New Books and ARCs, 9/15/17
Posted on September 15, 2017 Posted by John Scalzi 29 Comments
If you were wondering if any new books and ARCs have come to the Scalzi Compound recently, the answer is, why, yes, they have. And here they are! Tell me which titles here intrigue you, down in the comments!
IRON ANGELS by Eric Flint and my friend Alistair Kimble!
The CORE!!!!! Can’t wait.
What do you do with all these books they send you? I can imagine a house big enough to handle all those books, but they’re owned by people with names like “Gates”, “Bezos”, and “Buffett”.
Peter Clines is usually fun although I am curious about that giant “Embrace the Romance” book with no author listed.
I find the title and spine of Ben Franklin’s In My Bathroom irresistible!
Here’s what Scalzi does with his books: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/03/08/because-people-ask-book-acquisition-details/
I have curiosity about The Potemkin Mosaic.
Just started re-watching Bablyon 5. What a great show. A little cheese with the entree to be sure, but entertaining storyline, cohesively delivered!
“Babylon 5 was a dream given form…” For its day, B5 was the best show ever and influenced everything that came after, sf/f or no. I still hope to see JMS’s original vision made into a movie someday. So that would be my choice from this lovely collection.
A new Catherine Asaro! Excellent.
Bebe — need advice! Haven’t read Asaro before. Recs on which to start with?
What’s the Ben Franklin one about?
Someone mentioned spiders eating roaches (yay spiders!). This made me think of “The Cockroaches of Stay More,” by Donald Harington, which is back in print on Kindle. This book does for cockroaches what “Watership Down” does for rabbits. I doubt it would stop anyone from spraying, but you might be moved to say “Sorry, Sam.” The book incorporates large amounts of information about the natural history of Periplaneta americana (the starring species) but it’s not dry–it’s hilarious. I laughed up till the last ten pages or so–the end was incoherent, I suspect the author was either drunk or totally out of ideas on how to finish. Or both–I suppose he could have been so frustrated he got drunk. It’s still worth reading.
@susan5660 Thanks for that. Curiosity curiously satisfied.
mtzjotz – “Bronze Skies” is the second book in Asaro’s Major Bhajann series. I bought “Undercity”, which is the first volume and read it before I read the ARC of “Bronze Skies” and quite enjoyed them both. Now at some point in the future I will attempt to figure out where to go from here; probably book number 1 in the Skolian Empire series.
The author’s name on the alchemists of kush is mispelled on the spine. According to goodreads, it is minister faust, not mnister faust.
Curious about Core
The Core!
Just ordered the Babylon 5 book.
Google says that ‘The pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors brings you a dozen original stories written just for you…’
So it’s genre short fiction.
I think it should be like those talking greeting cards–when you open the book, the pigs-in-space guy intones “PEEEETS IIIIINNNN SSSSPAAAAACE!”
Ben Franklin’s in my bathroom. Hands down
Reading Asaro’s The Bronze Skies now; enjoying it as I do most of her Skolian Empire novels. To mtzjotz — While the Major Bhaajan books can easily stand alone, I think you’ll enjoy them more if you have some of the background on Skolian politics before reading them. I would read at least Primary Inversion first.
Anything Peter V Brett does is top of my list!
Remember when people worried about the demise of publishing???
I’ve read Bronze Skies and liked it even better than Undercity, which I liked a lot. I have Iron Angels and it will be the next thing I read after I wind up a project Tuesday. The others may be great, but I’ve never read anything by their authors and don’t need new ones; I can’t keep up with all the ones I know I’ll like.
The Alchemists of Kush sounds like it should be an L. Sprague De Camp title. Also, Ben Franklin has me worried. Is he using my toothbrush?
Mmmm new Minister Faust. I’ll be over here swooning until I get to read it :)
I read The Cockroaches of Stay More about thirty years ago, along with two other Donald Harington novels at the time. I thought they were great, but I don’t remember a thing about them.
The other cockroach novel I read back then was The Roaches Have No King, a nasty and darkly humorous look at man versus bug. Shades of Ian Banks. Now this one I remember!
Thanks to Susan Beaty and Nick (formerly from the O.C.) for your help. Asaro is next for me!
The B5 book looked too good not to pre-order. I’m not sure what Ben Franklin’s doing in my bathroom, but I love the title. I see it’s intended for a kid / young teen audience. I suspect Dr. Franklin would be more fascinated by the wonders of the modern kitchen, and heaven help him when he finds out what computers can do, and the internet. — But I suspect he’d be hopping mad when he discovered what’s going on these days, and probably as puzzled by the changes in the UK as those in the US. I’m not sure how one hides a 60-something inventor and political philosopher in one’s bathroom, closet, or bedroom. ‘Twould seem difficult to keep Dr. Frankline contained anywhere he did not wish to be! Haha. Just the talking alone would be a challenge. Though once he discovered a word processor and epub…. Oh my. (Hah, he’d be amazed by a modern pen and pencil, let alone a keyboard.)