with the story, and I will try to be light on my spoilers, but you've been warned. I feel like the last few pages of the book threw a ton of new bits of story at you all at once. I know an epilogue sets up the next story, but we meet three new Radiants right at the end with no explanation of what their orders mean, one of which is the most frustrating, as Sanderson didn't really even allude to the fact that they were becoming a Radiant. I know Sanderson's style is to drop a lot of hints about the world and then explain fully in later books, but that just left me frustrated instead of excited. I also think it's weird how Kaladin and Shallan spent months with their respective spren while learning to be Radiants, but the new batch seem to have spren that already know who they are and don't have any of the memory problems that Pattern and Syl did.

Those frustrating bits aside, I think this was a great book. Way of Kings is set during a war, yet its not all about battles. There are a lot of political machinations happening, yet it doesn't get bogged down in slow political scenes. There are several main characters being followed, but you can easily keep their stories straight in your mind and the interaction between them works well. Sanderson has taken elements from several genres (epics, political tales, and war stories) and blended them all seamlessly into a story with good pacing and a killer plot. I rarely found myself bogged down in a slow chapter, though some of the interludes seemed unimportant for now, and I also didn't feel like he was rushing through a scene just to get to the next one.

You learn a lot more about the world of Roshar and how the powers of the Radiants work in this book.  I liked seeing the different styles that his characters have while learning to use a power that they can access instinctively. Sanderson does a great job in giving his characters real life and personality that is unique to them. Their personalities carry through faithfully in all of their interactions, but they aren't flat one dimentional people either.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series, although history tells me I'll be waiting quite a while. I'm anticipating a great deal of conflict between the orders of Radiants and their individual members. I also can't wait to learn more about how the worlds of Roshar and Shadesmar really work.

Shared Universe Stories 3: Variations on a Theme by Gygax

Welcome once again to my round up of my favorite shared universe series. So far I've discussed Warhammer, in which Gotrex and Felix novels are my favorites, and Star Trek, which offers a great sci-fi experience with lots of different stories. Today, though, I'm going to talk about the series I read all through college. These two series are both based on Dungeons & Dragons and have their own pen and paper RPGs. Have you guessed it yet? I'm talking about Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms!

I love both of these series for several reasons. First, I feel they have a more compelling central story line than other shared universe series. Warhammer has basically no main story arc. Sure, Gotrek and Felix are a story line unto themselves, but they aren't the focus of the Warhammer world. I feel like every Warhammer book I read is a side story to the main adventure, which doesn't actually exist except in your table top game. Star Trek has a main line I suppose, but I tend to read the side stories more anyway. But Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms both have strong main story lines, plus the tons of side tales you would expect from a shared universe story.

The main arc of Dragonlance starts with Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in the Chronicles trilogy. This trilogy, and the other core stories that follow, revolve around a group of companions and the war of the lance. You get to learn a lot about the world and these characters, and the nice part of an RPG tie in is you can find more information about anything you're curious about by searching the different guides online. I found the stories confusing at times, with jumps in the plot, but that is partly because I read them out of order. There is a great guide to the reading order here. I found that I liked the different characters and they had well thought out, if a little formulaic, personalities. TSR put together a standard group of D&D adventurers (a half-elf, warrior, mage, dwarf, human, and kender) and gave them a fun adventure. Despite the fact that the Dragonlance tales are in no way groundbreaking in their depiction of fantasy characters, they are fun to read and the story will draw you in. You will want to know what happens next in the war and the betrayal from one of the main group will leave you as angry as if you were there.

There are many other stories in the Dragonlance world to choose from. I liked the Heroes series, which tells the stories of some of the famous historical figures you hear mentioned in other books. There's also a set of Tales books which deal with the history of certain events and tales of the different races such as The Cataclysm and Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes. There's even a trilogy written about the minotaurs, and I always love stories written from the perspective of the "bad guys". Sadly, it seems like Dragonlance books aren't coming out much any more. Even if this series is done being written it had a life of more than 20 years. There are lots of stories to fall in love with and I would suggest it highly.

Forgotten Realms is another D&D spin-off with it's own set of playing manuals and books. The main story line within the Forgotten Realms is all about Drizzt Do'Urden, everyone's favorite dark elf. No, this is not another one of my tales from the evil side of fantasy. Drizzt is the archetypal black sheep. He's a good dark elf. You can learn about his upbringing and exile from the dark elf society in the Dark Elf trilogy. That story, however, is a prequel to The Icewind Dale trilogy. I would recommend reading Icewind Dale first. There are presently 26 Drizzt books out or being published this year. Many of these have been collected in omnibuses, which makes getting the stories easy and slightly cheaper. Drizzt's life is long, and not always easy, but his tale is well worth reading and the books are well written.

Like all the shared universe books, The Forgotten Realms have many stories to tell in addition to the main story line. The are tales written from all different parts of the world and from different time periods. I've collected several of the omnibus editions and they make a good read when you have a week to power through a story, although I guess most people don't read 600 pages a week. Either way, they are worth the money. Not all of them have caught my attention, in particular the Maztica trilogy. I was surprised, because the series is written by Douglas Niles, whom I really like, but it just didn't grab me. The trilogy is a Forgotten Realms version of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Aside form that one series, I have liked the other books I've read very much. I would highly recommend The Forgotten Realms, but keep in mind you are getting sucked into a commitment of at least those 26 Drizzt books, because you won't be able to stop.

Great eBook Bargains are Everywhere Right Now

So as I've mentioned before, I'm warming to the idea of eBooks. Slowly. I'm sure finally joining the modern age and getting my Samsung Galaxy has helped. I love that I can send an eBook file from my laptop to my phone or download one from the different online services I get them from whenever I need. It's nice to know my days of being stuck on the train or eating lunch without a book are basically over.

That being said, I'm always on the hunt for great deals and new authors. That's why I'm very excited about the different eBook bargains I've run across recently. I can combine my love of loving authors with my love of being a miserly young curmudgeon.

First, find you favorite authors and follow them on social media. They will often talk about any discounting promotions going on with their books. Also, look through the forums of some of the groups on Goodreads. Authors, especially independents, will often post about discounts they are offering. If any of you aren't regularly looking on the sub-reddit /r/fantasy, you really should be. Just a quick browse today let me see a few bargain priced eBooks , such as The Thousand Names by Django Wexler (what a great name btw) and Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan, who is a great guy.

Social media is also a great way to follow your favorite publishers. I follow all my favorite publishers on Facebook and get notified every time they have something special going on. Every week I look for a post from Orbit Books advertising their Orbital Drop, a special eBook sale with titles that change all the time. Paying attention to the goings on of your favorite publishers can help you identify new authors to try too.

You can also bargain hunt with sites like Amazon. Amazon is a huge eBook retailer. Although they may be controversial with their practices, you can get a great deal on eBooks they are having a special sale on. Just this week I was introduced to a site called Book Bub, which is free to subscribe to. Book Bub takes your interests and sends you a daily email with bargain priced or free eBooks you can get online. I just started and I already downloaded a book from a new author that I can't wait to try out. There are a lot of sites like that that you can use to find bargains.

Bargain eBooks are a great way to find some new books to read. Hopefully you will find some new favorites and go on to purchase more of the author's work. If you know of any other great places to find a deal on books leave me a comment. I'm always looking for new deals.

The Best in Shared Universe Stories II - The Wrath of Khan

I talked last time about why I love shared universe stories, stories set in the same universe written my multiple authors. I think they are fun to read, and they often offer lots of published stories so there is plenty for a junkie like me to read. If the completely cliched title weren't enough to tip my hand, this post is going to be about Star Trek books.

Cover courtesy of Goodreads

Star Trek isn't just one series. Most people know the various TV series: Enterprise, The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and Voyager. The books have several more unique series though, such as New Frontier, Stargazer, Titan, and Vanguard. I've read several stories from the TOS set of books, the first few from New Frontier, and several Vanguard books. There are hundreds of Star Trek books to read, and many are quite good. I personally feel the writing has gotten better over time, but I feel that way about most fantasy and sci-fi books. The earlier TOS books have an older style of writing (they should, they were written in the 60's and 70's), with less character development and shallower stories. I can understand the character development problems. I've often run into that when reading early versions of stories that come from shows (I'm mainly talking about Splinter of the Mind's Eye). The later stories are better, and New Frontier and Vanguard, have become some of my favorites.

Cover courtesy of Goodreads

Vanguard is set aboard Starbase 47 in the Taurus Reach, a previously unexplored section of space that has suddenly become of great interest to the Federation, the Klingons, and the Tholians. New Frontier is another series set parallel to the TV shows, in this case the Next Generation, without requiring any knowledge of the shows story line. The series features Captain Calhoun, and the first stories are set aboard the USS Excalibur. Calhoun is a renegade compared to other captains in the Star Trek universe. The Excalibur has been sent into sector 221-G, a section of space formerly controlled by the Thallonian Empire. The Empire collapsed, leaving a power vacuum and an opportunity for Star Fleet to wave the flag for the Federation. It's a really fun series to read, with some pretty crazy adventures and lots of new races to read about. The series will get you hooked till you can't wait to grab the next one.

Cover courtesy of Goodreads

Star Trek has series for everyone to love. You can read about your favorite crew from the TV shows, find a new one to love, or even read stories from the point of view of the Klingons. If you've never read one, the larger series, based on the TV shows, are mostly numbered. I would suggest starting at the beginning if you're like me and need to know everything that has happened to the crew, but aside from some trilogies you could really pick up any book in the main timelines and be ok. The smaller series I've mentioned are best read from the beginning. I hope I've convinced you to try these books. If you liked Star Trek at all, you'll love the books.

Shared Universe Stories

I like Star Trek books. Big surprise, right? All you have to do is look at the titles of my posts and you'd see that. But I'm not all about Star Trek. I also love books set in the Star Wars and Warhammer 40k universes, as well as the Warhammer, DragonLance, and Forgotten Realms worlds. I simply love shared universes.

Shared universe settings allow multiple authors to write stories set in the same fictional world. I recently came across a post on /r/fantasy about Warhammer 40k books, and it was mostly negative. I don't get it. Sure, not every one of these books is a gem. I have some books sitting on the shelf that lost me completely (I hate being negative so I won't mention names), but the majority of the time I like them. There are some that are fun reads, and some that are down right great books. One of the great things I've discovered about these books is publishers often put out omnibus editions, which help me collect a whole trilogy at once, and also cut down on my costs. I'm going to spend a couple of posts running down some of my favorite shared universe stories, and I hope you will be inspired to check some of them out.

Warhammer

Cover Courtesy of Goodreads

 

My favorite stories in the Warhammer world are the Gotrek and Felix tales. There are currently 17 G&F novels, as well as a few spin offs featuring two of the recurring villans from the series, Ulrika the Vampire and Grey Seer Thanquol. The tales are a collection of tales written (within the story) by Felix Jaeger, a merchant's son who made a drunken vow to a dwarf that would change is life forever. He vowed to be the rememberer for a dwarf named Gotrek Gurnisson, the worst Slayer to ever live. To make up for a past shameful act Gotrek joined the Slayer sect, a group of dwarves dedicated to getting themselves killed while going out in a blaze of glory. Gotrek's biggest problem is he never dies, he's too good. So the pair spend years traveling the world and Felix chronicles the whole adventure.

 

The first book is more a collection of adventures, with not much holding them together. I almost stopped reading. Luckily, I had the first omnibus and I figured I may as well finish it. They get much better after that. There are recurring villains and a progression to the stories. I also loved the Gotrek and Felix Anthology, a collection of short stories. I've never finished a book without wanting more. There are currently 4 omnibuses on the market, so getting started on the series is easy, and these books are a great entrance into the Warhammer world. You don't need any prior knowledge and these books will provide a great introduction.

Author Michael J. Sullivan is fighting cancer to honor Jay Lake

Michael J. Sullivan, author of the Riyria Revelations and other great fantasy books has just posted to Reddit that he is joining the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Many of you may have heard that Jay Lake, another beloved author, recently died of cancer. Sullivan has decided to join the Ride to help raise money in honor of Lake and all the other authors we have lost to cancer over the years.

The Ride to Conquer Cancer is a two day, 150 mile bike ride through Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. The funds raised in the Ride go to Johns Hopkins Cancer Center. The Center has more than 60,000 patients visit every year, and donations from the Ride go toward helping accelerate research and save lives.The Ride is September 13th and 14th.

You can go to Sullivan's donation page and donate to his team, or, if you live in the area you can join Team Riyria and ride with him. It sounds like an amazing journey doing something really good for the world. Almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by this terrible disease. Please donate if you can share Michael's page with your friends. Even if you can't afford to donate right now, sharing the story may help find others who can.

Why do I always have to wait for the books I'm dying to read?

If you've read any of my reviews (God I hope you have) you may have noticed I have a tendency to mix the old in with the new. Star Trek Vanguard is a great example. There's a really simple reason for this...I'm really, really impatient!

Older series appeal to me because I don't have to wait for new volumes to come out. I can read all of Vanguard in my own time. In the meantime, I have to wait nearly two years to get the 2nd volume in The Way of Kings, and I get a new volume of David Weber's Safehold series about once a year. I'm not complaining about these books. They're some of my favorites and well worth the wait, but often times I don't want to wait. Waiting drives me nuts. Well ladies and gents, there's a new book that's going to drive me crazy for a few months.

Ann Leckie's Website

Ann Leckie has been making news lately (if you read my sort of news) for her book Ancillary Justice. The book has been nominated for many awards this year, and it won a Nebula award. I think it won with good reason. I loved the book, but that's not the point of this post. The point, Ms. Leckie, is that I became aware of the sequel today, Ancillary Sword, which doesn't come out until October. It's all I've been obsessing over all day. Thanks Ann. I guess I know what I'm buying myself for my Fiancé's birthday in October.

A Roadmap to your Favorite Stories

I read an article a while ago about maps in fantasy books. To my surprise, the article's point was that the maps included in a lot of fantasy works detracts from the story and should be done away with.

WHAT?!?

I love maps in my fantasy books. Ok, I'll admit, some aren't that great, and some seem like the person drawing the map forgot to read the book. But every so often you get a gorgeously drawn map that helps you connect to the story in a more visceral way. It helps me imagine the world the author is describing. Rather than being a crutch to make up for bad world building, a really great fantasy map can bring together the author's words and your own imagination to create a totally immersive story. Maybe the author of that article isn't concerned with knowing what how the lands an author is talking about fit together, but I am. I like to see the journey drawn out, and to get a sense of scale and the relationships between the places described in the book.

Rather than continuing to hit you with nice vocab words (I've been waiting to use "visceral" for a while), I'd like to share some of my favorite maps with you.

Map courtesy of the Stormlight Archive Wiki

This map is a view of the city of Kharbranth from The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. I like this one because, rather than show the relationship between countries, it depicts Sanderson's description of how the city is protected from high storms by sitting in a cleft in the rock plain above it. Before I saw this picture I was having trouble picturing what he meant.

 

Map courtesy of Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin, author of the Earthsea series, drew this map herself. I received the first book in the series just a couple years ago from my fiancé, and I really loved it, but it was hard to wrap my mind around the world Le Guin was describing. Luckily, a handy map like this one was in the book. When an author describes a world so different from ours that it becomes hard for readers to see in their mind, a map like this can be a valuable tool for helping the story make sense. The fact that the author drew this map herself, and that it makes sense and looks good, is a nice bonus.

 

Map courtesy of Inheritance Wiki

 

The map Alagaësia from Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle is not only beautifully drawn, but it is also a great tool for tracking the action in this very location driven epic. The map is a perfect example of how a fantasy map can mix gorgeous artwork and a story telling tool. The stories are set in very diverse areas all across the world, and this map helps keep it all straight in your mind. This was one series where I would find myself going back to the cover to consult the map, and then spend time just admiring it. It draws you in and brings to life stories that aren't even in the books.

 

These are by no means the only great maps out there, hiding inside the covers of great fantasy books, but they are some of my favorites. If you have you own favorites be sure to share them in the comments.









Vanguard: Open Secrets

Cover Photo Courtesy of Goodreads

I just finished book 4 of the Star Trek Vanguard series, Open Secrets, and I was really pleased. The book is a jumping off point for the second part of the Vanguard story. At the end of the last book the Federation learned of the terrible threat posed by the alien Shedai after several members of Starfleet, and one down-on-his-luck reporter, witnessed the destruction of the Jinoteur system.

Most of the new plots in this book were introduced at the end of the previous volume,  what I had described as an extended epilogue. Commodore Reyes' trial is a big part of the story, as is the battle being waged within T'prynn's mind. We learn more about the Federation's bid to learn about Shedai artifacts and the book is interspersed with interludes from the point of view of the Shedai Wanderer.

I thought this book had a nice mix of action and storytelling,  especially after the rapid pace of the last book. I guessed at a twist ending that I envisioned, and while I was right about what happened I was way off on how it happened. I'll let you read what it is for yourselves. If you've never read a Star Trek book before I think the Vanguard series would be a good place to jump in. It's fun and doesn't require you to know what's going on in the TV sites or other books first.

I'd jump right into the next one but I promised myself I would read Seven Forges by James A. Moore next before it's sequel comes out. Look for a review of that one soon.

Altered Perceptions - Proving what great people authors can be

I recently saw an update from Brandon Sanderson on Facebook about an Indiegogo campaign called Altered Perceptions. Unfortunately, I saw the update too late to participate in the campaign, which is a real shame. And even though the campaign is closed, this story and the efforts these authors went to really touched me, and I wanted to share it.

The campaign was to raise money for Robison Wells, an author who is suffering from crippling debt due to some mental health problems. Brandon Sanderson came up with the campaign to help raise money, not just for Robison, but also to possibly start a foundation for other authors suffering from similar problems.

I could see something like this revolving around Sanderson writing a new book or short story and using that as the giveaway for the campaign, but that's not what happened. 32 authors contributed to a hardback book titled Altered Perceptions, which they filled with unique content like re-written chapters, alternate endings to their books, deleted scenes, and brand new short stories. 32 people got together to selflessly give their time and work to this anthology to help a struggling fellow author. And the book was just the beginning.

For different donation levels people could get phone calls from Sanderson and other authors, signed copies, a date with Shannon Hale and Brandon Mull, and the ultimate perk, the chance to be written in as a character in a Sanderson novel (If you can't tell Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors ever, and seeing what a great person he is hasn't hurt his standing one bit).

The campaign is closed, but I encourage anyone who's reading this to go check out the page and see who contributed their work to this fundraiser. These people are all great authors and great human beings, and they deserve your support of their works. I'd also encourage you to check out Indiegogo, where you can invest in all kinds of crowd sourced projects. If they get the foundation going and I hear about it, I'll be sure to post something here about it.

The Very Best of Tad Williams

Cover Illustration courtesy of Net Galley

The Very Best of Tad Williams is a short story anthology that was recently published. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an electronic advanced reader copy and I'm glad I did. There are 17 short stories in the book which have been previously published in other places. I've got several Tad Williams books waiting on my shelf, but I haven't gotten a chance to read any yet so this was my first Tad Williams experience.

I can't say I loved all the stories. I've read very few short story anthologies, so I don't have much reference for the overall quality of the set, but there were definitely a couple of stories I really liked. My personal favorite was The Storm Door.  The story is about paranormal researcher Nate Nightingale. He goes to visit his uncle, who got him started in his trade, to discuss the troubling trend he has noticed lately of people coming back from the dead. He relates how his research, which included a trip into death with a dying man's spirit, points to the chilling realization that the people aren't coming back from the dead. Their corpses are being possessed by the restless dead. As he is telling this story to his ailing, ventilator dependent uncle, I could see the final plot twist coming. Even so, I was surprised when it really came to pass and the story left me shivering.

My other favorite story was The Stranger's Hands. This tale starts with a man who has lost his marbles granting people their heart's true desire with a touch of his hand, and ends with a very powerful statement about human nature when one of the world's greatest wizards and a hero to the people has a darker true desire than one would think. I won't spoil the story because it is certainly worth reading for yourself.

I don't know if these stories are truly the best Tad Williams has to offer. I know he is a considered a master of fantasy, but short stories are very different to write well than full novels. I enjoyed the book and I now have a new drive to get to some of those Tad Williams books on my shelf. I think that means this collection does its job well.

Star Trek: Vanguard

Photo Courtesy of Goodreads

I just finished reading Reap the Whirlwind, the third book in the Star Trek Series Vanguard. I know, it's not current news and the book is seven years old now, but I just read it and I think it's worth sharing.

Vanguard focuses on events surrounding the Taurus Reach, a mostly unexplored region of space between the borders of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and the Tholian Assembly. The series is named for Starbase 47, Vanguard, where a lot of the story takes place. The Federation moved into the Taurus Reach in order to study the Taurus Meta-Genome, an incredibly complex genetic structure that seems to hold the key to much more than a specie's genetic material. The Klingon's are trying to discover what the Federation is after and the Tholians are trying very hard to keep both parties out. The reasons why become clear when the Shedai, an ancient collection of beings that can shed their physical bodies and have godlike powers, come back from their eons long self-induced hibernation and try to use the Tholians as the slaves they once were inside the Shedais' machines.

Reap the Whirlwind continues the plot lines set down in the previous two books and has the Federation making it to the Jinoteur system, the seeming source of the Shedais' power. The middle of the book is full of explosive action and I found it difficult to stop reading at that point. There is great character development in this story, and the story and characters are pretty deep for a Star Trek novel. This is certainly a long way from the original Star Trek books. It has a good mix of action, political intrigue, legal drama, and real stories of human interaction. By the end of part two, the story seems to be done. The third part, while very interesting, feels like an extended epilogue. Each of the chapters wraps up the hanging plot lines, of which there are many. Some of these later chapters leave obvious places for the fourth book in the series to pick up, while others neatly tie up a sub plot. Reap the Whirlwind nicely wraps up the first story arc, while setting the series up for a refreshing new start.

I get that people usually write about new or upcoming releases, and this book is pretty old, but I really enjoyed reading it. Being a few years old doesn't mean a book is worthless, or that everyone that would enjoy it has read it, so I hope a few people out there are inspired to start reading the Vanguard series. It is a very well written set of books with a very deep set of plot lines. If you've never read a Star Trek book before, this would be a great place to start. It is separate from the events in the main novel arcs and the TV series, and it would be great on its own, even if you took all the Star Trek jargon out of it.



Paper or Plastic, My Battle with eBooks

Many years ago (3, to be exact) I had a Sony Reader. I thought it would be cool, since I always have a book with me and sometimes that can get a bit ponderous, especially when I'm currently reading a book like Words of Radiance with over 1000 pages. Unfortunately, like a lot of people, I just couldn't make the switch. Carrying the Reader meant I still had something extra to keep in my pocket, and to be honest I liked the feel of books better. I like holding something with weight, turning the pages, and getting that paper and ink smell (it may not be new-car smell, but it's still good). Eventually, the only thing that ended up on my Reader was the list of books I own, which I keep in excel and sort by owned and not owned. That's not weird right?

Anyway, I thought I was done with e-book readers. I went back to paper books and have firmly held on to them for the last few years.  Fast forward to my first smartphone, which I got in December, and my story changed. I found myself reading a Star Trek book on my phone and I realized I've been doing that more often lately. Faced with a disorganized pile of 2000 books to go through to find the one I'm looking for, beaming a file to my phone suddenly has an upside. I still like carrying around a real book, but e-books are growing on me for their convenience. 

What do you guys prefer? Drop me a comment and let me know if you have a favorite program for your phone and where you buy e-books from. 

Reddit's List of Underrated Fantasy Works: Part 2

So some of the coolest fantasy stories out there are the ones that put you in the shoes of non-humans. There's a lot of tales out there from the point of view of the elves, and the dwarves get some good books too, but what if you really want to experience life from a new perspective? Then you need to pick up a copy of The Goblin Corps, by Ari Marmell.

Cover Photo Courtesy of Goodreads

 

 

The Goblin Corps is a tale of the most well written anti-heroes I've ever gotten my hands on. These guys are mean, disgusting, despicable, and I still managed to like them. I'm not sure how Marmell accomplished that, but I found myself really rooting for these horrible creatures. The main characters are pretty unique takes on traditional types of monsters, such as an orc, a goblin, a kobold, and a troll. Marmell's troll is truly a unique take on a classic. She is definitely the creepiest of the bunch, and scares the rest of the bad guys to death. This group of scum is thrown together into a Demon Squad and sent out to do the biding of the dreaded Charnel King, Morthûl. Said bidding is a series of tasks which are nearly guaranteed to get the Demon Squad killed and lead to all sorts of dirty and difficult situations.

The Few, The Proud, The Obscene. The quote on the cover really captures the spirit of the book. The Goblin Corps mixes humor, profanity, and an action filled story. It is a fun read that you won't want to put down. I would love to see this become a series, but for now it looks like Marmell has moved on to other projects.

Reddit's List of Underrated Fantasy Works: Part 1

/r/fantasy recently had a vote for the most underrated or overlooked books in fantasy, chosen by the forum's members. Imagine my surprise when I found several of my favorite recent reads on this list! These were great books, written by great authors, and I couldn't believe everyone else hadn't heard of them as well. So to correct this horrible wrong, I'm going to discuss the books on the list that I loved and think everyone else should too. You can disagree with me if you must, but at least read them first.

First up is The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu. The book is the first in a series, with the third book in the series expected later this year. The story focuses on Roen, a pathetic IT worker with no real life or goals, and Tao, the ancient alien being who has just taken up residence in Roen's head. Tao's race crash landed on Earth in the planet's infancy and they have been looking for a way off ever since. After splitting into two factions, the aliens have been in a state of civil war for millennium and have influenced the human race at nearly every step of our development.

Tao can be Roen's best friend or a biggest nag.. He brings Roen into a world that offers personal betterment, a thrilling life, and the opportunity for death at every turn. The story is fast paced, the conversations are funny and witty, and the book simply should not be missed. Wesley Chu has a very promising career starting up, and The Lives of Tao is the perfect way to get in on the ground floor of his career.

Cover Photo Courtesy of Goodreads

Brandon Sanderson, Epic Fantasy, and My Love for Truly Massive Books

Well, I just finished reading The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, for the second time. I have to say, Sanderson has really captured me as one of my favorite authors. He always comes up with such unique worlds and incredibly creative stories. I reread this massive 1001 page tome again in order to bring myself back up to speed before reading Words of Radiance, book two of The Stormlight Archive. Part of what I love about Sanderson, and the whole epic fantasy genre, is the depth of storytelling and the world building present. If I hadn't reread the first book after so long, I would have missed lots of important stuff. I wouldn't have remembered the significance of the Knights Radiant, or remembered how important the lore around surgebinding was going to be, or had any clue about the mysteries surrounding Jasnah Kholin's soulcasting revealed at the end of the book. While some may see this knowledge as daunting, it just helps to draw me deeper into the work and the world the author has set up.

I think that's the whole point to epic fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I love quick fun reads like Robert Asprin's Myth, Inc. series, and unlike many people, I thought Sanderson's single volume work Elantris was good too. But there is just something special about diving into a work of epic fantasy. You fall in love with the first volume, and you know there is a lot more story and a lot more world to discover coming up. The Stormlight Archive will be 10 books long, and that's not the longest series around. I love starting these series knowing I will get years of enjoyment from them.

For now, I'm off to start reading Words of Radiance. It's going to be a bittersweet adventure, because I know when I'm done I'll have at least another year, probably two, before the third book comes out. But all in all, I glad there are people like Brandon Sanderson out there creating these massive worlds that seem live and breathe in our imaginations.

Druids: The Baddest of Bad-Asses

Kevin Hearne has completely grabbed my attention lately. The author of the Iron Druid series, Hearne is an avid comic book fan and Star Wars geek; clearly we're kindred spirits. I fell in love with this series after my fiancé bought me Hounded, the first in the series, for Valentine's Day. The writing is fast paced and the main character, Atticus, is witty and completely irreverent to the many gods and goddesses he meets.

Hearne is an Arizona native, and that is crystal clear while reading these books. In one of the hallmarks of good urban fantasy, Hearne makes sure that his readers know exactly how to picture the location in his books. After reading the first few books in the series I was dying to visit Arizona, much like my desire to visit Rome after reading Angels and Demons.

Reading this series will make anyone feel like an expert in ancient world religions, and let you realize just how pathetic we all are at pronouncing words in Gaelic. If you like urban fantasy you will love the Iron Druid series. I know I can't wait for the seventh book, Shattered, to be released. I just wish Hearne would be making a tour stop in Chicago.