Today’s Big Ol’ Stack of New Books

Posted on January 28, 2013    Posted by      86 Comments

Some of these are finished books and some of them are ARCs. Tell me which ones you’re excited about in the comments.

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86 Comments on “Today’s Big Ol’ Stack of New Books”

  1. I need a new door-stop. Please send me The Monngolid Book Three.

    The Water Witch is going to be purchased. I’m intrigued by the title and spine art.

  3. If I have this right, the Mongoliad Book Three is net new material that was not already covered in the online Mongoliad right? If so, then that is the one I am most interested in. Looks like an ARC due to the weird label.

  6. I like Neal Asher’s books, as well as Fiona McIntosh’s. The Mongoliad has been surprisingly good considering how many different authors it has. Whoever is editing it has done a bang-up job keeping the story moving and.

    I wonder if John has ever thought of taking part in a project like it… Maybe a Sci-Fi version of the Mongoliad with a group of like minded authors…

  9. I didn’t know Megan Fox was an author… But I’m not surprised that her page count isn’t quite as high as the other selections.
    And just based on the spines, I’d further examine both Powers and Riopelle.

  12. I find Neal Asher’s space operas to be very entertaining so I will be giving his “The Owner” series a try. Oh, and including two copies of the same book does not make the pile any higher. Just sayin’.

  13. Neal Asher! I picked up “Zero Point” and read it, then realized it was the second book. Now I really need to get “Departure”. I love what Asher does with the AIs and the carnage.

  14. Tim Powers, please. I don’t always like everything I’ve read by him, but the ones I love and the ones I don’t like keep changing.

  16. The Powers for sure. Why are there two copies of The Lost?

    And I wish I could get into the Mongoliad. I’m a big fan of most of Stephenson’s stuff and I know some of the other names involved but the whole idea just leaves me cold.

  18. What in the world do you do with the books when you are done with them? I’ve seen these big piles of books all over your office photos and you showed where your wife cleaned up for you over the weekend. When i used to buy hard copy books my wife was always on me to do something with them. So where do they go when you are done with them?

  20. Betsy Dornbusch is a friend of mine. She had a short story in the anthology I edited and published, Deadly By The Dozen that was terrific, very edgy.

  21. Oh that reminds me I have The Mirage out from the library yet again. It might be the 3rd time… *moves to top of to read pile*

  24. Always like Neal Asher. Book 1 of The Mongoliad was pretty entertaining but I haven’t gotten to Book 2 yet, let alone Book 3. Just too much stuff out there right now and I’m really running out of space. I’m also deeply invested in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Shadows of the Apt” series and those books are Loooong. Closing in on finishing the 7th volume though. Go me.

  25. Can’t take my eyes off the Mongoliad. If you run out of bullets, you can always through it at them.

  28. Jay Lake, Tim Powers and Neal Asher, definitely. I read Matt Ruff’s book in hardback. Highly recommended.

  29. Do the book lovers from your friends or family ever wander aimlessly through your library, loading themselves up with as many books as they can carry? I sure would!

  30. The Mirage was awesome and made my brain twitch in new ways, much like all of Matt Ruff’s books.

  32. Thanks for the answer. I wasn’t following you in 2010. Old Man’s War turned me on to you and I have read most of your works now. I was not interested in any books, but I was hoping the books would go to a good cause. Thank goodness for ebooks. I have thousands.

  33. Waiting for Mongoliad #3. Not exactly science fiction, but then again neither was the Baroque Cycle.

  35. Got to admit, this is probably the least exciting pile you’ve posted. Well, at least for me it is. Tim Powers catches my eye and the title Apes of Wrath, but nothing else really excites me. So folks, enlighten me, just what should I be excited about, and why?

  36. I really enjoyed Matt Ruff’s BAD MONKEYS (until the end), and I’ve heard interesting things about his THE MIRAGE.

  39. THE MIRAGE and Fiona McIntosh both immediately caught my eyes – both are on my To Be Read list.

    Just for the title I’d pick up and start APES OF WRATH, and THE DEVIL’S LOOKING GLASS would at least get picked up and have the back cover read.

  40. OMG new Tim Powers! *makes grabby hands*
    I know most of the folks involved in Apes of Wrath, so it’s a buy as well.
    AND the new Jay Lake? Good haul!

  43. I see you received two of “The Lost.” The first book in that series was outstanding, so when I saw that one on my list of available ARCs I squealed and grabbed it… It’s mine my precioussssss, miiiine! As far as which of those I’d like to steal from you have you ship to my house? Any of the others would be fine, yes….

  44. … Usually I feel fairly good about myself with things like this due to my knowledge of the writers/materials I’m looking at. Here, I’m an idiot. The Mongoliad #3 is the only one I recognize off the top of my head, and I’ll be skipping it–the series had promise, but totally lacked urgency. I couldn’t drag myself to the finish of book 2. Worse than the Baroque Cycle.

  48. I already read both of the Neal Asher books in their UK editions, very good space opera. Still thinking about reading Jay Lake’s Green books, although I’d have to start at the beginning, so it will be a while until I get to Kalimpura.

  50. Wow . . . never heard of any of those . . . and they are, evidently, actual books.

    . . . on the one hand, it gives me hope one day I too might be an author some guy has never heard of. On the other hand, that seems a lofty goal, indeed.

  52. Mongoliad’s online serialization was an interesting but for me failed experiment. Too open-ended, too off-schedule, too many behind-the-scenes views when all I wanted was, well, the scenes. (None of these criticisms apply to The Human Division, and I imagine that’s by design.)

    I might read it when it’s done.

  53. I had no idea book three of Mongoliad was so close to being done (Done already it seems) I have always enjoyed collaborative fiction and that series is no exception. I have only been reading it in the finalized version of course, and not the online complete collaboration from the beginning, but its been amazing so far.

  56. I’m going to be the Nth person to say “ooh, new Tim Powers!” I also enjoy Asher when I’m in the right mood, but it doesn’t quite have the same level of excitement for me. The Apes of Wrath is something I’d probably take a closer look at if I spotted it in a bookstore (I’m a sucker for cheesy comedy), but I’m unlikely to buy a book based purely on the title, and I’m not familiar with Klaw.

    I’m not a big fan of generic fantasy, so a lot of those wouldn’t even get a second glance.

  59. In almost any given stack of books containing a new Tim Powers item, the Powers book is going to be the one I’m most excited about. This stack is no exception.

  60. Mostly I am pissed off about “The Apes Of Wrath” I had plans for that title! Probably getr a copy of “Salvage & Demolition”.

  63. Well, the publicity part of this picture worked. I did not know there was a Mongoliad 2 out yet, let alone a 3 approaching…

  64. for anyone who has read the Mongoliad books. What do you get by signing up for the online stuff? I downloaded the free application on my ipad. I can’t figure out what the $50 you pay to sign up for the application gets you?

  65. “the mirage” and “water witch” look appealing. I actually did buy “alif the unseen” which you featured in an earlier stack o’ books. It was *very* good and not dissimilar from deborah harkness’s latest. (which was also good, listened to that one)

  68. Anything by Neal Asher captures my attention and also The Devil’s Looking Glass by Chadbourn. I’m looking forward to that one. I would have to read the blurbs on Apes of Wrath,though.

  69. Been enjoying Neal Asher’s space opera/bio/cyber-ish stuff for some time. I’ll have to go looking for those books sometime soon. I keep running through my ‘A’ list of backlog to read faster than the authors can turn out new stuff :)

  71. I get more ARCs, and buy and own more books, than I could possibly read in the years remaining to me, even if I live to be more than 100. Why is it, then, that I still look at the books you receive and think, oh, how wonderful it would be to be John Scalzi?

  72. Clearly Mongoloid Book Three got the page count correct for effective use of Scalzi giant stack o’books advertising (SGSOBA). Those publishers know how to use a spine.

  73. An earlier pile spurred me to finally start the Harry Dresden series. I’m listening to Storm Front and it’s great fun. (Especially when the narrator slips and says something like, “He came down on all floors,” and the publisher didn’t fix it…) I’m reading Alif the Unseen and finding it quite absorbing – a great mix of computer geekery, Middle East political intrigue, and Arabian nights fantasy. Now I need to check out this Tim Powers guy….another I’ve been meaning to read for a while!

  74. You’ve been handed (delivered?) a great set-up for a “Who’s on first?” -style gag:

    S:   It’s lost!
    P:   What’s lost?
    S:   The Lost is.
    P:   The lost what?
          [REPEAT N iterations, varying to taste]

    P:   So you’re telling me that your copy of The Lost is lost.
    S:   At last, you’ve got it!
    P:   Let’s leave Last out of this. I’m sufficiently confused without him.
          [BEAT]
          You know, they should’ve sent you a second copy, lest something like this occur.
          [SFX: rimshot]

  77. I’ve often been lured by the title, ‘Mongoliad’. The problem is it’s about characters that did all they could to stop the Mongol invasion. That’s like titling a book ‘The Cheddar Book’, and then writing about everything that goes well with cheddar–but nada about cheddar cheese itself. Frustrating.

  78. Greatly enjoyed Ruff’s Mirage. Checked it out and read it after his Big Idea here. No need to read it a second time, but for those out there who haven’t read it, it’s worth a gander.

  79. If I remember correctly most of those books you don’t keep end up at the the library? Man, you must have the greatest library on the planet by now.

  80. “Salvage and Demolition” sounds fascinating. I’ve become a novella fan through the years.

  82. What odds? I don’t think this is a contest, at least not per the guildelines in the link that Mr. Scalzi provided.

  83. I’ve loved Matt Ruff’s work ever since I found his first novel, Fool on the Hill when at college. (probably since it’s set there). Sewer, Gas and Electric, his second, was the right book at the right time. Since then I’ve picked up everything he’s done, but none of it really has the same emotional hit of the first two. There are some themes that wind through all his books — he really loves chaos, and things are seldom really as they seem.

    Sometimes I feel like that guy who wants the band to keep playing the underappreciated stuff from the first album, or at least more just like that, and never change, because that’s what I imprinted on.

  85. ronny: If his library is like most libraries, the donated books will almost all end up in the Friends of the Library sale, rather than on the shelves. Which means that his library must have an AWESOME Friends of the Library sale….

    Makes me wish I lived in Ohio.

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