48 Comments on “New Books/ARCs, 3/7/14”

1. Holy, mother of Batman. That’s a lot of books.

   How long do you think it’ll take you to read all of them?

2. For some reason “Nil” just sounds interesting. But I know nothing, except how to judge a book by its cover, or name. So that’s something.

3. Mariah:

   http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/03/08/because-people-ask-book-acquisition-details/

4. How about starting with the newest-to-you authors, or the most different-sounding jacket blurb? If that fails, there’s the ever-popular ” Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.. “

5. The Republic of Thieves! Do want! Loved the first two books!

6. @Jack – Nil was covered here a few days ago: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/04/the-big-idea-lynne-matson/

7. As an internet friend of the author (and reader of THE BLACKDOG), looking forward to THE LEOPARD

8. “Ghost Train to New Orleans” sounds intriguing to me. Esp. after following the author’s recent shenanigans with Ursula Vernon and honey badgers.

9. “Off to Be the Wizard” is by the hilarious Scott Meyer, former standup comic and writer of the “Basic Instructions” cartoon. (http://www.gocomics.com/basicinstructions) I admit to being curious to see if his novel matches his cartoons for hilarity.

10. Republic of Thieves! I love the Gentlemen Bastards series–it’s got humor, adventure, and magic. It’s one of my favorite books I’ve read in 2014 so far (which, granted, has only been a few months, but I’ve read a lot of good new books this year, so it’s got some pretty fierce competition).

11. Alison Sinclair’s “Breakpoint: Nereis” looks interesting from description on Goodreads. But then I’m a sucker for space opera. And I’m trying to branch out and find new-to-me authors.

12. (Oops, my bad. Honey badgers was M.C.A. Hogarth. Mur Lafferty was Hemingway and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.)

13. Read _The Republic of Thieves_. Good but not as great as The Lies of Locke Lamora was.

    Got _Worlds of Radiance_ in the digital to be read pile.

    Looking forward to _Operation Shield_, which is the latest in the Cassandra Kresnov series.

14. Looks like a great haul!

    I read _Off to be the Wizard_ last year. Excellent fun!

    _Words of Radiance_ and _Republic of Thieves_ are both in my to-be-read stack as well.

15. I think Republic of Thieves and the Game of Thrones Graphic novel look fun. Plus, I don’t think one can go wrong with a whole book on ham!

16. I have to admit it’s because of the colorful spine of the book, but I’d pull “Above” off the shelf to give it a look over…

17. Love in the age of mechanical reproduction -just because it is a shout out to Walter Benjamin’s Art in the age of mechanical reproduction, a seminal work in philosophical /critical theory from 1939

18. Truth and Fear Higgins
    Game of Thrones Martin (graphic novel)
    Above Morley
    Off to be the Wizard Meyer
    Republic of Thieves Lynch
    Ghost Train to New Orleans Lafferty
    Leopard Johansen
    Better World Sakey
    Love in the Age of Mechanical… Trichter
    Greenglass House Milford
    Nil Matson
    Words of Radiance Sanderson
    Nearly Gone Cosimo
    Acid Pass
    Strange Bedfellows Trenholm (ed)
    Breakpoint Nereis Sinclair
    Along Those Lines: The Boundaries …Cashwell
    Detainee Liney
    Given Pettersson
    Memory of Water Itaranta
    Thorn Jack Harbour
    Judge of Ages Wright
    Jupiter Pirates, The hunt for the Hydra Fry
    Dagger of Trust Willrich
    Bread We Eat in Dreams Valente, Jennings
    Ham, Slices of Life Harris
    Irenicon book 1 Harte (The Wave)
    Kill Switch Rollins
    Operation Shield Shepherd

19. I hadn’t heard about Boys of Blur before seeing the spine here and looking it up. I don’t generally go for YA, but this seems to be more middle grade / young reader, and potentially interesting. For some reason, middle grade books I can stand. And between VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Karen Russell’s Swamplandia, “weird stuff in Florida wilderness” has been awfully good to me.

20. I’m curious about Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction–but mostly because I read the Benjamin original in grad school!

21. Republic of Thieves.

    (Oy, that’s a lot of books. Guess that’s what happens when you go on vacation… :) )

22. I’ve been waiting for _Words of Radiance_ for years.

    I’d finished it by Wednesday morning. :)

23. I spoke too soon. Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction has a fantastic title (riffing on Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, surely?) and … I can’t find out much about it other than it’s a Thomas Dunne book, and it’s repped by Joel Rosenberg, which both speak to it being interesting.

24. I have NIL on my wishlist. The rest look interesting though.

25. Bah. Brain fart! Ethan Ellenberg, not Joel Rosenberg.

26. The Sanderson tome is one I’d be most likely to read in digital format. But I might still want the hardcover, for those days when zombies attack and you need something that can smash in a skull, first time, every time.

27. _Words of Radiance_ FTW.
    _Nil_ right up there

    And I’ll add _Ham_ becuase who can refuse a little pork butt?

28. I read Ham a while ago on NetGalley. It was funny, well-written, and interesting, but not remotely in the genre of science fiction.

29. Please post them on Whatever again. All I have is a desktop PC, and at the age of 78, I do not want to purchase a smartphone, just to keep up with new technology. To me, a phone is a telephone! I read whatever every day, and enjoy it. I depend on your blog to help me find good new authors! Thanks!

30. Curiously, I was unable to find Judd Trichter’s book on Amazon or via Goodreads.

    Parenthetically, I go to Goodreads for reader reviews before hitting Amazon or B&N or better still, my local purveyor of bookery.

31. Words of Radiance is the most epic, awesome, heart-stopping, arm-breaking pile of book that I have ever read. It’s like “The Human Division”, just from the opposite angle. Simple prose instead of jokes and wordplay, epic fantasy instead of hard sci-fi.

    And it is equally awesome.

    You’re in for a real treat, sir. Just watch out for the Great Pen Scalzibane! ;)

    I heard good things about the Jupiter Pirates book, too.

32. I’ve actually read one of these! Off To Be The Wizard, by the guy who does Basic Instructions. I think I’m safe in saying that if you like Basic Instructions and think “Hey, a book by the guy who does Basic Instructions! I should get it!”, then you should get it.

    I’m in the middle of two other fantasy series (okay, three. Well, maybe four), but I guess I have to read Sanderson’s latest carpel tunnel inducing tome (I swear my ereader is heavier because I downloaded the last one).

33. Actually the one I’m most jealous of is Memory of Water. Hearing good things about it and June is a long way away.

34. Leopard, Memory Of Water and Strange Bedfellows. Although, my existing to read pile is slowly gathering critical mass. I may build a fort with them ’till i get round to reading them all. Nice stash you have there!

35. Jason Fry has an author thread on the Star Wars forums I help moderate and reviews of his Jupiter Pirates book have been complimentary. It’s aimed at a YA audience.

36. As mechanical reproduction implies a way to seed our universe, that title caught my eye most; along with the inherent question in that title of whether romance is Nature+Nurture — i.e., would popular notions of romance evolve like it has here, on earth, historically?

    I’d vote for “Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”

37. I note Locke Lamora is so dangerous that you’ve had to put him in a plastic bag to stop him sneaking out of his own novel and stealing things from other books in the pile.

38. I just read Hunt for the Hydra, which was very good! And I cannot wait to read Republic of Thieves!!!!

39. Not fair that you have the next Brilliance book and i have to wait until June.

40. If you have young people in your house, the Jupiter Pirates are a great romp. Or if you are young of brain :). And I will definitely be looking for Off to See the Wizard at my local bookshop.

41. Doh! Fingers faster than brain! That would be “be the wizard”

42. I hope Republic of Thieves is in our next library order list, so I can pick it up. Already read Jupiter Pirates 1, not bad, so will see about Jupiter Pirates 2.

    Locke Lamora is so cunning, if he had a tail, you could call him a weasel. Oh, wait…

43. Loved Republic of Thieves. I have problems waiting for the next Gentlemen Bastard installments.

44. Off to see the Wizard! Quick, Toto, hop into the basket, we’re going on a ride!

45. Eeee, the new Mur Lafferty book. SQUEE!

46. Late commenting here as I spent Saturday in _Words of Radiance_, which does NOT disappoint. I’m planning to bring some “spren” to the WoR signing event in Dayton next week. :-)

    I hope to see the new Half-Continent volume in your next ARC photos, & I wish ever-so-much to see a new Jon & Lobo book in there one of these days.

47. Sent from my HTC smartphone on the Now Network from Sprint!

48. Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction grabbed my attention by the title. Added to my purchasing queue.