Book Resolution Update and Books to Read Before End of 2010

All of a sudden we are approaching the last 3 months of the year.  Where has the time gone? Oh, yeah I've reviewed nearly 40 books and read more than twice that number. But how am I doing with those reading resolutions from the beginning of the year?

1. 1.  Read more Science Fiction including some of the suggestions from commenter's on this post. Check. Read A Canticle for Leibowitz, Julian Comstock,  To Say Nothing of the Dog, and an Alastair Reynolds novel not to mention quite a few other quality reads.
2. 2.  Read more short story collections and anthologies. Check, but I hope to get to more. So far I've read Is Anybody Out There?, Swords & Dark Magic, The New Dead, Warriors, Clockwork Phoenix 3, and Hellboy: Oddest Jobs. Plus I've read quite a few other novellas and shorts online including works by Ian Tregillis ("What Doctor Gottlieb Saw" ) and Jason Sanford ("Sublimation Angels").
3. 3.  Read more books from my shelves. I faltered on this one quite a bit, but here is the list:

• * Charles Stross's first two Laundry Files - not yet.
• * The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick - not yet.
• * The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan - not yet and I might wait until closer to the release of The Cold Commands.
• * The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson - not yet and a friend has them so getting to them this year is unlikely.
• * Shadow Falls by Simon R. Green - not yet.
• * The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem - Started and stopped. I plan on picking it up again, but I wasn't in the right mindset to read it at the time.
• * Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon - Yes!
• * The City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VandeerMeer - not yet.

So I'd call the third resolution a big failure, but I still have a little over 3 months to do better. Looking at my shelves has also made me realize how many books I've purchased that are gathering dust. Coupled with the fact I've been concentrating on new releases I've decided November and probably part of December will be dedicated to reading mostly books I've purchased with a mix of the above and those below.

• * Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
• * Thicker Than Water by Mike Carey
• * Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
• * Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell
• * City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton
• * Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding
• * The Fade by Chris Wooding

Looks like I have plenty of good reading to look forward to. Out of both lists are there any in particular you'd like to see reviewed?


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New Procurements (My mail person must hate me)

The last couple weeks were pretty quite for books and than all of a sudden I got 7 packages in one day. A couple of those were books I ordered and below few others were nabbed while I was out and about.

Thunderer by Felix Gilman - This I picked up at Tor's Steam Salon and while I was there Gilman signed it.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest - Also from the Steam Salon as I can never find it in store.

Twelve by Jasper Kent - My UK counterparts have been talking this Vampire read up for a year now and I'll definitely be partaking of this review copy at some point in the near future.

Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk - This is the finished copy of Sprunk's fine debut (review here), which shows off the art wonderfully.

Absorption by John Meaney - Part of my Book Depository order, which is still rolling in. How could I pass up a Sci-Fi series with Ragnarok as the series title? Well I couldn't, so there.

Plan B by Jonathan Tropper - I've been itching for some more Tropper after enjoying last year's This Is Where I Leave you so very much. Tropper's publisher is reissuing his books so I snagged this on my last trip to Borders with a coupon.

Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechen - I've long been a fan of Ancient Mystery type books regarding past civilaztions and lost history.  Think Graham Hancock.

Dog Blood by David Moody - This is the sequel to Moody's debut Hater sent from the publisher. I'll definitely check it out soon.

The Machinery of Light by David J. Williams - The third and final book in the Autumn Rain trilogy sent by the author. Review of the first book is still to come.

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - Another review copy that I'll be devouring by the end of June.

Antiphon by Ken Scholes - Galley of one of my most anticipated series now. If you haven't tried Scholes get off your butts and do it.  You won't regret it. I'm anxious to read it now, but I try to hold off until close to publication.

Shakespeare Undead by Lori Handeland - I'm a little wary of this mash-up take off after my abortive attempt at reading Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, but I'm a big Shakespeare fan so I just might try it out. Review copy from publisher.

Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts -  I like Urban Fantasy, but the cover turned me off at first. Having re-read the back cover copy it does pique my interest again as a not your run of the mill UF mixing sword forging with dwarves in a modern setting. Review copy from publisher.

Twisted Metal by Tony Ballantyne - Not picture because it just showed up. Another from Book Depository. Did someone say robot war?


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Reading List for the Coming Week

I'll be on vacation next week, which means I won't be tending to the blog as obsessively. But don't worry I have a few posts all set up for next week including a couple reviews and even the start of a contest. In a recent article I mentioned I was picking out books for this trip so I thought I'd post the list. I don't expect to read all of these next week, but the majority will be and I'll probably grab another before I head out. Here is what I'll be hauling with me: The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte - Some people compare this to The Shadow of the Wind. I doubt it will be that good, but even if it is half as entertaining I'll be happy. "A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice. . . .Think of The Club Dumas as a beach book for intellectuals." --New York Daily News Lucas Corso, middle-aged, tired, and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment.The task seems straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Part mystery, part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, The Club Dumas is a wholly original intellectual thriller by the internationally bestselling author of The Flanders Panel and The Seville Communion. In the Garden Iden (The Company) by Kage Baker - After my little diatribe on Sci-fi I decide to bring this one along as the series is supposed to be superb and I still like time travel. Library Journal "Baker's witty debut novel is a pip. Full of exquisite descriptions of 16th-century England and the Spanish Inquisition (Baker was an actor and director at the Living History Centre and has taught Elizabethan English as a second language), this is a bittersweet tale of a young woman's first love. The initial assignment for 18-year-old Mendoza, transformed into an immortal cyborg by the 24th-century Company, is to retrieve from Renaissance England an endangered plant that cures cancer. Posing as a Spanish lady accompanying her doctor father, she falls in love with the mortal Nicholas Harpole, secretary to the owner of Iden Hall and its exotic gardens. Amidst the raging Catholic/Protestant powerplays revolving around the English throne and the fervent religious bloodlust of common folk, Mendoza is torn between her task and her love. Baker's story comments powerfully on religious hypocrisy and xenophobia." The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines - I loved Hines's Jig the Goblin series, so I trust him as much as it is a girly title. Plus we all need a little humor on vacation. What would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie’s Angels? What’s delivered is The Stepsister Scheme—a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale readers can bet it won’t be “and they lived happily ever after.” Dishwasher by Pete Jordan - I love funny travel narratives. Dishwasher is the true story of a man on a mission: to clean dirty dishes professionally in every state in America. Part adventure, part parody, and part miraculous journey of self-discovery, it is the unforgettable account of Pete Jordan's transformation from itinerant seeker into "Dishwasher Pete"—unlikely folk hero, writer, publisher of his own cult zine, and the ultimate professional dish dog—and how he gave it all up for love. The Sun: A Biography by David Whitehouse - Science entertainment to break up all the fiction. In The Sun, David Whitehouse takes us on a journey to the heart of our local star and beyond, relating how it was born, the many ways it influences life on Earth and how it will die. He recounts the many myths surrounding the Sun and the fascinating stories of scientists throughout history who have attempted to discover its secrets – occasionally at the price of their lives. The Sun explores the role of the sun for those on Earth, from the earliest civilizations that worshipped it, through its emulation in art and literature to the present day. He describes the inferno at its core, the magnetic chaos of its surface and the furthest reaches of its atmosphere that stretches beyond the planets out into the galaxy. Within our lifetime he considers that changes in the sun will become noticeable, an issue that we ignore at our peril. Finally, David Whitehouse speculates on the future of life on Earth with a Sun that must ultimately turn into a red giant. From its birth in a cloud of gas and dust, its long lifetime nurturing life on our own planet, to its death as a cosmic cinder, this is our Sun’s story Already Dead by Charlie Huston - For my Urban Fantasy fix. Those stories you hear? The ones about things that only come out at night? Things that feed on blood, feed on us? Got news for you: they’re true. Only it’s not like the movies or old man Stoker’s storybook. It’s worse. Especially if you happen to be one of them. Just ask Joe Pitt. There’s a shambler on the loose. Some fool who got himself infected with a flesh-eating bacteria is lurching around, trying to munch on folks’ brains. Joe hates shamblers, but he’s still the one who has to deal with them. That’s just the kind of life he has. Except afterlife might be better word. From the Battery to the Bronx, and from river to river, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe is one of them, and he’s not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be stronger and faster than you, and he’s tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that’s eating at him isn’t his idea of a good time. And Joe doesn’t make it any easier on himself. Going his own way, refusing to ally with the Clans that run the undead underside of Manhattan–it ain’t easy. It’s worse once he gets mixed up with the Coalition–the city’s most powerful Clan–and finds himself searching for a poor little rich girl who’s gone missing in Alphabet City. Now the Coalition and the girl’s high-society parents are breathing down his neck, anarchist Vampyres are pushing him around, and a crazy Vampyre cult is stalking him. No time to complain, though. Got to find that girl and kill that shambler before the whip comes down . . . and before the sun comes up. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon - As mentioned earlier comparing this to The Big Lebowski was all I needed to hear. Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon— private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fog. It's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists. This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Topper - For my male lit fix. The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family. As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it’s a week long attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd's father died: She’s pregnant. This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not.

Recommendations | So Much Steampunk, So Little Time

A reader asked me for some Steampunk recommendations. After looking through my shelves the simple truth is while I love the sub genre I still have a lot to read as is evident by this list.

Steampunk is also known as Clockpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Victorian Sci-fi, and its more modern counterparts Dieselpunk and Atomicpunk. Whatever you call it the theme is advanced technology that is out of its time, but made from available resources such as Clockwork Golems and Steampowered Airships.

Books I've read and recommend:


The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia - Sedia has created one of the best characters in Steampunk with her Mattie. Exciting and emotional at the same time. Dark Wolf just did a great review here.

The Affinity Bridge by George Mann - Sherlock Homlesque Steampunk series with Zombies. See my review here along with a link to a free short story with the same characters.

Boneshaker by Cheri Priest- Very well done Steampunk, which I'd call more of a Steam Fantasy as it takes place in Seattle instead of stuffy London.  See my interview with Cherie here and my review here. Love the cover. Read the Prologue/Introduction here. Cool site too. A second book is in the works.

Soulless by Gail Carriger - New Steampunk series with romance, humor, and action which my wife and I both enjoyed.  See our review here and interviews with a few of the characters here (Alexia Tarabotti and Lord Maccon) and here (Lord Akeldama).. Changeless, Book the Second in the Parasol Protectorate series will be released in April 2010. The author keeps a very entertaining blog as well.

Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters - Steampunk with helluva lot of action. See interview here.

Steampunk by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer - Good intro anthology with a very nice history of Steampunk. I have a signed copy with a nice dirigible illustration.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Graphic Novels) by Alan Moore - The earliest volumes were the most enjoyable, while the newer releases keep getting further out there.

The Victorian (Graphic Novels) by Trainor Houghton - There are 5 collected volumes that tell one giant story arc. I've only been able to get volumes 1 & 2, but so far so good.

Girl Genius (Graphic Novels) by Phil Foglio You can read the entire series so far as a web comic here, but I recommend the collected editions. It will take a lot of clicking to go through the whole series.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - Only some of the worlds the characters spend time in have Steampunk elements, but for the most part the series is a good read. It can get a little heavy handed at times.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - The classic that started it all. Still great to read after all of these years.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - Yet again another classic for which all other Steampunk comes from.

Books I own but haven't gotten to yet:

Mainspring and Escapement by Jay Lake - I've really got to get to these. He is also working on a 3rd in the series as well.

Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology by Nick Gevers - Great selection of authors and an awesome cover.

Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti - Steampunk for women. My wife loved it and is looking forward to the sequel.  Good review from Fantasy Debut here.

The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James P. Blaylock - Omnibus from Subterranean of a bunch of short stories, novellas, and novels including Homunculus and Lord Kelvin's Machine. Blaylock is one of the people responsible for creating this sub genre. I've read a couple of the short stories but have yet to delve deeper. Soon though.

Candle Man The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance by Glenn Dakin - Someone from the comments recommend this one as a good Young Adult Fantasy tale with Steampunk elements.

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson - This one has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time.

The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt - Newish Steampunk series I've heard decent things about.


Books I am looking forward to or haven't gotten my hands on yet:

New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear - I've heard good things.

The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo - Been meaning to pick this up for years. Di Filippo is another early Steampunk originator.

Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers - What little I've heard about this Steampunk noir sounds interesting. Releases in September 2009. Akers will also be doing a Steampunk/Crime Noir book with Pyr sometime next year called The Horns of Ruin.

The Ebb Tide by James P. Blaylock - Novella of new Langdon St. Ives story from Subterranean Press.

The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker - Novella prequel to her Company series from Subterranean Press. Sounds intriguing.

Bone and Jewel Creatures by Elizabeth Bear - A new Steampunk novella with Subterranean Press to be released in March 2010.

Infernal Devices: A Mad Victorian Fantasy by K.W. Jeter - I don't know much about this other than it was another early Steampunk work. Currently out of print. The subtitle is enough to make me want to track a copy down. Jeter is also credited with coining the term Steampunk.

Steampunk related books I didn't care for (Don't hate me too much for the first one.):

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers - I had one major problem with the book that if mentioned would ruin it for everyone. Suffice to say I was able to figure out the big mystery way too early.

The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling - I read this a long time ago, but I don't have any fond memories.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Many of China Mieville's books are also said to have Steampunk elements, but I can't say for sure how they are used since I haven't read most of his work. I hope to update this list periodically[Last update August 7, 2009 September 28, 2009]. Below are more resources for those wanting to go further into this world. If you have any additions please comment. Also, check out Cherie Priest's great article Steampunk: What it is, why I came to like it, and why I think it’ll stick around.

Resources:
Steampunk Magazine. An online magazine that is pretty interesting. It not only includes literature but art, style, and a bit of mad science.
Very exhaustive Steampunk book list from LibraryThing is here. Although some books mentioned don't have much to do with Steampunk so beware, as many people confuse Victorian Fantasy with Steampunk all too easily.

Steampunk themed blogs:
www.thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/
voyagesofdrfabre.blogspot.com/
brassgoggles.co.uk/blog/
steampunkworkshop.com/
steampunkscholar.blogspot.com/
curiousexpeditions.org/
community.livejournal.com/steamfashion
Clockworks is a Steampunk themed webcomic updated regularly.
Steampunk Tales is an iPhone Steampunk themed comic, but can be downloaded as a PDF and in other formats as well.