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