New Arrivals, 9/29/30
Posted on September 29, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 45 Comments
Some of the books (and ARCs) that came into the Scalzi Compound in the last week. It’s nice, in the midst of a deadline hell such as I have at the moment, to be reminded that the hot mess of words that writers put down eventually become actual books.
Anything in the pile here look good to you?
Already received a pre-order of “The Twelve” as a birthday gift and will launch into it the second it hits my .
About half of them :) – I like Gini Koch, William Dietz, and Harry Turtledove – plus anything with Cthulhu on the spine deserves to be at least picked up and looked at. Mecha Rogue could be good, though I have this strange image of a forty-foot tall mechanical halfling stealing the eyes from a REALLY tall statue.
:)
^ David Robinson: now I want to read your story, dangit!
:-)
I love Mike Resnick’s Weird Western series about Doc Holliday – fun, fast moving stuff.
Ooh, Alien vs. Alien! Can’t wait to get my hands on that one!
I misread one of the titles, so for a moment, I was really interested in reading Mech Rouge.
Want Siren Depths NOW!
The Twelve looks good to me. I read The Passage because a couple of guys I knew just couldn’t stop talking about it. It was really good.
And Turtledove always looks good.
The Book of Cthulhu.
A lot of Cthulhu stories/books have been floating around the realm of authors I read. I’ll have to start acquiring them…
No Sharks in the Med. I like short stories. And Alien Alien because I just like aliens. Those would be the first two I would pick up and look at. Of course, Mike Resnick always deserves a look.
I dunno..I’m thinking “The Doctor and the Rough Rider” sounds like one helluva porn, er, erotica title. Oh. It’s actually steampunk. I’d still read it.
The first Book of Cthulhu was one of the stronger Mythos anthologies I’ve read, so I’d expect the second to be just as good. A lot better than the ‘single-high-concept’ ones (Cthulhu-Holmes. Cthulhu-Pirates, Cthulhu-Wins…)
“The Doctor and the Rough Rider”: Dr. Who in the Wild, Wild West?
Except for Turtledove (who I don’t read) I don’t recognize any of those authors.
The Fantasy & Science Fiction book world must just be so BIG now.
Definitely want to read The Siren Depths, and maybe also Supervolcano: All Fall Down.
A lot of it looks really good but I am in the mood for frivolity, so I’ll go with the Resnick.
“No Sharks in the Med” made me think “who’d let a shark into a clinic anyway”, but now I hope it means Mediterranean.
“The Doctor and the Rough Rider” must mean Dr. Who meets Teddy Roosevelt (if he hadn’t before), right?
“Alien Alien” I first read as title:”Alien” author:”Alien” and thought “there’s an autobiography I’d read”.
“Mecha Rogue”, being a member at both MetaFilter (‘MeFi’) and it’s spin-off MetaChat (‘MeCha’), well, I know some people who’d fit that title…
“Andromeda’s Fall” sounds like an insider story of the last season of that post-Roddenberry show.
“Supervolcano: All Fall Down”, the follow-up to “Supervolcano: All Blow Up”, right?
“Terminal Island”… isn’t that around San Pedro/Port of L.A.?
“The Siren Depths”… I live near a nuclear power plant and even nearer to one of the loud sirens that are supposed to alert an emergency (and get tested on Saturday Morning every couple months), so I can no longer think of Sirens as anything else… sigh.
“The Tainted City”… so many candidates for a good snark…
“Hitchers”… after the long, uncomfortable trend toward low-slung pants, it’s promising to hear that it’s becoming fashionable to “hitch them up” again
“The Book of Cthulhu II”… so, it’s an inherited title now?
“The Twelve”… cheaper by the dozen?
My sincere apologies to all the authors of all those books who put uncounted hours into writing them, but should still have consulted a cynical punster like me before committing to titles.
I’m especially looking forward to The Siren Depths. I always enjoy Martha Wells’ books and am greatly enjoying this series (The first two are The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea.).
I’d also like to read The Tainted City and Alien, Alien
Hadn’t realized anyone besides Lovecraft had attempted the Cthulhu mythos. Might have to give that (and the one that preceded it) a shot.
I’d love to read “Hitchers”. It sounds dead funny.
Ahem. Puns aside, I think I’ll actually put it on my christmas wishlist. And then buy it for myself in January because my family insists on gifting me something other than books for once. :)
Let me just put it out there.
Please turn that stack over and give us “The Twelve” first.
Ooooh, “Hitchers” looks good, but then I’ll read just about anything Will writes.
I have Justin Cronin’s The Passage on hold at the library so The Twelve looks interesting. And I’m always up for a new Legion of the Damned book by William Dietz.
So in love with Gini Koch’s Kitty Katt series. So definitely the Aliens vs. Aliens. Though…I am curious about the Mike Resnick book too…..
OtterB, The Cloud Roads actually made an appearance here as an installment of “The Big Idea”: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/03/15/the-big-idea-martha-wells/
Haven’t read ‘The Legion of the Damned’ series since the first few books, hard to believe he’s still cranking those bad boys out. Are they still good?
I’ll take them all, please.
Mr. Scalzi that is a mighty fine stack you have there.
Definitely “The Twelve” – who DOESN’T want to know how that all turned out? (ok, other than those who didn’t read “The Passage”.)
“The Book of Cuthulu” – I’ve read in the blogs of some authors I like that they contributed and that they like what they submitted, so it should be good.
I know that Brian Lumley is oh so passe nowadays, but I still like his writing – he can craft a great story if you can get past the fact that there were too many Necroscope books. “No Sharks in the Med” is on my list.
I wish it was Dr. Who and Teddy Roosevelt, but Doc Holiday could be good too. Have to check that one out.
Receiving ARCs, that’s really something i envy you for. Currently holding my breath for the next from Turtledove ;-).
The Twelve. That’s my pick. That one, right there.
I highly recommend Hitchers. Fantastic read.
Off the top of my head, Turtledove, Resnick and Dietz all look intriguing. But I will read the labels on cans and bottles if I run out of reading material. I’d read in my sleep if I could figure out a way to prop my eyes open.
Book of Cthulhu I was a good collection; I would hope for the same from II.
New Resnick and Dietz? I envy you right now.
In an amazing kowtow to advertising, I bought The Twelve on my Kindle after waiting too long in a movie theatre to see Dark Knight Rises (technical difficulties; the show ended up being canceled) and seeing an ad describing it as “if Michael Crichton wrote Salem’s Lot” – or something similar. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit – I think it could perhaps have used a bit more editing for focus, in my taste, but it was well done. Book of Cthulhu is also a lot of fun – I’ve read I and II, and while I don’t love all the selections, I love enough of them to continue on into III, if there is one!
How many books do you generally read, a year, do you know? I have been keeping track of mine on LibraryThing, due to an unfortunate cataloguing fetish, and I’ve found myself surprised by my own patterns – I think that I used to finish more than I currently do, due to the demands of my job.
Holy crap, there’s a new book of Lumley’s short stories? Sold! (I just hope there aren’t *too* many reprinted from his other short story collections, this time around. Time to go see if I can find a list of contents.)
Lumley always approached the Cthulhu Mythos from a James Cameron’s “Aliens” or John Carpenter’s “Any John Carpenter Movie” perspective: “This is a horror story, and terrible, horrible things will happen to people. But dammit, they can also fight back.” I don’t think he gets enough love from some folks, who feel the Muthos has to be existential dread and nothing but.
I am also ready to read the FACE off “The Twelve”, by Justin Cronin.
I was excited by “The Doctor and The Rough Rider”, thinking it was Mike Resnick writing Doctor Who, but no – it’s Doc Holliday, & the third book in a Wild West – Steampunk Fiction series.
I am now MORE excited, because there are 3 books to look for, another on the way, and a game in the future. How cool is that!
I’ve definitely been awaiting the Supervolcano sequel. Decmber 4th, Amazon says.
So jealous that you have a copy of The Twelve already. Can’t wait for that book; currently rereading The Passage.
The Twelve, I had a hard time putting down The Passage.
‘The Twelve.’ I got to the end of ‘The passage’ and loved it, and then read the preview of ‘The Twelve’ featuring Bernard Kittridge, AKA ‘Last Stand in Denver’ and pre-ordered the very moment I finished.
Alien Vs. Alien! cannot wait to read it!
Mike Resnick is one of my favorite authors so I’ll go with him