What are you reading right now?

Hentai-Semitism said:
I finished Transmaniacon by John Shirley.
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Incidentally that's named after a song from Blue Öyster Cult's first album. And the book is even dedicated to BOC (and Patti Smith who wrote about a half dozen songs for them all of which are among their best).
Hentai-Semitism said:
I picked this up because Shirley's "Freezone" was my favorite story out of all in Mirrorshades, a popular anthology.
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This anthology, by Bruce Sterling, was a collection of much of the best short stories in what came to be known as cyberpunk, despite nearly all "cyberpunk" authors hating the label.
 
Finished Permanent Record by Edward Snowden recently. It was pretty tame. I was looking for something to scratch the 'secret hacker' itch and thought this would do it but it really wasn't that. 90% of the book is about his privileged upbringing (without many hardships), working his way up the government ladder, explaining engineering terms and discussing other whistleblowers. It's only in the last 50 or so pages that the interest parts actually happen like smuggling documents, meeting up with reporters and evading capture. By the time it got interesting it was nearly finished.

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Officer Barbrady said:
By the time it got interesting it was nearly finished.
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I was reading a book on investing a few months ago it was like that. I forget the name of it because I think I donated it, but it was mostly the guy talking about how he grew up and that it was good to teach financial literacy. Great, 100% agree, that's why I'm reading this book, and then I noticed that I was about 60 pages from the end and started getting a sneaking suspicion that the book wasn't actually going anywhere.

I was absolutely correct.

What I learned about financial literacy is that I should've read some reviews before I dropped $12 on a book at a Walmart in the middle of nowhere.
 
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AnOminous said:
This anthology, by Bruce Sterling, was a collection of much of the best short stories in what came to be known as cyberpunk, despite nearly all "cyberpunk" authors hating the label.
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At least two of the stories have absolutely nothing to do with cyberpunk, which seemed odd to me. One is about Stonehenge, if I remember correctly.
 
Old King Koaleamos said:
I've got to get to Neuromancer and Schismatrix Plus sometime.
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I'm glad I gave the former a second try. I tried to read it 20+ years ago and gave it a pass because it was badly translated to my native language. I read the whole thing in English a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. Even a great book can be ruined by a bad translation,
 
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Old King Koaleamos said:
I've got to get to Neuromancer and Schismatrix Plus sometime.
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As Bruce Sterling goes, one of his underrated classics is Involution Ocean. It's basically a short version of Moby Dick, except the protagonist is seeking an incredibly addictive drug derived from some whale-like creature, leaves to get it for his weird commune of dope fiends, then comes back to find them all dead anyway.

It's incredibly flawed in a number of ways and you could throw a lot of criticisms at it (Sterling wrote it when he was only 21), but it's obviously in the same vein as Ellison's works (and Ellison actually gave it a rave review), and it's well worth a read.
 
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AnOminous said:
As Bruce Sterling goes, one of his underrated classics is Involution Ocean. It's basically a short version of Moby Dick, except the protagonist is seeking an incredibly addictive drug derived from some whale-like creature, leaves to get it for his weird commune of dope fiends, then comes back to find them all dead anyway.

It's incredibly flawed in a number of ways and you could throw a lot of criticisms at it (Sterling wrote it when he was only 21), but it's obviously in the same vein as Ellison's works (and Ellison actually gave it a rave review), and it's well worth a read.
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Oh cool. I've never gotten too deep into cyberpunk aside from DADOES.

Finished the Foundation Trilogy.

Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is an excellent set of fix-up novels and highlights The Good Doctor's flaws and strengths even in this early part of his career. It details the story of how a psychohistorian, a social scientist who uses mathematical equations to foresee probable futures for humanity, sets up two foundations to ensure that an upcoming and inevitable Dark Age is mitigated. For around 500 years, give or take, we follow many figures as they struggle with the various crises that occur with the decline and fall of this Galactic Empire. The first novel is well worth reading, but isn't quite as strong. However, it does amazing setup in regards to the ideas and themes. It also has the most wooden characters of the trilogy. The second book delves more into the idea of the Great Man Theory of history and shows us both a "great general" and a "superhuman conqueror" (with mental powers, of course. did you expect anything less from Campbellian SF?). It's actually interesting seeing all the little details Asimov puts in here. Perhaps it's a bit telegraphed by today's standards, but I did enjoy Magnifico's role in the story and Bayta's role in the denoument. The last novel in the trilogy is especially intriguing because we see the downfall of the Mule, the mysterious Second Foundation, and Asimov using a tomboy as a major character (Arcadia). I'd give Foundation itself a 7.5/10, Foundation & Empire and Second Foundation get an 8/10. The entire trilogy is solid reading and I wish I'd read this as a teenager. There's a lot packed into these fix-up novels and Asimov attempts a lot. I'd say that he's only limited by his characterization and writing skill, but the seemingly interchangeable characters and lack of specific details does allow the reader to have a more vivid imagination. Give it a read, maybe you'll appreciate it. It's certainly aged, but the ideas in it provoke my imagination and make me appreciate just how damned capable the Good Doctor was as a writer. Sure, he's got his flaws, but everything else makes up for it. The Mule himself was probably the most interesting character in the trilogy and I've definitely seen many other characters inspired by him. And then you have Magnifico, Bayta, Arcadia, Han Pritcher, the Second Foundation, etc. They're tropes, sure, but this is a ***foundational*** piece of science fiction pop culture. Someday, if I find it, I'd love to get that thick volume with the Whelan covers.
 
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I have gotten a collection of all works from H.P. Lovecraft and am now reading through in chronological order. Surprised he has written so many short stories and even more surprised how whimsical some of his early stuff tends to be. Yes, there is always a somewhat sombre undertone, but some of the landscapes and places he paints in there are much more fantasy than the occult stuff I usually associate him with. Curious to see if he will drop this over time and home into the more known Lovecraft tropes.
 
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Brandy [◉ said:
, post: 21301521, member: 184149"]
I have gotten a collection of all works from H.P. Lovecraft and am now reading through in chronological order. Surprised he has written so many short stories and even more surprised how whimsical some of his early stuff tends to be. Yes, there is always a somewhat sombre undertone, but some of the landscapes and places he paints in there are much more fantasy than the occult stuff I usually associate him with. Curious to see if he will drop this over time and home into the more known Lovecraft tropes.
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Lovecraft does develop a bit and I'd have to 100% agree that Lovecraft is probably closer to Fantasy at times, especially with his Kadath stuff.

To drive a point, he was influenced by Lord Dunsany and A. Merritt, some quasi-forgotten fantasy authors that popped up in the late 1910s and early '20s. Dunsany created a fictional pantheon and did very early high fantasy. Merritt did a bit of everything from proto-SF to fantasy to "weird tales" style stuff. Give them a shot if you like that sorta thing.


Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature" essay was written in like 1929 and is still one of the premium texts on horror literature. Give it a read if you want to trace more of his kinda horror.

Lovecraft's fun. If you want to read stuff by a buddy of his that really veers into more "fantastic" with horror elements, look for Clark Ashton Smith. Smith's writing is beautiful and easily mogs his contemporaries. But he was good buddies with Lovecraft and co.

If you really enjoy Lovecraft, try reading the authors who wrote in the Weird Tales magazine of the 20s-50s. A lot of the regular writers were friends and acquaintances of Lovecraft. Lots of people know about Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth and etcetera, but you may be surprised to see just how many people Lovecraft wrote letters to and corresponded with. He even mentored Robert Bloch (guy who wrote the novel that Hitchcock's Psycho is based on), Fritz Leiber (of Fafhrd & Grey Mouser fame, a foundational inspiration for DnD), C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (a husband and wife duo that did a lot of great work, but sadly still underappreciated), and etc. While there's no notes on them having correspondence with Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury and Tennesee Williams also did quite a bit of their early work for Weird Tales magazine.

What I'm saying is that if you still want more Lovecraft, you can easily just read his friends who contributed to the "Mythos" and kept his work in print after his death (Derleth and co. started Arkham House but then Derleth sorta turned the Mythos into more of a good vs evil thing. YMMV on his contributions to the Mythos.)
 
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Gonna nut up and start Children for the Devil. Always heard it was pretty harrowing stuff. Got through Blasphemous Rumors okay though so it should be fine.
 
Old King Koaleamos said:
If you really enjoy Lovecraft, try reading the authors who wrote in the Weird Tales magazine of the 20s-50s. A lot of the regular writers were friends and acquaintances of Lovecraft. Lots of people know about Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth and etcetera, but you may be surprised to see just how many people Lovecraft wrote letters to and corresponded with. He even mentored Robert Bloch (guy who wrote the novel that Hitchcock's Psycho is based on), Fritz Leiber (of Fafhrd & Grey Mouser fame, a foundational inspiration for DnD), C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (a husband and wife duo that did a lot of great work, but sadly still underappreciated), and etc. While there's no notes on them having correspondence with Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury and Tennesee Williams also did quite a bit of their early work for Weird Tales magazine.
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Very interesting, I'll be sure to add that to my list once I am done with Lovecraft. Going down chronologically, I am now at Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family. So far this has been a ride. All very well written but very different in theme. You have things you expect like Dagon and The Temple (very fun if not propaganda influenced portrayal of Germans of the time). Some more esoteric ones like The White Ship and The Cats of Ulthar, with the latter being quite fantasy. Then you have almost comical recounting like Ibid down to, at least for me, kind of incomprehensible stuff like The Green Meadow. I understand that one was a dream one of his female friends head and he put it into writing, which paints a very different picture of the lonesome, brooding person I always assumed he was. Very fun to explore a writer like this!
Rustle 44 TWRD LGHT2 said:
Where should I start with Lovecraft if I've never read him before?
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All his stuff is public domain, so it shouldn't be too hard to find online and download on a kindle, unless you are like me and prefer to read physical books. The one book I read before wanting to read all of his stuff is The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, which is very much what people associate Lovecraft with these days.
 
Rustle 44 TWRD LGHT2 said:
Where should I start with Lovecraft if I've never read him before?
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His stuff's all in public domain. It depends on what you like. Short stories, novels, novellas, etc.

Brandy [◉ said:
, post: 21313230, member: 184149"]
Very interesting, I'll be sure to add that to my list once I am done with Lovecraft. Going down chronologically, I am now at Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family. So far this has been a ride. All very well written but very different in theme. You have things you expect like Dagon and The Temple (very fun if not propaganda influenced portrayal of Germans of the time). Some more esoteric ones like The White Ship and The Cats of Ulthar, with the latter being quite fantasy. Then you have almost comical recounting like Ibid down to, at least for me, kind of incomprehensible stuff like The Green Meadow. I understand that one was a dream one of his female friends head and he put it into writing, which paints a very different picture of the lonesome, brooding person I always assumed he was. Very fun to explore a writer like this!
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Lovecraft was a dorky introvert who deeply cared for his friends. When Robert E. Howard committed suicide, Lovecraft was intensely sad and wrote a nice obituary piece.

When other people visited Lovecraft, he took them on Tours of Providence and other cities/towns. It's a shame too many people associate him with his early racism and not for the person he became. He was still a bit racist, but he married a jewish woman and was a very very good friend and mentor to others.

Anyways, Lovecraft's Circle and Weird Tales magazine were both very very influential in the development of horror in the century since then. The ONLY entity that even comes close is maybe Stephen King's raw output, but that's a very distant third. Lovecraft was a juggernaut.

I'm not in the mood for them right now, but Clark Ashton Smith is basically Lovecraft/Howard, but with the writing skill dialed up. Man is a superb writer.
 
Nonfiction but I've been reading Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer again, which follows the folkways for 4 major english colonist groups (Puritan, Quaker, Virginia Tidewater, and Appalachia) as they moved to the New World and how their traditions differed, which in turn affected how American history played out. Fischer writes in a very comfy and easy to understand way that honestly works well both written and as an audiobook (the way I consumed the book the first time).

He was one for African folkways as well but I haven't gotten around to reading it, in any case, atttached is a meme I made after revisiting the Puritan chapters
 

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