Here is a list of the last 5 books I have read or am reading currently.
Book #1 - The Black Company - Water Sleeps
Book #2 - Deathlands & Outlanders Series
Book #3 - The Blade & Strike Series
Book #4 - Starrise at Corrivale
The Black Company - Water Sleeps
So many people recommended this series to me, starting with my good friend Kyle Gerrard, that I had to finally give it a shot. I am not a fantasy reader often, I spend most of my time in sci-fi, but this one has caught me. Sometimes hard to follow as the spoken word in the book feels odd, but once you work past the wording, you will enjoy the story. World-spanning scope and enjoyable characters who interact like real people, highlight this legend of a great mercenary company and its darkest hours. Return to Book List
Deathlands & Outlanders Series
The Harlequin Romance Eagle line of Post Holocaust books. Deathlands is set 100 years or so before Outlanders. Deathlands sets up the world and how the disasters that finished off the world as we know it left things. The Outlanders series is then set future enough where the characters are actually trying to fix things and put them back to pre-holocaust times. Both series are an easy read and a lot of fun. Return to Book List
27 Strike books and 13 Blade books - this is another of the post holocaust ongoing storyline books. 100 years and counting after the final battle, the Family is set up in a small compound in Montana. They realise they need to see what is going on in the rest of the world so the lead character, Blade, and a group of characters called the Warriors head out in search of different things in each book. Each of these books has the name Strike in it. The stories do progress and people who die in early books stay dead and enemies that are made in previous books do come back. Fun story and fun ideas. Return to Book List
The first in the Trilogy for Stardrive (for TSR's Alternity RPG) by Diane Duane. Diane should be well known as a Star Trek writer. The beginning of the book is slow, but being that this is the first book in a new world, the setting must be set early on. I suspect the 2nd and 3rd volumes will have more power and interest as we will not have to learn about the world were living in. Return to Book List
I have plans to read Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer. I have heard good things about the seires.
I always read Mother Goose & Grimm (that is when I get the chance). You gotta love Grimm:
EE Doc Smith's Lensmen series - A buddy of mine turned me onto this series, and I've never regretted reading it. This series is right out of the Golden Age of Science Fiction by one of the grandfathers of the genre. The series traces the history of a specific pair of families on past and future earth. The families are constantly being bred together by an ultra-powerful race trying to build up psionically powered superbeings capable of saving the galaxy from the coming invaders. Though the focus is on the earth lensman to begin with, it quickly switches focus to numerous other lensman of different races who are similarily being bred for super mind powers. If you remember that this series was written before the Lunar Landing, you will certainly enjoy this romp. Don't confuse this one with the Skylark series by the same author. They are not the same thing and not equal in writing.
Eclipse, A cyberpunk-ish series by John Shirley. The three books: Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra, and Eclipse Corona are probably the most incredible cyberpunk stories I've read to date. Throughout the three books, as the years progress, so does the technology. In most series, the technology is absolutely stagnant. Shirley has done an incredible job at creating a story that will drive you to read on and on with desperation as you come to the end of the 2nd book. If you want to see how to write cyberpunk, this is the series. As a genre, cyberpunk seems to be fading. If more people read this series, it might get new life. Definitely!!!
The Aliens Series - This series is based on the Alien movies, most especially the movie Aliens (#2). It follows the progression of things after the end of Aliens. The books are based on the comics produced by Dark Horse Comics. First, I will recommend the comics which are excellent (by the trade paperbacks, the single issues are not worth the price you will pay). Then I will recommend the books. Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum and the Female War are a three part series that follow each other directly. The rest appear to be stand alone books building on the previous histories created in the other books. All the books so far have kept the feel of the Aliens and have created new characters that are interesting enough to keep following. If you liked any of the movies, read the books, but don't read the first three out of order.
And then there is the series by S Andrew Swann that begins with Forests of the Night. Wow. I started skimming this book after having it recommended to me, and I immediately put down all my other books to read this one. This is the first book in the first of 2 trilogies written in the universe of S. Andrew Swann. If you are familiar with the game Justifiers, then you will realise that this book is set in an extremely similar universe. So close that I believe that Mr. Swann (or whoever the pen name stands for) has played the game. It shouldn't be vice verse since the copyright for this book is 1993. Either way, the book is fantastic.
It begins the world of the Moreaus (named after the movie from the 70s called the Island of Dr. Moreau in which the good doctor was creating animal-men on an island). In this world, genetic engineering has made very cheap cannon-fodder available (cheap being a relative term) for wars, allowing the more important humans to stand back and command. When the battles are over, there is nothing else for these creatures to do since they were trained for war, so they are left to mesh into a society that fears and hates them. The story is strong, interesting and fast paced. This writer is someone I'd love to talk to to find out how they come up with such cool stuff. Check out the book(s).
Specifically, Forests of the Night deals with Nohar, a Tiger Moreau who is a Private Investigator. He is good at what he does because he's smart, fast and damn tough. However, the events that unfold quickly begin to overtake him and he ends up utilizing help from other individuals. One of the is Evi Isham. She is a 'Frank' or frankenstein which means that she is genegineered human. Tough luck for her since the powers that be have made it illegal to tamper with human genes. The second book in the first triliogy, Emperors of the Twilight, is set about 5 years in advance of this one and is mostly her story. The other character Nohar deals with is Angelica Lopez, a Rabbit Moreau who happens to be a drug fiend (recovering, of course). She gets her book about 6 months after the 2nd book called Specters of the Dawn. You have got to read this series, it is worth the paper it is printed on!
The Mutant Season Series by Karen Haber and (book 1 only) Robert Silverberg is an enjoyable generations series of four books. The books, Mutant Season, Mutant Prime, Mutant Star and Mutant Legacy take you on a trip throught the life of a father and his son, and his son's kids. Incredible story with a lot of depth of character. You really feel with the family which has a mutant gene that gives them psionic powers. As the children continue by generation, their powers become greater so that the grandchildren are magnitudes more powerfule than the grandsire. Haber has laid out a beautiful and rich history to follow and enjoy. I have read teh series multiple times. It's just that good. I recommend this to anyone since the story is not deep in science fact or silliness.
And then there is my Post-Holocaust loves. First is the Postman by David Brin. Though I will admit to not enjoying anything else I've read of Brin's, this book stands as one of the 5 best books I have read in my life (and I've read alot). The story takes you on a trek across the middle of the devastated US and dumps you in Oregon and Northern California. Fantastic thinking stories keep you wanting more. However, one word of warning: "David Brin is the cruelest writer that still lives." When you come to the end of the Postman, he leaves you with the knowledge that there is not just a little more to learn but many times more to learn that what you have already found out. he ends the book crossing into Northern California, a place you desperately want to see after reading the book, and tells you nothing because the story is over. Mr Brin, if you ever read this. Write another chapter of the Postman. The over 30 people I have loaned my personal copy of your book to all BEG you.
The other Post-Holocaust stories I treasure are Hiero's Journey and the Unforsaken Hiero. A pair of books written by Streling E Lanier. Fantastic stories that follow Hiero across a devastated earth. Neither this book or the Postman are your standard "I've got a bunch of guns and I'm killing people" Post Holocaust stories that you hear about. The have fantastic characterizations and incredible story plots that disallow you to put down the books. Read these books with my full belief that you will be happy you did and better for it.
The Homecoming Series is Orson Scott Cards 1st book in the Homecoming series. A computer has been set up to control a colony in space and keep it from coming to an end as the parent race did (we assume by nuclear destruction). The computer sends telepathic(?) messages to individuals that they perceive as messages from above. Incredible through book 5. I'm reading book 5 now. I have faith in this writer. If you haven't read Ender's Game or Speaker for the Dead by the same author, you won't understand why. All of these are books to try if you haven't. HOMECOMING, THE SERIES gets my highest recommendation. This is one you must read.
The Deathstalker Series. Alright, this book series was not one I found on my own. A friend recommended it to me, saying that it was one of the greatest books he had ever read. I then loaned the copy I purchased to a guinea pig friend who reads 10 times as fast as I do. He told me it was great. So I started reading, and darned if they weren't correct. In fact, I was so fascinated with the story that I went searching for the obviously coming second book. I found it and before I could finish book two, book three was released. Shortly thereafter, book 4 came out. These books are huge, 500+ pages each. The writer, Simon R Green should be commended simply for being able to write so much, but boy is this series worth reading. The series has it all for sci-fi readers.
When I say "it all" I mean it. This book has AI's, psionics, Fighting space ships, Sword play, gun fights, 6+ alien races so far, intrigue, assassins, 2 genetically engineered races, things that are incomprehensible (or to Mr. Spock, Fascinating), Clans, an evil overlord, clonelegging and more. I have never seen a book that has been so grand in scale and I have read Foundation and the Dune run. This is the book for any sci-fi fan who wants more. This book series gets my highest recommendation. This is a must buy now!!!
Read any good books lately? Let me know about it. oss1ncrp@mail.northcoast.com