Capitalising on hype

Sadly, my blog is very topic-specific, so I won't capitalise on all the hype since last week, even if it's about the blurring between fact and fiction. I wonder how things are going to develop further, considering the latest salvo fired, and it's still early on Sunday morning.

By the way, I want to reiterate that my blog has one main, very specific purpose for me: to record what I read. It's not to review what I read, although I am happy to enter a dialogue if someone comments/asks a question.

I've also been intending on promoting SFSA, which I've not done all that much of lately. I'm still getting into the hang of blogging.

Hardly Here was a source of...

science fiction and fantasy books for me in high school. Many thanks, Ilan, I still remember!

Finished Hamilton, read an Abbey, now on a Rohan

I finished Judas Unchained sometime last week. I didn't end up doing all that much reading while away in the bush over the long weekend I took. About halfway through, the action finally picked up and then I was pretty much glued to the page. Although I was still going, "Er, what was the story line in book one...?"

Then I read Lynn Abbey's Siege of Shadows, which I finished at about 2am on Sunday morning and rather enjoyed. I have since discovered that it's the first of a trilogy, of which the last two have not been published. It seems Abbey likes having twins as characters: she had twin sisters in Unicorn and Dragon –
Unicorn and Dragon and Conquest.

Then last night I started Michael Scott Rohan's Run to the Stars, which was his first novel. I first read Rohan in high school or earlier – the first book in the Winter of the World series, The Anvil of Ice. Although I can't remember much about it, it made an impression on me. Last year I borrowed Cloud Castles from Grant, and The Gates of Noon is waiting for me to read as well; these last two are books three and two respectively in another trilogy.

On page...

374

[This was posted after the flight, which had various delays. I'm having a problem with blogger and getting it to show South African timestamps.]

Airport blogging: 'I'll be 42 before I finish my 1235 page book'

I'm currently at Cape Town International Airport waiting to board for
my return trip to Jozi, using gmail on my Nokia 6234 to email my blog.
It's been a whirlwind two-day business trip.

On my flight down on Sunday evening, I was standing in line waiting to
board - after trekking to a completely different gate on a completely
different floor at the last moment - reading Peter F Hamilton's Judas
Unchained, so I had the 1235 page book in my hand when I finally
boarded the plane.

There was a queue behind me and a queue in front of me.

'You're definitely not 40, are you?' says the flight attendant to me.

'Huh?'

All I can think of is that we're already delayed and there's a whole
lot of people behind me and just what is this guy smoking...

'But you'll surely be 42 by the time you finish that book!'

[Currently on page 248, about to start reading again now.]

If people comment, maybe I'll post more often

I guess I may be one of those people who really need the interaction to keep up the blogging. Please comment and ask questions.

Bad bad me

Er, work has been nuts? What other excuses can I use?

Ack, just realised that there's an SFSA meet tomorrow: Star Wars day, all three original films. Doubt I'm going to make that - need to work on Probe. I wasn't able to go to the special meeting this past Monday [Bruce Muzik on "Quantum Physics and its application to everyday life coupled with the Power of the Mind"] as I had my dance lesson.

Anyway, I've been reading a whole bunch of Sean Russel, borrowed from Grant Charlton.

I finally, six months, later, continued with The Initiate Brother and am almost at the end of its concluding sequel, Gatherer of Clouds. Before finishing this set, I read World Without End but Grant has never been able to find the sequel, Sea Without a Shore (sequence is called "Moontide and Magic Rise").

I also reread Robin McKinley's The Hero and The Crown (hadn't reread in years so it was all fresh again to me) and The Blue Sword (which I reread often since I have a copy).

Then there was L Neil Smith's The Crystal Empire. Interesting alternative history - imagine the Muslim and Jews all happy as one united empire... Thought the ending was a bit weak, though.

Lined up to read:

• Peter F Hamilton's Judas Unchained
• Michael Scott Rohan's The Singer and The Sea; The Gates of Noon (second of a trilogy of which I've read the last one, duh); Run to the Stars
• Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire
• Lyn Abbey's Siege of Shadows

Yes, I know I need to catch up on writing...

But things have been a bit hectic lately and aren't exactly slowing down for the next few days!

I must admit I was amazed at the interest people are showing in this fledgling blog, from a couple of comments people made last night at the lotsoffun 27dinner in Jozi. :) Am I actually doing something right? Feedback appreciated!

Finished the Turtledove

So last night, instead of going to dancing because I was grumpy from work, I sat on my couch and finished the Harry Turtledove.

One of the things I have liked about these two books is that the approach to relationships is more realistic. While the Fox got the girl at the end of book one, beginning of book two starts with his pain at her having run off, leaving him with their young son, a couple of years after they got married.

I still reckon my favourite Turtledove series is the World War II Balance series, although the last addition to that was really crap.

Board games meeting and cheesecake?

We're going to be playing board games at this month's SFSA meeting (Saturday). For some reason I thought it was a games day, which was real lekker last year, until I read the email again just now.

I also see that the starting topic for this month's discussion evening is Science , Pseudo Science and Science Fiction. I've not been to a discussion evening in ages. This must be rectified! Al's cheesecake and I need to be reunited...

The Empress of Earth

So last night I finished reading Melissa Scott's The Empress of Earth, the conclusion to the Silence Leigh trilogy.

Now while I'm sure I did read it once many years ago, although I had to wait years to get my grubby little paws on it, I must admit I couldn't remember anything.

I enjoyed but there were parts where I did feel as if I were just wading through the technical explanations of her system for space travel etc. Went on and on and on.

Sucker for a reread

Man, am I a sucker for a reread. :)

Yesterday I was over at my SO and found his brother - who is a member of SFSA, btw - had the Melissa Scott "Silence Leigh" trilogy, which made a huge impact on me sometime in high school. A few years ago, I bought the middle book secondhand from Grant's shop.

So the Harry Turtledove has been interrupted (which is fine, because it's actually an omnibus of two books and I'd just started the second one late on Friday night [well, Saturday morning by that stage]).

Grant has said to me a couple of times, and recently, that he doesn't understand how someone can reread books. Well, sometimes it's a lack of access to new material (which Grant doesn't suffer from - I'll take photos sometime) and sometimes books, like music, need to be revisited to discover all the nuances. And sometimes, it's just a comfort read, liking eating chocolate. :)

Say no to magazines

So after I climbed into bed last night with a cup of cocoa and the Harry Turtledove, I realised I'd forgotten to mention that I've cut down on reading the various magazines that the office gets. So voila, more time for reading novels!

Catching up

Must admit, having an SO certainly has impacted on my reading. Or has it been my newly formed Muti habit? ;) But I've done a bit of catching up the last few weeks, but nowhere near my single-days norm. What with the heatwave of the past three weeks in Jozi, I've been skipping the dancing group classes and socials on Wednesdays and Fridays quite a bit.

Now to remember the order...

Lessee, 17 Feb was an SFSA meet, with a really cool speaker, Pippa Tshbalala nee Stalker, who spoke on the game art. Think along the lines of art movies. Art games.

Anyway, I proceeded to make off with Justina Robson's Making It Real and Tricia Sullivan's Double Vision. A quick search on Google tells me that I've not read any other Robson books; I'm just confused by the style of cover art. :) Some pretty decent sci-fi, even if the Robson is also fantasy. Sullivan is definitely heavier going and more thought-provoking.

I have read Sullivan before: Lethe and maybe Dreaming in Smoke. This is the whole point of starting this blog - to keep a record!

In the past few days, I've raced through Andre Norton's The Hands of Lyr, Charles de Lint's The Harp of the Grey Rose, Christopher Stasheff's Her Majesty's Wizard and am now in the middle of Wisdom of the Fox, by Harry Turtledove, all of which I've borrowed from Grant. I think I can safely categorise them as adolescent sword and sorcery, except perhaps for Turtledove (slightly more adult sword and sorcery). With respect to the Stasheff, I almost felt as if I were reading a Piers Anthony Xanth novel.

And there was a Judith Tarr

Oh, and in December, I picked up a Judith Tarr, Lord of the Two Lands, at a secondhand book shop. Very very unusual, as pretty much her first eight or nine books only have been available here in ZA.

Have read, am reading, will read

Well, the last time SFSA met (our AGM in on 20 January 2007) , I scarpered off (before it could get added to our library, as usual) with the following books from Norman:

1. Ken Macleod's Learning the World
2. Alastair Reynold's Century Rain
3. Paul Park's Starbridge Chronicles:

• Soldiers of Paradise
• Sugar Rain
• The Cult of Loving Kindness

So far I've read Learning the World and Century Rain and have read a few pages of Soldiers of Paradise.

Oh, I borrowed Patricia Cornwell's Predator from Gail but after a few pages, decided that I'd not read the book before it, Trace, so stopped.

A book I'm still in the middle of is Robert J Sawyer's Mindscan, which I bought sometime in the latter half of last year and somehow didn't finish. Then there's Grant Charlton (of Outer Limits)'s Sean Russell's The Initiate (think I got halfway in September 2006), Gatherer of Clouds and World Without End also lying around my flat.

Oh, and Liz William's Banner of Souls. And Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, which would be a reread.

I actually had a three month dry spell end of last year: October, November and December.
I did read the various magazines that we receive at work (and despite almost a year of reading various women's titles, Men's Health is still my ultimate favourite. Still trying to get around to reading Popular Mechanics, though. Just haven't been in the mood). This is most unusual for me. Truly. It may have been due to a new hobby (Cute Guy at Gym [CGAG]) that I picked up beginning of October last year, who, combined with dancing and gymming and seeing other friends has occupied my time ;).

I have also read a few non-fiction books. Maybe I'll write about those another time. Maybe.

I do recall doing some rereading, however: Robin McKinley's Sunshine and some of Lois McMaster Bujold (LMB)'s Miles Vorkosigan books. I only discovered the latter series a couple of years ago, and they have become one of my favourites, so much so that I've pretty much been rereading them all every six months.

Just realised I've forgotten Tamara Siler-Jone's third and latest book, Valley of the Souls, which I bought–and promptly read—beginning of January.

What's the point?

Dear reader (how pretentious ;)

It seems less intimidating to write this from my email account. Funny, that. :)

There are two things that have finally motivated me to set up this blog: attending the first Jozi 27dinner on 27 January 2007, as well as reading Ken Macleod's Learning the World.

The whole point of this blog is to log what I'm currently reading, mainly from a science fiction/fantasy aspect, in order to keep a record of what I read and to promote SFSA (Science Fiction and Fantasy South Africa - www.sfsa.org.za). And figure out blogging and other aspects of social media at the same time. But who knows, perhaps stuff that I read during work hours and on other blogs may creep in here? As well as ballroom and Latin American dancing, weight training, organic chocolate (Green & Black yum yum yum) and the Amazing Music group (http://amazing.za.net/).

So here's to my first proper post!

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